Friends U Care, Ke

sms-a-menu service

2009-04-17T00:21:00.004+08:00

my mom texts the shortest and sweetest text messages because:

tuesday, 16:11
u eating? papa buying toa payoh kway teow

wednesday, 16:02
u eating? rice and soup

friday, 19:41
eating? fried bee hoon

sunday, 08:15
eat what? 293 (refering to blk 293 kopitiam)

that's like one-liner dinner menu. or somewhat like a sms menu service, simply send [yes] / [no] to 'home'.

haha, my mom's such a genius!

Hah ha, Merlion to Unicorn

2009-03-09T21:08:00.002+08:00

NUS Prof makes a light pun on our Poor Poor boy

when you thought no one reads this

2008-12-10T01:32:00.001+08:00

i finally found the source of her anger.

anger is too strong a word, how about jealousy?

Not the most interesting update after sucha long time...

2008-10-04T02:00:00.002+08:00

but I saw a manicurist at SNAILS Wheelock who looks exactly like Low Liqi. (cept that the woman had long hair)

day one - you've been fucke(d)

2008-04-15T00:38:00.000+08:00

oh hello loves (:

i wanted to write this at work. but in my precarious position - work station back-facing my manager, i've been advised not to. it's very bad fengshui.

today. day one - a whole lot of corporate phoniness. phony smiles, phony name cards with fancy phony titles. i sound like holden caulfied (in my last few chapters of catcher in the rye) reveling in the oddness of everything big and crazy. i enjoyed watching my colleagues' stunned reactions with amusement when i said about having a 'kind boss'. they must think my honeymoon days are numbered.

even if work should consume me, i imagine mastering the art of cc and bcc must be scrupulously fun. crafting an aggressive mail must be unscrupulously fun too. one of my tchs alumnus director wore a crap tee, khaki berms (think: tchs shorts) havis to work (like cargo-mover!) , constantly hounding me to hound a client. how can i possibly call a person once every 15mins? that's almost psychotic.

anyway, this is day one. i rode in my boss's fast and selfish car. interesting, interesting.

laters!

2008-03-03T17:24:00.000+08:00

Caught this on Danish TV. Liking it.

2008-02-29T10:59:00.001+08:00

I find Facebook amusing because

2008-02-22T23:47:00.001+08:00

The clips I was ranting about:

2008-02-14T10:26:00.003+08:00

Joanna Wang and her outstanding rendition of Moonriver.

It's quite far back around 4:40.

Achmed the dead terrorist.

The NY Times

2008-02-05T15:56:00.000+08:00

I think it's time we dig out our past and embrace the double chins and disgusting hair.

Let me just start docile with these.

COMING SOON

le divorce

2007-12-07T01:08:00.000+08:00

"lovers are a pastime one tends to outgrow.

a hobby.

finally becomes a bore."

J'ADORE!

2007-12-07T00:12:00.000+08:00

romanticise me here

2007-11-27T14:47:00.001+08:00

my ixus is dying. on the many attempts it failed me, i have to overcome the rage and urge to hurl it into brisbane river, watch it drown and then gloat. it's time for a new digital baby. but then, when it captures such poetic landscape - in st lucia campus, no less. tell me, how can i be so heartless.

eviction documentary

2007-11-22T13:41:00.000+08:00

the eviction story: short and not sweet.

eve of eviction: mess after lockout.

day of eviction: all things excessive.

I wish I had acquired some hoodlum skills, i.e picking keyholes, scaling walls and climbing parapets – that would not have cost my careless stupidity: 130aud for the lockout and 60 minutes of excruciating wait, which would ultimately leave me less than 10 hours to pack-shift-cage in a 24hour eviction deadline. Such luck or the lack thereof, is unquantifiable.

Presumably, the most horrific outcome of my eviction circumstance was to face the prospect of sleeping on a park bench in a dimly lit street lurking with the possibility of getting mugged, raped, mutilated, mangled by a raging beast or other creatures manifestable from macabre tales of the homeless. My insufferable fate owed a thousand thanks to Marcus for taking me in to his illegitimately overcrowded apartment that presently roofs my head. Before imposition, my temporal abode was barely sustained by one too many disagreements, insensitivities and intolerable cruelties. The aggravation has now reached its critical mass and every involving member of the house is precariously threading on thin ice - a seemingly innocuous remark could threaten to break the factitious consonance.

In retrospect, all my years of living abroad, I’m thankful to be part of a loving commune. There was Mich, Don, Marcus, gate-crasher-evictee-Quentin and floormates - Weizhi, Chris, Sal, frequent guests, Jodie, Kelly and Mike. no debaucheries, but wholesome good fun. I can’t say the same for now – living with strangers and semi-acquaintances, I would be shameless to even despise what was offered but (need to get this off my chest!) sharing a common bathroom with 4+1 people, it’s beyond livable.

Here - standard flat-mate protocol applies. The pivotal effects of undermining house politicking in its ugliest form, can take on dimensions of the most vindictive manner. When tension hinges on who takes out the trash, who ate whose pizza, who doesn’t reciprocate whose kindness – grown ups acting pre-pubescent. And these flat-mates are the very same people who permeated your social network to form your bitching alliance. How ironic. Where is the love?

Although I do get a living cubicle, courtesy of Marcus, bed with clean sheets, pizza on delivery, errand transport, dvds aplenty and great company, I really can’t wait to end these handicapped days.

brisbane in agreeable symmetry (again)

2007-11-02T14:35:00.000+08:00

random surf store on Queen Street.

i think we should wear more colours next time!

melbourne in agreeable symmetry

2007-10-23T14:31:00.000+08:00

waiting for tram on latrobe street

girls of oz

2007-10-16T15:12:00.000+08:00

i heart phuong and wen. before september ended, we were reacquainted over mac eyeliners, bikini waxes, chips and aioli sauce, affogatos. before the girly weekend was over, we could shower and pee in front of another immodestly. talk about shame and empowerment, haha! maybe i really am aussified.

guess what i heard on radio!

2007-08-26T23:03:00.000+08:00

made me all girly hopeful and wishful again! haha!

Wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin',
Planning and dreamin' each night of his charms.
That won't get you into his arms

So if your're looking for love you can share
All you gotta to is hold him, and kiss him, and love him,
And show him that you care.

Show him that you care, just for him.
Do the things that he likes to do.
Wear your hair just for him, 'cause,
You won't get him, thinkin' and a prayin',
Wishin' and hopin'.

'Cause wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin',
Planning and dreamin' his kisses will start.
That won't get you into his heart!

So if you're thinking how great true love is
All you gotta to is hold him, and kiss him, and squeeze him, and love him.
Yeah, just do it!
And after you do, you will be his.

You gotta show him that you care just for him.
Do the things that he likes to do.
Wear your hair just for him, 'cause,
You won't get him, thinkin' and a prayin',
Wishin' and a hopin'.

'Cause wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin',
Planning and dreamin' his kisses will start.
That won't get you into his heart!

So if you're thinking how great true love is!

All you gotta to is hold him, and kiss him, and squeeze him, and love him.
Yeah, just do it!
And after you do, you will be his.

You will be his.

uncalled for

2007-08-19T23:45:00.000+08:00

tick tock, time is running out. my heart is tired of being in chains. these unwarranted pangs of nostalgia only evoke the pains, replaying them over and over again. my doubts become repetitive, regrets left unanswered and tears unreciprocated in the bygone equation. his emotional detachment in words serve to opiate all intentions and purposes. for a fleeting moment of liberation and companionship, she was decidedly worth risking the last remnants of love. wait, maybe that wasn’t a fair statement. she merely made a timely appearance. as if waiting to watch the impact of an impending car collision - every minute intensifies and fear grips every hour. if i can take time in my own hands, it would be so much easier watching the episode unfold in healthier dosages with minutes of pauses and spoonfuls of sugar.

start the show!

2007-08-17T00:23:00.000+08:00

881. go watch. huat ah.

sim! i would like to think that everything in it is done to effect. you know, when circumstances are forced by circumstances into intentions. (because intentions are always limited by circumstances in this country).

love the bird too. no less!

