Green bean soup...long time didn't have this ! Chinese style, minus the gula melaka or coconut or whatever others put in to improvise the taste. Just the green beans, water, rock sugar & ginger. Yum ! That was my lunch.

That made me think of sweet potato soup & the sweet potato porridge which my grandma used to make. Long long time since I had these. Must ask cora to do.

Kids having tuition; ryan doing chinese & sarah math. Exams start next week after labour day hols.

I watched a 4 hour marathon of Heroes on Star World & there was 3 hours of CSI on AXN at the same time so I was really torn lol. Tonight, HBO is screening King Kong. Coooool. Better than the local dance show finals on ch 5.

Hubby's fishing trip to phuket from 11 May has been fucked up. While he was away for 2 weeks in Taiwan on exercise, friend going along was supposed to book the tickets. All details given. Hubby only knew it wasn't done when he asked. Now friend says not a good idea to go cos monsoon (????) etc. Maybe he didn't tell wife. So we had to tell rickie cancelled. Rickie & hubby disappointed. Hubby & I will go after the kids' exams on our own to see rickie & go on that fishing trip. We have a 1-for-1 ticket waiting for us anyway from our credit card which needs to be used soon before it expires.

The 50 cents funky lime green doggy bowls.

Check out the gorgeous eyes on this husky.

Lament for the day : Its only polite to inform people earlier if there are changes in plans.

Just watched Fracture. It is no surprise that I liked it. Cos I like Anthony Hopkins. He was calculating, sardonic, devious in a charming sort of way. Just like he was charmingly evil in Silence. But it really is a good movie, my liking Hopkins aside. Ryan said, "I thought action movie" but he sat through it, immersed & riveted.

A strange couple on my right. Yes there was some clever dry humour but they seemed to be laughing, too loud & long. There was a court scene where Hopkins mentions "fucking". Yes it was a little funny, in a cynical way. Dunno why they laff & laff like this was a comedy.

I've always liked the older actors...Sean Connery (especially post 007, too many to mention), Anthony Hopkins (Amistad, Nixon, The Bounty, Elephant Man etc & best in Silence of the Lambs), Harrison Ford (Star Wars & Indiana Jones), Al Pacino (The Godfather, Meet the Fockers, The Recruit, Scent of a Woman), Robert De Niro (Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, Wag the Dog, Frankenstein, Untouchables & many more), Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting, Patch Adams, The Birdcage, Hook, Dead Poets Society), Denzel Washington (Bone Collector, Malcolm X) & Morgan Freeman (Seven, Along Came a Spider, Kiss the Girls, Shawshank Redemption).

But I also like Johnny Depp (he's yummy in any role lol), Gerard Butler (him too lol), Edward Norton (Illusionist & excellent in American History X), James Cavaziel (Passion), Viggo Mortenson (LOTR & A History of Violence), Christian Bale (Batman Begins, The Prestige).

Sarah, Ryan & Lionel were late so hubby & I had dinner at sakae sushi which was disappointing. Dunno leh but seems like standard dropped. Regret that we didn't eat at food court instead. Kids had hotdogs, nachos & popcorn during movie after which we had supper at the prata shop along Thomson. I think sugar is free in that shop. Our coffee & iced milo were quite sickeningly sweet & we needed to top up with water. Hubby had a bomb prata which is prata with butter & condensed milk. I dun mind dipping my prata in sugar but the bomb is yucky !!

Hmmm I thought saying the word "bomb" in public is illegal ?? (see past post on bomb word incident at airport)

Lament for the day : Fracture is not a mr bean slapstick pleeease...sigh.

Case 1 :

Guy drives into a mall carpark, claims he decided not to park & couldn't reverse as there are cars behind, & that there should be a facility for turning around. Parking facility does not offer grace period as this parking facility's exit can be used as an escape route from gantry. Claims that by not parking, has not accepted offer of parking facilities. Sends 2 emails to insist on refund of...get this...$1.05. This is a private building & by entering, you have accepted the Ts & Cs. Who provides an extra lane for turning around at entry ? Rates, Ts & Cs are building's perogative so long as they are within reason.

Case 2 :

There is a special promotional rate of $4 during weekdays for senior citizens at cinema. When cinema dropped price, less 50 cents, claims he was cheated cos senior citizen's rate is 50% off & he is still paying $4. Its a promo rate for goodness sake, offered as a gesture of goodwill & not mandatory. Never ever said it was a 50% discount. Can be taken away anytime. Insists that he is owed 75 cents. Dun listen to reason. Arrogant & rude. He was told to collect 75 cents, emphasized that it was not from company (out of personal pocket), from office. Never came & that halted all the mindless, irrelevant faxes.

Case 3 :

Guy finishes watching a movie, goes to the gents. Then comes back & says he left his wallet in the cinema. Supervisor lets him into cinema hall although other patrons are already there. Allegedly gets his wallet, claims $50 note is missing. Accuses cleaners. Supervisor interrogates & checks cleaners. Nothing. Then customer asks for customers sitting inside to be checked. Is he stupid or what ?? Then when told not authorised to do so, asks for 2 complimentary movie tickets. What the fuck ?? Supervisors did not give in. Good for them. He says he will make police report. Make lor. He thinks police will come & check staff & customers meh ? Everyone has a $50 note so how ? Openly trying to cheat. In the first place, maybe didn't even lose wallet.

And these are just 3 cases. I have heard many many MANY incidents from my colleagues about ugly customers.

Lament for the day : there are always articles & complaints about poor customer service. How about the ugly customers who are rude, intimidating, unreasonable & try to cheat ?

These candies are yummy !! Crunchy caramel coated with chocolate. Addictive. Bought a couple packs from Ikea.

