RANTS RANTS AND MORE RANTS

Feeling really really really really really low.

Just returned from the trip to malaysia with my students. Was already having sleepless nights at least 3 nights prior the trip wondering how they would perform and if anyone would lose a leg or something.

The trip went preeeeeeetty ok considering the rubbish job done by the tour agent. The biggest sabo was that the orphanage seemed to have no idea that the students were coming and seemed pretty pissed at us for screwing up their carnival with our arrival. Can you imagine the scene: my students, after weeks and weeks of practising, travelling all the way from Singapore, all ready to perform for the children, were as good as being told point blank that hey we don't need your music now. And the tour agent himself assured me again and again that everything is arranged. They know you are coming and performing and they are eager to have you. You will help out with other chores as well and donate some items, yes, don't worry, everything is taken care off. We have arranged for many schools from Singapore to help out over there before so everything will be fine.

Yah, my ass.

But the students played well enough and the head mistress told me herself at the end of the session that she was glad we came because our music inspired her children who were just being started on a music enrichment program, and wished we had brought more songs with us. So yeah it turned out well. The school exchange was quite alright too because I have insisted on personally arranging it with the student leader and the only surprise we had was the wonderful planning done by our host. Everyone enjoyed themselves I guess.

Except me, cos I was constantly on my toes mentally preparing for more and more screws ups. And lo and behold, there were other surprises in store but I really don't want to go into that now.

Next time, be it Africa, North Pole or Timbaktu, I will liase with the organization myself. The tour agents can just sit back and shake leg and slot in good food, good coach (not one which has a fantastic suspension which makes you feel like u're in the middle of the freakin choppy china sea) and use the time freed up from liasing to interview and select quality coach drivers. (our instructor was trying to help the driver with the route back to school, and was chastised for being unclear with his directions. Hello! Whose job was it to know the way around in the first place!??!)

But we managed to pull it off admidst the sh*t and I didn't even freak out once. I think.

Now that I'm typing this, I'm reminded of why I never go on guided tours in a huge group anymore.

Well the best part is this -

I left my luggage on the bus. Yup. My bag is gone gone gone gone. Bye bye.

And I'm pissed because I only have 1 comb and it's in that see-saw bus and I dunno when I will finally be able to comb my hair. I'll probably have to buy a comb first, but that would mean I have to leave the house with messy hair. And I don't want to leave the house looking like a siao zar bor. It's a chicken and egg situation.

And you would think a warm shower at home would make everything right? Nah. My towel was nowhere to be found and there was just a little more than half a drop of shampoo left in the bottle.

Then somehow since our painful ride back from Malacca, I have been thinking of how I pushed my french horn and piano aside ever since I started teaching. My students can probably make better music than me now.

Maybe I should quit my job and do my own thing for 3 years.

And eat what?

Oh I know what I'm doing really well: I've achieved Mastery of Invisibility after just 3 days in Malaysia. I don't think I'm living in a home anymore.

And I'm tired as it's already half past 3 in the morning. But I'm afraid to sleep cos I'll dream about work again.

Nah. I really want to koon. Thanks for hearing me out. I feel better already.

Salt and Peanut Butter Sandwiches

"Don't eat so much salt la....Stop... STOP... I SAID STOP AH!!!!!!" Eugene thinks if I keep up with my current level of salt intake, our children will be motherless even before they learn to talk.

Just the other day I polished off almost an entire pack of 斌斌米果 in one sitting as it's so wonderfully salty. I chucked a packet to Aunty Kiat who was at the same time startled to see so many wrappers while emptying my dustbin, and 2 packs to Anne who selflessly volunteered to share the sodium.

When other girls declare "I have a sweet tooth" people would think awwwwww she's so cute... so girl girl....awwww. You don't hear people telling them that if they don't burn the sugar they're gonna look like Queen Latifah in 2 months. But when I tell people about my passion for salt they'd lecture me about my blood pressure and kidneys and how they'd never donate one to me if I ever needed them to. Really makes you think about the kind of friends you make eh -scowl-

But now, I'm going to make a life-changing decision.

-drumroll-

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I AM GOING TO REDUCE MY SALT INTAKE

Why? Cos last night during staff dinner, I mistakingly poured like half a bottle (??!!) of soy sauce instead of vinegar into my shark's fin soup (don't start with the stop eating sharks thingy, I need the mercury)

And to my horror it tasted absolutely fine. And the 9 other people at my table liked their serving just as it was served. Shiling, who refused me her kidney when we were in Hong Kong, watched me swallow the whole bowl, and probably resolved that very moment she'd rather throw her organ on the floor and step on it than to let me have it.

So I need your help. You can put me in a straitjacket so that I cannot zhng my food with salt or soy sauce.

Or remove the sodium when you see it on the table. Or share my potato chips/chicken in a biscuit/curry twisties. Or pledge your kidneys to me so that I live to see my kids get married and have their own kids. That's what friends are for, right? RIGHT????

