A New Year's Eve Party

Some of you know, because you too have been invited, that U.Lee has invited me to join him and his wife to a New Year's Eve party and cruise on board the Queen Mary 2.

To say that I am excited and looking forward to the party and cruise is an understatement! :-)

Just look at this strapless dress that came with the invitation! A black strapless Calvin Klein designer dress! What woman would not be thrilled to wear this creation?



Hmm? What do you think? You know, I still have about a month to get into greater shape so I will do justice to the dress! Yes, I will have to go on a high fiber diet so that my flabby tummy will not show when I wear that dress. And yes, I will do 500 sit ups a day to tone that tummy!

I will have to do some shopping too. Since the dress did not come with shoes, and handbag, and jewelry to match, I will most definitely need to shop for those items! I love beaded and glittery accessories so I have in mind a black with pink clutch purse to go with the dress.



I think this stunning Gucci purse will go really, really well with that black Clavin Klein dress! Woohoo! Beautiful!

How about shoes? I have trouble wearing high heels because they hurt my feet. Who wants to put up with hurting feet when there's dancing later on?! I am not going to miss a dance with Antonio Banderas! Did you know that I will be sitting at a table with Anotonio Banderas? I hope I won't swoon just at the sight of him!


What the heck! These Jimmy Choo shoes are too beautiful! I'll wear them and pay the price. I'll just have to go for a massage after the party! :-)

Ok, jewelry next! Since I design and make jewelry myself, I will wear ear rings, a necklace and a bracelet that I design myself. I will use lots of glittering crystals in my design. I'll be sure to use black, pink, and gold crystals as well as gold findings to match the purse.

How about perfume? Since I will be sitting next to Antonio Banderas I'll have to be sure my perfume will be subtle yet alluring. I will make him forget who Melanie Griffith is! How about Estee Lauder's Pleasures Exotic? Yes, one of my favorite scents!



Ah yes, the handsome and delectable Antonio! I can see myself doing the Paso Doble with him! Doug who?

Can you imagine how alluring and ravishing I will look in that black dress, shoes and accessories! Aiyo, U.Lee will be suitably impressed! Save a dance for me, U.Lee after that dance with Ruby! What? I've got to wait till you're done dancing with Pi Bani? And J.T. and Jamy? Aiyo, good thing Antonio Banderas will be there!

Zawi and Akmal, you two guys better not run away from me when you see me coming! I want at least one dance from both of you!

Ahh, don't be deceived! Underneath all that feminine appearance this mama will be packing heat! Yes, I found the thigh holster! Ooops, since I will be carrying a concealed weapon, I think I should stay away from dances that will require any high kicks. No point carrying a concealed weapon when all and sundry can see it! It might even spook some who have hoplophobia!

Oh yes, one other possible problem about being on a ship. Seasickness. According to U.Lee the Queen Mary 2 is so huge that you can forget you are in a ship. That sounds assuring. I like his suggestion better though. To get my mind off seasickness, I should try some target shooting on deck with Antonio Banderas! Sounds good to me! Well, U.Lee better speak to the Captain first and get his permission! We don't want to freak out the other passengers on the ship!

Oh yes, I am indeed looking forward to the New Year's Eve Party. Oh, gotta go now, need to fix an appointment with a spa and my hairdresser!

The secret to a long, happy marriage

An old man was talking to a young friend. He told him he had been married for 66 years.

"That's amazing!" his young friend said. "What's the secret to such a long, happy marriage?"

"Well," the elder man replied, "It's like this. We decided together when we got married: The man makes all the big decisions ... and the woman makes all the little decisions."

"Wow!" the young man responded. "Does that really work?"

"Oh yes," the oldster said proudly. "It's been 66 years and, so far we haven't had one big decision!"

The Equalizer

An armed society is a polite society - Robert A. Heinlein

Do you know what Hoplophobia is? It is defined as "fear of firearms." Colonel Jeff Cooper who claims to have coined the word stated that "the most common manifestation of hoplophobia is the idea that instruments possess a will of their own, apart from that of their user."

There are many people, educated Malaysians included, who fear guns. Guns are weapons that can cause death by people who want to cause death, and therefore should be rightly feared. But people should not fear guns in the hands of law abiding citizens.

My father owns a shotgun that he uses for hunting and he has owned it for as long as I can remember. He put it in the closet and at no time at all when we were younger were we tempted to handle it. We had a healthy respect for that shotgun.


