Same old same old...

Ah ha, I'm back with a vengeance! Have not been cooking for a week or two,  so I whipped up some dishes and boiled a whole pot of soup. I'm like that, if I want to cook, I will do it continously for a few days, and thereafter I will stop and take a break.

These are some simple home-cooked food we usually have at home.

1. Szechuan Beancurd (Tow kwa) with Pork

2. Fried Seaweed Chicken

3. Braised Beancurd Skin with Mushrooms

4. Stir-Fry Mixed Veggies - Broccoli, carrots, button mushrooms

5. Salted Veg With Radish Soup

6. Fried Fish with Garlic

Window shopping

Not sure this year if there will be any family gathering for Christmas, but I am not too excited about shopping for gifts even if there is. Was browsing in Kinokuniya but didn't buy anything. There were plenty of cute stuff around the stationery area indeed. Gift ideas for Christmas, perhaps?

Interesting and sweet way of presenting a calendar. I like calendars made in other countries, however they should include Singapore public holidays too. Even better if they have them in chinese lunar dates too. Hehe...

This is the first time I see these Momiji dolls. Are they very popular? Each individual  doll is different and they have a name on its own.

No, these are not the mouse for PC. These shiny colorful diamond-lookalikes are actually correction tapes!

A taste of Grandma

This is a scheduled post. I was having lunch, plain rice with dishes from a vegetarian stall, and there was this mixed veg dish which was really nice. The taste reminded me of my Grandma's vegetarian dish. It's been a long time since I last ate Grandma's dishes. Well, nowadays, even if we see her, of course we do not allow her to cook for us. We either cook for her or we bring her out to eat, since she is already so old.

However today, I suddenly miss her cooking.  I searched the net for photos that look similar to Grandma's dishes some of which I do not have photos. This looks similar to her mixed veggie dish although she does not use young corn and broccoli - she uses chye sim, tau kee sticks, cabbage - all simple ingredients, but they tasted great and just so very different from those outside or those we cook. Even if the dish was reheated up overnight, it still tasted superb. Grandma has been "well trained" as she has been cooking this vegetarian dish for my Great Granny for decades as Great Granny was a pure vegetarian.

Another common dish Grandma used to make for us is Fish Porridge, or Fish Soup with rice. The slices of fish she used are just so fresh and well marinated. And the taste of the soup is really unique. I wonder what she put inside this simple dish. I remember seeing how Grandma would usually give us more fish meat, while she herself would take the leftover fish with bones in hers, and claims that she likes to "suck on the bones". Such is her love for us. That is why now, if we eat fish, we would scoop all the fish meat for her!

I definitely miss Grandma's Koo Chye Kueh (dumplings made of chives), a popular Teochew snack. Last time, she would make this once in a while, and we would be so excited. Her Koo Chye Kueh is nothing like those selling outside, and it is a long tedious process though - chopping and frying the ingredients, kneading the dough,  wrapping each kueh,  and steaming it. Hers was full of ingredients, generously bursting with chives, chopped mushrooms, tiny pork shreds, and the kueh skin is oh-so-thin (her delicately-honed skill) Her Koo Chye Kueh was so juicy. Those selling outside pale in comparison.

Another simple dish my sis and I used to be fed was Grandma's minced pork porridge. It is indeed very simple to prepare, very suitable for children. Grandma just used minced pork which she made into small chunks and added them into the porridge and added soya sauce. Grandma's minced pork porridge looks much darker than those outside. Those selling  outside is normally more like congee, with pork slices, century egg, eggs and garnished with spring onions, and even with you tiao etc.... Grandma's was just plain minced pork and porridge, cooked just nice and very flavorful. She didn't even need to garnish it or add any other ingredients.  Aaarggghhhh.... I really miss this porridge (especially since it is raining heavily now). Maybe one of these days, I will get Grandma to cook this for me again and relive my childhood moment.... hehe..... and this time, I will make sure I photograph it, my childhood porridge.

