Idiot-proof

IT products have become so sophisticated nowadays that they’ve become idiot-proof. Or so all these companies claim.

Yet, …the number of times I can’t get these idiot-proofed products to start….I wonder… am I ‘idioter’ than an idiot?

Seriously, who understands all those mumbo-jumbo stuff that only the programmers or IT mad people would understand?

Me? I just want to plug in my laptop/ camera/ printer and just get it up and running. Please don’t ask me for questions I can’t answer and information that I don’t even know where I should be looking for. As far as I’m concerned, idiot-proof should mean just that- click and go.

You know what is even more frustrating?

When you click on the Help and Support icon and it says you have to be connected to get help. But that was the whole point! I was trying to get connected!

So I have to get online to find out why I couldn’t get online??????

There’s a conspiracy out there.

I’m very certain all these programmers have installed one of those hidden cameras th in the products. They are probably laughing at us as we struggle to set up these products that we’ve just spent an obscene amount on…swearing and cursing as we resist the temptation to just throw our shiny new toys out of the window.

I’m sure they feel it’s payback time for calling them geeks during school days.

Sigh….

My only consolation is that I’m not the only idiot in the house. My husband couldn’t solve the problem either.

Return of the Condor Heroes

Hands up, those of you who remembered the Hong Kong entertainment in the 80’s.

Hands and legs up those of you who remembered the hit drama, “Return of the Condor Heros”.

I’m not talking about the Louis Khoo version. I’m talking about the definite version by a very young Andy Lau and Idy Chan.

I remembered.

It was like the WLS of today. It had everyone glued to the screen, from my grandmother to my aunties. The songs were hits and we would be playing them day in and day out. In fact we were so hooked that we were watching the last few episodes within one day. We watched the the second last episode till about 2am in the morning and then thought we’d better be sensible and go to bed. We were up a few hours later at 5am to catch the last episode. We couldn’t stand the suspense…. including my grandmother. hahaha!

In those days, there was no dvd. We rented tapes from the video shops. These tapes arrive like about a week after the episode is aired on the HK TV. One episode per tape. So if it’s 20 episodes, you have 20 tapes. If it’s a very popular drama, you have to queue. So sometimes, you watch a drama till ep 15 and then may not get to watch the rest of it till 3 weeks later. I think it’s still being done now. Only it’s dvd instead of tapes.

Anyway, back to Return of the Condor Heros.

Andy Lau was young then. He still had some puppy fat and had already starred in a few dramas but he wasn’t well known. This drama made him a star.

Though he didn’t have as much effect on me then as BYJ did now, he did leave a very deep impression on me. He was Yang Guo and together with Idy Chan as the Little Dragon Girl, they were a perfect on screen couple.

Anyway, both he and Idy Chan created quite a storm in the little red dot, Singapore. And thus shortly after the drama ended in HK, both of them came to Singapore to cash in on the popularity.

If I remembered correctly, I think they performed at World Trade Centre and I think I went with SW. I can’t really remember. Actually, I couldn’t really recall much of the performance either. I did remember our seats weren’t too bad, I could actually see them fairly up close. But I’m not sure if I had paid for those expensive tickets. You see, back then, as very poor, struggling students, we would buy the cheapest tickets and then when the lights dimmed and the show was about to start, we would all rushed forward and filled the good seats in the front rows. haha! There was much less control then.

Anyway, don’t think the show was very memorable. He hadn’t started on his singing career then but I think it was ok. Looking at the photos now, I think some of the dance moves/ poses were quite silly. hehe!


Told you they were silly poses.

Of course back then, we didn’t think so lah and enjoyed every minute of it.

Anyway, after the show, my friend suggested that we should go to the back door and wait for him. Initially, I hesitated. I wasn’t used to doing such things. But I couldn’t resist the temptation and the urgings of my friend. And so we waited outside the back door, together with some fans. Not many. Not like today, where he would probably have a few hundreds of fans waiting. Then, there were maybe about 20 to 30?

And just as I thought this was madness and we should leave. He came out. And this was what happened next:

He was really very young then. So was I.
Though actually in reality, he’s not that much older than I am.

Now I wonder if I could auction off this photo.
Maybe I should placed my precious ‘BYJ-hugging-me photo’ next to it and framed them both up.

What do you all think? ^^

*Postnote: will the person who has my set of Return of the Condor Heroes kindly return it to me? I’d like to watch my Yang Guo again…

Look back with no regrets

Someone told me she didn’t like this kind of ‘moral’ story. It’s very hard to choose and there isn’t any right or wrong.

