Hotel Ghost Story

Wikimedia Commons

I want to share a hotel ghost story I heard on TV. This is a true story and had been all over the news in Taiwan years ago.

A working student from Taipei was sent to another city by his company. He was given money for lodging. Thinking that it was a waste to rent a nice hotel room, he chose to stay in a cheap hostel. 

He went to the hostel. There was no one except for a man behind the counter. He didn't see any housekeeper or any guest. Heck, he was probably the only guest in the hostel. After check-in, he went to his room. It smelled really bad. There were mice and cockroaches. He thought to himself, you get what you paid for. The room was dead cheap. What could you expect?

What to Do About PayPal Fraud

Anyone can experience a Paypal fraud or PayPal scam. Some days ago, I just received a fake PayPal email. 

I have the habit of looking through my mail account's Spam folder before hitting the trash can button. I would browse through the mails to check if an important message has been trapped in the spam filter. 

I came across an email from PayPal. It says that I have successfully sent a payment of $149.49 USD to a certain Dave Klein. The problem is, I haven't made such purchase at all. Like in the official emails of PayPal, this one has the company logo and a link to "PayPal's website" for me to see the transaction. 

Let's Date: A Dating Game Show

Source: Loke Yek Mang | Dreamstime.com

I was watching a Chinese dating game show (我們約會吧/Let's Date!). I don't know all the rules of the matchmaking process. I just know that each guy gets to pick a woman out of the many female participants on the show. The woman he picks can either accept or refuse to date him. If the woman agrees to date the guy, they will leave the stage together. Otherwise, the guy will leave alone and the girl will stay on stage. The next guy will appear again and the whole process repeats. I keep seeing the same girls every time I watch the show. I'm not sure, but I think it has the same female participants for every season. 

I'm My Sister's Guinea Pig

That's me!
Source: Wikimedia Commons

My sister is currently watching City Hunter after I recommended the K drama to her. She would always comment about Lee Min Ho's beautiful glowing skin. He is the male lead of City Hunter by the way. My sister is very particular about her skin so she admires people with great-looking skin.

Both of us had moderate acne during our teens. My acne was worse than hers, and because of that, I had issues with my self-esteem.

After years of suffering from acne, we finally went to a dermatologist. My sister went first. Every visit, the dermatologist would prick her pimples with his special tools. She went to him twice a week. She would also buy all the skin care products from him, which were packaged in unlabeled containers.

The Pressure of Being a Single Chinese Woman

I just read an article on BBC about China's "leftover women". Nine out of 10 guys think that women over 27 is too old to become a potential wife. These women are labled as leftovers or sheng nu. Chinese women are offended by the term sheng nu, though it's still wildly used.

Read the full article about China's "leftover women" on BBC.

In other countries, men aren't that obsessed with age as much as Chinese men do. What the Chinese consider as old is quite young to other nationalities. I guess their high regard for age can be rooted from their culture.

Chinese gives importance to bearing offsprings (especially male offsprings). It is the children's duty to light the incense of their ancestors. If they have no offprings, no one will do these stuff and the ancestors' souls will get lost. So yes, it's quite scary to be childless for Chinese couples.

January Blues

Hello everyone! I haven't been here for a while and I missed being cheerfulnuts.:) Since I got back from Christmas vacation, I've been feeling blue. Probably because of the sudden change of the atmosphere. December had been a really great month and I was kind of in denial that it was over. I thought my sadness would quickly go away, but it lingered on for the entire month. Sometimes, I would get so blue that I would burst into tears (of course I'd do this when no one is around).

I Don't Know What to Wear to a Party

Every time I receive an invitation to wedding parties or birthday parties, I get excited. Going to parties gives me a reason to doll up myself and look pretty. Plus, I get to eat delicious foods for free! Well, not exactly free, because I have to buy a gift for the host. Anyway, as the day approaches, I would start worrying about my outfit, but I would always brush my worries off and tell myself that I still got plenty of time to prepare. When the big day finally arrives, I would sit in front of the closet and stare into nothingness. Then the fact that I have nothing to wear would sink in.

That is exactly what happened to me weeks ago. We were invited to a neighbor's wedding party. My entire family has already dressed up except for me. Cold sweat started to drip down my forehead. I rummaged through my closet and tried on different sets of outfits, only to get a thumbs down from my sister. I kept telling my mom and my sister that I don't like to become a laughing stock at the party. My sister suggested me to wear the casual-looking grey dress that I have. Having not much choice, I agreed and wore it. I stepped in front of the mirror and was shocked to see my skeletal figure. I thought that I was meatier than the person staring back at me in the mirror. Where is that great figure that I thought I have? I guess that I was just imagining it after all. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that I was almost in tears. I asked my sister, "How come I'm so thin? I looked like a walking stick!" I could see that my sister was holding back her laughter. I looked pretty, my mom reassured me. But I didn't believe her because all moms think their children are pretty. My sister put a scarf on me to make me appear a few pounds heavier. We were almost late, so I gave up and left home feeling down. I wore a floral scarf around my neck. Now, I looked like a stick with a garland around it.

To make a long story short, I went home in a cheery mood. The food was so-so, but the band was great! Other guests were from middle-class families so I didn't feel so out of place. Despite the bad start of the day, I had fun at the party.

Next month, my family will attend another wedding party. Like before, I have no idea what to wear. I have a strong feeling that the same thing will happen again.