A Bookworm's Tag

This tag is very suitable for me. I can be considered as a bookworm back when I was a kid through out my teenage years. I usually finished up a book with 300+ pages in 2-3 days. Had done it in 24hrs too. But that was only just for non-fiction books. Too bad, I do not fancy school books or else I could have been a straight A student. Haha.... I sometimes likes to read History, Geography, Biographies & Memories, Science and Mystery of the world books. Used to have a set of Encyclopedia books for kids which I read them all. Thanks to Martini for pass this tag to me.

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?
Yes, it was when my mom bought me all those fairy-tale stories when I was a small kid. I love looking at the colourful illustrations and reading the stories on it.

What are some books you read as a child?
I remember those are very simple story books on The Three Little Pigs, Repunzzle, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and some others I can't remember now. When I was in primary school, I was exposed to Enid Blyton, Fear Street series by R.L Stine, True Singapore Ghost Stories and books by Christopher Pike.

What is your favourite genre?
Horror, Mystery and Romance.

Do you have a favourite novel?
Oh there are so many of them. When I was a child, I love Fear Street series by R.L Stine and Christopher Pike, obiviously. I still likes them but I do not read them now due to age factor (LOL!!). Now my favourite are those books from Virginia Andrews (V.C Andrews), Danielle Steel, Sidney Sheldon, Stephen King and Nora Roberts.

Where do you usually read?
On the bed or the couch in the living room.

When do you usually read?
During my free time - morning, noon or night.

Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?
No. I like to finish one book before moving on the next one.

Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
No.

Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?
I bought some but mostly borrow them from friends, family or from "rent-a-book" store.

Do you keep most of the books you buy? If not, what do you do with them?
Definitely keep them. Unless those which I do not like, they somehow lost from my storage which I have no idea where they went.

If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?
I do not have children as I am not married yet.

What are you reading now?
Birthright by Nora Roberts. Been staying at the same page since few months back due to my hectic work life and my blogging interest has taken over what's left of my free time.

Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?
Used to have that list when I was schooling. But not anymore since I join the working world.

What’s next?
Finish up the book entitle Birthright by Nora Roberts, which I have started months ago.

What books would you like to reread?
Can't name one at the moment.

Who are your favourite authors?
Read above (I have already listed them above).

I would like to pass this tag to Stubborn-Daydreamer and Catherine

Yummy Pudding Jelly Stick

We had this Pudding Jelly Stick for snack time during our Team Leader training today. At first glance, it does not attract my taste buds at all but after watching my colleagues ate it one after another, I wonder what's so tasty about it. So, I took one and try it for myself. Wow! It was yummy. It taste better than I had expected. I expected it to be very sweet as with many kiddy's snack but it was not. There are two flavor - Lychee and Strawberry. I prefer Lychee. You can really taste the original Lychee flavor. Due to the packaging, there is no way you can open them up without a scissor or knife. Better still, we use our teeth to bite open the plastic wrapper and had the delicious soft pudding jelly oozing out from the tube into our mouth. Yummy! I think I can finish up 50 stick at one go. Hehe....

Love Q #17 - Buying Gifts

This week Love Q created by the author of Short Sweet Love Poem are as follows:

Do you think buying gifts is important in a relationship? And do you expect a gift from your partner now and then?

My answer:

I think buying gift is important in a relationship but it is not the most important thing because money cannot buy long term happiness. During the early days of the relationship or marriage, couples do usually buy gifts for each other, indeed. But after being with each other for a long time, the act of suprising each other with gifts has no longer become important part of the relationship, sometimes not even on special occasion like birthday or aniversary. This happens to my relationship with my boyfriend too. Lets first analyze why new couple buy gifts for each other that often. It could be a show of affection, gratitude, love, act to impress and win over his/her heart to you. If we no longer bother to buy gifts for our love, does that mean that we love each other less? Hmm... I wonder..... Well, I think it has something to do with a natural reaction when after we know that we have already win our "throphy", we no longer need to work so hard to get the other person's attention and affection by buying them gifts isn't it? Never the less, I agree with many people that buying gift for each other once a while is a good thing to boost up the relationship and to spice things up a little bit especially when the relationship is heading to the 'boring zone'. Having said this, I do expect to receive a gift from my partner now and then. It doesn't have to be expensive. It's the toughts that matters.