True.

It’s kind of depressing, sin’t it?

But I wasn’t out to make everyone sit down to think about right or wrong. I guess I just want everyone to just think. What actually really captured my interest was the ending……

Judge Deed lifted the injunction. I believe it is a decision that any ‘sensible’ person would make.

Cut to the scene in the hospital, in Peter’s room with a group of nurses and his parents. Peter knows they want to prepare for his operation and that the injunction has been lifted. he tried to pull of all the tubes that are attached to his body. He is struggling and kept saying ‘No, no!’

His parents is trying to calm him and his mother keeps telling him to look at her and that it will be alright. Seeing his son’s violent reaction, at one point, his father said:’Are you sure we’re doing the right thing?’ His mother shouted back:’Of course we are!’

Peter died in surgery. he did not wake up from the coma.

I guess you could say he willed himself to die. He did not want to live on terms that are against his beliefs.

– Is what we think that is the best for another person really the best?
– Are you prepared to die for your beliefs?
– Does one person’s effort count?
– Have we lived each day as if it’s the last?

Will we look back with no regrets?

I think neither Peter nor his parents regret their choices and decisions. I’m certain given the same choices and situation again, the same decisions will be made.

Someone has to take responsibility

I’ve often found British detective/ crime dramas much more interesting than American ones. Many will say that they are rather slow. Well, I guess it’s not in the English character to go:’Bang, slam, hit, whizz’ as they tend to prefer understated emphasis. Slow they may be but they are definitely not boring.

Husband and I have recently became very interested in this particular drama- Judge John Deed, starring Martin Shaw. According to husband, Martin was rather popular in the 70’s as he’s quite a charmer. I can believe my husband. Martin Shaw has a certain charisma like Sean Connery and BYJ, despite the slightly protruding tummy and grey hair.

There are various stories in each episode but they are all connected or carries the same the same message. And the cases are always thought provoking.

But what’s even more interesting is Judge John Deed himself.

He’s a senior judge.
He’s also a controversial judge, often pushing the limits of the law in his sentencing.
He’s also something of a playboy and sometimes I wonder how he managed to rise to that position but I guess as long what he does privately do not affect his judgement, we shouldn’t be judging him for hsi private life.

And so every Sunday, 9pm, would find us parked infront of the TV, with pizza and beer on hand. ^^ Last Sunday’s story was really quite interesting, perhaps even more so for my vegetarian husbandmfqe

Peter (I forgot the character’s name) is a 15 years and 11 months old boy suffering from a heart disease. He has a rare chance to receive a heart transplant. But Peter is also a vegetarian since he was 2 1/2 years old.

If he receives the heart, he will be on medication for the rest of his life. Medication that has been tested on animals, where they suffered and done in the name of advancing scienec. He feels that animals and man are equal and animals should not be made to suffer so as to save mankind. It is cruel to the animals because they were given no choice in this matter. Even if they were treated humanely during the process of reseach, they still suffered. It is mainly for this reason that he objects to the transplant. He ie a very clear minded, intelligent boy, who reads widely and is capable of making sound decisions.

His parents, especially his mother feels that this belief of his is but a romantism, a fad. As a mother, she cannot bear to watch him die. She loves him dearly and that it is her responsibility to save him. She feels she is doing the best for him as he is incapable of making a decision as a minor (even though he is just weeks away from being regarded as an adult legally).

Without the transplant, he would definitely die very soon in a matter of weeks.
With the transplant, there is still no guarantee he will live but there is a fighting chance.

Peter took out an injunction against the transplant and Judge Deed has to decide if

1) the injunction should be lifted because he is still a minor and the parents’ and medical specialists directions should be followed.

or

2) let the injuntion remain so that the boy’s wishes can be carried out. He is clearly certain of the consequence of his decision and the grief that it will cause his parents.

There is no right or wrong answer in this matter, only what one ‘thinks’ is the best for Peter.

If the translpant goes ahead, Peter will be kept alive for the rest of his life with the very things that is so against his core beliefs. He may even hate his parents for clearly forcing him into this situation. However, he may live to be able to do more good for the society.

I will post Judge Deed’s decision and the outcome of that decision later. Give it some thought first.

There was this line that Peter mentioned to Judge Deed that was very simple but very hard to follow:

“Somone has to take some responsibility for the actions of the other.”

