Boats and Cruise Ships

October 12, 2007 at 10:49 am · Filed under gym

The yogis (or should that be “yogii”?) say the funniest things sometimes, perhaps because they think in Indian and speak in English and it doesn’t come out right. On Tuesday as we were doing Starlight Yoga on the boardwalk in Vivocity, the Bendy One says “This is called the boat pose. See, there are lots of boats out in the sea, be like them. Don’t be like cruise ship!” We all burst out laughing.

Its rather nice that us yoga class regulars have started to smile and chat with one another, and the quirky characters (myself included) are all mingling. It makes for a friendly, and light-hearted atmosphere, and its always nice to be smiled at at the end of a gruelling day. I like arriving at class about 20min early, to settle down, still my mind, and tune in to the frequency of the room and the class. 

6 out of 9 weekly classes I attend are in the HOT studio (heated to 39deg celcius), which requires getting used to. I attend 9 classes a week on most weeks, with back-to-back sessions on Monday and Thursday. There is also a back-to-back on Saturday morning, but I’m too lazy to wake up in time for the earlier 9.30am class.

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Alarming Randomness

October 12, 2007 at 9:32 am · Filed under Randomness, wanderlust

Him:    I think I should like to go to KL…

Me:      Mmmm…

Him:    …the last time I was in KL was in 2001; for a cousin’s wedding.

Me:      Mmmm… was there about 3 years back, I think…

Him:    His wife’s passed away though…

Me:     ?

Him:    Oh yeah, she was raped and chopped to pieces. (sips wine)

Me:      !!!

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Puffer Fish sashimi anyone?

October 10, 2007 at 3:16 pm · Filed under fishies

The fish shop near work sells BABY PUFFER FISH! They’re lime green with black spots, and are about 3-4cm long, and THEY’RE SQUARE! *utterly delighted* Am tempted to buy a couple, but that’ll mean starting another tank. Instead, I acquired 2 albino cardinal fish, and they’ve settled nicely into the tank with the neon tetras.

Am wondering if its even legal to sell them, because the shop also sells toucans, which I’m quite sure are not legit. I was however, impressed by how robust all the fish looked, and the varieties and colors just within that small half-shop.

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Multi-tasking

October 10, 2007 at 12:43 am · Filed under fishies, Friends, the Grind

Ben has been introduced to the joys of shopping at the gigantic Daiso shop in Vivocity! Oh ho… there is no turning back now! *shudder* I love the Daiso shop, and can spend hours there (and many, many $2 bills) on the lovely things they have there. Lovely things from Japan, and that makes them even more lovely to buy. And they actually work.

Today didn’t feel like a work day because there wasn’t any teaching to do and I was out and about for a large part of the day. Popped in to invigilate, popped out and spent the morning in the staffroom (a) doing design work on photoshop (b) chatting with colleagues of reasonable intelligence and wit (c) drinking teh see… and sometimes, all of the above. Its amazing how much show-and-tell one can do about one’s life just from an external harddisk one carries around; perhaps its because of the amount of photographs I take to document my life and that a large part of my work, visual and otherwise, is digital-based.

The fish are happy, and the 9 that’ve survived (yes, one died!) look sturdy and strong. They’ve been eating all the fish flakes I’ve dropped into the tank and I hope they grow to their full 2-3cm length. Am refraining from adding to the colony for now, so that I can use these 9 to learn to look after fish properly. They seem to be getting used to me too, and since I’ve not had pets in ages, its rather interesting to have the buggers around.

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Drowsy and happy

October 8, 2007 at 11:49 pm · Filed under soliloquy

My room is now nicely scented with sandalwood and rosewood in the burner and I feel a lovely sense of calm. The fish are happy, darting around their tank and amusing themselves the way fish do. I am quite relaxed, enjoying the luxurious feeling of 450 threadcount sheets on freshly-showered, bare skin. This is my center; my refuge, and where the spoils of the world cannot touch me.

