Me catching up with technology

Is it me trying to be young or have I really succumbed to technology? I used to scorn and scoff at friends who message non-stop while we were having coffee or a meal. I have always felt that these were the bad habits of the young-er ones who are so 'well versed' with technology.

Last night, I was told off by Kelly for doing exactly that-messaging. Hahaha! Don't know whether to laugh or be angry but anyhow, will remind myself to watch my manners. Then again, Kelly does that to me sometimes too!

Whatever!

When are they going to 'ketchup'?

Tsk, tsk, tsk!

Whatever happened to good 'ol ketchup???

From goodness knows when, the fast food chains stopped giving out tomato ketchup packets. That was fine, for they still used to ask you whether you wanted ketchup or not.

I also remember the times when the staff of Japanese fast food chain MOS Burger used to ask whether we wanted chilli or ketchup and STILL gave chilli after I specifically said ketchup. They even circle the appropriate sauce on their order chit. Sometimes I wonder why they bother even asking.

Lately though, KFC in particular, has stopped asking and stopped giving ketchup. The first incident was when we ordered home delivery that Saturday when I met up with old friends. They just assumed that everyone took chilli and gave us tonnes of chilli packets. Thank goodness for kids as they luurve ketchup and had a ready bottle at home. Kekeke....in fact, I almost finished the girl's bottle and her mum 'threatened' for me to repay one.

Then I went to KFC with my colleague on Wednesday again, as I did not have enough of the Original Recipe chicken (we ordered some hot and spicy for the gathering). Server did not ask me whether I wanted ketchup or not and I ended up with 7, 7 packets of chilli for a 2-piece meal! I found that quite ridiculous. Either that or that particular chilli company was paying them lots for free advertising.

In any case, it is a lost cause on me as I am NOT a sweet chilli lover. I am definitely a ketchup person. I guess I should be contented for in Australia, each packet of anything that you take (I think other than ketchup) would cost you $0.20.

It does not make sense if they tell me that they are trying to cut cost or conserve usage etc, etc, because they are literally raining chilli packets on people!

Don't even get me started on their portions either, for it has totally shrunk and eating it has become unsatisfactory. It's the sort of feeling you get when the food goes down and feels like it has only filled up one teeny weeny corner of your stomach. The feeling that you are full and yet not full.

I requested for breast meat, but one came up to be wings. OK, there was a little breast meat there but weird me does not particularly like wings...that much.

Well, I will just have to remind myself not to eat so much of KFC anymore, lest I want to feel hungry faster.

Like a beautiful Sunday

Did I not say that I was going to go Ikea with mum? We did and we had lots of fun!

I was so hungry I decided to have a feast when we arrived. My standard are meatballs with potatoes but it was brunch and I really was not in the mood for too meaty stuff. Spotted the gravlax (cured salmon) a mile away (OK, I exaggerate) and just had to take one plate. Besides, there are veggies that came together with it too, which is good!

Then I saw that their local delight, which is bee hoon and/or noodles with a slice of ham and fishcake, was only $1.80. Cheap! For a place like Ikea. My favourite one near my work place is also around that price and there is no aircon and no nice seats etc, etc. Coffee at Ikea was not bad too!

It being a weekday, there was not much of a crowd. There was still one big table of noisy kids though. Can't seem to get rid of them. That's why I always tell people that I have a love-hate relationship with them.

We hopped from Ikea to Courts and then to Giant Hypermart, mum and I. We bought what we needed and went home. Was so tempted to get the shoe storage boxes from Ikea, but put it back after holding it for awhile. Enough is enough. There are people with no homes to live in, I have almost everything. Time to think twice before buying.

Funny-Strange Dream

Before I go on to tell you about what went on today, I would like to recall a dream I had early this morning.

I usually hate early morning dreams. They are usually stressful and related to work. I can still remember the time many years back (at least 4 or 5 OK?!) when my dream was me running around frantically looking for participants to join a programme. I was panicking like hell and it did not help that my then boss appeared and chased me to go look for more participants.

There were more like these, but I think I shall stop here for now. What I dreamt this morning was very different. I call it the strange-funny dream.

I was at this place, not exactly on a grass patch but more of a concrete ground and I was actually trying to stand up with my Rollerblades. I remember being in my dream, third person style, asking my dream self, whether I could actually blade and who gave me those blades.

My dream self was not that confident but managed to stand up and blade!!! While blading, my dream self answered my omni-present self that the blades were given by OLKgal!!!!! Shock and horror!

Omni-present self asked dream self whether she was sure and she said "yes". Then omni-present self realised something funny coz the blades were Adidas brand. I remember asking myself, "since when did Adidas come up with roller blades?"

