urban legends.

• a tooth left in a glass of coca-cola will dissolve overnight.
• kotex was first manufactured as bandages during ww1.
• no one is ever declared dead while on disney property.
• winston churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

are these statements true? or are they just urban legends?

i came across this website today, www.snopes.com, whilst reading some articles on yahoo. it's a site devoted to debunking urban myths, and i'm pretty sure it's a well-known website. but suakoo that i am, i found out about it only today. and it's amazing! all kinds of random information are available there! i spent a good 5 hours reading bits and pieces of this website, and i'm obviously nowhere near done.

armed with my new bits of random information, i am now officially an asset for a game of trivial pursuit and / or articulate.

now is that the truth? or is it yet another urban legend?

homeboy.

last saturday, i attended lee hom's concert at the indoor stadium with mich . this is the second time i've seen our favourite abc in action, and may i say that he just gets better and better?

he began the concert with the title song from his latest album, 盖世英雄, bringing the crowd to an immediate high, and continued in this line for a while with a few more of his faster songs. he then brought everyone to a swaying calm when he sang the ballad, "kiss goodbye", and dedicated it to miss kit chan, who was in the audience, and whom he harboured quite the crush on some years back (up yours law! who said he was gay?) speaking of people in the audience, if i may just digress a little, the singapore idols (the pioneer batch) were part of the crowd as well, and this included mr. taufik who looked EXTREMELY bored, that is, until he saw himself being caught on camera, during which, he gave a somewhat embarrassed smile and wave. honestly, do they not have better people to invite to the concert? that boy had prime seats to one of the best concerts of the year and all he could manage to do was look bored? seriously! anyhow, back to the concert. the rest of the concert was awesome as we watched lee hom sing song after song, dancing for some, playing accompanying instruments for others - extremely swoon-some can i just say? he played the piano, the violin, the drums, AND the er-hu.

some really high points of the concert included our homeboy playing the guitar whilst the crowd sang to 大城小爱 (i think) - the only time i'll have lee hom playing the accompaniment while i sang, and him playing the incredibly melodious and soothing cinema paradiso on his violin. by this time, i was more than ready to marry lee hom. so when he said he envied us all for being able to return home to our warm beds tonight, while he had to return to a hotel room, i shouted to him, inviting him to come home with me. but of course he didn't hear. pity.

the encore was incredible as well, where lee hom had everyone in the crowd hanging on to, and listening to his every instruction as he sang 不可能错过你, bringing us to the climax of the concert as he sang the chorus over and over and over again, and asking the audience to join in as well. lee hom sang his biggest hit to date, 唯一, next, and then, it was all over. i waited for people to call for a second encore, but disappointingly, no one did. instead, people started leaving the stadium (some were already OUT of the stadium), and so i sat back down on my seat to relieve the very surreal two hours i just had.

gosh i can't wait for the next homeboy production.

depressed.

law left early yesterday morning. i miss him.

us.

the heavenly weekend which preceded hell week.

it has been an INCREDIBLE weekend. i've had so much fun. but i'm also completely tired out.

friday
10.00am
law and i drove to xx primary school as i had some brochures to pass to one of their art teachers. i made law drop them off at the general office as i was in worn-out berms and flip flops which were falling apart - in other words, i was deemed unsuitable to be seen by any school personnel. law came galloping out of the school, excited that he had visited a primary school in singapore.

12.00noon
law, mich and i went to ya kun at united square for a quintessential singaporean brekkie that was, in stb's words, "uniquely singapore". this was at the request of law who wanted a taste of the "green jam" which he had heard so much about.

the quintessential singaporean brekkie - oishii!

the boy also demanded to try our famous "lah-sa" (laksa) - but he'll just have to be patient and wait for a while. we've only got so much stomach space.

2.00pm
we moved on to little india after breakfast to soak in some of the deepavali atmosphere. i don't remember much of it except that it was very hot and very crowded (the heat destroyed all memory of the trip there). law got himself a henna, and also bought an ethnic indian top. he is so adorable sometimes. whilst getting a henna, he told the nice lady at the stall, "um, i don't want flowers on my hand. what other designs do you have?" "a tribal sun i can draw for you," replied the nice lady in a THICK, THICK accent. law frowned for a bit (it was obvious that he completely didn't understand the nice lady) and said, "um, what does it look like?" the nice lady looked at him like he was an idiot and said with a tinge of impatience in her voice, "like a sun. it looks like a sun. it's a tribal sun design."

*cricket sounds in the background*

*a cartoon crow flies across the screen*

the tribal sun henna that looks like a sun.

moving on, we toured desker road (for a trip to little india is not one without a walk down desker road), mustafa centre (ditto) and the arts belt (which we kind of stumbled upon - really nothing to shout about). we then stopped for dinner (finally!) at komala's, which was such a relief to my empty and growling stomach.

