SOS - Shiny Object Syndrome (Defined as the attraction to objects that exhibit a glassy, polished, gleamy and shiny appearance. Once the shininess fades away or something which is more shiny comes into view, the attention to the previous shiny object fades. It is a tendency for someone to constantly chase something new, lose focus and abandon important tasks in the process, never quite achieving anything.)
-----------------------------------------------
There was once a rat called Rattie. Rattie was a rat who was obsessed with shiny things. And that got him into trouble all the time.
There was the incident where he lunged across the dining table when he was just 1 year old as Uncle Remy smiled. Uncle Remy on that day had gotten himself a shiny, gold tooth and had decided to pick his teeth at the time when Rattie’s mom was laying out the dessert on the dining table.
And then there was the yearly Christmas incidents where he went into every shop that had those glittery snowballs and also the stars right on the top of Christmas trees and tried to take them all home.
Women with shiny earrings walking along the sewer were jumped on. Children with shiny toys were jumped on. Men with jewelled coats were jumped on. The police station was like Rattie’s second home.
Rattie had no self control where shiny things were involved. He would bring back whatever shiny thing he could. The compulsion was too great.
The last straw was when he jumped on a woman who had shiny, green jewelled earrings. They glistened extra shiny because the sun at that precise time, shone through the holes of the sewage cover. She was bathed in sunlight. As Rattie jumped on her, they both fell into the sewer river which had little boats ferrying passengers. The boats swerved to avoid smashing into them. As a results the boats either smashed into each other or onto the banks of the sewer river throwing their passengers off the boats. Many were seriously injured that day.
His parents decided that enough was enough. They threw out every single shiny thing in the house and locked Rattie up in his room. Some of Rattie’s uncles who were doctors had advised his parents to get him some professional help since the time he started to show an obsession with shiny things. They said Rattie had Objectivius Shinium Syndromus (SOS - Shiny Object Syndrome). But they refused to do so. They believed he would ‘outgrow’ it as he grew up.
Rattie being a rat could squeeze into any tiny hole and escape. And that was what he did the moment he noticed the tiny crack in the ceiling of his room.
As he snuck away, he bumped into his little brother Roddy.
“I’ll rat you out!” Roddy exclaimed.
“If you let me go, I’ll get you HUGE bag of cheesy chips,” Rattie replied.
“DEAL!” And they sealed the deal with a shake of their tails.
Rattie crept in the dark corners of the street until he was out of sight from the peering eyes of his nosy neighbours. He jumped gleefully and headed towards his favourite hang-out place - the dumpster.
He felt at ease the moment his feet touched the familiar ground of crushed wrappers and rotting garbage. His nose couldn’t stop twitching with excitement of finding some new shiny stuff. He got to work straightaway. His rumbling stomach could wait. He had much to do since his parents threw away all things being shiny.
Rattie was so engrossed in looking for shiny things that he did not feel the evil lurking nearby. A silver coated snake had tasted Rattie in the air with its forked tongue. Slowly but surely, it slithered nearer and nearer.
Rattie was mighty pleased with himself. He had found more shiny stuff today than any other day. He thought to himself that this was his lucky day.
Suddenly, Rattie gasped. He froze. In front of him was the shiniest penny he had ever seen. He couldn’t believe his luck. This was a hundred times way better than all the shiny stuff that he had found. He lifted the penny up with both his arms above his head and jumped for joy. At the very same time, the silver snake attacked Rattie.
Perhaps it was Rattie’s lucky day indeed as the snake’s fangs pierced the penny instead of Rattie. Even though Rattie was horrified at what was happening, he did not let go of his penny. The snake and Rattie struggled. In a desperate attempt to force swallow the struggling Rattie and the penny which was still stuck to its fangs, it did the unthinkable. It banged its head on the ground several times to loosen the penny from its fangs. It was the snake’s unlucky day as a sharp nail was protruding out from the ground. The snake was dead the moment the nail entered its head.
