[C'EST MOI]
living paradox. individualist with anarchistic tendencies.
eludes eminence but appreciates subtle recognition.
capricious yet dependable. clandestine and unfathomable.
cynical realist who succumbs to the occasional idealism.
[J'AIME]
music. films. feasting & drinking. team sports.
good company; family, friends and those who share similar interests.
If I had to describe this holiday with one word, it'd be 'uncontrollable'.
Yes, that would be me. Uncontrollable.
The fact that overeating 3 days in a row would be sufficient to make a person put on a considerable amount of weight did not stop me from succumbing to the 'Hand, food & mouth' disease (damn!) and I think I'm going to have to suffer from a nervous breakdown the next time I try to fit into my jeans.
Oh hell.
I shall attempt to go jogging this evening. And detox this weekend.
And then there's the addiction I can't fight. I'm hooked on "Grey's Anatomy" and I just can't get enough of it! I've already completed the first season and am begging for more... it's normal, right?
-_-"
Anyhow, after all the eating and watching, I realise I still have 4 uncompleted reports sitting patiently on my desk, waiting for me to slog through them by next week. Drats. How am I supposed to enjoy what's left of the CNY break?
I guess this means that playtime is over for me... but before I bury myself under the pile of work, here's wishing you folks:
A Happy Loony New Year (my sis with her peanut earring)
[Time of Confession] 2:06 PM 0 Wisecracks for Me
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Friday, January 27, 2006
Over-indulgence
Just had an early reunion dinner with my family and with the good spread prepared, I couldn't stop eating.
Now, I'm one bloated girl.
There wasn't the usual steamboat this year, but my mum prepared seafood fishball soup which is just as good.
Then there was yusheng, shark's fins (I overcame the fear of my allergy and ate one bowl of it... after 10 long years, my allergy is apparently GONE! Yippee! The taste is as I remembered it when I was 11... it's heavenly!), abalone, roast duck, char siew and roast meat, steamed prawns, stir-fried leeks, century eggs with ginger (one of my favourites)...
And there was red wine. *hic*
I think I over-ate but man, it does feel good to have dinner and watch TV with my family. It's one of the rare things we do which makes me treasure it more than I'd have if we did this every evening.
Now, I indulge in Grey's Anatomy and Dr. Derek Shepherd. How u doin? =P
[Time of Confession] 11:30 PM 0 Wisecracks for Me
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Thursday, January 26, 2006
Xenophilia
I remember very clearly how we used to discuss about xenophobia during GP lessons, how it is one of the reasons discrimination arises and so on.
How come no one ever mentioned xenophilia?
It is very much a trend in our society, no?
Like how men are drawn to hot Japanese girls, and women are drawn to suave Caucasian men (which was evident in my class today: when a male Caucasian exchange student walked in, 3/4 of the female heads turned to check him out).
And how I so dig the British accent.
Forget that my Developmental Biology lecturer isn't that good-looking. Forget that he is really quite blur and doesn't give the best tutorials. I simply adore it when he opens his mouth to say something - the deep voice peppered with an English accent (well, he's Asian but studied in UK all his life). So engaging it is like music to the ears. Isn't it winsome, how 'B' is pronounced 'bay' instead of 'bee'?
Then there are thosewho speak in fluent French? So A.L.L.U.R.I.N.G....
Ahem.
Before I get too far with daydreaming, let me clarify that the above-mentioned are not in anyway items on the 'Ideal Boyfriend Checklist'. But it'd be a bonus if the guy has them anyhow =P
[Time of Confession] 4:17 PM 0 Wisecracks for Me
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Monday, January 23, 2006
Sunday Melodies
Despite the ongoing craze for everything Korean sparked by K-dramas and K-pop, I have failed to jump on the bandwagon of chasing every episode of the tearjerkers and drooling after the 'cute' Korean actors. I haven't tried a single Korean dish as well.
There's a first time for everything and for my virgin Korean meal, I was at Lena's mercy. But not only was she merciful, she was darn awesome cos the fare she whipped up was spicytastyandohsogood.
Check out my lunch and yeah, go ahead, envy me!
Kimchi Jigae: a sweet and spicy Kim Chi seafood soup
Bi bim bap: Beef and vegetable bowl. Errr... plate.
Baked squid and prawns in miso paste
After the satisfying lunch, a bunch of us headed down to K-box to sing our throats hoarse. Good enough to be the next Singapore Idol?
