Shop At Ease

I’m a person who is not keen in conventional shopping. I have experiences hanging around in shopping centers with relatives and peers for almost a day just to look for a few goods. Often, the purchase took less than 15 minutes to settle. What was really time-consuming is the process of searching the goods, compare and finally decide. Worse, sometimes we ended up leaving with empty hands when nothing had come to our satisfaction, but money had been spent unnecessarily on food, parking fees and transportation.

Nowadays I prefer online shopping for its two main advantages: convenience and wide choices. Convenience in the sense that I can easily find a product in possibly less than a second, and I can shop at anytime I like. Shopping and placing an order in the midnight are just fine. Also, my choices are no longer confined to one or few shops. With a powerful search engine, I can effortlessly access to the online shopping stores worldwide and compare the price. Most of the price offered by the stores are reasonable, sometimes surprisingly cheap.

My last online shopping was few months ago, after I read about Nintendo’s new video game, Wii Fit. I was fascinated by its fun-and-fitness approach in getting the user to stay health-conscious. The game is not designed only for youngsters, but for anyone above the age of 3 years, provided he/she is physically fit for the activities in the game. I thought it is just ideal for my family, especially the seniors who dislike outdoor activities. I searched online and found a list of online stores promoting the product. After surveying the price, I think it’s worth investing in a Wii Fit as it is a lot cheaper than the conventional workout machines but more fun, flexible and multipurpose in exercise wise. I ordered one with price £69.00 and received the product in less than 2 weeks time. It is just perfect.

A Little Seed, A Little Love

The ancient Chinese often related Red Bean (红豆) to love and romance. This red bean is not the adzuki bean used to prepare the sweet dessert – red bean soup, but it is the heart-shaped scarlet seed of a plant scientifically termed Adenanthera pavonina (海红豆). Chinese name it as “xiang-si dou” (相思豆), the love bean (pea) or the romantic bean (pea). The seed is poisonous in raw, but edible when cooked. Due to its charming color and appearance, it is used to make necklace and ornament as a love emblem for the valentine.

When I was a little girl, my father always brought me some seed pods after his work. And I would love to split the pods, collect the seeds inside and store them in a basket. I did not know its story nor its meaning, I just enjoyed collecting them and admired the full basket of shiny scarlet seeds as if they are gems. Later, my father no longer brought the pods back, he told me the love bean tree had been chopped down, no more pods he could find. I was very unhappy then but soon these love beans were put behind me and replaced by other toys.

Last year while my mother was tidying up the study room, she dug out the love bean basket covered by a thick layer of dust and asked if I still want to keep them. Poor little things, they were abandoned at the corner for so many years! I wanted to keep them as they are a memento of my father but most of them were already moldy and faded. So I had no choice but to tell my mother to throw them away. I am quite regretful for not taking good care of them.

After that I’ve tried to search around for the love bean tree but failed. I couldn’t even find any around my residential area in Malacca. I did see some gift shops selling the love beans in delicate glass bottles but I have no interest in buying them, I prefer to collect the seeds myself. If my “significant other” were to present me such gift, I would appreciate more if he gave me the pods rather than a ready bottle of seeds, unless he made the gift on his own.

I believe this love bean plays a role in my father’s young past too. He led a very harsh life when he was young. Being the eldest in his family, he was forced to quit from his school at the age of 12 and became the breadwinner of his family of 4. He was a very talented man especially in art, just that he was less fortunate in his life. Although he was low-educated, he never gave up in seeking knowledge on his own. He was someone who appreciated every single thing he gained very much. I’m sure he knew the story and meaning of the love bean, too bad I missed the chance to learn them from him.

If only he were still alive, I would ask him what love bean means to him, I believe it would be a great story to share with.

Today, I miss him so much.

《此物最相思》

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25 Things I Like About You – A Mother’s Day Dedication

I’ve got inspired by a friend of mine that wrote such thing to his loved one. I am really touched by his writing though I ain’t the one. And today, I would like to “copy” his way to express my feelings to the most important person in my life…

1. I like it when I miss you suddenly and think of talking to you, often I receive your call in that night; as if you can sense my feelings and call me in time.

