Monday, October 31, 2005

a love story

wat can i say? i'm a sucker for love stories. :')
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



On my wedding day, I carried my wife in my arms. The bridal car stopped in front of our one-room flat. My buddies insisted that I carry her out of the car in my arms. So I carried her into our home. She was then plump and shy. I was a strong and happy bridegroom.

This was the scene of ten years ago.

The following days were as simple as a cup of pure water: we had a kid, I went into business and tried to make more money. When the assets were steadily increasing, the affections between us seemed to ebb. She was a civil servant. Every morning we left home together and got home almost at the same time. Our kid was studying in a boarding school.

Our marriage life seemed to be enviably happy. But the calm life was more likely to be affected by unpredictable changes.

Dew came into my life.

It was a sunny day. I stood on a spacious balcony. Dew hugged me from behind. My heart once again was immersed in her stream of love. This was the apartment I bought for her.

Dew said, You are the kind of man who best draws girls eyeballs. Her words suddenly reminded me of my wife. When we just married, my wife said, Men like you, once successful, will be very attractive to girls. Thinking of this, I became somewhat hesitant. I knew I had betrayed my wife. But I couldn t help doing so.

I moved Dew s hands aside and said, You go to select some furniture, O.K.? I ve got something to do in the company. Obviously she was unhappy, because I had promised her to go and see with her. At the moment, the idea of divorce became clearer in my mind although it used to be something impossible to me.

However, I found it rather difficult to tell my wife about it. No matter how mildly I mentioned it to her, she would be deeply hurt. Honestly, she was a good wife. Every evening she was busy preparing dinner. I was sitting in front of the TV. The dinner was ready soon. Then we watched TV together. Or, I was lounging before the computer, visualizing Dew s body. This was the means of my entertainment.

One day I said to her in a slight joking way, suppose we divorce, what will you do? She stared at me for a few seconds without a word. Apparently she believed that divorce was something too far away from her. I couldn t imagine how she would react once she got to know I was serious.

When my wife went to my office, Dew had just stepped out. Almost all the staff looked at my wife with a sympathetic eye and tried to hide something while talking with her. She seemed to have got some hint. She gently smiled at my subordinates. But I read some hurt in her eyes.

Once again, Dew said to me, He Ning, divorce her, O.K.? Then we live together. I nodded. I knew I could not hesitate any more.

When my wife served the last dish, I held her hand. I ve got something to tell you, I said.

She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes. Suddenly I didn t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want to divorce. I raised a serious topic calmly. She didn t seem to be much annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why? . I m serious. I avoided her question. This so-called answer turned her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man!

At that night, we didn t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer, because my heart had gone to Dew.

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. I felt a pain in my heart. The woman who had been living ten years with me would become a stranger one day. But I could not take back what I had said.

Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer.

A late night, I came back home after entertaining my clients. I saw her writing something at the table. I fell asleep fast. When I woke up, I found she was still there. I turned over and was asleep again.

She brought up her divorce conditions: she didn t want anything from me, but I was supposed to give her one month s time before divorce, and in the month s time we must live as normal life as possible. Her reason was simple: our son would finish his summer vacation a month later and she didn t want him to see our marriage was broken.

She passed me the agreement she drafted, and then asked me, He Ning, do you still remember how I entered our bridal room on the wedding day? This question suddenly brought back all those wonderful memories to me. I nodded and said, I remember . You carried me in your arms, she continued, so, I have a requirement, that is, you carry me out in your arms on the day when we divorce. From now to the end of this month, you must carry me out from the bedroom to the door every morning.

I accepted with a smile. I knew she missed those sweet days and wished to end her marriage with a romantic form.

I told Dew about my wife s divorce conditions. She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she does, she has to face the result of divorce, she said scornfully. Her words more or less made me feel uncomfortable.

My wife and I hadn t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. We even treated each other as a stranger. So when I carried her out for the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mummy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly, Let us start from today, don t tell our son. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for bus, I drove to office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. We were so close that I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn t looked at this intimate woman carefully for a long time. I found she was not young any more. There were some fine wrinkles on her face.

