Goodbye To An Era

It's been such fun with this bunch of people, I almost don't feel like leaving. Our yakun sessions & bitching sessions & story-telling sessions will be sorely missed. *sniff*

Love for Coffee

Somestimes life is about...

...stumbling upon something beautiful in the least expected place...

Love For Cats

My day instantly becomes better when I see this pair of cats in the neighbourhood. Firm friends, they cuddle each other to sleep, laze together in the sun and seek sayang together. The white one is clearly the older cat and I wonder what it takes for cats to be friends? :)

I love taking pictures of cats. Maybe it's because they are almost inanimate (haha), always lazing or sleeping.

But really, I love cats because they are so manja and easy to read. Purring means it's pleased; swaying of tail means it's irritated or angry; an arched back means it's afraid or being defensive; and a roll-over means an invitation to play or sayang. If only human beings are so easy and simple to interpret...

Love For a Child

My friend, Mien, takes awesome pictures and it's a joy for me to put them together in a photo journal for her. Finding captions, thematisation, selecting pictres... :) I have found another activity that I heart big time! <3

A Beautiful Mess

Although you were biased I love your advice

Your comebacks they're quick

And probably have to do with your insecurities

There's no shame in being crazy

Depending on how you take these

Words I'm paraphrasing this relationship we're staging

And what a beautiful mess this is

It's like picking up trash in dresses

- A Beautiful Mess, Jason Mraz

酸.甜.苦.辣.咸.

酸

甜

苦

辣

咸

Maybe one day, I can quit my job and take pictures of food for a living.

That would be nice.

=)

Left Behind

Today, an old lady stopped me at the mrt station and asked for $2 change in coins. With distraught, she explained her handphone was not working and she needed coins to make a call. Having earlier emptied my coins into my office kopi coin pouch, I did not have any coins on me and suggested she approached the station control instead. A look of anxiety crossed her face before she said "uhh...我怕他们骂我..." I ended up changing the note for her and she thanked me profusely.

On the level where I used to work, there is an old cleaning lady. She is clearly not well-educated, does not read or speak English and her Mandarin is weak too. In my 2 years on that floor, she had approached me on several occasions to either make a call on her behalf or to help her with her mobile phone. The automated answering machine at the other end of the line confused her; the piece of metal and plastic we call mobile phone escaped her. Before I taught her how to use the mobile phone, she was paying a monthly bill without even making a successful call.

My mother did not dare to touch her handphone for a while because she had accidentally deleted my dad's number and had no idea how that happened. She once got lost within the City Hall mrt station on her own because the many escalators and English signs could not help her exit the station.

The rapid advancement of technology eludes many of the uneducated or lowly educated elderly. They get left behind, lost and bewildered. Without knowledge of English, they are unable to express themselves. Knowledge is power. But only if you know how to acquire it. Who's there to help them acquire the knowledge?

Lessons from Baking

Today, char and I baked brownie(s).

And...... I've learned that:

1. Brownies ARE very, very, very sinful. Brownies = Sugar (lots and lots) + chocolate + butter + flour. Uck. I feel sick.
   
2. 250g is not = to 250ml.
   
3. Baking is an expensive hobby.
4. Trust your nose. When you smell a chao-dar smell, something IS burning.
5. It doesn't pay to follow the guidelines strictly. Sometimes.
6. If the baking gene is missing in your DNA, just eat the brownie batter. It is very yummy.
7. Things are often not as bad as they appear to be. When we were faced with a chao-dar brownie, we thought that's it. But lo and behold, when we cut the brownie, we realised the inside was really quite okay! Very brownie-like, albeit dry with a chao-dar smell. Accolades received range from "It's actually quite nice!" to "Okay lah, mai hiam buay pai".

Our burnt brownie that was okay on the inside

=)

好草不怕回头吃

With reference to my impending move, I was saying with a sigh: 好马不吃回头草

But she, the wise old one, said: 好草不怕回头吃!

:)