Speaking of friends I have to tell you about my dear Anne who saved me from

THE BUTTER GAU PEANUT BUTTER BOH SANDWICH

"有福同享有难同当... I take half of your sandwich and you take half of mine", she said.

(notice her sandwich with a nice thick layer of chunky spread whereas mine has a thick layer of butter and less peanut butter)

What a pal!!!!

YouTube Intermission

Great! It's finally the weekend! And I dunno what to do about it :(

Actually I have powerpoint slides to prepare for Monday's class but I'm terribly distracted by YouTube. Been watching every episode of The Nanny available, streaming 7-minute short clips and piecing random episodes together in no particular order. Love Niles!







Been stuffing my face with Japanese these days - Waruku (best paper hotpot) with Anne and gang, Waruku again (fried ice cream not so good but had a 10% off the bill cos we found out the supervisor was an ex-bandmate!) with Ks, Ichiban (best salmon head soup and softshell crab handroll) with the mister, and Sakae (best.. er.. mascot?) with Liling and gang.


And I totally forgot about Starry's birthday cos the week's been crazy... I'm so sorry dearie..





Starry Starry dear

I'm so sorry I forgot your birthday

Daniel's the important one anyway

You still have the flower I got you last year?



Speaking of birthdays, Fan was on MC on hers. I know you don't want a celebration lady.. b..b..bbbut do you have to avoid us like this??? =puts away noisemakers= you still want your pressie on Monday?? I know you're secretly excited.. you are!

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Eugene was awarded Team Player (Softball) of 2007 last week.

Unglam pic of Team Player after the awards ceremony

The sandwich he made and hid in the glove compartment for me.

Zhng-ing my banana chocolate sundae with Mrs Loh's banana.

Now back to YouTube!

Xiao Long Cu Bao

YAY! We're going somewhere in December!!!


Was half afraid that I'll end up wasting the holidays because of his matches, but today we booked a 4D3N holiday in Bintan's Nirwana Garden for $301 per pax. Had to pay $50 bucks more for the sea view as rooms with a garden view are fully booked. Don't really care for the view; they can paint a window on the wall for all I care and I'd still be happy that I won't be stuck here during term break. Anne and Tricia both enjoyed the place with Kelvin and Renjie :D

Not bad eh :) compare this with Tioman's Tropical Coral Inn which we stayed for an agonizing 3 days

I was actually afraid that Eugene would collapse the bowl cos when you sit on it, it shifts 0_0

Anywhere would be better than Tioman, anywhere!

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Sua ku us went to Ding Tai Feng for the first time.

Me (not looking like myself)

Eugene tucking in

Us

Look at how Eugene fills his small dragon soup bun (xiao3 long2 tang1 bao1) with a lot of vinegar. They should have a xiao3 long2 cu4 (vinegar) bao1 in the menu for him la. If you can't tell what he's saying the monologue is below.

-confused- ".. Why don't you eat..?"

-exasperated and does some funny la1 mian4 action- "... I can't eat with a camera in my face!"

He didnt know he was on video la hahahaha the silly guy :D


Then greedy me wanted to try the grilled bacon-wrapped enoki mushrooms on skewers from this shop beside Peninsular Plaza.

Looks nice hor. I still remember those I had by the roadside in Hong Kong... heavenly!

What we had looked like what you see in the photo, except that the bacon consists of 90% fat and 10% meat. PUI! Poor Eugene looked like he was going to puke after eating just one piece :(

Rushed to Mos Burger and downed 1 large iced milk tea to dilute the fat. The yellow lighting was good so being vain pots we took some pictures :D

He looks great in this one :D

His eyebags are bigger than his eyes la. So cute :D

And now I'm home writing this and having my 2nd cup of chamomile hoping it will remove the fat.. yeah who am I kidding... :(

UGH! No more fat for me for the next 2 weeks else become pui pui like eugene.. ><

Attempting to Feed the Hungry Pitcher

Tick ... CROSS CROSS .. tick.. CROSS CROSS CROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I'm a marking machine these days - Chemistry and music (yes we have music exam too. Fun to set the paper but not fun to mark) Helped Fan mark her lower sec science too. These students are hilarious -

Answers from our 14 year olds

1. The process describing a sperm fusing with an egg (i.e. fertilization)

Student's answer: sexual intercourse

2. Name the type of cells which you see in the diagram (sperm and a fertilized egg)

Student's answer: bacteria and amoeba

3. Chemical process taking place when heating calcium carbonate (i.e. thermal decomposition)

Student's answer: heat decay (ok this is a rather smart answer, I must admit, but too bad, still wrong! WRONG! WWWWRRRRONG!)