终场

2007-07-19T03:16:00.000+08:00

在我心上用力的开一枪，让一切归零在这声巨响。

fallen love

2007-07-14T02:56:00.000+08:00

I’m mourning the demise of what I thought was to be a great love story.
I grieved the lost of passion, innocence and an eternity of promises.
I wept for being the hopeful half of a conjugation, the one who pictures too idealistically and thinks all problems could be solved with an apology.

Distance.
Four thousand miles.
Nine trains stops.
They killed my love.

What was it they say about absence making the heart fonder? Four months of prolonged distancing with the lack of a physical presence, has set to banish my romance to a precarious state; suspended and confined to the grey regions of a suspicions-fueled guessing game. Once the pressure of absence have reached its critical mass and can no longer withstand the difference in time, space and effort - that - was the beginning of the downward spiral to an end and a broken heart.

Was it a carefully constructed convenience or was it a cosmic coincidence or was it a culmination of karmic debts or even a self-fulfilling prophecy? Why should a change of heart be a valid situational response when circumstances change? Different. Perhaps the heart is deficient and void of emotions capable of loving and giving more. Cold. His answers showed slight interest in being agreeable, eager to leave me to feed my tantrums with more anger. Stagnation. Dissecting our relationship over the phone becomes a tiresome chore; rather burdening oneself with the guilt of being someone heartless and loveless. Dead-end. Perhaps compromising requires too much self-sacrifice, breaching the equilibrium of self and love.

Ideally, a closure to a break-up is easier made shifting all the hatred to a selfish bastard, omitting most guilt issues between us. But I love him too much to even think I was a faultless party. How can a heart breaks another and love be forsaken, ties be cut, kisses be unreciprocated and hugs be cold? I’m unloved, unlovable and fear I should become unloving.

He knows I do care a lot, but patience and love aside, there was still something lacking. To draw concluding lines now would mean my acceptance of living with an ex - a living confrontation that serves as a constant reminder of my failed romance.

Not that I reject the seemingly unorthodox idea. He is still the great person I know, the person who makes me laugh and cry, smile and frown; my best friend.

Love fades. I need my love to fade, fade into the direction where it came from and a living confrontation might just be the best healing therapy.

I'm sorry we didn't work out.

Goodbye, my love.

tuesday's ten things

2007-06-05T11:25:00.000+08:00

21days to home: and because i started my day early, i’m stoked!

collected my psyc report and a copy of exam practice paper. can’t really say i aced it, but slightly better than most psyc freshmen majors.
printed most of all examinable lecture and tutorial materials
reimbursed aud$41.60 for a medical consultation last october - way long overdue credit.
saved aud$1.04 on bus return trip
grocery shopping, bought ½ loaf bread, 200g honey leg ham, lemongrass, tomatoes and onions. guess what’s for dinner?
popped by a korean mart, weaved through aisles of preserved kimchi and kimchi ramen, found inexpensive glory kaya(!)
on-going petition against bullfighting seemingly endorsed by peta in the city
had the most important meal of the day, toasted sandwich with ham and cheese. la vache qui rit reminded me alot of the vietnamese breakfast i had on the rickety saigonese maxi-cab; transpired from its french colonial period with regular white bread tucked with edible grassy greens imaginable and meat (i had doubts) garnished with carrots and radish. chia mocked me for choosing regulars in saigon amongst famed baguettes and local rice paper roll. haha, i'm a wuss when it comes to trying dubious looking food.
any orders for timtam's love potion?
if we aren't going euro, usa-mexico-cuba for grad trip?

find me one!

2007-05-27T12:06:00.001+08:00

behind the scene

2007-05-27T11:27:00.000+08:00

the sale was supposedly by-invite only, but the local free paper advertised a day earlier and possibly hundred women turned up for their biggest fashion splurge – on cult denims, frocks, lace and ruffles. rows of designer wears occupied the entire hall space and the makeshift changing rooms were behind the curtained stage. having to weave through the narrow corridors of Saigon’s Ben Thanh Market was not as bad as threading the marked territorial aisles of crazed fashionistas. better grab that size 8 sass & bide stove pipes before someone gets it.

the changing room was the major spectacle. c’est magnifique! an orgy of semi-naked women at the mass changing room – a sight most men would die for if only it was the backstage of victoria secret’s runway. i was expecting a cubicle for myself, but the brutal confrontation with cellulite, granny panties, stretch marks and muffin tops galore, i would be just thankful for wearing a half decent cks. contrary to the war-torn zone outside, the changing room was much congenial, albeit with strewn clothes all over the floor, sweaty women, messy hair with half buttoned shirts; completely different from those white collared couture worshipers outside.

in situations like this, with two centered narrow standing mirrors, or rather the lack thereof, 1. must rely on your ability to visualise, 2. ask for a stranger’s comment and alternatively, 3. bring a friend, if she is a true friend, appreciate the reflection of her stark honest opinion – “chuck those jeans, your thighs look fat” otherwise 4. strut along half naked, gather the number of positive and negative vibes from strangers’ stares. a woman did. flashed her breasts at me to get my reaction and she got it, five seconds to say the least.

cold

2007-05-21T19:04:00.000+08:00

winter just kicked in like an addiction.

BJ

2007-05-19T01:37:00.000+08:00

i started work today and i had a bridget jones day!

oh my god! oh my god! it was EVERYTHING a bridget jones day would be. ask me about it i am as embarrassed as humong unfilled bras and gran-knickers to summarize it here. dirty laundry!

it was a lovely lovely lovely day, but it was a bridget jones day nonetheless!

GASP!

men talk too much

2007-05-11T23:41:00.000+08:00

O, spare me your saccharine saps.

the males have been emptying bullshit on me, on us probably, after chia complained of her male advice giving day. the newly found and long-lost male - i wouldn’t say harass, constantly assumes i’m his friendly listening ear.

yes, i know of your elite background, your elite friends, those elite ivys.

it was the usual nostalgic catching up after those pubescent years of tuition classes.
then it became a detailed narration of his after years achievement, the internships, the cvs, the more than usual dosage.
when the conversation turned into somewhat of a bland, formulaic platitude, he began sharing unadventurous neighbouring adventures with his regular ya-yas- people i don’t know, probably won’t know, have no interest in knowing and don’t care at all. so what if she acts cute and has fetishes of being a dominatrix, she could be a fat-assed wolf in a sheep’s skin and i still won’t care. i have no use for those irrelevant information i'm already know too well myself (he wasn't particularly impressed). the whole time of the conversation had me wanting to yank his thoughts of “analyzing her behaviour” and help spreading love/ match-make a lovelorn man. he knows they can be a diabolical combination, so why the philanthropy?

i've got mail!

2007-05-11T21:53:00.000+08:00

my mail arrived from the states but the stamps weren’t stamped.

suncan finally overcame his “inertia”.

oh i miss that guy!

limited but time is limited--timtam's ideal DNA

2007-04-01T19:03:00.000+08:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

anna karenina

2007-03-27T23:18:00.000+08:00

a tragic romance or a romantic tragedy?

kinsella should be categorized as easy-reading, like how erotic women stories belong to the self-help section, glossy tabloid news belong to the current/world information section and baking recipe books under the things-that-make-you-happy section.

ike's

2007-03-27T20:22:00.000+08:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

2007-03-24T01:26:00.000+08:00

im slightly curious about the identity of the perverted neighbour whose rotund silhouette mysteriously appears at the window sill in the middle of the night while swearing deep toned fucks in the most bizarre manner.

i think it's a tattoo palour cum makeshift brothel.

anonymously yours

2007-03-21T18:20:00.000+08:00

anonymity is a rare luxury of indulgence on days that i have to attend classes alone. i can look frumpy and sloppy in geeky specs, without giving a hoot about being recognized –meaning there are times where i may appear almost ghostly, like an apparition. but the thing i love about having friends in class or familiar classmates, there will be no chance that i will walk into a wrong tutorial class.

the first time i walked in for my psyc classes as a friendless loner, i was late, breathless and very embarrassed.

yesterday, i walked into the wrong class, only to realize 10minutes later and too embarrassed to walk out.

being anonymous would have adequately disguise my disorientation and awkwardness for the next hour if not for the two puerile psyc freshmen. she threw a sultry come-hither look and the boy was unable to contain himself. i would have dismissed any form of mild flirting because occasionally, it is inevitable. just a little more than that, will be obscene. so the audacity of them to flirt across me, through me and almost as if I was even microscopically discernible. i had the incredible need to breathe and to leave the young sweet pair to themselves. now i sound like sour grape.

and today, i got slammed between the lift doors because some blondie couldn’t be bothered to hold the lift door for me.

peeved. peeved. peeved!

at the other doorstep

2007-03-19T22:11:00.000+08:00

i've never been more annoyed with those garishly attired, giggly harajuku girls in school today.

