Realisation

I was trying desperately to recall my dream last week but it was still very vague and I could not recall everything. I was in a very huge temple, and I saw some nuns and many many people congregating in a huge hall. There was also a tall monk talking to people, but I do not know who he was. I think there was a prayer session or something which was starting. My pretty Dharma friend, A, kept talking to me excitedly about something throughout the whole dream. Then we walked around exploring the place. Everyone seemed busy preparing for something. It was definitely at night as I remember it was quite dim. We walked outside of the temple to look around. It was pitch dark and quiet outside along the streets which was not ground level with one or two stray dogs walking around. I could not remember the rest.

Anyway, speaking of temple, I remember a few weeks ago, when I was in TCCL attending a puja. It was during the puja that I noticed these huge flower lanterns (almost 1 metre tall) hanging from the ceiling next to the altar. I have not seen any offering this size in any other temples before. Afterwards I learnt these were merit-increasing flower lanterns which devotees could offer. The meaning was "just as flowers bloom, create the cause for auspicious conditions for your wishes to come true" by making these flower lantern offerings at the temple hall.

It suddenly occurred to me during the puja, that these looked exactly like the huge flower offerings I saw in my another dream a few years ago of the great saint, Geshe Lama Konchog. In that auspicious dream, I was in a very crowded temple. Every worshipper there was busy kneeling, praying, doing prostrations and making offerings.

I remember the offerings were very unusual offerings that were very big. They have huge flower offerings and huge food offerings which I have never seen before anywhere. I followed suit by making these offerings. It was then a man there said he had to show me his master. Then he took out and showed me a photo of Lama Geshe Konchog!

It was a powerful realisation, when I finally saw in real life these huge flower lantern offerings for the very first time. Yes, and it was in this very temple founded under Geshe Lama Konchog's instructions. I was elated.

Oh, and I cannot wait to see this movie "Unmistaken Child", directed by Israeli director, Nati Baratz, which had enjoyed marvellous reviews in Europe. But I was crest-fallen when I learnt that it was already sold out! It is a movie about searching for the reincarnation of Geshe Lama Konchog. He is eventually found and enthroned as Tenzin Phuntsok Rinpoche. He is 6 years old.

Did you see what I see?

Caught these interesting cloud formation today at the pool when the sun was setting and hidden behind these clouds. Do your naked eyes see what I see?  Well, I see four kirins (qi lin 麒麟) running across the sky in succession.

Kirin is a mythical hooved Chinese creature known throughout various East Asian cultures, and is said to appear in conjunction with the arrival of a sage. It is a good omen that brings rui (瑞, roughly translated as "serenity" or "prosperity"). It is often depicted with what looks like fire all over its body.

Although it looks fearsome, the Qilin only punishes the wicked. It can walk on grass yet not trample the blades and it can also walk on water. Being a peaceful creature, its diet does not include flesh. It takes great care when it walks never to tread on any living thing, and it is said to appear only in areas ruled by a wise and benevolent leader (some say even if this area is only a house). It is normally gentle but can become fierce if a pure person is threatened by a sinner, spouting flames from its mouth and exercising other fearsome powers that vary from story to story. Some stories state that the Qilin is a sacred pet (or familiar) of the deities.

The empire state of eating

One of the days, when niece and nephew need not go to school, mom and I brought them out for lunch. This time was at Iluma again (because it was not as crowded as Bugis). And it was Empire State Restaurant again.

The cheery colours of the decor were lime green, orange, red, yellow. So bright and appetising, no? We sat at the enclosed U-shape sofa which could easily sit up to 8 persons. Rascal was so happy romping around in our red and yellow enclosure. We had all the privacy we wanted.  

I had to say I was disappointed that a number of the dishes which we wanted to order were not available. Again. It seemed they perennially do not have most items in the menu (then why did they have them printed out in the first place?). There went my mushroom sandwich. We ordered 2 main dishes, a soup, a salad and cheese sticks to share. Mom ordered the Honey Roasted Chicken which was a huge portion. Nephew wanted the Hawaiian Pizza while niece's order of the All-Day-Available-Big-Breakfast was, well, NOT available. 

