Two good movies

Priceless (Hors de Prix)
Caught a light-hearted "romantic comedy" starring Audrey Tautou (who acted in Amelie) this evening. I think she holds an uncanny resemblance to Kirsten Dunst, but maybe like a dark-haired version. You can watch the trailer at the above website, though if you're French-illiterate (like me) you prob wun really be able to navigate much there... Anyway, thought the show was quite entertaining... and you get to see all these expensive items that the super rich can afford.... so it was kinda eye candy too :) Makes you wonder how many ppl really get married/ attached for love?

The Painted Veil
This i watched some time ago in two parts on my flight to HCM City- half on the way there and half on the way back. That I liked it so much despite having my movie "cut" into two says something doesn't it? Excellent dialogue and acting... (I loved this bit whereby Naomi Watts character tells her mother, "The idea that any woman should marry any Tom, Dick or Harry regardless of her own feelings is simply prehistoric"). Feel that the characters in the movie really develop and grow on you... Even the disgust I felt for Edward Norton's character turned into some kind of affection towards the end.... haha. I shall get the VCD when it's available; it was on screens some time back in Jan :)

Was in a rather foul mood this morning, due to various little things that have been bothering me. And then was late for my morning aerobics class thus decided to take taxi to Simei... which led to Dad commenting that I had poor time management blah blah. Then coupled with his 'There are huge waves and it's tsunami season at Thailand- you should not be going there' last night, I somehow lost it and said something hurtful like why do you have to interfere with everything i do... then hurriedly left house. If there's one thing I did right after coming back to Singapore, it's probably signing up for an aerobics/gym membership. Find that exercise purges like bad thoughts and destresses and felt quite a bit better after the hour-long workout. Then regretted losing temper in morning, cos after all parents are just concerned. Sigh, but am feeling too proud to apologize. Sometimes we keep hurting ppl who matter a whole lot to us, but yet we can't bring ourselves to say sorry. Then you secretly hope that they are aware that they are actually very impt to you...

NParks tour

Day 2 of MND Induction programme and was brought round Botanical Gardens in work clothes and heels (ouch) by NParks representative. Was pretty educational and even got to tour their herbarium... preparing plant specimens is no simple business! And, did you know that our $5 note features an ancient Tembusu tree that can be found in the Botanical Gardens?? haha. maybe you already know that and I'm just ignorant. :P Saw this tiny leaf near their 'cool house' in the National Orchid Garden. It's so cute. Love the curls and the pretty veins on the furry leaf itself. Then while in the cool house I saw some tourists and decided to be friendly. So I asked where they were from. Was pretty surprised to hear 'Iran', cos I didn't have the impression that we get many tourists from there. So I tried to strike up a conversation and told them that Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Prize Winner) came to my uni to give a talk before. But somehow they couldn't get my English so didn't really manage to carry on with conversation.... Nonetheless, I mo ming qi miaoed got grabbed to be placed btwn two big-sized ladies in their picture. Felt like a zoo exhibit for a minute, but whatever lah :) then disappeared to rejoin my own group after picture. I don't usually get the luxury of having such random lil experiences on a proper work day :P

I'm participating in this MND Induction Course today and tmr; and will get to visit the National Orchid Garden tmr with like 30 other relatively new recruits from other stat boards under MND... today was fairly unexciting but hope tmr will be better. And it had better not rain again! Weather's been really weird- when it's not scorching hot it pours...
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Finally visited a non-chain Japanese restaurant (2nd one after my resolution earlier this year to sample 'independent' Japanese restaurants) at Cuppage Plaza just now. Food was decent but sadly I still can't decipher many things on the menu. Shall return next time to sample other items. Also had sake ochazuke but strangely all the chazuke I've tried in Singapore can't seem to measure up my first (Teaism) ochazuke back in Washington D.C..... but the funny thing is, I believe the Teaism branch (aside from using fresh salmon) actually uses an instant mix for its ochazuke! But i think cos it's like very salty and flavorful I love it :) Perhaps the real thing's not really supposed to be like that... Later adjourned to Cathay Ben and Jerry's for my all-time favorite Dublin Mudslide. I actually try not to eat Ben and Jerry's in Singapore cos it's exorbitantly expensive. $4.50 for one tiny scoop when back in Berkeley I can get a whole tub (and eat it anytime I want) for the same price! hmph :( very bu gan yuan.

