Tuesday, August 31

sleeping beauty

For the first time in a month, I was able to sleep well without popping painkillers before bed last night. So happiness!

But then I woke up in the middle of the night with some woman strangling me, I swear. These kinda things always happen to me in the Seventh Month.

food diary
peanut butter sandwich
half cup of tea with milk
juice of one orange
roast chicken rice, breast meat of course
duck curry with some rice
veggie in oyster sauce
orange, apple and plum

Monday, August 30

not my idol

Look at your own peril. My eyes! My eyes!

food diary
jam sandwich
Milo
half portion rice with steamed egg, tofu, mushroom and chicken
two bottles of homemade barley
steamed fish
veggie in oyster sauce with mushrooms
very little rice
half an orange
few pieces of watermelon
one piece of sugar-free chocolate
the last of the cuttlefish from Bangkok trip

Sunday, August 29

bags and more

My sideline is taking up more and more of my time. So many things to take care of -- we call it doing "elf work" -- such as pinning of brooches onto bags, taking photos of our new stock, updating our website and preparing for house party this weekend.

You're all invited! Check out Bag It Now for more details.

food diary
tau sar pao
tea with milk
three-hour buffet ['nuff said]
rice and some chicken breast and roast pork
melon soup [which smells like fart]

Saturday, August 28

food diary
chee cheong fun
two pork floss wrapped in love letters
two crispy KFC chicken, two small whipped potato and half cup of ice lemon tea
eight-course Chinese dinner [includes shark's fin, roast chicken and orr nee]

Friday, August 27

compliments

Text message exchange on compliments, reproduced here with compliments (and cleaned-up grammer).

Me: Hey, someone told me today that she finds you incredibly good-looking.
K: Really? Who?
Me: This butch girl who has the hots for your ex.
K: I knew it. I never get good-looking girls thinking I'm hot. Next time don't bother to tell me lah.
Me: Any compliment is better than none, right? Just like a wolf whistle from even a lao tigo is appreciated.
K: That's sad.

food diary
tau sar pau
tea with honey
chicken rice with egg [felt so decadent throwing away the egg yolk while an egg shortage is going on]
barley drink
fried rice
cuttlefish
one Beebee
orange and apple
two pieces of sugar-free chocolate

Thursday, August 26

my idol

I'm in love.

His name is David Yeo. He's 22 and a law student. He is a big geek, but that is what I lurve about him.

My lurves think I'm crazy. But they lurve him too.

food diary
siew mai
egg tart
tea with sugar
Korean instant noodles
Ribena
peanut snack
black pepper chicken chop [only took a few soggy fries]
cuttlefish

Wednesday, August 25

mc queen

As foretold last night by my throbbing feet, I am once again bedridden. Have been given another three days of MC. Hopefully I won't be fired when I go back to the office on Monday.

food diary
half a ham and cheese sandwich
half cup of Milo
fishball noodles with beetaimak [literally translated as mucus, I think]
one Beebee
one peanut snack
fried fish
veggie
orange and pear
one Beebee

Tuesday, August 24

leg is pain

When I'm in pain, my grammar goes wonky.

After two days at work, my feet are begging to be elevated and not vertical for more than eight hours. By evening time, they are frozen and sensationless.

Tomorrow is likely to be an MC day. Again.

food diary
half a ham sandwich
tea with milk
homemade salad with ham, lettuce, cucumber, carrots, apples and cherries in Kewpie mayo
spinach soup
steamed pork with Szechuan vegetables
longans, orange and grapes

Monday, August 23

food diary
peanut butter sandwich
Milo
fish soup with half portion thick beehoon
half a mooncake made of fried bacon and walnuts [don't mock it till you've tried it]
steamed fish
horrible veggie soup
veggie in oyster sauce
two longans
half an orange
half a pear
one sugar-free piece of chocolate

Sunday, August 22

food diary
char siew rice
cuttlefish
one Beebee
two peanut snacks
yong tauhu with some rice
six longans
four sugar-free pieces of chocolate

Saturday, August 21

food diary
chee cheong fun
soya bean milk
prata
green bean soup
fish cake
hor fun
green bean soup [again]

Friday, August 20

food diary
lor mee
konyaku jelly
corn soup
veggie
orange [I think]
can't remember what else

Thursday, August 19

another house call

Expecting another house call today, with dinner as well. Ahhh, I feel so lurved...now, if only the pain in my feet would go away and let me enjoy being an invalid.

