Thursday, August 30, 2007

Ten Things

you didn't know about me.

1. I weighed 70kg at my heaviest, in Secondary 3. 52kg at my lightest, in JC2. How did I achieve that - running, 3 times a week, and going on so crazy a diet everyone who heard of it called me anorexic. Don't try this at home.
2. I used to walk home from the MRT (30 mins walk) rather than take bus because I thought it was not worth it to pay the fare for such a short distance!
3. I've moved house 7 times in my life, not including two moves in and out of hall.
4. Science and Maths were my worst subjects in Secondary school. The best was History (omg!) Ironically, I'm now a Biology teacher.
5. I cannot stand repetitive noises. Reverse gear, left/right turn indicators, alarm clocks beeping, tuneless singing - they all drive me mad!
6. I am a Grade 8 in piano. Don't ask me to play for you though!
7. I hate admin. Really!
8. All I have to do is think unlucky thoughts for them to occur. Serious! Like, just before moving out of Yew Tee, I was thinking how dumb it would be if I dropped my house keys down the lift shaft - guess what, I did.. And, I was thinking "what if I dropped the container of fruits while carrying it" and voila, it happened.. =(
9. I spent 7 years as an usher team leader.
10. I love to read, but I won't pay to do it - hence, one of my favourite pastimes is to hang out at the library or at Borders! So kiamsiap right!!

I would like to do while travelling.
1. Take the Qingzang railway and marvel at the engineering genius along with the scenery.
2. Backpack /self-drive in Europe. Spend 3-4 weeks in each country! Top destinations - Spain, France, Italy. Yumm..
3. Take a round-the-world cruise on the Queen Mary 2 or Queen Elizabeth 2.
4. Wilderness adventure - spend a week or two in national parks the world over and enjoy the natural surroundings.
5. Take a sightseeing flight to Antarctica.
6. Visit the ruins of ancient civilizations - Xi'an, Thebes, Rome, Machu Picchu etc.
7. Spelunking! Mammoth Cave!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

MOTHER!!


Four tiny orpahned hedgehogs are snuggling up to the bristles of a cleaning brush - because they think it's their mother. Workers say Mary, Mungo, Midge and Slappy get comfort from playing with the centre's cleaning brush and enjoy rubbing against it.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

A Poor, Shining Egg

Once upon a time, in a forest far far away, there lived a farmer and his wife. They had nothing to live upon but their farm, and their one old hen.

Although the farmer and his wife loved their hen dearly, the hen had not laid a single egg for many years. The farmer was beginning to think that she would be better off as soup for the family. After all, what was the use of wasting precious feed on a hen that did not give any returns? What's more, he had not had meat for a long time since his farm raised only vegetables anyway. Instead of dreaming about fried eggs, steamed eggs and 蛋花汤, he figured he might as well have fried chicken, steamed chicken, and 黑鸡汤.

But the next day, the farmer's wife discovered one sole egg when cleaning the hen coop. It was only one egg, but it was huge, and it shone. The farmer's wife excitedly scooped the egg up and brought it back to the farmhouse. They were very hopeful that the egg would hatch to be a rooster, then it could mate with the old hen and produce more chicks.

So they laid the huge, shining egg on the mantel, and polished it faithfully with oils and cloths each day. (Displaying ignorance of chicken biology - the oils seal off the porous shell!) Day by day they waited for the egg to hatch. The old hen, meanwhile, was given a reprieve from the soup pot.

So they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

(Obviously they still had no knowledge of chicken biology, how to have a fertilized egg with only that one old hen and no roosters around? tsk!)

After weeks of waiting, the farmer finally realised that the egg was not going to hatch. By then, it was so covered in oils that both man and wife, being health conscious people who kept close tabs on their triglyceride and cholesterol levels, declined to eat the egg. And so the egg remained on the mantel, the hen succumbed to her chicken-soup fate, and the farmer gave this disappointing egg a name: It would be his Poor, Shining Egg.


Moral of the story: 做穷光蛋是不好的。

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Living in Upper Thomson

1. I'm surrounded by food.
Was remarking yesterday to a student that Upper Thomson is just full of food!
Confirm become fat lah, like that. How?
And those are just the ones that I've tried / can remember.. I'm sure there are lots more.

2. No fast food at all along the entire stretch!
For all the different types of food represented, surprisingly there is (almost) no fast food at all. Not a single outlet along the stretch. No Macs, no LJS, no KFC. Only one lonely BK hidden away in the depths of Thomson Plaza and believe me you won't know it's there until you get into the mall itself and come face to face with it.
Note, said BK is so obscure that I actually had to come back and edit my post to include it. Sheesh.
Oh well, maybe there's hope for my waist after all.

3. Proliferation of Price-Warring Petrol Stations
I quite liked that alliteration! Heh.
Nevertheless, there are at least 6-7 petrol stations along the road illustrated earlier. A stunning amount, especially when you consider 5 of them are adjacent to / opposite each other, clustered along one 500m-long-stretch near Ang Mo Kio Ave 1. Coming from Yew Tee, which is served by *one* measly Esso/Mobil station, you can imagine the culture shock.

4. TIBS buses
All the buses that ply Upper Thomson (With the exception of one), are TIBS buses.
Sigh, and here I thought was escaping The Idiotic Bus Service by moving away from Yew Tee.
I don't like TIBS buses - their LED displays are hard to read, the drivers drive fast and recklessly, they do NOT follow any predictable schedule, and they have really erratic air-cons. Previously, the air-cons used to be so cold that you would shiver onboard the bus; windows of TIBS buses would be dripping with condensation even in the hottest part of the day. Nowadays, it seems like the air-cons are not working; I've taken countless buses where the air-con is just acceptable (ie it is slightly cooler than outside air, which is saying something since it's August), and at least two buses where all the air-con was doing was blowing in air at exactly the same temperature and humidity as atmospheric air. It made for a bus full of people dripping in perspiration.. ugh! Boo to TIBS! I miss taking SBS buses!

5. Traffic jams grrrrrrrrrr!
The stretch from Upper Thomson down to Lornie Road and /or Thomson Road is perpetually jammed. On weekday mornings, weekend mornings, weekend afternoons, you name the time, its' always stuck. It once took me more than an hour on the 162 to reach town! On a Saturday! Argh! I suppose it's the alternative to taking the *** CTE and having to pay tolls, but don't tell the LTA, skarly they end up charging toll for using Upper Thomson too. Shudder.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Happy National Day



Courtesy of the irrepressible Talkingcock.com - don't visit till Monday though, they've suffered a cock-up with their site. Heh.

Monday, August 06, 2007

FAT!!!

fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat i am fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat fat

Did I mention I am fat??

Thursday, August 02, 2007

TIRED!!!

Can't believe how tired I am.. Grrrr..

Unfortunately the amount of work increases in proportion to my tiredness level..

ie. Increased tiredness = Increased Work

Why is everything all squeezing together at once! I need breathing space..

*yawns*

Backhanded compliment!

(Act 1, Scene 1. In the office, with a new haircut)

T: You look good.

Ming: Thanks.

T: Very matronly.

Ming: ?!

T: Matronly in a sexy way.

...............

tsk.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

dunwannagetupzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz



Reminds me of myself on a (rare) lazy Saturday morning..

-grunt-
-opens slitty eyes-
-whatwhatHuhwhat's that?-
-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh strettttttccccccccccchhhhhh-
-face-rub-
-right back to sleep-