i smiled today at 6:45 PM



A friend once told me several years ago, that if I ever feel lonely, alone, or home-sick, "look up to the sky, find Orion's Belt, and then you'll know that you are not alone. It will make you feel better".

That advice got imprinted in my mind, until today. The Orion constellation is very significant in my life, because whenever I feel lonely sometimes (especially not being around family most of the time), it is nice to look up to the sky - and I get reminded that we are all underneath the same big sky. Up till this very day, at night, I sometimes look up and find Orion. In some way, the constellation is like my assurance and my companion - that even though the stars are far away from me, I know there is something greater out there watching over me.

Try looking for Orion when the night sky is clear. The picture above is actually Orion - the stars slightly more yellow than the rest. I identify it by finding the *three stars* that form a line, with *four stars* surrounding it like a rectangle-ish shape.

Over in Malaysia and Singapore, I know for sure that it is easy to find. I see it all the time whenever I look up, especially in Malaysia where the night sky is always clearer for some reason.

Recently, I even had the chance to lie down near the beach, enjoy the cool night breeze, and look up to the sky. I saw all the stars shining, and I definitely saw Orion. It was peaceful. I was in awe. We hardly have time to find this kind of feeling nowadays - being busy and busy and nothing else but busy (even though we sometimes actually have nothing to be busy about - which makes us still busy).

Indeed, we do all live underneath the same big sky, no matter how much we feel otherwise.


When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are;
Anything your heart desires will come to you.


i smiled today at 1:28 PM




I remember many years ago, I saw the advertisement on TV for One Tree Hill. I thought it looked interesting, but I never bothered to watch it, I can't remember why now.

I am seriously not sure if they show it on TV now in Malaysia and Singapore, although I have this feeling that it is still showing. But anyway, I have been watching the series on DVD, from season 1 onwards.

Honestly, when I first started watching the first few episodes, I had no idea what to expect. Actually we never know what to expect. But this one, seriously, I had no idea. I was hoping that it wasn't going to be some overrated soap-opera / drama / exaggerated series like The O.C. (which started out "kind of" OK, and ended up being just plain annoying to me).

For some unknown reason, I carried on watching One Tree Hill, because there was something that made me want to keep on watching it. What that thing was, I really do not know. All I know is that after season 1, I continued watching all other seasons after that.

I know many people are fans of the show. I think it is one of the few shows on TV that I know is worth spending time to watch.
As the series began to expand and the plot thickened, and we got to know the characters more, I started realising how close the show is to our lives, when we filter the Hollywood-ness of the show and look deeper. How friendships and relationships work; how they get confused and distorted. The love-hate and hate-love and hate-love-hate and love-hate-love relationships in the show may seem a bit over the top (that is what makes Hollywood hollywood), but in some way or another, it relates to every person in reality.

The characters begin to show us how they change for the better, and at some points change for the worse and then only for the better. But no matter what route they take in life, we see how important love is in any relationship - family, friends, schoolmates,even enemies.....

The acting, of course, isn't perfect.. or at least I should say there are a couple of people in the cast that don't act as well as the others. However, that doesn't bother me as much as it usually does. The dialogues in the show are, in a way, fulfilling - with very interesting voice-overs at the beginning of most episodes.

Oh and I should mention also that the underground music of One Tree Hill is excellent, with well-known and less well-known bands lending us their music. Get the soundtrack to know what I mean.

The storyline is getting more complex as we now head into season 5, but beyond all that complexity lies the simplicity of life: Love one another as you would like to be loved.


"Truth, is still absolute. Believe that. Even when that truth is hard and cold and more painful than you ever imagined." (Lucas Scott, Season 4, Episode 18)


i smiled today at 11:29 PM


For those of you who know about my whereabouts in Singapore, like where I live etc, I am glad you actually keep track. I guess you'd be one of those readers here who come from Singapore :)

Anyway, I've moved again. Actually I moved during the first week of 2008. I am now located at Sembawang. And those in Singapore reading this are going "WWWHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAATTTT?!?" hehe.. It's further away, I know. Sembawang is closer to the Johor side.

However, I think the move is a move for the better.

I now live opposite the Sembawang MRT (train) station, which makes life easier for me.

Let's see... I like my new place because...

1. When I walk out of my flat, up ahead is the MRT station.
2. If I walk further up ahead, there's 7-11. a bakery store, a small supermarket, and a magazine store.
3. If I walk even further up in the same direction, there's a shopping mall, yay!
4. In the mall, there's McDonald's, KFC, Delifrance, supermarket, library, cinema, bookstores, food court, everything and anything.

5. From my flat, if I walk to the right, there's the ATM.
6. More to the right, there's a Donut shop with loads of donuts. There's a Chinese herbal clinic, there's a Pearl Tea shop, then there's another supermarket.

7. If I walk to the left, there's a food court.


And yes, all of this makes me enjoy life more. Because within my flat, I have a huge kitchen with a huge fridge that beeps if the door isn't closed after 20 seconds.

