In my daughter's eyes......

I didn't mean to post a blog on this. I loved this song a long time ago cuz it has such a deep meaning and i can really relate to it since i am a daughter and yet have 3 beautiful ones of my own. This song came back into my life when i started to watch the new TV series "Parenthood" and the TV's ad used this song to promote the show.
i started out just listening to the song, and then i thought i wanted to share it in Facebook and dedicate this to my girls. I tried to sing it , in the hopes of someday trying that at karaoke. But it gets impossible when u reach the chorus or bridge! Its way too high for my mediocre voice!
Anyway i went into Youtube today to view which video clip was the best and the moment it started to play , and the first line appeared and it read ..."In my daughter's eyes, I am a hero. I am strong and wise and I know no fear." In an instant my thoughts turned to my mother who is my HERO ~ She is the strongest woman i know, full of wisdom and fearless as our protector and mentor!
Then, the dam burst and as i sobbed with shoulders shaking from emotion, my heart broke into a million pieces again , leaving a deep hollow in me that no one can fill. As i sit here , typing this post, my tears still flow but i know my mother is looking down on me and smiling , .... she knows one day we will meet again.
I love u, my Hero!



E-verlasting love for U!

My journey begins......

Sue warned me : Update your blog b4 i return!!!! So here it is......
I had been meaning to blog about this but procrastination is my middle name, (together with a dozen other bad habits that can make me the girl with the most negative middle names!!)
My journey involves the start of Sunday morning activities. My usual Sundays had always been lazy and hazy LOL with me still in jammies till noon!!! I just waste the first part of the day like a couch potato. But that has changed since this journey started this month.
RCIA , and acronym for Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, has been known to me since my parents became baptized back in the 80s , followed by my brother several years later. I attended both ceremonies and knew that one day it would be my turn. But i didn't know when.
My parents made arrangements for me to have personal RCIA classes cuz i made excuses about time and responsibility constraints. And even then nothing materialized. I found out in the last RCIA session that although it felt like i was the one who decided it was time for baptism, it was indeed a calling from God who made this decision for me. It is HE who calls upon us and tells us its time and You are ready. I found that so beautiful. The facilitator did not word it in such a manner but he was talking about some other topic and this just dawned on me. And it felt good.i will not be filling my Blog with all of my RCIA experiences. I know too well i had in the past, rolled my eyes and sighed when I heard conversations of religion going on and on. I did not understand then why they did that but i do know now that not everyone wants to hear about your joyous experiences, for they have not understood it yet. So i will spare them the long talks of religion. But occasionally i am bound to let some slip by me in this blog. Its for my own expression of love for God. Feel free to skip those so u don't have to roll your eyes backwards!!

E-xpression of Love( of a different kind)

Friends Forever

Quote : We all need friends. We need someone in whose presence we can be truly ourselves without fear of criticism or rejection. By this acceptance, a friend frees us from the fear of being ourselves.

Rummaging through my drawers the other day, I chanced upon this article which I had cut out from The New Thrill magazine in 1981. It’s hard to imagine but I have kept this for almost 30 years.

It must have spoken to me ages ago and played a role on how I would view friendship. Reading it again after all these years, it struck me that this article seemed to answer certain questions E asked after I blogged about my friendship with Grace. It’s a bit long but I would like to share it with you…

Many of us may have wished, at one time or another, that all the people whom we have loved will reciprocate our affection or that our needs and those closest to us are compatible and that we can share our joys and problems freely and candidly.

But, unfortunately, friendship doesn’t work out that way, and people’s needs aren’t always the same, so it is only fair to say that we have often wished for more, or wished for something no one had to give, and in that we know we are not alone.

Some people become angry when they recollect moments they had to stand alone, and question the values they once put upon their friends who weren’t there when they needed them.

So it would be practical for us to realise this : that we don’t receive from a friend what we give him, we get what he has to give, and this is what we must not forget. A person can only give you what he has to give.

People are friends in spots. This may sound shocking but it is a fact. There are certain qualities that you would look for in a person you want to befriend and there are others with lesser qualities that you don’t want to have anything to do with at all and you must learn to be grateful for what there is for you and not be annoyed by what can never be.

Our society is full of different types of people with contrasting characters. And there are people who make good friends and bad acquaintances and people with whom one loves to banter but wouldn’t want to cry with.

