Married To Singaporean

F For Family-ABC Wednesday

2011-08-24T01:08:00.000+08:00

ABC Wednesday, My F for the previous round is Follow, and for this round is for “Family”. What about yours?

When I talk about family, many times, I asked myself, what is most important-- Making yourself happy or the people who surround you?

I came from a small and simple family, with open minded parents, but my husband’s family is a very traditional Chinese family, with a lot of brothers and sisters…It is hard for me while trying to please everyone but in the end it result in making myself unhappy. In such a traditional Chinese family, everyone, mother-in-laws, sisters-in-laws, brothers-in-laws, all of them try their best to change “me”, they were trying to change my character, my life style, even my religion…When they realized that I am actually is a nut, all the quarrels start…I am not saying I am always right, I don’t request them to agree with me, I like to dress as I like, that is my life style; I like to live the life as I planed, that is my life; I believe in God, I don’t believe in their Buddha, that is my religion, however, I didn’t harm anyone in the family, I didn’t hurt anyone in the family, why can’t they respect me as I wanted to respect them.

Maybe I am a outsider who came from other country , married to a husband who is Singaporean. There are really a lot of conflict in cultures and life style...I am not sure how many people like me, married to a Singaporean, and just can not get along with the in-laws. I am curious and want to know how they get along with the in-laws family? In my simple mind, love is great, marriage is great, family is relationship between husband and wife, parents and kids only…But actually I am wrong, I am really really wrong. The word “Family” in Chinese means a lot more, a lot more complicated relationship. I am wondering what other culture is, but I am really tired.

What are the most important things among the family members ? Respect, Trust and Truth-Isn’t these three?

If you are a boss, yes, you can ask your staffs follow you, listen to you. But in a family, there is no one is boss ! Something seems wrong to you does not mean it isn't the perfect move for others. The world is made up of so many different types of people, why Singaporean (not all but most) always want things their way. Especially as a daughter-in-law, she has no right to lead her own life in her own way, she is expected to be a robot and follow what the elders said.

The result is every one not happy.

One single impression : win

2010-12-12T00:01:00.000+08:00

My dear baby
Yes, I would like to see you win
Take home the big prize,
With the best result in the class
Which parent don’t like to see their kid win
Medals, honors and scholarships are always great
But my dear baby
Someone win some other lose
That is the rule in every competition
There is success there is failure
Yes my dear baby
I want you always win
Even when you lose
I want you
Overcome the fear of failure
Overcome the fear of being rejected
Win or lose
I am proud of you
Trying your best in participating the exam
And being you

------P.S: This poem was written for my dear daughter, after the PSLE (the Primary School Leaving Examination) result released, she was in a low mood for a few days, as just a 3 marks lower than the last year cut off point, she may not have chance to go into NJC, so called one of the best top five secondary schools in Singapore…She felt so sad and I just can’t help much, maybe I have given her too much pressure in the past few years, that is why she is so not satisfied of her such a good result (yeas to me, to a lot of other children and parents, her result is really really more than good enough)…Is there any problem in our education system?

I wish I could cheer her up and God bless for her dream come true…

Find more poems at One Single Impression

Blue sky - weekend reflections #18

2010-12-03T01:10:00.000+08:00

Christmas blue

2010-12-01T00:02:00.001+08:00

Blue is my most favorite color, it is cool, but sometime can be a bit sad, right?

Anyway I am sharing some of my favorites "Blue" here with Midweek Blues here, continued from my previous post: Christmas month 2010 at Orchard road. Wishing all of you have a very happy Christmas Month of December.

Christmas month 2010 at Orchard road

2010-11-29T01:00:00.000+08:00

Christmas decoration at Orchard road...

I don’t really enjoy walking along Orchard Road, except during Christmas time. This time around- there are many big and elaborate Christmas decorations along the Orchard Road, as usual it is still a bit overwhelming by too many designer stores and tons of people. It is quite funny to see many local Singaporean wearing flip-flops and sundresses walking past snowmen and reindeer, taking photograph under the fake Christmas tree. A Christmas without the real Christmas trees, without the snow and without the Christmas mood, Christmas here is shopping, shopping and still shopping. Sigh.
The pictures posted here are just a few of the many pictures I took while walking along the street…

The modern building ION Orchard on the right. At night, the whole front of the building lights up in all different colors, a big Christmas tree in front of the building.

The theme for this year's Christmas light-up is "Starlit Christmas" with the decorations revolving around the star representing love, peace and joy.

Orchard Road has been divided into three colour segments - pink representing peace, blue representing joy and purple representing love.

And I love the big teddy bear in front of Takashimaya, "Live, Laught, Love"-yeah, my own wish for the coming new year 2011.

My World Tuesday

Lovely green - weekend reflections #17

2010-11-26T14:53:00.000+08:00

Autumn leaves- weekend reflections #16

2010-11-19T00:01:00.001+08:00

Another photo was taken in Germany, I love the yellow beautiful autumn color.

Falling in love
With autumn leaves
They have the smell of home

Rain water - weekend reflections #15

2010-11-12T00:01:00.000+08:00

I was so happy to have a few hours of the sunshine after so many days of cold and rainy weather, wile walk alone to the car park, I saw the tree reflections in the rain water on the road…That was a happy surprise for me, sometime back in Germany …

Rainbow - weekend reflectionS #14

2010-11-05T00:01:00.000+08:00

A guy was walking with the girl friend along the street, they are talking about the rainbow.

“What kind of wishes will you make when you see the rainbow?” The guy asked.

“I will quickly take out my camera…and I wish I could have a better camera to capture the beauty of the rainbow. “Said the girl friend.

Long silence, disappointment written on his face,

They have different views in life…LOL, not a joke but a story from my friend.

One single impression: fancy (weekend reflections #13)

2010-10-29T00:02:00.001+08:00

Missing you
Between reality and fancy
Autumn daydream

One single impression: grace

2010-10-24T14:12:00.001+08:00

Thinking of you

In the chilly wind

I watched the leaves dancing

Whisper the grace of love

Blue and green weekend reflection

2010-10-22T18:25:00.002+08:00

Visit other contributors to James' Weekend Reflections

One single impression: lonely

2010-10-10T16:31:00.000+08:00

Family gathering

Gamble, gossip, bored housewives

Lovely night

*Linked to One Single Impression, Prompt: lonely

Housing estate for weekend reflection

2010-10-08T18:24:00.004+08:00

More weekend reflection at Newtown Area Photo by James.

ABC Wednesday-L for Love

2010-10-06T22:06:00.000+08:00

Today was the final farewell to Mrs Lee Kuan Yew. She is a lady who is undoubtedly the Mother of our young nation, having stood by the country through thick and thin…And the most impressed me is their love.

MM Lee and Mrs Lee are well-known to be a very loving couple.

There are so many famous people in this world, from eastern country to western country, who had a marriage like theirs? Their marriage is made in heaven, they have gone through 60 over years together in life, I hope we will all have lovely and great marriages like that too.

