2007 is here!

My New Year resolutions

1. To go to the gym more often

2. To be more patient and tolerant

3. To save more money

4. To spend more time with my family

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!

The strategy to make you come back for more!

Can't believe my facial took 2.5 hours today...the longest ever! But you know what, I've got nice, clear, blemish-free skin (at least for now), plus perfectly-arched eyebrows! The lady who attended to me was damn "lao jiao". I think she could do a facial with her eyes closed.

As with all facial therapists, these people can never heap out positive comments whole-heartedly, without some sort of a qualification.

Facial therapist (FT): Wow, your complexion looks good! Don't think I have to do much squeezing today.

Me: *mutters* Thanks!

FT: But I feel many small pimples beneath your skin that may pop out at any moment. Have you been drinking water?

Bummer! See what I mean? Make me happy, then make me sad so that I'll come back for more!

Oh the weather outside is frightful

Best place to be: In bed tucked under layers of blanket right up to the neck / Under a hot shower

Best thing to do : Nap, sleep and snooze (wait, aren't they all the same thing!?) / Do nothing

Best food : French loaf dipped in spicy curry chicken to give your stomach that kick! / My very own spaghetti bolognaise (recommended for both rain and shine!)

Best drink : Double-boiled soup (any kind!) / Hot chinese tea

Best music : Jazz / Lullabies

Worst place to be : Out in the rain and cold (brrrrrr!) / My office

Worst thing to do : Work / For once, I'll have to say shop :(

Worst food : Cold salad / Raw food (unless taken with some alcohol..hic!)

Worst drink : Anything from the fridge / Cold soup

Worst music : Trance / Techno

I must be running out of things to blog, or the cold must have frozen my mind! I love this frightful weather!!

A logcake too many??

When I was a little girl, I always bugged my dad to buy me a logcake for Christmas. I always imagined the logcake to be the house of Santa, his reindeers and the random cute characters you see resting on the log. My dad, being the all-practical father who believed that logcakes are no different from normal cakes but a lot more expensive, never bought me one.

The magic of a logcake stayed with me until I started having my own parties. It was then that I realised that my dad is right (as he always is). But I still think logcakes are oh-so-pretty!! Check out the ones I had this Christmas....

Logcake 3 wins hands-down in the "2006 Christmas Logcake Competition". It's dark chocolate cake with layers of rich, gooey, dark chocolate in between. Heavenly!

Ironies

IRONY 1 : The new, swanky office

Looks darn cool, right? Did I mention that we have a karaoke room and a pool table? Alrite, stop drooling with envy, 'coz despite the cool amenities, I still think our office sucks. 'Coz they gave me a FREAKING LOUSY seat in the office. It's right outside the photocopy room and next to a door. So I get the hear the photocopier warm-up every morning and the shredder ravage pieces of paper fed into it. And rude, noisy people banging around looking for paper or see the photocopier room as a nice, cosy place to chit-chat and giggle.

And if that's not enough disturbances, the movers and workers hammer on my door constantly. Excuse me, I'm not your personal butler but the noise affects me badly, so out of the goodness of my heart I open the door for you and leave it ajar 'coz I know you have a job to do. But instead of gratitude, these people reward me by singing in the corridor outside at the top of their voices. And mind you, they don't exactly sound like nightingales! Hey misters, the karaoke room is just downstairs, so why don't you bring your melodious voices there instead?!?!?!

I haven't gotten past a day since I moved to the new office without a splitting headache. My partner has "kindly" offered to relocate me but gave me 2 less-than-pleasant alternatives (I shall not elaborate on this one, ask me if you really want to know).

So I chose to remain where I am.

IRONY 2 : View from my office

On the right.....

On the left.....

xxxxx

On a happier note, I caught Charlotte's Web on Friday and enjoyed it tremendously. It was a sweet and touching portrayal of friendship between a pink pig and an ugly-looking spider. It reduced my guy friend to tears, so it must be good, ya?

Christmas is finally here!! 2nd Christmas with Mr. P and still counting! :)

The highly coveted chair

Meet the OSIM iMedic PRO.

Hay and I have been contemplating this gift for my parents and finally decided to pool our $$ together to purchase this baby. We were really excited 'coz we knew our parents would be totally bowled over by this gift and we couldn't wait to see the look of surprise/elation/delight on their faces!