Had gone there to check out some frames for a new exhibition at the gallery. Bought a sample frame, paper stuff & other stuff. Including 2 plastic doggy bowls in funky lime green for just 50 cents each.

My colleague was with me so we paid up & then the cashier just left the lot on the side of the counter. We blur. Then ooooohhhhh we realised, no more plastic bags ! Must buy or bring your own. Forgot. Next time must keep those type of canvas shopping bags in the car.

Had a huge Chinese meal at lunch. Was a farewell for a colleague & we had 20 people. One of our colleagues arranged for a car & van to take us there. Van door opens & 5 guys zip in leaving the rest of the ladies (with jaws hanging) & 2 other guys standing there. Sigh. So we shooed the remaining 2 guys in & had a lady sit upfront. Some of us ladies had to take a cab cos the car obviously couldn't fit us all. What gentlemen...sigh. Seriously. To top it off, at our table was a bossy annoying person.

Mio SUX !! Since we got it, half the time our house phones didn't work. First was no ring tone so we didn't know if anyone called. And I only discovered it by accident so who knows how long it had been like that. So they came to fix it. Worked for a couple of days. Internet access ok though, only house phones.

Now, cannot call in or out. Hubby spent almost an eternity on the can-I-hepchu-line. But it didn't get resolved. Girl was quite nice & helpful lah. Did her best. She heard me telling hubby that they better not charge for this call on his mobile phone & she said she would take care of it lol. I think she didn't have the records of what the technician did previously. Anyway, during the process, they accessed our comp with hubby's permission & were doing some stuff which he could see. I am uncomfortable that they can access our comp. Though this is with our permission, what happens if there is errant access ? Big brudder is watching ??

Lament for the day : Some people really really not shy ! I so paiseh that they not shy ! wah liao.

Only did half day at work. My stiff neck was bad & when I went to company doc which is in the same building as our office, he said it was bad lol. The muscles have "spasmed" from the neck to the shoulders. I feel like I have a six-pack there lol.

Got MC, cream to rub on, anti-inflammatory & relaxant pills. Dun like the relaxant, gives me that drowsy-but-cannot-sleep-spaced-out feeling. Doc said if this treatment does not work, botox next. I'm like "HAH???" So he enlightened. Botox was originally created to relax such muscle spasms. Then some smart alec decided that if it was good for muscle spasm, why not for cosmetic treatments like softening frown lines. Orrrrhhhh I see.

Left office around 2pm. Did some work at home but not much cos not comfy sitting up. It feels better now & hope it will be even better tomorrow.

Heh ryan got new phone. With his own money. Went to buy with his friend. Kena lecture from me. Cos he could have been conned. Then I ended the lecture with "hope you have some money left over to get me something for Mothers' Day" lololol.

Thinking of a family holiday trip together with Sherlyn & Victor. Told her maybe she should come to Singapore. She said she hasn't been here in 35 years so ya, that might be a plan. But she will be busy with her Music Education Foundation (see links) & will have to sort out when she can get away.

The pilots are asking for more pay again. Saying that it should be based on how accountable & level of responsibilities. So the bigger the plane that they fly, the more passengers it carries, the more they should be paid. Why hah ? Got to keep hand cranking the engine to keep it going meh ?

Lament for the day : Passengers put their lives in the hands of the airline, its pilot & crew. So like that how hah ?

Met ben, sam, daf & wee boon for dinner at seah street deli. It was filling but not fantastic. Ben had to leave earlier to pick up his wife & didn't get to share this huge chocolate cake. He didn't miss much. Dry & ordinary. Think the standard of the food has dropped. Had a nice catch up session with them so the company made up for a rather disappointing meal though sam said his chicken was good. Ben's BLT didn't even look good. Daf & wee boon's fish n chips & my quesidilla were so-so.

Had a couple of meetings today at the office one of which was with vendor on re-designing the ticketing webpage. Luckily the cinema colleagues were roped in as they had much to contribute on what they want. Dunno why colleague didn't want to include them in the first place till told the reasons. Ah well...

How I woke up with a stiff neck I dunno. So went for a massage at lunch. Still feels sore but I guess I'll really know tomorrow morning whether better or worse. Dun like seeing doc for this cos all I will get is painkillers & muscle relaxant which really doesn't do the job. More shiok with someone kneading the right spots :p Time for bed.

Lament for the day : sigh...such a pretty chocolate cake but unremarkable in taste. I can relate this to people too.

So Monday blues lor at work. Many emails to deal with but accomplished one major task for a publicity programme, which is good :>

Sarah called to say where she would be lol. Dad told her last night to please call us if she was not coming home for makan or if she was going to be later than expected. Mainly becos she is a young lady & we worry that there are weird people out there. Seriously weird.

In one of my posts I lamented about mispronounciation. Saying "tree" instead of "three" & "meuk" instead of "milk".

Sarah's friend says many people mispronounce "epitome" as "epitom". Yes must say the "me" at the end.

Someone told sarah "ode" is pronounced "oday". Its "ohd". 'An Oday to a Nightingale' lol...John Keats would shudder in his grave.

Then there is "ballet" pronounced "ballei", "chalet" is "chalei" & "valet" is "valei". So sarah jests "toilet" is "toilei" lol.

But please hah, not all words ending with "let" is pronounced "lei". Just like "vogue" is "vog", not "vogyou" & "argue" is "argyou" & not "arg" lol.

Then using "irregardless" instead of "regardless". Or choosing the wrong word or wrong spelling of a word to use like complement & compliment, access & excess, cite & site, consecutive & concurrent, elicit & illicit, stationary & stationery, affect & effect etc etc.

American & UK English spelling differ. Like color & colour, favorite & favourite, realize & realise, center & centre, theater & theatre, license & licence, program & programme & so on. I must confess...always thought irresistible was spelt irresistable. Or is it ???

