Merry Christmas!

Did you know?

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December.

Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.

Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.

...shoulda known... ONLY women would be able to drag a fat-ass man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.

And on that note: for those who celebrate, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Image credit: Happy Christmas Santa by Kurhan

Gobble gobble, foil and (apple) crumble...

... turkey turn and casserole bubble?



Here's wishing everyone in -- or of -- the USA a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!


(with apologies to William Shakespeare, LoL!)

Self-Love Day: let's start off slow, shall we?

Ah, Valentine's Day... a day when florists probably make enough $$ to cover the rest of the year; when jewelers also make a killing because "diamonds are a girl's best friend"; when restaurants and chocolatiers rub their hands in glee at the highly marked-up purchases made by people totally in the thrall of Hallmark, consumerism and lack of independent thought.

Ummm can you tell I don't "subscribe" to V-Day? LoL!

Instead, let's explore Self-Love Day, shall we? Snackiepoo's brainchild moves into its fourth year (but I admit this is the first time I'm seeing it; again thanks to Karl!)



Here’s how the whole thing works:

• Grab yourself a banner (you can find another one here if you're male / don't like this one).
• Post that banner and then tell us all something that you really like love about yourself (hence the “self-love”, duh!).
• Ask or beg your readers to post one thing that they too love about you!!! If your blog friends are nice, you shouldn’t have to beg…much. (If you don't have many readers, well, ooops! That would be me!!)
• Enjoy!

So yeah, if you're interested in spreading the love, go ahead and participate (whether it's dropping a comment here, or doing your own self-love post, or both), and drop Hilly a line or a trackback so that she know you participated too, k?

Me? One thing I *love* about me?

"Love"??!

Ugh.

I shy away from that term.

But I'll push myself a little out of my funk...

... so I'll play it safe (hence this post's title!).

*ahem!*

I love how I'm kicking Kosh's butt in racquetball, with only minimal use of my 2-bounce handicap. Not that I'm reveling in mopping the court up with him or anything, teehehee! It's more an appreciation that whatever my current weight/fitness level, I do have some level of eye-hand coordination and chasing-down-blue-balls ability that transfers over from tennis. I do wonder how this will impact my tennis - if ever I find folk to play with here in Springfield once the weather warms up again...

Okay ... so the ball is now in your court (haahahaa see how I made a pun / segue?) - care to drop me a loving comment? :)


... and finally: GONG XI FA CHAI!! It's also Chinese New Year!!

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Chez Naranek's year-end newsletter

Life After Work be taking a blogging break until 2010 rolls around.

2010 by ilco

In the meantime, here is chez Naranek's first-ever year-end newsletter that we just sent out to those on our snail mail list, so *SPOILER ALERT* for those who (think they) are going to be receiving something from us, because I'm sharing it with my dear blog readers (including those who read this via Facebook!) ... just please excuse the [revised / redacted parts], k?

Names and locations have been changed to protect the not-too-innocent :)

= = =



= = =

Seasons Greetings from Springfield, IL!

The past several years have been quite tumultuous for [chez Naranek], and we have sorta lost touch with many of you – so we are caving-in and sending out our first attempt at a “year-end newsletter” to bring y’all up to speed and (re-) establish contact.

As many of you know, we have recently relocated after about three years in Chicago. [Kosh] had begun surgery residency at [a hospital in Chicago], while Lynne jumped through the hoops to establish permanent residency status, and started laying down roots with her meditation group, random language and pottery classes, and some volunteering. [Things were rather uncertain for a while there, but things worked out such that we are now in Springfield, and should be here for a few years]... That is, unless the world DOES end on December 21^st 2012... :D

We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary in September by completing our move from Chicago to Springfield (our second move in only 3 months!). We’re settling in to town now, and most of the boxes are emptied – although the décor is still predominantly dorm-chic. When we build up enough stamina for another move we’ll consider buying a place down here, but for now we are very happily renting a turn-of-the-century apartment in a historical neighborhood of Springfield. [Psycho kitty] is also settling in well – although she still hisses at the couple of outdoor cats that come peeking in our kitchen window.

Work has kept [Kosh] pretty busy, but thanks to Lynne’s twittering we have managed to meet up with a number of locals and experience some facets of Springfield, such as the local music scene and the Horseshoe. We look forward to exploring some other local interests like all things Lincoln, Route 66, and the Frank Lloyd Wright house. After the hustle and bustle of Chicago, we have found Springfield to be a pleasant change of pace.