On the third day, she whispered to me, The outside garden is being demolished. Be careful when you pass there.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I seemed to feel that we were still an intimate couple and I was holding my sweetheart in my arms. The visualization of Dew became vaguer.

On the fifth and sixth day, she kept reminding me something, such as, where she put the ironed shirts, I should be careful while cooking, etc. I nodded. The sense of intimacy was even stronger.

I didn t tell Dew about this.

I felt it was easier to carry her. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger. I said to her, It seems not difficult to carry you now.

She was picking her dresses. I was waiting to carry her out. She tried quite a few but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, All my dresses have grown fatter. I smiled. But I suddenly realized that it was because she was thinner that I could carry her more easily, not because I was stronger. I knew she had buried all the bitterness in her heart. Again, I felt a sense of pain. Subconsciously I reached out a hand to touch her head.

Our son came in at the moment. Dad, it s time to carry mum out. He said. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had been an essential part of his life. She gestured our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face because I was afraid I would change my mind at the last minute. I held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly, as if we came back to our wedding day. But her much lighter weight made me sad.

On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. She said, Actually I hope you will hold me in your arms until we are old.

I held her tightly and said, Both you and I didn t notice that our life was lack of such intimacy.

I jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my decision. I walked upstairs. Dew opened the door. I said to her, Sorry, Dew, I won t divorce. I m serious.

She looked at me, astonished. The she touched my forehead. You got no fever. She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Dew, I said, I can only say sorry to you, I won t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn t value the details of life, not because we didn t love each other any more. Now I understand that since I carried her into the home, she gave birth to our child, I am supposed to hold her until I am old. So I have to say sorry to you.

Dew seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into cry. I walked downstairs and drove to the office.

When I passed the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet for my wife which was her favorite. The salesgirl asked me to write the greeting words on the card. I smiled and wrote, I ll carry you out every morning until we are old.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i'll carry you out every morning till we are old too........ as long as i've figured out who you are...

Saturday, October 29, 2005

As poor as a church mouse Part 2


Lenin would be proud of me. Posted by Picasa

The 2nd reason why I'm so poor... this is what u get when u shop alone.
in bangkok, no less.

now u know why I got a court restraint order against shopping alone?

As poor as a church mouse Part 1


Now you know why I'm so broke. Posted by Picasa

Fines, bills, lots of money gone. I'm really broke now.

on a boring saturday

neofik says:
what hot dates u got lined up later

cherub says:
let's see, a female human paladin. a male human wizard, and a female cleric.

neofik says:
wow
exciting

cherub says:
wat abt u?
is wow ur plan?

neofik says:
oh, mine's just so so
have a date with a male ninja, a female courtesan, a tang dynasty general
well, i could invite s male wizard, female thief and an orc barbarian if i want
or a vigilante vampire hunter or renegade devil spawn if i want

cherub says:
see, thats where we get nerdy

Friday, October 21, 2005

Back to the school days..

I promised I would blog about the School Uniform Party at Rouge, and here it is...

Firstly, the party was organised by the bodytalks, a dance school. They do many different type of dances, including exotic dances.
So when a batch of their students graduated, they have to perform for a crowd, hence the school organised a theme party for their students to perform.

"Be Naughty" Night.




my classmates for the day night.



And there was the orientation, the beginning where we mingled and waited in anticipation.
yes, the pub was dark, but then i can't recall any pub where its well-lit and cheery.
what i found it lacking was that the place was pretty small, and it couldn't afford many schoolmates a proper view of the performing area.
Once the dancers got down lying onto the ground, most people couldn't see a thing. (Trust me, they go down on the floor a lot, and from what I heard, i missed a lot. ta-ma-de)




There was an oohtique corner where we could explore before the performance. Oohtique displayed many nice sexy wear and female, ahem, toys (not for kids). I guess its a pretty good business idea.


