Interesting. I wonder why??? Speculations, speculations...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Doing it for the right reasons!
Well what IS the right reason? Earlier this year, I completely lost it, must've had a mental breakdown at some stage, and got myself a malu. Yes, a MALU. Nydia, who can't speak Samoan worth a damn, can't do a siva samoa to save her life, and knows fuck-all about the culture. Well I beg to differ if that's what you think. I can speak Samoan worth a damn, I live here dammit! I speak it every day. Tell me to make a speech and that's a different story :) And the rest of it...yeah I can do that too. Under the influence of alcohol. Lots of it.
I have actually wanted a malu for a very long time. People say "as long as you get it for the right reasons". My reasons? It further connects me to my culture. To the Faasamoa. To who I am. To my identity as a Samoan woman. All that bullshit? It actually means something. Ever since I got it, I have been extremely proud to wear it. This is my journey to discovering myself and my identity. I am more appreciative of my culture because of it. I have more self-esteem even. There is something about having a malu which gives you more of a sense of self worth. I can't quite put my finger to it.
It's not as symmetrical as it could be, there are flaws, but that epitomises me & my culture. Nothing perfect :) But who cares, I love it & have NO REGRETS!
I have actually wanted a malu for a very long time. People say "as long as you get it for the right reasons". My reasons? It further connects me to my culture. To the Faasamoa. To who I am. To my identity as a Samoan woman. All that bullshit? It actually means something. Ever since I got it, I have been extremely proud to wear it. This is my journey to discovering myself and my identity. I am more appreciative of my culture because of it. I have more self-esteem even. There is something about having a malu which gives you more of a sense of self worth. I can't quite put my finger to it.
It's not as symmetrical as it could be, there are flaws, but that epitomises me & my culture. Nothing perfect :) But who cares, I love it & have NO REGRETS!
The Haunted House
Samoans are famous for their superstitions. Cover all the mirrors at night. Don't comb your hair at night. Don't whistle at night. Don't sweep at night. Yes, don't do ANYTHING at night. Everything is connected with some "aiku" or other. All children were brought up fearing the aiku. Since I was a child I have never been afraid of any aiku or the dark in general. Nor have I been afraid of staying home alone at night. It must be my upbringing with none of the "sau gei le aiku ai oe!" threats. I guess that's also why I am not afraid of driving home alone at 2 in the morning after a "few" drinks on the town.
All was well and good in my fearless aiku-less little world until 2 weeks ago.
Ok, let me recap. My dad had a bad fall in June outside of the house and was hospitalized for 2 weeks. Then in August he had another fall in the shower and broke his arm. At the hospital, one of the nurses told him it may not be coincidental. There must be a bad spirit on our land attacking him. She is a strong AOG member and said there is a group of them who are licensed, so to speak, to "exorcise the demons" from people's homes. My dad left for NZ 2 weeks ago for an operation on his face (damaged from his first fall). His flight was on Friday evening. On Friday morning he asked for someone to give him a bath (which is very unusual) and he was trembling (as if he was afraid of something in the shower). That same day, he called that nurse to come and exorcise the house. That night he left. Later on that night, my housegirl's mobile kept ringing. It was my dad's number. The same number which was in the sim card lying in his drawer. After about 10 calls, the number disappeared and the phone screen was totally blank. And still ringing. The next day we found many of the trees in our yard had been damaged - the bark had been stripped off. We lock our gate every night. So WTF?!
Needless to say I haven't been able to walk around my own house at night because I have become afraid. I've started sleeping early. Every time I wake up in the night to get Elita's milk, I turn on all the lights. Everytime someone goes to the bathroom (right next to my room) I freak out. After 27 odd years of being unafraid of such rubbish, it takes one small happening to completely overturn my beliefs. I now believe it is possible that there is a spirit in our house. My imagination is on over-drive every night. My night prayers have doubled, no, tripled! I actually feel like going back to Malie. I know, that bad.
