~Audi alteram partem~

You know your part of the story. Now hear the other side.
Cos everyone just want to be heard
.

Values

Remember some time ago I had a question: When two persons you respect are disrespecting each other, do you stop respecting either one?

I finally found a concrete answer, which is a resounding YES.

It might not be too clearly black and white. It might not happen immediately. But you will lose your respect for one of them eventually. I found this answer, unfortunately, through personal experiences. I realised, this tendency to lean towards one side is because of our values. Or more precisely, the conflicting of those values.

What are values? No, not the monetary worth of something. I'm talking about the other kind of values:
The principles or standards of behaviour; one's judgement of what is important in life.

Everyone has values. Positive or negative, everyone has their own view of what they hold as important, that they use as the cornerstone of their lives.

For the positive examples, some people value honesty, or honour. So in everything they do, they will try to be honest, or honourable, even though they might get into trouble (Ned Stark, anyone?).
For the negative examples, it could be materialism, the value that put things as more than human beings.

When you respect someone, I find, it's because you have similar values. If you're an honest person, you'll only respect honest people, whether you realise this or not.

So if the 2 people you respect, are disrespecting each other, most probably there's a contradiction of values there. But as we know from a wise man, contradiction cannot exist in one place, so you'll drop one of them in the end.

“Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.”
- Francisco d’Anconia

I find this true in love as well.

We might fall in love because of various reasons. But we stay in love when we share the same values. When a couple in a relationship don't share the same values, you'll see that the relationship will fall apart faster than you can say "Francisco d'Anconia".

Anger

It's ok to be sad. It's also okay to be angry.

“...anger could be thought of as an intermediate emotion. An event happens, the brain doesn't have time (or doesn't want to) to fully process the situation and it needs a reaction, so anger is what's used until there's more time to examine everything in more detail.”^

“It’s the one that tells us we need to take action to put something right,” she says. “Anger is a problem-solving emotion. It gives us strength and energy, and motivates us to act.”^

“Nobody ever gets into trouble for feeling angry. But people sometimes get into trouble for what they do when they feel angry.”^

The Piemaker

"Nobody remembers your father, Ned.
But they do talk about how you turn out to be such a nice, wonderful boy.

Man, even."
- Vivian Charles, Pushing Daisies

Ned Pushing Daisies

If you look back and it makes you smile, 
hold on to it.
If you look back and it makes you angry, 
let go of it.

10,593 days old

My colleagues know I need a new lipstick, and I like my wine.
(Check out my Gudetama photobombing my wine)


Jewels of Italy

Il Duomo, Florence, Italy
We took this picture ourselves from Piazzale Michelangelo.

So I finally visited one of my dream places: Italy! And let me tell you, that place is still dreamy.
We went to 5 cities: Rome, Pisa, Florence, Verona, and Venice, but my favourite is still Florence.

I originally wanted to share every details of my journey to, and in, Italy, but I ended up with 4 pages of essay. I don't want to torture you with that. So let me just start with answering the question I got a lot regarding my trip to Italy: What are your recommendations for Italy?

Well, my recommendation is actually to quit your job, withdraw everything you have in your bank, and just move to Italy already. But since we live in a cruel world with everyone judging us, here are more realistic recommendations:
  • You'll need internet there
Having internet is useful anywhere. But especially so for Italy. There are so many places to go, you could be standing next to a famous archaeological site and you wouldn't know. This is why you need to constantly check your Google Map. Also, there's thousands of great neighbourhood eating places, so whenever you're hungry, just whip up your Google, and see if there's one right next to you.
  • But don't buy SIM card in the airport
We were checking the SIM card sold in the airport because we're agitated about being disconnected (and Rome airport wifi is not so reliable). But then the seller said €40. We didn't even hear how many Gig of Internet before we said "no thanks". Outside, we still couldn't find a cheap SIM card, but in the end we bought one in Termini Station for €25 that provides 3 Gb of internet. Good enough for 10 days in Italy.
  • When in Rome, go to Pane e Salame
Yeah sure, go to Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, and be like any other tourists. Or, you can go to Pane e Salame and have a taste of the best prosciutto+wine you'll ever tasted in your life. It is the #1 out of almost 10.000 restaurants in Rome. It's literally 2 minutes walk from Trevi Fountain. So if you can go to the Fountain, you can go to Pane e Salame.
  • Walk around Florence
Reserve at least 3 whole days of your trip in Italy just for Florence, and explore the city on foot. This city is BEAUTIFUL. Everywhere you turn is history and art and beauty. All the famous landmarks are within walking distance. The one place you shouldn't miss is Piazzale Michelangelo. This is where you can see Florence in its full glory from a hill (see picture above).
And there's of course the Florence Cathedral, the house of Il Duomo di Firenze. The beauty of it.. something you have to witness for yourself.
My only regret in Florence is that we only had barely a day there. Fret not, my love, I will come back!
  • Florentine steak is the food of the gods
You don't know the meaning of delicious if you haven't tasted the Florentine steak. I wasn't even hungry when we went for the steak. But when we were served a 1.2 kg worth of meat +2 side dishes, just for the 2 of us, I licked the plate clean.
The place we went to was Trattoria Osteria Da Que' Ganzi. It's ranked pretty good in TripAdvisor, #56 of 2000+ restaurants in Florence, and they well-deserve their rank.
Florentine steak
Look at this beauty.
Other random thoughts about Italy:
- Gelato is overrated, go for wine instead.
- Going during low season like in October is not so bad. It's less crowded and I enjoyed the cool weather.
- Don't go for restaurants, please. PLEASE. The best food (and wine!) are from the small eating places.
- Fun fact: There are ancient water fountains in Rome that still work and we can still drink the water. They also have a few of these in Venice, but I didn't see it in Florence. So there's no need to buy bottled water, just refill your empty wine bottles with these water fountains.
- Why, oh why, wasn't I born in Italy T.T

