The Lunar-cy of the Lunar New Year

It has begun. As much as I hate festivities and all the hoopla that comes with it, there is no escaping the insanity of the Lunar New Year since we are, after all, Chinese. It started a couple of weeks back with the purchase of a CNY-ish plant which I don't even know the name of, putting up obiang looking 福 paper cut-out decorative thingies (must be inverted, no less), getting crushed in the markets and, the part I hate most, spring cleaning.

Our refrigerator is filled to the brim with stuff since the Chinese are a superstitious lot (i.e. my mum-in-law) and believe that the house should be chock full of food as we pass into the New Year. And that is not even taking into the account the junk food we have sitting outside the refrigerator.

Is it just me getting old? Or is it just my overall nonchalance with life that I just can't seem to be bothered with such things anymore? Given the choice, I would just pass the holidays quietly without any visitations or parties whatsoever. But I suppose my family wouldn't have any of that.

As I am typing this, Penny and Vel are off with the MIL to the markets in search of the perfect fishballs for our steamboat tomorrow. I'm like, whatever.

恭喜发财，身体健康.

Tortured

I've done threading on my eyebrows before, it's part and parcel of my beauty regime. It hurts like mad - no amount of military training can prepare you for such an intense pain and I used to wonder why women still insist on torturing themselves this way - but it's way more effective and prodcutive than plucking with a pair of tweezers.

Penny decided to take a trip to Rimpy's, our usual Indian eyebrow threading parlour at Clementi Central, to do her eyebrows. She ended up threading her whole face and came out even more satisfied than usual. As if that were not enough, she glances at my face and decides that I needed one too. I thought, shouldn't be that bad and it's been a while since I had my last threading anyway.

When my turn came, I lay down on the chair as usual and the auntie proceeded to do my eyebrows. It was a totally different sensation altogether when she moved on to my face. To describe the pain as excrutiating is a severe understatement - I had half the mind to jump out of the seat and yelp. All I could do was grit my teeth and grunt, twitching a little once in a while.

It was the longest 5 minutes of my life, but my face seemed a little brighter after the whole procedure. Or so Penny claims. Same same, but different.

Relieved! So *%^# painful!

I love shopping

Yes I really, really do. Maybe it's one of the many occupational hazards of being a marketeer - having to prowl the retail level to keep myself updated, steal ideas, etc. I just enjoy looking at stuff and studying every little detail on the packaging (for processed items like food) or analysing the stitches on a certain shirt or figuring out how another weird kitchen contraption works. But being a typical guy, the way we shop tends to differ from the way the opposite sex does it.

Our DNAs are programmed in such a way that we can walk away from something we don't need and we purchase only when we have to. And when we finally do, we have a pretty clear idea of what we want. Just like a few months back when I bought my ultra cool pair of boots from Primevera, I chanced upon some vintage inspired T-shirts at F.O.S. by Junk Food Clothing. Apparently, celebrtities in Hollywood are lapping them up and it is the 'happening' thing to wear now. It is available on the Junk Food website and over here in Singapore they are available at NewUrbanMale as well as other funky shops at Far East Plaza and Heeren. They are, in my honest opinion, quite ridiculously priced given the quality of the fabric and also because I never believe in paying more than $20 for a T-shirt.

So imagine my glee when I found out that the they were going for only $19.90 a piece at F.O.S.!! I was quite peeved that the female selection was way wider than the males (and they came with much more reasonable sizes too!), but at such a bargain I couldn't complain.

I ended up with only four pieces that came in a Medium - one cool, green with a Green Lantern logo; another green one with an old 80s Atari-esque Pacman accompanied by power pellets and ghosts; a brown one with a M.A.S.H logo (the old 70s sitcom) and another brown one with the Community Chest livery from the Monopoly game.

Who cares if they are fakes? I don't! Who can tell if they are factory rejects? I certainly can't!

Hugh Jackman returns as Wolverine

There's nothing like a good fanboy movie to put a grin on my face. Along with Terminator: Salvation and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, another movie that has got my fanboy palms sweating is X-men Origins: Wolverine, slated for release in May.

While poseurs all around the world lapped up the X-men trilogy on the big screen, I wasn't particularly pleased as I felt the movies couldn't do much justice to each of the characters as individuals. Unlike the Spiderman movies which worked well chronicling the life of Peter Parker as he became Spiderman, the X-men franchise works better on print due to its ensemble of characters which can never be fully fleshed out and explored with 120 minutes of screen time. The Dark Phoenix saga was one whole mini series by itself, but it was barely covered in X-men 3: The Last Stand.

Which is why I was pretty excited when news of the Wolverine movie broke. I'm not particularly pleased that Hugh Jackman was chosen to play Wolverine (I would have preferred the more feral-looking Dougray Scott, who passed on the opportunity to participate in the first X-men movie due to film committments on Mission Impossible 2), but I must say he has done a pretty fine job munching on cigars, cocking that eyebrow and going on berseker barrages. He reprises his role as Wolverine, which is a prequel to the X-men movies set 17 years before the events of the first Xmen movie, exploring how he got involved in the Weapon X program (that gave him his adamantium-laced skeleton), why he's always hell bent on ripping Sabretooth's head off, and hopefully his obessession with Harleys, etc.

