The Good Samaritan dilemma

Last week while driving to church, I saw this guy by the side of the road.

An Indian guy who seemed to be poor and homeless, as I can think of little other reason why he would be sleeping on the grassy curb by the roadside.

As I continued to drive by, I felt bad for the guy and I wanted to help him by giving him something to eat, at least. But if I were to go back and buy him food, I'd be late to church. And I realized I was I was in the Good Samaritan dilemma.

For those not familiar with the story, this is the parable of the Good Samaritan as told by Jesus in Luke 10:30-37:

Jesus answered, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said to him, 'Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.' Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?"

He said, "He who showed mercy on him."

Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

The priest and the Levite were the 'religious' and supposed good people of that day, but they walked right pass the guy who was half dead and in dire need of help. Along comes a Samaritan guy, and in those days, the Samaritans were despised by the Jews just coz' they were a 'mixed' race (bunch of racists!). And the guy who got beaten up, was probably a Jew. But the Samaritan helped him anyway.

So I was thinking, if I had driven right on to church without helping the guy, I would have been just like the hypocritical priest or Levite. And I was like "Dang, this is gonna bug for the rest of the day if I don't do something".

So I turned the car around, went to the nearest Mamak restaurant, bought a nice pack of food, including rice, chicken, mutton and an egg, which came up to RM8.20. Drove back to where the guy was still sleeping on the curb, and went over to him with the pack of food.

I was a bit worried on whether he would try to do something funny like attack me and try to steal my handbag (which I had left in my car, just in case). So I woke him up, and put the food next to him, saying it was for him but kept a bit of a distance away, getting ready to run if I had to. It's unfortunate that the level of crime these days results in people like myself developing such a sense of wariness, even over a homeless guy.

Anyway, the first thing he did was ask (not in a rough manner though) whether I had any water for him, which I didn't. Then he asked if there was chicken in the pack, and I said yes. Only then did he say thank you to me, and opened the pack as I went back to my car. It was from there that I took these pics.

He was still lyging down and eating by the side of the road!

Well, at least he looked like he was enjoying himself.

Anyway, I left after that, wondering where the guy would get his next meal, or wondering if he's actually homeless in the first place or just a bum wandering around pretending to be homeless but actually has a nice place somewhere. Such crazy things do happen in this world! But at least the guy didn't ask me for money... that would have been way too obvious. After all, some of us do dout the sincerity of people who come to our tables at restaurants during meal time, begging for donations for one cause or another. But I guess all I could do was assume the guy was actually homeless, and I did a small thing to help him out.

I guess for the rest of us who have a good home, nice clothes, choice of good food everyday, etc,etc.... it's a reminder to be thankful for what we have and not complain about silly little things in life that really are quite insignificant compared to having no place to go or food to eat. :)

The Good Samaritan dilemma

If Chun Li celebrated Chap Goh Meh....

Today was the last day of the Lunar New Year celebrations (which means all of you who have been holding on to your ang pow stash until day 15 can start counting your moolah, and give your ang pow packets to meeeee please!), and also the Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day, Chap Goh Meh. And if you have no idea what this day is all about, this site explains it like so:

Chap Goh Mei being regarded as the Chinese Valentine's Day, also brings forth lots of fun and gaiety. It is well-known that Chap Goh Mei is a night of courtship and has since been the forerunner in promoting match-making. On this night, many young ladies would make their way to the temples, dressed in their best, with hope of finding prospective suitors. One of the fun activities that take place on this auspicious night includes the throwing of oranges into the sea by these young maidens. It is without a doubt, the most popular and colorful moment in the history of Chap Goh Mei. It is believed that by throwing tangerines into the sea, these young girls would find themselves a good husband. For many, the act of throwing tangerines into the sea also signifies that these women are available for marriage. It is also said that if someone else who sees the floating tangerine in the water and picked it up, that generally means that the single who threw it would be able to find a good spouse.

You might be even more surprised to learn this tradition didn't come from China, but started in our own little humble Penang island!

Of course, these days in KL, I doubt very few lovely young maidens bother with the whole idea of throwing of tangerine oranges into the river... simply coz' KL rivers are so full of pollution and other crap, no man in his right mind would pick up anything floating along in there.

So in light of that dilemma, I had a fun idea of how to update and simplify the good old CNY tradition.

Ladies, if you fancy a guy and he doesn't know it, just grab an orange and chuck the thing at his head.

