The last thoughts for this week

I'm feeling a little lighter today. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that I'm all family-wamily lately and that I got to meet my long lost cousins, but to go from not seeing the family for years to seeing all the Loo's every single day for one week was a bit too much. It was an overdose of the Loo's. My boogie monsters were happy and having a party with margaritas out there. And as a result, I've been having restless dreams every night for more than a week now.

So when I dropped off the last Loo at her apartment this morning, I was feeling a little lighter and a little Loo-less. It has been a terribly tiring hectic week. A terrible hectic month. Made me think of a lot of things.

When I die, I do not, do not, do not want a Chinese funeral. This is what I want.

1. I'm not a strong Christian believer but I still want a Christian funeral.
2. Should be only one day thing. I don't know that many people anyway.
3. I want people to know that it's okay to laugh and make jokes at my funeral. I want people to be happy instead of sad
4. I want a photo slide show of my life. Please use the song "All of Me" by Jon Schmidt. Maybe even add in the video of my funky wedding dance just for the fun of it. ;)
5. I want a nice little speech at the end
6. There should be a small buffet line of egg and smoked salmon sandwiches. Ooooo... and laksa. We can't go without my laksa right. And also chendol la.
7. And I want a nice photo of me to be displayed. If you used my passport or driving license photo or particularly my U.S. visa photo, I will come back and haunt you.

The past one week has made me love the hubby even more. My sister and I were sitting at the corner observing him talking to all the grand-aunties. He flashed his award winning granny smile, so shinning that my sister said she was blinded for 2 seconds. When my dad came back later for the funeral, he was hearing all the "good boy" stories about the hubby. I'm only wondering why I don't ever get that shinny smile from the hubby which apparently only reserved for aunties above the age of 50. Cheh.

But seriously, the hubby was so charming to the family, it put me and the sister to shame. I wonder what magical parenting formula my parents-in-law used to produce such a family-oriented son.

I'm worried about my grandma. My biggest fear in life is to lose the hubby. Imagine living with someone for almost 70 years then wake up one day to see his favourite chair next to yours empty, never to be filled again. And because of that empty chair, life becomes empty as well.

Also, I think the Chinese might have gotten it a little wrong. Prosperity, Longevity and Wealth may be important. But having all three does not guarantee Happiness.

And to me that's the most important. Isn't it?

Photos of the past

I could not sleep last night. Too many things were running in my head.

Last night during my grandpa’s wake, a relative brought over old photos of my grandparents. It was the first time I’ve seen my grandparents wedding photo. First time I’ve seen both of my great-grandfathers as well. They wanted me to scan in all the photos so I carried home a very old tin box filled with photos from the past.

When I reached home, already quite late at night, I found myself staring at my grandparent’s wedding photo for such a long time. They look so young in the photo, only 18 or 19 years old. So serious, so solemn, but with a long bright future right in front of them. Then I wondered what it would be like for me to be old and at my last years, look back at my own wedding photo knowing that, okay… time’s up. You’ve almost finished your race, whether or not you were happy with how the race went, it’s time for you to go off now.

My grandparent’s marriage was arranged by their fathers as a way to improve the business between the two families. My grandma’s father owned a pawn shop and my grandpa’s father owned a gold shop. So gold that gets pawned then gets sold at the gold shop.

Then I found myself wondering what my grandparents were like when they were young. What was it like to marry a man arranged by your parents? Did they fall in love after that? Did they hold hands and plan their future together?

I found another photo, a family photo of my grandparents and their 6 children. 5 boys, 1 girl. All still young children. All still innocent. So what happened? What caused all of them to go on in life each creating their own real-life mini TVB drama series? What caused all the drama and conflict among all the siblings? What caused something that started so innocent end up so ugly?

I stared at that family photo even longer. And when I went to bed, my thoughts couldn’t stop. All my life I have been isolated from my family and have been brought up hearing ugly stories about them. If you grew up being taught that the world is flat only to one day realize that the world is round, I’m sure you’d been stunned for a while. For the past week, I’ve been getting to know my family through my hubby. All strange and new for me.