So we planned and plotted, and finally presented the gift (in the form of brochure and invoice) to my Mom before dinner. We watched her expression closely, awaiting the much-anticipated response. But her reaction was something that we did not quite expect.

MOM: "But we bought the chair too!"

I stared at my brother in dismay. How coincidental can things get?! Buying the chair has always been on the cards, but who would have expected us both to get the chair at the same time! Bummer! Instead of words of thanks, we were hollered at for not discussing this expensive and important purchase with them first.

ME: "But Mom, it was meant to be a surprise!"

Sadly, one does not get credit for the effort put into creating a surprise. Surprises, unfortunately, are considered impulsive, whimsical, unnecessary and in this case, somewhat expensive.

To look on the bright side of things, we finally own that chair! I'm really looking forward to hours of pure, indulgent massage for my tired body. Ooohh yeah, baby, yea!!!

Freak show

When I saw this picture, I stared at it for a good 10 minutes. What the hell is it? And don't you be a smart aleck and say "But you took this picture!", 'coz I didn't! Initially, I thought it was just a regular bird-next-door, but why would anyone take a picture of a plain jane? And the realization struck me: it's a WHITE CROW!

Everyone knows I am terrified of crows, regardless of colour, though I can't imagine anyone taking a blue crow seriously. If you didn't, time for you to sit up and listen. 'Coz these birds are smart. I once saw this Japanese programme of a crow dropping a walnut onto the zebra crossing so that the cars can run over and crack open the nut. When the pedestrian light turned green and the cars stopped, this conniving bird flew down and pecked its way through the broken pieces. Is that smart or what? Man, I was horror-struck!

I've always been scared of birds, but the ultimatum came when I was attacked by a black crow 3-4 years ago. AND I DID NOT PROVOKE THAT DARN BIRD! I ran all the way home while that bird hovered over me and swooped down to peck my head as and when its fancy was tickled. By the time I got home, I was a nervous wreck! Of course, I swore vengeance against crows and gave AVA a friendly call to invite them down to my neighbourhood for a shoot-out session.

Anyway, I digress. Here's another freak picture I found. Looks like my friend's fat cat Punch split into two....hmmmm. I hope that cat is a stuffed one and not alive and jumping around in the glass box. Looks pretty real, huh?

Late night blogging

An interesting photo, starring "The toothpick man", "The girl who stared at my breast", "The visually violated girl" and "The girl with the real assets".

Proper blogging will resume this weekend, hopefully! Good night! :)

3rd time lucky

Annual D&D at Swissotel hotel last Thursday. Lo and behold, guess who walked away with a prize for the lucky draw again? Yeah, it's none other than moi :)

Call it coincidence, but I've been really lucky. My 6th D&D, my 3rd prize...it's been 1 every alternate year. I've been bragging to all my colleagues that this is my year to win again, and it would have been truly embarrassing if I didn't. Unfortunately, the prize I won was nothing to brag about - 4 Shaw movie tickets....a downgrade from the Enzer mini hi-fi I won in 2004, and the LG vacuum cleaner I won in 2002. But useful nonetheless, wouldn't you say?

The theme this year was "Red carpet". I was pretty impressed that some of my colleagues went through great lengths to have their make-up and hair professionally done, and most came decked in their best! Pictures to come later!!

Oh, did I mention that the filet mignon I was stuffing myself with at Mortons prior to the D&D killed my appetite for dinner? But they were so succulent and yummy! I wanna go back to try the chocolate martini soon!

Service standard in Singapore

Poor, I must say, after this incident that happened to me @ Forever21 in Wisma Atria.

Rude Salesgirl ("RS"): (knocks on fitting room door)
Me ("ME"): Yes?
RS: Did you get a number tag?
ME: Yes.
RS: Please hang it outside.

(As I was in the midst of changing and had only 1 item left to try, I decided to ignore RS' order. I was almost done putting on my own clothes when......)

RS: (hammers on door)
ME: (opens door and walks out, slightly irritated) Yes?
RS: Please hang the tag outside the door in future.
ME: (blood starts to boil) If you had wanted that tag outside, you should have informed me right from the start.
RS: But I knocked on your door!
ME: (smoking at the ears) Yes, and I was changing! (turns to leave)
RS: Whatever!
ME: (loud mutter) Bitch!