So now I make sandwiches for myself, because it is so nice to have stuff in the fridge!

Then there's also an oven!

And a nice sofa set, with a TV and surround sound system, DVD player, and a TV in my room too!

The air-con in my room is freezingly freezing cold. I have to switch it off after about 20 minutes or I'll freeze myself to death!


C'est la vie!


i smiled today at 11:27 PM



Yes, she is still missing.

Imagine she was your child, your sister, your niece, your friend, your daughter's friend, your neighbour, or your cousin.... what would you do?

Spread the word around, increase the hours of prayers, create more awareness.

Little Sharlinie deserves a beautiful future, just like all of us.

She may be anywhere now, so it doesn't matter where you are. We all can help in one way or another.

This is a community message from domluk.com


Turn away from evil and do good,; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:14


i smiled today at 1:25 PM


Only in Thailand.... baby powder, mild. No, nothing to do with pork or food!

This one below, on the other hand, has to do with food...

Or maybe it doesn't..... lamp??




They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds. (Winston Churchill)


i smiled today at 11:58 AM


A new semester in College has begun. My final semester in College has begun. That means the next four months equals hell on Earth.

On my desk right now, next to my laptop, are books. All these books have one thing in common: their titles have the word Bach in them.

Thanks to the thesis I am doing for my final year in College, I have gotten to know the man rather well. Bach I mean.

Counting the number of books I have on Bach (either bought, borrowed, or copied), I easily have about 40 books. This does not include the articles and journals I have, and the CDs and music scores I have to go through. This is just about Bach, though. My thesis also includes studies on Lutheran and Catholic masses - and that would mean I have to read books on church history as well.


I am not complaining :) I think doing a massive thesis on such a heavy topic is good for me.

But like anyone in college would know, I just can't wait for it all to be over - to have my thesis completely done, complete all my other 2 final year projects, and graduate with a smile. Then finally I will feel that peaceful sense of accomplishment. I wonder how people studying for their PhDs actually manage to spend years working on stuff like this (*looking at Brenda*). But I suppose if I ever ever ever get to study PhD, I might look at it in a different way. Then you'll have to call me Doctor Luk, or Doctor Dom, or DD, or Doctor Dominic Lucien Luk, or simply, Doc!


Hakuna Matata - it means no worries, for the rest of your days!


i smiled today at 6:45 PM


I watched a movie a few days ago... It's not a new movie. In fact it was shown 10 years ago, but I never got to watch it.

Wag The Dog.

It made me start thinking about several articles I have been reading over the past few months - about how powerful the media is.

What we see in the news, is what we think really happened.

And we all know, somehow, that the media often twists facts around, edits certain lines and footage, to produce something that isn't quite right.

We take it for granted that the news we see in major international news networks, is accurate, impartial, and nothing but the truth.

Is it?

Really?

I am not an expert in this field. Perhaps those studying Mass Comm would know more about this.

However, I do sometimes question the news I read and see.

I am careful, and judgmental. And why shouldn't I be?

My readings on this topic brought me to the attention of Conspiracy Theories.

Just how many historical events actually happened exactly like how it was reported? Could there have been things going on that we are just not allowed to know?

Like the Conspiracy shrouding the September 11 tragedy. Was it really a terrorist attack? Or was the CIA and US Government behind it all? (link)

Searching the net would lead us to so much info about 9/11 that we didn't dare to think about, especially in Asia.

The images shown in the news, and the info we are given, could all be just written by a group of people who want us to think that way.

People who look into the 9/11 Conspiracy believe that the planes were not hijacked. They believe the airplanes that hit the WTC were not even the aircraft of the flights supposedly hijacked.

And then why were there no pictures of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon? And if we look closely, the damage caused at the Pentagon does not look like a plane crashed into it. And the footage of the explosion at the Pentagon was dated September 12, in which the FBI reported that the date on the camera settings was wrong. But the Pentagon's surveillance cameras have the wrong date settings? That would be fun.

And so on.

Funny how this world works, isn't it?

Things happen, and yet after so many years it gets more interesting.

Maybe Apollo 13 did not land on the moon.

Area 51 could really be an alien site.

Sometimes, we'll never know.

Maybe, we just shouldn't know.


Why does a dog wag its tail?
Because if the tail was smarter, the tail would wag the dog.


i smiled today at 11:58 PM



We all are familiar with FedEx. They provide excellent services all over the world, and get your packages and parcels sent to every corner of the world.


We think we know something or someone very well. Yet, because we think that way, our minds get programmed to not be bothered to look deeper.


Things are not always as they seem to be. We must not look at things once or twice, and think that we know it all.


If we look hard enough, we'll find that there is more to life than what we think we know.


All we have to do, is look more, think more, and try harder to look beneath the surface.


Then we'll see, that there is an arrow in the FedEx logo.


