NUMB3RS

I like numbers.

Last Saturday morning, after class, driving back home, annoyed with the usual radio stations I listen to, I switched to a random channel.

A song I've never heard before started playing. It made me grin (like a Royal idiot, of course, but I didn't mind) all the way home. A truly happy song. Love at first tune. I didn't care for the lyrics, the music and his high pitch voice, did the trick! So I memorised one line "my heart beats like a drum" and frantically searched for it on Youtube as soon as I got home! I have listened to it nearly 100 times since (talk about borderline OCD!).

Evening time. My girl friends made sudden plans to meet at a mall (yes, I know, sounds soooo girly). What to do, they are not the outdoor type!!!  While I really enjoy their company, I have to put up with ALOT of window shopping and wasting away time browsing through things I won't spend my cash on! But I did get the chance to see some beautiful outdoor scenes just outside the mall.

So yeah, back to my story...

After coffee, and MORE loitering in shops, it was time for the movie. I really really REALLY wanted to watch The King's Speech but they had all watched it. I was nearly tempted to ask them to go ahead watch whatever they liked and that I can go watch The King's Speech on the other side of the hall and we could meet up afterwards. I have no issues watching movies alone, but it would not have been polite in this case. So we all settled for No Strings Attached. Ashton Kutcher being the King of all things lame and cheesy, I KNEW the end to the movie before I saw it! Surprisingly enough, it was funny and more entertaining than I thought. The hot and steamy scenes were completely removed (thanks to local censorship boards) that it took awhile to piece together the plot in a couple of places in the movie since chunks of the storyline were missing! In the end, as predicted, the girl and the guy get back together for the umpteenth time. We were led to believe that this was the last time (going by the credits that started to roll on the side of the screen). I always like to sit until all the credits of a movie have passed, in hopes of catching a glimpse of special short scenes...

There were few of them. AND, a familiar song played at the end (IT WAS THAT SONG!!!).

My eyes popped out, jawed dropped, etc. No *Beep Beep* WAY!!! Needless to say, I was grinning for most of the evening too...

Hmmmm, what exactly are the odds of THAT happening??

"Rhythm of Love" by Plain White T's

Times are a changed

There was a time, when life was simpler.

Many years back, we had no central water supply and had to depend on wells to get water for basic washing and cooking. For other high consumption activities like laundry and bathing, we had to take a 5 minute walk down to the river. Those were easily some of the most enjoyable days of my time. We swam and splashed in the river for hours while all we heard, saw and felt was our own laughter, the calming sounds of the flowing water gushing by, the white bubbles that formed as the flow hit the stones, the cool breeze, flocks of birds flying overhead and the sun setting behind the mountains. All this was mixed with the fear of knowing that this very river was capable of drowning us as we might have helplessly strived to take those last few breaths, before being dragged down to the depths.

If there is one thing this river taught me, it's that life's fleeting moments that pass by me will never come back. The good moments will thus be missed. The bad moments will soon be forgotten. And a wise person should strive to live and make good use of the present moment.

Not Quite

Is it that time of the month?? Not quite. Or is it that lately many people are giving me enough reasons to get pissed off?? Yes, most likely.

Don't recede into your shell, Shu ... it's hard to get out once you do.

Dear Mum/ Dad,

I am fully aware of the fact I am 25 years of age and that it is customary for a girl my age to start thinking of marriage according to our social standards.

While I understand your parental concerns over who will be willing to marry me when I am 35 and relatively unattractive, I can assure you it is not any concern of mine. I am confident that when the time is right and when I feel ready for marriage, things will fall in place. I have not decided to stay single for the rest of my life and I will certainly give a fair chance to a decent guy I meet who manages to impress me with his personality.

You have brought me up to be independent when it comes to making big decisions. As far as I could remember, you have let me (or watched me) choose my subjects, my degree, my friends, my clothes, my jobs, my love interests, my hobbies, my finances, etc. Similarly, I would like to have my own shot at picking the person I would like to spend the rest of my life with. And I would rather live with all the consequences of my decisions than have you hand-pick a man for me. Not to mention, you dont even know me well enough to know what kind of personality would complement mine. I don't want to play along in an "arranged marriage" game as it is based on alot of underlying expectations and I do not wish to inconvenience another person or a family by giving any false hope. Also, I would not hear you take an astrologer's word over such a big decision that concerns me.

