What is my next therapy?

This has been my heaven for more than 5 years. Then one day, in a very cruel manner, ALL supermarkets in Singapore suddenly stopped selling it. No notice. No apology.

Henceforth, I ask: WHAT is my next therapy? For those who know me well, I deviate from the norm - I do not believe in retail therapy. Nothing which requires me to move my ass (once again).

Staff Movement

Gosh, it's gonna be major next year. I'm having a headache cos of this.

Anyway I read in URBAN last week that one sure way to stop nail-biting is to go for regular manicures. Sure it's gonna cost but it will be effective. Now the next big step is HOW to convince myself to move my fat ass to do it...no, THEM!

FRIENDS

Perhaps I'm exaggerating...but Say is like God-send. Heh. He made me realise what we really should focus on when the unexpected arises.

He also said something which I knew all along but kept buried deep inside me - that only through incidents do we realise who the real friends are.

Thank you all.

Wedding@SAM

29 Oct

It was the first wedding ceremony I attended at SAM. I'm glad we made it - all of us, The Tans. :)

Ivan did his usual PR thing..but he was lookin smart. I saw sis' pretty friend there, a few familiar faces (same college) and Vikki. Nice to see her again after more than 2 years.

And as expected, my face broke out in small zits. Time to change make-up.

Done with...for now

It was not easy, just seconds before the procedure. The what-sounded-like-drilling, the loooong and sharp needle, being helpless, feeling helpless....

It's over for now. The waiting game begins till 2 Nov. And again I say, let's hope I can move on with a definite direction then.

Early morning, 1 sms from :B and few minutes later (literally!), we met downstairs my block, heading for breakfast. And it was a nice teh-si prepared by same ole Uncle. :)

Problems

We all have them...

But do our problems always seem bigger than the ones others have? Or are there really some things in life we can't really sweat over. As Say has said it - let's not be myopic.

We pray for good health...and sufficient insurance cover.

I see you for lunch tomorrow, matey!

Long-time/lost Friend

Hey, I'm glad we finally met. After 7 long years. And the encounter 7 years ago wasn't even a gathering. We just bumped into each other at the bus-stop, didn't we?

I hope we dun wait for another 7 more years to have another meal.

Blood-Shot!

Of all things, Mong must never follow my sleeping pattern! He kept me up for 2-3 hours on Sunday and last night. I've woken up with blood-shot eyes, dragging myself to work.

I dunno why he's such. Another area for this worry-wart me to be concerned again.... :(

I watched The Departed yesterday. I found myself consciously and continuously trying to remember who was playing which role equivalent to the HK version of Infernal Affairs 4 years ago. I loved that version....but slowly as the movie progressed, the Hollywood one grew on me. Jack Nicholson did really well. Can you imagine that guy is an old foggie (but not acting like one), all of 69 years old??!!! Most of us would probably be struggling with our physical and mental health while he can still carry a screen presence and remember acting lines. Kudos to the old man.

More photos (Vietnam)

Life goes on...

The consultation on 18th didn't give me the direction I had hoped for. Instead, it threw me completely off-guard. It's true again - EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED.

So this Friday, I'm off for a day surgery.

Friends asked if I am afraid. I tell them as long as it can potentially save my life, expenses covered 100% by company's insurance (haha) and pain not as intense as that of labour, no, I am NOT afraid. And whatever the result is, it's destined.

And so life went on. I had a wild time with the troops at the pool again. I managed to watch 2 DVDs during the weekend and managed to survive the short (and very tiring) business trip in Vietnam.

Let me talk about Vietnam. To sum it up, it is Singapore in its 60s-70s. I LOVE the place. I didn't have the chance to walk on the streets because of our tight schedule but I did a lot of sight-seeing from the car. My only regret was not to have taken a picture of a petrol kiosk because that was a really classic setting.

Food was good of course. We were brought to this super brightly-lit Vietnamnese restaurant where we had lobster sashimi among their cuisine. This chap, reminding me of an eunuch (now how does a castrated man look like??) and bearing a most sadistic expression, pierced a sharp and long needle right in the middle of the lobster from bottom up. They served us its 'juice', its raw meat and finally also a sweet-tasting porridge with its cooked meat.

Vietnamnese also seems to like playing Emil Chau's songs cos I heard his songs re-done 3 times on the same day. Who cares about Emil Chau anymore when we have Jay Chou right? Well, the Vietnamnese.

