Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas...
Originally uploaded by daftbitch.

Merry Christmas everyone...

Christmas Dinner with the girls...

Christmas is time to share with your family and friends. Provisions has to be made this year, as not everyone in the group can celebrate Christmas together. It's exactly a year ago, that a few of us were at Balaclava to celebrate Christmas. As usual, Pris has to be at church. This year, we're a couple short again. Meihwan will be on her Asia / Thai / Whatever tour on Friday till next year. She's going to be in Bangkok, Chiangmai, Ko Samui, Phuket... and April will be in some part of Malaysia for the Christmas weekend. That leaves Jeanie, Clara and me.

What am i going to do for Christmas? I need to catch up on sleep first for these few days, before the partying starts on Friday. Kimbo and the crazy boys are going to be at Esmirada for Christmas Eve, think they're bent to drink till they tear the roof apart. So there goes the plan of drinking. Christmas day... i have a wedding dinner ... :( by the time i get done with dinner, it will be too late. Like Kim said : we'll be smashing drunk la, you come and kio lup sup. Heck... like my last post mentioned : nothing ever planned falls into place. So heck...

The girls all met up today at La Cantina @ Changi Village Hotel for some italian food. The minute we met, we were asking each other why we can't have other food. Jeanie suggested no signboard. But since Christmas is such an ang moh event, according to Meihwan and April, we should have ang moh kind of food, like Italian or American. So there were a couple of suggestions among the rest that includes Outback Steakhouse. Man, why didn't they choose steakhouse? I don't eat a lot of Italian food. Ahhh heck... it's all been done. Dinner time was fun, talking about our random love lives, the regular group tabloids and the plans for 2006 : who is going to dive, who is going to shop, who is going to learn different things in life. Yes, we're a bit mad to be discussing group plans for 2006. But we hardly meet up. So plans include Redang, Bali & Bangkok.... i have this feeling we're so not going to do it.

So at a corner, we spy Clara smiling at her phone again. Dammit. Again leh. How could she? Hahahaha, so we took a picture as evidence.

Merry Christmas Girls...
ohhh, and let's remember to pray for Meihwan.

monday : running night

the bulge in my tummy is scary. blame it on the beer ! blame it on Kimbo for teaching me beer appreciation or his version of paying tuition fees ! blame it on feasting for the holidays ! blame it on the wonderful amount of food Singapore has ! Sidenote : food is something i will miss terribly when i go back to US. I have to find a solution to fight that bulge, or at least to tone it up. i am not fat, i am not skinny, i just have a beer tummy in the making.

So what do i do? I run. I put my Nike pegasus circa 2005 to good use. Yes, i did. It still looks new, cos i run along the roads. I ran & walk for almost 45 minutes, much longer than i did last week. It's frickin amazing. I am amazed, except for some pulling of thigh muscle. i felt alright during the run, still being able to sing along to the songs on my ipod shuffle : pussycat dolls, madonna, prodigy, 周杰倫, fort minor.

After my run, i feel totally zonked out, drained my last bit of energy from the final sprint back home. I just needed somewhere to rest my ass. I plonked down in front of telly, and basically chilled out. Mom got home, and brought along pandan cakes, egg tarts & cookies. How could i resist, especially after a shower? I guess, there goes my plans to be slim, and lose that bulge.

Au natural me with the "au natural pandan cake" (cake include preservatives + colorings)

don't ever plan anything?

My mind kept flashing " roll on the friday red carpet..."
I so wanted to take an early rest on friday, but of course, i want to finish some work errands. I need funds for the stuff i want. Of course, i always get sabotaged whenever i planned something evil. My deed of evil today was to finish off some lunch meeting, go off to the Mango sale to check out some items, go finish other work errands, and call it a day, and go for a run, grab some dinner, and head out. Other things took precedence. I had to detour after my lunch meeting, to grab some medication, and to head off to rest, as i was breaking out in cold sweat, and drifting in & out of sleep.

I did managed to finish some work, and of course, went to the mango sale, grabbed some dinner along the way. Since it was still too early, i decided to head down to the dc5 meetup. met the usual suspects, talked to the usual suspects ... and got fooled into thinking i got a parking ticket. dammit... damn the guys.

Plans were made to go check out Ministry of Sound. Yes it's opened in Singapore. Finally, after so many years of hoooohhhaaaaa, false hopes... and reports. I didn't manage to get in... since the q is like freaking long, and it's somewhat impossible not to q. So my friends and i decided to adjourn off back to zouk. Which is also surprisingly packed. I mean, come on, Ministry of Sound opened today, half of Singapore is there.

nothing ever meant to be a slow night would end early. it'll always take till wee hours. nothing in plans ever turn out the way you want it to be. just go with the flow. I had supper, and dropped a couple of the boys off, and the next i know... the clock reads frigging 5.30am... bloody saturday morning.

i finally ran...