Here, I must question again, why the heck do they have such a lousy collection of English songs? Seriously! And what's up with English MTVs? Don't they have any other location to shoot their videos OTHER than the beach?
Lena and I was going to reminisce our old school days by singing "Fixing a Broken Heart" (one of the more popular songs in those days) but ended up with our jaws hanging when we saw the 'female lead' of the MTV walking down a flight of stairs to (yes , again) the sandy beach. She was a horrific sight. Bushy eyebrows, maggie mee hair, blood red lips and a curtain for a dress. We were practically rolling about in laughter just seeing her acting pretty and desirable, flipping her 'mee' in the wind.
We didn't even manage to sing a complete line in the song -_-"
I should start learning how to belt out more Chinese tunes to spare myself from the eyesores.
[Time of Confession] 10:52 PM 0 Wisecracks for Me
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Saturday, January 21, 2006
Spaces in Between
It's been a hell of a week.
I've been running to and from classes, going to the lab to keep my baby going (i'd like to think of my project as my baby, although it hasn't be given THAT much attention thus far, i'm hoping to get the results i want soon), trying to catch up with tutorials and getting rid of fungi (yes, FUNGI. with the stupid rain that never stops, they have taken a liking to breed and multiply in my room. yikes. i opened a box of new shoes and found that it was the home for an civilization of happy mildew). I haven't had much sleep at all and am pretty irritable most of the time.
Oh blame it on the hormones and the lack of sleep.
I wonder what happened to the time in between. Surely there was an hour here or a minute there, but why does it seem like I haven't stopped for the past 120 hours?
I'm glad the weekend's here.
I just want to sleep, have the time to sit around, drink some tea and recall what happened to the spaces in between.
[Time of Confession] 9:40 AM 0 Wisecracks for Me
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Monday, January 16, 2006
Awesome Anatomy
New love: Watching Grey's Anatomyon Monday nights, hugging my pillow on my bed and chasing the Monday blues away with...
...the eye-candy of the series; Dr. Derek Shepherd played by Patrick Dempsey
Super gorgeous!
If all doctors looked like him, I wouldn't think twice about seeking medical attention when I'm sick already.
But I must add that other than the drool-worthy cast (incl. Katherine Heigl, who is a striking resemblence of Charlize Theron), the show is worth watching for it's insightful interpretation of the bustle of a hospital with surgical interns vying for the chance to assist in a surgery.
I can't wait till next Monday!
[Time of Confession] 11:59 PM 0 Wisecracks for Me
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Sunday, January 15, 2006
Extravagance and Mosaicity
I've morphed into a shopaholic overnight and it's taking a heavy toll on my credit card.
Went shopping for New Year clothes with Von yesterday afternoon and we spent loads on clothes just at Wisma and Ngee Ann City. Got a dress from m)phosis, a dress and top from Fashion Lab, a tube and cardigan from LVER, yet another tube from Joop... gosh, we were practically unstoppable; and to add fuel to our burning fire for more, there was an additional 15% off in most boutiques @ Wisma for UOB cardmembers, which numbed the pain of the gaping wound in our accounts.
My favourite buy of the day but now the question remains: will I have an occasion for this?
Whoops... It was like we were twirling in the centre of a raging storm - so insidiously destructive, yet almost impossible to get out of. Fortunately for our aching feet (we were walking for more than 7 hours, talk about needing exercise!) and our tormented cards, we managed to swallow hard and walk away from all the shops that screamed out "SALE" to us.
Just the night before, my mum and I attended a skincare workshop at a beauty centre at Middle Road. The company was promoting a range of skincare from France (but the name doesn't sound French at all) that they were distributing and I got to try the products while the beauticians demonstrated how they should be used.
It wasn't too bad an experience other than the fact that the entire course was conducted in Mandarin.
Then it was a pretty interesting sight; they showed real-life testimonies of bad skin turned good and fat people becoming skinny (they're BIG in the slimming business; more than 5 people I saw lost close to 10kg in less than 3 months and kept the weight off for years. They showed me the photos of their hey-days and I could only marvel at their 'achievement').
My mum bought the entire skincare range for me; a whooping $300++. It'd better be GOOD.
I was probably the youngest there and I sat around while the older women swarmed to the beauticians to enquire more about their products and their slimming programmes. There was a queue at the weighing machine and the body fat analyzer (which I tried before the workshop only to find out, to my dismay, that I've put on weight.... someone please tell me it's muscle mass?? haha...) and the high-pitched tattling around me only reminded me how tired I was.
