Going bonkers over pictures...

~ *favourite indulgence*~

~*Singapore floor & wall tiles*~

~*somebody's baby very photogenic*~

My Uniquely Singapore trip!

Order of the food that I liked best during my short trip :-

The best food :: South Indian cuisine at Little India (there was this sensuously irresistible Phorata with 'dal' & 'vege' gravy... then there's the Poori, the Thosai, the Vade... simply heavenly satisfying!).

The good one :: Taufufah & siu long bao (小龙包) at a shop in Geylang that opens 24 hour (after the Phantom of the Opera show, the bigbro brought us for this delicious supper *luckily Karaoke was fullhouse on Saturday night*, dunno why bigbro & ahsoh so into Karaoke?!)

The yummy one :: Reverso flavoured ice cream at Island Creamery in Serene Centre in somewhere in Bukit Timah. (looks like Rocky Road.. you know basically essentially chocolate icrecream *drooling*)

There's somemore food that we tried, mostly nice maybe 'cause those Malaysians-living-in-Singapore purposely took us to taste what's considered the nicest food around. Even the homecooked meals prepared by the bigbro & ahsoh, were supreme! *sounds like shoe-polishing your boyfriend's bigbro & ah soh, but I memang enjoy Western-style food ma... and the only Chinese meal ah soh prepared had my all-time-favourite fish.. doh*

So what about the nicest experience I had in this short trip? *but when there's nothing better to do on the 3rd day, you'll feel like going home already!*

1st : I LOVE THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA the musical held inside the Esplanade *durian* theatre. The 4 of us sat sooo high up at the top *2nd last row* but we were right smack in the centre, with the view of the chandelier magnificently dangling infront of you! *it magically moves* If I was a kid, I would be so amazed and enthralled with the 'magic' of the stage performance but now that I'm clever enough, we know that technology and engineering is behind the 'magic'. In fact I was still wondering, how the actors/actresses voices can be heard SOOO loudly (mind you crystal clear), *got mic mah* Oh....

Confession, I did doze off after the intermission.. it was not one of my fave songs part, and I was dead tired for my 1st day in SG! Sayang on my left side was so taken aback with the grand stage, my 2 buddies on my right were so excited/sampat about the musical *oh lets watch My Fair Lady when we get back! And they actually bought the PROGRAMME BOOK at S$25?!!!*

2nd : Spending time with sayang *alone.. ahem ahem... wrong blog :P*

3rd : Taking pictures tonza pictures!! You know what, I managed to capture with 'depth of field' skill... that was sei mei... I was at this Methodist church for a wedding ceremony, where I was seated at the back, by the side of the aisle, I had to try to shoot those pro shots... *what with the setting of the aisle, flowers, wedding couple infront*

*check out MJphotos for weddings*

4th : Must be eating nice food as shared in the above. I'm still not sick of CHOCOLATE ice cream!

So what else I did, specially just because I was in Singapore... *where my ancestor came from before coming from China..doh..*

I was glad that I made it to meet my grand aunty, 94 years of age, living with her 2 spinster daughters (both in their 70's), who don't know who am I! She's already senile *ignorance is bliss*. Maybe if I can speak better Teo-chew that way, I can try to explain slowly to her, how I'm related to her... but my Teo-chew language is like "Le jiak ba buei?" which she replied "buei". errrmmm.... that's about it the conversation I can do in Teo-chew.

The only aunty that could talk to us (in fluent English) was Aunty Alice, who's a very lone ranger, who was sharing about her boring life story to us. I didn't even introduce sayang to her... mr. PR sayang started crapping nonstop with my aunty... aunty Alice must be really happy inside to have somebody to talk to, after caging themselves in the enclosed house for so long! It really felt like we were visiting an old folks home.

Also in Singapore, I guess 'law of attraction' made me & sayang bought the 7pm bus ticket back on Monday, because of SzTyn my friend who HAD to meet me by hook or by crook, to use me / to hand me her passport to her KL travel agent for visa application arrangement. On Monday, what was supposed to be a 2pm-ish meeting, end up to a 4pm-ish meetup in Raffles Place which was such a hurry, I barely get to chat with her.. and we had to head off to HouGang to collect our luggage, then take a taxi to BeachRoad where our bus is already waiting for us.

