Okay am waiing to go in. Parents are so not morning people and I wonder why the hell they even bother sending me off when they are so grumpy...the crazies.
Caiying and Archie are somewhere buying lip gloss. I forgot to tell Caiying that I actually have 3 lip glosses with me. I know. Although I lug a backpack, I am still living life at the limit, okay.
Anyway, friends, once again...here's to 2008. It has been awrite but I hope 2009 will be even better. Better in terms of health, wealth, love..whatever you people need.
Oh God. It's 0835hrs and I am still not showered and ready. My flight is at 1155hrs and I am supposed to meet CY2 and Archie at 0945hrs at Terminal 1.
Anyway, I spent the whole of Xmas eve marking assignments from morning till evening. The day started with me waking up damn early to continue marking. I am leaving for India tomorrow and there's still shitload of work to be done. So I marked...and I marked until the cows came home.
The cows came home at 1900hrs.
Then I rushed to Shortcake's place to pass her the assignments (whatever I could finish anyway) and then complete my errands of getting India essentials.
Met Lauren for really late dinner...and then at 2300hrs we ended up at Jason's church singing hyms and carols. Weird. I should have been home doing my packing.
O tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy
See, I've always wanted to see how some Christians celebrate Christmas. So, we made our way to the church. I must say, except for that swaying auntie, everyone was quite sedated. Too much turkey, yeah?
The service ended slightly after midnight. Jason went off and Lauren and I were stuck at square one: Where to go?
Nectarie @ Clarke Quay.
Wah! The Granny Smith Apple Pie was to die for. I want some more! I want some more!
And ladies and gentlemen, that's how I usher in a public holiday.
ANYWAY...
Yes, am finally departing to India. Just googled the accommodation. OMG..we will be in for a rude shock if those comments were to be believed.
All right. Will be back on the 1st of January 2009. Check this site for my itinerary.
So here's wishing everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR. May it be a better one for all of us.
Right now..till then, I hope you guys pray for my safety, okay? Thank you very much.
I met IT, CY2 and her baby, and Dear over the weekend to celebrate the latter's belated birthday. The plan was to go Peranakan Museum at Armenian Street.
Silly me delete most of the pictures except for these few. So have to wait for Dear and CY2 to pass them back to me.
Honestly, I love the place although I find the entrance fee of $6 to be a bit steep, considering many exhibits were "unwell" and under maintenance. Shall go back there again someday and this time, I will take my time and not rush...and try to see and read everything.
On Friday night, we the Moonies (sans Sean and Susan) had late dinner at Orchard's Swensens. Mail joined us late cause something happened to his sweetums. Hope everything is fine now.
After dinner, Nani, Mail, Lauren and I squeezed into Jo and Jay's car and we all sardinified ourselves to Marina Barrage. My god that place is gorgeous, especially at night.
We managed to get a pavillion and we sat for ..god knows how long. We were having such a cackling, gut-bursting time laughing there. Well, we were practically screaming and mind you, it was almost 0200hrs already. I blame Jason. That guy was on a roll, learning Malay vulgarities from Mail, Nani and me.
"Your love is kering," yeah, Jay?
By the way, thanks Jo and Jay for sending the Ang Mo Kio kids home. As usual, for the second time in the company of Jay taking the driver's seat, I saw my life flashed me by in the middle of the road.
... ...
Something happened to the father on Saturday.
At around 1400hrs-ish, got a call from him, something about x-ray...injured hand...broken thumb. It didnt hit me about the severity of the case until he called again an hour later saying he was in the ambulance, on is way to NUH. But he said not to worry.
And so I watched movie.
But hey, in my defence, I did offer to accompany him as he wait for his minor surgery but he said not to. Then in the evening, the brother and wife and the mother went down to fetch him home. No place for me in the cab also :(
Anyway, he is okay now. Left thumb had to be stitched and operated on. The incident was still vague. The father mentioned about his hand got stuck in the x-ray machine down at Woodlands Checkpoint and stuff like that. I zonked out when he said all these. Blood, gore and accident made me dizzy and faint.
IP MAN ("yip marn"...not "ai pee man")is fan-freaking-tastic. The Wing Chun kungfu moves, the sounds of breaking bones, blood splashing everywhere... all stuff a great martial arts show make.
