Virgin expedition

Memories

2009-07-17T00:10:00.001+02:00

Memories are curious aren’t they? Most of the time we put them up on a pedestal and worship them. We put up monuments to them on our walls and wallets, mantelpieces and minds. I have a great memory. I retain more than just little snippets of my life and guard them closely for as long as I can. Sometimes they get embellished with time and sometimes the stories lose parts. But for the most part, I remember. I don’t need momentoes. Cameras and diaries have become an extension of my ego really and Facebook and Blogspot are simply facilitators. I remember so many things. And I like that.

But memories can also be evil. A flash of color, a whiff of perfume, a missed taxi, a sesame bagel. Plane tickets, taxi receipts, movie ticket stubs; random hotel room key cards, a red dress; boarding passes of trips gone by. Sometimes, we don’t need to remember, we want to forget. We have to forget. But how do you erase memories? How do you get rid of them so totally that they do not resurface anywhere, anytime? It’s cruel that something so beautiful can also be so ugly. Something that you hang onto for all your life you also wish you could give away. Another one of life’s paradoxes one might say. Without day there would not be night, without bad there could not be any good. Yes, I say, but it’s not the same.

Memories, these can slowly kill you. Eat you up from inside. It’s all good to when you can put it to good use and teach others about life’s lessons learnt but in order to do that, you have to get them out of your heart and mind in the first place. And that, my friends, is the tough part. Acknowledging the memories. Bringing them to the forefront, and worse still, out in the open. Dealing with things past. Admitting your mistakes and forgiving others. Purging your soul.

2009-06-15T01:16:00.000+02:00

“Geez Louise”, she muttered under breath. Standing in front of the door in a little blue shiny dress she thought how lucky it was that the night air was relatively warm for spring. She blew out a stream of cigarette smoke from between her lips. “When will this damn promoter come out and get us?”

Five minutes late she was standing in one of the biggest clubs in the City. So many beautiful people, great music pumping through the sound system, she was ready to get it on. Almost. She was still nursing an Italian hangover from the night before.

She and her friend made their way to the bar and ordered drinks. Vodka cranberry and Long island iced tea were the appointed facilitators of a great night out on the town. Only it took twenty long minutes before she felt the sweet sting of drink in her tummy.

“Bloody female bartenders”, her girlfriend shouted over the music. They look good behind the bar but suck at service”. She was just happy to get her ID and credit card back. “Plane ticket $500. Drinks at the bar $40. Ability to do it again and again. Priceless,” she thought to herself as she tucked her stuff back into her clutch.

Scanning the crowd she tried to find a spot where she and her friend could comfortably stand and get that long-awaited buzz. She especially needed it tonight. Fighting fire with fire and all that.

“Let’s go up the staircase and check out the upstairs room”, she said. As they made their way up, she was well aware that her decently perky butt was fully exposed to all the people below. Not that they cared to look up – everyone was cruising in this place. Frankly she couldn’t be bothered who was staring up her dress. Her only goal was to get enough vodka in her system to beat the hangover aches. She chose to wear a ridiculously short dress. She just had to suck it up.

The arrived on the upper floor and knew immediately that they had arrived in the zone. Pushing their way through the crowd of A+F and American Apparel model wannabes, they made their way to the back of the room. There the two girls from another city halfway across the world surveyed the room with satisfaction. This was going to be another good night.

Two vodkas later, she saw him checking her out. “Little boy”, she thought. “You need to get a tan before wearing a pink shirt.” He beckoned to her to come over and dance with him and suddenly she felt herself blush. Lowering her head to sip out of her straw she peeked at him through her lashes and saw that he was still waiting for her to answer.

“Good lord,” she thought to herself. “You can’t even bring yourself to blow him off. How old are you anyway?” She looked up and shook her head.

He came over to where she was standing. He introduced himself and his wingman and asked all the usual questions. Then he bought her a drink and launched into that dance Americans so favor. The dick-in-the-ass-dance. Having been groomed on dancefloors in Asia and Europe, she considered dry-humping, ass-dancing extremely ghetto. And disrespectful. Not everyone enjoys backdoor action and, more importantly, it prevents two people from doing that almost kissing but not quite flirting while dancing thing.

She loved that.

Also it was ruining her sequined dress.

She turned around to face him, flicked her hair and thought “Ok, let me show you how Euros do it”.

***

Four weeks later, she looked the window of her cab and thought “Plane ticket $400. Vacation days 2. Kissing him again. Priceless”. How her heart beat in anticipation.

It Feels Like Tonight

2007-11-08T08:56:00.000+01:00

I want to fuck Chris Daughtry. I wonder if he actually taller than he looks on screen. But no matter. I have suffered the vertical challenge before and the old stereotype is true. It really doesn’t matter when you are doing the horizontal dance.

Back to Chris. Never had a bald man before but I am always up for a first. And up to now, I have always been partial to musicians with long hair. But his voice is so sexy and he is just the right balance of yum and un-pretty. He sounds exactly the way looks – you what I mean? What About Now indeed. Too bad he is married. And we all know that I am so not going that road ever again.

Other than that, I really like the music. I guess in today’s speak it’s called emo-rock or some shit like that and I like that shit.

Yes, I finally got my new iPod up and running and I am getting off on my music again. I know loads of people who tell me they cannot work while listening to music. For me it’s become essential. Music helps me focus my thoughts and inspires me to do more productive things other than checking out what happening on Eastenders.

What is it about Eastenders that I love so much? Maybe it’s the banality of life that I try so hard to keep at bay. Reminding me, never to fall into that trap.

It’s so easy isn’t it? To fall into the trap of metro-boulot-dodo as the French say. The kids, we all say. We have kids and a husband and a career and this takes up all our time. Is this true? Is this a reason to just throw in the towel? Maybe I judge. Maybe I am just too harsh. Just because it’s not something I want it does not mean that it is not right for others.

Which leads me to wonder then, why did I spend so much time chasing something I didn’t really want? I don’t want the house in the suburbs. The standard holiday schedule you can plan you waxing appointments around years in advance. The nights of cooking dinner while baby slumbers peacefully. Once-a-week date nights in that special restaurant by candlelight.

The fucking white picket fence that I just want to kick.

So why is it so hard to let go?

Dreams Lost

2007-09-14T01:15:00.000+02:00

The orange cone burnt bright in the darkness of the night and she took a deep drag on her cigarette.

She gave him her heart and her life. Her everything. The last year saw her going through emotional turmoil. She knew that this caused tensions in their relationship but she explained them to him. And she thought she could trust him.

“Aren’t the ones who love you supposed to stand by you no matter what?”

The tears fell harder as she thought about the last seven years. And how never once in that time did her heart turn on him. It stayed steadfast in love. All through the roller coaster ride that defined their relationship, her love for him was and still is, unwavering.

She turned to go back into the house. She stopped at the threshold and flicked her cigarette into the darkness. She wiped away her tears and watched the sparks fly and fade slowly into the night before closing the door. “He is gone”, she said to herself.

---------------------------------------------------

Thinking about him brings a smile to her face. She thinks to the time he looked at her with hunger in his eyes and told her exactly what he wanted to do with her. She grins thinking once again about his innocence which she finds so endearing. They talked about falling in love. They both immediately denied the possibility. Later though, lying in his arms, he told her she was beautiful. And smart. That he had the memory of every inch of her body committed to memory. And that of course he could fall in love with her. She kissed him deeply. That was all she could do with her throat choked up with emotion.

Looking into his green eyes, she saw a man who was vain and difficult. He obviously had a past he didn’t want to dwell on. But she also saw a strong, vulnerable man in need. A man who was kind and caring. A man who could love like she loved. A man who was big enough to take her on.

As she nuzzled deeper into that magic spot between his shoulder and chest, her thoughts flew fast and free. It was only there that she dared to dream. Dream about how good it could be. And as she succumbed to fatigue, that familiar ache in heart appeared to lull her to sleep.

AAHAHHAAA!!!

2007-01-10T22:31:00.000+01:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR one and all!! I finally got back Internet connection at home which means i can continue my life in 2006 in pictures entry. WooHooo!!!

Stay tuned!

Wishing everyone health, wealth and happiness in the new year!

Big kisses...

A long post ahead

2006-12-12T00:57:00.000+01:00

Its been really tough for me to get on a PC these last couple of months which is why I haven't been able to update as often as I could. So i have been writing bits and pieces here and there and trying to upload whatever I can whenever I can.

Anyway, the following post was done over the last two weeks or so. It'll come in two parts - here goes:

So what’s new…hmm…loads….loads and loads….

I have been horrible about updating this blog this year for a number of reasons. The main one being that I have been really uninspired to write.

Why have I been uninspired to write? Hmm…that’s a question I have pondered this last week or so. I guess the easy answer is that I have just been simply uninspired. Nothing to write about. Don’t know what t write about. My life, afterall is so boring.

But then again, that’s not quite true. I happen to think I have quite an exciting life actually. I work. I go out. I travel. And I have some interesting err, extra curricular activities. Wait, let me change that. I USED TO have interesting extra curricular activities. But even so, I still do many things.

Don’t believe me? Let me just show you. In words and pictures. From this year.

Let’s start in February, shall we?
February marked my new social life. Met some nice new people and started going out drinking and dancing again. Around end of Feb, early March, I was introduced to the music of Stereophonics. Good band. The lead singer has THE sexiest voice ; ).

This was taken at a place called the Orangerie. It was a really fun evening I remeber

March
I went to the prestigious LSE in London for a week to do a shot course on Regulation. Was pretty cool and it was nice to be able to hang out with Gloria in a different, “i-am-only-here-for-the-weekend-so-must-make-the-most-of-it” fashion. The only downside the was the food in the LSE teachers cafeteria (I really cannot imagine how disgusting the food in the students caf must be) and the dinky hotel room I stayed in for 6 nights. The most awful thing about the trip was that I missed Chiara desperately.

Dinner at Marketplace...you wouldn't believe what time we ended that night...shame...

April….
Easter holidays with Vivian and family. We went to Orange – as in William of Orange – in the South of France. Ok, so it wasn’t really our first choice but it was a good halfway point between Toulouse and Geneva (by car). You see, as usual, we are so bad at forward planning, that taking a plane was really out of the question. Also, Carla was still pretty small then and it was nice to have Vi’s helper, Hadijah, with us.

It was really lovely. It was cool to spend time with Vi and the girls, and also meet little Carla for the first time. Chiara totally fell in love Tia and still keeps asking to see her. I hope we can do it again next year.

Yup...now we're mums...ehehhee

Easter egg hunting in the garden of the Mas we rented...had the place ALL to ourselves...was great!

Tia and Chiara playing...Chiara absolutely loved jumping on Tia

Aunty Vi, Carla and Chiara

Babies in a buggy

Little gals ready to go biking

Then came May. Hmm. I remember going for a great pre-World Cup party here in Geneva.

Pre World Cup party at Bypass

And oh! I also went to Milan and then Rome for a weekend.

Splendid stuff.

Milan as usual was great. Meeting Gigi was as usual fantastic and we finally got closure on our story. I don’t know when I will ever see him again but I have to say that hearing his girlfriend was going to move in with him in October really broke my heart. Why you ask? Well, he was one of those that was on my “The One” list I guess. We just had such bad timing. Aries men and Leo women. What can I say?

Meeting him for the first time in two years was really bizarre (The last time we saw each other was May 2004 when I was there with Jude and Glo – yup, I was seven months pregnant). It’s like we had seen each other just the day before you know? And that certainly didn’t help me feeling more like shit when we left each other at the train station. But what can I say? I had choices to make and making choices is what I did. Now I am going to stick by them. Eventhough I sometimes dream about the gorgeous Italian wedding I could have had. Yeah, I wish.

So after Milan, I went to Rome. Shopping eating, more shopping and more eating. Some business meetings chucked in between. I didn’t stay in the centre of Rome this time but the hotel was certainly not as far as the one I stayed in the second time I went to Rome. Hehhe.

Rome was fantastic. I saw the most handsome busker on Piazza Navona playing his version of Wish You Were Here, Angie and other classic rock songs you can play when u only have your electric guitar, amplifier and beautiful long black hair. (hmm, sound familiar anyone??).

I have to say that that night was one of those magical nights that will stay seared in my memory for as long as I have it. You see, for those of you who have been to Rome, you will understand the magic of Piazza Navona once you overlook the cheesy tourist-ness of the place. It was pretty late at night and most of those tourist trap restos were closed leaving the square to be beautifully illuminated by the two fountains, Neptune and the Four Rivers.

This guy started strumming and a small crowd, mostly made up of young Italians, gathered around and started singing along. In a short time, the small crown grew to about one hundred. And everyone was quietly sitting on the ground, or standing in the arms of a loved one and singing along with this lone six string and its beautiful master.

It was truly magical.

Oh and by the way, my love affair with Stereophonics kinda petered out around here as well.

Then came June and I was lucky enough to have been able to travel to Scotland. St. Andrews to be precise. You know, where, the lovely young Prince William went to Uni. Yeah, there. We had a week long global meeting there and I took the opportunity to spend a weekend traveling around Edinburgh and the Highlands. Now say what you will about the UK, but we were blessed with fantastic weather and I have to say that Scotland blew me away. The first time I visited the a place in the UK other than London and I have to say it was fantastic. The highlands are really magnificent. Not quite the same as Swiss scenery so it’s difficult to compare. People are ridiculously friendly and we even had really nice food to eat. Loads of seafood.

I would definitely recommend anyone coming to Europe to go visit. I think the trick is to go in summer. When its warm and (maybe) sunny and you can stand outside any bar, resto, pub to have a smoke (smoking bans in public places you see). Rent a car and just drive.

