We like to duet duet (sung to the Madagascar tune "We like to move it")

Finally, Will.I.Am has met up with Fergie.

Mr. MyHump has finally met up with cousin and they finally manage to practise the whole song, My Hump, without the usual jeering from the K-gang about 'The Market song". (The K-gang always laugh at the song being a "See Hump" or "Lala" (cockles and muscles in Cantonese) song.

And MC was all smiles when cousin says he's a real "singer" and continued to sing his chinese songs without having to fight with CK and D.

This isn't a very funny blog, because the 2 male "singers" were really serious about this practise session and cousin was totally lost because she has never heard of those old school songs belted out by the 2 "male singers".

So, she and I just continue to find new K songs (boy, I just realised she's good at bringing forth those powerful R&B songs).

It was a duet day, where we all practised mostly duet songs..Most fruitful for Mr.MyHump where he duet with cousin (My Hump), with myself (Come what may) and with MC (Dao Lang's chinese songs)... even Cousin and I having a duet song for ourselves... the old school "Top of the world" hahaha...

MC and I, however, didn't have enough time to practise our duet... as the karaoke kicked us out before our song came on...

Well, it's alright, don't think it'll be long before we have another duet session.... :) And I am sure we all had fun during the "high-tea* cum gossip" session with the "Lobster" and the "what happened to your face!"stories. hahaha

*Note: our high-tea doesn't refer to the afternoon hi-tea buffet at hotels. It refers to our high class tea sessions, a phrase coined by our teaman, err... Keyman. hahaha.

Tiramisu o tiramisu.

A special note on the recent Puchong yumcha trip which was somewhat funny but meaningful.

You see, it was Keyman's wive's birthday but he was bored with his "forced" long leave and decided to invite us to a tea session just before he goes to a nearby spaghetti deli to have a simple celebration with his dear wife. As they were a pair of "seasoned couple", Kee mentioned that he has stopped buying flowers or cakes for birthdays. MC and I felt sorry for the wife, and brought Kee to CakeSense to buy her a cake. As we entered the cakehouse, there were already 2 aunties (one standing, one squating) busy selecting cakes. So Kee said to me, "Aiyah, chin chai lar (anything would do). Just buy small one." I spotted a small tiramisu at the bottom corner of the fridge and I told Kee, "Buy Tiramisu la. Tiramisu is nice."

Hearing us, the 2 aunties IMMEDIATELY shouted for the shop attendant, "HALLO, HALLO... I WANT TIRAMISU".

Since there were 2 Tiramisus in the fridge and to avoid the shop attendant walking twice to the fridge to get the cake, Kee also requested for the Tiramisu. Then the shop attendant ask if we wanted to write anything on the cake. Initially, Kee thinks it's not necessary (since it's such a small cake). So the 2 aunties also shake their head and say "no need". I thought it'll be a romantic gesture to have a personalised message and told the shop assistant otherwise. In a flash, the 2 aunties also changed their minds and wanted to personalised their cake too. Keyman's message was simple, "Happy Birthday, to my dear wife".(ok ok, you'd know I added the latter part if you know Keyman's manly man character.)

As the 2 aunties hurried to write their uncreative message (maybe trying to beat Keyman to see who can write faster) , I noticed that there were lots of scratches and corrections on their piece of paper. They finally gave up writing and told the shop attendant, "Put la, 'Happy Birthday From Goh Family.'"

Now the 2 aunties, at the height of their 'kiasuism'*, thinking that we're figthing with them for service or the cake, began to scold the store assistant for "unfocused" service. Aw c'mon, there are 2 cakes... and besides, to fight for service when you're paying RM20 for the cake? How much tips do you think those aunties would pay even if the shop attendant rendered perfect service?

(*hokkien word for behaviour where one is afraid of losing out to others)

Anyway, we finally paid for the cake and got into the car, and started to rejoice that we had a great, eventful yc session and wondered how Mrs. Keyman would react to the surprise cake and the lovely message. Suddenly Keyman panicked and exclaimed, "Oh no, I didn't check the cake. What if she opens the cake and it says, 'From Goh Family'! How am I to explain?"

