kl trip

drove to kl over the christmas weekend…or rather..spider was doing the driving while me n my bros were doing the munching n sleeping. traffic was great..no jams at all! but we were late going into kl cos of stopovers in sepang n putrajaya….so were stuck in the jam from sungai besi for quite a while.

was at petaling street on fridaynite…n there was a raid! of all days! the whole stretch of street was like a ghost town save for a few stalls selling souvenirs like the twin towers replicas n the like. seems like the police was out in full force.. saw at least 2 full truckloads of people moving away from there…presumably the vendors caught selling fake wares. also saw policemen hauling trolleys full of fake goods..from handbags to perfume to shades. even caught the police guys in the act trying to apprehend some vendors who were apparently hiding in one of those shophouses lining the street. Was itching to capture it all on camera..but you never know what the police wd do to you if they caught you doing that. So..

Anyways..was pissed off man… shopping at petaling street was supposed to be like the highlight of our trip to kl…n to leave wif nothing was just heartbreaking. (went there again saturday nite..n things were kinda back to normal save for a few absent stalls at the front. not that i bought anything much. it’s all about the atmosphere man. its like going to bangkok…what’s bangkok without patpong rite?)

back to petaling on friday nite. had the mata kucing drink (hmm…what’s mata kucing in English ah?? its like longan like that) over at this old auntie’s stall, which was supposedly veryvery good according to my bro. I suppose it is. then went to the satay stall to satisfy my craving for their satay. They’re really really good man. No kidding. Those who wanna give them a try can go to the roadside stall, across from the 7-eleven with the “kedai beg”. Damm nice satay.

the satay was item no. 2 on my MUST EAT list. item no. 1 was the chicken rice at bukit bintang. the very thought of its making me hungry!! I love the rice!! n we have to eat this wif their krabu mangga (sliced green mango mixed wif onion n peanuts n anchovies..among other things)..which was damm delicious n the best thing u can get apart from the actual krabu in phuket itself. discovered a new food item to salivate over….bean sprouts wif salted fish! yes ok this is not exactly a new dish. just realized that this dish can be found at nearly all self-respecting chicken rice stalls. but still…i’ve never tried it before the kl trip see. for those who are interested…its right at the end of bukit bintang….before the big carpark and the junction to pudu bus station.

oh n there’s this stall diagonally across from crown regency which serves to die for teh tarik. it was so blardy delicious. theres a hint of coffee in it…or maybe not. shit. thinking of its making me want it now now now! anyway, quite an experience sitting there on christmas eve (or rather early christmas morning) looking at the cars go by…or not! the jam was horrible! seemed like everyone’s either going to the beach or nouvo. to add to all the chaos…we have police cars wif their sirens blaring at full blast snaking their way through the jam. we figured there must be a fight or other at one of the clubs. true enuff, found out from this ozzie at breakfast that a fight did indeed break out. amazing.

all in, the christmas weekend went pretty ok. its surreal thinking that just a year ago, i was leaving phuket leaving on christmas day n narrowly missing the tsunami. n i left kl on christmas day this year. life is strange like that. who knows where i’ll be next christmas?

pride n prejudice, martin tyler, chelski......n the suzuki saga

Just got back from Pride & Prejudice, and boy what a challenge it was for me to enjoy the experience. First, there were so many departures from the novel that I really lost count. And second, there was this mother in a family of four – the parents and 1 small boy n girl (the girl cant be more than 6! whover thought of bringing small kids to a movie like this???) sitting in the row in front of us who was making soo many comments during the movie I thought she’s martin tyler.

The mother was like doing a running commentary of what’s showing on screen to the girl…like as if the girl wouldn’t understand what she’s seeing (which could just be the case since she’s soo young!). So we have the mother making comments like “she is sad”, or “he’s shaking because he’s feeling very nervous”, or “she’s waiting for him to ask her for a dance”, or “she’s running in the rain”……like, duh! Thanks for giving us the blow-by-blow account ma’am.

