I was on the phone with my Mom yesterday and she told me that she was in a car on a long distant trip and that Dad was driving. So I said, "Then I've no worries, Dad is the best driver, you can take a good rest". Mom replied, "He is not only the best driver, but also the best friend, best companion, best husband." Dad, Mom, this son of yours truly admires and is deeply touched by your marriage which by today has reached the 41-year mark. Happy Anniversary!
Like, AWWWW right? :D
And my response to his weibo, which reflects my thought on marriage and parenthood (and envy of him :P):
The best gift your parents have ever given you (aside from those awesome genes for good looks and remarkable intelligence and impeccable musicianship) is the enduring love they have for each other. You are so blessed! Happy anniversary, Mr & Mrs Wang.
On the subject of weibo, one of the best things about it is being able to connect with fellow fans (another is the relative anonymity it provides, which makes me feel more at ease (but still civil nonetheless ;) compared to the other social media platforms that I engage in). There were a couple of misses but so far I've hit it off pretty well with two people from two different corners of the earth who just share in my enthusiasm for all things Lee Hom... and more. :)
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
quote of the day:
In frustration, C.S. Lewis once asked Tolkien “What class of men would you expect to be most preoccupied with, and most hostile to, the idea of escape?” Tolkien answered: “Jailers.”
ooh i made payment for Lee Hom's concert in Genting! as the prices of the tickets are reaaaally expensive, i'm only getting the second cheapest and that is already RM290 (it goes allllll the way up to RM1k. for that price, methinks the ticket holder should get to keep him! -_-) srsly, how do i not feel like i'm being fleeced! argh. but but but.... I am so excited! it's another four months away... i don't hope for it to come so soon. i don't want the first quarter of 2013 to end. but at least it would end with a bang! *fangirl squeals* [note: i made a pre-booking for the tix via the fan club, which gives me a better-than-nothing 5% discount on the tickets. *small cheer*]
speaking of him, Lee Hom has a new song called 十二生肖 (lit. 12 Zodiac) out this Friday. he posted a 30-second teaser which can be heard here. my take on it? I kinda like it but it's too short to conclude. i'm happy it's not a ballad! hehehe.. it appears to be the theme song to Jackie Chan's 101st and purportedly last movie before he retires, Chinese Zodiac. here's the trailer for the movie which will be out on 12.12.12, a date as auspicious as it could get.
Monday, November 26, 2012
i actually knocked off by 8pm last night. and i slept for 12 hours straight (i did wake up to pee once hehe). i could be wrong but i think this is the first time that has happened to me. am still tired though. gosh.
and you would think that i'd be sleeping early again since i was so tired right? but here I am at 3:45 in the morning, still awake!! :( i hate it when my hours get jammed like this!! grrr..
i got my phone back yest morning! I don't know how I did it but I survived the week. someday i'll write a book about my days in the phone-less wilderness. I am legend.
had dinner at madam kwan's last night. thad's friend from China, one of his students, is here for holidays. he speaks english rather fluently and has been great help to thadd and other friends who went to Beijing so he's receiving royal welcome here. :) went out into the light drizzle to take pic with the iconic towers. it's such a gorgeous sight to behold, esp at night! :)
Sunday, November 25, 2012
just another quick one before i go off to bed, and it's only 7:35PM.
today has been a long day. my church held a family day event which lasted a good 6 hours, by the end of which i am pooped through and through. i worked the redemption counter with two other girls. it was kinda quiet in the morning because no one had enough coupons to exchange for any of the gifts, but towards the later part of the day, it was madness! we managed to clear most of the stock. went for durian feast after clean-up. i haven't eaten so much durian in a while! it was good stuff, fleshy and sweet, the way i like it.
i was supposed to be donating blood today, concurrent with the event. again i hyperventilated when the nurse took my blood sample, but i was preparing myself for the worse. then came the doctor interview. she thought that my breakfast was too simple (a small cupcake with a tiny cup of soy milk), and wasn't too keen that i had just about 5 hours of sleep the night before, but i thought i would be fine. however, the third strike came when she asked if i had consumed alcohol the night before, and argh, i did! i had a coupla glasses of red wine at my colleague's wedding, and... i was disqualified. mm i am still disappointed that i didn't get to do it. bleh.
