Coming from an English-speaking family, speaking in Mandarin is quite a hassle for me. But…QUICK! Congratulate me now. I managed to answer a phone call with a Mandarin speaking customer. It’s not the usual call-in to activate a policy. She asked about the terms and conditions so the phone call was slightly longer. I managed to answer her questions mostly in Mandarin with just a few English words.

Sure I can read Mandarin, I’ve just finished reading a Mandarin book by the way. But reading and speaking the language is totally different. I can always feel myself grasping for the right words when speaking in Mandarin. And when I can’t find the right words, I have to go one big round to explain something simple and most of the time the other party ends up getting more puzzled.

Continuing from yesterday’s post… Another thing that makes my grandparents’ stay quite unpleasant for Sis and I is the fact that grandpa does not know the meaning of privacy. I caught him opening and rummaging through the tray of pens in my drawer in the study room. Fine. I have nothing super secretive in that drawer so I just tolerate it. Next, I saw him touching Sis’s things at her computer. Now, Sis is VERY particular about people touching her things and putting them back in the EXACT position. I couldn’t tolerate it anymore and told Dad. Dad told me I have the right to tell him off but do it in a nice way.

I went to grandpa and told him not to touch Sis’s things coz if she found out, she’ll scream at him. Guess what he said? He just mumbled that he didn’t touch her things. DIDN’T TOUCH HER THINGS! WTH. I just saw him touching her things and he just denied it…or rather lied about it.

That’s why we dislike grandpa touching our things. Not being selfish or disrespectful. When we catch him doing something wrong, he usually denies/lies about it. Not only that, we dislike him touching our things coz USUALLY he spoils/breaks it. To support my statement…

Later on, Sis checked the stuff on her table and found that her pen had leaked and there was a small pool of blue ink on the table. Now, the pen always had the cap on and it wasn’t faced down coz using one’s common sense, you wouldn’t leave it uncapped and faced down coz the ink will leak. WHO ELSE? Sis started screaming at grandpa and what did he do? Just gave a little laugh. WTH. It’s CERTAINLY NOT FUNNY ok. If she didn’t discover it, the ink might have permanantly stained the table. :angry:

To think that an 80 year old man would have the mentality of a child and the lack of manners. Hmph.

Recently, somebody pissed me off bigtime. I never really liked her in the first place. I mean, there are times when she is nice but it irks me that she thinks she is so damn matured when she’s not. Worse, she went to brag about going clubbing to someone younger than her. For what? You want that younger person to praise you till the sun don’t shine? Is going clubbing such a BIG DEAL? Is being able to consume alcohol such a BIG DEAL? Tell me it’s such a big deal after you have to face the toilet bowl and end up almost puking your guts out.

Please love yourself a little more. Dress decently. I have never come across anyone who thinks her great assets are meant to be shown off like that. Even Ling complained to me about having to wear shirts coz there’s a gaping hole when she lifts her arms. Everyone is so afraid to expose themselves while you are wanting to expose yourself. Sure, guys may be attracted to such things but you’re also inviting the wrong kind of attention.

Bottomline: You were given a brain. Use it wisely.