Johor Baru for a day. Two parties for Saturday night

I love Malaysia..Singapore can be so sterile sometimes, you really don't feel like u're in Asia..but the moment u cross the Causeway into Johor Baru (JB), it HITS you--ASIA..mmm..as Lindsay put it, 'smell that exhaust'!

Lindsay (AIESEC trainee), Vani, Miranti (my Uni girlfriends) and Yam (me) went into JB for the whole of Saturday (25.6.2005). Thank you Joon (our privileged chauffer =p) for showing us around so well!

Here's what we did (in the order given):
1. Ate . 2. Drove around JB's palace compounds. 3. Posed for lotsa pictures. 4. Entered shopping mall and became the unwilling audience on a kid's talent show (very damaged eardrums). 5. Bought Chewing gum. 6. ATE/Drank Coffee (bad coffee, btw..very disappointed). 6. Got outta the mall into the backalleys of JB. 7. Ate. 8. Packed a packet of Indian steamed groundnuts at the immigration stand. 9. Crossed the Causeway and headed to Choa Chu Kang (S'pore)..where we,..10. u guessed it..ATE.

So obviously I had LOADS fun =) did everything I wanted to do...=)


Johor Baru-in-a-day; with Lindsay, Vani, Mir, Joon; Saturday 25.06.2005 (Also Mir's B'day =) )---Mir found an Eppendorf tube in her purse--remains from lab days!! We also found a cafe called 'Yamani Cafe' in the streets of JB..not quite my name, but it will do... Hope they serve better coffee there at least.


And back in S'pore: there were two parties for the Saturday night...(becoming a sort of ritual for me). My brother's crazy-ass drinking party for his Korean friend Jenny's farewell..so obviously, there were great Korean drinking games =) Jenny and her adorable younger brother Jong (?think that's his name) were very impressed by my knowledge of Korean drinking games = p They even called me a Korean ..lol

And then, at 2.30am..headed off to an AIESEC party (Tee's farewell party) where everyone was dressed in black! Looked so cool...it was such a nice wrap-up for my day..got to really chill and talk to Triin and Melissa and the rest..and really realize that the world is getting too friking small!! As Tee mentioned when we said Goodnight.."in AIESEC, there are no goodbyes..more like several 'See you Later's"...so so SO true =)

5am: headed back home with a sexy voice...I blame it on the whiskey ; ) Can't wait for another such Saturday!!

The smaller things in life: Great Stuff

You know what they say about 'Living every moment to the fullest'? This Monday it really hit me how it could actually really work: By subsuming yourself with the event, and feeling downright HAPPY about having had it happen to you.

Today I experienced several such moments.:

1. Early morning. Waking up and reading this saying stuck on my wall: "The prospect of a new day, a fresh start....with perhaps a bit of magic waiting around the corner..." It hit me with a force that I just cannot explain.

2. Morning, at the turtle pond at East Coast Park. There was a fence-like thing dividing one part of the pond from the other...and this 6-inch long (ninja) turtle was, literally, SCALING the vertical wall of the pond using the fence.Its flipper kinda got caught in the fence's mesh..and it almost fell backwards at one point...but it made it right outta the pond and onto the grass!! No belays, no ropes, nothing! Just sheer (invasive) turtle perseverance!! (Splinter taught him well).


3. Evening, in the bus..watching a 2.5yr old boy almost sneeze...he did that face, that scrunched up face that adults tend to do when they're trying to decide whether to sneeze or not. Oh so adorable..he even used the back of his mom's hand to massage his itchy nose!

4. Night, giving tuition..watching Eliza balance a chemical equation all on her own!

5. Night-night. Thinking about the past month..and feeling happy that I went through so much of emotional trauma.

It almost always works out, as long as we don't lose faith about it happening and are honest with ourselves.

Dumb Questions

"There are no such things as dumb questions." I know people say that a lot, but you really feel pretty.how do I put it?..Dumb..when such questions do pop in your head, or out of your mouth, mostly.

Fortunately, FORTUNE's Geoffrey Colvin gave some pretty neat advice on how to do 'dumb questions' in the latest edition.

"Don't apologize in advance or allow as how this is probably unimportant or say any of the other things that sap the dumb question of its power. Just step up and ask it. The shorter the better. Don't be intimidated by the stunned silence that follows. WAIT IT OUT. The payoff is on its way.

