The Man Who Made Me Love Garfield

I had a good relationship with the man who influenced me heavily on Garfield, my inanimate furball.

“Had”?

Why?

We both fell in love.

He claimed soul mate status. He did the most amazing outlandish things.

He could Wow!!

I claimed unsure status.

Garfield became our “love child” and I started getting Garfields.

When I am happy, there is a Garfield.

When I am sad, there is a Garfield.

On an anniversary, there is a Garfield.

On an occasion, there is a Garfield.

In sickness and in health, there is a Garfield.

Garfields galore and like Pavlov’s dogs, I was attached to Garfield.

Garfield = Man!!

I mused to self and told this man that the oldest Garfield and my favourite is now 22 years old.

The man replied me, ” 22 years is a lot in cat years. Garfield must be worn, tattered and old”

Man is not incorrect. I can see the worn out Garfield paws from too much squooshing.

Cataracts in the eyes as the black paintwork on irises are erased as Garfield is hugged face down nightly and clung on tightly as if the child in me is afraid Garfield would slide off and fall to the floor.

475 Garfields….Man has a made a point in my life.

Man must have loved and cared about me.

What Man did not know was that he never gave me security.

Here today, gone tomorrow was his modus operandi.

If he appears, he appears like Houdini.

When he disappears, poof he vanishes!

I could love him for dollars or Garfields but I am made of integrity.

I could not sell my soul, my heart nor my brain to such a Man.

Plus Man asks if he could sell my organs!! He is odd!!

Technically, this is Garfield’s pops!

Gawd, for my inanimate furball to have such a father figure, I think my poor furball is in need of counselling.

Meanwhile Man wears spectacle frames without lenses – Ion Spectacles…sheesh….easy to con Man!

Ion spectacles is as good as pet rocks picked from rock pile and sold at a premium.

Life of an avant garde…such is Man and never the twain shall we meet 😀

Fruits For Desserts

I was surprised when a “missing” friend appeared and shared his good news of an achievement he made.

A time for celebration indeed and it was an obvious choice – Italian!

Our usual haunt we went, along Sixth Avenue as I knew we both liked the Italian Restaurant there and next to it was the Durian fruit stall and I loved tropical fruits.

Dinner was simply salad and sauteed garlic mushrooms with a bowl of soup to be shared between the two of us.

The real “dinner” was his belly to be filled with durians.

As usual, he asked for the Rolls Royce of Durian.

Mao Shan or Cat Mountain species of durian used to pip X.O. and D24.

But last night, the stall helper produced a durian smaller than the size of a football. He claimed it was “the best”!! I do not know how to pronounce the breed of this species of durian.

Best things come at a price and this teeny tiny fruit cost $64!!

It contained less than 15 small seeds and I ate 2 tiny seeds with disposable gloves on the table.

“Bitter sweet and rather creamy….as if eating a warm pudding” – it was indeed tasty. Thumbs up!!

Durian Feast With Fella

For takeaway, I got some longkong fruit which came in a bunch as if like grapes.

These brown skin globules with white fleshy slivers of fruit tightly packed in a ball grew in globes out of a central spine.

Sourish sweet…excellent for my palate!

2 bunches was weighed at $8.

The chatty stall holder was enjoying my company and gave me a free Harum Manis mango and a $2 discount from the bill.

$110!! The final bill for dessert.

Our actual Italian dinner cost $40.

Satiated we went home.

Ha ha!! Fruits cost more!!

Back To Front: Melons, Rambutans, Mangosteens & Longkong

I missed this fella and was glad he showed up.

Good company is always good to have 🙂

New Stand In Part Time Help

My interim part time help has the same name as my current part time help!

What are the odds? Maybe it is like the “Smiths” or “Joneses” of his land! 😉

A young person, T,  I hear of T’s sorry tale. T’s country land does not pay jobs well. T has to support 5 members of family. T comes to my little red dot as it is a well governed safe country with good currency.

It is nice to be trusted as a country and I in turn try to help foreign workers as much as I can.

Their plight is the same. All leave in search of better life.

I looked at my life. I am lucky to have a roof over my head and proper sanitation. Should I be less complainative?

Though I have an Electrical Lord, I get to earn a fair keep though working hours are tiring and very long.

It is better than being jobless!

I guess I have to accept my minion hood till my declining years 🙂

For us “luckier” ones, when we work overseas, it can be on expatriate status which means company provides board and lodging.

Super expatriate status can be the whole works as in bumper wages, maids in tow, expat school for kids, car with chauffeur or self drive and all meal allowances including relocation package. 😆

If I have an option to relocate overseas I still have to ponder the inponderables of leaving two senior parents of mine.