Well, I am sure creative Keyman can think of something.. :)

First time on stage

All the practice sessions in the karaoke did not prepare me for the embarassment which I brought upon myself last Saturday. I was literally forced to duet with a fellow colleague on stage to help foster better relationships within the team. Team building it seems. Somehow, I just get a feeling I was being conned - you know, like the famous cantonese saying, "being put on a table" (Umm, this has slightly different meaning from the English Idiom, "putting someone on a pedestal" (which has a good meaning). The Cantonese version refers to putting someone in a spot and subsequently forcing him to do something unwillingly where the task is totally non-beneficial to him whether or not it is performed). While it was a good experience, I cant forget how my hands shivered as I held the microphone on my right hand. I had to grasp it with both hands to stop it from being obvious. Now I know why people use both hands when they sing in a competition... ahahaha..

And it all started so badly that I fumbled on the first 2 lines. I was too playful and concentrated in trying to make my duet partner mess up his lines that I messed up my own lines. I was teasing him asking him to put in more feelings... and laughing to distract him but he was good... he didnt get distracted nor panicked. Yours truly, however, was so panicked that I forgot the whole tune ahahah.... The song was "When I fall in love", by Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole. ("Dont even think about trying Celine Dion's version", I warn myself!) Not a difficult song at all but if you do not know how to bring out the best of the song, it'll sound as boring as watching grass grow...

And to think that my cousin's band wanted to use me as their back up lead singer last time (I can't be the lead singer because I can't be commited to the band :P - well, you know, with big B and little b, I can't go for practises and gigs as often as I wanted....). I think they must have thanked their lucky stars for not being serious about their band... hahahah...

Oh well, it was a boring first time... A line that Macau Tycoon Stanley Ho's daugther Josie Ho said during the Forbes interview repeats in my head. Btw, Josie is 8th in Forbes Billionaire heiress list and is the only Chinese on the list. She said, "I stopped my singing career after singing very badly off key on stage..... but my friends encouraged me not to give up...."

So.... if you think you have rid of me and no longer have to fight me for the mic in Karaokes, you are dead wrong.... ahahahaha Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go practise my vocal chords..:) La la la la la la la....

Shy guy

I am slightly worried about little b's shyness. I mean, he's a boy, he has to grow up to be a manly man, but he's pretty shy sometimes. For example, during the first day of school, during assembly, where all the kids were pretty at home after a while, little b just sat by himself at the corner. One boy came over to play with him but little b avoided his advances. Others would say that it's arrogance but I still think it's shyness and his reluctance to open up to others bothers me. The other little boy was so brave and he made friends in no time. And the funny thing was, he was quite adamant to make friends with little b. That brave boy tried and tried to play with little b, by playfully patting him here and there, and luring him to play tag fights, disturbing him, but nothing works. After a while, he was a bit frustrated at little b's arrogance, and he turned to me and say,

"Auntie, why your son don't talk one?"


Hahaha.. I just shy away and pretended I didn't hear and continued to snap photos..

Then again, there's really nothing I can do about his shyness but hope that he'll grow out of it. Perhaps, as he thread along life's long and winding road, he'll find the courage and also discover all the good things that life has in stored for him... Meanwhile, I think I better start to enjoy my life too and stop being a worry wart.

Sinfully Penang

Just came back from food paradise and feels a bit remorse after all the sins that I have committed during the weekend.

I have to repeatedly remind myself that I am only human, and to err is human.... I mean, who could resist all those temptations? Cheap and delicious seafood; prawns (mantis and normal), crabs, fish, cockles, muscles, snails, escargots, oysters, all fresh from the sea into the wok, cook to perfection...



And even the hawker food is super tantilising:- asam laksa, curry laksa, prawn noodles, fried koay teow, koay teow th'ng, wantan noodles (It's spelled as 'Wan Than Mee' there), popiah, lobak, Batu Maung satay (with the sauce burnt in), o'chien (fried oysters on eggs),....

Also the deserts are mouth watering.... ais kacang, cendol, rojak, fried ice-cream (@batu kawan), apam, apam balik, tody (coconut wine@Ong Cheng Huat), etc

*Note: For hawker's treats, I find that Gurney and Air Itam laksa are too commercialised. Instead, go for Lorong Selamat, Swatow Lane, Pulau Tikus, Jalan Datuk Keramat to experience the hidden treasures.

The food list goes on and on.. and even though I have an indefinite appetite for good food (and highly unrestrained but acute tastebuds to match), I was short of time and had limited stomach capacity, and thus, much to my dismay, I couldn't fit everything in one trip. However, I am quite pleased that we managed to pack in as much as we can and besides, it's the quality, not quantity, that counts.

