When It is Just Isn't Your Day and You Feel Down (more like you feel like shit)

Today just isn't my day.

My car battery went dead on me and I was already running late for work.

Instead of waiting to get it sorted out, I hailed a taxi from in front of my home and got to work within a reasonable time frame.

Then I had a 2pm-4pm break and the sky looked very dark. As if my mood isn't dark enough for the day.

It was then that I decided to take the cab back home to check on my baby boy, dark sky or not.

By the time I reached home, rain started pouring and the thunderous sky had an angry sounding orchestra up above.

My little one's smiling face changed to a frown and then his mouth turned downwards and he started wailing with the first thunder. The second lightning came and the second thunder sounded, causing him to wail even more. I picked him up and cuddled him while singing a nonsense lullaby that I just made up on the spot and he calmed down and settled into a singing response to me, cooing all the way in my arms as the thunders continue their symphony.

Bad day or not, I felt needed and I am glad I made that short trip back home right there and then before going back to work at 4pm later.

If you let them, babies have a way of brightening your day... the keyword here is "if you let them".

I have decided to let my baby taken over my life and my heart. Thank you baby boy.

Back to work now. :-)

What It Means to be Malaysian to Me

I promise this will be a shorter post compared to the long posts in my blog.

Happy Independence Day, Malaysia! Technically, it is Malaya who is 55 years old, Malaysia as a country is only 49 years old, formed by Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo, Singapore (who then left about two years later) and Malaya (now referred to as Peninsula Malaysia). Malaysia Day is celebrated on 16th September. :-)

I guess I need to write an essay on what it means to be Malaysian in my opinion.

Here goes.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE MALAYSIAN...

TO MY FAMILY: My late grandpa (who passed away at the age of 95 in 2007 a week before my weddding) always said: "Malaysia is a peaceful place. You can earn a living as long as you are hardworking." He came from China in the 1930s, when times are hard after the 1911 Chinese Revolution. He travelled with valid travel documents and settled down in Kuching, Sarawak, a state in Borneo, where he started his family and became part of the newly formed nation in 1963 through naturalisation - he was official "British" before 1963.

Same goes to my mom's parents, my parents' birth certificates showed "British" as their nationality as both my parents were born before 1963. British or no British, we are all Malaysians now. We are not even that state-centric anymore, we have relocated from Borneo to Peninsular Malaysia, my siblings and I have found non-Sarawakian
partners, we cannot afford to be state-centric anymore anyway!

TO FELLOW MALAYSIANS: Generally we young people (sweeping statement here, pardon me please) does not really bother about National's Day after we left mainstream education, where we had to line up and sing patriotic songs as well as the National anthem on a day before or after the actual public holiday in the spirit of Merdeka - in Bahasa Malaysia, the national language, Merdeka means - Independence (Free from Colonialism).

MY OWN TAKE:
The first time I was part of a National Day countdown was on August 30, 2005. I was still a reporter back then, I sat very close to the grand stand (main stage) where all the VIPs were at. By the time the countdown of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and MERDEKA! was shouted by everyone at Dataran Merdeka - the place where Malaya's Independence was first declared and shouted by the first Premier, Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj - I tell you, I actually felt a lump threatening to choke my throat, I was moved. The feeling was surreal. Here I was, at the same venue where our forefathers fought for independence and with everyone shouting "Merdeka", and I joined in as well, it beats watching a game at the Stadium or shouting for your idol anytime, the feeling is totally different! I blogged about it on Friendster but sadly, it has died a natural death, so I lost all data and pics of that night.

TO THE WORLD:
The people globally usually refer to Malaysia as only Peninsular Malaysia and shorten our citizens' name to the MALAYS. That is from the olden pre-Independent days where Malaya was called Tanah Melayu, the Land of Malays. Paintings of South East Asia map labelled Peninsular Malaysia as Malay. Even when I went to Hong Kong and mainland China, they referred to us as Malays. Fine.