Oh, and there’s this one scene where we have Georgiana playing a tune on the piano, and the mother (the irritating one in the audience, not the one in the movie) was like telling her daughter “she play the piano and she’s only fifteen!”. And then she reached over to her son (who was seating beside the daughter) and she said “eh, she’s only 15 and she can play the piano leh”. Like, hello, what’s the big deal abt playing the piano (alrite I cant play it for nuts, but still..)?? And doesn’t she know that it’s just a movie, that’s it’s not for real??????

Anyway, here are some departures from the novel that were so obvious even a non-Jane Austen fan like me could have spotted:

1. during the first ball, the dance didn’t just stop when mr bingley and company came in
2. both of mr bingley’s sisters were around with him, not just one
3. when jane got sick n was at the bingleys’, her mum and sisters came to visit. but she didn’t go home with them. she went home only a few days after her mum’s visit
4. there was no scene of mr wickham wif the girls at the ribbon shop
5. mr wickham didn’t tell the lies abt mr darcy to elizabeth under a tree – the lies were told at dinner
6. mr darcy heard mrs bennet bragging abt jane’s impending marriage at the dinner table, not near the stairs like was depicted
7. mr collins didn’t propose to lizzy at the dinner table. they were outside the house when that happened
8. jane didn’t just up and go to london to join her aunt n uncle. they were actually there for christmas ( i think) and brought her back to london wif them
9. lizzy didn’t just visit charlotte by herself. she went there wif charlotte’s dad and sister
10. mr darcy’s fren (cant remember his name) didn’t tell lizzy of darcy’s role in separating bingsley from jane at the church. that was let out during a walk about the grounds
11. mr darcy told lizzy of his feelings for her inside charlotte’s house, not outside the grounds when it was raining
12. and he didn’t give her the letter in the house! that was given the morning after when she’s outside walking the grounds
13. at pemberley, lizzy met mr darcy outside the house. the scene where she saw mr darcy interrupting his sis at the piano and them hugging each other was just bogus! mr darcy’s supposed to just come back, and the sister georgaina was not even supposed to be there yet. in fact, georgiana only met lizzy the day after, when mr darcy brought her straight to the inn to introduce her to lizzy
14. both mr bingley n his sis were at pemberley wif the darcys
15. lizzy read the letters from jane while alone in her room at the inn. her uncle n aunt were out shopping, and had to be summoned back. so the whole scene where darcy, the aunt n uncle were with her when she read the letters were just made up!
16. lady catherine didn’t come to the bennets’ at night and woke everyone up. she came early in the morning, while the bennets were having breakfast
17. lizzy wasn’t sitting under a tree early in the morning when mr darcy came to her to profess his love. in fact, that happened when they were all out for a walk wif mr bingley and the other sisters.

I’m sure there are many more, but I cant be bothered to think too much abt it. And I must stress that I’m no jane austen fan, so my observations might be wrong. I suppose if one hasn’t read the novel then the movie would be enjoyable lah, although I’m sure one would be quite lost trying to follow the story.

Arrrrgghhhhhh Chelsea won again!! N there I was thinking that arse could beat their ass. Bleah!

swift or liana?? liana or swift?? swift def looks better but liana’s cheaper plus its bigger! but swift looks better ah. but liana’s bigger! and older. and it looks kinda dowdy. but swift’s so small. so would it be swift or liana?

hela hela rotane....

sthg unexpected happened today at lunch (yesterday rather...seeing that its now early wed morning). was happily walking ard when who shd i chance upon but my conductress from my angklung days way back when!! ahahahhhaha!..she was happily conducting a grp of nicely-clad innocent young ladies happily shaking the angklungs n hitting the kulintangs wif rhythm in their beat.

i loved it! its like looking back at me n my frens in our glory days. young n innocent. shaking the anklungs wif not a care in the world. what was in our minds then? hopes. possiblities. everything was possible back then man! watertap me began tearing before i knew it...its just so damm familiar. the songs...the conductress... the easy gait of the girls as they move to the beat..