As we've been to Penang many many times, we strived to go to places less travelled and take the roads least taken. We literally drove around the island in search for food. We went from "Beginning of the World" to the "End of the World" to sample the best and cheapest seafood around. Did you know that the mantis prawns can cost RM3 per mantis prawn in one restaurant and RM100 per 1 kg in another and these 2 restaurant are in the same area (Tambun) and only a few doors away from each other? Ok, I know the price commensurate with the size but I find it exhorbitant to price it at RM100 per 1 Kg! I might as well eat imported Alaskan Snow Crabs with this price! We also go to great lengths to taste the Batu Maung Satay. You see, the Tasty Seafood restaurant which used to be located on stilts at sea, has been replaced by a a quay. If we weren't adamant enough to ask around, we wouldn't have found out that it has moved to a shop lot nearby.

Enough said about food, let's talk about places of interest. With time constraint, we visited only selected places, mainly to introduce the kids to the uniqueness of Penang. We visited the Snake Temple (to show the kids real snakes in close proximity), and Kek Lok Si (to view the old and new statue of Kwan Yin and it's one of the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia). And since the kids have never been to the beach, we took them to Gurney Drive, Pulau Jerejak Jetty and Batu Ferringhi to show them the different types of seaside (man made, rocky and sandy). Also introduce them to some natural water resources by showing them 2 of the 3 dams in Penang, i.e. Air Itam dam, and Teluk Bahang dam and then later on the way home, took them to Sg Klah hot springs in Sungkai (teach them how to boil an egg or half boil if you please)



And a trip to Penang is not complete without buying the authentic "Tau Sar Pneah" (aka green bean/dragonball/Tambun biscuit) and Sesame Oil from Ghee Hiang. Incidentally, we also bought Heong Pneah from a peddlar after tasting the sample at Tambun seafood area.

Anyway, nothing beats the real thing, so dont let my words and photos influence you. Go taste and experience Penang for yourself.

Monkey see monkey do...

The title sounds like monkey business, eh? Actually, I am talking about a more serious issue here. It's about exposing children to the violence and profanities that a lot of movies or games which are often simply rated U here to allow more audience and to boost up ticket sales. Yeah, many would say that I am just over-protective ... but something that little b said today reinforced my need to filter all the things that gets to his eyes and ears...

He was playing with his Ninja Turtles figurines... and was talking to himself...

"Hey, I am a lady, which one of you are attracted to me?"

Actually, this was a line said by King Julien in the Madagascar 2 trailer.... There's nothing vulgar or inappropriate about this line. It's just the fact he's repeating the words without knowing the meanings of it that bothers me.

*note: I have parents telling me that they hear their sons repeating profanities such as the following after playing some games.

"Die you a**h*le!"

"F*ck!"

"Sh*t! Not again!"

You see, I am very careful about what movies that little b gets to watch or what kind of games he can play... online or otherwise. I have trained him from young to avoid TV shows or movies which are too violent, too much blood, or has too many swear words or shouting going around. I told him that these are "adult movies" and he would often tell me that he prefers to watch cartoons or disney channel whenever there were killings or fist/sword/gun fighting movies are around. Also he would tell me about violent games he comes across online and I would tell him to avoid playing them and play with educational games such as Fisher Price, Barney, Disney Channels etc instead.

Lately, he has taken up the fancy of watching movie trailers on the Apple website. I allow that because I trust that US have strict movie ratings systems and even the trailers have ratings. And so I gave him full access to watch anything he likes and since he's been trained to avoid those horror/thriller movies, he'd go for cartoons, and comedies. Then again, cartoons are being catered for adult viewing nowadays and so the dialogues in it may not be too appropriate for younger viewers.

Maybe I am a little paranoid, maybe I am over-protective, maybe I have to accept the fact that little b is growing at his own pace... no matter how fast it may be. Yeah, he's growing up real fast. With the internet, his access to knowledge is way faster and is way beyond the frontier of what it used to be during our "ancient" (before internet) times.

Oh, side track a bit, yesterday I brought him to his new school to register for Year 1 and as I watch him mingle with the other 6-year-olds, I wonder where and how all these 6 years flew pass. I really can't remember it all. When I see other flustered parents; bumbling around looking for their classes, their books, the teachers, fussing over their kids with cameras and video cams, I know I am not alone in bringing up my bundle of joy.

