boorathon

A nice holiday on a cruise; the sight of my two sons seated at the porthole looking out to sea was really, really sweet. And how the older one is like me in being addicted to arcade games (we played till the very, very last minute before they shut off for disembarkation!!)

Nice prezzies....especially the Liverpool jersey with my name and age emblazoned on the back. Sweet!!! The many new shirts as well! Whee....I have a new wardrobe already!!

A trip to JB where I saw my friend's clinic and can share in his joy of finally being the boss. It was special and poignant for me to spend the part of the special day with him.

A nice movie with the wifey, and it's particularly precious these days, given our busy schedules. Was a great Japanese movie as well!

My all-time favourite dish (Pig trotters in vinegar!!) prepared by my mum. Really heartwarming to know she still dotes on me. I'll never outgrow the 'spoilt youngest child' tag, I guess :p

My elder son giving a full rendition of the birthday song alone! I thought he would stop after a line or two, realizing that he was the ONLY one singing. But he went all the way!! :)

A bithday cake from my colleagues that's called 'Boo Boo cake'!! No kidding!! It's from NYDC! Hahahaa...A gigantic birthday card with some really sweet words.

An entertaining and fun karaoke party. Amazing how the different personalities all came across somehow in the way the songs were chosen annd sung, with the pool table and massage chair helping to show up a few personalities as well! We had those sizzling sparklers too! So nostalgic.

My ex-colleagues coming down to my present office for a birthday lunch. Really nice of them to remember and make it a point to 'deliver themselves' for a birthday lunch treat! And it was a great lunch as well!!

This has really been a great birthday for me. I really cannot ask for more. Fantastic!!

For a country which doesn't agree with me in terms of food and sports....there was just one place to hit....the BEACH!!! And hence I got burned....even when I had applied suntan lotion!! Oh well....there were interesting sights though:

i) The indian couple making out with everyone staring at them
ii) The asian girl who suntanned in her bra instead of a bikini
iii) The south american boy who played beach football with an injured ankle
iv) The silly Singaporean who was the ONLY sunbather without a beach towel and had to suntan in a seated position, causing his tan to look really blotched and uneven. Sigh...

Sometimes events occur at uncanny timing. Out of the blue, someone asks me if I can recommend grapes to her. I don't particularly care for grapes and it isn't grape season so I tell her I'll keep a lookout for her, but not to set her hopes high as grape season won't happen for the next 2 months.

And voila!! The very next day, I get a call from another party asking if I want to buy grapes!! Wow. Seriously. Wow. I cannot run away from the fact that this seems like a totally cool set-up. At unbelievable timing. Cunning conspiracy?? Or Crazy Coincidence?? In any case, I'll be bringing someone grape shopping soon :)

And by gymnast, I refer to a person who frequents the gym......

A gymnastic lifestyle entails:

- having less time for lunch with colleagues and friends
- having more clothes for the laundry
- having to buy more undies
- having to acquire the skill to avert looks/stares of dubious men in the locker room
- having to bring home a six-pack everyday

:D

Overheard in the elevator - A and B were talking about C, who wasn't present.

A: He is quite young isn't he?
B: Yes....let me see....he started work in...(mumbles inaudibly)
A: Early thirties?
B: Yes...(continues to mumble inaudibly)....so he should be 35 or 36.
A: Yah....he's at his prime.

Almost turned around to give A a big hug. Didn't, but it brought a big, big grin to MY face :D

It's tough when there's no one you can tell. Those closest to you are the ones you have to lie to the most. New webs of deceit need to be constantly churned. Sometimes it's much easier to spin a new web, than to add on to an already overladen series of half-truths. A new story is born. Before you know it, there is a whole series in the collection. A single shelf would not suffice to hold the load of intrigue and espionage.

Everybody's playing a game, though it might be a different one altogether. Somebody's trying to climb the corporate ladder, but you're trying to find out if he has links to a covert terrorist movement. Yet another person is linked with fraud. The kind that banishes politicians to tiny, obscure islands. It's meant to be a chillout session, but everyone has a separate agenda, unseen to the untrained eye. The one who finally picks up the tab, has to conceal the fact that he has millions stashed somewhere.

There is a rustic charm in all this. In knowing that the person next to you on the train is there for a reason. She is more interested in the story of your life than the drama in her novel. In knowing that the tall, slim lady seated down the row did not go through the proper selection process. She has been planted in this bureaucracy for a reason. And the reason is you.

I love all this. I love reading Tom Clancy again.

I was consuming some sinful chocolates on the sly, not too long ago. No questions asked. But now that I've stopped eating the delightful goodies, I'm being questioned. Weird. May just drive me to try the equally delectable pork knuckles. Heh.

Fifteen years it has been, since I met my then-girlfriend-now-wife. Time does fly.

We were celebrating our anniversary last night, and as she sat across me at the restaurant, I was filled with a sense of warmth as I still found her attractive.

Articulate, as she interacted with me over various topics.
Beautiful, as the light cast a quarter-shadow over her.
Caring, as she asked about me and the things that weigh me down.
Demure, as she elegantly consumed her meal.

The ABCDs of love. I'm sure there are more, but it would be cheesy to churn out A-Z. So there. 15 years of goodness. May there be many more 15's.
Cheers to my lovely wife :)

Let the narcissists think about themselves.....coz nobody else would.

