老"娇" (pr: Lao Hiao)

Most things in our lives change with age. Some changes can be quite dramatic! (looks, for instance). But I think a person's character is something that wont really change much.

Only recently, my mum remarked that I should 'control' my temper and not flare up too often at seemingly small things. She even claimed that I inherited this trait from her! And that at 60+, she has "mellowed" to become more patience, tolerant, blah blah blah...

Hmm... I admit that sometimes I do tend to get agitated by little things. But I also like to believe that my EQ is not that low - and that helps me cool down after moments of sitting down rationalising the episode over in my head. Thus, I think I am a little better than quite a number of people I know. haha.

Anyway, what has that got to do with the subject title "Lao Hiao"? :P

This nickname (if we can call it that) is one which some of my colleagues and I have come up with, for a particular "senior" colleague in our department. This colleague, despite being 40+, really takes great pains to maintain a "chiselled" body, youthful face, and also often thinks that others (of the opposite sex) are beowing (secretly or otherwise) in this direction.

Normally, you'd think the tag of 老娇 and the description suits a woman. But no - This colleague of mine is NOT a lady. He is a 40+ year old guy. :PP

Which actually is kind of funny, really. He is the sort of person who loves to share his old "war stories" of how this or that gal tried to date him, or bring him to see her mother (yes, so urrrggghh!), or the good'0' days of him as a swinging an eligible bachelor.

Of course, he is now happily married (with 2 kids, mind you), but that doesnt stop him from thinking (perhaps he really believes it in his heart) of himself as a woman-magnet.

During a recent incident, some of us were teasing him about his apparent mis-pronunciation of a female colleague's name. We laughed at the apparent freudian slip of tongue, claiming he must have been thinking of another woman. Instead of being offended (he seldom is lah..this guy's ego is so huge!), he retorted,

"You all dont gek me ah... later I really go and date her out this Friday."

What arrogance and EEEEGGGOOOO!!!! Simply unbelievable sometimes, but hey, he seems to get a kick out of it, as do we (since we always get a good laugh from his antics).

Hmm... come to think of it, I dont know of any other 40+ GUY who is as hiao as him. He must have been this hiao since young (I cant imagine someone would actually become more hiao as he gets older??!?) lah...

That's why I believe - a person's character doesnt change much with age.

True?

Update: Guitaresque performance

Guitaresque is scheduled for another performance at Library@Esplanade!

Details:

Date: 6th September (tentatively)
Day: Saturday
Time: 5-6pm (tentatively)

As per the previous outing, the setting will be an informal one, where library visitors can just pop by and enjoy live guitar music for an hour.

We are currently in the process of firming our performing repertoire, but at this moment, this is what we are working on:

1) A Furiosa
2) 3 Preludes (Gershwin)
3) Moon River
4) Sicilliana
5) Theme from Godfather
6) Funiculi Funicula
7) Nashville Noel
8) Medley of American folk songs
9) Haruyo Koi (? or something like that. Darn! always cant remember that Japanese name...)

More updates as we get near the performance date.

Guitar assessories

I recently went online and did some "research" on the various guitar cases available for protecting those expensive, concert guitars.

As my Ruck guitar is scheduled to arrive either late this year, or early next year, I have this urge to scout around for a "worthy" guitar case to hold this prized possession. Certainly, no $100 case to store a $10,000+ guitar! (even though I don't exactly fly from country to country with my instrument lah. haha!)

Currently, a few choices are before me:

1) Accord case (US$1,400)
- seems like this is the STANDARD when it comes to light-weight flight cases. Nice, shapely design (luxurious look) and supposedly solid protection as well.
- however, paying S$2,000 for a guitar case seem too much, even for crazy me..

2) Karura case (US$750 - US$1150)
- seem like quite a good deal, although the price range is still a little over-the-top for me.
- Charles says he is bringing in these cases, but as of now, he did not mention any discounts for us... sigh.

3) BAM case (apprx S$900)
- made in France, and looks slick and pro. Very light weight as well
- currently, of the 3 brands, this is the only one I have seen and touched (at the Frank Brothers shop in Esplanade). And price-wise it is still "within range".


