|C|andid |K|aleidoscope

The Truth About Love… is a sucky movie…

In the movie, the wife (Jennifer Love Hewitt) pretended to be an anonymous admirer and had several rendezvous with her husband (Jimi Mistri) without him knowing she is actually his wife.  On the other hand, Jimi already has a mistress who is known as ‘Martin’ to Jennifer.  So, the husband is having an affair with a third party (Martin) and also with the wife herself (the anonymous admirer).  I’ll probably give this movie a half star rating.  0.25 for Jen’s effort in trying to conjure up a Brit accent and 0.25 to the writer for being able to come up with such a ‘duh’ storyline.

Even though its a sucky movie, at least it tells you one thing: guys think with their d*%#s… (Well, not all guys really.  But most.)

I have proof to backup my claim, from:

1. Truth About Love - but I strongly advise against watching it
2. 8 Days from a couple of weeks back - a report on Jude Law’s romp with the nanny behind Sienna Miller’s back
3. Softpedia™ - a report quoting Orlando Bloom’s sister vehemently defending her brother on his fling with Sienna and insisting he is still very much in love with Kate Bosworth.  "Of course they (Sienna and Orlando) kissed - they are friends and he always kisses his friends"… Yeah right…
4. Class95FM - FD was heard saying "All women recognise men as pigs… and pigs can’t hold their alcohol" (hahah)
5. "The Call" by the Backstreet Boys
6. Fame Game by Claudia Pattison - a rock star cheating on his wife
7. Past experiences
8. The people around me, both ladies and gents, have said that all men can’t be trusted

It takes two to clap.  The lady must be a willing third party.  Otherwise, the man would not be able to get what he wants… But, most men have glib tongues and most girls have hearts like cotton…  It also doesn’t help if the parties involved looks really good - think Jude-Sienna-Orlando-Kate.

Last week, I watched the acclaimed play, "Betrayal".  Although this play does not have an out-of-the-world storyline, it was brilliantly presented in reverse chronological order - starting at the end of a seven-year affair between Jerry and Emma, and ending at the point when the affair started.  Jerry happens to be the best friend of Emma’s husband and how he can possibly betray his best friend as well as his own wife (Judith), leaves me wondering.  But well, Emma betrayed her husband as well, who incidentally also has an affair with another lady.

You all out there may think I hate men.  I don’t.  It’s just a mystery to me, why do men act the way they do…  I’m not saying women don’t do the same thing but as someone from the fairer sex, this question about men automatically pops into my head.

A load of activities were planned for my weekend… but they didn’t happen.

Two of my colleagues (Bubbs and Rainbow) and I were supposed to board a coach bound for KL on Saturday, 6am.  We will then have a whole weekend of shopping at the Malaysia Sale.  This was, however, postponed due to the worsening haze in Malaysia, caused by the forest fire in Indonesia.

We have been planning for a short trip for a couple of weeks.  Just when we’ve decided, booked the hotel and bought tickets for our coach, news of the haze in KL came.  Malaysia declared a state of emergency during the week as the air pollution index (API) reached a dangerous level (more than 500).

Fortunately, the hotel had a policy which allows cancellation to be done 24 hours prior to checkin without any charges.  As for the coach, they refused to give us a refund.  They will only do so if the Singapore Government issues a statement asking Singaporeans not to go to Malaysia.  Asking if we could then postpone our trip, the agency said we will have to pay an extra 25%, on top of the ticket price… This is ridiculous!  It was something we all didn’t expect and we have to pay extra money for it?  After much arguing and calls made, the agency decided they would let us hold our booking until the end of August without any charge, out of good will (bleah…).  If the haze persists, they will then review the case again.

I have been dying to get out of the country for the longest time, just to take a break and have a short holiday.  First, Bubbs and I planned to go to Hong Kong, but as we could not both take leave at the same time, she went ahead with her friend.  Second, Xin and I have been saying for the longest time to save and go to Japan.  But I doubt that will happen as saving is difficult (=P) and I hardly have any leave left. Third, we have also been planning to go to Taiwan next year.  Hopefully, that will materialise and not be one of the many things we want to do, but can’t due to lack of finances or time.