Check it out…me actually shooting a rifle…I was pretty damn good at it too…hehhe
I have another onr of me shooting a bow and arrow - another sport I found out that I am pretty good at

The meeting went really really well as well. For the first time in my life since I started out on my “career”, I was actually shit scared of giving a presentation (workshop to be precise). I don’t really know why to be exact but I was nervous as hell. I actually practiced my speeches in front of a mirror and things the week before I had to deliver. That morning I was sweating away in my suit but I have to say that I pulled it off. It was a resounding success! Hehhee. I hardly drank at all that week at the after meeting festivities. Too much pressure. But on the last day, I did join in the revelry and got properly pissed (well, as much as one can get at these corporate gatherings) and released the pressure.

June also marked World Cup time. My goodness me. Too much screaming, excessive beer drinking and loads of sun contributed to June whizzing by.

OK, will end here for now. The monster in the bed is huffing and puffinf at my tip tapping nails. Sometimes I could just kill him. Really.

Second half of the year coming up real soon.
Ciao ,lovelies. Hope you enjoyed the pictures

London bloody London

2006-09-19T00:21:00.000+02:00

I must have broken some kind of record this weekend. Spent the weekend in London and DID NOT, I repeat, DID NOT go to a single bar. Did not put one toe in a club. Niente, nada, diddly squat.

I did, however, go to a super fantastic party on Saturday and Fergus’ place. It was a blast. The guy really, really knows how to throw a party and my goodness did we all have a really good time! I felt really bad about not helping out more though.

The most embarrassing happened this weekend. And it’s soo go to do with my Ms Cutlery self.

(If you don’t know about Tweety’s Ms. Cutlery side, well then, you haven’t known me long enough so I’m not gonna tell ya.)

Anyway, after coming back to the apartment from shopping, our kind host told us to tidy up the bedroom because we would have to keep the room open in order for guests to use the “facilities”.

So Glo and I busied ourselves putting away the mountains of clothes, shoes and other girlie stuff which inevitably littered the room. After getting almost ready for the party, we proceeded to clean up the bathroom. As usual, I put all unsightly and potentially dangerous things away, including the bag of toilet rolls which were on the floor. I did however, leave 2-3 extra toilet rolls for when the incumbent rolly eventually ran out. All this stuff, including the dirty clothes basket (I didn’t want to risk some druken reveler mistaking it for the basin and vomiting into it), went into the multipurpose cupboard. Anyway, before I make this short story too long, our host was hanging out in the room with us the next morning when he saw Glo take out the stuff from the cupboard including the bag of toilet rolls.

He then exclaimed, “Did you HIDE your toilet rolls in the cupboard??!!”

Me being my usual blur cock self replied, “Of course lah!” and thinking these bloody ang moh all damn stupid – want to put Molton Brown handwash in the bathroom for the party guests but EXCLAIM over bags of toilet rolls being put out of sight.

When it suddenly dawned upon me. I nearly burst out laughing. Just not sure if I was laughing more at myself or at him.

So I told him, “I put them away because they looked so unsightly on the floor.” (As opposed to hiding them so that people won’t use them all up, thus leaving us to clean our intimates with fish & chip newspaper for the rest of the month).

And Glo very helpfully chipped in, “Yah, but she did leave some extra rolls out”.

Good grief. Exit stage left, Ms. Cutlery.

Did manage to do some shopping and I bought a lot of stuff for Chiara. The little cutie pie was trying on all her stuff this morning when she woke up. Hehhee. Taking after her mum, she is. I am so proud.

Anyway, that was my weekend. Good stuff. And the weather was lovely. Thought my outfit at the party rocked as well. Heheee.

PS: I am now 57kgs. I NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT. I cannot, repeat, cannot wear my clothes anymore. It’s not even about squeezing into my pants. Its about not being able to button them up. It’s about being a bloody size 12 but not owning anything in that size. And having my boobies spill out of my D cup bras. I need help.

Yup, she did it again….

2006-09-19T00:20:00.000+02:00

She walked out of the building feeling completely annoyed and frustrated. She had had a bad day. But bad days seemed to happen endlessly in recent times.

“Something’s gotta give,” she thought to herself as she walked to the bus stop. “Something HAS GOT TO BLOODY GIVE!”.

She turned up the volume on her pink iPod. Guns ‘n’ Roses blasted into her ears. She hoped that visions of that paradise city would blot him from her mind.

Two months ago they kissed for the first time. It blew her mind away. Not because it was particularly good but because it actually happened. No motives. No prior counts of flirting. No nothing. Just empty beer cans and bare feet.

“Goddamn red dress. Truly the devils’ color,” she mumbled under her breath. But she couldn’t stop a little smile from passing over her lips.

Her thoughts were flying fast and free. Like Adler’s sticks over those drums.

She thought about his clumsy hands all over her body. Trying to reach for something he did not quite know how to get to anymore. She thought about her own thoughts at that moment. And the screaming sirens in her head. And how she hadn’t the willpower to make him stop. And now that she thought about it, she hadn’t really wanted him to.

She hadn’t dared sleep with him that night. She crept out silently long after the sun rose.

And woke up the next morning with a banging hangover and butterflies in her tummy.

Typical.

True to herself, she mooned about him for a couple of weeks after that night. Listened to silly songs from Shania Twain and soppy movie soundtracks. Even got a copy of Stealing Home off Amazon and watched it on a lonely week night.

And then one day, the bubble popped. The hunter instinct in her knew she caught her prey the day she caught him sneaking a look at her in her Sienna outfit. She knew she looked hot that day and obviously, he did too.

That did it for her she firmly turned the page.

It was time to move on to other cute furry animals out there.

Or so she thought. She should have known better. “Oops I did it again” was stuck on repeat on the CD player that is her life.

So two months later, she found herself wrapped in his arms, in his bed, kissing him softly in post coital tenderness.

She had decided to throw caution to the wind. Besides, she hadn’t quite known how to turn him down either. Another typical character trait she wasn’t proud of.

They had slept with each other on two consecutive nights. Both times were sweet, tender and affectionate.

He didn’t quite have the body of a Harlequin romance hero, nor the finesse of Daniele the helicopter pilot from Rome, but he was gentle and sincere. In fact she found him almost innocent in his guilt. And he kissed really nicely.

“Grrrrr”, she muttered as she shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. “Grrrr grrr grrr…aaarrgh!!!!”.

She turned up the volume to full blast on her iPod in another attempt to blow him out of her head.

“I wonder where this road will end”, she thought to herself as she ran with open arms to kiss her daughter hello.

Feathers on my lips

2006-09-19T00:19:00.000+02:00

The softest kisses in the world. That’s what he gave me. The softest kisses ever. Was he cute? I don’t know really. He certainly wasn’t ugly. He had a cap on. Which he never took off. Even while he was giving me the softest kisses in the world.

I wish I could have more of them. But he is leaving forever on Friday. I don’t know where. I can’t remember. As always, I was shrouded in a haze of bubbly and making conversation was not the foremost in my mind. His feather kisses blotted everything else from my mind, body and dare I say, soul. At least for those two hours.

Feather soft kisses. His tongue like cotton candy. His skin so sweet and smooth. His gentle hands unmoving on my face. An angel. An angel in that dark, stinky underground box.

Feather kisses from an angel.

I know

2006-06-28T23:34:00.000+02:00

I know, i know, I know...it's been tooo damn fucking loong. The truth is that I have many many many stories to tell. It's been 3 months and I have a shitload to unload. Hahaha. And I have loads of pics to upload as well. I promise I will do so soon. And I will be more diligent about updating this site. 3 months is waaay too long and a shame. So check back here soon. I promise I will get back into blogging mode and tell stories about the LIfe and Times of Tweetymanggis!!!

Kisses!!

Aiyayaaa

2006-03-13T23:58:00.000+01:00

Another month has gone by since my last post. I don't know where the time goes these days - Oh wait...I know...I HAVE RESUMED SOME SORT OF SOCIAL LIFE!!!

Evidence:

Sex on The Beach shakers...

At a club last month with 2 girls from the US iving in GVA who are really nice. I have to say one thing though - I am 10 years older than one and at least 6 years older than the other..DAMN, I think I qualify as a MILF

After a two year (and a bit) hiatus, I am finally going out again like a normal person. The difference is that now I have a baby and a home to run. Many things to do and not to mention a partner to placate everytime I decide to go out without him. Which seems to be quite often of late. But guess what? I LIKE IT. And I am quite happy to finally have my own little private world right now. At least I want to keep it my own little private world for the moment. Which was kinda violated recently. Or at least I felt it was violated. By some people from home and neighboring countries threatening to blow my cover.

But more on that at a later date.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I will update soon. The problem I have these days is that I am only able to get decent computer time around midnight. BY which time I am normally to tired to be my witty and entertaining self.

So, after an eventful night of watching the last 2 episodes of Season 4 of 24, new season episode of Nip/Tuck and of course my beloved Eastenders, i am now going to smoke a cigarette and retire for the night.

I hope it won't be fucking snowing tomorrow.

I am officially depressed and sick and tired of winter.

Good night everyone!

Expiration Dates (pictures)

2006-02-09T23:16:00.000+01:00

It has recently come to light that most relationships have a use-by date.

It took me about 25 years to actually acknowledge this as a fact but hey, better late than never, right?

Why 25 years? Well, assuming I started listening to music at 8 and am now 33, that makes 25 years, right? I guess I should have known and accepted that all these songs about loves lost, broken hearts, cheating partners, and straying hearts and eyes meant that there REALLY are people out there wishing Doncha more often than not.

My latest flavor of the week is the song Don’t Bother. I must have watched the video like 10 times over the weekend in London (Gloria’s cable subscription is another story) and I just wonder, why would anyone cheat on Shakira? The woman is a sex goddess and I would do her in a second. Yes, I, Anita-the-not-gay-female, would do her, not my (God forbid) if-i-were-reborn-as-Pete Burns other-self. She is fuckin’ flamin’ finger lickin’ good HOT.

But I guess even finger lickin’ hot stuff gets cold and tasteless.

Why is that?

I know there a hundreds and thousands of articles in every single women’s magazine known to man (or woman, should I say), that tell us how to keep a relationship hot. I know of a gazillion other articles that instruct women on ways to educate partners to attain such skills.

So why is it inevitable that most of us hear a soft “phooot” (or in some cases, a big “POP”) after a couple of years of flying high in that hot air balloon together?

All bullshit if you ask me.

Personally my threshold is 4 years. I know of others who go up to five and I have no doubt that others yet are even able to manage 10 or 20 years even. But it happens.

It’s not that everyone then ditches their significant other or cheats or indulges in other types of nasty behavior. I think there is something left to be said (just) about commitment and integrity in mankind.

However, I think noone can say they have never been tempted. Or suffered from wandering eye syndrome. Or got off at the thought of getting hot and dirty with Cameron Diaz or Brad (as Tristan from Legends of the Fall). Or that boy from that J-Lo video (you know where she brays away and dances like a gypsy). Or even, for goodness sakes, Gianfranco, the Calvin Klein model lookalike from Mykonos?

It doesn’t matter whether you really do it or not (succumb to temptation both mentally and physically that is). The point is, your partner just ceases to “do it” for you.

PHOOT!

Get it?

And then everything just starts to go downhill.

See, it doesn’t matter that you are hot. Or that you are not hot. Or if you are Jenna Jameson in bed or if you are Olive Oyle (although she might just be a hottie, who knows). It doesn’t matter that you make sure you have date nights, and break routines with massage oil and Agent Provocateur underwear and adult toys. Because, the problem is that when we realize we need to go shopping in the red light district, it’s normally too late.

Dirty shopping trips should happen when you both still do it for each other. It’s called fanning the fires of passion as opposed to trying to reignite damp, or worse still, wet woodfire.

People stay together and don’t cheat on their partners for a variety of reasons. Kids, family, social stigma and even in some cases (gasp!) LOVE. But for all those that stay together and live vicariously through "the seriels" or, in their (dirty) thoughts, there are many others who just live double lives or start over again.

What's right and what's wrong? I don't think there is a right or wrong. I don't think I can say those who stay together with their spouses/partners for whatever reason are right, neither can I say those who cheat or break up are wrong. Afterall, isn't life about being happy? So how can you blame someone for wanting to be happy? Or wanting their partners/families to be happy?

All I know is that I don't want to be wake up one day and find myself old and gray, with little grandchildren running around me and wish I had done it all differently.

On a lighter note, I give you some pics from my trip in Singapore.
Didn't take too many unfortunately, as we were video-camming more. And i have a number on old-fashioned film (no scanner lah). But here is a peek into stuff I got up to back home.

Sentosa Spa

Here with Jude at the spa in Sentosa where we basked in the hottub with Anush and braved the freezing cold bath not once, twice but three times!! And we dunked ourselves COMPLETELY in the water. Very therapeutic. The best part of the day was experiencing Jude's driving skills for the first time. Fantastic driver. 40km/h and noone horned at us. She is my driving inspiration. Oh, AND she managed to park the car. What a chick!

Villa Bali with the gals - Villa BAli has got to be one of the most beautiful places in Singapore. And although I suspect they lurk, I did not see any lizards scampering around.

"I am sooo happy to see my good friend after 2 long years - and i just visited the dentist", said the girl who once drew like a hundred jumping piglets on a sheet of foolscap in school and told me it was a portrait of my future family.

At home

I am a powder puff girl! Don't believe I can fight monsters with this? You just ask my mummy what powder can do!

Singapore Zoo

Mummy, please stop taking pictures of me sitting in this stupid pram. I am hot, I want to move on to see animals, and I WANT TO GO TO THE PADDLING POOL!!

Ministry of Sound
Yup, MoS opened in Singapore and we went there a couple of time. On this particular night, Anushia managed to cunningly bypass the kilometre (literally) long cue by booking a table and 3 bottles of vodka to go along with it. Unfortunately, I was throwing up - had been for 3 days already. So I pretty much had 2 sips of vodka and headed to the prata joint for supper at 3.30am. What a LOSER!

