tell me about it

I’m home.

I lost my camera in KLCC.

I hate the world.

The world owes me three mobile phones and a digital camera.

Anyhow, farewell to 2005, all hail 2006.

Things that happened in 2005:
1. Loved and lost
2. Travelled to Redang, BKK, Jordan, Israel, Qatar, Lebanese-occupied land, Syrian-occupied land, Cameron Highlands, KL, Melaka
3. Grew closer to God
4. Only played 1 rated tournament and 1 unrated tournament in Singapore
5. A long-cherished dream has started to come true
6. My camera was stolen by a Malay girl in Malaysia. Good luck finding her.

Resolutions for 2006:
1. Make my internship worthwhile
2. Join the church choir
3. Find a suitable cell group
4. Buy a new camera and handphone
5. Visit Melbourne in July
6. Keep my dream alive
7. Grow closer to God

Punggol is always going to be special, now.

Be leaving in a few hours for Cameron Highlands.

Apologies to those I couldn’t catch to personally wish a Merry Christmas; season’s greetings to you and God bless!

I’ll miss you. See you when I get back.

“Restaurant in Xi’an, China sells food that does not appeal to me” taken from Boing Boing

Well, in all honesty, bull penis IS a delicacy, supposed to improve virility and to restore a flagging libido. Sort of like an Eastern, natural Viagra, if you will. This is the only thing I haven’t eaten (and don’t intend to eat. Bull penis is just a bit too weird even for my hardcore Chinese tastes).

Really, pigeon tastes just like chicken (have you ever eaten quail? Same thing) and I don’t see what’s so bad about eating a bird that’s been bred for the pot. I’m sure Native Americans or even English farmers of old would have had no qualms about shooting down a couple of birds to put in a stew. I mean, aren’t you people the ones who wrote that poem about twenty blackbirds in a pie? How’s that any different?

And come on. Fish head? What’s wrong with that?? Don’t you eat the rest of the fish too? The cheeks, for your information, have the softest, sweetest meat that has the highest percentage of whatever it is that makes fish brain food. At home, we fight over who gets to eat the fish cheeks, because they’re so tender and soft. I don’t understand why Westerners give the heads to their cats. My cat would be so lucky. Fish head curry, mmmm.

(Hai San Xian casserole is loosely translated to be Three Seafood Casserole.)

Western food is incredibly boring. I’d say I’m pretty Westernized myself, so I suppose I can understand why Westerners are a bit queasy about the stuff we eat.

Like pigs. I love pig. Pig brain soup, pig intestines, pig stomach soup, liver and kidneys, even pig Fallopian tubes (which I ate in Ipoh, Malaysia). Yummm. Ikan bilis – tiny little fish we fry and eat whole. Jellyfish. Chicken gizzard, chicken liver. Squid, cuttlefish, sea urchin. At least we Chinese usually cook our food before eating it :D Although I do love sashimi. Raw salmon. Oooo.

Now I’m hungry.

God bless us, everyone.

Sleeping with a smile on my face, tonight.

Christmas is right around the corner!

I must say I might have done an injustice to Narnia by watching King Kong first; the standards that Peter Jackson set with his superb directorship were barely, if at all, met by he-who-also-directed-Shrek. Whose name I have forgotten. Andrew Adamson? Adam Andrewson? Andy Anderson? *shrug* And I’m too lazy to check. :D

Well it was all very well for a children’s film I suppose, so I shall file it under such and not as a real epic fantasy film. I think Peter Jackson has pretty much stolen all the fire for that genre. I did love the use of silence once again as opposed to loud battle music; sometimes silence says so much more. I’m still rather regretting not seeing the polar bear-drawn sleigh in winter. After discussing and agreeing that the switch from reindeer to polar bear as seen in the standies was justified and pretty darn cool, I’m disappointed that she didn’t actually use the polar bear sleigh amidst the snow. Would have been a lot cooler (no pun intended. Okay, maybe a little).

And while the costumier failed miserably in most of the White Witch’s wardrobe (she looked like she was wearing a bustier made of papier mache or cardboard or some such), she pulled out one from the hat in the battle outfit. I think it was particularly inspired to use Aslan’s shaven mane for the top, and the chainmail skirt, while testing the bounds of reality, was awesome.

Oh, and of course, the company was lovely :) When is it not? I do fear for January though, because all good things must come to an end eventually. Just that sometimes it’s earlier than you’d hoped for. I guess that’s all I need and ask for right now, that quiet comfort and companionship with easy banter and very occasionally crippled jokes. We’re bordering on paralysed, already.

Christmas is fast approaching; tomorrow is Johanna’s birthday. Happy 15th, dear, you’re getting much too big too soon. I still think of you as being six years old, a lot of the time :/ and I wish you were still small enough to dandle on my knee.

Yes, all good things must come to an end. I’m quite happy how you’ve turned out though :) I may be hard on you a lot of the time but I love you to bits. I think I’m lucky, being the middle kid and being one of the girls, because I’ve got both a brother and a sister, both an elder sibling and a younger one. So happy birthday once again, and be good. You’re growing up.

Sigh.

Played our first game today, against hall 10. There’s good news, better news, and bad news.

Good news is that we won! 20-3!

Better news is that I scored two (Although it was mostly walks)!

Bad news is that I was taken out after the first inning because I pulled the muscle in my thigh.

I feel really stupid about the whole thing. I think I might have failed to warm up fully and when I ran the first time, I could feel something in my thigh give. Ran in pain and made it to the home plate, then collapsed on the grass at the side clutching my thigh and groaning. Bugger. Stupid thigh. Am now limping around like an old woman.

Well it was a relatively easy game today so I’m thankful for small mercies. I won’t be around for the next game :( but we’re through to the semis quarters (whoops) already! Wooo!

Watching Narnia tomorrow!

I’m so tired of everything. I am completely exhausted, and I’m finding it hard to carry on.

I just watched King Kong. Man, what a show. Terribly exhausting. I almost hate Peter Jackson for putting me through the wringer, but what a wringer. The fight scenes are magnificent – how will I ever forget the scene of Kong breaking the T-rex’s jaw? – and the animation superb, although there are a couple of shots that are a little too obviously computer-generated. Naomi Watts lights up the screen (hoho, pun intended) and Adrien Brody is sullenly handsome (hahaha, Broody Brody) in a skinny geek boy way that I’d never before appreciated! I actually slumped in my seat in exhaustion after each fight scene, literally spending half the movie with my hand over my mouth in horror. I used to have a strong dislike for bugs. Now I really, really hate them.

Anyhow, the movie made me cry. I want my own big hairy ape who adores me!