My returned

I just got back from the short trip with sis and her colleagues.Dad and mum drove us to the airport to catch the early 8:30 flight which was so sweet of them. :)

It was indeed quite an enjoyable one except that the weather was not that ideal as I thought it would be. There were many little stores sprouting around the streets. We stayed at Metropark Hotel and started our shopping spree right after putting down our luggages.

Sis's colleagues were a bunch of fun people, straight forward and so humorous! I have a good time laughing at them teasing each other and what I enjoyed the most was their company.

There were many big Sasa everywhere which makes you thought you have just seen one a couple of mins ago and there you are, seeing another similar one again!

We went to a salon, some went there for wash and blow while I did a hair cut and it was just so hard to communicate in cantonese which I finally gave up and flipped thru a magazine to show the stylist that I need to cut my fringe and pointed at the model in the page and said "LEE KOR, FRINGE, CUT" Some how, a chick and a duck, we still manage to understand each other and laughed. At the end, she even gave me her name card written "Miko" and told me to take care. Hehehe!

Then again, we shopped around while sis and the rest did their foot massage. Then we had steamboat together. Throughout the trip was shopping at boutiques, small stores along the streets, sogo and other shopping malls, eat and eat and eat.

While the girls were partying at Lang Kui Fong, I slept in the room (do you believe?? of cos you do!). The 1st night, the group actually left the club without paying for the drinks thinking the other has paid. Of cos, they never returned to the same club again the second night. then on the second night, sis updated me a funny incident of a girl's fight with some stranger yaking her colleague's hair and her colleague returned the stranger with a box on her face and ran off from the club! It was hillarious hearing all the incidents that happened.

We nearly missed our flight on the last day, dropping by Wong Tai Sin Temple to pray. Thank god, lucky enough, we manage to make it to the airport on time.

Then I got something to complain about SQ.... When boarding, trying to squeeze thru the narrow walk way which is meant for one person at a time, this SQ waitress who was standing right in front of me actually bumped herself against me to brush her way through. I thought they should stop and gave way to the passengers who were carrying their bulky hand carries instead of vying for the narrow space? So inconsiderate!

Then, there was this malay sq waitress who never wear her fake smile all the while, greeting the passengers with her chin tilted slightly higher, and looking down, and like we are her students. I asked her for coffee while she was serving the food and she said it will come later. The man behind me also asked for coffee and got the same reply from her. She then turn her head left and right serving the other passengers and when she came back with the coffee tea (or me?) trolley, I am almost done with my food.

Before I could even asked her for the coffee (again), she actually skipped my row! I was so fed up and pissed and she was already far behind. Then I took a nap while waiting for the waiter to clear my table, funny thing is, they cleared the other two passengers on my left, but never clear mine. When I woke up, I saw my food tray was still in sight and called out to the SQ waiter "excuse me" softly. He turned his head and I saw his redden pimpled face and he actually FROWNED, then say "oke". Then he goes-stun (turn back) and took my food tray and gave me a PRETENTIOUS smile.

Then the worst is the announcement which repeats non stop like a nagging machine, their spoken english with weird slang and you just don't understand what the (f) they are about blabbing and I just simply give up and ignore them after some time. Spoiler!

What a great way to fly indeed! Dew Lei! (thats all I know for cantonese) @%#%^$!

When friendship appears...it will warm your winter!

There is someone whom I will like to mention here in my blog, someone special and has always been giving me the encouragement and support, believing in me when I have doubts in myself.

I remember vaguely how we got to know each other, but it was that moment, that crucial moment that I decide to reply his message, and I am glad I did. If I have been too rigid in my thinking, I may have lost this friend.

From the time he messaged me in Friendster, till he follows my blog, till the time we chatted in msn, a friendship has been established unknowingly.

He is the one who got me started painting (he requested to purchase my 1st four paintings when I was not even a skilled painter, with zero knowledge about paintings and he even sponsored for all the materials I bought). But because he believed in me, and I was able to hold the brush with my trembling hands and started painting, and I did not stop at just four. I never believe I will be able to paint those beautiful pictures on the canvas boards, although they may not be compare to Picasso, Van Gogh or my fav Dali.

He is the one who showed care thru his little gestures and assuring words when he sensed I am feeling down. And I still remember the times when I was too shy to meet up with him but nevertheless, we still managed to exchange Christmas gifts.

And I love that book he passed me, “Warrior of Light”. Even now, whenever I have doubts in myself, I read this book over and over again. And he really know what books will interest me.
Recently on my bday, he and Lenca had gotten me something useful again when he learnt of my recent interest in photography.

