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16/10/2005

Kindly murder

This happened some time ago….but have you ever watch an intended pet murder and wonder if it’s the same thing with human beings? Well, ok, it’s not murder. It’s an act of kindness that leads us, human beings, higher intellects to decide to end the life of a lesser being in a humane and painless manner. 

This happened in November 2002 (It was recorded in my diary) and the name of the pet is ‘Blacky’. Blacky the dog because he is…well, black. I guess no one in the family (in-law) knew of a better name and left it to the kids to give the pet a name. so, he’s blacky. Blacky is  large, massively threatening Labrador  + Alsatian. Last I heard, his great-grandfather is of a dangerous breed that killed an old woman here in Malaysia before. Forgive me, I cannot remember the name of the breed. 

That morning, in November 2002, I woke up, brushed my teeth and came downstairs expecting char-siew-pow for breakfast. Instead, I met two men in the dining room. They were talking in hush-hush fashion with my father-in-law…the way a private investigator would talk on TV. I came down, stopped mid-step and he lifted his chin and said, “Ask your husband to wake up”. 

“What? Why?”

“To dig a hole”

A hole???? As they were pointing outside, I guessed it has something to do with either the lawn or the dog. But I don’t think my father in law was going to dig a hole in the lawn, instead, I decided it was about the dog. They were going to dig a hole for the dog because the two menacing bastards were here to kill the dog that has been scaring off thieves for the last few years. And trust me, Blacky is not fierce, he’s old. But if one did not now him, his ONE SINGLE BARK will make your balls shrivel up in fright. It’s loud. 

He never knew he was going to die. He was still biting and trying to eat stone in the garden. The men summoned him up and they both held him with their weight, one man holding the needle. Without warning, they injected the large massive dog with potent chemicals to render him tired. The dog slumped forward onto his chin. I swear it looked as if he was trying to hold his eyelids up!! From the on, he was all meat, skin and tender muscles. The men got off of him and he didn’t even try to move but his eyes were watching. He watched as the men got to their bags, lifted another tube of SOMETHING. Filled their syringe with something and then came over to him.

At this point in time, he was pretty lifeless but he was still alive and watching. They came over, stroked his head comfortingly and then gave him a chin-rub. Touching. It seems as though the moment the second time the needle penetrated his body, he knew what was going to happen. I remember him looking at the ‘perpetrators’, and then looking down at the needle. He leaned his head forward, closed his eyes…and never opened it again. 

It was almost like he KNEW. 

The reason for putting Blacky down is a humane one. He’s about a hundred and one years old…in dog years, rotting from his butt to his ears, sick every other day, and has worms crawling in and out of his bodily crevices freely and without command. No matter how many times we asked the vet to come over and take a look at him, they would shake their turboned heads at the dog and issue us a sympathetic look that says, ‘Good fucking luck!’. 

Blacky was dying of old age. And yet, no matter how humane the act was, it still makes me cringe. We’re murderers. We willingly asked someone to come end the life of a dog. Or me, I did nothing to stop the perpetrators from injecting the vile potion into the veins of that haggard. 

But come to think of it. Blacky is probably much happier now. No more worm-filled intestines. No more rotting ears. No more tasteless dog food. No more life on a lease in the park. No more fun-filled but overactive children.

Life is probably better for Blacky on the other side.

21:16 Posted in Being human , Blog , Family , Ramblings | Permalink | Comments (7) | Email this

15/10/2005

Raw Power in Motion

Raw power in motion, that’s what RPM stands for…and let me tell you one thing…it is raw power and it is pure power!! Nothing less, that’s for sure.

RPM is a program that is available through any gym in the world enlisted with the Les Milles program. And if you think RPM is something you can kid around with, you’re wrong. In the eyes of those who have never tasted the pure torture of going through RPM, you’re in for the RIDE of your life! RPM is one hour of cycling that will rip your muscles apart and dry your sweat glands out.

Oh, of course, it’s fun most of the time. The music thumping through your brain, every ounce of your body fat burning. 45 minutes to 1 hour of competition-style cycling that sets you off on an hour of nothing but torturous adventure. You love it, and yet you hate it. You want to go on but you wish the instructor will stop asking you to ‘PUSH YOURSELF!!’.

In fact, sometimes I find myself thinking that RPM is nothing less than a small rock concert. You’re smashing your muscles into smitterins and there’s the music that keeps you going. The people who design this program knows how to choose their music. Music that goes, ‘Don’t give up now’, ‘Go on, go up, go on, go for it’, or ‘Move your body, move your soul’. Yeah, the likes.

It is, however, an awesome workout every single time. You go in thinking you’re just going to cycle your way through the hour and then you’re required to set up, sit down, lean over, sit down, arrow style, over the top…etc. the basic concept of RPM is to push people to their limits.

Frankly, I’ve never sweated so much in my life. I remember sweating just as much when I used to train in badminton with my dad. Badminton, as some of you will know, will make you sweat like your pores are open taps. There are those stationery bikes that looks absolutely harmless. When you get on, the music is turned on and the instructor starts saying ‘roll your shoulders’, you know you’re in trouble. At the end of the session, you notice a puddle of sweat at the bottom of the bike that is your own, your towel is soaked too, your water bottle is empty, and you can’t feel your legs.

