I love Lucy

Finally caught The Chronicles of Narnia yesterday. So hard to get tickets!!! Unless you buy at Toa Payoh Eng Wah, that is. It is quite a nice place if it wasn't so out of the way for me. It seems like the entire Singapore is booking tickets online or something. I gave up trying to book them on Boxing Day, totally pissed that almost every GV and Eng Wah cinema ('cept Toa Payoh of course) had only the front few rows left.

About the movie: If I hadn't read the books so many times, I would have found the movie fantastic, I guess. It still gave that nice, warm feeling of a fairy tale, but I'd go back to C.S. Lewis' writings any time. His story-telling is so simple yet so captivating. Plus, now that I'm much older and understand its Christian references, I feel like I'm reading a much more exciting version of the bible! Heh!

One character I felt totally disappointed with in the movie was Father Christmas!!! I was really expecting this absurd and absolutely hilarious sight of Santa Claus all dressed in red, with his hearty hohoho, when Beaver crept out to check if the witch was in sight. Instead, it turned out to be an old man togged out in brown, seasoned leather?!?!? Who would know he's Father Christmas??? I always thought the point of including a very un-Narnian fat jolly man in red in the story was sort of like a joke Lewis was playing on his readers. Ah well.

Peter looks rather unkingly, and Susan looks sour. However, Edmund quite looks his part, having somewhat the potential to turn evil. And Lucy, sweet Lucy...I really love Lucy. Don't know why she just reminds me of Drew Barrymore in ET! Think she'll grow up to be one pretty girl :)

ugh!!!

Just got shouted at over the phone - at work.
I don't ever wanna pick up that phone again.

Merry Christmas to the boy who doesn't like me...

...unless I suck up to him!!! By planting kisses on his little hand, playing peekaboo and throwing balls with him!!!

Sigh...yes...I'm talking about my darling godson Ethan. Actually I don't really qualify to be his godma lah. The status came as default cos he belongs to my good friend mah. Still, I'll strive to be a good godma!!!

In this first picture, Ethan is so clever because he actually knows how to cast a coy look at the camera. COY LOOK OK!!! Moreover, that day (it was a Christmas lunch), he was wearing a sweater that said "Heartbreaker". Tsk tsk. Don't know what his parents were thinking :)
And look at those cute reindeer antlers in his hands!!! He had them on before this!!! Sooooo cute.....godma's heart is captured by you already lah Ethan sweetie! MUAKS MUAKS!!!

Ok, godma has to retain her composure. After all, godma is a grownup. A real grownup. Do you know that godma can only kiss one boy in her life, and it's not supposed to be you, but she still kisses you? Sigh, you still don't appreciate her (see pic below), want to take photo with you also so difficult. See lah, see your grumpy face, wanna cry again...

O come let us adore Him!!!

It has been a hectic week, yes. But the moment I stepped into church today, I just had to smile! A group of kid carollers had gathered next to the big Christmas tree in the atrium and were singing old familiar carols, in their very high-pitched and slightly out of tune voices. Hahaha! Accompanying them were three older cheh chehs playing the violin and viola. It's the kind of music accompaniment that, well, provides a single-line melody. Nevertheless, I could see that all these sweet kids had rehearsed their songs very well! They also had a box going around (like buskers do) collecting cash for the church building fund. They sure know how to seize an opportunity when it comes! *Wink*

I invited a friend to the special Christmas service, and it's just wonderful that she enjoyed it. God's love touched her in a special way, and she said she had to go home to "analyse" why she shed tears. I'm just so glad she could feel that special touch. Church attendance today was more than double that on an average Sunday, and it seemed like as many as 50-over people went up to receive Christ and re-dedicate their lives to Christ. Incredible! And this was just for the service I attended. I believe the first service must have seen similar results.

O come let us adore Him, Christ the King!!!
###

After service my family had a very late lunch together. I had wanted to try this restaurant called Sticky Rice at 5 Kensington Park Road, Serangoon Gardens. Jason Hahn of 8 Days gave it a glowing review. And tho' I know better than to trust Singapore's food reviewers, the photos of the food and place looked really appealing! Unfortunately the kitchen was closed when we reached at 3pm. Well, apparently, they open for lunch, and then close for a few hours, before opening at dinner again. Darn.

We walked over to Pow Sing Restaurant to have chicken rice and zi char dishes, but...it was closed too!!! Like Sticky Rice, it closes at 3pm after lunch hour, and would only open for dinner later! We walked over to this Peranakan foodplace and found it stuck to the same schedule!!! Cannot be so coincidental right???

My bro said: "Wah lau!!! Like seeing doctor like that!!!"

I totally agree. Finally, we settled for Sushi Tei where we ate to our hearts' content :)

And then I went for a long-awaited jog in the evening, before err....putting back on the calories again. Just had maggi mee and a pack of Jack and Jill potato chips.

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT LIKE THAT???

two days to Christmas...

and I'm soooo.... tired....

partly my fault, but couldn't help it. It has been one of those weeks where you just have so many activities, you can't stop and think, and blog!!! I have been out till late almost every night after work, and I'm so tired.

Mon: Had free movie tix one night (watched Perhaps Love and it was CRAP, not even Takeshi could rescue it)

Tue: Met up with belle and cocoatina - without the baby for once!!! Like the good ol' days again!!! Had dinner at Riccioti or is it Riciotti, at Riverwalk. Hmm...its desserts are exactly the same as sister restaurant Menotti's. I would have thought there'd be some variation, oh well. The pasta was all right as well, nothing really fantastic.

Wed: Met up with Ziyen from US (and visited poor sick friend who jerks sporadically because her spinal cord was inflamed)

Thurs: Attended Soo Peng's wedding - alone. Well, sorta, although I got to know the other people at the table cos they were from NTU. Chatted with the girl beside me and realised she was my senior from CS and that we dislike mutual ex-schoolmates who are currently in the media industry!!! Quite fun chatting with her. You don't realise the world is so small. You actually dislike the same people.

Fri ie today: I'M GOING HOME TO SLEEP...well, I hope I do sleep! My eyebags are sagging...

It's not even beginning to feel like Christmas...

more adventures of the NSB

(1) One hot Sunday afternoon...

Leo the NSB closes the windows in my room suddenly.

Me: Why are you closing the windows?

NSB: To prevent the warp from coming in.

Me: HUH? The what????

NSB, very loudly: THE WARP.

At this point, me thinks: Is this guy trying to play punk (one of his fav phrases) with me or what? Purposely pronounce wasp as warp. Think very funny is it???

Me: Err...you mean the WASP.

NSB, pauses for thought, and then bursts out laughing. Till today, he still refuses to say if he was playing the fool. I don't think he was. HAHAHA!!!

(2) At the food court (this incident, the NSB related to me as I wasn't present)

The NSB and his friend Ah Yee are wearing their army uniforms because they are currently undergoing reservist training. (Yee is Hokkien for round and to be pronounced somewhat like NGEE.)

They are at a food court ordering food, when the stall holder, an auntie I think, screeches: 你们是 NCC 的啊？

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

getting old

ever since the Mayday concert, I've not had enough sleep. Tis' bad. I slept at about 3am and then woke up at 8am to go to church. Felt so tired. And ever since then, I've been feeling tired!!! Man...

And now I'm sick. Left work at lunch today because my left eye couldn't stop tearing. There was actually a tear rolling down my face while I was observing my supe in a counselling session today. Thank goodness no one saw! If not, they might have thought I was crying! Plus I was using my bare hands to wipe away my mucus. Yucks.

Crashed when I reached home. And now my left eye is still tearing....But feel much betta after the sleep. Had wanted to go MOS to take a look tonight, but I guess I can't now. Betta rest. Getting old...

I would like to build a shack by the sea

As it was reported some months back in Kartaly's very big ST article on her memories of living in Toa Payoh (yar, the story that was very much like her public diary!), leo and I had balloted for a Toa Payoh flat. Yes, the very flats that are replacing the one that Kartaly used to live in, the one where she ran along the corridors in her undies - no less.

(By the way, I was shocked at the number of friends who actually read those two paras buried in the three-page, or was it four-page, article! Wah lau. A lot of people have memories of Toa Payoh is it?)

Anyways. No, leo hasn't proposed. No, it's not the ok-lah-let's-buy-a-house type of Singaporean proposal. No, I'm not ready to get married yet. Let's just say the parents are dying for us to apply for some sort of home, cos if not, "WHEN THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO???" (Note: it wasn't put across so violently, but the hints are too in-your-face to miss.)

So, we balloted for that Toa Payoh flat and we got shortlisted - number 938 - when there are only 500-over units up for grabs. HDB's policy is that they will shortlist a number of applicants that is double the number of units available. Don't ask me why, I also didn't read the instructions until we got our number.

We then got a letter asking us to make a trip to HDB yesterday to pick ANOTHER queue number. All this time of course, it's not guaranteed that we could get the unit we wanted - or even an available unit, for that matter - because hundreds of people would have had the chance to choose them before our turn. We're number 938, remember?

