Badminton Fever Part 3 - Prize Ceremony

The situation was funny and “liun sui” (messy). All the winners wear eager to get a glimpse of their prize money and trophies. The guys were teasing and asked the girls why they never dress up for the prize giving ceremony and Shirley retorted that she forgot to bring her night gown. Then Desmond added that she should just go Sg. Wang to “set up” her hair. Incidentally the winners of the Women’s doubles (from another department) were actually in full make up when they were playing last Saturday, so we really wondered if they really did go to the salon before going for the prize giving ceremony haha. (Hello, this is a sports prize giving ceremony, not your high school prom, ok?…. hahaha)

The winners : Check out the one with "full make up" - can you find the prom queen?

All the winners were totally excited (almost drooling!) when they saw their prizes. I don’t blame them old folks, as the last prize giving ceremony which they have been to was their junior high sports day or probably their kid’s school sports event. So you can imagine how long it has been …

In all his excitement to receive the final and most prestigious prize for the morning, the champion trophy for the Men’s Singles category, Sam dropped his Men’s doubles trophy which he had received just minutes before. Watch the video to see the commotion which he caused with his funny antics. Who would have thought something as hilarious as this would happen on a mundane prize giving ceremony? Well, there’s always something funny when you’re with this bunch. Check out the video to see what I mean...

(*Just for your information, the happy guy in green was just a representative for Sean (2nd runner up winner for Men's singles) but doesn't he seems sooo happy to receive the prize? haahha)

Badminton Fever Part 2

25 APR 2009: It was a hot sweltering afternoon and as I drove to the tournament grounds in PJ, I can't help but wonder to myself if the trip was even worth it. My text message to LP on whether it was already too late to watch any of the games went unanswered and I thought probably the answer was not favourable, thus she didn't bother to answer. You see, the games started at 9am but I could only get off my other full-time job only at around 2pm. (Eh, eh, What were you thinking? I was refering to my weekend housewife job!) Ah well, even if there weren't any games left, I could always go for the MPH or Diethlam Sale ...

And so I went, and I have to say, I was really surprised to see most of the teams already entered finals or semis. As I walked into the stuffy hall of heat and sweat, all of them were already complaining about back aches, arm injuries, muscle pull, leg strains ... all kinds of everything, which makes it even harder to believe that so many of them have qualified (I actually asked a few people, a few times, to confirm that they really qualified... haha).

At that time, against all the odds, the men of IT have already qualified for both men's singles finals and men's doubles finals. Sean was already in a game fighting for 3rd placing in men's singles which he eventually won without much stress. There were 2 women doubles team from IT and one of them have already qualified for the finals (hurray!celebrations guaranteed!) and the other women doubles team was already halfway in the semi finals game (so "kancheong" aka. exciting). It was a really close game as we could see the girls fighting right to the end of the rubber set. Despite this little setback, the girls still made us really proud for bagging the 2nd and 3rd placing. Go gurlllls!!!

The mix doubles semi finals was pretty fun to watch with Puah saying that his arms were dropping off and Patrick and LP joking around in the courts during the game. There was one part where Pat asked LP if she hated him so much that she was giving the opportunity for the opponent to smash the shuttle at him. It was probably part of their strategy as the opponent started to eavesdrop onto their conversation and laughed and began losing points. On the other court, Puah jokingly called out to Sam for a helping hand and Sam passed him a wristband (or was it a hairband!?) to "prevent Puah's arms from falling off"!



Then the real action began. Sam played a tough opponent to grab the Men's Singles Champion title with rubber set while Sam and Patrick took home the Men's Double Champion. (The guys had played a total of 16 and 14 sets each on the same day! Amazing!). Actually, it was pretty intimidating when I first saw the 2 tall and lean young opponents; both of whom had that "National Badminton Player-look". It was like watching Malaysia vs Indonesia doubles finals. Little did I think that our IT guys stood a chance against those young, mean looking opponents but yet again, they surprised me pleasantly by giving these young opponents a run for their money! (watch the video but kids, dont try this at home!)

At the end of the day, IT bagged 4 out of 11 titles offered (3 positions for men's singles, 2 each for women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mix doubles) .... A very impressive figure, wouldn't you say, considering the stereotyping of IT techies/geeks to be weak in sports.

I have to put my hats down for our IT Badminton team. They can really have fun during training and yet when it comes to business (tournament), they really can beat the living daylights out of their opponents. In my humble opinion, if every department adapts this kind of culture into their daily work (have fun at work but yet getting the job done!), I am sure we can build a tight, fun, highly motivated and successful team.

Badminton Fever?

