Merry Christmas!

This greeting is 2 days late, but I only just managed to get these shots today, so.

Merry Christmas from Barkley...

and Jamie!

So cute hor? I realise Jamie looks like a reindeer.

And I think Barkley really hated having the band on.... check out his sian face...

Anyways, hope everyone had a swell Christmas!

Losing My Wisdom

The tooth, that is. Just one of the four of them.

It took me a while - 6 months to be exact, to decide that I would get it extracted. Despite the fact that Dr Lee, who happens to also be my secondary school chum, having assured me that it wasn't gonna hurt at all during the extraction. "You don't even need surgery. Just a simple extraction." she said. "Alternatively, you can choose to patch it, but it'd be better to remove it cos it's starting to decay, plus it's hard to clean it as it's all the way back."

That was in June this year.

I finally decided that enough food had gotten stuck in the cavity, and paid her a visit last Saurday.

Purples: "Eh, you sure not pain ah?"

Dr Lee: "No la. Not during the procedure. At most there will be a dull irritating ache a day or two after."

Purples: "Aiyah. Maybe just patch it la. Or do a surgery, since it doesn't require surgery, means it will be easier right if I opt for surgery? You know what I mean?"

Dr Lee: "You siao ah. Do surgery for what? That one gotta cut bone, cut gum you know! That one sure painful"

Purples: "Ok ok. Extract la. How long will it take ah?"

Dr Lee: "15 to 20 minutes."

Purples: "huh? So long ah?"

Dr Lee: "You want your mother to come in and hold your leg? Some kids parents do that."

Purples: "Tsk. No la!"

So she started with the anaesthesia, and tested to see if it still hurt where she tested. And where necessary, she increased the dosage.

Dr Lee: "Ok, I start already ah. If pain you just raise your hand or you say 'ahhh' liddat ok?"

Purples: "Ok ok."

I sat facing her and could see her doing the extraction. In less than ten minutes, it was done! Totally painless! And the whole tooth came out in tact - root and all. Amazing.


You know how we used to study the tooth structure in biology? The enamel, dentine and what-not? And how they made us draw the tooth? It really looks like that lor. Only that in primary school, pulling a tooth comprised tying one end of a string to the tooth and the other end to a door. hahaa.

Thanks to Dr Lee, come Christmas, I'll be eating normally already.

Actually, I was already eating normally on the day itself. I had turtle soup for lunch and Macs (Fillet meal with SHAKER fries!!!) for dinner.

Finally.

I finally got the Christmas tree up after much procrastination.

I actually enjoy putting up Chritmas trees, but somehow have been always too tired to do it this year.

After work, I'm tired.

After Christmas shopping, I'm tired.

After cycling or blading, I'm tired.

How liddat?

Anyhow, it's finally up. But it won't be too long before it needs to be brought down. haha.

Common Sense

It's funny the types of common sense that exist.

On an ice-cream break while cycling back from Changi Village yesterday, Mr Celica had the Choc Chip Mint in between wafers, while I had a Tropical sling (think it used to be called Jolly Lolly).


It had just come out of the freezer in the van and the vendor very nicely cautioned (in mandarin) me, "Don't bite it with your mouth, just use your teeth. It's very cold." Then his wife added, "Ya, a lot of people have done it, and it got stuck on to their lips. Then when they try to pull it out,they pull until their lips bleed."

Just hearing that was enough to get me laughing. I imagined the scenario, and I couldn't stop laughing.

Seriously, if it does gets stuck, would you tug at it? Funny...

Anyway, the new, completed tracks that have been built that links East Coast to Changi Beach Park are good! The path is scenic and very importantly, it's safe. No need to share the roads with trucks and lorries anymore!

Here's a view of a part of it....

Looks like you can cycle straight into the sea, right? :p

Reported Speech

That was what I was trying to teach a nine year-old over the weekend.

Q1. "Why is your sister crying?" Mother asked.

The response I got was, "Mother asked why is my sister crying." Wrong.

So I explained that you cannot report it as it is spoken directly, and that the subject has to come first, that it has to be in past tense, etc etc. So it should have been, "Mother asked why my sister was crying."

