Who Needs TV?

Sometimes the "scandals" you read online concerned well-known bloggers can be more interesting than the latest Korean dramas.

A recurring theme that goes around in the local blogosphere always seems to be that of Freedom of the Blogger VS Responsibilities of a Civic Blogger. No grounds for surprise there, considering this is Singapore and I guess we all follow the example of Big Brother.

Consider, firstly the case of Starryluvly.

She claims on her blog that a recommendation she made to Tomorrow was published at first, then removed, at first seemingly because she had recommended a very unsavoury blog post about Xiaxue, who is one of Tomorrow's most prominent blogger editors.

Weird huh? Sounds to me like all the times the censorship the gahmen has been doing to maintain its civil reputation.

The unsavoury blog post was in turn published by Xialanxue, who had blogged about how Xiaxue seems to have some kind of master plan to bring down his blog by masquerading as him and posting all kinds of stuff on the web in his name, and also attempting a hate entry on another blogger, blinkymummy.

This blogger, blinkymummy, in turn, claims that the hate site was set up by xiaxue, because she posted up xiaxue's pix on the net without permission, and because she had a very interesting encounter with xiaxue at Wala wala.

All this drama and it's all free to read on the net. With this kind of entertainment, who needs TV?

Hair yesterday... Gone today...

Because both Yen and I haven't cut our hair in...[ I don't know about her but I don't remember the last time I went to a hair salon] ... We duly made our way down to Jurong Point [cutting lecture in the process] to get the deed done.

This turned out to be one of the biggest [and in my opinion, most hairlarious] mistakes of Yenn's life.

Hair like mine is easy to cut, though it leaves piles of dead hair on the floor, and probably made the hairdresser's arms ache as she tried in vain to wash and condition it vigorously in the salon. I simply tell the hairdresser to snip 3 inches off, do a bit of layering, and generally leave it in the same shape, albeit shorter, that it was in. I emerge much later, with a hairdo that is much the same as my old one, but 3 inches shorter, and which feels a whole lot lighter on my head. [If it ain't broke...]

Yenn decides to try something new. And this is what I hear as I sit next to her and the hairdresser blows at my damp hair.

Hairdresser [In Chinese] : "How do you want your hair done?"
Yenn: "Can you... *hairdryer whoshes in my ear* and do it like that?"
Hairdresser: "Why don't you *whosh* and then *whosh* so it looks like *whosh?"
Yenn: "Er... Ok lor."

So far so good. We settle down to our books while the hairdressers work at our hair. Yenn's hairdresser snips industriously at her hair, while mine tugs furiously at the knots in my hair. Much later, while she is still tugging with her brush, Yenn's hairdresser does a sort of "ta-dah!" gesture and we look up to see her new hairstyle.

And stare.

And stare.

And stare.

The hairdresser seemed quite pleased with his efforts. He was like, "Isn't it fab?? You can put some gel and do this and this so it looks like this." while Yenn stared in abject shock and horror at her hair. Because my hairdresser had, by this point, finally started snipping at my hair after getting it into a semi-manageable state, she left the place first and it was only later when I finished that we met up at the arcade.

and launched into a tirade against the unholy hairdresser. Apparently she had a totally different idea of what the hairdresser wanted to do to her hair, and what he did was to cut her a rather short fringe, covering her forehead, and, in her own opinion, made her look like she was back in Primary school again. So essentially what he did was to give her a short bob, though not so cleanly cut that she looked like she was wearing a helmut.

We went back to hall, her railing against that hairdresser, vowing never to step foot within that salon again, praying that her fringe would miraculously grow overnight, while I laughed shamelessly at her follicular misfortune.

So the infamous Meet-the-Parents session turned out to be...... ok lor.

We went shopping at Robinsons', walked around a lot while his mother shopped, and his father and brother...... stood around a lot. ^_^! It's proven. Shopping is so not a male thing.

Then we went for dinner at a teochew restaurant in Chinatown, walked around a bit, and then back home.

Pretty uneventful huh? Heh...

They didn't really ask much or talk much to me, for which I was both relieved, and nervous. Relieved because I didn't want to talk too much to his parents and proportionately increase the chance of me saying something stupid or offensive, and nervous, because of dotheylikeme?dotheyhateme?dotheythinkisuck?dotheythinkimantisocial?dotheythinkimallright?
all the thoughts going through my head.

I'm not sure yet whether it's just the way his family is, or is it because they were wishing he was with another girl already. -_-!!!!!

Unfortunately, when I was with them, I also switched into the anti-soci-mood. I don't know whether you guys have ever seen me in this mood, which strikes me whenever I'm in an unfamiliar social situation and I'm not comfortable with the situation. Go fig. It's his parents. I go silent. I don't speak unless I'm spoken to. I make myself as unobtrusive as possible. I become a little stiff and I know it. And I pray desperately that I'm not screwing myself in the process. This happens a lot with the grownups. I fare just slightly better with people my own age.