good thing that this past week has been relatively less busy for me and I was able to gradually recover despite the blasting aircon at work. So i went from croaky coughs and blocked nose on Tues to almost full-recovery on Friday! i feel so happy to be healthy again. Also spent the first half hour of Fri filling my workstation wall (I sit at the corner) with more pictures, and when I gave one colleague another sunflower pic, she reciprocated with a tiny sunflower bouquet later in the afternoon! totally made my day. somehow felt like i ought to treat myself post-recovery and after working relatively hard for things i don't feel much for.... so splurged on hair yesterday evening and went shopping all afternoon today. hehe. Great Singapore Sale why aren't you here yet. hai. Time to 'buck up' a bit next week... cos have done nothing much at all this week at home; skipped Japanese last Sun and neglected study since my mock test before leaving for Vietnam; and have been sleeping as much as I can... though it feels GOOD to be lazy once in a while, must exercise both mind and body again soon!

Suddenly fell quite sick over the weekend, what with a bad cough and persistent fever. Not sure what caused it, but glad that i'm much better today. This episode also made me realize that falling sick is never a 'personal affair', esp not for me in Singapore... even when you try to hide your illness by secretly taking pills from past consultations, it's easy to get found out by parents... and i guess i was suddenly sick enough for them to be sufficiently worried! Work also gets affected when you go MIA. Had better take better care of my health from now on!

Flowers!

I somehow manage to take pics of flowers on every trip; and this trip is no exception :)

Cheery sunflowers in bloom... You prob wun be able to guess where I took this pic -- Changi Airport Terminal 2! I didnt know they had a neat sunflower garden tucked away in one corner...

This picture's a little blur -- but I think you can still see the animal. Well, we were on our way to Ben Tre Province to take our boat ride and stopped on the way for a toilet break. This toilet strangely had many pretty orchid-like flowers outside... While we were happily snapping away, my tour guide plucked one flower and started, to my horror, peeling away the petals and stigma... But before I knew it, he had transformed the flower (shown below) into a cute white rabbit! I instantly fell in love with this flower-rabbit... hai. if someone made it just for me I'll be happy for a few hours... :P

The original flower. Dunno what kinda flower this is, but it's probably an orchid? So pretty... :)

Faces of Vietnam

Aside from Vietnamese women dressed in flattering figure-hugging ao dais, I also came across many "ordinary" folks- hawkers along the streets, people toiling away in handicraft workshops, friendly waitresses in restaurants... though communication was still a prob in many instances, I felt that most people I met were all quite friendly and helpful. Was particularly impressed by how many Vietnamese working in touristy places spoke Japanese! (some even better than English). Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did taking them :)

This was snapped in a hurry while on my tourist van. And the expression of hardship on the lady's face still makes me feel a little unsettled whenever I look at this pic. According to my mum, those huge fruits on the ground contain our atap chees (those white chewy things you get in your ice kachangs)...

Rice paper production in action. Lady was really skilful and nothing tore... I still can't figure out how something so thin can be so "untearable"! These wet sheets were later put under the sun to dry...
Lady packing coconut candy into packets... Every single candy is wrapped up in white wrappers by women with superbly nimble fingers... This 'coconut candy factory' was on one of the islands tourists were conned to go to haha. Basically the tour guide brought us on a Mekong River boat trip-- a not-so-picturesque boat journey spanning one whole afternoon and island-hopping btwn 4 rather obscure islands on the river. But since you've already paid for it, why not just be happy and make the best out of it? :P
Worker polishing a piece of lacquerware-art. There were many such lacquer-art on sale in HCM City.... and I never expected the production process to be so arduous and labor-intensive till I got to witness for myself what went on behind the scenes... This man was quite friendly when I somewhat guiltily asked for a picture... just cos you know... i'm like "capitalising" on ppl's hardship by taking a picture.

Little boy squatting by the road beside a scale at his grandma(?)'s durian stall. There were several informal stalls selling fruits etc when we were on our way back from Ben Tre Province, the place some 1.45 hr bus ride south of HCM city, where we took our boat cruise...

Vietnamese women taking a lazy afternoon nap in a wholesale Market in Cholon, Vietnam's Chinatown. Erm, thought it was rather odd that they just sprawled out like that....