Any mention of Grandma's dishes is not complete without introducing her signature Long Beans Fried Rice. We called it "Chye Tow Perng" (don't ask me why). This fried rice is never found anywhere outside and it is so unique and popular among us in the family. The ingredients used are long beans, pork, carrots, chinese mushrooms, all chopped into tiny pieces and most importantly, fried with preserved radish. Grandma's version is out of this world and the rest of us can never replicate it.

Joyful reunion

Today is officially the last day of my 100 days of being a vegetarian! Coincidentally, today is also the 25th of the tibetan month in which usually tsog offering and guru puja is conducted. I did not plan it that way, but what a nice completion for the 100 days, although I intend to carry on the diet for a few more days.

A group from Drophenling just came back from a retreat to Gaden Shartse Monastery and it was a joyous home-coming. They visited our guru, the highly learned and respected H.E. Lati Rinpoche (spiritual advisor to the Dalai Lama), and other Rinpoches, who gave them initiations and precious teachings. Lati Rinpoche changed the retreat to a Vajrasattva retreat at the last minute instead of the originally-planned Green Tara retreat, which benefited the group greatly. It was a delightful reunion to see all the familiar old Geshe-las and lamas in the monastery, most of whom have been coming to Singapore over the years to conduct pujas for us. On this trip to the monastery, more than 1000 lamas conducted pujas for those of us in Singapore.

I just love prayer flags. The volunteers and lamas wrote the names of us, the members on these colourful prayer flags. Prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. The flags do not carry prayers to 'gods,' a common misconception, rather the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space. Therefore, prayer flags are thought to bring benefit to all.

Besides loads of food, sweets and stuff, the volunteers also brought along medicine for the lamas. Some of the very young lamas are suffering from fungal infection or other conditions. The volunteers helped applied medication on the lamas, those who are sick or injured. It was heartening to know that the lamas in Gaden Monastery are having more nourishing food, all because of the generous donations from devotees here. Then again, their meals are mostly simple vegetables and bread.  In some other places, the monks had to contend with just bread alone.  I hope that the Sangha will be able to enjoy more nutritious food from all monasteries. All the above photos are courtesy of Jamie from Drophenling!

For tonight's special puja, I was so so soooo glad to see Songcho Rinpoche again! He was leading the lamas in the puja.  I last saw him in 2007 when he was in Singapore. Songcho Rinpoche is a very kind and compassionate lama, who is always smiling. Since 2 years ago when I first met him, I feel such great respect for him, as he is amiable and caring. This photo on the left was a photo which I took with him in 2007 (I cropped off myself here, haha). The funny thing is, all along I did not know that he is actually a Rinpoche. I thought he is one of the old, senior Geshe-la (senior monks) who are always accompanied by the younger monks.

Tonight when I exclaimed delight upon seeing him again, I asked Jamie what is Geshe-la's actual name. She told me "he is a Rinpoche lah". I am soooo blur. But it goes to show that he is a very unassuming monk as he hangs around with the rest of the younger lamas, with no special treatment. He did not come to Singapore these 2 years because he was injured on one leg, and had difficulty walking. He got knocked down by a hit-and-run motor-cyclist. I am really really happy to see Rinpoche tonight. Just the other night, I was thinking of him and wondering when can I see this friendly "Geshe-la" again, and now, he is here.

Here is Songcho Rinpoche (left) with yet another of my highly respected gurus on the right, His Holiness 101st Gaden Tripa, Khensur Lungri Namgyal Rinpoche. He is none other than the present Head of the Gelugpa sect, the throne holder of Lama Tsongkhapa himself. It is commonly a misconception that many people think His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the head of the Gelugpa sect. The Dalai Lama is the political leader, whereas Tri Rinpoche here is officially the leader of the Gelugpa group instead. If you think I am speaking Greek here, just Google these names for further reading (if you are interested). Tri Rinpoche was the one who made me cry when I first saw him in 2005, without even uttering a word to me. Lama Zopa Rinpoche was the other one (who made me cry). I knew then Tri Rinpoche is one of my precious gurus. We tear because we recognise our gurus from the past.