Not making the situation easier before today was the previous conversations I had with Jules and Turt.

"How would you react if his mother decides she doesn't like you and he leaves you because of that? Hypothetically speaking, of course, since he's not that kind of guy, I know, but what if?"
"She asked me how come I chose a girl that was fat."
"What if *something* happens to you, and he just walks off?"

With friends like these....................................

But at least they did offer good parting advice.

"Be yourself. It'll be easier for you if they accept you for who you are, rather than forcing yourself to be someone that they will like."

consider you guys redeemed.

And at the end of the day...

He told me that he had already gathered feedback from them. [from when I left to go to the toilet, no doubt]

And in typical DF-fashion, he said he'd only tell me next week.

I'm not hoping that they love me already. [because I seriously doubt it]

I just hope it all went... ok.

CHIJ TP Open House

I figure this will make it easier for everyone:

~Blog entries

Intro - 3 old statues from the old into the new
Part 1 - A brief look at the school after renovation [published earlier in this blog]
Part 2 - My own reflections on IJ and fireworked photos [new!]

~Photos

go to flickr and search for the tag " chijtoapayohopenhouse2006 " and see photos by aki onna

Any old girls who want to add their blog links, or photos, drop me a line, at boredslacker@gmail.com

counterscript for telemarketers

because
a) it's funny
b) you never know when one of them will call you

read da script

Meet the Parents

By popular demand, I am writing up the latest developments btw the DF and I.

So it really all started with one simple MSN conversation: [highly abridged. What, you think I'm gonna spill everything???]

Me: Hey
DF: Hey
DF: You free for lunch this Sunday?
Me: My tuition ends at 1230, after that yea
Me: Where?
DF: Toa Payoh
Me: ? Why Toa Payoh?
DF: Because my parents will be there

Pause to allow sudden palpitations in heart

Me: What???
DF: Ya I told them about us
DF: And they invited you to lunch on sunday

Pause again for another aortic convulsion. Another stream of conversation follows, and then:

Me: At least you didn't tell them I drink
DF: Actually I did

Faint utterly.

So after that, I decided I had to tell my folks as well, to even the ground and all. I thought of telling them on Sunday.

Then they left for Johor the whole day. -_-!!!

Then I went to school.

Then it was Tuesday.

Truth to tell, I was a little nervous of telling them, because I didn't know how they were gonna take it. So I went through the initial part of the morning, thinking Now? Now? NOW???.

Till finally, my parents were occupied with packing up the xmas tree for another xmas, and while my mom was struggling with taping the cardboard box to keep all the twigs in, I blurted out,

"Oh yea, I have a boyfriend."

Pause.

"Just to let you know."

My parents paused a while, and my dad hollered, "So??? What do you want us to about it??"

Er, nothing much really.

My mom, caught off guard by the sudden remark and half-occuppied with the tree, remarked, "Well, can he get me a bigger box for my xmas tree?"

-_-.................................!

And that was about it, other than the obligatory What's his name? What does he do? and Of all the times to spring this on us...

My mom actually guessed it was Jules at first, to which my dad replied an emphatic "No, it's not."

I was kinda surprised at first, and then it turns out:

My Dad and Bro already kinda knew, because they saw us walking around in J8 a couple of times. -_-!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Pengpengpengpeng*

So that was it. They know. His parents know. Nothing much to hide anymore.

Are we official now? :p

Oh, and ironically enough, you know how all you guys have been asking to meet him already?

Funnily enough, the one person from the sec-sch group who met him face to face [by accident in the Esplanade tunnel] was Jubilee.

The one person who's never asked to meet him.

Says something, eh? ;)

due to some slight posting mixups, please scroll down for IJTP - The Open House Part 1. Sorry guys...

Newsflash: For all his slowness, the DF actually managed to beat me in something.

His parents now know of us before mine has.
Hey! How was I to know that mine were gonna go to JB today of all days??

And they've invited me to lunch with them next week.

Ok, altogether now:

AAAHHH!!!!!! AAAHHH!!!!!! AAAHHH!!!!!! AAAHHH!!!!!! AAAHHH!!!!!!

In other news........

The blog entries for the IJ open house are done, but because of the sheer amount of pix, will be divided into 2 parts. For those who are clueless, my old alma mater has finished its renovations and opened its doors to the public at large on the 7th Jan. And yes, of course I took pictures.

If you are impatient, or you just want to see photographs, [literary barbarians you], you can go to flickr and search for tag "chijtoapayohopenhouse2006" where you will find my photos.

I'll start off by introducing some of the people who were so important to us in those foundation years:







Stay tuned, girls...

From an Old Convent Girl

Whenever I mention to some of my friends that I was going back to my old secondary school, I get asked, "Why?" This is for 2 different reasons:

"Why on earth are you going back to that place where we were screamed at by all these old, wrinkled teachers, forced to endure dozens of boring masses, and all kinds of silly restrictions on uniforms, were subjected to the most draconian of rules, iron-handedly enforced by a fire-breathing gorgon of a discipline mistress?"

ok, this one comes mainly from the old girls, and is a little embellished under my hands.

or,

"Why are you going back? What's the point?"