Q2. "Why are your hands dirty?" Mother asked.

The response came as, "Mother asked why were my hands dirty." Wrong again.

So this went on or quite a while, without him getting it right. Then it reached the point where I decided to prompt him halfway through his answer.

The question was, "Why is the floor wet?" my mother asked.

He started off, "My mother asked why...." and before he could finish, I interrupted with, "Remember ah, the subject comes first!"

He continued, "My mother asked why the floor wet."

???

Was I to laugh or to cry, you tell me?

I scolded.

But I think it's a very common mistake that Singaporeans (many adults at that) make by reporting the speech in exactly the order which it was spoken, the way Q1 was answered. And then, it is again very common for people to go all-lazy when speaking and leave out the verbs-to-be. Haven't we heard people going, "Eh, why you so late?" or "Why the chair so dirty?"

Which explains the deterioration of the next generation's English.

The New Toy.

So I finally got down to buying a pair of blades. At quite a steal. The last time Shades of Pink and I went to purchase a pair, they were all at full price. Now, "Rollerblades" were going at 50% off.

"Get the 90mm one la. Faster." the lady said.

"Or how about you get the aluminium frame ones? Lighter and faster also." she added.

Frankly, I wouldn't know the difference, except that the aluminium framed ones looked more high tech. Unfortunately they didn't have it in my size. And the purple pair I wanted had some funny fastening mechanism which looked like it would snap at some point. So I settled for this pair, which had the usual manual lace-tie and the click and velcro to fasten.

"This one entry level one you know. Not very fast. But you don't like the other fastening mechanism, then you take this one better." the lady at the shop said.

Frankly, I think these would suffice. Missy here still doesn't know how to stop. So better not get a pair that's too fast.

I Started Again...

And I can't stop!

The last time this happened was quite a while back, and it left me with VERY little sleep and VERY puffy eyes. Then, it was "Sad Love Story", starring Kwon Sang Wu and .... erm I dunno what the girl's name is.

This time, it's this...

I don't think this is half as sad as "Sad Love Story", but the first 4 episodes were quite tear-jerking. The male lead, Jang Hyuk's very cute too, which probably helped in bringing on the tears. I mean, if they had chosen a not-so-cute guy, I think the same tear-jerking scenes probably wouldn't have the same effect.

Coulisse

That was where Shades of Pink and I spent the Saturday afternoon doing a makeover. She received an invitation for herself and a friend, and she extended the "friend" one to me.

RT accompanied us there, but I think he actually had more fun than us, laughing at some of the outcomes of our poses.

If you know me, I'm a person who doesn't really use any make-up, save for the lip gloss or lipstick when meeting clients. If I remember to put it on, that is. So when I was watching Shades do her make up, I was pretty glad I'm saved that 30 minutes a girl spends EVERY morning painting her face. And when the make up artist took the eye lash curler (this thing looks quite scary - like it can pluck your whole eye out or something), I told her very politely, "Erm, I think don't need that la. I hardly have any lashes anyway.".

"Who say don't have? Have. Must use then can enhance the eyes." she shot back. And then the mascara was slapped on. How some can use mascara on a daily basis eludes me. Doesn't seeing the black blobs around the eye area irritate?

Anyways, after our make up was done, we had to choose pieces of jewellery to put on before the photo shoot. Coulisse, is after all a jewellery shop. A rather expensive one though. Shades picked a pair of butterfly ear-rings with diamonds costing $11,000! I didn't check the cost of the pair I picked, but the ring I had on cost $5,600.

The photo taking part wasn't that difficult, except at the point when the guy went, "No teeth, no teeth. Smile sweet sweet one." I tried and burst out laughing instead. I cannot smile the no-teeth type la. Very fake and difficult. Funnily, that laughing shot came out most natural.

The last part was choosing ONE picture out of the many shots taken for framing. And this was the most fun(ny) part. Here's the funniest comment that came from none other than RT... "Whoa! This one cannot la. Looks like the Geylang 1900 chatline poster kind!"

The comment was about me, not Shades of Pink. Her shots were all pretty nice. RT, can be less honest sometimes or not ah? But the whole thing was quite fun.

