A typical Chinese way

Attended a relative's wedding dinner last Friday in a restaurant at Seremban. In a traditional way, it only started 2 hours later from the time stated in the invitation card. Haiz. I wonder why we Chinese have this habit. Why can't start on time?? I think 15-45 minutes of 'delaying' is enough. It shouldn't be more than 1 hour. It's really a waste of time, you know, sitting there doing nothing. Logically, when the time stated is 6pm, guests should arrive BEFORE that time, and not only get out from their house on that time. If I got married in future, I'll start it according to my time. I don't want to repeat the same things, because I think time is precious, and I think punctuality is important. That's the only thing I hate for when attending a wedding dinner. But the best thing is that we can get as much liquor as we like, which is the best thing for me. You see, a bottle of Martell V.S.O.P or Chivas Regal is very expensive. Unless you are very rich, otherwise you wouldn't want to waste money and buy it and only drink for fun on some other nights. Thus, attending wedding dinner is the best chance to get these free flows of liquor. That's the main thing for me. It doesn't matter whether a dish is delicious or not, I'm not so into it, as long as its edible (for me).

Back to the dinner I attended, we spent 4.5 hours at the restaurant, 1.5 hours waiting and 3 hours was spent to eat 9 dishes. It was a tired day for me and my family, because that day's early morning, we only went back to my grandma's place because there was a prayer session for my grandpa. It was a long day for us, especially my mummy who had to do the cooking for the prayer session. And after the prayer, there were not much time left to take a nap because my uncle and my mummy's aunts were there, and we chat for a long time. Thus when we reach home after the dinner at 11.30pm, most of us dozed off immediately, except my brother and I, where we were reminiscing the days we took school bus. I think he was very 'high' after taking liquors. We talked for quite some time until we were 'left out' by our parents the next morning where we promised to go to the wedding ceremony at the relative's house. We end up staying in the oven's place the whole afternoon. Duh!!

Things Change

Human can draw a well-planned plan for future, but not everything will go according to the plan, one by one or step by step. Sometimes we have to divert our way from the plan, because we think the other road will lead our life to a different path. And if there is a chance coming towards you, will you take the chance or push it away? I believe that we should take it and have a try on it, because the same opportunity won't come twice. Well, it's possible that chances will come again, but not in a short time. It might take a few years or many years to come back again. For me, I think people should grab any opportunity that they were given. It doesn't matter that we might fail upon taking the chance, or it will lead a hard way. The most important thing is the outcome we can get from the opportunity, and what we had learn from it!

When I miss the 7 of u...

I will listen to this song over and over again, and recalled back all the sweet memories we had.

Forever by Takashi Somachi. OST for the Japanese drama, The Beach Boys. 沙滩男孩

Lyrics:

Kaze ga yureteru, nami ga utatteru
Ore wa kyou mo aruiteru
Suna wo tsukande, sono atsusa tashikamete
Kono kisetsu wo kanjiteru

Ah, Forever Your Love
Ano hi no mama no egao ga koko ni
Shizukani toki wo kizamu
Forever Your Heart
Itsuno hi mo
Nani mo iwazu ni sasaete kureta
Omae to futari yorokobi kanjiteru

Kawarazu ni nagarete yuku
Toki wa tomerarenai
Korekara no michi de nani ga attemo
Ima wo wasurenai sa

Sorezore no yume, katariatta hibi
Omae no me ga suki data
Kokoro no oku ni kakusenai mirai e no
Fuan ore wa kizuiteta

Ah, Forever Your Love
Nani ga attemo kawaranai sa to
Ano toki itta kotoba ga kasurete
Oh, hitori demo
Norikoerareru michi wo sagashite
Omae to futari mata koko de aitai

Taemanaku tsuzuite yuku
Hoshizora ni chikau yo
Sorezore no michi de nani ga attemo
Ore wa koko ni iru sa

Kawarazu ni nagarete yuku
Toki wa tomerarenai
Korekara no michi de nani ga attemo
Ima wo wasurenai sa
Oh, wasurenai sa

Translated:

The wind is blowing, the waves are singing

And I continue to walk, even today

Grabbing a handful of sand, confirming the heat

I can feel the season

Ah, Forever Your Love
The way you smiled that day
Is still engraved in time here
Forever Your Heart
No matter when
Without saying a thing, you supported me
I feel happiness when I'm with you