we had sooo much fun practising for our performances. our practice hall was all the way in siberia... rite at the far end of the sprawling school grounds. we managed to keep our syf distinction the 4 years we were there...hard work cos we thot we couldnt make it both times! playing the angklung might look easy...but its hard work i tell you. other instruments can be played on their own...but wif angklungs you need many many players just so you get the full range of notes. n to get the notes played like as if its being played by a single player...to make the notes flow....that required the skilled instructions of the conductress. n boy was she good. cant believe she looked the same...THE SAME!!.....after all these years!!! how long has it been? 10-12 years????? i'm that old???? nooooooooooo

back then everything was sooo very simple. you're wif me or against me. everything's either black or white. we have our own convenient cliques...n its so easy organising a 'lets boycott dis girl or dat' campaign cos everyone wanted to feel that they belong...that they were part of a group. frenships formed seemed to last forever...nothing can break us apart. the idealism of youth!

think those days were my best school days ever. i wonder what happened to that girl. i know i'm a better person now. i definitely look better (hehhe!). I'm less petty now n more forgiving...a HUGE departure from my sch days.

but i wonder if sthg's lost along the way. what happened to all those hopes she harboured? all those possibilities? did she SETTLE? did she become ORDINARY? or is she in hybernation...waiting for the right moment to strike? one thing she's sure of....wif supercalourfragelistic spider around to give her support.. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!

shopping cheap

got myself a purple top today..yeyy! think its really nice...its made of those huggy-like material...so it clings to yr body..which is not good since you can then see all my flesh clinging to it..but what makes it good is that it kind of flares at the bottom...which means it doesnt cling to my stomach..which is good good good. hahahhaha do i make sense???

i think i'm a cheapo. alrite i KNOW i'm a cheapo. i've been wanting to own a pair of levis for the longest time..but the price tag just kinda turns me off. went to the store again today...was browsing thru the different models...n i was like so tempted to buy them...but my ever practical nature stopped me from doing that. whats the matter wif me??? ended up buying something cheapcheapcheap from bossini...just $29 n they're even altering it for free! yupyup i'm a cheapo...

do u know that they sell jane austen's books for like $4+ each at mph?? n they're not even on sale! i suppose the copyrights expired or sthg. wanted to read pride n prejudice again before i go watch the movie. not that i've not read it before...but that was ages ago n my memory's failing me (ok i'm not young anymore!)...so the book was a good buy. in fact...i'm considering buying the whole JA's collection...seeing as to how cheap they are. i wonder how much they go at borders n kino....

me elite meh?

i cant believe the hoohah surrounding that smart girl's decision to go to a 'neighbourhood' school. when i first read it, i thot its a really sound article. people shd make informed choices...hence the different options shd be made clear to all before one makes a decision. but it has been blown up to a question of whether 'elite' schools' r necessarily better than neighbourhood ones. i mean...huh?

detractors of the article have clearly missed the whole point of the article..n thats just disappointing. its sad when i think of the many opportunities lost by the many not-so-rich kids out there...how r they to get out of the vicious cycle of poverty if they dont know of the many opportunities open to them?

i think its just unfair that the 'elite' schools r thot by many to be filled wif rich, spoilt kids wif no moral fibre. i came from one myself, n believe me, there were tons of ordinary girls like me who didnt get chauffered to school...nor did we have district 10 addresses. i'd like to think that i'm not lacking in moral fibre even tho i didnt go to a neighbourhood school. i think i'm still able to empathise wif heartlanders...why shdnt i when i'm a heartlander myself?

of cos i sometimes wonder if i'd be a different person if i'd enrolled in a neighbourhood sch? perhaps i'll be the big fish in a small pond...as opposed to me being just a small fish in a big pond. wd that do wonders to my self-esteem? perhaps. wd i be a better person? i'll never know. but i know that i'll never trade my years in that 'elite' school for anything in the world.

sense n sensibility

realised that its been close to 2 months since my last entry. have been busy wif life n work...but then whats new rite. am really really longing for some quality time wif my spider..but that hasnt happened just yet. i've a feeling its not gonna materialise.