In memory of their true love, here’s Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, as my final farewell to Mrs Lee.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

ABC Wednesday-L for Love

One single impress: try

2010-10-03T13:06:00.002+08:00

One single impression: try

I try to believe you will be back
Though waiting in vain
I try my best to love
Though love ends up with hurt

I try very hard to remain the person
I suppose to be but most of the time I failed
I try to be honest
when the world is full of lies
But no one would like to hear my scream

I try to catch the shadow in my dreams
But I only take our the camera in reality
There is always a gab between try and not trying
It is up to you to choose

With all my hesitation and expectation in life
I try to live
as who I am
and

I try to remember the colors of rainbow
When my sky is dark grey storm is coming
I try my best to learn dancing in the rain
While waiting for the sun shine again

One single impress: monument

2010-10-02T11:37:00.000+08:00

Monument
Built in the memory of
Who are alive

Paying respect to the ancestors
With food, drinks, incense, Heaven money,
Computer, hand phone and more
Though they may have none of all these
When they are alive
Ghost festivals are celebrated for the live one

Monument
Built for the live ones
To remember debris of time

A note here for my beloved ones
No monument needed
No praying needed
Forget me if you can
When I am apart
To another world with peace and love

Monument
No more exit when the world full of peace and love
Appreciate live one when they are alive

PS, picture taken during the 7th month of Chinese calendar, people burns the paper and display the foods by the road side…This is a part of celebrating of Ghost Month. But I read from some reports that some of the unfilial children refuse to take care the parents when they are alive but having a big ceremony when they are gone…

Ripple weekend reflection

2010-09-25T14:59:00.000+08:00

J For Journey-ABC Wednesday

2010-09-21T07:30:00.000+08:00

ABC WEDNESDAY J for Journey

The journey is lonely,
The journey is bored,
The journey is long,
The journey full of fun,
If you are around.

One single impression: Joie de vivre

2010-09-19T20:55:00.000+08:00

One single impression this week's prompt“Joie de vivre” suggested by Leo, “Joie de vivre” (from the French joie, "joy"; de, "of"; vivre, "living"; "the joy of living").

Visit the poem by Leo and other wonderful poems and haiku at One Single Impression, click the link from my side bar, I like this meme, reading the posts is one of my weekend’s joys.

So enjoy the joy of living now, this is one of my photograph captured in an early morning a few days ago.

Morning dew, sunshine,
Grasshopper dancing in the wind
Appreciate the beauty of nature
Peace in mind, Joie de vivre

Watery weekend reflection

2010-09-18T12:01:00.000+08:00

One single impression: the passing

2010-09-12T15:31:00.000+08:00

The flowers are dying
The man said
With tears in his eyes
Wilted flowers reminded him
The passing of the beloved wife
She was dead when the newborn baby cried

More new blooms start
The daughter said
Wilted flowers reminded her
The passing of the dearest mom
In peaceful heaven she is now
Thanks god we are alive and know to treasure the life

if you see the dead end

why don’t you treasure the life

Shadow shot: spring horse at the playground

2010-09-11T15:35:00.000+08:00

Turtle couple for weekend reflection

2010-09-10T11:25:00.001+08:00

Hungry Ghost Festival

2010-09-08T00:05:00.000+08:00

What is Hungry Ghost Festival ? Just like Halloween, but the ‘Hungry Ghost festival’ is for the Chinese. The festival that falls on the 7th month of the lunar New Year so called 7th Month Hungry Ghost Festival too.

In Chinese tradition, it is believed that during this month, the gates of hell are opened to free the hungry ghosts who then wander to seek food on Earth. A lot of people will celebrate this festival to remember their dead family members and pay tribute to them. So they bring a lot of food to display at the road side, but I never seen any ghost finished all the food, but there are a lot of birds having party with the food left over at the road side. Of course there are many “hell money” and other rubbish seen everywhere too, because the ghost is not afraid of those fine issued by Singapore government.

I am blogging this not because to complain the ashes posed a problem to our environment or the burning of “Hell Money” creates potential of danger…In fact there are some fun activities come along with this Ghost Festival, I was thinking want to take some photos of those fun activities during the month, but I was too busy to do so.

Personally, I don’t believe in any form of paying respect to those dead family members, do they really can come out from so called hell to eat the food, drink the water? Lol. Why can’t we treat those who are alive well and no need to wait until they left from this world. Be good to our parents, spend more time with them, listen to their nagging, pay attention to their loneliness, try our best to make them happy when they alive, treasure the time with the family, treasure the people around us, isn’t it more important than offering food, burning incense when they are dead?

Well, some post about the Ghost Festival here and here…Just to share the Singapore Chinese culture with my blog friends from Tuesday My World. I hope I never offend anyone.

Click the logo on my side bar to see more interesting stories from around the world.

An ordinary tree

2010-09-05T00:01:00.005+08:00

An ordinary tree
Moved to a new place alone
The tree had to let go
All the leaves of majestic green
And those beautiful blooms
To attempt to grow over changing seasons
Start from a dot of green slowly grow
In a country far away from hometown
With love, hope and care
The tree soon will full of thick green foliage
This is the life of
An ordinary tree
Traveled across the world

One Single Impression: choices

2010-09-04T01:00:00.002+08:00

If I have choices
I won’t like to sit here counting the petals
If I have choices
I would rather run away from your life
But I know you are always in my mind
No matter how far I go
No matter how many choices I have

Houses and bridge for weekend reflection

2010-09-03T00:02:00.005+08:00

Weekend Reflections is hosted by James. There are more beautiful reflections captured by others from all different places. It is fun to kill time if you are bored at home and no place to go on this weekend.

Random thoughts about kite

2010-09-02T21:07:00.000+08:00

Midweek Blues, blue sky, blue kite, maybe blue mood too…I found some random thoughts about kite, written on a piece of blue paper…

A park, a friend
An evening walk
Blue sky
A happy kite
Fly so high

Wind blowing,
String goes slack
Ego is destroyed
Fly aimless
The lonely kite

Never wished
I was a kite up in the sky
No matter how far can fly
You hold the string of mine
The poor kite

Night views from the Singapore Flyer

2010-08-29T21:44:00.000+08:00

Should I say it is night views? Actually pictures below were token in the morning about 6am, a special trip organized by church to Singapore flyer.

…some aerial views of Marina Bay and esplanade from the Singapore Flyer,

…it's a wonderful sensation. Standing at a stunning 165m from the ground, enjoy the breathtaking, panoramic views of the Marina Bay, our island city and beyond.

It was unfortunate that my camera is not good enough to capture the wonderful scenery.

This is my world-Singapore!

…and this is my favorite one to use for the post One single impress: pensive.

One single impression : empty

2010-08-28T15:10:00.000+08:00

When love become an option in life
Survival is the priority
We all live like an empty shell
That once held the promises and trust inside
It is now an empty shell

When love fades in the wind,
Trust betrayed by empty promise
More empty shells
Hidden all the pensive soul
On the low tide beach

Precious moments couldn't be reversed
Life is not yet like the system
Can be restored when data crash
Memories can’t be emptied by a delete button
Time flies without knowing we are lost
Live our life like those empty shell

Contribution for One Single Impression hosted by Andrée and SandyCarlson

Beautiful sky

2010-08-27T00:45:00.012+08:00

A contribution to Weekend Reflections. I love the color in the picture, the evening clouds reflection in the water…

The above picture was taken by me, using camera Caplio R7, it looks like a water color painting. Exposure: 1/810 sec Aperture: 5.0 Focal Length: 4.6mm. The below one was taken by my daughter, she was using Canon DC40. Exposure: 1/250 sec Aperture: 4.0 Focal Length: 6.1mm. The results are so much different.

ABC Wednesday: friend, footprint & midweek blue

2010-08-25T00:01:00.000+08:00

Time flies since my last post for ABC Wednesday, was busy for work and less time to write. But this week the prompt letter is “F”, it reminds me a Friend and the “Foot Print”.

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonged to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there were only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it, “LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed you most, you would leave me.”

The LORD replied, “My precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then I carried you.”

I love this story, poem. It reminds me a very special friend in my life, though somehow we lost contact in these few years. I first read this from his email, that was many many years ago, when I was in my very down time in life. His encourage changed the views of mine in life.

So, if there is a chance happen you read this post in Pennsylvania, you will know you are a very special friend in my life, you are always in my mind, “Cherish the friend who tells you a harsh truth, wanting ten times more to tell you a loving lie.” Who said this? I can’t remember but I know you are the friend.