It's badminton night again tonight. I cannot believe the bunch will follow through after last week. I thought it was like the Gym craze where participants will drop out like flies and eventually die a natural death. But no, this week, it was full attendance. Despite all the complains from all the old folks about arm pains, leg pains, here pain, there pain, all of them turned up for the practise this week. It is pretty amazing to see how team spirit can bring out the best in people.

You see, there's an intra-company Badminton Tournament this coming weekend and it's interesting to see quite a number of participants from our department. Even though majority are old folks and possibly joining the competition for the sake of some exercise (old folks are more concerned about health), it's refreshing to see new blood blending in too (the younger ones tend to speed up the game and make it a more interesting watch ahaha).

Today, there were major casualties. 3 players got sprained... and the funny thing was... all 3 had injuries at the unthinkable areas!!! All sprained their BUTTOCKS!!! I find it so weird as I have never heard reports about badminton players spraining their buttocks. Imagine, the newspapers reports: Lim Chong Wei drops out of Malaysian Open due to BUTTOCKS INJURY. Ahahaha.. I think even Misbun will chuckle during the press conference. HAHHAHA

I think I will just leave you with some photos and let you be the judge of what the tournament this coming weekend would turn out to be. And some of them already finding excuses for not winning the tournament due to injuries.

Incidentally, there's a high chance for our IT division to win some titles due to the low participants from other divisions. So probably some of us might just get lucky and eventually walk over to win some titles. Whatever the outcome, yours truly is just eager to join in the yumcha and gossip sessions after all these games. hahaha. As they say, winning is not everything... but sure is a bonus.. :)

Ham sup blog

As you know, I have the blogger's block earlier ... and somehow doesn't feel what I write. When I don't feel what I write, the stories just goes down the drain. So I rather not write than to write something that bore the living daylights out of you.

And then, some brilliant friends came up with the idea of writing a hamsup (lustful) topic because everyone is attracted to these topics in one way or another... either because they are really lustful(hahaha!) or because they are just curious. Also, coincidentally, today's yumcha (tea session) garnered a full crowd when told that the yumcha topic was a "hamsup" topic.

Anyway, before you think this is going to be an X-rated blog, rest assured that this is just a PG13 blogsite... and you won't get full X-rated stuffs in here (sorry to disappoint those real hamsup fellows who are reading this... hahaha).

The whole hamsup topic was brought about because Keyman says that we cannot judge a book by its cover, i.e. we cannot tell whether a guy is lustful by just looking at his appearance. There were some interesting sweeping statements which was brought up:

1) Most "sei ngan jai" (4 eyed boys a.k.a be-spectacled guys) are hamsup. (reason being, they hide and read a lot of playboy magazines thus spoiling their eyesight).

2) Most "fei jai" (fatty/chubby guys) are hamsup. (reason given was that they have too much fat tissues, thus causing their body temperature to be higher than most boys, thus getting "aroused" easily).

3) Most "woo sou jai" (moustached guys) are hamsup. (This statement was made purely based on looks where guys with moustache looks generally more villiany or vice inclined)

4) Most "gong tau jai" (balding guys) are hamsup. (The rational is that there are more male hormones, i.e. testosterone, in balding guys and these hormones are responsible for higher sexual desires thus making them more lustful)

5) All real men should be hamsup. (refer to story below for the reasoning:)

Cat, Descool, and I were on MSN messenger one night. It was already midnight and Cat just signed on. Cat just gave birth and was waiting for the right time to breastfeed her son.

Descool: Eh, why midnight wake up to feed milk one?
Cat: because mine is a son.
Descool: Why son must drink milk at night?
Cat: because guy more hamsup so drink more milk (lol).
Descool: ka ka ka..... Kelly, your son got drink milk at night or not?
Me: hahaha, no wor....
Cat: yeah what, a guy who is not hamsup is not a guy.
Descool: ka ka ka..... so Kelly, you must teach your son to be more hamsup lar
Me: hahaha, crazy fellas.... midnight talk about hamsup stuffs
Cat: yeah, married woman all very hamsup one.
Me: Yerr, why you talk like that?
Cat: Yeah hor, I forgot I am also a married woman.. hahaha

So you be the judge.

Are those statements really true about the categories of men being more lustful? Ahaha...


*Disclaimer: The above statements are made purely based on the author's friends' personal judgements and are not based on any scientific research or facts. The article is meant as a joke for merriment and fun only and not meant to offend anyone. If the statements, by any chance, bears any resemblance to any persons, it is purely coincidental.

BM lessons anyone?