I was very touched that Jamie bought me a souvenir from her retreat in India. Utterly pleasantly surprised. It was a hand-made embroidered wallet, which Jamie highlighted to me, in the interior of the wallet, "Made in India by Tibetan refugees". I hope I will have the chance to join them for future retreats, because they are a nice bunch of people in DPL.

Tonight, in addition to tsog offering and guru puja, the lamas also conducted the Protector Setrap puja as well. Luckily, I had my little Setrap crystal with me (which was engraved with the Setrap mantra). The lamas blessed it again with prayers. This was already specially consecrated and blessed with prayers some time ago when I sponsored it. We call it "recharging" our crystal with more powerful blessings and protection.

Oh, and I also remembered to pray for this friend (in my earlier post). I offered light and flowers on her behalf and wrote her name so that the monks can pray for her. 

Leopard preens??!!

I am so sad as I just got news that someone I totally idolize is currently suffering from some kind of skin disease.

My first reaction when I saw these was .......oh my god.......

Even the doctor is not able to diagnose and confirm what kind of skin problem this is, whether it is eczema or SLE (lupus) or what?! My mom has SLE for the longest time (it is under control), so I know and can empathise with her the aches and anxiety the disease causes. This person whom I idolize since my teens, says at times, it makes her tire easily, that she can hardly open her eyes and she suffers from pain and aches. Despite all these, she still remains so calm and brave. She even calls herself Leopard Lady, because her "make-up" now looks like leopard prints!!!! LEOPARD PREENS!!!! LOL!!! I guess the battle is half won with such optimism. Gotta love her for that! :)

If there is only one thing I wish for her is complete recovery and good health. She has everything going for her except being plagued by health problems for many years. Will pray for her.

Can you recognise the telling signs?

My brother-in-law striked 4D last night. He related that just yesterday, as he was driving, another car suddenly turned up from nowhere and cut into his lane in front of him. He was mad of course, but at the same time he noticed the car number. It was the same number as his own car. So, brother-in-law went and bought that number and the number came out on the very night. A stroke of wealth luck. Literally, money dropped from the sky.

This is one of those signs from the Universe, giving you a message about an impending event. Well, that is, if you can catch it in the first place. The same thing happened to me some time ago. Two cars cut into my lane, one immediately after the other, and they were both the same number. I bought 4D and on the very day, the number came out second prize.

Well sometimes these signs can be negative as well. Just as the experts in face reading are well-versed in seeing things on a person's face features. Take for example, if they see there is a "black patch" on the area between both eyebrows (印堂发黑), they will know that something untoward is going to happen to the person.  That area signifies our Life Force. We, the non-experts, can only rely on deciphering unusual signs. Sometimes our eyelids keep twitching, and we somehow know that something good/bad is going to happen.

Many years ago, while I was in between jobs, I took up a job working for a petroleum company. During the brief stint, things were not smooth for me, I had an unbearable fat Pakistani boss who behaved like a king much feared by his subjects. Staff cannot enter his room, they could only speak and answer him from his doorstep, and if he was unhappy, he would throw anything on the floor or at the person (a real tyrant psychotic case). Naturally I was unhappy there. During that period, I suddenly suffered a bad painful toothache. I discovered I needed surgery to extract one wisdom tooth as well as filling up a few others. After the surgery,I immediately landed a new job which lasted me for many years.

I then read a book written by a famous Hong Kong fengshui master. In one of the chapters, he did mentioned about tooth, something about maintaining our set of teeth well, and if there are any holes or cracks, we should fill them up the soonest possible, as "holes" represent "loss of wealth" (漏財).  Also, if a guy notices hair growing outside of his nostrils, he better cut the overgrown hair immediately, as the nose represents our wealth and having hair growing out of your nose, is again signifying potential "loss of wealth". Thus, I learnt a few tricks from the book and applied them to real life experiences.