Afterall they have no one else to call on for assistance and I cannot leave them behind.

Life is not all about climbing the corporate ladder or after that mega pot of gold.

Courtesy Of Internet

I have precious time left on this earth and I want to do things that I cannot regret.

I also know full well that all the wealth (if I do get to this point) I accumulate cannot be brought with me to neder world.

I am no Mr Trump. My hair is real and I am not running for a spot in the oval office 😀

Trouble Abrewing In My Backyard

The surroundings of my little red dot is mired with countries not doing too well economically and politically.

Malaysia’s currency has plumetted.

Chinese Yuan is devalued.

Thailand has political unrest and the recent bombings have spooked tourists.

Today I read in the papers that Bersih has taken the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to rally for Prime Minister (PM) Najib to step down as the hundreds of millions of dollars went into his personal bank account.

Thousands of yellow shirts have gathered in the streets of Malaysia to pressure their incumbent PM Najib to step down.

This does not bode well for us as our current 2.5% growth economically will be grossly affected as our SGD is strong.

Our exports will be costlier though imports cheaper.

Tourists will find it not cost effective to visit my little red dot as MYR costs 3.01 to get SGD1.

Our high speed rail plan between Singapore to KL in 45 minutes has been silenced in the wake of current political dissent in Malaysian politics. I wonder if it will continue given PM Najib’s situation.

When any of our neighboring countries sneezes, we catch a cold.

Yet we are reminded of our smallness in size as it was Indonesia who gave us a snide remark that “Singapore is a little red dot”

Singaporeans are resilient and today we marketed selves as little red dot and we are darn proud of it.

We have to thank them for coining this for us 😉

So neh nanny boo boo to Indonesia 😝😝

We may be small but we give tens of  millions of dollars to a big country like Indonesia who snubs our size and pollutes our air quality 3 months in a year from their farming “slash and burn policy” – we are good neighbors and share our wealth.

Unfazed and unashamed by the pollution, instead of apologising, Indonesia says we ought to thank them for 9 months of oxygen the trees give out!

We are small. We are as you say, a little red dot and you remind us of our place. But we have a good air force, naval force and armed forces.

Plus we have one of the highest GDP in the world although we have zero natural resources 😛

I sincerely hope that Bersih will let it go and disperse as Malaysia’s National Day is on 31 August 2015 and it may cause riots if not contained.

May peace reign in our region and economic growth follows suit.

Balloons

Balloons squeak….;)

Balloons inflate when exhaled…..:mrgreen:

Balloons deflate when inhaled and I can speak like Donald Duck with helium….:roll:

Balloons are gaily colored….🙌

Balloons are party festoons…..😙

Balloons are used for birthdays, cheer ups and at malls for marketing purposes……😆

Balloons float into the skies when released….😁

Balloons end its life span with the prick of a pin…..and bursts….sending squeals of fright or screams.😨

Thank goodness I am not a balloon 😉

Onions….

The humble bulbous onion is a bone of contention for different folks.

In India, foul cries of “murder” in the economy as Indians face inflationary cost of onions costing SGD1.50 a kilo (70 rupees).

Indians love their onions. Onions are used daily as their staple for meal dishes.

My part time help from Bagladesh also love his onions.

He would tut tutt away when he sees me bringing home silver onions from stores, hailing from USA!

“Not spicy..not nice! India one good! Spicy!” He would proclaim in his broken English.

He is not wrong. Over the years I realise lesser onions hailing from India as exports lessened given India’s own shortage cries of “murder by onions”

Deep red purplish colored onions and shallots are now very expensive here too.

I used to pay $0.80 for a 300gm bag of shallots that now cost $2.50.

I use raw shallows to complement canned sardines in tomato sauce with cut red  chillis. This is excellent with rice.

I like chopped red large onions with egg pan fried into an omelette.

But with large onions going for almost $5.00 for a bag of 8 pcs at Cold Storage, I decided it caused my purse to weep too, as much as my eyes when peeling it.

Much ado about onions in India today, of which I empathise with the Indians as I love having onions sauteed with garlic and frying it with rice or veggies or meats.

The humble onion is now in a regal class of its own price….priceless soon!! 🙂

I eagerly await my part time help’s return from home leave as my home needs housekeeping…and I know he will surely bring me a bag of onions from Bangladesh…his pride and joy!!

Heh heh…pride and joy to my tummy too 😀

My Stash

Sister flew in from Auckland this evening.

She is to stay a night at our parents’ home before having her son fly in tomorrow and leave for Bali for her own family’s vacation.

This is her hub point to go to Bali for sun, sand and sea.

