i need a break

oh dear. i seem to be saying that i need a break very frequently nowadays. why? i have no idea.

i just feel burnt out. too many things to do, too little time to relax. i’m getting sufficient sleep but i don’t feel rested. i’m seeing dearest a lot but i don’t feel a lot of intimacy.

i think i need a few days of undisturbed break. no need to think about household chores, no work, no worrying about red numbers, no reminders of how fat and old i look, no wasting time online, none of all these lousy things.

just sleep late, have a nice sinful lunch, snuggle under the blanket in an air con room, watch a stupid comedy, nap, have a leisurely dinner, drink a light cocktail, hold hands and have a stroll under the moon and stars, snuggle in bed again and wonder off to a peaceful sleep, knowing that i can sleep late again the next day.

ya. i wish.
it won’t happen. not so soon anyway.

i need to stop daydreaming. life goes on. ya? sigh…

look on the bright side – tomorrow is tai tai day!
hopefully i will feel totally recharged after that!

it’s a wonderful monday

part 1:

dearest called me when i was at work.
D: i miss you
K: why did you wake up so early?
D: i woke up cos i was missing you so much

awww…..

part 2:

checked my hotmail after putting down the phone with dearest.
dearest wrote me a note:

thanks my love..
appreciate wat u have done for me…
love u..
u must have been bored at home the whole day..
so sorry..
i believe the day will come..
the day where we can happily enjoy ourselves with my family..
really feel bad when i saw wat u wrote..
i really owe u alot..
trust me.. we will work hand in hand towards it..
and i will return everything i owe u k??
 
will repay u back tml…
i’ve won some money..
where u want to go tml?
 i “fong pei dao di” haha..
once again..u r the best.. 
love u..

that was in response to my earlier post about how he was away at the turf club while i was home rotting away.

reading it brought tears to my eyes.
my dearest is always the sweetest.
dearest, you can’t run away now – i will hold you to your words! muahahaha…

31st July – Tai Tai Day

i’m looking forward to this day.
phyllis and i will be taking a day’s leave from work and pamper ourselves.

12 noon: lunch at jaan – french fine-dining
3 pm: spa (for phyllis) and facial (for me) at body wellness
5 pm: pedicure at celebrity nails

doesn’t it sound great?

and did i not mention that phyllis is treating me to lunch?
and i have pre-paid packages at body wellness and celebrity nails.
so i will be a tai tai without having to bring any cash or credit card that day!

and this generous friend of mine has even offered to pay for dinner if her budget allows.
aww… let me treat you to dinner, phyllis…

it’s going to be a great week!

exhilirating moment (but otherwise ultra boring)

it’s a boring boring boring sunday.

dearest came by to bring me fulfil another craving of mine – bak chor mee.

and then he left for the day. it’s an exciting day for him – going to the turf club.

me? poor me stayed at home to finish some work. boring!

the only exciting part came during evening time, when dearest’s daddy’s horse is scheduled to race.

the horse is not the hot favorite. 99% of the predictions goes to another horse. even my daddy insists this horse won’t win.
so the race starts. oh no… i can’t see the horse anywhere! it’s hidden among the other horses! how to make a breakthrough like that?
suddenly from no where, it appeared. in second place behind the hot favorite.
in a split second, it sped up. and overtook the hot favorite!
wow! it won!

exhilirating.

my daddy has nothing to say. hahaha…

and yeah, for the 2nd time, i see dearest on tv.

so now they are… celebrating their big win.

daddy asks me why am i not there to join in the fun? all i can say was “i don’t like it”.
sigh… how do i tell daddy that the truth is they won’t welcome me?

oh, never mind… must look on the bright side. i won some money!

otherwise, it is an ultra boring sunday… lalalalala…

lazy saturday – again

dearest finally called!

apparently he was out working since early morning while i was home sound asleep. hahaha… lazy me.

he came and fetch me and we went out for lunch – not bak chor mee cos it’s closed already but big prawn noodle! yummy! with the ngor hiang… was a great fulfilling lunch!

then we went to do some grocery shopping – rice and dog food for the doggie.

and headed back home to nua.

and nua did we. from 4 plus to 9 plus. just nua-ing – watching tv, falling asleep, watching tv…

then went out for dinnner. at almost 10pm – where to find dinner? dearest has craving for western food (or rather, non-chinese food, wah… nan de leh!). but so late le… most restaurants are closed, no?

