The Opera Populaire

When you take the bus at the same time everyday, you inevitably got to recognise some "familiar" strangers who take the same bus at the same time with you everyday.

Saw a very sweet sight the other day. There is this young mamma who always dresses fashionably but is forever harassed by her two lively young kids, a boy and a gal. On Tue, this mamma seemed particularly stressed out, sitting with a quiet expression while her daughter cried unhappily beside her. Just then, her elder brother reached out and pulled her face close to his, cooing and trying to soothe her. When she din stop weeping, he tried all ways and means, stroking her shoulder and kissing her on her cheek till she finally smiled.

I dunno if this fashionable mamma saw this lovely sight in her anger at her daughter. But the sight touched me very much and I relished it all the way after they got down at their usual stop at Christ Church kindergarten. When I become a mother next time, I hope my children love each other that much.

Enough said :)

..... ....... .......

Or maybe not. Yes, prayers does help counteract that too!

Came to work with everyone very blue indeed. Except for me, that is. Cos I wore red. Or to be more precise, fucshia. Hey, whoever says colour therapy doesn't work has gotta try it out.

My collegue called me a pai kia cos I went drinking during weekend hahaha.

Decided to stroll around Esplanade this evening. Have been itching to walk around that area whenever I go for work, esp when I was at a seminar at ACM last week, but no time. Until today that is. To be precise, I was at the side with the Merlion, where I usually dun go to. It was interesting to be standing there, remembering the view from the opposite side where I usually went to.

Memories came trickling back, but they no longer mean much to me. Someone once told me, it is possible to tell yourself u no longer love that person. Others tell me once u gave ur heart away, u can never take it back. I don't know. Perhaps I never did love Kelvin in the 1st place. All I know is that I have moved on long ago from his shadow and while I still wish I could keep a fren, I am glad things r e way they r. God is indeed a Healer.

Thought abt the National Day that had just passed, when the few of us went to watch fireworks there. That was an enjoyable outing. Seems like so long ago, but in reality it was only a few months past.

My strolling took me to Cairnhill, where I wanted to look at some nice shophouses. I had always wondered whether ppl live inside them, or are they some kinda museums. Turned out that some are available for rental, not sure for retail or wat. Others look like art galleries and some look lived in. Can be slightly creepy esp since I was walking past them at nite. But I was sorta fantasizing: how nice it will be if I have the fortune to live in one of these shophouses...from a purely aesthetic point of view, of course!

I suppose most peeps think I am of the tai-tai material and ending up at one of these posh residence will surely be my lot in life. But nai...I never do entertain these possibilities seriously. I dun need a rich man. *Sigh*

I have been thinking and praying abt wat exactly do I want in life and where does God want me to go these days. Finding myself deep in thought all the time, asking searching questions inside. Time of waiting on Him, learning to be quiet and building character. Hope I come forth as gold.

I really appreciate the many frens God has placed in my path over the years. Sometimes the revelation surprised me; I am not the most sociable of persons. I am by nature rather quiet, though my Mom told me I was born with a gift of gab...I pick up languages and music easily and my late paternal Grandad used to be very fond of me when I was a young kid becos I was such a chatty and pretty little thing.

But I guess one thing is that I tend to open up to people easily. Somebody said before that I can talk to almost anyone...kind of a compliment, I must say. I believe in treating people with sincerity. And I dun see the need to project a certain image of myself in front of people.

While things may not be perfect at this point in my life, I find that, like many other such not so up times, God has placed great frens and family members who tided me through. Thanks to my sis in Christs from church who always find the time to pray for me even though they r themselves laden with probs and are very busy. Thanks for the sometimes harsh but timely words, not only from them, but oso from other frens outside. Think I am really priviliged to make frens who love me enough to hurt me in order to be kind. I will keep your words of wisdom in mind, peeps.

I look forward to Fridays becos Kevin will be at the Archives and I always try to sneak down to chat a bit with him. He was laughing at me the whole of yesterday whenever he bumped into me. "They paid u $2000 just to sit here and read stuff??" Haha yes. Currently I am not that busy yet so I sneak down to re-live my student days by reading theses etc. It is good to see a familiar face.

The drinks sesssion at the Dubliner's Irish Pub last night with some of the Honours peeps were great. Felt extremely touched when Sam told me that he always look forward to reading my blog, though I have been rather busy and have not much time to update it. I was oso touched when he noticed I din talk much and tried to include me in. Dun worry, Sam :) I dun talk much by nature, esp in a crowd. I like listening to wat ppl r saying and I found all our conversation very interesting last nite, esp the "racist" jokes :)

Poor Ziqian lost so much weight and looked so washed out! Hey bro, do take care hor. Eat more :) Still feel so paiseh abt u footing all our bills. Must come out with me for lunch one of these days...it will be on me!

Saw Charmaine for the 1st time since Shaoyun's wedding. Very interesting to find out how much she can drink! I mean there I was, barely able to finish my one pint of beer and she had gone on to order 3 different mugs! Wow!

To Cherky, who told us abt how the kopitiam auntie said he's handsome, this is my 2 cents' worth of opinion :*blech* Heehee joking lar, bro :)

And to Soph: great to see u again! We must meet up more often for lunch, since u r bored with eating with ur collegues everyday. U'll neva be bored having a charming, sweet, cute and did I mention charming lunch companion like me?? Hahahaha.

Miss those days at the Hon class, when it seemed that u were perpetually surrounded by people. The drinks session restored some semblance of those days, although our conversation topic had since changed. It was very funny when we exchanged our name cards and tried to pronounce each other's Chinese names. I dunno if it was too dark or something, but Cherky actually managed to mangle my name tsk tsk!