Actually hor, I also don't know why we even bothered to go down! Haha. We'd checked the HDB website to track the number of available units, and err...all the good ones were gone. But, I guess we just didn't know what to do, and had to do something, so we went down lor. And it was really quite silly. The "rejection of HDB by us", as leo so proudly puts is, was over in 30 seconds. Like this:

HDB sales officer: Mr Lim and Miss Wong, we only have Block 79A that has available units. Which would you like?

Me: Uhm, we would like to cancel our application because the units we want have been taken up.

HDB sales officer: Ok, is there any other reason you are cancelling your application?

Me, looks at leo, and thinks very hard. Leo, looks at me, and thinks very hard.

Me and leo: Err...no.

HDB sales officer, still smiling very brightly: Ok, thank you very much!

And we both leave and can't stop laughing.

leo says: "Wah lau, don't know we come for what? Walk in like that and then say we GIVE UP! And then we leave! Some more ask us what other reason we have for giving up the application! Huh? Say what? The flat got too many ants and insects ah? Stupid!"

(uhm, that was an allusion to my own Punggol flat that's plagued by insects and ants. The pestbusters visited three weeks back by the way.)

Anyways, I think I would like to build a shack by the sea. No need to rush with people and it's FOC. And leo, since he digs scuba diving so much, can dive everyday for all I care. :)

Mayday Final Home concert 2005

Dec 10, Saturday, can only be described as 好 high wor!!! Mayday was in town for their one-night concert at Max Pavillion, Singapore Expo. Apparently they were the first to perform at the place.

Leo was testing out his new Canon 20D (digital SLR), and we didn't really know how to get the settings right. So I decided to test it out by going to the stage, before the band came out, to shoot some stuff. Of course, all the press photogs were milling around the area, and I met Trevor! He was shooting for Today. The photogs were only allowed to shoot during the first three songs, so I felt so sad for him. I mean, I felt sad for myself rather, if I were in his shoes that is. So close to the band for only three songs??? How can??? But you know what that Trevor said???

"Stay so long for what? I need to go home and watch Liverpool."

Wah lau. I would die for his place man. Anyways I got him to set the camera for me. Unfortunately though, the lens could only go up to 50mm, which isn't exactly very close up from where we were sitting about 30 rows from the front. So all my beloved Mayday band members still look very small in Leo's camera, tho very much clearer than the pix I have uploaded here that are from my tiny Casio Exilim.

According to Trevor, the band was supposed to sing 41 songs. I didn't count, but they did sing A LOT of songs, and that made me feel like my 100-over-dollar ticket was worth every cent!!! Me, leo and jaz were on our feet for three-and-a-half hours, with our hands (and lightsticks) in the air, belting out whichever songs we knew the lyrics to!!! WOOHOO!!! The concert ended just five minutes shy of midnight! However I was a little disappointed they didn't sing the very solid Hokkien song 麦来乱 :(

Here's jaz and I displaying our favourite number: 五 for 五月天 of course!!! You can't see much from this photo but the concert venue was filled with a sea of red much later. Yeah, like National Day, that's what 阿信 said too. Hee hee. Most fans turned up in red T-shirts.

I must say that the band's musicianship has improved. Or perhaps, they have decided to show off more of their technical prowess at concerts. This time, there were instrumental solos and they were a lot more showy with their skills. I don't know why, but I think Masa, tho he's not very good-looking, looks damn cool playing his bass. Haha.

And I was really glad I got to see the band's 技师团, ie the technicians, ie the damn cool guys (wearing black in the pic) who tune the instruments and make sure everything on stage is going on way ok. They also played the instruments for the band when the members sang one song. So talented! And they look better than the band. Haha! The bassist also looks very cute, tho at this point of time, I'm quite smitten with the leader of the technicians - 士杰. Not sure if that's the correct way to write his name! Heh. He was the backup vocalist for the night too. He's really such a clown :)

All in all, I really had fun. Glad to meet friends I saw at the Mayday concert last year as well! We're such diehards. There was Yunling (that channel 8 newscaster), Peiling (who came with her sis and sis' husband, or was it her bro and her bro's wife??)...Would have met the elusive belle if she had come to say hi to me. Hmph. Anyways, I'm very happy belle, who got free tix courtesy of the mag she works for, sat many rows behind me!!!! HAR HAR HAR. At least I don't feel so cheated having to pay so much money.

From the press, so what? Also sit behind me. :)

Mayday is Stone, Monster, Ashin, Masa and Ming.

Here're two Mayday video clips I shot with my Casio Exilim. They're not very clear and a little shaky (my arms aching from holding camera high up for so long lah). Click on the links for:

1. 终结孤单 (zhong jie gu dan) video

2. 牙关 (ya guan) video

ready?

Been so tired the last few days, partly because of the two-day children's day camp I'm involved in, and having stuff after work at night. Exhausted.

But I'm learning new things. I'm learning that it's important to have very clear objectives when you plan programmes. How relevant is the artificial cocoon created during such camps/workshops to real life? Will the children really be able to apply what they have learnt at the camps? Them having fun at the camps does not equate to them learning what you attended for them to learn. And if they only had fun, what is the point of the camps? Food for thought...

At the same time, the old issues I've been grappling with about loss/grief/blame/anger have resurfaced. Inevitably, the triggers have been appearing. It's really time to find some closure before I graduate. No thanks to SOS that didn't follow up on me. Very unethical of them. But maybe it's a learning point for me, so that in future I'll make sure my clients get follow up.

Sososo, what do I do now? It's not enough to say let go and let God. I have been, and it's been helpful. But I need to talk to someone - a professional, and good and trustworthy one. To talk me through all my faulty thinking, and help me find the closure I so need.

When I get over this episode, I know I will be stronger than ever. And I must.

###
On a lighter note, the Mayday concert is tomorrow!!! I've been so busy I haven't had time to memorise the important songs!!! Argh!!! Tonight, tonight, it shall be. I must be ready.

so cool, play pool

I got a little bored in the morning at work today. Then in came this little boy, probably in upper primary, who had to entertain himself with toys while waiting for his mother and brother to finish their session with one of the workers.

The boy and I decided to play pool together. Heh. A very miniature version of pool. I mean, it's like hitting marbles with chopsticks, know what I mean? It was really funny though, because I the clueless pool player actually taught him how to place his hand on the table as a support, and to aim in a straight line.

I also tried explaining to him that you had to hit the white ball in the centre or at the bottom (leo taught me) to prevent it from following the ball in front of it into the pocket. But he was too excited in the game to listen.

Kids really know how to entertain themselves. Little boy got bored with pool when I left him to go back to my work (or rather, I didn't want to seem to be slacking, as I did say I was a little bored). So little boy turned his attention to a toy stove and started cooking whole bananas, apples and hotdog buns (yes hotdog stuffed in bun) for me.

I decided to ask him to make apple pie for me, and he said: "There're apples. But there's no pie!"
And I said: "Pretend lah!"
He looked at me sheepishly, laughed and ran away. Haha. He actually thought it was hilarious to play pretend!

Hmm...wonder who's the kid? Him or me? ;p

Weekend outing with Mr Orange Platypus

I spent the weekend with Mr Orange Platypus aka leo (see picture). I seriously don't understand the fuss over Crocs footwear. Despite the rave reviews these slippers have been getting, I really think they look absolutely hideous! I would much rather walk around in scuba diving fins. Mr Orange Platypus also bought a pair of stately brown Crocs - sans the holes. A leetle bit more presentable lah.

So anyway, despite the amphibious leanings of my boyfriend, we both managed to spend a really fun weekend together. Eating lots of munchies, watching lots of TV (from EPL to CNA to BBC, hey we're the land of acronyms right?), and shopping lots. I don't know when was the last time we had so much time to ourselves!

We also found out how much he loved strawberry ice-cream, and how much I loved coffee ice-cream. We had the Haagen Dazs girl fill the one-pint (think it was one-pint) tub with strawberry ice-cream till it was half-full, and then slap on coffee ice-cream to the brim.

We then both realised we were thinking the same thing at the same time - we were actually tempted to challenge her to fill half the tub with one flavour on the LEFT, and the other flavour on the RIGHT! HAR HAR! Hiya, then we don't have to wait for one of us to finish the top layer, before the other can touch the bottom layer mah!

Shopping: We had $200 worth of Takashimaya vouchers to spend. So I got a sports bra, a pair of running shorts, a comfy sleeveless top for running and a pair of goggles. So sporty right?

He, on the other hand, got a pair of smart pointy leather shoes for work. Great stuff. As long as it's not another haul of platypus, or is it platypi???

Then hor, we all also very cheapskate lah. You see, with every purchase from Taka, you get a free roll of Christmas wrapping paper, with ribbon and a tiny card to write a teensy weensy message. So, we collected 3 to 4 rolls of wrapping paper, a bunch of golden ribbons and cards! Save money on Christmas wrapping! :)

i got tagged (songs this time)

I got tagged by moonx.

List 7 songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to.