-------

despite all that self-hype and high to dress in irish greens, i actually missed the celtic bagpipe parade, damn! i should have slept earlier, snoozed lesser. gah! i was jolted awake from my frightful dream then 'alarmed' and annoyed that all the whole bagpipe-kilt loving party started before me ):

but not until these people turned up at my other doorstep:

and more people,

and more and more people,

NO WAR FOR PROFIT
it seemed like a harmless demonstration to me,

in fact, some paraders might have been confused.
"excuse me miss, are you with the wrong crowd?"

ides of march - culture shock

2007-03-15T02:04:00.000+08:00

i was wondering why were irishmen displaying patriotisms publicly on the ides of march because the scottish bagpipes were hardly mistakable; playing in the background of the city neighbourhood – almost a nightly affair since the end of last week. i was giving my nails a fresh coat of shanghai red paint before peeping out of the balcony, hoping to steal glances of men in scottish kilts. that was when i discovered a pole dancing school from my direct view in the opposite building, just above a beer place. women in racy lingerie pole-dancing to traditional scottish/celtic bagpipe music – it has got to be the culture shock of this week.

just last week, i met 4 koreans, 3 brazilians, 2 taiwanese and 1 columbian and i realized my tower is improportionately dominated by kimchi loving people. besides the pea-sized eyes, all the koreans i’ve met thus far remotely resemble the korean masses’ lover - rain. i got mildly acquainted to billy, the korean who bought the bulk of our excess furniture. brown the cunning bargainer from north who introduced himself as a colour because of his skin tone actually has a refined birth name(申龙喆). his refusal to admit his highly debated ancestry - resemblance to a default shaolin monk and our numerous onomatopoeic conversations had induced more side-aches than laughter. brown wanted to know the chinese symbolism/meaning of his name, which i had loosely or otherwise inaccurately translated as ‘stretching dragon’. daniel is the columbian charmer who contemplated to ink the chinese version of his name much to our (mich & i) disdain – da niu/ big cow somehow isn’t graphically poetic nor sensible to be permanently inked on the charmer. his brazilian nameless insignificant roommate however cheekily conned us of the 2 semi-inflated soccer balls inherited from previous unrelated generations. the 2 taiwanese girls probably didn’t know we speak her native tongue otherwise they might do a shihlin-style cut throat bargaining on me.

p/s: st patrick’s day is on Saturday – celebrating all things irish, pretending to be irish, watch the parade and drink a Guinness, have an irish soda bread or potato soup with live music and hourly irish dancing! now to find company…

I know what I'll do next summer

2007-03-02T10:57:00.000+08:00

ah that pool you say, we must visit you.

this week

2007-02-28T18:10:00.000+08:00

i ought to feel like a sack of potatoes.

past two days were spent moving labeled boxes, shifting tables, tvs and beds, rearranging furnitures, cleaning the stove and fridge, washing bed sheets – but still very much unsettled. the separation anxiety from being 3000 miles away from home and trump while living up to being a decent, hygienic house-mate manifest from the lack of personal space and privacy in this heavily cluttered common area to the stairs and bedroom. as if matters aren’t complicated enough, being virtually disabled without a transport at my call, i have flyers meant for the school bulletins; a long list of furniture for sale and the need to reclaim items from a certain someone – not a propitious social predicament since the falling out. and the timetable for this semester’s modules is cruelly crippling my weekdays.

regardless of all things bad happening,

my favourite Japanese restaurant is just across the street and nando’s will be opening downstairs!
I have a chic pool with the city view
a well-equipped gym – no excuse for sloth
convenience store and asian supermarket are two streets away
a local old bookstore worth exploring

i'm not going anywhere for now.

summer time

2007-02-28T03:02:00.000+08:00

this time, unlike, previous returns from summer/winter vacations, there wasn’t anyone to look forward to. only this time, knowing it’s my final year, without the exception of tearful goodbyes and hugs – as if subconsciously agreed upon, that i’ll be back soon enough. to tell the truth, i could get use to this – traveling and living in 2 different places, allowing time for myself to luxuriate in solitude and self-loving, a recess for prolonged bad karma/aura accumulated in one place.

summer holidays are supposed to be like this. or maybe not entirely, but close.

thank you all for buying me my virgin strip. i mean it.

that 20mins of intense bodily pain with tension surrounding the lower body almost had me convinced to give up childbirth and breast-feeding totally, to pull up my pants, leaving strip partially deforested beneath. intolerable, brazilian wax is. if you are conjuring the image of an uncultured virgin waxer, i did not curse or swear, surprisingly, which i may have forgotten how to in the midst of frantic activity below. my therapist, quite unlike chia’s, did not make the extra effort in calming my pre-brazilian jitters, but rather selfishly hurried in prying ass cracks and labias like i do with my lovely chicken thighs – decongesting the inner muscles from the yellowish semi-solid organic compounds. imagine prying labias for a living – no wonder neoahma decided against being a gynecologist. the aftermath was a lingering numbness. it wasn’t until i needed to pee did it occur to me that i look pubescent once more and strip did a smooth job! so, do not believe your therapist if they say you will get used to the pain. if it’s going to be a monthly affair, i wish you luck to both your coochie and your pocket.

i have learnt to appreciate Vietnam in her cyptic chaotic state but pity we have yet to sip viet coffee from the gong bought from dong (hah! onomatopoeic) together. if only the trip was a few days longer, and the absence of my d-i-a-r-r-h-o-e-a would have simplified matters. nonetheless, sim remains vietnam’s prospective daughter-in-law!

i crowned diya, my diva of 2007.

i love peilin for her quirkiness, linyan for her boldness and all long-lost and new found friends. i’m so glad to be remembered.

from the love of exotic middle-east cuisine and belly dancing, verbally disabled travels while relying on sim’s misleading sign language, paparazzi scoops, pretty canele cakes, being browhaus’s regulars, adoring anna sui’s collection to private ktv concerts, i love you all.

thank you. for a summer holiday like this.

if only

2007-02-11T18:10:00.000+08:00

agatha, you're right! if only he's donald trump. if only.

morning after

2007-02-11T00:24:00.000+08:00

i woke up feeling that i have aged terribly, certainly not a 22 year-old. muscles aching, neck aching, head spinning - not from a hangover, but i was still drunk with the love, laughter, faces and food (or lack thereof). not only the baby stole the limelight from me, the marinated beef steaks and char-grilled pork ribs were cleanly swept. nice to know trump is a gourmet chef or a kitchen god-in-the-making, so i think.

10feb is anything but special, especially when i have to share it with the headline hogging tabloid princess; anna nicole smith as featured in Life!, her larger than life media presence in semi-celebrity status and questionable death. yes, tragic.

10feb, 4 days before valentine's and a week before festive feasting season. this is when diamonds advertorials and spring sales come in full coloured pages. yes, i get gong xi fa cai greetings on my birthday, less than tragic.

10feb aside, last king of scotland is a brilliant film, so get on to the oscar roll now!

munchkins

2007-01-27T02:13:00.000+08:00

back to basics egg and muffin toaster

my heavily nocturnal behaviour deprive me of breakfast everyday. before my warped up sleeping pattern changes, i need this very badly. so i can snuggle in bed a little longer and still have english egg muffins after macs' breakfast time. i'll throw an egg muffin feast if i get my hands on it.

how much is your fairytale worth?

