HEY HEY!!! THANK you Pam for being able to get hold of the video for the 1st Zumba party!!!
Here’s the link:
http://honeymeow.blogspot.com/2008/09/dancing-at-zumba-party.html
Mostly it’s my instructor Rashidah on the screen, but @ least u get to see us live in action; instead of those Youtube videos from some other country’s Zumba classes!!! Worse thing is I can’t see myself in the video~ (ya I know, I m a self-declared vainpot!) Maybe in the other videos.. Cuz Pam only put up a little of it…
OH!!! Btw, Rashidah grabbed me on stage on Sunday to dance in front of the whole class!!!! O!! So Paiseh.. Honored too.. But I realised that it takes some skills to dance on the stage cuz u have to guide the class and your actions are mirrorred.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
Anyways, enjoy the videos!!!
I WAS RUNNING ard the AIA building today, as usual, to the diff depts to settle some of my client’s stuff before my review with my BIG BOSS @ 12.50pm.
After my review, I was feeling more lost than ever (was contemplating to flunk my tele cold call tonite)! Damnit! It wasn’t then I realised I haven’t went to the Personal Lines Dept to settle my client’s Home Insurance (as her premium is due but she is overseas till end October). I never regretted my visit there.
I met Ezzy over there – to my shock!
For a short intro, Ezzy is a man full of life! Ur spirit automatically lifts when u see him. He’s in the Education & Training Dept, to train new agents. He was an agent imself too for 16 years. He’s famous in AIA for his smile, enthusiasm and high spirits. That wasn’t y he was famous too.. It’s cuz he limps ard with only his left leg – heard he had a cancer attack which led him to his right leg being amputated.
Tt’s y I was shocked when I was referred to him to settle my client’s stuff. He belongs in the training dept!!! At 1st I thot he was just there to talk or stuff, but he told me he wanted a new experience and learn new things.
So I asked him y he decided to change from an agent (16 yrs worth.. his income sure gao gao) to an employee; cuz his pay is confirmed much lower, and how he explained to his customers. He told me:
“Ah gal, this is what I want. I had a 2nd attack, and I dunno when & whether for sure my 3rd attack will come. My health is more important now (he believes that his lifestyle when he was an agent is 1 of the main reason for the cancer in the 1st place & the 2nd attack).”
I told him that sometimes I get lost.
This is what he said:
“Sometimes, it’s betta that u dun ask qns u know there is no ans to. For eg, y I so suay, y he/she so lucky, y this y that. You become more negetive the more you think. Sth pple just thinks TOO MUCH! Just go forward and just do it! Worst still, when u confide in your frens all these, u indirectly affect them, and they become negetive cuz of u.”
“Therefore, just go forward, and just do it – like Nike!”
ARGH… WHERE I should have been researching some investment info (meeting my client tml), I found myself ventin my fustrations here…
I’ve been swarmed with rashes all over my body since Wednesday.. God.. and I’m scratching all over my precious flawless nubile skin.. Damn.. There goes.. I’ll have to make do with the scars (God knows how long it’ll take for those scars to heal..)
Wenjie cld vouch for me how big those rashes ballooned to…
Thot I cld have it blamed on my constipation (usually had rashes when I’m not headed to the toilet enuff), so I came home (from the movies on thurs nite), conjured up some sure-boombastic-go-toilet-recipe, & sure enuff – I found myself headed to the loo 3 times!!!! So there.. I thot my rashes wld subside…
To my shock, I woke up the next morning to find my left ear swollen - to the size of Dumbo!!! and several parts of my body swollen too…
So then I stuffed myself with some green tea and vitagen and several sweet potatoes. hopefully it’ll subside.. Dunno whether it was sth I ate (which I’m unknowingly allergic to), or was it that I’m heaty from cold… Anyway, fuck it..
I am living my life….
IT WAS GONNA BE THE WORST SATURDAY (AUG 16TH) OF my life, and tat is draggin myself back to J.B to celebrate my mommy’s birthday. No.. I know… Very bad & unfilial of me rite.. Nah, It’s just tt I dun wanna go back J.B to celebrate.. (even my Sis was more enthusiastic than me!)
But den guilt got the better of me:”When was the last time I went home to visit my old folks? Probably a yr ago?” Therefore, I changed my mood, and anticipated my way back home..
Upon arrival into Malaysia, brought back so much of my childhood memories… the struggles…
Of growing up, being beaten, turning teenager & started to bc rebellious, earning my 1st buck (illegally somemore).. It was so nostalgic..