And last but not least, always remember:
 "It is a good life we lead, brother." 
"The best. May it never change." 
"And may it never change us."

Antinatalism

So I wasn't crazy,
     there's a word for it.
antinatalism

So I wasn't losing my mind,
     there's a philosophy about it.
Arthur Schopenhauer quote

So I'm not alone,
     there's followers of it.
Reddit Antinatalism group


Liar, liar on the wall

What sickening about liars is not that they lie.
But they have no remorse for their lies.

What sickening about childish people is not their immaturity.
But what they do that hurt the people around them.

Phuket

A beach in Phuket

Finally, we visited Phuket.
Thailand's biggest island (almost as big as Singapore), which is also the favourite for foreigner.

It reminds me a lot of Bali, though. I still thought I was in Indonesia even on the second day. Doesn't mean it's a bad thing! I get to explore the hilly island on a bike. Great food, friendly people, beautiful beaches calling you to sleep the whole day without any worries, what's not to love!

Here are a few memorable things (among many!) I experienced there:
  • Did I say food?
From street food to restaurant food, local food to Western food. Just pick a random seller, it'd most probably be delicious.
Delicious Thai grilled foodDelicious Thai steamed squid
Delicious Thai foodPizza and bbq ribs
  • Uber ist not gut
Unlike Jakarta, Uber is is not that much cheaper from Taxi services. In fact, there is actually no Uber in Phuket. The market is monopolised by Grab (at least as of Sept 2016). We spent about SGD35 to go from airport to our resort (one way!). But Grab still offers the convenience of just keying in your location+destination in the app, and you can just sit prettily for your pickup.
  • They don't know Cha Tra Mue!
This is probably the only "disappointment" we have. The first thing we look for in Thailand, of course, the famous Thai tea. But apparently the Thai tea we know is actually more of Bangkok tea, only famous in Bangkok.
  • Phuket is not cheap at all
Contrary to popular Singaporean beliefs that Thailand is cheap, Phuket is not.
Sure you can get views like this when you eat at a restaurant:
Restaurant in Patong Beach
But the pricing is almost exactly like Singapore. Around $10-$18 per dish.
But then again, the service is waaaaaay better than Singapore. Good thing is, most restaurants accept cards, so if you don't mind the 3% charge, swipe away!
  • But it can get very cheap if you know how
Taxi/Grab is expensive, yet the tourist spots are quite far away from each other. It's way better to rent a bike. A car is good too, but the roads there are narrow, so, take your pick.
Don't miss the Weekend Market, or as the locals know it: Naka Weekend Market. There are plenty of cheap but nice items for souvenirs and a plate of any food is only around THB25, which equals to SGD1 --ONE DOLLAR! We stayed there for about 3 hours just to eat miscellaneous things.

That's a quick recap of my adventure in this famous island. It's too bad that I didn't get to explore the surrounding island like Phi Phi or James Bond island. But that'd be another adventure for another chapter.

Incredible thoughts

I have this REALLY interesting colleague who always says magical things. This is basically my face every time she says something:

She's been entertaining me from May 2014. And her latest pearl of thought is so incredible that I can't resist the temptation to share it here:

"so cool, no wonder they still enjoy working under great pressure of productivity."

So cool
                           No wonder how
they still enjoy working
under great pressure of productivity.

Under great pressure of productivity.
Under great pressure of productivity.
Under great pressure of productivity.

A t-shirt material right there:

Some of her other incredible thoughts include, but not limited to:
  •  The meaning of STD does not make sense
  • Google search is down (but it's ok if you turn it off then on again)