6) Ghastly Greetings; My Rambling Halloween Tale

This is my rambling Halloween tale, where I prattle on about my complicated relationship with chocolates... and about kids being scared of me cause they think I'm a scary Halloween character... and maybe I am cause who knows what I look like nowadays; I have a feud with my mirror... I also ramble on quite a bit about Tyler Hoechlin, Game of Thrones, and passionately defend Derek Hale and his growling ways... Not really sure why I talk about them in a Halloween post... Something to do with wolves... werewolves... abs... yeahhhhh I don't really know... I ramble on and go off topic quite a lot in this post... Sugar high... Also, I may be a little weird... #whenUeat2muchChocolate

  

 "Every day is Halloween, isn't it? 

For some of us"

~ Tim Burton

Halloween is not really a big deal here in my Asian country... 

We don't have any Halloween parties... or "Trick or Treat"... or dressing up in costumes... I mean we do have parties where people dress up... but we call it fancy dress parties...

A few years ago, my company's annual dinner's theme was a Halloween like party... We had princes, princesses and witches... 

I wasn't trying to be anything... I just wore a long dress... Which I thought would be enough...

But apparently no... Because my sister, makes the trip back home so she could “get me ready” for the dinner which translates to "forcing me to wear make-up"... 

So being scared of my younger sister... I reluctantly sat... occasionally pouting... as my sister put all kinds of things on my face... and made me wear jewellery and stuff... 

While my younger brother also came down to support me, whistling and telling me that I looked good... 

He lied... I looked like an orc... An orc with make-up...  

And when I went to the annual dinner, 

in my sister's attempt to turn me into a princess,

and my brother's attempt to convince me that I looked like a princess,

my colleagues thought I was aiming for "clown in a dress"... 

 

 My reaction too when no one thought I looked good...

Hmmm... Maybe I should have gone as an orc instead... 

Oh well, when orcs try to play dress-up... 

I guess I don't just look like ONE scary monster... but like multiple scary monsters all rolled into one...  

I'm like an ogre on a see-the-dentist day... 

Like my entire family... Parents.. Siblings... are great.... I'm like the weed among a family of roses... The one with faulty genes... The rotten potato...

A zombie... And not the cute warm bodies kind... but the ugly Harry Potter Troll kind... especially when I'm hungry... or exhausted...

Sometimes I wonder if I had a sorting hat for life... would I even make it into Hufflepuff... I ain't no Neville, whose courage earned him a spot in Gryffindor...

When you attempt to look like Anna from Frozen... but end up being Annabelle instead... 

Ok Ok.... Sorry....  Don't mean to hate on orcs... or my looks... Or Annabelle...

I actually don't mind my looks but grateful to be blessed with a family, who have always been there for me... 

During the good times and the bad, I can always count on them...

Ok my Toretto moment over.... 

Back to Halloween...

So no Halloween parties or Trick or Treat, but we do have our fair share of spooky tales... 

Recently I read this story... of a few towns here in Malaysia, being terrorized by knocks on the door... in the dead of the night... 

Really loud knocks... yet nothing visible showing up on the CCTV.... 

Creepy much! Just typing about it here is already making my hairs stand on end... 

Sorry Casper, I don't think the thing-that-knocks wants to be your friend...

 

We don't have friendly neighbourhood ghosts like Casper... but we do have unique scary creatures like the toyol and orang minyak... 

Literal translation is oil man – naked man, covered in oil, who practices some kind of black magic and goes after virgins for strength, power or something... 

I don't really know the whys... I heard that they go after virgins and I fainted... 

Which is why when there's a case of orang minyak in the kampung (rural town), the young, unmarried women of the household won't be allowed out alone especially at night...

Sometimes I wonder if these old wives' tales were to encourage women in the days of old... a time when a woman being single was considered a crime... to get married quickly...

I'm sorry, old wives... 

Man of oil, or not... I ain't getting married... 

 

Although my colleague does insist these are not just myths... 

That she once experienced being terrorized by an orang minyak in her village town... 

That they would find footsteps of black oil appearing but no visible figure... and it took a band of 20, 30 men to finally catch the orang minyak... after weeks of hunting him down... 