1. Polka Dots & Moonbeams - by Stacey Kent
2. 发如雪 - by 周杰伦
3. (most songs by 五月天, especially 牙关 and mai lai luan)

couldn't keep to the 7, cos couldn't decide!

I tag
- olduvai the indie music lover
- dsd the dim sum lover
- bik the 3am lover
- aime the poetry lover
- beng the girl lover
- mel the meandering lover
- brownie the dogfood lover

first impressions

I find that I have this tendency to try to suss people out during my first few encounters with them. I do it both unconsciously and consciously, really. Unconsciously, because I can feel - beyond my control - my intuition sensing signals, much like antennae receiving frequencies automatically. Consciously, because I know what I'm reading when I'm reading people.

And usually, I'm right. But I don't say it first, because I don't want to seem to be making a premature judgment. Leo's really good at it too, actually, I think he's better at it. Probably because I try to make concessions on behalf of those people I get negative vibes from!

:)

###

Today was the first day of my attachment at a social service agency. Once again, I was sussing out the various characters, and what their interactions were saying about one another. In general, it was a good vibe. Specifically, it was quite a culture shock actually. Having been part of the unforgiving newsroom before, this workplace was extremely nurturing.

In fact, in response to a compliment from one of the staff, I actually blurted out: "You guys are so constructive!"

I don't know how the next few months are going to pan out, whether first impressions will remain first impressions. But I am very thankful to God my Father. Thank you for the way you have directed my path, and always shining your light for me. Thank you for putting up arrows pointing the way to go, when I didn't know what to do. Thank you for just being who you are, even when I did not understand. Thank you so very much.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. - Proverbs 3: 5,6 (NKJV)

it's over

And so, the wait was over at 11.01am today, according to the wall clock in the chilly classroom. Pens down, check that you've written your matric number, and if you have used more than one booklet, remember to tie them together with the string provided.

That was fast. Like the two hours that flew by as we furiously regurgitated our answers today, the past four months slipped by almost unnoticed. Half an academic year has disappeared, and another half will start in another 30 or so days.

But before all that talk about how fast time flies, it's always good to spend some time relishing the pleasures in life. Like a bowl of deliciously smooth coffee and chocolate gelato. Time to take a break and tuck into a bowl of something nice. Bon appetit.

just the two of us

we hardly have a nice pic together, since we're always not happy with how fat our faces turn out...because we're always taking pics of ourselves (other people always don't take it right). so you know...the nearer you shoot, the broader your face is. but I think this one can pass lah.

a lil' down

Exam didn't go too great today. :(
Kinda blanked out for this 10-mark question on ethical dilemmas. I only had one point to talk about, and I elaborated on it as much as I could. And couldn't think of any more points So sucky. The MCQs were so tricky too. It's like choice number one also can, choice number three also can, or is it all of the above?

On normal circumstances I would have vegged out in front of the tv after the paper. But feeling quite so down, so thought I'd start cramming for my third and last paper, which is happening this coming Tues.

Cos of my anxiety, I'm wondering if I should send Mr Jai food tomorrow, as I had decided on it at the start of this week. I really should. But I'm thinking of just pressing the doorbell once, leaving the food outside his home and making my exit before he opens the door. I know he will want to have a chat with me, and I'll feel bad not having a chat with him and just taking the money and leaving, but I have to. Staying for the chat with my mind somewhere else makes no sense.

Dilemmas dilemmas dilemmas.

pre-test questionaire

have a friend who requested to have this link put up, cos she's conducting a survey on work-related blogging for her university dessertation. Do click here to take the survey, if you can. Thanks!

i'm gonna run run run

Where you jog makes all the difference. Went running along Old Punggol Road again yesterday and it was actually such a pleasure. Maybe it was the sweet wetness of the air after the rain, maybe it was the tranquility offered by the green sanctuary, maybe it was just the fact that there were no tall HDB flats in sight for that little while.

I love it.

Only drawback: Girls have to be on the alert all the time because the road is quite lonely. Sigh...is this the curse of urban living???

two sides to me

My new haircut! I also dyed it a two-tone ash colour that's hard to see from here. Ah...what wonderful therapy! The cut is also asymmetrical. Don't know why my hairstylists love to do that, but I love it! :)


Above: the boyish cut on the right side.

Above: the girlish cut on the left side.

Above: the complete look.

rain rain (don't) go away

On Sunday, mum jio-ed me to go brisk walking along the tree-lined Old Punggol Road that leads to the beach and jetty. She was sick of going around in circles along the drabby grey pavements by the main road, so we decided to explore the road less travelled - the more natural side of Singapore that brings you past Punggol 17th Avenue and Punggol 24th Avenue.

Entering Old Punggol Road territory was like taking a trip into a nature reserve, with lovely thick foliage forming a continuous canopy along the slightly undulating long road right up to the sea. Jogging or walking under the protection of the never-ending row of trees was such a pleasure, because of the comfortable cool shade it offered. The twitter of birds, the chirping of the crickets...all these calls of nature were all the more magnified in the stillness of the natural surroundings. The only human sounds that provided the occasional distraction were the purring engines of the few cars that cruised by and my off-and-on conversation with mum.

Alas, our walk was interrupted by the sudden heavy downpour. Funnily, it was not an unwelcome interruption, although we were soaked to our skin when we were still about 15 minutes away from our home. Instead, it was the most invigorating shower I've ever had, rain drops beating down on my sweat-tinged skin, a wakeup call like no other.

I had broken into a trot (to try to get home to rescue our clothes that were hung out to sun) before deciding to wait for mum at a bus-stop. You couldn't really call that seeking shelter because I was so drenched. She reached, and we sat down for a while before deciding that it wouldn't hurt to continue the journey back on foot because we couldn't get any wetter than that!
Mum laughed and said it was the first time in all her life that she had ever been caught in the rain, because my late grandpa, being the authoritarian he was, would beat his children up if they ever did get soaked. Thank goodness I bit my tongue before declaring a silly oh-man-where-did-your-childhood-go, because this was mum who caught fish in the longkang and climbed trees when she was young.

But oh, what a pity that she never knew how it felt to be kissed by the rain! I, on the other hand, had my fair share at outdoor camps.

Mum, looking quite so happy despite her matted long hair and sticky clothes, then added: "I guess this is God's way of showing me how wonderful rain can feel!"

I couldn't agree more.

today's the sec school reunion

a few months back, some friends from my sec sch (the prefectorial bunch) sent out emails about an RGS class of '95 reunion, which is supposed to happen today at the school. Was supposed to have gone, but we forgot to pay money and all, and we got lazy, and we didn't go. Not sure if the reunion will still take place today. It's been 10 years! Nevertheless, I shall commemorate the decade-long friendship with some photos.

As former principal, the forever vivacious and sprightly Mrs Carmee Lim, would proudly announce: "Filiae Melioris Aevi (FEE-LEE-AI MEH-LEE-OR-RIS AY-VEE) ! Daughters of a better age!"

And she often follows on with a "as we walk throught the porrrrtals of RGS..." and then she belts out the national anthem with her operatic trills and shrills while everyone, except the prefects, shut up and pretend to mouth the words. Basically you can only hear Mrs Carmee Lim singing lah. And then the prefects start walking up and down checking if we've worn our yellow nametags, if our pinafores are too "puffed" at the waist (man, the school made us sew one side of the belt to our pinafores ok!), if our fringe was touching our eyebrows, if our socks were too hidden in our shoes.

One of the things I loved best about RGS was that they allowed us to wear sports shoes (not the usual canvas types), as long as they were white. Very cool ok at that time, can wear my Reeboks to school! Must make it look dirty and worn, then cool mah!

Ah....memories!!! Ok now for photos:


Not the entire 4/6 gang (we from class 4/6) is here in this picture taken in 1995 I think (courtesy of eug's friendster account). Three of them in this picture are also not in sg now - in London. First one from left is wynne, who just got married. I'm mentioning her for reference cos the next photo is taken at her wedding this month. I'm third from left, the one trying to stick her head out to be seen. I had long fringe then!!! This photo is taken in front of the flagpoles, Mrs Carmee Lim's favourite platform for singing :)


And this is us this year at wynne's wedding. The bride's in yellow, seated in the centre. Only me, karen, eug, wynne and ad appear in this photo and the previous one. Yes, the bunch of us is quite big! I'm standing second from right, with my eyes closed :( Not ready lah.

Daughters of a better age!

out out damned spot

the worst cough to have is the type that leaves a tiny residual speck of phlegm in the deepest depths of your throat. So tiny you have to use all your might to expel it - enough to hurl your both lungs out. So minute you want to strangle yourself when you see that almost-microscopic bright green spot slide ever so fast into the drainage hole in the wash basin. All that coughing for a few seconds of existence???

