my ajumma notes

Finally and (very) belatedly, I am reading Crossing the Threshold of Hope . Interesting, to say the least. At least from a Catholic point of view. I'm not sure how long I will take with it, though, since my brain processes serious books rather slowly... Wishing everyone a joyful Christmas.

So, no surprise that Spain won Davis Cup . Like the commentators, I too was happy to see Nadal retrieving, hitting into corners SO much more than in the last half year. Perhaps his bagel for Berdych will get him out of the longkang he has been in all these months. I'm sorry for Berdych that he had to be at the receiving end. Surely, he must have thought he had a bit of a chance during the 7-5 first set. Then from set 2, he must have been wondering, 'Why me?' Meanwhile, from Switzerland to Scotland to Serbia and Sweden, surely there must have been a collective groan, 'Oh man, is that beast back for good?' On Facebook, Nadal says: Please allow me to be very happy for this win. I know most of you are not Spanish but this is the win of my team and I am very happy for the win. Actually, I was even happier to see Handsome Mr Ferrer (whom almost no one really cares about) climb out of his 1-6, 2-6 hole to turn his match around . Sorry to Stepanek, of course. Hopefull...

I say, who would have thought - Del Potro versus Davydenko in the final , and I am missing all the action. But I'll be back on time for Davis Cup's Spain versus Czech Republic...

I am sure every victim-cum-beneficiary of the bilingual policy has something to say about learning Chinese. Here are some thoughts after reading the recent articles on the subject. 1. I didn't know that we were expected to master both languages 'equally well'. I thought Mandarin was supposed to be our 'second language' and treated it as such. Perhaps things changed when it was no longer called 'second language' but 'mother tongue'. 2. What is this about Chinese being too hard in the 70s? Sure, it was hard as anything but it is much worse now, I think. The kind of vocabulary the kids are expected to know is incredible. 3. Yes, there is something in the argument that listening and speaking should come first but ultimately, the kids still need to read and write and, tedious as it may be, you can't run away from practising writing. Like how you just have to memorise the times tables over and over again. 4. All credit going to my Chinese teach...

Oooh... Ana Ivanovic is in Singapore... Just making a random guess about where to spot her...

We were told in yesterday's ST that HDB resale prices are at a high. I guess there are some people who expect a resounding round of cheers whenever such news is reported. I wonder if they remember that there are many of us for whom such developments are of little comfort. Like when this 'high' means that your flat now costs $120, 000 less (as compared to $150,000 less) than the price you paid for it. I wonder if they realise that highlighting the current $3,000 - $12,000 range for the 'cash over valuation' is a joke when you paid, like, more than five times that amount. After so many years, I am still absolutely sore about having had to cough up what felt like a million dollars in cash. (not where I live; sorry, forgot where I got this picture from) I'm afraid I never quite believed that we paid for 'cheap', 'affordable' housing. Just cheaper, more affordable housing.

There was a girl There was a boy If they had met they might have found a world of joy... I was looking in my mum's kitchen cabinet and I found my Donny and Marie Aladdin flask! Ha, does anyone still have their Aladdin flasks from the 70s or 80s? I was so pleased my dad got this for me to bring home stuff from my Home Econs lessons. It is now sitting in my kitchen cabinet. Go back in time here... Donny and Marie singing a medley of their songs ... They sure look different and Donny is like twice his old size, I think. He looked like he could hardly move on stage. I found out that Morning Side of the Mountain was a 50s song by Tommy Edwards. Listen to him here and enjoy the corny pictures that go with the lyrics...

I have recovered from being temporarily at a loss for words. (Wonder who they were rooting for) So, who would have thought that it would be someone other than Federer winning the USO? Come to think of it, who would have thought: 1. it would be someone other than Federer winning the AO? 2. it would be someone other than Nadal winning the FO? 3. Andy Roddick would put up such a worthy challenge at the Wimbledon final? 4. Andy Murray would make it to none of this year's Slam finals? 5. Kuznetsova would win the FO? 6. Kim would come back? 7. Kim would win the USO? and so on... Well, although I wish that some of this year's results were not what they were, it's nice to have some unpredictability after years of highly predictable and boring results. Good to have healthy competition in the mix. Maybe there will be more surprises post-USO. After all, the year end stuff in the past did throw up unexpected matches like Nalbandian beating the top three, Gilles Simon beating Federer,...

Gasp... the big joke happened in the men's side, too. And, of course, there is no need for Federer to cry anymore.

