i mean, i know knits sometimes snag then unravel, but this does not look like how knits normally fall apart. (note: no loose threads. at all.)

this looks like someone - or something - took a chomp out of it.

gee, i really wonder what happened here.

this morning, i jumped into a time machine.

first stop: the awkward teenage years. i've not felt self-conscious and shy in a long time but thanks to my newly-fitted braces, i've the displeasure of reliving those painful times. even a kiss with The Huaband takes more thought than i'm used to, complete with worries of "is there breakfast in my teeth?" and "is it weird for him?"

after a long nap, the pain has really kicked in, and i'm taken back to toddler years.

my food needs to be cut up into tiny bits so they can be swallowed with minimal chewing, it take lots of coaxing to make me eat, i'm distracted between bites and finally, i quickly lose interest before i'm halfway through my meal.

i find absolutely no pleasure in eating anymore. not only are my gums and jaw very sore, my biting alignment is off. only the last two molars on each side of my upper and lower jaw are in contact so that means every pea-sized morsel needs to be pushed far back and chewed carefully.

i promise that if i say any more about my braces, i will do it with [my usual (i hope)] humor but for now, i'm really quite miserable. i'm even sorta regretting my decision...

(this blog IS called alittlewhine, you know. hence, i am about to whine, as i have for all of today)

thanks to my decision to get braces, i'm now grouchy. very grouchy.

the spacers put in between some of my teeth are causing a lot of pain in the whole mouth. it kinds feels like i've clenched my jaws very hard for the entire night, except that it's worse. i can't eat properly. not even a mushy banana because of the pain. i suck biscuits. nummy.

i've also just had three more teeth taken out, bringing the total number of tender spots in my gums to four.

and being the glutton that i am, knowing that most foods will be inedible to me for the next two weeks really brings me down. like, i can't even think of anything right now that i can - and WANT - to eat for dinner. and i'm hungry.

(plus, the husband is too busy to entertain and molly-coddle me now. boo.)

so, i've decided to start a list of foods i CAN eat and enjoy for the next two weeks. help me if you can!

1. century egg or fish porridge
2. cold tofu with japanese sesame sauce
3. mashed avocado with honey
4. any kind of fruit juice or smoothie
5. soy bean curd
6. canned alphabet soup (cos the alphabets are so mushy)
7. ICE CREAM
8. soft-boiled eggs
9. steamed fish
10. mashed potatoes

(the FIL just offered to buy me fish porridge, bless.)

of this list, only items 4 and 8 are readily available in the office area. *WAILS*

i wonder what i can pack from home? i can't possibly live on soft boiled eggs and fruit juice/smoothies for two weeks... well i could, but it'd be torturous... =(

i was at the train station today, to ditch The Husband's old EZ-Link card for the new CEPAS EZ-Link one. this was the third time i was doing it so i was completely aware that no exchanges were allowed anymore, you could only get refunds on your old card, and you had to purchase a new one for 15 dollars, out of which 10 dollars was stored value.

Me, putting The Husband's old card down on the counter: I would like to get the new card.

Lady: No more exchange.

Me: I know.

Lady: You can only get refund.

Me: I know.

Lady: The new card costs 15 dollars, 5 for deposit and 10 for value.

Me: I know.

The lady then processes my refund, and gives me back some money.

Me: Can I get the new card?

Lady: It costs 15 dollars.

Me: I know.

The lady then hands me back both the new card and the old EZ link card.

Pointing to the old EZ-link card, she says: This one cannot use anymore.

Me: I know.

I imagine she has to deal with a lot of people who simply don't get it, that rote replies are her first, second and third lines of defense...

Maybe it's because i started the day out on a grumpy note.

Maybe it's because i've had to have lunch on the run.

But i'm so annoyed by this point that i now need to waste 10 minutes ranting about it here: Why do people of a senior level stop using salutations at the beginning of  their emails?

Surely when they started out as a corporate minion, they took care to begin each email with a "Hello So-and-so" or "Hi BlahBlah," or even *gasp* "Dear So-and-so". So how is it that when they reached a certain level, they decided to just begin with the person's name?

It sounds so rude and abrupt, like they're ordering the email recipient around (which is never nice nor permissible even if you're the CEO).

For example:

Irene,

Attached is the agenda for today's meeting. Please review.

D

As opposed to:

Hey Irene,

Attached is the agenda for today's meeting. Please review.

Thanks,
Daniel

Doesn't the second version sound so much NICER?