RACES/SOCIETY IN MALAYSIA
For the record, Malaysia is a multi-racial country with Muslim as the official religion while non-Malays can profess any religion of their choice. Malay is the majority, with about 60% of the population, the rest are the Chinese (Chinese descent, not China-Chinese), Indian (Indian descent from India, but not India-Indian), the indegenious people in Peninsular Malaysia like Sakai, Jakun, and also 26 ethnic groups in the state of Sarawak in Borneo (Iban is the majority) and 27 ethnic groups in the state of Sabah in Borneo (Kadazan is the majority) - the two states in Borneo comprises East Malaysia, separated by South China Sea from Peninsular Malaysia.

Inter-racial marriages, and even inter-religious marriages had turned Malaysians into a colourful potpourri. I promised a short blog post, so for more information, feel free to google up Malaysia.

One thing synonymous with Malaysians are its food.

FOOD, FOOD, oh glorious food.

It doesn't matter what style of cooking it is, the Malays will cook Halal (ALMOST equivalent of 'kosher') food, but in Chinese or Indian style, we will have Malay style Chinese Fried Rice, or Indian style Fried noodles, and even the uniquely 'Mamak' or 'peranakan' cooking which is the result of racial integration of mixed marriages. Oh, don't get me started on the food for rest of the ethnicities in Sabah and Sarawak, my homeland of Borneo.

Pix shows some traditional cooking (meat in bamboo over the fire) by my friend's mom during Gawai Harvest Festival in mid-year in Sarawak.


I will not be telling the whole truth if I say we are truly tolerant with each other. However, let me remind you that even in a close-knit family, there will be squabbles and disagreements, what more to say in such a diverse community like what we have in Malaysia? Whoever we vote for, be it pro-Government or pro-Opposition, we are all just Malaysian voters exercising our rights. At the end of the day, we eat the same food, breathe in the same air, stay in the same country.

We are far from Utopia but generally, Malaysians are peace-loving people and once you get to know us and we overcome our initial 'shyness', we are always ready with a smile and will render any help we can. Just don't provoke us or call us names as we pride ourselves in our rich heritage and languages.

Selamat Hari Merdeka to all Malaysians! *Peace be unto all of us*

You may be interested to read more: http://suesanctuary.blogspot.com/search/label/1Malaysia

山歌好比春江水 - A Traditional Folk Song from Guilin, China

This song, 山歌好比春江水, is a traditional folk song from Guilin, China, popularised by the legendary Liu Sanjie 刘三姐, she is my parents', especially my mother's favourite folk song (Chinese literal translation = mountain song) singer.

Hubby and I are in Guilin now since last week, loving the place (this is a scheduled post but I am very sure we are loving the place)! Will edit this post anyway, so stay tuned.

EDIT: after our trip I think it's best if I leave this post mostly untouched as I need more than one post to describe the wonderful experience we had in Guilin, China!

Oh, the performance in the video above took place in the USA, noticed the orchestra are largely non-Chinese or even East Asians?

I just cannot fathom how someone of Chinese descent, with Chinese ancestry, just because they are staying out of China (due to migration in the first, second, third, fourth or even fifth generation) - they seem to treat that part of themselves as filthy or unspeakable. I don't speak for the rest of the world. I'm only speaking for the Chinese people (out of China) as I am one myself, a third generation on my dad's side and fourth generation on my mom's side.

The Westerners are learning Chinese language and arts/culture and here we are denying our own birthright? I am NOT talking about material rights or political rights, keep them out of this.

I am talking about language and culture. I don't have formal Chinese language education but I strive to learn to read and write the intricate language myself. It is hard, trust me, as I think and even dream in English. Oh well, who am I to judge these people? I am just voicing out my thoughts.

If you cannot love who you are born as, how can you be proud of what you have done so far, because everything you do in life will be trying to cover up who you are born as, so how can you truly be at peace with yourself?

