I caught a few opening minutes of the Singapore Biennale last night.


Firstly, a gripe. If you're advertising to the open public that the event starts from 1800h onwards, then kindly let the public see something at 6!!! I was there from 6 onwards and the only thing going on was some laundry lines with balloons on them being installed. All the main [and I'm guessing, finished] installations were kept away in a tent with entry only for VIPs and media.

Phwargh! Organization sux!

Anyway, soon enough I managed to catch this installation:

Notice the words on the front of the Supreme Court? The artist had a long list of sayings and [possibly] propaganda flashed onto the facade by a high beam.

Which creates an interesting effect doesn't it? The grandness of the project lends it a V-for-Vendetta kind of effect, its sheer magnitude somehow lending it more gravity, especially when using a solemn old building like the Supreme Court as a background. You kind of believe that there has to be some kind of truth to such large, glaring words, and that they have to have some kind of power or truth behind them. Until you read lines like this:for those who can't see clearly, it says Disorganization is a kind of anesthisea or something spelled like that

Clearly something I can identify with, considering the state of my room and my desk at work. And the next one is something interesting too:

I thought this one was interesting though. It makes you think about the words that come from important and seemingly all-knowing people and places. Do the words have more meaning and power because they are against the Supreme Court? What if they were flashed against the UOB towers instead? Or the Esplanade? And if you were standing there, reading the words against the Supreme Court, would you have more belief for these words?

In the words of goldfish, this is one mindfuck awright. :)

For more info, go to the Singapore Biennale website. The theme for this travelling exhibition is Belief, so many installations will be held at religious places all over Singapore. Check it out, take a look, and maybe open your minds a little.

Ironically, it was a few bad incidents on Teacher's Day that made me wonder why I became a teacher.

In the end, after all the trinkets, stationery, and artificial flowers received on 31st Aug, the true Teacher's Day present came this morning, the Teacher's Day school holiday which incidentally is also a prelude to the one week Sept break.

However, the body clock being accustomed already to one term of school, I woke up at abt 7, still early enough to make it down to school for flag-raising *_* Except this time, I lazed in bed about half an hour longer, then fixed breakfast, surfed some blogs, and now I have MTV on while my laptop is on my lap.

This is the real Teacher's Day :)

Later on, I'll decide what to do in the afternoon, and what to do for the rest of the week, [I might even think about some lesson plans for the next few weeks. Eek.] but for now, I'm content to laze the morning away. *Ah* Now I remember why I joined this line. :p

Work, extracurricular activities, [mine, not the kids'] and the remnants of my social life are catching up with me.

What with the tuition, and the social life, my weekdays and ends are almost always completely booked up. :( And that is not a mere brag. Some weeks I find myself running from school to home, only to bathe, and then get out again to tuition/dance/friends whatever.

I'm not complaining though. In a way, it's very satisfactory to come home, late, but psyched from getting out, sometimes, just for the sake of it. Even if it's just to laze somewhere with a cup of tea and a good book, something I could do very easily at home as well. :) If I had a wireless-enabled PDA, I'll probably be blogging and surfing the net outside as well.

I think I'm just one of those people who need to be doing something. Even if that something is not very much at all.

Anyway, the past week in brief:

Thurs: Talking cock in Parliament. An event organized by the TalkingCock people, where several friends of the founder get together to talk about their Uniquely Singaporean experiences. Witness the woman who reminisces about how going to a more privileged secondary school suddenly makes her feel ashamed of her humble upbringings. Or how the other performers jibe about MPs, Singlish and accents.

The one highlight of the night, however, had to be that gay guy who came dressed in a brightly coloured vertically-striped shirt, lamenting that it made him look like a candy store, and that "You can call me Candy. I'm always hard and you can lick me anytime."

-_-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fri: Dinner with Yenn followed by some light shopping, in which I buy a pair of great shoes, which bust on Sunday afternoon. -_-!!!!!! Later, Krynn joins us and gets so red-in-the-face by the drinks at Fish N Co that she earns sly, knowing glances from the waitresses on the way out. Heh.

I end the day with a peaceful jaunt through the books at Borders.

Sat: Womad rocked, but not as much as last year, despite the great picnic dinner with roast chicken, chip n dip, and juice. A bit too much reggae maybe? But Jimmy Cliff does some real good reggae... Full of meaningful lyrics...

Sun: The DF and I watch The Devil Wears Prada. I'm glad this was one book I never read, because I rather enjoyed the movie with the hard-as-grit Dame Bitch Miranda Priestly, and the aspiring innocent Andy. And the fashionwear in the movie is to die for.