And I can’t thank you enough, Claudiu. Hopefully I will be able to tag along when you return Romania, I will love to visit your hometown and take a pic with you, sipping some hot chocolate under the shower of snowflake!

Can you trust what you read?

I read the article and it made me laughed. First of all, I aint very much a diligent person in keeping myself fit. No doubt in my new work place here, every one of us walks a lot. The highest storey we have here is level 3. If you wanna get from one dept to another, you walk. It’s all within walking distance. Although sometimes, the walk may take you a 10mins or even more or less, from the corridor to another then many other corridors again, then to the basement etc. It is also true that I walk home sometimes, and the journey took me about 30mins. I also walk for a distance of 3km or 4km for a 1.5 hrs but aint the sort who schedule myself diligently to do that. And becos of my new job here, I also got use to walking back home from Jurong point a couple of times (I used to take cab home from there) which I will never do that in the past.

I did yoga and plays badminton with my friends when we are all able to meet up for the game.
I aint that short (163cm in height actually) and I aint that heavy (47kg to be exact) and the calculation came about is to make me “more acceptable” to the public.

I aint a diligent fruit eater but yes, my fav is orange becos they are high in fibre content and fruits help to detox. And it’s true that I eat home cooked food for my every meal except for lunch which I take them from the canteen here and I mostly eat mixed rice with a dish of veggy. And I will usually take a heavy bfast prepared by my mum.

The pointers of the above were taken down by the photojournalist then written by the editor and thus the outcome was what reported.

So you tell me, this is only one simple example. All those reports you been reading and feeding your brain all these years, were they genuine or it’s been “edited” to make it more acceptable for all readers? You decide.

And why am I in my slippers? Becos I have to rush down to meet the photojournalist right after my work, went back home to change and grab the clothings for the shots and thus forgot to put on my trainers which I also felt it was not neccessary since its just a casual photography (I think I thought and I was wrong...) and I thought they will be considerate enough to crop that part away.

And why my cheeks so rosy? Its becos of the rush from work and the contribution from the hot weather.

And I never submit or request my pic to be put under that column, its just doing others a favor, thats all. And seriously, anyone can be in that column as long as you look healthy, exercise, and eat well. :)

Another life experience

Few wks back, sis was asking me for a favor to help her colleague’s friend to do some shots for a column. I wasn’t that keen to bare myself and cling in bikinis and have these pics published. Therefore I thought by keeping quiet about it, they may soon give up asking me for help and get someone else to do it instead.

But no… I never expected it to be true until I met Irin again at the theatre when she mentioned about the “help”. In my mind I was thinking “Die..It’s for real? Am I really going to do this?”

Then one evening, I got a call from Alvin, introducing himself and telling me a little about the shots and so on and requested me to call the photojournalist myself to know more in details and I am glad I did call. Basically the column is to feature working adults who find time to exercise besides managing their working schedule and it is not a must to wear in bikinis (thank god).
Thinking that it’s to do someone a favor, and since it’s for a exercise & health article, I agreed to meeting up the photojournalist.

It is really not easy to pose naturally in front of a stranger, at the same time getting stares from the public, passing by vehicles, and even got a Lao Peh Peh who stood there with his grandson in the pram, watching me taking the shots. From stadium to void deck, to grass patches. It was really tiring for those two hours under the hot sun and trying to get the hair away from my face when the wind blew occasionally. We also chatted on topics like our age, further our studies, his job, my job, and working on the informal interview asking things like what is my exercise regimen like, what is my diet, why I don't like to eat kway chap, before the session ended.

It was really a tiring day but it’s all worth for the fun. Another experience to be jotted down in my life story. ;)

Wish Upon A Sea Star - They are just differently abled.

I got the tickets from my sis to watch this charity musical play "Wish Upon a Sea Star". I was still hesitating to watch the play because I have had a bad diahorea and gastric was feeling really awful in the morning. I was worried what if I keep running to the washroom every few mins in the mid of the play? But then again, it would be a pity if I miss this play since tickets been bought and my little presence will help to show some support to it.

Crowds started to building up about 45mins before the play started. I looked and saw presence of men, young nice gentle looking, "soft spoken" men speaking in good english all around me. Many of them came in groups and gathered around the hall chatting and giggled. Then I also saw supports from families, bringing their young children, members from the different communities, some in wheelchairs, some with their walking sticks.