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10 people-types I want to bitchslap

October 8, 2007 at 8:11 am · Filed under soliloquy

  1. The salespeople who can’t tell the difference between being persistent and insistent, and who hover when I’m trying to make a decision on what to get, and especially the sort who make assumptions of what they think I will like or want to buy, and who don’t know how to to take a hint to step back and let me browse, and who worst of all, insist on speaking to me in Mandarin when I speak to them in English, and assume I will like it just because I am ethnically Chinese.
  2. People who take jobs they are too stupid for, and who fumble up things, waste my time and mumble when asked a question, and who don’t understand proper English when they are required to interact with other people.
  3. People who approach me in the streets with a clipboard, and especially those who make a beeline for me despite the fact that I am glaring at them while they make a beeline for me.
  4. People who reek of their own perspiration.
  5. Parents who think the entire world finds their children adorable enough to tolerate their screams and incessant babbling.
  6. Teenagers (and some adults) who play music out loud on their mobile devices in enclosed spaces like buses, thinking that everyone within their vicinity will like want to hear what they are interested in listening to.
  7. People who wear mismatched and uncoordinated clothes.
  8. Girls and women with unnaturally high-pitched voices and who use them liberally in squeals and cackling laughter, and who think its cute to do so.
  9. Colleagues who send ungrammatical emails with spelling errors.
  10. Men who carry handbags for their girlfriends.

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Lingering Drizzle

October 8, 2007 at 12:48 am · Filed under bimbo moments, choral, Friends, gym, weekend to weekend

I kinda like rainy Sunday afternoons… makes Hot Yoga feel steamy and comforting rather than sweltering and sticky. The rain this afternoon was so heavy that everything was gray and hazy, as sheets of rain danced over the sea, until we almost couldn’t see Sentosa. The yoga studio was toasty and assuring, and it felt very much, like wearing a lovely, warm winter cloak in and walking in snow.

I wandered around Vivocity briefly after that, sitting down for another green tea latte at Starbucks and watching the wet world outside, and then slowly headed to Ben’s concert, where I was peeved by the fact that his dress pants were too short, and when he sat down, one could see some of his leg and his socks!

The programme I liked, but the pants… alas! New suit some more! Said hello to Ben’s grandmother, who recognises me because I’m always in the house, and she said some friendly things in teochew I didn’t understand but nodded and looked pleasant about anyway since she’s a spritely old woman with a big grin.

Sat down for a drink with he who was nearby in town avoiding a rosary session at home (*chuckles* I’d SO do the same thing!), before heading home on the train. Early mornings and a long day tomorrow and for the next 4 days too, O God how I hate them! I have the full load tomorrow : work, therapy and 2 sessions of yoga with Anil. Something I did either in Friday or Saturday’s yoga session has left the left and right side of my torso aching but it’ll go away after a day or so – they always do.

I am starting to really enjoy the snug feel of wearing a sports bra. :-)

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Pet shopping

October 7, 2007 at 3:30 am · Filed under fishies, food, Friends, weekend to weekend

I somehow had a feeling that it would happen tonight, and it did.

~/~

We were drawn to 2 hamsters in a petshop window, but they were bought by a screechy woman who was indeed the ultimate. Long, colored and ceramic permed hair, fake eyelashes and liner, face artificially radiant from make-up, a bright fushia pink t-shirt, and very propped up boobs. She shrieked in delight at the hamster, so much so that it made our hair stand so much that we had to get out of the shop and look at the hamsters from the outside while she and her accessory of a boyfriend prodded and jabbed at the critters, and finally bought one of the 2 hamsters we thought were adorable and that my friend almost bought… we shook our heads, walking away, feeling very sorry for the hamsters and their sorry fate, and utterly horrified about the woman, shuddering about her all the way to Starbucks.

Oh, and I quite like the new Green Tea Latte. :-)

~/~

The fish were awake when I looked in on them before bedtime. It was rather amusing, how they’d swim to watch stuff; swimming to the side of the tank where the iBook was, peering at the bright screen, and then swimming over to the other side of the tank, when the tv was on, so they could also watch the National Geographic Channel. They are so utterly cute, and they really perk up the place with their pretty iridescent neon blue stripes and red bellies. *pleased*

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Neon Tetras!

October 6, 2007 at 3:08 pm · Filed under bimbo moments, fishies, photos

I’ve gone and bought myself a fish tank, water plants and 10 neon tetra fish. The fish are really pretty, and now there are 11 critters (including me) who call my bedroom home. :-) They’re really small now, but are supposed to grow to 2-3cm long when they reach adulthood. I asked about combining different species of tropical fish in the same tank, and was told that it was alright except that if the other species was a lot bigger, I’d wake up the next morning and find no more neon tetras.