You've just gotta love the English language lol. I am fine with Singlish...it is so part of our culture & being Singaporean. I speak it often with friends, family, colleagues. Just not for business & formal occasions. I don't write in Singlish for work but I do in my blog. We just need to know when not to use it.

May have dinner with friends tomorrow. Still dunno eat where. We'll figure it out.

Lament for the day : NUS has a full page colour advert in ST. Money can be put to better use like activities for the students. So should fees be so high ? SMU also.

I was browsing my bookshelf, found this. Some 12 years ago, my friend Mary gave me this book Things That Makes Us Happy, a compilation of contributions by Singaporeans on things that make them happy. From tah mee to family, friends & all things Singapore. At the back of the book, there is an empty page where you can fill in your list. Mine was written some 12 years ago. Sweet :>

Seen in the papers, a couple of sketches. Rather poignant captions :

Virginia : A day of horror.

Baghdad : Just another day.

argggghhhhhh I feel inadequate as a parent sometimes. I wonder if I was so difficult to understand when I was a teen. Or perhaps those were simpler days. My mum didn't care to pay attention to me. But well, I think I didn't turn out too bad. I wonder if paying too much attention could have repercussions instead ?? Somebody ought to write a book Parenthood for Dummies or Understanding your Teenager for Dummies. We have good kids, I know. I just sometimes overdo it trying to steer them in the right direction. I get exasperated. Perhaps I ought to let them handle the driving for a change, I dunno. I hear you kiddo. Sorry lah, just being a mum & cos I care.

Lament for the day : parenting is not a breeze.

Just watched Curse of the Golden Flower. I don't watch Chinese movies often & this one impressed. Gong Li's ample breasts did not overwhelm the storyline lah. Dunno who said that. Got show of breasts but not in your face to distract. A tragic but quite a strong storyline. Lavish sets, scenes are quite stunning, good fight sequences, great use of colours & opulence. I thought Chow Yun Fatt & Gong Li played their roles well. I have always preferred the latter to Zhang Ziyi. Doesn't matter if this movie hasn't got a hunk to drool over becos it was good. Besides, sometimes hunks are distracting lol.

When I watched Memoirs of a Geisha in the cinemas, I didn't care for Zhang Ziyi in her role as Sayuri. I liked Gong Li as Hatsumomo, so drama-mama & bitchy. Really made me dislike Hatsumomo lol. But of course I thought the book was better.

Hubby text me this morning. He be home for dinner & he gave me the menu lol. The food he was having the last couple of weeks must suck lol. He has just landed, called to ask if I wanted anything from the airport. He will pick up my one of my two favourite scents, DKNY's Delicious for men. The other I like is Happy for men by Clinique. I am a men-scent person lol. Men's body odour does not count.

heng ahhh, no need to doll up for his home-coming. Married 17 years so has seen me at my worst & more.

Lament for the day : Those boyfriends who have not seen their girlfriends without make-up, quite poor thing lol. Maybe the girlfriend lagi poor thing lol.

Ahhhh I had to clear & do archiving for my office mailbox as it was bursting. Hope I didn't delete some shit I would need in the near future.

Sarah's friends are here baking cookies again & they will be back tomorrow too. Cookies smell really yummy but they didn't get my hint when I went down & asked hopefully, "need taste test or not ??" Ne'ermind, be like that. I can buy my own Famous Amos choc chip cookies. bleaaah ! lol

Chatted with them over dinner. Both are older than sarah, one waiting to go into uni & while waiting, is a relief teacher.

What is the definition of "relief teacher" ?? Giving relief to the fulltime teachers & it would seem so in more ways than one (read : kena bully). Scarier still, the relief teachers are not given a training stint before actually teaching a class. So they are thrown into the lion's den. "Nah here ! Teach literature...Shakespeare". Poor relief teachers gotta do research & hope they are teaching the right stuff. Thought they would have some training on the syllabus, be armed with materials & teaching processes, that they would buddy the fulltime teachers for a couple of days or so then will be on their own. Thought wrong. Not very organised system leh. But not surprised lah lol. (For the full story, read old posts lol).

Lol ryan brought up 2 cookies for me so I take back the "bleaah". I also take back the "bleeah" cos I just remembered that they said I look young lolol. If only they knew that the memory isn't quite up to scratch lol.

Other than office email box resembling a size XXXL trying to fit into a size L, work was fine. Just a couple frustrating moments with a colleague. Each time I have to deal with him, I feel my hackles rise, my body stiffen & my face tense. Like I just had botox shots. I dunno what botox shots are like, just thought it sounds quite drama to illustrate. The colleague thingy is a helluva a looooong story. I think I should write a book on anecdotes about the people & situations which I encounter at work.

Just put up my designer friend's link on my blog. He designed my wedding dresses. My mum, aunts & I get our party dresses from his boutique. He has really lovely stuff. I kept my wedding dresses which are really pretty & even fashionable till this day. I didn't go the traditional route, all were short dresses & even my wedding dress can be used as a regular short cocktail outfit.

Hoping sarah could wear them when she got married. Cannot. She taller & bigger boned than me. Guess only the veil can use lor. Of course I can't fit into them anymore. My ass is double the size for one. I won't even mention the rest of the body parts.

Lament for the day : I know what middle age spread feels like. And it ain't fat or cholesterol free. lol.

I am all
Its 'bout bladdy time !! So long, farewell sanjaya lolol !

