Check them

Today, when I was opening the drawer with my CDs in it, it gave the most pitiful groan as I pulled it out. Freaked, I checked the base and realized that the bottom of the drawer was sunken.

Now talk about a scare. Yes, it was full of CDs, but I didn't expect it to sink like that. (It's IKEA by the way.)

I've split the CDs into another drawer to lessen the weight, hopefully this chest of drawers will not spoil too soon. It's a really handy thing, I have like a million things in there.

Maybe that's why it's groaning.

I went out with Fi and Kat to mini-celebrate Fi's birthday. The sashimi sold at the Japanese Fish Mart in Parkway Parade is the best. Check it out sometime.

Check your drawers guys!

A song to share

I think it appeals to me because I believe everyone, and I mean, everyone, has at least two faces.

Yes yes Fi, you get the credit for showing this vid to me.

Postscript, I got Daddy addicted on Resident Evil all three movies today. LOL!

Spazz-a-mania

Some pics Fi sent me yesterday night. She took these on Tuesday night, when I invited them (Fi and Kat) over for steamboat.

Me, holding Mas's gift to Fi. I pined for that kitty diary myself, but it was too pricey to get. Was like $50 or something. But so uber cute. (Yes, I'm spazzed out.)

Spazz away! *Insert Corny da-tadah-da~ melody* (Me and Kat. I remember yelling at Kat to 'LOOK THE OTHER WAY!'

Mom, preparing the steamboat, looking spazzed out too.

Time to feast

Ze steamboat~

Yep, that's one way of enjoying the new year.

Splurges

My 2 splurges with the bonus CNY money.

First, the Charles and Keith bag I've been eyeing for months. SGD$39.90 to be my permanent teaching bag. The perfect size for those darned A4 sized music books. Heh.


A little impulse buy, $13 for 4 earrings. One reason I like Diva, they sell earrings in combos like this for my 4 ear piercings.

The rest of it will go into savings and for that little spa trip end of Feb.

The start of '09 resolution no.1. Opening 2 savings account. Meh heh.

"Offer something other people don't have!"

The Chinese New Year. A time for feasting, drinking, gambling and lazing around, catching up with relatives and friends.

CNY is also one of the few times of the year that you get reminded why you only see certain people a scarce few times a year.

Tuesday, the second day of the new year, and the oldest sister and the youngest brother of my Dad's siblings popped by as a surprise. My parents were out for a bite, so as customary for the Chinese, the eldest of the family should entertain the guests.

(In case you were wondering, my Dad has 6 siblings and my Mom has 5, all of them married. You can figure out how many cousins I have.)

My Dad's siblings are decent people, they are nice, courteous, well, the normal kind of relatives that people usually have. They are my aunt and uncle whom I don't often see, but I'm not awkward around them. But I don't like my aunt's husband. Period. And when I mean I don't like, it usually means I don't want to see them. At all.

What happened? Okay, after they all came in, Youngest Uncle and his wife with their 3 kids, and Oldest Aunt with her husband and their 2 kids, Bro brought out the drinks and I passed Mom's handmade pineapple tarts around.

When I offered it to Oldest Aunt's husband, he waved me away and said ,"Don't want la, you want to offer, offer something other people don't have!"

SHEESH!

If you are gonna complain, then don't come!

I'm so not gonna greet him the next time I see him. "Don't want la, if you can't behave like a rational human being, don't ask me to behave like a rational human being back!"

To hell with tradition.

There is nothing scarier than....

a two year-old coming right at you holding a flaming sparkler like a butcher's knife (Yeah, the classic 2-handed grip) and laughing hysterically.

Last week, I bought a pack of sparklers, with the idea of playing with family or friends, since it had been an awfully long time I touched one. Today, Zelene & Co. (which meant the little princess, and her loyal servants a.k.a Mom and Dad) dropped by in the evening to hang out, gamble and overeat.

The usual Chinese New Year routine.

(I don't think I have eaten this much in a single day.)

So, after the 2nd dinner, me, Constance (a.k.a as Zel's Mom), Derek (a.k.a Zel's Dad) and Zel went out of the house to play with the sparklers. At first we lit one had handed it slowly to her, thinking she will be afraid of y'know, strange, unknown stuff.

Oh hell no.

Not only did she not show any signs of fear, she held it perfectly and came straight towards me and Constance, with Derek laughing behind Zel.

Yes, we are two grown women, but like I said, there is nothing scarier than this little kid, in a pink dress, holding the sparkler like a murder weapon and laughing her head off. Alarmed, the both of us yelled at Derek to keep her away, but he was laughing too hard and unfortunately, Zel took it as an affirmative to come running at us with the sparkler pointed in our direction. We dashed into the house and slammed the door shut behind us.

P.S She burned through 3 boxes of that sparkler stuff, with her Dad's supervision of course.

Don't take them for granted!

Dad's home! Yay! He's home!!!

Yes, call me a daddy's girl, life is seriously so much better with him around. Mom automatically deflects all her shit on him and he's like a magic sponge, soaking all that crap up and never leaving a trace.

He's such a gentleman, don't think there are many guys like him around now. Women in my mom's side of the family have a horrible habit of saying things without processing through their brains first, ending up saying the worst and most terrible of comments.

Just today, I completely forgot to ask my dad to fix my fan, instead, mom asked bro to fix it, because, well, she saw his face and remembered. So my bro grumbled (as all brothers do), "Why me? Why never ask Di?"

Dad was in my room using the com, when Mom strolled into the room after my bro and announced, "Because your father says he's always in China, cannot rely on him one. He said don't everything depend on him." And strolled out.

Dad turned me towards me with a whipped dog look in his eyes and mumbled. "Since when did I say that?"