I was revising Bahasa Malaysia (BM) with little b the other day. I haven't been using nor reading BM for gazillion years... but now I have no choice... little b really needs help. His BM is so atrocious! He doesn't know what's "Saya" or "Satu" ... yeah, it's that bad... So I had to do something...

I went out to buy a few simple BM story books and a tri-lingual picture dictionary. And I asked him to read a page, then I test him...

Me : What's "mother" in BM?
little b: "Emak"
Me : What's "father" in BM?
little b: "Papa"
Me : (Press lips to pronounce clearly) "BA-PA la!!"

Me : What's "cousin" in BM?
little b: Errr,... Err.... Se... Se....
Me : Yes?
little b: Se.... Su.... Yes! SUSUPU!!!
Me : (in between muffled laughs...) NOOOO!!! You wanna drink Susu is it? (*knowing that Bryan hates milk)
little b: I know I know.... SESUPU!
Me : (Roll eyes) SE-PUPU lar!!!

Me : How to say "stupid" in BM?
little b: Stares and blink at me blankly!!
Me : BO..... (Trying to help him remember by giving him the first syllable)
little b: I know I know... BO-DAH!!!! (*PODAH means "go away" in Tamil)
Me : (Tries very hard to refrain from laughing)... It's BO-DOH, honey... Say "Bodoh" 10 times so that you will remember.
little b: Bo-do-bo-do-bo-do-bo-do....


Me : How to say "clever" in BM?
little b: (confidently) GAYA.
Me : What?
little b: Yehhhhssss (while nodding his head).... GAYA means smart... (very confident and adamant that his answer is right because he watches Ultraman Gaia a lot)
Me : hahaha.. ok... ok... But I want Clever, not Smart....
little b: ..Umm.... Pandai...
Me : Good, Pandai pun... So how to say "stupid"?
little b: stunned for a while, and stares at me blankly again, indicating that he had once again forgotten ...
Me : BO.... (trying to prompt him again)
little b: I know! BO-DAH!!!!
Me : (Faints!)

Dinotrek at Petrosains

Ok, everyone around us knows that little b is crazy over dinosaurs. Neighbours can hear us watching Jurassic Park 1,2,3 and the making of Jurassic Park over and over again and in that sequence of order.... And little b is so sensitive to dinosaur sounds that he can hear if our neighbours are watching Jurassic park.. he'll go..

"Listen mom. What's that sound? It's a Velopciraptor, isn't it?"

He'll repeat this until you answer him... if you still don't answer, he'll grab your face and force your head to turn and look his way and answer him. Yes, he's insistent and persistent... And he had been through all the dinosaurs website and youtube clips on dinosaurs a zillion times.

So, when I told him that there's a Dinosaur Exhibition at Petrosains, KLCC, he was estactic! And he started surfing the Petrosains website the whole Saturday and repeatedly asked us if we're going to Dinotrek....even went to bed early on Saturday and bugged us whole Sunday Morning until we gave up.

"Mom, wake up, it's morning!! See the sun? Wake up!!!"

So when we trot off to KLCC and he was so excited... and he kept telling me about T-rex vs Spinosaurus, in between his "Are we there yet?" whinings.. ;)

The irony is... little b already knows that there are dinosaurs which are carnivores and some which are herbivores. Yet, he would stop at nothing just to get the kick out of feeding the animals. (watch the video to understand what I am getting at. He'd feed the animals anything... from ferns to meat!). He tells me, "But Mom, they are hungry...", in the most sincere tone with the most innocent eyes... Now how can I get mad at him for being kind!

However, what worries me is that he still doesn't quite understand the concept of danger with meat-eating animals. He didn't hesitate to offer his own hands as food to the Spinosaurus when facing the moving carnivorous giant monsters of yesteryears. Luckily, the Spinosaurus was not fond of "small" servings... hahaha... Here's the video to show you what I mean... :)

Anyway, all in all, the Dinotrek 2 exhibition was quite educational, with activities and fun stuffs for children. Not a big exhibition area, probably takes up 45 minutes to 1 hour to cover everything on a low patronage day (also depending on how long you can linger).

A real "value-for-money" family activity place where tickets costs RM3 for children and RM6 for adults. (This exhibit is a separate display, independent of the Petrosains Centre. You would need to purchase separate tickets into the Petrosains Centre. There are concession rates if you buy the combo tickets. We didn't visit Petrosains because the crowd was too much for comfort on that school holiday weekend and it closes quite early... around 6pm on a weekend.

Despite all the high tech animatronics, I think most kids found the conventional sandbox the most fun. All of the kids couldn't resist being Paleontologists for a day; digging, brushing, unearthing the burried Triceratop and Parasaurus Fossil.

