Care to sing along with me this familiar tune from the Nursery Rhymes collection entitled
Rain rain go away?
Rain rain go away,
Come again another day.
Lady Therese desperately needs her car washed;
Rain, rain, go to Spain,
Never show your face again!
Argghh! I can't stand it any longer. It has been going on for 2 whole weeks! It rains for a while then the Sun comes out, then it rains again and the Sun comes out again. This cycle of the rain and the Sun playing hide and seek has not been kind to the laundry and cars. My car has been covered with a thick layer of dirt for 2 whole weeks! Two whole weeks! Ewwww! I am even digusted by the thought of it myself. Today, I have decided to get my car washed, be it rain or shine. The dirt has to go, no matter what!
When I arrived at my regular car wash shop, there were already a few cars being washed, vacuum and polished. I left my car in the washing area and walked into the waiting area. There was a lady (Lady A) seated at the counter doing some paperwork and punching numbers on the calculator. Another lady (Lady B), a customer like myself was seated opposite Lady A, reading newspapers that was placed on the little round table next to her. I was standing looking around at the surroundings when I overheard their little conversation. I did not eavesdrop on purpose but they were talking so loud that it had became a piece publicly available conversation. Both ladies looked like they were in their mid 30s. I heard them introducing themselves to each other and got acquainted very quickly. From their conversation, I gathered that Lady A is the shop's administration clerk whilst Lady B is the
taukeh neo (lady boss) of a local hardware shop. Lady B conversed with such aggresiveness, frankness and arrogance - the usual trait of a rich man's wife.
Their conversation started off with casual talks; asking each other's doing, marital status, family, children and plans for the day since it's New Year's eve. What striked me most here was the boldness of revealing such detailed information to a stranger that one had just met. They were engaging in a conversation that any daughter-in-law would be at least once in their lifetime:
my mother-in-law. 
Lady B was actually complaining about her mother-in-law to Lady A. Her mother-in-law, coming from a conservative chinese background has the mindset that a woman should know how to cook, clean and sew; the basics of becoming a
perfect wife. Lady B, a modern wife however felt that these should not be the primary concerns.
"She's always asking me if I sew clothes for her son", Lady B complaint to Lady A.
"Just because her daughter knows how to sew, she expects me to know and sew clothes for her son!", added Lady B.
"Perhaps, she's just looking into her son's best interest", Lady A replied.
"Everytime she said that, I'd very much like to tell her if it is more important for me to help her son make more money or sew clothes for him. With the money that I helped him to make, I can afford buy all the clothes he wants and there's not even the need to sew. Don't you agree?", Lady A continued to lament.
She would keep on and on about how unfair her mother-in-law is, always comparing her to her own daughter. "Oh well, luckily we have a place of our own otherwise it would be difficult and the situation may get ugly". Lady A, who has been listening attentively at Lady B just smiled at that last comment.
I would say that Lady B was indeed very bold, talking and complaining about her in-law to a stranger she had only just met. It would be a disaster if the someone who knew the family (especially her in-laws), overheard their conversation and then words got out! I would still think that it is best not to wash our own dirty linen in public -
Prevention is Better than War.
Then I heard the man said "Your car's done, Miss". Oh, my car's done! All clean and shiny. Eeks! But, what do you know? As I was getting into the car, it started to rain again! Darn! *Arrggh!*
I can almost hear my car sing
Rhythm of the Falling Rain.
Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain,
Telling me just what dirt I'm soon to be covered.
I wish that it would go and let me be in vain,
And let me be clean again.
Friday, December 30, 2005
:: *Honk*~fully Yours ::
Yaay! I was granted leave today. But, it turned out that I hadn't gotten as much rest as I had planned to. I slept at about one this morning. *sigh!* My day was supposed to start at 6:30, heading to the local wet market with Dad to get some
三层肉 ('san chen rou' which refers to one of the parts of pork) for my potluck tomorrow evening and replenished the stock of chicken necks for my dog. Alas, the alarm did not do any good. Perhaps, I was too immuned to its ringing tone and just slept through the sound. Dad did not wake me nor my sister from our slumber, and he ended up asking my brother to drive him to work. Sorry, Dad! I know we're too pigged out.
