PC Vs PC And Food And More Food...

It has been a feel-good Sunday today.

It is my second time at another PC, the Potential Church, today. It was good :) Unlike my earlier adventure, this church exudes warmth and friendliness. It was the first time I hear the senior pastor preached. And even though his sermon was about us mature Christians caring for young people, I can tell that his sermon was preached from the heart of a shepherd. Who does not want to let the young ones fall like Euctycus, who fell asleep and fall to his death while listening to Paul's preaching (Acts 20:7-13). The worship was refreshing and ministered to my weary and disillusioned soul. I even prayed with strangers for the church's search for a youth pastor and for the church's youth. Something I wasn't expecting myself to do, but did. It wasn't that bad afterall :)

I got to speak to one my former aerobics classmate, who worships at the same church, and also the children pastor of the church, whom I used to worked briefly while in the other PC. I guess the latter could tell that ministry fatigue was one of the reason why I did not attend the other PC, 'cos she said she would love to see me join her in the children's ministry, but advise that I rest in the meantime.

Now how's that for spiritual discernment?

I am beginning to think that I will settle well in this church. :) I look forward to a new beginning :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Then I went downtown to meet P, CL, and Ju for lunch. CL has been MIA from our activities for quite sometime as he works OT frequently. We went to the 店小二 at Marina Square for lunch. Mmmm....

The look of the restaurant from the outside and view from inside,
and the restaurant's ancient-秘籍-looking menu...

We ordered a Deluxe (I think) set, its between the cheapest and the most expensive set... Includes sliced fish, fish soup, duck, veggies, fried rice in XO sauce, abalone, mongolian pork ribs and (full-flavoured) snow fungus dessert. All quite nice... Four persons pay about $28 each... Portions were just nice for 4 persons, not too little, not too much.

But one bad thing about the place is that they are one of those restaurants who can only bring you in if all the people having dinner are present. Hmm... I think I read a similar service complaint somewhere in the papers before... Anyway, we did manage to get it cos we arrived sometime before the took their last order, so thats alright...

We went to karaoke after that, and with my free 4 hours and additional 15% off, we only need to pay $57 for the time we spent there.. About $14 each... Neat...

By then, it was dinner time. So we took Ju's van down to Old Airport Road Hawker centre to eat.

We had fried wantan and wu-xiang and bbq chicken wing and herbal chicken and wanton noodles and sugarcane drinks and angmoh-lulian drink... All in all, spent about $33 dollars.

No prize guessing which is the most popular brand of beer at this hawker centre... :)

I was telling P while having lunch... Maybe we are beginning to live the life of retirees. The only R&R we do is to sing and do karaoke. Hence, the pictures that you have been seeing for the past one week. Only difference is, we don't have the bank account of a qualified good-life retirees!!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

P told me that one of her friends told her one day that she is going out with another guy. At the moment, my mind automatically sprung an exclaimation mark "Yet another has gone into a relationship!" But of course I didn't say anything lah. What can I say anyway...

So yadda yadda yadda... We deduced that it is probably because the guy was of a VERY suitable marriageable age, thats why when he saw the friend, he "show hand" already. Told her that he has fully paid for the house, have a stable income and career, etc etc... Actually quite funny lah. I mean their courtship process. When he asked her if she wants to be his gf, she told him she will sms him. Then he told her he very kan cheong waiting for her sms leh. I was laughing when I heard this. But seriously, it's kinda cute isn't it? :)

So there. My Elated Sunday spent with God and a new church family (I hope), and my friends.

And I was complaining to God silently that people from PC don't even bother to look me up on Sunday afternoons, when there is suppose to be "fellowship". I guess I should loosen the hope that has been hinged on to the wrong door. I really should manage my expectations.

And it's usually the unexpected that brings me the most joy :)

The Talk With The Niece

Today, I talked to little D. about her little lying habit. Started out walking with her around the mall, going into shops that sells things that she may like to buy. Each time we go into a shop, she will point to something and tell me she would like to buy that particular item. The intention was to observe her responses when she sees something that caught her fancy. I am surprised that on one occasion, she looked around the store and told me "I want to buy something...". She did not mention to me that she wants to buy anything from the store during our entire time in the shop. Gosh, it seems to me its a compulsive shopping disorder...

We went to BK to have some munchins' and I began to broach the subject. Found out that she knows if she lies, she will get a beating from the mother. (Later, her mother told me that she has stop doing that because she realised it will not work positively on her). But she also knows that if she lies, neither she nor the other party will feel good about it. So I reiteriate the importance of telling the truth.

Then we talked about using money to buy things. It seems to me that she has somehow picked it up from the mother that she "had to" buy something when she is at a store. I guess having the spending "power" with her pocket money also means that she does not need to get permission from her mother to buy the things she fancies. Hence, she dared to go further with her purchases.

For me, it's ok that she buys that pretty eraser, or a little notebook that thinner than a 10cent coin but very pretty, or a keychain. We all do that (esp. girls) during our growing up stage. But we do not have to go to the extreme of lying just to get what we want. It's difficult to teach a child this concept, but I do hope that she understands that its better to spend money with a clear conscience than to pile up lie after lie to get what she wants in her life.

We went home happy, after testing out our cost comparison-shopping. I hope she will not need to lie again to get what she wants.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It has been quite sometime since I counsel kids after I left the PC. So even when I agree to talk to D. on this topic, I wasn't sure how to do it. But God is good. I managed to talk to her without resorting to tricking her into telling me the truth. Which I had hoped not to do.

Come to think of it, when it comes to the shopping aspect, I had probably set a bad example for her and her sister when we go to the mall to "walk-walk". I do admit, I buy as and when I feel like it.

Hmm... I probably should do a shopping list the next time I go out with her. Hopefully I will remember. And that it will help her to learn to spend her money wisely.

I...

At this present time, I think I am going to avoid anything that is romantic. No The Lakehouse for me. I think I am getting depressed seeing happy and lovey dovey couples on screen and on the street.

I get green-eyed.

I compared myself with the other group.

I start to think what is wrong with me.

I wonder if there ever going to be any man available person for a person like me.

I am not desperate to be married and become a mother of 3 kids. I just want to have someone to spend time with.

At least for this period as I unwillingly tiptoe into the 3rd decade of my existence.

And I have all this shit going inside of me all because I watch "Sex in the City". Finally. Damn.

As Carrie Bradshaw writes her columns, the show follows her and her friends in their man-quests and sex-quests. I have to admit, the show does have its humour elements and some thoughts for reflection.

But most of the time, the show kinda reminds me of where I am now.

And it's depressing. Yes, the fact that I am going through my "aunty" period now aggravates the situation.

And yes, even though I get to go and have dinner or what with people almost every night. I still feel lonely.

It's not that I am ungrateful for the company. But... You know what I mean?

It's just different.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Answers to previous. (Please note, the answers are not 100% accurate):

Rectangle: You are a person who likes to work within a certain set of rules, structures and boundaries.

Triangle: You are someone who seeks to think out of the box. A person with a psychology mind.

Circle: Someone who does things prim and proper. A perfectionist.

Zigzag: You are a creative person.

This little test was a posed to us over dinner last night. I picked a triangle and the rest each picked a different shape.

Which shape are you?

I Hope I Do Not Do This Often...

For the love of the country...

My dinner at Mirama Hotel last night...





These are 4 shapes that can tell abit of your personality. Which would you choose?
Rectangle, Triangle, Round, Zigzag.


Answers tomorrow.

