In with the new

Here are to the new things in my life.

First. New Running Shoes.
Yes, the old pair finally called it quits during a run last week. Guessed the water from the rained out soccer session last Saturday had something to do the sudden demise.

For the new pair, decided to get Asics instead of the usual Nike. Besides they were 30% off.

Second. New CDs.
I don’t listen much to music, so I can’t really explain my sudden craving for Chinese Songs. First it was Wei Lian’s(Project Superstar winner) Debut Album, then recently it was a Compilation of old Chinese Songs from the 80s and 90s.

Don’t ask me the title of the songs. I just enjoy the music.

Third. New Books.
Books, ah, the caviar for the mind. Can’t imagine a long train journey without a book to rest my eyes on. Without something to read means my eyes either linger at the same old advertisement boards, or at the empty spaces which are not already taken up by other passengers (or at the passengers if they are interesting enough), or just a quick shut-eye.

From the local library, two local books for light reading,

And from the bookstores …

Football makes you Fat

Serious. Okay, not the part where 20 men run after the ball. Here’s why…

The hardcourt soccer sessions with my former hall friends had been put on a long hiatus since the second half of 2005. We saw it coming. There were people getting married and we had become increasingly busy people with other commitments taking priority.

Well we finally made a pact to bring back the sport after the last wedding in January. The groom, who was the designated organiser, promised to spare his Saturday afternoons organising the game that we love (it might have been in the wedding contract).

Anyway, it has been two Saturdays now since we started playing. We might be a tad rusty and slow, running around the tennis-court-turned-hardcourt-soccer-pitch, but the enthusiasm is evidently back with the good turn out at both sessions. We managed to get some good exercise sprinting up and down the short length of the courts, and sweating it out under the sweltering mid-afternoon heat (we have to start at 3pm to get a available court). So far so good.

Now to the part that makes us fat.

The first session was held after CNY break, on the Saturday before Chap Goh Mei. So naturally we decided to have a reunion of sorts by having a Chinese Dinner with the customary ‘Lo Hei’. We ended up going for an eight course dinner(CNY set meal) at Ka Hiang restaurant along Kim Tian Road. First session only, so we were not too alarmed; We will have many more soccer sessions in future to lose the calories, or so we thought.

The second session was held last Saturday. We were only about 45 minutes into the game when the skies started pelting us with big stinging raindrops. The premature end to our usual 2 hour game led us to find a place to get a drink. Somehow we ended up at the Munchie Monkey café, where we ordered rootbeer, cheese sticks and ice-cream. That was just afternoon tea.

That night, I was at Sim’s place in Redhill to catch the FA Cup match between Man Utd and Liverpool. Yes, more soccer. For dinner, we had a three course meal of Ribs, Venison and Greens. Oh, did I mention we had Otah before that on our way to his place. Anyway, to keep our mouths occupied during the game, we fed on Pringles and prawn crackers. So what was supposed to be a day of trimming the fats turned out to be the exact opposite.

Now I have to turn to other physical activities to supplement the Saturday soccer sessions.

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A borrowed shot of our soccer gang taken about 3 years ago. Just add a few kilos to picture how we look like now.

Brought to you by the letter P

Procrastinate / verb – defer action

Today, I finally decided that the Christmas Tree had to go back into the store room. Yes, I know, it spent all twelve days of Christmas, Hari Raya Haji, and even the 15 days of Chinese New Year, standing unabashedly in the hall way. Maybe I was secretly hoping that Santa’s elves could mysteriously drop by and take down the tree. (got a hunch that they are busy watching the Winter Olympics).

Anyway, here’s a word cloud I generated from my blog.

Winged Cupid painted blind

While passing the florist shop today, I can’t help but notice the queue of desperate men making last minute purchases. At the back of the shop, rows of almost identical rose bouquets lies in wait in the fridge with only the protruding receipts to identify the rightful owners of the most sought after commodity come the all important date in the courting calendar, Valentine’s Day.

Well, if you’re making last minute orders today, you’ll probably encounter such conversations with the florist.

Mr.Clueless Boyfriend : Hello Miss, I would like to order a bouquet of a dozen champagne coloured roses with 3 white lilies, decorated with baby’s breath, forget-me-nots and gold solidasters, and wrapped in a golden jute wrapper.