Soldier at the Cu Chi Tunnel demonstrating how soldiers could disappear into the extensive system of tunnels underground. This was one of the 'holes' and seriously after he placed the wooden plank over his head there was no trace of him at all. Amazing how resourceful and innovative ppl can get during times of war. Somehow this guy reminds me of a plumper version of Julian Cheung... and his silent upward stare (at tourists photographing him) makes me a little uneasy... cos he feels so submissive.

My HCM "motorcycle diaries"

Ho Chi Minh City has to be the motorbike capital of the world... Nothing there fascinated me as much as local folks zipping around on their motorbikes... day in day out... everywhere... rain or shine... Given HCM City's status as Vietnam's "economic powerhouse", witnessing some 10 times more motorbikes than cars on the roads (or more) was truly surprising to me.... Cars certainly appear to be a rare commodity- the occasional 4-wheeled vehicles i see around are either taxis, tourist vans/buses or public buses...
Motorbikes have such a HUGE presence in HCM City that the gas stations are primarily motorbike gas stations... 'carparks' frequently only have entrances only big enough for motorbikes to enter... Local markets even sell ready-made hats/face masks to gear motorcyclists up for the weather/pollution etc. No doubt motorbiking seems like the most convenient and cheapest way to get around...but it sometimes appears really dangerous too -- with 2 or 3 passengers on one motorbike being a very common sight. But perhaps it's also necessary-- ppl really don't seem very well off and you probably have to make do with what you can afford. On the other hand, I couldn't help but feel that motorbiking can be a good bonding experience-- for couples/ families/ friends.... there's this element of navigating treacherous roads together? I for one would probably cling on to the person in front for my dear life if put on one of the motorbikes for my very first time.

Tourists also dun have it easy... Crossing roads have never been as challenging for me...! there are pathetically few formal pedestrian crossings and frequently motorbikes do not adhere strictly to traffic rules... From time to time these tourist security guards will bring you across the road, but most of the time you'll have to rely on yourself. well i do believe that motorcyclists actively try to avoid pedestrians but sometimes they only manage to stop when they are like 30 cm away from you... So to sum it up getting to the other side can be harrowing at busy times of the day even if you make it over unscathed! It also doesn't help that I sometimes had a squealing mum clinging on to me :P Prob not too great an idea to bring your toddler or grandma.

After so much blabbering, I shall let the pictures tell the story :) I actually took quite a few pics, but cos most of them were taken while "on the move" from my tourist van many turned out blurry. These are some of the better and more interesting ones...

Colorful motorbikes on sale in a shop...
The "garang baby" model -- kids are frequently placed in front of the motorbike and this is one example... The kid in this pic even has a veil over his head, i guess to filter out the polluted air..Garang baby No. 2... Actually I feared for this kid's safety... The lady (presumably the mum) is riding with one hand... I really take my hats off the Vietnamese. dunno how they manage.
The "Sandwiched Baby" model... Another place to put your kid is in btwn two adults... The mother-carrying-newborn shown above is not very common... I saw many kids sitting in btwn, or better still... standing in btwn on the seat!People also somehow manage to transport all kinds of things on motorbikes - Our CPU warrior being an excellent illustration. Seriously -- travelling at high speed while holding on to a not-so-light CPU with the other hand... certainly takes lotsa skill.Last but not least, motorbiking in foul weather. It drizzled a little on the 3rd morning and while in my van I saw many motorcyclists stopping along the road to put on ponchos and other rainy-day gear. I couldn't help but wonder what happens to the millions of motorcyclists in the city during heavy downpours...?

Shi Min is off to Ho Chi Minh City tmr afternoon for a 4-day respite with mum! haha and proudly declaring that I have yet to even pack... am too lazy now to do anything now after a busy week at work.... should be fine lah cos it's just a short trip and it's not like winter or anything. hopefully trip will recharge me a little... and hope to get some interesting shots too :) will be back Tues!

I think I am beginning to understand why some colleagues have so much leave balance, that some people even have to carry forward their 2005 leave balance to 2007. Because there's sometimes no incentive to go on leave. Not when going for a break comes at the cost of tonnes of emails in your inbox and lotsa catching-up to do. So I really admire those ppl who really make the effort to go for (often much-needed) breaks. Sometimes I can't help but question... why is there so much work to be done at times? Why is there so many things to go around?? who churns out things and why do they keep increasing if people cannot manage and are forever missing deadlines? I have yet to make sense out of all this. One colleague also quit recently.... so in this "sunset period" she has appeared to be relatively freer than most of us. Couldn't help but fantasize a bit that such a choice was readily available to me. Hai, and somewhat embarrassing when boss actually not-so-subtly remarked just now (I believe with ref to some of my recent assignments)... "eh, you have quite a few typo errors"... Where has my heart flown to?

