massive ant hunt

I live in Punggol, a place, to most non-Punggolians-and-Sengkangians, is synonymous with Pulau Tekong. No, wait a minute, I think our BMT boys have it better in their holiday camp at Tekong, cos they probably don't have to deal with an entourage of ants/spiders/insects-attracted-to-lights-on-a-rainy-day that I have to endure!

Every night when I snuggle up to my soft bolster, I get bitten by at least two ants. The puny red ants. To them, it's probably just a playful nibble, but it hurts! My bro tried once to track down the nest. I can't remember the results of that surveillance, but the ants are still there!

So Leo went on the offensive last night, following the path of those frigging ants from my bed, up the side of my wardrobe, across my wardrobe, along the doorway, along the floor that leads to the living room (see picture), along the wall of the living room, right to the main door that leads to the common corridor.

His verdict: I think the ants come from outside, you know? But why do they go into your room?

His second verdict: I think I was born an ant-eater.

HUH? Oh, to try to understand this statement, you have to know that he was quite obssessed over the ant trail.

Ants aside, there is the spider that appears out of nowhere. A few months back, when I returned from my week-long New Zealand trip, I found that a spider had spun a sticky web in the space between my bolsters and pillow. Oh man.

And when it rains, these irritating black buzzing insects crowd around the ceiling room lights in my living room, like vultures drawn to roadkill. You know those insects you can get rid of by placing a pail of water under the light? They stupidly head for the water (and subsequently drown) cos they think that's light too.

Like how am I supposed to exterminate these insects when I have more than 10 such ceiling lights in the living room?

I'm living in Singapore right?

lookalike

When leo told me his colleague couldn't stop commenting on how much he looked like Hong Kong veteran actor Samuel Hui, I told him it couldn't be. Well, until I watched channel 8 last Sunday. And I thought oh my gosh! Just add that tacky Abba-like hair, a thicker moustache and a pair of big-framed specs and...and...and...

Ok, so I admit I was very tempted to photoshop leo's picture to look like a retro him. But he's so nice to me, I don't think I wanna embarrass him lah. Especially with my not-too-good photoshoping skills! (WAIT A MINUTE, since when did I become so kind???)

I'm now on a quest to find more lookalikes. Currently I have a shortlist:
1. My cousin Marilyn (17 yrs old) looks like Stella Huang or was it Wang? That local singer.
2. My former sailing captain Justiin looks like errr... smurf.
3. I errr...look like a chipmunk? Ok, nothing to be proud of, even if pple tell me 'hey but that's cute!!!'
4. James! James! looks like Zhang Zhen Yue, this Taiwanese singer. Spitting image. Sloppiness, unkempt look, cap and all!

Damn. Where are the photos when I need them!??

old man blues

I've left my company but my meal run for old man Mr Jai has to go on. And sometimes it gives me a headache because...

1. two of my volunteers have gone back to reporting, which means of cos, they don't know when they will get slapped with last-minute assignments.
2. well, I'm further away from Toa Payoh than ever!
3. the old man has his oddities and not everyone can get along with him.
4. he can only eat certain foods, cos either his stomach rejects some food cos of old age and sickness, he is unable to chew cos of his dentures, or the taste is not to his liking.

Some people may say he's fussy, but well, he doesn't expect to be bought food he doesn't eat. That is, he would rather go hungry than to pay for something that he is unable to swallow. To him, it's a fair deal, because we have already agreed on what to buy, and what not to.

But being the kind souls that most of us are, when we can't find the right foods, we try to find something else that we think is a close match. And, that's where some misunderstandings have occurred.

Recently, the doc's changed the medicine for his arthritic pain in the back cos it may cause internal bleeding. This new medication doesn't dull his pain that much so I've noticed he's been in greater pain.

It's a constant struggle to not get too close to him, yet maintain a close-enough distance to feel for him. Because I don't want to get too subjective about things - it would wear me down.

He's been sweet, though I've had glimpses of his brusque attitude and very set principles and thoughts about things. These uneasy moments have irked me. He's so much like my obstinate late grandpa. Why are all old people so set in their ways?

However, what's touched my heart is that he has made marmalade (orange bitters) for me, whipped up yoghurt for me, cooked preserved mango for me, and in a recent visit, fried this prata-like wheat-and-dough pancake called koh-khee, which he says is a Pakistan delight, often enjoyed with hot tea.

