a bowl of gold

i'm eating laksa while typing tis. was spooning into my mouth and staring into the soup when i remembered how tis bowl of laksa would be like a pot bowl of gold in sydney despite the fact that its very oily (which i dont know why. always thought katong laksa are less oily than the other type of laksa) and somewhat not very tasty (today). while we're in a place where we seem to have everything, we'll up our expectations and pick on what we percieved as bad but yet is being treated as gold in another place. same thing, (probably) same person, but different experience.

blur queen

someone: hello, can i speak to swissroll?

me: yes speaking.

someone: i'm calling from AIA. you have been selected for a special promotion.

me: ..... .... (kinda stoned. took me a few secs to respond)

me: huh? again, what special promotion? (thinking hard if i've a policy with AIA)

someone: heheheee..... eh, its me lah. you cannot recognise my voice ah?

me: huh... oh, its u, pot.

really ah, my reaction damn slow leh?!?! when can i stop taking my flu medication??????!!!!!!!!!!

church wedding rehearsal

attended OH's sis' church wedding rehearsal yesterday evening. didnt do much, basically spent my/our time cooling down, (we were perspiring like niagara falls - tis is 1 of the many wonders i wanna visit. i once watched an omnimax movie on niagara falls and was so in awe with the sheer size of it. the loud splashes of water probably drown voices of anyone who attempt to speak upon reaching BRMC wearing what we were wearing) and then, all is done!!! in less than 30mins after we got there. we questioned the purpose of us turning up. then we thought, to give moral support that is.

by 8pm, we've arrived at OH's brother-in-law-to-be, P's place (a short walk from BRMC) for a buffet dinner. there was so much food that it allowed us to give away (to the security guards) & to tabao. i was too shy to tabao for myself for it was my first time meeting P's parents. :P they were very nice and hospitable. they even know my name without having me to introduce myself. wow, i was impressed and at the same time touched. they really made me feel welcomed. i dont know if i'm being rude to say tis but i suppose there's no harm done. P's dad is a jolly fun man (m i not showing respect for saying tis?). he's always making us laugh. whereas P's mom is a soft-spoken yet approachable lady. very helpful and humble. no airs abt her. i like them. they're those who will make their future daughter-in-laws (P has a younger brother. very tall and not too bad looking. any takers?) feel at home on first time meet-the-parents kinda pple.

the parents are hoping for 4 oct to come. yeah, thats the day both church wedding and the dinner will be over. sigh, wedding preparations are jus so tiring.

*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*

*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*

*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*ah-choo*

oh no, one of my sneezing frenzy once again. excuse me, i'll take my leave now.

18/06/2005 2:26:47pm

for some reason, ok, fine, OH's sis was using the printer in his room and so we both went to the hall to watch some telly. we then grew bored and so started reading the messages in OH's phone. most were from me. among the few we went through, one particular text tickled us and it reads:

dar,our house has been invaded by laughing thais & they seem to be enjoying themselves.i'm trapped in our room.they're feasting on japanese food.i've already drooled.now thinking of repelling down 7 floors.

click here to see what we had for dinner that evening.

to quote tan ah teck, the morale of the story is....

oh, how we miss those good old days!

music soothes the heart

been lying low lately.
attempting to make a comeback.
then, went out with mom on wednesday.
heard unnecessary nasty remarks made at her.
i was more puzzled than mad.
no customer service never mind.
no humanity left at all.
realised to live life is to live it with many pinches of salt,
for cruelty of the society is everywhere.

*stare blankly*

uploaded a new tune on my blog.
not any new fantastic tune,
jus one random tune in my winamp playlist.
i'm one boring person loving songs without words.

eyes closed,

listening intently,

i'm seeing how the pianist moves his fingers,

putting together tis beautiful (though pretty tragic) piece.

music indeed soothes the heart.

random thoughts

i swear some of u were bored but became more bored after visiting my blog. my entries have been seriously unentertaining lately. tis is what u'd expect from someone who's been staying home most of the time for the past 1 month. breakfast, lunch and dinner, (almost) all were settled at home. first was the fact that i was sick and so was stranded at home. then it was mom who forced me to stay home for her cooking. she somehow has a way to make me feel guilty if i decided that i'm bored staying at home and wish to dine out.