Anyway, my sleep wasn't that peaceful at all; was disrupted several times by annoying phone calls. *urggh!*
Shay and I made plans to shop for some fresh chicken wings at the local supermarket near her place. Unfortunately, there weren't any at our first stop. Hence, we drove to another one nearby. Yes! They have fresh chicken wings! We bought some 20 pieces and 2 pieces of boneless chicken meat. Our shopping's done! *whew* Now, we could get on to our next agenda for the evening - DINNER! All the shopping, looking at yummy food stuff were making us hungry! I got myself a few packs of junk food before leaving though. Oh well, there goes the saying - "Never go shopping at the supermarket on an empty stomach".
When we got to the place where our car was, we noticed that there was a car parking directly behind it. We thought that we would buy some time by putting the stuff that we bought and rearranging them properly in the car boot, and then perhaps the owner of the car would take notice of us and come around to move the vehicle. But, there was still no sign of anyone walking towards the car. Besides the point that we were both very hungry at the time, but still there should not be any blocking of another individual's vehicle unless of course there is a driver seated inside the vehicle. I have always use the car's honk with extreme caution. It is loud and rude. Honking is bad but at times like these, that's when it comes in handy. One.. two.. three! HONK!~~~~~ A continuous honk was sounded for 5 whole seconds. I can see that patronizers outside the supermarket were looking towards my direction and yet, there was still no sign of anyone walking towards the vehicle. Fine! Again, I pressed the honk continuosly for 5 seconds another two times. Then finally, finally we saw a guy, perhaps in his 30s coming out from a bakery shop with a startled expression, with his hands gesturing apologetically at us. Oh well, at least he had the decency to apologize.
As I was on my way to the supermarket a while ago, and my car was stationary at the traffic light stop, a car tried to squeeze its way through between the my car and the road pavement. Both vehicles' side-mirrors were just merely a centimetre away and he's still not giving up - still going forward! There was no way I could move my car in any direction to let him past through. It was unquestionably, unthinkably, ridiculously so close that I was getting ready to *HONK!* at this
摸明奇妙 ('mo ming qi miau' which means ridiculously unreasonable) driver when suddenly he pulled his reverse gear. Oh my gosh! He reversed his car! Erm, I mean, well okay, that was probably the only move he could think of to keep both vehicles' side-mirrors in one piece. Nevertheless, he could have prevented this little "commotion" had he been a little patient waiting for other vehicles to move first. The worst thing is, when the the traffic light turned green, and what do you know? He was going the same way as everybody else, not to the opposite direction as I initially thought he intended to since he tried overtaking me back there. Oh well, a classic example of some reckless drivers sticking the "P" sticker (applicable only to new drivers on probation) on their vehicles. Thank God my side-mirror's still in tact! *whew!*
There was this other time when I parked my car by the side of the lane leading to the main entrance of the still-renovating airport. I was waiting for my friend's cue to call on my mobile phone to drive up towards the main entrance to pick her and her husband from their short trip to Penang. As I sms-ing away inside, I heard a loud "tut". When I looked up, a red Toyota Celica drove fiercely away passing the main entrance, towards the exit point. The first thought that came to my mind was - "Oh no! My car's been hit!" My immediate response was to look at my side-mirror to check for any dented areas on the doors. My cousin
Valerian who was sitting beside me called out to me "Check your side-mirror! Check your side-mirror!" I quickly got out of the car and check the driver's side side-mirror. There were visible scratches at the side of the side-mirror and there were bits of red paint. I was able to remove the bits of red paint by simply scratching them off with my fingers. When I got home, I tried polishing it with the car polishing wax on the affected area. Tada! It worked like magic! No more scratches! *whew* The red car was actually trying to squeeze in between another vehicle and mine. Gosh! Whatever happen to exhibiting some courtesy and politeness towards one another, fellow drivers?
