Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Girls Clique Dinner

Finally one of our little gatherings commanded a full strength turn out. And because I brought my camera, so there's no need to wait for photos from everyone even though others did take lots of pictures too, but well, here are nine beautiful girls coming up in this post!

Some time last year, during the Christmas period, there was a little gathering at Vivocity for dinner, but the turn out was only half-strength. And waiting for photos was quite jialat, and there weren't many photos too. I can't even remember much about that little gathering already. But at least the photos aren't taking as long a time as the photos from our Sentosa chalet cum BBQ. Gunni! Where are they??? wahaha~

girls clique 2006
Zihui, Hami, Rozie, Jas and Joan

Putting more girls and more camera in the same area, gives one a much higher density of photos. So instead of the measely pictures we took last year, this year, with four more girls in the turn out, we have loads and loads more pictures~

girls clique 2007
Trying out different photo taking methods

First we tried to use the timer function, so I set the camera to 10s mode, but we also wanted to do the all heads in thingie, where we try and squeeze all out heads into a self taken shot, but we didn't realise that the camera was still in the timer function, so after we pressed we were wondering why the camera didn't capture our shot. -_-" girls~

But we didn't capture a timed shot after that fiasco, but as you can see from the picture, my overzealousness covered Jasmine, so NGNGNG. Then we tried the all heads in thingie with Zihui holding the camera. The trick was for all of us to squeeze our heads and note that our heads are in the frame, then signal for Zihui to capture, but the constant squeezing and giggling, and you know whatnots from the girls resulted in Hami, me and Rozie having half our faces cut off, and Yingling relegated to having only an eye in the frame. haha~ Then Zihui tried to take a decent shot of us, but that resulted in her and Hami not being in the picture, and for some reason Yingling was totally blocked by Daidai and Jasmine was half covered by me. Finally, we decided to ask the waiter to help us take a picture. tadah~ Nice one!

It's so nice that I've a bigger one here.
girls clique full strength

Usually table shots are weird and lopsided with the people in front looking bigger than those at the back, but this shot turned out to be quite nice, a somewhat circular shape. And maybe because we girls are pretty also la, that's why the picture turned out nice. haha~

girls clique circle
Me taking pictures with all the other girls individually

Not knowing when's the next time we can have all out girls free for a meet up, I took a picture with all of them individually. Jasmine's now doing her Literature Honours Year in NUS, gunning for a first class. Jiadai's working at the Singapore Sports Council, promoting sports to little kids. Yingling's doing her honours year in Japanese Studies in NUS. Rozie's still looking for a job having graduated with a shared degree in European Studies and Sociology. Hamidah's still studying Econs at SMU having just returned from her attachment in Dubai. Zihui's working already, after graduating from NTU. Shuhui's still at NIE. Eunice's doing her honours study in Social Work at NUS. And well, I'm also doing honours year in NUS. So, that's our updates in a nutshell.

After a forgettable dinner at Fig and Olive, we headed down to Ben & Jerry's for ice cream and more camwhoring.
girls clique at ben n jerry

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Year 4's No Joke

I'm dying.

Face it, I'm really dying from school work and it's only heading into the third week of school tomorrow. Year 4's been really crazy, crazy. I don't have time to read my daily dosage of blogs much less to blog. I don't even have time to sleep much less to blog. I don't even have time to slack much less to blog. I don't even have time to do my work and I don't even know why am I even writing this blog entry now.

My daily routine now is wake up, bathe, go to school, school, come back from school, check emails, check IVLE, go sleep. And I don't even get 7 hours of sleep each day! Most of the time is spent in school, printing readings, trying to read, going for classes don't even constitute too much time. To think that I still thought that school would be a breeze now that I've ridded of my commitment to German. I've only 15 hours of lesson a week, compared to a few more hours put into German, and I don't have the need to study for something I'm clueless about. But the three level 4000 and one level 3000 modules are enough to kill me already.

For the level 4000 modules there are presentations and readings to be done on a very regular basis, and there's no way I can don't read them. And the 3000 module is also quite shiong. hai... Luckily I still have one slack module, but it's non-examinable so I still need to piah for the tests if I want to pull my CAP up.

I'm slated for presentations for one of my modules soon, so that means that I need to start early, I'm less than 10 days away from the deadline and I'm knee deep in shit. And there's another critique that needs to be done from another module but with the same deadline. Good luck to me if I manage to stay alive by the end of the semester.

Then there's also the sausage blog that's been taking up much of my blogging juices. Okay, I don't write too much for that, but I've been spending quite a bit of time on the photo editing so much that I don't have the time to edit the pictures that I want to put up on this blog. I've quite a lot of material to blog about lor, just that I've no time to do so, and when I've the time I don't have the energy to do so. grr... I want this semester to end soon! But that would mean that the semester would pass by quickly which I can't let it happen because I don't have enough time. ahhh... I don't know what I want!

Imagine Joan, for the first time in her six semesters in NUS she's starting to do her readings regularly. This must really mean something lor. It's amazing how much a little reading can propel me in terms of knowledge. I know I'm a smart person, but because I'm also extremely lazy, I usually only am able to do the bare minimum to get by. But I also know that if I bother to put in some decent effort, coupled with the bit of smartness I have, I can do way better, but the problem is that usually I don't bother. However, this semester being a crucial one to me, I really need to put in some good hard work if not all will be wasted. hai... *stressed*

On the other hand, a good news is that my SEP transfer credits are finally through, after more than one year and a couple of weeks back from my SEP. Finally. Granted, much of the lag was due to the late deadline I had for one of my papers, in October, when I'm back in NUS already, and also because the professor there forgot to go through my papers, and it took me until the beginning of this year that I finally got everything from him, and then there was also the problem of getting the history department to endorse my UEs because I didn't know that the person in charge was changed from Clancey to Kelly. Then I thought all was well, but the credits were still not through, and it had to take me calls and emails to Ruby when I was told that there were some problems. grr... And nobody called me to ask me about the problems. Anyway, whatever it is, it is finally over, and I'm finally a full fledged year 4 student with 120MCs in my bag. Heck, I can even go and alter the GAPS thingie and file for graduation now. wahahaha~

Oh, and a little thing to share, another thing that's taking up my time is my driving lessons, yes, I'm starting to learn to drive after much much procrastination. *cross fingers*

Okay, sorry for the haphazard bad post, I promise that if I've the time I'll do up a proper one with nice pictures, I have been taking quite a bit of nice pictures recently. But well, that's if I've the time when I've the time. Jiayou to all those who are still studying, jiayou~

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Me Is Severus Snape

You scored as Severus Snape, Well you're a tricky one aren't you? Nobody quite has you figured out and you'd probably prefer it stayed that way. That said you are a formidable force by anyone's reckoning, but there is certainly more to you than a frosty exterior and a bitter temper.

Severus Snape

85%

Draco Malfoy

80%

Sirius Black

70%

Albus Dumbledore

70%

Lord Voldemort

70%

Harry Potter

65%

Hermione Granger

55%

Remus Lupin

50%

Ron Weasley

40%

Ginny Weasley

35%

Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...?
created with QuizFarm.com


hmm... My top two results are both Slytherins... Okay la, they aren't really that bad people, and somehow I don't find many Griffindors that likeable either. Think I did another test before, the sorting hat quiz and I was sorted into Slytherin. haha~ I see Lord Voldermort as Hitler, and the Death Eaters as the SS, the Order of the Phoenix as the British, and Harry Potter as Churchill. Indeed Hitler is evil, but he does have some redeeming points that actually enabled him to garner the support of a clout of people. Not all the SS are bad, some are there because they were forced by circumstances. erm... Regarding the Brits and Churchill, there are detractors too even though most of the time Churchill is portrayed as a great war leader.

