Powderful Engrish Alown the Werl

You know how you sometimes read something so funny on the computer that you can't help but smile at the monitor? Then you start getting weird looks from your colleagues because i) you're a possible mental freak; ii) YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING!

Well, it happened to me today when my mom sent me this funny-butt (mommy says you cannot say ass ;p ) website link that highlights the most amusing Engrish phrases around the world. Check them out.

Country: Japan

You mean there are males in Japan who are not men?

Country: China

Wah, China is now so advanced that they can construct their own water.

Country: Japan

 I'm sure this one's gonna win all the male votes.

Country: Japan

You will need a smoke after reading this.

Country: Japan

 No more soul?

Country: Japan

 I know Christmas is coming, but we should not limit our prayers to just the material stuff.

Country: Korea

 I definitely wouldn't buy from this machine.

Country: Japan

 Wah, so proud of the price hike, you sure your customers will be happy?

You asked for it!

It understands our problems of stickiness and provide free consultation. Not bad for a toilet brush!

 

Tribute to the Childhood Best Friend

My best friend of primary/secondary school years got married over the weekend -- but I did not attend it.

Still remember the day when I met her, we were prefects together, and she was a year my junior. We took the school bus for some excursion, and she happened to sit next to me. And because this girl couldn't stop talking (interestingly that's what she makes a living out of now), we spent the whole ride sharing our then decade of life stories, despite how shy I was back then.

Years passed and our friendship blossomed. Different as we were, I simply found her amusing, funny, stylish and earnest. She was also the best daughter in the world to her mom and dad.

Call it coincidence, but we went on to the same secondary school. Again we became prefects together, and we watched over each another like sisters. There were arguments and misunderstandings in between, but thank goodness we managed to resolve it some time after.

We spent a lot of time in high school exchanging notes during classes, sleeping over at each others houses, talking boys, loving music, and vowed that we would one day be 88 in our rocking chairs and yet be best of friends.

Sadly, those days have come and gone. Our careers and statuses in society have gotten the better of us and we somehow just drifted apart. There are times when I still feel upset and hurt, that stardom eats a person whole, but thinking back, I know that I have not done my part to be supportive and worked hard enough to sustain our friendship from dwindling.

Nevertheless, there can be lots of regrets in life, but the wonderful memories will always remain. Who knows, in 60 years to come, we might still have that opportunity to sit and laugh in our rocking chairs.

Here's wishing you a happy and fulfilling marriage, my childhood best friend.

May's Hen!

My beautiful maid of honour is getting married.

So, to celebrate her anticipated union, or mourn her loss of freedom *just kidding*, a whole bunch of us girls flew down to Singapore to paint the town red, literally!

Under the superbly creative planning of Su Mei and Kelly, everything just went on great and everyone had heaps of fun. Putting up a night at Raffles Place, Robertson walk, we practically turned the place upside down. Still, I would recommend this place to anyone who's looking for convenience, class and comfort as they managed to house all 14 of us in just two units, very comfortably!

The night started off with a round of champagne, handing out of goodie bags and task assignments, not forgetting that little bit of camwhoring. The Hen, was of course given the most befitting task of selling "protection packets" to strangers that night, whereas the rest of us chicks were each assigned to sell just one and also tasks to make the night unforgettable for the beautiful bride-to-be.

The Hen

The Chicks

The Goodie Bags

The Champagne

The Goods

Hen & I

We then proceeded to dinner at OverEasy, One Fullerton. Unfortunately all of us were too hungry by then to have any photos of the great food taken. Everything was simply devoured the minute they landed on our tables. I know, I know, hen and chicks should have been more ladylike... haha.

Outside the restaurant when we were still behaving

At the dining table

With Chor Yee and Jade

This is what dinner and that little bit of drinks do to you

After dinner, what else but to continue where we left off with those drinks? That's when we headed off to Butter Factory to get the Hen a little buttered and a lot tipsied. The crowd at Butter Factory just wasn't our cuppa and "target market". They were simply too young to buy our goods! Oh well, after much hard work put in, most of us managed to clear our inventory, except for the Hen who hit only 70% sales target. Nonetheless, it was good funding to our night!