Thanks for the invite babe!

"I'll Never Let Go, Jack"

That was the line that greeted me when I switched on the telly just now. I was actually intending to watch some Channel 8 drama or channel surf when I heard it. So I stuck to Channel 5 and caught the last bit of Titanic - a show I'd already caught 3 times.

Then I was looking through my drawers and found this... ...

A set of 28 postcards with shots from the movie Titanic. Received them 10 years ago when Titanic was all the rage. I was looking for that one particular scene, but I couldn't find it. The scene where they're holding on to each other in the water and Jack makes Rose promise him that she'll never let go. Funny, I thought that was one of the sweetest parts of the show. There sure were a lot of pictures with Jack and Rose at the stern of the ship doing the "I'm flying" shots though.

10 years ago, Titanic made it into my "Favourite Movies" and "Can Watch Multiple Times Movie" lists.

10 years on, I can still watch it over again and it still leaves me in tears. Tsk.

The show is one peppered with saccharine-sweet, touching, heart-rendering scenes and lines from the show and the theme song, 'My Heart Will Go On'. The song, like the movie, was one that I could listen to over and over and over again, finding a reason to go "aaawww" in every line.

Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you
That is how I know you go on
Far across the distance and spaces between us
You have come to show you go on

Near far wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

Love can touch us one time and last for a lifetime

And never let go till we're gone
Love was when I loved you
One true time I hold you
In my life we'll always go on

Near far wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

You're here, there's nothing I fear
And I know that my heart will go on
We'll stay forever this way
You are safe in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

Sweet hor? Especially when you're only 19 and a sucker for romance. The scenes and lines stay stuck in your head.

Then at 29, you question the realism of it all. Never let go? Much as we don't wish to, we all have to let go of some things at some points in our life. No? Rose eventually let go of Jack's hand what. But as they song says, "In her life they'll always go on" and "her heart will go on and on". That's really sweet, but really, do we love with our heads or our hearts?

It's sad how one becomes more cynical with age and how complicated life becomes the longer you exist.

It would be nice if we could just be stuck at the age and time where everything's simple and sweet, can be taken at face value, and love is just .... that flutter you get in your heart when you see that special someone. Then perhaps the heart can go on and on.

Jamie's Other Friend.

If you remember my virgin post, you would recall that it was about my dog Jamie and her reptilian friend, Lizzie.

After coffee with BFC and Shades of Pink today, I returned home to find Jamie playing with her amphibian friend.


My dog's quite gross to play with such things. Her friend ended up jimping ... jumping with a slight limp. Heh.

Last Day Buys

As with last days in Bangkok, it was spent shopping - buying whatever else I could find. Bought lots of mini tees from Pratunam, but my favourite has got to be this one.

If you look closely enough, there's actually "fur" on Kitty's face!

Then there's this one...

I'm not a fan of Liverpool, really. But this was about the only dri-fit top I could find in the streets of Bangkok, so...

Then remember the shoe shop that was so crowded I couldn't get anything? The crowd finally thinned on Monday, and I got these... all at one go.

The beauty of last minute shopping.... :)))

The Bathtub...

Birdkeeper and Alien Head were supposed to meet us at our hotel, but somehow or other, they only made it to Pratunam Centre. So anyway, the morning was spent at Platinum Fashion Mall. It was my first time there cos it's new. Loads of things to shop, but you need to bulk buy (at least 3 pieces) to get the volume discount as it's kinda like a wholesale centre.

That was my lunch at MBK. The yummy claypot beef noodles I never fail to have that when I'm at MBK. Did some shopping after lunch, and then headed back to the hotel to unload all the stuff. The shoe shop which I normally get my stock of shoes from was uber packed, and I was too tired to push and shove with the others, so I gave it a miss. By the time we got back to the hotel, RT's back was aching from carrying all the stuff in the haversack and both our feet were aching from all the walking. So we met Birdkeeper and Alien Head for massage at Chang Foot Massage and Spa after dinner at Noodi (similar to Nooch in Singapore)...recommended by Birdkeeper and Alien Head for being one of the cleanest around Patpong.

