S.T.Louis ~ Consumer beware

At Tampines 1 while walking about

To my sister dearest I suddenly did shout

That there was a sale in S T Louis

Could we take a look in there please??? (clearly this wouldn't rhyme if you said it in French!)

There were many necklaces, trinkets galore

I already owned some, for sure, but I wanted more

So a draped one over myself - just to see

If it was suited to the wearer - me.

And just as I reached behind me to grasp

the necklace it came undone, but not at the clasp

The string burst, the beads rolled, some UNDER my shirt

A mouse walking past would have surely been hurt

The saleslady wasn't the littlest bit fazed

She picked up the bits while I stood looking dazed

Then nonchalantly says to us - pointing at the sign

That since I had broken it, the thing was now mine.(What?!?!)

Three dollars and ninety cents isn't too much (yeah.. right)

To pay for a trinket I barely did touch (hrmph)

And oh, I was warned that their products would break

Or else why put up a sign if some wear they could take!!

I get that these shops put up signs as a warning 

to kids and teens who'll be sighing and fawning

Over such baubles and bits, bobs etcetera

But surely they knew I was a bona fide shopper!

Ah well, just beware if ever you're in

said shop - don't touch anything with your own skin

Always be sure that the staff is assisting

That way if stuff breaks it's not your pocket their skinning. 

UNIQLO a definite NO GO!

Some time ago I heard from my sister that Uniqlo has a policy about taking off one's shoes when trying on clothing. 

1) toe jam

2) plantar warts

3) any other germs / bacteria

Needless to say as a plantar wart survivor I refuse to take any more chances in the event I have to suffer thru craters burnt out of my feet and limping about in pain all over again.

So I told myself I wouldn't ever shop there.

However, also thanks to my sister, I've become the proud owner of a great brown jacket - right size, comfy, great for work.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't have any bottoms to wear it with.

Fortunately for me, the pasar malam downstairs was a great place for securing a printed brown skirt that would go great with it.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't have any beige/cream tops that would match the floral skirt.

So upon consulting with my guru of baju (read: nya Lisa) I decided to give UNIQLO a go. I figured I wouldn't USE the fitting room. I'd just identify a suitable tee / tank and get the heck out of there.

Right? Wrong. I step in there with mum in tow and asked salesperson #1 where I could find some women's fitted tees. 

"Wait ah, I check."

I'm puzzled. Er, don't you work here? Ok, maybe it's her first day on the job. 

"Ma'am, you mean slim cut tees?"

Hmm, I suppose that could be what it's called in this store. "Yes," I say. 

"Follow me."

Little did I know that she meant "follow me while I meander around this outlet because even tho I now know what you are looking for, I still have no idea where to get any. How about I try asking this other salesperson (aka #2)..."

He points at yonder shelf - wait, aren't those jeans? So we head over there and there's not a tee to be seen. 

"Hey, Salesperson #3, yes you, do we have any slim cut tees?" 

"Yah, there." (He points at a corner we had just gone round.)

More meandering follows. We finally get there. The tour guide hightails it outta there.

Oh. They're turtlenecks. I turn to salesperson #4. 

"Excuse me, where are your crew neck tee shirts?" 

Blur look follows.

I try again: "Round neck ?"

"ohhh, here" - points to turtleneck I'm holding. 

Now *I'm* confused. "No no," I say, gesturing to my own neck to try and charade it out to her "round neck, not high neck"

Another blur look. She proceeds to point behind me. 

I turn and see round-neck heat-lock-in long-sleeved supposed-to-be-long-johns-es. Sigh.

I look and mum and roll my eyeballs. We both head out the door.

Conclusion ->

1) too many salespersons with no idea what they're selling

2) no one knows what a crew-neck tee shirt is

3) they don't have any

BaliThai @ TM

The Place - Tampines Mall
The Time - Lunch
The Restaurant - Bali Thai
The Food - one main + one side + one drink for $12.90 ++ Drinks @ $1 each

Grilled Chicken Fried Rice

Honey Lemon Drink

Fish Fillet / Tofu with Sweet chiili sauce / Kai Lan fried in Oyster Sauce

Tapioca and Coconut Milk for Dessert - my FAVE!

Hurray! Mum finished her Tom Yum Noodle Soup

What Does one do...

on the eve of the public holiday that is Deepavali?

Cook curries and have friends over for dinner >>

In Hiding

I haven't written in a bit cos I was (unbeknownst to me) on a quest to find myself.

I've come to terms with my abandonment issues. I've sorted out the people in my life on my friend-meter, again! I've reconnected with people whom, in the past, I've had to keep a distance from. 

