Clouds Obscure the Sun

Still quite dazed at the events of the weekend…To think I thought it would be just another mundane birthday…and boy…to say I was surprised would be an understatement…

Flummouxed…floored…speechless with shock… would better describe how I felt friday night…hahaha. To think so many people were in the KNOW…feel like the blurrest, most gullible person on the face of this earth…and also the happiest…. Here I was feeling sorry for myself coz friends who usually wish me happy birthday…didn’t…friends I kept asking out kept saying they were busy…and I had to work until late…and J, who usually calls me a couple of times a day, didn’t even call once…or return my messages.. and when I asked what was happening that evening, he rather flippantly told me to take a cab down to his place after work…so you can imagine how down i was feeling by then…and to get to his place to see him playing PS2?! Haha…yeah…felt like…what are you doing???? I took a cab to your place, missed dance…just to watch you play PS2??? Hahaha…So i was grumpy a little…and disappointed but tried not to show it…

And then the best night of my life happened.

I cannot believe the amount of work and effort everyone put in just to make my birthday such a special one….J, his sis…his mum…Fi…Snabu…everyone was in on it…everyone planned and arranged it so many weeks in advance…Still can’t believe they managed get all my friends down (no easy task considering my groups of friends do not have common linkages) and that my friends came!, just so I’d have a perfect birthday…Gosh…I really feel so very very loved by everyone.

And presents!!!! Wah…it’s been YEARS since I got so many presents! Cloud nine man…utterly…and this year was amazing coz everything I got was everything I would ever want…hee…especially Fi’s present…wah…evil woman you, really sneaky! Hahaha wait until next year man…

Don’t think I will ever forget the feeling I had opening the door to the room and seeing all those people squeezed inside…couldn’t help weeping like a baby…hahahaha. So paisei!!!!!!!!!!! But seriously…I was soooooo touched…specially after feeling like no one cared about me…hahaha. Ling and Ping…Buzz and BIL…Carol…my parents…grandpa…SLH…Joanne and Auntie Elsie…Adrian, Celine, Deirdre…people from ROB…and even my dance mates showed up!!!! I How cool is that???

I seriously do not remember ANY birthday where I had so many people turn up…in fact, this was a birthday of many many firsts…

First chalet (and first time stepping into Costa Sands!) cum BBQ cum stayover birthday for me…

First time anyone has ever thrown a REAL surprise party for me…

First time spending my birthday with J (first time I’ve had a bf on my birthday)…

First time I’ve had every single friend (well…with the exception of those who couldn’t make it) make it to celebrate with me…

First time I’ve enjoyed mingling so much…

and the very first time anyone has ever done something soooooo nice for me.

I really really appreciate every single thing you guys have done…I’ve always wanted a surprise party…but never had a chance to have one…hahaha though Ive had my hand in quite a few surprises… I will never forget this birthday…ever!

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!! Thank you for being my friends!!! And for giving me such a great time! Hugz!!!!

This definitely goes down as the greatest birthday I have ever had!

Haha…like real.

Had another driving lesson at 7:30am on a saturday morning…still amazed at myself. Me…awake…on a saturday morning…at 7:30am…hahaha.

I never realised how fun driving is…no, that isn’t true. I loved driving from young…my toy pedal car…my sega…Outrunner…Daytona…Ridge Racer…I’ve been hooked on car racing games for as long as I can remember. But…was just too lazy to get started learning to drive a REAL car…

Really regret procrastinating and putting off getting a license for the past…(count ‘em) 10 years. WHAT WAS I THINKING?! Psycho-ed myself that even if I learned to drive, I wouldn’t have a car…and anyway, got people around to drive you…why learn right? Wrong…so very wrong. I am so hooked…I wanna drive…drive…drive…

Only recently, after shifting to my current ulu, "if no car sure die" office location, I have come to appreciate the value of learning to drive…not to mention that since my dad’s been travelling a lot lately…there’s a FREE car sitting in the carpark…but no driver. So wasted.

Anyway, thanks to a certain someone, I’ve done it. I’ve finally….started learning to drive - Nine years after I took my basic…and about seven years later than my friends…pathetic, but true. Heh…booked my TP too…and hopefully if all goes well, and I can exchange my pair of left feet for a working pair (i.e No clutch control)…I’ll pass my test in Feb 2006 and be unleashed on the roads…watch out world! Here I come…

One thing I am sure about though…God forbid I end up like one of those stupid woman drivers who have no cow sense when they drive…so dangerous. I hope I never become one of those…if not…I dowan to drive liao.

And…I’m a closet speed demon…HAHAHA.