We hope you all have a great year-end season, and send our very best wishes for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Ma’al Hijrah and/or any other holy-days you may (or may not) be celebrating at this time. Please keep in touch and let us know how y’all are doing! We are both available on Facebook, or you can read about our adventures on Lynne’s blog at azlynne1972.blogspot.com, while Kosh posts occasionally to [bleeeep!] – we’d be happy to “see” you there!

Best wishes for the New Year – have a great 2010!!

Kosh & Lynne Naranek

If you think you should be on the snail mail year-end list for 2010, please drop me a line, k? In the meantime, please celebrate safely and responsibly... See y'all on the flip side!

Gobble gobble gobble!

Here's wishing everyone in -- or of -- the USA a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!




Gobble gobble gobble!

Raaaaaaarrrrrrmadhan is ovarrrrrrrrr!

Ahoy there, me mateys!

t' computer be now up and runnin'! Arrrrrrr! ... and just in time for International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

... although for me, it's TYPE like a pirate day, LoL!



... shiver me timbers, ain't me keyboard a wee bit overkill compared t' this Pirate version above?

(and why do I read this in me head with an Irish-like accent?)

Have a good weekend, everybody!

And for those celebratin' it, happy Aidil Fitri!
(& please don't overeat!!)

Cheers,
*lynne*

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have a merry maury christmas, y'all!

Remember, it's not about materialism or commercialism, but about celebrating an important birth (even though we all know Jesus wasn't born at this time of year, and this event was hijacked from the pagan winter solstice celebration, etc etc etc).


H/T: Ritualistic (image source)

To those who believe/celebrate, I wish you a Merry and Peaceful Christmas. And to all, have a great rest-of-the-year! May 2009 be a challenging yet fulfilling year for us all :)

If you liked this post, please consider subscribing to my feed, and checking out my other blog: a malaysian abroad

... this just in ...

.. so it's been quite a few months of not knowing whether I was going to be an aunt or uncle... finally got news...

I'm an aunt!!

Oh wait... that doesn't quite work... umm... let's try again:

it's a girl!

... that's about all the news I know... but congrats to bro & sil... and my parents are now grandparents... whoohooo that's another weight off my back LMAO :D

St Marians' recap

... I've been out of the blogosphere for a while... and yesterday/today I'm slowly making my rounds again... I notice two of my three classmates who blog have had introspective pieces posted in the last month or so ... one reflecting on how her kids are missing out on so much positive interaction with her father, if he'd lived longer... and the other wondering about change, trust, and life in general. One of them also had a brief moment of joy then sadness when a pregnancy didn't last long. My thoughts and prayers go out to the both of you, and your families: don't let the past haunt you or bring you down - take what you can from the experience, learn from it, then move on, enjoy life, k? I'm always happy to see introspection going on tho, I've always felt people in general do too little of it. But that's my take on life. Anyways, one more thing: the 3rd of my blogging schoolmates? She's preggers! Congrats, dearie!

A ratty new year

I was born in 1972, making me not just a Rat, but a Water Rat.

Today, it's another Year of the Rat, this time, the Earth Rat.

Hopefully this signals good things coming my way this year.

To those who celebrate
KONG HEE FATT CHOY

- or, as it seems to be spelt these days -

GONG XI FA CHAI

macca = 65

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y
P A U L M c C A R T N E Y!

For the longest time, June 18th was a special day simply because it was Paul's birthday. Another significant milestone occurred around June 18th 1990: I left for studies in the U.S., free of all shackles of family and society. Around June 18th 1995, I started my reluctant journey back to Malaysia to start work. Both significant milestones made all the more significant because by no conscious planning of my own, they were remembered, were made significant because of the date they shared.

And on June 18th 2007?

No, nothing of significance going on, really.

Will watch last night's tape of The 4400's season premiere. If the show were real life, I'd be one of those willing to take that 50:50 risk of death and inject myself with promicin in order to develop an ability of some sort, an ability that would help bring humankind to the next level of development, of evolution.

Will attend a writing workshop this evening, just a one time thing, exploring the scifi/fantasy genre. I'm not throwing myself into pursuing any writing career or anything. yet. just getting a feel, looking for some prompts to get me to write in a more focused manner than what is required for a blog. see what comes up. I know I can write. But can I sustain it, polish it, refine it to a publishable level? And in what field? Just because I enjoy fantasy doesn't mean I can produce it. I have many stories to tell about me, but any memoirs, if ever produced, I could never allow to be published until certain people are no longer around to feel threatened/offended by its contents. perhaps they can be transformed into fiction, with a dark twist? i have some ideas running around, I'm not willing to commit myself to anything yet, though. Maybe I've learned my lesson at the wrong time, LoL!

