2 funerals and a load of other happy things

september is a good month to die.

first funeral
our tv. lucky that's still under warranty, so we managed to get our money back. so now we're living without a tv. how's that for a stand against mass consumerism?!

second funeral
sad to say, but wingwong. i assumed he was invincible. so i kept putting off backing up my work. but he's the second mac i've known to encounter problems this half of the year. he's safely at the mac centre now. bless him (the mac technician, i mean).


- - - - - - -

and a whole host of happy events, all within the same day that i brought the tv back to Big W's and wingwong to the apple centre.

happy thing #1
found an excellent tapas bar opposite fed square. so we pigged out big time. to drown my misery.

happy thing #2

chanced upon forum theatres and... the GARBAGE concert!! bought last minute tickets: 2 for 1, and the damage came up only to AUD89.90 for 2 tickets! this is what studying abroad should be like: chancing upon rock concerts and getting cheap tickets for them.

they opened with a tribute to NIN. Hurt. it was good, but nothing beats the one and only. and they ended with When I Grow Up. don't ask me what they played in the middle. i'm not the songlist maker.

gosh. can't believe they've been around for a decade already! it's been good jumping around at the pit tonight. at least the people who were there weren't the young kids. i feel justified.

happy thing #3
i spotted a AUD5 bill on the ground - wet and crumpled, and picked it up. not literally a lucky penny, but hey. i've had a bad few days that were just turning good. it's a start, at least.

happy thing #4
i've still got my flatmate's trusty ol' dell laptop to type this entry on, so all's good. feeling a bit bad to hog her compie, so i'll be working from the studio at school tomorrow. thank god the postgrads get a studio-space in a location that would cost at least AUD350 per week to rent.

i'm still adjusting to not having the apple button, and having the ctrl-button at the corner. but i'm not going to be choosy.

so. the LORD gives and He taketh away. the moral of the story is, appreciate what you've got.

pet. petpet. petpetpet

that guinea pig that looks like a wombat. from the other day at the pet store. i simultaneously love and hate going to pet shops because they make me wish for a pet i can't own. yet. but i plan to, sometime.

the incidence of pet ownership out here in the 'burbs is quite high. some families with kids owning up to 3 or 4 dogs at the same time. pets also provide companionship for the elderly. i once saw a programme on tv that featured an octogenarian (or thereabouts in age) who lived alone with his basset hound. the life they shared involved dependance and a lot of giving on both parts. and both fared better for it.

i've once heard it being said that if you're kind to animals, you can't be too horrid a person. my grandma, whom i loved dearly, was a tyrant in her younger days, but had a very kind heart for her pets. she mellowed well with age.

and it was sirius (black) who once said 'if you want to know what a man is like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.' a pet, i think, is frequently as close to a total-dependant as you can get. animal abusers should not be given the death penalty immediately: they should be tortured as how they had treated the animals.

on my top 10 list of pets i'd like to own right now (bearing in mind i've got 4 cats back home):
10. guinea pig (i've never had one, but i've played with a neighbour's. it squealed whenever we stroked him)
9. bunny (one of those raggedy brown/ash lop-eared darlings)
8. squirrel (and it'll sit right on my shoulder and nibble my ear affectionately from time to time)
7. blue-tongue lizard (it smiles. and it's freaking cute. the baby lizard at the pet shop fell asleep on my arm)
6. owl (right off the pages of harry potter!)
5. cat (another one. i love cats. either completely black or gray)
4. salamander (one with black and orange markings)
3. piglet (apparently it was quite a happening pet to have in taiwan this year)
2. wombat (lovely dark brown lump on legs)
1. dog (i.want.a.puppy.real.bad.)