And perhaps we have to learn which is which and that we don’t need a lot of people to play the game of life with if what we hunger for is a companion for our inner lives.

We must also realize that there are so many parts of us that have to communicate with parts of another person that we each need several people to unlock all the chambers of our heart.

And while we have been conditioned to hunger for the one person who gives us everything, it helps to accept that life doesn’t consist of total people. It consists of moments, moments that are gifts we can pick up and hang like pearls around our neck. But no one will hand them to us; we have to supply the string in order to hang the pearls around our neck.

There is a lot to be said for reduced expectations, and a lot to be said for accepting the limitations of friends.

Because once you understand that there is no love which assuages all hurt, it is as though you have walked all night in darkness and stumbled out again into the light. And after that, you are more contented and more easily pleased by life.

And when love results, be it for a minute, or for a week, you view it as a gift, as you would view the sun coming out in a cloudy sky, and you’re grateful for the moment, not angry that there are so few.

But, you may say, surely friendship is having someone in your camp, someone who is there when you need him no matter what.

We must face facts. We are all essentially alone, and sometimes, the people whom we love can make life tough and miserable for us. Sometimes, there is a communication breakdown and we cannot talk to them as much as we may try.

In human relationships, one only knows what one gives out, but never what is received, so it is possible that a friend’s prescription may not work on our problems. And problems arise when we tend to take things for granted. Without any appreciation period.

People’s perceptions are not the same, and so what often looks very clear to one person may not look as clear to another pair of eyes. Often, so much of what we see depends on where we’re standing when we look.

And it is also true that friends, even the very best, have a cutoff point, a point at which they must be excused to protect themselves or be alone by themselves, even if this means that they save themselves at our expense. And if we’re truly their friends, we should not feel bad about this, but be understanding and appreciate their need to be with themselves and respect their wish to be alone. If we can do that, then we’ve demonstrated the basic principle in which friends remain friends forever.

F....

Pantang Larang

Growing up, my mum had often ingrained unto us the dos & don’ts with regards to folklore superstitions.

Many of these taboos seemingly have no logic to it and we are often at a loss as to understanding why doing certain things will cause something unrelated to the issue at hand, to happen. Despite the fact that nobody seems able to tell you the reasoning behind these beliefs, these taboos have been passed down for generations. And silly as it may seem, unwittingly breaking some of these taboos today still fills me with foreboding. Brrrr…

One such taboo that had always placed me on a guilt trip each time it was advertently committed was the one pertaining to wearing your blouse/t-shirt back to front. (The consequence of what could happen I will not reveal.) The thought that I could be the cause of some untoward incident would continue to haunt me for days.

There’s this taboo I am sure you have all heard of – that you should never point at the moon. Or this – don’t whistle in the kitchen. Or talk when the wind is blowing. These less ominous taboos, my siblings and I would purposely defy, if only to prove that it’s all bullshit.

Times have changed but I wonder how many of you mothers out there still cling to these beliefs and forbid your own kids from doing certain things because the older folks say don't do it!

F

For those who don’t know, Grace is my best friend. Best friend… does it sound juvenile when I say that? But it is indeed true. She’s held that position for at least 18 years although, admittedly and unfortunately, it does not automatically make me hers! Nevertheless it is said that a friend is a present you give yourself… and so I got me the best present ever!

I remember when and where we first met. Over time, her position was elevated from that of ordinary friend to one of best friend. She has more than proven her worth if one has to prove ones’ worth when it comes to friendship. And I can honestly say I can think of no better friend that what she has been to me.

Initially there were hiccups. I am not the easiest person to fathom or get along with; that much is true. I wonder how often the thought that our friendship wasn’t worth it crossed her mind. Times when I’ve hurt her, deliberately or otherwise, been unreasonable, petty and the list goes on. She’s seen me at my worse, acknowledged the fact that there are certain facets of me that she doesn’t like and yet, gracefully accepted me as I am – good and bad. And I am so grateful that despite my shortcomings, she’s decided that ours is a friendship worth keeping.

I have never stopped giving thanks to God for her and I am certain she knows how much I treasure our friendship. In her I’ve found the sort of friend that many can only wish for and truly, my life is so much more blessed with her presence.

