Okay. so I told Bear we had to take the camera and take pictures of dinner, and Bear put the camera on charge, and all was well. Then, just before we left, Bear chickened out and said he didn't really want to be taking pictures of the food in a fancy restaurant and I said what? just bring it! and he was like ahmm.. and i was like I'll take it! and then it dawned on me Bear's camera is a little big, not one of the small compact ones, and then i chickened out too, and asked Adrian to bring his (smaller) camera instead. Plus, Adrian is fearless and probably wouldn't be afraid of taking pictures of fancy food in a fancy restaurant.
And so we picked him and his camera up and drove up to Tetsuya's, which is in this lovely little heritage house in the middle of the city, with its own little ornamental lake and all... and from the moment the gate slid open to let us in, my God, it was just service service service! Lots of beautifully dressed polite well-spoken people opening doors, politely inquiring after needs, gently ushering us to our seats, pulling out chairs, laying napkins, we were in the presence of true professionals last night (ninja waiters, says Adrian).
And then i remembered that i'd left the camera in the car.
Whups. And then i thought Qiao will scream at me. And then i thought further, aiyah, i'll just bring her here next time. And that was that. :P
I'm not really sure how to describe it all, it really surpassed all our expectations, not that everything was perfect, but it was all So Incredibly Good!
Argh, i have a stomachache... Bear and i both had a really bad night last night, couldn't sleep well, probably combination of being ill, eating too much rich food and bad weather, but i promise i will write more later, with full descriptions of every single dish of beauty we were served. But before I go, let me just say one thing. TRUFFLE BUTTER!!!
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Oh!
Tetsuya's!
Oh!
The most amazing meal, no, astronomical gastronomical experience i have ever had!
Oh!
Qiao, you HAVE to come to sydney and you HAVE to go!
hang on..
uhoh. i think i'm 25.
will write more later.
Oh!
The most amazing meal, no, astronomical gastronomical experience i have ever had!
Oh!
Qiao, you HAVE to come to sydney and you HAVE to go!
hang on..
uhoh. i think i'm 25.
will write more later.
Friday, January 28, 2005
Remedies
When you have been coughing pathetically for a few weeks, you tend to collect lots of little remedies from well-meaning people. Various things I have been told recently:
To ease throat irritation, suck on cloves/honey mixed with crushed garlic/ginger mixed with black pepper/this really great lozenge that tastes really nice for a lozenge.
Only drink warm-hot drinks.
Chicken makes you cough.
Take birds nest.
Stay out of the wind.
Drink hot lemon juice with a bit of lemon zest and honey in it.
Eat lots of fruit.
Drink plenty of clear fluids.
Don't eat fruit. Especially oranges.
Take these antibiotics, they'll give you loose stools and abdominal cramps, but its only for 5 days.
Sleep on a towel.
Go to this chinese doctor, he'll scrape your back.
To ease throat irritation, suck on cloves/honey mixed with crushed garlic/ginger mixed with black pepper/this really great lozenge that tastes really nice for a lozenge.
Only drink warm-hot drinks.
Chicken makes you cough.
Take birds nest.
Stay out of the wind.
Drink hot lemon juice with a bit of lemon zest and honey in it.
Eat lots of fruit.
Drink plenty of clear fluids.
Don't eat fruit. Especially oranges.
Take these antibiotics, they'll give you loose stools and abdominal cramps, but its only for 5 days.
Sleep on a towel.
Go to this chinese doctor, he'll scrape your back.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Recreating CNY
Bear: Lets celebrate chinese new year here!
Syn: nah.. not the same. sigh.
Bear: Come on, we might as well, we'll invite the family over?
Syn: Hmm.
Bear: yes?
Syn: alright, if you want to celebrate it properly, first we have to do spring cleaning. That means vacuuming and cleaning the toilets and sorting out old clothes to give to charity and stuff. Then, everyone has to buy new clothes. Preferably red.
(Bear goes pale)
Syn: Then, the entire family has to meet on the eve of the new year to have dinner together, and the next three days are spent visiting all your relatives to eat a lot, get red packets of money, and fend off questions from nosy people about your path in life. You also have to visit friends to get money from their parents and sit around wearing red, fending off questions and eating stuff. And gambling. It is also important to visit my cousin, who makes the best pineapple tarts in the world.
Bear: This might be difficult, i thought it would just involve eating a lot.
Syn: There is that.
Bear: Lets just do that then?
Syn: Its not the same! *bawl*
Syn: nah.. not the same. sigh.
Bear: Come on, we might as well, we'll invite the family over?
Syn: Hmm.
Bear: yes?
Syn: alright, if you want to celebrate it properly, first we have to do spring cleaning. That means vacuuming and cleaning the toilets and sorting out old clothes to give to charity and stuff. Then, everyone has to buy new clothes. Preferably red.
(Bear goes pale)
Syn: Then, the entire family has to meet on the eve of the new year to have dinner together, and the next three days are spent visiting all your relatives to eat a lot, get red packets of money, and fend off questions from nosy people about your path in life. You also have to visit friends to get money from their parents and sit around wearing red, fending off questions and eating stuff. And gambling. It is also important to visit my cousin, who makes the best pineapple tarts in the world.
Bear: This might be difficult, i thought it would just involve eating a lot.
