I saw a romantic (actually is old wives tale) reasoning for why wedding rings are worn on the 4th finger. This is some old Chinese story made up by some bo liao aunty years and years ago I guess.
- The thumb represents your Parents.
- The second (index) finger represents your Siblings.
- The middle finger represents you.
- The fourth (ring) finger represents your Life Partner.
- The last (little) finger represents your children.
Open your palms (face to face), bend the middle fingers and hold them together, knuckle to knuckle. This is you, and you know that you’ll always have your own back.
Then open and hold the remaining three fingers and the thumb – tip to tip.
Now, try to separate your thumbs (representing the parents). They will open, because your parents are not destined to live with you lifelong, and have to leave you sooner or later.
Join your thumbs as before and separate your index fingers (representing siblings). They will also open, because your brothers and sisters will have their own families and will have to lead their separate lives.
Now rejoin the index fingers and separate your little fingers (representing your children). They will open too, because the children also will get married and settle down on their own some day.
Finally, rejoin your little fingers, and try to separate your ring fingers (representing your spouse). You’ll be surprised to see that you just CANNOT, because husband & wife have to remain together all their lives – through thick and thin.
I tried this out for myself and lo and behold, I really couldn’t separate my ring fingers. The only way was to unjoin my pinkies and forcibly move my palms apart. Try it for yourself!
Plagiarism rules today, so my apologies to Sadat Osman for stealing your entire article off inSing.com.
(L) Kai Kai the male panda and (R) Jia Jia the female panda (Photo / Wildlife Reserves Singapore)
Ni hao. People tell me I look like I haven’t slept for 10 years.
That is about the period of time I will be spending in Singapore with my mate, Kai Kai.
Trust me, we sleep, and will be sleeping, quite a bit. So I have no idea what people are talking about when they say that. Especially those cosmetic companies who use the line to sell their products, saying things like, “Get rid of panda eyes.”
That’s not a desirable look for human beings, I suspect.
But look here, I am writing this to mark and record my maiden journey from my homeland to Singapore, so even if I look weird to you, don’t squeal it to my face first thing you see me. A girl can be thinking about such things for days, especially since I do like to pose in front of the camera.
We also don’t like squeals. Or noise. I know it is hard for you to believe. Except when we hear our keeper snapping bamboo for us.
I am not sure why people call us “adorable” or “cute” though. We are animals. Some days, when we feel like it, we whack things. We can be rough. That’s just the way we are. Looks are deceitful. Yes, even panda eyes.
What else do you want to know about us? I love to climb trees and have my lunch up high, enjoying the breeze. Kai Kai also likes to eat, and he is friendlier than I am. I can be quite reserved. He is also called “Onionhead” because he has a tuft of hair on his head that sticks out.
When I woke up one day, Kai Kai told me about our move. I had mixed feelings. I couldn’t believe it because it sounded exciting. But I was also afraid of the unknown, if we will be able to adjust to a foreign place. We will be, gulp, foreigners!
He was sweet enough to arrange a flight for us by Singapore Airlines. He knows I like the good stuff.
When I asked why we were going to Singapore, he explained to me that there are not many of us around anymore – there are fewer than 1,600 of giant pandas left in the wild – and the good people at the Wildlife Reserves Singapore want to ensure we thrive, and, erm, make babies. They are working to promote giant panda research and conservation with similar-minded people from the China Wildlife Conservation Association.
Before we boarded the Singapore Airlines Cargo Boeing 747-400 freighter at the Chengdu airport, our friends gave us an amazing farewell. I almost cried. They even loaded our cabin with 90kg of homegrown bamboo, as well as fruit and water to help us through the six-hour flight.
The adrenalin kicked in. When Kai Kai and I finally boarded the plane, I felt pan-tastic!
The best part was how comfy it was even in the crate. The cabin temperature was between 18 and 22°C, just like our natural habitat in Sichuan. A team of keepers and vets from both China and Singapore also kept us company on the flight. The Singapore keepers have been spending time with us for a couple of years now.
Singapore Airlines and SilkAir are also providing air tickets for training and exchange programmes involving zookeepers, veterinarians and researchers from both Singapore and China.
Our journey was so smooth because we were sitting in the most stable (middle) part of the plane. Kai Kai was asleep all the way, but I was eating my butt off.
RIVER SAFARI
I was also thinking about our new home, if it would be spacious. Space is a premium in Singapore, I heard. They said we would be in a “climate-controlled zone” in the River Safari near the zoo.
