The
Johari and the
Nohari. Not like anyone really wants to do it, but it's there if you wanna.
The army very kindly gave me a nice little bug that rendered me plummeting from 100% health to acquire a whole bunch of status ailments. Ruined most of my weekend, but oh well here I am typing.
So what have you missed out on since I was last here? My photographic memory currently fails me so I'll just summarise on a couple of the important points.
Franz FerdinandSelena and I got the $48 seats. (Which reminds me, I haven't paid her. -_-;;;) For an act as energetic as Franz Ferdinand live in concert, that was probably the worst mistake we could make, short of missing the concert altogether! They were like little ants jumping around on stage as far as we were concerned. Music though, in Sel's own words was FABULOUS.
Memories of a Red Autumn
Kudos to Keith for fantastic music direction, and to the backstage people for the fantastic, intricate backdrop. To be frank, though, during the intermission I saw Ronin playing at the outdoor stage and all I could think was, could I just drop out of the hall production to watch these rockers? I think I've seen enough of Young Master Li's plight at home.
ACJC Fun-O-RamaI swore that I would never step into this place again after going there in J1, feeling like a massive loser, but it was the Krispy Kremes that must have lured me back. Or whatever. YY, Sherry and I spent some time looking around at the various instances of daylight robberies sprouting up left, right and center, but to me the top prize has to go to the Wonkies' candy factory and their S$50 boxes of Krispy Kremes.
Do you know that a single Original Glazed Krispy Kreme donut goes for at most US$1 in America? So a box of 12 would set you back the equivalent of S$20. That's a profit of S$30 these AC kids are making right there,
and people are still falling for it! Such is the power of Krispy Kremes.
That reminds me, I won this little water gun at YY's class darts stall. No prizes for guessing who I'm going to use it on...
Ling's farewellOver the last couple of weekends I kept seeing this fair junior of mine, for lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, Ghim Moh, and finally her send-off at the airport. I've always felt that my failings as the captain showed through most with the dissolution of the team under my charge. No meet ups, no keeping in touch, no trace that we were ever a team (and I think it would definitely be too weird to try pulling everything together again at this point of time).
Despite my aloof, distant nature, this girl stuck it through with our friendship long after the competition and the As, and I'll remember her for this.
Dragones LatinosThe audition was last Sunday. The bunch of us there were all jitters, thinking we were gonna be on the next Singapore Idol audition. Quite felt like it, and it didn't help that we were auditioning next to the existing Dragones members like Douglas and Geoffrey, who made the audition dance patterns look like cake. I could only take heart in the fact that the piece Lionel chose for partnerwork was one I had done many times before in the 2 Advance classes I attended previously. *phew
The actual audition just flew by, with most of us newbies majorly screwing up somehow. I suppose the real test was not in the dance assessment, but in the commitment interview. For me it was technically a no-brainer, but I kept doing a double-take every time I looked at the sign-up form... until Lionel was just staring me down and being like, "Man, Brian... SIGN IT!" Haha.
PS Cafe
Visited this super chi-chi cafe with Vivien last Tuesday. Or at least, we very nearly unsuccessfully visited, because this damn place was tucked away in the middle of nowhere, with Straits Times AND 8days giving the wrong address; they claim it's on Dempsey Road, where we spent nearly 40 minutes imagining we were in Bali walking along the old shophouses and seeing the old tapestries and sculptures for sale. Turns out that the actual address is 28B Harding Road!
It really wasn't Vivien's day, what with the whole business of getting lost, and making several unappetising culinary choices at dinner. We began with the prawn salad, which despite garnering several good reviews by the high society food critics a la Chubby Hubby and Skinny Epicurean, did not sit well with our tastes.
We followed with the main courses: pan-seared trout for her, and pork chipolata (pork chop encased in fried egg) for myself. Apparently the trout didn't sit well with her, despite its freshness - and she claims trout has never gone wrong for her, so there clearly were some issues with the seasoning. Pork turned out fine for me, but hey, army toads can't be picky.
I think I'm definitely returning here though, for the dessert menu is sorely tempting. Mango banana crumble for her, and banana cream pie for me; the former was served with what Vivien claims to be Nestlé ice cream, rather than fresh home-made ice cream. Once again, a minus point for her, but on my part the digestive biscuit base of the banana pie totally wowed me over! I really want to try the key lime pie on my next visit.
Apparently the projectshop chain is charged with a highly gay vibe; it wasn't immediately apparent to me when I stepped into PS Cafe, save the general manager's dead-giveaway outfit. Nevertheless, I guess it shows in the detail to attention in everything (other than the food, from our unfortunate encounter). Service was very accomodating, and the cafe has a terrific laid-back, oasis-like ambience.