i doubt tis entry is anywhere near entertaining, in fact, i've jus demonstrated the new theme for swissroll's haven --- B O R E. worse still, tis blog has been perceived as B O R I N G eversince its birth. frankly speaking, i'm not at all bothered. i dont write to please or write what pple like yourself wants to hear. i write for myself, better still if tis blog can survive generations, then it'd be like a memoir for them, my descendants that is (many times, i wish my great or great-great or great-great-great grandparents or grand-somebody leave behind a diary that we can have a peek into their lives then, in that era that they were in).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

jus last week alone, i attended 2 family weddings. both in a span of 1 week. sheesh. how did i survive that?!?! (i hate family gatherings, so to speak. not because i'm such an extreme introvert that i hate being ard pple. family gatherings in spore arent family gatherings. u geddit?) gonna attend a church wedding and a dinner on separate days next week. on both days, i'd be in charge of reception. i feel like i'm such a responsible/ gan-cheong person who take my job seriously that i thought of requesting in advance the guest attendance list or sitting arrangement to familarise myself with the names. obviously, if the list is in alphabetical order, then there wouldnt be such a need already.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

in the past week, i also spoke to some friends. 2 in particular i was really touched by. david, my only physiology lab partner time after time and ric, my buddy i known since primary school. eversince i was back, i never had such a heart-to-heart talk with anyone except them (other than OH). they opened my heart so i can be myself and rant out my inner thoughts/ concerns/ complaints. also, they listened with such open, non-stereotypical, non-judging mindset that i have no qualms revealing myself. i'm so grateful for their tremendous support, moral and emotional. other than saying i thank god for them, i cant think of what else.

david: a new car and a new course, and tis is jus the beginning of the ride, so it'll take a while before u get the hang of it. but, since u're an experienced driver, u surely have no problem adjusting to the changes.

ric: thanks for the support u've been providing me all these while. i'm sorry i wasnt there for u in sydney tis time round. in time, i will.

freight fright

i really hope not to fall prey to more sneezing, sniffing and nose-blowing, especially now that i'm recovering even though i still rely heavily on my tissue box. i practically carry it with me everywhere in the house. when i'm at my "office" (that is, the imaginary partition ard the coffee table including the telly(!) who's so lucky to have a telly at their workplace? within their cubicle some more. HA!), on my bed next to my pillow, dining table when i have my dinner (if i decide to have my dinner at the dining table cos i normally have it at my office. :P). hope my heavy usage of paper can be atoned by my good recycling deeds in sydney. i'm still trying hard to do recycling here but singapore doesnt seem to encourage recycling much. at least i know all we were given is an undersized rubbish chute in the kitchen.

our parcels from sydney are finally here. good and bad. good cos i can stop living out of my suitcase. bad cos i've to find ways to squeeze a house worth of stuffs into my room plus the expected sneezing and sniffing from unpacking and the dust. not forgetting we'll be dead broke after the payment. in all, we spent close to 1K (after converting to S$) on tis freight. O..O'' what an exorbitant amt!

was told delivery is scheduled either today or tomorrow [edited 15/09/05]. i almost told the guy off. put my concern aside, how could they not know if its today or tomorrow. if u say u cant tell the exact time of the delivery, say 10am on the dot, i'm fine with it. usually its a range like 12-4pm. thats the norm i know. i can accept that. but to tell me to wait at home for 2 whole days, thats not justifiable. hey, dont tell me its the norm now to wait 2 days for goods/ furniture delivery? i have committments too. i need to run errands, need to be out of the house. especially now that i'm well enough to be out. anyway, i've informed the guy to arrange for his delivery man to call me when they're nearing my place so that i can rush back for them. sheesh.

the three voices

i'm slowly losing my inner voice. first, i chose to ignore it and now, like muscles atrophy, tis lil voice is diminishing.

now, i'm gonna talk abt another form of voice. we often hear complains that our government do not allow freedom of speech or airing of opinions. in a way, i agree with that statement, at least, i suppose the right to speak is not wholly ours and is exposed to political scrutiny. take the white elephants placards at buangkok mrt station for example. i thought that was an ingenious humourous piece of speech. why did it require the investigation involving our efficient law enforcers?

for the third type of voice, i volunteer to sit on the fence and shut my gap. finger pointing, criticise, ridicule. hell no.... pls count me out. frankly, tis is only not human, that is, to tongue wag or to talk behind the back of others. more hatred towards those who pretend to be exceptionally nice to their targets and then stab them in their backs. tis is for real, not a scene gathered from the movies. i witnessed it so so many times in the past, when i was still working at tis grapevine. though i may not be the victim, i hate being involved. as much as i dislike backstabbers and malicious rumourmongers, i've to learn, learn to listen to them with a pinch of salt. afterall, office polictics are inevitable.

beads of perspiration

instead of venturing out in tis treacherous weather, i much prefer to stay home with a cuppa tea listening to tunes of bossa nova. call it an excuse to skip an extended family member's wedding dinner, the lightning is shooting in all directions that even the daredevil in me is convinced to switch off all electrical appliances and shun using the phone. the intervallic surprising thunderous claps are also scaring beads of perspiration out of me. jus like how someone scare u from the back. shudder!

okay, before my mom starts nagging, i better go find a decent bag and get ready before she does. argggh!

a fainting episode

if u see a girl in office attire staggering out of the train at aljunied to the stone seat on the platform on tuesday at abt 2ish in the afternoon, highly possibly pale faced, then i bet u've seen me.