MoS is really nice. The decor is great and I think the concept is cool. Unfortunately the patrons SUCK! Ah Beng, Ah Beng's brother Ah Kao, Ah Beng's sister Ah Choo and all their mates from Dong Dong Chang secondary school. (ok lah, got some exceptions, but the place is mega HUGE so the cool factor is mega-diluted. The door bitch's really gotta use a little more discretion if u ask me). Anyway, the prettiest people at MoS that night:

In the Pure Room

More Pure

My hair, by the way, is much nicer now, after having been coloured by Ash in Singapore and cut by Albert in London. You see what the issues I have to deal with living in Geneva?

Beanbag pleasuring in a vodka haze

Boxing Day

Yup, here we are at Bar NOne, AFTER the party started and ended...

Pretty, pretty

New Year's Eve

Aren't we preettee? so preeetteee? by the flower treeeeeee????

Test, test, 1,2,3 - try not to look like a donkey, Tweety

Maaameeeee!!! My skirt is croooked!! AND IT'S NEW YEAR'S EEEEEEVE!!!

Random photo taken in London in a really nice bar in SoHo before leaving for Singapore.

Thailand

Boat trip to Phi Phi Island and surroundings

The Hideaway Spa in Phuket. What a fantastic place it is. Went there on Jude's recommendation and it was sooo good, we went back for a second round of incredible pampering.

Before hols - Foire de Geneve

At the milk stand, Chiara is sitting on a cow that's been fashioned as somekind of chair. Whatever, she loves cows..and yes, those are udders behind her...I know, I know...

November

Mummy, please stop poking me with your loong nails, I am trying to smile for the camera!

Haiyah!

2006-01-24T22:58:00.000+01:00

I am so irritated lah! Doncha ask me why.

I have 2 New Year's resolutions.

1. Go to the gym
2. Get my driver's license

Guess what? I haven't even BEGUN tryin to fullfill EITHER resolution. You wanna know why? Because it's just too damn fuckin' cold in this part of the world. I hate winter. It sucks major ass. I am sure I have said this before, but let me just say it again - winter sucks big ass. Not "My Lady Humps" kinda ass but "My Baby Got Back" kinda ass. THAT's alot of ass if you ask me.

And I haven't even begun to upload any bloody pics from my holiday in Singapore. So lousy.

I am demotivated and I cannot do my work. All I want to do is stay at home and play with my daughter but we have nowhere to go because it's so cold. I cannot handle it anymore.

Next job is going to be somewhere hot. I refuse to deal with winter anymore. And i don't wan't to end up with a My Baby Got Back ass. But I will, if I have to deal with a couple of more winters AND have another child (maybe on next year's new year resolution list).

Happy New Year

2006-01-19T01:09:00.000+01:00

Wow! Didn't realize what a looong break I took from writing! The only excuse i have is that I left for a wonderful 4 week vacation less than 3 weeks after my last post on this site. So many things to do lah. You know how it is before one goes on extended vacation over Christmas right? Especially since my vacation started waaaay before anybody else's did. And the weeks leading up to vacation, I was hardly at home - travelled to Paris, Bangkok, London and then finally managed to spend a couple of days in Geneva tying things up before leaving for Singapore with my family.

First time I took Chiara back and I have to say it was wonderful. I am not going to write a long extended post immediately, coz it's bloody 1am in the morning right now and I need to get to bed - have an ass kicking meeting tomorrow at 10 in the morning. And depending whose balls are biggest at the table, either I am going to get my ass kicked or the other party will. But seeing how I am genetically disadvantaged, the odds are stacked against me to get the beating.

Therefore, I am going to do the wise thing and go to bed. After I smoke a cigarette. And after I tell you how I just watched "In Her Shoes" on DVD and cried my eyes out.

What? I got 2 sisters ok? And I love shoes.

Or, I could be getting my period soon.

Also, I somehow have been blocked from accessing the content management page of Blogger from my *ahem*, other desk, which means that I might not be able to post some pics for a while. Coupled with the fact that I need to find the damned charger for my camera.

So, thanks for your patience, please keep checking back periodically for more tweety-ing. My site visits are down to a very painful 4 seconds per visitor.

WAHAHAHAAAA!!!!

Nothing

2005-11-16T17:14:00.000+01:00

I woke up this morning and as usual, as I was taking a shower and brushing my teeth, I was thinking about all kinds of things - mainly work related. Then for some reason, my thoughts strayed and one thought led to another leading me to a fantastic conclusion. I thought to myself, "Wow, this is really great! I am so going to blog about it tonight."

So here I am, on my blog, trying to blog about the epipheny I had this morning while a toothbrush was stuck in my mouth.

I have a problem though.

I FORGOT my enlightened thoughts from this morning!

So now, I don't really have anything to blog about.

I thought about complaining but I am in no mood to do so.

I thought about writing another short tale, but have no inspiration

I thought about telling you about the exciting night I had last night, but alas, Paris had a prior engagement

I thought about writing about the wonders of Journey's music, but I don't think I can do them justice

I thought about telling you how beautiful my hair looks after using L'oreals's Nutri Gloss hair masque, but how can I compete with the ultimate hair treat - A HAIR SALON

I thought about telling you about my work but I really want you to keep coming back to my site

I thought about telling you how I have issues with gas, but I really, really want you to come back to my site

So can you help me?

Give me some inspiration. Leave your suggestions in the comments.

I have to go and fart now.

Pragmatism - Vice or Virtue?

2005-11-03T16:26:00.000+01:00

She looked down at this little bundle in her arm and she knew that she made the right decision. Her life has changed. It was perfect now.

She put her baby in her crib and closed the door. Walked down the stairs and went to the kitchen, pulled out a can and popped the tab.

She took a long drink, put the can down on the counter and looked around. The autumn sun was shining through the glass doors that lined the entire wall of the living room. Glinting off the antique Chinese jars, the soft light made her wooden floors shine like they were on fire.

"Beautiful", she thought. "My house is beautiful. My life is beautiful".

Then she sat down on the sofa and cried.

Although she didn't really know what she was crying about.

Because it was true. Her life was perfect.

She had the perfect child. The perfect house. The perfect partner. The perfect job.

She had a wonderful nanny who took care of her baby and managed the house. Her partner was one of the most obliging men she had ever met in her life. He took care of her, gave in to (most of) her whims and fancies, only wanted to make her happy.

Her job allowed her to come home at decent hours. It also paid her a decent salary. And she had the nicest of colleagues. She didn't even have to travel that much anymore.

Her weeks had a rhythm to them that most working mothers saw as an extreme luxury. She knew exactly where she would be and what she would be doing most weekdays and nights.

And they always treated themselves to a night out every weekend.

Once every couple of months, she would get on a plane and spend a girlie weekend with her best friend.

She was happy that things had gone according to plan. Her baby had a wonderful environment to grow up in with the added bonus of having grandparents right next door.

She managed to create a perfect world for her child.

She worked so hard to get where she was and yet, she was still unsatisfied. And at times, even unhappy.

All because, she still loved him.

Twilight Zone

2005-11-01T16:02:00.000+01:00

Have you ever met a random person at a bar or a party and after chatting a couple of minutes find out that you have friends in common? Have you ever heard a story from a third party that connects 2 people you vaguely know whom you never thought would ever be associated? Have you ever heard someone's story only to hear bells of familiarity ringing?

It's funny isn't it - how small this world can be. Not only due to random associations but circumstances as well.

I have been through some of the wierdest situations in my life and I always thought that if I wrote a book one day chronicalling these stories, I would be rich. Because, without a doubt, it would become a bestseller.

Boy, am I wrong. Because for every story have, I have no doubt that there are 100 people who have a similar one.

I have no doubt because I recently read a story of a girl(true or not I don't know but does it matter?) who is going through exactly the same experience I did (or maybe still am) only under worse circumstances (or are they?). At the time when this situation was at it's peak, I thought I was the craziest person in the world, doing what I was doing. But this girl is even braver (or stupider) than I am.

Reading her stories are truly very bizarre. It's like reading about me. I don't know if you have experienced that but I can tell you it's just plain WIERD.

It's like I know exactly what's going through her head and what she's feeling in her heart. I can also predict what the next installment of the story is going to say. Although I do admit that the most recent one had a startling twist. And I am now looking forward to finding out what happens next. Eventhough I think I can guess what's going to happen. Because of my own reaction to that situation.

How bizarre is this?

One could argue that 2 people in the same situation could experience different things because they are 2 different people, right?

But in this case, she is reacting exactly like I did in exactly the same situation!!

Is this a woman thing? I am sure men would think so. But get this - there is a man involved in her story and the man has the same reactions as the man in MY story!

I tell you - it's just truly too wierd. I thought things like this only happened on TV. Is it really possible?

I don't know who she is or what she does or what she looks like - but man, I would love to meet this girl one day, someday because now I am just plain curious.

Who is this stranger who shares an almost identical experience that will, in the least, remain in our thoughts and memories until we are old and gray, and at most, change our lives forever (actually the latter is true for me).

Guess What?

2005-10-31T17:39:00.000+01:00

She bloody fell asleep on me at 9pm!!!! Yes, that's exactly what my sis did so no, I didn't go for any fantastically fun Haloween parties this weekend. Aiyooh! Hopefully next weekend will be more successful.

Winter Sucks (con't)

2005-10-28T14:56:00.000+02:00

Let me reiterate again how winter sucks. I am sick. Once again. I don't think I have the flu but i do have an annyoingly drippy nose and a cough that is starting. No appetite(which is good) and coz my taste buds have gone to sleep (which is NO GOOD coz all i want to consume are sweet things). Coupled with this shit, the ladies loo is out of order and I have no lighter. Oh I forgot to add that the sun is bloody shining and it must be 18 degrees outside and I am wearing a sweater and pants and the heating in the office is on.

How is this even possible?????

I am so glad today it's Friday. Because tomorrow my darling younger sister will be here. Am not going out tonight so I can "save" myself for Saturday night. I just hope my sis doesn't fall alseep on me at 9pm.

The good news is that I will soon have tons of new pictures to post here! Yay! As long as I remember to being my camera out with me.

Chiara is progressing in leaps and bounds. It amazes me how many words she has in her vocabulary for a 16 month old baby. And she understands sooo many things. Babies are truly amazing beings. And she is growing cuter and cuter as the days go by. I just hope that her bloody molars appear before we go back to Singapore. We have 3 now and I am waiting anxiously for the others to show up.

Other than that, I don't think I have very much else to say. Have been checking out what's been going on in Singapore via Singaporean blogs and it seems that the latest scandal is the imminent hanging of this 25yr old Vietnamese-Australian boy who was caught in transit in Singapore with drugs strapped to his body.

*Sigh". This is so sad. Sad that he can be caught and tried under Singapore jurisdiction eventhough he never intended to step foot on Singapore soil with those drugs. Sad because the reason why he was transporting these drugs was to clear his brother's debts to loansharks - who were threatening his family. Sad because this poor boy is only 25. Sad because the truth is, he doesn't deserve to die simply for being desperate and stupid.

If he has to die then what about that ex-air stewardess who killed her lover's child by throwing her off a block of HDB flats? I believe this crazy woman is not even being charged with murder. The child was like 4 years old or something. Why does she deserve to live and the Vietnamese boy deserve to die?

You know there are somethings about Singapore that really make me cringe. Outdated and disproportionate laws are just one of those Singaporean thorns in my side. And very embarassing as a Singaporean living abroad who is always quick to point out how Singapore is so much better than many seemingly first-world, so-called sophisticated European countries.

Western-style democracy might not totally work in Singapore right now but what about basic human rights and principles of reasonable regulation?

I know I can go on for hours on this topic and just as I have an opinion about all things Singaporeans, others may believe differently.

I am all for people having differing opinins on issues, but seriously, don't you think it's high time Singapore joins the 21st Century?

Season changing

2005-10-24T13:17:00.000+02:00

I think I am getting the winter blues. The weather here is becoming colder and the leaves are turning color. All very beautiful. All very miserable.

I consider myself incredibly lucky to have been born in a tropical country. Where the sun shines all year long. Where I can live in sandals and skirts and tank tops. Where I never have to wear a winter coat. Where I don't have to dress my child up in layers and layers of clothes just to go to the park. Where Johnson's baby powder is the order of the day instead of bloody extra strength moisturizing body butter.

Winter is depressing. I hate the thought of snow and all things associated with it. The thought of going up and down mountains for the next 5 months is already making me car-sick. Even snowboarding can't get me excited anymore. You know what it's like to have to take 10 minutes just to pee? And that's without any queues in the loo. Also, I really can't afford to break any other part of my body now that I have a toddler. Which means that I have to play it safe on the next-to-bunny slopes. Which is SUCKS BIG TIME for a super dooper daredevil stunt snowboarder like me.

You think I have issues adapting? I mean after 5 bloody years, you'd think that I would have gotten used to this sort of thing. But why would anyone even WANT to get used to winter? Winter is CRAP. Winter is boring. The only good thing about winter is that I can cover up all my fatty bits with big bulky clothes. Which actually makes it even crappier because hiding my fatty bits allows those bits to become chunks and then when spring comes I get all huffy and puffy trying to reduce them back into bits.

Yeeees, I have officially GIVEN UP on trying to make my bits disappear. Coz as long as I am in this winter cycle of bullshit, bits will always become chunks which then will be reduced to bits again and then become chunks thus never disappearing.

Oh! please...can we please have 6 months of summer and 3 months of winter instead of the other way around?

See? I am a considerate person. I understand that many people have chalets and holiday homes in the mountains that need to be made use of. I get that people love snow sports. I totally feel for those fashionistas who can't wait to show off their newly acquired Gianotti boots and fur coats.

But does this season of white really have to last soooo looooong????

Personally I'd much rather exchange pressies at a BBQ by the poolside, drinking caipirinhas instead of in the house, snow falling outside, sipping mulled wine by the damned Christmas tree.

God, I can't wait to get on that plane and head back to Singapore.