He can't even walk properly, he even has to boil the cooked pork we buy from the kopitiam just so it's soft enough to chew. Yet he's taken the effort to cook for me. I'm really touched.

He's even asked me to sell 10 rusted but unused umbrellas for him to supplement his savings. How to sell, you tell me? One had the unmistakable Tiger beer logo on it, its hinges crusted with gold rust. Another smelt of his medicine - stored in a musty house. My mum gave me $35 for them and I gave the brollies away.

More recently, he's asked if we could buy him a certain fish from a certain stall in Toa Payoh, which not only tastes good, but is soft enough to eat. Lucky Noel lives just next to the stall. But when Noel is not free, I will have to get it. I did it last Sunday.

When I don't have the car, thinking about the travelling time makes me so unwilling to help. But when I think of the bundled-up, hunched and shrunken figure in the three-room flat, I push back memories of his obstinacy and I regret my earlier thoughts.

All humans have flaws, it's a matter of overlooking them and dealing with what is most pressing at that time. Everyone has a right to enjoy food, no matter how poor they are.

I have a lot to learn.

happy hours

Friday night was great fun spent at Party World KTV at Oriental Plaza. I'm not ashamed to say I practised two new Chinese songs on Thursday so that I could belt them out during the fantastic karaoke session. I managed to sing a Penny Tai number, but not Tanya Chua's Amphibian.

Ahh....it was great to sing my lungs out! Singing provides me a release, whether or not I'm stressed. Like going for a spa, a swim and a haircut all on the same day!

Pat wins the honours for most-surprisingly-good-voice-of-the-night, while the rest of the guys - Leo, Ferris and Kent - deserve a thunderous applause for the most heartfelt rendition of some Aerosmith song. Haha. It's fun having guys in the group cos they just lose it when they sing man!

Saturday afternoon was spent with cocoatina, kelly and baby ethan at the Timberlux flea market. Cocoatina's younger sis Ai Mei opened a stall with two of her ex RJC classmates. Ai Mei makes earrings that she sells at Homespun at The Arts House (old Parliament House), under the brand Fabricate. She also retails them at some shops in Mandarin Hotel.

She made these lace earrings (see picture) for me! Anyone interested in her handmade vintage accessories, pls email her at fabricate_mei@hotmail.com

I don't remember any of my classmates going the design way in my time. Most became the usual - docs, lawyers and gahmen servants. To think that Ai Mei and her friends have such a lovely un-raffles common interest. Glad for them. Perhaps the gahmen's efforts in encouraging creativity are working???

rest and relax

hmm...my plans to really rest and relax after quitting don't seem to be panning out well! I've taken on quite a few freelance assignments from the dept I worked for, plus a friend recommended another freelance project. I don't want to turn them down cos number one, I wanna earn money, and number two, I don't wanna burn bridges. I mean, it's not always you're in such demand!

Sigh...wish I could have had more time to nuah though, tan at the beach, walk around interesting spots in Singapore to take pictures, practise my piano/guitar, try writing a few songs...

Well, I guess I could do that in the next year, since my lessons are gonna be at night. Actually, was pretty disappointed with the too-few subjects offered for my grad diploma. Feel kinda cheated actually.

There was a master list with more than 30 modules available and I had been eyeing a certain few. But some won't be offered at all in the year that I'm studying cos they can't find enough teachers! Irritated. So I've to make some changes to my plans.

Leo and an ex-colleague suggested I look through some of the undergrad modules and "audit" them. So this means I'll just attend classes for knowledge, but I won't take the exam. Haha, this sounds so Reading Lolita in Tehran: auditing classes! (Right olduvai and dsd?) Well, I'm thinking of attending lectures for one such module.

So, the plan for this coming semester is to read four modules (one of them the audit one), and write my professional paper (the thesis), all while freelancing. This will keep me busy for a bit I hope! Even though I'm taking more than the required number of modules, I don't mind, cos I really wanna learn as much as possible!

Eh wait, I actually want to rest and relax too! Ahh...it's time for a proper timetable :)

a crazy place to lay my head

Looking for somewhere crazy to stay while on holiday? Check out what The Sunday Times has to say about them Nutty Suites...

