Perfect Imperfections

This is a community ad initiated by Singapore's authority to inculcate family value.

Ever wonder since when family value became like a commodity product that needs to be advertised?
Sounds pathetic huh?

What a shame to actually learn that such developed country like Singapore or even Dubai are gradually losing touch on family value. Probably not just family value but cultures too.

Suppose that's the trade-off of rapid development? People are blinded by all sort of lavish and glamorous achievements. Ironically, we are losing more than we gained.

This ad also reflects alarming rise of singles and divorces in Singapore. In pursuing excellent achievements in life, people are expecting life partner of a higher standard too. Thus making all the little imperfections unbearable. Little did we know, all such imperfections will be the gems that make us unique.

Please treasure people that you care and people who care about you.
None of us want to learn to appreciate all such perfect imperfections only when we lose it...
Like the plot in this video...

Black. White. Grey

Are you the Grey zone believer?
Or holding strong to the principal of Black & White?

I've always been a supporter of "Balance".
Work-life balance.
Exercise-diet balance.
Money-happiness balance.

I don't like extremeness in life.
Skipping meals for slimmed body, but never exercise.
Working exhaustively for money, but neglecting health.
Spending all time for career, but never communicate with people.
No. Not my type.

However to my realization,
Over an interesting conversation with a friend,
Somehow am a black-white person when it comes to value.

"Can you accept your husband having mistress?"
Was told that it would be naive for not being able to accept the mistress concept.
It's the reality in the world that we ought to follow.
These husbands who keep mistress still love their wife and family.
They still play the role of a good husband and a good father.
It's just that, you know, mistress.

Despite being b.a.l.a.n.c.e follower,
I have a finite answer this time.

If he's a good husband and a good father
He should be matured enough to analyze all consequences
Will the children still be respectful of the father?
Will there still be strong faith within the family?
Will it impact the kids' value towards marriage & relationship in the future?

Well, I don't know.
I might be still young and naive for an answer.

Anyway,
To my future husband
If you can accept me having "misters" out there
Yes, you are granted green light to have "co-curriculum" too. Haha!

I Dreamed a Dream

Touched.
Made my eyes wet watching her.
Singing the song of her life (my assumption) with confidence.

Came across this news today.
Human beings are just so professional at pre-judging, isn’t?
People judge her capability by appearance.

And I?
My perception was perhaps pre-influenced.
By the news that I read even before watching the show.
And thus it successfully touched my heart.

(This is how those marketiers cari makan huh? Haha)

Anyway, here’s the lyric.
Seems so pathetic and negative.
Enjoy~

"I Dreamed a Dream"
by Les Miserables

There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting.
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting.
There was a time ...then it all went wrong...

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hopes were high and life worth living,
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.
Then I was young and unafraid,
When dreams were made and used and wasted.
There was no ransom to be paid,
No song unsung, no wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night,
With their voices soft as thunder,
As they tear your hope apart
As they turn your dreams to shame

He slept a summer by my side.
He filled my days with endless wonder,
He took my childhood in his stride,
But he was gone when autumn came.

And still I dream he'll come to me
And we will live the years together!
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather.

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream
I dreamed.

Disappointment vs Pleasure

Am in a very pleasant mood with Final Fantasy's piano collection.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh~~~~~~
So nice~~~~ (indescribable by words la! haha)

So, I've decided to simplify the disappointments that I wanted to convey for the day. Hopefully by the time I finish this post, I will still be in la la la mood~ hehe

Yes.
Truly disappointed by him.
Didn't have much knowledge about him earlier.
Hence was being neutral to him in hoping that he would proof us something constructive.

Today, the children are being blamed for not being 'filial' to the family.
Step father claimed that children are always given 'sweets' during special occasions.
Step father feels like being fooled for not getting anything back in return.

Something given not out of sincerity and consistency.
The pre-occasion-sweets-giving action is definitely questionable.

I don't know if he could kindly recall
The children used to be such supportive of the family for years.
What leads to the change?
Shouldn't the family have some reality check?
Instead of creating issues and provoking further tension among siblings?

How disappointing.
Someone who talks before action.

Anyway, enough said for the day.

Shall get back to my source of happiness - music! :)
(Final Fantasy VI - Kids Run Through The City)

Money or Relationship?

It was a random arrangement for a casual dining.
However, it turned out to be a memorable porky experience!

El Cerdo (which means "the pig" in Spanish), is a restaurant specialized in pork dishes, located at the happening Bukit Bintang. It offers a variety of pork dishes from nose to tail e.g. tongue, heart, intestines, etc. Being first timer, we ordered the more common signature dishes i.e. El Cerdo Sausages, Nicoise Salad, Seranno, Iberico Ribs, and not forgotten the highly recommended suckling pig. Well, personally like the Jamon Seranno most, the combination of air dried ham with slices of rock melon was just so heavenly delicious! Mmmm~~ Suckling pig was rather over rated though. Overall experience was good.