My son is 4 years-old and we are teaching him to respect guns, that guns are not toys, and that guns can hurt people if mishandled. We are trying to demystify guns so that as he grows older he will not try to handle guns behind our backs simply out of curiosity. Demystifying guns to young children, in a household that has guns, is the first step to preventing accidents. We are teaching him about gun safety so that he knows that with ownership comes responsibility.

My husband grew up around guns and he fired his first gun at age 6. He and his father are lifetime members of the National Rifles Association. My husband has quite a collection of pistols and rifles, and I now own a handgun too.

Before I came to America, I too had the impression that America had too many guns and that too many people died needlessly because of those guns. That was when I was still ignorant about the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution. The 2nd Amendment states that "A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

This is a right that should be protected and not given away lightly. A government that has an armed citizenry will think twice about becoming a tyrant. Someone commented in a friend's blog that since America is not living under a tyranny, why should people continue to have guns? Duh!? Once the guns are taken away, how are you going to stop the government from becoming one?

Me, firing a Rossi .22 rimfire pump action rifle

There are many laws regulating gun use in America. Contrary to popular beliefs, especially with those living outside America, gun related deaths are not out of control in this country. Accidental gun deaths is not the number one killer of children under 14 in this country. Mass shootings like those you hear in the news recently are not as common as are made out to be.

It is a fallacy to claim that less guns mean less crime. Switzerland is a country that best illustrates this fallacy. In Switzerland National Service is compulsory and the men keep those guns including assault rifles that they use in their national service training in their homes. You don't hear much news of gun crimes in Switzerland.

In countries where guns have been taken away from the citizens, like the UK and Australia, crimes are not down, and neither are homicides. Criminals will always get their guns, legal or not. The only people left defenseless are the ordinary citizens.

Consider the following situations.

Police said that two men forced their way into a home on the 1900 block of Sachtjen Street on Madison's north side, near the Dane County Regional Airport, just before 3 a.m.

A couple was home in bed at the time and a woman was pistol-whipped by one of the assailants, who fled without taking anything. The woman is being treated for injuries.

Full story here.

If you're faced with intruders in your house, in which situation would you rather find yourself?

Bleeding and weakened from the bullet wound in her chest, Susan Gonzalez aimed her husband's .22-caliber pistol, the one she hated, and emptied it into one of the robbers who had burst through the front door of her rural Jacksonville home.

Those shots ended the life of one robber, led to a life prison term for another and became an epiphany for Gonzalez, a 41-year-old mother of five who runs a photography studio.

Full story here.

My home is still my castle, and if a person enters my home intending to cause me harm, he'd better be prepared to meet his Maker.

Be not afraid of any man
No matter what his size
If ever in fear, just call on me
And I will equalize

Engraved on the cylinder of a old West "Peacemaker" Colt .45 revolver.

Yes, a firearm is a great equalizer.


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Licking a toad to get high?

Inhaling gas from fecal matter to get high was gross enough but how about licking a toad? Yes, a toad!

The toad in question is a Colorado River toad (see left pic). The toad is dangerous to young children or animals who ingest them because it is poisonous. It appears that the venom from the toad acts like a hallucinogenic drug.

This is how enature.com describes toads in general.

Toads have enlarged glands (called the paratoid glands) on the side of the neck, one behind each eye. These glands secrete a viscous white poison that gets smeared in the mouth of any would-be predator, inflaming the mouth and throat and causing nausea, irregular heart beat, and, in extreme cases, death. Toads pose a danger to pets, which may pounce on and bite them. Humans should take care to wash their hands after handling a toad, and to avoid touching the mouth or eyes until having done so.

So the venom that is naturally smeared on the toad's body is licked by the people who wanted to get high. What a way to get your high! And a dangerous one at that!

Sarawak Laksa

Last week I made Sarawak laksa and as always it is a hit with Doug. Of all the Malaysian dishes that he has tasted, he thinks Sarawak laksa will do well in San Luis Obispo, which is a university town in the central coast of California. I don't know why he would think that, but I guess it is a simple meal, and rich in flavor. The kind of flavor that you can grow to love.



The soup base for Sarawak laksa is made from a paste which consists of spices and shrimp paste. I find this particular laksa paste (pic above) the easiest to use. You only need some chicken stock and coconut milk to complete your soup. Salt has already been included in the paste.

