Singapore in Four Weeks

It's easier when I'm writing this in retrospect.

Whenever I returned back to Singapore as a student, it felt like a whirlwind romance- you fall in love, get swept off your feet, and before you know it, it's over. There's nothing sophisticated about it, like the romance, there will be an ending when it's time to turn your back and board the flight.

It does seems like I have a choice to return this time. I didn't do the hungry-ghost "ge tai" rush from one destination to another, because I wanted to take time to savour the times I have with my friends and family. The quantity didn't matter, but to hang out with the people who really mattered meant a lot to me. I could meet them a hundred times and not get tired of it.

I was glad that after 3 years of absence, there are those who have been undying in their friendship and love. Atikah spent countless nights hanging out with me, even though she was hardly a night bird... I had an girly night with Sharon, who took 2 days off just to hang out, watching Dvds till the wee hours of the night, having our pajama party, digging up our old days by visiting NUS, having the Great Jamie Oliver Cookout, egging each other on to buy more clothes at Southaven... Nel who never fails to entertain me with the symbolic prawn crackers and drinks, Tracy who tried to juggle motherhood and mothering me... the tribe who never fails to hound me with late night movies, durians feasting, 2 hours lunches and ambitious holiday plans...

... and of course coupled with my own parents who fed me lots of food, made the house a home to come back to, and just making familar noises that I don't get overseas.

Sharon says that I will forget all these soon when I'm back in Melbourne.

Does the place or the people maketh the person?

That being said, my only grouse about Singapore during this visit is that it is one very very crowded country- there seems to be more cars on the roads, more people on the MRT, more shoppers in the malls, and even the beach is invaded with throngs of campers. At every available space, another handphone shop/food/bakery store is being set up.

I had an eggs benedict at South Melbourne the morning after I arrived at melbourne. Cool weather, occasional sun, and best of all, the streets are almost empty. I can enjoy my food and company in peace.

There's no such thing as greener grass or best of both worlds, only a choice to be made and a perspective to take.

The Great Jamie Oliver Cookout @ Sha's

Moet Night with Cindy and Clara @ Attica.

Slideshow Weekends

The last few weekends, I didn't walk into God's church, but I walked into His cinema, watched slideshows of peace and serenity, witnessed the power of the waves and yielding of the rocks. At times the wind blows colder than the heart, yet the summer warmth attempts to blow some life over it again.

There's a season for everything. As much as you want to rev up the engine, to accomplish, to start achieving, to quicken things, to drum your fingers impatiently on the counter, to wish bad things away, to behold good ones, but yet you find yourself content to breath through the day, sleep another night, pass another day... one day becomes two, days turn to weeks. String it all together, and another season has passed...

Only on a Friday

Only on a Friday does the vent open
The steam releases
At least tomorrow's a Saturday
And no one need to see me

One drink down
One mad rush
One more week
One tear drop

And Sunday's not going to be easier
Another memory to deny
Another sigh to ignore
Another emotion to disguise

What would you have said?

That faithful morning,
When you watched the sun rose,
What would you have said?
That "I was like the sun, constant and unfailing"
"You never woke up without me to greet your day"

That faithful morning,
What would he have said?
That "I've waited till I couldn't
Still you weren't back
I had to go"

That faithful morning,
As you breathe your last,
What would you have said?
That "I wished you were here,
Just as I have always been for you"

This faithful evening,
As I looked at your photo
A thousand miles away
My tears trickle
My heart goes numb
My words are lost
My smile is gone
My sorrow hounds me
I wished you can talk to me one more time.

In Loving Memory of the Love of My Life- Kitty (1986-2006)

You came as a week old kitten, frail and helpless
We picked you among the litter of black and white kitties
You were the cutest of them all

Once I wrapped you up like a baby
Rocking you as you slept
Then you made my bed your bed
And you snuggled in my quilt

You'll wake me up like clockwork
Asking me to let you out
You'll meow and meow
And nibble my nose and step on me

Sometimes when you're bored
You talk to me
But all this while
You listened more than talked

You hear my cries when I was sad
Slept by my side when I was sick
You were one faithful companion
Who never changed when man did

I can't even re-tell your story
Without going back to recall my life
You shared 20 years of my life with me
It will be my own loss for the rest

If losing all my riches
If forgoing what I love
If giving up what I have
Will bring you back to me

If those tears I cried,
Could let me can say "I love you" again
Could let me feel your warmth again
And hear you meow again

You know Ah Boy, my baby, my most beloved, my friend, my faithful companion,
There's nothing I won't do for you.

I've been Tagged

My dear kuzzin tagged me. I don't even know what to do when you are tagged. But looking at hers, some kind of truth of myself will ceremoniously do the job.

