Pooh Talk

Went to a Toastmaster's Humourous (maybe it was meant to be 'humourless' but we heard wrongly) Speech contest at J's invite at Queenstown CC and it was interesting. First, this is not meant to be deprecating but these people really try very hard after a hard day's work to go to these meetings to improve their public speaking skills. And it was my first time so I actually thot it will be at some auditorium but it was held in a conference room with a round table. Still, it has formal intros and smart dressed people standing up in front of other people and trying to get a laugh out of them. Not so easy, I guess, being Sporeans. We are not, at best, the responsive giggling types. And some of us watched too much Jerry Seinfield and Ellen D and I think my pastor is funnier during his sermons. Each speaker has 7 mins to speak and yes, be funny without being crass. One or 2 were very near the limits with topics like "finding a virgin" but it was a good try :) I didnt laugh much but I admire their professionalism by memorising their speeches. I had to do that during my own speech class and hey, it is not easy at all. Most of them tried to be funny (or perhaps corny) using very boring topics like osteoporosis. How can you be funny talking abt crumbling bones and 'being holey'? I so roll my eyes.... sorry..... There is this survey somewhere that some people rated public speaking as worse than death. But being funny? We all have a long way to go :) We all appreciate funny stories but to be able to BE the one telling them with the right flair and tone and WIN in a contest..... wow.... no wonder Ellen D earns gerzillions on her talkshow.

Increasingly I am finding out that really and truly, no one reads your mind like your own self. Logically and reasonably when you think abt it, you KNOW it is a fact. But somehow when you renovate your house, you tend to think that your contractor AND his team would know exactly what you are describing and do EXACTLY what you have visualised in your mind's eye. It's amazing how such fantasies fall through in the space of 2 weeks. Not that it is not great but along the way, you have learnt how to compromise and change and it is still not your DREAMY McHouse. Of course my McHouse will be overlooking some beach like H's backyard in Perth!!! But hey, a house is just a house and what makes it a home is the people in it right? Today we found that the pretty nice bigger sink we bought for our toilet will not fit because of the shower screen constructed. Hence we had to switch sinks with the common toilet - which defeats my previous efforts to find that nice pretty sink 2 weeks back. We also had to reroute the water pipes and cut a hole in the kerb to accomodate them. Somehow our dream toilet is turning out to be a monster of problems even though it is the smallest area to be renovated!!! but again, toilets being the most expensive part of the renovation (as many have assured me), problems have to be solved and really got on all our nerves. Just yesterday, one side of our shower screen shattered during delivery and so delayed completion. I am seriously starting to believe that renovation is like marriage - only to be done once in a lifetime. Got money also I wun do it again. Way too tiring...

When you try to buy tix to a movie on a weekday even tho it is still 2 hours before it starts and you can only get the 2nd row from the front, you know this movie is the rave of the season. 7th month season that is. The trailers have been all over the place and I was expecting something in the likes of Dim Sum Dollies (theatrical musical abt Spore that was utterly fascinating!! and kept us laughing non-stop 2 hours). Perhaps it is watching it with our necks arched or just way too cold in the cinema or probably it is my poor Hokkien, I just prefer Eating Air. Maybe it is also the age group difference or I need a storyline to go with the crazy dialogue. Some characters just dun belong and I am left wondering WHY did they put in a Prince of Getai when he cannot solve the dispute between the Durian Sisters and Papaya Sisters? Why is the Chen Jin Lang character (major insipration of the show I hear) not properly explained since pple like me will be like huh? So what he died? But according to my mum, it was major big bloddy deal to the getai biz. I am even left guessing whether the Getai "goddess" was human? Or deity? That was never clearly pointed out although her costume obviously pointed to some divinity coz no one sane will wear that anywhere outside a temple. But again, no explanation of how she got to be deity while her twin sister remains a seamstress and getai manager. Then why did Big Papaya's mother hate her singing at the getai so much? Is it the shame? Also never say. But she was previously a singer herself so then huh? And for Big Papaya to be in a JC (Temasek, I believe - which is funny) and be SOOOOOO FREEEEEE to go and sing at getai with no mention of school amazes me. Ok, so I should be a bit less rational and enjoy the songs which were pretty good. Costumes were dazzling but they change so often that I cannot fully appreciate the glamour - perhaps it is meant to be this way. There are hints of family, sisterhood (how the Papaya sisters became SOOOOO close after meeting each other at a getai also never explain. I thought they were childhood frens but they were not.), romance (the struggle for the guy to love both also not fully played out), cat fights (this one was VERY VERY VERY much played up on).... but all meshed under bright lights, sodden tragic Hokkien songs and feathers. Definitely loads of feathers. Don't watch with a thinking mind :) Just hum along with the sad sad songs even if you cant say the words :)