2007-01-19T02:43:00.000+08:00

so the story that ends "and they lived happily ever after" is merely the prelude to a haunting dilemma:

she 'longed with all her heart for a child as white as snow, as red as blood, as black as ebony', and died when that child was born, as if the price of the daughter were the life of the mother.

the daughter whose beauty far surpassed her stepmother - according to her magic mirror, has incurred the wrath and jealousy of the evil queen who plotted to kill her with a poisoned apple. while fairy tales with sad beginnings like grimms' snow white has a fair share of stepmothers, witches who blind men, taint love and ugly stepsisters, the men would always arrive in shinning armor otherwise the male characters are confined to the roles of a doting father or a wise king.

gender roles aside, every wicked woman in every fairy tale deserve to die, and they always do, eventually.

timtams of the world unite

2006-12-14T00:07:00.000+08:00

well i scrolled further and it seems like timtams and i share the same concerns:

Ho Chi Minh City:Typhoon Durian
Posted: Tue December 05 14:40:52 2006 UTC Hi there,

Is it safe to visit HCMC still? Also, we're going for a tour on the Mekong Delta river at the Ben Tre province. Is it still wise to go on this Mekong Delta tour?

Ta.

in another forum:

Personally, if tyhoon Durian hit t Ho Chi Minh city, there will be hundreds of thousand people will die..No alternative way to escape. .... Must warn people now...
Andy Tang

then there is :

Ho Chi Minh never had and never will have typhoon because It's protect by a huge mountain in Vung TAu city. Some small floods in the past yes but minor.

Dai Viet

Minneapolis, MN

both writing from the states.

this is a good forum site that covers travellers things

food and durian

2006-12-13T23:40:00.000+08:00

it is so very funny, that i was scrolling scrolling mindlessly down a forum page looking for the word typhoon then i stopped at this message:

I've just arrived in Ho Chi Minh. :-)

Can anyone recommend some eating places within walking distance from Notre Dame Cathedral?

Ta!

maybe its the word eating coupled with Notre Dame that made me stop, but seconds later, i saw the poster's name. s/he was timtams.

well, more importantly, the answers:

1. Make sure you go to Quan An Ngon rest near ReUnification Palace ( 138D Nam Ky Khoi Nghia) - we had best meal of trip there in Oct 2006 usually jammed with vietnemese eating there too which is a really good sign!

2.There's also Au Parc, just round the corner at 23 Han Thuyen, small deli come brasserie, one of my lunchtime staples
Jonny

3. Yeap, Ngon Res. (138D Nam Ky Khoi Nghia)is rather a nice place to try Vietnamese dishes.
Besides, "Bun Ta" is a good replacement if you cannot find a seat at "Ngon"
:-). It's just next door to Ngon Res.
Dishes are not as various as Ngon's but the decoration is nice and Wifi is available.

ok im i/c of food ok.

but i do have a bad feeling about the waters. very early, when liqi said she wanted to row down mekong, i felt a chill. now the Durian hits, doesnt help tt its such a Singaporean reference.

txt msg break up

2006-12-13T01:58:00.000+08:00

this is nothing moving initially, but it brings on a hahaha towards the end, and oooh powerful margaret cho cameos.

chau!

2006-12-08T18:53:00.000+08:00

that's hello! in vietnamese. a pictorial preview ripped from various tourists on flickr. can't wait already!

p.s: i just received tim's mail. we've got wi-fi in the hotel! in case if anyone is bringing laptop. this is real-time travel-blogging!

15

2006-12-07T21:19:00.000+08:00

a break from hbo/abc marathons.

reminds me of our friends we met weekly back in ny, who kept saying "aiya, you all top students wont know one la"

the letter

2006-11-28T17:09:00.000+08:00

this reminds me of my jc days. and those couple of friends still in uniform. but this is a love story, typically jc style, and they say, a true story. nevermind the adolescence, its supposed to be.

bombay dreams

2006-11-27T00:21:00.000+08:00

you know..

today,
the indian community congregated in the neighbourhood for bollywood pop glamour - a glorious potpourri of sights and smell. a man sitting on the pavement sharing finger bites with several fellow bengalis. indian women in colourful saris and assorted jewellery, smelling of bit of masala/curry and jasmine flowers.

yesterday,
the security guard at mich's place thinks im a pretty girl (haha!) and remember the indian cashier at gv's 7-11? oh i think he loves me. maybe i should marry an indian and cook curry for him all my life.

and just now,
mahjong with sq.
responding to his self entertainment with intended audience was tiring enough and we had to put up with his 'actively billingual' [sic] jokes + irrelevant questions. haha but how very fun.

incompetent woman!

2006-11-16T00:44:00.000+08:00

there is a janice from the finance department of mediacorp publishing singapore whom i hereby nominate the most incompetent woman of my life encounters.

"eeerrrrrrrrr... i will .. callyoutmr" " i have spoken to her, and nnkdsnkjeankdfuck" she speaks in this thoughtless accelerating manner, most of the time her last words never comprehensible, and less delivered; her promises are never met.

a woman who holds a financial position deserves to be incriminated by her sex, by virtue of the fact that such a position is often denied to other women. Please lah, i am only making a simple inquiry. I shall call HR department and they say be set against you. Shame shame, it is mid november and her reply is 3 months overdue, and counting.

holiday

2006-11-14T21:02:00.000+08:00

Hey,

If we want to go Vietnam and want to fly low we cannot wait anymore. The prices are going up and up and away.

Ike when is tim available? If we go first week of January we can get cheap jetstar tickets. Can you? NTU NUS SMU all clear for week 1 january. Van wants to go I think, but she can only make it in the week of 6 november.

I have to be in Singapore on the 20^th.

In other news, they say Vietnam is the horrible place to be in December monsoon. Check that with Tim?

I have friends going to Bangkok in the week of 11 november. If we conincide, we can share an inn place kinda thing. Save some money. they are going to pattaya too. We might be able to charter a private bus since we are a bigger volume of people—with men around . as much as I believe in the self- protection, atrocities happen.

ok, reply here stating your preferred holiday days

dawn

2006-11-12T07:34:00.000+08:00

20 hours of essaying and a ghost attack later, i sit as the sun rises staring at this screen and i see my own msn display picture. And i see all of you in this face!

i see chia, i see qiu chan, i see ike, i see liqi i see sim and i see myself. i see my ah er, i see my mum! i see gracia suemei i see beatrice chia richmond. i see jamie yeo, i see dr. yeo dr. ang miss tok nicole kidman virginia woolf dunst, paltrow. all the women ive seen in my life. in the mood, in the color, in the brows and the way the hair is set, loose, the lips the gaze and the all encompassing background. i even see agatha in this expression.

what a wonderfully beautiful face.

18 november

2006-11-11T23:04:00.000+08:00

Lets do a yaya session 18 november saturday.

i still cannot go to anyone's house, so my place! ok mark it big on your calendar!

and i must be in singapore on the 20th, because i need to go visit my dear ah ma at cck.

l'avenir: to come or not to come

2006-11-11T17:10:00.000+08:00

lately, the one big imposing question from this sg society is: "You want to be a teacher ARH?" the best i can manage is a firm no with an obligatory smile (at their shock and inability to acknowledge the existence of other professions suitable for "a female graduate"). How about a bomb artist who designs fantastic stupefying blow-ups of The Gents to save the countless women entrapped in the urinals.

ike and i were worrying ourselves silly with the propect(or lack thereof) l'avenir--the future. avenir=to come. why do the men excel in it and the graduate female smile sheepishly daily and give thanks for a 8 per hourly job.

yesterday, at qc's bdae party, chia distributed her card to society. painful as it is to notice the horrible butterfly prints (social butterfly?) and the act of card-distribution!, i managed to see "undergraduate" and "xinful.org". thats what we need! we are undergraduate females with our own domains! dont impose MOE like u must pee on me!

teaching is a good job, career, hobby. to inspire impressionable young minds with their own thoughts before they enter imposing society. but because teaching requires me to wake up at dawn, stand in line and sing silly anthems written by patriarchy, its just not my life. and pee on the president in yesterday's society who said that "you really should have a backdoor" since when did education become a backdoor?

afterall, we learnt that the "president" isnt really made up of anything else but a big ego, a big frame of fat tissues and some figures which he does not own. i hate society. thats my social skill.

in other news, i want red killer heels to kick faces who dare to look down at them on me.