And none of the kids cried or cling to their parents. I can hear parents telling the children, "Quick sit in front" or "Just tell the teacher what you want" or "Say your name loudly" ... to which the children reacted positively... i.e. they sat in front, and told the teacher that they wanted to sit next to a girl all by themselves, and wasn't afraid of public speaking. And then I realised that this is the new generation. A generation who are not afraid to speak their minds, very independent and is highly capable of taking care of themselves and their own needs.

So, back to our topic of filtering the best for our children, seeing how assertive this new generation can be, I still think it's best to filter out the good things to "feed" to our children to build their foundations. I know that I can't protect him forever, and he's expose to 1001 bad things out there but I can rest in peace knowing I have done my best for him. The rest is up to God and himself... :)

PDA (no, it's not your handphone)

I wanted to blog a little about PDA - Public Display of Affection (No, even though I am an IT geek, I am not referring to the Personal Digital Assistant)... but I guess I just let the pictures do the talking... :)

Live from Station 1

Hey hey hey... never knew I could do this.... live blogging.... Yours truly and her clubbing gang are at Station 1... a cafe with live band (it's crappy-imagine a guy who had to do both the woman and a man's voice when singing... but hey it's live entertainment so we try not to complain too much) and alcohol (the live beverage) ...

Anyway, here's some pics ... pre-Deepavali celebration... whoo hoo....




Alright... excuse me for now... before the tower of carlsberg finishes .. haha and there's a lot to catch up to do on the hot gossips ... :)

Special note: the most juicy gossip for the night revolves around Kenson and the fishballs and Alex and his origami flowers muahahaha

The stress releasor

I went for a stress management class recently. My boss appreciates me enough to acknowledge that I do have a lot of work and think that I should attend this class. That's positive thinking. The negative sentense to the same thought sounds like this, "My boss thinks that I am not handling my work well enough and thus creating a lot of stress for myself and sends me to this class to learn a thing or two to increase my performance."

Much like the "secret", which I discussed in my previous blog, this class emphasis the importance of positive thinking...Positive thinking is stressed over and over again as one of the main stress reliever. To change your state of mind is the basic step to overcome stress.

One of the exercises was to ask you to write down what your average day look, sounds, feel like. This is what I wrote:

"I wake up rested to the sound of my mother in law fussing over my son's getting ready to go to school. I go to work with the sun in my eyes, the sound of traffic horns and busy policemen in sight. I step into the office to hear the frantic buzzing of ringing phones and constant chattering of some busy colleagues. As I sit down, the dull drone of my slow PC fills my ears and I continue working to churn out solutions after solutions to help ease my customers with their daily manual processes. I return home to the smell of my mother in law's cooking and the hustle and bustle of the TV and my son playing."

The trainer asked me to read out my passage and she in turn change all those into negative forms.

"I wake up barely rested to the sound of my son, fussing and refusing to go to school again. My grumbling mother in law is not helping and my husband is complaining that his shirts are not ironned. I set out to work to find a horrendous traffic jam and the stupid policemen are not doing anything about it. I curse and honked at the cars beside me because there are a lot of donkeys behind the wheels. As I reached the office, the phones have already started ringing, signalling that there are more problems to be reported to me. I see colleagues running late for meetings while swearing loudly. I sit down wondering when my slow PC is ever going to produce the results which my screaming customers are already waiting for. I return home exhausted but I am forced to eat my mother in law's cooking. My couch potato husband will watching TV while my son will be playing instead of working on his homework."

So you see, the scenario is basically the same, but the CHOICE of words that we use are pretty powerful. If we look at the scenario in a positive manner, it does seemed like a good life to live, doesn't it?

While we may question whether this is living in denial, the trainer says it's not self denial but a CHOICE. We CHOOSE to look at the beautiful and positive side of things because the easiest thing to change is within ourselves and we should take that first step to look into ourselves and make that change. What she's preaching is that we try to see the brighter side of things so that it's easier for us thread along this path called life....

Of course, this change in the state of mind doesn't solve the problems that we have, but at least it clears the mind of negative thoughts so that our emotional brain doesn't take over to make irrational decisions. It clears the way for our Rational brain to evaluate the problems and the possible solutions while not being cluttered with negative emotional thoughts. When our emotional brain gets a rest, and our rational mind is able to solve the problems systematically, then our stress level will reduce.

Hope the sharing of this quick tip (positive thinking) helps..

The Secret

The current buzz is all around "The Secret"....

The SECRET is OUT... everyone is talking about it...