白费心机。。。

it gets worse at night.

no teenage textbook to refer

As usual, she was late. This time, not by 15 minutes, but half an hour. It would have been 45 minutes, if I had not been the wiser and decided to be late as well - something that has become a habit for me in our appointments, fortunately. But when she came, she handed me this pretty package with a thank-you card, to thank me for all the gifts I'd bought for her and for taking care of her. Enveloped within a layer of bubble wrap was a pretty candle emanating a sweet vanilla essence. My heart melted and I didn't have the heart to look angrier. Truth was, I had already softened when she sms-ed me twice to say she would be late, and that she was sorry about it. As I thought back, these simple text messages were a great improvement from more than a year back when she didn't know how to apologise, not because she didn't feel bad about her tardiness, but because she didn't know how to say sorry. It was awkward, she said.

At the same time, while I thought it nice of her to buy something for me, it wasn't the anticipated sense of elation that I thought I would have felt at being "appreciated" by a teenager. Probably at the start of our relationship, my ego would have received a boost from such a gesture, since the premise of our relationship lay upon "me the so-called mentor helping her to grow". (I hate the word mentor by the way, because I'm not the perfect role model.) How our relationship has deepened, without me even knowing it. And the intertwined feelings that come along with it.

Just earlier, she declared that "my generation" and "her generation" are very different, and that because I'm from "my generation", I will not understand her 观念. I found myself reacting, with indignance. (Thanks to my lecturer's class on "checking your bodily cues", I realised myself getting agitated, and consciously cooled down.) I hope I got my point across because my spoken Mandarin sucks, especially in situations when you have to use very precise words to get your meaning across without inviting discord.

I'm beginning to worry for her, even if what she deals with are all the usual issues that teenagers face. In fact, the thought of how hard it is to parent teenagers popped into my head again. It never was a random thought, and never will be. I think teenagers are a real tough bunch to work with!

grapevine cafe bar & restaurant

The great thing about having a car is that you can go anywhere you want at any time of the day. My 超人 finally appeared after 10.30pm last night, and whisked me off to an obscure corner in Upper Serangoon that Jem intro-ed to us some weeks back. (Pic doesn't look too good cos my camera phone's not too good with night shots.)
Grapevine is a little cafe in this building (with some chinese name), which sells finger food, dessert, alcohol and other beverages. Opens till 1am on weekdays, and I think 2am on weekends. It kinda appears out of nowhere cos there's no other eatery within 100m of it, and it's the only sign of life in an otherwise dead place. But I like it quiet :)
It's a place to hang loose. Most people there are togged out in berms, tees and slippers, enjoying a mug of ice-cold beer or a glass of deliciously smooth mango smoothie. I have nothing to say about the food, cos I can't say I've really tried it. The 超人 ordered some chicken nuggets, which well, tasted like...chicken nuggets! We shared a tiramisu, which we both agreed was too sweet, didn't have any alcohol taste and that 超人 could definitely make a better one!
Anyhow, the cafe is not a place to look for a satisfactory meal. Service is quite slow too. Nevertheless, great for chilling out late at night with friends, when you need to escape some madness. Helps if you have a car. Oh yes, one half of the cafe also offers a pool table, and a projector screens soccer matches in the alfresco area.

Grapevine cafe bar & restaurant
#01-06/07
780 Upper Serangoon Road

type type type

the boyfriend's finally back from Bangkok.
a friend once commented that my jet-setting boyfriend had such a cool life, one minute he's in Bali diving, the next moment he's in Bangkok shopping, and the next minute, he's in I donno where. Aiya, every month he's somewhere lah, just not in Singapore.
yar, I replied, rather icily: "You need a very understanding girlfriend, you know."
so here I am, the very understanding girlfriend, stuck in sg, studying.
I feel sick. I sulk. I'm damn sian.
I refuse to read anything else.
I've gone jogging. I've downed a most horrible dinner of stale chicken chop drenched in muddy brown gravy. I've paid my cable tv bill at the sam machine. I've switched on the pc five times. I've clicked the same blogs over and over again. I've watched channel U/8/54 repeatedly. I wanna go out for dessert, or something, return the effects pedal to James, whatever! Just get me outta here. Where is he???

闭关练功

闭关练功真痛苦，
被迫在山穴里练个什么神功来。。。
太可恶了吧！
字好难记,词好难背,
我的超人在哪里？
快把我救出去!
我快要走火入魔了。。。

Down memory lane

Visited Bedok North Street 4 where I used to live. Really miss the hustle and bustle of the place. Totally heartland, just the type of place for the heartlander in me. I remember about 10 years back when as teenagers, two classmates and I were walking to my flat to do project. And one of them, who lives in the posh Toh Tuck area, commented: "Wah your house like Malaysia!"

My ex-neighbourhood is the place where tables and mats are laid out in front of the rows of shops on Sundays. On them are T-shirts/shorts/socks going at dirt-cheap prices, with aunties/uncles/children alike milling around checking out the best bargains. Salesmen with cordless mikes in the same row hawk their wares in broken "these-one-velly-good-I-never-bruff-you" English.

Ever the one to jump at an opportunity, my mum forced me to remove my shoe, which had a bit of sole hanging off (and which she had tried her best to use Saba glue to stick back). She handed it over to the salesman promoting this China-made glue which could stick jade/metal/leather/you-name-it, and said: "How about this?" Of course, with a chance to prove the authencity of his wares, he said: "SURE!"

So my shoe is nice and new again. And we learnt that to make sure things stick properly, you've gotta dust the dirt particles off before applying the glue. Of course, we didn't buy the man's glue.

Then I went a-hunting for that much-publicised chocolate cake shop "Chocabloc" after sms-ing an ex-colleague who'd bought something from there before. She gave me the wrong block (it is block 86 and she said 89) but with the right directions, so I found it! Who'd expect a much-raved-about shop by newspaper food critics to be tucked away in some mature HDB estate? The teenage girl manning the counter (think she's the owner's daughter) is quite pretty, by the way! :)

Unfortunately, I left the namecard in my pants, which went into the wash before I remembered to retrieve it! Shucks. Cakes looked good though, and they seemed very popular cos the owner didn't have extras to sell, as you had to place orders beforehand. Flavours include chocolate fudge and chocolate-and-durian. I will have to try them soon. Love chocolate!

As with habit, I walked over to this boutique, which offers a perpetual 20-per-cent discount. This means, you usually get items below $20. You can usually find some gems among the auntie-wear, which makes shopping really exciting! Saw a really pretty black bolero, in a soft cotton fabric with an attractive knitted pattern near its base! Too bad they only had one size and it was a little tight on the arms. Ah well.

Then I remembered the can-collecting ah pek who never seems to have a home. When I was still living there, I used to reserve my empty drink cans for him. He who wears an unbuttoned short-sleeved shirt, berms that hang loose on his thin-frame, and walks around the dirty hawker centre barefoot. He's the type of ah pek whom you know is damn strong inside and will die if he doesn't work. But at the same time, you can't help feeling for him cos who'd want to see an old man like that working so hard? I actually used to be quite angry at the competition he was facing from the much-younger women who started collecting cans after seeing him at work.

Well, this ah pek was sleeping on his usual bed - the bus-stop seat! With that all-too-familar marketing trolley filled halfway with cans parked just next to him! Still no shoes, and still alive! Amazing. But how he's aged. I think he should be close to 90 now.

Will he still be alive the next time I return? I wonder.
Ah, life.

eat more eat more, 多吃多吃

If ever you want to find out how fast you're ageing, don't look to your expanding waistline or those sneaky wrinkles on your once tofu-smooth face. Measure your age with a growing baby. Ethan is going to be one year old in two to three months!!! My good friend is going to be a mother of a one-year-old baby soon!!! Argh!!! So damn freaky. Don't believe? Let me show you:

This is Ethan when he was just born. A crinkly mousey bundle, so fragile I was so scared to hurt him while trying to feed him. Obviously Ethan Mummy had to take over soon after, cos he started crying. Uh, I wasn't doing it right.

AND LOOK!!! That tiny, soft thing has grown into this cute and hyper toughie who'd turn his nose up at you if you didn't get into his good books. How he's grown! And how I've grown...older...

Anyways, Ethan Mummy brought Ethan to visit me today. Hee hee. Quite happy he warmed up to me after some time. He's teething too! He's got this strange way of crawling, by the way. He usually only has two hands, one knee and one foot on the floor, like he's trying to stand while crawling. Really weird. He looks like a bumpy tricycle!

多吃多吃，eat more, grow more, like Ethan.

###


Eat, yes, I do eat. Today's dinner: soupy macaroni with minced pork. Very simple again. Season minced pork with soya sauce and a slight dash of pepper. Boil chicken bones in water to get chicken stock. Throw in the macaroni and then the pork. And you get dinner.

Fast to cook, good to eat. And it's not myojo (or was it maggi?)

(By the way, three people asked me to cook for them yesterday. Is that a miracle or what? No one even believed I could fry an egg in the past.)

