New love

This is what I am carrying.

My new agnes b.

Ow, J's buddy, annoys me no end by calling them the 'ugly b.' bags.

My bro teases me by asking if my loud bag charm is for 'fengshui' purposes. In his words, "Why else would you want to hang that thing?"

If you put that all together, I now have a fengshui bling hanging on my ugly b. bag.

Girls' night out

Petals' nails - french manicure with glitter. Really pretty but Kitty and I think a simple french manicure without glitter or crystals will make a classier look. Suitable for, say a wedding? ;)

Petals calls this colour 'pewter'. Usually I avoid 'loud', I don't know what made me experiment with this colour. It's been 3 days and I still get a shock when I look at my toes!

Kitty's new heels. Brown and very chic!

Casual Friday

Actually it's casual everyday. I never found out what the dress code is.

Denim Capris from Esprit

White Mary Janes from Ecco

Relic

In church last Sunday, this caught my eye. I stared in disbelief and told J in a rather dramatic voice to 'Look! Look!' A lady was actually browsing with interest. That's her hand in the picture.

Cassette tapes! I don't even have a machine that can play these! I wonder how many people do. Okay maybe that one lady does! I mean do you remember the last time you bought or listened to a cassette tape? No wonder these are free.

Mid-Autumn Festival

中秋节快乐！

Of boys and toys

Spotted at Millenia Walk, this boy was mesmerised by the Lotus.

What's with boys and cars? The former is attracted to the latter like a moth to a flame!

"Daddy please, can I have this car?"

Ya riiight.

Body piercing

When I was 14, my mom told me in no uncertain terms that I was not to pierce a third hole in my ear.

Her logic is simple, one pair of ears = one pair of earrings.

I've been battling with this ever since and even more in recent years because I want to wear more diamonds! But a part of me deep inside is also immensely afraid that my mother will chop off my ear should I defy her!

Yesterday, I reckoned that 20 years is long enough a wait.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Mom won't throttle me for this!

Poster on the door

Yeah, why so serious?'

My picture does him injustice

THIS is Michael Swan!

I got all excited when I heard he was giving a talk on campus. Swan* spoke on what is happening in English and also demonstrated ways to inject fun into grammar lessons. I especially like the fact that he advocates the use of group and pair work and talked about information gap activities for grammar practice because the truth is we hardly ever bring that (info gap activities) up or use them in our Singapore classroom.

*If you don't already know, Swan is quite a famous grammarian. If you are interested in grammar, you'd probably have a couple of his books on your shelf!

A tourist in my own land

To me, this sculpture defines the National Museum. It used to be placed near the cross junction right in front of the museum but now sits forlornly at the side, half-forgotten.

Here's looking at the museum from a different angle.

Chef Chan's restaurant at the National Museum

I've been told he will close his restaurant some time in November and move on to do what he's always wanted to do - travel the world and write a cookbook.

Breakfast

on a weekend

Veggies are for rabbits

Stir Fried Four Season Beans (四季豆) with Minced Pork

I don't eat vegetables.
Why?
They taste blah.

And vegetables that taste good have tons of oil and yes I know that for a fact because once I puked through an entire night after eating a whole plate of very tasty but oily vegetables.

Occasionally, I eat cucumbers but technically, a cucumber is a fruit.

Recently, I attempted to eat Si Ji Dou (四季豆), literally translated as Four Season Bean. I ate it because J likes it and I wanted to know why anyone would like beans so much especially when they are not the kind that will 'transform' into a nice cup of coffee eventually.

And so this dish from Zhou's Kitchen surprised me. The beans were crunchy (I expected them to be soft and soggy) and went very well with the minced pork and dried chilli. I had about 3 mouthfuls before I saw the oil on the plate and called it a day.

Many happy returns!

Happy 22nd birthday to my only niece!

And Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends!

