Slumber marathon ZZZzzzZZZZzz

It takes more energy to have fun during the holidays than to go about our daily boring routines on working days. After a series of continuous gastronomic & booze sessions for 5 days in a row from Deepavali to the second day of Hari Raya, my energy level is at its all time low.

Yesterday and today I took the opportunity to binge on sleep to really recharge my body to its former glory. I had a very long 4 hours afternoon nap before dinner. After dinner, I fell asleep at 9:30p.m. and woke up at midnight for supper. Then, I went to bed again at 2a.m. and slept for 12 hours, waking up only for breakfast before drifting back to dreamland until 1:45p.m. today. If I add up the number of hours I’ve been sleeping since yesterday afternoon, it comes up to about 18+ hours of slumber marathon!

The more I sleep, the more I want to continue sleeping. It’s so addictive! The bonus of all these sleeps is the dreams that accompanied them. Each time I doze off, I drift to a land of fantasy. It is like watching multiple movies in my dreams. So many stories. Some were funny while others were strange. Some still lingers in my mind as I wake up, like a good book.

Festival of Nine Emperor God

“Nine Emperor God or Festival of Nine Emperor God (Chinese: 九皇爺, Hokkien: Kow Ong Yah, Cantonese: Kow Wong Yeh) is held over the first 9 days of the 9th lunar month to celebrate the return from heaven to earth of the Nine Emperor spirits, who are worshipped as one deity and who represent health, wealth and prosperity. It is believed that everyday will rain during these 9 days of celebration.” ~ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Last Sunday I saw a girl wearing a thin piece of yellow cloth around her wrist which reminded me of my paternal grandma. When I was a little girl, my grandma used to go to a well known Chinese temple called Nan Thien Kwang in Ampang village every year on the eve of the Festival of the Nine Emperor God for prayers and asked for blessings on behalf of her children, their spouses and her grandchildren. The receiver of the yellow cloth will be blessed with health, wealth and prosperity. It will be worn around the wrist for nine days.

Every year during the Festival of Nine Emperor God, it always rain for nine days. This year, the first day of the festival started on last Sunday (22/10/06) and will end on 30th of October. I have been counting and it really has been raining everyday since last Sunday. It is amazing how the ancient people knew how to forecast the weather so many centuries in advance.

I haven’t been wearing the yellow piece of cloth around my wrist for many years since my grandma had passed away in year 1999. The rain this evening brought back many memories of my grandma. The yellow cloth was one of her ways of showing her love to us.

I have always believed that children who grew up with their grandparents around are the luckiest grandchildren. I’m grateful that I had the chance to experience being pampered, fussed and loved by my grandparents. I hope my future children will be blessed with healthy grandparents to enjoy each other’s company and love.

Golden Shower

Have you ever experience the burning sensation and pressure in your lower abdomen from holding back the urge to relief yourself? How long can you hold back your golden shower during demanding situations? 10 minutes? 30 minutes? 1 hour?

For those with weak bladder, it can be the most torturous moment. Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common infection which may result from frequently holding back your trips to the water closet (WC). Symptoms of a UTI usually begin suddenly and include:

a) Frequent, irritating or burning urination
b) Persistent urge to urinate even after the bladder has been emptied
c) Cramping or pressure in the lower abdomen
d) Cloudy urine (or urine accompanied with blood) with a strong or unusual smell

Nature calls may be ignored unconsciously or on purpose. Some hold back from relieving themselves to wait for the TV interval during their favourite shows or while traveling long distance or just too engrossed in their work for WC time. It is really your call whether you want to answer Mother Nature immediately or not. However, what happens when the ball is not on your side of the court? What happens when Mother Nature is knocking very hard on your bladder but you can’t answer her call?

This evening, most city dwellers in Klang Valley found themselves caught in a massive traffic jam. The traffic is literally crawling at snail pace after a round of rain. A journey home from work which usually takes no more than 20 minutes stretches out to 2 hours. I believe many travelers in cars or public transport found themselves in this torturous predicament. If you are one of them, it would be a good idea to find the nearest public toilet for your golden shower. Who knows how long the journey home will take tonight?