What's the point? That's a better question. And one that some readers may ask, since myself and a bunch of other old convent girls recently went back to the Open House for our alma mater, CHIJ Toa Payoh. [anonymity be damned. I'm proud of my school and not afraid to show it]


Perhaps on one hand, it's the school, physically and spiritually. After all, like the old Madonna song went, this used to be my playground. [click on link for the sentiments behind it] This was where I studied, I played, learned to grow old and not like it, and where I made some of the friends that I still have till today, a kind of feat, considering how all our paths have diverged.

Does erasing the school erase the memories? Of course it does not. But what it does is to rob you of the chance of ever reliving those moments. Of being able to pretend, once again, that you were that small, that innocent, that naive. It robs you of the chance to close your common sense telling you otherwise, and pretend that you are once again young and small, and that there are grownups around ready to protect you from outside.


152 years on and counting

Maybe it's the people. It's the people who you loved, hated, made friends with only to forget, till years later on, you met in the streets and realised you two never changed that much anyway. Because the primary and secondary schools were affiliated, and because they were in the same compound, many of us took it for granted that we were going to go to IJ secondary anyway, without question. And you know what? Many of us did.

Some of my friends I've known since I was in Primary school, which is hell long when you're at my age. These are the friends who've seen everything there is to see about me, who know my past, who are still with me in the present, and who, regardless of all that, are still willing to stick by me in the future to come. [thanks guys, if you're reading this] Together, as a group, we've been through just about every human crisis you could imagine, from breakups to deaths. But at the same time, we also shared so much of the good stuff, it made it all worthwhile.

How can you forget a place where you met people like that?

And above all, maybe it's the fact that that place was my past. How do you ever forget your past? [short of physical trauma and injury, anyway] You can try to run, you can put it out of your mind, but how do you forget? You just can't.

And you shouldn't. Because it was your past that made you the person you were today. It was because of the choices you made in your past that, for better or worse, you have turned out to be the person you are today.

Even if you are the person who took this direction in order to run from something in your past, would you be running in this direction if you had not experienced whatever it is you did in your past?

So for all it's worth, this is what my school really is to me:

CHIJ TP Open House Part 1

[another photo-heavy entry. Please take toilet/drink/tv break while waiting for pictures to load fully. All pix copyright of Aki and can be found on Flickr using the tag "chijtoapayohopenhouse2006"

Others who have blogged abt this include the Slayer. If you know any other IJ girl who went and blogged about it/posted pix, lemme know so I can compile a list. cheers!]

After much waiting, my alma mater has finally finished the finishing touches on its new building, and this grand old dame has seen fit to meet the outside world again.

A group of us old girls had met up to go for the Open House on the 7th Jan, because we missed the school, we wanted an excuse to meet up and also because some of us wanted to see whether it really looked like a mosque. [which was the rumour I heard. heh.]

On approaching the school, we realised that the entire building had completely changed from what we had grown up in.

Ok, definitely the facade of the building has all changed. Not only that, but our once wide-spanning track had reduced in size by nearly half, and was now 3 lanes instead of the old six. [wah lau...] Because of the carpark, and the fitness facilities, the field had also reduced in size, and there was less grass than before. [damn]



The canteen had also changed. Gone were the creaky wooden benches, and their accompanying pastel tables. Now each girl had a seat for their butt and much more colourful [and possibly durable] tables.

Does that seem to take the fun out of recess for you? One thing we used to do was squeeze the whole group onto the bench so that we could all sit together and eat and gossip and bitch about whoever. Now it seems that the current seating arrangement would restrict the number of girls to a table.

Then again, it's probably to preserve the furniture. Why the benches were so creaky in the first place was because of all the butts that tried to squeeze onto it back then.

And remember this old bell? It used to be green, but now they've painted the frame blue. The bell itself looks just as old as before, though, and no wonder: The thing was passed down from Victoria Street. -_-!!



More pix:


Fitness Corner


The Much Bigger Hall


Inner quandrangle, prob for assemblies


The Arch


Stained glass concourse on one of the floors

Most of the classrooms had better facilities and equipment, no surprise.

After that it was over to the Primary side.

In case you didn't know, the Primary and Secondary schools, which used to be 2 separate buildings in the same compound, were now joined together in the middle, letting the girls freely interact with each other and probably allowing them easier ways to run over to each other's canteens or bookshops.

Back then, the Primary and Secondary schools were 2 buildings separated by a carpark. The Primary school girls would look longingly at the older, taller girls and dream of the day they would be as tall and big as they were. We also went to their bookstore to buy all sorts of stationery that could not be found in our own kiddy bookstore, earning us a stern reprimand from the Principal that we were to stay where we belonged and wait when we were older.