Yup a good quote there: "When everything you do in life is to hide who you r born as, how can you truly be at peace if you deny yourself?" ~suetiong

Just in case you are curious of Liu Sanjie, here's the classic movie in HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EieWPBDipJY&feature=related

Hantu Gangster (movie) - A Light Take on a Dark Subject

I actually felt really moved when I listened to this song and pondered on its meaning, and thinking back of how far Namewee has come, from his student days (google up: Negarakuku) to his accomplishments today with many movies and accolades.

I know he is not popular with some sects of the society due to his vocal opinions, and I don't 100% condone his speech (can be futher filtered) but I actually feel proud our country has someone like him who dare to say, dare to do and dare to be himself.

Won't spoil the storyline for anyone but be assured the movie has a strong cast of heavyweight (famous) celebrities in Malaysia represented by the three main races in Malaysia (sorry Sabahans and my fellow Sarawakians, we are again, Dan Lain Lain - Others), for his second attempt after his first movie Nasi Lemak 2.0, Namewee has 'come of age' and I am sure he will only keep improving himself from this point on, provided he doesn't lose his focus along the way. Way to go, Namewee!

*For the record, Sarawak and Sabah are separated physically from Peninsular Malaysia by the South China Sea - Sarawak has 26 ethnicities and Sabah has 27 ethnicities, or maybe I miss one or two ethnicities there - Malaysia has more than 50 ethnicities, Peninsular Malaysia (Semenanjung) has THREE main major races. That's my only point of contention.*

Just in case you wish to view the review after the premier on Aug 9th, 2012, which included members of the public and some Malaysian celebrities:



You may be interested to check out this post on my take of 1Malaysia: http://suesanctuary.blogspot.com/2011/05/why-do-i-get-called-auntie-instead-of.html

To fellow Malaysians, do watch Hantu Gangster in the cinema, awesome movie! I admit I am BIASED. For a more neutral take on this movie, check out this review: http://poinkbox.blogspot.com/2012/08/hantu-gangster-polished-but-artificial.html

My Baby Sister's Birthday - Happy Birthday, Wei (Abby)!

Today, Aug 5th is my baby sister's birthday.

Instead of imagining her as her present adult self, I always have this image of her chubby baby face, literally as a cute toddler in my mind whenever I think of her.

I guess this is almost as close to the 'my child will always be my baby' mentality, only I am in the elder sister's role.

A blur pix from the past when my sister was a wee baby, the cutest baby ever!!! For the record, I am the elder sister, just in case anyone missed the point. :)

My sis and I have a funny relationship. We did not really 'click' until our age gap became closer, yeah right, as if we could change the year we were born.

What I mean is: When I was talking about boys, she was still talking about dolls. Then when I entered uni, she was still in school. Then I started to work, and she was still in school. Then I got my Masters, she only entered uni. Then I got married, she was still single and still in uni. You get the drift.

It wasn't until after I get married, and she started working herself, and then she got herself a guy and started a decent relationship, that we started to really click.

Before that it was more of a one-way-spoiling relationship.

I love spoiling her with gifts. Oh, she does give me gifts as well, more so now that she's working (and after me 'complaining' it has been mostly one-way and it's high time she reciprocate accordingly now that she's working as well!)

Heck, the first present I could recall her giving me was from a thrift shop - a cute plushie mobile phone holder, she was in uni when she gave me that birthday present. Then... nada. Cards don't count. hahaha. Okay, I am not gonna record all the presents or non-presents from my sister, I am more magnanimous than that! My point is, I love showering my sister with gifts! There was one year I gave her a gift every single month leading to her birthday. Small gifts, just because.

I repeat, I love showering my sister with gifts! Once, I recalled it was the year I was getting married and our extended family came down to follow the bride during the 'actual' day reception at the groom's side - in Chinese weddings, the groom's side is considered the tradition/ceremonial and the penultimate 'recognition' a couple gets to be recognised as a socially-recognised-married couple. I digress.