In between the E and the x.


We only see what we want to see, and think what we want to think.


I think, therefore I am.


i smiled today at 12:17 PM


My trip to Thailand in Dec 2007 was full of great memories.

There were about 40 of us who made the trip, leaving Singapore almost as complete strangers, then leaving Thailand as a family that till today still remains close.

Our mission was to go over to Pattaya, and meet the children at the orphanage, the deaf and blind children, the disabled, and the street kids. We were there to provide comfort to them during the 9 days that we were there.

We were also there to learn more about ourselves. To evaluate our lives - our very spoilt lifestyles. At first, we thought our smiles would bring comfort to these kids. What was miraculous, was that it turned out that their smiles to us gave us comfort instead.


These kids would run up to us, open up their arms, and want to be hugged the whole day. They didn't care what you said or did. All they wanted was to be hugged and to be given some attention.

We fed them during lunch, We gave them sweets. We played with them. We laughed with them. We played games and watched cartoons with them. They warmed our hearts and made us feel like they were reaching out to us - and telling us that they will be OK, and not to worry.

On the last day, we had to say goodbye to our kids, You see, from the first day, we looked after one or two children each. We wanted the kids to not feel abandoned (again) if we kept playing with different kids every day. So after a week, we all got emotionally attached to the children we looked after. On the last day, it was painful. Everyone was crying, trying to let go and say goodbye. The kids were strong, and smiled at us as though trying to tell us that they have been touched and they are already happy.

Many of the orphans are extremely good looking. They are the result of mixed-blood. Many of their fathers are Europeans, or Americans, or Africans. And their mothers would usually be Thai, That prostitutes to be more exact. And that is how they ended up in the orphanage. One night stands. Mistakes which brought into the world .. kids with so much beauty inside and out.

We brought the deaf kids to the beach, and they enjoyed every moment of it. A few days later, we brought the blind kids there too. And although they couldn't see the beautiful water and sand, they wanted to stay in the sea the whole time. They enjoyed the feeling of the waves, they started playing in the sand too, digging up huge holes and just lying inside having fun and laughing the whole time.

We also visited the Drop-In Center: a place where kids from the street can just walk in and hang out. They go there watch TV, play ping-pong, or just sleep. The purpose is to keep kids off the streets, where they end up fighting and committing crimes. We went to hang out with them, and we brought them a Christmas tree to set up, and gave them some board games to play.


In the School for the Blind, it is a place where -literally- the blind lead the blind.


And of course, we went visiting and traveling around Pattaya. We saw the botanical gardens, we saw a lot of elephant shows, and crocodile shows, and dance shows, and the Tiffany Show - where the whole night, women/men danced. Transvestites if you know what I mean.

Some of our members ate crocodile meat. I didn't. Some of the ate scorpion too. I didn't. But here's how it is served and eaten.


We also saw elephants painting...


But I guess the greatest part of the trip was seeing how the children transformed us. The kids taught us how to appreciate everything we have in life. We take so many things for granted - our education, our family, our friends, our homes and house, our clothes, our money, our TV, our cars..... These kids have little, yet they have more than we do.



Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.


i smiled today at 11:43 AM


Without giving it much thought, 2007 has ended, and we are already towards the end of the first week of 2008.

Happy new year to everyone, and thanks for being loyal to "I Smiled Today". (:

2007 - it was a very interesting year, agree?

1. We said bye bye to Harry Potter, finally. After many years of following up on his life, reading about his adventures, the final book finally got released in 2007. Many people would have felt like it was an end of an era. After all, many children did follow the story from the first book when they were maybe 8 or 9 or 13 years old. And it lasted for a good number of years. In a way, to some people, it would have felt like the death of a close friend. But anyway, Harry Potter had to move on, his friend Dumbledore too had to move on with other men, and we will have to wait and see if there ever magically will be a book number 8.

2. Toys made in China were recalled because they contained lead paint. "Made in China". Poor toys had no choice.


3. The Virginia Tech tragedy shocked the world. It even shocked me. Cho, the guy who posted his "multimedia manifesto" to NBC News, killed 33 innocent people - 27 students, 5 professors, and one gunman. After that, other young sick kids around the world started following Cho's footsteps. May 2008 not be the same.

4. The iPhone - one of 2007's greatest inventions. I want one. Or two maybe.

5. The riots in Burma.


These are just 5 out of the millions of things that made 2007 a very interesting year.

I bet you 2008 will be much more interesting. With the Presidential Elections in US, the Malaysian elections, new great movies coming our way, and my graduation.

Once again, happy new year.

Don't ask me about my New Year Resolutions, because I never make any. Why? Because I never follow them. Why? Because.

Have a great day and year ahead.


And the greatest of these, is Love.


i smiled today at 8:41 AM


Silver bells... silver bells....

It's Christmas time in the cities.....

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2008 to everyone!

May your days be merry and bright....