I am upset

Very upset.

Year of the Golden Piggie

Last year was the year of the Dog in the Chinese zodiac sign calendar. The ang pows that I gave away was specially custom-made to feature a picture of my Coffee baby on it (coz it was the Year of the Dog mah!).

I am back to using normal ang pows this year simply coz I do not have a pet piggie; although I have to admit that I am very tempted to put my bro's face on the ang pows (coz he was born in the Year of the Piggie wah!). Heehee!

I have been spending my Chinese New Years in Malaysia ever since I got married. The Hubby is Malaysian from this small town called Kluang in the state of Johor (and no, it is NOT Johor Bahru - they are two different places!). It is the annual challenge we have to go through to get across the Straits in one piece and arrive in time for the Reunion Dinner. I remember there was one year where we arrived in time for the Reunion Supper! Ha!

Anyways, we had more flexibility this year since CNY eve was a non-working day. We left our house on Saturday morning (at 2am!) and I wanted McDonald's breakfast. But since its only 2am, they were still serving non-breakfast food; so I had to be contented with a Fillet-O-Fish. Went to pick up my sisters-in-law at 3am and by the time we reached Kulang, it was 530am!

You would be surprised but there was actually a short line-up at both sides of the immigration and customs at the ungodly hour! So there are other Singaporeans/Malaysians that are as crazy as us. But I guess all we wanted to do was to avoid the horrendous jam during the "normal" hours. There was once we spent 2 hours stuck in the jam; which is about the same amount of time it takes us to drive to Kluang.

I didn't do much (or a lot depending on how you look at it) over the 4 full days we spent in Malaysia. I jogged an hour everyday. I finished 5 novels. I used my mama-in-law's sewing machine to alter a blouse (and saved SGD15!). I watched enough TV to last me for the whole of this year. I ate tons of Chinese New Year tidbits and had lots of nice yummy home-cooked food. Yum! All in all, its a nice break to be back in Malaysia and be away from all the craziness that is usually associated with the Singapore Chinese New Year.

There is going to be more feasting when I get back to Singapore after this: lunches and dinners with different groups of frens and my family. I need to continue my daily jogs....

The Protege

My two favourite (handsome) actors in the same movie! - How often do you get that?!?! Of cosh, I should mention that this is a movie with a strong "Drug trafficking is evil" message and the fact that this movie is actually a first-time collaboration between Singapore, China, Hong Kong, England and USA.

I wanted to catch this movie soooooooo badly but The Hubby reminded me that it will be out in DVD before I blink my eyes. Which is actually very probable judging by the other Mandarin movies that I had caught recently.

I just hope I won't start drooling while waiting.....

St. Valentine's Day

The following MSN message is an example of how insignificant St. Valentine's Day is to me.

Me: Lunch tomolo?
Girlfren: Okie
Girlfren: Isn't tomorrow V-day??
Girlfren: You sure you don't wanna lunch with The Hubby??
Me: Er...
Me: Didn't realise it's V day
Me: But we are not celebrating
Me: Don't think lunch will matter to him....Hmm...
Girlfren: Well, I'm telling you now it's V-day.
Girlfren: Go make some plans.
Me: Lemme check with him then. Will let you know.

So with the encouragement and prodding from my close Bear fren, I had a St. Valentine's Day lunch with The Hubby. We went to Killiney Coffeeshop - our usual hunt for OK food with reasonable prices. And I bought him a raisin crossiant as a pressie :P

I find St. Valentine's Day overly hyped up and too commercialised. It's a day for the florists and chocolate sellers to make a killing. We have never celebrated V-day, not even when we were dating. Wedding anniversary and birthdays are definitely more personal and worth celebrating.

Until the next Feb 14....

Acquisition #2

Got it from Spain at a much lower price compared to Singapore. Thanks to my bro who hand-carried it all the way back to Singapore. I love you, bro!

And yes, my bro is back in one piece (with his passport! - I knew it was a conspiracy right from the start!)

Multiple Personalities Disorder

I have always liked watching Hossan Leong on stage. This is extremely good and highly recommended! Amazing costume changes.

My Bro - the classic

In Singapore, Singapore
We waited, and we waited. He was supposed to be back in Singapore today. No sign of him, no smell of him. Line is dead on his mobile phone and no responses from him on MSN. Most logical explanation for his disappearance: My bro has been kidnapped in UK!

In Manchester, UK
He woke up early in the morning that day, excited to be going home and yet at the same time sad to be leaving the place where he had tons of fun and even more fond memories for the past 5 months. His luggage and bags were all packed at one corner of his hostel room; all ready to go. He took one last look around his hostel room and stepped out into the spring air with his luggages.

He looked around him, feeling pensive. His eyes were moist as he turned towards the bus station for the last time. He boarded the bus with a heavy heart. The bus ride seem to take forever; he didn't remember that the airport was that far away when he arrived.

The airport was very crowded when he arrived. He struggled with his luggages as his eyes scanned the overhanging boards, searching for the check-in counter. He got in line and there were like 20 people ahead of him. It's gonna be a long long wait.

1 more person to go and it would be his turn. When his turn finally came, he loaded his luggages onto the conveyor belt next to the check-in counter and smiled sheepishly at the counter lady. His luggage was slightly overweight but he pretended not to notice. He opened his slingbag and took out his air ticket. Something's missing: his passport. It should be in the bag. He rumaged through the bag again but couldn't see the familiar red cover booklet with the lion-tiger crest. Oops.

He unloaded his luggages from the conveyor belt, grinned his sweetest at the check-in lady and moved to a corner to try to search for his passport. The next thing he know, he found himself back in his hostel room.

.....

Isn't he such a classic?

Quote of the Day

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."

- Author Unknown