And then I realized something. Whatever happened during my parent’s generation is not mine to inherit and carry. It’s not my battle to fight. I don’t care which relative is horrible and which is not in the eyes of my parents. I’ve decided to see with my own eyes and make my own decisions. If one relative is horrible, that relative can be as horrible as (s)he want’s to be, I don’t care and I don’t want to care. But I shall no longer isolate the whole family just because of the boogie monsters from the past (who should be really old boogie monsters with wrinkles and white hair by now).

After making peaces with the old wrinkly boogie monsters from the past, I finally managed to fall asleep last night. I still have young boogies monsters of my generation to battle, but I’ll leave those alone for another time.

I hope that one day if I have grandchildren, they will also one day find my wedding photos as one of their most precious family treasures. Only that unlike me, they wouldn’t be wondering what their grandparents were like.

They would already know.

In loving memory of my grandpa

With one candle lit

My 83 year old grandma observed the Earth hour last night. I'm so
proud of her. Though her reason of doing it is because she thinks it's
the law to do so. She even asked whether she is allowed to light
candles. :)

When i left her house last night, she was sitting there alone with
only 1 candle lit. Alone in the dark knowing that my grandpa whom she has been
with for the past 6 decades was dying and would not live to see the next day.

If I ever have to live through a day like that, I hope I can be as
strong as her.

Thank you

I just wanna say a big thank you to those to made the effort to either go to the hospital or who messaged me to let me know they would donate if they could. I've realized that it's actually not easy to find blood donors. I always assumed that there are so many people out there. If I don't donate, somebody else will.

But when it's your turn who needs blood, you'll realize that not everybody can donate. And most people will give the excuse of being afraid to donate. I being one of them before this.

But watching the patients in the ICU fight for their lives, I am very ashamed of myself that my excuse of not donating before is because I'm afraid of a needle. What's a needle in comparison to fighting death?

I went to the ICU to visit my grandpa again. Usually they only allow two visitors per patient at one time. When I entered, I saw a crowd of more than 10 people around the patient next to my grandpa. They were crying and wailing and calling out to that patient. I guess they were there to say their last goodbyes. I felt so sad for them. So so so sad.

I can't imagine what it's like to be a patient in the ICU, already being so near to death, and having to listen to the sounds of death around you. Made me feel like all the problems in life which we usually complain about is so meaningless in comparison.

A story to tell, a favor to ask

When I see my grandparents, I see a part of my history. When you are young, you think they will live forever. And because my family has as much drama as a TVB drama... I, and I can see that my other cousins as well, were brought up in a way that we hated our family gatherings. Going to the grandparents house for a visit seemed such a chore.


Due to further family problems, I stopped seeing them for years. I stopped seeing anyone considered family. If I do not see family, I can forget about all the boogie monsters from the past.

After a great struggle and persuasion from my relatives from my mum's side who hunted me down and refused to let me distance myself from them, I agreed to visit my paternal grandparents again. Only this time, I went on my own free will with the hubby. No longer being dragged by my dad.

This past 2 years, through my hubby, I've gotten to know my grandparents. My grandparents can only speak Cantonese, which I can't. So hubby speaks to them instead. The hubby has a way of being extra charming to grannies, he just needs to give them his specialized granny award winning smile and the grannies love him.

Needless to say, my grandma ADORES him. The two will sit down and chat for an hour like old friends. She tells the hubby lots of stories, stories of when she was young girl and how her marriage was arranged with my grandpa, stories of the Japanese occupation, stories of all my other relatives who are practically strangers to me.

I suddenly realized that the grandparents are part of my history. They are part of who I am today. I'm extremely disappointment with my parents for everything that happened and I'm glad that I made the decision to reconnect with my grandparents again.

My grandparents are old. They can no longer go out. They no longer care about all the mistakes of the past. All they want is for their family to drop by to see them once in a while. To me, it's just one hour out of a busy day, which I admit that sometimes I postpone week to week. To them, it's the highlight of the whole week. They now spend their life waiting for somebody to drop by for a visit, waiting for the doorbell to ring.