Well, a bit of my story, I studied in SG since young, travelling to & fro M’sia & Sg (believe me, it wasn’t tough, just tiring, but FUN!! lotsa pple were doin it already den, it was kinda fashionable among the above middle-class & the rich. ya, so juz u know, I, no, my dad used to be RICH)
Pretty nth much after tat, just O levels, and travelling with frens home from school w/o the school bus (kinda cool & fun actually, cuz usually gotta bump into those rich, HANDSOME & cool guys from other schools @ the custom.. just tt, well, I wasn’t pretty/special enuff to bank attention on… then…)
Came the transition period from sec. sch into poly. My dad’s business had failed by den. So I guess my bum was restless enuff for me to help out @ 1 of my richer fren’s dad’s pork stall (illegally; it was illegal for student pass holders like us to work in Sg then), and crashing into her home. Soon enuff, my other M’sian frens were introducing me to work @ Watson’s, and tat was when I knew my 1st, erm, serious bf (had lotsa puppy r/s in sch la.. since pri 6!!!). I din go back home much since den; just crashing in @ my fren’s & bf’s place. I still remembered waking up REAL early in the morning (like 6am) and sneakin outta the house, be it to my then bf’s or frens’s place, or just to hang out wif frens. And if the gate was locked, I’d climbed over the wall seperating the neighbor’s and our house and go out thru their alwiz unlocked gate.
All those rebellious days…
Anyway, u’d be thinking y I am writing so much since it’s only a post for my mom’s 55th birthday. It was bcuz I thot I owed her alot..
Cuz ever since I was independant (@ 16), I was hardly back @ home (esp during the times I had a bf, & work); more so when I started havin a REAL work (graduated, legitimate SG PR, & working) & a 2nd (& really serious) relationship, somemore living together.
I started resenting seeing my mom & dad, hated them comin to SG (it eventually came to a stage wer they came out to visit me instead of me goin in to visit them. OH! THE GUILT!!!!) & disturbing my life, hated the way my mom kept saying that I was fat, hated her for alwiz telling me “人生的大道理”, hated my dad for alwiz teasing me (bout my business)…
I just wanted to tell them so much that, I love them all the same, even tho’ I hardly show it.
And I’m sorry I alwiz seemed to reject and resent them; sorry that my frens & bfs had unknowingly commanded a higher priority in my life.
Thankful for their endearing support and belief in me.
That I truly know that it’s only bcuz they care.
Happy Birthday, Mommy. I love you.
55 yrs of health
make a wish..
it’ll come true…
I WAS CONTEMPLATING last night whether I shld go to gym in the evening (cuz I heard tat my parents r comin), so I decided tat I shld let my mood decide (when I woke up) .
Who knows, when mornin came, my Sis ran into the room and announced: “Yuan yuan’s comin!!”
There! It’s decided. I am not going to the gym.
Oh.. I’ve not seen Yuanyuan in a year! The last time I saw her was when I helped sent her to SG a year ago, and the zoo trip thereafter (which was in Nov 07).. So I’m rather excited! Does she still recognise me? Will she play along with me? (OHHHH.. I even msged Jianxiong tat she came!! too bad too bad… jealous? envious?=P)
oh… look how much she’s grown…
can’t help but grab her for a shot together.. she’s still impossibly full of poses..
nicole came too!!!!
Well into the afternoon, my Sis suggested we brought them out to play, instead of cooping them up in our boring home; and since it’s raining, my Sis suggested we bring them to the IKEA Tampines’s children playground.
on the way… yuanyuan is incredibly beautiful…
I’ve never brought children to Ikea b4, and learnt that they needed to queue up to get inside! Anyway, I left them to explore their talent on a bench nearby while I settled some admin stuff for their entry…
even the boy is scrowling @ their art pieces… you’ll see their masterpieces in the pics to follow..
nicole’s masterpiece!
MY GOD!!! IT PRETTY MUCH LOOKED LIKE ALIENS TO ME!!!
yuanyuan buckling up!
yuanyuan’s masterpiece!!!!
scribbles are ok.. (altho i’m pretty sure there’s an evil 2-horned alien’s head @ the top right hand corner..)
wat’s wrong wif gals nowadays? wer did the flowers & barbie dolls went to?
their turn – finally!!!
playtime’s over.. =(
we had another surprise for them!!! children’s dept!!!
& rocking armchair!!!
and food!!!
yuanyuan found her strawberry cake!!!
i was told (by my mom) that nicole & yuanyuan were denied lotsa good stuff (esp. chicken wings & french fries) by their over-protective parents!
it’s true, i guess, looking @ nicole’s sinful indulgence in her chicken wing… ohhh
all happy… for me, & the angels…
My Sunday, for once, was beautifully and worthily spent, with my 2 beautiful angels & my family!!!
