Friday 21 July 2006

A Birthday Wish


Here's wishing Happy Birthday to my dad, who happens to be a day older than pycnogenol, assuming that they were born in the same year. However, I don't think they do share the same birth year as my dad is waaaaaaayyyyy younger than that mysterious blogger - or so he tells me. My dad, I mean. Not pycnogenol.

And no, I'm not giving out his age. It's no use trying to cajoule me into revealing how old is my dad. I will keep that secret safe with me.

However, I will tell you that he's not 6 years old. Nor is he 60.

Anyway, here's another round of Happy Birthday to you dad. Hope the year brings lots of cheer and laughter for you. Ameen.

Tuesday 18 July 2006

A Riddle


Try to guess what are the four letters. Example: D-I-N-G

Note to self: Never, ever write an ambiguous headline for national daily.

Saturday 15 July 2006

Peculiarities on a Shopping Trip

Some peculiar sights which caught my eye today as I was following the family on a shopping trip:

1. A rather fat round man was looking at some weight scales put on display. Nothing wrong there; until he proceeds to take one, places it on the floor and nonchalantly stands on it to see how much he weighs. Still nothing wrong there, you might say. But consider this: the scale was still in its box, or whatever was left of the poor thing after being semi-crushed by The Round Man.

2. A parade of women aged 30-something. I use the term parade here because that was how they were moving together; in a parade. Did I mention that they were wearing short black skirts and ties? Yes, ties. Like the ones that men wear. The ones where they gradually broaden at the inferior end. Not only that, these parading women also had their neck(?) length hair smartly slicked back; using pomade, I assume.

3. There was this one slighty old lady (I guess she's into her late forties) who was doing her shopping all alone. And she had the thickest make up a woman could ever possibly apply to her face. Her eyeliner was so thick that it made her resemble a killer whale. Now I don't mean to be ungallant, but this old lady scared me.

4. My own reflection in a mirror. Weird.

Thursday 6 July 2006

Change

As of lately, there has been a lot of talk about change. It's true. If you don't believe me, try standing idly at any common sidewalk and listen to what the people passing by are talking about. Yes, I know that it's not ethically correct to be eavesdropping on other people's conversations, but that is not the point I am trying to make here. The point I am trying to make is that people are talking a lot about change.

Nowadays, you can hardly enter your local bookstore without coming across one of those unattractive looking self help books that touch upon the subject. Neither can you sit down and unwind at a coffeeshop without spilling your cup of cuppacino when you accidentally overhear the couple next to you arguing whether He should change his diet routine just for Her sake.

Sheesh.

If you ask me, change has been around for a long time, and it'll be around for quite some time more. It makes me wonder why people are making such a fuss over it - verbaly - now. I mean, if you want to change, go on ahead. There's no need for you to announce it to the world (or buy one of those unattractive looking self help books, for that matter). In fact, more often than not, the moment you declare your ambitious ambition to change, you end up reverting back to your old ways. Which makes the whole affair of announcing your change look like a big waste of physical, emotional, financial (and of course, salivary) resources.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't change. No, no. I do not mean to say that at all. By all means, go ahead and change - if it's for the better. Do change your diet plan if you've just been told by your doctor that you have a case of Familial Hyperlipidemia. Or do change your hairstyle if your best friend says that it makes you look like Donald Trump (which may not be necessarily be a bad thing, especially more so if you're in the real estate business). If the change is for the better, I have nothing against it. But if you don't mind, I'd rather you keep to yourself the plan to change and not announce it loudly as to disturb other people.

If somebody came up to me with the intention to change and asked for my advice on it, it would be this: Keep a small jar on the kitchen counter. When you have come back home late at night after work and buried the keys under the tiles (for safety reasons, obviously), make it a habit to put inside that small jar the change you have accumulated throughout the day. I suggest you donate the smaller ones to the needy, or dump them onto your neighbour's lawn. Which might explain the severe look on his face everytime you greet him in the mornings. But that is of no importance to what we are discussing here. Remember, change is inevitable, but if not managed wisely, it will cause an unsightly bulge in the coin section of your wallet.