Ms.Florist : Huh? Sir ah (hands over price list), we only got standard boo-kueh. Now only left red colour roses. Want or not ? We wrapped with those small white and yellow flowers. One boo-kueh of 12 roses only $80. How?

Mr.Clueless Boyfriend : Er … okay then. Give me the standard bouquet of 12 roses.

Ms.Florist : Cash or nets ?

I still remember those teenage years growing up in secondary school when Valentine’s Day usually passes by without much fuss or hassle. Of course, in those days I was one of those who were without dates on Valentine’s. Well, that did not stop me from mischief. I remember those nights when my friends and I patrolled the dark streets of Muar, especially paying attention to the secluded ‘pak-tor’ spots around Tanjong Ketapang, trying to catch any activities taking place in those parked cars. We never did dare to venture too near those cars to have closer looks. Maybe things would have been different if we had volunteered to join the anti-khalwat team then.

Then there was one Valentine during Secondary 3, when I decided to make 3 Valentine’s Day Cards, signing off as anonymous and sent them to 3 girls. They were seniors I had known in church. It was fun designing those cards and anticipating their reaction when they receive those cards. No puppy crushes, just pure zany teenage fun. I got two friends to help me deliver those cards into their post box. Well, the mystery did not last long when they figured out the mysterious Casonova the very same day they received those cards. It was good fun then.

Maybe that’s just what Valentine’s Day need. Some spontaneity, some mystery, some fun. Not just the same courting ritual year in year out, played out with the same flowers, gifts and dinners. But well, if you already have your day all planned out, go ahead and enjoy it. That reminds me, got to collect my flowers later.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY !

*******

‘Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.’

~William Shakespeare, Mid-Summer Night's Dream, 1595

Tagged : Meme of Four

Got tagged by Stargazer.

4 Jobs I've Had In My Life
* BATA shop sales assistant (at Wetex Muar, while waiting for A-Level Results)
* Golf Caddy (one day stint @ Muar’s 9-hole golf course. My golfer lost about 6 balls that day)
* Real Estate Agent (for abt 8 months. selling houses, doing roadshows, distributing flyers, door-to-door visits)
* Engineer (making full use of my degree…)

4 Movies I Could Watch Over & Over
* BraveHeart (“Frreeedddommmm !!!”)
* LOTR (“A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to”)
* Transformers – The Movie (“Ba weep granna weep ninny bang.”)
* One Fine Day (She was having a perfectly bad day... Then he came along and spoiled it.)

4 TV Shows I Love(d) To Watch
* Latte @ 8 (miss Jason Lo’s antics at the midnight hour)
* ESPN English Premiership Highlights (next best thing to live soccer match on TV)
* The A-Team (4 cool guys saving the world)
* Whose line is it anyway ? (4 talented comedians doing their thing)

4 Places Where I've Lived
* Taman Murni, Muar (Childhood Home)
* Balestier Students’ Hostel, Balestier Road, Singapore (A-Level Days)
* Raffles Hall, NUS, Singapore (Under-graduate days)
* Toh Guan Rd, Singapore (After graduation)

4 Places I've Been On Vacation To
* Phuket
* Bali
* Bangkok
* Langkawi

4 Places I Would Rather Be
* Up in the highlands (Frasers or Cameron), drinking coffee, enjoying the view and cool air
* exploring New Zealand.
* At home in bed watching TV on working days.
* At old Trafford on match days.

4 Of My Favourite Foods
* Coffee (Teh Tarik comes a close second)
* Ayam Masak Merah
* Mee Siput
* Nyonya Zhang (Dumplings)

4 Websites I Visit Daily
* Yahoo Mail
* Soccernet
* Google
* Dilbert Comics

4 Beautiful People Worth Tagging
* Self Refresh
* Insane Squirrel
* Beer Brat
* Hot Choc

7 Days of Gong Xi Fa Cai

Okay, I know, Chinese New Year is over, water under the bridge and so forth. (Well officially there are four more days till Chap Goh Meh). But I just had to feed my blog with unimportant details of how spent my time during the most important date of the Chinese Lunar Calender. Besides there are not many other blog-worthy entries to bore you readers. So here goes.

