The Place to be (Part II)

Sorry for that angsty post. Everything's sorted out now and we are a-okay. Here's some pictures of where we went on saturday. I was feeling poor after escaping the treacherous grips of the MANGO sale monster (escaped but brutally bruised) so I wasn't really keen on shopping much. We took a walk down to Tanglin instead...



Behold a little part of Singapore that doesn't really look like Singapore. While walking down the little walkways of the holland-ish shophouses, passing Tanglin shopping centre and approaching Tanglin Court (hoping I get the names right), we found ourselves in the midst of a busy flea market.



You see that girl in blue who's sitting against the pillar and turning away from the camera? That was Cynthia Koh! She seems to be selling her clothes, bf and I postulated that this must be her only source of income now that she's hardly seen on TV anymore. The flow of acting contracts must be leaking to a halt. Let's check out her loot...



Hmm, doesn't seem too bad. Well, I couldn't bring myself to ruffle through the heaps of 2nd-hand clothes. And I was honestly apalled by the fact that 2nd-hand SHOES were being sold. Shoes! And some of those shoes didn't look brand new or anything, some actually looked worn and old and possibly reeking with foot odour! Eww.

Anyhow, we decided to chill for the day (or rather I did), and planted ourselves at Coffee Bean to drink calorie-laded frappucinos and watch the world go by.



Boyfriend being boyfriend, refused to drink any form of calories and settled on berry tea. He wasn't very happy with it.



Check out all the mozzie bites on his face. That's what reservist does to you.. haha. :x

We still had fun.



So I guess men say stupid things sometimes which they don't really mean, but what else's new? :P It's gonna be a monday again! PHoOEy.

I find it hard not to be influenced by other people so much. But all you really need to do to live life as oneself, truthfully and honestly, is stick to your guns and follow through. Follow the gut as one would say, don't think so much, just do it. That doesn't mean doing things without thinking at all, consider the factors involved, and make the best decision, the decision which follows what YOU think is right, instead of what OTHERs may think is right.

The boyfriend can be such an ass sometimes. One moment he tells me I'm the best, the nicest, the prettiest, and the next moment he's checking out someone else's ass, 'appreciating' someone else's 'sensual' way of living, and not minding being someone's toyboy if it meant living an extravagant lifestyle and sleeping with an older jamie-yeo look-alike. You know it really makes me wonder, why HE wonders why I don't believe all the 'sweet' things he says. When he says stupid things like this. What does he really want? What do all men want? Money, wealth, women and power? Then why do they bother getting married? You know what all women want? Its all really too simple. They want three things:

1. They want to feel special.
2. They want to be understood.
3. They occasionally want to be entertained.

Maybe the boyfriend just wants to rile me up or something. Well, it definitely worked, but its more disappointing than anything else. And I hate being so affected by it. It just shows weakness. Maybe I should distance myself so I wouldn't feel so affected. But then again, that's exactly what I did in the past, and that is not going to work for the rship. But its such an OLD issue, the fact that its come up again is like an ugly monster rearing its ugly head. Ah fuck it. I guess I should practice selective non-hearing and pretend it never happened? But that would just sweep things under the carpet wouldn't it?

Men are just so full of themselves, it makes me sick.

I don't know how come I'm suddenly blogging so much. It's a sunday night already, I mean, a monday morning, and its back to work again tomorrow (I mean, today) at 6.45am as usual. Deciding what to wear, listening to Glenn Ong while changing, planting myself in a little space within the throngs on the train, reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress which is proving very interesting, and waiting to reach BV where I would alight and walk along the metal rickety bridge and make my way along the valley in between the crowds of workmen and workwomen at the bus-stop. Trudging up the 'hill' to my workplace, settling down in front of my computer, checking my mail, and slowly slowly starting to do work. Can't wait to shift my desk over to the other office, where I rightly belong cos my dept lives there. Will miss the people in my present office but I'll probably see them for lunch anyways, and I just really want to 'break-in' my cubicle, bring in the chair cushions and inspiring photos!