♥ my cello

because wood for the cello needs to be dried and treated before it is mature, he hasn't been with me for the first 3 years of his life. my baby's german. from the black forest, and he has been christened gotzon. that's my 5 year-old baby. still pretty temperamental; he was grouchy today just like me. the gray skies usually ideal for melancholy strains failed to cast its spell.

as a child plonked unwillingly before the piano, i was resentful and stubborn. i tore up scores (usually the technical studies of czerny - he drove me up the wall!) and theory papers (i ended up in tears, usually). reprimanded, i yielded to as many as 2 weekly music lessons. those served their purpose in breaking me in. as an adolescent, i learnt to find solace in music. an incessant pounding on the keys from the pieces - whatever the fodder for that week, gave me a sense of reprieve from those supposedly angsty teenage years.

it wasn't so much that i was a recluse - i hung out with the cool people (or at least we thought our clique was waaaayy cool back then), but i never found it odd that i actually liked practicing. on my trusty ol' piano (who remains nameless). it gave me something to do, something to look forward to at home, and something to think about while i was out. in a strange way, music became my significant Other. this definitely bodes well for a commitment-phobic. a stranger who remains inanimate without me, and has the uncanny ability to morph into a heady rush of emotions, sweat and tears. it was an outlet. and a dependable one with little aftereffects.

in junior college, when dating and checking others out was deemed the thing to indulge in, music remained my sole trustworthy companion. instead of subjecting myself to heartbreak (and yes, there were several in those tumultuous years), i hid behind the curtain of solace to be found in music. it was a mantra i'd inadvertently chant to keep myself invulnerable. i told others that i was committed... to my piano. it made me feel... less likely to fall, or to fail. pretty soon, that became my outlook: that it is always better to deliberate on a distance, and then maintain it. did it not make me stronger?

and that is why, i have very recently realised, how seemingly impossible it has been for musicians to feel entirely for someone else, given that they are already wholly consumed by music in their own minds. even more so classical musicians. it makes me wonder if there's an error in the typecast - if so, i whoeheartedly wish it were not the case.

after a 17-month hiatus in cello lessons, my fingers have been itching and raring to go. again. to their detriment, for, within a fortnight, callouses and blisters have formed. and i am, in a sadistic way, happy about this.

not even trying to be martha

every now and then, i get struck by the sudden desire to get crafty over a weekend or a lull between readings. i'm a sucker for almost anything handmade. handcrafted products strike a very agreeable chord with me, and you can bet your last penny that i'm all for the notion of beauty in imperfection. perhaps that reflects a little of how i am.

if i have money to spare, i would choose something handmade over something mass produced.

there are many craft weekend markets over here that i try very hard not to visit. the crafts - and you can really feel the love that's gone into each one - always look good, but the price-tags are rather steep. besides, when you're an international student bounded by lease periods for accomodation, there's much foresight in the decision to forego paraphernalia.

indulging once in a while is permissible, though.



this once-a-milk-carton-now-a-card-holder buy was one of the permissible ones. from the weekend market at fremantle. objects that have different functions to what they were before. this is one step up from recycling that i like to look out for. and it's useful, see? not just an ornament. form and function... shake hands, please.

inspired by chubby hubby, and partly because i realised the oranges i have been hoarding are starting to go bad, i tried my hand at making a batch of sticky orange muffins. the receipe's here. it was an easy one, and didnt require too much cleaning up. my kinda thing, really. i tend to get lazy after all the mixing and baking.

i especially liked the honey being involved (not having the proper muffin tray, i improvised a cupcake from the muffin recipe). the dollop of honey infused each one to become sweet and sticky. and now i know why bears like honey so much.

here goes a[nother] meme

i'm a closet quiz-whore. pondering seriously on inane questions are my kinda thing.

and the swiftness with which memes and quizzes pervade the blogosphere never ceases to amaze me with their testament that a good part of our generation (give and take some five, six, ten years) are caught up with the upkeep and maintainance of an online rant-space. various messageboards, blog groups aiming for inclusiveness (like tomorrow), or blog circles (like is my blog burning) one can join to share experiences not only helps everyone feel at home in the blogosphere, but also keep each other updated on events.

the up side on these online communities, is that most are welcome as long as they observe certain codes of conduct. respect being foremost. and as blinkymummy succinctly puts it, one can take one's time assessing the situation and deciding on a response to the other in an online situation. that plants the ball firmly in your court.

unfortunately, the downside is that flaming (ranging from small jabs of sarcasm to hurled molotov cocktails of insinuations) often occurs if one, in all holier-than-thou seriousness, exacerbates the situation by reporting the actions of another to the [very public, somewhat controlled] media without first seeking permission, or making his intent known. i followed the unfolding of the rockson vs ephraim saga with some amusement. however, i believe the said publication is largely to blame for recommending the blog for public consumption.

an individual, being the idiosyncratic entity it is, can choose for itself, based on preference, the types of sites to visit. having a friend recommend a site to you happens on a different scale to that of a publication with a nationwide distribution. however, as umbridge *hem, hem* has found out to her detriment, placing a contraband on an article rockets it to "most desirable" status.

that said, i need to begin on the meme. from s.