Here's an excerpt and I'm sure leo the diving evangelist would be so interested in it. But uh uh, not me :)

Talk about sleeping with the fishes. Once a research lab, this two-bedroom lodge off the coast of Florida is the only underwater hotel in the world. To get there, guests must dive down 21ft to the bottom of the Emerald Lagoon, in Key Largo (non-divers are given a three-hour crash course), then watch the world swim by through the 42in window in their room. A chef will dive down to cook your meal; otherwise, it’s just you and your lagoon.

(By the way, I checked my dusty dive book and found that 21ft is about 6m, not too deep...hmm...)

the best marriage announcement I've ever received!

This morning I received the funniest marriage announcement ever, from my girlfriend FY (see picture). I've abbreviated the names in case she doesn't want to be identified, after all she can be quite embarrassed to let other pple know she's so embarrassing. Here goes... "FY'S MARRIAGE FAQS":

1. Q--ARE YOU MARRYING G??????

A--No, I'm escaping to vermont and marrying JY (another girlfriend). WHAT the hell do you think? OF COURSE it's G!! wah kaus

2. Q--WHEN IS IT?????

A--Most likely end of next year. If you don't get a card by september 06, it means you're not invited. So please don't call up and ask question 2 repeatedly.

3. Q--WHY ARE YOU MARRYING G?? WHY? WHY? WHY??????????????

A--Because I don't want to marry JY.

4. Q--WHERE IS IT GOING TO BE?

A--Can you PLEASE bloody wait???! I'll tell you in due time! If you don't get any news about this by september 06, then PLEASE for the love of god, you're NOT INVITED! (and don't ask quesion 2 and 4 repeatedly)

5. Q--HOW DID HE DO IT?

A--do what?

6. Q--HOW DID HE PROPOSE?

A--Suffice to say, the following were not used: Char Bee Hoon; Coca Cola Ring Tab; Romantic Boat Ride; Romantic Hotel Stay; Knives and other sharp objects; Cheezels.

7. Q--WHERE DID HE PROPOSE?

A--In a car, in a carpark, after asking me 12 times where I want to go with the same answer of "I don't know" slapped in his face. In front of us, a leaky water pipe with water dripping out. Nice.

8. Q--WHERE IS THE RING FROM????

A--Bloody hell do you know you are damn nosy?

9. Q--WHAT DID YOUR MOTHER SAY?????

A--why the hell do you care what MY mother says???!?!!??!?

bye bye

Packed and gone, for real. Gonna miss my reporter's shorthand book with its smooth pages and lines that are spaced at just the right intervals. Gonna miss the imac that crashed on me twice and the cute helpdesk cheena-beng guy nick (haha! He's married lah!). Yes yes I have a fetish for cheena-bengs, and I guess my bf looks like one too??!!?? (Neighbourhood school guys rock!!!) Ok, I'm digressing...Gonna miss jamie who sits like two metres away, calling me to bitch/gossip/tell secrets, and of cos irritating the hell out of me at the same time. Gonna miss the 5pm cleaning auntie (whom I hope will not have a breast cancer relapse). She wished me well non-stop today and I felt like it was Chinese New Year all over again: "Xiao3 mei4, zhu4 ni3 bu4 bu4 gao1 sheng1, xue2 yue4 jing4 bu4, yi3 hou4 zhuan4 hen3 duo1 qian2!" (Translated: little girl, wish you climb higher higher, studies improve, earn lots of money!) Gonna miss the "you've got mail" dialogue box that pops up ever so often on the Lotus Notes email. There's something really cathartic about that, don't you agree? Gonna miss waiting at the lobby for lunch kakis, going through that stupid turnstile and never failing to say: "Where to eat? Wantan mee place? Or Aroma? HUH? Wantan mee again?" Gonna miss my most efficient kopitiam guy Kenneth, who gives me one more lemon slice than usual in my ice-lemon tea, and serves it before I even order. He's the man!

Gonna miss so many things. And like Kartaly said today at 8pm in the last phone call I will ever answer at my ex-desk: "And that will be the last time I will ever dial #2106!"

One day more

another day, another destiny....so goes the song in Les Miz.

How apt.

Tomorrow will mark three years and one month of my stay at this newspaper monopoly. I've been feeling a little nervous, a bit twitchy, and slightly jumpy, the whole day. So many have been asking: so what are you doing on Wednesday? That's the first day of no-office life. That question, I find, parallels the bigger question crouching silently at the back of my head: What will tomorrow bring?

