there beneath the blue suburban skies

2012-01-28T09:16:00.008+08:00

Time of Your Life

We met B over the Chinese New Year at Jon's paternal grandmother's house. I saw him as I walked through the gate, and quite literally skipped over to thank him for being one of the people who recommended I watch Secret Garden last year (the other person was my brother. With two boys telling me to watch it, I knew it had to be good). Because the idea of it is so utterly frivolous, and yet because it is the truth, I like telling people that watching Secret Garden marked a major turning point in my life.

Well, that major turning point culminated in my tendering my resignation last Wednesday.

I never thought, when I started posting random office anecdotes two years ago, that I'd be posting about this so soon. That's life for you I guess: It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right; I hope you had the time of your life. My taste in music has changed over the years, it's funny thinking how at 13 I thought I would be into Green Day forever. That was a really good song the lyrics of which still hold true today.

Last night, while waiting for Jon to be done with work, I joined D2 and K in D1's room to just hang around. Our being together reminded me of why I had been so enamoured with private practice at first. It wasn't what we talked about, really; it was looking at the files in D1's room, the open window on his computer with an email he had to send on a Friday night after 6 p.m. You know. Things that pander to a workaholic's tendencies.

I've said before I didn't think the job was glamourous at all, which was why I liked it - but I've always felt there was a sort of "reverse glamour". The late nights, the caffeine fooling (and fuelling) you into thinking that you could maybe pull 3 to 4 a.m. days for a good long while yet; Barry the BlackBerry flashing red at all hours, the (misguided) feeling that you are young yet indispensable to the firm. The nice lunches and dinners when you luck out and work with (charming) bosses who bother to attempt to show their appreciation, even though they ask you the exact same questions which they did the last time you went out for lunch together.

D1 and D2 said, as have many others when I tell them I have resigned, Why quit, it's going to be like this you know. You will be alone at night at home because Jon will still have very bad hours.

I'd finally heard the lyrics of 天冷就回来 properly the Friday before Chinese New Year, and there was one poignant line which struck me: 天冷我想回家年少已经不在, it's cold and I want to go home but youth is no longer there. I don't want to wake up five years later and wonder what happened to my life and wonder why I didn't make the choice earlier - because by then, it may be too late. I want to be able to clean my own house and prepare meals (famous last words). Want to be able, on Mondays, to turn off my computer when it's time to leave for BSF, want to wake up on Sundays and feel refreshed as I head to church and not like a wall of bricks has fallen on my head. Jon may not come home early everyday, but he has promised to try, and that is enough (although I don't think I've quite yet learnt how to put patience before disappointment (and sometimes unreasonableness, of course)). But we're getting there.

Resigning wasn't easy. Sometimes I'm afraid I will grow to resent Jon for being so supportive of and one of my main reasons for leaving. I'm also afraid that I will be totally and utterly sick of housework after less than a year of married life.

But hey, you never know till you've tried, right? And in the words of an A*mei song, 敢爱敢做的人超级精彩, those who dare to love and dare to do are absolutely marvellous (a biased translation).

***

Thank You, God, for Your faithfulness these past two years.

2011-12-23T01:34:00.004+08:00

The day before yesterday was P's last day. I had two Jaegerbombs in his honour, which marked the first time Red Bull crossed my lips (and it turns out Red Bull doesn't just give you wings, it gives you nightmares as well).

For some reason, I woke up in the morning thinking of the the time at a subway station in Beijing when we had an argument, or a heated discussion about something or other. I remember getting so frustrated and exasperated that I squatted down in the midst of the mass of people there at the time, and put my hands over my ears until the train came.

It was winter turning to spring, if my memory serves me correctly.

That was in 2008.

At the risk of sounding drama mama and having Jon chastise me for being emo about nothing at all, I feel like I've come to the end of an era. It's a bit like the feeling I had when I graduated from JC. Suddenly the common ground you had, took for granted, is gone - and where does that leave your friendship?

Perhaps I'm just thinking too much, because at dinner last night we had a ball of a time and the conversation didn't even centre around work that much.

Till the next TBC outing, bye P - may God bless you and J and keep the both of you safe.

2011-09-27T00:54:00.010+08:00

Buggy, Victoria, Daniel

This post is about three people. The first showed me much love and friendship when I needed it during my insecure primary school years (a girls’ school education is not all it’s cracked up to be). The second I barely knew, all I knew was that her class stood next to mine during assembly when I was in Secondary One and someone once whispered to me that she wore foundation to school you know. The third was someone I had the privilege of sharing part of what were some of the best years and best memories of my life thus far with.

I will start with the third, Daniel, because my foremost thoughts are about him.

Daniel passed away last Friday, 22 September 2011. I received an SMS from a number I’d memorized long ago but deleted from my contact list in a fit of pique, such is the stuff grudges formed in JC are made of.

Together with C’s SMS came an inexplicable sense of loss. Daniel and I hadn’t exactly been close friends, but had been gum enough in JC. M and I also used to call him “Cutie pie” – she changed his name in my handphone to that the day we agreed that he was cute. That was sometime when I was 18. It was the only name on my handphone contact list in JC which wasn’t all in small letters.

I remembered the last time I saw Daniel; he had lost all his hair and looked like he was going to die. I couldn’t bring myself to ask him how he was doing, because the answer was staring at me so obviously.

I didn’t say much more to him that day; I don’t even remember when it was.

C and I sat together during Daniel’s memorial service on Sunday (I’d dislodged the grudge a while ago while beginning to compile the guest list for my wedding, realising that I did want C to be there after all). We both cried, and we talked about the time Daniel had skipped choir rehearsal to audition for Singapore Idol (and got a scolding), talked about the times Daniel did not know his music (and got a scolding, C and him stood next to each other and boy was C sticky about these things). C gave me a light brown napkin made of rough, recycled paper to dry my eyes and blow my nose with, they were all he had. And it felt weird, talking about Daniel as if he were still alive, whole and healthy; as if we were still entitled to think that he was weird for campaigning against pirated music and jaywalking in JC – I’d forgotten that, until one of his friends brought it up in his eulogy.

Daniel wrote about the ACJC Europe Choral Tour in 2005 here. My batch couldn’t go on tour because of SARS and the war in Iraq, and we came back the year after we graduated to tour with our juniors. I read through Daniel’s blog in the office on Monday, and searched for this post because that tour was probably the last time I had any meaningful contact with him.

Daniel remembered and was touched by the same things that I was, that we all were, on that trip.

Here is a picture of Daniel and me at a Chinese restaurant in London’s Chinatown.

Daniel was faithful and courageous to the end, and I am thankful that his pain and suffering on earth is over and he is at peace with God in heaven. I hope that this time next year, I will be able to say that I have faced my circumstances with as much courage as he faced his, and made the right choices for my life.

***
Buggy (short for Abigail, but not the Abi of the legend on your right) passed away when I was 15. Our families used to be close as our fathers were colleagues, and we got to know each other when we were 9 years old. We used to send letters to each other by post, and family road trips to Malaysia and weekly Saturday night visits were some of the highlights of my growing up years. I still remember the first time we were introduced to each other; I believe it was at my house. We were outside, near the washing machine, and we suddenly asked each other at the exact same moment, do you like rabbits?

That question marked the beginning of a wonderful, imaginative friendship. I remember the year we went to Kukup – we made up a skit where we were called Laura and Mary (I was hooked on the Little House on the Prairie series at the time). We ripped up old bed sheets and made “dirt” make-up to streak our faces with. Not that Laura and Mary led a life of poverty, quite the contrary in fact; but we had a story about two poor girls and we needed names.

Buggy went to SCGS in Secondary One, and that marked the beginning of the end of our friendship. It was partly due to my insecurity and boy-craziness that we grew apart; the things which once made our friendship so dear became uncool and something I wanted to avoid. I remember I once called her with the radio blasting in the background, just so I could show how cool I was by listening to 987FM. I also remember a very stilted meeting we had some time that year, where we didn’t say much to each other. Our parents remained friends, but as their children grew older and busier with school, we stopped keeping in touch.

One day – I remember this was during my short skirt, low ankle socks and layered short hair phase – my mother told me that Buggy was in hospital. She had a hole in her heart and had a pacemaker installed when she was a baby; her organs were also positioned differently, i.e. her heart was on the right instead of the left of her chest. There had suddenly been complications, and she was in a coma. Buggy’s mother asked me to lend them a CD of popular music, in the hope that she would respond to it. I passed her Sugar Ray’s 14:59. I don’t think it was ever returned to me.

I remember visiting Buggy in hospital, and thinking that she was going to die.

The next morning, my mother came out to the living room as I was leaving for school. She gave me a hug and said, Abby passed away last night.

And I remember that I didn’t feel anything. I felt then that I was a heartless person, but there it was. I didn’t feel anything. I remember writing to a common friend we had to say that I didn’t want to cry because I was afraid Buggy would see the tears (or something theatrical and secondary school-ish like that), but the truth was, I just couldn’t cry.

I’d like to think we would have become good friends again, once we (or just me, perhaps) got past the angsty phase.

That year, I cried and cried and cried when Bowei and I finally broke up, and I remember feeling guilty that I couldn’t even spare a tear for someone who had once been so dear to me.

Buggy liked drinking a particular brand of peach tea, there were illustrations of idyllic countryside scenes with rabbits dressed up in clothes printed on the box. I think I still have the box in my cupboard, somewhere.

***
The last person I want to blog about is Victoria. I chanced upon her wake one year in university, when my father brought us all to the wake of his friend’s mother at Singapore casket.

I shook hands with her parents, murmured that I had seen her around in MGS, and wondered just how she had passed away.

***
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36

I'm glad the major epiphany I had this year was while I was watching Secret Garden.

2010-12-20T00:36:00.005+08:00

Some Days

I feel like wearing my AC uniform and heading out to Sogurt at 2:45 p.m., just as if I was in JC and we got let out early and there was really nothing else better to do but eat expensive yogurt and talk cock until it was time to go home and take a nap before dinner.

I don't really know what it is that I feel wistful about, but I've been feeling wistful the past week (which was also the week after my one measly week of year-end leave, where Jon and I, among other things, went cycling in Malaysia for a day and came back sunburnt but full of good seafood). Or, to put things more accurately, I think I'm just sian.

Jon thinks (and I agree, really) that I'm too involved with clients' lives.

I tell everyone that I'm more detached than I thought I would be, doing family matters - and it's true. I never thought I'd be able to listen to the sad facts of other peoples' lives and go on to draft affidavits about these things so matter of factly. But there you have it. I don't think I've become unfeeling, or unsympathetic - you've just gotta do what you've gotta do. And more importantly, I believe in it. I believe that family lawyers can genuinely help people achieve what they deserve, the "just and equitable result".

But once in a while you find out something about the people you're working for (the law mandates that they have to share the boring, mundane details of their lives with you, like, for example, what they bought for breakfast for the whole of November) that makes you sit up and wonder at how random all our lives are. And you tell yourself that God knows the details of all our lives, and He's got them all in His hands so you shouldn't get so involved or concerned about it because they are just clients but you still can't shake off the niggling feeling of Randomness.

I think that about sums up what's making me feel so sian (wistful) - because I think I'm feeling wistful (sian) for a time when I didn't know Just How Random life really is.

Also, there are some things one can't blog about, the things that are driving me up the wall. Some days I feel like screaming out loud and going for a long lunch and looking at pretty things in the shops because it's Christmas after all and everyone's going for long lunches and looking at pretty things in the shops.

All that being said, I don't know what 2011 will bring, but I'm looking forward to it. Planning for the wedding, buying a house, BSF again (really).

Thank You, God, for the Good Book and the encouragement it gives to my weary soul.

***

Everyday at 0103 hours Microsoft Exchange sends me an email to tell me that my Inbox is almost full.

2010-11-20T09:38:00.005+08:00

Much Good, Part N

Best part about last Monday:

REMARKS: ORDER-IN-TERMS. ATTENDANCE IS DISPENSED WITH

(i.e. no need to go court take queue number and wait very, very, very long just to see the AR for, oh, less than 10 minutes)

Worst part about last Monday:

Being snubbed by the mee tai mak auntie again when I brought my trusty eco-friendly container and got in the queue at her stall. Really, I believe she has something against my eco-friendly container.

Study so hard for what right, still cannot get what you want to eat for lunch.

***

In other news, I'm less bright-eyed and bushy tailed than I was when I first started this job (which explains the lack of posts), but I'm doing alright I guess. I just wish there was more time for everything, especially sleeping, watching TV, watching movies with Jon.

I will miss these days - the talking nonsense with D1 day in day out (which reminds me alot of JC with Jon Wrong and Bryan and Quents et al except that it is really day in day out) - like I told him, macham JC lah talk alot and work very hard but everything still very fun; talking nonsense with ON, with my good and faithful secretary, the smell of a cup of tea with just one teaspoon of condensed milk (22 calories). Still being relatively care-free.

We're moving soon, and D1 won't be sitting in the room next to ON and me anymore. We'll also be on a different floor from the Ps and JdS, and in a different building from D2. I'm not sure how this will change things. The only thing I'm sure of is that I will, perhaps, be more efficient in the day.

***

For the first time in what feels like months (it has been months, about two months I think) Jon and I managed to leave the office at 7:30 p.m. on a Friday night. It felt really good being out when the shops and restaurants were still crowded, actually seeing peple we knew around town. Being able to have a decent conversation without feeling like we were going to nod off to sleep while talking to each other, therefore being able to talk properly about the Things That Matter.

Not having to go for dinner at Hong Kong Cafe because it's the only thing still open which serves decent Chinese food at 10 p.m. Actually being able to take a bus home.

I love taking the bus, when I can get a seat; don't you think the feeling of being on a bus and knowing you have nothing pressing and you can get caught in all the traffic jams you want is Simply Awesome? It's liberating, really, having time to just do nothing at all.

I don't know what it is in Singaporean culture which makes people feel they have to work so darned hard.

***
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

- Leisure, by W.H. Davies

2010-10-03T00:25:00.003+08:00

A Long Long Time Ago

I was really touched when Jon told me recently that he still checks my blog to see whether I've uploaded the picture of us at mass call which I promised in my last post some three or so months ago.

I've hijacked PoBe's computer for tonight (read: uploading will not take eons like it does on Lenny), so here it is:
And, for those of you who didn't already know, we got engaged on National Day this year when Kit Chan was singing Home. During the second verse, to be exact.

As if I needed another reason for Kit Chan and Dick Lee to be on my list of all-time favourite musicians.

***

It's also fitting that I blog today - further to D2's pink toothbrush escapade, at Cold Storage whatever building it's called (it's not China Square; it's right opposite my office and I don't even know what it's called) I had the following exchange with him today (D1 was also a party to the same, but he didn't make any comments. Oh the wonders of BBM).

D2: I told me mum my toothbrush was bad
She said ok, she will buy for me
She went out and bought me a pink toothbrush
Now I have TWO pink toothbrushes

Chloeeeeeee: U can't hide from them la its your destiny :)
Hahahaaahaahaaaa
Betrayed by your own mother.

***

My favourite Meiji biscuits made a comeback in the office pantry recently. The tea lady has showed me the locked cupboard where they're kept, but not where the key is stashed, unfortunately and for good reason.

***

My BlackBerry is named Barry.

2010-06-20T23:36:00.006+08:00

Email Exchange of Two Weeks Ago

Right, I know I promised Mass Call pictures of Jon and I, and it's been almost 3 weeks since it occurred (do you actually care?).

Well, here is the Email Exchange of Two Weeks Ago to make up for it, I guarantee it's worth it. And I will upload at least a picture of Jon and Me at Mass Call, soon.

D2, to D1 and me:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1Rw9iT.CkZA&pos=9

Japanese men let their wives dole out pocket money to them every month

D1: absurdity. pussies!

Me: I think it's a marvellous practice (although jon holds the only atm card to our joint account) [aside: yes, we have a joint account!]

D2: At this point, [D1] will say that jon is a worthy example of all men :)

D1: what about me? I sub [my girlfriend's] credit cards. HAHAHA

Me: PUSSY

D1: [D2].. pls defend me. chloe called me a pussy!