Funny thing was that when we got older and actually became those older, taller girls, we would then look back at the Primary school, and long for the days when we were there. We also went over to the canteen to buy the [cheaper] food of our younger memories, and earned ourselves scoldings that we should have known better at our age, and we were to stick to our own compound and not intrude on the little ones' spaces.

Funny how things change... and how they don't.

So anyway, now that we've gone over to the Primary school:


Canteen with benches for squeezing tiny butts


The general air of the Primary school just screamed "Cute!" in most of the things, not surprising considering that it is, well, Primary level after all. So much of the stuff here looked way better than the serious stuff that the Secondary school had:


Wayang corner with parents doing a wayang of tired parents


Different colours for each floor


The classrooms look much better now than what I went through, and guess what?


They have Macs!!! The lucky devils have Macs!!!

Apparently this is because this model doesn't have wires all over the place, and also that everything was contained inside one unit, instead of a separate CPU unit. Which made sense, because you didn't want Primary school kids knocking into the CPU or tripping over wires, or attempting to use it for anything other than its intended purpose.


The Inner Quadrangle of the Primary school... so that the kids will learn to read the name of their school... from the air.

And finally, the cutest thing of all:


Have u ever seen a cuter toilet sign?? Aaahh!!! >D

And finally on the way out:


Girls from IJTP may remember this better, but this was where the old walkway out of the primary school used to be. Beside the walkway, though, [where this new one was now at] was a little grassy enclosure with the oldest trees ever. You couldn't even call it a garden because all that was there was grass, some leaf litters, roots lying all over the place, and massive, old trees that branched out and sheltered the entire place.

The grass enclosure was separated from the carpark by the walkway, and since the schoolbuses used to drop off the primary schoolers here and pick them up after school here as well, this made the grass place a perfect natural playground for all those girls. Like, how could any kid resist? The whole place seemed separated from the rest of the world, and was like one of those enchanted magical forest patches. It was also sheltered from the glaring sun by the branches of those trees, which provided the roots for us to play on as well. I spent too many mornings/afternoons playing there.

Sadly enough, that entire patch was destroyed, and is now totally missing from the new school, as you can tell from the photo. And this is one of the things which made me feel really old, like someone I used to know alright had died or something, and that all I would ever see of him would be in my memories. Seeing your old playground destroyed... suddenly you feel your age. Or more.

And that was it. With the knocking down of the old, I had no choice but to discard my childish past and allow others to have their fun now. Now it was time for me to join the ranks of the groan-ups and the adults and do serious, responsible stuff. Nowhere was that point more forcibly underlined than the destruction of this old school.

Like all newly renovated places, I didn't quite feel as if this place belonged to me any longer.

But the memories remain. And if ever I feel like that kid playing on the roots again... :)

To those who went to the IJ open house, Pix are currently in production. Keep tuned!

I. Hate. Rain.

I hate it when it drizzles. I hate it when it showers. I hate it when it pours.

I hate it when it blows into my balcony, soaking all my shoes.

I hate it when it blows into my kitchen, and causing all my clothes to remain wet.

I hate it when the downpour prevents me from going out without a behemothic umbrella.

I hate it when I have to go out, and it drenches me all over when I do, making my feet squish in their shoes.

Get the picture? I hate it I hate it I hate it.

I get into a grump of a mood everytime it rains like this, especially during this monsoon season when it's happening more often. Somehow, the rain has an uncanny knack of choosing the moment just before I leave the house to come down in a sudden downpour, which is f**king irritating, thanks for asking. It's the constant damperer of my plans, no pun intended.

My plans today were fool-proofedly simple: Teach tuition in morning, go out with family for lunch, rest at home a while, maybe go out to library.

Because of the rain, and other reasons, one student cancelled, [though partly due to illness as well] and the other, as I type, is still wondering whether she should come down or not, despite her being 45 mins late in her schedule. >( This is another thing that irritates me, because everytime she comes late, I have to push back my afternoon plans or I am unable to finish covering everything in the lesson.

Fine. Maybe I can still go out with family for lunch. OOPS. Parents have decided to skip to Johor early in the morning, so I'm on my own. >( The irony of my life: Once I have time for family, family has no time for me, and vice versa. Should I even bother?

Ok, I'm on my own. No sweat, I can eat lunch by myself, and maybe hop down to the library.

Wait a mo, it's RAINING. It's POURING. It's getting decidedly BORING.

Ok, FINE. You had your way. I'm stuck at home. I can scrunge up something to eat for lunch.

Something like an Uncle Toby's bar and a pack of Ice Lemon tea. -_-!!!!!

Ok, the provision shop downstairs sells pau.

But at this time, all they have left are about... 8 pau. 8 miserable looking pau who've been looked over by the rest of the general public and are left languishing in their sauna prison.

I have no choice. Hunger compels me to free one of them.