RT and I had a full body Thai massage while Birdkeeper and Alien Head did the foot massage. Shiok. And I cracked like crazy - from head to toe. It's funny how you can choose for a male / female masseuse. And funnier how RT immediately asked for a female. So ok lor, then I'll take the male! To which he said, "Ok la, I'll take the male la!" But I figured he'd feel more awkward with a male masseuse doing a FULL body massage on him, so eventually, it was women for us both. I am so bloody considerate. :)

After the massage, Birdkeeper invited us to his hotel for durians. He'd bought them at the market earlier today and he had chilled them in his fridge. Nice!

I also wanted to check out the uber expensive boutique hotel which Alien Head insisted on putting up at. "Luxx is really nice you know. You should stay there with us." he's said. "There's a wooden bathtub in the toilet too!".

When I eventually saw it, I'm glad I didn't book The Luxx. So far and ulu ("quiet what" he says), so small ("cosy what" he says), no lift. It feels like a guesthouse you know. And check out the highlight of it that was very much a draw factor for me ...... the wooden bathtub.

Wooden bathtub your head la! Not very impressive la! I imagined it to be in the middle of a really HUGE bathroom. It turned out to be just a replacement of the normal bathtub in any hotel la! Aiyoh! Centre Point anytime hor! At half the price some more!

The Pigging Out Starts!

Chatuchak.

One never fails to pay this place a visit over the weekend in Bangkok. I've also heard that there's a fruit and vegetable market across from Chatuchak. I just never found it till today, when Birdkeeper took us there. And that's also where we had lunch - much cleaner than over at Chatuchak.

We pigged out.


Pig's trotters....


Orh Luah (Oyster Omelette)....



Fish maw soup, beef ball noodles, FATTY three-layered meat and for drinks, we had sugar cane and lotus root extracts.

And then we pigged out again at Chinatown for dinner.



Fried rice, fried noodles, shark's fin and bird's nest for dessert.

And because no one leaves chinatown without eating the tang yuan in ginger soup laden with oh-so-many-types-of-other-stuff (dried persimmons, lotus roots, gingko nuts, dates, etc), we decided to "da bao" back to the hotel!

This is turning out to be more of a food trip than a shopping trip!

I left Chatuchak with purchases of a blouse, and a pair of fake Crocs. And because the add-ons cost a teeny weeny fraction of what they cost back home, I couldn't resist getting another set of them!

Oh, and the next time I visit Chatuchak, I wanna get myself one of these... with Birdkeeper's help. :p

First Night in BKK

"You should just take the airport limousine. With the new airport surchage and toll fees, the taxi will prob be cheaper by only 100baht (S$4+). The limos are about 500 baht more comfy."

The advice came from HY. So when we touched down at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, RT and I checked out the limo costs. It ranged from 600 - 1000 baht, and since the guy at the taxi counter told us 400 baht should be sufficient to take us to our serviced apartment, we opted for the taxi. Halfway through the journey, we realised that the meter was jumping like crazy - not quite the norm for Bangkok taxis. So it was no surprise that the total charge on the meter showed 500 baht, not including the 50 baht surcharge and 75 baht toll fees!

"I think something wrong you know. The meter a bit sala." I said

"Ya, I think so too. It shouldn't be more than 400 baht. Like that we might as well have taken the 600 baht limo. I read somewhere that some cab drivers tamper with the meter, such that the meter jumps proportionally to how much they rev" RT said.

Hmmm. That explains why the driver was speeding like crazy, and stepping on the accelearator even at traffic lights!

"So how?" I asked

"You get down first. And take watch the luggage. I go see can negotiate or not." RT said.

The final negotiated fare was 450 baht. Still way too high la. We found out from some guys who were on the same flight and putting up at the same place that they only paid 200 baht for the fare from the airport. Shit.

Nothing much that we could do, so we checked into Center Point (Petchburi). For $66 a night, the place is extremely spacious and well quipped with a pantry, a kitchen with cutlery and a microwave, and a living area with a DVD player! Nice.



Headed out to Patpong after checking in to meet up with Birdkeeper and Alien Head. Supper was kway chap and rojak at a roadside stall. Yummy, but I'm not so sure about the cleanliness of it.