After hurling an insult at her, I was all ready to leave the store and never come back. But I also wondered why I had to suffer such bad service when I was the paying customer. Isn't customer always king? Appalled by RS' attitude and rudeness, I requested to speak to the supervisor and related the story to her. She, being a matronly and kindly lady, apologized and chided RS, telling her that the job of hanging the tag on the door is hers, not the customer's. Feeling slightly appeased, I decided to drop the matter.

Trust me, I'm not proud that I lost my cool. But faced with a rude salesgirl like RS, anyone would be fuming mad! Why can't our sales people be warm and friendly like in the US? That would make shopping a whole lot more pleasurable!

Gone to meet her maker

It's indeed saddening for me to announce that Scarli, the black goldfish is dead.

We bought Molli (another black goldfish) and Scarli in July 2006 at the Qian Hu fish farm. Sadly, Molli could not live past the first day in her new home. Scarli survived 5 months and passed away peacefully on 24 November 2006 (Friday). Cause of death is unknown but no foulplay suspected. Here are the possible causes of death:-

1. Cancer - A white tumour seemed to have manifested itself onto Scarli's spine 5 days before her demise.
2. Bacterial infection / parasites.
3. Black Molly disease - A common disease among black goldfishes and characterised by white patches on the fishes' body.
   

Here's a tribute to Scarli, the beloved goldfish who came, saw and left.

Goodbye Scarli
You've gone to heaven
Where you'll finally meet
Your best friend, Molli

We named you as such
Due to your white scar
But you've been a strong girl
And even outlived Molli

We're sorry if we've neglected
To change your water daily
We'll miss you Scarli
You've been a great fish

REST IN PEACE (R.I.P.)

Special day gone awry

Every morning, I drag my tired body and unwilling mind to work. Though time hardly stands still when I'm in the office, I am counting down every minute of it, waiting for time-to-go-home to strike.

What happened to my sense of motivation? Truly and honestly, I used to enjoy most aspects of my work. I am certainly not a bum or couch potato who can stay home all day watching drama serials or playing computer games.

I was chatting to a colleague about how ironical things can be on hindsight. For example, when I first joined the company, I truly and sincerely believed that everyone in the office had a kind heart. The percentage of likeable colleagues stood at an all-time high of 95%. At this very moment, it has plunged to an all-time low of 50%.

In particular, I am put-off by so-called friends who gossip about you behind your back. If you people happen to be reading this, you can cut out the pretence now. Feel free to put on that double-headed snake mask of yours as often as you like in front of the bosses, cause some of these creatures are really depraved and screaming for attention, but I don't need you, so get off my back, won't you? If you wanna gossip about me, go ahead, I don't give a shit, but it shows on your ugly, hypocritical face and I know what you did, ok? So don't try to chummy up to me after that, 'coz I'll hate you even more.

Right now, I've never felt lonelier and I regret not accepting my friend's invitation for drinks at the bar. You don't know what a blardee bad week I've had and how long I've waited for today to come so that I can spend the most of tomorrow in the company that I enjoy. You think I'm wallowing in self-pity, but why can't you be there for me when I need you? Why are your friends so important when I could possibly be the one who'll be there for you for the rest of your life?

Hello fats!

I stare at my naked reflection. A sense of discontentment sweeps past me. I no longer see the quite-toned body I used to have. My dimpled skin appears to be smirking at the unsightly appearance. I pull on my clothes and find difficulty in buttoning my pants. I take a deep breath, fingers working frantically at the button. I thank god I am wearing a black knit (read: stretchable) top today.

The indulgent pleasure of eating plus lax exercise regime has finally found its way to my tum-tum.

My 30-something classmates console me (and themselves), saying this is just natural progression. Everybody gets fat as they grow older, 'coz the fats retain better. They have long given up on their own bodies. Even the skinniest one has something to complain about.

I refuse to accept the new, rotund me and resolve to visit the gym 3 times a week to whisk myself back into shape. You wait and see!

P/S: It does seem kind of bimbotic complaining about being fat etc etc but wait till you realise your clothes don't fit anymore and you have to "upgrade" into another size. And you can forget about the brand new ready-to-wear-as-soon-as-I-lose-weight dress you bought in anticipation of slimmer days (yes, there are actually people who buy clothes which do not fit).