Last week's Love Q: The Marriage Institution

Startrite School Shoes

Following the post I wrote yesterday, I still remember vividly on the ideal black school shoes design which I had envisioned but I never had. It should have a sleek, stylish design and comfortable too. Just like the one on the picture at the top left corner of this post. On the picture is a Startrite School Shoes for girls, model - Hot Fuss available in black leather and brown leather. I don't think we have this brand in Malaysia but we can order them through the Internet now. Well, that's my childish tiny little desire which I had during my school days. What's yours?

I would also like to write more on the importance of choosing the right school shoes for your kids. Because their bones has not been fully developed yet until they are in their late teens, it is important to have your children's feet properly measured so that you can buy school shoes that fit them properly. There are a few common children's foot health issues. They are "toe walking", "Pigeon toes", "Toeing-out", "Bow-legged and knock-kneed", and "Sweaty feet". Most of these foot health issues on children goes away naturally as they gets older. To know more, you may visit http://www.startriteshoes.com or consult your doctor.

Health issues, of course is an important factor to look out for when buying school shoes for your children because they are wearing them for more than 8 hours a day during the weekdays. Besides considering the comfort level when selecting a pair of school shoes, we will usually look at the quality, design, and style too. Many a times we found a nice design shoes but it is lacking in comfort or vise versa. Startrite school shoes can accomodate all the criteria of comfort, style, good leather quality and offers many good designs to choose from. There is where you can find a good pair of school shoes for your children.

School shoes with style and comfort

One thing about schooling during the primary and secondary level, besides having school uniform to comply with we need to follow the school standard of wearing school shoes too. The school where I studied, similarly with the majority public school in Malaysia requires me to wear white school shoes. But I noticed some school especially those private schools who has their own sets of school uniform, had all their students wear black school shoes. I think black is cool. I had complained to my mom on why I have to wear white, not black. Being a young and stuborn child, I tried to accept reluctantly the rules and regulations which the school has set for us that is we have to wear white school shoes.

I am fussy about choosing the right school shoes those days. Not only then, even now I would make a big fuss about buying shoes for any occassion. I would go round and round visiting many stores before I finally decided on buying the pair I like. Sometimes it takes me weeks or months to do the scouting. I look for style and comfort even when it involved buying school shoes those days. To me, style always comes first and comfort, second. Price doesn't matter to me but it matters to my parents because they are the one who pays for them. It's really nice being a kid. You don't have to fork out money to get what you wanted. When I chose my school shoes, I was tempted to try on the black ones although I am only allowed to choose the white ones. I had debated with my mom on why I would want a black school shoes instead of white. I came out with a list of "black vs white" school shoes.

• White always looks dirty no matter how often I clean it.
• I do not need to clean my school shoes that often if it is black (this shows that I am lazy in witholding my responsibility of cleaning my own shoes those days...)
• Black looks more elegant compare to white ones
• In primary school, they all likes to play "shoes stepping" and I would not be afraid if others step on my shoes if it is black (back to showing I am lazy to wash my shoes).

Love Q #16 - The Marriage Institution

This week Love Q created by the author of Short Sweet Love Poem are as follows:

Is the idea of marriage outdated?

My answer:

Although divorce is becoming rampant these days and many people do not view marriage as something that could last for a lifetime, generally people still have marriage intention in mind. Our ancestors might never have thought that marriage can be annulled. It's a common idea that marriage is a very wonderful thing in the past. If you are not married but living together with your partner during those olden era, you will be scorned by the society. Howver, the idea of living together wihout having to get married is quite a common thing these days. And many people including our parents has accepted the idea of it. Not to mention, old people also accepted the idea of divorce these days. Having these, is the idea of marriage outdated? My answer is yes and no. There are people who do not think marriage as a life-long commitment if things does not work out well in their marriage, so to them the idea of marriage is consider outdated. But there are also people who still believe in the ever-lasting bonding of marriage and so to them, the idea of marriage is not yet outdated.

Divorce rate sky roketed and more and more couple living together before deciding to get married is very common these days, but I don't think people are giving up the idea of getting married just yet.