Conversations with the NSB - Part 2

Over lunch at a hawker centre in Kovan today, leo the NSB (neighbourhood school boy) and I somehow treaded on the topic of how people from elite schools often do end up working in the elite strata of society.

me: Your world and mine are really quite different. I don't know any friend from school (ie sec sch and JC) who is not a professional.

leo the NSB (who is in the IT sales and marketing line): Why? All professionals now? What kind of jobs?

me: Yar, all professionals. Doctors, lawyers, architects, psychologist, high-flying scholars serving government bond.

leo the NSB: No one doing sales ah? Yar lar, sales is not professional mah. Really man, the elite will always remain as the elite. No matter where they go, they'll always do well.

me: What you mean?

leo the NSB (referring to Stephanie Sun): Yar what. Singer also do well what. All from RGS one right? All doing well what.

me: ...............................

what choice do I have?

Today after my wonderful jog in the cool of the post-rain evening, I walked over to the kopitiam somewhere opposite my flat to buy dinner. In the midst of the oily smoke, damp mist (from the what-you-call-them mist-fans?), and the monotonous hum of human voices, I stood in the centre of the stuffy kopitiam, trying my utmost best to decide what to eat.

It wasn't the most pleasant of states to be in when contemplating what to fill my hungry stomach with - sweat trickling down almost everywhere. HIYOH!!!! WHAT TO EAT???

The uncle from the noodle stall 3m away recognised me and smiled. HIYOH!!!! Should I buy tang hoon in fishball soup from him again? Or, should I try fish and chips from the stall next to his. Damn, I so miss Uncle Pete's fragrant chicken chop with its lovely mushroom sauce from Bedok North where I used to live. This Punggol western food stall serves chicken chop with rice! How can??? WHAT TO EAT???

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, I reluctantly joined the queue at the first-choice noodle stall. Uncle asks me: "Cannot decide what to eat ah?" I nod with a sheepish smile. No tang hoon in fishball soup this time. I chose dry guo tiao.

Being cooped up most afternoons at home before going off to school, I don't really want to go somewhere far to have lunch. And this kopitiam is the nearest to home, and its food is just so-so.
Now you know why I've started to cook lunch? Even if it's just a one-person portion? Partly out of sheer desperation. Yesterday it was the tasty meat porridge. Today it was macaroni in tomato sauce, cooked with pork, onions and garlic. Plus, I had lettuce on the side. Very simple fare. But worth every bite.

Oh no, what to eat tomorrow?!?!?

the chao mugger's back

exams are in slightly more than a week's time.
AARGH!!!

as an aside, is the term "chao mugger" used only by people of our era ie the 70s babies? I smsed it to a 16-year-old girl (born 1989) and she didn't understand. We used to use it all the time back in school! Sigh...I feel the very big generation gap.

days of our lives

It's so hard to find good friends nowadays. I don't mean friends, I mean really good friends.

I sometimes wonder if I would have had more good friends if I wasn't attached. Then again, it's just wrong to say that I have not made the effort to stay in close contact with my chums. I have. It's just that it seems that with each year that I grow that bit older, my inner circle of friends shrinks.

Marriage is also a kind of separation, I was telling Belle just now. Separation for the two pals, when one of them joins in holy matrimony with her soulmate. Maybe there have been too many marriages in the the last year or so, and more and more, I feel like I'm inching closer to that boundary that separates adulthood from the childhood that I dread leaving.

So maybe this entry is not about lamenting the lack of good friends, but the inevitable passing into adulthood. Wait a minute, I am an adult, aren't I? It's interesting that I was having a similar discussion with my hairstylist (salons are the best places for both idle and contemplative talk) and he asked why I was not ready to marry yet.

I don't know. I have found a great guy, but sometimes the idea of leaving home scares me, because it signals the next phase in my life. A role transition. An extreme transformation. Trepidation.

Transitions are so scary. The last year has been full of transitions. Career-wise, there was a major one and I'm still in transit, actually. It is a transition of hope and anticipation, if you ignore the tacit disapproval of my mum, one of the most important people in my life. We never speak more than 10 words about it. She knows she'll upset me, and I know, in a sense, she's upset. But there are just some things in life that need you to, well, to quote the oft-used maxim, just do it.

I'm not the only one having to face changes. It's uncanny, but in the past year, I've had two friends who are battling depression. Hearing how they have had to face their demons is pretty sobering, because of the shite they have to go through. Yet at the same time, I see how God's love overwhelms them and keeps them sane. This is sobering, too.

There's so much more I want to write about, like how I'm realising more and more what an introvert I am. But writing too much would be overindulgent. So I'll stop. Perhaps next time.

冠佑 of Mayday proposes!

At Mayday's maiden concert in Beijing on Nov 5, drummer 冠佑 or 彦明 (as I prefer to call him) proposed to his long-time girlfriend! He did a 石头 actually, cos 石头 asked his girlfriend to marry him during a concert some years back in Taiwan.

These rockers from Mayday ah....really know how to make girls cry. Not only their darlings shed tears freely, many girls from the audience were definitely also reaching for their hankies. Lucky Moon was at the concert in Beijing and she also couldn't control her tears!

Actually I know this sounds a little crazy, but I was watching e-news on cable when they showed clips of the proposal and I was like, oh man, must read Moon's blog! Haha. Aiya, I'm not really a true-blue fan lah, cos I only know bits and pieces about the band's private lives. But hey, it's their music that matters. Can't wait for Dec 10 when they come to town for their Final Home concert! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!

rooftop rendezvous

Tagged along with foodie dimsumdolly and ben for lunch at Wild Rocket, located at Hangout Hotel on Mount Emily. I can't describe food well, so I'm not going to start. Read her review here. As an aside, I loved the hotel's rooftop area. It had beach-resort-type wooden deck chairs and tables, many fresh green plants, a pretty view and lots of space to move around. Not sure if they let people organise any parties on the rooftop though. Would be fun!

flower stealers

At Wynne's wedding tonight, or rather last night cos it's past 1am on Sunday now, some of my friends were commenting on how Singaporean it was to take things that don't belong. Reason being the wedding guests were streaming out of the ballroom, and many couldn't resist picking a white rose each from the pretty bouquets lining the aisle. One bouquet was quite flowerless at the end of it all. So....jill suggested we follow also lah! So here we are, hawaiian babes in the making (see pic from L-R: me, eug, jill). As you can also see, I'm trying to hide my boobs, as naturally as I can, from the unforgiving camera flash. Fashion boo boo! Wore beige bra under black dress, when the flash goes off, beige bra appears. Very unflattering. So I spent the night trying to hide the chest from the flash, like hiding my boobs behind people's heads or napkins folded into upright fan-shaped thingies. Haha. Whatever. Another friend leaves singlehood. Here's to life :)

来，笑一个

不知在什么地方读过：
闪电射过乌黑天空的那一刹那，是上帝在拍照的时候。
今晚，上帝好像拍了几百张照片，我笑累了。
快下雨吧，别闹了。

hen and friends come out to play

She's the partner I sat next to in class from sec 3 to 4, about 10 years ago. She's the hen we held a party for, just two days ago. She's the classmate whom I always turned to when I had problems with math and science. She's the bride-to-be who now has to try out the crotchless panties (see pic)!!! HAHAHA. As usual, with another hen party organised by the horniest and craziest ones in the sec sch gang, how could it not be fun?

Just some things about the hotel the gang spent the day at:
We now know that the Le Meridien Changi Village Hotel is a luuurve hotel. The bedroom offers a thoroughly unobstructed view into the bathroom, courtesy of a big glass window fitted in the wall separating the bathroom from the bedroom. Of course, if you are shy, you can always let down the blinds. There's also a rooftop swimming pool on the eighth floor, where you can look out to the sea beyond and its tiny sailboats. It would have been nicer if the swimming pool water was not so murky. I couldn't see a thing underwater with my goggles!

最近比较烦

男女爱情真麻烦，忽冷忽热，随风漂泊。
受情绪摆布，被男友怪是“身体闹情绪”的缘故。
为什么爱一个人那么麻烦？
难道爱就不能简简单单的吗？
虽有个伴，有时感觉上又好像却没伴。
没时间，没时间。。。
没时间想最好。

Badminton buddies

This morning, my right arm woke up making a lot of noise. Move it, creak (!), raise it, crack (!), lower it, creak (!). Ouch. Tested my butt and thighs for a while. Ok, no sound, not much pain, thanks to once-a-week jogging I think!

Yesterday, I touched a badminton racquet for the first time in like a decade, and played for about an hour with a teenager, her sister who's six years younger than me, and their very pro friend (a guy who looks older than me, but then again, many people younger than me look older than me.) It was great fun! But I knew my body was sure to complain today. And so it did, loud and clear. Sigh...老了...

"Mummy, 你很胖"

"Mummy, 我的朋友的 mummy 比较美..."

That was uttered by this primary school boy to his 80kg-heavy mother!!! I am so disturbed.

Was watching this slimming show on channel 8 earlier on. Slimming shows are the fad now. This particular one was sponsored by Jean Yip where they audition heavyweight women, put them through a slimming programme (where you see all the unsightly flab wrapped tightly in plastic before being exposed to some funny lighting), package them in nice dresses and coiffeured hair, and voila, they are a different person altogether. And people like Jean Yip get their due credit.