Marking the demise of my old nikes. Bye to my blue nikes.
I realized that all my nikes are wearing out, soles falling apart, the shoes have started laughing at me; my adidas are all street shoes, for style purposes; i'm left with no choice.
I went out and got myself a new pair of running shoes.
I searched everywhere.... walking through numerous stores.
I finally decided on a pair of shoes, a pair of Nike Air Pegasus Circa 2005 in Purple & Pink.
Retro? You bet. I had recommendations to buy Asics & Adidas 'Zero RC' series or New Balances and tried all of them. But nothing beats the fit of Nike Air Pegasus for my weird feet.

I ran finally on Wed. For a couple of blocks in my lil' neighborhood.
It may not be a long distance. I can't recall when i last ran. I think it was during Purdue days.
Treetop walk in Nov doesn't count, as it's brisk walking.
I really ran this time and can't help but feel a sense of achievement.

The aftermath (Thurs):
my butt ache, my arms ache, my thighs ache, my body ache.
What to do. A sign of the times perhaps. I'm definitely not fit.
Gonna run again tomorrow.... what a bummer... especially on a friday evening... *wails & whines*...

handwriting analysis : am i really what it analyze?

What does your handwriting say about YOU?

The results of your analysis say:

You plan ahead, and are interested in beauty, design, outward appearance, and symmetry.
You are a social person who likes to talk and meet others.
You are affectionate, passionate, expressive, and future-oriented.
You are a talkative person, maybe even a busybody!
You are self-confident and like to bring attention to yourself.

Am i really what the analysis says i am? Hmmm... hahahaha, busybody... yea maybe. Self confident ... yea maybe... and bring attention to myself... i am an attention whore? Not so much like the famous bloggers, i guess. Sheesh... how true is this? Hmmm..

Purdue...

Five years on... we're still the same. It's been 5 years since graduation. I've been back for close to 5 years. It's amazing how when we get together, we're still jesting. Looks like we're still very much the same. Despite it being a blue Monday, we decided to get together for drinks and to catch up.
Ming came down from JB, he's renewing his work permit to return back to Texas. Sanford made a trip to just chill in Singapore, feasting, and stuffing himself in time for the cold Chicago Christmas. Gavin's been in Singapore, and planning to return back to US for his MBA. Mike's been in Singapore, and his other half Mae moved here to Singapore to be with him. It's amazing how we seldom hang out or kept in touch through these years, but my friends haven't really changed much.

Gavin's still FOS, Sanford's still feasting away, Ming is still Ming, subtle & mellow. Mike grew skinnier, but still the same. The guys were part of my life back in US. As we sat there drinking away, and forcing drinks down each other's throat, and the usual norm of sparing me cos i am the 妹妹 of the group, we started recounting our good ol' days.

How we have the Everclear drink as our initiation process. and the bacardi 151.
How we have a resident prostitute.
How Ming broke his hand, and getting it recast.
How Gavin drank so much, that he puked so much.
How i flipped at some stranger, making the guy nearly whacking me, but having Hercules step in and punching the guy first.
How Sanford first met me, and my first words to him was "tiew lei".
How i cried during my graduation, and Sanford said my tears are on cue.
How Ming is never there with us, How Gavin is never with us.
How Sanford, Dennis, Mingyi and me got crazy and drove to Toronto, got fooled by Jana that we can get to Toronto from Chicago... and then having to make the detour again. Duh, blame the engineers, so much so for graduating from the Top 10 Engineering Schools in US.
How Dennis dared Hercules to carry him, and Hercules crashed Dennis' head repeatedly on the ceiling.
How i learnt to drive, with me on the clutch, and Dennis shifting gears.
How Mike has to help me parallel park, cos i got pissed off with parking, and he was laughing.
How Pin got drunk, and Dennis and Sanford had to wash him up and put him into bed.
How William built an igloo, cause they got bored at Franklin Park.
How we have a big ass eating feast at Pin's apartment.
How the guys had to finish their homework in a hurry, so we could get to cactus on Thursdays for beer & drinking.
How the beer at cactus is only 1 cent on Thursday.
How we drove down to House of Blues for BT, and eating at Chinatown at 4am in the morning.
How we would always drink so much, and then drive to the town's Denny's restaurant for buffalo wings (sauce on the side, pls...!!!) at 4am, and going home about 6am.
How we would say to each other at Hawkin's lobby at 6am not to call each other till 6pm.
How Kishore slept through fire drill, despite the alarm being right outside his door.
How we stood there in the cold, looking at the fire drill.
How the boys woke me up at 4am to go weeeweeeee, and how i combed the entire 13 floors of Hawkins to hunt them down to kick their butt.
How we still call each other to check on each other now & then.

