Lian @ Heart

Ramblings

2010-05-24T11:58:00.002+08:00

Read a blog post the other day:

A man in Iowa, in front of witnesses, fed his 5 month old puppy bowl after bowl of beer. When the pup urinated on the carpet, he punched him over 30 times in the face and killed him.

Senseless right?

Reading this brought wave after wave of outrage. And it has continued to haunt me till now. Why do people do such things? Why do humans abuse their right to be at the top of the food chain?

It's just not right to bring a puppy home, and kill it with your own bare hands. From the dog's point of view, we are their universe. Their lives are built around us, our schedules and our habits.

The worst part of this is, I'm sure the puppy did not even know why he was being beaten up. Imagine yourself, intoxicated, bewildered and frightened, and the person you love and trust comes along to pulverize you to a pulp.

Even with his dying breath, he must have still loved his owner. And this is what makes me so mad.

How can we, the civilized human race, take such unconditional love for granted? Why do some of us feel the compulsion to inflict senseless pain to another being so defenseless?

And I know... he loves me...

2010-05-05T10:30:00.002+08:00

I can affirm my husband loves me, hehehe...

& I am thankful for the fact that he tries his best to be patient and to understand. (although most times he simply thinks I am throwing another of my tantrums)

But this only serves as an affirmation of his love for me because I know just how difficult it is to not be on the same page with someone, yet to try to see their point in order to be supportive.

Marriage life has it's up and downs, all I can say is I must learn to keep the faith. Yet, I'm a creature of habit who always needs to be in control, thus I will usually try to predict end results based on past track records as references.

I must learn to let go of the past, to stop looking at him through coloured glasses, yet at the same time, it's so hard to do that, cos' I'm so afraid to get hurt that I dun wanna be vulnerable.

*Sigh* I thought life was supposed to get easier once I became older since I'm supposed to be wiser, but though I'm hitting 30 in less than 6 months, I'm still beset by troubles and woes of pubescent teens. Looks like I'm far from maturity in the state of mind.

2010-05-04T12:01:00.002+08:00

二人同行

用期待加上宽容在加无止境乐观和等候
以为这些付出等于美好结果你却说凭什么

我相信你爱护我只是爱没有想像中的多
对天空的辽阔来说云算什么你不会懂我渺小得多宽容

爱你不重我要自己不要放开手
不痛不痛心却独自跳的好寂寞
幸福那一个美梦是二人同行才有
你渐渐缺席让我被挡在未来的入口

爱你不重尽管我无力再向前走
不痛不痛就算辛苦的震耳欲聋
爱你我爱到最后剩回忆这个朋友
爱情从二人同行变成我一个默默后承受

我想过很多以后幻想过快乐也愉悦心痛
爱就像是偏执的风带我升空
只问前进忘了要怎么降落

Emo... Me?

2010-05-04T09:30:00.002+08:00

I dun consider myself to be an emotional person, but the other day, Fussy said I always have lots of "feelings" whenever things dun go my way.

This is considered normal isn't it? I mean when things are going great, and if I were to be sitting there, mulling over everything all the time, then what am I? Some psycho freak?

It's only when things dun go right, that you start thinking about stuff and how to make them right, RIGHT?

But, I guess in Fussy's mind, this works differently.

I'm just missing the closeness between us, which seems to fade abit more with each passing day. And this is just our 3rd year of marriage, and we dun even have children.

Is the bond between us so fragile, that it will be rendered useless with minimum impact?

2010-05-01T02:37:00.002+08:00

"He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds;
my other ears that hear above the winds.
He is the part of me that can reach out into the sea.

He has told me a thousand times over that I am his reason for being;
by the way he rests against my leg;
by the way he thumps his tail at my smallest smile;
by the way he shows his hurt when I leave without taking him.
(I think it makes him sick with worry when he is not along to care for me.)

When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive.
When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile.
When I am happy, he is joy unbounded.
When I am a fool, he ignores it.
When I succeed, he brags.

Without him, I am only another man.
With him, I am all-powerful.
He is loyalty itself. He has taught me the meaning of devotion.
With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace.

He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant.
His head on my knee can heal my human hurts.

His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things.
He has promised to wait for me... whenever... wherever - in case I need him.
And I expect I will - as I always have.
He is just my dog." - Gene Hill

Hiatus

2010-02-04T21:26:00.003+08:00

After a self-imposed month long hiatus from writing, it feels so odd to be sitting in front of the laptop to phrase my thoughts into legible sentences.

Man, it's been quite a month. First, I bloody passed my practical driving test after 3 attempts.

One week into driving and I manage to get a summon from LTA for driving in a bus lane during peak hours. I also somehow reversed my car into another stationary car in the multi-storey carpark. So sick...

I suppose all's well that ends well though, cos' I wrote in an appeal for a waiver of the composition fine and it was approved. For the other, we settled with the other car's owner privately and total damages incurred for doing up his and my car came to SGD330.00. All these have given me an unexplained paranoia of driving, BUT I'm trying my best to get over it and move on.

That was the bad stuff, now for the good stuff.

We've been pretty adventurous lately, checking out new places around our neighbourhood, in Portsdown Road. This is really a gem find, and a helluva chill out playground.

We went to Klee, at Jules's recommendation and it was great! The place serves one of a kind cocktails and they also have a mini sushi bar, with the chef in authentic Jap get-up. The cool thing about this place is they dun have a menu and you just tell the bartender what kind of alcohol you like, e.g., vodka, gin, rum etc. Then you choose from the wonderful array of fresh fruits and berries to mix your very own cocktail. By the way, all the fruits are cut and pureed in front of you, so it's quite a show.

I had Belvedere vodka with passion fruit, then an apple martini which tasted fabulous.

On a separate occasion, we also checked out this mad retro, lao kok place named Colbar which serves really good western food. Saw a chocolate labradoodle there which belonged to a very friendly ang moh. Her name is Maddy or Maddie, I'm not too sure. She's turning 4 and is the most amazing, stable, docile large breed dog I've met in a long time. Her owner explained they work with autistic children and children who have difficulties in learning. According to him, she's really good with them. SO COOL, huh?

Lastly, the super bad stuff.

My long-awaited trip to Dubai has gone up in a puff of smoke. A little background here, Fussy has known since Dec 09 that he's got to go up to Dubai in Feb 2010 to work for at least 2 weeks and since Feb is a really short month, no matter how he plans the trip, he will most likely clash with the CNY week.

Since V-Day also falls on CNY this year, I expressed an interest in tagging along as I really dun wanna spend V-Day alone.

But the trip itinerary really depended on whether Hewlett-Packard could deliver the hardware on time, so that he could start work and his presence would be justified. He finally got the green light and I went ahead to renew my passport and also book my air ticket.

The cool thing was, my aunt is also going up to Abu Dhabi to visit her boyfriend and we had planned to shop up a storm in Dubai, as Abu Dhabi is only about an hour's drive away.

We were set to depart on 13 Feb, and I had looked forward to going on my 1st long flight, when Fussy told me earlier that the trip had to be postponed. No wonder they say disappointment is bitter, cos' I swear the lump in my throat tasted worse than bittergourd.

This is all because of HP's incapability to deliver the goods on time. I swear, they are totally unreliable in their commitment to the customer. The order was submitted on 15 Jan and their stipulated delivery lead time was 21 working days. Now, it exceeds their given ETD and nobody can do anything about it. MNCs suck, BIG TIME!

I'm so frusrated! Because my office will be closed for the CNY week, I will be deducted 3 days' worth of annual leave for nothing. I can only stay to rot in sucky Singapore and I shudder at the prospect of having to fend off well-meaning relatives' questions about my womb and the productivity of it.

FXXX HEWLETT-PACKARD for ruining my getaway!

Chanel 2.55 fevah

2009-12-21T15:54:00.001+08:00

This is the bag that I'm feverishly lusting after right now...

The Chanel 2.55... 'nuff said.

Depressed

2009-12-10T22:19:00.004+08:00

I have titled this post "Depressed".

Depressed with the state of my social life.

Depressed with my never-ending work stress.

Depressed with being "me"... WTF.

Sitting here at 10.20pm, with a pile of laundry to be kept, and tons of work awaiting me in the office the next day, I cannot help but ponder, what else is there, and how much more I can take?

I feel like a vaccumm cleaner, sucking away all the dust and icky stuff, clearing other people's shit and taking in all the bad stuff, with no place to vent or empty it.

Used to love pubbing and binge drink, but now, all drinking gives me is a whole lot more shit. Wake up the next day with crappy hangovers and then my whole day is wasted. If the next day is a work day, all the more I can't drink, cos' I'll be zoning out in the office and my work will pile up. Even when I'm sober, it gets to the point where I'm so busy that I'm amazed I still have time to breathe.

I'm not complaining, but it just gets frustrating sometimes to deal with all the expectations. I'm expected to perform, and I also demand myself to perform. It has gotten to the point where I dream about work at night when I sleep. Time to ask for a pay raise, wuahahaha...

When life gets so busy, all you really hope for is someone meaningful to share it with at the end of a long day when you are burned out. At times like these, everything is depressing.

Especially when the person who should understand is the one that cannot comprehend anything. What then is the point in trying so hard to make a living for ends to meet? What then is the meaning of the initial agreement? What then is the true meaning of that sacred piece of paper?

If all we think of are our wants, our needs, and our perspectives, where then is the love, compassion and understanding? Is this the truth that I've been running away from and turning blind eyes to right at the beginning?

Slack

2009-11-04T21:03:00.003+08:00

Okie, I know I'm late. And I know the previous post doesn't count.

Anyway, just finished my 1st driving lesson in like two months, and I'm super encouraged by my new instructor. He was quite surprised that I hadn't been driving for awhile and he said I was pretty good, except still weak at changing lanes.

Well, at least this instructor doesn't yell at me. Mr Vernon Goh is the most polite man I've met in a long while. Being soft-spoken and calm, the lesson went well cos' I wasn't busy "reacting" to him. Unlike my previous instructor who liked to yell at every small mistake I made and kept complaining I wasn't concentrating. Keeping my fingers crossed that Mr Goh will train me well enough to pass my next TP.