I have been extremely clumsy lately -- have been bumping into many many things in my way... Even when exits/doors/railings etc were obviously not blocking my way, I can blindly walk into everything. Good thing they weren't severe enough to cause a series of blueblacks on my arm... Also somehow managed to walk into the partition separating workstations when exiting one colleague's workstation. When the 'exit' technically has enough room for 2 persons to stand side-by-side. My bumping caused a minor earthquake of the partition; she and I both also couldn't stop laughing at me, cos it was the 2nd time i've done it when walking out of her workstation... Why haven't I been able to walk straight these few weeks??

Tonight I also have bloodshot eyes from unsuccessful pinching of contacts... :( having disposed of old permanent contacts, recently finally got down to getting disposable dailies for occasional use. But slippery nature of these disposables has made them extremely elusive for my untrained and "rusty" fingers... Well, i finally managed to get them out, but not before rupturing many blood vessels.... sigh. now i dun dare to put on a new one again :P maybe I should consult my optician on best pinching techniques...

Sunrise

I usually dun have the luxury of watching the sunrise, but caught sight of the beautiful vermillion sky early this week when having breakfast. And thus rushed to balcony to capture the pretty sky. So here it is... nothing beats just sitting there for a few min and marveling at the beauty of nature. This picture has somehow diffused the orange and reds. It's been a busy week for me, with our on-site registrations and house visits again. And without really realizing it it'll be Friday tmr! Hopefully I'll zip past the next busy week and then get a well deserved tiny holiday next Sat cum weekend.

On some days I'm just struck with the harsh reality that there are so many aspects to life... esp after I started working and got to witness people at different stages in life. I get 'reminded' that there are and will be many things I will deal with and face at later stages of my life, whether I like it or not, cos these are just things that will soon not or later come up. Last week, the sudden demise of a colleague's father came as a slightly shocking piece of news to me. Earlier this week, I also found out that a colleague was pregnant. Then, a day later when I found out that another recently-married colleague was also pregnant, I somehow couldn't suppress my unfounded surprise and apparently had this look of disbelief on my face (aiyah i mean it shouldn't be so surprising, but I guess I was like in shock for 3 min cos suddenly find out about 2 pregnancies in 2 days mah). Since my antennae was always either spoilt or half-working, I tried to confirm with this colleague (who divulged the news) that there were no more pregnancies I ought to be aware of; to which this colleague amusingly remarked, "you know, this kinda thing is ongoing... but for now I don't think there are anymore lah, unless got accidents..." Anyway, moral of story is it somehow made me wonder if I'll ever like step over to other stages in life, or would I always remain as status quo? And made me wonder if ppl actually progress to other stages ready and well-prepared for the new 'challenges' ahead? How do ppl decide or know that this is really what they want?

Pepper Crab Outing

The first outing of our 'singles club' was an outing to a kopitiam place called Eng Seng Restaurant at Joo Chiat Place, famous for its pepper crabs. There were originally 11 of us, but our group shrunk to a mere 4 after many casualties arising from having to stay back at work etc/ family commitments last min. I was tempted to stay back to finish up my work too, but alas! decided to go ahead with the outing planned weeks ago. So, after the last member of our little team managed to get off work, we rushed down in a taxi for our food :P The crabs here are so popular that they run out by 7 or so on Fridays, but we managed to call up the coffeeshop beforehand to reserve some crabs. Nonetheless we were told that they will be 'given away' if we didn't reach by 7.15pm. Thus the mad rush. When we reached, there was a long line and we were told that even though we had reserved our crabs we still had to join the queue to wait for tables. Auntie there taking orders also seemed a bit pian1 xin1 and appeared to take orders first for her shu2 ke4s... Nonetheless, when we finally got our food, everyone tucked in immediately. The crabs were yummy, esp with the rich pepper sauce. But cos I haven't had pepper crabs in some 5 months or so I don't have any basis for comparison. I should check out more places.... We also ordered cheap but good chicken wings from an adjacent store; and adjourned to Parkway Parade after dinner for durian ice-cream dessert.... aaah... I'm still feeling bloated from my dinner cum supper!