Will continue to devour Sebastian: this book has so much depth to it, perhaps unknowingly? Will have to look at other series by this author to determine that. in the meantime, I am throughly enjoying the exploration of the necessity for Dark to exist, for it be in balance with Light... yes yes a topic explored in pretty much all fantasy tales, but this one puts it in the context of worlds that respond to your heart's desire, and we all know our hearts resonate to both Light *and* Dark forces... I still have to tell myself it's *not* a romance novel - whaddaya expect, though, that droolworthy cover is yummy!

/peace out

Thaipusam

Recently, it was the Hindu festival of Thaipusam.

"The festival commemorates both the birthday of Lord Murugan (also Subramaniam), the youngest son of Shiva and Parvati, and the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (lance) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadam."

Even though I grew up in Malaysia, I've never attended any of the celebrations. So TV Smith & Lu Sean's coverage of this year's event in KL/Batu Caves was an excellent way of seeing what I missed out on. Do check out the pix :-)

btw - happy b-day rik.

more New Year celebrations?

It's probably an extremely slow week for folks back home in Malaysia....

• Su 29 & Mo 30 Jan= Chinese New Year
  
• Tu 31 Jan = Awal Muharram = the Muslim New Year
  
• since CNY Day 1 was on a Sunday, it's "carried forward" to Wed 1 Feb
  
• ... but for those in the Federal Territory (mainly KL), Wed 1 Feb = FT Day
  
• so for those in the FT, CNY Day 1 is carried forward all the way to Thu 2 Feb!
  
• oh, and for those who employers actually provide a day off on the Friday before a Saturday public holiday, they got Fri 27 Jan off too!


... That's pretty much a week off of work.... I bet KL's a breeze to drive through at this time!!! ... Probably no difference in drivers' attitudes, tho, no matter what the occasion :p

Anyways, the fact that CNY & the Muslim New Year happen to coincide this year, I wanna highlight something that has bugged me for ages, but I've yet to get a satisfactory answer. Why, oh why, does the Muslim calendar, which is a lunar calendar just like the Chinese or Jewish one, NOT correct for the discrepancy between lunar & solar years?

It makes no sense to me to have such an uncorrected calendar, seeing as the lunar year has a creep of 10 - 11 days: If I wanted to commemorate a battle that was won in mid-summer, I think I'd continue to commemorate it on mid-summer, not 10 days earlier every year until one day I'm celebrating it in the middle of winter. Just doesn't make sense.

Other cultures, already knowing of this creep, already have some sort of correction mechanism in place.. that is why Hanukkah always falls around X-mas time, even if it's not always the same date every year. And that is why CNY always falls sometime between late Jan & mid-Feb. They use a lunar calendar that corrects itself to line up with the solar year.

There's no way the Muslims of that time didn't know of this creep,... so why no correction??? Whenever I've raised this question, I get the feeling people think I'm blaspheming. Their answer = that's how it's been, you should not question. Sorry mate, that doesn't jive with me - I actually want to understand, not just swallow hook line and sinker everything that people try to shove down others' throats. Unfortunately, mosr people I know, especially when it comes to religion, prefer not to think or understand, and just do, thinking that blind unthinking obedience is what is required of them. It's really sad.

Sigh.

Anyway, moving on to *another* type of religion, kinda... it looks like I fail, LOL!

Ha ha! You don't know the difference between an Andorian and a Vulcan.
Your rank suits you: you are a space cadet.

Okay, okay, I admit I haven't seen *any* DS9 or Voyager since 1995, so couldn't answer anything relating to those shows... and I hardly know TOS.. only some TNG recently, and of course maybe the last 2 years of ST:ENT. And don't ask me the make/model number of the ships - they were all names Enterprise, as far as I'm concerned!! :p

BUT... i DO know the diff between the Andorians (blue creatures with snail's antennae sticking out of their heads) and Vulcans (those pointy-eared logical creatures!!)

Plllbbblblblbbbbbbbbb!!

Btw, thanx SnglGuy for the quiz link :-)

Weeweechu!

One beautiful December evening Pedro and his girlfriend Rosita were sitting by the side of the ocean. It was a romantic full moon, when Pedro said, "Hey, mamacita, let's play Weeweechu."

"Oh no, not now, lets look at the moon" said Rosita.

"Oh, c'mon baby, let's you and I play Weeweechu. I love you and it's the perfect time," Pedro begged.

"But I wanna just hold your hand and watch the moon."

"Please, corazoncito, just once, play Weeweechu with me."

Rosita looked at Pedro and said, "OK, one time, we'll play Weeweechu."




Pedro grabbed his guitar and they both sang.....




"Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, Weeweechu a Merry Christmas,

"Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year."

Here's wishing you a Merry Christmas...
... and get your mind out my gutter!

Ah yes, we've passed the Winter Solstice, or Midwinter, recently. The days will start getting longer again. A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, in simpler times, when John & Jane Q Public had no idea about the rotation of Earth on its axis and its orbit around the sun, it was around this time that everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief - the world was NOT coming to an end, or at least, it was NOT going to be plunged into eternal night!

A celebration was definitely called for!

A festival which was later usurped adopted by the Roman Emperor Constantine in one of many changes made to bring more people into the fold.

So, no, Jesus was not born around this time 2005 years ago.

But it's been called Christmas for so long, I just consider it as the "official" birthday of Jesus as marked by the Christians. Doesn't detract from the "spirit of the season"... after all, reminders of life and vitality in a time of cold and darkness are always a cause for celebration, eh?

Of course, when you are in a country like Malaysia, that barely experiences changes in seasons (hot, hotter, hottest? humid, humider, humidest? rain, ranier, raniest?) let alone in length of days, such observances are simply not something traditionally done. All the fuss about X-mas and its white (as in snow) decorations in countries close to the Equator is a fantastic example of commercialism at its ugliest best.

Then there's the political correctness fuss about not offending non-Christians during this time of year by wishing people "Merry Christmas" and instead referring to the Holiday Season, sending people Season's Greetings, and whatever. Hmmph! I think that all this dancing around not wanting to offend people has gotten way out of hand... I come from a country that has public holidays for not only Muslim holy days but those for Chinese, Indian, Christian, Bhuddist, etc .. Christmas is just one of many holy days that Malaysians mark, if not celebrate. But on the other hand, I can also understand getting irritated at people who just assume that *everyone* "celebrates" Christmas, y'know?

Anyways. Here's Kenny Sia's take on the topic.

Here's a selection of other festivals that occur around this time of year:

Winter Solstice-related stuff
1. Dong zhi - the Chinese winter solstice festival
   
2. Karachun - the Slavic pagan winter solstice festival
   
3. Saturnalia - the Roman winter soltice festival
   
4. Yalda - Birth of Sun God Mehr - the Persian winter solstice festival
   
5. Modranect, or Mothers' Night - the Saxon winter solstice festival
   
   Others...
   
6. Hanukkah - eight day festival commemorating the miracle of the candles after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem
   
7. Kwanzaa - a week-long observance observed mostly in the United States from December 26 to January 1 honoring African-American heritage. (something more at The Ranting Raven's View From The Nest article "Sacrilege?"
   
8. Festivus - for the rest of us! ;-) had to see if anyone was paying attention!

Have a good weekend, everybody!

happy deepavali

I believe today is Deepavali: the Indian Hindu Festival of Lights. Read more about it HERE to expand your cultural knowledge :D

~~
Activities for today:
1. 40mins very low impact aerobics at home
2. 10mins 2x15 bicep curls, shoulder press, tricep curls
3. 10min walk to library
4. 10min walk back from library

I feel kinda limited cos a package is supposed to arrive today: Stephen King's Dark Tower#7, paperback version, which just got released. If I'm not there to receive it, it'll be a bother to get a re-delivery but worse if I have to somehow go pick it up myself, what with no car and all :p

~~
Aaaanyways : I am a little behind on e-mails ... patience... it's the holiday season anyway in KL so I bet lots of you are not going to be online for almost a week :p What with Deepavali followed by Aidil Fitri, I know KL's a ghost town right now :D

~~
And after yesterday's wet wet halloween, today is a bright bright bright sunshine-y day! At times like these I wish the psycho kitty was a dog and not a cat, cos going for extended walks with a doggie in this weather would be just awesome!

Kosh kinda infected me with a malaise of not wanting to walk unless we actually have a destination in mind, teehee, not really his fault lah but yeah, it's not like in my grandma's swiss village where the walk up the mountain will bring you to a little farm/restaurant where you can get a bite to eat/drink before making your way down again... here's all flat anyway... bleah...

But hey, with the nice weather that's forecasted to last for at least a week, maybe I can get a round or two of tennis?? Gotta call & try and set that up... :D

~~
Yeah, nothing much else to "report" or blog about at this time... will be checking a few books out of the library to keep me company. Oh - I don't feel so guilty anymore about returning the WoT#11 late: I checked and saw that another copy has been due back since Oct 20th! Yay, I'm not as mean as that person :D

Okay.. signing off now.. type at y'all in a day or two :)

... a sign??

