Phew!

Blogged a whole lot of pictures (and words, of course) at one go after a relatively long absence! Have fun reading cos I'm going on another hiatus.. Be busy with fixing and settling into the new office, in addition to scary deadlines and meetings..

I'm starting to see age showing on my face.. Very scared ~.~

But now I'm more hungry than sad, off I go!

"f/u"

SZ once asked what f/u was, when I used it in an earlier entry. Bump replied her comment/question for me; I stopped commenting on my own blog already in case you haven't noticed..

So, one day, I picked up a call to hear a giggling colleague..

A: In your email subject, what does f/u stand for?
mf: Follow up..
A (to B in the background): FOLLOW UP!
*B took over phone**
B: A thought you were scolding me..
mf: *blur* Huh? *A and B laughing at the other end* .. .. Oh dear! I didn't think it would be mistaken!
B: A is too free..
A: I thought you were scolding B..
mf: If I wanted to scold him, I would use capital F!
A: Haha, I'll tell him that!

On retrospect, I think I'll just spell it out in full :p

Visiting Grams

I went to find Grams one day after an external meeting that ended about lunch time. Since I was going to move to my new office soon, I thought I'd find her while I was still working nearby..

Haven't really chatted with her for some time, cos usually the elders were talking and the only communication between the generations was on food. That day, it wasn't too different actually..

Grams: I'll fry an egg for you..
mf: No need, this will do..
Grams: Just chicken with ginger?
mf: No problem! :)

Grams filled my rice bowl with a lot of rice and steamed pumpkin. When she went for another scoop, I almost forcibly grabbed the bowl away :p Of course I didn't cos she heard me say "enough!"

We were sitting about after lunch..

Grams: You want bee lok? ("Milo" in dialect..)
mf: No need :)

Two seconds later..

Grams: Pomelo? There's some on the table..
mf: Really? Ok :p

But besides food..

Grams: How long have you been working?
mf: Three years.
Grams: Oh, so three more years to go..

Grams remember the length of my bond! :)

I realised my Hokkien was getting real bad.. Also noticed that Grams seemed to have aged a bit.. But she is still very cute la, this Grams of mine..

Grams: You're not fat.. until you're old..
mf: *.*
Grams: Then you cannot help it.. See? I have two big layers here..

And she went on to pinch her upper and lower abdomen! I touched - soft :p I guess I could deal with that at her age, and with such a lovely grand daughter, ha!

Her birthday is coming, we're celebrating on 5 Nov, a Sunday so everyone could join in. I learnt that she was born in the year of the pig, which made her 83 this year or 84 going by the lunar calendar. I always thought she was born in the year of the chicken, must have heard wrongly last time.. :p

Went by Polar to chat with Aunt on my way back to office. Uncle and family should be getting the food. Aunt hasn't made plans for the cake yet so I offered to get the cake with Yan. How exciting! :)

Did you see mf?

There was a one-second frame of me on TV on the night of Sunday, 22 Oct 2006! Sito had more air time than me, unfair!!

Some time back, Mediacorp came by the studio to film for a production, which was finally aired. JK helped me record - thanks :) But I don't know how to upload the DVD :p Anyway, it's only a second of me. And I think I wasn't even smiling *.*

I was inspired to look through my dancing photos and found a cool one from the competition:



It was tango :) How? Fierce not? Grrr...

And a group photo of some of us after the comp - hot auntie next to me ok..



(Oops, organisers were rushing to clear the venue for a wedding dinner :p)

Update on Tomato Town

Came back from somewhere one Sat and took this:



I always think clothes hanging out of a flat are something unique to us. There's at least one picture of that at Fabric of the Nation - I like :)

Had some fun another Sat watching the birth of a new floor..

Before, just a mesh of mess..



Filling in the gaps with fresh cement from a mixer.. Thought it looked poo-y :p



Tidying up using what seemed like a household scrub..



And dried!



The following week, they started to build the lift shaft on the other side.

You may find these photos a bit "huh?!" but I'm very happy! Every little progress is bringing me closer to my room, closer to sanity :)

有朋自远方来！

Took two days of leave to play host to Jens and Eric. Woke up early on Children's Day to fetch Jens from the airport. We met Eric at the hotel; he arrived a short while ago by train. It had been three years since we met!

mf: Eric, you put on some weight!
Eric: Mean!
Jens: You look the same..

Gee, and I thought I lost weight since then.. Bad karma from being mean to Eric :p

Our first stop was to refuel with dim sum, marking the beginning of three days of decadence.. The first time we went to Liaison (or Liaisons?) in Oxford for dim sum, Jens was frowning at the thought of eating chicken feet but when he tried it, he loved it!

We walked around the Tanjong Pagar and Chinatown area where we visited the Chinatown Heritage Centre (I like but no photos) and found this:



More recently, I happened to walk down a spiral staircase at Scarlet Hotel cos the only lift broke down.. I like spiral staircase, pretty, but it's not too fun to walk though..

We walked all the way to the entire (really!) City Hall/Suntec/Esplanade area, passing by the bridge whose name I forgot - the one that divides North and South Bridge Roads - and took this picture:



If you look carefully, you would have seen that the buildings on the right are a bit crooked.. Think it was something to do with Jens's camera cos I'm pretty sure these buildings are straight!