I am also bladdy stuffed ! I wonder if a stuffed turkey feels like that. Turkey dead got no feeling...sarah would say. Anyway, had a very nice dinner at True Blue peranakan restaurant. One of the venues in our regular HOD makan sessions. Food was good plus really nice ambience. The restaurant is on the 2nd level of a shop house along East Coast Road, just opposite Katong Mall. The 1st level being their little 'kek' shop. Located close to my favourite laksa, durian puff & tau kwa pok place. When we speak of katong, it is all in terms of food. Restaurant has all the charming paraphernalia of peranakan culture.

I am a quarter peranakan; my dad's father was full peranakan. There is nothing peranakanish about me...cannot speak the patois, cannot cook or bake like the the peranakan do. Abit hopeless.

My dad's mum was chinese hokkien. Her mother, my great grandma was from China, possibly Fujian & had bound feet. I remember her with her tiny feet in silken handmade shoes, shuffling a little unsteadily along. But she was very healthy & lived into her mid-90s. I was told that she had never let any of her family members see her feet unbound. And I remember she slept on a thin mattress on the floor & her pillow was a wooden block even though she had a proper bed. My mum's side of the family is full chinese.

Hubby's side of the family is also interesting. His mum is Dutch Portuguese & his dad was Thai Filipino. Both his parents were born in Singapore. So this makes our kids a little bit peranakan, chinese, dutch, portuguese, thai, filipino. The surname is of filipino descent, possibly spanish ? not sure.

Watched a docu on feet binding sometime ago. It wasn't very pleasant & was a very painful process as the feet were forced to stop growing & the bones all unnaturally bent. I remember the pictures being quite gross & can't imagine how men in those days would find it attractive or erotic. The feet probably stank when unbound.

A couple of sarah's friends were over baking chocolate chip cookies which they will sell in church. I had a taste heh :p It was good :> They'll be back again tomorrow evening to continue. And I will volunteer to be chief taster lol.

Lament for the day : aiyoooo...one of the Miss Singapore Universe semi-finalists is "twenty-tree" years old & is studying "teatre management". Wah liao !

Someone passed me a magazine. This heading caught my eye. Read the article, incident happened in the UK. Woman now in her mid 20s, was sexually abused by her father between ages 8 & 13. Her father has since been arrested & she has written a book Daddy's Little Girl. Terrible that her mother & brother didn't believe her. Even more awful that the father could do this to his own daughter. He never heard of whorehouse meh ?? Must be severe syphilis of the brain just like Mr 10-Wives who raped his own daughters. These two ought to be introduced to the charms of Lorena Bobbit.

Really horrified & sorry to read about the shootings in the Virginia uni where 32 innocent people were killed. Its too bad that the korean student who did this committed suicide. He took the easy way out, the coward.

Not much at work except work. Which means, time flew by too quickly. A couple of fun events to organise. Be nice to work with our charities on these.

Someone said to me that Gerard Butler has uncle face. I think he is pretty hot lol. Cheeey ! so old drool over those young farts type for what...I can't even name them.

Lament for the day : I should start counting the number of people who pronounce 'three' as 'tree' & 'milk' as 'meuk'.

b & j free cone day today ! I was meeting someone on work matters & realised it when I saw the snaking queue. All the way up to the 3rd level. Mainly students but some working adults plus those who would queue for free anything. Heard some kids even queued up 3 times ! I was watching & everyone was really well behaved & the security were directing the human traffic very efficiently. Nothing ugly like the incident a few years back for some hello kitty toy ! btw, hello kitty is ughhhh.

Called sarah to ask if she was having a free cone somewhere & she was with friends at the united square b & j. Told her to come meet me so that we could go home together after I was done with my meeting. She called ryan to meet her at united square as his school is just across the road but he said a teacher told them they could not go. Sarah said he sounded really sad lol. Friend of mine got her an ice-cream which she shared with me.

I had travelled from the office for the appointment scheduled for 4.30pm. At 4.30pm the person I was meeting called to say she would be late, 5pm. Then at 5.10pm, she called to say she was tied up. What to say...sigh.

In the midst of all this waiting, I got really pissed off becos a couple of the gallery's expensive display acrylic cases were moved from its storage area & were seriously damaged. I found out by chance when I realised they were not in the usual storage space while waiting for appointment to turn up. They were all intact when I last saw them in the old space. Anyway, I asked to see the new storage space & then, wtf !!!! No one said anyrthing about the damages. No choice but to report this. Not one of those things which we can quietly let slip away.

Lament for the day : why the hell did they keep quiet about the damage.

geezz, its Monday. What can I say. Before I knew it, t'was past 6pm. wah liao, yes lah, that means I was busy with work.

The coffee in the vending machine in the office sux. And the brand of satchets I picked up from 7-eleven also jialat. So after lunch we went to the supermart, picked up my heart's desire old town kopi & I am now a happy ducky. Good coffee in the morning is such an important kickstart to my day :) But I haven't had the afternoon cuppa in months. So many contradictory views of whether caffeine is good or bad. Wadever lah, still must have my kick in the morning.

Sarah had a migraine today & she says she wants to go to a specialist. Told her to google for info on triggers of migraine. I get them too, once a month, but it started just a few years ago due to hormonal changes. Yes lah, age lah. Anyway, told sarah not to be dependent on meds. Also told her that I have observed that during holidays & weekends I don't hear her complaining about migraines lolol. Maybe school & homework are triggers lolol. Hubby's siblings get migraines. He is lucky he doesn't. Reckon this could be hereditary.

Other than that, she is not so stressed now. Chatting with me as I blog & interrupting my flow of thoughts lol. We were on the subject of the phrase "I love you". Told her to blog it. She says she doesn't want to tell her godpa about her blog as he will tekkan her lol. Maybe I can blackmail her :D

Lament for the day : arggggh the weather sux...rain, then hot & humid.