TCS Nostalgia

2006-11-09T23:37:00.000+08:00

wow whee, aussie girl!
it's around 1130 and I see "chu lu" on tv! u remember?

oh my, oh my. Seeing Tay ping hui gangsta around one second and becoming ultra-sensitive(hah like some condom function) meow mee at cynthia koh(red bean)...while she slaps and slaps and finally falls in love with him. did she?
oh swoon, tay ping hui really can act yah, SNAG.

O sigh, Those were the days.
Local production with good budgets/great scripts/awardwinning music, where art thou?
You know what they're showing now for the 9pm slot?! aiyo
odd odd melo-dramas: First it was some Fiona Xie+the kidney guy - a collaborative effort of worse & worst mandarin. Note: not in the respective sequence. Don't really know what happened. Now it's some modern family drama that I have no further description cause don't watch.

Where are all the martials arts "la dui dao zhong guo pai she" productions? the much anticipated annual TCS flagship production?
please come back.

oh! oh! now pregnant Ivy is working as a samsui woman while stomach is very very big. ooooooooooh ooozing drama. aww! she's giving birth at the construction site now! i think she gave birth quite alot for tt show right?

A few amusing treads i see about the show: http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthread.php?p=607864#post607864
Special quote, "I can take hardship...."

sweet dreams are made of these

2006-11-09T00:24:00.000+08:00

my dreams have adopted a movie format of late.

these r.e.m sleeps have churned out convoluted conspiracies inspired from B grade movies, otherwise involving deranged mutated species on killing rampage, multiple lofty escape plans in swanky private jets, finding a lost friend on a deserted island.

and chia, the lost friend happens to be you.

lady luck

2006-11-08T18:47:00.000+08:00

i won lottery today!! :)

not too miserly AUD$26.40 in a $21million draw (marcus didn't win a single cent and i bought my ticket just after him -snigger-).

la fin

2006-11-07T19:26:00.000+08:00

the funeral is over. after five days of vegetarian food and snacks i am craving for non chinese food. thank ~~god~~ my ah ma i found timtams at ntuc on an errand on the first day, i think she gave it to me. and thank chia for bringing another 9 timtams (did you know ... that one packet has 9 slabs) and a first choice bowl of salad.

i ve never ... slept so much before. 14 hrs on the average. but those 14 hrs are all supposed waking hrs. is the wake so called because we are all to be awake? oh and there is this horrible horrible horrible cat!!!! what ran in to the altar! and gave me a 3 second evil look with evil blinks like it's shooting evil at me. i hate its face.

i think my ah ma is a small beetle. small and hardy. she was underweight, poor ah ma. im so glad i met no moth.

well, five days of vegetarian meals is not the most exciting part. the rest of the haps are to be found in the sealed section. i shall leave it to the vietnam trip.

ok, so there, i am way behind work and not far behind exams plus 2 essays plus 1 falalla scary french ppt and 2 40% tests that will happen in 2 weeks. And, should any of you decide to get married within the next 100 days, i will not be able to attend.

do u know ...

that if u want a burial, it means going to live in an estate that is still in its muddy un-made state with men and forklifts and cement and metal scaffolds and lotsa of messy mud. its a land i would call a construction site.

oh i accidently clicked on google ads and came to this other lovely site

indentified flying object

2006-11-02T20:38:00.000+08:00

the less than artistic food mutiliation streak that runs in the family. my er says it's supposed to be an angel with a halo (see cucumber shred above).

but i thought it looks more like

planet express's spaceship!

otherwise, the angel's head is strangely alien-ish.

and i digress.

futurama is watch worthy animation; after being cryogenically frozen for a thousand years, the 20th century man (fry) befriends a foul-mouthed, chain-smoking, pathological alcoholic (bender) and a cyclops mutant (leela) where they found fry's distant nephew - 160 year old professor/inventor (hubert farnsworth) who later employed them as his planet express (delivery service) crew where they met the rest of the crew - the resident doctor who is actually a penniless lobster-like alien with less than adequate medical skills (zoidberg), the manager; a jamacian bureaucrat who limbo-dances (hermes) and amy the intern - a mars-borned wealthy bimbotic cantonese-spewing chinese.

why did fox had to cancel the production after the fourth season? bah!

anyway, if you haven't seen it, watch the most memorable episode [here] in a 3 parter.

warning: may induce tears.

love y'all!

hello, i feel exhibitionistic

2006-11-02T20:00:00.000+08:00

meet the hulk, the slut, the envious, the obsessed, the gangster, the ditsy, the sexually suggestive, the orgasmic and the - should i say jew?

deadline

2006-11-02T11:21:00.000+08:00

deadlines have never been so uncanny.
deadline 1: my essay: my death
deadline 2: my essay topic: death
deadline 3: my grandma's death

they say i cant go to people's house in 49 days. so ike you gotta come and visit me when u return. november right?

just for shares (im not into makeup yet, altho' the haze was a good exucse to have makeup as defence agasint the pollutants. but i feel that soon, soon, one day, i will walk out of my hse with all these frumpery trump on my face. its not easy being a woman just deciding whether to put it on or take it off )

step by step. today we learn
Contouring Quick-Fixes
For a broad nose, brush dark powder down either side of the nose.
For chubby cheeks, dust darker powder in hollows of the cheeks and sweep back towards the ear.
To play down a high forehead, sweep darker powder along the hairline.
To disguise a double chin, brush dark powder onto the fatty part.

hung on the deadline

2006-10-29T23:59:00.000+08:00

it's the eve of the eve of my deadline and i just realized half of the paper i wrote yesterday is completely pointless. and i dare shamelessly admit that i have not attended a single lecture for this module (who the hell goes for lecture at 10am on a monday).

before I get over with my hungover hair-pulling stunt, i need divine intervention.

which can be rather easily arranged at the clinic with a feigned illness and a class drama act.

one day i may run out of such excuses.

note

2006-10-27T18:56:00.000+08:00

so sim didn't receive the old fashioned love note - the forwarded email reply.

just so you know, i'll be flying back home on the 17th.

oh and lovers, please consider an all-girls vietnam-bangkok/cambodia budget tour. 2 votes from liqi and sim already, so start saving!

fucke you

2006-10-22T00:45:00.000+08:00

hi love, how nice of you to drop by.

are you sick of D-O-T-A-C-O-V yet?

-brought to you by fucke-

waiting for the crimson tide

2006-10-21T19:26:00.000+08:00

the perils and obligations from being part of a social circle - furtive glances, a shared grief and unspoken (not-so) secretive web of intricately spun scandals and gossips and undeniably, i'm a monger; unfortunately. living under constant scrutiny of these so-called friends leaves no room for mistakes or wrong decisions. whisperings arouse suspicions, unexcusable events require you to 'show face', patronising smiles and conversations and unavoidable social intercourse; drains the soul perpetually.

i had enough.

after the semester ends, trump's leaving, kelly's leaving, weizhi and jodie are leaving. the thought scares me. i'm moving back to the city, bunking in with mich at a rather posh soho studio apartment sans privacy; wondering the possibilty of being unpolarized by the same absinthe-151 circle in such neighbourly proximity.

moving also means i've to draw up a "furniture for sale" list, (2 years and so much barang!) furniture, cookery, utensils, beddings inherited from people who inherited, who inherited from people. and for once, i would like to decline a share in inheritance unless it's monetary. hah.

today, i drank the remaining juice from the carton, only to discover it has expired 2 days ago.

yea, i wish it is ovulation period, to safely credit the blame on hormones and wash away my angst in a crimson tide.

----------

maybe if they weren't so public with their sordid affairs with mary palmer and her five friends.

hush. these boys are so not shy. let's make love (tee-hee).

ah come tread the grounds of anacondas...

2006-10-20T04:03:00.000+08:00

my ladies, with awed admiration at the lengths men go to love each other, I present to you male entertainment:
a FUCKE-inspired production
The HwaChong Rugby Zoo
applauding the lack of imagination in the choice of name as well.