 

Everyone was engrossed in her tale of the daring capture... but all I could think of was the Winchesters... For me, this is how the hunting of that orang minyak went: a punch or two... the Impala... a bit of magic from Jack and Cas... wisecracks from Dean... and an exasperated eye-roll from Sam... and the minyak man no more... gone for good... Winchester-fyed...  

 

Other than the orang minyak, we also have Pontianak (our equivalent of vampires)...

Pocongs (our equivalent of zombies)... I think... Man.. I don't know... My spooky knowledge is kinda low...

Recently I found out about the penangal... It's a nocturnal creature.... a vampire-like entity.... that takes the form of a floating disembodied woman's head...

Excuse me the Western World, you can try to sleepy hollow me with your headless horseman... But ours, is way more thrilling... 

Yours was just a man and a horse... 

Ours is not just the floating head... but its organs and entrails trailing from its neck... 

"Do your feel scared yet? Well, do ya, punk?"... 

Be afraid... Be very afraid... 

When seen from afar... (and I have seen those videos that I wish I didn’t because now I get scared by any light)... it usually twinkles... and not like the little star in the sky... that is cute and puts kids to sleep because they are wondering “who you are”, O' Twinkle Star... 

This twinkle is like a ball of flame... (and no... not great balls of fire... there's no Jerry Lewis involved)... and is similar to the will-o'-the-wisp phenomenon....

It is believed that this creature is actually a living woman by day... and with the use of black magic for various reasons, whether beauty, money or fame... detaches her head and organs from her body... and her entrails trail behind her as she flies through the air searching for blood.... 

They normally feed on rats... or for those more dubious, the blood of pregnant women and infants... 

If being beautiful means removing your head and feeding on rodents... I would happily remain ugly...

Maybe one day I'll write about the supernatural tales from our Malaysian shores... 

 

He seems excited...

Another aspect of Halloween that I would have loved are the sweet treats... Especially chocolate... 

Cause I'm like the crazy person who thinks chocolates and I are in a committed relationship... 

The "I don't care who you are... where you're from... what you did... as long as you love me" kind of love...

 

Hopefully not the Derek Shepherd and Meredith Grey heartbreaking kind of love... that they thought giving us a beach scene would make up for robbing us of MerDer forever... 

Like shame on you, Grey's Anatomy... How do you expect a person to go on without the love of their life...  

P.S. Update: I guess Nick is pretty cool too... 

 

Sorry Derek... 

 

I do like the happy ending kind of love... The Rick Astley kind of love... where they live on together forever and never to part in fiction land... 

Like Roarke and Eve Dallas (from the JD Robb book series)

 Like Tristan and Yvaine.

 Like Westley and Buttercup (although I was slightly disappointed that she was about to marry someone else)... 

 Like Damon and Elena (I didn't watch the final few seasons of this series... so not sure if they ended up together... but although I thought Stefan was great... My sister and I were always Team Damon)...

 Like Superman and Lois.

 Like Clark Kent and his glasses.

Cause Tyler Hoechlin wearing glasses is like... chocolate-covered cherries... Delicious!  

Cause come on... How can anything covered in chocolate be anything but delicious. 

Not that I'm thinking of Tyler Hoechlin covered in chocolate.

It's not like I'm a freak or anything.

 

Ok Sorry, Tyler... Eating too much chocolate tends to do this to me... 

When you're drunk on too much chocolate but don't have an ex-boyfriend to drunk-dial... you tend to write a lot of embarrassing things like this... in your blog... about your celebrity crush... which should make it weird... but... but... 

Ok... I can't think of a but... 

And since I DID eat a lot of chocolate, there would probably be more of these embarrassing declarations... so hang in there?

 

Oh man... Tyler doesn't seem excited about my giddy ramblings, does he?

Oh well... A girl will try to be less rambly...

     

Man... I'm so corny...

 

Yeah... That too...  

 

So anyway, pretty sure "Trick or Treat" won't work for me, because those candy bars and chocolates are going to magically hop into my mouth

(because that's where they belong... in my mouth)... 

and take a magical ride down my throat, before the kids come tricking and treating.

