Dear Cindy,

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy BIRTHDAY, dear Cindy,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to YOU!!!

Welcome to the 30's club, woman! It's a 10 year membership club which you can't get out of until the expiry date, so I hope that you will enjoy the privileges which come with it, such as:

1) People giving up their seats in public transporation for you.
2) Getting senior citizen discounts in some places.
3) People helping you to cross the road.
4) People helping you to carry your bags.
5) Getting called in a more respectful term like "Aunty" by young people.

Oh wait...those are privileges for 60 years old and above, aren't they? Why am I thinking so far ahead? Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying that you look old ;oP. Actually, maybe it's because members in the 30's club don't really have any special privileges, except:

Looking young, but having the wisdom and maturity of a woman who has been through 3 decades of life experiences... .

Anyway...I wish you a happy birthday, girlfriend! It's been wonderful having you as a good friend for at least ½ of your life :o). I've watched you grow, I've watched you learn, I've watched you teach, I've watched you love....and now I'm starting to sound like an old granny when I'm not.

Okay, I better end this birthday post before I get tempted to upload all our teenage photo memories which both you and I probably don't want the whole world to see ;o). Hmm...I would put up our recent picture together, though ;o).

PS: Give me a sign that you've read my tribute to you, ok ;o)?

Dancer in the dark

Ok, this brain game is freaky yet amazing at the same time.

1) Look at the dancer below and see if she's going clockwise or anti-clockwise.
If you see her go anti-clockwise at first, that means you utilise the left side of your brain more.
If you see her go clockwise at first, then you utilise the right side of your brain more.

Ready? Get set. LOOK!

Now here's the freaky part: you might notice at some point that she changes direction. IT IS NOT THE COMPUTER DOING IT RANDOMLY! It's your brain that decides which direction it wants your eyes to see!

Seriously! If you don't believe me, then try to get someone to look at this together with you on the same screen. You'll find that at times, you'll see her going in 1 direction, while your partner sees her going in the other direction....at the same point in time! I tried it together with Martin, and it was freaky... .

The thing is, if you look at it long enough, you will be able to control the direction you want her to spin in. So here's task#2:

2) Make her do 10 x half-spins in a row!
It is possible....once you find the "sweet concentration spot".

(hint: for me, and I guess most people, it is the foot that is sticking out...but as I get better at it, then her other foot and the shadows are also my "sweet concentration spots")

Anyway...have fun. The human brain is amazing :o).

I got my haircut

My head really felt lighter after my haircut on Tuesday. I felt like I could fly! But I'm so happy to finally get rid of all the split-ends and dry ends. Swimming is a good sport....but man, the damage it does to your hair!

Anyway, the hairdresser I went to was a new one for me. In fact, he was the 1st Asian one I have tried here in Denmark after living here for more than 10 years. I should have discovered him before, so that I didn't have to worry about whether the expensive Danish hairdressers can handle my Asian hair or not... . Asian hair and European hair are really different, so they should be handled differently, and the cutting techniques would therefore also be different.

This hairdresser charged a very low price too, relatively speaking. 120 DKK (S$30) for cutting alone, which is VERY cheap considering that it's here in Denmark, and considering that he spent almost 1 freakin' hour to cut my hair! Is that value for money or what??? Some Danish hairdressers charge a crazy 300DKK (S$75) or 400 DKK (S$100) for just a cut! I don't believe in paying more than 200 DKK (S$50) for just a cut here in Denmark. Nah uh-uh... .

But seriously, 1 hour was a loooong time. My hair was long....and it's also thick, so the layered hairstyle I wanted didn't make a quick job possible if it should be done right. He really did it right, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE it! He did say towards the end though, that his hand was ACHING after all the cutting ;o). Poor guy... .

The only complaint I have though, is that he had cut it shorter than I wanted him to :o(. Oh well, the good thing about hair is that it grows again, and mine grows quite fast so it's not at all a big complaint I have against him. Just that I can't wipe my ass with my hair anymore. Not that I did that before, but I mean, I had the possibility then if in an emergency; now I can't even try!

Overall, it was a job well done (5 stars at 2 stars price!), and I am now ready for Christmas and New Year festivities!!! Keep the party invitations coming in to me, guys! If you have a party but I don't know you (even though you "know" me just from my blog), I insist that you still send an invitation over ;o)!

And yes...here is a picture of the "new" me:

The pic is not really sharp, but it's the best one I've got right now...and I know you guys don't want to wait a few more days before seeing my new do ;o).

I need a haircut!!!

Ok....maybe not a haircut per se, but definitely a trim! It's been 8 months since I last visited a hairdresser, so my hair is having split-ends, and I need to shape it up a bit more... . Swimming at least once a week now is not helping my hair condition either... . Plus, I need to prepare for the Christmas festivities coming up in the next few weeks ;o).