It's comforting to know despite everything around us has changed, some getting married, some have kids, we're still going to have the crappiest pick-up lines, and drunk stunts.

Can't help but feel nostalgic...

weekend of partying...

It's surprising how fast the weekend creeps up on you. At the blink of an eye, it's the weekend. I'm so glad for it. I was feeling a lil' under the weather, thigh cramps, feet cramp, and that ever-so-persistent urge to sleep. I'm tired. I took friday afternoon off to get my nails done up, and i fell asleep while getting my nails pampered. Yes i know, i am a horrible person to fall asleep ... causing my hand to slip and my nails to get semi-ruined. Hahaha, but who cares, i'm there, so they have to fix it for me.

I went to attend Calvin & Jean's wedding that night. The couple that i always drink with are getting married. Of course there were questions of where they met, followed by hollers of "wine bar" at the background. But the reply was "mdm wong's", yes, that dubious place. Had to rush off to Markino to wish Mr. B happy birthday, right after the wedding. And then rush to join my girlies at Bar None for Clara's birthday. Last stop was Zouk... where i met my usual posse. I left and got home slightly before 5am, still getting that nagging feeling of how good my bed feels ... I felt like a GRO (GRO : Guest Relations Officer aka mamasan aka xiao jie) , jumping venues the entire night, but what else can i do but to keep my friends appeased? You can't just please one person, you have to make everyone else happy. I should be paid, but i am not. Dratz, don't GRO command a high income?

I always feel saturdays are meant to slack or chill around, preferably in bed, under the covers, in a temperature-controlled (about 10ish celsius; 50ish fahrenheit would be perfect) room. At 1pm, mom decided i had enough sleep and told me to wake up to have my lunch. But it's barely 8 hours since i slept, and it's the weekend. i'm tired. Went down to Foster's for some soothing scones & ice lemon tea. Utterly refreshing. I like to kick back on Saturdays, enjoying some tea and bitched with some mates. Bad hair day, so had to put on a hat, which amused my friends... cos it's completely not Eve, but heck, i have bad crazy hair... so i need to subdue them.

Sanford's in town ... i brought him to chompz for dinner. And then went with him to One Fullerton area to have some coffee, all cos he finished watching that show "yummy king", and told me he wanted to go there. It's gonna be heck of a eating weekend.

I did go to Zoukout... with my boys. Late but better than never. They were emm-supping in my car on the way there, drinking their vodka mix. I'm amused, but driving with care, or risk them shouting that i'm a lousy ass driver, and they can't mix their drinks. I know i have friends that are wild... but they're a happy bunch to be with. By the time we got in, we realized not everyone in the group got in, despite being in Sentosa earlier. We had fun, i didn't drink, cos i had to drive. I am the designated driver. I have to drag some sleepy drunk people home. too much drinks with dubious background is obviously not good news for the boys. It's 7 on Sunday morning, when i reached home. 8am when i got to bed. I'm tired.

My sis is now sitting beside me blabbering about the spirit of Christmas. How we should always exchange gifts. All she got for me is a hello kitty keychain. It's el cheapo loco but it's hella cute. Maybe i'll use it for my office keys / home keys / car keys. Hmmm...

Relationships...

What are relationships? Relationships is a bond formed by one & the other. It can be a friendship or something closer. You could have met through friends, or even friends of friends, or at that same joint while in line waiting for that burger to cure your hunger and craving. You could have shared a passion, in perhaps the nastiest of things like a bug collection or something out of this world like skydiving every single day of your life. You could have been the most uncouth chick in the world; and he's from the most elite families that eat, live and breathe the high life and disciplined and even immaculately groomed. You could have met at that hospital where you bust your knee and when he's visiting his old employee. It could even be a chance meeting. It could be that lil' thing you had for this guy whom you shared the same bus ride with for four years, not knowing his name. It could be by some luck that your paths crossed. It could be anywhere...

Once you found that someone, would you sing something along the lines of PCD's track Stickwitu? An exerpt as follows (lyrics way too long...:P) :-
" I don't want to go another day
So I'm telling you exactly what is on my mind
Seems like everybody is breaking up
Throwing their love away
I know I got a good thing right here
That's why I say (Hey)

Nobody's going to love me better
I'm going to stick with you
Forever
Nobody's going to take me higher
I'm going to stick with you
You know how to appreciate me
I'm going to stick with you
My baby
Nobody ever made me feel this way
I'm going to stick with you

I don't want to go another
So I'm telling you exactly what is on my mind
See the way we ride
In our privated lives
Ain't nobody getting in between
I want you to know that you're the only one for me
And I say"

someday perhaps we'll be able to sing that to someone. till then, we'll just take the bus ride, hoping to catch that boy we met then... and finally getting our guts to ask him for his name & number. Afterall, what have we gotta lose?

