Chor Yat

Today is the first day of the Lunar calendar
Many, many traditions to be held
Vegetarian for lunch *yum*
Massive choices of yummy stuff for dinner

The Lunar new year is all about eating, eating and more eating
Tossing of the thinly julienned array of vegetables with raw fish for luck
Home-cooked dishes, mandarin oranges, cookies, tarts, fried thinly sliced vegetables...
Hmm... I haven't seen any love letters around, have I?

The best part of it all is that it goes on for 15 days
Can you imagine, 15 days of merry making?
What will this do to our waistlines?
That's ok, we'll have the rest of the year to work it off!

Firecrackers

You know the Lunar new year is approaching, while living in Malaysia, when the first sounds of firecrackers start popping. These are singular ones that whistle while flying upwards and pop at the end. Currently firecrackers are illegal items, but people still find a way to purchase and let them go, usually around the eve of the day, the first and second days.

In another 10 minutes, there is going to be a cacophony of noise as the real firecrackers start. These are unlike the official ones (hosted by the governments during while welcoming the western new year) that last a whole 10 to 15 minutes with bursts of colourful light, although if you put enough of them together, it could last that long. On another note, it is fascinating that people are able to come up with the kind of fireworks that we have now, complete with flowery names like willow, chrysanthemum, dahlia and peony.

The Lunar new year firecrackers are short red sticks, tied together such that when the fuse goes off, the crackers pop one by one but at an alarming pace and sound. It's loud and according to the Chinese, that's meant to scare away the bad and old in order for the new to come into the new year.

Passwords

I vaguely remember writing about passwords around May or June last year, about how complicated your password should be to prevent hackers from guessing and getting access to your email/facebook/twitter/blog accounts. I hope you don't use one password for every internet account that you hold.

Having said that, I have a few passwords. Most of the time it's one for each account and I've written them down somewhere because you just don't remember 20 passwords for 20 accounts, I'm not that brilliant. The good thing about that is that I get my personal macbook to remember the passwords for me, so that when I launch that account, everything's there and I just have to click 'login'. The bad thing, I don't bring along that little notebook of passwords when I don't bring my macbook along with me.

So, whenever I travel and have to use another computer, a few minutes is spent pondering on what the password should be, and sometimes even the login name. For instance, Twitter is forever logged-in on the iPhone, there's no way to log out. So when I'm trying to update something on the computer, as I don't use the data roaming, I sit there for a few minutes wondering what the password could be.

Moral of the story? There isn't any... keeping a various array of passwords is good AND bad for you *grin*

Diarrhea

If you're squirmish about bodily fluids gone wrong, don't even read this post.

I'm having the worst diarrhea of my life! I don't think I ever remember a session being so bad! After everything that's been cleared in my bowels, water's just coming out. I now know what an enema feels like and it's not something I want happening ever so often!

Gurgling

It's gurgling!
My tummy has been gurgling for more than 9 hours now...
What on earth do you think it's doing inside???
I'm almost afraid of going to the toilet...
But I know at some point in time, I'll have to!

Clean, clean, clean!

Short post today, gotta clean the house... the hubs is coming back! I know, I know, I've left it too late again, haven't I? Maybe I should think about getting a weekly maid, if only to do the floors and the bathrooms.

Mt Bromo Erupts

There's a volcano located on the ring of fire in Indonesia called Mt Bromo. It's not all that famous (to me, that is) but it has been spewing smoke since mid December last year and there's a wiki article about it.

Today, it decided to spew heaps of volcanic ash, so much so that flights in and out of Bali and Lombok have been cancelled. I guess it's not as powerful as that Iceland one, Eyjafjallajokull.

En Garde!

In the world of fencing, En Garde is like "Fore!" to golfers.

What would you use in light of the new American Idol judges?
Fail?
En Garde! also as a warning to expect something totally different... fairy tales? Where everything is seen through rose coloured glasses.

It's just not the same, is it? Everyone's happy, too happy it seems a little fake. Oh well, I guess it was inevitable that people move on to bigger and better things... After all American Idol is in its 10th season!

Happy Australia Day!

Sometimes I wish I worked for an embassy in a foreign country, only to enjoy both public holidays.
Can't complain, Singapore does have a few more holidays as compared to Australia.
I guess I'll just have to stick to working for an American firm that does not observe US holidays.

Damn You Auto Correct!

Whenever you need to laugh, really laugh out loud... this is the one website you've gotta go to. It's amazing what the auto correct within the iPhone can do! What more, this is only in English, for those of us who speak other languages, it's a whole new world of, "Damn you auto correct!"

Today's one is especially hilarious "Special Cucumber Unit!

The Snow Queen

I don't think I remember reading Hans Christian Andersen's version of this story, and I'm sure there are heaps of versions around, but the Korean's have managed to come up with a sob fest of a story with this underlying theme.

The only reason why I picked it up was for the actor, Hyun Bin. Not liking the way he looked in his most recent drama Secret Garden, I decided to pick this one up and it was one of the saddest k-drama I've ever watched. If you're going to watch it, stop reading now.

The story evolves around two people, the dorky guy, a maths genius and a girl who's been sick all her life. Something about the storyline should have warned me not to watch it, usually when someone has a weird illness, they will surely die. That's just the way dramas are meant to be. I thought my brain was mature enough to handle this, but no... my eyes are all swollen.

