22 January 2011

Of Comfort and Being Comfortable


What does comfort mean to you?  For some, it's having an eight bedroom mansion and a huge yard.  For another, it's a posh penthouse with marble flooring and a spectacular view of the city.  Yet, for many it is just  having a bed to rest their tired body after a hard day's work.  

Lately I've come to realise what comfort really means to me.  Of course, it's having a roof over my head and a nice bed to sleep on but it's so much more.  

For me, it's being with Stephen and Jared.  They are my comfort.  

Stephen and I always have fun together.  He's a barrel of laughs and jokes. However, the bonus for us is when Jared joins us.  We slept late on Thursday night.  So we spent Friday morning sleeping in till almost lunch time.  Then we went for an early Chilli Pan Mee.  We are crazy for it now.  It's our second time there but it won't be the last.



From there we went to Empire in Subang Jaya for a giant cookie, a cookie monster cupcake and coffee.  


We were missing someone!

And, of course, my two heroes had to test the World's Tallest Indoor Tube Slide
(pic from here)

 Missed Jared zooming out.

But I caught Stephen!

More photos taken with my Blackberry.

Empire Subang prepares for the Rabbit year

When we got home, we were all tired and we each found our chair to lepak the evening away.  Watching Jared on my left with his laptop and chatting with his girlfriend and then looking across on my right and seeing Stephen in the single Lazy Boy Chair, reclined and nodding off, half listening to the TV, Jared and to me, I can see he's so comfortable.  He's in his comfort zone.  

Here's an older picture of him, on the double chair, with his titbits.

Sitting between them is my definition of comfort and being comfortable.  Nothing else comes close.





20 January 2011

HAPPY THAIPUSAM



To all my Hindu friends celebrating,
I would like to wish you a Happy Thaipusam!






FROM WIKIPEDIA
Thaipusam (Tamilதைப்பூசம்Taippūcam ?) is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by theTamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February). It is celebrated not only in countries where the Tamil community constitutes a majority, but also in countries where Tamil communities are smaller, such as Singapore[1] and Malaysia.[2] The festival is also referred to as Thaipooyam or Thaippooyam (Malayalamതൈപ്പൂയംTaippūyaṁ ?). The word Thaipusam is derived from the month name Thai and Pusam, which refers to a star that is at its highest point during the festival. The festival commemorates the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (spear) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman.

14 January 2011

Of breasts and necks!

As women age, the parts that seem to noticeably show signs of wear and tear are the breasts and/or neck!  This is based on my observation of other women and my personal opinion.


Hence, not being well endowed is an advantage, as one grows older.  Since gravity and fatty tissues combine, it's impossible to prevent sagging.  Unless, of course, you get a boob job done!  

If your neck begins to show the creases of time, some delay could be derived from applying creams or lotions but, ultimately, you can't hide those lines.  

However, if you have a short neck, then you could consider yourself lucky!  Hah!  It would be impossible to see the lines, if any. 

I’m not opposed to postponing the aging process by natural means.  Nevertheless, I do not consider it the most important activity in my life.

I believe in aging gracefully.  My stretch marks and wrinkles bear tribute to the life I have led.

Many are going to nod their heads when they see this last one!  Yup, I know!



(all pics from photobucket)

11 January 2011

It's so cold!



I don't know about other people but I've been feeling really cold these days.  Sometimes I even have to switch off the fan because it is just too cold.


Stephen said it is going to snow.  He really makes me laugh out loud.


It's really hard to believe anything about global warming while I'm feeling so, so cold.


Brrrrrrrr!  

  

After I published my blog, this came out on 12 January 2011, in the Star Newspaper, that the Weather across peninsula is erratic and cold!  


(all pics from photobucket)

08 January 2011

Lat tali lat tam pom


LAT TALI LAT TAM POM.  (Local version of the universal "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe")

I heard this on the radio recently.  Apparently, it's an "Old Town White Coffee" jingle.

I always thought it was "Lat Tali Lat Tam Pong".

I think there are many variations of this.  Depending on which state you are from.

My son says it's "Lat Tali Lat Tali Tam Plom".

His friend from Sabah says it's "Lai Lai Lee Lai Tam Plong".

Stephen says it's "Oh Bay Sohm".  *giggles*

I remember that, in my family, we used to have this extended one but I don't know where we got it from.

It goes like this

Lat Tali Lat Tam pong
Balik Kampong
Makan Kangkong
Masak Ikan Kembong
Beranak Dalam Tong
Keluar Anak Patong

Ahhhhhhh!  Childhood innocence.  Those were the days.

It looks like I wasn't the only one reminiscing.  Googled it and stumbled upon these fellow bloggers.
Lydia
Sam
Adam
Sid who has it in his header
and there are more....


(pic taken from here. Requested permission but no reply yet, so I'll remove it if I'm told).