I swear, I don't know how Dad puts up with it.*Hats off*


On a more cheerful note, the house is cleaned, my room packed, I told Mom off on her nagging, Dad gave us extra money (which my bro and I are putting into a secret account as a surprise when Dad retires), the new bedsheets are in, everything is in order.

It's time for the new year!!

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

Say that again?

Recently, I started teaching this 6 year old boy in the music school. He is... very interesting. To put it simply, he's a well-spoken brat.

2 weeks ago, I reprimanded him for resting his elbows on the piano keys. (An atrocious habit of his.) He went all sullen so I ended the practical and started on theory, but he was still unresponsive, so I asked, half talking to myself, "Are you sulking?"

He replied. "Why do you say so?"

HE IS FREAKIN' 6 YEARS OLD!! Not only did he understand the meaning of sulk, he answered in perfect grammar.

Then I set him a page of homework, he grumbled to himself, "You gotta be kidding me."

Did I mention he is 6 years old?

Last week, due to too much coffee, I was extra hyper and accidentally brushed my red pen across his hand, leaving a small red line on his skin. When I apologized, he replied with, "It's fine."

Okkaayyyy....

TODAY, due to the severe lack of sleep and absence of coffee, I went into babbling mode, like, speaking 10 sentences in 2 seconds, kind of babble. He shot me a confused look and said, "Could you say that again?"

I decided enough was enough and tried to start a conversation with him, just to see how good his English really is.

Me: So, Chinese New Year is coming, got any plans?

Well-spoken brat (WsB): Nope, I'm probably gonna stay at home with my Dad to play the Wii.

Me: Really? Don't you have to go visit your grandparents or something?

WsB: Eva and Ernest? Nah, we don't often go visit them.

Me: Okay... aren't you looking forward to Chinese New Year?

WsB: Nope, not particularly.

Me: Well, remember to tell your Dad or Mom that you don't have to come for music lessons for the next two weeks, cos the school won't be open.

WsB: Sure.

Me: Can you remember the dates?

WsB: Of course.





Did I mention he is 6? And yes, he is 100% Singaporean. I am so gonna test just how much vocab he commands. Heh.

I so love teaching.

Identity Crisis?

Sometimes, just sometimes, I feel like I was born the wrong gender.

For example, it's usually guys who complain that woman are too naggy, correct?
Well, I don't seem to hear girls complaining that other woman are naggy as often as guys.

Today my book cupboard arrived, and yes, I have OCD, my books, DVDs and CDs have to be arranged perfectly by MY system of arrangement or I will not be able to sleep. For a very simple reason, because if I arrange it my way, I can find the particular book, CD, DVD with ease.

Mom offered to help pack my books in. I said I'll pack it on my own. She insisted. I said ok.

Huge mistake.

I wanted to put my Anne Rice books together on one shelf, but some were hardcover copies, so it was a little too bulky to put standing up. Mom told me putting it on another shelf. Hell no, I'll never be able to find it. So I put those hardcover copies lying down.

Ended up my shelf was too small to fit in all books, so I had to put those hardcover copies elsewhere. She went:

"See? I told you sure no space. Don't listen to me la. Those books so big, sure cannot fit in one mah. You still have so many books. See? I told you just now no space la." etc etc....

For a moment there, I felt like commiting matricide.

Cut them some slack...

What an interesting thing to observe.

I was having dinner with Mom today, at our nearby Kopitiam, when she was off buying food, and my bum firmly planted on the chair, 'chopping' our table, when I noticed this woman, (dressed in a neon pink top, ruffly canary yellow mini-shorts and striped black and pink stockings) walking around, as if looking for someone.

Curious, I was still staring at her, when she approached a Singaporean mother with her maid. The pink woman stopped the two politely, pulled out a stapled stack of photocopied paper from her Gucci bag and requested the maid to translate the words for her.

It was photocopies of pages of a lined notebook, with very neatly written handwriting all over. Couldn't read it from where I was sitting, but it was definitely not English.

The maid scanned the contents and told the pink woman it was a song. Lyrics.

The pink woman looked positively relieved and asked the maid to double-check, explaining to the Singaporean mother that it was her own maid who wrote it, and because the maid was very quiet, she did not know what to make of her employee's hobby of writing. She proceeded on to explain how good she is to the maid, saying she just bought a $300 phone for her.

When the Singaporean mother's maid confirmed again it was just lyrics, nothing more, the pink woman stuffed the photocopies back into her bag, thanked the two and left.



Huh.

What a strange thing to witness.

New Year = New Blog?

Right right, I'm a bloggie addict. Meh heh. White blog, to match my white jail-cell-lookalike room. Not many changes, just minimal linkies. (New Year Resolution of cutting down on internet usage.)

15 days into a brand new year and I'm starting to love every minute of it. Been running around so much, today's the first day of the year that I managed to clock in 8 hours of sleep.

But I'm loving every minute of it.

Now that I'm back to teaching, I realize that I miss it. Been teaching for close to 4 months now, and again, lovin' every minute of it.

It's hilarious, what age does to you. I remember bitching about taking 3 hour lectures during poly, but now that I'm teaching 3-4 hours per stretch, I feel pity for the lecturers giving those 3 hour lectures. Explaining is more tiring than listening.

So many changes this year, thank god for my little diary, or I would have been missing my lessons left and right. The tuition coordinator who got me my current students is as lost as I was.

(Just 5 mins ago, we realized I have a new student pending on this sat, WHICH I HAVE NOT MADE PLANS FOR!)

*Rolls on the floor laughing*

Nevertheless, I hope CNY swings by real soon, Mom is ignoring Dad again and it's a complete pain in the arse to be the middleman. I'm never going to have kids of my own.

And my condolences to Koneko's grandma. May she rest in peace.