I Should Be So Lucky 2

You can say that I unabashedly got the inspiration for the title of this post from Chris' I Should Be So Lucky post and Jack Neo's latest blockbuster movie, I Not Stupid 2, for which Chris also wrote a post about here.

Talking about Jack Neo's films, those of you who have watched his 2004 film, The Best Bet, will probably recall the following hilarious scenes in which God(s) Of Wealth appeared:

Besides me, it looks like someone else also got an inspiration from that Jack Neo's film. You see, I was at the food centre at Blk 131-135, Lor 1A Toa Payoh on 26 May 06 when I got lucky. I actually met a God Of Wealth in real person, er... I mean real God. (Oh dear, what am I saying?)

(Boy, am I confused. And if my convulated words here are considered blasphemous to anyone, I am sorry. Since I also happen to believe in "sorry also must explain" for some sorry cases, let me explain.)

Although I was confused, there was definitely no mistaken identity - this God Of Wealth was no God Of Health for he walked with a noticeable limp. He looked like he just walked out from a Mediacorp movie shoot. He had his face painted red and was in a full red outfit complete with matching headgear. He was carrying a basket. Inside the basket were not flowers but angpows (red packets) which I believe contained lucky 4D numbers. Not 4D tickets, mind you, but 4D numbers. (I think it is illegal to resell 4D tickets for a profit in Singapore, even if the seller had obtained the original tickets from a legal source.) For the benefit of people like Chun See, who don't buy 4D, the 4D numbers are usually written or printed on pieces of paper and they merely offer dubious tips on what are the 'lucky' 4D numbers to buy. Of course, the Law Of Averages still work here - for every 10,000 4D numbers which the God Of Wealth sells, on the average, one is likely to hit the first prize, another the 2nd, another the 3rd and so on. So these few lucky people think that the God Of Wealth is really God.

He approached stall holders and customers alike. A few people who believed in him in their luck actually bought the angpows from him. (Notice the angpow in the little boy's right hand.)

I think that God Of Wealth was selling the 4D-number angpows for a minimum of S$2 each. I say 'minimum' because you are always welcome to give more. When it comes to donating to Immortals, no amount is too much. Whatever amount you give in excess of S$2 will be readily accepted. You will notice that the loudness of the 'thank you' coming your way is directly proportional to the amount that you have donated.

I didn't buy any 4D number from that man God Of Wealth mainly because I don't believe in him that I can be that lucky. Besides, I have no lack of 4D numbers to buy. There are already so many that I just can't keep up with - numbers coming from flat units, HDB blocks, car registrations, birth dates, identity cards, handphones, receipts, etc of people like family, relatives, friends, colleagues, ex-girlfriends, mistresses, and so on.

Mothers' Day And What It Means To Me

I know that I'm a bit late to blog about Mothers' Day but I have been busy lately and I just have to get this off my chest. I can't remember when mothers started to share a spot with the racing horses on the same calendar:

Also occupying the calendar this year are over 50 other such commemorative dates. That's an average of about one a week! To get an idea of how many such occasions there are, just take a look at this local florist's URL. (Caution: I think the dates are meant for a previous year since those indicated for Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day are wrong - they should fall on 14 May and 18 Jun respectively this year.) If you ask me, the only days that seem to be missing from the list are Mistresses' Day and Myself Day - two days which I would very much like to celebrate.

The reason why there are so many commemorative dates is probably to remind people that the restaurants, florists, shopping malls, jewellery/gift shops, card makers, and loan sharks need to survive and not just the mums, dads, bosses, secretaries, youths, children and mistresses. While this is a noble cause (keeping the economy alive that is and not the mistresses), many people, including yours truly, feel that all these occasions have been over-hyped and over-commercialised. For those who not only have the love but the money, everyday is Mothers' Day. On the other hand, for those who do not have the love, every Mothers' Day is a normal day regardless of whether they have the money or not.

Make no mistake, I am not questioning the need for a Mothers' Day. In fact, I think that you should show your appreciation to your mum while you still can, not just on Mothers' Day but everyday if you can. (Sadly I have lost that chance.) This year, I celebrated Mothers' Day on behalf of my children at a very appropriate place - My Mum's Place. (Not my mum's place - if I went to my mum's place, I would be out of this world.) My Mum's Place is a humble, nondescript and homely eating place that serves dishes that are, in my opinion, closest to a home-cooked meal. Although there is air-conditioning, it could have been cooler. You get to sit on the same types of tables and plastic chairs that are used in a neighbourhood coffeeshop and at funeral wakes. The price is cheaply reasonable reasonably cheap - a small grouper steamed Teochew-style, enough for 4 small-eaters, costs S$15. Although, it is not a swimming-in-the-tank grouper but a swimming-in-the-soup one, it is fresh enough. The bill for a simple meal for my family of 2 adults, 1 young man and 1 child comes up to about S$40-$50. Best of all, there is no 'plus-plus', i.e. no service charge and GST.