The design also looked a little awkward. Like the manufacturer just put one and one together and did not care much about design. Looked a little like the roller skates that we used to have, but with in-line rollers in place.

Dream self was really good at blading and could also do the advance stopping by twirling around and using right heel. Fantastic!

Omni-present self asked dream self again whether she was sure that OLKgal gave the blades to her and dream self said "yes". Dream self was blading happily.

At that point, I got woken up by my hand phone message signal, which I thought was from work again. Too knocked out to see who, but turns out it's some irritating friend from some past life..keke...deleted the message right away and fell right back to sleep, while having FD and Venetta softly 'humming' in the background. My daily morning must-have. Well, usually it's Glenn, but he has gone to Bali on a holiday and so, Venetta. Better yet though coz I think Glenn gets a little dry sometimes.

All's well that ends well

Today has been one good news after another.

The deal is done. My house is sold. I am half a free woman and one step closer to what I have to do. I received an sms from my property agent to tell me that the cheque is in his hands. Of course, by now, it is in MY hands. I have waited for this day, for like what, four years now? IT has been a long and sometimes, very painful wait. Nevertheless, it is finally kind of over.

I whooped for joy and was laughing uncontrollably to myself. I startled my immediate colleague and thos around me as she had just finished conducting a programme with the kids and this being the start of the holidays, was packed to the brim. I became disciplinary mistress for her as nobody would be able to handle that huge number of kids on their own.

I am thankful. It is almost like receiving absolution.

Anyway, after that I received another sms from another friend saying that her boss really would like me to go and work for her. Her boss was willing to compromise a little on certain terms (of which I do not wish to reveal here, on my blog).

This business of going to work at this new place has been ding-donging for quite a while. I am surprised, and at the same time grateful, that her boss still shows so much interest in me after my indecisiveness. I do want to go and work at this new place but at the same time, I just felt that my present big, big boss had fought hard for me to become a part-timer in my present work place. I do not know exactly what went on between him, my supervisor and HR but from what little I can gather, he really went all out to convince HR to let me stay on. I felt that I could not just leave like that and now, maybe I do not need to. I may be able to work at both places. We will see how.

This whole day has been filled with elation and gratitude all at once. The evening ended pretty well too, with me bringing mum to Century Square and eating at Organic Cafe Xperience. We spent some quality mother-daughter time together and tonight, she let me hold her hands. Yeah! Usually she won't as she feels that the weight is too much for her shoulders to bear. She gets neck-ache easily :P

Anyway, we have planned to go to Ikea tomorrow and there will be more mother-daughter bonding time!

A rojak* of events

Yesterday was a whole mumble jumble of events. First I had a bad craving for Subway (yes, again. Just had my last sub last Saturday) and then, as I turned into the slip road near my house, I went to bang on this taxi, who was so slow in moving out (OK, OK, it is also my fault coz I should have looked and been more careful). Then, even before I could sink my teeth into the 6 inch classic trio cold cuts sub, my agent calls me to tell me some news about the house.

Luckily for me, I was not travelling at high speed. The only thing damaged was my car number plate. It had cracks. I am so thankful. What I am not happy about is the taxi driver who was so ya-ya-papaya (local term for proud, snobbish). He made this comment about how normally it is he who knocks into other people and not the other way around.

His bumper had NOTHING! No scratch, no dent, no nothing! Yet he wanted me to leave my I/C number (identification card number) and he also wrote down my car plate number. He told me "who knows what will happen tomorrow? I need to bring it to the workshop!"

In my heart I was thinking, "workshop my #ss!" What could possibly happen? There wasn't even the slightest crack on his bumper! He was being ridiculous.

While he used pen and paper, I used my hand phone camera to take picture of his car plate number and my car. I was fuming mad, at myself and at the taxi driver for being so arrogant and...'ya-ya-papaya'. The paranoid me was also afraid that he must use my I/C number to do bad stuff like borrowing money from 'Ah Long" (loan sharks). One of my colleague's son got his I/C stolen at the army camp once and the next thing he knows, 'Ah Longs' were knocking on their door to ask them to pay them back the money, which they themselves did not borrow in the first place.

Haha! Mum told me later that I was being silly, which I admit, I was.

In the semi-darkness of the street lamp, I could not see any damage on my car, but when I pulled into the parking lot and bent down to look, there they were. The cracks on the number plate. Heart pain.

Nevertheless, I am thankful to God that nothing happened to me and that nothing majorly bad happened to the car.