In a last ditch attempt to save the day, I SMS the DF asking if he's free for dinner, so at least I have something to look forward to out of this wretched day.

2 hours later. No reply. I forget, he goes out with family on Sundays.

Unlike ME WHO'S BEEN DUMPED AT HOME WITH NOWHERE TO GO NOTHING TO EAT BUT ONE STUPID TAU SAR PAU AND NOTHING TO DO EXCEPT BLOG ABOUT HOW THIS DAY HAS ALL THE MARKINGS OF A TOTALLY MISERABLE ONE AND IT ALL STARTED WITH THE DAMN RAIN.

*Sigh*

This is so not the right time of the month for me.

A slow day in school sees Yenn and I in our room. She plays her new J-rock CD on her almost-obsolete CD player, while Mapling. I listen to her CD [because it's being blasted through the room] and read blogs and blog, while resisting the temptation to fall back onto bad habits.

Only I have a class, about 5 hours later. She just found out her only project meeting for the day got cancelled.

Deadlines are still at least 2 weeks away, and because we just started this week, not much in the way of concrete work has yet to be done.

So none of us have pressing deadlines [yet], none of us have pressing work that needs to be done now [yet], and none of us are in a hurry to go to classes today [till 5 hours later for me]. And we are still free [for today] to relax, and enjoy this afternoon.

Yes, it's a good day for us.

Reflections on a Year Past

Apologies for lack of entries due to my holiday obsession, which kept me from a lot of productive activity. ^_^! Now that I'm back in school, *unfortunately* you may find this blog getting a bit more dusty... *sigh* But I do still hope to keep it up.

I was reflecting on NYE on what a year 2005 had been for me, biggest changes of all being in the love and career depts of course. [what else?] It was like my life had been stagnant for all that time after I was teaching tuition, and then suddenly wham! bang! alakazam! Everything just came at once. ^_^! Even I wonder at how it happened, now that I look back on it......

But even then, 2005 I guess was the year when a lot of realism set in as well. I found out, firsthand, that relationships weren't always the bed of roses and happy endings that the movies made it to be. Even though I always knew it in some deep, dark, cynical corner of my heart, nothing beats a practical lesson to instil it in you.

But at the same time, I also learnt what it really meant to be in a relationship, that it also entailed a lot of tolerance and give-and-take. If you expected certain things out of your other, then your other also is entitled to certain expectations about yourself. And in the end, maybe the most successful relationships are about how you work it out between the two of you. [funnily enough, I have to credit this lesson to Dad over a plate of fries and a cup of milo]

So as to this, I can only see, "We'll see." I always tell people that the DF may not end up being the guy I marry, because, well, I've seen enough of my friends' [ex-]relationships to know that it doesn't always turn out that way. Not that I'm trying to jeopardise the future of my own relationship, but more like I cannot predict the future with any amount of certainty. I can't say for certain what will happen to us, or whether he or I will change or some other outside circumstance will force us apart.

But above all, I do hope we will try our darnest at this state we've gotten ourselves into. And that it all will not turn out too badly in the end. :)

My own career also took a sudden steroid and went into booster mode. The time from when I first signed on the dotted line all the way to the day I moved out of the hostel and started my holidays was something of a whirlwind now that I think about it.

The thing I don't like is that the course I'm in seems to be cramming too much into us in too much time, and this is a complaint shared by me, Yenn, and about a thousand of us. And whether because of what Yenn told me, or because of my own cynicism, I can't help holding little question marks about the training we receive in here, and its validity in the real world.

But in the end, it's all I'll have when I go out to the real world for the first time. And in some ways, it scares the blardy hell outta me.

Because when I did tuition, I was relatively carefree. I only had to concentrate on one kid at a time, and I could implement my own 'syllabus', my own work, and teach the way I wanted.

Now, I have to account for the academic progress of 40 kids at a time, multiplied by the no of classes I teach, follow a set syllabus, and leave a paper trail of accountability to show that there is method in my madness. @_@~And that's not counting the admin stuff and the extracurricular stuff.

It scares me shitless sometimes, when I think about it. What happens if I boldly set out, test my mettle, and find myself wanting in this area?

Then when the fear passes, I remind myself not to think too much again, and I get down to the serious business of solving my next Sudoku puzzle.

There is never any point in wildly imagining situations which may or may not be happening. I did that on occasion with the DF and it never got me anywhere, and in fact, made me a whole lot more miserable than he could have with any concrete actions. Thus, the same thing with this stint. When the time comes, I will face it, do it, and get it over and done with.

And maybe, somehow, I will survive 2006 and get through this thing they call 'Life'.

Happy 2006!

The first blog post of 2006... ah.... is very photo-heavy. I advise you to take that loo break, or get some water while waiting for this to load.

So how was everyone's New Year's Eve? [or did some of you just sleep past it and wake up the next morn like always? Shame on you...] With no pending invitations [sob sob] and the DF with his family, I spent NYE with Necroz wandering around the Marina area.