Well done, Kim Clijsters! Here's one for all working mums, ha ha! A very, very big hand for Caroline Wozniacki, too. I'm glad she did not wither in the spotlight or against a Big Name. Either way, I would have been happy for the winner. This year had quite a few outbursts and meltdowns and these two distinguished themselves by remaining cool to the end. And they both look happy most of the time, too, which was really quite welcome, after the many frowning and stressed faces on both the men's and ladies' sides.

Well, well, the women's draw proved itself to be what everyone was saying it was - down in a very deep dump. But never mind, it has thrown up some teens who may be the ones to look at in years to come. And Kim is back!! But it will be a very big joke if any of these ladies wins the tournament. On the men's side, if Federer beats Djokovic in their semi (likely, no?), it will be all too boring if the other person in the final is anyone other than Nadal. Though the prospects of Federer-Nadal being a very exciting match are not that great, with one pai kah and rusty and the other on the roll... Sigh... No unexpected teens there. Only Cilic, 20 years old. All pics from the USO site.

Now, honestly, how many people (who are not foreign workers who have no choice) would actually not mind being ferried in a lorry, even with 'better' seating height restrictions, seating space, canopy and what not (some of which will take three years to install)? picture from here

I thought he would talk about the new immigrant-cum-foreign talent/worker issue... Hmmm... Does that mean we have to wait till next year's speech? Some months ago, I heard on 97.2 this phone-in discussion thingy about the decline in service standards. This man (sounded old) called in and practically ranted about foreigners from a certain country being (practically) single-handedly responsible for today's lousy service standards. It was quite amusing to hear him but of course the issue is not so amusing. Ok, I will not run away from the issue and I will specifically make some comments about people from the land of my ancestors. One, I honestly do not understand how one can be employed in the service sector without being able to speak at least some English. I wish this issue had been part of the discourse on racial harmony. I do not like having to speak Mandarin when I should be free to speak English. Two, I am not comfortable with the idea of giving new citizens time to learn En...

I enjoyed the music segments of this year's parade, namely the interesting montage of old national songs (but it must have been hard for people to sing along because the songs changed every other phrase or so!) and the music through the years section (or whatever it was called). And the classical-style arrangement for the national anthem at the end of the parade was lovely. I also like the Electrico song that some people have a problem with. Today, I found out about Mr Brown's version of the Electrico song. Funny... H a p p y N a t i o n a l D a y , a l l !

I guess this happens when you watch enough K drama (or TVB or Mediacorp or whatever). After a while, everyone one starts popping up in different series and you wonder where you last saw them. Chanced upon Summer Scent which is doing a rerun on KBS World. A supremely melodramatic serial from the 'old' days of K drama that I'm not following. It is just that it comes on immediately after 2 serials I am trying to follow (more on them another day!). BEFORE (the Summer Scent cast in 2003) : AFTER (and all grown up!) : Son Ye Jin in Spotlight - at least she got to do a character with more depth and spunk. Han Ji Hye in Likeable or Not - expressions still look the same but thankfully she doesn't have that blondish hair anymore. Ryu Jin in Capital Scandal - acting still flat, even when he was cast as such an amazing character. I have not seen Song Seong Heon, the male lead, in any other show. Think he was the best actor of the four. He was the only one who could do his...

Is technology taking the sport out of sports? Sounds like a GP essay question, ha ha. Those hi-tech suits Was just remarking to the husband the other day that Roma 2009 (World Swimming Championship) has become a farce. My reasons: First (and not too important), there are too many synchro events. Second, and much more important, the Arena and Jaked swimsuits helped produce records that no one will be able to break for maybe the next 5 years if they go back to using their old swimsuits. I was wrong! There was this Australian coach who said that those records will still be around in the next 40 years. Park Tae-Hwan (Olympic gold medallist), wearing his 'old' swimsuit, didn't even qualify for any finals. Frankly, the idea of taking 45 minutes to squeeze into that long-legged skin-tight suit is quite off-putting. But I guess for medals and records, there are things that people will do. Our Singaporean swimmers, apparently, are also hi-tech suit owners. And the plan is for the...