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. ~Albert Schweitzer

You said I am the blue crab, somehow lost my way back to ocean…yes, I wish I could find the place where I belong to…

Changes in my life

Make me what I am today

And I am blue

Midweek Blue, this is my midweek blue, pictures of blue crabs, a post to remember a friend, and a little bit blue mood. How about you? What is your midweek blue?

One single impress: pensive

2010-08-22T16:48:00.001+08:00

One single impress this week prompt: pensive

I was caught in the pensive mood

Nights were so long, many stories were told

The songs heard on the radio

“I Have never been to me…”

Pensive soul

Lost in the silent night

I've never been to me..

here's the lyrics..
Hey lady, you lady, cursing at your life
You're a discontented mother and a regimented wife
I've no doubt you dream about the things you'll never do
But, I wish someone had talked to me
Like I wanna talk to you.....
Oh, I've been to Georgia and California and anywhere I could run
I took the hand of a preacher man and we made love in the sun
But I ran out of places and friendly faces because I had to be free
I've been to paradise but I've never been to me
Please lady, please lady, don't just walk away
'Cause I have this need to tell you why I'm all alone today
I can see so much of me still living in your eyes
Won't you share a part of a weary heart that has lived million lies....
Oh, I've been to Niece and the Isle of Greece while I've sipped champagne on a yacht
I've moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo and showed 'em what I've got
I've been undressed by kings and I've seen some things that a woman ain't supposed to see
I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me
[spoken]
Hey, you know what paradise is?
It's a lie, a fantasy we create about people and places as we'd like them to be
But you know what truth is?
It's that little baby you're holding, it's that man you fought with this morning
The same one you're going to make love with tonight
That's truth, that's love......
Sometimes I've been to crying for unborn children that might have made me complete
But I took the sweet life, I never knew I'd be bitter from the sweet
I've spent my life exploring the subtle whoring that costs too much to be free
Hey lady......
I've been to paradise, (I've been to paradise)
But I've never been to me
(I've been to Georgia and California, and anywhere I could run)
I've been to paradise, never been to me
(I've been to Neice and the isle of Greece while I've sipped champagne on a yacht)
I've been to paradise, never been to me
(I've been to cryin' for unborn children that might have made me complete)
I've been to paradise, never been to me
(I've been to Georgia and California, and anywhere I could run)
I've been to paradise, never been to me

Shadow shot: green in the water

2010-08-20T22:51:00.000+08:00

Always have fun, always have surprise when I look for those wonderful, but sometimes elusive shadows…I captured the fish in the water which I couldn’t see when I took the photos, and the fish is so quite beautiful. The water actually is not that clear, and not clean too.

Time for Shadow Shot again! It's fun and challenging to capture all kinds of shadows.

Sunset window reflection

2010-08-19T23:52:00.000+08:00

Sunset view from my window.

Weekend Reflections is hosted by James. Click to view more beautiful reflections captured by others from all different places. It is fun to kill time if you are bored at home and no place to go on this weekend.

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

2010-08-18T21:36:00.001+08:00

Sensational Haiku Wednesday: “Haiku is simple! It is 3 non-rhyming lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively (a great way to use your fingers!)” Is it? This is my 2nd time join this meme hosted by Jenn, you know that blog? Check it out.

PS, not sure if I do the right thing, but it is fun.

Photo for Weekday photos : Black

My eyes filled with tears

Pretend you are stranger in my life

I sigh, sadness fly light

Haiku Heights : struggle and shadow

2010-08-15T22:10:00.002+08:00

When you struggle with your fears,

Your hesitation and expectation in life

They are all your shadows

Follow you days and nights

From a distance to see my own shadow is pretty, at least I feel this way, after some time to look back all the struggles in life, I feel my life is worth it, no matter how other people would like to say…

PS. For no reasons, I just like to take all the shadows shot, shadow of all kinds…Click the link below to see more shadow shots, and I will try to post up my shadow shot every Sunday.

2nd Edition:
Hesitation and expectation in life
They’re shadows follow you days and nights
Struggle with fears to survive

One Single Impression: Beginning

2010-08-14T16:21:00.000+08:00

Begin and the end

Love begin with the first sigh not the judgment

Marriage end if one of you begin to judge

The value of love

Trust is the key in marriage

Suspicion make you hurt

Feeling begin to fade

One Single Impression: Connoisseur

2010-08-08T14:08:00.003+08:00

A good sailor will not only see the water he looks at the sky

A connoisseur will not only knows what he is doing

He knows himself better than others

This week's prompt, connoisseur, visit what other connoisseurs wrote here.

Shadow on the wall

2010-08-07T00:42:00.000+08:00

Shadow shadow on the wall,
Am I still happy?
Am I still sexy?
Gone through the darkness in life,
Trying my very best to be perfect,
As I wanted to be

Shadow shadow on the wall,
Do I look pretty?
Do I sound silly?
After the years of struggles,
Trying very hard to remain the person
I suppose to be

I am sick of the way I am feeling,
There are shadows in my heart,
Follow me day and night

PS, I was told if we are in the darkness, we can’t see the shadow, because we see the light, so we see the shadow…For other Shadow shots from around the world go HERE

Sengkang Swimming Complex

2010-08-06T12:05:00.005+08:00

Sengkang Swimming Complex as known as Anchorvale swimming complex, or Sengkang Sports and Recreation Centre, it has become one of the most popular swimming complex in Singapore since it's opening. It has 2 olympic swimming pools inside.
Visit Weekend Reflections hosted by James

Looking at the sky: Singapore National Day

2010-08-05T20:28:00.001+08:00

Sepia Scenes: Sky.Home.Singapore

2010-08-03T00:49:00.000+08:00

I am still looking for the feeling of being a Singaporean after almost 16 years here…

Home is the place where,
when you have to go there,
they have to take you
~Robert Frost

Sepia Scenes!

One Single Impression: Cocoon

2010-08-01T11:27:00.004+08:00

My pride is my cocoon
Where I hide my tears when I cry
My fear is my cocoon
Where the wounds healed but pain left
Your love is my cocoon
Where I find who I am
And soon feel lost again

The wheel

2010-07-31T01:52:00.001+08:00

An old wheel lies in the work shop
Many years on the road rounds and rounds
Turning, spinning, the wheel running
Without wondering what is the life struggling for
Till the day of ending

The old wheel lies at the corner now
Seeing many other wheels rounds in and out,
You are busy checking the wheel base
Ups and downs
Many phone calls, many drawings, many work
Life like a wheel running on the road
Has been hurt, has been burst,
Has been treasured, has been abandoned
Such a world without much choices on fate

Love stagnate
Such a life turn like a wheel

PS.Wheel Friday.

Entrance To Love

2010-07-29T21:15:00.001+08:00

An entrance to a home,
where someone there,
waiting for you,
no matter how late,
no matter how far you are…
That is entrance to Love.

Beyond The Lonely Tree

2010-07-28T00:56:00.005+08:00

ABC Wednesday, My “B’ is a poem start with “B”,

and a photo for SkyWatch On Friday.

Beyond the lonely tree ,
My loneliness is flying free…

An voice from beyond,
Saying dear you are not alone,
Love is everywhere.
But why I only see the lonely tree?

Beyond the lonely tree ,
Sunset sky is so pretty,
Which the love should be.
But why my eyes can’t see ?

Beyond the lonely tree,
Loneliness is the feeling-
Come and go quickly in the wind.