AS USUAL, I was readin thru my old mails when I came across this piece. It was powerfully written, reflecting the lives of modern women nowadays in SG and the generation gap bet their parents.
It has gripped my utmost attention and admiration. It’s very sad, but it has conveyed very powerfully the culture of SG children and their parents, maybe even all modern society in Asia.
♦
A Singapore girl wins Commonwealth essay prize! A 15-YEAR-OLD Singaporean, competing against 16 to 18 year olds, has won the top prize in a writing contest that drew 5,300 entries from 52 countries. In the annual Commonwealth Essay Competition, Amanda Chong of Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary) chose to compete in the older category and won with a piece on the restlessness of modern life.
Her short story, titled “What The Modern Woman Wants”, focused on the conflict in values between an
old lady and her independent-minded daughter.
‘Through my story, I attempted to convey the unique East-versus-West struggles and generation gaps that I felt were characteristic of young people in my country,’ said Amanda, who likes drama, history and literature and wants to become a lawyer and a politician.
Chief examiner Charles Kemp called her piece ‘a powerfully moving and ironical critique of modern restlessness and its potentially cruel consequences’. The writing is fluent and assured, with excellent use of dialogue.
Amanda gets (S$1,590). A Singaporean last won the top prize in 2000, said Britain’s Royal Commonwealth Society, which has been organising the competition since 1883. Singaporeans also came in second in the 14 to 15 year old category, and fourth in the under 12’s.
Other winners included students from Australia, Canada and South Africa .
What the Modern Woman Wants
By Amanda Chong Wei-Zhen
The old woman sat in the backseat of the magenta convertible as it careened down the highway, clutching tightly to the plastic bag on her lap, afraid it may be kidnapped by the wind. She was not used to such speed, with trembling hands she pulled the seatbelt tighter but was careful not to touch the patent leather
seats with her callused fingers, her daughter had warned her not to dirty it,
‘Fingerprints show very clearly on white, Ma.’
Her daughter, Bee Choo, was driving and talking on her sleek silver mobile phone using big words the old woman could barely understand. ‘Finance’ ‘Liquidation’ ‘Assets’ ‘Investments’… Her voice was crisp and important and had an unfamiliar lilt to it. Her Bee Choo sounded like one of those foreign girls on television. She was speaking in an American accent. The old lady clucked her tongue in disapproval.
‘I absolutely cannot have this. We have to sell!’
Her daughter exclaimed agitatedly as she stepped on the accelerator; her perfectly manicured fingernails gripping onto the steering wheel in irritation.
‘I can’t DEAL with this anymore’ she yelled as she clicked the phone shut and hurled it angrily toward the backseat. The mobile phone hit the old woman on the forehead and nestled soundlessly into
her lap. She calmly picked it up and handed it to her daughter.
‘Sorry, Ma,’ she said, losing the American pretence and switching to Mandarin. ‘I have a big client in America. There have been a lot of problems.’
The old lady nodded knowingly. Her daughter was big and important. Bee Choo stared at her mother from the rear view window, wondering what she was thinking. Her mother’s wrinkled countenance always carried the same cryptic look. The phone began to ring again, an artificially cheerful digital tune, which broke the awkward silence.
‘Hello, Beatrice! Yes, this is Elaine.’
Elaine. The old woman cringed. I didn’t name her Elaine. She remembered her daughter telling her, how an English name was very important for ‘networking’, Chinese ones being easily forgotten.
‘Oh no, I can’t see you for lunch today. I have to take the ancient relic to the temple for her weird daily prayer ritual.’
Ancient Relic. The old woman understood perfectly it was referring to her. Her daughter always assumed that her mother’s silence meant she did not comprehend.
‘Yes, I know! My car seats will be reeking of joss sticks’
The old woman pursed her lips tightly, her hands gripping her plastic bag in defence. The car curved smoothly into the temple courtyard. It looked almost garish next to the dull sheen of the ageing temple’s roof. The old woman got out of the back seat, and made her unhurried way to the main hall. Her daughter stepped out of the car in her business suit and stilettos and reapplied her lipstick as she made her brisk way to her mother’s side.
