LIME Flea Market

I was actually very excited about selling all my old clothes today...Just cudnt wait to take all the unwanted stuff out of my closet and make some $$$ out of it...Even if it's not much, i just dun like seeing or knowing that there are unwanted clothes clogging up space in my wardrobe or simply lying around...It's kinda like a reminder of all the wrong buys i made and it just isnt representative of me as a person anymore...In fact this is my 4th time selling clothes at LIME, and considering that i sell an average of about 20 odd pieces of clothing each time, u can imagine how quickly i grow to not like my clothes...But i think it will be a while before i do the flea market again...Stylistically, i have found a very comfortable form of expression...One that i think does my good looks justice such that whatever i buy now is bought having a much more heightened sense of who i am and the identity i want to project...In other words, after going through many phases (the vintage tee phase, the surfer tee phase etc.), i've finally found myself stylistically.

Anyway, today started off badly enough...What with dark clouds looming overhead in the morning, the threat of being called back to camp for amber alert and being late...But in the end, things really worked out well...It turned out to be one of those "seems-like-a-bad-day-but-turns-out-to-be-a-good-day" days....In the end, long story short, the sun came out (and now i'm sun-burnt) and there wasn't a single drop of rain, had a good time with Char gossiping and finding out stuff about her i never knew before, and sold a hell lot of clothes...There was a period however when i thot i wasnt gg to make as much as before...That was during 5pm to 7pm, when i din sell a single thing...But strangely enuff, it was onli when it started getting dark around 7:30pm that business picked up again and i sold another 6 or so items...Like i said i guess, it was a "seems-bad-but-turns-out-good" day....So realli thank God man for the good weather, good business, great company and no mobilization!

I also realli needed the cash...Cos i'm saving up for lasik and i need to buy work clothes soon...Btw, does anyone wanna donate to the Help-Shaun-Get-Lasik fund? You will get my eternal gratitude hahaha...ETERNAL ok!?! Cash or cheque accepted...

I talk alot...

Today, after dropping Matthew Black off at the bus-stop (nearly spelt "bust-stop"...And yes Chris, he sat in the front seat of my car today and for $50 i will let you lick the seat)...I realized that i talked alot...To the point that i dominated the conversation and said abit too much...Not that i shouldnt have said what i said but that i din let him get a chance to talk hahaha...Sorry Matt...I guess i'm dam afraid of silence...That it will signal a lack of chemistry and familiarity though ironically, silence itself can also be a marker of familiarity between realli close people...But more than all that however, i guess i was just in an extremely talkative mood today...After two days or so of being cooked up at home studying for a test tomorrow (studying for me is an extremely lonely activity since i can only study alone and in absolute silence), i was just very happy to finally get to meet people and socialize...Admittedly then, i actually prefer gg to school than staying home cos the former means being surrounded by people while the latter means being surrounded by readings...(i'm such a nerd!)...So it's true that i am a pretty social creature. On the other hand, as some of my closer frens and relatives have found out, i also do have moments where i enjoy being alone...Space and time to be by myself and do things that i like to do uninhibitedly without fearing how people would judge me...I guess it's just a matter of which one i have been experiencing a little too much off...But in general i think i can safely say with certainty that i talk alot...No?

On a totally unrelated note, i miss Christmas...

The $600 Dinner

A few hours ago, my cousin Jamie treated my family to dinner. It was at a Peranakan restaurant called "True Blue" at the substation and it was real nice! The decor was so authentic and the food was good...That said, the bill wasn't hahaha...And so i really want to thank my fav cuz (me and my sister have pet-named her fav cuz i.e. favourite cousin for some time now) for her generosity...The thing especially is that she is genuinely happy giving and it is this that i admire alot...In fact this dinner only scratches the surface...She does other things like give her mum her pin number and card to draw $ as and when she needs it, constantly treats me and my sis etc. Wow! I am blown away! I really nid to learn from her!

...After a 3 hr talk on Wednesday, we decided to try and take it one step further...

Saved by PIXIE!!!

Today when i wanted to transfer photos from my computer to my thumbdrive so i cud bring it to the shop for printing, i realized that my thumbdrive was missing! Worse, my mum was already in the car waiting so i din have time to properly rummage thru my bags and stuff to check for it, much less transfer photos to it to print...SO, my plan to print photos for V'day was ruined, i din know for certain if i had realli left my thumbdrive in class or simply lost it in my gigantic bags (as you know, my bags are really quite big...'Overniters' is the term i think) and my mum was getting pissed about having to wait...

