Lip Service

Ever wonder why people pay you lip service? Well, it's a question I've been dabbling with like forever. @ every point in life, I'm sure things like these happen. Perhaps it's a student telling you she'll work hard (but she's probably working harder at Facebooking or Msn-ing or woo-ing the boy next door); or perhaps a relative or friend who say they'll help but you wait and wait, and the help never came. Recently I met with such incident. Planning on going on a trip this November and am in need of some details. Was conversing with a parent one day and he mentioned that he had tons of contacts (friendly? Helpful? Showoff? You be the judge) and would source hotels and email me the contact numbers. I waited. And waited. On our next meeting, he actually asked "So have you booked your hotel? It's kindof late already you know. If you have not book, you may not get a room!" MY GOODNESS! THE AUDACITY of saying such thing in my face?! Feigning innocence, I smiled and replied in a horrified gasp "oh you've emailed me already?".....Profoundly confused by human nature.

Fortunately, sweetie who is the skeptical one, has booked us a nice villa. VILLA! Delirious with JOY!

Fast forward to the last couple of days....

MONDAY....Sweetie took a day off due to DEEPAVALI...went for a game of golf; rejuvenated himself by breathing in the fresh air laced with dew whilst his other half ie ME, was having a great time slogging! Coz of that, my feelings were at a low ebb and I lambasted him for being an ass...Below was his punishment

OUCH! I'm kidding! A sweet little wifey like me wouldn't do that would I?? haha......We went for a nice massage but he ended up doing a traditional 拔罐 and ended up with the bruises. It supposedly will allow your blood to flow better. The Chinese believe that the reason for having aches and pain is due to the fact that your blood circulation's not good. Thus, you'd need to get rid of the "bad vessels" and "wind" to stimulate new Growth. The westerners believe that it's all a build up of lactic acids due to anerobic respiration!

TODAY...SATURDAY

I've never felt so good. Mugged the entire night for my forthcoming exams this Tuesday till 4am the previous night (I should have started earlier but alas, there's simply not enough time! PS: For those who are wondering and interested, I'm doing a diploma in Creative Writing. "Why" was a question posed by many. Upgrading and elevating my status I guess? Learning should never be stagnant and one should always continually seek for knowledge. Would love to take up more courses, but am plagued by monetary, time and physical constraints) Anyway, I slept like no tomorrow. The sun filtered through my windows and an indescribable feeling engulfed me when I saw that the clock read 11am! Woohoo!! I never had a day off on Saturdays. This was the first time in this YEAR! Sad but true! I never knew Saturdays could be this good! Was very productive straight after clambering out of bed. Went for breakie with sweetie and wanted to visit SHELL to pump up on petrol as they were having a great promotion today-- $1 per litre! Hordes of Singopreans were queueing for it. There were even police directing traffic due to the congestion. Amazing array of cars you see. From a little MINI to BMW or Merc. The crowd did not dwindle after lunch, thus sweetie and I decided not to be a typical Singaporean.

Went over to Autobay @ Kahki Bukit to change our brake lights. The sweltering heat of the merciless sun was killing me but we had to do it. I felt terribly unsafe with my brake lights not functioning. Thereafter, we went for our car inspection. Impromptu. Was very impressed by the automation at the Car inspection centre. Wasn't too impressed with the price though. Cost me a whopping $63 for a mere 5 minute inspection!

THe rest of the day drifted past lazily. Was trying to mug further, but ended up drifting into a seista. Guilt inundated shame like an epidemic breakout.

The highlight of the night:

Went with couple of friends to Sunset Grill. Service tonight was real slow and bad. The waiter spilt wine sauce on my friend. there wasn't any service recovery. Only a mere SORRY. Guess we can't fault him. People make mistakes. Had loads of food ranging from calamaris, white wine mussels, button mushrooms, the infamous Level 3 Chicken wings (that was spicy enough for most of us) to ribs, pork ribs and pasta...THAT's A LOT OF FOOD! I had to ensure I made space for dessert. Who could miss the warm brownie served with a scoop of Vanilla ice-cream? I stepped out, rubbing my round tummy and licking my choc-covered lips with utmost satisfaction. :-) I'm a happy girl.

Now on with mugging!

Do you know the moral of the story?

The wkend had been steaming. The sun seems to be beating on us mercilessly with a vengeance every single day! Perhaps in celebration of Deepavali? Long wkend, i don't have one. What's new.

The week started off as an exciting one. But I soon realise I can't count my chickens before they are hatched (you'll see why). In celebration of our 3rd anniversary, sweetie and I visited a quaint little place nestled in a rather peculiar corner of Singapore. It is slated as one of Singapore's best? better? restaurants.