Quirky finds

Here's the final instalment of my Hong Kong adventure!


P chided me for taking this photo, calling me 'suaku'. According to him, such signs abound in Geylang. He defensively averted my question on what he was doing there with this reply: "Who never go Geylang before?!"

Protesting against the demolition of the mechanical clock tower, following the relocation of the monumental Star Ferry from TST to Central. To be replaced by a digital clock at the new pier @ Central. Read more about the relocation @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Ferry.

A tribute to the former Star Ferry pier at TST. Adieu!

Sin #3: Party like there's no tomorrow

Okay, okay, to be honest, there was no late night partying as P and I were exhausted from all the shopping we were doing earlier. But we did enjoy 2 bottles of beer each at the uber-cool Armani bar and 1/5, both in Wan Chai. We tried to get into the very exclusive Dragon-i at LKF, but were turned away because we were not good-looking enough....ooops, correction: I mean, the place was spilling with models and VIPs, that's why they didn't let us in!! All in all, an unforgettable night!

THANKS KARINE DEAR!!!!

P/S: Did I also mention that I was enjoying this droolicious eye candy in the form of a bartender and his bewitching eyes? Yea, I noticed his eyes, despite the darkness. Don't ask me what colour they were, though.... hehe.

Sin #2: Excessive compulsive shopping

From the departmental stores.....

Time's square

World Trade Centre

To the roadside shops @ Tsim Sha Tsui & Mongkok





PS: I loved the shops in this 5 level building at Granville Circuit, TST! Lots of cool and hip stuff! The place was thronging with local dudes and babes when we went!

Sin #1: Gluttony

Dim Sum @ Maxim's, HK (Excellent!)

Writer's note: You may have noticed that the food are all "half-eaten". That's because the greedy photographer was so absorbed in eating that she forgot to snap!


Lunch @ Cafe de Coral, HK (Cheap & Good)

Writer's note: One of my favourite fast food chain (the other would be Fairwood) with a wide array of delectable dishes. The honey pear tea rocked!


Dinner @ Macau Restaurant, HK (Roasted pigeons to die for!!)

Writer's note: Yum yum! The pigeons are tiny, so you might want to order 1 per pax. While you are there, try the beef curry as well!


Lobster Termidore @ Platao Restaurant, Macau (yummy!!)

Writer's note: Initially, our order was for the cheese-stuffed crabs (cheaper of course), but the waiter got our order wrong and out came the expensive lobster termidore. But we had no regrets! :)



Needless to say, I must have put on at least 5 kg over the past few days. But it was all worthwhile!

Shop, eat, shop, eat!

In just a couple of hours, I will be off to Hong Kong! Yayyy! The much awaited and needed trip. Needless to say, the hazards of my job required me to slog for the last couple of days to ensure that all outstanding work is cleared so that I can leave with peace of mind. And slog I did, working till the wee hours of the night and even over the weekend. I really take my hat off bankers and auditors, I'm sure late nights are peanuts to them.

It's time to stuff myself silly with dim sum and shop till my pockets burn! I am happy as a bee! :)

Missed me?

The week has flown by so quickly...it's quite scary how time has this tendency of catching up with you, no matter how fast or slow you run. It's like your shadow, always tagging along no matter where you go. And paradoxically, the older you get, the faster time runs. I can still remember vividly what I was doing around this time last year, and last year certainly doesn't feel that long ago.

Here's a low-down of my activities for the past week:-

THE GOOD

1. Caught "A Good Year" on Tuesday. I must admit that Russell Crowe, being the male lead, was quite a put-off initially, and I briefly contemplated giving the movie a miss since I got the tickets free. But I must applaud Mr Crowe this time, for he was un-stereotypical in his role and very fun to watch. I might even add that this movie is my favourite for year 2006! It fulfiled my criteria of a good movie: it was simple, witty and classy. The romantic setting in a French vineyard, of course, was a plus point. So if you're in a quandary over what movie to watch this weekend, go catch "A Good Year"!