My family has also gone ahead for a trip to Hong Kong without me.  My sister had to be there for work, so my parents went along with her, leaving me all alone in good ole Singapore…

Since my much anticipated trip to KL did not happen, I decided to get my friends to my place for mahjong.  Only half a round was played and Loo had to leave.  Pam was supposed to meet us then, so that we could continue with the game at her place with her mum.  But she was caught up at a dinner with her boyfriend and his family.

So Xin’s and my Saturday night was spent watching meaningless programmes on cable at my place.

Come Sunday… Del and I were supposed to hang out, but both of us had to be home early.  We decided it would be quite a fruitless journey, for her to travel to J8, have coffee for one and the half hours and leave.  My Sunday afternoon was thus spent reading Angels and Demons and napping.  I was also supposed to go back to Jurong in the night but was too lethargic to move.  My Sunday night was thus spent watching Arsenal vs New Castle (Scott Parker!) and Wigan vs Chelsea, and making $1 bets with Pee…

How Sinful Are You?

How sad can my life be?!?!  I will actually die in my sleep and no one will notice?! My body will just start to decompose on my bed, assuming that’s where my last sleep will be, and my family and friends will not even know I am gone?

What have I been living for? To be forgotten during my final moment? To be alone and miserable during my last days?

That’s a scary thought… I’m in depression now…

But hey!  This could all be my very own fault.  My deadliest sin is sloth!  I could very well have been too lazy to call my friends to tell them I’ve missed them, too lazy to call the ambulance when I feel some excruciating pain just before I fall asleep, too lazy to turn off my stove and fall asleep with gas leaking, too lazy to lock my doors and allow a mad robber to kill me when I’m asleep…!!!!

I never argue the fact that I’m lazy… Before I started real work, I’ll usually just sleep my days away.  Now that I’ve started working, weekends are the only time I can sleep late into the mornings but I’m denied of such a luxury due to other commitments, but I’ll try to sleep in whenever I can.  My mum-in-law even asked once why do I love to sleep so much?!?! How bad can it get?

I have decided… to STOP being lazy.  I’ll get my act together!  I’ll start looking for a new job cos I’ve been putting off flipping through the classifieds for far too long.  I’ll adopt a regular exercise regime to avoid getting fat.  I’ll stop procrastinating and clear up whatever mess my room is in (I’ve been told by a guy from my past that my room is the messiest girl’s room he has ever seen).  I’ll start thinking what I really want to do with my life and not dive into self-pity all the time.

The only comfort I have now is that if I maintain my relationships the way I have been maintaining them, I’m pretty sure what this quiz tells me will not come true.  And at least I only have a 14% chance of burning in hell and not more.

All the signs are there.  We must be kidding ourselves when we think we are still as young and energetic as five years before.

In recent years, Xin and I have been grumbling and secretly wondering to ourselves if age has really caught up on us. 

I know, I know… some may think I am mad when I consider myself old at 24 (especially my mum who touched my forehead with her hand, looking worried, when I expressed my concern)… but the things I used to do before I reached the big ‘2′ seems so ‘un-do-able’ now.

Hanging out under void decks till 6am, wasting hours at coffee and fast food joints, clubbing every week, drinking at every chance we get, or simply just trying to break the law… these brought so much gratification to us at that point of our lives, we thought we could revel and purely survive on such activities without a care in the world.

These days, clubbing has dwindled to become a once-a-month activity and that also depends on whether we are up for it or if we have other more important commitments to attend to.  Very often, even if we do club, we will start to feel restless after awhile and hope the night will end soon.

The only exception to such a situation was one unforgettable clubbing night some months back, with three of my other great gal-pals - Pam, Del and Xin.  It had been ages since the four of us had an all-girls’-night and we really had fun reminiscing, chatting and trying to strike up conversations with bartenders, a-la SATC.  A similar outing was planned for Friday but was called off as my pee needed me to be home early that night.

So, we met on Saturday instead, without Pam and with Lifen and her friend.

The crowd on Saturdays is really… lets just say… really not to our liking as always.  And there seemed to be something wrong with the DJ in Phuture.  After a couple of shots and two jugs, Xin and I had to get out for some fresh air.  But following two groups of dubious looking people, asking for directions and a bout of bad headache, we were torn between going back in and going back home.  We decided to be nice and not leave our friends behind.