I only touched the House salad, mushroom soup, the fries, and stole some pizza (I dug out the ham though....). Mom and I really loved the salad which has got some pistachio nuts as well. The kids loved all the food, especially the cheese sticks (which was wrapped and fried with popiah skin), the oh-so-tender chicken, and also the Oreo Chocolate milkshake which they shared. Mom and I shared a Mocha.

Ermm... I like to take photos of food closed up. Look at the drenched Oreo cookie from the milkshake.

We did not order the Giant Burger which I heard had to be shared with at least 4-5 persons. Guess we can only try it when the entire family comes along next time. I stole this pix of the "hugeass" burger from Sheylara.  This was just an ordinary outing for the kids, they and Mom enjoyed it very much, and that made me happy too.  

Keep smiling, keep shining

Just last night, a friend, S, was sharing with me this old video "That's What Friends Are For", a song sang by wonderful singers, Dionne Warwick and friends. It brought back warm memories of school days, as well as my good old friends.

I thought how appropriate that I dedicate this old-fashioned song to my buddy, Veggie. Today is her birthday. Veggie is my friend from primary school to secondary school to JC and till now. To Veggie, as well as all my other buddies - BE, Jess and Joan - I know at times, I may be a pain in the neck, and I am not as loud and chirpy as all of you. When I am having my emo times, do give me patience and time to come out of my crabby shell (well, I'm a typical Cancerian). At times, it is not that I am  angry with you but rather, I am just preoccupied with my own problems and emotions which overwhelmed me. But then again, I know I can never feel as comfortable with any new friends I made, as I am with all of you, always. Thanks for being my friend and standing by me all these years.

Happy birthday, Veggie!!!!
Keep smiling, keep shining...

Whoa, and then for the times when we're apart
Well, then close your eyes and know
These words are comin' from my heart
And then if you can remember
Keep smilin', keep shinin'
Knowin' you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for....

"Someone has cancer!"

Just like to share this post by Yue Heng in his blog.

YueHeng wrote: "This video clip is from a news broadcast of the Dalai Lama's recent trip to Taiwan. I was very touched by a scene which starts at around 0:48. As His Holiness is leaving, a man begins to call out anxiously: "Someone has cancer! She will die. She will die." The Dalai Lama immediately turns around and goes up to a wheelchair-bound woman who is presumably the cancer victim. He embraced her head and presses it to his own face. Buddhist monks are not supposed to have any physical contact with women, but the Dalai Lama probably felt that reaching out to comfort a dying person is more important than observing the rules. In Mahayana Buddhism, compassion is always more important than dogma."

"The clip also shows His Holiness preaching an impromptu sermon on death to the woman."

Dalai Lama speaks wonderful English. As I noticed, many of those present were brimming back tears when He was speaking to them. I believe he was blessing the woman by chanting mantras into her ears.  It was a little sad that his visit to Taiwan was lacklustre, as many of his scheduled activities have been cancelled by the Taiwanese government, in a bid to avoid further conflict with China. His press interview was cancelled. Many countries would give an arm and a leg for His Holiness' visit and his visit to Taiwan was so slipshod.

I have also watched his interviews and clips on TV. Whenever I see and hear him, my eyes will be brimming with tears too. Compassion transcends all boundaries - race, nationality and  language.

Lontong

Undeterred by the expensive nasi briyani the other day, I was at Marine Parade Central hawker centre, so I ordered Lontong from one of the few Malay stalls there. I have been having breakfast there many years ago.

This was my brunch, which I knew would be a safe choice.  Lontong is compressed rice that is then cut into small squarish cakes. Together with an hard boiled egg, bergedel, fried tau kwa (beancurd), and cabbage with long beans in special gravy, it was so yummilicious. And it only cost $2. 

I also had the Teh Peng (iced milk tea) from the drinks stall next door. After the meal, I felt more grounded and pacified, with my reasonably-priced Lontong fix.