In that brief eternity, you'll understand more acutely than ever why dumb questions require courage. Just remind yourself that if they didn't, they wouldn't be worth asking."
Colvin, Geoffrey. "The Wisdom of Dumb Questions. " FORTUNE Jun 2005: 62

Of course, like Colvin mentioned as well, we're not talking about life's 'truly dumb questions' ("Doesn't it count that I was thinking of you the whole time?") = p

S.a.t.u.r.d.a.y

What a wonderful day, Saturday was! Went blading with Triin, Celine, Gladys..unfortunately, there were no kites to fly =( so that little enjoyment will be postponed. East Coast Park was fillleedd with ppl! campers,swimmers,toddlers,sun-bathers,fishermen,cylists,and skaters (namely, Us! =p)


at the Bedok Jetty: Triin, Celine, Gladys, Yam


Saturday night was so fun (in a weird way)! Had 2 parties to attend..Chaitra's 21st B'day party at Bukit Gombak (weessstt side) lots of great indian food..was bullied by Sandhya for being a small-sized girl..argh...


Aneeka,Laki,Chaitra,Yam,Blossom; Sandhya&Yam

And theeenn, we went to the AIESEC International cook-out at Michal, Eric and Vega's place....verrryy fashionably late, by the way. So missed out on all the international food delights, but had some funky blue-drink that Eric told me was Coke.

All wasn't lost though..went out with Tallin, Vani, David, Bloss and Chloe to Boat Quay for the rest of the night. After making 3 U-turns, missing 4 right & left turns, and cutting through a dodgy alley in Tallin's four-wheeler, we finally found a parking space. Went into Boat Quay to a loungy outdoorsy bar..and had a verrryy entertaining waitress (our drink list; they had no menus at that place) whose last customers, we were. Last customers for her at this bar, I mean to say..she hated the place, politics or something..

It was one of those nights were I just wanted to hear stories..and David entertained us so well! Made me realize that we all really are entitled to loving someone, and to finding that one person who would make our day everyday. 'You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain..so go and do something about it', he said. I think I will =)

I reached home at 3.30am again..and got up at 7.30am Sunday, again.

Sunday night, I slept at 10.30pm. =)

Tallin, Yam, David, Vani, Bloss, Chloe; Our drink list&Yam;you know the rest.

A fantabulous Friday night

Friday night, I went out with my girlfriends to watch the Boxing Cabaret at the Esplanade. It featured Nong Toom, the Thai kick-boxing champion who discovered his/her inner woman. Although I personally felt it was a bit draggy somewhere in the middle, I could tell that she went through great pains to practice and get all her lines and stuff correct. The first 5 minutes were wonderful.. she was dancing (pretty damn well!) and I just had to envy her for how happy she seemed: Here was someone who was truly doing what she wanted to do..something that we (I) tend to forget to do sometimes


Yam, Chloe, Nong Toom & Bloss--post-Boxing Cabaret

The night went quickly by: Blossom broke her sandals, so we made an emergency shopping trip to Marina Square. We were the last customers at the Marina Food Court that looked over at the Esplanade and the city...greeattt view.. =)

We then went to the bar now known as Lash (previously Embargo) at One Fullerton..flirted with the cute waiters..i had the presentiment that the cute (and young) waiter would drop his tray, and he DID! So felt pretty empowered the rest of the night!! Few glasses of beer and a lot of much-needed female-gossip session later, i reached home at 3.30am, feeling so much at the top of the world. Especially since I had a kite-flying/in-line skating session with Triin the next morning!

Wonderful Friday morning

You gotta love Singapore and its quirks. Its weather is warped, its food is amazing (after 15years), its people..ahh..its people..they're like durians, all about acquired taste.
I went blading this morning at East Coast Park..friking hot morning..and was 'lepak-ing' at the invasive-turtles pond.



Pond at East Coast Park--used to feed the turtles when I was a kid during the holidays

A nice, very-opinionated man (retired schoolteacher) sat down next to me and a good conversation developed..all about how things in S'pore have changed over the past 40years (that was him). And all about how kids these days are driving everyone up the wall (yeah, that was mostly me and him). But we both seemed to agree how fast time flies in S'pore. Even when you have seemingly nothing to do (like himself and myself)...I can never seem to understand that part about S'pore, and I'm gettin tired of living my life by the clock. Think I'm gonna stop wearing my watch for awhile.

And talking about S'pore and its warped weather..all in a span of 20mins, it turned from wickedly hot, to fishily-wet! And of course, it stayed gloomy for the rest of the Friday..but it didn't rain anymore..scchweeett weather!