I am not a gore fan but I like stuff which has a strong sense of nationalism (no matter what nation) attached to it. Although this story isnt exactly 100% authentic to the life of the real Ip Mun, I feel it manages to draw out the important essence of the Grandmaster's life. Ah, story has heart. It made me want to throw my shoes at the Japanese soldiers on screen.
Go watch. Donnie Yen is awesome. I will swear off sushi (and Harajuku girls) for the rest of the year.
Heh.
STOP! Hammer Random time
I bought my latest Converse kicks at Tangs, thanks to Citi rebates :)
Actually I was looking for my usual velcro type:
The red one!!
...but I cant seem to find them after searching for more than 1 year.
My Converse had always been velcro-ed because I am such a lazy ass who couldnt be arsed to tie her shoelaces. But..ah..I gave up. Couldnt find the red velcro type that I liked and so, decided to embrace shoelaces, aglets and all.
And since I couldnt find my red Converse kicks, I bought red heels from Marks & Spencer instead.
I wake up early on a Saturday morning to do some ebay shopping. Something is wrong with me ...but, the crop looks good today. I am eyeing a new wallet cause I just need a new one. I think I shall give myself a present.
... I had a conversation with a colleague about the ill-state of the economic world. He said the American auto industry would be going bust anytime soon, thousands would be laid off and the US would be begging the world for money.
And what have we got today? Chrysler shutting down for a while. And the number of people without a job rises.
Then there was the drama surrounding the devil Bernard Madoff (who reminded me of the devil in Reaper actually) and the Ponzi pyramid fraud scheme that affected the economy for about US50 billion. USD50 billion! My lord. Money is filthy, I tell you. Dirty, sexy money. Money is a prostitute.
Okay, enough, Ed. We get it.
My colleague and I also analysed where did all the money go to. We came up with this theory (cause it's not official) that all these big companies had invested in some Jewish business or investments since most of these top dogs are of Jewish descent. And now these Jewish corporations are losing money because of the downturn and all. If these kahunas are affected, America is affected because, come on, USA are run by the Jews. Power of the yarmelke, man.
So, we concluded that right now, the people who are laughing are those businessmen from the Middle-Eastern Muslim region. They make profit selling oil to the rest of the world; the rest lose money because the price of oil has gone down (mentioning that...hello COMFORT, when are you reducing your meter?). They also dont lose their money because there's no way in hell (literally actually) will they invest in Jewish investment plans. So, safe!
And if some reports were to be trusted, the Middle East would have great joy when the US finally leave Iraq.
Shudder.
It's a vicious cycle because as of now, the US have put the maintainence of the soldiers and logistics on national credit card. Bringing the troops home will incur more debt because you have to pay to bring them back, give them compensation and benefits and stuff. Worse, what if these people are retrenched? Adding more salt to injury and Obama is going to die from high blood pressure even before getting into the Oval Office.
We used to live in a mad, mad world. Thank you, Lydia Sum. But it's a crazier world we're living in now. Different ball game.
So when the Middle East sigh with slight relief and the US get hotter on the collar every day, what's going to happen to the likes of Somalia and Zimbabwe? They have been surviving on global relief and well, American aids but now, when the Americans need aid themselves, these countries will be left to fend for themselves.
We will see a lot of safari animals going through a depression and attempting suicides. AIDS will be on the rise, poverty and famine will never fade away.
And here you are telling me to recycle? To switch off the TV and computer when I dont use them? I have a bigger worry than that, man.
...
I used to be slightly 'green' and I tried to be environmentally-friendly...until I went New York in June. The amount of non-biodegradable stuff is immense - plastics, metal, glass - you name it, they have it by the truckloads. Recycling? No one seemed to have heard of it, especially big, posh organisations. It was disgusting. How can I change the world when it takes one big state to cancel out the energy conserved by the Asians?
Ah depressing.
But hey, at least I am too poor to have money in big Jewish investment corporations.
Rushed home to catch the match...only to fall in and out of sleep watching it.
It's 0230hrs and I just woke up from a 4-hr sleep. Think I shall sleep some more soon. Age is catching up ... either that, I tire myself out during the day time.
From the licks of Santana, to the wailing of Maroon 5, to the ego-torching of Kanye West, to the lyrical poet of Manic Street Preachers, to the rabid thumping of Kylie and to the soothing grooves of Sting. And then shaken up again by Above & Beyond and New Order time after time. Whiling away at corners...seeking meaning in a glass. From Chicago in New York (go figure), to Vagina Monologues to Avenue Q...it sure is a roller-coaster of an annual ride.