we ended up at cafe iguana. the perfect dinner place! why? because i have been craving for this for a few weeks! yippeee!

then we took a walk around clarke quay… watching people dressed up to go clubbing. i think dearest kind of missed clubbing. hmm, not that i disallow (i used to be upset, but ok with it now), but more like he has no one to club with. i think he miss being young and carefree! haha… being stuck with me all the time is making him feel old and dreary… oopss…

it was a good night. another pak-tor session.

it’s saturday!

finally the weekend is here.

it’s been a crazy week. meetings and meetings (see my previous update), and the bosses pile additional work to me. didn’t have time to drink enough water. didn’t have enough sleep.

so, it started with a scratchy throat on wed early morning. so i woke up and quickly took some propolis, hoping it would soothe my throat. then the day goes by, with 1 glass of water and 1 piece of pizza. ta-da… woke up with an inflamed throat the next day.

so yeah, started with a scratchy throat, then inflamed throat, then thick sticky mucus, then dry cough, and the latest update today is yellow/greenish phlegm. so yeah, the cough it back. i can visualize the next month – 3 visits to the doctor, 3 different kinds of cough mixture, dry cough evolving to cough with lots of phlegm, phlegm colour changing from yellow to pale yellow to clear and runny to clear and sticky. sigh, just thinking of it sucks. but i’m sure i have learnt something from the last episode, so this time i will try everything to shorten the torture.

no chicken, no cold drinks, and no fried food! i must persevere!

anyway, i was really tired last night and dearest had to leave me to sleep early. so sorry dear!
but i woke up today really refreshed. and for a moment, my throat no longer felt inflamed. in fact i felt perfect! but it didn’t last for long. haha. oh, never mind….

oh, and you know what? after i bought the surrendered wife for sheena, i’ve been lemming for it myself. but i couldn’t find it in most bookstores (didn’t go back to borders cos was never in town lately). yesterday dearest bought it for me! the exact same book (there are 2 different covers)! and gift-wrapped! yippee… now i not only have a great book for bedtime reading, i am also on the route to be a (even) better girlfriend (and wife to be). look out for the transformation in me! hahaha…

and we went to ikea! wow… i have been like craving for meatballs and spaghetti for ages! we had a great meal. me – 8 meatballs, a children-sized spaghetti and a chicken wing (yeah, last chicken for me until i recover from the cough). dearest – nasi padang with a huge drumstick, fish, and dunno what (i was too engrossed in my own food to see what he was eating. haha), 2 meatballs, and a chicken wing. woohoo… satisfaction!

after dinner we went to grab some ikea sale items.

black side table for my laptop and occasionally dinner at home. $19.90. not on sale but still cheap cheap.

We didn’t plan to buy this. but it was so cute. it’s for kids actually but i can fit into it (for now anyway. dearest laughs at me and insists i will outgrow it soon) and it is low enough to match the side table. was a great buy! $19.00 only.

this was the thing which was on the shopping list. my current laundry bag is breaking apart and i wanted to buy a real sturdy one. the cloth bag means that it won’t break apart unlike my current plastic one. and it’s wooden, and has got wheels! i thought i could actually push it out to the kitchen for convenience until we fixed it (yeah, dearest fixed it all up. it has got like 60 spare parts?) and realized it is too big to maneuver around in my little room. oh well… and the best thing about this is: it is selling for $19! it’s original price was $49!

we also bought a red digital weighing scale (hear this: $9.90 only!) which tells me that i weight 40.4kg. yippee…, and a red wastepaper basket at $3 and 2 frosted plastic bookends at $0.90 each.

happy with my loots!

it’s now close to 1pm and dearest haven’t called me. i’m hungry! where is he? hahaha… i want to eat bak chor mee! then i’ll come home, do laundry, finish off some work, and clean the room. and it’s going to be a perfect saturday.

i must blog about this

actually, it’s nothing exciting – not to you anyway.

it’s 2am in the morning and i need to get up at 7am in 5 hours’ time but i feel i should blog about some things before it gets too outdated.

i have been absolutely busy this week. attended a meeting from 8.30 to 6.30 on Monday, non-stop except for a 40 min lunch break and a couple of 10 min toilet break. then headed to sg flyer where we arranged a get-together with the senior managers and only reached home about 11.30pm.