Sloooooooow day. Kids had tuition. Sarah stressed out cos spending alot time on math & no time to study other subjects. SA's are first week of May. Ryan not stressed at all. She just has to plan her time, prioritise & spend less time on other things till SAs are over. Other activities & friends will just have to wait. She'll just have to sort it out. If I nag she will get agitated but if I don't, it'll will be like I don't care. Sure school & studies can be no fun. And I understand its harder now then before. But education is such an important aspect as it will make or break your future. She knows it cos I've heard her tell her brother. Hopefully it'll pass & we can put it down to a one-off exams anxiety attack.

Another article on man with the 10 wives & 64 kids today. Reporter wondered if the neighbours could have helped prevent the situation. How ? They wouldn't have known what went on behind closed doors. Complain that too many people living in two apartments ? Dunno if that would've helped. I still say the wives could have prevented it. Instead they even went so far as to work out a timetable on when the daughters would 'service' their father. I really cannot fathom this & gets me really worked up.

If one thinks that they were sooo pooor things, hoodwinked by their husband & kept under his thumb, bullshit lah. Its 10 women vs one man & its 2007, so you go figure lor. Plus they are educated women. Duuuuh ! They are far worse than their husband cos they let it happen. They do not deserve an iota of compassion. Sorry lah, but they are just sooooo fucked up, lower than the lowest. An embarrassment to womanhood. The epitome of stupidy.

I can go on about what I think of the bastard & his wives but it would take up too much space & most of what I want to say will be filled with expletives. I really feel sorry for the kids though & I hope they can get through this unscathed.

Lament for the day : why do people have children & then violate their trust.

This is the distortion pedal which we got Ryan for his birthday. And these are the number of guitars at home. Not counting the piano, bongos & tambourine. Nobody plays the bongos & tambo. Nuts.

Hubby is fine. We were texting this morning & he is on R & R for the weekend. He'll be home next Saturday. Yayyyyy !

Checked office mail & then played online games for lack of anything else to do. Watched dvd of the Wicker Man. Stupid movie. May watch curse of the golden flower later or tomorrow. Wonder what the fuss is with gong li's ample assets & costumes.

Kiddos at cath class & then mass. MIL watching TV downstairs, too loudly but she can't hear too well.

Watching Nat Geog on UFOs & abductions. How come only happen in the US.

Lament for the day : hot hot humid day...only on the notebook & perspiring. wth ?

I had a pear & 4 crackers for dinner. Had a huge lunch today. Salad, tortellini stuffed with cheese in cream sauce (ooohhhh sinful), gelato & coffee...sigh. And I had some chocolate later too. Guilt guilt guilt all over my face & waistline lol. Always get special treatment at this Italian restaurant cos the chef is nephew's friend whom I have known since he was in school lol. He doesn't call me auntie J when I go to the restaurant cos I would smack him lol.

The owner came by to say hello to our table. He travels here from Japan once a month as he has restaurants there as well. He is such a riot, a real funny character. Had us in fits of laughter. Flirted with all of us but not in the sleazy way. And we flirted right back. He loved it lol. No no no, he not good looking at all. His manager at the restaurant is quite aloof so to meet the friendly & nutty owner was fun.

Warmed up the car as hubby is away. I never learnt to drive. I would make a lousy driver. Would be impatient, blast my horn, make rude signs & probably scream obsceneties at anyone who got in my way lol. Safer for the other drivers that I don't drive anyway.

Wait ! Not true. Matt taught me to drive...in reverse lol. Matt & Lu would so remember this hahaha.

Survivor tonight. Went to the website. Why are we one episode behind ???? We are usually the same as the US. Chehhhhh ! Now I know who is going out tonite.

Lament for the day : Aren't chocolates healthy ?? :p

Comfort food ! Yes I need that after a slightly frustrating morning at work. I was editing a 20-page document & when I was done, I hit Save. It hung & I lost everything. No recovery even. Damned machine !!! Had to start all over again.

The rest of the day was fine though. But its been awfully humid, even now after the rain.

Great that there will be an Indiana Jones 4 & Sean Connery will be in it. Didn't know he was 76 & Harrison Ford is 64. I've liked Connery from long before & especially his post-007 days. Hope IndiJones 4 will be good, unlike other sequels. Heard on the radio that there's to be a Da Vinci Code sequel. How's that possible ? Or were the blokes on the radio just ribbing. Didn't like the movie. Mistake to make another. Like rocky should have stayed retired. Good movies coming these next 2 months; spiderman3, pirates3, harry potter, shrek3, fantastic 4 & transformers. Looking forward to pirates, hp, shrek & f4.

Spoke to Ryan's friend, Leo's mum today. Ryan has been to their place a number of times to jam with Leo. So I thought I would call to say thank you & hope that Ryan wasn't a nuisance. Very nice Filipino lady & glad that I called. Its good to not only know our kids' friends but also their parents. We had a day for both kids to invite their friends over last Christmas season but Leo couldn't make it. Now that I've sort of met Leo's mum, I think she would be a little more relaxed in letting him visit us for a change. Be nice to meet her too.

Sarah's friend coming over tomorrow to bake a surprise cake for her mum's birthday. Think she is buying the ready mixed type. Chocolate cakes are so hard to do. Mine flopped all the times I tried. So now just buy lor when I feel like chocolate cake.

Was talking to a colleague about our executive health screening & she got to the subject of poop which we had to produce for tests. She was worried that she couldn't "do it" there lol. The last health screening we had, those who couldn't do it then had to bring the poop jar back the next day lol. Anyway, HR had the poop jars from the clinic & we could bring it on the day we have our check. Colleague, first screening for her, wanted to know how much of a sample she had to produce & we told her to fill it to the brim. We are wicked lolol.

Dunno how from chocolate cake switched to poop jars. I'm random, what can I say.