Watching the movie did remind me of one point of myself though. I guess the whole point of the storyline was whether you were willing to sacrifice everything for what you wanted, love, life, family, everything. It reminded me again why I should never aspire to top management positions. Because I was never quite raised with that killer instinct that Miranda Priestly demonstrated so effectively in the movie. And I could never treat people with that same disdain as she did, crushing them under her feet.

However, on the flipside, you never know quite what you are capable of till you actually did it. So how would you know?

Maybe the real challenge is knowing just when it is you're getting sick of it, and want out. Something I'm glad I'm not quite feeling about my job right now. [certainly I do not have $40,000 in the bank]

What a week! Thankfully my tuition kid has cancelled for the week, and Fri's a sch holiday. *peace sign* Here's to the upcoming week........

This is funny. And should make you want to quit your job.

Some observations from Lindy class:

1. Beware of the shirts you wear, innocently snitched from your brother's wardrobe.

"Can I see your shirt?"

"Sure."

"Hey, isn't that the name of the nudist beach in Australia?"

"What?"

"Hahaha! I wouldn't have known it of you!"

"It's not mine! I got it from my brother's wardrobe! I swear!"

"Yea sure!" *wink wink*

And later with other partners,

"Manly beach. Heh."

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

2. Fast Lindy songs are hard. Slow Lindy songs are harder.

With fast Lindy songs, you fly by each beat and triple step in a blur, swooshing around from A to B and pulled around by your partner as if you were a shot put ball at the end of a string.

With slow Lindy songs, you feel like you're doing a Lindy Tai Chi.

Example of a medium Lindy beat:

Rock step triple step rock step triple step

Example of a fast Lindy beat:

rostetristerostetristerostetriste

Example of a slow Lindy beat:

Rooooocccckkkkkkk sttteeeeepppppppp trrrrriiiipppplllllleeeeee sttttteeeeeppppppp

'Nuff said.

A wistful longing

Watching Where the Hell is Matt made me feel more than a bit wistful, simply cos of the sheer number of countries that he's been to.

Here is one pretty interesting guy. One day he decided he was bored with his life, so he took all the savings he had, went as much around the world as he could, and made a video along the way.

Of him dancing none too gracefully in all the locations he's been to. Seriously, you have to see it to know what I'm talking about.

As stupid as the whole concept sounds, I can't help but feel envious along the way. Like, this guy has travelled to more countries than most people have heard of, can???

I know there are many people who consider travel a frivolous affair, a waste of money that could have been put to better use. Sometimes, they are right. Sometimes, they have the wrong idea of travel altogether, ie to eat, shop and repeat pattern.

I feel real travel should be something that adds to your life, and which greatly enhances its colour and vitality. It is a reasonable assumption that if I was the kind of person who had decided to spend my savings on, say, a new car, or the deposit on my online stock trading account, and not on my Europe trip, I would probably be a far more boring person than I am today.

I think I would also be a more narrow-minded and short-termed person, incapable of appreciating a great deal of the diversity of life and culture, and only able to see as far as fulfilling the financial needs of my future children. [if any] The Trip, and all subsequent travel, did a great deal to open my mind to the rest of the world, and to show me just how many possibilities there were out there, if I were only willing to grasp them.

And if I were not bonded to a powerful government agency, but that's beside the point now......

Of course there were setbacks, and disadvantages. For one thing, that Trip seriously impoverished me, in terms of preparations, actual expenditure over there, and put me in serious debt for several months.

But for all I saw, for all I experienced, and for all the memories? Like the ad said, priceless. For all that I lost monetarily, and it was no small amount, it was still a small price to pay for the riches that I brought back with me. And that will last me for many memories and stories, all the way down to my grandchildren.

I guess if you're worried about the money aspect, think again about the future aspect: What would you rather tell your grandchildren about your life? That you went to school, got a job, got married, and had kids and that was that?

Or would you want to tell them that........ [fill in blank with hope and dreams]

A Burst of Patriotism

Flags at the Esplanade

Frankly, the happiest part of National Day has to be waking up later on a Wed morn and the school holiday on Thursday. [yes, one of the perks of the job]

In a recent SMS conversation, The Slayer was bemoaning the hypocritism that pops up during such occasions. Why do we need a National Day to remind us of how patriotic we should feel? Why do we spend most of our year complaining about this country and then a burst of pride only on one day?

Well, I was thinking of it, and I decided, well, you don't need a Valentine's Day to buy roses for your lover, but it'll be nice to do so all the same ain't it? ;) Regardless of all the petty arguments you've had all year.

I think our feelings towards our country is somewhat like that, like a up-and-down relationship or a dysfunctional family. We go through a bunch of shit here and there, but at the end, this is where we are. This is ours.