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Eugene said he'll meet me after his training at 10.45 pm to have his dinner. Usually when this happens we'll end up in Dunman Food Centre or Kallang 24 hr Mc Donalds/KFC. But 2 nights ago I offered to cook for him. And so this post is about

The Iron Chef attempting to feed the Hungry Pitcher

(and I tell you, when I was searching online for a chef hat picture, this scary photo popped up and scared the daylights out of me)

~Shudder~

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I had 35 minutes to whip up something decent. No problemo. Gathered all the ingredients in 5 minutes. He hates celery but that's the only veggie I have in the fridge. Too bad ha! (Harwin, it is confirmed that you can't feed ayam brand chilli tuna to cats as it swells their upper larynxes)

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Noodles in hot water chucked in microwave. Celery diced. Canned tuna lid pulled back. No sweat.

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Noodles out of oven, drained and tossed in cold water (like pro) while celery sat in hot water.

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Egg on teflon pan. Celery drained. Blotted fried egg with kitchen towel.

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OMG Just look at this!!! Look like hospital food la!

(started to panic) I need garnishing! I need colour!

If only I had some red chillie and a Ginsu knife. Can make a star or a sotong thingy like in the photo. Quite pro hor. If he didn't like his dinner I might also use the knife to slice him up thinly heh

I don't believe this! We have two freakin refrigerators and all I could find were two sad looking tomatoes way past their prime. My brother saw my butt sticking out from the fridge and cracked up.

"Siao ah! So long zhong for wat?! Wah.. but your egg fry until quite nice la"

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Eugene stepped into the kitchen during my weak attempt to colour the dish. He startled me and in my haste I even spilt some of the curry powder on the counter la .. :( super no skill.. haiz

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With an icepack perched on his shoulder (top left corner), the hungry pitcher devoured his noodles, including every single cube of celery.

-burp-

He was happy.. So was I :D

He pops The Question

Ok I have have to admit it. Facebook can be pretty addictive.

I had so many presents sent to me in just 4 days. Really, the way they make you send gifts at every possible opportunity keeps the site going.

Would you be excited if a friend gave you a bunch of carrots in real life?

"siao ah! go gib your mother la!"

After receiving so many things from your friends, you're obliged to send something back (knowing very well that most of them probably mass-sent the items anyway). So I proceeded to spend 1 hour sending ice-creams, vegetables and eggs. (Those of you who received something from me, it was a personal thoughtful gift. I do not mass-send my items, sompa)

Adopted a panda too and named him Pan Panda. Was even enthusiastic enough to buy a bed, stereo system, ferret and hamster for my room only to be told (after the long meticulous process of choosing and adding the items) that I DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH COINS (again).

grrrrrrrrrrrr

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Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Anyway, back to the main story.

HE POPPED THE QUESTION

"Oi.. Why you turn me down...."

Huh?

"I asked you................................................... (meekly) Will you marry me...."

You did??! When?!

"When you were falling asleep on your bed before my (softball) training..."

-scratch head-

"You said No and turned away........................................ and fell asleep" (kua kua kua......)

He calls that A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL?? Trying to catch me when I'm semi-conscious.. sly one!

Anyway when it finally sank in I couldn't stop laughing... he's really really cute sometimes :D

Lots of marking to do now that the exam papers are in... I fell asleep for about 15 minutes holding my red pen and almost drooled on a terrible sketch of what's supposed to be a carbon dioxide molecule:

diao.....

Ok I'm going to go figure out how to feed my panda. Ha! Ciao!

Top 10 Reasons Why Facebook Pisses Me Off

(This post is not about you, Eugene, so you can skip it)

Top 10 Reasons Why Facebook Pisses Me Off

10. Cos everyone wants me to add them on Facebook. Why can't they add me? (yes apparently I have lazy friends)

9. The site is bursting with so many applications they make me dizzy.

8. The useless News Feed: "WWW is now friends with XXX... YYY wrote a sticky note to 2 people... "

zzzzzz....Seriously...would you care if I were to give Starry a great white shark for her Facebook aquarium? huh? HUH???

7. OK, I just found out that I don't have enough coins to send Starry a great white shark. HMPH.

6. Every move I make on Facebook can be seen by all my friends. (see point number 8) I find more privacy in my own blog. Here. Seriously.

5. "Ooh lookie! Someone is sending me a flower! -clicks on link to receive- .. wait.. where's my flower? Oh ok someone called Obiwankanobe made this application.. yes yes I'm adding it so that I can see the flower.. oh I have to send a flower to other people first? No.. no.. skip that.. Wait.. where's my flower? Er... h..h..hello? -clicks around hopefully-"

4. Substitute flower in point number 5 with beer/high5/banana/whatever damn thing that can be sent to you and then mysteriously disappear after wasting your time.

3. The Define Me application says "Nobody has defined you yet. Be the first."
okie.. let's see... -spends 10 minutes defining myself, clicks enter- "Sorry. You cannot define yourself. Only others can define you."

WT...?!

2. I have mysteriously joined Oktoberfest twice at 7.41pm without knowing, and invited myself to join it again at 7.42pm.

1. I wanted to spank Eugene. After sending the spank and reloading my home page, I had also requested for me to spank myself 3 times -_-'''

Kinky.