Self-explanatory.

**
In other news, I lost Phoney!!! Left him on a cab, and when I called the cab company one hour later to find out if he was still around, they couldn't find him anymore.

I'm using PoBe's 2100 now, which he couldn't use for army because his fingers were too fat for the buttons.

My father's comment on it all?

Phonesey, dotz. Why wasn't his name Phonesey?

This, from the man who sent me about 3 Internet SMSes during the week (he was in KL, and he doesn't have a handphone) asking me how Mazzie was (please tell me you know who Mazzie is). I told him to have some respect for the departed.

"Phonesey" actually looks pretty cool though, on second thought. Kinda like you can pronounce it "Fou-Ne-See".

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

(By the way, Mazzie is our MAZda. He used to spell it "Muzzie," I don't know why he's suddenly bent on getting the names more accurate.)

I've already thought of a name for the BlackBerry we will be getting soon. Stay tuned.

2010-05-23T22:54:00.004+08:00

Last Week

More to keep myself sane than from any great desire to have many readers, I'm going to continue blogging about random events that take place in my increasingly boring life. As you will notice, these random events are beginning to become a trifle office based, and centre around the same few idi- sorry, people.

Anyhow, last week's random event was that D, the other one (I shall call them D1 and D2 hereafter on my blog, D1 being the taller of the two; references in this post are to D2), bought a hot pink toothbrush entirely by accident and was most distressed by it thereafter because he felt that people would think he was, you know, poufy.

He really did buy it by accident. He picked it up at Cold Storage China Square, expounded at length about how he could not see himself buying a pink toothbrush, and then proceeded to the cashier with the same hot pink toothbrush in hand. None of us realised it. Really!

My, we are getting old.

P also told us, over chicken rice, about a book that he's been reading in preparation for marriage. The contents of said book are not suitable for discussion in a public forum such as this, but in short - even though it's written by Christians for Christians, as Jon pointed out when I told him about it (I could barely get the words out, I was laughing so hard): What's the difference between that and GQ?

It is good to be young and learning new and exciting things everyday (yes, refer to above paragraph on P's recent reading material). Thank God for that.

The resident Judicial Manager has also decided to leave our great company. I rang him during the week after he sent this really touching (for him) farewell email (he later told Jon some of his colleagues rang him with "tears in their eyes") and emailed him for the last time at his office email address with the lyrics of that great 张学友 classic:

若有缘，有缘就能期待明天
我们重逢在那灿烂的季节

So long as there is fate, we will be able to look forward to tomorrow
We will meet again in that glorious season

Of course I don't believe in fate, but for the purposes of saying farewell to someone who's helped to maintain my level of sanity these past few hectic months, someone who's just as fond as I am of writing out the lyrics of Mandarin pop songs when seized by the need to doodle, it was perfect.

Judicial Manager, I will not forget the week I had lunch with you three times in a row because we had no other friends. See you again in that glorious season - when you queue up to buy fish soup for all of us because you're moving near there and the queue is always horrendously long.

2010-05-09T00:21:00.002+08:00

Saturday Night

Jon's gone off to India, and I'm still up doing what I have to do. Don't particularly mind, though I would like to get some sleep.

2010-04-24T23:24:00.006+08:00

Email Exchange of The Week, and Some Random Thoughts

You know how, whenever someone rings you and speaks in a whisper, you always feel obliged to reply in a whisper even though most of the time you probably don't need to?

It happens in emails too.

D: [insert piece of office gossip, typed in italics]
Me: why are you typing in italics? is it meant to represent the fact that you are telling me something in a whisper? in which case maybe it should be in small font?

Then there was the NEH NEH NEH email.

Me: have you seen this (those boysnightout and girlsnightout application forms) NEH NEH NEH
D, the other one: i read your email as have you seen this boob boob boob

Which is really -_-, if you think about it. And shows that D, the other one, is a real cheeko.

***
Anyhow, I'm going to be called to the bar in a little over a month - wah almost lawyer already, right - but just now, when I encountered a group of Cool People I Used To Know, I felt tremendously awkward, and simply couldn't bring myself to go up to them and say hi. Even though they acknowledged my presence and smiled and waved.

I felt like an insecure teenager all over again. Look at how I used the phrase "acknolwedged my presence."

I was telling D the other day when he very kindly gave me a lift home after work that I prayed before that I'd never forget how it felt to be insecure as a teenager. I prayed for that because I think it's one of the worst feelings girls go through; and then there are those who never get to feeling at ease with themselves, who usually end up being socially awkward and the ones people like to pick on. Sometimes for reasons so flimsy you know somewhere in your heart of hearts that you do it only because it makes you (me) feel better about yourself (myself). Would remembering make it easier to be kind and gracious though? I'm ashamed to say I'm not so sure anymore. More on that sometime.

Moving on to other random realisations I've had in the past week: being a lawyer is actually Totally Unglam and Uncool. And that's why I think I'm going to stick at it. Or maybe I was just blessed to get an unpretentious boss.

It's humbling, and it's good, to be reminded often of how dispensable I am in the grander scheme of things, how I'm really just an ant scurrying about my way trying not to be trodden on by some inconsiderate human (although I hate ants, the sight of what must be hundreds of them converging on some fallen crumb gives me the creeps). It helps me to look forward to heaven, and spurs me to choose to be contented with whatever comes my way.

Even after retention, the feelings of inadequacy and wanting to feel important so I can feel good about myself remain. Read: getting good work, or rather what I perceive to be "good work" to do, and having enough of it so that I have to stay back late. Feeling that my boss likes me. And why shouldn't those feelings still be there, actually? They were linked to, but still independent of my competitive spirit. Which I'm not proud of, but I'm only human after all and I do think I tried my best to entrust that part of my life to God.

I'm not sick of practice - far from it - and this is not going to be one of those "What On Earth Am I Doing With My Life?" posts. I just find these feelings I have amusing, pathetic and necessary all at once, and thought I'd share them with you. And I'm not the only one, and young lawyers aren't the only ones who feel this way. There was an article in the Sunday Times written by a young journalist who said she felt that way too. I had to work that weekend I think (there, that's a feel-good thing), and on Sunday was simply too tired to read it.

What is it people my age really want now, anyway? I can't deny that I was swayed by the posh reception areas with fancy artwork, as well as all the stereotypes people have perpetrated about lawyers. The long hours, the money, the fancy meals, sharp clothes and even sharper tongues. That sophisticated aura lawyers in TV shows always give off (yes, even Ally McBeal had it).

But there you have it. Most of the time it's not actually like that at all, and not everyone gets to do exciting, big cases and deals - things which would make me feel good about myself and my worth, if I did care to admit it. Which I just have. And you know, what I'm doing now was what I actually saw myself doing when I first decided I wanted to go to law school all the way back then. And on top of that I get to keep decent hours. Which is a miracle and a blessing, something that shows me God does care about my life and who He wants me to be.

So a contented ant I'll be, with my contented worker ant boyfriend, and I'll see you back here in a bit with pictures of us at mass call. How Very Exciting, Hor?

2010-03-07T22:25:00.003+08:00

Feeling

Greedy and rather desirous of eating some of these, although it's surely way too hot to be consuming such copious amounts of cream cheese.

A jelly heart, by Abi

But look at that layer of strawberry jelly! And that strawberry encased in it! Hard to believe all it takes to make this is, essentially, patience. And a willingness to buy good cream cheese and digestive biscuits. The price of baking essentials is rising, when did Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder cost more than $8?!

I love jelly, and agar-agar. And fruit in jelly and agar-agar. So healthsome, you know? Even with that much cream cheese.

***
The Kong Guan Sultana Biscuits made a comeback in the office pantry on my floor, and I spirited more than a couple of packets to my desk drawer for the days I knew they'd be short in supply (the popular biscuits always are). However, I am sad to say that my stash is gone, and I am currently lacking a suitable mid-morning snack.

Currently found in the air-tight pantry containers on my floor are the horrible fake oreos (W likes them though) and - if my memory serves me correctly - the even more awful banana cream ones (W also likes these, I think. I suspect she likes all Kong Guan biscuits. Or just biscuits in general, really). The pantry on D's and L's floor has the sugar speckled ones with a thin layer of chocolate cream which aren't half bad.

Isn't it sad that the most exciting thing I have to tell you about my life now are the biscuits in the pantry?

2010-02-20T22:21:00.002+08:00

I'm currently blogging from Jon's phone; we're out at the house of one of his best friends and I'm sitting next to him quietly listening to him talk to his friends and willing webpages to load faster so I can surf the web more efficiently. No, I'm not unhappy or anything - in fact I kinda like sitting in the background observing things and seeing Jon happy.

All in, it's been a pretty good CNY and Valentine's Day. Could've been better in some parts - especially the part where I skidded while rollerblading and got horrible road rash just below my bum. Thank God it's healing well though.

Man U has almost finished playing Everton (and losing to them, what were the odds?!) so I shall end here for now. Happy Birthday everyone! It's the seventh day of the new year, everyone's birthday.

2010-02-11T23:18:00.003+08:00

Chicken Soup for the Soul-ish Post. You were warned!
I went for a pedicure with Aunti L almost immediately after work today. And because I didn't have slippers with me, the shop gave me a bright pink sponge pair with a wedge, which I wore all the way home.

When I got home, I watched the remaining moments of The Pupil with my mother, and then I exercised while continuing my re-watch of My Girl.

Life is Good.

I learnt something valuable yesterday, so I'm going to share it with you. It'll definitely sound cliched, but nevermind, okay? Some things can't be said any other way, such are the limitations of the English language.

GLCC's having an outreach for Chinese construction workers come Sunday morning, and because the pianist of choice (Jon) can't make weekday rehearsals, it has fallen on not-very-proficient me to play the finicky Chinese songs D decided we would sing this year, because the skit is set in China and is about the return home of siblings in a family from - you guessed it! - Singapore.

We had a rehearsal yesterday, and of course, being lazy, I hadn't practised and had to valiantly sight-read/bulldoze my way through the songs.

A bit of background's needed. SG, who's overall in charge of music for Chinese ministry events, is much feared by Jon and myself, although she's a really nice person. This is because she's a piano teacher by profession, and boy is she sticky about songs which have proper towgay arrangements.

She's given up on Jon, but she hasn't given up on me - yet. Soon, I hope, she will let me have free rein with the songs and I will be able to la-di-da my way through by just improvising on the chords.

Rehearsals usually leave me feeling like I've come from a piano lesson with a very strict piano teacher.

So there I was, hitting those plastics (as in, I would say ivories, but it was an electric piano) with fear and trepidation, when it suddenly dawned on me that I'd much rather be there being scolded by SG than in office.

You must understand - and this will be the first time I'm going to blog so openly about work - that sometimes I actually feel like I want to have to stay back in the office because I have things to do. Strange, but true, and I bet if I threw a stone into a roomful of my classmates, I'd hit someone who felt the exact same way as me.

And it flows logically from that that sometimes I feel insecure about myself when I don't have to stay back late at work.

Now you see why coming to the above conclusion was a really big deal for me. And when I talked to my mum about things later that night, she said, What really matters in the end is God's approval. That's not to say we shouldn't work hard and do our best (okay, duh, chicken soup moment!), but there are so many other things we can and should do with our lives, so much more to live for (there, two chicken soup moments in one sentence).

I hope and pray I'll be able to keep these thoughts at the forefront of my mind, because, believe it or not, it's not easy to do so. Like many other legal concepts, they're counter-intuitive.

Looking forward to Valentine's Day, and hearts :)

2010-02-02T22:56:00.005+08:00

Mandopop Madness

If you've read Monday's papers (yes, I actually read the local newspapers!) then you'd have read all John Lui (or was it Boon Chan?) had to say about the A*mei (I refuse to call her Amit until I really, really have to) concert.

I hate to say this, but I did agree with the part where he wrote about wishing for a pair of earplugs at certain points. However, other than that, it was

Absolutely AWESOME!

I hope she comes back as A*mei proper the next time. But you know, I've come to know and love her voice and the magic she brings to her songs so well that all the rock stuff didn't matter. She was just good old A*mei, the one who brought much comfort and colour to my lonely days in Beijing.

Some of the highlights included the entire Indoor Stadium yelling "IT'S BULLSH*T!" at the top of their lungs to 黑吃黑, and seeing all those lightsticks winking in the dark. Also finding out that Jon had actually set his alarm for 10 a.m. the day SISTIC opened ticket sales, just so we could get good seats - which we did.

Touching stuff.

And seeing Chin Yuan, who brought his mother to the concert. He, who never expected, knowing me in JC, that I'd one day be SMS-ing him excitedly about an A*mei concert, of all things.

I'm really glad I was introduced to this whole new world though. It's brought so much to my life.

Not least, discovering my inner Ah Lian.

Mind you, I did not know all the lyrics to her fast songs.

Some I knew lah. But, I repeat, not all.

2010-01-20T22:38:00.002+08:00

Last Week

1. I found out that D, who attended Chinese schools for most of his school life, save for university, could not remember how to write 责任 (ze2 ren4) - which means responsibility. You can draw whatever inferences you like from that.

2. I burst a big pimple on my chin while standing in the queue to enter Butter Factory - what's more, it was my first time there. What a way to mark the occasion.

2010-01-10T22:20:00.003+08:00

Much Good Part 3, and Exchange of the Week

I've been having some serious issues with Microsoft Word this past week - and I mean serious.

***
D: Hey I sent you already - I didn't change much of it, I just made it so the descriptions at the top of the table appear at the top of every page of the table.

Me: Wow! How do you do that? Can you tell me so I can do it, cause I was editing one version before you sent me this one and I don't want to have re-edit the thing.

D: Just press F1!

Me (suspiciously): Really? Don't bluff me! Or I'll be very sad.

D: Yes yes! Just press F1! Really!

Me: Ok! I'm going to do it now! (proceeds to press F1)

AND. . .

The Microsoft Word HELP dialog box appears on the screen.

D took enough pity on me in the end to tell me how to do it though.

Lenny runs Word 2007 and I'm having difficulties figuring out how to do it on that (so I can impart this useful knowledge to you, in case you didn't know how to). Our office computers run Word 2003, and I think it's one of the options under Tools but I'm not sure.

If you aren't either, and you desperately need to know - just press F1.

2010-01-06T23:09:00.004+08:00

Lessons Learnt

Channel 8 seems to have learnt its lesson after The Little Nyonya - I tuned in to Together just now, and caught what must be Channel 8's cheesiest proposal scene ever.

But at least I had the satisfaction of seeing Jeanette Aw and Dai Yang Tian happy. Rumour has it that this happiness doesn't last till the end of the show though - fingers crossed! Come on Channel 8, you must have learnt your lesson already.

If you didn't watch it, Too Bad. I'm currently watching America's Got Talent with my mother and we're slamming the contestants. Not their performances, but their fakey pre-performance videos, complete with brave blinking away of tears from clear blue/green eyes.

The news of the night is that they've (whoever they are) remixed the London Choco Roll song! They've gotten rid of that weird gymnast ribbon act that accompanied it, and it's been replaced with happy family scenes.

Looks like Channel 8's not the only one who's learnt its lesson.

2010-01-02T21:56:00.006+08:00

Happy New Year!

Parts of the world are currently in chaos.

But right here in this good ol' "prime residential area" (I'm being sarcastic here!), that's not actually in the middle of Singapore, some Very Cheeky Monkeys decided to hotfoot it over and clamber over my neighbours' gates, fences and rooftops just for fun.

One of my neighbours decided that he didn't mind standing practically in the middle of our street waving his (Rather Expensive Looking) golf club at them.

And making very loud PSHAW and PSHOO noises at the same time.

I wonder what he does for a living, his house is pretty big.

Also, I got conned by two fat boys selling Magnolia ice-cream door to door, ostensibly to help their ailing, cancer-stricken mother.

Well, I'm not sure I really got conned - isn't it awful to lie about your very own mother being ailing and cancer-stricken?

Everyone in my family made fun of me though. PoBe's comments took the cake:

YOU GULLIBLE CLOWN!

You're mad, i swear, too nice already.

HOW TO BE LAWYER LIKE THAT?!