Moving on I can safely say that I'm over it. My concerns are for myself and the people whom I love. So if you're not People I Love then well, as they say, Tuff Sheet.

Am I still hurting? Sure. But it's safe to say that if a certain ex-beau were to show up with a story I'd be very unlikely to believe it. I'm not so much angry as exasperated. And perhaps the anger is at myself...for constantly defending and justifying the various positions I found myself in. 

And if you discover that I've suddenly become really quiet or reluctant to engage in any communication whatsoever, know that it's not me, it's you. I haven't got any more patience and/or years left to waste on people who think they're too good for / above / better than me. 

So, I'm done. And in a tribute to my latest project - Life is Great!

Swensens

30th Sept 2010

The mother, the sister, the niece and I went to lunch at Tampines. It was one-for-one during lunchtime so we had a great deal of food for about $10 each.

Sandra's Omelette

Chef Salad

Buffalo Wings and a serving of Smoke Salmon Salad

And MORE Buffalo Wings - cos one serving just isn't enough!

There was more of course but we'd already gobbled the rest before I could get my camera out. Go check it out. Definitely a good deal!

Jacks Place Anchorpoint

The Neo sisters had some free time last Friday so we went to get our hair done, stopped by Ikea for a free lunch (courtesy of a $10 voucher) then did some grocery shopping at Cold Storage.

After the walk around the supermarket the senior Neo sister was hungry so we hopped into Jacks Place for a quick dinner.

We got silly and asked the staff for Tartar sauce and soya sauce and started playing with our fries!

Tartare + Chilli sauce

Sue dipping her French fry in the soy sauce to see if it'll "climb" up the fry.  LOL

New books!!

...courtesy of the publishers...

Remember the Meg Cabot omnibus I wrote about earlier which had the missing pages? So I wrote to the publishers and told them about the problem.

And I received this in the mail a couple of days ago. Yippee!

Last Night's Dinner

The folks have been holidaying here since Sunday night and I'm glad for the company. If nothing else, the food I cook doesn't sit in my fridge for days while I try to scarf down the leftovers. 

But of course, that's not the only reason I'm happy they're here. Dad seems less stressed out, mum seems glad for someone to share her angst with, and I'm in my element when I can fuss over people - you know, putting out pots of tea, sorting out their laundry, sitting with them while they watch tv. (Or in dad's case, while the tv watches him!)

Last night mum bought some serondeng and ketupat and I grilled some chicken and chucked some fish fillets in a chilli crab gravy. It was simple but it was good. And most importantly - it was finished!

Queen of Babble

This is the book I've been reading. I got to the end last night. Only, at page 251 I realised I was back at page 219. There was a repeat of the whole chunk from chapter 19 onwards for about 30 pages, and then it skipped all the way to page 282. So I missed the bit where Lizzie received her present from Luke. She was expecting an engagement ring - only it wasn't a ring, and from what I can tell they must have gotten into a fight and broken up. Cos by page 282 she had moved out of her apartment and into the upstairs unit of the shophouse where she works.

I hopped over to the publisher's website where there's a nifty link to an email address where you can report faults like missing pages (I wonder if this happens often) and they've auto-responded saying someone will contact me about my report soon.

And so it IS possible to get from 247 to 283 in the span of 2 pages... Sigh. Anyone want an almost-choose-your-own-adventure romance novel?

The Bait & Wait

I've just been sitting on my butt for the last 2 hours in my room watching He's Just Not That Into You.

And you know, the main thing I got out of it is that I've been a stupid cow the last 30 years of my life. With every relationship I can look back now and pinpoint the exact moment when it all fell apart. The moment when I should have walked away. But didn't. I'm just pissed that I wasted so much time - not only on the ones who never quite made it to relationship status, but even on the ones who did.

So the deal is this - since so many people out there wonder why women keep hanging on and hoping and waiting for the guy to call / ask her out / propose, I have decided to consciously remember that if he ain't calling, then he ain't interested.

Having said that.. over the last month I've had 5 almost-offers to go out. I say "almost" because they've all expressed some sort of interest in meeting up / having coffee / buying me dinner, but only 1 has ACTUALLY asked if I was available over the weekend. Unfortunately I wasn't so the date didn't happen but that's not the point of this story.

The point is, why would you say "we should have dinner sometime" or "I'd like to take you out" or "let's meet for coffee when your schedule lightens up"  and then NOT set a date or ask a girl out?

My theory is that guys just don't realise that's what they've gotta do. And asking her out means you set a day and time - not call up NOW and say "hey, you free for brunch?" cos chances are she won't be. Cos she has a life right? And she would have already made other plans. And if she hasn't, it's likely she's got stuff to do or errands to run or simply doesn't feel like company.