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Out like a light

October 5, 2007 at 5:33 pm · Filed under bimbo moments

I had ambitious plans to go to the pool at Suntec before yoga… but upon reaching home, I died on my bed at 1.30pm, and resurrected at 5.00pm! Thank goodness too, because I had forgotten to set an alarm to wake me up in time for Dynamic yoga at 7.30pm!Was so knackered that I couldn’t even rouse myself to eat lunch!

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Kani Nabe

October 5, 2007 at 12:18 am · Filed under food, Friends, the Grind

I was teaching my very docile Sec 2 Express Literature class today, and in explaining to them that the word ‘old bird’ used in the context of the poem meant ‘old woman’ as opposed to here, where ‘bird’ means ‘penis’, I went on to explain how different words have completely different meanings in different cultural contexts, like how ‘kani-nabe’ meaning ‘crab soup’ in Japanese, really means ‘fuck your mother’ in hokkien here. It caused them to shriek with laughter and delight, and as they were doing their worksheets, were quipping excitedly about plans after the exams to all go to a Japanese restaurant to eat crab soup so they would tell the waitress they wanted ‘nabe’ when they wanted a top-up for their soup.

An entire year of Literature lessons on so many profound and exciting literary works, and they go off remembering crab soup. *rolls eyes*

~/~

Had a bit of a dinner party this evening after yoga, at Sakura Restaurant in Orchard Road. Spread was a humble version of PARISS, but I liked the food, and the selection was good. Price was, this was far more affordable, so one doesn’t feel the need to overindulge. Am very tanked up on mussels, sashimi and all things yummy. We wandered around the shops for a bit, and then decided to ditch the post-dinner drink and just head on home instead since its a work day tomorrow. Plenty of time for that on the weekends.

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Work Perks

October 4, 2007 at 12:06 am · Filed under the Grind

I’ve been given a brand new fujitsu laptop which I like v v much! Spent the morning moving into it, when I was not invigilating or eating the teochew ‘peng kueh’ from Clarence, who told me some startling good news that we’ll find an extra $3k given to us just for not quitting the profession til the end of 2008. The announcement in the news today about salary revisions for teachers had the lot of us chattering about increments and bonuses like good, civil servants. Good news to hear, but all my OTHER friends who are not teachers are going to think we’re damn rich for people who only work 9 months a year.

I believe the remuneration is sufficient, but not extravagant. There is a lot that people outside our profession do not see, and yes, teaching is an art, and not everyone masters the art and is able to stay on for the long term.  People who match, in character, wit and ability, ought to be treasured, because they ultimately affect the students they teach. Put the wrong person there, and there can be irreversible damage.

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Parma Ham & Quail Egg Sandwich

October 3, 2007 at 3:08 pm · Filed under food, photos, the Grind

You have no idea how utterly satisfying this is!

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Random Imagery

October 3, 2007 at 12:38 am · Filed under Friends, photos

 From Sunday evening:

How the hell did we manage to finish one of them gigantic 20 inch pizzas from Modestos on our own!?!  We had Em for backup on Sunday and were all stuffed!


That’s Em… its been too fucking long since we’ve last met up for dinner and stuff, and it was wonderful to finally do so.

From Monday evening: 

And a picture of my hair after the trim yesterday… the layering emphasises the highlights, and makes my hair not look so flat.

~/~

And today, Greg and I sat al fresco at Cafe Cartel in Gardens talking about photography. I wrote down lots of stuff, and now have new things to try with the old camera. I now have a sunkissed arms and shoulders, but its OK, because I like a bit of a tan.

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Just desserts!

October 2, 2007 at 8:36 am · Filed under bimbo moments, the Grind

Early this morning, the parent of a very precocious Sec 1 boy came to see us with news that her son would not be able to take the exams because he got hit by a car yesterday afternoon, and that he was in insurmountable pain and hospitalized because the car had nailed him in the groin and had shattered his testicles on impact. We sympathised with her and said all the right, nice things we were supposed to, offered to allow him to retake his exam and submit his project work at later dates, and after she left, spent a good 10 minutes laughing so hard we cried!

Suddenly the morning doesn’t seem as dreary as it started! :-)

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