Like the other day—I was looking in the fridge for the bar of Cadbury chocolate... I thought I was smart enough to hide from myself...

(I hid it under the box of grapes as subterfuge... and maybe to encourage me to choose the grapes instead of the chocolate because I also love grapes... 

Source : Jiemin Yang

Ok.. maybe my mouth is constantly lonely and needs to have things in it... 

It's like my mouth needs a workout too)... 

so that I could prevent the temptation of being enticed by those sexy mounds of pure bliss... Cause I'm serious about this losing weight thing.

But I tell you, chocolates have a thing for me, cause I could swear I heard it whispering my name seductively from the fridge. Something along the lines of, "Come my lady, come-come my lady / You're my butterfly, sugar baby". 

I tried telling the chocolates, that I don't find that song sexy or seductive... cause pretty sure that song has some impolite innuendos.... that I maybe may not understand because I'm like a prude... 

But anyway, song aside, the chocolate bar smiled at me. And winked. And showed me its abs.   

So I caved... My attempt at subterfuge unsuccessful...

Like... It's chocolates... and abs... And I'm weak... 

Also weird...

5) The Tale of Wishing I was a Better Person

The best thing I did of late, is not just taking stock of my faults but coming to the realization that as humans, we're all flawed and that aiming for perfection should never be the goal. So this is the tale of me finally accepting the person I am, to realize that it's ok to be me, and although I should not change the person I am to please others, I could at least try to live a good life through the words of wisdom and example shown by the people who inspire me. 

 This post is in a more serious tone... or as serious as I could be, I guess... It was one of my pensive mood days, that made me contemplate life... and if I'm doing enough for those around me especially my loved ones, and being the best that I could be around them, and not hurt them by my words and action.

Many of us will never know what it's like to go hungry. To look at a piece of bread and hope that it will last. But there are many out there who know what it's like. And it made me ashamed for the trivial things I worry about while there are people struggling just to have a decent meal.

I know what it's like to struggle. And saying this, I'm in no means making light of the real struggle people are going through now especially those suffering from the effects of the pandemic... 

There's nothing I can do to make things better for them... Although I wish I had the means and resources to do so... All I can do is pray every day that things will get better for them... and try to help as much as I'm able to... with the little I can do... 

I didn't come from a rich family. My parents worked hard to provide for us, my siblings and I, and although it wasn't easy, my parents always made sure we had enough, even if my mother, I now realized as an adult, sacrificed, by skipping her meals... 

She wore shoes that were worn out and almost falling apart and clothes that were frayed... yet never thought of buying something new.... because money was scarce and she wanted to keep what she had for us. 

I cannot imagine the love it takes to do that. To say you're full and not hungry, so that the people you love, your children, can eat... To not buy things for yourself, to not see to your comfort and pleasure, because you're thinking of your children.

And my mom has never changed. Even now, she will still willingly give up her meal if she sees there's enough food for only one person...

My parents struggled, worked extra hours and extra jobs, to make sure we had a good education and the best life they could provide for us... They filled our home with books and good meals...  

It could be just a simple dish, nothing too elaborate, but boy were they delicious... 

I never realized, until now, how lucky we were as kids, to have a mom, who could take the little things she had left in the fridge, which sometimes wasn't much, and with her love, creativity and passion, turn them into delicious, hearty meals.   

Many childhood memories such as this...

 

So maybe we never went on trips or had expensive gadgets, which as children, we were perhaps not as understanding.  

I remember all the times as a kid, when I got a little jealous, for not having the things my friends had, without seeing my parents' sacrifice and struggle...

Most importantly, not seeing how others have it worse... To be grateful for the little we have and find joy in the simple pleasures of life... 

I wish I had been a bit more kind and understanding. 

To realize that sometimes it's not just the expensive trips to exotic places that's needed. 

That my mom could make even a trip to the Mall or a meal out, at what was famous at that time, White Castle, fun and exciting. 

She entertained us with stories, and introduced us to the Oldies... Songs, books and shows she grew up with...

I remember her tales of disguise and chivalry as she got us to watch The Scarlet Pimpernel, and introduced us to Elvis, Cliff Richard, Johnny Tillotson, the Everly Brothers, and so many others. 