Hard selling kills (me)

Many people have heard about Dead Sea V&M products. V&M stands for Vardi & Migdal. They have cosmetic and skin care products. As far as I know, they operate through push carts in shopping malls, and not shop fronts. They have push carts in Parkway, Vivocity, Wisma Atria, Suntec City and Raffles City and not sure where else.

Usually the sales persons manning the push carts are caucasians or foreigners, and they are really over-zealous to the verge of being pushy. A long time ago, I was once accosted by a middle-eastern looking guy in Suntec City who grabbed my hand as I was walking passed and said he just wanted to show me something. He took out this nail buffer which had 3 sides with 3 different colours (blue, grey, white), the texture from rough to smooth. He used all 3 sides to buff my nails, from rough to smooth side. Indeed my nails were very shiny and smooth afterwards. I was impressed and almost sold. He then  started promoting the skin lotion and what-nots which I was not really interested. In the end, I just bought the nail buffer as an escape bid for me. Otherwise if I did not get away, I think I would have been conned to buy more stuff.

Another time in Wisma Atria, I was at the ATM withdrawing cash, and the V&M pushcart was just next to the ATM machine. As I expected, just when I finished with the ATM, before I could even turn, the lady sales person was already eyeing me and started her pitch "Excuse me, miss.....". I just turned and walked the other way. I did not mean to be rude, but I really felt harassed and I already had the same encounter a few times from this brand (so what even if their products are really good). I do not want to be judgemental and maybe their over zealous sales approach does work, but I would think in general, we Asians are more conservative and do not like to be coerced harrassed into buying something we do not really need. I know I could have been firm and said no, but they persisted and persisted, and I always ended up buying out of pity.

To me, it was ultimately like begging. I do not like that. I have been a sales person for the longest time (although not a retail sales person) but I do not advocate aggressive selling. I always believe, if your product or service is that fantastic, your clients will come back. Hard selling will not do. Even if you manage to clinch a deal the first time, you may not be so lucky the second time. Like me in this case, now whenever I sight any V&M push carts at a distance, I will turn away and scram.

Suggestions for these aggressive jokers:
1. Look into a new niche market - the men. Get your sales girls to dress seductively and try to accost a guy and rub your skin lotion on his hand. He had be so delightfully shocked dazed by the touch and will definitely buy a dozen for his wife, girlfriends or any woman. Trust me. Just make sure his woman is not besides him.

2. Set up online blogshop promoting your darn good products. Lady consumers nowadays are so spoilt for choice, that all you need is their attention 24/7. And blogshops are 24/7. Provide personal home delivery as an add-on service, so the client gets to try the products on the spot and maybe buy more.

3. Hold extensive promotions in conjunction with retail giants like Watsons, Giant, Guardian, or any department store. The best is get a celebrity as an ambassador or something. Also, connect with and have joint promotions with the well-known spas or mani-pedi shops (if they do not already have their own in-house products), all your potential distributors.

4. Send your good salesmen and saleswomen to the HDB heartlands and coerce cajole the older aunties and housewives instead. Aunties just need to hear flattering words but be prepared to give huge discounts and haggling over prices. And you may need to send your men and women for Singlish classes.

If all else fails, look for bloggers like moi, who can perhaps (god willing) give you a good review (provided you give moi loads of freebies or even paid reviews). However, if your existing sales revenues are already earth-shattering, carry on strutting your stuff, but just leave me alone. Ahem.

Ok, I am just babbling for fun. BTW, the nail buffer I bought, lasted only maybe a few rounds, then it became a useless normal nail buffer again. No more shine, dude.

Why is muslim food so expensive?

Was at Republic Foodcourt in Wisma Atria again. Decided to have some Muslim food.