I think in order to fully appreciate National Day, it's not quite enough to think of all the things we have here. [The usual litany of things being safety, convenience, oodles of food.......] Maybe we should instead think of what it would be like in another country, and what we don't experience here, that we might overseas.

We don't have suicide bombers, terrorists, and other acts of mass destruction on a day to day basis.

We don't walk down the streets without stares at the colour of our hair and skin, and without condescension and derision. [you can't appreciate this unless you've really been stared at]

We don't have governments which are willing to imprison and starve their people in the name of power, and tell the rest of the world that it is right in doing so [though it has its faults, I doubt you can really compare the PAP to the North Korean govt, or the Myanmese govt, or the Pol Pot regime, or even the US.]

We do not contribute half our income to tax. [owch]

And it is only in Singapore that we can walk around with that sense of belonging, where everything is so familiar that it ceases to be an amazement any longer, where you walk with that sense of confidence that tells you this is where you're supposed to be and this belongs to you

I don't know about you, but after touring a couple of countries, it's always a kinda relief to come back, and feel that mental 'click' as if I was an astray puzzle piece and I was finally coming back to familiar ground, where I knew exactly how to get around, how to talk to people, and be understood, and where I was treated exactly the same as everyone else.

Maybe that's the most important thing to appreciate about our country, no matter where. That this is where we know where we stand.

Sure we have our problems, but it's probably a good thing that most of the problems and the things which piss us off about our country are problems of the educated and affluent class, ie issues of democracy, income, press freedom, rather than problems of the desperate and poor, ie, how am I going to live till the next day?

So for all the little things, for the big things, and all the shitty things about this country, yea, I'm still pretty glad to be living here.

Happy National Day.

Silence of the Kittens

Not a Hannibal Lecter knockoff by the way. This was a play I watched last night with Slayer at the Black Box at the National Library. [one of the smallest performance areas in Singapore]

The play draws on the SARS period, where cats were blamed for spreading the virus, and there was talk on whether they should been culled from the streets, to the chagrin of many cat owners. Using this as an inspirational springboard, the play examines how, in trying to create safe, comfortable lives for ourselves, we somehow let go of what makes us human, or rather, our 'inner cat'.

If I had an inner cat, my fondness for slacking and snacking would probably make me a Garfield. But I do fully agree with one of the lines from the play, where the actress says,

"Somedays when it's hot and I know it's going to be cool later, I like to lie down and laze.... The work can be done later."

My thoughts after the play... Hmmm... I don't know whether it's because I'm older now, or working or whatever, but I find myself half agreeing with the themes in it, and half disagreeing. Half agreeing because I think there's something profoundly disturbing about the idea that it's somehow acceptable to disregard other human and animal lives in the name of societal peace and stability. What kind of people are we if we are unable to show kindness and compassion to the animals in our world? What does that show us about our attitude towards those we deem the weaker and unacceptable in society?

I think if you consider yourself human, then you should have that shred of compassion that separates you from the animals.

In this sense I can fully agree with the allegory presented in the play. We can try to create a safe, comfortable environment for ourselves and our children, but in doing so, we may risk them growing in a sterile, growth-impeded environment, where anything 'dirty' or 'different' is to be chucked away or hidden under covers.

In fact, we risk creating a narrow, close-minded society where people are unable to accept those even slightly different from themselves.

But of course, on the other side of the coin, looking at the audience members already show you what kinds of people are those who are agreeing and identifying with the themes in the play. A quick glance around showed western-educated, [i heard a few faux accents] well-dressed and possibly decently-paid employees. In other words, those who have the money to spend on plays, and the time, on a Friday night to watch the show. Maybe cos they have no children to occupy their time, and no need to work late in order to earn a living.

No surprise then, that they are the minority who are bemoaning their lack of response or rights in this society.

For a better comparison, maybe we can compare the students in my secondary school, to the students in the primary school where I teach. Most of us back then had both parents around, grew up in a relatively middle class setting, and enough money to at least eat during recess and buy the textbooks and stationery we needed.

Looking through my pupils' particulars one day, I could see, albeit through a lot of second-guessing, what kind of lifestyles they led. Some pupils had the particulars for either the father or mother conspicuously blank. Most parents were working in lower income job brackets, and possibly earned less than I did. One girl once skipped school because her mother had to work in the afternoon and didn't want her coming home to an empty home. [huh?] Some pupils went without green pens or didn't have exercise books or activity books for weeks because their parents forgot. I'm praying it's not because they didn't have the $2 to spare at that point of time.

How do you tell these people the importance of civil rights for all? How do they convince them that such values are important, when they are too busy trying to eke out a living for themselves?

Who are the real victims?

I'm turning into a capitalist, label-chasing whore. I'm walking down the dark, dark road to becoming a tai-tai wannabe, seduced by chic fashion labels, smooth, skin-kissing fabric, and all because of a DF who has preferences for brands previously out of my income range.