That year was 2007. We have a younger girl cousin who is the youngest daughter of my aunt. Oh, if that was the incident, it should be a year before my wedding. In December 2006 or was it 2005, my aunt's family visited us and we went shopping. As usual, being females, we shopped for shoes and clothes. Then, just when I was paying at the counter, my sister casually inserted a few items of her own and told me she wanted them, I agreed to pay for them without any resistence, then she added a few more items she fancied and I did not react negatively at all. Then our cousin Samantha reacted, she exclaimed loudly: "Ah ney hor eh!!! So good!!! My elder brothers never bought anything for me so willingly!" My sister smiled sheepishly and I didn't think much about it but I felt good as I made my sister feel good about it too.

Then when I got married, naturally, my sister became my bridesmaid. Erm... Maid of Honour. As per the customs, if we are to follow tradition, the bride and the groom are supposed to bestow gifts and tokens of appreciation to the Maid of Honour. In Chinese customs, we have a very practical gift, a traditional practice of giving 'red packets' or 'red envelopes' or "Hong Bao or Angpow" with money (usually notes and not coins) inside as a form of 'blessings'. Consider it similar to gift vouchers in the Western culture.

As per my habit with my only sister, I gave her not only a token of appreciation in a red packet WITH MONEY, of course, a pair of yellow gold earrings studs in heart-shape with diamond studs (not sure if I am making sense here), and many other smaller gifts.
She kept complaning she was very tired, having to manage so many things during my two wedding receptions, and I didn't think much about that and gave her more gifts to shut her up anyway.

It was a few months later when her best friend Alicia came for a sleepover where the Maid of Honour tokens of appreciation cropped up in our conversation that my sister shut her friend up immediately when Alicia said: "But you have so many things from your sister! When I was the maid of honour for my elder sister, I got so little...." she was cut short. My sister didn't want me to know that I over-gifted her... hahaha, sis, even if you didn't stop Alicia, I won't ask for the gifts back, I gave them to you because I wanted you to have them in the first place!

Everytime I returned from any overseas trip, I would buy something for my sister. Her collection of plushies (soft toys) from me are uncountable! I even exchange 'stamps' to redeem for cute plushies and thought of her when I shop to get more stamps.

As we share almost the same dress/top size, I know how to shop for her and I remember the first top I bought her was during my first job - I was a reporter and I went to Langkawi island in my first month of starting my job. I bought two shirts - a cream and a pink one and she still wears them till today - I have been working for 10 years up to 2012, so that's how old those shirts are today!

Since then, I have bought dresses, gowns, evening gowns, maxi dresses, blouse and tops or T-Shirts for no special reason, or on special occassion or just because for my little sister. When I got my first VS brassiere from the US, I knew her size and let her try on my whole selection (shopping loot) and let her choose two from the loot. FOR FREE! VS = Victoria's Secret for those uninitiated. We don't have VS over here in our country so it was a real treat!

Okay, this is becoming a journal to chronicle my gifts to my sister!!!

AHEM ************************************************************************

Dear sister,

You are my only sister, my only birth sister anyway, and I love you dearly. If those gifts are not enough to represent my love for you, then there is still another half a lifetime (provided I live to my 60s) to make it up to you.

Happy Birthday, Wei (Abby), do know that no matter what happens you have an elder sister you can count on, no matter how sarcastic my remarks are, know that deep down, I really care and will always love you as my baby sister.

Love, Jie (Jie - pronounced jeeyay is Chinese Mandarin word for elder sis)

Pix Taken During our only brother's wedding in Nov 2011 - we wore the same shade of colour without planning beforehand, talk about sisters' intuition! She is my younger sister, so of course she looks younger, she is the one on the right, just in case you mix us up. lol

Procrastinator? Embracing Procrastination... A reflection on my career

I am a procrastinator. Due to an understanding of that, it comes with 'maturity' to truly see yourself for who you are - a procrastinator who loves the rush of adrenaline when you are striving to meet the deadline, and doing a pretty good job at that - when you meet others of the same nature, i.e. 'practitioners' of procrastination, that sense of 'familiarity' brought back some nostalgic feelings.

