Saturday, July 30, 2005

12:14 AM

manning the sailing booth on wednesday for the matric fair was a true test of patience. can't believe i spent 9 to 6 stuck in mpsh 2 trying to persuade little boys and girls to sign up for the sailing camp. though in all honesty, sirui was doing most of the promotion. he had a really good sales pitch; i definitely see a career for him in sales if he ever needs to moonlight. marshall, kwan hua and i were way out of his league. XD

when we wrapped up i drove to mu4 chuan1 restaurant in apollo centre to see haihan and 2 other ex-hc counselors perform chinese/english pop songs. though they only had 1 guitar and their vocals, it was still a very good performance. the ambience was lovely too - there were very few people there on a weekday night, and we had tea by candle light. sat with gina and junhao while they performed on stage. my fruit tea came in a huge cup and there were pieces of cocktail fruit in it. interesting flavour but a bit sweet for my taste. apparently their speciality is the 'baoger', a burger in a bao instead of the usual bun.

on thursday i drove to mountbatten to collect the national day shirts and caps for ernest and myself. mum and i went to marina square for lunch afterwards. ate at the imperial treasure kitchen in centrestage. it's almost exactly like crystal jade, down to the prices and dishes offered. had anmitsu for dessert in another fusion restaurant called changing appetites. kiwi, strawberry and pineapple slices with red bean paste, red bean ice cream and jelly. it was ok, but i still prefer the one from the soba shop in paragon. that version had these chewy rice ball thingys which added an extra omph to the dish.

the parents are down with the flu so i spent the morning helping mum out with the housework. we've been having porridge and steamed fish for days because daddy's throat is so sore. anyway, went to bugis to collect my flashy silver dancing shoes from the cobbler in the afternoon. jess, sirui, robin, deb and i then went to crystal jade macau to celebrate haihan's birthday. tried the si4 bao3 tang1 mian4, which had fishball, meatball, wanton, and shuijiao. the curry beef noodle is probably better value for money though.

the 6 of us ended up sipping pu er cha and talking the night away. was good to reminisce.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

11:33 PM

manned the css matric booth from about 9 to 11am. it was an...interesting...experience, quite similar to cca day in hc. all the promoting and shoving pamphlets into poor little freshies' faces. the legion of mary booth was just opposite, so we had our very own alley to ambush incoming catholics...haha...we had a pretty decent signup rate for medicine - about 12 people at last count. including dentistry i think we have 14 freshies to introduce to cms this year. didn't manage to get four people to man the booth but luckily chris came down to help (thanks a million!), and paul and the other legionnaires were right beside us. saw a lot of other m2s promoting their ccas too; they seemed to be mainly in booths for christian societies but then that might just have been because of my restricted radius of movement.

met jess at the src pool after that to teach her freestyle. she picked it up really fast. jia you! anyway, it was a freezing day. the moment i stopped moving, my errector pili went into overdrive. swimming in the rain is good for long distance but the wind chill factor is NOT fun.

we drove to bugis for lunch because i wanted to try the crystal jade macau restaurant. kind of took the cte intstead of the ecp but that turned out for the best! we managed to give the erp gentry a skip and parked next to the 'hei bi' market for coupon parking rates. talk about about silver lining...

the curry beef noodle was delicious. and a big portion for $6.80. well worth the trip. tried the pork chop bun too. jess liked it but i wasn't really blown away. we were stuffed from the meal, so we took a walk to yunnan to see if they had anything good, then popped in on the operation theatre people rehearsing at jubilee hall in raffles hotel. waved to amanda and ian but i think they assumed that we were part of the backstage crew and not crashers...whoops. didn't stay there long though. went back to bras basah to browse through the secondhand bookshops. very decent fiction collection for absolutely rock bottom prices. and some of their stock is probably out of print already. definitely going back when i have the chance.

