the bitch's 21st wasnt too long time ago, then before i know it here i am celebrating my very own 22nd. how lucky the bitch is to be young. when you are old like me, there is nothing much that you can do alr. face it shanny, you are old.
nelle finally decided to upload the long lost photos. these photos are like more than one month late. but i think they all look very pretty. i love photos like these where everyone looks so pretty.
it is past midnight, technically i have already hit the 22 portion in my life, and frankly speaking, i have never felt so old. it was just half a year where i lost a part of my life in new zealand, coming back and finding that being in my final semester has put the freshmen in a very youthful light. i suddenly feel like i have aged many many years. i think my age is going to go down hill from here. ever since i hit the big 2, all i have been experiencing is the dramatic feeling of a sprint over the hills.
youth is not something you can celebrate anymore. soon before you know it you will be wishing that youth was a longer part of your life.
anyway, this year i decided to do something abit different for my birthday. since i have to admit that i/we are no longer young anymore, so we have to learn to embrace our roots and culture and celebrate my birthday in a more cheena way. well... so it is off to tea chapter in the middle of chinatown just before chinese new year to sit down like old people and try to imagine and get a hang of what our future will be.
no la. i am just trying to be a little more adventurous and oriental in my choice of birthday locations. but it seems really more exciting to sit around on the floor around a very low japanese style table to enjoy a few cups of tea you will never to appreciate. and get in touch with our roots.
as quoted from the bitch, her "root is red" and as quoted from lynette "her roots is dark brown" and her the rest of us? we have black roots. we have roots that even a good dye job cant get rid off, and that is simply by being chinese.
the art of drinking chinese tea involves many pieces of tea equipment. from cups of different heights to a kettle on a stove, to a mini teapot you can only brew tea for 5 people at a time and a gravy bowl (as quote from the sweaty palms). drinking tea have never been so complicated before.
my conclusion is that ancient people have too little things to do in their lives that they can spend such long time and effort drinking from a cup which you could probable gulp down in a single mouthful. they still have to time to pour from here to there then to there and then to here just to put 10ml of blend tasting tea down into your stomach. no wonder they also have the time to look and admire the moon and even have the patience to build a wall so long it is a physical record. the chinese are not practical people.
they even ordered birthday buns just for me. there was four baboon backside red buns on the plate. and according to jillian's historical understanding, the number of buns will determine your age. if you are 22 then you should have 22 buns to eat. just because the western culture celebrated your age with the number of candles, jillian thinks that the chinese determine and celebrate the aging of a person by the number of baboon pink buns. then if a person is 80, he can distribute the 80 buns to his three generation of family.
imagine if this person is 80 and still single, then he will die of an overdose of birthday buns.
we ordered small portion of dim sum and tea eggs. the tea eggs are so nice to eat. jillian suggests that they use left over tea to cook their eggs.
i also think that after a while, we got really tired of drinking tea the traditional way with all the steps. jillian started skipping steps and pouring the tea from the pot to her cup, skipping the gravy pot and the tall cup and the smelling of tea steps. i honestly think that young people like us cannot drink tea in smalls cups, let alone the long and windy methods of preparation of tea. tea is ment to come in little tea bags ready prepared from the supermarket, add hotwater and wait. 
we are not only young, we are also singaporeans. and honestly, singaporeans cannot do things slowly, we will die in a slow moving society, much less a form of daily life that you have to spend 10 mins to drink two table spoon of tea. we young singaporeans need everything to come in preprepared packets that you can get from the supermarket.
and todays newspapers was annoucing about the chinese tea that cost $150,000. people think that it is collective item, i think it is a big waste of money. imagine if you actually are willing to drink that pack of tea. you spend 10 mins preparing $1000 worth of tea, and then you finish it up in one gulp. $1000 down the toilet bowl after two hours when you pee. what a waste of $150,000.
