A Mind of My Own

Been watching 樱野三加一 (Ying Ye 3+1), starring Ming Dao and Chen Qiao En. They used to star in 王子变青蛙 (Prince Turns into Frog). Below is my favourite song that’s being played throughout the series. 16 episodes. I rather loved the fighting scenes although through halfway, they didn’t show them fighting the bad guys anymore.

我到底是谁
在你心中占有怎样的地位
你不说清楚
你让我们的爱坠在七里雾

爱 很讨厌
总是忽近忽远的让人追
追半天 你连抱歉
一句抱歉也不给

我向前走 低着头 眼泪不停向后流
一直走 不回头
希望你会找到我
但是始终不如愿
希望都落空
我仍相信 其实你懂我（其实你爱我）

我发誓千遍
我这一走你就无法挽回
虽然心会痛
总比受尽委屈还要更好过

我 等了等
脑海始终浮现你对我的好
好半天 你连Babe
一句安慰也不给

一前一后
你跟在我的背后沉默
Yeh……Yeh……Yeh……
前前 后后
希望你握住我的手
Yeh……Yeh……Yeh……
Wo……Wo……Wo……

我向前走 抬起头 擦掉眼泪向前走
一直走 不回头
相信你会找到我
梦里寻他千百遍
希望都实现
我不想走 无法心不动

我向前走 抬起头 擦掉眼泪向前走
一直走 不回头
相信你会找到我
梦里寻他千百遍
希望都实现
我仍相信 其实你懂我

[via Flickr]

With Chinese New Year falling on Thursday this year, 5-work-day week workers are happy to have a long weekend. For those working on shifts and unable to take any time off without sacrificing your allowance, I do hope your bosses will give you more time off subsequently.

It’s also time for me to meet up with my aunt who had gone through the trouble of flying back for this holiday. I’ve always been doted by her. This weekend is also the best time to travel but it’s expensive if you haven’t booked your trips early.

Besides the time of meeting up with relatives who are very concerned about your marital status, the next best thing is to get the ang baos from them since you are not married, yet. Eat, drink and be merry.

This is also a time to get fatter and I am no longer fitting my tops and pants. So sad. However, I shall comfort myself with the many ang baos that I will shamelesly collect and eat, drink and be merry.
[via Flickr]

I need a holiday. Taiwan or somewhere. The plans are still fuzzy but I’ll get round to them. Meanwhile, enjoy the holiday and don’t eat too much ba kwa, pineapple tarts, love letters, and play too much mahjong. If you still get ang baos, don’t waste them on mahjong la. Not worth it.

My dear readers, may this year of the rat or mouse be filled with prosperity, good health and joy for you.

[via Flickr]

Chinese New Year is coming. So are the frequently asked questions by the relatives who are very concerned about my marital status. Since they don’t see me every time throughout the year (that is in case they get sick from looking at me and won’t give me the ang bao so generously), they will ask me “So, when are you getting married?”

A colleague of mine would answer this way, every year, “Yesterday.” That was that. Good, I should start using from now until I get married. The next question to field is “When are you going to have a baby?” Maybe I should use the same answer, no?

As mentioned before, it’s expensive to get married in Singapore especially when most of the elders want you to hold an 8-course dinner. I want to say “SILENCE! I KEEL YOU!” Achmed style. Cool, right? Of course I can’t just tell them that. They will kill me before I have even ended the sentence.

Sometimes I wonder if life is just all about marriage, kids and work. Have we made our lives so utterly routine that the questions are always about marriage, girlfriend, boyfriend, kids, flat, money and many more? I want many things but they aren’t achievable at this stage but I will get there.

Another question they will ask you after your first child, “Second one coming?” Besides money being the problem of feeding the first one plus all the money going to the flat, I seriously wonder where the heck do the parents cough out the money for all those stuff.

What I’m hoping for is that they won’t be asking me about my mundane life and just focus on my kids about their studies and height. Or I should just go adopt one and let them ask the kid.

My question is “How come must hold an 8-course wedding dinner one?“

You can say that again. Couples planning to tie the knots are having trouble trying to book their preferred hotels due to the steep and rising prices of the banquet tables. Even the red packets (ang baos) have to be bigger too. That way, the couple will not be able to cover their wedding celebrations, let alone honeymoon.

The price list for 2007 is available and I can’t imagine what it’ll be like for 2008 onwards. All these are just the tip of the iceberg, when the housing loans and renovation bills come, you’ll start to think how to get married with all these huge debts.

It’s easy to be touched. Claimed by some people. However, what makes your heart just beat faster or you going all soft an gooey? Bobo’s Love touched her with a breakfast. She has vacuum packed the evidence too. Aww. I love that gesture of breakfast.