Monday, July 25, 2005

11:16 PM

introduced my dad and mum to salsa at xenbar on sunday. my parents are so weird!! haha, sporting, but definitely weird. dad expressed a sudden interest in learning salsa after the d&d on saturday, so i invited him to join haihan and i for the free class at xen. accompanied them to there for the beginner's class at 7pm then left them to the tender mercies of the instructor while we went for dinner. had beef horfun from a coffeeshop at the periphery of chinatown. it was pretty good, but again, nothing beats mum's cooking.

we went back at 8.30 for the intermediate class. the parents were just finishing up. dad seemed to enjoy himself but mum said she felt a bit uncomfortable dancing with little boys half her age. she's really a natural at dancing though - guess that's where claire gets her genes from. if mummy didn't get so dizzy from the spinning i'm sure she'd make a great salsa dancer. i've been dancing on and off for a few months now and my basic step is still jerky. sigh. got to practice practice practice.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

11:47 PM

had a family portrait taken today. the photography package was a 20th wedding anniversary gift from mum's side of the family. they gave it to the parents in january and it was about to expire soon so we had to make use of it.

spent the morning trying to decide what to wear. claire and i ransacked our wardrobes in the hopes of finding something relatively formal that wasn't white or black. i settled on this purple espirit spaghetti top and borrowed claire's white linen skirt. my dear sister was supposed to wear that particular outfit but she said i would look younger than her so i took over. she stuck to her pink mango shirt and black pants in the end. mum wore a flowery top and black skirt. she insisted that claire and i at least get our hair blown and put on some light makeup for the shoot, and rushed us off to prestige. as usual, it took longer than expected to make us presentable, and we ended up 20 minutes late for our 2.30pm appointment at the photographer's studio.

dad, tom and jerm just threw on a white shirt and jacket and were perfectly satisfied, but the makeup artist there insisted they put on some powder to cover up the blemishes. the boys were absolutely horrified! haha, made for excellent entertainment...not to mention the photos we took of them being 'beautified'. dad was happily snapping digital photos in front of the professional photographer; i'm not sure who was more scandalized - the photographer or mum.

taking the portrait itself was quite an experience. mr lee directed us to take up various positions around a chair and 2 stools. he even went so far as to make tom take off his shoes and claire and mum stand/sit on books to even out the heights. such attention to detail. a couple of flashes and we were done. have to review the the small printouts before we decide which one we want to blow up. dad was so thrilled that they were still using film as opposed to digital cameras in the studio.

the parents had a dinner and dance in the evening but the boys were too lazy to go out for dinner, so claire and i hopped over to j8 since we were all dolled up anyway. went to thai express then bought cheesecake back home for dessert. the 2 boys polished off one large pizza, one pasta and TWENTY pieces of chicken drumsticks by themselves. really bottomless pits...

12:01 AM

finished the first draft of the transcipt. now if i can just bring myself to go through it again...inertia...

spent most of wednesday typing out the study. it's not that boring really, just time consuming and frustrating at times. when i'm actually trying to decipher the conversation, the hours just fly by.

thursday morning was occupied with yet more typing, then i reached saturation point and abandoned it to watch 'the island' with jess and chris. violent movie. exciting, but a bit too much blood and gore for my taste. the concept is good; i felt the plot was just a mish-mash of several older movies though. won't spoil it for the rest of you. it's worth watching for the entertainment value.

got my dancing shoes at this old cobbler shop in bugis. block 271 something. near albert mall. the cobbler was at least 70 and his wife told haihan and i that he'd been making shoes since he was 12! anyway, my shoes are silver and shiny. haha, i feel like a magpie. ate short street tau huay after that. it's supposed to be the best in singapore. definitely one of the smoothest i've had.

walked to the new national library to see what all the hype was about. i wasn't too sure that it was open but luckily today was opening day! borrowed byatt's 'possession' in a vain bid to up my iq after all that harry potter.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

11:43 PM

meeting-riddled monday. went to pasir ris to get the tape of some study i'm supposed to transcribe for one of the CMG doctors, then went home to wait for the sailing people. it was raining cats and dogs, but 7 of us (shaorong, marshall, sirui, ky, isabelle, peixin and i) were present by 3pm. tried to get the sailing camp settled but there were too many variables - the most important one of which was of the cost at PA Pasir Ris... don't think we actually did much in the end.

was late for the scheduled carolling practice at ernest's house, but was still relatively early in comparison. maureen, daniel, chris, alvin, ernest and i managed to finish off 'cantate domino'. sometimes i even thought i could hear a melody amidst the wreckage. haha, we aren't THAT bad i guess...practice makes perfect. i didn't know ernest had prepared dinner for us so i drove back to mummy's delicious fruity cod. i had a whole fillet because claire didn't want hers. muahahaha...

