Saturday, May 26, 2007

Ah Ma's Birthday

My ah ma, my maternal grandmama, looked after me till I completed my primary education. Even though I lived separately from her ever since, the bond between us has been established.



Anyway, it is my ah ma's birthday today. Each year, I celebrate a number of occasions with my maternal family, of whom I am closely acquainted with. The occasions range from the typical noisy Chinese New Year celebrations to lovely Christmas buffets as well as numerous birthday celebrations of particular important relatives.

Today's dinner was held at Furama Palace.


And today marks the first time I have seen my spanking new little cousin, Phoebe. Yes, they have decided to name her Phoebe!


Everyone is clamoring to have an opportunity to carry little Phoebe.






Everyone, except me, as usual. Phoebe looks so puny I am almost afraid I might break her if I hold her in my arms. And the moment Phoebe appeared, one auntie began to chatter about her resemblance to so-and-so.

Honestly, all babies look the same to me until they are like 6 months old? I stared really hard at her features but really, I can't decipher the resemblance. And I don't particularly enjoy cooing over something that is asleep and quite inanimate. Let's wait till she is 6 months and yabbering before I show her my jiejie powers.

Anyway, back to the dinner. It was pretty awesome. Food was tasty, company was good. It is always enjoyable catching up with cousins, reminscing the nitty gritties of childhood mischief.

My two favorite cousins that grew up with me.


Unison bad chorusing of the birthday song




Ah ma flanked by all her handsome grandsons. Teehee.


Ah ma flanked by all her beautiful granddaughters. Ahem!


Uncle Jason posed as he took a puff outside the restaurant.




Xiaoyiand me


Xiaoyiand Rachel


For more pictures, click here.

Plop! goes the....

I decided to take Mister Toto on a long walk before I leave for Cambodia tomorrow. At the same time, Sandy can check the Nature Park out as well. It was a hot afternoon.

As Sandy and I were admiring the quarry view, Toto slipped under the wooden barriers and tottered at the edge of the waters. Then, he considered the huge pond for a moment.

Splash!

Sandy gave a gasp of surprise. I was wide-mouth with disbelief as the bugger emerged, paddling around with a deliriously satisfied and stupidly happy look on his face.

Now, Toto is quite a cowardly dog. He doesn't go into waters unless other dogs enter first or if I am in the water. In fact, I had to literally dragged him into the pool once. I guess the treks he has been made him realize what a refreshing joy water can be on hot humid conditions like this.

Anyway, there was a No Swimming sign nearby. Thus, his little prank was rather short-lived.

Friday, May 25, 2007

The Curse of Sequels

Pirates of the Carribean 3 was a myriad of subplots and I sat through the choppy waters of fights, not knowing what exactly I am watching. There are some scenes that generate a huge-ass question mark over my head, making me go 'Uh..', some scenes of wars that never seem to end, and some scenes that try to emulate the hero-talk that reminded of Lord of the Rings (but failed dismally because I do not know what they are really fighting for). If not for Johnny Depp, I think I would have given it a complete miss. But Johnny is losing his novelty, his presence might not warrant a look at the next sequel, if there is going to be any.

I am so befuddled.

Latest haul from the library to quench my boredom in Cambodia, away from my beloved laptop:

Cell and The Shining by Stephen King

Littlest Hitler by Ryan Boudinot

Footprints in Cambodia

I hope these books make better entertainment than Disney.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Cheena-ism Overload

I have been helping Sam to fulfill her client's requirement of oriental looking banners and seriously, it was an overdosage of Chinese elements.













First they wanted dragons. Then they wanted anything but dragons. Tsk. When you do not know what you want, the more choices you have, the greater headache you get.

On other news, I have been extremely, extremely indulgent with myself. The latest indulgence - My running shoes had a teeny tear and I just had to succumb to the temptation of buying another pair while at Queensway just now. Ugh! Bad girl, me! :(

Monday, May 21, 2007

28 Weeks Later Spoiler Rant



Unlike many of the female friends I know, I actually have a penchant for the horror genre. I don't like gory, but horror movies kinda give me an adrenaline rush, sort of like the gan jiong feeling, you know?

Now, horror comprised of two kinds. One is the ghostly, spirits-going-WooOooo kind and the other is science fiction horror. One difference is that the former plays on the fear of the unknown, since there isn't really any scientic evidence regarding the existence of spirits, ghosts and whatsnot.