I realli hate the feeling of having lost something...It's one of those moments when u wished u cud turn back time (cue Aqua song) to undo the stupid, careless deed u've done but know that u cant...I think more accurately, the feeling mite be something close to regret...The ever haunting "if-only-i-hadnt" or "if-only-i-had" kind of thots that make you feel so helpless and at the same time want to kick yourself in the ass...It's definitely true when they say "you dunno what you've got till it's gone" (cue Janet Jackson song)...Cos i never realli tot much about my thumbdrive till i lost it...Actualli my thumbdrive doesnt contain anything important...some old essays, presentations and photos...Nothing new or current...But as i said, i just hate losing things cos it's still a loss and i cud have been better off with it...So for the rest of the day, my mind was just plagued by thots of whether i should go back to school to search for it and everytime i tried to do something else, the thot that i just lost my thumbdrive kept popping up...

Fortunately, i managed to get Pix (my good ol' argumentation essay buddy-i say good ol' cos we got 85% for the essay ;-) )to help me check the classroom i gave the presentation in...And whaddya know? My thumbdrive was still stuck in the computer! Thank God! The relief, needless to say, was just incredible...And tomorrow, i shall be reunited with my thumbdrive again....Thanks Pix!!!

CNY Day 3

Went to my E-e's (Mum's elder sister's) place for dinner...My E-e is an incredible cook...Her dishes look simple but always pack a punch...The boy in the golden outfit is my nephew...He's very cute...What happened was that i pretended to stick my foot into his toy car in an attempt to hijack it...He then 'shot' it and i pretended to groan in pain thus leading him to take on the role of doctor...Soon he was bandaging my giant size 11 foot with some brown coloured paper and using ribbon to mask the ugly paper...The scary part was when he approached my foot with a pair of giant orange scissors that were approximately the length of his forearm in order to cut off the excess ribbon and paper that he had already wound round my foot...But it was all good in the end and i had a lot of fun playing with him...

CNY Day 2 Nite

CNY Day 2 Lunch aka Tribute to Chris's Parents

Had lunch at Christine's place on Thursday...Her parents are very hospitable and warm people and i was very honoured to get a chance to taste her mum's excellent cooking...Her mum cooked up a storm! What with 2kg of beef balls and 5kg of beef rendang...But it was all very yummy, especially the rendang...There was also this healthy (heh heh) indonesian dish which consisted of fried fish cake? that had to be eaten with this special sauce...In the end, i think i ate about approximately three rounds though still nothing in compared to the amt Chris ate which included a grand total of 15 beef balls (no kidding), and other stuff...Either she was very hungry or the middle-child syndrome kicked in and she was silently competing with Min to see who could eat more of the beef balls that their dad had brought in from Indonesia...Overall, it was a great lunch and i want to thank her parents for having me over...

After that, we played bridge and as expected, Chris and Min kept losing...In the end, they had to do a forfeit...Dewei kept suggesting that Min and Chris french kiss for the duration of a photo shot (i think he has a thing for lesbianic acts) but i was kind enough to suggest that they just kiss each other's toes...So that will explain the photos above...Perhaps the one thing that was realli heart-wrenching that day then was when i went to see Christine's so-called 'newly refurbished room'. After surveying her room, i casually asked her what was in a cabinet above her desk and she replied that it contained rubbish...But when i opened it, to my horror, i saw a gift that i had thoughtfully bought for her lying in the midst of other miscellaneous items like rough paper...Tsk tsk...

CNY Day 1

Day 1 of CNY celebrations...Went to my grandma's...As you can see, i haf lots of cousins cos my dad has 11 brothers and sisters...That means alot of ang-pow giving (for the adults) but also alot of ang-pow taking (for the kids)...$$$...hahaha...Had an especially enjoyable time cos we played quite a few games including heart attack and bridge...