I have been losing sleep the past few nights in hall. Not only are the tutorials starting to bug me and keep me away from my affair with my lovely bed, there seems to be an increase in night, no, early morning activities around the hall. Loud talking and tittering almost drove me crazy even till 4am in the mornings. Don't these people need sleep?!!!
Someone get me ear plugs.
To calm my irate temper, nothing could do better than good music and the bringer of good news says that the Mosaic Music festival is BACK! There's the Pat Metheny Trio (with Christian McBride!! I so wanna go and listen to him!) , Incognito with acid jazz, funk and soul and of course, UBlues, but it clashes with Incognito! Arghh, I wanna attend ALLLLLLLLL.... Can all the other audiophiles out there please stand up?
[Time of Confession] 6:58 PM 0 Wisecracks for Me
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Wednesday, January 11, 2006
A beautiful scam?
Everyone needs a little surprise and excitement in their lives, no?
Tonight, everything went according to plan. The bunch of us sprung a surprise celebration for my best friend's 22nd birthday.
Grace was caught totally unaware which is a great sense of relief for me cos I was worried that something will screw up somehow, spoiling the surprise. But everything went so smoothly I have all my accomplices to thank!
Behind the strategem...
I'd asked Grace out for dinner a week ago, on the account that it's a public holiday and we haven't met up recently, but at the same time asked the 16++ of my friends along to help me with the surprise celebration.
Yesterday, I reminded Grace of our dinner date and told her that I got complimentary tix from my mum to watch 'Derailed' at Suntec and we could catch the show after our dinner. This, of course, was a total lie (oops, sorry Grace... had to make it so real so you wouldn't suspect anything).
6pm today: I met some friends at City Hall mrt station and we walked over to the Esplanade where I've already made reservations for all of us @ Thai Express. I never knew it took so long to walk to the Esplanade from the mrt station! It was 6.15pm and we were still not there yet... and my shoes were killing me... stupid shoes. Those who were to meet us directly at Thai Express were already there and I still hadn't gotten the cake!
6.20pm: Finally reached. Needed to find a cake...Haagen Daaz was the only option there and goodness, their cakes are so TINY and expensive. Can't do and I'm going to be late to meet Grace. Almost in a state of panic. Liren and Junyi then followed me back to Citylink where we split up - they went to get the cake while I went to meet Grace.
6.30pm: I was on time and Grace hadn't arrived yet. Phew. The guys got 2 cakes (there weren't very large ones) and went back to the rest at Thai Express. Grace told me to look around for a nice top for her to change into (she didn't have time to go home to dress up) and she finally met up with me at m)phosis.
6.45pm: She tried on a top and didn't quite like it (oh no... everyone's waiting). Then I told her that I needed to go to the Esplanade to meet my mum's friend to collect the movie tickets from him, and we'd arranged to meet at 6.45pm (which was the time then). And she said, "Oh then we'll go meet him first la ... can shop around after that."
*sweat*
I quickly looked around for a nicer top and passed it to Grace to try (so she'll change her mind about shopping later because once we get to the Esplanade, there'll be no more shopping later!) and insisted it looked great (which, by the way, is true) and we grabbed it and left.
6.55pm: At the Esplanade, I called one of my friends, pretending to ask my mum's friend where he was (a cue to let them know we're reaching) and we walked to Thai Express but I couldn't locate any of my friends.
While trying to pretend to wonder where my mum's friend was, I scanned the tables and found Bernice & SK sitting together at one corner. I pointed out to Grace in mock surprise, "Look who's here!"
Grace was genuinely surprised and thought we'd caught them on a rendezvous! Bernice and SK acted along and said they met up cos Bernice needed to pass SK a textbook and asked what were we doing there. At the corner of my eye I saw the group walking towards us and I exclaimed, "Oh, my mum's friend's here!"
Grace turned only to be greeted by our group of friends with the birthday cake.
"Happy Birthday, Grace!!!"
Her jaw dropped.
Guys desperately trying not to let the wind blow out the birthday candles more photos @ fotopic
Gracey darlz, I hope we made your birthday a memorable one! It's not everyday you get to see our spectacular acting performances ya =) You are a really dear friend to all of us. We love ya lots... have a wonderful 22nd year!