Okay, think I'm crapping too much. Been doing too many readings on war and dictators and british prime ministers.

Oh, and I must say, my favourite part of the Deathly Hallows was when Snape asked Harry Potter to look into his eyes just before he died. It's so subtle yet so touching~

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

My New Sausage Blog

Hi all, I've a new blog!

sausage.hotdog.bratwurst
sausage.hotdog.bratwurst

It's a blog solely about sausages, the sausages that I'm consuming, and everything I think of about this very interesting, very yummilicious, one of my very favourite food. Please go visit it, especially if you have enjoyed all my foodie posts. This sausage blog have high picture content, and I can guarantee the quality of the pictures.

Introduction to the new blog
NUS Bizad Canteen Western Stall
GoGo Franks
Breadtalk
and many many more to come, so save the link of it and come by often and do drop some comments to recommend places to eat, and/or jio me out to munch on sausages!

Yes, I'm very excited to carry out this project, and I'll be commited to maintaining this project, and hopefully one day I'll finish eating ALL the sausages sold in Singapore. haha~

Watch that space!

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Personality Test

My sister just came home and asked me a series of questions, she said that the test was very accurate on her, but as she was asking me the questions and hearing my answers, she concluded that the test was not true on me.

The test as follows:
You walk into a forest along a mud path. In the darkness, you see an animal among the bushes, what is that animal you see? It can be any animal.
Then you continue walking until you hear a rustling sound, what animal can you see coming from behind the leaves?
After walking for some time, you see a river with a bridge across. On a scale of one to ten, what is the speed of the river flowing?
After crossing the river, you come across a deserted house. You knock and enter the house, there is nobody inside. The first thing you see is a table, what shape is it?
How many chairs accompanies the table?
On top of the table you see a chandeliar. How many candles does it hold?
How many candles are lighted? Or how many candles do you light up?
You walk into the kitchen and open the fridge. You see a jug of water. You put it on the table. What material is the jug made of?
How full is the jug of water?
You walk out of the house and see a sky full of stars. What are your first three thoughts/feelings?
You fall asleep and wake up on a deserted island. What is the first thing you say/exclaim?

The first animal I said I saw was a deer because that seemed like a normal animal, and of course I didn't want to think of any animal that might possibly be dangerous, sekali it come and attack me. The first animal that you see is supposed to be your significant other.

The second animal I said I saw was a rabbit. I don't know why I thought of a rabbit, but that was the first thing I thought of. Hunting in the forest, deers and rabbits sounds normal and abundant. That second animal is supposed to signify yourself, which was when my sister started saying that this test is not accurate for me. *thanks hor*

The speed of the river I said was at 7. I had wanted to say 10 because in my mind I pictured the river to be flowing very fast, but I didn't want to say 10 because I was afraid that the bridge would break then I'd definitely cannot make it, so I said 7. The speed of the river is supposed to signify your sex drive. erm...

The shape of the table I pictured in my mind was a big round table, circular shaped. The shape of the table is supposed to represent how fexible you are. If the table is square or rectangle or something angular then it means that you are not flexible, but rounded tables are more fexlible. erm... Ya, even my sister says that I'm not a very flexible person. Then since I was thinking of a big round table like the banquet kind, so I said that my table has 10 chairs around it. My sister was like "so many?" Apparently it's supposed to stand for how many close friends you have. hmm... I have 10 close friends?

Then since I was picturing a banquet table, I also imagined a very grand chandeliar. So I said that mine had 500 candles and all was lit up. Apparently my sister said that the candles that lit up signify you generousity. At that juncture was sister was spasming with laughter and disbelief. Ya, I'm not a very generous person, self-centred and selfish and indulgent are more apt words to describe me. haha~

I had a glass jug filled full with water. The material of the jug represents your heart in a relationship, how fragile it is. The water level of the jug signifies your commitment level in the relationship. erm... Those who know me should know that I've a very big problem with commitments. oops...

On seeing the stars, I thought about nothing much in particular, only some pretty mundane stuff like "wah, so pretty", "wah, so many stars", "wah, it's so windy tonight". erm... It is supposed that the three things that you think about are the things that you think are the most important things to you at this present moment. erm... So is it true that at this juncture in my life, nothing at all is important to me?

Waking up the first thing to find myself at a deserted island, my first thought was "oh, shit!" My sister spasmed with laughter again. She said that that's the first thing you'd think about after the first time you have sex. Oh... So I'm supposed to go "oh, shit!"? Like in the sense of what? "Did you remember to put on the condoms?" or "We forgot about the protection measures." Holy crap...

Yup, is this personality test true for you?

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Fireworks

Yesterday and today there was the fireworks festival thingie at the floating podium at Esplanade Bay there, and thanks to an aunt, who wanted my family to babysit her daughter, we got free tickets from her to watch the fireworks live, and with a guaranteed seat. Others had to pay $8 for that ticket, or else have to go down around the area extra early to chope a place around the river and squeeze with tens of thousands of other people. Or else you can pay good money for some other means of guaranteeing a perfect spot.

Even though we were guaranteed a seat, we still went down early because we were told that there was a carnival there and my sister was quite interested about it. I was kiasu and just wanted to go into the amphitheatre early so that I wouldn't need to queue up when everyone starts to throng in. It turned out that we were very early, and the carnival was pretty much pathetic.

fireworks. reaching early
We still had some fun taking pictures and admiring the scenery and taking pictures of the scenery and looking for our seats, and buying some food, and exploring the whole premise of the amphitheatre.

I really like the seats! They are so colourful and pretty and nice and because they are still new, they're also quite clean. Or maybe it's because it rained earlier in the day so the rain washed away pretty much most of the dirt from the NDPs in the weeks following this. hahaha~ Because we had a lot of time to spare, I ended up playing handphone games whiling time away while my sister studied for the tests. The parents and Sammie came a bit later and they ate. Sammie's mother just gave birth a couple of days ago and is still in confinement, more of her new baby later.

There were lots of balloon sculpters around plying their trade. I think it's for charity because the price of the balloons are out of our own freewill. Of course, we bought quite a few of them.

fireworks. balloons
My sister started the balloon affair with a Tweedy Bird one, then I got a little blue bear, it so happened that Sammie later got the same bear in yellow, but I had two heart shaped balloons because I bought mine early, and me and my sister had a stick to hole the balloon. The stick turned out to be quite useful because we were squashed when we were leaving the grounds, and I could stick the balloon up into the air to siam all the squeezy people.

It rained briefly in the late afternoon but my sister had an umbrella so we hid under there for a while. It wasn't that bad that warrented an umbrella but my sister was still sick so it's best if she was out of the rain. I went under the umbrella because it was there. haha~ Thankfully, the clouds cleared when the crowds thronged in and the fireworks went ahead without any hitch.

fireworks. shades of the night
We sat there long enough to see the changes in the skyline.

The afternoon was cloudy and windy and the weather was a bit erratic. By the late evening, the sun set and the lights all turned on. You can see from the second picture that there's a very strong beam of light. I liked that effect, it's almost like it's still not too dark, but it's still also quite artificial. Thankfully, the lights were turned off during the fireworks display if not I'd personally kill the organisers. After the fireworks display, there's another element left in the sky, the heavy smog. Very environmental friendly, very good use of money, but really very pretty, so well, I think I still am in favour of fireworks. haha~

fireworks. the spectators
We had guaranteed seats, but for the other who wanted a free show, they had to chope places early, if not, well, there's the possibility of booking a room at the Ritz-Carlton, direct view of the amphitheatre if you are at the correct side, if at the wrong side, no worries, you can go to the stairwell there and peer through the windows. The larger windows are the rooms one, and the bathrooms ones, the smaller ones are the stairs. There were really a lot of shadows, much more than seen in the picture, standing there waiting for a glimpse of the fireworks.