I just took my second bite of my sub when my property agent called and told me that I have a deal and that he was going to collect the initial deposit tomorrow (which is today). I am still praying very hard for the previous times, the potential buyers back out last minute. It gets quite depressing. Mum was very encouraging. She told me that the house will be sold. Just a matter of when and that I should be patient. That's kind of true.

Meanwhile, I can only continue praying.

* Rojak is your Asian version of a salad with prawn pasty (blackish looking) sauce, which I like to call goo.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie...

I was trying to look for this washing machine jingle that I saw in Australia in the 1990s, but couldn't find it. Look what I found instead?



This song is like national anthem to me (you can boo me all you want) and it brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it.

And I also found this:


I remember most of these ads and I had fun watching them again :)

Happiness. Unhappiness.

Happiness. Unhappiness.
Different ends of a pendulum.
Sometimes I swing from here to there
Simply in a matter of seconds.

A thin line.
A grey area.
Sometimes,
It's hard to define.
Will the pendulum stop swinging,
So that I can have peace of mind?

Can one ever be void of feelings
So that one can feel no pain?
But that comes at a great big price
Of being,
Void of smiles and cheeky grins.

A priest once said that
Love will hurt.
That was Jesus dying for us.
Must my fruitless love be so,
That it emulates Him saving the world?
No I really do exaggerate
For our Creator is the most Great.

Yet, why is it that I bear this pain
Of barren love
Of happiness strained?
Take this feeling away from me
Until then, I will not be completely free.

I am writing this because I like to write in this style, at this point of time. This amateurish attempt at a poem may seem very dark but to me, it is therapeutic. Can you imagine the gas from a cola can wanting to escape and yet can't? If I didn't write this, I would be like the gas in the bottle. If I did not write this, I might just explode.Please understand.

Dancing queen

Hmm...I know I am working backwards, but I just have to blog a little about my Saturday evening.

I really had fun!! Went to Attica in the end (after much contemplation about which club to go). Turns out that all of us lurve house music and we danced till we could not dance anymore.

Was just a little fed up with some people who were not very gracious on the dance floor. I ended up 'boxing' this guy up again. He and partner were edging and edging towards me until I had hardly any space to move. At first, I got so pissed that I stood still. Just crossed my arms and stood there. When he continued to do all that edging, and when I could not take it anymore, I danced with such 'vengeance', with arms flying everywhere. Hehe...I am polite and gracious on the dance floor, but do not get on my nerves. If you get on my nerves, I will make sure you get it from me big time.

Anyhow, we went for supper at Maxwell. Mmmm....my beloved bee hoon goreng (fried bee hoon, Indian Muslim style). Also discovered a drink stall which served very nice bandung drink (rose syrup with evaporated milk). They only put in the milk when they serve, not readily-mixed. This way, you can actually taste the 'fragrance' of the milk.

We chatted and talked, mainly about ghosts and haunted places and we only left at 5am in the morning. I was really tired, but really happy.

Beautiful weekend

Well, the weekend was certainly packed with activities! I did not get to sing karaoke like I planned but that was because my friend got sick. Really sick. Seems like there is a viral fever going around so please do drink lots of water and take care.

The dating outing thingy wasn't that bad after all and I got to meet some very nice people! While I have some friends who still frown upon such events, I think that I can now safely say that I do not mind attending them as a way to increase my social skills, broaden my social circle and to simply tell people that I have been there, done that.

Today was spent with good old friends from school. Remember my friend who came back from the States? Went to her house to celebrate her birthday. We ordered KFC and I brought her a cake from Cedele, which was surprisingly good. It was a hands-on learning experience for me as I see the children interacting with one another and how there was a 'power' struggle even when they are so young. There were many opportunities for me to put what little I have learnt about children into action. Helps me one step closer for when I really become a kindy teacher (if I really become one).

Nevertheless, the kids are all adorable and I am thankful that they have great mummies and daddies to take care of them and that they are living such wonderful lives. I felt this even more when I came back this evening to watch a fund-raising programme for the Si Chuan Earthquake victims. There were so many stories to be told and so many tears to be shed.

Two stories struck me most: One was the guy who managed to stay alive under the beams for goodness knows how long. He wanted his unborn child to know what the daddy looks like. He did not want his child to be born without a parent and he did not want his wife to be a widow so young and so alone. Yet, after he got saved and when he was on his way to the hospital, he stopped breathing. That to me was already very heart-wrenching.

Then came this one which really gripped me: The rescue team found this woman, dead in the most un-natural position. They dug deeper into the rubble and found that she was hurdled over her baby who was safe and alive under her protection and wrapped together with the baby was a hand phone. There was a message on the hand phone that said something like "If you managed to come out alive, know that Mummy loves you very much".

