My dislikes II

Today, I had two encounters which will be added into my aversion list. My first blogging about it was here.

One of the worst thing one can experience in life would definitely have to be stucked in traffic. I must salute those who never think traffic jam as an absurd way of wasting time and how they can endure every minute and every second of it. In Sydney, what makes it worse is the number of traffic lights one has to pass before reaching a destination. When I was still residing in my previous domicile, I literally counted how many sets of traffic lights I pass on the way to work. It was 29!!! It was a freaking 29 sets of lights! No wonder it took me almost an hour for a 15km distance in a bad traffic. Nowadays, I take the freeway which is so much better but still 17 sets of traffic lights. =) So I do appreciate it if people actually geared up to go when the lights turn green. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of people who think they have ample time in the world to do their 'whatever' in the car while waiting for the lights to turn green. So, when the lights says go, they are not vigilant and it has to take a nasty honk or several just to alert them. Inevitably, this will only allow several cars to go and the next few cars in line will have to wait for another couple of minutes. This is one scenario that will cause me to blow!! (Lord, I ask for more patience in me, please.)

Secondly, we had dinner out just today and we were seated next to a group of people which I assume was a couple with 2 kids (a baby and a small kid) and their 3 single friends (from their conversation). Not just on one occasion, but several, the mother drew much attention when she raised her voice at her little boy (probably 2-3 years old). Of course, people tried to be polite and dared not stare, but we were right beside them. Gosh, it was so annoying! Although seemingly, she was trying to discipline her son, but I don't think that sort of treatment is suitable in public. She repeatedly had to raise her voice to tell her son off, "this cannot, that cannot, no this, no that... etc". I really have an issue with mother's trying to proove in public that she's a stern mum!! Especially the tone that this lady used.. is so similar to many of the 'well-educated mothers' I've seen around, as opposed to the not-so-educated ones, of which the latter will simply shout at their kids, slap them around (understandably, this is prohibited in Australia) and ask them to shut up and sit quietly! So, this lady actually tried to show her smart-arse (in hokkien we call it, ke gau) motherly demeanour in public and I absolutely loathe it! Can't they do it at home??? I have seen many children and friends with that kind of mother, and eventually they turn out to either be resentful and/or timid and/or another smart-arse product!! (Lord, please help me to be more accepting and forgiving and not judgmental.)

I know, I am a very judgmental person, no one person in this world can be unison in character and attitude. I just have to learn to accept them as they are. Oh well, I sound very petty and I'm not someone into the deep stuffs, well I do but in seclusion. So, as much as those are meaningful and worthy to be pondered upon, one just need to succumb to the fact that life in itself is hard. I have long accepted that, which is why I don't dwell in the deep stuffs because it just complicates things even more. I want to live life in contentment and in thanksgiving because I know, there's pure joy by just knowing the Lord!!

Ok, I digressed. One minute, I am judgmental and now I'm talking about joy! Hmm... told you I have identity crisis. Oh wait, I was actually talking about pettiness and the deeper stuffs!

Alrighty, enough with that. Before I end, I want to show my mum the dinner we cooked yesterday. We had some thai sweet chili chicken with some salad. Big Elf likes his garden salad with balsamic vinegar whereas I wanted to have a different salad ie silverbeet (mum, that's the name of the vegetable I told you about) with mashed sweet potatoes. No MSG, no salt for the salad. Quick, easy and healthy!

Big Elf's dinner

My dinner

Appleseed

Yesterday we invited some friends over for dinner. Big Elf loves to be host and he will cook really nice food for his guests! Unfortunately, the food looked too good that I totally didn't bother to snap a photo of it. I am always ravenous when there's prawns!!

The dinner setting






















The dishes were:
1. Spicy Black Bean Beef
2. Ma Po Tofu
3. Sambal Tumis Banana Prawns
4. Stir-fry bak choy (I cooked this la, simple and easy).

If you don't already know by now, Big Elf always leave the vegetable dishes to me and he will get his hands on the seemingly more important and substantial dishes ie the meat and seafood.

Calla lilies

Some random shots just to make up for the dishes I didn't photograph. Sorry =( These are calla lilies which I plucked from my landlord's garden. They grow very well towards the end of winter and of course spring time. Soon, there will be hydrangeas in the garden. Can't wait for it to grow!








