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?????