Life should be studied backward....but lived forward.

Never buy undies when in a rush.....you'll end up with something....unbecoming.

when I have a tuition class on Monday night, but when my darling of an older son asks me (with that impish, irresistable grin), "Papa, are you coming home early to play with me tonight?" and hours later, I cancel my class. It's the start of his 1-week sch holidays today, and I really wanna spend time with him :D

Have always believed in this, and ever more so: A person's love for another is usually signified by the desire to spend time with that person. One always cancels one's appointment for those he/she loves.

Recently read about how self-centred people can be cured.

Basically, these people think too much about themselves, worry about what will happen to them if this or that happens. Consequences are only meaningful if they affect them; those that affect others are invariably negligible. They will think about what they want and what they need, at particular points in their lives, and the people around them are there to help fulfill these needs. Once in a while, it does occur to them that other people have needs as well. Oh well...

So....the cure? Give them a baby to take care of. There is not a more selfish being in the world than a baby. The baby will only ask, and not actively or purposefully give. So there. Self-centred person will be forced to not be self-centred anymore.

Interesting. So for their growth and maturity, I hereby wish a baby upon all my self-centred friends.

When a colleague says "Hi, it's weird that we always bump into each other but never get to talk."

When I bump into an ex-colleague, whose eyes light up upon seeing me and greets me with the warmest smile.

Oases in a desert.

I'm now reading the novel, Norwegian Wood. Two different people, on seeing it, have told me that it's a depressing book. I find it interesting. Even uplifting, at times. What does that mean? Weird.

The best way to deal with pain.....is to inflict more pain. So that after a certain point, it becomes numb.

Player was placed on the reserves' bench as he wasn't performing well. Sad.
Week in, week out, manager does not let the player know if he will be playing in that week's game. Sadder.
Manager tells player that he does not stand to lose anything when he is picked to play, but manager stands to lose a lot because manager could lose other players. Saddest.
Player decides to leave. Doesn't want to be treated like rotting trash anymore.
Sigh...

I am really loving my children more and more, especially the older one. Recently, he taught me a precious lesson.

N's best fren I, was over at our house playing with him and I was napping, when I got awoken by N's cries.

Me: "What happened?"

N: "I doesn't want to play dinosaurs with me *bawl* I played Thomas the train with him, but now *bawl* he doesn't want to play dinosaurs with me!"

Me: "Did he promise to play dinosaurs with you?"

N: "We say we play Thomas, then play dinosaurs *bawl* so I play Thomas with him, but now he doesn't *bawl* want to play dinosaurs with me!!!"

Me: "N, you cannot force I to play dinosaurs with you. If he still wants to play Thomas, you have 3 choices. (1) You can continue to play Thomas with him,even though I can see you don't really want to, now. (2) You can play dinosaurs by yourself, or daddy can play dinosaurs with you. (3) You can continue crying your heart out and look really ugly and maybe cause yourself to start coughing and falling sick again.

After a few rounds of negotiation, he allowed me to bathe him (to wash away all the mess created by the bawling), then chose 1. But that night, daddy played dinosaurs with him. And it was fun, even for daddy. This boy is such a darling :)

Consider this: that no matter how much one longs for and wants something... if the person be made to beg for it, there is a seriously bad aftertaste, should it be gotten. Reflection on this matter has yielded one conclusion: beggars do have a choice --- not to beg. They can decide not to beg, and find other means to meet their needs.

At certain points in our lives, each of us decides to make something, somebody or some day significant.
It's sometimes hard to explain why it became significant.
But sometimes, it's even harder to explain how it stops becoming significant. Guess it just happens...

It's interesting how my kids pick out the friends I hang out with, these days. If my kids find friends in my friend's kids, I would inevitably be hanging out with them, instead of friends that I actually enjoy more, but whose children don't really click with mine. Interesting development in my life...

Profile of the Liverpool player who has recently left the club.

He scored in the last three league games that he started.

He was hardworking and covered every blade of grass, endearing himself to the Anfield faithful.

He loves Liverpool and has been supporting the club since he was a little boy.

But Rafael Benitez didn't like him.

Moral of the story: You can perform, you can put in 110% effort, you can be popular, you can love the company. But at the end of the day, if your boss doesn't like you, you still have to go. Sigh...goodbye, Robbie Keane.

Was helping a (think-she's-brilliant ahemmmm) student write an essay on loneliness recently, and it got me thinking. What does one do when one feels lonely? Go hang out with people. Yeah! And the livelier these people are (the noisy, party-type), the better it is. Yeah!

Well....NO.

When a person is lonely, essentially what is needed is to connect with someone else. But lively, social creatures don't really connect. They catalyse, for sure....but they son't connect. They rattle off at speeds unimaginable and there would probably not be a dull moment...but they don't connect. Try this test with one of your sociable-friends.....try sharing something about yourself with that person. Chances are.....precious little will be registered. And that's the main issue; they talk, they entertain, but they don't listen.

So the lonely soul would leave the party with an even heavier sense of isolation. Which is why I am suggesting this to lonely people out there.....don't go looking for lively people ;)

PS. Miss brilliant, please don't plagiarise :P