Syn: There is that.
Bear: Lets just do that then?
Syn: Its not the same! *bawl*
Stayed home today
I called in sick today, which was a hard decision. They were going for a Botany Bay cruise excursion! I love it when we go on cruises. Sigh. But there was just no escaping the fact that I'd coughed all of last night and this morning and had a terrible sore throat again. I've also run out of antibiotics! yikes.
Yen, i'm trying hard to not die of bronchitis before my birthday but the germs conspire against me!
In other news it occurs to me a few of my friends have recently been thinking hard about the whole soggy business of relationships and love. I found this out through their bloggythings of course. :P One isn't sure she's capable of loving someone, two others aren't sure they'll ever find someone suitable in the same country, another one is going out with yet another socially-maladjusted weedy-but-kinda-hot jesus-lookalike... well alright she's got her preferences sorted. :) But everyone else is unsure.
To the one who's not sure if she can love the way people are supposed to love other people, i say of course you can. You've loved before, and said so, and that's all there is to it. You know Ethan Hawke's character in Before Sunrise? He's asked by Julie Delpy if he's ever been in love, and he's like yes, and i told her so, but if u want to know if it was something pure and true and totally unlinked to lust and my baser instincts, then no.
Well duh. Anyone who thinks that love is all pure and chaste is talking about love for ratties.
or other assorted pets.
I think love is a decision, a shared delusion that becomes real when you share your life together. Sometimes its a bunch of messy feelings, sometimes its clear... Sometimes you meet someone, that particular someone, and you think, wow THIS is what love is! It's so nice and peaceful, it Must be true!
Or you don't, and you think you've never really loved someone truthfully, but you have. You obviously love your friends and some of your family if not all, and your dog/cat/hamster. The thing is though, whether you see your love as nice or messy, strong or weak, i don't think that's a measure of how real it is, but rather of how real the relationship is, or was, as may be the case.
Which brings me to the seeming absence of suitable candidates. Just because the world is filled with people incompatible to your higher instincts doesn't mean anything is wrong. That's just the way the dots scatter. Neverminding that, just what kind of people are compatible then? I've thought about this a bit, and people always say things like similar sense of humour, similar goals, similar tastes and needs, blah blah blah. I think it all boils down to, would you like to be this person? That's all. Give or take a few bad habits, if some super alien came to earth and for a bit of mischief, made you and the other person switch bodies and lives for, say, a couple of years, would you be totally horrified, or enjoy it for the opportunity to be this person for a bit?
I know, its flawed, but i think it covers most ground. :P
Yen, i'm trying hard to not die of bronchitis before my birthday but the germs conspire against me!
In other news it occurs to me a few of my friends have recently been thinking hard about the whole soggy business of relationships and love. I found this out through their bloggythings of course. :P One isn't sure she's capable of loving someone, two others aren't sure they'll ever find someone suitable in the same country, another one is going out with yet another socially-maladjusted weedy-but-kinda-hot jesus-lookalike... well alright she's got her preferences sorted. :) But everyone else is unsure.
To the one who's not sure if she can love the way people are supposed to love other people, i say of course you can. You've loved before, and said so, and that's all there is to it. You know Ethan Hawke's character in Before Sunrise? He's asked by Julie Delpy if he's ever been in love, and he's like yes, and i told her so, but if u want to know if it was something pure and true and totally unlinked to lust and my baser instincts, then no.
Well duh. Anyone who thinks that love is all pure and chaste is talking about love for ratties.
or other assorted pets.
I think love is a decision, a shared delusion that becomes real when you share your life together. Sometimes its a bunch of messy feelings, sometimes its clear... Sometimes you meet someone, that particular someone, and you think, wow THIS is what love is! It's so nice and peaceful, it Must be true!
Or you don't, and you think you've never really loved someone truthfully, but you have. You obviously love your friends and some of your family if not all, and your dog/cat/hamster. The thing is though, whether you see your love as nice or messy, strong or weak, i don't think that's a measure of how real it is, but rather of how real the relationship is, or was, as may be the case.
Which brings me to the seeming absence of suitable candidates. Just because the world is filled with people incompatible to your higher instincts doesn't mean anything is wrong. That's just the way the dots scatter. Neverminding that, just what kind of people are compatible then? I've thought about this a bit, and people always say things like similar sense of humour, similar goals, similar tastes and needs, blah blah blah. I think it all boils down to, would you like to be this person? That's all. Give or take a few bad habits, if some super alien came to earth and for a bit of mischief, made you and the other person switch bodies and lives for, say, a couple of years, would you be totally horrified, or enjoy it for the opportunity to be this person for a bit?
I know, its flawed, but i think it covers most ground. :P
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Bought things.
In the face of impending doom (adulthood), something had to be done to stop the freaking out. So today, Bear took me out for cake.
We went to Pattison's Patisserie down at Chatswood and bought: 2 lemon lime tarts, 1 chocolate brulee, 1 cheesecake, and a napoleon, which wasn't a rather short french emperor, but a vanilla slice with strawberries instead. I made Bear check. Then we ate a lemon lime tart and the cheesecake with tea and hot chocolate, and we were happy.
:D
And then we went shopping! Bear hadn't planned for this, but i decided, i needed an "adult identity", so i was going to buy one. Got paid last friday anyway.
