Kampong Glam

Met up with C, J & S for dinner yesterday and we decided to go along with C's idea of sampling some Morrocan food, "some 5 min taxi ride from Bugis"... When the taxi turned into a street lined with carpet shops and all (think Arab St) someone commented that it didn't feel very sg. Someone else wanted to bring her Persian ex-roommate here haha. The first structure that greeted us upon alighting was the Sultan Mosque (which, sadly, none of us could name. S however recalled that it appeared in our textbooks last time...) Then while walking to our dining place, I kept trying to recall what this area was called. It's the Malay version of Little India & Chinatown, I thought. But I just couldn't pinpoint what it was, till suddenly while deciding on what to order I blurted out "Kampong Glam!" (felt very proud of myself haha, but like everyone seemed v doubtful till we saw a NHB signboard nearby). Hee, quite sad right, this is how well I know my sg. I have to say that it was my very first time here (as much as I can recall).

Anyway, I quite liked the area, with its quaint restored shophouses and a beautiful mosque in the background (7-eleven had white wooden doors as entrance!). The Morrocan restaurant, Delimorrocan, was situated halfway along the pedestrianised Bussorah St. We settled for a outdoor table in the middle of the street. Food was alright, but service was patchy. The lady who took our orders didn't seem to be very bothered to serve us (C waited for her ice lemon tea all meal and was told close to end of dinner that it was actually "self-service"). The (Morrocan?) owner was friendly; but strangely decided to practise his Chinese on us (something I typically only experience out of sg). Anyway, it was a nice place to chill 'cos there weren't very many ppl around; and it's so hard to find a nice, non-crowded place in sg these days (esp on Fri night). We also discovered some other interesting looking restaurants along other streets in the vicinity. I shall return some time. :)

Facebook

Alas! I've succumbed to colleague pressure and finally signed up as a member of this social networking site. As with many other things, I have delayed reaction :P Actually many ppl have been telling me to sign up but I never did, cos I suspect my relationship with Facebook would be as doomed as my previous one with Friendster. Nonetheless, for K-P-O sake, I signed up to see who's friends with who, what ppl are up to etc... For time being, my interest is still sustained by the novelty of it all. But haven't really got around trying all the features. General impression I had was that it was a very American college kinda networking site, but am quite surprised by how popular it has become among S'poreans too (and globally as well, i suppose).

I had an eventful morning today. First thing in morning, found out I had been 'arrowed' to draft a speech... Buddy was v cute and remarked that I've been 'shot again'... and asked whether it was painful or not haha. But then 15 min later, a sweet gesture somewhat salved my fresh wound ;) I earned myself a loaf of home-made banana bread/cake from a colleague from another unit. 'Cos she wanted to thank me for translating some Japanese instructions for her some time back ;) Rest of morning was spent following film crew videoing staff cum management -- for an opening MTV item at our D & D... After laughing at the antics of some v enthu staff and getting amused by spontaneity of senior management/ HODs, realised at the end that my Party Team was not spared from the dancing & lip-synching either... (But I have to admit it was actually somewhat fun) Poor S, being the only guy around, was pressured by his evil Party teammates to perform the gross act of stuffing black curly wig into shirt (as fake, dense chest hair). Dun think I've laughed so hard in a long time. Everyone joked though that our MTV had better not suffer the same fate as the MDA one...

Maybe I'm just strange, but I really miss putting together like a well-argued paper.... Ok, not like I am very good at it, but I just miss the whole process of thinking everything through... Tying all you want to say together nicely... NB: all YOU want to say... and not what XXX or YYY wants to say. I think writing 'work papers' is hard cos you always have to be pseudo- psychologist and imagine/figure out what XXX or YYY would want to say. No doubt you are given instructions on what roughly to put into a paper to Ministry etc... But still... it's just so different.

And I realise that I actually enjoy editing essays... Though it's like time-consuming... Because somehow I feel like my brain is actually working. At times I can get so thrilled over being able to say, find one brilliant word to use, stupid things like that you know? But aiyah, at the back of my mind I know that I am not suited to editing things as boss or team leader... I will take super long, cos I am a slow thinker and I can have perfectionist instincts over the most trivial of things. :P