P/S: I noticed that P drifted off to sleep less this time, which speaks loads for the movie! :)

2. The long awaited musical, Notre Dame! I give it 4.5 stars. The cast was amazing, singing and dancing were top-notch! Bravo! Bravo! The only flaw was the ultra loud music (my ears are still ringing!) and the erratic subtitles which "hanged" or changed too quickly. Also, having to split my attention between the stage and subtitle screen strained my eyes and gave me a slight headache. I vow to brush up on my French so that I can appreciate and understand a French musical without having to rely on the lousy subtitles next time!

THE BAD

1. I hate my job!

2. I hate my job!

3. I hate my job!

You know it's time to move on when your good friend reminds you to buy the Saturday papers tomorrow.

It's finally here!!

Come Saturday, I'll be participating in my 1st flea market ever! So just a reminder for those reading this (which I believe, is few, as my blog has yet to achieve cult status), pop on down, especially if you have nowhere to go or some spare cash to spend.

Date: 28 Oct 2006 (Saturday)
Time: 1pm to 7pm
Venue: *Scape (behind Orchard Cineleisure)

I'll be there, hot and sweaty, peddling my wares. There'll be pretty earrings, bracelets and necklaces for sale. May I add that each piece was painstakingly pieced and strung together with the utmost care and patience. And they're going at incredible prices!

As the name suggests, you may catch some fleas from the pre-owned clothing and bags that'll also be on sale! Seeya there! :)

xxxxxxxxxxx

I dropped by Vivocity after work today to get some gifts and I was floored. The shopping centre is incredibly spacious and all my favourite shops are there! You name it.....Zara, Forever 21 (ridiculous for a 27 year old, but hey, I've been said to look 18), Topshop, Tangs etc etc. Honestly, the place is so huge I didn't have time to explore every nook and cranny. Walked and walked till my feet hurt so badly...blaming it on my stupid power heels! Anyway, can't wait to go back again! With a wadful of cash and credit cards, of course!

Stoned

Can you imagine a teacher asking you a question like 10,000 times, head nodding in unison, whilst you sit back in your chair staring blankly back at him, thinking all the while he's addressing your neighbour? Your helpful neighbour, expectedly, wonders at your lack of response but makes no move to prompt you.

The teacher reckons you don't understand his question. Truth is, you're feeling so stoned nothing registers in your mind. You're listening to everything, but hearing nothing. Eventhough you're aware he's looking at you, your mind crawls so slowly you don't associate the looking and nodding with the question.

I must be feeling really bushed! May sleep not be too long in coming......

Toilet habits

What Your Bathroom Habits Say About You

You are a very considerate person, but that doesn't mean you let people walk all over you. Your idea of fashion is jeans and a t-shirt. Clean, if you're lucky. You have the perfect blend of confidence and class. You're proud of who you are - but you don't broadcast it. In relationships, you tend to be very romantic and demanding. You'll treat your partner like gold, but you expect a lot in return.

What Do Your Bathroom Habits Say About You?

The Prestige.....

......rawks! Complete with twists, ambuigities and 2 yummy-licious men, this show will stun and amaze you! Sorry, can't say much about the lady as her role was way too insignificant!

Catch it at the local cinema near you!

Hey amigo!

As I grow older, I find myself becoming less and less sociable. A new colleague joins the firm and I try my utmost best to avoid eye contact with her. Not that she's ill to look at, but I dread having to make small talk about the haze, PSI level etc. However, that new colleague of mine has large, twinkly eyes that are incredibly hard to avert. Though I'm curious about her, I'm still reluctant to step out of my cubby to get to know her.

Is there something wrong with me? Is age killing my willingness to break out of my social circle and make new friends? I find this theory a bit hard to swallow. Afterall, I'm not like that all the time. Beyond the work realm, I'm actually quite happy to talk and mingle around, though it helps when the other party is a ball of fun. Dull and spiritless people, well, they just bore me to tears.

Or maybe I have become more finicky in my friend-selection process. I am aware that many people I meet along the way end up being mere acquaintances. I fully understand that the paltry amount of time I have on hand is just insufficient to develop a newly-formed friendship into something more meaningful. And finally, my demanding job has siphoned away all my energy, making whatever else requiring effort seem like a gargantuan task.

Accept it, this is a natural phenomenon that's impossible to steer away from as one grows older. I doubt that at 27, I can be adding 20 new friends a day to my Friendster account like a 15 year old can.