Rattie could have gotten out of the situation safely. But no, he had to have that shiny penny. So he tugged and pulled with all his might to loosen the penny from the snake’s fangs. But it was to no avail.
Suddenly he got smacked on the head from behind. As he was about to shout in anger, he was hushed to be silent. It was his sister Rita.
“Make no sound and move quickly,” said Rita in an urgent voice. “There is another huge snake about 100 meters from here,” she continued.
“I must have this penny,” whined Rattie.
“I didn’t come here to die!” whispered Rita in an angry tone.
She pulled Rattie close to her as she prepared to jump away from the dead snake’s mouth. Rattie gave the penny one last hard yank as his sister jumped. Cracked! The fangs broke and the penny was free!
The force of the fangs breaking caused them to stumble. They almost became a meal for the huge snake. They both scampered into the sewers and ran as fast as they could. As they ran, Rattie started to feel very ill. His legs were becoming heavier. His heart felt like it was going into a cardiac arrest. He looked down on his arm and saw that he had a cut and noticed that one of the fangs stuck to the coin had some blood.
“Rit-“, he mumbled before he collapsed into darkness.
It was a month later that Rattie woke up from the coma. Everyone was happy. They thought that he would be comatose for life. When he tried to rub his eye, he found that he couldn’t do so. When he looked down at his arms, he realised that he had none anymore. His mother who was by his bedside started to weep.
“The doctors had to cut them to keep you alive Rattie,” his mother sobbed.
Rattie’s recuperation took almost a year. His parents finally accepted the fact that Rattie needed help. Rattie also did not need to go looking for shiny stuff anymore as his prosthetic arms were so shiny he could use them as mirrors. And the ‘lucky penny’ with the snake’s fangs was hung on the wall of the family hall.
Showing posts with label Chinese New Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese New Year. Show all posts
Wednesday, 29 January 2020
Tuesday, 5 February 2019
Year of the Oink
Once upon a time, there was a pig who went by the name of Oink. Oink was chubby, pinkish and piggish just like any other pig. Oink had a big heart (and tummy) and was well-liked and loved by almost everyone on the Farm except for one animal. It was the Red Hen.
Red Hen could not stand the sight of Oink as to her, he was filthy, fat and had no class whatsoever. She was mean-spirited, smug, bitchy and bossy as she felt that she was the epitome of perfection. Red Hen thought very highly of herself. She constantly pruned and preened herself. She saw herself as the perfect picture of class! Everyone else was below her.
Red Hen refused to let her little chicks play with Oink in the mud even though they adored him. She told them that they do not mix with the lower caste. Furthermore, Oink was unclean.
Years went by and Oink became chubbier, pinker and BIGGER. Red Hen became, well, bitchier.
Every year, each animal would take turns to host the barn festival. This year was Oink’s turn.
The animals hung up the banner at the barn which said ‘The Year of the Oink!’ There were lots of food and games. Laughter filled the air. The atmosphere was joyous and warm.
Suddenly a gust of cold wind blew in. At the door of the barn, stood an emaciated looking creature. It then collapsed.
All of the animals rushed to it (except for Red Hen of course). It was so sickly and thin that no one could recognise it. Oink then realised that it was Alfie! He was Oink’s cousin from another farm many, many miles away. With whatever strength that was left, Alfie told them that he had come to warn them of the drought that had come so suddenly. Then came the long-famine. Almost all the farm animals where Alfie lived had died.
Alfie then died.
A sense of doom blanketed over the party.
Red Hen cackled so hard that she turned purple. Drought?! They had rain! Their land was ripe and flourishing.
Red Hen laughed at the look of despair on the faces of the animals. She believed that she was Miss Lucky and no bad thing could happen to her. She brought luck to everyone! What nonsense had Alfie talked about? Besides, he was Oink’s cousin. The low caste creatures. Who knows he could have lied to get free food from them!
Everyone told Red Hen to shut up and to show some respect.
Red Hen snorted. No one could tell her what to do.
She strutted out of the barn and clucked at the top of her voice that nothing bad could happen to her. She was untouchable!
