26 things

It's my birthday! Go me!

Today is my last day of work for the year (I love saying that!) as I'm going to KL tonight to celebrate my birthday, which is tomorrow. So here's a list of 26 me-me-mes you may or may not want to know. Happy New Year!

1. I am an incredible vainpot who must matchy-matchy all my clothes and accessories.
2. I can’t cycle.
3. I was such a chicken shit when I was young that I used to be afraid of Santa Claus. When kids ran screaming to him for candy, I was the only idiot running screaming in the opposite direction. 4. I'm a dark chocolate girl.
5. I don’t know how to eat chili. Spicy is as far as it goes.
6. When I was 15, I wanted to be a fashion designer. It took the combined persuasion of my alarmed parents and the sneaky outside enlistment of an uncle (who used to be a fashion designer) to turn me away from said life-ambition.
7. Happily, I no longer want to be a fashion designer. I’ll settle for fashion editor.
8. I'm uncomfortable in contact lenses. That's why I wear glasses everyday, and reserve the contacts for special occasions.
9. I am addicted to head massages at the hair salon.
10. The make-up item I cannot live without is lipstick.
11. I hate gyms.
12. I am a sucker for pretty packaging. Marketing people would love me.
13. I confess to liking Nelly, Spice Girls, S Club 7 and Justin Timberlake songs. Oh, the shame!
14. I adore sequins, beads and such-like shiny embellishments.
15. I have been known to kill cactus. Miss Green Fingers, I am not.
16. I am a huge cartoon freak. If it’s animated, I want to watch it.
17. At last count, I have about 90 cousins (both sides of the family included). There could very well be more that I am not aware of. However, I am not close to any of them.
18. I don’t drink coffee.
19. Milk is icky.
20. I have no favourite authors but am partial to Roald Dahl, Gerald Durrell and Jane Austen.
21. I watch award show ceremonies and Miss Universe/World pageants only to see what everyone’s wearing.
22. When I was five, I wanted to be a teacher just so I could write on a blackboard with chalk.
23. I used to have a Lhaso Apso named Cassius. I had him since I was six and he died in Nov 2002 at age 19.
24. I have never tried a cigarette in my life.
25. For sport, I try to rock climb, roller-blade, do pilates and play tennis or Frisbee. Note the word: try.
26. If ever you want to buy me flowers, don’t get me roses. Especially red or yellow roses. I like asiatic lilies, or orchids.

Ho ho ho!

Hope Santa gives you the pressies you want!

I was in Jakarta on Wed and Thurs for a dinner celebrating a marketing firm's 15th anniversary. It was a benefit dinner for UNICEF so people came arrayed in their cocktail finery, ready to save the children. It was quite fun, the food wasn't too bad (Indonesia satay is the best!) and there were some performances and speeches, all of which I didn't understand. Saya tidak mengerti bahasa. I no speaka the language. Highlight of the night was walking the red carpet into the convention centre and having my picture taken a la papparazzi style and being ushered to the VVIP section. I could get used to this life, no?

Anyway, here's wishing everyone a very Merry, Blessed Christmas. Hope you're on the good list and get all the pressies you want!

Christmas shopping

I was in a really good mood on Sunday and I don't know why. I was venturing out with two friends to get shopping done, and normally I would baulk at squeezing with everyone else doing their shopping, but no, this day I was in fine form, singing Christmas songs all morning ("ooooh the weather outside is frightful...") as I got ready.

Surprisingly, town wasn't as crowded as I expected, especially since on Sat, there was a jam along Stevens Road before noon. We had arranged to meet at 1pm for a quick lunch at Cream before hitting the shops, and then going for a 4.30pm showing of Ocean's Twelve.

At the end of the two hour power shopping trip, which we carefully strategised (you must have a plan for this, we decided to cover our shops in a square - Scotts, Wisma and ending up at Wheelock Place), I finished up with:

- 4 CDs*, for myself
- a Kiehl's voucher, for my mother
- a pair of earrings, for my sister
- nothing (rats!), for my father
- a plan to buy Borders vouchers for everyone at the office (quick and easy haha)

* That CD Shop is a bad, bad place. I blame L&B for my folly because they were late, so I had to go in there to browse while I waited for them. I left that place with: Buena Vista Social Club, Chanchullo, Latenight Betty (I love the band name - Pepe & the Bottle Blondes) and a recording of the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto & Yellow River Piano Concerto.

I have also developed a huge lust for a sparkly skirt from Charlie and either a U2 iPod or iPhoto. Oh no!

