Impromtu Fun

remember days when things just happen because of impromtu suggestions?

Sat afternoon, our fren (Uncle Monster) asked if we would like to go JB....

And he drove us 2 hours to Malacca!

This was how he looked like after driving 2hrs straight....

We were taken to an authentic Peranakan Resturant that served fantastic Ayam Pon Tik. Yum yum. We were so hungry that we ate off everything on our plates and were totally satisfied at our quest for good food.

(Do remember that we travelled 200 over km for it!) =)

See our happy faces....


forgot to add that we were served with yummy crackers before the food arrived and we saved the last one for my itchy mouth (after eating the dinner it was still lying on the plate... looking so lost... I had to let it join its other friends in my tummy hee...)

Uncle Monster drove us to Jonker Street after dinner to walk walk and saw a few interesting displays along the weekend market. (our actual aim was to eat the yummiest Chendol hee but since we were still super full from dinner, no harm walking abit right? *wink*)

There were some shops selling interesting candles and candles holders that we do not even see in Singapore or Bali. Interesting.

What fascinate us even more was the townhouses that has the locals doing line dancing or singing karaoke inside. They were leading their normal weekend life of enjoying the community living of dancing and singing while being surrounded by hordes of tourists! (hope they do not charge us "viewing" fees cos Uncle Monster will have to pay tonnes for refusing to leave the linedance townhouse - we almost had to DRAG him away physically)

In the end, we had to tempt him with the Amy Yip Bao hee... as suggested by the name, its a HUMONGOUS bao, filled with chicken and veggie, steaming hot and definitely more than a handful! *wink*

After breezing through Jonker's Street, we did our pit stop at the chendol place, and paid RM$6 for 4 bowls of gula melaka-filled chendol, totally sinful but unforgettably delicious.

This shop displays lots of antiques like a old typewriter by Remington (50yrs old, complete with certificates and casing); charcoal iron used in the olden days, cashier machine and numerous other paintings. They even have items that were savaged from the Malacca Straits for sale! Interesting!

Cannot imagine that so much fun can stem from an impromtu suggestion.

So Uncle Monster, next time when you suggest something... watch OUT for the Fun that will come your way! *evil wink from the ladies*

Kindest Act of the Day

I had to go out of my nice cosy aircon office to go out into the hot sun to collect some samples.

I had to dig for the samples at about 40cm deep. Using the good old changko, we had previously been pretty successful. Unfortunately, with the drought the ground got drier and harder as well. So our faithful changko wasn't giving us the promising depth that it used to. After 30mins of hacking into the ground we only manage to penetrate 15cm! still a long way more to go..... & we needed 3 different sites! I imagine standing there with my two other collegues hacking and digging there for the rest of the week... :(

Next to us, there were a group of men constructing a resting shelter using concrete, rod iron and many other tough tools.

Feeling dejected by our changko, I decided to go and borrow more "professional" tools from these men (since they made holes of like 1m deep easily all the time). I returned happily with a huge hammer (that almost weigh as much as ME) and a few short iron rods. So we made slow but steady progress by hammering these iron rods into the ground to loosen the soil and deepen the hole at the same time.

After 10mins, we were happy to declare another 5cm that we've created!

*happy* (slow but steady remember?)

then, came a man with a huge straw hat on his head and asked (hands on his hips):"How deep the hole?" "How many hole?" "Where?" (in mandarin)

and he turned his head and walked off!

We thought that he was trying to jeer at us... for using his most simplest tool to create such a simple hole with SO MUCH EFFORT & TIME!!!

In 15secs, he returned with one of the men (Thai), holding a long metal rod with two flat ends and showed him 40cm on his measuring tape, pointing to the pathetic hole that we had.

Before we could comprehand what he was trying to do for us, the Thai men started to throw his metal rod into our hole and it churned up quite a lot of soil.... more than what we did in the last 10mins! With ONE action!

I was so thrilled!! I wanted to jump up and down in joy except that I had little strength left. So instead, I thanked them both profusely while still trying to absorb the shock of his Kind Act.

15secs later, the straw hat man returned with yet another Thai man with his metal rod and starting hacking new grounds for us!

With their help, we finished the "job" slightly over 2hours. Am super grateful for his Kind Act. Am determined to help more people along my way to Pass the Good Deed On.

:-)

Timeshare or Crimeshare

I just got a call from a lady who called herself Jade from Leisure Group Marketing. She informed me that I've just "won" 7days free stay in hotels and apartments in several countries. (sounds suspicious huh?)

