The more people I observe, the more it is reinforced that most mat salleh men are way better dressed, built, shaped than most Msian men.

Don’t mean to offend anyone with that remark but I can’t help it if it’s a fact.

Me and my colleagues came into this discussion during lunch because we’d just found out that we’re getting a new HoD from Denmark. And the picture of him (yes, the new HoD is a ‘him’) attached with the email looked exactly like one of those male fashion models, and not unlike McDreamy from Grey’s Anatomy. Not the pretty boy type, but the more macho, distinguished male type *drools*

And during another lunch, we were chatting with another male mat salleh colleague and he was talking about getting into shape for the Rat Race and he was fascinatingly passionate about his diet plan and exercise regime. I mean, heck, I haven’t heard ANY male friends of mine touch on the topic of diet and exercise, save to complain about having to go to the gym to grudgingly work out.

I’m really curious as to why, in general, mat salleh men are so motivated to take care of their bodies, dress well, and carry themselves well as opposed to Msian men. It is like second nature to them when it comes to keeping in shape and dressing well, like how it is to women the world over.

You know how you always hear stories of men who stray when their wives lose their svelte figures due to childbirth or other reasons, and how society seems to sympathize with these men instead of empathize with the women? I wonder if the situation were reversed — i.e. more women were to stray due to their male partners’ lack of initiative in keeping in shape — would society be as forgiving towards the women.

Was chatting with the receptionist-cum-finance exec-cum-medical technician at my vet’s this evening while waiting for Nessa’s turn.

She was sharing with me that she had a phobia of animals, where she gets really scared to be around them and her heart will start palpitating and she would start trembling, and she’s had this phobia since she was a child. The reason she took up the job at the veterinary clinic was to get over her phobia.

Now, after 3.5 months of being there, she proudly admits that she is no longer afraid of animals and she would consider getting a dog sometime in the future.

I am humbled and full of admiration for her courage take action to address her fear of animals. I think it is so brave of her to put herself out of her comfort zone and do something that was really uncomfortable for her, which produced great results in the end. How many people would take the time and effort to address their fears in order to get over them?

She said that Dr. Vijay (the vet) was really proud of her and I totally agree that this is a great achievement for her because I would imagine that trying to get over one’s phobia(s) would be a tremendously stressful and frightening thing to do :)

On a recent trip to Singapore, Sophie’s (my fave niece) friend’s mom thought I was still a student and another mom guesstimated that I was in my mid-20s.

It was really quite flattering, given the fact that I was just a days shy of my 31st birthday

But in all honesty, I think my sis and I have to thank my parents’ good genes for looking younger than we actually are because looking at my parents now, I wouldn’t think that they are 63 and 68 respectively if I didn’t know them.

I have friends who constantly remark that my mom looks young and personally, I think my dad doesn’t look almost 70 at all!

Their youthful looks are also enhanced by their religious exercise and detox routines, which I greatly admire because I myself don’t have the discipline to keep up that sort of routine although I readily admit that dancing once a week does contribute to my keeping in shape and I guess, indirectly to looking youthful. One only needs to take a look at my dance guru, Ramli Ibrahim, to see the benefits of regular exercise (in his case, dance) because he does not look like he’s in his late 50s at all. When I first met him 8 years ago, I thought he was in his mid-30s!

So yes, exercising, eating well and living well play a major role in looking great but I do think your genes play a part too.

Let’s see how long people will still keep asking me if I’m a student

Me and mom at Vision of Forever, April 2010

As much as I welcome the increase in pet ownership/interest in the past years, I do not fancy the surge in interest in particular breeds of dogs/cats because it encourages people to purchase a particular breed because (1) of its status symbol, (2) it’s the ‘in’ breed to have, and (3) the more exotic the breed, the more likely its needs are to be more complex/high maintenance.

And features like this don’t help to educate people enough about the breed itself, except to promote it as one of the popular breeds to have at this particular time.

Even with regular and more common breeds, people are having difficulty taking care of the animal, what more exotic breeds?

Also, the amount of money spent on one purebred animal can be used to help a gang of homeless animals.

So no, I don’t encourage getting purebreds simply for the fact that we have too many homeless animals who need our support more and people need to be more educated on how to better care for their pets.

Save for a few select conscientious breeders, I think most people should just go to the animal shelter and take home one of the many homeless animals there who are in desperate need of a home. If you really want a purebred for whatever reason, sometimes there might be one or two at the shelter, believe it or not.