I hold the principle that if it doesn't harm anyone, I procrastinate, if it concerns a team, a group or of a larger scale, I finish the task before you can even say start. I am a selective procrastinator that way, I prioritise.

COMMUNICATING IN REAL LIFE AND BEYOND (UTILISING SOCIAL MEDIA)

You see, I have been in my current job for more than three years, and counting. For those uninitiated, I am a lecturer, an educator/teacher, however you call me, I'd like to call myself a communicator as I am sharing what I learned back in university, and also my work experience when I was still 'out there' in the industry - communication - and I find myself 'communicating' to these young people more than 'educating' them anyway. One advantage is that I get at least a third of my yearly number of 'new students' to befriend me on fb annually and I do get some of them as my twitter followers as well.

THE REALITY OF A TEACHING/EDUCATING JOB

However, right from the beginning, I am quite disappointed that the number of 'interaction' hours with the students tend to be lesser than the number of hours I spend pushing papers and deal with red pens (marking) and filling up mountains of forms and preparing reports. I think it is a global phenomenon for educators, the number of hours you actually spend with students are like a third or even a fourth of your whole workload?

YOUNG FOREVER?

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my job - the hours I spent interacting with the kids (I still call them kids in a good way as they are so very young!) reminds me of how beautiful youth is, the youth that is slowly slipping away from the physical body. They keep my spirit 'young' and with that, I feel more energetic and 'alive', hubby always commented on how 'fired up' and high-spirited I am - DAILY - he calls it 'hyper'. :-)

THE TRUE MEANING OF FEELING 'OVERWHELMED'

I never really know the feeling of being 'overwhelmed' till I took on this job.

NOT when I was reporter and the editor was staying back to wait for me to finish my front page news to complete the printing of the front and back page - which was reserved just for my news.

NOT when my neck was on the line when my client was breathing down my neck and shouting on the phone when something 'went wrong' a day before a huge event or when as a PR practitioner, the media attendance was really poor (read: one media turn-up) - we turned it around and somehow did not get overwhelmed and made it positive anyway!

NOT when it was the umpteenth time your client shoved back your work at you and complained your copywriting isn't up to what they were expecting, and finally they settled for the first few drafts you sent in the first place, without realising they themselves rejected it initially. No, those are NOT overwhelming.

NOT when the board of directors dislike the fact that you wrote something without having gone through it with them, despite the fact that you are not supposed to be answering to them anyway. No, not when your career seems to be in a tight fix.

Nope, I never considered those moments 'overwhelming'.

NOT when the office politics got worse and you are on the worst receiving end of it. NO, those are not really overwhelming, it is easy to walk away when you don't really have a reason to stay anyway.

I kinda summarised my entire career's 'most difficult moments' in those few paragraphs.

lol Exciting times.

Really, the rush of adrenaline in the heat of the chase really (still) gets me all fired up. I am THAT kind of person.

OVERWHELMED: MY DEFINITION
Sometimes, it does get stressful with the sheer number of students - average ten classes which translates to over 200 students at any given semester, and multiply that number by three assignments (not including the in-between assignment exercises you give), and at the end of every semester, you get equal number of exam scripts to mark in less than a week (average five working days and sometimes a few more days if you are lucky).

I find that after my regular work hours are over, minus the family meal times, washing up and household chores, and some winding down time with hubby in front of the telly, I need to sacrifice my sleeping time or even my weekends to catch up with the marking that I tend to bring home. Oh, I abhor marking. Detest, hate, shudder with apprehension... however you describe it oh yeah, I really am not a big fan, not even a small fan of marking. If we are talking about an entire class of a single class with only 18-20 students for an entire semester, oh yes, that is fine.

