my nanny

Went to the wake of the nanny who took care of me when I was just a baby. When she first welcomed me into her home, I was born 2 mths premature, small, like a baby kitten with translucent skin u can see all my innards (according to her daughter who told me last night funny tales that I don't recall of the past). I dun quite remember this nanny, only vague memories of running into her kitchen and watching her cook and having a few older kids fuss over me back then. And, my reluctance to leave her place whenever my mum comes to fetch me home during weekends. My nanny wasn't a maid. She was a neighbor in the kampong whom my granny n mum observed to be very adept at handling toddlers and babies and so i was entrusted to her care for 4 yrs. Apparently she took really good care of me, nursing me to become a healthy toddler. Her sister recalled that my nanny used cotton wool to wipe my delicate skin while bathing me for fear of tearing it.

xinmsn rates my dressing :)

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相信有彩虹 I Believe in Rainbows

我不属于那种非常乐观的人， 而且遇到不开心的事总会令我措手不及。

好几次，在我失落、仰望天空寻找答案的时候， 都会有道彩虹悬挂着。

黄、橙、红、绿、蓝、深蓝、紫。
这道由7个颜色组合成、看似‘天桥’的彩虹 就象是在邀请你踏上它走向另一端的阳光。
走向雨后的阳光。

每一次都是这样，看到彩虹，顿时豁然开朗。

它的出现一直给我很大的力量。

现在天色已暗，不过我早就训练自己。即实在大白天或是在漆黑的夜晚，不管多累多气馁，闭上眼睛就能看见这到心中的彩虹。

因为雨过总会天晴。

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

I am not extremely optimistic and often I get taken by surprise when the going gets tough.

Many a time, when things get exceptionally unbearable, I'd look to the heavens asking for an answer and always, I never fail to be surprised by the rainbow that so miraculously appears each time like this, firmly hanging upon the majestic celestial canvas.

Yellow, orange, red, green, blue, indigo, violet.
These 7 colours combine, forming a bridge that seems to be part of Alice in Wonderland, the colours gleaming and sparkling, an invitation to step and walk on it, to the other side of the heavens where things don't seem that grey.

The darkness that block my vision disappear everytime I see the rainbow.

It is a great source of strength and hope, mainly for the covenant it represents.

These days, even when the sun is shining bright or when the night falls, if exhaustion, unhappiness or pessimism should try to form a shroud, all I have to do is close my eyes and summon the rainbow from the memory of my heart.

And remind myself, that every cloud has a silver lining... :)

xoxo,
Eelyn

Paolo Coelho's The Winner Stands Alone

it's actually a very good book to read and compels me to read on with it's fascinating world of assassinations to win one's love back, glamorous lives of the Super-class, the hopes and sacrifices of struggling actresses in Hollywood, the unbelievable honesty and integrity of a rags to riches haute couture fashion designer, the boredom and superficiality of the ppl who have reached the very top of the pyramid and who live for nothing much else except to find excitement and passion in their lives...

very nicely translated from Portuguese.

i can kinda relate to it in a way, me being in one of the aforementioned industries.

quite philosophical actually, certain phrases the writer wrote. makes one think...
我们工作是为了活着， 还是活着为了工作？

难道我们工作到死为止， 都只是为了生存？

那活着到底有什么意义呢？

I have yet to finish the book, am only halfway through but I am happy that I picked this up at the bookstore. I love how the writer makes the reader think about life and certain related issues, though I am very sure, that some characters are actually an allusion to certain ppl in real life... For example the man who 'destroys worlds' in the name of love. I think that the writer is expressing some thoughts about terrorism thru this character, though he says nothing to condemn or condone...

自己煮汤喝

everytime after a whole day's work, I'd come home tired, wishing there'd be home-cooked food in the fridge waiting to be warmed up, or even a bowl of tonic soup...

maybe you guys and girls are privileged enough to have that right now, do cherish it...

it may be only a bowl of soup or even dinner specially set aside but it represents your mum's/dad's love and concern for you.

难得有空。今天就自己煮汤喝， 补补身子。。。 好喝 ：）

记得当年我被骗。。。

read the papers just now.

my attention immediately focused on this particular one where a tutor harassed a family who for firing him/her...

hmm this brings to mind a similar incident yrs ago when I was still studying in NUS.

many undergrads take up tutoring to earn a lil money and I was one of them since I had a lot of free time for the course I took up.

there was this family I remembered very well, for reasons u shall see as u read on...

this mother of 3 whose older son and daughter were in Pri 4 and Pri 1 respectively. Her son was weak in all his subjects and back then there was streaming so it was a very important year for the kid. He was rather quiet and mumbled when he talked, so I had to ask him several times before I can get what he was saying.

The younger gal was alright but jus needed improvement in scores. She was really naughty and always took the lead to distract her brother during the tuition, or be the smart alec and try to talk back.

Now the mother wanted me to tutor both of them at the same time for 2 hrs twice a week and so I did. Payment was in the form of cash

it wasn't that bearable really because they were so easily distracted, I had to repeat myself many times and on top of that they'd start playing with toys!

anyways after tutoring them for 3 mths, suddenly when I arrived as usual on time in front of their apt, try as I might but no one answered the door. It was futile waiting around as I waited like 2 hrs like a fool, when I could hv headed home to study.

u know wat? that day was supposed to be payment time. And of cos by nightfall I knew what this meant.

The next night I came by again but again no one answered the door.

I called her on the mobile but no one picked up, either that or it was directed to voice mail.

I was really upset and angry that someone would cheat me like that. If she wanted to stop the tuition, she could jolly well face me and say it! but hey she owed me one and a half mth's wages!

I can understand the haraasment the mother felt in the newspaper article but I have to say that sometimes, I wouldnt hear from just one side of the story.

:( hahah , raking all this up brought out my anger too hahah, forgive already but still can't forget! :P

nvm, i'll forget it jus as quickly after a gd night's sleep :)

免费抱抱！！free hugs!! :)

Dun be mistaken, I'm not trying to follow the footsteps of the famed Taiwanese host-celeb with great assets 瑶瑶， who came to our shores just last year to hold an event where anyone can hug her for free hehe...

I was walking along MyeongDong, the 'Orchard Road' of Seoul during Christmas night when I saw this group of young girls and guys holding placards, see the pic below... This, of cos sparked the curiosity of many passersby, including me. I really wanted to go up and hug one of them hahah but me shy la, so walked away, head still turning back to look at them in wonder...



I heard this 'free hugs' thing started from America, and now even the Koreans are doing it.

It really seemed fun cos there were lots of girls who walked up to hug _those guys_ that were quite cute, and I witnessed those girls shrieking with a mix of embarassment and GLEE after the hugs... In other words, SHIOK la... haha, it was quite a funny sight..

In the end I didnt want to miss out on the fun, so when I passed by the same street for the 2nd time, I aimed for a cute girl to hug hhaha, but she was too shy to show her whole face when we took this group shot...! Too bad for u! :p




Nevermind, 来，抱一个嘛！！ ：）