Sometimes, dreams can foretell certain events that are going to happen as well.  We heard of the signs given when a Great Being or a reincarnated lama is going to be reborn where the loved ones or grand masters dreamt of unusual auspicious signs.  Take for instance, the famous example of the birth of Buddha Shakyamuni.  His mother (Queen Maya) and father did not have a child for 20 years into their marriage. One day, however, Queen Maya dreamt of a divine Bodhisattva sitting on a white elephant touching her right side, and she became pregnant. The unusual pregnancy lasted 10 months and Prince Siddhartha (the future Buddha) emerged from her right side and was born.

Well, personally I cannot attest to the potency of dreams because I have plenty of weird dreams and I do not know how to relate that to things that have happened to confirm whether dreams will come true or not. I did dreamed of actress Joanne Peh once for the very first time, just before the Star Awards and she did win an award for Best Actress against all odds. :)

Lest I be accused of indulging in 'analysis paralysis', the above are just signs I observed or experienced them myself, be it good or bad ones. Whether you can recognise the signs and whether you believe in them is your own choice.

Hmm.... recently, my wealth fountain suddenly overflow and water flowed out of the water feature, wetting the floor. Then in my bathroom, the bidet shower (for cleaning the butt), suddenly cracked and water burst all over the  place. Even after replacing a new one, the floor is moist, water still seeps out onto the floor (think I need to get another new one). Yet another day, not sure why my father was meddling with the washing machine tap and afterwards, I noticed the kitchen floor was still wet with water from the washing machine. And now, the aircon piping in one of the bedrooms is starting to leak. All these similar "water leakages" happened at the same time. So do you know what are these signs telling me? Damnit.

My thoughts on the 100 days

In another 3 more days, it will be my 100 days of being a vegetarian. Surprisingly, I do not have that kind of open-champagne-excitement about reaching this milestone. Maybe because it is ... erm... wrong to want to celebrate being "normal" and to be back to being a meat eater again? I am just glad I have "survived" so long being a vegetarian (my longest veg diet ever). But seriously, I do not feel any sense of jubilation of going back to norm. In fact, I am thinking of extending the veg diet longer (in order to compensate for any "accidental food mishaps" or any wrong-doings during the past 100 days). This time, the only thing about being in a veg diet, is actually not being unable to eat meat (I did not have any mad meat cravings). Rather, it is just the little inconvenience of searching for veg food when eating out. Well, they never did say it is easy to practise compassion either.

I find it amusing and cute that my niece and nephew keep asking me every time, "can you eat (meat) already?". Some people have commented that I look refreshed and calmer than before. And physically, I have lost teeny weeny bit of weight although not that obvious. However, I know that (whether being a vegetarian or not), I am still prone to spurts of anger. I have had my angry moments but I managed to stop myself from dwelling in it for too long (I always find stuff to distract myself).

During this period, I am ultra sensitive to people around me and I kept a low profile. I do not know how to describe this, but I can feel the energy from others. Just yesterday, someone gave me the bad vibes, just from the look of her eyes. I know she was angry about something, and I may even be the target, but I do not know what she was angry about. I felt immediately hit by the intense bad energy emitting from her on the spot. At first I wanted to confront the person, but I kept quiet and turned away. For the next few hours, I felt very affected by the bad vibes that my back was hot and I had sudden diarrhoea. Had to take a cup of hot tea to calm myself down. So you see, without me doing anything, sometimes the energy from others hit me and I get sapped of mine. Besides angry people, I also try to avoid grouchy naggy people and people who have a serious expression. It is funny but I even tried to avoid some quiet people. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with being quiet. However, some people, I felt, while being quiet, they have an agenda towards me. I can sort of feel what they are thinking about me, and I do not like that kind of feeling (whether they love me or they are gossiping about me).

