Saw "The Maid" 2 days ago with my grandma at J8. Had lunch too.
Accompanied her to her dental appointment and had lunch with her. Again at J8. (The lunch not the dental appointment)
Went to J8 today to do some shopping. Thankfully I didn't have chinese food for lunch again.
Hey they are good restaurants - Ding Tai Fung and Crystal Jade - I particularly like the noodles at Ding Tai Fung - but I'm getting sick of Chinese food. I mean, I have slightly more than 2 weeks left in Singapore and I should be sampling more local cuisine! Like Malay food. Roti Prata (I'm sure they don't make it the same way in UK). Hainanese Chicken Rice. Mutton soup. So much more!!!

Btw, why did I edit my previous post? No its not just because it can be used against me in some court case in the future, but more importantly, because I realise I was very biased and quite irrational in comments about others. I know not what others think, hence I should only comment on facts - what I know are true.

And just after the SMSL gathering, I went to Mark's house for dinner. Had a great time laughing and watching people laugh. Haha... But seriously, friends like Mark, Kiezin and Peiying keep me grounded. I do believe without friends like them, or my primary school friends I met up with earlier, I would be truly lost in this mazy chaos of a life.
Thanks guys.

Purpose.

Taking advantage of my camera's "food" picture settings. Hmm. Does my creation look more appetising? ;)
Now. Yes am back to satisfying my craving for steak. Story behind this? Here goes...
1. Steak - Decided to try a can of stout my dad bought. Muddy Murphy's Irish Stout. Couldn't finish the 500ml, left the remainder to ferment in the fridge.
Decided to put it to some use, hence the steak, and
2. Onion Soup - Substituted stout for red wine. Works just as well I tell u.
3. Scrambled eggs - Forgot to add milk!!!! Oh no.
4. Veggies - Decided I needed fibre. Stole some beans from the fridge. Onions from well, emergency storage.
5. Champagne grapes - Apparently my aunt brought some from australia. Nice!!!
So there goes. I think I'm getting the hang of cooking steak. Getting more interested in cooking and photography. ;)

Oh watched Mysterious Skin last night.
Just when I was about to convince myself, I'll just be a normal nice guy out there on the street (and in the countless korean serials my grandma devours on a daily basis) Mark comes along and asks me to buy the tickets and watch the movie with him.
Wah lao.
Yes its R(A), and its R(A) for a reason. Not 'cause of nudity or violence - though there were some quite disturbing sexual scenes (no front nudity though) - but because of the content.
If I were a teen watching this movie my mind would be subverted, I tell you.
And I'm glad I'm living in a big city like Singapore.

William Butler Yeats - Brown Penny
I whispered, 'I am too young,'
And then, 'I am old enough';
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
'Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair.'
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.
O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
One cannot begin it too soon.

First time I caught two movies in a row, albeit at 2 different locations. Yeah this poem was recited by a character in "Must Love Dogs". Not into poems but hey I find this very interesting.
Its really fascinating how the heart works.

Oh since I have so much time on my hands I feel compelled to write about eggs.
Hands up those who have not fried an egg before.
Shame on you.
An egg's the easiest thing to cook¹. I mean, rice can turn out to be porridge if you don't know the index finger rule but an egg... well, I guess if you don't possess enough dexterity you can flip your half-cooked omelette outside the pan, but you can always circumvent that by 'folding' your omelette-to-be in half. You can't lose too much egg to the surrondings this way.
And oh if you want scrambled eggs, just add milk, some seasoning, and disturb the egg-settling-on-the-pan process. Be evil and not let it solidify, to put it simply.
Now omelettes. Just add stuff that's been cooked before (microwave your leftover mushrooms, assorted vegetables or even that beef or pork you used in last night's spaghetti sauce) whilst letting the egg settle (be nice) and flip the whole darn thing over (or into half) when its dried up². And some seasoning before you flip it over, of course.

Hmm maybe I can write a book on cooking. Cooking For Busy Lazy Dummies. By A Fellow Dummy.

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¹I take back my statement on beef - I have to admit an egg's easier.
²Note:Dried up, not shrivelled up!

Trying out a few things -
1. My com's card readers
2. Flash settings on my camera (Actually not mine - wanted to use mine but it ran out of batt)
3. Blogger's image uploader function
and of course
4. Cooking with potatoes and eggs.

Yes I decided to cook something other than beef today for lunch. Well actually I ran out of beef. But yah. Found some potatoes¹, eggs², ham and assorted dried stuff in the fridge. Didn't want to waste much time cooking (was hungry) so first thought - omelettes! 2nd one - potato wedges!
Oh then I saw some dried mushrooms. And since I love mushrooms as well I thought what the heck. Might as well brew some soup.
So yah. Results seen above.
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¹Which is rare - there's normally only one lonely potato sitting forlornly amongst the many onions on the shelf, begging to be eaten but ignored by all and sundry. I think its for emergency use. Emergency? Yes don't look at me like that. I'm not normally the cook. :P
²Now they are always in abundance - my family's egg consumption per capita is 5. Per week. And there are six members in my family so yeah you do the math.

Cliche - Love at first sight.
Scientific explanation for the cliche : Pheromones.
Basically they are hormones secreted by the body, that attract members of the opposite sex. Well, not-so-scientific, actually, 'cause I believe its not totally accepted by the entire scientific community yet.
But anyways. They are why certain people, although born with features not deemed beautiful by most people, still can attract many people of the opposite sex.