02 January 2011

of 1959 and 2011

Got this from the internet and found it interesting.  Those of you born in the same year may enjoy it!  I highlighted the parts I liked in "red" and/or "bold".



In 1959, the world was a different place.


There was no Google yet. Or Yahoo.

In 1959, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was Ben-Hur. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster.

Remember, that was before there were DVDs. Heck, even before there was VHS. People were indeed watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter, the excitement, the novelty. And mostly all of that without 3D computer effects.

Do you know who won the Oscars that year? The academy award for the best movie went to Ben-Hur. The Oscar for best foreign movie that year went to Black Orpheus. The top actor was Charlton Heston for his role as Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur. The top actress was Simone Signoret for her role as Alice Aisgill in Room at the Top. The best director? William Wyler for Ben-Hur.

In the year 1959, the time when you arrived on this planet, books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The number one US bestseller of the time was Exodus by Leon Uris. Oh, that's many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you heard of it?

In 1959... Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin. Castro's troops approach Havana. The island of Addu in the Maldives declares independence. Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state. Women in Nepal vote for the first time. The Marx Brothers make their last TV appearance, in The Incredible Jewel Robbery. Import tariffs are lifted in the United Kingdom. Two monkeys, Able and Miss Baker are the first living beings to successfully return to Earth from space aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18. Singapore becomes a self-governing crown colony of Britain with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister. The Central Treaty Organization CENTO is established. The original Mini designed by Sir Alec Issigonis is launched. The first section of England's M1 motorway opens between the present junctions 5 and 18. Three years after its first telecast, MGM's The Wizard of Oz is shown on television for only the second time, but it gains an even larger viewing audience than its first television outing, spurring CBS to make it an annual tradition.

That was the world you were born into. Since then, you and others have changed it.

The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to Salvatore Quasimodo. The Nobel Peace prize went to Philip J. Noel-Baker. The Nobel prize for physics went to Owen Chamberlain and Emilio Gino Segrè from the United States for their discovery of the antiproton. The sensation this created was big. But it didn't stop the planets from spinning, on and on, year by year. Years in which you would grow bigger, older, smarter, and, if you were lucky, sometimes wiser. Years in which you also lost some things. Possessions got misplaced. Memories faded. Friends parted ways. The best friends, you tried to hold on. This is what counts in life, isn't it?

The 1950s were indeed a special decade. The American economy is on the upswing. The cold war betwen the US and the Soviet Union is playing out throughout the whole decade. Anti-communism prevails in the United States and leads to the Red Scare and accompanying Congressional hearings. Africa begins to become decolonized. The Korean war takes place. The Vietnam War starts. The Suez Crisis war is fought on Egyptian territory. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and others overthrow authorities to create a communist government on Cuba. Funded by the US, reconstructions in Japan continue. In Japan, film maker Akira Kurosawa creates the movies Rashomon and Seven Samurai. The FIFA World Cups are won by Uruguay, then West Germany, then Brazil.

Do you remember the movie that was all the rage when you were 15?  Murder on the Orient Express. Do you still remember the songs playing on the radio when you were 15? Maybe it was Rock Me Gently by Andy Kim. Were you in love? Who were you in love with, do you remember? 

In 1959, 15 years earlier, a long time ago, the year when you were born, the song Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by The Platters topped the US charts. Do you know the lyrics? Do you know the tune? Sing along.


They asked me how I knew

My true love was true
Oh, I of course replied
Something here inside cannot be denied 
...

There's a kid outside, shouting, playing. It doesn't care about time. It doesn't know about time. It shouts and it plays and thinks time is forever. You were once that kid.

When you were 9, the movie Blackbeard's Ghost was playing. When you were 8, there was Doctor Dolittle.
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... it's 1959. There's TV noise coming from the second floor. Someone turned up the volume way too high. The sun is burning from above. These were different times. The show playing on TV is Bonanza. The sun goes down. Someone switches channels. There's The Bell Telephone Hour on now. That's the world you were born in.

Progress, year after year. Do you wonder where the world is heading towards? The technology available today would have blown your mind in 1959. Do you know what was invented in the year you were born? The Bullet Train.


1959 was a very strange time

A bad year for labor and a good year for wine
Uncle Ike was our American Pal
And nobody talked about the Suez Canal
...


That's from the song Post World War Two Blues by Al Stewart.

In 1959, a new character entered the world of comic books: Fritz the Cat. Bang! Boom! But that's just fiction, right? In the real world, in 1959, Bryan Adams was born. And Rosanna Arquette. Nastassja Kinski, too. And you, of course. Everyone an individual. Everyone special. Everyone taking a different path through life. 



It's 2011 now.


The world is a different place.

What path have you taken?

01 January 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR



So do you plan to make any New Year Resolutions?




If you do, good on you.  If you don't, who cares?  As long as you are happy with whatever you want to do and be.

To all those who come and visit this blog, I wish you the best for 2011.  

Live, love and laugh!

(pics from photobucket)