On a side note, I had the most 手枪 thing happen to me today. Was wearing this new dress and noticed a loose thread hanging off the front before I went for lunch.

Scissors in hand, I got ready to snip it off, when I sneezed. Yup, sneezed. And ended up snipping a hole at the front of my dress. 手枪 or not? ALL AGREE, super 手枪.

Ran around office looking for a sewing kit to mend the hole, ended up telling all my colleagues wat happened in the process and only unsympathetic laughter rang out. I swear, I'm the clumsiest person in the world.

My boss paid me the highest compliment today when he sent me a personal email telling me he admired my literary skills and praised me for a job well done after reading an email I had sent to one of our customers. I was surprised, but I felt really good for being appreciated. Which again confirms my past predicament was a total blessing in disguise. I still have not finished thanking God for gifting me my present job.

And just to top off this post, I am super mad about 張芸京.

Finishing first in the first season of the Taiwan talent competition show "Super Idol", up-and-coming singer Zhang Yun Jing was one of the most eye-catching newcomers of 2008. Originally a graphic designer, Yun Jing has won acclaim for the poster design of Taiwan movie Beautiful Crazy, and now she is living the dreams of many in her new adventure as a rising pop star. Yun Jing's debut album Unprecedented released May 2009 features 10 songs, including her CTS idol drama Knock Knock Loving You opening and ending theme songs ("You Fly" and "Black Dress", respectively), and a bonus track.*

*excerpt taken from YesAsia description

Can you believe she is a she? Erm, sentence structure like abit wrong, but I think you get wat I'm trying to say... Last I checked I've got no lesbian tendencies, although I was in a convent for ten of my most impressionable years.

I think she is so freakin' cool and a smashing singer at that. She's got the most fantastic voice and I really like her androgynous image.

She's just SO good right? By the way, this song is written by Hu Yan Bin. The guy who brought us classics like "Waiting for you" and "Nan Ren KTV". I just can't get enough of her and I google her every night on Youtube. Obsessed man...

Oh, talkin' 'bout obsessed, I think Mariah Carey's new song's really cool too...

Thought of the day

2009-10-26T21:36:00.004+08:00

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

当你在越辛福的时候，这也将会是你越脆弱的时候.

My Long Weekend

2009-10-16T08:44:00.003+08:00

Have been working so hard that I'm really looking forward to the upcoming long weekend, and I have great plans for it.

Today's finally Friday, YAY! Although the weather sucks, nothing will bring down the high that I am feeling now in anticipation of the break I deserve.

Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow and we can go ahead as planned to bring Ace to Sentosa for a swim and I can work on my tan!

Tomorrow night's exciting cos' I have finally convinced Fussy to go to the Night Safari with me. And because it's October, they are having Halloween Horror on every weekend night till the end of the month. Sounds promising eh?

Tix are at SGD35 per pax, and we have 6 going in total. Stay tuned for happenings and pics, *I must remind myself to bring the camera*

On a side note, went to West Coast Park with Fussy and Ace last night. My father-in-law usually plays soccer there in the evenings and Fussy wanted to join. So I tagged along and brought Ace for a walk in the park.

It's really scenic and beautiful, and I really enjoyed the fresh air, plus it's not crowded like East Coast. Ace, needless to say, enjoyed himself too. As the park is not crowded, I let him walk on a longer length of the leash, so he could really trot along, wuahaha.

I think the only person disappointed was Fussy. We arrived too late, and it was getting dark, so by the time he found my father-in-law, they were already ending the game, so he din even manage to put on his soccer boots. *kua kua kua*

Updates

2009-10-12T22:00:00.002+08:00

In response to friends' comments that my blog is growing fungi, yes, I have dragged my fat arse to my lappie to start a new post. BUT, this arse is not lazy, this arse has just woken from a way too long bout of lethargy to throw itself back into life! & loving every minute of it by the way...

To loyal readers, I am so sorry for the lack of updates. Lack of discipline and stress do not make Selene a good blogger, wuahaha...

Well, I have set my mind down to writing a post at least once every 3 days for those of you who are interested in reading what I have to share. Although, my life is pretty boring compared to BFFs': No growing baby to document, no upcoming home renovations and no marriage proposals to look forward to, hahaha, you know who you are! Anyway, congrats, I'm just so happy for everyone around me, who have their dreams and wishes fulfilled.

Being away from my blog for so long means I have too many updates which have not been posted and suddenly, I know not where to begin. Suffice it to say, life has been a breeze. Not smooth sailing, but hell, at least I'm like LIVING. I've learnt to accept that life will never bring with it beds of roses all the time and well, I'll take life and whatever challenges it brings me. Having a broader frame of mind and accepting that things almost never turn out as expected usually helps too. Wah, like so zen hor?

I'm sure all of us have good times and bad times. But it's not what happens that matter, it's how you approach it that really makes you. It's always your choice. You can choose to bitch about something and feel bad all the time, or you can sit and cry, but why not choose to ride it out, and keep your spirits up? I think what I like about this is I HAVE A CHOICE, NO MATTER WHAT. I can choose what I wanna think, feel or say.

I say this is real SELF-EMPOWERMENT!!!

Ramblings...

2009-09-10T21:54:00.004+08:00

Judging from the lack of updates, astute readers would have by now deduced I've been freaking busy!!!

And yes, to continue from my previous post, I failed my 1st TP. I shall not dwell on the disappointment further, and well-meaning friends should thank their lucky stars that this road hazard has not been licensed to drive, muahahaha... But well, it's been a good experience and I will try again.

To clear the air, NO, I am not pregnant. The new addition to our family is our car, which is the Toyota Bb. It's not brought in by Borneo Motors, so we actually purchased it from a PI aka parallel importer. Will post pictures later.

It's been keepin' us busy cos' Fussy has been looking for various ways to "upgrade" it. In Ah Beng terms, it means to 'zhng' the car. This is a common syndrome I have noticed in the male gender. As one female colleague aptly put it, men do this because they wanna personalize the car and make it their "own". I suppose I can relate it to women and our choice of bags, clothes, accessories and shoes. Women like to 'zhng' ourselves, keke.

So, with this new addition, it has brought many positive changes to our lifestyle. Past typical weekends before we acquired the car were spent "nuaing" around the house as we were too lazy to travel out on public transport to do anything together. As well as that, we would try to spend time with Ace, and being not able to ferry him around, it limited the places we could go and the activities we could do.

Now, with Fussy being so adamant about going to Johor to pump petrol and to wash the car, we make a trip there almost every Saturday. It's been fun as we get to explore different places and eat different food. Of course, it also helps that the Singapore dollar is quite strong now and we get pretty good exchange rates. On top of that, I have switched to shopping and doing my nails or hair in Johor Bahru as the service I get there is so much better, and because they are used to serving Singaporeans, they are more efficient as well.

Ace has also benefited from the new car as we get to bring him out more often, like to Sentosa to swim, as much as the weather allows, or out for dinner, ahem... he stays in the car of course, Singapore is a so not pet-friendly country.

We actually brought him along when we went to buy durians too. I think he doesn't care for the fruit very much as he kept pricking his nose on the thorns when he tried to check them out.

Which is why I have been kept so busy that there's been no time to collect my thoughts and just write.

My new job has also been leaving me so drained and tired that I just dun wanna touch the keyboard after I shut down my PC to leave the office. But, it's been an exciting and challenging time, and I'm really starting to enjoy the momentum in my work life.

No longer do I count the minutes till I can knock off, or drag myself to the office in the mornings. I also do not come up with excuses to persuade myself not to go to work anymore. All these changes have brought with it a new maturity that I did not use to possess. Well, I guess I am ready for the big 3-0!

Which reminds me, my 29th birthday is due next week... *frantic checking for new wrinkles*

Nerves

2009-08-25T23:07:00.002+08:00

Gawd, I'm like so done for.

WTF, my driving practical test is on Friday and I only just went into the circuit last Friday! Where got enough practice liddat? And somemore I'm like using the "private" circuit instead of BBDC's circuit cos' you gotta book waaaayyy in advance to use it, although it costs a hell lot more.

No fair, now I know why people who enroll as students at BBDC have a higher passing rate. Watever, I'll make full use of the next two nights' lessons to practice, practice and PRACTICE! I'm literally shitting in my pants now and I'm trying to forget Friday exists.

I must be a damn good actress cos' my instructor keeps thinking that I'm like si beh steady and he keeps saying that I drive like I confirm will pass. Hah! If only he knew, anyway, keeping my fingers crossed and hopin' for the best.

Anyway, to borrow a Mandarin saying: 船到桥头自然直, and if I dun pass this time, it just shows I need more practice, hahaha...

And when all else fails, praying always helps!

My Greatest Vice

2009-08-16T00:16:00.012+08:00

Hihi... it's been a hectic time, adapting to a new environment and meeting new challenges, but I'm happy to say I'm slowly adjusting.

We also have a new addition to the family which has been keeping us busy. Will tell you guys about it soon, haven't had time to take pics to compose a good blog entry, muahaha...

On to a more light-hearted topic, a fellow colleague asked me this question on Friday: "What do you spend on most?" Well, I would have to say my greatest vices are, SHOES, BAGS, CLOTHES, BOOKS and MAKE-UP in that order, hahaha.

On last count, I think I had about 38 pairs of footwear, including flip-flops and my birkies, yes, TWO of my birkies. But since this is not very recent, you are right in thinking this number has gone up!

Imelda Marcos in the making, hmmm.... not a very good comparison, read a recent article in the news that she's in financial difficulties. Anyway, back to my shoe collection.

Remember that scene in Sex and the City where Mr Big shows Sarah Jessica Parker THE dream wardrobe with that to-die-for pair of Manolo Blaniks? Yes, that is MY dream wardrobe too, cos' I simply have no more space for any more shoes!

Warning from Fussy about my shoe fetish: Make sure you can keep all your shoes in the shoe cabinet, otherwise you can forget about buying more. *Guilty smirk* Keke, I have ALMOST reached my space limit.

