First Impressions Weekend

1) Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder…… And the blind can see beauty like no other.  Blind People Describe Beauty.

It occurred to me recently that the insecurity of a rich man is similar to that of a pretty girl. (What do they love about me, just my money/ good looks?) Pick the right couple and you have absolutely a juicy reality tv show :D. While I don’t discount the value of initial physical attraction, I actually consider it a mild insult to a person, to only see they’re good looking. Especially as looks will not last. I’ve had this opinion since I can remember – that looks should not be placed too highly on The List because when that fades they will simply be stuck with someone who is used to being treated like they look beautiful – and isn’t even that anymore. (This is when Kings usually goes “I look so ugly meh” 😀 No darling, maybe I do :D) Choose instead the person who isn’t spoiled on the inside, used to being given everything. Because marriage is a long journey to take with a spoilt person… I’m just saying. Anyway…

“Losing my sight has been a blessing… I don’t care what nationality somebody is, I don’t care how tall somebody is, I don’t care how big or small they are….”

“…Beauty is personality….”

“…Beauty is experience….”

“…Beauty is finding joy.”

Being blind can help you see.

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2) Somewhat related, it takes about 4 months to teach monkeys math. (Any teachers palming their foreheads out there?) It’s because people are trying to find new ways in which human and simian brains work… also loosely related, the plot of my favorite John Travolta movie, Phenomenon. Main character suddenly develops special abilities, people start wondering if it’s supernatural, finally it turns out he has a tumor and before it kills him it’s pressing on certain parts of his brain, stimulating it to superhuman feats.

Think I read somewhere how stimulating kids with music, motor skill activities, painting etc helps them learn better. Y’know, so you have to scream at them less? 😛

Oh, and a former boss used to quote some obscure study about stock trading, whereby if you put a monkey (real one, not metaphoric one) at the keyboard to randomly hit “buy” and “sell”, you would still come up about even. But thinking traders can easily lose money…

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3) First impressions count, right? Right. Because fixing an initial impression is much harder than forming one. Creative Business Card Designs.

Q: Who out there paid money to have the wine glass ring printed on the card?

A: The person who had like, 5000 cards made…

Also, you want people to carry your card around, have your business details handy, right?

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4) Just in case your first impression was off……. 

Epiphany: Coming in after 10 years in Singapore, where I did tertiary education and was on basic government grant bond 3 years (like, no Malaysian doing that uni course wouldn’t accept the bond I think, it’s just wayy too expensive), my Cantonese was nowhere. And therefore so was I.

But at some point I realized we’ve also done 10 years here. I have amazing friends who still read my blog from back in Singy (I used to go by Singy Girl on email at one point), I’ve made amazing friends here. Heck, I’ve made amazing friends online who still live in Malaysia too, they just don’t want me to link to them 😀 First impressions do change, and I was surprised to find I really enjoyed this one: 39 Things Only People in Hong Kong Will Understand.

(You should note the time, duration of ride, where you got on, where you alighted, taxi license plate and yes, the fare, if you call the hotline. Otherwise harder for them to mark it officially against the driver.)

One day I realized I took for granted the little cards with the taxi registration number and hotline numbers that they hand out at the airport – to deter any would-be cheating drivers from trying to take advantage of tourists who don’t know how prolific the hotlines are. I shouldn’t. Because along with the aggressive opportunism that prevails living in Hong Kong are the aggressive deterrents authorities put in place. I mean, I generally dislike the aggressive opportunism and cynicism, but on the other hand it makes people alert to it and I think in general fewer people ultimately get away with it than in places where people still close one eye… Even on the street… A lot more blatant queue-cutting at taxi queues say, so a lot more people scream at queue cutters on the street if they cut queue…

Oh yeah, and I really understand this one.

If you are about to cross at the crossing and the approaching vehicle appears not to slow down……. don’t cross. They really may not slow down 😀

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5) Rockstar sometimes already sounds like a smarty-pants teenager. Was wondering what he would be like as <shudder> a teenager (and his parents are dinosaurs):

22 reasons parents shouldn’t text.

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6) This weekend Kings guests in The Rockstars’ skits. Y’know, the way Stan Lee cameos in the Marvel comic book movies…

Episode I is Daddy Photobomb!

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Episode 2 occurs while swimming one day. Kings lifts the Miss up out of the pool, and I see….. peeking out of the back of her swimsuit………. a little black dragon fruit seed.

Things That Make Ya Go Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Me: How is there a dragon fruit seed –

Kings: <thoughtfully> Because…. BECAUSE SHE JUST POOPED IN THE POOL!!!! GET HER OUT GET HER OUT GET HER OOUUUTT!!!!!!

<mad scramble ensues>

<giant bewilderment on part of the Miss at the fuss>

We shall not be looking at dragon fruit the same way again.

Rockstar shall not be looking at a shower stall the same way again.

Fortunately Rockstar couldn’t cling that well because he was laughing too hard so we didn’t have too much problem peeling him off the stall wall.

The End.

Have a good weekend dears.

ps: No pools were harmed in the making of this post. We mostly caught it in time. Mostly. Just in time.