The Lagoon at East Coast Park--low tide-ish

View from my house-15mins later

View from my house--20mins later

(Holi)days in Singapore

Yaaaay! My ravings on rollerblading have finally rubbed off on people..Now, Triin wants to go blading on Saturday, my cousin Dash wants to go on Sunday, and my friend Daphne wants to go on Tuesday (also for the Tuesday specials: 1/2-priced waffles at Gelare Cafe at East Coast Park). Whoopeee!! Now all I gotta do is go blading tomorrow (Fri) and next Mon and i'd be blading for 5 days in a roww..yaaaayyy..tmrw i practice slopes..ooooohhh...my tooshie's gonna get it..= p

PLUS..we're gonna go kite-flying on Saturday as well!Anyone from S'pore who is jobless enough to fly kites (like moi), you know what to do! =)

My Gorilla

I got this little fellow from my dear dear friends when I turned 14 (maan, that seems like such a long time ago). They somehow made me go for my dreaded Tamil class (which I usually skip when it's my birthday), and they forced entry into my house (my Mom being their accomplice) and left, on my bed, a BIG white balloon with lots of chocolates and confetti inside. With this gorilla sitting on top. He now sits smack in front of me, on my table. What a cutie-pie (notice his belly button).

Save the Singaporean Artists (they're endangered)

At least once every week for the past 3 weeks, I've seen this one S'porean guy who stands almost naked (teeny towel around) on a pedestal at the heart of Orchard Underpass. He gets onto the little platform and paints himself in silver mostly..although last night I saw him paint himself in white and some nice orangy colour on his right shoulder.

And he poses..and poses..and poses..like a Greek God..well, almost. The silver paint kinda does the job.

The darling Singaporeans circle around him and watch him become like a statue and stone. Lots of purple 2-dollar bills are on a mat at his feet. Seemingly indifferent people (myself included) walk right by.

And he has a note: Save the Singaporean Artist (and something else about them being endangered species..[Darwin-ally speaking, that's wrong])

But it doesn't seem to affect me one bit..I just wonder about what he would do if he had to pee (a seriously troubling notion)..or about the amount of mental preparation he probably has to do after getting out of bed that morning...or if someone tickled him or pepper-sprayed him.. And now i'm thinking that I should bring my camera the next time I get to Orchard (near Lido)...maybe he would say cheese??
At least I helped him raise awareness that the Singaporean artist exists, for now..i hope

Today I watched Mr & Mrs Smith

and whaattt a load of craapppp it was..i mean, Brad Pitt was hot and all..and gawd, so was Angelina Jolie. But meh..pretty bad film in terms of content..seemed like an Indian movie (fall in love, out of love, back in love..except indian movies wouldn't allude to sex so easily..a fan or flower or shrub and block the audience from the love-making scenes..oh, and parents would be involved no matter what)

But it was interesting to see where the movie was going, I had nooo idea what to expect: I just knew that neither of them would die: the movie would never sell that way, obviously.
In terms of them making a good couple (yeah, read the tabloids)..I don't think they'd work out =p Something about the two just doesn't click..maybe they're both too square-jawed.

Yeah, gimme chick-flicks (Bridget Jones' diary or Legally Blonde or Sweet Home Alabama of course) or cartoons (Alladin!!) anyday....One can learn so much more from them..All I learnt from Mr & Mrs Smith was that Angelina Jolie has a mole just above her right eyebrow and she has great posture..and Brad Pitt just looks so hot when he's eating..definitely something about his jaw.......

Last night I saw stars (random yammerish blog)

I love stars. not those movie-things, but those twinkly-things that sometimes come out onto the seldom-cloudless S'pore sky. Like they did last night. I can stick my head upwards and walk the entire stretch of road just looking at them, just until it gets difficult for blood to get up to the ol' brain. And only once a year do I actually get to see the proper night sky, I think..like the sky u see in India or M'sia or Pulau Ubin (island-thing off S'pore) argghh..need to travel so bad

It's real weird when you think that we were all actually part of a star at one point in time. A star that went supernova and died, the atoms of which somehow became you and me and my keyboard. Man, I hope the scientishts are right (watched Hyperspace by Sam Neils on Discovery Channel last night)..although it would be SO fun if they were wrong (i'm seriously yam-mering here..yeah, i made up that word)

On a not-so-related note and still yam-mering: The octopus is a freaking smart creature! (Just watched 'WOW! Built for the Kill' on the Discovery Channel). Would love to have some octopi as pets. And maybe a hyper-active/crazy jack russell too to keep me happy. Looks like I finally have my 5-year plan coming to shape. Think I'm all set for the job interviews!