Guys, listen up!

For those who knows me, you will know that one of my hobbies is Salsa. Yes, I enjoy the movement of my body to that Afro-cuban-latino music. I try to be regular too.. at least once a week at the salsa pub to dance.

Imagine this:
Just when you're having a great evening dancing & having fun, a guy you dun really know came up to you to invite you for a dance. Sounds like the typical romance story of "both of you have a good time & you fell for each other"???
Pls dun be fooled... It does happen... but not often enough.
Well.. some scenarios:
1) The guy is cute & is such a fantastic dancer (well... a bit rare loh..)
2) The guy is not so cute but still a fantastic dancer (that's pretty fine.. at least you get to enjoy the dance)
3) The guy is a fantastic dancer but his attitude sucks (ok...that can lead to 2 outcomes: 1 being that you still enjoy the dance but you tend to look elsewhere instead of his face whom you'd love to punch, 2 being he thinks he's simply great & you're not up to his level & you regret ever setting eyes on him)
4) The guy is an ok dancer (that's perfectly fine.. other positive attributes are bonuses)
5) The guy is a beginner & is a lousy dancer (no prob! everyone's new once! I used to have 2 left-feet too)
6) The guy has been dancing for quite sometime but is still a lousy dancer (sigh.. not everyone has the aptitude.. I took a long time too.. so endure a bit. some are just slow starters..)
7) The guy has been dancing for quite sometime, is a lousy dancer & has an attitude problem (do I need to say anymore???)
8) The guy can be bad/excellent dancer but it doesn't matter.. coz his hands are busier.. groping elsewhere (harlow.. not all gals who dance are that casual!!!!)

Honestly, I do not deny that it's definitely more enjoyable to dance with a guy who has fantastic rhythm sense, excellent lead, etc. However, it's also ok to dance with guys who are not too good.. as long as they've an excellent attitude. I'm not that fantastic a dancer too.. we all make mistakes, then just laugh it off loh. But good or bad dancers alike, it becomes a torture to dance with once they have that stuck up attitude. And of coz.. for those "octopus", gals will have to take extreme measures of stepping on their feet with their heels or jerking up the knee. Of coz this is rather extreme.. the usual thing I do is to apply pressure on the guy's shoulders & to keep my arm locked when he tries to pull me close (so that there is a gap in between).

I met 2 irritating dancers yesterday.. one of them is a Japanese guy on holiday here. A bit old but still rather suave-looking. He invited me to dance & asked if I'm local.. coz I looked like a Jap. (sigh.. wat kinda pick-up line is that???) He's one of those octopuses & kept inviting me to dance.. I had to reject & even went to hide! :p
The other irritating guy.. he's guilty of scenario 7. I've danced with him a couple of times & though he's really quite bad, I thought I must still give him bonus points for mustering up the courage to invite people to dance. Hence, I always agree. This time round, I asked him how long he's been salsa-ing, which school he's from & the level he's at. He shocked me with his answer... he has actually taken lessons till intermediate level & this also means that he would have been dancing about a year or so.. however, he's worse than some beginners!! He tried to turn me a lot of times at the wrong timing and thks goodness there's not much lead from him (otherwise you will see a litter of bones around the area where we dance). So I just gently commented that you have to lead at the correct timing so that there's enough time to turn.

He looked at me & said," Well, you also have to look at the flow of the dance.. so that it's smooth & graceful." My jaw dropped. The remainder of the dance was spent in silence. It wasn't even criticism.. merely pointing out that there's somethg he could have done better.. but this guy, he actually thought that he knew better with that superior tone of his. That's it.. that's the last time I'm dancing with him. He actually have no idea he's doing it all wrong & when someone commented, he went ahead of his stick-in-the-mud attitude!

Sigh.. guys... pls do yourselves a favour. I'm not saying that only guys are at fault. At times, the gals can be a terror to dance with too.. but do remember that because you're the ones leading, we will feel the pain when you "twist" our arms.. It is also possible for us to sprain our legs, fall, etc. And, PLS LISTEN when others try to keep constructive comments!! Especially when it's our arms that you're handling!! You can definitely choose to shrug off the comments you get, sift through & take out the ones which you think are worth improving on.. But pls do not have that awfully stuck-up tone or face when you hear comments! (well.. unless they're from those super complain non-stop bitches, then they totally deserve it :p).

