Thursday, September 27, 2007

Another Murphy's Best

I went for my friend's wedding a couple of weeks ago and I have come to the realization, that EVERY, SINGLE TIME the guests throw petals at somebody's wedding,

SOMEONE MUST WHACK THE PETALS INTO THE BRIDE'S FACE.

It's a universal constant, like cats not being able to cross the roads and Edmund's handphone number.

Speaking of which, does anyone know what you're listening for when you whack a melon at the supermarket? A good crisp C-Sharp?

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Blessings

I've been worried for my friends in Myanmar over the last few days. Every time the news flash, my eyes search the crowd, half-dreading, half-hoping to see a familiar face.

My university internship was done in Yangon, at the then-Hotel Equitorial. I asked for a posting absolutely ANYWHERE in the world but Singapore, and I got it. Nobody knows about Myanmar then. It was a closed country. Nobody I know has been there, or even knows someone who's been to the place.

The 6 weeks I spent there humbled me. It made me grateful for the things I have here, in Singapore. At the same time, I learnt so much about sharing and about graciousness and about happiness.

The folks over there don't have a lot. Even now, if you have a $200 salary, you can raise a family, and stay in an apartment in town. They will cook little dishes, pack them into metal tiffins for lunch, AND THEY'LL ALWAYS COOK MORE. Not just one or two portions, but 4 or 5 portions, just so they can share it with friends.

I remember one lunch I had with the marketing department. 16 dishes going around, and everyone was so eager for me to try their cooking. The sheer generosity of that one gesture, as well as the overeating, floored me.

My colleauges had the perception that Singaporeans are really stuck up, and their noses were always up in the air, with a frown on the face. They asked why that's the case, since we have so much, and live in a country, where, compared to THEIR government, ours are frigging left wing liberals of the first degree.

I could not answer them. But I did come back to Singapore with the intention to grin at every person I meet stoically till they started smiling back.

The people in Myanmar are an innocent people. A lot of times they wear their hearts on their sleeves and are easy going to a fault. Maybe that's why the military junta can be in power for so long. Maybe that's why they get trampled on and they just bore with it.

Now, well... right now, I just pray that my friends over there are alright, and that they survive through whatever comes in their uncertain future.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

6 Months I Tried...

But I still can't get it right.

Tonight though... Tonight.

How I'm Going To Pass My Next Driving Test

See, now, THIS is how you should be parallel parking.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Lessons from Sitcoms

From the Sitcom "How I Met Your Mother", when Patrick tries to excuse himself from setting Ted up with an "escort" that turns out to be really a Paralegal

"Look, you knew that Mary was a sure thing. If you were that confident with all the other women in your life, you'd get laid a lot more often!"

Or something like that.

True, how true.

Question of the Day

From the segment of "English as It Is Broken",

Reality is a opposite of Illusion.

And if dis-illusion is the getting rid of illusion, which has negative connotations, why is it then usually used in a negative context?

Does this point to the necessity of false notions in order for life as socially accepted humans?

Or the eagerness of people to take the moral high ground that they are without pretense, which in ITSELF is most probably illusion?

"The World according to Edmund" HAH!

On a side note, sod standard English. Meeting so many people from so many places in the world, I have come to the conclusion that a "Standard" is largely only understood by a small portion of the world's population.

Communication, not grammer correct-ness should be be order of the day.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Josh Blue

Embrace who you are and what you can be.



And the world embraces you.

PS. He won Last Comic Standing in 2006. Booya.

Do You Believe in Love?

No extravagant gestures.
No eternal promises.
No elaborate speech.

In sickness and in health, till death do us part.



*Sniff*