There is so much to ponder about after watching and reading about all this and then suddenly, all my personal problems seems so much smaller and insignificant as when compared to the losses of these people.

Even with so much sorrow and emotions going on, I must still say that I am thankful for such a beautiful weekend spent together with close friends.

A pleasant surprise!

Last night, when I got home from the hospital, I received a letter. Nowadays, the sort of letters that I get are those mailers that ask me to go out and spend. Spa experiences, private event for a new range of cosmetics, seldom a hand-written envelop.

You can imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found 4 movie vouchers to any of Shaw Organisation Cinemas! Upon reading the enclosed note, I found that I had been one of the lucky winners of a draw.

Well, I was at the 21st Singapore International Film Festival recently and I filled out a survey form. There were prizes to be had but I thought such good luck never happens to me, but yet, it did!

Now I am happily thinking of what show to watch and who to go with. Hmmm....

Nephew Rayee

I used to think that sometimes aunts get a little over-zealous when professing their love for their nieces and nephews.

I don't think so anymore. Went to see baby Rayee at the Gleneagles last night. Here are some pics of the little, feisty and handsome fella:




After he cried, my aunt carried him for awhile before passing him to me. He was real hungry and kept sucking his thumb, but he was real quiet and I would think, comfortable as I rocked him gently.

I passed him back to his mum after he started crying again and wanted milk for real this time. Boy! Sure has a boisterous cry. Shows that he is strong and healthy :)

According to my 3rd cousin, Rayee 'boxed' my 2nd cousin the other night when he was whispering sweet-nothings into his ears. His little arm squeezed out from under the wrap and swung towards my 2nd cousin's face, as if to say "Don't disturb me."

*Grin* we are going to have lots of fun with baby Rayee!

A picture says a thousand words

My friend from far away land just made me realised that pictures speak a thousand words. I was talking about getting a facial while having steamboat and all and how my hair could produce oil etc right here. I think my description was not so good.
Therefore, here you are, I have managed to upload some pics and hope this helps:


This is how it all started: us placing butter on the hotplate and dumping what we feel can sweeten the soup base, into the chicken stock soup.


All the empty shells after we dug in! I think this one's called La La in local terms. There is another type of shell 'fish' (?) called Gong Gong, which we did not see. We did get to eat some chilli mussels though. Yum with fried buns!


What's left after all that chomp and sizzle: One corn on the cob. We did not dare waste food coz they charge for wastage. By the gram!!

Oh, and the aluminium foil was even more black than this one shown in the pic, except we got them to change a second sheet so that we could reduce the risk of getting cancer. Hahaha! Like real!

Oh, and I did forget to provide a link to the restaurant the last time, so here it is.

Nervous

My dating outing is confirmed for tomorrow night, but why am I not that excited? I don't know. I think it is because I didn't even have the heart to go for it in the first place.

I think I would rather spend time alone, or even with the cats. No..., I had to let Kelly get me into this. It was really funny because up until last night, we were not sure whether we were in or not. The organiser had not sent any confirmation. Kelly was panicking for she said that "If you don't go, I also don't want to go already."

Gosh! This was the first time that I felt that it was a nerve-wrecking experience for her as well. Seriously though, Kelly is the 'kan chiong' (Cantonese for nervous) one, not me. She was the one who is afraid that nobody would want her. Not me. Oh, maybe me, but not anymore. I think, I am in that stage called the acceptance stage. I just take whatever comes my way. If it does not, too bad.

Well, I better go home and prepare a whole list of FAQs as the organiser has given us a whole list of Do's and Don't s. That, in itself, is nerve-wrecking for me already. I'll just give it a shot (sounds very Bon Jovi hor? Kekeke).

Words

Oh, be careful what you say.
Lest your words blow you away.
Oh, be careful who you tell.
Lest the person may bring you to hell.

Once the words are said and done,
There is no way out of this life sentence.
What is left is but regrets
You alone to suffer the consequence.

A silly poem by a silly person who spits words out faster than the brain can process and then end up in shit. Me lah!

An honest day's work

Four nights ago, as I walked away from my parked car to feed the cats, an Indian/ Ceylonese man asked me if I wanted to wash my car. He was already finishing up with another car. As I shook my head and said no, he shouted after me "$3. $3 only."

I just walked away.

I felt very guilty after that.I felt that he was an honest man, earning an honest living. At least he did not steal or kill. At least, I think, he did not do anything wrong at all.