The name game

Final instalment of Part 2 of my French course. Am really loving the learning! :) And my classmates are awesome, all immensely real and pleasant. Of course, I'm not denying that there are a few oddballs here and there, but let's not be mean here. At the beginning, I had a little difficulty grasping all their names, and had to resort to nicknames, all affectionately bestowed:-

• "Sister" - Just the kind I would like to have. Kind, caring and possessing maternal tendencies;
  
• "Fu (4) gui (4) puo (2)" - Translated, this means prosperous lady. Laughs heartily and definitely enjoying the finer things in life, this lady;
  
• "The non-chinese" - No offence here, we named her that only because she's the only eurasian / non-chinese in our class...no discrimation intended!;
• "Teacher" - A petite, effervescent (read: talkative) girl who's actually a GP (wow!) teacher. Incredibly knowledgeable and cycles to school; and
  
• "The late comer" : Joined our class late, perpetually comes to class late and absented herself today *shakes head in disapproval*
  

Incredibly, X knew exactly who I was referring to when I made references to them! I wonder what they nicknamed X and I. The twins / sisters / buddies? The hotties? The weirdos? Freaky duo?

P/S: I managed to pass my French written test (see entry on "French fries, anyone?"). In fact, I more than passed, I got a 16/20! P was real disgusted that I was complaining so much....hehe.

Food scare

I was darn hungry this morning! Stomach was growling away and screaming for nourishment, but all I did was ignore its calls of plea. When lunch came along, I was looking forward to my favourite maggi mee with fish slices from the market. So off I strutted, in eager anticipation of yummy-licious mee.

After buying a bowl of piping hot mee, I was happily stuffing my face till I stumbled onto something the colour of seaweed. I picked it up delicately with my chopstick, wondering what new ingredient they've added to give the mee such a tangy taste. Lo and behold, I discovered, to my horror, that it was a tiny cockroach! The revelation hit me kinda slow, for instead of spitting out the contents of my mouth, I took a great swallow. Oh man....Zoe Tay would have been so proud of me.

Though I've had my fair share of finding hair in my food, I've never been punished with a roach / bug / millipede before. Feeling dazed and slightly traumatized, I put the badly scalded carcass back into the bowl and returned it to the mee auntie, who chirpily offered a replacement. Thanks auntie, for ruining my otherwise excellent appetite! I'm swearing myself off this freaking dirty and unsanitary stall. Ugghh!

I'm glad this lousy Monday is finally coming to an end. Am already looking forward to the weekend.......

Great Expectations

Lately, an incident set me thinking about whether it's right to have expectations of others. As a parent, do you expect your kid to score his As in school? Would you expect your best friend to listen to you when you're down?

Why do we have expectations? Is it because we want to see the best in others? Does familiarily cause us to take things for granted, hence forming expectations? Or should we blame it on our own selfish motives?

The worst scenario is when expectations are set too high and they're not met. Both parties feel wretched, one from disappointment and the other from helplessness.

Wouldn't the world be a much sweeter place if we could just love one another for what we are?

They came back...and boy was I glad when they left!

X and I couldn't wait to catch the movie screenings for the 2006 French film festival. X decided on Les Revenants, aka They Came Back, as it was classified as a horror movie which tantalised her tastebuds.

The movie opened with a stream of walking corpses with deadpan expressions streaming into a small town in France. Mind you, this isn't your typical zombie-eat-man movie. The "zombies" looked every bit human, but were characterised by their blank expressions and languid movements. These zombies came, stayed and left again, creating psychological and sociological havoc in the lives of the living. It focused on how 3 families re-united with their supposedly-dead loved ones struggled to accept and live with their anomalies. It was intelligent, thought-provoking and had the makings of an excellent movie. However, there just wasn't enough punch in its execution. It came out slow, dreary and yawn-inducing. Definitely a no-no for Friday night entertainment.

Not to fret though, plenty of good movies in the pipeline. My To-Watch list consists of:

1. The Departed (starring favourite man Jack Nicholson (oopss!!), Matt Damon I mean, and the sexy Leonardo diCaprio)
2. The Scoop (with babelicious Scarlett Johansson and hunky-dory Hugh Jackman)
3. The Black Dahlia (with real-life sizzling-hot couple Scarlett & Hartnett)
   

Anyone interested? Better still, if you have free tickets, please think of me...aren't I your best friend? :)

French fries, anyone?