the next day, started work from 8.30. worked non-stop in isolation and with concentration, and only knocked off at close to 8pm.

and the best thing is, despite my neglect for dearest, he showed me that he truly understands. and he not only waited for me patiently while i worked on tue (he waited for 2 hours! in the car! poor him…), he also encouraged me, brought me to dinner, and helped me run errands! i was really touched and deep down in my heart, i appreciated him a lot. unfortunately, i didn’t quite expressed how i felt to him because i was just so tired and stressed from work. thank god you understand, my dearest.

dearest needed me to help him with something. and he patiently waited for me to make time for him, without realising that i have another company event on wed night. when i told him about it on mon night, he was shocked. but he was so gracious that he didn’t make any fuss out of it and even encouraged me to attend, knowing that it will help to relieve my stress.

today i woke up at 6 and attended a meeting from 8.30 to 5. with a 35 min lunch (1 slice of warm pizza!) and three 5 min toilet breaks. before attending the evening event, he called me several times and reminded me to take care of myself.

that’s my dearest. so ever considerate, so ever loving and so ever encouraging.

tomorrow i am finally taking half day leave to help my dearest. although i won’t be able to see him tomorrow afternoon, knowing that i am able to be of help to him drives me on.

dearest, for all your love, i will definitely reciprocate in other ways. what will i be without you? you will always be my one and only love.

ps: dearest got an A- for both CCM & MRP. wonderful isn’t it! continue to work hard!

sweet dreams all…

ma maison & dhl balloon

went for our weekly badminton session. followed by the long-awaited swim! finally have a chance to use all the brand new swim gear which i bought last week.

i can still swim – as bad as last week. haha. dearest says that my legs look retarded. i still dunno what to do with my legs. frog-style, and i kick my legs out, but can’t bring them back. so i just kick them out and leave them straight, then kick them out again. only my arms are doing the work. duh.

well, if i really can’t master the legs, i’ll continue to swim the wrong way, and at least be able to tone my arms and shoulder. ya?

after 3 hours of exercise, all of us were famished. headed to bugis for ma maison. along the way, saw so many steamboat outlets and we were really tempted to eat. buffet style mah, can eat until we drop. haha. thought of giving 川一品 a try. but the waiter sucked big time. so we left and proceeded with the usual plan. on the way to ma maison, we passed by seoul garden. then we realized we have the craving for it. stood outside both shops and couldn’t make up our mind. so embarassing. haha. in the end we went with ma maison.

pictures again:

cosy table setting at ma maison. the whole place is rather dainty, done up like an European cottage.

couple of couple shots while waiting for the food. can you tell that we are famished? i guess not…

our appetizers: chasoba salad and escargots. i tell you, i have eaten chasoba salad thrice and it never fails me. it’s fantastic! truly opens up one’s appetite! the escargots are great too. fragrant garlicky butter taste.

my main dish – pasta with fish roe. nice. having it for the 2nd time (yeah, you can say i am not adventurous or you can say this dish is just too good). it’s not on the menu so you will have to check with the waitress.

tonkatsu to share. i never liked tonkatsu so i didn’t try but the rest loved it! the veg & potato salad was great too.

this is jackson’s main dish, one of their star sellers: Beef Stroganov with Omurice. he found it rather bland, but i think i will try it the next time! runny omelette over butter rice and beef steak stewed and cut into small pieces. yummy!

dearest’s main dish. similar to sheena’s. not sure what it is called but it’s a hamburger steak submerged in piping hot brown sauce (or in dearest’s case, sichuan sauce) with either pasta or bean sprouts. both found it too salty. thank goodness i didn’t order that!

last but not least, desserts! muah chee with green tea and vanilla ice cream with red beans! served in an ice bowl! we had fun trying to chop the ice to pieces. haha

and then, it’s time to head for the DHL balloon!
more pictures!

the majestic parkview square, my workplace for a year.

our tickets to the DHL balloon. psst… it’s FOC!

we had to wait for 45 min before our turn. so we took some pics. in actual fact, dearest slept for a good 20 mins.

the balloon that is descending before our turn.

can you guess what this is? some kind of motif? guess again? it’s actually the aerial view of the beer garden at DHL balloon. we are ascending up up up!

