A Mind of My Own

This outing got huge. Usually, I would manage to get only at most 6 people confirming their availabilities. It was a huge surprise that I have 12 confirmations. I nearly fell off my chair when I read the email. Happy is WishBoNe.

Since HF and the rest have not been to The Cathay at Handy Road, we decided to go for Billy Bombers. At 2pm, NL sent me an SMS saying she was down with flu and cough. Naturally, MC wouldn’t be going either. Sad is WishBoNe. At around 4pm, RK SMS me that her SO was going since his work got canceled. Happy is WishBoNe. The total number came to 11. We were to start dinner at 6pm. Usually, the group arrived late but whenever we purposely put an earlier time, everyone arrives just within 15 of the said time.

CD was the last to arrive due to her cycling trip at East Coast Park. Her friend drove her from East Coast Park to Balestier, Bukit Timah, Lord knows where else, then to Newton and finally, Orchard Road. She wanted to tell him to go to a particular exit as it was faster but she wasn’t sure and kept quiet until she reached. Some people cannot accept road directions. Best to be quiet about it and learn the hard way.

Since all of us were done with dinner except her, we decided to go to another place and discussed for 5 minutes and came up with 2 options. TCC Orchard and KTV just near The Cathay. Another 5 minutes of choosing either venue and we finally decided on TCC. That’s when we found out that TCC is near PS, thus, saving us a trip to somewhere else along Orchard Road. That was 7.30pm.

CD had half her sandwich at TCC. We all got drinks after the waitresses at TCC helped to arrange the tables to accommodate all 11 people. A tight squeeze but we managed. With only 2 guys in the group, it wasn’t that difficult.

It was 8.30pm when we finished our drinks at TCC. Since the night was still young, we discussed if we should go to another place. Another 10 minutes of throwing up options and we decided on Marina at Keppel Bay. Only JC has a car, so the group had to be split into 2 cabs. I don’t know how the rest split up but since 3 of us knew the way, the ones who knew would take the cab with those who didn’t know the way. RK, RK’s SO and me took JC’s car. Happy is WishBoNe.

When we arrived at the place, the carpark was full and a valet helped JC but he didn’t know how to operate the doors for her 2-door Peugeot. I can’t remember which model but it’s one of the early adopters for auto-door in private cars. The rest had arrived earlier and the staff informed us that all the restaurants were fully booked due to weddings. We chose an auspicious date alright.

Since we had arrived and most of us had never been to the place, we took some time to walk around the place that we could access. I took a few photos and realised that I need more practice in night shots.

After walking around the place with TCC being the only available place to us, we decided to go have ice cream since ES was craving for it since dinner. Walking would be a breeze in the cool night but I wanted to take a ride instead of walking. So, we took the car with RK’s SO, the sweet man, gave the valet service amount to JC.

We arrived at Haagen Dazs at 10.30pm and asked for the seating arrangement for 11 people. After waiting for a few minutes, the rest had arrived and we got our seats. We ordered 7th Heave, waffle with ice cream and brownie. The flavours for 7th Heaven: Mango Sherbet, Cookies and Cream, Rum and Raisins, Belgian Chocolate, Strawberry Cheesecake, Green Tea and Berry something.

The white smoke is the dry ice in case you don’t know. We chatted until 11.30pm. From pool stories by RK with her job as a lifeguard to ghost stories and disturbing couples making out cars late at night when ES’ hubby and RK’s SO were young. Cheeky men.

ES’ hubby used to drive out late at night with his best mates with their cars mod with speakers that blasted out music at high volumes while parked in between the cars. They would even wave hi to the car owners left and right. Other antics included hide and seek in the 7th month at some haunted house. 1 seek, the rest paired up to hide.

Finally, we wrapped up the night and this time, JC sent HF, CD and me home. I saved a lot of transport money. Thanks JC! I have enjoyed my night. Been quite some time since we had such a huge gathering since our graduation. KY failed to turn up nor returned our calls. Wondering what she is up to.

Thus our night venues:

• Billy Bombers at The Cathay
• TCC just outside Dohy Ghaut MRT
• Marina at Keppel Bay
• Haagen Dazs at VivoCity

4 places in a night. Oh boy.

[via Flickr]

With Chinese New Year falling on Thursday this year, 5-work-day week workers are happy to have a long weekend. For those working on shifts and unable to take any time off without sacrificing your allowance, I do hope your bosses will give you more time off subsequently.

It’s also time for me to meet up with my aunt who had gone through the trouble of flying back for this holiday. I’ve always been doted by her. This weekend is also the best time to travel but it’s expensive if you haven’t booked your trips early.

Besides the time of meeting up with relatives who are very concerned about your marital status, the next best thing is to get the ang baos from them since you are not married, yet. Eat, drink and be merry.