To illustrate my ALMOST lack of space, you may feast your eyes on my modest collection:

Hahaha, as they say: A picture speaks a thousand words. Proof enough that I love my shoes? But I dun pay more than SGD15 per pair, courtesy of Mondo and Charles and Keith's outlet store at Anchorpoint. Amazed at my nose for sniffing out good buys?

And this is Ace, looking disappointed among his favourite chew "toys", wishing he can sink his teeth into them:

Random silly moment with my favourite companion:

I know lar, very tak glam, but this is the real ME! And I can't remember when these were taken as well, just found them in the camera. And please dun ask me what I was trying to do to him, cos' I really dunno...

Dat's all folks, check back for updates soon... Ciaozzzz...

Reflections

2009-08-06T21:25:00.003+08:00

Heya, I noe I have not updated in a long while.

Let's just say it has been a pretty tough time. Hence, I have taken this time to reflect on my own thoughts and actions and I realise I have been taking too many things for granted.

I have been this proud conceited peacock, and I have gotten too big for my own boots. Life has a strange way of teaching you lessons, and I guess I'm resigned to learning mine the hard way.

Based on my previous posts, friends have been very concerned for my marriage. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, but do not worry. I have thought things over and I am now learning to see things from a different perspective.

In this trying time, my husband has been my silent pillar of strength and support, and for that I am very grateful. Once again, life is showing me that I have not made a wrong choice and I have been too demanding in my expectations of him.

I'm happy to say that things have settled down, and I'm re-learning to appreciate all the simple things in life again.

Sounds so cheem right? Due to confidentiality agreements I have signed, I can't go into detail.

But let's just say, Life dealt me a hard blow, I stumbled and I fell, flat on my face. I would say, this blow came at the right time.

I could have sat there to cry and complain and to put the blame on the world, but myself. But this blow made me sit down to think and reflect, and that's what I have done.

Through this ordeal, it has made me learn to appreciate life again and not take things for granted. Right now, I'm slowly recovering from my stumble, and taking baby steps again in what I hope to be the right direction that life wants me to take.

2009-07-23T13:00:00.002+08:00

“The real act of marriage takes place in the heart,

not in the ballroom or church or synagogue.

It's a choice you make - not just on your wedding day,

but over and over again -

and that choice is reflected in the way you treat your husband or wife.”

Barbara De Angelis

Why...

2009-07-22T16:50:00.002+08:00

为什么你说的话和做的事, 从来不留给我任何商量的余地???

A Happy Marriage

2009-07-22T13:05:00.007+08:00

Why are there so many happy couples out there? What is the secret to a lasting, fulfilling partnership with your beloved? If I could google up a sure-fire solution, please let me know the key words. Or better yet, can someone tell me how to understand men?

If life was as simple as asking a question, getting the answer and doing what you were told, would I be a much happier person? What is the meaning of being happy? Is it that contentment you feel after finishing a good book, or that satisfaction of eating your favourite flavour of ice-cream? Is it the sense of self-confidence to walk around stark naked with all your problem areas like love handles for the world to see, or the security in knowing that you love your other half and are being loved in return?

My self-esteem is in the pits now, obviously I'm not important enough cos' simply put, my other half just told me he doesn't care. Every time I ask for something, it's always the same answer: "I have no time".

He never has time for me, but he has time for work, for his colleagues, for after work entertainment and for his countless groups of friends. He's besieged by invitations to go out every night after work. And to him, he has been the one making the sacrifices in this marriage, cos' according to him, he has already cut down on going out, ALOT.

I asked him earlier, when you go out so many days a week, do you ever stop to think if your wife might be lonely, or has it ever crossed your mind to ask your wife to do something together?

His reply was: "Well, I think my wife would be making her own plans to go out with her own frens, and besides, she also has the dog to accompany her. Otherwise if she's lonely or bored, my sister can keep her company."

His answer left me cold, and suddenly, I felt that I had enough. I had wasted enough time and effort on a lost cause. The tears came, hard and fast, regardless of the fact that I was sitting at my office cubicle.

In times like these, doubt plagues my every step. Have I married the wrong person? Are we really meant for each other? Is there such a thing as "the one" for you? Am I being unreasonable in my demands? Why must life be so difficult with the one you love? I envy couples who seem to know each others' thoughts, who are happy and contented and who revel in taking their relationships to a higher level of understanding.

What is it like to love like a dog? Unconditionally. It's owner can be the biggest loser on earth, but to his pet dog, he is the world. He's the best! Dogs dun compare, dogs dun demand and a dog never asks itself if this is worth it. If I could be Ace for a day, would I know then the meaning of real happiness?

Or could I be a cyborg, then I can programme myself to be happy everday and not think about anything else?

Why can't the finer things in life be bought? If all of life's problems could be solved with a simple formula or microchip, wouldn't things be much easier? If I were devoid of emotion, would I be able to cope with life's issues better?

How did all those people in blind marriages cope in the olden days? Why could these people live in conjugal bliss till the day they died, in the arms of those they loved? Was it because life was much simpler then?

Cooking Mama

2009-07-20T15:46:00.004+08:00

Do I look like I can cook?

Ahem... *drumroll please* I CAN!

I've always been able to cook, just not very well. And when I say cook, I mean I can whip up dishes more complicated than instant noodles, or Campbell's canned soup.

But recently, I've gotten better. Well, I would put it down to playing Cooking Mama on Wii, as it has helped me to improve on preparing the ingredients I needed to chop or slice and also my frying skills.

I've also started being more concious of the taste of my finished products, hence I would plan before hand and go over my self-created recipes mentally before the actual cooking.

Betcha din noe that dark soya sauce leaves a bitter taste, hence to counter it, you have to add in a dash of sugar, wuahahaha...

I attempted a new dish on Sunday night, and the verdict was an overall: "not bad". Hmmm, should I take that as a success?

I had decided to cook pasta for dinner as my aunt and cousins were coming over to my place to see my wedding albums. Hence, that would mean dinner for six, including Jules, Emperor and myself.

Crossed out steamboat as my cousin was sick and it would be awful if the germs were to spread to all of us. Felt that pasta would be a good choice as it required minimal preparation and fuss, compared to Chinese-style dishes. After much deliberation, I decided to try to cook Aglio Olio.

For those who dunno, Aglio Olio is a much easier pasta to cook, simply because there is no gravy! No cream sauce, no tomato sauce, no white wine rubbish to deal with, just lotsa olive oil, garlic and chilli padi! I also added honey-baked ham, canned mushrooms and fresh prawns as the main ingredients.Yup, you read correctly, I added chilli padi for some zing!

Was abit worried it wouldn't turn out right, but when I tucked into my own plate of pasta, it tasted alright. So yeah! PASS! Now I can boast of my culinary skills and add one more dish to my specialties!!!

The Weekend Widow

2009-07-17T09:22:00.010+08:00

I am a weekend widow, but this week, it feels like I'm a weekly widow.

Widow in the sense that, my husband has been non-existent. Let me list down what he has been up to this week:

MONDAY
Drinks with frens, came home late

TUESDAY
Drinks with colleagues, but ended up having more drinks with frens from Monday, came home late

WEDNESDAY
Dinner at parents' place, came home early

THURSDAY
Basketball with colleagues, came home late

FRIDAY
Drinks with colleagues, AGAIN... and will not be home early

*late means 12am or later/earlier whichever way you wanna see it

Dun you think his life has just been so happenin'? And what have I been doing? Let's see...

MONDAY
Went to work, went for driving lessons till 8pm after work, went home

TUESDAY
Was off from work, stayed home, went for dinner with Jules, went home

WEDNESDAY
Off from work again, stayed home, went to parents-in-laws' place for dinner, went home

THURSDAY
Went to work, finished work, went home, stayed home

FRIDAY
Came to work, going for driving lessons, going for movie, going home

Does this look right to you? Let's just say I haven't been very pleased since last night... Everyone always tells me a successful relationship is give and take, but it seems to me, I'm doing quite a fair bit of giving here.

It din always use to be like this. I used to tag along when he went drinking with his frens, but this drinking thing is no longer my scene. When I'm out too late, I fret about Ace and what he's up to at home. When I drink too much, I get pissed drunk and a debilitating hangover the next day, which means my next day is pretty much wasted. Couple that with the fact that I no longer wanna pay good money to hang out in sleazy karaoke pubs with overly-made up waitresses and subject myself to the torturous drunken warbles of middle-aged men who can't hold a tune. It's just not fun.

Which is why the weekend widow came about. Every friday, I'm supposed to look for my own activities to amuse myself while he parties the night away with his colleagues/frens. The agreement was I should not bother him, question/interrogate him or bug him about the time he's coming home, and all that other crap that women do when their husbands/boyfriends are out with da boys.

His time management skills have always been a constant source of friction between us. He blames me for feeling insecure and always thinking negatively about the wrong things. He blames me for not trusting him.

Am I wrong? Out of one week, I dun even have one day where he specially dedicates to spend with me, but every Friday, come rain or shine, is dedicated to his frens, colleagues, etc. When I bring this up, he'll say: "You never plan what you wanna do or where you wanna go. Everytime ask you, you just wanna stay at home."

But that's because, he never wants to do the things I wanna do. I like going to the movies, I like being able to eat popcorn, I like going for midnight screenings, I like going for supper after the movie. I like shopping, I like eating Japanese food, I like going for karaoke, but not with more than 3 or 4 frens. It's senseless to go in groups of more than 5 cos' you dun get to SING! I like drinking, but not in jugs. I dun mind having one or two beers in a quiet pub or Holland Village. I like going home at reasonable hours so that I get enough rest.

I just want a simple life!

Ain't these things simple enough to fulfill? Because I love you, I find that these are not important as long as we get to be together. We can compromise and spend time doing other things, as long as the both of us are happy. But it cannot always be about you, what you want and how you wanna live your life. Cos' it's no longer your life or my life, it's OUR life.

@ a loss for words

2009-07-16T13:55:00.002+08:00

If you've been wondering what I've been up to... NOTHING!

Nothing of any interest to blog about. It's just been mundane and ordinary. Boring stuff that married people of my age get up to: family gatherings, dinners with parents-in-law, work, home, looking after the dog.