3rd French test...I think I might just fail this one! I screwed up my spelling, I didn't insert any of the goddamned French accents and my conjunctions were all hay-wire! Bummer!

Don't get me wrong, I love the language. To hear it spoken (fluently of course!) is like music to the ears. Mastering the language, however, is proving itself to be a formidable task. Here are a few of my gripes:-

1. French accents - Inserting the ' (the regular apostrophe), ^ (little triangular cap) and ` (rightward slanting apostrophe) on top of the magic letter of each word baffles me. Who invented that miniscule detail?!

2. Pronounciation - The "hhhhhh" sound is a killer. Pronounced correctly, it's supposed to sound like a gentle gargle. In my case, it sounds like a bad case of sore throat. Arrrgghhh!

3. Gender - Table is female and hat, male. A dog is always male (even the bitch). So is the cat. Why aren't animals given the right to embrace their own sexuality? And what determines the sex of an inanimate object? God knows. (BTW, God is masculine in French too)

Last lesson cum test next week. I will miss my classmates and teacher when it all ends. *sob*

LIME Flea Market

At the end of a tiring workday in the office, an unexpected e-mail appeared in my mailbox with the following announcement:-

Hello lucky people! We are glad to inform you that you are successful in your application for LIME Flea Market @ *Scape. The details as follows:

Date: 28 Oct 2006 (Saturday)
Time: 1pm to 7pm
Venue: *Scape (behind Orchard Cineleisure)

I'm finally going to set-up my own flea stall! I've been talking about it for ages but it was all talk and no action. Ironically though, I won't be selling my own stuff this time (am helping puppy's momma with her hand-made earrings and necklaces). But I'm excited all the same! :)

Come visit me, y'all! Whether it's to browse, say hi or buy earrings! I promise to give you a discount!!!

Excusez moi, are you a model?

I love the current season of America's Top Model, or Survivors in bikinis, if you like. The show features a bunch of girls pitting their worth to win a modelling contract. Each week, the contestents are put through a series of themed challenges. The judges then contemplate and concur on the "weakest" contestant, and that ill-fated gal is booted from the contest.

What struck me most this season was the disparity between the stronger and the weaker contestants.

First up, we have the tough, "never-say-die" babes like Jade and Neneh. Personally, they scare the shit out of me. They're not in the competition to make friends and they're not afraid to offend. You wanna hate these gals coz they're so arrogant and full of themselves. Yet, there are some admirable traits like self-worth and determination.

In contrast, we have the softer and perceptably weaker gals like Gina and Brook. They are pleasant, sweet and just a tad whiny....but they sincerely want to be your best friend. These gals are the constant butt of derision and mockery. They cry too much, they don't stand up for themselves, they have zilch self-confidence...you get the drift.

Put these 2 classes of personalities together and what do you get? A cat and mouse situation. My question is: Do the strong sub-consciously become bullies, or do the weak let their insecurities and lack of self-worth feed upon themselves?

With these thoughts in my mind, I straighten my back and strutted my way home, to the tune of Rupaul's sashay, shante shante shante. I've never wanted to be a model (for obvious reasons), but tonight, I wanted to feel like a model.

I am a laggard

It's finally happened!

Tempted by and finally succumbing to curiosity, a blog (mine!) is born. I have always pooh-poohed friends who got caught in the blog fever early and swore that I will never have the time nor will I ever be bothered to start something of my own. Well, I prove myself wrong.

So what do I write in my blog? Pour out my sorrows, bitch and complain about people and work, do reviews of movies / songs / food / books or write about this humdrum existence of mine? The possibilities are endless, and I have yet to decide. In fact, I might just do everything, with "bitch and complain" taking the predominant function of my blog *keke*

There are a few reasons which compelled me to start a blog. Here are a couple:-

1. I have too much free time on hand
2. Diaries are passe (and I have bad handwriting)
3. I wanna be hip and cool like my blogger friends
4. I have free & unlimited internet access
5. I need to (desperately) divert my attention from shopping websites

I stare into space...experiencing my first bout of writer's block. Tune in for more musings and ramblings tomorrow. Yeah!