Seriously, I think these shows are appalling. What kind of message about beauty are they propagating? And today, I had to hear this boy - he looks no older than nine - say that he thinks his mother is fat and that he supports his mother's efforts to slim down on TV because then she can be beautiful. Apparently, his mother says that he doesn't like her to wear sleeveless tops because her arms are too fat. So she actually changes out of these tops into baggy T-shirts for his sake!!! He also feels the layers of fat on her tummy and calls them 三层肉.

HUH? Where did this boy get his idea about beauty from??? You know, I highly suspect that he's learnt all this through the mass media - advertisements, appalling slimming shows, whatever. Because, the mother mentioned that he was watching a slimming show on TV when she asked if he wanted her to take part in such a show.

C'mon, at that age, I don't think I ever associated weight and beauty in such a connotation. Fat was just fat. Ugly was just ugly. It was never fat equals ugly. And I don't think it would even cross my mind to turn fashion critique and tell a plus-sized person that his or her arms were too big to be paraded around.

Oh man...with the proliferation of such blatant fat-equals-ugly messages, how will our young ever grow up with a proper concept of healthy beauty? And here we have Mummy shedding tears because junior now thinks she's soooo beautiful after shedding the kilos...And the comperes call her story very 感人!

Oh please!

Photography 101

I usually don't show my face on my blog cos of fat-face issues that plague me constantly. But today, I've had a change of heart and decided to use myself as a model to demonstrate some techniques in hiding bodily flaws and to expound on the art of photography in general. As you can tell, I'm bored :)


1. To look slimmer, it helps to turn your face slightly to the side so the camera doesn't capture the full frontal (and fat) view. If you want, you can also tilt your head very slightly towards your shoulder - in this case, I tilted it towards my right shoulder. Find a window with natural light pouring in, and position yourself such that the light falls on one side of your face. Such ambient lighting is pretty flattering. And of course, make sure you hold the camera slightly higher than your forehead because when you shoot from top down, you avoid double-chin issues, which can be very depressing!


2. If all else fails, find a mirror in a multi-storey car park (as above), or one that is found around the bend of a windy road. The fish-eye perspective that the reflection offers shaves off those few needed millimetres off your body. Then you can kid yourself that you possess sinewy arms and a sharp(er) chin. Say cheese!


3. But sometimes, you can't make the conditions favour you, especially when you're taking pix with a bunch of friends. So just heck it lah! Fat then fat lor! This bunch of friends here are my project group members from school. We are always the group found hovering near any table with food. Today's lecture was on Indian culture and our lecturer provided food like muruku. And of course, we zoomed in on it! YUM.


4. The cardinal sin in photography is definitely shooting a blur picture, unless it is the intended effect. In this case (as above), I committed the cardinal sin. But who wouldn't when you need to shoot in secret? Look out for unwelcome nail clippings the next time you board the train. Don't say I didn't sound the warning!

Three cheers for the spunky ballerina!

I'm so happy Naima emerged as America's Next Top Model in this season four installation. Love her mohawk, her spunk and everything cool that she exudes. Save for a few unnecessary spots on her face and sometimes coming across as a little contrived in her manner of speech (think it's gotta do with the "past" that she's trying to escape from), Naima IS a very attractive character.

I love it when people embody juxtapositions. Like Naima. She's a graceful ballerina with a rock-chick attitude. Definitely not one-dimensional.

You go girl!

Picture courtesy of UPN, L-R: Naima Mora and Tyra Banks

yo, bro

In this week's issue of 8 Days, actress Ericia Lee says she used to wonder if she was adopted, because she was so different from her younger sis Ezann. Looks-wise and character-wise, both couldn't be more different from each other. Then again, both are blessed with such good looks, fantabulous figures and wonderful smiles. So, different also never mind right??? This world is so unfair...sigh...

The sibling feature inspired me to put up pix of my bro and I. At 23, he's three years younger than me. We are also as different as...as...as...err...popeye is from err...olive. Couldn't think of a better contrast, but you get the idea. He's everything I'm not, and I'm everything he's not. He inherited most genes from my mum's side, slim cheeks, business-(ka-ching)-mind, find-the-shortest-shortcut-tendencies, love for garlic and onions, naturally straight pearly whites bla bla bla.

I, on the other hand, got my dad's chubby-bao-bao-cheeks, his love for photography, easy contentment, not-so-straight teeth that I had to fix with braces, and I repeat, his chubby cheeks!!! Ok, so I haven't exhausted the list (I know there's more), but I can't think of any more "genetic dispositions" right now.

My bro is an NSB (I'm not), he smokes (I don't), he loves techno (I don't), he's the auntie-killer-type great at selling stuff (I'm not, I don't know how to sell things), he hates writing (I don't) and so on...In fact, just a few weeks back, we both took the train together (a rare occurence) and he looked at our reflection in the window and said: "My goodness, we don't even look alike."

:)

So my question is, are you and your sibling alike?

Homely comforts

This is ben, corny ben, who's reporting from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan now. (Sorry had to include baby ethan inside cos he's soooo cute!) I've been following his reports on how he's turned medic, inserting needles into veins, cleaning wounds and all that stuff that he'd never thought he had to do. And today, I read about how he hasn't bathed in days because the water is contaminated, and how having the privilege to sleep in a porous tent is sheer luxury.

I must say ben ben, I'm very proud of you! You've managed to balance your journalistic instincts with helping the distressed earthquake survivors! I can't imagine what it is like to be out there in the shivering cold, plagued by injuries, with absolutely no hope about what the future holds.

How fortunate I am in Singapore to be surrounded by all the creature comforts one can ask for. Where I wake up in the morning, tempted to snuggle under my soft quilt a little longer. Where I turn on the PC and saying "good morning" to friends on MSN. Where the most pressing thing on my mind right now is to finish my class essay and hand it up on time.

Kartaly is my hero

Kartaly is my hero!!!! She's so pissed about the dress incident, she's shot a complaint to dear Mr Ang. Woo hoo!!! Muaks again to you dear :)
------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr Ang,

I wish to draw your attention to a blog entry - which I append below - that highlighted an incident of bad service at your store recently.

Recently, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has talked about the need to improve the service standards in this country so that our economy can move into the next league. But providing good service is not just a "National Service" we do for our country - it's so that your own business can flourish too. As you can tell, you have already lost one customer forever, and even more - given that many Singaporeans surf this person's blog.

Perhaps you should consider instituting better service training at your shops. What's the point of putting in so much effort into designing beautiful dresses, when you offend would-be customers in the store itself?

Yours sincerely


Tuesday, October 18, 2005

I DON'T WANT YOUR DRESS

Walked into the Sunny Ang boutique at Delfi Orchard yesterday, and got snubbed by the very ugly salesgirl, very ugly in attitude indeed.

Me (holding a beautiful blue-green long chiffon dress, looking for the price tag): Uhm, how much is this?

Ugly salesgirl: $1,000 odd.

Wah lau! 妈的！看不起我，see me no up is it???? Cannot give exact price is it???

At this point, the ugly salesgirl adds, quite irrelevantly and irreverently that they don't make to measure. Hello??? I didn't even ask you that! So, she's insinuating that I can't fit into that dress??? What kind of service is this??? I make my exit with a friend, who immediately says: BAD SERVICE.

PTOOIIII!!!!! Ugly salesgirls give Sunny Ang a bad name. I then don't want your dress!!!

cerebral palsy and shopping

I was looking so forward to my planned shopping trip at Far East Plaza last Friday. Cocoatina was supposed to have joined me, if she was free. But, she couldn't make it, and off I went alone after interviewing a physio at The Spastic Children's Association in the morning.

About the interview first. It was a really enjoyable interview because the physio was such a sweet lady, and she demonstrated how she helped this four-year-old boy with cerebral palsy carry out exercises that would train him to move independently. Edward was such a sweet boy too! He can't hold up his head and upper body when he sits (he flops down on the rubber mat each time he sits), so the physio was constantly encouraging him to sit up and teaching him to control his body. He loves Barney, so one of the exercises involved enticing him to stretch his arms out to touch the Barney book. Which he did! And we all said "Yay! Good job Edward!"

Anyways, Edward had such a grumpy look on his face all the time (he can't talk, by the way). His maid then started hitting her hands on the rubber mat, while laughing and calling out "Edward!". And this actually tickled him so much his lips twitched into a faint smile, and a wider grin, and finally a loud laugh that sounded like a big sneeze! Hahaha. So cute. We all laughed when grumpy Edward finally wiped away the frown from his face :)

And now to shopping. Well, I covered the whole of Far East Plaza I think. Spent five hours there? Bought four tops and an evening dress (and nearly bought a pair of shoes. Anyone knows where to find cute black ballerina-type pumps?). Later on, I popped over to Raffles City, where I bought two pairs of earrings.