Ordered the Nasi Briyani (orange colour rice) and some dishes - eggplant, bergedel (potato), kang kong, and the fried bean curd with long beans (I always have this dish when I order Malay rice). And I was shocked that this plate of rice cost me $7.50 !!!  Plus there wasn't even any meat dishes! All veggies! And the food was really not fantastic in the first place. The nasi and all the dishes were cold. If I had not asked the lady to give me some hot gravy, the whole thing would be cold!  The bergedel was as hard as a rock, and the fried beancurd was not fresh. Only the eggplant and kang kong were palatable. Nowadays, I have heard many complaints that Muslim food is getting more expensive in hawker centres and foodcourts, mostly were over-charged. For a dish like this, it used to cost between $3 to $4. For a $7 price tag in a foodcourt, I might as well pay a little bit more to eat in a cafe or middle-class restaurant, for example, HJ Maimunah. This was really not worth it. Hrrmmpphh!

Was with a business acquaintance for lunch at a cafe. They didn't have many non-meat dishes on the menu. So I ordered the Pasta Salad which I thought should be nice for a change. My god, the pasta was quite hard (to me, it was like .... uncooked). They only have some veggies and olives and tomato). Hard to chew and swallow. I think my own Pasta De Vegan was better.  

The dessert saved the day. This was the Chocolate Souffle. Accompanying the souffle was a scoop of shocking red ice cream which was sour (not sure what flavour) and even more sour was the strawberries and blueberries. I am really not into sour stuff for desserts. To me, desserts should be rich and SWEET, like chocolate and tiramisu. The lemon soda drink was also horrible, tasted very bland (like the free glass of cold water with a slice of lemon they serve in cafes), no kick at all. Only the warm little bowl of chocolate souffle made everything a little better. Never going to order these items again. Double hrrmmppphhh!

I made the steamed Emperor Chicken for the family again! Well, I did not get to eat it of course. This time I remembered to take a photo. Judging from the feedback, I think this time the chicken tasted better than last time.  The meat was very tender and juicy and the herbal taste was evenly permeated into the meat. My niece loved it.  

This was my plate of veggies. I stir-fried asparagus with young corn, and brown button mushroom. It was very nice. I put a little extra more of the mushroom sauce for the seasoning to enhance the taste. For the rest of the family I cooked a separate portion of this dish, and added bacon too, which was even better.  Home-cooked food is still the best!!! Because if it wasn't nice, I can't blame anyone except myself!  :D 

"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity"

Whenever I read of stories of how girls are being bullied or abused by their boyfriends or husbands, I will fume. Worse if it happens to my own friends or someone I know. Yesterday, there was an article from Straits Times on a survey done by BBC.  A third of teenage girls suffer sexual abuse in a relationship and a quarter experience violence at the hands of their boyfriends, the survey has suggested.

(Inset photo: Maja Salvador, a Filipino actress, plays a sexually abused teenager the drama series, Maalala Mo Kaya.  Courtesy of ABS-CBN)

I have a friend whom I got to know a few months ago. She is a bright and smart girl, and also quite pretty too. Many guys like her. I knew she had a boyfriend. As we got to know each other better, she confided in me. She would often grumble to me about how possessive her boyfriend was, and that he monitored and controlled her daily activities. He did not allow her to go out even with her girlfriends, much lest talking to or meeting other guy friends. Her boyfriend was jealous and unreasonable.

She does not look like a weak person. In fact, she is quite eloquent and a very pleasant beautiful girl. About a month ago, on the verge of breaking off with her boyfriend, she told me she felt "suffocated" in the relationship. No freedom. No social life. No friends. I had told her then, to think if she really loved him. If not, it was best to let it go. Eventually she broke off with him. Afterwards, she told me actually her boyfriend had been violent to her. I was shocked and angry. On 3 occasions, her boyfriend had beaten her or slapped her. She could not stop him and could not defend herself because she was physically not strong enough. She did not want to report him to the police, nor could she tell her family (her family liked the boyfriend alot and no one would have believed her). She suffered insomnia because of this. So sad. At least now, she is happier on her own. I am happy for her too.

Last year, I also got back in touch with a classmate of mine in JC. We were not that close, so we were not in touch for many many years. Then we found each other online. She is currently working in China. She has been there for about 5 years. As we become more comfortable chatting with each other, I asked her what happened to her and her husband (because I could sense that something had happened, otherwise she would not be in China without her husband). I know both of them since school days and I have heard they got married about a decade ago. They were so loving then.