On the other hand, I prefer to stay in the company of happy people, especially kids. That is why I like to hang around with my niece and nephew, because they are full of vibrant energy, sunshine smiles and innocence. Also, simple moments between good friends can be healing too. A friend and I have been "poking" each other a few times a day, whenever we login to FB or whenever we get the email "poke" alerts (and these are pretty frequent because I have FB, emails, Twitter, msn and everything on my mobile phone!). It is like an reassuring reminder from a friend to say "hey I am here if you need me". It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. Even little things like when my cousin in Thailand msn me to say he is flying to Russia and asked if I wanted anything there, his kind thought made me happy (although I told him to fly me there as well to look for a handsome hairy man!). This is what I meant by being sensitive to the energy around me, and I heart happy energy.

P.S..... guess what?

Two years ago, a friend (my movie khaki) watched this movie "P.S. I Love You" without me. One year ago, I borrowed the DVD from another friend, but still, I did not watch (I forgot all about it, or maybe I just didn't want to). One year later, the other night, I stumbled upon the DVD again and finally watched the movie.

I'm a sucker for romance movies like this one, Sleepless In Seattle and You've Got Mail. Although Hilary Swank acted fine in this movie, I would have preferred the cherubic Meg Ryan or cheery Kate Hudson or even a sexy Catherine Zeta Jones or a younger Michelle Pfeiffer. Hmm.... you know what, I think my ideal preference would have been Natalie Portman. Nonetheless, the actor Gerard Butler is definitely swoon-and-drool-worthy here, with his cute Irish accent.

P.S. I Love You is a beautiful love story although quite predictable. It is about how a young widow discovers her late husband has left her 10 messages intended to help ease her pain and start a new life. I learnt that to be able to fully experience the joy and intense feelings with someone you truly love, is a blessing, even though it may be a brief one. 

In his last letter, the late Gerry wrote to his wife: Dear Holly, I don't have much time.......  But I have a feeling this is the last letter, because there is only one thing left to tell you. It isn't to go down memory lane or make you buy a lamp, you can take care of yourself without any help from me. It's to tell you how much you move me, how you changed me. You made me a man, by loving me. And for that, I am eternally grateful... literally. If you can promise me anything, promise me that whenever you're sad, or unsure, or you lose complete faith, that you'll try to see yourself through my eyes. Thank you for the honor of being my wife. I'm a man with no regrets. How lucky am I. You made my life. But I'm just one chapter in yours. There'll be more. I promise. So here it comes, the big one. Don't be afraid to fall in love again. Watch out for that signal, when life as you know it ends. P.S. I will always love you.

 

And in the aftermath, Holly to Gerry:  Dear Gerry, you said you wanted me to fall in love again, and maybe one day I will. But there are all kinds of love out there. This is my one and only life, And its a great and terrible and short and endless thing, and none of us come out of it alive..... I don't know how you did it, but you brought me back from the dead. I'll write to you again soon. P.S... Guess what?

I guess for some of us, for now, whether alone or not, we've got to walk ahead, and maybe, just maybe, we will get that feeling once again. So what if this is it. So what if this is all there is to our life. No harm trying till your last breath. Try to see yourself through the eyes of someone who loves you.

I end this post with this quote...

You've given me reasons to smile,

and good times to laugh about,

but most of all you've given me

memories i could never forget.

The story of the balls

One of the days, was hanging out with niece and nephew. We were at the bowling alley...

Captured short clips of the kids at play, since it has been years I last had them on video. Not sure why nephew was preoccupied with 'arranging' the balls at the stand.



Then it was a little camwhoring time....

We know who is the monkey....

Kids with their desserts. 

Hansang

Recently, met up with an old friend for some catch up. We had Korean food at Hansang Korean Family Restaurant at Novena Square 2. This new wing is full of vibrant little shops with food and interesting finds.