I was touched, though, when my father specially came up to me after we got home from dinner to tell me not to become cynical.

Happy New Year, from the monkeys and me and the two fat con-boys.

2010-01-01T20:20:00.005+08:00

Reflections
(Ugh, what a maudlin title)

Watching Jon and his friends - lawyers (to be), accountants, traders etc. - scoff potato chips by the fistful like a bunch of pre-pubescent boys just after we counted down to 2010 looks set to become a cherished memory, just about on par with the time B and I scarfed down leftover Bakerzin blueberry cheesecake with reckless abandon a little too late at night.

I didn't eat any potato chips, oh no! Which gave me a Pleasantly Virtuous And Smug Feeling.

I have also decided that peer pressure hits harder as you grow older, but there aren't any "Beware of Peer Pressure" talks for adults because that's like, you know, such a teenage thing to have to deal with? And we're like, all adults now, right?

The legal profession is an extremely humbling one. There are so many things to learn all the time, so many possibilities to consider. And contrary to popular belief, the majority of senior lawyers actually work really hard. So I'd appreciate it if you did away with the bad lawyer jokes and stereotypes in 2010. Not that The Pupil's going to be much help. Sometimes I wish Channel 5 would stop making such asses of u and me (there goes the "assume" joke, in case you didn't realise).

Awaiting the results of the Dawson ballot with bated breath! Please join Jon and myself in praying every night that we'll get a flat - and that N and J will too, so at least we can be sure of at least one set of lovely neighbours.

***
I leave you with a profound piece of literature to start the New Year:

"Ow!" cried Pooh. "You're hurting!"

"The fact is," said Rabbit, "you're stuck."

"It all comes," said Pooh crossly, "of not having front doors big enough."

"It all comes," said Rabbit sternly, "of eating too much. I thought at the time," said Rabbit, "only I didn't like to say anything," said Rabbit, "that one of us was eating too much," said Rabbit, "and I knew it wasn't me," he said.

- Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne

2009-12-28T22:29:00.006+08:00

That's What Blogs Are For

BECAUSE I AM UNABLE TO RETALIATE ON FACEBOOK I SHALL DO IT HERE.

HOW IS SEZAIRI A BETTER SINGER THAN SYLVIA?!

Personally, I've got nothing against him. He's probably pretty likeable in real life, and he's not a bad singer. I thought he did a good job on the episode where Tabitha got kicked out.

Heck, I even thought he did slightly better than Sylvia on the second song - but that's probably only because I got over Yellow a long time ago.

So before you get all antsy and point fingers at me, let me just state for the record that I don't really have anything against him winning, because I do like him, and anyway winning Idol doesn't actually say much for your music career. Case in point being Adam Lambert, though he's going all weird and I'm not so sure I like him that much as a perfomer anymore.

And whatever it is, Sylvia was the real deal - she had talent, she was sincere when she performed, she was pure heartland - there's something so Singaporean about her, somehow (despite her mixed blood). So I think she'll be fine, career wise. I'm definitely going to support her.

I'm just feeling really annoyed right now, at people who make pompous, know-it-all comments on Facebook about how they feel Sezairi's win was "fair and justified" because he was a better singer and that people just wanted a female to win, hence the support for Sylvia.

Give me a break, and give the girl credit where it's due. Honestly, he's not a better singer or performer than she is. Any objective spectator/listener could tell you that.

I wish they would create a "Dislike" button on Facebook.

P/S I'm still a firm believer in Regardless of Race, Language or Religion.
I mean, imagine life without asam fish and asam stingray? Or ayam penyet? Or that awesome chili sauce only Malay food stalls seem to have? Hello?!

2009-12-27T10:48:00.003+08:00

This Week At Work

There is no email exchange of the week, because we were all tired out max.

However, on Wednesday, when Aunti L smsed me to say she was buying "yami," I immediately thought of whether Yami Yoghurt would have a claim in passing off against Yummi Chiffon (which was what Aunti L was really buying).

Which is really, really sad, if you think about it.

To quote a colleague, I think Aunti L and I had passing off coming out of our ears (add appropriate hand action, simulating things flowing out from ears).

And because I simply couldn't do any more work at around 4:30 p.m. on the eve of Christmas Eve, I found this game called Sara's Super Spa which TechSupport didn't block (but now they will, I'm sure) and played it until I reached Level 7.

Try it, it's fun - especially if you're a girl. A bit like Cooking Mama in a spa setting.

Then I felt bad, so I turned off the game and mooched about until it was time to go home.

Merry (belated) Christmas and a Blessed New Year to everyone! :)

2009-12-19T23:31:00.004+08:00

Email of the Week, or Much Good Part 2
From J (ah, which J, wouldn't you like to know), after lunch on Friday:

I need help!

How do I view the New Msg on my phone ????

Which button to press ah hahah

I didn't know the answer to his query, and the fellow suffering pupil (trainee? What are we now called?) sitting opposite me told me the wrong thing.

It took us some trial and error on those dang-blasted office phones before I was finally able to ring J back with the correct answer.

Yes, me and fellow suffering pupil sitting opposite me actually left each other call-backs.

***
In other news, I bought Jon's Christmas present today and gave it to him just now so he can use it at work on Monday. He'd wanted to buy it on Friday, after seeing someone in his office use one, but I told him I'd just get it for him for Christmas.

It's a multi-colour pen with a mechanical pencil (perfect for marking-up, as he said). Quite cool, really. Because I bought refills, the lady at the stationery shop asked me if it was for a gift. When I said yes she gave me a silver box with Zebra on to put it all in. She even wanted to wrap it in pretty paper, which had a teddy bear-flower-heart print. I kid you not.

Must have been my look-like-student face.

I said in Mandarin: it's for a boy, no need lah.

I think she found me quite amusing.

Don't believe what you hear about posh lunches, dinners and expensive presents. I told you lawyers were deathly boring, practical people.

Some of whom can't even operate their office phones.

Hey, not me yah. I already know how to operate it okay.

2009-12-18T01:31:00.002+08:00

Jon, at 0050 yesterday morning: ...i feel like applying for the queenstown bto...shall we try?

Not quite Facebook-status-change-worthy yet though. Stay tuned.

2009-12-13T21:50:00.002+08:00

Tell Me Why

Xiang Yun appears to have hair like A*Mei's, circa 2006? And Edmund Chen has taken to calling himself "Rex Lee"? And how come I know all this random TV trivia?

And, of course, tell me why the (I'm restraining myself from using "my") Yoghurt Passionfruit Syrup Cake tastes So Awesome?

2009-12-12T22:23:00.002+08:00

AWESOME STUFF

Today I baked the Yoghurt Passionfruit Syrup Cake from NotQuiteNigella. It was really quite fortuitous that I actually had two passionfruit in the fridge clamouring to be eaten or used in such an awesome way. I also thought I'd have to buy yoghurt and baking powder (to make self-raising flour), but I chanced upon a tub of yoghurt in the freezer, and self-raising flour in the fridge.

Tenny is currently on holiday with PoBe and my parents in Hong Kong, so there are no photos of the cake - but it looked quite liked Not Quite Nigella's except that I didn't bake mine in a Bundt pan but in a springform pan which is actually Abi's and appears to be have made its permanent home in my kitchen (well, she does have three of them).

I was a bit worried the chunks of ice in the defrosted yoghurt (which I stirred away) would affect the ability of the cake to rise in the oven, but twenty minutes or so into the baking time it was rising just fine, and turned out wonderfully light and fluffy.

I also didn't have enough passionfruit to make up the required one cup of pulp, so I used the - get this - frozen lemon in our freezer. I had to defrost it in the microwave first, and was worried the juice would've dried out but it was as juicy as ever!

My mother is in the habit of freezing things, as you can see.

I thought the lemon gave the syrup quite a bit of an edge. Oh and if you're planning to make it with lemon and passionfruit don't follow the instructions exactly but add as much water/sugar as you deem fit, to get the consistency you want.

The cake was so cakey, crumby and light and moist, just the way I like it.

I hardly ever eat anything I bake, but I had a pretty substantial slice of this, it was just awesome.

And I think I've figured out the secret of the heartland bakeries - self-raising flour.

2009-12-12T00:38:00.003+08:00

Email Exchange of the Week

On one of my many visits to D's desk to borrow the materials we have to use, I noticed that he had a navy blue H&M 'M' sized sweater-vest thing on his desk. I immediately assumed that it was his girlfriend's, until he informed me that it was his cold weather wear.

Since there are only so many things to amuse us in the office, I reported this fact to Aunti L when I got back to my desk.

Me: D brought winter wear can go laugh at him hahahaa

Aunti L: He brought winter wear FOR?

A few minutes later

Aunti L to D: Snowing in the library? :)

Much Maligned D, Only Male Pupil (Trainee) and Therefore Has to Suffer and Forebear the most:
Hahahaha you and chloe are like one entity. Talk to one and the snide response comes back from the other!

Your email must have some 'auto CC' feature

***
Aunti L sent the above exchange to me, along with "!!" to express her sentiments towards it.

I couldn't stop laughing, it was awful having to try and keep from laughing out loud.

And you still wonder why I actually look forward to going to work.

Hopefully the feeling lasts.

2009-12-09T23:22:00.003+08:00

Family Ties

PoBe's prom was last night, and because he's in Hong Kong with our parents (oh, woe is me and the need for those 180 days), I just commented on his Facebook wall that the choker he wore was uggs maximus and that I wish I'd been at home to tell him to take it off.

YUCK.

I really don't like chokers on boys. It seems so wrong somehow.

Don't you wish you were an older sister, old enough to be mean and getting away with it?

Kudos to JC kids who don't bother to restrict their Facebook profiles. Or maybe they're still at an age where they want their lives to be subject to voyeurism. But that's just weird, don't you think? However, I used to be like that once.

It struck me how very young they all looked. And when I look at photos of my prom, I just see old people. Weird. I wonder if he sees old people too, when he looks at his prom pictures.

***
Today D informed me that the Khong Guan biscuits which are round with the frilly edges have a peanut cream filling, thus resolving the mystery and saving me some calories in the process.

I discovered they've got the plain square ones! Maybe it's time to get some cheese.

2009-12-08T22:06:00.003+08:00

New

I have a new desk on another floor, and there are also new biscuits in the office - Khong Guan biscuits, to be exact, of an unidentifiable (cream? The round ones with little frilly edges?), the fake Oreo and the lemon puff variety.

Suffice to say, all this is very pleasing except for the fact that the lemon puff variety (which happens to be the only variety I'm partial to out of all three) appear to only be stocked in the pantry of my old floor, so I've got to nick some whenever I'm down there discussing the NECESSARY with my colleagues or make my NICE colleagues bring some up to me whenever they come up to discuss the NECESSARY with me.

***
Today I went to the Family Court, and I came back with a mini short story in my head. However, I tried to type it out just now and failed miserably because I couldn't help feeling somewhere in the back of my mind that I was being pretentious and rather poseurish, so I scrapped it.

It had something to do with a man and his wonderings at how he'd felt more disappointed at discovering that a song he liked was actually Jay Chou's 最长的电影 (because Jay Chou isn't exactly the epitome of manly music) than with the end state of his marriage, and how dispassionate he felt sitting in court waiting for his turn to take the witness stand at his own divorce hearing.

And about how he'd felt more amused than anything else at what was supposed to be one of the most crucial turning points in his life, snickering softly along with the pupil (Guess Who!) from the law firm he'd hired at the things he observed and heard as he waited.

Like the two Ah Bengs sitting behind him, who seemed to be acquainted but didn't know the other would be there -

What are you doing here? (in Hokkien)
Divorce lor, what else? (in Hokkien)
(String of Hokkien words)

Which unfortunately, I - I mean, our protaganist - was unable to understand.

You're starting to see why I had the uncomfortable feeling that I was being Rather Pretentious, don't you?

The best line (in my opinion) of the short story which I managed to churn out before I gave it up as a bad job was:

How can people bear to live apart after all that (courtship, struggling through years of heartache in the hope that there was something better beyond that, etc.), even though they can't bear to live together anymore?

Does that even make sense? I used to love writing things like that.

In a warped way I guess it does make sense, but who wants to live like that in the real world? Isn't it very tiring? Isn't life just so much simpler where there's God and no God, cake and no cake, ice-cream and no ice-cream? And don't I sound like an annoying three year old? (Gotcha!)

***
I miss Aunti L, but on the brighter side, at least we'll (hopefully) be more efficient now that we're sitting apart, and can thus go home earlier.

2009-12-05T23:45:00.003+08:00

Unsentimental
It's nice to be thinking about HDB flats and hearing from my own dear mother that she does NOT want me to stay in Punggol.

And it was nice, on Friday morning at 1 a.m., to be able to leave BTC without feeling much nostalgia, just extremely grateful for Jon and YH, even though we'd seen each other almost everyday for the past three weeks.

I'm looking forward to Monday, even though I would welcome a day of sleep.

There will always time for the little things.

So really, boys and girls - it's not the end of the world, it's only the beginning!

***
Just remember, when all else fails, there will still be . . .

cake.

Polar sugar rolls, Bengawan Solo pandan chiffon cake, Yummi Chiffon cake, QQ Bread butter cake.

Crumby, honest to goodness, down to earth, no-frills, cake.

And cake means tea breaks in the pantry, with friends (not just colleagues, but friends) who are just as sick of being in front of a computer as you are.

2009-12-04T22:15:00.005+08:00

Of Exams

The amendments to the Legal Profession (Publicity) Rules 1996 include the removal of Section 19, which used to provide for Greeting Cards. The said section is reproduced below:-

Greeting cards.
19. - (1) An advocate and solicitory may, on the occasion of any special observance or on any other special occasion, send greeting cards to -

(a) any person who is his client or a client of his firm; and

(b) any person with whom he has personal or business dealings.

(2) Any greeting card referred to in paragraph (1) shall, apart from the message of the greeting, contain only approved information.

(3) No advocate and solicitor shall send greetings to anyone in any form or for any occasion by publishing the greetings in any mass medium, electronic or otherwise.

If this rule was still in force, which of the following greetings would attract a reprimand from the Law Society? (N.B. All grammatical errors are intentional)

(A) I wish you a hapPy christmas tOday.
(Hope to hear from you soon!)

(B) we Must & will remAin in CONTACT.

(C) We hope you are in good health this festive season. If not, we send you our regards.
WeWILL see you soon!

(D) All of the above.

***
At least it's over!

(And you do know the above question is fictitious right, even though the paper was pretty awful.)

2009-12-03T00:39:00.003+08:00

Inspiration!

After watching Fantastic Mr. Fox with Jon today so we could watch The Informant! with everyone else on Friday (note the corresponding exclaimation mark in the title!), I was seized with the desire to do something stealthily.

Something which actually needed to be done stealthily, of course.

So I decided to wash my new clothes.

I washed them in the bathroom with the door closed while my mother was hanging out a batch of washing.

And then I waited until she had finished hanging up said washing, and finished fussing over the locking of the door and the switching off of the mains.

And I waited some more, until I heard her bathroom door close, indicating that she was taking a shower.

And it was then that I snuck out to the backyard to hang out my new clothes, which I shall instruct PoBe to remove from the laundry poles as soon as they are dry.

But there's a slight problem with all this - how on earth am I ever going to dare to wear these clothes?

***
Fantastic Mr. Fox was pretty good. Maybe it's time to forgive Ong Sor Fern for giving Troy 5 stars.

Yes, I have held a grudge against her for that long.

2009-11-18T23:48:00.009+08:00

Polls About Punggol

I was going to call this post The Taste of Tea Eggs, and tell you all about how they bring back memories of rainy afternoons crossing the Causeway in the car when I was in primary school. That was back when Holiday Plaza was still a haven for people (like my dad) who wanted a cheap (read: pirated) software fix.

To his credit, he bought pirated software just to try it out - if he really liked the program, or thought it was useful, he bought the original.

Eating tea eggs when we went to JB was de rigeur. My indulgent paternal grandmother would buy them for me from the Chinese medicine shop at the back entrance to Holiday Plaza: she liked them too. I couldn't resist the smell, and till today I can't not walk past a stall with a slow cooker prominently displayed right in front and brown coloured eggs simmering gently in it without feeling like I need to buy one.