Things keep drifting along without changing
Time cannot be stopped
No matter what happens on our paths from here on
I won't forget this moment

Each of our dreams, the days we spent talking together
I loved your eyes
I noticed the fears for the future
Which you couldn't hide in your heart

Ah, Forever Your Love
"No matter what happens, I won't change"
Those words I spoke then are growing hoarse
Oh, even alone
I want to search for a way to overcome
So I can be together with you here again

It continues unceasingly
We'll swear it upon the starry sky
No matter what happens on our separate paths
I'll be right here

Things keep drifting along without changing
Time cannot be stopped
No matter what happens on our paths from here on
I won't forget this moment
Oh, I won't forget

*The lyrics said it all. I feel happiness with you all, I want to be together with you guys again, and I won't forget the moment we had spent before!

My family, My responsibility

I've been at home for 2 weeks. That weekend I reached home, I went back to my grandma's house, as the was a praying session for my great grandpa. And another weekend, went to play a badminton match on Saturday, and went to watch Thomas Cup the next day. My time at home was spent doing house chores, online-ing, and of course a little bit of TV time. Since last week the whole nation was in Thomas Cup fever, most of my TV time was occupied with the live coverage of the games. That's the things I did since I reached home. Full stop.

These are part of my job:

Traditionally, it supposed to be sweep. But now we are in modern days.

This work is the toughest!!

Iron once or twice a week. but fold and keep all the clothes everyday.

Prepare veges. My brother will do the cooking.

The time flies by when I do these things. These tasks keep me busy, until I don't feel it's troublesome , like what I used to think before. It makes me feel responsible to do these stuffs. But there are times when we don't feel like doing anything. You just want to sit in front of the TV or laptop, either watching movie or listening to music or just click whatever buttons you have on the remote control or mouse or the keyboard. That's the hard part. Either you leave it for others to do the task and you kena nagging by them, or you have to push yourself out from the laziness and finish the task. Haiz. Me don't want to be a housewife. Housewife that stays at home!

World class act

When there is an opportunity, and we know that we can take it, we shouldn't let the chance flies away. It applied in every aspect. Literally.

The recent Thomas Cup which was held in Malaysia was my opportunity to experience some real badminton matches by professional players, locally or internationally. It was a real opportunity for me as in: 1) held in Bukit Jalil which was an easy spot for me to go to 2) the date of the competition, 9-16th May, is a holiday for me and 3) it was affordable (much cheaper compare to Formula 1 ticket). I grabbed the chance by buying 2 tickets for final day of the competition. Initially, I plan to get RM 103's seat, which is the first row near to the court, but I couldn't get it. So I ended up getting a RM 73 seat, 2nd row higher. Haiz.

My younger brother was supposed to go with me, but at last, he didn't make it, cos his exam is around the corner. Although my father is an avid badminton player, I know he wouldn't want to if I asked him in the first place, or should I said, ask for his permission, before I buy the tickets. And I was totally right about it. I told him I will be going the day I reached home and he said 'What's the use of going there with a lot of crowd when you can watch it live at home?' I told him it will be a different experience, since I've 'experienced' this type of situation before (I went to watch Formula 1 at Sepang before, so I know how it feel). And now, since my brother needs to do revision, my father have to go with me. =)

So, on Sunday, the final day of the competition where China meets Indonesia, we went out at 12 noon, to get a better seat in Stadium Putra, although the game will only start at 2pm. We reached at about 12.45 noon, and it was already crowded. With Indonesian. The door to the stadium only opened at 1pm. It's hard to go through the small door with a lot of people. We took the seats behind the umpire. Literally. Few meters behind it, though. LOL. But from where I sat, I can see the court clearly, and of course, the players. It was a good seats, my father said. Because we can see both sides of the courts. The seats for the teams who took part in this competition was on the left side, below the VVIP seats. At this time, the Chinese teams were already in their seats, and there were 2 players training in the main court. Around 1.30 pm, all the Chinese players who were named to play against the Indonesian, and their coaches, went to the court and make a round, and had a cheer for themselves before going into the backstage. Whereas all these times, the Indonesian players who were going to play against the Chinese, stayed out from the spectators, all this while staying in the backstage.

1.45pm

National anthem, Negaraku was played. The Thomas cup was in front of me, and the crowd was getting high. These Indonesian spectators are real crazy supporters. It happens in all sports that involved Indonesian players. They shout, they sing, they wave flags, they wave banners, they boo, and they hah, to make people nervous.