To make the story more sobby, the guy's best friend, who happens to be a good-looking maths genius commits suicide when he loses in the countrywide maths Olympiad. He didn't even place second, he didn't even place third. Of course the dorky guy came in first, so he blames himself for the reason his best friend committed suicide. Which if you think about it, is a bit silly, how can you be sorry for being smart? But he's supposed to be a 17 year old...

The story picks up again 8 years later. We find out that the dorky guy leaves school and decides to become a boxer. It was the dream of his best friend to be one, so he takes it on himself to fulfill that dream. Meets up with the younger sister of his best friend without knowing so, falls in love only to discover who she really is. Anyways, they somehow patch up only to have the weird illness claim her life. Such a sad, sad ending because the dorky guy spends most of his life being miserable... and lonely.

Will I watch this again? Yeah, if only for the early scenes between the main actors as they bicker and become steadfast friends.

Korean Tongue Twisters

I can't even handle the English ones and I'm going ahead of myself in trying to learn ones in a foreign language of which I'm not fluent in. I guess it might be easier to remember if I knew what I was actually saying... kind of reminds me of the times I was in school and uni trying to memorise sentences and formulas that don't make any sense to me! That's right, it doesn't make sense ergo it's not easy to remember.

It's a mesh of weird things, doesn't even make sense, something akin to she selling seashells on the seashore.

This is from the Secret Garden Korean drama where in order to take his mind off something the lead actor recites this over and over again.

"Kimmm soo han moo, keo bu gi wa du ru mi, sam cheon gab ja Dong Bang Sak! Chi chi ga po, Sarisarisaenta, Wori wori, sapeurika..."

Storm turns one!

Happy Birthday Stormy!

When I first heard this kid's name, I thought, "Boy, is he going to have a hard time at school!"
I still think that *grin* but the name is beginning to grow on me, the more I see him and the more I call out to him. Cute kid, it'll be interesting to watch him grow.

Handbags and crowded food courts

Your handbag doesn't deserve a seat in a crowded food court. I don't care if you've paid a thousand dollars or ten dollars for it, it doesn't deserve a seat in a crowded food court. It's not eating, even if it is, it should be sitting on your lap or hanging off the table or chair.

I don't know if this is a normal occurrence in Asian countries, but here in Singapore, it's everywhere, something of a culture. With Singapore being relatively safe, the handbag can afford to be left on a seat of its own while the owner eats.

And I love asking people to move their bags to make way for my bum. The daggers I get sometimes are just priceless. I wonder if they know that they're actually shooting daggers for the fact that their precious handbag has to vacate a seat.

My Name is Kim Sam Soon

A legend among all Korean Dramas! It's a series which I have no trouble watching over and over again, a feel-good drama. The writers and producers have strayed a little away from the norm of a pretty girl with a good-looking guy. Instead, the story is about a plus sized girl who's a great pastry chef. She meets a good-looking younger guy who runs a restaurant and ends up being the pastry chef. They somehow get close and against what their brain tells them, start to like each other.

The good-looking younger guy doesn't have a string of girlfriends as he's still hung up on an ex-girlfriend who left suddenly 3 years ago. Anyways, the leads end up being together, a happy ending, the kind that I like. One of the plus bits to this drama is of course the good-looking younger guy. He's none other than one of my favourite actors, Hyun Bin, and I'm guessing that this is one of his early dramas for which he started getting famous for.

Halfway through!

The hubs is away again for work and luckily it's only for 3 weeks this time.
Can't wait for him to get back... then life will be back to normal *grin*
I never knew how much I would miss him...
Always thought I would be ok being alone, it was always ok when I was younger.
Maybe he's just attached himself onto me with super glue, eh?

Wanna Cookie?

It could only happen in this day and age.
Bust enhancement cookies...
Absurd, no?
Just the thought of cookies being able to enhance busts...
Well, just so you know, they exist.
Not that they're safe...
These kind of things are never safe.
But people still want to try...
People can be silly sometimes.

Tidbits Galore

It looks like the Lunar new year is nearly upon us.

Everywhere you go, stalls are starting to display all the yummy goodies; cashew nut cookies, love letters, peanut brittle, pineapple tarts, mandarin oranges, barbeque sliced pork and the list goes on! Hmm... I've got to remember to get a couple of new clothes!

Takashimaya market place

Sunday's are for resting...

I should really clean the house... but I'm just so lazy. One of the benefits of having the house all to myself (and the hubs) is that I don't really care that there's dust all over the place (neither does the hubs)!

Maybe I'll do it next weekend... the Lunar new year is coming up and as a custom, one has to clean the house of all things old, dust is considered old *grin* A couple of weeks will be all I need to clean this place up, right?

Money is a scary thing

What would this world be if we didn't have money? There will be other forms of barter of course, but now that we have to live in a world where money is the major form of barter, we'll just have to make do.

So, how much is enough? Enough to live comfortably. I'm living comfortably at the moment. If I don't want some maids trailing me, a house that's too big for the both of us, a driver in a flashy car, massive jewellery hanging on me and jet-setting all over the world at a whim, I'm alright! Although, that last one would be nice *grin*

Right! Money... as the Lunar new year approaches, the Singapore pools will be preparing for another big draw. Can't remember what last year's one was, maybe it's the same every year, but this year it's $10 milion! Will you be buying into it? Queues have formed everywhere tickets are being sold, everyone's donating to the pool... parting with a little in the hopes of winning big. Would there be a possibility of no one winning?!