pschidt's Xanga

Friday, March 04, 2005

Fri, 04 Mar 2005 06:20:05 GMT

this has been on my mind for the past 6 months but now i feel that it is time to say goodbye.

it has been 814 days of knowing you all. thank you for taking the time to read and comment.

today i am driving off to another place. maybe i will see some of you there. maybe i won't.

again, thank you and goodbye. it has been great having readers like you.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Thu, 03 Mar 2005 07:44:58 GMT

this is the key to my heart:

WHERE ARE MY BOOKS AMAZON!!!

***** edit*****

don't have time to pack tonight. someone just died and i have to go to the wake.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Wed, 02 Mar 2005 01:45:16 GMT

fuck. somehow i've managed to get stomach flu. there goes my 1++ year of not falling ill.

the doctor gave me 6 sachets containing 20 BILLION Lactobacillus casei each. (you know the yakult bacteria) to be taken twice a day. i feel like the guy in the australian listerine ad where the listerine blasts his mouth clean of bad bacteria, except that in my case it's my stomach.

took loads of pics of my car but too lazy to post them up. yet. a fellow photographer enthusiast friend of mine couldn't resist snapping a few for himself.

WHEN ARE MY BOOKS COMING AMAZON!

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Sat, 26 Feb 2005 03:59:32 GMT

dad and i are going to spend quality time this afternoon going to the MINI showroom and our usual haunt of car dealers along alexander road test driving cars and checking out the latest models.

we're gonna check out parts for my MINI. prolly get new lights, definitely adding about 100 more horses in the engine.

but sometimes, just sometimes, getting one hundred horses is better than getting just one.

Friday, February 25, 2005

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 01:50:10 GMT

a friend cancelled on vanessa and i so we had no choice but to go for a nice foot, back and head massage. boy did we have problems with our bodies! van's left side were full of soccer injuries (something kinda expected when she trains with home united and used to be a striker in NSW state league soccer) and the right side, karate injuries. and as for me, left hip joint old riding injury, left shoulder driving a manual car strain, left hand old violin RSI, and the rest of the body, RSI from working at the salon, slight soccer injuries, piano playing and the like.

and then we shopped and shopped and shopped. bought the "louis vuitton"* shoes i was totally lusting after. and then van came over for a haircut.

the left side of my body has a nice pleasant ache to it from driving.

*had dinner with a business associate of my dad's last night. he's french (on a family trip to france we stayed at his place at the south of france) and doesn't understand the worldwide obsession about mr vuitton. "everybody but the french pays $$$$$$ for a piece of vuitton." he exclaims over yet another glass of wine. maybe the french have different piorities.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 02:14:10 GMT

it's freaky.

i fly back to singapore 2 years ago. saw my grandfather and he died the next day.

i fly back to singapore this year, saw my grandmother on sunday and she gets a stroke the next day.

and for these respective years, norah jones has a concert in singapore at around the same time.

Monday, February 21, 2005

Mon, 21 Feb 2005 01:34:14 GMT

my grandmother had a stroke this morning, 10 hours after seeing her for the first time in more than a year.

my dad drove us to the hospital and showed me what the cooper s could really do. from my place in the west to NUH (National University Hospital: yet another proudly abbreviated institution in the name of the singaporean tradition of abbreviating everything and anything) - 10 minutes in peak hour traffic. top speed 130km/h.

grandmother's entire left side is paralysed. she can't speak but still can understand cognitively what is going on. it all depends on her response to treatment for the next 48 hours - whether she can regain her bodily senses.

i'm starting to pray for the first time in ages. i am such a fraud.

well. i'll be driving off to the hospital now. got to practice what my dad taught me this morning.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Sun, 20 Feb 2005 00:59:49 GMT

fuck. i can actually overtake other vehicles in friggin 2nd GEAR.

edit: no make that 1st gear

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Sat, 19 Feb 2005 04:30:35 GMT

back in singapore. thankfully in one piece without my luggage spewing out stuff.