Beyond the lonely tree,
Someday you just missed me

Letter : L For Love

2010-07-27T17:11:00.002+08:00

Love is a piece of mirror,

The true you inside the mirror,

Ugly or pretty, it shows all,

Love is a piece of mirror,

You can’t hide, you can’t pretend,

Good or bad, it tells all,

Love is a piece of mirror,

Simple and straight

Once broken will never be

The same piece again

PS. For the Sunday Scribblings prompt 'Letter', What is the letter in your mind?

One Single Impression: Angel

2010-07-24T22:07:00.001+08:00

Angel if she has a broken wing

She can’t fly

She cry

Angel with a broken heart

She fly

She sigh

PS. A Song I like to listen and always make me cry…

Lyrics to Angel Of Broken Hearts :

How do I move on from here
when everything I lost is what I want
This ocean left inside of me has become her memory's favorite place to haunt
How can the best I ever had
hurt so bad hurt so long
You know I'm not that strong {Chorus}
Angel of broken hearts where on earth are you tonight
Help me find a place to start to get me over her
Maybe I mistreated love have I not suffered long enough
Angel of broken hearts take this pain away Take this pain away
Some days I think that I've come through the worst of it
and I'm on the healing side
And then she kicks up like a dustbowl wind
and covers up my mind
I lose hours I lose days in the haze that used to be
and then I'm on my knees {Chorus} I've paid with prayers
I've paid with tears But I'll probably pay for years
I could use a little mercy here

A For Art-ABC Wednesday

2010-07-22T21:40:00.002+08:00

Today is the last day of Singapore Garden Festival show 2010, I was so busy for the past few days, missed the chance to slowly visit this fantastic garden show…Nothing much on the last day, especially the last few hours…Well, will wait and visit the next event 2 years later…

So here is one of the photo…

Enjoy the art of flowers, and visit the ABC WEDNESDAY 7th Round.

One Single Impression: Preponderance

2010-07-18T21:32:00.002+08:00

The snails she carries a shell all the time
It's really her home thought it is small
It goes where she roams
It is her preponderance
A place to live day & nights
The snail she lives in her hard round shell
Travels up and down everyday
Slowly up the wall
She dreams she can fly
To far far away in the sky
Kissing all the kites
Slimy and slippery
The snail moves slowly
Her eyes on stalks
Moving around to see this world
Happily believe that she really can fly
Confidence her preponderance
She believe she can fly
I believe I can dream
And all my dream will come true in the end

Roots in the water

2010-07-07T23:29:00.003+08:00

A lot of things in life like those roots, they come across each other, you just can’t get a clear picture.

Visit Watery Wednesday again today, many amazing photos…

ABC Wednesday-T For Turtle

2009-12-02T22:46:00.003+08:00

ABC Wednesday-S for Sungei Buloh

2009-11-24T22:33:00.005+08:00

Today theme for ABC Wednesday is letter S. My letter S is Singapore, Sugnei Buloh nature park in Singapore. This is one of my favorite places to visit especially with kids.

Singapore is a small country with a lot of shopping centers. There are not many places for us to explore nature. But one of a unique places of exploring nature is Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve which is the famous bird sanctuary too. This is a natural bird sanctuary which is especially created for migratory birds which coming to Singapore from all parts of the world. I am not very crazy on bird watching, either a very professional photographer, but birds are the most easily seen among the wild creatures in our urban city, watching them is an enjoyable thing, at least to me.

Click to view larder image

Apart from birds, you can find a variety of animals in Sungei Buloh National Park too. Smooth Otter, Monitor lizards, squirrels, they are all the guards of this natural wetland. There are prepared walking routes around the park that we can choose from. A shorter route, only five hundred meters long, also called the Mangrove Boardwalk, is the most popular among visitors because of the chance encounters with wildlife. I almost can find monitor lizards, crabs, angel fish, mud lobsters, shellfish, water snakes, spiders, moths, and mudskippers every time during my visit, but not even once I saw crocodiles, I was told there is crocodiles there.

My camera is not good enough to capture a clear photograph of those lovely birds and wildlife. (Click to enlarge picture)

My another favorite is get a better view of the mangrove when the tide is slow. The roots of the trees in the mangrove really stand out. All these trees help in preventing shore erosion and also are home to crabs, mud-skippers, snakes and birds.

Sungei Buloh is also a good place to see Archerfish and needlefish during high tides…

Archerfish, they are well known for the ability to shoot down insects and small creatures resting on foliage or mangrove roots. They can spit out a strong and accurate jet of water. With their tongue against the groove on the roof of their mouth, they form a tube, and force water powerfully out by snapping shut their gills. However, aside this ability, they actually preferred to leap up out of the water to catch their prey in their jaws when it is close enough.

Needle fish are living in the Sungei Buloh too..

Singapore housing estate reflection

2009-11-22T00:04:00.004+08:00

Weekend Reflections hosted by James, that is a fun Meme, I like the challenge of finding reflections to post, it makes me pay more attention to my surrounding area.

ABC Wednesday-R for Respect

2009-11-18T21:36:00.002+08:00

The wife of opposition politician Tan Lead Shake has been sentenced to a total of 16 years in jail

You can find the headline on almost evry forum and media, Channel News Asia, http://www.insing.com/, breaking.sg, even our STRAITS TIMES HEAD LINE IS Tan's wife gets 16 years…
All news point to the words opposition politician, that is very funny, does all the Singapore media copy the news from each other? So many reporters, does any one write something new on the murder case, or does any one really care to study the case further, why why why, the lady Wu Yun Yun will kill the brother-in-law?? That is not a simple thing for a person to kill another person. Every one in the family play a very important part in this sad family story.

In one word-Respect! ABC Wednesday, R for respect.

Every one said it was jealousy that drove Wu Yun Yun to stab her 34-year-old brother-in-law to death and to slash his wife. Yes, jealousy is one part of the reasons, but mainly, she doesn’t respect herself, she married to a man she didn’t know well in the arrangement of the father, she doesn’t respect herself, as a human, she has the right to choose the husband, again, when she was so so so unhappy with the marriage, she still had choice to break the unhappy marriage, she is still young and quite pretty looking, she has chances to rebuild a happy family with someone else, she didn’t respect her own right rather than stay on in the terrible relationship with the whole family which she can’t get along with. The worse thing is she doesn’t respect life! Our life are given by God, how can we simply want to take away other people’s life or our own life.
As a mother-in-law, She can don’t love the daughter-in-law, she can don’t care about her, she can don’t talk to her, she can even chase her out from the house if the house is hers, but she has no right to scold a person so much…According to the report, the Wuyunyun did get scold from her, right? Wu Yun Yun is a woman, an adult, a human, the wife of his own son, she need the respect in life. Outside the courtroom, Madam Ng Bee Hion wailed that the sentence was too light for a crime that cost her a son. I am sorry to say that if she knows how to handle the family problems, the family will be a happy family now. But it is too late, I feel sad for her, for the whole situation.
I don’t know how to say about another sad lady in the story, Madam Huang Meizhe, she came from China too, if she pay a little bit attention to WuYunyun, and being a good listener, or try to do something to resolve the bad relationship among the family members, she will be a happy wife now.
The person most reserved to blame in this family sad story is the husband. If he does respect and give more love and care to the wife, move out from the big family to start their life, simple life as husband and wife and kids only…I believe the store will be different. If a man can’t provide all these basic needs to a lady, he shouldn’t get into marriage. It doesn’t matter he belongs to what side of politic party, opposition politician or PAP, as a man, they are all same, they are someone’s son, they are someone’s brother, they maybe someone’s husband, some kids’ father, a man, he doesn’t even able to settle his own family problems, how is he going to lead the country.
I just don’t understand Chinese culture, why mother-in-law, sister-in-law etc so many in laws like to stay together when every one is not happy with each other. They are fighting for all the small matters in life all due to different life style of their own. Why they can’t respect each other and just stay away if can’t stand each other, rather than allow this kind of sad family affairs happen. And I believe there are many many more ladies like Wu Yun Yun in Singapore, those who married to Singaporean, if no one will learn something from this sad news, I bet it will happen somewhere, someday again in not too long future.
Basically I don’t think Wu Yun Yun is a very bad person, and she has paid for what she has done, 16 years in jail, the life has gone for a lady. I don’t think she will hurt some other people again, Whoever died already died, just forgive her. Will the family forgive her?
Does our media have the responsibility to teach our Singaporean learn something from the case?
Respect others, be kind to others, give more space to each other life as we Singaporean have many different culture, then our life will be more peaceful, we will be happier. This is what I see in life.
PS, the news forward as below:

