Spring fever

Have just returned from a foray at the library. Came back with yet another book (Jasper Fforde's Lost in a good book, second in a series recommended by my dear sister) and a CD by Ruben Gonzales (for a concessionary 45p. The CD not the book). For the first time in many months, I was sweating and this even after I left my coat open. It's spring! Am not too pleased with Mr. Sun - but of course am the only person in Britain who loved the winter.

Yesterday was another fine day. Nazir and I went to Tesco's for a supply run - it's a huge Tesco off the North Circular. Everything under one roof, from makeup and clothes to food. I was really quite exhausted after finding food- and ice-cream! The joy of having a freezer to store ice cream. The flat we lived in prior to this had a tiny box called a freezer where even a box of ice cream could not fit. Anyway, was quite tired that I didn't even check out the clothes. Toiletries were okay - but my personal store, Watson's have not been surplanted.

Afterwards, we took a detour from the route home and went to Alexandra Palace. Nazir was thinking of it the exact moment I suggested it. Kindred! Nice to find out little things like that - reinforces the certainty that the marriage is quite a jolly idea. Anyway, Alexandra Palace turned out to be the huge building I have always wondered about that we saw from the window. (Fotopage - see the huge orangey, coral building?) It was an okay palace - converted to a convention centre. Quite strange - when we entered, felt like it was Suntec City. With indoor greenhouse and better architecture. There was an education fair (hence the Suntec City feel) going on, consequently there were titchy wee kids (actually teens) running around. No one gave us a second look so I guess we looked young enough to blend it. But for the clothes. Think 50 cent meet sixteen year olds. Right down to the bling. Diamond studs (has to be faux) in ears, caps etc. And the girls with their tight pants and big hoop earrings. Great hair all round though. Wonder how long they spent on their hair each morning. And the kids were so big! They were towering over me. They all seemed so mature. Quite scary. But at the same time I felt so much older than them. Then, I realized, I have never dressed young. I had never been young. Oh well, youth is wasted on the young (Robbie Williams) and all that.

Anyway, Alexandra Park was gorgeous - it's right in front of the palace. It is hilly, green and you can see the whole of London all round, where it's not blocked by Crouch Hill (where I live) and Muswell Hill. We could also see the BT Tower - near our old flat.It was beautiful. Perfect for picnics. The sun was shining, a breeze was blowing, fantastic views as far as the eye can see, and one of the nicest human beings who I can call my own next to me. In that instant, I was glad I was me, lost youth notwithstanding.

Halfling

Again from a link in Ain's blog.....the queen of quizzes.

Your Brain is 46.67% Female, 53.33% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Match of the day: Happiness vs. depression

I had a good day socializing yesterday. GASP! Righty-ho. We went to Brent Cross yesterday to visit Nazir's friend and from there, together (errr.....how keramaian is that?!) we went to Oriental City - a mini Johor Baru in London. We had lunch - Malay food! - and went shopping where I proceeded to get Calbee Prawn Crackers. Prawn crackers in London tastes so much better than prawn crackers in Singapore. Sigh. Anyway, we had dinner at their house in Brent Cross before finally going home at ten. Wow-ee. That's nearly ten hours of non-stop socializing. I didn't even mind (much!) missing Enterprise, one of the two shows I regularly watch. Amazing.

Well, it helped that the people I hung out with (Nazir's friend's wife and her sister) were kindred. There's nothing quite like talking to people who get it. So yay to that.

So, that was a pretty good day all in all.

Then, at home I watched Sex: The Annabel Chong Story. Such a S'porean title don't you think? 'The Airforce Show' comes to mind (Read The Teenage Textbook for the reference). I bet if there is a documentary/docu-drama on porn made in S'pore it would be called Porn: The movie, or something like that. I am starting to suspect we inherited more than Raffles from the British; London's tag for their Olympic bid was "Back the bid". :D

Right....back to Annabel Chong. For those not in the know, or just plain too young to remember (eyeroll), she did 251 men in 10 hours for a porn movie. Watching the documentary, I felt really, really sad for her. I don't often get that way, especially about porn stars and prostitutes etc, but at the risk of sounding middle-aged, middle-class, moralizing and everything in between, it's really quite sad how she has degenerated.

She starts off pretty annoying, truth be told. For eg, the pseudo-American accent favoured by certain sectors of the population, how she insists she was just born in S'pore, but was brought up in London (while it was a blatant lie - she went to school in S'pore!), how she slagged S'poreans in general. It was the slagging that got to me - yeah, you have issues, you might hate S'pore but really, telling the whole world what an uptight, prissy nation of people we are (not in those exact words, actually. She isn't THAT articulate. Or at all.) AND saying "Fuck them all", it really got me incensed. For someone who "grew up in London" and "was just born there", she has loads of opinions and knowledge about Singapore.

