All U Can Eat Buffet

My POOR eyebrows

2006-08-29T22:37:00.000+08:00

This is a continuation of the last posting.

My mom is one person that is quite difficult to get a laugh out of her. So, nothing prepared me (it wasn't that shocking anyway) for her response to my eyebrows.

The day came. I went with support from my buddy to the D counter for eyebrow trimming. She was to be my pillar of support & to stop the sales pitch.

I thought that the girl was joking when she told me that the session would last for about 30 minutes, cos of the "thickness" of my brows. Oh my goodness, she was right!!

Even more interesting, was that D's senior stylist, a MAN, did my eyebrows!! I am not being a sexist but a guy doing my brows? I have not felt so embaressed for a long time. HA HA!!

Now, down to the logistics:

it cost S$15 per session; if u book FIVE, u get ONE FREE & each of the sessions will cost u S$12
must pre-book
each session last for about 20-30 min

I sure made the guy work for the $15. Every time my brows got plucked, it felt like someone was pinching me & I felt like whacking the fella on the head. It only lasted 30minutes but to me, it felt like an eternity! I had to sit there on the chair demurely.

At the end of it all, there was no sales pitch surprisingly. I got up, thanked the fella & scooted off with my friend.

Out safely, SHE laughed & so did I. Then, more laughter. Then, mumblings.

As I went home by MRT, i SMS her. "now the rating has gown down to 5 out of 10 ..." To which she replied, "at the rate u r mumbling, it will go to -5 in no time!!"

At HOME, my mother took one look at me & burst into laughter. What was the laughter all about?

SIMPLE: the guy did away with HALF of my eyebrow on either side!! For the next few weeks till it grew back, I had to apply eyebrow pencil ... Fortunately, I had Lancome to thank, since I do have their pencil.

Still, I wasn't happy. Looking at the pictures of all those female stars with lovely eyebrows, I wondered to myself "why can't I have those lovely brows, too??" Perhaps that is why they are STARS & I am merely, a plain jane.

My EYEBROWS

2006-08-25T23:00:00.000+08:00

There is this world renowned cosmetics company that has a counter in Takashimaya, which I shall call it D (and NO, it ain't DIOR).

My fellow female friends have long nagged at me to go get my eyebrows trimmed/ plucked. To make it nice, to be a little like the movie stars, or so they say.

Get this, when I mentioned this in the office, one of my colleagues more senior in rank to me, offered to accompany me there, since I did mention that I was afraid that the D people might try their sales pitch on me. I happily accepted, knowing that she is a lady with a good sense of fashion.

What a let down at Taka (i love shortcuts!) ... an anti-climax!! When the 2 of us ladies arrive at the D counter (no, it is NOT Dior), female staff informed me that I have to book in advance!!

HELLO ... mumble ... is it so hard to do ... mumble ... NO, i will just go for ONE session, cos i just got fed-up by ur sales pitch & i dun care if 6 sessions will be cheaper ... mumble grumble!!

Then, I parted from my colleague, who had other appointments. Me? I think I went shopping to soothe my heart.

Get To GO

2006-08-15T22:42:00.000+08:00

I am using MSN Messenger a lot nowsaday, though it used to be ICQ.

In my previous posting, I mentioned that I was going to Penang, Malaysia for a friend's wedding. Well, more on that now.

The FIRST problem I had was asking around our common pool of friends who were going. My friend MSN me, "u dun worry, u just book ur air tix & come!"

PROBLEM No.2: my accomodation. Same friend above," u dun worry, just come. we can fix u up to share room with another gal whom u also know".

PROBLEM No.3: airport transfer. Same friend with "u dun worry, just come. we can fix ...."

He really did. As he was also going along with some others to the wedding, he sort of became the de facto leader of our group, planning which hotel to stay & transport. My role basically boiled down to "u dun worry, u just come!"

I am truly blessed to have such good friends. People like him, don't always happen to one in one's life.

Get Going

2006-07-17T22:42:00.000+08:00

Another wedding to go to. This time, in wonderful Penang, Malaysia!! WOO HOO!! I've not been to Penang for over 10 years, man.

I am so eagerly awaiting to go there!! I remember that about SIX months before her wedding, my friend called me long distance all the way from Penang. Blah blah ... she asked how I am & invited me to Penang in OCTOBER 2006. At that time, I didn't know that she meant to invite me to her wedding. Thought it was merely asking me to come visit Malaysia, which I will do. It is always a nice place to go holiday.

Then, it hit me. What could be more exclusive than a personal invite from the bride herself? =)

After that, I giggled & replied, "Of course, I will attend your wedding!! Me go book air tix now" ... which was like 5 months down the road, I did that.

The ONE FOOD that I would like to try in Penang, Malaysia is the "Penang Laksa", which I hear is quite different from our laksa, no coconut milk additives whatsoever. More on the sour side? I don't know, as nowsaday, I hardly take laksa.

the M sojourn, part 3?

2006-06-25T23:40:00.000+08:00

Immediately upon catching my breath, I opened my luggage to give JR his presents, for I had arrived on the date of his birthday. As he loves music & had plans to visit me in my home country, I gave him stuff that were tasteful. He thanked me for the gifts.

I was like the little girl with big gold fish eyes. They were big 'cos the eyes were taking in the sights & sounds of Melbourne, Australia. Don't hammer me but "i forgot to take midnight pictures".

Finally, JR parked his car along the kerbside. We went to an Asian restaurant chain next to that Greek 24-hr place, for a late supper. Had dim sum (siew mai), soya bean drink & spicy Indonesian nasi goreng. Of course, the 2 of us shared all that. As to why I need to munch again, remember the "popsicle-ME"? hehee ...

I remarked wryly that prices don't seem to have changed much since the LAST TIME I was in Australia. In my time, AUD$1 = S$0.90 ...

Continuing my sojourn in Melbourne

2006-06-09T22:55:00.000+08:00

well, i know tat this is kinda late but as the saying goes "BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!"

My dear friend, JR, was ever so sweet when fetching me from the airport to my hotel accomodation.

I was standing out alone in the freezing cold, outside the Melbourne International Airport thinking about life there. I saw the airport staff all queuing up patiently with no queue-jumping, into their pick-up-after-our-night-shift-bus. Then, I saw the Hilton airport hotel sign. H for High-Class. Brrrrr, as I said in one of my earlier post, that I just might have to book in there, in Hilton.

The thing that warmed my heart was this quaint-looking structure (?) mid-way to the Hilton.

When JR came round in his wee car (as he called it), he nearly got a popsicle-frozen ME. naaaahh, just joking.

Mind you, it was THREE YEARS since we last saw each other and I nearly broke down when I saw him. I managed to muster up enough energy not to cry. Instead, we gave each other bear hugs.

I don't know why I kept delaying seeing this buddy of mine. Fear of the unkown only creates more fear.

He was very nice. JR said," I'm going to give you a little night tour of Melbourne". I protested that "... but but ... you gotta work ..." He overruled me on that, as I knew that later on in the morning, he still had to get up for work.

JR carried my luggage (ONE PIECE ONLY) into his car and off we went. I do seriously think that these kind of informal tours are much better than the commercial tours.

Our first stop, my accomodation. Here, "shock No.1": the hotel receipt is a print out.

Then, we got to my room. When my parents saw it later, they commented that it seemed a tad small but I absolutely love it. Besides, I was going to be out most of the time, why would I care about the size of the room.

You are going to get bored with the monotonous description of my hotel room.

My room, is like any other hotel room. I got a one bed (i think it was a double bed or queen-size?), 1 side table, wardrobe against 1 side of the wall, 1 table, 1 chair, ..... u get the drift; ONE of everything.

Hey, I even got a pack of complimentary cookies.

Arrival in Melbourne

2006-05-12T03:30:00.000+08:00

They said something like "Ladies & Gentlemen, we have just landed in Melbourne International Airport ...." This was on 12 May 2006, 12.30am-ish.

The pent-up excitement was slowly unwinding itself & there was a flow of relaxation in me. A little upward surge in my mouth soon turned into a huge grin & smile.

I collected my backpack, which is always next to me & waited. FINALLY, after what seemed like enternity but in reality, just a mere few minutes, we were let out of the plane & into the actual terminal building itself.

1st stop
duty-free - but not for me, since I had done my shopping in Changi Terminal

2nd stop
passport check - the guy was asking me a couple of questions like "where r u from?", "what will you be doing in Melbourne?", "any goods to declare?" ...

3rd stop
collect luggage - i still chuckled at the thought that the concern that the nice lady at the Changi Airport check-in counter asked about my "9-kilo" luggage. It definitely seemed light but to me, nah!!

luggage collection wait - I thought bags could not go any bigger than those I encountered at the luggage belt.

4th stop
green channel - if you have nothing to declare. I would discourage those who have things to declare but decide to try their luck. Please, don't!!

red channel - if you have stuff like I do (gourmet egg jam- kaya in attractive packaging)

5th stop
wait for friend to fetch me from airport

There are 2 terminals at Melbourne Airport, the International & the Domestic. One need not guess where I was.

Whilst waiting for my friend, I fended off taxi drivers who came up to me one after another "Miss, you need a taxi?" with "No, thank you".

There is no need to be rude, ladies & gentlemen. Just decline politely. The taxi drivers know. You counter 5 words with just 3 words.

There was the toilet but I dared not go, since I had luggage to take care of. Safety first, my dear.

There was also an information counter. I named it the "free brochures for you all to take" counter. I loaded up on whatever I could, in English of course.

Tried calling JR but either my mobile went on strike or I didn't request "auto-roaming" from my service provider, 'cos I could only SMS saying I had arrived & cleared customs.

JR replied back, that he was on his way & I could start making my way out of the terminal to the waiting area. Which I did.

Outside the International terminal, there was the Hilton Hotel. I was like thinking, "Man, they sure know how to locate hotels!!"

Places like the Melbourne Airport Hilton are quite good for people who do need their 40 winks & will pay for that.

If my friend was unable to fetch me & I didn't dare to take a taxi (mind you, a SINGLE LADY taking taxi at 1am in a foreign city??? u gotta be nuts!!), I would take up 1nite's stay in the Hilton, till daylight broke, when I would dare to take the airport shuttle bus.

OUTSIDE the terminal, it was blowing cold. So, I put on my jacket & waited in the blistering cold night on the seat provided. It was a "silent night", with no vehicles except for a bus ferrying the airport staff home ... and a few taxis here & there.

My flight into Melbourne

2006-05-12T03:02:00.000+08:00

In the last remaining minutes prior to boarding the Emirates plane, my tummy was "full of butterflies". If you were me, reading my mind, you would understand.

In a sign of independence, one is responsible for oneself. No more further evidence than that of carrying your own luggage. I watched silently & thinking to myself, "IT IS FINALLY HERE!!" ... as my hand luggage & backpack were loaded onto the scanning machines for one last security check. A wry grin came from me.

Then, into "no man's land", the little area whereby they make all passengers (inclusive of first-class) assemble. I had one thought: what IF & that was a very big IF, someone needed to answer Mother Nature's call?

I am always thinking a lot, the good stuff & the bad ones.

THEN, we were allowed onto the plane & our pre-assigned seats. There was someone on my seat. He got up, apologised & went to the one behind my seat, which I presumed to be his actual seat.

It was not a full flight. Depend on how you look at it, one could also say that the flight was half-empty. The one good point of this was that I get the entire row to myself. I forgot was it the centre row or either of the wing seats that I got.

Despite having flown before, I still thought of every flight as my first. I was full of excitement. I have not seen my friend in Melbourne for nearly 3 years & here I was, just 8 hours away from seeing him.

There were the usual suspects in the seat pocket: 1 vormit bag, the safety booklet, inflight magazine ... and my favourite, the menu.

Here is what Emirates offered on my flight:

Bar Service (selection lifted off Emirates menu)

Aperitifs & Cocktails - dry martini (wat about the wet one? hehee!!), campari, whisky, brandy, gin ...
Wines - both Reds & Whites
Champagne - this one must pay $$$ to drink (30 Dhs, not sure what currency that is)
Spirits - whisky (Scotch, Jack Daniels ...) & Bacardi Rum
Liquers - Baileys, Tia Maria
Beers - they didn't say but since it is a flight from Singapore, may I dare presume that Tiger is on the menu?
Soft drinks - fruit juices, spring water ...

The "actual food", I am not sure since I don't remember much. Airline food is definitely never on the same class as restaurant food but I quite enjoy it.

The best thing one can bring when eating is this saying: Hunger is the best appetite.

The actual dinner (my pick):

appetizers (i forgot wat it was)
seasonal salad (i ate it all, left out the cherry)
main course: salmon the size of my palm (chef's recommendation, so I picked that)
dessert: strawberry shortcake (i ate that all)
bread & butter: i discarded the bread
cheese & biscuits: they gave cheddar, which I ate, whilst keeping the biscuits
beverages & chocolates: i chose OJ & every passenger got 1 piece of chocolate, the size of a SG 50 cents coin

They sure don't lose out to Singapore Airlines. Also, the portions ain't tiny either.

Later, they served us food again. Mebbie about 1 hour prior to touch down. It was known as the "savoury snack".

Savoury Snack (my pick):

Beef Pastrami - 1 open-faced sandwich with peppered beef slices (known as pastrami) & oh, how I HATE this veggie: aubergine/eggplant!!@!!!
OJ

To while away the EIGHT HOURS of flight:

I walked up & down the aisles every 1 hour
drank at least 1 teeny-weeny paper cup of drinking water
watched movies (as they were not the ones I liked, I do not remember it)
be an online gamer (Othello was my choice of game)
think/analyse the flight - like how I felt, my fellow passengers, the service
go toilet to freshen up & apply moisturizer

Departure day for Melbourne

2006-05-11T23:57:00.000+08:00

I remember this day well.

My flight was due at 3.20pm & I had to be at Changi International Airport 2 hours beforehand.

Guess what time I woke up? Nearly 11am!! Ha ... I remember waking up & telling myself that the "big day to travel" is FINALLY here!!

Don't know why but my family seemed more anxious than me, with them telling me to pack more long-sleeved tops ... blah blah blah.

Phssh ... I've studied in Perth before & experienced 4 cold winters (I think). So, temperatures of 10-15 deg is nothing to me. As a result, I didn't pack too many thick nor long-sleeved tops.

I was at the airport by 1.10pm, checked in early & the check-in lady was surprised that my luggage allowance was only 9kg!! She further advised that the temperature was about 14 deg or so & asked why I wasn't scared. I smiled & thanked her for her concern, before telling her that I had studied in Australia before (see above). Then, she went "Ahhhh ..."

Went for lunch with my dad. I think I had duck rice & a glass of soya bean drink, while my dad had Teochew porridge. Then, we went to the NTUC mini-mart to get some last minute stuff for myself.

Said "bye-bye" to my dad & went into the Restricted customs area. The shopping there was really good & even better for those people who had no time to shop when they were out in Singapore, plus NO GST IMPOSED on departure flights!! Got Biotherm products on behalf on a colleague.

Bear in mind that food & beverage prices will not be like what one is used to outside at Singapore food court prices. More likely, it is higher & portions ... well, as I didn't eat there in the Restricted area, I won't know.

Lastly, before I boarded my flight, I called my colleagues asking if they had any last-last minute shopping wishes, they said "none" & I switched off my HP.

Melbourne, here I come!!!

why i like to visit australia

2006-04-30T21:21:00.000+08:00

Australia has never been a cheap place to visit. Ask me why & I can offer one answer (besides others as told below): exchange rate. 1 Australian $ = AUS$.

Mind you, this exchange rate is based on my experiences when I went there for holiday & study.

1986
AUS$1 = S$1.60

2000
AUS$1 = S$1.00

2003
AUS$1 = S$1.10

2006
AUS$1 = S$1.23

Despite that & the fact that some people say "Australians are racist", I feel that it is not fair to label them as such. I prefer to call it "unfair behaviour". You don't have to look far to see "unfair behaviour" even in your own backyard. Tell me, which country don't have "unfair hats"?

In Australia, I've made some very good friends. There is one lady, I'll just call her by the first letter of her name, C. Now, I met C in an Economics class. Both of us didn't talk much at first but later on, blah blah .... we became friends. She didn't live on-campus as I did, as she was married & was living off-campus with her family.

When we had time, we exchanged stories about ourselves, shared woes about studying, tackled Economics questions & went for tea (yum cha).

Then, there is the 2 housemates, who are now based in Melbourne, 2 important reasons why I chose to visit Melbourne. I had another friend, first known in the uni hostel, also based in Melbourne. With 3 friends living in Melbourne, how not to visit?

Besides, Melbourne is a place that I've never visited. I know that I'll feel safe with them around, even if they can't accompany me the whole time.

I am going to Melbourne

2006-04-11T22:51:00.000+08:00

Hello,

In about 1 month's time, I'll be in Melbourne in May 2006. I'm sooooo excited. I've been dreaming about it for a very long time.