It was just me, who is so used to shaking my head and walking by quickly, that I failed to see that sincerity and honesty in him. I know humans like to play the blame game and so, here I am, playing one of my own. I blame it on those insurance agents having roadshows, the people trying to solicit for surveys and those trying to get you to sign up for credit cards.

They have conditioned me to shake my head 'vehemently' whenever I see a stranger approaching me.

The next time someone asks me if I want to wash my car, I will stop, think, before I give my reply.

Bad food

Currently having bad tummy-ache. Must be the food I had! I won't be mean to spell out the outlet's name so clearly, but I dare tell you, it is at the basement of Tampines Mall and it has a Chinese name but sells halal food. Go figure... .

Not that their food was not good eithre. I am willing to give it a second chance but I must make sure my tummy is fully cured first.

Planning for the weekend again

Making big plans again for the weekend.

I have already got my Friday night mapped out so there's only Saturday and Sunday left.

Saturday:
Karaoke in the afternoon.
Clubbing most probably at M.O.S or St James at night.

Sunday:
Probably meeting up with friend who came back from States again coz I already miss her kids. Plus she will be leaving soon. This time not too far though, for she will be going back to India with her in-laws. I might even fly there to see her some time. This is lunch-time plan.

Evening? No plan yet. Maybe some me time again. Or dinner with my mum. That is, if she doesn't already have plans.

I happen to have pretty happening parents lor. Sometimes when I want to have dinner with my Dad, he will tell me that he has got some karaoke somewhere, at some person's house. Yes1 That friend of his converted the attic into a fully equipped karaoke room! Woah!

First-timer

I did it.

I performed my first ever fund transfer from an ATM (Automated teller machine). Very auntie right? And very mountain tortoise. I always tell people I do not like to do transfer because I don't really trust those things and here I am, doing just that. All for the sake of going for a blind date. Not really your one to one, but more a group dinner sort of thing.

I had let Kelly convince me to do it. We are both going. Oh, and another friend is coming along too. I do not know what is going to be the outcome, but I am bringing little or no expectations. I am happy if I can get to meet new people and make new friends.

My gosh!!! I am sooo unprepared for such things. I think I am either going to survive or I will just 'die' there. Whatever. If it is really going to be bad, at least we could still go out for coffee after and have a good laugh about it.

Just thinking about all this has tickled me so much that I am smiling to myself. Hahaha! Or maybe that is just the nervous me.

*Big grin*

A new life

Today, my baby nephew, Rui Yi is born at the Gleneagles Hospital. I wish I could fly there now to see him but I am on night shift.

May the Lord God bless this child with strength, courage and wisdom. May the Lord protect him from harm and walk with him as he grows.

I am sooooo happy now coz I am now a proud 'yi zai' (youngest aunt in Cantonese). Actually, he is not the first nephew to be born in our big family, but because I was not so close with my other cousins, I never really did get very close to them during their birth etc. For Rui Yi, his mum usually drops by during our mahjong sessions to settle our dinner and help her mother in-law, my aunt at the mahjong table. Kekeke... .

Plus, this cousin of mine is the eldest cousin, so no matter what age, the baby should be the eldest nephew, right??? Well, to me it sounds about right. Will see baby on Thursday. Tres excited!

Packed but fulfilling long weekend

Against Wildswan's advice (which I had only read today), I have gone out and did lots. After leaving my little rented place at 6.30am in the morning, I got back home by cab and plonked myself right back to bed again before going for cycling at 11am. Well, 11.30am, actually. I was late again.

Anyhow, it was a very enjoyable experience, despite the fact that I was going out with a colleague that I did not like before. He was like a potential stalker towards my other colleague. Anyway, that's history.

We cycled towards Changi Village and on the way, we spent too much time watching the landing and take off of planes. We never reached our intended destination but I must say that we really had leisurely fun. It was great bonding, the three of us colleagues. We agreed to come out more often for similar outings. The next time, I might be brave enough to rent Rollerblades.

It was a welcome change from the night before. Along the way too, I 'threw' all my anger into the sea and I also wrapped any leftovers up, packed it on the plane and sent it flying away. Yes, the whole cycling thingy was therapeutic. I could even practise singing along the way. Haha!

Come 5pm, my Hong Kong friend actually sms-ed me to go for cycle at East Coast the next day!!!! Gosh! I was suffering from serious butt-ache. Told him that I will see how and let him know the next day.

I must also say that my Sunday was total beach/sea and plane day. For after dinner with Kelly, we went to Changi beach and we actually walked to Changi Village for teh tarik (pulled tea). It was all very nice coz we were chatting as we strolled along.

