What's in a name?

What role does your name play in how successful you are?

What if your parents had a sense of humour while choosing a name for you?

Would a name that is difficult to pronounce be a deterrent for potential employers?

What about Asian names in Western culture and Western names in Asian culture?

Does having a 'weird' name or unfortunate name force you to be successful?


I would love to do a study on questions such as these.
Of course, I foresee some people calling it a total waste of time, but how else can I get the answers to these questions?

'Michelle' is a common name.
In fact, it's so common that very soon, no one would name their daughter 'Michelle'.
It's a cycle really.

I asked my parents... "Why 'Michelle'?"
Was it after someone successful?
Was it something to do with nostalgia?

They simply replied that it was because it was such a neutral name.

So I thought it through...

1. It's easy to pronounce (But still someone pronounced it 'Michilli', hence the nickname)

2. It's neutral in the sense that it allows me room for a whole lot of possibilities. It does not dictate my future nor is it a famous name that I am obliged to live up to. In that sense, it's a really flexible name. What I become as a human-being is all up to me... I can't blame any of my failures on my name. It's not an escape route, no blame-game. Hey... my parents were smart...

In any case, I've come to realise that I can't blame anyone for my name because I was the one who chose it... yes... at the age of a few days.

You can try guessing...

Did my parents dangle a whole lot of cards with names in front of me and wait for me to grab one?
Then I would most probably have chosen the flashiest card.

It goes like that...
I was in the ICU, having come out beautiful oxygen-deprived blue...
My Dad went in to pay me a visit.
At that point in time, Mom and he had not yet decided on a name for me (maybe they thought I would not have lived or something...)
They were favouring 'Melissa', 'Michelle', even 'June' (note: I was born in August) among others...
My Dad tried sounding out the names...
When he came to 'Michelle', I smiled.
Not once, not twice... but thrice!
So 'Michelle' it was.

It's a story I'm never sick of telling.

Maybe I'll write a book when I'm old and grey, when I've lived life fully, so I can tell the story of a name. A name that it common, a name that allowed a girl to choose her future, the name that is 'Michelle'...

Not so average Saturday...

After spending a long night online, I finally knocked off at 4am, reading myself to sleep.
Seriously, maybe reading the phonebook will be a good idea.

The kelong trip was cancelled!
Something I was quite happy about.
Don't get me wrong...
I love fishing and the sea and the beach and all, but spending all your time tying hooks on, baiting the rods and unhooking the fish from your Mom's rod can get really tiring.
It would be something else to go with friends.

Instead of fishing in Mersing, we decided to fish at Malaysia's neighbour!
SINGAPORE!
The East Coast to be exact.

Mom stayed at a bench by the shore.
Dad and Jeremy did the fishing (Fishing using a jiggle is no fun...).
I amused myself by tying knots and lassos and lowering the bucket into the sea from the Jetty to get water.
They caught 6 fish including one that 'burped'.
Well... that fish made this really loud burping noise after we took the hook out.

Then suddenly, the sun faded into the sky...
Dark clouds loomed and the sky began to cry.

I lifted my eyes towards the heavens, and with the rain gently patting my cheeks, I saw...
A HURRICANE!
Oh k, oh k ... It was a miniature one...
Airborne and striking against the grey skies.
I could actually see the droplets of water caught in its motion.
I was humbling to see.

We did not even bother to look for shelter.
I mean, if we were to run to the shelter, we'd still get wet, so might as well stay where we were.

In other words, we were simply lazy...

There were also signs along the beach that stated 'BYOP'
What's that?
It really stands for 'Bring Your Own Pits' (BBQ)
OMG!
What is that man?
Even if you do bring your own pit, you'd need a permit of some sort...

Today felt like what Sundays should be.
But thank goodness my Sundays are not like that.
I spend my whole week looking forward to Sundays because I get to...

1. Sing my heart out in church (the neighbours would complain if I did so at home)
2. Spend some time with my much-missed friends. (Every second is a joy)
3. Play floorball (Even though physical conditioning is a pain)
4. Look forward to Monday simply because it means that Sunday is coming again!

This is living...
Now for the perks...

Gooooallll

SO...

I was in the toilet, minding my own business (pardon the pun)...
When a great big shout arose from all around!

"GGOOOOOAALLLLL!!!!"
A choir is sometimes less synchronized...

Honestly, I just started laughing...
Imagine perfect timing when pooping while soccer is going on...

Don't blush!

23

My calves are aching...
My arms are strained...
My toes feel weird...
My ankle feels loose...
My tonsils are inflammed so that it feels like I have a golf ball wedged in my throat...

We got trashed today...
BUT!
Not too bad a performance, considering that fact that we had only 10 people present.
MI are tough...
No fight.
They've got a nice mix of national and club players!!

Despite being hungry, physically exhausted and sleepy...
I'm happy!
I saw my number 23 today!
*Beams*

Misread

The cold room turns warm...