On the 3rd & final day of the annual NATAS travel fair, I booked my air ticket there. Details as follow:

airline = Emirates
departure time = 3.20pm, Singapore time
time it takes to travel from Singapore to Melbourne = 8 hours
arrival time in Melbourne = 10.30pm, Singapore time
cost of a return air ticket = S$400
cost of "agent fee" = S$40
cost of ALL surcharges = S$300
cost of e-Visa, valid for 1 year, starting from date of purchase = S$10
Total cost of just the damm tix alone = S$750

What a huge hole it's gonna burn in my pocket!! The lady who sold me the tix, told me that it is $300 surcharge, as that is wat's dictated by the airline.

Some of the people I know, ask me why I had to choose Australia for a break, when I could have it "better" else where. I think that they meant, "Eh, Australia is quite an expensive country to visit, you know? Go cheaper & better-value place like Hong Kong lah!"

I just have this to say: Australia will forever have a special place in my heart. I'll explain it in my next post.

Yu Ren Jie

2006-04-09T17:54:00.000+08:00

That means in Mandarin, "April Fools' Day". Heheheheee!!

Can't remember how this day went for me. Tell you later, okay? If I can remember!!

This is no "Yu Ren Jie" joke but I know that I've been slow in updating this blog. As said earlier, I'm working.

Am happy with my job, which I think I am ready for more responsibilities that I hope my superiors can trust to me.

Also, I am very happy as my colleagues, both senior & junior, are good to me. That include my big boss, my manager & others.

Have a nice belated "Yu Ren Jie" everyone.

Woes of an INDEPENDENT/ Single Traveller

2006-03-25T22:47:00.000+08:00

When will travel agents wake up to the fact that a person do want to travel alone sometimes?

I was at the Natas Travel Fair 2006 held in Singapore's Suntec City, hoping to capitalize on the abundance of good offers that were reportedly floating around. Bah, humbug!!

It made me wonder: the deals that were reported in the press so hot that they SOLD OUT by the 2nd day? I could not go on the 1st day of the fair, which happened on a working day for me, Friday 24 March 2006.

I felt sad at not being able to grab a deal there. How was it my fault that I waited until the NATAS fair, hoping to grab a fair deal? Notice that I said "fair deal", NOT "bargain".

This is WHAT had happened on the 2nd day of the NATAS Travel Fair on 25 March 2006:

I woke at about 11am
Read the papers, especially the TRAVEL sections for that day (Sat) & the NATAS supplement
By 1pm, I had set out to go to Suntec
There, at the overhead bridge leading to Suntec, I was "bombarded" with travel flyers being handed out.
Nice but since I've already made up my mind in going to a particular place, most of the flyers were useless to me. Sorry, folks!!
On the 6th floor (nearly went to the wrong floor), I went in after paying my entrance fee of S$3, per adult.
Many of the tours were advertised as "minium 2 to go", "prices based on 2A & 2C - 2 adults & 2 children"
3 words that any traveller don't want to hear: Don't have already - sold out!!
Another 2 words that any traveller dislike, on learning that there is seats on the dates that we would like to go but not on the package on offer at the travel fair: Pay More.

As someone who is going to travel solo, I don't mind paying more to travel but question is: is there a conspiracy between airlines & agents to exclude the independent traveller?

All the agents that I went to say that there are no seats left (mind you, this was only the 2nd day of the fair) for that promotion.

Meaning: that if I still so dearly wish to travel on that date, I can still go but please top up air fare by uptil $300 more!! ... not yet counting the hotel accomodation, airport tax ...

Still, I did not want to give up, although by this time (about 3.30pm) I was feeling peckish & tired. The signs were not good & I had no holiday to look forward to.

At this time of "despair", I noticed a queue forming. As it was not too long, I went over there to take a look. Upon hearing from other Q-ers that FREE POPCORN was being handed out, I had to queue up of course, for the "free food". Munching the stuff as I continued on my quest to find the elusive offer.

Although I do understand that:

holidays are no charity events
it is a commercial entity, therefore "work for profit"
more is more - the more people go tour, the more $$$ they spend

I still want to grumble. There is NO tours catering specifically to this niche group. We are an "invisible group".

I had thought that I did my homework on how much more expensive it would be for the solo traveller but alas, I was outwitted by the whole saga! I miscalculated by about S$400 at least. Boo hoo!!

This is what "homework" I did, in trying to calculate for my Melbourne holiday:

flying during off-peak season
(that is, avoid the SG school holidays like a plague!!!)
go to the airlines (Qantas, SQ, BA ...) homepage to look at the full fare & calculate from there, how much/ how little I can pay
scan the travel sections of the newspapers
read magazines & books
ask people that I know for any possible tips

Seems like my world came crashing down on me, like finding a needle in a haystack. I had worked so hard & "smart" towards this short short holiday. Was it never going to happen???

Let you hang in the balance. Tell you all in my next post.

I had a dream

2006-03-18T22:22:00.000+08:00

For a very long time now, I had this particular dream to visit Australia again.

Many, many people often ask me "why?" whenever I say "I want to go to Australia again". While most had nice things to say about Australia, some had not-so-nice things to say. Like "wah, so boring!!", "the people there are racist ...".

Now, I've always defended Australia. I always shoot back, saying".. Now then, you tell me. WHICH COUNTRY doesn't have racism??? Must you paint the whole country as such? Australia does not condone racism, just like any other country ...".

I once went Japan on vacation & exclaimed to the tour guide who brought us to Tokyo Disneyland that she was so lucky to be able to come Disneyland as & when she like, as she had a year-long valid pass. She told me that after a while, even Disneyland will begin to look like your everyday funfair. In other words, it can become boring!!

So you see, remembering what the tour guide told me, I would gently tell the person saying "... but it is soooooo boring!! Australia sooo boring!!" in not so many words that "one man's meat is another man's poison".

You may like to visit USA/Europe ... but it will have no bearing on what I like.

There are many reasons that I like to visit Australia, although I must admit that it can become rather expensive (like any other holiday, no matter where you go). Amongst the reasons are:

I still have friends based all over Australia. They include: JR, P, E, C, S, PP, JC, ... (notice that I only give the initials of their first names, except for PP, since there are 2 P)
The happy memories of my study time in Australia (I've deleted the unhappy ones) are forever embedded in my mind for safekeeping
I love the winter there. No snow but cold cool weather; If I want to see snow, I can go up the mountains (regards to cold weather, I've some funny tales but it is for other times)
Australia's an English-speaking country. As I also speak, read & write English, it makes life easier. The important word here is "EASIER".
Movie World is there
Dream World is there
Wave Rock is there
Tree-Top Walk is there
Can catch abalone there (heheheeee ...)

One of these days, I will describe my feelings as I stepped into Australia alone when I started on my study in Perth.

my 2nd blog

2006-03-09T23:04:00.000+08:00

Just an annoucement:

My 2nd blog is up & running.
It starts off with my concert experience watching FORT MINOR "live" in Singapore
It is about music, as I see it
Not a blog on David Tao, though the name suggest it
I do, however, admire Tao Zhe & his devotion to music
www.taodavid.blogspot.com

10 things about babies I've observed

2006-03-09T22:53:00.000+08:00

all babies are cute
all babies have a favourite pacifier
all babies are natural-born KAY POHs (busybodies)
Have you ever seen a baby who actually listens to "NO, you cannot go there!"
all babies have a favourite pillow/bolster
- the smellier, the dirtier, the better
- trust me (& babies/toddlers dun like the pillows washed)
all babies likes hugs
all babies have a favourite toy
woe betide to the one who takes it away
all babies have a 'natural fragrance'
even at their SMELLIEST, babies still smell way nicer than us, adults being smelly
expensive toys are useless
At that age, it will go "BANG, bang, Bang!!" - as they throw them toys about
Babies' way of moving: everything EXCEPT walking
- i.e. crying to be carried
- crawling
- climbing
it is forever "Me, Myself & I"

That is all for now. Damm tired leh.

Fort Minor in concert (Singapore): I AM GOING!!!

2006-02-26T21:18:00.000+08:00

Just a short short blog entry, I promise.

As any Linkin Park fan would know (regardless how devoted you are), Fort Minor is a side project started by Mike Shinoda, with the debut (first) album out in November 2005.

Am I a Linkin Park & Fort Minor fan?

Just to tell you, I'VE got MY TICKET to go watch FORT MINOR "live" at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in a few days' time, on 1 March 2006, at 8pm. Me bet that it would start only at about 8.30pm & with an encore built into my estimation, the whole thingy would end about 11pm? Enough time to catch the MRT home, I hope.

On that night, I'll be monkey jumping up & down, screaming out the names of the guys from FM, like Mike, Ryu, Tak ...

Nope, fat chance. More likely to happen if I do that, is that a security officer will come over & tell me to "diam diam" (i.e. keep quiet/calm) & get back to my seat!!

OY ... this is a hip-hop concert, not a classical concert, featuring Maksim or Jamie Cullum!! What do you mean in drowning our spirits, huh?

Baring any "nice" price tags, I would love to purchase some concert merchandise. Getting it autographed by the guy himself, Mike Shinoda, would be very very nice. Now, where did I put that piggy bank of mine?? I spy with my little eye .... OINK!!!!!

2 Milo 4 mee (a lame sequel)

2006-02-26T20:41:00.000+08:00

Am a bit shocked by the response to my previous posting. I still am ...

I did not imagine for a single moment that when I wrote about my one of my favourite drinks ... there's also Yakult & Vitagen but that's another 2 stories to tell), that it would be read by people other than my small circle of friends. It was such a minute mundane thing to wrote on one fine day ... not sure if it was afternoon or night.

After all, many other bloggers before me & probably after mine, would have blogged on far more interesting stuff. Hahaa, writting on "Milo"? Didn't think that it would get me "my 1.5 seconds of blogging fame". Gone before you know it. Doesn't that remind you of a movie? Eh, not the 1940s one, okay? The one with the female half of "Bradgelina".

Have tried before the various concoctions as suggested by readers who posted their opinions, baring the "Milo Godzilla" (hope I got that one right!).

To the reader who wrote that I should use only fresh milk for making Milo drinks, YUP, that is what I do. In Singapore, it is regular milk. In Perth, it is "1% fat" milk sold in 1-litre carton in the supermarket. Teeheheee ...

As for freezing a pkt of MILO to get "Milo Freeze", never thought of that before. Will try that one soon!! I've to, being the "meelow" fan I am.

Simple theory for that non-existence of Milo Godzilla: I've NO ICE CREAM in my house NOW!! Mebbie later I would go get some. I might tweak the recipe slightly, in the sense that I would replace vanilla ice cream with CHOCOLATE ice cream - recently tried Ben & Jerry.

Sorry to the folks at B & J but I don't like "lime ice cream". Lime drink yes! Lime ice cream NOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!!!!!

To those who patronize the Polar cafe, the 2 branches at Raffles CityLink & OUB Centre do have "MILO ice cream". Not bad, except that it melts way faster than their chocolate ice creams. Do watch out for the dripping!!

Another Milo by-product that I forgot to mention is the "MILO bar". Think of the Mars and/or Snickers bar & I think you would know what I'm talking about. Have tried that but I'm sorry to say (again?) that I'm not into them.

Not sure if there is also this Milo product along the likes of "Ovalteenies" from Ovaltine. If so, do tell me. I'd like to try that one out.

Meantime, I'm sure that it would be a smart marketing move. Last week, I spotted 6-tetra "mini" pack of MILO drinks being sold in Liberty supermarket, each would fit into my palm. These would be just the right introduction to small kids. It is one of the things whereby it would be alright for the kids to have "just a taste", i.e. have their own packet. The regular-sized ones are too big for them, though.

My Milo fantasy continues with these 2 things that I've never tried it out before (didn't want to "pee por, pee por"):

Bake Milo-flavoured cookies
Bake a Milo-infused cake

Okay, that's all for now. I'll be back. If there is "chocolate prata", any chance that there is "Milo prata"???

MILO & me

2006-02-19T14:44:00.000+08:00

I'm a fan of the drink, popularly known as "MILO". Have been ever since my childhood days. The originators of this drink are geniuses. Man, it is not often that I claim addiction to stuff (nothing ever illegal nor immoral).

It took me many years to realise this but I do consider myself lucky to be living in Singapore in this part of Asia.

I wonder if they do have it in USA? Better I go ask my friend, who had studied in USA before. Else, I can bet with you that there will be some MILO freaks like me, who will pack AT LEAST one tin of MILO into their luggage, come what the weightage will be. There you go, Mr/Ms Customs Officer, this ONE TIN will have to last me ONE SCHOOL YEAR. Yes, that's right. You heard me correctly.

The "Milo" comes in a chocolate-coloured powder form, which is packed into grass-green tins. Now, the tins when empty, serve as useful storage containers for things like: biscuits & love letters (edible tidbits served during Chinese New Year). It is air-tight, thus sealing in the crispyness into the container.

What one can do is to take a couple of teaspoons (or in my case, TABLESPOONs) of the MILO powder, drop it in a glass/mug, before mixing it with some hot water & milk (doesn't matter if it is full-cream or skimmed), finally topping it off with some cold/cooled water. I like mine cuppa with extra MILO powder floating on top. In some food & beverage places, they call it the "Milo Dinosaur". More or less the same recipe & they put it up for sale.

MILO lovers would have you know that there are TWO different types of powder available in the market out there, at least true in this part of the world, Asia. Depending on your luck & how the business managers do it, you can get MILO powder in Singapore coming from either Malaysia and/or Australia.

Unless I'm very much wrong, the one coming from our neighbouring Malaysia, is sweeter; to accomodate our Asian tastebuds for sweet stuff. While the one coming from Down Under Australia, it is creamier (probably from all the milk supply from the moo-moo cows).

Both types are equally good, not one above the other. It is just a matter of tastes.

There has been spin-offs using the MILO powder to manufacture drinks. Like the ever-popular MILO Dinosaur in Singapore (a recent concocted drink). Another is the MILO Freeze (more or less like pure crushed Milo drink). A third is the tetra-packed instant MILO drink, in packs of six. This can be found in Singapore & Malaysia.

A fourth is the "instant MILO 3-in-1, or if u prefer, 2-in-1 powder). They (meaning the instructions) always tell you "just add hot water" ... Bah, humbug!! To me, when I do that, the drink is like drinking "long kang water" (water from the drains, not a very pleasant experience). I always end up adding milk to those "2-in-1" or "3-in-1" instant MILO powdered drinks.

In the part of Australia during my student days, I NEVER SAW any TETRA-PACK of the Milo drink. To say it literally, I would have given an "arm & leg" just to get hold of ONE.

Only in my final semester, did they come up with it ... in my uni's cafeteria. It was delicious & creamy, not too sweet. It was not tetra-packed but in a plastic bottle with "an hour-glass" figure. Not exactly what I always drink back in SG. On hindsight, I should have packed a dozen of those drinks in my luggage.

The Customs Officers surely would be interested in my packing. I guess they would probably think,"This girl is crazy. You can get MILO powder in Australia, why would she want to bring in from her home country??"

I only ever once did pack those "3-in-1" but as they fell far short of my expectations (read above), I never did that again. Instead, I relied on Australian-made MILO powder & milk. Learnt my lesson.

On a parting note, please don't try this unless you don't mind chocolate teeth for awhile. I used to sneak a clean spoon into the family MILO tin at home & gobble up a few TABLESPOONS of the addictive powder. This, of course, was done only when the parents were not at home ... and when I was much younger.

The Day when ROSES cost a bomb

2006-02-14T22:25:00.000+08:00

Valentine's Day. The day when even a SINGLE miserable stalk of rose (whatever the colour it may be) can cost up to $10 or so. Almost everyone is jumping onto the bandwagon to sell.

This is what I've observed, which I'm basing it on ONE STALK of ROSE.

One would see ONE STALK "wrapped" in this half-transparent/silvery foil, with a small, teensy-weeny tiny coloured ribbon. The total height of this is no bigger than my two palms side by side.

Who have I spotted selling it? My neighbourhood newspaper stand vendor ... at S$4 per stalk of red rose. Then, as I exited the MRT station, there was this lone lady selling.

Seriously, I would not mind getting even just one stalk but this special day, I did not get any. Not that I mind it too much though. Gee, so now everyone will know that I am SINGLE & UNATTACHED. Sheesssh!!

For those not into Valentine's Day (not SINGLETONS), if you must have your protest march against "too commercialised days like Valentine", go ahead but PLEASE DO NOT USE VIOLENCE. Just think of it this way: you are SAVING YOUR MONEY to be put to BETTER USAGE.

CNY songs

2006-01-31T17:58:00.000+08:00

The other day (which was like ... oh, only yesterday ...), I sms my friend with this:

"If I ever hear yet another song about/on the CNY on the radio, I'll scream yyyyYYYaaAAAAAArrrrrRRRRRrrrrrrHHHHHHHhh ..."

I'm talking about those festive CNY that the various radio stations broadcasting in Mandarin will do during this festive season. Obligatory? Perhaps ... I don't know & I don't want to know.

What frustrates me is that ALL FIVE stations do it, no exceptions.

I switch on to FM8xx, it's there ...
Switch over to FM9xx, it's STILL there
Tweak it to _FM1xxx, there & never gone

Somewhere along in the CNY-themed song being broadcast, one can usually hear this "dong dong chiang" ... until my head goes "ding dong". Throwing my hands up in the air out of frustration, I finally had the guts to switch it to BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) news ... NEWS ... on the THIRD DAY of CNY - the Doggie Year.