anyway. this is a something different birthday. next time we have to try belly dancing for a birthday party. and today there was really alot of tea consumed for me. we had donno how many cups of tea, went for dinner and had more green tea. then again, i dont think ill ever have enough of tea.
imagine if someone came up with coffee appreciation, then everytime you go starbucks or coffeebean, you will have to spend 10 mins drinking 10ml of coffee.
to bad bernice came late. if not she would have been in this picture too. and funny how my nose looks pretty sharp in these few photos. even i think it is scary. i never thought that my nose could reach a peak like that.
today started out as a normal potentially boring and normal monday afternoon. woke up, breakfast with ron, washing up, watching season 3 of project runway, dating out the dictator for lunch at vivo. but by the end of the afternoon it turned out to be so utterly exciting and casually funny.
i chipped a tooth while eating lunch
the stupid pork ribs. chipped a chunk of my front tooth. my poor front tooth. i was eating my ribs, then i went over to munch some spinach, then i realised that there was something pokey in my mouth, i thought it was a part of the ribs's marrow or bones stuck to my teeth, but NO. it felt so weird. i whipped out my handphone to use the reflective surface at the back to check on my tooth and i realised that there was this really gapping hole in my front teeth.
the first thing that came to my mind was mahes when we were in secondary school. the legendary moment that even up to now, we will still bring up on reminisces sessons.
it was so funny coz as funny as it looked, i was so calmed. it occurred to me that my tooth have chipped off a piece big enough to make me look like as if i have a really large have a centimeter gap between my teeth when i half close my mouth.
i called my mom, and my mom sounded equally amused and yet unbothered by my pathetic chipped tooth. i could not even find the missing tooth pieces. i am sure i did not crunch on something that hard. and i stuck my chopsticks into the ribs to make sure that they are not stuck in the meat.
i always dreams of my teeth falling off. and the only thing that went on in my mind is the 4 years i had my braces on and the tiny little crack in my tooth that could potentially be chipped off at the slightest moment. i hate it to know that my mouth was in visionary danger. i was going to be ugly until i get it fixes. i think i can offically put myself at the top of the shallow and vain list.
the worst thing is that the whole is significant enough for me not being able to say "shit" "stupid" and even "sucks" coz the air just escapes straight from my mouth to the surrounding atmosphere. my mouth lau hong. if i were drinking soup or a cup of ice lemon tea i am sure that it will all leak out from the front gap.
all i wanted to do is to skip class and go see a dentist. lucky ron have dentist friends that worked in NUH that i can pay a
short visit to savage the physical foundation of my face. my $2000 mouth is dying by the moment to a small crack in my tooth.
jillian was even thinking if the filings have color. she was assuming that all filings are white that they will look fake on my already very yellow teeth. but as i realised, they have a good few shades of white to yellow teeth filling. and that stupid jillian still was asking me if there is black filings for people who have black teeth. i simply told her that if your teeth is black, you will need a new set of teeth.
now i am cursed never to put anything hard under my front teeth.
i came back into my room and opened my door and there on the bed it lay. i got a new racquet fully stringed and having similar specs to my old one. "happy birthday" it read.
it is high time to do a change and it must have cost ron alot to get it the way it is. i am so happy the whole night i was whistling while on my way down to the laundry, i am giggling to myself in the shower and i cant wait to test it out.
i love surprises.
to think that he tricked me into going to world of sports and asking me about racquets, i should have seen that coming.