Hmm... Mmmm...

I don't mean to tantalise your tastebuds... But here are the latest food pictures I have taken tonight... If any of you watched last night (aka Wednesday, 25th July) Channel 8, 8pm food show... One of the food featured was the Nasi Lemak stall at Tanjong Katong.

We were watching the show while visiting P.'s bf at the hospital. After visiting hours, we sat at the cafe to talk about the latest episode of “Something about 小红 - The Tragic Office Affairs in P. and Ja.'s office" After that, we decided to go eat something, since none of us had dinner. After some discussion, and my constant vision of the fried chicken of the nasi lemak stall to "complete the day", we decided to head down to the stall for our "dupper".

The drink took with my nasi lemak... Soya Bean... Not advisable...
Cos after that, my stomach was bloated...

I ordered: (From left to right) Chicken Wing, Fried Brinjal, Sotong Balls, Otah.
According to P., Everything is supposedly very good. I like to eat brinjal, so I ordered it.)

Top View. I nearly want to gobble it up ordering.
But I reminded myself to tell it in my blog, so...The signboard. Stall opens from 5.30pm - 2.30pm.
Closed on Thursdays. Too bad if you wanna go eat it tonight... Hehehe...

Verdict:
As P. said, the chicken wing is FANTASTIC, Sotong ball juicy, Otah yummy, brinjal Mmmm... And the chilli.. Can taste the Hei Bee Hiam in there.. Very very good!

At least today not so bad... Last night I bought 2 kg home after the Hanabi buffet. Tonight, I think it was about 1 kg or less. Tomorrow there is going to be another eating meet up.

I think I will eat salad tomorrow. :)

I Am Wearing Fatty Pants Today...

They made me do it...

Salad Handroll and California Handroll

Yasai (Vegetable) Tempura

Prawn Tempura

Squid, Yellowtail, Tuna, Salmon, Octopus (the best I have eaten! Crunchy and bite-able!)

Beansprouts. I never really like them, but I am a convert after this.

It was the doing of Hanabi Restaurant yesterday! These were 2nd round food.. I forgot to take the pictures of those I had at first round :(

It's My Life. I Get To Live It My Way.

(This was posted last night. Blogger was having problems again)

Nobody noticed that I didn't blog about GA last Monday. And I've plain forgotten
about it till now.

Nobody noticed anyway :)

So anyway, apparently, Meredith killed somebody in the previous episode. So she
refuses to get up, recalling the various "mistakes" in her life. She said her life
is hopeless, and she wants to stay in bed until the situation changes (something to
that effect). Sounds like me. Hahaha... :)

The episode today was pretty scary. A bomb in the hospital! My heart was almost in
my mouth. I mean, it could be so real. And for faithful Grey fans like us, it was
like having our good friends in that situation, for we have known the characters so
well by now...

I am being abit exaggerating over there... But seriously, I do mean it.

I had expected that there will be a part 2. I have already checked out the spoiler
at the nurses blog (see the right menu--->) Yeah, so I agar agar know what will
happen.

Next Monday is gonna be interesting night. More drama at DH and GA. Can't wait. You
would realise that there isn't much talk about the characters tonight. Because most
of the time, the doctors were pretty stressed about having to operate on Bailey's
husband, who is in the next OR as the man who had a bomb in his body. And Bailey's
baby is taking its time to come out.

Oh yeah. Izzie made a comment that does remind me of something. She said that
Cristina and Meredith are "do-ers", and that George and her are just "watchers".
Sigh, I am still abit of a watcher myself. Still waiting for my big break to be the
do-er... No, not in that manner when Izzie wanna "do" sex with Alex...

But this episode does brings the message of sudden death closer to us. I don't think
local tv can match this kind of high drama in portraying emergencies and death.
Suddenly, death can be anytime. Maybe just next door to you. Maybe somewhere around
you. Well, there are currently 2 funeral wakes at my area, one below my block, and
the other just 2 minutes away. How real can that be huh? Hahaha...

Anyway...

While the commercials came on (hellava number of commercials in this one hr show!) I
picked up the two teddy bears from my nieces playthings rack nearby. One of them
belongs to me, and the other was my 2nd sisters. Somehow, I start to pretend that
one is a he-bear and the other is a she-bear. Then I pretend that they bump into one
another, ala, Turn Left Turn Right... And they start to talk, and they go on dates,
etc etc...

Abit Kon Kam/Siao/Lunatic/Psycho of me right?

Then I look at the he-bear and started to ask him "Where are you?" And then my eyes
became wet. Only for a while. I was sad. Only for that while.

Oh well. What can I do? Nothing changes. Or will change, I reckon.

My life is boring and whatever... But what the heck. It's my life. I get to live it
my way.

I Am Doing What I Feel Like Doing

I forgot to write that the pastor from PC called me at home yesterday. I was making pasta for brunch then, and wasn't concentrating on what she was talking about.

I think I sounded very cold to her. Almost unfeeling :P She could probably sound from the tone of my voice. I did tell her that I was making spaghetti for lunch, and while talking to her, I was handling the noodles and the cheese sauce that I had heated up, so I wasn't really concentrating on what she was talking about.

By the time we got off the phone, my spaghetti has lost it's warmth. Not nice :( Anyway, one of the things she asked me was was it something that she did that has caused me to stay away (cos I have been kinda "ignoring" her email, you see...). I told her, I can't think of any at the moment. Yeah, very vague answer right? Frankly, I could say alot of things. But my mind was on the spaghetti! I did tell her that my mind's made up, and I was "determine" (yeah, stupid word I used, so poltically uncorrect) that I am not going to return to PC anymore.

I am becoming unfeeling and cold. Actually I do not know how to react to certain groups of people from PC anymore. I mean, I still do keep in touch with some of them. But for the rest of the time, I want to stay away as far as possible. I even avoid the familiar faces if I see them on the street.

There is nothing to talk about anyway. It's always the default "How are you?" and my default "Er... I am ok." Followed by uncomfortable silence. And some small chat just for the sake of chatting. I'd rather skip that, thank you.

Then, just now I got a call from one of the guys in PC, saying that one of the pastor wants to meet up with me and two other, plus him next Thursday. I said ok, just meet up and eat what. Just go lor. But if they want something out of me, then sorry lor. I don't serve anymore. I have declared myself detached from that organisation. Don't try to get me back by asking me to serve. That is a huge deterrant. I will never never return. Not in any manner anyway.

So there. La La La. :)

Just To Make Up For Not Writing For The Past Few Days (Updated)

Yes, at this time of the day, 1.46am, I want to blog about the happenings to me for the past 2 days. Yet, I do not think I have the capability to write alot. So, here' some "saline points" for you...

THURSDAY
I did wrote about my tiredness and "sian-ness" earlier that morning, but the feel went off about mid afternoon. I am still trying to figure out what did I do or eat that made it go away. Very effective.

It was a good mood to go hang out with friends or go shopping. But I can't. Gotta finish whatever freelance preview I promised the client. So I went home, rest a bit, and started to work on the site. Worked till 2am plus the next day.

Oh, I also ordered Roll Roll Red Dust (literal translation). Been searching for the movie for a long time, saw it on a China website (similar to amazon) so quickly chope it.


FRIDAY
Wanted to experience what is it like to "preview" the IKEA sale as a member, so I changed my leave from Tuesday to today. Didn't reach the place at 7.30 for the morning snack. Reached there at about 8 plus. Alot of people. Duh, things I want to buy are not on sale :( Bought things that were NOT ON SALE instead. Double duh. Anyhow, I need to use them.