the ride upwards was a little scary. dearest has a little fear for heights and he was like holding on to the rails with both of his hands. hahaha… ahem… me too lar…

top of parkview square.

bugis street, with the help of digital zoom

7th storey hotel. see the crowded tables? those are hungry people with the delicious hainanese steamboat with chicken rice. the cars are parked right at the grass patch. this picture may make it to history collection in future!

the shophouses at liang seah, tan guee lan etc.

national library

the DHL balloon rises 150m above ground, approx 40 storeys high. the first few minutes was scary when we heading up. but once we are up there, we were happily admiring the scenary, we forgot the fears. we could see parkway and bayshore from bugis! and even the few point blocks in bedok south. too bad the view of the durian structure and is blocked.

it was a short 10 min ride. which we had to wait for 45 min in the sun for. if you ask me, i wouldn’t spend almost 30 bucks on the ride. it’s definitely much more enjoyable when it is FOC!

ayam penyet & ice cream

on saturday, dearest & i met up with alfred & nicholas for dinner. we had a hard time deciding where to go for dinner. the choice was between ayam penyet at marine parade, astons at katong & claypot rice at geylang. in the end we agreed on ayam penyet.

it was the first time dearest is having ayam penyet and i think he quite like it!

i’ll let pictures do the talking…

the drinks which we ordered. from left to right: avocado juice, happy juice, ice chendol.
i had the avocado juice, which tasted great! loved it. dearest had happy juice. guess what is it? we think it is raspberry fizz with coconut milk. or something like that. alfred and nicholas both had the chendol. nicholas didn’t like his drink, so dearest exchanged with him. and nicholas loved the happy juice very much! he says he feels really happy after drinking it. hahaha…

 

supposed to be mee soto. but there is no mee, only tang hoon. and it tasted too salty. we didn’t finish it.

 

gado-gado. not bad. cleared the plate.

 

and the main dish! ayam penyet! not bad. the chicken was tender on the inside (if you are lucky and got the thigh) and crispy on the outside. the tau gua was nice as well. but the fermented beans took some getting used to. the star of the dish is actually the sambal chili. but too bad, i have almost zero tolerance for chili so i can’t comment on it.

 

alfred ordered this: ayam panggang. haha… i tot it was a funny name. pang-gang means finish work in hokkien. chicken finish work? hmm… sounds so geylangy… haha

 

and there… we finished almost everything. except for the mysterious looking soto. total damage for 4 pax: $40.20

interested to check out this place for yourself? here are the details: Waroeng Penyet. 81 Marine Parade Central #01-638 Marine Parade Promenade. it’s air-conditioned!

 next, we went for desserts.
the place: 520 East Coast Road #01-06 (Ocean Park)
Tel: 64466355
the shop: ice cream chefs
i read about this place online and visited their blog. so i was able to guide dearest to the private parking in ocean building.

step one: stop at the carpark gantry
step two: search for the red button
step three: search for the unit number (which is 0106)
step four: press the red button followed by 0106
step five: wait but nothing happens
step six: shouts “i want to eat ice cream!”

and voila! the barrier raises! LOL. all of us in the car was laughing furiously. in case you misunderstand, step six is totally unnecessary, so pls do not try it the next time. unless you wan to impress your date by being humorous!

the flavours in the shop vary each day. so if you are looking for the special flavours such as horlicks or red ruby etc, you can call and check what they are offering before heading down.

the special flavours that day were lychee, milo peng, kaya (ya… strange right? they say it tastes just like the real kaya straight from the fridge!), black sesame seed, D24 durian, red ruby and apple+cinnamon.

no horlicks… sad…

the selling point of ice cream chefs, apart from its special flavours, are that you get to select from a huge variety (like 25 to 30?) of what they call mix-ins. they are like toppings, except that the staff will crush and mix your selected goodies into the ice cream.