Bear asked, where are we going? the adult identity shop?
That would've been ideal, but unfortunately there wasn't one to be found at Chatswood, so we wandered around, wondering what else i could purchase to ease this nagging sense of underachievement... a bag? nah, they're all armpit bags nowadays... shoes? they were all a bit too sparkly, pointy or precarious for my clompy doc mart tastes.. what about just general clothing stuff? Yes! I bought a dress! It wasn't covered in sequins, ruffles or ribbons and it wasn't pink, so i had to have it. Plus it looked nice on. :)
And then we also bought some coolant for the car, a microwave rice cooker (convenience!), and a supercool colourful swirly-shaped notepad thingy. Because that description is not very good, here is a picture:
Isn't it cool? Now, i am going to attempt to make a bechamel sauce without ending up with a large ball of dough. Wish me luck!
We went to Pattison's Patisserie down at Chatswood and bought: 2 lemon lime tarts, 1 chocolate brulee, 1 cheesecake, and a napoleon, which wasn't a rather short french emperor, but a vanilla slice with strawberries instead. I made Bear check. Then we ate a lemon lime tart and the cheesecake with tea and hot chocolate, and we were happy.
:D
And then we went shopping! Bear hadn't planned for this, but i decided, i needed an "adult identity", so i was going to buy one. Got paid last friday anyway.
Bear asked, where are we going? the adult identity shop?
That would've been ideal, but unfortunately there wasn't one to be found at Chatswood, so we wandered around, wondering what else i could purchase to ease this nagging sense of underachievement... a bag? nah, they're all armpit bags nowadays... shoes? they were all a bit too sparkly, pointy or precarious for my clompy doc mart tastes.. what about just general clothing stuff? Yes! I bought a dress! It wasn't covered in sequins, ruffles or ribbons and it wasn't pink, so i had to have it. Plus it looked nice on. :)
And then we also bought some coolant for the car, a microwave rice cooker (convenience!), and a supercool colourful swirly-shaped notepad thingy. Because that description is not very good, here is a picture:
Isn't it cool? Now, i am going to attempt to make a bechamel sauce without ending up with a large ball of dough. Wish me luck!
Quarter-life crisis
I can't believe i'm turning 25.
I haven't done anything with my life!
I freaked out last night about this, and after some discussion, Bear and I decided that this sudden need to: get married/have a kid/buy a car/buy a house/get a proper job title was all about establishing some sort of "adult" identity.
I suppose its because 25 seems to me to be the death knell of youth, where it starts rounding up to 30, and there's no more of this faffing about finding yourself rubbish, its time to settle down and be an adult, goddamnit!
I haven't done anything with my life!
I freaked out last night about this, and after some discussion, Bear and I decided that this sudden need to: get married/have a kid/buy a car/buy a house/get a proper job title was all about establishing some sort of "adult" identity.
I suppose its because 25 seems to me to be the death knell of youth, where it starts rounding up to 30, and there's no more of this faffing about finding yourself rubbish, its time to settle down and be an adult, goddamnit!
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Feeling better
So. In other non-food related news, I'm feeling much better now.
I'm still coughing, but at least its only occasionally rather than perpetually. Unfortunately, I also seem to be coughing up blood.
Every time i say that i get this image of blood gushing forth from my throat. heh.
Its not that serious, just some red coloured phlegm and occasional spots of blood here and there... nothing to worry about, right?
right?
*worried*
I'm still coughing, but at least its only occasionally rather than perpetually. Unfortunately, I also seem to be coughing up blood.
Every time i say that i get this image of blood gushing forth from my throat. heh.
Its not that serious, just some red coloured phlegm and occasional spots of blood here and there... nothing to worry about, right?
right?
*worried*
Menu
Tetsuya's latest degustation set menu:
Carpaccio of Beetroot with Tonburi & Caviar
Marinated NZ Scampi with Foie Gras & Walnut
Tuna Marinated in Soy & Mirin
Grilled Potato Noodle with Wakame & Lemon
Gazpacho with Spiced Tomato Sorbet
Confit of Petuna Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Konbu, Daikon & Rocket
Seasonal Green Salad
Ravioli of Lobster with Scallop and Tarragon Mousse, Tomato & Basil
Rolled Wagyu Beef with Asian Mushrooms & Citrus Jus
Slow Roasted De-Boned Rack of Lamb with White Miso & Smoked Eggplant
Mandarin Sorbet with Black Pepper
Strawberry Shortcake
Hazelnut Soup with Chocolate & Hazelnut Sorbet
Chocolate Terrine with Mascarpone and Cognac Anglaise
Coffee or Tea & Petit Four
Carpaccio of Beetroot with Tonburi & Caviar
Marinated NZ Scampi with Foie Gras & Walnut
Tuna Marinated in Soy & Mirin
Grilled Potato Noodle with Wakame & Lemon
Gazpacho with Spiced Tomato Sorbet
Confit of Petuna Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Konbu, Daikon & Rocket
Seasonal Green Salad
Ravioli of Lobster with Scallop and Tarragon Mousse, Tomato & Basil
Rolled Wagyu Beef with Asian Mushrooms & Citrus Jus
Slow Roasted De-Boned Rack of Lamb with White Miso & Smoked Eggplant
Mandarin Sorbet with Black Pepper
Strawberry Shortcake
Hazelnut Soup with Chocolate & Hazelnut Sorbet
Chocolate Terrine with Mascarpone and Cognac Anglaise
Coffee or Tea & Petit Four
Happy food!