I didn't realize how tired I was, once I got on the bus, I remembered seeing this enchanting view overlooking the cityskyline with the beautiful sunset in the backdrop when the bus was crossing over this bridge..*grasp* Then I doze off quite immediately and slept through the journey until KL!

Oh and because we were in Singapore... the people we meet drives BMW 3 series. I don't really know how cheap it is... but hello?! Everyone back home drives Proton or Kancil or at most City or Vios nia....

At the end of the trip, I guess I know why my cousin bro is hoping to get a job in SG, why SzTyn chose to work in SG instead of JB, why there's so many people we know who are working in SG. Yet, I think it's quite boring as life seems so predictable, mundane, routine.. and small.

But I'll most probably come back again.. to continue using the EZLink card, so convenient! Yes, and I want my parents to come visit my grandaunty, as I kinda FORGOT to take a picture with them to show my parents to see how 'old' she had grown. It is like an omen that I shouldn't take a picture with them, so that my parents WILL eventually make a trip down SG to visit them for real, and not just see them in the picture.. and then *choi* get news that they'd gone! *choi*

(fotopages will be updated... as soon as I've sort out and resize it! )

~ mellow Mukhsin ~

So finally long awaited night is here, where we went to watch the much talk about Mukhsin. Reminiscence of ~sweet Sepet~ sets in. The Sam Hui classic tunes that opened and closed the movie Sepet made everybody go sampat over the songs. That was the impact of the Yasmin Ahmad's film that could touch the viewers' heart and leave you with a soft spot. The music from Mukhsin did deliver its mesmerizing wonder too by making you feel *awwwww* so mellow and warm.

The theme song Hujan (Rain) kept ringing in my head, I had to dig out the lyrics to share with you here, for I was curious about what Hujan really meant.

Mega mendung di angkasa
Hembusan bayu dingin terasa
gerimis berderai di merata
bagai mutiara

Rahmat dibawa bersama
Limpahannya meresap dijiwa
adakala bahgia terasa
meskipun duka nestapa

Tika hujan turun
sayup mendayu lagu keroncong
merdu irama dialun
bersenandung

Hujan membasahi bumi
melahirkan keluhuran budi
mengeratkan perpaduan suci
kasih sayang abadi

Then there's also the French song that was very moving too, when looking through the translation, Yasmin's trying to portray Mukhsin's heartbreaking emotion, it's all in the music.

Ne Me Quitte Pas (Don’t Leave Me) - Nina Simone
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Ne me quitte pas
Il faut oublier
Tout peut s’oublier
Qui s’enfuit déjà
Oublier le temps
Des malentendus
Et le temps perdu
A savoir comment
Oublier ces heures
Qui tuaient parfois
A coups de pourquoi
Le coeur du bonheur
Ne me quitte pas
Don’t leave me
We must forget
All we can forget all we have done
Let’s forget the cost of the breath
We’ve spent saying words unmeant
And the times we’ve lost hours that must destroy
Never knowing why everything must die at the heart of joy
Don’t leave me

Moi je t’offrirai
Des perles de pluie
Venues de pays
Où il ne pleut pas
Je creuserai la terre
Jusqu’après ma mort
Pour couvrir ton corps
D’or et de lumière
Je ferai un domaine
Où l’amour sera roi
Où l’amour sera loi
Où tu seras reine
Ne me quitte pas
I’ll bring back to you pearls of rain
From a distant land where rain never fell
And until my death I’ll keep mining the ground
To cover your body in gold and light
I’ll build you a domain where love is law
Where love is king and you are queen
Don’t leave me

Ne me quitte pas
Je t’inventerai
Des mots insensés
Que tu comprendras
Je te parlerai
De ces amants-là
Qui ont vue deux fois
Leurs coeurs s’embraser
Je te raconterai
L’histoire de ce roi
Mort de n’avoir pas
Pu te rencontrer
Ne me quitte pas
Don’t leave me
For you I’ll invent
Meaningless words that you will understand
Tales of lovers who fell apart and then fell in love again
I will tell you of a king
Who died from not meeting you
Don’t leave me