A barrel of testosterone, they are.
ooooooh, ya shure they're overflowing with love.
Initiated because all are DOCTORING themselves overseas (with the exception of literal poor mr yeo stuck in singapore, and jianwei the intelligently humourous one in smu). they wanna miss each other as well. ah sweet bashing, it's really a gender thing. the words are like inanimated ruffling of hair and pouncing onto each other. ya noe, the kindof scene you would expect upon every soccer goal?

yup, tread the jungle with caution and you'll find talk about snakes and anacondas and shooters and their tools and the golder finger, and of course the hand that fed and wankered. it all boils down to one tiny concept/major concern, yeah boiled down. Penis=Pride. it would take us a hundred years to understand the obsession with the legendary tool, yeah but from what i read, men in their 20s have their brains linked directly to their best(ORGANic)friend.

now take a look at that girl in your mirror who's gaga-ly fixated on her man, twirling in the hated love and loved hatred.
haha, i don't have the mere right to secrete sarcasm.

hail to the tool

there was ka wa kih orh roh ji peng , now there is

2006-10-20T01:48:00.000+08:00

vulgar is as vulgar is.

chicken tonight?

2006-10-16T20:30:00.000+08:00

what you need: slabs of chicken thigh and a pair of kitchen scissors

start by cutting off visible and any of various soft yellowish, semisolid organic compounds; otherwise constitute the simplified definition of fats.
flip over to its underside. perform the same method. clean chicken thigh under running water.

result: surprisingly therapeutic. minus the lingering poultry stench.

2006-10-16T20:05:00.000+08:00

check this beauty out

the unbearable lightness of germen

2006-10-14T13:30:00.000+08:00

Oh dear liqi has more than 8 days to share! shes been telling me about this italian man in her class, who lyric-writes business documents, and cries out for a girl on the streets!

after observing these euroboys on exchange, ive come to discover that the germans are the most gutaan-man. they are so quaint, they are always indignant, and they defend themselves illogically--but funnily enough to get away with, say, bringing a cafe into class and getting to sip it away like in a parisien cafe as other classmates' stomachs growl from hunger and jealousy. tt little germ!

They get away with weird accents too, while the Singaporean’s Singlish-tinged franglais (French-english) get a thousand “OH MON DIEU” from monsieur professeur.

there's nothing like the good ol' liqi

2006-10-13T20:20:00.000+08:00

these days, i don't really have the say in the movies we watch. as you know, "we" refers to the boys and i; or simply the housemates or extended bunkers and neighbours.

i decided we should watch 'friends with money', the alternative non-mainstream choice that NW credited 3/4 stars and because 2 stars 'nacho libre' was sold out (thank god).

sadly, apart from mocking aniston who probably willed herself in thinking her friend's gym instructor was her true love, the movie was slow to entertain, maybe it wasn't suppose to entertain, which explained the boys' reaction later. such audacity from that two-timing good for nothing stumpy jerk to request aniston's maid character to change into his present - a french maid costume, thereafter to make love on the bed she was supposed to make (make the bed). plus a few good laughs from the friend who refused to wash her hair. it's strictly for all yaya sisterhoods.

the boys started figidting in their seats and throwing popcorns. the rest of the cinema-goers left. the movie had barely climaxed.

then, marcus and quentin exclaimed! i was to owe them $6.50 each for this bad movie.

what?

yes, im not really enjoying the movie too. but why let bad movies ruin your mood? they end eventually, don't they all?

and because bad movies don't ruin my mood but bad review do, i should perhaps always consult liqi and her 8days before any $6.50 investments. bah!

to fucke or not to fucke

2006-10-09T19:52:00.000+08:00

found a deviant fucke by accident:

http://fucke.deviantart.com/
--------------------------------

anyways, i wanted to ask what you think of this:

from il mondo, originally an italian song

Stay beside me, stay beside me
Say you´ll never leave me
How I love you, how I love you
How I need you - please, believe me
In your arms I found your heaven,
and your lips have done their part.
IL MONDO - your love is all I need in my world
Let tender kisses plead in my world
How could I ever lived without you?
IL MONDO - my heart belongs to you - so take it
and promise me, you´ll never break it!
Say you stay here in my arms!

haha somehow, i am starting to think that language learning but only serve to lessen romanticism. if you understand english, and men's language, you might feel mildly shocked at hearing such lyrics sung to wonderful music. if i knew music, and may be judge, i might declare it as faux a language too.

we should learn from the french demoiselles. for it is said, when a french man reads the menu out at a restaraunt, all american women within earshot will swoon and fall to his french feet, but when if he tries it with a french woman, she frankly will assess him, and see if he deserves a one night stand or not.

and if you have been close enough, you will know tt my lust for ... mouths of the world has turned a little italien recently. who wants to learn? save up! classes should start 2007, one course is about 500 bucks. after which, we can follow vans footsteps and fly to learning pisa to learn how to sway like siboney.

ike ud better not throw francais away now! take french in school le! we must go away from singapore, equip yourself!

battle of the hybrids

2006-10-09T17:28:00.000+08:00

from all the tabloid toilet materials, most of them authenticate her as the real suri. well almost (suri resembles katie homles's ex, chris klein), and so explains the rumours of baby scams. but suri is beautiful, nonetheless, with cruise's eyes and holmes's demeanour.

the other well-known brangelina hybrid, sweet sweet shiloh. she inherited her mom's emerald eyes, besides that sultry pout. im placing my bet on her as the leader of the hollywood hybrid pack.
just because shiloh has a cute brother - who's taking private football lessons from daddy beckham.

suri

2006-10-08T20:31:00.000+08:00

Got a happy rich family in mail as a forward msg. So liqi and ike( for you are the best paparazzis i know) tell me if this isnt one of those photoshopped images.

this is supposedly a vanity fair spread.

whoever this baby is, her eyes are going to enjoy an eva green.

im not sure these very aesthetically rendered photos are ... on par with haha a picture of my dad putting a durian near his buttocks, taken by my mum i think.

and a few years later, i did the same pose. without the durians but i think i had a hole in my pants.

did you know...

that katie holmes delivered this nondescript-color-eyed thing in silence? and she was fed indian food by cruise to induce labour. all in the name of his weird religion, scientology.

2006-10-07T13:09:00.000+08:00

14 October 2006, 10 am
AWARE WORKSHOP: "SAFE SEX STARTS WITH ME"
2.5 hours of fun, hands-on, interactive discussions and games to share information on protecting yourself from getting sexually transmitted infections and HIV.
---
oh my god ike, is that a bird hidden in the trees! its like mono lisa having bad breadth.

can you please not have animals on this site, or worse, put it in my mail disguised as a postcard (chia!) ?

jacqarandas season

2006-10-04T19:42:00.000+08:00

UQ's urban legend: if a jacqaranda petal falls on your head, you will fail the exams.

i'm not convinced nor threatened but unprepared to question superstition just yet.

jetting

2006-10-03T23:38:00.000+08:00

just two shots of (unwilling) absinthe on the night before his flight and some 10 pounds of unpacked luggage, unsettled furniture; undecidedly abandoned at unassuming corners of the apartment.

his company lasted through those chilly, abbreviated early days of winter; where nightfall descends almost after noon. and now he's leaving before the sunshine state's glorious summer days.

today, i took my last ride on quentin's skyline and my last bite on quentin's rosemary herbed omlette.

today, i bought my first bikini after bikinification.
which is oddly untimely, for all the girth accumulated during quentin's reign over the kitchen and the intention to ditch the girth before parading in surfer's, is oddly timely in the wake of his abrupt decision to leave.

and this is only the prelude.

no charity

2006-10-01T17:28:00.000+08:00

hmm how ever did breasts, or breast cancer get their symbolic color of PINK?

who has pink breasts? is cancer pink?

but im not bitching pink, i just hope you would buy more strawberry-choco timtams and bring them back with you in dec.

i would breast cancer fdtn sell art of "breasts of the world" in all colors and flavors.