With Jade

Mine was a put on and May's was for real

Is this red or is this very red?

I don't know what we were up to but it sure was crazy!

These were the talented planners!

Thankfully the night did not end with much casualty, except for some incident with a cabbie who was freaked out by Chor Yee's butter-laced speech. All in all, it was heaps of fun and apparently round two's on the calender! :)

Time for goodbyes but not sure what happened to Hen

Are In-Laws "In"?

My family recently multiplied.

J and I tied the knot few months back and we (the Kwoks) are now a family of 7. Of course, vice versa, the number of people I now can call family has risen from 5 to more than 20.

Sure enough, there has always been jokes about in-laws. Some put them in good light and most of them don’t.

Here are some to share.

• Adam and Eve were the happiest and luckiest couple in the world, because neither of them had in-laws.

• The doorbell rang this morning. When I opened the door, there was my father-in-law on the front step.

        He said, "Can I stay here for a few days?"

        I said, "Sure you can." And shut the door.

• A guy who has been told by his doctor that he has only 6 months to live decides to move in with his mother-in-law. According to him, living with her for 6 months will seem like forever.

• I was out shopping the other day when I saw six men beating my son-in-law up. As I stood there and watched, his neighbor, who knew me, said, "Well, aren't you going to help?" 

       I replied, "No. Six of them is enough".

Jokes aside, there are also the more sadistic stories of abuse between those of in-law relations. These stories are somehow more rampant in countries like India, Africa and the Middle East, where forced marriages and lack of access to justice occur. Nonetheless, they aren't non-existent in ours, no matter how ignorant we wish to be.

I myself have had personal contact with an elderly, who was often ill-treated by her daughter-in-law. It was not to the extent of abuse, but her living conditions could definitely have been better. Confining the old lady to a tiny room with no windows and discouraging her from roaming around the house just so that she would not "dirty" it, and changing all toilets in the house to squat ones instead of seated ones just because the daughter-in-law was "more used to it" were just some of the inconsiderate things that the poor old lady was subjected to. What amazed me was that her only son, the husband, never managed to do anything about it.

Sadly, the old lady is no longer around. Sometimes I still wonder if the daughter-in-law now lives in glee or plain remorse.

As for me, I have been very blessed to have great in-laws. Sure enough, the adapting continues:

• From a small family to a big one;
• From a soft-spoken environment to one that has people yelling from the ground floor to the fourth;
• From Cantonese tastes to Foo Chow buds;
• From a family that's all about fitness and sports to one that deems exercise as taking the staircase to our rooms; 
• And from the very planned and organised to the spontaneous. 

Different as they may be, I cannot ask for better. I know that there have been times when I rant a thing or two (I may be understating just a leeeeeeeetle bit) to my closer pals, about how doors are not knocked, how overfed we are, or how last minute things get, but at the end of the day, I appreciate very much the fact that my in-laws are made up of people with hearts that are golder than gold, and also those who have love for all around them (whether family or not) that's more genuine than the truth.

People always say, count your blessings, and I am certainly counting mine. Let me sign off with something cute that I got off the net, just for laughs.

Yup, blame it on the in-laws!

 

Err... I Don't Understand

My mom sent me a link to the below video recently, and out of curiosity I checked it out on YouTube. Thing is, after I was done with it, I had NO CLUE why she sent it to me and was in an even blurer state as to why the video was made!

I mean, I can totally understand if Dato' Siti Nurhaliza had a sudden urge to serenade Datuk K and subsequently make it one of the hits in her latest album. But, it coming from our First Lady, whom I would not even classify as pitch perfect (though she did not sound anywhere near a slaughtered chicken), and (rumour has it) using up a budget that everyone calls tax, is just incomprehensible!

So I did a little more digging, and found out that...

TA-DA!!

Our dear FL actually has an album! It's called Lagenda Cinta. If you think you've got the stomach for it, head on to one of the Malay music shops and pick one up! It might be beyond expectation!

Well, word has it that the video was pulled off air not long after it was released as it resulted in bad publicity for the PM, but as it always is, no one escapes YouTube.  

I don't know who to sympathize more, the husband or wife? I mean, honestly, to me the video was such a cliched publicity stint. Probably one that failed. But oh well, in many things, it's not our right to judge. And I shall probably just hold my pen and give her the benefit of doubt.

