The Emancipation of Mimi

Yes I know but no, I am not a Maria's fan. It's just that I've been feeling so unburdened lately that I truly feel this way. So free and relaxed that I've thought of doing a poem.

Time travels while birds fly by
not knowing whether it is morning or night.
Living like a pop idol without fame
Sleeping like a pig without shame.
Freedom is felt like never before
but you know the danger of wanting more.
Waking up is akin to sleeping again
Seriously, I think I need to get out of this slacking game.

I don't know why but when constructing the 'poem' I am reminded of how I have wasted my youth to decadence in the glorious disguise of freedom. Life is easily segmented into 1/2 sleeping and 1/2 eating. Perhaps some forms of restriction are good for the mind and also the body.

My cousin the Winner

My 7 year-old cousin can be really quite adorable at times. But irritating most of it. Just now, while I was preparing to cook instant noodles for my lunch, my cousin came back from school and excitedly told me that he had won a game. Never mind the fact that he was also munching cheezels and not offering me some when he delivered the news, he had to choose 'mian' after my grandmother asked him whether he prefered rice or noodles for lunch. Expectantly, I had to add more water to the heated wok and cook for him, conveniently using up the remaining 2 packets of noodles that I had originally planned to keep 1 for my lunch tomorrow.
However, being in a rather accommodating mood, I actually divided the noodles such that he got a larger share than mine. After he had bathed and I had polished my lunch, I watched as he struggled with the bowl of noodles that must have appeared to him like a gigantic pool of hot yellow lava. I sighed and helped him with the food by feeding him. As I was systematically feeding him with first the noodles, the egg and then the soup and back to the noodles, he continued his glorious account of him being the winner. He said he had won the rest because he got 4 points and the rest of them got like 2 or 3. I looked at him and basically tried to focus all my attention on his mouth not to absorb the conversation but to make sure that he was eating as fast as I wanted him to so that he could at least save his winning pride before I insulted it by saying "That's no big deal."
Anyway, he admitted that it was a group effort as I was really doubting his abilities since he usually takes 10 minutes to give me an answer of 16 minus 5. But as I witnessed him finishing his lunch with the capacity of an adult's portion, plus the fact that he had emptied a packet of cheezels all by himself, I am convinced that he is definitely a winner.. if he were to take part in an eating competition.

Cheesy Quote of the Day

True Friends are people who may not agree with you but will accept the way you are their way. That's why when they have seen you without make up on, they suggest going for facials instead of shopping.

Today shopping at Bugis and I saw Zoeey!

Dedicated to all Yang Gui Feis without B.O.

When I was in Shanghai last December, my tourguide amused us with the rumour that Yang Gui Fei had a very seriour case of body odour. It was so pungent that she had to take lots of bath everday with flower petals scattered in the spring pool that Emperor Xuan Zong specially built for her. However, this act of musking her smell was also ironically used to glorify her love for hygiene and her beauty as some described her body to be as smooth as jade after the bath.
Without much introduction, Yang was also popular for being extremely beautiful but plump. It should not be surprising since the average courses of a meal that court concubines took at that time is 58. But when compared to the maximum of 1580 calories that women nowadays allow themselves to eat, it is a major shocker. I guess it is every modern women's fantasy to be real thin so that admittedly we will look better in super small sized clothes and gormandize without looking too ugly. This results in many plump women adopting extreme measures such as taking harmful slimming pills or starvation to lose weight. I feel that even though one may indeed become slimmer after attempting different solutions other than exercising and maintaining a healthy diet, she may suffer severe side effects in the future. For example, I saw this girl who lost a patch of her hair after starving herself to lose weight on a TV programme the other day. Although it is difficult to convince modern women that plump is beautiful as Yang Gui Fei is the role model more than 1000 years ago, it is not worth sacrificing our health for something as subjective as beauty.
However, women are irrational especially in the vanity aspect and just like what some say, "a woman's lifelong career is to lose weight". I will say that this is a job more stressful than being a teacher, less rewarding than being a researcher but definitely better off than being one's concubine.

Inside Out

Yesterday was quite an atypical day for me as I had to wake up at 6.30am to go school for a last minute project presentation rehearsal. As I was sitting at the busstop, I saw a woman beside me who had her shirt worn inside out. While I was struggling between exposing her of her apparent mistake or hiding my observation, she had left and boarded another bus. Obviously she had failed to notice the internal dilemna going on inside of me as my face concealed that too well, stoned for having to wake up so early in the morning.
Later when I got on the crowded bus, I was once again shocked, more of being repulsed actually, by this particular man in a crumpled shirt, with unkempt hair and foggy spectacles unbalanced at his ears. And I just thought, what can be worse than this? Definitely not the embarrassment from donning fashion wrongly than to look like a fashion freak inside out!

Be a Humour Activist!

First of all, Happy Belated April's Fool Day! Just realised the importance of humour in an everyday life and how much it can serve to motivate, inspire or even revitalise our tired souls. I was almost dying earlier this week when Juliana showed me a clip of a stand-up comedian called Russell Peters. I laughed like mad and the madness eradicated all distress and fatigue accumulated over the past 3 days before I watched it. Amazing reaction.
Although we may never make it as a stand-up comedian, I believe that humour can be injected in all forms and fashions. For example, notice how funny 40tish placid balding men look when they attempt to comb their hair in such a way that conceal one empty patch but not the other? A close visual recall will be Donald Trump. See how they are deliberately not spreading humour but are actually a joke themselves?
My point is, there are so many creative ways to spread humour. Some spread it by treating it as an occupation, some spread it by not intending it, some spread it by trying too hard to, some spread it using actions and some spread it with words. Whatever methods they use, remember that there will always be people acknowledging or even appreciating these efforts. Therefore, never feel disappointed if someone fails to understand your jokes. (people normally can't comprehend mine too..) Just pretend that they do and laugh your way through as 'laughter is the best medicine' especially for such a funny and awkward situation like this.