‘Ma, I’ll wait outside. I have an important phone call to make,’ she said, not bothering to hide her disgust at the pungent fumes of incense. The old lady hobbled into the temple hall and lit a joss stick, she knelt down solemnly and whispered her now familiar daily prayer to the Gods. Thank you God of the Sky, you have given my daughter luck all these years. Everything I prayed for, you have given her. She has everything a young woman in this world could possibly want. She has a big house with a swimming pool, a maid to help her, as she is too clumsy to sew or cook. Her love life has been blessed; she is engaged to a rich and handsome angmoh man. Her company is now the top financial firm and even men listen to what she says. She lives the perfect life. You have given her everything except happiness. I ask that the gods be merciful to her even if she has lost her roots while reaping the harvest of success. What you see is not true – she is a filial daughter to me. She gives me a room in her big house and provides well for me. She is rude to me only because I affect her happiness. A young woman does not want to be hindered by her old mother. It is my fault.
The old lady prayed so hard that tears welled up in her eyes. Finally, with her head bowed in reverence she planted the half-burnt joss stick into an urn of smouldering ashes. She bowed once more. The old woman had been praying for her daughter for thirty-two years. When her stomach was round like a melon, she came to the temple and prayed that it was a son. Then the time was ripe and the baby slipped out of her womb, bawling and adorable with fat thighs and pink cheeks, but unmistakably, a girl. Her husband had kicked and punched her for producing a useless baby who could not work or carry the family name. Still, the woman returned to the temple with her new-born girl tied to her waist in a sarong and prayed that her daughter would grow up and have everything she ever wanted.
Her husband left her and she prayed that her daughter would never have to depend on a man. She prayed every day that her daughter would be a great woman, the woman that she, meek and uneducated, could never become. A woman with nengkan; the ability to do anything she set her mind to. A woman who commanded respect in the hearts of men. When she opened her mouth to speak, precious pearls would fall out and men would listen. She will not be like me, the woman prayed as she watched her daughter grow
up and drift away from her, speaking a language she scarcely understood.
She watched her daughter transform from a quiet girl, to one who openly defied her, calling her laotu; old-fashioned. She wanted her mother to be ‘modern’, a word so new there was no Chinese word for it. Now her daughter was too clever for her and the old woman wondered why she had prayed like that.
The gods had been faithful to her persistent prayer, but the wealth and success that poured forth so richly had buried the girl’s roots and now she stood, faceless, with no identity, bound to the soil of her ancestors by only a string of origami banknotes.
Her daughter had forgotten her mother’s values. Her wants were so ephemeral; that of a modern woman. Power, wealth, access to the best fashion boutiques, and yet her daughter had not found true happiness. The old woman knew that you could find happiness with much less.
When her daughter left the earth everything she had would count for nothing. People would look to her legacy and say that she was a great woman, but she would be forgotten once the wind blows over, like the ashes of burnt paper convertibles and mansions. The old woman wished she could go back and erase all her big hopes and prayers for her daughter; now she had only one want: That her daughter be happy.
She looked out of the temple gate. She saw her daughter speaking on the phone, her brow furrowed with anger and worry. Being at the top is not good, the woman thought, there is only one way to go from there – down. The old woman carefully unfolded the plastic bag and spread out a packet of beehoon in front of the altar. Her daughter often mocked her for worshipping porcelain Gods. How could she pray to them so faithfully and expect pieces of ceramic to fly to her aid? But her daughter had her own gods too, idols of wealth, success and power that she was enslaved to and worshipped every day of her life.
Every day was a quest for the idols, and the idols she worshipped counted for nothing in eternity. All the wants her daughter had would slowly suck the life out of her and leave her, an empty soulless shell at the altar. The old lady watched her joss tick. The dull heat had left a teetering grey stem that was on the danger of collapsing.
Modern woman nowadays, the old lady sighed in resignation, as she bowed to the east one final time to end her ritual. Modern woman nowadays want so much that they lose their souls and wonder why they cannot find it. Her joss stick disintegrated into a soft grey powder.
She met her daughter outside the temple, the same look of worry and frustration was etched on her daughter’s face. An empty expression, as if she was ploughing through the soil of her wants looking for the one thing that would sow the seeds of happiness. They climbed into the convertible in silence and her daughter drove along the highway, this time not as fast as she had done before.
‘Ma,’ Bee Choo finally said. “I don’t know how to put this. Mark and I have been talking about it and we plan to move out of the big house. The property market is good now, and we managed to get a buyer willing to pay seven million for it. We decided we’d prefer a cosier penthouse apartment instead. We found a perfect one in Orchard Road. Once we move in to our apartment we plan to get rid of the maid, so we can have more space to ourselves…” The old woman nodded knowingly.
Bee Choo swallowed hard. ‘We’d get someone to come in to do the housework and we can eat out, but once the maid is gone, there won’t be anyone to look after you. You will be awfully lonely at home and, besides that, the apartment is rather small. There won’t be space. We thought about it for a long time, and we decided the best thing for you is if you moved to a Home. There’s one near Hougang-it’s a Christian home, a very nice one.’ The old woman did not raise an eyebrow.