I am sad, actually. Sad to leave something that feels so comfortable, something that I know I can at least do a decent job at. Although I complain about having to lug my heavy box of notebooks home, I don't think I can bear to throw them away. Not that I can, I think, cos there's some law about having to keep them for six years for evidence in case some pyscho wants to sue me? Something like that.

Funnily, I'm worrying about losing my shorthand skills! Don't ask me why! I've made up my mind to practise during class. Fwah, I'll take notes faster than anyone else in class manz! Slackers want to copy also cannot manz! And then..err...I'll end up not being able to read the indecipherable squiggles before the exams! What a loser I'll be then. Hah.

Sigh...I don't think I'll ever find a workplace where I'll have sooo many lovely ex-classmates to hang out with during lunch. I'll miss them for sure - olduvai, ben ben, hj, kartaly, beng. Hope you continue to find joy in your work guys! Really made a difference in my working life.

And now...I have to figure out how to cart my stuff home. Tomorrow's the last day, and I haven't moved a single item. Is that denial or what???

durian and tom yam don't go

My tummy feels queasy and I did have to visit the toilet earlier on. I think it's cos I had tonnes of tom yam soup during my steamboat dinner, and later on feasted on the king of all fruit - the Esplanade-lookalike. *Groan* It's kinda like eating fries with chocolate (tho I know some pple find that absolutely appealing.).

I wish I had not returned Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour before blogging this. He had an excellent, most flavourful and damn funny description of the durian, which he as an ang mor tasted in Cambodia. He liked the taste but did not hesitate to say it smelled foul.

In this picture, you see leo's dad sniffing out the good ones from the bad. Leo's family are such regulars at Block 211 Toa Payoh Lorong 8 that the durian stall owners are extremely friendly with them.

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Anyways, thorny fruit aside, I don't know why I'm feeling so melancholic today, and a little lonely. I mean, the bf's back from bangkok and all, so I shouldn't be feeling down? I don't know...think it's a twisted PMS this time - Post-Menstrual Stress. There such a thing? Hope things will brighten up when I wake up. Oh, and that the tom yam and durian combo won't act up again.

Of girlfriends, bloggers and a cuppa

It's been a long time since I hung out with some of my girlfriends, so today was a pretty meaningful one for me. Yes, finally, I have some "activity" on a weekend! Met olduvai and dimsumdolly for lunch at esplanade before we headed for DXO for the first-ever Bloggers Conference to be held in Singapore.

Oh by the way, dimsumdolly was quoted in TNP today in the two-page writeup on the real Dim Sum Dollies, who will be staging their third musical next month. How cool! Now one of my blogger friends has turned into a mini celeb herself. Haha.

Later in the evening, I met ms lok for dinner and a cuppa. Ms lok didn't feel like coffee, so she had a mango-something, as seen in the picture. Quite fun...talked about boyfriends, old crushes, life in general, and of cos the unescapable NKF.

Oh yar, she complained about not being able to go for her FREE facials and spa treatments recently. Actually, the hand in the picture belongs to her, and I think it looks smooth and white enough. Sigh...the enviable perks of a beauty writer...I want freebies too!

this is my godson Ethan Chan. He's sooooo cute!! He's cocoatina's bundle of joy by the way. Luuurve him!!! (photo courtesy of cocoatina, tho I didn't ask her permission! Thanks ah, gal)

I got new highlights and a fantabulous haircut once again!!! I love having my hair cut by that new hairdresser I blogged about some time back. Hair cuts are sooo therapeutic too. I had wanted to save money and not get highlights, esp since I'm gonna be a poor student soon. But after Aaron showed me the "look" he wanted for me (flipped to a magazine page with this chiobu and her great hair), I couldn't resist the "look".

everyone has a story to tell

I had lunch with a friend and found out something that blew me away. She's someone I got to know only recently.

She has been diagnosed with manic depression since her junior college days. That's about six years back. I was shocked. I couldn't believe that such a dramatic (and heart-wrenching) story lay behind that ordinary-looking person eating popiah opposite me.

Apparently her family has a history of manic depression, and it could be genetic. The gist I got from her explanation was that manic depression was depression with lots of hyperactivity. And you would entertain thoughts of killing yourself, but if you are aware of your condition, you can control your thoughts, with help from medication. Wow.

Unfortunately, the current medication she takes could damage her liver and kidney, so she has to go for periodic checkups. And she mentioned that if the medication one day stops working, all hell will break loose. But, she's trusting in God, because without Him, she would not have been able to cope thus far.