My Vesak Day holiday started with me visiting my friend at her home. She had come back from the States and I was there to see her two lovely kids. We had met up outside before but I just could not get enough of them.

While visiting her, I got a phone call from Hong Kong friend asking me whether I was still game for cycling. I really agreed to go for a second day of cycling. Crazy me! I think I wanted to challenge myself and push myself to work out more. I can proudly say that I did it! I just don't want to think how I am going to move about tomorrow. Or maybe, it would not be that bad.

Hmm...what I need to do now is to decide whether to buy bike or to buy Rollerblades... .

Happy plans for the weekend

I am so going to pack myself with activities that I cannot even remember that I am unhappy.

Tonight, I am going to feed the cats after work and I am even contemplating watching movie, alone. Thinking of watching Ironman. I will be world's biggest mountain tortoise (equivalent to country bumpkin)if I didn't.

Then tomorrow, after mass, going to go East Coast to cycle with friends. Might even blade if I have the guts :) No plans for the afternoon but I might lunch with them before heading home.

Evening will be time spent with Kelly. Yes, we are still on talking terms despite all the grumbles. We are going for dinner, even though I do not know where yet. I would not be surprised if it is cancelled last minute though. Kekekeke....

Well, even if I kena aeroplane (a term that means one has been stood up), I might still bring a book and go sit at some cafe to while my time away. Need to re-learn how to spend time alone too :)

Stir and fry

I think I am going through a very schizophrenic phase at the moment. One moment I feel on top of the world while the next minute I feel like I am in the pits. Just when I thought I was already in the pits and could fall no further, I fall the pit gives way again and I fall some more.

Anyhow, I sort of promised myself not to talk about unhappy things and so, here are my happy ones. I met up with two very close friends for dinner tonight. We decided to go for this place called Chong Pang 2 in 1 Buffet.

I have been to this sort of thing before with my ex and his best buddy. We had lots of fun. The only difference this time around is that we were no longer eating at Marina south but at some obscure industrial area at Boon Keng Road.

Of course, this time around, it's with friends and we talked the whole night long. We had fun cooking our own food and having 'facial' done while we eat. The thing that I did not like was how my clothes stank and how my hair clothes like it had been soaked in oil and left to drip dry.

I think we should have some form of apron a la hair salon style and I was even thinking of hair net!! Then again, for $16 a pax, we really couldn't complain too much.

Will be uploading pics soon so do come back and visit this post!

Violence

Want to see what happens when a cat plays with its toy? This is what happens:


The red dot, plastic thingy is the nose of the toy mouse, while the white part is the tail end. This is after only about 5 minutes of playing. Scary!!! Muarhahahaha....

So remember, be kind to your cats. Or they may not be so kind to you! Kekekeke....

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

Guess what?? It rained on Wednesday!!!

Even before I could roll out of bed, there were 2 messages waiting for me, and one of them was from blue rainboots telling pink "Feminista" rainboots that it is raining!!!!

I know this sounds real bad coz not all rain is good and sometimes too much rain causes floods. I am saying this in reference to the Chengdu earthquake that just happened...so sad.

Anyway, wore my rainboots and had a good time splashing about. I got polite stares, rude stares and all sorts of comments everywhere! It was fun!

I really got to go to the market to 'compare' my boots with those yellow fishmonger ones too! I went to Bukit Merah View for lunch (fantastic carrot cake at #01-179) when I saw this man wearing yellow wellies. I told my mum to look and was guessing if he was a fishmonger when he pushed a whole igloo box of fresh, whole fish to this rice stall. Hahahahah!!! Almost died of laughter.

Want to see how poser I was??? Here it is!!!

Who's sitting next to you?

Just like what one of my friend said in her blog about her idiosyncrasy, I have a little one of my own: I think that whichever girl sits beside the guy who drives the car, stakes claim to him. I feel that it is an unspoken power thingy that says silently that, "This guy is mine".

Let me attempt to paint you a clearer picture. This usually happens among three persons: me, another girl friend and this other guy (who happens to be the driver). We would be going out and then somehow, my girl friend ends up sitting next to the guy I like while I am being 'shoved' behind the back seat, like a child.

Actually, this only happened twice in my life: Once in Uni and the second time, recently. Very recently. Every time it happens, my heart just drops and falls into the depth of infinity and takes one full minute to get back again.

The idiosyncrasy probably came about also because of the way I was brought up. I was always told to let the adults sit in front and so, I would try to offer the more senior among us (friends, whosoever) before taking the seat myself.

If, like in the said scenario of three persons, my girl friend just plonks herself in the front passenger seat, somehow, I will get upset. For it is like she is telling me from her actions to stay away from this guy.