I didn't know what to order, as Korean food is 95% meat, like BBQ pork, beef soup etc.. and I didn't want to have kimchi tofu soup (also with meat). In the end I ordered this dish of what looked like vermicelli, the Korean version of cold noodles.  BiBim Naeng Myun is Korean spicy cold wheat noodles. There was a piece of pork in it which I gave to my friend. This thin vermicelli looked more like our version of tang hoon, but tasted springy and very chewy, perhaps too much so much so that it took much effort to cut, chew and swallow the noodles. No wonder the waitress brought a pair of scissors with her when she served us.

Before the cold noodles came, there was even free appetiser, a rectangular plate of tofu, ikan bilis, and a few big beans. They were nicely marinated/prepared. I like the tofu and beans, nice touch. Again didn't touch the ikan bilis. As normal, there were many side dishes which were complimentary as well. We ordered some tempura veggies to share. Korean tempura is slightly different from Japanese tempura (which is more crisp and fluffy). Korean tempura was somewhat harder and it comes with this red sauce to dip in. This is actually the rice cakes sauce which was a little sweetish, sprinkled with sesame. Reminded me of those piping hot rice cakes selling at the Korean roadside carts.

This was how the noodles looked like, all tossed up. It looked spicy but it was not spicy at all.  It was something new (and cold), but the noodles were too much for me, as it was extremely chewy. It made sense to share this bowl of cold noodles actually. I did not use the side sauces much. To wrap up the meal, we were served complimentary dessert - cold pieces of water melon - nice!

Just a glimpse

Summing up the past week at a glance...





I just heart old shophouse facade.





Caught a glimpse of my favourite car and colour...


Glorious food.. This is red colour mee goreng!



Another 'red' dish... Korean fried rice cakes from a foodcourt!



A bowl of vegetarian Lor-Mee, not bad actually... almost 100 days!



Discovered Pringles has many new flavours - seaweed, shrimp, hot & spicy pepper and many more...



Played with Photofunia on mobile... more coming soon...



Love this shot... guy walking in the rain...



And it's the season of giving once again.

What the heck (hair)....

Ok, no need to be grossed out. These strands of spend hair are mine, going down the drain. They are accumulated over, say, a week in the bathroom. My mom always insists that I have a hair loss problem whenever she sees this. I have to tell her it is normal to shed some hair and I do not think my loss is excessive. I went to search a bit. Dermatologists say and studies show that losing 50 to 100 strands of hair PER DAY is nothing to worry about. Does the above photo appear more than 100 strands to you (for a whole week)?

Morever....

- I have long hair

- I have more hair than average person

- I need to shampoo my hair daily

- I seldom tie up my hair

- My hair grows very fast

If anything, I am more concerned about greying hair and sensitive scalp rather than hair loss. And I read that the hair / scalp rest and rejuvenate between 10pm to 2am. So it is critical advisable that we are sleeping during this time, in order to have a head full of healthy crowning glory.

Wish for a little escape?

Sometimes when I go out with Mom, if I mention this one thing, she would definitely not say no. And that is, "lim kopi" (drink coffee). Like me, Mom knows how to appreciate a good cuppa. If it's not up to her standard, she will say "lousy", and... "why so expensive?".

So Starbucks is a safe bet. We always share a cuppa (unless we're THAT thirsty), usually a Grande. Everyone is raving about its Toffee Nut Latte, only available during the Christmas season, I think. Yes, it is "Mmmmmmm....". And having an Almond Croissant to go with the Toffee Nut Latte, is definitely almost orgasmic, a heavenly marriage. I have a thing about coupling creamy coffee with rich moist cake like choc cake or cheese cake or any cake. It felt too rich to me. Hence I like a drier partner for my coffee - the bread.  LOL~!

There are 3 flavours available for the Christmas season - Toffee Nut Latte, Peppermint Mocha and Dark Cherry Mocha. Definitely a good tea break in between meetings and appointments. Wish for a little escape yet?