WOOF ... who let the songs out? WOOF ... woof!!

Hair cut for the DOG Year

2006-01-22T22:05:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Year is in about 2 weeks' time & I STILL HAVE NOT BOUGHT STUFF yet. Things like: shoes, clothes, innerwear, bag ...

About the only thing that I've done so far is to cut my hair. I had to queue up at this "$10 hair cut" shop. These kind of shops are a good thing for people like me, who do not like paying cut-throat prices for a simple hair cut (pardon the pun).

I do not really blame the owners of hair cut shops. Not that much anyway.

This phenomeneon had an early start this year. CNY rings in on 29 January 2006.

About 1 month prior to the big event, when my mom went for her haircut, she was charged more.
She told me that in the years gone past, it was 2 weeks BEFORE the actual date that hair saloons up their charges.

Why else do you think I went for a "$10 hair cut"? Mind you, these hairstylists are good. How to get a profit at $10 ... I still haven't go calculate yet. Mebbie the below might help:

These "$10 hair cut" places only do HAIR CUTS, nothing else.
There are no "steamers" to steam your hair
There is a metal compartment beneath the chair for the cut hair
You (the customer) get a comb to take home (hehe, rhymes don't it?)

This is what happens when you go cut your hair in such places.

You MUST prepare a S$10 note (the red colour one)
Slot it in the vending machine
Out shoots a card (name of shop & branch)
You queue up (can't run to buy a kopi ... you would lose your queue numbering)
The next available hairstylist (man/woman) will cut your hair
All done in 10 minutes flat
Collect your belongings (kept in the compartment behind the mirror) & you get your disposable comb
They say "good-bye" (in Japanese) & you (for goodness' sake) say "bye-bye"

Easy enough to register in your mind? Cool? You tell me.

I got a new BLOG

2006-01-08T22:52:00.000+08:00

Dear JR (you know who you are),

I know that I will get hammered for this but I had to tell you this:

I got a new blog

Haven't written anything in there as of now 'cos I'm lazy. Writers have their "writers' block" & musicians their "inspiration". Where does that leave us, bloggers?

Go do the maths. When you are done with the calculations, tell me.

Until then, I shall persevere in trying to come up with a good start to it. Meanwhile, I'm going to give you, my friend, a peek.

This 2nd blog of mine, I've decided, shall be music-based. ANYTHING that catches my fancy. It could be reviews of CDs that I bought, instruments' descriptions (like a bass guitar) and/or going to concerts.

I want to do something, other than being an arm-chair admirer of music. Make sense to you?

My 2006 resolution

2006-01-01T15:27:00.000+08:00

Dear Blog,

It might be late, it might NOT be late but anyway, this is my 2 cents' worth on the annual ritual known as "resolution".

IMHO, in front of everybody in my department in the company where I work, I boldly said this:"

I wish to get fit in 2006 (nothing unsual there ...) so that I can TRY to run a mini-marathon in 2007 (VERY very Very UNSUAL here ...).

I do not regret saying that. EVER. However, it might have not been a very good idea to say it in front of so many people, especially now that I know that there will be many pairs of eyes on me each time I bit/munch into something.

Like if I don't eat breakfast before coming to work, I know that I will get hungry at about 10am ... mumbling ... grumble ... mumbling ... shove food into mouth. Something like that.

It is not "Mission Impossible" but rather I think "Mission Nearly Impossible". This is based on the following reasons:

1) What the heck do I know about running, let alone marathons???
2) Considering the sendentary lifestyle I've led so far ... MNI is a good moniker
3) Marathons start early ... at 5.30am/6am ... I am not a morning person (not good, not good)
4) The diet eschew stuff that I'm partaking now
5) This cannot be a half-hearted attempt but a damm serious one

They say "mind over matter". HA!! Easier said than done.

The sort of exercises that I've done so far is "free", meaning: I walk a lot AND I do mean "a lot".

I walk to the MRT instead of taking the bus, except on rainy days
After my lunch, I walk about the surrounding shops
In the name of "retail therapy", walking from The Heeren to Centrepoint for a pair of shoes is "no sweat".

The above not applicable in hot sunny weather ... kidding only. Even then, I will find ways & means to get that.

Pole position on the MRT

2005-12-23T22:32:00.000+08:00

Dear all,

Have you by any chance taken the MRT (as we all call it by that in Singapore anyway) lately? I do. In fact, I take public transport to work 5 times a week.

This is one area that I don't indulge in. I understand that some of you who read this posting might & jolly well get angry/offended but unless you do take the MRT in Singapore, you won't know what I mean.

Upon getting into a carriage, you would find yourself either seating (if you are lucky) or stand (if you're unlucky and/or if your next stop is just one MRT station away).

The train is designed such that there are seats against the windows on either side, with metals poles at staggered positions along the middle of the carriage, presumbly for people to put their hands for steadying themselves & not fall down. Simple but effective use of the pole.

What I cannot stand is how some people, selfish ones, seem to think that the pole is for their use only
They will lean on the pole, thereby effectively cutting off others from using the pole to "grab onto for steadying purpose" ... Their mentality seems to be "huh!! I got to the pole first!! Go somewhere else to grab ..."

I wrote this out of frustration, after seeing this yet again on the MRT. Seeing this once too often sure can make you boil ... except that the only thing boiled I like right now is a cooked boiled lobster.

On the Wedding Eve night/ Wedding morning ...

2005-12-10T22:10:00.000+08:00

I've no idea on whether this is actually a good thing or not but do bear with me please (don't think it is a repeatition).

You see, it is like this:

For a long time now, as far as I can remember, I've always been a very very light sleeper ... except when on holidays, when I "sleep like a pig".

Some months back (YEAH ... I know that this is waaaaaaaaaaaay overdue), I told you all that it was X's wedding & I had a small part in it. Not only that, I stayed over at her place, the reason being X stayed in one part of Singapore & I stayed on the polar opposite (the other side of Singapore).

I remembered that on the eve of X's wedding, I was working. Immediately after work, I rushed home to get ready for a sleepover at X's home. When I reached her place, I was baffled by the many entrances & so, I did the typical response ... which was to telephone her & say,"Eh, hello, good evening. Your place ah, how to get there ah? I'm here already, hor."

At that time, it was in the evening, about 10pm or so. X came down to get me to her home. I was so surprised to find that her family so calm & cool about THE WEDDING. X told me that it is not the first wedding that her family held, so they already have the experience on what to expect & besides, they have done all the preparations needed.

Yakking on about all until a little past midnight when I finally dozed off to Dreamland. The bride K.O. first, then me.

On her wedding morning, X woke at 5.30am ... and me? At the first chimes of the alarm clock, I was already awake but stayed lazing in it for a bit before dragging myself out of bed. As always, initially whenver I wake up, I'm not a very communicative person. It takes a while before the snooze effect wears off, by which I'll be full of energy.

To cut a long yarn short, see the following timeline for my energy level. I wonder IF & WHEN I do get married, will the energy level still be the same?

Wedding Eve
7.30am - wake up to go work (groggily)
6+pm - knock off work
10pm - reach X's home
12+ midnight - sleep time

Wedding Morning/Day
5.30am - wake up (20% awake)
6am - X's stylist arrives (100% awake, 100% energetic)
slightly after 7am - styling of X into a very beautiful brides completes (even more energy now)
7.40+am or so - Y, who is the husband of X, arrives for the "fetching the bride" (energetic peak; see my earlier posts)
9am - reach Y's home for the tea ceremony on guy's side (still as energetic)
11am (i think) - reach the couple's new matrimonial home, for X to change costume (energetic)
12+pm - tea ceremony on girl's side at X's home starts
1pm - go back my own home to rest

One would have thought that have woken up at 5.30am, I am tired enough to nap but oh no NO no ... still as hyper-energetic as ever.

The energy level finally wore off the next morning ... at about 2am
I've done my maths & calculated that in a day, there are 24 hours
Since the next morning "awake" time is 5.30am & "now" was 2.30am, I've been awake for (24 - 3) = 21 hours!!!!!

21 hours awake!! That's not too bad, considering that I've had an enriching experience, in actually going through an actual Chinese-style wedding, as one of the "sisters".

It's like this, ya all know that

2005-12-03T16:52:00.000+08:00

I'm going through a horrible, miserable, terrible mood swing right now. Yeah, that's right. I'm feeling the blues & it is not just your usual "Monday Blues".

Perhaps I should go pay a visit to my GP, or I should go partake in "Happy Hour". Throw a diva-sized tantrum, with flying saucers & plates all around ... that would cost me a lot of moolah.

Or I should just mediate. That, in my view, is like putting a nut in front of a squirrel & asking it not to gobble it up.

Go figure. This is one of my shortest blog entries ever, I should know.

David Tao's 933FM interview (A)

2005-11-26T11:30:00.000+08:00

As soon as I heard that David Tao was INDEED going to hold a concert in Singapore, I immediately contacted my friend, X, with something like this:

"Eh, want to go to Tao Zhe's concert? ..."

If memory serves me correct, public sale of concert tickets started in early October 2005, on a Monday morning, at 9am. Prior to that, X (yes, she's the one mentioned in earlier blog entries) had asked me what type of seats I was interested in. I replied " ... whatever you wish to get ..."

Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you would look at it), I went for the "cheapest tix" ... at S$80 a tix, they don't come that cheap either!!

If anyone is wondering about the reason as to why I did not get the most expensive tickets of S$170, a matter of reasonable investigation, known only to selected people.

Important thing is, as another friend was consoling me "nvm Cookie, tis better tat u went than u didn't go to Tao Zhe's concert! U go, girl!!"

As soon as she had booked & got the confirmed tickets, X sms me " ... got the tickets ..." Three words that have never sounded so good & ones that got me all hyped up.

The countdown to Tao Zhe/David Tao Love Can concert 2005 in Singapore had begun.

First stop: 933FM interview with THE MAN himself on 22/11/2005, at 11pm

Currently, the late-night show is being hosted by Peifen. Once the magical hour of 11pm arrived, she introduced David Tao & the interview began proper.

To me, the interview came in mainly 2 parts:

the 1st part that focused on the Love Can concert
non-LC stuff

I will mention some non-LC stuff & not on the Love Can part, as I've not done enough on that part to translate to my blog here.

Certain of the non-LC stuff mentioned in the interview got me smiling & laughing, whilst listening very intensively.

As a kid, David was no different from other kids. The one time that he got into trouble with his parents was the time he tripped up another young kid who did nothing wrong with riding a bicycle past David's home in USA. Like any naughty kid, Tao Zhe got punished by his parents.

One would have thought that David would have learnt his lesson but OH NO no NO, The Man himself revealed that & I do a rough short translation in English, that David uttered something like,"Huh, you got me into trouble!! You wait & see!!"

Another non-LC bit was when David Tao mentioned his "fear" on flying cockroaches. Since when do guys "fear" flying cockroaches??

At 40, he is hoping to get involved with movies, probably directing and/or producing. Which means with the current status quo, we the fans of David Tao, have about another 4 years to appreciate his music (and 1 or 2 more full-length concerts). This is before he gradually steps behind the camera, instead of in front of it. Not that he will be out of music completely but perhaps he could do a movie soundtrack.

Music-wise, he touched on a few songs, one of them being "Ai Hen Jian Dan" (I Love You), one of David Tao's trademark songs.

When he mentioned that he wrote the song somewhere in 1992 or 1993, Peifen joking said "... er ..err .. think that time I was so young ...", with David cutting in with this reply "... so how YOUNG you were? ...". Bless her, Peifen replied with "... should be about 10+ ..." & David Tao replied with "... I was also 10+ during that period ..."

Much Better - A Simple Entry

2005-11-20T14:26:00.000+08:00

I've been thinking about my blog recently. I know that I've said it before & got even people, other than myself thinking, "What are you doing with blogging? Are you sure that it is you??"

Truth to be told is that I kinda like blogging. To me, it is like an electronic diary, only that in this case, entries in this E-diary can be read by all & sundry. I'm not exactly one to shy away if I've problems (it doesn't matter if the problems were created by me or not) but then again, I'm not one to air ALL my dirty laundry in public.

In the past, whilst still a very small little girl (OK, so I'm a female blogger, who is YOUNG-AT-HEART), in the school that I went to, all of us students, had to KEEP A DIARY!! They even had a competition (sort of like your "who's the smartest one in each class") for some years, with prizes given out for the best entries. How do they, the judges, know? Why, they read your diaries of course! ... I wonder what did they find out? ... That so-and-so in Class ABC like Tom Cruise, the movie star? That the Star Wars movie guy Indy-what's-his-name (Harrison Ford) is like that??

Did I win? NO, of course I did not. Else, I would have had bragging rights to it, man. Besides, I wasn't in the habit of writting it down in those growing-pain years. Some mundane stuff, like: "Today, I had chilli fish slices for recess", or even more tasteless stuff like "Finish my homework early & watch Garfield".

And I thought that the writtings in diaries are private? I was wrong, OH SO WRONG.

I've read a few blogs, namely by 3 blokes who go by the names of Kenny Sia (I know him since my uni days back in Perth), Mr Brown (not an ang moh but Chinese guy, very famous in sunny Singapore) & Mr Miyagi (also not a Japanese but another famous Singaporean blogger who is Chinese).

Those guys ... they got me devouring their entries eagerly. Hey, I even read Mr Miyagi's reservist blog entries before he 'kanna' MINDEF advice to get clearance first before posting, for security purposes. Don't even bother to ask me what it is 'cos I've absolutely no clues whatsoever.

It could not get past me that the design for my postings was such that my entries were very "long & narrow". Unlike many others, I'm no computer geek/genius & hence, I was despairing at how to rectify the asthetic problem of my blog. Then, I thought:"Hey, it seems like a template problem ... u know different templates have different layouts. So, why don't you (meaning myself) change it??"

Have done so. This might not last very long or until I find something more stretchable, more elastic than a rubber band, whereby the entries are positioned better.

CHEERS, mate.

Fetch The Bride

2005-11-13T16:55:00.000+08:00

Chinese weddings are quite fun, IF YOU ARE INVOLVED in it, not just as the groom & bride. I'm serious. Let me tell you my account on a recent wedding that I personally attended.

About 2 months ago (YES, yes ... I know that this posting is waaaaaay long overdue), one of my good friends (let her be known as X) got married.

Prior to her wedding, Miss X emailed a couple of us (ONE YEAR AHEAD), her female friends, that she was getting married about this time next year & requested our help on that day. Of course, I RSVP (is that the correct term to use?) that I would gladly help her out on her BIG DAY (don't ask when it is my turn).

By 7am on her wedding day, X was beautifully made up by her stylist (time it took: one hour) & was sitting there in all glory & prettiness, waiting for her darling hubby to come fetch her. Let us call the groom Y.

I don't know how the custom started but when a Chinese lady gets married, she gets some of her lady friends as "sisters", to help out on that day. Part of our duties involved being the timekeeper (to ensure that we do not miss the lucky timings for certain events), helping to carry the bride's stuff (make-up, wedding dress bag, blah blah ...)

My favourite "game" has got to be this: FETCH THE BRIDE.

I know I digressed a little but nevermind. In the high spirit of things ... it can get out of hand a wee bit.

On the groom's side, he will get a few of his buddies to be his "brothers" & their duties would involve carry a tray of things that I'm not too sure of the significance, except that I know those are the things that you would see in Chinese weddings. (for good luck, I suppose) & accompany the guy as he goes "get his wife".

Now, when the groom comes, the gate/door to the home of his bride is supposed to be locked up, to prevent the guy's party to enter. What is supposed to happen next, is that Y & his buddies have to play a few games with the wife's friends.

Here's the fun part: those games can be quite a hoot to play, as they are not your normal "scissors, paper, stone". They are usually something like: eat certain things & hand over the red packet with money inside.

The significance of the games I gather (besides the usual good luck to the bridal couple) is to let the guy know that he can't just have the bride "so easily" & must treat his wife well.

The norm would be to let him, Y, have a taste of life ahead. That is why the games are usually split into 4 categories of "Suan" (Sour), "Tian" (Sweet), "Ku" (Bitter) & "La" (Spicy).

We, on the girl's side, managed to get 3 out of the 4, leaving out the "Tian" ... on hindsight, we ought to have considered asking her husband, Y, to eat some sugar but all things turned out well that morning. For the SUAN, we got some fresh limes, we had some bittergourd cut up for the KU bit & some small chilli padi as the LA. All these were kindly brought to us by one of the sisters that morning.

How much time we get to play these hilarious games depends on 2 factors:

1) the lucky time that we all (bride, groom & all the sisters & brothers) have to step into the groom's home. We had one of the sisters be the all-important timekeeper. Thanks for the wonderful job, J.

2) what time the groom & his buddies actually arrive to "fetch the bride"

When the guy arrives in a car at the girl's house, the girl's actual younger brother (related by blood & DNA; if the girl does not have any brothers, I suppose that her younger cousin also can?) will open the car door for the guy.

Immediately, the brother has to speed up back into the house before it is locked up prior to the groom's arrival, for the start of the "Fetch The Bride" showtime.