We made a little donation before grabbing a copy of the programme booklet and headed to our seats. The play started with three characters, the "Hey Bee Hiam" (Prawn), The Sea Snail, and Crab. These are the crawlies whom represents the minority whom were deem "different" from the normal sea creatures with fins. Initially, I thought the performance were put together by some professional stage players or volunteers only to be surprised to see involvements from the disabled members too.

You will get to see performances from the members of the SADeaf, SAVH, AESN, HWA just to name a few. It wouldnt be easy for norms like us to remember every steps and moves let alone expecting the disabled to do exactly well, but they did it! Throughout the whole performance, all you can feel is sincerity and they are all 100% givers. They give all they have in order to make this performance successful and possible. They dance hard, they skate fast, they wheeled diligently and every part of their movement moved me.

I particularly likes Hannah the Hammerhead Shark, Mdm Manta The Stingray and Cornelius the Crab (well, some part of me is still very much child-like).

The ending was the most emotional part when you see the full cast standing on stage, while the screen played back some of their rehearsal scenes. There wasn't a look of tiredness nor feeling of
"hardships". In contrary, all I spotted were enjoyment, happiness, and seriousness among their practices.

I was simply captivated by the claps of encouragements and appreciation from the audience and the heart warming performance put together by every single performer.

And all they want is to make this performance possible and indeed it was! I am glad I never miss it!

A surprise visit from my neighbor

Was feeling unwell for the past few weeks. I don’t know what was wrong with me but just feeling chill and throat wasn’t that good and phlegm was brownish, then occasionally sneezing in the office.

Yesterday was the earliest I slept, 8:30pm I think, till this morning, I was suppose to wake up at 6:40 to catch the ride from dad but decided to sleep a little while more.

Waking up only after some “warnings” from mum about the bad market and upcoming recession, I hurried to the bathroom and ran the warm water on me, closing my eyes. Shortly, I heard mum talking to herself in the kitchen. I thought she was on the phone with someone else only when I heard another voice, and then I realized, there is a stranger in the house!

I bathed hastily and dried myself, stretched my ears thru the plastic toilet door, trying to guess who it was, then realized she is my 8th floor neighbor. Sigh….after the phone scam incident, it does make me feel a little mini paranoid.

It was indeed a surprise visit early in the morning from our neighbor, dropping by for a cup of tea and I quite like this feeling of house hopping among close neighbors occasionally for visits or morning breakfast or even watch tv together. I think living under the same flat, we should hang around more with our door to door neighbors whom live and sleep so near us.

I came out from the bathroom with my wet messy hair and greeted her sheepishly “Auntie” while hiding my washed undies from her sight. Zooming passed her, I closed my room door and got dressed for work, then joined them in the kitchen while I gobbled up the bowl of duck noodles mum made for us. And there they go again, updating each other the newest information (gossiping la what else) and mum repeated the phone scam incident again. Then I heard the “BIZARRE” conversation:

Auntie said to mum: Nowadays many such phone scams esp from China ppl. Once I answered a phone and the caller was a China woman. She asked me “Auntie, auntie, 你会讲华语吗?” then I replied “不会!不会!” and quickly hang up the call.

Thank god I was almost done with my noodles and was not drinking the soup base. Don’t know how to speak in mandarin but replied in mandarin?! I held my emptied bowl and back faced mum and auntie, smiling and washing my bowl at the sink before I scuttled off for work.

What a way to start my Friday morning…sigh………

There are so many things to learn!

Was actually sourcing for a video cam from a friend then we started to talk about the new found interest I had – photography. And I realize, there are so much more technical things to know!!

I learn something new again today:

1) Canon has richer but sometimes bleeding colors
2) Nikon is more natural but not so vibrant color but there are occasions where colors are still pretty decent on a Nikon
3) To capture a decent shot of a fireworks, you need decent lens ...(and all the while I thought is the shutter speed) because the lens has got to be “fast “enough to lock focus and recommendation will be with a f/2.8 lens and below plus a fast memory card.

There are so much more to learn!!

Phone scam again!

“mum got threatened saying ah boy with them cause he acts as a guarantor…” upon receiving this sudden bizarre sms from sis, I called back home to verify with my mother, only to be greeted with her heavily panting voice and near to tear tone. After some rising of her voice and fast forwarded speech, rushing to tell me what actually happen. I sort of make sense of the whole scam thingy.

