Image from The National Geographic

Alvin is the sort of chipmunk who lives in his own world. He’s constantly thinking of his success, his fame, his likes/dislikes, and his talents and gifts. He doesn’t travel deep enough into other people’s shoes to learn their plans, likes, dislikes, talents and gifts. So, he lives pretty much for himself. Often, Alvin doesn’t even follow the rules that had been created to enable as many as possible to live peacefully and reach their goals.

In many ways, I am like Alvin the munk. I squeak whenever I talk and I’m quite the individualist. I like to shop alone so that I can go directly to the shop I had in mind without stopping by 2 or 3 boutiques a long the way, which I would have to do if I had others along.

Alvin learned that his way of living was selfish. I’ve been learning that my way of living limits everyone’s potential for success.

Let me give an example.

Recently,we played a board game where each player’s goal is to build as many forts as possible. You can help others to build their forts so that you co-own it with them, and you can start your own fort to build till completion.

When I was playing, I didn’t take notice of what others were doing. My only goal was to start and build forts without hurting anyone else. I kept observing the board to see where I could establish more forts. By the end of the game, I had a few forts which I had built almost completely on my own. I felt pretty pleased with myself.

However, when Nic was playing, he kept observing what others were doing. Whenever he sees a fort that is likely to be successful, he would help the owner to complete it, which makes him the co-owner of the fort.

By the end of the game, there were many forts that he co-own spread far and wide across the board. He became the largest fort-owner of all. In fact, all of my successful forts? He had become the co-owner of them as well.

Someone will need to start forts, and someone will have to build them till completion so the way I played was not wrong. In fact, I did the necessary tasks. Neither did the way I play hurt anyone, nor did I break any societal rules.

However, the way he played was much more effective and efficient. By taking notice of what others were doing and taking part in their work to help them succeed, everyone gets a spring forward.

This philosophy is so powerful, it’s the reason God had to scatter us!

I was thinking that may be, just may be, I should come up with a new year resolution and for a brief moment, I considered committing to blogging more regularly.

But you know what? I don’t like committing to doing things! I like committing to people, so how about a change of resolution. In 2010, I commit to updating you more regularly. How about that, hey? But!!! But… there’s a chance I may not be updating through this blog.

Last month, I was seriously considering moving to using Google’s blogspot. At that time, the blogging engine I was using was really slow in uploading photos – every time I try to show you one teensy-weensy picture, I would have to wait forever.

However, since then, the makers of WordPress have upgraded the blog engine. It seems faster now, and if it continues going in this direction, I’ll be here for you! Always! Forever!

But if not, let’s all move to the countryside that is blogspot.com, shall we?

For Christmas Eve, we had a potluck party at Thomas, Mei Yee and Little Jacob’s house. I made Konnyaku Jelly which is a good thing because everyone else brought too much meat. The Wockers Family sang us Christmas Carols in German and in English.

Thomas, Mei Yee and Little Jacob live on the top floor of a walk-up apartment. I had such a good time walking up that I felt I could make up for it by being generous in my eating.

Christmas Day, we went to CEFC to watch our dear friends, Milly & Boony present Love Story. It was presented through singing.

There was a moment of poignancy for me during the performance, when the girls sang The Rose by LeAnn Rimes.

Lyrics:
It is the one, Who won’t be taken,
Who cannot seem to give.

Have you allowed Jesus to take you as His bride?

On the 28th, we had a belated Christmas celebration by going for an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner with a few new friends. It was the night in which I acquired a paunch. Paunchy Precious, hey it rhymes!

I felt guilty about it when I saw the vast array of food. I was thinking of baby Munei and wondering what were we doing spending on an all-you-can-eat dinner when we could spend on feeding some who are starving in other parts of the world. I do know there’s a time for celebration and a time for sadness. I guess, this is the time to celebrate.

On New Year’s Eve, Maria Cecilia and I went to Cornerstone Community Church for the Watchnight Service. The Pastors gave us a surprise performance, singing a song by Keith Green.

Soon everyone started joining in of course. It was an exciting night, counting down, blowing trumpets and renewing our commitment to loving the one who loves us most. Nothing could be better than that!

On New Year’s day, our good friends Jason and Lyn got married! This is really the season for celebrations. Their cosy and friendly wedding was held at the Asian Civilization Museum. There were lots of mingling around because of the way the wedding was designed – cocktails, buffets and an instant photo printing booth.

Me entering to grace the wedding, *cough*

Smug Jason and his gorgeous Lyn.