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That's all folks, till the next bao zha (ahah I have truly started to copy Wingyee!).
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A jazzy summer dream
I'm a mister Happy today because I can choose it if I want to. I don't need a reason. I can just, be. I've come to terms with things. After all, I did actually make it to Porshee's without having to sell my soul to the devil.
The Friday before last, Dream Theater stormed the Indoor Stadium. Words can't do justice to their musicality and showmanship. Mike Portnoy has the whole mad scientist gig going for him, Petrucci's shredding now not only sounds but looks cool, and James LaBrie... well. I thought when he started off, he inhaled helium or something, but his voice was just getting warmed up. Shame that John Myung's bass was too soft in the first half of the show! And they played too much of Octavarium - wah lau, surviving a 26 minute song (extended even longer by the initial messing around on the keyboards!) is a bit siao even in progressive metal.
Saturday to Tuesday was spent in London. First day was nondescript because we arrived in the afternoon, and you realise it gets dark around 4pm, so the family visited Chinatown to see the New Year deco. Sort of nice lah, but dreadfully cold so we ran into Shanghai Blue for our "reunion dinner" and knocked out around 8 plus.
Sunday began at Trafalgar Square for the city's CNY celebrations, which, if not for the crowd, wouldn't have been any more spectacular than a heartland mall celebration. Obviously the more sane Chinese people must have skipped out on this event, because I didn't manage to find any acquaintances in the crowd (yes, I was going through the whole damn crowd looking out for anyone I recognised, I bo liao can?). Had Nyonya prawn mee for lunch (it's damn good... those London-bound people are damn lucky to be easily able to get good Chinese food) and did a bit of shopping before nightfall. Dinner was at some lousy restaurant in Bayswater, cos the infamous roasted duck restaurant was stuffed to the brim - although with that racking cough, I couldn't really argue against porridge! After dinner, I dawdled around a bit in the hotel until it was time to meet Wingyee at Russel Square.
Now, London in the winter is not a place you want to be dawdling around in when you've agreed upon a rendevous in an outdoor area. This I painfully learned when I thought I'd pre-empt Wingyee's arrival and not keep her waiting for me at the Russel Square tube station, only to find that the station lobby was absolutely exposed to the outside! I had to take refuge in the nearby Tesco for like 20 minutes and the security guard was probably looking at me funny.
Finally caught Wingyee at the Hotel Internationale (where we thought the salsa club had moved to), after which she kindly lead me to the true S.O.S. I've already talked about the amazing performances and the high standard of dancers, so let me mention that I was mildly terrified to have to ask utter, complete, not-even-the-same-race-or-nationality-as-me women to dance when I spend half the time in Union cowering! Okay, I exaggerate lah. The scarier thing was that in a bid to style a bit, I ended up hitting this burly black guy's face! Suffice to say, you just have to use your imagination a little to guess how I felt about his ensuing glare.
Monday was a day of wild wandering (my favourite activity when I don't sweat) and around lunchtime I went for the totally wild.... Oxford Street. -__- Trust me to go for such safe areas. Spent some time admiring the immense Marks & Spencers and AppleCentre, which is more reminiscent of the Cineleisure iShop rather than the actual AppleCentres in Funan and Wheelock. There's also free internet access in the Regent Street AppleCentre, which attracts plenty of freeloaders like myself...
For the afternoon I had the good company of Penelope/Candice, at this quaint French cafe tucked away in an tiny alleyway along Oxford/Regent St that I never would have spotted ordinarily - it's damn secret lah. Was lovely just chatting randomly, but my goodness... this is the second time I've been accused of being metrosexual. Bloody hell (insert Sherry accenting here), if there's anyone who's metro it's Lawrence!
Penny and I took what appeared to be an innocent stroll in Hyde Park... until.... it got.... dark.... and freezy... and first she wasn't cold at all... and second she was like "now, was it this building we should be heading towards, or... oh my, doesn't exactly inspire confidence in you now does it?" x_x When we were around the pond/lakeside, this army of ducks in single file deviated from their course towards the water and marched towards the girl... I suppose the duckies took revenge for me, haha. Finally, after a long walk and tons of whining on my part, we arrived at Penny's apartment in Paddington. Nice, warm, and big... too big for just 2 girls to be staying in! Met her flatmate (whose name escapes me at the moment, argh!) and we chatted for a bit before the Mum called me out to dinner back at Oxford Street. Yauatcha was a lot more impressive this time around, being less sick and able to appreciate the decor. Now, I had wanted to go to Bar Salsa, home of Super Mario, but alas my strength was failing me after the "late night" with Wingyee, so I gave it a miss.