There is ONE other difference, and that is in how the emails are signed off. I've also notice that higher-ups often don't sign-off their emails properly. Frequently, an initial like "D" or "TN" takes the place of "Cheers, Daniel" or "Thanks, Tim Nah".

Why?

Maybe it's one of those Sun-Tzu-Art-of-War thingies that corporate ladder climbers employ. Maybe it's called the "Make people feel small from the get go" strategy: I'm so busy with so many more important things to do that I really can't spare the seconds to type a salutation or even my full name. Afterall, surely you know who I am?

Obviously, I'm blowing this way out of proportion. It won't seriously change my life if higher-ups retained the uh 'old skool' way of writing emails.

But it WOULD be so much nicer.

so here's the context:

a friend of mine was online at 4am (wtf? get some sleep.) and a FB friend started a chat with him on FB itself.

hey

yup hi

wassup?

not too good here

you?

oh no

what's happening with you

Stranded in London with the family

I just got home from mambo!

why are you stranded?

got mugged at gun point last night

ouch

did you lose a lot?

all cash,credit cards and phone were stolen

did you get travel insurance?

yeah it is only when things like that happen that you are grateful for Singapore

it was a brutal experience but thank God i still have my life and passport with me

yeah well if you give everything up and cooperate they usually won't hurt you

and we are all safe!

I got robbed too when I was in Rome

on the train from Rome to Venice

Europe sux

like I said, it is experiences like that which make you grateful for Singapore

our return flight leaves in few hours but having troubles sorting out the hotel bills

didn't your credit card companies send you a replacement/talk to the hotel for you?

call the concierge!

The hotel management accept cash payment only!

weird, what kinda hotel is this

do you have friends in london?

wondering if you could loan me some few $$ to sort out the hotel bills and also take a cab to the airport

will def refund it tomorrow

Nope :( since we booked in a hotel

hmmmmmmm

and how will I loan you some money?

will need up to 850

uh huh and

so you're going to give me a bank account number to send it to?

you can have it wire to me via western union. So i can get it with my passport at their outlet

I see

wiring it to my name and address

which is?

Wynnie Chang, 2782, Kingston Rd,Docklands,E3 2DA,London,United Kingdom.

ok

so how do you know me?

who's the friend who introduced us?

alycia

riiiiiiiiight

and which country did you do your degree in?

am not in good mood for this, we are freaking out here :(

if i wasn't the one i wont ask you to wire to my name as we both know i will need some kinda of identification before i get the cash at the bank

 

lol

shall I just send the money to nigeria?

you need to find someone stupider and less cynical

and I suggest you get off this account right now

because if I get the real person to make a report, they might do a trace on the IP logging into the account and get you

 

4:38am------- is offline.

Lucky for him, he was sharp enough to realise something was amiss and started asking personal questions. ("Alycia" didn't introduce them)

He googled this and apparently found someone else who was subject to this FB scam before, and got the IP traced to Nigeria. Hum.

And his friend whose account got hijacked said she never had such a conversation with him, and has gotten her account temporarily suspended.

Seems true enough. Be careful, guys!

...okay fine, i wouldn't have been this eloquent.

This writer, Tim Kreider, wrote an article for the New York Times called "The Referendum" and the following is an excerpt from said article:

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

Most of my married friends now have children, the rewards of which appear to be exclusively intangible and, like the mysteries of some gnostic sect, incommunicable to outsiders. In fact it seems from the outside as if these people have joined a dubious cult: they claim to be much happier and more fulfilled than ever before, even though they live in conditions of appalling filth and degradation, deprived of the most basic freedoms and dignity, and owe unquestioning obedience to a capricious and demented master.

I have never even idly thought for a single passing second that it might make my life nicer to have a small, rude, incontinent person follow me around screaming and making me buy them stuff for the rest of my life. [Note to friends with children: I am referring to other people’s children, not to yours.] But there are also moments when some part of me wonders whether I am not only missing the biological boat but something I cannot even begin to imagine — an entire dimension of human experience undetectable to my senses, like a flatlander scoffing at the theoretical concept of sky.

But I can only imagine the paralytic terror that must seize my friends with families as they lie awake calculating mortgage payments and college funds and realize that they are locked into their present lives for farther into the future than the mind’s eye can see. Judging from the unanimity with which parents preface any gripe about children with the disclaimer, “Although I would never wish I hadn’t had them and I can’t imagine life without them,” I can’t help but wonder whether they don’t have to repress precisely these thoughts on a daily basis.