Finding a lady selling tea eggs at the bus station in Taiyuan made the fact that we were three girls off in the far north of China a little less frightening.

And on a rainy go to JB afternoon, holding the warm egg in cupped hands (after it cooled down and there was no need to transfer it from hand to hand or hold the plastic bag it was in at the top) was extremely comforting, curled up in a corner of the car looking at the rear lights of the car in front of us through the raindrop-spattered car windows.

If there was a traffic jam, I really counted those tea eggs as blessings.

The only fault I can find with them is that you never get any of the "tea" in the yolk to create that lovely yellowy brown slush one gets with hard-boiled eggs and soya sauce.

My maternal grandmother cooked up a batch of tea eggs on Sunday in honour of my maternal grandfather's birthday. She didn't crack the shells enough for the "tea" to seep into the eggs, but no matter. The fact that she cooked them is enough, because she hasn't cooked so much for some time due to her bad knee.

I also wanted to take a picture of my grandfather and my aunt at the small table next to the window in my grandparents' flat - the light was right, and she was cutting up his Bengawan Solo cake and he was eating a piece, slowly with his left hand, because he hasn't been able to move the right side of his body since he had a stroke when I was nine.

The feeling was right, notwithstanding Noisy Aunt and her family talking very loudly, at each other, certain other extended family members joining in the fray (read: naughty brother and cousin who enjoy baiting people who can't tell the difference).

But for once, my father had left Cammie in Muzzie (car).

So you shall just have to imagine the scene.

Today I checked out the name of the Bengawan Solo cake - it's very aptly called "Fruit Cake," and consists of jellied fruits atop a yellow layer cake (scented with lemon), with slices of patterned white chocolate around its sides.

I've blogged about another of his birthdays before, so if you remember that, good for you - and now you know what the cake is called so you can buy it too. It's a cheaper alternative and doesn't taste half bad, really!

Sometimes, I feel that visits to my maternal grandparents' on one of their birthdays, when almost the entire extended family is present, is like being in a Uniquely Singaporean indie movie.

And I know I'm bordering on self-indulgent by blogging about it like it is, but hey. What are blogs for, right?

***
Anyway, the title of this post is Polls About Punggol, so here goes:

To discourage Jon from harbouring notions that we are going to stay in Punggol, I have polled various people very loudly, usually in his hearing, as to whether they will visit us if we stay there.

Most people have, very encouragingly, said "No, unless _______________." "____________" is the usual nonsense, like "you buy me a car" or "you pay for my cab fare." And I pointed out to him that my father already KBKBs (pardon the French) about going to my maternal grandparents' in the East, so it is most likely that he will KBKB even more about having to visit me if I stay in Punggol.

(Multiply the KBKB by the distance from Marine Parade to Punggol to find out just how much I think he will KBKB.)

But today, my Very Own Brother the PoBe (Polar Bear, if you remember) unfortunately gave a resounding - and I mean resounding - "YES!" to the question, designed specially to discourage Jon from wanting to stay in Punggol.

Jon wasn't there because I asked PoBe this question at breakfast, but STILL. (PoBe didn't do Literature in secondary school, so Et tu, Brute? would be lost on him.)

His reason? "It's near Changi Village! I can go cycling! And after that I can leave my bike at your place!"

I don't like to use emoticons, but in this case I think there's one which sums everything up succinctly:

-.-

Now, if only we could answer exam questions that way. Gives new meaning to "succinct," doesn't it?

2009-11-12T11:41:00.005+08:00

No Jon, I'm Still Not Staying in Punggol

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s first public housing project along the Punggol Waterway will have eco—friendly features and resort—like designs.

The 1,200—unit waterfront project will be launched in the middle of next year.

The firm behind the winning design is a partnership between international architectural firm Group8asia and local design company Aedas.

They stole the crown with a distinctive sky terrace concept which creates public spaces along the waterway.

More than 100 design firms from Europe and Asia took part in the Punggol Waterfront Housing Design Competition.

They had to submit plans that matched the housing board’s theme of "Green Living by the Waters".

HDB said the waterfront flats will be kept affordable.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, said: "New HDB estates look like private condominiums, but don’t cost as much as private condominiums. New innovative construction methods like pre—fabrication reduces cost and construction time. And that’s one of the reasons’ why we are able to keep the cost of construction down." — CNA

Well.

2009-10-30T01:13:00.005+08:00

Friendship

I think one of the best memories I'll have of 2009 is of B and me scoffing down the remains of a Bakerzin blueberry cheesecake which H bought to celebrate the birthday of his and Jon's DL.

She, delicately shoving the candle-shaped plastic knife with a piece of cake on the end of it into her mouth; me, picking up the bigger bits left behind in the box with my fingers. H telling us to Please offer some to A's girlfriend also don't use the knife can?!, and B telling me You know I think we're really act cute, but I think they like it la.

And the knowing look we both gave each other as we happily ate blueberry cheesecake.

Boyfriends do like it - in small doses, anyhow. I think (well, I hope!) girlfriends themselves wouldn't be able to stand acting cute in large doses.

It's nice to have someone who understands these things, and who isn't afraid to say so in front of me, because I'm thinking the exact same thing.

It makes everything a lot easier, and I thank God for her.

***

More than a boyfriend, also a friend :)
When can we cut another cake? I want to go to Korea on you-know-what and stalk Lee Dong Wook and Lee Da Hae.

2009-10-29T00:00:00.003+08:00

Ask No Questions
And I'll tell you no lies.

But wouldn't you like to know what resulted in this picture during my MSN conversation with Aunti L?

(Yes, that's "Aunti" to you. Many Malay names end with "i," ok? Just keeping with the theme)

glowie chloeie says: DONT WANT TO HEAR

2009-10-28T12:20:00.005+08:00

Feeling Cakey

As I said to Abi, I was feeling "cakey" yesterday, i.e. I had a sudden, strong desire for cake - and I came across a recipe for Italian Brownie Muffins, and so I made them. Have oranges and olive oil, will make Italian Brownie Muffins. The recipe can be found here. I left out the orange essence, and added the zest of about one and a half oranges. I also cut the sugar to slightly less than one and a third cups.

They turned out good and light and wonderfully cakey, as one review promised, to my great delight. Not at all like a brownie-muffin.

Here is a picture of them, posing with the oranges which I zested. I'm sorry I couldn't pose them better.

They look ugly, as do most of the things I bake because frosting is dreadful to clear up, and I hate wasting things because it's tremendously difficult to scrape up all the last bits, which usually add up to quite a bit of wasted frosting.

But ugly food tastes good. These Brownie-Muffins which were really cupcakes tasted like good orange chocolate, which we all know can go horribly wrong if the orange isn't done right. Guess you can't go wrong with fresh Sunkist orange zest!

***
I've been watching a trashy max show called Hot Guys Who Cook, but it's quite entertaining listening to the guys featured shooting their mouths off about everything. Today's Channel 5 episode featured an Irish guy who came up with the following nugget of wisdom:

"Irish men and women, American men and women, they're all the same! Irish men, American men, they all like to watch soccer, whether it's just soccer or American soccer. And Irish and American women, they like to spoil it for them. I've learnt to just, you know, make comments like 'Yeah, chicken's great fo' dinner,' 'No honey, you don't look fat in that,' you know, that sort of thing."

Well, what were you expecting from a show with a name like that?

2009-10-22T01:00:00.004+08:00

Maybe It's Just The Time Of The Month

I was thinking recently about why I love Jon, and tonight we had a conversation about why HE loves ME. Girls love to know why, I think, and maybe guys just don't do "whys."

Anyhow, this might make me sound like a horrible girlfriend, but our dates are becoming more and more TV-oriented, as I make him come home with me to watch telly, often with my father or grandmother. Or I'll even want to not have dinner out with him so I can rush back to watch BAD local television (I have no cable) with my mum after tutorials.

I'm serious.

Maybe I'm just becoming a TV addict?

Well, I had to ultimately accept that guys really don't do "whys."

But I know why I love him - and it's comforting, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Besides the fact that, among other things, he makes me laugh, and we can talk about the most unromantic things and I still feel like we're having a "couple" conversation.

It's because he encourages me to be a better Christian; to trust in God's transforming power and love, and I think he's inspired me more than anyone else in my journey to becoming the woman I believe God wants me to be. And he continues to so inspire me.

I know - even I find that a most unromantic thought. Sometimes it worries me that I don't feel all warm and fuzzy anymore, when I used to. But thinking about why I love him, and realising what the answer was, was immensely comforting in the face of my worries about the lack of warmth and fuzziness.

So, guys, knowing the WHY can be a good thing.

And just like a (very human) girl, although I think I'd be glad if his "why" matched mine, I'd still want him to say it's because I make him laugh like no one else. Among other things.

***
An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:10-12

2009-10-20T10:51:00.002+08:00

Indirect Resemblance

This is a picture of me and Jon's youngest brother.

I think we look alike.

He looks like Jon.

Therefore, I look like Jon.

It's that annoying couple thing.

2009-10-19T00:03:00.005+08:00

Disturbing Images

No, not of war-torn nations, or the sad faces of rape victims in the DRC, and the like - but something potentially more disturbing, I think:

(pictures courtesy of marthastewart.com)

How are these "adorable baby costumes" for Halloween?! At least the baby in the Lobster picture, who also appears to be the baby in the Turkey picture, has a real baby smile. In the Turkey picture he just looks plain terrified of being eaten.

And is that a HUGE offset spatula I see next to the baby's head in the Pie picture?

2009-10-16T23:37:00.004+08:00

More Inside Information Required

A recent encounter led me to think of the following poem from What Katy Did At School (that's when Katy goes to boarding school. Res ipsa loquitur, really):

Who ran to catch me on the spot
If I the slightest rule forgot,
Believing and excusing not?

Who lurked outside my door all day,
In hopes that I would disobey,
And some low whispered word would say?

Who sternly bade me come and go,
Do this, do that, or else forego
The other thing I longed for so?

. . .

Who is our bane, our foe, our fear?
Who's always certain to appear
Just when we do not think her near?

Who down the hall is creeping now
With stealthy step, but knowing not how
Exactly to discover -

If you've read the book, you really ought to know who I'm talking about.

If you don't, here's a link to a summary of the next book in the series, which mentions certain characters from the book before. It should be pretty easy to see who I'm referring to.

***

In other news, my Snotty Trekkie father has finally condescended to watch the Star Trek movie, which he has pooh pooh-ed as not being "in the spirit" of the original - too Hollywoodised, he says.

All I can say is, it hasn't stopped him from finding it Extremely Engrossing.

2009-10-12T22:32:00.003+08:00

The Essence of Irreverence (and Friendships formed on exchange)

Shangren in a Must-Be-Zen-When-Pouring-Tea frame of mind

Shangren's "Receiving Birthday Present" Ceremony

Nevermind!

2009-10-11T22:21:00.003+08:00

Heroes

I'll admit it - I've decided to follow Boys Over Flowers (rather late in the show but nevermind, I still know what's happened. I mean, it isn't exactly That Difficult), and will be trying to convince Jon to watch it with me next Saturday once I rush back from worship practice. Even though the story is getting a tad ludicrous. But what were you expecting? It's a Korean drama, and I shall be sorry when it ends.

And watching it is much more enjoyable now, because yesterday, wonder of all wonders, my father actually managed to use the old remote control to work the "DUAL-SOUND MODE" and I can now watch it in the original Korean!!!!!!!!

Though I must say Koo Hye Sun sounds slightly better in the Chinese, because They got rid of that horrible high-pitched female who did the dubbing for Hearts of 19.

My father is a hero!

2009-10-09T15:47:00.003+08:00

Much Good

Right now I'm feeling like I did the night after I had my commencement ceremony.

Abi came over to "celebrate," and she ended up helping me clear out all the gunk stuck in the bathroom sink pipes - I remember it was the first free night I had to do it, and my father had been nagging at me to do it for days. And so we did.

I remember asking her, how many graduates does it take to clear a choked bathroom sink?

Today, enticed by the description of the Apple Cake in Tasty Home Cooking (I can't remember what the recipe book was called!), we attempted one. Or rather, I convinced Abi that we should attempt one. The fact that it called for half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg should have set alarm bells ringing at top volume in both our educated minds, as should the strong smell of nutmeg when we opened the jar to spoon out the required amount.

Alas, there are many things they don't teach you in university, and this is one of them.

We now have a rather good-, homey-looking cake with "moist and tender" pieces of apple in it, which unfortunately just tastes of nutmeg.

2009-10-06T23:46:00.002+08:00

The Beginning of Wisdom

Jon had his last two wisdom teeth out last night, and today he actually REQUESTED that I go over and visit him, the invalid.

I declined at first because I wanted to watch TV in the comfort of my own living room, but due to his PERSISTENCE (for once he milked his invalid status for what it was worth!) I went over after all.

Notice how I'm calling it "PERSISTENCE" and "REQUESTING" and not "whining."

But it makes you wonder whether the male species is capable, after all, of learning the tricks of the trade.

2009-10-01T11:03:00.003+08:00

Waste of Time
I shall stop worrying about whether Singapore will be consumed in an earthquake. Because Life Still Goes On. That's the funny thing, isn't it? No matter that thousands of people are now homeless and displaced, and experts interviewed in the newspapers are giving dire warnings, and my overactive mind will not let me stop thinking about certain passages in the Bible (Matthew 24) - Life Goes On.

That's actually the way it should be, if you think about it. If not people like me would be stuck at home, paralyzed by fear and unable to just - Live. It's also how I believe God would want us to be.

AND now that Jon has deigned to wake up and book our tickets to the AMIT World Tour 2010, I am well-pleased to share this information with you. You can click on the link to book your tickets too.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Sufficient unto each day is the evil thereof - Matthew 6:34.

2009-09-29T11:41:00.002+08:00

Jon's Birthday Celebrations, Part 2

No, there are no pictures. I'm sorry but I was rushing out of the house and I didn't bring Tenny with me (AND I also have no patience to wait for pictures to upload!).

We had what you might think was an Extremely Boring UnBirthday time, but I still think it's worth blogging about because after we each had a lovely burger at Blooie's at Rail Mall - though my bacon cheese and mushroom tasted suspiciously like the Mushroom Swiss from BK in parts - and ice cream at Frutta La Viva (down with Udders! Lots of alcohol does NOT equal good ice cream) we hastened to my house to . . .

WATCH BOYS OVER FLOWERS!!!

Alright, I know I dissed the show a couple of posts back, but my mum and I tuned in the other night and found it more interesting than before. Maybe because they've stopped bullying poor Jin Sicao (that's Geum Jan Di to you).

Also, I found out that my mother had no idea that Meteor Garden was based on a comic strip. And that Jon had no idea that Boys Over Flowers is essentially a much better version (but that's just my opinion) of the Taiwanese Meteor Garden.

And after Boys Over Flowers ended, because Jon had to wait for the beer he had after dinner to get out of his system, we watched the last episode of Full House.

What a sweet boyfriend I have!!! Although I don't think this is going to happen very often - our Saturday excursion was also a kind of make-up for the fact that we couldn't have dinner on my birthday because I was sick. He also pointed out to me he felt exactly like I would have if he'd made me sit through 2 hours of pole-vault on YouTube.

Point taken.

I think I'm going to bring my mother to watch Rain when he comes, purely for entertainment purposes - and she needs to have an Aunty-Killer Outing at least once in her life.

And after Full House, we watched some of Jacky Cheung's Odyssey Tour footage because one and a half hours of him on Thursday just wasn't enough. That, at least, we BOTH enjoyed.

So endeth our birthday celebrations.

***
What I'm currently doing now has made me unable to write in anything other than bald facts. Too bad. But then again, that makes it that much easier to voyeur, doesn't it?

2009-09-25T13:13:00.005+08:00

Glorious Anticipation
(and a vaguely idolatrous-and-emo sounding post)

I love that phrase - and I now have a chance to use it! Say "glorious," "glor-ree-uhs," so it's got three syllables and not just two as when you say "glor-ryus."

Forgive me for the horrible phonetics.