And I really mean wander. We met early for dinner, shopped a bit, and then when the stores closed, found ourselves with nothing to do till midnight. So we walked around from Marina to Esplanade to Boat Quay to Clarke Quay and to Fullerton to await the New Year.

ALL the places were packed more than usual, no surprises there. At 8-10pm, there was already a sense of party fever in the air, as revellers increased in numbers, making their pilgrimmages to these holy spots of wild abandon.'


Clarke Quay prepares


Singapore waits for the fireworks

After walking and walking, we finally staked out a spot at the One Fullerton overlooking the Merlion to wait for the fireworks display.

I know some of you will think, "WTF you wanna go to somewhere so crowded for what???" What can I say? There's a difference in the atmosphere when you're celebrating with 1000s of strangers the coming of the New Year. In the last hour before midnight, we felt it as the people increased, and the heat of the moment increased as well. You feel a heightened sense of anticipation in the air, and the feeling of waiting that everyone is going through with you. Some jokers may suddenly spray the air full of crazy string and foam. Others suddenly bawl and scream. Someone actually released a small hot air balloon, complete with gas flame. [i kid you not]

There's a strange feeling that strikes a mob that is waiting for some action. I guess that was the high we were looking for.

And when the fireworks heralded the zero moment, WA-HOO!!!!

Aside: IN case you haven't noticed, what with all the digital cameras and the camera phones, we have suddenly become a nation of aspiring photographers. [moi included, hehe] Which means that in any national event, what you inevitably see is the whipping out of lens on the phones or cameras:



Unfortunately, my phototaking skills, when it comes to fireworks, are horribly pathetic.


bleah.


still too slow, sucker.

And after a few aborted attempts,


Yahoo!


Yeah!

And that was the two only good shots. -_-!!!!!

After the countdown was over, though, the sparklers came out in full force.


Sparkly time!

Cute kid!

His friends with him

Singaporeans attempt to set the Merlion on fire.

But I did catch one pose, unawares, and I didn't even realise it till I uploaded the pictures. Which made it one good shot for a fireworking opportunity, and also became one of the funnier shots ever:



Finally, it was all over. The last firework, the last sparkler.

Well all is said and done, however, one problem remains.

WTF do we get outta there???

There are only a few routes out of One Fullerton, I realised, and all of them were choked with people.

Here's an example of one of the exits on that night:


Blardy hell!

Eventually we got out, walked around the river to get to Esplanade.

If you walk that route, though, you'd remember that before reaching the Esplanade, you'd have to cross under the bridge just before the Durian.

We aptly named that stretch of tunnel the Tunnel of Doom.

What with all the aerosol cans and the guys all high on party fever, and the tons of trash on the floor, the area resembled some apocalyptic vision of Singapore's doom.

Not to mention the weird party calls, the people all huddled furtively trying to escape the gangs fighting with the aerosols, and the gangs all fighting with one another spraying each other with that white foam left over from christmas.

And yes, we got sprayed by some dude. -_-! If not for the fact it was just white foam, I'd be cursing the guy to Kingdom Come.

erm, no pix of that scene because I was afraid of the flash attracting unwanted attention via foam. -_-!!!



And this was one of the few nights where there were virtually no taxis on the road. Because all of them were on freakin' call or were already ferrying customers. I bet you some of these uncles can now send their kids to uni already. In the UK even, maybe.

We assessed the traffic situation, decided the case for the cabs was hopeless anyway, and skipped to Marina Square where thankfully, Changing Appetites was still open, and we had our first meal [supper?] of 2006.



As I jokingly told Necroz in haltingly bad Chinese, cheesecake for a sweet mouth when talking to people [like when asking your boss for a raise], and for a rich life. [because of the richness of the cake]

Iced tea for a 'liang shuang' life. [i think literally translated, means something like 'light and carefree'?]

"And water?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

That's easy. "So that we may always be humble, and yin shui si yuan."

See, my china buay pai eh.

And thus, we started the New Year full of wishes for a sweet [and glib] mouth, a rich and carefree life, and a humble disposition. Not a bad start, I would say.

So, on one last note, from the boredslacker to all the friends and blog readers:

the day after.....

One hell of a xmas it was with you guys in my house. Many thanks to all those who came, ate, and got highly sloshed. :p

I always believed that a good party should be like that. Good food, friends, and plenty of good drink. And god knows I've held enough of those kind of parties in my house, especially with the uni batch of friends. :) My mother now likes you all because you loved her turkey so much, and my dad likes you all because you love, er, my alcohol so much. -_-!!!

But maybe next time I should ask someone to bring good DVDs. Otherwise I'd spend another afternoon watching the Spongebob Squarepants Movie. -_-!!!!!!! Many thanks to the Slayer, and Jubilee14 for that. If only Yenn and her DVDs had arrived earlier......

