#2 - My Girl!

My second Korean drama series that was based on a recommendation by a flickr friend is My Girl and am glad I saw it. It's a good movie and no cute guys walking around wearing pink sweaters or frilly shirts this time round. My Girl is definitely meant for the adult viewing cuz you have men wearing sensible clothes so there were fewer EEEWWWWs from me.

Plot wise, it's different from Princess Hours. I can't decide which I like best cuz they are both very different. My Girl is a story of a girl was hired to pretend to be the long lost grand-daughter of the President of one of the big hotels in Korea. Out of desperation, she agreed to the job as she had to raise money to pay off debts chalked up by her father. And yes, there's a happy ending as usual. And what I noticed is that so far, there will always be that ONE super irritating character that you hope will just DIE in the show and for this one...it's her FATHER. Throughout the drama, I was constantly mumbling to myself 'Die old man! Die!!' I am usually a very nice person (okay, most of the time when I am in a good mood I can be really nice) but this character just brought out the horrid me :o)

So if you want to watch a nice drama series, here's another one! Is there a third one you ask...well, wait and see.

Mammogram for 2006

Went for my yearly mammogram recently and had a little scare when I was called up for an 'extra view' cuz of a spot that they saw and wanted to be sure if it was anything worth panicking about. I did my very first mammo last year as advised by a doctor thanks to a strong family history of breast cancer. I wasn't too worried cuz with such strong family history I have tried to mentally prepare myself that someday, I MIGHT have it and all I can do now is take precautions rather than sink into depression over something I have no control over. Plus, I might not even have it in this lifetime so life goes on. I was suppose to go for a high risk testing to see if I have the DNA that doctors could pinpoint to be the cancer causing genes. It would require my Mom to do the test with me so that a comparison can be made between us and all the other cases. It had implications of course. Do I really want to know if I have that specific DNA? Would I be okay knowing that it might just 'erupt' anytime? Would I be able to handle that knowledge? Do I really want to know?

After much thought, I decided against doing the test. I know that my Mom had breast cancer twice. I have aunties on my Mom's side who has had breast cancer. And what I can do that is within control is to go for my regular yearly mammo and constantly do self-checks and be more in tune with my body so that I can detect changes. And when in doubt, there is the good old doctor that I can go to for checks. I think that's all I can do and move on with life. No point getting all upset for something that is not within my control. And if I've got the stats right for us ladies, 1 out of every 5 women will probably be diagnosed for breast cancer and that is a very high probability for any of us.

So ladies, if you have a strong family history like me, please get your mammogram done soon. Don't wait till you hit 40. My Mom got hers when she was 45 years old and my doctor advised that I start my mammogram 10 years before the onset. If you do not have a strong family history and have hit the 40 and above age group...go get yourself checked please. And the mammogram doesn't hurt. It's umcomfortable but it's really fast. So don't wait ya!

Life after Goong

In life, ANYTHING can happen. I used to be one of those who enjoyed laughing at ladies who were hooked on them Korean drama series. I heard of friends who were glued to the tv set with a box of tissue on their lap, eyes swollen from lack of sleep and endless weeping.

I am a humbled woman now cuz the Korean drama series bug just bit me, and I swear it's bad. I didn't think that I would stay up till wee hours of the morning to watch episodes after episodes. I didn't think that I would be wailing away at the sad bits or going all teary at the totally romantic scenes but I did *hangs head in shame* And even went to work totally zombified and impatiently wait for the hours to go by so that I could rush home to continue watching the show. I finished 24 episodes in 3 nights *laughs*.

What show was I so hooked on? Well it's being shown on tv now but I was too impatient to wait for it so I googled and found it on youtube. The show is Princess Hours or Goong and I have a picture of the main characters below.

Not going to say much about the story line but there is a crown prince who was forced to marry a commoner thanks to an agreement made by their grandfathers. Crown prince was in love with another girl but she had rejected his proposal. Crown prince's cousin fell in love with commoner girl but she was in love with crown prince. Confused? Good cuz then you just have to watch it for yourself.