I actually went to Armani Exchange and bought 2, yes 2 tops.

Which leaves me poorer by about $270.

WTF????????????

I blame the lack of variety in this year's Great Singapore Sale. If there were more stuff, and in my size, I might have bought more of the cheaper type of clothing and not be stuck in this dilemma on whether to flaunt off my new shirts, or bang my head against the wall.

But damn, it's hard to resist a shirt which you love, and which your bf thinks makes you look slimmer, taller, and er, bustier :p

Yes, I still live. In case anyone [anyone at all?] was worried by the lack of entries in this blog, I still live, albeit barely.

Anyway, lemme tell u about the fiasco that was Cabaret.

Firstly, I had planned to watch this musical with Juls a long time ago, so about a couple weeks ago, I duly went down to book the tix.

On Thurs morning, on the way to work, I was musing over the thought of watching it that night, and I took out the tix to check again what time was the show.

And found out that the date on the ticket was: WEDNESDAY NIGHT

And I had paid about $70 for each ticket.

I don't think I need to type down all the unsavory words that passed through my mind at that point of time.

I depressingly smsed Juls at work, telling him about it and telling him that he no longer owed me the $70, fool that I am.

Luckily for us though, Juls had less of a defeatist attitude than I did. We still met up, and rushed to the Esplanade, where Juls told the receptionist how we had asked for Thurs night but got Wed night instead. I didn't hear the entire conversation, cos I was quietly fretting in a corner, but the end result was that they found that there were still seats in our category and they let us in to watch the show after all. [Yay!!!]

I owe quite a debt of gratitude to the polar after this.

So we still managed to catch the show!



Overall, I have to say the singing and the acting weren't half bad, but I do think there were many aspects that could have been better. For one, considering that the title of the musical was 'Cabaret', you would think the cabaret in the play would have occupied a larger role than that. As it was, it seemed to be a very minor side player.

Also, the revolving set design concept is so old already. I've seen it so too many stage productions for it to have any novelty anymore.

I guess overall, it was ok, but I don't think very memorable.

Kyo, Yenn-san wa 'Anta no blog wa nani mo aranai yo' to iita. Hai, muzukashiikara, nani mo kaita. Doomo sumimasen. :p

Kyo, watashi to Yenn wa Level 3 kara gougakushimashita. Omedetou! Korekara, watashitachi wa Level 4 no gakusei.

Speech o kiiteru nagara, sannen no nihongo no benkyo o omotteita. Hajimeta toki, 'watashi wa Aki-san desu. Doozo yooroshiku' shika wakaranakatta. Heta ne! Ima, joozu ni narimasen ga, heta ni narimasu. :) Ima, nihonjin ga hanashiteru, 80% o wakatteiru. Ii desu yo! Ganbatte!

Eh, for you gaijins, sumimasen, eh? :p Needed some of the writing practice after receiving one of the most horrendous marks ever for my Jap test. X( Even though I passed, well, I think I might've scored higher if I had actually studied, so well, like that lor. :p

The days have been passing just, like that, for me. Somedays, I feel as if I'm not so much as getting through the day, as being dragged through it. I know of no other way to describe that feeling other than that, though I would think that many of you working types may know what I'm talking about.

I think one of the aspects of the job I seriously dislike is how it spills over into personal time. Time supposed to be spent recuperating energy and clearing oneself mentally is instead spent thnking of the next day's work, or scouting for resources for the next few lessons. X( I know teaching is supposed to be a vocation, but if this workload goes on, the govt is left with 2 alternatives:

1. All the teachers with anything less than a life-binding passion for teaching leave, which leaves those with a real life-forsaking passion for the job tempted to leave as well.

2. Most of the teachers stay, because of the pay, but they spend so much time on the job that they all become spinsters, causing the national birthrate to spiral further downwards.

Which is why after Yenn and I met in town today, I was so reluctant to return home. Because to return home would be to face the reality of my LPs and the ending of the weekend. It's as if by staying out, I would be able to delay the inevitable and delude myself that little longer.

Of course, this never works. *Sigh* But at least it was nice to reclaim my humanity for a while.

He meets the Rest of the Family

It's been a long time since I had anything really blogworthy in my life [you know, the kind that doesn't leave me liable to legal action by govt bodies] and finally here's one!

My Aussie grandma goes back to Australia this Thurs so b4 she left, she had one grand cookout at my uncle's house, inviting all the close relatives on her side of the family. And of course, the DF was invited.

I think the first time he met my grandma, while she was drinking her 2nd mug of Tiger, still didn't adequately prepare him for the shock that was my mother's side of the family. For one, dinner was already well underway when we arrived, which also meant that my grandma and uncle were quite comfortably high by that time.