Personal umbrage aside, she also spouted some pseudo-intellectual sounding (what I thought to be) nonsense about why she did the deed. How it empowers women, upturns the stereotypes of women as sex objects and wants to be a 'stud'. In theory, it sounds vaguely empowering but with the video titled "World's biggest gangbang 1", it seems to fall short of female empowerment. Who's banging whom? The title implies the men are banging her. Not vice-versa. Want empowerment? Try Thelma and Louise. But limiting to the world of porn, I watched this
documentary some time back, and in my opinion, Anna Span does more for empowerment than Chong. As Span kindly points out, who wants to see aging, saggy men shagging gorgeous women? (rephrased). Men. Just that alone shows how exploitative the porn industry is in general.

Anyway, before I go on and on, I felt sad for Chong despite her pseudo-intellectual babble, as the documentary drew on, as she became self-destructive (cutting herself etc) and just a tad unhinged. I got so depressed by the obvious pain she's undergoing and she'd put her mother through that I switched off the TV right after her mother found outabout the porn thing and was crying, wailing, more like. Then, I escaped into "Last Chance Saloon" by Marian Keyes. Annabel Chong was just too bloody depressing and disturbing to go on watching.

Job satisfaction

Fotopages updated!!!!

At the moment, am recovering from a bout of kitchen-induced foul mood. It all started with a recalcitrant mortar and pestle, which insisted on making the garlic and ginger fly about WITHOUT actually pounding them. In frustration, I dumped the whole lot into the blender and whizzed the daylights out of them (the garlic and ginger, not the mortar and pestle). Well, I tried anyway. They jumped about, got slightly mangled and the blender choked. Choked. I felt like choking it, barring the fact it's like inanimate.

Onto dishes and pots. Scrub, scrub, scrub. The dried food refused to come out (central heating is death on bits of food, I tell you). I was so enraged that I wanted to throw the whole lot away. Yep, plates, pots and all. But my environmental nature reasserted itself - why clutter the earth with more waste?

Still, it is amazing how such small incidents can add up to make me blow my fuse. Admittedly, I do have a rather short one (I hear snickers from dear loved ones) but yesterday made me realize how housewives can blow their brains out, taking their kids along with them. Those who think housewives stay at home and do nothing, or have an easy life...well, just don't tell it to me. God knows what you might inspire. While the only advantage of a job (yes, it's a bally job!) at home is not dealing with people (though the jury's still out about that - let's see, kay poh makciks etc etc...), it's just as demanding and stressful. Especially with pots and pans that don't behave.

But right now, big thanks to my mother for putting up with us and our messes for the last twenty off years. And not dumping us in the trash. Hee.

Anyone reading, give your ma a big kiss and thank you - they deserve it.

Batty old lady

On Sunday, Nazir's attention was caught by the sound of the shifting trash cans. As it was not the garbage disposal day, we peeked out of our window, only to find our neighbour, an old Polish woman, cleaning them. She started cleaning hers, then proceeded to clean ours. Why clean trash cans at all? Then, she put all her rubbish into the next door neighbour's can (ours was empty, incidentally). We had quite a laugh at that, truth be told.

Well, that incident explains little mysteries - like how our trash can is always empty, even before trash day, how the recycling mysteriously disappears before its time. Sigh. Now, I only take out the recycling on the day itself to ensure things actually gets recycled.

Anyway, the very next day, we heard more noises. Our dear neighbour was cleaning the garden. With her around, we don't need to do much, I must say. Then, Nazir remarked that she might have been like me when she was young; slightly obsessive over laundry and cleaning. Now, at a ripe old 80, bored with nothing to do, she cleans trash cans. Err....I might be batty already, but not that right?

Still, it is an interesting question, isn't it? What we would be like when we are old. Or what our mothers were like when they were young. Were they like us? Are we destined for makcik-dom? Or just plain weird old lady, living downstairs/upstairs, in my case?

Ramble, ramble.

Trickle...trickle

After the initial excitement of having a blog, the flood of entries are now slowing to a trickle. Well, these days, I've been reading like a starved woman....the six month hiatus from library-going is over. Hurrah!

Yesterday, my placid existence was interrupted by an invitation to dinner from one of Nazir's numerous friends. Ah....the curse of the friendly spouse. Well, anyway, it was fine - other than the fact there were lots more people than I had bargained for. Expecting a small family dinner, I was petrified, to say the least, when confronted with a gaggle of screaming children and a huge gathering (err...about ten couples). After two hours, I had a pounding headache from the children and trying to talk. My jaws felt numb from all the small talk. Still, the food was great and the hostess nice and gracious (an amazing achievement to me). Not an experience I wish to repeat nonetheless. :D