i've always prided myself for being sensible. or rather..i've always thought that sensibility is a trait thats highly desired. so i've acted sensibly most times. even when at times i'm just burning to scream at things...to express my unhappiness at the way things turned out...to vent my anger...to act negative. but my sensible side usually wins. and when it doesnt, the results r bad. i'll be chastised. or it'll be made known to me that my behavour's disappointing. so i learned my lesson. i'm always positive. i keep my negative feelings to myself. pray i dont explode.

what do people do here in singapore? we dont exactly hv much options. we wake up in the morning and go to work. after work, go straight home for dinner, watch tv, sleep. if we're lucky we have plans after work, but even then theres not much options. dinner, movies, shopping, coffee. go clubbing/pubbing for the night-crawling ones. then back home to watch tv, sleep.

weekends r different. you have 2 full days to yrself. the possibilities r endless. theres the outdoor activities u can indulge in....swimming..cycling..walks along the beach. or the more sedentary ones...waking up late..reading the papers...or just plain reading. but of cos theres a difference having someone doing these things wif you, and doing them on yr own. weekends r special, to me at least. i dont mind not having any plans after work on a weekday. i dont mind going home straight after work. but weekends r something different. i want company. i want to be able to do things. even if all i do is read, i dont wanna be reading alone. i dont want to be locked up in my room reading my books!

i'm sad yet pissed off. but the rational me's telling me to be sensible..to take it like a big girl n just accept that this is how its gonna be... for the rest of my life?

guess i'll be reading in my room again this weekend...

cloud atlas, human hunger, n the quake in pakistan

just finished reading david mitchell's cloud atlas, n its one hell of a good read. wasnt expecting it to be this good actually. got a 20% mph coupon a few months ago, n since the book i wanted to get wasn't there, decided to get this one cos of the good reviews on the back cover. but the first few pages put me off straightaway man. it was so bloody boring cos of the style of writing...all 17th-18th century kind of english writing..with cursive font to boot(!)... i gave up reading after a few pages.

so thank god i'm left wif nothing else to read these past few days...wat wif spider telling me to keep off buying books for a while...n theres no way i'm gonna be standing in the train wif nothing to do but pretend not to look at other people's faces/papers/books/laptops. so i decided to give the book another try...n was i glad i gave it a shot cos its a wonderful wonderful book.

the one i got looks kinda sissy cos of the super pink cover...but its sci-fi all the way. the premise of the book's kinda interesting...six different stories yet somehow connected thru a weird comet-like birthmark that each of the protagonist has. n the stories span all the way from the supposed start of civilisation...when western countries go around colonising the 'savages'....to the hippy sixties all the way to the oh-so-futuristic future where cloning is all the rage..to an era after the fall of civilisation. what a roller-coaster ride!

anyway...it got me thinking. many sci-fi books worth their salt have been predicting the fall of civilisation for years now...warning that if human hunger goes unabated, then one day this hunger will lead to destruction. we all know this is possible. we've read all the doomsday scenarios. yet we go head-on to satisfy our hunger. this is good...how abt making it better. no..better's not good enough. we must be the best! but hey...is that the best you can do? more of the best pls. more more more!

interesting to watch the news today. we have coverage from pakistan wif all the pictures of the desolateness (is there such a word?) n misery of people crying for help. n we get coverage of china launching its second shuttle into space....n how this is not a move to give their shot in the global arms race a boost but a move for the betterment of mankind. its just amazing man

funny how i reacted when i first heard abt the quake in pakistan. "oh..theres an earthquake". n thats it. thousands of people were dead and tens of thousands of them living in misery rite now wif no shelter n no food n knowing that watever little that was there ahead in yr life was wiped out in a second. so much helplessness...so much misery. n that was my reaction?? why was i not as affected as i was affected wif the tsunami?