So here are lines I'm getting from the Bait & Waiters of the moment:

"I was going to ask if you wanted to go out but I thought you'd be busy"    

So you're a psychic now are you?

"Oh do you often have friends over for drinks? So when am I going to get an invitation?"

We've never met. Ever. Why would I ask you to my home?

"I'd love to continue this conversation over dinner sometime"  but hasn't been able to actually project a date in the future for this to happen. He HAS however rung me up and asked if I wanted to have brunch like NOW at least 3 times. Sorry. I don't do beck and call anymore.

"We should definitely have coffee. I'd love to hear from you when you're free to meet." 

Am I expected to email you a timetable? You've fished around to scope out my willingness to meet up and I've said, sure I'd like that. It's your turn buddy. It's not like you don't have my number.

So if anyone knows a decent bloke who isn't likely to piss me off, and whom you think might appreciate my personality and all-round (pun definitely intended!) good looks, throw him my way will ya? And yes, he has to call me. Cos I ain't doin' no mo' callin'.

Hello, Write Properly, Can?

Short Sorries... I mean, Stories.

1. I was looking at indie blogshops selling used clothing (ok, some of the stuff is purported to be brand new, with tags intact, even) and the one thing that struck me is how many Singaporeans mix-up reasonably common words. The 2 most common mistakes are using BROUGHT instead of BOUGHT and INTERLINING instead of INNER-LINING. I mean, the last time I heard the word "interline" there were aeroplanes involved. There is a fashion-industry use of the word Interlining - it refers to the sandwiched piece of cloth BETWEEN the main garment and its lining, or any fabric commonly used for such a purpose. I'm sure that's NOT what these web-sellers are referring to. 

2. Earlier on today I had a conversation online with a bloke. He made a joke that was totally not funny. It was more of a one-liner, really. Which didn't make any sense at all. In addition, it was about something I said in reference to something my best friend gave me.  When I totally didn't react in the manner which he was expecting his reply was "Just Kidding".  A) You're not my friend and I don't know you. We've never met in person and I'm only chatting with you online to be polite because you enquired about something I posted up. B) You don't know my friend and you have no idea what it is we're talking about because the reference was for HER not YOU. C) Do you even know the meaning of "Just Kidding"? 

3. While many have adopted the practice of typing words using as few letters as possible in an SMS (aka Text message) I'd like to point out that when you're writing a story for people to read on your blog, it is NT ok 2 type lyk dis bcos d eye doesn't automatically pik up d meang of d word if it's nt spelt out prop. The result is that it takes a person twice as long to decipher the meaning of your discourse. Well, alright, maybe not twice as long, but definitely longer than normal. And isn't it more natural for your fingers to type the actual word out on a computer keyboard anyway? If you've used the computer for any amount of time and type regularly enough muscle memory takes over no? (and now tell me, did you slow down while reading that funny line up there? Cos I did when I read through this paragraph - and I WROTE it!)

4. Back to fashion blogs. Just one more thing to add. When you don't know the correct word, or if there's a chance you might be using the wrong one, just swap it out for a simpler version. Eg. The description for a Black and Cream Polka Dot Dress >> Goes from the office to the restaurant - all you need is a simple bracelet and necklace to compliment the outfit. In my head I have a comic strip going: Dear outfit - You're looking nice today... Why, thanks for the compliment. Seriously. *Rolls eyeballs*

So u noe, I saw dis dress tt wil really compliment d shoes I brought in M'sia bt den dere was no interlining! How? no lah.. Just Kidding!

Happy Birthday Daddy

My father turned 79 on Wednesday but I was super-busy this week (M9 remember?) so we arranged to have his "celebration" dinner tonight instead.

I was kinda expecting dinner to cost a little more than it did - so when the bill arrived and it was only $61.50 I was over the moon :)

The sister and family joined us for dinner so she split it with me (or I should say, the sister's husband did). 

From extreme left (clockwise):

Venison with Ginger n S/Onions 

Diced Chicken with Cashews

Egg Fu-Yong

Sambal Mussels

Kai-Lan in Garlic

Center: Home-made Tofu

The fried noodles had already been cleared out!

Here's dad chowing down -

And after dinner we headed back to The Sister's house for cake and tea...

...where Jason (+ guitar) and Sandra provided some live entertainment via McFly and Simple Plan songs.

I know it wasn't this super glamorous party or anything and I wish we could have done more for you, but still, I hope you had fun daddy. I love you!

Courtesy Is Alive and Well

There may be hope for our countrymen after all. 

