Celebration of midwinter

It’s that time of the year again, no it’s not Christmas nor is it Chinese New year, it’s way before that! It’s Dong zhi (冬至)! Often this festival does not seem to be a big deal for me and my family back then, it’s just a time to eat tang yuan(汤圆) for us and as for the night before Dong Zhi, the time to make the tang yuan for the family by myself -.-

I didn’t really care much about this festival until I saw a recipe that served tang yuan stuffed with water chestnut cubes in red bean soup. I think I suggested this to my mother when I was 14 and from then on, eating this ‘upgraded version’ of tang yuan became a family tradition and something I look forward to every year! It’s really wonderful, you guys should try it! :)

I have always wondered what is the purpose of celebrating Dong Zhi? Apparently it is to mark the arrival of the Winter Solstice, the summit of winter/midwinter. I also always thought that ‘至’would mean the ‘end’ or ‘arrival’, hahaha, well it turns out that it actually means ‘extreme’, so that explains why it is the middle of winter season where the nights are longer than day. Other than the obvious reason to celebrate Dong Zhi, it is also the time for family reunion and that everyone is 1 year older now in the Lunar calendar! (On the contrary to popular belief, Chinese are not 1 year older during Chinese New Year, the celebration of the arrival of spring)

Now back to the more entertaining aspect of Dong Zhi, the tang yuan!! Traditionally, they are made in white and pink (glutinous flour mixed with water) and served in a sweetsoup (made from sugar, pandan leaf/ginger and water) They symbolize family union (made in a round shape) and prosperity (the pink ones). The more fanciful versions are multi-coloured ones, stuffed ones (fillings can range from black sesame to peanuts) and savoury ones(they often become more of dumplings). Even the broths can be in the form of mung bean soup, black sesame porridge or burbur cha cha. Everyone has their own creative version of this delightful dessert!

One thing I noticed is that uni students who are studying far away from home seem to appreciate this festival more. Thanks to the magic of supermarket manufacturing, students are often seen shopping around for ready-made tang yuan or for the more diligent ones, ingredients, during this time of the year. It’s funny to think that back then, they (or probably, just me) were kids who try to escape from the daunting DUTY to 搓(knead) the tang yuan, are now still carrying on the tradition in their own way. Instead of a family reunion, friends gather together to enjoy a bowl or 2. It seems that a new ‘family’ reunion has taken place here and that is the beauty of Dong Zhi. Family or not, it makes everyone come together to celebrate union and tradition.

Here is the tang yuan I had with my friends, we bought 3 packets of 10 ready made tang yuans. Unfortunately, they were pre-packed with 2 sesame fillings and 1 peanut filling. Luckily my first bite was a peanut filling i think! Sesame wasnt as weird as thought, taste like peanut but with different kind of 'fragrance'

Cryptic 'kawaii~' photos

we see all these weird pictures of girls posing with different angles of themselves in front of the camera. no, not in a modelly way but in a somewhat, they claim a ‘cute’ way. Often they like to pout(in a very distinct shape), or puff their cheeks, or look up to the camera wide eyed, and sometimes all of them at the same time! It just seems inhumanly possible to pull off those weird faces! now you all may think its just some harmless self indulgence of vanity along with a rubbery face, but it holds a scary truth!!!

the japanese who are known for their cunning knowledge on advanced technology, have invented a way of manipulating minds of the humans!!! by using simple hand signals and facial expression codes, they are able to communicate to one another and spread this mind manipulation method.

here are some hand signals and facial expression (FE) codes with their meanings:
(these are just hypothesized by scientists, we are yet to discover the true meanings yet. if we did, we wouldnt be facing this problem now would we?)

1. the ‘V" hand sign- now this may be the peace sign we normally pose. but when paired with a FE code, it functions as a hypnotising hand gesture to make you one of ‘them’. just by a glance of approximately 300 seconds, you have become one of ‘them’

2. the ‘fist’ hand sign- it means to attack, to punch, stuff your fist in the other’s mouth, nose, parts of the body with an opening etc.

3. the opened palm hand sign- to slap, whack, stuff in face to suffocate

4. the big, googly eyes- another way to hypnotize you into become one of ‘them’. this is more effective than the V sign. the moment you see it, you will lean closer, freeze and start having mind conflicts. this is also a method of diverging your attention.

5. the pout- when paired with a FE expression, it can alter your voice, making it high pitched and squeaky sounding, like a rat. on mild conditions, you’ll just sound like a baby.

6. puffed, blowed up cheeks- a signal to inform for an explosion or to give command for an explosive attack. explosives could possibly include nuclear weapons or weapons of a higher degree.

7. highly-blushed puffed, blowed cheeks- an urgent command for explosive attack. explosives could possibly include nuclear weapons or weapons of higher degree.

it is believed that when the FE codes are enhanced with make up, it means for immediate attack or more stronger forces.

the scientists believe that this knowledge was learned and altered from alien war signals and codes. they believe that the japs have invented a device capable of communicating with the extra terrestrials from outer space. we can see weird physical proportions of the faces of the photos, mostly found are massive, outrageous eyes; a very sharp triangular face; very big, dilated pupils etc. these parts of the faces are in exaggerated proportions which are not human but more like aliens!! these photos are commonly seen on the internet, but now have seem to spread to mobile phones. a very smart move indeed by the japs.

scientists have come up with a way to prevent yourself from becoming one of ‘them’ that is simply when you see a photo of ‘them’ quickly diverge your view within 3 seconds and eat lots of broccoli afterwards. this ay not be 100% the safest way, but scientists are working on a solution.

therefore, we must be careful of these deadly photos, if you know a friend who does it, better be careful of your back!

Note: This was written back in the days when Friendster was the most popular social networking site and that lots of girls liked to post pictures of them posing with bizzare looking faces. I was one of those 'haters' who disliked seeing those pictures. Hahahahaha, i'm still not fond of those kinds of pictures but i feel very much indifferent about it already now as i have 'mah-tuer' eh hem..... Anyway, more to come from Donut!

The truth behind your test papers!

ah yes, its been a while, for me its ‘a while’ because i have been time travelling to uncover more donut theories as you people who have been waiting for ‘not awhile’ maybe its been like 4 months or so.

now, enough of that. i am very sure almost every student here are going to have their mid-year examinations…do you all know what is the real purpose of having exams in the first place?? this is a shocking revelation!

first, what is the most noticable thing about your examination? the papers yes, ever notice how much paper has been printed, photostated, stacked, clipped just to ask students a few questions designed to either make or break you then is of no more relevance after 1-2 and a half hours?? do you? do you?? why all the fuss you say?

it is believed that this is a plot from the ‘higher authority’ so that more trees can be cut down to make more paper. the more trees cut down, the more land there is for spceship parking lots. yes, SPACESHIP PARKING LOTS!!!! our ‘higher authority’ is planning on galactic-tourism. the ‘higher authorities’ have notice a lot of alien residents here (they even have freindster for cream’s sake! just look at those weird photos!) that it is reasonable to prepare an environment full of hostility and attractions and building a parking lot is the very first step for this tourism business.

of course, this is just the beginning of the project and immediately dishing out the idea of galactic-tourism would cause many riots plus they need an excuse to cut down trees so the ‘higher authority’ is subtlely and has been quietly initiating this project for many many many years through examinations for students…..

seems like there’s gonna be extra income for parking tickets!

Note: Yes, it's been awhile since i last wrote in and I decided to post this from Donut because i liked the excuse I gave for not updating the blog for so long, time travelling is a task that makes you forget about the proper flow of time ;)