Azn Pryde...

Azn Pryde or Asian Pride is a topic that irks Ben a lot, believing that there's no pride in having been born to it. I beg to differ. I choose to make my stand that you should be proud of your roots, where you're from and being totally Asian. Let's backtrack to something i wrote back in June'05 :

So the question again boils to what makes an AzN?

Looks : the hair color (mostly black, now some turned ash like me, or even blonde, brown, whatever), eye color (mostly black, but some turned to blue, green, brown, grey, whatever), skin color (mostly yellowish nude, but some turned tanned or even brown, whatever). Of cos these are jus superficial.

Our food choices : AzN can kick ass in Fear Factor eating cow's balls or pig's intestines. I don't think food choices can qualify as being AzN. I don't eat spare parts. I don't eat a lot of raw food. I love steaks, burgers, rice noodles, etc. Maybe rice noodles can count as being AzN.

I guess it's our parents, heritage and upbringing that qualify us as AzN. Our values are different, tho i beg to differ for some out there. We're just conventional, practical people.

I'm AzN and proud of it. A lil' white washed, but still AzN. I speak mandarin, cantonese and a lil' hokkien, and a lil' SoCal accent to my engrande, but then... i'm not pretentious, i'm just a lil' SoCal chick.

People change the way they look to steer away from their asian looks. Let's look at the infamous girl-blogger Dawn Yang. Did she not look very asian, and she changed to the whole pan-asian look just cause it's more exotic and much more popular on my side of the hemisphere? Is she ashamed of being Asian, and the whole Pan-Asian leaning towards the dutch look more favorable? I'm really sad that the way things are headed. I love being asian, i love looking Azn, whether it's more Japanese or Korean looking. I doubt i would wanna change anything. Perhaps maybe breast augmentation (heh heh), you must agree that Dawn's supposed breasts augmentation did look good. And that thought of flying to Bangkok for breasts augmentation at the cost of S$2k is extremely tempting. But ultimately, i ain't switching my looks. I embrace a lot of things Asian. The only thing i fail to understand is music. I am trying to listen to more Chinese music, i do have a couple of artistes & groups which i support, and i also support some Jap / Korean music. I am brushing up on my knowledge of Korean phrases. I speak Mandarin everyday. I'm Asian.... like it or not... i look Asian... let's just hug and embrace that Asian Pride... i so wanna do a "peace out sign " right now, but i can't find a good picture to best represent it.

I'm Azn and proud of it.
A lil' whitewashed but still Azn and proud of it.

5-10 Lazy Friday Night

I spent most of my Friday lazing around, trying desperately to get out of the cough / cold / sore throat rut that i've been nursing the entire week. The label on my cough mixture reads : May cause drowsiness --- drive carefully. Hmmm, ok, thanks to my doc who always write that to remind me never to drive within 4 hours of consumption of the medication.

At night, i sat around, got bored. It's a freaking Friday night. I'm driven nuts staying home, though i know i really should. & i promised to stay in. I sound really bad, nasal to be more precise. But i feel perfectly fine. Ahhh fuck, throat infection affecting my voicebox. A call came around 11ish, from Kim asking me to head out. Craziness got to my head, i decided to run out pronto, before my lazy bones set me to bed again. Off to esmirada's with Kim & Jermie at about 12ish. The other boys came in shortly after.

When the boys gather, they play their ching-chong games : five-ten in multiple dialects & languages (cantonese, hokkien, cheeena, & engrande). And of course, their usual chee ko pah, a game which i fail to understand. Something changed tonight, we played heart attack. Tell me, are we a bunch of madcaps? Being mid-20s, and playing heart attack in our local drinking hole. This is just weird-ass but still good fun. Of course, some got deliriously high & some drunk. I didn't drink much, due to my strict medication.

When things got boring at about 3am, me along with Kim & Jermie decided to head for zouk, as per usual. It's really weird to justify going to zouk with dice, but of cos, my crazy passengers like to do silly things. Remind me once again why i am friends with them. The usual stuff happened. I bumped into my childhood buddy Wx who reminded me that he met me pre-puberty. *rolls eyes... knn* But i saved his day. Hahaha, he got harrassed by some woman, who is so relentless in getting him. So he intro-ed me as his gf. Wtf? But heck. anything for a good friend. I got tired... and... the next minute i turn to look at my cell phone for the time, it was 4plus am, i gotta go home & sleep.

I got a bunch of incriminating pikchers with me from the night, thanks to the minimal alcohol policy i stuck to.
Boys, who's willing to pay me to shut me up? If i don't get a good offer, you guys are all going to suffer.