tuesday: tried to do a bit of the transcription but it's taking me forever. secretaries are such saints. only up to 10 minutes. i'm so dead.

went to the cineleisure kbox with jess and chris in the afternoon. sang for 5 solid hours. lots of strange songs like 'di nu hua' and 'liang zhu'. FIR songs are really kind of catchy as well; everytime i go out with jess she expands my repertoire of chinese songs. and i finally exorcised 'tong hua'! i hope. ranting into a mic is always a therapeutic experience.

i wonder if there's a cooking gene? if i'm really lucky, it's dominant, autosomal, and embedded in the chromosome of every cell in my body. what are the chances i'll ever be able to cook like mum?? rib-eye and chicken kebab and oxtail soup, with sides of mango salad and cheesy potato... and people wonder why i pack lunch to school...

Monday, July 18, 2005

12:01 AM

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child born on the Sabbath Day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay.

- mother goose


i hate waiting. or perhaps i hate that i am waiting. it's irritating to have a song stuck in your head. this is the song that doesn't end...

Sunday, July 17, 2005

12:05 AM

crystal jade has a new dessert outlet at scotts! it's a bit like hongkong's xu liu xiang...not too expensive though i haven't actually tried any of the fancy desserts. had lunch with mum and tom at the adjacent lamian branch on friday after shopping...

went to buy tulips and roses for the parents and godparents to present to the irish ambassador's wife during their dinner that evening. flowers are quite a pointless exercise in futility - and an expensive one at that! two bouquets cost $100!!! insanity... brought claire and jerm to eat at thai express since the grown-ups were out. met haihan for dessert at swenson's when the 2 of them went to watch fantastic four after that. i'll never get tired of the the apple crumble there! and they've recently introduced a new line of frozen yoghurt to cater to health conscious. we tried the chocolate one but frankly it tasted just like ice cream to me. i'd lugged my laptop over so we viewed the europe photos till about 11pm then it was home sweet home for me...

saturday: spent 7 hours on a keelboat. i don't think i'm quite cut out for that kind of sailing; got a bit seasick because i wasn't actually doing anything to help. just sat around with the wind in my face watching the sea go by...the rocking motion was terribly insomnia curing. it was really nice of wato-san to take marshall, sirui, peixin and i out on his own boat with mr neo...

Friday, July 15, 2005

12:58 AM

woke up early to go to popular to buy mounting boards, but it then realised that it only opened at 11am. drove to school after that for a css matric fair meeting. parking was terrible; i had to wait 40 minutes for a lot at SRC. really frustrating. anyway, i finally managed to drag myself to yih to do up the photoboards - spirituality, sports, social and service. they're quite pretty if i might say so myself. eye-catching at least. XD

had lunch with the css people at munchie monkey's because they wanted to tease alexis, who was working there part-time. met jess at about 4.30pm outside the medlib where she made me do last year's biomed quiz paper. i have forgotten absolutely EVERYTHING. and it was so difficult to focus my mind on studying...i hope i get better at it when the school term starts again in august.

drove to hc to pick aishu and jialing then the 4 of us went to aloha loyang for the medicamp bbq. there weren't that many m2s/seniors there, probably because the place is quite inaccessible and it was raining. was bored stiff frankly. the stage games consisted of a mutated form of queen of sheba, and the food auction wasn't quite so exciting when you know you're not getting any of it. haha...went mainly to meet up with my classmatesm, but since there weren't that many of them there...

after the night's programme was over, we celebrated jingxiang's and janice's birthdays. the cake was...unique...happy anniversary..ahem..birthday to them both... haha...evil friends...

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

11:59 PM

being a chaffeur is definitely not on my list of desired careers. drove to nus to help with the transport for medicamp ,then made my way to aloha loyang on the other side of the island. after stealing lunch from the ogls, drove back towards sentosa. left before dinner to meet jess, aishu, ky, jialing and sirui at sixth avenue for briyani and gelato. it's more exhausting to be in control than it looks.