I really take my hat off to Tim who can go clubbing at least like once a week, hmm... mebe cos' he's gone back to being a student and he has a young gf. Mebe it's cos' he's still dating and not married. You know how dating couples have 1001 things they wanna do together? Dun get me wrong, it's not sour grapes, I just find it bewildering where he gets all that energy.

Which is funny cos' I used to be such a party animal. You could always count on me to go for midnight movies, singing, clubbing or drinking. When I was in sales, my working shifts were at least 12 hours, and after I knocked off, I would join friends for drinks till like 3-4am, stumble home, concuss and wake up at 9am the next day for work, and I would do the same thing AGAIN for days on end. When I changed to office hour jobs, my schedules remained more or less the same. Looking back now, I'm really amazed I could pull all that off.

On a totally unrelated note, I think I've finally lost some weight, and I feel damn good! The diet plan started before my wedding shoot, but only now then I'm starting to see some results. Less carbo really makes ALOT of difference! Add to that, I've also stopped imbibing alcohol for months, no beer = no extra unwanted calories!

Okie, now serious wan... calling all frens who read my humble blog: Are you interested in buying stuff from www.forever21.com? My loots from my trial spree have been delivered and I'm really happy with my buys. Would love to buy more really SOON, so if you are interested, please let me know...

Bimbo

2009-07-10T10:14:00.007+08:00

Word Definition of Bimbo taken from www.answers.com:

Slang. A woman regarded as vacuous or as having an exaggerated interest in her sexual appeal.
Slang. A vacuous person: “a male bimbo … who even has to be tutored … in the clichés that comprise the basic interview” (George F. Will).

Okie, my point is in the first definition: a woman regarded as vacuous, keyword: regarded. That does not mean the woman is really vacuous or to put it in simple English, dumb.

It drives me nuts when Emperor uses this word on me. It doesn't necessarily mean that I'm dumb just cos' I have different perspectives or opinions. It just means that I am different. Since when has different become synonymous to dumb?

It simply means that I have not been exposed to what you have experienced. Before you make that conclusion about me being a bimbo, has it ever crossed your mind, what I was taught growing up? If you were living my life, would you have done better?

I have always been a very naive and gullible person. I've never been streetsmart and tend to take things at face value. In addition, I'm kinda' ditzy and I laugh at the silliest things. It din help that I grew up on Enid Blyton stories and the Sweet Valley High series. It was only after I started working that I became slightly wiser to the ways of the world.

Even though I came from a convent school and there were no boys, we still had a graduation cum debutante ball. I attended classes where we learnt how to cook, how to walk, how to sit and how to stand like a lady. I was also taught how to use different cutlery in fine dining table settings and to make myself look presentable.

I'm a very girly type of girl and very vain. This was never discouraged at home, in fact it was encouraged. Since I was a precocious child, I've been playing around with make-up and high heel shoes, starting with my mum's then my aunts'.

My 1st makeover in life came when I went to live with my aunt. I was quite the freak show during puberty. My aunts taught me to wear nice underwear, brought me for a revolutionary haircut, and showed me how to dress to impress.

Although our family was not well-off, I was still pretty much a 千金小姐. My mother always made sure that I was well-cared for *meaning: thy will was always done and thy wish was always granted*.

After she left us, my grandmother took over. Sure, I had to do some mediocre chores, but I guess Grandma always felt that there would be a "right" time to impart her superwoman powers and knowledge to me, so I ended up never having to worry for stuff at home as the "right" time never came about. I pretty much used my brains only for planning how to have fun, making mischief and getting into trouble.

So whatever I know how to do now, it's all really through trial and error. Through hard work and practice, because I was a very sheltered and privileged child. It was only after my grandmother moved out when I was in my early twenties, that I had to deal with the realities of life by myself.

I know I'm not perfect, but I work hard too. Does it mean that just cos' I dun get the best results, I'm not putting in any effort at all? NO, IT DOESN'T! It just means I'm DIFFERENT from you, so dun you be judging me!

Nostalgia

2009-07-07T10:52:00.004+08:00

Haven't been updating cos' I've been lazy, and I usually have no time on weekends to sit in front of the computer trying to wax lyrical prose into my thoughts.

Recently, I have embarked on a project to consolidate my legacy of photographs from the past decades to new albums.

To dedicate the earlier birthday post to my bro, I had to do some digging into old photos and while I was doing this, I realized most of these old albums had not withstood the test of time, and some were starting to warp. So I decided to buy new photo albums from Popular Bookstore and rearrange these little treasures.

Unfortunately, over the weekend I only managed to finish arranging the pics from my recent wedding shoot and din get started on my mission till last night.

I had bought 3 albums which was supposed to hold 900 pictures, and guess wat? It wasn't enough. Mind you, I was only trying to consolidate the countless 3R albums...

It was then that I realized between my brother and myself, we had thousands of pictures documenting our growing years, capturing many precious moments so that if we took the time to look at them again, we would be able to recall many carelessly forgotten whims that had seemed so important to us.

There was my favourite Strawberry Shortcake and Smurf plush toys, my pacifier which I refused to give up till I started kindergarten, hidden smiles on my parents' and relatives' faces, facial expressions belying hidden feelings which you never begin to understand or recognize till you have felt them youself. A candid moment caught or an unhappy face spotted transports you back in time, and you remember everything like it was yesterday.

My mother was the chief photographer who took all these pictures. I remember when we were little, she used to dress us up in matching outfits, buy a disposable camera and take us to various places like Plaza Singapura to have a "photoshoot" day.

It was only until last night, when I was going through the photos again that I realized we meant so much to her. Every shot, every pose, painstakingly crafted to preserve that special moment in time for herself to savor.

When I was much younger, I looked upon these albums as the only reminder I have of my mother, so I kept them. I figured if these were so important to her, it should be my duty and responsiblity to hold onto them and take proper care of them. It was only last night that I looked upon these photos in a different light and I learnt to appreciate my mother that much more.

It's difficult to put into words, but from nurturing Ace, I'm slowly starting to understand why these moments in time meant so much to my mother.

That first step, the first tooth, the first day of school. Every first for me meant I was taking a step further from her and with it, I was slowly growing into me, moulding my own personality and character.

My relationship with my mother was tumultous to say the least. She lavished love on me, but was also a strict disciplinarian. I remember crying buckets of tears when I tremulously showed her my Chinese homework. A single stroke out of line would cause her to rub the eraser over the entire page clean to make me re-write the Chinese characters. I remember cowering in fear when she reached for the cane to punish me when I had disobeyed her or bullied my brother.

From feelings of anger, hurt and frustration, I learnt over the years to accept and slowly come to terms with my mother's "old skool discipline".

But last night, sitting there slowly rearranging the thousands of old photos which brought back bittersweet memories, I felt I had finally understood her, woman to woman.

Hurrah, it's finally Fridae!

2009-07-03T09:01:00.008+08:00

I'm ecstatic, the day I've been waiting for has finally arrived.

It's Friday, bringing along with it my much-needed weekend so that I can RELAX!

Somehow, the sun seems brighter, the sky is bluer, I can even hear birds singing in the distant background, ala Snow White, Cinderella, Disney kind of morning, hahahaha...

Just received an update from Emperor: He's passed his practical driving test! This means he's a legal driver now! This is his 1st attempt, and apparently he chalked up 18 points, which means he almost failed. Keyword: ALMOST. But he's experienced lar, cos' he used to ride motorbike wan leh.

This is not good, he's gonna be so hao lian lor. I dunno if I'll pass on my 1st attempt too. So worried just thinking about it, my practical test is on 28 Aug, and so far, I haven't even learnt how to park, reverse, or seen the inside of a circuit lor.

Everytime I get inside the car, my instructor starts talking about everything under the sun, except what I should look out for. Which is quite worrying cos' my instincts and reflexes are not very good. I suffer from naturally born clumsiness, which means I can trip on my own foot while walking, so would you trust me on the steering wheel? I'm getting so nervous just thinking about it!

Alot of people asked me why I dun wanna learn manual, I seriously can't leh. As it is, trying to handle an auto transmission car require so much hand-eye coordination liao, put one more clutch pedal for me to manoeuvre, will make me even more gan cheong lor. I know all sports cars all manual gear, but I dun think I'll ever get to drive a sports car in this life, so thanks, it's okie...

*Sigh* If I fail, he'll never let me live it down lor. 这是面子的问题!!! Somemore, I'm taking auto instead of manual, so all the more I MUST pass! "Hiii...yeah!" *flying karate kick* + *Bruce Lee signature yowl*

So... tired

2009-07-02T09:44:00.004+08:00

I'm so sleepy...

Have been waking up earlier these 2 days, cos' Emperor has driving lessons in the morning so I have to feed Ace and clear his pee tray before I leave for work.

Never realised how dependent I was on that extra 30 to 45 minutes of sleep till today. Practically falling asleep at my desk now, and have not been productive at all for the whole morning. So not looking forward to driving lessons this evening.

I just wanna lie down on my bed and concuss till Saturday. Hah! If only I could, today's only Thursday...

Feels like I'm in prison right, week after week counting down the days till Saturdays and Sundays. I really dunno what is wrong with me... I've got no passion for my job at all, and if you ask me what would I really wanna do, I'd tell you, I dun wanna go to work at all.

But if I dun work, how am I gonna pay my bills? How am I gonna pay for my CPF housing instalments? How am I gonna sustain my shopping habits and my love for pampering myself? Maybe that's the whole problem, I feel chained to my job. It's not something I wanna do, but I have to do it. It's really such a pain in the ass sometimes. Looks like the only way to get a long paid leave is to get pregnant, hahaha... Get extra days of child care leave in a year too.

Came across this as I was googling, it really tickled me:

Excuse my senseless ramblings, I'm just really sleep-deprived.

Blame cable TV, blame my itchy arse for watching Goal! 2 on HBO till 12.45am. *Wah lau, damn stupid show can, no ending wan! Waste of my time* Blame my old age, blame my retarded metabolism rate for not giving me enough energy.

Gone are the days when I could go to work without feeling worse for wear after a whole night of partying or TV marathons. True, I may look younger than my actual age, but my body feels more like it belongs to that of a 40 year old.