The proof of the wedding is in the signing.

Instant Photo Printing by http://pictureworks.com.sg/
I’m the one in hot pink, what colour did you expect I’d be wearing?

And tonight: the celebration continues with dinner atop the Singapore Flyer! Isn’t the New Year over already? My jeans are complaining!

I know many “adventure kakis” in Malaysia, people who love swimming across crocodile-infested rivers and trekking through jungles that are the home of tigers, but I have never ever met anyone who works as an Explorer. How would you like that on your business card? “Hillary Chan, Explorer”.

Some time back, while the rest of us were going to the office, Yohan Ernst Nilson was kayaking from Sweden to Africa.

He had a minor hiccup along the way as he came upon Germany – there are no waterways in Germany. But Johan was undaunted.

He decided to plunge his kayak underground and paddle across Germany in the dark and smelly sewers. He successfully emerged on the other side of the country and from there on, continued kayaking until he reached Africa.

He did have close encounters with gigantic ships along the way, but surely those small things do not faze an adventurer.

After that, Johan Nilson decided to go to Africa again but this time, he wanted a more convenient way so, he “built” an “aircraft” out of a blow-up raft. The raft did fly, and Johan arrived in Africa from Stockholm, surviving close encounters with fighter jets along the way.

Having been to Africa two many times, Johan decided to go to the top of Mount Everest. He trekked up with a big group of people and survived, but many people in the group did not.

He himself had to turn back when he was only 15 metres away from the top because his climbing partner got frostbitten. *sigh*

After that, Johan decided to climb another mountain in Papua New Guinea but getting to the mountain alone was a challenge. He encountered some very diverse people along the way,

People whom, he’s not sure, may feel like having caucasian flesh for breakfast. Who knows?

I really really should have taken a photo with Johan. ARGH!

It’s one o’clock. Time to drink water, and go to sleep.

Naomi? No, not climb onto the window ledge. Time to sleep.

Nay-ohhh-meeeeee?

No, no, not play with the telephone. It’s time to sleep!

Dear Naomi,

It’s 2 o’clock. One hour past your naptime.

Are you tired, Naomi?

Do your eyes feel like closing?

No? Try closing them a little.

That’s right, lie down on the bed…

No, no. Don’t grab the camera!

ARGHHH!

Naomi,

It’s 3′clock and cameras are really really boring, trust me.

Time to get on the bed now, and go to sleep. No, don’t jump on the bed, please. *moan*

Urm… Naomi?

Dear Naomi,

It’s 4 0′clock. Time to come out from the bathroom, and definitely time to sleep.

That’s right, jump out of the bathroom. Surprise!

You must be exhausted from all the jumping, Naomi. Want to oi-oi?

No, no, don’t play with the light, Naomi.

Oh well, why don’t we go for a slowwwww walk by the pool. Listen to the sound of flowing water for a while.

Are you sleepy now, Naomi?

Yes to sleepy?

Dear Naomi,

Night-night. :)

Related posts:

1. Atishoo! Baby Ethan is quite fun to handle these days. He...

Woohoo! I felt victorious. A 24-hour blogathon, I’m sure it will be exciting and fun. As a former Girl Guide, I’m always prepared!

Later that night, I started wondering,
“Eh, so what is a Blogathon har?”
I nudged Nadnut on MSN. She said,
“It’s a competition among ten bloggers. There will be two winners. One will win by the number of votes. The other will win by the number of comments.”

Uh oh. Votes? Comment count? I began to feel slightly unwell.

I then sought Nic for counsel. He said, “It will be okay lah.”
I said, “But what if NOBODY comments on my posts? Not even one?” That has been known to happen sometimes at http://precious-living.com

I began to get the jitters. Jayden got the jitters too, as seen on YouTube.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeaSc16Sg5A

Since the Blogathon was going to be held in the window display at Singapore’s TANGS Shopping Mall, TANGS (formerly known as C.K. Tang) had to make sure we didn’t turn up in singlets, flip-flops and tattered shorts. We were given a budget of $500 each to pick an outfit from TANGS that we would wear during the Blogathon. At this point, I made such huge shopping mistakes that I should warn all females: do not venture beyond reading this point lest you get a heart attack.

!!Final warning now!!

1. I did not check out the TANGS website before going out to shop.
With the generous budget, we could pick any outfit that we like as long as they are from specific brands including Martina Pink, TokiDoki, Library, Fred Perry and TANG+CO. Having not checked the website, I wrongly assumed that TANG+CO is a brand itself so when I saw clothes labelled “Alannah Hill”, “Paul & Joe”, “Kors”, “Nicola Fenetti”, et cetera, I walked away from those racks. Yes, I deserve a slap. TANG+CO is the location that houses all these fabulous brands.