I would like to visit the country again...(business of course, not pleasure. :P)

Rainforest

That's where we went in the morning. To a section of the zoo we've never been before despite several trips.

And I must say I enjoyed it tremendously...giving Becks an education about vertebrates and invertebrates (though Uncle Say would be a better teacher at this. Ha). We saw many many cockroaches. Those damned things which M said Fear Factor participants needed to crunch and munch. All for US$50K. I shudder!

Oh! And up an excitement notch - there was celebrity sighting. Heh. Jacelyn Tay with an unidentifiable guy friend. She was casual, very lanky and very fair. Can give Snow White a run for her money (woohoo!). Rather nice-looking.

Away...

Hanoi, Vietnam...here I come. 19 & 20 Oct: OoO and OoB.



OoO: Out of Office
OoB: Out of Blogger

3rd Appointment

Today. At 1430 hours at SGH.

'Tis the day for me to find out which direction in my life I will be heading.

Trivia - What's in a name?

I realise that black women possess very nice and unique names. Omarosa (The Apprentice I), Solange & Beyonce (the famous Knowles sisters), Fantasia (American Idol 3), Condoleezza (the influential Ms Rice...need I type more?), etc.

Definitely beat the ones which Singaporean Chinese girls use to call themselves - "Erisline", "Xaverie" (my company), "Chantel" (posers who die die wanna be Ford models) and many more which my clogged mind can't think of now.

OK, end of trivia for now. Time to get ready for the serious stuff at work ("Geek Meeting" starts in 10)....and let's hope Indonesia signs the anti-haze contract and North Korean stops nuclear testing.

:DDDDD

Flu Condition

My sneezing and mucus flow have not abated one bit...this plus just 3 hours of sleep....I am ready to bite anybody who gets too near me. I better like your face.

Weekend

It was a nice weekend. I call it the Becky-turns-4 Weekend.

13 Oct
Becks got a very nice DIY card from school. She sprinkled all the glitter in the alphabets "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and produced a nice piece of 'artwork' with her gong gong in the evening. :)

I keep telling myself I want to frame all these works and her photos...but been procrastinating to shop for nice but simple photoframes.

14 Oct
Though it was so unfortunate that Mong was down with fever with no known reason (no spots/blisters too!), it didn't stop us from visiting Sentosa's Underwater World on Saturday morning.

The last time we went there was exactly 2 years ago....only with Becks, when the monorail was facing its last days. This time, we drove straight there, busted $51.50 to experience the cool dark world to see the fishies, jelly fish, dugongs, sharks and many others. And this time, Becks can remember what she saw and relate to her por por and gong gong. :)

Frankly, Sentosa is just a boring place. Still. Decades ago Mom already joked about "Sian-tou-sei" ("boring to death" in Cantonese). Now with so much construction going on, the heat + haze, with buildings called Artist Village but only have workers lying around catching a shut-eye, what is there to do and see there????

Yes, you're right. I'm not a beachy person. The IR better be up and about fast.

Anyways, we swung by Beach Road Prawn Mee along East Coast Road for lunch. We parked outside 52 Telok Kurau Lorong N and took a reminiscent walk to the eating place.

The prawn mee sucked. A few years ago, I would ask for a 2nd bowl of soup. That day I couldn't even finish the 1st one. It was diluted! Bye bye prawn mee stall. You ain't getting this repeated customer anymore!

15 Oct
Becky turns 4! At 6:50pm, I think...4 years ago.

Now she's a girl who memorizes my cell phone number, dials them herself and has a decent conversation with me.

Survival

Survival tip for today: Panadol Cold pills.

4 of them. 2 after breakfast and 2 after lunch...before I head home.

*aaaachoo....!!!*

"Wretched Place"

As Keathan has aptly called it, I found the name and ADDRESS of the place (refer to my entry on 5 Oct)!

Il Fiore Ristorante Italiano
50 Raffles Place
#B1-01 Shell Tower

Yes, the place (Italian?) which sells small plates of hor fun and small-of-everything-else-I-bet at an average of S$15. Siao.

FOLKS, STAY CLEAR!

Rain!

It's raining, it's pouring,
the old man is snoring......

What I basically want to say is - finally it's raining! Yay! I think since the haze started, we haven't felt a drop from the skies above. I hope the air will clear a lot more and stop giving me 'em itches around my eyes and nose.