Was quite irritated that 2nd sis P. was an hour late from her promised show-up time. She told me she will be there at 9-10-ish, and she reached there at 11plus am. I was terrribly hungry, quite irritated at her not able to keep up her punctuality (as usual) and not making an effort or being apolgetic for making me wait for her. I had called to complain to my colleague earlier about my situation. She said next time I should do the same to her, otherwise, I will be stepped all over by her.

My, she only told me that she was on the bus, when I sms her when is she arriving. If I don't ask her, she will not tell me. Duh. By the time she reached, I was quite pissed already.

However, strangely enough, we went through the store (2rd round for me, almost) quite peacefully. We discussed her needs, what she wants to buy, take measurements, compare stuffs. I didn't blow up at her.

In between, I asked myself, whether have I been too nice for my own good? She will definitely repeat this habit of arriving late, as she has always been. And the cycle will repeat.

What the heck, we'll see when it does repeat again.

Went home. Took a nap. Met ex-colleagues from the tuition centre I used to work with 1 1/2 years ago for dinner and karaoke. If you must know, dinner was at Magic Wok at The Capitol. We took longer than usual, then went to kok at Partyworld at Shenton Way. It was there we got to know that one of the girls who is studying in NTU now already have a boyfriend for over a year.

Yeah, you know the same comparison spirit arose. Waving it's flag...

"And HOW ABOUT YOU, Joyce? ... People got boyfriend liao leh, and you, still single-bo-lang-ai.."

I know, I know, hook-up opportunities are aplenty in universities, I am not justifying my comparison.

Still... Even that transvetite on the taiwanese cable tv also got bf. Even Xu Chun Mei this kinda person also got bf (although she "reportedly" got beaten, looks like acting to me).

Sit Bai. Joyce, you very the Sit Bai.

Saturday
Was suppose to talk to my niece about her lying incident right? Didn't get to to do it. Cos they came late, and I proceeded to help her with her homework. Then, my non-related cousin came. Ra-ra and more ra-ra... P. came with the husband after their visit at Ikea.

So no chan. Hope to have a chan in the future.

Just finished watching the repeat of "The Song Sisters" on channel 8. I thought about the show Roll Roll Red Dust. Suddenly realise I have this penchant for war-period movies. The feeling of tremendous sadness and helplessness living in the struggles, the sufferings, the complicated relationships, the political influences. Reliving the stories about faithfulness to one's love and to the country...

I am not a politician. It's the moving scenes of people and the human heart that wrenches my heart to constantly think why do we do the things we do.

(Updated)
I also want to say that I really like these three women. How they handle their power and the intricate relationships between them and their men. Strong women, who knows what they want and did what they believe is right, all the way. My kinda heroine.

Anyway, this is getting too chim. Time for me to sleep.

Good night. *click!*

Darn I Feel So Tired

For the past 2 days that is. Very mentally exhausted.

And even when I was suppose to ogle at Orlando Bloom a.k.a. Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean movie last night, I was not into the mood. In fact, I had to go home and have some shut-eye before meeting the others for dinner before the show. Just very tired.

So I will not be blogging about the show. Only thing that sits in me is that Singapore was mentioned again in the show, and that Johnny Depp's character, Captain Jack Sparrow, took on a more prominient role in the movie, more that Will Turner.

Pffftt... So tired. So restless.

Can't wait for my off day tomorrow.

Honesty and Honestly

Just off the phone with my sister about 10 mins ago. She told me D. (my niece who is in Pri 1) had lied to her yesterday. She asked the mother for $2, saying that the teacher is asking for the amount, but did not say what was the money for. When her mother came back, she found a Hello Kitty book with D.. When asked how much was the book, D. replied that she gave 40 cents to the bookshop aunty and was returned 20 cents. Now, any girl would know that no Hello Kitty item cost 20 cents. So after some asking, sis found out that the girl had lied.

It is such a delicate issue, this lie thing, with young children. So I went to search for some resources for sister, and also made some mental notes on the possibilities of why D. had lied to her. I do not expect perfection from D., we are not perfect ourselves to expect it on a child.

I think one of the things we need to watch ourselves when we are with kids is how we make promises. Sometimes, we tell them we are not getting the thing for them, yet they got it eventually. Then there are times they didn't ask for something, and we gave it to them. Or we'd promise them we will get it for them, but we do not buy the item eventually. I guess they are pretty much confused with all these inability of us to keep the consistency of our talk.

But one thing is for sure. We should provide a comfortable environment for them to be honest, rather than in a hostile environment and be afraid to tell the truth. Which, fortunately, was what my sister did, explaining to her that lying is not good thing to do, and didn't punish her.

My turn will come this Saturday, I plan to bring her out and have a fun aunty-niece time and chat about the issue. Just want to help her to understand that she does not need to lie.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Very very tired today. No inspiration to write anything. Honestly

Life's Like That (Updated)

Isn't it? Sometimes you are up, sometimes you are down.

Today (actually was yesterday, cos blog was done at 12am Tues) was an UP day for me. A senior from my translation class treated me to a Japanese dinner. Actually, I don't know the real reason why he gave me a treat. I guess perhaps to thank me for passing jobs to him through my agency and (subtly) hoping I would bring him more work...

It's not bad actually. I mean the dinner meeting, not the dinner itself (After Hanabi and Honjin, Sushi Teh is nothing! :P). He gave me tips on how can I improve my translation techniques and the various avenues I can explore after my graduation. And we discussed on the possibility of me doing intepretation in a big international event in the near future... We also talked about who is the better (= good paying and reasonable) clients when doing translation in the international arena and about classes and which is the best authority that I should get my professional certification from... I thought it was the bestest networking session I ever have for a long time. In fact we chatted over dinner for over 2 and half hours!

He is a very good senior, I would say. Sharing with me his insistence to maintain a high price for quality translation (My! He does earn alot with those translation work!!) :)~ And he has a grand total of 11 years of translation experience in Japanese and Chinese translation! My on my! And He is really very very good!

My hopes shot high. I mean, the international event could be THE exposure that I have always been looking for. I feel I really could go all out to achieve my dreams this time.

I am even more inspired to really brush up on my translation after my current set of classes finished.

This is so exciting!

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

(Updated with man gawking story)

I forgot to tell you, dear readers, of a new food interest that I have recently acquired.

Fishball noodles. Yep, those white, sturdy fish balls mixed with bar chor, placed together with choice of mee pok, mee kia, kuay teow, bee hoon or anything...

This time, the food does have a certain taste that had me lingering. But the more attractive reason for this new acquired taste is the hawker cooking the noodles is soooooooo cute!

I haven't got an opportunity to secretly take a picture of this hunk, but I will do it someday. Hehehe... Yesterday I was the only person standing in front of his stall waiting for my noodles to be cooked and packed. Occasionally I will try to glance his way. Aiyoo.. such nice eyes... such nice physique, so fair... got sideburn somemore... Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk... *slurp*

Actually I noticed this fishball stall guy for a long time liao. But I have not been craving for fishball noodle everytime I go to the food centre. But somehow, last Friday, after pointing out to my colleague (who always rely on me to get her lunch packed, that lazy bum!) the handsome lad, I made up my mind to start to eat fishball noodle more frequently.

Oh gosh. I think my hormones are swooshing out of tangent in my body.

Too Many Chances; Too Little Opportunities

The story of my life. How ironic.

Somehow this liner came up while on MSN with Y.

Nice eh?