Labels: Musings, Snippets of Life
posted by therese ::
11:50 PM ::
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
:: The Bet ::
Not sure when it started, not sure when it ended either. The rainbow - the symbol of hope and miracle had always been encouraging. But it just wasn't enough. Everytime when hope seems to be near, strangely enough mere disappointment always find its way lurking behind.
Today, I made a deal with Him. I prayed for guidance. I needed to make peace within. I made a deal to continue with hope, but should the outcome be otherwise then I shall not look back. Perhaps it was my imagination, perhaps I was in denial. But, there's this tiny voice whispering within me all day long - "you know it isn't true...".
But, I had lost the bet.
Labels: Musings, Snippets of Life
posted by therese ::
10:21 PM ::
Friday, March 25, 2005
:: Shadows Of The Past ::
Never thought the day would come. I shall never forget that evening. Your hands reached out for mine. You squeezed them a little tighter than usual. I could not bear to look at you. The thing was, I could not bring myself to look into your eyes. My tears were already welling up uncontrollably. My heart was aching terribly. I was crying inside. Then you bent towards and kissed me on the cheek. This was too much for me to handle. I could not hold the tears any longer. I managed to turn my head away from you before strands of tears flowed down on my face. I told myself I must never let you see me let down any tears. But you knew, you knew. This was not the usual goodbye kiss you gave me. This was different. It felt different. This was the last.
Hours, days, weeks and eventually months went by. I stopped counting the days when it came to four months. Ironically, serious tears shedding only occurred in the first two weeks. I realised you were not worth my tears and the emotional pain and turmoil endured. Simply occasional triggered-memories were the culprit to the let down of the pearly tear drops.
Labels: Musings, Snippets of Life
posted by therese ::
2:23 AM ::
Monday, February 21, 2005
:: Prince Charming ::
There he is! He is looking ever so divinely handsome, charming and cute! Dig the lustrious hair and my, what a nice sporty physique. Ah well, the result of years working out at the gym. During my teens, when the question on
How would you like your ideal guy to look like? is being posed, the answer is always almost rather standard: Tall, Dark and Handsome. But, right back then, it doesn't seem to be a senseless thing to say. Hmm, perhaps a little too much of Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales? But he, he is all of that -- tall, dark and handsome. Yes, seriously! He fulfills these 3 criterias, and honestly I have not met or seen anyone like that for the longest time. It just seems too good to be true!
Our eyes met for the first time. He smiled. I trembled a bit there. Luckily, I did not say or do anything foolish. Keeping my mouth shut and smiling back is always the best getaway! Hah! What a coward, you may think.
I think so too! The smile coming from him was only a form of friendly gesture. Nothing more, nothing less. Anyway, guys like that is hardly ever single. Most of them are happily and blissfully married. So, there goes another prince charming happily married and living happily ever after. He's just merely an object of admiration from afar, and the infatuation faded soon after.
A gal pal of mine had just came back from overseas for the lunar new year holidays. Of the years she spent there, she remained single. Curiosity hits me and and I just had to ask.
"I can't believe you're still single after all these years. The guys there doesn't meet your 5Cs list or you've added more Cs that they couldn't keep up with?"
I'm pretty sure that there are guys going after her there. I've seen guys queuing up to ask her out during our high school years. Yes, she's one of the pretty and popular girls and no guy would resist taking a second glance at such beauty. She was giggling at my humorous statement.
"This is the sad thing. I don't think I'm being too choosy but most of the good-looking, successful guys are usually taken or gays!"
