Retail Therapy

Hmm, form or function? Spent the day scouring the shops to check out the many types and prices of fridges, washing machines and dryers. Not exactly the most exciting shopping I've done thus far...

On a smaller scale, I settled for form...

BD

Happy Birthday to me...

Happy Birthday to me...

Happy Birthday to me....

Happy Birthday to meeeee......!! :P

Thanks to my closest friends and family for helping me shoo out my 38th year with a bang!

Amusement

Jialat...

Training wheels for the novice rider

Mmm, finally. A cuppa to relax after a hectic morning of errand-running...To those in the know, it's red, it's zippy, and it's now MINE :)

Coffee

This morning, at the new coffee joint I'm forced to get our caffeine hit, due to Wang Jiao undergoing renovation...

Me : Kopi-O Kosong, two Teh-C!
Asst 1 : Oh, Kopi-O Kosong and Teh-C.
Me : TWO Teh-C.
Asst 1 : Ok, ok.
*Busies herself*
Asst 1 : Nah, $1.90. Kopi-O Kosong and Teh-C
Me : Huh? TWO Teh-C leh!
Asst 1 : Oh, ok. *Talks to Asst 2* : One more Kopi-O Kosong!
Me : Eh, auntie, one more TEH-C!!
Asst 1 : Huh? Oh.
Me : *vomit blood*

WHEN is Wang Jiao finishing their renovation??? *beats chest and flails arms in despair*

Volunteerism

How'd you like my new socks? :D Only $1.50 from "Japan Home Centre"!

Gonna break these out on my next brisk walk session, see if it stops the toes chafing...:P (collateral damage from attempt to get fit).

Though, that might be some time from now. Volunteered for a big exercise at work. Figured I'd never get the chance to participate in such a 英雄大会 under other circumstances. Figured such exposure would look good on next year's appraisal form. :) Hope this doesn't screw up all my weekend plans...

Girl, Interrupted - Part II

It's been a while, and I've been postponing a lot of things for lack of time (or motivation. Heh heh). An unexpected development having put time into my hands, I lit a fire under my ass and started on the many projects I'd not managed to get down to in recent months.

Project 1
Continuing on the path of "getting fit to fight off the deterioration of the body due to advancing years", J and I snuck into a friend's condo to take an invigorating dip in the warm waters of the pool (despite friend not being in said condo. Hence, "snuck"). Managed a couple more laps than I expected, so am feeling particularly virtuous today...:D A security guard patrolling the area caused a little stab of fear in my heart (very unglam to be thrown out of condo pool unceremoniously for trespassing), but he went about his business, paying scant attention to us. *whew* We carried on with a few more laps. After failing to turn on the sauna in the guest bathroom (apparently, 2 LLBs and a Master's in Arts Management is still insufficient knowledge to turn on such a sophisticated machine), we gave up, showered, sauntered nonchalantly back to the car, and left the condo. Headed to the nearby hawker centre, looking for a shot of caffeine to tide us through the day.

Project 2 (Part B)
After I got home, I started on my next project. Clearing out the clutter. I'd made a headstart some months back, but ran out of steam, overwhelmed by the daunting task, by the sheer amount of clutter.

Still awash with the afterglow of virtuousness from the morning, and armed with a ladder and a huge trashbag, I started the de-clutter exercise. An hour of ruthless culling and a bucket of sweat later, I have cleared out most of the cupboards in the front bedroom. We are now left with 3 each of spare single-bed and double-bed bedsheets, 2 coverlets (still in good condition and actually quite tasteful), and some spare blankets (for those occasions when the Clan descends upon us).

Yay. *Pat on back* Next week, I'm targetting the storeroom. I think a concurrent de-clutter exercise needs to be commenced on my own wardrobe and possessions...

Part A was actually the start of my project to landscape the garden of the house. I finally got sick and tired of the mismatched and haphazard plants surrounding the house. Last week, before my regular foot massage session, I headed out to a nearby nursery and got some plants. That took care of the front of the house. A nice "flame of the forest" with orange flowers (which is more like a "bush" than the gigantic tree you see lining our roads) for the front planter box, and some nice leafy bushy plants for the strip of soil along the garage. Fingers crossed that the new plants will thrive in their chosen locations. I'm hoping for a more leafy and green facade when approaching the house.

"One step at a time, one step at a time"...

A Joint Celebration - Part I

We were supposed to go back to Basil Alcove for their set lunch. J had meant to bring her mum there for the "ang moh jiak". Unfortunately, the chef's in-law had ended up in hospital, and we could not be sure if he was coming in to work that day. Gamely, we trudged across the street to Sculpture Square for the other "trendy little restaurant hidden away somewhere obcure" to try our luck. Again, we struck out. Someone decided to hold their ROM party there. Sigh. Taking it as a sign that we were not meant to have "ang moh jiak" that day, we headed toward Sunshine Plaza for our fried wonton noodles (another item for J to strike off her "must eat" agenda).

J and her mum went for the wonton noodles, while I went for my usual pork chop noodles. Yum-my! Not disappointed in the least. Had that with an extra dish of fried wontons (which would be more aptly named "fried wonton skins", for the lack of actual meat in the wontons), and a watercress soup (token healthy dish. HARHAR).

Our hunger suitably sated, J insisted on ordering some Kueh Pie Tee to round off the meal. Which turned out surprisingly good. Piping hot. *slurp*



********************

Overheard :-

小朋友：　狼来了，羊怎么样？
妈妈：不知道。
小朋友：　狼来了，羊逃（洋桃）咯！

哈哈！

Mm-mmm...

Post-dinner.