Am I repeating myself again and again? Sort of. Well, maybe that's because I am still upset, a little. Perhaps, I am taking it too seriously and need to lighten up, haha!

Suddenly, I am just wondering if the reverse is also true? Can I then stake claim to the guy who is sitting next to me when I drive? Hahaha! I wish... .

p/s: when I say girl friend, I mean a friend who is a girl. OK? :)

Crazy weekend

So I lament that I did not plan my Friday properly, but I think I over packed my Saturday and Sunday to the brim!

We started off late on Saturday and ended up going home only at about 2am in the morning. Mahjong I mean. We played longer rounds for some of us kept winning. As usual, we had fun though, my cousin and I. We were singing songs all the way, entertaining my Dad and my aunt. Towards the end, we even started playing the I-name-a-song-and-u-sing game. My cousin would say a title, and I would sing. She was just super amazed at how I could sing almost any of the songs that she said.

Actually, it is because we are of that same era and therefore, we listened to similar songs. It was just that I am more the song-crazy person who would bother to memorise the lyrics.

The next day, I had planned to go for 8.45 mass, but of course, I only woke up like at 10am and almost wanted to strangle myself. Setting the alarm did not help. My meeting with trek-mates was 11am and if Dad did not give me the car, I would have been so, so late.

I was only half awake and we were going to climb my dreaded Bukit Timah Hill. Used to like it a lot until I twisted my ankle. Ever since then, I have not gone back there until yesterday. I braved myself through all the steps that I went down. There were no ropes for me to hang on to and at one point, I was feeling dizzy. It was bad.

As we descended from the peak, I thought all was going to be well when one of my friends suggested we take the off road track again. I saw them steps and I immediately told them I would meet them back at the starting point. It was enough steps ascending and descending for the day. Besides, to tell you truth, I am sooooo out of shape. I am going to take the opportunity to build up my so-called stamina when I totally quit my job. I think at one point I was even a little asthmatic for I was breathing so hard.

The rest of them were very nice. They said to go with majority, but I could see disappointment on their face. Shoot. I have become the wet blanket and spoil spot.

Nevertheless, I would rather be one than to risk twisting my ankle and paying for doctor's fees again.

I feel dead beat even now, but I give myself one month to pick up again. I MUST NOT GROW OUT OF SHAPE!!!!!

No more Friday blues

Well...my Friday is not so blue after all. Friend called me to tell me that my rainboots are here!!!!! Then she asked me whether we wanted to meet up for dinner. Yippee!!

OK I know I sound desperate, but I sort of am and the rainboots just lifted my spirits. My mum just called to say she wanted to shop alone and asked me to get a life (no, not in those exact words, in a nicer way, but similar meaning).

Here are my rainboots and the size fits!



This was taken somewhere near Paulaner Brauhaus after a few beers. We were not drunk by the way. Mine were the pink pair.

Here's one more of my friend's and her doggy:


Afterthought: Now must pray for rain! Kekekeke!

Friday blues?

It's a Friday. I am supposed to be out on a Friday. One friend has Salsa, the other's watching marathon horror movies. Yet another has got dinner plans for part A of the evening and then movie plans for part B of the evening. What plan do I have? Nothing. Part A+B friend even suggested Part C whereby we can meet for karaoke at 11.30pm. Think better not though, coz I have a full day of mahjong tomorrow.

The only possible plan now is to have dinner with mum. Then go see and feed cats. I know this sounds bad but I rarely meet up with mum or dad on Fridays. I reserve Saturdays or Sundays for them, but Friday is supposed to be my Part-y day.

Oh well, it is partly my fault, did not plan ahead. I think this Friday party day started during uni days. My course was such that Fridays were practically free if I managed to grab tutorials on the right days. Even if it were not totally free, I would probably only go for half a day of tutorials.

My routine would be to have dinner at with a group of friends, return home to 'doll' up. Hit the karaoke joint and then proceed to a club after 2am when the Karaoke joint closes. I would even tell the karaoke joint owner that I will see him at the club later. After he closes shop, he and his staff will go there too! I would dance till 6am when the lights at the club will be turned on and we are in time to see the sunrise.

By then, we will be dead hungry and would probably go to MacDonald's to buy some breakfast before going up to King's Park to watch the sun rise (or what's left of it :P) Sometimes, if we were super crazy, we would head down to Canningvale market (which is only open on weekend mornings) to get our week's worth of vegetables.

Of course, those were exceptional occasions. Usually we would just buy breakfast, head home, eat and knock out for a good half of the day. A bit like vampires. Sounds crazy I know, but where I was studying, was a little too...calm. We needed some form of activity to keep ourselves sane from all that studying.