Someone called and wailed on the phone, identifying himself as my mother’s son, “Ah Boy”. He claimed he was beaten up badly and ask my mum to tell his “big boss” to stop beating him up. And what follows were a string of hilarious reaction from mum. She scolded “Ah Boy” why did he kpo and acted as guarantor for others? Then she asked for the phone to be passed over to the “big boss” and scolded him why he beaten up “her Ah Boy” when all they want is just money!? She scolded and scolded and reasoned and scolded then the “Ah Boy” took over the phone.

Below is the conversation:

Fake Ah Boy: “I kana beaten lah…..mummy, ask them don’t beat me anymore…”
Fake Ah Boy: “do you have money?”
Mummy: “I have no money! I need to go and raise money!”
Fake Ah Boy: “does daddy have money?”
Mummy: “Daddy also no money got to go raise money!”

THEN MUM HUNG UP THE CALL

She started using her mobile phone calling dad and sis and Real ah boy but cannot get real ah boy on the phone. Sis managed to speak to mum and warn her of similar scam that had happened at our neighborhood bank and at the same time, sis tried contacting REAL ah boy.
Mum panicked. Then the caller called back:

Big boss: “why you hang up my call!”
Mummy: “I need to raise money!”

Then mum uses her mobile phone tried calling Real Ah Boy again.

Fake Ah Boy: “You no need to call me la, they confiscated my phone..”

Then mum realized his tone had a little accent of the Johor slang.

Mummy: “Then what is your number…tell mummy….mummy forgot…”
Big Boss: “You want to come out or not?”
Mummy: “Yes! But I need to raise money!”

THEN SHE HUNG UP

Then the caller called again:

Big Boss: “Why you hang up again?! I will kill your son!”

On the other hand, sis called and mum is holding two phones. Then sis confirmed Real Ah boy is in safely in camp.

Upon hearing that confirmation, mum replied to the Big Boss, “Oke lah! Oke lah!”

THEN SHE HUNG UP AGAIN.

The Big Boss never calls back anymore.

Thanks to mum’s naggy and panicky nature, all she did was scold and confront, and never even asked for the ransom amount but keep saying “I need to raise money!!!”
Then the Real Ah Boy called home to report his safety.

Dad sped home and a police report was made, some pamphlets were collected and distributed into our neighbours' letter boxes to warn them of the phone scam.

I think next time, we should come out with some secret codes within the family for example:

(Miu call home)
(Mum answered call)

Miu say: “I am your daughter”
Mum: “Secret code please”
Miu say: “My IC no, is XXXXXXXX and I don’t like to eat fish”
Mum: “Ok, you are my daughter”

Muahahahahah!

So ppl! Beware! Really hate these black hearted ppl! Imagine if it's some weak hearted old fragile elderly who answered the call, they may be scare to death! Please warn your parents about these black hearted beasts!

My fulfiling days..

Met up with Claudiu and Lenca for dinner at Brotzeit for a dinner during that recent holiday and did some catching ups. Guess what they got me? Two photography books! Am really appreciative of what you did Claudiu, every time am into something new, you encourage me. J Next time I learnt diving, Lenca can give me free swimming lessons and you give me a new diver suit? LOL!!! Phew! I manage to finish up that tall beer all by myself and can even catch a movie with Edmund, remaining sober. Elite Squad is really really Really nice! I guess it’s the story that keeps me awake throughout.

Then Friday was catching Painted Skin with Thomas and Saturday was a long tiring day, waking up as early as 6:30am and setting off for bfast at the nearby kopitiam with my family. The thing about this kopitiam, not only I am the one complaining but I guess it’s getting really very unhygiene as days goes by. The 1^st thing I did was, wipe off that rice from the seat. Then will waiting for our food to be served, we saw this guy (Malaysian worker) who was eating mixed rice, and leaving all the “leftover food” (like fish bone etc) on the table. It felt as if the food been eaten by a stray dog. Then we saw the cleaner, clearing the empty plates, removing the “leftover” foods from the table, then USING THE SAME CLOTH, wiping the seats…then we look at our own seats….

Then we heard a “Kar…pui!” and witnessed the old uncle spat onto the floor. Then another “kar pui!” from the other table. I swallow my warm wanton noodles and drown myself with the ice milo and we left quickly. IT’S A NIGHTMARE!

While waiting for the rest of the relatives to arrive, we went to Thomson Plaza for a short shopping trip then went to the monastery for some ritual to be done for my late grandma. After that we went to the “Japanese Garden Mac”, the 24hr Mac for set meal feasts! Then upon reaching home, I doze off straight on the bed till 4pm then starting to nuah all the way….