If Pheromones really do exist, can we postulate that we emit certain chemical signatures that can get picked up by very specific targets out there?
How else would you explain why the moment I saw this girl at the SSSM (Singapore Students' Society of Manchester), I felt, hey, she's interesting?
That we look for members of the opposite sex that share fundamentally similar features as us? (Which can be used to partially explain why couples look alike, but that's another topic)
Pity I couldn't get to talk much to her. Was seated like quite far apart after the initial stages.

Now of course I realise physical attraction alone means nothing. If you can't connect emotionally, intellectually, your relationship won't last. And of course the 'heart' has to be controlled with the mind, or we'd have evolved apes running around having indiscriminate sex with each other.
Hmm. But that is happening now, isn't it?
But anyways. I'm not attracted to her in a sexual manner. It's just... sometimes when you meet someone, you just feel as if you can be friends forever? At the very least.
Yup.

By the way, the SSSM gathering was a huge success in my opinion. Got to meet all the freshmen. Nice mix of courses (2 in Law, 3 in Med, and a few more in Electrical/Electronics and Computer Systems) and people - different personalities, but that any I envision clashing with. A nice bunch of people, basically.
Looking forward already ;)

And watched Napola today.
Reminded me of my army days, and how I thought then, and now.
Especially this incident where we were playing war games, sorta. After this fight where I had no part of, I was like the last guy who faced the last survivor of the enemy. We were supposed to charge at each other, and fire away our weapons.
IA. For both of us.
We laughed, stopped in our tracks, and I turned away.
Got severely reprimanded - and that's a nice word - by my superior. Failed the camp because of that.
Anyways. If he were really my enemy, and we were both in a battle, would we still be able to do the same thing?
Laugh, shake hands, and walk away?
Would I have the mind to take out my bayonet, and kill, or be killed?
I don't know.
I still don't know.

I think I'm getting too stressed.
You know the nightmare right.
And today after work, as I was driving home from work, I suddenly started imitating the song I was playing in the car. Fatboy Slim, lyrics go something like this, "And the sign said, long haired freaky people need not apply".
Scary thing was, I started to ape the singer's "cute" voice. As in, yah, the "act cute" kinda voice you hear in cartoons or Channel 8.
Oh no what am I coming to.

Started sleeping from 8pm last night. Got woken up, chased from the sofa to my bed at 10. Had a terrible dream. Woke up at 2 quite terrified, but managed to get back to bed. Slept till 9.
Now about the dream.
Dreamt I was forced to re-live my life starting from age 12. With my memory intact. Don't know why but it scared me. I had to like look for my grandma, at this hawker centre/wet market, was lost or something. Couldn't find her. Panicked.
I guess the main point, though, was that I was afraid I had to re-live my life. According to some sort of invisible script. Like having to study (bleah, but least of my problems), meet friends whom I know I wouldnt get close to - but if I were to be good friends with them, would my life turn out different? - bottom line, I can't imagine living a life different from the one I have now.
All the experiences, good or bad, all the people I've met, have kept in contact with, and am close to... I don't want to lose them and have to get to know them all over again.
Ahhh... rambling. Shall stop.

You know why a movie makes a great date?
Because although you don't actually do anything besides staring at a giant screen (together) a movie brings the both of you on a journey - be it to the far reaches of the universe, or the intimate surrondings of a budding relationship. You experience life (and probably death - someone must die in an action, drama or horror film) and are made to feel you have been thru an enternity together.
It also has the intimacy of a camp-fire ghost story - the "sssh don't tell anyone" type - and provides that shared experience you can talk about later.
And best of all - besides buying the ticket and popcorn set, you don't have to do a thing.

Bleah. Stoopid hairdresser took advantage of the fact that I could barely keep my eyes open today and massacred my hair.
Now I look like a guy who's just come out of NS. Or still is In NS.
2nd and last time I'm going to Jean Yip.
(Well actually last time I'm going to a saloon/barber in Singapore - stoopid hair length.)

And I feel so ancient again.

Watched the National Day Parade just now after a hiatus of quite a few years.
Don't know why, but I was overcome by emotion quite a few times during the show.
I realised... I'm quite proud to be Singaporean, actually. There are just so many reasons to be so. And no I'm not about to launch into a list of things Singapore has done right.
But if I wasn't born and bred in Singapore I wouldn't be the way I am today.
I'll probably be known as Don Yuan.
And hate myself for it.

I believe I've hurt a girl quite terribly.
I'm very sorry.
I really need to... control my emotions more. Think before I act...
Yah. Think of the consequences.

Started teaching on Monday. Teaching some international students (mostly Taiwanese these two weeks) here on a summer camp. (English.) Exhausting work. Especially so 'cause there are 5 kids eight to ten years old, 7 eleven/twelve year-olds and 6 in their early teens. Can't play kiddish games; can't use my 'normal' conversational english (too 'cheem' and/or singlish-y) and constantly have to think of new ways to keep them occupied. Brain-wrecking stuff I tell you.Gosh I'm like so dead tired after each half-day of teaching. Yes just a few hours each day and I'm gone liao

!:(

You know that euphoric feeling you get when everything is going right for you socially, especially when a member of the opposite sex reciprociates the care and concern you show him/her? And the feeling that follows when you drift apart, or are forced apart by circumstances?
Term them what you like - love, intimacy, friendship; sense of loss, feeling 'down', or even depression - you just have to recognise those feelings and divorce them from your body. Exorcise the negative feelings, if you may. Get over them lah, basically.
Comes from some Buddhist teaching I've read before, I think.
Yeah had the car again today, and did quite a lot of driving and sticking around in jams. Reflected on quite some things.