Its been nice being in touch with Sherlyn. Saw her pics on her website & she is looking good. Brings back memories of our trip & the various characters on the tour. Actually it was just that one guy lol. He was very friendly but I think a little overly so with me. Noooo he didn't get physical. Sherlyn would have clawed him if he did lol. He wrote to Sherlyn once & asked after me, think he wanted my address too :p

Oh bugger, Sanjaya still there.

Lament for the day : Oh Dilip where art thou ?

Looking through some recent pics to send to a friend & saw the one on left taken from our Feb Phuket trip. Predator made out of nuts, bolts, screws & metal scrap pieces. Seen in other photo are the ones we have at home. Scorpion & 2 Predators which are about 8 inches tall. Have another piece of guy fishing but that one isn't such a detailed piece of work. Amazing pieces of art.

Hmm I guess the whole island is abuzz with the pay raise issue. So what do I think...if this avoids breeding corruption so be it. But make sure the job is well done. Good to hear that PM is donating his increase to charity. Whether anyone thinks its a publicity stunt or to pacify the public, it doesn't matter. Its still a nice gesture.

Latin night is supposed to be fun on Idol but no one has wowed. Not even my faves. Aiyo Sanjaya ! I don't dislike the boy, he seems very cute & sweet. But as a singer he is truly truly undeserving to be there. Seacrest introduces Sanjaya as "the embodiment of latin passion". hahahah damned farni ! For those who blur, sarcasm lah duh. Slow song cannot, fast song also cannot, new song cannot, old song also cannot...terok. Cowell said he "wasn't horrible" tonight. Still doesn't mean good.

Who's the voice behind the new Nokia advert on TV ? He sounds really bored & want to mati.

Something about Korean singer Rain on Star news...like I know who he is. I just wanted to say that hubby knows someone called Cloud lol. Swear ! So everytime we see him, we make cloud jokes. Not to his face but I think it might go whoosh over the head anyway. When he walks past, "Oh passing cloud" lol. Lame but funny, I think.

Sarah just asked me what's the definition of paganism. I said that its the worship of idols...and I don't mean American Idol. hahahahah. I'm gooooood !

Time for Heroes.

Lament for the day : Nice doesn't cut it lah, Paula.

Some years ago, I was in the UK for my friend's wedding & after a week there, went on to see some parts of Europe on my own. It was safe. It was a tour bus so I wasn't really on my own.

I met with an American Chinese lady & her teenaged son in the tour group. Sherlyn & Victor were really sweet & let me hangout with them on the tour. Actually, they watched over me & protected me from a slightly lecherous (when he was drinking) man from India. He wasn't that bad (I think ?) but I didn't want to find out lol.

Anyway, Sherlyn & I kept in touch for a while. When hubby, kids & I were in LA, I should have contacted her & gone to San Fran to meet with her. But we were a little pressed for time, wanting to do so many things...Disneyland, San Diego, Universal, sightseeing, shopping etc etc. Then we lost touch cos I messed up with my address book.

While rummaging through some old stuff, I came upon on an email address.

Took a chance & sent off an email last night. Today I received a reply from Sherlyn. Awesome !

She has retired from teaching & now runs th Purple Silk Music Education Foundation in Oakland, CA USA. Read about it on www.purplesilk.org It is impressive.

The friend's wedding in the UK I mentioned earlier...she was my penfriend since I was 12. Lynn lives in Manchester which isn't as dreary a city as most people make it out to be. We have kept up with the writing though a little less frequently these days. We were doing weekly letters before. Anyway, I like emailing while she doesn't. She prefers the old fashioned way of communicating by letters.

From penfriends, we went one step better & met. Lynn & her now husband Martin came to Singapore twice. Met our families, kids & friends. I went to their wedding as their matron of honour. Though that was the first time I'd met her family, I felt like I knew them because of the many years of writing. And who said that the British were aloof. They are warm & friendly, treated me like one of their own & were definitely party animals at the wedding. Lynn's mum is one mean singer. The Connie Francis type & genre.

This got me looking for old photos...

An English wedding in Manchester & William Wordsworth's Dove Cottage in Grasmere, Lake District.

My knights in shining armour & delicious fish n chips.

Versailles & gargoyles at Notre Dame.

Luxembourg & Lucerne.

San Diego, Disneyland & Tijuana.

Hubby with friends & fishing in Perth.

Gold Coast. How little the kiddos were.

Lament for the day : I saw a photo of my friend's son & he is now a grown man. Where have the years gone !

Home today. Sick. Bad throat, bodyache, slight cold & a fever. Now got migraine. All the water during the weekend when I had signs didn't help. Oh crap ! Didn't have time to go to the doc as was busy working from home. Company has new panel of docs & not within walking distance. Lecheh. Will see doc at the office tomorrow instead, more convenient.

Sarah is sick too & came home from school. Mine is due to immune system not as strong as before. Plus everything falls apart with age. bleah. Hers is probably due to lack of sleep. She is up too late every night. She is sleeping now. I should try to get some rest too.

Hubby left for taiwan for exercise. About 2 weeks away.

Bandit is a love sick fool. Coco is in heat & he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't mount her. He just follows her around, smells her, whines, lies down & looks at her with mournful eyes when she is lying down away from his reach. She is cranky. Growls & snaps at him. He doesn't give up but still doesn't know what to do. He ain't got no balls, literally.

Not much in the mood to blog...sianness.

Pic of one of birds that 'live' on our roof. Hubby has christened them Gomez & Morticia Addams. This is Gomez. Morticia was under roof thingy with the nest. She popped her head out after Gomez flew off.

Lament for the day : no one to send me to work & back for 2 weeks :p

Party was good. Loads to eat as usual. And we ate & ate & ate from tea till dinner. Everyone was sooooo stuffed.