Confessions of a Glutton

In a moment of gluttony,
I have downed 2 packets of Indomie,
Now I am full of guilt,
A huge waistline I have built!

To top that up,
Creamy Milo Dinasaur, one gigantic cup,
Made me so sleepy,
That I forgot my maternal responsibilities!

So to school I must go,
With a lunch box in tow,
To seek repentance,
through inconvenience.

And forgiven I have been,
When greeted by the sweetest smile I have seen,
All the effort have been worthy,
Oh, thank you for being my baby....

Blogger's Block

Havent blogged much lately because the writer have come to a bloggers' block (again!?)... The heart isn't where it used to be. There are ideas which comes and goes in the writer's head but they remained as ideas and never manage to see the light of a published article.

There are a few things I would like to blog about ... LV's wedding, The Game bachelor's night with the "add ice" incident, and trivia matters like the WPC moment with my boss,.... minor funny things that used to become life's little joy has now become somewhat so trivial (or worse, on the brink of being boring!)... My mind is kept busy with all the things I should have done or be doing and would like to do.

What are these things? Amazingly, I don't know... (Yes, I know you feel like slapping me silly) What do I want? I don't know...(Ok, now I feel like slapping myself silly).... There's nothing that I really crave for or really want... which makes me a little worried.. .That I don't have a drive or direction anymore...

Maybe I am just lazy. Maybe mid-life crisis has kicked in again. Maybe it's just the end of the school holidays that's giving me the jeepers creepers...

Maybe all I need is a nice long bath....



Pictures source: www.123rf.com

A day at the zoo

T'was a lonnggggg day at the zoo. Was there from 11am-6pm... People who don't know us well might think we're a kiasu family, trying to squeeze the value of our entrance tickets. It's only RM15 for adults, and RM6 for children/senior citizen. Optionals are RM4 for parking and RM3 and RM2 for the tram ride for adults and children respectively. One of the most economical family outing sites in KL actually.

We were just in time for the animal show when we arrived. The 20-minute animal show wasn't really that good (as compared to the Bird Park shows or the animal show in A'famosa Safari) but it still drew a full house because that was the highlight of the whole zoo. After that, my sister's daughter started to complain of a stomach ache and had to poo poo... . hahaha..... Right after pooing she was bright and happy and running around like a wild horse with Bryan. Before that, she was so moody and lethargic....(probably because she was too eager to go to the zoo after waking up and didn't go poo in the morning ahahah)

So after that, we went around to show the kids all the animals. Little b was exceptionally eager to see the reptiles, especially the Anaconda and crocodiles. With him being so naughty, Mom and I was just so paranoid that he might jump into the crocodile pit. You see, he had seen a National Geographic documentary on crocodiles in Australia recently and in that documentary, Allistar, the guy who survived a crocodile attack was re-enacting the whole scenario and little b was very intrigue with crocodiles after that. He spent like a whole 5 minutes just staring at the crocs, asking me why are they waiting so silently inside the river. Sister told her daughter about the Sang Kancil and the crocodile story about how the crocs pretended to be logs in the river to prey on unsuspecting victims. After hearing that story, little b wonders if the crocs were waiting to prey on children and repeatedly asked me what were the crocs waiting for... as if to confirm if there were really waiting to prey on them. I hope he doesn't have any nightmares like how he had nightmares after watching the movie "Frankenfish".

Then we adjourned to the Savannah walk, which had an arch that looked like Jurassic Park and Bryan was humming the Jurassic Park song as we enter the Savannah to experience the African Safari. Yeah, Bryan is obsessed with Jurassic Park recently after getting the DVD box set as a present...

Well, it was somewhat awesome to see the almost extinct white rhinoceros basking in the wild amongst the giraffes, zebra and ostriches... but the heat was a bit too much to bear for this princess... . So we went to find a nice cool spot to sit down and eat the fruits and sandwiches which we brought along... sorta like a picnic... And then my sister's daughter, who is quite artistic (read this to see what I mean), whisked out her drawing block, and started to draw the giraffes. I thought she would want to draw the whole savannah but then after drawing the outline of the giraffe, she told us she's done. Hahaha.. so much for artist's block....

Anyway, all in all, it was a very tiring day because we practically walked from 11am to 6pm... we didnt take the tram because it was slow and hot....My legs, which are not used to exercise, are kinda reacting to the long walk only now (1 day after the trip) ahhaha... feeling very "syuen" (cramp) . Y'day was a good day because the weather was good and most of the animals were awake.

