End Personal Misery Session

Submitted!

The reward after a whole weekend of staring at computer screen, typing 17pg of comprehensible professional prose, zzzing at ~2am and waking at 6am... was a yummy, leisurely dinner at Sushi Tei. Therapy for those sore, crossed eyes & zapped-out brain came in the form of


The Phoenix Roll


Phoenix close up


The Sashimi Salad


The Prawn & Veggie Tempura

And that's definitely more than enough food. Dessert will be my soft, fluffy bed. Tonight, I will hit the sack before Cinderella even finshed putting on her makeup.

p.s. big dear ikan, super sorry.. I don't mean to tempt you with those pics. pray, don't start to claw your screen. =P

Shut Out

Was locked out of online system at home for the past 3 days... apparently, my Linksys system got itself lost in some other galaxies, deaf to heart-wrenching pleas for return back to Mother Gaia. Anyways, it's fixed now. Just hope its next tantrum won't be soon.

Thankfully though, there hadn't been much to report. No exciting episodes, just really long days in institution as all the young ones get themselves into a frenzied mess, trying fervently to cramp mountains into their bursting brains.

Deadlines are everywhere. Adults too are on a high. Work reviews. Markings. Projects. The big rush before an extended NDP break next week.

This morning, had a comfort breakfast of fluffy kaya-butter bread & sweet warm milo, at some far away market as the rain pelted down in torrents...


Coming weekend, a buddy may pop by to experiment with tiramisu-making. That may just be the right distraction if those kiddos' scripts fail to please. At least, I can eat up the whole misu in exasperation.

Double C Oaties

If you like museli bars, you'd like this.


Fresh outta oven


One up close

A sweet, semi-chewy, nutritious snack that goes very well with chilled milk and/or hot english tea. Not so much a crispy cookie, but a soft Subway-type roundie bursting with rolled oats, glaced cherry, dark & white chocolate bits, chopped walnuts & dough.

It's nice to be baking again after so long. And I cooked dinner just now too - steamed bitter gourd + chicken + black fungus + red dates, and double-boiled "bu(3) xue(3)" herbal soup with lean meat. Super healthy. Trying to detoxify.

Last sat - a whole day out, socialising with frens, more than 20 of them in all. This sat - a whole day in, fiddling around in the kitchen, just me and pa. Dad thinks I'm unpredictable. Ah well. Moods... everyone has theirs.

Btw, if you are interested in the Double C Oaties, it's $10 (~20 oaties) for a small bottle and $18 (~35 oaties) for the large bottle. Can keep for a week in air-tight container in cool and dry environment. At least 2 small bottles OR 1 large bottle for delivery. =)

Dis-equilibrium

Depressing... Yesterday, had the worst nite's sleep during these 2 weeks that I turned in early. Such a long, painful dream. I am almost afraid to go to bed tonight.

Think I need some therapy. I will try to clear work like siao over these remaining 2 weekdays and then over the weekend, I will bake, clean house and go to the temple to get some quiet moments and inhale some incense-tinged air to calm the soul. I honestly don't feel that anything is bothering me really badly right now, yet.. there seems to be a consistent manisfestation of some underlying dis-equilibrium. =(

ding dong

On.. Off.. On.. Off.. On.. Off.. On again. So, guess I'd be doing it (work stuff) next year after all. Okies, will just give it a real shot, and see how far it goes. Never try, never know.

Coming up, there are a couple of outdoor events being staged in the gardens.. ballet, movies, concerts.. with ad hoc chill-out buddy now stably-strapped on plane zooming twds the land of Waltzing Matilda, guess it's down to me, myself, my picnic basket and perhaps papa.

Or maybe, I'd just stay in and bake. It's been eons since my oven last fumed aromatic cookie whafts. It's time to make the neighbours drool again. I promise to open that bag of flour... the minute I get this stack of marking done.

Housewarming & Farewell

The housewarming was great. Almost 20 pax, inclusive of spouses & partners gathered in the super cosy abode. Nice house, great food, wonderful company. No better way to spend a leisurely saturday afternoon. Experimented with new camera too, fiddled with its various functions & came up with some artistic shots. =)


The spread


The laughs


Artistic shot 1 - Glass Talk


Artistic shot 2 - Welcome

It was a Waraku farewell for JM, followed by Changing Appetite's mudpies & finally Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix. Dinner, dessert & catch-up was great, but the movie was a little too dark for me. I miss those gd ole innocent magic when Potter was just a kiddo! Definitely brought on more laughs than standing hairs on the neck. Too much evil suffocates the soul...


Curry Katsu Don


Cookie Monster & Chilled Carrot Cake Mudpies

SVSS

S for Sleep
Friday! Very glad. Had been turning in really early these couple of days, ard 10plus, but somehow dreams involving multiple people, multiple venues & multiple activities would invade and I would wake up feeling exhausted, as if I'm just about to lumber to bed. =P Some colleague said it's subconscious, latent stress. I wonder...

V for Vietnamese
Was flipping thru' an I-S Food Guide for dinner suggestions just now & decided to check out a Vietnamese eatery along Seah Street with dad. Va Va Voom - just a simple cafe, not super Viet-ish in terms of deco & taste of food, but cosy enough for a leisurely evening munch. Think I still prefer Pho Hoa @ Holland V - their grilled lemon grass pork chop's definitely a more fragrant & succulent slab. =)


Va Va Voom... U must agree it doesn't sound/look too Viet, right?