I hardly ask for favors. At least I try not to. When I had my surgery, I insisted that I could drive to the hospital myself to have the surgery stitches taken out. That was a very bad idea. The next time you see a car crawling on the road, take pity because it might a poor girl on her way to get her stitches out.

Today I need to ask for a favor. My grandpa is in the ICU. He needs blood. If you can donate, I will be very grateful. If you can't, it's okay... no obligations.


I've been visiting my grandpa these past few days. For him, it's a fight to see the next morning sun. For me, it could be the last time I see him. That my goodbye to him may be the last.

We all grow old. But we always deny it. We think we have all the time in the world. We take the next day, month, year for granted. But one day time runs out. Then comes the desperation to hang on just to see one more day.

I sense that desperation around me whenever I enter the ICU to see my grandpa. I see that desperation in my grandpa's eyes every time I look at him. When I see how hard he has to fight just to see tomorrow, I feel like it's a sin for me to carelessly take tomorrow for granted.

If I lose my grandpa, I feel like I'll lose part of my roots. I've only begun to get to know my grandparents. To get to know a part of my history. And they still has plenty of stories to tell, stories that I want to hear.

If you can donate blood to my grandpa, the details are as the following. Any blood type will do.

Loo Yok Choon, 0041977
Adventist Hospital


Comments off. No obligations.

Today 10 years ago, I asked this question

During the last year of school one question we liked to ask ourselves was, "Where would you be 10 years from now?" There was something just so exhilarating about that question to a 17-year-old whose future was wide opened bursting with endless possibilities. I used to stare out of my bedroom window while doing my homework, daydreaming of what the future would be.

Well, as of today, exactly 10 years have passed since the the very last time I wore a secondary school uniform. The day was 11 December 1999, the last paper of SPM. One of the happiest days of my life. :)

10 years later, 11 December 2009, all of us were supposed to meet in McDonalds at Midlands. Needless to say, that won't be happening today. Being young at the time, we were naive enough to think that our friendship would be able to withstand the time of 10 years.

I can say that the 10 years have changed all of us in different ways. Some chose to grow apart and have nothing to do with the rest. But some of us decided to make that extra effort to keep each other in our lives no matter how busy or how far from each other we were.

To those few who are still in my life, I appreciate each and everyone of you. You have been there from the very start, my pre-Yin How years... the years where all us would argue who would be the first to have a boyfriend and get married. (we all know the answer by now... it wasn't me...).

I appreciate the fact that we grew up and faced every stage of life so far together... oh like how we had to keep up with somebody's latest boyfriends... or somebody's ever changing hairstyles or somebody's never-ending shocking announcements (you think you know a person from inside out after 15 years of friendship and yet she still has something to tell you which will shock you completely into silence). And there's something so nostalgic about seeing the girl you used to play with when you're young, grow up into a fine woman and witnessing the day she decides to tie the knot with her life long partner.

10 years can do a lot to a person. And it has done a lot to me (I hope not so much physically though). Looking back, I realized I always had a plan and stuck to that plan almost obsessively. First get a degree, then the first job, then the first car, then the first home, then the first husband (better add "and only"), then the wedding reception, then the very much delayed honeymoon. I planned exactly what I wanted by what age I wanted it (except for the honeymoon which I kept conveniently delaying).

But I realized that nothing always go according to plan. I went through good times and bad times.. my own as well as the girls who grew up with me. I learned to walk away then it hurts too much because not everything has a solution. I learned to let go of a lot of my naive thoughts that everything would be perfect as long as I had a perfect plan. And I've learned that sometimes it's not necessary to always have a plan. That now and then it's okay to just go with the flow and fill it with little surprises on the way.

After 10 years, would I have made the 17-year-old Mindy proud? I believe so. I hope so.

Today I get to answer the question the 17-year-old-me asked 10 years ago. I guess that now that I'm here, the next question would be, "Where would I be 10 years from now?" (Hopefully still alive... seriously).

***
In a way, a few of us did meet up for lunch today at Dragon-i. It's not McDonald's but hey, after 10 years, I think we can upgrade our taste buds for something better ;)
How was the pau?

Remember that feeling?