Seven things you plan to do before you die
1. learn to speak french
2. master the cello: the strains of a cello are incredibly morbidly beautiful
3. become acclaimed in some way
4. own a place (i'll be contented with a hut) by the beach
5. look for an estranged aunt (in the States)
6. play in an orchestra
7. dream more

Seven things you can do
1. make yummy mee sua with mince pork and egg
2. launch into an in depth discussion on most harry potter-related topics
3. be mesmerised [for hours on end] sitting by the beach
4. be moved to tears by Beethoven's Appassionata or Elgar's Cello Concerto Op. 85
5. sleep for 12 hours straight, by default
6. watch CSI and still not figure out who's who by the time i'm halfway through
7. swim, suntan, eat, sleep, repeat daily

Seven things you say most
1. "Huh?"
2. "Wha-happen?"
3. "You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug"
4. "I shall sleep early tonight and wake up early tomorrow"
5. "You bottled spider" (a laRichard III)
6. "Walau..."
7. "lalalalalalalalaaa......" (i like laaa-ing to inane songs because i don't know the words. my current one is one of the songs from Verdi's La Traviata)

Seven things you can't do
1. park my car head-in in one go
2. get inspiration for concepts more than 2 weeks before a deadline
3. survive without heat generated from the sun
4. use AutoCAD nor programmes to generate 3D. but i try.
5. go more than 6 months without a vacation of sorts
6. dance
7. appreciate Vegemite

Seven things that attract you to the opposite sex
1. make-up - especially eye-liner (ditto s) for the goths
2. for singaporean guys: the ability to refrain from discussing NS in a group conversation
3. the smile
4. eyes. big eyes. no slitty eyes.
5. their intelligence and insight
6. good sense of humour, and they must not laugh in an ungainly manner
7. stuff they say that betray their thoughts

Seven celebrity crushes
1.
marilyn manson. did i mention i liked my guys like goth dolls with eyeliner?

2.
maggie cheung. such a hottie. she gets better with time.

3.
snivellus. wish he hadn't avada kedavra-ed dumbledore, though.

4.
trent reznor. nine inch nails. nothing. doesn't it make you feel better?

5.
noodle. the coolest 2 dimensional riffmeister by far.

6.
jay chou. don't ask me why. i like the waif-y paikia look.

7.
damon albarn. frontman of blur. and and one half of gorillaz. i used to buy smash hits a decade ago just.for.him.

Seven people you want to tag
1. maoie
2. that purple barneysaurus
3. little miss drinkalot (some post-op activity for ya)
4. fat fingers
5. the hungry bunny
6. a white bubble
7. adinahaes

of roos, wombats and glowing babies

an aussie mate once told me, you aren't really aussie til you've eaten a kangaroo. on a whim, i decided to try a roo steak. not that it's going to make me any more aussie than i already ain't.



being a self-declared animal-lover, i am strongly opposed to issues such as animal testing, or keeping a panda alive solely for its bile (which some believe to have viagra-like powers), or awful stuff like that. what i advocate, however, is a healthy dose of curiosity for foods of varied cultures. being one who's guilty of shying away from smelly tofu while in taipei, and glaring daggers at food stall owners in kunming, who breed dogs for meat, i am aware that i'm shooting my own foot here.

though not proud of the fact i'm slightly hypocritical (and perhaps because i managed to find Roo Steak written in chalk as the top item on the list of Specials at a cafe on brunswick street), i succumbed.

and it was surprisingly good.

it's got a texture like beef, but without that beefy taste. and roo steaks have to be done medium-rare, as they get really tough when they're overdone. this cafe/restaurant has apparently received many compliments for their roo steaks. i had to remind myself (and justify to the self-righteous friend who was with me) that, since the roo was already dead, it would be a waste to have allowed it to perish for nothing. the right thing to do would be to consume it - respectfully of course, and to remember the circle of life.

incidentally, i was reading that wombats make a very bad meal. they're mostly grizzle, muscle, bones and wiry fur. so wiry, in fact, that they are made into doormats. or ropes. the way to approach a wombat in the wild would be to sing to it, taking 1 step towards it every minute or so. this allows for the wombat to constantly hear the direction of your approach. walk too quickly, and the wombat starts running away. you can always tell when a wombat has been around: by its cube-shaped shit. but i digress.

the circle of life.