More than a basin of warm water

I have found this cool peppermint spray to be a great relief for tired feet! Of course nothing beats soaking our feet in a basin of warm water but we can only do that in the comfort and privacy of our home right? This on the other hand is easy to use and convenient to keep in the office. Win!

Why not?

In an article I read recently, Ho Kwon Ping, the chairman of Wah Chang International Corporation (the company owns Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts), said in an interview that often the most important word in a person's life is a 3-letter word.

To people who have a religion, it's 'God'.

To boys, it's 'Sex'.

And as for him, it's the word 'Why'.

I'd like to add on to that and propose that 'why not' is just as useful as 'why'. (Yes I know I know, that's 2 words, 6 letters, not a 3-letter word.) So anyway! Back to 'why not'. Now, while 'why' is a good question to ask oneself, 'why not' is a good reply to give others.

In fact I use it a lot when people ask me the 'why' questions.

Why are you wearing a watch that looks like a toy?
Why not?

It's 7PM! Why are you still in the office?
Why not?

Why do you have such a stupid blog?
Why not?

It's brusque. It says everything but also nothing. It's avoidance crafted to perfection. ;)

060910

Here's to more good years!

I need a holiday but wait, didn't I just come back from one??

Of all the eateries we went to on our recent Europe trip, Friar Tuck Cafe in Amesbury is the most memorable. Its traditional English breakfast is absolutely delicious and good value for money. It's what I would say in Cantonese 'mou dak ding'! (Incomparable)

Thinking about Friar Tuck makes me want to go on a vacation again. Unfortunately it looks like the earliest that will happen is in December.

Post Bar

At our favourite watering hole last night, we were greeted by this sight.

The new centrepiece near the entrance is now this fire-engine red mail box.

We were told it is fully functional!

(Collection Time: Mon-Sun, 5.00 PM)

Don't you ever change

Happy anniversary! :)

Who doesn't have a Facebook account these days?

Why copy laboriously with pen and paper when your iPhone camera can do the trick? ;)

A former student gave me permission to use his snapshot. Apparently his whole class was too lazy (his words not mine!) to copy this so he took a picture and uploaded it to Facebook. Now everyone in Year 5X knows what holiday homework they have for Chinese. :)

Which also goes to show that everyone in Year 5X has a Facebook account!

Remnant

All that's left after the Youth Olympic Games.

Sick and tired

of getting calls and messages for the guy who used to own my mobile number. Friends, Starhub, banks, a law firm...

For God's sake I have been using this number for donkey years! Why are people still trying to contact 'Mr Ng' at this number??

Seriously, I don't care that he owes the bank money for a condominium unit he bought.

Once I even got a message telling me to attend a wake. I replied:

I don't know you and whoever you are trying to reach hasn't been using this number for a LONG time. I'm sorry XYZ died but please find someone else to accompany you to the wake.

If you haven't heard

Ikea's meatballs are going for $4 every Tuesday from August 2010 to July 2011. I think the regular price is $6.50.

I love these meatballs! Pork and beef is a delicious combination and I can wolf down all 10 easily. Yummy!

Happy Teachers' Day!

The photographs don't really have anything to do with the post. I just like unicorns. :)

Although I must say I often wish I were something else in this life. A dog, an egret, Spiderman and sometimes even a unicorn. Please don't ask why; I'm unique that way. And yes, I'm saying this with a straight face.

To be honest, I never wanted to be a teacher. Really! I wanted to be Spiderman!

So if you ask me, the best thing about teaching has to be the students. Not so much the tiresome ones or the bratty ones with demanding parents. Nope, not those.

Rather, I want to remember the ones who were patient with me, who made me feel my constant worrying for them (and hence shortening my life by a few years) was worth it, who worked hard and played even harder, who actually found the gibberish I spouted sidesplitting and who bothered to remember me this Teachers' Day even after all these years.

So thank you my dear ex-students for your texts, Facebook messages and cards. You were and still are godsend. :)