Factory Shopping August 21, 2008

This is going to sound auntie, but I’m going to say it anyway:

The highlight of my week was grabbing salmon steaks in a giant fridge at Fassler.

I was so excited about CHEAP! GOURMET! SEAFOOD! CHEAP! that I stayed in the freezer room a little too long oohing and aaahing at the gorgeous slabs of tuna tatakis and seafood terrines. By the time I got out, my hands were numb (but full).

Next door was this place (forgot name so won’t be tempted to buy) selling every kind of sausage on the face of this earth, as well as some impressive looking roasts. A colleague was spotted running gleefully towards the building exclaiming, “Meat heaven! Meat heaven!” Their bratwursts apparently rock.

And if you just walk down a little more, there’s Foodedge selling CHEAP! GOURMET! ICE-CREAM! CHEAP! I’ve tried the mango sorbet, it’s pretty good. And if it’s too much of a hassle to come down to the ulu North, they take online orders and do deliveries too.

Basically, these factories supply their products to hotels and restaurants all over Singapore but if you buy from them directly here, there are plenty of savings to be made. Like factory outlet shopping - only in this case, the foodstuff may even be better because it’s fresh from the source.

With the inflated prices of food, I’ve been finding it harder and harder to find good quality food at reasonable prices these days. With today’s visit,  I realise that WAH! there are actually plenty of food suppliers in the Ulu North selling at wholesale prices (finally, something noteworthy about this area). Loveleh.

Aunty Godpa Report: Nate to Date August 17, 2008

 

Male bonding (L-R: Nate, Dyson/Tai Sheng/Guy Sng?, Seng) Taken by D.

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about one of my favourite little fellas: Nate. 

We’ve actually been hanging out every now and then. Yesterday, we were over at his place and he gave us three little penguins as well as Harold the Helicopter as welcome gifts. 

The last time he was over at my place, he was playing Catch a little too enthusiastically, fell down, and cried for a loooooonnnng time. But by the time he had to go home, he still managed to give hugs. 

The other time he was at my place, Bryan hung him upside down and Nate’s mummy was a little worried something might get dislocated. He loved it though. 

Nate has very defined tastes and I must say they are rather high-brow and eclectic. But I think this will enable him to have a solid grammatical foundation and an intellectual sense of humour. He also has his own little neighbourhood posse and has even appeared in the headlines recently. 

D. and I are very proud of Nate and love him very much. 

 

Understudy

In a bid for a more open society, nanny state Singapore has decided to return parental controls to parents. To ensure a smooth transition, suitability testing has also been introduced. Couples such as Darren and Melanie Soh are closely scrutinized by government officials in a sterile playlab as they interact with test subject ‘nate’. Suitable couples will be licensed and entitled  to National Advancement Grants (NAG) plus 1 pack of free pampers. (A Parent Photo/Wong Maye-e) 

Regrowth August 17, 2008

Will grow back

After taking a look at some rather tired, bloated, sullen shots taken recently, I realise, it’s not just the vanity crying out in horror. It’s the cry that something needs to be done with the whole attitude of everything. 

There are circumstances that I can never change. But there are always choices to be made. 

There are certain things that will change you and your thinking for life. But that doesn’t mean things can’t be changed drastically again. For the better. 

Don’t drag others down with you. 

Don’t let others drag you down. 

Appreciate the blessings. 

Appreciate the differences. 

Find out who I am again.

As the truck hits August 13, 2008

Once my body registered that it was finally time for a little rest, it slowly unravelled and today, I woke up with a burning head and a headache that made me feel like I had a really thick tongue (no other way to describe it). With some Panadol Extras, I tried to settle some important matters, settled them, and proceeded to crash after lunch.

I wake up now still feeling rather not quite there, but realised that even though I have been feeling underwater the weather, I have made so many more observations about people these past few days:

- a lady cycling around my estate with bright blue gloves, a purple head scarve and bright red lipstick

- a bus driver with a radio-friendly voice and unusually impeccable manners. He greets each entering passenger in three different languages. Some of the (possibly) Bangaldeshi workers in yellow boots looked a little taken aback, but then waved happily after being acknowledged so nicely while the locals mostly ignored him because they haven’t been equipped to deal with such situations before.

- a cab driver, a former Nantah graduate who in a short span of 5 minutes expressed profound regret for his life choices. “I should have learnt English, those who did in my kampong started driving cars. Instead I went to a place where I was brainwashed and instead of telling you to learn, they told you to hold demonstrations.” He also expressed sympathy for my generation because even though we learn English now, it does not mean we will drive cars.

- a lady who got caught in the rain very cleverly took out her thongs so she could move around much faster on the wet, soggy ground barefoot.

- capisicums, just before they get burnt, produce this transparent skin covering

Row row row your boat August 9, 2008

The dream of my life

Is to lie down by a slow river

And stare at the light in the trees -

To learn something by being nothing

A little while but the rich

Lens of attention.

Mary Oliver

Sad Stories From Singapore August 7, 2008

About a month ago, I stumbled upon Stories.sg, a collection of personal letters by bloggers to Singapore in tribute to her 43rd birthday this Saturday.

Firstly, I was surprised by how few letters there were. Just around 20ish entries for a tech-savvy population of a couple of million.

Secondly, I was surprised that most of these letters contained more or less the similar theme: I really want to be proud of my country, but there’s a lot going against it. While some were more optimistic and others a lot more confrontational in general, there was this sense of not knowing what our national identity is about, and not knowing whether the kind of lives we lead here are sustainable.

Perhaps it’s the more “emo” types who would actually bother with a website like this, and hence the content being so similar. But if anything, I just feel a little less alone after reading this website. Thank God, it’s not just me.