It was then that she told me about her painful marriage. Four months after their wedding, she found her husband in bed with another woman in their own house, in their own bed. Instead of feeling remorseful, her husband started abusing and hitting her instead. And her husband kept changing and having affairs with new girls. None of her friends or family believed her because her husband looked like a really quiet and decent nice guy, whereas my pretty friend was the bubbly, talkative and loud one. It was hard to believe such a gentleman was a bastard.

She told me it was so bad that she had to report him to the police and got a protection order. Eventually she divorced him. She told me when she left, she did not get a single cent from the sale of their house, and over the years, she had also helped his family paid off huge gambling debts as well as paid for his further studies. In the end, when she left, she only had $1 in her name. She has kept her bank account book with her all these years to remind herself of what she went through.

I told my friend, I actually had the feeling something was amiss between them years ago, when I bumped into her husband with a much younger woman shopping in Orchard. Also, when I bumped into her once or twice on separate occasions, she was like a different person in her own world. She was reticent and downcast, so different from her usual bubbly cheerful self. She even ignored me in public when I called her name! Now, after so many years of wondering, I finally know the truth. Even though she may not be a close friend, still I was so hopping mad. I knew something had gone wrong with their relationship years ago but I did not know it was that bad. I feel so much pain for my friend.

So, ladies, if you are ever in trouble or have been abused by your partner, please go to the relevant authorities or talk to someone. Ask for help and do not ever let another human being torture you mentally and physically again. You have your own right. You have your own life to live.

On a lighter note, I find it amusing that I often meet people, both friends or strangers alike, who would confide in me all their serious mind-boggling problems. I should have become a bloody good counsellor with proper training. Haha.

Blimey, exactly whose sperm was it?

Sigh, what is the world coming to? Just read from this article, that Macaulay Culkin (of Home Alone fame) is reportedly the biological father of Michael Jackson's youngest son, Blanket. It goes to show that when you are mega rich and famous in Hollywood, anything is possible... sperm donation, surrogate mothers, skin bleaching, rhinoplasty (nose jobs), sleeping in oxygen tent .... etc.. etc... what else? what else?

L - Blanket, R - Macaulay Culkin.  Can you tell me if these 2 favourite guys of Michael Jackson really look like they are father and son? Where got identical??? (besides the fringe covering one eye).

If you ask me, I feel that these two boys look more alike than the previous one. L - Macaulay Culkin, R - Prince Michael (Jackson's elder son). Not convinced? Look below.

L - Macaulay Culkin, R - Prince Michael Jackson. So don't you think they look just a little more like father and son rather than little Blanket? Ok they both don't really look that much alike. But now who exactly is the father and who exactly is the son?

And will there be more shocking breaking news soon? .... For example.... like who is Paris Jackson's real biological father and other speculations?  

Could it have been James Dean????!!  No, wait, James Dean is already dead, ain't he? But there is possibility of frozen sperm, right? right? right?  Well, in Hollywood, EVERYTHING, ANYTHING is possible.  Like my Grandma would have said disapprovingly of all these incredulous trends, in Teochew, "see suah lai" (meaning "any-o-how" in Singlish expression or 随便来 in chinese, or "inappropriate" in English). Anyway, if all these revelations predictions speculations turn out to be true, remember you read it here first. 

P.S.

1. Sorry Michael, I didn't mean to be rude, but all these sperm, homicide and custody stuff are making me confused. May you rest in peace. 

2.  I think the 3 Jackson kids are really cute and good looking, especially Prince Michael. He will grow up to be a dude, but please, I hope he stays away from all those "self-improvement" ideas on his body and looks.

3. If I were MJ, I would have asked Brad Pitt or Takeshi Kaneshiro to donate their sperm instead. Golly, why Macaulay Culkin???? (I may love my best friends, but I certainly won't want my own kids to look like them! My kids should look like me, right? right? right?).