I LOVE IT. THANK YOU BABY!
this year i am going to be older by one more year. just half a year in new zealand and when i come back i see all those fresh from JC year ones and then i feel so ancient. it is not that kind of feeling when you are in sec 4 when you see sec 1s come in. that kind of feeling is feeling like you have power. when you are 22 and when others are only 19, youth is power, not experience
being 22 is the start to being 23 and 24 and 25 then before you know it you are going 28 and 29 then 30. then by that time if you happen to be single, you are doomed for an eternity of solitude and loneliness.
i have always wanted to have a fully operated tank in my room for the last 1.5 year and now i have finally gotten myself one for my room, fully landscaped by myself. it is nice to have something so natural on your desk. last year i had a pot of plant, and this year it has been substituted with a fully functional fish tank.
it has a full family of 3 tetras, one smail and one big mouth fish. i hope they live happily every after. i kinda think that my tank is one fish overloaded. mayb in another 2 week when the water is fully cycled i shall get one or two cherry shrimps. i hope the fishes dont go and eat the shrimps. i have always wanted to keep shrimps after seeing yijia keeping them last year.
now i am going to give it a shot.
updated with photos on 16th Jan 8.30pm
we are queen of the courts again. and this time round we survived against all odds. we couldnt have came all the way without any of us. every single one of us played a part in bring us to the finals and through our win against EH. honestly, the finals was one really emotional match for all of us.
line up wasnt to our advantage, after a total of (as quoted from sherene) 7 hours of talking of line up, we still did not get an optimum line up that secured us a confirm win. it was head on head, which means that by right as discuss, we are going to be pressured to win the doubles and the last singles (ME). but God made left come
when the line up came up, the girls broke into tears. it all started with sherene with her emotions rising knowing that shanta came to find her, then i saw yun wen tearing up, then i also wanted to cry. even they all said that i cry very easily. we wanted it that much and this is also our last year playing each other. funny how we all came in together un-expectedly. hailin was saying that when she was captain she had a shitty team in her hands and then in came yun and jinxy, and never did she know that in came pearline and shanny to complete the team a little more. and now we are the "legendary" team that got it all.
three golds
all of us have been through it all. shaky semis and the most scary finals. esp this year. funny as how cliqued it sounds but it is true. this is the most together team i have played with all my 10 years playing tennis. and to think of it, this is my last year playing competitive tennis with a proper team.
i still cant believed that we cried and won taking the first 3 when we did not expect the win. yenny match win boasted everyone's morale, then sherene's win over shanta is simply divine. the team's morale is so high from this two unexpected win we hit the third game win and got the gold for 3-0. the road to a gold have never been so pounded with a rush for such high.
VICTORY HAVE NEVER BEEN SWEETER!
to yenny, you are my hero, if i can do it you can do it too and you did do me proud. to sherene, i simply love you for beating you know who. i felt so good so see you win a set of legs thinner than yours. even after all your fears you did us proud.
three gold
i still cant believe it. i am part of the team that got three golds. the feeling is so good now that you know that you are in your final year and you accomplished something that is not your academic results.
i am still not over the win. it was such a clear win. you girls make me so proud. and this is my LAST IHG. boo
and what is the best thing is that i photo comm got some very decent shots of us all. i am very happy with all the shots of me in my only IHG this year. yay.
i am so happy to be back in hall. why do i feel like time stopped for me to move back. it was as if new zealand never happened. it feels the same just that i am in a different room. different layout, and one much emptier room.
moving back to hall had been hell with my sister. i am still damn pissed with her. just because she moved into sports school while i was in new zealand doesnt mean that she is justified to take all my hall stuff with her. she took my speakers, my quilt, my covers, my hairdryer, my stationary holder and others i simply do not wish to list. and now that i want it back, she is making a big fuss about it.
like hello? mommy actually bought sher new covers and she take both the new one and refuse to return back mine! and then you take my hair dryer and my speakers like as if you own them. just because you used it for 5 months does not mean that you own them. i used my own pocket money to buy those items and you can just take them. not like as if you cant afford your own.
i dont want to talk to my sister until she returns something.
i get so angry and irritated just looking at her every weekend. now i cant be bothered about negotiating with her already. i bought a new set of speakers for myself, got ron radio set and decided that i can forget about the quilt and covers, i am going to buy another stationary holder, new hangers and as for the hairdryer, that i still want it back.