By golly, if that doesn't get his attention, nothing else will.

Just be glad that the tradition doesn't involve throwing watermelons. Happy Chap Goh Meh, everyone!

If Chun Li celebrated Chap Goh Meh....

Belated Valentine's Day musings from boyfriend job applications to Rock Band weddings

It's been 3 weeks since I posted my boyfriend vacancy ad, and since the application deadline on Valentine's Day is over (happy belated V-Day to everyone, by the way), I have received a grand total of...

*drumroll please....*

ZERO applications!!!

Ah well, I supposed it's not much of a surprise, since my job requirements included "Must not be stupid, boring or annoying", which disqualifies at least 50% of the male population, the rest of which probably already taken, are too old for me or are my wonderful male friends who read my blog (just so you don't give me the look of death next time you see me 0:-) )

So now if you are a guy actually interested in me for God knows what reason, you have to go through the normal long and boring process of courting and sending hints that I may or may not interpret to mean anything, instead of the simplified job application method. Bleh. It get's old after a while.

Since we're on the topic, it might surprise most to learn that unlike the average female that dreamed about her perfect fairytale wedding since she was a young girl, I actually have never REALLY thought about what I want for my wedding. However, there are some thing I would really love to do for my wedding, if by some miracle I am able to con(vince) a guy to marry me, which are:

1) During the tedious pre-wedding photography sessions, in between dressing up in all those super traditional Chinese costumes and prancing around in some garden somewhere, I want the make-up lady to make up me and my hubby-to-be too look really old. As in like septuagenarian old. Complete with grey hair and thick glasses. Then we take a portrait photo looking like old foggies, and that will be the main photo in our living room as a daily reminder to both of us that THAT is the goal... to be together til' we're old foggies (unless we die first of course, but having a cremation urns with our faces on it as a wedding portrait isn't quite as romantic).

2) The song I want to be played during our wedding march down the aisle - "You" by Kutless. It's a Christian song, but it could pass as a mushy love song if played on regular radio, it's got great lyrics, and I love the fact that it's done by a band that normally does loud, headbanging type rocker songs. I did mention that my guy should appreciate rock music. :P

3) Option of either a funny wedding dance, although this is quite overdone, if you just search for "funny wedding dance" on Youtube!), OR... since I have friends who I play Rock Band with on a regular basis, they can be provide my wedding music, such as follows.

Yeah, no surprise why I'm still single. *yeurk!*

Belated Valentine's Day musings from boyfriend job applications to Rock Band weddings

The Awesome Ang Pow Packet Collection (^_^)

Ah... ang pows. Those little red packets filled with money and given away during Chinese New Year traditionally from those who are married to those who are not. Which makes CNY much more enjoyable for those who are single, such as yours truly... although considering I'm already a working adult and almost hitting my 30's, it does get a bit weirder every year that goes by that I'm still getting 'ang pows', especially coming from friends my age who are already married (I haven't gotten from married couples younger than me... and I don't think I would really want to though technically I still can).

For me, however, the fun of receiving ang pows isn't just in the money (I actually give ang pows to my two kid nieces, and the amount I give is enough that the money I still make a net loss after deducting the amount of money from ang pows given to me!). I collect ang pow packets (I only keep one of each design) and have been doing so for quite a few years now. It's pretty much the only thing I actively collect, coz' the for one thing, ang pow packets come in all sort of interesting and nice designs, for another thing, most ang pow packets are in the most awesome colour of RED, and for another other thing, ang pow packets are usually free, so I save a heckuva lot of money compared to if I made a hobby of collecting superhero toys or other expensive whatnot. Except when I actually buy sets of ang pow packets from those Chinese prayer shops just for the sole purpose of adding these to my collection. I only buy sets that have differently designed individual packets, and those are usually much nicer than the free ones.

Anyway, after years of diligently hoarding the little red packets given to me, buying some from the shop, getting stashes from my friends, and even snitching ang pows from shops using them as decorations (it technically doesn't count as shoplifting since they would get thrown away after CNY is over anyway :P), my collection of ang pow packets, all of which have different designs, has swelled to a nice amount number of 580! Woo hoo!

And I still expect to get more this, especially from my wonderful friends who see me regularly and happen to be reading this post. Hint. Hint. Double hint.