1)I slept with my kitty cat on the same bed for almost a decade or more. A real one, not a stuff toy. But sitting on my bed also meant I had his white fur on my black office suit. Potentially embarrasing but nothing I can do about it.

2)Like my kuzzin, I can play music by ear, but can't read notes. The first melody I can play came from the first TCS drama series- some army show that featured Hwang Wen Yong, who also happened to be my first crush at 6 years old. Don't ask me if I gave him up for the more handsome Wang Yu Qing in 'The Flying Fish'. And no, the crush didn't last till 'The Awakenings' (Wu Xuo Nang Yang).

3)I once unknowingly took a nice long shower in the gents... that was in an England hostel, where the bathroom cubicles didn't come with doors, but only a flimsy curtain. I walked out without even realising.

Can't think anymore, long day from work... now I need to just zzzz...

Who Am I?

I'm not starting 2007 with resolutions; I'm glad I had the time to spend the time watching the sunset and enjoying the peace that I almost forgot, existed.

What if everything was taken away from you tomorrow? Would you still be able to stand secure? We're happy to be someone's daughter, someone's girlfriend, someone's best friend, some great company's valuable employee, but if these were all taken away, what are we left with?

What makes me the unique person that I am? What makes you different from me?

Before you blame me for throwing that philosophical barrage on you, I'll tell you that being in a different country with friends who hardly know you for more than 2 years, you'll feel the greater need to be rooted in who you are. Either that, you can change with the situation, just be whatever people want you to be.

This year, I want to know more about myself... there's gotta be a starting point.


Frankston Beach (Mornington Peninsular) 

For a Dear Friend

Hi dear friend... waiting to see the morning with you! Hold your breathe while dusk and night falls... Sharing with you a passage I read in a book.

When the worst happens, or almost happens, a kind of peace comes. I had passed beyond grief, beyond terror, all but beyond hope, and it was there, in that wilderness, that for the first time in my life, I caught sight of something of what it must be like to love God truly. It was only a glimpse, but it was like stumbling on fresh water in the desert…I loved him because there was nothing else left. I loved him because he seemed to have made himself as helpless in his might as I was in my helplessness. I loved him not so much in spite of there being nothing in it for me, but almost because there was nothing in it for me. For the first time in my life, there in that wilderness, I caught what it must be like to love God truly, for his own sake, to love him no matter what. (Frederick Buechner, in John Ortberg’s Love Beyond Reason)



Trust His Heart
(Babbie Mason)

“All things work for our good
Though sometimes we don’t see how they could
Struggles that break our hearts in two
Sometimes blinds us to the truth

Our Father knows what’s best for us
His ways are not our own
So when your pathway grows dim
And you just don’t see him
Remember you’re never alone

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don’t understand
When you don’t see his plan
When you can’t trace his hand
Trust his heart

He sees the masterplan
He holds our future in his hands
So don’t live as those who have no hope
All our hope is found in Him

We see the present clearly
But he sees the first and the last
And like a tapestry
He’s weaving you and me
To someday be just like Him

He alone is faithful and true
He alone knows what is best for you

Cakey Fun

  

3 nights ago, we tried our hands at making a cake. The weather felt like it is winter, and rain poured down finally. Not that I was happy with it, because I practically beared with the cold winter in hope that spring will come. So to give us a challenge, we embarked on making a cake, sans electric mixer.

I relegated the chef's hat, and became the lovely assistant. The cake was finally baked after midnight, and I could only bring myself to finish it up with the cream this afternoon. It tasted like those 1980s cake when I had when I was young, the ones with pale yellow butter cream, with little granulated peanuts carefully sprinkled on the sides.

For Hanh

Pictures for Hanh, who is absolutely obsessed about her garden.

Coffee Break

Haven't written for some weeks now. Main culprit has to be engaging in some temp job and having no mood to blog after staring at the computer screen for 8 hours a day. It's been a nice 3 weeks tho, with income coming in, silently observing office politics, the aussie office culture, as well as enjoying my lunchtime cup of flat white at my favourite bluestone cafe nearby.

Caro and Joel flew in the weekend that I ended work. It's such a joy to see them, to bring them around, have coffee, wine, beer, cheese, celebrate birthday, sneakily plan their proposal, and forcing them to eat my blood oranges. The week flew past, and now they are on the side of the world that I'll be happy to be in.

After eating disgusting loads of dim sums, we ended their stay with the following video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_GDvc2MQDo

Back to slack life.

Murphy's Law

According to Murphy's Law, the only day in the last 2.5 years where you have to wake up early and haul yourself to the city, it will pour cats, dogs and all other assorted animals.

According to Murphy's Law, after you take all available measures to prevent your immigration application forms from going missing in transit to Adelaide, it still will grow legs and go on its own joyride. In fact, the forms are so stray in nature that they will still take its own stroll, possibly along the streets of Adelaide, after being received and signed.