THE China-born wife of former opposition figure Tan Lead Shake was jailed 16 years for killing her brother-in-law and attempting to kill his wife on Tuesday.
Wu Yunyun, 27, looked dazed as the sentence was handed down.
Her mother-in-law broke out into loud sobs in the court's public gallery. Later, outside the courtroom, Madam Ng Bee Hion wailed that the sentence was too light for a crime that cost her a son.
Mr Tan, 40, who had visited his wife only once in her 11/2 years in remand, was not in court.
He was at his Paya Lebar home on Tuesday evening, looking after their two children. He politely declined to be interviewed, saying it was too painful to talk about the incident.
His wife was sentenced to 12 years' jail for killing Mr Tan's brother Lead Sane, 33, and four years for the attempted manslaughter of Mr Tan Lead Sane's wife, Madam Huang Meizhe, 36, who is also from China.
Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.

Looking at the sky behind the temple

2009-11-06T00:05:00.001+08:00

Looking at the sky behind a temple…

Reflections of sunset

2009-11-05T23:01:00.003+08:00

Relax, and enjoy more photos from the Weekend Reflections participant’s blogs. Weekend Reflections
hosted by by James.

Mosaic Monday: Turtles

2009-11-02T00:01:00.005+08:00

Mosaic Monday hosted by our Dear Mary at Little Red House. The lovely turtles from my previous post.

Shadow shot of birds

2009-11-01T14:43:00.006+08:00

Gypsy Lala see a Lonely bird in her photo. Life as I see it: More lonely birds on my Shadow Show Sunday.

Six Words Saturday No12

2009-10-31T21:58:00.003+08:00

“Rainy moody Saturday, I miss you”

“Time flies. One year end soon.”

Looking at the sky: Kites flying

2009-10-30T23:54:00.002+08:00

Looking at the sky on Friday, I wish I could be those kites flying high in the sky…
If I am a kite, your courage and help is the contrary wind raise it higher, but no matter how high I will fly, in the end, I will still come back, I know you hold the string, using not only hands, but with all of your love in heart.

Reflection on the road after rain

2009-10-29T15:30:00.010+08:00

New meme! Weekend Reflections hosted by James. James blog is the place I like to visit, but only discover this meme this week. I like his Newtown area photos. Well this is a photo captured one day after rain, I was on the way back home, after a heavy afternoon rain, the sun come out again, shine on the road, I stopped my car to take this photo.

Watery Wednesday No 9-Fall

2009-10-28T08:48:00.003+08:00

Watery Wednesday

ABC Wednesday-O for Old Friend

2009-10-27T12:01:00.000+08:00

I am thinking of writing a post about “old age” for this week ABC WEDNESDAY ROUND 5: O, since there are a lot of issues about old age people, old age life in Singapore here. I have been thinking quiet sometime about my old age time too, though it is still a long way to go. :) But I am unable to write this, my old friend came to Singapore this morning, he went to Maldives for a short holiday and stop by Singapore for a few days. Well, I am the host here, and should bring him around.
So this post just a simple note about “Old friend”.
An old friend, who loves me and teach me to dream and to laugh; An old friend, who is always beside me when the rest of the world step out from my life; An old friend, who accept me as who I was, who I am and who I will be.

An old friend, he is the moon light in the darkness, guide me along walk out from the juggle.

One Single Impression: Elusive

2009-10-26T11:08:00.003+08:00

I am always chasing the dream,
the elusive dream.
Just like I am always chasing the shadow,
the elusive shadow in the rainforest.
The shadow is something ineffable,
you will feel it but you never ever can catch it.
Who can ever catch the shadow in the rainforest?
The elusive shadow,
it exits but then escapes,
It is within reach but not within grasp.
My love in my elusive dream,
it is a pretty shadow when sun shines on it,
but I never ever can catch it.
it is easier to just let go,
or appreciate the beauty from far when it exits.
Chasing my elusive dream,
that seem like keeping the shadow in the darkness,
Tired of knowing the impossibility,
wondering the shadow where they belong.
Trying so hard to keep my dreams alive,
lost in the juggle ,
I am not the big tree,
either the lianas,
I am fighting so hard to survive.
Chasing the shadow of my love,
they are always coming closer and closer,
but never I can hold them in hand,
not even in my elusive dream.
Feeling the pain and trying to make sense,
where the shadow should go,
I lost in the promise I have never believed,
Struggling to make my elusive dream alive.

Shadow shot: gloxinia flower

2009-10-25T00:17:00.003+08:00

Gloxinia flowers are one of my favorites, I brought them out form my living room to corridor to get some afternoon sunlight. I like this setting, cool purple flower in bright sun and shadows…

For more other wonderful shadows, click HERE.

Singaporean-Six words Saturday #11

2009-10-24T23:51:00.002+08:00

“Heavy traffic near shell stations today”

Today, most of the shell Petrol Stations (excluding four of them never join the promotion) in Singapore are having a promotion, Celebrate the launch of new Shell FuelSave 98 and 95 at just $1 (nett) per litre, promotion stared from 10AM and will end at 6pm only for today, it caused heavy traffic jam anywhere near the shell stations. The CISCO have been activated for crowd control. Some drivers did horn non-stop while queuing for petrol promotion, some drivers were jumping into the queue, some were quarreling because of small matters during the queue…Again, the shell management are fancy showcasing the ugliest side of ourselves after the previous promotion on our national day!

The queue was just crazy! It ran more than 1 km outside the Shell Petrol Stations at many places. I was told by a lot of people they spent an hour queue for pumping the cheapest petrol. Ya, crazy queue indeed …I don’t know how much they can save, maybe $30, I bet for the max, but how about the time, an hour! Save money but waste the time and the petro while queuing, how much can you save? What is the purpose of saving? In the end only Shell is the winner, will be on the headline on the media.

I never joined the queue, for me the best way of saving money is to take public transport when I am not in a hurry. I always try not driving on weekend when I am not rushing between office and home. I try to take a walk for some short distance. Isn’t it the easy way to save money and save our environment instead of queuing for an hour to pump petrol.

The previous shell Petrol Stations promotion on National Day caused a lot of traffic problems too. I just don’t understand those who can afford a car worth tens of thousands of dollars, eat out one time can easily spend more than $50 for a small family, buying one TOTO spending more than $50, but yet they are scramble like ugly beggars for the small discount, are these our lovely typical Singaporeans?

Should I say “Happy Pumping!” ?

Looking at the sky from my window

2009-10-23T11:03:00.004+08:00

A sunny day, I am looking at the sky from my window, still don’t feel like going back to office today, a hard working person like me seldom take any off day from work, I don’t know what to do at home except making some day dreams…And it is so so so good when I still can have some day dreams while struggling with work-life balance, stress, marriage and kid.

