I just learnt of the term retrosexual which is used to describe a man  who rejects focus on physical appearance, as opposed to a metrosexual.  Think Vinch Vaughn vs Burapi.

Curious me went to do  a search on the Net and was miffed to find a list of neologisms exclusively used for men. 

First got:
Metrosexual: the urban male vainpot who may or may not be straight, but definitely has a strong aesthetic sense and spends a great amount of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle.

Then got:
Retrosexual: the suburban male uncle who has a beer belly, dishevelled hairdo and sloppy dress sense.  Should be quite straight, I think.

Now somemore got:
Ubersexual: the supermostman who is the most attractive, most masculine, most stylish, most dynamic, most compelling, most confident, and mostmost important, most straight.  Definitely my Takuya Kimura!

WHERE ARE THE EQUIVALENT FOR WOMEN?  WHAT ARE THE NEOLOGISMS TO DESCRIBE US?  I CANNOT FIND! 

No, not Feme Fatale, Barbie, Diva, Drama Queen, Alpha-female or Superwoman.  Not cool enough.  No, not Metrofemme, Retrofemme, Uberfemme.  Far too gay. And definitely not Tai-tai, Ah Lian or Ah Soh.  Only for locals.

So anyone?  Any ideas?

Heh.  I suspect it’s really hard to come out with such neologisms for us and the real reason we have no equivalent is because we’re are far more interesting than men to be labelled. Because as women, we are already the ULTIMATE!  

My MIL called me last evening to tell me she’s coming today to cook lunch and will stay through till I’m back in the afternoon.

Because she had told me what she’ll prepare, I only left instructions for the maid to prepare soup plus dinner and left for work early in the morning before she arrived.  I didn’t anticipate any problems but it looked like I was over optimistic.

My husband, her son, who was around when she arrived told me how he almost blew his top at her again because she had to go ask him something he considered annoying.  He also had to tell her off for hitting Gavin’s hands too hard.

As soon as I, her DIL, came back from work just now, she complained about her petty son and my mischievious boy, and subsequently talked about the food she had prepared for lunch, before coming to the main point.  Which is the food I had asked the maid to prepare for Gavin.  Specifically, the unhealthy fried fish cake I had asked her to add in his soup.  She also went on to criticise my maid’s cooking method, knowing fully well that the latter was merely following my instructions.  

This isn’t new to me at all.  That she’s such a challenge most of the time.  Totally lacking emotional intelligence.  Going on and on about things she has been reminded a gazillion times not to ask, say or do.

It isn’t just about how she’ll comb through everything and then try to find fault to prove that she or her point is the best.  It’s more about how she simply doesn’t understand that different people, her children included, have different preferences.  That there’s a need to respect and give others space.  And that certain matters are better said at a more appropriate timing.   Or left unsaid.

I know my MIL too well to give in to her. Since we’ve agreed that they can move in next year, and since we’ve already stated our concerns, including the fact that she mustn’t interfere with our lifestyle, I feel she ought to know EXACTLY where she stand now.  No hums.  No haws.  Hence, I reminded her matter-of-factly that not everything she says always make sense and she should try to exert more self-control and not run our lives her way. 

So yes, there are certain things I’m particular about as well.  It’s our happiness at stake and no way am I going to just cross my fingers and hope for things to turn out well.  If she wants to live with us, then she has to start learning about our ways as well.   That, or I WILL HAVE TO TEACH HER.      

Because of the haze, we ended up trekking VivoCity at Harbourfront yesterday.  

If you don’t already know, VivoCity is now the largest lifestyle shopping centre with more than a million square feet of retail and entertainment space.  Way bigger than Ngee Ann City and Suntec City.  There’s even an open deck overlooking Sentosa.  If not for the haze, it would have been nice to sit outside Hagan Daz to enjoy the view.

Actually, most of our time were spent at Toys “R” Us and Tangs because of the boy.  He was especially smittened with the cactus over at the latter’s homeware and lifestyle section.  But no matter how much I persuaded him, he would only looked at them from a distance and refused to touch them.   

Heheh. 

Can’t really blame him cos even I thought those cactus looked too real with their artificial soft thorns…

My Takuya Kimura is still the BESTEST!!!  He has been chosen as Japan’s favorite guy for the 13th consecutive year by readers of women’s magazine an.an.  Way ahead of No.2 choice, singer Fukuyama Masaharu (37).

So to that by-now-rabie-infected-deranged swine who dare said that my TK is passed his prime,  go and soak yourself in a tubful of leeches NOW!  

By the way, know who this international celebrity known as Burapi is?

The common Japanese practice of forming abbreviations by concatenating the first two morae of two words is sometimes applied to names.   For example, Takuya Kimura, a famous Japanese actor and singer, becomes Kimutaku. This is sometimes applied even to non-Japanese celebrities: Brad Pitt, whose full name in Japanese is Buraddo Pitto, is commonly known as Burapi.

This is so cool.  B U R A P I.  The mongrel on the street has a name now.  

We had a family conference last evening with my in-laws and agreed in principle that they can move in sometime next year, when they’re done with selling their place.  We also opened up the option of letting them stay with us permanently if everything works out well.

Of course we also stated our concerns and made some conditions.  These would hopefully, give all of us sufficient time to become emotionally prepared for the change.

I appreciate those of you who have taken the time to drop your comments in my previous entry.  I understand that this is a major decision and we do need to tread carefully.  And contrary to what some of you think, I’m not that selfless. 

The reason why I’m agreeing is because I cannot find it in my heart to reject a request made by my old FIL.  This must be something that he has been hoping and wishing for his old age and I simply cannot bear to turn him down.   Moreover, during our times of crisis, he has extended his hands to help us.  Apart from the fact that he is long-winded and too concerned with his face value, I am confident I will have little problem living with him.

It’s my MIL that I’m worried about.  Those of you who have followed my blog since the earlier days would know that I’ve had HUGE EXPLOSIVE confrontations with her before.   At the same time, you might also have read that I have played the role of Aunt Agony to her recently.  So overall, we have a somewhat bizarre relationship and I can just forsee my life ahead getting more interesting.

Oh well…

I certainly remember my marriage vows didn’t say anything about staying happily married forever.  But perhaps I have also missed a line or two?  That in marrying my man, I married the family too?