What really struck me was the part she said about the opportunities that she doesn't get as easily as other people. Like it's hard to get jobs and certain scholarships as a result of having to declare her manic depressive history. So she's learnt to take things as they come.

I'm just feeling very reflective now. We really shouldn't take our lives for granted.

missing a flower!!! I walked back to the office from lunch today only to realise that the flower from my shoe had dropped off!! I launched a frantic search for it, retracing my footsteps back to the coffee shop where I had my lunch. Thank goodness the white bloom was lying under the table where we ate. Now to look for super glue....Heh heh. Yar you guessed it....I took the train home with a flowerless shoe. Woohoo!

the dream team

I asked leo last night whether I should take part in a biathlon. Err...well...so that I would have some kind of goal while attempting to exercise. And he asked if there was a sleep-and-watch-tv biathlon, cos if both of us formed a team, we would win hands-down. Heh. I sleep and he goes on his TV marathon. The dream team.

That led me to wonder why my weekends are never packed with so-called "interesting" activities. Actually I asked myself this question two days back when I read Olduvai's and dsd's blogs on their very purpose-driven weekends. Chilling out at pubs, trying out new restaurants, tennis, movies, what have you...

Asked my colleagues this question at lunch too: Are your weekends purpose-driven? Is the decision to have an activity-filled weekend dependent on whether you are attached, or on your character? I think I (as pointed out by J at lunch) came to the conclusion that I'm basically a nuah-ster. The sassy slumbering girl.

*makes a kah-waaa-iiiiii pose at the neoprint booth*

I wake up on saturdays knowing only for sure that I have cell group at 4pm. Before that, I'll read the papers, watch some Taiwanese variety programme on cable, and then eat lunch. And before I know it, it's time for cell group.

I think it also helps that leo himself is pretty much a nuah-ster like myself. Well, actually, he's more game to go out - with anybody, at anytime, anywhere. But cos he's pretty busy on weekdays with work, he and I end up lazing around during the weekends. Like last Sunday, we watched Discovery on cable, went to compasspoint for lunch, draw money, came home to watch Bleach (anime) on my pc etc...

Uhm, and I think we watched like our third movie of the year last night - Initial D. (ooo....Shawn Yue and Edison Chen are sooooo cute!!!!)

Seriously, what do the both of us do as a couple when we hang out? I don't know!!! He tells his friends that we don't do the usual couple things like watch movies, try out new restaurants bla bla...But somehow we both find hanging out together still very fun, even after more than three years of doing so :) And of cos all the guys will say 'how good, your girlfriend is so low-maintenance'. I don't know, really!

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On a separate note, I'm now at work and I totally don't feel like doing an interview later. Why can't I spend my last days at work in the office, just writing away??? Four more work days to freedom....

unproductive...

11am: I ate two soon kueh and one png kueh (rice cake). I guess you could call that lunch. Oh, and I da-pao-ed milo from the kopitiam opposite.

12pm: I ate an orange.

between 1pm and 3pm: I ate a soft, over-ripe pear.

4pm: I ate another soon kueh.

It's 4.35pm now as I write.

4.45pm: I'm outta here. Off to swim.

I really can't wait to stop work. HELP!

Oh wait, did I forget to mention I contemplated a 5.10pm Initial D show at this cinema nearby? Alas, the the bfren couldn't make it.

I'm worse than scum. I'm a slug.

breaking up is hard to do

I helped K break up properly with her bfren yesterday. Far from being a painful process, it became quite an amusing one actually, for me, at least. K's the 16-year-old girl I am attached to in this befriending programme that I volunteer for.

So apparently she's been trying to cut ties with him for a month or two, cos she finds she doesn't really like him anymore. But he (also 16) doesn't want to. And this silly K has been torturing her ex with the silent treatment - no reason given at all for the breakup. So I told her, she has to at least cook up a reason!!!

Anyways nowadays youngsters are very different from our generation. It's actually ok to break up via SMS!!! She says of cos face-to-face talk is the best, but if that is too difficult to do, SMS is ok, cos handphones are now the lifeline of teens. Yar, SHE SAID THAT. Aiyo.

I told her, ok, then SMS and say you were not prepared for the relationship (which is partly true). And she says: "Cannot lah! He'll be so mad and say huh, in the first place, not prepared, why start?"