-----------------

i am furious, with a group of girls i am part of. (yes i am angry with myself for being part of this group)

irresponisble year ones professedly "passionate about womens issues" , yet when it comes to working in a all-female team, they are like ... unresponsive nipples on lifeless mounds--officiously female, booby, dangling, swinging breasts, yet inert, nonsensical, empty.

i wasted 3 hrs one skip-school day to publicly transport myself to school for a discussion which engendered nothing but regret for ever stepping out of the hse that one otherwise fine day.

a week later, i woke up one morning to go for a discussion--to give us a second chance--to get the work done once and for all--but alas! only to hear that meeting is cancelled 1.5 hrs before actual mtg time.

on the third occasion, i excused myself to sleep in, and not without guilt gloat at imagining them waste their time on one another.

post third occasion. i found out that they did not meet! because they could not be bothered to wake up. good thing i did not trouble myself.

however, my part of e work is done. (after 4 afternoons/evenings of labor) and they are not cooperating at all. i sent a lengthy email, wanting to take over, to make things work (cos everyone has tests and papers and ppts due next week, lets just make this easy) only to receive one liner replies such as "uhoh i did not cover these countries."

so?

damn these pubescent girls are cancerous

ah fucked up people i hate projects i want to read my literature my whole life and never undertake such projects with such first years irresponsibles . a plague of blue on their nipples!

sweet charity

2006-09-30T00:54:00.000+08:00

october is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so go pink as newwoman says.

arnott's timtam pink wish is impossibly inviting. $2.69aud, the strawberry and chocolate is y.u.m. ten cents from every limited edition pink wish helps support the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

polo ralph lauren pink pony tennis balls, $19.95 for a set of 3. 25% of the sales will be donated to breast cancer research as part of the Pink Pony Fund.

more pink buys [here]!

and maybe, schedule for a mammogram!

p.s how many pink wishes y'all want?

Ar, garden city

2006-09-27T17:45:00.000+08:00

it seems that the art of the government is still horticulture.

imf=import many flowers.
biennale= make big banners look artfully stupid amongst newly implemented bushes in town.

who is to know how biennale is supposed to sound like? is it english, french--when in doubt, say it in singlish? even the most worthy prof tried, she sounded like a trying art-promoter, to my utter disgust at the end of a very agreeable and inspiring literature class.

damn biennale, with its imported name and artists. because
1. biennale is a show. and whatever merit it essentially might have, is denied appreciation by the damnable superficiality of banners and bushes.
2. something as wonderful and comparably avant-garde as this biennale, the Sept Fest-is cancelled because they wont close a small road for some party!

police say no, authorities say no. i was going to submit words to be shouted out by (i hope) a hot woman standing high on a donated sofa on Armenian Street holding a loudhailer!

why wont the authorities let common people have some art they understand?

why have the "art show" on tv mobile feature the launch of some aristocratic label no bus-rider who travels so far as little india will have the chance to attend?

plantation of art snobbery.

love thy neighbour (not)

2006-09-21T15:34:00.000+08:00

my neighbours never said hello to us. the balding man in his fifties with a young son i saw in the lift turned out to be the occupants of 115 and i only saw them once.

the other day, a grumpy old lady walked out of 115 at 3am; threw dirty looks at weizhi and quentin and started rambling on about "a giggly girl's laughter" that kept her awake for three consecutive nights.

the next day, in an ill-fated coincidence, quentin met her in the lift. she stared- even when he said hello.

and two days ago, chris said a middle-aged woman stared at him as he entered my apartment - before he can say hello.

so staring is the new hello? they suppose staring will ease the racial tension and even since our neighbourly ties are just hanging by the moment.

and now besides establishing that the weird neighbours are an old retired couple staying with a mother with a young child or maybe otherwise, we are ostracised for being rowdy neighbours with frequent active nocturnal happenings and then condemned for being yellow-skinned, black-haired and just plain asians.

tell me why is it that i dreamt of australian dollars - of twenties and yellow fifties, not blue.

deja vu

2006-09-18T02:58:00.000+08:00

the mockery of fate.

the same turn on the same stretch of road.

the uncanniness of hellrot and blood red.

it could have been us (to read).

spring colours - montville

2006-09-16T19:55:00.000+08:00

spring colours - montville II

2006-09-16T19:53:00.000+08:00

montville, a quaint little village heavily influenced by the colonial europeans. thank god it was part of the roadtrip's itinerary. the first stopover at glasshouse mountain was - really i don't want to talk about it-. think hills and humps and hills - where my glasshouse mountain at? so, it's advisable, only logical and practical to research the destination before trawling people with expectations of at least a decent scenery. bah!

montville was quentin's suggestion, enroute from glasshouse.
a poet's cafe, an italian shop, a little peek inside india, a little zen and a little parisian artsy. must love!

scandals, she wrote.

2006-09-13T21:31:00.000+08:00

procrastination almost killed me. i had extensions, extension on extensions, medical certificates and doctor's (overdue) letter to excuse my academic incompetence while my writing progressed excruciatingly slow.

the drama of my less than dolce vita worsens pms.
i did 2 weeks worth of laundry, tabloids crossword puzzles, drowned myself in the tuscan sun and baked some soul food- mini chocolate noir croissants.

the episode of sex, lies, no videotape but stale cigarettes appears to be true love, after 5 days of disappearing act. it's so hard to stay angry with her, seriously, if anyone of you lalas sexed on my furniture, i won't fume but allow me a week to detoxify all impure thoughts and rid the smell of sex.

quentin's indifference frightens me. it's not the first or the last you'll hear anyway. the thought of people hearing about you before they actually see you, the thought- it scares me - how these rumours eat you from the inside out.

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today at dinner,
i didn't know trump likes his sunny side-ups medium well - cooked on both sides yet runny on the inside and marcus likes his medium rare - crisp at the bottom yet runny on the inside. but i like my eggs well-done or messed up; otherwise omlettes or scrambled (:

i've been on music therapy since. the shanghai 1940s cabaret of oriental lace, feather boas, red lips and white cheongsam. because he sings of rosemary - my previous incarnation, i can't remember how many times i've fallen hopelessly in love and (impossibly) out and all over again with him and his lofty, undying and endless love.

why is medusa laughing?

2006-09-09T21:56:00.000+08:00

it is stupid, it is cellularly stupid, to be gratified by something such as a woman's service in pouring sake for a table of men.

one guy (for he is neither boy nor man) was recounting an account of a male friend in a party of people (japanese i think --if i heard the detail rightly) . Said male friend decided that since he was the youngest and least powerful, he'd better take on the humility and the responsibilty of pouring drinks for the table--only to be stopped by another, who said " these kinds of things, let women do". so "the woman of" the biggest big ass boss served the men.

" whao this is the ideal world la! when women know how to do their jobs, and pour drinks and serve us. shiok"

of cos lion was worried that i was going to explode right there. but i felt nothing, my heart did not even skip a beat. i felt no rage, no indignation--and i dont know why.

on hindsight, the ideology, misogynist, sexist, or plainly idealistic, is kinda laughable.

timtam faces extinction (is fit to be a headline)

2006-09-09T21:16:00.000+08:00

before i say anything, i think i am the only timtam left in singapore. i am lonely without them, who are not even left on the shelves anymore. did i really eat so much of them?

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thus with a significantly empty heart and nonsense full of a stomach, i retch up another heart/stomach burning question:

if units of national service, nric and car plate number formulae is the basis of fraternity between an awkwardly named Da Quan and an aptly named Lion,

what forms then, the basis of our yayahood?

chia thinks that the answer to this question, once uttered, will become taboo.

so i am left to think that we must be as obscure as the big triangle into which things go and out never come. 322 324 326 has always been a pyramid to me. a closed circuit, with buried treasures, dead beautiful things and a maze that only ancient genius may solve.

lost in the constellations

2006-09-09T02:20:00.000+08:00

it's curiosity.

the people i met, the people who became my friends, friends who were other people's friends. their background, the ambitions, their traits and strangely, the horoscopes. they come in pairs - the permutations of constellations; as if by dice-roll of lucky combinations, repeated and recycled and repeated again.

my two rightful housemates, marcus and trump.
geminis and people lovers with superb culinary skills.

my two female friends - equivalent of aussie yayas, jodie and kelly.
cancerians and absolutely loving and motherly.

my two intruder housemates, quentin and chris.
virgos with the love of fast cars and (love of) legions of beatiful female friends.

my new-found and the long-lost, sam and weizhi.
pisceans. no common traits yet, but always badgering quentin to sell them his skyline.