On a vu souvent
Rejaillir le feu
De l’ancien volcan
Qu’on croyait trop vieux
Il est paraît-il
Des terres brûlées
Donnant plus de blé
Qu’un meilleur avril
Et quand vient le soir
Pour qu’un ciel flamboie
Le rouge et le noir
Ne s’épousent-ils pas
Ne me quitte pas
Often we’ve seen that flames spill anew
From an ancient volcano we thought too old
When all’s said and done scorched fields
Could give more corn than the finest April
And when evening is nigh with flames overhead
The black and the red aren’t they married in the sky
Don’t leave me

Ne me quitte pas
Je ne vais plus pleurer
Je ne vais plus parler
Je me cacherai là
A te regarder
Danser et sourire
Et à t’écouter
Chanter et puis rire
Laisse-moi devenir
L’ombre de ton ombre
L’ombre de ta main
L’ombre de ton chien
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Don’t leave me
I will cry no more
I will talk no more hide myself
To watch you dance and smile
And hear you sing and laugh
Let me be the shadow of your shadow
The shadow of your hand
The shadow of your dog
Don’t leave me

I can't tell why exactly, but I really like the show inspite of having high hopes prior to watching it. It's no wonder that it won awards and got highly acclaimed. The story itself and even the portrayal & scenery were really so simple in nature, yet it just simply works!

At the end of show, Orked said something about everyone having a first love story. Then she added that everybody gets second chance in love. She'd found hers, have you?

BOS ~ apa tu?

Check this out! Ohhh actually Jeff Ooi also read it. I mean, I was at a state of 'I dont know what I dont know' now 'I know what I dont know'! ;) haha..

During the night of the Talk about the Talk, the up-up-up-up-up-upline actually took the opportunity from attending a seminar on BOS, and the Taiwan-healthlifestyle-company-name was on the cover of the Taiwan edition of BOS book. That inspired her to make this biz REALLY big here.

Hmm... maybe I should try to talk much lesser, and just shutup and read.

Talk about talk... & the inferno.

Fri evening after Idol result show, I met up with somebody not so close whose dad just passed away not so long ago due to cancer (on that note, incidently I know of many ppl's relative succumbing to this fatal killer). I was expecting him to tell me when his dad has left for heaven, cos it was 4th stage of cancer that was diagnosed (too late) where I guess you know it's just probably 1 month left of immense suffering.

So yakkity yak about life, business, health, religion... he wanted to bring me to meet his "friend". And the "frined" was just situated right on the 1st flr of the makan-shop. Haiya, since I'm already here and I'd somewhat expected this trick.

So the new OPP that I'm being introduced to... has the same initial as me! That's kinda cool.. that's probably the only cool thing. Maybe the fact that I got to know what blue ocean vs red ocean means, is new download to my brain. To know that this great lady-talker who spoke superb mandarin, and could articulate in English as well... is also a Buddhist who goes to BMV who knows RR... is err ok... she actually suggested that I pitch using the karma / merits for this biz.

Bummer... it's already midnight... and I was still stucked there PR-ing abt what's the next step for me blah blah blah. Oh how I'm so easily duped, that's so me. Infact I dont see a problem with their business, except I dont have so much of startup cash in hand, and I know I could use that much amount of $$$ (if I have) to buy a DSLR or settle my loans or invest in tangible asset! So they could come up with the super easy solution for me ~ use credit card!

Err.. hurrlo? My credit limit also less than your amount of RM6k?! 'Oh you can request your bank to increase your credit limit, they'd sure do it for you!' Huh? OK.. *yawn*.. its late I betta get going... 'you can bring your friend or anybody to come tomorrow...' Huh?? You dont wanna know how busy my Saturday is... 'nevermind, after you settle your stuff 1st, then bring your friend to come.' (Great, he's not getting it... my busy Saturday schedule kick starts before noon and wouldnt end until past midnight!)