It's so ironic that I look forward to Fridays and the weekends, but when it's really Friday, I just feel so drained by the whole week that I just feel like vegetating on the couch at home. How man? If I'm already feeling so drained without a baby, how am I gonna cope or handle having one?

Perceptions & Misunderstandings

2009-07-01T10:31:00.007+08:00

When do you feel hurt?

When friends or family disregard your feelings?
When people around you misunderstand you?
When others take you for granted and dun show any appreciation for your efforts?

I think these are common hurt factors for most of us. On wat basis then, do we deem that the above scenarios are true?

I would think through our own validation, own perception and own assumption. It is very natural to think of your own feelings first, before taking a step back to analyse the situation calmly.

Well, I have been feeling hurt, cos' one of my BFF suddenly decided to take a long leave of absence and go MIA.

My dear fren, the last time we spoke was 6 Jun 2009. I remember it so clearly cos' I had finished my driving lessons that day, and I called you up on my way home. Amazingly, you picked up the call. I was rattling on in my usual style, but you seemed preoccupied. When I asked you what you were doing, you told me you were playing this online RPG game that I wouldn't be interested in.

Eventually, I decided to put down the phone cos' the conversation was really more one-sided on my part, and on top of that, it was way too noisy in the train.
And that was the last I heard from you...

It's been a whole month. Last weekend, Timothy tried to get you to join us for dinner, and again, no response from you.

From speaking on the phone almost every other day, meeting regularly for dinner and coffee, we have relegated to silence.

Am I being childish by feeling resentful towards you?
Am I being selfish by blaming you for doing stuff that you are interested in and I am not?
Am I being inconsiderate, or is it your total disregard for my feelings that leaves me hurt?

I honestly dunno.

I know you are just a phone call away, but my pride keeps me from calling. I presume that you will not answer, or if you answer, you will sound preoccupied, and I will feel lousy again, for feeling like I have interrupted you.

But then again, since when have I been able to foretell the future?

At the same time, my insecurities take over, and I question myself if I have offended you or let you down in some way, and that is why you have decided to distance yourself from our friendship?

And, I remind myself constantly that this is not the first time you have been so obsessed with online gaming. This is also not the first time it's been so difficult to get hold of you.

Maybe cos' it's not the first time, that's why I'm feeling especially hurt this time.

Baby Woes...

2009-06-30T16:58:00.004+08:00

Thought I'd slip in a short post since I still have some time in the office.

This post is gonna be all 'bout baby woes and blues, triggered by Joyee, who asked me yet again, so when is Project B?

Since we've gotten married, we've been plagued by friends and relatives asking the same question:

"WHEN YOU ALL GONNA MAKE BABY HAR?"

Friends greet me with: "When are you guys gonna have a baby? Not young liao, no good you know?" instead of: "Hello, how you doing?" when they call me up. Every new year, well-meaning relatives ask what exactly are we waiting for. Well, we dun really know.

In fact, we've never really talked about it seriously. My husband is not the type of guy that you can get a straight answer from. If he is not comfortable with the topic, he'll just give me roundabout answers which will drive me up the wall.

I'm so not looking forward to losing my figure and my life to a tiny squalling being made with our DNA. My internal clock has not started ticking and my maternal nesting instincts have not kicked in. I dun go ga-ga everytime I see a cute toddler, and I dun rush to hold other people's babies at gatherings.

I know it's a natural progression and NO, before you all jump to the conclusion that we are not gonna' have kids, WE WILL, erm... just not NOW...

From little conversations and my understanding of him, he wants children. But I think he still wants some time to get used to the idea of being a father.
NOTE: the plural instead of singular.

We are happy and contented with our current family semantics, and we are in no hurry to tip the balance or make life-changing decisions. Of course, it would be good to plan things, but if everything goes according to plan, then it wouldn't be called LIFE, would it?

So when will Project B start? I honestly have no idea. I have never been resistant to the idea of being pregnant, but I'm not exactly in a rush either. So to risk sounding cliche, let's just let nature take it's course.

Too many things to do, too little time...

2009-06-30T09:34:00.005+08:00

It has been a whirlwind weekend, and I really din have time to sit down to collect my thoughts into a decent post.

You can forget about pics as well, I'm shuddering just thinking about the amount of pics I have to go through cos, haha! I've finally collected my wedding pics!

Clementi Bright is the best can? They gave me ALL my photos, and I mean ALL. Like more than 200pcs in the soft copies and in the printed raw copies!!! Okie, I know I sound like some idiot, but I still can't get over it. That they were so generous to give me all my pics. including my fave candid one of Ace:

See his face, so cute right?

Met up with Jules, Timothy and his super cute gf Shuting for dinner on Friday. We met up at Anchorpoint cos' Jules had gone to Queensway earlier to get her sunnies to protect her newly-Lasiked eyes. We shopped around Anchorpoint for awhile, AND... my wish has been granted! Cotton On is finally opening an outlet store in the west in Anchorpoint! They took over the space opposite Charles & Keith from Iora, which I think din do very well. Hahaha, I'm so excited... although am a little disappointed that they are not officially open yet. We had dinner in Ikea and did a little shopping. I re-stocked Ace's toys cos' the soft toys from Ikea are the only ones he doesn't rip apart. Am still trying to figure out why.

Accompanied Jules to her post Lasik review the next day at 9.30am in the morning cos' Emperor intended to play soccer the whole day. We spent a tai-tai day in town, had brekkie at Ding Tai Fung and lounged around at IndoChine. Then we went to Forever 21 to check out the sizing and material of the clothes cos' we had this grand plan for a spree from the online store as the prices were cheaper.

Went over to Tangs where we met up with HRH Joelle and then popped down to Far East Plaza. Wilfully bought another 2 pairs of shoes that I couldn't resist and din need, and also bought a top which I really liked.

Then we headed home to rest before meeting Kelvin and Chuan Ngee for dinner and a K-session at Clementi Partyworld. Jules almost din go for K cos' her eyes were troubling her, but we managed to convince her to go along and tortured her ears with our outrageous warbles. I believe Kelvin enjoyed himself very much cos' he couldn't stop singing, haha!

Being fans of 超级星光大道, we realised most of the songs we sang were mostly by the talents discovered from the show. I attempted to sing the theme song from 敗犬女王, and failed miserably again cos' I've got no sense of rhythm... 我不入地狱, 谁入地狱?

The highlight of my weekend:

Timothy: "Do you want a chicken wing? Eat lar, it's very nice you know? Dun worry lar, you are not fat, eat lar, eat lar..."

Me: "No, I will not eat the chicken wing cos' I'm watching my weight to make myself more proportionate than I already am. I want to lose weight so that I can be more perfect, hahahaha!!!"

Timothy: "WAH LAU...!"

Happy Birthday, My Dear Brother

2009-06-24T22:52:00.001+08:00

"To the outside world we all grow old.

But not to brothers and sisters.

We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts.

We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.

We live outside the touch of time." ~Clara Ortega

Tomorrow is a very special day. 24 years ago on 25th June, a little boy was bestowed on our family. My brother, 5 years my junior, Marcus.

It's your birthday again, and I wanna dedicate this post for a trip down memory lane of your younger days.

From the moment you came into this world, you were what we called a "happy" baby. With your striking resemblance to Mum and your big sparkling eyes, you made strangers stop in their tracks to comment on how cute and adorable you were. We were so proud of you... especially when Mum enrolled you in a baby contest and you came in 3rd place. I dun remember much of that day, only that we spent the whole day at the community centre, and I rubbed the insides of my thighs raw bcos' I spent the whole day on the slide in the playground.

I was quite the monster elder sister, terrorizing you into playing with Barbie dolls, sabotaging you all the time, and making fun of your clumsiness. But never doubt for a moment that I love you. Being in this family, you must know that we are genetically impaired to show affection and encouragement with nice words. The more we care about you, the more we scold you. I think it's called tough love.

I was jealous of you cos' Mum doted on you. Being the elder sibling, I was always expected to take care of you and look out for you. It was tiresome, cos' before you came along, it was all about me and myself. From being the princess, I became second priority cos' now YOU were the baby of the family.

When you turned ten and I fifteen, Mum left us for good. It was a difficult time, and I wanna say: I'M SORRY. For my thoughtlessness and selfishness, and for all the times when I should have been there for you, but was not. I was immature and only focused on my own pain, without realizing that you were feeling even more alone. I only knew how to direct my angst towards you and vent my frustrations on you. It must have been difficult for you, growing up without a mother, a father or a sister.

Then came the onset of puberty. You morphed into a 1.89m tall, gangly "THING". I was still wrapped up in my own needs and wants and never knew how to talk to you. Sure, we hung out at home together, but I was painfully unaware that you needed a role model and some direction in your life. I ask myself now: What if I had been more mature and handled the situation differently?

With the completion of National Service, you matured and suddenly, we could click again. I am so proud of your achievements every single day. I am impressed by how you picked yourself up and performed so well at the interviews in order to join your current company. Through the years, you have managed to grow up by yourself, and accomplish so much by yourself.

I only hope for you to enjoy life every single day and never waste a moment with regrets or thinking about things you cannot change. May God keep you safe all the time and give you the tenacity to meet life's challenges head on and emerge victorious.

You've come a long way, bro... HAPPY 24TH and I'm sure by now you must be having a blast at Zouk!

I should be working... but

2009-06-24T10:05:00.002+08:00

Woke up to deafening claps of thunder and pouring rain. When I checked the clock, it was already 7.40am, and I had to get to office by 8.30am!

If you have read my previous post, it may begin to dawn on you, erm, why am I always oversleeping? Well, I oversleep bcos' I sleep late. I sleep late bcos' I usually eat late dinners. I usually eat late dinners bcos' my husband works late. My husband works late bcos' he goes to work late. ANYWAY, you get the idea lar. We just belong to the "5 more mins" gang, and it's always so difficult to drag myself out of bed, away from the warm, safe cocoon of my husband and the comforter.

I predictably got ready by 8.05am, and said my customary goodbye to Ace before leaving the home, armed with my umbrella. Was in a taxi before 8.10am. "Swee, confirm can get to work on time!"