So happy the past few lessons, Mr Lim let me hit 70km/h (ya la…to a seasoned driver that is damn slow…but hey…it’s my 6th lesson all right!)…SHIOK. Wish could go faster…haha. Think he’s got the words "Slow. Slow. Too Fast. Brake! Brake!" on auto repeat whenever he’s teaching me.

At least…my car stalls only once per lesson nowadays…and I don’t feel like I’m going to die at every traffic junction.

Can’t wait for next week’s lesson…in the meantime…must go get back PSP so I can continue speeding it up on the Le Mans circuit. Heh heh.

It’s 1AM…I have work to do…a presentation tomorrow with Ah Meng and friends…translations to finish…and an appointment with my bed…

What am I doing?

Ya…blogging. It’s like some sort of disease…cannot go to sleep without posting some rant, some rave or just some inane comment…

Sometimes, weird thoughts strike me and I’ll think, man…I should write a blog entry about it…and I actually start formulating sentences in my mind about how I’m going to phrase the entry? Of course, I then promptly forget all about it and with my geriatric (some big word I learned from my English major sis) brain…I cannot for the life of me recall what I wanted to write about. Am I the only one who does things like that?

Then again, I also talk to the TV when I watch drama serials…I ask questions, I talk to myself, I scold the characters…why? I dunno…when I’m watching alone I am very quiet…if I watch with someone…I suddenly talk 19 to a dozen…irritates the hell out of a certain someone…haha but you still love me right? Bwahahaha…BTW will someone tell me the name of the silly TCS8 serial showing at 7pm? The one with the cute guy from China…watched one ep…probably the first and last ep I will ever see…

Today’s sign to show I am either under stress, very lame…or just pathetically bored…

Decided to take 162 instead of 167 today, even though 162 was standing room only AND two buses BEHIND the 167. Incidentally 167 was empty. Why? Coz I figured 162 would be faster, don’t ask why…proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes cursing my stupidity for not being able to sit down and read TODAY, not even seeing the dust left by the 167…and yes…late for work.

Ultimate cheap thrill that made my day?

Ya…the 162 FINALLY overtakes a very crowded 167 just before the bus stop I get off. Ya…so I was about…45 seconds earlier than I could have been…hahahaha. I compete in my mind on behalf of SBS vs TIBS…current score? SBS 1 TIBS 0.

But hey, I still support TIBS okay!

Was there a point to this entry? MM…ya…didn’t think so either…oh well…lame sign no. 2.

And it’s off to bed I go…

It’s been a long time but I’m finally getting back into blading again…and some shameless promotion for my BF who is starting to teach freelance! Blading anyone? Yes yes…flyer done by me…so proud of myself…hahah that’s why shameless promo ma…^0^

Yeah yeah yeah…finally watched Stealth! Been waiting for AGES for it to start showing…last weekend tried to book coz thought there would be sneak previews but…didn’t have. So sad…but finally got to watch it!! Not usually a fan of such shows but…two words…JOSH LUCAS…major drool factor right there! So shallow hor…who cares la. He is shuai shuai shuai!!! Liked him for ages liao…watched everything he’s ever acted in (not that there is a lot)…can even say I started liking him from the time he played Luke Macgregor on Snowy River: The Macgregor Saga (bet most people have no idea what that is…hahaha)

On the whole…the movie was all right. Brought back memories of Top Gun (my all time favourite show when I was a kid…serious! My ambition was to pilot an F-16…hahaha.), and the aerial battles were pretty spectacular…

Interesting implications, even though the storyline itself is rather cliched, the lines are pretty corny, and the whole thing is quite dated…

Stealth planes…supersonic speed…therefore you can start your morning in Thailand, pop over to Myanmar for a mission after breakfast, hit Tajikistan in the afternoon to blow up a couple of terrorists, pop by North Korea for a sit-down and make it back to the ship in time for dinner…talk about round the world in 80 minutes…haha. Frightening really…

Typical Man vs Machine sort of stuff…so many movies deal with this theme lately…so ironic really…man build machine that can perform things man can only dream of doing…machine is capable of behaving like human, only better and sana emotions. Machine is perfect and man feels threatened because machine might steal man’s job…then machine malfunctions and suddenly takes on human traits…the ability to think…to reason…to FEEL. Then man feels more threatened and decides machine was a mistake and tries to destroy it…but of course, now that machine can think…machine doesn’t WANT to be destroyed…yeah…then in the end…machine performs the ultimate human sacrifice…

Seriously la…WHY bother to build such a thing in the first place???