Oh, the other time was on MSN with P.L. and I dropped another one.

I don't think I am bitter. I just feel hopeless.

When facing the potential of being happily married or moderately single that is.

How's that for a coolest quote of the month.

Some Pictures And Some(more) Superman-ness...

Mushroom Chicken Chop from Amoy Street Food Centre. The chef was formerly from The American Club. The bake potatoes are pretty good. Go try them. (Sorry, dunno Unit No. Only know they are opposite the ground floor Muslim food stalls) Photo taken last Friday.

Happened to see this aunty waiting for her husband to pick her up. Red on the left, red on the centre, red on the right, and she was wearing red... But the husband is a road hog, after picking her up, just snailed their stupid truck along the road. Irritated alot of motorists behind them. We wanna cross also cannot cross *pffftt!* Photo taken last Friday.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It's not that I am unhappy with what God has given me. I have a droopy single eyelid and a very very deepset double eyelid.

Can't see the double eyelid right?

Voila! Managed to force it out! While practising the lazer eyes of Superman.

Yes, I watch Superman again! :D

But not Brandon-the-drop-dead-gorgeous-Routh version. It's the Christopher Reeve version 1 and 2. My bro loan it from Video Ezy, and it would be a pity to just watch it once. So I watched both movies at one go tonight.

I must confess I do not know the real story of Superman. Not as well as I know Batman or Spidey. So it was appropriate moment for me to catch up on the story of the Man of Steel in the midst of this revitalised craze.

Some observations:

- I do like the old Lois Lane who is more fiesty. But the sound her crying and yelling for help is very disturbing... It's so husky!

- She look significantly skinnier in part 2... Was she the one who became anaemic, like Karen Carpenter around the same time?

- Superman once threw away his power just to have sex with Lois Lane? Gosh... Some kinda super hero he is... I know... He wants to love like a normal person, blah blah blah... And the movies was made during the Free Love of the Yuppies...

- I love the Superman Theme Song... It's so grand... Gives me a funny feeling inside whenever it was played. I can imagine those bell-bottoms guys and their Farah Fawcett hairstyle girlfriends walk into the cinema hand in hand, eating kacang puteh from each other's cones... Hehe... Man, those were the days!

- Part 2 has more funny moments when Superman saves the world. And I guess the first movie must've made alot of money, so much so that they could afford opening scenes in Paris and another at the Nigera Waterfalls.

- During that time, cigarettes were allow to advertise on screen. I saw a Marlboro van in part 2.

- "Statistically speaking, it's still the safest way to travel." Superman telling Lois Lane that flying is perfectly safe.
I thought it was a marketing phrase thrown in in the 2006 Superman. I may be right. Imagine if he never say that and people stop flying... The producers won't have enough to compensate the airline companies...

Thats all I can think of. For now.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Translation class this time round is boring. The teacher is not engaging enough. Always sits at his desk and talks from there. His cross-examination of translated text are not very convincing leh.. Maybe because he still very inhibited speaking in English, even though he has been "overseas for 8 years". We can sense that, the accent still very strong.

He did hint to us on the market for Chinese-English translators out there, that we have an edge over the Chinese. And there is an urgent need for such personnels... Hmm....

Stirs up thoughts of where can I go and what can I do after this class ends... I am still not up to that standard yet... How? Gotta practice lor...

I am definitely going to go somewhere with this skill. I am not going to let the money go to waste.

The Perfect Man

... came to visit me in my dream this morning.

And then my mother push open the door of my room and pop my wonderous dream, shouting frantically whether do I have an extra Ezlink card.

I wasn't going to end the dream, but knew it's gone. So I pass my Ezlink card to her to stop her from grumbling continuously.

Shucks, the dream just pops like that.

Activities Originating From Boredom

Hmmm... Let's see...

Miss Cheapo Strikes
Finally got my hands on Leslie Feist CD. It was on offer at gramaphone, along with Jack Johnson's "In Between Dreams" and others. Both cost $9.95 each (yeah, parallel import from China). Been searching high and low for it. But they only have the first album one with Mushaboom. They don't have her most recent one, even when I am willing to pay for it. Guess I have to wait.

Spent Somemore Money
I had alot of spare time to "spare" after work, alot of time before class. So I wondered along the little lane at Far East Square and see what I can find there.

Bad move.

Bad eyesight. Saw a necklace and a pair of cherry earrings.


Yep, I paid for them.

And nearly bought for a brooch too. Cos they were so cute! I did thought of returning to buy it, hoping the lady could give me a good price for that. But... I didn't lor. Well, at least the accessories were hand-made by the owner of the stall. Not too bad. But still thinking about the brooch... Oh well. Consider that money well spent. Or saved.

Supper!
After I came back from class, suddenly had this urge to want to eat Indo Mie Mee Goreng. So I took my bro's mass tin and used it to cook it. Yum Yum.

But why do I have the urge to eat at this late hour? Maybe I am stressed. Checked, don't have. Maybe I am very depressed. Check, not feeling that way either.

Oh dear. I hope it is not what I think it is.

3 Significant Things Today

1) I took leave (again). To work on my freelance job.

In case you do not know, my pre-blog days were spent doing websites. I said "do" because I'd admit, I am not a good designer. But I "do" websites because I know what a website needs, navigational wise and content wise.

That being said, I am not usually hired as a web consultant. No ordinary Singaporean company will pay their $$$ for that. People use me 'cos I can create a website. It's not always good money, as it's still a new media where clients don't know how to go about organising it. And they don't want to pay me extra to help them organise it(bleahz) and want to do it themselves (again, typical money-pinching Singaporean company mentality). So they get some person in the office, who knows nothing about the media, to do the coordination work, on top of their other duties. And alot of times, they gave me nothing(no content, no images) and expect me to come up with something. And when I charge them extra because I anticipate long-term tweaking work, they say I over-charge them.

Bleahz.


2) For the first time in my life, my father brought me a Western food meal for lunch.

It is significant because whenever my dad buys back things for dinner or supper, it's always hor fun, or char kway teow, or sang min, or hor fun again... The only closest non-chinese food he bought were fried chicken from some coffee shop, you know, that kind that you find in some western food stall.

Today, when he came home and saw me, he asked me have I had my lunch, and I told him no. Then he said he will go and buy char kway teow for me. Then to my surprise, he came back with 2 sets of western food, one for me, one for ma (yeah, even for my mother too!). I felt loved. :) He actually got something that he thinks I would like, seeing that I prefer deep fried food most of the time :P Though the pork chop was made up of 60% bone and 20% fatty skin... (Which made me wonder why nice moments are always coupled with less than desirable complimentary event/stuffs that brought out the nice moment... to contrast?!) Then he said he also bought something for "some old folk at the one-room flat opposite", he said in Cantonese. My father is not good with explaining, so I didn't probe further. I just hope it's not some secret "relative" living there... :P


3) I had durians!

I have not eaten them since the beginning of this year, or may even last year. Dad bought 3 home today, after dinner. They were all very good! Yummy... I couldn't help laughing as we eat the durians. It's been so long... Yum yum...


4) Oh, there's a forth one...

I met the pastor from PC when I went jogging at the park today. Would you believe it? Meeting your pastor while jogging? When we met again the 2nd time on the track, he told me I could share with "them" what are my struggles, said he didn't contact me because he knew P.E. was following up on me, and he ended by saying, "come back lah...", coupled with a hand gesture.

In order not to meet him again, I cut short my jog (pffftt... No jogging on Wednesdays next time).