Grannies are right

2005-10-21T16:06:00.000+02:00

Why is it people like to make things difficult for others?

A simple problem.

I like a boy. The boy i assume, kinda likes me back. We hang out. Make out. eventually do the dirty. And then? What happens? We live happily ever after until we die or we start not liking each other or we get too old to do anything about not liking each other anymore. Right?

WRONG!

Games continue to be played. Girls must string the boy along and play silly games in order to tangkap the boy good and proper.

Why? Why can't the boy and gilr just simply say that they like each other and then continue enjoying each other's company like 2 normal people who like each other? and just SAY HOW THEY FEEL? Why must always tarik harga, which is something I do not get especially when there is no more harga to tarik, since the deal was done with no harga negotiated in the first place. Where got sense I ask you?

I think after passing the big 3-0 and having a child, I do not have the intestinal fortitude to play these silly dating games nor do I have the patience to advise on these situations any longer. Everytime I hear this story, I just want to get the girl and guy, bang their heads together and tell them to decide what they want, and if the decision does not involve each other, then better just get a new life AND MOVE ON.

I have no doubt this is the reason why grannies and kaypo aunties are always bugging the single girls amongst us to quickly get married. Because, in fact, if you wait too long, dating and trying to find The One and all that simply becomes bothersome bullshit.

Long time no see

2005-09-16T17:54:00.000+02:00

It's been sometime I know but I have been so incredibly busy these days lah. Was in London last weekend with my mum and sis - my mum left back to singapore on sunday from Heathrow. Had such a magnificent blast despite the last day tears and other niggles.

Glo and I went to the most FANTASTIC club called Kabaret. Wow! HIghly recommended for the music, BEAUTIFUL people (yes, even in London) and prices of drinks. It is guestlist only but the drinks were reasonable. Of course we went to Chinawhite like always and I really think everyone in London seemed to be celebrating last weekend of summer or something like that. Wonderful wonderful party. BUt so tired coz I had to go sightseeing and stuff with my mum.

Came back on Sunday late night and then off to BRussels on MOnday. I was supposed to be back Tuesday late afternoon but because of the zoo that Brussels airport suddenly transformed into, I missed my flight and ahd to spend a wonderful 4 hours in Brussels airport. Most entertaining I tell you. And highly recommended as well.

Had a hell of a busy week which ZAPPED past.

Anyway, off for another exciting weekend her in Switzerland. Will update you all next week on more of my adventures out here in yodel-land.

And plan when I can get back to London real soon.

Kisses!!

What a bitch!

2005-09-02T11:01:00.000+02:00

I woke up in the morning feeling annoyed. I don't really know why but I just was. And with a feeling of foreboding, I just knew it was going to be a bitch of a day.

Trying to rub the sleep from my eyes, I got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Passing the commode (chest of drawers lah), I reached out to pick up an elastic band for my hair. And my eyes suddenly popped open as I was jolted awake.

Basket BALLS!!!

Where the hell has my commode gone? HOw does an entire commode just DISAPPEAR??

I went downstairs to ask the maid if she knew what was going on. My mum was at the breakfast table munching on toast. When she heard my question, she chirped that she moved it into the guest bedroom (where she is sleeping currently), as she needed something to cover the closet.

What the FUCK is that about?

So I yelled at her not to disrupt my house and furniture layout without consulting me first. And why the fuck would she need to cover the closet in any case? Isn't the closet door pretty enough?!!

She calmly replied that I was being unreasonable and she didn't understand my adverse reaction to the situation.

Which resulted in me yelling at her more. And calling her an old cow who knows nothing about anything and I yelled at her to stop trying to teach me things because she long ceased to play the role of educator in my life.

Which led to an all out, super-sonic shouting match between her and me - just like old times.

Don't ask me where Susan and Chiara were. They magically disappeared from the war zone.

I went back upstairs in a great big huff and tears and very late for work. I smoked 2 cigarettes nonetheless because I was going to break something if I didn't calm down quick.

Caught a cab to work and got an earful for being late. Managed to bite my tongue and apologized.

Switched on the PC and got on with answering emails.

Dear tweety,
As regards your email dated xx on xx, please be informed that the proposed date for the meeting does not work for me as my flight leaves at 4pm on that day.

Dear tweety,
I cannot make the meeting as I am unable to spend another night in xx

Dear tweety,
Can u pls change the dates so that I will not have to justify the extra budget?

Dear tweety,
Your proposal for a meeting on xx in xx is completely illogical. Please provide alternative date.

Tweety,
Tuesday.

best regards,
Mr xx xxx
Company: xx xxxx xxxx
Add: xxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxx
Tel:xx xxxx xxxx
xx xxx xxxxx
xx xxxx xxxxx
email: xxxxxx@xxxx.com
In case of absence, please my secretary xxxx xxx on xxxx xxxxx

Dear Tweety,
You have propsed to meet on xx day at xxx time. How is Mrxxx going to make it when his flight details are as follows?
Date Time Flight city Airline

Date Time City Flight Airline

Dear Tweety,
I will drag myself from the hospital to the meeting as I am really interested to hear what you have to say.

Tweety,
Sorry, but I can't make it that day as I have to get home to feed the cat

The phone rings.

"Tweety speaking."

"Yes, hi, this is xxx. How are you? I am not in the business of answering emails and you are being unreasonable i have to stay one more night and answer to my manager as to the reason for staying out of the office so long how can u be like this and why are you trying to get me fired and ruin my life why must you comunicate via email why don't you just pick up the phone and get concensus you are really horrible and most of all stupid for even making this proposition please change it immediately to somethign that will suit everyone
Goodbye."

"Tweety."

I nearly jumped out of my skin. I was on the brink of screaming again when I turned my head to see XX.

XX had comments on my document in which I made some proposals.

Ok, I thought, Just give me your damned comments and let's be done with it.

So easy right? Indeed.

He proceeded to engage and even PROVOKE me into an argument about stupid things.

What kind of stupid?

Stupid like if someone was asking you to justify the reason for putting on your panties one leg at a time. Or the reason for brushing your hair from root to tip instead of the reverse.

After screaming at xx to provide me with a better reason than the one I have detailed in my proposal because I DON'T KNOW WHY ANYONE WOULD WANT TO VAULT INTO THEIR PANTIES TWO LEGS AT A TIME, I walk out dying for another cigarette when I come across psycho. Psyco is almost in tears because psycho has so much work to do and psycho doesn't know what to do about it and psyco's partner is having heart palpitations and maybe cannot have kids and psycho's boss just can't decide what flights to take to Timbuktoo and psycho is on the brink of a nervous breakdown.

Like I GAVE A SHIT at this point in time.

I lit my cigarette and proceeded to the toilet cubicle in my quest for 2 minutes of solitude.

I hear a strange sound. Then I hear a door open.

"Tweety, are you in there somewhere? You have got to come out! FIRE DRILL!"

Oh FUCK!!!!!!

Scamble out of the toilet into the corridor stinking of cigerette smoke. The wierdo gave me an appreciative smile in the knowledge that he had a "smoke-while-taking-a-crap-in-the-office-toilet" partner in crime.

Oh FUUCK!!

An hour later I was back in my office checking my inbox and what do I see? An email from someone in Timbuktoo screaming at me for not replying to emails in a timely fashion. And then xx entered my office and shouted at me as well. And called me irresponsible for not meeting deadlines and not managing expectations.

OH OH OH FUUCK!!!

An hour after that, my sometimes assistant emails me a little piece of gossip.

Mr "never-does-any-work-but-hasn't-got-caught-out" earns 10,000 more than me a year. Just because he had a nicer smile and a glibber tongue.

Well, FUCK THAT!

So you know what I did?

I tapped on my keyboard for all of 1 minute and marched in to xx office.

I threw the letter on the table and exclaimed

"I QUIT! You are stupid, this job is stupid and this company is STOOPID!"

And you know what xx did? xx CRIED.

Yes, CRIED!

And told me I am making the biggest mistake of my life and that the team valued my contribution yadda yadda yadda.

I showed him the finger and walked out.

Walked right out into the sunshine and smiled and hopped and skipped all the way down the road.

And then I panicked.

And I thought, "Oh gosh! What am I going to do for money?" "How I am going to feed my child"

"How am I going to go shopping"

"How am I going to go on weekends and holidays?"

"How, how, how"

Just as I was about to turn back and beg for my job back, I heard a little voice call "mee mee"

And I woke up with a jolt.

Looked at my watch.

0915.

Fuck! I am late for work.

******************************

Some picture taking over the last coulpe of weeks...for your viewing pleasure...

Chiara being oh-so-cool in the park: you know she even knows how to give me a five hahaha

At home

First climbing expedition

Halfway there

Kissing cousins

Hamsum nephews

Mummy, this is SOO NOT funny - get me out of the dirty clothes basket

Fred and I at cocktail party end July

Been busy

2005-08-30T18:52:00.000+02:00

Gosh, so busy with work and busy loading music in my iPod. And, if by saying that I am incrminating myself and admitting to infringing on copyright laws, go ahead, BOOK ME, DANNY.

Speaking of Danny, or Dannie as I should probably spell it, I am listening to Flame Trees. Yes, by Jimmy Barnes. Yes, I am a fan of Jimmy Barnes and Cold Chisel. And I don't care what anyone thinks (yes, Jude that's you, even if you are rolling around laughin your ass off). I LOVE this song. Brings back sooo many memories including that one fateful night that involved a car, scooter and the police station. For another day, that story.

It's amazing the influence music has on me. It's amazing how it changes my moods and thoughts and the way I write and think. And it's almost like I can tell you the story of my life through songs.

Careless Whisper (urgh!) - First kiss
You Spin Me Right Round - Function days
Mansize love - That damned IJ Girl Guide campfire that I would rather forget eventhough I so laugh about it now
Rhythm of the night - Yeah, you all know what I am talking about
Never Say Goodbye - Eugene, Sketch, Jude, Ralph (remember them?)
Coming Home - All those nights spent at Goodlink Park with the boys and the tong guitar
Crazy/Crying - All those days spent in Geneva and Lausanne pining about M&S (no, not that M&S)
Flame Trees - my first accident and my one of my big loves

it goes on and on....

I have had a really wonderful life so far...I have no doubt I will continue to have a wonderful life...

Now, just need to find a way to get everyone back in one place.

Any suggestions, anyone?

You're Beautiful

2005-08-24T15:18:00.000+02:00

Gosh, that damned song is turning around in my head and has been for the last couple of days. Can someone come up with a sadder song please? We really don't have enough despair, desperation and fultility in this world.

What is it about meeting someone who you know is just so right for you but impossible to be with? How come there are so many of these stories in this world? Does everyone go through a point in their life when they actually have to say "in a different life, in a different world, things would be different." It's just so sad.

That song makes me want to cry everytime I hear it.

I have been in a funny mood these days. I know there is something wrong but I have so many things to do that I have managed to push my disturbing thoughts under the carpet "to deal with later". I am kinda torn between what I have and what I want. And being a horrible person.

I saw your face. In a crowded place. But I don't know what to do. Coz I will never be with you.

Met my mum for lunch in town. Dropped a substantial amount of money on clothes.

Still don't feel better.

But it's time to face the truth. I will never be with you.

Oops..I did it again

2005-08-19T14:35:00.000+02:00

She sat straddling his lap at the taxi-stand waiting out the 30 mins before those blue lights miraculously appeared on the roads again.

Damned movies. Always ended after 11pm and just before midnight.

She had her arms around his neck and they kissed playfully; biting each others lips and playing "mouth catch". Once ever-so-often, he would cup her face with both hands and kiss her meaningfully, passionately.

Whenever that happened, she was transported to another galaxy. Nothing and certainly noone existed alongside. Her brain turned to the consistency of melted marshmallows and her heart sounded like the hooves of a hundred horses sprinting through open fields.

She sighed when she open her eyes and bit her lower lip in a gesture of both anticipation and frustration.

She looked over her shoulder and noticed that a family had joined the queue. The parents glared at them, while trying at the same to direct their childrens' interest to the pedestrain traffic in the opposite direction.

They shouldn't be out at midnight in any case. Bad parents.

Suddenly she stiffened. A white T-shirt. Khaki bermudas. Birkenstocks.

Classic signs.

A pair of glasses. A shock of jet-black hair.

Can it be? No way.

She strained to look out the corner of her eye not wanting to turn her head.

She noticed his furtive glances in her direction.

Had to be.

Her heart tumbled into her toes.

Surely this was the retribution she deserved.

She turned back to look into the hazel pools but 2 centimetres from her face and was once again was transported back to that galaxy where she spent countless hours in.

***

She quietly inserted the key into the lock. Tiptoed around the dining table hoping that she wouldn't trip over someone's shoe, breifcase or any other incidental debris that lay around the house until the maid came.

She opened the room door, saw that he was still awake and fell into his arms. Asked about his day. He told her that he and some other colleagues managed to negotiate to get off work early. His colleagues went off to watch a movie. He thought they could finally spend some quality time together.

He was going to surprise her by coming home before she did.

But she never came home. Not until now. And it was already past 2am.

She kissed his lips, looked into his charcoal eyes and whispered, "I am sorry".

Too late.

Always.

Too little, too late.

Sickeeeee

2005-08-18T18:12:00.000+02:00

Wah...wor-mit ah...woooorrmit!!!

Came back from 2 days in Montreux and came back ILL. Must've eaten something bad coz all I could manage to do when i gout out of my collegues car was to run and kiss Chiara and then run to the toilet where I promptly emptied my stomach of all its contents.

I started feeling sick as soon as I got in the car. Boy, was it a looong 1.5 hour drive back home and boy, was my colleague ever so scared that I would colour his beautiful beige seats in his beautiful Lexus. Poor guy.

Anyway, feeling better today. But not good enough to write another short tale.

And I don't feel like telling any other types of long stories either except to say that being in Montreux made me feel a little bit like being on vacation.

