we the citizens of singapore

in national day news, the houses around, but not any further than the 2 or 3 next to the house of the Minister-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, have also sprouted flags. heck, even the half-finished house directly opposite his, notwithstanding construction workers milling about piles of cement and sand, has two flags perched proudly atop what i suppose is later going to be the roof.

in other national day news, i am still trying to come to terms with the fact that i now reside in tanjong pagar grc, jon in jurong grc (even though he is blatantly in the bukit batok area, staying a mere 3 bus-stops from bukit batok central), and the area around imm is now holland-bukit timah grc. if you want to know which grc you're in, go check out the carefully multi-racial national day banners hanging from the street lamps that you must surely have seen by now.

obi-la-di obi-la-da life goes on
on the bus yesterday there was a balding old man surrepstitiously sneaking durian out of a plastic bag and into his mouth. i walked past him and caught his eye just as he was licking the last bit off one seed, and he didn't look in the least bit sheepish or abashed. in fact, he looked rather defiant, like a child who'd polished off the box of expensive godiva chocolates purchased by his parents for one of their bosses - you can't do anything about it and even if you spank me i ate them up and that makes up for everything.

i'm lying when i say i feel old, which is pretty often. especially when i see the year ones, even though the boys are one year younger than me. i feel older, of course, but not old. really, i don't think i've felt younger and more insignificant in the grander scheme of things in my entire life. it's actually a pretty nice feeling once you get used to, and contented with the idea.

my favourite time of day isn't even lying in bed waiting for jon to ring me so we can end the day with a good jaw. it's the time after that, when i lie sleepily in bed unable to sleep, staring into the darkness and out of the window at the trees which look weirdly-shaped in the night, thinking about everything and nothing at all.

***
i really liked the mummy 3. it was so cheesy that after a while it didn't come off as that cheesy after all and i just kept laughing and laughing - during, and even after the movie was over. as jon and i left the cinema i had a good time imitating michelle yeoh being all cheesily sorceress-y, as well as the skeletons brandishing their swords and shouting it's general ming!

i can't believe they got russell leong to play him.

always trust your instincts, and don't bother about hoity-toity movie reviewers who think they know it all. when you see the trailers and know it's going to be good fun because of trashy CGI scenes and a ridiculous but easy-to-grasp-don't-think-too-much-storyline you just know you've gotta watch it. well, i know i've gotta watch that kind of show anyway.

cheep cheep tweet

abi and i took ourselves to the bird park last thursday because we had nothing else to do, and one of the first things you will see is an entire row of talking birds. next to their cages are signs which tell you what their names are and what they say.

but, try talking to them and those little buggers, flitting about merrily in their cages just a moment before, will suddenly go all still and shut their eyes.

which smacks suspiciously of those people the even more annoying stomp vigilantes persist in uploading photos of, who pretend to be sleeping whenever someone the signs dictate you should give up your seat to enters the train.

neither of us brought a camera so there will be no everlasting pictures of birds - however, you get a 20% discount on entrance fees with a citibank card, and you can redeem an adult ticket for a pearl when you leave.

***
in other news, it appears that the only house displaying a singapore flag on our street belongs to that of the Minister-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. someone in my family also pointed out that the Very Bored policeman guarding his house probably put it up for him.

1 july 2008 1411

and so, my last meal in beijing was a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and a paper cup of hot water from starbucks. kuek foo's sitting next to me and has just finished consuming his, except that he had enough money to get a drink as well. when i finally post this in singapore i'll have eaten dinner on the aeroplane and hugged jon for the first time in almost nine months.

it feels good to be going home.

***
i'm going to leave the title of this post as is, because i was planning to post it just after i got back but of course that never happened. there should've been wireless at the beijing airport but somehow i failed to connect to a network.

jon and i had our first real argument since i got back, last night - okay, that's not true, we've had some disagreements in the past 16 days - but it was our first real argument because he refused to believe that it was the gaelic and hence the french who drank warm beer and not the britons! based, of course, on one very reliable source - asterix and obelix.

on my part, i refused to believe the opposite, and it turned out in the end that he was right.

which means i'll be prevented from boiling sausages in beer, because someone thinks it's an awful waste of said beverage, and after all, no one here drinks warm beer either. just like the french.

my dad pointed out that the french drink wine, anyhow.

all that being said, it's been nothing short of glorious being back home in sunny singapore. it's been disappointing at times because i think i expected just a teensy bit too much. but everytime i walk from my house to the bus stop, seeing how clear and blue the sky looks, how green the trees, how fresh the sunshine - i breathe a silent prayer of thanks, and go on marvelling at how it's as if my glasses have been wiped clean as clean can be. even the exhaust fumes, when i go running, don't smell that bad. i love being able to see blue sky and clouds and the sun so much that even the humidity doesn't affect me greatly.

best of all, abi arrived at my house yesterday bearing the box containing all the books i asked her to purchase for me, save for one or two she couldn't get. i've been absorbed in the adventures of paddington since last night.

***

others may grouch and complain about rising prices, but trust me, there is always a good food bargain, and it's touching when grumpy hawkers still remember you and your fondness for Extra Vinegar with your bak chor mee sua.

also, because jon is a Class A Slob, we've been going to this coffeeshop near his house (wouldn't YOU like to know which block?) the location of which shall remain classified information, and they serve pretty good fish noodles ($3.50) and u mee ($3). the most amazing thing is for $3 you get three big fat prawns. well, not big and fat exactly, but big and fat enough.

i had my first cup of teh-c-kosong about 5 days ago or so, and it was heavenly. bitter, with just a hint of milky goodness.

lastly, there is nothing, nothing like sambal fried rice and ice cold beer and barbecued chicken wings consumed together. nothing.

however, it all comes with a price. i had a long run yesterday with jon and i'm feeling stiff and sleepy.