Lunch was with my Financial Planner, Susan. I haven't seen her for a while so catching up was good. She brought me to Keong Saik Street to have some hor fun and chicken in some dark sweet sauce and lots of garlic. Very yummy. Very 'my kind'. Oh, and while we were chatting, when I should be looking at Susan (because it is only polite!), I was looking out at the streets and saw Glenn Goei (the local chap who gave us Forever Fever) walk past. He looks young and nice in person.

Whatever.

It's raining!!!

Achievement

Significant words/sentences Mong has been saying more than once since the last therapy session: push, open door, on TV, watch TV, help, walk, run, pass urine, hide, found it, what animal is this?, touch the owl (there's his current favourite book from the library), kiss kiss the owl.

I'm very proud of him. :) Ganbate-ne!

I didn't mention that M and I finally brought him to view the school at Punggol. It's a really nice place. Spacious with smiley teachers speaking good English. The only scary part is the fees would cost S$1,280 for 10 weeks, excluding the fare for the daily 2-way bus trips.

But I saw the practical learning materials and the non-classroom concept and I know at age 3, it would suit Mong tremendously, sustain his interest which only has a span of 5-10minutes. He cannot be confined to a small chair, seated by the table doing worksheets and colouring for 40 minutes (this was the time-table I saw when I visited the other centre opposite my flat. Of course the fees was also 3 times lower lah...)...so only Mommy knows, or rather wants the best for him.

Increasing Preference

I am beginning to love creamy peanut butter with plain milk bread...(make the creamy peanut butter very thick, please)

News (I hope not!)

The next 3 days will be crucial. I am hoping I will not get that call.

It's true why they say - no news is good news.

Wedding Dinners

Congratulations to D & E...their big day is next Monday, 9 Oct.

I won't be attending though.

Wedding dinners are NOT for re-connection, not as a gathering with other people whom I know or used to know well and definitely not with the couple (hello, would I be able to get past 2 sentences with you???).

There was an ex-colleague who emailed me out of the blue, inviting me to her wedding on 14 Oct. I barely talked to her during the days she was here, then a few MSN exchanges, courteous ones. I think she didn't not dislike me. When I told her I couldn't make it *yah rrrrright!*, she replied: "What a pity. I thought I would be able to catch up with you." ("replied" cos the whole communciation exchange was done via email. We dun even have each other's cell numbers. OK OK, I know point taken).

Bottomline is: Be sensitive to your guests. I know it's your big day but you want your guests to celebrate this big day with you...SO! Your guests are as important, if not, more important than you.

This is just me speaking...and I'm not asking for concensus.

But I am sincerely eagerly waiting to attend a few more wedding dinners of some real good friends...and my sister :P

Lunch (with Debs)

I dunno what to put as header. I wanna put an obscenity but it won't justify my meeting with lovely Debs, my dear friend whom I haven't met for the longest time. And I thought I won't be blogging for the day anymore but hell, I won't. I can't!

So I should be blogging about happy thoughts, happy meet-up session, happy meal, right? NO, again I can't.

I was just led into a BIG SWINDLE. With stairs spiralling down to an European eatery (can't even remember its name...maybe it's Le What-The-Fuck. Whatever!), it starts interestingly enough. Debs said her friend told her local food was actually served as well but there was none on the menu. The waitress clad in a low-waisted denim skirt (gee, I think they all were! A different version of Hooters?), seemingly more interested in looking at herself than serving others (I saw her glance a few times at herself in the big mirror behind me) took our orders.

Debs: I heard you serve local food.
Waitress (with a whatever facial expression, whatever body language): Yes.
Debs: But I dun see them on the menu!
Waitress: You can just order.
Debs(ever so patient still): How would I know what you have?
Waitress: Hor fun, fried rice,....
Debs: Oh OK, what do you put in them? Like seafood.....?*probing on*
Waitress: Anything.
Me: *very amused now*
Debs: So it's like one's own concoction. Interesting. I'll have...........

So anyway, our 2 small plates of hor fun came, with 1 plate of otah (6 small pieces) ...which they recommended.

1.5 hours later, the bill came. $46.23. I AM FUCKING REELING FROM SHOCK OK! I gave my credit card to the waitress with aplomb (perhaps cos Debs was 4 months pregnant, looking oh-so-cute-and-sweet-and-serene in her current working attire and condition)...but the minute we parted, I think I must have cursed 10,000 times consecutively.

So here I am, immersed with regret and anger. Anger cos it marred the otherwise-memorable meet-up with Debs. :( Till Dec when she returns to Singapore for good....

A Xeno for You...