The folks and I were on our way back from Suntec City on Friday and it was about 430 in the evening. Mum scored herself a seat on the ridiculously crowded train (we got on at Paya Lebar) and dad and I hovered where she was seated. These 2 blokes got up and offered their seats to us.

"Oh it's ok, I can stand", I blurted, indicating that they didn't BOTH have to sacrifice their seats. But they would have none of it and so dad and I sat our aching bones down for the journey home. So, this is me saying thanks, fellas!

Here's to you two. Maybe the world isn't ALL bad eh?

Seen this week

And for $8.90 it's a dam good buy! I'll collect my copy tomorrow - thanks to Che-Che Sue : Pop Club member extraordinaire!

I mentioned that Hershey's was coming to the east - Tampines Mall to be exact - but look what I saw while I was wandering around Citilink Mall :)

There can never be too many stores, in my opinion. Mmmm - I can already taste the peanut butter in my mouth!

Study Study Study

If you've been wondering why I've been so out of it lately - here's the reason:

This is the big mama that I've been ploughing thru the last month in preparation for the M9 Exam (as it is affectionately known). The book is tres heavy! 

125 questions. pass mark is 88. that's 70%. 

And I passed. I'm thankful I can still remember stuff even tho it's been ages since I had to study anything. And it's heartwarming to know that my friends have every confidence in me being able to do this (and do it easily, I might add).

Thanks for all the encouragement and motivation guys. I Love You!!

PROOF!

What's with the men these days?

This is a pissy post. If you're not in the mood for it, DON'T READ IT.

Over dinner I had the opportunity to gossip with my girls.

The story was told of a certain feller who couldn't get the girl of his dreams, so he settled for this other girl who really really likes him. Now they've been together for a bit and she's hinting ALL OVER THE PLACE about applying for a flat, looking at bridal magazines, saying how her horoscope makes her an ideal candidate for a wife. (Personally I don't think that has anything to do with it, but, ok...)

When the feller was confronted by friends (who've heard the massive hints on the part of the girlfriend) his answer was this - if I keep quiet I'll be alright.

Dude- wake up. You WON'T be alright. You'll be 50 and living in the mind of an 8 year old.

"So if you don't intend to marry her, why even pursue this relationship?"

"I'm afraid if I give her up I won't be able to find anyone else"

R-i-g-h-t. That makes a lot of sense. Let's see, as a single person you can do whatever you want, go out with whoever you choose, sleep as late as you like, have NO commitments to said girlfriend and won't feel as if your every move is being policed.

Now that you're attached, you're constantly looking for ways to go out sans said girlfriend, refuse to be affectionate to her in public, can't stand it when she calls to ask where you are, don't bother to text or call her...

Tell me again why you're so afraid you can't find someone else? It's not like you're even ENJOYING this relationship you DO have.

Take if from me because I have first hand experience right? If you have the b*lls to break up with her now (CLEANLY) cos you just don't love her that way (or any way, for that matter) she'll be pissed but respect you for your honesty.

If you keep her hanging till she's at her wits' end SHE'LL want to break up with you (leaving you with no one anyway) and on top of that she'll be PISSED AS HELL. This whole let's-do-nothing I-don't-wanna-be-the-bad-guy routine DOES NOT WORK. Haven't you figured that out by now?

Cos if you don't take up the I'm-the-scum-of-the-earth title now, you'll end up with one way worse when your relationship finally does come to an end. 

Ask me how I know. I dare you.

Achmed The Dead Terrorist

I've seen this a bazillion times and it still cracks me up! (I'm not even sure if I've already posted it but since it's a favourite of mine, here it is...)

And here's his Christmas song - Jingle Bombs. ENJOY!

Jiffy Corn Muffins

Last week Che Che Sue called to ask if I could bake these for her if she bought the mix - she's oven-ly challenged :)

The verdict - super easy to do but a little dry for my taste. Having said that, if you throw on some butter / jam / honey / any other spread of choice, it's actually quite yummy taste-wise.

Here are the pictures:

What Am I Watching These Days?

(Pictures and Synopses taken off the web)




1. White Collar 
Starring : Matthew Bomer, Tim DeKay,

WHITE COLLAR revolves around the unlikely partnership of a con artist and an FBI agent who have been playing cat and mouse for years. Neal Caffrey (Bomer), a charming criminal mastermind, is finally caught by his nemesis, G-Man extraordinaire Peter Burke (DeKay). When Neal escapes from a maximum-security prison to find his long-lost love, Peter nabs him once again. Rather than returning to jail for his daring getaway, Neal suggests an alternate plan: he'll provide his expertise to assist the Feds in catching other notorious and elusive criminals. Initially wary, Peter quickly finds that Neal provides insight and intuition that cannot be found on the right side of the law.