The days then started to become dry. Rain became scarce. Slowly, the land became barren. Drought set in. Dry winds brought news from other farms that the long-famine had struck.
The animals were feeling jittery. They had never experience a famine before. What would they do if the land that they lived on could no longer feed them? The food in the barn house would slowly but surely run out. Gloom and despair began to set in.
Red Hen blamed Oink’s cousin Alfie. She blamed Oink too. If it had been the Year of the Chicken, this wouldn’t have happened. Oink had brought upon this curse. He was the cursed one.
The long-famine came, and things were bearable until one day. Father Farmer had a bad fall. He was bedridden and the help that he had hired stole the food that he had stored and ran away.
Father Farmer became weaker and weaker. Without Father Farmer, all the animals knew that they would die.
What should do they do?
Oink looked at everyone. All of them had begun to show signs of starvation. Red Hen even took to eating whatever she could scavenge from the ground. She even snatched whatever her chicks found right from their beaks. She took anything from anyone whenever she could. So much for good luck.
Oink thought deep and hard for a week. He then made up his mind. He went to see Father Farmer for one last time. He nuzzled his head on Father Farmer’s hand. Father Farmer was so gaunt looking. He could barely move. He had not eaten in a while now. Oink licked Father Farmer’s hand and face. Father Farmer gave him a faint smile. Oink then left.
Oink started the machine. The machine roared to life. Oink took one last look around the barn and the farm and then he walked into the machine.
5 years later...
The farm survived the long-famine. And that was because of Oink’s sacrifice. His whole chubby body fed the farm. Father Farmer sold some parts of Oink in exchange for hay, grass and grains. The rest of Oink was frozen. Father Farmer regained his strength and became well. On the first anniversary of Oink's death, he miraculously found an underground well on his land which was at the location of Oink’s pig pen.
Every 12 years, on the day of Oink's ultimate sacrifice, Father Farmer would have a big feast and celebrate with spectacular fireworks show in remembrance of what Oink did for them.
What happened to the Red Hen? She was now old but she was still as mean-spirited, smug, bossy and bitchy as ever. One day while she was pruning and preening herself as usual, she heard a peculiar sound. Curiosity got the best of her. She hopped up her chicken coup to try to pinpoint the source of the sound when she tripped, slipped off the roof and hit her head on the ground. Her chicks didn’t bother about her. They stepped all over her head and body. Mrs Duck just waddled away. The horses just continued neighing. The farm dogs did not even blink at her direction. As she lay there dying, a snake slithered in, bit her and pulled her out into the woods.
What was that peculiar sound? It was the squealing of a dozen piglets!
*Happy Chinese New Year everyone!*
*picture taken from HERE
Red Hen could not stand the sight of Oink as to her, he was filthy, fat and had no class whatsoever. She was mean-spirited, smug, bitchy and bossy as she felt that she was the epitome of perfection. Red Hen thought very highly of herself. She constantly pruned and preened herself. She saw herself as the perfect picture of class! Everyone else was below her.
Red Hen refused to let her little chicks play with Oink in the mud even though they adored him. She told them that they do not mix with the lower caste. Furthermore, Oink was unclean.
Years went by and Oink became chubbier, pinker and BIGGER. Red Hen became, well, bitchier.
Every year, each animal would take turns to host the barn festival. This year was Oink’s turn.
The animals hung up the banner at the barn which said ‘The Year of the Oink!’ There were lots of food and games. Laughter filled the air. The atmosphere was joyous and warm.
Suddenly a gust of cold wind blew in. At the door of the barn, stood an emaciated looking creature. It then collapsed.
All of the animals rushed to it (except for Red Hen of course). It was so sickly and thin that no one could recognise it. Oink then realised that it was Alfie! He was Oink’s cousin from another farm many, many miles away. With whatever strength that was left, Alfie told them that he had come to warn them of the drought that had come so suddenly. Then came the long-famine. Almost all the farm animals where Alfie lived had died.
Alfie then died.
A sense of doom blanketed over the party.