i haven't been running for about a month due to the daily rain we've been receiving.. but managed to squeeze in my usual 4 laps at the KLCC park on Wednesday. and did i struggle! i couldn't even run one lap without stopping. and that is bad. plus i kept hoping that it would rain as i ran, so that i'd have an excuse not to finish the jog.
sorry if these entries are boring you, but i really have nothing interesting to say. good evening and good night!
just another short post tonight. another baby step to overcoming my lack of inspiration.
i didn't wake up this morning. i woke up past noon. i didn't have my alarm clock and the husband was out and my biological clock seemed to think that i needed to sleep in. was supposed to meet K for lunch at about that time! wondered why husband was not back. called him from the house phone. turned out that K had to go back to the office to work. poor fella!
went for ex-colleague's wedding dinner at Parkroyal Hotel tonight. the food was so-so and the ceremony ended late, but the bride was beautiful (this colleague resembles a Singaporean celebrity :)
read a little of Life of Pi (half a chapter?) and it has mention of this fish called dorado, which is "distinguished by dazzling colors: golden on the sides, and bright blues and greens on the sides and back". and the protagonist of the book described killing the fish (by whacking it repeatedly with a blunt object) was like "killing a rainbow" because it would turn all sorts of colours before it breathes its last. and as sadistic as it might sound, i am kinda looking forward to watching this on the big screen. in 3D no less!
also read a chapter of Steve Jobs, and i don't think he's ever going to redeem himself by the end of the book. he has few redeeming qualities to pass as a decent human being. i'm surprised that he allows this biography to go out without reading its draft. what does he have up his sleeves!
the Big Bad Wolf sale is coming, in about 2 weeks. will be taking a day off to be there. i need more books around the house that i won't be reading *sheepish smile*
Saturday, November 24, 2012
i just finished season 2 of Suits. i love the show! mostly for the dresses that the corporate ladies wear. DROOL! i just lurve the glamorous side of the corporate world, the killer heels and sharp dresses and pencil skirts and It bags, sleek modern offices with glass walls and gorgeous view of the city skyline, ruthless manipulative power players.. okay, strike the last one out. but yeah... :)
caught up on the latest episodes of Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother and Elementary. thanks, unifi hahhahaha!
i had to send my phone in for repair, and i have been living without a phone for close to a week now. i'm actually survived! okay, given that i had access to the internet at the office and at home, it wasn't really that bad. happily, i received a call from the service centre who said that my phone is on my way back to me, and that i should get it by Monday. whoopie!
Life of Pi is opening next week. w00t! gonna be watching it as part of my birthday outing. w00t w00t! which reminds me, i need to finish the book. why is it taking me forever?
have i mentioned that Lee Hom is coming back to Malaysia March next year? it would be at a smaller venue, up in Genting. was totally psych'ed about going until i got to know of the ticket prices. gosh, looks i have to starve myself for the next three months! grrr.. it's almost double the other performers okay. just who you think you are! T___T a top-notch superstar with crazy fangirls like you. yup.
The blogging muse is on her year-end holiday, an explanation as feeble as any for the lack of update here. This must be my blog's driest month this year! Anyway, with the 4th anniversary of my 30th birthday looming in the horizon (at the point of my writing this, it's just 4 days away), I thought I should put my fingers to keyboard and write something here. But what, I asked. And there was silence, naturally.
Aha, why don't you revive that 100-things-about-me meme? A voice suggested. But I don't have that many interesting things to warrant a list of 50, let alone 100! I replied to no one in particular. Mm maybe I could just do 34? I thought to myself, and then thought that was rather clever. Indeed.
So, here are 34 things about me that are not in anyway mysterious or groundbreaking as I would have in one way or another spoken about them. But a list's a list, so here goes nothing.