This is also a time to get fatter and I am no longer fitting my tops and pants. So sad. However, I shall comfort myself with the many ang baos that I will shamelesly collect and eat, drink and be merry.
[via Flickr]

I need a holiday. Taiwan or somewhere. The plans are still fuzzy but I’ll get round to them. Meanwhile, enjoy the holiday and don’t eat too much ba kwa, pineapple tarts, love letters, and play too much mahjong. If you still get ang baos, don’t waste them on mahjong la. Not worth it.

My dear readers, may this year of the rat or mouse be filled with prosperity, good health and joy for you.

[via Flickr]

Chinese New Year is coming. So are the frequently asked questions by the relatives who are very concerned about my marital status. Since they don’t see me every time throughout the year (that is in case they get sick from looking at me and won’t give me the ang bao so generously), they will ask me “So, when are you getting married?”

A colleague of mine would answer this way, every year, “Yesterday.” That was that. Good, I should start using from now until I get married. The next question to field is “When are you going to have a baby?” Maybe I should use the same answer, no?

As mentioned before, it’s expensive to get married in Singapore especially when most of the elders want you to hold an 8-course dinner. I want to say “SILENCE! I KEEL YOU!” Achmed style. Cool, right? Of course I can’t just tell them that. They will kill me before I have even ended the sentence.

Sometimes I wonder if life is just all about marriage, kids and work. Have we made our lives so utterly routine that the questions are always about marriage, girlfriend, boyfriend, kids, flat, money and many more? I want many things but they aren’t achievable at this stage but I will get there.

Another question they will ask you after your first child, “Second one coming?” Besides money being the problem of feeding the first one plus all the money going to the flat, I seriously wonder where the heck do the parents cough out the money for all those stuff.

What I’m hoping for is that they won’t be asking me about my mundane life and just focus on my kids about their studies and height. Or I should just go adopt one and let them ask the kid.

My question is “How come must hold an 8-course wedding dinner one?“

My escapades with trying to contact everyone are never ending. Life is sad. One’s friends tend to ignore you when their lives get absorbed by their partners, husbands or something that one doesn’t know about.

[via Flickr]

However, that doesn’t warrant you the right to ignore one totally. KY, you have not been replying to any of us since ES’ wedding. So rude, ok? I used MSN but you went offline and never replied to me. I is very sad. Don’t friend you liao.

The next time, I put your full name and address here. Then you know.

Rant ahead.

NYDC is famous for not allowing anyone to make any bookings on Friday. Thanks. At least that was what I expected since my friend had informed me about it. I just wanted to test them. The next sentence sprouting out of the lady’s mouth was “It should not be too crowded on Friday at Citylink.” Say what? I got 10 people wanting to eat, what if you don’t have enough seats for 10? Surely you won’t be moving one of your dining couple to another table, would you?

Next, I tried New York, New York. The website is slow. I think it’s ridiculous to use Flash for a webpage and it so reminds me of the hideous look of 1996. Slows down my loading time! The lady said last slot is only 6.30pm. So I have to find people to arrive there to ensure the table is not un-reserved by 6.30pm. They sure take their own sweet time to pick up calls too. I am turned off by the offhanded way that she threatened to un-reserve our table.

Frustrated by now, I tried Swensens. The lady replied that they don’t take reservations for Friday, Saturday and Sunday rather happily. This was getting out of hand! How can a simple booking take so much complication?

Since I have run out of places, I decided to go ahead with the restrictive New York, New York. This time a heavily don’t-know-what-accent guy picked up the call. Taking his own sweet time too. I couldn’t understand half the time what he was talking about. I had to repeat my name, how to spell, my mobile number (twice), the total number of people, etc.

All done, now I had to ensure that my table doesn’t get un-reserved. Now, I realised that I forgot to ask them to reserve a corner table. I was too caught up with the frustration of trying to understand what the accented-voice guy was telling me.

Attended a wedding at Furama Riverfront Hotel last night. I late but in time for the 1st march in. My first impression of the ballroom, Venus at level 3 was, cramped. I think there were more than 40 tables being squeezed into the ballroom.

The tables were just enough for 10 average sized people. Seems pretty small to me. While the greeter at the lobby was polite, I wasn’t really impressed with the toilet either. The 1st level toilet had the flush button missing. It won’t flush at all. So, I left it like that. Not my fault, right?

Come to think of it, I didn’t manage to look at the wedding album in the end. The food arrived at odd paces. It didn’t feel timely. Each course was served but the plates were never replaced immediately. The drinks were not refilled fast enough either.

The servers weren’t that polite except for a few which is rare but I don’t have high expectations of servers except they should refill the glasses in a timely manner. The decoration of the ballroom was rather simple.