The Lions, Tigers and Hyenas were awake when we were there... Usually most of them are sleeping at the corner of their liar. But yday, the King and Queen of the animals were quite vain and paraded themselves on the pedestal (exhibitionist!!). Initially, the Lion King was just lazing on the pedestal after waking from his afternoon nap...Then, the lioness went up to join him and rub herself against the lazy Alpha Lion (hmm didn't know big cats are into PDA too...)... and ended up sitting on top of him... while he lie down in sweet surrender... pretty romantic scene.... hahaha. And the tigers were awake too and went for a swim in the moat that separate us and their lair, giving us a pretty close look at him.... And we saw cougars, pumas (very fat ones), and leopards being very active too. There were some animals which I have never quite seen before like the Binturung (the civet cat which isn't a cat, but looks like a fox and it's very fat ahaha and belongs to the mongoose family), the Barasingha (which is a deer and not a singa/lion), the Prairie dog (which is not a dog but a squirrel), and the flying fox (which is a bat and not quite fox..hmmm.... I had always thought a flying fox was a squirrel but I learnt something new yesterday.....) hahaha...

Well, the kids had fun not only because of the animals, but because of the company of each other and having ice-creams together on an extremely hot day... hahaha. Actually, they had the most fun when they were feeding the giraffe and goats with leaves. Kids find it extremely fun when the animals take the food from their hands. They were laughing and giggling their heads off and were plucking leaves from the trees non-stop citing that the giraffes were still hungry. I had to scold them to stop them from killing all the plants at the zoo! hahaha

I guess the children used up a lot of energy during the trip... coz when we went for Korean dinner after that, my sister's 8 year old daughter had 1.5 bowl of rice!!!She wanted more but her mom stopped her from overfeeding..... Amazing, considering she's not that big size (*quite thin really)...

So much for my trip to the zoo.. :) Didn't manage to say hi to your relative though.. coz the primates section requires us to walk up way beyond the Savannah. Too tired and too hot to do that hahaha... Rather sit by the Savannah and enjoy an ice cream while the kids try their hand at capturing the savana on their art block ahhaha... Till I get my hands on the photos, here's hoping that you too will visit the zoo to contribute to some animal feeds. :)

Valentine's day or SAD, which is worse..?

14/2/2009

Today is Valentine's day.... a day to celebrate the greatness of love ...

However, also a painful day for the single and lonely... i.e.one without a valentine to declare your overwhelming love to...

Thus it's a day when the singles become very aware of their status... and their situation.. which is very single and alone... especially after being abandoned by "couple" friends around them. Hence, it's also aptly named Singles Awareness Day.

Was having tea just now with a relative and he lamented how terribly "sien" (boring) and uneventful his V day was.

In between his grouses and jokes about *how girls don't know how to value good stuffs when they see one, a thought came into mind... (Ting! Not really a lightbulb moment but close.. ahhaha)

Which one is worse?

NOT having a Valentine and thus, not celebrating Valentine's day...

Or having a Valentine, but STILL DON'T get to celebrate Valentine's day...

Yeah, to be celibate or be uncelebrated... that's the question...

In the first scenario, your expectations are low, and thus the slightest thing that happens on that day is Bonus...

In the second scenario, imagine the feeling of being disappointed year after year... after waiting 365 days for this day to come,.... each day planting a seed of hope that your valentine would somehow reinstate their vows and profess their strong undying love to you all over again,.... only to have it pass you by without any significance...

I asked a few of my married friends about their Vday plans,... (at least 4 - yeah, Kens, Khoo, Key, TFL, ... you guys are in the list) and they tell me that they are not celebrating Valentine's day. Kens even went to the extent to tell me that V day is S*Hai Day (In Cantonese, S*Hai means Suckers) as the V-day related items (cards, flowers, dinner, chocolates, ice-cream, or even anything with slight relationships, i.e. car park, hotels) are all exhorbitantly priced!

So, bro, sometimes being alone* ain't all bad.... It's just a matter of perspective.... hahaha

*these meat, I mean, words were deliberately minced, err.. changed to protect the innocent and to promote blogging ethics

Chap Goh Meh

Happy Chap Goh Meh to all...

Today is the final day of Chinese New Year 2009. It's called Chap Goh Meh (in hokkien meaning "15th night"). It's the Chinese Valentine's day actually, where "hopeful" single women throw "kam" (mandarin oranges) into the river while the daring single men go all out to grab these oranges. The most romantic day of all the days in Chinese New Year.

Incidentally, today marks the wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Keyman. Kinda romantic when I think about it falling on a Valentine's day. However, Keyman tells me that he's celebrating the day with his "gay" friends.... (gay = in cantonese meaning machines/gadgets i.e. hi-fi, audio video stuffs).