Then yesterday (Sunday) was my photography lesson part 2 – photoshop. Using the pictures we took during the 1^st lesson, this time was to edit them and enhance the saturation, contrast, b/w, magic wand, adding layer, etc etc. And I guess the most useful tool we like most is the liquefy tool! Becos it can actually remove unwanted mole (I suddenly thought of this someone who will need this application the most), unsightly scars, push in your tummy, make you smile more, sharpen your nose etc etc etc! It was so fun and I really learnt quite abit thru this short crash course.

Below are some before and after pics:

Breathless...

If our love was a fairytale
I would charge in and rescue you
On a yacht baby we would sail
To an island where we'd say I do

And if we had babies they would look like you
It'd be so beautiful if that came true
You don't even know how very special you are

[Chorus]
You leave me breathless
You're everything good in my life
You leave me breathless
I still can't believe that you're mine
You just walked out of one of my dreams
So beautiful you're leaving me
Breathless

And if our love was a story book
We would meet on the very first page
The last chapter would be about
How I'm thankful for the life we've made
And if we had babies they would have your eyes
I would fall deeper watching you give life
You don't even know how very special you are

[Chorus]
You must have been sent from heaven to earth to change me
You're like an angel
The thing that I feel is stronger than love believe me
You're something special
I only hope that I'll one day deserve what you've given me
But all I can do is try
Every day of my life

The Magic

This movie is a simple one, but the emotions could be overwhelming, well, at least for me. It generally speaks about a father’s love for his child but at the same time, struggling to overcome the loss of his loved one and coping to make ends meet. It saddens me when seeing him drunk, and making a call to his wife from the public telephone outside a closed shop. From the body language, I knew he is making a call to the dead. Therefore it made me cried.

It was only after an unexpected ranting of disgruntles from his son, Francis decided to do something for him. There was this particular scene of Francis sitting on the toilet bowl and he saw blood after he wiped his (you know what, ass). This maybe partly why Francis decided to try all his means, even giving up his life for his son, for probably he knew he is a dying man…(the thought of it makes me cried, again)

Another scene was about this Chinese boss who requested Francis to show him his tricks, the sight of the the skinny addict-like Chinese man irkes me becos I know from his facial expression, he is going to exploit someone by taking advantage of his poverty and desperation to make money. The humiliating and heart aching part was when Francis was about to end his performance by laying on his back with broken glasses, the skinny Chinese boss suddenly jumped onto his stomach and stamped hard on him in order to bring a higher thrill to the audience.

There were quite a couple of disturbing scenes like, Francis biting broken glasses and you will see a trace of blood on his lips, Francis piercing his tongue, his arms..but the most disturbing one was this particular scene whereby he agreed to be “tortured” in front of his only audience (a fat, tiny eyed pig looking Chinese man (yes Chinese again)). They chained him, hit him, electrocuted him and left him laying on the floor heavily panting for air. Then the skinny Chinese boss came and picked the roll of $1000 notes and kept them in his pocket. (I think I cried again)

The saddest scene was the part where Francis and son were hiding away in an old dilapidated house, his heavy panting seems to sound like a siren, warning us of his approaching death. (I, CRIED) And the saddest saddest saddest SADDEST part came, showing Francis laying on the cold cement flooring with wide eyed staring without emotions and aimlessly, and his left hand clasping the roll of $1000 notes, meant for his son….(AGAIN, CRIED)

Ppl, this is not a Ah Neh show as it seems to be, learn to read the story a little more in-depth and you will realize, it is not just, an Ah Neh Show. It is not just another movie, it’s something which tells you things about the helpless, the poverty, and the unconditional love and how fortunate we have always been, at least we dont have to earn money by doing our classmate's homework, at least we don have to climb on top of the letter box, hug our knees and sleep, at least we dont have to be on the road, hiding at some old houses and witness our loved ones death in that kind of tragic scene...


Below is the synopsis:

Francis (Bosco Francis) is a man at the end of is tether. The former magician often takes solace in the bottle and barely ekes out a living as a cleaner in a nightclub. He has a 10-year-old son he loves desperately, but sorrow, guilt and constant inebriation have made him an ineffectual father.

The son (Jathishweran) is a stoic old soul who has learned to bury his affection for his old man and to cope with his chaotic life.A broken spirit and a single parent, Francis hopes to redeem himself and win his son’s love and respect. He makes a painful - and bizarre return to magic. An unexpected incident one night sets father and son on the road. In a dilapidated building, these two wounded souls come to terms with their love - a love which is as deep and acute as their grief.