Thanks to JC, apparently always loving serious shite, for introducing XenoboySG to me. Though most of the time, I find myself lost in his cheem analysis and choice of words (but can pick up good vocabularly to impress the socks outta the Japs eh! Yea! *Heehee*), the latest entry on 4 Oct is a must-share.

http://xenoboysg.blogspot.com/

What a Pest!

I mean it literally. I killed 2 rather big cockroaches this week applying the same method - whacked 'em flat with newspaper, scooped with a piece of tissue and crushed between my thumb and index finger.

I dunno why I'm not freaked by them but extremely by even a small lizard. Perhaps 'bravery' also emerged cos thank God they weren't the flying sort. :P

Good news...1st

Debs dropped me an email informing that she's back in Singapore (for a while) and that she's 4 months into her pregnancy, oblivious to her condition during the entire 1st trimester! Lucky her!

I'm meeting this close long-lost (or not? Only I can answer this...) friend of mine tomorrow. To see how she looks like now, to catch up and most of all, to ease her anxiety of what's ahead. We were tight 15 years ago. That's how long we've known each other now.

I lost my voice. Could be the dinner yesterday...chicken? Penne? But it was oodles of fun. "Fun"...To bitch without guilt. Took lots of pics which I believe most would end up censored. Thanks to the 2 (again) for understanding that I had a 'curfew'. As ridiculous as it sounds, I had to stick to the timing to get home. It's a way of saving me from the guilt trip; to maintain whatever social life I have left and not feeling bad not spending time with my family, especially the troops.

Till the next girls' outing....(JB??????????)

Appointment@SGH

It is fixed. 2:30pm tomorrow.

Am I too late?
I hope...and I pray.

Friendship

What is most volatile?

Not turpentine. To me, it is friendship. How many of them have come and gone? How many have been your best companions at one time only to fade away the next? How many of them have sounded so convincingly sincere only to 'fly you aeroplane' many times?

I'm glad some of you have really stuck around for a long time (you know who you are *smiles). These 2 mates of mine - Michelin and :B, hit the top spot last night though.

Michelin has discovered this online baking shop and ordered some cupcakes for her love. She didn't forget about her 2 friends. Advised to be taken within 3 days from the day of preparation, yesterday was the 'last day'. Mondays are lousy for me to meet friends so having understood that, these 2 came right to my doorstep for the 'special delivery'. Yes and may I add they loitered around CP so as to give time for my troops to finish their dinner properly.

Shamelessly, I've stolen this pic of the cupcake from Michelin's blog to show you how cute it is (it is yummy!).

Tonight is our long-awaited dinner and catchin up+bitchin aka Bitch Fest. Hope :B didn't forget to bring the digital camera. As her departure is approaching, I'm hoping to seal these moments more.

Quotable Quotes

#1

Becks in a toilet cubicle, just finished urinating. Another woman in the next cubicle doing it...and loudly (come to think of it, why was it so loud? Distance between hole and bowl was great???)

B(very audibly): Wow, that person has a lot of urine.
Me: Yes, she drank a lot of water...and that's good. It's good for our system.
B: Oh.

#2

Becks and I were playing bubbles in an open space.

B: Why do the bubbles burst?
Me: *pause...cos I didn't know the answer!*(sounding confident before I found my voice) Because they are light.

#3

We were in the car with Life House playing in the radio.

B: My favourite song, where?!!
Me: You forgot your mannerssss...
B: *clears throat* Please Papa, play my favourite song.
M: *switches from Life House to Hall & Oates, Track 1*.

ps: Yes, Becks has very good taste.

#4

Mong rushing to grab my legs: Hug hug Mommy!

Prawn Mee

Enough of bad food. If I had my hands on a camera, I'd take and post a pic of the big bowl of prawn mee I had with DDD just now. Especially that dark murky prawn soup.

Or maybe I'm just a true blue local gal at heart.

They sucked!

Silent Hill and Billy Bombers.

OK, to be fair, for starters Silent Hill isn't my kind of movie...but I was made curious by its cover and its reviews on imdb.com and M. Some images were pretty disturbing and I found them flashing across my mind at night, when I was brushing my teeth. Dunno whether the sick part of me wants to prove I'm an imsomniac deep down.

It's been many years since the last trip to Billy Bombers. With the beef patty no longer appealing and costing a total of S$50 for 2 people, I'll just skip the main meal next time and have the malt shake (I speak for only the chocolate one!). Satisfaction guaranteed. Enough.