Today is Ginger's birthday too (based on the Chinese Calender). Also very romantic because her actual birthday falls on 14th February, the western Valentine's day. How coincidental. She told me that this phenomenon only happens once every 19 years and it happened on the day she was born. How romantic, I thought. However, she tells me she's not celebrating tonight with a date, nor is she going to celebrate the coming Valentine's day with anyone.

Then cousin told me that his friend has organised a clubbing session this coming Saturday, but it's only for the singles. I was somewhat offended initially, thinking that I was prejudicially excluded from the outing on purpose. And then he told me I was not invited because it's "Single Awareness Day" (SAD) and only then did I realise that next Saturday is Valentine's day. Clubbing on Valentine's day for the singles seems like a romantic occassion until cousin told me that the meaning of single in his context does not refer to marital status but being alone!

Such irony. For what seemed to be romantic stories or situation, is actually celebrated with the least romantic inclination.

Closer to home, Big B is going for Badminton tonight, totally oblivious to any romantic relations...

So I decided not to be alone.... I went to cousin's house for some Guitar Hero. And boy was it fun...

"And so what, I'm still a rockstar..." Ahhahaha.. pfffttttt....

Happy Valentine's Day (said in rocker style... yeah! Peace, man, peace! hahaha)

*Disclaimer: This article is not a flamer to those romantic couples nor do I disapprove of romance, love and affection (I am a hopeless romantic, actually). Just something to spread cheer and help lift the spirits of the broken-hearted or the faith-departed.

PS3 - Playing Seriously 3 - Wanna be a rockstar?

The latest craze in the gaming section seems to be the Rockband or Guitar Hero games. Almost every other computer shop have stocked up these mock band sets in their stores like it's the hottest items for Xmas. It's popularity is further spured by it's compatibility with PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. I suppose a lot of people buy them in conjunction with long Chinese New Year holidays. Good idea too as it's something you can show off to your guests when they come visiting besides being good entertainment value.

I now understand why cousin bought it just a few weeks before the New Year. Just ample time for them to practise. And their practise paid off as they can play expert level for drums and guitar now. No wonder he kept asking me to practise my vocal chords before coming to his house for an "audition". He seriously warned me against making a fool of myself with the vocals should I play expert level.

I still remember the eager beaver look on my cousin's face when he first got the PS3 set. He came to my house with the new toy and insisted we go for yumcha. It was pretty weird for him to insist that I go for yumcha even though there was a special guest that he wanted me to meet. True enough, Miss Cake was back from UK but I guess the real reason was to practise the Guitar Hero as it needs 4 people to make up the complete band of drums, guitar, bass and vocals.

Practising with the Guitar Hero for the first time was pretty frustrating (although fun) since everyone was new with the game. (We were so amused by the new game that we stayed till 4am - but I think the neighbours weren't too amuse with our bad music and laughters...). We couldn't even go pass the first bar without mistakes or totally striking out. Cousin Mun said he wanted to sell the set at ebay the next day. Guess he wouldn't part with it for a 1000 bucks now that he's mastered some of the songs like Hotel California, Beat It, Eye of a Tiger, Living on a Prayer and About A Girl. (To further illustrate and emphasize how frustrating it is to play "expert" level without practising: even Little b was frustrated, and shouted, "What is wrong with you guys?" when he was playing the "easy" drums while we keep striking out with our "expert" instruments. "C'mon Miao, let's get out of here", cried a bored Little b and ran off to play in the garden with his cousin Miao after we struck out a few rounds).

With this game, we now appreciate how difficult it is to play music, let alone be a rockstar (especially when you try and play No Doubt's Spiderwebs) and thus, perhaps think twice before we give in to piracy. (I know I know, the heart is willing but the flesh is weak).

Here's a few rockstars wanna be...

This one looks like a serious Yee Woo player rather than a rocker.
Aren't we a little too ambitious to play and sing at the same time?
This one takes the cake.... King of all ROCKERS!!! Yeah Man...!



The "band" singing (or killing) Nirvana's About A Girl

Living on a Prayer? How apt to be playing a rock song in front of the altar! Omitofu... Yau Kwai Muk Kwai.... (translated to something equivalent to "Father please forgive me for I have sin...")

Miss Clumsy

Cant believe that the CNY predictions are so accurate... This Miss Clumsy slipped and fell flat on her bum yesterday. And now I can't sit for long. I can't enjoy my favourite passtime of web-surfing without risk feeling that sharp, piercing painful pull on the tip of my backbone after sittng for 10 minutes. This is torture. Going up the stairs makes me feel like an old lady. When I got in and out of the car, my slow-motion back breaking expression makes little b exclaim, "You're getting old, mom..."