Sarah's chocs were a hit & we gave each family a small pack to take home. The tiramisu turned out very well. Grandnephew seen in photo blowing candle for his mum & ryan's b'day.

Grandniece's photo posted above...she is sooo angelic & all sweetness. She has an older brother (the one blowing the cake) & an older sister. All 3 of them are completely different in looks. The brother looks like a Eurasian mixed with Chinese, fair skinned. The sister looks like a dark skinned Eurasian, & she looks like indian & chinese mixed. Certain angles she looks like indian ang moh mixed. All 3 are good looking kids. Just like our two. heh.

Actually our family is a little United Nations; Indian, Eurasian, Filipino, Indonesian, Malay & Chinese. So when there is a party, its nice to see the different races hanging out & having a good time. That's the great thing about inter-racial marriages. I think our family aptly represents the multi-racial society of Singapore. Very cool !

My mum didn't come today as she was having a little bit of a backache. But my godparents did & they were so taken in by grandnephew. He walked in, stuck out his hand & said Happy Easter ! So cute lah. I haven't been too well these couple of days but plodded on. Sux to be sicky on a weekend. Stupid thing is that I left my meds in the office...duh.

A couple of stories in the papers were topics of conversation.

When the story on the guy with the 10 wives, 64 kids & 3 jumbo flats first broke, I was amazed at how he could afford to take care of all of his wives & kids. His marriages were not registered here so the authorities didn't know. I was even more amazed at how dumb the 3 or 4 wives were to have allowed him to commit incest with their daughters. He told his wives that it was written so in their religion. With 10 wives can have orgy but still not enough. Caligula wannabe ? Not only does he but the dumb wives too deserve imprisonment & the caning. See what I mean by abusing religion for own agenda. Actually I blame the wives for letting him do the stuff he did. They had the power to stop him but they didn't. Not one wife, its a few of them so they could have ganged up on him. This is the epitome of stupidity.

Not the most apt time to talk about the other even sicker story. But that one so incenses me that I just have to have my say about the guy who sexually abused his 2 year old stepdaughter, killed her & dumped her body. Then can pretend to be worried & go looking for her with the police. Farking bastard ! Go to jail & let the inmates rape him over & over again. With whatever instruments they can find till his asshole is as big as his head. This type cannot be death sentence. Must be slooooow torture first. Tie him down ass up & a horny stallion for company. Vlad's scalping & impalement also can.

Lament for the day : arrrgh Monday tomorrow !

Sarah's chocolates done. Very yummy too ! Wonder if they would be even yummier with another shot of Bailey's lol. Maybe can sell. But first must perfect the look. The balls all different sizes & some dun look like balls lol. Hand made mah, got no mould.

My tiramisu done but was si beh lecheh ! No finger biscuits at ntuc nevermind. None at cold storage also. Sarah went to United Square & Novena Square outlets for me last evening & there were none. We were told it was available at Jason's but only 3 packs left. Did not want to go all the way down to find its all gone.

So decided to use sponge cake instead. Whaddya know ! No sponge cake around our place & at J8. Worse, no more marscapone cheese. I had two tubs but wanted to make a bigger tiramisu so needed one more. Grrrrrr. Ended up using butter cake. Made a small tasting portion to see if it was alright with the cake. And it was good ! Enough kopi & just the right amount of liquer. Actually just a hint of it. Some would say not enuff but what to do, party is G-rated. Ne'ermnd, I'll do better for the R21 occasions :p

Took the opportunity to clean the roof outside our bedroom window when it rained this afternoon. So much bird shit. There is a pair of mynahs who hang out on our roof. They've built a nest just under the roof thingys but we haven't heard any baby birds calling yet. The mynahs are okay so we leave them be. Sometimes too noisy in the mornings & they poop too much.

Must speak to sarah again later. She told me some of what happened but she sounds so upset in her blog. Worried, must find out if there is more & what else or who else is bugging her.

Lament for the day : Everyone must be making tiramisu for Easter Sunday.

Just watched Flags of Our Fathers, didn't catch it at the cinema as it had a short run. Pretty good. Will follow up with Letters of Iwo Jima when DVD is available. Missed that one too.

There was a rare humourous moment in the movie...group of them were in their bunk, not shipped off yet & came up with some bull of Masturbation Papers which one of them had no idea what it was. They told him they'd all gotten theirs & he ought to check with the captain why he hadn't gotten his. Lol.

So this bit reminds me of an incident which hubby related to me on his early days in the army. One of the guys wanted a medical excuse to "keng". So he was discussing with his bunkmates what to say to the medic. This guy blur sotong type so someone told him, "tell the medic you don't feel well cos you have seminal fluid coming out of your nose lah. Sure work one".

LOL...he did.

Sorted out menu for the family do on easter sunday. Potluck. So we are doing the drinks, bee hoon, tiramisu & fruits. Each family coming will bring one dish; pie, curry, chicken wings & can't remember what else. Both hubby & my side of the family coming. Looking forward to seeing the grandnephew & 2 grandnieces.

Very lecheh, ntuc hasn't got the finger biscuits for my tiramisu. But got marscapone cheese. Errr go figure. Sarah picking biscuits up for me from cold storage. She is making chocolate rumballs, substituting rum with Bailey's. Becos I dun like rum that's why. Tiramisu is b'day cake for ryan & carol. Must remember not to whack so much alcohol in the tiramisu :<

Didn't catch up with Lu & Matt this week as I'd forgotten to arrange it. Bleah ! When I did remember, was told Lu was out of town anyway. So will wait till she is back. Then I need to do dinner with Anth too.