"Share my struggles? Come back? I don't want to come back, only to be used and drained up again. What's the point of going back when my problem (alongside with the others who are facing it) will not be resolved, not until the children of you deacons and pastors face the same problems as we have been facing? It's never going to be your problem, because it doesn't concern you. I don't want to go back to a place where people cease to be your friend when they got companions, and people "fellowship" with you, only when they want something from you."

~ the water drops. the typing stops. the mind whirls. the memory surfaces. the heart aches. ~

The 2nd Day Without World Cup

It does feel weird when there are no scores to see, no matches to get excited or not about. Nothing about soccer to rave or rant about. It feels weird not having any after-match ramblings to talk or complain about here. I guess the only excitment now is to see what has Zidane gotta say on tv about the famous head-butt. If what we heard on the radio, the internet, the newspaper, his agent was true, then I think that Materazzi really did something below the belt. It was psychological and he knew it would work on Zidane.

Poor Zidane. But I am glad he won the Golden Ball award despite what happened. Thank goodness it was a vote by journalists and not by tabulating statistics. It sure tell a different side of what the media thought of the man.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I went on a sushi high again tonight.

Some of you may remember, I tend to go really "high" when I eat Japanese food, especially quality sashimis. Tonight, I went to eat this incredible 100 item sushi buffet at Hanabi Restaurant with Y. I had been to the restaurant's original branch in Bukit Timah sometime last month and the experience was quite exhilerating. I didn't know they have a branch downtown and was delighted to found that out online. The one at Bukit Timah requires up to 3 weeks of booking (no kidding!) but places at this branch at Odeon Towers can be reserved within a day (there were only 2 of us, I guess it was easy?!).

One thing that really excites me about this restaurant is their sashimi servings. The yellowtail, salmon, tuna, octopus (another 2 I forgotten what were they) are always served fresh, and the servings are chunky. Whenever I sink my teeth into a piece, dabbed in wasabi + soya sauce nonetheless, it seems like I am in heaven :)~ Their variety of sushis, tempuras, makis, and noodles are very elaborate too. God, I am reminded of the yummy taste even right now... :)~

So anyway, my advice to you is that if you want to go there, bring a few more friends, so that you can try a variety of dishes without feeling too full. Y. was very comfortable ordering and eating, while I had to stop after too much sushi. It's unfortunate cos we were facing the sashimi chef!! He offered to prepare sashimi for us, but alas, I am too full to enjoy his kind gesture :(

Ne'mind... There is always a next time!! I am going to make sure that waitress get me handroll instead of matroll. She made a mistake first time and I had to eat the rice in the sushi, then I made a 2nd mistake by ordering maki, thinking it was just fish... Too much rice is no good if you wish to try the variety. So take note! :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Tuesday night maybe another official tv watching night for me. I had heard quite alot about "Everybody hates Chris" on central, and wanted to find out what was the show like. So as I was channel hopping, it happened that the show was on. So I sat through the entire show. I thought it was quite a nice series to catch. Something about Chris Rock's growing up years and about relationships and life, stuffs that I like to watch :)

Then when the show was over, I switched to channel 5. The trailers of "Criminal Minds" earlier have caught my attention for a couple of weeks, and finally I get to watch it. Nice. Well, especially cos the cute Thomas Gibson is in the show. I can never forget him for his role in "Dharma and Greg". CM is about FBI profilers (Americans, their technical term can be so creative!) who analyses behaviour of criminals and predicts what is his next move.

Interesting. I guess now I have to watch CSI on AXN and catch Chris and Thomas on Tuesday nights! :)

Oh gosh, Joyce, you Couch Potato.

Women Don't Know Soccer?

What is this thing about women don't know anything about soccer?

For the past month or so, when the world's attention was tuned to the Beautiful Game, some questions were posed to me by the male species whenever I made it known to the group that I watch/follow the competition.

"You mean you watch it?"
"Sure anot? You stayed up to catch the match?"
"You are not in for the game right? It's those guys that you are after la! What with the Italians running, with the shirts clinging to their bodies..."

Yadda, yadda, yadda...

Whenever I hear comments such as these, I do a "Duh" in my heart. I mean, HELLO, like, what is wrong with girls watching football for the game itself? Why do men like to assume that weomen watch the game only because it's a rare opportunity for us to see so many men, with tight jerseys, sometimes with bared torso, all at the same time?

I wonder who is the Shallow Hal here.

It's true, men watching is one and a very common reason why we women watch the World Cup. For some women, they watch it so that they can join in the once every 4 years office betting regime. Some watch it because others are talking about the hunks on the field, the number of tattoos spotted, so that they don't miss out on the current hottest topic.

But there are also serious female football fans, who follow the competition simply because we understand and enjoy watching the magical game. We understand the exitement of why 20 men run on the field chasing after one ball. We cry foul when a player dive or tumble dramatically when lightly touched by the opponent. It's not just about the men. DUH.

Even in the office, the same kind of view were held by the men. *Pfftt!* Yesterday was the finals, right? 2 football fans took leave, so only left 1 football fan, plus boss. Nobody talk about the soccer, even though they knew I was late for work because I overslept because of the game.

But once the boys are back, wah, the boss talk to them about the game, over and over again. I mean like, HELLO, I watched the game too! But no, I was excluded, it seems to me that my views of the game are not important. Given, yes, I may not know the entire game, or all the football players, but shouldn't they take this opportunity to educate me?

It's unfortunate that such slanted views of men still exist in this day and age. I am not a feminist, but I feel unjustified when men tend to classify women as stupid or ignorant.

Well, they can think like that for all I care. I am not going to degrade myself just because some people think they are superior. It's your problem if you can't see that I am not as stupid as you think I am.

Too bad.

Because If It Is The Best

Duh, there's no GA tonight. Good Ol' channel 5 does what it always do best. Repeating shows. So in place of GA, they re-run the match between Italy and France. I am like.. Super Duh. Why do they always like to take out GA and run some stupid last minute programme? Why on Mondays? Cos there's no commerical money to earn in GA (no sponsors) , and so it's a convenient sacrificial lamb?

Bleahz.

So there will be no write up on GA. And I can jolly well sleep early tonight. But not without documenting my thoughts.

At the cool down stretching session of my aerobics class, flurry of thoughts came to mind. First I thought of Mr D., and was harping on the possibility that somehow, we could meet again. "Maybe he will offer to ask er-jie to give me his number, since I didn't get his namecard even when I asked for it...; Maybe er-jie could connect R. and then him to come on MSN with us, with me...; Maybe, we could have another of this kinda outing again... SOON...."

Then, the thoughts drifted to how similar Mr D is to the man in Feb. I thought maybe I should write a poem of some sort and call it "man in Feb". Mind goes back to compare the two again. The old feelings that have been swept away after February, somehow blew into my memory once again... So much so I didn't follow some of the cool down exercise instructions by the instructor.

Tinge of sadness were ready to well up. But it wasn't so bad that i need to sniff. It joins the heaviness of heart, that was slowly taking weight, pulling the thoughts in my mind down that took my concentration away... Down... Down... Down...

After class, as usual, I walk pass the park. The memory, meshed with the heaviness, revive again in my tired body. I have to sit down and sort this out, for I don't want to bring this back home with me. . Found a place to sit down to sort out the mental mess. Prayed that God will help me to put the bad memory behind and to continue afresh. I told myself that whatever happens, I am going to be myself. I am not going to go into drastic changes just to impress someone.