Infuzi @ Biopolis; Don't be deceived by the seemingly romantic decor....it's not as impressive as you think. Cozy but rather average looking furnishings apart from the intricate lamp. Definitely doesn't match up to the price of the food. Service was great (partly because there were absolutely no one except us at one point in time! The whole night, there were only two tables occupied! Sad case.Interesting structured lamp engineered by glass bottles!

Was overcome by feeling of elation when sweetie said he was impressed and is savouring every morsel of his food. He isn't one who is too keen on trying out new stuff. Stagnant is his middle name and comfort zone is his home. Amongst the many appetizers, you'd see my favourite Lobster bisque with brand cream! Absolute Heavenly! They were so nice...seeing that I did not order any other appetizers except the soup, they gave me a free mini appetizer as sweetie was having his! Sweet.

Our Mains -- Lobster Pasta (ME); and Steak (HIS)....my pasta looked like instant noodles on first look, but i was delirious with joy upon taking my first bite. THe taste was absolutely out of this world! Quaintessentially garlic and oil combination. Infused with some kind of herb and flavoured oil, this dish is certainly hard to replicate at home! haha....the lobster chunks however were a little tough. Sweetie's steak according to him, was nice, but average.
Had an intense craving for sweet stuff, thus ordered us a Chocolate dessert. Delectable. The well baked crust was wrapping around a lava of chocolate, waiting to ooz out of the cake. My verdict: AWESOME! My throbbing headache did not dissipate after my hour long massage prior to the dinner. Ordered a pot of Camomile tea and my body and head instinctively struck a cord with the floral scent. It was further affirmed when I felt that my head throbbed no more!

Fast forward mode......

Obviously inspired by the wonderful dinner we had at Infuzi, sweetie decided to replicate the feast on Saturday. Thus, together with cousins-in-law, we whipped up a kickass meal!

Clam in white wine and a host of weird concoction; homemade mash potato (love it to bits!); Creamy broccoli and butter mushroom (which has too much Vinaigrette) + some Red Wine to pair the meal with.....

Steak. Medium.
Chicken chop. well Done! haha...hmm I'm certainly piling up fats in the most undesirable ways!

Saturday came and left......along came Sunday.....

PEDDER was having SALE! Together with C, we went for the attack! There was a multitude of colours and designs to choose from. However, the selection of bags was rather disappointing. Quality of some were also disheartening. How can someone treat such precious bag in that manner? Some were frayed whilst others were dirtied. Discounts were amazingly attractive. between 40 - 80% discount! Unheard-of-luxury for brands like McQueen, Givenchy, Lanvin, Marc Jacob and many more. I was pretty convinced that I'd get something for a steal! no sooner did I conjure that thought did I consume the temptation of shoes. I was coerced into buying.........

I had to! Each detail is painstakingly put together, possibly by hand! It was calling out to me! No sin in that right? Given that it's 70% off the retail price!!

Zipping to current time........

At this juncture when Sunday's coming to an end, one would think, what could go wrong? It had been such a fulfilling day, shopping and cooking. I did mention that there'd be a moral to the story. Empress Dowager had to call and piss me off. She's apparently not too pleased with me coz I did not return her call at midnight the day before! Overwhelmed. My soul is suffocating! Busy cannot seem to be in her dictionary. No compassion whatsoever. Upon explaining, she accused me of not caring for her and even said "What if I'm dying n u didn't pick up your phone?"...wtf! Human's psychology's really weird. Her world of black and white is completely reversed. Then she went on by accusing me of being too busy for P's forthcoming party, which I WAS NOT EVEN TOLD OF! Talk about respect. I blame no one but her, coz of her freaking attitude. Due to her quest of seeking attention, I was made profoundly embarrassed.

The greatest contributing factor in my relationship with dearest is the respect and love for each other. Likewise, communication is also an important key to sustain the relationship. This we are still on a constant struggle but have improved by leaps and bounds. If we want to walk this path together, we jolly well learn to give and take. So far, things have been well and each day is a learning journey. How I wish I could say the same thing for my relationship with Cixi. When will she ever learn that there's a limit to my patience?