i realised that i'm becoming more n more self-centred as the days go by. well missy...heres a reality shot.....the world does not revolve around you!! can i be better? i sure hope so. i suppose realisation of one's shortcomings is a step in the right direction. so heres to empathy for my fellow human beings!

thorns

the thorny side of life......

life de-thorned.....

a life without thorns

speaking for success - how to not look like an idiot while presenting

i hate having to do presentations. especially if i'm not familiar with the subject. n i know that while i'm not the world's worst presenter....i'm not exactly good either. which was why i signed up for a presentation skills workshop last week.

its a great workshop. you got to see yrself on tape a total of 3 times...n there was free-flow of criticism thrown your way. but hey...if you wanna learn...brutal honesty will get you there..

a few take-homes from the workshop.....

dont put your hands at the back of yr butt while speaking. shows a defensive posture. plus it just accentuates yr already pearlike figure

tie/bun up yr hair to avoid the flying hand phenomenon - that strange event where the hand flies up to touch/stroke/caress unsuspecting hair

put on a jacket when making presentations if you wanna look good - somehow yr posture just gets better..u stand up a lil bit straighter..yr stomach's tucked in...didnt really believe it at first but its true

standing is just so much better than sitting. i know this since ages ago...but never actually put it to practice. but since i had to do things the right way at the workshop..i realised that standing does help. it literally keeps you on yr toes...you dont have the luxury of looking at the laptop screen...but you get to look more at the audience. which is a good thing.

eye contact. very important if you wanna be effective. plus it helps in making you less nervous. the more eye contact you have with the audience, the more you'll feel like you're having a conversation WITH them instead of presenting TO them

dont include rhetorical questions in your presentation. for eg: "How will this help you? Well it'll definitely help in the following ways....." Apparently this is bad, tho for the life of me i dont see why. i'm guilty of doing that in my presentations...but hey if its bad then i'll stop doing it

be very focused in your presentation. what is it that you want to achieve? be very focused with that. if you were just told that you have a presentation to make, dont immediately start with yr powerpoint slides. always spend a little time thinking of your 'objective statement', which goes like this..."at the end of my presentation, my audience will __________ because i would have told/shown them ______, ______, ______"

presenting IS NOT public speaking. when you're doing a presentation, you're a professional doing a job. its not a performance!

smile, smile, n smile again. dont need to look so serious, even if its a serious subject. helps in building rapport with the audience. of course, be careful not to end up looking like a fool

bleeding ties

i cant stand it when i see guys at coffeeshops/hawker centres wearing ties. its fine if its lunchtime, but late at nite?? why cant they take the bloody ties off???? i mean..they actually went to the trouble of loosening the tie..or even flinging the end of the tie over the shoulder...so why cant they just take the tie off?? whats so difficult abt it??

do they think they look cool sweating like pigs (just a phrase i've been hearing...but do pigs sweat?? never seen one...) with the tie choking them up?? what do they hope to achieve with the tie around their neck? is the tie supposed to show that they have "arrived", that they hold successful jobs?? oh pleasseee

ties are not even a big deal nowadays. its not part of the standard working attire, unless you're a businessman/salesman trying to make an impression and sell something. guys i know wear it only on formal events...or when they turn up for interviews.

so when i see a guy wearing a tie taking a seat at the coffeeshop late at nite...i'd think "poor guy...must have only just got off from work".

but when i see that he's steadfastly wearing his tie even while tucking into a roti prata, i'd be thinking "just take the bloody tie off"!!

aRtY fArTy

so somebody said the arts scene in singapore is 'fragile'. big deal.
what i'm wondering is...if its so fragile..how come price of tickets are still so ex???
i've yet to sit at the foyer or foyer stalls of the esplanade theater. always had to look longingly at the foyer entrance before grudgingly going up the escalator to the uppermost level.
yess...can only afford circle 3 seats wat....wat to do...

then again...no wonder the arts scene is 'fragile'....who can afford paying big money just to see some arty show?? def not the aunties n uncles out there whos prolly more interested catching ch8 dramas on tv anyway. n not students who dont even know the meaning of words like 'irony' and 'pun'...