What is it actually...?? Well, allow me to enlighten if you haven't already heard "The Secret". Rhonda Byrne, an Austrlian talkshow producer, discovered "the secret to the most powerful law in the universe" through a 100 year old book (The Science of Getting Rich, 1910 by Wallace D. Wattles). She captured all her findings in a book (and a film) to explain the secret to life where you can create unlimited happiness, joy, youth, love, health and prosperity.

While I haven't read the book nor watched the film, I can tell you a gist of the secret (*because everyone is talking about it and its even on Oprah!). It basically teaches you the "Law Of Attraction". What Rhonda wants to tell us is... "if you are thinking about how bad your life is, bad things will continue to happen; if you start thinking about great things, they will inevitably manifest." Rhonda explains that by POSITIVE THINKING will make your gloomy life brighter because once you think positive, it will attract the intergalactic forces of nature to work its way magically to give you whatever you wish for...

Ummm... let me forewarn that there are also writers ("The Secret: Ten Problems I Have with Rhonda Byrne's Best Seller" by Charlie Campbell and "The Secret Promotes 'Name It-Claim It' Theology" by Don Whitney) who ran into problems when they practised Rhonda's Secrets. I have also been warned by people who practices these so call "secret" to BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.... because while your wishes may come true, you do not know how the intergalactic forces of nature works and it may grant your wishes in the most unimaginable way and bring unforeseen and unwanted consequences. An example quoted by "<cant remember the name, will update when I find it> " is; a poor couple practised the secret and wished for some money and the next thing they know, their child is dead and they get to claim a sum of money from his insurance. Sounds grim, doesn't it?

I am an optimistic person and while I agree that positive thinking is good, I am worried that people may take this Secret thing a bit too far. For example, are we saying those who are starving, isn't thinking about food hard enough or those in war-ridden or poverty-plagued countries isn't fantasizing about "blue skies and everything nice" with enough enthusiasm? I worry about the younger generations thinking that now they don't even have to work for their wealth, as they can just have to sit back and dream it into existence.

The point I am getting at is simple. Don't overdo with this secret thingy. We need to question ourselves, "Are we matured enough, both emotionally and mentally, if we are empowered with "THE GREAT POWER OF THE UNIVERSE"? It's one thing to think positive and another thing to RELY ONLY on positive thinking. You have to work towards the goals you set or the dreams you dream. Yes, the good things in live will manifest but you still need to do something about it instead of just sitting down there doing nothing but dream. Heed the wise words of Uncle Ben (Spiderman), "With great powers comes great responsibilities."

While I don't deny the power of "The Secret", I would prefer the teachings to tells us that we have the CHOICE to POSITIVE thinking and whether we WANT TO BE HAPPY depends entirely on us. I mean, it's obvious that threading on with our lifes with a positive outlook is always easier than a negative one. We can choose to dwell in anger and other negative activities but it's OUR CHOICE to snap out of it and channel that negative energy to something POSITIVE. I know it's not easy to just snap out of it so that's why I say it's OUR CHOICE; you can choose to be in any state you want because only you know best when you are ready (emotionally, mentally and physically) to switch from the negative to positive state of mind. This is no secret nor will it guarantee joy, health, wealth or whathever Rhonda Byrne promised in her book, but at least it will help make our lives a little easier to thread on. Don't you think so? (Oh...You better agree with me or Rhonda Byrne will say you're not POSITIVE enough, ha ha.)

Have a great positive week ahead!

Here's the official "The Secret" website for your reference. Sounds interesting but take everything with a pinch of salt. After all, it's your choice.

http://www.thesecret.tv/

Bryan - attached to the computer or to me?

Bryan is sitting on my lap as I type this blog. It's a pretty nice feeling as only yesterday I was complaining to my friend that my son isn't attached to me. Yeah yeah, I know, it's all my fault that I don't spend enough time with him but no, I am not going to dwell on that right now... because I just want to enjoy this moment with him...

"Ok Bryan, it's time for me to play the computer. You go watch your Kung Fu Panda..."

"No Mom, I don't wanna watch that. I want to sit with you Mom. I promise I won't touch anything."

Those goodie two shoes words are bound to melt any mother's heart, even the strictest...

"Alright then. Do you want to play with my facebook? Like feed the werewolves?"

"But Mom, feeding them are SOOO BORINGGG! I rather go read my books..."

With that statement, I can't help but laugh...