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

My thoughts exactly, Tim.

just for you four that asked me not to shut this blog down, here are a coupla pics of last night's craziness. totally PG, don't worry.



Guardian chic.



Not to be outdone, The Husband decides to show off his really-old-nina-ricci-towel chic.

Not impressed? Neither was Sunday.



Who decided his balls were much more interesting



This is probably the stupidest, most meaningless entry I have ever posted. Ha ha.

i don't know how to say this right; i don't know other words for this, but i'm kinda really over this blog.

i'm thinking of shutting this down for good.

i'm sick again.

since april, i've had a sore throat, followed by a cough, followed my gastric flu (no puking, thank heavens), followed by high fever, now followed by a good ol' cold.

that's three and a half months of not feeling in tip top condition.

can you believe it?? i've never been sick this often ever in my life. never. never.

the hypochondriac in me whispers: remember ----? she was falling sick really often, went to check it out and realised she had lymphatic cancer.

i wanna go home. i need to sleep.

Actually, this is one of those songs I think I will always love, especially in the nights or when it's a rainy day...

I was kinda inspired by Randall's baked chicken and potatoes on Saturday night, so on Sunday when i had to bring a dish to another friend's place, i decided to do a bake of my own.

I didn't take any pictures because a) i was running late b) we were too busy eating, but here's the recipe anyway. it's a bit grandma-style in that the measurements aren't exact, but i say follow your instincts and take little licks along the way to be sure the flavors are to your liking.

Ingredients:
- Assortment of veggies (read point 1 below)
- one whole large onion
- one whole bulb of garlic
- 1/4 to 1/3 a stick of butter
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup of olive oil
- 2/3 can of Chicken stock
- Dried or fresh rosemary
- Dried or fresh oregano
- Dried or fresh basil
- Sea salt flakes
- Coarse-ground black pepper
- Mozzarella cheese, grated
- Parmesan cheese, powder

1. Pick an assortment of vegetables that you like. I'd recommend a few from the following list: Carrots, potatoes, cauliflowers, asparagus, mushrooms, celery, eggplant, tomatoes, peas, leeks. When you make your combination, try to have a balance in textures (e.g. starchy with crunchy) and flavors (mild carrots, tart tomatoes, sweet leeks). Quantity depends on the size of your baking dish.

2. Peel and crush the cloves of garlic. Don't chop them up. Peel and halve the onion, then cut into slices. They can be coarse slices; up to you.

3. Melt the butter into the olive oil in a pan, over low heat. Add the garlic and onion. Saute on low heat until the entire mixture is soft and translucent.

4. If you have 'hard' or starchy vegetables in your mix, such as potatoes and/or broccoli, boil them first until they have just turned soft. Not until they fall apart ah!

5. In your baking dish, mix up the vegetables with the butter/olive oil/onion/garlic mixture, adding the sea salt, herbs and pepper to taste. Make sure all the veggies are well coated. Add in the 2/3 can of chicken broth. You don't have to add ALL of the 2/3s, and actually you can add more. it depends on how 'soupy' you would like the dish to be. I added enough broth till it was roughly 1/2 the height of the veggies in the dish. You may choose to add one more tablespoon of olive oil at this point, if the mixture seems a bit dry, though i don't think it's necessary. (Joe did la. then come out a bit oily but okay la.)

6. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

7. Put about half of your mozzarella onto the surface of the veggies, saving some of the mozzarella for a second layer later.

8. Pop your dish into the oven, uncovered, for 20 mins at 180 degrees Celsius.

9. Take it out, add another layer of mozzarella (cos the first one would have kinda sunk into the holes between the veggies. yum) and sprinkle the Parmesan over last. The Parmesan is just to add aroma and crunch, cos it scorches.

10. Pop the dish back into the oven for 10 to 15 minutes at 200 degrees.

11. EAT!!!!

so my plans to hit the trails again have been dashed.

the skies are dark and heavy, just barely holding back a storm. sure it's not raining yet but nothing pisses the Husband off more than kitting up only to have the skies open at the last minute. (okay i lie, there are many things that piss the Husband off more. hur.)

looks like it'll be a gym day, then.

It's been so long since I've been out for a ride.

First, i was sick, then i was off to Japan, and then i had 16 personal training sessions to complete.

Now that it's all over, i finally have my weekends back! And this first free weekend, i'm definitely gonna take my yeti out again. I feel so sorry for the poor girl. she's been sitting in the balcony, all lonesome-like, watching her big brother go out, weekend after weekend.