I still have about three cups of the paste left, and pretty soon, we'll have to wait for our next trip to Sarawak to get more! :-) Unless some friend from Sarawak decides to come and pay us a visit and of course we'll make sure they bring some laksa paste for us! :-)

If you've never tried Sarawak laksa before, make sure you give it a try the next time you visit the state.

Here's wikipedia's definition of Sarawak Laksa -

Sarawak laksa (Malay: Laksa Sarawak) comes from the town of Kuching in the Malaysian state Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. It is actually very different from the curry laksa as the soup contains no curry in its ingredient at all. It has a base of Sambal belacan (shrimp paste), sour tamarind, garlic, galangal, lemon grass and coconut milk, topped with omelette strips, chicken strips, prawns, fresh coriander and optionally lime. Ingredients such as bean sprouts, (sliced) fried tofu or other seafood are not traditional but is sometimes added.

A pony for Christmas

We were at Walmart last night and this is what we saw.

A pony that can "chew" on a carrot. It can also move its head, swish its tail and neighs and snorts when patted! It thrilled Duncan so much that he wanted me to buy it for him!


Haha, it costs a couple of hundred dollars, and of course I will never spend that kind of money on a toy pony! So I told him, "Ask you Nana. Maybe she'll buy you one." Haha.

Actually he saw a Ford truck for kids that was for sale as we entered Walmart. I had to quickly walk past the truck otherwise I would have to hear him repeat himself over and over again, "Buy me that, Mommy". He said it once or twice, and I said,"Ask your Nana to get it for you." :-)

High on sewage stench?!

This info bulletin is legit. But I was doubtful about the subject matter. I checked out snopes.com and they have a story about it. In fact Zambia's street children have been getting high on the gas from the fecal matter. Blehhhh.

What to do when the shaking begins.

Last Tuesday there was a magnitude 5.6 tremblor in the Bay area. The shaking was felt as far as Lodi, which is only 10 miles from where we live. I have never experienced any tremblor in my life, and living in California it is expected that earthquakes could happen.

But if the big one does happen, I want to be prepared for it. I found the following information from the San Jose Mercury News. It was an info sheet provided by the Red Cross.

If there is any shaking my first instinct would be to run out of the house. But the info sheet says it is not the best thing to do. :-(

~~~~

What to do when the shaking begins

Choose a safe place in every room — under a sturdy table or desk or against an inside wall where nothing can fall on you. Move only a few steps to a nearby safe place.

DROP, COVER AND HOLD ON. Drop under a desk or table, hold on and protect your eyes by pressing your face against your arm.

If there is no table or desk nearby, sit on the floor against an interior wall away from windows, bookcases or furniture that could fall on you.

Be prepared for the next one

Teach children to drop, cover and hold on. Practice at least twice a year. Choose an out-of-town family contact.

Consult a professional to find out additional ways you can protect your home, such as bolting the house to its foundation and other structural mitigation techniques.

Take a first aid class from the Santa Clara Valley Red Cross. You can register online at www.scv-redcross.org or at your local Red Cross chapter's Website.

Get training on how to use a fire extinguisher from your local fire department.

Inform babysitters and caregivers of your plan.

Harvest Carnival

My church held its annual Harvest Carnival last night. It was open to the public and quite a lot of people from the around the city of Galt came to it. Denice and Duncan went on all the rides and they had a great time. They had their Halloween costumes on, and this year was the first time that I got them Halloween costumes. I didn't bother with it in the previous years.

One of two rides that was available last night. See Duncan's gleeful face!

Duncan would not leave till he had his pony ride. He was as thrilled as a kid could when he finally got to ride the pony. Denice did not want to ride the pony. She is afraid of it.



There were all kinds of games available. The prizes were of course candy, lots of candy. Even if you didn't win anything, you still get your candy!



That's Kathy manning one of the games. The idea of this game is to roll the balls one at a time into the holes. Duncan didn't really know how to roll the balls so instead he tried to thrown them into the halls. He managed to get one in! :-) It didn't really matter, because kids still get their candy, which was the best part for the kids!

Doug and the kids went on the hay ride. A tractor pulled a big trailer with people sitting on hay around one section of the church ground.

Duncan went into the patting zoo. He patted the chickens, the goats and the rabbits. Denice did not dare go in there. She is afraid of all animals, big or small, four-legged or two-legged, furry or feathery. :-)

When we got home, Daddy had to put away the candy bags. No candy before bed time! Of course there were squeals and protests!

How did you spend your Halloween?