Picnic Basket

So, school’s out. Sort of. I am simply relishing these days when I can watch my TVB serials without (as much) guilt, try out stuff and make Justin my guinea pig (we had steak and asparagus and creamy mushroom soup last week!), shopping idly (oh how I miss that!), read and read (Serene and I braved the Penguin warehouse sale and Justin and I went aboard Duolos the very same day!) and also helping out Sharon at her shop to ooh-ahh over pwetty dresses and comment on (some) gorgeous and (many) annoying customers. Mostly, I am wishing myself back to Ipoh. Soon, soon. Anyway, I was looking at the pictures the lit girls took at MoS and O Bar last Wednesday. Gawd we looked scandalous! But we are not, really, we are not. That is why the pictures are not up here. I looked like a C cup in some of ‘em. Oh and haha, Justin and I went for K-box last night. Quite farnee, two of us, lots of food, and Mandarin and Cantonese and Hokkien and Malay songs. It was fun la, pretty relaxing for both of us as well. *Casey’s Seribu Impian spins in my head still….aaargGHHhhhhh*

I’ve always suspected that I had ADD.

-after one too many mumbled "sorry-s" (instead of excuse-me-s) at a crowded book sale-

"The next time someone tries to pass by and says "sorry", I am going to turn around and tell them "you are forgiven""

- the boyfriend.

Where do I begin?

Saturday night, Little Shop of Horrors with the Dim Sum Dollies with the Lit people:

More than 4 of us la. about 16 of us was more like it. Whoopee.

Though the ending of the musical left me rather disturbed and unsettled. I’d been conditioned to think that most things on stage would result in good beating evil.

It’s during these times when evil prevails that disturbs me.

And anyone else who is tearing their hair out at the office today

p/s Don’t say I never say hor.

I remember the day Papa brought Phing and me to the hospital and asked us to spot you amidst the babies in the nursery.

I remember how easily you’d smile even before you were a month old.  

I remember how much you drooled as a baby. Ugh.

I remember your obsession with Barney.

I remember your perpetual need to arrange my trophies and your VHS tapes, before we even knew why you had that kind of behaviour.

I remember how you made us panic when you climbed the gate while we were looking for you around the house - we thought you could only crawl then.

I remember how much you bawled as a swing hit your head when you were 2 - and how the wound just healed on its on miraculously.

I remember how much you loved your pretty kindergarten teacher. OMG how much I have to blackmail you in the future hur hur.

How much you loved the rhyme "This is the way the ladies ride" and how you are embarrassed by it now.

How you could recognise all cars while I was like "apatu C class S class?"

How you’d wail (as an 18 month old) if mom turned right instead of left at the junction of our old neighbourhood, for left meant downtown while left just meant that we were going to go to the nearby shops.

Your tantrums in the shopping centres.

How we panicked when we lost you (while Phing fainted - what an afternoon!) at Sungei Wang cos you were so little.  

More of your tantrums cos we simply could not understand you and you could not understand us.

How you proudly recited your suku-kata and time tables.

How you brought us much laughter when you were in P1 and nearly failed Moral with hillarious (but logical no doubt) choices in your true/false statements.  

I remember everything. And I am glad that you are beginning to remember your personal experiences as well. And being increasingly independent and considerate and loving. And that you are more responsible for yourself.

And I am glad that I was a more stubborn kid than you ever were/is. 

Happy 12th birthday to Ernie!

That kid had two birthday celebrations - one in KL over the weekend and one in Ipoh today. Ish, I want birthday celebrations like that too!

Milestone: His special tutor says he is perfectly able to learn with other normal kids so he is beginning tuition with a group of regular kids next month!  Self reminder: no more ‘damn’ and ’shit’ in front of him!

Despite the tears, the frustrations, the pain - you have undoubtedly brought much more love and joy to our home. Love you, kiddo.  

The ‘fat is bad’ idea is planted in their assessment books which they pored over labouriously for PSLE in order to get good grades to enter good secondary schools and JCs and subsequently good unis in order for them to secure a good job with a fat salary that would, uh, enable them to sign up for gym memberships and slimming treatment.

Proof, you say?

So this afternoon I was photocopying some stuff at the NIE library and while waiting for the machine to scan my pages, I caught a glimpse of a page the girl next to me was photocopying. The book was a PSLE Chinese comprehension book. That particular page had a comprehension with the following title:

 我减肥成功了！

(translated: I’ve lost weight successfully!)

