Month: January 2005

Friends, Photography

By the beach

yannisms

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There are days when doing nothing absolutely accomplishes everything.
And last Friday was one of those days.

A couple of us had gone to the beach solely for the reason of bumming. All we did was sit around, look at the skies, gaze out at the seas, plug into our ipods (coincidentally, we all had one each) and snooze. Oh, and gaze in wonder at people trying to ride the miserly waves, while torn between admiration for their dedication and laughing at their foolishness.

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Sometimes, we need to just take a step back and chill. All along, we have been sold on this idea that to do nothing is to waste time. “Look at how bees are always so busy, busy, busy,” our teachers would tell us. My mother herself would say, “I cannot sit around and do nothing.”

I think we need to realise that doing nothing may sometimes accomplish much more than constantly doing something. Taking a step back to breathe may do more good than using actions to justify our existence in this world. It clears our brains and clarifies our thoughts, allowing perspectives to be broadened.

So if you find that you are stressed out to the max, take an afternoon off, go to the park and do nothing. It helps.

Silly things

Crazy Frog is The Annoying Thing

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If you thought Badgerbadgerbadger was irritating, wait till you see The Annoying Thing.

A couple of weeks back, my friend Skunk introduced me to the highly hilarious ringtone named “Indian Ferrari”. It features a comical human voice mimicking the sound of a car’s engine. Piqued by the supremely funny tone, I set about finding the source of the ringtone, hoping that there would be more.

And voila! The Annoying Thing (otherwise known as Crazy Frog to its fans and detractors alike) is the answer to my questions. Find out about the evolution of the Crazy Frog here or better yet, download the side-splitting The Annoying Thing animation video that was created especially for the “Indian Ferrari” sound.

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Excerpt from The Evolution of Crazy Frog:

We begin our short history lesson with the full ‘lyrics’ to the original sound file. I pray that someone, somewhere, will find them useful:
A ding ding ding ding dididing ding bing bing pscht,
Dorhrm bom bom bedom bem bom bedom bom bum ba ba bom bom,
Bouuuuum bom bom bedahm, Bom be barbedarm bedabedabedabeda
Bbrrrrrimm bbrrrrramm bbbrrrrrrrrraammmmm ddddddraammm,
Bah bah baah baah ba wheeeeeee-eeeee-eeeee!

Edit: Aforementioned fans and detractors are suspected to be mobile ringtone providers in disguise.

Everything Else

Learning in life

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I must admit that there are times when I have behaved arrogantly, when I think that others would do well to learn from me instead of vice versa. Of course, this is not done consciously, not in the “I am better than them” vein but more of “I think that what I know would benefit them”.

Now I realise the importance of stepping back to ruminate quietly about the people in my life. Valuable lessons can be learn from those who have a part to play in my life, be it small or big, if I would just observe and not talk.

Continue reading “Learning in life” →

Arts & Entertainment

Singapore Lions win Tiger Cup!

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The last time I had stepped into the National Stadium to catch some soccer action was when Manchester United (glory glory Man United!) and Liverpool deigned to honour us with their holy presence two to three years back. And the last time I actually saw a match featuring our very own Lions in the National Stadium was when Singapore was still playing in the Malaysia Cup, Fandi Ahmad was single and bicycle-kicking away and Lim Tong Hai was vilified for his own goal in the SEA Games. Yes, it was that long ago.

On a warm and breezy Sunday, I dug out an old red tee which had been acting as my pyjamas for many moons now, shook it out and pulled it on. Yes, it was the Tiger Cup finals at the National Stadium and how could I resist going? For once, we had a chance of actually winning something and I was not going to sit it out at home.

So off we went at 5.30pm, all togged out in red and carrying packets of KFC. And boy, were we glad we went. The whole stadium was a sea of red and the mood was faintly reminiscent of National Day. It’s really hard to sit still and just wait for the match to start because there were claps to clap and the Kallang Wave to do. The whole atmosphere was just electrifying.

And by 7.30pm kickoff time, everyone was sitting on the edges of the bleachers, all ready and raring to go.

It must have been a really long time since I caught a live match because after Indra had scored the first goal, my first reaction was, Eh, where’s the replay?

Thankfully, the rest of the 55,000 strong crowd reacted faster than me. The whole stadium erupted into a cacophony of cheers and yells and claps instantaneously, and everyone jumped to their feet and pumped their fists into the air. Three Malay ah-peks sitting in front of us dissolved into peals of delighted laughter and proceeded to toss into the air confetti torn from newspapers. It felt like a carnival, a festive celebration, a meeting of hearts and souls across a common ground.

