The New Me

I have heard the story of Mother Theresa of Calcutta whom one day had approached a wealthy man for donation and was spitted, laughed, humiliated by the very same man. After receiving all that she could get,the fragile lady bravely said," You had given all that I deserve.Now,will you please give something valuable for my children, they will be waiting for me". The man was dumbfounded and gave away a handsome amount of money to the highly spirited Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. The one thing I had learnt from the humanitarian was to bring out the sacred feeling of mankind which is PATIENCE and SELF-DETERMINATION. I am still a child in learning the skills to be patient and determined but eventually seem to enjoy after practicing it  in my life at the moment.

I am currently experimenting myself with patience or to put it in a better way,struggled actually. A skill which I feel is the tool to guide through my colourful phase I'm going through with the fraternity of people surrounding me either at home, work or even on the streets. I've learnt that the doppelganger to patience is EGO, an evil creature that does not want to be disturbed, living within all of us silently and roars aloud even at the slightest interruption. It is a cloak we wear in our daily lives to hide all the possible flaws, a gun to shoot when our opinion being attacked equally by another soul that feels their ego is much more superior to others.Letting go of our pride or ego, does it benefit us in anyway? Well, I say yes to that if it comes to us mingling with others in a circle called relationship. No matter who the person we deal, parents or siblings, neighbours or friends, lovers or spouse, ego could be a bliss or a disaster looking at how we handle it at the right place and at the right time. A positive approach could boost the pride and a slim mistake could severely bruise a person's ego.

Being a guy in the 30s, I was in a dilemma of whether to join  or not this particular group of colleagues who are in their 20s as I find it difficult to be with peers of same age who will be talking about the grades of their kindergarten-going child or happily complaining about their spouse which simply bores me to death. I am not running away from the reality that my age is catching up in the context of a typical Asian guy but can't restrain myself from joining the vibrant,witty,idealistic and happening group of guys who would secure me with excitements, both at work and outside. BUT....everything comes with a price tag and the price I had to pay...the reality of my age, my acceptance being questioned and the common issues thrown to me by these kiddos which leads to one topic- Generation Gap...all because I had Justin Timberlake when I was in my 20s and they are having Justin Bieber in their 20s. To create a mutual understanding and in order to be accepted in their cohesive group, I went through a series of transformation which I enjoyed and succeeded at the end of the day. Bringing down my weight and masking my 30s look was simply exciting and even sent shivers to my young buddies as they saw my very own changes with amaze when all my checked shirts became body-hugging size M and S T-shirts. I was thrilled and never thought it was possible for me to look simply confident in attires which I could only dream on.

What happened to me was simply self-determination and also thanks to my young buddies, their timely teases that bruised my ego paved way to tremendous changes in me, both physically and mentally. Nobody would dare to throw a word at me nowadays but simply praise me for the painstaking effort to keep up an ideal body weight, a youthful physique and a cool look too. Now, I walk tall and side-by-side with my fellow young colleagues without worrying about my bulgy tummy or my old-fashioned attire because I am in control of my trendy life and am not afraid to look youthful. I am simply going to turn a deaf ear at the old rules that says Asians of my clan should be plump, big and round and a must to have facial hairs to show my masculinity. Gone are the days into the ditch and to all the the typical-minded 30s guys out there, glam up, let your hair down and go for an awesome life because bear in mind that the 30s is the new 20s.

Perpetual Helper

My First Day Blogging

What inspired me to blog? Well, I suppose all thanks to Julie Powell acted by Amy Adams in the movie,"Julie and Julia",an inspiring movie about two individuals,Julie Powell, a present time government clerk stucked in a cubicle listening to people's application for insurance and Julia Child, an expatriate's wife living in 1950s Paris who took the guts to learn French cooking and her quest to write a cookbook in English specially made for 'servantless Americans', both women who lived in different era but shared the same common passion-COOKING. They went through series of adventures to experience and learn all the lessons in life to master cooking and shine in life as great cooks and writers.

It all started with the character, Julie Powell creating her own blog and wanted to tell the whole world her experience on experimenting Julia Child's aged-old cookbook, Mastering The Art of French Cooking within 365 days. She struggled to go through every pages of the cookbook which she 'stole' from her mother and managed to cook  her first dish of 'beef bourguignon', a memorable cuisine her mother made when she was a child and how she had felt the presence of Julia Child when the dish was made. While starting her regime to cook authentic French cuisine every night, Julie Powell went through emotional roller coaster with her charming-supportive husband and poured out her genuine feelings in her blog. Eventually, her wild attempt to blog turned out to be a campaign where bloggers and readers started to follow her blog and became her ardent fan. She was fortunate enough to even being hunted by many food critics and publishers especially by the very own editor who published Julia Child's cookbook. The auspicious day came when Julie Powell was awarded a string of genuine pearls by her husband, as to recreate a present day Julia Child in Julie Powell.

On the other side of the story, I fell in love with the gutsy Julia Child who made her way into one of Paris' distinguished cooking school to become a trained French cook. Her bubbly act and wittiness simply captured my attention and made me wanted to know this lady in person. The childless Childs made their way from Paris to Cambridge and had their very own cookbook after few rejections from some publishers. Julia Child had also made her own cook show that simply revealed her clumsiness and yet her skill to make French cuisine a joy to cook.

Thanks to the movie and the awesome ladies in the movie, I, Sagaya, the Perpetual Helper, will officially start blogging today and hope to share sweet and bitter moments that I am yet to encounter in my day-to-day life. Happy blogging to me !!! Cheers !!!!

Perpertual Helper