He arrived without much fanfare. As soon as we the girls spotted Y, we screamed out "HE IS HERE!! He's here!!!!" He came with four of his buddies to the entrance of X's home. THAT heralded the start of THE GAMES.

After some hemming & hawing, we started teasing the guy, saying something like (all mostly lucky-sounding phrases), "Oy, why did you come so late?", "You made her wait & worry", "You have committed the crime (fiticious, of course) of ..."

They handed over the first red packet (or ang pow, as we call them locally). A lot of giggling from the girls in the house, as we examined the red packet. It is difficult to describe on a blog how this actually looks like but ...

Then, we would tease him further by saying, "... as punishment, you have to do this ..." We got him & his buddies to EAT UP EVERYTHING, that we had planned whilst waiting for them to arrive.

More teasing:
"You are thirsty? Here, have some LIME to drink". They had to squeeze out the juice from the lime to drink, with the lime being smaller than a golf ball.

"You haven't known bitterness? Here, eat up this bittergourd" ... To his credit, the groom actually ate up most of the bittergourd himself (with him saying later on that he kind of like eating bittergourd, so it was no problem to him). Bravo!!

"You want to spice up your life? Here, eat some chillies!!" Now, that was something that his buddies are called "buddies", since they underwent eating the small chillies, which by the way, the smaller they are, the hotter they are. The groom, Y, did not eat any chillies.

Then, in the middle of it all, through a wily trick by the guys, one of the windows was accidentally unlocked. On seeing a window of opportunity (pardon the pun), the buddies rushed the groom to actually climb the window to get into the house. As we tried to push the guys (us 4 gals vs. the 4 blokes), there was lots of screaming "AAAahahhh!!" & "Cookie, go guard the door".

It is the FIRST TIME that I have actually seen the bridegroom climbing through the living room window to get into the house. I shall not forget that funny sight, ever.

We had agreed (us 4 ladies, excluding the lovely bride herself) that for Y to claim his wife, X, Y has to play 1 VIP game & hand over the ang pow with the "symbolically CORRECT" amount of money, before he could claim the bride. We put on our thinking caps to think of what games we could play, with who in charge of doing what. We had fun analyzing the games.

I had strict instructions not to open the door to the room where the bride sat waiting, until I counted that the amount for the BIG ang pow is correct. This was to be the last part of the games before Y could claim his wife, X, from us, her sisters.

So, leaving the other 3 sisters, I rushed into the room with the bride sitting there as cool as a cucumber & locked the door, using myself as the extra lock.

I sort of had the upper deciding hand & played it as such. (We, the sisters had agreed beforehand that the guy had to sing a song by David Tao, as suggested by me & the brothers had to play backup dancers to Y!!) Trying my darnest not to scream too much, I kept saying "I can't hear you!! You better sing louder or else I don't open the door!!"

After much bargaining & no backup dancers, the five guys sang David Tao's version of "The Moon Represents My Heart", with help from an MP3 player ... Go figure ...

Next, came the all-important handing of the ang pow. As in any Chinese wedding, the guys would try to reduce the amount of money, which started off initially at a very very high price. At last, after a lot of giggling & pretence, the money was handed over to the 3 ladies standing guard outside the door (while I was inside the room, behind the door).

As the ang pow was too thick (with all that money) to be slided under the door, the girls slipped the money slowly. I had to count (and never in all my life since my Maths exams, was I so nervous with money) & shout out something like "the money's OK".

Imagine wads of S$50 & S$10 notes to count: one S$50 note, two S$50 notes, three S$50 notes ... It got me counting twice, watched on by the very calm bride, who told me not to be so nervous.

With the amount being "correct", we sisters finally allowed the groom, Y, to see his very beautiful bride, X. That represented the "SWEETness", the ultimate in this very fun "game".

I could have poked further fun at Y but decided that in the goodness of the day, to be a good girl.

my crazy BBC frequency

2005-11-13T16:10:00.000+08:00

Remember that song by Missy Britney Spears, You Drive Me Crazy?

Well, that pretty much sums up about my sleep these 2 weeks. I've not been able to sleep much, that is for sure. Below is a summary of why I couldn't sleep & why I'm of the view that THAT SONG by Britney is best.

I love listening to the BBC (that's the British Broadcasting Service, for you all out there) on the stereo that I brought back with me from Perth eons ago. That has been my habit every night in Singapore before I snooze; must listen to the BBC for awhile first.

This portable stereo has a compartment for cassette, radio & CD. It functions pretty much ok, EXCEPT for the times that it goes on "annual vacation". Then, "all hell breaks loose". For some strange reason, I start "hearing double". Meaning, that suppose I wish to tune into BBC, there is a lot of scratchy sounds AND get another radio station at the same frequency as BBC!!

Tweaking & fiddling the radio frequency was of no use at all, I just couldn't manage the right concoction. How I missed out on listening to my favourite BBC programmes.

Listening to BBC programmes has ONE MAJOR IRRITANT (for me at least).

For some unknown reason, every 15 minutes or so, someone at the management level has decreed that there be a news broadcast. Can you imagine that you are idly chilling out listening to BBC programmes & lulled into semi-consciousness, the radio blares out "... and now, for th latest news update ..."

I just wonder: why do you have to spoil the mood by such idiocy? As if the "half-hourly" news pipped out isn't good enough.

Despite that, I still listen. During those days (about 10 days or so) when I couldn't get my dose of BBC, I suffered from withdrawal symptoms. No other stations could compete to fill the void left in my heart with the unofficial abscence of BBC.

AT LONG LAST, on Friday night (11 November 2005), I could hear the programmes again!! Oh what joy it brought to me!! One does wonder: with all that English I listen to, did it do anything to my accent? As in the way I speak? Nope, not a slim chance.

Now, I better go get a longer antenna for my stereo. Just in case, my frequency decides to take emergency last-minute breaks & leave me in the lurch.

where lies thy BBC radio frequency?

2005-11-04T22:36:00.000+08:00

Eh, seriously lah. I'm beginning to look like one big giant panda now, although some people I know beg to differ on the subject.

Have been fiddling with my radio these few days, trying my darnest to adjust the frequency to listen to my favourite BBC radio programmes. Alas, to no avail that I was able to concoct the correct waves. Thus, for now until I get my brand-new mini stereo with remote control, I'll have to forgo listening to it.

I can get Gold 905FM to UFM1003, no problems BUT ... BBC? That is a whole different ballgame altogether. After some useless/fruitless tweaking here & there for over an hour, I screamed silently in my heart (since it was way past midnight): WHAT THE ...

So, I've made an unofficial vow for tomorrow: go shopping for a new & not-too-expensive mini stereo, complete with remote control & a slot for cassette tape/ music CDs. Yah, I know that by saying so, I'm kinda like an old-fashion nerd but ...

Have been listening to BBC programmes for many years now & I don't speak with a British accent!! About the only major irritant is that some joker has decreed that BBC has news broadcast EVERY 15 MINUTES!!?

Will tell you more some other time, when I'm not too lazy.

Me a "TAO ZHE STALKER?"

2005-11-03T14:26:00.000+08:00

Dear Blog,

Forgive me for having not updated since early Oct-2005. I've been busy with work & "... some other things ..." TO make up for it, I've something to report to you now.

I discovered something very odd/funny/weird today.

Was surfing my friend, KENNY SIA's blog as usual today, when I saw this heading, something like, " ... I know these people too ..." Having seen this "tao zhe stalker", since I do admit that I like listening to his music (Tao Zhe/ David Tao), so I clicked onto the link, expecting to read up on news about Tao Zhe in ENGLISH, for once ...

The closest that I ever came to "stalk" is this: one stalk .. two stalks ... three stalks of flowers .... for a bunch of flowers that I received for my birthday once, given by a wonderful bunch of friends.

GUESS WHAT HAPPENED? I came to my own blog site!! I muttered something like "holy ... ", basically unprintable words in this self-censored blog (yah yah, I hear ya).

Next, as any of my friends will tell you about my "giggles", I started giggling. From a teeny-weeny "hee hee", it spiralled into a generous laugh!!

As to WHY Mr Kenny Sia (Oh my God, they killed Kenny ... from South Park, lah!!) would link up my blog to his blog, it is way beyond my far-from-complicated analytical calculations.

I'm certainly not angry at Kenny in anyway over this. Don't think that he (Kenny) would mean any harm, right? Heheheeee ...

To me, it is simply amazing. Now, mebbie a tiny-teeny-weeny percentage of the world population might read my blog (note to self: brush up on your english/singlish). How BIG of me to assume!!!

For starters, I certainly have never asked Kenny to link it to his blog page. NEVER EVER ... Why should I do that? I mean, the reasons for creating this blog of mine are as follows:

To keep in touch with my friends, some of whom are located overseas; I'm based in Singapore
Used to have a diary when I was really really young; now, I'm just basically "young-at-heart"
My handwritting when I'm in a hurry, leaves much to be desired
I type faster (don't bet with me)
Kenny Sia inspired me; read his blog (still do!!) & decided to try my hand at blogging (read my 1st blog posting for further details)

HMmmm .. I see that it is time for me to do another entry on/about Tao Zhe/David Tao, come this weekend.

Guess what I ate?

2005-10-28T22:50:00.000+08:00

I've kept this blog entry HIDDEN for way too long & now, I've the pleasure of launching it before the whole world. It has not a jot to to with the telly (some call it the idiot box; I wonder ...)

As you would know, I studied in Perth at one of the universities there (won't say which one). I STILL KEEP IN TOUCH now & then, with some of the people back there. Recently, ONE OF THEM came down to Singapore for work & I've had the good fortune to meet up with her.

How did I know? It is via one of mankind's good friends, EMAIL (short for electronic mail/letter).

K (not KENNY SIA) wrote back in reply to my email that she would be in Singapore sometime in October 2005. So, I emailed, asking to meet up if possible. OK on my side & OK on her side, the date/time/place was set.

The countdown began.

On the eventual day, I met her after my work at the MRT station (we call them train stations Mass Rapid Transit - MRT stations, for short). It has been over 2 long years since we last me & it got me a wee bit worried that K might not recognize me. I do have a photograph of me & her taken whilst I was at school, thus I would not worry not recognizing K.

K DID RECOGNIZE ME ... even after 2 long years!! Amazing, ain't it so? Well, at least I think so.

We sat down for a bit of a chat. Basically, I filled her in on what had happened to me since I left the uni. Yabba dabba do ... yak yak ... blah blah blah blah ...

Did my bit on being a good host, I had asked K prior to dinner what sort of food she takes/likes. Since she told me "spicy", I cheekily added, "no worries" & I brought her to our very famous outdoor dining area in the CBD, ... LAU PA SAT (meaning: Old Market).

Lau Pa Sat is situated in the middle of Singapore's Central Business District (CBD). It is like an open-air food court, where there are seats inside with shelter from the rain & wind, or you could choose to sit "outside", where from 7pm to about 1am, there is no shelter from the Old Man Up In The Sky. For non-Singaporean readers, it is best you ask your Singapore friends what I mean. I'm not so sure if one can get this style of eating in non-Asian countries.

For TWO PERSONS (K & me), the following is what we ate & drank - try beating the record:

30 sticks of satay (beef, chicken & mutton)
2 longtongs (actually, it should have been ketupat but the stallowners did say that longtong better & I'm OK with it)
1 stingray, small
1 small plate of kai lan cooked in oyster sauce
1 small plate of sotong yu tiao
4 bottles of drinking water, with ice
1 piece otak-otak (for K only)

When K asked me "what's longtong/ketupat?", in short, I told her, "think of it as rice, cooked & compacted into a tiny container". Much later on, after dinner (which I paid for & turned down K's offer to pay, telling her to take it as my treat to her. Seriously, I was only too happy to pay), I asked the satay stall owner to explain it to K further.

I did warn K that the stingray would come BBQ, with a healthy dose of chilli & spices on it. GUESS WHAT? For an Ang Moh (Caucasian), she is considered to be very good at holding her chilli, if you know what I mean. However, she didn't like the "mushi-ness" of the stingray; that is the best word I can use to describe what she told me.

Both of us did look at the seafood menu when we came across this non-chilli & non-spicy seafood item, sotong yu tiao. When K asked me, I grinned & told her with a straight face, only to see her squirm in her seat there & then, "Sotong Yu Tiao is best described as putting some chopped up squid & putting it through the food processor, then spreading it over a cut-into-2 doughnut. Finally, one takes that concoction to fry till cooked".

The look on K's face was priceless. I was nearly doubled over with laughter.

Later that night, I was thinking," Hey, mebbie I should have described sotong yu tiao this way: squid pate in doughnut". Don't ask me why the fascination with doughnuts.

The one piece of Otak that she took also had about the same effect as the stingray: mushi-ness. Otak (or as some would call it Otak-Otak) is basically fish paste mixed with spices & chili (God knows how much chilli there is) wrapped in what-kind-of-leaf-I-can't-recall, then grilled over an open fire. Otak is best taken hot for the maximum effect, a kind of tingling sensation all over yourself.

Of course, there is non-spicy otak, for those who do not take spicy food. To me & others who love Singapore chilli, there is not much "kick" in eating that. (it is just my opinion)

Are you, my dear reader, drooling from all that I've described yet? Hahahaaa!!

The Demise of my favourite HK series

2005-10-09T16:09:00.000+08:00

AAARRRRrrrrggggghhhh!!!

ZHEN QING (aka A Kindred Spirit) is having its last episode today - 9 October 2005, on Channel 8. Let me share with you my memories of it.

The show that I'm watching now is a repeat of the very popular long-running drama series from Hong Kong. It started off being shown somewhere in the late 1990s on cable TV. Later, on "free TV" aka Channel U (by the now defunct MediaWorks), it was broadcast on a weekly basis, on 1-hour episodes.

Never really got to know the characters on the show, as I was away in Perth studying & only returned to Singapore irregularly. In those days when I returned to Singapore, I would eagerly grab an old copy of the TV magazine, 8-Days, to read up on what happened in "A Kindred Spirit".

I heard but never knew what happened in the stories on Runcai, Duohuan, Duoxin, Qinghua (having an affair in China), Shuang Shuang & Dasheng. The ones I knew about are as folllows:

Run Shan & Cha Shao Bing
Run Hao (played by Nancy Sit) & her ex-husband(s) & partners.
Rong Yi
Tian Fu & his 2 wives - the good 1st wife & that bad, bad 2nd one, who cheated him (I can't understand how Tian Fu allowed himself to be so cheated upon)
Xiao An, the indecisive guy & the youngest child of Run Shan/Cha Shao Bing
Xiang Hai & his multiple partners - sorry but it is true. Don't feel much sympathy for such a guy. Pity Rong Yi, what an adopted son Xiang Hai turned out to be!!
Zihao - what a jerk!! 'nuff said
Mei Mei - what arrogance she displays, which makes me wonder: Do all rich ladies show such arrogance/indifference?
Ah Qiong & Ya Lai
Ya Nan & Xiao Min
Dasheng & Qingyun - have never come across such a domineering woman in my life, save for one ... and as for Dasheng, he is an ex-con turned 100% good guy (though I don't know why Dasheng went to jail for, as I was away in Perth during his story)
Muchuan - he ain't an angel, so why he ditters & dotters when it comes to Xiaomei, I don't understand
Da Li - used to like Ah Qiong, still do 'cept now it is on a friend-friend basis
Xiaomei - she had prior knowledge of someone committing adultery, so why did she not inform the aggrieved party?
Granpa & Granma - "Mu Lao Hu" is how I would describe the grandmother (Wai Po, in Mandarin) ... As for Granpa, now & then, he would spout out his "words of wisdom"
Shengmen - in the beginning, sheer arrogance & an absolute love for bananas (he is a nutcase in himself). In the later part, maturity takes hold of him
Shengxiao - another indecisive fella, where matters of the heart is concerned
Shengjin (aka Jin Jin) - her name is a play on the Mandarin words for "crazy" ... Whoa!! Stay away from her, man!
Xiaoni - the mother to Shengxiao, Shengmen & Shengjin .. where all the craziness started
High-class relative (in Mandarin, this sounds like "Shang Deng Qing Jia) - a filthy rich-to-rags-to-some riches lady, who is the mother of Qingyun & Qinghua; hence a MIL to Duoxin
Datuk & his wife (mother to Ya Nan & stepmother to Ya Lai)
Ah Xue - Certain aspects of her behaviour prior to her amnesia is questionable
Helen - Careerwoman
Joan - Helen's younger sister & on/off girlfriend of Xiao-An
Lisheng - wonderful doctor's career turned off when he had an affair & tragic consequences resulted in his 1st wife's amnesia, his 1st child's death (an unborn baby at that, poor thing), his subsequent jailing & after that, rehabilitation back into the society, including being a doctor again & his 2nd marriage
Jingchuan - sounds like my type of heroine, except for 1 part
Ken - playboy one-time partner of Shengxiao
Vietnam - the son that Granpa had with his Vietnamese wife, a very nice bloke, who has a never give up attitude

Ok, I need to go get ready for the final episode of "A Kindred Spirit". It will start soon at 4.40pm today, 9 October 2005, on Channel 8.

Will blog about my good friend's wedding some other time, as until now, I've not gathered what I feel is sufficient blog material on it.