It was a short day as they were tired from the travelling and the walking. When I parted with them after dinner and was waiting for my train, I bumped into Jo and CS. Thought it an odd coincidence: Jens came from Germany, Eric from KL; Jo is working in KL and CS is German.. Anyway, key is I got to see and touch Jo's tummy! Six months already, how exciting :)

After breakfast at a hawker centre the next day, we went to ACM cos they were flipping brochures and found something interesting. Of course ACM is interesting! I like too :) But it wasn't opened yet when we got there!! We left ACM and were walking along the river when we saw the police bring up a dead body ~.~ How scary.. We promptly left for Orchard..



This was all over Orchard Road. By Kusama Yayoi who was also the one who did the Stairway to Heaven I posted earlier.

Somehow I like the red and white polka dots, so happy :)

Spent some time in Borders and Kinokuniya where they bought some books and gifts. Eric found "Men to Avoid: A Survival Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman".. I could only remember one type of men to avoid: men who read girls' books like this!! Oh, Eric.. *shake head* We split our sides laughing, dropped the book and left :p

Jens wanted to try fried kway tiao so we went to Food Republic for king-sized servings and king-sized prawns! I didn't have it cos wasn't hungry but promised to treat myself to it the next time (which was a few days later :p)

Checked out the Opera Gallery, saw some interesting pieces by Salvador Dali there. But I was attracted to this and Jens took a picture:



I'm going to pin this somewhere to remind me to never allow myself to balloon!

We had gelato - I made up for my usual Children's Day treat :) - before going back to ACM in the mid afternoon but I was too tired to walk so I sat in the lobby while they explored the museum. Chatted with a PRC lady while waiting - disrupted my nap but she was quite interesting and inspired me to think about what I would like to do ten years from now..

Trigger-happy outside the museum cos it's me :)



And that's us!



We were beaten but we bravely carried on to Little India for the lights. Had some weird prata and I decided that Jens must try to the real stuff! We cabbed to the Upper Thomson one for dinner #2 :) And there was this foot reflexology place nearby so we went in to nurse our poor feet though Eric opted out. It was slightly painful for me, a regular, but Jens didn't even flinch! Was the uncle kind to him? Hmm..

It rained on the third and last day. We tried to do the Biennale route but were trapped in the Chinese temple for a while. I picked a chiam :p Hey, I'm starting to believe in this cos this chiam and the lot I got in Asakusa last year actually said the same thing!

Sent Eric to the train station before sending Jens to Changi. Jens brought me some souvenirs from home - so happy! Lovely calendar prints of Cologne and Cornwall complete with a feminine touch in the form of an EDT - danke! :)

Was talking with Jens about our countries' low birth rates and how some like the Nordic countries had TFR of 1.8. We hence parted:

mf: In case we meet only three years later, take good care!
Jens: By then, we'll have 1.8 TFR!

:p

So nice to see them again, seems like yesterday when we were mugging in the library, running programmes and codes in the lab, having ramen at Edamame, cruising the motorways in Cornwall.. Sighs.. Old already la :p

Don't know when I'll meet Jens again - Germany is damn far! - but I'll be going to KL next March! That's me, planning for trips so far ahead.. In fact, I've decided to go to Japan in next Sep for Miki's wedding, even before my Japan trip this year has been confirmed!!

This is an interim note..

Just to say I'm alive and very well fed. Plus broke.

No time to blog lately, too tired to even write on my Pinky on the bus. In fact, I cabbed back most nights so I'm poor too.

When I'm back, you'll see my Children's Day story.

Hazy full moon

It was a weird Mooncake Festival this year; for the first time in many years, I didn't walk about with a paper lantern =(

When I stepped out of office last night, I thought I was in the clouds. Smelly clouds. The haze was really bad. I looked up to see a big yellow moon. They said the moon this time was really big - they weren't kidding! But in two seconds, a wisp of cloud floated past the moon. Black cloud ~.~

Waited 30min for the freaking bus. Quite pissed not just cos of the waiting time. It wasactually quite scary alone at the bus stop with the haze floating in the air..

On the bus, I heard from mobile TV that the pollution level had hit 80.

Hung around the shopping centres for a while. Was glad for the late night shopping venues but didn't buy a thing. It was late but the serious shoppers were still fervent. Was in no mood to rub shoulders with them lugging my laptop and a big bag.

Settled in Cartel at Cineleisure. Had a frappucino while I read a report. Decided on a piece of cake too. It was almost midnight when I cabbed down to meet CY with a muffin treat.

The haze was in the CTE tunnel too.. Visibility was quite bad but I managed to make out CY's silhouette as the cab got to her workplace.

A weird Mooncake Festival for her too, no lanterns. We had spent many Mooncake Festivals together, chatting under the moonlight with lanterns by our side. But this year, we couldn't even see the moon when we got out of the cab!

Spent a happy hour chatting at the bus stop before parting. I thought I wanted to jog this morning. But I woke at 7am and saw the haze outside. And the horrible smell. I went back to bed. When I woke, news said that pollution level had hit unhealthy level at 100+. Which meant I wouldn't jog tomorrow too. Getting fat *.*

You may have noticed my short sentences. Feeling quite stoned, that's why. Can't believe it's 5pm already.. Sat is almost gone!

And so few responses to my questions below? I am *sob sob* heartbroken..

Being Singaporean

Suddenly remember I have something to say on this matter. But before I piece my thoughts together, perhaps I could seek some of your views on what the Koreans and PRC Chinese (and maybe others) have asked some time ago in some forum:

1) If there's a next life, do you still want to be Singaporean?
2a) Why?
2b) If not, what citizenship would you like to be born into?
3) Is nationality even important today?

PS: Even if you're not Singaporean, it would be nice to hear from you, be it about your nationality or about being Singaporean..