let it be

because I have no time for proper updates.

Sorry Dr K

Feeling immense pangs of guilt after having my tutor 'talk' to me for producing a sloppy assignment in a module that I'd started off on a wrong foot. We didn't leave great first impressions on each other, the tutor and me; I missed the first lesson without a valid reason, arrived 5 minutes late (was booth-manning and the next person came in late) for the second one, and was berated by her in front of my classmates for that 5 minutes (don't think I've felt so humiliated ever since the stepping-on-skirt incident). Complying with her demand, I wrote a her an apology email; acknowledged my mistakes and told her that I was more than willing to take responsibility for my absence. I could never look at her objectively ever since. 

Until today. 

I confess, I haven't been exactly fair to her when I describe her to my friends sometimes; I'm always painting her in a negative light - the evil tutor that everyone hates. And it's been like that since that second unfortunate lesson; I'm forever choosing to talk about how she's crazy strict with her requirements, her narrow-mindedness and obstinateness for not allowing the slightest use of handphones in class, talking about me behind my back with other tutors, her poor choices of words that sometimes seem to indicate that the class is void of common sense, her trying-too-hard laughs and trivial things like that, instead of focusing on or acknowledging the great multitude of teaching experiences she's accumulated over the years and the extremely logical and useful teaching tips that she's been sharing with us in the lessons.Or simply the fact that she's able to remember all of our names without ever having to refer to the class list.

And so, I was genuinely taken aback after today's lesson when she wanted to find out if anything was wrong, and why the sloppy work. I apologized (on my own accord this time round) for not paying more attention while she was talking in the earlier lessons and for letting her down, mustered a sheepish smile and reached for the door handle. I haven't stopped feeling guilty ever since I walked out of that room.

Gave some serious thought about it on the way home earlier and decided that I will start putting in my best efforts for all the remaining assignments before the end of my degree programme journey lest I further disappoint more tutors, my parents or myself. It's for the best of me, anyway. Of course, I will also stop being the asshole student who is constantly bitching about how horrible her tutor is.

Talking about it makes me realize what a terrible person I am, though getting it off my chest here has made me feel slightly better. I think I can truly try to move on now.

Two types of people you meet who leave you in doubt

After a conversation with YF tonight, we concluded that there are two types of people that you meet who make you question.

The first type would be someone who makes you feel so compelled to question your purpose in life and the motivation behind some of the things you do. And the second type is simply someone who makes you feel so compelled to ask them "What the hell is wrong with you?"

On secrets that were-not-meant-to-be-shared-but-were-shared-anyway

At times where you're almost on the verge of blurting out things that you shouldn't even know about in the first place (yes I'm talking about the juicy fodder that your gossipy pals just shared with you) 

with people you've just met... STOP, and try your best to pretend that you are completely clueless about it. 

Saves everyone from any awkward trouble later on. True story.

Girly

LEFT HAND, Y U NO GOOD AT PAINTING RIGHT-HAND NAILS?!

So I may not be the girliest girl around, but I like being a girl most of the time (except for times when the dreaded cramps are here); I enjoy the shopping, the dressing up, the smelling nice, the combing of hair, transformation into a bitch and blaming it on PMS, saying stupid things and getting away with it because I am allowed to "not know better", and having a natural flair for gossiping.

Having gone through a course that involved lengthy lecture discussions about gender bias and gender equality last semester, my prof would probably be disappointed to know that I'm still not buying that feminism stuff that's been discussed to death in the lecture theatre; I just don't think true gender equality can be achieved anytime soon; at least not in Singapore's context.

NS for girls, who are you kidding?

Mumsy and I (and YF too) are always getting into 'scuffles'; she would come into our rooms when we are still sleeping early in the mornings and try to get us out of our beds by launching tickle attacks, pinching our fatty asses or putting weird-tasting food into our mouths, etc... we would usually retaliate by doing some air-kicks, shoving her hands away, tickling her back, or you know, stop being lazy bums and just get out of bed.