I'm very sure I have a mild *cough* form of ADD, which according to wiki, is characterized primarily by inattention, easy distractibility, disorganization, procrastination, and forgetfulness.
I hate writing. When I say this out loud, I usually receive polite protest that I could write, but I think people just want to make me feel better. Oh but you have a blog! I don't think that means much but I appreciate the affirmation though. :)
I enjoy reading, but these days, most of my reading are Internet articles. I kinda dislike this fact.
I'm often lost in my own world.. like Alice. Ok, my world is not that rich. I like to hold imaginary conversations with people. Aloud. Which can be embarrassing.
According to Myer-Briggs, I am a Nurturer (ISFJ). I sure didn't see that coming but the description is pretty accurate. And it helps me understand myself a bit more. Like how I've always wondered why I didn't do well in varsity, and even in my on-off studies at the bible college, until I read this (so it's really not my fault *ahem):
ISFJs learn best by doing, rather than by reading about something in a book, or applying theory. For this reason, they are not likely to be found in fields which require a lot of conceptual analysis or theory. They value practical application. Traditional methods of higher education, which require a lot of theorizing and abstraction, are likely to be a chore for the ISFJ.
According to the same test, I'm an introvert (though I didn't need it to tell me). People are often surprised that I am. In turn, I'm surprised that they are surprised. I can also be very shy. And I've been told they are not the same thing. I'm shy and gregarious.
I am absolutely terrified of syringes and snakes.
I love Calvin and Hobbes.
I enjoy sitcoms. I think life has enough drama that my escape shouldn't be more drama. My current favorites (and in this order) are Community, How I Met Your Mother, and Modern Family.
I don't watch horror movies. I get startled very easily. I watch scary scenes through the gap between my fingers with my palms over my eyes. I don't want to watch an entire movie like that. I don't watch much drama movies/TV either (the slow pace is very distracting).
I like detective stories. Agatha Christie is my all-time favorite crime writer. If I have access to her books, I would like to re-read them again. I like Sherlock Holmes too. I love his recent screen incarnations (Robert Downey Jr, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller). I love Jeffrey Archer although he doesn't really belong in this genre.
I love Wang Lee Hom and David Tao. An unabashed fangirl, I am. I don't like female singers. I don't know why. Female voices tend to get boring very quickly. According to the idea of six degrees of separation, I am 3 degrees away from Lee Hom. alas, those are but weak links.
I love the smell of new books. But I wouldn't wear it. What were they thinking? I feel like a fraud when I talk so much about books, but I've only read so few this year, or in total.
When I was younger, I used to finish all the books I ever started reading. I don't do that anymore, and although I feel guilty when I don't, I still don't.
I am a top-notch procrastinator with super short memory span. I have met people who are worse at procrastinating, but I don't remember anyone who has fish memory like me. Mm probably I have met the person.
While I prefer to remain "emotionless", I am easily excitable. -_- If you wanna test it out, just mention Lee Hom or cats or Calvin and Hobbes (or anything in this list that began with "I love...") in a sentence.
I rarely cry at movies, but I have shed tears watching my fav sitcoms. True story.
I love jokes and I can appreciate good ones, but I suck at delivering them (remember Nemo's dad earlier attempts in telling the joke about the mollusk and sea cucumber? I'm like that.)
I love cats. Not all cats. Just the cute ones. Not a big fan of kittens. I sigh when I see pics of cute cats online. I think that a feline's silhouette is captivating. I don't have it in me to be a crazy cat lady thou.
I love musicals. Okay, not all. My favorites so far is Puteri Gunung Ledang and Wicked.
I can be rather particular with kerning in design. I'm annoyed with designers who are not.
I love Melbourne! Had my best vacation there. I'll definitely be back.
I love travelling. The wanderlust in a force strong in me.
Friendster, Myspace, Multiply, Flickr, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Weibo, Tumblr, Blogger, Dropbox, Gtalk, Skype, Live Messenger, email accounts from Hotmail, Yahoo! and Gmail: I have them ALL ("had" for the first three items in this list).
