Behind the “Je m’appelle”

Posted on July 4, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

When I saw an incoming link from Angeleyes last night, I clicked on it almost immediately…more so out of curiosity, really. Lo and behold she had bestowed upon me a meme which required me to display the meaning of my name. And here goes nothing… the words in red are what I think reflects me rather accurately:


What Giddy Tigress Means


You are deeply philosophical and thoughtful. You tend to analyze every aspect of your life.
You are intuitive, brilliant, and quite introverted. You value your time alone.
Often times, you are grumpy with other people. You don’t appreciate them trying to interfere in your affairs.You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It’s easy to get you excited… which can be a good or bad thing.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don’t stick with any one thing for very long.
You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row.
You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace.
People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality.You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in.
You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising.
You may miss out by not settling down, but you’re too busy having fun to care.You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless – and you have a lot of questions about life.
You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You’re most comfortable when you’re far away from home.
You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble.You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You’re always up to something.
You have a ton of energy, and most people can’t handle you. You’re very intense.
You definitely are a handful, and you’re likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.You are the total package – suave, sexy, smart, and strong.
You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know.
You don’t always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don’t have as much going for them as you do.  

What?  How come so many of you are rolling your eyes skyward?  Hehe…did you think I was gonna reveal my real identity here?

But then no point beating around the bush also la, if you already know my REAL Name, just use the link above and find out the meaning for yourself.

And, as is customary with a tag, this tag goes out to anyone who would like to do it.  Such an easy-peasy one!

Have a great spankin’ weekend, y’all!

Posted in Memes & Tags | 4 Comments

I gave the gift of life today

Posted on July 2, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

I donated blood for the 8th time in my entire life today.  The last time was sometime in the year 2004, a few months before my wedding.  I normally make an annual blood donation whenever my workplace organizes a blood donation drive.  After that 2004 donation, I missed the following 3 years because I was pregnant in 2005, and was breastfeeding in 2006 and 2007.  In fact, I tried to donate in 2007  but when they found out I was still breastfeeding, I was unceremoniously shooed away.  Ah well.

So today, after I passed the “drop-a-droplet-of-blood-into-the-blue-liquid-and-wait-for-it-to-sink” test, and had taken my weight, the doctor took my blood pressure and inquired why there was a 3 year lapse from the last time I donated, at which I gave her the reasons as stated above.

Well, basically nothing much has changed since the last time I donated, except for the fact that the medical officers do not need to write the blood tag series and the name of the hospital in my blood donation booklet anymore.  It’s all sticker-based, which I totally dig.

Anyway, after that, I lied down on one of the beds and requested that they take the blood from my right arm.  I know the vein in the crook of my right elbow is more visible, and I didn’t fancy the idea of them poking around looking for it if I had offered my left arm.  Just in case.

About five minutes after the blood transfer began, I was done.  Just enough time for me to take a quick shot of my arm with my N73 too.  Clip here, clip there, and I saw a full pouch of my precious O +ve blood being carted away for good use.  I like to make the blood transfer faster by squeezing that sponge-like thingy they provide for us to hold real fast, just to let the blood flow faster.  Just cuz I am rather paranoid about having a metal object in me for a long time.  There was this guy who was lying there like forever, and complaining he was too tired to squeeze the sponge-like thing, so I think he was there for more than 20 minutes and the bag was still not full yet.  I couldn’t help laughing a bit when his colleagues teased him that his blood was so thick it was only good to make curry me. 😛

So after the process was completed, I was given a cotton gauze to put over the punctured skin and asked to bend my elbow and close the area up.  Knowing me, after about 5 minutes lying there and not doing anything, I was ready to get up.  I gingerly opened up my elbow but just before I touched the cotton gauze, the medical officer said, “Jangan buka!”

Aiya…so lie down sammo lor….

Maybe they were concerned that someone who was able to produce a pint of blood in such a short time probably needed more time for the wound to close properly.  I’m sure it wasn’t because of “high blood pressure” as my friend jokingly commented.  I’d much rather like to refer to it as “high-pressured blood”. Hah.  Not the same thing, okay?

Had some very diluted chocolate drink after the blood donation and a curry puff.  I remember the food used to taste much better, but anyway, that’s not the reason WHY we donate blood, yes?

So if you are being wishy-washy about donating blood, ask yourself why not?  Some pointers for first timers though:

  • Go with someone, preferably someone who has donated before so you can ask him/her what to expect.
  • Have a light meal before you go donate.
  • Relax.  I find it helps loads if you don’t look at them puncturing your skin.  Hey, just look the other way la.
  • For ladies, it is advisable to wear pants.  Some of the beds tend to be positioned a little too high and it is not very “ladylike” to climb on top of it with a micro mini skirt on.

…and no, if you’re wondering, donating blood does not make someone put on weight.  Not if you eat normally after that.

Posted in Thoughts & Scribblings | 21 Comments

Giddily pondering about..