Candle light holder from Ikea





















The dessert!!!


At least I remembered to snap a photo of the dessert while Big Elf was preparing it. It was just a simple cookies and cream ice-cream with strawberries and chocolate topping. Our friends left us with a movie they bought, an anime called Appleseed! We then watched it for the night and it was quite good.. not so much of a Studio Ghibli style movie, you can tell. It was war and bloody... I'm sure you get the gist of it. All in all, it's highly recommended.

Howl's Moving Castle

I have been watching Studio Ghibli's anime diligently since this year.Many of my friends have probably watched them long long time ago, yet I only started now. Perhaps it's good in a way because I'm sure I wouldn't understand it better than now. I have watched several but didn't think my interest would last this long. Hence, I didn't blog about it. The whole idea behind studio ghibli is something worth respecting from the movie plot they produced. Time and again, they never fail to impress audiences, especially me. Every anime has a good story line and morale in it. However, it may not be suitable for Christian audiences, especially kids as they engage in all these supernatural, magical, gods and goddesses and monsters like theme, overtly non-Christian beliefs. Then again, I am not an extremist and I know who I serve. So, I'm not too worried about watching it and being a fan of Studio Ghibli.

My first Studio Ghibli's anime was Howl's Moving Castle. I was immediately fascinated by it, an animation with such engaging storyline. I was absolutely drawn to the visual effect and I cannot believe, I was totally charmed by it. I never knew about Studio Ghibli before but this was a great start to my venture on watching all Studio Ghibli's production.

Howl's Moving Castle is based on a novel by Diana Wynne Jones. Here's the spoiler for those who haven't watch. But even after reading the plot, it is still worth watching!


The film starts off with the protagonist of Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie, a timid and unsure 18-year-old girl who works in her late father's hat shop. She has a chance encounter with the mysterious wizard Howl (27 years old), who rescues her from some menacing soldiers. However, by doing so, Howl brings Sophie to the attention of the Witch of the Waste, who visits Sophie and whom Sophie inadvertently offends and puts a curse on her, transforming her into a 90-year-old woman. Unable to tell anyone of the curse, she sets off on her journey to the Waste, to beg Howl to lift the curse. On the way she meets a magically animated scarecrow whom she names Turnip Head. Together they find Howl's moving castle.

Inside the castle, Sophie comes across a fire demon, Calcifer, with whom she makes a deal: He will change Sophie back to her normal age if she can break the contract that binds Calcifer and Howl together. "Grandma" Sophie also meets Markl, Howl's young apprentice; Howl himself appears soon after. Sophie hides her true identity and claims to be a cleaning lady hired by Calcifer to maintain the castle. (However, Howl, like Calcifer, has been able to 'see through' the spell all along.)

Sophie discovers that the front door of the moving castle is magical, allowing transport to four different destinations. She also begins to see Howl's true nature. He shows this when Sophie messes with his potions in the bathroom, accidentally causing his hair to turn red at first, then to black. Howl throws a tantrum, claims 'There's no point in living if I can't be beautiful!', and calls on the Spirits of Darkness.

Time passes, and Howl receives summons from both Porthaven as Wizard Jenkins and Kingsbury as Wizard Pendragon to fight for the King. A war is being fought over the missing Crown Prince Justin. Howl suspects the Kingsbury summons is a trap set by Madame Suliman, Kingsbury's head sorceress and Howl's old mentor. Too cowardly to confront her himself, Howl convinces Sophie to speak to Suliman by posing as his mother, "Mrs. Pendragon."

Sophie runs into the Witch of the Waste while going to the royal castle. In the castle, the Witch of the Waste is captured by Suliman's stronger magic, stripped of her powers, and shrunken into a helpless old lady. Suliman then confronts "Mrs. Pendragon" and demands that Howl become a war magician. Howl comes to her rescue disguised as the King of Ingary, but Suliman sees through his disguise. They escape on a flying machine along with Heen, Suliman's asthmatic errand dog, and the now-helpless Witch of the Waste. Howl stays behind, fighting off the chasing soldiers, while Sophie goes ahead, flying back to the castle. Suliman, however, learns of Sophie's identity. Howl returns in a large birdlike form later that night and Sophie wakes up as her young self again. She confesses her love to him and tells him she wants to help him break his curse. Howl rejects her and flies away. Sophie wakes up to find it was all a dream.

