Who wants to live forever?

"Every day is my best day; this is my life. I'm not going to have this moment again." - Bernie Siegel


Babi looking lost and bewildered even though he's got enough grass to graze until he explodes.

My babi is the typical Aries character...perpetually discontented and wants more even when he's got everything going for him in life. Don't get me wrong here...I don't mean he's not thankful for what he's got...sure, he is, but somewhere deep in his complex, Arian soul, he feels this deep gnawing sensation that something is still missing.

Are rams genetically predisposed to Attention Deficit Disorder? I would like to think not, but...

I hate to attribute this to something as generic and flaky as astrology, but the coincidences are too magnificent to dismiss. Almost every Arian I know possesses this character quirk. They're all a bunch of fiery, passionate people who are lively, likeable go-getters. As a result of their likeability, they ascend very rapidly in life. They're easily ignitable and calm down just as quickly. I'm sorry to say this, but they've also got the attention span of a severely under-developed, under-nourished fly.

They get all excited and passionate over something, and go all out for it...but their fire dies just as quickly. Few things in life can hold their attention and interest for long. I can only conclude that Arians crave for variety in life, not so much of excitement. The mundanity of routine bores them stiff. They are individuals who bore easily, may it be with hobby, career or love life. They constantly crave for that elusive, often-unattainable something...but they're usually unable to put a finger on what exactly the missing piece of puzzle in their life is. So, like the typical ram that they are, they get bored and disillusioned.

Trust me, when a ram is sibeh sian...his entire surrounding resonates with his sentiment. Those near and dear can feel it like one can feel a ram charging at and goring at her with his horns.

For any thing to hold their attention, much less passion...that thing has to constantly evolve to keep them on their toes. Arians thrive best when something out of the ordinary (not even necessarily something major) happens (as seen in how the 3 little girls incident momentarily lifted Babi from his mood rut). The Arian will absolutely die a slow, tortuous death when they have to experience or deal with the same thing day in and day out, over and over again.

Babi has a healthy conscience, so he is likely to suppress what is bothering him until it eats him up inside. While I can understand where he's coming from, I don't see why life has to be about doing something or going places (by that I don't mean go jalan jalan hor). I'm an atypical Leo who finds comfort in familiarity and is perfectly happy nua-ing at home doing nothing day in and day out. Am I happy the way I am? You bet your sweet, ambitious ass I am.

I am digressing here, but I do want to air my humble two cents on life...

Who wrote The Book of Life that living has to be about the vibrance of constant action? Living is about being happy. If one is happy rotting in bed all day and that is what truly brings a smile to his face, then one is living. If one is scaling Mount Everest thinking to himself, "The things I do to make myself feel that I am living", then one is merely pretending to live.

Living isn't about getting somewhere in life. The only final destination we will all surely and eventually get to is death. All else in life is one long, turbulent process, some more turbulent than others. Why hasten the process when you can slowly savor what you're able to make of life (notice I don't say 'what life has to offer')? In my words, don't take life too seriously. If you're unhappy with the way you're living (notice I don't say 'your life'), then do something about it.

I know exactly what John Lennon meant when he said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Because that is exactly what is happening to most of us, whether or not we're aware. Life isn't for us lowly mortals to contemplate...it's for us to live and suffer through. It is, however, in our hands whether or not we're happy, as we head towards our collective, irrevocable fate.

While we're preoccupied thinking we should be doing this and that, we should've gotten here or there, comparing and complaining...life is passing us by because time waits for no man. Life doesn't revolve around what you need to know, it revolves around what you need to understand. So, while I'm waiting for a sign that will indicate to me what meaning I must give to my life, right now my futile existence alone is satisfactory.

"Some people live to be. I just live." Susie de la Chappelle

The meaning of life

I am sure all of us at different stages of our life will question wat is the true meaning of life? Things have been going well for me. I just got promoted (dun noe whether it is a good ting. hahaha), dragon boat team is doing well & almost everyting is going smooth but I just dun feel alive. Can't feel the excitement of life.

I encounter a really cute incident today that makes me feel alive again. After gym, I went to buy sushi as usual. I saw 3 little girls with $6 in their hand queuing up to pay for their meals. The cashier told them $6 is not enough as their bill came up to $6.95. Tink they saw the ad outside tat says $0.99 per plate of sushi. They ate 6 plates but forgot to calculate GST & service charge. Hehe. 1 of the little girl started to dig in her huge school bag for the additional $0.95. Guess they were a little nervous cuz there were quite a few of us at the cashier. Heard 1 of the little girl blaming her fre with someting like "I told u so it is not $6 lor". haha. In the end, I told the cashier that I will pay the $0.95 for them & asked them to stop digging. It was such a cute incident & the smiles on the children faces make me realise wat the meaning of life is all abt. Hehe.

Ah Pui's 拿手好菜

"I want to eat some more." My eyes widened in surprise as Babi reached over and pilfered some of my share.

This is, mind you, after his second large helping and a bowl of ice-cream.

"I thought you said you're already full." I watched him stuff another forkful of pasta into his mouth.

Chomp chomp chomp chomp, his molars worked wonderfully efficiently. "I am. But it's so yummy."