Met up after donkey years with Eugene, my former tutor, who helped to pull up my EL standards a great deal when I 1st arrived in S'pore. He treated me to Curry Favor. Ai! I intend to treat him back, becos during all those years of tutoring me and my cousins, he had always remembered to give us birthday presents and little treats here and there. And we repaid him with lame jokes and disruptions here and there. But we remained in touch all these years, attending his wedding and he visited my parents when he stopped over at Jakarta. Glad that he is doing fine.

Delia was the answer when one day I prayed to God to just send me someone to perk up my day a little. Glad that we could share a bit abt our struggles and pray for each other. Indeed, God showed me that I am not alone.

If u ever wanna impress someone, I recommend Poison Ivy Bistro/ Bollywood Veggies restaurant at Neo Tee. Went there on Wed for an appreciation dinner after the archives seminar and I must say I was very taken by it. Though the location is like way off (somewhere near Sungei Buloh), the entire concept is a very charming one. It's a bistro surrounded by a farm that rears fish as well as organic plants, which were used to make its dishes. The atmosphere was one of rustic simplicity coupled with a certain boudouir-like romance. U must experience it yourself to know wat I'm talking abt. The owner, Ms Ivy Singh and her brother made very interesting hosts. And I just love their dogs! Beauty is the most manja little thing I have met. At first I was apprehensive becos I had to sit with some important people I met for the first time, but I was put to ease immediately by their down to earth and humble nature. Coupled with the delicious food and the general high spirits, I had the best time at a meal since the time in Italy and the steamboat dinner at Keong and Boi Boi's room.

On Fri, went for ktv with Pearl and Hanyong. It was a different experience to sing with only 2 other ppl. At other times, everybody present jostles for the remote and wait forever for your song to appear on the screen. This time, we have to rack our brains fast to put the next songs up. It din help that I had 2 very exhausted working adults singing with me. But the result was that we got to sing a lot of songs that we would otherwise been unable to try out. Like "Wo Zhi Zai Hu Ni" in Jap.

Pearl claimed that I am influencing her in my preference of songs. The waitress was staring at the screen and turning to stare at both of us (Hanyong had left at this point), obviously too young to like songs like Huang An's "Yang Yang Hong" and "Ali San De Gu Niang" hahahaha :) But the most fun part was when we sang "Nan Er Dang Zhi Qiang" and "Chang Hai Yi Shen Xiao" at the top of our voices for full impact...twice! We even jumped on top of the couch and danced to Chao Meng's and other songs. We must do that again soon!

Watched "Corpse Bride" with Sarah last week and we both loved it! It was slightly short though. There were room for development of the storyline. But it was suprisingly romantic, considering the rather dark theme. Brought her to see the spot that Soon Onn entered into Straits Times as one of S'pore's most romantic place...very lovely at night! Oh it was the spot right behind the Dubliner Irish Pub at Somerset by the way.

Someday out of the blue (Chorus)
In a crowded street
On a deserted square
I'll turn and I'll see you
As if our love were new
Someday we can start again
Someday soon

Here comes the night
Here comes the memory
Lost in your arms
Down in the foreign field
Not so long ago
Seem like eternity
Those sweet afternoons
Still capture me

(Chorus)

I still believe
I still put faith in us
We had it all
And watched it slip away
Where are we now
Not where we want to be
Those hot afternoons
Still follow me...

(Chorus)

Maybe years from now
Or tomorrow night
I'll turn and I'll see you
As if we always knew
Someday we would live again
Someday soon

Bro set off for Aust last nite with most of the extended family sending him off at the airport, to his slight embarrassment, as he doesn't like limelight. So glad that the luggage, which I estimated to be 40 kg at least, was in fact less than 30 *phew*.

Was rather worried abt him. He never does like to go venture beyond this little red dot of an island and had never taken a flight of more than 4 hours away. Now he had to go abt 6 hours plus, without anyone, not even a fren with him. But thank God, he called back to report that all was fine and he's settling in. Hopefully he makes great frens there and come back with nothing but fond memories of his time there. Feel a trifle blue with him gone tho. Yet how envious I am of those who can go overseas to study!

NUS was actually my 2nd choice. I had actually hoped to study nursing overseas under a scholarship as my father vehemently said he won't pay a cent for my studies if I was gonna be a nurse. My family thot it a huge waste considering my qualifications; at e very least I shd be a doctor. But I wasn't thinking of being a doctor becos I wanted to be directly involved in caring for e patients, which as a doctor I would rarely do. Plus I din think I had the discipline and it would be a waste of resources to study to be a doctor when I din have the aptitude for it. In the end I guess God's destiny took me to this direction as I was rejected by the presitigious scholarship due to my less than perfect grades. But I loved NUS, esp my Hons year, and neva regret coming :)

The 2nd attack on Bali was the most unfortunate. I rem being there abt 4 years ago, having lunch of BBQed fish at Jimbaran beside the sea. The waiters looking out for customers there tried to talk to me in Jap, then later switched to Chinese! The natives there depend so much on the tourism industry; they can speak everything from French to even Italian. I rem our host, a biz assc of my uncle's, saying with pride that Bali is a very safe place to be in becos they have the favor of the gods. In fact, after the 1998 riots, many Indonesians from the other islands fled to Bali for refuge, to the dismay of some natives there. But of course, as the events later showed, it was not spared.

The Mood Indicator test was surprisingly true! Except for the 1st paragraph, I think. Yeah had not been overly uplifting for the past few weeks, over a variety of issues. Sometimes it's even hard to hear from God. But I have faith He is with me, even till e very ends of age. I oso wanna acquire serenity to accept those things I cannot change, esp when I have done all I can. Had a sudden realisation that these may have been compounded by something. Oh how I pray to get well soon! Health is wealth.