" i wanna be a billionaire..." hey, who doesnt?

song of the month:

"I wanna be a billionaire so fricking bad
Buy all of the things I never had
Uh, I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine
Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen

Oh every time I close my eyes
I see my name in shining lights
A different city every night oh
I swear the world better prepare
For when I’m a billionaire"

                     - 'Billionaire' Travie McCoy feat Bruno Mars-

shades of grey

i remember a time when the world exists only in black and white. feelings, decisions and thoughts can be easily compartmentalized into either or. if something is not black, then it is surely white. for a while, i lived in this bubble. lived by it and for it.

then without me even realising how it happened, there are decisions to be made that is neither black nor white. in the past, things that are not white are by default black.

in reality, life comes to us shades of grey. many times, there is no right or wrong thing to say. just the truth. sometimes, there is no right or wrong thing to do, just your best. after all, that is all that is asked of us.

despicable me

finally managed to catch 'despicable me' last night! with names like steve carell and russel brand behind the voices, how can one not watch it?

what can i say but that it did not disappoint. this movie, although a cartoon, is more suited for adults cos i think kids might find it hard to get the jokes.

my favourite characters after the little girl, agnes, would be the minions, who abide by the bad guy, Gru's calling. they speak in little flutters and stutters that are incomprehensible at first but as the movie goes on, you might yourself actually knowing what they say.

'despicable me' is a bag of laughs and i enjoyed it even more than 'toy story 3'. the jokes and story line is way better than the latter, which is understandable since 'toy story' is more for kids.

our oceans

i have fond memories of the beach and the sea as a kid. one of my favorite things to do whenever we go to the beach is to collect sea shells. little did i or the adults around me knew that this very thing actually upsets the whole balance of the ecosystem. at almost any souvenier shop you will find products made of sea shells such. some are not even well made.

in recent years, there has also been a spark of interest in keeping salt water fishes such as the clown fish in homes. i have seen kids asking their parents for 'nemo' as a pet after the disney cartoon finding nemo. ironically, i think that the message the movie 'finding nemo' was trying to convey is that we should not remove ocean creatures from thier natural habitats as it causes a tremendous amount of stress on them.

as i walk pass the shop selling salt water aquariums each time, i cant help but wonder if the seller even know these creatures well enough to care for them. have you ever wondered where they get the supply of these clown fish or other marine fishes from. are they stolen from the oceans by unscrupulous suppliers at almost no cost and selling it a high price for profit? yet, these things keep going on because there is a demand for it.

the current condition of our corals and oceans should be a wake up call to all - young or old to do all that we can to help our oceans.

if you are going for a beach holiday soon, here are some things you can do to help:

1) when snorkelling, do not step on or touch corals.
2) do not bring plastic bags or rubbish into the water.
3) do not collect any seashells, dead or alive.
4) do not buy any souveniers made of seashells. when there is a demand, there will always be a supply.

to do your part in reducing the emission of greenhouse gas which causes global warming you can

1) turn off taps and switch off fan, lights or air-conditioning when not in use
2) avoid using air conditioning or water heaters unneccesarily
3) turn off all electrical appliances when not in use. leaving it on standy mode means it is still consuming power ie phone chargers

if we all do our part, this will help preserve our oceans and environment for future generations.