Going Ga Ga!!

I declare that I'm now mesmerised with a married man. Yes, I know it's pretty shocking.. but I'm not the only one.. There're hundreds or thousands out there who are just like me.. & we're all captivated by Park Shin Yang. Sigh.. the power of a drama serial.. it can project an ordinary looking guy into stardom. His role in Lovers in Paris has effectively swept me off my feet. I went a little crazier & googled a bit on him & learnt that he's happily married to a pretty lady 12-13 years his junior & they've a daughter. And of coz... the website has more of his pictures lah..

I must defend myself that I've never exactly gone crazy over any idol since my teenage years. I'm a superbly passive fan.. enjoy the song/movie/serial, think how cute/charming/charismatic the actor is and that's about it. The last actor I was "in love" with was Jang Dong Gun for his role in All About Eve. Again, another charismatic actor. I guess the kind of actors I like are more of the mature, not too good at expressing feelings but extremely charming type. Tony Leung is another of my favourite actor.

Back to Park Shin Yang, for those who have yet to watch Lovers in Paris, it's going to show soon on TV. But guess wat??? It's showing at that ungodly hour of 7pm!! Harlow??? Who's home to watch it except those ah mahs & ah pehs?? Can't u guys schedule it at 9pm?? A time when people who would appreciate such shows watch the tv?? So no more catching the suave Park Shin Yang for me loh.. *pout*

Glued!

Recently, "thanks" to my mum, I've been returning home earlier than normal & even not going out with my frens after work. For those who know me, you will know that this is rather unusual.. that I'll even choose not to meet up with frens just to go home??? Unheard of!

Well, it's coz my mum started off with renting some VCDs and subsequently borrowing some from her colleagues. The first set she rented was a HK drama serial 我的野蛮奶奶 (My Unreasonable Mother-In-Law). It was extremely hilarious.. how an unreasonable mother-in-law who was born as a princess tried to "curb" her rash & direct daughter-in-law. Add in a husband who's a mummy's boy and you've a successful comedy in the making. All the conflicts of how the mother-in-law tried to torture the daughter-in-law and how cowardy the son is. A rather relaxing and fun comedy that soon became serious as the son turns out to be a chivalrous hero who goes round robbing the rich to save the poor in secret. Still not too bad overall.. could be improved if the relationship between the son & daughter-in-law is played out in more details.

The second set of VCSDs she borrowed from her colleague is a Korean drama serial. I've not finished watching it yet.. 巴黎恋人 (Paris Lovers). Sounds sleazy?? Actually it's a romantic love story of how 2 men (an uncle & his nephew) concurrently fell in love with a compassionate, blur & comical gal. The uncle is a rich & successful heir to an automotive family business, who's love life is extremely lacking till he met this girl. The nephew (age difference with the uncle is only a few years) happens to be an extremely good-looking guy who is rather playful but caring. Add in the fact that these 2 men are very closely-knitted, a domineering father, an arranged marriage and the drama of the uncle turning out to be the nephew's brother, this serial got me hooked! I've not finished watching it yet the plot thickens.. Intending to do so over this weekend.. soo exciting!!

By the way, those good-looking Korean guys like Jang Dong Gun, Won Bin, Bae Jung Gun, etc. that you see on screen are rare & few in real life. The average Korean guy has small eyes, thin lips & is definitely not too suave looking. In the initial part of the show, I was wondering why on earth did they choose such an uncle-looking guy to add as the lead (well.. though he's indeed playing the role of an uncle, the lead actress is a sweet pretty thing.. so..erm..must be matching a bit lah...). But as the show progress, his looks does grow on me.. Especially the scene where he was playing ice hockey & he removed his glasses... Woah!! I'm falling in love with the character too! In comparison, the nephew who can make all gals swoon at his feet, pales in comparison as the show proceeds. Well, this kinda testifies the acting skills of these men since the average-looking guy can start to look good after awhile! :p The actress also starred in another serial.. in that serial I watched, she is beautiful & has a dignified look.. however, in this show, she appears to be the girl-next-door & is rather hilarious...

