The Gnomes Made Me Do It!

I have been working for Dezzo this past week.
It'll only be until next Friday.
I embarked upon this to:
a) Understand his job better
b) Earn some money to pay for oil painting class

It's been quite chaotic for the poor boy as he has to juggle 2 shoots which happen one after another.
We've been staying late, till 3ish in the morning, waking up the next morning to go back to the office.
And it only gets worse apparently.
Anyway, the NDP MTV shoot is starting monday morning.
I am worried that all the things I've coordinated will not go according to plan.
What if the kids have no buses?
What if the lunches don't arrive?
What if the crew van breaks down?
What if the porta loos don't arrive?
What if.....

Worried.

And I have'nt spent quality time with Dez yet.
Yesterday was the first time we sat down for a proper dinner together and managed to chit chat over rum and raisin ice-cream.
Ok.
Now that I have Saturday afternoon, it's back to job searching.
Bye!

Posted by sideshowjo at 12:22 pm | Permalink | Comments

I believe in God.
I believe he exists.
I know sometimes when we pray and make a petition, he does'nt necessarily answer our prayers there and then.
Sometimes it takes months,
maybe years.
But I still believe in God.

I felt very looked after by him yesterday and today.
I realise that I am not as independent as i thought I was.
At least not emotionally.
I need friends to bounce off.
To listen to their opinions and advice.

And I thank him for sending me all these angels.

For Trina calling from Sydney.
For Theresa calling from London, out of the blue.
For Christine coming over and giving me good advice.
For Cousin Bernie, being a pillar of strength.
For Pam smsing a random "how are you?" making my day.
For Gary taking time out from work to sit down with me and tear my cover letter and resume to shreds and re-writing and re-formatting the whole thing.
For Jennifer wanting to keep in touch.
For Joshua and Gary who both would'nt mind coming to oil painting class with me to take a look

For everyone single one of my friends.
I thank you all.
Life would'nt be worth it if you all were'nt around to colour my world.

This completely cracked me up today:

A dancing Wasabi plant on a surfboard.


Gary humoring me and posing for a Mugshot with dancing wasabi plant.

Posted by sideshowjo at 4:18 pm | Permalink | Comments

Today a part of me has died.
Died
Died
Died
Died
Died
Died

Posted by sideshowjo at 8:51 pm | Permalink | Comments

You know how they install those slmming mirrors in changing rooms?
Yah?
The type that don't reach to the floor, but are at least a foot from the ground.
Damn they make your legs look skinny.
I absolutely abhore deception of any form.
Lies! Lies! ALL LIES!
Bought a pair of jeans.
The mirror at Marks and Spencer told me I looked kick ass slim in them.
The full length mirror at home told me otherwise.
BASTARDS!

Posted by sideshowjo at 7:18 pm | Permalink | Comments

Oh!

Do you know that you can now buy a brand new car at Mustafa????

The fucker is really making so much money, buying shitty factory rejects and selling it to his own people, the migrant workers, for a great big profit. What a bloody bastard, in my point of view. Honestly! The only people that would go there and splurge, buying TVs, radios, computers are the Bangladeshi, the thai, the myannmar, the indian labourers...and probably all done on the only day off they have from work in the whole year before catching their flight back home.
The stupid man.
I really hate him.

Posted by sideshowjo at 1:40 am | Permalink | Comments

I remember sometime ago we talked about how sometimes people in relationships disagree because their languages of love don't sync with one another.
There are 5 languages of love.
Namely:

Quality time
Acts of service
Words of affirmation
Physical touch
Gifts

Different people communicate love in different ways.
I just find it fascinating.
It somehow seems like it's something I already know, yet, when put down in words and broken down, it seems so profound.
It's as if the whole world's couple problems could be explained by this very plain and simple fact...that WE DON'T SPEAK THE SAME LOVE LINGO BABY!

Posted by sideshowjo at 1:29 am | Permalink | Comments

I was at the post office yesterday sending off more resumes, and I realized that our post office offers a whole barrage of services.
You can even pay for back dated hospital bills (Of the government sector, but of course)
So standing in line I was just thinking how funny it would sound if:
"Yes, I would like to send this birthday card to Fiji and settle the bill for my circumcision"
SNIP! SNIP!


A testiment to what Jo really does in her free time.
Forage in the ice cream section at cold storage.