For the love of my housemate's cats

Now that I no longer can support an extravagant lifestyle, I have moved back to my parents'. Nevertheless, I still go and see and feed her cats whenever I can. This is despite the fact that she has someone house sitting for her.

I really do miss the cats and I am somehow drawn to go and see them. Last night, when I opened the door, Mao Mao kept meowing. He seemed to ask me, "How come so long never come and see us?"

The cats now roam free in the house. At first, I was quite apprehensive, especially after what Mao did the last time. This time around though, everything seemed to be in place and nothing toppled, nothing dirtied. House-sitter also closed the toilet door and so they would not be able to get in.

How do I know that the cats miss me too? Dou Dou, usually aloof and edgy meowed at me and came over to give me a good rub over by his standards. I made sure I kept really still so as not to scare him away. With Dou, you cannot go and touch him. He must be the one who rubs against your palm or shin. This time around, he even jumped on my belly while I sat and watched TV. Usually only Mao does that. Dou would just sit in one corner.

At first, I thought he was hungry or that there was no more water, for Dou only meows when these two things happen. There was still water though and I thought I would give them the food later so as not to spoil them.

I think Mao still thinks that by seeing me, that my housemate will somehow appear soon for once in a while, he would go and meow outside her door.

We played with ribbons (again) before I fed them. Mao will go crazy every time he sees that string, while Dou will look on in glee but not daring to participate in fear that he would get a wack from Mao's paw.

Slipshod(t)

Today was supposed to be a rather happy day for me. I was going to renew my passport. It has finally been 10 years.

The not so happy bit (but not the worst yet) is that now, instead of 10 years, our passports are only valid for 5. The little consolation is that they actually set the expiry date back to your old passport's. In other words, if my passport were to expire in December of this year and I go and re-new my passport now, I 'earn' 7 months worth of extra usage. Not sure if you know what I mean, but I was all excited for my Dad, who had just gone to renew his recently, actually taught me the no-queue way of renewing it.

I just had to fill in a form, take pictures and attach 1 photograph of myself and drop it into a designated box. Easy peezy.

The horrible incident happened when I went to take photos. Well...what was I expecting when 4 photos cost only $5.35? How about some basic customer service or at least, manners?

First we met with people who did not know what a queue pole is for and lined up outside of the queue poles. We decided to go one floor up to Level 3, as according to my Dad, they have photo-taking services at every level.

The signboard stated "Yishun Broadway" and I thought this should be good (since the one at Level 2 did not have any 'signboard' at all). Boy! Was I so wrong. The woman gave one word commands and she was down right rude. "I/C number?? I/C number?? Sit down. Your fringe, your fringe! It is touching your eyebrow...cannot touch eyebrow... Your fringe... some more...lower your chin...tilt your head towards the right..."

Before I knew what was happening? "OK!"

WHAT???!!!!!! SO PISSED. She did not even warn me that she was going to take a picture. I only saw the shutter 'flash' twice and I wasn't even totally ready!!! I had a bit of a shocked look.

My Dad saw my picture on the computer and decided that it was not nice. He told me to take it again. She immediately said, "nobody takes again one lah. The this very nice what?? No, No."

I said," No, I am going to have this passport for 5 years. I insist on taking again!"

"You want to take again (rather challenging and agitated tone)?? ...OK lah...but the first one is good enough already".

What a old Ah Lian bitch.

Again, she did not tell me when she was ready and she took. She purposely took a bad one coz there was a white spot on my iris. Of course it would look bad. Plus she did not give me time to get ready and my head was tilted a little to one side (I think this is a perpetual problem coz I was told to tilt right every time I take a mug shot of myself).

I was seething mad and swore never to do this kind of on-the-spot photo-taking again. Ever! If I can help it. Even if I had to pay a little more, I would go to a photo developing shop like Fuji Plaza or Kodak to get my pictures taken. Call me fussy but really, the little drama was not necessary at all. I wasn't expecting SIA first class treatment but I think one should have basic manners and courtesy. I am not even talking about customer service yet!!

Doesn't mean that I look petite/plump (or whatsoever) that I am less deserving of basic manners. She had that "you are already ugly so no matter how many times you take also not nice" kind of look. Not kidding you. OK, it sounds like I am whining about my shortcomings again but all things aside, I was not kidding about her bad attitude.

I know too, that I sound like the typical complaining Singaporean, but that is part of the point of blogging right? Getting it out of your system. Now that it is, I feel much better. I just have to wait for them to notify me to collect my passport... with ugly photo.