These little acts are cute

I personally like these few…

“Oftentimes I’ll hear a song I like on the radio and I’ll ask Todd if he’s heard it before. Minutes later he’ll emerge from our home office with the song downloaded on iTunes and playing in the background. He’s so considerate to find my ‘new favorite song.’ By tuning in to what I’m interested in, he makes me feel that I truly matter to him. It makes me want to do something sweet for him in return.”
Nicole Engstrom, 39

“My wife has made a game out of telling me she loves me whenever the mood strikes her. We’ll be in the supermarket and out of the blue, Alex will stop and turn to me and say, ‘I love you in the frozen foods section.’ Or we can be at the movies and she’ll say, ‘I love you in the 21st row of the theater five minutes before the previews start.’ Telling me she loves me in such unexpected ways shows me just how much I really mean to her.”
Frederik Tylim, 31

“Eric knows how much I love animals, so if he’s on the road and sees an animal that’s been hit by a car, he’ll call me at home to tell me to drive a different route. This way, I won’t see the animal and get upset. He’ll also call me if he sees baby animals on his way to work so I can be sure to take that same route and hopefully see them too.”
Lara Kretler, 37

*hearts*

I did look both ways but somehow didn’t notice the vehicle from the left.
I suspect I didn’t look long enough (but I swear I didn’t see anything moving!).

Thanking the stars above that our vehicles didn’t collide.

Phew.

Update :

They seem to like animals… I know they’re crazy about cats (they’ve got six?!) and I just read about the brother’s turtles!

So cool!

No, I am not stalking them. It’s interesting to read about people, what more people who are ‘related’ to me :D

~~~~~

Aside from my mom being on Facebook, I found out something cool today

My sis’ in-laws, the entire family (from father to youngest sibling), all have their own blogs!

How cool and connected is that?!

I only managed to read her mom-in-law’s blog but already discovered a couple key things about her which I didn’t previously know : she loves to read and she cares about the state of the earth.

Let’s see what else I can read…

I have interesting lunches with my teammates because we are all female and I’ve worked with 2 of them in my previous jobs so we’re quite comfortable with each other and can usually talk about anything and everything under the sun and sky.

What we enjoy talking about is the differences in people’s personalities and characters. To be more specific, our significant others’ personalities and characters.

One afternoon, we were talking about one of our friends, C. C had a baby about 5-6 months ago. She readily admits that her husband is of “Chinaman” mentality so she does not expect him to help out with their kid (e.g. change diapers, feed, etc.). So she does all these herself and she is happy doing it because she loves children and she has no expectations of her husband to help out.

One of the stories that C shared was that in the earlier days, she and husband used to go out with their baby and helper, and the husband would not carry the baby bag. He had even stated that he would never be caught dead carrying the baby bag. But recently, they’ve taken to going out without the helper and the husband willingly carries the baby bag.

So M concluded that it is good to set your expectations low or have none at all. Because then, when your partner does something out of the norm, it would be a pleasant surprise. I can see the logic in this because sometimes, setting too high expectations is just setting yourself up for disappointment if your expectations are not met.

This is something I must learn because I set high expectations not only for myself, but for everyone around me. And I end up getting frustrated and disappointed time and time again. So, note to self : DO NOT SET EXPECTATIONS ON OTHERS. This, however, excludes things that are of common sense like knowing where to throw your litter, for example.

That said, there are some types of behavior that I would expect to be the norm, while others I can overlook.

*shrug* Can’t help it.

The way I arrange my schedule is, first come first served.

Meaning, if I had arranged for an appointment on, say, Saturday night, with Bunch A friends last week. Then Bunch B friends call this week and wish to arrange to meet up on the same Saturday as Bunch A friends. I would naturally tell Bunch B friends that I’m sorry I can’t make it because I’ve made a prior appointment.

People shouldn’t expect me to drop my prior appointment for them if it isn’t an emergency. Same goes for family appointments. As in, if I’d already made prior plans with friends, then my family shouldn’t expect me to cancel my appointment with my friends just because, well, they are my family. Of course, there will always be exceptions e.g. if it is an emergency or an important event (like a wedding or birthday – but then these should already be known in advance and planned accordingly.)

Why? Because I think it is rude and inconsiderate to cancel on people at the last minute without concrete reason. Would you (family or friend) like to be stood up at the last minute? Similar to informing people of an event at the last minute. Which is why I try to avoid doing things like these as much as I can.

I’d just recently had some friends back out on a meet-up that’s been arranged a few weeks in advance and postponed a few times, all because of work. Which is a lame excuse, if you ask me. If it were an emergency, then fine. Once or twice, it’s ok. But multiple times? Ugh.

Obviously, if I could accommodate all parties, I would gladly do so. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s not possible to split myself into pieces to be multiple places at one time.

I hope the incoming CEO will be as good eye candy as the outgoing one.

Heaven knows we all need some eye candy to energize our hectic workdays