[Time of Confession] 12:09 AM 0 Wisecracks for Me
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Sunday, January 08, 2006
Of food and weird dinguses
The weather's been bleak all day. It's been raining non-stop it makes me so proud of myself for investing in a pair of trusty walking boots during a Mango sale 2 years ago (and man, was it a heck of haggle. 70% off the original price!!)
Anyway, assured of dry, warm feet, nothing ain't gonna stop me from leaving the house.
Was out at church early this morning before meeting up with my aunt and cousin for lunch at Railway Mall - a pretty stretch of shops, pubs and eateries that looked somewhat like a train. We went into this cake shop after lunch to takeaway some desserts when my attention was transfixed on an array of beautiful wedding cakes like these:
They're so pretty, they make weddings seem like such a dream (FYI, I do fancy cakes quite a bit), even though it's a wonder how people can bear to eat such fanciful AND expensive creations.
So after a heavy lunch of fried calamari, fish & chips and garlic prawn baked rice (1/3 portion of each of course. i'm not THAT much of a pig), we ladies dug into cakes later that afternoon.
I think I've been overeating this weekend.
But I can't seem to help it; especially when the aroma of pineapple tarts a-baking and cashew nuts a-roasting is constantly filling the kitchen, living room and practically everywhere in the house.
Nuts.
I love nuts. Total weakness for nuts. Macadamia, Cashew, Pistachio, Hazelnuts, Almonds, Walnuts, Peanuts.... Gimme!! A million kisses to the person who invented the mudpie 'Grandma goes nuts' at NYDC! D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!
We all know that one man's food is another man's poison and nut allergies are not something to joke about. I was watching the news just this week and a girl died from a peanut allergy even though she didn't even eat the nut. She just kissed her boyfriend who happened to eat a peanut butter sandwich earlier and had traces of the nut on his mouth. Goodness...
And one last thing that has been bugging me. Eating chicken when you have a cough makes it worse. Fact or fiction? I can't seem to google out the answers so if anyone has a reasonable (and preferably scientific) explanation for it, do help me out of my head-scratching.
[Time of Confession] 6:18 PM 0 Wisecracks for Me
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Wednesday, January 04, 2006
So much for the first day
There's only one word to describe the first day of school: PUI.
Had two less than impressive lectures today, one of which Grace sat in with us. It's her first and last day in NTU this semester cos she'll be leaving us for US soon.
Sigh. It'll be left with Evon and myself this semester.
We'll see each other 6 days a week, she's bound to get sick of seeing me so often (haha although she denies it =p)
It doesn't help either, that my computational biology lecturer is super boring and speaks terrible English. Although he spent a freaking 5 minutes on each slide, it was impossible to understand the message he was trying to convey.
Gosh. They really should send some of these lecturers for English lessons before allowing them to conduct lectures. Broken english I cannot catch. Je ne comprend pas!!
Then we had a squash match with the Hongkong P0lytechnic University (or PolyU, as they call it) today and it was a refreshing change to be able to interact with foreign students. The lot of them were around 19 - early 20s and they were so cute, especially with their fluent Cantonese. Though I can't understand a word of it, it was like music to the ears.
Okay, enough of whines... I need to get some sleep. It's gonna be another long day tomorrow.
Oh where did my holidays go to???
[Time of Confession] 12:09 AM 0 Wisecracks for Me
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Monday, January 02, 2006
2006
A late welcome to the new year!
After the big celebrations and partying die down (for most people, not me, I had a quiet new year's eve), the big question remains: How is 2006 going to be any different from the previous years?
I'm taking deep breaths and the air doesn't smell any different than it did in 2005.
Most people stick with making resolutions, year after year, and I've said that I don't believe in making New Year resolutions (see 1st Jan 2005's post) but there are definitely some changes I'm hoping to see in my life in the new year.
What changes?
I'm not sure myself. That's the thing... I want to find my direction, be absolutely certain of it and work resolutely towards it. However, I know I'm asking for too much because life in itself is uncertain most of the time. There is no straight road to take.
I like what my friend said to me, "Just move. Don't think. There's always a u-turn or a fork, life is like driving a car."
Right now, I need to get my engine started and take things along the journey in a positive light.
En l'an 2006, je choisir etre heureux.
[Time of Confession] 12:50 PM 0 Wisecracks for Me
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Good enough to be the next Singapore Idol?