Sofa to slouch on & magazines to browse as ur oesophagus gets working


Grilled lemon grass pork chop rice

S for Saturday
Tomorrow, a sec 4 pal's having his Open House. The usual big group will be there, making merry over food, drinks, card games & wedding photos. Bonding time. Evening will be a Jap farewell dinner with badminton pal who'd be jetting off to Australia in a couple days' time. There goes another of my exercise-movie-coffee-adventure pally. Good Luck with acquisition of Permanant Head Damage! See ya in 5yrs time.

S for Sunday
Sunday. Institution will be staging a massive marathon walk/jog/bike/blade event @ Toa Payoh... Flag off @ 7.30am. The bird who wakes up early catches the worm? Some may decide to fast. =P

Welcome Home!

Yippees, Dad's back!

Return of the precious:
- extra 15mins of daily pre-dawn snooze.
- private chauffered cabby service. Anytime, anywhere.
- top-grade advice and analysis. FOC, JIT.
- assistant for household chores esp with toilet-scrubbing & ironing.
- blah
- blah
- blah

SPOILT! You scream.

Haha, *neh neh ni bu bu*.

07-07-07

Spent yesterday in institution. PTM. As usual, the adults are the more kan cheong ones... King not anxious, Enunch anxious. Another observation is that adults and kids alike are becoming increasingly demanding and adept at passing on the buck. Trademarks of an affluent, educated and globalized society? =P

Caught "Zodiac" yesterday night. Critics accorded it 4.5 stars out of 5. I thought it's more of a 3.5-4 grade. Some really solid acting from Jake Gyllenhaal. But somewhere along the 3/4 mark, I sneaked a peek at the watch... Too long drawn perhaps?

Dad's away for 6 days now. Hmmmm, come back soon!

Live Earth - Take Action.. A 24hr global pop concert, involving 150 artistes in 9 cities.. I caught snippets here and there. Nice but can't help pondering about the huge amount of resources spent on powering the lights/tv/aircon/audio system/transport system/publicity etc etc for this event. A paradoxical proposition?

The past 5hrs

And I thought I would be giving them a miss and staying back in for an early nite's rest. Was pretty tired today.. Unexpectedly, cousin expressed interest, so after a big hot shower, decided to forsake rest for some soul rejuvenation + family bonding.

Brought her down to The Substation where renowned, NY-based, S'porean photographer John Clang is having his 2nd solo exhibition of personal photographic works. Aptly titled "Clang: A White Book", it featured a 2-inch thick portfolio of his photos ringed in a white journal, placed in the middle of a white gallery, on a white desk. I think my cousin connected with it more than I did. Somehow, the overwhelmingly blue-grey hues and blurred-out faces didn't quite strike a chord.

Next, we adjourned to the Gallery Theatre @ National Museum to attend "Night Cries: Indigneous Films from Australia & New Zealand". It was a series of acclaimed films that celebrated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Nice! If this is your type of thing, there are 2 more nights to go. And one great news, it's free. You'd also be glad to check out the beautiful, refurnished museum while there. =)


National Museum

Wanted to cap off the night by bringing cousin to Timbre (cool alfresco bistro + bar with live music by homegrown bands) which is just across the road. But the friday nite queue was horrendous. Too tired & thirsty to wait, we settled for Starbucks instead. Terrible terrible substitute, I know. But it's late and I've got a cousin to mummy after.. Ah well, next time then.


The long queue outside Timbre

Am glad we went. It's always nice to seek some arty solace away from the maddening crowd in a practical world. Hv a gd weekend.

Swim... No?

The girls just don't get it??

Today I hit the pool again. And once more, 98% of the swimmers there were hot-blooded males. Executives who shuttled in, crisp shirt + tie one sec then trunks the next sec; retirees who leisurely frog-styled the laps with heads above water; newly ORD-ed army boys who smeared Banana Boat oils and spread themselves out wide to capture sun's glorious rays; serious Olympic wannabes chasing laps after laps, perfecting their strokes & times... and almost everyone's an XY.

Where have all the ladies gone? Perhaps, we do not like to workout during lunchtimes; perhaps swimming is not our thing; perhaps the GSS is too big a magnet; perhaps we are lazy nuah nuahs with over-expressed procrastination-genes & non-functional exercise-genes... =P

Hopefully, there will be more of us the next time round.

Random

While sauntering around shopping grounds, do u often lift ur head up to see what's above? While waiting for MLL last fri, I did just that and liked what I saw, so here's a pic:


Guess where this is?

Sat - discovered that the food court in Botanic Gardens sells quite a decent thosai. Had the masala version for $3.50. Educators & Mt E personnel get discounts if they flash IDs. Their paper thosai's huge enough for customers walking around linkway to "siam" u as u pass... Dont' believe, check it out urself.


Masala thosai

Sun - brought dad to Waraku @ Central. Sushi Tei had better pay attention. This new kid on the block is creating quite a storm amongst Jap food lovers. Polished the meal off with Hokaiddo ice cream from takeaway store on Level 1. Not super cheap but quite yummy - $5.80 for this:


Strawberry-Blueberry mix + Lychee

Happy Youth Day tomorrow.