That's my woes of the week. The first one is a happy woe, because I went to meet my work agent. The second, is a case of an incompetent story, that will determine when my first real job will come. My immigration application, although sent via registered post and returned with a receipt, is now officially in a black hole, nowhere to be found, with the acknowledging agent not taking any responsibility.

But should it not be any more surprising of the perils of PR application in this country? After all, entreprenuers have already made a business to sell statistics on the approximate waiting time for PRs (I kid you not). Waiting is not a fun activity, especially when your job hinges on it. I suspect that while everyone knows that it's going to be a loooong wait, they may just buy the reports to sadistically convince themselves that some things in this country can indeed move at snail's pace.

Can I therefore make a suggestion? That a complaints department be set up, and since no rational human beings would want to place themselves to handle the barrage, I will gladly round up a group of PR-bummers like myself to man the hotline. If you can't be any faster, at least let it be a win-win situation for both sides.

How to While a Day Away

All you need:
1)A day off (at least your housemate has a day off)
2)A bored trip to the chinese grocer
3)A sucker to tantalizing pictures of pink and white Kuehs on a Kuih Apom Box
4)Linguistic ability to read chinese and malay culinary instructions
5)A seasoned palate to distinguish the milo apoms from the coffee ones.


First you buy a box of trusted Kuih Apom mix from your friendly chinese grocer. Then find the biggest bowl in your house and whisk all ingredients. 

Add the desired flavourings (green tea, peanut butter, gula melaka, milo, coffee.. short of putting vegemite) 

Gently warm your receptacles (ie. we don't have decent ceramic cups, have to make do with 2 mugs, 1 soup bowl and 1 mortar without pestar) 

Voila, the Kuih Apom! 

Off to see Old Pals

I've been missing my friends back home quite a bit, since reality cannot be stronger that every day I spend here, I lose one on the other side. So when the chance came for me to visit the only old pals I have on this continent, I did jump at the chance, even if it meant travelling 6+6 hours.

It was really great meeting Tert and Jan, and my first time seeing toddler Timmy. Enroute to Canberra, we stopped by at Milawa, which is made famous by the Brown Brothers winery, as well as its cheeses and mustards. My 'aperitif' was quite lovely, since I had the whole cellar tasting to myself, and happily sipped all available cellar-door only varieties. By the time I left, I was in a happy pinkish glow. The weather was fantastic, and I had enough sun tan on my left cheek and left arm for a good 6 hours. Lunch was at the Milawa cheesery, and I was fully satisfied with touring along this gourmet region of north-east victoria.

Back to my dear friends at Canberra, I realised how I missed my pals just sitting down to talk. After putting Timmy to sleep at 8pm every night, we'll mull around the lounge room, wine and cheese, or strawberries, or even Jan's freshly made warm chocolate cake, we will talk till late. In the daytime, I'll always ambled out to see little timmy playing with his toys, and staring right at me, it reminded me that visits to friends will soon be less 'rowdy' as age catches up.

The daytime is usually spent at some tourist attraction, like the Parliament, the Memorial, the lakes, and even a deep space observatory. We went to visit Tidbinbilla National Park for walks, just in time to spot grassloads of free ranging wallabies frolicking around. We also had a BBQ the day before we left, and seriously, it was good company and wine that will make me adequately happy. Tert was the BBQ man after Jan played chef to us for the past few days.

I know people gasp at the idea of spending 5 (actually more so 3, since 2 was spent on driving) good days in Canberra, but I must say I was never bored. And if you come back with a certain epiphany about some rethinking some priorities in life, the trip really cannot be that bad. Missss you guys at Canberra! Come reaaaaally soon!

Graduation Ceremony

It came and it went. I did ponder if I should go for this, knowing that all the fuss will result in 5 seconds fame, but frens were saying that it doesn't hurt to go, or at least I wouldn't regret not going.

I wanted to make it a small affair, just friends who are friends. I didn't want to send out a mass email and invite people who might feel obligated to come. Not many people journeyed with me through my uni days, since friends like Cindy have already gone home. I think I made a good choice with those tickets, and am quite pleased to have it in cozy proportion.

The good thing that come out of the ceremony is that I did manage to sit around people I know. Saul and Winnie were directly beside me, and Deena was on the other side. Kristian and Jay were in front. It was as good as it gets in terms of sitting arrangment, since it is no fun sitting next to a stranger for 1.5 hours dressed in stuffy oversized gown and balancing a mortar board on your head.

In the end, I caught up with those I want to catch up, and it was a nice finish, not the kind you get at high school graduation, but after all the projects and classroom bantering, you know who are the people you did share more than just a hi-bye with.


Clara and me 

With Daiz, who bought me a nice bunch of flowers! 

With all my lovely guests