So the cheerleaders came to welcome us! Oooo, all the cheerleaders are the dance teachers.
cheerleaders! teachers! students! all in 1 nite.
you can tell that I almost died that night.


After waiting for ages, and taking 10,000 fotos, the 1st dance finally commenced!



And hmmm, they wore these proper and prim top. u know, nice sweet outfit.
so guai....



AND SO THEY TOOK IT OFF! 1st dance, mind u.


And then after some other performances (i have no energy to take pictures of all performances lah), its dance time for these sweet little things.
you know the outfits they were wearing? the kinda sweater in bright cheery colours. with a collar shirt inside the sweater... Very demure, very sweet!


Sweet right.


SWEETER RIGHT? haha.
You can see that there were a lot of stripping done in this party. nice, artistic kind ones, of course. not those pron kind...


well done girls, that was one of the more coordinated and exotic dance of the night.

to be honest, there were too many dances for the night. after an hour of standing there, most of the audience got bored. it didn't help that most performances were not that well practised. but oh well, its a dancing school and the performers are fresh graduates.
quantity over quality. I hope that they will reduce the number of performances nxt time..


Anyway, halfway into the performance, they started a contest and pulled in girls from the crowd in this contest......supposed to perform some sexy acts to canvass for votes...


These are some of the contestants, pulled from the crowd that day. chio right? actually the fun part of this theme party is that most of the crowd are very onz, a large majority sticked to the theme and come dressed in school uniforms. more fun mah!!
so kudos to all these girls who come dressed to the theme, and boy, are they hot.
If you have to know, the hot babe in green won.


Halfway into the performance, i stumbled into a, ahem, convent cave. haha. i can't believe i met my JC seniors in this party.


and I also met my primary school classmate at the party, would you believe that. No pictures of her though...



And yes, my classmates are really hot.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Articles, articles...

Money, is it overrated? Economics research focuses on what makes people happy :
A critical factor in personal happiness appears to be marriage — or at least a monogamous sexual relationship. A widowed or divorced person would have to make an extra $100,000 a year to be as happy as a comparable married person, Blanchflower and co-author Andrew Oswald estimated.

Blanchflower and Oswald also looked at surveys of sexual activity and found that in general, “The more sex, the happier the person.”

“People who have no sexual activity are noticeably less happy than average,” they declared.

No wonder!! no wonder I'm not happy, and ahem, that i have many depressed female friends. Depressed ladies, look no further! email me here!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A friend of mine emailed me the story below. Kinda interesting, although I feel that the article, or rather, the association misses out a strong point. A lot of people invests in Whole Life insurnace as a retirement tool. And parents build life insurance for kids as a saving and investment tools. And wealthy people loves to use insurance as part of their assets portfolio.

So yah, batman would build a large insurance coverage, although if I am the underwriter, i will decline his case lor. knn, fly here fly there, sure die soon one...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Who needs life insurance most?
Jack Naudi St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (KRT)
Date: October 04, 2005

Oct. 4--Batman risks his life almost every day. Fred Flintstone doesn't.
So, which one needs life insurance more?

In a recent survey, more people chose the unmarried, wealthy Bruce Wayne over the working class, Stone-Age husband and father. And that choice, say insurers, is dead wrong.

Silly on the surface, the survey conducted by the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education conveyed a serious message: Most people don't know whether life insurance is right for them.

In the survey, released last week, more than 1,000 people were asked which of five fictional characters needed life insurance the most.
Respondents placed Spiderman first, followed by Batman, Fred Flintstone, Harry Potter and Marge Simpson.

The Life and Health Insurance Foundation issued those results with a news release titled: "Holy cow Batman! Americans think superheroes need life insurance more than moms and dads."

David Woods, president of the Washington-based foundation, said that without question, family-man Fred Flintstone would need life insurance more than the rest.
As the sole breadwinner, Fred's death would have a much greater economic effect than the demise of the others, Woods said.
Daigle said the right answer was simple. "The only one I see that jumps out is Fred Flintstone. He's married, and he's got a young child."