BUT, I got caught in a traffic jam. Being a driver-in-progress (ahem, I'm currently taking lessons and my test date is 28 August 2009), I had decided to no longer be a passive passenger and vegetate at the back seat whenever I'm in a car. Now, I take the opportunity to watch and learn, so that I can be a better and more responsible driver.

Judging from the major holdup, I thought it would be really serious, like maybe a pile-up involving many vehicles, but nearing the end of traffic jam, there was only one ambulance, one injured motorist, fallen motorcycle, one driver, one car which I presumed had run into the motorcycle, all in the first lane. The policeman was standing at the side of the road, motioning to vehicles to move along, so as not to cause a traffic jam.

WHAT IS IT WITH SINGAPOREANS? WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR YOU PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE? IF YOU WERE THE INJURED PERSON, OR THE DRIVER, WOULD YOU WANT PEOPLE SLOWING DOWN THEIR VEHICLES JUST TO GAWK AT YOU AND POINT FINGERS LIKE YOU WERE SOME RARE EXHIBIT IN THE ZOO?

I just dun get it. All these traffic jams are created by this nation's kaypoh personality and love for gossip. I can just imagine Chan Ah Beng going into the office and telling his colleague:

"Wah lan eh, just now ECP major jam ah. Motor kena buang by car, I think that fella jia lat. Ambulance somemore leh, wah, heng not me lor. Si bey suay ah. Eh, I got take down the car plate number, later wan to share money buy 4D or not?"

Can wake up people? You think you will get to benefit from others' misfortune just like that? Honestly, I would really love to know what are you people gawking at? Why are you behaving in such a selfish manner, and ignoring the fact that you are inconveniencing others by driving so slowly? Do you want to be the next statistic in 2009's fatal car accidents? Do your civic duty and act in a more socially responsible manner. There are other drivers, motorists and pedestrians out there, and not everything is about you.

I mean, do you think you are helping things by slowing down your vehicle to cause the major holdup? Or are you a medically trained individual who is able to help the victim? THERE IS ALREADY AN AMBULANCE THERE, FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!

GET A LIFE! STOP LIVING OTHERS'!!!

Why I Have a Labrador Retriever

2009-06-23T21:12:00.006+08:00

This is the story of how I got Ace... It's gonna be loooonnnnggg and boring, hahaha... I decided to commemorate Ace cos' I'm afraid once I have my own baby, I'll forget all his escapades and wat a hard time I had initially.

Back in April 2007, Emperor, Jules and I had more or less settled into our then new home with the three Jack Russells. At that time, I was still working shifts in Starhub and every moment spent at home was especially precious. Jules and I caught a Taiwanese pet program which introduced labradors, and from there we learnt that labs come in 3 standard colours, black, yellow and chocolate. Although it has always been my dream to keep a black lab, I was abit turned off when the commentator mentioned that labs are heavy shedders and quite messy, as in "like to make themselves dirty" dogs.

I still remember saying to Jules: "Ewww... uh uh, no way can I live with dat!" Well, life has a way of making you eat your words...

It so happened that Jules ran out of dog food shortly after that, and she made a trip to Pet Lover's Centre at Holland Village. And, it so happened, they sold puppies there too. And it so happened, she went to take a peek out of curiosity. And, she saw the most darling choc lab puppy staring back at her from the window. She came back and told Emperor and me about it, and we rushed back to the shop to see the puppy too, but they had closed for the day.

Undaunted, I went with Lay Neo the next day as I was off from work. I still remember Emperor was on reservist, so he was back in camp. And when I saw the puppy, I fell in love. The sales assistant brought him out for a closer look, and this manipulative puppy just sat there, staring at me with his golden amber eyes with a befuddled expression on his face. How cute can that get huh? Yeah, I'm a sucker, always have been and always will be.

I immediately called Emperor and told him that he had to come see himself. Emperor came later in the evening and was pretty impressed. This puppy was one intelligent rascal. We din buy him straight away though cos' we thought the asking price was too steep, they wanted SGD1900.00 for him. So, we decided to think it over first, and sound things out to see if we were really prepared for this huge bundle of commitment. Emperor thought the puppy would do me good, as he was going away on a business trip to London for 2 weeks. I too, thought it would be a great maturing and nurturing process.

By the next day, we were sure, sure as hell we wanted to buy the puppy, and Jules managed to negotiate the price with the sales assistants down to SGD1780.00. She even went down during lunch to put the deposit for me cos' I was at work and Emperor was in camp. *Touched*

And the deed was done. We had done the unimaginable to others: To house 3 small dogs, 1 large dog, and 3 humans under one roof. Hahaha...

By the time I went to pick him up the next day, I still hadn't thought of a name for him. I still remember the excitement just like it was yesterday. I flew down to Holland in a taxi after work, met Jules, Timothy and Lay Neo there. Bought the basic must-haves like food and water bowls, chew toys, and treats while waiting for the shop to get him ready for us to take him home. And finally, we took my baby home.

My poor puppy came home with me, sick and bewildered. Sick cos' he had kennel cough, which is infectious and by the way, he sounds exactly like a human when he coughs! Irresponsible pet shop should not have let me collect him, but that's besides the point and water under the bridge liao.

I set up the enclosure for my baby in the kitchen cos' due to the tons of research I had done on the internet, I felt it would be best to allow him access to areas of the house slowly. Little did I know, this would be the beginning of all my horrors... Hah! I'll get to that in another post, to be continued... tatas!

Major Scare

2009-06-23T11:04:00.002+08:00

Okie, I know I said I wud update on my loots, but just din have the mood and the time to blog anything over the weekend. :)

Had a major scare last night, when I went into my blog to check for messages, my blog skin images couldn't load. Frantically I asked Emperor if he knew how to repair this... and he was like: "You must have changed something lor", and I went "I din, I din, I swear I din!"

After further investigation, we realized there was something wrong with Photobucket, hence the image on my blog skin couldn't load. i.e., the pic the author used was stored in Photobucket. Stupidly, I also din think of downloading the pics to my own web album either...*kua kua*

Luckily, the pic was still available on www.blogskins.com and Emperor single-handedly rectified everything for me while I watched the latest episode of 超级星光大道. I know lar, I'm quite useless, keke...

So all's well that ends well, and my blog skin is here to stay... Teething problems, I'd call it.

Sale, Sale, SALE!

2009-06-18T14:46:00.002+08:00

Oh my god, I'm so excited now. Counting down the mins till 5.30pm so that I can dash off to Southaven at Chevron House.

WHY? They are having a major moving out SALE! Wah lau, just the mention of the word makes my heart quicken and I start to hyperventilate. *Deep breaths*

I was just mentioning to Jules to check out if Southaven was having a sale cos' her office is in Raffles Place, and it's easier for her to pop by. I bought this Chanel inspired black bag at SGD40 bucks sometime back, and bcos I use it everyday, I was afraid it would not withstand the test of time and wanted to buy the exact same one to keep lar, just in case y'know? Yar lar, I very kiasu.

AND guess wat? My wish was granted! She happened to walk past today on her way to her client's place and YES! They are on SALE!

Hahahah, I'm gonna go after work and update on my loots later! Yippee, so happeee!!

A WTF Day

2009-06-17T17:10:00.002+08:00

Mark this date, cos' today is the most KNN WTF day I've had since, erm..., since, aiya, can't remember.

Woke up at 7.55am, and got ready for work in a mad dash, all the time muttering FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, I'm gonna' be fuckin' late!!!

Ace & Emperor continued to snooze peacefully in the background.

Rushed downstairs to try to flag a cab, usually not difficult cos' my place is surrounded by offices and schools. But dun forget, today is my KNN WTF day, so yup, you got it! I waited like more than 5 mins and this bitch with no fashion sense watsoever, cut lim peh's QUEUE!

Ok, I know there is only an imaginary queue so to speak cos' there's no taxi stand but KNN, dun tell me she so fucking blind she can't see me waving my arm up and down to flag passing taxis down in vain??

First of all, the blind bitch was dressed in this disgusting dark brown flower patterned sheath dress, hmm, got white & yellow colour also ALL OVER, then this boring cereal coloured cardigan, with black patent & gold designed peep toes, carrying an LV Monogram Speedy. Si bey wrong right?

She came out behind me, purposely crossed the road, and continued to walk further up where she thought she would be invisible to me cos' she was trying to cut my QUEUE! Dun be stupid lor, confirm can see wan wat, cos' got no obstruction.

But never mind, although she got the 1st cab that came along, an empty cab followed behind and I only got into my taxi like 5 secs later than her.

Got to office, and started work. KNN, in the middle of nowhere, my computer kena fucking virus!!! A bloody motherfucking worm! Replicating my symantec window non-stop till half my LCD screen covered in them. KNN right?

Wasted my whole morning and couldn't do anything cos' had to wait for my super inefficient IT people to swop my computer to a new set for me. BAH!!!

Had a lousy lunch cos' I was duped by the picture in the menu and ordered something new to try. Bloody hell, on the pic look like fried rice with belacan, but when it came, it's just normal yangzhou fried rice lor. & not cheap OK! Cost me $6.90!!!

On a lighter note, managed to buy something that I always wanted at a reasonable price today, so my mood picked up after lunch.

Denim rompers
Original Price: SGD36
Sale Price: SGD26

Leaving the office in like 15mins, and praying that my KNN WTF day has come to an end.

And here's a totally unrelated video, keke, I just like Ethan Ruan:

Anti Social Me

2009-06-16T10:40:00.003+08:00

In that frame of mind now where I can feel my mood spiralling downwards and everything to me is just SIAN. SI BEY SIAN.

Wish I din have to work, then I can stay home with Ace everyday to do nothing.
Wish I din have to work, then I can learn driving during off-peak hours, CHEAPER
Wish I din have to work, then I can sleep till noon everday.
Wish I din have to work, then I wun be so SIAN.

1st of all, my job is really very boring wan okie?
I'm a cust svc advisor for a MNC publishing company. Basically I only have to reply emails, all 48 of them everyday and that's it. Nothing else. Like 98% of the customers I reply to are overseas, so it's like super surreal type of environment.