 

i had the durian, mixed with banana nut crunch (the pic above). dearest chose milo peng mixed with malteasers. alfred had the black sesame seed ice cream with brownie. and nicholas has a combi of what dearest and alfred had – milo peng with brownie.

it was all good… especially mine. everyone loved it.

there – a simple weekend of new foods.

not so dilemma

an update to my dilemma.

i have decided to take the first step to a possible change in my life.
with blessings from dearest and friends.
whether or not this first step will be followed by the next step is not important.
what’s important is that i tried, that i am willing to move away from my comfort zone.

apologies for sounding so cryptic as it’s a sensitive issue for now.
to concerned friends, nope i am not thinking of letting another man replace dearest (though dearest seemed to wish otherwise *hammer* hahaha).
too bad dearest, you are still stuck with me.

dilemma

my adult life has been devoid of changes.
it has been fairly constant and smooth-sailing (minus the losing of a loved one).
despite the occasional grousing, i have been contented.

so what happens when there appears to be an opportunity to inject some changes in my life?

with all the unknowns, should i or should i not?
try or not try?
yes or no?

if i give it a try, will it turn out to be good?
will i regret?

is this dilemma a problem? or a happy problem?

so many questions. no answers.
i need time to ponder.

and swimming begins from today

announcing the completion of my swimming gear collection!

venue: parkway parade
participants: dearest & myself
agenda: acquire swimming gear

mission accomplished!
my loots: arena swim wear – dark blue body with cobalt blue stripes, arena swim cap – dark blue & arena googles – black.
total damage: $89.95

happy happy happy!

so, when are we going swimming? tomorrow?

ps: bought the swim cap not because i’m acting pro but because i need to protect my scalp from the harmful chlorine. otherwise i will turn botak really soon.

pps: i don’t know how to put on the swim cap! and i resorted to searching for videos on youtube on “how to wear swim cap”. hahaha… and the best part is, i still don’t know how!

i am a spoilt brat

i was impatient towards dearest this morning.

he called me after his class 4 practical lesson and sounded very down. then he wanted to say something but stopped mid-way. so i asked him to complete his sentence. it was about some form to be filled in, which i guess he needed my help in. but i was clueless about it so i can’t help much. he continued to be down.

i didn’t understand why he was so down over the matter and tried to talk him out of it. but i was not using the right tone. so it pissed dearest even further. we kind of bickered a little. then i tried to give in and cheer him up. which didn’t work. we ended up ending the call rather coldly.

not sure what got into me but i was upset and sent him an sms saying that it was a bad start to the day (kind of implying that he spoilt my day). i was expecting him to be really angry with me after the sms. but after some time, he called me. and spoke nicely to me, explained the situation. and guess what? he apologized.

i am such a spoilt brat.

the whole thing was my fault really. i should have been patient with him. i should have remembered that men like to be left alone when they are down. i shouldn’t have kicked a fuss out of things. i was regretful after i sent the sms but dearest actually took the initiative to make peace. and apologized for something when he was not in the wrong.

sigh…
i don’t know what have gotten into me this morning. especially after i was thinking to myself how much i love dearest last night. it’s definitely not PMS but i feel moody this morning. i don’t want to make excuses myself but i suspect i was acting like this in the morning because i was stressed over work. yup, that must be the reason.

still, i am in the wrong.

to dearest: i’m sorry. you are the greatest ever boyfriend and i really do cherish you a lot. thank you for putting up with my nonsense from time to time. you know i don’t mean to be mean, right? you know i still love you more than anything else in the world right? i promise to be good. you promise to be patient with me always ok?

to self: stop being a spoilt brat! where else can you find such a wonderful man who takes care of you and dotes on you so much! better go and read “the chicken and the duck” and “the surrendered wife” asap!

and you know what? after the nonsense from me this morning, dearest is coming to pick me up from work and we are going to shop for swimming gear! see? i am truly blessed. and i should never take it for granted.

dearest, spoilt brat says sorry, and love you forever. thank you for loving me.

just some ramblings

i have the urge to go swimming, jogging and play badminton!

been working hard these couple of weeks. and the worst thing is, i haven’t seen dearest for 2 days. so hope to see him tomorrow but i’m not sure whether i can finish my work without having to work late.

dearest, can we go shopping for new swimming gear and can you bring me swimming soon?

now i realise that one can actually not only get used to exercising, but also be addicted!

oh, and side-track a little, last night i dreamt that i was in taiwan with mummy & daddy! even dearest was there for a short while… oh… i really miss dearest…

one month more

countdown to our 6th year anniversary!
1 more month and we would have spent 6 years together!
6 years – more than one quarter of dearest’s life…

wow…

an encouraging teacher + a bright student (?)

