Mahjong Q & A
Yesterday was my first mahjong session that I played through the entire one round & actually won money!! For those who know me, I seldom go play mahjong (can count with 10 fingers), let along win money.....My main purpose of the session was to listen to office gossip, however cos of MSN, no gossip were left unrepeated....wonderful invention, MSN..played for around 4 hrs, slow round & slowly everyone was showing signs of tiredness...esp Ms Pervert.We shared weird encounters with guys that we experienced...the gals said my encounters made their seem normal..erm..i dun disagree....ask me if u r curious...Another happening Q & A session took place that night, yes, part 2 of Apr's Hen nite Truth or Truth Game and this part is censored...i actually blog abt it and left it for a day before but ms camel protested it very stronglyMs Pervert's house was renovated halfway, potential of a beautiful home & u shld check out her kitchen.... she is a bit sotong, cos she invited us to her place for mahjong BUT she forgot there's no chairs at her plc..heng for us, her dining chairs were delivered tt day otherwise have u seen pple playing mahjong standing up or sitting on floor...
Hi-Tea With Girls till I'm 60 yrs old
These few days have been thinking of my ex-colleagues & life back then in SSC...those were the time of my working life. Met a bunch of zany, fun-loving & crazy girls who just share the same passion for life, sports, trips, food, laughter & great company.
We share emotional times when we were 'abused' by CSC members, we rallied around & supported each other when one of us got into trouble, comforted each other in times of tears. We accompanied each other to work til wee nite of 1-2am & scare ourselves silly by listening to stories of the 'haunted' stadium. We ate at Geylang after intercon finals, gathered on eventday at 5am at ulu fields/parts of Sg, sweated in the hot sweltering heat just to get ah-heoks in line for goodie bag collection, got ourselves tangled in lines of walkie-talkies. Some kena slapped in face, shouted, jostled at by unkind aunties.
Missed those times when 2 or 3 girls huddle to gossip becomes a mass orgy of 10 girls who flew frm their seats trying to place their ears closer in case they miss the juicy part. Missed the time when we have shouting matches across cubicles. Missed those times when breakfast is occupying the longest table in RC. Missed those times when all are decked out in running attire, and the a whole gin-gang of Hipart girls run like a battalion. Missed those rare moments when all the girls are dressed to the nines and attracted stares & compliments frm everyone!
Sure, there were times when we felt like giving up, very early into our jobs...we hang on to whatever we could til the moment when we tell ourselves that we have to move on in terms of personal development & career prospects...and more & more of us did....Now, those place are just mere cubicles. Though we are all over the Singapore now, 3 is in SA now, 1 came back frm UK.....I strongly believe that the spirit of HPA girls will live on!! WE will stil go on trekking/holiday trips, gossipy dinners, hilarious hen nights, jogging/running/wakeboarding/(insert your fav sports), mahjong sessions....and will have tea till we are 60 year old lao kok kok auntie...
For now, I'm just simply glad that we can look forward to Ms Pervert's Wedding Dnr where we will be dressed in pink and we'll go shopping with ZXL to buy a pink skirt.
Travels & Devonshire Cream Tea
i admit food is my number 1 passion in life....i stil remember somebody asked a question 'What's your favourite food?'.....my favourite food, where? in Sg..I have a lot of favourite food coming from a lot of different countries..like the phos & springrolls frm Vietnam, quiche from France, homemade crepes, bread & butter pudding at Malaga, my mum's soups..etc
When I'm planning for trips, it revolves around the food I want to eat there..for example, i'm making a trip to England soon..and I want to try Devonshire Cream Tea, thus I'm looking for its origin so i can go there & sample the real thing! The best scones in Sg is actually from Fosters Cafe At Holland Village, a place where my gfs and I catch up with each other.
Other places on my itinerary includes Canterbury, Scarborough, York & Northumbria, why go there? Scarborough cos I used to play an organ piece called 'Scarborough Fair', a haunting & peaceful song. York cos I read James Herriot's vet stories of the beautiful moors, plains & countryside. Northumbria cos Harry Potter were filmed there! Weird huh...
Other travel places includes Prince Edward Island where Anne of Green Gables 'lived', and Morocco where the Prince of Morocco gave Portia a box of silver(i think) in Merchant Of Venice. Austria of Sound of the Music, Lappland where Santa lives.