I must admit I derive no small amount of satisfaction watching Babi stuff his anorexic face with the pasta I cooked.

Usually Babi is damn plastic. When asked if he liked what I cooked, he would nod his head and perfunctorily pay lip service. "Yeah, I love it." And then take all of like three bites before retiring from the dinner table. Can tell he super 勉强, super 应酬 wun lor. Actions do speak louder than words where gastronomics are involved, as far as Babi is concerned. If he really loves the food, he'd go for seconds, thirds and still pinch some off my plate. He would stuff himself so full even Eno couldn't bring him salvation.

Then he would spend the rest of the night, miserably bloated and whining about his killer bout of indigestion. Haha, I certainly feel honored that my pasta was worth braving an evening of gut congestion for.

Can't really blame him for doubting my culinary skills also lah, having previously subjected him and my in-laws to the dining trauma of The Steak Tough Enough To Concuss T-Rex. That was some excellent shit.

If you like your meat about as chewy as unprocessed buffalo hide.

All post-T-Rex-Steak announcements that I was going to cook were met with pure, wet-the-pants-horror and open skepticism, until I redeemed myself with Deep-Fried Prawn Balls.

Suddenly I wasn't such a terrible cook after all.

This was my second attempt at cooking seafood mushroom pasta. Babi specifically requested for it. Until this dish came about, my so-called 拿手好菜 was deep-fried prawn balls (made from scratch and a Chee family recipe).

I had barely shut the door getting into the car when he suggested, "Aye, pui eh, how about you cook pasta for dinner tonight?" Har? I was exhausted, having just gotten off my 7am to 4pm shift. The prospect of having to toil in the kitchen when we got home didn't exactly appeal to me at that point.

But, I rationalized, Babi must really love my pasta to actually be requesting for it. So I decided I would do the right thing and 委屈 myself yet again. Besides, I'm not known as his 伟大 wife for nothing lor. :p

So off to Cold Storage we went...


Nothing but the freshest ingredients.

The sweating, peeling, chopping, dicing, boiling and frying finally yielded...

Seafood Mushroom Pasta Mark II.


The product of 1.5 hours of blood, sweat and near-lopped off fingers in the kitchen.


My baby up close and personal. Babi has already requested for this to be our future potluck contribution. ;)

The Singapore Flyer Accusation

"You went Singapore Flyer izzit?" Babi asked me first thing in the morning, his expression unreadable.

"Har?" I blinked at him, furiously rubbing crud from my eyes. If there's one thing I produce damn well, it's eye shit...copious amounts of it. I'm like Bak Sai Factory lor. At any given time there'll be crud caked at the inner corners of my eyes, hence my tendency to check every other minute. "What? When? Since when I go Singapore Flyer?"

"I saw the ticket." KNN, I actually saw the doubt in his eyes.

"What ticket? What the fuck I go Singapore Flyer for?" I wasn't very amused this time. KNN, I'm the person least keen to go for this fleece-tourist type of attraction lor. I'd rather pay $29.50 for a nice meal at Sushi Teh. But that's beside the point.

"Yesterday lor, you went Singapore Flyer, right? I thought you were at work?" Came the non-too-subtle accusation.

"Of course I was at work lah. Where's the ticket? Show me."

"On the TV table lor. If you didn't go, then who went?" Babi demanded to know.

"How I know? It wasn't me." The only culprit that popped up in mind was Babi's brother. Maybe he went and carelessly left his ticket stub on my TV table so that my husband could see it and accuse me, the idiot.

"Mi, who went Singapore Flyer yesterday ah?" Babi demanded of his mom, who was lounging on the sofa reading the papers.

His mom looked up, "Oh, papa lor. He went with his taxi kakis. You know cab drivers can get to go FOC wun?"

"Oh."

"KNN, want to accuse me!" I blustered. "See lah, mi, your son accuse me of going to Singapore Flyer and lying to him about it!"

"Har?" Went his mom. "How come leh?"

"Because I was supposed to be at work yesterday. He thought I lied to him and went Singapore Flyer instead!"

"Haiyo, you ah!" His mom turned and admonished. "This kind of person. Don't even trust your own wife!"

If Babi felt sheepish, he tried to hide it. "Aiya, ask only mah. What's wrong with asking?"

"Ask your kuku bird lor. You were accusing me!" I smacked him on the head.

"Ask! Next time get the facts right before you start accusing me! Accuse me again and you die!" I wagged a finger in his face.

"Yeah lah." His mom agreed. "Never ask start to anyhow guess liao. Haiyo, this papa oso lah. His kakis jio mah, so they went together. His company can get to go free still ok lah, otherwise pay $29.50 to go....yau kwee ah!" She then launched into her usual gahmen-out-to-cheat-us-taxpayers-of-our-hard-earned-money diatribe.

My good name cleared, I went back to sleep. Babi set off for work, relieved and probably feeling damn stupid for doubting the most wonderful wife on earth.

That evening I was still magnanimous enough to forgive his massive faux pas and cook him a nice pasta dinner. Babi claimed it was the most delicious I'd ever cooked. Haha, I wonder if he was still paiseh about his morning idiocy. :p