What / Who is Quidam?

Even since I started this blog, I have got a few of my friends to visit it... Most of them would probe ~ 'What is Quidam?' (pronounced: 'KEY-dahm').

I would like to have a brief explanation of Quidam here, of which the text I extracted from Cirque du Soleil's (Circus of Soleil's, in English) official website. Quidam is an imaginery character in one musical performance. Quidam represents - "he is somebody and he is nobody"... Please see below:

Quidam: a nameless passer-by, a solitary figure lingering on a street corner, a person rushing past. It could be anyone, anybody. Someone coming, going, living in our anonymous society. A member of the crowd, one of the silent majority. The one who cries out, sings and dreams within us all.

This is the "quidam" that Cirque du Soleil is celebrating. A young girl fumes; she has already seen everything there is to see, and her world has lost all meaning. Her anger shatters her little world, and she finds herself in the universe of Quidam. She is joined by a joyful companion as well as another character, more mysterious, who will attempt to seduce her with the marvelous, the unsettling, and the terrifying.

The entire show is imagined by a young girl, named Zoe, who is alienated and ignored by her parents. She dreams up the whimsical world of Quidam in an attempt to escape her sadness, hence I put Quidam: Escape of Sadness. He is anonymous; he is everyone, and, at the same time, he is no one.

You shall see one of the posters for this musical that I posted here. They are performing in many countries but sadly not in Brunei. I am hoping to have a chance to see this musical... so if any of you, by any chance, know that they are around Asia, please give me a buzz :) *wink*

Official website of Cirque du Soleil's: www.cirquedusoleil.com

Brunch @ Empire with Hubby

It is Sunday today.

I got up at about 10am plus... Last night watched Astro with parents until almost 3am... It is always good to spend time with my folks. Since my brothers are always not at home, I knew that parents really appreciate my presence.

Hubby got up earlier than me today, and my poor hubby waited for almost 2 hours for me to finally got up from bed, shower, make up, choose my clothes and eventually ready to leave parent's home... Hubby is a very cool man, he is always very patient, never rush me into things that I love taking time. Contrary, I am not as cool as him; I am impatient and easily get agitated. I have to thank God for granting such a wonderful man into my life! Like my parents, hubby loves me whole-heartedly... And I know that. Thank you, God!

We went to Li Gong for brunch, today Li Gong has the special promotion for His Majesty's 61st Birthday, special food, special price, and it is BND29.00 nett per person. Hubby loves the chicken cha siu and I love the soup, but unexpectedly, the Shark Fin Soup today is quite disappointing. We had Steam Salmon, Stir-fried Prawn with soy sauce, Chicken Fried Rice, Sea Cucumber with Mixed Vege and lots more main dishes. After the main course, we had dessert; the Pandan Snow Ball in Li Gong is always my favorite. A thin layer of shredded coconut skin with local fragrant Pandan in it... Hmmm! Heaven!!!

We finished the brunch in about 2 hours, and then headed home... Nothing much has been done today... I shall look at my note course soon... and HELL! I am starting work this coming Wednesday, 1st August 2007... My long holiday is finally coming to an end...

*Feeling so helpless*

When is the next holiday?

Mommy's Magic Portion

Today is Saturday... I have promised myself to study today, since hubby is working and I am all alone at home, I should've plenty of time to catch up with my ChFC 07 revision. But too bad, I fell asleep twice with the course notes lying beside with me! *so ashame*

There are total of 12 topics to read and I am only at chapter 3... I am starting to wonder, how am I going to pass this module???

Hubby and I will be going back home to my parents today... better bring the notes back home to burn mid-night oil. Or shall I drink some Mommy's magic portion in order to pass? Haha!

Mommy has make soup for us... yummy... I missed mommy's soup. On leave for almost a month, I haven't a time to go home and taste mommy's good food! I missed her 西洋菜湯... My mommy is the world's best chef, she has all sort of secret recipes which from time to time, she'll pass on to me... hehe... Am not a great cook as mommy, but time will tell when I could be as great as her, My Super Lady!

I LOVE YOU, MOMMY!

'Invisible Target'

Last night, hubby and I went for movie Marathon - an activity which we both will do every now and then to pass time.

We watched Simpsons - The Movie and continued with Invisible Target, starring Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue Man Lok and Jaycee Chan (Jacky Chan's son).

It has been a while since we last watched any HK movie, but I have to give it to the director and crew of Invisible Target, this is indeed one rare HK movie that worth my time and money. This movie fully illustrated to the audience the spirit of HK police and the righteous of one when one strongly holds firm to his believes. Nicholas Tse and Jaycee Chan had shown tremendous improvement in their acting skills, even though Nicholas Tse is still on those ‘I-hate-the-whole-world’ characters, but in this movie he carries a bit of comedy elements in it. And Jaycee Chan, a boy who is too skinny to fight has shown the determination spirit of a police at the end of his role in this film, no matter how painful he is, he didn't let go of the bad guy. This part, I almost have tears in my eyes, Jaycee's pain was so real on his face that I could almost feel it!

Shawn Yue Man Lok, he has been an actor for a while now, but this is definitely the movie that makes me notice him. I have seen quite a few movies starred by him, but nothing compare to this. He has a very strong character in the movie that often keep him distant from others, but somehow due to targeting the same group of bad guys, he, Nicholas Tse and Jaycee Chan became good friends and he was moved by Jaycee's determination to arrest the bad guy that he even cried! This part of the movie shows that, no matter how strong / cool a man is, he still has a sentimental side!