How I wish sometimes we live in a fairy tale...
The Fairy Tree carved by Ola Cohn from 1931 - 34
A Gift to the Children of Melbourne
Foreword from her book 'The Fairies Tree"
" I have craved a tree in the Fritzroy Gardens for you and the fairies, but mostly for the fairies and those who believe in them, for they will understand how necessary it is to have a fairy sanctuary - a place that is sacred and safe as a home should be to all living creatures.
Therefore I dedicate this book to children and fairies as it is to them I owe my inspiration."
its a funny trip...
reached sydney on 12 apr 10am, was dead tired cos din sleep much on the plane. we spent the whole entire afternoon just catching up on sleep & resting, preparing for the 1am trip to melbourne.
My companion for the week: Dad, Mum, Uncle C, Aunt S, Aunt L, Uncle R & Aunt J & their daughter Su (Uncle C's fren). We spent close to 15 hrs travelling from Sydney to Melbourne, stopping for meals and to a quaint town called 'Bright'. All i can remember the 4 days in melbourne.
Long Drive - Chinese Dinner - Sleep - Wake Up - CHINESE Lunch - Winery - CHINESE!! Dinner- Sleep - Wake Up - Window Shop at Chatstone/Chapel St -
CHINESE Dinner - Sleep - Great Ocean Road (Long Drive AGAIN!) - Sleep in car -
CHINESE!!!!! Dinner - Sleep
Then on the 5th day (17 apr) only left me & my mum in melbourne cos the rest including my dad went up to sydney via car. At last some time to sightsee & be tourists near city centre...We went to stay at Base Backpackers at St. Kilda's.. cool place near beach. Booked a day's tour with Penguin Tours (they are good! provided tea & biscuits on a cold night!) to Phillip Island to see the little penguins..they are so adorable, just to see them huddling tog & waddling up the beach and on the boardwalk we came so close to them, less than 1m away! Night ended with an exciting accident - slight crash at the side with the tour bus & taxi.
We checked into Hotel Rendevous for one night for a luxury stay. So relaxing & a very good night sleep. Think mum has experienced very different from what she is used too, and most impt, she enjoyed the 3 days we had in melbourne, cos brought her to eat egg benedict, aussie/greek food..
Took a flight back to Sydney & Dad & Aunts came to take us home, guess where we went...CHINATOWN! sigh...
was fabulous of lilian & her bf, robert to take me out to blue mountain & did some hiking there, took the steep railway! yvonne & her bf, craig took me out for dinner & some cocktail. wonderful time chatting with them & promise to take them out when they are in Sg. talking abt weird cousins & parents and all. luckily, their bfs are super nice & fantastic guys.
Shopping: everything was ex. bought 2 bikini tops @&10 a pc. kookai top for $15. puma shoes for $60. tt's all. din buy anything else except for my family. Weather was cold, getting chillyat night of cos, Melbourne was windy and much colder.
Tomorrow heading back home. missed Sg & friends
Krabi Eco Conservation Project
Last sat was spent with a group of gals at a particular girl school at Bt Timah, ...it was super tiring & zoned out, esp it's after a late night party on fri...have to reach school at 830am, OMG..struggled & reached school slightly late...you know teachers hate to be late.
This
expedition takes place 31 May - 9 June at Krabi National Park, objective is to restore the nature walking trail in a national park. So, a class of around 20 girls signed up for this project, all shapes and sizes, quite a cute bunch of girls but none very 'garang' ones...
we did a hands-on session with concrete, cement, mortar at a real work-site..construction foreman & blangedeshi workers was real nice & pro in teaching the gals in mixing & building concrete slabs...the girls have chicken strength, they look so awkward holding the shovel, and cements...
The more recent session talked abt cultural exchanges and also meant to level their expectations of Krabi....they started to panic when they realised 'har, no washing machines how to wash clothes?!'..'oh, we have catered lunch/dinner, can we choose the ingredients cos i dun eat vegetables'..another girl 'i dun eat mushrooms'..and i dun eat chili...' they worried abt this kind of stuff!!!!!
me and fellow facilitator shook heads...and we really wonder are these gals gonna cry/make a fuss or refuse to do anything there? or in the end, are we the ones who are going to do the work?
Next session is to meet the parents...wonder what questions would they ask?