Bob Marley

I had a funny dream this morning. I dreamt that my girlfriend and I were going to Bob Marley’s concert. His name was written on the big board at the entrance to the concert hall & I saw him in my dream. He was a performer of reggae music and the photographers were busy taking his photos outside the hall. We never did made it for the concert because I was waiting for my girlfriend outside the concert hall and she was late. When she finally showed up, the concert has ended.

Do you know who Bob Marley is? I couldn’t recall who he is until I did a search on the internet just a moment ago confirming that he was indeed a very well known reggae performer.

'Robert Nesta Marley (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981), better known as Bob Marley, was a Jamaican singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is the most widely known performer of reggae music and is famous for having popularized the genre outside Jamaica.

His best known songs are a mixture of reggae, rock and rhythm and blues (R&B) and include “I shot the Sheriff”, “No Woman No Cry”, “Exodus”, “Could You Be Loved”, “Jamming”, “Redemption Song” and one of his most famous songs, “One love”.' ~ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

He died of cancer.

I wonder what my dream was trying to tell me…

Hairstyle for 2007

2 more months to the new year. I’m brainstorming for a new hairstyle to welcome 2007. Hmm, should I have long hair or short, straight or permed, layered or same length? Choices, choices, choices.

In Hong Kong, the straight shoulder-length China doll look is the latest craze at the moment. The celebrities in the U.S. usually go for long hair-dos when they are on a hot night but spot short hair-dos when the sun is up. Best of both worlds! All made possible by the magic of hair extensions! Hair extension can be a pricey affair not to mention the hassle of numerous trips to the hairdresser every time you need a one. Otherwise, a cheaper version would be the good old wig if you don't mind looking like a mannequin.

The China doll hairstyle seems quite convenient to me. Airy, no combing necessary, safe on time needed to get the hair ready for work, less shampoo, no more split-ends, etc. The advantages seemed to be endless. I’m quite tempted to go for the China doll look but…there is always a ‘but’. What happens when we have a hot date & want to look hot? Well, a China doll hair style doesn’t really qualify to be called sexy, does it?

So, does anyone know where I can get a hair extension?

Termite Invasion!

Have you ever encounter a termite attack before? It’s something to be taken seriously.

Termites or commonly known as white ants are no ordinary ants. You’ll be surprise if I tell you that termites are more closely related to cockroaches and grasshoppers. Though these little white insects are only the size of watermelon seeds, their bites are painful and lasting. Their destruction: ENORMOUS!

Not only I’d been attacked by them before, I’d lost a few boxes of books to their endless appetite. Once you see their presence in your house, your nightmare begins. Never endless counter attacks of destroying their nests along the wooden panels, tapping along door frames to check for hollow sounds to find out their campsites and straining your ears to listen to crackling sounds made by them from chewing onto your doors. Nothing is safe from these pests. You would be wondering if they are chewing on your roof while you are sleeping at night.

Just keep praying that your favourite furniture, books and important documents will be spared until:

a) your pest control agent arrives, or
b) you find a new place to stay

Either way is going to burn a hole in your pocket. It’s either you go or the termites. I'm glad option (b) is available to me.

I sympathize with those who own such houses that have become the food source of these pests, right at the bottom of the termite’s food cycle. You will never get rid off them unless you can find & neutralize their queen. Otherwise, she will keep on creating thousands of new little drones everyday to ensure her survival and continue building her kingdom. You will never be free from the termites’ invasion.

Mother Nature Healing

A few hours after my last post about the haze, a miracle happened. When I went out of the house for lunch, the sun was shining brightly and the sky was clear blue. No wind blew nor rain fell. Just Mother Nature healing herself.

Late at night, I gazed upon the big round moon. For the first time of my life, I saw how big the ring of light was around the beautiful moon. What a magnificent sight!

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

I remember the first thing that I had learnt in the economic class. It was the three basic needs for human to survive. They are air to breathe, fire for heat and light and land for vegetation & dwelling. Without any one of these, human race will not survive. God has created & given all of these to us human for free. Natural resources such as trees, river, rain and hills are in abundance and never lacking.

Unfortunately, majority of the human kind is destructive to nature. Trees were felled, rivers were polluted, hills were flattened for development and last but not least air was polluted. Personal greed under the disguise of social development. Gradually, our basic necessities are becoming scarce and expensive.

