A New Year come full circle with donuts and other superstitious belief

Most probably the donuts will sell better today and tomorrow (particularly in the Netherland) as it is a belief that eating donuts on new year's eve will bring good fortune to those who practice it. They say the shape of the ring, which symbolizes the full circle, the year’s cycle. So head to J. Co, Big Apple or Dunkin' Donut and grab your donuts. Alternatively you can have onion rings or any ring-shaped food.

I'm not trying to be superstitious here but who doesn't want a better year ahead right? Probably you might want to practice these on New Year's Eve and New Year:

1. Eat fish for you'll swim better through the new year just like a fish.

2. At the struck of midnight, make sure you have some money in your pocket or wallet. If the New Year finds you with money in your pocket, you’ll not miss them in the year to come.

3. Just like the Chinese New Year, you might want to dress up in a new clothes.

4. Be aware at the first visitor on New Year’s Day! He or she would bring either good luck or bad luck. It is said that if the first person who visit is a tall, dark-haired man, he will bring good luck to the house or hosts (not choi san, ok).

5. Make a lot of noise by organizing fireworks and laughters. And not argument.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Welcome year 2008!

Malaysians are generally unhappy lot: How to be happy?

Looking at the political situation in our country, the traffic congestions every day, economic slowdown, high inflation, no increment and bonuses, stress in exams, ruined marriages, etc, there's no doubt Malaysians are turning into unhappy lot.

If you expect people to change in order to make you happy, then you have to be patient because chances are people doesn't like to make changes to accommodate you. However, if changes comes from within you, things will be a lot easier and you'll be able to sustain happiness on a longer term.

If showing off anger and being negative are not what you want to resolve your unhappiness, then read on. This post is only for those people who doesn't do BJEs (blame, justify, excuses).

So how to be happy? (Based on the same topic in Wikihow)

1. See the world for what it really is. Many of us tend to forget how fortunate we are. By the way, fortunate is not equal to fortune. Wake up because we can't get everything we want all the time. Learn to be thankful.

2. Be yourself. Get real because you can't satisfy everyone. So what if people criticize you for different opinion? People never care about what you have gone through. Practice self-acceptance and you'll be a lot happier.

3. Build strong relationship with family. Many of us leave our hometown to build our lives and career in another city. Hence we leave our parents and family behind. Call your parents or go back to your hometown more often. It's hard to survive in the city these days due to the high cost of living. It's alright to share with them your situation /struggle and seek opinion.

4. Get a job you love. I'm sure you want to be productive on your job as well has looking forward to go to work every morning (in a happy mood) and still be able to have time for your family, friends and leisure. Consider to change job or even a career move if you start hating your job. There are many options in life.

5. Lighten up. Don't take yourself too seriously. Don't let stress controls you.

6. Change your thought process. If you can't laugh, at least smile. Use a little bit of imagination. We are able to control our state of mind and change the negative mindset to positive. Don't bury yourself with negativity.

7. Learn to be a giver. The problem is many of us only think about ourselves. We give too many excuses. If money is an issue, you can always contribute in kinds or time and energy.

8. Choose the right companion and friends. It's kind of important that you choose the right people to spend time with. Choosing positive and encouraging friends and getting involved in activities that reflect who you are will make you happy. Ditch those who doesn't.

9. Wish the best for others and mean it. Instead of spending most of our time finding faults in people, jealous with our colleagues and hate people who has different political view with us, spend those precious time to celebrate the good fortune of your colleagues, friends and family instead.

10. Be healthy. Keep your body and mind healthy with good diet and activities. Give yourself a good sleep every night. Be spiritually healthy helps too.

Personally I'm happy although I don't have much. If you are unhappy, you can get more tips at Wikihow.

Tips on how to meet your sports idol or music idol

After successfully meeting Rafael Nadal and get his autograph and photo, I would like share some tips on how you can do the same thing to meet your idol too. Let's say you know your idol would be in town and you want to meet up him/her. Here's what you can do:

1. Contact the actual event organizer by phone a couple of weeks before the arrival of your idol. I tried contacted the local agent before and they just shoved me off. Hence contacting the right person is important.

2. Once you have successfully contacted the organizer, give them concrete reasons as to why you want to know the flight schedule and appearances of your idol. For me, I told them I'm a blogger/independent media and fan.

3. If the organizer agrees to consider your request, suggest to them that you will put the request in an email/written format and tell them that you'll look forward for their reply.

4. Write a well-planned and organized email. Give concrete reasons why you want to know such information. For example, one of the reasons that I told the organizer was I need the information to spread to other tennis fans.

5. If the organizer consider your request, then you should be on the right track and have a big chance to meet your idol. However, the information provided may change during the last minute. Hence, always be prepared for any changes and ask the organizer for the latest updates.

6. Waiting patiently at the airport for your idol's arrival and you'll stand a chance to meet him/her. Look out for people from the media e.g. cameramen and reporter. Don't be afraid to ask them where is the exact location your idol will appear. Chances are your idol might not walk out through the main arrival hall like everyone else.

7. Be patient and get yourself on standby mode. Make sure your camera is working and your pen and paper for autograph.

8. When you see your idol, snap their pictures first and then be brave to ask them for a picture and follow by an autograph. Remember to be polite when asking. Most of the time, the bodyguards/organizer/entourage and even your idol wouldn't mind to take a picture with you and signing your autograph.

9. If you have taken your pictures and autograph, be considerate and let other fans to have their chances too.

In short, waiting for your idol's arrival at the airport will increase your chance of meeting him/her. It's almost impossible to have a chance to shake hands or get an autograph during the actual event or concert where lot of other fans would be there.

I hope these tips will help you in realizing your dreams too.