I spent most of yesterday in Glorious Anticipation, knowing that The Hour was Finally Going To Come, The Hour where I would see A*Mei LIVE. And after sodagreen left the stage at Fort Canning, the feeling heightened considerably, with me jumping up and down and screaming "A*MEI WO AI NI!!!!!"

And even though she sang a whole lot of rock songs from AMIT and looked really tired from the heat, her voice was Amazing. Just being able to hear and see her LIVE was Amazing. I screamed and screamed and jumped and jumped and was Really Tired after that - and Even More Tired after doing the same for Jacky Cheung, though not as much. He's only a few years younger than my mum (ooh, she won't like me revealing her age like that, hurhur) but he was Still Amazing, as Amazing as he ever was in J's VCD of one of his concerts, and what I've watched on YouTube.

But my heart, of course, is with A*Mei.

谢谢你。你美妙的歌声为我的生活增添了好多不同色彩和感情。尤其是我搭巴士和地铁的时候，和我晚上要睡之前的那些时刻。

Thank you, for your lovely voice has added many different colours and emotions to my life. Especially when I'm taking the bus or the MRT, and in the moments before I drop off to sleep at night.

Listening to some of her songs always takes me back to Beijing, and those long bus rides to and from school, or just to wherever. And, funnily enough, it makes me think of Chinese people and culture.

The whole experience was Glorious, I tell you. Simply Glorious.

Now to wait for her next Singapore concert.

***
EDIT:
I should put down what CY said: I'm sure it'll be a*mei-zing!!!

As I've repeated ad nauseum, it most definitely was.

2009-09-22T10:18:00.004+08:00

Last Night

My maiden experience at the live taping of a MediaCorp show - the Singtel Grid Girls Grand Finals 2009, no less. Not something I greatly desire to repeat, because it was Very Tiring (I was Totally Exhausted by the time it was over) screaming and screaming and clapping, but it was fun going with G, J and I. And being catty with J about certain contestants.

Flesh parade MAX, indeed!

Two things:

1. Michelle Chong is very, very funny. I'm so glad this came just in time to give her an opportunity to be Barbarella Posh-Beckham, and poke fun at the rather unfortunate Ris Low and the SingTel Greed Gerz. Though I was rather surprised they allowed such irreverence on the show, snigger snigger.

2. My primary school classmate is now a mini-celebrity!!! Dear Shumin, even though this does not mean that I will stop calling SingTel Grid Girls 'Greed Gerz,' a la Barbarella, I hope you enjoy your time being the lead . . . Greed Ger.

You know I still luvch u!

***
Two days, and a Civil Procedure tutorial to A*mei and Jacky!!!

2009-09-17T22:04:00.004+08:00

Exciting Day

Sometimes when I'm sitting in class, I think of the most irreverent things. Like how Cecilia should just say it was her twin sister Briony who was responsible for the murder of Paul in the mock criminal hypothetical we've been given. Or that their mother, who is my Aunt Emily, should make Briony take the blame because she's a struggling painter who dropped out of school and Cecilia is on her way to Oxford on a PSC scholarship.

Or how, when the fact patterns given to us throw up witnesses who have passed on, that we should just conduct a seance or use an Ouija board.

I wonder if people think of these things in real life, when facts pattersn like these arise. I'm sure it crosses their minds.

Today we walked into the SC, and we saw four people, each armed with a cleaning implement, cleaning a cordoned off area, the size of which was disproportionate to the amount of labour expended. J wondered out loud about this disproportionality, to which I responded Maybe there was a fight and they're cleaning up blood!

Today I also learnt that the penalty for daylight robbery is less severe than the penalty for robbery committed at night; daylight is defined in the Penal Code as the hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and night is defined as the hours between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. You can check out Section 392 of the Penal Code at Singapore Statutes Online.

2009-09-16T21:32:00.007+08:00

Nice Afternoon

I had a talk with P just now as we walked to the bus-stop, after our movie at Sinema Old School, along with J, J and S.

I'm too young to have studied at the Mount Sophia campus, but I recognised the buildings from old photographs, and it was nice all the same to be able to share about the long flight of steps leading up to the place, as well as seeing the cross still on what must have been the old chapel.

It's a artsy-fartsy-max place now, and I kept thinking about that episode of The Simpsons where Lisa submits a film to the Sundance Film Festival. That was really funny, and made me wonder what I used to see in watching arthouse films, or becoming so emotionally invested in them. Eternal Sunshine doesn't count, by the way.

Okay, I was just young and angsty and trying to be "different."

Anyway, we watched Please Vote For Me, which I thought was a pretty good take on the Chinese way of life and thinking.

And we also watched seven BAD short films after that (the eighth was okay), simply because we'd paid for them. We laughed and laughed, and I was very hungry after all that laughing.

But the point of this post is to tell you the upshot of the talk I had with P on our way to the bus-stop - ugly food tastes GOOD.

So here is a picture of the Guinness Stout Cupcakes I mentioned in my last post, looking sloppy and oh-so-delicious with (cheap, I used Emborg whipping cream along with Cadbury's chocolate) Chocolate Ganache Frosting. YUM!

Sitting pretty (ugly) in a wrapper with hearts on, in a brown paper bag for R

2009-09-16T13:11:00.002+08:00

YAY!!!! :)

I can now sing along to A*mei on my MP3 player happily, because I'm going to be watching her LIVE next Thursday at F1 Rocks Singapore!

Yes, we won the LG competition. The video is still on Facebook, and if you haven't seen it you still can! Follow the link on my profile.

Thank God, and thank you everyone who Commented on/Liked our video - thank you for not deleting me off their list of Facebook friends after I kept updating my status and actually SMS-ing some of you.

And thank you LG. Just in case the person who selected us is reading my blog, haha.

Law school has taught me one useful thing, and that is, to read or at least browse through Terms and Conditions. Most people don't bother anymore, especially with Facebook, because you have to keep agreeing to Terms and Conditions everytime you add a new application, or upload photos, etc.

Well, there was a clause which read that videos which had a higher number of Comments and Likes would have a higher chance of winning.

Now you understand my tenacity in trying to get YOU to make a few clicks.

2009-09-15T22:58:00.004+08:00

Jon's Birthday, Part 1

But before I talk about that, I would like to tell you something interesting I realised recently. When you sing A*Mei's Bad Boy at KTV there's one part where the lyrics read "BAD DOG BAD BOY." I always thought it was a typo, because well, you can't trust the source of these music videos, right?

Well, I was listening to Bad Boy again recently and guess what! She really sings, "BAD DOG BAD BOY."

Nevermind the inferences which can be drawn from those lyrics, especially in the light of reports of Singaporean men being abused by Singaporean women.

***
We had dinner at this steamboat place on the edge of Chinatown. It was really good! We had tom yum and herbal soup. There were 5 Js, a K and a C.

I like corn cooked in soup.

And I baked Chocolate Guinness Stout cupcakes with chocolate ganache frosting. Those were pretty good too, if I do say so myself. Dense like a good chocolate cake should be, with a bitter stoutey aftertaste, without the tau cheo overtones you usually get when you drink stout.

If I make them again I'd probably not cut the amount of sugar so drastically. But the frosting saved the day - how wrong can you go with chocolate ganache, anyhow?! Dark chocolate ganache at that, even though it was made with Cadbury's 72% Cocoa, which I bought because it was on sale at NTUC. I also put in a touch of XO from the bottle sitting in the fridge.

That's all.

(What were you expecting? I TOLD you already, the lives of lawyers and lawyers to be all Very Sad One. Don't believe what you see, read or hear about the legal profession.)

2009-09-12T19:40:00.002+08:00

Dreams

One of the first things I'm going to save up to buy when we go back to work is a hand-held mixer - so many recipes I see nowadays call for fluffy, light-as-air beaten egg whites, which are next to impossible to achieve by hand. And they apparently make for lighter, softer, crumbier cakes.

Just like my favourite cake of all time, pandon chiffon cake. Yum.

I'm starving to death slowly in front of Lenny, reading recipes, while my parents try and convince me to snack before dinner because they did and are therefore not hungry enough to go for dinner yet.

2009-09-12T17:13:00.002+08:00

Begging Pardon
Dear Jon,

I am most sorry that I have been accusing you of being in possession/losing my Stevie Wonder Greatest Hits CD. As you already know, I found it lurking in one of my desk drawers, hidden under some old foolscap paper and a CD of Debussy's Piano Works Volume 2.

I am just posting this so that you will feel some sense of vindication, and also because it is de rigeur for people who blog to let those reading their blogs know how cool they are, from time to time; oh how varied are the types of music one listens to!

And I am in one of those moods now, just like my father - this morning he came up to me and said, "I'm feeling bombastic today! So I've decided to use the word quintessential in one of my papers!"

Love,
Chloe

p.s. For your love, I would do anything, just to see the smile upon your face.

:)

2009-09-11T01:05:00.002+08:00

"VOTE" For Us!

Okay, so it's not a "Most-Liked," "Most-Commented" sure-win contest.

BUT. Having people comment on and liking your video can't do any harm, surely?

Follow the link on my Facebook profile. Remember to comment on/like the video found on the LG Mobile Singapore page itself!

Thank you!!! Especially to everyone who's already taken the time to do so.

I haven't laughed so much in one night before. I kept bursting out in laughter everytime we tried to take the entire video in one take, hence the fade-out before we start the song.

Which is a very catchy tune, and was written by Jon.

Happy laughing and saving the video for blackmailing purposes in the future.

2009-09-08T00:38:00.003+08:00

Ways and Means

We've decided, once and for all, that we're too broke to buy tickets to the first day of F1 Rocks - well, if we weren't too broke, we'd be too busy.

Anyhow, I googled for contests and found two.

We've entered one, and our entry to the second one is pending an email confirmation.

I will tell you more (rather silly and funny) details at a later date.

Wish us luck! (it sounds strange to say "Pray for us" somehow. But please do.)

2009-09-06T22:10:00.008+08:00

Prawning

It's because I like eating prawns, and because I've seen photos and heard so many accounts of friends and acquaintances going prawning that I decided I'd like to try it. And as part of my 23rd birthday celebrations, at that. Even after D disabused me of the wonderful notion that people went prawning with nets.

Well, ok - what was I thinking, right? What would be the point of prawn farms offering you the chance to prawn, then?

Even so, yesterday afternoon, my head was filled with visions of prawns and prawns barbecuing in a row, ready to be peeled and eaten. I could smell them cooking, a lovely prawny smell tinged with barbecue smoke. And the taste of their legs! I love the taste of prawn legs (very weird, but I'm sure there are weird things YOU like to eat. Don't let's hear the pot calling the kettle black). And they're somewhat meaty-feeling in your mouth.

And of course, the sweet, sweet taste of fresh prawn meat, all fat and white and pinky orange.

Alas!

Prawning is barbaric, and also rather difficult. Ten prawns in just about 4 hours, with three rods and about 8 different people taking turns to have a go. There were many people, so maybe that accounted for it, and it was our first time after all (excuses, excuses).

But the results were tasty, and matched up to the visions I had.

And, as one of Jon's friends pointed out, the fact that I was squeamish about seeing them skewered and salted while they were still flipping about didn't stop me from eating them with a relish, a huge grin on my face.

With our rather small catch

I caught one and three-quarters on my own (Jon completed the last quarter of our first catch), and he caught two more, I think. I almost got a whopper one time, but he (she?) got away, with such force that my fishing line swung up and my hook got caught in the attap roof.

The uncle, when he came to help me release it, said 小姐虾在水里不是在上面 (Miss, the prawns are in the water, not up there).

At least I didn't drop the rod into the water， like You-Know-Who did. Sniggers.

We went to Hai Bin U Enterprise Prawn Fishing in Bishan, at 603 Sin Ming Avenue, next to the driving range. The zhi char was pretty good too.

And no, we did not order barbecued prawns.

***
In other news, my brother fell off his bike two days ago. He cannot walk properly, and he has puncture marks from his pedal on his left calf.

I couldn't stop laughing when he was describing it. Especially when he kept insisting, after that, that he had a sprained ankle (he didn't).

What a mean older sister I am.

But he's so huge, and he was kinda being a bit of a . . . (see my blog picture). You know?

2009-09-05T13:22:00.005+08:00

Odiously Pleased (O.P.)

I seized upon this phrase yesterday morning when M and I went back to ACJC for a chat with our form teacher, who is finally pregnant, after many years of students nagging at her to have children. Our class played a big part, I am happy (sad) to say (oh, the terrors we were).

I asked her whether her parents were O.P., to which question she responded with her trademark rolling of eyes.

And the phrase has stuck with me since. It isn't a very nice adjective, but it does sound so nice when you say it!

I am currently feeling O.P., having cleaned the floor thoroughly, and am feeling that I am a Very Virtuous Daughter who can clean the floor better than her father. Please excuse the use of italics, it's only because I am feeling so very O.P. at the moment.

Don't you just wish you could wipe the smirk off my face?

***
A few Sundays ago we had a sermon on unity in the Chrisitan body. Of course, Pastor J talked about unity in families, and it struck me then that for all I complain about my father and disagree with the way he does things, I have a united family which I'm thankful for.

My displeasure with my father results in my not ironing his pants and his shirts which I deem too old and worn out, and not mopping the floor of his study room. The latter I gave in to, just now because my mum pointed out that all our labour would be in vain if he tracked the dirt from that room out to the clean parts of the house. And I might give in to ironing his pants soon, to stop him from coming to my room in the mornings demanding why they have not been ironed.

Wrinkle-free fabric, indeed.

And his shirts are so worn-out that they don't need ironing anymore because they don't wrinkle.

Keeping cool is the most important, says he.

The shirts which do need ironing I feel tremendously O.P. about, after I've finished with them.

To his credit, he did take the mop from me and mop his room, but that might have just been because he didn't want me crashing and banging about into the carcasses of old computers strewn about, with towers of books in between for good measure - you almost suspect he enjoys purposely creating impediments to a clean floor.

I'm probably also the only young person in all of Singapore whose primarily driving parent (father) constantly tells it to take the car!, but staunchly refuses to do so in the interests of the safety of other Singaporean drivers.

And he likes Jon. I fell sick on the 3rd when we were supposed to go out for my birthday, so Jon came over instead. I went to bed early, and he stayed in my house watching NCIS with my father.

So tonight, to round off my birthday week, we're going prawning! I'm very excited. Be excited for me, and I'll share the experience with you next time!

2009-09-02T00:25:00.003+08:00

Making It Up, and The Sad Lives of Lawyers To Be, Part 4

I was Very Sad after my last post, but Jon has fully redeemed himself by coming to my house at midnight on my birthday (this has never happened before) and giving me my birthday present.

And in true lawyer form, right after being lovey for a bit, we proceeded to Very Unromantically discuss the assignment due on Thursday.

2009-08-31T22:49:00.002+08:00

Below, Part 3

Jon, at 22:45:53: 114060. Guess what's that :)

Me, at 22:46:45 (thinking it has something to do with something nice for me, like maybe he won a lucky draw and now we're going to see Jacky Cheung and A*mei on the 24th): I dunno? :) :)

Jon, at 22:48:29: my new high score. Hahahahahahaha

2009-08-27T23:09:00.002+08:00

The Sad Lives of Lawyers To Be, Part 2
I'm to blame, really.

It was I who discovered the game on Jon's new phone, Phone-E. So called because he's a Nokia E63 (or E68? I'm not sure) and we wanted our phones to be relatives. My phone, if you recall, is named Phoney.

And it is I who have been playing this game whenever a lecture proves too boring for words. Which is rather often.

However, Jon is not the only one who has an E63 (E68?), and I am not the only one who finds this game exciting, stimulating, and a great way to pass time!

I received the following SMS from J about 15 minutes ago:

Omg I was playing globalblox ..my score was like 97000+ then the dumb thing said gameover...s**t...

(asterisks added to maintain family friendliness)

We will be taking the bar exam at the end of November and all we can think about now is how to beat each others' high scores on a souped-up version of Tetris.

2009-08-25T00:24:00.004+08:00

You Can't Deny It

Today, my fellow Aunty - also known as Fellow Suffering Pupil #1, or #2, or #n depending on who comes to mind first as I'm telling my tales about the day - pointed out something.