It doesn't help hearing the tsunami stories. One about a taxi driver who drove a woman and her children to Lalomanu. When they reached Le Mafa Pass, he looked in his rearview mirror and his passengers had vanished. He has been sick and delirious ever since. Another story about the villages of Satitoa and Saleapaga - each night the villagers can hear the sounds of people wailing and screaming and babies crying. The same case with the Tafaigata cemetary where 11 of the tsunami victims were buried. The security guard of the waste disposal (not far from the cemetary) quit his job claiming he could hear children crying every night at the cemetary.
There's some freaky shit going on in this place.
All was well and good in my fearless aiku-less little world until 2 weeks ago.
Ok, let me recap. My dad had a bad fall in June outside of the house and was hospitalized for 2 weeks. Then in August he had another fall in the shower and broke his arm. At the hospital, one of the nurses told him it may not be coincidental. There must be a bad spirit on our land attacking him. She is a strong AOG member and said there is a group of them who are licensed, so to speak, to "exorcise the demons" from people's homes. My dad left for NZ 2 weeks ago for an operation on his face (damaged from his first fall). His flight was on Friday evening. On Friday morning he asked for someone to give him a bath (which is very unusual) and he was trembling (as if he was afraid of something in the shower). That same day, he called that nurse to come and exorcise the house. That night he left. Later on that night, my housegirl's mobile kept ringing. It was my dad's number. The same number which was in the sim card lying in his drawer. After about 10 calls, the number disappeared and the phone screen was totally blank. And still ringing. The next day we found many of the trees in our yard had been damaged - the bark had been stripped off. We lock our gate every night. So WTF?!
Needless to say I haven't been able to walk around my own house at night because I have become afraid. I've started sleeping early. Every time I wake up in the night to get Elita's milk, I turn on all the lights. Everytime someone goes to the bathroom (right next to my room) I freak out. After 27 odd years of being unafraid of such rubbish, it takes one small happening to completely overturn my beliefs. I now believe it is possible that there is a spirit in our house. My imagination is on over-drive every night. My night prayers have doubled, no, tripled! I actually feel like going back to Malie. I know, that bad.
It doesn't help hearing the tsunami stories. One about a taxi driver who drove a woman and her children to Lalomanu. When they reached Le Mafa Pass, he looked in his rearview mirror and his passengers had vanished. He has been sick and delirious ever since. Another story about the villages of Satitoa and Saleapaga - each night the villagers can hear the sounds of people wailing and screaming and babies crying. The same case with the Tafaigata cemetary where 11 of the tsunami victims were buried. The security guard of the waste disposal (not far from the cemetary) quit his job claiming he could hear children crying every night at the cemetary.
There's some freaky shit going on in this place.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Pics of the kids
A few pics of the brats. Sadly I don't have any good pics of the kids lately. Will make more effort :)
Jenny from the Block with her "matching" outfit.
A sign of things to come - one smiling for the camera with the untidy hair, and the other one not interested in the paparazzi.
White Sunday - this is before she went to church, freaked out seeing so many children (clearly the first year of her life was not spent running amok with the wild creatures of Malie) and we had to take her home to calm her frayed nerves.
Jenny from the Block with her "matching" outfit.
A sign of things to come - one smiling for the camera with the untidy hair, and the other one not interested in the paparazzi.
White Sunday - this is before she went to church, freaked out seeing so many children (clearly the first year of her life was not spent running amok with the wild creatures of Malie) and we had to take her home to calm her frayed nerves.
Currently in Nydia's life...
Passing the time between smoke breaks :)
Current Books - Been going through some strange phases. For the past 2 months it's been romance novels (yes the Silhouette/Mills & Boons trash), then the harder Judith Gould/Joan Collins/Judith Krantz stuff, then a week of Wilbur Smith. I need something new to read. Something other than the books at CCK. I SWEAR someone needs to open up a decent bookstore with books that aren't second hand and overpriced. God. Give me Borders any day. Although Le Tusi Faitau did hit near the mark, but location was inconvenient, unless you worked across the road at the Govt Building and went across every day to buy out all the Marian Keyes books you could find. Yeah Sita.
Current Playlist - That would be the songs on the cd in my car which I am forced to listen to on a daily basis with a range of BEP, Sean Kingston, Mario, and Nifoloa. Which brings me to Tinto's fav song "Fire Burning on the Dance Floor" (Sean Kingston). Tinto version - "Fire purning fire purning on da dance door". Classic.