That's Birdkeeper doing the ordering

And this is the picture Birdkeeper and Alien Head requested for.....

1 Day More...

and I'm leaving on a jet plane!

No la. Leaving on Jetstar more like it.

But I'm so looking forward to it as I've not been there this year yet. (For those who know me, I usually go at least once a year.)

I've realised that my other best friend loves to visit me when I plan to travel. Her timing's so perfect, it's scary.

Birdkeeper and Alien Head, see you guys there ya! Please remember to bring more cash this time round ok? If not, you're gonna be stuck in the hotel after spending all your money on the first day again! LOL.

Just Once.

The end product of yesterday's baking class. Chocolate Blackforest Cake.

Pretty, but as the title of my post suggests, some things can only be made once. The Blackforest cake is one of them. Actually, all went well till it came to the creaming part.

Because the cake was a chocoloate sponge, each time the cream hit a bit of the sponge area, my white cream gets peppered with tinge of brown. The same happened to Dr Lee and Ms Troublesome, so our creaming session was peppered with, "Shit, got black black thing!", or "Aiyah the black black thing come out again!". (Actually, it's brown. I don't know why we said black.)

Then, to cover up the brown parts, I added more cream. And then because I couldn't even out the cream, my cake became a little lop-sided.

But the final outcome looks good ya? That's only because I got help from Chef Pang. :s

I think the Durian Cake's another one that falls into this category. Perhaps only Cooking Girl can do this creaming shit. :)

The Bestie's Hatch Day

So the Bestie's turned 29.

Here's the denial via sms...

Purples: Hey! Happy 29th! Last year of the decade huh? :P

The Bestie: Thanks. Who says I'm 29? Pls! heh.

29 or not, I sure hope you had a great, first birthday as a non-swinging-single with The Husband. :)

Green Fingers....

I so do not have them.

My colleague has pots and pots of African Violets in purple, pink and white. They're quite pretty, so I decided to get a pot myself.

BirdKeeper found a pot at the nursery and got it for me. Dark purple. Nice.
But in just a week, the flowers have withered and the leaves have started drooping!

My colleague told me to bring it into the office, so I did. She looked at it and said, "Not dead yet. Just weak." So now it's in the "sick bay" at the office.

Perhaps I should have taken the cue from the last plant gift I received from another colleague. It was a cactus and it died on me too. CACTUS you know.

9-pin Tap

For some reason or other, I never seem to do well at 9 pin-taps.

Perhaps the strikes comes too easily and it becomes all too common.

And for those who usually have difficulty sparing pin 10 or pin 7 or any other one pin left standing for that matter, are spared, as it's a strike anyways.

I should just stop taking part in 9-pin taps.

Pleasure Factory...

... has to be the worst movie I've caught. Ever.

The couple next to us was mumbling throughout the show. And when RT turned to look at them, the guy went, "Wah...cao nan kan!"

RT kept punctuating the show with comments like, "Wah, this is damn bad la." and "If it were not you who asked me to watch it, I sure scold the person I tell you." and "Ah, now the guy will take 10 minutes to buy a drink from the vending machine la!" and "How come they can allow such a show to screen ah?"

Luckily there was Ananda Everingham.

Even then, I don't know what his purpose in the show was.

The Very Long Weekend

It began on Friday. And it just ended.

Today is Monday. Again.

But it was an extremely good weekend.

Here's what I accomplished:

Friday:
10am: Took the dogs to the beach
2pm: Went to make glasses with my aunt
4pm: Went shopping for a gift for my cousin's birthday on Saturday
730pm: Went for grandma's 83rd birthday dinner celebration
11pm: Met the girls for coffee
3am: Sleep

Saturday:
10am: Did a run from home to the seafood centre at east coast and back
130pm: Attended my cousin's 10th birthday party
445pm: Made it to sunset mass
730pm: Mahjong
1am: Sleep

Sunday:
11am: Tennis at NSRCC
325pm: Caught the worst movie ever!
730pm: Sleep!!!!

I think I overdid the exercise part and konked out at 730pm on Sunday.