I have been touched by my mother. There was once I was limping due to my carelessness in hitting my foot against the table. That was because I thought my leg was way stronger than the leg of the table. Not. She woke up in the middle of the night and use ointment vigourously on my injured foot. Ouch. However, can you imagine someone waking up in the middle of the night and helping you to lessen the pain in your foot?

There were other times like just making porridge because of my wisdom tooth surgery. Mention something that I had problem looking for and the next few days, I will find that item on my desk. Touching, right?

Not to forget the times DD looked for ways to watch movies at cheaper rates with me. Save money, important too, ok? And the time DD offered to send me home after watching Alien vs Predator 2. BTW, the movie was not that worth the money either. I wished we had won the tickets instead. Oh well, it’s over.

Have you been touched?

This is getting serious. Men will have the higher chance of erectile dysfunction when they smoke a pack daily. You want to have kids but you are suffering from being unable to maintain your erection due to the nicotine circulating in your blood cells and lungs.

In fact, emerging research shows that men with a pack-a-day habit are almost 40 percent more likely to struggle with erectile dysfunction than men who don’t smoke.

“Smoking delivers nicotine and other vasoconstrictors that close down the blood vessels” of the penis, explained Dr. Jack Mydlo, chairman of urology at Temple University School of Medicine and Hospital in Philadelphia.

It’s no laughing matter when you truly want to have your own family but unable to sustain it when it’s at the most critical time. While this report is from America, it doesn’t mean that men from any other countries are safe from this issue. You won’t want your wife to leave you just because you can’t quit smoking.

You can quit smoking but not quit making life. Health is wealth despite “Money makes the world goes round”. Money won’t help you when you have cancer in the advance stages, ED, or other illnesses that have no medications for them.

Sure, there are ED medications but if an erection lasts for more than 4 hours, it can also cause permanent impotence.

The Legends in Fort Canning sounds like a fantasy. A place where legends come to life. DD’s friend was holding her wedding dinner there and I went with him. A cocktail reception was still going on at 8pm. The wedding card stated 7.30pm. Eventually, everyone arrived by 8.35pm. Sometimes, I hate Chinese style wedding dinners. Everyone is hungry.

The newly-weds had 3 changes of clothes. The first was a white gown with a long train. She looked absolutely lovely. The food started arriving after that. The food was up to standard but the timing was off. It didn’t seem to come within a certain timing. The 2nd change of clothes for the couple came up after the 3rd course arrived. The couple wore black. My parents would have jumped at my throat for wearing a black gown.

This gown had a huge can can. It suited the bride very well too. At the end of the dinner, the couple had a final change of clothes. This time, to a Pernarakan for the bride and a white suit for the groom. The couple had friends mixing cocktail of beer, brandy, red wine and some soy sauce in red wine to drink. Oh my.

I liked the ambiance at the place, just that the area was rectangular and the 2nd walk in was to be done at the other end. I wondered why the drinks weren’t refilled that promptly by the time it was near the bottom of the glass. My favourite was the dessert, honeydew sago. Nice. I do hate the dish before the dessert, fried noodles. By that time, I was already bursting at the seams, I don’t need the noodles to add on to my growing girth.

I think I’m not going to hold such a dinner. I would like to hold mine in a different way. Now, to convince the parents.

A friend of mine has a missing cousin. If you have seen her, please help. She was last seen in Malaysia although she entered Singapore on 24 Dec 2007.

Name : Ding Sook Feng
Age : 29
Height : 1.6m
Others : Fair, shoulder length hair.

[via friend's blog]

I’m hoping that she’ll be found soon as she is said to be emotionally unstable as she hadn’t been taking her medication for 2 weeks and has a history of depression.

Update: She has been found. Thank goodness.

My parents love to take family portraits. However, every year, the only guy who would put a scowl on his face is the brother, not the youngest brother. The bland face would be my father. Kinda reminds me of this. Never smiling but yet the one who would initiate the photo taking sessions. Are all fathers like that?

Do guys really hate to take photos that much? I mean, can’t a nice smiley face do? It’s a family photo for crying out loud. You only get to keep that particular age in that time and year. You don’t get to be 15 or 16 always. Not physically anyway.

It’s a heartwarming way to keep such family portraits. You can flip back and look at them fondly, well, for my case. Reminisce about the good ol’ days. The days of yester years. Speaking of which, I have never kept the family portraits! Oh No!

Oh and Merry Christmas everyone!

I’ve been asked way too many times and I feel it’s never too good to ask people such a question. My colleagues were talking about marriage during lunch and they touched on “When is your turn?” topic. With lots of red bombs these few months, I’ve been asked this question numerous times. The last time I was asked, the relationship ended. So, if you want me to get married, don’t ask me.

Call me pandang or superstitious but if you do care about your friends, don’t ask them such a question if you expect the couples to get married. Let the river flow and your friends will be grateful for being thoughtful and feel happier attending the events.