I'm also a bit OCD in that it was very important to store my stash in such a manner that is neat and orderly and allows easy perusal of my collection by visitors. Therefore my prescibed method was sticking each packet into a clear sheet and arranging them in folders, such as follows.

Looks like a lot of work? You betcha! I already have TWO folders that are full, so I need to get myself a new one for next year. :)

It gets even MORE OCD in that I love arranging my ang pows according to 'themes'. Yeah, so all those packets with pictures of mandarin oranges go together, all those with pictures of chinese fans go together, etc, etc...you get the idea. So my ang pow design 'themes' include flowers (these are the most common ones... especially ang pows with cherry blossom designs), mandarin oranges (I even arrange then according to designs with pairs of oranges, and oranges in baskets :P), koi fish, gold or money, chinese fans, chinese lanterns, the Chinese God of Prosperity, and the animal of that lunar year. And then there are the ones which don't fit in any 'theme' and just drive me kinda crazy trying to figure out where to put them, and eventually they all just went under a big theme of 'whatever'.

Oh yes, I just had to show off the fruits of my ang pow collecting labour here. Here are some of the coolest ones I have. The one below is my favourite design, coz' I like the way the red and yellow blends into each other (same for the second pic below, for the packet on the left), and it has gold font, and the pic is just cute. :)

The two below are also the really nice ones, and made it on the cover of one of my ang pow folders.

Here are some from my 'mandarin oranges' collection (all those with pair of oranges).

The koi fish ang pows! Note the coolness of the similar way in which fish on ang pows are designed, although these are all from different companies. You might as well write 'geek' all over my forehead now. :P

GOLD koi fish!

Ah, these are some from the super huge collection of ang pows with flower designs. As I said, the cherry blossoms are really common.

And here are some flower designs arranged according to colour (am I freaking you out with my OCD tendancies yet?)

I REALLY like this set coz' it's a similar design among all three, but again, all three were made by different companies.

Packets with chinese lions.

And chinese lanterns.
Fireworks...

And chinese fans. The fan for the ang pow packets on the top right is actually glued onto the packet, so it adds texture. And the design for the one below (where the top part of the fan forms the flap of the packet), that is really cool.

This is a set with the same common chinese word. I can't read Chinese for nuts, but I believe this word says 'prosperity'. Correct me if I'm wrong!

Same theme, but all same size packets. All of the ones below were made by Public Bank, except for the one on the bottom right. I'm not sure, but I think Public Bank came out with a new design every year and I just happened to get quite a few of them.

Another couple of sets with chinese words. I have no idea what the words are though! :P

The typical Chinese boy and girl design.

Same theme here, but different look of the boy and girl, and all these are from Drinho.

Ooh, the next couple of sets are all those made by the same company, with different but similar ang pow designs. I totally LOVE getting sets of ang pows like these! Right now I have the set from Proton....

As well as from M&M's.
I dunno how many companies have done these kind of ang pows (unique designs for each packet in one set), but I would surely appreciate anyone who gets these and pass the whole set to me. Hint. Hint. Double Hint.

The ones below are all from Ambank Group, but these aren't so much a set, as I think the different designs were produced in different years.

Mickey Mouse angpows! You get buy these easily from the shops, but the free ones are more fun. :)

And then there are the angpows with designs of the animal represneting that lunar year. I have angpows with designs of most of the animals, but the ones I really like is this set for the year of the chicken, from UOB bank...

And these tiger design ang pows, from all different companies. The designs are unique in that the tiger forms a chinese word in the top two.

For this year, I only have TWO rabbit themed ang pows. And I would love to have more. Hint. Hint. Double Hint.

Alrighty, enough of my soliciting for more ang pows from my poor readers. Hope you enjoyed it and Gong Xi Fa Chai to everyone again!

The Awesome Ang Pow Packet Collection (^_^)

Happy & Blessed Chinese New Year!

Wishing all my family, friends, readers and blog visitors and happy, prosperous and most awesome Chinese New Year 2011!

Excuse me for my self-indulgence in cute poses and bad Photoshopping in the name of this auspicious occassion. Amazingly, there's nothing red in this pic! ^_^

Oh yes, since it's the year of the rabbit, my pet 'rabbit' wish you a happy chinese new year as well.

Well, I couldnt' find a real rabbit, so it was either this or Photoshop bunny ears on the fella, which probably wouldn't have been much of an improvement. *grin*

Happy & Blessed Chinese New Year!