Loopie - Joop

last weekend marked the official passing of Mr. Kwon-the-single (a.k.a. the hunk with a slight lisp). he is now Mr. Kwon-the-married, an "untouchable" now. argh. wail. weep. sob. hope his whirlwind romance and marriage withstands the test of time. (i shall try to refrain from wishing that he'll be back on the market anytime soon...)

crunchyroll that is. ever since ee sin told me about this site, i've been using it to catch up on korean movies. this weekend alone, i must have watched like 5-6 movies. from the very slapstick i.e. marrying the mafia series, to the funny e.g. my tutor friend and unstoppable marriage, frivolous wife and the really touching/sad i.e. humming and a moment to remember. slapstick always works for me - i laugh no matter how many times i've seen similar scenes. and of course i'd watched my tutor friend like, upteem times! but if you are wanting to have some sentimental lovey-dovey stories, no one does it like the koreans. i mean, the actorsare so watchably good-looking, great acting skills and believably storylines, and so so so heart-wrenching. Please do catch "humming" - you'll feel like killing the silly man in the show and "a moment to remember" - and you think you should marry the rake afterall....

It is funny how we fast we can "classify" people. i've always been very confident of my 6th sense - it doesn't take me longer than 5 seconds to know whether you are wily or straightforward, thinker, talker or doer. after dinner, the 3 of us were in the car talking about the 2 people we've just met. they were nice, i must say. and anyone with a familiar accent is always welcomed - funny how patriotic you become the further you are away from home. Hao-e and I are not conversationalists, per se. we can hold a conversation, but we aren't the most interesting speakers and when others can hold the fort in that area, we generally sit back and enjoy the show. and boy, is he entertaining. we were treated to some interesting banter about beijing and tibet, IT and Bermuda, Diving, etc. wow. life is about to get more interesting on the island i think. with R as well, i bet i'll feel less bored now. and why is it that there are so many so-called F1 fanatics back home n...

Hao-e and i sat dutifully in front of the television last night at 9.30pm waiting for my beloved Grey's Anatomy to start. it was the 2-hour season premiere... and i'm pretty happy with how it turned out, unlike Heroes Season 3 last Monday where we still scratched head over the story. hahaha. Guess what - christina has a new love interest (he's quite hot!), McDreamy and Meredith are moving together, Dr. Hahn and Dr. Torres are gonna try being lesbos, and Seattle Grace's ranking dropped to #12... Out of context - but i asked Hao-e what would happen if Raffles Institution dropped to #12 in the school rankings. he shook his head and said: "first of all, it wouldn't happen. if it did, someone's head will roll. and three, come on, who is f*cking better than RI? ACS? Kao!" okok, he didn't say it in these exact words (expletives included), but that's what i gathered from his wry smirk... topic done, no further discussion necessary. heh... So anyw...

Once upon a time, there was person on an island far, far away, who missed family and friends, all the partying and great food... she was bored - with time to kill. She looked for ways to spend her days and nights... Along came a knight in shining white armour. He was slim, smooth and sleek! His name is Wii. Together they discovered the wonders of beautiful graphics, cute music and mii's. He taught her to swing a baseball bat, to pitch, to golf, to whack tennis balls, to bowl and even box! She in turn developed a stiff shoulder and sore arm. ah... the wonders of technology.

I asked for strength that I might achieve; I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things; I was given infirmity that I might do better things. I asked for riches that I might be happy; I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of thers; I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given life that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I had asked for, but eveything that I had hoped for. Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered; I am, among all human ….. most richly blessed .

Have been relatively busier these days: went to cut my hair on 5th - found out my stylist is going back to Serbia. sigh - need to look for another one, although i only cut my hair every 3 months. Wine Tasting at Goslings - got pissed high on 12th - hungover the next day... haven't experienced that in a long long while. feels great. belly-dancing started last Wednesday evening... it's taught by a very pretty lady from Casablanca. first time seeing anyone from that exotic part of the world... fun but very taxing on the lower back. car's windows are finally fixed - all it took was loads of money $250 to import the part from God knows where... joined the Diocesan choir - we are doing a christmas concert on Dec 10th. practices on Monday evenings from 7.30 - 9 pm. had our first practice 3 nights ago - boy... it is tough being a first alto... figured there's more challenge in being an alto then a soprano.... yeah. i like to feel challenged... guess what? there were more sin...

