2 Wow..Midvalley wins it hands down

They did it! I really think they deserved the win and here's why:

Isn't it enchanting?

I'm captivated by the dancing fairies too, who coincidentally were the same people who performed at 'The Pavilion'. I wonder who they are...

3 Dinner at our place

It was dinner at our place for friends we rarely met, on 23rd Dec :) Around 20 people who were close to our hearts turned up (err....didn't really start out this way).

I had only intended to invite a family of 3..I'm still trying to figure out how we got 20.. wait..did I say 3? No...no...in fact, I never planned to open my house for Christmas - it just happened! One said her family's looking forward to it..blah blah...and so it carried on from one friend to another.

Then Jen came along looking sad and depressed. "Hey, what's wrong?", my big mouth enquired. Before I knew it, her sob story made me offer my home to her, to host a dinner for some of her close friends.

I roasted 2 chickens (turkey's out of my budget), stir fried mixed vege, cooked spicy dried chilli cuttlefish and deep fried some kiddie food (chicken wings and chicken balls). My partner's specialty is fried noodles and rice, so that's what he did. Jen baked a cake and prepared sweet and sour fish.

Tadaaa..here it is, our work of art:

In between, we carolled and exchanged gifts ;) It was a fantastic evening. I would have it again.

Close ups for my online diary:

2 An inspiration from a poem

I am just so amazed by PJEFC’s efforts – The Christmas play was mesmerizing to say the least. It started with an ensemble of ‘stargazers’ who read a poem about the birth of all creations. The light shone on each stargazer as he/she spoke in poetic motion.

In between were beautiful Christmas carols sung by magical voices – the choir was harmonious and they were so in tune with one another. I was drugged by their serenity. The play ended with a scene on the birth of Christ.

Our friend, Cynthia was part of the play as a ‘stargazer’. Hence, we thought we’d come lend our support. She was very modest about their efforts – but that effort touched a lot of hearts.

It seems that the 'stargazer' scene was inspired from John Masefield's poem 'Lollingdon Downs V':

I could not sleep for thinking of the sky,

The unending sky, with all its million suns

Which turn their planets everlastingly

In nothing, where the fire-haired comet runs.

If I could sail that nothing, I should cross

Silence and emptiness with dark stars passing,

Then, in the darkness, see a point of gloss

Burn to a glow, and glare, and keep amassing,

And rage into a sun with wandering planets

And drop behind, and then, as I proceed,

See his last light upon his last moon's granites

Die to a dark that would be night indeed.

Night where my soul might sail a million years

In nothing, not even Death, not even tears.

0 I am Legend...am I not?

I am legend…really?……I wish!!

I went to the movies with a gf and my partner today. After much tussling, I managed to convince them to watch "I am Legend" In return, I had to watch "Alien vs Predator 2"….gah!

I found both movies to be in good taste..though non-Chrismassy, which was out of tradition for me. I had wanted Alvin & the Chipmunks. Seeing the 2 people beside me cringe at the suggestion was such a joy….but I lost the war and settled for Will Smith. He was so well oiled…err…built in the movie. No regrets here. If he were the last man on earth, I wouldn’t have minded being the last woman.

On Alien vs Predator 2 - I would be Predator..in my dreams – Alien’s just so gross. In this movie, the Alien was bred out of a dead Predator (following on from the first movie), hence inheriting some of its traits (hair - to be precise). I was pretty excited about the battle scenes between the Aliens and the Predator (so cool – one creature against many) .... pity, they didn’t put up a good long one for us to savour. Too many scenes on battling other insignificant Aliens in between is a waste of good movie time. A major battle scene between the best would have done the job nicely.

And what’s with these Aliens and their obsession with mass breeding anyway? Food is already scarce. Go figure. Alas, the Alien did not inherit any human trait...that would have been a change - Alien with human hair.

Next challenge - I have this thing about watching feel-good movies on Christmas. It’s probably just a silly thing BUT I GOTTA WATCH A FEEL-GOOD SHOW BEFORE CHRISTMAS ENDS!! I JUST HAVE TO!! Alvin, here I come…

0 My Christmas Tree

O Christmas tree of mine....

Errr... horizontal? Because it's artistic...really.... I'm no video genius. I wish I can help myself...

Happy Christmas everyone and Merry New Year!

0 Christmas at The Pavilion

Magical - that's what is was. I spent the entire day at 'The Pavilion' recently with a gf, right from 9am to 1am. What? There was so much to see! Things were a bit pricey, so we window shopped.

There were carollers making their rounds, and singing along the way. There was a jazz singer on the ground floor singing the best Christmas songs. More carollers in Parkson.

And more on this huge Xmas tree, lined all the way to the top singing their hearts out.

Then there was this fairytale musical - such fine execution of dance moves. I felt like Cinderella at the ball all over. I love their costumes and vibrant portrayal of characters.

To complete the already wonderful day, we caught a movie (The Golden Compass) at 11pm, at the new GSC cinema. Nothing beats sitting in a cosy, fresh smelling cinema.

0 Lost ....in translation

Another church play, you say? Tis the season to be holy..falalalala

Recently attended this 1 hour Christmas play at DUMC entitled 'Lost' - sorry guys, I really lost the message here..there were just too many distractions. First, we were encouraged to sit upstairs, then we were stopped and held up until there was clarification.

Props moving in and out - short breaks here and there. Terrible out-of-tune whining of the violin which did not match the carollers. EeeEeeeEeee..coordination was off all round.

I couldn't catch the flow of the story but its about a little lost lamb and how the sheperd sacrificed his precious staff to save his sheep.

Were they trying to tell us that the Jesus is our sheperd and he would save us?

Wondering thoughts of a lost soul...

0 Silver Aeroplanes - Forgiveness is in!

Silver Aeroplanes - it was an amazing play by PJEFC. Way beyond my expectations...how a church play could bring in so many emotions and how the actors and actresses portrayed their characters brilliantly.

It was a touching story of how a brother learnt forgiveness from his mentally challenged sibling, who loved playing with his silver aeroplane. He had left this brother behind, with much reluctance, to pursue his dreams but never really forgave himself for it. He then started neglecting his loved ones to focus on his job.

A success many years later, he met with an accident and was bedridden. It was then that his patient mentally challenged brother brought him hope. He responded in anger initially but this brother continued to care for him, encouraged him to walk again and showered him with forgiveness freely.

This act of love made him realise that all he had to do was ask for forgiveness and all would be forgiven.

I sure hope I got the message right :) I'm not an excellent example of a Christian but its great knowing that there could be someone out there who'll forgive my shortcomings and encourage me with love instead of judgement.

0 Voucher = Shopping Spree

A shopping spree in Carrefour? Sounded weird to me..I've never done it. But after some motivation from the folks at home, I spent a day at Midvalley Carrefour cracking my head over who should get what this Christmas.

Yeap..all my gifts are going to be from Carrefour this year...they asked for it. This Santarina responded.