We're going to Tetsuya's for my birthday next saturday!
*joy*
Well technically it'll be the night before my birthday... but if i stay up past midnight it'll count as my birthday yay! I'm going to be 24!
Bear: what?
24!
Bear: 25.
24!
Bear: darling, i'm afraid not.
not 25. *gasp*
Bear: mmm hmm.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
*joy*
Well technically it'll be the night before my birthday... but if i stay up past midnight it'll count as my birthday yay! I'm going to be 24!
Bear: what?
24!
Bear: 25.
24!
Bear: darling, i'm afraid not.
not 25. *gasp*
Bear: mmm hmm.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Creationism builds a museum
Have a look at the new Creation Museum under construction in Kentucky.
"This ‘walk through history’ museum will be a wonderful alternative to the evolutionary natural history museums that are turning countless minds against the gospel of Christ and the authority of the Scripture."There's even an online walkthrough! I thought #19 was particularly unexpected:
"T. rex—the real king of the beasts. That’s the terror that Adam’s sin unleashed! You’ll run into this monster lurking near Adam and Eve. How’s this possible? Find out soon!"
The banality of evil
I thought this editorial by Gerard Henderson in the Sydney Morning Herald was a rather sound response to the furore surrounding Prince Harry's recent swastika moment.
Excerpt:
p/s. The title of this post, the banality of evil, is actually part of the title of a book by Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. She wrote about the trial of Adolf Eichmann, and gave some insight into how the nazi regime was made out of some very ordinary people, but put in that particular system or situation, came to do extraordinarily terrible things.
Excerpt:
It is unclear whether Harry knows anything about Europe in the 1930s and 1940s or, more broadly, about totalitarian regimes - fascist, Nazi and communist alike. If he is ignorant of these matters, then it is possible that he has been influenced by the modern word usage which regards the terms "fascist", "Nazi" and "Stalinist" as mere weapons of abuse, devoid of any historical meaning.
p/s. The title of this post, the banality of evil, is actually part of the title of a book by Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. She wrote about the trial of Adolf Eichmann, and gave some insight into how the nazi regime was made out of some very ordinary people, but put in that particular system or situation, came to do extraordinarily terrible things.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Anti-bronchitis
After 3 days of complete and utter misery, it occurs to me i cannot recover by sheer willpower alone. So Bear took me to the doctor. Apparently i have bronchitis!
At least now i also have antibiotics. yay. So hopefully this will all be over soon.
In other news, it appears that a lot of people are coming here via searchengine results on the word "rattie", and also, to a much lesser extent, "pachyderms" and "chicken san choy bao". Because i don't want to disappoint anyone, and because they're so gorgeous, here are some pictures of my ratties!
They're just So wonderful, the both of them. They always make my day.
At least now i also have antibiotics. yay. So hopefully this will all be over soon.
In other news, it appears that a lot of people are coming here via searchengine results on the word "rattie", and also, to a much lesser extent, "pachyderms" and "chicken san choy bao". Because i don't want to disappoint anyone, and because they're so gorgeous, here are some pictures of my ratties!
They're just So wonderful, the both of them. They always make my day.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Not well yet.
Nope. not got any better either.
Skin hurts a wee bit less though.
Otherwise am all raw and sore inside and everywhere.
sore sore sore.
I suspect that the very green expectorant might not have been such a good idea.
See, prior to taking it, I'd been coughing up these bitter blobby yellow mucus globs in the morning, after which i'd be fine, until say noon, then the coughing would gradually get worse. So the natural assumption made was that coughing brings up the globby gunk, and when the gunk is brought up, coughing ceases till the next bunch of gunk is assembled. hurrah! But then, with expectorant, it doesn't work that way!
So it breaks up the gunk, and brings it up. At least that was the sales pitch. For the past two days, i've just been coughing constantly, even at night, waking up every 2 hours or so to scratch my lungs out, bringing up no more than weird vaguely salty fluidy nothing. No bitter blobby mucus globs! The assumption now made, was that the expectorant was just diluting the gunk and then making me cough extra hard to bring it all up. What a crock!
So i took only half the dose yesterday and today am finally seeing some yellow globs. yay! Not that i'm coughing any less, but it is somehow more satisfying when you cough up something that's not only almost solid, but also looks evil and wrong, rather than just vague weak weird fluidy stuff.
All in all, being ill is really no fun at all and i've had enough now. Someone make it stop!
Skin hurts a wee bit less though.
Otherwise am all raw and sore inside and everywhere.
sore sore sore.
I suspect that the very green expectorant might not have been such a good idea.
See, prior to taking it, I'd been coughing up these bitter blobby yellow mucus globs in the morning, after which i'd be fine, until say noon, then the coughing would gradually get worse. So the natural assumption made was that coughing brings up the globby gunk, and when the gunk is brought up, coughing ceases till the next bunch of gunk is assembled. hurrah! But then, with expectorant, it doesn't work that way!