Extremely satisfied. This also means I'm taking on more freelance writing jobs to make up for the shortfall. $230 in one day, I believe. Eeks.

quotable quotes by the NSB

*NSB= Neighbourhood School Boy = Leo = sometimes synonymous with ah beng (but Leo is not an ah beng)

I don't know why I have a fetish for NSBs and ah bengs. Couldn't be the ah lian in me, because I absolutely do not possess any such traits ('cept maybe when I say 妈的, which is quite seldom and only to belle. Haha.)

If the Mayday band members studied in Singapore, they definitely would have gone to school at BBSS (Bukit Batok Sec School), or something like that. Haha. So cool! Eh, BBSS is leo's alma mater :)

I used to like Sly too, because he was so ah beng, but now he's too cocky for his own good. Poseur.

Anyways, the point of this entry is to remember some quotable quotes by the NSB.

In a car along Shenton Way one night:

Leo's colleague, Q, (also an NSB) asks me: Eh, last time you what JC? Quite good one right? Hwa Chong or National right?

Leo the other NBS (in mock indignance): NOOO LAAH!!!!! She from Raffles lah!!! Raffles!!!

Q: Same what! Same standard right? I thought Hwa Chong also quite good one what!

Leo (in greater mock indignance): OI!!! You insult her school issit? I ask you, which is the best JC around?

Q: Same what! I thought Hwa Chong also quite good????

Leo: NOOO LAAH!!!!! Where got same? Pls lah. It's Raffles! Raffles!


Over the phone one afternoon:

Leo the NSB asks me: So how? How's your studying progressing?

Me: Finished the bulk of it.

Leo: WAH!!! So fast ah??? Your RJC study method soooo good!!! I told you! No need to worry one lah you...


Usually when I'm stressing over not doing something well enough:

Leo the NSB to me: You all Raffles one, perfectionists...


When talking about "kiam-par" (deserve to be whacked ie because they think the world of themselves) guys in the army:

Leo the NSB to me: I tell you, they are all from either ACS or RI, TRUST ME.

a little anger don't hurt

Just heard the most impassioned speech of the century from my dear lecturer, who's spent the last 20 or so years doing social work and is still every bit passionate about the profession. It's really not often that I get inspired by someone who believes so much in her cause.

1. A little anger don't hurt, she says. If not, how're you going to fight against injustice? How're you going to advocate for your clients?

2. Best if you find good supervision after you graduate, she says. Best way to learn. But, if you don't find a good supervisor in your agency, don't get trapped in a mode of learned helplessness. Search out your own mentors, like what she did. She turned to her lecturers for help with her casework.

3. I don't buy burnout, she says. There's no such thing as burnout. If you think you are burnt out, then it was you who brought it upon yourself. You didn't know how to manage your work. If you find the work doesn't suit you, by all means look for another profession. But don't use burnout as an excuse.

4. Don't be so hard on yourselves as beginning social workers, she says. For the first three months, you are going to get so much feedback about what you are doing wrong, and your self-esteem is going to go from there (she gestures with her hand above her head) to there (she brings her hand real low, near her knees). By the fifth month, your esteem will rise a little, and by the end of one year, you'll feel like you're only beginning to function as a social worker. You'll need at least three years to feel that you're really competent enough. But don't be hard on yourself, the feedback is the best way to learn.

And she goes on to talk about threats she has faced from violent clients, tricks of the trade, and lots of other things. Can't say much about the specific cases, tho they are really interesting, cos I have to abide by the code of ethics - confidentiality.

But I must say that ever since going through this course, I've learnt the big difference between a volunteer and a social worker. I never knew that so much training went into producing a social worker, and I feel really inadequate about coming out to practise after I graduate. I'm not ready!

It's really quite a science to do social work. You need to do accurate assessments of the client's situation because if you get them wrong, then your intervention methods will be erroneous. And you need to listen actively and observe keenly for the underlying problems that clients don't tell you. Quite stressful. And during all this time, you have to demonstrate empathy not only in your non-verbals, but the way you craft your sentences to reflect feeling and content (all these are skills we learn in class).

Seriously, it's not just about having a big heart in social work. It's really about being trained as a professional with the proper skills and theoretical frameworks to partner the client in handling their issues. And it's not just problem-focused. It's also about exploring their strengths and resources, thereby helping them see that they are capable to get themselves "unstucked" from their situation.

And many more things to take note of in the profession....I'm getting quite scared! I'm so not ready!

steamin'

Last evenin', I came home huffin' and puffin' after my run. Definitely steamin'. Mum says she wants to teach me steamin', double steamin'...fish on the top deck, egg with minced pork on the lower deck. So, I learnt to use the spaceship of a steamer (see picture).

love, me

was watching a mini animated movie of five episodes on the Net earlier on. A love story... It's your Meteor Garden type of Taiwanese drama, only much much shorter. Each episode lasts a few minutes. And the animation is great. But I hate the ending (spoiler alert!) because it's so tragic!!!

Anyways, if you have about 15 minutes to spare, click here to watch.

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Ok, after posting the above, I watched another animated drama. This one is much nicer! Click here to watch.

hey hey hey, beautiful sunday

Playing for worship services on Sundays usually means a tiring day. When I get back home with leo, we just crash. It's days like these when I wish we owned a car. Then we could zip around easier (why do we live at opposite ends of singapore?), and he could stash away his heavy guitar and luggage.

Well, I call it luggage cos he's gotta bring nice dress pants, nice long-sleeved shirt, nice dress shoes to wear on stage during service. This time, he forgot his black socks, so he ended up doing a Michael Jackson - stark white socks with black leather shoes. Yep, he was so self-conscious the whole day.

Earthquake in Pakistan.

Reading the news of the calamity off the net and watching BBC. It strikes home, yet again, the temporal nature of a human being's life, his dreams, his aspirations, his hopes. Meaningless, everything is meaningless. Lord, help me set my eyes on you. There have been one too many disasters. Lord, you are coming soon.

not so lonely

It's been a pretty fun two days. Not cooped up at home reading textbooks, tho there's much reading to be done!

Headed down to Orchard Road yesterday to get birthday pressies for leo and cocoatina, who share the same birthdays. Finally I remembered the right dates! Big pat on my back, please! Terrible me, I've for the last two years or so kept thinking that their birthdays were Oct 5 instead of Oct 6. One's my boyfriend, and the other's my good girlfriend. I ought to be punished!

The only things that my boyfriend reads (yes, he doesn't read) are classified ads and any material to do with scuba diving, so I got him a book on fish and underwater life, complete with beautiful pictures and useful bite-sized info on each species. One of the rare times he's enraptured by something with words in it! :)

Cocoatina got a make-your-own-sushi kit, with sushi recipe book, chopsticks, big wooden spoon and bamboo mat for rolling sushi. Yep! I'll be there for your Christmas sushi party!

Finally got to meet belle for a proper lunch too. I used to cab down to our usual meeting lunchplace at Somerset during the work week, but after leaving the job two months back, we haven't had the chance to really sit down and talk! And we did shopping at Bugis, before she had to leave for an assignment. Feels so good to have new clothes :) I wore them to school that evening. HAHA. Oh, and I forgot to do my homework cos I was busy doing this-and-that the whole day!

As for today, very productive too. Went jogging in the morning. First time I hit 30 minutes. I must really do this more often. Then it was off for a jamu herbal spa with cocoatina, after which I had a tough time fending off a very aggressive sales pitch from one of the staff. She wanted me to sign up for a package. Really hard-sell man.

And then, I went for a haircut! Only to find out that my hairstylist might be uprooting soon for a more posh salon downtown. Tho he promised to give me a good discount if he does uproot, I told him to have mercy, cos I would be a poor social worker then. Hair is everything, so I still must see him!

And later rushed home to iron clothes, before heading for dinner with some church friends. Yummy crabs! So full now...but very satisfied.

After these two days of fun, it's time to get down to real work. Go, me go!

The freaky train ride

You won't believe my freaky train ride on the NEL. Actually, my mum burst out laughing when I told her the story.

Yesterday, I had boarded the train and was preparing to do some readings for school. This middle-aged woman, seated four seats away, suddenly asked me in Hokkien if she was on the right train. And to let her know when we'd reached her stop at Chinatown.

I went back to reading. Three minutes later, she started talking to me again, asking me where I was going, which block I lived in, (get this) HOW OLD I WAS, etc...while inching her way towards my seat. So, finally, she ended up right next to me and she's firing me questions like she's my best chum. More like an interrogator parading as best pal, actually.

Wah lau, I have friendly face or what????

I tried to be friendly cos I figured she probably had no one to talk to at home (!), but at the same, who the hell was she that I had to give away my private life just like that??? If I didn't want to answer, I simply said, in Hokkien, "don't want to say", "don't know how to say in Hokkien" or "mumblemumblesomethinglikethatlah!"

What are you studying? (don't know how to say in Hokkien)
How old are you (she asked me five times)? (don't want to say) to which she replied: "Aiya I'm auntie already leh, you so much younger than me, no need to be paiseh lah!" (don't want to say)
What course are you taking? How long is it? How much are your fees? What do your parents work as? Do you have a boyfriend? What does he do? Does your mum like him? How much does he earn? HOW OLD ARE YOU? Are you getting married soon? You look so young, your mum must be very young?