But no worries....it won't be a drastic cut....since I can see my readers voting more for long hair than short, so I'll listen ;o). My deadline for a visit to the hairdresser is this week....so I'm really looking forward to it otherwise I'll get mad and shave my head!

The Sexiest Men Alive 2007 - my take

Ok...who decided on this list of The Sexiest Men Alive 2007? Why wasn't I consulted? There are obviously some men who should be on that list but aren't, and some men who shouldn't be on that list but are!

Here's my take on who should not be on that list (1 = first to go):

1. Javier Bardem (no comment)
2. James Mcavoy (no comment)
3. Adrian Grenier (not macho / hunky enough)
4. Ben Affleck (no sex appeal really)
5. Brad Pitt (used to be hot, now just old news)

Here's my take on who should be on that list to replace the above (1 = first to enter):

1. Wentworth Miller from TV series "Prison Break"

(how on earth could they forget him?!)

2. Josh Holloway from TV series "Lost"

(too bad he's married...oh wait, so am I.)

3. Sendhil Ramamurthy from TV series "Heroes"

(I love his accent! I hope we're somehow related.)

4. Jesse Metcalfe from TV series "Desparate Housewives"

& movie "John Tucker Must Die"

5. Hmm...can't think of a 5th one right now...but if you have a suggestion, then throw it in!

Anyway, that was my list of hot, sexy, male celebrities (that's why Martin's not on the list - he's not a celebrity! Not yet, at least). And hey, I'm married, not blind, so I can still appreciate beauty, right ;o)?

And the winner is.....

Anders Fogh Rasmussen!

Who now becomes the 1st Danish prime minister who has won 3 general elections in a row with his Liberal-Conservative governing coalition. They won 89 mandates/seats out of 179, and a total of 94 to Anders as prime minister and 81 to Helle as prime minister.

Well, the Danes have spoken :o). And I am staying... .

General Elections

Tomorrow is a big day for Denmark - the general elections will be held at last, after months of speculation. Will "we" get a new ruling political party? A new prime minister?

Current prime minister vs potential new prime minister

I am holding Danish permanent residency, but not Danish citizenship, therefore, I am not allowed to vote during national elections. The only time I can vote is during the muncipality elections, and I did that for the 1st time in my life last year... . Have never voted for anything in Singapore either since voting age there is 21, and I had moved out before that. Singaporeans living overseas are not allowed to vote during Singapore general elections....so all I can do is try to influence people who can vote ;o).

Oh well, not that I will anyway. Every body has their own opinions and own preferences. The current prime minister (Anders Fogh Rasmussen) belongs to a right-wing party called "Venstre", which confusingly translates as "Left" in English (don't ask me how that happened). His party would appeal most to high-end business people who are concerned about taxes and economy, etc (his party boasts of accomplishing the lowest unemployment rate in Denmark since 1974). They've been tightening up the immigration laws in Denmark too, and work closely with the Danish People's Party (whose leader, Pia Kjærsgaard is like the equivalent of Pauline Hanson in Australia in regards to being "anti-foreigners").

The other candidate for the prime minister post is Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who is representing a more left-wing party. Social welfare is high on their agenda list (which would therefore probably mean higher taxes than the already high taxes). If she wins, she'll be Denmark's 1st female prime minister... .

Anyway...we'll know the results around midnight tomorrow. Martin has already made up his mind on which party he'll be voting for. I don't actually know who I'll vote for if I could vote. I mean, they all have strong and weak points... . I guess I'll be leaning more towards the current government since I'm not a huge fan of a social welfare society... . Yes, we should help those in need as much as possible, but then you also have those who abuse the system because it's easier to sit back and enjoy the "handouts". People who are able to but are not motivated to contribute to society because society is contributing to them instead.

Even for those who are really in need, the help should just be "immediate and short-term", because in the long run, it'll be better to "teach them how to fish" rather than simply "giving them the fish".

I won't go too deep into politics here... . What ever happens after tomorrow's election, I'll just have to live with it and adjust to. Either that, or I can choose to move elsewhere... . Tomorrow, the Danes will have their say. May the best party win.

Cows go "Moo..."

Off to the countryside tomorrow to visit my parents-in-law (no, they're NOT cows!). Had been a long time since I was there last time....½ a year ago, actually... . That's how big Denmark is ;o). I mean, not that it takes forever to get to their home (1½hr by train one-way), but just that when friends and/or family live so far away, visitations are not easy to do regularly, especially without a car. That's why I can never imagine myself living outside of Copenhagen permanently - would feel so cut off from society... . And I'm not planning on having a family with 9 kids either... .