The most distressing ranking in the survey, Woods said, was Marge Simpson's spot at the bottom of the list. Undervaluing the economic importance of a stay-at-home spouse, Woods said, "is a huge problem."
"What would have to be replaced if she died?" Woods said. "Would there have to be day care? Would there have to be cleaning services? Would somebody have to do the shopping?"

By Daigle's reckoning, Marge is worth probably $3,000 a month to the Simpson household. With one rule of thumb saying life insurance should pay for 10 years of lost income, Daigle said the Simpsons need about $360,000 of life insurance for Marge, mother of three.

It's likely that Spiderman needs insurance, but perhaps not for the reasons considered by respondents, insurance experts said. His alter ego, Peter Parker, supports an aging aunt who would be financially devastated by Spidey's death.

Woods said he did not judge the survey respondents too harshly for putting Spiderman at No. 1. "He's swinging from buildings; I understand it," he said. "Good Lord, he's in trouble all the time."

But the need for life insurance has little in common with the dangers of a person's profession, Woods said. "The test always is that if somebody is dependent on you financially, then you better take a hard look at whether you need life insurance."

Two characters on the list don't need life insurance, Woods said: Harry Potter, a child, and the wealthy Batman. "Batman, being a single guy, he doesn't need money for a family," said Daigle, adding that Bruce Wayne's wealth was "irrelevant" to whether he needed life insurance.




Spiderman, 28 percent of survey respondents
David Woods, president, Life and Health Insurance Foundation: "Peter Parker probably needs life insurance to ensure that if his super powers ever failed him and he died, his aunt could stay in their home and be cared for."

Batman, 18 percent
Woods: "Batman doesn't have anyone who depends on him financially and therefore probably doesn't need life insurance."

Fred Flintstone, 16 percent
Woods: "Fred has a pressing need for life insurance to ensure that Wilma and Pebbles could maintain their standards of living if he were no longer able to provide for them."

Harry Potter, 15 percent
Woods: "A full-time student with no siblings or parents who might be affected financially by his premature death, Harry Potter doesn't have a need for life insurance."

Marge Simpson, 11 percent
Woods: "Stay-at-home parents like Marge perform many household services that would expensive to replace, and consequently have a significant need for life insurance."

Note: 13 percent did not know

KRviaNewsEdge

Thursday, October 13, 2005

and the butterfly flies away.

i think i'm addicted to blogging at the airport.

is it me, or are the air stewardness getting chio-er and chio-er?
man, i think its the uniform.
and oh boy, girls in uniform are really, really hot.



i hate travelling alone.
bangkok, here i come.

and the butterfly hides again.

eh, how to reveal, you tell me, how to??

1) bloggers kanna charged for their blogs.

2) someone (friend of friend) almost got sacked (actually expelled but appealed back) from a local university due to his blogging about his "Industrial Attachment".

3) most recently, a friend of mine almost broke up with his gf (that he was going to propose) due to his, ahem, secret blog.


How to reveal myself? u tell me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

saw this line of wisdom from blinkymummy.

If Religion is Opium for the Masses,
L.O.V.E. is Bread for the Poor.

Friday, October 7, 2005

the cocoon is breaking.

Out of the blue, Mandy asked me the other day,
"cherub, I ask you..why you always sound so depress leh.."


you know for a girl who talks to me less than 10 times a year (previously), she sure knows me deeper than most. know me little, but know me a lot....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and then recently when we mixed around more (ahem, school uniform party), she asked me another cheem question.
"cherub, why your blog is those 'informative' kind, not those personal blog huh? u got another private blog is it?"


hmm. i used to hv some personal blog but I've since stopped. but you know, she got me thinking, i have never revealed my name, my photos on my blog. this blog is not very personal for various reasons (mainly, i don't feel like it). and for a good reason, i tried my best not to blog about depressing stuff, ONLY happy stuff.

No name, NO photos of cherub.

