Saying Goodbye

Reaching the end of an engaging story feels like saying goodbye to very dear, beloved friends. This is especially true when it comes to watching or reading a series. You've invested time and energy into the characters and you're dying to know the ending, but at the same time you're also reluctant to say goodbye to your beloved friends. After all, you've cried and laughed with them and they're your own fictional best friends. You've grown to love them over time. You've grown to know them so well and you want the best for them. You may even be able to quote their words or mimic their voices. You may even say this randomly in your daily life, "Ah, so-and-so would have reacted this way to this incident."

I remember several times in life I had to hold back and slow down when I knew I was nearing the end of the story. It was bittersweet. When I finally read the last words, I sighed in agony and either pleasure or sadness (the latter was reserved for sad endings). It wasn't easy to say goodbye to my beloved fictional friends. When it came to stories with sad endings, if I felt like the writer had done some injustice, I'd internally reject the endings. I would then do my best to try to forget the actual endings and make up my own endings. I can, though, accept some sad endings if I feel that it's justifiable enough. 

I don't necessarily like open endings in general, but there are exceptions. I like the fact that open endings allow the readers to continue the story without having to disregard an actual ending. However, sometimes I feel that I am left hanging off a cliff and I can't see anything down below or around me since everywhere is covered by some thick fog. There's this thirst for more resolution that sometimes occurs when I reach an open ending. When it happens, I feel like asking the writer, "Why do you leave me hanging here?"

How about you? What are your experiences on reading/watching engaging stories? Would you share some with me?

3BT: Random Days

1. Me: "I want my Mother's Day caaaaakkkkeeeee!" (a joke based on Creepshow movie where the dead guy demanded to get his Father's Day cake)
R2: "But you're not a mother."
Me: "Awwww shucks...that hurts..."
R2: "That means you can have your cake every day."
Me: "OOOOOOOOOOOHHHH BRILLIANT idea! I LOVE IT!" :-D

P.S. The words "you're not a mother" didn't hurt me at all. :-D WOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!

2. I broke my beloved big mug by accident (that I got for free from a flea market owner), was sad for a few days, then went to one of the flea markets here and found a replacement. It was a little bigger and it only cost €2. Here's a pic of it. YEEEEEEEEEEESSSS!!!

3. Being in touch with some new friends via FB. :-D

4. Getting an additional work shift on Sunday due to a coworker being sick. It's nice every now and then because it means getting double per hour. :-D

5. Saying the EXACT same word with hubby at the exact same time while watching a movie.

6. A brilliant ninja fight scene at the cliffs in G.I. Joe movie. 
 

Love Is...(Our Style)

LOVE is...
Sharing such a smelly fart with your spouse
Which inspires your spouse to sell it as a brand of perfume called "Heaven"
And you think that it's such a brilliant idea

LOVE is...
Ruining a movie plot together
By adding in crazy/unbelievable/yucky/over-the-top scenes 
Laughing together
And calling each other "a genius"

LOVE is...
Not minding the sweaty palms
That you hold while watching movies/TV series together


LOVE is...
Going back inside to write a note of warning on the door
When you go out to work and realize how slippery it is outside
To make sure your spouse doesn't fall down

LOVE is...
Telling your spouse "Shit happens" and "It's gonna be OK"
Whenever something bad happens instead of blaming him/her

LOVE is...
Hating the idea of hurting your spouse by doing back coining
Yet always giving in whenever your spouse begs for it
Because your spouse convinces you that it'd help
Even though that means whenever you do it
You always say, "Masochist!" to your spouse 

LOVE is...
Pampering each other when asked
And without being asked


LOVE is...
Knowing that whenever your spouse says that you're crazy
It's actually a compliment that shows how special you are

LOVE is....
Forgiving the weaknesses and faults
Because your spouse also forgives yours

LOVE is...
Keeping in touch regularly whenever you're out of town
To make sure that your spouse doesn't get worried
If a phone call is not possible, at least an SMS would do 

LOVE is...
Kicking infertility in the ass together
And believing that two is a complete family

LOVE is...
Driving each other crazy at times
Saying sorry sincerely when you've done something wrong
Still saying "I love you anyway"
And knowing you really mean what you say

Curse of the Golden Flower

Saw "Curse of the Golden Flower" last night with hubby. The visuals and the attention to details were amazing. I was suddenly pulled into a life that was really rigid and so full of rituals. I enjoyed the movie because of the visuals and the built-up tension it showed. I felt like sitting on the edge of my sofa, anticipating the climax...wondering where the story would take me.

I wonder, though, why are there so many movies with this kind of ending? The ending reminds me of my feeling when I watched "Hero" and "Raise the Red Lantern", and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." All of these movies are Zhang Yimou's movies, btw.

Here's the trailer of "Curse of the Golden Flower":

Some of the visual beauties in "Curse of the Golden Flower" reminded me of some scenes in "Hero", just like in this one (the fight scene starts at 1:00):

Whenever I check out movies in imdb site, I always like clicking on trivia part. Do you know how long it takes to shoot the above fighting scene?