Actually, I am trying to cut down on coffee, have stopped at only 1-2 cups each day. Am trying to try tea. You see, I'm not a very tea person. I hardly drink tea. My logic is, because tea tastes bland to me (compared to coffee), and if it's bland, why do I waste my time drinking something bland? Might as well drink water. But I am trying to curb those late-night cravings for coffee as I will have problem falling asleep the entire night afterwards. So I thought I had better try tea. Got this box of decaf Fairtrade teabags from Marks & Spencer (the price is actually about the same as the common brands in supermarkets). Let's see if I can tahan this for how long.

This was my MSN conversation with a friend on my mobile phone while I was in the supermarket, trying to buy tea:

Me: "What type of tea is nice?"

Friend: "Why? Buy the one you like lah".

Me: "I coffee drinker, never take tea"

Friend: "Then why buy tea?"

Me: "Trying to cut down coffee lah"

Friend: "Oic"

Me: "Earl grey or camomile tea nicer?"

Friend: "I don't know"

Me: "Aiyoh, talk so long now then you say you dunno"

Friend: "You buy both and try, and then let me know also"

Me:  "..............."

Anyway, a nice cuppa hot tea or coffee is just right for this unpredictable rainy weather, ya?

Resplendent tiles and a Mr Lee

Oh my, I am excited about this dream last night. It was a long dream but I could only recall snippets here and there.

I was walking about in the city (not sure where I was heading to). There were the usual cars and taxis along the road. I remember particularly, there were lots of blue taxis (our Comfort cabs?). Then I came to a particular building. It looked something like this building in the photo but newer and more modern. The building in my dream was much taller with at least 6 storeys or higher, and very sturdy-looking. It was a beige and square building made of bricks. It looked a little weird compared to the other commercial buildings nearby.

I went into the building, and there were many people inside. It looked like a huge place selling electricals (looked something like Courts the furniture store), but I could not remember seeing any electricals (haha!). You know, in my dreams, I am always in huge compounds or huge convention halls. I was walking around checking out the place. There were many tables or counters everywhere. I saw a Malay couple talking to some guy about something. I also saw an Indian couple talking to another guy negotiating something. It seemed like something was happening.

I came to a table, and saw a stack of notes bundled up, it looked like thousands of dollars and there was a piece of white paper on top of the money. On the paper, scribbled in pen, was what looked like the dialect name of a chinese person. The most freaking part was, I can even roughly remember the name now. If I recalled correctly, it was a name Lee Sia Choon (or was it Lee Choon Sia?). I do not know anyone with this name, or was it a name of a company? Felt weird to remember the name even now.

In the dream, afraid that someone might steal the money, I picked up the stack of notes on the table and wanted to go look for the person with presumably that name. I went about searching for this person. However, throughout, I felt uneasy and guilty with the stack of money with me.

I did not find that person. Someone told me he was the organiser for some event and I might find him in another place. I walked and walked in search of that person but to no avail. I was pretty sad, wondering what to do with the money. Finally I was home.

Something caught my eyes outside my living room windows (similarly in real life, I have an entire stretch of floor-to-ceiling windows in my spacious living room). I noticed there were some colourful roof tiles (reminiscent of those temple rooftop) being erected just outside my windows.  From my floor, I saw the entire roof with tiles of a "temple" just barely one metre away from my windows! As I walked towards the windows, I saw the "temple" below was actually supposedly a huge tent (the size of a basketball court) which was already erected,  laid with chairs and ready for some event. I found it a tad strange that for just a simple tent, the roof was so elaborately constructed, with resplendent tiles!

From my windows,  I looked down towards the tent. I saw a lama seated on a simple throne seat, conducting prayers! He was waving a vajra and bell. And when I looked beyond the Lama, at the background was a huge space with hills faraway. I gasped with excitement in the dream. Then, end of dream.

I think this was an auspicious dream.

