Lord grant me rest this weekend.

Saturday, 1o.30am
Made breakfast of raisin toast smeared with Nutella, and a steaming cup of coffee.

11.ooam
Net surfing time!
http://metrobloggen.se/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/
http://www.cnn.com/
http://www.justjared.com/

1.15pm
Painted nails pink and red.

And from the hours between 2pm-midnight, I shall be watching a play about Peranakans and play poker with friends, eating nasi lemak and sipping vodka.

Where's Gunther III?

Where's Gunther II?

And other times, he sits on the steering wheel trying to converse with F.

Stop. Wait. Listen.

I enjoy looking at Stephanie Marrott's artwork.

And it's true, There Is More To Life Than Making It Go Faster.

I don't want Christmas and New Year's to come too soon....i'm enjoying the anticipation; planning dinners and all things nice for the special month of December...

Where's Gunther?

So. Sometimes, F and I hang out with G
ünther, our mascot. He's tiny but loads of fun. He always carries his heart in his lil paws waiting for a smooch, or a hug.

He cracks us up.

And sometimes, when F's just cruising, this lil guy likes to manja and gaze intently at him, provoking some kind of reaction.

He doesn't always get up to mischief but he likes to have fun. Like blocking F from reading the odometer.

If I had a puppy...

It would look like this!






























If I could ask for any view in the world outside my window, it would look like this!

I would like one guacomole burger, no bacon, a side order of tsukemono and pommes frittes, and a pint of mango lassi.

By taking food into the body, we take in the world.

- Bakhtin (1984:281)

(Pic courtesy of Carl's Jr. In my opinion and the general population's, The Best burger joint in Singapore.)

This poem should be "printed as cards to hang up in offices and bedrooms; illuminated text-wise and anthologised to weariness"

IF you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,'

Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,

if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

- Rudyard Kipling, If

(Courtesy of Something Of Myself)

The old New York airport was once called Idlewild...

Unconquered

This got me thru the final of university. All my favorite quotes are getting me through the rest of life.

The entire world should stop working on weekends. No traffic. No crowds. Just blue skies, breeze and hot coffee for the soul.

(Pic courtesy of Tanya Cheex)

Girl, finish your milk and cookies!

"Sadly, the cult of diet and exercise is the closest thing our secular society offers women in terms of a coherent philosophy of the self."

- Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Fasting Girls

(Pic courtesy of Moleskinerie)

New Beginnings

"It’s the answer that led those who’ve been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.

Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he’s fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they’ve achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation’s next first lady Michelle Obama.

Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the new White House.

And while she’s no longer with us, I know my grandmother’s watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you’ve given me. I am grateful to them.

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best — the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.

To my chief strategist David Axelrod who’s been a partner with me every step of the way.

To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you’ve sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.

It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory.

And I know you didn’t do this just to win an election. And I know you didn’t do it for me.

You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage or pay their doctors’ bills or save enough for their child’s college education.

There’s new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

I promise you, we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can’t solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it’s been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can’t happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let’s remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That’s the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we’ve already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight’s about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves — if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America."

- President Barrack Obama, 2008 -

*Full animation can be viewed at Just Jared

Wednesday I'm in Love...

With Melly's website...

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Her photos - the positioning, the way the light falls - have a soft, nostal-romantic tinge to them, bringing me back to my childhood. Like the first pic here for example. That's how I love my breakfast. Generations of Sporeans (I know) love their half-boiled eggs and toast. (Butactually, idunnoifMel'sarehard-boiledorhalf-boiled. A'neeways...)

I love it that her art is authentically local and exotic at. the. same. time. So, hurry back with yr new site Mel, I can't wait. (In the meantime, I cldn't resist borrowing your pic.)

Woman is the center around which circles and from which comes the giving of life, and life itself. This is how you should look upon this old mother of yours, and what should guide you in brining up your daughters.

- Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Earth of Mankind

(Pic courtesy of Cheryl Hoffman)

'Poseurism' - the act of behaving like someone most unlike your true self. Un-natural and leaving you confused in its wake. I meet posers everywhere, yours truly included. Light a cigarette, strike a casual, heavily-loaded pose and exhale conversational bullshit. We are all pushing and shoving to stand out in this sea of Singaporeans. Anything to make ourselves identify with the farangs from distant lands, oh benevolent benefactors of 'high culture'.

- thoughts on a bus to work

Sugar High Tuesday

Right about in the middle of the month, women need a wholleee lotttaaa chocolate, and a whollleee lotta buttering up.

So don't forget, when you walk past a sweet-smelling cafe and you spy a little fruit tart, step right in and take away an order for two.

My favourites are:
1. Starbuck's Giant Chocolate cookies
2. Subway's assortment of chewy cookies
3. Menotti's petite chocolate lava cake
4. Aunty Su's homemade miniature 'pop'em' chocolate cookies

(Pic courtesy of Mr. David Lebovitz)

i am a time traveller, not just his wife.

Kitties

See more Natalie Portman videos at Funny or Die

Campus Pocket Notebook Series :: Soul Food Journal

Our civilization is still in a middle stage, no longer wholly guided by instinct, not yet wholly guided by reason.

- Theodore Dreiser

Hellooooween

I'm still luxuriating in the memory of last night's Halloween revelry..
Long Island teas, black body suit and sheer stockings, kitten ears, dancing around my man....it was purrrr yummmy...