Much to his chagrin, because for one, my grandma couldn't get his name right, and ended up calling the shortened version of it. [imagine calling him by the first syllable of his name and you get what I mean.] It made him sound like his was some, I dunno, redneck cowboy or something.
He was also eyebrow-raisingly shocked at the familiar terms on which my backside cousin spoke to him [IJTPs, you know which cousin I'm talking about] and the way the cans of Carlsberg were passed around so freely from uncle to niece to nephew and back to another uncle. All of legal age of course.

He found himself in a most uncomfortable position when my already rather drunk uncle found out that he hadn't touched a drop of beer, a sacrilegious action in his books, and then found out that he was a teetotaller. Horrors of horrors!!! He was just like my other holier than thou uncle who didn't drink, didn't smoke, and never socialized. [kwakwakwa]

And then my grandma managed something that a rare number of people, not even ME had ever managed to make him do before. Between her and my uncle, they managed to get a can of beer into HIS hands, and with much cajoling, ["C'mon then, I'm flying off soon anyway, one sip for me and that's all!"] he was actually going to drink the beer!!!

Ok, so he was only going to take one sip of it, but anyway, I saved him from it by drinking gulps of it everytime they weren't looking, so the can was noticeably lighter much later. :p

I do think my grandma liked him though. She patted his hand while talking to him, slapped his lap, and in one photo, even put her arms around him and pressed her cheek to his! I must show you guys the photo that my dad took of it, because his face in that photo was HILARIOUS!!! [do i have a rival here?]

Of course, it was also possible that my grandma was more than slightly drunk... hahahaha......

Overall though, I think his eyes really opened WIDE at how 'liberal' my family was. [his word, by the way] And comparing his family and mine, I think I agree. Mine is certainly more siao during family gatherings.

Especially when the beer is flowing. :p

Lemme clarify something. In an earlier post, I left a link that was highlighted 'Not to be read by strict Christians' or something like that.

The link would have brought you to the website of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which, the website proclaims, is responsible for all creation on earth. [ah, nebbe read right? Now regret...]

Is this real? OF COURSE NOT LAH.

The FSM is really a tongue-in-cheek response to schools that teach the Creationist theory as part of legitimate science. The author of the website argues that if schools can disguise religion as science this way, then they should also teach his version of Creation, ie that a Flying Spaghetti Monster is responsible for creating all of us.

Of course, if you're now a fervent believer, by all means, subscribe to that church............ I ain't stopping you. :p

I should really be typing out LPs before I meet him, but instead I've got KOL open in one tab and Blogger in another.

*Sigh* Procrastination is such a big problem with me.......

This is not just because of my job, btw. I've been suffering from this affliction since days of yore in school, where I would gleefully postpone studying in order to read my comics or books or whatever.

Obviously this is not a trait that serves me well in my career. Where I'm trying to convince little ones NOT to follow in my footsteps. -_-!!!!!

After 2 weeks of school and helping out in a major education fair, I'm just of NO mood to care about the Future of our Leaders/Followers/Winners/Potential Dropouts.

Yenn and I were talking last night about our careers and the dangers of Occupational Hazards. [So maybe you wanna skip reading this blog entry if you're reading it. Heh.]

That day, I got up early to go down to help out at the education fair, and I was especially grumpy about it, because there was nothing for me to do except stand outside the class during the 2 hour presentation, followed by help them pack the stuff back to school, and by the time we ended and gotten back to school, it was so drastically late I had to call up and cancel tuition. [Which I would have much preffered to have gone for]

Then someone wanted to talk to the other new teachs about performance appraisals, so we talked. And we talked so late I had no way of going to my Jap class on time. T_T Which made it the 1st time in this year that I skipped Jap class and also something I would have much preferred to have gone for.

The whole shittiness of the job, I will comment on in another blog............

Anyway the end result was that I was tired, my feet were sore, and I was moody about having missed my entire Saturday for something I would not have voluntarily gone for.

here's the hidden Occupational Hazard that you don't usually hear about. OH: Your job seeps into your life.

I have lain awake in my bed at night, trying on one hand to sleep, while ideas for LPs and classroom mgt raced through my head.

I have listened to music on the radio and wondered how to incorporate it into my classroom.

I have spent time daydreaming about how to discipline the kids in the class in a more effective way.

And this is just after 2 freakin' weeks on the job!!!!! What happens after 3?????

Which in a way explains the procrastination and the gaming of Yenn and I. There are times where you just need to sweep everything out of your head. To wipe out the persistent stain of bad memory and kleenex the whole thing. Yenn Maples. I KOL and lindy. And on days like this where my tuition has been suddenly cancelled and I suddenly have free time on my hands, I just don't feel like doing work.