Read in someone's blog that our new sportshub is not horse-shoe shaped. Toilet bowl cover more like it lol.

Lament for the day : Sanjaya...why?????

A few interesting articles in today's papers. First one about Myanmar offering to sell us sand & granite. We've got friendly neighbours, well some more than others lol.

Another story about this man in his 30s who was found guilty of drugging taxi drivers & then molesting them. Errr wtf ?? The drivers he drugged were men in their 50s & 60s. Is this guy sick or what ??? Daft & demented. Thought such weird stuff only happened in other countries. Wah liao.

And there's the tale of the 2 Singapore swimmers who allegedly smiled at the rotten luck of the USA relay swim team for being disqualified in the World Championships. Doesn't affect them one way or another so why would they be smiling with glee ? Mountain out of a molehill (what's smaller than a mole hill ? ant hill ?). So whichever media started this, save the media space to talk about aid for Solomon Islands. Move on please lah duh.

Finally, the guy who test-drove a car & got into an accident which resulted in the death of the sales executive accompanying him. Its been just over a year. No doubt he hasn't been formally implicated. But someone did die. The audacity to decide which sportscar to buy after that incident ?? Got lots of flak from the chatroom he was in. Wonder if its mistaken identity ? It takes a very callous, cold & indecent person to be talking about what fast car to buy when someone died in the car you were test-driving. Sigh...but what do I know. Case is still under investigation.

Ohhh last night I googled movie stars without make-up. Dunno why, bored I guess. Waaaah ! Interesting photos maaan ! Quite scary also lol.Speaking of movie stars, I met Michael Jackson during his first concert here. He was staying at the hotel where I worked. He was actually quite nice & soft spoken. But quite unnaturally white. He signed on Sarah's photo. I'm not sure if that autograph is worth alot or nothing. But despite all the controversy, he made good music.

Dinner conversation was reminiscing some things the kids said & did. Accidentally eating own poop, getting foreskin stuck on revolving part of a toy gun, thinking vampire is pronounced grampire & butterfly is futterfly.

I remember some years ago, a year after my dad passed away, a big brown moth was seen above Sarah's desk in her room where she was doing her work. It was my dad's birthday & the Chinese believe that a moth seen in your home means your ancestor is visiting. So I told both the kids about the belief & that it was granddad visiting them. I also said it was his birthday.

A little while later, I hear Ryan yelling to his sis that granddad is watching her do her homework & thinking how untidy her handwriting is. Then a few minutes later, I hear both of them singing happy birthday to granddad moth.

Lament for the day : what's the big deal about Fann Wong's hairstyle ? Got nothing else to talk about meh ??

My son wanted to bring this lock for his school locker lolol. Probably locker door will drop off from weight of the lock lolol. I gave him a smaller one lah, the type we use for our luggage. hehehe this one is lock for the gate !

My visit to the urologist wasn't as simple as I expected. It was just meant to be a follow-up after a year from my stone episode to see if all ok. Anyway, now need to do a scope becos of my recent episode about 2 months ago. Tints of blood in my urine, which you can see just about see, not darkish though. It went away after a couple of days & there was no excruciating pain like before, just a dull ache in my back. Scan showed no swelling. Because there is little or no pain, she reckons its best to have a good look. Just to reassure ourselves. It could be nothing. So I have fixed up to do the scope later this month. Its dam expensive maaan !

There was a brochure they gave me to explain the procedure. I felt better when I saw how short a distance the scope had to travel from a woman's uretha to the bladder compared to the undulating longer distance for a man. Get the visual ? :p

But my problems are nothing compared to what the people of the Solomon Islands are going through now. Many dead & homeless. An April Fool's Day joke at its most brutal.

Reading up on tsunamis tells me that there have been many Tsunami occurrences. But we've really never paid much notice till December 2004. The 'T' word has never been more repeated since then.

I didn't know Japan was most prone to tsunamis, 195 over a 1,300 year period. But the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean is regarded as the worst ever though such occurrences in this region are supposed to be rare. Rare but not impossible. With the world's atmosphere changing, anything now is a possibility.

While we were in Phuket earlier this year & taking a drive all over the island, the driver pointed out to us places of where the tsunami occured, where mass graves were, how high & far in the waves got to. But you wouldn't believe this happened in 2004 as the island seems to have recovered. Hotels are up, bars, shops & streets are bustling, tourists are all over the island. Like it never happened.

But there are reminders ...the warning signs, bits of broken walls here & there, the graves. It serves to remind us of the fragility of the world & those who inhabit it.

This post has taken such a depressing tone :<

Lament for the day : Why are people fighting & killing when in a single sweep, nature could destroy everything. No lands, no oceans, no animals, no us...

Spent the day at uncle's place on the square table & eating. I enjoy these get togethers & then after all the indulgence, I worry how much it really plays havoc with my wardrobe ! Problem is that I think of it after the whole event. Its tough this middle age spread. Thickening waist & fat butt.

Today's menu - Waterloo Street Indian Rojak, Chicken Briyani, for tea early surprise b'day cake for Ryan, fruits, chicken pie, fried chicken. Tar pau home chicken pie & bao.

Interesting discussion with family members on the "bomb" word incident at airport & my letter to the ministry. On the latter, the opinion is that I should pursue till I get a reply letter that makes sense & is satisfactory. It was also suggested that I talk to the press.

Tomorrow is my follow-up visit to my urologist. A year ago I had kidney stones. It was baaaaad ! Never felt such excruciating pain. The cramps & pain were alot worse than giving birth, I swear ! I did eventually pass out the stone & didn't need an op. Anyway, this is just a follow-up to see if all is well. I had some signs recently that there could be another stone. We shall see what comes about tomorrow.

Lament for the day : The hazards of a family get together is eating too much & not caring.