Why is it called the River Safari? I cannot wait to find out myself. From what I heard, it is because the area is designed to a river theme, so well-known rivers from around the world are featured in the landscape, such as Yangtze, Congo, Ganges, Mekong Mississippi, Murray and Nile.
Guess which “river” is next to my pad? If you guess right, Kai Kai may do some squats to strengthen his hind legs. He needs strong legs to mate with me. My mind wanders.
I hope our neighbours wouldn’t mind us. Based on unconfirmed reports of what people are like here, I am hoping they won’t complain that China nationals are noisy, dirty and take away their husbands, CPF savings, jobs, and Olympic medals.
Upon arrival at about 8.20am, we could see many people greeting us. You couldn’t see it but Kai Kai was blushing. Singaporeans were so happy to see us. We felt like rock stars.
There were cameras everywhere and people were watching us being moved around via live streaming on the River Safari website.
We left the airport in a special temperature-controlled truck. As we passed some locations, we saw miniature versions of Kai Kai and I. It was weird. They have plush toys, t-shirts and all kinds of merchandise. Who knows, we may get our own Facebook page.
If we are such celebrities, I really have to ask the River Safari management if they can let us keep a mirror under the rock. After our month-long quarantine, maybe.
Do I really look like I haven’t slept for 10 years?
Come check me out for yourself around December.
(Journey imagined by Sadat Osman, with information from Singapore Airlines and Wildlife Reserves Singapore.)
On another note, check out this video of Jia Jia & Kai Kai’s first view of Singapore. I admit to squee-ing at 1:18, that look is just so cute. It’s all panda-ish “Hmm? Eh?”.
Our $9000 Limited Edition Exclusive Prada Croco Bag Giveaway contest ended last Friday. And just now, a cute little homing pigeon flew by to send a piece of extraordinary news to me. My reaction to that message was:
#1. What You’re Wearing
Researchers tested a group of participants on their brainpower with something called a Stroop test. The only difference between them was that half of them were dressed in a lab coat when they took the test. The results? Those wearing the lab coats only made half the mistakes of those who didn’t wear the coats.
Just to make sure this wasn’t some insane fluke, they made another test, where participants had to find the differences between similar pictures. Some of the participants wore lab coats, but some of them were told they were actually wearing painters’ coats. Again, they found that those who were wearing the lab coats scored significantly higher, even than those who were wearing the same thing but were told they were for painters. What the hell? The researchers believe that wearing a lab coat simply makes us feel smarter, and as other psychologists have found, simply believing you’re smarter actually makes you smarter.
#2. Being in a Terrible Mood
Everyone prefers to go to work and come home feeling happy. It’s just not always achievable, and indeed, if you’re the kind of person who enjoys your job that much, then you’ll find that most people just want to cut you. But hold it right there, Smiles McHappyWorker — the Negative Nancy in your office is head and shoulders over you intellectually.
In one, Australian researcher Joe Forgas found that “angst and sadness promote ‘information-processing strategies best suited to dealing with more-demanding situations’.” Forgas made participants watch short films about death and cancer, inducing a melancholy mood, and found that those subjected to the depressing short films made fewer arithmetic mistakes and had better judgment in general — they were better at recalling past events and judging the accuracy of rumors, and became less likely to judge strangers.
Then another study from the Columbia Business School found that the act of frowning makes you more attentive and detail-oriented, thus helping you avoid your gut reaction when what you really need to do is think. Researchers had participants in the study give speeches about their dream jobs, and had listeners respond either positively, nodding and smiling, or negatively, shaking their head and frowning. They were then told to record their mood afterward and create a collage. Obviously, the participants who just had to endure a cruel session of harsh judgment as stony-faced scientists stomped on their dreams reported being in a worse mood afterward. These same participants, however, became more focused on their collage, and thus churned out better, more creative work. We just think better when we’re miserable.
#3. Cigarettes
Researchers at the University of Amsterdam have actually discovered that the nicotine found in cigarettes enhances both learning and memory. Since learning and memory are key areas of loss in Alzheimer’s patients, researchers tested nicotine patches on elderly people with Alzheimer’s, and found that after regular doses, they were two times faster and significantly more consistent at answering memory-based questions than the control group.
The researchers found that the nicotine was able to do this by improving communication among the learning centers in the brain. But, chances are that, if you still remember the beginning of this sentence, you probably don’t have Alzheimer’s. So this doesn’t apply to regular people, right?