So it breaks up the gunk, and brings it up. At least that was the sales pitch. For the past two days, i've just been coughing constantly, even at night, waking up every 2 hours or so to scratch my lungs out, bringing up no more than weird vaguely salty fluidy nothing. No bitter blobby mucus globs! The assumption now made, was that the expectorant was just diluting the gunk and then making me cough extra hard to bring it all up. What a crock!
So i took only half the dose yesterday and today am finally seeing some yellow globs. yay! Not that i'm coughing any less, but it is somehow more satisfying when you cough up something that's not only almost solid, but also looks evil and wrong, rather than just vague weak weird fluidy stuff.
All in all, being ill is really no fun at all and i've had enough now. Someone make it stop!
Thursday, January 13, 2005
On visiting mushroomland
I'm so envious of Sammie getting to go back for Chinese new year. I had 5 little days and nothing to show for it now but a stack of empty bengawan solo boxes. Sigh! Speaking of which, it appears that the key to passing through australian customs as smoothly as a banana through the bowels, is to bring with you a well-dressed respectable looking australian. Prior to travelling with Bear, i have Never been able to get past the gates without a thorough bag search, x-ray, and series of uncomfortably probing questions. Bear clearly looks too respectable and sensible to be foolish enough to try bringing in exotic animals, vials of bacteria, or, horror of horrors, fruit!
I still regret that large box of fully luscious mangos that got confiscated at JFK airport when I was visiting Sam. Why the hell is new york worried about fruit? Someone please enlighten me.
Anyway, I told myself that I needed to thank the people who made my little trip home such fun, so, a little belatedly, here i give thanks. Firstly to Adrian, for graciously agreeing to inhabit our home, feed and entertain our ratties, and defend it against the ant-hordes for the week. Also, for being nice about when we told him to pick us up two hours before the actual arrival time. We tried to correct this by sms-ing him from the satellite phone on the plane, but apparently it arrived after several hours and too late - just so you know in case u ever want to sms anyone using the aircraft phone thing, calling is probably more immediate. :P
Then i have to thank Kelly and her friend Anna, for having dinner with us, recommending that excellent movie, 'Nobody knows', and for initiating the duck tour excursion, which was so touristy and corny but interesting enough. At least the tour guide seemed to have a genuine unscripted sense of humour, and Bear got to take a few photos of the merlion. What else can you ask for really?
It was also fun meeting up with Qiao and Raymond (and friends) for katong laksa, even if it had dropped standards and was bland and we really should have gone to the other stall, which amused Bear no end, apparently this is the same conversation that takes place everytime Bear eats with Singaporeans.
Like when we had dinner with Gracie and her *gasp* husband, who turned out to be very nice and friendly and was really cool and drove us home after we stuffed ourselves insensible with sambal stingray, satay, chicken wings, etc etc.. at Laguna Park (to which my mum says "dropped standard! especially after the renovation.") It was good of Gracie to fill me in on all kinds of gossip, mainly pertaining to the inexplicable tendency for the girls in her year to get hitched, especially to foreign men on foreign soil. Don't know what is wrong with them lot.
Anyway, lastly, but so importantly, it was soooooo good to meet up with all my old classmates! Su-Lin was gratifyingly pleased with, and Cindy unexpectedly fervent about the krispy kreme doughnuts we delivered (next time, Cin, we'll bring several more boxes), Sulin showed off her new boy, and Louise, Andrea, Yen, Dawn, Joey, and Ruth were incredibly sweet to make up some time out of their crazy mad schedules to meet up and have food. It was very much a real relief to be able to talk to people who know what you're talking about, without always having to couch your words in a way others will understand, or constantly having to explain yourself when people just don't get it.
Bear said he'd learnt from this trip that I could actually be a sociable person, that is, chatty and animated in a group of people. I suppose it takes a certain special group of people to bring that about.
Depend on it, i will be back.
I still regret that large box of fully luscious mangos that got confiscated at JFK airport when I was visiting Sam. Why the hell is new york worried about fruit? Someone please enlighten me.
Anyway, I told myself that I needed to thank the people who made my little trip home such fun, so, a little belatedly, here i give thanks. Firstly to Adrian, for graciously agreeing to inhabit our home, feed and entertain our ratties, and defend it against the ant-hordes for the week. Also, for being nice about when we told him to pick us up two hours before the actual arrival time. We tried to correct this by sms-ing him from the satellite phone on the plane, but apparently it arrived after several hours and too late - just so you know in case u ever want to sms anyone using the aircraft phone thing, calling is probably more immediate. :P
Then i have to thank Kelly and her friend Anna, for having dinner with us, recommending that excellent movie, 'Nobody knows', and for initiating the duck tour excursion, which was so touristy and corny but interesting enough. At least the tour guide seemed to have a genuine unscripted sense of humour, and Bear got to take a few photos of the merlion. What else can you ask for really?
It was also fun meeting up with Qiao and Raymond (and friends) for katong laksa, even if it had dropped standards and was bland and we really should have gone to the other stall, which amused Bear no end, apparently this is the same conversation that takes place everytime Bear eats with Singaporeans.