i was in a body of sweat, vision blurring by the second, the porridge i had for brunch seems to be travelling up my alimentary tract making its way out of my mouth. without having to think twice, i walked to the door of the train, praying that the train would come to a stop at aljunied station asap, before my brain switches off and my body collapse to the ground. seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours. moments like these so so familiar. thank god, no puking and no collasping. i jus sat there for abt 10mins with my eyes shut, drank some water (despite the ban), made sure i felt alright before setting off on my journey again.

cause of episode: unknown! probably heatstroke or/and hunger or/and still sick from flu.

aftermath: been staying home since then. tomorrow will be the real test.

i had enough

tis flu bug that plagued me for more than a week left me

• sneezing almost non-stop. and my eyes teary.
• with a nose that is so tattered from blowing and blowing which in turn accumulated a basket full of waste tissue paper and of course 2 boxes of tissue paper to start with.
• a deepset voice or maybe not. perhaps i should say somewhat a voice different from my usual.
• very blocked ears... i would call it partially deaf. i ignored OH a couple of times cos i didnt hear him. that bad huh?!
• with a limp body that shed a kg during tis ordeal.
• stranded at home with not much social life to boast abt.
• confined to the bed (drowsiness from the med) and several visits to the loo (from flooding my system with lotsa water).
• tis flu bug is slapping me with something new, that is, COUGH when i thought i'm on the road to recovery.
• VERY SICK!!! i cant wait to be well and waltzing the streets.

today is the EDT of yeo's baby girl. i wonder how things went. cant visit them lest i pass my virus to the newborn. sigh!! i hate tis stupid virus, restricting my life. i've never been down with flu for so long. i'm so much healthier in syd. or i should say i get well sooner in syd if i'm ever sick. i give myself till friday to be completely well cos of impt engagements over the weekend. i NEED to be well. i cant afford to put off meetings anymore.

6 of 6

....our last sunday in sydney.

outside our place.


BOSE sky message greeting us.


anzac parade... the road we travelled on so often... a name every UNSW student knows so well.


from the bus-stop... looking up at our place.... the left building. spot the L-shaped balcony? that's the breeding ground for my pigeon shitty troubles.


upon reaching the city... here we are on george street on our way to circular quay. popped by tis very historic looking virgin music megatore that used to be CBCS (the commercial banking company of sydney limited). the interiors were awesome.






got to circular quay... bought the ferry tix and were weaving through the crowd to get to berth 3, where the manly ferry is.



got pretty good open deck seats considering the massive weekend crowd. tis is the view looking back at circular quay which is a train station as well.


the ferry moving away from circular quay.


the moment the harbour bridge and sydney opera house come to view, all camera action started.


2 of many sails during the journey.


ferry docking at manly wharf...


arriving at manly wharf... such RUSTic ceiling!!! like a scene out of "the awakening".



a stretch of pine trees greeting us at the wharf.


queenscliff... the ferry we arrived on.


manly wharf...seen from the street.


on the rock reads: MANLY... seven miles from sydney


manly mall.... a stretch of shops leading from the wharf to the beach. (pinky, tis is where i got the pink snoring koala for your lil prince or rather u. :P )


OH kena seagull's dropping as we came to the end of the mall and were crossing over to the beach. supposed to be getting to the washroom first thing but i got him to pose for my camera instead. HAHAHA!!!! not the head, not the shoulders, but on the hand!!! so suay! but the seagull very "chun"!!!


tis is near to the spot where OH received the dropping.


the rest are pics of the beach, more pine trees and the surroundings.







these 2 brothers arent afraid of the cold. brrrrr!!!






THE PRESENT


THE PAST... something like in the early 1900s.


at the end of manly beach.... where we thought was a dead end but yet another what seem like a world of its own surfaced.


calling it a day.... back at manly wharf catching our ferry back to sydney or circular quay.

circular quay from afar.

shoo shoo the flu bug

m i sick till my brain/ finger fail to work? i tried so many times holding down the ON/OFF button on my mobile phone to turn it on but it jus wouldnt. i started questioning myself if i was doing it right. is sony ericsson different from nokia? do i have to hold it down for seconds then juggle a ball or something? or have i been holding down the wrong button? is there another button somewhere that i've overlooked?

what crap lah. tis is only a mobile phone, not rocket science. why is switching it on so tough? sigh. okay, i surrender. i went to dig out the manual and check where the heck i've gone wrong. felt like an idiot but what to do.

flipping the pages...not much to flip anyway since the instructions to turn on the mobile is within the first few pages.

correct what!!! hold down the ON/OFF button!!!! okay, next step is to take out the battery and put back in (its not within the instructions. i feel they should include it in, for pple like me). thank goddness it worked (after fiddling it for what felt like 10mins thereabts-who take so long to turn on a phone????). i wouldnt wanna be caught dead bringing my phone to the shop to ask how to switch it on. i'll appear very silly, dont u agree?

on a side note. difflam's aftertaste plus banana left tis raw oysters taste in my mouth.