All these are going to change.

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Its the army, stupid.

(Addendum: I decided to write down a specific action that the army clerk did. Scroll down below to read.)


And its back to green. Posted by Picasa

Dear Army,

Yes, I know that you are involved in the highly revolutionary "paperless" system, so you no longer send out call-ups via letters. But a single SMS for me to remember a callup months ahead? I'm so glad of your immense trust in my memory.
Perhaps you can send a 2nd sms reminder when the date is near?

And you call me up, as noted, for an "IPPT Briefing".
There is nowhere on that electronic call-up that requested me to be ready for an IPPT test!
Hello? IPPT Briefing is very different from an IPPT test.
You know how stupid I feel when I turn up in camouflage uniform, only to find most of the people there dressed in PE attires.

and yes, I wasted an hour driving to and fro, because of your unclear instructions.

And please do let the guards know that you are making such a mistake in the future, because the poor guard has no idea what is an IPPT Briefing, and directed me to park my vehicle and sign in, only to be told by another person to drive ahead and park at the Parade Square.

I forgot to mention that my car is a Mitshibitsu Lancer, NOT an armoured vehicle. I have no idea how to park at the Parade Square when its surrounded by concertina wires. hey, even a tank's track can be damaged if it rushes into concertina barricade. To fulfil my role as an operational ready NSman, I promise I will include a wire-cutter set and gloves in my combat pack in the near future.

And if its not too troublesome, can u lower the humps on the roads in your camp!! for god's sake, not all civilian cars are as high as your army vehicles! but I am definitely not the first civilian car to scrap the hump, judging by the numerous deep cuts in the humps.

And I hate army clerks. You are already exempted from combat roles, do you mind respecting yourself and handle us with efficiency and proper service?
[Addendum] Yes, I know my NRIC card is "spoilt", the cracks are pretty obvious to any one, but thanks anyway for your value-added service in pointing that out. But I really think that you don't have to bend and flex my already-damaged NRIC in front of me to prove the point. And you have to state accurately that you hv nothing to do with the damage, WHILE flexing the card around. Don't worry, I am sure you have absolutely nothing to do with my cracked broken card.

So I spent a precious afternoon from work, and achieved nothing. Now I have to prepare for another IPPT "briefing" on my own, at another camp.

Yours readily,
man-in-green
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, I've decided to train hard for my coming IPPT. Maybe I should start with some weight lifting and short-distance running.


Preparing for the next IPPT Posted by Picasa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have lots to blog. Abt the School Uniform Party, about the Orient Express, but Blogger is cranking up, and I'm irritated by it.

Monday, October 3, 2005

Ready for school

iron uniform, pack school bag, prepare tie, polish school shoes...

All set for school! :D

see the, *ahem*, bugs bunny socks and the damn trendy shoelaces.

i asked my sec2 sister to help me with the shoelaces, and she referred me to my mum who tied up the style u see. wahliew, hippy dad and hippy mum lor.


"Be Naughty" Tixs - $14
Canvas Shoes - $20
Parking $6.60.

Lots and lots of chiobu dolled up as school girls - PRICELESS.


























this is just a prelude....



So it was a happy weekend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

meanwhile,

cherub: how was ur weekend?
warcrafter: fucked up, stay at home play game lor. visited Azeroth and Lordareon.

warcrafter: almost killed the lord of death protecting the world tree.

Sunday, October 2, 2005

Bata School Shoes

White Canvas shoes!!
those shoes that we wore when we were in primary school....

Let's see, the last time I wore these shoes were....

9 years ago!!

And I just bought a pair.
i wonder why.... haha. update soon in the next post.

Saturday, October 1, 2005

The Block follows the Chip

i just reached home at 12:30am, and my dad, who just showered came to me with the most cheeky smile i've ever seen.

"i've done the laser."

HUH?

My dad! Went! FOR LASIK!!!
46 yo lor!
WAHH....he so hip siah!!!

I'm damn shocked.

Like Son, Like Father.
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