Anyway, after all the events I've held in my house, I've come up with 2 Laws of Partying, which all party hosts and goers should observe. This I've done after much observation of the many events and parties I've hosted in my house over the years, and which I generally have found to be *more or less* true. What, you thought it was all fun and games? No, observe the following:

The First Law:



Forget the diets, forget the calories, and chuck away the nutritional labels already. A party is about fun, and excess, and letting your hair down for one night. And as I've told a certain friend before, what kind of damage can one night of good food do to you anyway? If you've been faithfully following a healthy diet all the while, and you can stick to that diet after the party, then that night of good food can't do much to tip the scales out of your favour. And if it does, there's something seriously wrong with the diet you've been following all along anyway.

*The only exception I'd make is for people who are vegetarian for health or religious reasons, or who have health problems. Otherwise, chuck the Atkins book already

The Second Law:



In case you're wondering, the cyan arrows indicate the level that the previously-full bottles fell to after the party. -_-!!! Thank you Johnny, Gordon, and Comrade Absolut. Thou hath served me well.

But yes, for a good party, [attended mainly by people of legal age. better insert the disclaimer before police come after me] let the drinks flow. And flow. And flow. This has several advantages to it:

1. People like free drinks. Especially when the ones in the club are so overpriced.


2. People are happy when they are sloshed. So keep them sloshed.


3. Even if your party sucks, they're too sloshed to notice.

So don't be stingy with those bottles. These were made to be shared. But always keep around the following:

1. Plenty of water and ice. For those who get too sloshed.


2. Clothes. For those who vomit when sloshed.


3. Numbers of cab companies. For those who are... well, too sloshed.

Remember the rules wisely, young padawans, and they will serve you well.

Above all, though, remember to have a good time, with good friends, and all will take care of itself. :)

So thank ye all who came. This was not the first, and will not be the last of parties to come. :) :) :)

Back

Oh yea, I'm back from Ho Chi Minh, as you can see from the oh-so-predictable title......

Mainly the trip was alright. HCM has few attractions, but is very rich in history, during the Vietnam War period. It also helped that we had a very helpful friend bringing us around every night to eating spots around the city. ^_^ Many thanks to A.Low, his hospitality and his insatiable love for good food.

And yes, I kept a journal during the trip again, so look out for the Vietnam Instalments soon. I hope. As soon as I get my lazy bum around to doing it. ^_^!!!

Aside from that, I went for Lindy after a short nap, and ended up trashing the feet of every guy in class. And the few guest dancers who came in due to a lack of leads.

The big problem was re-learning a move that I had previously learned. [goldfish: The Charleston] While in Lindy 1 I learned it by starting off with my right foot, in this class, I had to start it off with my left instead, and basically do the exact opposite of what I had been conditioned to do in the basic class.

Which meant that my foot stepped backwards on the wrong foot [the right foot, instead of the left] and ended up crunching the toes of the poor sod who was my partner. Good god, what a nightmare.

And if you read my previous Death By Lindy entry, yes, this time I was the one who nearly caused serious injury to my innocent leads.

At least the instructor, Marcus, was more upbeat about the whole thing. "Don't worry about a thing, just remember that you're supposed to use your left foot.... And I have insurance."

Yea, yea...............

ANNOUNCEMENT

SLACKER'S CHRISTMAS

Yes, the Christmas Party at my house has officially been confirmed with the 'rents. Details:


Place: My house. If you don't know how to get there, or don't know someone who knows how to get there, you're not invited. [I'm kidding. SMS me if you donno]

Time: 25th December 2005. [don't come next year] Anytime around Lunch or after.

Requirements: FOOD!!!!! I need help with the food, so if you're coming, please bring some food for about 4-5 people. I'm not expecting that few people, but I don't want an excess of food either. To make it interesting, don't tell anyone what you're buying, and just surprise us. I don't think our fate is such that we'll be eating 10 packets of hor fun on that day.

And naturally, yes, drinks and alcohol will be on a free flow basis. You pigs you, this is why you like my house right?

As u guys know, I'll be in vietnam from the 19th to the 22nd, so only SMS me confirmations from the 23rd ya?

Ok, see u guys after I get back...... And now one last long blog post before I go.........

One more post for the road before I leave......

In case you didn't read previous entries, [shame on you my readers] I will be leaving for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from the 19th to the 22nd of Dec with Candle, so this blog will be conspicuously quiet, unless I can find cheap Internet over there.

Meanwhile, to entertain you, here's some highlights from my very busy week:

For some reason, the days just before I leave have been packed with appointments, to the extent that even when Slayer offered me free tix to watch Oi! Sleeping Beauty for FREE mind you, I couldn't even take it because I had no time to go watch at all. ^_^! Cheapskate me turning down freebies, and free tix to boot. Sigh.