Here's the answer: 

"The lake scenes took almost three weeks to film because the director insisted that the lake's surface had to be perfectly still and mirror-like during filming. Due to the natural currents, this occurred every day for only two hours starting at 10am. To adjust to this phenomenon, the filmmakers arose at 5am each day to begin five hours of preparation and set-up."

And I bet many people still remember the lovely fight scene among bamboo trees in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon":

And while reading this trivia page, I chuckled upon finding these sentences:

"Concerned that Western audiences would not be able to tell Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro apart in the beginning of the film as they are dressed similarly, Yimou Zhang had Kaneshiro's character eat peanuts throughout many of the opening scenes to distinguish them." 

That paragraph describes R2's feelings whenever he watches this kind of martial arts movies. He says that he enjoys watching Asian martial arts movies, but sometimes in movies that are fast-paced, he loses track on the characters he he he he he...

Anyway, I think among those four movies, I still enjoy "Curse of the Golden Flower" more than the others, but for some reason "Raise the Red Lantern" has left the deepest mark in my heart.

Interracial Facial Recognition

In one episode of The Good Wife series, a crime witness is asked to identify the perpetrator (they are of different races) and the witness managed to pick up the wrong one. In the end of course they find out the right perpetrator, but an investigator for the law firm finds out about interracial facial recognition or cross-race effect.

Pic source: http://www.glitter-graphics.com

Basically speaking, normally people of a one race have trouble identifying faces of people from a different race (unless they've spent much time with the people of that certain different race). It has happened to me and R2 as well.

When we were watching Ip Man, R2 stated, "I really like watching Asian martial arts movies, but my problem is that they all look the same and it's hard for me to remember which is which." Yep, I can understand his problem, especially during fast action scenes when many people are fighting one another and there are many people involved in the fight/war/battle. And in some Asian action movies, the pace of the movie is very fast, so it's kinda hard to distinguish which is which if you're not used to Asian faces.

When I first started helping out at the daycare, I also had the same problem in remembering the kids. Mind you that there were only about max. 15 kids in the class per day (normally between 10-12 kids at once), but some days some kids didn't come or they came earlier than the others and vice versa. Thankfully they had put the pictures of each kid in the hall along with their names below it, so I took a pic of that with my mobile phone and at home I tried memorizing the faces and the names so that I wouldn't mix them up. After all, some kids had certain needs and if I didn't remember which was which, there would be trouble.

My Japanese friend has also told me a similar problem. She's volunteering in schools in this area and she's been to many different schools and she's met so many different teachers, but the problem is that she doesn't remember which is which anymore - except perhaps the ones that she's met the most.

That's also my problem when I started working in my current workplace. Let's just say that approximately on a 6-hour shift as the main cashier, there are at least 200 transactions (during high season the number can even be over 300 transactions). In the beginning everything just whizzed by, but after some months I started remembering the regular customers' faces.


At my workplace, every now and then, a certain customer wants us (the cashiers) to hold a certain product for him/her to pay later during the day or even the next day. Many times over I can't even remember the person who's booked that certain product, but fortunately normally I'd ask them to write their names down and then they do come back and let me know in detail about what they want.

Another type of problem that I encounter sometimes at work: I remember one day a grandpa came by and said, "Remember me? I came here yesterday." Errrrrrrr...that's a really tricky question. Unless something remarkable or weird or crazy happened when he was there and unless he was a regular customer, I would probably forget about him...but then again it made me feel kinda sad that he was hopeful about my remembering his face he he...Ahhhh...life oh lifeeee...Now I'm rambling...

3BT: Random Days

1. Being back in our beloved home. :-D Good old peaceful and quiet Sodankylä. :-D

2. Now I can chew on the right side of my mouth outside the house without fearing that food might get stuck in the gap between my wisdom tooth and my molar.

3. The wisdom tooth operation went very well. My right cheek was a little swollen for about two days after the operation day, but I only felt very little pain after the anaesthethic wore off.

4. Free days from work before starting again, so I have enough time to adjust to the weather and everything else in Sodankylä. GRATEFUL for my thoughtful boss who drew up the work schedule. :-D

5. The reflection of lights at night on a calm river's surface.

6. Our luggage came late, but at least it came the same day we arrived back home, so we didn't have to wait too long.

7. Spending time with MIL and brushing up my Finnish skills again. Grateful that she can't speak English, but more than that grateful that she's who she is: someone who accepts me the way I am and someone who never forces her ideas on me.

8. Still have time to enjoy autumn colours before winter sets in.

9. Thick and soft toilet tissue (as opposed to thin tissue in Indo) and wet tissue! :-D Wet tissue is very handy during travel.

10. Not having to shell out at least 120 Euros to renew my residence permit 'coz I've got Finnish citizenship way before my current residence permit expires. THANK GOD for that!

11. Coming back to Indo after foreign movies started to be shown again in the movie theatres, so R2 and I got a chance to watch plenty of them.