I'm kinda nervous though. I have a feeling i'm gonna be all chickenshit and unfit, all over again. i hope i enjoy it anyways...

i now have my very own Furminator!!! Much thanks to @mezzalaneous and @Randalltan for handing this over, it really is a godsend.

check out how much we got from the first 5 minutes:



and this is after The Husband compressed the fur into a ball.



i'll bet Sunday's wondering if that really came from him.

it's really addictive you know, brushing him and getting these great wads of fur out. i had to force myself to stop after the first 10 minutes (didn't want to go at it for too long and traumatize the boy).

but the best part of course is not having to deal with fur in my mouth, in my eyes, in my water, tickling my nose, in my food, on my fingers...

*happy sigh*

The bad thing about living and experiences is:

The more you have of both, the more you realise that it doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing, you can't run away from people who make earning a living tougher and more painful than it needs to be.

The good thing about living and experiences is:

Through repeated exposure to the abovementioned people, you become less afraid and more willing to just stick it to them. Like the skin on my blister-prone heel, nothing hurts much anymore, and I can take on just about any shoe.

Believe it or not, I can literally feel my face get fatter when I put on weight. For me, that’s the first indicator that I’ve been slacking off. I can’t see a visible bloating, but I can feel the skin on my face get taut. REALLY!

And when I stepped on the InBody scale, I realized my worst suspicions were true. I had put on 800gms (stop sneering; it matters ok??) and my fat percentage had gone up a little. D’yu know what this means? It means that I’ve literally put on weight because of added fat – not water retention, not muscle bulk, just that wobbly yellow stuff that happens after a coupla cakes. Cake. Mmmmmm… caaaaaaaake… *snaps back to reality*

With that, my trainer put me on a fat burning session. Not a full 60 minutes of cardio, but 3 minutes of high-energy cardio bursts between each set of weights. I’ve done this on my own before, and it makes for a really intense work out.

Since that session, I’ve gone for two short runs on my own. I really hope things don’t get worse at my next session… I’ve only 3 more to go!

(This category must not be confused with that conferred on Kylie Kwong. Hers is Worst Chef Ever aka Greatest Hack in the World.) 

I can take Bobby Chinn, even though he can come across as smarmy. I tell myself that he oozes self-confidence.

I can also take Andrew Zimmern, even though he took some getting used to. He also has the unfortunate (or opportune?) task of eating the most unappealing foods, episode after episode, so I kinda have to cut him some slack. 

The one food presenter I cannot bear, the one that makes me want to flick channels and watch a Tudung-folding program on Suria instead is Merrilees Parker on Planet Food. 

Everyone has 'that dirty girl' from their childhood. The one who, every morning at 7am, looked exactly like she did the day before after school at 1pm. The one who ate with grubby looking fingers, the one who we would have called "kian peng" if we knew that phrase back in primary school.

The one who, if she touched your lunchbox, could convince you to push the best made sandwich away. And she'd make it known she'd like you to push it in her direction. 

Well, Discovery Channel has their very own in Merrilees Parker.

When she talks about food, the ingredients, the preparation, she doesn't make you taste and smell the ingredients. She sounds much like she's actually saying, "Yeah yeah okay whatever." She sounds like she actually just wants to eat the food. And when you see the way she does, you're convinced she's not hosting a travel and food show because of the travel or culture, or of the desire to bring the flavors, sights and sounds of foreign cities into your living room.

She has this way of eating that is entirely unappetizing, handling food without respect for the craft and effort that has been put into it. She insults it with a crude stabbing of a fork, then rushes the indignant morsel through the short distance between plate and mouth, as if even that distance was too long for her greed. And her bites are always too big. Cheeks bulging, fingers barely concealing the gluttony in her face, she makes the same sound and expression every. single. time. 

In short, she is the best embodiment of the expression, "stuffing your face".

It's worse when she eats something handheld. Grabbing it in her grubby fist, she (again) rushes it to her mouth, CHOMPS into it and pulls away like a savage biting off the head of a chicken. Egg-sized bite stuffed into her cheek, she rolls her eyes back into her head and makes a little moan. Then proceeds to talk with her mouth (too) full. Yummeh.

Would it hurt to eat a little more slowly, tasting and feeling the food, appreciating the work and pride that has gone into it, one medium-sized bite at a time? There's no need to take affected bird-like bites, but as the only host in her show, she's not exactly competing with anyone to get the food. No one's there to snatch it out of her hand and deprive her of its eye-rolling pleasure. 

There is one upside to her hosting style though. If ever you needed a diet aid, she's it.