I asked specifically if this was about any time-share program and she outrightly told me "NO", told me that there were no gimmicks about this genuine deal that she has for me.

so... I did a google on their company name and viola here's the rest of the story...

about Crimeshare

about dealing with them (hound dogs)

Little Moments

I love my little nephew (he's 6 now but he's still that little angel in my eyes). :P

When he was about 2, he was actively participating in many "adults" activities like fetching a stool for his grandma or picking out the cut fruits for each of us (seniors to him).

He often chuckle at the thinniest things, even when u beamingly say "Hello" to him.

Once, I wore mini-T and had to bend over to pick up something.... (imagine the huge gap that the mini-T left as my back was bent... the volume of skin displayed between the T & my pants)

My little angelic nephew came right up to my back and started to pull my mini-T down to close up that gap! He had to use two hands and kept his hands there till i'm done bending forward.

These are one of those moments.... special little moments.... *muaks* nephew

Crying in my Dream

I woke up in the middle of the night feeling intensely saddened by my dream... or rather nightmare!

In my dream my hubby sat opposite of me in a nice open-air resturant with a stern look on his face he told me:"I cannot take it anymore, I want to divorce you."

In my heart (while still dreaming, its a very emotional dream remember??), I was thinking "WHY??" I thought (still dreaming) "Was it because we had two nights of no sex?" "Was it because i seem to always speak down on him?" "Was it because he had ANOTHER person??"

pls note, its a dream... anything can happen in my dreamy thoughts... *wink*

I felt so sad to hear those words pouring out of his angish face yet I knew it was the bitter truth that both of us had to face. We were totally not ready to tell the world of our "unGodly" decision yet and we bumped into our good friends! Blim & ET were in a nearby makan place having a jolly conversation.

I tried sneaking up to Blim and secretly whispering the "news" to him, but he turn a deaf ear to me altogether laughing at my hubby's jokes. *sickening*

So I tried sneaking up to ET then.... as I was whispering, I felt immense heartache and tears rolling down my cheeks. I could not hold it anymore, I had to let it all out!

I cried in my sleep, woke up to a face full of tears and can still feel the heartache.

Could this be a sign?

From my Hubby:
He made me write that He HUGGED me in the morning when I told him about my dream.

Best Yummy Deal in a Food Court

I've always resisted the idea of:

paying $5 for a plate of chicken rice decorated with abit more veggie and a few strands of chinese celery in a food court.

paying $1.50 for a tiny cup of coke

until I found this

Tiong Bahru Food Court, whole set of rice, big bowl of soup filled to the brim with veggie, mushroom, meat & Hot-plate sweet & sour pork or black pepper beef! So much food that two can share the meal with the addition of just one more bowl of rice!

Go check it out!

p/s: i prefer the black pepper chicken to the bbq pork... *shh*

Faces of our young Friends

We usually hang out in one big group weekly and have lunch at different food courts.

One sunday, some of our young friends decided to do something different; they drew on their own hands... to remind them of a funny uncle and also just nonsense.

Remember that we used to do it too when we were young?? hee... I remember how fun it was to scribble nonsense on friends' arms or to help them declare their crushes hee...

here's what our young friends looked liked:





Guess what is their little brother doing all this while?
Peacefully taking his nap after an exhausting makan session... hee...

Wave In the Air

As I was traveling along PIE, a blue truck overtook my vehicle and a skinny hand came out of the window and started waving madly in the air.

As a courteous driver, I've never come across anyone so grateful for cutting into my lane (esp. on a sunday morning rushing to church)

I had to overtake the truck to find out why is this hand waving so wildly...

Hey, it was my cousin & her hubby in the truck!

We greeted each other with great enthusiam and for 1km, we were traveling along side with each other. Reminds me of those good old days when we travel in convoy to get from one place to the other, exchanging jokes and giggles.

Singapore being small has its advantage, it increases the chances of meeting someone familiar on the roads infinitely. It brings a smile on my face to start a great sunday with a familar face, a thing called Fate.

I recall two other occasions when my car "rubbed" bumper with other familiar cars and it brighted my day too!

Have u had that car bumper "rubbing" experience? ha...

likewise, its easy to get CAUGHT in a car... with someone whom you dun really wanna announce.... at an inappropriate time.... heh *wink*

Little Things

There are certain times in the day or week, that little things that happens everyday, every minute seems to slip pass us unnoticed.