The rest of the match went pretty much the same way, except that the crowd got ruder and ruder as the referee seemingly made more and more blunders. The foghorn and whistles were sounded, followed by chants of a-very-rude-word and “referee kayu!” In the end, when the judges were invited on stage to receive their token of appreciation, the entire stadium unanimously jeered and booed. Whoever said that Singaporeans lack a Singapore identity should have been there to eat his/her word. If that’s not unity, I don’t know what is.

And we won.
5 – 2 on aggregate, an unbelievable scoreline.
An unbelievable night.
Thank you, Lions, for putting up such a brave fight, despite the many conspiracy theories.
And for making me eat humble pie for having made fun of you and your lofty 2010 goal.


Picture from the boyfriend

Friends

The Modern Hobbit

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Since the EFB has been whining about how nobody seems to be blogging, I shall dedicate this entry to him.

I have a friend. He is called Sam. He never used to be called Sam though, and is actually born to some boring Chinese name which I shall not bother to repeat here. One day, after watching The Lord of the Rings, I noticed in a fit of inspiration that he greatly resembles Samwise Gamgee, faithful companion to one Frodo Baggins. It did not help that my-friend-who-didn’t-use-to-be-Sam is of hobbit size too, and enjoys beer. Plus, he does a really mean impersonation of Samwise (“Please Mr Frodo, don’t you remember me? I’m your Sam.”) From that day on, he became known as Sam to the rest of the world. We suspect that despite his grumpy admonitions, he is secretly pleased by the attention that we give him.


“Methinks you look like me.”
“No I don’t and this is what I think of you.”

Edit: Photo has been edited to protect the innocent.

The organised chaos

10 Foods of Desire

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Last night, I suffered a temporary bout of insomnia. I just couldn’t sleep, despite lying there on my bed for at least two hours. I think it was due to the fact that my stomach was growling piteously, which resulted in my wandering mind planning what I will eat once I have recovered. And voila! Here’s a list of my top 10 most desired foods.

Chicken rice – Five Star, Boon Tong Kee or even Chatterbox(!)
I’m a Hainanese at heart. Give me the garlic and the oily rice cooked in chicken broth and I’ll give you a very satisfied and burpy girl.

Hainanese staples – Purvis Street
Purvis Street is opposite Bras Basah Complex. It’s also where I used to spend my Sundays, during my childhood. There’s a “Long Association” (Long being my surname, duh) there and my entire family (Dad’s side) belongs to it. Across the association’s headquarters is a very good kopitiam that serves delicious and authentic Hainanese fare, such as pork chop, mutton soup (can induce nose-bleeds one) and chicken rice. The boyfriend and I go mad there, ordering more food than we can finish because it’s just so tasty and affordable.

Char kway teow – Soy Eu Tua
Okay, I am feeling very resentful because I had wanted to chomp down on lardy char kway teow the Saturday before my surgery and we ended up eating porridge instead. Like I am not getting enough of that now. Anyway, Soy Eu Tua along Siglap serves a yummy plate of char kway teow topped with hum, lup cheong and lots of fried lard. And it’s only $2. Mmmmm.

Fish slice noodles – Peninsula Plaza food court
Ever since the food court at Clifford Centre shut its doors, the Popartgirl and I have despaired of finding a worthy replacement to the fish slice noodles stall that used to reside there. Luckily, my colleagues had introduced me to the Peninsula Plaza one, and it’s actually quite good. The soup may not be as flavourful but it does pack a punch.

Kway teow goreng pattaya – Simpang Bedok
I admit it, I am a kway teow girl. I absolutely hate the fat, slimey yellow noodles and mee pok does nothing to me. The kway teow goreng pattaya at Simpang Bedok is sinful. It’s oily and oily – fried kway teow wrapped in omelette. But it’s so addictive, I only eat that when I go to Simpang.

Kway chup is such a comfort food – the smooth kway, the fatty meats and the salty veggies. Unfortunately, I can’t recall when was the last time I ate a truly clean and delicious kway chup. Any recommendations?

Zhu zha tang (pig’s organs soup) – Kopitiam at Waterloo Street
This is another comfort food. When things go wrong and all you want to do is eat, this is what you need. I love the soup which is packed with enough flavour and pepper to spice up your deadened tastebuds. The most excellent thing about this Kopitiam is that it’s open 24 hours – my friends and I used to eat that all the time after partying.