One of those days ...

2005-09-25T19:23:00.000+08:00

Michael Jordan, the great big basketball superstar from USA (formerly with Chicago Bulls) was quoted as saying the below & I'm fortunate to have got the book of quotes, including Michael's (The Quotable Athlete by Mike McGovern & Susan Shelly).

As I'm still gathering ideas of how to do a write-up on The Wedding, here's my take on "don't give up!!" The Wedding updates will come later, as I want to do a good write-up, since it is based on my good friend's wedding.

I must admit though, I've never really understood & hence, liked basketball much. However, Michael Jordan does seem like your regular nice bloke & have you guys seen him in that enjoyable movie "The Space Jam" with all those popular cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck?

"If you run into a wall, don't turn around & give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work through it."

Michael Jordan
former NBA superstar with the Chicago Bulls,
in I Can't Accept Not Trying: Michael Jordan on the Pursuit of Excellence, 1994

Anyone would ask:"Am I going through tough times?" upon reading my latest blog entry. My answer is a resounding "NO". It is just that I was reading (yes, STILL reading ...) this book of quotes & I like this quote, never mind who the author of the quote is.

The only thing that I'm not comfortable with is that in this book, there seems to be many quotes by golfers. Go figure.

Day of THE WEDDING (Part 1)

2005-09-17T17:00:00.000+08:00

It is 4.50pm & I've been up since 5.30am ... snoozed at 12 midnight last night. My friend, the bride, was getting herself in the "sleep mode", whilst I, one of the "sisters", was furiously trying to finish up my blog & knocking off to sleep. Probably disturbed her a wee bit. I am sorry for my intrusion.

She woke up first, followed at the same time, me. However, I continued my "extra 5 minutes' snooze" ... which lasted for about 20 minutes. This is what the bride told me: no need for me to wake up as early as her. I agreed totally with her on the previous night.

Her make-up artist-cum-hair stylist came in to do her hair & make-up at 6am. I complimented the bride on her look. She looks most beautiful on her special day. Me was over & done with my own make-up (with help from another "sister") & dress in less than 10 minutes.

Then, what time we gals had remaining prior to the bridegroom's arrival, were spent chatting to the bride before her groom came to fetch her & we discussed on what games/ teasers we as the "sisters" could pose to the guy's side. Those who attend Chinese weddings and/or are Chinese, should know what I am talking about. I will discuss about that in my next blog.

The EVE of THE WEDDING

2005-09-16T23:54:00.000+08:00

It is nearly midnight & I'm in my good friend's home, the one getting married. We had a good chat that was not too long. Will need to snooze soon.

Basically, I asked her about some of the customs one associates with Chinese weddings. She is a very patient lady, telling me what I wished to know. I will update when I have the time either on Sunday or next week.

She showed me her lovely wedding gown & I showed her in return, my dress & the cosmetics I brought over to use. Heheee, I also told her that in honour of her wedding, I am going to use brand-new BRANDED cosmetics.

Ok, that is all for now. Tata till next blog!!

CHEERS!!! CONGRATS on your wedding, my good friend.

My Face, Part 2

2005-09-14T22:27:00.000+08:00

It is THREE WHOLE DAYS to THE WEDDING ... and my face ... oh my goodness me ... is STILL having pocks here & there. That is why, I'm applying a doctor-only prescribed medication for the "pimple outbreak" evident on my lovely face.

Yeah, yeah. I know that I cannot compete with the female stars on Caldecott Hill (the likes of Zoe, Fann, Ann, Joanne ...). This does not mean that I sometimes think of myself as BEAUTIFUL.

The best praise I got on myself has come from THE MOST VIP MAN in my life ... my dearest father. It is he who said," You are good-looking, just like your dad who is born handsome ... the only way you are going to destroy your own good looks is if you eat rubbish (that is another blog entry another time) ..."

This is what my formerly pearly-white face looks like now:

Still pearly-white, presence of 2 brown spots
Panda eyes (yiiiiieeEEEEee!!)
Volcanoes here & there (some red, some purple)

Name of pimple medication that I smother onto my face: NEO MEDROL ACNE LOTION

It cost me a cool S$32, excluding the cost of a doctor's letter to allow me to buy the damm lotion from the pharmacist.
Comes in a little fist-sized box (so I lied, it is slightly smaller)
The word "POISON" comes clearly printed in RED (hasn't that always been the warning colour?)
It comes in a watery YELLOW liquid
Has a medicated smell
30ml in all

Have been using this since the late 1990s, when I was introduced to it by my company doctor then. Way more effective than your normal commercial anti-pimple creams.

A note to end this entry: I NEVER had a single pimple whilst in Perth, Australia. Wonderful, except that I wasted spending $6 or so on a tube of "commercial" anti-pimple cream during my first days in Perth ... that resulted in me wasting the tube away.

A few days to THE WEDDING

2005-09-13T21:14:00.000+08:00

My good friend (the bride) is getting married this weekend & it is indeed, a very happy occasion.

Alas, I've not found a pair of shoes to go with my dress that I bought especially to attend the wedding. There is the dream 'whole package of shoes, dress & handbag' to this lovely wedding. It is terrible, isn't it? Of course, I won't dress like I'm going to upstage her on her BIG DAY. Don't worry, my friend (if she's reading this).

I've not forgotten about make-up. All will be revealed in good time.

Lucky for me, the "stress" that I'm facing is minor, as compared to the stress that I imagine the bride must be feeling. I mean, yeah, you can say that the bride should have picked up tips from bridal/wedding magazines and/or people who have "marriage experience" (that could be friends who got married first).

Nevertheless, she would still be stressed but from what I could talk to her about during the few months leading up to the upcomind celebration, she certainly does not seem stressed too much. I wonder what is her secret? I must pick up tips from her to de-stress, which can be harnessed to good use for things like work.

More importantly, the bride has allowed me to blog about her wedding, minus photos. Do not worry, dear gal. The only type of fotos I like on my blog is on FOOD but it won't be the goodies we consume at your wedding.

There will be one more update prior to the VIP event taking place this weekend. This is due to the fact that I'll staying over on Friday night at the bride's (how do I say this properly in English without sounding funny) Mother House. In Mandarin, it sounds like this: Niang Jia (Mother House).

Hopefully by that time, we can all (the bride, me & other galpals) have a pre-wedding bridal chat, to replace the bridal shower/hen night. Hey, afterall, this is the "21st century". Ought not that there be a wee bit tweak in such traditions, provided they are positive fun, with plenty of ease for the bride.

CHEERS to your wedding, my good friend.

Life As It Stands

2005-09-10T22:43:00.000+08:00

Reading through this book of quotations by famous atheletes, I chanced upon this quote by Muhammed Ali, the world-famous boxer, who has won in Olympics before:

I'm the best. I just haven't played yet.

Probably that sums up my feelings right now. Sometimes, when faced with a new venture's uncertainty, one tends to worry endlessly. You worry about how you might fail at the task spectacularly & how people will laugh at you. It is like shooting yourself in the foot & then saying, "AIYAH, I've been injured".

It is certainly interesting. Muhammed Ali was asked about golf, a game that he had not played & what did he reply back to the question? With the above answer, which I think is a classic.

The truth about a TV vs actual church wedding

2005-09-10T15:03:00.000+08:00

Many, many years ago, as a student, I was invited along with all my classmates, to my teacher's church wedding. I gladly accepted the invitation; for how many times does one get invited to such things?

We all (us classmates) arranged to meet up at the church in question. Since we lived in different parts of town, it was the best arrangement & not meet each other, then go as one group together. What a waste of time it would be.

What did I get for my teacher as a wedding gift? Well, a "congrats to your wedding" card & a pair of drinking glasses. That, I think is suitable present from a student to a teacher.

Arriving at the church, we students sat awkwardly behind, keeping very quiet amongst the guests. We were at our best behaviour. There was no pushing & shoving, like in school.

When my teacher arrived, she looked so lovely (like all brides do, they look most beautiful on this special day) in her white wedding gown, on the arms of her father.

Now, this is the part where a real-life church wedding differs from a reel-life church wedding.

A reel-life church wedding has the wedding vows all said & done in less than 5 minutes. Guess how long the real-life church wedding proclamation of wedding vows took?

Over two hours was how long the vows took. There we were, up & down, singing the wedding vows. I wanted to ask (there & then) how come it was so different from what I watched on the telly.

Much later, I learnt that Christians consider the saying of the vows to be a holy & sacred thing & binding in the eyes of The Lord. Which is why, it was explained to me that that on TV, they have a quick but non-binding wedding vows proclamation. Plus, it makes TV sense. Who will want to watch a TV series on a wedding scene taking over 2 hours? They have other storylines to pursue.

Later, after my teacher & her new husband took their vows, there was a wedding reception at the church itself. After nibbling a bit & going up to my teacher to congradulate her, I left with my classmates.

Now, many years later, when my good friend is getting married, I think back on that church wedding that I had attended. These are 2 different types of wedding that I will get to attend, so it does not make sense to compare. Each has their own customs to follow.

One week to THE WEDDING

2005-09-10T14:43:00.000+08:00

My friend's wedding, that is. Certainly NOT my wedding.

One week from today, one of my good friends is getting married. I'm so excited for her. She is the first one amongst us four to "tie the knot". The wedding celebrations shall be a happy & memorable one. I'm planning to use the family digital camera to record this glorious day.

It is certainly not easy planning for such a big occasion. Moreover, for a Chinese wedding, there are different wedding customs to follow, depending on the dialect group that either bridal side belongs to. Some Chinese wedding customs to follow include: the traditional tea ceremony, "brothers & sisters" having fun during the "fetch the bride" & others, which right now I can't remember.

All the Chinese weddings that I've seen are the ones shown on the telly. Not exactly what I'm wanting to know. Those are like a summarized version of the actual day. Now, I'll get to experience an ACTUAL CHINESE WEDDING.

My hungry tummy

2005-09-04T20:25:00.000+08:00

Dear diary,

It has been this way since man started eating, that one of the best appetizers for consumption of a meal is a hungry tummy. Aww, come on, how about your fellow dining companions? That is not the topic being written here. Hehe ... that is meant for another blog entry.

Unless something out the ordinary happens, one will usually have an appetite for food. This can be in the form of breakfast, lunch & dinner.

How do I know that it's time for some din-din? Try these for sampling:

When my tummy growls
When it's been a couple of hours since my previous meal
When I'm being offered food by someone I know

That being said, even with the "hungriest of tummies" won't stomach any food if you are facing a crisis, be it big or small (the crisis, I mean).

You won't feel like having food, even if it is abalone & lobster (if those are your favourite foods)
You won't care that your tummy is still growling

The TWIST of FATE

2005-09-03T16:02:00.000+08:00

Today, my mood is black, really black. It is not for me to tell the world why I'm this way. Not you, not anyone. I can't always be pleasing people. So, I will start by just pleasing myself.

I'm neither blaming nor angry at anyone. I just want the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth. Thus, upon learning the "truth", if there are areas that I can correct to become a better person, then I will act on it. Certainly, no nitpicking here. It is simply "growing older".

Recently, I picked up this book from the nearest branch of my local library. It is entitled," The Quotable Athelete", by Mike McGovern & Sally Shelly.

Let me tell you about these memorable quotes. (ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS)

These best describe my current mood. No prizes for guessing why I picked them, the quotes.

The first comes from Michael Jordan, a world-renowned basketball superstar, formerly with the Chicago Bulls, an American team. This is under the category of "Mistakes".

"I'm not allowed to make mistakes. You make a mistake & it's magnified. It makes you scared to live your life."

It just about sums up my feelings right now. Scared & confused.

Yeah, right. I'm an adult now, so why do I feel "scared" & "confused"? Shouldn't I be a "self-assured" adult?? Please explain.

I don't need to. However, here's the perfect quote from the book that I'm reading, in the category of "Women & Sports" (at least it is, for now) to end this blog entry:

"When we complain about conditions, we're just bitches. But when the men complain, people think,' Well, it really must be hard' "

Betsy King
Hall of Fame golfer
as quoted on Golfers on Golf, edited by Downs MacRury, 1997

Industry Jargon

2005-08-30T22:30:00.000+08:00

I was wondering today, as I chatted with some of my friends online. Why on earth do we ever had this thingy, known worldwide as "industry jargon"?

Industry jargon is basically language peculiar to that particular industry. It is very unlikely that people who are not working in that industry to know exactly "what in the world is going on". Why can't we have language in plain, simple terms? In other words, "layman's terms". Come on practitioners, it won't be a step down the corporate ladder if you can tweak the words.

I remember sometime ago about something I read in The Straits Times (an English-language newspaper in Singapore). The gist of what I read, in my own words: to stem the flow of mis-communication between lawyers & their clients, the law industry will now contain less of the exclusive terms used between lawyers.

How & where can one find examples of industry jargon? Look no further than the accounting industry.

I remember when I was much younger & studied basic accounting. The terms associated with it include: debit, credit & my all-time favourite: SUSPENSE ACCOUNT. My accounts never balanced, with the exception of ONE QUESTION. It was because I worked my butt off to get the correct answer to that question in school; not that I never worked hard/smart at accounting & other subjects. I can still remember the name of the company in the question: Bubblewash.

Somewhere along the accounting study that I undertook, I was taught that if one's accounts do not balance, you can place that "mis-balanced account" into this new account called the Suspense Account. For me, it is no big mystery as to the reason behind its name but what would the average person on the street think?

I'm not being wishy-washy on this subject & I am not insulting accounting. Like what I have explained in the header of my blog, "... a random collection of my thoughts ..."

To leave you with one more example of where you can find "industry jargon".

If you have ever signed any agreements, like loan agreements or if & when you download any instant messaging icons, you will find yourself bogged down with loads of industrial jargon, before you ever arrive at the all-important "SIGN HERE" and/or "I AGREE/DISAGREE".

Sleep Starved

2005-08-29T22:02:00.000+08:00

Have you ever said to yourself this,"I'm starving. I'm so hungry that I could eat a horse!" Well then, if that is the case, I've been guilty of that (eating a horse) for a very long time.

I'm not talking about the actual consumption of a horse but the meaning behind the words itself. To me, it could be used to mean similar things, like my blog title today: "I'm so tired & sleepy that I could eat a horse!" Get what I'm saying now?

I don't know why it always has to happen on Sunday nights, especially now when I'm working. I would be there, lying on my bed, counting sheep. 998, 999 ... until I started thinking of LAMB RECIPES!! There's lamb chops, soup kambing, mutton satay ...

Have tried many many ways to stem the bad tide of insomnia but this "sleeplessness" is really insane, I tell you. Now, I understand why people have coined the term for Monday as the "Monday Blues". Grouchy, moody & tantrums, are all words that are wonderful to describe the feeling many people get whilst on their way to work on the first day of the week.

Medical experts will have you know that it is due to an off-balance of your "biological alarm clock schedule". It's your body's way of telling you, "Hoi, sleepyhead, wake up! Time to go to work!!" Come weekends & public holidays, as well as your annual/sick leave, your whole world turns upside down, as you don't keep to a regular wake-up time. Some people who do have a "regular wake-up time", tweaked it a little for these "special days"; instead of waking up at 7.30am, they wake up at 10am latest. Hence, their advice would be like my parents: yak ... yak ... yak ... nag ... nag ...

DON'T even think of asking ME what time do I wake up on those days. I ain't gonna tell.

Still, to wind down my night into LaLaLand, or as one would say in Chinese, "qu jian zhou gong", this is my 2 cents' worth of advice for anyone facing a dull prospect of not being able to sleep:

Thou shalt not drink coffee, or any caffeine-laced drinks in the AFTERNOONS
Hell had no fury than an active mind just before bedtime
wearing not the full set of PJs help; shorts & singlet will do, thank you

When I can't sleep, I still would like down & shut my eyes, whilst listening to the late night shows on radio, switching between P98, P10, C95, UFM, DL883, G90, 933 ... and the ultimate, BBC.

Now I'm not saying that BBC bores me to sleep. It is a wonderful news channel (I just wish that they have a cooking programme). My favourite BBC personality is this chap called "Frederick Duff", unless I heard his name wrongly; last I heard about him was that he presented the news programme called "Outlook".

The point I want to make here is BBC gives notice of the time in "Greenwich Mean Time". Translate that in Singapore Time & you get this:

1800hr GMT = 2am in Singapore
0000hr GMT (midnight) = 8am Singapore

But at such a late hour of the night & in line with my habit, I do not keep track of time. Not on my watch & certainly not on my alarm clock.

Now then, as anyone would have guessed, I'm an extremely light sleeper. In the wee hours of the night, in my old neighbourhood where I used to stay, I could even sometimes hear people playing mahjong. PONG goes the tiles!

It's no wonder & no surprise then, that my all-time favourite piece of make-up that I always use is the CONCEALER. Guess I've something in common with the adorable panda.

Wedding in 3 weeks

2005-08-28T19:34:00.000+08:00

This post shall be a short one.

In almost 3 weeks' time, one of my good friends is getting married. You know, the works. Chinese tea ceremony, "fetch-the-bride" games, $8888 entrance fee, wedding dinner in the evening & all other important events. I will blog about it as time comes.