i have always been a bright student (ahem… so thick skinned). but only in the academic sense. ok ok, i’m not the scholar type, nor did i go to med or law sch. in fact, i only achieved a merit pass in my bachelor degree. and you can definitely tell from my blog entries that my command of english is only average.

but well (let me show off a bit lar), i came in 2nd in both my class and school in pri 2. i passed the first round in the selection of gifted students (so am i considered semi-gifted? haha). apart from pri 3 (my rebellious year), my placing in school is usually within the top 10. and finally, i scored 3 As & 1 A* for my PSLE.

i didn’t do so well in secondary school. but then, all the students in my school are smarter than me! i probably had the lowest PSLE score among all. the pressure was so intense. subconciously, i think i decided to give up studying and concentrate on exceling in band. my prelim results were terrible but luckily i managed to do well enough to go to junior college.

in junior college, i found my forte in accounting and econs and breezed through both subjects as well. 2 As and 1 B put me through to accountancy in NTU.

NTU was bad for me as well. totally undisciplined to study. luckily back then there was no gpa system. otherwise i may not have found a job with average scores of Cs (and a couple of Ds). did you notice the pattern? good-bad-good-bad… i decided that i only excel in an environment where i can easily outshine others. put it another way, i only continue to work hard when i am already better than others. if i realise that i am only average, i begin to “de-prove”. what a sucky mentality right?

ok, enough of the boastfulness (wah, feel so shiok. haha). so you see, i do pretty fine at academic exams. but all other tests/skills that require physical strength or motor skills etc, i fail terribly.

when i was young, i hated playing hide and seek. cos i always lose. if the kids race, i will never win. if we play catching, i will always get caught. i never take part in ball games. i hate to compete in sports. in secondary school, when my friends all play volleyball, i will just sit around and watch. on the rare occasions that i play, my wrists will swell and turn blue-black.

i did not know how to cycle. and i did not know how to swim.

until dearest entered my life.

i have tried to learn cycling before. but i always failed. too afraid of falling. in the 1st or 2nd year of our relationship, dearest taught me how to cycle. and i succeeded within an hour. i guess it was because i trusted that dearest will never let me fall and hurt myself.

we weren’t so successful with swimming. i do not fear water but no matter how hard i tried in the past, i can never coordinate my arms, legs, head and breathing. after a few half-hearted tries, we gave up.

today after the usual badminton session with sheena & jackson, we went swimming. the water was so freezing cold that i attempted my ugly un-coordinated freestyle-wannabe swim to the other side of the pool to warm up the body. and strangely i felt that i could swim – all because i could keep my head above the water all the time. so i told this to dearest casually. and dearest decided to teach me how to swim again.

and voila! after a few tries, i could swim! even sheena and jackson said i was swimming! obviously i couldn’t swim very well yet. but at least i am getting the strokes right. i am no longer ‘drowning’ and i am no longer in the same spot despite splashing around in the water. though i admit a lot of water went into my nose during the process.

isn’t dearest wonderful? sheena said to dearest that she thinks he can be a teacher. because he is really patient and encouraging. like how he is during our badminton sessions.

i have to admit i am really very slow when it comes to learning sports. it took me several months of badminton to understand that the arms should be lifted high up when hitting the shuttle cock. and how to use strength. and how to hit it when it falls lower so that it doesn’t volley over. etc etc… i still have a lot to learn but what keeps me going is the constant encouragement from dearest. sometimes he nag that i am doing it the wrong way. but most times he will say “good ball”. and that motivates me to improve further. it’s the same thing with swimming. he teaches patiently and he assures me that he will be there if i struggle. when i did the strokes right, even if it is just 2 or 3 strokes, he tells me that i am doing it right and urges me on. he patiently stands at one end and wait for me to reach him while he looks at my strokes. and when i reach him, he hugs me to tell me that it was great.

isn’t dearest fantastic? now you know why i love him so much despite the difficulties?
because dearest is a gem!

oh, and perhaps dearest can seriously consider to be a teacher. haha… sports teacher maybe. but then he will get to meet many young meimeis… hmm… cannot. forget the idea. HAHAHA…

I CAN SWIM! yippee!!
(but i will still drown if i fall into deep water… one step at a time ok… tan seng tan seng…)

red cliff

just came back from downtown east watching red cliff aka 赤壁

before i watched the show, i have heard that it was a big production and the usual hype about lin ziling & tony leung and their intimate scenes. but that was about it. i didn’t know that it was about war in ancient china. not until i heard FM933 a couple of days ago and one of the DJs gave a good review. i have enjoyed the various chinese war movies earlier (battle of wits, warlords, three kingdoms etc) so i thought i would enjoy red cliff as well.