Surprises
Been rather busy away from home, finally free today...that's why i can blog 2 articles today...think gonna be a long draught cos i'll be flying off to Aussie in a days' time for 2 weeks...I went up to M'sia with my parents to pay respects to my grandparents & eldest aunt during the Qing Ming period, went back to my kampong house at Raub, this little sleepy village full of Kheks at Pahang, near Bentong...first time i drove up right straight the gate of the old forgotten house...memories of how my siblings used to jump in the car when we reach...yes, bounced more likely...without hitting our heads....our backseats will be filled with blankets & pillows so we can sleep comfortably...How the spacious & green cement floor feel so cooling to our feet, the high ceiling fan...the old rattan sofa, wooden bedrooms. Dining room bigger than HDB living room..Kitchen with its authentic wire-netting cupboard, clogs must be worn in kitchen area & toilets...the toilets are quite ancient too, 2 diff compartments, one for bathing, one for doing ur business, sometimes a little toad or snake can visit u through the little drainage holes...think a lot of gals i know wun even go near them.
It has a lot of sentimental values cos after all, i spent a portion of my childhood growing up there as well...aunt will parade us 'nieces from singapore, fair & cute complete w curly brown hair, big eyes, chubby cheeks' which is a far cry from the kampong skinny & hardy looks so it sort of like turn us into aliens there....
Sadly, now the house is a little forgotten without its occupants...
Babies
Been full of babies talk for the past week....saw my 'soon-to be-mummy' girlfriends, visited my 'mummy' girlfriend...talked to my 'can-be-mummies' girlfriends on family planning...And coincidentally, borned & to-be-borned babies are all boys...No girls!!!...yet, i think...then one of my preggie gf commented..'then nxt time my boy hv a hard time finding a gf lah...' wonder when the next baby girl wil come along?Just a few yrs ago, my JMs are still wondering who is going to get married next, but as our group only left us 3 single gals left, now the topic is 'Wonder who is going to get pregnant next?' cos the possibility of them getting pregnant is more than us getting married...SIGH...Am very glad at least for my frens who are experiencing preganncy and all are going well, at least i dun mind being called 'auntie 10' which is going to happen when little dear ashton or marcus can mumbly/talk in less than a yr time... erm..Aunitie 10, Auntie 10, better get used to it...
Still on the Race, bruises and all
Although the race was 3 days ago...the memories still stuck in my mind...
i'm v bad at cycling from zero speed..esp when the cisco stopped my bike and I have get back to cycling mode...you know how first timers' bike will wobble & zigzagged......this cisco was stopping traffic for us & i was like going to hit into him with my poor cycling skills and he have to siam me ..so paiseh..argh....and the cars were staring at me....wish i could cover my face with my helmet!!
and i was so afraid that i would let go of my hands during traversing, cos i struggled a bit during the last part, hauling myself on a slight ascend...and jeffrey has to embarassed(actually he's encouraging lah) me by shouting "You have overcome the biking leg, wat's this traverse..? AAHHH...wonder how it sounds to other pple around the jetty area when they heard this remark...cos the biking leg is suppose to be the EASIEST!!
And the swimming episode...when i was trying to scream instructions to zxl & instructor...to swim properly! lie straight! face up!look in front! frog style! free style! or watever style that u can move! paddle with ur legs! until i was tired too....and laiwan was laffing her head off on dry land....and this is the photo she took when we finish.
and instructor was checking out the guys around the event as well as we were passing comments that several guys look quite cute! imagine, instructor 'beo-ing' guys !!
and oh...the 089 our team number stil can seen faintly from my arm cos of the tan.....and i have 13 bruises on my legs....
my official time to knock off
is 1730hr..i am stuck in office due to the heavy downpour..since i can't go for my lesson yet, i shall blog..One school of thoughts will say:"It is monsoon season now mah.. That's why always rain lor.."Another school of thoughts will recite this:"Qing1 Ming2 Ji4 Jie2 Yu3 Fen1 Fen1Lu4 Shang4 Xing2 Ren2 Yu4 Duan4 Huan2.."it is the time of the year when we are supposed to do our tomb-sweeping routine..it is the time of the years when our relatives from another dimension return for a visit..don't blame me for my spooky tales..it is the time for it..
