16 Kid At Heart, Watching The Lion Dance

Tak Tung Chiang is here!!! That's how we alerted the elders that the Lion Dance troupe had arrived when we were little. Tak Tuk Chiang, being the sound of the beating drum that accompanies the lion dance. Chinese New Year is a happening affair back in my kampung. We would all hang red lanterns and prosperity symbols on the door. This also makes it easy for the lion dance troupe to identify which houses to visit. The lion would stop by and bless homes with good luck and fortune. Dad would prepare several red packets (ang pao) with money for the lion. Several, because the number of lions that visit us can be as many as seven or eight in the...

10 CNY Decor At 1Utama

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ I've just finished preparing the home for Chinese New Year. On Valentine's Day? I know...but I'm feeling really accomplished. The decor is up. The prosperity symbol, a red papercut piece, hangs outside my door upside down. I welcome spring with a thin cardboard sign with the Chinese character emblazoned on it. 1Utama CNY Decor Festive cookies, ang pao packets, lively songs I don't understand a word of and oh, as I type this, someone's lighted the  firecracker! I've heard drum beats from a couple of trucks ferrying the lion dance troupe passing by my home. It's hard to not feel overly excited....

16 The Endgame is REAL ~ Meet & Greet : James Frey

It all started with a regular visit to Popular Bookstore to get the Endgame book. While browsing the magazines corner, I noticed a huge banner promoting a 'Meet and Greet' with American writer, James Frey. "Heyyyyy ... that's a coincidence! " I thought to myself. I snapped a photo of the details. Five days later, I was back at the store, waiting excitedly. Who is James Frey exactly? Well, I can't tell you that of course but I do know that besides Endgame: The Calling, he was also one of the authors for I Am Number Four, a book which has already been made into a movie. Have you watched it? I did, and enjoyed the fight scene between Number...