Remember that feeling when you were a young student and after studying for months, you have just finished your very last paper knowing that all the hard work has finally paid off. The feeling of a thousand tonne weight lifted from you as the examination invigilator starts collecting your answer sheet for the last time and you can't help but grin like a maniac to all your friends around you. The feeling that you can go home burn all your study books because you don't to look at them again. The feeling of absolute freedom knowing that as of that one moment, there's nothing in the world you can be worried about.

As you emerge from the examination hall, you feel so light you could fly off into the blue sky.

I miss that feeling of freedom.

In the strange land

Imagine that you have traveled to a far away land. You are alone and the land and everything with it is strange to you. You know no one there, you have nobody to talk to and you do everything alone.

Then later you start to meet people. And the people are so friendly and make you feel at home. They take you out for lunch, for dinner, for shopping, for sight-seeing. And you end up being so appreciative that because of them this strange land no longer seems so strange anymore.

Then you realize that just being a little friendly makes a whole lot of difference to someone foreign to your land. For you it may just be an hour or two of your time. Or even just a minute to drop by and say Hi. But for them, it made the whole trip so much more enjoyable.

You are thankful. And so you change.
Hopefully, you change for good.

:)

2 books and a green tomato

Book 1: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

A story about a couple during the 60's. Husband was a doctor, wife was a typical wife of the 60's. Wife was in labour with twins and when husband saw that his baby daughter had Down Syndrome, he asked the nurse to take the baby away and lied to his wife that the daughter died. The story goes on from there.

I enjoyed the book, though I was kinda expecting a more dramatic ending.



Book 2: A Thousand Splendid Suns

I loved this book. ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. I know I'm loving a book when I read it until late into the night, then wake up the next morning and continue reading it before even getting out of bed. The last time I loved a book so much was Marley and Me.

The Kite Runner revolved around the relationship between 2 Afghanistan boys and this time the author wanted a story about 2 Afghanistan women. The story resolves around two women with very different backgrounds who found themselves in a unlikely beautiful relationship due to the twist of circumstances. The book gives a picture of the sufferings of Afghanistan women living under the terrible Taliban era. Their pain, their desperation, their fight to cling on and survive.

All I can say, I'm glad I'm a woman here and not there. Read the book and you'll start counting your blessings as well.

And not forgetting of my precious growing green tomato. If the doggies want to live long lives, THEY BETTER NOT TOUCH MY TOMATO.

The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself

I'm sure everybody has heard of the Sunscreen Song. But if you haven't heard it for a while and are going through a difficult time, go back and listen to it. Makes you feel a little stronger after that.

Also, you may not realize that simple gestures you do for other people can mean so much. To you it may be just a simple everyday thing like patting somebody's back, or just listening, or just smiling, or just waving to say hi (or just buying a bag of candies), but to the person who's going through a difficult time, it's these little gestures that say, hey, someone still cares. So thanks a lot. :)

Anyway, enjoy the song below. :)

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99


If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering
experience…I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….

You’re not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you

Sing

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours.

Floss

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with
yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.


Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own..

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen…

Life lessons from Morrie

I'm currently reading Tuesdays with Morrie again. The first time I read it was when I was just out of college, a fresh graduate too busy chasing so many things at that time and I only read the book halfway and tossed it aside where it got lost under my bed.

6 years after graduation, 2 jobs, a wedding and a new home later, I'm finding time to read again. And I found this little book hidden among the books in my bookshelf.

I wish I could see the world as how Morrie sees it. I realize that all he says is true, yet I still to continue to hang on to things which are not important. I only hope that as I grow older, I'm be able to let go of certain things and cherish the things which are really important in life.

These are some of my favourite quotes from Morrie.

“Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it.” (p. 18)

“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” (p. 43)

“I don’t allow myself any more self-pity than that. A little each morning, a few tears, and that’s all . . . . It’s horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But it’s also wonderful because of all the time I get to say goodbye.” (p. 57)



“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” (p. 52)

“What if today were my last day on earth?” (p. 64)

“Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” (p. 82)

There is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn’t the family. (p. 91)

“Don’t cling to things, because everything is impermanent.” (p. 103)

“ . . . If you’ve found meaning in your life you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can’t wait until sixty-five.” (p. 118)

“Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness.” (p. 125)

“ . . . love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.” (p. 133)

“ . . . the big things—how we think, what we value—those you must choose yourself. You can’t let anyone--or any society—determine those for you.” (p. 155)


Be compassionate. And take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much better a place.” (p. 163)

99 baloons

I watched Oprah yesterday and yesterday's show was about miraculous children. A video from YouTube which was watched almost 2 million times was shown on the show. Oprah who watched it for the first time during the show was left in tears.

The video is about a father reading out the letters he wrote to his son.



In just 99 days, his parents took over 3000 photos of him. They knew from the very start that their son will not live and the mother said something that really struck me. She said she would tell her husband, "I'll be sad later. I'm going to enjoy every second now".

Truly inspiring.

It's no excuse

I'm feeling lousy. Sometimes I'm so busy trying to keep up with life, I tend to forget about the people around me. Meant to drop an email, meant to catch up during lunch, meant to say hi but intentions kept getting lost in the many things to do in a day. And suddenly weeks have rushed by.

Until I hear the news, different things twice in one week, and I realize that things were not going all too well...

I wished I had stopped to say "How are you doing?". I wished I stopped to listen.

I'm sorry. :(

Stopping for a moment to think

I'm in the office now and it's so freaking quiet. The only thing I can hear is the sound of me typing on my keyboard.

Yesterday I saw something that shocked and disturbed me. If I were a superstitious Chinese, this would be absolutely the worst thing to see on the second day of CNY. I'm going to stop complaining about how much I hate CNY. Someone else's CNY is way worst than mine. I have no right to complain.

When pissed about something, rant all you want, get it out of your system, then shut up and move on. Life is just to short to dwell on unimportant things.

If you knew that this hour would be your last, what would you do? Or if you knew that next week would be your last week? Or this month would be your last?

Would you tell your love ones that you love them? Would you hug them and never let go? Would only do the things that truly make yourself happy? Would you eat to your hearts content? Would you watch the last sunrise? Would you smile, stand still and just enjoy the moment while it last?

Or would you be working overtime on a job which gives no shit about you? Spending your last hours on something which you don't want to do but have to do? Worrying about how your investment portfolio would look like for the next few months? Remain pissed off about something unimportant? Whine that your butt looks too fat?

We always complain that we have no time. But it's ironic that if told that this hour would be the last hour in life, probably we would find the time to do all we really need to do.

Problem is that life always has it's sharp turns. And sometimes we move so fast in life and miss those turns.

And then it's too late.

Why I love Yin How

1. Because he rubs my tummy when i have a tummy ache (after I force him to do so)
2. Because he makes a cup of Milo when I'm hungry (after I force him to do so)
3. Because he cooks for me if I come home late from work
4. Because he does the laundry every weekend (else he’ll have no clothes to wear the following week) and helps me with the housework (after a little nagging) and he irons his own clothes
5. Because he buys and cuts fruits for me when I'm constipated
6. Because he says the most ridiculous things which makes me laugh
7. Because he is kind to animals and would buy a bun for a hungry stray dog he sees one at kopitiam
8. Because he respects his elders, and teaches me to do the same
9. Because he loves and looks after the dogs so I know he'll make a good father
10. Because he loves me too

Happy 27th Birthday!~ Can't believe you are so old already.

Goodbye 2008

It's been some time since I wrote here. Got lazy during the holidays. But I have to write one more post before the year ends. 2008 has been a great year for me. And if I look back, this will be what I remember and what I've learnt...