L, SMSing me excitedly about the "new" and "damn gd" drama Boys Over Flowers: Ya e lead looks like pck.

Minus the mole and the jade ring, of course.

"New" and "damn gd," in my opinion, are in quotation marks both literally and figuratively. But then it might not be that bad after all. I don't like it mostly because I didn't like the Taiwanese one, and that was because Barbie Hsu was just Plain Annoying and I couldn't stand Vanness Wu's hair.

I shall refrain from insulting Jerry Yen because L likes him and I don't want to hurt her feelings. And he was the least of all the Meteor Garden evils, anyway. I'll concede that.

Don't forget now, all fans of Boys Over Flowers - A Happy Journey, Starts Like That!

Maybe the campaign would be a lot more effective if they actually got Lee Min Ho to front it.

That is, if people could tell the difference.

Oh shucks. I forgot the mole. Dead giveaway there.

2009-08-22T22:43:00.009+08:00

Wonders Will Never Cease

Today my father mopped the floor; when we ordered Coffee Pork Ribs as part of dinner at Forture, they came with blobs of whipped cream with coffee powder sprinkled over.

I'm surprised I don't see pigs flying.

And now, I am going to blog in Mandarin, and attempt to translate a Liang Wern Fook song. If you are displeased with the translation you are free to offer a better one.

Don't be surprised if you see a large pink pig backside suddenly appear at your window as you read this.

***
亲爱的文耀，

（如果你不能读以下的短文，你可以 scroll down for translation)

今天我们庆祝我们两年半的生日。其实我的华语没你想象中那么好吧。但是我们两都知道我是骗人的。哈哈。去了北京四个多月，一直听八八三家FM，听华文MP3，看第八播道并不表示我的华文会讲得写得完美正确。

可是我的华文还是比你的好。记住啊！

这首歌虽然是首伤心的歌，但是我非常喜欢它。是我们最爱的梁文福写的，而这版也是他和潘盈唱的。有点老套 (what is "old-fashioned" in Mandarin?!) 但是我知道你也会像我一样欣赏它。

谢谢你这两年半来给我的勇气和自持，爱心和保护。谢谢你每次很愿意和我共享你的食物。我知道食物对你来说是很重要的 - 你奋不顾身的牺牲你的食物对我来说是你表达最高度的爱心。

如果没有你，我可能还会被困在以前伤心的回忆中。

我已不再怀疑我究竟有勇气几许，因为你给我勇气继续。

我总是忘记怎样地不去想起你
I always forget how to not think about you

我总是怀疑你依然相信我的心情
I always suspect you still believe I have feelings for you

每一次伤的是你每一次刺痛的是我的心
Everytime you get hurt it is my heart which feels the pain

我紧拥着你却经已失去我自己
I've held on to you so tightly that I've lost myself

一条漫长路经已走到这里走下去我就不再是我自己
I have come thus far down a long road, and if I go on walking I will no longer be myself

然而望着你的背影究竟我有勇气几许
But as I look at your shadow, I wonder just how much courage I possess

回头去走那无尽无止的记忆
And I turn back to walk through those endless memories

一条漫长路经已走到这里然而分离是否就拥有我自己
I've come down this long road, but if I leave you I can find myself

因为思念不是当年没有一丝牵挂的你
Because memories of yesterday are not yesterday and I'm not holding on to any part of you

寂寞也不是最初的我自己
Being lonely is not something which I ever was

Another sweet song, another heartbreaking story.

Except that our story isn't heartbreaking, of course not.

Here's a translation of my note to Jon, for his (and your) benefit:-

Dear Jon,

Today we are celebrating our two-and-a-half-year anniversary. Actually my Mandarin is not as good as you think it is, but then we both know that I'm just a fraud where this is concerned. Haha. Staying in Beijing for about 4 months, listening to 88.3 FM, having Chinese songs on my MP3 player and watching Channel 8 dramas definitely does not mean my Chinese will be wonderfully accurate.

But remember, my Mandarin is still better than yours! Haha.

This is a sad song, but I like it very much. It is by one of our favourite composers, Liang Wern Fook. This version was sung by him and Pan1 Ying2. Even though the arrangement is extremely old-fashioned, I know you will like and appreciate it just as much as I do.

Thank you for the courage and support, love and protection you have given me for the past two and a half years. Thank you for always being so willing to share your food with me. I know food is very important to you, so the fact that you are ever-willing to share your food with me so self-sacrificially shows me that your love for me is of the highest degree.

If it wasn't for you, I might still be stuck in the sad memories of the past.

I don't wonder anymore whether I have enough courage - for you give me courage to carry on.

好肉麻喔！
Eeee, so mushy.

May God grant us many happy years ahead, together. Thank You, for all You've done for us and everything You've brought us through.

2009-08-21T00:28:00.005+08:00

Assaulting Your Senses

Between the last post and now, I have finally found on YouTube the songs which have been haunting my waking moments for the past few weeks.

Of course, no one ever watches YouTube videos other people post on their blogs, but I'll take the chance.

If you have a grandmother who watches a lot of daytime Chinese TV you'll definitely know these songs. Don't bluff me that you don't okay?!

And I have no idea what they're singing about - I barely understand Hokkien - I have to read the fan ti lyrics.

Above each video is what I call each song when I sing of their greatness to Jon, who has to listen to me belt out the only lines I know ad nauseum. I shall make an effort to learn to sing the Hokkien.

ＷＡ MENG TI WA MENG TI

AAAHHH JI AI NI YI JI LANG

And then I'll be an Absolutely Intolerable Friend to have.

***

Watching Korean dramas has made me miss Beijing. Going to school in Changping, especially. And street food. Definitely the street food.

Had an almost taste of Beijing on Tuesday when we went to eat steamboat in Chinatown after tutorial. Unfortunately the ma2 la4 was more la4 than ma2, which was not only most un-China but resulted in Glorious S**ts (in the plural. I am gross, I know) for Jon and myself. I'm not sure about the other people involved, but you can ask them. It's quite likely they suffered the same fate, seeing as Jon and Other Persons Who Shall Not Be Named probably downed close to 50 beef balls between them.

2009-08-20T23:05:00.006+08:00

Being Practical

I woke up this morning to the news that A*Mei has joined Jacky Cheung (and Da Mouth and sodagreen, whose music I have never heard) as one of the acts for the first day of F1 Rocks.

Tickets are $175 per day. Not that I'm going to be forking out more than $175, although a part of me is secretly tempted to go watch the Backstreet Boys with Abi, because she wants to, and just because, you know? Not that I was a big fan - my father thought they were trash and so refused to buy their CDs (good on him, now I don't have dusty BSB CDs to get rid of!) but there's something about the Backstreet Boys that's so secondary school; makes me feel all nostalgic.

You know what they say, once you start feeling OLD and NOSTALGIC it means you're not that old. So I better stop talking about things I don't know about.

Anyhow, September is Jon's and my birthday month, so we were debating whether we should go as a birthday treat. Our friends have, however, pointed out that we can go to both Jacky Cheung's and A*Mei's individual concerts when they come, for the same amount of money. Plus we'll feel so much more fulfilled after a good 3 hours or so of the best the Chinese Pop World can bring in terms of costumes and production. Can't say much for the sound system at the Singapore Indoor Stadium though.

We have no idea how long the sets at F1 Rocks are going to be, but there are four acts - you do the math.

There's also the fact that we have a tutorial until 7 p.m. that day so we'll have to go late. Fort Canning's opening up at 5 p.m. Not that A*Mei or Jacky Cheung will open, but I just feel like I've gotta get there early to make it worth my while.

It's the kiasu Singaporean in me coming out in full force.

We inquired at the SISTIC counter at Raffles City twice today, and we still haven't bought the tickets.

I doubt we will, because there's a blue dress in Chinatown calling out my name, I hear it everytime we go the Subordinate Courts for lessons.

But we'll see, we'll see. Wouldn't it be something to go. I'm just a bit worried she'll go all Amit on me. I'm not sure I'm prepared to embrace Amit, when discovering A*Mei for real was one of the best things that happened to me in Beijing.

I'm turning into my mother. I can hear her voice in the back of my head telling me she thinks the money would be better spent elsewhere.

You might just see us standing next to that huge cherry sculpture outside the National Museum, opposite Fort Canning, come 24 September 2009.

2009-08-17T23:18:00.003+08:00

Today

I realised that Jon and I have come very far together, and I felt very thankful for everything we've been through and the way God has blessed our relationship.

My mother said being bored was better than being sian. Like, it's better to be bored to tears writing a letter to imaginary clients about the imaginary sale and purchase of an imaginary house (that's a REAL letter we're talking about here) as opposed to being sian about something going wrong at work.

Then your heart will stop and you'll feel totally horrible and you hope and pray that by the grace of God you don't have to pay out of your own pocket.

She's right, I guess.

And after today's BSF lesson on complaining, I really ought to just shut it, count my blessings and give thanks to God. So I leave you with a picture of an imaginary "person" at her imaginary house, to decide for yourself which you would rather be.

Please exercise the Option to Purchase within seven (7) weeks of the date of this Option to Purchase. If not, Meow Meow Lee would have already reached a new level where she gets a new house and you will not be able to buy this one anymore.

My, I am bored.

2009-08-16T19:52:00.003+08:00

Dear Reader,

Re: Procrastination

1. We refer to the above.

2. Sigh.

Yours faithfully,

SUPERMAN LLP

2009-08-15T00:35:00.004+08:00

Of Friends Who Look Like Korean TV Stars
(or, You Know You've Been Watching Too Many Korean Drama Serials)

THAT pose. You know, the one where the male lead is driving his SUV/sports car during a time of crisis and looking Extremely Troubled. He usually puts his hand to his forehead and gives an exasperated, sad and frustrated "TSK." He's also driving Really Badly, but no one around him seems to give a s**t.

Jon Wrong on his way to becoming an Asian superstar (I didn't manage to get a picture at the moment his hand was on his forehead), Shannon looking doubtful that that's ever going to happen.

BYE QUENTS!!!

See you in December/January!
(and that was only to make myself feel better for not dragging myself out of bed at 0430 to go to the airport tomorrow morning. Not much point, when you'll only be gone for about 5 months)

2009-08-13T10:08:00.002+08:00

More Good Old Chinese Pop

A less cheesy MTV, unfortunately.

2009-08-10T09:50:00.003+08:00

In Lieu Of Vegetables

My parents went to JB last Friday, and like all the other times they go to JB, I fully expected them to come home with a couple of supermarket chickens for dinner, and a baguette or two.

Sure enough, they finally pulled up in our driveway at around 8 p.m., by which time I was ravenous and my tummy was singing for my supper.

My mother, for once, didn't buy any salad or cook any vegetables - she bought fake Yakult instead, and after dinner, told us that we all had to drink some of it because we hadn't had any vegetables.

No offence to anybody, especially if the manufacturers of the fake Yakult had developed the product themselves (though it's unlikely), but it tasted horrible. I got stuck with the orange flavour - and everyone knows fake orange-flavoured anything tastes awful, the only thing with a fake orange flavour I can stand is effervescent Redoxon - and after a few sips I handed it to my father and told him to enjoy it.

Saturday afternoon saw me, my mother, my grandmother, and my J2 brother who is Very Cool and About to Enter Army space out in front of Full House, which L lent me, with the kind words: You'll confirm like it lor. My aunty radar says so.

I've been wanting to blog about the Beijing Exchange Persons 2008 outing to Tea Chapter at Neil Road Thursday before last, but something's wrong with Blogger and I can't upload any pictures. The funniest picture of the day (to me, at any rate) was of Shangren pouring tea with his Zen face: When you pour tea you must have a qian3 cheng2 de4 xin1, so he says, and there I am in the background doing my best impersonation of a disrespectful moose.

We had a great time.

I went for NDP with my mother yesterday. I was supposed to go with Jon but he was sick, which was really disappointing for both of us. For me especially I think, because girls do tend to take these things a little too hard you know? And these tickets were hard-won and long expected, being as they were from one of Jon's friends on the organising committee. We failed to get any from the ballot. I'd been looking forward to the long weekend and fireworks, jostling about with a sea of people in red and singing cheesy National Day songs at the top of our patriotic, compliant lungs.

But no matter, I had a lot of fun with mummy, who was very excited too and we had a good time waving our little Singapore flags and light-up hearts around in time to the music.

I liked this year's NDP a lot (except for the fake terrorist attack) - I thought Ivan Heng did a good job. I especially enjoyed the music, which finally appears to NOT have been arranged by somebody with an alliterative name (oh, YOU know who I'm talking about), and the script which poked fun at bad Singlish and other Singaporean idiosyncrasies. It was kitschy cool, with those cheesy, rather ghoulish "people" borne about on sticks and the moving flower motifs on the big screens when they were introducing the four different races through dance and song. Ivan Heng has taste, and I think he loves Singapore, if not the show wouldn't have been as moving and goosepimply as it was. Just like how Jon thinks Home is so enduring because Dick Lee meant it when he wrote it. That, and the fact that he's talented, of course.

Maybe it was just the wind at the Marina Barrage, and those light-up hearts.

I suppose I'll get flak for this post, especially since there're probably more people than not who thought the NDP was a huge joke and the government would do well to spend the money elsewhere. But I was moved this year, and proud of Singapore and how far we've come - and you know what, I think we do have some semblance of a national identity after all, and I'm proud of that, even if doesn't epitomise sophistication. Ivan Heng managed to capture the essence of it, which is something I think no other NDP has been able to do effectively.

It's the essence of lazy afternoons at a coffeeshop wherever, drinking coffee or tea, eating a pau, popiah, or bak chor mee (that rhymes). Aunties and uncles who cook all that wonderful food, who give you a welcoming smile and know your order even before you say it, because that's what you always eat when you come to their stalls.

Like walking along the Singapore River with a loved one and about half of Singapore, enjoying the lights nonetheless, or listening to xinyao with them.

That kind of thing, you know? I'm sure you have your fond (and un-fond) memories of what makes Singapore home to you.

Wherever you are, there'll always be things which you don't like about a place, things which annoy and irritate you. But I think it's all about making the best of things. And then you'll find that things aren't so bad after all, and that Singapore is a country worthy of our love and pride.

Happy Day After National Day everyone.

Do check back with me when I have to brave rush hour crowds again.

Nah, I'm sure I'll still be fine. There'll be emails with the Aunties and Uncles To Be in the office to look forward to.

2009-07-30T10:23:00.004+08:00

Nice Picture Which I Never Knew Existed
But alas, while they look good, I just look chubby.

(Sniggers. Sorry Jon, but you'll always look like a monkey to me.)

Picture taken before I left for Beijing.

In other news, last Friday I closed JM's car door on my right thumb. He almost drove off with my thumb caught in the door.

Despite the bleeding under the nail and the swelling, it's mending well. It still looks pretty gross though. I was going to upload a picture of it but I've decided not to, just in case you're eating when you read this.

Still, every cloud had a silver lining. Because of my resulting Miserable-Like-Anything face, Jon agreed to watch My Girl with me - yes, the Korean drama serial I was so enamoured with in Beijing. I caught it again on Channel U, and decided that I liked it so much that I had to have the DVD.

The downside is, because it's been digitally mastered for sharper images, Lee Dong Wook's lack of acting skills have become glaringly obvious and I cannot avoid that fact any longer, even though I would like to remain in denial because he is dishy. Even Jon agrees.

There's also horrible subtitling. It would have been funny if the conversation was in Mandarin, but I cannot understand Korean at all. Yes, I can watch it dubbed, but what's the point?

2009-07-16T22:37:00.005+08:00

The Sad Lives of Lawyers To Be

Even though we're now at PLC, L - the Fellow Suffering Pupil who sat opposite me the first month of pupillage - and myself still cannot stop talking all manner of nonsense to each other.

She sent me this SMS yesterday:

Omg you ah mah. Confirm got ah mah taste. I jus saw e bow top from south haven tat u bought on an ah mah!