Then, I remembered a personal conviction I made earlier. Yep, I will wait, I do not need to push for an opportunity.

Because if it is the best for me, it will happen to me.

Push Push Push

A lady who is half my height but double my size, with makeup double the layer of of mine tried to squeeze me out of the lift door when I went out for lunch with colleagues today. Just so happened that when the door opened, both of us went out at the same time, and her physical push me back and she barged out.

And all this rush for what? Just to go get ring folders from the stationary shop opposite the building.

Biangz.

Such rudeness. Found in Tanjong Pagar. Common. Whatever for?

Thankfully the curry fish head made up for it.

Humph. :S

And So The World Cup Ended

It was quite a match to watch really. Especially during the first half, when Zidane scored the penalty and Italy scored an equaliser. Both sides were pretty bia mia. There were immense tussle for the ball on several occasions.

I had predicted that the Italians would win, given their very expert acting and diving and faking. I had hope the French would win, because the French played the very well. And in my definition, very well means good sportsmanship, good tactic, good passing... Italians don't score much on either of these. But they will score, I believe, because they played dirty. I have dislike them ever since they thrashed Australia in the undeserved penalty. And in the preceeding matches, their diving and tumbling skills were honed to excellence.

Uncle Zidane probably got so fed-up with all these pretenders that he decided to risk his reputation by plunging his head onto Materazzi and got sent off for that. It was a dumbfounding moment, for no one in the entire universe knew why Zidane did it. It was suppose to be his last international game, but why did he choose to end it that way? It not only reflected bad on him, it also put a stain on his team, who have played reasonably well in the entire game.

Haiz.

In the end, the Italians won. Through penalty shootout, none the less. I don't think any team in any game who won through penalty shootouts are "winners" at all. The Italians still do not get my vote as the deserving winner. They have really putted me off with their uncouthness and lack of sportsmanship to their opponents.

Bleahz. :(

It Has Been An Exhilerating 36 Hours

I went to a picnic; woke up to watch Germany beat Portugal and went to a new church today. The picnic was fantastic. Get to meet some new people (friends of sis and BIL), met common friends and had an enjoyable picnic. One of the new person is R. I never know my sis and BIL know a cool guy such as him. Very different from them both. He filled us up with his travelling experiences and adventures. He is very interesting.. Very chatty guy. He can hold the attention of his listeners well... But... Not my type :)

I am more interested in his friend *ding ding!* who came and join us later. I noticed the difference in me when D. settled down. I became more chatty. Earlier on, I let the others do the talking. But when D. came and start to crack his silly, corny jokes, I started to participate in the conversation more. Hmm... Oh, I came to know that D. does TVC and the "2 mega-pizal" comercial we see on channel 27 is done by his company. Yeah, he is in the creative line too *ding ding!* Haha... I had a good laugh at it because the voice-over was so funny. He told us it was done by the owner's nephew... No wonder..

And look what he did with his hands when we settled down at McCafe after the picnic...



The girls were amazed at his nimble hands and I commented, "Wow you must have broken alot of hearts by doing that!" Netheless to say, the girls went swooning over his creation.

Yeah, D. left a good impression on me. Most part of it is the humour. Right jokes at the right time. Corny ones. But then again, he is from the same church as that man of Feb. I realised they tend to have the same flair for conversation. But that's about it. I don't hope for anything to happen, although I do hope Something happen :P. Overall, I enjoyed myself alot. It is good to know that I can still enjoy great fun with Christians without the religious overtones like the ones I always attend. I feel that when you became too spiritual in such casual outings, people tend to be more reserved in the expression of words. I certainly didn't find it in this picnic outing.

I look forward to more of such activities. :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Strangely enough, even though the fun picnic moments kept me awake till about 11plus, I woke up automatically at 2.45am, the exact time I tuned my alarm clock so that I can watch the 3am Germany-Portugal match. Klinsmann fielded alot of the reserve players and they worked pretty well together on the field.

The first half was normal. You know, like any match you saw for the previous week. But come 2nd half, the Germans really bia like crazy. Schweinsteiger's magical first ball at the 56th minute, all on his own, was superb. The Germans supporters began to sit up to watch this 21 year old, and the players on the field bia even more crazy. Portugal's Petit, in a bid to hit the ball, sent by Schweinsteiger, away from the German's goal post, send it straight into the net, making it an own goal at the 60th minute.

The Portugese began to catch up, and the match gets heated up. Schweinsteiger scored again at the 78th minute (can't remember how was the ball passed). More hard work for Portugal's Figo. With good coordination, he send a ball to Nuno, who was able to send the ball into the net at the 80th minute.

It has been a good game at the 2nd match. I think alot of us wonder why couldn't the Germans play as good as this in the earlier rounds. This was what the match is all about all this time. Excitement. Goals. Fair play. Haiz. But it's all over liao. The fireworks in the 11pm German night skies announced the last game the host nation will play in this competition, and we can see from the tv the emotions-stuck-in-the-throat kinda feeling on the German players when the camera pans from player to player on the field.

Finally it's over for them. But for football fans, it ain't over till it's over, tonight.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Again, for some reason, I woke up on time, today for church service. At the exact alarm time I set. This time, for church service. Have skipped a couple of services already. Today I decided to go to a new church. I guess Big Guy wants to help too. Hence, He tugged me up a little so that I can wake up on time, without the alarm clock :)

The service was held in a hotel and the worship style was familiar, comparable to PC. The church members welcome me friendly, some of which, were old members of PC. Actually I thought I could just slipped in and out quietly. But H.L., one of the PC former member, came up to me after the service, introduced me to his wife, and invited me to talk to their pastor. The pastor was very friendly and updated me about their activities. I also talked to some old faces of PC at the church too.

Compared my earlier experiences at Expo, I am more comfortable at this church service. I don't have to feel out of place among youths like the service at the Expo, and I see that there are quite a good number of young adults around my age in this church. Cool. I hope someday I will be able to join them.

For some reason, I came home feeling joyful and refreshed. Not like the slug I have been feeling of the past 2 weeks. Maybe this time, I have found the church to settle down.

I hope I have. Big Guy, please make it so.

Amen.

Tooth Extraction

As I am typing this, I am trying to ignore the soreness in my mouth, and the taste of dressing in my mouth. Yep, I went for tooth extraction today.

Though it wasn't my main intention to take leave today, I thought I might was well have the very rotting decaying wisdom tooth extracted. Dentist was brilliant on the skill. I kept telling him that I am afraid of the pain, and he say "No pain, no pain, it will be over before you know it."

He first show me, "LIVE" on the tv screen in front of the chair, what he will do to my teeth, explaining what he can do and cannot do. Then, he proceed to inject anesthetic, twice, at the gums. Then while waiting for the drug to take effect, he talked to me about World Cup (which I watch fortunately, and can discuss abit) . Then he fixed one of the molars. Then he ask me, are you ready for the extraction. I said I am still wary of the pain. He said he can't extract for me if I am not ready. And again he said, there won't be any pain one. By now the anesthetic has taken effect. I guess there is no running away.

Then he plug something in my mouth and told me "This is to test whether there's pain or not", and went on to do some pushing in my mouth for sometime. Amazingly, I can feel the movement, but there's no pain. Then he took the plyer-like tool and told me that he is going to extract the tooth now. And before you say "Eeeee", the tooth was removed. Just like that.

Gave a thumb up to the dentist and praised him for his speedy extraction. It was indeed like what he said, no pain, no pain.

What a relief.