1.55pm

The umpire, service judge and linesmen walked in. The umpire and service judge walked into the court while the linesmen took their seats. And then, Lin Dan, the first single player from China, walked into the court. After putting his bag, he walk towards the umpire and service judge, and then waits for Taufik Hidayat to come out. They exchange gift, before umpire throwing a coin to see who has the chance to make the first serve. And then, they started to warm up, for 3-5 minutes.

3-5 minutes later...

and the first game of the very first match started!! Obviously, it was totally a different feeling compared with watching in front of the television. There's the crowd wooing and booing, and the whole environment was totally different. It has the feel, the excitement. It was a match where both players played their very best, although it seems to me that Lin Dan dominate the whole match, and Taufik was kind of being bully. So Lin Dan won in straight sets. But I know Taufk took the match seriously. I mean, there's no player want to lose in a competition.

Second and third match were the real games, where the two teams exchange points, and they only differ a few points to each other. Most of the crowd cheered for the Indonesian, but I still stick to my Chinese players, especially the double players, whom are my idols. Though adrenaline still pump and move as fast as they could, this time around, I was not that kan jiong. I used to be very kan jiong whenever the Chinese team played, as I want them to win badly. But now, my feeling is that, it doesn't matter win or lose, as long as they had play their very best. But the doubles match is always the best match to watch compared to the singles. They moved around very fast, and their opponent's defense were great. Totally great!

After 3 hours of fighting, China was the winner for this year's Thomas Cup. The 3 first matches were all won buy China, so there is no need to play the 4th and 5th match. I got to see they celebrate, through my own eyes. It was totally a different feeling, indescribable.

It was an exiting moment for me, as I finally realized one of my dream: seeing my idols through my naked eyes. From this competition too, I got to see the world class act by those world class players. All of the day's players are really great players. They have their skills, and it's a very serious stuff for them: displayed a good match for their country and their fans. They showed their determinations to get each points, the power to overcome the pressures from the fans and themselves. It was really a world class act, where my dad finally agree with me that it was totally a different feeling watching live at the stadium, and it was much better watch it there. When we reach home, daddy said this: Next time we go watch live again! Roger, daddy!!! =)

Sistah-hood Forever

For the past 2.5 years, I’ve stick to XinMi Chan, SzeSze Chuah, Lawrence Wong, MingWei Lee, ZheRong Liew, ChiaMin Lim and SheiHan Lim. XinMi Chan and SzeSze Chuah was the first few people I knew when I got into this university. Since then, I always stick to these two fellas. But then, my circle of friends expanded: new fellas include Lawrence Wong, MingWei Lee, ChiaMin Lim and SheiHan Lim. I was closed to ChiaMin and SheiHan than Lawrence and MingWei, as the two Lims stay at the same hostel as me. Though we stay at different hostels, I still stick closely to XinMi and SzeSze, thanks to the one week orientation that make us stayed together! =) But as the seven of us took the same minor papers, our relationship grow from acquaintance to friends, then level up to closed friends. At one point (and I don’t really know how it happened), ZheRong started to join us. As time goes by, the eight of us are then 1 level higher: we considered ourselves as ‘sistahs’ (sisters), as the majority of us are female. We are here in a world of democracy; hence the guys have nothing to say! LOL!

Anyway, this shows that our bond grow stronger, day after day, in this big group of us. We knew each other much more after each semester, through the things that we had went through. We shared what we know to each other, although much of the time we talk rubbish, and we have many ideas on rubbish! Hahaha! But that’s how our relationships grow stronger. We spend time to have meals together, watch movies together, chat together, karaoke together, and of course, we studied together-discussed past years or share the notes.

I myself had a very closed friend during my secondary years, but we did not live the way I live now. Probably it’s because at that time I was still school-bounded, and it’s only the 2 of us, plus the environment is totally different. It’s different to have a bunch of closed friends compared to a closed friend. But what important to me is that I really found someone to share, to love and being loved by them, in this different stages of life. It’s actually not easy to find a person who can be so kamching with us, let alone finding 7! That’s why I am very grateful. If I’ve not chosen this course, I’ll not meet this crazy bunch of fellas! :) I know it’s easy to say but hard to do, but I do hope our bond will be as tight as never before, and may our friendship last forever!