Posted by sideshowjo at 3:50 pm | Permalink | Comments

Dezzo came back from his week long trip sunday morning. YAY! YAY! So good to have him back.
Anway. being mother's day and all, we celebrated it by bringing the lady in question to this fantastic french resturant called MAISON DE FONTAINE on saturday (sunday is Mahjong day for one Lucy Lo). It used to be at Chijmes, but has since moved to them old black and white colonial houses along scotts road.
We had

For Starters
Foie Gras caramelized in port wine
Escargots in herb, garlic and butter
Lobster bisque

For Entrees
Mom: Pan seared cod fish accompanied with a light white wine sauce, served with caramelized potatoes and garden vegetables
Dad: Carpet Bag steak with potato bake as a side
Joshua: US Beef tenderloin with potato bake
Jo: Rack of lamb with rich port wine sauce with caramelized potatoes

Dessert
Josh and I had chocolate Souffle and creme brulee. DIVINE!

Was so completely stuffed after, but Gary wanted to hang out for a bit and Jonathan had just got of work so Jon picked me up and suggested we head down to mustafa centre. So we three sat there by the grimey roadside drinking teh, talking cock.
Jon is the unofficial spokesperson for Mustafa.
GAWD, have you guys been there to see what kind of stuff Mr. Mustafa sells?
REspect to the man!
He stocks IPODs, LAPTOPS! and if you ever need printer cartridges at 4am in the morning, Mustafa is THE place to go!
And the fresh food, fruits, copious amounts of condoms, infrared socks (WTF?), fat burning pills, nike shoes, cheese, TVs, Washing machines, and a whole 2 floors of BLING BLING! Gold, diamonds! (Now you know where to go if you need to pop the question in the wee hours of the morning)

We spent a good hour and a half there.

Today, we went to zouk's flea and easy. I should have taken advice and went at 2pm, but we lazed till 4ish, so by the time we got there, it was swarming with people and smoke. fucking schmucks! Saw a Blythe doll which was not bad but the chicka was asking $80 for it, Dez was going to buy it, but for 40 bucks I could get a spanking new one, so it did'nt make sense. After 20minutes of walking around, and Dez having to do the "Oh Hi!" "So what you doing now?" *cue in fake laugh* and I bumped into a friend of friend whom I could'nt figure out who the hell he was, so *polite smile* "Dwyane!?" "OMG! How have you been?" "Gawd! Have'nt seen you in ages!" *cue in fake laugh*, We looked at each other "Wanna get out of here?"

Which has made me come to the very simple conclusion: The asian society is all about image. A fucking flea market seems to warrent people to doll up in ther funky clubby gear, high heels and put on the uber cool look-at-me attitude as they cruise along the narrow asile looking for a good buy. The western society however, (I probably am comepletely biased here, but having been in australia for a couple of years and going to their flea markets have made me kind of a flea market purist) believes in doing it for the good laugh, relaxation and if a buck of two is made, then all fair and good. No airs, no pretense, just folk out on a lazy sunday, looking through old wares and perhaps an avenue to market their handmade products. In australia, they come across as genuine, accomodating and friendly, which hightens the whole scouring for a cheap buy experience. No pressure, certainly no fucking schmucks looking you up and down and no clubby kids in their luminous acessories and make up. Eugh!

I miss Glebe, Newtown and Paddington markets!

However, after the whole zouk experience, we went for ice cream at holland V, where they had a sunday market on the grass patch. ok, now the atmosphere here was different, the stuff was'nt as vast and interesting as the merchandise in Zouk but for the very plain and simple fact that people were just more down to earth and laid back, I'd give them two thumbs up over flea and easy anyday. And perhaps it was the environment, I actually bought something! A pair of sandles for 6 bucks!

Dinner with Dez and folks after at this fantastic Japanese resturant, where we had foie Gras again.
I feel so spoilt.

(I realise that this place has been devoid of pictures for a while now, Pretty colours are needed! I shall get to uploading photos! Night folks!)

Posted by sideshowjo at 2:28 am | Permalink | Comments

MAXWELL FOOD MARKET HAS TO DO HELLOVA LOT TO REDEEM IT'S STINKING SMELLY SELF AFTER TODAY!

Met up with Edmund, food connoisseur, makansutra tour guide, fellow glutton.
Met at Tanjong Pagar because we thought we could find ah-balling tang yuens around the area.
Maxwell food market seemed like a fantasitc choice as the food selection there is vast and palatable.
This is why I will not return there for a long while till the sorry place redeems itself from six feet under.