Current Guilty Pleasure - None really...all the pleasures I have experienced or like to experience, I have nothing to feel guilty about :) lol
Current Colour - Pink because I have to look at it everyday. 3/4 of Tinto's wardrobe is pink. Each morning, getting ready for school, we go through this painful process of choosing clothes (her preschool doesn't do the whole uniform thing) from bright pink to hot pink to stripes and polka dots. And her comments - "Mummy I don't LIKE dat one" and "Mummy IRON IT!" and "Mummy it doesn't MATCH". Like what freakin THREE YEAR OLD knows about matching? Jesus. I'm sure I didn't give a damn at that age. I was too busy sucking my thumb and picking my snot. And then when we're about to leave - "Mummy do my shoes match my clothes?" By that time, strangulation is high on my list of priorities.
Current Drink - Water. Nothing better.
Current Food - Mandarin chicken & fried rice. Been having cravings for Chinese food recently. And when the money set aside for take-out has dwindled, it's back to good old falai herring. And I thought I'd left Malie FOR GOOD. But you know, the global economic crisis has had significant impact on consumer discretionary spending...mine in particular :)
Current Favorite Show - House. Number 1 on my list, and will Season 6 hurry its arse up already! 2nd would be Brothers & Sisters but I'm all over the place with that one, simply because Movies4U only has Season 2 and TV3 is showing Season 1, and I should be like on Season 4 by now if the damn dvd store wasn't so slack on pirating new tv series! As of 2 days ago I've been trying out a show called Fringe. Not too shabby. I'm slowly getting into it though Anna Torv needs a tan. Bad.
Current Wishlist - Oh simple things like a NEW CAR. I want a new RHD Toyota Hilux like the ones every Ah Liki, Ott and his dog owns these days. Not that anything is wrong with my car now. I just want a new one. So that people can say "heyyy Nydia got a new car". . "She must be doing well for herself." "Must be second hand, I doubt if she could afford a brand new one." "Nah I bet it's a rental". And right they would be too. Lol.
Current Needs - I need to lose weight. Desperately. I need a new job.
Current Triumphs - Limiting Tinto's TV time to 1 hour a day. It's like I'm the child here. I'll say "Tino that's enough TV!" Tino (rolling her eyes) - "NO!" Me - "Ok sorry." I know, I have spoiled her rotten. She walks all over me, that little devious brat of mine.
Current Bane of my existence - Dandruff. I am sick to death of Selsun Blue. I have tried everything under the sun and still, I get dandruff.
Current Celebrity Crush - Ewan Mcgregor...I know, gay right? So what. He had me at Moulin Rouge and I've never given Brad a second look.
Current Indulgence - Pumpkin pie...I've been stuffing my face with it all weekend. My excuse is, it's my birthday WEEK :)
Current Blessing - My life. Everything that has happened to me. My children. Definitely blessings I am thankful for.
Current Outfit - BAT shirt and denim skirt. Boring stuff. As I said, I need to lose weight. In the interim, I will continue to dress like a geriatric to hide the bulging stomach.
Current Excitement - My new boss starts next week. I'm pretty psyched, more because I'm tired of being my own boss and want someone else to come and do it for me. Lol. At this point, I am shirking responsibility and don't feel like being accountable for anything. That's what a boss is for. I'm just not ready for that sort of maturity in my life :D
Current Mood - I'm happy. Enough. Just want 2009 to be over with. Too much drama this half of the year.
Current Link - The PSC site is most informative - I find out which of my friends has gotten a new higher paying job and I can call them for a free lunch...hehe.
Current Books - Been going through some strange phases. For the past 2 months it's been romance novels (yes the Silhouette/Mills & Boons trash), then the harder Judith Gould/Joan Collins/Judith Krantz stuff, then a week of Wilbur Smith. I need something new to read. Something other than the books at CCK. I SWEAR someone needs to open up a decent bookstore with books that aren't second hand and overpriced. God. Give me Borders any day. Although Le Tusi Faitau did hit near the mark, but location was inconvenient, unless you worked across the road at the Govt Building and went across every day to buy out all the Marian Keyes books you could find. Yeah Sita.