It's 2 weeks to year-end but I have something that sum up my year perfectly.
"You are pure, you are snow
We are the useless sluts that they mould
Rock 'n' roll is our epiphany
Culture, alienation, boredom and despair"
I juiced my brain like crazy this morning, planning two new university units. Took a long lunch after that. Bused down to Rochor to collect my passport from the agency and then I headed down to Naumi Hotel to have my lunch with Jass and Kratoz, who where still there from the previous night's (Jass') birthday party.
Yesterday after work, I hopped over to Naumi Hotel which was a stone throw away from my workplace. One of my students was having her 22nd all-black birthday party. Not much debauchery but my God...I saw the amount of liquor she had, I got scared. So young, so hardcore.
Stayed till 0030hrs cause birthday girl cut her cake late and halfway, she got thrown into the pool (gorgeous view) and then she changed into a dress. Uh huh. Very MTV-ish Sweet 16 haha.
Oh well.
Segue.
I received Zouk's Xmas mitten; so cute but totally useless ... unless you party too hard and puke in it. Ah, maybe that's what it's for. Anyway, at the back of the mitten there's some activity which you can do...where we can fill in the blanks and come up with resolutions.
Here goes mine. For now.
1. I will not attend a Maroon 5 concertagain, ever.
2. I will make enough moneyto travelmy ass out.
3. I will restmore and play/partyless.
4. I will finally get my _________________ .
5. I will quit ________ , start __________, and eat ___________.
6. I will go to ____________ and ____________ .
7. No more ________ lunches and ________ dinners.
8. I want to meet ________ and bring _______ to my ________.
9. I will try to make time for God.
I cant even answer 9 simple questions! It's either I am so not ready to change or turn over a new leaf or I am damn freaking happy with what I have now.
It started with me attending a camp at Punggol Track 24. I wanted to go to the toilet in the main building along with some friends but somehow, the lights couldnt be switched on. There was a lot of commotion inside the building and the zinc roof sounded like someone was stomping on it. We girls rushed out and we saw the rest of the campers all staring at the roof.
A pontianak crying and squatting on the roof.
Then somehow I zapped into a hospital. For some reason I really needed to go to the toilet to change into some office wear (a sign that I should wake up and go to work, I guess) but when I entered the cubicle, I entered Toa Payoh.
I was sitting in a circle with a group of neighbourhood kids...bengs and mats. Then two guys started to fight in front of me. One unleashed his fangs (wahahaha vampire, sey!) and they both started to fight, trying to suck blood out of each other.
This happened outside this store in Toa Payoh - the one that sells a lot of cheap toiletries. So I screamed at them to stop. No effect. I rushed into the store, took a big bottle of shower gel and sprayed them with it.
I woke up.
... ... ...
Freaking lame.
P/S: I want to catch Fall Out Boy and Rod Stewart in concert in Feb!
Caught a few movies recently. 2 weeks ago, I caught Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlistand I was goo-goo-gaa-gaa-ing at Michael Cera. I like him in Arrested Development and Superbad. He's so geeky, so...young. Hah. And he's better than Jon Heder ("Dynamite!") anytime. Napoleon Dynamite still kicks ass, though.
The show is nice. Typical feel-good teen minus manic sex. That's good. It is not a music film, in fact it is quite typical. But I think it is better than Rabbits Without Ears.
Few days later, I caught Four Christmases...the one with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon.
Even though it was a typical fare - couples happy till they went back to childhood home, found out more about each other, had a tiff, got back together, the end - I guess it was the festive year end mood which made me more forgiving.
Four Christmases actually did have its moments - sweet and fuzzy. But, I think Vince Vaughn kind of dampened everything a little. Look at him. Why is he a leading man material?
Anyway, the show did make me cry. Buckets. No comments.
Then last Sunday, after rested for about 3 hours from ZoukOut, I took Lexie out and we caught Bolt.
It was entertaining and Miley Cyrus wasnt irritating. The hamster-in-a-ball called Rhino really killed me, in a good way. So hilarious, that furball. And again, for god knows why, I cried. There was a sad part when Bolt thought that his owner had replaced him with another dog and he walked away dejected. Wah, couldnt take it, man.
Yeah. I am a cry baby.
And finally...the one that we've all been waiting for.