Of expressions & impressions

Ironically, since I can now blog on the move anytime, I did not, because..... no time. Haha! At home when I try to blog, I am sleepy and stoned at about 9pm. So here I am, resorting to blog / concuss in bed. Probably because the weather is pretty cool tonight (after the rain). It is 25 degree Celsius outside, same temperature in my room if I were to switch on the aircon.



Today, had a brief conversation with a lady in her late 40s or early 50s. We were chit chatting, just mindless casual exchange. Talking about first impressions, she suddenly told me I looked like a happy and cheerful person, the 可爱 (cute) type. I was a little surprised at her "可爱" remark. I am usually relatively friendly, so people do find it easy to approach me. However I do not think I am to the extent of being that kawaii looking, talkative, loud and bubbly, to warrant a 可爱 remark. The lady told me some people appear very snobbish or somehow there is something in them that makes them unapproachable.

I realize first impressions do count, even though they may be unreliable. Likewise, when we meet someone for the very first time, we will be automatically attracted to a bright, friendly, smiley person, as compared to a very quiet person who does not have much expression and who has a serious demeanour. I like to meet someone who makes me at ease with myself, have an equal exchange with, and not someone who is too quiet and shy that I feel as if I am the only one making conversation, doing the talking and entertaining the person instead.

So remember, look at ourselves in the mirror and see if we are giving others as well as ourselves a good expression and good impression. Remember to smile more. :)  Good night!

Gui Lin Gao

My friend bought me Gui Lin Gao from Hoong Woh Tong! A bowl of black jelly made of full medicinal herbs goodness. It actually tastes bitter. If you are not used to it, you can add honey to neutralise the taste of the bitter jelly.

The benefits of Gui Lin Gao include improving the metabolism rate, reducing human body heat, relieving cough. Consuming Gui Lin Gao can also help adjusting blood fats and blood sugar.

Blogging on the go

I am actually outside right now. I am blogging this post on my mobile. Finally found one App that is not slow to upload, not complicated to use and can attach photos as is. Now I can blog short posts while waiting for people, while in the train or in the loo.

This was my cheap lunch a few days ago, from Komalas, a Indian fast food chain. The friendly service staff told me this was actually more popular as a breakfast item. But this Dosai meal was really too filling for me. Did not finish all, left the vadai and the white piece of something which I did not like. But I like the different gravies as well as the dosai itself which was filled with potatoes.

We're the hero of our own story

Yesterday morning at dawn, I woke up and then fell asleep again. I had a dream and this time, I could recall it. I was entering into a large compound. It was something like a simple temple, no grand designs, just plain maroon and white walls. There were many classroom-like rooms. Some people were busy preparing for an event. They were all wearing white.

Then I saw a pretty Dharma friend, A. She was her usual bright chatty self. She kept talking to me non-stop telling me about many things and discussing with me about some stuff. She was strangely wearing a thin white fluffy blouse with white flowy quarter pants. She was wearing her usual white jade bangle on her hand. And her long frizzy hair was nicely tied into two plaits.

Then I was inside a room which looked more like a hair salon! There was a guy who was the hair dresser, and he was asking me if I needed a hair cut. "In a temple?", I thought. He wanted to cut my hair to shorter than shoulder length and to style it. I was hesitant. I looked at A's long frizzy hair..... she was smiling so happily and brightly at me. In real life, A has shoulder length brownish frizzy hair style and always bun up her hair.

Back to the dream. In the end, I did not cut my hair (I did not trust that guy). Then A and I were again exploring the huge compound. A disappeared somewhere and equally fast, she suddenly appeared in front of me coming out of a room. I was standing in the open outside the temple. The weather was so cool and nice and comfortable. A came out looking very excited and happy. She was carrying a very chubby and very very very adorable cute baby boy who looked like about 5 months old ! She passed the baby boy to me to carry. He was soooo good looking, with big bright eyes, and lots of black hair, and he was smiling gently at me. He even touched my cheeks with his chubby fingers. Wow! I was totally in love with the baby.

Hmmm, am I supposed to get a hair cut and have a baby?   :S