Sweeny Todd with Chris and Zhi

On Tuesday nite, went to watch the incredibly twisted film called Sweeny Todd. It was a good show with some twists at the end but it was the company that i enjoyed most. It felt great meeting zhi after so long, and it reminded me of the times we (chris included) used to hang out after work for tea at Taka delifrance or dinner at Marche and just laugh the nite away at things like the reverse mohawk that we proposed Chris to have in order to get rid of her stray baby hairs...Thankfully, it was no different that nite...Although this time, it was zhi who was at the butt of our jokes, what with her requests for salmon sushi with the white part of the salmon angled at 90 degress to the way it was cut, her pronunciations of "he-rarchy" for "hierarchy" and "mah-you" for "mayo" etc...Chris would always burst out laughing and point accusingly at Zhi everytime she pronounced something wrongly...

Anyway, before that, did some shopping as well. Bot a new pair of converse shoes and a tee at revoltage...Orchard was freaking pack for a weekday but i guess it's near the holidays and people must have taken leave to get the whole week off...Met shuzhen, my mkting project group mate and fellow Hooked member at Taka...She reminds me of Famke Jamsen (who acted as Jean Grey in the X-Men movies), who i think is incredibly hot, and she's got a great personality to boot...I think it's her eyes...It's slightly slanted like Famke's and she's got what i call "bright eyes"...Almost as if you could see her soul thru them...

The next day (new year's eve), went to school for lessons in the morning...Still having trouble speaking out in Chng's class though...i find that everytime i plan on something to say, i get very kan chiong...But if i just say something without thinking too much about it, i dun get the "i-can't-breathe" syndrome...After dat had a good chat with Claudia over lunch...The kind where you feel good about after it ends...I think it's great that we can connect and understand each other both at a professional, academic level and interpersonal level as well and it's been great knowing her and working with her on so many projects...I remember when we did EL1101E together...Our first project in the first year, first sem of school...She invited us to her place, treated us to pizza and cooked other snacks for us...And although we got like 50/100, it was still a great experience cos she was so incredibly generous and thoughtful...And this hasnt changed for the near 4 years that i've known her...Additionally, she always brings great insights to whatever we're working on...The thing is, i can be so sure about what i want to say that i fail to take other perspectives into account...But i can always rely on Claud to look at things from another way...In other words, i think we complement each other very well and i'm always glad to get to work with her...

Ok, dat's it for now...Happy Chinese New Year guys!!!

Mouth Ulcer

Haf a giant mouth ulcer at the back of my mouth near my wisdom tooth...I think it was caused when i assaulted my own mouth with my toothbrush when it accidentally slipped from my hand...Hurts like hell especially when i swallow...Dang! And so near CNY somemore...Hope it heals by then...I wanna eat all the cookies and kueh kueh!

Sometimes it realli takes an outsider to point out to you all the things that you take for granted...So thanks Christine for constantly reminding me of how much my parents love me and my sis...Especially my mum...I cannot deny having a relatively more antagonistic and contemptuous? relationship with her but recently i'm beginning to realize how she's always been there in the background for me and how she gives and gives unceasingly to us and i can just brush it all off as part and parcel of a mother's duty...How obnoxious and ungrateful of me!

As they grow older and i grow older too, i'm gonna try to show more love and care for them...Even if it means throwing aside all internalizations of male machoismo bullshit to hug them, kiss them and tell them i love them...What a pack of bull society is sometimes...to construct emotional restraint and inhibition as hegemonic masculinity and to socialize all males into becoming the "strong, silent type". After all, what's the point in saying "i love you" only after a loved one passes on? That's not displaying strength, that's outright stupidity...And i shall endeavour this year to not let such foolishness continue for me anymore...

Horror of Horrors

On my way to class this morning, Christine called me twice to tell me all about her five minute interview...I think she likes me...But that's beside the point...

When i finally stepped into class and sat down, i noticed the zipper of my jeans poking out a little bit from under the zipper flap (the part of the jeans that covers the zipper)...Thinking that it may have been caused by the way i was sitting or the tightness of my belt (overly tight maybe?), i sorta brushed it aside until it hit me that i may not even have zipped it up in the 1st place...

So for a good ten minutes, i kinda sat there trying to look calm and collected while fretting like mad on the inside...Then when i chanced upon a sneeze, i took the opportunity to excuse myself...Once in the toilet, my worst fears were confirmed...Horror of horrors, my fly was indeed undone...again...This is like the second time in 6 months...The last time being at YPL (when i was heading to the tuition agency at Toa Payoh to teach)...Crap...No wonder Yun ping gave me a really funny look when i first walked in...On the brite side at least i found out early...Btw, what's the nicest way to tell someone that his or her fly's undone?