With uncharacteristic perseverance, and a grand departure from chick lit, I have just finished Noah Charney's The Art Thief . (Last book read was Shoe Addicts Anonymous . Pretty successful variation on the chick lit theme, I thought. Surprising.) The Art Thief is a very clever book. It is so clever that I think I have to read it again another day to see the full picture, ha ha. There was this reviewer who said that he had to keep writing down what happened to which piece of painting to keep up with the story. For me, there were just one too many of these: forgeries, thefts and double-crossings. As another reviewer put it, the book is 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma'. In other words, too smart for my slow brain. Nevertheless, it is an intriguing read (Rome-Paris-London plotline) and highly educational if one is interested in art history. I don't know much art history and it was wonderful for me that a lot of the 'educational' parts came from a fu...

Despite the final result, today's accolades and picture must go to Andy Roddick. He played so well this year. His last three matches were like a trip to the past and better because he has improved so much. Many people thought last year's final was the greatest Wimbledon final, but I'd say this year's was even closer, no? It just showed how far Roddick has pulled himself this year and was testimony to his the-match-is-not-over-till-the-last-point-is-played fighting spirit. After so many disastrous outings with Federer, to have pushed him so far yesterday was amazing. Of course I wish he (Roddick, of course) had won. He deserved to. I just read his post-match interview where he was asked about losing the second set. His answer, “You know, at that point, like everything else, there's two options: you lay down or you keep going. The second option sounded better to me." Well said. As for Federer, (grudging) congratulations again. I don' t care who thinks he...

I noticed that after Federer won the French Open, they started showing that Spirit of A Champion show about him again . Must have been because he won and they had nothing else about him to show or something. What struck me most about the show was how different he and his wife looked then and now. And what has struck me about this year's Wimbledon last 16 is how many old warriors and old champions are still in the draw. I must say I really admire the spirit of the ex-champions and older players. To soldier on during and after the rise of Federer and all the young pretenders is really something. I don't particularly like their on-court bratty behaviour and have no comments on their off-court lives (except that Hewitt's little girl is so cute now; too early to say for the boy) but when you see Roddick and Hewitt play these days, you can still see their passion and competitiveness. I used to routinely feel sorry for them in the days when they were routinely playing Federer ...

Am/was not a fan but of course I will acknowledge talent when I see and hear it. Michael Jackson was indeed a superbly talented singer (and dancer) and his contribution to the world of music is unparalleled. I like this clip of him singing Ben , with various people like Beyonce talking about him. And perhaps his most meaningful song (just my opinion), Man in the Mirror . May he rest in peace.

Rather amusing how people rushed to write letters praising and 'defending' Changi Airport when the news came out that it was ranked -*gasp* - third by Skytrax . Even CAAS got into the act . Aiyoh, third, so third, lah! It's not like we were ranked last or something. Beauty, airport rankings and many other things lie in the eyes of the beholder, so why be so uptight? For some reason, I have almost zero recollection of Incheon but the husband and the boy are very sure that it is a great airport. And we all agree that Chek Lap Kok is good. But with things lying in the eyes of beholders, in all likelihood, there may also be people who hate Incheon, Chek Lap Kok and Changi. Like Kansai Airport is #1 for me but I don't know if it was ever ranked #1 by Skytrax. And I liked Sukarno Hatta Airport (except that its length can be quite a problem - I practically had to run when I realised how far away my gate was) but nobody talks about it, do they? So, just be gracious and humble ...

I am suffering from Nadal-withdrawal-symptoms. So are the commentators, I think. They were all going on about Nadal said this, did that, Nadal should have been playing this match, etc. Well, let's see if they talk about him less as we move on from Wimbledon Day 1. But, it's so BORING and bland just thinking about the draw without him. I really, really hope some people (not named Federer) liven things up. And, of course, there is nothing much to say for the women's side, which has been boring, boring, boring since Justine left. Except that Serena has got a nice trench coat (again; but could only find pictures of last year's on the net, so for today I'll just have this picture of last year's Nadal). Wouldn't mind a coat like that if I were going for a cool holiday. Oh, and I wouldn't want to be in poor Safina's shoes. Everyone keeps harping on 'never won a slam before', 'always losing in the final'. Just like for pre-French Federer - ...

Perhaps the time has finally come for Andy Murray, who yesterday became the first British winner since 1938 at Queen's Club. Good. Hope this bodes well for his Wimbledon campaign. Young Andy Murray (from here ) It was certainly a more engaging final than that other history-making final that took place last week. Historic as it was, I can't say I 'enjoyed' watching it. Thought Soderling didn't play with enough of the urgency that was required by the occasion. Boring. It was topped only by the washout of a women's final (glad Kuznetsova won) the day before. Nevertheless, I will (grudgingly) say good job, Federer. Not everyone can win 14 Slams. Still, I must point out that he won it not beating Nadal or Djokovic... As for Nadal, I wonder if he should seriously consider quitting tennis altogether. I'm sure he wants nothing more than to play for another 10 years or so but if he has the knees of an old man (so we are told), he should take better care of himself. ...