Current Playlist - That would be the songs on the cd in my car which I am forced to listen to on a daily basis with a range of BEP, Sean Kingston, Mario, and Nifoloa. Which brings me to Tinto's fav song "Fire Burning on the Dance Floor" (Sean Kingston). Tinto version - "Fire purning fire purning on da dance door". Classic.
Current Guilty Pleasure - None really...all the pleasures I have experienced or like to experience, I have nothing to feel guilty about :) lol
Current Colour - Pink because I have to look at it everyday. 3/4 of Tinto's wardrobe is pink. Each morning, getting ready for school, we go through this painful process of choosing clothes (her preschool doesn't do the whole uniform thing) from bright pink to hot pink to stripes and polka dots. And her comments - "Mummy I don't LIKE dat one" and "Mummy IRON IT!" and "Mummy it doesn't MATCH". Like what freakin THREE YEAR OLD knows about matching? Jesus. I'm sure I didn't give a damn at that age. I was too busy sucking my thumb and picking my snot. And then when we're about to leave - "Mummy do my shoes match my clothes?" By that time, strangulation is high on my list of priorities.
Current Drink - Water. Nothing better.
Current Food - Mandarin chicken & fried rice. Been having cravings for Chinese food recently. And when the money set aside for take-out has dwindled, it's back to good old falai herring. And I thought I'd left Malie FOR GOOD. But you know, the global economic crisis has had significant impact on consumer discretionary spending...mine in particular :)
Current Favorite Show - House. Number 1 on my list, and will Season 6 hurry its arse up already! 2nd would be Brothers & Sisters but I'm all over the place with that one, simply because Movies4U only has Season 2 and TV3 is showing Season 1, and I should be like on Season 4 by now if the damn dvd store wasn't so slack on pirating new tv series! As of 2 days ago I've been trying out a show called Fringe. Not too shabby. I'm slowly getting into it though Anna Torv needs a tan. Bad.
Current Wishlist - Oh simple things like a NEW CAR. I want a new RHD Toyota Hilux like the ones every Ah Liki, Ott and his dog owns these days. Not that anything is wrong with my car now. I just want a new one. So that people can say "heyyy Nydia got a new car". . "She must be doing well for herself." "Must be second hand, I doubt if she could afford a brand new one." "Nah I bet it's a rental". And right they would be too. Lol.
Current Needs - I need to lose weight. Desperately. I need a new job.
Current Triumphs - Limiting Tinto's TV time to 1 hour a day. It's like I'm the child here. I'll say "Tino that's enough TV!" Tino (rolling her eyes) - "NO!" Me - "Ok sorry." I know, I have spoiled her rotten. She walks all over me, that little devious brat of mine.
Current Bane of my existence - Dandruff. I am sick to death of Selsun Blue. I have tried everything under the sun and still, I get dandruff.
Current Celebrity Crush - Ewan Mcgregor...I know, gay right? So what. He had me at Moulin Rouge and I've never given Brad a second look.
Current Indulgence - Pumpkin pie...I've been stuffing my face with it all weekend. My excuse is, it's my birthday WEEK :)
Current Blessing - My life. Everything that has happened to me. My children. Definitely blessings I am thankful for.
Current Outfit - BAT shirt and denim skirt. Boring stuff. As I said, I need to lose weight. In the interim, I will continue to dress like a geriatric to hide the bulging stomach.
Current Excitement - My new boss starts next week. I'm pretty psyched, more because I'm tired of being my own boss and want someone else to come and do it for me. Lol. At this point, I am shirking responsibility and don't feel like being accountable for anything. That's what a boss is for. I'm just not ready for that sort of maturity in my life :D
Current Mood - I'm happy. Enough. Just want 2009 to be over with. Too much drama this half of the year.
Current Link - The PSC site is most informative - I find out which of my friends has gotten a new higher paying job and I can call them for a free lunch...hehe.
Friday, October 23, 2009
What's happening in my life...
Have you noticed I have written 4 posts thus far, and none of them PERSONAL. I mean, doesn't anyone want to know how I am doing, how many kids I have now, how many husbands etc etc??? Yeah I wouldn't wanna know either...hehe.