My wonderful welfare-oriented boss sent me SMS in the morning too, asking how I am. When I apologised for taking so many days of MC, she was so nice and replied: "Don't worry and take as many days off as you need."

food diary
egg tart
hot chocolate
small plate of vegetarian beehoon
cuttlefish
homemade barley
homemade chicken pie
some fruit

Wednesday, August 18

house call

First outside contact today, after five days of being imprisoned at home by baikar. Ginnie and Alfie brought chocolate cake, a book and a bunch of much-needed "sorry jokes". So sweet of them.

food diary
carrot cake
Milo
chicken rice
fried egg with ikan bilis
veggie
tomato and fish soup
chocolate cake

Tuesday, August 17

bedridden

Trying to look on the bright side of another two days of MC and ferocious pain in the baikar:

-- No need to go to work
-- Watching Susilo beat the German while lying in bed on a warm drowsy afternoon and feeling more patriotic than I ever did on National Day
-- Being waited on hand and foot because I can't walk without intense pain and lots of grimaces
-- Finishing the reading of one chick lit [courtesy of book reviewer gal friend], one Calvin & Hobbes omnibus [which took my mind off the pain for a bit], one Sweet Dreams story [from a Salvation Army trip some time ago], one period bodice ripper [ditto], half of Hanif Kureishi and half the latest Vogue [British, of course]
-- Re-discovering Ranma on Channel 19 at 6pm
-- Tidying up the accounts for Swirl [which were in a mess, cos we have absolutely no accounting background and are also fond of losing receipts]
-- Watching The Importance Of Being Earnest on DVD
-- Being able to wallow in self-pity and receiving lots of care, concern and prayers [thank you!]

food diary
hotdog
sausage
Milo
one Beebee
fried fish
stir-fried veggie
tofu soup
an orange

Monday, August 16

horizontal

Bedridden the entire weekend with severe baikar. Ferocious pains clawing through my feet and into the veins, and it got so bad at one point that my whole body was trembling.

Only by keeping my feet horizontal and/or elevated was the pain slightly alleviated. So basically, all I did was load up on painkillers and roll around in bed moaning. There wasn' t even anything on TV except Olympics to keep me occupied.

On MC today, cos the pain still hasn't subsided, and worse, the wounds started bleeding.

food diary
carrot cake
tea with milk
chicken chop with rice
string bean omelette
bak kut teh
orange and apple

Sunday, August 15

food diary
chicken porridge
homemade barley drink
yong taufu with beehoon
homemade carrot cake
orange and pear

Saturday, August 14

food diary
half packet fried vermicelli
two sotong balls
black pepper chicken
One Beebee
half a pear

Friday, August 13

food diary
can't recall what was for breakfast and lunch
instant mushroom soup
collagen ramen
square fish fingers

Thursday, August 12

be still, my beating heart

What with me being on leave and clearing off days and being busy the rest of the time for the past couple of months, I haven't even realised I haven't seen him for a while.

Then I caught a glimpse of his stick-thin figure in his crisp pink shirt, and those nerdy-chic glasses and spiky hair. And promptly fell in crush all over again.

food diary
half a ham sandwich
tea with milk
Caesar salad with smoked salmon
can't recall what I did for dinner

Wednesday, August 11

material girl

Gone are the off days when I could sleep till 11am, not get outta bed until after I'd watched Jamie Oliver cook, have a leisurely brunch and then read magazines in bed till dinner time.

Have been off the past two days, but busy as an overworked elf with selling bags, liaising with website designers and seamstresses, sorting through a mess of receipts, and basically planning for the launch of our new label, which, fingers crossed, will have its first piece ready by September.

Just went to Arab Street to source for fabrics this morning. Now, it's off to send some bags off in the mail and then to Chinatown to source for more materials, specifically pique cotton [it's pronounced as pic-kay by all the cloth uncles, and we kept mocking them for saying it in such an LC way...until we realised they were right all along].

food diary
chicken bun
tea with milk
Chu Qian Yi Ding with bonito flakes
chocolate malt balls
black pepper salmon
tofu soup
some veggie
some rice
half a small papaya
One Beebee
Cuttlefish [unable to resist opening the second giant packet I bought from Bangkok]

Tuesday, August 10

food diary
five chwee kueh
tea with sugar
Hakka yong taufu
loads of ikan bilis
loads of chocolate malt balls
chicken soup [my ultimate fave soup]
steamed fish [my ultimate most hated dish]
veggie
rice
half an orange
half a pear
One Beebee
Some chocolates from Paris

Monday, August 9

food diary
fishball noodles dry [one-third portion of noodles]
two soda crackers and two chocolate biscuits
Muslim food of kangkong, tauhu and sunny-side-up egg
stewed chicken with mushrooms
little bit of rice
overpriced chng tng

Sunday, August 8

orifices

"Welcome to my box!"