it was the longest match i have ever played in my whole life playing tennis for school. i thought that my 2.5 hour match in year one playing singles decider was bad enough. and never will i know that this time round i clocked 3.5 hours playing another singles decider match.
and the funniest thing is that as much as it was a stressful match, it is the least tiring 3.5 hours of my tennis life. and to think that i lost the first set made things hard for me. i couldnt not maintain the score and lost 2-6. that was one mistake i shouldnt have made in any case. but i assure you that my hands where shaking everytime i took a sip from my bottle.
it was bad enough that after the first set i told sherene that i was "reformatting" my brain. and then "reinstall" all the information.
i was down 3-0 until i managed to keep my consistency and caught up 11 matches in a row. my opponent felt the pressure when i caught up that she broke down and cried when i overtook her 4-3. at that point of time i felt so good and confident already. i guess "reformatting" works.
i was very clam when i started the second match. so calm that i really took my time to return the ball and even have the chance to walk back to the center every hit. that feeling not keeping it rocks. playing decider is hard. but for the two times i did i did it well.
but i have got to admit that my opponent is pretty good at putting the ball back. it was a very good game. i havent had such a game for ages. (thank you Fangchee for playing me) i was surprisingly consistent in the last few games and my placing of the balls where so nice, most of my balls went deep. even i have to applaud myself for being able to keep it in me. and thanks to sherene for being there and watching every single ball. apparently some of the other girls could not bare to watch my match.
the girls even promised to buy me 14 court rollers. haha. apparently my fetish for rolling courts is so well known. haha.
we are now in the finals. and we are going to be having a double finals on monday night. WE HAVE TO WIN NO MATTER WHAT. our reputation lies on this last match.
and thanks to the recent rain and shine during the matches, now i have a viral flu attack. my nose is running like crazy. even the doctor told me not to go and play tennis. bloody weather. and talking about the sun. all i had was 4 hours total in the sun and i grow 5 shades darker. and the worse thing is that i have uneven tann now.
an expensive meal, sometimes i wonder why a group of people would want to spend $40 drinking nothing but tea at a shangrila. 101 different types of tea and a cant even cover 20 of them in a single sitting. and for one matter. tea appreciation requires appreciation. and you have always knew that there are many types of tea out there, just that you never thought that you can look at 101 of them in a single menu and still can drink 1/5th of it.
the food is not fantastic, but the teas are so good. so rare to be drinking tea the english way. fully equipped with sugar cubes and china set. funny how when you are at home you will never bring out your china set to even have a drink in your own living room, but yet we are willing to pay big bucks to sit somewhere else and drink tea from a much less expensive china set. sometimes i wonder why life is like that.
the simple act of drinking tea from a teapot. why do the english like it so much? actually i can actually get into appreciation of a good cup of tea, and even better if you can do it with a good bunch of friends. lynette was saying that she cannot imagine a whole group of guys at our age drinking tea at this kind of place. i think only girls or groups with girls will do things like that. guys prefer a soccer game at a pub while girls love the cafe experience.
it is really so nice so act tai tai even though our chances are slim. for a start two of the three company are single and very available and i can say pretty much pretty desperate too. (haha. sorry girls) but the fact that they have me tells the world that they are not loney people.
funny how i can see almost all the time and yet not get sick of their company. i kinda wished that janelle was here. i really miss that bitch. din really get to see and talk to her since i came back. ( you see bitch i really miss you, hurry up and come back!) and imagine if the whole group of us plus canice can get a simple day out like that sitting down, drinking tea and simple talking.
a show so beautiful i must give its actors and director credit. it is not a 7 golden horse winner for nothing movie. it is simply so damn beautiful. please go and watch it. and for once i am advertising the uncensored version. i totally know why people from shanghai flock to HK just to catch the uncensored version. ANG LEE is a great director.
van was right. this is art. and the scary thing is that this is chinese art.
“給我一間公寓"