They also serve my favourite soup - what the Cantonese call "gau gei tong". This is a simple soup cooked with egg, anchovies and a type of vegetable leaves which are of similar size and shape to curry leaves. When preparing the dish, you have to be very careful when you pluck the leaves from the stalk because the stalks of this vegetable have many sharp thorns. I remember this dish because my mum used to cook this soup and I used to help her pluck the leaves. I obviously have a lasting impression of the thorns because I was painfully pricked more than once by them. This soup brings back memories of my mum.

The "mum's specialty" in this restaurant is fried tau foo stuffed with meat. The taste is simply out of this world, just like my mum, I mean my mum's cooking. You ought to try this dish should you visit this restaurant in Joo Chiat. My wife liked the food so much that our family ended up having dinner at this restaurant two days in a row:

But then again, that is my wife. A few years ago, she just fell in love with the food at a restaurant called "One Place" located in the former Shell Club in Paya Lebar Road. She liked the cooking so much that our family ended up eating most of our weekend meals at this restaurant. It happened so often that I frustratedly renamed the restaurant 'One And Only Place'. One Place has since closed down, obviously not because of poor business since my family kept their tills ringing. It had to make way for a condominium which is almost completed now.

Disclaimer: Neither my wife nor I are related to My Mum's Place, One Place or any other place.

But We Survived The Thrills And Spills

In my last post, I mentioned about the reverse bungee ride (called G-Max) at Clarke Quay and the recent incident which illustrated how dangerous the ride really was. I also said that some Singaporeans would not ride the G-Max even if someone offered them $100 to do it. However, as the title of this post suggests, you may find me contradicting myself here. Actually, I do believe in giving most things a try. This includes death defying and heartstopping rides. (I didn't title my blog 'Taking Up The Challenge' for nothing, you know.)

In Dec 2000 (when I was much younger and more adventurous) our family visited Gold Coast (not a massage parlour but Australia). My elder son was almost 9 years' old then while my younger son was only 4. Many of us know that just like old Singapore had 3 very well-known Worlds, namely Gay World, Great World and New World, Gold Coast too has 3 very famous 'Worlds', namely Seaworld, Movieworld and Dreamworld. Dreamworld was opened in 1981 and claimed to be dedicated 'to the happiness of all people' because it has a lot of interesting rides with varying difficulty levels from the very mild to the extremely adrenalin-pumping ones. When we arrived at Dreamworld, the first thing that we saw was the imposing 115-metre tower. We also saw the gondola falling but from the ground, the fall seemed to be deceivingly slow. (We later found out that this was an optical illusion.) From the ground, we also could not hear the riders screaming - most riders just couldn't help it.

I don't know what made me do it but pointing to the tower, I told my elder son, 'If you dare to ride that one, then you don't have to ride anything else here.' Much to my surprise, my son took up my challenge. Maybe he was too naive then. After he agreed to take the ride, I was too shameful to back out so we queued up for 15 minutes to ride the Giant Drop. Most of the people in the queue were Westerners, probably locals. Although there was a minimum height requirement of 1.2 m, some of the children looked even younger than my son. There were even some very young girls in the queue. I really admire their guts - while my heart was racing, they were casually chatting away.

The Giant Drop and the Tower of Terror are the two most terrifying but also the most exciting of the rides (depending on how you take to the rides). The two rides operate from different sides of the same 115-metre high tower:

For the Giant Drop, 8 tired-of-living individuals are shackle-locked side-by-side onto the seats of the gondola. Your feet dangle freely and there is nothing in front of you. As we found out, once you are strapped down, it is too late to back out (unless you are as strong as Incredible Hulk and could bend the steel shackle to escape). The next moment finds you being hauled up and up at a quite leisurely speed. You try very hard to admire the scenery around you fearing that it might be the last scene that you will ever see. Finally, the gondola reaches the top of the 39-storey high tower and pause for a while. Your heart does the same. Then it happens - the twin cable grip is released and you plummet at up to 135 kmh back towards the ground. Like a ton of bricks, you just drop. So does your heart. Although I've never tried ending my life, I don't think that I'm exaggerating if I say that the feeling that you get is like committing suicide. However, in this case, you are not prepared to die. You just have to scream your heart out. You brace for the worst. Then a few seconds later, the sophisticated magnetic braking system kicks in and brings the gondola to a safe stop which I cannot describe as gentle.

Glad that we survived the Giant Drop and quite certain that it was not because of luck, we were prepared to toy with our lives again. I brought my son to the entrance of the Tower of Terror. The entrance was actually the gaping mouth of a giant white skull with red eyes. Ignoring the message behind the skull, we went in and joined the queue.

For this ride, you are strapped in what looks like an open-top sports car together with 14 other people. The car is propelled by a powerful electro-magnetical force which accelerates to 161 kmh in just 7 seconds and you experience a 4.5G force which is comparable to the force experienced by fighter pilots on take-off. The car reaches the top of the 115-metre tower within the next few seconds. At this moment the car is vertical and it pauses momentarily. Then it slides back and the feeling is the same as the Giant Drop, except that it is in reverse.

Well, my son and I survived both rides and we have the photos to prove it. They didn't pay us for the rides but neither did we pay them - the admission ticket to the amusement park which the tour operater paid for includes unlimited rides. But once on each is more than enough for me, my stomach and even my son. It was an experience of a lifetime which neither of us would ever want to go through again.