Was having dinner last week with three other gal friends at one of those hip restaurants [I know, using the word "hip" is so unhip].

Talk got decidedly SATC when we started discussing:
(a) how to stick a tube up your ass with the help of KY Jelly
(b) whether poo should float or sink [floaters are good and healthy; dropping like rocks is bad, especially the backsplash]
(c) the most marvellous invention in the world -- tampons
(d) what happens when you forget you have one inside and try to insert another [you realise you can't]
(e) what happens when you forget you have one inside and leave it there for a week [it turns green]
(f) what to do when a condom gets lost inside

Conversation then turned to the subject of the oldest among us turning 40 next year. She was looking forward to it, but when I, the youngest of the lot, blithely mentioned that I'll be hitting the big 30 milestone next year, I swear I got dirty looks from the rest. Then she delivered that Samantha line, with panache.

food diary
huge packet of chee cheong fun
tea with sugar
three chocolate fingers
mochi
keropok
chicken chop [without baked beans and cole slaw, and only at most four soggy fries]
One Beebee

Saturday, August 7

my sharona

"My my ey ey ey ey ooooo!
Ma ma ma ma ma my Sharona!


The tune has been stuck in my head since last night's late-night karaoke session that went on till past 3am. Am feeling hoarse, even though I didn't even go near the mike. All that laughing...

food diary
prawn noodle soup [half portion noodles]
cabbage soup
roast duck [breast meat, of course]
a bit of rice
half a pear
ban mian [half portion of noodles]
BeeBee
Small handful of cuttlefish

Friday, August 6

curse of the white orchid

I've put off listing the litany of complaints against the atrocious White Orchid Hotel in Bangkok, even though I feel it's my personal responsibility to warn off anyone who may ever choose to stay there in the future. Everytime I tell people about it, I relive the nightmare.

-- There were foreign [ie. blonde and curly] hairs on my pillowcase.
-- There was no windows in the room.
-- Hence, the air was bad. What made it worse was the air-con which was blasting at top volume, circulating the same bad air in the room.
-- The fridge also contributed to the whirring sound of machine in the room, and was so old and dirty, my orange juice felt contaminated after spending a night in there. There were no little bottles of alcohol inside [not that we would have taken any of it].
-- There was only snow on TV, but we could hear our China neighbours enjoying Thai shows at top volume, especially since they preferred the communal style of living and left their doors open.
-- There was a worm in my veggie at breakfast.
-- The toilet gave off a sewage smell whenever anyone next door did some big business.
-- The hot water flask was coated with a strange brown residue which did not inspire confidence.
-- The brown bedspread, which had clearly seen better days as had everything else in the room, was covered in what looked like bak hu [pork floss]. When I woke up, I found my clothes had remnants of bak hu on it too.
-- The brochure claimed that the hotel was "recently renovated". It was printed 20 years ago.

food diary
tomato and fish soup
cabbage, mushroom and vermicelli stirfry
10 spoons of rice
half an orange
half a pear
three chocolate fingers and half a soda cracker
large hot chocolate from Spinelli's
some oyster omelette and Hokkien mee
ramen in collagen-rich soup and tori karaage
two cups hot honey
some mixed nuts

Thursday, August 5

plucking the chicken

Had to go hold the hand of a friend who was getting his eyebrows plucked for the first time. Actually, I made him do it [in the name of journalism] and he agreed, only to try to chicken out later when he found out there was going to be pain involved. Like, DUH!

Anyway, he didn't shed any tears, but since he seemed traumatised by the brief 15 minutes and removal of a few precious strands of eyebrow hair, I bought him lunch and an eclair [which I then made him share with me].

Besides the fact that men are babies when it comes to pain, I also learnt today that eclairs are not a type of food that is meant to be shared. They are too messy and too yummy.

food diary
potato and ham bun [I know, I know, it has lots of butter but I had nothing else to eat for breakfast]
one sip of Milo
mushroom linguine in cream sauce [managed to give away about one-third of it]
passion fruit Italian soda
half an eclair
half a bottle of Snapple
instant chicken noodle soup [only 60 calories!]
two Jacob's biscuits
lots of ikan bilis
three BeeBee [I caved! I didn't have dinner and I was hungry while watching The O.C.]

Wednesday, August 4

moolah

For those who never believe me when I tell them I have no money and I earn very little, this is the best evidence: My latest income tax assessment just came in, and I don't have to pay a single cent. I made such a pitiful amount last year that even the Gahmen doesn't have the heart to make me pay.

food diary
two cups tea with sugar
tau sar bao
half packet Korean instant noodles [nothing but carbo, a few miserable pieces of green pickes and spicy soup]
seafood soup
One Beebee

Tuesday, August 3

i like indolence

So happy to read that someone in France shares my work ethic. My least favourite word at work is "initiative".