Glossary

Some of you may be new visitors to this site and do not know certain terms I used to describe the things/people/event of my life. So here's a Glossary of sorts to give you and idea what/who they are:

Colleagues = Depends on who I refer to. One is male and Malay. The other is my food partner in crime. A mother. I will try to be more descriptive the next time I describe them.

ER = Secondary school friend. NIE student. Great guy. SNAG. But got partner liao (if you know what I mean).

GA = Greys Anatomy. Favourite drama series on TV at the moment. See link on right.

LL = This is not the reversal of a foul language. Mother of 3. Secondary schoolmate of mine. Understanding person who tries to include me in her activities whenever she is off work (confinement or just day off).

LY = Again, this is not a foul language. This is the name of a gal friend whom I hang out regularly for movies and Japanese food. She used to attend PC too.

PA = Another friend I hang out regular with. Attached Married to JU. We are of VERY different characters, but somehow, we clicked. IRC friend since 2001.

PC = Previous Church. History of my relation this institution can be traced here.

I think these are the names that I have been using of late. Will add on more if there are more.

:)

(Updated 6 Jul 2006)

It's Just Not Me

I had a weird dream when I took a short nap after watching the Portugal-France match. No, I didn't dreamt of Zidane or Cristiano Ronaldo.

I actually dreamt of a friend from PC come over to tell me that he is in love with me. And I am like, hello, you ok anot? Don't anyhow anyhow lah, siao eh. Me? I have zilch romantic feelings about this guy. Cos he never scored well in my criteria for steadiness and stability. He is emotionally very unstable.

So anyway, in the dream, he tried to like get close to me or whatever lah. Which I tell him, please don't try to be funny. I don't want other people to misunderstood. I have no feelings for you lor. Then after a few changing scenes later, I woke up.

I have been trying to diagnose whether the dream has anything to do with what I have been thinking of in my subconscious. I think maybe it does.

First of all, the name of the friend was mentioned when I had lunch with some friends from PC few days ago. We were just talking about the whereabouts of people around age group who are or used to be from PC. This friend's name was mentioned but we didn't talk further. So there, thats why his name come up.

Next, the part where he follow me closely. I think it came up cos earlier yesterday, a supplier was trying to get something out of me. We were having some brief chat about the game and he said, wah, finaly found someone to talk about World Cup. Then he said France will win last night's game. And said if France win Portugal "Let's go cheong lah, if France win tonight, want anot?"

And I am like... Huh? Cheong with you? Er... Then boss gave me the answer to the question the supplier asked, which I relayed and quickly, I said goodbye to him and hung up the phone.

Shivers. I don't like him. Even though he is salesman friendly. And because he is salesman friendly. And also uncle-like. I cannot stand it. SoEven if all the men have gone Brokeback, he will be the last person I will never want to go cheong with him.

Yucks. Maybe that's where I get the part of the PC friend following me around. I feel that I am being watched by that supplier. Yucks.

Last, about the friend saying he is in love with me. I think it's just my subconscious of longing for someone. That, I don't deny. Just not with this friend. Never will. We don't even contact each other anyway.

So there, some dream intepretation for you.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The supplier's comment had me thinking.

Maybe I should go cheong with him. Go ka cai tao (chop carrot, meaning take advantage of him). Since he is willing to let me chop. Haha... That's why some of my irc friends used to do when I first started hanging out with them. And it's true, you'd be surprise that some men are very generous to any kind girl.

I am trying to imagine what would it be like to really go all out to ka cai tao from these kinda men. I never tried it before, because I never believe in doing that. There are definitely strings attached to these kinda favours. I am not ready, nor willing, to entertain that kinda thing.

It's just not me.

I mean, any girl can do this kinda thing if they want to. Really. It's rather easy to get guys to do things for girls, if we just open up and be... "inviting". I have tried to be less tensed up, but I can never be au natural doing it.

It's just not me.

I Am Sleepy

2 nights of consecuetive 3am matches is not good for my going to be 32-year body.

Previous night was ok, cos I had enough sleep on Sunday morning. But last night, I was literally tearing when I watch the first half of the France-Portugal match. I only have very few impressions of the match last night, as below:

Zidane has shaven off his hair, I think to prevent his "mediterranean" ocean from showing up. But it seems to be resurfacing from his shiny top.

I always never figure why the Chinese media called Cristinao Ronaldo 帅罗. I figured it out last night. Because the other 2 罗s, Ronaldo and Ronaldino, are not 帅-looking at all.

One of the statement I made yesterday was proven to be correct. The party with the lower ball possession won the game.

Oh. The score is 1-0 to France, from a penalty kick at the 33th minute.

Can tell the Portugese fight for their life to get into the finals. Just too bad they kena a penalty from a light tackle at Henry, and uncle Zidane did a beautiful kick to get the ball into the net.

Oh yah, at the final 2 minutes of the game, even Ricardo, the Portugese goalkeeper, also bia see ran over to the Portugese goal post, wanting to lend an additional chance to his country to score. There were alot of tussle. France's defence was good all the way, so no chance even when he went it. Too bad, he is a very good goalkeeper. But not a lethal striker. :P

Can't remember much anymore. Sleepy...

Nice Thai TVC...

They made such good commercials! This one revolves a love story with 4 parts...

http://orrh.livejournal.com/49050.html

I am sure you will <3 it!

Matches, Matching, My Perfect Match

Yes, by now, everyone in Blogoverse and outside it know that Germany has lost in the semi-finals against Italy.

And what a lost it was. Italy simply pop 1 goal 2 mins before extra time end, and it sent the Germans trembling. So much so that no one noticed del Piero was secretly running into the scoring area to sweep the ball past Lehmann to score a second goal for Italy. Below are some extracts of my observation througout the entire 3am match:

First Half
Boring. Germans are not strong enough. No tactic. Italians same old, like to pretend. But nevermind, even though the Germans have lesser ball possession, my experience tells me that the country with lesser ball posession normally wins the game. Or so I thought.

Second Half
Now the Germans are doing better than first half. So many chance to score but dunno how they kick. There was even a very, very open opportunity, but bo lang di chu (nobody at home).

And will people like Lahm or Schneider stop doing that "I am going to run the ball all by myself and then score (for entertainment value)" thing? More often than not, the ball never make it to the box and the Italians took over.

Huh? Extra time? Can someone tell me how come it's just a game between 2 sides and there is no score even after 90 mins?! Do the Germans really want to rely on penalities to win the cup? Duh. Really 不光彩 to win that way lor.

Extra Time
Both teams bia like crazy. But Germans are not striving hard enough.

1st Italian goal at 29th minute. Thats it.

2nd goal. What were the Germans doing? Letting del Piero score with little effort?

The Italian players hug one another. Everyone knows the game is over. Jurgen Klinsmann was unnerved when the camera did a 360 close up on him on the field. I think the Germans are just too confident that they will win the trophy cos they are on home ground.

I have learnt:
It is possible to sleep at 10 and wake up at 3am to watch the game. I was quite alert. So tonight I can do the same thing again. When D W told me before one of the matches that he is going to do just that, I was doubtful. Now I am not. Cos I did it! Hee Hee... :)

I think I don't root for countries. It was a natural thing for me to separate the two sides to a "good" and "bad" side easily. So I support the good side. Don't like Italy cos they play cheat. Pretend kena fouled. Lotsa times. Whereas the Germans who may have been fouled got up and continue the game, the Italians took the opportunity to act. Easy to guess who I think is good and who is bad.

Play dirty and you will win. Period.

