HUAT AH!!

With Chinese Lunar New Year just round the corner, I can’t help but feel drawn into a festive celebratory mood. It’s hard not to notice, when you are part of it, the longer than usual queues at the supermarkets as families large and small all stock up their larders with new year goodies and fresh groceries in anticipation of the big fest on the eve of the new lunar year.

I was part of the crowd jostling for certain neccessities to ensure a bountiful year ahead. You’d be surprised at the amount that people buy during this period. Looking at the empty shelves at the rice section of the Tiong Bahru NTUC supermaket last Sunday, one would have thought that there’s a run on rice supplies.

Didn’t buy any new year goodies, yet, since I am most likely out visiting on the 1st and 2nd days of the Chinese New Year (CNY). Would love to have some though, cos they are great finger food that goes with good programmes on the TV. So, you know where all my CNY goes to after the festivities are over.

Hope to land a couple boxes of egg rolls and pineapple tarts cos these are my annual staples and CNY will really feel different without them. Will be looking out for the Hong Kong style egg rolls cos I love their fluffy texture and the pineapple tarts from Smiling Orchid.

Just the thought of these goodies make me high!

Final Thoughts: The Little Nonya

TCS’ “The Little Nonya” is one of those rare few local dramas which I have followed to the end in recent memory. The highly elaborate, well designed and authentic looking Peranakan sets and costumes were the main draws for me.

Last night, I was hoping for a strong ending given the rather tight storyline and the good vibes I got from the drama.

Overall, the plot was over-the-top, especially the incessant torture suffered by Joanne Peh’s character Yuzhu. Coming a close second was the long suffering romance between Yueniang (Jeanette Aw) and Chen Xi (Qi Yiwu). Felt that the scripwriter(s) were rather cruel to put the audience through the roller-coaster ride(s) between hope and utter sadness when Yueniang decided to crush Chen Xi’s heart, once and for all, at the scene along the rail tracks.

While all the villains did get their well deserved desserts, “bang bang” Charlie and Robert Zhang, I can’t help but feel that the ending was kinda flat. The scriptwriter(s) would have done well to nudge Yueniang and Chen Xi together at the end. It would have been a more complete ending. Go watch  Jewel of the Palace and you will know what I mean.

Guess when challenged with the above assertion, the scriptwriters will likely take on the defence that not everything ends well in real life, which we all know…  But hey, ain’t dramas suppose to give hope to everyday folks like you and me?

If a black can be the President of the United States of America, I don’t see why the lovers can’t end up together.

As the saying goes “YES, WE CAN!”

A good year, a good life.

2009 is going to be a good year. I know, cos I can even feel the buzz in my bones.

It kinda weird. While the world, as the media portrays it, is stuck in a “doom and gloom” mood, and here I am declaring that life’s great. Perhaps a decision to live a more meaningful engaging life has something to do with it.

Yes, that’s my resolution for 2009 and one that I will keep for all the days of my life.

I always find it troubling that being alive doesn’t equate with being engaged in the act of living. It is even more scary when I ponder on the past and think to myself on the purpose of my existence.

I will leave the ‘tough’ big questions on life to the academics, theologians and self-help gurus to answer. What I know now is that apart from having goals and dreams, one must decide to live one’s life and engage fully in it.

Perhaps I am one of those who realise this late in life, but I know that most of my life has been spent doing things which are meant to be done, without thinking of doing these things in an active/engaged manner. Imagine a robot in an assembly plant, and I being that robot.

Now, everything seems so alive to me. I have never enjoyed myself so much when I had chai tou kway,  black and white at that, and a huge cup, more like jug, of hot soya bean milk, with Yupgi for breakfast at the Bukit Merah View hawker centre last Saturday.

Not to mention that I rushed down to Vivo City last evening to clear my credit card bill at the AXS machine which was due yesterday. The trip would have brought out the worst in me normally. But I actually enjoyed the short trip to Vivo City.

Upsize hawker centre style!

There’s so much to do in life. I am now looking forward to each day and the activities that come along. Tonight will be a drama night with Yupgi as we finish up on the Little Nonya. I am looking forward to that and cooking a nice simple dinner of rice, yong tau foo soup and grilled cod.

Yes, life is good indeed.