I love Google.
Every morning when I open my Chrome browser, I simultaneously open these pages: Yahoo! mail, Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader and Weibo. Then I close the Twitter tab after glancing at some tweets. The rest are open throughout the day.
I am very fond of the pi π symbol. If I could have a tattoo on me, this would be it.
I like chocolate with nuts or wafer. I like dark chocolate. I don't like white chocolate.
Milk in its liquid form makes me queasy. Even thinking about it makes me nauseous. So I thought I was lactose-intolerant. But I drink choc milk, and eats milk in other forms i.e. cheese and yoghurt. Go figure.
I love fish head noodle.
I don't like buffets. It makes me greedy and I will overeat and that's just bad. I think I'm much better at controlling myself these days. Still, I don't like the idea of paying to gorge on food.
I love potatoes. In every edible form.
I am an insomniac.
When I'm not focused, I'm not. But on the very rare occasions when I am, I'm unstoppable.
Yay! Done-doh! So.... happy birthday to me. Sometimes I can't stand me, but I'm generally okay in my own skin. I am writing in one of those moods, can you tell? Anyways, I hope the next 365 days will be good (generally), and I would continue to grow up emotionally, spiritually and mentally, and shrink physically.
My friend tried to get Lee Hom to wish me over weibo. Well, there's one in 24 million chance of that happening. Oh well, I'll make do with his song then. I've posted this song before, so here's just the MV (translation here). Have a good day on me, everyone! *MUAKS*
since news on Lee Hom has been slow lately, plus i'm almost at the point of OD'ing on his songs, i have presently shifted interest back to my long-time music "love", David Tao. while i appreciate LH for the versatile and skillful musician that he is, David's music has somehow always moved me on a deeper level. and for a longgg time, i was trying to figure out why. and i was still pondering about it when i started this post, but wouldn't you know it, lady epiphany dropped by just in time to say hi. :D
so.... here's my theory on why I think David's music is better (it's a relative term, don't hold me against it :) than Lee Hom's (or maybe i should use the term "different", as in how D's music is different in comparison with LH's):
D's academic background in Psychology and Film-making gives him a more educated insight into the human psyche and also makes him a better story teller, compared to LH's courses in Music (classical, jazz, vocal) and Asian Studies which makes him a more well-rounded musician but as I've said before, he has ample room for improvement in the lyrics department.
personality wise, i think D is more reserved and serious, while LH is an eternal optimist and more carefree. in this sense, my character partially mirrors LH's, while i would be drawn to someone with D's traits. so i actually relate to them or approach their songs differently.
lifestyle-wise, i think D makes time to leada more "normal" life (he's been known to go into hiding periodically, also he is also into business and runs a fashion boutique) while LH lives and breathes work 24.7.365. I believe LH genuinely enjoys his marriage to his music or movies, but I don't think his devotion can offer him a meaningful kind of inspiration or understanding of the world outside the entertainment industry. of course, this is purely conjecture on my part, i do however strongly encourage him to take a sabbatical (in fact, i've highlighted this when i was a month-old fan :) because if he was gonna sing a love song, it'd better be believable, otherwise it would be a sham.
in an industry where artists churn out at least an album a year to remain in the mind of their fans, D has always taken his time to work on his music. since debuting in 1997, he's only six full-length albums to his name (compared to LH's 14 albums in 17 years). i know LH can be incredibly persnickety when it comes to producing his music and he pours in an incredible amount of time and effort in getting the exact sounds that he wanted, he's always managed to deliver not too far from the deadline. he's reliable like that. :) but like a pot of beef stew, it's probably edible after an hour of simmering on low fire, but an extra two hours in the pot would do it wonders. and if you left it overnight in the fridge, you'll be discovering a far richer, more flavorful pot the next day. can you see my point? ;)
i hope i would NEVER have to choose between D and LH. it's like having to choose between my right arm and my left, or my heart and brain! i want to be whole, man. hehe.. i don't want to have take anything away from either one because they are both great singer-musicians in their own rights. plus they are both genuinely super nice guys. and oh, they are both seemingly destined for prolonged bachelorhood hahaha anyway, the BEST part right now is both artists have said that their new music will be out by the end of this year. the year is already ending on a high note with my anticipation for these two movies, and now this.. if the world is really ending, it's going out with a bang! tee hee!