Back story: When I was a student, there was only one Alannah Hill boutique in all of Melbourne and it was filled with the most beautiful clothes on earth. All I could do was stand outside the shop window and stare longingly as drool collect and dribble out both corners of my mouth. It was only after graduating that I “rewarded” myself with one exquisite Alannah Hill blouse, one Alannah Hill handbag and one Alannah Hill brooch. That was 8-9 years ago.

I have been Alannah Hill-deprived ever since, not knowing that it is available at TANGS. To think I could have picked out one Alannah Hill outfit for the Blogathon and I did not. The tears in my pillow, *weep*.

2. I did not give myself enough time to rummage through the racks
My appointment to pick out the clothes was at 3pm but by the time I got there, it was four. The camera crew had waited so long that I didn’t dare stall any longer. After a brief video interview, I dashed through two floors of TANGS to briefly view all that’s available. Within half an hour later, the crew politely asked if I would be ready to make a decision. I zoomed in at Martina Pink, took three pretty dresses, tried them on in the changing room and made a decision on one. It was zero to $125.30 in 40 minutes flat.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jqg_YQXjj4

Now, I really love the red satin dress that I had picked out. The heaviness of the material shows that this is quality stuff and it felt soooo smooth and cool when I brushed my hand at the skirt that a chill ran up my spine. Fabrics that feel good to touch always make me feel weak inside.

However, after looking at the price tag, I began to feel discouraged. The dress is “only” $179 and is on sale for 30% off which totals $125.30. Does price indicate Wow factor? Had I chosen too little since TANGS had thought we would need clothes worth $500? Thankfully, after the video is out, I was able to review my choice and I do think this is the genuinely gorgeous stuff, the shiny red satin is the kind that’s not just wanted or desired but needed like marrow for your bones.

Who? Me? Prone to exaggeration? I have no idea what you are talking about.

image by Pat Law

Once the shopping was done, I had a Kiehl’s skincare consultation because good skincare is just what you’ll need to prep your skin for 24-hours of sleeplessness. I told the consultant that I have dehydrated combination skin and she agreed. I was given a generous bag of samples to try. To be honest, I haven’t tried them yet. What I can tell you for now is that The Boyf have tried his samples and given his two thumbs up.

The Blogathon day itself.
We arrived at TANGS at 5:30 pm, changed into the brand new clothes, squealed while jogging on the spot at each other’s gorgeousness, unpacked the Lenovo U350 ultra-thin laptops which we would be blogging from, made sure we could connect to Starhub Broadband and stepped inside the window displays.

It was all quiet inside…

image by Victor Tan

At 6:30pm sharp, the shutter slowly started rolling up.

image from TANGS’ Facebook page

It went tak-tak-tak-tak-tak-tak-tak-tak as The Boyf and I were setting up.

Oooh, I lurrrrve the sheen of the dress.
Can you see how thin the laptop is? I immediately started downloading my favorite softwares including Firefox, Chrome (the kiasuness), MSN Live Messenger and TweetDeck. Unfortunately, after that, the laptop kept crashing and the Lenovo guy had to come click the One-Key-Recovery icon on the desktop. It is a very convenient button to click when you need to fix a laptop’s crash although having a laptop crash is not convenient at all. Always look on the bright side.

In the meantime, we interacted with passers-by. We should have played a game of charade with everyone. The person who guesses correctly gets to take home the shiny black KitchenAid mixer behind my back. *sigh*

Someone said that our window display looks like a scene out of the “I Love Lucy” sitcom. Do I look like a fifties housewife? I published the first blog post, “They made me a housewife at the TANGS Orchard Blogathon” which received 18 comments. Hello? Where are you commenters when I blog at http://precious-living.com?

Next, we were given a task -- to look for one stylish shopper and interview  her about her personal style. I found the uber stylish Adelynn Tan who was exploring a sea of eyeliner colors at Shu Uemura. Adelynn is a theatre actress. <3

At 12am, we had to move out of there to the Kiehl’s New York Loft which we would be sharing with Claudia and Melly. At 3am, we heard a knock at the door of our loft. The door creaked open and a skeletal hand reached in to wave at us.