So much hoo-ha about sexuality education in school these few weeks. I was surprised to read the following: 1. Parents said they did not receive information about what their children would be taught and did not know that they could opt out of the programme. Thought it is obligatory for schools to send out info and to give parents the opt-out form. We definitely got those handouts. The school listed the topics that would be covered, with a few sub-points about what would be discussed for each topic. I suspect that the school also tweaked the timing of the Science lessons to fall in line with the sexuality ed programme. Many schools did the topic of 'Reproduction' for P5 Science in Term 1 this year. However, the boy will only do it in Term 3, after the Growing Years lessons (i.e. the sexuality ed programme) have been completed. So, get them thinking about the social and moral perspectives first before learning about the scientific mechanics. Good idea, no? 2. A teacher said she(...

As I sat in the cab to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning of the day my father breathed his last, this song was playing on the radio. There are several interpretations of the meaning of the song but I thought that some of the lyrics were quite apt (although his name is not Danny). Oh Danny Boy the pipes, the pipes are calling from glen to glen and down the mountain side The summer's gone and all the roses dying 'tis you 'tis you must go and I must bide But come ye back when summer's in the meadow or when the valley's hushed and white with snow 'Tis I'll be there in sunshine or in shadow Oh Danny Boy, Oh Danny Boy I love you so And when ye come and all the flowers are dying If I am dead, as dead I well may be You'll come and find the place where I am lying And kneel and say an Ave there for me And I shall hear tho' soft you tread above me And all my grave will warmer sweeter be If you will bend and tell me that you love me Then I shall sleep...

The boy and I quite enjoy the current 9pm serial. Which Singaporean wouldn't be able to identify with themes such as school, homework, grades, tuition, Tiong Bahru market and dengue fever? Actually, I think 'My School Daze' is a rather lame version of the title. They could have used 'School Is Killing Me!', or 'My School Bag Is Killing Me' (milder) or 'My Back-breaking School Bag' (even milder) or something. I'm impressed by the acting of the kids (teens included) in the show. They are, on the whole, much more natural than some of the 'veteran' actors and actresses alongside them. Anyway, it is strange to see Ann Kok and Cynthia Koh acting as parents. I must have missed many years of local TV because the last time I saw them, they were doing 'sweet young thing' roles and now, they have suddenly become 'aunties'.

I think the ladies over at AWARE, both old and new, are doing themselves and women a disservice by dragging this business on and on. It sure doesn't do any favours for women when they are seen to be conniving, mean, vengeful, quarrelsome, and whatever else people must be thinking about them now. So, ladies, just stop it.

I guess many a tennis-fan blogger must have said a thing or two about the now-infamous racket-smashing by Federer by now. I am by no measure a fan of his. I will admit that I am pleased that the world order has changed and will continue to change. In fact, I am quite looking forward to the year-end rankings which, if things go as expected, may see him slide to something like #4. He has been a tennis god and role model for so long for so many and although he wasn't/isn't so for me, I don't want racket-smashing and such to be the final images I see of him. Hence, I would like to put here this cute picture of a very young Federer. I hope people will remember him for his tennis and what he has done for the game. Let's leave the racket-hitting and -throwing and yelling to Safin, Roddick, Gonzalez, et al. Got the picture from here .

It is nice to see young people take a social interest in life around them. Hence, I enjoy reading letters in the Forum by students, such as this young man (? - think the writer is male), although I do not always agree with their logic. As it is, I do not agree with several things he wrote about but let me not go into that. In fact, I think he should be applauded for having a mind of his own and the guts to write to the national press, not to mention his enthusiastic learning attitude. What I want to say is that I couldn't help feeling sad that he his love for the Chinese language is so entwined with his consciousness that he is learning the language for exam purposes. He wrote of reading more Chinese books, but for the purpose of writing better compositions for the exam. Also, for someone who, as he says, reads 'voraciously', I am surprised that his teachers did/do not encourage him to develop his own voice and style in writing. Surely he has the language competence to do s...