1) I settled down in my new home. I get to see Yin How every night before I sleep and every morning when I first open my eyes. I fully utilized my kitchen, learning new recipes. I formed a new routine and began a new life.
Lesson learnt: Marriage is a commitment from both partners which involves a lot of work but results in absolute happiness

2) My baby sister has finally started university. Made me feel so old but excited and relieved at the same time. She's now a step away from being independent.
Lesson learnt: Oh gosh... I'm getting older

3) My team of originally 2 people has now grown to 8 people. A lot of new challenges to face at work.
Lesson learnt: Try not to takes things personally, focus on what's important and ignore what is not

4) My childhood friend, Soma, finally got married after being together with Raj for 12 years. We had a crazy Hen's night and it was a great grand wedding celebration.
Lesson learnt: Having a friendship of 12 years, then being there to witness her marriage is one of the most priceless experiences ever

5) I found freedom and broke free from my personal family problems. I started warming up to relatives and went to see my grandparents whom I have not seen for over 5 years.
Lesson learnt: Just because my parents are screwed up, doesn't mean that everybody else in the world is the same

6) The Hen's night my friends organized for me. Too bad I can only remember the first few hours of the night. I just remember being the happiest girl in the world. Of course, my dear friends enjoyed the night since I was their main source of entertainment, babbling the most embarrassing things which I couldn't remember the next day. But hearing about what I did that night from them was hilarious.
Lesson learnt: Never get drunk to the point I can't remember anything.

7) And of course, the thing that I will remember the most from 2008 is my wedding dinner. I spend the first half of the year planning for it and everything turned out exactly like how I wanted it to be. I broke almost every Chinese tradition there is about weddings and the wedding dinner turned out the be the craziest wedding dinner with an unexpected dance at the end. :)
Lesson learnt: Weddings are about celebrating the most important day of your life with the people you love. If you want to do something your way, don't bother what other people say, don't bother about the traditions, don't bother about the rules, just do it exactly how you want it to be and it turn out to be the best thing ever

Looking back at this year, I feel that it was really a great year so I am a little sad that I have to say goodbye to 2008. But I'm eager to say hello to 2009, another new year with new experiences and new lessons to learn. So before the year is up, I would like to say...

Happy New Year!~~

Back to the 90's

After watching Mama Mia, I suddenly wanted to listen to Oldies. I started with the 6o's Oldies channel, listening to songs from the 60's, a lot which I've never heard before. I switched to the Super 70's channel and started grooving to the BeeGees, ABBA and other artist from that era. After a while I got bored, and I switched to the Awesome 80's channel. The songs from this era started sounding a bit more familiar to me but still didn't really suit my taste, so I switched channels again.

This time I tried the 90's Pop channel. And I have to tell you, a sudden tidal wave of memories came rushing in. I grew up in the 90's and listening to music from that era brought me back to my teenybopper days. I was smiling like an idiot everytime a song which I used to love during those days was playing.

I still can remember when I was 13 or 14, I bought Jasmine a BackStreet Boys video cassette tape (those big bulky ones) for her birthday. We had a sleepover at her place and we played the tape in her living room. I remember us 3 of us young teenage girls screaming our heads off in her living room whenever Nick Carter appeared in the video. The BackStreet Boys during those days were every teenyboppers dream. Looking back, it seems sooooooo hillarious.

Other songs which brought a rush of memories were Britney Spear's songs from the days when she was still innocent. Can you even recognize her in the album cover below?

Another song which made me smile like an idiot, was Ricky Martin's, "Shake Your Bon-Bon". I remember that song was played in the farewell party we had after SPM, the one in Crown Prince hotel (I think) and we went crazy on the dance floor when that song was played.


Another one I remember is Aqua, "I'm a Barbie Girl". I found that song so hillarious.

"I'm a barbie girl, in a barbie world.
Life in plastic, it's fantastic!
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere,
Imagination, life is your creation!
Come on Barbie, let's go party! "


And do you remember The Moffats? Don't remeber? Watch the vidoe below to refresh your memory. I remember that Mei Ying and Bee Shin would keep singing this song whenever there was a free period in class. I guess The Moffats were the "Jonas Brothers" of our time. LOL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1pABjF7WfE

I remember other songs from Roxette, Nsync, 98 Degrees, Hanson, TLC, Five, Spice Girls (Oooo, i used to love them)... boy and girl bands used to be so popular back then. And there were the great singers like Toni Braxton, Mariah Carrey, Celine Dion, Bon Jovi.


Looking back, I really had a great time during schooldays. So many good memories that I shall write of my teenybopper days in another post. Until then.... enjoy this!~~