12. In-flight entertainment system during long flights which showed several new movies.

glitter-graphics.com

13. Delicious chicken curry with rice on Thai Airways flight back to Bangkok. I think it was the most delicious flight food I've ever had! :-D

14. Appreciating and loving R2 even more after I took him with me to meet my friends on several occasions - more often than not during those occasions we chatted for hours mainly in Indonesian, but he never complained at all nor did he put on an annoyed face (he just looked - understandably - sleepy hi hi...)!!! My angel!!! :-D

15. Fresh homemade salad after eating so much delicious food.

16. Exercising again after a long holiday. My body feels GREAT afterwards! :-D

Interesting Article

When we went to my in-laws last Saturday, I read an interesting article in a magazine (Finnish Reader's Digest or Valitut Palat). The writer is wondering if women's age is equal to dogs' age he he...Why did she wonder about that?

Firstly, she read about a movie critic who said that Jennifer Aniston was too old to be a Bond girl (Jennifer Aniston mentioned in an interview that she wanted to be a Bond girl). However, in actuality Daniel Craig, the new Bond, is only a year older than Aniston.

The writer then mentioned other examples, such as Sally Field. In the movie "Punchline", she got the role of Tom Hanks' girlfriend. However, six years later, in "Forrest Gump", she became Tom Hanks' mother.

Another example was 36-year-old Anne Bancroft in the movie "The Graduate". There she played as a mature housewife, whereas 30-year-0ld Dustin Hoffman was a fresh college graduate.

What do you think, people?

Intensity Level?

One of my oldest friends and I had a talk about intensity level the other day. We were talking about the latest movies we had watched and our opinions on the movies. When I told her that one particular movie was just okay, she said that she knew I wouldn't be into the movie so much since I was an intense person. She said that she thought I'd love intense movies, since she regarded me as an intense person.

Interesting POV. I've never really thought of myself that way, even though I know that I can be pretty intense compared to my closest friends.

One thing I love about talking with other people is getting insights from them, even though they can be surprising or shocking. You start thinking of yourself in a different light, the sort of light that you never thought existed in the first place he he he...

I'm sure you've also had moments like this. Care to share one with me? ;-D

Fancy Number Plates For You

Back in Indonesia, I used to see some personalized number plates on cars or motorcycles. Just now I found this site based in the UK that sells personalized picture plates. Other than cute number plates for your vehicles, you can also order a bedroom sign for your son or daughter with his/her name and photograph on it. Neat, isn't it?

With their new Number Plates - Funny & Novelty builder, you can have lots of fun making your own picture plate. There are SO many different designs to choose, starting from the background, text, badges, and border. Choosing is easy since they have scrolled boxes for any category. They even provide buttons for you to move the text around on the background so you can design your own plate easily.

Here are some background categories and sub-categories:

1. Cartoon/Characters: Barbie, Bart, Batman, Beauty and the Beast, Batman, Lion King, Pokemon, Sponge Bob, Winnie the Pooh, etc.
2. Movies/Movie Stars: The Godfather, Harry Potter, Finding Nemo, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Spiderman, Tomb Raider, The Matrix, etc.
3. Football: Aston Villa, Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, etc.

Here, let me show you one background from the above site:


Interested? Go check it out then. *wink*

In The Mood or Not?

Just finished watching Ratatouille with my hubby. It was funny. I LOVED it!!! And I'm on my pill free week right now, so I was feeling sentimental (my period'll probably start tomorrow) and shed a few tears while watching the movie he he he he he...

Do you rely on your moods when choosing a movie to watch? I do!!! I've tried watching a movie when I don't really feel like watching that type of movie, and the result is always negative (I either get distracted or bored in the middle of the movie). Today I was really in the mood to watch a cartoon and gladly we finished downloading Ratatouille just this afternoon, so I was SO happy for that! We laughed a lot during the movie. *grin* And of course we held hands all the time ----> it's become a habit.

One thing I like about holding hands with my hubby is that his thumb sometimes grazes my thumb or rubs my other finger. Mmmm...DELICIOUS!!! *drool*

Most of the time, my mood and his mood are similar, so that's good. Yesterday we were in the mood to watch a Japanese horror he he he...It's called Apartment 1303. Unfortunately it wasn't too good and hubby guessed the story already from the beginning he he he he he he he he...

There's one thing I've been wondering about though...how come in lots of horror movies (either Hollywood or Asians), the ghosts are mostly women or little kids? And most of them have loooonnngggg hhaaaiiiiirrrr he he he he...Is it because "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?" LOL!!

OK, I'll end this here. To my friends, don't wonder if sometimes you read something weird in my blog. I'm trying to find some income from blogging, so I sometimes write posts to get money. ;-D

P.S. Almost forgot to add...I have this bad habit that makes my hubby confused. We download lots of movies and put them in our HD. Some of the movies are dramas, which he refuses to watch with me (not his type of movies, unless it's box office that everybody watches like Titanic). However, I have this bad habit of watching half of a movie and then I'll leave it for weeks or even months ha ha ha ha ha ha...He can't understand it. Do you have this bad habit, too? ;-D