So yeah, it'll definitely be a relaxing time down there... . Back to nature, which I guess is nice now and then. Well, I'll most likely be indoors most of the time anyway, considering how cold it is outside right now... . I should have officially started hibenation when we turned our clocks to winter time, but I don't think my manager will approve of such a long leave till spring time :o(. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to stop shaving my legs so that I can let my natural "fur" grow to keep me extra warm during the winter months.

Hairy Sheily signing off!

600 DKK (S$169)!!!

That's what it costs if you do not have the correct train/bus/metro ticket during your trip. It's literally daylight robbery, especially if you had genuinely forgotten to buy a ticket for an extra zone.

Ivy and I went to shopping mall Fields on Friday after work. To get to Fields via the metro, you would need to have tickets for Zones 1 and 3 if you leave from downtown Copenhagen. It had been a long time since I went to Fields, which is a quite outside of Copenhagen centre, so it slipped my mind that we would need to buy a 1-zone supplement ticket for Zone 3 on top of the Zone 1 ticket which Ivy and I already had.

Zone map for S-train and metro (red part is where we started from, circled part is where we got off - in Zone 3)

As bad luck would have it, the metro ticket controller came onboard to check our tickets while we were sitting and chatting away, and it was only then that we realised that we were already in Zone 3 and without a valid ticket!

Damn, that was a very pricey mistake. 2 x 600 DKK fines came our way, and we hadn't even started shopping in Fields yet! We didn't bother to "argue" / "beg" the ticket controller to let us off even though it really was an honest mistake. These "arguments" and "beggings" never go anywhere anyway. So yeah...that was a costly "gift" from us to the metro company. Buying an extra zone ticket would have costed us a mere 9.50 DKK (S$2.70), but nooo.....we just had our pay day so we wanted to give away our money as soon as possible to companies who don't deserve it.

Anyway, despite that unfortunate and unnecessarily expensive incident, Ivy and I had a good time shopping and then going to a Japanese restaurant (Restaurant Sushi) close to Nørreport Station afterwards for dinner. We made darn sure to get an extra zone ticket on the way to the restaurant, but of course, there was no ticket controller coming onboard to check tickets then in order for us to proudly show that we have valid tickets.

It is said that the punishment should always fit the crime. I really think that a "punishment" of 600 DKK for not having a valid ticket onboard Danish public transportation is way too much for a crime that does not even hurt anyone... . Oh well, no use crying over split milk... .

J-Day

Today is J-day - the day when the Tuborg Christmas beer (Julebryg) is officially launched at precisely 20:59hrs. For those who don't know, Tuborg is "Made in Denmark". So is Carlsberg, even though I thought it was German some decades ago... . In fact, the only thing I knew for certain that was "Made in Denmark" was Danish Butter Cookies (the word "Danish" really helped), but strangely enough, it's not such a big thing here.

Most Danes are crazy over their Christmas beer, so Copenhagen will be filled with people counting down to the official launch later. I actually don't remember ever participating in this "special" day one single time during my 10 years here... . If I did, then it must have been a very long time ago. I'm not a "beer" kind of person; never was, never will be. Don't like the taste, don't like the after taste. It's kinda like hot coffee for me; same thing - don't like the taste, don't like the after taste (love the smell, though).

I go more for wine and other kinds of alcohol, although I am not a good drinker at all. My face gets red after 1 or 2 glasses of wine (alcohol flush). It's actually an allergic reaction, but usually, if the wine is of good quality, the redness does not come so fast.

Pre-alcohol

Post-alcohol

Since I also get a headache after drinking too much, I tend to stop after I know my limit's been reached. I mean, I do want to enjoy the social night, so why would I want a headache to spoil that? After all, I am able to have fun without alcohol, just as I am able to have fun without drugs.

But yeah, the trick for me to have alcohol throughout the night, is to drink slowly... . Make it last longer. By the time I'm done with my 1st glass, everyone else would probably be on their 3rd. When I'm done with my 2nd, they'll be on their 6th. I can therefore still be able to "Cheers!" with them and yet seemingly be drinking as much as them. They might notice at 1st that I'm drinking really slowly, but by the time they're on their 3rd or 4th glass, they'll stop counting mine ;o).

Oh well, not that I care what they think anyway when I finally decide to stop the alcohol and switch to coke (coca-coloa, not cocaine!) or water. After all, it's my body, so I decide what I want in there and what I don't. Actually, it's quite fun to be the sober 1 at a party since I get to snap all the paparazzi shots of the drunks ;o).

Well, I think I'll do myself a favour and stay indoors tonight. Best to keep away from the army of Julebryg-drinking Danes ;o). Skål (Cheers!) to them anyway!