And today she FB-ed me the following:

AUNTY. i tink i saw ur le range top at robinsons. HUR is it boat neck, chiffon, and got like pleats around the neck???? hahah

When I said Yes, indeed it probably was the top I had bought, she said:

ZOMG. my aunty radar is damn sharp. can detect ur top immed when i saw it. and i was like 'CHLOE' eh u nv come for class today ah, never see u around. tsk tsk

I was watching Martha at home.

Guess I should just be resigned to my Aunty fate.

2009-07-08T00:52:00.004+08:00

WHY MUST YOU DO THIS TO ME?!

Just when you thought your favourite Asian singer of all time (I mean that, even though I'm constantly singing Zhen Zhong Ji's Jie Qing Ren and Yu Guan Hua's Qiu Xin Fu, both written by the great Liang Wern Fook) was going to remain NORMAL, in a world where Chinese pop is getting curiouser and curiouser - to quote Alice - she decides to pull the carpet right from under your feet and do THIS.

The latest music video of the new song by Chang Hui-mei or A-mei, "Hei Chi Hei", is shockingly filled with scenes of kidnap, sadomasochism, assassination and sexual connotations. Besides the Taiwanese MTV channel, other Taiwanese TV stations have declined to broadcast the music video.

A-mei's new album AMIT (based on her aboriginal name) has a strong vengeance theme, and "Hei Chi Hei" is a contemporary hard rock song with six foul words in the lyrics. Her record company has taken initiative in censoring those words to produce a standard version, and planned for the "original restricted" version to be broadcasted after 9pm starting Thursday night. However various TV stations have said that the vulgarities were but a minor problem and that the gory scenes and sadomasochistic images made the video undesirable for broadcast.

Overwhelming response to the music video on MTV channel boosted the record company's confidence in having wider promotions, but the TV stations' rejections were unexpected.

In considering A-mei's persistence in retaining the purest concept of the album, the record company would not consider snipping any more of the music video to cater to broadcast requirements. Instead they are currently exploring other less stringent avenues to allow fans to watch the uncut video.

A-mei "transforms" into "Amit" in the video and had to spend four hours in the image creation. The black crystals used cost NT$100,000 per set (about S$5000). Male lead in the MV, Chen Chu-xiang was dressed as a sadomasochistic King, top naked with leather straps around his body. The accompanying dancers are also dressed in dominatrix outfits.

The songstress thought very highly of the concept by famous MV director Bounce and described it as "very cool". - From Yahoo! News, 7 July 2009

Please, A*Mei. I am planning to watch you the next time you come to Singapore. Please, I beg you, don't make me change my mind. Not now, when I have memorised the lyrics to so many of your greatest hits and am dying for a chance to sing along with you live.

2009-07-05T20:19:00.001+08:00

Vaguely Porno

But I guess that's how they made MTVs last time.

And it's a great song, so who cares? Plug in your earphones, open another window and play Typing Maniac. Unless of course, it's so inspiring that you want to sing along. In which case you have to look at the lyrics. And the vaguely porno bits, of course.

2009-07-04T00:30:00.003+08:00

Never Too Old

My Cupcake Tree in Pet Society finally bore fruit.

I am Very Pleased.

Today, Suffering Pupil #1 told Suffering Pupil #2 that Suffering Pupil #2's new chair was akin to a Lamborghini in the world of swivel chairs - and the rest of us were stuck with the equivalent of a Toyota.

I pointed out to SP #1 that our chairs were more analogous to Suzuki Swifts.

SP #2 told me I could take his chair after next Wednesday, and I think he said that because that's our first day of PLC; however, he did say after next Wednesday - that means when we come back for our second tranche of pupillage I'm still entitled to it. SP #2 with the new chair, if you're reading this, this means you.

There's one thing I've come to realise in the past month - there are a good number of lawyers who don't deserve at all to be the butt of those awful jokes about lawyers that people seem to enjoy telling.

In fact, many of them work hard and work honestly for their keep, and are unpretentious, genuine, and family-oriented people.

Which was a nice surprise.

Just like my cupcake on my cupcake tree. It sells for 85 coins.

2009-07-01T23:06:00.003+08:00

Annoying Post

With plenty of office and legal jokes to keep you amused, or else annoy you greatly because you're not clued in. Neh neh ni boo boo!

Like how today Judicial Manager Ho JM (JM Ho JM, geddit?) who is even lazier than Bart (I hesitate to say 'anti-social') sent out an email asking the pupils at the Law Firm Which Shall Not Be Named to have a gathering next Tuesday. I almost fell off my chair in shock and awe when I saw it, and hastened to dial his extension to find out whether someone had hijacked his computer.

No la it was ___ who asked me to plan!

Or how yesterday the DisConnected pupil from my department - the only one who has to sit in the library - got a new chair, because they changed the chairs of all those sitting in the library. He promptly emailed me to say I got a new chair!!!!!!!!

And when I told him I was really excited for him!!!! he said Yah. . . Come over for a chair-warming party soon!!!!

I want to steal the chair, but it'd be pretty obvious who did so.

The email which really made my day though, simply said (and pardon the French):

Omg

I fell asleep

Zzz

***
In other news, there are no more Lexus cream cheese biscuits in the pantry. They have been replaced by the Cowhead Milk The Only Calcium Biscuit ones. Which aren't too bad, less oily than the aforementioned ones.

Also, if you've been wanting (needing, more like) to go to the loo for a little rest, just to sit on the throne and stare into space or close your eyes momentarily, but you've been thwarted in your attempts by that Very Useful Invention called the automatic flush, just stick a post-it over that annoying red dot that keeps foiling your plans.

Lest you think we're not earning our keep, we are. Trust me on that one.

2009-06-27T18:57:00.002+08:00

Last Thursday
I had lunch and dinner at my desk.

It's Saturday, and I have never been happier to be in my denim cut-offs - I ruthlessly chopped off the bottom of my flared jeans about two years ago and have been happily wearing them as cut-offs since - and flip-flops.

Had lunch with Bart just now, after which Jon came to meet us - by the time we were at Venezia eating ice cream we all looked about ready to fall asleep.

2009-06-21T17:32:00.004+08:00

Neat Things

Jon and I attended the wedding dinner of one of our common friends over the weekend - she's his primary school classmate, and also my neighbour - and it was one of the neatest, most organised weddings I've ever attended. Just like what you would expect from two civil servants, and I don't mean that in a bad way at all.

Not that it wasn't sweet, and XY looked really pretty - again, in a very sensible, responsible, solid sort of way: if I were a guy I'd have lost no time in proposing to her either - but it was just so NEAT. That's the only word to describe it. The tables were thoughtfully assigned to the various groups of people present, Canon in D was the song of choice as the couple walked in, the dried ice went off at the right time and there wasn't too much smoke; the slide show was entertaining and the voice-over perfectly-timed, the speeches of the bride and groom sensitive and serious, with just the right hints of fun.

Just like a government run event!

But there is definitely something to be said for NEAT and ORGANISED and CIVIL SERVANTISH things.

The dinner was at The Regent, and the food was FANTASTIC.

You know how you usually don't eat everything at wedding dinners, because they always start late, and the food's usually too oily and MSG-laden. But Jon and I finished every single course. I gave him my beehoon, that was a tad too oily for me. But everything else tasted good, and light, and we didn't even feel jelat when we left!

I was Very Impressed. Not quite sure whether it's because The Regent just does good wedding dinners, or because XY and her husband made extra doubly sure that they would deliver a good meal. I'm inclined to think it was the latter though.

They do know how to select scholars. XY told us she and her husband organised everything themselves!

If Jon and I organise our wedding ourselves, we can promise you beer, prawns, barbecue (chicken wings!) and beehoon at our wedding dinner, which will be held at a chalet in the East.

Whereupon we will suffer the wrath of both sets of parents. And it is kind of fun to have a wedding dinner. Especially a neat one, with fabulous food.

They got a xinyao band for the night too. Jon and I were most pleased.

2009-06-18T22:55:00.002+08:00

Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous

I'm coming to the end of my second week of pupillage, and I have about 30 pages worth of emails, most of them three to five liners from Another Fellow Suffering Pupil at the Law Firm Which Shall Not Be Named about almost nothing at all.

Are you still wondering why you pay lawyers so much?

Oh, and this other Fellow Suffering Pupil sits right opposite me, but of course we can't talk out loud about the things we email each other about out loud. That's what intra-office email is for, what.

2009-06-13T17:51:00.003+08:00

Very Extremely Pleased

qiu xin fu - yu guan hua

Hope you like it as much as I do, in all its old-school, cheena glory. Very extremely pleased that I finally found an online recording of it because it's not on YouTube. And there we were, thinking YouTube had everything.

In other news, I'm also very glad it's the weekend. Jon and I had a glorious time last night. There is something to be said for not meeting up so much during the work week.

The question of the week is whether Jon would still have joined JM for lunch if he had known I was there when he rang him. Sensitive issues we're dealing with here.

2009-06-11T22:01:00.004+08:00

TheThings That Make Jon and Chloe, Jon and Chloe; Episode #1

Instead of watching The Ultimatum on the second night in the week I'm actually home at 9 p.m. - I'm still upset I missed last night's episode where Tay Ping Hui charmed the socks off Fann Wong - I've decided to take up Adele's blog project (click here!) and share a little about Jon and myself.

And since all I do as a pupil is fake legalese, I've decided to spare you the trauma of reading what may well turn into a subconscious attempt to fake it in this space.

Thus, episode #1 of what makes us Jon and Chloe simply features the intense and slightly deranged, I-Am-About-To-Starve way we look at food.

Apologies to Rachel for having had to include her in this picture.

Also, because I am Very Thick-Skinned (well on my way to becoming a great lawyer, do I hear applause in the distance?) the second and third pictures of Jon feature my cupcakes.

2009-06-04T23:18:00.007+08:00

The Silliest Invention of All Time
Has to be the High Heel. Check this site out for the history of the high heel.

And I am second in silliness only to the woman (yes, it was a woman apparently, according to the above website) who first used them fashion-wise, for thinking that Hush Puppies heels would not give me foot ache. Granted, they were probably the most comfortable pair of high-ish heels I've ever worn, with their really fantastic in-soles - but they were just a tad too high.

I've given up. I bought a pair of shoes with slight heels from Anna Nucci in Harbourfront, last night after work, and my feet have been Very Happy since.

***
The following email exchange should amuse you. Names have been witheld to protect the not so innocent.

Me: Wah I think I'm the only one who eats the meiji biscuit. They seem to be restocking more often now that the turnover rate is higher than last time. But still a lot less than the cream cheese one. Can go and see the 19th floor pantry.

Fellow Suffering Pupil at Law Firm Which Shall Not Be Named: Nooo I cannot go to the pantry and see. I'll end up taking more lexus biscuits. I ate 3 packets already. Abit paiseh cos the librarian keeps seeing me eating biscuits. He even asked me whether I had eaten lunch

Me: IT'S YOU!!!!!!
IT'S YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha I was wondering why the tin looked so depleted. I think the secretaries/associates/lawyers have moved on to higher class snacks. Like pocky.
Oh no I just read your email in more detail and now I cannot stop laughing haha the first time round I missed the part abt the librarian!!!! HAHAHHAHAAAA!!!!!!

FSPaLFWSHNBN: Haha lucky for you it seems nobody else eats meiji so the stock doesn't go down so quickly. And also I have no dustbin so its not very nice to have so many lexus packets lying around.At least I don't steal the higher class food (like ovaltine) which I think they have to pool money to buy!

Me: Ok la I think I'll buy stuff and put back. Haha

FSPaLFWSHNBN: Haha erm are you serious? I think no need right. One ovaltine packet only

Me: I stole biscuits the other day! Like a wang wang. Haha!

FSPaLFWSHNBN: Haha. I thought you only ate meiji. Anyway I'm sure they wont begrudge a few packets for a poor pupil

And you wonder why you have to pay lawyers so much money.

2009-05-22T10:18:00.002+08:00

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave

Oh Adam, you really shouldn't have sung with KISS and justified White Christian America not giving you its vote.

There are political undertones, I tell you. Stereotypes or not, the Conservatives are still unhappy about their loss.

Maybe Matt should have been American Idol after all.

Or not. At least he now gets to develop himself as an artiste on his terms. But please Matt, no more Coldplay or The Fray. Give me blues any day.

I also found the link to KF Seetoh on Martha. I watch Martha almost every morning I can, even though I cannot for the life of me understand all this lifestyle schtick. But it's therapeutic looking at pretty things, and watching other people do things you know you'll never have the time, money or energy to do.

Click here for the video, but it loads in weird bursts so make sure you have a good connection.

My favourite part is when he calls tau pok tofu puffs, like edible sponge.

And I think Martha's impression of Singapore is somewhat like a Fighting Spiders one, all street food, albeit with portable stoves - KF Seetoh did inform her that charcoal fires aren't allowed anymore.

No hum in the laksa, I see.

2009-05-21T10:40:00.003+08:00

OH COME ON

Kris Allen? America, you have got to be kidding me.

2009-05-20T00:34:00.005+08:00

Half-Price Gelare Waffles On Tuesday

Nope, no pictures of the waffle with three scoops of ice cream which we ordered - we scoffed it down much too quickly for that, dispensing with such niceties. And we didn't get whipped cream on it, nor the fruits which the cashier entreated us to add, for 20 cents, so it wasn't that pretty-looking anyway.

But there are pictures of two lovely people, and here is one of them:

Just like old times, except that today I was the one who suggested we have waffles. Joe is, astonishingly, on a diet of some sort. Quents jia mian-ed at lunch and wasn't very hungry.

And I still didn't understand half of what the guys were talking about, even though I've graduated. There are only so many things Law School does for you.

But it was very nice, watching Star Trek and wandering aimlessly around PS and poking about Daiso, having absolutely nothing better to do.

2009-05-17T22:54:00.004+08:00

So Far Away

Never did we expect that one of the destinations for our local grad trip would be a factory in Ubi, because there's a tailor there. Let me know if you need the address. Jon and I actually took the MRT to Eunos, and once the bus from the MRT headed into the Greater Ubi Area, it really felt like we weren't in Singapore anymore.

In fact, it felt a bit like a village centre in Shaanxi province which I visited last year.

(That isn't the factory we went to. But when you travel, you've got to take pictures at 'special places.' You know.)

Zhiwei told us yesterday that his girlfriend's father isn't letting her go up for our day trip to Malacca after all because of swine flu.

I told him it was okay, because there are places in Singapore that don't feel like Singapore at all, anyway.

My mother entered a gardening phase a few months ago, which explains the mini-jungle right beside my bedroom windows. It'd be quite cool, if not for the fact that the ants which populated the leaves of the papaya plant liked to use my windows as a sort of pedestrian crossing, and there was a bird's nest a little too close to my bedroom wall for comfort. And, to top things off, today I found a Very, Very Furry, Rather Long Caterpillar Cocoon in the place where the headboard of my bed touches the wall, meaning that he (she?) took the liberty of crawling all the way across my headboard. And there was another one in the window sill.

Ugh!

I whinged my father into removing both of them, which he did - and then he said, Wasn't that cool? City-dwellers don't often get to see wildlife so close to them!

We also proceeded to chop down parts of the papaya plant and remove the bird's nest, which is why I wrote the above paragraph in past tense. No more will those pesky ants use my windows as a pedestrian crossing.

2009-05-12T10:01:00.003+08:00

Funny

How we, or rather I, tell myself and others how we'll be able to just get through things - some things you just have to do, you know? - I'll say, confident that it'll happen.

And so I blunder on and in the midst of doing whatever it is I realise that it's not as easy as just having to Do Things, and that's why people make considered decisions, and pray so much.

Hopefully I'll be able to do that in the coming years.

Oh, and I just realised I posted the wrong YouTube video yesterday! I've changed the second one. Happy listening :)

2009-05-11T09:39:00.003+08:00

Descent Into Heartlandom

Generally I don't like posting Youtube videos, but I've just discovered the awesomeness of xinyao, and, as I've said before, Good music must be shared.

Sorry about the weird slideshow, wasn't me!

I really wonder who puts together these MTVs.

If you like these songs too please let me know, so I don't feel like a weirdo. And don't tell me you don't remember Kit Chan's 担心, because we practically grew up on that rice advertisement.