*SCREAMMMMMMM*

Throughout the night, there was a constant trickle of passers-by outside TANGS. We should have set-up Mr Bones with a Lenovo and get him to sit with us in the window display. Wonder how the passers-by would have reacted to that. But since DK had taken Mr Bones out for a walk, I tried something else.

SCREAMMMMMMMM!

What? What? I was just trying on the Kiehl’s deep pore cleansing facial masque which was freely available in the Kiehl’s New York Loft. The masque gave me an interesting prickly sensation. After cleaning it off, (Girl Guide honor & honesty here), the skin on my face felt like a baby’s bottom -- smooth, gentle and buoyant -- for a full day and a half. Wow!

Did you know: that the area outside TANGS Orchard is a jogging spot? At 5am, regular  joggers were already up and about, hopping on their feet like nimble gazelles. Some were so kind to wave at us as they run.

At slightly after 6am, the first train screeched into the Orchard Road station and a throng of crowd flowed out. Another Wow. This is one road that doesn’t sleep at all.

At 10am, the voting booth at the entrance of TANGS was reopened so friends and family could come vote for us.

At 12pm, we moved to a new window display. I was too sleepy to look around. It was probably a sportswear-themed one.

1pm was Feed the Bloggers’ time. Family and friends were allowed to enter the window to provide us with lunch. Thankfully, Brokenshardz showed up with ginseng chicken + rice or I would have eaten the wooden hand on display, next to the sports clothes. Interesting combination.

In this window, The Boyf finally had the chance to switch on his television set (white screen on the right). He was so proud to be able to geek out.

Notice also our puffy eyes. I was and still am very proud of that. It’s a sign that we’ve been in battle, a war wound that has healed over time. By the end of the Blog-a-Ton at 6pm, I had published a total of 14 posts. The Blogathon really made me discover how much I love to blog. It is such a joy to have done something that I enjoy doing, with people whom I enjoy being with, for 24-hours non-stop.

So, Pat, when’s the next one? ;)

Postscript: The Boyf won the Blogathon with most comments while Nadnut won with most votes. Congratulations to both!

Post-Postscript: I took The Boyf’s prize-winning TANGS voucher worth $300 but am having thoughts of returning it to him, seeing how scrumptious he looks in clothes from TANGS.

What do you think? Should I? Should I? It’s so tempting, help!

It seems like every once in a while, I will get involved in something unconventional that requires your love and support. Last year, I went to Chengdu in the aftermath of the earthquake and my family gave their full encouragement and support. Before that, I journeyed to Malaysia’s last remaining virgin rainforests and family and friends wrote letters while I was in the jungle.

Last weekend, I took part in a 24-hour Blogathon at TANGS and again, received enthusiastic encouragement and support. It is obvious by now that I never need to journey alone, no matter how crazy the ride. For the Blogathon, much thanks to

• Dad who commented a few times even though he was busy getting ready for a trip to Manado

• Mum who is computer illiterate but got someone else to type out a comment on her behalf

• Sis-in-Law Steph and my brother, Feng

• Stephanie my best friend who had a Kaypoh-thon while I had the Blogathon

• Max Goh, my childhood neighbour and friend

• Jun Liang, my college-age cousin who is learning to be a chef

• Simon Seow from SCCC

• Pat Ng from SCCC

• Millicent, a gorgeous babe whom I roomed with in Thailand

• Lisa Anderson, all the way from the US

• Shing

• Hui Ling

• ScoobyDoo, a loyal commenter at my CNET Asia Green Tech blog

• Airworm whom I met through Singapore Slingers basketball games

• Anita Fam whom I met at a Marriage Central event

• Ee Hou from Germany

• Adelynn Tan, a theatre actress whom I met during the Blogathon. She’s my pick for the TANGS Stylish Shopper and she’s such a good sport that she came back for a video interview and visited the Blogathon site after getting home

There were many more who commented and to each and every one, thank you, thank you, thank you very much.

Not to neglect, those who went to town to visit us. Special thanks to Brokenshardz without whom we wouldn’t have had Ginseng Chicken for lunch, and Sanford & Athena who chose to go there on a date after enough years of marriage to produce 4 children!

The Blogathon was so much fun and with your support, I would do it again in a snap!

*curtsies*

It is Singapore’s first Blog Marathon (Blogathon) and probably the world’s first as well. To reach the finishing line, participating bloggers must not fall asleep or pee more than 12 times.