The duck tour boat was also parked at the side of the river mouth waiting to catch the fireworks, so lucky for that batch of tourists on that boat. For those who can't afford for duck tours, the river taxi bum boats were also in service, parked by the other side of the amphitheatre to watch the fireworks. If not, can always join the rest of the people at the Fullerton there to watch.

The funny thing was that as the amphitheatre lights were turned off, a bunch of other lights were turned on, those were the lights from the LCD screens of everyone's cameras. There were really much much more than those you see in the picture, my camera could only capture that fraction, and yes, I was one of those holding a camera. haha~

Okay, enough words already, enjoy the fireworks.
fireworks. 1

fireworks. 2

fireworks. 3
But really, the camera can never capture the full beauty of the fireworks, only the naked eye can. And I think fireworks are nice only when in direct view, and not between a glass window. Yes, it was really beautiful, have I said that?

But it was quite stupid la, waited for hours just for a 15min show, and another 15min lights show before the fireworks display, but well, fireworks are so so pretty.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words

yixian and joan

I know I've captioned this picture, but if it were you, what would you caption it?

***

If you recognise, that thing behind is actually an opium bed. This is *cough cough* is taken at a place where there are opium beds and red lighting and *cough cough* a lot more interesting stuff. hahaha~ Yes, and this is a posed picture. Posed. Pretty suggestive, but I think it looks pretty good, the effect's quite nice, just that the clothes we were wearing were all wrong, but it's still cool. haha...

Proper post another time, honours year is really going to be very tough on me. Till then, so long~

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

The Obligatory Back To School Post

I'm suffering from a highly acute case of Monday blues, back to school Monday night blues because Monday is my free day, so I start my week on a Tuesday! The good thing is that I can procrastinate my Monday blues to Tuesday, but the bad thing is that I've a four day week. I've five modules, four on EU modules on four different days, thank you very much FASS.

I'm now almost officially an honours year student, to make that officially a full one, I need Ruby to faster get my SEP credits transferred without anymore hitches. *cross fingers* Looking at the list of modules I'll be taking this semester, I'm proud to say at the very little bit excited. Seminar style modules are now 3 hours long, which means no tutorials, no need to ballot, no need to come back to school on another godforsaken day. But that also means that I'm going to sit in class until my butt pain. The 3 hour German classes I previously took was a practice, and in those classes, time went by very slowly, and by the one and a half hour mark I was dying to stop myself from fidgeting in my seat. This semester I've three of those classes. Wish me luck! And I've another three hour lecture for my cross fac module, wish me more luck.

Okay, a little run through on my modules this semester.


Introduction to Cybercrime
I suck at cross faculty modules, so I pick them as with what is easy and what other people are doing, and so this was a module that stood out. Another plus is that there is no examinations for this module. Previous semesters saw me doing only three to four exams each semester thanks to my German modules being non-examinable, hence I'm quite used to not having too many exams, so I needed a non-examinable module. I'm contemplating on S/Uing it, but because I paid so much bid points for it, I don't have much left, and next semester I might end up with a difficult module which I need to S/U, so I'm not so sure if I should S/U this module. I'm not aiming for too high a score, perhaps a B would be sufficient.

It's cool that I'm doing a cross faculty module with someone I know if not I'd hate going for classes and absolutely abhor stepping into the science faculty. The only downside to doing this module is that it's at 6-9pm which means that I've a 6 hour break in between my classes on Wednesdays. I'm thinking if I should put my tutorial there to narrow it to a four hour break and/or put my duty slots there to cut another three hours away, or I should just go ahead with the six hour break and perhaps hit Vivocity for a mid class movie session. hahaha~ I've until Friday to think about this.

Europe of the Dictators
This is the module I have been waiting for for years, six semesters to be exact. Finally! I can't wait to frolick with Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler and Franco. I think this is really one hot module because there are 90 students in this cohort. I wonder how we are all going to fit into that tiny AS1 seminar room suited to hold 60 students. Another reason why I can't wait for this module to commence is to finally meet Dr Kelly in person. I've been hearing a lot of good things about him, and was so kind to help me validate my SEP credits because of some problem with the change in manpower, the person who was in charge when it was my time used to be Prof Clancey, blah blah, and Dr Kelly's specialty is European History, just the kind of stuff I enjoy.

I know whether or not someone was going to take this module with me, I still have to take this module because it's been my calling since six semesters ago. But because this is also the kind of module I know people would take, I'm not surprised to see quite a number of familiar faces in this class. I really hope I get to learn some serious stuff for this module~ Another amazing thing is that the textbook Dr Kelly chose for this module is a book by one of my favourite historians, Stephen J Lee. This gives me an excuse to purchase the book!

Historiography and Historial Method
This is like the only module out of all that I'm going into class quite reluctantly. Seriously, if there were enough EU modules going around, I wouldn't want to do this module, it just sounds so dry and boring and difficult, even though I really hope it won't be the case. But really, historiography isn't my cup if tea. In the field of history, I like learning about stories, stories of great men, stories of great triumphs and/or downfalls. I have pictures of grandeur in my head and histo just plants an image of a shaggy haired historian in my head, something like Eric Hobsbawn. *shudders* As much as I enjoy his writings, I think he looks really ugly, there's no way I want to turn out to look anything remotely like him.

Another thing about this class is the idea of being stuck in a class filled with history majors and they are all so zai, and I'll look so bad comparatively.

Special Paper in Modern European History
The title is misleading because the scope Prof Murfett chose is Britain, contemporary Britain. Yes, two things wrong about it, anything from 1945 is not called modern history because modern history is 1978-1945, another thing is that I don't consider Britain as part of Europe, Europe to me is always continental Europe. But well, after doing Victorian Great Britain during my SEP, this module is quite a good continuation of my study of the Great Britain, or the United Kingdom, or whatever you want to call that little piece of island off the coast of continental Europe.

And it's great to do a module with Prof Murfett once again. He's one good teacher, and a funny bloke, even though his allegiences in football is quite disturbing, but anyway, I'm quite looking forward to the module already.

Last week we had a briefing session for the module, and I unfortunately had the dishonour of arriving to class late, like half and hour late, and I was laughed at. boo~ I cannot be late for the module again. I need to be up early, at least early enough to reach and have enough time to get a cup of coffee from Coffee Club Xpress. grr... I hate 9am classes, and this semester I have two of them. super sian...

European Foreign Policy
This is the other 9am class. Actually I'm quite apprehensive about this module because it's a PS module, and I haven't been doing that many PS modules. The other module that's linked to this module, EU and ASEAN, was the module which I hadn't complete during the semester I left for SEP. I really need to put in a lot of effort to be on par with those muggerish, competitive PS student. grr...

This is also another module I am taking alone, but luckily a scan through the list shows a couple of familiar names so I hope it won't be too bad on me. Yup, bring on the coffee and I think I'm sort of, kind of, somewhat ready for school already.

I also can't wait for next semester's modules, they are quite interesting, and cross my fingers that I get to do ISM then it'd be really fun next semester.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

10 Weird Habits Meme

Rules of the game : **Each player of this game starts off with ten weird things or habits or little known facts about yourself. **People who get tagged must write in a blog of their own ten weird things or habits or little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. **At the end you must choose six people to be tagged and list their names. No tagbacks!