We ate so much

We had:

• cheese prata at Shah Alam, Boat Quay on Wed night,
• followed by finishing up my friends' tab at the newly-reopened Wala. Squishy's brother drinks like a fish, he finished his pint of Erdinger within a minute flat. P stage-whispered across the table to Squishy, "I like your brother."
• Lunch at Baker's Inn on Thurs, where we had spaghetti bolognaise, mushroom fricassee (I love saying that word) and mushroom brioche with poached egg (which sounds better than it tasted)
• After watching The Incredibles (second viewing for me, I liked it that much), late-afternoon snack of ultimate chocolate cupcakes from Toast (no more nutella cupcakes, boohoo). We briefly considered going for the free steak sandwiches at Mortons (LMD: they are back on!), but were too lazy to trek to the Oriental.
• Dinner at Blood Cafe, where we had roasted chips with wasabi mayo dip, roast chicken sandwiches, roast beef sandwiches, caesar salad and duck confit, followed by a christmasy tasting chocolate tart for dessert.

Burp.

And oh yes, we saw Olinda of S'pore Idol fame at Orchard Cineleisure after the movie. She was wearing too-cool-for-school shades...in the building. I will never understand people who wear sunnies indoors. Yes, those lights are just sooo glaring. My friends wanted a picture with her, but I didn't have my camera with me. Oh well.

Stand out movies of 2004

I haven't been able to catch as many movies in the cinema as I would have liked this year, but these are the movies that I enjoyed/stayed with me the most this year:

The Passion of the Christ: Aside from some artistic and technical considerations, nothing I have seen or read has made the death of Jesus as close and personal to me as this movie has. It had me in buckets of tears. And hey, anything that makes me go back to the Bible has to be good. Although, I have to admit this is not a show I would be watching in a hurry again.

The Company: I'm a sucker for any sort of dance movie (which is why I was at home on Sun watching the Vanessa Williams show Dance with Me) and although this movie hasn't got much of a plot, the dancing had me riveted. Who knew Neve Campbell could dance so well? And also, James Franco shirtless? Yummy.

Osama: Caught this during the S'pore International Film Festival. I normally have a problem with movies from that region not because they suck, but because they always leave me so depressed. This was another one of those depressing movies. So heart-wrenching. But so good.

Coffee & Cigarettes: It was a little long, and a couple of the stories could have been cut out, but I liked the quirkiness of it all and the fact that it was shot entirely in black & white. My favourite segments were those with Cate Blanchett, Alfred Molina (octopus guy in Spiderman II) and Steve Coogan (24 Hour Party People).

The Incredibles: I didn't think Pixar could top themselves after Finding Nemo, but apparently they could. I was so fascinated with the way they animated the hair. So smooth, so shiny! My favourite character is Edna Mode, fabulous fashion designer. One of my friends said I look like Edna, how dare he! Just because I wear glasses and have an insane fixation on fashion does not mean I'm like a midget cartoon character!

Honourable mentions: Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban, Japanese Story, Saved!, Kill Bill 2 and Shrek 2.

And on the other end of the spectrum, I absolutely loathed Le Divorce and Cold Mountain. Am so glad I didn't shell out money to watch them, and caught them on DVD.

Zoom zoom zoom

Since my car is out of action, I have decided to rent a car from tomorrow evening until Sat afternoon. I had no idea renting cars in Singapore is so expensive! I'm putting down $200 to rent this car. And let's not forget the extra costs I will have to fork out like petrol. Also, somehow knowing there is a $1,500 excess is making me quite nervous too. But at least that will take care of all the transport troubles for when my friends come to town tomorrow.

Knowing my lousy luck, I'll probably get a call from the mechanic on Fri saying the car is ready. Bah.

Actually, on second thoughts, I would rather they called and said the car is ready this week, cos then at least I'd have a car this weekend.

In other news, I'm still yet to plan things to do with my friends when they come on Thurs. They're only on stopover for 24 hours, so is not much time to do all the things they have requested i.e. lots of eating, drinking and shopping. So far, all I've come up with is:

• prata at either Boat Quay or Upper Thomson on Wed night. If we have prata at Boat Quay, then maybe we can go Jazz@ Southbridge first.
• cover the usual shopping haunts - Far East Plaza, Heeren, Queensway Shopping Centre
• Mortinis. But subject to there being free steak sandwiches at the bar. No free sandwiches, no happy hour.

Still can't figure out a place for lunch. Definitely not Crystal Jade, I've taken them there too many times already.

Snatch!