Flying all the way out from New Zealand only to spend less than 24 hours with her parents is a sad experience for our parents.

She returns once a year and can only afford less than a day in a year!

Sheesh!

Grandson will not even get to see his omar (grandma) and gong gong (grandpa). He is flying straight from Auckland to Changi Airport and meet his mum in transit to hop onto a plane for Bali.

I disagree on my sister’s treatment of her parents.

My parents are the least calculating and most generous in giving us things, including and not limited to just monies.

Yet, I cannot fathom why she can turn away and not spare a couple of days in a year for them out of her vacation. Even when my mum was hospitalised earlier this year, she denied responsibility and told me not to disturb her unless it was end times! ;-(

I feel for my parents.

I am not a parent and never will be, as I dislike kids. Why? They remind me of my selfish siblings.

I was once taught that it was my siblings’ choice.

Their choice to treat my parents as they choose.

I do not understand nor do I see their way of think thoughts.

I was told not to impose my will to them to see things my way! But seriously..  hmm what way is there to see things?

Western teaching allows a child to ignore their parents as they move on in their lives.

Confucian teaching in my culture teaches fiial piety. My parents are my care as they brought me up.

It is said in our culture if you have a daughter, you lose her once she marries to the tiger mom in laws.

If you have a son, you also lose him as his tiger wife will disallow him from going home to his maternal family.

Both rang true for my folks.

I am smarter….not to marry or actually the truth is no man wanted me LOL!

Maybe I am a hideous ogress?

Toothless with a hunch back?

Or a nicer way of putting it is, my knight in shining armour did not sign up for a wifi plan and his blue tooth pairing failed to connect to me 😉

Neither do I want to be a daughter in law nor a wife to a mummy’s boy who is hen pecked by big momma!

But not all is true as some children really dote on their parents; single or married.

I guess it the luck of the draw.

Or I call it karma. Maybe past life my sister was ill treated by her current mum and dad. This life she ill treats them back.

Evil thing this karma is…..

As for my brother, he is hen pecked by Lizard.

If Lizard does not endorse his exit permit or “home affairs visa”, he cannot see his mum or dad.

Such is parenthood. Whoever said parenthood is 100% joy, I’d say think again. Children are forever children in the eyes of parents, regardless of age.

But children never see selves as children and today’s strawberry generation sees a selfish strain of future adults that puts self before others.

I wonder what my little red dot will be like 50 years from now with this type of adults who grew up on social media? Selfish, self centred or?

I will not know as I will be probably be very dead by then! Dead as a door nail 😀

For mothers with children…don’t have expectations. It is saddest waiting for kids to return and they don’t.

Live, breed, let go…..

If they return, they return.

If they don’t, so be it.

Others will love you…be it a stranger, a neighbor or a cat or dog or inanimate furball like my Garfield who let you hug it to bits!

Garfield hugs to all 🙂

Transport, Art Or Music?

Photo Courtesy Of Internet Sent By RB

Long bendy bus…..

Transportation or art?

Musician playing a giant accordion?

3 dimensional or perhaps the Giant brought his accordion to serenade a lady friend on the bus?

Designer Cake…Perfect For Weddings

Photo Courtesy Of A Friend, RB

Chic…..

Classy…..

Yummy……

Elegant……

It has to be Chanel 😀

So It’s Thursday….

It is the end of Thursday for me at my end of the world 🙂 AND I am jubilant! 😀

It means Friday is tomorrow and I am so happy to receive TGIF with open arms.

But….there always seem to be a proverbial BUT ;-(

Electrical Lord wants me, the most “free” person in the company to take on FINANCE.

Me?! I can hardly count beyond my thumbs and toes.

The idiotic Money Bags is sheltered and keeps telling Electrical Lord he cannot cope with tonnes of signatory. Paper paper everywhere!

Sooo, I am tasked to evaluate an IT system to go paperless or E Payment solution.

I am in people management. I am minion and handle minion work but now, I am in charge to oversee a program to help this twerp.

Ugh! What is it with ME? Do I have a signage on my forehead saying…”I am so free…use me?”

I dislike Money Bags’ attitude.

He has to take ownership.

He has to describe the workflow to enable the process.

Only he thinks he is busy and the rest of us are terribly free, working through lunch and being so very productive!

Else, I guess I decide and if he does not speak up….then he has to forever hold his peace 😉

LOL! Sounds like a wedding vow…

Or maybe he is a goon who is clueless as money bags and perhaps with little grey matter in the cerebal hemisphere perhaps? 😉

I am huffy and I guess a tad uptight as there is so much to do.

Friday…..Friday…wherefore art thou Friday….4 hours away…4 hours away 😀