How To Impress Each Other

(By J.T. of Jacqui's Curve)

Following my last entry in Lady Patsy's Chambers, I felt compelled to share U.Lee's comment on how genders can impress each other.

HOW TO IMPRESS A WOMAN:

1. Compliment her,

2. cuddle her,

3. kiss her,

4. caress her,

5. love her,

6. stroke her,

7. tease her,

8. comfort her,

9. protect her,

10. hug her,

11. hold her,

12. spend money on her,

13. wine & dine her,

14. buy things for her,

15. listen to her,

16. care for her,

17. stand by her,

18. support her,

19. go to the ends of the earth for her....

HOW TO IMPRESS A MAN:

1.Show up naked.

2. Bring beer.

Men are such simple creatures, yet....

... HERE'S THE MAN WHO WAITED IN VAIN FOR THAT TO HAPPEN:

Chambers Refurbished, Men Smiling

(by J.T. of Jacqui's Curve)

Lady Patsy is on hiatus - trying to complete and submit her income tax forms and doing some editorial stuff. I was kind of bored. So I asked Lady Patsy if I could do something to her blog. I felt that my last job on it was getting a bit "basi" (stale) for my eyes. She agreed and said, "Get creative woman. Do what you want."

Yippee! I finally found something to do on a Sunday afternoon. While Lady Patsy tackled her important matters in Kuala Lumpur, I was happily playing around with colours, pictures and fonts in Germany.

So ma' lady, I present to you the finished product - complete with an entry. I am not sure if it is pleasing to the reader's eyes but I tried my best.

When I showed the Lady of the Chambers a draft earlier, she approved the font size. She likes it. It's bigger. I can understand that. Lately, we have been complaining about our so-called growing (old) pains. Our eyesights are getting worse. Bladders are weaker - resulting in our frequent trips to the bathroom after midnight. I can remember when both of us did not have these complaints. We were in our 20s. It was a confusing time for us. We were trying to figure out life, love and men.

The first time I met Lady Patsy was back in 1992. We were preparing for a singles weekend organised by the church. Pat and I were chosen to be part of the panel of presenters. We shared our life experiences based on topics set out for the weekend. She was somewhat a veteran at presentations having done previous singles weekends. I was a rookie. It was comforting to have a friend like Pat during an intense weekend. Sharings were deep and it stirred a lot of emotions. We continued to share a lot more after the weekend and years thereafter. We had a lot of good times and bad. We saw each other through it all.

I asked Pat today, "What shall I blog for you?"

She said, "Anything lah"

"That's not good. Give me a topic, woman." We threw ideas back and forth. As I sit here, I still have no idea what to write.

So, if I have no idea what to write, I might as well share something from Cosmopolitan magazine . Yes, I do buy this magazine every now and then. It is informative. ;)
In fact, Lady Patsy started me on a Cosmo diet. I never knew about it until she shared the magazine with me umpteeth years ago.

The topic (and always the Lady's and my favourite) - MEN.
The subject - How To Put A Smile On His Face....

Making your guy light up doesn't have to take tons of effort. If he's in need of a little ego stroking, try these tips.

1. Let him save the day. Due to their provider instincts, "men feel important when they can help you," says Susan Rabin, author of Lucky In Love. Make him your go-to guy when you want advice on handling a sticky work situation or when your car is making a funny noise.

2. Brag about him. When you're around friends, tell everyone about his amazing chili recipe or how his bod blows David Beckham's away. "It's huge for his self esteen when you show him off," says Allen Berger, PhD, author of Love Secrets Revealed. Plus, it proves that you notice what's special about him.

3. Make him feel desired. "What turns a guy on most is being wanted sexually," says Berger. Try a line "I can't wait to get you into bed.' or suggest something new in the sack. Says Berger, "It shows that you value your sex life and want to keep it exciting."

My work is done here and I am off to make a man smile. ;)

Posted by J.T. of Jacqui's Curve

Sunday, April 29, 2007

I’ve been procrastinating again!

As usual this Queen of Procrastination has been putting off doing her income tax and I seriously need to get it done before the deadline of April 30, 2007. Not having a head for figures, this is going to take me longer than the average Joe. Plus I also have some editorial deadlines looming, so I’m just gonna have to take a break from my blog. I’ll be back next month … in the meantime keep on blogging.

I'm Malaysian lah!

