a simple pleasure indeed

i like to eat that 2 dollar rice ball from mr bean. i've been eating that quite frequent recently for dinner, stopping by at this branch near simei mrt everytime on my way back from work.

it tastes good, healthy and cheap. only that i'm not sure if frequent intake is good. i mean, it's not something that people eat everyday, right? how i do i know it's not doing something bad to my body?

especially after someone has said that i'm a bit flabby at the abs.

oh god, i realized it myself actually but to have someone put it in my face like that? it's like i've been given a reality check.

so i went for a jog today. i really did. i couldn't even remember when was the last time i put on my running shoe, you know, to run because i hate this kind of endurance stuff. give me sports anytime but running or swimming is a torture.

it's not my fault i'm a bit under exercise recently, my regular badminton partner is missing in action, and don't even get me started on tennis. the bowling season is over too so what's left is me + my hand.

oh but not before clinching the top prize in company bowling carnival held at marine bowl east coast last aug-18. my team came out first. on top of that, me and my doubles partner swept clean the high series and high game trophies too.

how great was that? for once i felt like i'm invincible, well, at least till that same night when i played with my friend in yishun safra and lost to him with only 136 pinfalls. but then, i was probably tired or something.


the weekend that we finally waited for was finally over. the wedding in jb was, well, fun. it wasn't all oh-my-god fun but it was ok. i guess the hype leading to the day was too big, so frankly i was hoping for a little bit more.

i mean, i didn't get to meet all those people that i hoped to meet. those long-lost friends. even those that were there, somehow were not around to chat much of the time so when i think about it, the only difference about the wedding with the usual dine-out was the fact that we were all wearing green.

still, i was glad to be there. i did.



snow white and 7 oversized-dwafrs

d'throne for the 1-day king

you'd think a group of friends having gathered on saturday night would resort to doing something, well, fun considering we only get to meet like this once in a blue moon but somehow we found out we were on the way back to singapore at 7pm. that pretty much summed it all up, doesn't it?

ok maybe it was my decision too, but it was raining, and some of us had to do errands at the end of the day, so it's not like we could do anything anyway. to save the night, we detoured to the night safari instead.


that wasn't my first time in the night safari. ok i've seen most of the animals, and let's face it it's not like you'd see polar bears there, but it was the company that i enjoyed most.

plus, i didn't get to see the animal show last time round, nor did i touch any slimy-looking-but-suprisingly-dry phyton so that was still a worthwhile trip.

fun in the safari tram

we paid $5 each to take photos with these cheetah and phyton, only to be forced by the safari-lady later to touch the snake. i was like oh-thanks-but-no-thanks but the whole earth was staring at me from down the stage, so i touched it anyway, for a good 5 seconds.

it was like touching a cold, moving wallet. seriously.

bet the cheetah all bored

not enough befriending mother nature, we went to jurong bird park the next day. but not before my first visit to hajah maimunah restaurant in joo chiat. i've been wanting to give this place a try like forever, and since my bangkok friends wanted to eat malay food, the time couldn't be more perfect.

i was glad i did. visiting the restaurant i mean. you know it serves one of the better malay food out there. if you're all for malay food, give it a visit. it was cheap too, $19 for 3 people. don't be turn off by the queue, it's moving pretty fast, and there's ample dining tables in the 2 storey unit.

it was my first time in jurong bird park. it took a good 20 minutes drive from simei, which just shows how small singapore is, or maybe just how efficient the highways are.

a rockstar ready to ruffle some feathers

i don't think the park is a kind of place that you must go before you die or something, it looked kinda old and worn out but i quite like the lory loft. it's this jungle section covered with high rise nets where you could walk from stage point to stage point by crossing wooden hanging bridges. apparently it's the world's largest walk-in lory flight aviary, where there are easily 1,000 free flying lories that flock all over you for a drip of that special nextar water.

check out the photos i took with my canon G7.

gosh it was fun playing with the birds. i felt very much like a sugar-sweet-honey getting swarmed by bees. never had i felt so eagerly desired-for in my life.

ok that was obviously a lie.

the thing is, i had fun. what's not so much fun?

the fact that i have to continue with my physical endurance activities.

bummer.