AND I LOVE MY NEW CAR!!!!!! almost spent the night in it.

we've got broadband, which is like unbelieveable cos it was 56 k for almost 8 years.

what is also unbelieveable is that i just spent my saturday morning teaching my mother to write proper academic essays with in text referencing.

lots of people to call up and apparently i've got plans for tonight. going to some play with friends (found out about it when i landed)

TIME TO TEST DRIVE THE CAR!!!

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Sun, 13 Feb 2005 10:30:05 GMT

it's that time of the year again. and by this i mean chinese new year.

what were you thinking of?

it feels good waking up knowing that you've made a few hundred bucks in your sleep. bill gates would consider it pennies, but it's something to mortals like me.

okay. i think i should explain. during chinese new year, people exchange red packets which have money inside. married people have to give red packets to unmarried people. for example, my parents have to give red packets my cousins, me and my sisters, their parents (as a sign of respect), and their friends' offspring. grandparents give red packets to their children and grandchildren and so on. it doesn't really matter to them because their children usually give them money to put in red packets so that grandparents can continue with the tradition. plus, if your siblings happen to get married before you do, they will have to give you a red packet. so, if they get married and have kids, they'll have to give their kids a red packet each and you. but you don't have to give their kids any money because you're not married. how sweet is that?

it gets quite lucrative for people like me when both pairs of grandparents were really sexually productive and had 7-8 children on each side. and on top of that, my parents make it a point to pay a visit to their friends whom which they'll never see otherwise. i'm not complaning since i'll be getting red packets from them anyways.

but i reckon the best thing about chinese new year is not the red packets but rather celebrations goes on for 2 weeks. this means 2 weeks of getting money.

the chinese have always been really money minded. i mean, these people greet one another during the new year, saying stuff like 'may the bucks come rolling in your way', 'congrats on your striking it rich' even though it may not always be the case. they say it anyway because it's the new year and they might strike it rich. some chinese new year snacks even signify wealth and prosperity. some people even worship the god of fortune. (yes there is a god of fortune). not really surprising to have lots of people obsessing over the latest tv drama on gambling and heaps of people gambling during chinese new year

the chinese are also really superstitious. can't sweep the floor during chinese new year because you might sweep the wealth away. must wear red because red signifies good luck. and the list goes on.

chinese new year is the best time in any worried chinese parent's life to instil traditional chinese values to their children in an increasingly americanised world. you know, good wholesome chinese values like being really superstitious and money minded.

chinese new year is a fantastic time to for me to be a chinese^, especially when living from hand to mouth and the top of my "i'll be so financially screwed if..." list is "my projected chinese new year 2005 red packet fund was 50% more than what i actually got" (a close second would be "breathing costs money"). this usually means that i (or in this years' case, my youngest sister*) am/is not taking the time and effort to visit and pay respects to valued married relatives and family friends.

the trick to ensuring a big winfall each and every year is to be as chinese as you can be. this means brushing up on phrases which bestow wealth luck prosperity and health to enjoy it all on people, wearing red, avoiding practices that give you bad luck, having a stash of mandarin oranges in your bag *just in case of emergencies*. plus, when you meet the married people, make sure each and ever couple have gotten a pair of mandarins from you, not forgetting a good dose of them phrases, especially the ones that have to do with being/getting rich.

this is where the superstitious and the money mindedness comes in - the louder you say it, the higher the probability everyone else in the room hears it. this means two things. one: the other people in the room will also want nice chinese people like you showering them with lucky greetings for the new year. two: the recepients of these greetings will be more than pleased to have someone talk to them like that. (this apparently will mean that they will be rolling in the dough and other people will think that they are rich.) tip: the louder you say it, the higher the probability of your getting more money.

(be sure to write down the names of the people who gave you the red packet at the back so that you'll know exactly how much they give you each year.)

for 2 weeks every year, i don't really mind being chinese like that. really.

^even though most people in china won't consider me to be one

*being in 2 countries this year means that i get red packets from the usual people back in singapore, and then a few more from married people i know. plus, the australian dollar is up this year. it's a win-win situation.