Well well well, Bryan has grown up and has a mind of his own... no longer accepting everything I feed him... He knows what he wants online. He goes into Google and search for his own entertainment, be it Disney Channel, YouTube or online games like Scooby Doo, Spiderman or Batman. Yep, he started to surf the net at the tender age of 3, thanks to the online addicted Mom. My intentions isn't to make him technology savvy but to tap onto the advanced US websites such as Fisher Price and HIT Entertainment (Home of Barney and Thomas & Friends) whereby they have modern methods in making learning fun. Ok, ok I confess...I was also lazy. I let the web teach my son the ABCs and the 123. But hey, it works. My son even learnt about shapes and colours all through the web!

Ok, this leads me to another confession... this Mom is also guilty of leaving language teaching all to technology whereby his son learnt all the English phrases from Channel 613 - Playhouse Disney Channel on Astro. No regrets though, as his command of English is pretty good for his age and I liked the way he practises his English with me. I remember there was one night 2 years ago when I came home from work and he said with all seriousness and in perfect English intonation,

"Where have you been, Mom? I am so glad to see you... I missed you."

However, I didn't get a hug or any emotional display of the intense missing feeling, so I assumed it must have been some line he picked up from the Playhouse Disney Channel. Still, he certainly made my day and has touched my heart with that line and you bet I'll remember it for the rest of my life!

While I am proud that he's had a head start, just a word of caution to the parents out there - Just be sure that they don't play or stare at the monitor too much. Too much of a good thing is always bad. And try to get an LCD monitor, if possible. I think my earlier cathode tube monitor and cathode tube TV may have caused some short sightedness in Bryan. Although some may argue that his short sightedness might be hereditary, it never hurts to be safe than sorry....

What makes me happy?

Seeing his squinty eyes,
telling me all kinds of adventure,
in all its silliness.

His small little hands,
holding on to my weathered hands,
asking me for protection.

His inquisitive mind,
bewildered by all new things,
Daring to try and experiment.

His cheeky little smile,
His chuckly bursty laughter,
His mischievous style.

Yes, all these little things
means the world to me,
and simply makes me happy.

Movie Experiences and it's not THX

My movie outings are never short of "extraordinary" incidents. Yesterday I went to watch Painted Skin with my girlfriend, MissS. Since she's single, I decided to play cupid to get her a date. Furthermore, I owe a guyfriend, Mr.G, a treat for helping me out with my dead car batteries. No no, I am not saying I am giving away MissS as a treat, but hey, if she's willing, it's a bonus ha ha. Anyway, he wasn't very keen at first, as he was already getting ready for bed, but who could resist when I said I would bring a beautiful girl along. He even cancelled his earlier supper plans with his friends, just to meet MissS.

While I appreciated their spontaneity, I had only half an hour to pick up the 2 of them, get to 1Utama, get a parking lot, get the tickets and get the popcorns - so much to achieve, huh? Well, we made it there around 9:35 (show scheduled for 9:45pm) so I had to ask MissS and Mr.G to get the tickets first while I park the car. MissS insisted that she can get the tix by herself and had Mr.G accompany me to the carpark.

"Aiyah, you girls are so fickle, I can't be in 2 places at the same time, so I will just stay put." With that, Mr.G remained seated at the back of the car, laughing, teasing and making me look like Driver Ahmad... Darn!

If you thought that was the worse thing that could happen, brace yourself. S came back with the tickets, all separate seats! She rationale that there was only front row seats left and she wanted to have good seats in the centre of the cinema and dont mind seating separated from us! So she got 2 seats for 3rd row from the screen, and 1 for the centre of the cinema. Mr.G couldn't believe it and wanted to take a picture of the tickets as he's never known anyone who would buy such tickets. (but MissS wouldn't allow me access to the tickets in case I force her to sit with him... silly woman!) It was really an embarassing predicament for me, but since we were already late for the movie, we quickly move on to the confectionary counters to get our popcorns and rush to the movie.

Luckily (or unluckily for me?), Mr.G didn't fall asleep during show despite being so tired. He kept himself busy by guessing the script/dialogue and telling me aloud (much to the chagrin of my neighbour). As for me, I just couldn't wait to get out of the cinema due to my full bladder!

So much for the movie outing with Mr.G and MissS but that is not the silliest I have experienced.

