contrary to what the bookshop encik and macik thought, and what i led my mother to believe, i did not actually get drenched in the rain last saturday because i was so eager to collect my pre-ordered copy of harry potter and the deathly hallows. i mean, i did get drenched as a result of my quest to collect it, but that wasn't the real reason. (before i go on, let me state for the record that i bought it for $43 from the NUS co-op. perks of being a university student, neh neh! paying $5 more at borders for the snowy owl doesn't count. oh well, but hedwig did die, suppose that would've been a nice way of remembering all she's been to harry.)

nope, i'd tumbled out of bed with one thought in my mind: HARRY POTTER 7'S BEING RELEASED TODAY! IM GOING TO FIND OUT WHY DUMBLEDORE TRUSTED SNAPE! AMONG OTHER THINGS! (pardon the lack of the apostrophe, i think the way i sms which means my punctuation leaves much to be desired), changed out of the t-shirt i wore to sleep (though i wore the same shorts), brushed my teeth, gave my hair a perfunctory brush, and charged out of the house.

you will note that there is no mention of my having had any breakfast.

anyhow, 151 took an eternity to arrive so i decided to take 154 and change to 96 (the wonders of having a bus pass).

but my stomach protested at not having anything to eat until i'd collected the book and gone home so i decided to get off at clementi interchange. where i had ming chiang kueh and soyabean milk from a nameless stall. although it was probably the AH GU brand because they gave me a bag emblazoned with the words AH GU.

i'm so clever right.

the ming chiang kueh was pretty good! the skin could have been softer, but i liked the filling. and there was a generous amount of it.

i didn't realise that 96 didn't go to clementi interchange so i had to walk three bus-stops to catch it and on the way there it started raining heavily.

so that's why i got drenched la. not because i was DYING DYING to read harry potter - no, i was only DYING to read it, see? one dying. it was the call of my stomach that couldn't be ignored.

that being said, harry potter 7 was extremely satisfying. my mother picked up today's life! and tsktsked at how there was a massive spoiler on the front (yes, harry doesn't die) and she said people who haven't read the book will be really pissed off. i gave her one of my best dude you've got to be joking looks (learnt from jon the master himself, no less) and said, "ALL die-hard fans would have finished reading it by now, ok?"

seriously. i left jasmine's party pretty early saturday night on the pretext that i had to prepare bible sharing for sunday but i ended up reading. i finished the book at 330 a.m., smsed jon to tell him i'd probably pay for it in church but oh, it was worth it. although i had to wake up barely three hours later at 6.

the epilouge at the end of the deathly hallows was to the series what the road to avonlea was to the anne series: reassurance of what you know would've happened had they been real characters, what you'd have imagined for them yourself. but it's always so much nicer to read it. make you more sure, somehow.

and for those of you who read caleb's comment in the papers about how it was too complicated, i have just this to say (alright, it's my mother's comment haha): dude! you're a lit student! couldn't you see that she HAD to introduce the hallows to heighten the triumph of good over evil? to bring home the point about how our choices make us who we are? it was hallows vs horcruxes the whole way.

sorry, i just had to prove my point, since i didn't get interviewed by the straits times hurhur.

quentin i don't see the point of your blog and i had to download additional plug-ins to see it. where is the comment board dude? and what a phrase to caption a photo with - "bye bye adele welcome back ian" (: but it's kinda true. still i think he's only free tuesday nights still. shall we plan him a farewell gathering?

i'm afraid of taking showers. abraisions you get from running never seem to hurt until water touches them.

ouch.

i really don't think anyone reads my blog anymore because i've been too lazy to update even though i said i would, when i got back from australia. and i really planned to! with photos and all.

but daddy's taken cammie, as usual, and anyway the best photo of the entire trip isn't even scenery or the people i went with.

it's of a cake i baked at my godmother's house.

AMAZING STUFF! for the first time, i got the crumb i desired. hopefully i can recreate it here, and it wasn't just the good baking weather but that secret ingredient. i shall not divulge it, but i'm going to post pictures of the cake if and when i can. i'm also going to try baking it again, and if the results are good and you like the look of the cake you can pay me to bake it for your 21st birthday. or 22nd. or however old you are la. sorry to everyone i didn't buy krispy kremes back for. i really had no money - plus they're TOO SWEET FOR YOU (but yalan needs the calories).

i've been too lazy to blog because i started waitressing the night of the day after i got back. seriously. i've been doing four or five shift weeks, at rouge outdoors (where else) so do come by.

by my third or fourth day in australia i was dreadfully, dreadfully homesick. it was lovely spending time with abi and stella of course, and being with my godbrothers and godparents. but i'd be eating my smoked salmon on foccacia sandwich and sampling stella's gnocchi, or having dinner at stalactites again (great greek food); exclaiming over lovely fresh produce and cheap tim tams but just thinking all the time of $3 bak chor mee and the heat and running in the botanic gardens. i did go running when i was there, and i got lost, ended up running from stella's suburb to the next.

everyone i've told says i was just jon-sick but i know better, okay. i really did miss singapore. maybe it was just because it was winter and because i've been to both melbourne and sydney before, and because i somehow remember australia being a lot cheaper than it was before. but i was really thankful to be able to get away, even though i felt tons more excited landing in changi airport than when we landed in melbourne. seriously.

in other news, tonight joel's going to sign jon up for AHM. i really hope jon doesn't cramp and die on me half-way.

i haven't been running but i've been carbo-loading. . . so it should be alright.

yeah right, dude!

dear enoch

i have let you down.

the night before last, my godbrother and i decided to make dinner for the whole family and i decided to make apple crumble. following the recipe which we used many times before remember? and i didn't see what could go wrong because dude, it's winter in a temperate country after all? and the butter should behave itself a lot better than in hot and humid singapore.

well, okay it did. and i even got these lovely, lovely granny smiths to use!

BUT IT FAILED. i think i left it in too long, and the temperature was too low. the apples kinda lost their juice to the pastry which didn't cook properly as a result. it looked very pretty before you poked your fork in. and i would post pictures of it but my fingers are too, too cold.

anyhow, i'm very sorry. i shall now kowtow to you ALL HAIL ENOCH, THE BETTER COOK THAN CHLOE.

yeah right. i'll never concede defeat. one day i shall make apple crumble without you (again) and it shall be perfect.