Red Hen cackled so hard that she turned purple. Drought?! They had rain! Their land was ripe and flourishing.
Red Hen laughed at the look of despair on the faces of the animals. She believed that she was Miss Lucky and no bad thing could happen to her. She brought luck to everyone! What nonsense had Alfie talked about? Besides, he was Oink’s cousin. The low caste creatures. Who knows he could have lied to get free food from them!
Everyone told Red Hen to shut up and to show some respect.
Red Hen snorted. No one could tell her what to do.
She strutted out of the barn and clucked at the top of her voice that nothing bad could happen to her. She was untouchable!
The days then started to become dry. Rain became scarce. Slowly, the land became barren. Drought set in. Dry winds brought news from other farms that the long-famine had struck.
The animals were feeling jittery. They had never experience a famine before. What would they do if the land that they lived on could no longer feed them? The food in the barn house would slowly but surely run out. Gloom and despair began to set in.
Red Hen blamed Oink’s cousin Alfie. She blamed Oink too. If it had been the Year of the Chicken, this wouldn’t have happened. Oink had brought upon this curse. He was the cursed one.
The long-famine came, and things were bearable until one day. Father Farmer had a bad fall. He was bedridden and the help that he had hired stole the food that he had stored and ran away.
Father Farmer became weaker and weaker. Without Father Farmer, all the animals knew that they would die.
What should do they do?
Oink looked at everyone. All of them had begun to show signs of starvation. Red Hen even took to eating whatever she could scavenge from the ground. She even snatched whatever her chicks found right from their beaks. She took anything from anyone whenever she could. So much for good luck.
Oink thought deep and hard for a week. He then made up his mind. He went to see Father Farmer for one last time. He nuzzled his head on Father Farmer’s hand. Father Farmer was so gaunt looking. He could barely move. He had not eaten in a while now. Oink licked Father Farmer’s hand and face. Father Farmer gave him a faint smile. Oink then left.
Oink started the machine. The machine roared to life. Oink took one last look around the barn and the farm and then he walked into the machine.
5 years later...
The farm survived the long-famine. And that was because of Oink’s sacrifice. His whole chubby body fed the farm. Father Farmer sold some parts of Oink in exchange for hay, grass and grains. The rest of Oink was frozen. Father Farmer regained his strength and became well. On the first anniversary of Oink's death, he miraculously found an underground well on his land which was at the location of Oink’s pig pen.
Every 12 years, on the day of Oink's ultimate sacrifice, Father Farmer would have a big feast and celebrate with spectacular fireworks show in remembrance of what Oink did for them.
What happened to the Red Hen? She was now old but she was still as mean-spirited, smug, bossy and bitchy as ever. One day while she was pruning and preening herself as usual, she heard a peculiar sound. Curiosity got the best of her. She hopped up her chicken coup to try to pinpoint the source of the sound when she tripped, slipped off the roof and hit her head on the ground. Her chicks didn’t bother about her. They stepped all over her head and body. Mrs Duck just waddled away. The horses just continued neighing. The farm dogs did not even blink at her direction. As she lay there dying, a snake slithered in, bit her and pulled her out into the woods.
What was that peculiar sound? It was the squealing of a dozen piglets!
*Happy Chinese New Year everyone!*
*picture taken from HERE
Friday, 16 February 2018
Happy Dawg Year
Who Let the Dawgs Out?
"It's the Year of the Dog!" the gods shout.
"Here bark, there bark,
Everywhere bark, bark!" you snark.
"Well, life isn't about the doggy in the window,
The one with the waggly tail," you continue to bellow,
The heavens were silent,
And then the gods thundered like a mighty trident.
"The dogs are loyal,
The dogs are faithful.
Unlike the humans who can be ever so anal,
And extremely ungrateful!"
"The dogs are intelligent and protective,
And ever so playful.
With their noses they are the world's greatest detective.
With them the years would be joyful."
"The Year of the Dog,
Will ward off the fog.