1:12 AM

fantastic four isn't that fantastic. batman begins is still the best marvel movie adaptation to date.

jess got me an interesting car sticker thingy that says 'who cares who's in the car'. i wanted the 'be independent. avoid men.' but i think mum would kill me. haha. it's easier to navigate the river of life in a single canoe.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

3:15 PM

post-holiday boredom.

the mosquito/sandfly/unknown-species-of-insect bites are driving me insane. at least they're not itching so much now, but i think i donated half a litre of blood to various organisms during my trip. they look quite scary too; little bumps surrounded by mini haemorrhages. haha, fright night anyone?

heartfelt thanks to everyone for all the encouragement and advice i got. really helped each time i felt like giving up before i got to the summit. when you're cold and tired, such memories are the tiny flames that push you onwards.

it was too cloudy to see sunrise when we finally crawled to low's peak but the sense of accomplishment was just...indescribable. now i understand why people pursue such masochistic dreams.

12:25 AM

someone's going to climb a mountain...why not you?

haha...adam king...guiness advertisement...

mount kinabalu...

been there, done that!

Sunday, July 03, 2005

12:44 AM

haha chris, i think your comment is probably the most interesting thing to ever have been posted on my blog!

anyway, had a good swim in school on friday morning. the src pool was almost deserted, and the water actually looked clear. went over to the medsoc area to meet aishu and discuss biomed training for the following week after that. jialin and chunyuan also popped by so the 4 of us ended up having lunch together at the science canteen.

headed over to orchard to watch 'my boyfriend is type b' with wenxian. it's a really riduculous, corny, romantic, sweet, heart-rending comedy. about how blood type influences personality and how boys with type b make the most selfish and pig-headed boyfriends. muahaha, i can't say it's COMPLETELY rubbish... it was entertaining, but i guess some of it hit a bit too close to home. how coincidental can you get? ah well, it's just a show.

it's amazing how much boys can eat. we had some taiwanese hotplate cum soup dinner at the suntec foodcourt, then walked over to millienia walk to buy chocolate nougat ball thingies from the giant candy store. finally tried the chocolate fondue at the esplanade too. dark, milk and white melted chocolate with strawberries, banana, nut bread and marshmallows. cephalic stimulation just thinking of it! i was quite stuffed after that but someone still had space to squash in char kway teow from the neighbouring glutton square. really...amazing...speechless...

saturday: went to hc for biomed in the morning. we gave them our year's papers to do. the turnout was rather disappointing though; there were more trainers than trainees...sigh, and the quiz is less than a month away...

went for the sign language practice in the evening with ernest again. it's quite fun actually, especially when the tempo for the 'uniquely you' song speeds up. and ernest is very good at it. i've got to practice harder!

had dinner with the family after my class. felt kind of bad that they had to wait till 9.30pm to eat. and the parents bought me all kinds of interesting equipment for kinabalu. i think i'm really going to wing that one. it'll be a true-blue backpacking trip!

when we got back mum went with me to pump petrol at the shell station. 25% discount! yeah baby....

Friday, July 01, 2005

12:15 AM

tuesday: finally met up with qi, yiming and rachel hoong. we had la mian at the takashimaya crystal jade for lunch and refused to budge from our seats till 3pm. i think the last time we all met up was in 2004, but it doesn't ever seem to matter once we get together again. just feels so right. now if i could just get hold of sarah and amanda...

met the eurotrippers at susan's house for dinner. her grandma and mom made some excellent indian food! curry and with some slightly sweet rice flour bread that was wonderful. had chocolate cake and honeydew sago for dessert. we wanted to paint the boys' toenails red but they wouldn't stay comatose long enough. hmph. next time.

wednesday: watched war of the worlds with the eurotrippers. quite entertaining but the ending was disappointing. went to school for badminton and a swim after that. huiling's back from melbourne! and as bouncy as ever. the bunch of us had dinner at holland v in the evening.

thursday: went to assist dad in a MIS total knee replacement. bloody and messy. but very interesting. had soba for lunch with mummy then popped over to the miss sixty sale. 50% off storewide. burnt a huge hole in my pocket. haha...

claire's friends came over for dinner and a sleepover. thomas thinks the food is better whenever we have guests. could be true. kermal curry, fried fish with belado sauce, clams, brocoli with seafood, xian cai ya tang....and her friend made oreo cheesecake for dessert...yum.....