On some days I get so demoralized and frustrated at work, but I realize that I'm not the only one who feels this way. Boss gets his fair share of frustrations and I bet his job is way more stressful than mine. So are some other colleagues'. But how do these ppl manage it... ? And even though I'm 9-months-old at this unit, I am nowhere near competent at what I do... it's really quite pathetic but I sometimes console myself (excuses, excuses!) that this is natural given that I never chose to do what I am assigned. Sometimes I feel so pent-up but yet I can't blog indiscriminately given that evil regulators lurk out there waiting for you to say something incendiary and then alert authorities to have you put in jail (ok i am exaggerating). Maybe I should talk to my frowny care-bear instead. Work-aside, I have also been feeling unhappy about various things in my life but things don't just happen whenever you wish for them to. Nonetheless, I concede that you have to work hard for things you want. After all, life becomes easily becomes boring and unchallenging if you get EVERYTHING without doing anything.

Totoro in HDB Estate
Jeannice recently gave me a tiny Totoro from Hokkaido... which i've put up on the windowgrille of my new room. And on a slow Sat morning I was inspired to come up with some silly pictures below... Globalisation has brought Totoro to the HDB estate.The view from my window, with Totoro watching over me ;P

A good friday

Yesterday marked my first night in my new room! yeah.. about 4 months after I announced that I would be getting my own room :P didn't get a whole lot of furniture... only a simple bookcase that doubled up as a side table; a bedside table cum drawer and a new wardrobe-- cos my sister's and my clothes were literally spilling out of our old wardrobe. since it's impossible and wasteful to just dump all old furniture, also reused some old pieces and so room looks kinda like an odd fusion, but still ok for my liking... hee... will decorate my walls over time. it's fun to be able to do up your own room... and to 'mark the occasion', i went out shopping for lil things I could get; and found a cool cushion cover (which i now find a little scary actually cos it's a half-face-half-motifs design) at The LIFESHOP at Raffles City, at half-price. (It's a cool furniture/lifestyle store, but sadly, most items are way above my budget...)

Also volunteered for the first time as an usher/ticket-puncher at the National Museum. task was quite simple, and caught bits of a very interesting Syrian whirling dance performance. at the end of it all, was also asked by staff to be one of two girls to present bouquets to the director and main performer... that was really quite random, but since no one knew me anyway and it's just presenting of flowers, i did it quite unreluctantly haha. but yeah, quite a good experience overall. not to be blasphemous or anything, but it was really a 'Good Friday' on the whole...

The Lives of Others is an excellent film. The first 20 min or so was a little hard to get into, but soon you'll get really drawn into the whole story... I love how it ends... I think not reading any synopsis (or a really brief one) would make the film more enjoyable/more impactful... pls only read the plot summary on wikipedia after you've watched it! Catch it at the Cathay Picturehouse before it goes off the screens ;)

2Q resolutions

I find it hard to introduce changes into my normal routine; cos whatever self-improvement drive I choose to embark on would inevitably eat into my sleeping/resting/bumming time... but perhaps small steps will help? And so, the 3 small things I set out to do are ONE: Be a more conscientious Japanese student and stop doing homework only at last min. This i've been trying to 'implement' over the past 3 months or so but haven't been very successful. It beats me why I bother spending $300 for each semester, only to remb sufficient grammar and vocab to do my weekly test. More discipline!! Also splurged on an electronic dictionary last week; if I don't study harder I suppose i'm really throwing money into the drain :( TWO: Exercise more. I've come to appreciate the importance of exercising, but I don't do enough of it. But... this will take time lah. slowly slowly... shall aim to eventually exercise twice a week or something. Should also be a good way to force myself to get off work more punctually. THREE: This is not really a resolution, but I've been trying to think about what things really matter to me/things I enjoy. Under the influence of that inspirational book i read some weeks ago, I have been trying to figure that out... so last Sunday I revisited the good old Bras Basah Complex and all the arty shops there... feels a little like finding things you've lost. Gone are the sec days where I could spend literally 4, 5 hours in the art-room just drawing one thing, or putting together a little part of my art project; yet not feel that time has been 'wasted'. Sometimes you wonder, have certain things been 'rightly sacrificed' and why have they been sacrificed?