The night didn’t go on for long.  A round at Zouk’s dancefloor (which was quite empty, with weird people on the platform and around us) and a photo-taking session in the ladies pretty much ended our night.  Pee came, we dropped Xin off and cautioned her of her recent stalker and headed home ourselves.

The next day, the queasy feeling I felt after the drinks the night before continued.  Xin confirmed she felt weird too.  But we went ahead with our shopping (SALE!) and later, two rounds of mahjong with Pam and her mum.

I think it’s not so much that we are old.  A night out catching up with friends over drinks, shopping, flexing our vocal muscles and mahjong now are the main activities that brings us satisfaction. 

It’s just that we enjoy different things, now that we have started working and earning our own money.  Our perpectives on life has changed and we aim for different things.  This is growing up.  Not growing old.

Human beings are a lazy lot.
Or rather, we steal whatever opportunity we can to rest and play.

On a rainy afternoon, a bunch of mice decided to hold a small party with lots of food and games.  Mouth-watering pasta made by Chef Mouse was heated up and pizza delivered by the pizza man arrived just in time for the start of the party.

Before the party started, Lively Mouse and Nonchalant Mouse were afraid that there would be too much food left over.  But as they chatted and ate, it was soon clear that all of them were either very hungry, or the food was just simply delicious!

When almost all the food have been swept away from its tubs and plates, the mice decided to continue with the party agenda and go on to play a round of Pictionary!

Three groups of two were formed.

There was much laughter, shrieks of excitement and groans of disappointment during the course of the game and all the mice were having such a great time until no one wanted to stop the fun.

"Hey!" said Chef Mouse, "You guys can come over to my hole one day soon and continue with our game of Pictionary!"

"Yeah!  We should definitely do that!" exclaimed Lively Mouse, Nonchalent Mouse and Dependable Mouse.

Thus, being responsible mice, they decided it was time to go back to work, just in case the cat catches them in action.

This little party has definitely brought the mice closer and made them learn more about each other.  Games are such great bonding tools.  They bring enjoyment, laughter and brings the participants much closer together.

Our National Day Preview was on 30 July 2005. 

I surprised myself when I agreed to my mum’s request to attend this year’s preview with her.  Deep down, I know I promised her out of guilt.  Over the years, I have not been a very good daughter.  Always missing from the house, always making excuses whenever she asks me to join her for something and I’ve made her shout, scream, have the notion of killing someone (i.e. me) and made her cry countless times.

Cityhall MRT Station was overflowing with people but my mum and I managed to locate each other and made our way to the Padang.  Security was tight as expected and the goodie bag given out was filled with stuff like the Singapore flag, whistle, tambourine, party popper, booklet of coupons, snacks, water and…… this year, there was even a Nokia 3230 in the bag (it’s actually a torch light shaped exactly like the phone)!!!

The first couple of hours were really quite boring.  I didn’t feel that kind of patriotism everyone told me they felt.  I was beginning to feel quite bad and thought I must be really insensitive to be half dozing during the nation’s celebration of 40 years of independence, when the Singapore Red Lions (I think this was what they called them) flew high above us and prepared to do their parachuting stunt.  It was really an amazing sight when you first see six small specks in the sky that grew in size and became humans floating up in the sky.  That was the start of the enjoyment.

A simulation of the ministers and our PM arriving plus jokes made by Gurmit and Mark Lee brought laughter to everyone at the Padang.  A hyper-active Sharon Au was also running and prancing around trying to bring some reaction to the audience.  The other comperes however, did not seem as enthusiastic.

Clips that showed how our little island went head on and tackled major world events like the Japanese Occupation, Asian financial crisis and SARS made me swell with pride.

Some kids who were performing on the wet-with-rain ground slipped and fell.   One, who was holding a flapping bird as a prop fell and his bird sort of broke from the stand and he had to walk back in to salvage the damage.  I felt kind of sad for him as being unable to complete his performance would definitely make him quite disappointed.  I had such an experience before.

The night of course ended with the much anticipated fireworks.  While everyone else wooed and aahhed with every splash of colour and sparks, alot of the audiences began packing their bags and started leaving the Padang.  A typical example of ‘Kiasu-ism’.

Sigh… Singaporeans will always be Singaporeans.  But that is what we are all celebrating… the ability to overcome all obstacles and our very own unique Singapore identity.