General Elections 2011

This GE sees me, the usually politically apathetic me, watching rally videos almost every night since they announced the contest a week ago, reading on facebook the different views and perspectives of the people out there, taking in the words of our ministers, and the opposition parties, being impressed by people from the other side and at the same time, following updates by friends from all walks of life on Twitter, understanding why things have to be done in certain ways.

That is why, I tell myself, waking up at 0445 on the 7th of May 2011 and working till 2100 ++ , it will all be for something good. Something great. Something different. Something worth looking forward to.

It is time to exercise our citizenship rights.

With our heads not our hearts.

Go Singapore people, go.

Traveling beyond six hours of flight

Hurray hurray I am going to Venice! As I was researching the place, I was throughly taken in all the magnificent art. You can imagine I would running around the museums and going trigger happy with all the architecture there. Not only that, I plan for us to go travel to Milan, Verona (Oh Romeo! Oh Romeo, where art thou Romeo), Florence and Rome. I should pack more than one battery pack, one memory card, the lappy, the iphone and the list goes on.

Come June, I will be be reading a book on a gondola by day, party with the fashionistas in Milan by night.

This is how great life can and should. Oh yeah!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice

I wrote a piece for Monday on Tuesday

I don’t hate Mondays. In fact I kind of like them. I like having lots of things to look forward to in a week. I like being able to live another week without people breathing my neck and not giving me my own personal space. I like all the things big and small.

I also started to take Meekey and Gromit out for walks as often as I can, even for a short while.

this week is packed with pow wow training, running dates after training, I missed the hanging out today but I have packed clean going out clothes in the car for ’emergencies’ like today, the omg good massages rub squeeze pinch, lots of movies to catch.. oh and I realised I have a weakness for libraries. I passed the one at civic today and couldn’t resist going in to browse. I ended up leaving one hour later, with magazines on health photography and traveling in tow. lol. Oh yeah. I shall find a time to read. I must I must. I am still deciding between UK and Italy. Watching Eat Pray Love and Rome fills me with nostalgia and a longing for pizza in Napales but *fakes fake british accent* won’t you mind passing me that cuppa tea lurve.. lol .. By the end of this week I will either be on a gondola or sipping tea and going for matinees in the afternoon.

Oh and today, I was almost late for work after the browsing! (random)

So many things. So little time.

I do hope Mr sun accepts my date and come play with me tomorrow. We could make hay in the sun.

Say yay to mondays today! *puts up hands in the air*

The simple things in life to rejoice

I’m really happy today. Though my morning and afternoon were a mash of madness, I had an absolutely fantastic training session, had supper with my good friend and lovely, blasted 张学友 songs in the car and sang with him all the way home on a 20% ipod battery life which lasted till I parked the car.

Yeah simple things make me happy.

Like how I like the sound of my new gi washing in the machine. donating to a kid in my class who is also a scout who asked me if I would like to donate to his donation card. eating sushi at Ichiban. watching my mum get excited and wanting to take picture when my niece did a roll. waking up every morning to warm milo. reading a book while eating the garlic bread my sister made for me. coming home every night to scallop and radish soup. eating fried chicken wings with kick ass sambal chilli. sitting on the kitchen floor with my black dog hopping around like a bunny and my brown dog infront of me. sipping nice tasting wine by the boardwalk. learning new things everyday about friends, from friends and from people I am with. having the famous taiwanese instant noodles from a good friend. the weekly adventure with my good friend. chatting with my friends who have grown roots in foreign lands over msn and facebook (I WILL VISIT YOU PEEPS SOON OK I PROMISE!) getting up in the morning and lying on the bed awake. having the chance to be out in the sun ( I will so kayak the next time by hook or crook!) watching my kids grow up into fine people and feeling the pride. being hugged and wanting to give hugs.

The list could just go on.

I need to sleep.

*dreaming of my sugarless warm milo*

For all the good things in life

The big birthday bash is over but I’m still buzzing with happiness and a sense of appreciation that I am a little lost for words to describe but I will make an attempt to here.

Just want to express that I am really grateful for my mum for the bee hoon and curry chicken – they rock. And the fact she has so many things to do yet she went all out to concoct that pot of 好料 is heart felt.

To my sister for the delicious OMG GOODlychee martini cake. It was a big cake and I’m guessing not easy to obtain. The child at heart loves cake. And I got a lychee martini cake. That’s like the adult version of the strawberry cake lol.

To my niece pappy for being there happy and observing. This is the first time I’m celebrating it with the little one and I love it when she was on my shoulders. Oh so cute the baby. And she knows, that was why even though she was not in the mood and sleepy, she was sweet throughout the whole time she was there at her auntie’s party.

To all those who contributed to the alcohol and food pool. We had good drinks oh yeah. From wine whites and reds to ice wine to the hard core kind to cider to stout. That makes up a great party yeah seriously.

So do donuts. chicken wings. satay. otar. prawns. marshmallows.

To those who helped with the food moving buying and BBQ ing. Without the help of you all I would never be able to move food for that crowd by myself or have time to talk to everyone at the party. I was constantly fed with food and I love the food.