1. TIEN TIEN chicken rice stall.
As recommended by makansutra.

How do you differentiate good chicken rice from bad ones?
And what differentiates TIEN TIEN from all other chicken rice stalls? (As told by Edmund)
It's all the the fatty Jello baby!
The secret is in the chicken.
The chicken is first broiled/steamed for a good 20 mins.
When almost done (ie: meat still pink round the bone), the chicken is hoisted out of the steaming vat and placed in a cooler temperature.
NOW! This is where TIEN TIEN's secret manouvre comes in.
Conventional stalls would place the hot chicken in cool tap water, TIEN TIEN however, places its chooks in ICE! Yes people, ICE. So you see, the broiled chook then contracts quicker than you can say 'smelly salty balls!' and the fat round the chicken forms a thin gelatinous layer between the skin and meat. Through the process of contraction, the juices are sealed and trapped, encapsulating the essense of the broth.
HOWEVER! Timing IS crucial.
You can't let the chook cool down too much, as you still want the meat to cook slowly when you hang it up.
Ah....so you see watson, as Uncle TIEN TIEN takes the chooks out, and hangs it on the rack, the chicken cooks slowly with the residual heat and the minute the pink flesh against the bone turns white...the first customer of the day rocks up and chicken rice is ready to be served!

Of course, Edmund had to have TIEN TIEN when we went to maxwell.
It was absolute rubbish.
The chicken was soggy, the rice was tasteless, simply disgusting. A far cry from the last time I had it some 2 months ago. PHUI!


2. Mr BEAN dessert stall

The quintessential chinese dessert stall in every hawer centre, bean curd.
I had the one with peanut tang yuens in bean curd.
The bean curd was lumpy and resembled puke consistancy, and the tang yuen skin was thick and doughy! Repulsive! For the first time I could actually relate to Discovery travel and adventure's Ian Wright's description of the durian:
It's like eating cheese off a corpse fermenting in the sun


3. Some YUM CHA stall

Yam balls: Attrocious
Ha Gau (Prawn dumplings): Skin thick and leathery, praws mashed up in a paste, BAD!
Egg tart: Crust dry, not enough butter, egg filling tastless and bland.

AND! When we thought things would be pretty safe when it came to drinks, Edmund ordered sugar cane juice and bit down on something crunchy...and we are not talking sugar-cane-fibre kind of crunchy, more beetle/bug crunchy. Visions of the cat urine sugar cane juice poisoning incident flash before our eyes.

We both agreed that we had to have better lunches.

Posted by sideshowjo at 12:28 am | Permalink | Comments

I am so pep-ed up from the mocha I had at 9.30.
I can't bloody sleep!
ARGGH!
Oh well, I'll just recap the night like how a journal entry should be.

Had to get out of the house, so we went to this book launch at the Singapore Art Museum. Have always loved the architecture of the place eversince Trina's mom got married there. Gorgeous! Got there late, the thing actually started at 7, with poetry readings. By the time we reached at 8.30, 1 cigarette later and oh! everyone started streaming out of the glass room.
Made a bee line to congratulate Andrea, one of the editors, got our complimentary copy and we were off! Haha...proceeded to Olio Dome within the museum grounds to have the POTENT mocha! Dang!

After that Dezzo had his black forest cake cravings so we headed to Baker's Inn at the Atrium. Gawd! Theie strawberry short cake is fucking amazing! The cake is so light and fluffy, cream is perfect and the berries were so fresh i could still taste the dirt :)
After our guilty indulgence we headed to Rouge. I read in JUICE that they had drum and bass on fridays so we decided to check it out as we LOVE drum and bass. Dang the place was rockin'! The chap at the door waived our cover charge and we got in for free. YAY!

Place was lovely, the musik, even better! With the trippy boomy basslines mixed in with an ambiet backdrop, Fucking hell! All hell broke loose I tell you! No restraints whatsoever! Hands in air, fancy leg work, heads bobbing up and down, everyone was truely in a state of higher consiousness, reveering the tiny DJ (who reminds me of the rapper Pharell) up on his pulpit. Lapping up his every word and action. Dang!
Admist the madness, we got our pictures taken for JUICE magazine and EXITMUSIK.COM. 2 seconds of fame ah!

I think I will now make it my life goal to hunt down all Drum and bass events in Singapore.
Enough said.

Posted by sideshowjo at 4:04 am | Permalink | Comments