One year ago, she asked me, along with some other friends for help, on her big day. My dear friend, me RSVP my reply as soon as I got your message. I'm so happy for you.

As I wrote in an earlier blog, I shall not bore you. This shall be my countdown to her (my friend) big day.

Cheerios, people!!!

A Kindred Spirit today

2005-08-27T19:39:00.000+08:00

I've just finished watching today's episode of "A Kindred Spirit" on Channel 8. Man, what an anti-climax!!

Might I add that though this is a repeat of the very popular Hong Kong drama, when it first aired on free-TV Channel U, I was not in Singapore to catch the show.

Ok, so the story leading up to today is this: Luo Shengjin (aka Jinjin) likes Li Tian An, also known as Xiao An (Cha Shao Bing's youngest son), whom I believe was egged on to do so by her mom, Xiaoni, when she (Jinjin's mom) saw how good Xiao An was.

Xiao An at that time, just got back with his girlfriend, Joanne. Jealous of them both & wanting to have Xiao An, Jinjin tried ways & means to break those two apart. Jinjin succeeded, partly because of Xiao An's indecisiveness & of the underhanded methods employed by Jinjin herself.

From the way the script was written, we the TV viewers were able to gauge that this was true.

Xiao An got entangled with the two ladies, which was not fair to either lady (no matter how bad Jinjin's behaviour is, or how soft-hearted Joanne is). In Mandarin/Chinese, there is a saying for this. Translated into English, it becomes this: One leg (representing one guy, Xiao An) stepping onto two boats (Joanne & Jinjin). In simple terms, it is saying that Xiao An is two-timing the ladies. He wants his cake & eat it all.

During his relationship with Jinjin, Xiao An don't seemed to have any freedom at all. She controlled him with an obsessed mind. She wanted to know what he was doing & who he was with everytime she called. Even female colleagues at the firm where Xiao An worked for Joanne's older sister had to "seek Jinjin's permission" before Xiao An could lunch with them. Now, that IS way OTT.

We get more examples of Xiao An's indecisiveness. During this relationship, Xiao An got Jinjin a supplementary credit card. She immediately began maxing out the card. When he couldn't pay, he borrowed from his brothers & cousin Lisheng. Not once did Xiao An try to control that vixien Jinjin's spending.

There was this one time when Jinjin was in Cha Shao Bing's shop. Dasheng was asking Jinjin to help him buy his (Dasheng) daughter's charity drive tickets. There & then, Jinjin embaressed Dasheng by demanding that he pay up his debt with Xiao An. She further goes on to rant about money allegedly owed to Xiao An by Xiao An's older brother (Tianfu) & cousin Lisheng, as well as Musheng, Dasheng's business partner.

Finally, the blokes (Lisheng, Tianfu, Dasheng & Musheng) could stand her behaviour no more & told Jinjin off. They told her that if she wanted to talk about paying your debts, then it is Jinjin who has the biggest debt to pay back, to Lisheng, since it was Xiao An who borrowed $20,000 (not sure which currency) to pay for Jinjin's cosmetic surgery in Japan. Jinjin had got a scar on her face through her own fault, yet she blamed Xiao An for it & he, the stupid boy, accepted it without a protest. Thereafter, she could not use that "pay your debts back" to complain/nitpick on them any more.

His family did tried once to ask Xiao An out (without Jinjin present, of course) for dim sum as a way of persuading him to coax Jinjin to tone down her ridiculous antics in a friendly atmosphere. Not only was Xiao An late but he brushed off his family's concerns & didn't even bother to have food with them. Instead, he told them that he was rushing off to Jinjin's house with expensive dim sum, as she had not taken any food then. What arrogance this Xiao An had!!

Of course, the scriptwriters could not let Xiao An get off scot-free, right? So, they wrote in many "headaches" for him to cross. Each one bigger & more serious than the earlier one. I remember sitting there & saying to myself,"Xiao An, you deserve it!! Because you cannot make up your own mind, you can't blame anyone."

Just when it seems that Xiao An finally woke up to the error of his ways & decided to part with Jinjin, she claimed that she was pregnant with Xiao An's child, in order to force him to get married to her (Jinjin). At that time, Jinjin was scared that Xiao An would want to get back together with Joanne. That lady is the one lady whom Jinjin cannot bear to lose to.

Funnily enough, she managed to fool everyone for sometime at least with her pregnancy claim. The only two people in onto her scam were her mom & her would-be sister-in-law, Mei Mei. These 3 women are equally bad in their own behaviours but that is another story.

At last, Jinjin's older sister Shengxiao, who is a gynacologist, grew suspicious & caught out Jinjin's lie one night. Shengxiao pretended that the house toilet broke down & told Jinjin all she could use a substitute potty (you know, the sort that small kids used to use). With that, Shengxiao tested out Jinjin's pregnancy claim & found out that Jinjin had lied. Shengxiao told Lisheng but asked for some time to try to coax Jinjin to back out of the marriage scam. Jinjin refused to & even warned Shengxiao not to spoil her plan, which was one way or another, to snatch Xiao An away from Joanne.

When she got caught out with her lie at Cha Shao Bing's home, Jinjin upped her antics one iota when she said that if Xiao An did not go with her to the Hong Kong ROM to marry, she would go public with the claim (though she herself knows that it is not true) that Xiao An had raped her!! Everyone present were stunned at the level of Jinjin's viciousness.

Anyway, not to worry. After so many ups-and-downs (& I bet that the scriptwriters are getting tired), there came a stunning revelation at the ROM (Registry of Marriages).

On the supposed "happy day", Xiao An came to fetch "his bride" (EEEee, even I still get the goosebumps when I'm reminded of Jinjin). At the "bride's home", there were door games to be played with the "groom" & his male buddies against the "bride" & her female friends (it is a common scene in Chinese weddings, regardless what dialect). Later, just when Jinjin got into the "bridal car", she ranted at Xiao An, demanding to know:

Why did he purposedly step on her wedding gown (it was an accident)
Why did he drop the wedding rings, when he knew that it meant bad luck, like they would divorce soon? (again, it was not on purpose)
Why did he & his buddies hurry through the "fetch-the-bride" games? (WHAT, Jinjin? You want to miss the auspicious hour for fetching the bride?)
Why did they bargain over the "entrance fee of "$6800" down to "$3800"? Isn't bargaining part of the fun when fetching the bride?
Why did his buddies throw rice at the bride? Did they not know she was there? (COME ON, Jinjin; I think this "throw rice at the bride" is supposedly to symbolise good luck for her. They were not there to "sabo" you, no matter how much they hated Jinjin)

Xiao An FINALLY gathered up the courage whilst in the room, to face that woman Jinjin & said, "I, Li Tian An, am NOT WILLING to take Luo Shengjin (Jinjin) as my lawfully wedded wife". Xiao An further said that he didn't care if Jinjin were to go ahead with her obviously ridiculous claims, he was tired of her bad behaviour & did not want to be manipulated further by Jinjin.

At this point, the guys in Xiao An's family (like Granpa, Musheng & Tianfu) all got up & congradulated him for FINALLY standing up for himself. It was like a colourful party atmosphere, which is weird because you ARE talking about the cancellation of a wedding, not a happy ocassion by any standard.

Now, this is the part where I, as the TV viewer felt let down. For as long as I can remember, Hong Kong dramas have very very good "climaxes/ending", where the bad people (in this case, that nutcase Jinjin) get their just desserts. Bah, humbug!! In this instance, the ROM scene ended with a whimper; Jinjin fled with her family in tow (her sister Shengxiao was not there at the command of Jinjin).

Later on, Jinjin stormed to Shengxiao's hospital office & made further ridiculous untrue claims. For that, Jinjin got slapped by her older brother, Shengmen, who correctly said that Jinjin DID DO WRONG & HARM but shouldn't push the blame onto others, when it was herself that made mistakes.

The last we saw of Jinjin was when she was on the plane with her mom, off to some unkown European country. At that point, she still thought of herself as the innocent party & that Xiao An was the bad guy to be blamed. Even her mom Xiaoni (who abandoned the 3 kids when they were young) sided with Jinjin.

To me, this indicated that this Luo Shengjin (Jinjin) though a legal adult but is in mental terms, a kid. You may have everything provided for you the way Jinjin has but still, one can grow to be a mature person. Not our Shengjin, who is forever blaming others for her faults & mistakes.

I got a few questions in my mind that I would have liked some answers to:

Why can't she (Jinjin) see that the reason she got dumped at her supposed "happy day" at the ROM was her own undoing? Earlier, she was given the chance to exit with dignity by her sister Shengxiao but Jinjin refused, with the belief that she (Jinjin) is the victor over Joanne.
Why did her mom Xiaoni, still egg Jinjin on the path of wrongdoing? Like for instance, when the mom knew of the fake pregnancy? Another instance of Xiaoni's fault is when she (the mom) wrongly blamed Shengxiao, the elder sister, for being unemotional when Jinjin got into trouble (WHAT TROUBLE did Jinjin get into? Thought that it should be the other way round; that Jinjin got innocent people into trouble)
OK, so Jinjin still smashed the pair of wine glasses that Joanne (Xiao An's former girlfriend) gave the "happy couple" as a wedding gift, despite Xiao An's reminder that if she threw it, it would be a bad omen for the wedding?

In all essence, not every guy's ex would bother with a wedding gift. If it happens to me that my hubby's ex gave him a present for whatever innocent/not-so-innocent motive & I don't like it, I would be angry BUT I wouldn't smash it. Perhaps, I would have it put away in a place I can't see & so, think about it.

My face

2005-08-27T14:53:00.000+08:00

Sometime ago, I wrote about one of my good friends getting married next month (September 2005).

Back then, I wrote that starting from that time until my good friend's wedding day is completed, I shall not touch spicy food nor foods containing chilli, alongside of exercising. This is to help prevent any possibility of pimple outbreaks.

Guess what? I broke that cardinal self-imposed rule. Last Friday, during my lunch hour, I had a sudden craving for Sichuan hotpot. Since I couldn't fly to Sichuan to eat that, I decided on the next best alternative, which was TOM YUM SOUP NOODLES.

There is always a long queue at this food stall that I patronized during Friday's lunch. A perpetual long long queue. This time, I waited for about 20 minutes before it was my turn to receive the food. Man, if you could smell what I smelt then, you would know why there is a LONG QUEUE for this food.

As I ate, persiration poured down my face. The tom yum was really HOT!! Not as in spicy hot but HOT hot HOT!! Still, I lapped up the tom yum soup in its entirety.

Today being Saturday, one day AFTER I ate the sinfully delicious tom yum soup noodles, my face is still relatively free from pimples. Which I think goes to show that: it is your overall diet (whether you do eat your greenies, exercise ...) that kinda determines if one gets pimples or not. It does not seem to be reflected whether the dish has tom yum in it or not.

Oishii ... Japan Hour memories

2005-08-20T22:30:00.000+08:00

There is this food programme on the telly that gets me & some friends all excited. Name of programme is: JAPAN HOUR.

I must confess:

I've never been a fan of raw fish. Raw veggies, now that's a totally different story. I love my salads!! Could eat salads without the dressing anytime, man!!!

Raw fish is OUT. Why, I don't even eat the "yee sang" that is so ommi-present during every Chinese New Year. Well, I do "lo hei" but that's about it. I don't eat the raw fish slices in them.

On Japan Hour (JH), that is the feeling that one gets from the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan. Moulds after moulds of raw fish dishes. Mind you, the FISH is VERY FRESH ... so fresh that after catching the fish alive, usually the chef will take it straight into the kitchen to slice up the fish & prepare whatever dish he (the chef) is making at that moment. Yeah man, THAT FRESH!!

Which leads me to think of this next point: what makes a dish? If it is just raw fish without any cooking, is it still considered as one? I'm not insulting the chef doing the raw fish but all along, the chefs that I see on TV are all furiously cooking away on the stove/oven, tasting here & there.

I admire the Japanese people somewhat when it comes to this. They can really swallow down raw fish, which by the way, is also known as "sashimi"; or if there is rice covering the raw fish, then it is known as "sushi".

My geography isn't that bad until I don't know that for the different regions of Japan, they have their special cuisine. But dish AFTER dish, consisting only of sashimi? Sometimes on the JH programme, they do that.

Have you also noticed that there seems only to be ONE WORD used by the JH food tasters to describe whatever dish that they are eating? That word is: OISHII, which I gather to mean "delicious" in the Japanese language. It is always OISHII this, OISHII that. Come on, please. We the TV viewers can probably see for ourselves that the food is good & that the food is presented in a very appetising manner. What we would like to know:

is the food meant to be salty?
what does the soup broth for the noodles taste of?
Is the sauce gravy too gooey-thick or thin?

My next tale can be considered related to JH, which often features the various shops selling it. On JH, they the Japanese people do love their noodles. I must say, I also love their noodles. You should eat them to know what those JH tasters mean.

Point to note: in Japan, I learnt that there are about 3 different types of noodles. They are: soba, udon & ramen. Many noodle shops hand-make their noodles; according to the owners, this makes the food more yummy. I couldn't disagree more.

Once, I went on a family vacation to Japan. When my plane touched down in Tokyo, I was green in the face from vomitting too much. AND I WAS STILL PUKING away ... poor me.

Anyway, whilst our tour group was up in the mountains, we chanced upon this small noodle shop. In that little noodle shop, they sold soba (sounds like sofa). The owner was Japanese & I, a Singaporean. With no common language, it was like a chicken talking to a duck. I pointed to a picture of what seems to be a bowl of noodles (at that point, didn't know it was soba).

The soba noodles arrived, steaming hot, which is good, as my tummy was still making me churn. Perhaps the Japanese are used to salty noodles/broth but when I bit into my first authentic Japanese food, the soup was way too salty for me! Mind you, I was still vormitting. So, the Japanese tour guide helped me out by asking for a glass of hot water, which was then used to dilute the salty noodle soup broth. Only then, was I able to swallow & keep it in, some food.

Now then, can anyone guess how much was that bowl of soba that I had? The size of the noodle bowl was about medium, the sort used at Yoshinoya Singapore; not too big, not too small. The noodles came plain, topped with a tiny amount of shredded seaweed. It cost me a bloody $5.

The Japanese must be earning loads of money. Else, why would they consider paying 5 pop a bowl, peanuts?

Apparently, 1000 Japanese Yen to pay for some food is considered cheap in Japan. 1000 Japanese Yen is about (more or less) $15 in Singapore. Why, I could eat like a KING in Singapore for the $5 I paid in that Tokyo shop.

You get to see this happening quite often in the various JH shows. The JH show often display the price of a meal after the last course, in Japanese money of course. I am lucky to have access to the latest exchange rates, which has led to me furiously calculating mentally the cost of that kaiseki set dinner that was just featured on Japan Hour. Or it could be that 200-Yen noodle shop that the JH food taster popped into.

I will cook but I don't like to wash up. Really, who likes washing up? Which is why, unless those food shops featured on Japan Hour have an automated dishwasher, I pity the human ones. This is because most of the times, the food featured comes in many, many plates & bowls. One teeny weeny piece of chicken appetizer, ONE plate. 2 sticks of yakitori (Japanese bbq meat-on-skewers) on an oblong dish. Chawanmushi (Japanese steamed egg) comes with its own specialised container. Here we all go now, counting the number of bowls & plates to wash up: ONE, two, THREE, four, FIVE ... It is not uncommon to be counting up to 15.

MRT morons

2005-08-17T22:05:00.000+08:00

Have you ever wondered or noticed tat whilst you're on the Mass Rapid Transit (or as we Singaporeans know it as MRT). I see this every time I board the train.

Be it crowded or not, people like to mass around the entrance/exits. Then, they never like to move in further, towards the middle of the carriage.

What catches my interest is that I can imagine what these people must be saying in their heads. Here are some comments that I imagine them saying.

"She should move in, she came first"

Girl glares at guy "Tat donkey is a tar por, HE should move, not me, the pretty woman"

"I stop next stop, why should i move?"

"i shall stare into my book/newspaper/magazine/Harry Potter novel, so I don't have to start moving"

"move in, very malu one, all the people watching me, one. ai dontch wan"

This is despite repeated reminders from the nice people at SMRT, to "pls move towards the centre of the carriage for the convenience of all passengers".

Yes, you won't:

get rich
get young
get gf/bf
have a seat most times
get an Oscar award
get to meet Tony Leung (star of Tokyo Raiders)

BUT when you move towards the centre, your little action allows for one more person to get to their destination on time.

That person might be rushing to Changi Airport to send his/her beloved to another country and/or trying to visit a sickloved one in hospital (don't try that "why can't they get a taxi if they're in a hurry"). Another possibility is that being on-time for work (work performance is a seperate issue altogether) might garner one, more bonus? Ain't tat true?

Me ain't guilty of it. Me very good, me move in towards the centre of the carriage. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Shopping to go to a Chinese Wedding

2005-08-14T15:49:00.000+08:00

Now, since I received the wedding invitation, I've gotten a bit busier. Hence, this blog about it. It nearly turned into a makan (eating) trip, instead of its original shopping trip purpose.

Being the Saturday weekend it was yesterday, I lazed about in my bed after finally opening my beautiful eyes to the world, listening to David Tao's Blue Moon, when the BEEP-BEEP came.