1. I like to - lie on my bed on my tummy.
2. I am allowed - to do whatever I want, but I have enough sensibility to not go overboard.
3. My favourite part of my body is - legs, well, almost.
4. If I could fix one part of my human body - I want to erase all the pimples, zap away all the fats round my tummy, remove all the stretch marks on my thighs, oh, did you say one part?
5. I hate - growing fat, growing pimples, and growing old!
6. If I could date a female celebrity, I would date - erm... erm... erm... No comments here leh...
7. If I could date a male celebrity, it’s - Wubai!
8. I’m attracted to - food, when I see food I'd be drawn over to them like two opposite poles of a magnet.
9. I hate it - most when I know I shouldn't be eating because I'm ballooning, but I cannot help but want to eat because the food looks too appealing to me and it's calling out for me.
10. I prefer to sleep - with my head sandwiched between two pillows, and have the one on top just covering my forehead keeping it snug and warm.

I won't be tagging anyone since I just picked it up from around the world wide web.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

The Exchange Buddy From Hell

Starting more than a week ago my home welcomed the stay of a Taiwanese exchange student under the MOE Taiwan Immersion Programme. The moment my sister came back home one day a couple of months back talking excitedly about this immersion programme which she wanted to sign up for, I felt a wave of excitement for her too. Maybe it's because of my homestay immersion programme two years plus ago in Germany which I really enjoyed and learnt a lot, and also seeing the friends around me having went for this programme and other immersion programmes years ago which compelled me to help my sister persuade the parents to agree to letting my sister take part in this programme.

In my dad's words, he said to my sister, "Just sign up first la, you think so easy to get meh?"

In the end, my sister did manage to snag a slot in this programme. I remember she came back one day after the first rounds of interviews saying that her name wasn't in the list of the pupils selected for the second round of interviews. But it turned out that she aced the first round of interviews that she needn't return for the second round. Since then, the family took a more ambivalent view of this immersion programme as we all geared up to welcome the stay of this Taiwanese girl.

I clean up my room, cleared up all the mess. My mother too, cleaned up the house, and cleared the dining table for use (because we don't usually use the dining table, it has become a storage table over the years). My dad thought up of a whole long list of places for us to bring the girl about hoping to show her more of Singapore, not just those parts which the tourists see.

The came the D-Day. The family including me were all at RELC all psyched up waiting to meet our new ward. I was imagining a girl something like those I've always been seeing in the various Jacky variety shows I tune in to regularly. Something like Rainie Yang, or Selina, or Hebe, or just some cute little girl with big eyes small face and long hair. Let's just that the Taiwanese girl whom we had to host was everything opposite of what I had dreamt.

The first moment me and my mother thought when we saw her was "Is this a guy or girl?" Yes, it is this bad.

She had the shortest hair among all the female students, she was the biggest size among all the female students, and she wore the longest skirt among all the female students. She had small eyes, wearing spectacles, and very masculine features which do not look good on her at all, she basically looked like an outcast. I know it's shallow to judge people based on looks, but I think looks also defines a person's character, whether he or she bothers to put an effort into how he/she looks like and how he/she wants to be seen by other people. Well, the kind of message this girl was trying to send across was that she was a reject.

My excitement died down as fast as I could say byebye, but I still wanted to try and be nice so I attempted to talk to her and see if indeed we shouldn't be judging people by their appearances. But the moment I started to talk to her I knew she wasn't a person I can get along with easily. I asked her if she'd like to have some refreshments, she said no, not even a little bit. I passed her off as being shy and reclusive. And on the trip home, she talked so little and so reluctantly and her replies comprised only of mono-syllabic answers, I knew she was just being difficult.

I thought the main purpose of this immersion programme is for the Taiwanese students to learn English and to practise the language, but this girl here did not understand a single English word and basically I felt no sense of her wanting to learn and improve. That's it, I washed my hands off her and called her weird to my sister.

At that time my sister was still very nice to her and tried to show appropriate care and concern and said I was being mean when I called her weird and stuff. But the longer that Taiwanese girl stayed the us, the more problems arose.

Later that day during dinner, she didn't want to try anything we offered her. When we asked her what she eats, she said she eats everything, but when we offer her local food to try she said she doesn't want to try it. Then as she rejected more and more food, we realised that she was an extremely picky eater despite her declaring herself as being able to eat anything. For the starters, she only eats things that she has eaten before, so she doesn't eat anything she never saw before, which comprises of almost all the local food. Wanting to bring her out to eat in a nice dining restuarant, my dad suggested Cantonese cuisine at Crystal Jade, which she flated turned down. Trying to be accommodating, we suggested Hokkien cuisine at Beng Hiang, but she too turned that down. She's crazy.

Anyway, as I was saying, the first day of her stay with us was problematic. Just about dinner time when we were happily tucking into our food, she threw her tantrums and said she didn't want to eat anything. On probing, she confessed that she was not feeling well. Being the super nice parents, we brought her to see a doctor. At the clinic, that stupid girl didn't even know how to write her official English name! I mean, who can't write their own names??? Then she was totally clueless when we asked about her date of birth, she doesn't know that Taiwan uses the ROC year system unlike the rest of the freaking 6billion population of the entire world. I can't believe that there can be such a stupid and ignorant person like her. I wonder how she managed to pass through the interviews to get to be on this programme.

I was so freaking pissed by having such a short end of the stick that I questioned my dad if he was willing to fork out the money on the doctor fees, but my dad being the nicest man on earth said that as long as she's okay, that few tens of dollars was okay.

Well, that was not the only time she went to the doctor lor. A couple of days later she went to the doctor again for flu, and altogether we spent $80 on her doctor fees which we wanted to get the insurance to cover, but here's another problem. The Taiwanese side of the teacher was unable to give our side's teacher a definite answer about the claiming of insurance. The that asshole opportunist of that butchofabitch said that she will keep the medical receipts, then she will bring back to get the insurance settled. Then my mother shrewdly asked her what was she going to do with the money claimed, that stupid buth said that she was going to give it to her mother! Like what the bloody hell?!! It is our money lor. In the end our family's stance was that it's okay if we don't get back the money paid, but we're definitely not going to let her or her mother profit from it.

If things were still not so bad, there're more horror stories coming up. On the second say of her stay with us, we found that our toilet was spewed with blood drops. My sister and I both had our period already so the only other female living with us (not counting the mother) was her. If spewing blood all over the toilet floor was still not so bad, she had let her blood stained the dining chair while we were having dinner. Luckily our dining set was marble made and not cushioned if not it would be totally disgusting. And that stupid girl didn't have the mind to clean up her bloody mess (pun intended).

I understand it's a pain in the ass (no pun intended) to have your period when travelling because I got mine on my first day in Germany on the immersion trip. But I had the sensibility to inform my host about it and ask her where to dispose of the waste material and I always made sure I cleaned up properly. So there's no excuse that this Taiwanese girl couldn't do the same.

She then took for granted that my mother was washing all her clothes for her, but my mother by then was complaining to us secretly that her clothes were disgusting. She's a girl yet she was wearing men's boxers. Men's boxers and sports bra, and her clothes were sweaty and disgusting, especially her underwear. Then again, I wonder how she managed to place her sanitary napkins on a pair of men's boxers. *shudders* I don't want to think about it.

At first I was the only one being mean about her, but by two days later, my sister was downright mean to her, in front of her, and bitching about her every night to me, mostly to vent her frustrations about the exchange buddy from hell. My sister concluded that she got the shortest end of the whole long stick. So, it wasn't just me, and my sister has taken it much much further.