She got me to love books by introducing me to Georgette Heyer, describing the scenes... as I was young and Regency English was a bit too difficult for the 12-year-old kid that I was back then.... 

But over the years, as my reading comprehension improved, I grew to love those books... appreciating Heyer's unique, witty, humorous play with words...  

So I may have stayed indoors reading all the time and missed out on being active out in the sun.... but being a shy kid due to my obesity and lack of communication skills... the life I had with my books was all I needed to give me a great childhood.  

 

This gif speaks to me on so many levels...

My siblings and I didn't need trips or items of luxury to keep us entertained...

It was sometimes something just as simple as putting our mattresses in the living room to sleep, while we watched late night movies. Our own version of camping... 

A good reminder to me to never forget that it's not the big things that matter... 

The little pleasures in life, that my mom provided for us, like good meals and her tales of adventures, are what matters. 

It may have been hard on my parents to pay the bills and put food on the table, but they gave us a happy childhood with many memories that we will always treasure... We were truly blessed. 

My parents taught us from a young age, through their example, to always do good, be a charitable person, and treat others with respect and kindness. 

From my father, who was involved in charitable work, and committing all his time and effort in improving the lives of those he had pledged to help. Who was willing to go hungry and give the last cent in his wallet just to help someone in need. 

During his funeral, we met countless people who talked about all the things my father had done for them, and my only wish is that my father could have known of all the love and respect people had for him, and the many lives he had touched and changed for the better.  

I wish I could have told him how proud I was of him... and what an inspiration he had been to me... 

 From my mother, who was a good daughter, wife, mother, sister, aunt, teacher and friend to those around her. 

Who has always put others before herself, and whose students still remember and come looking for her, 20 years after she had taught them, just to say hi or to invite her to their children's wedding dinner. 

Like how many people actually think of inviting their former teachers to their wedding or their children's wedding.  

I barely remember my teachers except for those exceptional ones who cared, so for my mother's students to always remember and think of her, is a testament of the type of teacher she was.   

The only way I can repay my parents for all that they have done for us is to try to live by these values that they tried to impart to my siblings and I, and hope I never give them a reason to be disappointed in me. 

4) Doing My Patriotic Duty

This is the story of displaying my country's flag for our independence day. It takes effort but makes me patriotic. I get injured (If there's blood, it's an injury). There's also the tale of my boring Friday nights, my bed trying to break up with me, lots of drama and my mom realizing her daughter is nuts. Welcome to my life!

31st August, is my country's Independence Day.

In celebration of our Independence Day, every year, without fail, my mom will put up our country's flag, for the entire month of the national day celebration, till 16th September. The entire nation is encouraged to do so to show our love for our country.  

So my mom has been telling me for weeks that she hasn't yet put up our flag this year. Not hinting. My mom doesn't do hints. It's straight out, "it's a few more days to 31st August, the flag is not up yet!" 

But when you come home from work, exhausted, thinking of the workout you have to do, before you can bathe and have your dinner, while waiting to just fall on your bed and sleep, did not really get me all excited about putting up the flag. 

I would like to imagine I look this pretty falling down on my bed in exhaustion. 

But in reality, I look like this. 

Ok. That's an exaggeration because honestly even this whale looks cute doing its back flip thing.

Sometimes I do feel sorry for my bed. The suffering it has to endure, having to put up with my body on it, day after day... Pretty sure my bed screams in agony when I approach it.... I have this gut feeling that my bed and my weighing scale are conspiring to leave me and run away together.

Can I really blame them... Who would want me on top of them... 

I feel you, really I do... 

No, bed. Don't leave me. I'm sorry for the pain my body puts you through. What you have to handle every night... and sometimes in the afternoon during weekends, when I feel like a nap.

I know it's a hard life, I'm sorry. I wish I was lighter and sexier, so you could at least enjoy having me sprawled on top of you. 

I'm working on it, ok... Just hang in there...

Wait!!!! Are you breaking up with me??? 

Yeah.. I'm a little weird, Steve Harvey.. But I'm cute, right?