Ohhh... this is frustrating. I hate the feeling of being helpless. It's so depressing. It makes me vulnerable. It makes me crave for attention.... makes me yearn for loads of pampering and TLC... makes me wanna cry for help....

But I can't or I won't because I was brought up with the notion "to help ourselves first before seeking help". Seeking help should be the last resort....

And these 2 conflicting internal emotions are taking a toil on me. The normally patient and composed me has turned into a short-fused unreasonable monster, short of being foul-mouth.

However, I still don't feel sorry for the nurse who made me wait 20 minutes for my painkillers which I probably wouldn't consume. And she has the cheek to tell me that she was on the phone. There were 3 staff and all 3 were chatting away and I patiently waited at the empty clinic (I was the last of a series of patients and the wait for the consultation itself took me around 30 minutes). I was kept busy with Bryan's funny school stories for the first 20 minutes until I realised 2 other walk-in customers taking their medication before me and I went into RAGING MAD MODE. I stood up and ask the other 2 nurses, who wasn't on the phone, to pass me my medication as I have been waiting for almost an hour. They just stared blankly at me. The woman finally put down the phone and started to look irritated by saying, "Mana ada 1 hour. Just now I couldn't serve you because on the line..."

I told her to shut up, stop wasting time and to prepare the medication and swipe my card. I also started scolding them about their incompetence. And they didn't have the courtesy of saying sorry. Really stupid. I was sooo freaking angry, that when I left, I criticised the stupid fat woman (don't even think she's a qualified nurse), "Don't even know how to say sorry! No manners!"

And then I left the clinic in a huff, only to realised I had forgotten my receipt. I went back, still in raging mad mode, demanding for the receipt. Initially, they said they couldn't print it again since I didnt request for one earlier. Then they tried to press one of the buttons on the credit card swipe machine, and the receipt was printed out. I was still so boiling furious that I scolded her, "Bodoh!" as I took the receipt and left again ... for good.

I know, I know, I have been unreasonable for scolding them, but given my situation, I bet you all would have reacted the same way (if not worse!)... And to top off all of those internal topsy turvy mixed up feelings, I have to suffer from PMS too. Arghhhh...

Maybe I went to the doctor for wrong ailment, thus getting the wrong presciptions. Maybe I should've just gone to a spa and have a good looking masseur pamper me instead of getting all tensed up with those incompetent nurses!

Any prescriptions for internal emotional turmoil, anyone?

Pictures source: www.123rf.com

First day of school again

Just finished wrapping son's text books - 2 nights in a row, because I ran out of wrapping plastic covers earlier. Yeah, kids nowadays are spoiled brats, the parents do everything for them...but what to do, most family units are small and usually the only son or daughter, thus the extra pampering...

Hard to believe that time flies so fast. It's like only yesterday that I blogged about his first day in Kindergarten! It's really frightening sometimes to think that all these while I have been so protective. He has never crossed the road by himself before and today I had to let him cross all by himself while watching behind the bus stop with a weary heart. He thought it was fun to have a Pedestrian Crossing Policemen to guide them across (little b calls him the "School Crossing Guard" which I later found out to be the more correct term. Hmm... he learns quite a lot from the Higglytown Heroes from Disney Channel!).

Anyway, when he finally saw me following from behind, his dependence began to seep in and he started to ask me where he should like up for the assembly. I told him that I wont be here tomorrow and he would have to ask the teacher. He was quite shy and was still tugging at my hands to bring him to the correct line among the throngs of other children in the assembly. I stayed put and just then, the bell rang, signalling the start of school. My son was like suddenly hypnotised (struck by fear perhaps?) and quickly ran to the teacher to ask her where his class is. The teacher-in-charge pointed out his class to him and he hastily walked towards the back to join the line of his cute tiny comrades.

The kids nowadays are much braver than how we used to be last time, which is good. And they are more verbal. I followed the class as their teacher bring them around to tour the school and I noticed the Year 1 children dare to ask questions, like, "What's an auditorium?"

I also find that the teacher has a hard time answering the questions belted out by these tiny tots. There's one particular stair case which leads to the staff room and the children are not suppose to use that stair case. During the tour, the teacher was warning the children not to use that stair case and one of the children shouted, "Why cannot use that staircase?"

The teacher was at her wits end and said, "I say cannot means cannot. You cannot ask me why cannot."

And then towards the end of the tour, one of the children shouted out to the teacher, "When can we go back to the class?" (in a very bored tone). Their short little legs must be tired after walking around the big school. Little b was a little frightened by the sheer size of the school and told me, "This school is dangerous, Mom. It's too big. I can get lost in it!"