The reason I am pushing this off is simply for the fact that a committment such as a marriage at this point in my life, would be an inconvenience to the future I am paving for myself. I want to be able to support myself and you both on my own than have to depend on a husband for it. I have no doubt that I would make a good wife to a husband who treats me with respect and loyalty. I also feel my personality would make me a very devoted and caring mother should I decide to take on that responsibility.

Honestly, I can understand your love for me and the worry that follows as a result. But this is a decision that I truly want to make on my own and in my own terms. I will not be pushed to make this decision based on deadlines, social standards, biological clocks or what your friends/ our relatives think.

Dad, I know would not approach and talk to me about issues like this and that you always put across such things through Mum. That's too bad, because I think you are probably the only one of the two of you that I can have a logical conversation with in English. Mum as you know is too emotional and she always crushes me in with her polished grammar in our native language, which I am poor at expressing.

Mum, I admire you for the pains you took in bringing us up and for teaching us to be strong, independent, practical, compassionate and to do what is right. So you of all people, should be able to understand my reasoning.

Please trust me when I ask you not to be worried. I am the person I love the most in this world and that should be comforting enough for you because my priorities now lie in making my life secure and happy, within the noble means that you both have taught me to follow.

So I'll leave you two to best decide on how to turn down the marriage proposals that have been coming your way...

Love you always.

Yours,
Very special youngest daughter.

Big Dipper, small dipper

Perceptions keep changing all the time...

Work tomorrow.... it's laying-off season. Lost a good person last week. He was probably the only mentor I had at work and one of the best I've known. He will be dearly missed.

I hate ironing clothes. Today, I had to iron my nephew's school uniform for the first time. That felt strangely emotional. I realised I was old, as I ironed his little red checked shirt and shorts. The other day, his mother had a night out (much deserved, of course). The usual plan is for me to sleep next to him, once he has been put to sleep by his mother. So he *thinks* it's his mother and won't create any drama when he wakes up (partially) in the night and rolls back to sleep.  Sure, I have to sleep like a bird, waking every hour for every sneeze he has, but it works well, and he fell for it 2 times in a row!!!

Much like this scenario:

Let's see what this week unravels...



Im back, Im back

Ahhhh...feels so good to be blogging again!!! I have dearly missed it.

Let's see ... since my last blog, my flu's gone (a-lmost!), I have +1 wisdom tooth, my little nephew started school and I have a smart phone.

The long awaited Nokia C7 finally made its way to my hands a few days back. By now, most of my initial excitement is gone. It looks and feels great. Much more functions left to discover and use. The best two things about it are the free navigation feature and personalising experience with the phone. On the downside, it has annoyed me alot by eating away my credit by connecting to the internet in misleading ways... I was left stranded on a couple of occassions when I had to make important calls. Also, messaging on a touch screen takes some getting used to. 

After several weeks of shying away from family obligations and feeling gulity about it, I am trying to make time for them and to try and enjoy it while I am at it. It's working for now. Got to love my sis, she's a star. With all the challenges that come her way, she is still upright and keeping things under control. AND she puts up with my ways with little fuss.

I keep hearing a catchy song on radio these days, called Tonight I'm Lovin' You by Enrique Iglesias Ft. Ludacris. And today, I thought, hey let me check it out on Youtube because the beat sounded good. YIKES!! There are too many sexual depictions (of the disturbing kind) in it. Seriously, do these musicians overuse these elements just to attract fans and Youtube views? Are they not aware that they are creating new social standards which most weak minded youth feel obligated to conform to? *sigh*

Been bumping into too many jokes lately! Today, I came across a hilarious line uttered by one of my good humoured colleagues. I nearly fell off my chair. Apparently, she had forgotten to draw her "eyebrows" that day to work. OMG priceless. 

Here's one from Pink. I think she has a great voice and best of all, she expresses her songs without the extra frills and they feel honest. (Oops she used the F-word!).

"Perfect" by Pink