Sometimes, I think RPM is made for those who either like to torture themselves or those who are sweat fanatics. How else do you explain the ‘YEAH’ and the ‘MORE MORE MORE’ in the middle of the session. You’re panting and practically going into a delusional state and people are still yelling for more??? You’re kidding!!!

People actually go there to torture themselves! For one, my sister and my cousin goes there to sweat! They attend more RPM sessions than me – and honestly, RPM scares the panties off of me. Everytime I go in there, I say a silent prayer…to whomever is out there, up there, listening. My main motivation is to remain in the game for as long as I can.

But the good thing is that RPM is a cardiovascular program that does not require you to jump, skip, hop, run, or perform acrobatics in an effort to sweat. All you have to do is to sit on the rock-hard seat of the bike and move your legs in circles REALLY fast. Some instructors are actually kind and say things like, ‘Do what you can, don’t stress yourself out’. But with an instructor we personally know, she is intent on giving us heart attacks. Every time I stop or try to cheat, she will wrinkle her nose and notify me, ‘I said move up two notches, not one’.

Blast you.

But how come I am still going back for more every single week? Has it got anything to do with the rate I sweat or is it because I am a sadomasochist in hiding?

22:55 Posted in Being human , Blog , Leisure , Women | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this

10/10/2005

Hong Kong singers

Note : I am very big critic of singing and singers.

 

Ok, with that said, I feel free to express my personal opinion about Hong Kong singers. I don’t understand why the music industry in Hong Kong keeps promoting all those worthless signers who are nothing more than something good to look at. The current army of Hong singers are basically models or actors who think they can carry a tune and parade around on stage lip-synching instead of really sing. There’s a whole lot more to singing that meets the eye.

 

I am not saying I am the best singer on the planet. I can sing. But I am not the best, I have met some singers who totally bulldozed me over!

 

But I think if I were to stand and sing beside any one of those young Hong Kong singers today, I would bulldoze them over! I am a big fan of Moses Chan Ho (*snigger* Moses????) because he can really act and he’s really quite shy in person, but heck, why the hell does he think he can sing? In fact, I don’t think he’s the one who think he can sing. The record companies want to make a quick buck here and there on his popularity, therefore, package him up and make him sing a lullaby-like song that is so easy to sing that even a 2-year-old can sing without breaking a sweat.

 

During my time, when Mariah Carey sings, in 3 seconds, you’ll know it’s Mariah Carey. And if Whitney Houston was singing, you’d know it’s her voice. But tune in to MyFM and there are tons of Cantonese songs being aired and you don’t know one singer from the other.

 

There’s nothing wrong with the songs and the lyrics. I think some of the tunes are pretty good and the lyrics excellent and touching but the singing, those voices….are lost! I like Joey Yung but even her voice is lost among the mountain of fresh new ‘singing’ voices in the industry. and Kelly Chan? Urgh! She’s just a pretty face to look at and she can’t really sing for nuts.

 

Just in case you think I am aiming my machine guns are female singers, I think male singers suck too. Hacken Lee can sing. Lee Hom Wang can sing (and compose and play musical instruments to boost!). Andy Lau can sing so-so. Leon Lai can also sing so-so. The others make me cringe. I recently bought a Jay Chou CD because my niece was a big fan of his and I regret buying the CD because he can’t sing for nuts! If not for electronics coming into play, Jay Chou would be nothing more than bravado and good looks.

 

Look at Nnadia Chan Chung Ling. Now, she’s someone who knows how to control her voice, sing, have good diction, opens her mouth when she sings and have stage presence. But is she popular among the young? Nope. She is not. Do consumers appreciate her lovely voice? Nope. Just cause she’s over thirty. I think Sandy Lam can sing too…beautifully because her voice is crisp and enchanting. In my personal opinion, Denise Ho cannot sing for the life of her and I don’t know why the late Anita Mui took her in as an apprentice.

 

 

Judging from his antics, would you know that Dayo Wong actually has a degree in PHILOSOPHY?? But he does. He’s smart and extremely funny on screen but he’s not a singer. And yet he sings.

 

And oh my god, don’t even get me started on Cecelia Cheung Phak Chi. She’s known for her husky SPEAKING voice and sexy body. But what makes everyone think that ‘husky speaking voice’ equals ‘good singing voice’. They are two entirely different things!! i have never heard Cecelia Cheung sing until recently. All this while, I thought she was reasonably good, but after hearing her sing live AND on radio ONE TIME, I totally swear off her…no matter how good she looks on screen. She’s a screen siren…singer she is not!!! Not not not!! Someone just tell her she can’t sing so that she won’t torture some of us who prefers good singing to watching her parade on screen pretending she can sing, hoping she can sing, or trying to make herself belief she can sing.

 

But I guess the problem is not with the singers. If given a choice, some of them wouldn’t even sing. For example Moses Chan said that he didn’t think he could sing. Only when his management company encouraged him to TRY IT OUT, he did. Even so, he modestly said that he believes he’s not the singing type. True, true. Moses should stick to acting.

 

Instead, some of the better singers are not promoted, for example, Raymond Lam Fung (good voice control, excellent vibrato, promising voice range, can-be-improved diction), Kevin Cheng Ka Wing (no complaints!), and Myolie Wu Hung Yi (more training needed but shows very promising talents) should be promoted instead. They are the ones who can sing.

 

Instead, TWINS (can’t sing), SISTER (cant sing), SHE (can’t sing), COOKIES (can’t sing) are all promoted instead.

22:02 Posted in Music , Ramblings | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this