Counter attacks are usually launched when she's dozed off on the sofa in the living room; basically, any moment when she's just not too alert... and more scuffling usually ensue.

Earlier this evening, I landed a sneak attack on Mumsy while she was concentrating on the telly. She countered with some of her usual moves and told me to stop it.

Her: 不要弄我 hor!

Me: 为什么不可以? 你每次也是弄我跟弟弟...

Her: 因为我是 Mummy.

Me: Then 改次我做 mummy 了就可以弄你了是吗?

Her 还是不可以. 你可以去弄你的孩子咯.

Me: -_-

I probably have one of the cheekiest mothers amongst all my friends.

and yes, I love her so much despite all the pinching!

Cravings

Something cold like a stick of red bean potong ice cream or a cup of Sour Sally fro-yo would be superb.

disappoint

Change is inevitable; that is undeniable.

Still, I can't help but wish growing up does not equate to growing apart.

#21 Someone you judged by their first impression

Let's call her C.

She was one of the classmates that I got to know on exchange. After having gone through a number of 崇洋媚外 experiences with the local students, I thought that she was just another one of them after seeing how quickly she'd warmed up to another new exchange student who is an ang moh. C proved me very wrong, and I was quite ashamed of myself later for judging someone based on a very brief first encounter.

I later learnt that she was my next-door neighbour in hall while making dinner one evening; we ended up talking for a whole 15 minutes in the pantry. C shared with me some of her experiences in the immersion programme that she'd been through in England that night, and introduced me to her room-mate too. Two nights later, she brought me and 2 of my other exchange friends for a grand 大排档 feast that included some delicious roast pigeons. That was my first pigeon experience and it was quite a yummy one.

We haven't been meeting that regularly ever since she had to go for her teaching practice, but on the day that we did have a chance to bump into each other, C pinned a bag of crisps on my door and left a post-it note with well-wishes, knowing that I would be heading back to Singapore soon. 

How much nicer can a person get!

From C, I learnt that judgments based on first impressions don't usually count. It's much easier for me to say it than do it though, guess I'll just have to keep reminding myself.

A younger cousin (17 years-young at this point in time) had just gotten a new boyfriend,
so Mumsy and I were talking about it.

Her: 我觉得她还不够成熟，心还没有定下来咯. 现在找男朋友还不是时候.

Me: 喔... then 我嘞? 够成熟吗? 可以找男朋友了没有?

(I was really asking for it -_-)

Her: 你啊... 熟到烂了啦. 哪里有男的要你... 全部都是你的 brother 来的.

Me: #$%^&*(#$%^%^$%#

Why Honghong so like that?

One helluva crazy month

October's got me running about like one crazy octopus and I'm not finding it funny.

Things are definitely going to be much better once this month's over, and I'm so looking forward to the exciting trips lined up over the next holiday.

Headed down to Suntec to book the Taiwan tour with Mumsy and YF yesterday afternoon and we managed to get a 8D7N most-things-inclusive (air tickets, accommodation, some meals, transportation and travel insurance) package for about $1600 each from CTC Travel at the mini travel-fair.

To people who know me as that girl who's forever trying to get out of Singapore, it may probably come as a surprise to you that this will be my first-ever tour-package trip (free-and-easy not counted) with Mumsy and didi. But yes, it's true! Dad's not coming with us though because he's too much of a workaholic - just.cannot.let.go.of.work.

I'm super excited because we'll be travelling around Taiwan, and not just remain in Taipei like what I did back in May.

Came across a new type of Oreo last week while grocery shopping with Mumsy and thought: I have to try this!

Verdict - Golden Oreo sounds and looks nicer (at least in picture) than actual product. It tasted quite similar to some of the old-school biscuits that we've been eating over the years (e.g. Khong Guan).

And some pictures from Photobooth accumulated over sometime:

  

  

 We were (very) distracted while discussing the presentation topic for our Bilingual Education module.