Catching up

I realise that my patience is thinning these days. WIth time, I've become cynical. Wonder if it's due to irresponsible people that are plaguing this society. Am supposed to be having my practicum examination today @ 10am but alas, at 940am I received an sms from the school saying that the trainer is down with fever and diarrhoea thus lesson's cancelled. By then, I was already on the road. Been facing an enormous challenge of juggling with my life over the past few weeks. With several major exams happening, it doesn't help that my exams are also lurking round the corner. Irresponsible I say. No wonder the trainer got fired from her previous school! Imagine the agony of those students who had to travel a great distance just to be there for lessons, only to be notified at the eleventh hour. It is no fault of the management's though. I recall the trainer being sacarstic to some of us on the first lesson, saying that we all have a life to run outside school, we just have to adjust and be responsible to cope with the homework given. Hmmm...guess she's not doing what she's preaching! So much for enlightenment. Imagine the opportunity cost involved.....I could have salvaged more students if it weren't for her irresponsible act. The school will hear from me once I get my certification!

On the other hand, the little pocket of time allowed me to catch up with my work and blogging. :-) As I ensconced myself in a comfortable chair, feelings seem to be at a low ebb. Perhaps because the lull period is kicking in. Perhaps of the uncertainty that 2010 brings. Perhaps because of the buttock paresthesia (which was so bad one night I could barely stand) or migraine (which was so bad I had to pop panadol to ease the discomfort...something I hardly do despite the pain), which i've been having recently. Infinite possiblilities. Gonna go for a check soon. With a sickening jolt, I'm channeling my energy to more positive vibes -- FOOD! haha


A delicacy for supper. Had some leftover sharksfin and crabmeat lying around in my freezer thus I decided to whip up a little sharksfin soup for sweetie and I. What can I say? I live a life of luxury! haha
This is way overdue, not that it matters. Was on a food escapade last month. It was seafood for consecutive weeks. Overdose? NAH! This time, it's crab porridge @ Joo Chiat. A quaint little place which sees people from all walks of life pouring in. People of different skin colour were swamping that place! Some were even having their F1 VIP tags.
Been a while since I had claypot rice. I know, it's calorie-laden, but I don't care! I ate the last morsel fro my bowl. The double boiled soup was heavenly. Infused with all kinds of ingredients, each individual pot (as seen in the picture above) is left to simmer in a huge pot (as seen in the first set of pictures). I don't think I'm able to replicate such palatable standards.

The highlight of the day! Crab Porridge! The first pot was so mind-blowing, we ordered another pot to share. unfortunately, the second round was a tat disappointing. Soup wasn't as thick as the first. There was also no roe in the first. The shell was suspiciously clean. Upon questioning, the lady boss tried to sell us the idea that the roe and whatever's within the crab has infused into the soup. Ya right! In the end, realising that we were not a bunch of idiots, she gave us a discount.

On a different note, the latest TVB drama I'm after is about a how a tuition teacher named Queen Ace whose task is to mould a trio who's absolutely hopeless when it comes to studying. Their aim -- to obtain 20 points for their upcoming examinations (somewhat like our O levels). The show is truly inspiring to all teachers and portrays how HongKong is building up the tutoring image. Imagine if I were to be teaching there, i'd probably be a superstar! haha...A totally different realm from Singapore where I work like a dog.

*Horrified gasp* Time flies! Time to steel myself for action!

BANG HEAD

Not sure if anyone's missing me/ my posts, but am overwhelmed with my to-do list. Too much happening. Too little time. Students' exams, My exams....



The practicum's getting me all jittery as I type. A lot of work for a mere 10 minute presentation.

To add to that, all the hard work with one child may go down the drain. Had been slogging with him for the all important PSLE. Unfortunately tragedy hit and he developed dengue fever the night before his first paper. I was devastated by the news. Brave as he was, he went for 3 of the 5 papers. However, his bravado vanished on day 5 as he was admitted into hospital. Today, we should be delirious with joy that PSLE's coming to an end but instead, I learnt that 5 our of 6 members of his family have developed dengue. 4 are now in hospital. Some bloody doctor didn't want to certify him unfit for examination when his fever was above 39 degrees celsius. A second opinion was seeked and this time, the doctor issued a letter with a heavy heart. What holds for this boy now? To be judged based on his prelim results (i don't mind actually, my dear child did very well!), to be ungraded and sent to some XYZ Secondary School? (he's a smart boy and definitely capable of bigger things) or forced to redo his P6? (an option that is favoured by the family should MOE decides to post him to XYZ Sec sch base on some alien calculation which we will never know.....

Was chatting with a fellow teacher and his take on this: Tough luck! It's like entering a competition. If you are sick, you've gotto walkover!

Tough luck? Sheez. What a thing to say....a child's future is at stake. The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks fills my heart with sorrow.

Now, I pray that he and his family get well soon. Their platelet count's still very low. They can't move and have to be on the drip. The depression prick at my nerves. Expectation breeds disappointment.

We can't afford to be sick. Health is wealth. How true......

PS: Will be back to update more after this episode....stay tunned! So much more to say! URGH