With my current institution, due to its popularity and large intake of students annually, to the extent we only have a single intake yearly as opposed to other instutitions who may have two or three or even four intakes annually, I guess you can say it is worth being proud that our single intake brings in enough number of students, the volume is really overwhelming we need to put a stop to double intakes or more.

QUANTITATIVE LOOK AT THE MEANING OF OVERWHELMING:
It is easy to get 200 students or more under your tutelage at any one time. If you need to spend about 20-30 minutes on a single item to mark, if you have already done the Maths about three paragraphs before, if there are a minimum of 200 students, you should get 600 assignments, and if it is a 'writing' paper, with exercises, with another three exercises (minimum) - add another 600 exercises, and 200 full length exam papers which takes about 30 minutes to fully mark (minimising errors) - so 600+600+200 = 1,400 items = 1,400 x 25 mins (average) = 35,000 minutes = 583 hours and 20 minutes. That is equivalent to 24 days 7 hours and 20 minutes.

And we have to squeeze that into 16 weeks. Each work day, we have 24 hours - Deduct 9 hours for regular work hours - deduct 6 hours daily for sleep (minimum) - deduct 1 hour for personal hygiene stuff - deduct 1 hour for commuting (travelling to and from work, shopping for household products, etc) - deduct 2 hours and 30 minutes for meals (including preparation at home or waiting for food outside) - deduct 30 minutes minimum for household chores, mostly laundry, don't talk about sweeping or mopping, deduct 1 hour for cuddling/telly time/chatting with your partner. That is not including 1 hour of catching up with the news, going online to check mails, some family time - calling up your parents/in-laws, and doesn't include maybe another 1 hour to engage in social media - 15 mins on twitter, 15 mins on fb, nah, who am I kidding, we need to do that twice to be fully engaged in social media - so an hour a day it is.

How many hours are you left with in a day? Exactly ONE HOUR left.
And I don't have kids yet. If I have kids, then that precious one hour will be taken away. Poof. So where do I squeeze in the marking? Spoken like a true procrastinator, back to the topic at hand.

By the end of the day, when you are winding down, the last thing you wanna look at are scores of 'mistakes' and half-hearted attempts of courseworks/assignments/work, however you call it. Maybe about 10% of them would be 'gems', truly a delight to mark but if you think of the rest of the 90%, it really takes away my appetite for even my favourite food. We haven't even factored in the time every lecturer need to prepare for lessons, research time, etc. Something's gotta give. Don't we have some personal me time? I haven't stepped into a spa or salon for the longest time!

For weekends, out of that 24 hours - we tend to have 'more time' to relax, or so we thought.

SACRIFICES
It is only a sacrifice if you don't enjoy doing it and I DON'T. So you sacrifice your sleep (I've stayed up all night and only took a nap at 7am before waking up at 9am to submit the scrips), your family time (thank Goodness for understanding spouses), your weekends are gone, bye!! and who even have time for some 'me time'?

DISHEARTENING, DISAPPOINTING OUTCOME
It does get very disappointing sometimes when you have repeated the same thing for 14 weeks since the first lecture and yet, at the finishing mark, where all runners reach the final destination, they just 'don't get it' and did exactly what you told them NOT to do.

Whose fault it is?
I do take it very hard and feel very bad when students fail or fail to achieve even a minimum pass. Even with a lot of 'hand-holding' and guidance, I find that there will still be 10% who just refuse to listen or just plainly ignore what you say. Such blatant disregard do make me lose it sometimes but I rarely show it in front of anyone.

The kids tend to skip lectures, there are those who diligently attend each lecture, rain or shine, with or without 'traffic jams', fatigue or illness.

Then why do those who chose to skip lectures cannot emulate those who diligently attend each lecture?
Answer: BLATANT DISREGARD and IGNORING BASIC MORAL VALUES LIKE RESPECT for others.