2. I like it when we are watching TV in afternoon, I always wait for your tea time to reach, so that I can have a little bite of your snacks, while I am on my diet.

3. I like it when it’s late for shower, you nag me for times until I enter the bathroom, though I am clear that bathing in late night isn’t good for health.

4. I like it when I buy you some new foods to try out, you enjoy them very much; it proves that we’ve got the same taste in food.

5. I like it when you make some funny mistakes in front of me, yet you pretend to be cool before the both of us burst into laughter the very next moment.

6. I like it when you expertly iron my clothes neatly and wrinkle off, giving the feelings that I am wearing a brand new clothes.

7. I like it when there are people praising me and Bro for our achievements, you are always humble, though I can see through your eyes that you are really pleased with the compliments.

8. I like it whenever I am going back there, I will spend a day here in the shopping mall buying some goods for you; imagining how much you would enjoy them.

9. I like it when we go out together, I will hold your hand tightly and walk with you, it makes me proud of being a daughter.

10. I like it when there are critiques and accusations about me, you defend me in the first place, your trust gives me strength and confidence to stand up.

11. I like it when I am preparing food for you, I always feel like I am a great chef even though it’s just a simple sandwich.

12. I like it when I have to wake up early in the morning, I will leave a small note under the house phone, the next morning I’ll be awakened by your soft voice sharp on time, I can never find a better alarm clock than you.

13. I like it when we are eating some fruits, you will give me half of yours and I will give mine half+little extra to you; as the old Chinese saying goes, “Love bonds tighter by sharing” (一人一半，感情不散).

14. I like it when I get very tensed up during the exam period, I will give you a call to ask for your forgiveness if I happened to do bad in the papers, though you never mind about my result, I always feel much relieved with you saying ” Don’t push yourself so hard, just try your best.”

15. I like it when I am back for holidays, you always have collected stacks of my favourite supplement for me to read since the last time I left home, though sometimes I feel really lazy to touch them.

16. I like it when I am going to collect the rent arrears from the stupid tenant, we will make a small bet on whether he would pay or not, and loser would treat the winner; I always expect a NO from him, but I wish I can be the one who treats.

17. I like it when I succeed in making you laugh hard with my silly jokes, it makes me feel like I have a good sense of humour.

18. I like it when I have my life screwed up, I will usually skype with you for at least 30 mins to make bunch of complaints; a little response from you would make you the best listener for me.

19. I like it when I’m done with my morning jog, I always wait for you to finish your tasks, so that we can have our breakfast together.

20. I like it when we are reading the daily together, you always rush to read mine though I am reading it half-way, for you say you can read faster than me, by actually skimming through the titles mostly.

21. I like it when I manage to persuade you to enter the small supermarkets in NT, you are excited with the new stuffs you see, and immediately become a “shopaholic” but only digs her pocket money to buy those goods for her children.

22. I like it when you read those inspirational and motivational books I bought for you; I really hope they would refresh your soul and encourage you to move forward with a smile even on the tough path.

23. I like it when I told you about the admirers I’ve met over here, your first reaction was “That’s unbelievable you’ve got such attraction…”, in fact you are the most interested to know the processes.

24. I like it when I post you a parcel for the mother’s day gift, your first thought is that’s from me, coz you know how much I love and care about you.

25. Lastly, I just like who you are and everything you do to me coz it’s forever for my own good. I truly thank God for bonding you and me, It might seem exaggerated to write all these but they are my true feelings. Sorry that I can’t be with you on this special day but I wish to tell you how much you mean to me through my words. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, love you always.

I wanted to write a chinese version so that my mum can understand it well, but I am short of time to do so, perhaps after my final exams, I will repost a chinese version. Now I gotta count on my brother to be the translator (you better do the job carefully), thanks to him too.