When in Rome…

…do as the Romans do. An aged old idiom, definitely, with countless usage from people to literature and movies.

It is surprising, though, that many others choose to stick to their comfort zone. Weird coming from me, a guy with many habits and choose to be a stickler for them, but I certainly do believe that there is a certain flexibility when it comes to giving new things a try.

A friend of mine just came back from JB with a bout of food poisoning, which most certainly should be coming from the hotel itself. It is a joke since there isn’t much differences between the food here and that of across the Straits. I certainly enjoyed lots of food from Malaysia, that of the mamak stalls, Kajang Satay, Ampang yong tau hoo, Bak Kut Teh where you brew your own tea, Ipoh Ya Cai Ji (beansprout chicken) and dim sum…just to list a few…ok it’s a digress, back to my friend. With work commitments coming up, he’s considering bringing local food to Cambodia so that the food poisoning won’t act up halfway.

Wise and unwise in a way. For the sake of work, he certainly is prepared to sacrifice eating authentic local food. Then again, he loses out more when it comes to intrincsic benefits and enjoyment which one thought they can enjoy from traveling.

I guess most cases are more straightforward as compared to my friend’s predicament. Some time back, while traveling to Macau with relatives, they are unwilling to give Portuguese culinery a try, instead wanting to stick to a distinct Chinese main staple food of rice and vege instead. Whilst I tried convincing them to just give the food a try, the look from their face tells of a forced and unconvincing attempt to hide their disgust at trying.

Though one man’s meat might be another’s poison and there’s no point pushing one’s values on others, it’s still a tad puzzling trying to figure out what is the motivation behind the enjoyment of traveling when they carry their baggage of preferences around.

Anyways, the real motivation behind this post is the movie itself, When in Rome. Certainly playing a pun, which many certainly aren’t catching. Romans and romance, and the idiom. When in Rome, do as the Romans do – you fall into a nice romance.

In summary, while the movie lives up to its status as a comedy, with several hilarious scenes that is certain to crack you up, it disappoints when it comes to the romance with an unconvincing plot and acting. There is still food for thought, of course, coming from that of Kirsten Bell’s father as he walks her down the aisle.

“You can’t learn from other’s mistakes, you have to make them yourself and learn from it.”

Quite a controversial view which contradicts many expert’s views, but it does ring a bell with me. Emotions are meant to be experienced, not learn by listening or seeing.

Not so long ago, an acquaintance of mine challenged the notion of courtship and love, saying that for every courtship, there’s 50% of a heartbreak, and 0% of getting hurt if they abstain from it. The only purpose of going into a relationship is for propagation, not romance. Quite an extreme view, which adds weight to his warped sence of thinking as a finance person.

Me? I’m an emotional addict, and thrives best on emotions. No way am I buying the probability argument :p