This is not the first time I have heard of such remarks. Another gal friend who's been staying in overseas told me the exact same thing. My oh my, we're short of guys! Good, dependable guys! You know, the whole package... but then again, nobody's perfect! A friend once told me, "Nevertheless, we've to keep believing that there's somebody out there for us, be it late than never." Hmm, but how can we even be sure that there's somebody out there for us? Even if there is, how long have we got to wait? "It's keeping the faith, my dear", she said. It almost sounded like we're desperate for a soul mate. Personally, I find this rather foolish and disturbing in a way. I do not want to live a life waiting for the right person to come along but rather to live a life enjoying God's beautiful creations and making use of the gifts He's given me to do His work along this journey of life. Perhaps, eventually our soul mate would come along unexpectedly as a bonus?
Labels: Musings
posted by therese ::
1:15 AM ::
Sunday, February 20, 2005
:: Care for a puff, anyone? ::
I was at this kopitiam sometime ago with a friend. We were happily chatting away while sipping a nice cup of Teh-C after a tasty bowl of Kolomee ~ (yummy!). However, the conversation was interrupted when the stinking smell of burnt tobacco passed by our nostrils. Urrghhh!~ What's worst next was that the wind was blowing towards our direction. Three men, in their mid-thirties or so were sitting in the next adjacent table proudly puffing away... inconsiderately! Yes, inconsiderately! And I stressed that again - inconsiderately endangering other people's health! Hey, some of us are trying to breath here, ok? Sure, we are living in a world where the air is polluted with free-radicals, but some of us here are trying live a healthier life by avoiding what we obviously know is hazardous. Breathing secondhand smoke can be extremely harmful in the long run. After all, prevention is better than cure.
In a typical kopitiam, there are no zones divided as "Smoking" or "Non-Smoking". So, customers are entitled to sit wherever they want. But surely, this is not a good enough excuse for smokers to be inconsiderate when non-smokers are around? Perhaps they can take the liberty to lower the cigarette in their hand down to the ground -- this would be a HUGE favor to our poor nostrils; at least when the wind blows the smoke doesn't blow directly to our faces and not to mention turning our clothes to smell awfully smoky. Bluehkk!~
As for air-conditioned places, be it cafes, restaurants or even offices, is there really any distinction between "Smoking" or "Non-smoking" zones? Many times when we walk into a typical air-conditioned cafe or restaurant, we will see signs marking the zone as smoking or non-smoking and most of these places are not being divided properly -- no special room for the non-smoking zone. So, what difference does it make when the air-conditioner is running and the two supposedly different zones are sharing the same air? Even with air filters, the smoky air is circulating around both zones and everybody is inhaling smoke!~ Healthy, huh?
Smoking is definitely a choice of unhealthy addiction, not to mention a selfish act -- indirectly causing harm to other's health and oneself -- causing anxiety to the family members or people who cares about the smoker's health. And what about the utter wastage of money? At present, they spend a huge amount of money on who knows how many packs of cigarettes daily. But have they ever thought that on one fine day, they would be spending a huge amount of money on medications as a consequence to this hard-to-kick habit. Sigh!~ I can never understand what the smokers are thinking when they are puffing happily away. Don't they realise that they are posing danger to themselves as much as the people around?
Smoking in the office is another huge issue. Some people just never learn that air-conditioned rooms are non-smoking zone! Isn't this common sense? Naturally, an office is fully air-conditioned except maybe for its pantries and washrooms. But puffing in pantries and washrooms is definitely a NO NO! Oh please! We also need to breath there. Please go somewhere where non-smokers wouldn't go or perhaps a designated area, be it outside of the office building. Sad to say, the offence is usually committed by those big shots -- causing other staff (smokers) to act by example. So, where is this all leading? Is there no hope for a smoke-free world?
Labels: Musings
posted by therese ::
1:05 PM ::
*giggly* 
Oopsy! I've been in hiatus mode for far too long now. Well, lots of things have happened during these past few months.
Anyway, my sleep wasn't that peaceful at all; was disrupted several times by annoying phone calls. *urggh!*