But here's the reasons why:

Thurs: Candle generously came to my house to help me clear up my room, an outstanding feat for which she deserves to be nominated for sainthood. We cleared out about 3 garbage bags of rubbish, repacked some of my unread books into boxes, and cleared out bookshelves for upcoming manga and books. Already, I can feel the chi flowing through my room again.

The only problem is that, as usual, just after I cleared it, I found it impossible to find some stuff again, because it had all been rearranged from their previous positions. Bleah.

Went for dance class, nearly got killed, as you can see from the Death By Lindy entry.

Fri: Another busy day. I met the Slayer in the afternoon to go shopping, and bought an electronic Sudoku toy. I'm getting so addicted to this I know. The only problem is that the toy makes a lot of little beeping sounds, which while I don't mind, could seriously irritate everyone else around me, so not much chance of playing in quiet public spaces, I think. Unless I feel particularly shameless addicted.

If you don't know what Sudoku is already, [how could you not???] check out this website which I am currently addicted to.

Later, went for Jap class, made fun of Yenn's cough as usual, and then it was to Zouk!

Candle's colleague MT managed to score free tix from her cousin and so we got in for free. *yeah* The place didn't seem to change much, after their renovations, except maybe the toilets look better. ... hahaha....

But Candle and MT are apparently very...... attracting of male company, let us say. We got approached twice during the night by *interested men, with *interested friends. Note that I never get approached by these men, only whichever friend I happen to be with.

Of course, since neither Candle nor MT were interested in making the acquaintance of any of these men, our strategy would be to make a hasty feminine exit to the toilet, stay there a while, and then re-enter the dance floor from the opposite direction of the men. I have to say, it worked for us anyway.

BTW, Phuture apparently has better music than Zouk itself on Fridays, if you like being literally packed like sardines on the dance floor.

Sat: I watch Pride and Prejudice with DF. He thought it was gonna be a soppy chick flick, but it turned out to be pleasantly amusing. Am now contemplating getting and reading the book. >D To all who told me it was good, you were right. To all those who haven't caught it, WTH??? But really, it's a good flick, with great witty dialogue. [i never knew one could argue with such aristocratic English] We also went to a texan grill place outside Far East. Good food, but a bit more on the pricey side.

And that was it for Saturday. What, you thought I was gonna give u kinky details? >D

Sun: Lunch with Jules and Greg, and then this with Daph and Merlin:



Budak Pantai! Greatest and Funniest Acapella band in SIngapore, in my opinion! The songs were great, sticking very loosely to the xmas theme. For example:

"Our next song is Qing Ren De Yan Lei, or Lover's Tears. What does this have to do with Christmas? Well, if you were 9 months pregnant and had to ride a donkey, you'd be crying too."

Pause for groans.

But really, they're a great band, and the way they ham up their songs is amazing. They sang a range of songs, from Maroon 5 to Teresa Teng, from English to Mandarin to Malay. I love this band for their quirkiness and their versatility, and of course, their irrepressible sense of humour.

And finally, I topped the day off with Xmas shopping with Daph, and that was it.

I came home with my purchases, packed the clothing, charged the batteries, and I'm almost ready to head for Vietnam.

Kinda thrilling, and a little scary, to be heading for another foreign country again, but slightly nostalgic also. I took out the bag I brought to Europe, the passport, the tickets, and especially the journal, and yeah. I remembered.

*sigh*

I'll see u guys [with loads of photos probably] when I come back.

Death by Lindy

This night, Aki Tan aka Boredslacker, was nearly killed by her dance partner [guess who] while both were trying to master a new dance move.

The move in question was known as the flip flop. This move required the follow to kick out her foot on the first beat, and then pivoting 180 degrees with the foot on the ground, while hand in hand with her lead. Then, they would kick out their feet again, and pivot 180 degrees with the other foot. [er, maybe you guys have to see it to know what I'm talking about]

Basically, the hard part here is that part of the move requires you to make a 180 turn on one foot. Which both of us had big trouble with.

Thus, our attempt went as follows:

1st attempt: Both of us lose our balance while trying to pivot with our feet. We nearly fall on each other. We also get the move utterly wrong, pivoting and kicking on the wrong feet.

2nd attempt: We start to get the hang of it, and our footwork is *somewhat* correct. However, we still lose our balance while trying to pivot.

3rd attempt: Our footwork is correct, but we're still having problems with balance. Our instructors say that's because we're relying too much on each other for balance, rather than on ourselves.

4th attempt: I'm somewhat ok with the balance, but either he is off-balance, or I'm pulling too much on him. Whatever the cause, he ends up toppling onto ME and I get shoved by his sheer weight, and nearly end up falling onto my bag and crushing BOTH our handphones to death, and then HE almost loses his balance and nearly falls on ME on top of it all. Our instructor makes a valiant attempt to save me before I end up crushed beneath Jules in a potentially deadly way.

OBF. [You guys can go guess what that means] We've had trouble with dance class before, but not to the extent that we get a move sooooo wrong that one of us nearly ends up with serious potential injury and death by crushing weight.............