9.00pm
we walked around the esplanade, just enjoying the night breeze and one another's company for a bit. supper was at gluten bay, where we introduced law to such local delights as bbq-ed chicken wings, char kway teow and oyster omelette. haven't had such a heavy, lard-filled feast in a long, long time, and i must say, i enjoyed every sinful bite of it. yummy!

1.00am
drinks followed supper, and we finally, finally went home.

saturday
10.00am
met dor who was flying out of singapore in the late afternoon. i brought her to ya kun (second time there in as many day), and we caught up with each other.

12.00noon
brought dor to hmv and introduced her to five albums:

• lee hom's new album (an extremely talented hunk if i ever knew one) - 盖世英雄
• mayday's compilation album (they are quite simply, the best chinese rock band i've ever heard) - 知足
• two of jay chou's older albums - 龙卷风 and 范特西
• "音乐教父" zhou chuan xiong's compilation album

she bought all of them. the chinese music industry should totally hire me to be their marketing person. i just sold five chinese albums to an american.

3.00pm
went paddling. did my time trials again. i was faster by one second. honestly, what's the bloody point?

8.00pm
LEE HOM CONCERT! amazing concert it was. the boy is so talented that if i didn't love him so much, i'd be griping about how unfair it is that he possesses the equivalent of six people's talents. admittedly, some of his costumes were rather cheesy, and it's not very nice of him to bare so little flesh, considering what a good body he has. that aside, this concert was AWESOME. i should really write a separate post about his concert, because i can't do it proper justice otherwise.

sunday
1.00am
picked my mum from the airport. bloody china airlines was late. again.

8.30am
woke up to give j his morning call. went back to bed. he was up since 8.00am. nb.

9.15am
woke up for beefcake. correction. woke up LATE for beefcake. ironic isn't it? that i woke up to wake somebody up, so HE won't be late, only to end up being late myself.

9.30am
beefcake. we ran to the indoor stadium, and did some circuit exercises there. long story short, it was tough. i don't think i've ever exercised so hard in my life. let hell week begin.

j, ry and i walked back to kallang after beefcake, bitching about the singapore idols all the way. we've accumulated so much bad karma, we're all coming back as pigs in our next lives.

10.30am
paddled. paddled. paddled.

2.00pm
met law, mich and cyn for lunch. law is a bottomless pit. he ate:

• a curry pork cutlet set - inc. a huge plate of rice covered in japanese curry, fried pork cutlet, a salad, a miso soup, a chawanmushi, and a plate of fruits
• half a huge plate of sashimi
• some (i.e. quite a bit of) random sushi from the conveyor belt
• bits of our food

lunch was at ichiban boshi at the esplanade. it's SO good.

4.00pm
went shopping along orchard road. law went into topman to get some clothes.

6.00pm
fell asleep at starbucks in wisma.

8.00pm
brought law to emerald hill - my favourite place in singapore - to look at the beautiful shophouses there. whilst law was being trigger happy and clicking away at all the buildings, mich and i had a short but in-depth talk about our respective futures. it's almost scary how i know what i'd like to be doing for the next 2 years of my life, but not beyond that. am i wasting my life away?

9.00pm
we went to geyland serai - the smell of ramly burgers, grilled chicken wings, otak-otaks, various fried foods, exhaust fumes, and uncleared garbage filled the air. a most interesting concoction. we ate our fill of junk food, and just wandered aimlessly amongst the countless stores, all selling various hari raya goods.

12.30am
home sweet home. i fell asleep before i managed to switch my lights off.

monday
9.30am
it's back to work. fuck.

on bureaucracy.

i called up one of singapore's largest leasing companies this morning to ask a simple question. the following is the conversation that transpired between me and the company:

xxx company: (very friendly and helpful voice. i felt hopeful.) good morning xxx company, how may i help you?

me: hello, good morning. i'd just received a copy of our tenancy agreement and certificate of stamp duty from your company yesterday. i'm supposed to sign and return an acknowledgement form. can i sign this form on behalf of mr. ang (the tenant), or does he have to sign it himself?

xxx company: (still in a friendly and helpful voice) please hold on a minute. let me put you through to the leasing department.

me: um, sure.