No conversations in the office either, cos' everyone's trying to hit their daily target. Sometimes, it feels like I'm working in a morgue. Well, the grass is always greener on the other side, to some people, my working environment may feel like heaven.

Or maybe people just dun like my face, so they dun wanna talk to me. Dunno lar, I think I'm quite a friendly, normal person. Okie, I admit I do have my quirks and peeves, but that's wat makes me different, RIGHT?

But I've had people tell me, their 1st impression of me is that I'm very 'TAO', like I think I'm too good to talk to them liddat. Maybe it's my attitude, I seriously can't tolerate nonsense and stupidity. & if I try to act friendly, then it comes off very fake.

Which is why till this day, I only keep in touch regularly with 2 girlfrens. So miserable right? It baffles me how I ended up being in a customer service profession, when I seem to offend the whole world at times, and how little friends I have. Bah! So it's pretty shitty when one BFF is in Bali with her dearie, while the other one has gone MIA.

Social life = Officially NIL

Feelin' blue...

2009-06-12T17:15:00.005+08:00

It's been two weeks or more since I last met Lay Neo, wonder how is she? Starting to miss our Friday routine of dinner and chillin' out talkin' bout nothin' in particular. Hmmm, but she seems preoccupied.

Anyway, I've gotta go visit my mum-in-law. Have not been to visit her the past two day cos' I had driving lessons. {sigh} Hope she can be discharged soon, hospitals are the most depressing place on earth, I think I was quite mad to contemplate a permanent job there.

On a lighter note, wuahaha... my driving instructor says that my driving skills are picking up on par and he's given me the go-ahead to book my practical test. Steady bo? Finish 4 lessons nia so far ya' noe?

And... best of all, my wedding pics design and layout is ready for my viewing!!! Made the appt for Sunday 3pm, can't wait... to get my hands on the soft copies, yippee!

My weekend will be super packed, I still have to make a trip to Starhub CSC to return my additional set top box, as well as make changes to my subscription plan for cable tv.

This post is titled feelin' blue, cos' I am blue. Dun feel loved by Emperor cos' he seems to be giving me attitude everytime he talks to me, mebbe I'm sensitive and should be more understanding since his mum is so sick. {sigh} But it still doesn't warrant him treating me like I'm his enemy wor.

Also, feeling ignored by the whole world, everything seems to be in limbo, and seems like nothin's gonna happen. I confess I dun deal very well with not having any plans or things to do, but when there's too many, I lose it cos' I will get stressed too.

{Fuck it, juz leave me be}

Mad about this song now:

Fascinated

2009-06-10T11:41:00.002+08:00

Watched some Taiwanese variety program hosted by Li Jing last Wednesday, and came across this Taiwanese guy who spoofed Vitas's Opera 2.

I've posted the original and the spoof for comparison, check it out, it's really quite hilarious.

ORIGINAL

SPOOF

I'm so sick...

2009-06-10T11:02:00.004+08:00

Shit lor... I'm like falling sick, can feel the beginnings of a fever and sore throat. Damn!

Is it the H1N1 virus? Nene, think wun be so zhun wan lar. I've been to NUH the past two days to visit my mum-in-law since she was warded, and the hospital's so-called measures are damn cock lar. All you are required to do is register your name and write the ward you are visiting. Never even bother to take temperature sia, liddat I write fake wan also ne'er mind right?

One patient is only allowed 2 visitors at a time. They posted some part-timers outside the wards, and I think those kids are already doing their best, but I still saw some patients with up to 5 family members beside their bed. Wat to do? People never acknowledge the severity of the situation till it happens to someone close to them or themselves. Then they will start pointing fingers to push the blame to someone else.

I mean, wat happened to social responsiblity and civic-mindedness? This is like one of my pet peeves staying in Singapore with other Singaporeans. There are really black sheep among us who constantly show the tak glam side of themselves and bring disgrace to us.

Well, back to meself awright? I'm like guzzling Manuka honey and praying I dun fall sick, cos' I can't afford to! I usually try to take care of myself well bcos I've got these medical issues which have been getting worse since the past year.

First off, I have this constipation/diarrhoea problem. I get constipated for days at a time and then I will have to take medicine to make me go. Now usually these medicines contain some mild laxative effect, makes sense rite, if not how to go? So if I start going, I'll end up with diarrhoea. Si bey cham right, I'm quite worried that I'll end up with colon cancer one day.

Secondly, it's my stupid nose. I've always been the "sensitive" type of person, like if I sit on grass, I'll break out in rashes. If I consume too much alcohol, I will also break out in rashes. If I do spring cleaning, I'll start sneezing and my nose runs continuously. I think you get the picture right? So recently, it's gotten pretty bad, I started sneezing out bloody mucous all the time, and I couldn't sleep well at night cos' of my nasal fluids back-flowing. Emperor bought me an air purifier for our bedroom and my coughing fits in the middle of the night abated for a while. But then they started again and the doctor had to put me on steroid nasal drips and an inhaler cos' I was developing asthma, like my coughs were the wheezing type.

Let's hope the Manuka honey is enough for now, otherwise I'll have to pop some pills to sleep tonight. cannot rest somemore leh, got driving lessons tonight.

In case you din noe, Manuka honey is from bees who feed on the flowers of the Manuka bush, also known as the "Tea Tree" to produce a honey that has anti-bacterial properties.

I'm in pain...

2009-06-07T22:02:00.002+08:00

Wah lau, isn't massage supposed to be relaxing?

After slogging over my blog, decided to join Jules and Joelle for Thai massage session in the afternoon yesterday but now I regret my decision extremely.

My shoulders and back feel like someone beat me mercilessly for like 2 hours lor!!! Really in pain man. Although the tightness is gone, but the pain is really unbearable. Had to sleep with medicated plaster somemore, si bey cham...

We headed off to Harbourfront after that to buy my father-in-law's prezzie, PERFUME! Jules managed to get the discount card from one of her colleagues for a perfume store located at the 1st floor and boy, we had fun sniffing all the different scents cos' Joelle wanted to buy for her busband and Jules wanted to get something new for herself as well.

Cool fact: The salesgirl offered to let us smell coffee beans to clear our noses cos' all the perfumes smelt the same after a while and whaddya noe, it works! So amazing right?

I bought my fave perfume, Dunhill Desire for ladies at less than 40 bucks, but to my disappointment, the salesgirl informed us that this scent has been discontinued. I only managed to grab the last bottle...

We went past Joop! at Vivocity and they were having a 40% storewide sale, GSS I guess. I bought a pair of pedal pushers which Joyee has that I admired, she bought like two colours of the same pair. I guess this is where I picked up my bad habit from.

Like if I find something I like and I look good in it, I will tend to get it in different colours. I noe, I noe, very boring right?

I also bought a white shirt which I felt was something different, and it was really cheap, $19.90 only leh!

Then we headed off to the Yard, by the time we finally had dinner, it was like 10PM!!! We were all starving already lor... Stayed there till almost 1am, by the time we left, the 3 of us already started feeling sore...

why do we pay good money in exchange for 1.5 hours of bliss but days of pain after?

Testing...

2009-06-06T02:11:00.004+08:00

Okie, it's like 2.11am according to my lappie.

Why am I still not asleep? I've got driving lessons tomoro!!! Yes, I've been slogging for the past 6 hours to create dat "PERFECT BLOG", and you can say I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Yay!!! Joyee, no need to be ashamed of my blog liao...

This is just a test post, to iron out the pics uploading issue I've been having, so please bear with me.

Random pic of myself with hair extensions...

Well, it looks like I'll never be able to cut and paste, can only drag and drop, but should be good enough in the meantime.

Holding my breath to see how this post turns out... if it's chio, then I can finally go to bed, nitez...

Wedding Photo Shoot Finally!

2009-06-05T22:17:00.000+08:00

Yo, yo... check it out...

Before I go to my main topic, here's special recognition to Ms Joyee Toh who spent hours helping me to get my blog skin right and coaching me on the stuff to make my humble blog fabulous...

So, this belated post is all about my wedding photo shoot which is like super belated. Can you imagine, we got married in like December o6 lor?
Anyways, finally managed to convince Emperor to get it over and done with and so being the lazy, ahem... practical people we are, we decided to go to our friendly neighbourhood wedding studio to get it done.

It was a pretty good deal, we paid like SGD1.8 nia and no limit on the number of photos I could choose, and this included 6 costume changes, plus Ace gets to tag along and be the star!!!
So we prepared ourselves by failing our diets miserably and frantically putting face masks days before the actual day of the shoot, Lay Neo was officially nominated as Dogsitter of the Day..., so poor thing, and Ace had his very own bow tie, kae?

My fave outfit was the Jap wan, si bey kawaii lor, but the actual shots din turn out too good...

While in between takes, poor Emperor waited, and waited, and waited...

But I also suffered leh, all the hairpins, hairspray, make-up, false eyelashes, and all dat posing and holding the smile, wah lau, all I can say is, once is enough...

Bcos of the 6 outfits, we only managed to go for our outdoor shooting around 5pm, just in time to catch the sunset only. Wah lau, all I can say is, this time of the year is bloody weather for wedding outdoor shoots lar...

True, you dun get wet and muddy, but really really muthafuckin' hot can? We went down to Hort Park, really "HOT" lor, Sentosa and ended off at Marina Barrage with the most spectacular sunset I've ever seen. My stupid idiot proof Nikon couldn't catch that tho, so gotta wait till I get the soft copies from the photographer then can upload.

Thank goodness it wasn't too awkward cos we encountered many other couples taking their shoots as well, there were as many as 6 couples at Sentosa lor... I guess poor Ace was quite bewildered that he couldn't go swimming when we got there tho... hahaha...

Somemore he quite poor thing cos' being the star of the shoot, the photographer tried to get him to do many stunts, like jumping and all dat... so ke lian...

But best of all, special thanks to Lay Neo, who helped to make this day happen and for going through this ordeal a second time, haha, she did her photoshoot 1st. Kudos to BFFS like Joyee and Lay Neo who help to make my life sweet...!