To the thoughtful and practical gifts – love the vouchers, iPhone case, lappy case, car charger, nice mug, the naruto jigsaw, body shop niceties, the tees, my new atas shipped from amazon.com judo gi, the yellow kick ass pen, the cookies, the special grade ice wine, the books. The closeted nerd is outing herself lol

To the big breakfast cake at marina barrage. Though the cake was impromptu it felt like I was seven again having a so called cake, with the sun and wind blowing in my face while kites flew.

To my kids whom I’m so proud of now and ever. I have taught you all well and I am happy that the values and things I have taught you are showing so definitely in the things you do and the way you act.

To my dearest most admired Sensei for coming down even though it was close to midnight, just to wish me a happy birthday.

And last but not least, those who were there.

All of you made me very appreciative of the fact that I am one fortunate soul to have ya all in my life.

Life is good when you appreciate the small things, and this is indeed one hell of a monster party.

A story

A story my friend shared with me. Rather interesting to read. Morals range from “karma does exist” to “it always serves to be honourable in your dealings.” Anyway, enjoy the story and have a good weekend.

Jack decided to go skiing with his buddy, Bob.

So they loaded up Jack’s minivan and headed north.

After driving for a few hours, they got caught in a terrible blizzard.
So they pulled into a nearby farm and asked the attractive lady who answered the door if they could spend the night.

‘I realise it’s terrible weather out there and I have this huge house all to myself but I’m recently widowed.’
she explained, ‘I’m afraid the neighbours will talk if I let you stay in my house.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Jack said, ‘we’ll be happy to sleep in the barn and, if the weather breaks, we’ll be gone at first light.’

The lady agreed and the two men found their way to the barn and settled in for the night.

Come morning, the weather had cleared and they got on their way. They enjoyed a great weekend of skiing.

But about nine months later, Jack got an unexpected letter from an attorney.

It took him a few minutes to figure it out but he finally determined that it was from the attorney of that attractive widow he had met on the ski weekend.

He dropped in on his friend Bob and asked, ‘Bob, do you remember that good-looking widow from the farm we stayed
at on our ski holiday up north about 9 months ago?’

‘Yes, I do.’ said Bob

‘Did you, er, happen to get up in the middle of the night, go up to the house and pay her a visit?’
‘Well, um, yes!’ Bob said, a little embarrassed about being found out, ‘I have to admit that I did.’

‘And did you happen to give her my name instead of telling her your name?’

Bob’s face turned beet red and he said, ‘Yeah, look, I’m sorry, buddy. I’m afraid I did. Why do you ask?’

‘She just died and left me everything.’

Sunshine and rain

This is going to be a very random entry.

I have learnt that everything is about perspective and mindset. We can either see rain as dampening or a relief from the heat. We can choose to think that shit can be useful as fertiliser or that it is just some smelly disgusting gunk.

So yeah, it is all in the mind.

I should so patent that line.

*Laughing Out loud*

Seriously, it is not that difficult to find delight in the smallest of things. Just like how I saw this really big and orangy setting sun, like a really huge egg yolk and I thought, nice work there Mr Creator. Strange how things look nice when you want them to be. That might be a little self deceiving but hey, better to feel or try to feel happy than be in a sunken ship of despair and pain right?

Of cos I am right.

Anyway, seriously, the past few months has been nothing short of great. Through the downs I have learnt things about the people around me and my interactions with them. No doubt some of the things require me to hit hard and I got hit back really hard too, I am glad I did it and I am glad it happened. I saw very clearly displayed who are the ones who truly are for me, who are the ones who hide in the shadows pretending to care and who are the ones who want me dead.

Oh and I realised I actually do like singing in KTVs. HA!

A friend asked me, so what do you want for your birthday? I replied, I want my friends back, uncorrupted, untainted and nice. that had be nice, to be able to hang like we used to and not be in the same room feeling all that tension and discomfort. but I know with the way things are going, we can never be the same again. Oh well.. I have always been blessed and these could be blessings in disguise. Good things are happening and with the good people around me, I feel the good vibes. Good bye rubbish and crap. Hello flowers and sunshine.

Another friend said to me this morning it is not a good thing to be a nice person but I told her, no, we shouldn’t think that. We just have to be careful with who we hand our compassion and love to. We shouldn’t let rubbish make us rubbishy as well.

And the list ends with babies. Babies really do bring people together and let you know how much humanity and love you really have. My niece has pretty much done both for me. That day when she fell ill in the middle of the night (at 1am to be exact), the whole household was activated and on full alert and we didn’t even have to ask one another what we needed to do. When my mum said pappy’s fever was escalating, the first thing I did was go on the internet to search for the nearest clinic that sees babies, call them to ask, my brother changed and got ready to go helping with the bags and whatever we needed to bring while my mum and dad attended to the little one, and we hopped into the car and off we went. And we did all that on our own initiative and love for the little one. She was just amazed and surprise that midnight waking led to tours in cars. lol. Yeah I love my niece and I can’t wait to take her cycling and swimming. Oh and to teach her TKD and judo as well.

The only thing I can ask for now is probably a house big enough to home another dog.