(annoying extension tone that goes doo doo...doo doo...doo doo...)

xxx company: (less friendly voice) hello.

me: hello, good morning. i'd just received a copy of our tenancy agreement and certificate of stamp duty from your company yesterday. i'm supposed to sign and return an acknowledgement form. can i sign this form on behalf of mr. ang, or does he have to sign it himself?

xxx company: uh, what ah?

me: um, the acknowledgement form? to acknowledge that i've received the tenancy agreement and certificate of stamp duty? can i sign it on behalf of mr. ang? or does he have to sign it himself? (honestly, only so many ways i can ask the same question.)

xxx company: uh which area ah?

me: monk's hill terrace?

xxx company: (voice becoming increasingly unhelpful) uh wait ah. i put you through to the relevant person.

me: !!!

(sound of unhelpful voice flipping through pages of contact sheets, searching for the right extension number to dial.)

(annoying extension tone again.)

xxx company: hello.

me: yes, hi! i'd like to...(cut off)

xxx company: this is *** speaking. i'm sorry i'm not around to pick up your call right now, but if you'll just leave your name and contact number, i'll get back to you as soon as i can.

(sound of me maniacally slamming the phone against the wall and screaming profanities at xxx company.)

my bootiful nikes!

aren't they heaven? i'm glad the sole of my old pair came off whilst i was gyming today.

the mediator.

i do not dislike my job. in fact, i like it pretty much. my hours are short and (fairly) flexible. i work with some incredible people who have groomed, and allowed me to grow in ways i never thought i could or would.

but there are aspects of it that are so tedious. aspects brought about by the same people who have groomed me.

when i signed on to this job, being mediator between two egos was not part of my job scope. my namecard says i'm in "art management". my contract says i'm an "art manager". so how does mediation come in?

i work very well with either ego. our meetings are always constructive, and work always, ALWAYS gets done. but somehow, with the both of them together, egos collide and work just takes a backseat. most of the time, i'm the mediator between those two. it's tiring. nothing gets done, and everyone comes out feeling drained and unaccomplished.

i've been told that this was not always the case, so honestly, what happened? maybe it's me. i should just leave them alone.

i'm glad the weekend is kind of coming. dor just emailed. she's going to be in singapore this weekend on a business trip. i'm so happy! i haven't seen her since june. with both her and law here at the same time, this weekend is looking pretty damn good. i can't wait.

the long arm of law.

law's FINALLY coming to singapore! yes yes yes! i've been asking him to visit for AGES! and he's finally, FINALLY coming!

only thing though, for a miserable S$60.00, that boy chose UA over SQ. so instead of arriving at normal daylight hours, he'll be arriving at midnight, and leaving at the break of dawn.

(-_-")

coffee, tea or sleep.

i couldn't sleep AGAIN last night. finally nodded off at 3.30am. i blame the stupid milk tea i had for dinner. honestly. some people just don't learn.

i'm an idiot.

it figures.

i was handed the company's finances about a month ago, and since then, not a day goes by without me poring over my spreadsheets and making sure that the company does well under my care. staying afloat is one thing. doing well is something else altogether.

it's pretty stressful. suddenly, i'm taking note of every single little thing and purchase, and wondering if it may affect our profit margin.

i don't think i'm complaining really. in fact, i think i'm pretty excited about running this company properly, and i'm quite eager to prove myself. still, i do miss the days when i do not have to worry about our monthly cashflow, staff bonuses and money for christmas presents.

ignorance IS bliss.

a spanking new post.

i finally caught on to the blog fever. about 5 years too late. so many things to learn. i wish my younger brother was around to show me the ropes.

had an incredible weekend, which began on friday evening. met quite a few paddling (i.e. dragon boating) friends for dinner and strangely enough, karaoke. i've always thought the ktv lounge to be a rather intimate outing destination, to be visited only with those dearest and closest to you. that is, with people whom you can warble tunelessly in front of without fear of embarrassment. but my latest visit to the ktv lounge with my new friends proved me wrong. it was, without a doubt, honest-to-goodness fun! we had the few shy ones who adamantly refused to sing - who were more interested in drinking games. and we had a couple of ktv whores who hogged the microphone and sang their lungs out. even 'lil shy ol' me threw aside my inhibitions and belted out a couple of ah-mei and sandy lam power ballads. i didn't do justice to ANY of the songs i sang. but still, all in good fun.

went paddling on saturday. did my time trials (which i got tricked into doing) in the thickening haze. i blame the haze for my less than ideal time. paddled more on sunday, after a very tiring "beefcake" session. had lunch. played mahjong - i lost money. i blame the haze, the "beefcake" session and paddling for my fogged up mental facilities. went home. had dinner. sang to lee hom. and laid in bed for 3 hours, tossing and turning, until 3.00am. i blame the iced "yuan yang" i had for lunch. and the haze. just for good measure.

now i'm back at work. gosh the weekend's never looked further away from this side of the week.

update: i just got a call from law. he's coming to singapore on thursday! this week is suddenly looking MUCH better!