I feel like just enjoying what I have left of the Sunday. And then meet him and enjoy the rest of the weekend together, before I come home and deal with the LPs.

Granted that this job is a vocation, but stretch a person too far and eventually they all start dropping like flies.

Cookie: Not for strict Christians.

Tonight the DF finally returns from Indo, where he's been holidaying with his mom. And about time too. The Illegitimate Husband is good company, but I'm starting to miss the Legitimate Boyfriend more. :p

On the one hand though, I'm thankful that I'm not one of the girls who only have 'couple' friends, or where my only friends are my BF's friends, otherwise I'd be so screwed. Thank heavens for a social life, the Kingdom of Loathing and plenty of schoolwork to get me down. -_-!!!!!!!!!

Just as well today is Youth Day, for all the youths to enjoy and for the overdue youths like me to sleep in late and catch up with some lesson plans. :p when I finally get off the blogging that is.

Withdrawal symptoms aside, here's a sample of the last weekend:

Saturday:
Another Jap class fumble, this time on my end:

Sensei: 'Aki- san wa nani o suru no ga kirai desu ka?' ["what does Aki hate doing?"]
Yenn: 'Aki-san wa hataraku no ga kirai desu.' ["Aki hates working."]

Sensei writes the sentence on the board, and something else. She points to the board, and suddenly calls on me while I'm daydreaming. 'Aki-san?'

'Ah? Eh.... Yenn-san wa hansamu-ja nai otoko no hito to de-to suru no ga....' [Yenn hates dating guys who are not handsome, but the sentence is not completed.]

A very surprised 'Eh.....?????????' from Sensei and laughter from the floor follows. Apparently Sensei had written 'joozu' [good at] on the board, and had expected me to answer with a sentence on what Yenn was good at doing. Which according to me, now happens to be 'Yenn is good at dating ugly guys'.

Ok, so she's not the only one who ever fumbles during class..........

Later after class and dinner, we have so much pent-up energy and are so bored, we follow the Singapore River all the way from the Esplanade, to Clarke Quay, to Robertson Quay, and then to Great World City. [yes, that canal next to Great World City is the Singapore River.] From there, we follow the road and finally end up in Orchard where we take a bus back. :p

Heck, I could become a walking tour guide in Singapore. Heh.

Have to admit though, saw a bunch of bars and restaurants that we would never see on the beaten track. Some of the restaurants looked pretty good, and the bars pretty happening, if not for all the plasma screens showing football matches. -_-!!! From Great World to Orchard though is all private residences so not much to see.

Ok, we were that freakin' bored lah, can?

Sunday I went for a piano concert played by the very talented Lee Pei Ming. I must admit, it is a pity that we aren't willing to support our local players, because some of them, like Lee Pei Ming, are very, very good. :) The choice of song was also very interesting, especially the piano remixing of a jazz piece by Thelonius Monk, 'Round Midnight, which required the performer at certain times to reach inside the piano and strum the strings with her fingers! And also take up a stick and make a knocking sound inside the piano. [!!!]

I seem to have a knack of choosing concerts where extremely unconventional sounds are made with the piano. Cue to Jamie Cullum concert. :)

Anyway, she's a good player, so if you ever see her playing anywhere else, try to catch her in action. :)

The DF returns tonight. Finally!

One week on the new/not so new job is already getting to me. I'm not sure whether it's the environment or the job scope or just me.

Pretty much I'm fine with the job. Even the admin work that has come my way so far I've handled all right. Then again, I'm only looking at the admin that has come so far. The duties that it entails is fine. I've had hiccups, and I've had flareups, but so far nothing I've not expected.

It's a bit strange how I eased into that aspect. The first day I ever did it, I died. I died so badly I thought I would never live again. The second time I did it, I was wounded so badly, I thought I'd just bleed to death on the premises.

Now my third time doing it, I've more stuff, I'm still getting wounded. But I'm not dying. [yet, anyway]

Maybe you do get used to it the longer you stay in it. *shrugs*

The one thing so far is that my fatigue seems to be increasing. I think it's something about the hours and the lack of opportunity for food. I wake up early in the morning, still relatively fresh. I grab a cup of milo and I'm out of the house. Halfway during the day, around lunch time, I start to get shagged out. When I finally reach home in the late afternoon, I'm all knackered out and ready for more sleep. :p

I know part of the problem is not sleep, but infrequent meals. Because something always seems to crop up, there have been days when I don't eat lunch, till very late. Which leaves me fatigued. Next week, I'm definitely bringing bread or something to work.........

Work. Man, I've actually grown up and started to do the whole adult thing.

Cookies!