Science fiction is more credible. It is still, well, fiction. But it builds up and follows a logical storyline.

And there goes the other difference about the two sub-horror genre - Science Fiction horror doesn't occur unless there are stupid people in the plot.

Why would someone kiss, or even touch a person who is potentially infected with the virus that has rendered the whole of Mainland Britain demolished??? Someone who looks half like this???



Why???

Didn't he just witness how fast the virus can spread? Why would an Army Personnel kill another fellow Army Personnel who is just doing his job of abolishing the virus just to save potential infectants? Why would an Army Personnel, already salient to the potential destructive and quick spread of the virus through bodily fluids still ferry the survivors, one of whom is splattered with blood?

Without these stupid people who has no sense of rationality, there will be no Science Fiction Horror.

However, for the spirits-going-WoooOoo kinda horror genre, the people are not quite stupid. They are just trying to rationalize and get to the bottom of things when there are scary ghostly scenes in the movie. For instance, there is a sound in the haunted room and the victim goes into the room to investigate. He is not being stupid. He is being perfectly and rationally curious.

Anyway, I did enjoy 28 Weeks Later. I had to refrain myself from sinking my nails into Sandy several times. Oh, and she had to endure my rants of - 'Wah lao, here comes another stupid person!'

Because of stupidity, we probably get a sequel to this. 28 months later, or something.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Woohoo!

Federer broke Nadal's clay-court winning streak! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

I love watching the two heavyweights play. Never mind Nadal's silly yelling. Federer's da man!

'Tis the Season to be Feasting

Woohoo! Chelsea won the FA Cup!

Not that I am a fan of Chelsea, by the way. I just really abhor Cristiano Ronaldo's swanky demeanour. In fact, I was so distracted by someone commenting 'Aw, look! Ronaldo crying..' - Where?! Where?! I wanna see! - that I forgot to pong my hong zhong. See lah, stupid Ronaldo. Make me lose 25 buckeroos.

Seemingly, my family has arranged for some sort of feasting to be held every weekend for now. Last weekend was Mother's Day dim sum luncheon whereby I overdosed on roasted duck and jellyfish. Next weekend will be my Grandmama's birthday dinner. For this weekend, we adjourned to a Teo Chew Restaurant along the quaint shophouses near Clark Quay to celebrate my Gugu's birthday.

The Birthday Girl and her loving hubby


Well, it is the usual 10-course Chinese dinner fare. I was slightly aghast when the suckling pig came with its dissected face. I don't usually like to consume food when I can see the head. It makes me quite guilty.


See that swirly tail behind it? My uncle ate it. Gross.

Happy Lee Family


The Lais and a Wong


My favorite paternal cousin


Friday night started when I drove WX down to Loof to check out the Berkeley Alumni gathering. That was cool because the Berkeley Alumni has 30 percent off drinks. I figured I should get my alcohol fix there, rather than Bar Stop later since I don't think the police will stage their operation that early or within town itself. Heh.

Anyway, Bar Stop was next! We had plush seats and plenty of alcohol. Thank god I was driving. It was my passport in denying any consumption of the bottle of Black Label Johnnie Walker whisky. Amongst the glasses of white, bottles of beer, bottle of sparkling red, jugs of coke and a complete bottle of whisky, everyone went home feeling ill (except me, of course). I was the designated chaffeur of the birthday girl, half-fearing she might puke in the car, though. Ha.

Another Birthday lass


Babes, babes and more babes


Hua-ge, Shuling, Me and Eugene


Group shot


Since Jane is absent, I am the only one who puts on the rubber cheek face. The waiter who took the picture came to me sheepishly and went 'I don't think I got a very good shot of you..'

Cheerios to more feasting and an expanding waistline!

Friday, May 18, 2007

Geek Mode

I was flipping through my recent Time Magazine when I stumbled on a recommended read written by Lisa Randall, a top Havard physicist who proposed the existence of unseen dimensions. And now, I have just gotten my hands on the one and only copy of the book available in the Science Library of NUS. Woohoo!



I am kinda excited to jump right into reading it. Or should I leave it for reading on the plane to Cambodia? I bet I haven't the patience. Ugh.

Opps. I realized I sound like the biggest no-life geek in the world.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

The Name Game

My Soo-yi-yi has popped the latest addition to my maternal family a month ago. Before that, her brood comprised of two adorable *cough*pesky*cough* girls, namely Rachel..


..and of course, Esther.