The exchange buddy was irritating and downright rude to everybody. Every day she's ask my sister the same question about what they were going to do a few days from now, which my sister is totally clueless about because the itinery hasn't been set by the teachers so how'd she know. And when my sister wasn't able to answer, she shouted at my sister that she didn't knew anything so how was she going to properly host her. That was just downright rude and insolent. My sister was already trying her best and there she was not doing anything to help. If she so want to know what was going to happen, go and find out yourself la.

At first I thought she was somewhat of a butch, but according to my sister, she was a whiny butch. Her favourite phrases in school is "wo bu yao wo bu yao", in the whiny voice. If Selina or Hebe were to say that it'd be cute, but imagine a fat ugly butch like looking rude asshole saying that, it's just sounds so frigging gross.

Then not contented on just being the worse low-life ever, she was starting to dig. She made my sister pay for her expenses as part of the hosting experience, which is just totally wrong.

And it's not just our family thinking that she the most disgusting creature on earth, but all my sister's friends thought so too. My sister has this friend who was at first extremely patient with the Taiwanese asshole, and my sister thought that she was really nice, but once the Taiwanese girl was turned, my sister asked her friend how could she be so nice, the friend's reply was "It's the be-nice-to-animals week" OMG. hahaha~ Together they first started calling the Taiwanese girl polar bear, then they went on and called her ogre, so that they can talk freely in front of her because she didn't understand English.

The other Taiwanese girls on this programme from her school all shunned her too. They didn't asked her along when they went out together shopping and visiting other hosts.

Under a circumstance like this, all the little behaviours all matter. During dinner she never greets my parents to eat even though they greet her. She never once thanked my mother even though she treated my mother like a Filipino maid. She would wake my sister up unnecessarily by poking at her sides which my sister is intolerant about. On the day she left, she never said byebye or thanks to my mother even though my mother said byebye to her.

And the final straw. After the farewell dinner, me and my parents went to pick my sister up from the hotel when we saw her walking by us. She walked straight by us without any acknowlegement. My mother even said sarcastically if she had forgotten who we were, and she just walked by without any reply.

Even my dad who has the most even temper on earth by the end of her stay was totally disappointed and told us just not to be bothered about her. Ignore her.

All that we done for her, paying for her meals, washing her clothes, making sure she lived in comfort, ferried her here and there go shopping go school, even gave her an EZ link card to use without asking her to pay us back, and when she wanted to visit a family friend in Singapore, the parents arranged the meeting session, and brought her there and back, all those petrol. wah lau! And what we got back in gratitude is plain insolence from her.

Really no manners at all, really not well-brought up at all. Really a screwed up kid.

Thank god that we bade goodbye for her, but the return leg of this programme is that when my sister goes to Taiwan for her immersion programme she has to stay with that freak. My sister has already made plans to make friends with the other Taiwanese girls from her school so that she can hang out with them rather than being stucked with that piece of crap.

But one thing I am very disappointed with is how the teachers handled this problem. The teachers showed no maturity in ensuring the wellbeing of the students all they cared was to make sure the programme ran smoothly. It's kind of very sad.

Monday, August 06, 2007

Meeting Mr Thompson

This title sounds like some B grade action flick, I don't know why. haha~ But anyway, the point is that I met Mr Thompson today! Mr Thompson was my European History teacher back in TJC, and he's the main reason why I'm studying European History currently, and he's also the main reason why I'm so in love with Otto von Bismarck.

I met Mr Thompson at the MOE Teaching Award Ceremony this afternoon, and no, I'm not going to sell my soul just to break my bond. I'd be damned three time over if I'm ever going to be a teacher, either that or it's just that I'm in dire need of a job or cash. bah~ I was there as a spectator, and sitting there and watching the overtly pompous ceremony made me even more determined that MOE is indeed a place where they get their priorities all screwed up, but I'm not going into that today. The main man of the day is Mr Thompson.

I wasn't quite surprised to see Mr Thompson as one of the invited teacher-mentors of some awardee because Mr Thompson is one dedicated, interesting, caring and kind teacher. There aren't many history teachers around in TJ, and anyone with an interest in European History would definitely love this man here. He was kind of surprised to see me there because he knows of my disinterest in teaching, and in fact he was the one on hearing that I was pursuing an education in European History shared his disencouragement to join the teaching profession. It was even more ironic that the reason why I was at the ceremony was because I was watching someone receiving a teaching award for history. Mr Thompson did raise his eyebrows regarding the choice of profession. haha~

It was comforting to know that Mr Thompson still remembers me despite me having graduated eons ago. But I think it's also because I still do see him around now and then that I can jot this memory of me. haha~ I still meet him around like once a year under various circumstances, like today's award ceremony. I once met him in NUS where he was attending a seminar while I was hanging around in school doing stuff for my then CCA. Then there was me going back to TJ with the girls for a little outing . Then there was the other instance when I went back to TJ myself to request for a favour from him because I needed a testimony to include in my SEP application stuff. I first thought of him when I needed to find to mentors to write a cover letter for me, him and Prof Farrell of course, as I said earlier, this was the teacher who awakened my deep interest in European History, and my love for Bismarck and the German History. If I ever need to invite a teacher that I admire, or helped shaped my interests, I'd also definitely be inviting this man here. But course, you can be sure that it won't be anything to do with teaching, or MOE.

I still see Mr Thompson sometimes when he's walking home from school, but those times I'd be on the bus seeing him walk by so I'm unable to say hi to him. Yup, he stays very near me, confirmed by his disclosure of his address while talking.

It's quite sad that European History has been removed from the history syllabus, so now Mr Thompson has turned to teaching Knowledge and Inquiry, whatever that is, I'm not from that era one. Yup, he's the head of that department, supposedly teaching H3 students, I don't know who they are, but Mr Thompson says that they are the smarter ones, probably those who would go on to do their studies overseas, and well, Mr Thompson is still the teacher in charge for application of overseas colleges for TJ.

It's a pity I didn't get to take a picture with him just now, erm, I'm not an awardee anyway, so take picture for what. This is a picture of that time when we went back TJ for a visit. Oh wait, I think he wore that exact same shirt and pants when I met him just now. wahaha~

Good luck and all the best to Mr Thompson, and whatever's left of his history profession here in TJ, and hope that rental prices won't continue to rise. It's a pity I didn't get to talk more with him because he was rushing off to play tennis. How cool is that? haha~

Saturday, August 04, 2007

July Food Round-Up

I did the April Food Round-Up but haven't done for any other months since then even though I've been doing regular food blog entries. I have since then collected even more food pictures to do yet another food round-up. Sadly to say one motivating factor was because I've inserted back a 1GB memory card into my handphone so I've been using the handphone to take pictures rather than a proper camera. Pictures aren't of the best quality, but they are so tiny that I don't think it matters that much anyway. haha~

Have fun watching these food I had in July, and salivate with me. I actually got hungry when doing up these pictures for this round-up entry.
Warning: extremely long entry ahead. Good luck, have fun!

2.7.2007
Sausages from the stall selling sausages at Tangs Basement where all the other yummy food are.

I love sausages. Okay, that's an understatement, I absolutely adore sausages and can munch of sausages for the rest of my life even though I might die earlier from all the sodium nitrate intake, but I don't care. I like to locate good sausages and compare them with other good sausages I've eaten before. This stall here is one of the better ones I've tasted in Singapore. It's juicy, well charred, authentic enough, serves by itself or top up a bit more for a bun.

Prices range from $2+ to $3+, but a little tip here, just before the stall closes at about 8+pm when it is needed to clear stock, the sausages go for any two at $4 only. It's a really good deal if you choose the $3+ sausages.