but then ah...whats art anyway? cant be just dramas or plays at theaters only rite? 'i not stupid' oso art rite? n isnt music considered art too? last i heard...the local music scene is thriving..just look at the crowds outside esplanade everytime there r gigs...performed by our very own local bands. great music..great sound...n the best thing is..great price (free!).. i like!!

so i say...no need to be worried abt the arts scene lah. stop being arty farty. just rilek la brother

Happy Teachers' Day!

teaching is no mean feat. i mean it. i see a lot of my frens who are teachers, and they're always complaining abt sthg or other...

the principal sucks
can u believe how stupid these kids are??
i've got tons of marking to do i sleep at 3+ every day
no point doing so much for the kids lah....it'll all be wasted on
them
5-day week system is stupid. i'd rather be spending my time in sch marking
on a saturday than lug the books home to mark.
there's just too many things to do!!

n the list goes on. yes i complain abt my work too...n i'm no teacher. but thing is..i only complain to my spider. i dont diss my job in front of strangers. at the end of the day, i like what i'm doing. i might have lost the passion for it somewhat, but i'm still proud of it....cos i believe i make a difference somehow.

dont teachers know that they have the opportunity to make a difference? ohhh pls dont believe those ads on tv..they say. teaching's not all that noble and rewarding as it's hyped out to be...they say. true...the ads tend to gloss things over. but it's spot on in saying that teachers can make a difference.

that is...if they put their mind to it.

can we honestly say that those who are teachers are passionate about what they do? do they go in thinking that they wanna make a difference? or is teaching just something to do, recession-proof and rather easy to get into?

i'm convinced there are many teachers out there who're truly passionate about what they are doing. i've had the fortunate luck to have many teachers who..thru their passion n dedication..has made me who i am today (not much, but still ok :P).

to them...happy teachers' day!!!

n there r teachers (ok.. maybe just 1) who, thru their positive attitude to life and stuffs, has made a great positive impact to my life.

to them...happy teachers' day...n kropkrop!!

but i know of a few who are just in it for the money (which is not enuff if you ask them) ....who just go thru the motion cos its sthg to do.

n thats just sad.

Passion

interesting to see people who are passionate about their job. take my IT trainer for instance. def passionate. he could go on and on and on talking about things that..seriously...i'm not that interested in. and why does he insist on thinking that we have zero knowledge to begin with? i thot a better way to deal with a class size with undetermined skills set wd be to ask each one of them to share what skills they have? then again i'm not the one doing the training...so...ah well..

n he just shared that his working hours is 24/7!!! can u imagine...day in day out spouting the same/similar IT nonsense to people..some of whom might not even be interested in what you're saying? amazing man! n i dont think it's cos he's just going thru the grind..i mean..he could always do the bare minimum during classes...but nooo..he's got all these little nuggets of info which he shared with us. i'm pretty convinced that he likes what he's doing. he could be boring...but he sure is passionate.

goes to show how powerful this thing called passion is when it comes to work. ideally, you'd wanna be passionate of your job..since you're prolly gonna be spending more than half the waking hours of your life to it anyway.

but its really not that simple to achieve. how many times have i complained abt my job??? my poor spider has been listening to my complaints almost every day. and yet here i am still toiling away doing the same job i've been doing the last 4 years. and to think i've had 2 REAL jobs and 3 temp jobs in the space of 2 years!

what..have i gone soft already??? or is it just that i've finally "grown up" and realised that i've got to act all mature n responsible n stuff? or perhaps i lack the guts to try sthg new?

by the way....my website is up already. yeyy?? kuakuakua

yeyy!

how difficult is it to find a retro outfit nice enuff to wear for dinner? VERY difficult apparently. been going around scouring for something retro...but i'm still stuck with NOTHING to wear. arrrrgghhh!

on the plus side..i've managed to squeeze in time to finally do this. yes yes i'm an outlier...a laggard when it comes to this..but hey better late than never. so...yeyyy for me!