This is really for the Slayer, but also for all those who are sick of going to Swensen's for Earthquakes.

Read about the Vermonster.

And for all those who think the stuff in my room is becoming a potential fire hazard, check out this guy's apato:



Talk about Otaku............

[url=http://the-rye.dreamhosters.com/users/paranoidandroid/bk/][img]http://the-rye.dreamhosters.com/users/paranoidandroid/bk/SD.gif[/img][/url]

A Power Player is I!

And of course, if you don't know what this is all about, To the Kingdom of Loathing you must go!
[this is also why I'm currently a Ravioli Sorcerer]

For other KOLlers, get the quiz here

Escaped by the hair off my fingers

This story just had to be told. It's a good one, trust me.

My grandma [The Australian one who just flew over, remember?] was trying to get the stove working, when she asked me for help. Now if you've never seen it, my stove is a gas stove, those that run with the large blue gas cylinder underneath. To get it to work, you have to switch on the gas, and then press an ignite button till blue flames appear on the surface.

The more quick-minded of you might have already seen where this is going.

Anyway, so my grandma had already put the pot on the stove, and had been trying to ignite the gas when she asked me for help. I checked that she had switched on the gas dial for the right stove, and then bent down so that I could see whether the flame had come on beneath the pot, while pressing the ignite button repeatedly.

PHHHOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The gas ignited in a sudden hellish fury, sending out a circle of blue flame around my stove, diameter of 1m. I actually felt the flame stroke the tops of my fingers in that split split-second before I yelped in terror and jumped 3 feet back.

Thankfully, both my grandma and I are fine. My grandma was standing behind me when it happened, so she was alright, and thankfully my cat-like reflexes weren't that of Garfield's. The only so-called visible damage was to my fingers.

Well, they didn't get burnt, but if you look at two of them, where there used to be hair, there is now hardly any left. Apparently when the flames travelled across my fingers, they also took half of the hair there with them. -_-!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See, I told you it was a good story. >D

So the past few days were spent accompanying my grandma around the area in less dangerous activities. Now if you told my drinking gene came solely from my dad, you will now be surprised. I haven't seen my grandma drink a drop of water since she was here. Instead, it's been:

Breakfast: soya bean milk
Lunch: Tiger
Tea break: Tiger
Dinner: Tiger
After dinner: Tiger
Supper: Tiger

You ever heard about how Australians drink beer like water? It's true. And she's 75 to boot. >D The DF had a horrified look on his face when I told him about her. I think he had this image of a kindly old lady sipping tea or something. Oh so wrong is he.

Surprisingly, though, despite all the beer, she's actually very sprightly at her age. One can only hope I inherited those genes.........

Jamie Cullum In Concert

Absolutely. Fuckin. Brilliant. Concert.

What can I say? The concert was absolutelyfucking brilliant.

For those who don't know [philistines!] Jamie Cullum is a pop/jazz pianist and singer, with 3 albums out so far, Pointless Nostalgic, TwentySomething, [the one that pushed him to the public eye] and Catching Tales, his latest. Why I like him is because not only is he great at jazz, and jazz improvisation, his songs are also witty and brilliant, and I have this thing for Brits. :p

Although I was rather chagrined, when I went into the Suntec hall, only to find out that my $100 tickets, which were the mid-range ones, gave me a seat with this view:


Can you see the very small looking concert stage?

WTF??? I'm only like a few rows away from the cheapest seats lor!!! This is what I paid for?

Ok fine, I sit down and soon the concert starts.

Sidenote: It took this concert for me to realise why the Esplanade was so strict on latecomers. Because the people streaming in after the concert was supremely irritating. Imagine, you're lost in the piano strands of music, and then suddenly, one dark humanoid blob is walking across going, "Sorry, sorry, excuse me..." Argh!!!

Then there were the people who were constantly leaving the concert hall, why??? I didn't get it, because some of those people had obviously paid about $100 for their tix and they were walking out in the middle of the concert in twos! I mean, did you want to watch the concert in the first place? *mystery*

But for those who stayed, what a concert!!! Halfway during, he jumped off stage with the trumpet player and started an improptu performance in the middle of the audience! OF which I totally missed, because of all the rabid female fans surrounding him.... -_-!!!!! Finally I looked at the people beside me, sitting sedately, [not even tapping their toes, sure you enjoy or not!] I looked at the screaming, jumping fans below, and I quickly decided which side was having more fun.

I ran off my seat and to the front of the hall, in response to his invitation to the fans to come to the front. ["Don't worry, they're with us," was what he told the security guard who feebly tried to protest] So from my seated $100 seat, I ended up standing right next to the stage to the left, screaming my head off and thumping the beat on the stage.

This was how near I was:



Trust me, it IS Jamie Cullum.