I grew up in a small village called Kampung Kopisan Baru in Gopeng, Perak, This was in the 70s and 80s. My neighbourhood consisted people of all races - Malays, Chinese and Indians. Most of the people in that village worked in the tin mines nearby and so they were not only neighbours but colleagues and good friends as well.
Here was a place where we could pop into our neighbour’s house in the middle of the night and unashamedly ask for some food because we had unexpected guests. We could go off on a trip with the safe knowledge that our neighbours would keep an eye on our house without us even asking.
All the children went to the same school and they too were friends with one another. My closest friends in school consisted of people from all the different races and religions and we were so comfortable with each other that we’d often end up in one of the houses after school, doing our homework or playing games. The parents would warmly welcome all the children into their homes and being respectful of one another’s culture and believes, would ensure that the food served was acceptable to all. There was no prejudice or fear in the way we interacted with each other. We saw and accepted everyone as our friends and all the elders always looked out for all the children, once again irrespective of race or creed. It was no surprise to see a Malay man boxing the ears of an Indian child who had misbehaved, only because he cared (it was an unspoken rule that the elders had a right to punish or scold any child who were caught misbehaving … and this also meant a further punishment when we got home). At the same time, we would probably come across a Chinese woman gently applying ointment to the knee of a Malay child who had injured himself while playing.
When there was a wedding in the village, everyone would be invited and all the ladies would come together to prepare the meal. It was joy to see all the Mak Ciks, the Achees and the Ah Sohs sitting and chatting together while doing the cooking. When there was a funeral, everyone felt the loss and all would come to pay their respects and to help out in any way they could. The best time was during the festival season – trays of goodies would be sent to the neighbours with invitations to join them for lunch or dinner and this would be reciprocated when the neighbours celebrated their festivals. We respected one another’s religion – there was a mosque, a church, a Hindu temple and a Chinese temple all within walking distance of each other.
In school, when the Muslim children were having their Ugama lessons, the non-Muslims were free to go to the library or to the canteen. But most of us preferred to remain in class and do our homework. At the same time we would catch snatches of the lesson going on and the Ustaz or Ustazah would sometimes draw us into a discussion. They would ask us to explain about our religious beliefs or rituals and never once were we disrespected. In fact it was a learning experience for everyone.
Now when I look back, I wonder if it had all been a dream. Did we really co-exist in peace and harmony back then? Why I am having my doubts now is that after all these years, we are suddenly being urged to strengthen racial integration. Children regardless of whether they are at primary level or University students have to be taught or persuaded to integrate with one another. Where did we go wrong? Who is to blame for all this? Children as I know, are innocent. They are not prejudiced and can see beyond the colour of one’s skin. However, they are easily impressionable and if we fill these young minds with hate and mistrust, then we have failed in our duty not only towards our children but also to the nation. This August we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of our independence. Can we truly say that we have progressed these past 50 years or have we in reality moved backwards? Can we truly call ourselves Malaysians? This is certainly food for thought.

My colourful take on life

I have a confession to make. I’ve been seeing the world through gold-coloured glasses. I know, I know, it’s supposed to be rose-coloured glasses but I never get things right!
This all started when a friend went overseas and brought me some wraparound plastic sunglasses that had two benefits: they cut out all the damaging rays hiding in that glorious sunlight AND I could put them on over my reading glasses and see to read in the sunshine.
They were exciting too because they made me look like a 60s movie star and all that was missing was an elaborate hair-do and a long, elegant scarf around my neck. The colour of the glasses was blue and that became a problem.
Those blue glasses made everything in the world look blue. Even on bright, sunny days, they made the view blue and sombre. All the brilliant red and pink flowers took on a peculiar purple cast. And the sunshine just faded into the blue! I tried to wear them to keep out the rays but I desperately wanted to let in the glow.
Then one day, I went to KLCC. There was a similar pair of glasses, but instead of blue, they were a bright, golden YELLOW. Just to experiment, I tried them on. Hello! It was a go for the glow – they lit up my life!
When I got home, I took the glasses and a book and decided to sit outside. As I glanced around, the flowers in the garden seemed brighter, the trees looked greener and my psyche got perkier. I settled back to enjoy the bright sunny day. When read-time was up, I took a look around at the lovely sunniness and then took off the glasses to go inside. What a shock! Bare-eyed, I realised that the sun was long gone, the sky was totally overcast, and grey clouds were rolling so fast that by the time I raced into the house, sheets of rain were pelting down hard. I put the glasses back on, and even in the middle of the storm, my garden looked sunny!
Ever since then, I’ve known just what to do when things look blue. I look at the world through my gold-coloured glasses!

Understand or not?

I have been having a case of writer’s block and simply could not think of anything to write for my blog. I was discussing this with my best friend Jacqui and we were throwing ideas back and forth.
At times like this, I like to draw back on my own personal experiences and think of what has been happening in my life. To my surprise I discovered that sometimes in the most mundane of activities, there lies an interesting story ….

Being house bound because of a bad case of the flu, I decided to spend my valuable time working on a crossword puzzle – telling myself that it would improve my IQ and my word power, and my knowledge of the world in general. When I got stuck on a difficult clue, I began to think about how the English language is a lot like a child – sometimes delightful, sometimes confusing, and sometimes downright maddening. Some words have such built-in beauty, they can make you feel good to hear the lilt in them. Others have so many different meanings and interpretations that you must be very careful how you handle them.

Like a child, the English language can charm you – or it can drive you up the wall, make you nutty or cause you to go bananas!
See what I mean? We have such silly English expressions – “Drive you up the wall” And how does one exactly do that – in a car?
And how does someone make you “nutty”? Spread you with peanut butter?
“Go bananas” – what does that mean? Turn yellow? Get a thick skin? Start to hang around with a bunch?

One of the funniest parts of the English language involves the naming of groups of things. I can understand a “swarm of bees” or a “flock of geese” but who came up with the idea of a “school of fish”, a “pride of lions” or a “host of angels”?

Abandoning my puzzle, I began to waste time by putting together some groupings of my own. How about a “gaggle of gossips” or a “wiggle of women”, a “hassle of husbands”, a “clatter of children” or a “mutter of mothers”?

Well, this just shows how easy it is for minds to meander and thoughts to travel – and still get nowhere fast. But in this case, I managed to get a posting for my blog!

Now is the time

If we are ever to enjoy life, now is the time - not tomorrow, nor next year, not in some future life after we have died.
The best preparation for a better life next year is a full, complete harmonious, joyous life this year.
Our beliefs in a rich future life are of little importance unless we coin them into a rich present life.
Today should always be our most wonderful day!