And the Montreux Palace hotel is incredible. Eventhough I got the shittiest room among everyone (although still nice lah), spilled red wine down my pistachio green pants, tripped over the doorway of the conference room TWICE (coming IN no less) and got sick at the end of the trip.

Eventful 2 days, eh?

Famous words

2005-08-15T16:33:00.000+02:00

"Baby, I will never leave you. But if you want to end this relationship, I will totally respect your wishes and never bother you again. Even though my heart will ache for you every minute I breathe."

When she heard him utter those words, her heart wrenched with physical pain. Because she loved him so much. And knew that she would never be able to end the relationship. Not truly anyway. She couldn't really fathom living without him.

She looked at him, his azure blue eyes, and felt a feeling of warm comfort and tingling excitement wash over her. Over time, he had grown to become her mentor, her guide, her friend, her lover and her whole reason of being.

The night they had was like every other night they had spent together. She went to sleep nestled in the hollow of his shoulder, his sweat mixed with hers, after 2 hours of passionate, uninhibited love-making. She cried out countless times in the throes of passion while he made her orgasm over and over again.

She smiled and even blushed slightly to herself as she thought about the naughty things he had whispered in her ear while having his way with her.

He knew exactly how to arouse her and sexually delight her using a mix of both unselfish loving and macho-type-you-will-submit-to-my-wishes sex.

"He is my life," she thought to herself. All around the house were pieces of furniture they had bought together, souvenirs from holidays spent in the sun and snow, favourite foods they shared. So many things that spoke of their life together.

He reached out to touch her face and she covered his hand with hers. Something hard got in the way of the caress.

His wedding ring.

Only she didn't have one to match.

The clown

2005-08-12T13:15:00.000+02:00

Central Park - taken in January 2004. Brrr

He made a joke this morning. She was putting on a pair of white cotton thong panties and remarked how some of the flowers were falling off.

"It's fall afterall baby..."

So funny.

I guess that's what you call love.

Melancholy

2005-08-11T17:18:00.000+02:00

I have decided that melancholy is like jealousy. Waste of time. These two emotions are the most time-wasting emotions ever.

What's the point of being melancholic?

It breeds nothingness.

When one is melancholic one cannot do anything more than one needs to do.

Because one lives in one's head. And heart. And nothing comes out into the real world except maybe in the form of song, dance, art or writing (and of course, all melancholic in nature).

Now if one were talented, then I guess it's good news for one's bank account. Although still annoying. If one is not then it's just plain, SICKENING.

And talent aside, do you know what a pain in the ass it is to be the melancholic one's partner/wife/girlfriend/parent/sibling??

Wah liau. I think I rather put lizards down my bra and see how long they take to struggle out from between my tua nene than hang out with melancholic people.

My Chiara will never be melancholic. Or jealous. Because I will show her that there are better things to do with her time. Like twisting a piece of tissue paper and tickling her nostrils with it until she sneezes.

Some random pictures of a non-melancholic existence.

Godmummy-and-Mummy-to-be at Halloween party in Geneva 2003

Chiara and me - taken end of 2004

Another weekend past

2005-08-08T14:24:00.000+02:00

Can't belive it's Monday again. The weekend just flies past these days. I think it has something to do with the fact that this is my first summer as a mum (last summer I had just given birth and Chiara was a newborn so not counted) and my mummy is here and it is summer. So every weekend got so many things to do. Day and night.

This weekend was no exception. The funniest things is, on Friday night, Fred, my mum and I were all downstairs in the TV/play/pao-ka-liao room and my mum suddenly exclaimed,"Eh, it's Friday night, how come you both not going out? Got baby already that means no need to go out on Friday nights already is eeet?"

Waaaah. When my mother starts to say things like that to me means I am on the fast track to becoming loser extraodinaire. (I still clearly rememeber those days when she used to lament not seeing me at all coz I was either at work or out with friends). But I had gone out for a while on Thursday night and I was sooo tired and I was on night-feed duty so I really couldn't be arsed to go out. So Fred and I kinda grunted and he continued playing with his stupid Google Earth (this is a Mars vs Venus thing I am sure - it's not even bloody LIVE) and I shamelessly continued to watch crappy French TV.

Anyway, Saturday was packed with so many things to do. Shopping for new shoes for Chiara because....Dang dang daaaang - SHE HAS STARTED TO WALK!!!! Waaahhahahaaa!!! Yippeee yay yay! Unlike most people, I have been impatient for my poochoo to start walking. No need to worry about her crawling on dirty floors and in the grass anymore!

Then after that had to go for kids birthday party and after that my very first National Day do at the Singapore Ambassadors' residence in Geneva. It was really nice I must say. Had some reservations about spening an evening with Singaporeans in a foreign land, but I went with no expectations and no pre-judgements and I must say I had a really nice time. The ambassador is really young so it was kinda like having a lawn party at your mates'. We had to sing the National Anthem you know. HAHAHAAA!!! (I had visions of Mrs EE in my head while singing, i kid you not!)

Funnily enough, there was alot of talk about the Singaporean culture and Singlish when you are outside of Singapore. A couple of people actually told me that they refrain from speaking Singlish when speaking with foreigners and only reserve that "privelege" when speaking with fellow countrymen and women.

I have to say that I have influenced my fair share of Swiss people to include "lah" in their vocabulary in these last 5 years.

And I hope Chiara learns some Singlish too. Of course along with normal English. And French. Currently her nanny and I speak to her in English, while her paternal grandparents speak to her in French (they live next door to us by the way). Her dad speaks to her in English and French. I have no doubt that she will grow up to be effectively bilingual and I guess the German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese (her dad wants her to be ready for the China world domination phenomenon) can come later when school starts. In any case, at the minimum I just hope that she is able to speak at least ONE language really well. And seeing how she lives in Geneva, I hope that language is French. If it happens that she is fluent in 2,3,5,10 languages then fantastic. But I refuse to get caught up in this whole "my daughter can speak all the languages of the world" thing just because of the circumstances of her life.

I will certainly help her learn at least French and English simply because I think it's firstly easier for a child to pick up different languages at a young age, but secondly, she should be able to converse with both parents and both sets of grandparents coherently.

I am also not worried about Chiara losing her Asian heritage and becoming a bonafide yodeller (albeit with a Singaporean passport). I spent 28 years in Singapore before leaving which means that the Singaporean culture is pretty damned well ingrained in me. My sis on the other hand, left Singapore when she was 20 and has been here 16 years already. I think a large part of her is Swiss now and as a result, her children might be Asian influenced but certainly not Singaporean. Does that make any sense? It does to me.

So no worries. My daughter will grow up to be a true blue, half-Indian-Singaporean-half-Swiss-french-english-speaking-raclette-fondue-char kway teow-laksa-eating-snowboard-wakeboarding girl.

And I hope she gets her godmother's fashion sense and boxing skills as well.

Sunday was my birthday. I turned 33. So old already ah? Went for brunch in a nice restaurant in the Old Town and Ir eceived cool pressies from everyone. Fred and his parents gave me a lovely bicycle (Glo laughed her ass off saying I will never learn to drive now), Fred also gave a a beautiful PINK mini iPod, Mummy gave me a necklace and sis gave me a voucher from LV. Chiara of course gave me the bestest bday present - she started to walk!! Happy Happy Happy bday to me.

No pictures with this entry. More later I promise. I guess I better stop rambling on now. By the way, Rome trip has to be cancelled or postponed to a later date. Forgot I have a 3-bloody-day offsite meeting in bloody Montreaux the week I wanted to go. Chee bye lah. Never mind. Now I can go cycling already. YAY!!! (Yeah, right)

Suffocating

2005-08-03T16:52:00.000+02:00

I went to town today to get my eyebrows done. I normally do them at the beauty salon around the corner from my office. But since it's August and the whole Euro world and their dog are on holiday, I had to go to a spa in town instead. Luckily they had a slot free. You see in yodel-land you need to plan these things days in advance. No such thing as calling in the morning for an appointment that afternoon. Anyway, because I was in town, I naturally indulged in some retail therapy and ended up buying 2 pairs of pants and 4 tops. And I received the Baby Einstein DVD's I got for Amazon today as well as the 2 pairs of shoes I bought from e-Bay.

All in all a good fullfilling day.

I am also officially broke now.

What about work? Yes, what about work. I am so bored I can't even read through a 1 page document without falling asleep. I think I need to go on holiday too. Want to go to Rome for 2 days. Mid August. Hopefully I can swing it.

Too tired and feeling a little burnt out. Need to get away form all these people around me.

I guess the loner in me is rearing its head for some air. Need to get my space. Need to get away.

I want to get away, I want to fly awaaay....

heheheeee.

Navel Gazing

2005-08-02T15:40:00.000+02:00

Apparently Singaporean bloggers navel gaze too much (source: mr brown's blog). That's according to the dumbass journos at The New Paper. Like anyone cares what they think. When they finally have something credible to say about something more important than the rising prices of chicken rice and mee siam in Singapore, maybe people will start to care. I certainly don't care. In fact I don't give a flying fuck about what anyone thinks. EVER.

It's not always been like that you know. When I was younger I cared alot about what people thought. Then as I grew older life became too complicated to live by other people's opinions. So I threw caution to the wind and dared to live by my rules. Then I hit the big 3-0 and I truly emancipated myself. Money helped do that of course. In fact, money helped me do MANY things. Have no illusions - Money buys pretty much almost everything in life.

Now I do what want, when I want and how I want. The only things that tether me to some confines of conformism are Chiara, Cosmo/Glamour and Gloria-the-fashionista extraodinare.

Back to navel gazing then.

Despite the shitty Friday I had, this weekend was pretty action-packed and fun-filled. It was long weekend here in yodel-land - yodellers celebrated National Day on August 1. Everyone please take note of the date. I once picked up a verrry hamsum boy in Elvis bar many years ago all thanks to this precious piece of knowledge about the 1st of August. His name was Patrick and boy was he a cutie. For you youngun's reading this, Elvis was a really funny bar in some building near the Plaza Hotel on Beach Road. They played retro music and people used to dance on the bars all night long. Drinking. Picking up. Taking off clothes. My kind of place. Back in the mid 90's. Wah, machiam sooo long ago.

Anyway, back to this weekend. I did family things all day long (swimming, mountains, park, walking, La Reserve) and went out partying at night. By Monday night was so exhausted I couldn't make it to the big outdoor party by the lakeside. But it was really nice. And I think Chiara enjoyed herself immensely depsite having a disorganized Mum who brings too many changes of clothes and zero toys for her to play with on a day out.

Have begun smoking in front of MY mum. I know, very shocking right? But guess what? I DON'T CARE, REMEMBER? 33 years old, haven't lived at home since 1995, 39 hours of labour and now a working mum, you think I have earned the right to smoke whenever I damn well please. And if you think I haven't, well, guess what? (SAY IT WITH ME EVERYONE) ... I STILL DON'T FUCKING CARE!

On that note, I am feeling better about my life, because over the weekend I counted my blessings (something that I normally do regularly but been slack about of late). And put things back in perspective. I could have worse problems, like this poor sod below:

You see what I mean?

So, fuck him (the cause of my heartache lah, not the unnamed uncle above) and his sorry little life. My life is beautiful, Chiara is beautiful and I am beautiful. That's all I give a shit about.

(okaaaaay, you all dun start jumping up and down - of course I also give a shit about my family, friends, char kway teow and the next couple of episodes of Lost...)

HMPH!!!!

Black Cloud Over My Head

2005-07-28T11:12:00.000+02:00

Good grief! I just realized that it's already Thursday and my last post is about Friday..LAST FRIDAY!

Where does the time fly man? Continue like that before I know it I will be Nenekmanggis liau!

The only constant ray of sunshine in my life

Was in London these last 2 days. Went for a meeting. Was really great. I met Gloria and we had dinner at Ping Pong and then had a jolly good time at AKA on Tuesday night. Lovely Italians all over the place. Yummy...Man, if I didn't have to be stuck in a conference room with lawyers all day long the next day I would stayed out until 4am. But since I am a responsible giiirrrl, I went home at quarter past 2, packed my bags (I spent 1.5 hours doing the most efficient shopping and Glo brought stacks of pressies for Chiara) and went to sleep in my lovely, bouncy, hotel room bed. Hehehe.

What is it about hotel rooms and the beds? I always find myself wanting jump right into the mountain of pillows and burying my face in the crisp white super soft sheets while bouncing up and down on the wonderful box-spring or whatever it is mattress.

Ever wondered what the world would be like if hotel rooms could talk? My goodness me. I for one would surely be in BIIIG trouble. Won't go into details now but maybe one day. But man, if they could talk. What a wonderful story of my life they would tell. HAHAHAAA!!! LA, Mykonos, London, New York, Barcelona, Ibiza, Rome, Milan, Singapore (yes, Amara hotel and the Four Seasons), Paris, Toulouse, Phuket, Phi Phi, Hong Kong and so many more. Just writing all this now brings back a patchwork of memories that forces a smile. And a little laugh too. And people have come and people have gone, but always the same 4 faces appear in most of these flashbacks. Noone can ever say we haven't had an action-filled life, eh gals?

If hotel rooms could talk then there would be one that would tell you a story of tears and pain. Today. Today I finally turned the page on one of the longest chapters of my life. Today I have a big hole in my heart. Today I think I don't know what's going to happen with the rest of my life. Today, I lost a big chunk of me. Today I am feeling a little lost. Today I am feeling a little hurt. Today I am feeling a little neglected. Today I am feeling alone. Today I feel like crawling into a hole and crying for a while. Today I wish I had my friends around me so we could go out and get pissed. So I wouldn't have to think and I could stop tearing every 15 minutes. Today, I really want to jump on a plane and go home. Today I wish I could erase the last 5 years of my life and start all over. Today I think I might have broken my life record of never having regretted anything. Ever.

Today I wish today didn't have to happen.