In my daily routine walk to work today, it suddenly dawn upon me that there's a row of Flame of the Forest trees in my path. The leaves are trickling down from different trees every second of the day! Gently they fall in front me as if they are welcoming me to the building. They gather on the floor in small piles and awaits for a strong gast of wind to pick them up again.

I wanted to open my arms and dance to their rhythmic fall (but it would look pretty ridiculous as if I was doing a solo dance in an Indian lovey dovey movie).

I wanted to laugh out loud at their peaceful gathering (but it would seem that I'm insane... which i seldom deny...).

I wanted to give thanks to the trees for creating a small miracle today. So here it is.... thank you for being that constant small thing in my life!

Our Silent Readers

I never knew that my friends would be reading my blog... esp. after advertising it for a while to them hee...

But in the last few days, I was delighted to know that friends and family are reading our blog!

Thank you folks!! You made my DAY!

It was exceptionally thrilling for me to know that our little Moon Moon, Star Star and Crabby are remembered by you folks. =p

*MUAKS*

New Members of the Tank Family

I've been wanting to share our latest joy at home with all of you folks...

yes! our marine fish tank as got new members, after the last murderous saga by the Domino Damsel, we are more careful to chose new fishy friends that will not hurt each other but instead be really good for the tank!

hee... hence we got bottom dwellers, who will scavage for dirt-filled rocks, pebbles and feed on them to make the bottom of our tank really really white and pretty again.

Introducing

Moon Moon: an elegant white snail with a very intelligent feeding system, she would lift up her skirts to allow herself to be fully immerse in the sandbed. At times totally covering herself!


Star Star: a delicate looking five legged creature who will keeping trying to escalate up the sides of the tank, only to flip over on its back. Watch it do its famous backflip to land on its inner side, its an amazing move.


Crabby: there's 2 of them, one more active than the other, they bring tiny pebbles close to their mouth and start to salivate all over them while having two other longer arms with filter-feeder filtering through the water, they are really busy all the time and eat ALOT ah.

God has His Ways

have you ever been so bothered by something or someone that you are unable to sleep well at night or eat well in the day? Then out of the blue, you hear some wise words from a long "lost" friend or read a really awakening article in a magazine or book which you never thought you would pick up?

Recently, (maybe as a result of quarter-life crisis), I started to re-examine my friendships. I asked myself what qualities do I live for in a friend.

It was to be able to be totally honest with each other. It doesnt matter if I smell bad that day, or did an awlful thing but for my friends to be able to tell me in my face that "hey look, I really dun feel like hanging out with you today, can you like find your own program?" I'll be so totally overjoyed with it!

I dun care if we dun hang out every single free day that we have, just being able to be honest to tell me the truth is the best gift of a friendship that I can ever ask for.

Just as I was wondering.... this email came along:

What Side of Friendship Am I On?
by John Fischer


Yesterday I called on a couple friends I haven’t had contact with in some time and I am embarrassed to say that it was because I needed something from them. It was painful when I did this, but my need was greater than my pride. Still, I regretted it and what I realized most of all was how I regretted not being in their lives more. Fellowship, to be true fellowship, has to have elements of give and take. Otherwise we wear people out with ourselves.


I know people who wear me out—people who, when I talk to them, I only get a litany of their problems. I hesitate to pick up the phone sometimes because I’m not in the mood to listen to incessant complaints about this or that. But then I have to think: Am I like this? I’m afraid I am, much more than I want to admit. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is how my two friends reacted to my messages yesterday: “John, you wear me out.”


It’s been said before, but it’s so true, that if you want a friend, you have to be a friend. It also goes that if you need something from a friend, it’s nice to have something in the bank of that relationship for when you call on them.


Jesus said that everything that was taught in the law and the prophets could be summed up in what has come to be known more commonly as the Golden Rule: “Do for others what you would like them to do for you” (Matthew 7:12 NLT).


What would I like in this regard? I’d love for one of my friends to call me sometime and say: “Hey John, how are you doing? No really, tell me the truth, now…. Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Hmmm. I think I may be able to help you...” That’s what I would like, wouldn’t you? So, that means I need to call up a friend and be on the other side of the fence for a change. “How are you? No really, tell me the truth, now…. What can I do to help?” A good relationship doesn’t wear one person out; it wears well both ways.


I keep thinking I’ll be there for someone else once I get my own problems out of the way. And what if my problems don’t go away? Time to concentrate on being a friend instead of using one. If I’m there for someone, chances are someone will be there for me when the time comes, and the call won’t wear anyone out.

God has His Ways .... :-)