Boyfriend's going into reservist next week. Hopefully he'll be able to call me when he's in there. He told me that men get over things really quickly and the best way to get over someone is to forget their existence completely and move on with life. Which is why men supposedley let themselves grow fat in a relationship because they go out to eat alot (see prev entry about things to do in Singapore) and upon breaking up, would head to the gym in an effort to make themselves look good so they can find a new girl asap. Boyfriend says he's like that too and we were bargaining on how long he should remember me if we should ever break up. He was saying 1 and a half years would be the max but he told me I shouldn't be worrying about this because he would never break up with me. Hah. Sometimes I feel sorry for all the girls who believe the sweet things guys can say when they obviously don't mean it which is why I am a hard person to convince when it comes to the lovey dovey stuff. Which is why I give him such a hard time because everytime he says I'm the best and wonders out loud what he would do without me I just go 'yea yea'. And then he wonders why I don't believe him. It's not that I don't really believe him though, its just easier to tell yourself he doesn't know what he's saying to make things feel better if anything wrong ever happens, then you think back to the things he say and kick yourself for ever believing them. Alright, I'm going on aren't I. Truth is I wouldn't know what to do without him. He's irritating and weird sometimes but I can't imagine my life without his silly face staring at me anymore. See below for what I mean by his silly face.



I know many of you are wondering how I could put up with such a silly face staring at me everyday. And I wonder about this myself but then I remember how his silly face makes me laugh and how I would probably stop laughing altogether if I didn't have one looking at me anymore. :P

Goodnight people, and enjoy the torturous week ahead. The next weekend will be here before you know it.

So today was pretty fun!

Had a weird dream about missing a tour bus the night before, thus was struggling to wake up from my dreamy stupor. Was supposed to meet the boyfriend at Jason's supermart to get our ingredients for our cannelloni adventure. Ended up slightly late but I should hardly feel guilty about it because in actual fact he had been there since ten-ish looking for ingredients himself and making up his own mind about what to get! So I had absolutely no influence in his choice of cheese, pasta and sauce! Rawr! But I did manage to convince him to get the Sangria which turned out yummy :)

Sangria [san-GREE-uh]: The blood-red color of this beverage inspired its name, which is derived from the Spanish word for "blood." Sangria is made with red wine, fruit juices, soda water, fruit and sometimes liqueurs and brandy or cognac. Sangria blanco (white sangria) is made with white wine. Both are served cold over ice and make a refreshing cooler on a hot summer day.

It's just too bad I forgot to take pictures of our yummy cannellonis!!! It turned out tasty but slighty overdone. Ended up meeting the bf's whole family man. We had lunch with the sis and cousin who are all nice and young and girly (reminscent of self back in the old days :|) then the parents started coming back from work/facial one by one. Darn it. Heh, finally met the dad though and he seems alright (i.e. not as strict and fierce-looking as the bf had warned, but I should know by now that bf's an excellent exaggerator and I shouldn't trust a word he says the next time :P).
Anyway we hid out in his room for most of the afternoon watching Project Runway. I know.. my boyfriend loves watching project runway, the bachelor, and the apprentice .. and no, I don't think he's gay (yet), evidence being he nearly puked and went green watching Brokeback Mountain. haha.

Well after that I had to depart to meet the 'friends who are always late' (but have now been slightly redeemed :P) for dinner and we tried this lovely jap restaurant at Wheelock called the Sun and the Moon. Had heard raving comments about it from the admin auntie at the workplace. AND yes, it lived up to its reputation. The salmon sashimi WAS TO DIE FOR. JUST LOOK AT IT.



And the avocado soft shell crab sushi with fish roe was great too. Pork (butt)cheeks were pepperish and tasty and the crabmeat hot pot thing with spinach reminded me a bit of claypot beancurd. Mount fuji (i.e. green tea ice kacang) was pretty huge and caused mae to brainfreeze.



After that I rushed off to Farrer Park which actually isn't very far from Orchard and met the colleagues for a Brit party-hardy farewell party. There was alot of cocktail mixing in saucepans, durians, twister, chips, music, dummy shit next to the toilet bowl etc. etc. We stayed till 1am can ya believe it? Mostly just laughing at people getting all twisted up with butts in their faces (smelling fart for sure), munching on chips, nuahing on the couch and sipping malibu mixes, red wine and who knows what. Also tasted some suspicious-looking tiramisu. It was a farewell party for a brit who was going back to the UK to study for his PhD.. (he's the one who keeps licking people in the pics). And yes that thing in the picture is the suspicious-looking tiramisu which tasted tasteless, watery and altogether Raw. The guy who was leaving made it, probably in a secret mission to poison us all to make sure we literally couldn't survive without him.



Anyway, I ate durian and sprayed hot durian breath into my durian-hating boss' face. I'm wondering if that was the right thing to do now. Hm. Haha. Oh well, I guess I could claim I was drunk and didn't know what I was doing when I see him at work on Monday. :D

Unbelievably, my parents are up now watching the world cup (USA vs. Italy). Perhaps should join them.. laterz!