‘I’ve been there, the matron is willing to take you in. It’s beautiful with gardens and lots of old people to keep you company! I hardly have time for you, you’d be happier there.’
‘You’d be happier there, really.’ Her daughter repeated as if to affirm herself.
This time the old woman had no plastic bag of food offerings to cling tightly to; she bit her lip and fastened her seat belt, as if it would protect her from a daughter who did not want her anymore. She sunk deep into the leather seat, letting her shoulders sag, and her fingers trace the white seat.
‘Ma?’ her daughter asked, searching the rear view window for her mother.
‘Is everything okay?’ What had to be done, had to be done.
‘Yes,’ she said firmly, louder than she intended, ‘if it will make you happy,’ she added more quietly.
‘It’s for you, Ma! You’ll be happier there. You can move there tomorrow, I already got the maid to pack your things.’ Elaine said triumphantly, mentally ticking yet another item off her agenda.
‘I knew everything would be fine.’ Elaine smiled widely; she felt liberated.
Perhaps getting rid of her mother would make her happier. She had thought about it. It seemed the only hindrance in her pursuit of happiness. She was happy now. She had everything a modern woman ever wanted; Money, Status, Career, Love, Power and now – Freedom, without her mother and her old-fashioned ways to weigh her down… Yes, she was free.
Her phone buzzed urgently, she picked it up and read the message, still beaming from ear to ear.
‘Stocks 10% increase!’
Yes, things were definitely beginning to look up for her… And while searching for the meaning of life in the luminance of her hand phone screen, the old woman in the backseat became invisible, and she did not see the tears.
♦
RECIEVED A REALLY interesting email depicting different toilet signs from around the world. Some of them are really innovative, while some are really horny…
Maybe to add some fun, let’s guess where these toilet signs are from…
CAME ACROSS AN email from a fren with lotsa baby pics.. Cute!!!
Hmmm… When would it be my turn to have an adorable baby of my own? I’m so anticipating, although I know it’d only be in 7-10yrs time…
Anyway, enjoy…
How is it that everytime we look @ these innocent angels, we smile unknowingly?
I WAS HAPPILY scrollin thru’ a magazine while shitting in the gym and was stunned by a story @ the last page (wierd habit of mine.. I like to read from the back to the front)..
***
The story was about this woman who slept with other men to clear her hubby’s debt.
It began when her hubby’s mom got ill and he insisted she quit her job to take care of his mom. She hesitated @ 1st but eventally gave in. The problem started when she got pregnant. He started to stay @ home way too much and even owed his colleagues debts but refused to pay up (he even asked her to meet his colleague to pay him back). She had to pawn all her jewelleries and borrow money here and there. Life was stable for a few yrs after tt incident.
The problem started again when she got pregnant the 2nd time round. Her hubby chosed to watch tv after work instead of helping out, even after the 2nd child was born. To forget her lonliness, she started to chat online and hopped from 1 ‘bf’ to another, sth even sleeping with them.
One day, her useless hubby came home in dire financial problems again. She was disappointed but still opted to help him. She was @ her end’s wit when 1 of her fren called. The fren (guy) sympatised with her but after a while he suggested y not she sleep with strangers for cash? She was so shocked she sputtered a ‘no’.
He assured her that they are all ‘clean’ and go for medical check-ups every 3 months. She eventually surprised herself by saying ‘yes’.. When her financial status was finally stable, she asked for a stop & her fren (luckily) respected her decision.
Thru all these while, her family and frens (including the useless husband of her’s) never qns wer & how she got the money, and she nv bothered to explain too.
She is now a babysitter, happy with her current life and having the time to send her kids to school.
***
This story actually evolved alot of mixed feelings within myself, as well as inspired and taught me alot..
Women, esp. Mothers, really are the most 伟大.
Men, in contrast (esp when stories like these come across), have so much more resons to have their damn arse kicked!!!!
Lucky me, the men I’ve known around me are still not bad lar…
Or maybe I am still young??? Mayb when I am older, I may hear much more appalling stories from my frens ard me??
But anyway, after reading this story, I feel that actually most of our problems are barely touching the brim of the glass as compared to this lady – but we’re alwiz complainin & wallowin ourselves in self-pity..
I am no saint too, tat’s y I always try to push myself by constantly telling myself these 2 famous Chinese idioms: “有志者,事竟成” and ”船到桥头自然直”.
@ the end of the day, I am but just a poor bitch!
=P