Robert Pattinson in TWILIGHT. I saw Lauren faint and go to heaven.
Adapted from the famous Stephenie Meyer series, Twilight is like the darker version of High School Musical meets Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon meets The Covenant meets Interview With The Vampire. This is definitely a tween's wet dream come true (okay that sounds sick) and the film is definitely hyped. I think the book is better.
Maybe I can have the whole set for my birthday. Ahem ahem.
So, Twilight is so-so..it's all right. It didnt make me cry or make me yearn to be in love with a vampire. It makes me want to be a vampire instead because I really dig the pale white look. That face makes black clothes stand out. And I really have a lot of black clothes.
... ... ...
Fast forward this morning.
I had a terrible, terrible nightmare. Yes, it involved pontianak (banshee), vampires and oh, it was so gory.
It's 0835hrs and i am just done showering. Came home from ZoukOut about 30 mins ago, after having some curry puffs at Seah Im food centre.
I cant feel my legs.
We arrived quite early around 2015hrs cause Rae wanted to catch Nouvelle Vague. They came out at 2100hrs at the main arena and we listened to them for 2hrs. Not my cup of tea. It's psycho-chillout cause the female singers were just plain looneys haha. At 2300hrs, we headed to Velvet arena to go happy-day-glo housey with djB.
We love house. Nuff said.
Okay errata. I love house. Lauren and Rae, i think, not so much. Rae was itching to do mambo moves so he headed to Mambo tent at around 2345hrs.
Initially, i could take it; rick-rolling and all. But sorry man..the mambo dancers and hand movements really got to me. I knew they were just enjoying themselves (i like to see people emjoying themselves) but yeah, it's just me. I dont like the smug/too happy expressions of the mambo podium dancers.
At around 0200hrs, we went to get drinks...which took us 30 mins. The queue was snaking and it was disorderly. Worse, lauren and i were farted at. Basket.
After being knocked out for 1.5 hours, we dragged our ragged limbs to the arena again to see DJ Erol Alkan at 0330hrs. It was so-so for me cause the crowd/traffic was beginning to piss me off, as usual.
But everything was forgiven when Dimitri appeared at 0400hrs. Boy he was good. But but but...i was more excited about Above & Beyond coming out after that at 0500hrs. Yes dammit. 0500hrs.
20 mins to 0500hrs, i went to stock up on fluid and we all made our way to see Above & Beyond at the Velvet tent. DJ Sasha was finishing his set and i was excited.
But trancey tunes of Above & Beyond werent exactly up Rae's alley. Oh well. To put her out of misery we all headed back to see Dimitri. I only managed to get trance-tastic with Above & Beyond for about 35 minutes only. To think i had been waiting for them since 2100hrs. Sad. When Dimitri ended at 0600hrs, We headed to see Andrew Chow spinning rnb his hip-hoppy music.
We didnt last long. Time was 0630hrs and we left the scene. Enough of all the debauchery for today
Crap. It's already 0930hrs. My legs are already in a world of their own and my eyes are closing. But all i want to do right now is to still dance in the laser lights of Above & Beyond.
Joy to the world All the boys and girls Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea Joy to you and me.
Met CY2, Vinz, Esther, Des, Adrian and Zhenni after work last night. They were already at Howl At The Moon and i joined them there. It was a slow night but well, nothing a great company couldnt fix. It got better at midnight...the crowd had loosened up and the crazy pianists got crazier as usual
No we didnt know who the man in black was. Neither did we know who the old man was. Izzy, is he someone big? Cause everyone seemed to know him.
We stayed till 0300hrs ..got carried away a little. Adrian was terrorising an old ang moh lady. He was dancing/grinding with her. Think the lady loved it anyway. Sheesh.
Went home..continued with a little work at 0500hrs. Yes, unbelievable. Think it was the redbull that I had earlier.
One more time for the road: Miss you people.
Anyway, went to bed at 0645hrs..and naturally i couldnt make it in time to go to work at 0900hrs.
Duh.
But, i did manage to get to work and i stayed till 1530hrs. Am typing this on the train home. Will be meeting Rae and Lauren at 1830hrs later for ZoukOut. It's early..but Rae wanted to catch Nouvelle Vague at sundown. Damn you Nouvelle Vague. Next time play later, lah.
But oh well. Above n Beyond, here i come.
Am still groggy and tired. But never mind, Ed. For one more day. This is your one and only, first and last ZoukOut.