The most interesting part came when suckling pig was served. Apparently there's this Spanish tradition that we needed to chop the pig with just a plate showing how crispy it was! Subsequently followed by the plate-breaking tradition. Break-the-plate!? YES! It is actually a Spanish tradition to throw bad luck away (luckily ma ma didnt know this, if not sure get scolded for being such wasteful~ haha).

"Make a wish."
"Money or Relationship?"

Your decision determines how the plate supposed to be held before it was thrown into the wooden barrel for luck. Throughout the dinner, we could hear smashing sound of the plate-breaking every now and then from different tables. Wondering what others had wished for? Hehe.

"Happy birthday to you, oink oink~ Happy birthday to you~ oink oink..."
A group of waiters surprised us by coming forward with the piggy version of birthday song! Haha~ Obviously they overheard about a March birthday girl at the table :)

We were then being served some complimentary drinks. Tequilla? Martini vodka lime? Not too sure but it tastes good. Based on Spanish tradition, was given a cute piggy for birthday too :)

Before bidding farewell, we pampered ourselves with some delicious desserts. Yummy~

Overall it was excellent. Perhaps it was a last minute thing, so no one put much expectation but it turned out to be such memorable. Was told that Sammi Cheng used to dine here too.

Here's a video clip to feast your eye. Hehe. Enjoy~

Sammi Cheng's article published in some newspaper...

The Universal Belief

Of late, the thought of purchasing new car has been much discussed. Even the parents are so supportive (not financially though, haha) of it.

"Why? I thought it's still new?" "Because this car has been giving us problems. The same car has been problem-free for others, but not us." "You meant bo-ngam??"

That was how the conversation went during a recent catch up over dinner with a non-Chinese good friend of us. Surprisingly, that *bo-ngam* word actually came from him!

At first I was still trying hard to explain to him on Chinese belief. The so called compatibility between an object and yourself. Different people might have different experiences of using even the same model of product. It is applicable to anything e.g. car, kitchen utensils, handphone, gadgets, electrical appliances, etc.

Well, perhaps this is actually an universal belief that it's time to change if something keeps giving you problems. Everybody can become good analyst and well verse at all sort of rationalizations to justify the need to change. It is so straight forward that decision can be made easily putting aside financial constraint.

However, it's a whole lot different approach when it comes to relationship.

Relationship has not been working well?
Keep giving problems since day one?
Compatibility being major issue?
Unable to fix it after so long and still holding on to each other?

No doubt we've seen a lot of cases like this.
But how come people can endure all such imperfections/incompatibility in a relationship but not an object?

It puzzled me.
Does that mean stubbornness to continue an unhappy relationship?
Or it's the so called true love?
Could that imply avoidance towards problems?
Isn't selfish not to deal with it but to remain status quo?
Can't we evaluate relationship the simple way based on the principle-of-universal-belief?

Apparently not.
Relationship is not 1+1=2.
Human being complicates it.
No matter how disagreeable am I toward such rule-of-game, I must acknowledge that there are things money can't buy. We can't change relationship like how we change car.

But I do believe, we can change the approach to tackle problems :)

愿天下有情人终成眷属!

Body Aching

Yoga class was taxing yesterday.
As a result of challenging poses, I woke up with body aching this morning.
Sign of aging? Probably. Haha!

These are some of the poses I had to do yesterday:

It was meant to open up the chest and hip. I think it was way too ‘effective’ that after the session I felt my hip so opened that I couldn’t walk properly. Well, it looks easy from the pictures, the same thought occurred to me when instructor demonstrated it. Unfortunately, it took more than just physical coordination to initiate the post, but also mental strength to sustain it! Don’t believe it? Try it yourself (with proper alignment please), hah!

“Everything starts from somewhere” (quote from leng zai instructor), so pictures here shall serve as a motivation for me to practice more so that one day I will be able achieve ALL these… (I know, I know, someone would laugh at my ‘determination’, haha)

新老板 - 03.04.2009

最近我们换老板了。
是祸是福仍是个未知数。

有别於往常一贯高调的欢送与恭贺仪式
此次接替明显地来得格外仓促兼“平静”

作风看似强硬的他将会带领我们迈向怎样的未来呢？
是风调雨顺吗？还是人心惶惶呢？
有所保留吧？
毕竟背景不太干净的人
还蛮难以服众的吧？

虽然小妹一向秉持着邓小平精句
不管白猫黑猫 会捉老鼠的 就是好猫
深知干爹难免也不择手段
可整体贡献乃功不可抹啊

要知道的是
他俩唯一不一样的
正是那背后的女人啊！

老板娘予人高傲不好惹的距离感
而干妈可是世上少有的贤妻良母

干爹
我说啊
你该享清福了啦 是时候和干妈享天伦乐
干嘛还雄心壮志地归队呢？

至于老板
我天真的希望以往一切对你的指正
纯属乌虚子有对手捏造的流言蜚语
请别让我们失望吧！