The crown prince is the second dude in the picture. To the far left is the girl he was in love with. The girl in white is the one he was forced to marry. Dude to the far eight is his cousin who in the girl in white. Are the guys the cutest? Especially the crown prince *laughs* Now, if you aren't sure if you would like to watch this, I've come up with some scenarios for you to response to. Based on your response, it should be easy enough to decide so go ahead and check out the questions.

1. Guys walking around with shaggy haircuts (ala Beetles era) in PINK sweater or polka dot shirt with little lacy frills.

Response A: Awww, so cute!!!

Response B: FREAKS! FREAKS! FREAKS!

2. Girl likes boy. But boy likes another girl. Another boy likes first girl. But girl doesn't like other boy.

Response A: Ooohh, who ends up with who! Tell!!

Response B: I have NO patience for this.

3. Boy says to girl 'I miss you even when I am with you!' or 'When you are sick, I hurt'.

Response A: Awww, I am in love with that boy!!!

Response B: Oh god, I am going to so PUKE!!!

4. King secretly in love with own brother's wife. But his wife doesn't know about affair.

Response A: Ohh, scandalous! Give me more...

Response B: *roolls eyes in opposite directions*

5. Are you willing to give up sleep to watch 24 episodes in the shortest time possible?

Response A: Yes yes I am!!!

Response B: I'll take sleep over some crappy drama series.

Alrighty, if you had more A responses, then you MUST catch Princess Hour. For more about the movie, head this way. If you want to watch it online, head to youtube. You can also buy the DVD from Gramaphone if you want to have with English subtitles. HMV only has VCD version with Chinese subtitles.

Have also bought a few more Korean movies and will share if they are any good. Am I hooked? Maybe. But I blame Princess Hours the tv drama series for getting me started on this bitter sweet journey and if you're going to check out this series, let me just remind you that you have been warned, so be careful my friend, be very very careful! *grins*

Geylang Ramadan Bazaar 2006

A visit to the Geylang Bazaar is a must for anyone, Muslim or not. But be prepared for the crowd and the heat especially over the weekend when everyone heads there to shop or just to look around. This is something that I look forward too as I enjoy watching the people and of course I get to sample the amazing array of food that you can find there.

However, just a little advise to non-Muslims who are heading to Geylang during this period. Be a little sensitive and don't eat infront of the Muslims who are fasting if you happen to be there before breakfast time. Time and time again I have seen non-Muslims munching away, totally not aware that the many other people around them have gone without food and drink for hours. When in Rome, do as Romans do. Well, same thing, when in Geylang and it's not time to break fast yet, KEEP YOUR FOOD AND EAT IT ELSEWHERE or at home!

Took some pictures of the food from my first trip for this year. Am planning a few more trips so hopefully will remember to bring my camera along then too.

Below: Popular Malay version of the coney dog

Below: RAMLY burger has to be the bestest burger ever!

Below: Barbequed chicken wings served nice and hot.

Below: My FAVOURITE keropok lekur (to the left).

Below: Ladies selling otah-otah and pulut panggang

As you can see, Singaporeans, regardless of race or religion are pretty much obsessed with our food (and shopping) - and we're proud of it too! :o)

Haze season in Singapore

Picture taken from my flat. At 9.40pm and

you can still see a shroud of haze over us.

Am totally disgusted with the haze that has descend upon us and the worse thing is that there is nothing we can do to stop the haze. Yesterday, the Pollutants Standards Index (PSI) was 80 and it was pretty bad already. And today it has gotten worse and the PSI has gone up to 150 which is no longer in the moderate range but the unhealthy range.

My eyes hurt, my throat is sore and yesterday, it was Mid-Autumn Festival and it was dead quiet compared to the previous years where we had little children walking about with their lanterns and sparklers going off throughout the night. That's how the Mid-Autumn Festival should be celebrated but nope, thanks to the haze, parents were smart enough to keep their children indoors.

And the worse part is that the Indonesian government is not doing anything about it. It is not okay to impose such unpleasantness to other people. And it seems that the PSI doesn't look like it's going to improve the next few days either. It is very hard to be nice to your neighbour when they don't give two hoots about how we are doing.