ABC Wednesday-N for Nature

2009-10-21T00:01:00.003+08:00

ABC Wednesday-N for Nature. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve-My World Tuesday conitued: (Click picture to enlarge)

I like to see the big trees in the rainforest, some big trees reach up to forty meters, widely spaced and very tall, they have been living there for many many years, they must have a strong and competitive race to get to the sun for the leaves. I like to see the leaves in the rainforest, the leaves are quite waxy with drip tips to protect the trees from heavy rain, all the leaves are the beauty of nature, they are telling us the stories in the rainforest. The most interesting are those lianas, they climb across those big trees to get more sunlight, some hang down from the trees to the ground to get water, they make the vegetation more dense, but yet they are many many plants like fern type get to survive with few sunlight. That is life in nature, quite struggling if you ask me! Same as in our office, every working place is just like some kinds of rainforest, isn’t it?

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve-My World Tuesday

2009-10-20T08:50:00.005+08:00

Location: 177 Hindhede Drive Singapore 589333 Tel :(65) 6468 5736 Getting There Take the MRT to Newton Station (NS21), then take SMRT Bus 171

Bukit Timah hill is the highest hill in Singapore, with an official height of 164 meters or 538 feet this is the highest point in the country. It is located in the centre-west of Singapore, a very good place for tracking and enjoy the nature. I went there for a walk last Friday. It was so relaxing to look at the sky through the trees.

I took about 45 minutes to walk around in this ancient forest and I didn’t have enough time to explore some interesting facts in nature, I am sure I will go there again. Here are some photos were taken in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

You can find quite a lot of long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. They are often seen jumping from car to car in the car park, resting on the roof top of the office building, or swinging from the tree to tree.

One of the enjoyable things to walk in the forest is the pleasant and tranquil feeling. The only sounds we hear were cicadas chirping away and some other insects buzzing away.

The sounds of nature are the most beautiful music for you to enjoy in the quiet forest. I was trying to look for cicada but couldn’t get to see any one. The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is a typical tropical rainforest, you can find a lot of interesting trees here. The tropical rainforest is similar to the human world in some aspects. Those capable of getting the sunlight would grow up tall and strong. Whichever that can't get the enough sunlight, would be growing at the bottom as a shorter tree or a shrub.

Some trees like those people in the office, step on other people’s shoulder to climb to the top, take other people’s hard work as their own credit. They are like Lianas in the rainforest. Lianas are woody climbers. Climbing from tree to tree, growing up to the top to get more sunlight.

One Single Impression: Conquer

2009-10-19T00:01:00.004+08:00

Lianas in the rainforest, the meaning of life is to survive, to grow up to the sky, to achieve the sunlight as much as it can, to conquer the world in the rainforest. These small green plants are survivors or conquerors? Find more poems at One Single Impression "Conquer" as prompt was suggested by Neha Sahi Saigal of Tea Leaves 'n' Honey

Shadow in the rainforest

2009-10-18T00:01:00.006+08:00

Long-tailed Macaque-Six Words Saturday #10

2009-10-17T18:09:00.012+08:00

“My parents are kissing , I'm behind .”

The three long-tailed Macaque gave me a lot of fun this weekend. I guess they are father, mother, and of course, behind the little one is baby long-tailed Macaque. Six words Saturday is a very interesting meme. All that's necessary to participate is to post your own six words, add a linkto the blog hosted by Cate and visit all other participations. This week I would like to share with you this photo of lovely long-tailed Macaque. I were so close to them when the photo was taken. Well, I will tell you where I took this photo and some more other interesting photos will be posted next week.

What is the baby long-tailed Macaque looking for?

Camera Critters, this meme is all about photos of animals/critters. Hope you like these three lovely long-tailed Macaque and visit Camera Critters for more fun.

Looking at the sky through the tree

2009-10-16T23:14:00.005+08:00

Hosted by Crazy Working Mom.

Waiting in vain

2009-10-15T00:28:00.005+08:00

What do you see in life? This is a new meme. You will see a lot of pretty and lovely aquarium fish, she appreciates and captures all the joys and beauty in life.

Life as I see it…? Life as I see it? Lovely turtle happily swim in a fish tank. So it is happy yet it is sad. Because the fish tank is not the home the turtle should belong to.

Life as I see it-Waiting in vain.

Some other turtles

2009-10-14T16:02:00.003+08:00

Turtles are always my favorites in front of my camera. Here are some other turtles were resting in the middle of the pond. Watery Wednesday here, visit the site for more images related to WATER. My other turtles are here, here, here and here.

ABC Wednesday-M for Mother-in-law

2009-10-14T00:10:00.002+08:00

If she is not my mother-in-law, just a neighbor, I believe we will be easier to get along well. She is not a bad person anyway, just a bit selfish, and very old traditional Chinese. I am not a bad person either, but for sure I am not that type of “Good daughter-in-law” as she wanted.

Staying together with Mother-in-law is really a very very tough life. I have gone through that tough time. We stayed together with Mother-in-law and a few of other sisters-in-law. My husband was in a poor situation as he needed to take care of so many people’s feeling, and there is no way to make every one happy, especially in a big family, as I came from totally different education and life style background. Come to the points of talking about every day’s life, our very personal habits, our life style, our religion etc, actually there are no right or wrong, just like between black and white area, there are a part of grey. Every one who stays under the same roof must learn to give in to each other and respect to each other, but not just the outsider, me, as a daughter-in-law must follow their rules. Anyway nowadays is unlike traditional society, as a wife, while juggling my career, work, housework, husband, I don’t think I have extra strength to deal with the complicated relationship. Ya, so I have gone through the tough time for the first two years in our marriage, and the shadow of those unhappy things did effect our marriage, more or less. But thanks God, our marriage survive till now. Of course, we are not staying together any more.

It is very difficult to say I don’t want to stay with Mother-in-law. I feel totally heartless but if I agree to live altogether, I don't think we can be truly happy. It is really a very very hard decision, to both my husband and me. But for me, I feel that is the most important decision you must make once you step into marriage life. I have seen so many unhappy marriage are caused by in-law’s problems, just recently last year, the Chinese lady killed the brother-in-law, I always think why they must stay together, why three family must stay together in such a big house since they don’t get along well with each other, if they could stay on their own, the lady wouldn’t get mad to kill the brother-in-law, then, the old lady won’t lost the son, the few young kids won’t lost the father and mother, the man won’t lost the wife, the wife won’t lost the husband. Things will be different if they could make an early decision to stay on each other own, lead a more western style life.

Marriage is not the matter just between two persons. It connects two unfamiliar clans together. After getting married, you will have a deep understanding of it. Especially being a Chinese, or you are going to married to a Chinese, especially Chinese Singaporean. You must know that the relationship between mother and daughter in law is the hardest thing to deal with. The war between them frequently happens. Usually, the man is the victim of the war between his mother and his wife. Just think about it: Is it easy to let two women (worst a few women, with all sisters-in-law) who do not have blood relationship live together peacefully through their lives?

But there is some exception, my mother is a good example. She stays with my brother and the wife, they are happily living together for 8 years already. Some of my mother’s rules are as below:

Daughter-in-law has her own habits in daily life, if you think is a bad habit, don’t say out, don’t be so nagging. You can’t change a person over the night. Just close one eye.
Don’t step into the quarrel between husband and wife, don’t be bored.
Your son is no long the little boy who asked your help of everything. Don’t except or request the wife to replace your position to do for him for those things you used to do. Don’t act too clever to teach your daughter-in-law how to take care of husband. If she really wants to learn something from you she will ask.
Don’t always compare your own old times with her, don’t say such words: “I used to take care of six children without a maid…” etc. No one likes to listen to same story days by days.
Don’t bother the way your daughter-in-law spending money, that is her own money or her husband money, as long as she never borrow money from you.
Give the husband and wife more private space.