This is a Benny Chan's movie. Go and watch it, if you haven't!

A film that you shouldn't missed!

Official website: http://www.invisibletarget.com/

Friendship

It is raining again outside. I've lost count of the number of days Brunei has been raining... This kind of groomy weather often makes me reminisce the good 'ol days - when friendship was the biggest part of my life.

Suddenly, I think of 2 close friends of mine. They are both my long time friends of more than 10 years. We have a lot of good and bad times together in the past - we laughed, we cried together, even for the tiniest things in life. Sharing so much wonderful moments together and listened to each other's happiness and sadness. But today, everything has changed...

I do not know the reason why we drifted apart and I couldn't find a satisfied answer to this situation, deep in my heart I always wonder if they will miss or even think about me just for 1 second? I tried to call them to set up gathering, but once, twice... numerous times they rejected me, are they really so busy with they own life, or there is something along the way of our friendship went wrong without I realising? Or to the 2 of them, we have never been close friends before? Those were only my fantasies alone? What went wrong? I keep asking myself...

All of us have our own life to live, we all have to juggle between work and family, it is indeed difficult; but, I never agree this is a reason / excuse to seclude any friendships. I have been trying, to mend every broken piece of our friendships with the 2 of them, but till today, I still see no clue. Hubby advised me that - Why should I priorities them, if I am just their options? But I argued with hubby that - in a friendship, we shouldn't look at who's wrong or right, we should be honest to our own feelings towards the other party; until this very moment, the 2 of them still stand a special part in my life, I still geniunely care for their wellbeings. As long they're living a happy & contented life - with / without me, it doesn't matter, if they are OK to live on without me, I shall wish them all the best and I sincerely hope happiness will bestow them and those they loved. As for me, I will continue to live my life, reminiscing those good times they once brought to my life and I am thankful to God that, He has once allowed these 2 wonderful ladies shared part of my life.

May the love and light of God shine upon the 2 of you... wherever you are....

Chain-saw & Trees

"You are allowed to open the test paper now and read through it, but do not write anything on it until I say so..." says the examiner.

"I wonder what's the questions they have today... Standard Deviation? Economic Analysis?" I thought to myself as I flipped open the first page of the test paper.

Suddenly I heard a loud noise, "Damn! Who's making that loud noise with a chain-saw" I am annoyed. "Chain-saw? How could someone bring a chain-saw into the examination hall?" Then the loud noise again!

Slowly, I opened up my eyes... "Where am I?". Lying on my bed, wild awake and annoyed, I saw the ChFC 07 course notes sitting beside me... Suddenly, I realised... "Damn! It was a dream! But I almost get to see the questions on the paper!!!"

Upset with the continuous high-pitch loud noise from the chain-saw that spoiled my dream, I got up from the bed and opened up the curtain to see what the hell is going on!?

As I opened up the curtain, I was surprised to see a few workers trying very hard to carry a tree trunk up the pick-up car... "what happened to those trees that were lining up infront of my windows? Ah! Maybe they finally realised that the tree branches are knocking on our roof whenever the wind blows!" Excited by the scene, I stand at the window to supervise the workers. Again, I hear the chain-saw loud noise, they're cutting down yet another tree at the corner of the garder, and like the previous one, once the tree is down, all of them gathered around the tree and pull it up to the pick-up car to send it away. This action continue for a few hours, as I on and off supervise their work... Now next door garden seems rather empty, as the trees are gone and the workers are picking up the remainder of branches from the ground. I suddenly have a sense of emptiness...

I still couldn't figure out why they decided to chop down the trees, but whatever it is, it is their decision. I am amazed to see how fast the trees are being pulled down and sent away... but God knows how many years it took for the trees to grow this tall and strong. The workers are now resting and having their lunch, wouldn't they have a slight feel of sadness and emptiness? I do not know about them... but I do.

The chain-saw sits quietly next to one of the workers... it has ended up the precious life of these trees. In a world of nature, if the trees and chain-saw talk... would the trees scream in pain, "please spare my life! please don't kill me!"...

Exam coming soon...

The rain has not stopped since 6pm... it is cold but I have no intention of lowering down the air-conditionining; I just want the extreme temperature in the bedroom to keep me awake.

Today I started my preparation for ChFC 07 examination, I have another 8 days to do my revision until the examination day itself - well, should've started earlier! This module is rather difficult, or is it me that hard to focus on the studies?

On leave since 10th July till now, I am getting lazy... but I can't let myself go. I must be strong and study hard for this exam, afterall, this is Module 7 already... 1 more module to go, I'll be a Chartered Financial Consultant. This is indeed a hard journey, but I am heading the end now... I can't give up! Theory, calculations, theory and calculations again... I am cracking my brain!!

I am feeling a little sick today, sore throat and a light flu, guess the cold weather is catching up with my health now. I always feel cold lately, need to carry a shawl around the house even when out for dinner with hubby... my throat is dry, this is the symptom I'll get if fever is coming up... Hubby insisted to bring me to clinic, but I refused, guessed I am as stubborn as him... Hubby is experiencing backache this few days, but refused to go hospital as well! Haha! We are indeed a match from heaven!

Better stop dreaming now and get back to my revision... Standard deviation, wealth management, wealth accumulation planning, basic WM skills, economic alanysis, portfolio management & asset allocation, derivatives... Ahhhh,.... so much more to learn~ God, please open up my heart and mind, so that I can focus 100% on my revision, Amen!