**TRIVIA NOTE: Wolverine's mutant healing factor slows his aging process drastically, which explains why he looks the same 17 years before and after.**

Far more exciting than Logan's flashback is the fact that this movie also introduces a whole host of other mutants from the X-men universe - the suave card flicking, pole fighting Gambit; the fat bouncy dude known simply as Blob; my favourite wise-cracking, cancer-ridden ninja-commando Deadpool; a younger Storm whom Logan is supposed to meet as a pickpocket in Cairo (according to the comics, but not sure how it'll be portrayed in the movie) and a younger Cyclops (dunno what he's doing here - they never met according to the comic book storyline).

The trailer looks REALLY exciting. I await with bated breath!!

Washed by the Water

Even when the rain falls
Even when the flood starts rising
Even when the storm comes
I am washed by the water

Even when the earth crumbles under my feet
Even when the ones I love gonna try to crucify me
I won't ever ever let you down
Won't go, won't go, won't go
As long as you're around me

Washed by the Water by NeedToBreathe

Have been quite frustrated with myself of late. There seems to be so many things that I know need to be taken care of but I just never seem to have the motivation to get them done. I am starting to question if this sense of nonchalance and procrastination are a sign of a mild depression setting in.

I have to admit, I have problems even trying to cry out to God. As hard as I try, I can't seem to even sit down for 5 mins and wait on God anymore. So many thoughts stirring in my head but yet I can't utter any words to speak to Him.

Just when thoughts of trying to stay afloat and keep my head above the water in a stormy sea, God speaks to me with Washed by the Water by NeedToBreathe (just like He did before with Restore To Me by Glory Revealed). Strangely, this song has been playing in my phone for the past two weeks (I ripped it from the WOW 2009 compilation I bought) but the words suddenly rang with such clarity that I just couldn't stop listening to the song all the way back from work.

Water in the Bible symbolises cleansing and purification. I sense that God is sending me a message to purify my heart again and set Him above all else so that I can stand firm with Him.

Hebrews 10:22-23 says: 'Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.'

New Year's Eve @ 477 JWest

After having so much fun at the Christmas sleepover in church a week earlier, the youth suggested that we do something similar for New Year's Eve. Although some came up with the crazy idea of camping on the beach at East Coast just so we could see the fireworks display at Marina at the stroke of midnight, I was crazier to suggest another sleepover in church plus a hike up Mt Faber close to midnight for a glimpse of the aforementioned fireworks display. But both options would have left us cold and hungry, so I opted for a BBQ at our place instead (Blk 477 at Jurong West, geddit??).

We had purchased all the necessary items earlier, going to QB Foods at Chin Bee to purchase a one-kilo slab of sirloin, frozen mussels and other similarly congealed foodstuff. It was half day at the office so it was on with the preparation the minute I got home.

Some of the youth started to arrive at about 5PM, so they helped out with the prep work while I got my hands dirty trying to get the fire going. An hour later when the red hot charcoal burning at a nice, slow pace, it was time to start bakar-ing all our stuff.

The food was great - my favourites have got to be the wings seasoned with honey mustard (my idea!) and the squid with cincalok that never fails (though a tad spicy). Penny started baking the mussels in the kitchen halfway through, but only managed half of the box as the rest were soon forgotten amidst the hoo-ha happening outside.

Of course, most of them couch potatoes took a break to catch Love Blossoms at promptly at 7PM and later at 9PM to catch Little Nonya.

Despite worrying about not having sufficient grub for the kids to last through the night, we had enough leftovers to last us for the next few days in the end - a bag of otah, two more kilos of chicken wings, one bag of sotong balls, one bag of cocktail sausages and five slices of sirloin steaks.

The major spoiler of the night was when Joel was 'recalled' home by his mum, punishment for not keeping her informed that the party was a sleepover and making her worry into the night. It sort of dampened everyone's spirit somewhat and after Joel left for home reluctantly (accompanied by Philip to cushion the impact), everyone was just too bummed to do anything else. Despite an attempt at some card games to reignite the party spirit, it was somehow half-baked with the thought that our brother was getting his @$$ kicked by his mum back home.

By 2AM, I was too zonked to carry on so I left them to go about their activities - Ash and Carissa were glued to the Korean drama series on DVD that was recommended by Penny, some were sleeping in our room while other just crashed in the living room. I found a corner in the living room to spread out a thick blanket and KO'ed there before my eyelids became too heavy to keep open. Amazingly, Ash and Carissa were still at it when I woke up in the morning!

I hate to admit it, but age is REALLY catching up. Can't keep up with these sleepovers like I used to.