My friend (not the one gettin married in Sep 05) SMS me, saying something like "OY, wake up oledi or not? me going out at 12.30pm. dun 4get 2 meet @ 1.30pm". By the time that I read the SMS, it was oledi 12.30pm. I've not changed, I've not eaten brekkie & worse still, I've not got my shopping handbag in order but nevermind, it is the WEEKEND!!

As I lulled away riding in the MRT (it is very efficient!!), I started thinking about Chinese Wedding Shopping & its Dos & Don'ts.

Chinese wedding colours: Any colour EXCEPT: black, blue, grey, white ... Colours from the rainbow is best
Ask the bride-to-be (call her, sms her) if one is not sure if there is a theme colour for the wedding
We are all in SUNNY SINGAPORE, not Winter in the USA. So, any scarve material, pls dun get woolies, ... unless u dun mind melting like chocolate
Thou shalt not eat spicy food nor partake in chilli AT LEAST ONE MONTH PRIOR to wedding date
My feet is NOT Cinderella-sized feet. More like Big-Foot!!

Other than that, I think that shopping for clothes to wear to a Chinese wedding is pretty "easy".

I was eyeing so many pairs of shoes that I lost count after Pair No. 20 (that's the number representing my 2 hands & my 2 feet). Jimmy Choos? Manalo Blaniks? Ferragamos? Prada? Chanel?

Another example: if I'm buying a dress, do I want full-lining for the dress or not?

Buying a top with what bottoms? Pants? Skirt? Sarong? What sort of tops? Girly-girl type? Dinner type? Shiny type of top? Then, there is the brand (again!). Daniel Yam? Song & Kelly?

Makeup: Chanel, Christian Dior, Covergirl, Clinique, Clarins, Estee Lauder, Silkygirl, Lancome, MAC, Mabelline, ...

Makeup is to be used on the face. I'm just amazed at the products that I've to slap onto my face. Just to name whatever I can remember: Foundation, concealer, compact powder, blusher, eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara, lip gloss, lipstick. Er .. did I miss out anything? Hehee ..

I saw this lovely dress. Initially, it seemed way too big for me. The very nice sales lady suggested black!@!! I simply said 2 words in reply: Chinese Wedding. If you wear black to a wedding, u r likely to be hammered by someone.

Apparently, it is a mourning colour (black). My guess is tat u wear black to Chinese wedding is like cursing the wedding. Not too sure of the exact taboo of wearing black; just know a bit.

Guess what? I bought the dress. It was a "yum trade". Will write more on the type of dress that I bought & the circumstances leading up to the purchase.

Wedding Invite (aka red letter bomb)

2005-08-14T14:33:00.000+08:00

Last Thursday (10 August 2005), I received from a very good friend of mine, a red-letter bomb. Now, those who are Chinese residing in Singapore, are likely to know that it means "wedding invitation". In Mandarin, this probably sounds like this:" Hong Za Dan".

It is only proper & correct that when I got her invite through the letterbox that I RSVP back to her. Alas, as my mobile was not with me, I only SMS my reply that "Hi, got ur wedding invite. Thanks!" the very next day, which was Friday, 12 August 2005.

This marks the start of the countdown to my friend's wedding in September 2005. Boy oh boy!

Prior to this, she (my frien) had already requested my help. Of course, I said a resounding YES to her. In Chinese culture, that meant I would be one of the "sisters". Helping to do what, I've no clue as to what I'm doing as yet. She has said that she would tell me closer to the actual wedding date, which is somewhere in September 2005.

Will have the momentum to write more on the upcoming big day later. Cheers!

Love At Dolphin Bay VCD rental

2005-08-11T22:15:00.000+08:00

Today after wolfing down my lunch (well, truth to be told, I ate it very slowly; just a figurine of speech), I went round Raffles Place window shopping, with nothing in particular. Then, on the spur of the moment, I went to my favourite rental store. It is my favourite (at the moment) as the environment doesn't feel sleezy & a female staff who does know WHERE the VCDs are located.

When I told her previously that I wished to look at "Love At Dolphin Bay", she showed me the way. She said something like,"... there, on ur left, down a bit more ... THERE IT IS ..." with a further explanation that perhaps of its compact size, I might have missed it on my first try to locate the VCDs. Which is very true, I didn't see it the first time.

There are 2 parts to this Taiwanese drama series, "Love At Dolphin Bay" (LADB), starring Angela Chang, Ambrose Hsu & Wallace Huo (as explained to me by the rental store female lady). It comes in 8 VCDs for Part 1 of the series & 10 VCDs for Part 2.

I rented Part 2 (10 VCDs to be rented), as I feel that it is where the more exciting parts are. This is because I missed out on some of the last few episodes, as I was away from home (will be explained later).

So, I brought it home that night. As my parents were watching the main telly that is connected to the sole VCD player, I watched "LADB" using Windows Media Player on my desktop (a P4 HP). The feeling I got was one of excitement, last seen when I was eagerly awaiting the movie "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" 2005, to unravel.

I watched as the the heroine of LADB (Angela Chang) went through a very trying period when promoting her debut music album, accompanied by her music producer, played by Wallace Huo. It had seemed that her CD was doomed right from the beginning, when the head honcho of her record company, her grandfather, refused to release funds for a proper artiste promotion (as she, Angela, is a reluctantly acknowledged illegitimate daughter of his son-in-law, if I'm not wrong). Initially, when the album sales was kaput, Wallace was given only seven days to try to salvage it, if not the price to pay was that Wallace had to resign.

According to the storyline, on the 6th day, when Wallace & Angela were out on the streets together with the rest of their team, trying to stage a promotion event, 2 Caucasian men came up to listen to Angela's singing. When she finished singing, both started clapping to show their appreciation, stunning the entire team. One of the men even came up to Angela to praise her. As she hardly knew English, Wallace came to her rescue & translated what the guy said to Angela.

Wallace, being the gifted music producer that he is playing, gave the 2 men a copy each of Angela's debut album. The senior of the 2 men said "Thank You & hope to see You soon again!" before leaving, which left both Wallace & Angela confused. "... see you soon again??"

They didn't know that the 2 men were part of the international well-liked cosmetic brand, Aqua-Aura, who were in Taiwan searching for a new spokeperson & that the guy who spoke to Wallace was the deciding head honcho. Mandy & Eddie, who were the rivals of our heroine, Angela & her producer Wallace, thought that Mandy would definitely get the spokeperson role.

Hehehee, in the defining moment when the identity of the spokeperson was revealed by the world-famous photographer on D-Day for Wallace (the 7th day), you should have seen the shock & horror on both Mandy & Eddie's faces. Prior to the revelation, Eddie had gone round in front of the reporters covering this Aqua-Aura event hinting that Mandy would surely be the chosen one (which apparently was based on signals that he thought he received).

That is as far as I have watched the drama so far on VCD. I'm very pleased with what I've seen & will definitely watch other series that the actors in this drama star in. My personal favourite is Wallace Huo Jian Hua. Apparently, he is also in real-life, a singer (not sure how many music albums he has released).

The last book fair in Singapore that I went to a few months back, I saw a pictorial book that Wallace released in Taiwan on sale there. I didn't buy it but managed to peak inside the book & boy oh boy, Wallace Huo Jian Hua does have a very good body, the kind that does workouts in the gym to have a six-pack abs. Why did I not buy Wallace's album then? Simple. I'm not into Wallace as a singer as yet. As for dramas starring Huo Jian Hua, a definite YES, provided I've the time & energy. Will do further checkups online about Wallace Huo's dramas.

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

2005-08-06T20:15:00.000+08:00

Went with friends to watch the above show recently; the one with Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. Man, his character gives me the creeps!! EEeee!!!!!

Why? This is because in many scenes of the movie, Depp's makeup for his face is like, ... dead-white. Yes, you heard it right; so pale that one thinks that Willy Wonka is dead or about to. Isn't this supposed to be a family-friendly show? OK, so I don't look at the film ratings, be it "G", "PG" or "R(A)". But hey, when you hear of the title, what CAN COME TO MIND? Sex? Violence? Dare I say it, "MJ"!!???

I remember very well that when I was STILL IN SECONDARY SCHOOL, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory was one of the texts for Literature. I still keep the dammed book, so many years down the road.

I've:

read DA BOOK
seen the 1971 film version, starring Gene Wilder & now,
in the year 2005, watched it at Plaza Singapura on a wickedly hot Saturday afternoon.

So, I feel that I can do a review pretty well. This one shall be done in point-form. On second thoughts, I think I shall turn this into a "Movie Blooper Special", as it is not often that I have read the book inside-out & watched the earlier movie adaptation of the book.

In 2005's Johnny Depp CATCF, here are bloopers from the movie:

We get a further insight into Violet's childhood. I didn't know that Miss Chewing-Gum Champ ALSO practices karate/tae kwan doe/judo (that is because I don't recognize which one of the trio it is) & that Mrs B has such a competitive streak that rubs off her daughter.
Missy Veruca "I-want-a-GOLDEN-TICKET" Salt doesn't throw as many hissy tantrums as in the book. None of the "DADDY, I WANT A GIANT BOAT LIKE THIS ONE, MADE FROM PINK BOILED SWEET" & no "DADDY, I WANT AN OOMPA-LOOMPA!"
Mike Teevee's dad is a Geography teacher?? Since when? It was not the case in the book; the book had as teacher, the mother of Miss "WHERE's-MY-GOLDEN-TICKET???"
Augustus Gloop is interviewed in a butcher shop?
In the book, Charlie's family were so poor that they only had ONE BED, reserved exclusively for both sets of grandparents to rest upon. 2005's version had TWO BEDS, one for the grammies (granpa & granma) AND ONE BED for Charlie.
If you are poor to the point like Charlie's family, how can u afford a TV on Mr Bucket's salary? A TV?????
In the book, Charlie found 50 pence, not DOLLARS as in the movie. It was a tenner, I believe.
The book wrote that Charlie ate the 1st bar he bought with the money he found & ONLY found the Golden Ticket with the 2nd chocolate bar he bought. In the 2005 show, he found the GT with one bar AND HE didn't even eat his bar. Best part, he didn't get back his change! This one is definitely NOT A SINGAPOREAN trait. Then again, what's $10 when you are a GT winner?
No reporters barging down to Charlie's home for interviews; mebbie it was too late in the night to do so.
Only one parent was allowed to accompany their precocious child into the mysterious world of Willy Wonka; the book allowed two (usuallly dad & mom)
In the 2005 movie, WW told his guests to just "throw" their coats/jackets anywhere onto the floor. Book says: pegs/hangers specially for coats.
The Oompa-Loompas were all male & suspiciously, all looked like clones from one individual
When Willy Wonka scooped up chocolate from the river for Charlie & his Grandfather to drink, he handed it to them direct from the scoop-spatula. Book says: mugs.
There are flashbacks to snippets of WW's childhood with his dentist dad. Book: no flashback, no clues to WW's characteristics.
In the book, Prince Pondicherry was dozing off when his chocolate palace started melting; in the 2005 movie, the Prince was shown eating when his home fell apart. (melted, I meant)
In the candy shop where Charlie bought his winning ticket, the movie showed a person (can't remember man or lady) offering to buy the Golden Ticket for $500; the book says: $200 (sorry, my desktop's keyboard don't have the icon for British currency, the pound)
There was no show & tell in the book, as compared to the mechatronic one (eerie-creeps!) from WW.
Mike Teevee's father didn't take Mike to task when Mikey-boy became only inches-tall.
When the other 4 kids left WW's factory, there was no trucks bearing goodies, as stated in the GT. They were shown just walking out of the gates.
Why were the people in the candy shop where Charlie Bucket bought his Golden Ticket chocolate talking with American instead of British accents?

The ending has been given a Tim Burton flavour, courtesy of Johnny Depp. Out of 10, I say I will give it a 8 overall, for this 2005 version of CATCF.

As anyone can tell, I've done me homework on this & watched both movie adaptations.

J-Game, part 2

2005-07-30T16:09:00.000+08:00

I am back with the 2nd part of a 2-part review (of sorts) of Jolin Tsai's latest offering. I watched Jolin's re-packaged CD last night, albeit over & over & over again.

Actually, it got me thinking of this: Why did Jolin release a bonus DVD of her live performances & MVs, packaged with her 2nd version of J-Game album? Compared with David Tao, who also released a compilation of MVs from his latest CD, The Great Leap 2005. The difference between these 2 stars are that for Jolin, her compilation MVs are bundled TOGETHER with her CD, whilst for David's case, it is sold seperately, in DVD & VCD formats.

As I waited anxiously to see if David Tao would re-release TGL with some extras, I wondered why the stars would do this. It is hurting the fans' pockets; i.e., less spending money. Fortunately for now, DT has not released it. Only for those who pre-ordered TGL have got a bonus AVCD extra. Further down the time path, Tao Zhe did release a MV compilation SEPERATELY. As far as I know, it is retailing for about S$30 (DVD) & S$22 (VCD) at HMV. There should be retailers selling it slightly cheaper.

A minus-point against JT is that for those who have bought her album when it was first released, only to "discover" that later only in a few months, she would re-package her current album with a bonus DVD compilation of live performances & MVs, they wouldn't know a little (at first) what to do with their copy of her album. Give it away? Sell it on Yahoo SG Auctions? Buy the re-packaged version? Worst come to worst, throw the 1st version of J-Game away??

As the story runs, I bought the re-packaged version of J-Game; the one with a very glossy shimmering CD cover. It opens up to the CD & DVD side by side, long-form. If one is not careful, the lyrics booklet & mini-foto booklet falls out. Yeah, the album does not have your conventional CD casing form.

To play the DVD on my PC as I do not have a DVD player for now, I slotted the DVD into the DVD-ROM. Waited a bit before trying to watch it on Windows Media Player but it failed to materialised. So, waited again & tried later. This time, I went to "My Computer". There was a J-Game icon, which I clicked on. This FINALLY brought me to the WMP & immediately started the DVD.

Alas, due to my impatience, I couldn't get pass the mandatory blah blah copyright warnings. I could not move forward the recording. Wait & wait like forever before it came to the main menu of "choose your song". THIS PART before I get to ACTUALLY watch the music video is dammed irritating. I wonder why it is so. Did the music company made the DVD in such a way that you gotta listen/read the warning BEFORE they would actually allow you to view.

Anyway, the MVs were nice to watch. A very slick production, indeed. Though I watched only 3 of them so far, I am very impressed. I spent the entire time trying to learn 2 or 3 moves from Jolin. I cannot make it, cannot dance even 1% like JT. She must have spent a lot of time rehearsing for the making of MVs. There is a theme for each song, like "Open One Eye, Close One Eye" & "J-Game".

Well done, Jolin Tsai. I just hope that you can win at Taiwan's equivilent of the Grammy Awards.

A really J-Game one

2005-07-29T22:35:00.000+08:00

Today, being weary after work, I wandered around the MRT open space near my working place (ain't telling ya where!)

It is the end of the month, July 2005. My friends, who know me, won't exactly raise their eyebrows when they learnt that I, have yet again, failed to rise above the temptations of passing by a CD shop WITHOUT buying one. HA!! They probably will say,"Har?? Buy again har?" ... before jokingly SMS me "you crazy gal".

This time, my latest acquisition is Jolin Tsai's J-Game, 2nd edition. Now what do I mean by that?

When Jolin Tsai (or Cai Yi Ling, as she is known in Mandarin) first released her J-Game music album earlier in 2005, it was the "ordinary version"; no MV & no remixes. Around early-July 2005 or so, a 2nd version of her hit album was released, this time with some MVs & live performances. The live performances, unless I'm mistaken, were taken from her concert held in mid-June 2005, when Wilbur Pan was her guest performer.

I bought this album because of 3 songs, 2 up-tempo quick songs & 1 slower-paced but still danceable song. J-fans will know what I'm talking about.

The 3 songs (in random order) are:

Ye Man You Xi
Xi La Shao Nu
Zhen Yi Zhi Yan Bi Yi Zhi Yan (Open One Eye Close One Eye)

My personal fav? No. 3, of course; the Open One Eye Close One Eye. Both song & MV nicely done. Makes you wanna learn dancing, the sort that you can shoot MV to.

That is all I want to say for now. What were YOU expecting? 60,000 words? Hey, it is a FRIDAY & I wanna relax!! Next time, friend.

Will you MOVE IT??!!!

2005-07-28T21:35:00.000+08:00

It doesn't seem to be much of an issue in Perth but it sure is here in Singapore; a BIG-ass problem too. What am I talking about this time?

Answer: a tendency to NOT move in when you board the MRT. You see, dear old me nearly got KAPUT by the doors recently SIMPLY because the people in there were crowding around the entrance/exit (& the carriage in question wasn't even half full) & didn't want to spread out by moving further into the carriage, into the middle for instance. Will you die if you fail to move in???!!!!!

Shoot!! Why are people so self-centred to the point that they can't have the brains to think a wee bit about their fellow passengers. Have they got brains the size of a pea? If so, next time this happens, I feel very much like saying to them,"HEY PEA-BRAIN, move in, will ya?!!!"