8.7.2007
Some promo mushroom pizza with an add on garlic bread from Pizza Hut, the Siglap branch.

I at first wanted pizza and lasagna, but the lasagna Pizza Hut had was only the beef one which I don't consume, somehow the seafood one has been retracted and I am not very updated about it. Anyway, I ordered a baked pasta instead of the lasagna but the baked pasta never came. Instead of waiting for the pasta, I decided that forget it, we shall hop over to another restaurant down Siglap Road for lasagna instead. (Look at image below.)

The mushroom pizza was a tad disappointing, I think I really can't live without meat. Nope, I won't be ordering this again, time to try out other stuff next time or just stick to my usual order, that never fails me. The service was terrible too, okay la, to give credit to the staff there, they were doing their duty, just that the screw up in my order made me feel a bit negatively about their service. I think I should just stick to 6235-3535, that never goes wrong, and if it does, there's always free food on the house to make up for the mistakes.

8.7.2007
Chicken lasagna and Death by Chocolate milkshake from Cafe Cartel Siglap branch.

Because of the screwed up service in Pizza Hut, and my continued cravings for lasagna, we hopped down the street and popped over to Cartel and ordered this wonderful lasagna, and a milkshake as dessert. Very satisfying.

Cartel's lasagna is among one of the best chicken lasagna I've eaten, only the one at Delifrance Bistro is comparable, actually, there isn't much to compare with since there aren't many places selling chicken lasagna, most places only sell beef ones, quite sad. The Death by Chocolate from Cartel is one of my favourites in Cartel, rich foamy chocolate milkshake which has enough chocolate ice cream rather than a premixed chocolate powder packet served with ice and milk.

13.7.2007
Smoked Salmon Sandwich from the TCC near Robertson Quay, just down the street from DblO.

Because of a screw up regarding the dinner prepared for us during Union Camp, some of us who ate later were left without food left and very hungry, so instead of heading straight to the queue to enter DblO, we popped over to TCC and had a proper dinner. Wow... Real food since camp started.

The Smoked Salmon Sandwich was served with chips and a salad which I didn't touch. I liked the sandwich, the salmon was generous and the bread was crispy yet soft. I wanted to eat it with my bare hands because I was hungry and the sandwich was thick, but the mates around me gave me a weird stare, hence I went sophisticated and ate with knife and fork.

15.7.2007
Chicken wings, chicken blanket, french fries, bratwurst pizza, salmon and mushroom baked pasta, and an irish cream mudpie from NYDC at Suntec City.

A family dinner which the sister got to choose the place, like always, and she wanted to eat Western, like always. She had the baked pasta which I took a few mouthfuls of, and I had the pizza which my daddie took a quarter of and the mother had the wings which I took one from and we shared all the rest, but I didn't try the blankets because I had enough. The wings were decent but not spectacular, same with the fries, I mean how can one go wrong with fries? The baked pasta was not bad but I generally prefer my salmon to be raw or smoked, I also generally prefer my pasta to be spaghetti rather than penne. The bratwurst pizza was almost great. The garlic cream base was the only thing that didn't make it a perfect pizza. I prefer tomato bases. Nonetheless, the sausage was marvellous, and the cheese was so abundant. The mudpie was another things that rendered me floating in heaven. The use of Bailey's Irish Cream made the mudpie not too sweet but with a nice distinctive taste of bitter cream but with the chocolate and vanilla icecream in the pie, the bitterness was countered with sweetness making it a nice mix of taste.

While I was generally satisfied, the food didn't suit the taste of the older generation. When my dad paid, he asked if there were any offers by credit cards, he was told that there's a voucher for the next visit if he paid by UOB cards. He said, it's okay and he paid with his DBS card instead because "don't think there'll be a next visit". That's my dad.

16.7.2007
Lots and lots of xiaolongbao from Nanxiang Xiaolongbao at Bugis Junction.

Being a big big fan of xiaolongbaos, there's no reason that I can pass a chance in paying homage to the reverend Nanxiang xiaolongbaos from Shanghai, but well, the next best thing without having to pay for an air ticket is this little restaurant in Bugis Junction. Wanting to try the various different flavours and with a budget to work around with, we ended up ordering three baskets of xiaolongbao in crabmeat, prawn and original flavour. Altogether I ate 9 xiaolongbaos in that one sitting, absolutely amazing.

My first gripe was the extremely thick skin. Although thicker skin is less likely to have spillages, but this skin was really too thick and I could taste the doughy texture, but other than that, it was okay. At least there wasn't any leakages. The soup was not bad, with a strong gingery taste but wasn't that overpowering, so it was acceptable. There were significant pieces of crabmeat and prawns in the ones of those flavours but that didn't add much to the taste, only to the texture. I still prefer the ones at Yum Cha and Crystal Jade, but these were not too bad la. Can eat and can return to try other different flavours ones.

Another little tip, there's student discounts in weekday afternoons, so remember to flash your EZLink card for 20%(or is it 25%) off.

16.7.2007
Various food items from Takashimaya's Foodfest exhibition. There's the Crispy Chicken Thigh from Dong Dae Mun, sausage from another participating outlet, and Yakisoba in an omelette from Modanyaki in Taka Food Court.

I had the sausage first. I can never resist sausages, especially those overpriced ones labelled as bratwursts, hence I picked one up from there. It was not bad. I think the ones from this stall and the ones from the stall at Tangs are from the same butchery.

I then had the chicken thigh because my friend wanted that. My favourite's still the sausages from Dong Dae Mun, but I had my fill of sausage already so I decided to give it a miss. Besides, I can always go back to Vivocity for more Dong Dae Mun when I want to.

The yakisoba was great. I have been craving for yakisoba ever since watching too many animes, there's always a yakisoba stall whenever there's a festival. Actually this is my first time having that, I had that before and I loved it, hence I wanted to eat it again the next time going to Taka, hence I just had to get it despite there being a foodfest with other food. I tried this flavour for the first time, and it's great. I love eggs~

16.7.2007
Dessert that night was waffles with my two favourite flavours of icecream, chocolate overload and tropical mango from Gelare at Far East branch.

I usually prefer my waffles when eaten with icecream to be eaten plain. I hate whipped cream, but I love maple syrup, real maple syrup, but maple syrup when eaten with icecream, especially chocolate icecream, it tastes weird. But maple syrup with mango icecream is not bad, but because I had the chocolate overload, I decided to give the syrup a miss. I love the chocolate overload. There's another chocolate icecream with soy milk instead of milk which isn't as nice as the chocolate overload. Nice dessert to end the night of gorging on too much food.

17.7.2007
Fulin Doufu Yuan at Siglap with lots of yummy fried taupok and other fried yong tau fus, this time I had it with their thick beehoon and minced meat.

This was tapau-ed back for me, hence it's my own bowl, and the fried stuff's in a plastic container. I really really love fried taupok, I can eat like seven of them in one go, but of course, there isn't seven there. I had just told my mother to get stuff I usually eat and then she just picked up some stuff for me. And because I severely lack vegetables in my diet, she picked out one strand for me. It's hidden right at the bottom, but I ate it up still.

I like the bits of minced meat they have in the beehoon. I think it's chicken because I once went to the shop itself and there were signs saying that they don't use pork or lard in their dishes. It would have been better if minced pork was used but minced chicken tastes not bad too.

20.7.2007
Wings, guotie, beancurd skin, noodles, fried rice and two baskets of xiaolongbaos from Koo Kee just behind Treats, the basement food court in Parkway Parade.