She is endearing in so many ways but I guess most of all, she has simply touched me just by caring. And psst .. Grace, I wouldn’t swap you for anything in the world!

Happy Belated Birthday, my friend.

Did God literally mean it when He said “My Grace is sufficient for thee. (2 Cor 12:9) ”?

F

Skirt over pants!!!

i am no fashion police and i don't try to even keep updated with the latest trends. But i do try to dress sensibly and comfortably without being some eye sore to the public! I know what i don't have so i do not feel the need to flaunt anything!!! I do know what i do have and i hide those! LOLOL!
In short i don't have the right assets. In fact to make it even simpler, i AM short! LOLOL! And because of that i have to ward off the fats as much as i can. So i remain petite and not dumpy!

I usually enjoy very casual clothes like T shirts and jeans or cargo pants. Even the skirts that i wear are short denim ones that just shouts " Casual".
But of late , i am suddenly into dresses. this started when i was in Bandung for a shopping spree and the fashion then was sundresses in comfy cotton. I grabbed tons of that :) and continued buying more at the recent J card day sales. I can safely say i have almost 10 of them now... in green , yellow, orange, blue etc LOLOL

Today someone told me that she saw lots of women wearing skirts over pants and to me that has got to be the most ridiculous fashion ever! I am talking about PANTS, mind u, NOT leggings! Ewwww and yuks , i say! I think the older ladies love that , it is to hide the butts and thighs, i suppose. But i think with the right pants and tops, they will look much better than those weird skirts over pants!

I told her straight out that its the ugliest attire ever! She named me a few ladies who were seen in that get up. Hahaha, i do not want to be in that league, thank you! I will stick to me jeans and T shirts.... and occasionally, prance around in my cotton dresses, THANK YOU! :)

E-wwwwww

learning mandarin, how bout ??

Sometimes learning new language is really exciting. The exciting thing is that in Chinese all you have to do to change a big animal to a baby animal is add one word; xiao (which means small). So you have cow, small cow, pig, small pig, cat, small cat, etc, instead of cow, calf, pig, piglet, cat, kitten, etc... So that was cool.

The frustrating part is the more you know, the more you realize you don't know, ring any bell boh ?? It will still take months to use all this vocab in real situations and to get to the point where you can figure out what to say in time to say it someone. But then I still get lost; conversations spread like branches of a tree and although I may know what to do when someone says, "________", there are 10 other things they could say instead. Read through the vocab for your viewing / learning pleasure.

animals........
ma/horse
ya zi/duck
niu/cow
jiu/pig
ji/chicken
mu ji/ mama chicken
gong ji/rooster

ding hao/wellcome
Jia Le Fu/Carrefour

Lao ban zai bu zai/Is the manager here?
Wo zhi shi kan yi kan/I'm just looking

Fruits
ping guo/apple
ba le/guave
pu tao/grapes
xiang jiao/banana
xiang gua/cantaloupe
ning men/lemon
man gui/mango
mu gua/papaya
bai xiang guo/passionfruit
feng li/pineapple
cao mei/strawberry
Ju zi/tangerine
xi gua/watermelon


veggies:
gao li cai (cabbage)
dou ya/sprouts
hua ye cai/broccoli (hua means flower, ye means grandpa, like in Kai Lan, ye ye. SO brocolii is flower grandpa)
hua cai is cauliflour.
yu mi/corn
si ji dou/green bean
cong/green onion
qing jiao/green pepper
yang cong/onion
ma ling shu/potato
bo cai/spinich
fan qie/tomato

another cool thing about Chinese and animals is that there is only one word to add to any animal to make it the meat product. No beef, pork, poultry in Chinese, only the word ro which means meat. Niu ro = cow meat = beef. Ma ro = horse meat

mian bao/bread
quin mai mian bao/whole wheat bread
Ni yao mai she me? What do you want to buy?
Wo yao mai shui guo. I want to buy fruit.

Hope some of these will help along the way when we all practise Mandarin during our "get together" time... wkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.....

S....smiling..


ling quian/ change (small money)

Ni yao mai ji ge? How many do you want to buy?

nong chang/farm

dong wu/animals
dong wi yuan/zoo (animal place)
chong wu/pet
ke ai xiao dong wu/cute little animals (I kid you not, this is apparently a way to categorize animals in Chinese!!)