Last week's Love Q: Staying For The Sake Of The Kids

2x2 Meme

Wow! It has been so long since I last receive a tag assignment. This nice and simple tag were past down from my very good friend. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to do this ya =)

Two names you go by
1. Amilia
2. Dear

Two things you are wearing right now
1. Casual top
2. Khakis long pants

Two things you want very badly at the moment
1. Sleep early
2. A holiday

Two things you did last night just before bed
1. Play with Jojo
2. Watched Red Clift directed by John Woo

Two things you ate today
1. Egg sandwiches
2. Maggie mee

Two people you just spoke with
1. My boyfriend
2. My mom

Two things you are doing tomorrow
1. Work
2. Sleep

Two longest car rides
1. To Singapore
2. To Kelantan

Two favourite beverages
1. Milo
2. Watermelon juice

2+1 persons who are chosen to do this meme:
1. Sting
2. Martini
3. Osindak

Shopping for wedding gifts

This comming September 2008 is a popular month for getting married especially for Chinese couple. I have a colleague invited me for her wedding early next month but unfortunately I am not able to attend. So, I intend to buy her a wedding gift instead. I seldom shop for wedding gift because when I attend the wedding dinner, I usually gave red packets as the usual Chinese custom. So, I have no idea what to buy as a wedding gift for this colleague of mine.

I had some free time during office hour lunch hour, so I decided to look for some gift ideas on the home section of a departmental store. I also had time to visit one famous wedding gift store located at the mega mall just near by my office. Since my colleague is quite young, I think I should look for a wedding gift for young couple. Bed sheets set, flatware, dinnerware and kitchen tools are among some of the ideas I am thinking of getting them.

I was also thinking of maybe buying a nice sculpture decoration as a wedding gift. I went to a gift store and saw a really nice one. It's a sculpture of an angel praying, size is just nice as I had envisioned it and it is off-white in colour. The gift is beautiful and I almost bought it but I did not because gift as such is not very practical. I prefer to go for something practical when buying gift for someone including wedding gifts. I think I will decide on getting a nice bed sheets set for my colleague's wedding. I think she'll love it. Besides, it is close to the budget that I had in mind. Also, when I have no idea on what to buy as a gift, the internet is full of gift ideas that could guide me along to choose a suitable gifts for my family and friends.

Love Q #15 - Staying For The Sake Of The Kids

This week Love Q created by the author of Short Sweet Love Poem are as follows:

Should couples stay together for the sake of the kids when love is no longer present? Can it work?

My answer:

Hmm... this is a tough answer. It is indeed very sad when couples drifted apart after married. But sometimes problems in relationship is hard to solve. As years gone by, people do change. When a couple has been married for many years, it's either they progress together or they grew apart. It is also hard to control or predict how long the love and passion will last. If a married couple lost the essence being together and they have intention of going for a divorce, it is definitely a very tough decision to make if children is involved. Whether they stay together for the sake of the kids or not, I think it really depends on individual level of tolerance. But in a more rational point of view, if the children are still young they should try to work out their differences and stay together at least until their children is old enough to handle the aftermath of the divorce. Staying together in such condition where love does not present in the marriage might works for some but it might not work for some others.

Last week's Love Q: Couples And Money

Appreciate what you have....

If we could turn the population of the earth into a small community of 100 people, keeping the same propotion we have today, it would be something like this........

61 Asians.......
12 Europeans........
8 North Americans
5 South Americans and the Carebbean
13 Africans
1 Oceania

50 women
50 men

47 lives in an urban area
9 are disabled

33 are Christians (Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Anglicans, and other Christians)
18 are Muslims
14 are Hindus
16 are non-religious
6 are Buddhist
13 practice other religions

43 live without basic sanitation
18 live without an improved water source

6 PEOPLE own 59% of the entire wealth of the community

13 are hungry or malnourished
14 can't read
only 7 are educated at a secondary level
only 12 have a computer
only 3 have an internet connection

1 adult aged 15 - 49 has HIV / Aids

The village spend more than US$ 1.12 trillion on military expenditures
and only US$ 100 billion on delevopment aid

If you keep your food in a refrigerator
your clothes in a closet
if you have a bed to sleep in
and a roof over your head
you are richer than 75% of the entire world population

If you have a bank account, you are one of the 30 wealthiest people in the world
18 struggle to live on US$ 1.00 dollar per day or less......
53 struggle to live on US$ 2.00 dollar per day or less.

Appreciate what you have
And do your best for a better world.

The above message originated from The Miniature Earth movie which was published on May 29, 1990 with the tittle “State of the Village Report”, and it was written by Donella Meadows, who passed away in February 2000. This message reminds me to be grateful and contented with what I have. There are so many people in this world who have very much less than what I have. I should not be complaining that my bed is too hard, or my food is not nice, or my clothes are too old to wear, or my shoes are not nice, or the money I have are insufficient, or my house are too small. Instead, I should be thankful for God has blessed me with all this luxury compare to 75% of the people in this world.

To watch The Miniature Earth movie, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvTFKpIaQhM or for more infomation about this message, please visit http://www.miniature-earth.com/index.html