My silliest and most embarassing one would be the time when I was way younger and my date didn't tell me our seat numbers. I went into the dark cinema and my eyes couldn't adjust and I just stood there while my date went to his seat. When my eyes finally adjusted, I couldn't find where he was seated and so I had to just stand at the back of the cinema until he came back to guide me. It was so embarassing but somehow darn funny when I look back now!

Another funny experience would be the one when my guyfriend came in late and had to traverse through a whole line of people to get to his seat. First, he was already silly to get in from the side where there were more people. Second, he had to choose to go through these people with him facing the seats rather than facing the screen. So, midway, when he lost his balance and fell on one of the women (stranger), we couldn't help laughing our heads off!

There was another time when one of my movie partners couldn't stop talking the whole movie! I could only laugh as I was concentrating on the movie but I could hear something about Bourne Identity's Matt Damon being greater than Jackie Chan!

Of course there are those who goes to the movies and starts sleeping. It is fine if he goes around the world (*head tossing and turning around as he dozes off) but it can be both embarassing and distracting if he starts snoring! You would never believe that one can sleep and snore through an interesting and explosive action-packed movie (The Red Cliff). I had to poke him a few times to stop him from disturbing other viewers!

There was also one time when MrB went to the movies with me in kitchen slippers (*See pic). Boy, I couldn't stop laughing at him.

I guess I better stop revealing too much of my movie experiences before I scare away all my movie partners. Rest assured, your movie outings with me will never be a boring one!

Relationships - like a pair of ill fitting shoes?

Lately, I bought a lot of shoes... I don't know what contributed to my sudden liking for shoes... Perhaps I was under the influence of Sex and the City... where Carrie Bradshaw owns like every branded shoes in New York city. ahahaha

I have always thought shoes should be:
1) lasting (I hate the hassle of having to always shop for shoes),
2) comfortable to wear (as I used to do a lot of walking) and
3) pleasant to the eyes. (I am not a fashion slave, so anything that's not ugly would be good for me.)

Hmm... doesn't the above makes you think of criterias when looking for a partner?
1) lasting relationship
2) comfortable to be with and
3) pleasant to the eyes. (beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, right?)

Come to think of it, shoes are the perfect analogy for a partner...

Some shoes are beautiful to look at, but they are more often than not, very uncomfortable to wear. Yet, people choose to wear them, hoping that their feet will either get used to it or the shoes will get bigger with more wears. Very much like hoping for a partner to change or hoping that we would one day get used to our partner bad habits. Wishful thinking.. You'd probably end up with sore feet and bad blood circulation with ill-fitting shoes, much like in a relationship, where both end up hating each other for their bad behaviours.

Some people buy shoes because they just want to horde. Maybe it was the last pair, or maybe someone else was eyeing for the same pair of shoes or maybe it was a bargain you couldn't resist. This kind of purchase usually ends up in regret, as the size might not fit (last pair with odd size) or we find that we didn't really like the shoes in the first place. Analogous to some people getting a partner due to peer pressure, or simply because the guy/girl was a "hot item" where everyone else seems to be interested in.

And if the shoes doesn't fit, it's pretty simple to just kick them off and buy a new one. Nowadays, we can pretty much say the same about relationships whereby some people take the easy way out to find a new partner when they find that they no longer fit into each other's life.

Having said this, I don't deny that there are plenty of good looking, comfortable and lasting shoes out there.... We just have to find them. And when you do find them, take good care of them, as they can accompany you on a long lasting and comfortable journey.

So much philosophy in just a pair shoes .. ahhaha... Maybe I think too much...

Good luck in finding your perfect fit...

Mooncake festival - Lanterns and mooncakes galore

My family is still practising the Chinese traditions... and I am quite proud of that because I believe, these traditions will fade with the new generations. All of my siblings have no idea how to carry on these traditions, thus... they are going to be lost forever ... and what's left would be these pictures and blogs to remind the next generation of how to celebrate these chinese traditions... :P Ours is a pretty simplified celebrations of the Mid-Autumn festival... but I am sure the kids enjoyed themselves with the pretty lights and the goodies.. :)

(from the pictures below, you can see gluttony runs in our family.. hahahah)

Happy Mooncake Festival

It's mooncake festival today... I haven't had the time to blog recently and there's a lot happening in my life right now... Mostly work related... so I have been busy, busy, busy (which translate to stressful, stressful stressful)

It was fun bringing little b and his cousin Miao to a community mooncake festival organised by the local political party. Despite all the news in the newspapers lately, it is great to see people of various races gather together to celebrate the mooncake festival in peace and harmony.