There's an article today in TODAY, 'Are we ungracious, or just shy?' Couldn't help but laugh... I'm sure there are many shy people in Singapore. I'm sure there are many gracious people in Singapore. And I'm sure there are many ungracious people in Singapore as well. However, does being shy make one behave in an ungracious way? I do not think the example of 'shy' people not giving up seats is a particularly enlightening one. Sure, there is the possibility of being rebuffed and 'made to look stupid'. But it's all in the mind, isn't it? Why should you feel 'stupid' if someone refuses the seat you offered? And if you are rebuffed, just sit back down, lah. If you have the 'courage' to publicly offer your seat, you must have enough thick-skinnedness to ignore the rebuff. But I do agree with the sociologist who said that "If you don't want it (the seat offered to you), say 'Thank you, but I don't need it....

Confessions of A Shopaholic was fun. And it's always nice to have a young man with a British accent in the show, ha ha. During my habitual pondering on trivial matters, it struck me that chick flicks have a lot in common with the kind of K drama I watch. So it finally dawned on me that these K shows are just chick flicks in another language and culture. Ha ha, am I profound or what... Some people thought Sam Soon was like a Korean Bridget Jones. I don't really agree but of course there are a few similarities in their characters. I recently watched Spotlight and there you have Woo-jin, the broadcast journalist, which was what Bridget Jones was too. And then there is Kim Sun-ah (Sam Soon) in When It's Night , acting as a Sam Soon-like character but in a museum-national treasures setting... So everything seems to be related to everything... There is also that top-of-the-building scene, you know, when the guy or girl goes to the rooftop to reflect on something (usually bad) ...

Ho ho, I wonder if people are having a nice discussion about dialects in language class. I can more or less imagine what they are saying. Anyway, I do not agree with the various 'theories' that have been spoken of. I am not going to bother going into the theories that will be taught in the language class but I shall just list some anecdotal 'evidence' of my own. I found Mandarin hard and it was not because of dialects because I am hardly a dialect user. Neither did I dislike Mandarin because it was hard. In fact, I had very good teachers in primary school so I appreciated it although it was hard for me. The husband was and still is a prolific dialect user. He had no problems with Mandarin. In fact, As in Mandarin were practically a way of life for him. The boy was a prolific dialect user (rare for his age) in his early years. He did very well in Mandarin in lower primary. Today, he is a much less prolific dialect user (but still a dialect user and still rare for his age...

The title of the article was 'A link between gaming and violence?' The article showed that the link between gaming and violence is tenuous in many cases. TNP? Tabloid? No, our very own Sunday Times . Tsk, tsk... Instead of wasting their time and effort trying to come up with a 'thought provoking' title, the newspaper would serve us better with more insightful and meaningful reporting. I really thought that this article was just cashing in on recent unfortunate events, and bordered on the sensational. It started with 'Three gamers were in the news last week for the wrong reasons'. From what we have been publicly told, however, only one of the three actually did something 'violent'... Why don't they go and find out if the Singaporean lady who hired killers to shoot someone in Phuket is a gamer?! So... Can we have more helpful research into the social impact of gaming (and not just the 'violence' link... or non-link...)? And more insights into i...

I don't know if it's just me but there seem to be more articles in the papers these days reporting people stating the obvious. Nothing else to report or what? In yesterday's Sunday Times, there was this article entitled 'Make roads safer for the elderly, say experts'. Ground-breaking, isn't it? The paper interviewed the elderly and experts on the issue of elderly pedestrians and their road-crossing habits and came to this intelligent conclusion: "Most felt that pedestrian crossing lights should stay green longer, and that there should be more traffic light crossings instead of overhead bridges." Duh. The problem of the elderly jaywalking is nothing new. The fact that older people take longer to cross the road is nothing new. The fact that older people prefer road crossings to overhead bridges is nothing new (Wah, don't say older people. I also avoid overhead bridges.) This guy from the National Safety Council so kindly said that "many elderly...

Today, I want to say 'It's okay' to two groups of people. First, the parents who were interviewed about the possibility of there being no exams for primary 1 and 2 kids (Sunday Times article). A significant number actually want exams for their children. I think it is really okay for young children not to have exams. It's okay if they don't take exams seriously at first. It's okay if they only have four years (i.e. minus primary 1 and 2) of 'exam practice'. I mean, does 'practising' taking exams for another two years actually help you do better at the PSLE? It's okay to have mini topical 'tests' (in place of semestral exams) IF they are designed with the children in mind. I'd rather they were 'assessments' of different types. You don't need a pen-and-paper test to see what/how much/how well a kid has learnt something. But I do agree with the person who said that if nothing changes for the remaining four years of prim...

