Dames who Dine

inspired, lamely, by the phrase 'Ladies who Lunch'... haha, i'm now part of a bunch of 'dames who dine'.. ahahaha.. have been dinnering out with many people over the last few weeks, as a result of celebrating various assorted occasions. two most recent dines: janice, on 19th sunday, and shirley, on 20th monday. *this will do NOTHING for my ever-expanding waistline or my ever-shrinking wallet at all.. erps!*

was good eating with jan, jer, juan, wenlong, mingshian and liangxin (no joke, that's his real name) on sunday to celebrate jan's birthday. haha, think we made total fools of ourselves at swensen's at bugis. but then again, who cares? =) we got jan a nice necklace from poisson rouge (well at least i think its nice la hor.. =P) in shimmery colour-shifting glass. sorry, the price will not be posted here in case jannesis floats by, but i;m very glad we got that! it's very chio! =)

yesterday was another mad rush for present buying.. met up with ivory (xiang4 ya2 mei4) at far east to get a birthday / farewell present for shirley pang. ended up getting her a sweet bag, very ivory / shirley. along the way, ivory also managed to pick up a denim jacket and a pair of earrings, while i got myself a true fairy skirt - blue and white, floaty and translucent material, haha.. and goldish-silver ballet pumps to match. Hee. every time i go out w de xiangyamei, we always end up spending lots.. we ENCOURAGE and EDIFY each other lots.. ("yes, looks very good on u, buy it!") erpz.. fortunately we dun get to go out that often! =P

anyway, subsequent to present buying, made our way down to fish and co near plaza sing to eat.. wenhui, beatrice, ivory, shirley and mingfeng were there. erps, poor 'feng, only guy among the girls and somemore all at least 4 years older than him! haha.. made the discovery that beatrice, me, wenhui, shirley and ivory were all born one year after another in that order. hey hey.. i'm one of the *old* pp at the table.. oh no..

of course, we talked a lot of nonsense.. many lame jokes.. haha.. which makes people think i am very I.. but seriously, I AM NOT!!!!!!! i am a *serious*, *deep-thinker*, *work-my-butt-off-all-day-long* entity. hahaha.. who believes me.. had it been true i would have a much smaller butt now instead of a tush that JLo would envy.. haha.. erpz! yes, but anyway, for some reason or the other when we started to go on about our respective personalities and temperaments. for those of you who do not know me well, i would come across as a high I.. but it is actually very much an acquired characteristic. =P So is all the D-ness I have garnered over the years. My natural self is more of an S/C - almost no I one, can u believe! =) point of knowing your own temperament well.. chinese says zhi1 ji3 zhi1 bi3, bai3 zhan4 bai3 sheng4.. how true.. when you know yourself and your own strengths and weaknesses, you can learn to rely on your strengths and ask the Holy Spirit to help you in the areas of your weakness. Bible says to "be all things to all men, that all men through you might be saved." if we limit ourselves by confessing and believing "this is my character what, what do u want me to do" (imagine the exasperated tone.. haha) then how to be all things to all men? How to relate, reach out and express love to others who are different from us? precisely why we have to rise above our own natural limitations and work on the areas that we are weak in. for me, for instance, i was (and still am) terribly inept and nervous when it comes to public speaking and leading a group of people. yet, how do i manage to lead ushers and to teach students? i have LEARNT and acquired that ability - it is not inborn! i would not be where i am today without having risen above my own limitations. yuppz, many things still to work on, but the key is to attain a balanced character and temperament, with the ability to bring up different aspects of it at the appropriate times to deal with the situations that come.