back to D and to make my case about his songs, i normally don't fancy songs that i cannot relate to. here, 暗戀 or Adoration (though I think Secret Crush/Love is more apt) is a song about a guy who's secretly in love with a girl but gets all tongue-tied around her so he's left tepuk sebelah tangan... and unfortunately, the song doesn't have a happy ending. awww :(
anyway, i shouldn't be able to have anything to do with it now, right? but i fell in love with it (and i'm talking about the stomach churning, skipped heartbeat type of fall okay) the moment i heard him sang the first two words, and i've not really stopped listening to it since. i especially love what i imagine is the effect of the ebow holding those notes, and i also love the lyrics and melody, and i love how earnest he sounded (i watched somewhere that he was expressing the loss of a real crush). love, love, love! ^_^
oh btw, this song is for you. i imagine that person singing it to you... but who knows, his song could have a happy ending. :)
昨晚又再見到你 你還是那麼美麗
我緊張到話都不會說 就傻傻看著你
渴望永遠這距離 就是和你在一起
醒來發現這一切都只是我的夢境
saw you again last night, you're still so beautiful
i was so nervous i couldn't speak, so i just stared at you foolishly
hoping to remain this close to you always, just to be with you
waking up only to realize that this has all been a dream
告訴自己要冷靜 卻又無法不想你
我的懦弱已經開始讓我討厭我自己
是你對我有戒心 還是我沒有自信
可是誰也不能阻止我 我要暗戀你 So lonely
told myself to remain composed, but i can't stop thinking about you
i'm starting to hate myself for my weakness
was it you who got wary of me, or was it me who couldn't trust myself?
but no one can stop me from secretly loving you, so lonely
so here I am standing all alone
在某個街頭 有個我在這裡只為你等候
here I am waiting just for you
開放我所有 希望你能瞭解你能夠接受 So lonely so here I am standing all alone
on a certain street, there's me waiting just for you here I am waiting just for you
wearing my heart on my sleeve, hoping that you would understand, that you would accept my love
今晚渴望再見你 雖然只是在夢裡
短暫的甜蜜也勝過了一輩子沒有你
就算沒快樂結局 就算從此死了心
我要付出我所有誠意 只要能感動你
我願意
hope to see you again tonight, even if it's just in my dream
the short-lived sweetness has passed, in this life i will be without you
even though there is no happy ending, even as i give this up now
i hope my sincerity shines through, to just touch your heart
i am willing
so lonely so here I am standing all alone
在某個街頭 有個我在這裡只為你等候
here I am waiting just for you
開放我所有 我要為你怎麼做你才接受我
我喜歡你。。 我要你。。 我愛你 so here I am standing all alone
on a certain street, there's me waiting just for you here I am waiting just for you
wearing my heart on my sleeve, what do you want me to do for you to accept me?
i like you.. i want you.. i love you
so here I am standing all alone
在某個街頭 有個我在這裡只為你等候
so here I am waiting just for you
開放我所有 希望你能瞭解你能夠接受
I'm lonely so here I am standing all alone
on a certain street, there's me waiting just for you here I am waiting just for you
wearing my heart on my sleeve, hoping that you would understand, that you would accept my love
i'm lonely
故事就說到這裡 就算你們再好奇
我想說的都已說完了 其餘是秘密
在那某一個街頭 會流傳某個旋律
那是我在輕輕唱著歌 我多愛你 著妳
the story ends here
even if you are curious, i have said all i've wanted to say
everything else will remain a secret
on that certain street, a certain melody will linger
that's me quietly singing how much i love you...