My eyes grow wide.
Hot blood flushes through my flesh, fanning across my cheeks.
My heart pumps hard, sending a rush through my veins.
My ears feel feather-light with passion.
My breath grows laboured as oxygen infuses my lungs, touching my heart.
My skin glows.
Radiance shows.
My lips plump up, fuller by the minute.
The urge to have more attacks, forcing me to press my lips against the coolness of it.
My body jolts with every heartbeat.
Ecstasy pounds through my veins.

What have I just done?
I feel a reckless abandon, the urge to have more, the courage to say yes to more.

Wanting, needing... hoping...
With great relish, I pour myself another full glass of delicious white wine.

T01

This is T01
Broadcast - CMM
Finally found this picture...

A Walk to Remember

If I was a kid going to the beach for the first time and I went with us...
I would not like it...

Well...

The day started out stiff and achy.
It was only the violent demand of 'Feed me' from my tummy that even made me get out.
So much 'It's all in the mind'... Bullocks!

We.. Sun, Vin and I, got ourselves to East Coast and got greeted by a nice and stormy-looking sky.
We took refuge under trees planted by the road as the sky started to fall on us.
We got ourselves nice and drenched, but we were water-proofed anyway, so no matter.
The shores were dark and dirty-looking.. not appealing at all, so we decided to walk... walk to the hawker centre for a nice sit-down dinner and maybe a game or two (I brought along 'Secret Agenda' and 'Uno')

We faced the receeding tide and chose to walk towards the right.
Armed with relatively uncomfotable footwear, 2 cans of Pringles, bottles of water, good conversation topics and a goal to reach the hawker centre, we set off...

We spent our time passing signs like


Honestly.. with trees everywhere, try keeping away from them!

We danced past drunk children on their bicycles, past a little boy wearing an umbrella for a hat...
Past MacDonalds... Still we kept walking...
We kept ourselves entertained with stories and food and after 2 hrs, realised that we were NOT walking towards the Hawker Centre!

It's kinda scary, in the sense, you could be working towards a goal and direction, but find out later in your life that you have been 'walking in the wrong direction'...

Too tired to walk back, we took the lazy way out and hopped into a cab.
So, bascially, we travelled to J8 on our butts.


Dinner at Sakae Sushi was a very fitting end...
I mean, seafood right?
But what a contradiction!

We must have walked over 5km!
I think I need to lie down....

Miss Fit

What I really mean to say is Misfit.

Honestly, after months of no physical conditioning, floorball was a killer.

3 sets of 600m
2 sets of 400m
2 sets of pushups and situps...

Actually, I can't recall it all mainly because my mind was in a blur and all I could think of was 'Please rain! Please rain!' and 'Let this be over soon, let this be over soon'...
Also, I was thinking to myself that I would not be playing during the league or IVP and that I would be in Canberra by that time, so why train so hard?
I know, I know, it is a horrid attitude to have.
Then I realised that it would be suoer selfish of me to not push myself physically, then not be able to keep up with those on court.
So... Run..puff..run..puff..

We were pretty blessed actually.
What I feared most about training at 2.30pm was the Sun.
We'd just melt into the track and become part of the rough red surface, with bits of bone and teeth lying around.
I had prayed about it in church and viola!
God put some clouds between the Sun and us, so it was more comfortable.
He provided some wind too...
He's a good God...

Aching right now, but honestly, this feels really good.
So satisfying!
I miss the floorballers... Please come for training soon...

Be careful what you wish for...

Ever since my agent called to say that work would start on Monday, I've been wishing that I had another week to spend with Lassie and the Tweens.

Guess what?

That agent called today to say that work starts a week later!

OMG!
(By the way, the contract is technically voided)

But the saddest thing is.. Lassie might start work on Wednesday...

Can't wait to hit the beach!
Planning a trip to Redang too!!!
Anyone interested?

3 days of
- Lounging on the pristine beaches
- Mingling with beach babes and hunks
- Snorkling with the sharks and exploring the underwater world
- Island hopping
- Bowing to the Sun in the morning and saluting it at night
- Downing alcohol
- Savouring seafood
- Dancing...

In other words... getting a taste of island Heaven!

It's not too expensive.. about SGD 160 for a Quad room.

Any takers?

By the way... check out Lassie's blog
www.callmeesther.blogspot.com
She has a really really saucy video on it...

Enjoy!
*Evil Grin*

A Very Precious Thing

Friendship is a very precious thing.
These days, where 'friends' miss out the 'r'-respect, they become 'fiends'.
Back-stabbing and gossip-whoring comes into play.

No one deserves that kind of disrespect.

I've been told by a wise someone who has lived life more than I have that 'You can have many friends, but keep the number of close friends to that where you can count on your fingers', basically implying that you need close friends you can take refuge in and trust with your life and theirs.

Yes.. Friendship can't be taken for granted.

Having said that, I'm incredibly blessed with lassies and tweenies!

If I have not found the love of my life, I've found them anyway...


















The fun lasted a day, but the memories will last a lifetime...