I do enjoy watching Japanese drama serials too.. However, recently I've started to turn more towards Korean ones. Koreans are by nature more subtle in expressing their feelings & there's much lesser of smooching on screen. There could also be long periods of silence where the characters in the show undergo some emotional trauma (more of undercurrents). The Japanese serials are more "modern" & depict more of love-hate relationships. Some people might find the silence & subtlety of the Korean shows unbearable, but I'm beginning to like it as it really tests the skills of the actors and presents another style of acting.

I'm praying that my mum does stop borrowing such drama serials for awhile.. It's quite killer to be watching it till rather late in the nite & I've to work next morning! Yes yes.. I know, shld be more disciplined.. but the episodes always cut off at the most exciting moment that you can't help but insert one more into the VCD player to watch!

Double standards???

It's been eons since I last blogged... during this period, I've been busy with the preparation of the games for a fun fair, work, books, fun, etc.. all except the time to blog.
Simply put, I was just plain lazy:p The thought of switching on my home PC after having stared at it at work for more than 8 hrs simply put me off. I was also too busy out playing on weekends :p
I've been spending much time reading the blogs of others & they were so interesting! That of an extremely witty doctor, Dr Bl Og, that of a civil servant, etc. Alas! Most of these blogs have been "closed" down. Was thinking of closing mine too.. since I'm such a lazy person despite the support of all my frens.. but then again, sigh.. decided just to hang on for awhile more..blog as & when I feel like it loh..

Anyway, on the extremely "hot" issue of Nguyen Tuong Van, the drug smuggler, I've some views too.. Being a Buddhist, I do not advocate killing or the taking away of life from any being. However, I'm also not totally against capital punishment.. especially when the person being executed will bring more harm to others if not so. However, this is not the first convict that Singapore is executing. Why should this case be any different from others? Simply coz he's an Australian? Simply coz it's Singapore & not other countries? There're many other countries which carry capital punishment & not much juicy news evolved from those... Does it also mean that certain "lives" are more valuable? I fully support the fact that as Singaporeans, we should not deviate from our normal practice & succumb to political pressure. Once a precedence is set, we can no longer stand firm on future cases.

If we can execute our own people if they commit such a crime, why should we practise double standards & spare others just coz they're of a different nationality?

Australia's PM John Howard said this:
'It is beyond belief that any Australian could be so stupid as to carry drugs into any country in Asia. We have told Australians - young Australians - again and again, do not take drugs out of this country, do not take them into Asian countries because you cannot expect any mercy. Now, we will keep pushing that message, but people have to understand that if they defy that and they get caught with drugs, they cannot expect the government to bail them out.

What kind of message is the Aussie PM putting across??? Is he telling the Australians that you shld not carry drugs to Asia but it's ok to do it in Australia or Europe since there's no capital punishment?? With such an attitude, can he expect the people to stop taking or trafficking drugs??

The matters on Nguyen's twin brother was also kept a secret as the judge handling the issue deems his case as being sensitive & might have an impact on his brother's case. For this, his punishment was delayed & even lessened. Does this make sense?? As long as a crime is committed, no matter who you might be, a prince, a king or whoever, you should not be given any special treatment: The reason being that your criminal act has void you of all your status.. you're simply just like any other criminal.. & both cases are separate issues.. how could they be lumped together?
I do not understand why a minute of silence should be observed for a criminal.. has he made any huge contribution to society? Is he of outstanding character or of some commendable traits? Just coz he's a criminal who was caught in another country & given capital punishment? Why should some of the Australians call us barbaric & boycott our products? We've always held firm to our decision especially in matters such as criminal punishment.. They've never done so till we decided to carry out our normal procedures & execute an Australian. Should we command more respect just coz we succumb to pressure & decided not to execute Nguyen? It makes no sense for me. Would we then not be seen as a weak nation with no principles? No ethics? Double standards? If we've to pay for executing a criminal of heinous crimes, so be it.

Pls note that it's not that I'm advocating political insensitivities here & neither am I against all Australians. I'm just giving my comments based on the issue. The issue here is no longer "Singapore carries out capital punishment & is capital punishment right?". The issue has become "Singapore is executing an Australian."