Like when we had dinner with Gracie and her *gasp* husband, who turned out to be very nice and friendly and was really cool and drove us home after we stuffed ourselves insensible with sambal stingray, satay, chicken wings, etc etc.. at Laguna Park (to which my mum says "dropped standard! especially after the renovation.") It was good of Gracie to fill me in on all kinds of gossip, mainly pertaining to the inexplicable tendency for the girls in her year to get hitched, especially to foreign men on foreign soil. Don't know what is wrong with them lot.
Anyway, lastly, but so importantly, it was soooooo good to meet up with all my old classmates! Su-Lin was gratifyingly pleased with, and Cindy unexpectedly fervent about the krispy kreme doughnuts we delivered (next time, Cin, we'll bring several more boxes), Sulin showed off her new boy, and Louise, Andrea, Yen, Dawn, Joey, and Ruth were incredibly sweet to make up some time out of their crazy mad schedules to meet up and have food. It was very much a real relief to be able to talk to people who know what you're talking about, without always having to couch your words in a way others will understand, or constantly having to explain yourself when people just don't get it.
Bear said he'd learnt from this trip that I could actually be a sociable person, that is, chatty and animated in a group of people. I suppose it takes a certain special group of people to bring that about.
Depend on it, i will be back.
Signature folly
The other day, Bear and i made some purchases with my credit card, and i was amused when the cashier didn't check my signature. This made me wonder if she was being negligent, but then was she really? After all, its my signature, and i can't make any two of them identical, vaguely similar at best. What's more, any idiot could surely take aside a minute or two to practise a passable signature from the stolen card, and since its unlikely for cashiers the world over to be trained in signature comparison even if there were such a reliable process, isn't it just pointless posturing to make a point of looking at the signature? After all, even when they look so different, as mine constantly do, no one has ever questioned me, so I decided it was all a futile exercise in pretense of security. Like gated communities.
And then we proceeded to the supermarket, and I paid for our groceries again with the credit card. Now this time, the checkout girl, who was curt and rude and giving me these mean looks, god knows what i did to offend her, took my card and did the whole punching in numbers thing and returned it to me. Because i had settled in my own mind how foolish the whole enterprise was, i proceeded to pocket my card immediately after signing the receipt when she glared at me and asked to check the signature. At which i thought, okay you're just being mean for the sake of it. The signatures were, as usual, so different! But she made show of examining them and then handed them back to me.
Maybe she felt better by doing that, relishing the chance to make me look a fool, or maybe she was just pissed off at the world that day and why did this stupid sunburnt person not understand the Proper Procedure for paying with a credit card?
:P
And then we proceeded to the supermarket, and I paid for our groceries again with the credit card. Now this time, the checkout girl, who was curt and rude and giving me these mean looks, god knows what i did to offend her, took my card and did the whole punching in numbers thing and returned it to me. Because i had settled in my own mind how foolish the whole enterprise was, i proceeded to pocket my card immediately after signing the receipt when she glared at me and asked to check the signature. At which i thought, okay you're just being mean for the sake of it. The signatures were, as usual, so different! But she made show of examining them and then handed them back to me.
Maybe she felt better by doing that, relishing the chance to make me look a fool, or maybe she was just pissed off at the world that day and why did this stupid sunburnt person not understand the Proper Procedure for paying with a credit card?
:P
Sunscreen and expectorant
I'm sick, sunburnt with a painful hacking cough.
Its a terrible combination. If i try to ease the burn on my back with something cool, i cough more. And then if i don't, i cough anyway, and end up sore all over and inside out and baaaargh.
So Bear came home today after a marathon "doing Bearish wind-tunnel testing stuff" at uni, all tired and hot and hungry, and was greeted by a Suyin in bed pretending to be asleep so as to fool the throat into not coughing.
"can i get you anything sweetie?"
"medicine. to stop the coughing."
(cough cough)
"what about the one we have? from the last time i was sick?"
"No. Old. probably bad."
(coooough cough coughh cougggh)
"what kind of cough do you have?"
"bad. hurts. mucus."
(couggh coughh arrrgh)
"they'll probably give you the same stuff anyway"
"I Don't Care! Want New Medicine to Stop Coughing!"
(COUGH COUGH COUGH)
"Alright then, we'll go to the pharmacy and get you some stuff."
"I don't want to go out. Have to get dressed and wear bra. Hurts."
At this point i think Bear gave up, and I went and got dressed because sometimes, you just have to not throw a tantrum. Even when u're sick and miserable and think you have every right to do so.
Now i have some wacky throat-spray (to numb the throat!) and some really green cough medicine called an Expectorant, which breaks up the mucus and brings it up, or something like that.
Now all i need is new skin!
Its a terrible combination. If i try to ease the burn on my back with something cool, i cough more. And then if i don't, i cough anyway, and end up sore all over and inside out and baaaargh.
So Bear came home today after a marathon "doing Bearish wind-tunnel testing stuff" at uni, all tired and hot and hungry, and was greeted by a Suyin in bed pretending to be asleep so as to fool the throat into not coughing.
"can i get you anything sweetie?"
"medicine. to stop the coughing."
(cough cough)
"what about the one we have? from the last time i was sick?"
"No. Old. probably bad."
(coooough cough coughh cougggh)
"what kind of cough do you have?"
"bad. hurts. mucus."
(couggh coughh arrrgh)
"they'll probably give you the same stuff anyway"
"I Don't Care! Want New Medicine to Stop Coughing!"