My last day in London began with more wandering around Oxford (heaven knows why -_-), Embankment and Canary Wharf, where I'd be meeting Ling. Canary Wharf was a disaster - I hadn't known that there was a LRT-like service going through East London, and Canary Wharf was actually a interchange for the London Underground and the DLR (Docklands Light Rail), so Ling and I ended up waiting for each other at 2 very different places! Hurtled through tons of human traffic before I finally got to her. Yet to add insult to injury, I suggested that I might have liked to try some authentic London cod fish and chips, and we set out on our way to somewhere else in East London... and got lost again. We decided to settle down at London Bridge and grab a quick sandwich, having spotted a lone, shady, hole-in-the-wall fish & chip shop throughout our entire journey. Nevertheless, 'twas nice to see her somewhere outside of Singapore...
Met young master Li at London Bridge for a cuppa. Hasn't changed one bit, still goofy yet earnest as ever. You can see the twinkle in his eyes when he says he'll be back in Singapore for an internship! Ever the busy guy, he had to dash off for yet another power-suit interview or something, so I headed home for dinner at Bugis St and the flight back.
Fast forward to Friday and Peter's wine party. I think it's a fact that I've gotten old when I no longer find wine repulsive. Kena conned sia, I didn't eat dinner because I thought there was going to be food! Likewise most of us were conned too, haha. It was kinda funny initially when Porshee asked me to look out the window, seeing Kenneth and Yingyi getting up to mysterious hijinks, we were like "OOOH scandalousssssss", because with the waves of bad news I temporarily forgot about the photoshoot collage. Wasn't really in the right mood for the shots, but well.
Because there's a copious gap in my memory where Saturday should have been, I'll plunge straight to Porshee's farewell. First person to greet me is.... Shihao. Oh Kay. Went up to Porshee's room... like quite dead also... All damn shagged! I was pretty sad cos I wasn't able to make it home to take Krispy Kremes and the PS2 Guitar Hero, would have had some fun but oh well.
Really I can't remember much except the qian bian wen da ti MRT station game, snatching Sherry's orange blobby pillow (or is that Porshee's ball), and of course Sherry's infamous suicidal self-quote of the day/week/month...
Woke up to breakfast, Eddie and I fail as waiters with Milo spilling left right and centre. Towards the end, while everyone was discussing how to settle getting back to their respective agendas, I was keeping extremely quiet, noticing that the other drivers like Peter, Kenneth and Youyi had all disappeared... Lawrence has been discovered to have goaded Adeline to try and blurt "Hi Brian!" in a bid to get me to send them to LADC, but Ad was like "so bad!!"
Then Alison did it anyway, without any prompting whatsoever.. x_x
Life is a party. The most professional party poopers in the world are the members of the Army.
First thing in the morning from the bosses: "Brian, well rested after your leave right? Sentry duty on Saturday for live firing." Mosquitoes and boredom galore. And gee, maybe I can try arranging for Mr S.A. Tan to split my soul in half so I can attend Porshee's farewell party while staying on for the night shoot.
We went out to play blackjack today after work was done, gambling against army bums W1, W2, W3 and The Bookie. It was a totally friendly match, we bet friendly amounts equally and no huge losses were made. Then, upon reaching our agreed closing time, The Bookie asked for one final set of 3 rounds. Having a loss of $28, I didn't think another 3 rounds would cause highly significant losses. (My average bet was $10.) W1 is the banker, recovering from a very slight loss like I am.
First round: I bet $20 for kicks because it's the last rounds what, play fast fast and close shop lor. Well, W1 the banker: Blackjack. All hands lose double (-$40 for me).
Second round: Fuck, I need to get SOME of that loss back. Besides, what are the odds of the banker getting blackjack again? I put down a $10.
W1, Blackjack. Another $20 down.
Final round: Hyperventilating now. I gonna win shit back this time. Him winning something special this time is just impossible. Bet a $20.
You know, I don't know if this applies in western Blackjack, but in
ban luck there's the thing if you get 5 cards without going bust, you get double the bid? W1 hit the jackpot. -$40.
In the span of 3 rounds I lost $100.
And the very second W1 got his final call, the big boss calls me. The room goes silent. I take the call. "Brian, I've got really bad news for you. We have to send you to Taiwan again for 3 weeks in mid-March. And you're going alone with the officer cadets and this other guy from another unit..."
Highly unlikely to be going to Porshee's party, daylight robbery of $128 (but I deserve it utterly), another trip to a land where I gotta put up with Chinese music 24/7, and have only horny Taiwanese soldiers for company. And more bing1 lang2 mei4 to gross myself out with (not because they dress like whores, but they're just plain ugly)...
God's fair, isn't he?
ED: Giving the length of dedications, the moral of the story actually looks like "Gamblers only lose." Interpret it yourself.