So I am now nearing the big 3-0...still a few good years to go. I have 2 girls now - Tautinoga (Tinto) aged 4 and Eden Elita aged 1 (pics to come later). The husband (still on the first...sadly...lol)...yeah he still lingers in the background somewhere. I am currently back at home with my parents, hence my more civilized style of living versus the "Once Were Warriors" of Malie. There comes a point in your life when you need to return to where you once belonged, and make an attempt to be a dutiful offspring. I guess my turn has come and after being dragged back kicking and screaming, I'm actually loving being at home. It's so nice to have the simple pleasures of life - toilet paper in the toilet at all times, coke in the fridge that lasts more than a day, cockroach-less cupboards, hygienic surroundings. Oh yeah baby! It's good to be back.
Any more updates on the personal side you wanna know about? Email me. I'm not too good with the displaying my 411 on the net.
So I am now nearing the big 3-0...still a few good years to go. I have 2 girls now - Tautinoga (Tinto) aged 4 and Eden Elita aged 1 (pics to come later). The husband (still on the first...sadly...lol)...yeah he still lingers in the background somewhere. I am currently back at home with my parents, hence my more civilized style of living versus the "Once Were Warriors" of Malie. There comes a point in your life when you need to return to where you once belonged, and make an attempt to be a dutiful offspring. I guess my turn has come and after being dragged back kicking and screaming, I'm actually loving being at home. It's so nice to have the simple pleasures of life - toilet paper in the toilet at all times, coke in the fridge that lasts more than a day, cockroach-less cupboards, hygienic surroundings. Oh yeah baby! It's good to be back.
Any more updates on the personal side you wanna know about? Email me. I'm not too good with the displaying my 411 on the net.
Work Competition
So we have this competition at work. Our company is currently running a project called EVP - Employee Value Proposition. Basically it's how we attract and retain our employees - and how we portray our company as a good place to work and on par with other high-paying institutions so to speak. This is especially important during this time when staff turnover is high and it is increasingly difficult to hire new employees. Don't ask why. It's a long story involving a lot of people I really shouldn't name. I've read enough of bloggers who have lost their jobs over this sort of shit. I just wanna talk about the competition.
So! The competition. Our company is a multinational one. We have operations in hundreds of countries. In the Pacific region, each operation will have a "Face" who will endorse the company. Someone who says "come work for our company because there are a vast number of benefits, the work is challenging but FUN and in this company, the employee is number ONE!" So the competition is - each employee answers the question "What do you enjoy about working for BAT (the company) and why do you think BAT is the right choice for you?" The employee with the best answer wins - a trip to Fiji for 3 days, chaffeured all over Suva in a Hummer limo, head to toe beauty treatment, shopping (all paid for) and a photoshoot...and you stay in a 5 star resort. Very cool. You should see the mad rush here at the office to get entries in.
Anyway, I had some difficult answering the question. I came up with " ....I really want to enter, but I can't bring myself to lie and say good things about BAT. LOL. I have been staring at the questions for the past hour and can't for the life of me think of what I enjoy about working here....." Well it's HONEST isn't it? I should at least get a prize for that.
The winner will be announced in Monday. I should start packing.
So! The competition. Our company is a multinational one. We have operations in hundreds of countries. In the Pacific region, each operation will have a "Face" who will endorse the company. Someone who says "come work for our company because there are a vast number of benefits, the work is challenging but FUN and in this company, the employee is number ONE!" So the competition is - each employee answers the question "What do you enjoy about working for BAT (the company) and why do you think BAT is the right choice for you?" The employee with the best answer wins - a trip to Fiji for 3 days, chaffeured all over Suva in a Hummer limo, head to toe beauty treatment, shopping (all paid for) and a photoshoot...and you stay in a 5 star resort. Very cool. You should see the mad rush here at the office to get entries in.
Anyway, I had some difficult answering the question. I came up with " ....I really want to enter, but I can't bring myself to lie and say good things about BAT. LOL. I have been staring at the questions for the past hour and can't for the life of me think of what I enjoy about working here....." Well it's HONEST isn't it? I should at least get a prize for that.
The winner will be announced in Monday. I should start packing.
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