..ed

matrimony of mass destruction

it's almost midnight and i just got back from bedok south. man i felt adventourous tonight. i was already bumped out after my friend cancelled our usual dinner outings because someone's grandmother had to die and he resorted to attend the funeral instead.

the good news is, my headache healed so i could be all set for a friday night's rendezvous. i don't know, i get headache everytime i'm hit by the singapore rain. i'm not kidding. i guess that's why we never see kids playing in the rain here. the rain is simply hazardous.

that, or maybe just because they've managed to simulate rain-playing inside xbox 360 or something.

too bad i didn't have my panadol extra with me today because, well, we don't carry panadol to weddings, do we?

what happened was, a bunch of us skipped work, or let's just say we went for an early lunch at 9.30am. a colleague of us got married today at hougang virgin mary church. being some warm hearted, thoughtful friends like we are, we opted to watch the ceremony. after all, it sounded more fun than work.

turned out, it was good that we decided to gate-crash the wedding because apparently, it was otherwise only attended by his mother, an aunty and his 2 housemates. that's all, only 4 people. there were lots and lots of empty benches, i felt a bit like robert langdon searching for the holy grail in an abandoned church.

i mean, i know that the couple is from the phillipines so there was not much relatives and friends around but still, weddings must be all buzzy and festive, right? so we went 'surprise!!' when our dear friend entered the church, gave him a little shock of his life before filling in 2 more rows of seats.

it was raining very heavily at that time, which was ironic on a wedding day just like alanis morrisette's song. it was even up by a notch for us today because when we were stranded at the taxi stand heading for the church, not able to move because of the downpour, the taxi never came.

i call it the taxi bitch situation. you know, when you try to drive and been blocked by a streetfull of taxis, but when you really need one it's as if they are all swallowed by the earth.

when we finally got one after 20 minutes of cursings and swearings, the main church door where the driver dropped us at, was closed. the only opening to the ceremony was at the keyhole.

talk about not being invited.

so we had to detour, running under the heavy rain around the building to find the alternate entrance. by the time we settled down, i was already drenched, my hair went flat and my headache started pounding. i felt like i was at the end of a quest, all beaten up good.

friday morning matrimony


at last, our dear friend is safely married and living happily ever after. well, at least he won't have any shock coming anymore since they already have a 2 year-old daughter. they have been living together for years, and i think they just got married so the wife could get the visiting visa easier.

the things is, last weekend i went back to kl to visit my parents. also because my little brother was going to return to the states after spending summer holiday in malaysia, so i wanted to meet him before he flew off. my other brother was at home too, so i got to play with his son, my nephew.

and i must mention, taking care of a one year old child is not easy. everytime i let him on all four, he would crawl towards to door, or the stairs, trying to grab all those electrical cords along the way. not able to just escorting him anywhere, i carried him up, but couldn't do for long for long because my arms would sore and my back all painful. imagine carrying a 10kg dumbell consistently around.

i so have a new found respect for parents.

only after i got back to singapore by bus, i read about the express bus accident in malaysia that killed 21 people. scary huh. come to think about it, the bus was speeding too throughout the night on the highway when i took the bus after work last friday heading for kl. once in awhile i was woken up by the shudder, like when the bus tried to overtake a big lorry on lane 2, which was overtaking a small car on lane 3.

those people that perished in that accident when the bus fell over the cliff and hit a big rock before overturned in a big drain, never woke up from their past midnight sleep.

after this kind of mishap happened, those relevent authoritied would stir a bit and make noise. it's all very predictable. how could a driver with 15 summonses and 2 warrants be allowed to drive the bus, which by the way failed the brake inspections 3 times? where the hell was the traffic police?

not only on highways, in fact, it's hard to find even a neighbourhood police in malaysia. or at least in kl where my parents are staying. i mean, our house is only a block away from the police quarters, but still, one time you forgot to close the main house gate at dusk and voila! your bicycle is gone.

i guess it's hard to keep a watch on the safety of the commoners when the policemen are busy escorting vips around all the time. have you seen how much security the ministers or royals have in malaysia? you'd think they are hamas or something. others would be to make arrest everytime there are talks by the opposition parties.

so there you go, a nation without much law and order. when i walked pass through the immigration officer at jb checkpoint to leave malaysia last weekend, the officer just brushed me aside without even seeing my passport. the 3 automatic gates were non-functional and the 2 officers in charge were merely chatting with each other.

it would make another 911 incidents for them to buck up and really do their job i suppose. for all i know, someone's grandmother would die because of that, then my friend would have to cancel on me again and i would be forced for another rendezvous.

why am i complaining?



