Saturday 30 June 2012

I need to start somewhere, Now and This is a good place to start - Disney World, Orlando, Florida, USA


I have been meaning to blog about my US trip, specifically our one week in Disney World, Orlando, Florida the week before Easter, end March 2012, but I just didn't know where to start.

There are so many things to talk about that one week, which we spent exclusively at Disney World alone (that's like half of our entire trip to the US), I didn't know where to begin. Nearly three months on, I still haven't blogged about it, I have only uploaded 200 photos (one album) on fb (I usually will upload EVERYTHING on fb), and random pix uploads - one here, one there, but nothing much, I have thousands of pix unsorted, and geez, where do I start?

Anyway, here I am typing away, trying to make sense of the entire trip in this blog post.

I chose the Cinderella's Castle as the pix above as it represents what Disney is well-known for - the dreams of little girls to be real life princesses, which were brought in cartoons, timeless, and I still get a bit carried away, when I try to think back of my childhood, and then I see myself in the eyes of little girls today, especially my two god daughters, Rachel and Genevie, they are complete Disney fans, same like their god mother, their mommy Sue. :-)

Hubby and I are both Disney fans. Our first visit to a Disney Park was back in 2010, when we made a trip to Hong Kong just to visit Disneyland, our three-day-trip saw us spending two days in Disneyland, we didn't even check out anything else in HK except for the Peak (formerly known as Victoria's Peak) and the famous for their egg tarts - Honolulu Cafe which was a short walk from our hotel, before we stayed in Disneyland Hotel till the end of our trip, and oh, left out our 'contact' with the airport. That's how much we adore Disney. :-)

I think you can call us hardcore Disney fans.

Geez, I still don't know where this blog post is going, this is more like a prelude of our romance with Disney than about the Disney World trip itself. Haha.

I shall end this blogpost with this pix:


Yup, the entire Disney World is about the size of San Francisco city in California. Disney World is so huge that it is about twice the size of the island of Manhattan in New York. Amazing, isn't it? Now is it any wonder why I don't know where to start? Till the next blogpost, have a magical day! (Disney's standard form of greeting - Have a Magical Day!)

Friday 29 June 2012

Do you believe in Chinese Horoscope?


As far as horoscope goes, I am a real fan, not as a superstition, but as a psychological /behavioural insight into human characters/personality.

I remember my mother giving me a thick book about Western horoscope and I was so excited it became my bedtime storybook (I was maybe prepubescent that time), I swear I can memorise all the horoscope dates, details, you name it, I have the book by heart. I am a Libran, and I do believe the description of people sharing my horoscope - good looking (ahem), narcissistic (guilty as charged), indecisive (yup, back when I was younger, I'd like to think that the older me has matured and I am more decisive now) and sociable (yup!). Many more characteristics, but these are the prominent ones in me, both good and bad.

Anyway, the question now is, do you believe in Chinese Horoscope?

The Chinese (and Indian) had a long affinity with horoscope. From the time and hour of your birth according the respective Calendar (different from Gregorian calendar we have), we can have our ba (eight) zhi (words) calculated based on a Book of Thousand years, seriously, this book is like a 'Bible' of sorts for Chinese astrologer, which is published year by year, with all the 'fates' of the people 'determined' according to their birth dates/hours/name. Yup, their Chinese name, but that is another story.

I am not Chinese-educated, hence I cannot provide the Chinese characters here, I can however, share with you my fascination with Chinese horoscope.

There are 12 animal zodiacs (one for each year = which will repeat the moment a dozen years is up) according to the Chinese horoscope. The first animal is the Rat, followed by the Bull, Tiger, Rabbit/Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep/Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Boar/Pig. (hence the popular saying for some Chinese that the loser/the last person is a pig/holding the pig tail)

The thing is, even though it can be loosely based on the Gregorian Year, the "Chinese New Year" which usually falls in between January to February every year, signifies a new year, and only those who are born after the "Li Chun" (Pronounced Lee Choon) AFTER Chinese New Year will be considered belonging to the new year's horoscope.

Example: Those born in 1980, 1992, 2004 are all considered to belong to the Monkey zodiac, however, those who are born before the first day of the Chinese Lunar calendar will be considered a 'Sheep' instead, some even go to the extent of determining the "Li Chun", (Pronounced Lee Choon) where it is a day in spring when the eggs can literally be upright, unassisted. Read about it on wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_of_Li_Chun

Hocus pocus or otherwise, as long as it is harmless, no harm believing in it right?

My philosophy is that half believe, half treat is a guideline in life and don't be too immersed in the belief, serve as a guide more than superstition.


These are some of the pix I snapped at the Taiwan airport earlier this year (April 2012).


Oh, yeah, you guessed right (if you haven't guessed already), I am a Monkey (in every sense). Playful, sociable, intelligent (ahem), oh, I just love horoscopes! Don't get me started on Kabalah and Numerology or even Tarot, let's leave those for another blogpost shall we?

In the meantime, Happy Friday everyone! TGIF!!!