Arriving back from visits on Easter weekend, I was vegetating in front of the tv when I caught a news article about yet another quake off of Sumatera. The seismic map shown seemed to indicate that Malaysia was pretty much "protected" by Sumatera itself, so I didn't think twice about it.... until a day later, when I finally unearthed my handphone from my bag, and saw sms'es from my brother and mom about how the apartment building in PJ was SWAYING and that they were evacuating the building...

oh my....

The impact on Malaysia/KL occurred around midnight - in a way that was an ideal time... After all, if it had struck during the daytime, ALL high-rise buildings, including the world's tallest twin towers, would have been choc-full of people... I can just imagine the panic that would have ensued within KL's Golden Triangle! At least with it striking late night, families could escape together - no kids stuck at home with a maid who freezes in terror, y'know?

Oh - and at least this quake did NOT create a tsunami to go with it...

Once again I must state that I am surprised at Malaysia experiencing such tremors... It's so rare for us to feel them, and now it's what - 2 in 3 months?

And what *is* it about that faultline that has shaken us twice in three months?

And how about this - for those who want "signs": One struck the day after Christmas, and this recent one just after Easter, which happen to be the main "Christian" events. Is "God" trying to tell us something?

For those who picked up on it - yes, I put Christian in quotes - you know why, right? When the roman Emperor Constantine attempted to consolidate his power base through Christianity, some "reverse engineering" was done to superimpose Christian events on preexisting ones. After all, so long the common people still had their few festivals and days of cheer that helped alleviate the drudgery of life during those times, it didn't really matter *which* deity was officially worshipped.... Quantity was more important than quality.... hmmmm, that sounds soooo familiar....

1. "Christmas" - it's NOT Jesus' birthday... if you remember that December 22nd is the shortest day of the year, and if you can put yourselves into the shoes of the people of ancient times who did not know about earth spinning around its axis and around the sun, every year around this time they saw the days getting shorter and shorter (and of course the nights getting longer and longer) and they would wonder it the end of the world was coming... then december 23, 24th would show that the days' decline wsa reversed - days were going to get longer again, whoohoo, so they would end up having a huge festival to celebrate the triumph of the light over the dark... THAT is what is celebrated, not Jesus' birthday... Oh - a side note - nowadays it's referred to as Krismas in Malaysia, but I still remember when I was younger, it being called Hari Natal.

2. "Easter" - there is the resurrection story... which just so happens in the start of springtime... when the earth shrugs off the last feelers of winter, and the process of greening the earth happens... the time to celebrate rebirth, copulation, fertility... and the festival is actually named after Eostre of the Dawn, tho there is also a Hindu deity Usha with a similar function. The symbols associated with Easter - eggs, rabbits - are all fertility symbols. btw - did you ever wonder about the practice of providing "bunga telur" at Malay weddings??

I hope I taught some people something new today....

Peace.

"co*k-a-doodle-doo!" crowed the rooster

I'm dreaming of a white... Chinese New Year! That's right folks... it snowed last night... so I've got a white CNY here in Urbana, Illinois.

Here's wishing my Chinese readers a prosperous rooster year: Gong Xi Fa Chai!

an update on other stuff:

The snow is going to put a dampener on my almost daily walks I had last week... then again last week was unseasonably warm... I'd walk over to a newarby Perkin's, or Taco Bell, etc to "earn" my meal... or at least burn off a bit of the calories I'd be ingesting anyway... :p

The entire household (apartmenthold?) is battling a cold... it's one of those yes-and-no situations, where the virus has obviously slipped thru your body's defenses, and yet your body is still able to fight it... so it's not a full-blown cold: I just have a slight sore throat, plus occasional sneezing, and am generally feeling iccky. Even the cat is sneezing!! :-( And my back kinda twinged at me when I was carrying a load of laundry to the laundromat... also another yes-and-no situation where i know the back hurts, and it hits me at random times, but in general I seem ok... will try to get back into my exercise routine, and make sure I don't aggravate anything tho :-D

Coming up... err... sometime before September ;-) An excellent exhibition is going on at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry: Any of you heard of the controversial Body Worlds exhibit, which uses real human bodies, plasticised, such that the intricate muscles, bones, brain, etc can be seen? Here's a good link to start with. I will see it before it leaves Chicago! I will! I will!

Oh, and for those who have been asking when I'm coming back... i have my flight booked, arriving in KUL 6am on April 6th 2005. Once I recover from jet-lag, will have my work cut out for me: taxes, scholarship refund, house sale. Ugh. But hey, I do wanna catch up with y'all too, okay? So if you're not sure if I have your contact info or not: practice prevention, and email/sms me, ok? Hope to see y'all then...

In the meantime: ** peace **