Initially, when the baby was born, they called her Abigail.

Everybody either cringed or had a look of a petrified deer when they heard the name. So, the parents decided to scrap the name idea. So, Baby has gone without a name for about a month now. I wonder how they tried communicate with her.

"OY, Drink your milk leh!"

"Oy, wake up, wake up. Time to change your diapers."

Yep, so I received an sms from my auntie a while ago, asking what I think of the names "Nicole" or "Phoebe".

Frankly, if she were to change Esther's name to Monica, I would pick Phoebe. Then she would have Monica, Rachel and Phoebe! That is the entire female cast of F.R.I.E.N.D.s, my all-time favorite sitcom that is now unfortunately extinct.


Aha, then perhaps I would keep a lookout for little Chandlers and Rosses.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

And so the band plays...

Eye In The Sky

Dont think sorrys easily said
Dont try turning tables instead
Youve taken lots of chances before
But Im not gonna give anymore
Dont ask me
Thats how it goes
Cause part of me knows what youre thinkin

Dont say words youre gonna regret
Dont let the fire rush to your head
Ive heard the accusation before
And I aint gonna take any more
Believe me
The sun in your eyes
Made some of the lies worth believing

Chorus:
I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I dont need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind

Dont leave false illusions behind
Dont cry cause I aint chnaging my mind
So find another fool like before
Cause I aint gonna live anymore believing
Some of the lies while all of the signs are deceiving

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

I Don't Understand the Men in my Family

The pair of greedy siblings were raiding the kitchen for supper and snacks on the Sunday night. My brother was preparing a sandwich to watch his soccer game, I was sniffing for snacks to pacify my palates.

I started to lament when I opened my snack cupboard.

Me: There is nothing to eat except durian puffs and seaweed!
Bro: Hmmm.
Me: Maybe I should eat seaweed, but I have ate so much already!
Bro: Eat seaweed lar. Healthier.
Me: It is not healthy lor. I ate alot you know.
Bro: What can happen? At most, you turn purple.

I did a double-take from shuffling amongst the snacks.

Me: Why turn purple? Choke ah?
Bro: No lar. Seaweed contain alot of iodine, right?
Me: Yah, too much iodine might cause a thyroid condition, I think.
Bro: Last time in chemistry, we learn iodine is a test for starch.
Me: Uh huh.
Bro: When we taste for starch, we use iodine. It turns purple with starch!
Me: Er.. so?
Bro: You eat carbs. Carbs turn starch. Seaweed contains Iodine...
Me: ...
Bro: So you turn purple!!!!!!!!

He looked so triumphant in his final statement, as if he has just put together the universe most difficult equation.

I could only pull a face of disbelief and slouched out of the kitchen before he could spout more nonsense to bamboozle my mind.

Dad is weird too. He has recently put in a deposit for the second car because our new place is seemingly more inaccessible than our previous one. Some time ago, I accidentally rammed our car into the railings, causing a dent in the bumper. I offered to bring the car for repairs but my Dad was constantly waving me off. Just a while ago, my mother told me that he is scrapping that car for another new car as well!

Just because of the stupid dent? You've gotta be kidding me. That car is barely a year old.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

We ♥ Mum

I don't think there is any one mum in the world who wouldn't want only the best for their child.

This year, it is the usual Mother's Day celebration dim sum lunch at Harborfront. The difference is that this year, my brother decided to grace the all-female-only occasion with his rare appearance. Of course, I am glad to have someone to split the bill with. Tee hee.

I ♥ Mummy!


My grandma and I decided to go green.


My dear brother who suffered the same fate as me of abolishing leftovers all the mothers refused to eat.


As the mothers gossiped among themselves, my brother and I were comparing our skin colors. After debating, we decided to take a picture to decide who has a darker skin tone.


FOOD!


I think my brother and I wiped off the entire plate of BBQ Crispy Duck because the aunties were afraid of high cholestral. Oh, I think I wiped off the entire plate of jellyfish as well.



My grandmama is diabetic and supposed to refrain from consuming sugary good. Secretly, she whispered she wished to have some mango pudding. Covertly, I ordered one for her.


After my grandmama enjoyed 3/4 of her dessert, my mother realized what I have done and reprimanded me severely. Ah, grandparents and grandchildren are always in cahoots, aren't they?

Best Mamas in the world


Smile!


Astroboy and Supergranny


Who resembles my mum more?




Happy Mother's Day, y'all.