Renovation can be quite irritating when you hit snags. P thinks no matter which contractor you choose, there will always still be problems so you just have to deal with them as they come. Yesterday it was the new HUGE air-con compressor blocking the new bedroom casement windows from opening fully. We didnt think abt it when we installed the compressor and so now have to double work and additional cost to move it to the side wall. Not sure whose fault since we were the ones who changed our minds and installed a bigger air-con unit rather than have 2 units and hence the bigger compressor. Today is worse. We wanted to install a glass shower screen in the bathroom and now we found that the plumbing cannot reach the shower head without either going through the shower screen glass piece (glass guy says screen is tempered glass so cannot cut hole now) or run the pipes above the glass piece (ugly way) OR through the newly tiled floor (destructive way). Headache headache... On one hand, it is all abt planning ahead but another is solving problems without tearing your hair out and pinning blame. The blame game does not help anyone so I rather focus on a good solution that helps everyone. And that is why I hate renovating.

We all live to collect bits of paper. At birth, they gave your first piece with your brand new name. In school, it was PSLE lah, O Levels lah, then comes A Levels and if blessed and work hard, Degree. More people go further of course.... esp my peers. At work, there's paper for training course, awards ceremony, overseas visits and of course promotion certificate! If you are hardworking, there are always other papers like SATS, Tofel and computer literacy stuff. And finally, there is always the ROM cert which girls supposedly start dreaming of since age 8. Sometimes I wonder if its like seasons of life that we all go through. Are these papers really impt? It's ok I think if one doesnt get obsessed with them. These papers help to say something abt us but it doesnt say everything. I suppose that is why they still have job interviews. Put a face on those white sheets. Some of my peers go all the way to PHD and more.... but I never really thought of gong back to studying full time. I didn't hate lessons and I kind of even enjoyed tests but somehow I truly found it liberating NOT to have homework and be able to watch TV at home without guilt :) I can do some part time, short term courses but not more than a year. You see the rest of the world going far ahead and you wonder if you lagging behind....

As we keep staring at our new place, it doesnt seem as yellow anymore.... we also added a darker shade of champagne (which turned out to be tek tarik rather CHAMPAGNE!!) for the rubish chute area. Suddenly feel as if our house very colourful ne! After talking to a friendly neighbour (for 45 mins!! Coz he cannot stop suggesting and talking abt his own ideas for his own house which he couldn't realise), thought making our corridor windows one-way reflective is a pretty good idea. We are still going to have some curtains but reflective would keep prying eyes to themselves :) Hence now searching for reflective flim for windows... Didnt like being a corridor unit due to these windows being open and you need to keep them open for air ventilation. Already curently as more and more things are being set up and painted, more and more people are also staring in. We just installed our dining tinted glass lights which really drew a lot of attention and we happen to like them best too :) Will try to take pics :)

My house looks like a Walls Ice Cream multi-flavour tub. Yup!! 3 walls are now painted in pale yellow while one wall - supposedly "feature" wall - is the colour of choclate milkshake. Now when P and me chose the colours, they seem ok on paper..... but when you really paint them, the "candlelight" aint very light at all lor. It is a BIT more durian flavour actually. For the "mocca" feature, it turned out to be more latte than we expected..... *sigh* on one hand, we both like yellow and it is sunny, fun and cheerful. On the other hand, I hate durian. Will try to take some pics to let you guys decide but my SD card is having some problems currently.