NEWS FLASH!

2005-07-22T14:41:00.000+02:00

It's Friday, it's Friday, it's fr-fr-fr-fr FRIDAY!

And guess WHAT?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

I AM SUPERMOTHERABSOLUTELMONGOUSFUCKINGLY BORED!!!

I think I am going to crawl into a hole and play Russian roulette now.

Anyone care to join me?

A special day

2005-07-20T16:24:00.000+02:00

Last night I saw Lenny Kravitz live at Paleo festival. The man is hot, hot, hot. I screamed and jumped so much that I am surprised I still have a voice. And I am surprised I didn't collapse into a pretzel while presenting my project plan this morning. BROOOOOKEEEN. Wah liau. Back-ache. Neck-ache. Voice ache. Backside also ache. He ended the concert with "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and the entire mostly french-speaking crowd was screaming along trying to sing whatever words sounded like "Are You Gonna Go My Way".

In the midst of my screaming and jumping while trying to hold on to my haversack and protect my beautiful Coach slipper balls from being trampled on, I thought of Eve. Eve with her dreadlocked hair all those years ago. Who used to headbang to this song wearing that godawful stupid turquoise and white uniform. Hhheheee.

I wanna go for another rock concert. In fact I think I am gonna quit my job and become a roadie. In fact, better yet, I think I will become a rock star. Can or not? I also want to wear shiny clothes and funny shoes and big sunglasses at night and shove my face in a camera that projects my image onto 100-feet-wide-and-high screens while everyone shouts A-NI-TA! A-NI-TA! A-NI-TA!!

Before I start changing my title on my namecards, methinks its time for me to go any buy the birthday cake for me daughter. Today is Chiara's real birthday. One year ago at exactly this time, I was in the delivery room of Hopital Cantonal of Geneva waiting to be fully dilated before starting to push. My jewel was born at 1850 on July 20th 2004.

Here's a picture of her when I brought her home from the hospital.

I love my daughter. I will die for her. Everyday, I cannot wait to run home and see her and play with her.

I want to be a rock star. I want to take drugs, sing songs, have dirty sex with only handsome young guys with big dicks and play the guitar.

Please call me Sybil from now on.

My First Birthday

2005-07-18T16:30:00.000+02:00

I celebrated my first birthday on Saturday. My baby's first birthday that is, eventhough Chiara is officially 1 on Wednesday. And it was a dual birthday because Lucas turned 3 on July 13th. And boy, oh, boy, what a birthday party it was. 40 adults and 30 kids. Tons of food. Bouncy castle. Paddling pool. I know, I know. A little bit over the top. My little sweetie was crying by the end of the afternoon coz it was hot and very overwhelming for her. Maybe I overdid it a little. She is afterall only 1. Ironically she was probably the most clueless out of all the guests as to what was going on. (My star nanny helped out and if she wasn't around I wouldn't have even dared plan such a big do.)

What is it about birthdays and parents who get all crazy about them?

I guess I am now wondering if I did this party for me or for my bubby. Because the truth of the matter is that I am sure she would have enjoyed herself just as much or if not more if I had just invited another child over and had some cake.

I have to confess that yes, I wanted to show off. Show off my baby who is the most beautiful girl in the world. And that I made her. And that she has successfully arrived at her first year a wonderful baby because of me (I hired the nanny didn't I?). And show that I am incredibly proud of her. And show off how I can manage my life as a working mum. And to prove to people that I am not all about drinking, partying, hair and clothes. And prove that my nanny DOES NOT run the household all by herself (just some parts lah).

And I want to be able to tell her when she grows up how she had such a special, wonderful 1st birthday party.

So i guess while I am happy that the party was a success, I have to confess that I do indeed have guilty feelings about it. Because it was more about me than her. I now I feel bad so I am going to do another, quieter, subdued, cake-and-candles only Happy Birthday on Wednesday. Just with her.

And I will have my camera with me. Because you know what silly mummy forgot to do? Charge the damn camera. UURGH!!! I was so busy planning the other details of the party that I forgot to charge my camera and so I could not take photos!! CAN U BELIEVE IT??? MY OWN BUBBY's FIRST BIRTHDAY SUPER DUPER BIRTHDAY PARTY!!! Aiyah. Luckily Frederic took videos and my sis took some nice pictures of the party.

So here are some pictures from Saturday.

My favourite shot of the day:

2 beauties - My baby and my mummy

More pictures from the party

Picture of the house

Happy Birthday!

Mummy why are these people singing?

Mummy they sing so badly..HELP!

Bouncing away on the bouncing castle

I am so tired..need to hang on

All in all it was a really nice day. It threatened to rain and thnakfully it didn't. Everyone had a lot of fun which is the most important for me. Despite my post-party feelings, I am glad I did it and I am so happy my baby had a wonderful first birthday.

Now the question is, what shall I do next year?

Will try to post more pics soon....til next time! Ciao!!!

Ice balls

2005-07-06T17:31:00.000+02:00

If I had balls, yes, they would be iced ones now. It's bloody freezing here in yodel land and I am convinced its because all these damn temperate-acclimatized, pink, sun-averse ang moh's have been COMPLAINING away about how hot it was over the last 2 weeks. Well now, we are being punished because it's the middle of summer and it's bloody freezing.

I tell you God is watching. And listening.

And my colleague from space whom I share the office with just simply HAS to open the damned window. It helps her disposition.

Please let me just die now.

It's times like these that I ask myself why in hell I ever left Singapore.

Hmmm. Just looked out the window and I remember now. I came here for the better view.

You know, if we actually managed to replace half of the population of Singaporeans in Singapore with people from other lands (crazy Middle Easterns, shot-gun toting crazy deep southern and mid-western Americans and Virginie French types excluded of course), Singapore would be a great place to live in.

I love Singapore. I love the weather, I love Orchard Road, I love Sentosa, I love Singlish, I love calling everyone who is older than me auntie and uncle and my God, I LOVE the food.

What irritates me about Singapore and what makes my heart beat with desperate anxiety whenever I think about packing up and going home are Singaporeans themselves. And that includes of course those men in white. Eventhough, I have to admit, I was one of those Singaporeans (when I was living there of course), who used to ignore the politics and not discuss them with anyone. Especially foreigners. Because hey, the truth of the matter was that I could pay my low taxes and didn't spit or litter, loved (and still do) the fact that Signapore is a chewing-gum free city, appreciated all the green around me and loved the fact that I could afford to take taxis even when I was below the 3K income bracket.

Nanny-state? What's that? Freedom of speech? Who cares!

My life was cool. Why? Because everything in life is a question of budget and perspective.

What really did irk me everyday, all day, all night were the people. Singaporeans are an annoying lot. Just everything about them irritates me. They way they look, behave, eat, drink is just so damn ANNOYING. Everytime I come home for holiday, the minute I arrive at the airport and think to myself "Why are they ALL LIKE THAT?"

Of course I am generalizing and of course there are exceptions but for the most part, Singaporeans are ungracious. They are badly behaved. There are just too many "new money" types around. And there are so many racists among them. Closet ones as well. And they are just plain sickening.

So I guess I will be hanging around here for a while. Or elsewhere. Anyplace but Singapore. Not only because I cannot bear looking at ugly people all day everyday until I die but because I really do not want my daughter growing up to be like an annoying, ungracious, ugly, typical Singaporean. Too many of them squeezed in such a small island to take the risk.

Maybe the Singapore Governement can come up with a FIND AND REPLACE campaign. Then maybe I will come back for good. Coz the truth of the matter is that I am a Singapore girl in my heart. And someday, I would like to come home.

The New Economy

2005-07-05T16:46:00.000+02:00

The world through Moka's eyes

I actually started to write a post about love but decided to have a bit of a laugh instead.

I was once part of something called The New Economy. You know the one.

It was
- the one that allowed tobacco companies to stay stuck in the eighties
- the one that made us all talk differently
- the one that redefined the word "cool"
- the one that got ugly boys laid(see pt above)
- the one that turned day into night and night into day
- the one that created the a whole new revenue line for mobile phones as fashion accessories
- the one that legitimized office-dating/affairs/one-night-stands/one-office-toilet-stands/one-office-christmas-party-stands
- the one that forced me to publicize 18yr-old CEO's and 16yr-old CTO's who couldn't even shave yet much less say more than 3 words to the press
- the one that spawned a whole lot of other baby C-something-O's
- the one created a whole subculture of UFO watchers and jobless louts because they had 50 million in the bank and therefore they could
- the one that allowed us to show our boss the finger and not get fired

Today I stumbled across this website.

http://www.huhcorp.com

Can we please have The New Economy back?

Beauties and the Beasts

2005-07-04T15:52:00.000+02:00

I was in Lisbon with Frederic over the weekend and along with the sites and sounds, I had to get my dose of proper cable TV. So in between clips of the Live 8 concerts, I managed to catch a program on VH1 entitled "Remaking Vince Neil".

The title itself made me laugh already. Trying to remake Vince Neil is like trying to remake muah chee into filet mignon. Like trying to remake Zoe Tay so she can speak English. Like trying to remake Malaysia into Singapore. TAK BOLEH!!

Everyone knows that Tommy Lee was the ONLY hottie of Mötley Crue.

It was really funny to see the famous glam rock front man, now (predictably) fat and faded, hanging off the arm of a Pamela Anderson wannabe he calls his wife, trying to further hang on to what's left of the rock-an-roll-star thang.

I think VH1 should have sprung to remake (or unmake in Mrs Neil's case) the both of them.

Bon Jovi once said "every little guy wants to learn to play guitar so he can pick up all the chicks and be a rock and roll star".

Indeed.

"You know Vince, this fitted black tank top will definitely give you a better silhouette ESPECIALLY when teamed up with this Cavalli shirt and these Cavalli leather paaants", sang Vince Neil's very fashionable and very gay stylist.

And "pop" goes that rock-an-roll star bubble. Vince Neil is as much a has been as Sebastian Bach.

Who you say?

I rest my case.

Ugly people. They bother me. Both (aiyah, inside and outside) types. And unfortunately you don't have to waste current and switch on the TV to find them. If you live in Singapore just look out you window can already. And if you don't live in Singapore then check out some Singapore blogs. Wah liau! I have never seen a bigger collection of moon faces, pancake faces and plain ol' "U-G-L-Y you-ain't-got-no-alibi-you're-UGLY" faces. No wonder they all blog. Too ugly to do things in real life.

So in that spirit, let me put up some pics of beautiful people.

My Chiara - the bikini babe

Little doll

Little princess in the park

Her favorite pastime - digging for treasure

Four beauties in a horse drawn carriage in Central Park

Frederic and myself in Lisbon

That night in Docas - Lisbon's equivalent of Singapore's Boat Quay and Barcelona's Olympic Port

Lisbon city

Cascais town (pronounced Kaash-Kaeesh)

The biggest, fattest, most expensive chocolate dipped strawberries in the world. They were delicious. Glo had to ask the chashier to repeat the price 3 times coz she couldn't believe they costs 6USD a piece.

So cheers to all beautiful things and my baby Chiara - the most precious, beautiful, wonderful, person in my life.

God help me if she decides to marry a Vince Neil wannabe.

Hot Tamale

2005-06-22T16:38:00.000+02:00

I was watching People in the News on CNN some months ago and they did this whole report on Mariah Carey and her great comeback. The interview pretty much was all about how everything she was wearing on her new silly incomprehensible music video made her look like a hot tamale. Someone explained to me what a tamale actually is but I have forgotten now. That's how interesting Mariah "i-am-so-ugly-fat-and-mad-luckily-i-can-still-sing" Carey is.

What has captured my interst though is this whole Sarong Party Girl issue. Now there's a hot tamale for you. Ok, I saw THAT PICTURE and if you ask me it's much ado about normal neneh's. They are small and she is afterall only 19 years old. Which 19 year old doesn't have nice neneh? Especially when they are A-cups? Dime a dozen if you ask me. But, her famous neneh is not what makes her a hot tamale in my books. Neither are her sexual expoits which, while interesting from a new mother "so I am interested to know what teenagers these days get up to" point of view, are not particularly exciting. Also, her writing style, which reflects an extremely good command of the English language, (an almost extinct species in Singapore these days, quick call the WWF people) is too intense and boring. Have to skip paragraphs to get to the juicy bits type. Hate that.

No, what makes her a hot tamale in my books is her balls. Gosh, this girl has balls and if I were a boy that would be the reason why I would take her to bed and have my cunnilinguistic way with her. I wish some men I knew had balls like hers. Most I know have peanuts which is why I don't get much action these days. And I live overseas and am surrounded by ANG-MOHS! And hamsum ones to boot.

What is it about the Asian woman attraction to Ang-moh men that makes everyone jump up and down in a frenzy and indulge in verbal/ink diarrhoea on a subject that has long lost it's place on primetime news?

I remember when I was 19 it was a mortal sin to be seen holding hands with a white guy. I was dating a white boy from UWC back then and everytime we went out I would forbid him from touching me in any way. PDA? Nope. What's that? Kindly put your hands in your pocket and walk at least one-body length apart. If not sure die in case a relative/neighbour/schoolmate/teacher/auntie-selling-chicken-rice-downstairs sees me.

Fast forward 14 years later and while White man/Asian woman PDA (and more) is as common as hearing Mother Tongue languages being spoken on the MRT, it still remains a thorn in the Singaporean side. Wah liau! Personally I blame The New Paper for this. Since no reporter on the team seems to be able to write a complete article in normal English, I guess they have to pick subjects where writers can use acronyms and local terms as much as they like.

SarongPartyGirl has this guide to being a super SPG on her site. Really funny but since she hasn't really managed to snare the rich angmoh with a big dick herself, I suggest that anyone looking for tips go and have a chat with an SPG who actually got the Tiffany engagement ring, lists her posh Sngapore River address on her IC/lives abroad in Kensington in London, 16th district in Paris etc, has kids in a private school and the maid and driver and find out how she did it. And whether she really did it for the Big Dick. (If she married an Italian, ask her to tell the truth about doing it for the money).