I mean, you don’t have to do a CDA analysis on that 6 Chinese character to deduce that wow indeed that weight loss is a joyous cause to be celebrated and you, yes you the 12-year-old who probably only began puberty like last year, need to understand that no it is NOT COOL to be fat. In fact, start losing weight now!

 Sorry mom, I am not eating the pork dish. It’d make me fat.

 The thing is, this is not the first time I am encountering this idea in an assessment book. Some time ago back in NUS when I was helping out a friend who was helping the Chinese Department type out Chinese story books for children, I came across a similar story where the little girl in the story was miserable about being fat and when she finally lost weight she became popular and could fit into clothes and similar rubbish.

And we are in the business of moulding the future of the nation indeed.  

Geddit, geddit, geddit?

(Gawd I am as bad as Justin, with my increasing obsession over punny stuff) 

Hush hush:

EH seems to be notorious for an alternative form of sports. Couples have been sighted making out in the rooms, block lounge or even inbathroom cubicles. Take this with a pinch of salt. It’s hear-say.

Taken from The Unofficial NUS Hall Guide by funkygrad.com

Whether this is true or not, it doesn’t matter too much, really. What amuses me is that the equation nearly always as below:

EH=Sex

Hee.

And lovin’ it.

So dinner tonight was….

spaghetti in Prego’s traditional tomato sauce (with generous helpings of mushrooms)

french beans stir fried with onions and mushrooms and lots of black pepper and mixed herbs

*burp*

later in the night….my double boiled mini-scallop+yukchok+wolfberries chicken soup was ready

Amidst DVDs, my novel package and emailing.

Yes, I do pamper myself

Found out that the rest of the NIE Lit people went on to Island Creamery for ice cream and more Balderdashing last night.

So fun!

Am looking forward to our literary-themed party in a couple of weeks time! Yea la we are a bunch of eccentric geeks but it’d be so fun to dress up as…..I can’t decide!

Funky lit teachers hor.

… where I was late for the train

… when cabs somehow did not come into my neighbourhood

… when I barely made it to class (and a test) on time

… when I couldn’t get a module that I really really wanted.

But all was well..

… with a game of Balderdash with the Lit peeps (plumbum - the bottom part of a plum that is moist and juicy. right…)

… an otherwise boring class brought to a fast forward mode with a group activity

… burgers and fries and coleslaw ala Botak Jones

… lots of laughter and nonsense with the Lit people on a Friday evening

until the phone rang.

An hour later. Serene and me. Singapore Indoor Stadium. Red Carpet. Slinky gowns. Tuxedoes. LBDs. Picture perfect makeup. Celebrity-esque figures.

And me in:

- pink "I love my Reese’s" ringer tee

- comfy Mambo jeans

- lok-kok slippers

- only concealer and loose powder

But that’s not the point, cos JERRAINE got us really really good seats for free to watch Notre Dame de Paris!!! Thanks, babe!

AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!

Remember how I was just saying that I wished I had the extra cash to watch it?

We were captivated by the dance choreography - lots of jazz and modern contemporary stuff and oh, oh, get this, hip hop and some breakdancing moves as well!!! Remember that scene in Center Stage where Amanda Schull does like 200 turns/pirouettes in her final scene? Well one of the dancers did a head-spin (what do you call that move where you erm, spin on your head?) like that. It was amazing!

Loved how they engaged the various props with the dances (the fence/partition thing, the bells, the sets), the exuberance which exhibited so much strength and gentleness (刚中带柔， as I shared with Serene), the very very very hot dancer that we gushed so much about in our post-musical evaluation, the singing (oh the prayer-like songs and the love duets) and the singing. And the dancing, oh the dancing.

I won’t be able to stop gushing about the choreography and the dance anyway so I should stop here.

How not to love musicals, you tell me?

Though I have a nagging suspicion that the subtitles did the French lyrics little justice. I mean, seriously…

Up in this tower/The weather is nice ???

In case you were wondering, yes I have a problem with the overrated usage of the word nice. I have forbidden my tuition kids to use that word in their attempts to describe anything.

But I digress.

However, one message that I brought back was this (something like this la)

Can’t we make a world for everyone?/Can’t we make a world/without fear, without frontiers?

Whether we consciously do so, whether we are aware of it, there are many many Quasimodos around us.

Can’t we?

p/s Serene: woo hoo spontaneity rocks!

p/p/s Got this from somewhere but haha…

sgworldmap.jpg

Have a good weekend!