Sunday morning, Padang...a whole adventure route was waiting for us!!
couldnt' sleep the nite before, woke up at 5 am..but force my eyes shut to catch that last few remnants of rest...so many barangs to bring, snowman so nice to lend her 2l camelbak (thank JT too for her camelbak, but cannot use lah, no straps), stuff our gloves, ziploc bags, goggles. Have to bring the bike helmets, a dry set of clothes, slippers..aiyoh..look like auntie, not the glam, tanned & 'saat-looking' racer....ZXL msg to say Ms Ou Xiang forgot our stuff and going home to take it & my taxi driver dunno where is temasek tower nor prince edward?!? good start to the race? manage to place our bikes and took a ride to Padang from Ms Ou Xiang..already VERY GRATEFUL to her for 'sponsoring' us bikes, helmets, bike tranportation, gloves, toolkits, etc, extra cycling lessons to me, bike maintenance, being the only supporter to take photos for us at several checkpoints!!!!...how can we EVER repay you?!?! You are still my OU XIANG!!Got plenty of encouragements & hugs from SSC pple...so touched!!! instructor, zxl & me basically have fun teasing, poking fun & promising to look out for each other...Saw Lynn & her 7mths tummy at the race, she gave me a good luck hug too..so happy to see her...!Flag off happens 20 mins late, and we took off at a comfortable pace meaning at the tail end. It's 2-3km away from our bike deposit but it seems so FArrrrrrr (funny it doesnt feel like that for marathon...) before we have a chance to see our bikes, we have to do a test..which is to do a balloon sculpture...twist it into a sword! Our balloons kept bursting ..ARGH...%^$%&&^%* finally our sword was formed...and bike our way down to mt faber. Or rather bike our way up the bloody hill!!!! oh, and my chain fell out,....even more grateful for Ou Xiang for teaching me how to place back the chain duing my cycling lesson...Mt Faber was uphill all the way (of cos lah, its a hill wat) but we have to push our bikes up as well....wahlau, was totally shagged out when i reached the checkpoint..but there' s still an uphill test for us, near the cable car station, we have to shade out the word "Adventure Race 2006" using the murals & bronze paintings lined along a corridor. QED!!Next checkpoint was at Sentosa, saw several friends along the way! Jack & Stephanie formly SAFRA was there...at the checkpoint, we had to do Sudoku puzzle!! luckily done several bef but stil tough...manage to hook up with another men's open (yah, i sorta flirted-which is Very SEldom!! & during an ADV RAce, wat am i thinkg?!for the sake of the team, heck!) ..team no. 10(guys v cute according to instructor) & SSC' s 2 teams (merey & nic's) to solve them. 3 teams all diff categories, u think we'll help those in the same cat...hmph...oh, our bibs are pink cos it's ladies novice, imagine zxl in pink netball bibs...! Rope elements were next at the ferry terminal! we had to wait for an hr for our harness...yawn...then it's all armpower from instructor & ZXL, cos only 2 needs to do the ascend) and abseil is a breeze for us....next up, traversing over water when we reach a part of the traverse, our body is skimming (if heavier, then dragging) over water..cool....ZXL was first, instructor..then me...(our sequence is always like that, except for swimming portion)..the last part to haul urself against gravity was tiring.Done with CP5, off we whizzed off on our bikes, manage to maneourve over potholes & gravel without falling off my bike tho i was gripping the handlebars v tightly & keeping v silent on the journey...YAY....v proud of myself liao..We ran off to Merlion Park for the water element, jumping off (2m drop) at Merlion Park & IT is a test for ME cos i have to 'look after' 2 non-swimmers....i was the first in water & tried to teach them swimming within that 3-5mins, but they still frantically flayying their arms & legs...SHAGGED but at least instructor tried her own style of swimming...so proud of ZXL too cos at least she showed little fear jumping into the water :)YAY, but we conquered the water together...!!!! Finally, the final checkpoint was Rockclimbing at the Padang, and they decide to relief me of this station as well..i kena cramps at my left quad..ZXL lost to instructor (paper to scissors) so she climbed & FINALLY at 5 hrs plus...our race was completed.................the race was tough for novice racers like us! and i realise in times of frustration & anger, bad words just flowed out from like nobody's business..... and we were swearing at the person who came up with the ingenous idea of the balloon scultpure and twisting into a F***!!! sword, and i come to know it's Jeffrey from Ace!!!! and he's the one who came up with all the tests too.thanks hor!!!!