Today I was waiting for P at City Hall mrt and it was an OCEAN of people at peak hour. People running late for their dinner appointments. People going home for a well-deserved rest. Suddenly remembered an idea by our photographer friend who wanted to take a classic shot of a couple kissing in a blur sea of crowds. That was also the shot that made me go Awwwwwww in Goong Princess Hours *sigh* but I will have no guts to do it. I think we will cause a traffic jam when people stare and it will not be a shot among blurred moving crowds anymore, but of kaypoh people staring at us. But it would have been an interesting memorable photograph

As they say, "yellow heaven doesn't disappoint people with heart", yesterday was the OoooMP!! after days of wandering around Spore trying to find that particular wall lamp for my new place. Now ask me where to find what lamp in Balestier, Geylang and Jln Berseh and I can tell you which shop has what. It all started when 2 months back, both me and P were just looking around Jln Berseh for sinks and we chanced on this shop selling lighting. In the end, we didnt get any sinks but bought 3 lightings for our living room, bedroom and balcony. I spied this very interesting lamp that had a cat staring out a lighted window and strangely P liked it too (he seldom likes the cute things I like - he mostly tolerates them :) or at least he SAID he liked it too). But the price tag was $90!! After haggling with the boss, it was still $75. So I gave it up since I have no idea where to put it. Last week after renovation started, we realised we needed a wall lamp for the staircase and TADAH!! I wanted the cat. Again we went back to Jln Berseh to find but other shops had other designs such as twin hearts or a cross but no cat. Went back to the original shop and the salesgirl said to us secretly that actually one cat fell off! New stock will only arrive in Sept but I needed it now as the electrician is fixing up the lights this week! I was even willing to go do another cat out of clay and paste it there but I know P was not that willing... so I decided it should be found in Balestier right? Nooooooo.... I walked from one end to the other in the &^%$@# hot weather and I couldnt even find the other designs. Then I went to Geylang another day and after +(&<>!*} of walking again till I was giddy, I finally found the whole complete set of this type of wall lamps made of white plaster with creatures silhouetted by a lighted window pane and there was a swan, a whale, hearts, cross, teapot.....all so pretty!!! I was SOOOOO happy and .... they cost $150!! each!! I just had to walk away..... was all ready to give up but decided, hey I will go Jln Berseh to that shop, pay $75 for the ONE cat and fix it on my wall first, but in Sept when new stock arrive, I will bring the lamp cover with the ONE cat and exchange it for the proper 2 cats. So yesterday, in the RAIN and HEAT, I walked again and decided his time to really visit ALL the lighting shops to see if my cats were there or maybe there were even nicer substitutes. And I was going to pass by this one shop which P previously said they had very outdated designs but went in to avoid the rain. And HEY PRESTO I saw my beautiful lamp!!!! New!!! And the boss quoted me $68!! I just tried bargaining and he went down to $63 immediately. I was tempted to buy 2 just in case and can bargain lower.... but decided nah.... since I know where this shop is now..... and so, I have very pretty pretty nice lamp which happened to be VERY HEAVY due to the plaster..... so happy..... God is good to me :)...

There is this Taiwanese variety show that I like - Shen Huo Zhi Hui Wang or Good Idea! It's an auntie show but I am always learning new ways to organise the house or even cook simple dishes. Today I learnt how to make papaya milkshake but not with milk, using condensed milk instead which supposedly tastes better. P loves papaya milkshake but we almost never order during meals coz too filling. My BJ frens bought me a great blender - which I specifically requested to blend ice cubes as well - so will try that when I move over to new place and FIND that blender in the over 60 huge boxes in the storeroom now. Also learnt that putting Gladwrap under a floormat can increase friction power and prevent the mat from 'running' - that is way cool since never thought of that before.... so many things to learn :) One house owner they visited also used pebbles to paste and decorate the wall around the door so when you visit, it really stands out with the 3D design. Very tempting but I think P will not let me do it....grrrr....