Thursday 28 June 2012

Mid-Year Resolution - Blogging

About two blogposts back, I mentioned something about a mid-year resolution to exercise more. The weather has set me back by a whole week as I was robbed of my good health and my resolution came to naught, will pick it up again once I finished my meds. Two rounds of antibiotics and I hope I won't be needing the third round.

Anyway - I figured I can have another mid-year resolution on a more manageable nature - sick or healthy, which I have been putting off since 2005-2007 (back when I was more active on my old blog) - I resolve to try to blog at least once a day, pictorial or otherwise.

I guess since I can tweet daily, lately, and it's gotten into a pattern of habit for me to always remember to check twitter on a daily basis, and on certain days, easily several times a day, I figured I could blog on a daily basis too. The only thing is, iPhone pix cannot be uploaded directly onto blogger. Apple developers, please do something about it! Grrrrr

Writing comes naturally to me anyway, so this won't be a mean feat.

I shall end this blogpost with a pix (and a plug for 8TV)


I'm gonna be joining my students to watch the 8TV Ultimate Power Star Grand Finals this Saturday (30th June 2012) and it is open to all as long as you reserve your tix, for FREE! Follow me on twitter @suetiong to find out more. Alternatively, if you are a Mass Comm student of TARC, check out the TARC Mass Communication Society fb page http://www.facebook.com/groups/masscommtarc/

Post Script - This mid-year resolution is done in memory of my grandpapa's 5th year of passing - his funeral was on June 28, 2007. You are dearly missed, Grandpapa.

Tuesday 26 June 2012

I am a woman, Hear me roar

Cliche, yes, but I figured it's fun to see how long this blogpost will make it to google search since "I am a woman, Hear me roar" has been around for ages.

On a serious note, this is a general rant/blogpost.

Things have been hectic the past few weeks, now looking back, I have been more or less occupied for months, no longer weeks, but months. Geez, where have all the time gone to? It is true when they say time slips through from your fingers like sand.

Complaints aside, I think I can best sum up the first half of 2012 for me by summarising HOW I FEEL, let the feelings do the talking.

Happy, Sad, Elated, Disappointed, Excited, Tired, Anticipating, Crushed, Heart-warming, Betrayed, and of course, I am trying to apply equanimity to all those feelings to remain sane.

Funny how all these feelings are very closely related to their antonyms, huh? Guess it's true when they say you need to accept both the good and bad in life, you can only appreciate the sweet after tasting the bitter.

A general ending for a general post. I've got so much to post about but this will have to do for now. In the meanwhile, I tweet more @suetiong.

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Fat or Thin? Why so superficial?

I think people love to make comments about one's physical appearance.

Just because you look fat, doesn't mean you like to be reminded or called 'fat' again and again, even by virtual strangers. Just because you are 'thin', doesn't mean you are starving yourself, or 'don't eat enough', it may be in your genetics and you just cannot put on weight no matter how much you eat.

What irks me is how people think they are entitled to judge and if we retort by trying to give them a taste of their own medicine, they cannot accept it, hey, if you wanna judge me then prepared to be judged back as well. Do unto others what you wish to be done unto you.

Superficiality seems to rule today's world.

Everything seems superficial, everything must be beautiful and conform to the 'acceptable standards' of beauty, set by the mass media or just what people think others think.

Recently, a very nice girl I know was reduced to tears when a guy reprimanded her for 'eating and being fat like a pig', said straight to her face, not once but repeated to her and she rushed to the ladies as she was too hurt to even be in the presence of that mean guy. As of today, she is still no longer friends with that 'friend'. Some friends are better off 'defriended'.

Not too long ago, another very nice girl who is still single, has all the things going for her in life, tried to get to know a guy 'introduced' and it was almost like a blind date, only that 'date' never happened, the 'meeting' never ventured outside fb. The guy had self-esteem issues and to cover it up, he mentioned that the girl isn't attractive enough and the word 'fat' came into the picture again. Geez, you missed out knowing a perfectly nice girl just because she is a few kg overweight? For the record, that guy is still single. Same goes to the guy in the first case mentioned above. Be picky and soon enough, all the girls will stop looking at you and even the ones you call 'fat' will not even be bothered with you when you are 40 and still single!!! Unless you are filthy rich of course, which is another point of superciality, but let's leave it at that.

I am not particularly irked today, but just wanted to pen my thoughts now in this blogpost, food for thought. Just a blogpost to say it's June already! Mid-year and I have a mid-year resolution.

Yes, I have had my fair share of "you are too fat" by well-meaning and ill-meaning people, including strangers. I do blame my hormones (which I do put into my body artificially in my attempt to conceive), but I know I should make more effort in exercising, which I can control, as it is my lifestyle and I have power over how I want to live my life. I have learned not to let the 'comments' get to me after awhile. Anyway, as I am already past the 30 mark in age, I plan to be healthier. Let's see how much I can lose in the next two months, for health, not for beauty. I think I am good-looking enough, fat or thin. :-)