My dad has been wanting to try out Koo Kee's since he fell in love with xiaolongbaos, but because I heard that they weren't that good, and because of other reasons we haven't been there, but finally, my dad wanted to try that place so badly and since he was the one paying the bill, we went to whereever he wanted to go for dinner, and Koo Kee's was it.

The fried rice came first, and we were instantly blown off by the standard of the fried rice. Each rice was well covered with the yellows of the egg and the eggy taste was in each and every rye. I didn't try the wings, but tried everything else. The beancurd skin was a let down but the rest were decent. The noodles were very mushroom-y which was a bit overbearing for me even though I ate no more than three spoonsful. The guotie would be great if not for the many holes which leaked out juice, but it was still yummy though not as nice as Crystal Jade's. The xiaolongbaos were decent, nothing to fault it but nothing to praise it, which isn't that bad a thing really.

After that meal, we concurred that this could become a usual eating place of us if we want xiaolongbaos but don't want to venture to far away.

21.7.2007
Assorted dimsum, too many to describe but you can read them from the photo, from Tian Wang, a dimsum place at Thompson Plaza.

My maternal grandmother wanted to give a dimsum treat and wanted to go to Kelong 88 at Thompson Plaza but they closed down already, so we went to this other dimsum place in Thompson Plaza instead. I didn't eat anything other than the hargaus and siewmais and I can tell you, they aren't good. Yes, they are edible if not I wouldn't have eaten seven pieces of each, but well, they pale in comparison with the other dimsum places' I usually eat at. I still took pictures of one each of everything we ate but well...

The funny thing was that we ordered altogether five baskets each of hargau and siewmai because they were the things that disappeared the quickest. I alone ate seven pieces of each, and the various other kids and my mother sisters were snooping on the hargaus and siewmais whenever a new basket arrives.

21.7.2007
Chocolate Overload icecream cake from Gelare at the Citylink Mall.

I usually don't eat cakes, but I couldn't resist trying this one because it's an icecream cake. Icecream cakes don't count as cakes, right? I had to try this one because it's Chocolate Overload! There's another Jamaican Chocolate cake but it was sold out but it didn't matter because I'd still choose the Chocolate Overload one. Look at the thick slice of cake and icecream~

I was so indulgent in that cake that I just had to get an extra scoop of Chocolate Overload icecream after finishing that cake. But the cake and the icecream was shared la, I'm not that pig to finish up the cake and the icecream by myself.

23.7.2007
Soy Chicken Noodles with an extra egg from Jiale at Marina Square Food Loft the food court.

The soup was not bad, the noodles were nice and springy, the chicken was breast meat which I requested for was decent, not too hard, but not too soft, about just right, the taste of the sauce was flavourful, nothing to gripe about but nothing to praise it too, the eggs was bland and gone in two mouths, the vegetables were forced down my throat because I needed the greens hence I can't comment much about it other than it's vegetables. In all a decent meal bought at a food court though this food court have sort of overpriced their food items.

24.7.2007
A cheesy pork bratwurst with bun and mustard from the Bratwurst stall at the basement of Plaza Singapura.

I think I've found the right flavour of bratwurst to consume at this bratwurst stall, previously those I ate weren't striking enough for me to remember but this flavour's was good, pity it's not as long as I'd liked it to be.

It's usually served with sauerkraut, but I wanted mine without sauerkrauts, so it's just plain mustard. Although sauerkraut is a very German thing, I think it's the only thing German that I don't like it. With a chi chi name as sauerkraut, it isn't really that an impressive thing because right down to basics, it's only giam chye, and I don't like giam chye. It's not use trying to convince me that it's better than giam chye because I know it is, after staying in Germany for a semester and seeing my German housemate cook it. There was once I was lying around in my room when I smelt the distinctive smell of giam chye soup. Excited, I got to the kitchen to see if there were any enlightened folks or Chinese doing something up, but it was just my German housemate doing a pot of sauerkraut. There there, QED.

I also usually don't like cheese sausages to go with mustard, but this tasted quite beautifully. Think I should try more other kinds of cheese sausages with mustard from now on.

26.7.2007
Seafood pizza, tuna and bacon spaghetti and garlic bread from Pastamania Parkway Parade branch.

I had the seafood pizza because I was craving for seafood pizza, but I had a couple of mouthsful of the tuna and bacon spaghetti because my pizza came late. First talk about the basics, garlic bread. I prefer the Pizza Hut kinf of garlic bread but this wasn't really too bad la, normal lor. The tuna and bacon spaghetti was okay only, because I don't like tuna. The only kind of tuna I like and I eat is raw tuna. haha~ I hate canned tuna with onions and other whatnots, and this was one of those tuna from the can types, I could taste it as soon as it went into my mouth. But surprisingly, the bacon used was real pork bacon and not those fake turkey bacon kinds served at halal establishments. The tuna and bacon is a weird mix but if you like tuna, this should be fine. I quite enjoyed the seafood pizza, with my only gripe being that the cheese and toppings were too centred in the middle of the pizza and not evened out.

Don't mind having the pizza again instead of always sticking to my usual order of Marinara spaghetti, there's still the tomato, prawns, and clams, only difference is mussels for squids.

26.7.2007
Kaya toast from Yakun's at Parkway Parade branch.

It's weird right, having kaya toast for desserts. haha~ Yakun's kaya toasts are great, only that the kaya and the butter are not evenly spread out, they tend to congregate in the middle of the toast, and that the toast chills very quickly, and when it cools, the toast isn't crunchy already, and it becomes lau hong kind of toast. I still like it la, just that need to gobble it up quickly when it's still fresh and nice, but this is something I always forget to do.

I'm not really a kaya person, or even a bread person, but I just enjoy a Yakun now and then. This dessert is unique that it is the only time I walk into Yakun without ordering eggs, well, had enough food from dinner already. haha~

27.7.2007
Chippy's calamari and cheese sausage with mash potato from the Raffles City branch.

This is the first time trying calamari even though I'm a long time fan of Chippy, and I was not disappointed, 18 rings of calamari for just a small price is a pretty good deal, there were really so much calamari I had to share them. Then I also had my usual cheese sausage. I love Chippy's cheese sausage because it's dipped into a potful of oil in a deep fryer rather than grilled or other means of cooking. Really sinful but really good.

The thing is that even though I'm in love with the sausage, I do not want to eat the mash potato most of the time. I don't need the extra carbo, so I always get my friend to finish up the mash potato for me so much so that whenever I ask him if he wants to eat mash potato he takes it as a hint that I want to have a Chippy cheese sausage. Another thing disappointing about Chippy's mash potato is that it's from instant. It's the Maggi mash potato instant making machine you can see in 7-11, so there isn't really a need to eat that kind of stuff when you can free up the stomach space for something better. The sausage itself and more calamaris!

27.7.2007
Assorted donuts from the Donut Factory at the Suntec City branch where there's a sit in cafe.

I'm a donut convert. But because I haven't had the time nor the energy to do another of those four hour queues thingie, we popped by the Suntec City outlet to see if there's a queue for an eat in. There wasn't a long queue, only about 15-20min of waiting. But the catch is that each person can only purchase two donuts. Me and my friend bought four altogether, but I was the only one eating, I had the three pictured above and took away back home the fourth one for my sister.

I had the glazed, glazed is always the benchmark for a good donut. Then I had the peanut dark chocolate even though I dislike peanuts and peanut butter, but that flavour was not bad and is ranked as my third favourite Donut Factory donut flavour. Then I waited for another 10min for my double chocolate donut to arrive and it came in wet, as in the chocolate was still wet, and the donut was warm, and my whole mouth was covered with gooey chocolate, but it was heavenly. As you can see, the dark chocolate filled inside the donut was oozing out with each bite I took.

