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'.