Busy, busy, busy!!!

2009-05-26T16:37:00.004+08:00

Haven't been updating cos' I've been so busy.

Sometimes I wish there were more of me to go around, haha. Weekends are usually packed full cos' I've got tons of chores to clear, ME: The super duper cleaning freak!

Okie, in a nutshell:

Fridae:

Work, draggy and boring as usual then went for a predictable dinner with Lay Neo at Holland Village, proceeded to our fave kopitiam with super retro music to chill and talk cock.

Saturdae:

Had craving for chicken rice from Tanglin Halt, so psychoed hubby and Jules to go there for lunch. So funny, Jules went for her pre-Lasik review where they dilated her pupils so she had to squint the whole day. Lay Neo and hubby joined us too for the first time and foodie rating by Rex was 4 stars out of 5 for Tanglin Halt Chicken Rice with special recognition going to the gravy.

Then went home to take a nap before heading out to meet Shaun and Joanne for cze char dinner at Two Chefs, Commonwealth Drive again. Good news from the both of them, tho' not preggers yet, they managed to buy an exec maisonette in the same block as Shaun's parents. Damn lucky can? Super lucky house-hunting.

They just like got married in Dec nia, and were still staying in Joanne's newly bought flat in Choa Chu Kang then. Now, they managed to sell the CCK place and buy this resale maisonette liao, si bey heng lor... got HDB $40K grant somemore. So happy for them... can't wait till they get the keys then I can go kaypoh and see how jia lat the existing owner reno the place cos' they kept complaining about it. Shaun si bey ambitious, say wanna make like glass roof, sure cost a bomb wan lor.

After dinner, the Vans bade us goodbye cos' Shaun said he wanna go church the next day. He said he promised Jesus he will go if his health report comes back fine. Haha, turns out he only had a fatty liver. We headed down to the Yard to chill and then went back home to sleep.

Sundae:

Jules and I headed down to Roxy Mercure Hotel for the Friends & Family Fossil Sale, wah lau, grabbed many good buys lar. Jules bought like 4 watches, while I got one, the watch of my dreams. It's a Rado-lookalike design by Fossil, SGD80 bucks nia!!! Can you believe it? Stainless steel with diamond somemore wor. Si bey happy lor... even Emperor agreed it was a good buy and he hardly agrees with any of my purchases. Yes! and I finally got off my big fat ass to book my practical driving lessons!

Can't wait man, my 1st lesson starts on 2nd June, pray I dun buang the instructor's car lor... :P

A Really Good Buy

2009-05-20T18:04:00.001+08:00

So, it's like 6pm and I'm still stuck in the office doing overtime, no choice, I've got expensive habits to maintain, like my love for shopping!

Anyway, let me tell you all about my really good buy. It's a pair of Levi's skinny jeans for only SGD69.00!!! Freakin' good deal right?

It all happened last evening when I met Lay Neo at Anchorpoint for some retail therapy. I was early so I thought I'd go roam around first. Lo and behold! They were doing some kind of lelong sale for Levi's near the main entrance. See, it pays to go to God-forsaken shopping centres!

Damn happy can, I've been wanting to get a pair of skinny jeans for like the longest time. Last pair somemore, muahaha!!!

Lay Neo went to Charles and Keith to buy this pair of strappy heels that she's been aiming for the longest time, and we ended off with Jack's Place for dinner.

Bit of a recap here though, we were supposed to go to Queensway shopping centre cos' Lay Neo needed to make new glasses, her dog destroyed the last pair. And so we had an excuse to go to Anchorpoint, which is like our fave shopping place cos' all the stuff there are like dirt cheap! In case you din noe, all the stores are factory outlets for brands like Iora, Giordano, G2000, Pedro and Charles and Keith.

We usually can't resist the shoes and the bags more. I am a sickening shopaholic and the stuff that I collect, my GOD!

I noe my blog very boring la, but no choice, Emperor got no time to gimme tutorial. Once I learn how to do it, muahahaha!!!

Super Duper Stomachache...

2009-05-19T10:09:00.006+08:00

I am having a really bad morning.

I am having this super duper stomachache from last night till now. Not the diarrhoea kind, maybe it's indigestion, or maybe I've had too much spicy stuff. Whatever, it just dun feel right. Nothing works, I even tried using the Ru Yi Oil people like to put on babies.

I guess I deserve it though, I'm like PMS-ing and nothing seems to taste good without chilli.

Some background here:

I used to be this person who cannot take any chilli, my mouth starts to burn, my eyes tear, my nose drips and my ear will generate fluid too. If the wanton mee or fishball mee uncle messed up my order and put chilli in by mistake, I would have to literally wash the noodles with soup before I could eat it.

Then I met my husband. We lived together for sometime before marriage, and they are a chilli family. My father-in-law eats plain rice with belacan, my husband eats chilli padi for fun. So obviously, my mother-in-law's cooking usually included spicy dishes. I couldn't help it.... It was simply survival, when you are hungry, you will eat anything.
And that's how I started eating spicy dishes and actually craving for them.

So... Emperor (my nick for my hubby), Jules and I decided to go home together after work last night. We stopped by Valley Point to buy chew bones for the dogs. It's this special brand of nylabones that are cheap and really hard, which the dogs love and only Pets Kampung stock them. Then we decided to head down to Queenstown Hawker Centre located near Margaret Drive for dinner, cos' it was on our way.

And, we discovered this stall on the 2nd level which sells super duper mouthwatering sambal stingray and sotong. We ordered sambal fried rice to go along and it was fantastic... The owner does it like Peranakan style which is slightly sweet & sour, like asam pedas. The sad thing is, he's moving back to his old stall at Joo Chiat near Tanjong Katong Road on the other end of Singapore next Monday.

We finished every single morsel of it, no pics cos' it wasn't like planned, but lemme tell you all chilli fans, it's damn GOOD lar!

So that's why I'm not feeling too good right now... ... *kua kua*

Introduction to Lian at Heart

2009-05-18T12:45:00.000+08:00

It's like the gloomiest Monday in months. Dark forbidding skies, thunder and rain pelting down. Seems like ominous foreboding to start my blog.

Well, first of all, maybe some intro:

I turn 29 this year, have been married since 30 Dec 2006 and I live with my husband, sis-in-law (my hubby's older sis) and 4 dogs in a 5 room apartment which my friends dub "The Housefly". Yes, I know, the human to animal ratio proportion is quite wrong, but we've gotten used to it.

3 of the dogs are Jack Russell terriers, Jack, Chip and Bubbles and they belong to my sis-in-law, Jules. My hubby and I own a chocolate lab, Ace.

From this info, you should be able to gather that our lives are somewhat manic at times. At the same time, I suffer from incurable OCD and I like things to be clean and neat. Yes, I'm a neat freak, my best friends tell me that's a serious problem. They feel I value my Kao Magic Clean wiper more than them.

But look at it from my point of view: If you had to spend 5 years of your life paying off loans for furnishing and renovating your home, wouldn't you take care of stuff too??? Couple that with the fact that I'm a Virgo, and it's like one of my characteristics ya know?

If you've been reading carefully for the past paragraphs, you would be thinking I'm a hypocrite right? Like my blog is titled "Lian at Heart" but there's nothing Lian in whatever I've written.

According to wiki, word def of Ah Lian is as follows:

Ah Lian is a pejorative term commonly given to a certain group of young Chinese girls in Southeast Asia, especially Singapore and Malaysia. These Chinese girls, whose collective age ranges from their adolescent years to late 20s, are usually centralised in the busier and more developed cities in the region. They usually hang out in Bugis Junction, Far East Plaza, outside Cineleisure and are regarded as bimbos, and are stereotyped as anti-intellectual, superficial, materialistic, and shallow.

Ah Lians are commonly stereotyped as having hair dyed in gaudy and bright colours, and attired in fashion mimicking hip-hop culture, or outdated Japanese fashion, although how much of this is true is debatable. Most of Ah Lians are wearing fashions that are out dated and they still have their hair straightened with thick fringe. They love to take own pictures and imitate the way Japanese girls take their pictures which is by making their eyes look big and puffing their cheeks. Few more examples of the way they take pictures are by putting a horizontal 'Peace sign' on their eye, putting a fist facing outwards on their puffed cheek. Another distinct feature of an Ah Lian is they swear in most of their conversations just like Ah Bengs. Much like their male counterparts - that is, Ah Bengs - Ah Lians are also thought of as being excessively flashy and show-offs.The Ah Lian "culture" is especially prevalent in the secular Chinese educational system schools, typified by their frequent use of vulgarities and appearance in cliques (joined by their male counter parts Ah Bengs).Ah Lians commonly speak in a kind of hybrid mix of Singlish or Manglish and Chinese, or Chinese-related dialects. It is also common for the grammar from these dialects to cross over English usage, creating English phrases with Chinese grammar.Ah Bengs and Ah Lians love techno music. One can immediately spot an Ah Beng's or Ah Lian's car on the road. Their cars are usually heavily modified with big exhaust pipes, and powderful woofer set at the back of the car. They usually drive very fast while listening to loud techno music in their car.Vulgarities are often use. At most of the time, getting near shameless Ah Lians and just happen to look at them and admire their stupidity and ugliness will earn you curses all the way to the past 12345678th generation, whereby your ancestors(or parents) private parts are being shouted at you. At times, some ignorant and arrogant Ah Lians acting class will try to use English vulgarities like the famous F*** and B**** when it is already NOT class when you use profanities.

See, I am sort of a reformed Lian. At the same time, I have always been an Ah Lian who can speak eloquently in perfect English, dun play play, 'O' Levels got distinction wan okie? People have always been shocked by the fact that I spent 10 years in a convent school.

I also graduated in Mass Communications, and now I'm paid to correspond in perfect English by emails to my customers. Sounds quite cushy huh? Well, all I can say is, it's not as easy as it sounds.

I have finally decided to start this blog, because I wanna share my views, life and funny stuff. It will not always be about new events cos I have decided to include my past experiences as an AH LIAN, in case one day, I grow senile and forget the things that made me the person I am today. Wah, say until like I won some Nobel peace award. *Chey*