OG seems to be also in a mood to splurge the extra $$$ he got from the ERS (to be credited early next month). Hmm.. perhaps we will be carrying new shiny cases when we perform at the Esplanade library later this year, ya? haha.

** @%$#@%#^@%# he told me he actually got more than $2,000!!! What the XXXX!?!?!?
( I only got $1,400!! 天理何在???)

On a separate front, we are also looking at some nice, handcrafted (and obviously expensive! ) guitar tuners (aka machine head). It used to be that Rodgers tuners were THE top end of the spectrum when it comes to tuners. Now, I've found another brand - Graf, which appears to be equally, if not more, luxurious and beautiful!

http://www.graftuners.com/

Looking at the better designs there, the price could go beyond US$1,500! Omigod... for a guitar tuner??? I have to think thrice beyond venturing there. Especially now I have got 凯凯's education plan to worry about.

Nice to dream though...ahhhhhh

What instrument are you?

Piano





You are very bubbly and bright. You like to be the center of attention and love when people notice you. You thrive on people liking and accepting you. This is wonderful, but let it go to your head. You must realize not everybody wants to be your friend. You are trusting and hardworking, and tend to learn quickly. you don't like to be active much unless it is in your studies/music. You love going to parties and being with friends, but often you tend to shut your family out of your life. The piano is very tempremental and with that comes a sea of emotions. You are trusting and loving to people very easily but if they hurt you, you can hold a grudge for years.

Mayday! Mayday!

After 4 days of coaxing baby kai to poo (this seems to the acceptable term for "shitting" :P ), it finally came to a climax today.

It was just before 2pm in the afternoon, and kai was enjoying his usual afternoon feed. Then all of a sudden, i heard the frantic cries from my wife.

"quick quick! Get the changing pad!"
(we have this rubbery air-filled changing pad for the little one)

Within seconds, the kit was brought out to the living room. For the uninitiated, the "kit" consists of:

1) the changing pad
2) the cleansing wipes (we use the Pigeon brand.. the wipes are pretty thick and effective)
3) the paper diapers

What greeted my eyes left me slightly stunned. Kai was lying on his back, and i could already detect some stains on his shirt. But when I started to remove the soiled diaper, the realisation and shock sank in.

Our grand highness has decided to unload 4 whole days of poo (there! politically correct) at one go! The quantity was simply astonishing, to say the least.
But what really stunned us, was that MOST of the poo had spilled out of his diapers, and much of it was nicely collected in the back of his shirt! Yikes!!!

Out came the wipes. Then came the paper towels to assist. The scene was one of utter carnage and desparation. Poo was literally everywhere, and there didnt seem to be enough towels/wipes to cover it all...

Finally, we made a painful decision - emergency "surgery". The shirt had to be sacrifised.

Out came the scissors. It simply had to be done.

Ping performed the cuts, while I held his highness gingerly and could only look on. It was over in minutes. The poor dinosaur shirt was swiftly dissected so that kai could be extracted with minimal poo on his little body.
Even then, I could feel the sticky slime on my hands as I hurriedly carried him to the bathroom for an unprecedented 2nd pong-pong of the day.

Another first - the bathtub of water had to be changed halfway through, as there was simply too much poo, which quickly turned the water from clear to brownish.

After a tense 20 minutes, it was all over. Kai smiled at us, contented (of course he would be. If you "let go" only after 4 days, i'd bet the feeling must be shiok!).

The casualty? The poor dinosaur shirt...*sigh*

What an action-packed day... Good Friday indeed!

Groovy kind of Love

When Im feeling blue, all I have to do
Is take a look at you, then Im not so blue
When youre close to me, I can feel your heart beat
I can hear you breathing near my ear
Wouldnt you agree, baby you and me got a groovy kind of love

Anytime you want to you can turn me onto
Anything you want to, anytime at all
When I kiss your lips, ooh I start to shiver
Cant control the quivering inside
Wouldnt you agree, baby you and me got a groovy kind of love, oh

When Im feeling blue, all I have to do
Is take a look at you, then Im not so blue
When you're in my arms, nothing seems to matter
My whole world could shatter, I dont care
Wouldnt you agree, baby you and me got a groovy kind of love
We got a groovy kind of love
We got a groovy kind of love, oh
We got a groovy kind of love