It makes my blood boil everytime these SAME STUDENTS ask for exam tips or say: "Please, give us very 'specific guidelines', Miss" - I feel like they are making fun of the entire semester and disregarding everyone's efforts the entire four months. Who are you to come at the end of the semester that once or twice to DEMAND FOR SOMETHING you don't even deserve?

Some even blatantly, albeit jokingly, asked for the actual questions. You might as well break into the safe and get caught and get expelled or worse, go serve your time in jail. You wanna drag me down with such a stupid request? What's the use of attending college/university when you don't wish to use your brain?

Yes, we can procrastinate, but not at the expense of others. If it only concerns you and your personal well-being, so be it.

However, if you are in a group, or a whole big system, just one weak link will cause the entire system to fail. Don't forget that every young person will grow up to be older and be part of the system that forms the society. We are all interconnected and what you do or say will affect others.

Oh yes, I have taken some harsh actions and said some hard-to-swallow remarks especially in the heat of the moment, which I am reflecting on right now. Some people just cannot take it, hence they lashed back the best way they can by complaining or b*tching about it online. Hey, what goes around, comes around, you think we are still in the Stone Ages? This is the Digital Age where nothing escapes anyone!

Your reputation is what people think you are; your character is what you are.

I guess I am comfortable enough in my skin to not really care about either. I have a pretty good reputation and I love my colourful character. We cannot please everyone!

Anyway, at the end of each semester, I do realise I am a forgiving person. I don't hold grudges as it really will eat you up inside, and I do forgive these kids who have 'trespassed', and ultimately, youth is when you are supposed to make mistakes. I blame youth and not the humans.

Related Post: Career Change? What Made Me Stick Around?

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let down your hair! - Disney Princesses in DisneyWorld, Orlando, Florida, USA

My first 'encounter' with Rapunzel was during our first visit to Magic Kingdom in Disney World, Orlando, Florida, USA - not exactly the real Rapunzel, but a little girl with Rapunzel's long blonde hair in the pix above.

The costume and the wig are just so cute!!!

My favourite song in Rapunzel is the Healing Incantation:


And here are the pix of the 'real' Rapunzel:

She's a pretty one isn't she? And the little girl in pink is wearing the Sleeping Beauty (Princess Aurora)'s costume.

This is one pretty short blogpost as well for Monday blues...

Have a magical week ahead!!!

Why are Caucasian Kids so adorable? - Our trip to Disney World, Orlando, Florida, USA

Why are Caucasian kids SO ADORABLE?

Our trip to Disney World, Orlando, Florida was our first 'real' contact during the daytime with the US.

Being fond of children, having no kids ourselves, the first thing that struck us in the days that follow is how ADORABLE the caucasian kids are, from babies to tots to pre-schoolers to elementary schooler and to early teens... after that they are budding beauties and handsome hunks when they are already gorgeous teenagers, some who are not even 18 yet can pass off as someone more mature. I guess the same can be said all over the world - kids growing up too fast!

A random shot of a group of teens who were ahead of us in the line.

A group of school kids performing in their choir.

Being in Disney World, you can expect to see kids EVERYWHERE, nearly half my photos are of kids whether intentionally or unintentionally.

While waiting for the show in 'China' to start at EPCOT (one of the four parks in Disney World. We spent two-whole days in EPCOT.

Cute sisters on the Disney bus.

The younger sister smiled sweetly.

Bro taking a pix of his sis at 'Japan' in EPCOT.

This little girl in the pink skirt actually 'danced' and moved from her spot to the next spot randomly while the Disney Photopass (you can google more about it) photographer was trying to snap a still pix of her. I couldn't help laughing at the cute little girl's antics and finally the Disney Photopass photographer removed her camera from the tripod and followed the girl's movement. At Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) - one of the four theme parks in Disney World.

This cute little boy gave a scare to his parents when he went out from the unsecured gate of the grounds we were at and his mom shouted for him, alerting his dad who ran after him and carried him back and securely locking the gate. He was just so cute - it was already dusk, hence the pix isn't that clear. -Fort Wilderness Resort, one of the many resorts in Disney World.

