Coolcat's Jottings

I belong to the Lovers' Club. We meet once a month. And our meetings are always a blast.

At least that's what my mom said on Sunday.

Last Sunday, Eldest Sis dropped by our house with her hubby in tow. And soon, they got to talking about me, among other things.

"What's little sis up to these days?" was the inevitable question.

Mom gave a proud smile, "Ah, you know how busy she normally is. Why she's been out the whole day today! So many things to do, so many people to meet."

Eldest Sis nodded and said conversationally, "Really? What exactly did she do?"

"She went to church and then to the Lovers' club monthly meeting, and later to a counseling class and visited some friends after that," my mom said without blinking.

"Lovers' club meeting?" Eldest Sis's eyes were all agog. "And you are ok with that??"

"Well, she always enjoys herself there and she brings back all these books," my mom cheerfully replied. "They seemed to be an educated lot."

Luckily, my brother was present at the dining table and after swallowing his laughter and the piece of food he was chewing, he explained that my mom missed out a word from the club's name. The word was 'Book'. Almost immediately the whole house was filled with laughter.

And there I was tapping hard at the keyboard upstairs, wondering what had happened. My bro soon came upstairs to give me a blow by blow account of the incident.

Garn, what I would give to be downstairs to witness my mom being so cool about her daughter being a member of the Lovers' Club.

Heh heh.

[b]Note:[/b] The Book Lovers' Club monthly meeting is actually a combined meeting between [url=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Malaysian-Bookcrossers/]Malaysian[/url] [url=http://www.bookcrossing.com]Bookcrossers[/url] and [url=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bookcafe/]Book Cafe[/url] members. So as to not make things complicated, I told mom that we are just a bunch of book lovers. At least Mom just dropped a word. In Dad's case, 'Bookcrossing' may very well become 'Crossdressing'. But that's just one of quirky things about my family that I love

Life would be so bland without moments such as these.

[url=http://www.wordspy.com/words/middleyouth.asp]middle youth[/url] noun. The age, now generally considered to be from the late 20s to the early 40s, when a person is too old to be a youth and too young to be middle-aged; the state of mind of people in this age group who resist the usual trappings of encroaching middle age.
~ [url=http://www.wordspy.com]Word Spy[/url]

My eyes literally shone when I came upon this new word yesterday. Can start using it once people stop mistaking me for a college student when garbed in T-shirt and jeans. Hee hee hee.

Usage example:

Someone: Soooo, how old are you anyway?
Me: I'm in my middle youth mysterious smile

This word is so cool, it shall last me till I reach forty. Yessss!!!

[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001Z3TX4/coolcatalystc-20][img]"http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0001Z3TX4.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg" border="0" alt="cover" hspace="3" vspace="3" align="left"[/img][/url] [b](****)[/b] Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore team up once again in 50 First Dates. Their first foray together in The Wedding Singer was a raving success. I enjoyed that one so much that I watched it more times than I could count. I love the 80's theme and the cutesy song he composed for her at the end of the movie.

Ok, back to 50 First Dates. I can find no fault with this movie and found it very touching at some parts. Both leads were ok when they were together but there was more focus on their interactions and relationships with the other supporting actors in the movie. It's like a community love story.

This movie about commitment-phobic man Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) who strives to capture the heart of a cute girl Lucy (Drew Barrymore) every single day because she has a weird brain disfunction. Lucy could not remember a single thing that happened after a bad car accident she was involved in. They made the car accident bit into a spoof of Mission Impossible 2 which was hilarious in a corny kind of way. So day after day she meets Henry, falls in love with him and forgets all about him when she wakes up the next morning. The perfect girl for a commitment-phobic guy? You bet, but not in the way that you think.

The comedy factor was good. There were some hilarious shots of what two people who are giddy with the euphoria of finally meeting the person of their dreams would do. However, I did not enjoy the parts where Adam Sandler made fun of his earnest German colleague by calling her a man. Surely, there is no need for cruel humor of this sort.

It was a treat to see Dan Ackroyd in a cameo role of the doctor (or was it the neurosurgeon?) and the other supporting actors who played Barrymore's dad and brother were great in their respective roles.

But the biggest treat of all was seeing Rob Schneider as the Hawaiian, Ula. He was so convincing as a Hawaiian bum that I did not recognise him as the Hot Chick Rob Schneider. Imagine the shock I had seeing his name when the credits were rolling.

I loved how the movie started (won't share it here because it will spoil your enjoyment of it) and how it ended. It was amazing to see how a commitment-phobe like Sandler turning 180 degrees because of the challenge of getting a girl who is worse than he is. He forgets a girl after a week but she can only remember him for 24 hours or less.

While I admire the transformation and tenacity of the man, it makes me wonder if someone who has no short-term memory like Lucy is really the cure for commitment-phobic people. Hmmm...

I was having a real good hair day yesterday and man, oh man, did it bring out the vainpot in me. Met some friends after church who introduced me to a couple of new faces. It was blazing hot and I had my sunnies on.

"Girls, this is Ariel. She will take her sunglasses off so that you can take a good look at her," said Hooi Ee.

Being the vainpot that I was, I needed no further encouragement to make a good first impression. I not only took off my sunnies with a flair, I flounced and flung my hair ala Lucy Liu in Charlie's Angels and grinned sassily. I mean, it's all just for an audience of girls, right? No harm done. We all had a good chuckle until I happened to glance at my back and saw my godmother staring at me with her mouth gaped open in horror.

She came over. She patted my shoulder while shaking her head. "My dear girl, I never knew that you can be so... so... mischievous!" she said before walking away.

This time, the girls including my new-found friends hooted loudly with laughter.

Darn, there goes my stellar reputation and hopes of making a great first impression.

Note to self: Try to keep a lid on vain-pottishness next time.

Note to self #2: Yeah, right.

[b]Mood:[/b] Bean-ish

"Hey, Ariel! I've got something to pass to you," Vera said excitedly when she saw me and then presented a white envelope to me with a flourish. "It's an appreciation letter from the project committee for the work you've done for them."

"Gee, thanks," I said and opened the envelope to read the letter. My own words of appreciation stared back at me.

Remember the Mr. Bean's Christmas episode where he wrote some Christmas cards to himself, went out, slid them into his door mail slot, came back in and then gasped in delight at receiving those cards?

Well, at that moment, I kinda felt like that. It's a weird thing to read a letter you composed being given back to you. Ok, at least my efforts are being put to good use, so that was great. A few days ago, they gave me a fluorescent keychain in the shape of a cross as a token of appreciation. At least it wasn't me who bought it only to find that I'm the intended recipient... heh!

But I guess, at the end of it all, receiving letters of appreciation are better than getting none at all. Even if I was the author of the letter. It's the thought that counts... right?

...right?