Enjoy (or not!) the video!

The Virtual ID

I've always appreciated Interior Designing. I had at one point of my life aspired to be an ID. Not that I lost interest, but during my time of choosing courses, ID just would not have given me sufficient career options being bound in Malaysia, and it did not seem to be able to make me sufficient living.

So today, whilst at work, I stumbled upon this website, that allows us to play around with colours in fixing up different rooms of homes... * I know, I know I should have been hard at work but I just couldn't help it! :) *

One who's quite a sucker for a more classic and feminine feel, I love, love, love florals and am never one to shy away from strong colours. I've always believed that  home should be some place cozy, warm and comfy. So with the inspiration of my blog title, I decided to work out a set of living rooms based on the warmer colours, representing Sunbeams, and another set based on cooler tones, to represent Moondreams.

This was what turned out.

Sunbeams 1

Sunbeams 2

Sunbeams 3

Moondreams 1 (With my favourite shade -- purple!)

Moondreams 2

Moondreams 3

For some fun and creativity of your own, visit Better Homes and Gardens online!

Intro to T-eeny Town

So, some of you may already know about J and my relocation to T-eeny town. Well, I won't exactly call J's a relocation, coz he's been stuck here for more than 2 years now (still wonder how he's managed to survive it for so long), but for me, things are still pretty much demanding adaptation.

To begin with, T-eeny town is sleepy. Everyone moves around sloooooowleeeeeeee... well, to look on the bright side: -

• There are hardly traffic jams, except for the occassional slower moving traffic at some spots during rush hour.
• People here are just generally friendlier. I guess that comes from the less-stressed factor.
• The furthest drive from point A to point B takes about 20 minutes.
• Labour cost here is really low, and I'm glad to have extra hand with house chores.
• Seafood (my number one love among foods) here is great! 

Hopefully in time I will discover better things about T-eeny town coz so far, other than the above, for a small town: -

• Things here are certainly not cheap, ie: food, household items etc.
• The place is pretty tattered and dirty.
• Internet here is heaps crappy!
• There are bugs everywhere and where J and I work, iguanas are aplenty!
• Security here ain't champion of towns.

Whatever it is,  I've got to learn to live it here. As they say, love knows no bounds. And in my case, I guess it means geographical boundaries, which means no matter what I have to bring my love across the sea into T-eeny town to my dear J.

Anyway, to start things off, J and I had to go furniture shopping, just so that the house would look a little more livable and homely. Just in case I have not mentioned, the house used to be an office downstairs, and J used to sleep upstairs. So when they decided to move the office elsewhere, everything downstairs was taken away.

So since the place is only rented, we had to find a balance between having it furnished to our comfort, but yet not spend excessively as it won't be likely that we bring the furniture with us when we leave. In the end, after countless scouring of furniture malls and shops, we picked certain pieces up and our hall now looks like this:

We spend most of our nights in this area now, as the nights are long (sun starts to set at 5pm) and we have early dinners.

I know the place can be that much cozier, maybe throw in a photo frame or two, or some carpets here and there, but we've decided to just go with the flow and scrimp on that for now. Hopefully, just hopefully, T-eeny town won't be for too long! I miss home and I miss my family.

Why Sunbeams & Moondreams?

As we all know, life's like a theme park.

You have the milder rides like the Ferris wheel and the Carousel, which bring you back to soft and happy memories viewed through lovely tinted glasses; 

Carousel

Ferris Wheel

  
Then you have the roller coaster or free-fall rides, which catapult you into a state of fear or anxiety that you may or may not have known before. 

Roller Coaster

Free Fall

What about the spinning rides like those in teapots or space machines? Which leave your head spinning dizzily and unclear of what's ahead, exactly like what falling in love does to you?

Spin Ride

Teapot Ride

So there you have it, Sunbeams & Moondreams is here to share with you the sunnier side of things, just like the golden beams that shower you each morning; or the more romantic, mysterious and questionable moments of life, when you either see the moon dancing in your sky, or struggle to travel through faintly lit paths.

The world's how we want to view it. And this blog is how I see mine.