Overall, I wasn’t impressed with the place. Not that I had a terrible time but I felt that the service wasn’t up to par with a hotel whose name is supposed to be synonymous with quality service since it’s a 4-star hotel. Oh, it was formerly known as Novotel Apollo Singapore. Apparently, the name change did little difference.

Now, the slide show was done in animation format which is a difference from those photo montage I’ve seen. A nice change. I like the 3 projection screens though. The lighting wasn’t too dim. I guess the saving grace were the screens.

[via Flickr]

Flying kites in Singapore often means East Coast Park or Marina South. I was rather surprised that we would be at West Coast Park to fly kites. Someone was in charged of buying the kites and all we had to do was to turn up. Turn up we did.

I had the common sense to bring a bag with mats. It was a good thing too. Although my friends teased me for bringing such a huge bag, again. At this moment, it’s best to ignore when others laugh at you. However, we chose the wrong place. The sun was setting and the wind was blowing towards the sun, meaning we had to face the sun when our kites got flying.

I just let the kite go and it fly up high. Twice. Without any help. I’m a good kite flyer. Got these genes from my father, obviously. The second time, I got my string tangled with another kite and it got stuck high up in the tree. I had to break the string. So sad. Kite flying instructions here and here.

After dinner, we went to Settlers Cafe at Holland Village. It’s a fun place for small talk and board games. Officially tired from kite flying and playing exciting brain games at Settlers Cafe.

I didn’t have to spend too much today since there is someone who is very nice, drove us to and back.

Went for a dinner treat by ES because the sisters have helped out at her wedding. It was great and I am now fatter than before. Great. I have resolved to do some workout but have done nothing until now. I think by getting wider in the girth, I get lazier. Darn.

We had the dinner at Just Greens in Chinatown. Ordered my favourite, fried golden mushrooms. Yummy and oily and sinfully great. I love the salad and oat meal prawns too. As for the mapo tofu, sorry, I’m not a fan of spicy food. However, everyone enjoyed the treat.

After the full dinner, we went for dessert. Oh no! The money for the drinks and fries! Erm, I think I got 2 free treats today. Thanks! Anyway, I’m growing old. I noticed that I have minute crow’s feet! NO!

With Christmas coming, the blogsphere won’t be complete without a Christmas-y meme, would it? I’m here writing the meme because I’m stuck at home with medicine infested blood besides being tagged by Modobs. I was so looking forward to joining the girls at the Christmas gift exchange too!

1. What do you really want for Christmas but you know nobody will get it for you?

Something shiny but then again, that shiny thing would be more suitable for Valentine’s day.

2. What do you not want for Christmas but you know that somebody will get it for you?

The heavy rain on Christmas.

3. When do you open your gifts (Christmas eve or Christmas morning)?

Erm, immediately. Unless it’s during a gift exchange, it’s after everyone has collected theirs.

4. Do you prefer gifts wrapped or in gift bags?

Wrapped. I like to keep the wrapping papers but these days, there is too liberal use of the scotch tape.

5. Did you re-gift anything this year?

No. I do it only if I hate that gift.

6. What’s your favourite Christmas movie?

I have one? Wait! I like Alvin and The Chipmunks


7. What’s your favourite Christmas TV special?

I forgot what’s often broadcast on TV. Oh, wait, I don’t watch TV much these days. I have movie marathons.

8. Do you like egg nog?

I prefer half-boiled eggs. Or eggs that are salty instead of sweet.

9. Real tree or fake tree, which do you prefer?

Fake trees. I don’t have to hurt the environment just to make the season feel Christmas-y.

10. Would you actually use one of those fireplace DVDs if you don’t have a fireplace?

Why would I waste my money on those?

11. Are you sick of Christmas music yet?

Not yet, but I’m sick as in having flu.

12. Are you getting up early to wait in line to do some Boxing Day shopping (Canada’s equivalent to Black Friday)?

Not even when it’s sales. Why waste my energy when there’s always someone waiting to step on my poor toes?

13. When was the last time you sat on Santa’s lap?

No such luck. My parents don’t believe in making us believe in Santa Claus.

Since a tag must be passed, I shall now tag DK, Kriscell, Lucretius, Xinyun, Nicole, Miss Loi and Sentosa Girl.

Oh, Merry Christmas everyone!

[via Flickr]

I’ve been asked way too many times and I feel it’s never too good to ask people such a question. My colleagues were talking about marriage during lunch and they touched on “When is your turn?” topic. With lots of red bombs these few months, I’ve been asked this question numerous times. The last time I was asked, the relationship ended. So, if you want me to get married, don’t ask me.

Call me pandang or superstitious but if you do care about your friends, don’t ask them such a question if you expect the couples to get married. Let the river flow and your friends will be grateful for being thoughtful and feel happier attending the events.