Sunday brunch

Our lovely Sunday brunch at home, consisting of smoked ham, pancakes with maple syrup, sauteed potato and onion and coffee/tea.


I'm thankful my bf is such a great cook! :)

Haven't had an angsty post in a while

My gal pals and I went for drinks at the KPO bar at Somerset after work today. It's been around for a while, and seemed a rather good place to chill out, mainly due to its accessibility.

The place was nice, and thanks to the cool weather, it was no sweat being seated outside. We ate, drank, laughed and made merry. Everything was going pretty well, although the waiters did serve the wrong food and drinks a couple of times here and there. As we were all in a good mood, we did not make a fuss out of it.

The best part came when we asked for the bill. We had ordered 5 beers, 3 glasses of wine and some food. But the bill showed that we ordered 9 beers and 4 glasses of wine. We were like "WHAT?". A waiter came and ran through our ordering sequence and we patiently explained that we did not order the excess. The waiter went back, checked and came back insisting that we did order 9 beers and 4 wines. We held our ground, and he went back, consulted his colleague and the colleague came out to point out our "mistake" again. By then, we were all rather pissed as we've had to explain our story 3 times. And heck, if we really did order the drinks, why would we waste time saying we didn't?

Finally, after 3-4 ding dongs, the colleague came out with the right bill. But he had to "lecture" us about how their system works and continued to insist we did order the drinks we didn't. Seriously. The staff there was inept at taking orders and it wouldn't have been surprising if they had screwed up at their end. But instead of apologising to us, he kept pushing the blame to us. Totally unacceptable service.

Before we left, I told the manager, in no uncertain terms, that I was never coming back to this place again. And I mean it!

Life isn't all Ha Ha Hee Hee

In Singapore, folks are fond of ending off their sentences with a "ha ha", "hee hee" or LOL (laughing out loud). I guess one of the reasons we do that is because the written form of communication via the Internet (MSN, Facebook, email) is getting more pervasive and we've been told that the written word does not emote. Hence, at the risk of sounding too serious or offensive, we type in laughter to lighten the mood. Heck, I'm guilty of this as well! Sometimes, the ha ha hee hee comes in even when something I say isn't meant as a joke. For example:

Friend A: You've got a crooked nose.
Me (obviously pissed): No way, haha (real meaning: buzz off, asshole)
Friend A: Oh yes you do, check yourself out in the mirror.
Me (thinking, what a jerk): Must have bent my nose in my sleep last nite...heee heee (real meaning: I'll punch you in the nose if you go on)

See what I mean? So, never ever take the ha ha hee hees at face value. They're overused out of habit and the hidden meanings get plastered over more often than not. All in the name of avoiding conflict and maintaining good relations. Which isn't a bad thing but when your own feelings are compromised in the process, then what? Perhaps that's why we're always perceived as acquiescent, subservient and obedient.

Other forms of "laughter" used frequently include:

1. Tsk tsk - to express disapproval in an amused manner
Lazy boy: I copied my homework from a nerd in school.
Amused girlfrend: Tsk tsk...

2. Ka ka (my personal favourite) - cackling laughter
Unlucky pedestrian: I got hit by bird shit...
Unsympathetic friend: Ka ka ka...

3. Hur hur (unheard of till today) - similar to ha ha
Funny girl tells a joke.
Amused friend: Hur hur hur...

LOL LOL LOL!

Welcome to the family!

My little family of furniture is not so little anymore! Here are the new additions!

The vintage GE fan that J, Lu and I painstakingly lugged back from BKK to SG. Only to realise, to my chagrin, that one part of the fan was missing. Dad went through the trouble to source for the missing part in remote factories in JB but still the fan could not be assembled due to a "missing" allen key. This "missing" piece was taped to the fan head from the start but I didn't notice it until the fan was fixed up. Anyway, better late than never and ain't it pretty!

The original Artek dining table and upholstered chairs that had to be shipped in all the way from Sweden are now sitting prettily in my house. They are a true embodiment of Scandinavian chic, in my opinion. And best of all, they are all pint sized and fit nicely into my Mickey mouse home.


I got this repro bedside table from Lorgans, for use as a side coffee table in my living room. Initially, I was worried that it would not fit in with the rest of my furniture which were mostly of lighter wood colour. Lorgan the shop owner assured me that if I didn't like it, he could do it up in all-white instead. My worries were unfounded as it proved to be such a delightful little piece that stands out amongst its whiter siblings! And I love love love its graceful pencil legs!

A new woody waste basket.

This is my old yellow bin. It has been with me for as long as I can remember. It has been the source of many cackles and laughs (due to the story associated with it). I can't bear to part with it so it's still in my living room, but eventually, if I can't think of a better use for it, it'll have to go. Sob!

The chef of my abode

P's virgin attempt at making curry chicken and stir-fried veg. They were delicious, though the curry chix was a tad oily!