We have to pay rental to put a roof over our heads and water bills to have clean filtered water to drink. There goes our free land and water, leaving air the only ‘free’ natural resources available to us or is it?

With the increasing air pollution from forest fire set by loggers, emission from factories and vehicles, major cities especially in the developing countries are constantly covered in smog & haze.

I’m sad to say that I live in one too. For the past one week, I wanted to wake up to the cool morning breeze and fresh air, only to be greeted by a blanket of haze. Day in day out I saw only smoke in front of my eyes and breathed air with faint burning smell. Ironically, this is a very good time to sing, ‘Smokes get in your eyes’. I long for the days when I can see the mountain views from my office, clouds in the blue sky and mask-free days when I walk on the street. A week without a clear blue sky and limited visibility outdoors is enough to drive a city dweller like me up the walls.

Now, we are paying for clean air to breathe. For those who are affordable, air filters are installed indoors. Others will just have to be contented with a mask on their face. Soon, air will be just like a bottle of filtered water that one can find in the convenient stores.

What does the future hold for us and our children? I dare not imagine but can only hang on to what little hope is left in the human race.

Spring Tide

When I was a kid, my family used to go to Port Dickson for short vacation during the school holidays. Port Dickson is a town situated next to the Strait of Malacca in Peninsular Malaysia. It has a long stretch of beach.

We usually stay at a holiday resort in Kemang Bay; Kemang Bay also has a public beach known as Blue Lagoon by the locals. It is a favourite spot for many picnickers & fish anglers. The sea here is calm with small waves because it is surrounded by rocky hills on both sides.

I used to play in the sea either in the mornings or late afternoons because the tide in Blue Lagoon usually rises to its maximum water level (high tide) at midnight & retreats to its minimum water level (low tide) at mid-noon. So, one would need to walk quite far out to reach the sea in the afternoon. Anyway, it was much more interesting looking for tiny crabs along the sand ridges on the beach. They usually come out from underneath the sand ridges dug by them when the tide retreats to look for food & play in the sun. I used to think of these ridges as the freeways in the crabs’ kingdom. They resembled many wavy horizontal lines along the beach.

We usually have our meals at a restaurant next to the beach. I used to hear many stories about the beach from the restaurant’s owner. I remember one of them particularly well because on that particular evening, the owner reminded us not to swim too far out to the sea. This is because the seabed is not flat. During the low tide, you will be able to see many puddles of water all over the beach. During high tide, these ‘holes’ on the seabed can be dangerous traps. It is an illusion that the water level is lower than actual because you are actually standing on a higher seabed. Many people had tripped & fell into them when they try to waddle back to the shore.

According to the restaurant owner, on the afternoon the day before, a father took 3 children to the seaside for fishing. 2 of them were his own children while the other one was his niece. All of them were below 12 years old. They sat on a big rock furthest from the beach as it was during the low tide. They were too absorbed in fishing without realising that the tide has risen quicker than usual because there was a spring tide that day.

“Tide is caused by the gravity forces of the Moon and the Sun acting on the Earth. Around new and full Moon when the Sun, Moon and Earth form a line (a condition known as syzygy), the tidal forces due to the Sun reinforce those of the Moon. The tides' range is then at its maximum: this is called the "spring tide," or just "springs" and is derived not from the season of spring but rather from the verb "to jump" or "to leap up." The effect is enhanced even further if the line-up of the Sun, Earth and Moon is so exact that a solar or lunar eclipse.”~ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia~

What happened to the man & the children? Well, the man clutched two of the younger children, one on his right hand and the second one on his left. He managed to walk back to the shore which was about 800 meter away. The water level was already chest high. When he went back for the last child, he had to swim out because the water had already risen above his chest. He panicked when he could not find the last child. Many scenarios went through his mind. The child could have panicked, slipped from the rock & fell into the sea or he could have attempted to swim back on his own. The sun had set by then . The search was fruitless. The child was never found.

Today is the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival, where the moon is at its fullest & brightest tonight because it is at its closest distance to earth. Who knows, there could be a spring tide today.