Your constant drone of money, meritocracy and contradictions you fed me over and over again — they went away. I could finally hear myself think and reason. Without you, I was whole. Stormie

You’re more than people just scraping by, dreaming of money and five-star hotels. You’re a hell of a lot more than just a good air-conditioning system. You’re everybody, not just the dream citizen; you’re the Malay kids skipping school, hanging out at Peninsula Plaza in black jeans and trucker caps. You’re the unemployed kopitiam uncle with his songbirds. You’re the schoolgirl holding hands with her classmate, hoping the teacher doesn’t see. You’re every one of them, but for some reason you just won’t acknowledge this. You like to hold on to this idea of you being this clean, perfectly efficiently city, when really it’s the dirt that makes you who you are. Zing

I actually contributed an entry here, pounded out in 15 minutes during a particularly bad day and I just needed to get things out of my system. I’m not sure how much of a National Day present this is to Singapore, but hey, if anything, at least I am telling the truth.

Material acquisition #2: Disposable Lomo Camera July 31, 2008

I was at Objectifs the other day for Chin Hon’s book launch and saw the Lomo cameras on sale there. How cute. I got the cheap yellow disposable one. It was nice to use film after a long long time, which to me just means I have no idea what kind of pictures I am taking.

In the end, I ended up taking lots of pictures of my nostrils. Tip: those fancy colour effects only show up when you take something close-up (like nose holes) in a dark dark place.

Scrapbook Therapy July 27, 2008

From www.shopsei.com

I simply could not bear to use my brains this weekend and so I spent most of my time cutting, sticking, punching bits of pretty paper, stickers and photographs. There’s something about the sound of (good quality) paper being cut, getting your fingers sticky with the glue and being surrounding by shiny stickers. The world just seems like a much nicer and fuzzier place when there’s good stationery.

I realise scrapbooking and me will go very well together since I generally  like pretty paper (Paper House stalker), sparkly pens (Popular bookshop/Kino stalker) and photographs (too many of them all over the house). I felt so soothed after completing my very first scrapbook that, I went down again to the money-sucking scrapbook shop to pick up more delightful designy papers and alphabet stickers. I am making it a point NOT to go for a scrapbooking class because I know it gets really complicated with iron-ons and embroidery and heat embossing - which my lack of artistic aptitude (and wallet) would not be able to afford.

For now, I’m just happy to just to get crafty instead of worky. Now I understand why high-strung Paris Geller from Gilmore Girls had set up a scrapbooking table at her Yale dorm to find inner calm. It does work!

Small Spaces July 21, 2008

In order to prevent being stir-crazy in this tiny island, one has to move constantly within its small spaces. There are numerous widely-contrasting (albeit tiny) places that thankfully give one a sense of well, space. Having been a little tired of the space I was kicking my feet around in of late, I made my bi-annual pilgrammage to Pulau Ubin and found some refuge in Chek Jawa, possibly the tiniest mupltiple-eco system I have ever seen.

Pulau Ubin is a lot more crowded now and the jetty feels more like a cycling festival rather than an abandoned village (which is what I originally liked about it). But it still has that nostalgic 1980s aura, where it is ok to have dirty food and mud in your shoes, and catching the biggest fish means that your weekend is made.

Material acquisition #1: Phobia-Overcoming Car July 19, 2008

At some point, I will have have to talk about Recent Possessions Acquired. People like to talk about New Toys, or New Food at New Restaurants or New Clothes - I guess, with nothing much more to life than work and spending the money made from work, Buying New Things becomes a Big Deal.

About a month back, we got a Suzuki Swift Sport (which I think qualifies in the New Toy department) in a darker shade of blue and I suspect, an earlier model too (all small cars look alike to me). We call her Patsy (since the van is called Patrick). I scratched Patsy within the first week of trying to get acquainted with driving again. I have forgotten how to park and I don’t think I have any natural aptitude in that area too. But once I get that down right, I will attempt to be Independent Cruiser.

Patsy is supposed to help me get over this fear I’ve had of driving since that time way back in 1999 when I first drove out of Ubi Driving School and met LORRIES, and TRUCKS and BOORISH CABS that were generally rude and territorial. Coupled with seedy, creaky moustached 50-something driving instructors with permed hair, I generally HATED driving. I kind of gave up, until I took it up again in Melbourne which was absolutely a breeze with empty, wide suburb roads and basically an infinite amount of space and time given to park, since well, no one was around.

I am ok with: relatively empty highways, country roads and totally empty carparks

I am not ok with: practically anywhere else which is meant to be a city where it is crowded with LORRIES, TRUCKS and BOORISH CABS and SNEAKY MOTORBIKES and CROWDED CARPARKS.

But this is where Patsy comes in - she is small to make parking a little easier but not small enough to be bullied (apparently ). She is Auto which means Any Idiot (including me, apparently) Can Drive This.

At this point come the lame excuses why I have so many issues about driving. Firstly, I got into two pretty bad car accidents when I was younger (a fractured collarbone and a badly-sprained wrist respectively), both time sitting in friends’ mums’ cars. My psycho motor skills are genetically predisposed to be lacking and I have difficulties telling left from right and what the concept of straight is. My sister cannot park like me too and my mum has never parked straight in her life and has also knocked an old man down before (but he just got a bruise fortunately). So really I am a psychologically-damaged dyslexic when it comes to driving.

However, I will never forget a Portuguese bongo player I met who “read my stars” using a sophisticated astrology programme from his laptop and duly informed me that I would be ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE if I do not have a car to “explore the ends of the world”.

So Patsy (and reluctant, blood-pressure-ever-rising Instructor D.), do bear with me.