Hello indolence, goodbye job?

Amelia Gentleman in Paris
Wednesday July 28, 2004
The Guardian

Those who dedicate their professional lives to idleness should do so with discretion if they hope to keep their jobs.

This is one useful message in Hello Laziness - The Art and the Importance of Doing the Least Possible at the Workplace, an anarchic anti-business bible published in France.

It is advice the author, Corinne Maier, a senior economist at Electricité de France, failed to follow. She faces a disciplinary hearing next month, accused of attempting to "rot the system from within".

The book, Bonjour Paresse (a nod to Françoise Sagan's 50s novel, Bonjour Tristesse or Hello Sadness), pledges to explain why it is in your interest to do the least work possible and will tell you how to damage the system from within "without appearing to do so".

An antidote to the recent rash of US-import, career-enhancing self-help books by business management gurus, it rails against corporate culture and preaches a philosophy of active disengagement.

It is an elegantly written call to arms to the "neo-slaves" of middle management and the "damned of the service industry", condemned to dress up as clowns all week and waste their lives in pointless meetings.

Maier cites the recent wave of financial scandals in French business, and argues that since careers are at risk and pensions under threat, employees should shake off their shackles of loyalty and start "footling around" during office hours.

Her publisher, Editions Michalon, said that the book did not target EDF, and its hyper-sensitive response only served to confirm the totalitarianism reigning in big business.
Maier, who works part-time, has been with EDF for 12 years. She said she wrote the book on her days off.

France's unions yesterday rallied to her cause, saying EDF was threatening free speech.
"They cited the pettiest offences in the letter summoning me to face a disciplinary review," Maier said. "The real reason is that they don't like my book."

EDF refused to comment on "an ongoing disciplinary procedure", but indicated it was angry at the book mentioning that Maier was an employee.

food diary
yong tau foo [with half portion beehoon and a lot of tau foo]
yoghurt fruit clusters
half bottle of Snapple
watermelon, guava and honey dew
large handfuls of ikan bilis
one-quarter tub of chocolate ice cream
the last of my giant packet of cuttlefish

Monday, August 2

bag it now

Because I'm such a poorly paid journalist who lurves to shop, I have to resort to doing this on the side.

But dun tell my boss...ssssshhh...

food diary
Milo
fried rice [very big plate, cos it was fried with mother's lurve]
tea with sugar
dried fruit covered with dried yoghurt
lobster linguine
souffle [which can't compare to the feather-light one at Mes Amis in Bangkok, a must-try that is to-die-for]
one forkful of chocolate cake
one forkful of sago pudding
smelly cuttlefish [gosh, it sure is one big bag I bought from Bangkok, unfinishable!]

Sunday, August 1

food diarist

Now I know why my food diary hasn't been working, even though I fanatically record every morsel. It's cos I didn't have a personal nutritionist...until now!

It's so marvellous to have someone scold me for eating chicken wings -- I didn't spit the skin out! -- and telling me what to avoid -- Milo is evil and so are bakery buns. Byron is da best! And he also has da best body!

Feel extra motivated now to lose that stubborn 3kg that refuses to budge, but first still need to clear up some doubts:

-- Are noodles more evil than rice? Are potatoes the most evillest or bread? And what about my mostest favouritest carbo, pasta?
-- Is it true that I shouldn't eat carbo after 8pm?
-- Is fresh fruit juice better or packet ones like Peel Fresh [which claim to have no sugar]?
-- What can I take in place of my daily Milo? Is tea with half teaspoon of sugar ok?
-- How bad is Beebee, anyway? It's such a small packet wat! [But but but hor, I managed to abstain from Beebee for my entire Bangkok trip. That's quite a record.]

Considering taking up hatha yoga next month. Healthy lifestyle, here I come!

[I actually have all the crap I ate in Bangkok written in a little notebook I carry around but don't have the energy to type it all in. Also worried my personal nutritionist will admonish me for the vast quantities I consumed in Oishi as well as the bird's nest and shark's fin, which I'm sure contain zero health benefits.]

food diary
wanton noodles [half portion noodles]
tofu, veg and soya sauce chicken with half portion rice
three pieces of yoghurt-covered fruit
half packet of gummy bears [the packaging claims NO FAT! NO ARTIFICIAL COLORANTS! But then I'm sure it's not NO SUGAR!]
one lozenge [feel a sore throat starting from too much cuttlefish or maybe Mousey's germs are finally catching up on me]
chicken pasta [huge plate but I managed to resist at least one-quarter of it]
rock melon
half an orange