Howl transforms the castle into a larger and more beautiful version of itself as a present for Sophie. Meanwhile, the self-confidence she has gained, along with her developing affection towards Howl, has begun to reverse Sophie's curse, returning her gradually to her true age. Madame Suliman attempts to track Howl down at the hat shop. Howl flies off to defend them; however, each time he transforms into a large birdlike creature to defend himself and his friends, it becomes increasingly difficult for him to revert to human form. Sophie receives a surprise visit from her mother Honey, sharing a brief but emotional reunion. Honey, secretly blackmailed by Madam Suliman, leaves a small bag which turns out to be a spy bug. The Witch of the Waste destroys it by feeding it to Calcifer, but it severely weakens him as a result.

Eventually, Suliman's henchmen swarm the hat shop, forcing Howl and Sophie to retreat. Howl transforms into the bird creature to draw the enemies away, while Sophie moves the castle back to the Wastes. Sophie convinces Calcifer to rescue Howl, but in his weakened state, Calcifer is unable to move the entire castle. Sophie removes Calcifer from his hearth, to reduce the size of the house, but then returns him and uses her own hair as fuel. However, the Witch spies Howl's heart in the ashes — the one thing she had been seeking for ages — and greedily grabs it. The heart sets her aflame, forcing Sophie to throw a bucket of water on her and Calcifer. Calcifer is reduced to a small flame that is unable to control the castle. The castle breaks down even further and they are all thrown off a cliff.

Sophie cries for Howl, thinking he is dead, but then in the rubble, she finds the magical castle portal. She enters to find herself transported into Howl's childhood. She learns of the relationship between Howl and Calcifer, and discovers why Howl is unable to truly love anyone. She returns to the present to find Howl outside the door. Howl is in bird creature form, badly injured and bleeding, but is able to take them back to their friends.

Sophie, Howl and Heen land on the remnants of the castle, and Howl falls unconscious as he transforms back into human shape. Sophie convinces the Witch to give Howl's heart back to him and pushes it into Howl's chest. Calcifer emerges in his true form and shoots off. Without Calcifer powering it, the remnants of the castle give way. Turnip Head sacrifices himself to stop the castle from sliding off a cliff and Sophie thanks him by giving him a kiss. Turnip Head then turns into Crown Prince Justin, who had been transformed by a spell that could only be broken by a kiss by his true love, Sophie. However, when Howl wakes up, Sophie shows she is really in love with Howl, which breaks her own curse. The Witch of the Waste tells the Crown Prince Justin to tell the king to stop the war, resigned, goes back to tell his king to stop the meaningless war. Calcifer returns and decides to stay even though his contract with Howl was broken.

Heen reports all this to Madame Suliman back in Kingsbury through her crystal ball; which showed that Prince Justin was rescued, there is no reason to continue the war. The film ends with Sophie, Howl, the Witch of the Waste, Calcifer, Markl, and Heen traveling in the newly-rebuilt castle and with both Sophie, and Howl kissing — which now flies.

Wikipedia (you mut be kidding if at one point, you thought I wrote the synopsis...hehe )

Caramel

Welcome to the new look of Sarah's blog. I was thrilled when I finally managed to upload this template after several attempts and initial failures. I looked around just to scout for templates, yet I always end up with the same theme colour ie pink or shades of pink. I was down to a final few choices which were green, purple and pink. Yet, the pink won. But they all have the same kind of design ie floral. I am truly girly!!

Anyway, it was a great weekend. The spring weather was pleasantly cool. We slept in later than usual on Saturday and how we dread for the day when we have to forgo our lovely sleeps (that is when the baby comes). Like any other typical Saturdays, I started cleaning the house. Big Elf was craving for BBQ pork and duck for lunch, but after much contemplation, we decided against it. Big Elf then came up with a really nice and simple lunch ie fried vermicelli. We had a fairly small portion because there will be a good dinner coming our way. We wanted to reserve our stomach for it.

My colleagues (2 are ex-es) wanted to to do something for my birthday. Usually there will be a cake at work and a small party that last for about 15-20 minutes. But because of the politics at work, I thought it was pretty superficial when everyone tries to be nice in that small window of time when there has already been a crack on the glass. Surely, it wasn't easy to mend the hurts, embarrassment, anger and hatred towards one another, still for some reasons unknown to myself, I bought myself a cake and celebrated with everyone. Probably because I was selfish. I didn't want the day to pass without a cake for myself.. it was still a special day to me. So, I just relinquished whatever feelings there were and just be nice to everyone.