I've been working in a uber open-plan office for the past 2 weeks, and i must admit the lack of privacy is atrocious. nowadays, i resize my IE windows real tiny so anyone walking past will only see a few lines of text and maybe half a picture. it is quite sad... in a bid to retain some form of freedom, i've resorted to resting my elbows on the table, sitting up straight and stretching my back to "block" the screen... the latest measure i've taken is to read in chinese. i go to yahoo taiwan and look for interesting blogs - none of those idiots who preen for the webcam putting pouting faces up to attract attenion. only those that write logical stuff... like this http://www.wretch.cc/blog/illyqueen/12291554 she styles herself as Queen and she's quite a good writer even though her topics concern mostly singlehood and how to rid yourself of the bad guy... doesn't quite apply to me but i enjoy reading it all the same. the other new blogs i chanced upon are ...

well, it's amazing how much some people can piss you off - and how much joy it is to work with others. i brought a photo frame filled with photos from hong kong/macau to the office, just to distract myself. when was that - like Jan of 2005? it's been what - 3 years and 10 months? how time flies? when will i get to go to hong kong again for smelly toufu?

i liked this article . excerpts that popped out: "For a surprisingly large number of people, the idea of creating a new human life does not immediately imply the responsibility to create a safe environment in which that life can flourish. Would-be parents simply think that they will have a child and the world will somehow fall into place. ... Firstly, a child born to a family without a home or an ability to feed it is a child sentenced either to die or to become a ward of the state. Secondly, a child who grows up in a home where they cannot observe a healthy loving relationship (gay or straight) is sentenced to a myriad of mental dysfunctions.... I know a woman who poked holes in her boyfriend’s condoms so he would knock her up and marry her. I know a man who uses his child solely to hand him beers when he’s having sex. I know a woman who sold her baby to his father for $500. I know a man who used to beat his son hard enough to leave bruises the size of baseballs. "

I know this post is late, and long overdue... although it's labour day here in Bermuda, we celebrate teachers' day on 1st sept. there have been many teachers through my 27 years that have left an impression... let's see now. Mrs Gay - my first piano teacher who caned my knuckles Ms Hsu - my 2nd piano teacher who taught me that short fingers need to "jump around" faster Qi Lao Shi - my guzheng teacher who i still can't believe is married with 2 daughters Mrs Simon - my first ballet teacher who taught me the word "spastic" the many ballet teachers i had at SBA - i cannot remember their names now except for the last one Mei Sing. as for school teachers... in primary school there were Mrs. Helen Chong (P1-P2), Mrs. Doris Lee (P5-P6), Mrs. Ang a.k.a. Hong Lao Shi (P4-P6) in secondary school, i only liked my math teacher - can't rem name but can definitely rem her face in jc my 2 favourites - Mr. Ho Shen Yong and Mr. Ng Pak Tee - they're the reaso...

As i begun today lethargically at the office (it's always tough to trudge back to office after a long weekend...), and i settled down with a nice cup of freshly brewed folgers colombian and scrolled through my emails. e-moo ads - see if there's anything interesting to buy at the online second-hand marketplace. result: zilch . deleted. replied to susan from CAAS HR. she wants to send me a letter regarding bonuses. gosh, that letter would take a month to reach me. but anyway, i suspect it ain't urgent, and probably just details the fact that i won't get any bonuses. duh. so i replied her with my bermuda address and asked her what's to become of my fate when i return in Apr 09 and the company has already privatised. expected results: no bonus, no miraculous end to bond and bond repayment and no answer to all my questions . (i'm guessing susan will forward my email to the whole world before sending a reply) jobsDB's email alert. result: zilch. this website stink...