I sometimes wonder how the teachers can withstand not laughing at the children, or pulling a straight face when the 30+ children starts behaving naughty. During the lesson, the teacher was explaining the discipline record book and how she would jot down their naughty deeds to show to the parents. One of the kids pointed to his neighbour and shouted at him, "She's talking about you ah!" I muffled my uncontrolled laughter at the back of the class.

And then when it was time to go home, some of the children just pack their bags and run out of the class because they were too eager to reunite with their parents. The teacher had to shout, "OOIII OOOOIIII OOIIII.... jangan balik dulu. Beratur dulu." (Don't go home yet. Have to line up). All the parents waiting outside couldn't help but let off a chuckle seeing that scene.

As I see willing parents lining up in long queues (which takes up to an hour) for school books, I can see that children nowadays are having it easy. Having said that, the standards set for them is also much higher now. I am sure these very parents, who are willing to queue up with Crocs slippers and six-inch heeled glass slippers (I am serious!), expect their children to perform much better than anyone else. As I leave him to take care of himself, I now understand that this first step in school does not only mean his first step to independence, but his journey to the survive and strive in this complex and perplexing society.

Good luck my son. May your journey be sweet and smooth....

A collection of tea sessions

As the year comes to an end, it's always a good time to reminisce the good times...(just to hold on to the good times, or whatever that's left of good times since 2009 is speculated to be a recession period, thus difficult times ahead.)

It's been quite a year for the HP club. Our main target for the HP club is to conduct fun "yumcha" sessions (tea drinking sessions) to help reduce our stress, revigorate our youth and basically to bond.

Never thought that our club could achieve so much this year. Not only did we manage to have our happy hours almost on a daily basis, but we also manage to bring our tea sessions to various locations (even outstation!). And we've brought our sessions to a new height with our "high-tea" sessions.

So I will dedicate this blog to thank the various hosts who have been so generous and kind to introduce and bring out the best in their areas to help make HP club such a fun and exclusive club.

Let's start with the Chinese New Year excursion to Ipoh/Lumut. Never really thought it would happen because our members are quite lethargic and indecisive but hey we went all the way to Ipoh and Lumut just to meet up with our oustation friends to reduce their boredom and bring the hustle bustle of the city (and our silliness) to their quiet hometown. We have Keyman and LP to thank for their warm hospitality and sumptious lunch and dinner when they treated us to sample the warmth and the beauty of the 2 suburbs. Read more about the trip by clicking here.

And then who can forget the recent 2 Seremban trips - so full of events, laughter and joy! All the things that happened could be used as tea session gossips for a whole month! We have MC to thank for bringing us around the place he spent most of his growing up years.

Oh, and the special yumcha trips to Puchong and Sg Long to visit the members staying in these faraway areas. We have Keyman to thank for his Puchong hospitality. The Puchong tea session was a memorable one with a good cause. Read more here.

And the Sg Long trip was a funny one albeit stressful. It was a New Year's eve yc session. We wanted to escape the city jam, thus we decided not to drink in KL but in the suburbs.

MC was suppose to lead the way but he ditched us for his other plans in Sunway. And then Keyman, with his limited memories of his trips to Cheras and Sg. Long decided to lead us to meet up with Mr. MyHump's "hometown". All was well until we reached the highway in Taman Connaught where the right lane is for U-turn to the infamous Taman Connaught pasar malam while the left lane goes through the underpass to lead to Alam Damai/Taman Len Sing. However, the road sign on top of the U-turn shows Kajang/Cheras. So, as we approached the U-turn, Rachel called from the office to report some problems, causing a confused and unfamiliar Keyman to take the U-turn. Once we hit the U-turn, our stress level increased because the traffic was building up in Cheras and we don't know how to get back on track. Just then B called and question if his plans for New Year's eve dinner was still on. With that traffic, stress level peaks, and I told him he has to go without me...

After about 15-20 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic, we finally managed to get back on track and found that Sg. Long was indeed the suburbs. The passing of 2 tolls makes it feel like we're going outstation to Mr. MyHump's hometown! As we follow the road sign to Sg. Long, Mr. MyHump called and told us that he's not really living in Sg. Long! OMG.... are we lost again!?? Stressed up again! Finally, after getting directions via phone, Keyman finally got us there and the italian food at Susan's Bistro was worth the trip albeit all the stress. The spaghetti was superb and the tiramisu was rich with enough rum to tease the tastebuds. (Can't compare to Alexis's because that is not the conventional tiramisu). And the price was reasonable too. Thank you Mr. MyHump for the Sg. Long hospitality.

Happy New Year to all from the HP club.. :) May we have many many more yumcha sessions to come.

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.