What I thought was interesting was one scene in the movie when they were about to take out a target but the humans chose to abort the mission because they took in factors like civilian casualties and repercussions of their strike…machine on the other hand just focused on the mission, and didn’t care about any other factors…kind of showed in that instance why humans still have the upper hand against machines…The means to the end…but by what means…Moral judgment…the ability to feel compassion…sympathy…the day we lose that will be a sad sad day…

Been a long time since I attempted to analyse movies…man, I’ve lost the ability to put my thoughts down in words coherently…faint and die. Oh well…guess should jog the brain a little more before my brain cells start dying one by one…

On the whole, it was a fun movie la…enjoyable…and hey…JOSH LUCAS man…hahahaha. That alone makes the movie worth watching.

I’ve waited ten years…no make that ELEVEN years for its coming… I remember the glee and excitement I felt when I first laid eyes on it three weeks ago…the anticipation as I counted down the days to its arrival…and the utter joy at welcoming it to our shores…what am I talking about?

The opening of a CARL’S JR. outlet at Marina Square.

Yes, seriously. And no, I have no endorsement deal with them…nor do they give me a cut of the profits for this entry. Haha.

I LOVE CArl’s Jr…all right, let me qualify that. I love the BURGERS…first time I encounted a Carl’s Jr burger was on a road trip in the US with my folks some ten years back…Picture this…happy family of four, cruising down the highway, not a care in the world when suddenly…the ominous rumbling of hungry stomachs signals "Time to eat!"…and like an answer to prayer, in front of us loomed the smiling star of the Carl’s Jr. logo…

Of course, it’s not like we knew what Carl’s Jr was…beyond the fact that it was strange, but savoury looking burger joint on the highway…after all in Singapore all we’ve got is…Burger King and the institution of the Golden Arches…but hey…food is food right?

And the burgers were awesome…huge, succulent and memorable. I still remember my mom raving about how delicious the bacon double was…haha…seriously. From that stop on…we practically lived on Carl’s Jr throughout our trip…

Then reality hit…we returned home…and NO MORE Carl’s Jr…sigh.

It’s akin to going all the way to Taiwan and eating the Hao Da Da Jipai (and no I am not trying to say something crude) every single day coz you know you can’t get it anymore when you go home (incidentally Ling has kindly informed me that HDD can be found at the Beach Road food court…for $3 something a set meal…and of course, there is always the Shih Lin chain)…yes…I do this often.

Then comes the day you no longer have to go to the food…it comes to you. Utter bliss.

Sure, it may not taste QUITE the same…but it sure comes close…anyway beggars cannot be choosers right?

Same with Carl’s Jr…so far since it opened on July 24th…I’ve eaten there three times…most recently…this afternoon. Hee hee…so ambitious…ordered a Bacon Double Cheeseburger with Chilli Fries and a drink AND 3 chicken strips…haha and I wonder why I am so damn fat…

Thankfully did not finish…ta pao-ed it home and it now has its own corner in the fridge…tomorrow can eat again. Haha.

Partly I love it coz it’s nice…but I guess the real reason is that it brings back memories of a lovely holiday spent with my family, sort of like one of the milestones of our trip…especially now that with work and everything, it’s been ages since I last had a holiday with my folks and sis…but anyway…

The "bestest" thing about Carl’s Jr in Singapore?

I can eat it anytime I damn want!! Hahahahahaha.

So happy.

Post-note: I cannot believe that I spent an entire post raving about Carl’s Jr…but there you go…told you this blog was lame…

Join them…

Yes, I resisted…I ignored…but finally I have succumbed to the temptation to start ANOTHER blog…why? Because I have spent the better part of life in the Arts stream…ergo I have perfected the art of literary diahorrea (never did learn to spell that right…"diarea"?!)…in other words, I can write about anything and everything for an infinite period of time…here you have the perfect example…I haven’t even finished my intro…Ha ha ha. Point taken? Mm…yah.

It’s a blog boom…everyone’s doing it, right? Still have no idea why some bloggers attain cult status…but anyway, people have blogs for various reasons certainly…and with various intentions…I can safely say that my reasons are both simplistic and downright mundane. I do not engage in political discussion…frankly if you read this hoping for some deeper insight into life as I know it…or society in general…you’re definitely in the wrong blog…

Hahaha…what to do? I am the typical, apathetic, twenty-something yuppie with the cynicism of one who knows nothing and can’t be bothered anyway…it’s my life after all and this is my blog. I shall not make any pretense of being some intellectual being (which I am not) with lots of opinions about this that and the other…I am shallow and I know it. But…I don’t care! Hee hee…all right…not all THAT shallow…I do have the occasional deep thought or reflection…but this being a public blog which could possibly be read by the 80-odd people on my Friendster list (friends I know well, and friends I know not at all), I’ll save my musings for another time and another place…

If you actually made it to the end of this post, I salute you…for plodding through my endless drivel…I promise…the next post I write will be one of some substance…perhaps…

Even a creature of habit needs a change every now and then…so here I am…

Welcome to my world.