(COUGH COUGH COUGH)
"Alright then, we'll go to the pharmacy and get you some stuff."
"I don't want to go out. Have to get dressed and wear bra. Hurts."
At this point i think Bear gave up, and I went and got dressed because sometimes, you just have to not throw a tantrum. Even when u're sick and miserable and think you have every right to do so.
Now i have some wacky throat-spray (to numb the throat!) and some really green cough medicine called an Expectorant, which breaks up the mucus and brings it up, or something like that.
Now all i need is new skin!
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Help.
Anyone with experience is invited to offer suggestions on cost-effective activities to keep 11-12 year old boys occupied, so that they don't get bored and start throwing hard things at each other "for fun" and corrupting the younger children for back-up and amusement.
I mean, seriously, apart from computer games and television, is there Anything that will engage, for any reasonable amount of time, a rather edgy group of cynical preteen deviants?
I mean, seriously, apart from computer games and television, is there Anything that will engage, for any reasonable amount of time, a rather edgy group of cynical preteen deviants?
Monday, January 10, 2005
In reply to Bear
In reply to Bear's comment on the previous post, because its too long for a comment!
Bear asked, "If 'we just don't have as much control of our minds, attitudes, or behaviours as we think we do' then why not? Is it due to some hard limitation of our beings, or through laziness, lack of education or arrested emotional development?"
We don't have as much control of our minds, etc etc as we think we do, because control, and consciousness, take a lot of concentration. ahah. :)
Experiencing life as a human being is a matter of receiving a very very large quantity and variety of stimuli (all the smells! things to look at, to listen to, to feel, etc), and people are not equipped to be consciously thinking about everything at once. It's simply not effective. Which is why, if u're consciously attending to something (like reading a book), everything else you are receiving, is taken in and sorted through and given appropriate attention according to your er.. peripheral attention. Or subconsciousness, or animal instincts, although those things are each a little bit different. For example, you might be talking with someone, and paying close attention to the content of what they're saying. At the same time, however, your mind is also picking up and reacting to their body language and tones of voice, the smell of their hair, whatever, you get what i mean, and this is affecting you even if you don't notice it.
All this information that you receive, even if not consciously attended to, does very much influence what you learn, and how you feel, which affects things like your mood and memory, resulting in subsequent attitudes and behaviour, etc.
In any case, default animal behaviour (i prefer automatic behaviour) is probably only overcome with education/training. Otherwise, it serves us pretty well i think, getting us through life without totally stressing out our attention capacities or missing too many important things. For those people who know enough about bears to be scared of them, the first reaction is not either to run or stand and talk, it starts in your autonomic nervous system, your heartbeat quickens, adrenaline is released, etc. The first reaction is fear. Then, if you have not been trained or taught otherwise, the next reaction probably is to run. Which is not so bad, if u didn't know any other way.
Bear quoted and wrote, "'To know others is wisdom, to know oneself is enlightenment.' - Lao-tzu. Sadly, sometimes it seems we still live in times where wisdom is scarce and enlightenment almost non-existent."
Well its all very well to bemoan the lack of self-knowledge and knowledge of others and then disclaim "i have never studied psychology!" heheheh. Perhaps you should. :P And then we should all study bears! Megafauna!! yeah!
"To know others is useful stuff, to know oneself saves a lot of trouble too, but to know Bear is best of all." - Su-yin
Bear asked, "If 'we just don't have as much control of our minds, attitudes, or behaviours as we think we do' then why not? Is it due to some hard limitation of our beings, or through laziness, lack of education or arrested emotional development?"
We don't have as much control of our minds, etc etc as we think we do, because control, and consciousness, take a lot of concentration. ahah. :)
Experiencing life as a human being is a matter of receiving a very very large quantity and variety of stimuli (all the smells! things to look at, to listen to, to feel, etc), and people are not equipped to be consciously thinking about everything at once. It's simply not effective. Which is why, if u're consciously attending to something (like reading a book), everything else you are receiving, is taken in and sorted through and given appropriate attention according to your er.. peripheral attention. Or subconsciousness, or animal instincts, although those things are each a little bit different. For example, you might be talking with someone, and paying close attention to the content of what they're saying. At the same time, however, your mind is also picking up and reacting to their body language and tones of voice, the smell of their hair, whatever, you get what i mean, and this is affecting you even if you don't notice it.
All this information that you receive, even if not consciously attended to, does very much influence what you learn, and how you feel, which affects things like your mood and memory, resulting in subsequent attitudes and behaviour, etc.
In any case, default animal behaviour (i prefer automatic behaviour) is probably only overcome with education/training. Otherwise, it serves us pretty well i think, getting us through life without totally stressing out our attention capacities or missing too many important things. For those people who know enough about bears to be scared of them, the first reaction is not either to run or stand and talk, it starts in your autonomic nervous system, your heartbeat quickens, adrenaline is released, etc. The first reaction is fear. Then, if you have not been trained or taught otherwise, the next reaction probably is to run. Which is not so bad, if u didn't know any other way.
Bear quoted and wrote, "'To know others is wisdom, to know oneself is enlightenment.' - Lao-tzu. Sadly, sometimes it seems we still live in times where wisdom is scarce and enlightenment almost non-existent."