I have discovered a new way to exchange presents at parties. Last night, I went to the first of Christmas parties at a friend's place. She and her fiance have a fabulous apartment in River Valley and we had popiah and kwey pie ti and Penang laksa for dinner, and helped the hosts decide which wine they should have for their wedding, and finished off with homemade Christmas cake. After a rousing rendition of Christmas carols, where everyone butchered 'The First Noel' and 'Feliz Navidad', we did the exchange presents thing. Everyone had been instructed to bring a gift of not more than $20, which we put under the Christmas tree the moment we stepped in.

I've always done the gift exchange thing with other friends the democratic way, i.e. we draw lots and when it comes to our turn, stick our hands down a bag and grab something. But this was different. We still draw lots to see who goes first and last. But the present you pick may not end up being the present you go home with.

Rule #1. The moment you pick a present, you have to open it immediately and let everyone have a good look at it.
Rule #2. The person who goes after you can choose to take your present or open a new one. And, no, whatever you say about how much you luuuurve your present and how the spirit of Christmas is all about lurve and caring and sharing, it's not going to help you keep your present.
Rule #3. You can only snatch people's presents which have been opened before your turn.
Rule #4. If your present has been snatched, you can either open a new one, or snatch someone else's present.
Rule #5. A present cannot be snatched more than twice.

In playing this game, I have learnt that, a) it's best to be last in this game, so you can practically pick your choice of presents and provide much torture , b) it's best to have brought a date for the dinner party, as you can collude with your partner-in-crime for getting the object of your desire, and c) it pays to keep very quiet once you get your present and try not to draw any attention to it. Don't try to be tricky and say things like, "Oh, it's lousy, you wouldn't like it." It only makes someone else want it more.

There were some choice presents at last night's party. The hot items were a Country Road wine-opener, a sterling silver Royal Selangor box, a Timberland bag and a green jewellery box. I came away from the game with the present I picked out, although it actually got snatched from me. But after the game, I managed to do a mutual swop with the person who snatched it from me (I had an item she wanted).

I went home very happy with my porcelain 'piggy' bank, only it's not actually in the shape of a pig, but a cow wearing jeans, specifically cow boy jeans. I have decided to call it The Cash Cow.

Thinking silly

A Silly Poem

Said Hamlet to Ophelia,
I'll draw a sketch of thee,
What kind of
pencil shall I use?
2B or not 2B?

-- Spike Milligan

My colleague and I were talking on the way in to work this morning, and she said, she thinks in colours and shapes. That's why she speaks so slow sometimes, because she's still translating the shapes into words. I had a thunk about it and have concluded that I think in a mix of English and bubbles. How about you?

Immense distress

Fishballs. I sent my car in yesterday to get something checked out and to get it serviced, when I found out today from my mechanic that I will not be able to drive my car for the next two weeks. THE NEXT TWO WEEKS. Please bring to mind the most distressed face you have ever seen, and add 100x times more distress to that. He says the pressure regulator has run the course of its natural lifespan and needs to be replaced. He says there are no other pressure regulators to be found in Singapore and that it has to be ordered in from Japan and that could take between 14-21 days. I say, do you have any idea where I work? I need that car, man! I NEED it!!

What will I do? How will I live? How will I move around? And oh no this is so not a good time. I have friends visiting Singapore next week and it is imperative I have a vehicle, so we can move around the island to shop and eat prata and drink mortinis.

THE PAIN THE PAIN! Fishballs. I need a drink.

eh, I'm such a spoilt brat. Cannot even imagine life without a car for 2 weeks.

This baby is mine for a week

Mine, all mine!

I wish it were mine, but I'm only reviewing it for a friend who writes for Shape magazine. Ah well, at least I get to enjoy its pretty colour, slick packaging, cute compact size...and oh yah, the music for a while.

Quick notes so far:
* Might be buggy - when first turned on, screen would not respond to click wheel and sound wouldn't come on even though a song was playing. Had to reboot iPod.
* Transferring music the first time round didn't work. Although iTunes clearly indicated that the songs had been successfully transferred, iPod looked empty. Had to plug iPod back to computer to do one more transfer before could see songs successfully.
* Ears hurt after wearing earphones for more than an hour. Ouch.
* Battery needs constant recharging. Have been playing iPod for about 6 hours and already battery is at quarter mark.

And even after all that, I STILL want an iPod, especially this one. Damn Apple and their clever marketing and packaging!

This December, I am into...

...Ribena Blackcurrant Pastilles, conquering the scary side of the Yishun wall, Johnson's Baby Peach Fresh bath, my new bed, baking Nutella cupcakes, my birthday, Inuyasha (embarrasingly), getting a good haircut, all things Christmas - cards, carols, parties, three days off from work.

What are you into this December?