Anyway, we had already planned to go out for dinner even before I decide to have the cake at work. So, Saturday was the day we met up and I treated it as the girls' night out, except our partners were only 'tagging' along. We went to the same Japanese restaurant as where I had my birthday last year (We are still not sick of it yet!). We had a really good time, the girls at one end, and the guys at the other. Food was great as usual. I couldn't take photos of the food as everyone started devouring the food as soon as it touches the table. However, I did manage to take some photos of the dessert, nothing fancy but alright. I was so touched with the birthday presents though!



Sunday was raining heavily in the morning and before the evening came, I suddenly remembered I was given 2 tickets for a movie preview. It was apparently a chick flick and I didn't think Big Elf would be interested. Still, I had to be grateful that I was given the free movie pass and if ever I was asked about the movie, I could give an answer. It was unfair to Big Elf should I 'force' him to watch the movie with me. Yet he was so kind that he accompanied me to the movies. I did tell him that should he find the movie boring, he can take the car home and pick me up later. Amazingly, he stayed till the end.

Caramel was the name of the film and it's our first Lebanese movie. It was quite a charming movie with constant humour throughout the movie. For me, it caught my attention, firstly as it was a film by a female director. I haven't seen many movies directed by women and I am quite interested to find out more. Secondly, I wasn't even sure if the language of the film was french or arabic or english. But I figured there will be subtitles since it's a foreign movie. The movie didn't really wow me and I didn't expect it to for a drama. Yet, it was a pretty enjoyable movie. Everyone in the cinema seemed to appreciate it, probably because it was free. I doubt they will have similar reactions should they have paid for the movie, they would have expected much more than just a drama for a film in the cinema. Unfortunately, that's just humans! Everything free IS good! How bizarre!

After the movie, we came home, still managed to pull through a lovely dinner. We prepared them beforehand, so it didn't take us long to have dinner. Again, Big Elf delivers (so, he always proclaim!). He cooked one of the finest curry chicken (his signature dish) that goes with nasi lemak. It was finger-licking good! And if you ask about my role in the kitchen, I'm a great assistant I must say. I cut out the ingredients and prepare whatever's needed. After dinner, I wash up everything, that's my role! If you must say, my role probably needs more hardwork, where as Big Elf's role needed more of skill (something which I lack, unfortunately!). Ultimately, we make a good team in the kitchen.

Oh well, that's our weekend and it's a shame that the weekend only lasted this long. We are so looking forward to next weekend and the next and the next... =)

Fickly Fickle

I know, the title doesn't make sense. I have been reading some people's blogs.. and I always tend to like their template or layout better than mine. The thing about me is, it's not that I envy, I just tend to get bored with something ever so quickly. I never stick to something for a long time. Of course, this does not apply in every aspect of my life, just things that doesn't have implications, you know? Things that can give me pleasure, just by looking at them.

These are some examples to explain what I mean.

1. I always never stick to a single type of handwriting. My best friend can vouch for that. I love to write differently depending on my mood. But of course, nowadays with technology ruling our lives, we no longer hand write, it's all computer!

2. I am always coming out with ideas to improve the home, I never stick to one position of the furnitures. I love to swap them around and re-arrange them. It just makes the whole environment, different! In a way, it's a great way to clean up the house more thoroughly. There was once, I shifted a bookshelf after a year being in it's solitary confinement, just to find the back of the bookshelf being infested by cockroaches!! It was horrible!! I should have moved it earlier!! Lately, I'm so tempted to buy new curtains for the home. We only have 1 type for the whole house. In fact, we have to thank our landlord for supplying them. It's pretty I must say, a plain curtain in orange and peach colour (my favourite). However, it's been more than 2 years, and I am absolutely sick of them! When it's time to wash them, I have to make sure I wash them early in the morning, so that it will be dry on time before the sun goes down, just so I can hang it up again.

3. My latest desire, is to change my blog template! I've only changed it twice so far, I believe. However, I can assure you, it won't be long before I start to get bored of the new one. I have also saved all my blog entries as backup just in case I lose them. So within the next few days, expect a new template and layout of the blog!