Also, she is 19 years old lah. Good grief. Better ask the lau bu SPG who has been there, done it, right?

SPG is a young girl finding herself. And she is not ashamed of going public about her growing pains. She is honest and will probably get what she wants out of life. Good on her. At least she has the balls to do it. Which is more than I can say about most people - Ang Moh, Singaporean or from space.

I used to like Asian men. Loved (*gasp*) some of them even. Until I was 21. Until the Pan-asian (hah! the irony) look was the only thing Asian men were interested in. Until I discovered Harry's Bar when it was one of 2 bars on Boat Quay. Until I found out that I liked ang moh men better. And that they liked me better too.

Hi, my name is tweetymanggis and I am an SPG.

SO WHAT ... SO SQUAT.

Of grey hair and tired livers

2005-06-17T11:16:00.000+02:00

I really don't know how it happened or when it happened but I think I am getting old. I have tried to deny the fact for many months but after last night, I think it's time face up to facts. I have no excuses save for one - I have old bones. 1 mojito and 1.5 smirnoff ices in a beautiful party in the OPEN AIR park last night and I feel like CRAP this morning. Had to take 2 panadols this morning and only arrived to work at 10am. Wah liau. What a loser.

A couple of years ago, the weekend started on Wednesday's at Carnegies chugging down copious amounts of cheap free champagne and i could still wake up the next day and handle clients. Albeit with a frown and growl and stinky cigarette-smelling hair but I still managed to cough up the goods.

(And I was thin and could almost wear whatever I wanted because I prefered not to waste time eating but to drink drink drink and be merry.)

These days I don't even understand what "weekend starting on Wednesday" means anymore much less try to relive my days of youth.

I think it all boils down to lack of sleep. People say that as you get older you need less sleep. Bullshit I say. This is just phsyco-babbly-boo-bullshit that THEY throw at you to motivate you to work your ass off and make loads of money AND get married AND have kids AND take of house and home AND be thin and gogeous and well-groomed AND to do it all with no maid. HMPH!!!!!!!

Of course lah then tired. Although I shouldn't complain because I do have house help. And I refuse to work crazy hours anymore. But that of course means that once the entire house is sleeping then I sneak out my laptop and work until the wee hours. Which leads me to being sleepy the next day. Which means that I want to die at my desk. Which leaves me working till wee hours the next night and it just goes on on n on n on on n on..the beat goes on till the break of dawn. Get what I am sayin' dawg?

How come life changes like that? How come we cannot evolve and continue on with our lives without keeping some things from the past?

Is it so difficult to be able to be a mum and a good "wife" and still party with your friends and go away on weekends and work like mad to meet ridiculous deadlines?

I realize that I cannot be the person I was in 1998 with my mates in Manggis Rd and colleagues from Robinson Road doing tequila shots/shooters, champagne, flaming lamborghinis dancing, singing, kissing etc then sleep at 4am, wake up at 9am, go to work and repeat everything again.

But C'MON!!! 1 mojito and 1.5 Smirnoff ice...moving my shoulders to the beats of the DJ while sitting on an outdoor bench. If this is over the top for me now then I think I better change my name to Grannymanggis. No more tweety-ing for me.

Has it got to do with motherhood? I don't know. Someone mentioned that maybe now we have all got older and some have kids and therefore life has slowed down and things changed. Ok, slow down yes, I can accept that. BUT IT SEEMS LIKE SOMEONE HIT THE FUCKING FREEZE FRAME BUTTON ON THE REMOTE CONTROL!!!

Summer is here, the sun is shining, I can wear not-so-small-anymore clothes again and it's time to be ALIVE. Please let the picture start moving again.

I was watching Desperate Housewives a couple of weeks ago and watched that episode when then mum with the crazy twins started to take her kids ADD medication so that she could become Mum Extrodinaire....hmmmmm...anyone know what it's called?

Who am I?

2005-06-14T17:49:00.000+02:00

Kenny Sia is a funny man. I really love his "baby coming out of his kacheng" story.

Kenny Sia is from Kuching.

Kenny Sia luuurves Singaporean girls.

Kenny Sia is also a fortune teller.

I took his "Which Singaporean Blogger Are You" test and this is what he says about me.

Congratulations Tweetymanggis, you are...

Scarlett Ting of joewei.blogspot.com

You are independent, smart and beautiful. Its too bad you don't see that yourself because life's little difficulties brought down a lot of your self confidence. As a result, you talk cryptic and you don't trust people easily. You care a lot for your friends and your loved ones, sometimes even more than you care for yourself, although they don't always seem to appreciate it. Don't let that affect you. As the saying goes, you don't miss the water till the well runs dry. So hang in there, you're a star in the making.

Which Singaporean Blogger Are You?

hahahahahaaaaa!!!!

I do not know who Scarlett Ting is but I guess I should go check out her blog one of these days since she is independent, smart and beautiful as well.

Hmph, as if I didn't know that already. Not 33 years old for nothing.

New things..

2005-06-07T17:56:00.000+02:00

In the true post-holiday blues spirit, I have started planning my next trip out of Geneva. In my quest for some fun-in-the-sun (Sun seems to be a precious commodity these days in Geneva. If I could invest my money in sun stocks I really would) and action-by-the-sea, I have managed to persuade Frederic to take a weekend away in Lisbon. YAY!!!! We don't want to spend too much time away from Chiara so we will be spending 2 nights and 3 days in Cascais. Plan to rent a motorbike so we can ride into Lisbon and around for sightseeing.

Waaaaah!!! I can see myself already - wind blowing in my hair and Danger Zone playing in the background while I hang onto my Maverick. And then he will stop on the coastline and kiss me passionately on the bike while the sun sets picturesquely behind us. All other motorits zoom past and look at us enviously and wish for such stolen moments only young, new love can inspire. And my hair still blowing sexily around my face while the music changes to Take My Breath Away... Hopefully the bike won't get stolen. Must remember to tell Fred to get a krepok one.

Yes, yes, in case you don't know, I love the movie Top Gun. Favorite of all time. I think it should go into the movie Hall of fame if one should exist. It's really just the best. Alot of action (car chasing motorbike, motorbike chasing plane, plane shooting other planes - not enuff ah?), soppy love story, hamsum boys with hot bods, tragic moments - if only the hot chick was someone other than Kelly McGillis (coz she's sooo NOT hot) then it would truly be PUUURFECT.

Dreams, dreams. I read a very interesting article on www.colingoh.com that discusses dreams - especially the Singapore one. (Colin Goh is the brainchild behind talkingcock.com. If you are Singaporean and don't know what that is then AIYAH! NEVERMIND LAH!!!)

Back to the Singapore Dream which he did refer to as rather the Singapore Plan. And compared it to the American one which has turned into the American Plan. Anyway, I thought it was a great insight into how a Singaporean couple dared to get off the beaten path and pursue their dreams (or was it their plan?) in NYC. You should really check it out if you think that you are stuck in the doldrums of the Singaporean ratrace with no way out. Quite inspiring.

Anyway, the other thing that struck me about this article is that he and his wife are truly a couple. The article was actually written by both of them relating their life experiences which led them to New York to pursue bigger and better things than the 5 C's that obssess Singaporeans. I was amazed at the complicity they have and how they just "fit" so nicely with each other. I guess they each found "THE ONE".

How often does that happen I wonder? That we all find "THE ONE"? And that we are lucky enuff to be the "THE ONE" to our "THE ONE"? You see what I mean?

Recently I was trying to read to my daughter some classic Disney fairytales - you know, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and all the rest of it. Of course she was more interested in trying to eat the book. But that's not the point I am trying to make. I grew up on a healthy diet of these fairy tales and I am just wondering if these stories have fed my personal obsession of finding my Prince Charming. I mean of course now that i am "grown up" I have come to realize that life is alot about being pragmatic and compromising and life's lessons have shown me that Prince Chrming is sometimes not all that Charming. He farts and picks his nose too. But there is always that little "niggle" in the back of my heart that tells me that Prince Charming does exist. Somewhere in the world. And he is waiting for me to sing Some Enchanted Moment so he can ride to me on his white horse and ride off into the sunset.

The question that I have is this: Did Snow White and her desperate housewives wannabe mates lead me to this? And if yes, should I be reading the same shit to my daughter? But then again if you can't tell your baby daughter about fairies and princes charming and dwarfs and fairies and all things shiny and beautiful then what the hell are you supposed to read to her? By teaching her how to sing "Someday my prince will come" will I inadvertently be leading her down the path of spinsterhood and misery? But the again, if I don't, will I be killing her future ability to dream and aspire and her idealisms?

I don't know. I am not married. Don't ask me why. I just am not. BUt this is not about marriage and whether one should or one shouldn't. This is about THE ONE. This is about finding the holy grail in life. IS there such a thing? To be honest, I do believe it exists and I hope I am smart enough and strong enough to not only teach my daughter that it exists but to teach her to find out what her own holy grail is and how to go after it.

The Diary Of Tweetymanggis continued...

2005-06-03T16:41:00.000+02:00

So here is the second part of the photo story.

We decided to take a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. While waiting in a loooooooooong line, we were entertained by buskers and whatever else.

One of the talents - A contortionist. I laughed so much because just the night before I managed to convince some young impressionable boys at a bar (in fact the ones with the ridiculously oversized mug of beer) that Gloria was a kungfu artist and contortionist extraodinaire now doing stunt work in Hollywood.

So such good samaritans were we that we dutifully donated money to each of the acts along the way as we slowly inched forward to board the ferry. When we finally got to the front of the queue, the ticket guy looks at our tickets and shouts "THIS IS THE WRONG FERRY GALS! THIS ONE MAKES STOPS! YOU GOT THE CHEAP CHARLIE TOUR! OUT YOU GOOOO!"

Ok, so I am exaggerating - he didnt use those EXACT words but people all around us were laughing their asses off anyway.

There she is - Lady Liberty...Ok ok, so it was raining and my hair was getting frizzy and my camera only 2 megapixels okaaaay?????

After getting off the boat, we decided to walk through Wall Street on the way to Century 21.

A little piece of NYC trivia: Did you know? The Wall Street bull has a nice set of balls? There is Glo rubbing them for good luck. Trying for Euro Millionaire jackpot lah.

The front side now

That's me putting my acrylic nails to good use - Or Pi Sai!!!!

About Century 21. We spent 5 hours there. 'Nuff said.

That night we landed back at Spice Market. Why? Because the dumbass concierge at out hotel told us to go to a place called Hog's Pit for real good ribs. The only thing good about that damn dirty place was the fact that "My Michelle" was playing when we entered. Dumbass concierge. I think his name is Timothy. With a name like that, what else could he be.

This time round at Spice Market, Judith made absolutely sure that we were able to have dessert (the last time appaently we were too late and the kitchen had closed). She even pre-ordered dessert when we were ordering our main meal. Our very nice waiter thought we were MAD. But it was well worth it because the Ovaltine Kulfi somethingorother was just HEAVENLY!! Kudos to Stanley Wong or Stanley Ho (Cannot remember). He should come to Geneva and open a restaurant.

The delicious dessert

Anush looking very pretty with with her poratble light sabre

On Friday, Christine invited us over to her place for brunch. She made delicious scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, salmon, cream cheese, bagels, salad, melon and parma ham and MIMOSA's. She has an INCREDIBLE rooftop terrace with super views of the city. So much so that we canned our trip to the Empire State Building. Aiyah, saw already what, from the open top bus!!

Finally, a nice warm sunny day!!!

View from the top

City skyline

Sooooooo nice isn't it???

After, we continued on our sightseeing trip of Manhatten, heading down towards Canal Street and Chinatown. We did a ridiculous amount of shopping. We were the quintessential Urru-Mama's. Everybody else in our hotel came back from shopping trips with nice little pretty bags from Coach, Barney's etc etc and we would come back everyday with our arms laden with pretty bags, ugly bags, even the black versions of the ugly market pink plastic bags you get in Singapore. Typical tourists from Singapore. Shopping in Manhatten like its ONE BIG GIGANTIC MOHAMMAD MUSTAFA ON SALE!!!!

Glo, Anush and Jude posing at a bridge near River Terrace on the way to Chinatown

And while walking merrily along what did we stumble across? A polic department precinct! Waaaaahhhh!! Take photo, TAKE PHOTOOO!!!

Look at the cheeky faces

We decided to take another shot in front of the Starsky and Hutch car but WE CAN'T SEE THE CAR!!!!

Anushia's last day we decided to go to Rockefeller Centre, Central Park (which made me nostalgic for Singapore Zoo) and Grand Central Station

Oh-oh say can you seee...3 gorgeous Singaporean chick-eees....

That's the end of the pics. Sorry...got more but must wait to post. No more space of Flickr. At Central Park my camera went bust so couldn't take anymore pictures either.

Just to finish the story in words, we went out that night to Elliot's place for a very nice party at his parents' apartment. Then we went to ZiZi Titty or someplace sounding like that for a little dancing. A little bit bizarre but too late to go anywhere else.

Next day, did last minute shopping/sightseeing and then sent Anushia off in the Super Shuttle. Boohoohoo. That night, our last night in NYC, we were so excited that we decided to use our last ounces of energy to enjoy the City That Never Sleeps. So we turned on the TV, got into bed and went to sleep ourselves. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!! Really really really had no more petrol in the tank. Lau Bu liao!!!

Next morning, die hard, seriel shoppers went to buy last minute things and extra luggage to lug everything back home. End of holiday. *Sniff* *sniff*

That my friends is the story. Nice ah? I hope you have enjoyed the show and keep checking back for more pics and rubbish stories. Tralalalallaaaaaa!!!!! Ciaoooo!!!!

The Diary Of...

