The truth about romance...

Many people ask "what can I do to be romantic?" or "Can you give me some ideas?". This is the misconception many of us have about romance. Romance is not about masterminding some scheme to lure someone like a tiger luring his prey until he pounces on it. True romance is some gesture which sincerely comes from the heart. You do not have to be rich, a genius or the most fantastic person in bed, to be a romantic person. All you need is a sincere heart and a limitless love for your partner, and then the ideas/gestures will come naturally.

Romantic gestures or ideas do not have to be lavish or big. But as I have experienced, it's the smallest things that we do that are truly romantic. Sometimes we may do something small that doesn't seem to be much to us and we hardly notice doing it, but to our partner it would be a amazing romantic gesture. For example, leaving a simple love note for your partner in the morning. This gesture is simple and doesn't involve money or mush time, but it will mean a lot to your partner and would make their day even better than it will be, just because they will be thinking about it all day long and smiling.

And if you're not really consistent at doing such things, don't worry. Just do it every once in awhile, especially on important occasions in your relationship (anniversary, birthday or some event which involves the both of you).

Also, these gestures do not have to involve much money. The best gifts are always the ones that are born from the heart and made by yourself. No matter how horrible it may look, the effort and love put into it would mean the world to your partner, more than any gift you can buy from the store. For example, poems, video dedications, photo albums (with pictures of you and your partner), cooking meals for your partner, watching a romantic movie at home, dancing to your partner's favorite songs, singing to your partner, and etc.

My advice? Keep it simple, keep it small, because it will mean big...

Microsoft... Satan's Right Hand

My job requires me to deal a lot with Microsoft personnel, because my company is pro-Microsoft for obvious reasons (they think Microsoft is the best). Well, I’m not here to praise Microsoft, but to tell you how much I hate them…

Firstly, when you report a problem to them, they escalate your problem all the way to their base in Shanghai, China. I’ve got nothing against the Chinese, but talking to the Microsoft guys in Shanghai is ridiculous, because half the time you can’t understand them. I’m a Malaysian for heaven’s sake, I speak and understand “rojak” English and I still can’t understand them. I wonder how they speak to the white guys…

Next, if they can’t solve your problem (which is the case most of the time), they’ll just give you their standard answer “This issue is as per design”. How can a problem be caused by how Windows was designed??? You built it! So you should know how to solve/fix it! Would you buy a car and expect the dealer to say “As per design” when you report a problem to them? “What? Your engine cannot start? As per design, sir. Please buy a new car or live with it!”. Ridiculous ain’t it?

Next, the motto is probably: “If anything goes wrong in Windows, always blame the customer first!”. I’ve always got this answer from them: “It is something in your company’s environment”. Maybe it is but isn’t that a bit too blunt? Couldn’t they at least try to find out what is wrong in the client’s environment first before saying that? There was once when Microsoft techs couldn’t figure out what was wrong with some problem which causes MS Word to crash in my company, they collected logs for weeks and couldn’t tell what was wrong. They came to the point of saying “Could you please ship over your laptop to us in Shanghai?”. OMG! Why would I ship my laptop half way around the world when they have a Microsoft base here in Malaysia? The local Microsoft guy said “We’re not as technical as the Shanghai guys, so we can’t troubleshoot this problem”. I was shocked, why do they call themselves Microsoft personnel (working in the Support Team) if they can’t even do simple troubleshooting. You know what I did? I got fed up and did my own troubleshooting. I found a possible cause and a resolution for the issue within 30 minutes. Shanghai Microsoft techs have been working on this for 3 weeks and they couldn’t find a bloody solution. 30 minutes and 3 weeks, you do the math. And yeah, in the end, it was caused by a corruption in one of the Ms Office registry keys… yes, yes, blame the client…

I hate Microsoft so much…

Since everyone has been bugging me for an update...

I actually had to apologize to many people for not updating my blog for such a long time... but wait a minute, its MY BLOG! Lol! Just kidding. I've had my hands full with... life.

So, what's new... hurmmm... nothing much, I guess just a new special someone in my life. Who say who but she's the "Grey-eyed angel". Most people wish that their best friends would get along well with the gurl they love, but in my case I'm fortunate enough to fall in love with my best friend. You might argue that maybe this best friend thing is one sided but its not, its mutual.

Hurmmm... what can I tell you about her... well, when I first met her, I was attracted to her eyes, although she looks stunningly beautiful. Something about her eyes drew me to her. That's why I wrote my Poem No.12 (Click here to read it), which was dedicated to her. Of course, at that time, it wasn't anything serious. I was attracted to her, but not in love. But we grew in our friendship. Became best friends to each other and then love just fell into place.

Things I love about her:

10. She always says "I love you" before we depart rather than "good-bye". She says it's because she feels that I'm always in her heart and mind, so there's no need for a good-bye. She nerver fails to remind that I'm always being missed by her even after we had just got home after our date.

9. She's always thinking about others before herself no matter how much trouble or pain she has to go through. She goes through great lengths to comfort, console and please me.

8. She's always herself, does not pretend to be someone else and always truthful. She's unique and nobody can take her place in my heart, because she means so much to me. My best friend and the woman I love.

7. Not only does she walk behind me to catch me when I fall, but most importantly she walks beside me to make sure I don't fall. She's always been there for me, through happiness and sadness.

6. I learn a lot from her. Not many guys would like to say this but I'm proud to say that she's my idol (in terms of how a human being should be) and I want to be like her in many ways (character, career, potential, mind set and etc.). I really look up to her.

5. She's determined. She always sets a goal in life and does everything she can to achieve it. She never gives up. That's why she's so successful today. I really respect that and I hope I can be like that someday.

4. Her sweetness and bubbliness. She's sweet and bubbly in so many ways. Sometimes I just love watching her be herself. She's fun to be with and she also makes sure you have fun when you're with her. She's never dull and always full of suprises. Sometimes she could be just the opposite and be quiet and shy, but I love that too. Especially when she catches me staring at her from across the table, she would turn her face away, when I ask her why she turned away she would say that she's shy it was ME that was looking at her.

3. Her charming ways. She always knows the right words to say at the right time. She's the reason I get up everyday with a smile on my face. She knows what to say to make my day a great one everyday and she never fails to do so. I've never had a gloomy day since the day she walked into my heart.

2. She's so beautiful and intelligent but she never ever let these gifts go to her head. In fact, she's the most humble person I know. She always strives to be better and to improve her flaws, although I always tell her that I don't want her to change because I want to spend the rest of my life loving the gurl I first fell in love with.

1. Most of all, I love the way she loves me. So true, so pure, so passionate. Sometimes I find myself asking "is this how love feels?" because its better than I had ever experienced and could ever imagine. I couldn't ask for a better person to fall in love with because there is none besides her.

"I love you not only because of who you are. but most of all because of who I am when I am with you"