"fewer cows need to be bred for meat if people will eat less beef" was my self-righteous friend's frosty retort. my friend is an aspiring vegan, or a vegan in-the-making, for whom mortal delights such as char siew still pose as a stumbling block. she casts me a very dirty look and walks on.



a few blocks down, and something else freaked the both of us out completely.

a giant glowing baby.

what will they think of next?!

we like to eat. a lot.

with the warmer weather finally making its comeback, the flatmate and i decided, on a whim, to have a cookout (the original idea for dinner was a healthy but boring ol' mee sua with mincemeat and veg). just the 2 of us. walking down the supermarket aisles, we headed for the barbie needs. they don't sell the usual odd, hard-to-handle charcoal we're used to back in singas. instead, we forked out about AUD5 for 4kg of bbq-grade charcoal beads. and now, we're recent but fervent converted users of charcoal beads. they provide a more gradual, all-rounded heat that's ideal for yummy food that doesn't turn out charred on one side. and they last longer too: no need for re-fuelling at all throughout the span of our 3-hour cookout!

and it helps to use the solid fuel for fire-starters as well. have now realised this makes a fair amount of difference. back in singas, we used to buy the cheap chicken-brand fire starters that took forever to start burning well. in less than 1/2 an hour, the pit was ready for grilling.

2 hungry girls had: 8 jumbo sausages, 500 grams of honey soy chicken wings, 450 grams of oyster blade steak, 1 grilled capsicum, and 1 grilled apple. all for under AUD10. warm weather is here! and that makes us very happy campers!

that was last night.

and tonight, with a few friends over, 4 girls polished off 1 kilogram of char siew (thanks, fat fingers for the recipe!), rice, a pot of vegetable soup (our biggest pot available, too), and the flatmate made her famously rich chocolate souffle with a soft coffee centre.

my protruding belly begs me to seriously consider booking an extra seat on the flight home for it.

places i'd like to be

though it's 2 weeks til the exhibition, 3 weeks til BOTH supervisors come back, 4 weeks til submission of my review of candidature, 6 weeks til the Graduate Review Conference, i can't help but daydream about good ol' singas... aah. bliss.

here's what's going on in the mind of an international student starved of home:

sun and sweat
can't wait to feel the rays of the tropical sun on my face, neck and arms. and feel sticky. and complain about damp armpits (and for that matter, remember to start removing armpit hairs). will waste no time getting my suntan lotion and bikini out (hopefully i can still fit into them!) and head for East Coast Park. or the swimming pool at the club.

will finally be rid of my daily minimum of 3 layers, and be stripped down to just 1 tank top over my berms. shall be a full-time slacker. and footwear will consist only of thongs and sandals.

food every 2 hrs
wan tan noodles, dry with ketchup at the corner coffeeshop, pow sing chicken rice, fried hokkien prawn mee at chomps, cheese-egg prata at athars on yio chu kang, ah liang's aww-jian at the serangoon gardens market, ALL the yummy buns at the bakery at the same market, tau huay with LOADS of syrup, sugar cane juice with lemon: a giant mug of that, please, chai tow kway at chomps, chicken wings and beer at east coast, indian rojak at serangoon central's S11 or at that coffeeshop at the corner opposite mustafa's, chee cheong fun from ang mo kio, chwee kway from ghim moh's hawker centre, popiah, BBQ seafood and Tsingtao beer at newton circus.

oh, and that really good fried toufu at chomps. and prawn noodles in that brown soup. and katong laksa. and ipoh hor fun at holland village. and yummy char siew rice with mysterious gravy at hougang.

cable TV
can't afford foxtel over here, so i've been very out of touch with the music scene. i miss the music videos most of all. both the english ones on channel 20 and the mandarin ones on channel 51. and discovery channel. and national geographic channel. and I MISS CHANNEL NEWS ASIA!!!!! never thought i'd say that, but i do.