Okaaaaay....so I said, tell him you got problems at home and you need to solve them before you start a relationship (which is also partly true cos her family background is COMPLICATED.) And she says: "Cannot lah! What if I like another guy after I break with him?"

*FAINT*

So I say, ok how about saying you want to concentrate on your studies (which is partly true). And she says: "Aiya don't want la. Cos his ex of one year broke up with him cos of that reason."

OKAAAAAY....so I say, so what is the real reason for breaking up??? And she says cos she doesn't like him that much anymore. Ahh...I see. Ok, so we phrased the SMS like this: "I know you are a very good friend to me, but I find I don't like you enough to carry on a BGR. Sorry, hope you understand."

He replies: "HUH? WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?"

And she's so funny, she replies: "The problem is written in the first message."

And she tells me he's very DUH, never understands what she says.

He replies: "ok la....nvm la....i understand la..."

GOOD.

And she goes: "WAH!!! He understands!!! It's a miracle!!! I feel so light now!!!"

Teens...

irony...

...one of the greatest ironies in life, I find, is being totally incapable of helping the people closest to you, while being totally capable of helping those you would call strangers...

says Me.

why?

I foresee this irony jabbing me like a thorn in my flesh as I pursue my current ambition that some praise as noble, selfless and so Got Heart (to quote a 160-year-old newspaper's former advertising campaign).

I simply see it as another step in my life, in finding myself, in finding challenge...

Yet, at the same time, the sense of helplessness is so real, as I ponder over my quote above...

Cat again

Take your time to see if you can read each line aloud without mistake.
Most folks can't do it.

"This is this Cat.
This is is Cat.
This is how Cat.
This is to Cat.
This is keep Cat.
This is a Cat.
This is retard Cat.
This is busy Cat.
This is for Cat.
This is forty Cat.
This is seconds Cat."


Congratulations.
Now read the third word of each line.

my doc turned out to be....

...the ex-bf of my sec sch friend!!!!

I don't know why these bizarre meetings always happen to me at the most unexpected places and times. I went to see the doc today, expecting to see this Dr L who's always there when I'm there. I open the door and...

S (in doc's chair): D?????????

Me (aka D), looks at him very curiously and finds a tinge of familiarity, and then: err....why do you look so familiar????

S: I'm V's ex-bf!!!!

Ok at this point, a few things go through my head:
1. This guy has lost damn a lot of weight, THAT'S WHY I couldn't recognise him.
2. It must be damn weird for someone to go: yo yo yo, I'm your good friend's ex. yo yo yo, nice to meet you again.

Me (of cos, without thinking, and gushing as usual): OH MY GOSH!!! YOU HAVE LOST SO MUCH WEIGHT!!!!

S: really? Ah...well...I errr...have been working out...going to the gym...taking part in triathlons...

Me: WHY IS THE WHOLE WORLD TAKING PART IN TRIATHLONS??? OH MY GOSH YOU HAVE LOST SO MUCH WEIGHT!!!

(obviously, I forget I'm still exclaiming.)

S (sheepishly): Was I really that fat last time???

Me: (gives some crappy answer that totally doesn't answer his question.)

So anyways, after he gave me an mc, I called V (his ex-gf) after not keeping in touch for soooo long, and I can only laugh into the phone and say: S was my doc!

And then I realise V has quit the law practice, like a few lawyer friends I know and she's working for her dad's consulting firm now. And of course, she finds out I've left my job.

And so there, a bizarre meeting of sorts leads to me and a friend linking up again.

Covering up: ever since my dept inked the imperial edict that required all of us to wear covered shoes, I've betrayed my airy sandals for all these very clothed friends. And I've found that my feet look pretty nice in these types - pointy in the front, and super low-heeled. Erm, super low-heeled cos I can't bear heels, not even one-inch types. My feet hurt after five minutes. So anyways, let me make a brief intro, clockwise starting from the black pair. Black ones from Everbest, brown ones from MBK in bangkok (199 baht only! but not so comfy), pink and grey checked ones from Gripz, khaki-grey ones from Charles and Keith, and beige flower-topped ones from some shop in Toa Payoh Central (bought after swimming!). Sigh, problem with wearing covered shoes for me is having to endure blisters for the first week or so, like the ones I'm wearing now in the picture. Oooo..by the way, this pair was bought during a lunchtime shopping trip with ah daph. Heh. Three cheers to J8 being so near to office!