Fun on American Idol 9

Fun is overrated on AI 9. Each time a contestant was asked how he or she performed, the answer invariably was “Oh, I had fun.” If it’s fun you’re after, you should go to the amusement park. Come on guys, you’re there to be crowned the American Idol and fun should be the last thing on your mind. For the next season, the word FUN should be banned from the vocabulary. Even if you really had fun, don’t ever say it on air, not when a million others are saying it too.

On the whole, this season has been quite dull. The front runner is Crystal Bowersox, she with the dreadlocks and her guitar. She may be a good singer, but she lacks star power. Siobhan Magnus is one different gal. She dresses differently, sings quirky songs and likes to hit the high notes. However, the scream at the end of each song is getting quite stale. As Simon said, perhaps she should shake-up the order a bit, scream at the beginning and end on a mellow note. The guy I was rooting for – Andrew Garcia – was brilliant with Paula’s Straight Up but unfortunately, nothing he sang later could hold a candle to it.

Ellen is getting better at judging. In the beginning she was trying too hard to be technical like the other judges and it didn’t go down well with the audience. I remember coming across this comment on the internet, “Ellen, you’re paid to be funny, so be funny.” That really hit the nail on the head. Now that she’s doing what she’s good at – i.e. making witty remarks, I really enjoy listening to her comments which come as a breath of fresh air compared to Randy’s “Yo dawg, listen. That was hot!” or “It was kinda pitchy and running all over the place,” or Kara’s preoccupation with the singers being able to identify with what they sing la-di-da, which as Simon pointed out is Rubbish. But she was spot on in saying that Paige Miles’ rendition of Against All Odds is the worst singing of the season. She murdered that great, big song. Phil Collins, please arrest her.

Oh dear, what a dismal season, but I’m still a fan. Don’t know if I’ll still be watching it with Simon gone next season.

The Food Revenge

This is a skit which was acted out by some youths at one of the Youth Development Programmes organized by our church. It was a group effort and I’m not sure who was the brains behind it. I thought it was quite funny.  I’m reproducing it here because no. 3 reproduced it for a campfire skit (which got scrapped) and I found his script lying around the kitchen table. Other than correcting his atrocious spelling, I’ve typed everything else as he wrote it.

The Food Revenge

One day Kung Fu Panda was weighing himself.

KFP : Wow! I never thought I was that THIN!

Jughead Jones (from The Archie’s) : You are not thin, it went round three times already.

KFP : NO!!!! I am …ahh… how much? (I failed my Maths).

JJ (uses a calculator) : 300 KG!

KFP walks out.

JJ : Where are you going?

KFP : To KFC and the pau shop. They are the cause of this. (Shakes his body). Want to come along?

JJ : Neh, I’m going over to Mc Donald’s to have hamburgers. (Checks his wallet.) FOR HAMBURGER’S SAKE!

KFP : What?!

JJ : I spent all my allowance last week! I’m dead!!!! No hamburgersssss….

KFP : SO? Now I have to go on a DIET!!!!

JJ : It’s all Kenny Rogers fault. I spent all my money for healthy food in Kenny Rogers!!! Goodbye friend. I’m going over to Kenny Rogers to have REVENGE.

So both of them went separate way. One went to Kenny Rogers and one went to KFC.

In KFC company.

KFP : YOU! Err… What’s your name?

Worker : Welcome to KFC. Is there a problem?

KFP : Yes! I want to fight!

Worker : For food complaints please go to room 1, for service complaints please go to room 2, if you want to meet someone, please go to room 3.

KFP : This is gonna be long …

Buying gifts

A: It’s so difficult to buy gifts for men.

B: It’s more difficult to buy for girls.

C: Who says? You can buy so many things for girls.

B: Yeah, you buy her a pearl necklace, she wants a diamond one. You buy her a diamond, she wants pearls. You buy a blue dress, she wants a black one.

B sounds as if he has lots of experience. Nope, he’s a greenhorn who doesn’t have any money of his own to buy a candle light dinner, let alone pearls or diamonds. He’s my 13 year old son. I am A, C is my 9 year old girl.

Ma the tailor

Was cleaning out the wardrobe of clothes I don’t wear and bed linen that have seen better days. Going through the pile of fabric, I realized how much we have relied on Ma’s good sewing skills in our lives. She sewed all the curtains for my first house in Berkeley Garden and my second house in Eng Ann. She sewed pillow cases and bed sheets. My first born’s small mattress cover was sewn by her too. I bought a cloth with cartoon computer designs as the daddy was a computer professional. It is still lying in the cupboard after all these years. My firstborn will be turning 20 this month. It is time to purge so many old things but the memories I will keep. There are photos of him lying on that computer-design mattress I am sure, but for insurance, I decided to snap a picture of it before I pack it up.

Ma sewed clothes and material for so many people: her children, grandchildren, siblings, nephews, nieces, neighbours, in-laws and friends. She can sew anything, well almost. Shirts, skirts, dresses, sports wear, bed spread, curtains, cushion covers, pillow cases, kebaya, baju kurung, pyjamas, fancy dress costume. The only garments she couldn’t make was men’s trousers and jackets. She never had any training. Nobody taught her how to sew. She learnt by looking over the shoulders of tailors.

None of my sisters and I have the penchant for sewing. We do know how to handle the sewing machine and sew simple items, but certainly can’t do the whole repertoire like she did. When we were young, we had to help Ma sew buttons and hooks and hem the garments that she tailored for other people. When I was doing home science in secondary school, she helped me to sew a housecoat. But it ended up with too many buttons and the teacher was not pleased. When I started work, I took up a sewing course from a tailor. I reckon I would be more serious in learning the craft if I had to pay for it. Again, Ma helped me and the tailor was not pleased that I was doing work she had not taught yet. I sewed a brown blouse and a pink batik dress with a jacket before dropping out.

When the kids were young, I sewed PJs for them. In particular I remember a brown striped pyjamas for no. 1 and a yellow and red one for no. 2. I also sewed quilts for them, complete with matching pillow and bolster cases. For the house that I am living in now, I sewed all the curtains myself but for the dining area, the curtain which Ma sewed for my Eng Ann house is still in use, as are the bolster cases she sewed for the kids and the bedsheets she recycled from First Aunt’s discarded-but-still-good collection.

The sewing machine in my utility room can’t be used now. I can’t call up Ma and asked her how to fix it or bring her over to trouble shoot. It was acting up with  floating stitches. She had taught me how to do it once, then the problem came back again. Just before she passed on, I tried to fix it but the parts literally fell apart. The machine which she had fixed with an electric motor was from her. I’ll have to get the repairman to come in. For now I have to do my sewing by hand-stitches.

P’/S: I had on the baju kurung she sewed for me in my other blog (top right hand corner). I no longer have that baju kurung as the fabric tore during the last wearing two years ago.