my 4 cats
the 2 cross-persians, idiotic stray, and the odd egyptian one. i will allow them to cuddle on my lap for hours without moving away. i will carry each one at any given chance, and entertain them all tirelessly. and spend countless hours in the garden with them, just looking at birds, or in the sky, or at some weird blade of grass. will chase them round the house and play catch with them. will pat them all before going to sleep each night.

playstation
i know x-box and PS2 are out, but i've been stuck at the PS1 era. and i've been craving games of the corresponding PS1 era, like f4 racing, gran turismo, time crisis, puzzle bobble, DDR (shhhh....), final fantasy 7 (i resolve to finally get past that blasted boxing ring!), tekken... all embarrassingly backward, but i have this really strong urge to play them all over again.

cheap kopi
will sit willingly with the uncles at the corner kopitiam and order lots of kopi, teh, teh-o-peng, teh-tarik, milo-peng, milo-dinosaur. and have a lor-mai-kai. and kaya-toast. and 2 half-boiled eggs with aww-tau-you and a dash of pepper. will read the Straits Times, or some design mag while consuming all of the above. in. one. sitting.

nameless neighbourhood malls that start to look alike, and 'real' malls
junction 8, for one. and suntec city, millenia walk (outback's!!!), parkway parade, plaza sing, heartland (*gags*) mall at hougang, far east, heeren, orchard cineleisure... shall hang out at these places til i'm utterly sick of them (shouldn't be too difficult, eh?). and kinokuniya's at taka, and borders at wheelock place. and basheer's, of course, at bras basah complex. and bugis junction!! how could i forget!

wonder if any new hangouts would've sprouted by the time i get back.

old neighbourhoods aka heartlands
can only think of chilling at toa payoh at the moment. our 2nd oldest satellite town!
and ghim moh.
and queenstown.
and boon keng.

the beach
though nothing much to boast about, East Coast will suffice for the time being. i want to go kayak-ing, rollerblading, and cycling... and then recuperate the calories lost by gorging at the food centre.

how about pulau ubin?? or kusu island? or sister island? hmmmmm.

chinatown
want to spend long weekend afternoons there. the parking at Han's Tasty Town remains at SGD1 per entry, hopefully. i want to walk down the streets of old shops, admire the shophousesat their various states of dilapidation, venture inside these old shops, talk to the shop-owners. sit at the zhu jiao centre for hours at a go and observe the older folk. and deliberate on whether or not to purchase a lion-head for posterity. and buy loads of old nostalgia-inducing toys.

little india
aside from the obvious mustafa 24-hour shopping CONGLOMERATE, i want to walk through all the other lanes. veerasamy lane, baboo lane, desker road, dunlop street, tekka market, campbell lane. and that little india arcade. gosh. i grew up there, almost.

cafes
though these cafe-chains are nothing compared to the identity of each independently-owned cafe in melbs, i still can't find a decent mocha ice-blended over here. and only a mocha ice blended will do for singa's humid weather. will remember NOT to quibble over the *shocking* price for a plastic cup of coffee-with-crushed-ice -- not after the exorbitant prices for a meal out over here.

will be a poser, and bring my wingwong to get a spot of work done outdoors! while sipping elegantly on my coffee. and people-watching. and watch people burn with envy at my wingwong. :)

- - - - - - -

back to work. but it was a nice break while it lasted.
am counting down the days til i return to sunny ol' singas!

oddment. nitwit. blubbler. tweak.

1. if red, blue and yellow are primary colours, how are paints/crayons of these colours manufactured?

2. LMD has been raving about it. but what is so enticing about su doku?

3. i know this character has been around for awhile, but can anyone tell me what it's called? it's kinda been growing on me...



4. hurricane katrina has hit new orleans hard. but will purchasing this wand really help? the wand chooses the wizard...

5. i know dumbledore couldn't become snape. somebody humour me, please. maybe snape could've been imperiused and then dumbledore and snape BOTH could've taken the polyjuice potion? i know dumbledore's picture appears in the frame in the headmaster's room after that and all... am rambling. but i've just re-read Half-Blood Prince today and bawled my eyes out again. i really don't think snape can be that evil. i hope.

6. green/red beans grow into bean sprouts. which get eaten as sprouts. so where do these green/red beans come from?