2009-05-08T01:08:00.007+08:00

Fantastically Amazing
Jon and I watched If There're Seasons last night, and it was a wonderful experience.

Sure, the storyline was kinda lame and we had cheapo tickets but the songs and the arrangements and the band and the singers (yes, even Joanna Dong who was a little screechy more than once!) more than made up for it.

We walked out of the theatre feeling suitably happified, which I've concluded is a feeling only solid, old-school Chinese pop brings. Electric guitar solos, real violins, kick-ass drums, piano introductions to every emo song - and the loveliest chord changes in the world.

I don't like posting things in another language without a translation or a guide as to how to read it (Jolie, are you reading this!) but I've chosen tonight for my teeth to suffer - I'm wearing my retainers after a few weeks of not doing so, and it hurts like billy-oh; I'm in no mood at all to provide a good translation to a Chinese song which has become a new favourite. So you'll have to make do. If you can't read Chinese, I'm sorry. Blame your elitist blue and white education.

秋心賦
海無邊　天無際　無邊無際無盡期
風淒迷　雨絲密　殘淚滴
人遙遠　心思念　思思念念只一個妳
不回憶　又回憶　空回憶

心上秋　何年何月漸漸染上眉頭
眉上秋　早已積成心上憂
心上秋　何時再與那年的妳聚首
等是愛　盼是愛　望是愛
問年月　何年月　恨年月

It's in fan ti, so happy guessing. To me and you, both. But it's a fantastic song, especially Bang Wenfu's arrangement (vocals and instruments) for the musical. You can always copy and paste and Google the title of the song. Qiu1 Xin1 Fu4 (that SHOULD be it).

***
Alright, I've decided to take pity on you (there goes the pot calling the kettle black) - and good music must be shared. So here's a cover of it I found on Youtube.

I have never been prouder to be a Singaporean!

***
I was just reading through some of my old entries and I realised I never let on about how I caught up on all the episodes of The Little Nyonya which I missed when I was on my family holiday!

It was Dear Abi who set her DVD recorder to record all those episodes, and who sat through them all with me - laughing very loudly at the saddest, most dramatic bits.

How I do seem to love putting exclaimation marks at the end of my sentences nowadays.

I tell you, it was that Teo Cheng Wee article about how using '!'s in SMSes has come to be a sign that one's "OK!", and '.'s, a sign that you're not!

2009-05-04T10:01:00.003+08:00

Saturday

The AWARE saga has been blogged about and commented on ad nauseum, and further, because I was there at that Long-Max EGM, for almost all seven hours of melodrama (more than a Channel 8 drama) I therefore feel no qualms telling all who see this (like I've done on Facebook) that they should all Stop Talking About It Already, and get Pet Society - so I can visit more pets for more coins.

Rui told me last night that the Mystery Boxes hold something new everytime you buy one, which has led me to keep buying them just to see what I get. It's Very Exciting, but I need more coins!

So I shall not say anymore about AWARE beyond that this must lead us to think of our own Christian response to matters in an ever-changing world, and that the most frightening thing about it would be if TSM came out of it feeling like she was a Christian martyr. Because she was most definitely not.

In other news, the fact that I am now Unofficially Unemployed has given me the freedom to watch Bad Local TV. Gary Beh (go on, say his name many many times in quick succession, it'll sound like a bad word. Very fun! I'm surprised he hasn't strangled me yet for doing that everytime I see him) induced me to watch The S Factor yesterday, and it sucks even more than Red Thread. Which is saying alot. I've been gleefully paraphrasing and repeating some of the best lines from the latter to people I've met all week.

Celest Chong: Today, I did a terrible thing.
Friend: What?
CC: I rejected a nice guy...
F: Why?
CC: Because, I'm damaged inside.
F: You know... The Japanese use gold to aggrandize the cracks in damaged objects.
Mother and me: Who talks like that nowadays?

Kong Wah (played by that old, slack teacher on First Class): Li-ann is like my flesh and blood - and if you hurt her, I will destroy you (to Alex Sung, played by Adrian Pang).

Shades of Masters of the Sea and that infamous cockroach line, anyone?

Alex Sung: Mr Kong, don't you think you're mixing the personal with the public here?
KW: I AM KONG HOLDINGS. EVERYTHING IS PERSONAL (you could see the capitals when he delivered those lines).

That being said, I'd probably watch it again this week, if not for the fact that I have various dinner outings planned.

2009-04-29T10:40:00.004+08:00

KRIS ALLEN IS BORING AND NOT THAT GREAT A SINGER AND DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE IN THE FINALS OF THIS SEASON OF AMERCIAN IDOL.

GO ALLISON AND ADAM!!

(and Matt I loved your performance but I don't think you're going to stay :'( Don't worry, you were way better than Kris. Jon thinks so too.)

It's a bit like Jeanette Aw and Joanne Peh. I don't think the latter was that much better than the former in The Little Nyonya, so either they should both have won or neither should have won.

They should've just given the award to the Bak Kut Teh Girl from Huang Jing Lu.

2009-04-21T23:10:00.000+08:00

Clean, Green Litter Free Singapore Anyone?

2009-04-15T00:36:00.002+08:00

Things That Keep One Awake At Night
1. Nostalgia
2. Apprehension about the future
3. Nostalgia, and apprehension about the future

***

It's been just over two years since I got baptised, and I've learnt that it's not a magic formula to anything. Trusting God gets harder as you grow older, as you come to know of more strange and terrible things about the world around you, even as you see the beauty in the Everyday.

And so I do trust Him, and want to go on trusting Him for the rest of my life.

2009-03-30T02:11:00.006+08:00

Any Other Way

I've just uploaded my Media Law paper, and when I wake up later this morning I will gather all the material I've amassed in the past couple of weeks on Freedom of Speech (yes, you know it deserves those capitals) in Singapore under the reign of the good ol' PAP and shove it on top of my IP notes from last semester until my exams end and I have to clean up my room because Jon's exams finish 5 days after mine.

Yax pointed out to me on Saturday that we've got about 3 more weeks of cai fan at student prices at The Summit, on top of Bukit Timah Campus Mountain. And we had the Collegiate Dinner on Friday, where the food was awesome and that was pretty much about it.

But I'm feeling nostalgic and a little sad. Although I think I hold to what I've said before, that I'm looking forward to graduating and getting on with my life. Still, I'm going to miss being a student. Not a law student really, just a student.

Everytime I go back to KR - the Central Library, specifically - I look at the neverending shelves of books and wonder at all the things I don't know, might never know, might never have the chance to know. I wonder if I'd have read beyond the required readings if I'd done an Arts degree and was constantly in the library running between the RBR section and the photocopying room.

Probably not, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Yet I feel wistful thinking of how it's almost time for me to give up my membership to the NUS libraries, almost time to give up cheap and good food, sleeping in and cutting class when I feel like it, watching brainless daytime TV like Martha and Everyday Food and My Parents' House.

I wonder how I'd have turned out if I'd stayed in hall, been involved in all the typical freshmen activities: rag and flag, painting banners and constructing floats and being a part of a hall production.

These little tinges of regret for all the things I never did and will now never have the chance to do; for the things I can do and might not have much chance to do, in the near future.

Again, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

This is a picture of Jon and I outside LT 15 where all our lectures were held when we were in Year 1, taken as he walked me to the bus stop after I decided to leave the Collegiate Dinner early, by a PRC student getting ready to Skype, probably with someone back in China.

It's an apt place, I think, with the dearest person to me in the whole wide world.

And it probably best sums up what I shall miss about NUS.

University life looks like it's going to end without any fireworks.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

2009-03-04T21:16:00.002+08:00

Really

The Dreamcatchers ended yesterday, and although it was a really bad serial by most standards, I miss it.

Probably because I thought Tay Ping Hui and Jesseca Liu were really cute together, and I also thought they gave realistic performances. Like, I feel as though my older sister whom I'm really close to got married and moved out, and I miss seeing her and my brother-in-law. Who's also very nice and dotes on you.

Even though I think this is how one of the pivotal scenes in yesterday's show should have proceeded:

TPH: Look! You've fallen into a huge hole filled with water in the middle of a forested area in Batam where there usually aren't any such holes! Oh, I'm so sure it was those nasty producers who dug it! I just knew they were up to no good when I saw them sneaking off with shovels just now! And they've even filled it up with a mixture of what looks like flour and water so the water won't seep into the ground, and give it a sort of grey tinge so that it looks like . . . I can't remember what it's supposed to look like . . .

JL: You idiot, don't you remember I'm supposed to have fallen into quicksand, and now you're supposed to heroically jump right in and save me? Have you forgotten already? Quick! The camera's rolling! Jump in and start bending your knees after you deliver your cheesy lines so we can look like we're struggling and about to drown, then the calefare can run over and save us.

TPH (getting into water): I feel like the Little Nyonya. Remember that scene when she was struggling in the well? She and I even share the same mother . . . although she was her stepmother . . . Or is it step-grandmother . . . Or is it both? I'm confused. That's the trouble with these inter-generational shows, I'm glad ours is set in modern-day Singapore.

JL: You're stepping on my foot!

TPH: It's alright, you're supposed to grimace as I declare my undying love for you, because even though you're really happy about that, we might both be about to drown in quicksand. Hey, what's this in my pocket?

JL: Don't tell me . . .

TPH: Oh dear, it feels like a Soo Kee jewellery box!

JL: It's only in the show that it's supposed to seem that you have the engagement ring with you when you attempt to heroically rescue me from drowning in quicksand! Why didn't you remember to give the ring to the cameraman like we discussed just now? The box isn't waterproof you know! And we have to return the ring later, it's a REAL 1-carat diamond ring so that we can send the message to Singaporeans that engineers earn a lot of money and can afford expensive engagement rings.

TPH: Alright, I think I'm supposed to bend my knees now and look like I'm going under. You have to follow suit. Stop talking and let me look lovingly into your eyes.

They really were very cute together lah. And I'm so glad Rui En's character chose Elvin Ng's, I can't abide Shaun Chen, especially after he played Surgical Maniac in Crimebusters x 2. I've got a soft spot for Elvin Ng too, ever since Peiyu told me she saw him in NUS when she was Year 1 and he was Year 4, and he was wearing army sandals. I haven't seen them before, but apparently they're Really Obiang and Uncle.

I have an inherent bias against well-dressed boys, I just don't think they're man enough.

By my standards, Jon is very man.

2009-02-28T10:51:00.003+08:00

I Probably Watch Too Much TV

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Sarah Jessica Parker looked Really Awful at this year's Oscars - please don't ask me why I even watched the Oscars. On TV. With my mum. At around ten p.m., because after the 9 o'clock show we still hadn't had enough TV for the night, and she was doing the ironing for me because I was just too tired and she's just too nice and we needed something to talk nonsense about while she did so.

Hopefully the fact that we didn't finish watching it will help us retain some sort of credibility as people, in your humble opinion.

Jon did finish watching the entire ceremony though. And then he watched Nip/Tuck, which I stopped watching sometime in Season 1 after the son (Matt?) was caught having a threesome by his mother. The pretty blonde lady, Julia.

Sadly, I can recite storylines and remember character names from Channel 8 shows at the drop of a hat.

Here's the gofugyourself link to Sarah Jessica Parker at the Oscars:
http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/go_fug_yourself/2009/02/oscar_fug_carpet_sarah_jessica.html

I thought she was awful in the Sex and The City movie. But that show, and the movie, isn't really about the actresses, is it?

Everyone knows it's about the clothes.

So what the heck was she thinking when she wore that?!

2009-02-25T00:33:00.002+08:00

X Marks The Spot

Against Jon's wishes, because it's That Time Of The Month, I decided to bring my new running shoes on their maiden run after the 9 o'clock show. Most Unfortunately, I have an awful, sneaking suspicion that there is a family of snails residing in a grassy patch along Dunearn Road which is now missing one member.

2009-02-21T00:56:00.003+08:00

Why You Should Just Admit That West Is Best
Jon and I commenced celebrations for our 2nd year anniversary today with a visit to our favourite Korean restaurant, located just up the street from the Not Nice Anymore Fei Siong Bak Chor Mee near Al-Ameen.

Oh skinny auntie who smokes like a chimney, where are you? I want you back, even if it means that I risk having a bowl of bak chor mee with cigarette ash in it.

Anyway, because it was an impromtu decision to go out for dinner tonight I didn't have Tenny (my camera, in case you didn't see my previous posts) with me so there are no photos. The next time we go there I'll bring her along so you can see the good food - they give you lots of appetisers too, in true Korean restaurant style. Frutta la Viva is just a couple of doors away, but we didn't have any today because we were both too full of liquid.

Gloop gloop.

As we were walking to the bus stop I kept telling Jon not to poke me or say silly things so I wouldn't laugh, and the saddest part was that I would then burst out laughing at myself.

Gloop gloop, gloop.

It hurt.

I wonder if I should regret ordering the kimchi soup, because its Awesome Fire Power might very well lead to another Spectacular S**t tomorrow morning - I can already feel my stomach protesting.

But you know, now that I've got less of that gloop gloop feeling, I have to say I think it'll all be worth it.

2009-02-20T14:14:00.005+08:00

Dog Diggity Dogg

ceadsearc WELOVEJESUS says:
who else

glowie chloeie says:
danny alexis grace (The pink/blond hair girl)
and this really BORING oil rigger guy
michael sarkey or something
dont like him
BORING!!!!!!

ceadsearc WELOVEJESUS says:
oh

glowie chloeie says:
BORINGGGGGGGG

ceadsearc WELOVEJESUS says:
ther fat one

glowie chloeie says:
ya the fat one
haha the fat one

***
Dear Kara and Simon,

As the two American Idol judges whom I have the most respect for, and Randy, because you're pretty cool and you're from a minority race (sorry Paula, you look and talk like you're continually high on something), please let Anoop in as a wildcard. America, and indeed the world, does not need another boring big white guy in the Top 12.

We know the boring big white guys can sing, and I know that you guys, Kara and Simon especially, know what it takes for a Real American Idol to be born. And I also know that you see it in Anoop. Because I do.

Not every American voted for Obama, voted for change. Don't let those who did continue talking about how Anoop didn't get voted in because he's an Asian immigrant.

Sincerely,
Chloe

***
Judging by the number of people I know who watch The Dreamcatchers, I think Channel 8 did a good job of increasing viewership with The Little Nyonya. Even though the former, currently showing at 9 p.m. weekdays on Channel 8, is sponsored by the EDB, Spring Singapore and the Workforce Development Agency (and Tourism Japan, it appears) and has Really Annoying expositions on the wonders and prestige of the engineering industry. And its perks, of course - like being sent to Japan for overseas training.

2009-02-17T20:12:00.004+08:00

I Heart You Part 2, Also Incorporating West Is Best Part 2

Check out the stingray, chin chow (sugar syrup boiled with pandan!) with fruit cocktail and sambal kangkong. The first and the third led me to have two Spectacular S**ts on Sunday morning, barely one hour apart.

But it was worth it.

Next time you Westies need a colon cleansing, you know where to go - Bukit Timah market

I dare you to say there's no good food in the West.

I was very pleased with my red velvet cupcakes as well - oh the wonders of the vinegar and baking soda trick! - but less pleased with the Wilton silicon heart-shaped pan which Abi brought back from the States for me. Maybe I should be less lazy and cut out little squares of greaseproof next time, I thought the bottom of the hearts were a little too sticky. But I put them back in the oven for a bit, bottom side up, and they were okay after that.

As you can see, also, the hearts didn't really look like hearts, but maybe that was because the batter rose a little too much for them. The round ones, however, turned out perfect.

Jon's card was also really cute - you pulled both sides of it and it opened up. Didn't take a closer picture of it so you can't see the cool effect, but I can show you in person if you wish.

Also see requisite shots from our Singapore River Boat Ride. We wanted to make use of the STB's 2009 promotion, but alas, as reported in the papers today, all 2009 tickets for that ride were apparently snapped up in about 2 hours.

Sometimes I suspect the only reason I like Valentine's Day so much is because I think hearts are really cute. Especially red ones.

The flowers have been in my room for about 4 days now, and they smell delicious.