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...