LOL

The new blue

Anyone can give me a judo gi. I can even get one myself. And I would love it as much but receiving a judo gi from a love one speaks volume to me.

I have always wanted a judo gi from my other half. As a token of love. anniversary gift. Birthday gift. A gift for any occasion. Whatever the reason. There was this guy in my jujitsu class who received a gi from his wife for his birthday. Imagine his happiness. Imagine my envy that the wife could be that supportive of him. Inspite of the knocks and pain. That is showing support in a larger way than one can ever imagine. I cannot even start to say how envious I was of him and how much I wanted that kind of support. It might seem silly being envious of something like that but to me, it was a huge deal. It was the deal.

I know that my past halves probably were worried when they stopped me from doing martial arts because of my high incidences of injuries. But they did not stop to think why I would risk all the injuries to practise. What I practise pretty much defines who I am. They did not ask me why I love doing what I do. Even if they did ask they didn’t understand. It was sad.

Well I have never stopped them from eating all those high cholesterol or sugar food which they love so much, which might kill them down the road have I?

So, nothing in this world will be more valuable to me than the judo gi that I am getting this year as a birthday gift. Two words, love and trust.

Thank you darling for the gift. Nothing speaks louder to me than that.

Nothing will be able to.

CNY pineapple tart overdose makes me random

My post on FB as of this morning:
IamsoincnymoodIhavenomoodtodoanythingrelatedtoworkohmyohmyohmygawdwhatshouldIdoallIcanthinkaboutaretheeggrollspineappletartsallnightlongdrinkingplaying

lol

A month has gone by. It is the 1st of February 2011. There are another 11 months and a day more to go before we cling glasses and sing auld lang syne and pop poppers.

The past month has been a good one. Looking at all the facebook updates, photos taken, things I have done so far, I had say, I hope the year started off at a good pace and it will continue to rock on. The aura and vibe of goodness is strong.

And yes, February is my month. In another 26 days I will out scouting for a place to call my very own! Yeah. After being to Myriam and Karen’s place, I have a rough idea how I will deco my own place. Books, precious stuffs, medals, retro stuffs, arty stuffs and more books. I should probably start going around to collect stuffs I see.

Oh yes and CNY is round the corner. I am one of those fortunate ones who do not get the “ah yo when are you getting married yo” crap. If not I might need to go rent myself a ‘suitable’ person in them eyes to ease their need to see me get married. There really is a site that lets you do that. Be well my friends if that happens to you. It is only once a year crap like that happens. Don’t let the people who have no life of their own and who likes to impose their idea of what life is on you.

Anyway, I have just finished a jar of home made pineapple tarts. The crust is OMG good and it melts the moment I place it into my mouth. I have decide for this CNY, unless I have pineapple tarts as godo as those mentioned, I shall not eat any. I hate the ulcers that keep popping up whenever I have the pineapple tarts. Irritating with a capital I.

Wow revelation

I had an epiphany this morning when I went to wash the black monster.

Sometimes when I wash my rides at the multi-storey carpark near my place, I will see this malay uncle who always gives me attitude. As he never fails to park his car in the middle of the washing lot, me being there, he has to move his car so that I can move mine in. He will always give me the not you again look and grumble under his breath. Though I can’t hear what he is saying when I am seated in the car, I bet he is cursing and swearing.

Today, I bumped into him at the multi-storey carpark again. So very fortunate. It is not always that I do but when I do, I will think “not again!?!” I even contemplate moving away to look for another place to wash the car to avoid being ‘diao-ed’ in the morning. I had a good night yesterday having supper with the lovely person and today started not too bad so I didn’t want my mood to be ruined by him. Then, something my friend said about being the better person came to me like lightning and so I thought why not to just try it?

When I moved up beside him, I pointed to his car and signed that I wanted to park, following that with a big smile. As always, he gave me the pissed look and went about to get into his car to shift it, before he did that, I gave the ‘thank you’ wave and drove to park. After the both of us parked our cars, I got down and the first thing I did was to say ‘thank you’ to him. The two gestures were not something I usually do. Usually I would just heck him thinking ‘sheesh, did he think the washing lot belonged to him only.’

Then it happened. When I went to collect water from the tap, I saw his hose plugged in, so I asked if I could remove it and you know what he did? He usually grumbles and grunts and pulls the hose out of the tap disgruntledly as if I was invading his private space and he was going to whip me with the hose. But not today. Today, he told me I could use his hose to fill up my pail! I was like, ok, though I was surprised beyond words.

That was not the only thing that happened. After that, he actually spoke to me asking have I sold the YM. He spoke to me ya. Usually I only hear grunts and glances of daggers. I returned the plesantry replies.

After that we carried on with our washing.

The last thing that surprised me was that he actually told me to wait while he moved the car away to another place to wipe dry so that I can use the tap. He always moves the car after washing but always in an angry fashion, slamming the door, making alot of noise with his boot and pails.

Suddenly, I am in awe of what just translated. The power of being the better person is huge.

Wow. This is one of those moments when a revelation of sorts drop down on you and hits you giddy with cognizance of a different kind.