Well, good news! Researchers pumped nicotine into adolescent mice, then tested them on spatial learning and memory later in their adult life and found that those who had received small, steady levels of nicotine learned faster and performed significantly better – months later.
Since I was a kid, i’ve always had a fascination with trains. Maybe its the movies that made an impression. Maybe it’s the sounds or the sheer power of them. Im not entirely sure why.
Railways since the industrial era has brought life to towns by connecting them to the cities. Long before there was air travel, a train was THE mode of land transport. During the great wars, trains transported soldiers to the frontlines, away from their families. To me, there’s a great sense of fascination with these machines. I think its a guy thing ha ha ha
Particularly, I really like today’s modern japanese trains. Somehow they always made their trains look cute. To me la
And also really beautiful
I’ll leave you with this video of one of my favourite trains, The Komachi (こまち)
How long has it been since you had a really good conversation with someone new?
I bus to work every morning. I often get a seat cos my stop is the 3rd one after the interchange so definitely beats taking the stuffy trains. It also arrives early enough for me to have a nice morning breakfast, catching up on the mornings news and whatsapping. I usually see the same faces on the morning bus. An elderly lady, several young couples going to work together, A guy who is always blasting his music through his headphones, a few family men who are probably neighbours since they seem like they knew each other well.
Usually i just sit at my usual spot and gaze out the window, things to do for the day running through my head. There’s this guy who always sit in front of me and we usually exchange good morning greetings and that was that.
Until this morning. I was carrying my camera to work and it became some sort of a conversation starter. Turns out he was interested in Photography and asked me some questions. I’ve also learnt some interesting things about his work. He is an accountant and told me what his work is like. The conversation carried on throughout the trip and just like that, i’ve made an acquaintance and someone to chat with in the mornings. Maybe I’ll have a new photography khaki too.
Sometimes we get too busy and our social interaction is limited to facebook, skype and mobile chats. Otherwise it’s just the occasional one liners.
Please look forward to your next conversation. Remember a good conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue.
I promised a proper post for today, so here it is. Unfortunately it’s a sad, sad post =(
It’s been a year since my first “kid” with the BF passed away. My mother-in-law HATES furry things of all kinds but she usually relaxes house rules when it comes to me. (I think she scared that her son cannot find anyone to marry!) A few years ago, the family males and I conspired to bring a tiny furry into the house so that we can work our way up to a keeping a dog.
BF and I went to Serangoon to get a Syrian cos all the hamsters up for adoption were dwarves. We didn’t want something so small as he’s not as familiar with animals as I am and he felt uncomfortable handling a very quick and very tiny puff that he could accidentally squash. I knew wanted a Golden but he fell in love with a boisterous Silverfox once we were at the shop. BF picked “a sweet little girl that didn’t run away from him” as the one to bring home. I insisted that the hamster was a boy, and not a girl. Their testes are unmistakable! I remember that the stupid shopkeeper very adamantly said that it’s a girl, and that he’s an expert so I should STFU and not argue. Okay fine, let them we. And thus, Baby came home with us, grew a pair of nice furry balls in a month (and created a mini war when mother-in-law saw him!).
Baby in his coming home box!
Not long after, I introduced Baby to Tuppy and they… obviously didn’t like each other. (Tuppy NEVER had to opportunity to eat Baby, I made sure of that). The two of them spent HOURS staring at each other. The tiny one would lie on level 2 of his cage and make chittering noises and the big one sat on the floor staring at the gray thing with the big ears and probably wondered if it was tasty or not. It looked stupid and I started calling them Dumbo the dog and Dumbi the hamster. Poor hammy got his name changed to DUmbi permanently when his Daddy decided that it’s a better name.
When I had my own, hamster many years ago, I realised that they could be trained to returned to their cages if they’re let loose to play in a safe environment. We let Dumbi out of his cage to play when the room door was closed. I loved taking pics of him as he popped up randomly all over.
Peekaboooooo~!
One other habit he had was pretty unusually for a hamster. He would come up to the bed and lie down beside me like a dog. He literally just lay there and day dreamed about sunflower seeds or something. Here’s one of my favourite series.
Even though I tried hard to not make Dumbi “my hamster”, it hurt abit when he passed on. The BF like no emotion one lor. We haven’t moved on to a guinea pig yet cos we’re both so busy and I already have a dog to take care of. Maybe I’ll get a bunny after reading up on how plausible is it for me to keep one.
And that’s the end of Furry Friends Week, hope you enjoyed it!