And narcissism at work :p

visibly burnt from yesterday's surfing; nose should be peeling in a few days' time :(

Equipment failures

Today's the first time I spent so many hours at ECP after getting back from HK a few months back. 

I was the first person to head out to sea (that's a first), and I did so much (more) surfing than I usually do (really proud of myself for that), but it didn't quite turn out to be my day. Last week's and today's surfing made me realize that I'm quite the magnet for equipment failures.

1st instance: 

picture from here

This is what we would usually call a universal joint (or u-joint in short) in windsurfing, it's used to join the mast (sail) to the board so that the two parts are linked together and therefore can work to allow windsurfing to take place. The middle part with the little black rubber band around it is known as the tendon and it is made of rubber to allow flexing of the u-joint when we manoeuvre by moving the mast around while on the board.

To cut a long story short, the tendon of my u-joint snapped into 2 last Sunday (due to wear and tear over a very long period) while I was somewhere out at sea and not very near to the shore. My sail couldn't be up-hauled any longer since it's no longer linked to the board and all I could do was sit on my board trying to get help from the power boats around as I drifted further and further away from PA (one of the NSC boatmen walkied Zai and he came to my rescue not long after).

Pathetic!

2nd instance:

This happened today and it had something to do with the u-joint again; it wasn't tightened tightly enough as I rigged up my board and sail, and the whole freaking u-joint got disconnected from my board (well, NTU's actually). At a distance of 400-500 metres away from shore with legs suspending in goodness-knows-how-deep water, I panicked like a mad-dog due to fear of losing the mast and sail altogether (it will sink if I did not hold onto it). I waved frantically to other passing windsurfers on my board for help and *I-must-have-done-something-right-in-my-previous-life* because this kind uncle spotted me, made a detour and came to help me put things back. 

My gratitude to him cannot be expressed in words, I can only wish he'd felt it.

Cursed myself for not checking my equipment more thoroughly before heading out to sea, especially after last week's incident of equipment failure.

3rd instance:

It also happened today and this really takes the cake.

After a really great run (i.e. down-wind sailing), I tried to make my way back up-wind and back to shore. One slip and I ended up losing my footing; I lost control of the sail and was overpowered terribly. In the next few seconds, I got flung to the front (with my harness still hooked on), and heard a loud "crack" when my boom-head landed on the tip of the board. My body-weight (stupid harness, stupid me!) was really what broke the board.

If this did not happen today, I wouldn't have even considered the possibility that windsurf boards are destructible.

I made a desperate (pathetic even; I wasn't thinking straight at this point in time) attempt to get back on shore with the tip of the board flapping against the waters; I don't know if it was merely a psychological effect but the board became super wobbly without its front part. Landed in the following bay and did a walk of shame back to PA with the broken board resting on my head (this really nice guy brought my sail back for me); I combed the bay but the front part couldn't be found.

board that is now at Uncle Richard's workshop

The guys couldn't contain their laughter when they saw me with the board and they went "Wah! You kena shark-attack ah!" and "It's time to lose weight!" It would seriously have been funnier if I was not the butt of their jokes argh. They said all sorts of things but the shark-attack thing resonated best with most of them basically - Chubby said that was the 3rd time he's ever seen a board break throughout his windsurfing years; the nice guy who brought my sail back for me tried to make me feel better about it by saying it's happened twice to his board too, one uncle suggested bringing home the different parts (e.g. foot-straps, fin, etc) of the board as souvenir and someone else said "thanks to you, now I know what the inside of a windsurf board looks like".

I wanted to dig a hole in the ground and die. 

Okay just kidding.

But seriously, why the fuck do I keep fucking up? 

I don't want to admit it but if (someone puts a gun to my head and) I really have to answer that question, the problem obviously lies with me since I did not do thorough equipment checks prior to heading out to sea. I'm starting to detest myself for that and I suppose the best thing I can do next is to make sure everything's working fine before jumping into the waters so excitedly. 