So anyway... back to work. I just have to learn to say "No I'm not interested!" How hard is that?!

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Oh ya, talking about the talk during Fri dinner, there were ppl selling newspaper, I saw the chinese text on the cover about a whole family perished in fire, such a pity. Next morning, my parents were talking about somebody we all know, and the whole fire story...

OK, so on the Star newspaper on Sat morning, I didnt realise who was on the picture. The lady crying was my grandma's god daughter, who sell pork in Seapark market. Which means my mom would refer to her as god-sister. The family who perished in the family is the god-sister's own brother. The guy who jumped down from upstairs of the burning house was also her other brother. I dont know who sell chee-cheong-fun and who sell what... all I hear is that the guy who escaped from the inferno is probably the one who's got shit behind his back (hence the arson), while the 5 of them who got burnt to death were truly innocent people.

My mom did went to the funeral, she saw many many people, like the whole kampong folks came to give support to the family, of cos DAP and other Malay folks were also there but on the newspaper you probably only see miss Chew and OKT. Mom (as usual, very kaypoh) went to look at the inside of the coffin, but couldn't see anything, cos it's covered, they place cloth over the face.

Mom was narrating how another of their relative who came to the scene at the right time to help, bringing along with him all his worker... but nobody told him that there's still people trapped inside ground flr... he's probably on a guilty spree thinking he could have save them but he didn't know they were in there! Ya... people who jumped down from upstairs were probably too blur to yell out during the frenzy "my brother's family is inside!!" Doh...

Idam me natinam hotu. Sukhita hontu natago.
Idam me natinam hotu. Sukhita hontu natago.
Idam me natinam hotu. Sukhita hontu natago.

I laughed so hard with this video

This Lkc, suddenly sent a youtube DIY video, ask me to see it right in the middle of office. I laughed so hard, that my tears nearly fell. I cannot imagine anymore siow people I know in this world, who would come out with a joke like that?!?! But I think its still amazing for this crazy fella to come out with this idea as a wedding gift for his friend. Hey, I think its an original idea at that! Who knows if some other Lkc fans who would copycat the idea!

*knock head! knock head!*

But anyway, I got permission to link it here. I beh tahan not shouting it out and show it to my friends la. The video maker actually wanted to send the link to all! *braaaakkkeee* I dont think so... but atleast let me blog it first :P hahaha...

Lei hai dak geh!

Guess what I bought from MPH warehouse sale?

:: @ Lonely Planet corner ::

wow so many counties / cities... wait a minute, the ONE thing that I really got *graaassssspp I WANTT* was People-Photography, ok I got frantic for seeing Travel-Photography. The price : RM47 each. Hurllo? One small coloured book so expensive, think the big "Buddhist Structures in Asia" coffeetable book with pictures & story is more worth it to buy, the price : RM50. REALLLY REALLLY tempted to pick it up, but I know I would really like a new clean one with no torn edges.

I was looking at the titles, glance from one rack to another. Alas, I grabed it. "Tibet". The price : RM70. Well, I really wanna learn more about China too, that's RM76 and so much thicker. There's one on India too. No looking back.

Just the previous post I was mentioning about the Potala Palace, and now I bought the expensive (to me) Lonely Planet book about Tibet! Whooohooo!

Ok ok... must try and make the effort to find the the ikebana book for sayang, heck let's see if I could stumble upon any book on flower arrangement! So I asked 2 ppl... I walked to the back corner twice... I see some books on garden and plants... but that's not floral arrangment la!

If only I'd more time, but lunch time is over, and I gotta cross the road to head back to office. I also found a VERY cheap dictionary English-Chinese/Chinese-English, at RM10. BELIEVE it or not?! So total RM80 for 2 fatty books, that will be very useful for me, guess its very reasonable lah. I'm so gonna try and improve/revive my understanding of the Chinese language.

I think my coming creditcard bill is gonna be surprisingly high! Simply simply buy.. tsk tsk tsk. Good thing I have redeemed & switched out the local trust fund before CNY... if not!!!