My mum has a lot of good ideas to be a happy mother-in-law, a smart mother-in-law, so she is very welcomed in her son’s house. Actually not all the mothers-in-law are so difficult to deal with and not all the daughters-in-law are so heartless to want to kick off the older parents. It is a lesson both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law must learn in our life time. Too bad we always can’t find a good lecturer.

Come to the end of the post, I want to ask you:

What is your understanding of mother- and daughter in law relationship? Do you have problems in dealing with it? Any effective ways to build a peaceful and friendly mother-and daughter in law relationship?

I was told that the relationship with mother in law in western country is much easier than in Chinese culture. Is that true?

I wish to hear your opinions. Do remember to visit ABC Wednesday, this is a lovely Meme, check out all other posts here.

Ruby Tuesday: Spa For Turtle

2009-10-13T20:51:00.001+08:00

My turtle has recovered from the illness, he wants to enjoy the spa now. He wants to participate in Ruby Tuesday, of course he wants to win the giveaway gifts.
Check out other Ruby Tuesday here!

Mellow Yellow Monday

2009-10-12T11:17:00.012+08:00

Everyday is beautiful,
if you have these lovely flowers in your mind…

Everyday is wonderful,
if you ever slow down and

appreciate the nature around us.

Everyday is peaceful,
if you able to accept all the imperfect things in life.

Happy Mellow Yellow Monday to all.

Color Carnival-Advertisement Board

2009-10-11T10:34:00.004+08:00

Security, Safety and Fire Prevention advertisement board...

I found this old photo in my album, I like the color theme shown in the picture, I thought it was an appropriate picture for both Colour Carnival and shadow shot. Wishing you have a great Sunday.

Six words Saturday No 9

2009-10-10T15:51:00.005+08:00

“Slow down, simplicity, and appreciate life.”

I took the photos of the turtle last week, I really love to see the turtles, they are swimming slowly, they do eat a lot, they can survive in bad environment…“Slow down, simplicity, and appreciate life.”

Looking at the sky on Friday

2009-10-09T13:21:00.005+08:00

Hosted by Crazy Working Mom.

One Single Impression: Descent

2009-10-07T12:09:00.007+08:00

We leap and flow,
to the valleys down below,
our love grow,
we live in a broken world,
kiss me slow.

This is my Watery Wednesday #08

ABC Wednesday-L for Love

2009-10-07T00:01:00.006+08:00

As I hinted in previous post ABC Wednesday letter K, this week for ABC Wednesday letter L, I will write down some random thoughts that always come into my mind, something related to “LOVE”

I don’t believe in so called unconditional love. We love God, because we believe in God, belief is our condition. We always say we love our kids and our parents unconditionally, because they are our parents, they are our kids, that is condition. We fall in love with someone, we are willing to do anything for him (her), we though this is unconditional love, but it is not. The person must be loveable, the attraction is the condition.

Love can be lost one day. There is nothing is lasting forever in this world. The person you love will die one day, the person who loves you so much may leave you alone in the darkness. Anything can happen, knowing this, we will have a greater appreciation of what we have. Think how lucky we are to have someone to love or be loved by someone, we won’t take too much advantage in life

Say “I love you.” I know it is not easy especially to our Chinese people. But I still feel this is the best way to express our love. Say “ I love you” when you really mean it, it will warm any coolest soul. Learn to express our own feeling is the best way to carry out better communication in any relationship. It does not make you a bad person to desire someone else's love, even if they do not love you. So don’t be afraid to say “I love you.”

Free your love. Accept the people you love as they are, and not who you want them to be. Put yourself in someone else's shoes. Don’t insist that only your way is the best and demand the your love one to change. Give some space to each other and keep a little distance especially between the married couple, this is one way to keep you love fresh.

Don’t expect love in return. Giving love does not guarantee receiving love. Try loving just for the sake of love. Everyone has a different way of showing his or her love for you; you will be disappointed if you expect to be loved back in exactly the same way.

Love yourself even no one loves you in this world. When love comes to the end, let it go rather than holding on. If someone doesn’t appreciate you, don’t blame yourself are not good enough, just because you are not his/her the other half. Love yourself and believe you will be the best in someone’s eyes. Let go the feeling of being hurt, love yourself and you will be able to fall in love again in life. Every single tree is unique in the forest but you must open your eyes to appreciate its beauty in its own way.

Give more of your love to your children who depend on you. Because it is you to bring him/her into this world, you have the responsibility.

Love someone who you feel comfortable with - not just someone to make love to. Come to the end, show your love and affection for your loved ones with this traditional calligraphy style Chinese character for love symbol. If you understand a bit of Chinese, I hope you like my Chinese characters.

Chinese Character "Love" Button

Do remember to visit ABC Wednesday, this is a lovely Meme, check out all other posts here.

Happy Birthday

2009-10-06T15:23:00.005+08:00

Happy Birthday to Aunty Wee! This traditional cake is ordered for Aunty Wee, she is so happy to see this cake in Chinese traditional design. The red color word in the center is Chinese “Shou”. Shou is the ancient Chinese symbol meaning longevity or long life. The Shou can also symbolize age or birthday. It is always together with the other two Chinese symbol “Fu” and “Lu”: Fu Lu Shou, these three Chinese symbol refer to the three Chinese deities of the God of Happiness (Fu), the God of Prosperity (Lu), and the God of Longevity (Shou). Here I want to share some about gift ideas in Chinese culture to support our great meme: Ruby Tuesday In Chinese culture, Shou (寿), also referred to as Shou Lao (寿老), the "Old Immortal of the South Pole" (南极仙翁), and the "Longevity Star" ( 寿星), is the God of Longevity and is usually shown as a smiling old gentleman with a prominent forehead who holds a walking stick and carries a peach (桃). As his name implies, Shou symbolizes a long life. In traditional Chinese culture, they believe that wisdom came with age, Longevity is important to Taoists (Daoists) too because of their quest for immortality. So a gift with this Great word in red color is the best gift to old generation of Chinese. Do remember to send something in red if you want to send a gift to Chinese, although more and more young generation actually don’t really follow such traditional culture. I wish to hear from you about your experience of sending gifts to different people. Cheers.

Mellow Yellow Monday #01

2009-10-05T12:02:00.003+08:00

“Because life is better with a splash of yellow.”
Yes, I wish it will be happier with this colorful flowers! I want to start my week with a positive attitude and a happy mood I hope life is filled with this pretty, sunshine, cheerful color. I hope you all have a great week too!

Loneliness

2009-10-04T23:40:00.006+08:00

A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety. ~Ansel Adams

Straight Out of the Camera

Murrieta's 365 has a Straight Out of the Camera Sunday meme for those perfect photos that no tweaking is required, mine photo is just a shot of my life, recording some feeling everyday.

Six words Saturday No 8

2009-10-03T11:20:00.006+08:00

“Children are busy celebrating Mid-Autumn festival.”

The Moon festival (also called the Moon cake festival or Mid-Autumn Moon Festival ) falls on October 3 which is Saturday this year. Every year on this fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, traditional Chinese family will celebrate this special occasion so called "Zhong Qiu Jie." Children are told the story of the moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface. This is a time for families to come together and eat moon cakes and pomelos, Mini yams, water caltrops, drink Chinese Tea, beneath the bright and full mid-autumn moon. In the old days, children used to play with colorful lanterns of animal designs such as rabbits, dragons and fish, but in keeping with the times, airplane, rocket, spaceship and superhero lanterns are popular now. Lantern processions are also part of the fun. Children in the neighborhood gather together and parade their colorful lanterns through the streets. While children are playing their lanterns, adults will sit together, drink tea, eat moon cake and chit chat until late night. Now in modern days of Singapore, every one is too busy to celebrate this traditional festival, young generation like to spend more time with friends rather than family members, a lot of traditional cultural are lost. Moon festival seems only left different kinds of modern type of moon cakes full filled in shopping center. And of course, at this very traditional festival, children in kindergarten are busy celebrating Mid-Autumn festival, this is a very good time for teachers to teach our culture and have fun to teach children to do handmade lanterns. Theses are some of the art work done by them, I happened to see one kindergarten organize the handmade lanterns competition in the park yesterday, some photos were taken there.