I so want to do another four hour queuing for more donuts.

28.7.2007
Wanton noodles, sliced fish thick beehoon, and assorted dimsum from various stalls at the Marine Parade Central Food Centre.

Mine was the wanton noodles, it was some Pontian noodles which was supposed to be nice and famous, but well, the noodles were indeed nice, but it was too little, and there wasn't enough dark sauce so it was rather unsatisfying enough for the pig in me. The fried wanton was more fried wanton skin than wanton filling and the soup wanton was cold. The char siew was decent though. In all, it was okay only that the portions was too little, maybe I should have ordered the more expensive one instead.

I only had a piece of hargau and a piece of siewmai and a piece of harkok. Last time I used to like the dimsum from that stall, but as I aged and I ventured into savouring other eateries and discovering good food, homecoming a couple of years later only found me a disappointed woman. Maybe I used to find it good because there wasn't the good stuff for me to compare it with, now that I know what is good, by comparison, this isn't really that good after all.

31.7.2007
Nasi briyani from the Nasi Padang stall at Treats in the basement food court of Parkway Parade.

I love nasi briyani for the fragrant rice and despite me not taking spicy stuff too well, I can still succumb to nasi briyani. My love for nasi briyani goes back to the Dunman High days when the very famous and very yummy nasi briyani is sold, only on Wednesdays, and without fail, every Wednesday there'd be a snaking long queue at that stall. Pity they don't sell it every day, they should really.

I had the chicken nasi briyani out of a choice of chicken and mutton, and I had the drumstick rather than the wing. It's not bad, the rice was fragrant enough and the chicken was quite a large piece. But because I don't take the spice vegetables, nor the spicy chicken skin, nor the parts of the rice that was soaked with spicy curry, I didn't eat much, the vegetables and rice was wasted, but I ate almost all the chicken. In all, it's not bad. Good enough for me to be so wasteful but don't feel myself wasting money on it.

31.7.2007
Desserts from Venezia, Parkway Parade branch, a dark chocolate gelato in cone and a warm chocolate cake.

Should I slam first or praise first? Think I shall get over the bad stuff first. The warm chocolate cake was more than a huge disappointment. The chocolate cake was microwaved warm, but it wasn't in the microwae long enough so it was warm inside and cold outside, and the scoop of icecream was a separate lump beside it rather than on top of it so the whole packaging of the dessert was ugly. And because the gelato was on the plate, I couldn't bring it back to complain about the not so warm cake. Worse was after a short period of time, the plate had water droplet condensed all over it. The only thing good about it was the vanilla icecream and the melted gooey chocolate inside the cake.

In a high praise of Venezia, the gelatos are really good. The dark chocolate icecream is really a masterpiece. Good for all those who enjoy good rich dark chocolate. It is not sweet yet not bitter, filled with the delightful taste of dark chocolate. This is even better than any Belgian chocolate or any other kind of chocolates.

With this, I come to the end of this extremely long post, even longer than my previous food round-up. Watch this space to see if there are any more round-ups next month or some other months!

Friday, August 03, 2007

我的眼泪在颤抖

我的眼泪在颤抖
苏慧伦

曲: c.y kong
词:许常德

我的眼泪在颤抖
但我确定是爱你的
别管街上的人怎么说
当你停在马路中央吻着我
故事突然之间改变了
红灯没有阻止我闯祸
你和她最后究竟怎么了
总有人恋爱不看星座
危险我不想追究用爱解脱

也许当我拥抱这个快乐了
结果就注定会寂寞了
希望绝望的复杂的心情背后
有许多眼泪要说
当我决定让你吻我了
并不表示我是你的了
爱你只是一个实验
看你多会表演
反正我还陷在爱你里面

我的眼泪在颤抖
但我现在是爱你的
当你吻着我马路中
好多人面前不是谁都能做的
ha...la...

This is quite an old song, but for a couple of months this has been ringing in my head. Then last night, I had a dream. The dream played out a sequence of alternative scenario, leading me to remember about this song again. The busy streets from the dream, it takes a lot of guts, and a lot of love to be able to do it.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Conversation In A Park

Overheard in a park at about 9.30-10pm of a conversation between a couple sitting on a bench.

She: Look at that balding, short, fat man over there. I bet that he's damn deprived. Let's make out in front of him and make him feel jealous about us.
(Girl pulls Guy close to her and started kissing, but Guy burst out laughing.)
He: You're so damn evil.
She: No, I'm not evil, I'm just being mean. No, I'm not being mean, I'm just being playful only.
(Guy shakes his head in despair.)
(The balding short fat man leaves the park shortly after the kissing scene.)
(After Guy stops laughing, he pulls Girl close to him and wanted to kiss her.)
Girl: Haiya, kiss for what, also nobody around to see us kiss. Not fun one.
Guy: Huh??? You call this fun?
Girl: I think it would be more fun if there's someone who just broke up
and sitting around here watching us make out.
Guy: Wah, if it's me I'd definitely cry lor.
Girl: Hahahaha. Let's look around to see any lonely souls out there to make fun of.
Guy: You are so evil.
Girl: No, I'm just being playful, and have nothing better to do.

I think everyone more or less have some moments alone in a place filled with couples and look at the couples with a tinge of jealousy. I remember once when I walked down Singapore River to see the many couples hand in hand, or hand on waist, or whatever whatever, and even though I told myself, and I knew to myself that it didn't matter what my relationship status is, I was still happy about everything. But still, sometimes, there'd still be envy. Maybe some different times, there'd be a tinge of jealousy.

Last year, when I had lots of friends celebrating their 21st birthday, I saw a lot of them, those who were attached had a boyfriend around to help plan the whole party, help organise everyone, double up as the resident photographer, basically just do all the shit work of the party to let the birthday girl glow in her mature charm. I still remember the strong pangs of feelings I had then whenever I saw this kind of scene, there's this strong pang of how I wish I had a boyfriend too. Because that feeling is not based on love, I put it as jealousy and envy.

My birthday party wasn't too bad itself. I had friends. But the thing was that because I had different groups of friends, each group thought another group was to stay with me overnight and it turned out that nobody was staying with me overnight. It wasn't that bad because I was tired out and my family was coming in early the next day and I'm a person who enjoys solititute, but still, I wished that there was somebody beside me for me to cuddle up with. No, that's still not love, not lust even, it's more like possessiveness, and that's where the jealousy and envy come in again.

I still feel a tinge of envy when I'm alone and see a scene of lovey dovey couple, but the feelings is less strong. Maybe only on days when I'm feeling frustrated and need someone by my side but there's no one around. But then that's not love either. So what is this elusive thing called love?

Maybe I'm too immuned to love that I can't really feel love.
Maybe I just want to have my day of fun.

Then another thing I want to talk about is the amount of public display of affection that one can tolerate doing and watching. For me, I'm generally quite open about such stuff, as long as there's no nudity, and no sex of any kind involved, I can accept almost anything else. I think there need to be at least some sort of decency, but well, like you watch movies and TV programmes, there's a lot more affection in those other arenas.

But I'm totally fine with kissing and hugging. Maybe also I'm quite accustomed to the Western kind of lifestyle in the streets where kissing and hugging are the norm. I think kissing and hugging especially at train stations very touching. I try not to think of people straying, so what remains is the pure affection between the couples about to part.

I don't understand why some people are turned off by PDAs. I'd only think that the only thing dislikeable about it is the amount of jealousy and envy it can incur. hahaha~