Tough as there will be much challenges,
But there will be much more advantages,"
"This year of the Dog,
Will bring you much fortune,
No longer will your life be waterlogged,
Bad luck will be shortened."
The gods continued to thunder,
In all their might and splendour.
In a mighty unison roar,
They said to all:
"In this year of the Dog,
Go out and conquer the War!"
Wishing you a very 'paws-perous' Chinese New Year!
"It's the Year of the Dog!" the gods shout.
"Here bark, there bark,
Everywhere bark, bark!" you snark.
"Well, life isn't about the doggy in the window,
The one with the waggly tail," you continue to bellow,
The heavens were silent,
And then the gods thundered like a mighty trident.
"The dogs are loyal,
The dogs are faithful.
Unlike the humans who can be ever so anal,
And extremely ungrateful!"
"The dogs are intelligent and protective,
And ever so playful.
With their noses they are the world's greatest detective.
With them the years would be joyful."
"The Year of the Dog,
Will ward off the fog.
Tough as there will be much challenges,
But there will be much more advantages,"
"This year of the Dog,
Will bring you much fortune,
No longer will your life be waterlogged,
Bad luck will be shortened."
The gods continued to thunder,
In all their might and splendour.
In a mighty unison roar,
They said to all:
"In this year of the Dog,
Go out and conquer the War!"
Wishing you a very 'paws-perous' Chinese New Year!
Friday, 27 January 2017
The Year of the Rooster
May the 'cocka-doodle-doos' awaken you from your slumber in life,
And crow much good health, wealth, peace, and joy into your life,
So that in all that you do, you need not strife.
May you always be led by your instincts in every aspect of your life,
May you welcome the morning sun into you and your loved ones' lives,
So that you can soak up all the benefits that the sun offers.
May you win at every fight that life throws at you,
And may you guard your health, joy, peace, love and wealth with success.
Have a great year of the Rooster!
May the cLUCK be with you!
And crow much good health, wealth, peace, and joy into your life,
So that in all that you do, you need not strife.
May you always be led by your instincts in every aspect of your life,
May you welcome the morning sun into you and your loved ones' lives,
So that you can soak up all the benefits that the sun offers.
May you win at every fight that life throws at you,
And may you guard your health, joy, peace, love and wealth with success.
Have a great year of the Rooster!
May the cLUCK be with you!
Thursday, 11 February 2016
A Fiery CNY Eve Lunch!
A very Happy Fiery Monkey Chinese New Year to all my Chinese fellow bloggers and readers.
Here was what we had for our reunion meal.
Here was what we had for our reunion meal.
 |
| Steamed fish. |
 |
| Thermomix stir-fried choy sum with carrots and prawns. |
 |
| Steamed beancurd with minced pork (Yong Tau Foo). |
 |
| Curry potato and pork. |
 |
| Steamed okra with minced pork (Yong Tau Foo). |
 |
| Steamed bittergourd with minced pork (Yong Tau Foo). |
 |
| Double boiled bone broth with lotus root. |
 |
| Steamed chicken. |
 |
| And brownies for dessert! |
Saturday, 21 February 2015
2015 Reunion Dinner
Here are some of the recipes to the food in the pictures above:
1. EMPRESS CHICKEN
2. FRENCH BEANS FRIED EGGS (omit the sugar)
3. BAKED PRAWNS (I did not cook them with butter this round)
(*Everything was cooked WITHOUT the use of sugar.) And it was delicious and yummy to the tummy!
Thursday, 19 February 2015
GOAT XI FA CHAI!
A very happy Chinese New Year to all of you who celebrate it.
May the Year of the Goat 'bleat' blessings in all that you do,
May the Year of the Goat bring you nothing 'butt' joy, love, wealth and health,
May you be blasted with the 'baaaas' of harmony and peace.
Goat Xi Fa Chai!
May the Year of the Goat 'bleat' blessings in all that you do,
May the Year of the Goat bring you nothing 'butt' joy, love, wealth and health,
May you be blasted with the 'baaaas' of harmony and peace.
Goat Xi Fa Chai!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)