I'd read a rave review of the Rum & Raisin ice cream at The Ice Cream Gallery, and so had convinced the others to walk in for dessert.

Flavours tried : Rum & Raisin (but of course! Laced with a strong dose of rum and full of juicy raisins. Yummy!), Avocado Gula Melaka (rich, smooth, and not too sweet. Again, yummy!), and Belgian Chocolate (never been a big fan of chocolate, so all I can say is, this one was rich and not too sweet. Nice).

*Burp*

Girl, Interrupted

An email from a cousin a few days ago reminded me of this time last year. A couple of colleagues and I had ambitiously signed up for a mini triathlon. Two of my colleagues were supposed to do the swimming and running legs, while I was to do my part in the cycling leg. Subsequent intervening events put paid to THAT adventure.

After much lamenting about the sad state of my fitness level to several friends, blaming the various ailments I've been experiencing on the onslaught of the advancing years, I finally got off my ass last week.

Taking it easy on my first outing, I took a shorter, paved route parallel to the gravel path around the shoreline, walking briskly for just over half an hour. I worked up a light sweat alright, keeping pace with an extremely slow jogger in front of me.



Today, with the radio forecasting, "Heavy rains soon! Take your umbrellas with you!", I gamely changed into my workout gear, peered anxiously at the sky, and set off on my brisk walk around the reservoir. Fellow walkers, joggers, cyclists, roller-bladers and I. MP3 players plugged in and strapped on, with the scent of freshly mown grass hanging in the air, gravel cruching under our feet, we all moved to our own tempos. Off in the distance, the fiery sun was quickly slipping under the horizon. I spot a ripple in the water, and walked towards it for a closer look. Hmm, no sign of the long-tailed macaques spotted last week on my sojourn. Maybe because the old guy who was feeding them last week was nowhere in sight!

Made it through the 4-km shoreline in just under an hour. *beam* Well, there WAS the added incentive of lightning criss-crossing the skies towards the end of my walk, spurring me on!

I already have in mind another spot to check out on my next sojourn...

Gotcha!

A-hunting we will go, a-hunting we will go...

Not exactly up bright and early, but earlier than most of the other fishermen! Brimming over with enthusiasm, armed with a loaf of bread (amongst other fishing paraphernalia), and coated with a generous layer of sunblock, I trotted after "The Expert" to the reservoir, round to the spot where we'd caused a feeding frenzy amongst the buttkefori two days ago.



Ok, so you can't really see the buttkefori I landed here. But I swear it was *THIS* big!! Haha! After a few catches, we decided to shift locations to another one of our island's reservoirs.

Here's the terapin checking us odd-looking creatures out. That, or it's waiting impatiently for us to toss out the bread!
An earth-eater! Landed a couple of these! Good fighters! Better than the lampans (of which I landed two), and even the Mayan Cichlid! Woohoo!! Don't worry, animal lovers! We released all the catches of the day, some of whom were too stunned to even swim away after we released them. Guess they're back with their "hoodies" now, recounting their close encounters of the third kind with pride and relief ("I don't know what happened! One moment, I was nibbling on this piece of bread. Next thing I knew, *BOOM* there was an invisible force pulling me in! I started floating towards a really bright light and some shadowy giant figures peering at me! I have no recollection of what happened to me after that, but all of a sudden, I found myself back here with you guys!")
Taking it easy after a morning of bringing in the fishies, we took a walk through the fishing facilities in Bottle Tree Park. Lots of tilapia brazenly swimming about. Some strange little fishies which stumped even YH. A fresh water carp was hooked by a paying fisherman just before the "closing bell".

Tired and satisfied with the day's adventures, I will spend the night dreaming about the ones that got away...

Vesak Day

It being Vesak Day yesterday, we spent the day tramping through the forested and swampy areas somewhere in the depths of Singapore. The bout of rain earlier in the day had cooled the air, but caused the track to be muddy and the leaves and grass soggy and slippery. Still, the new-ish hiking sandals held up under the circumstances. No accidents except for...
...when I somehow convinced YH to step into the muddy rivulets because it was easier to walk on that than the slippery grass. Against his better judgment and years of experience, he took my word for it and...OOPS! :)
At the end of the track, we came to the "no trespass zone". Brazenly, we walked all over the empty army firing range, going all the way to the targets and beyond (nothing more sinister than lallang behind). We also walked into the store to see the "butt party" equipment room. Back at the shelter/shed/briefing area, we shuddered at what looked like a dried up pool of blood, checked out the "emergency exit route" from the range to the nearest hospital, and sniggered at this sign...apparently, nobody's allowed to fertilise the jungle...
Possibly the tragic end to a trespasser...:P
Near the targets, the ground was peppered with lots of shell casings.

The experienced hiker, YH, brought along some bread to feed the fishies and start a feeding frenzy. So we fed some forest betta, common barb, and tiny shrimps found in the little streams along the way, and three large catfish which were such ineffective predators as to not be able to see/smell the huge chunk of bread right in front of their faces. HOW they survive in the wild, I cannot imagine...Same goes for the tiny shrimps, who fought over 1 lone ball of bread when there were 3 other balls just in front of them...Their heads turned a bizarre whitish colour after swallowing the bread ball. WEIRD!

After leaving the "jungle" behind, we proceeded to the reservoir to start yet another feeding frenzy amongst the buttkefori fish. The commotion we created attracted some nearby fishermen to come over and try their luck. Unfortunately, the fish were too smart. Nibbled the chicken meat off the line, but eschewed the hooks! Haha! Kudos to YH's $180 sunglasses, which allowed me to see all the action under the water...