How Bloggers Can Win

1. Keep writing blog posts and the blogger with the most posts and comments will win a Lenovo IdeaPad U360 laptop, a SG$300 TANGS Voucher and SG$250 worth of Kiehl’s skincare products
2. Get friends and family to visit your window at TANGS Orchard and drop a vote for you into the ballot box. The blogger with the most votes receives the same prizes as above
3. Broadcast a twitter message about the event and persuade twitter followers to retwitter on Saturday from 10:15am – 10:30am GMT +8:00. The blogger with the most retwits receives a sg$50.00 TANGS Voucher

How Blog Readers Win

Come to TANGS Orchard on Saturday from 10:15am – 10:30am, sign up for a new twitter account and retwitter a blogger’s twitter about the event. The first 20 to do so will receive a sg$50.00 TANGS voucher on the spot. If you are not among the first 20, do not be disheartened. You will still stand a chance to win a sg$50.00 voucher.

How You Can Help Me Win

1. From Friday 6pm – Saturday 6pm, visit the Blogathon site and comment on Hillary Chan’s blog posts. Leave as many comments as possible but each comment must be longer than 140 characters. That means short comments like, “Good post” (only 9 characters) are not counted.
2. Come down to TANGS Orchard and vote for Hillary Chan
3. Sign up for a free twitter account and retwit my twitter message about the event on Saturday, 10:15am to 10:30am.

You know I appreciate you very much.

To add to the story, I will be placed in the same window as the boyf so we will be putting up with each other’s stinky unbathed selves. Will there be public displays of affection or public displays of tensed moments? I am not too sure myself. I’m getting more than a little nervous now.

What’s more, the ten participating bloggers are

• Claudia
• DK
• Dottie
• Stephie
• Hillary (me!)
• Jayden
• Melly
• Nadnut
• Nicholas
• Sheryo

They send fear into my heart!

When I was in primary school, my family and I moved house. Ming Ming and I hardly kept in touch. When we do meet again, we’re not quite sure what to talk about. We have very little in common now. Still, there’s an unspoken bond between us that’s hard to explain in words. Let’s just say I feel strangely protective of the gal and pray for the brightest ever future for her.

Three weeks ago, I received an invitation to celebrate Ming Ming’s wedding to Huei Nam.

Like any typical chinese wedding, the bride and groom poured champagne onto a pyramid of wine glasses. Someone came up with the idea in the 1980′s and it was so popular with the brides & grooms that it got established in the Book of Law of Chinese Wedding Customs.

If you’re Chinese and got married without pouring champagne onto a pyramid of wine glasses, your marriage is not considered legitimate. It’s written on page 83 of the book.

Thankfully, Ming Ming knew the law and even made sure there were witnesses. In the event of dispute, 500 guests can come forward and say, “Yes, Ming Ming & Huei Nam are indeed married. I saw them pour champagne onto a pyramid of wine glasses with my own eyes.”

Now that the champagne have been poured, there were congratulatory toasts all around. Every 10 guests get to offer one toast to the newly-weds. With about 500 guests, Ming Ming sipped at least 50 times. She was amazingly able to hold down her alcohol. One might even suspect that it’s chinese tea in her glass. ;)

I sat next to a polite young man. Just when we’ve been served with expensive abalone, he tipped over my wine glass and drowned my abalone in wine.

He felt so bad about it that I had to assure him I will send him a bill to pay for my wine-drenched Versace gown. He felt much better after that. I felt very kind.

Just before we left, I finally had a chance to hold the precious bride. I can hardly believe that my childhood friend is married. What happened to those years between the time we stopped playing Masak-masak and now?

Her aunt came on stage and belted out cantopop songs amplified by a Karaoke System.

I forgot to mention earlier that this is the second part of the law. In a traditional Chinese wedding, you have to have your relatives croon on the Karaoke to be considered married, once and for all.

To all brides-to-be and grooms-to-be reading this, congratulations and don’t ever forget our chinese wedding traditions. Yam Seng to all!

PS: My dress was not really a Versace, in case you have to ask.

I think they will ooze so much warmth, they will turn everyone into smiley ladies who crochet baby booties while sipping tea at Starbucks, as long as they tip their head to the left and the right like this cute giraffe.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=im0QvV3aNQQ

Find out more about the Hello Campaign here. There is a “Hello” contest for you to join as well.

Step 1. Say “Hello” to random strangers and take photos with them
Step 2. Upload them on Phlook.com and tag yourself
Step 3. Be the one who said the most number of Hellos and stand to win prizes!

Contest ends 25th April 2009

If you are a “Hello” Volunteer, do share your experience. Did you tip your head to the left and right while wishing hello today? How did the person respond?