Posted on July 1, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

Growing up means…

  • not being little anymore.
  • putting personal reminders for yourself to visit the dentist twice a year, and not relying on Mom to tell you to.
  • being responsible for the inventory of all your household items. If the toilet paper runs out, there is no one to blame but yourself for not buying more of those when they were on sale in Tesco.
  • speaking up for yourself.
  • being comfortable enough to enjoy your own company as you eat lunch or dinner on your own. No need to wait around and ask around if so-and-so is ready to go for lunch with you or not.
  • making an effort to make changes instead of complaining and whining about them.
  • forgiving and ignoring the unimportant details of your life that do not contribute towards your wellbeing. Forgetting, though, is a totally different matter altogether.
  • having the courage to say no. And the willpower to mean it.
  • being true to yourself and knowing deep down that you have made your peace with God.
  • realizing some things are beyond your control and no matter what you do, you can never change them. You can, however, make the best of the situation instead of wallowing in self pity.
  • realizing that some things are beyond your understanding. For example, you might wonder why that someone did that something, or why that someone would want to hurt you, but it is times like these that growing up means surrendering it all to God, for He alone knows what is best for you.
  • listening to others more, and then listening to your inner voice before it gets out in the open.  Sometimes a hug can do wonders that no words can.
  • loving.
  • accepting.
  • just living.
Posted in Thoughts & Scribblings | 10 Comments

Filling my working tummy

Posted on June 30, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress

More and more people are opting to work from home now.  Well, that is….if they had a choice to.  It certainly is the more economical choice now, because you’ll get work done and also not have to use up petrol driving to work, circling the company car park looking for a decent car park, and then walking all the way to the office building, wasting precious time doing so.  Okay, maybe that’s just me talking about me…but working from home really needs a whole lot of discipline too, if you ask me, otherwise instead of working from home, you’ll end up sleeping from home, if you know what I mean.

I’ve read articles suggesting that people who work from home dress in their normal work clothes, just to get themselves into the “mood”.  But I don’t.  It’s just t-shirts and shorts for me, and it works just fine.  Last Friday, I worked from home and as always, I accomplished far more than I would have had I been cooped up in the office.

An additional impetus to why I prefer to work from home is that it allows me to experiment in the kitchen.  I am often alone when I work from home, so this allows my kitchen boo-boos, if any, to be forgivable.  And last Friday, I decided NOT to cook my usual instant Korean ramen, but instead, try a simple one-dish meal.  And of course, inspired by PB’s gastronomical fare while she worked from home, I too could not resist taking pictures. 

I had seen this dish served as a dim sum dish a few weekends ago, so I figured it ought to be easy to emulate.  Just put several pieces of chicken (I’m not ashamed to say that I use deboned drumstick meat, instead of the healthier breast meat) on top of a bed of watercress.  Sprinkle with kei chi (isn’t it obvious how much I love to use this?) and marinade with a dash of sesame oil, pepper, soy sauce and (optional) mushroom soup powder.

I steamed it on high for 15 minutes, and had it with rice.  Protein, carbs, vege and fiber, all in one meal.  Watercress makes lovely soup, so by steaming it, all the rich flavors of this vege will be married with the natural sauces of the steamed chicken, creating a yummy gravy I poured all over my rice.

Now who says eating lunch alone is boring? 😛

Posted in Drooling & Cooking | 11 Comments

Driving Miss Competence

Posted on June 27, 2008 by The Giddy Tigress


Photo credits

Last weekend, as we were driving back from the mall, we had an encounter of the fourth kind. Not an alien, but this one is a menace on the road and is a danger to everyone.

Yes, the nincompoop of a driver.

There the car was, right in front of us, hogging the fast lane, as if the driver and its passengers were having a field trip, admiring the surrounding view. My hubby, who was driving then, flashed the headlights once at the driver as a warning.

Nothing happened.

Flash again. Twice. Added a honk for effect.

I noticed the driver looking into the rear view mirror, but he did not indicate that he was about to switch lanes.

Then slowly, the car moved to the left lane and slowed down as we were approaching the traffic lights.

As we passed the car, I could not resist catching a glimpse of the driver.

And as soon as I did, I turned and smugly announced to my husband, “Hah! It’s a guy!”

🙂

We have this understanding, my hubby and I. He seems to think that most women don’t drive as well as men. Of course I think otherwise, and never fail to pounce at every opportunity I have to make that fact known. But had it been a lady driver, I would have kept quiet la…unless of course if the car was a kancil, then I’d shake my head and go, “Haiya…kancil ma..” (sorry, Kancil drivers, it’s a case of one bad apple spoils the barrel here.)

Anyway, my hubby stands firm in his belief that men in general are better drivers than women. He goes, “Otherwise, how come we don’t see any women Formula One drivers?”

And I’d go, “But being a Formula One driver only means you can drive fast, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can drive WELL. Besides we women have far better things to do…” (like ogle at *certain* Formula One drivers, for instance)

So what say you? Do men or women make better drivers?

Posted in Thoughts & Scribblings | 18 Comments