And it's Monday. Again.

Going Hawaiian

The yearly gala dinner is here again.

Tonight, the venue was in ulu land - Mandai Orchid Gardens. I reckon the only reason it was selected was because it was just that....U.L.U. So nobody could run off halfway. If you didn't drive, the only ways out were to wait for the company-chartered buses or to call a cab, if you could get one to come in, that is. I have RT to thank for picking me up.

Much as we all gripe about having to attend such company functions AFTER work, this one turned out quite fun after all.

The theme was Hawaiian. Hence the transformation of the orchid garden into a Hawaiian village.

What saved the night had to be the costume parade, which had male colleagues cross-dressed in hula skirts and bikini tops, a Mr Pomelo Andersen who donned two HUGE pomelos as a bikini top, a killer whale, a hawaiian mummy, a loan shark, a geisha who under the kimono had a sexy bikini, a tribal warrior...

Here's a peek at the line up of the contestants.

They could have hopped across to the Night Safari (just down the road) and fitted right in. :p

Star Search

That's where I was last night. Thanks to miss ene, who very kindly offered us tickets. So RT, Shades of Pink and I made our way to Caldecott Hill to render our support to her sister, Jeneen Goh, who had made it through to the semi-finals.

It's entirely different watching it from home and live at the studio.

The atmosphere, for one, is totally different. There were blocks of people with all sorts of noise-making devices screaming their lungs out each time their contestant appeared. miss ene did a great job preparing the posters, banners, whistles, cheers (which we learnt on the spot) and other cheerleading paraphernalia. She even got Jeneen's supporters (including the guys) to come in Jeneen's favourite colour - pink.

The commercial breaks, which seem to take forever when you're at home flew by in a jiffy at the studio. I think it had to do with us constantly preparing to shield our faces (with Jeneen's posters, nonetheless) from being screened on national television every time the commercial breaks came to an end. You never know if the cameras are gonna zoom in on the audience before the stage. And tv's not very kind with the slimming effect.

Jeneen didn't make it to the finals, but she sure came a long way already. And I'm sure she's gained quite a whole load of experience from coming this far.

And Shades of Pink, stop drooling over Mr Tay Ping Hui already la! :p

Just Us Three.

Just one slice of cheesecake each.

Just the three of us.

Oreo Cheesecake for Shades of Pink.
Rum & Raisin Cheesecake for BFC.
Strawberry Oreo Cheesecake for me.

And a whole load of gossip, catching up and bitching. About pilots, cargo handlers, dogs, SPGs, work, stupid people, weird people etc etc etc.

A nice way to destress after the crappy work week and a good way to kick start what I know would be another crap(pier) work week.

In Singapore??

So it was all the husky's fault for almost ripping off her ear while she was at the beach in Sentosa.

I honestly think the little girl did something to provoke the husky. We all know how kids can get. And I'm quite sure it (the dog, not the girl) just wanted to play. Really, if it was on attack mode, it would have been much more than an ear-tear.

And even after the husky got off her, the father went after it with a stick, with the intention to kill it.

Didn't the dog already get off the poor kid? Or was he still in "self defence" mode on behalf of her?

"When I saw the Siberian Husky, I was shocked because I was wondering what a husky was doing in Singapore!" the mother said.

That coming from her, who married an ang mo who's a PR here. Hmmm. I wonder what he is doing in Singapore. Or maybe the mother's just the typical no-brainer SPG (no pic of the mother but the kid looks mixed) to pass a comment like that. I mean, seriously, what kind of a statement was that??

I'm not saying the husky or its owner's not at fault. But was it right of the father to want to kill the dog and go after it with a stick? Sheesh. But because of the hulluballoo it's created, we're probably gonna see one less husky around.

Why not one less kid??

The article totally ruined a potentially good Friday evening.

Missing. Gaining

That is the durian cake which Cooking Girl and Ms Troublesome baked at class this week. Nice hor? A lot of work with the piping, I think. The class which I missed cos I've been so busy. And so tired.

I'm missing out on quite a number of things, really. Baking, running, sleeping...

And there are some things which I'm gaining. Like weight.

Tsk.