Frog’s legs porridge – somewhere in Geylang
Wah! I love the yummy sauce used to stew the frog’s legs! It’s kind of spicy and salty and when you dump a whole spoonful of it into your porridge, the previously bland porridge turns into gold. Plus, the frog’s legs are tender and juicy. Just don’t picture Kermit’s murder in your mind when you eat and you will be fine.

Geylang beef hor fun
The beef hor fun is soooo delicious. The gravy is tasty and thick and the hor fun glistens with oil. The beef slices are not too thin nor too tough. My only quibble is that the proportion of beef and hor fun is horrendously skewed. More beef please!

Nasi lemak – Changi Village, Golden Shoe or Chong Pang
So sinful but oh-so-heavenly. I can imagine smelling the fragrant rice and biting into the crunchy fried chicken wings. And it’s cheap too, costing between $2 – $3. I always add on sotong cutlet and otak. Oh otak! How I have missed you.

Now, all I have to do is to wait for the gaping holes in my mouth to recover and I can finally eat!
But first, gotta teach the mouth to chew, it’s too used to slurping.

The organised chaos

When Mr Incredible meets Edna Mode

yannisms

Throw in Mr Incredible’s very square jaw:

and Edna Mode’s very funky hairdo:

and you’ll get a very swollen me:

I look downright miserable and rightly so too.
This, my friends, is how I look like after my surgery. While the rest of my body withers away due to the lack of food, my face is ever expanding. I look like a blardy chipmunk. Yippee yee doo.

I don’t even know why I am uglifying myself in my own blog. This is absurd.

Pre-surgery
Anyway, the whole surgery came and went in a dizzying manner.
I was at the hospital at 10.30am but only entered the operating theatre at 1pm. Apparently some stupid girl was late and held up the queue. She finally showed up just before I went into the OT.

Before I went in, the nurse shoved something up my nose and squirted some disgusting anaesthesia down my throat. It made my eyes water and my breathing constricted. Following that, I walked into the OT and was told to lie down. The nurse then strapped my legs and my arms down, making me feel as if I was in an asylum. She hooked me up to the blood pressure machine and then the GA guy started twacking at the back of my hand to plump up the vein. Before I knew it, the needle connected to the drip was plunged into my skin and my whimpers of “owwww” went unnoticed. He gave me the oxygen mask and told me to “get a good sleep”. I blinked a couple of times and then….
Continue reading “When Mr Incredible meets Edna Mode” →

Silly things

Pluck your twangers, bounce your balls

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Here is something which would fit right in with the “You know you are old when…” email, which usually feature an assortment of actions and scenarios ranging from red seats in the SBS buses to being entranced by Xiang Yun and Huang Wenyong on then-SBC’s Wu3 Suo3 Nan2 Yang2.

When I was a kid, my first brush with the language English came from television. Hailing from a Mandarin-speaking family, I never really spoke formal English until I went to primary school. But that did not deter me from catching shows like Sesame Street, Electric Company and Square One TV at the tender age of three. Since I was left mostly to my own devices, television and books became my faithful companions. I told time through the various programmes playing on television, not unlike the obese, spoilt brat Dudley in J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series (which is now available for pre-ordering, by the way). In fact, one of my earliest memories of television is that of River Thames in front of a light blue background with some instrumental music (trumpet, I recall) blaring. It was a television station’s “advertisement” and usually played at the end of the programme.

Anyway, imagine my surprise when I got the link to an old episode of Rainbow TV. When the intro started, it jolted my memories, I actually remember it! But as the episode played on, my nostalgia turned to suppressed laughter. Some imaginative lines spouted in it include:
“you’ll have to stick it up yourself”,
“Are we going to play with our friend’s balls today?”,
“And I’m good at banging. My peg’s hard isn’t it, Zippy?”,
“Ooooh yes, and I was banging away all last night with Rod and Roger.”

Now tell me it’s all a string of startling coincidence, which the scriptwriters and producers have absolutely no knowledge of.

Everything Else

124,000

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It was a muted New Year’s Eve countdown at the Esplanade.
Corrinne May was wonderful live, but more on that later.

The latest figure that BBC gave on the death toll of the tsunami attack is 124,000 and counting. Reports say that the actual number of dead may never be known.

Thankfully, there are still countries like Canada who are generous and kind enough to write off debts owed to her by poorer countries affected by the tsunami. The other richer countries would do well to learn from this.

With a saddening end like this, 2005 should prove to be a much better year than 2004 was.
May the affected get the relief they need so desperately soon.