Anyway, I still want to say: “Happy Mid-Autumn festival” to every Chinese people who is in around the corner of the world which miss their home sweet home...

Look at the sky from my window

2009-10-02T09:58:00.004+08:00

Looking at the sky on Friday Hosted by Crazy Working Mom

Fish Tank

2009-10-01T00:01:00.004+08:00

This is my Watery Wednesday #07 If you like my fish tank, I am sure you will like to visit

ABC Wednesday-Letter K

2009-09-30T00:01:00.003+08:00

Love.Life

A kid adds many happiness to a marriage life,
A kiss is the best way to say sorry to your wife,
Jealous like the sharp knife to hurt love die,
Trust is the only key to open closed mind,
Be kind enough to accept some white lie,
If our love like a kite, let it fly.

This week's letter in ABC Wednesday is K. My words for ABC WEDNESDAY are: Kid, Kiss, Knife, Key, Kind, Kite. They are all about “Love”, they are all in our life.
Love in Chinese words is:

Chinese Character "Love" Button
It means “Home Sweet Home”
So, can you guess what I will write about letter “L” on next week ABC Wednesday? Do remember visit ABC Wednesday this lovely Meme and check out all other posts here.

ION Orchard Singapore

2009-09-29T10:02:00.005+08:00

I visited the new shopping plaza, Orchard ION on last weekend.

Orchard Road is well known worldwide as a high class shopping area in Singapore. You can find most of the branded shops in the shopping complexes like Takashimaya, Wisma Atria, The Heeren, Centrepoint, Plaza Singapura plus a whole lot more. Now it has a hottest addition – ION Orchard, which is designed by leading architecture firm Benoy. Located at 2 Orchard Turn, it is besides Wisma Atria, opposite Wheelock Place in addition to being opposite Tangs Plaza (different facing). The nearby MRT station is Orchard MRT station.

ION Orchard promises to bring together the world’s top brands for their stores, all in one shopping compound. It has a total of eight levels of shopping space, four above ground level, and four below, bringing a total of 66,000 square meters of retail space. I was told there are over 300 retail, food and beverage and entertainment outlets can be found there. I am not that kind of crazy in shopping lady, so I just walk around in this huge shopping plaza aimlessly, just like the few other people I saw. The shopping mall was more or less empty although it was in the weekend. All the high end shops were there but also quite a few 'coming soon' shops.

The people like me do window shopping more than the people who are really buying something. I ended up to spend an hour time in Zara, and bought two jeans there. However, there are a few of the photos of ION at night which I would like to share with you here at TUESDAY My World.

Blue Monday Story

2009-09-28T13:20:00.004+08:00

Guess what is it in side the blue package? It is a birthday cake! And I want to share with you a very short story about this birthday cake:

One day, A husband brought back this birthday cake for the wife. He was just back from the oversea trip, he was rush back for his wife’s birthday. So he bought this cake in airport, and asked the cake shop to wrap in romantic blue colors. He couldn’t wait to see his beloved wife. He thought she will be very happy that he could back home for her birthday on time.
When he reached home, the wife open the door, he said: “Happy birthday, my dear.”
“What is this? Cake? My birthday present? Just a cake?” The wife look at the cake while the husband put it down on the table.
“How much you buy? You bought it in the airport, it should be very expensive.” The husband was a bit disappointed, he expected a hug or kiss from the wife since he was away from home for 2 weeks time.
“Aiya, why you buy the cake, it is too sweet, I will get fat. Why did you buy it in the airport, so expensive. Did you buy any bag for me, there are many branded bags in Italy…”
The wife was still talking, complained here and there, she didn’t notice the husband who just took a long distant flight back form Italy, was so disappointed…

Will you act as the wife in the story? Do you have a wife as the one in the story?
Just a short story for our Blue Monday, LOL. Cheers.

One Single Impression: Colors

2009-09-27T10:20:00.005+08:00

Sunset evening is pretty,
Color of my beloved lady.
Sunset evening is lonely,
Where is my beloved sweetie.

See more color haiku here, at One Single Impression:Colors. This is my photo for Scenic Sunday, click to see more wonderful Sunday, cheers.

Six Words Saturday No 7

2009-09-26T15:13:00.001+08:00

Six words Saturday for this week: “Colorful post-it notes work on her.”
The photo is from Jama blog, “Colorful notes pasted by the participants of a workshop on what they have learn that day.” If you are curious what are the things in my this post related to Jama’s post-it note, read on.
My Six words Saturday for this week: “Colorful post-it notes work on her.” Of course, “her” here is not Jama, “her” mentioned is my daughter. Sometime I just get angry with her all habits, and no matter how angry I am, it doesn’t work on her…She always forgets to bring homework to school, she leaves the dirty clothes in the bath room after shower, she doesn’t cover back the toothpaste after brushing teeth, she takes out the chocolate and leaves the empty box in the fridge, or she leaves the house phone in the fridge and looks for it when it is ringing…Many such habits company our daily life until I am really really frustrated, because no matter how many times I scolded her, things are never changed.
So one day I choose to keep silent, and write a lot of post-it notes, paste all over the places where I think she need to be reminded…In the end of the day, when she was sleeping, I checked all the post-it notes, Guess what?
Some are the post-it notes are disappear… I saw the school back was packed and nicely kept by the door side for tomorrow which I left a post-it note to require her to do so, the clothes were kept in the basket for washing…Etc etc. There is a post-it note written by her in the toilet: “Hi, mom I wish the post-it notes from you will be lesser days by days.”
Yeah, she is right, a lot of her bad habits are gone, now the post-it notes from me are lesser.
“Colorful post-it notes work on her.” I will share this story with other moms on this Six Words Saturday…
And I would like to hear from you how to be a better mother.

Day Dreamer:Looking at the sky No1

2009-09-25T10:23:00.003+08:00

Hosted by Crazy Working Mom

Country House

2009-09-24T00:03:00.005+08:00

Sunny send me this lovely photo, she is enjoying her holiday now…Country side houses with a small pond behind, I love those red root top houses, it reminds me my childhood time, I miss the simple life with family and friends around, people are so friendly, we played hide and seek with next door children…This is my long lost feeling among those high buildings in this modern city.

So if are same as me, get tired of the modern life in the city, visit here, Watery Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday, take a short break, enjoy the nature.

ABC Wednesday-J for Joy

2009-09-23T00:01:00.003+08:00

Welcome again to the weekly online collaboration known as ABC Wednesday! This week is the turn for the letter "J". “J” in my this post is “Joy”. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”-John Keats

Finding joys in life can be very easy. Buy something beautiful such as this pretty Eustoma flowers and appreciate its beauty is a joy. Plant something green with flowers, see them grow from seeds, plants are proven mood enhancers. looking at those happy blooming, joys are just between your fingers and your mind. Make your own rose corsage for a party, you realize how artistic you are. Admire the color and shape of the petals, remember how beautiful life can be. Aren’t they the joys around us? There are many many more other joys but of course “A joy shared is a joy doubled”. Know you're loved. There's no greater joy. Knowing you are loved by the special someone and find your every piece of jigsaw puzzle of your marriage life and manage to finish them into a wonderful picture as you wanted, that is the greatest joy in marriage. So J is for Joy, J for jigsaw puzzle too. Read my previous post Marriage Life Is a Big Jigsaw Puzzle here, and wish every one find your own joys in life.