i'm the odd one.
is this a pattern or a coincidence that i'm living in?
could i be waiting for the rams, the lions and the bulls next?

and there's one i loathe. so much. it makes me sick to think she might be of my kind to repulse me as much as i repulse her.

sinful bliss

2006-09-05T01:40:00.000+08:00

is honey caramel and dark chocolate .

linyan and her "dark chocolate", ah sweetness.

colloquial signs

2006-09-03T15:41:00.000+08:00

indooroopilly train station: please stand behind the yellow line.

brisbane airport, arrival hall.

um, okay.

ekka, the royal brisbane show

2006-08-31T00:40:00.000+08:00

it is really about fairy candy flosses, chocolate-coated strawberries, hoops and rings and toys and lottery and hotdogs and lemonade; romancing the carnival in an old school american glamour.

i wish.

ekka is an annual australian affair, where farmers get to show off their prized farm friends .

a really handsome siberian husky, large shaggy dogs, angry piglets in a raging battle, white sheeps (with a cute white kid), black sheeps, goats, (eews) camels, hibernating chicken littles, a proud fighter rooster and a prized maniacal black rooster. timtamting, you're so going to hate this, especially the farm stench. ugh.

i can't believe they dragged me to watch a synchronised whip lashing mass display . (!!!) i think whip lashing of the aussie outback culture is simply pointless, boring and so unsynchronised to a point of being rhythmically annoying.

the company

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the 'not-so-cheap' showbags

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the oily american dagwoods and pork ribs

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and my favourite picture of all, the finale

wish you were here, xoxo.

savoir faire

2006-08-26T02:42:00.000+08:00

this is what i thought was particularly disturbing.
see, we came to La Dolce Vita alfresco cafe again, where i ever mentioned the irony of the presence of the famous replica of la Tour d'Eiffel and the boss's much discussed red ferrari.

waiters wore Materrazzi's jersies as work uniforms and how apt is it to proclaim victory over the francaise with italiano's triumphant shot with the golden cup mounted on the most romantic french symbolic monument?

the R21 mckids party

2006-08-26T02:10:00.000+08:00

It would be typical for an aussified birthday party to embrace the catcalling, cigarette-sharing and sexy stripteases cum lapdances in an absinthe-soaked gala affair.

and chris's party would not have been an exception.

but i thanked quentin for his brilliance, otherwise sick creativity and perhaps to chris, plain sabotage.

we threw chris a R21 version of mckids party and wore glittery party hats with kinkiness.

chris received an inflatable sex doll from quentin and sam. she is blond, downright ugly and possibly spoilt/punctured/devirginised despite umpteen 'blowjobs' given by the boys.

there were sex jokes galore as the room erupted with roaring laughter when jodie suggested “画龙点睛” on the nipples of the toy with a black marker; much to chris's disgust. but he did reveal his fetish for bushes in lieu of black nipples.

trump as the red devil, with 2 party hats as horns.

quentin as madonna circa 1982 in pointy cone shaped bras with lecherous chris.

it was fun while it lasted, albeit the presence of watchful parents and their kids prancing around happily with their happy meals.

and if macdonald's was every 3 year old's holy playground, we would have been so darn blasphemous.

mahjong low

2006-08-25T02:38:00.000+08:00

i've been losing big time in mahjong lately. and it's every gambler's nightmare that the stakes roll higher on every other occasion, with every other guest.

so karma please don't desert me.

where is the love?

2006-08-16T22:40:00.000+08:00

i just received a postcard of Il Cenacolo ( The Last Supper) by Leonardo Da Vinci from milano, italia. it is alot like buying love from across the continents, considering asking van to send me a postcard purely because i wanted to own an italia stamp. i thought she might just scream "hello" in block letters, signing off with xoxo - which is more likely to be my content given the situation. heh but she managed a proper note as i should expect. although i bought love, i didn't kill the excitement of receiving love. whee. where is your love? are you sending me your love too?

on the same note, i bought love again, and yes, across seas and across continents.

a pair of handmade vintage earrings from the states. you have to see for yourself, the designer does really pretty artwork. free international shipping! tell me if you're interested, cos i'm!

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last sunday,

reminiscence of the glorious label-whoring days in the 90s - minus the block and bold armani exchange. it's funny how we wear these bold printed statement on our chests and not necessarily having any intentions of the same.

quentin's heavy metal- showcasing his ampleness and need for a tough underwired bra.

ike's hershey's milk chocolate - i'm sorry, but they are not flavoured.

trump's "your little princess is my little whore" - he never wore this tee to my house and i doubt he will.

that's her in the final countdown of the bo lo bun bet, if gorging the last bo lo bun on the table was worth the semi-free dimsum brunch. i always thought weizhi dresses with subtle charm. haha, let the adidas fool you not! how shameless is her advertorial statement!

interested parties can apply, i think she needs a sugar-daddy now.

updates from down under

2006-08-10T00:52:00.000+08:00

bah! my melbourne trip is infinitely postponed!!

no more krispy kremes (i promised to eat chia's share), penguin parade at sunset, having breakfast with penguins at sunrise, ghost tour at the old melbourne gaol, lygon's little italian pasta cafe, st kilda's homemade cakes and hell, the 5 remaining apostles might not even wait for me. boo.

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weizhi suggested a national day celebration dinner, so we went little singapore; a cozy asian eatery. the boss who spews hokkien periodically never fails to recommend his specialty asam fishhead and always promise dua dua eh but most of the time, the fishhead is not as dua as i had expected. hah, and he offered tau-hu goreng for free after i flirted with him briefly, cheekly reminding him of dua dua eh fishhead.

we spoke of great mahjong plans, marcus already dreaming about his aud$winnings.

but weizhi had then involuntarily/voluntarily concussed on my futon in my living room since 11pm- barely 15mins into watching 'crash'.

the evil presence within the futon is inexplicable, leaving not even a trace of lingering insomnia and weizhi is probably victim number 7.

ooh, my new friend,

c.o.f.f.e.e.

this little bitch is how cute! there is a slight confusion over her sexual orientation (she prefers ladies), and she has a penis apparently!

my favourite tree

2006-07-30T03:20:00.000+08:00

nothing, i just wanted to share my favourite tree with my favourite people. there's this thing about this tree that is depressing yet hopeful at the same time.

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it was barren in summer,

still barren in spring,

naturally barren in winter,

and ah, let's not wax lyrical, it's a nice tree la.

mecca

2006-07-30T03:04:00.000+08:00

it is 3am.

an insatiable craving for hot waffles with macadamia ice-cream drizzled generously with hot chocolate fudge overwhelmes all rationality.

maybe a seafood crepe in creamy saffron sauce or a ceasar salad with grilled seasoned chicken bits will do the sinful equivalent justice.

all the goodness in the ungodliness, pancake house is mecca.

a restored church with a neat touch of medival gothic charm where nocturnal beings of every imaginable types - geeks, misfits, goth eccentrics, asian chinks, engage in social intercourses.you might not know, there is an undeniably eerieness in the basement washrooms. a friend was once spooked by an old lady, period.

eat, drink, men, women.

so sipping lattes at la dolce vita on milton was unfateful. i couldn't tell if it was the irony of la tour d'eiffel, the absence of mr ferrari or being upstaged by a cosmic coincidence with quentin's rather loud female friend who later dominated the majority of the male company. oh well, thank god for no dramatic goodbyes.

will the real ching chong chiang please stand up?

2006-07-28T13:15:00.000+08:00

it is not in my nature to eavesdrop. but in an enclosed public area like the bus, i don't govern my senses. and especially distracting when the conversationalist sounded constipated as if processing a mental grammatical check before articulating her thoughts.

"you first time in this semester?"

"my landlady? yes, she is(a) kind, her son likes to come when we talking"

"so we cannot talk, but she is kind, she is kind."

the apparent chinese provincial accent made eavesdropping so difficult i gave up. i stole a glance at them before alighting, oh, and it reminded me of chia's tok tok chiang chinese londoners, except not in hollywood oriental fashion. i rather have them speaking mandarin/provincial dialects, it might save them from unnecessary sexual referencing and embarrassment.

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how could a grown man derive such pleasure in twirling and tying deadly knots with bolster-strings...