2005-06-02T15:30:00.000+02:00

Since we had such a super jetset holiday, I have decided to create my own Diary of...hahahahaaa...(in case there are swaku's among the readers, A Diary Of is a program on MTV - hmph!)

This is The Diary of Tweetymanggis (to all those non-Malay speaking people, manggis means mangosteen. What's a mangosteen? Go to the supermarket and discover the mysteries...)

Ok, here is the story of our trip to NYC in pictures. Have to tell you though, that a couple are missing coz I don't have anymore space to upload pics and I am too stingy to pay the 25 bucks to upgrade. So just too bad, have to wait a couple of weeks to see the last few pics before my camera went kaput.

Here goes:

Day 0:
Took a picture of Chiara just before leaving so I have a latest and greatest picture to gaze at during my holiday. Thought about taking one of her body suits with me but decided against it lest it make me cry. So here is a pic of my pouchoo the morning before I left:

Isn't she just the cutest baby in the world? She is even cuter now by the way.

Anyway, on to the airport where I checked in and got to the gate where I was supposed to meet Gloria and Cat. Cat was there with her colleague (they were flying biz class "ahem", "ahem") however, Glo hadn't arrived. Small panic coz she didn't appear but finally showed up and we boarded the plane! All happy happy happy!! Unfortunately we (Glo and I that is - Cat looked completely like a business class passenger) looked like crap...

Beginning
Originally uploaded by tweetymanggis.

So 9 hours and a cab ride later, we arrived at the NY Palace ready to begin our adventure. Went to say hello to Sonia and Anushia who had arrived the day before and were looking much fresher than either Gloria or myself:

Sexy sisters

Ok, I am too tired to tell long stories so I am going to let the pictures do the talking. Here are pics from our first night out in NYC. We went for pre-dinner drinks at the Gansevoort Hotel (can u believe that I actually got the spelling right??) rooftop bar which was really fantastic. The best part of this bar was the fact that they actually played Aerosmith music!! Haahaha..ok, just kidding but it was definitely a plus factor in my books. After we went to Spice Market for dinner and then onto Movida for boogying.

Anushia, Sonia and Judith at Spice Market

Gloria, me and Christine at Spice Market

By the way, you see the white blouse I am wearing in the picture? Later I actually performed a magic trick and changed it into a black top (see the Movida pics)! Please don't tell anybody but I am actually a closet magician and my ultimate ambition is to make all RED WINE STAINS ON WHITE CLOTHES DISAPPEAR INSTANTLY!!!! A big thanks to Chloe who lent me her blouse so I could finish dinner before going back to the hotel to change. And I am so glad noone took a photo of me topless holding my braless boobs in the girls toilet while MY TOP WAS WASHED IN THE BASIN!!!! CHEE BYE LAH!!!

On to more pics from that night...

Anushia, Cat and Sonia

That's Chloe between my sisters.

Please take note of the little monkey behind in the photo below..

This picture by the way is a tribute to Xiaxue and friends . Note the fingers. Everybody say CHEEEEEEESE!!!!

Yup, the party is getting better

The beginning of the end...

ooooh..the sting of vodka

Jude - the champion amongst pregnant women - taking a shot of OJ - I wonder what Glo is laughing at???

Christine and David doing a shot

Must've been a helluva shot babe!

that's coooool Cat! and whose is feeling up her boobie??

The next day we woke up all fresh and feeling wonderful and went for a true blue American breakfast in a diner.

DA Bluesteele and the beauties

The tribute "just-arrived-tourists" picture near our hotel

Sonia is not in that picture because she had to scurry off for her manicure and pedicure appointment back at the hotel in the middle of our meal. Hehehheheeee.

Shot of the city from my sis 36th floor hotel room

So i missed one whole night of pics because I forgot to bring my camera. And you know what? I was the only ONE WITH A CAMERA in our group (Glo forgot her camera charger so also not counted)!! AIYAH! Talk about disorganized. Anyway, it was Glo's birthday and thanks to Christine and all her fantastic efforts we celebrated it in style. Dinner at Bed and then partying at Quo. Finished at 6am and 5mths-pregnant-Judith actually lasted the whole night. A round of applause please. Especially from the men reading this.

Next morning back at the diner on Lexington

Sonia and me

Anushia and Sonia - Dont you just luuurve THAT TOP Sonia is wearing??!!!

Ok so there is actually a big adventure story about that day which involves speed shopping, Singapore kiasu-ism at its best, running in the rain and missed aeroplanes but I shall not go into details. Suffice it to say that a West Indies policeman and Indians in the City (the sub-continental kind not the woo-woo-woo kind) SAVED THE DAY!!! YAY!!!

We had a VVVIP staying at our hotel for 3 days while we were there. As a result, the place was crawling with cops, secret service and the most handsome Israeli bodyguards/Mossad/policemen/whatever. So much action I tell you and we managed to capture one exciting moment when Ariel Sharon was leaving the hotel and we had to wait on the street until the whole convoy had left

Coming up next are a couple of rather bo liao photos taken from the open top bus tour we took around the city. Let me explain the significance of this outing. We are the girls who have been to Mykonos numerous times and never seen Delos island. Judith has been to Paris and never seen the Eiffel Tower. Been to Rome and never visited the Colloseuem. Been to Vatican and never went into Sistine Chapel. I can go on but I won't because it is a much too embarrassing testament to our alcoholic partying holidays. Therefore, the fact that we actually managed to buy tickets and do an open to bus tour in NYC is really an achievement for us. Anushia can take credit for getting our asses into gear. And Jude for being currently "alcoholically-challenged".

Empire State Building - the weather was sooo bad

Wall of Tiles (made by kids) - 9/11 Memorial

Look familiar or not? You all never watch TV is eeet?

End of amazing bus tour

Times Square

I wanted to upload the pic of the MTV TRL place but forgot and now I have no more space. Too bad. Must wait to see. Oh and that was also the day we saw a live taping on TRL and missed seeing the Black Eyed Peas perform. UURGH!!!!

On the Tuesday, Christine invited us to attend an Armani cocktail party at Barney's. Oh the stress of getting ready!!!

Pretty Jude

What to wear? What to wear?

OH GOD!! WHAT TOO WEEEEAAAARRR???!!!!!

And the final result...

Anushia, me, Jude, Adam and Christine

After the cocktail we went to Suba for tapas and DA Bluesteele joined us.

DA Bluesteele doing his Iceman interpretation - you know, Iceman from Top Gun lah

Bluesteele and the gals at Maritime Hotel - spot the wristlet anyone?

Adam, me and Adam's friend at the Maritime Hotel openair bar

After we went to a club called PM. Nicest doormen I ever encountered in NYC. Told me much about foie gras and Reisling. And his name is Aramis. Wow. I want a name like that too.

Jermaine Dupri was there that night. Aside from the fact that he looks like any other mama boy hanging out in Serangoon Road, he is so short Jude and I couldn't see him. Hahahahaaaaa.

The gals and me at PM

There is Bluesteele steeling the thunder from Glo and I

Glo with Russel Crowe's stunt double

The next morning I woke up with the NASTIEST hangover. The kind that left me shivering and trembling and unable to even sit properly on the toilet to pee. Too old already for this kind of piggy drinking.

Must remember next time not to mix drinks. : )

I actually have a picture of me in this state - 2 even, and I REALLY REALLY wanted to post one up here but ooops, whaddya know...NO MORE SPACE!!!

That night at a fantastic Vietnamese fusion food place called Bao 111. I love Pho!!!

Jude and Glo

Anush and me - 2 ponytails and flat shoes on a night out - THAT'S how hungover I was..

Just to prove that I am truly Singaporean here is the obligatory picture of the food we were eating

Yummy yum yum...

After dinner we went to a pub next door to have some drinks (Coke please!!). We met this bunch of people who were celebrating a birthday. And they were desperately trying to finish this mug of beer

The bday boy was the boy with the hat and his girlfriend was a sweetheart (he is 25 and she is 39 - "gasp"). She actually took the trouble to write down on a piece of paper places for us to go and visit. The funny thing is that Christine had taken us to most already. hahahahaaaa.

Next day we went to my favourite brunch place in NYC - Bubby's. We saw Ed Burns there. You never watch movies EITHER IS EEEET??????

Anush in that classic "pose with phone" photo at Bubby's

Ok guys. I think that's it for today. Very tired already. More pics and witty comments tomorrow. Stay tuned for the next episode of "The Diary of....Tweetymanggis"

STUCK

2005-06-01T16:27:00.000+02:00

BORED BORED BORED!!! I am so bored!! I know I know, I have just come back from the most fantastic vacation in the most fantastic city on this earth and now I am bored!!!!

The holiday was great. It was incredible to hang out with my sisters and girlfriends eventhough I cried tears of joy and happiness when I came home and saw my daughter after 10 loooooong days without her.

A girlie holiday in NYC is simply one of the biggest luxuries known to womankind. All girls should do it at least once in their lifetime (that and Mykonos of course). We lived it up, stayed in a five star hotel (eventhough my sis did say that five-star hotels in NYC are as common as toast hahahaaa), shopped like crazy, ate like pigs, drank even more and partied it up until we collapsed. We even saw 2 celebrities (although Paris H eluded me). It was simply GREAT. Pics to go up shortly. I love that word shortly by the way - so non-committal : )

Coming back to Geneva was really nice although 48 hours after being "home", I am so bored i could cry.

Why are we like that? Never happy, never contented, and certainly never satisfied. I guess I shouldnt use the world "we" in that sentence - in fact it's me. The problem is that I really need ACTION in my life and right now, I HAVE NONE!!! My phone rang more times during my 10 days in NYC than it has in the last 5 years in Geneva. Can u believe that? How can there be just such ZERO action in my life?

You know what I have to look forward to tonight? A manicure appointment. How exciting. Who is going to see my nails in any case? And because they are acrylic I can't even use them to scratch my ears or pick my nose. Had half a mind of cancelling the damn appointment but then what else do I do then this evening aside from watching Eastenders????!!!!!! Oh good grief!! NOw, if I were in NYC with my mates and siblings, wow, the possibilities are endless.

Ok lah, enuff bitching for one afternoon. All this complaining is giving me a headache and I want to smoke another ciggie but I just had one so I won't. In any case I gotta leave in 45 minutes so I will have one then. You see how bored I am? Can even schedule my cigarette breaks. Wah liau!! I am a loser extraodinaire!!!

Leaving on a jet plane

2005-05-19T18:13:00.000+02:00

Gosh that song has gotta be the saddest in the world. Brings back such bad memories of me sobbing at the Top of the M restaturant 5 long years ago with my then boyfriend. We were having our romantic goodbye dinner when this idiot serenader comes to the table and thought it would be so cool to sing this song since I was leaving the country. OF COURSE i started bawling, spoilt my makeup, ruined my appetite and scared the musician shitless that he actually stopped playing midway through and scuttled off in shame and horror.

Anyway, this time, leaving on jet plane is a happier moment. Aside from the fact that I will be leaving poochoo (my nickname for Chiara) for 10 days, I am simply ECSTATIC that tomorrow afternoon I will be on a jet plane headed to NYC for a full week of debauchery and obscene money spending. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!! no tears this time!! and how efficient have I been!!!

My work is almost done, my desk is cleared, MY LUGGAGE IS ALMOST PACKED eventhough I think i will have to take some things out in order to make space for shopping. Sometimes it's just too tough being a girl...but that's another blog for another day.

ok...will update this blog once i am back from hols...

Ciao tutti!!!!

My first time

2005-05-17T14:50:00.000+02:00

No not my first time that way...get your head out of the gutter...it's my first time blogging. I will write about my other, more significant first when I am feeling nostalgic ok? Am pretty nervous I must say but then again, I am old already, so venturing out into new territory and trying new hobbies always gets me nervous.

anita7
Originally uploaded by tweetymanggis.

that's me!!

Anyway, it's lunchtime here in ole yodel-land and in 3 days, i will be on a plane Stateside..NYC to be exact and I cannot wait...my first girlie holiday in 2 years and i am just so excited. Will miss my baby Chiara immensely but i am not going to discuss that. I have realized that in life it is very good to compartmentalize..if not, sure go crazy wan....but that's another blog for another day.Back to dreaming about New York.

P1010046
Originally uploaded by tweetymanggis.

Chiara and me!!

Being Singaporean i cannot wait to hit the shops - but also being a deprived working-mum, i also CANNOT WAIT to party party party!!! just with the gals...no boyfriends and hubbies around to bother about...oh and not to forget, feasting on good old junk food which i am deprived of living here in Europe. No 7-11 even to get a Slurpee when needed. Not even McDonalds' breakfasts!! can u imagine? In singapore, i used to look forward to nursing my hangovers with a delicious oily, calorie-laden sauasge mcmuffin and hash browns. mmmmm...can't wait....and to hear english being spoken around me...wow...how wonderful would that be?

Its funny, one would think that coming from singapore I could go home and be comfortable speaking english but with all this mother tongue business, english seems to be a foreign language these days back home. A faaar cry from what I used to hear when I was growing up. By the way, I left Singapore 5 years ago, just as it was all beginning to go downhill...linguistically i mean.By the way, what the hell happened? If anyone out there can tell me why I only hear Chinese, Malay and Tamil being spoken around me, I would really love to know.

I guess when I was growing up, if you didnt speak English that meant you came from a dirty government school...yes, yes, I am a convent school girl...and a true snobby one to boot. But these days it seems that good convent girls also speak "mother tongue" and blend in perfectly with those government school types. EEEEEE!!!

OK ok..enuff bitching abt govt school, singapore, switerland and all the rest of it...would love to talk more but really should get going. Afterall, lunchtime is long over and need to get back to planning my wardrobe for NYC...and getting some work done in between. Here's a pic of team NYC on a trip in Mykonos 2 years ago...

hagreece
Originally uploaded by tweetymanggis.

Team NYC!! ignore the foreign species in the middle

So, until next time...ciao tutti!!