Our menu is slowly expanding:
- Aglio olio chilli spaghetti
- Beef bolognaise pasta
- Spinach and rocket vinaigrette salad
- Oyster sauce stir fried mix veg (new!)
- Curry chicken with bread (new!)

My kitchen sink is definitely not prepared for heavy duty washing after each meal. It is choked again...bleh!

Daylight robbery

P parked his car at the Cairnhill Place carpark today. We got in at 3.30pm and got out at 11pm. Our eyes popped when we saw the amount deducted from his cash card. It was a whopping $24!!!

We were both speechless for a while, like WTF! The moment I got home, I did a quick search on the Internet. Here's what I found:

Cairnhill Place
Mon-Fri
7am-4.59pm $1.50 per 1/2 hr
5pm-6.59am: $3.50 for 1st 3 hrs; $1.50 for sub. ½ hr

Sat
Same as wkdays

A simple calculation will tell you that we were grossly overcharged.

3.30pm to 5pm - 3 blocks of ½ hr x $1.50 = $4.50
5pm to 8pm - $3.50
8pm to 11pm - 6 blocks of ½ hr x $1.50 = $9
Total = $17

$17 is expensive enough as it is, but $24!! I did a quick search on forums and realised that others have been cheated the same way because an entry before 5pm did not entitle you to the "$3.50 for 1st 3 hours", i.e. you will be charged $9 instead for 6 blocks of ½ hr. Total BULLSHIT!

I'm urging P to call and complain, in fact make as much noise as possible. And we are definitely boycotting this carpark with its exorbitant charges going forward! In fact, I was telling P that taking a bus from my place to Orchard and back costs only $4 for 2 pax. And the trip takes 15min each way. We're 500% aware of this but we still persist on driving into Orchard and incurring ERP and parking fees every time! Bleh, guess we learn best through the hard and expensive way.

It came and went

Funny, the crush on V.W. (Vanness Wu) went as quickly as it hit me. LOL I still think he's cute but I no longer have the desire to stalk him in Taipei. I'm sure a few people are breathing sighs of relief as they're reading this.

I haven't been updating my blog as often as I used to. It just dawned on me that nothing exciting has happened to me since I moved into my new place. I'm just blissfully chilling out and though that's a great feeling, it's nowhere blog-worthy. Recently, CX brought me shopping at Square 2 and I realised that all the time, I'd been shopping for clothes at the wrong places. Seriously, there is a myriad of small boutiques selling nice working dresses at really reasonable prices! I bought 3 over 2 days. What an achievement! And then last night, I got my stash of ASOS clothes that I ordered last week. It was somewhat disappointing. Guess I'll be laying off ASOS.com for a while.

Am looking forward to my trip to Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary though I haven't been planning at all. I really should start, considering that the trip's just slightly a month over away. I hope it'll be fun, especially since Mae will be joining us for a couple of days in Budapest!

Things around the house have been going wonky of late. Like the kitchen sink that got choked and my radio controlled clock that has gone out of sync. My dining set arrived safe and sound and it's really pretty! In fact, I'm blogging from my laptop that now sits happily on the table instead of getting chucked from corner to corner. My next want is a petite coffee table and I just might have found THE ONE (although it's a tad pricey).

I've also been entertaining thoughts of taking an extended no-pay leave in May. I guess, at the end of the day, money really isn't everything and I could do with some free time to pitter-patter around the house. Maybe even get down to some ironing, exercise, baking or cooking. Sounds like fun already! Do I continue to dream, or make it reality?

Too cool

I have a crush on

VANNESS WU!

I've been hooked on a Taiwanese romance drama - Autumn's Concerto. The drama stars Vanness Wu of F4 fame and two other pretty but unimportant female leads. In the past, much to the disgust of my friends, I thought Vanness was the hippest, cutest and coolest among the Flower Fours (F4). Although he did have ugly rebonded hair then.

The story is a typical melodramatic tale of rich spoilt bad boy/playboy turned good after falling in love with a simple and poor girl. Of course, rich guy's momma opposed the relationship but the couple persisted, until he was diagnosed with brain tumour and had to undergo an operation. The evil momma forced the girl to leave him after he entered the operating theatre. The spurned girl left to hide in a small village and discovered that she was with child (of course it had to be his).

Predictably, after the op, bad boy lost all traces of his memory and past life and started life afresh with the help of the hospital director's daughter. He eventually fell in love with her and became a successful but heartless lawyer. 6 years after the op, certain circumstances took him to the little village his ex was staying. He met his kid (but he didn't know he was the daddy) and a natural bond was created immediately. After spending time in the village, he started getting flashbacks of his past life and it was not until the day of his wedding with the director's daughter that he fully recovered his memory.

He broke the engagement off to be with his ex but their journey together was fraught with lies and misunderstandings. At the end of the day, like all other romance serials, they overcame all odds and lived happily ever after.

Awwww, so sweet right. Vanness looked seriously gorgeous in the show. And now I'm behaving like an infatuated school girl with a great urge to stalk Vanness in Taipei. Madness! MUST snap out of this!!!