JEWELLE TAN

During the last family gathering, a particular designer handbag - which cost a cool thousand dollars - was the subject of much discussion.

I don’t indulge in designer items - since I am a why-spend-$500-for-one-piece-when-you-get-10-pieces-at-$50 kind of shopper - but seeing it up close, it got me reading more about premium brand handbags. Obviously, it is a much more pleasurable reading as compare to say, Mesothelioma treatment unless of course, you really need to know about this illness.

Anyway, the funny thing about this bag is that, I have been seeing this particular model a lot these days!

I am definitely in the midst of ladies with loads of cash which I know many are. But I am also sure that some of these ladies are buyers at stores that one friend once told us about.

Shopper : “As these original?”. Seller : “No mam, these are first class“.

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When I went to check on my other kids in their room at 5 am this morning, I heard the clear ringing of music playing downstairs.

I had a brief chill down my spine but even in my half-asleep state I remembered that it comes from the slightly damaged baby chair and it has been doing that for the last few days.

And besides, although it is still dark, 5 am is not an hour associated with anything scary. Sunset at the beach is probably spookier and I know some folks who won’t visit any beaches even in bright daylight!

We could probably try our hands at repairing it, nothing to do with credit repair services, but since I got it for less than $50, the best thing is probably to dismantle the musical feature and throw it out.

Or let it play continuously until the battery runs flat.

Popularity: 5% [?]

When I was in Kuala Belait last weekend, there was a Nissan roadshow at one of the mall.

I walked past it when I went in the mall and drove by it when I left the mall. But when my husband asked me if the most wanted and dream about Nissan car was there - I could not remember.

My eyes and attention as I walked and drove past the roadshow was only on the Murano, the kind of car I would like to have - given the choice and cash.

And the Audi Q7 that was parked next to the roadshow distracted me from the Murano for a while too. Luckily there was no Audi Q5 there because the other two will just disappear in the background then.

So I did not notice the other cars or if there were any side exhibitors like car accessories companies - nor do I care.

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A 5 year old boy recently stunned me when he announced that he is going to play game … “In FACEBOOK”!

Lately I have began to notice that many of my friends are into the games in Facebook. Even though I blocked all games notifications (sorry folks!), I still get insights of their gaming activities by status update comments such as “...go rest, I’ll fertilize your farm” (Farmville) or blog posts “Love it very much because can race, bet, fish, buy and collect many things” (Pet Society).

I get requests to join certain games or accept certain gifts almost every day that I am very curious to explore these games myself.

But so far, it remains a passing wonder.

How can I look after any virtual pet or cultivate any online garden when my time online is sporadic throughout the day. There’s too much news to read and digest, pictures to sort and edit, friends to catch up with and the most necessary but least appealing task, completing paid assignments.

But perhaps I can use this to placate my daughters who have been pushing me for pets (such as a horse!) and at least, there won’t be expensive spending on stuffs like horse supplies.

But then again, I don’t wish to relive the times when virtual gaming ruled our days (and nights) as university students.

“Seeing” the image of buildings sprouting or abandoned (SimCity) in your mind even though the computer is switched off. Fighting off the brainwave of new strategies to win a battle (Warcraft) when you are supposed to be asleep. Or as one of our friend who had it worse - the sight of him ducking left and right as he furiously tapped on the keyboards (Doom) for one whole day and night and finally shouted for backup player as he bent over and puked is something I will not forget.

So for the time being, there is no gaming for me.

Popularity: 7% [?]

One thing about my father is how at ease he is with strangers.

This is also the trait which gets us to do things we’d never, in our mind-our-own-business kind of ways, get to do. For example, during our trips in the 90s, either on our Los Angeles or Orlando vacations, he managed to get permission for my younger brother to sit on a real Harley Davidson.

Not from a showroom mind you, but from a group of real deal American bikers with bulking biceps, tattooed arms, long beards and all. I simply stood on the side, hardly breathing, imaging the headlines in next day’s papers.

And travelling with him is fun because we can go to any place knowing nothing and end up knowing lots of insider stories because he can chat with anyone easily.

Just imagine, he is the kind of taxi passenger who will leave a taxi ride, with the driver coming out the car to shake hands- because they have exchanged all kinds of stories that sometimes we would know the background of the driver and even his family!

I just wished that one of the taxi which we took during our recent trip together was his.

Popularity: 7% [?]