She's a genius...

... but I don't envy the burden she's under. Imagine writing with the knowledge that the whole world would scrutinize your every word. Imagine running our of ideas! And imagine having to decide on a happy or tragic ending (a happy ending will be deemed "childish" while a tragic ending will draw flak for being "too dark").

The Deathly Hallows is an extremely satisfying read. Satisfying because loose ends are tied up, questions are answered. Some stories are enjoyable but have very dissatisfying endings where you go "huh?" But yeah, the 7th Harry Potter book is almost a perfect ending to well, everything.

PotterWorld is make-belief but a teeny part of me hopes that such a parallel world exists.

Surprise surprise

Surprises are delightful to the surpriser and surprisee, whether they are carefully constructed surprises or unexpected ones.

SY, Des and I were roped in to surprise XX with our unexpected presence at lunch. So while we were shopping for cake, Yilynn and Siying successfully distracted XX by shopping for presents. I'll digress a little to rave about the utterly decadent cakes from Rive Gauche (French for "left bank of the river"), a little cake counter nestled in Taka basement. Our whole class is crazy about it ever since we tried the choc cake at ZH's bday last year.

This is the mango mousse we got for XX. I much prefer the choc one ZH and Des got for their bdays. HEAVENLY.

So XX got her surprise when we popped up suddenly. Satisfied with the success of our plan, we settled down to a passable meal at Sushi Tei in Paragon. Unfortunately, the service was better than the food.

SY was the second surprisee of the day, having walked away with not one but TWO lucky draw prizes at a party in DXO. And the prizes were good - a DVD player and HiFi set. I felt vicariously excited! Hopefully, luck is infectious.

Our class is noisy. Hmmm "class" is the wrong word actually since our class outings usually consist of the same few people but anyway we seem to have the knack for drawing unwanted attention from teachers then and passers-by now. All in the name of camaraderie and fun of course.

Our class is gluttony. Gatherings always involve pigging out at some nice eatery and desserts to follow. This time it was hawker food at Gluttons Bay at the Esplanade. Oil-laden arteries clogging hawker dishes - char kway teow, fried carrot cake, Hokkien mee, BBQ wings, sambal sting ray, oyster omelet - all whipped up in true blue Singaporean style. The weather was mercifully cool and an excellent band was belting out favourites next door. Probably one of our cheapest and nicest night out.

Met Andy and Cui who had as much directional sense as tourists. Tsk. Welcome back Andy!

French affair

Arrgh. I have a sudden longing to visit France. All Peter Mayle's fault! I bought one of his less famous book - French Lessons - from the bargain bin and before I knew it, this hankering for French food and French countryside took root.

Hmmm I can't really recall when my inclination for all things French started. When I took French lessons (at the regrettable Cambridge Language Centre)? When I first read Peter Mayle's "A Dog's Life" in VJ? When I watched my first and incidentally favourite French movie Jeux d'enfant (weirdly translated by the producers into Love Me if You Dare)? When I travelled through Provence a couple of years ago?

Or it probably started the first time I visited Paris many years ago. I remember certain bits of the trip very clearly. It was after PSLE. I was crazy about a toasted roadside tuna baguette. I admired an artist painting along the pavement. The big "Carrefour" sign near my hotel was a touch of familiarity. I bought a miniature porcelain doll. The enormous rose window in Notre Dame de Paris left me breathless in awe. The evening cruise on River Seine, the Eiffel Tower all lit up. Snow falling gently on Cinderella's castle. Who cared if the other rides were closed?

I must must must go again!

Another year

KM's bday. A simple affair as requested - swim, lunch, movie - and not any less enjoyable. As long as Subway continues to produce sarnies and we don't tire of LM Montgomery, I'm very sure our kindred-ness will last.

Headed down to PS for lunch and bought too many packets of inedible chips to munch in the cinema. KM wanted to watch Ocean's 13 (action) while I wanted to watch The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Jap anime) so we compromised and watch Transformers (which none of us really wanted). I expected to see a bunch of talking/walking metal parts mingling with earthlings; I did, but true to Michael Bay productions, there were loads of action scenes, explosions, special effects and drama (think Armageddon). A typical summer blockbuster (action, eye candy for audiences of both sexes, a resolved ending) and really, blockbusters are quite relaxing after too many arty (and usually depressing) indie flicks. Besides, it can't be that bad when Steven Spielberg is co-producing.

I'm sure everyone has some childhood memory of Transformers. I don't remember the cartoon itself but the theme song has certainly stuck - "Transformers, robots in disguise...." (and not "ro-bo-di-gi-ta" or whatever mumbo jumbo Cui remembered). And yeah, I can't forget the night when my cousin tripped and his mini Transformers bounced onto the MRT tracks.

Out of this world

Have you ever stuck your head out of the window on a windy and drizzly night? If you close your eyes tight enough, maybe you'll catch a glimpse of how flying through space feels.

PS: forget that space is a vacuum.

Freewheeling

"Insufferable!" says Lizzy Bennet. What a delightful exclamation I picked up from watching continuous episodes of BBC's Pride & Prejudice. The Hollywood version is not as detailed as the BBC one but not as hopeless as what the critics say. Matthew Macfayden is a dream but of course only Colin Firth can stir one's heart as the cold yet passionate (lovably oxymoronic) Mr Darcy. Oh Mr Darcy!

Only P&P can distract me from my broken skate strap. Horrid horrid end to an enjoyable afternoon. I watched in shock as my skate clanked down the stairs and laid in a pathetic heap on the landing. Despite what you say, no skates are as pretty as my lavender and blue Salomon ones much less the ugly chunky Powerslides I got conned into buying from you. And your dumb suggestion that I stop skating is of course, dumb. Schadenfreuder!

Running is more of a penance than pleasure - I run merely to de-stress or shed fat. Swimming is a half-half. Skating is pure pleasure and I suspect that ECP contributes to it. As every Eastie will know, ECP is best visited during school term and on weekdays when you don't get half of Singapore thronging the park. It's silly but I feel possessive over ECP. Considering how I've spent more than half my life roaming around there, it annoys me when NParks barges in and decides to revamp the whole park into some lame entertainment centre. I shall not start ranting on this topic again.

Standing solo on Bedok Jetty

Black and white on green

Not goodbye forever

Our Sisterhood of Guiding Friends (lame but totally apt name) is shrinking as another one of us left for the lofty(?) pursuit of education. This means that my circle of close friends has shrunk too (the picture of a polar bear standing on a melting ice floe - global warming is happening despite all the controversy - comes to mind). So there's Cui further north and Mag down south and now Yiwei.

Yiwei who has always been there, the sane and comforting presence in my not so sane life. It was nice to see the swarm of people who came to see her off. Amidst tears of farewell, I was glad that she had the guts to uproot herself.

Lunch at Waraku (Yiwei's fav) followed by sticky chewy choc ice-cream

Fond farewells and a time to meet up


All of us