Only when these selfish idiots heard the pitter-patter of people rushing in & not missing this train journey, do they move an inch further in. Excuse me but I do not think that moving in further is a loss of face, if that is what they are concerned about. Further more, THERE ARE NO GHOSTS/HANTUs in them. What is with these people? 100% pure idiots, I say.

As for me, I always move in & not block the doors.Eh, I'm not going to die nor injured by doing so. No prizes for moving in either but it's OK with me.

In Perth, as far as I can remember, people do crowd around the doors BUT the difference is that they do not wait until their brains are the size of a pea to see that people who want to come into the carriage will be crushed if they do not move in. Is this manners or what? I'm mighty impressed by their behaviour. Perthians, you should be proud of yourselves about this.

Monday Blues ... bleh

2005-07-28T21:18:00.000+08:00

Come every single MONDAY, I am oh-so-moody!! I've to drag myself out of bed, wash my face, eat brekkie, brush my teeth & get ready to go to work. It is dammed monotonous/boring.

Apparently, I am not the only one. When I SMS my good friend, she replied "ya, i m also moody & not feeling good. I feel your weariness, friend." We all got to tahan it, it is life she tells me. Yeah yeah.

This got me thinking, whilst I'm on the MRT going to work. If Mondays is traditionally blessed with the name of "Monday Blues", then what about the rest of the other six days of the week? Here is my take on it.

monkey Monday Blues
must Tahan Tuesday
Wednesday Whinner
Thursday Thorpedo
Freak Friday
Saturday Jam
Sunday Bliss

Friday, Saturday & Sunday are the days when I don't have to be OSCAR, you know that little furry grouchy thing from Sesame Street. I can be like my moniker, COOKIE MONSTER. Except that I heard that in today's health-conscious 21st-century world, CM has turned healthy. No more "C is for COOKIE, good enough for me!"

As the MRT arrives at my destination of work, I stare into the listless crowd, who are like me, moody & listless, dragging our feet to work. Not that I am complaining about having a job; it is just your normal MONDAY BLUES. Can't medicate for blues, can't don't go to work (it is not my own company) ...

Korean movie: My Tutor Friend

2005-07-24T19:16:00.000+08:00

When Channel U broadcast this movie 1 week ago, I didn't watch the first half of it. Boy, did I miss out a lot!! Thank God that the people at the TV station dubbed it in Mandarin, so I could follow every line that the actors in "My Tutor Friend" said.

SUMMARY: It's about this girl who is studying in university in Korea. To help lessen the burden on her family who is paying for her uni fees, she takes up tutoring. Her latest assignment is to tutor this guy who has been dragged back to Korea by his father.

The odd thing about this guy is that he is repeating senior high school (not sure which year) again but he is not interested but has to go along with his father's wishes, else he gets his credit cards cancelled. To make things even worse, he is of the same age as his female tutor; all the more he goes against her attempts to quell his supposed lack of interest. The reason for his lacklustre study attempts are revealed in one scene. She however, does not give up on him, her pupil but persists in her efforts to teach him.

As the movie progresses, we are shown that the tutor is in love with a guy (not her student), who later breaks her heart (though the reason for breaking her heart is not another woman/man). The tutor & her pupil are shown from here to get closer (to the point that he begins to develop feelings for her). Eventually, they do get together in the final scenes. Of course, along the course of love, it is never easy.

The way I am writting this review is slightly different. This is after I googled "My Tutor Friend" & found out how others write their review. Which, in my opinion, should be good. As then, one can read about various viewpoints. For one who just saw the movie, it is even better to see how others "see" the movie.

My favourite scenes in the movie include:

She tendered to him after he got injured from yet another fight. Me thinks that this is the start of the part where he changes his mind about her slowly.
KSW sure has a 6-pack body. Man, I feel embaressed talking about it; ladies, ya know what I am talking about. There are 2 scenes where one gets to stare with big goldfish eyes at THE BODY.
When he tries to hold her hand in church, she slaps them away, he makes the sign of the cross, prays & then smile at her, oh my god (pun NOT intended) ... makes me wish I was her. I wouldn't slap his hands away from my hands, for sure.
When they are up there in the sky, KSW tells her that he has feelings for her, she is speechless. Then, when she gets into an accident, he is so anxious for her safety.
When he TRIES again to hold her hands at the amusement park but FAILS, he looked so forlorn & sad.
When he notices her wearing the necklace that he bought for her, he smiles (oh sooooo cute!!) & mumbles something.
Our hunk in question got jealous when she started getting rave reviews whilst dancing at her school festival, to the point of punching some poor guy who knocked into him. Oh YES!! I like the song; it is catchy & better still, I CAN'T UNDERSTAND A SINGLE WORD OF IT.

The last bit of my review is no spoiler, I think. The more important thing is to watch the movie in its entirety & then, formulate your own views. That should be the way with watching shows, be they on the telly or in the cinema. If I wanted "spoilers", I would write a longer review but hehee, I can't write that much & I don't wish to. For those who have not watched it, watch it.

The lead actor in this movie is HOT!! His name is KWON SANG WOO, born on 5 August 1976, in South Korea. Sorry but I do not know the name of the lead actress BUT she is good; she is Kim H. N. I will try to get my own copy of this movie & other movies that KSW starred in. Of course, I will make sure that the copies I shall own are ORIGINAL, with that censorship sticker on it.

By the way, I have managed to buy a VCD copy of My Tutor Friend. Am looking forward to future ownership of more Kwon Sang Woo movies, hopefully in DVD format as these have movie extras, such as deleted scenes & MVs. They (the DVDs) are awfully expensive to own, however.

Kam sa ha mi da.

Which Direction?

2005-07-24T18:54:00.000+08:00

Dear Blog,

This is my 5th blog entry. I'm very happy to have started this blog because you see, since then, I've managed to meet up with 2 old schoolmates online, though not through blogging. One of them is located in the same country (SINGAPORE!) with me, the other is overseas.

Very very happy. That is how I would describe my own feelings upon chatting with them online. They are two people who have been with me through thick & thin during those schooldays. Yeah, I miss those crazy days & I miss all those friends I made, when I didn't have to work, didn't have to dress in officewear (not that I hate it but ...). All I did was to study & try to get good grades.

When I chatted with one of them, I told him about my blog. Blah this, blah that ... blah blah blah ... I then asked him "what do you think of me blogging?" He then told me to do what I want to do, give it my best shot & not to worry about what others think, which would be too much trouble. Besides, he said that we can't always please everyone. Yup, I totally agree.

He then asked me, along this line: so, where is your blog going to head to? Is there some sense of direction for your blog? What was I trying to achieve? I told him "Honestly? I don't know. I just started this blog after getting inspired through reading another schoolmate's blog." What I do know is that I value this schoolmate's opinions. Even during our schooldays, he was spouting lines along the likes of Shakespeare & other great thinkers. Here's to you, friend!

Seriously, that is my true answer. After logging off, I thought about it for a very long time & I still have no answer. I must admit though, I find other bloggers far better than me, in terms of content & layout. When I mentioned this to the other schoolmate based overseas (the 2 guys do not know each other & both guys are from different schools), he said "Take your time, you are still new. Things like good blogs take time." Another thing this overseas mate said that cheered me up "Actually, your blog ain't too bad, you know" ... Whaddaya know, man, IT actually CHEERED me UP!!

It is like being at a buffet, with many good things to eat but you don't know which to start first. You nibble this, you nibble that ... still undecided. Do I want the decision on what to blog & how to blog to be made by other bloggers' entries? Nope. Influenced by them? Yes, of course. Ultimately, the final decision lies with me.

I do know that I have to let nature take its course. It is no use planning too far ahead for certain things, like blogging. It takes time to develop your own individual style, unique to oneself. Thus, for the short-term future at least, this blog site won't be as stylish as others nor exciting but most important thing is: I like it. I'll keep working at my blog, hoping that it will evolve through the passage of time into something truly impressive. In a nutshell, when I come to the river that I have to cross, I'll think about how to get across.

I'm still a baby blogger, don't know what to do next, when to blog & how to blog "right". Guess, Father Time will have one more charge to take care of from now.

Flashing Friday

2005-07-23T12:09:00.000+08:00

Ahh Fridays. It is ONE of my favourite days & letter-of-the-alphabet (not that F). Haven't really noticed it until today in the office that come end of "official working hours" EVERY FRIDAY, the mood gets better & even when it comes to OT (aka overtime), it is very welcomed.
I pity those that have to work 5.5 days, or worse still, EVERYDAY. How you guys can tahan is beyond me ATM.

In most of my working life, there has only been ONE JOB that required me to work 5.5. Man, I tell you, it was a little tough in the beginning but life goes on; however, if you are money-faced, the thought of dough in the cookie jar can do wonders when your days are 5.5, doesn't it?

Recently, a senior ex-colleague whom I met by chance on the streets, said to me one phrase that I remembered until now. She said "THE important thing is MONEY goes inside your pocket, don't care what work". Yup, I agree with her 100%. Money indeed makes the day; you slog like mad all for the pleasure of seeing your bank account fattened, only to be decimated again ... with great relish.

I think that there is a psychological effect of FRIDAYS, that is why I named this blog the double Fs. During lunch hour today, I noticed that expressions on most people's faces were magically lighter, accompanied by the sounds of Class 95 deejays, Vern & Glenn, yakking away at Caltex House; didn't go over to see them.

Also, people were SPENDING MORE. Serious. I was in video rental shop (OK, so no videotapes but VCD & DVD) & I just rented one solo movie, I saw my fellow renters excitedly PAYING for their rentals. Man, is this the stuff that conjures up images of a boring Singapore? I don't think so. One man's meat is another man's poison.

Flash, goes the credit card. Flash goes the ATM card. Flash goes the membership card. I think that The Incredibles just got a new member in the family. Welcome please, the Singaporean Flash ... of the card.

In Singapore, there is always someone flashing a card somewhere, sometime.

Obession With BEHINDS

2005-07-20T11:43:00.000+08:00

Is it just me or does anyone notice the fact that in Singapore (at the very least), there is this curious phenomenon called "move-in-futher-the-bus-will-make-me-malu".

This morning, whilst going to work (as usual), I observed that many Singaporeans upon boarding the bus, like to crowd around the front of the bus (where the bus captain is) and/or around entrances/exits. There is a refusal to move to the BEHIND of the bus, as if doing so will make the person miss his/her stop. Weird behaviour, ain't it so?

My reasons for why many (not all) Singaporeans have this irritating habit:

BEHIND will make one malu (local Malay word for embaressed)
BEHIND will make one miss their stop
BEHIND got ghost
BEHIND got bad smells
BEHIND is no good, means that one is last

I've not ranked them, just listing them randomly. I guess that this is just my 2 cents' worth of grumbling on this evergreen issue.

Keep asking myself,"Why can't those people MOVE a bit in the bus, so that others may board?" In the morning rush hour, when you see these kinds of people, you really feel like screaming your b***** head off (yes, self-censoring here).

5 minutes might not make one rich but can make a whole lot of difference between "ON TIME" & "LATE" for work ... or your superior might remember & then, at the end of the year, when it's due time for bonus appraisal ...

I think from a psychological point of view, there is a somewhat "Tall Poppy" syndrome. However, I'm too lazy to explain further. Yeah, yeah ...

Having ranted my 2cents' worth, I shall stop now. My readers, what do you think?

All about David Tao from a recent convert to DT music

2005-07-18T12:25:00.000+08:00

I took the Ultrasound album one day to have a listen to it & the rest, they say, is history, or like a fish takes to water. I got hooked (very bad withdrawal symptoms, one. hahahaa) & almost immediately, went out to buy EVERY SINGLE ONE of David Tao's albums. Not in one day, of course.

Now, depending on how one looks at it, for a guy in the Mandarin/Chinese music industry since 1997 (excluding his behind-the-scene workings), to release only FIVE albums ... is a great stroke of luck for me, as I am still able to get the DT albums. Moreover, the ones I managed to get are all "Limited Edition" albums, meaning there are 2 types of DT albums in the market; the ordinary version vs. the limited edition CD-with-AVCD versions. For those wishing to buy 2nd-hand DT albums, hear me out: VERY DIFFICULT, as it rarely is on the market, whatever DT album you wish to get. That is in my view, a good sign, as DT does a good job for each & every album. It means that there are more people out there who genuinely appreciate Tao Zhe's music genre.

David Tao probably hears this all the time but I will blog it, anyway. One fine nite, whilst on MSN talking to an overseas friend, who btw is "ang moh", I casually mentioned Tao Zhe. Immediately, he msg me back that he has heard of Tao Zhe/David Tao too. Moreover, he was about to get a DT album. I shut him up by saying,"I'll take care of that" & I'll buy on his behalf David Tao albums (he can probably pay me later), "limited edition" CD-cum-AVCD versions guaranteed. He (meaning my friend, not DT) said that I'm the 2nd person to praise David Tao & I said that it is no surprise, considering that DT music is good; he would soon get via the post from me (well ... a bit stretching of the truth ...) Both my friend & I are music lovers, sharing some common interests in music artistes, like DT for example.

The only problem I forsee (so far, that is) is that coming from the shape of the Black Tangerine album; DT fans, you know, the long long one with a picture of David in a green T. Now, how am I supposed to wrap that in brown paper so as to post it overseas to my friend? I know for sure, it wouldn't fit into into most parcel boxes. Haiz, my "ang moh" fren, u must wait a while longer B4 I can figure out how best to send those DT albums to you.

I've listened to all 5 albums & like most people, have favourites for each album. Here goes:

1st album - Blue Moon
2nd album - Small Town Girl/ Regular Friends
3rd album - The Moon Represents Whose Heart/Black Tangerine
4th album - Shanghaied
5th album - Ghost/Susan Says

What says you about my choices? Actually, my all-time favourite is Yue Liang Dai Biao Shui De Xin (The Moon Represents Whose Heart). I had thought all along that Teresa Teng did the best interpretation & no one else could compete. All that changed until DT version came along. The one thing I can't get used to is the MV for this song. Serious, I can't get used to it.

My 2nd favourite that ties with the above is "Blue Moon". Very soothing & bringing back very stirring memories for me. MV is also nicely done for this song.

As said earlier, I am just a recent convert to the wonderful music by David Tao. Regards to collecting news about him, like magazine articles .... I'm so far behind other DT fans. I don't go to any of his events yet (being new to his music), don't have his posters in my room & not wait for him at the airport ... SHESSSH ... I feel sheepish talking about this, especially at my age!!

One thing however, I got the ULTRA-LIMITED & OUT-OF-PRINT David Tao documentary "Ultrasound-11 Labour Room", VCD edition. It was released in 2003 & I got 2 copies of it, both within weeks of each other, in 2005. How lucky I am! Not a bad effort at all, David! Unfortunately, I wonder how is my ang moh friend going to watch the documentary, with it being all in Mandarin. I can't translate everything in "11 Labour Room". I feel that this is the rarest of all Tao Zhe things to own. Ga ga!!

Ok, ok ... I will stop now. Might write again about Tao Zhe as time permits. Except one thing: How will I react if I see/talk to David Tao one fine day? If I see DT, I probably will gasp, point at him & go speechless, then say "take picture take picture". If DT were to call me (as if Mr Big Shot David Tao will do that), I probably will go "crazy guy" & then HANG UP on him, then think & think & say "Oh s***, it is really HIM" & try to call him back ...

Tao Zhe, are you reading this by any chance? What do you think? Will I get to see you? Will I get to talk to you?

My First Blog

2005-07-18T09:50:00.000+08:00

Today is such a historic occasion. It is the first time that I'm blogging & I've no idea what to write. So, I think I shall start off simple, to the point of being boring.

I created this blog AFTER getting inspiration from a friend, Kenny, whom I met earlier today. When I told him of my wish to blog after reading his blogs but didn't know how, he encouraged me to push on & told me of this site, which would be easy to register.

I've not met Kenny since I graduated & my impression is that he is still the same old Kenny that I left back in Perth. Meaning, he (Kenny) is still NICE, polite & articulate.

At one time, he was my "sparring partner", in the sense that we clashed over some social issues. For someone so young, to be able to stand his ground is admirable. Serious. On & on the 2 of us (me & Kenny) went raving about the pro's & con's till we were blue in the face. Wonder if he can remember the debating that raged through? The topic shall REMAIN SECRET, locked in life's memory.

There I was, waiting for Kenny to appear at HMV Orchard, when lo & behold, he did appear. Went makan with him at Marche, before leaving him to do his own stuff. What did we chat about AFTER not meeting for over 2 years?

Beside the usual "what u been up to", I told him about my life "up & down", how I met him again through his blogging AND I passed to him some very overdue photos, which are about ... let me see ... 4 or 5 years old ... yea yeah, I'm lazy to that effect ... but those fotos were no big hurry to be seen, the fond memories of it are within us people concerned.

However, I didn't know that Kenny blogged until very recently, when I was searching for something else when I came across his blogs. That will be another issue to write about.

HINT? 2 words: David Tao. Now, that I heard is a whole big issue, with so many camps about Tao Zhe. For now, I gotta go off awhile before I blog again later 2nite.

David Tao (or Tao Zhe), are you listening? It's about you (again! how monotonous, DT must be rolling his eyes & saying!!)