i have this strange habit of not wanting to know anything about a movie that i am watching beforehand. i don’t want to have any expectations of it. i want to be able to be surprised by the movie. it is no different with red cliff. imagine my surprise when i realised that the movie was about three kingdoms – too (ya i know i sua-ku but i don’t read three kingdoms. u can ask me about cao cao and liu bei 3 days later and i will forget who is the bad guy!) i mean, three kingdoms by andy lau was just a recent movie. and red cliff is about this as well? hmm…

anyway, it was a great show. 2.5 hr long but not draggy (except for maybe the tiger part). and there are actually several scenes where it feels like a comedy! do you remember that takeshi didn’t speak a lot in warlords (大哥是对的) but in red cliff, he not only speaks a lot, his lines are humorous as well! i find his facial expressions pretty funny, not sure whether he was the perfect man for the role.

there were a few minor parts which i don’t understand because they were using such chim language and i don’t have the background knowledge of three kingdoms but i was truly enjoying the show. finally both sides gathered at red cliff and are planning for the big war…. *note: spoiler alert (if you do not already know it). highlight the next paragraph to read it otherwise skip it*

4 words flashed on the screen: 赤壁之战. in a split second after seeing these 4 words, i thought of 2 things. 1st, finally the main scene is here. 2nd, how come movie will flash words, like powerpoint presentation? then, within the next split second, another set of words flashed: to be continued. huh! i was like still waiting for something else to happen, thinking this was another gimmick or something. then the credits started rolling. dearest and i looked at each other in bewilderment. did we catch the right movie? isn’t the movie titled 赤壁? then how come it didn’t show the battle at red cliff? hahahaha…. we “huh?” at each other to and fro several times. so tell me, if anyone of you know, when is the sequel going to be shown? will there be one sequel or 2? so strange…

oh, and both dearest and i though this guy was handsome. he plays the role of 赵子龙 (andy lau’s role in three kingdom) and his real name is 胡军

he doesn’t really look that handsome in this poster. you have to see it for yourself in the movie.

of durians & farts

dearest and i are having this mini durian craze.

i have always loved durians but in recent years i have almost stopped eating them because they never fail to give me huge acne filled with pus a couple of days after consumption. on the day before fathers’ day, i offered my daddy some durian puff from goodwood park hotel. my dad scorned at them and said that he wouldn’t mind to eat if they were real durians. so i got my dearest to buy good quality durians for daddy on fathers’ day itself. so dearest spent close to $100 for 6 durians. how can my dad finish all 6 durians right? so dearest and i joined in the fun. oh… it was then that i realised i missed durians. why did i give up such good durians? and the best thing was, 2 days after fathers’ day, i was still pimple-free!

a couple of weeks ago, i chanced uopn this blog entry about durians and was pretty intrigued by the shop name and look. most durian stalls look the same – rows and rows of durians, bright lights, wooden tables and plastic chairs scattered messily – and they are mostly found along geylang. this featured shop is different. check out it’s name (not many durian stalls have a name!) “Four Seasons Durian Cafe”. wow… sounds like a hotel, and cafe sounds hip! and the signboard looks pro! classy, definitely not like the typical durian stall. in the blog, the different types and characteristics of different durians were described. from the blog itself, i was able to eliminate the types which i knew i will dislike!

so earlier this week, we made a trip down to this stall which is located at joo chiat place (off still road). there was no parking available so we parked in one of the lanes named after tropical fruits (rambutan, mangis, chiku etc) and walked there. i was amazed at the crowd. it was a weekday but the place is buzzing with customers. there are like more than 20 tables and almost all were occupied. the scale of the operations is so big, i bet they have at least 12 or 15 workers. the staff there are quite friendly and if the durians that they open do not suit your liking, you can always choose another one.

so anyway, we chose the XO D24 at first. $15 per kg. i tasted it and found it not bitter enough. so the guy opened mao shan wang instead. i dislike sweet and creamy durian. love bitter and watery ones instead. so i chose the first one. at the same time, dearest asked whether they have XO. turns out that it is all sold out already.

the durian was alright. would have been better if it was more bitter though.

and guess what? we went there again yesterday! this time, we asked for the XO straight away. there were only a few left. @ $20 per kg, it was really expensive but it was delightfully bitter! seeing that it was much smaller than XO D24 in size, i was greedy and we bought 2 XO. $40 in total. only when we started eating did we realise that unlike XO D24, XO has really tiny seeds, which means that there are a LOT of flesh! so we had quite a hard time finishing them.