Why I watch this:
Cos Matt Bomer's Hot!

2. Dark Blue

Starring : Dylan McDermott, Omari Hardwick, Logan Marshall-Green, Nicki Aycox

Carter Shaw (played by Dylan McDermott) is the head of a crack undercover team of LAPD officers who are so covert, many of their own colleagues do not even know they are involved. His team includes a recently married cop (played by Omari Hardwick) who struggles with personal relationships he has developed while undercover; a shoot-from-the-hip officer (played by Logan Marshall-Green) whose activities make fellow team members wonder if he has gone over to the other side; and a callow patrolwoman (played by Nicki Aycox) brought in because of her excellent skill in lying and her shady past.

Why I watch this:

Cos I like the whole 
undercover rogue thing!

3. Royal Pains

Starring : Mark Feuerstein, Paulo Costanzo, Jill Flint, Reshma Shetty

ROYAL PAINS is a USA cable network television series starring Mark Feuerstein about a young E.R. doctor who, after being wrongly blamed for an important patient's death, moves to the Hamptons and becomes a reluctant "doctor for hire" to the rich and famous. When the administrator of the local hospital asks him to treat the town's less fortunate, he finds himself walking the line between doing well for himself and doing good for others. The series is based in part on actual concierge medicine practices of independent doctors and companies.

Why I watch this:

It's like a medical 
version of McGyver.

Great stuff!

4. Burn Notice

Starring : Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless, Coby Bel

The show follows the life of protagonist Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan), a covert operative who has been "burned" (identified as an unreliable or dangerous agent) and tries to find out why. With his assets frozen, he is unable to leave Miami and forced to live off any small investigative jobs he can find, with the help of his former girlfriend Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar) and his old military friend Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell), who briefly informed on him to the FBI. His return to Miami also reunites him with his mother Madeline Westen (Sharon Gless), who becomes an increasingly important part of Michael's life even as he tries to hide his activities from her. Underpinning the episodic stories of Michael's investigative jobs is the running subplot exploring Michael's efforts to find out who burned him, and to get his job and reputation back.

Why I watch this:

Honestly, I don't know - 
I enjoy it, but I can't put 
my finger on WHAT it is 
that I like about it.

5. Rookie Blue

Starring : Missy Peregrym, Gregory Smith, Enuka Okuma, Charlotte Sullivan, Travis Milne

The drama follows the lives of a group of police officers who have just graduated from the academy. They must learn not only to deal with their duties as police officers, but also deal with the problems and expectation of their families and friends.

Why I watch this:

NOT for the rookies. 
The Detective and 
Training Officer are 
both kinda hot-ish :)

6. Leverage

Starring : Timothy Hutton, Gina Bellman, Aldis Hodge, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf

 LEVERAGE follows a five-person team of thieves, computer experts and con artists, headed up by former insurance investigator Nate Ford, who use their skills to right corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on common citizens.

Why I watch this: 

It's SO SO Clever!

7. Scoundrels

Starring : Virginia Madsen, David James Elliott, Patrick Flueger, Leven Rambin, Vanessa Marano, Carlos Bernard

Cheryl West is a middle-aged woman with four children: twin brothers Logan and Cal, and daughters Heather and Hope, the youngest. After Cheryl's career criminal husband Wolf is sentenced to five years in prison, Cheryl forces her family to quit its criminal activities. However, even from jail, Wolf interferes with her attempts to reform their family.

Why I watch this:

Because before this  ^^ 

<< there was this 

and I'm just a loyal fan!

8. Drop Dead Diva

Starring : Brooke Elliott, Margaret Cho, April Bowlby, Kate Levering, Jackson Hurst, Josh Stamberg, Ben Feldman

The show tells the story of a beautiful-but-vapid model wannabe, Deb, who has a fatal car accident and suddenly finds herself in front of Heaven's gatekeeper, Fred, who declares her a self-centered "zero." Outraged, Deb attempts to persuade Fred to return her to her shallow existence but is accidentally relegated to the body of the recently deceased Jane Bingum (Brooke Elliott). A brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney with a loyal assistant (Margaret Cho), Jane has always lived in the shadow of her more comely colleagues, whereas Deb has always relied on her external beauty. Now, by a twist of fate and a bolt of divine intervention, Deb must come to terms with inhabiting Jane's plus-size frame in the ultimate showdown between brains and beauty.

Why I watch this:

Cos it's Lawyer-y and 
Fashion-y all rolled into one