Exodus
My ‘Balik Kampung’ trip took place on Friday(27th Jan), the day before the eve. It was half day at work followed by the annual Chinese New Year lunch at Boon Lay Raja Restaurant. My entire company, about 60 of us, managed to squeeze into a room with 5 ½ tables. The room had a Karaoke system, so for entertainment we had managers, executives and operators belting out Mandarin/Hokkien numbers. We even had two sporting souls doing a rendition of the Old Hokkien classic ‘Sio Ho Sua’ (Little Umbrella) while dancing under an umbrella. Then there were the Ang Pow handing-out ceremony by the boss (the usual $2 note) and a lucky draw (prizes salvaged from hampers given by suppliers).

After lunch, made my way to JB with Vicky. Stopped by City Square since we were a little early. She did some last-minute shopping while I bought some VCDs there. Bus to Muar was at 7pm. While it left promptly, the traffic at the two toll booths outside JB set us back about half an hour. Not too bad considering the bad jams further north of Malaysia.

Movie-gaga
Bought a few VCDs as I anticipated a quiet Chinese New Year. They are (in no particular order of preference) Pride and Prejudice, Fearless, The Producers, Cinderella Man, Wallace and Grommit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Munich. Memoirs of the Geisha was added on to the list when I bought it in Muar. Had time to watch all except Munich. Here are some of my thoughts on the movies.

Pride and Prejudice – Thanks to the running commentary from my Mum who relived her childhood love for this Jane Austen’s classic, I managed to appreciate and enjoy this movie quite a bit.

Fearless - Jet Li’s last Kungfu movie? Can’t imagine him acting all serious without at least a glimpse of his lightning moves or no-shadow kick.
The movie was so-so. Nothing out of the ordinary. But what else do you expect from another Jet-Li movie. Enough fighting and gore to keep kungfu fans missing him as soon as the credit rolls out.

The Producers – Something worth re-watching on the big screen. The lead duo – Mr.Jesicca Parker and Nathan Lane lit up the screen with their antics and performance. Add in the eccentric overgrown elf ,Will Ferell and voluptuous Bill Killer, Uma Thurman, and we got a feast for the eyes and senses.

Cinderella Man – Another Russell Crowe Oscar vehicle. Inspiring, makes you feel like throwing punches during the boxing scenes.
Wallace and Grommit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit – A Simple and Delightful tale about entrepreneurship gone wrong, friendship bonds, monster bunny on the loose and giant clay vegetables. A good watch. Beats watching Chicken Run for the umpteenth time.

Memoirs of a Geisha – It won’t win the Best Film award, but watch it for the Beautiful Zhang Ziyi (not her heavily accented English), the Beautiful Sets and Scenery of pre-war Japan and engrossing story set in a exotic world and culture.


The Uneventful
Spent a quiet CNY eve watching TV and occasionally catching fireworks exploding in the night sky. This was followed by a quiet first day of CNY. No guest on the first day, so it was just TV,newspapers and endless assaults on the cookie tray.
Much less happening this year, no big gathering at home, less friends around, less visiting, and less fanfare everywhere.

Batteries not required
Having a baby around the house for 5 days can really keep the rest of the family on their feet. I swear, if Josh was a toy rabbit , he would be running on Energizer.

Of things that make you lose hair
Hmmm … 11 man sacrificed while the rest of the Chinese population in Malaysia continue to indulge in their petty vices.
You can’t stop the Chinese from gambling during Chinese New Year! It’s like asking the dog to stop burying his bones or geishas to stop painting their face white and lips red. It’s in both their nature and nurture.
Had a few sessions of blackjack and in-between with friends. Fortunately there are still some available kakis to keep this age-old tradition going. I shudder to think of a CNY without people to play a few round of cards.

Back to reality
Finally it was time to pack and go back to Singapore on Sunday morning. Clear traffic all the way. Had time to savour the Nasi Lemak Rendang Ayam at Stesen Larkin café. Among one of my finds at the Larkin bus station.
(Other notable food selection at the station includes the nasi lemak and roti prata at a stall behind the station.)

The Monday After

What’s worse than a Monday morning? A Monday morning after a week long break. Gahh!!! Pulled myself out of bed today; dragged myself through work and lasted till the end of day.

Just got back from Muar on Sunday. Surprisingly smooth traffic at the causeway.

Too tired to blog today, will write another day. Till then.

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From ‘A Treasury of Essential Proverbs’
“For the diligent the week has seven todays; for the slothful seven tomorrows.”