Murphy was right - anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Took me such a long time to figure this out. Noob!

Anyway, dinner with the long-boarders at Bedok Point tonight and bubble-tea after. It was all good and I came back home to this:

Honghong-cuddling! I love Mumsy!

I'm badly burnt from today's surfing and I sense a headache coming up really soon from last night's lack of sleep (had the awesomest impromptu bbq and mahjong session with ktowy at ZL's place). 

Time to hit the sack.

It just happens

That's how things usually work.

Like a boss, not.

NSFW language

This "Like a Boss" thing has been going on for sometime now and some of the demotivation posters generated from that have given me quite a few chuckles here and there.

Anyway, Mumsy and Dad provided some comic relief after dinner today -

Mumsy: 哇! 我昨晚很累, 10点多头一动到pillow就睡到早上, 像猪一样.

Dad: 只是昨晚而已meh, 你很像每天晚上都睡到像猪一样leh.

Ah Hong's just not cut out to be a boss, I reckon.

And now I know from whom I got my like-a-pig genes from.

A few of my favourite things

Just in case you haven't noticed, the colours go according to those of traffic-light posts!

I've been pretty addicted to oranges (and most things citrusy) of late.

Shilin Night Market

Since it was still early by the time I completed my little exploration of Danshui, I made my way down to Shihlin Night Market (士林夜市) for dinner. Thinking about how I was finally going to meet the original Shilin chicken cutlet and all sorts of wonderful typical Taiwanese snacks for dinner, I couldn't help but grinned stupidly to myself while on the way there. 

#1 Scene at Shilin Night Market

The first thought that came into my head when I finally stepped foot into the night market was:

THIS PLACE IS A FREAKING MAZE.

There were many rows of stalls selling all sorts of delicious-looking food (though truth be told, the assortment gets repetitive); I enjoyed sniffing at the different smells wafting through the thick and warm air as I made my way down the aisles, reading menus/signboards, dodging the hoards of visitors and trying to decide on what to have for dinner.

My first stop was at this stall that sold a snack with a really interesting name.

#2 棺材板.

#3 棺材板 - Yum yum yum

Literally translated, the name of this snack is 'coffin-board' (I think I'm just a sucker for dishes with such unique names lah). It's a piece of toast that's been deep-fried, hollowed-out and then filled with a creamy filling of your choice. I can't remember what filling I'd picked back there but I do remember it being really yummy - in fact, I think it's hard to go wrong with fried food. Agree? 

#4 Squid in thick soup 生炒花枝 

The squid was fresh and the (really) thick broth was tasty in an underrated way; like most Taiwanese food, the flavours are usually slightly blander than what we're used to in Singapore (and Hong Kong too). Anyhow, a piping hot bowl of this will be perfect for me on a rainy day.

Other than the coffin-board and squid, I had a serving of the famed chicken cutlet too and... it was so good! Wasn't too used to having such a piece of jumbo-sized chicken served uncut (I think we're too spoilt here in Singapore hur) but I didn't have too much of a problem with that, my face could get dirty for all I cared. And sorry there's no picture of it since I was busy trying to gobble up that gigantic piece of chicken cutlet and the tiny crispy bits that dropped to the bottom of the paper-bag. Got myself a nice cooling cup of bitter-gourd juice to wash all the junk I had for dinner down after; acquired taste, I suppose.

One thing that I've realized from travelling solo is that there's a limit to how much food you want to try when you're all by yourself and that is really horrible, considering that I'm the sort of person who wants to try nearly everything off the local menu.

_

It was raining rather heavily after I was done with dinner so I decided to take a walk around the other side of the night market where the carnival-styled games stalls were. Was really impressed by this particular stall-holder whom I bought some tiny souvenirs from because of her multilingual abilities - Japanese, Mandarin and Hokkien. We had a good chat and she had the most adorable maltese puppy that looked like this:

#5 "Hello, my name is Niuniu. Why are you looking at me weird?"