Little girl with King Louie from Jungle Book at Animal Kingdom, one of the four parks in Disney World.

Soft baby hair, curly long eyelashes, big beautiful eyes, cherubic pinkish cheeks, and sometimes sprinkled with freckles, red lips... oh, they are such angels - brunette, red-haired or blondes alike!



Of course, despite my infatuation with Caucasian kids, I find that every child is just as cute and adorable. This group of siblings, most presumedly of South Asian descent were very talkative during our Jungle River Cruise.

And they were very responsive too!

Double the cuteness, TWINS! With Chip and Dale. And I cannot even guess their ethnicity. At the end of the day, children will always be children, innocent and universally adorable.

I love children so much my ovaries are throbbing now. Okay, abrupt end of blog post.

Do search for my other blog posts on our trip to Disney World by searching the tag "Disney"


This little boy seated in front of us during the Safari at Animal Kingdom, one of the four theme parks in Disney World is just so adorable - he reminded me of my good friend, Mei's only son:

Beauty and the Beast - Disney World, Orlando, Florida, USA

The pix above was taken during our second day in Disney World, Orlando, Florida, on March 25, 2012 at EPCOT. I will be blogging all about EPCOT in a single blog post and the Flora Festival that was going on when we were there... soon, I have mentioned it will take me many many blog posts to fully 'capture' our experience in Disney World. :-)

Beauty and the Beast - Belle isn't exactly a princess until she fell in love with the Beast, and broke his curse and he turned back into a Prince and they got married and lived happily ever after. Of course, in every fairy tale, there is an antagonist/villain, in this case, it is Gaston, the ever conceited man who wished to marry Belle just because she is the fairest maiden in that locality and he felt that her beauty matches his handsomeness, whatever it is he called it.

Anyway, I love her gorgeous golden ball gown! Which in the Beauty and the Beast Musical/Show at Disney World, Orlando, at one of the four theme parks, Disney Hollywood Studios (former MGM) - she only wore it for about two minutes in the last scene. The rest of the play, Belle wore her normal garb, grey and sometimes with a black hooded coat when she is in the outdoor scenes.

Here goes.

Out of the three princesses who were 'waiting' for the people in the one-hour-long-line to reach them and snap pix with them, Belle (Beauty) was the only one who got down on the floor to talk to the little ones, the other two in that 10 minutes we were in the 'chamber', preferred to either stand or sit on the stools provided. And she is the most authentic looking among the three princesses! Check out my blogpost on: Do you believe in the green dragon? Under July 2012 blogposts

Don't you love her gorgeous dress, the ruffles and oh, the rich golden yellow colour, I love her dress the most, I don't have a particular fav Disney princess, just fav points about each one of them.

Anyway, enough about the signing autograph Belle - let's see the pix from the show - this will be a long LONG LONG pictorial blog post. I was snapping away every other second during the show at the open air amphitheare (with shade).

40+ pix ahead (snapshots from the Beauty and the Beast show at Disney World, Orlando, Florida)

Before the start of the show - seated behind us, we can clearly hear a little boy kept asking his mommy, is it time yet? Is it time yet? is it time yet? Are they starting soon? Are they starting now? Until finally she said okay, now there are 10 more seconds, and exasperated, she counted down from "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 there", and at that exact second she said 'there', the screen/curtain were drawn and the announcer spoke.

Talk about exact timing! The mother whoopped in joy and said, THERE! Mommy's watch is timed according to Disney time, down to the exact second! I let out a loud chuckle and hubby turned around and gave the mom a thumbs up and she laughed. lol

And the curtains were drawn again and we walked out from the amphitheatre.

It was worth the arrive-half-hour-earlier wait - we arrived half an hour before the show started and we could only manage to get an aisle seat (no obstruction, yes!!!), but towards the top of the theatre.

If I have a child/children in the future, I will definitely bring them to watch this amazing show!!!