But the Germans really no tactic lah. I cannot deny that.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I need new shoes! I need a can-go-with-any-outfit pair of shoes. The ones I wore today don't go well with my outfit today. Maybe I need to get 2 pairs instead of 1.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Even the girl at my hairstylist's thinks that Superman is darn cute. She dropped a word that never occured to me when I wrote about the Man of Steel. It's exactly what I want to describe about him.

She said he is “温柔”. Even as a translator, I find it a difficult word to describe in the English language. Probably thats why the word didn't occur to me. Gentle is abit feminine... Seems inconceivable. But to some extend it's true. Gentleness in a man is attractive. Ask your gal pals, they probably think so too.

Anyone Interested in Translation Courses?

If you are, please refer your friend/s to the post below. The school that I am currently going for my translation course is opening its enrolment to new students next year, so if you introduce one in my name, I will be able to receive a small sum of $$$ :) I am willing to share $75 - $90 of the total token sum to the middle person who is successful in enrolling in a friend to the course in my name.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The new intake for the Specialist Diploma in Translation will commence in
January 2007. Do let your friends whom you think will be interested in the
course know and invite them to our course preview, details as follows:-

Speakers from the Chartered Institute of Linguists and Nanjing University
Topic: Bilingualism and Translation
Date: 17/07/06 (Mon)
Time: 7.15pm
Venue: 18 Cross Street, #08-01 Marsh & McLennan Centre, Singapore 048423.


In addition, we are launching our new programme, Certificate in Translation
at the preview. The Certificate in Translation programme comprises 4
subjects: Chinese Enhancement; English-Chinese Translation; Chinese-English
Translation and Interpretation and can be completed in 8 months. A copy of
the brochure is enclosed for you to forward to your friends who might be
interested in the programme.
(See attached file: Course Highlights-Certificate.doc)(See attached file:
Certificate syllabus 06-05-15a.doc)
[ ME: I can forward the documents to interested parties. ]

2. International Diploma in Bilingual Communication (IDBC) examination
This is a new examination offered by the Chartered Institute of Linguists,
UK. It is ideal for those interested to test their bilingual skills, both
written and spoken fluency in English and Chinese within a comtemporary
context. There are 4 modules:-
Module 1 - Summary in Chinese
Module 2 - Business Writing and Communications in English
Module 3 - Translation
Module 4 - Interpreting

The first pilot exams will take place between 31/10/06 to 03/11/06.
Registration closes on 15/09/06. You can check the website at
http://www.iol.org.uk/qualifications/exams_idbc.asp#pilot
for more details on exam format, exam fees, sample papers, etc.

3. Diploma in Translation (DipTrans) examination
Hurry if you wish to register for the DipTrans examination. Registration
closes on 19/07/06.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries on the above.

Regards,
Margaret
DID: 65313347 (Inform her Joyce of SDT6 recommended you)

-------------------------------------------------------------

I will be waking up to watch the Germany (BALLACK!!) vs Italy match later. So no other blogs tonight.

Germany! Germany! Germany!

It's A Matchless Night

So I blog.

I don't know is it because I feel tired or what, GA doesn't seemed interesting tonight. Meredith did an intro about lying and so the story was supposed to be on lies people say, because the truth hurts. But I thought a story of similar tone was used before in the series.

So anyway, I thought the episode tonight was boring. The only thing that had me sat down here typing this blog to you is an interesting observation Burke made about Meredith. He said that Cristina, being a strong person, finds it easy to talk to Meredith, her "best friend". And I am like... Huh, since when were they best friends? But I guess, spending time together, sharing the relationship issues with one another, each in love with man of the same workplace, does validate the title. Only thing is... I don't see it between Meredith and Cristina.

Then, I thought to myself. Maybe I am like a Meredith to alot of people. Ya know, just listen and talk to them, giving them a comfortable outlet to share without prejudice whatsoever. But just because you share your life story with another person doesn't automatically made him or her a "best friend", does it?

I know I never like the title "best friend". Because I have never kept "best friends".

I had a very very close friend in primary school. Her name is Janet. We are very close and share practically everything together. We both started out as very quiet and shy girls, not in the "in" crowd. Then came a time, my envy of the "in" crowd became stronger and I wanted to be a part of them. So I started to join those girls to play and moved away from Janet, cos I thought she is getting boring. I forego our recess time sitting together, playing zero-point and even buying little tidbits from the makeshift stall outside our school. Yes, I commited a crime and dumped my best friend.

PSLE came and went, Janet moved from Telok Blangah to Yishun Ring Road. We exchanged a few letters in between, and then lost contact. Apparently she was quite a runner and a brilliant student. I guess she found better friends in her new secondary school later.

Secondary school:
Without Janet, I gotta start to know new friends from the new school. I felt no one likes me in NPCC, cos I am too darn quiet. And boring. But because my proficiency in the Chinese language is rather good, I soon became popular with the kids who go tea dances (ie. who don't do their homework to passup on time). One of them was as good as me in the language, and we join 2 other ah lians (technically one of them is not ah lian, but she is rather well-off, but parents are always away. Or so I think.) We go hang out at Marina Square, pon-tan classes, the most significant event being I hung out with them till 6am in the morning after our mass school choir performance at the National Day parade in 1988. Mom was angry. Music Teacher even called me to her office and told me she never expected me to do this. I had no answer for her when she asked me why. To me, being able to hang out with the girls is almost a dream come true. And what more, till 6am!

You know secondary school. Friendships are very dramatic things. One moment you thought you are best friends with this group, then suddenly, you found yourself alone. This happened to me eventually. The other girl whom I considered a best friend, dropped me soon after I started to turn off their offers to hang out. At that time, knowing my pocket money is limited, I do not want to go out and spent my mother's hard-earned money. Maybe they think because of that, I am not a part of them.

So. plonk. I was dropped. By then, "best friends" has been wipped off from my vocabulary. I still keep the journals where I wrote my bitterness over the friendship lost. It was childish as I flipped open the little notebooks again, but the feelings were raw and true.

We went to different classes at secondary three. I made new good friends who lived around my neighbourhood. We take the bus together, have breakfast together, did homework together, steal into the school at night to "study" together with the other sec 4s... Then after "O"s, we parted ways. One went to a Pre-U, the other two of us went off to work. Y. started to hang out with her colleagues, E. with his classmates, and me... I worked as a salesgirl, with odd hours, absolutely difficult to hang out with them.

Slowly we drifted. I started to use "good friends" whenever people mentioned them.

Everyone knows when you started to work, "best friends" are even harder to keep. And colleagues may not necessary end up as even "friends" after you parted ways.

Till this day, I am still telling people, almost proudly, "I don't believe in best friends. But I do have some good friends"

There was a time when IRC friends cleared the air for me, and I thought finally, I can have longstanding friendships. So I thought I had made more "good friends".

"Good friends" now are either married, have kids, or are attached to be married. No matter how "good friends" they are to me, I will now have to settle for 7th or 8th placing in their schedule of people-to-meet. I don't even meet some of them anymore. Sometimes I was excluded, other times, I find no common chatting topic with them in gatherings, might as well don't appear. They won't miss me if I don't appear anyway.

I know, I cannot be so ridiculous as to demand that they spent time with me. I am just... speechless at how fast people move in and out of my life :)

And now I am going to go sleep with my best friend. Myself.

Big Fish

As promised earlier, this is the picture of yet another gigantic sliced fish I received from Pelican House Sliced Fish stall at China Square...


Yumm.....