It's pretty sad how I'm now updating only once a week, on a weekend night. It's just so tiring to come home and switch on the computer when I've been facing one the entire day. I'd much rather laze on the couch and face a larger more colourful screen i.e. the TV.

Have you realised how local shows are never as witty and hilarious as American shows? Now that I've got cable I've been watching Seinfield alot on Starworld and I can't believe how hilarious it can get. That whole show is based on nothing and yet it can still be funny every single episode. The characters already feel like family. In the local shows everything's so predictable and it almost always has to involve lovey dovey stuff, misunderstandings and the like. Boring boring boring! ! ! Even if anyone came up with a fantastically funny script for a tv show, I doubt there'd be any talented actors/actresses who can actually pull it off. The chinese dramas on channel 8 or U seem to have lost its appeal somehow. I still remember following them religiously when I was in sec sch, probably because I didn't have cable then :|

Anyway, it's friday night and I finally went out with the boyfriend! These past few months he's been training up for his fitness test next week which involves a regime of running 2.4km on the treadmill in less than 10min every monday and friday and working out at the gym every other day. So this friday night he finally decided to give it a break and rest before the actual thing and we went out! Friday night is a nice time to go out. It just feels like a relief that another week is over and its the weekend the next day so you're entitled to sleep late and do fun stuff. So we had Kenny Roger's for dinner and walked around the massive Marina Square and had a drink in their food-court. You know the seats outside the food court overlook the esplanade and the skyline, tis was absolutely beautiful.



Singapore's a pretty place but the things to do here are simply so limited sometimes. Its like the bf and I are always cracking our heads together thinking of what to do each weekend. There's only so much you can do in Singapore:

1. Shop
2. Eat
3. Watch a movie (which I haven't been doing because we're both feeling poor)
4. Roller-blade (cycling is out of the question because I am a cycling hazard)
5. Canoe at MacRitchie (any takers?)
6. Visit each other's homes

What else is there to do which isn't costly (i.e. going for a cruise) or lame (i.e. flying a kite)? So this sat I'm going to his house to make some cannelloni (literally translated as "big tubes", this pasta is rolled around a savory filling, topped with a sauce and baked). Hope it turns out alright. Then after that I'll be meeting the now known as 'friends who are always late' (heh) for early dinner before heading to a colleague's farewell party at his place in Farrer park. Packed saturday it is.. will lug my camera along and try to take pics.

Okay it's late, I should sleep, although I'll prob end up staying up late surfing aimlessly. I like doing that on weekend nights somehow. Just another way to waste time. Hah.. nites ppl.

Happy weekend to all.

The best thing about working, is probably the fact that most of the time you hardly have to bring any work home. So weekends or weeknights are dedicated to complete slacking around and one doesn't even have to feel guilty about it. Unlike in the student days, especially when exams were nearing, times are spent chained to the desk like no tomorrow and the death of many brain cells were mourned by many. But life is short, and it would be obscene to do absolutely nothing during the weekends... or would it? Anyway, I'm actually taking a liking to going for a jog after work. I'm not sure whether I do it for fear of growing to become a fat, unhealthy slob, or because it feels good running. Especially when there's a canal along my house all the way to the east coast. And the evenings are cool and you see other joggers (and secretly laugh at them when they appear all dishevelled and sweaty, not knowing you appear the same way to them) and dog-walkers, and the occasional cutie cycling past and giving you a glance (or could I just be imagining that?). Anyhow, jogging makes me feel like I'm taking a break from the world sometimes.

Another friend passed away this week, this one was tragic. Really cheerful, pretty, friendly girl who went on the same program as the one I went on last year (rem NYC, orlando and all those fun times?), but this time to Alaska. She died in a car accident when she and her friends were going on a road-trip to Canada. It was tragic because she was so young, she had just graduated. It was tragic because me and others had gone on so many road-trips before and somehow something like that should happen to her. It was tragic because one of her best friends was the one driving. It was tragic because I still remember speaking to her while we were studying in the same study room together, and I still remember her niceness in offering her seats up to us and helping me carry my laptop down when my hands were full. And it was tragic because she was so well-loved by the rest of her hall-mates. Tragic and shocking, was everyone's reaction to it. Can't imagine what her parents, family, boyfriend and esp that best friend who was driving must be going through. Kind of makes me wonder why that sort of thing would happen to someone like that. It simply isn't fair. And it kind of stirs up alot of thinking about how things happen the way they do. So many other people could also have been involved in that accident. Just that fate unravelled in a way that put them out of danger, like how one of the guys over there was Malaysian. So he didn't have the visa to cross the Canadian border and couldn't go for the road-trip. And how other people were supposed to go for the Alaskan trip, but either their parents didn't allow it or some other reason made it impossible for them to leave. Life's weird like that. And essentially at the end of it all, life just goes on.