Well its all very well to bemoan the lack of self-knowledge and knowledge of others and then disclaim "i have never studied psychology!" heheheh. Perhaps you should. :P And then we should all study bears! Megafauna!! yeah!
"To know others is useful stuff, to know oneself saves a lot of trouble too, but to know Bear is best of all." - Su-yin
Friday, January 07, 2005
People.
mr brown recently pointed out a blog entry from some insipid small american, who wrote some very stupid things about the recent tsunami, earning himself vilification from the online community - or at least mr brown's extensive readership, which i'll bet he didn't expect. He might've been foolish, not a little ignorant, and not very serious, but at least he's not a news network.
My argument to him, however, was that you just have to lower your expectations of people. We just don't have as much control of our minds, attitudes, or behaviours as we think we do. There's also no good blaming "the system" for how it makes people think or behave because a system is usually the work of a good many people doing their own thing in their own way, over lengths of time, and who in that is to blame?
Also, i'm beginning to subscribe to the "there are two kinds of people in the world" argument, whereby one kind believes that its a dog eat dog zero-sum reality and if you don't take care of yourself no one will. The other sort believes otherwise, that human beings are altruistic and good at heart and that you don't need to step on others to get ahead. Its all very Dr Phil, i know, but i like it anyway. It explains some people. In any case, if those two kinds of people do actually represent the human population in some discrete way, then they're both wrong. And one of them is bound to be disappointed till they realise it.
Fox News host John Gibson bemoaned the fact that U.S. relief -- getting water, food and shelter to millions of destitute people -- might be part of an insurance scam to simply pay for the cost of rebuilding a resort community. "This is the travel industry, major big hotel companies," he said last week. "How is it that United States taxpayers are going to be convinced you have to build hotels in Phuket?" He worried aloud that "Thailand, Indonesia, India, the countries that got hit [will] say, 'We need dough and we need buckets of it to fix all this so Swedes can go on vacation in Phuket again.'" (from salon.com)I spoke to Bear once, about being cynical, and he said something about how he was just disappointed in people sometimes. I think cynicism can be so tiresome and not very constructive and really not much fun at all, but i do see his point.
My argument to him, however, was that you just have to lower your expectations of people. We just don't have as much control of our minds, attitudes, or behaviours as we think we do. There's also no good blaming "the system" for how it makes people think or behave because a system is usually the work of a good many people doing their own thing in their own way, over lengths of time, and who in that is to blame?
Also, i'm beginning to subscribe to the "there are two kinds of people in the world" argument, whereby one kind believes that its a dog eat dog zero-sum reality and if you don't take care of yourself no one will. The other sort believes otherwise, that human beings are altruistic and good at heart and that you don't need to step on others to get ahead. Its all very Dr Phil, i know, but i like it anyway. It explains some people. In any case, if those two kinds of people do actually represent the human population in some discrete way, then they're both wrong. And one of them is bound to be disappointed till they realise it.
Back to the Drudgery!
Hooray. So we stayed only a week in Singapore because i had to come back early to catch up work on my research.
So far, I've:
Done the laundry!
Whee!
We've been very unproductive people... the first day back was Bear's brother's birthday, so that was taken up with fishing, or rather, as Adrian put it, "ing", because there were no fish. Bear did his best though, and proudly presented to me his only catch of the day, the saddest clump of seaweed i've ever seen.
The next day was spent doing n o t h i n g, and not going out, subsisting instead on bengawan solo produce, and quite a lot of valrhona. Well we didn't actually do nothing, i think i picked up the Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn sometime around noon, and then put it down and it was like 3am. So .. so..
So we're not going up to the central coast today to sit around at nice beaches, instead i'm going to stay at home like a good girl and organise my ethics approval!
!!!
the more exclamation marks i use, the more likely it is to be true!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So far, I've:
Done the laundry!
Whee!
We've been very unproductive people... the first day back was Bear's brother's birthday, so that was taken up with fishing, or rather, as Adrian put it, "ing", because there were no fish. Bear did his best though, and proudly presented to me his only catch of the day, the saddest clump of seaweed i've ever seen.
The next day was spent doing n o t h i n g, and not going out, subsisting instead on bengawan solo produce, and quite a lot of valrhona. Well we didn't actually do nothing, i think i picked up the Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn sometime around noon, and then put it down and it was like 3am. So .. so..
So we're not going up to the central coast today to sit around at nice beaches, instead i'm going to stay at home like a good girl and organise my ethics approval!
!!!
the more exclamation marks i use, the more likely it is to be true!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Back home
Which home? asks Bear.
Well sydney, duh.
well i get confused, you keep saying you miss home but i never know which one.
obviously the one i'm not at?
Yes but sometimes we're in neither.
Yesyes well we're Home now. in Sydney. not in Singapore. and I MISS SINGAPORE!!!!!
(Bear edges slowly away...)
(and edges back carefully... bearing a sleepy looking Kimi.)
*sigh!*
Well sydney, duh.
well i get confused, you keep saying you miss home but i never know which one.
obviously the one i'm not at?
Yes but sometimes we're in neither.
Yesyes well we're Home now. in Sydney. not in Singapore. and I MISS SINGAPORE!!!!!
(Bear edges slowly away...)
(and edges back carefully... bearing a sleepy looking Kimi.)
*sigh!*
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