Here’s the link to the drama series: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/crime/judge/

*Only love can break a heart, but a shoe sale can come close*

*Only love can break a heart, but a shoe sale can come close*
This is the title of a comic by Cathy Guisewite, who writes a series of comics on this 30+ single woman. Quite funny, some of them and rather reflective at times too.

Shoes and bags are 2 weakness of women when it comes to shopping. Imelda Marco had thousands. I know of friends who bought different colours of the same style of shoes(strangely, never bags though). Husband fails to understand the need for the different types of black shoes- the formal, the informal, the semi-formal, the casual, the hip…

What has this got to do with my chick trip? Well bb was asking for more photos. I’m afraid there aren’t many. Don’t think many people would want to see the different shoes in the different shoe shops.

Oh wait, I did take a photo of this very interesting bar @ Starhill. Lots of coloured lights and glass. Will check it out the next time I’m there again.

Day 2
Our military strategy- to have a full breakfast and skip lunch. Shall not bore everyone writing about the food. Surface to say we were well armed. ^^

We took a taxi to this mega shopping mall- One Utama, which was about 30 minutes away from KL city centre.

I can only say that it’s big. You can spend a whole day there. We went from shop to shop (quite a few shoe shops)and didn’t even cover half of the mall. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on which way you look at it), the shoe shops held no interest for me. I can’t buy shoes off the rack and can only customised them. My friends would know why. hehe!

We only stopped for a break when SK needed her coffee fix and SC craved for her ice cream. Well, we were on an indulgent trip.

Just how much did we shop? Ok, now this is an extreme example:
Espirit was having a sale for some of their items- up to 70% off.
We bought enough to qualify for the VIP card (min of RM$300). The VIP package has several vouchers- one of them is a 30% discount voucher.
We used the voucher and qualify for another VIP card.
We used the 2nd voucher too.

Hubby, if you’re reading this, mine was only a small part of the whole purchases. Really! I not bluffing you!

I think the salesgirls were quite glad to see us leave after a couple of hours in the shop.

Now, I had yet to buy anything back for my family. I know, I know, shame on me, right? So I decided to head down to Parkson (a big supermarket) after dinner to get some tidbits. It was the same for the other 3 girls.

So we walked towards Parkson. Determind to at least buy some stuff back, to sort of justify our trip.

We never made it there. Sigh.

Sales items should never be allowed to be displayed in the middle of the atrium to tempt innocent people like us. It’s a crime.

What did I say about shoes?
SK bought a pair of very nice shoes at 90% off.
She’s not sure if she will wear it but we all agreed it was a good bargain. Need I say more?

After all the eating and shopping, there was only one thing left to do. That night, we had a good chat till 3 in the morning.

Our school life back then, skipping classes to watch movies, the many teachers we had, the various classmates and what became of them. Who went out with whom. Who dumped whom. Who married whom.
We laughed over our crushes and ex-boyfriends.
Some funny, some not so funny, some lasted for a long time, some were short-lived. Some were beautiful and some were heart breaking.

We talked about the crush I had a crush for this guy for the longest time ever and the dramatic break-up of SK. Our marriages now. What might have been. What could have been. What will be.

It was good to catch up.

Day 3
Our coach was leaving at 3pm in the afternoon so there was only time for a quick shopping spree in the morning for the dvds. Shhh……

We were tired on the way back so we didn’t talk much. In fact, l slept pretty much throughout the journey. Good way to catch up with my sleep. Hehehe!

And so there it is, my chick trip.
Nothing eventful. Nothing exceptional. I think the only thing we regretted was the fact that we didn’t managed to go for our spa treatment. Next time I guess.

My 3 beautiful good friends.

有缘千里来相会 – One will meet across the miles if it’s destined to
无缘对面不相识 – One will never meet across the street if not destined to

Life at 17.
Life at 40.
Here’s to life at 60. : )

Why did the chicks cross the border?

I was going to put this off again until a friend told me this morning that she was so inspired by my “Girls just want to have fun’ post that she’s going to attempt to do the same thing… AND she’s going to put on the blame on me to her husband.

Hmmmm……????

Actually, I think a chick trip once in a while is really good for recharging.

So to provide even more inspiration and support to her, here’s an account of my chick trip….

Day 1

As usual, I didn’t pack my bag till the night (or rather the morning) of the trip. I was actually agonising over whether to bring along a soft travel bag or a cabin bag. A soft bag will be easier to carry but a cabin bag will have more space for shopping…… Guess which bag I took in the end?

Husband was rolling his eyes and shaking his head as I rush around like a headless chicken trying to do everything at the same time…But he didn’t say a word….he was too used to my behaviour the night before a holiday.