Er, granted it doesn't look like much, considering I used my HP cam, but trust me, I could've jumped up on stage and ripped his shirt off. :p Funny thing, I never thought of myself as much of a fangirl during my teenage years. I suppose those pubescent hormones kinda laid hormone till I actually had the money to go to these concerts. :p Probably barely explains why a 25 year old girl/woman was screeching and screaming, jumping up and down and thumping her hand in the air or on stage. I was just saving them all for later. :p

Oh, but the concert was GREAT, and especially exciting though wince-inducing was when Jamie would do some stunt on the piano, which he is famous for. I mean, you can't help but pity the piano when he does this:



And I'm not sure whether it was a stunt or what, but after he did this running jump thing to the piano where his fingers were supposed to magically thump the right notes for a particular song, the piano lid actually came off! He tried to put it back, though he didn't quite manage it, but somehow the noise he made in trying to became an impromptu percussion performance! I love that spontaneity! Plus, I'm also sure I've never seen a pianist play the piano by reaching his hand into the body and thumping and plucking the strings. -_-!!! And making it sound good to boot. Kids, do not try this at home. Jamie has insurance

Overall, great concert. :) I'm especially happy that my way-at-the-back seat became a front row stage space. :) :) :)



What a difference you made.

My poor, poor blog. *blows* Almost as much dust around as there was in my hostel room.

And btw, Yenn and I have officially given up the room. We went back today to throw out the last of the trash, and then return the keys and the LAN cables.

The one thing we didn't do was to move back the furniture into its original position :p We figured if the neighbours didn't, and got away with it.........

Man what memories we had in that room. Definitely living away from the family and with someone else to boot is a different and very enriching experience. We learnt a lot of things about each other [some stuff that we would rather not know, as well] we learnt to live with each other [harder than you know] and we still managed not to kill each other at the end of it. Looking at the room, completely devoid of human possessions, and everything that had made it alive and our 2nd home for one year, just seemed...... sad.

So since the last entry was about photos, this one now is dedicated to some of the highlights of the one year's stay:

- Our various assorted neighbours:
The one I thought was a filipino maid but who turned out to be a resident, and who had an assorted of wushu swords in her room
The girl who kept 2 rabbits in her room and whose stink reached out to the corridor
The 2 siao char bo who giggled endlessly and who dragged furniture around at 3 in the morning, driving Yenn insane but never heard by me

- The men below:
The room next to the kitchen on the floor below us, which had a constant STINK emanating from it. First, you smelt it as you walked past the open doorway. Later, you smelt it as you approached the kitchen. The best of all, one day, I smelt it BEFORE I even reached the kitchen doorway, only to find out that the door was closed, and the smell was evidently strong enough to break through it. I have no idea how those guys live like that. Maybe they have no noses.

- The time Yenn got sick and couldn't have the fan on or risk a coughing fit and I nearly died of the heat and suffocation. We stepped very tenderly on each other's toes until I finally bought my standing fan. Later when she recovered fully, that fan became used to blow at her laptop when she left her Maplestory store open 24hours. -_-!!!!!

- The day I brought my new laptop back to the room in its box, all the way from the other side of campus. I huffed and puffed my way back to the hostel, climbed the excruciating 6 stories of stairs, and opened the door only to find Yenn frantically wiping up spilled Milo. Apparently the hook that she had used to hang it on broke while the packet was still hanging on it, sending a packet of Milo crashing [splashing?] to the ground. We spent hours wiping up the mess with toilet paper, because the Milo had seeped everywhere. Months later, Yenn would open a little-used desk cupboard, to find fungus growing there from some Milo she had missed.

- Many afternoon naps and Mapling time when we were supposed to be studying or writing papers.

- The great western food stall in our hostel, and the great Jap store with great fried tofu in the hall next to ours. Many boxes of spaghetti bolognaise imported from NIE.

- Many jokes/threats traded between the two. For eg, throwing each other's underwear out the window, warnings not to engage in illicit sex while the other was out, threats to throw each other's underwear to the guys below, threats to give each other's hp nos to the guys below, threats to burn each other's clothes, threats to call my boyfriend OR the illegitimate husband to come n give me sex already because I was so desperate, threats to call some strange guy to come up and give her sex because she was so desperate.......... Maybe I should stop this section here.

- Other strange people who did strange things around the hostel, like scream "CCB!!!" in the afternoon in an empty car park. *Weird*

So many incidents in just that one year of living. ^_^!!! But somehow it was living and experiencing that with a friend that made it all that much more bearable. And interesting. I'm not sure that if I had to live with a total stranger, I would have had that much fun in campus. And I think that makes all the difference. :)

But at least I'm thankful my underwear is safe now.