...ed

drifting apart like a plate tectonic

i always dread opening my letter box. unlike in the past when i could get fanmail, ok normal written snail mail from friends saying hi, now what i get is either bills, payment reminders and in case of today, notice of house loan interest increment.

man, apparently the interest rate will be increased to 5.25% per annum instead of current 3.5%. let's see, that works out to be about $260 extra i must fork out per month.

damn.

i was kinda bumped out for a moment, staring the letter in disbelief feeling as if i got robbed in broad daylight but in a totally legal way.

but then in the end, after i came back to my senses and the ringing of 'what? noooooooooo....' already left my head, i realized this is the kind of thing that you can never do anything about.

nothing. you know, like the weather. you can bitch about it all you want but when it's going to rain, it will rain anyway.

maybe i should pick up squash or something and try to win the prize money. i can always do with an extra income considering all the surmounting expanses around me. i've already ruled out stocks and shares cause i'm a brain dummy for stuff like that.

i went to kallang squash center last week to catch the 2007 singapore women masters event matches. ok my intention was to actually watch nicol david play. she's a malaysian and she's the current world no-1 player.


see, anything in possible in this sport. i'm sure she doesn't give a damn on any bank's increase of interest rate.

it was the first time that i watched the sport, i mean really watched the sport. and i must give them due respect. unlike tennis when you can pick your butt while awaiting the return ball, in squash the ball comes back so fast you need to be mentally and physically alert all the time.


plus, the rallies are long. if roger federer can serve and kill on the next stroke in wimbledon, in squash you can go to toilet and return and the rally still goes on. seriously.

it was a joy to watch. except i found it harder and harder to get seats as the tournament went deep into the draw. mainly because it was a free seating so people tend to bring their whole clan to the hall.

2nd round : nicol david(mas) vs rebecca chiu(hk)

i was all comfortable on the 5th row during the 2nd round match. in quarter final i was already at the last row. during the final, i had to stand on the concrete wall of the balcony with my hands holding tight the metal holder of the roof for my dear life because god knows it was 2 levels down on my other side.


i was that determined alright, and luckily it was worth it. nicol gave us a lot to cheer for. she thrashed her opponent, the world no-2 australian natalie grinham in straight sets, which was a delight especially because i didn't think my arm would hold for another 2 more sets.


still, i woke up in horror the next day because my arms muscles were all painful. the company open bowling masters for previous league players was that morning at 9 and i really wanted to cause a ripple at the very least.


either it was not that bad in the first place, or due to the magical properties of squibb's counterpain balm that i rubbed all morning before the competition, my arms were fortunately holding on fine.


in fact, i came out stronger than a powered up pac-man. i started off strong at 188 pinfalls, and maintained 170-ish pinfalls throughout and got 209 pinfalls at 6th game. by when i was the suprise leader of the pack.


i mean, i was never one expected to win this, especially after coming off just 3rd in deparmental game last tuesday, you know, considering the level of play there. after all, what can you expect from a competition that awards you $10 cold storage voucher?


but nerve got better of me. some bugger let slipped that i had a good chance if i were to maintain my level of play for the next 2 rounds, which automatically made me think of the congratulation notes and respect i was going to get. i was totally counting the eggs. plus, they stopped the game for awhile to recalculate the current standings and changed my lanes so it kind of broke my momentum too.


so before i knew it i was drifting apart like a plate tectonic.


i finished off 2nd, which is still good too. i mean, if you tell me i'm gonna be a serious contender for the title, or even to get top 5 yesterday, i'd say blahh.








so i have to be grateful. it's easy to feel down instead considering the chance i've let go but i'm not gonna ask for more.


except, you know, wishing if only they had given us a million dollar prize money instead, so i can be all like, 'house loan interest up? who cares...'



..ed