Alright, update again another time. Treasure life people.

Sorry I haven't been blogging very regularly. I've just been pretty busy and am rather wary of accessing my blog from work. Have heard of people being fired for complaining too much about their work on their blogs :\ And it doesn't seem right to be blogging from work. Perhaps during lunch-time but still, the whole 'big brother is watching' theory kind of scares me. Imagine if there really was someone monitoring your every move on a CCTV and there has never been an existence of a real private moment. Kind of like "GOD IS WATCHING" isn't it. Talking about God, I really think I'll be going to hell. Let's not even delve into the all non-Christians go to hell theory. My JOB involves KILLING innocent animals for god's sake (sorry for using your name in vain, God.) I'm not entirely thrilled about it. But someone has to do it. And it is for a greater cause. Did you ever know that people over the age of 80 have a 50% chance of getting Alzheimer's? I had no clue it was that wide-spread. It's almost like, on your 80th birthday, your chances of going insane get doubled. Acutally, growing old scares me. Seriously.

I never really thought of myself as old before. But after my 23rd birthday (okay I know I'm still young but listen to me!), I realised how fast time is just going to fly by. Especially when you're going to work everyday, coming home and then going to work again. Time just ticks by day-by-day and before you know it, you're hitting 30. ISN'T THAT FREAKY? And it doesn't help when people around me are telling me to avoid the sun because it may lead to ageing spots and blemishes, or to stop eating chicken skin altogether to avoid getting a heart attack when you're 50. And don't even talk about the number of people dying. It's depressing. Within a span of a week, 3 people I know of have died. One was the father of a labmate, another was the mother of an old classmate and the last was a fellow hall-mate who was battling leukemia. It's just really saddening when a death occurs, the fact of knowing someone is never going to be coming back and that that fact would haunt their loved ones probably for the rest of their lives. Then I look at my parents. My dad just celebrated his 62nd birthday. He seems to have lost weight and his hands tremble when he holds something for too long. And both my parents seem to be increasingly suffering from muscle/tendon aches as well as memory loss. What's the deal with that? All this time I thought they were perfectly healthy people, and then they pull scary shit like that. I know it isn't their fault, but its getting rather worrying. I would break down entirely if anything untoward happened to either of them. Boyfriend says he knows how I feel and is getting his dad to eat more and work out to build up muscle mass because as you grow old, your muscles tend to waste away. But my dad can't WORK-OUT for nuts! He's probably never lifted a dumb-bell in his entire life. He looks so fragile and weak and he's still enjoying his carrot cake and char kway teow :S Sigh, well at least they're taking Tai Chi. Hopefully, the 'Qi' does exist and can help in the longevity and well-being department.


Anyhow, happy birthday daddy.

Ok, that's enough morbid and depressing thoughts for now. Boyfriend's birthday was last wednesday :) (Yup, three geminis sitting in a tree) We went to a mediterranean restaurant called Esmirada. The food there was pretty good, service good too, and they smash plates later on in the night. Now that's just guaranteed fun :P Anyway, I got the boy a black Ipod Nano 1GB with a matching fierce black sports arm-band. I know you're thinking I'm either being excessively generous or I'm just plain rich. But nope, you're not considering the Bonia handbag he got for me on my birthday, and that schweet diamond ring he handed me on our 1st yr anni. So how could I JUST get him a Rip-Curl T-shirt aye!? Understandably, we've decided not to get gifts anymore and just treat ourselves to meals on future birthdays lest we start buying houses and cars for each other :P


Boyfriend gleaming with a sparkler in his tiramisu, kissing me with utmost gratitude on reception of the best gift ever, throwing a plate, and showing off the coolest gift ever. And food. Mainly seafood, garlic bread and paella (i.e. A saffron-flavored Spanish dish made with varying combinations of rice, vegetables, meat, chicken, and seafood).

We went to the PC fair at Suntec today. Super-duper crowded. I wish they would come up with a better way to walk to Suntec. Today, everyone was squeezed on that little narrow bridge and the escalators weren't working! Rawr! And guess what, we're going again tomorrow.. this time, to REALLY get the stuff. hah. The boyfriend wants to do his internet research and make sure the 'best' buy is really the best buy :| Oh well, love is full of sacrifice ain't it :P Love will leave the LSTs (long skinny things) in the dust and put the SMPLs (short, moderately pudgy ladies) high high up on a pedestal :D

AND OH YES, I finally applied for the UOB ladies card *prances around*!