To make her stop asking, I made her talk about herself. After only one question, she spilled her 33-year-old unmarried son's entire life history on rejecting the girls she's tried to matchmake him with. This went on for the next 20 minutes. I even now know that he makes $3K a month teaching IT and he gives $500 to her as pocket money.

Being nice, I replied: "Aiya auntie, your son got no girlfriend never mind lah. Slowly...one step at a time. Most importantly, he loves you!" (which elicited a "CHEH!" from her).

She then said she would be meeting her son at some NTUC somewhere and he would be taking her for dinner.

And guess what! On my way home from school five hours later, SHE WAS ON THE SAME TRAIN!!!! WITH THAT UNMARRIED SON OF HERS!!!!

Is that freaky or what???????? She recognised me too and smiled! Thank goodness I had one classmate who was taking the train all the way home with me. Once I exited, I walked damn fast home man. No woman, no more talking please!

The Chronicles of Narn-iang

Heh heh, pardon my brilliant play of words in the title...the former members of the NTU Nanyang Chronicle meet again! With the inclusion of a little tot called Ethan who ingests blended brocolli and blended chicken (Ahbeng says: HUH? Don't remember eating such things when I was a baby)!!!

Presenting Three Men (can't-wait-to-be-daddies) and a Baby..From left: gahmen servant Lich, I-love-chasing-salacious-news-and-Shu-Qi-Ahbeng, and oooo-Ethan-loves-me-cos-we-wear-matching-colours-Ben.



And so the conversation before Emperor Ethan arrives revolves around what's happening in our lives. And when the long-awaited dignitary arrives (well, actually we were more like looking forward to see the mother), the conversation turns to "how to use the manual focus function on the digital camera" and err...cat food.

Taking a look at a big container of "Finger Foods For Babies Learning to Self-Feed - Fruit Puffs - Puff Grains with Real Bananas (in mummy-to-ethan-speak-that-thing-is-simply-NANA)", ben goes: "Err...looks like cat food..."

Cat food it may seem, but a fan it has found in Ethan! YUMMY!

Nice Ahbeng (while still fantasising about Shu Qi in Ibiza) then teaches Belle (the lucky one who got to interview Shu Qi in Ibiza and whom Ahbeng hates as a result) and I how to use the manual focus function on our cameras. And I use the cat food, Ethan and mummy as models. Fwah! Works leh! But takes some practice...

1) This pic below shows a focus on the cat food, while the background is blur.

2) This pic below shows the Emperor in focus, during a frenzied bout of feeding :)

And of course, Emperor poses for the trigger-happy me, while Belle and Ahbeng (in the background) SPY ON MY PRIVATE LIFE (in the O2 mini) without my permission. Very good hor Ahbeng, after that can still say "Eh, I found out your secret..."

But I must say, Ethan, though you look very cute in all these smiley pictures, I still like you best when you look tur, when you have that DUH look on your face. Well, sometimes, it's also a "I'm-so-constipated-Godma-I-wanna-pang-sai" look. Like this:

Counting down to Dec 10!!!

YAY!!!!! I've finally bought my Mayday tix!!!! WOOHOO!!!! SO HAPPY!!!!! 五月天！你是我永远的永远！我心中无别人！:)

Hmm....actually, to tell you the truth, I was very disappointed at first cos the most expensive tix ($148) were already SOLD OUT!!!!! Wah lau....I mean, tix sales just opened on Tuesday, and the $148 tix are all gone??? Mayday so popular meh??? What's more, the sale of tix was only open to UOB card holders, not to the public (who'll be able to buy only on Oct 7 I think)!

And I thought I could beat all those fanatic school kids to it! Either most of Mayday's fans are around my age (which I've always observed to seem like it) or those irritating school kids have begged their parents for their UOB credit cards.

*sulk*

So I had to settle for the next most ex tix - $128 (before 10 per cent UOB discount). And I tell you, the sistic website is a bit screwed up. For the first five tries, I couldn't select which category I wanted to sit in. The system, which claims to "assign you the best seats", threw me seats near the side of the stage. Since I didn't want to spend the entire night turning my head to the left, I decided to wait a while longer before attempting to book again.

And guess what? On I think my sixth try, the website suddenly allowed me to choose the category I wanted! There were no options before, and now there came a flood of options. I want to complain to Straits Times!!! Technical glitch depriving me of consumer rights!!!

Hmph.

Oh well, anyways, I got my tix. (See grey box in picture, that's where I will be.) But then again, belle had to remind me that Singapore Expo is flat ground all the way. Erm, then how am I going to see past the person in front of me??? Man, I so hope the organisers set up some kind of incline so that the seats further back get to be on higher ground. If not, I pay so much money to see what?????

rainbow

One of the best things about looking up at the sky is that chance meeting with a special rainbow. You could be tucking into a bowl of laksa, glancing occasionally at your white top to make sure there're no dreaded spots of spicy gravy, and then you let your eyes wander somewhere upwards, and all of a sudden you think you see Hope.

Time stands still and you marvel at that glistening ray of Hope. Arching over every sad thing on earth, leaping past every hateful thing you know exists, bridging the expanse between you and someplace better. Someplace far far better.

"So pretty!" you exclaim. And the next thing you know, your conversationist asks you a question, you look at him and mutter a one-word answer, and you shift your gaze back up to the heavens, hoping to take in the beauty of Hope a little more.

And Hope's gone.

No trace of colour, no shadow of ever being there, no lingering imprint in the concrete-grey sky.

Will I see my rainbow tomorrow? And tomorrow? And tomorrow?

money matters

Do I really not care about money?

mum: Wah! You've got two stories published today! How much you think you'll get???

I rattle off some possible figures.

mum: Wow! Very good! Not bad at all!

me: Actually, I'm so sick of writing...don't feel like writing anymore...no motivation...

mum: How can you say that? Earn money while you are young. How can you just study and not work?

me: Why not? I have enough savings what! Aiya, you all always have that typical workaholic mentality. Must keep earning money. Why can't I just relax?

mum: Yah, you young people now have it better. No pressure to earn money.

Is there anything wrong with that?

No, seriously, if I'm going to constantly compare myself with the people who have it worse, then the comparisons will be endless. Wouldn't I be denying myself the freedom that I deserve? In other words, is it wrong for me to have been born in a family that allows me to have a certain extent of financial freedom?

I don't know if it's the Singapore that we live in that's made its citizens feel like every second lost is money gone. I don't blame my mother for thinking this way, because after all she did have to slog to bring up my brother and I singlehandedly. Yet, at the same time, I find it especially irksome to be pressured into becoming a money-making machine, just because it seems totally stupid to pass on a great opportunity to earn big bucks.

Or is it just me?

Do I really see money as that unimportant? I know for sure that a big part of this mentality stems from never having been in need at all. So, the bigger question is, am I being lazy as a result?

Could it be a gradual loss of interest in writing for publications?

I don't know. I find more and more that I'm just following a formula, just filling up a space, just doing a job. Something that I'd felt even when doing full-time writing.

Or do I have a short attention span?
Is it a three-year itch?
A need to find something new to do each time?
A desire to take a break?
A yearning to enrich myself?

I don't know. But I'll just take it one step at a time.

Maybe I'll love money soon, probably when I have to buy my marital home - that shrunken unit called a flat that the government leases to us for 99 years for helluva lot of cash. Maybe then, yes maybe then, I'll really love money.

Over the last two weeks, I've realised...

that my life is damn boring.

that I have nothing interesting to blog. Because my life is damn boring.

that I can't memorise anymore.

that I can be very guillible. Heart rules mind.

that I can't pound away in peace in front of my pc unless I have some Chinese music on, even if it's Mayday on rerun. Well, make that the millionth rerun.

that there's this bunch of sportsmen (mostly uncle-types) who play badminton regularly in this smallish outdoor court next to the kopitiam downstairs. Very competitive, conjuring smashes that Ronald Susilo would be proud of.

that I take things too personally. A character flaw. I've even taken to writing in my pocket pc "don't take it so personally, they are not attacking you".

that I'm gaining weight. AARGH!!!

that I have nothing nice to wear. Double AARGH!!!

that I have a love-hate relationship with swimming. Sometimes I can slice through the water like a (don't laugh) torpedo, sometimes I feel like I'm sinking like a piece of leaden weight.

that, once again, my life is damn boring.

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on a different note, I attended a HIV/AIDS talk yesterday where a medical social worker and Action for Aids gave a wonderfully informative presentation on the disease. Greatest thing was, an Aids patient turned up to talk about his experience too. Finally, for many of us, the disease had a face to it. He looked like anyone you would see walking on the street - normal. I give him more than full marks for summoning up the courage to reveal himself to a bunch of strangers and giving a very touching testimony!

Let's stop giving HIV/AIDS a monstrous face. You can't get it through saliva, someone's sneeze, mosquito bites or sitting on toilet seats.