#6

At one point in time, the stall-holder was talking to Niuniu and I heard her say to the puppy "你不要跟我sai nai!" when the puppy refused to do at her bidding; that was super cute hehe. I confirmed my observation that many Taiwanese are a bunch of dog-loving people after asking the stall-holder bout that.

#7 Bunnies waiting to be caught in the claw machine.

This reminds me of the term '夹娃娃' that I learnt from Audrey back in HK; it's an euphemism for abortion. Doesn't sound too cute anymore now that I know that meaning :x

There's something about Fridays

That is my favourite day of the week - I get really excited counting down to Friday since it signifies a weekend of rest ahead, most of the time anyway.

Asked Jenny out for dinner and we finally got to try the much-raved Ippudo located at Mandarin Gallery. The interior was nicely decorated; red, white and black ceramic (?) bowls and spoons were used to decorate the walls and there's a grand-looking chandelier hanging right above our table. Servers would shout out some greetings in Japanese in unison when they spot customers entering/leaving the restaurant but it's not the usual Sakae/Suki Sushi greetings. 

#1 Salmon on hot-plate - This was on the seasonal menu, though I can't think of how salmon is seasonal. It came across as a little dry, but we polished off all of it anyway. The butter looks like it's been infused with some herbs, and it's a pity that I didn't really manage to taste anything special.

#2 Shiromaru Tamago - Jenny ordered this and she seemed to have enjoyed it. I tasted a little of the soup and while it didn't really taste as salty as I'd like it to be, I have to admit that it was quite flavourful.

#3 Akamaru Tamago - Much stronger in flavour due to some special miso paste and garlic oil.

I talked about expectations for food over dinner and confided in Jenny that I'm always getting disappointed by food that's been hyped up; it usually ends up with me stating that so-and-so food is over-rated and I can't see why everyone is raving about it. Note: I'm not a fussy eater and I'll finish whatever's on my plate/bowl whenever I can whenever I'm not trying to go on a diet, I just think that some queues and waits are not really justified.

Maybe I'll need to learn to manage my expectations; food and relationships are similar in this sense - having great expectations will only lead to great disappointments haha.

#4 

Monkeying around at Ion Food Hall; picture with a slightly better resolution that shows my newly-coloured hair.

#5 Sour Sally fro-yo with granola and walnut crumbs

Ignoring what I've just said about food expectations earlier, now this was some good froyo! Xuanie recommended it sometime back but I never had time to make it to town the past few weeks; was really excited when I finally had the chance to try this out at Wisma's basement. I thought it tasted slightly sweeter than my usual favourite (Yoguru ftw), but Jenny said it tasted quite sour and she prefers the one from Canteen 2. 

#6 Hello, meet Sally.

Ordered another one with pink and green mochi-bits for topping and I loved it; could taste hints of melon in the tiny green bits.

#7 Takoyaki with egg mayo from Tsukiji Gindaco at Ion Food Hall

Bun joined us later and this was what she had for dinner. I tried one (10 balls for $7 if I'm not wrong) despite being so bloated from our ramen dinner and it was yummy; was much denser than the usual ones from places like Takashimaya's basement 2 and the octopus chunks were also bigger.

#8 Happy Bun and Jenny

#9

Popped by HnM for a quick look (finally) and got some suspenders for YF when I saw it in the mens' section since he'd been talking about getting those for awhile now. Thankfully, nothing caught my eye and I was happy to be just briefly browsing through whatever they've got in there. 

Winded up at Acid Bar for some drinks at the end of the night, and discussed many things over beer, a glass of sangria and a banana margarita (that tasted like a smoothie).

 #10

Somehow, Bun likened herself to "a monkey who missed her branch" after something that had (or maybe not) taken place in her life and suggested that was a result of her over-thinking things; e.g. having too many considerations such as "is the branch long enough?" and "is the branch thick enough?" My eyes immediately brightened in amusement when she said what she did; couldn't help it but made some suggestive associations with the words "long" and "thick", and that became our joke of the night.

