heard + quoted

A few words of wisdom

I'm in the midst of reinventing the office meeting room on the third floor. The ultimate challenge: to create cool design with as little money as possible.

I can't change the furniture as it will be too costly.

I can't paint the wall in other colour as it will not coordinate with the surrounding areas.

I can't open another window as the building management will not allow it.

What I did: well known quotes cut out in stickers and pasted on the glass panel and the entrance door. The wisdom words don't just beautify the meeting room, they also help inspire the creatives from the department.

Some of the quotes on glass panels.

Life's journey

Same same?

A friend of mine had bought a new Toyota sedan. The car looked stylish and quite spacious inside. He was very proud of it and often drove his friends around the city.

A few months later, a transportation company used this new Toyota model to launch its taxi service. You can see them almost anywhere in the city, the once-exclusive car model is now painted in yellow and black. 

Suddenly, the privilege of owning it has disappeared. 

My friend was upset and decided to trade in for another model. 

Mind you, but where has the privilege gone? 

Old taxi, from Varanasi to Sarnath.

Points of view

The other side

It's very easy for us to forget the other side when we are so caught up with what we see in front of us. Too many times we see things the way we want to see, conveniently neglecting other possible points of view.

But if we change our angle of seeing a problem, sometimes we will be rewarded with not just a solution, but a whole new world of possibilities.

World renowned painter, Renoir, said it best: "When I have arranged a bouquet for the purpose of painting it, I always turn to the side I did not plan."

Nelson's column, seen through an autumn branch 

in Trafalgar square.

Gourmet trip

Italian touches

I was briefed to do a print campaign for a posh Italian restaurant in Bangkok. The client claimed that it has one of the most expensive menus in town.

I did a tour around the kitchen with the Italian chef. He made 10 dishes for me to try and one of them was a salad made with really expensive tomatoes. "All the ingredients are imported directly from Italy! " the chef proudly acclaimed.

I saw a simple visual idea in those words he told me.

Making use of the colours of the ingredients, I managed to say "truly Italian" in an interesting juxtaposition. 

Indeed, when you look deeply, you can see the sun, the rain, the soil, the hard work of Italian farmers in those ingredients.

Italian flag 1 with crabmeat as an appetizer.

Italian flag 2 with lamb chop as a main course.

Italian flag 3 with fruity pudding as a dessert.

Book to share

Life is a beach

We are like the children on the beach, joyfully involved in building all the beautiful sand castles. We get fascinated by what we created, quarreling over seashells and digging spades. We go through all kinds of emotional ecstasy about what we gain or what we lose.

The enlightened ones are just like the adults on the sun decks underneath the shades. They sip their cocktail while watching the kids "playing" friskily on the beach without any judgmental remark. They will not get upset or angry or disappointed over someone stepping onto the sand castles. They just watch from a distance, as if they are not in the scene.

-- Taken from "Almost Buddhist" by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche.

Frolicking on the beach of Cote D'azure, Nice.