We had booked one of those coach package- 1st class coach, with 2 nights stay at a 5 star hotel. Pretty good deal at under $200.

The coach was going to leave early- 7.30am to be precise. It was way too early! So I did what any sensible women would do… I batted my eyelids and smiled very sweetly at husband. He drove me and NT there.

The first class coach
This was the first time I was taking the 1st class coach. I must say I am impressed.

16 seaters, with individual TV screen, videos and games on demand and games and food and drinks provided. Even the driver and the ‘cabin steward’ wear a suit. But the most important feature of all, of which the transport company has been agrressively promoting as their unique feature:

THE VIBRATING……………… CHAIR!

Now what were you thinking of? Tsk! Tsk! It’s actually a massage chair.

Press button 1- it massages your legs
Press button 2- it massages your back
Press button 3- it does your back and legs (I think)
Press button 4- err… can’t remember where it massages but some parts of the seat vibrates

After about 10 minutes of all the massaging, I stopped. As one of my friend said later: “It’s giving me a headache.” Alright, it’s really not that bad and I’m sure many people do use it but it’s not a winning formula for me.

Now videos on demand. That’s something to shout about. I managed to watch “Double Agent” (Korean) and almost all of Quill (Japanese). Why almost? Well, there was about 10 minutes left of the movie when we reached our destination. It was the same with SK too. It was quite funny, as both of us actually didn’t want to get off the bus… we were frantically trying to fast forward the movie…

Me in my first class seat
The trip went smoothly, with a short ‘toilet stop’ and we reached KL’s Pasarakyat Bus Terminal at about 12.15pm. Not bad really.

After putting our bags in the room, we activated our plan- lunch and shopping.

Bukit Bintang is within what is called the Golden Triangle, the eaquivalent of Orchard Road. We had lunch at Starhill, a new shopping mall sandwiched between JW Marriot and Ritz Carlton. Lots of high end stores within this mall. Very well and tastefully designed… So well and impressed were we that we took photos inside the toilet! SShhhhhh……!

I don’t know about the other F&B outlets but the dim sum from Chinese restaurant in the basement was fantastic….. Yummy! Thumbs up and highly recommended. I think it was called Luk Yu.

And then it was just shopping and more shopping.

We had no particular plans. We just wandered into shops that took our fancy…. normally shops with sale signs attract us. I think that’s the best part about going on a holiday with girlfriends.

You don’t feel guilty about shopping for hours on end.
You try anything that interests you.
You try things that don’t interest you at the urging of your girlfriends.

And then you sit down for a drink to recuperate…. and then you shop some more. Husbands and boyfriends wouldn’t and couldn’t last through such a schedule.

By about 9pm, we were tired, hungry, carrying lots of bags. Very hungry.

So we headed down to Jalan Alor- hawker food at its best. If you are looking for a clean environment, then forget about this place. The hawkers set up their stalls on the pavement next to a road. In front of blocks of very old, blackish flats. I don’t know how these residents sleep through the noise and smell but it sure provide for great people watching. Indeed, we spotted quite a few of them sitting in their balcony and looking at the crowd. The stalls stretched the length of the road, which basically means you’re spoilt for choice. We had some hard decisions to make.

And then we caught the people at the other tables staring at us.

I’m embarrassed to say that our table was groaning with food. I’m even more embarrassed to say that the 4 of us actually finished all the food.

Oh well, what’s a holiday if you can’t binge. I’ll regret it when I come back to Singapore of course. But at that moment, my philosophy was: “Who cares?”

Here’s a good site to go to on infor about Jalan Alor- ttp://www.malaysiasite.nl/jalanaloreng.htm

All these activities, well, they’re not really the most exciting, are it? But we weren’t looking for excitment. We just wanted a break from having to cook, wash, look after children, husband and work.

Why did the chicks cross the border?
To have a break away from the coop.

Zzzz………..

I know, I know. I haven’t blog on this site for a whole week. But I did blog on the other site.

Truth is… I have been really busy. I’m not sure if I’m busy earning $$$$$ like what HYL said…. but I have been busy mainly with work and my other ECAs….

I’ve been going to bed at about 3am almost every other night. Twice I found myself nodding off over my laptop and almost hitting the keyboard…

This is what I’ve felt like doing for the past week… find a tree and hide under a blanket….

Hopefully tomorrow will be better…. and I can write about my chick trip.

But for now, me want to go to zzzzzzzz

before I get a bump on head or worse, flatten my laptop….

Goodzzz nitzzzzz