My, it took some people a mightily long time to decide that (among other things): primary school should be less exam-oriented, primary school kids should have more PE, art and music lessons, fun activities for singles need not be confined to people of a certain age group or academic qualification, etc. The changes can't come a moment too soon, especially the ones for the primary school kids. However, they will be much too late for the boy, who will probably have left primary school by the time things change. How sad. Well, I have concluded, in Week 4 of Term 1, 2009, that Primary 5 is really quite jia lat . And who was it who said that the new Chinese syllabus was easy?! Aiyoh... The serious aspects of life aside, my million dollar questions today are: Is Ana still in Melbourne? Will she turn up to watch today's semi-final? Ha ha, tune in to Spain versus Spain, leftie versus leftie .

So much hoo-ha over a rich man spending his money. I didn't read the article that offended so many people so I only have 2 things to say about it, which are: (a) if I had the chance I also want to learn a thing or two from Le Cordon Bleu , and (b) that is where Sam Soon trained to be a patissiere in the show. Anyway, there are so many articles today about how much people will save with the new budget and all. Good for everyone. And then there's the Merrill Lynch guy who, in a TT-like move, spent US$1, 400 on a waste paper basket and US$5,852 on a coffee table, among other things. That is quite amazing. But what is also amazing is that such a waste paper basket can actually be bought. Then there's Mr Thaksin who is using up his non-frozen assets staying in a five-star Dubai hotel and wondering how he is going to continue staying at such a place. Well... Finally, I was amused to read about Serena Williams, who has earned US$22 million in tennis money in her career, 'cutti...

With Sharapova not in attendance, there is hardly a pretty day or night tennis dress to be seen. Boring... So far, my favourite outfits are Nadal's speckled shorts (day and night) and Djokovic's olive green (that's how it looks to me) theme. Too lazy to search for the photos online. So, it is Federer versus Safin tomorrow. Watched the 2005 AO footage (was it last week?) and was reminded of how brilliant Safin was. I guess the important word here is 'was' . Then again, a lot of what can be said about Federer probably has to be said in the past tense too...

So, the psychological war has begun... What's with Federer and his bipolar-like comments on Andy Murray? One minute he is complimenting him and then he is making these disgruntled comments about Murray being a favourite for the Australian Open (which should not be a surprise, what). He should just concentrate on swinging his racket properly and keep his mouth shut. It might save him some embarrassment should he lose to Murray (again), Nadal (again), Djokovic (again), some unknown, or anyone else for that matter. Or just keep to complimentary or neutral comments. Like how Nadal cleverly sidesteps trouble and controversy by saying very bland (though realistic) things such as everyone starts the year with zero. Or say nothing, like Djokovic. Well, maybe he is saying stuff but no one seems to be reporting anything coming from his mouth so it's almost like he is saying nothing. Anyhow, it is great that we are just a few days away from the start of the AO. Was watching footage from p...

I must confess that I wasn't one of the dunno how many million who were glued to the TV for the finale of The Little Nonya . I don't think I watched more than 10 minutes of the serial though I was initially curious about how the show would turn out. Well, as things turned out, I did not get the feel of jolly Bibiks and Dondang Sayang and such. Instead, it felt very much like a TCS melodrama... I liked the beautiful sets and costumes, though. Lovely. Oh well, I guess my not liking the show makes no difference because there were the dunno how many million who beat all records by tuning in to it. Actually, I'm not really one for epics. I did not survive either Oshin or Jewel of the Palace , with which Nonya has been compared. Not that they weren't interesting. Jewel was interesting but too long and slow-moving for me. Oshin was alright, I guess, but there was too much suffering. I mean, the poor girl just had so many unfortunate incidents happen to her that it became...

What a pleasant surprise it was to find that there was 'live' tennis on TV from New Year's Day. People are playing at the Capitala tournament in Abu Dhabi and the Hopman Cup in Perth. Everyone looks kind of rejuvenated (which is much more than I can say for myself) though I'm sure Federer would have hoped for a better start to the year. But what an excellent start for Murray. Enter Nadal in his new look (which I cannot find a picture of online). I have to say the look reminds me of Bjorn Borg. Plus, the shirt with sleeves looks too tight for him. And the shorts look a little too tight as well. Actually, I think anything with sleeves would somehow look too small for him, ha ha. Anyway, our computer, after several spurts of normal behaviour, has finally gone. Won't be getting our new one just yet so will be surviving on this other one (not actually ours) every now and then.