XO durians are not for those who like sweet durians. XO are extremely bitter. and i believe they are the one which are most foul smelling. i love! the more bitter and smellier the better! dearest complained that it smelled bad while he was eating! hahaha… poor him… have to accomodate to my tastes.

the down side of eating durians (other than growing huge angry pimples) is the breath! strictly no kissing! haha… anyway, we were driving home after the durian session and i asked dearest: did you just fart? and dearest replied: nope. i burped. *faint* i have smelled many types of burps – the chicken rice burp, the bak chor mee burp, the brandy burp, and the durian burp! but it was the first time that i have smelled the supposed-to-be-durian-burp-but-turned-out-to-be-fart-burp! i swear it absolutely smells like fart! yup, that’s how smelly the durians were…

if you love durian, give this place a try. the service is not bad! but if you are not a hard-core durian lover, never buy the XO! try the mao shan wang instead ok…

i wan to eat XO again!

ok, better stop writing now, dearest is coming to fetch me to watch red cliff… ta…

quick one before sleeping

it’s almost midnight. i should be sleeping but there’s this urge to blog even if nothing much has been happening lately.

was supposed to meet up with sheena & jackson for dinner tonight but they couldn’t make it. so dearest and i went for dinner ourselves. at LJS.

after dinner and some window-shopping, dearest brought me to buy chicken essence again. have been drinking a bottle everyday for the week and i think i do feel more energetic (though these couple of days have been a little giddy – could be due to stress, or the ear imbalance is back). so anyway dearest insisted to buy more chicken essence for me to stock up.

we took 5 boxes (3 for me, 2 for his mama) and dearest started to bargain with the auntie. there is an offer going on – 10% discount for 3 boxes and above. dearest asked do we get 20% off if we buy 6 bottles and the auntie goes into a mini speech about yes but only if the company has such a promotion, blah blah. so dearest switched topic and asked whether there are any other tonics for me to cur emy headaches. and the auntie told dearest my headache will go away if he is less naggy. hahaha… quite funny. but she was just joking lar… cos dearest was pestering her for more discounts.

the chicken essence cost dearest $80+. as we were leaving, the auntie introduced lingzhi cracked spores capsules to us. goes into a looong lecture about its benefits and promotion etc etc. we listened patiently but i kinda switched off after a while. to my surprise, dearest bought it! $120! i told dearest it was expensive, don’t spend this kind of money. and he said never mind, treat it as a form of investment. hahahahaha… dearest is truly well-trained. i taught him this concept of seeing all his money and efforts spent on me as investment. the returns of this investment will be ME! attractive right? hahahaha…

put it simply, dearest care for me.

oh, we originally wanted to buy this for sheena a couple of months ago, thinking that it will help improve her health. in the end we didn’t buy because we were afraid there will be side effects (and we don’t wan to bring other health issues to her!). people have observed that in the initial days of taking lingzhi, the problem areas will be magnified and one may feel worse. now, sheena fear not! i’m going to be your guinea pig ok! if i benefit from it, will introduce to you!

ok ok, time to sleep. tomorrow is another long day. tomorrow work many many!

just another weekday

dearest picked me up from work today.

it was drizzling as i alight the bus (yes. i work in a restricted area and have to take a bus out to where dearest awaits) and the sweet dearest walked towards me with a huge umbrella.
he thought that i didn’t bring an umbrella out.
picture the scene. me with a small yellow umbrella + dearest with a gigantic grey umbrella sheltering both the yellow umbrella and me.
when we reached the car, he made me keep my umbrella while standing below his.

small gesture. but i was touched.

and, dearest look great today! with un-styled hair and body-hugging black top.

then it was dinner at east coast lagoon. our favorite duck rice. plus hot desserts to end the meal.

just another weekday. with little sweet actions. and a simple fulfilling meal. and most importantly, spent with the love of my life.