I'm sorry for having such a dirty mind! :p

#11 Banana Margarita

And that sorta marked the end of my fantastic Friday.


Oh, and Korea's not happening. Vietnam is; Bun invited me to join her for a service learning trip where I'll be teaching English as a second language (I think) to some local kids at a home. I'm really excited.

Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant 瑞春点心餐厅

Missed eating brekkie here the last time with YF because we got out of bed way too late, so I dragged Mumsy here with me for dinner two nights ago.

We arrived at the dim sum restaurant five minutes before 7. More than half of the tables in there were occupied by then (despite it being a rainy evening) but we managed to get a table nonetheless. Placed our orders and food was served very promptly.

#1 Chee cheong fun. NOT HK-style where there's charsiew/prawn fillings stuffed in between those rolls, just the version that we've been eating while growing up all these years. The sweet and chili sauce were served on the side in a little sauce dish so you can add in however little/much sauce you want to. It was mediocre at best, but I am being biased here since I am not a big fan of chee cheong fun; unless you're talking about the freshly-made ones found at Old Airport Road Hawker Centre *that is love*.

#2 Lor mai gai - The big piece of mushroom sure made it more tasty-looking; I found the glutinous rice to be lacking in flavour, though the pieces of chicken were tender (like how they should be in all lor mai kais). 

#3 Deep fried fish skin - I was so happy to see this on the menu; I've been missing it ever since I left Hong Kong and now, I can have it in Singapore too! Didn't order any piping hot soup for dipping, but they tasted okay on their own or when dipped in the dim sum chili sauce.

#4 Fried custard pumpkin - Very pretty dish and unconventional in terms of its looks. This is a deep fried pastry made from glutinous rice flour and pumpkin paste; the outer layer's chewy (and oily) and they were rather generous with the pumpkin paste filling; it tasted slightly sweet and mostly savoury. Mumsy said it tasted like green bean paste found in some ang ku kuehs. It was something that I'd order just because it looked so cute on the menu.

#5 Chicken claw - Not mind-blowing but passable.

#6 Red bean paste pancake - One of my favourites (and Mumsy too) for this dinner. Liked it because the red bean paste was sweet, but not excessively, and the pancake was actually crispy while it was still hot.

#7 Sichuan chili oil wanton - Wasn't as spicy as I'd expected it to be. And nope, I wouldn't order this again.

#8 Crispy eggplant with meat floss - The eggplant was relatively tasteless on its own, the floss provided most of the taste. Ordered this because I sorta like eggplants but I think I'd very much prefer the ones stewed/simmered in sauce after trying it deep-fried. 

#9 Carrot cake - Another dim sum dish that I have a soft spot for; this was quite average-tasting (but I had at least 3 pieces anyway!).

#10 Xiao long bao - Not a lot of soup in there but still passable. Of course, it can't compare to Crystal Jade's (at least for me).

#11 Mee sua kueh - Definitely the most interesting dish of the night, taste and texture-wise. This is made entirely of mee sua; the mee sua is 'compressed' into blocks, pan/deep-fried, cut up and then served. If I come back again, I'd probably order it again since this is the only place in Singapore (I think) that sells this.

#12 Bean-curd prawn roll - There's minced pork in there too, apart from prawns. Mumsy liked this, and I thought it was okay, though not fantastic.

All in all, though the food was average-tasting, the prices were really affordable (for most of the items anyway) and there was really nothing to complain about the service. Since it was raining rather heavily outside and the restaurant is air-conditioned, Mumsy asked one of the servers if the ceiling fan right above us could be switched off - they did so with no questions asked. 

I'd probably be back again to try some of the items on the menu that'd caught my eye like 口水鸡, banana prawn fritters and have another serving of that deep fried fish skin.

Swee Choon opens from 6pm to 10am, and there's a take-away counter just next to the restaurant if you feel like doing take-aways. Late-night foodies, if you don't know about this place yet, here's a new supper venue for you.