Been meeting a fren for lunch quite often recently.

Maybe he is tired, bored, or has nothing much to say in the first place. but the feeling that our friendship has become so called estrangled seems to run underneath the jokes and idle chatter. Perhaps I cannot expect us to immediately recover the level of friendship as we had in the past. Both of us has changed and we have lost the "fit" we had. The person appears guarded to me but I don't know why would that happen. Then i realise that i'm guarded with pple i call "friends"

So how do we know if this strange kind of friendship should persist or it'll be better to leave it to slowly fade again?

I don't know how to differentiate between a friend and a "friend". Its strange because i can make that clear distinction in my behaviour to other people but i can't really tell when its done back to me.

I may not meet some of my closest friends for the longest of time but I know and the other person knows we'll always be as close. some people i meet regularly are funnily enough, not my friend but rather "friend" but inversely, a "friend" may see me as her friend. or a "friend" see me as a "friend" but does not explicitly state it and so we continue on behaving like friends.

is this confusing? yes it is. for the record, i'm muddled.

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at this point when i am writing this entry, i am both excited and regretful.

excited because fad and i are going to the biennale (i finally got the spelling) at city hall - the old supreme court later on after work

and I am regreting the fact that the lazy bum i am din go see the exhibits when i was on leave. I am this close to kicking myself.

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part 1


Let the Enchantment begin
Be intrigued by the largest and most provocative showcase of contemporary art by renowned visual artists from around the globe.

Singapore Biennale 2008 (SB2008) is the follow up to the hugely successful inaugural event in 2006 and now challenges you to wonder anew at the world you live in. Feel surprised, be awed, challenge your perspectives and ponder the profound. With both indoor and outdoor exhibitions at Singapore's iconic landmarks, it’s time to reserve your opinions and immerse yourself in a new state of wonder.

SB2008. Intrigue your senses.

The theme is Wonder. So the showcase might not have any other meaning except to provoke thought and leads pple to wonder abt their surroundings, their abt their existance or merely provoking a sense of wonder.

I went to the South Beach development site yesterday evening after work. Despite the name, the site is no where along a beach but is somewhere in between raffles hotel and bugis. in fact its only a 10 min walk from raffles city.

the works were.... intriguing. I do not profess to be an art critique or even an artsy person who knows the difference between neo and post modernism. Frankly, I don't understand some of the exhibits.


what i liked
"The Breathing Room"
The artist made a small squarish room breathe. U can feel the dulations of breath and see the walls expanding and contracting with each breath. its fascinating.

"Swing"
A swing made entirely out of florescent tubes... swinging swinging swinging. a symbolism for the fragility of childhood. hypnotic

"Story of a Face"
Was tucked in an enclave. caught me unawares. the booklet said some v chim things abt it. But i couldn't see the layered ballerina.

"Address"
This one receive some media coverage before.
its bright and colourful. i like it. lolx. not very astute observations.

"Everytime we say Goodbye"
The jutapox of charcoal and film and the reality of me wondering through them is .. . pretty amazing for lack of better words.

"Private Moon"
A light hearted piece. shhhh.... i intend to use the image for my msn

"Impossibility of the Superstring Theory"
The last one i saw before the exhibit closed for the night.
This one i understand.. where succeeding and failing will both be an exercise in futilitity


.........Its lunch time and i'm off to esplanade for more art.
updates later

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part 2

back from the Central Promotory Site
(one wonders where does the govt pull such a difficult name from, and btw, the damn map the biennale organisers provide is super crappy lah)

there aren't many exhibits there, i suppose its coz of the location? bite sized art for lunch? its just behind the new NTUC glass building which makes it a less than 10 min walk from the my office.

The specially contructed building is by itself, an art piece, built entirely from NOL shipping containers.. aka the kind that looks like huge pieces of legos at ship yards

the 2 most captivating art works ...."Flight" and "Location (6)"

"Flight" has nothing to do with birds, wings, feathers, planes or any aviating object. Its about slippers. lol

Don't start imagining flying slippers smacking pple on their faces!

this is purely my own thinking, not in the book, i hope i am BSI-ing : the location of the installation lends itself as a backdrop. its near the new IR area, with construction going on. the piece is according to the guidebook pays homage to and laments tradition. hence whether intentional or not, its rather ironic when the cranes in the backgrd blends into the installation.

"Location (6)" is simply beautiful. The starkness of the snowscape particularly emphasized in singapore's equatorial weather. I'll prob be going again just to sit there and be drawn into another world.

i can't do the biennale justice with words. i promise to upload and post the photos.. erm soon. lolx.
wat u can do if u really wanna see the exhibits, either go down to the biennale but it ends this sunday. or go google images. u might find sth.

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as u can see, i've striked off some items from my previous post.

that means I've DONE IT!

feeling my life is fulfilling at the moment doing the things i wanna do.

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MELT-The World Buffet
Lives up to its reputation as one of the best buffets ard.
totally shiok! lets see...
the salad bar was interesting .. was particularly happy with the hawaiian dressing which is sth like thousand isalnd but slightly tangy and the array of nuts. i love pine nuts and if not for the fact that they are pretty ex i'll be eating them everyday

din dare to try the cheeses since i don't recognise anything

i started with the cold dishes first
baby lobster-which was alright
steamed prawns- fresh and crunchy
and those super big crabs all thoughtfully, partially de-shelled for easy consumption

my colesterol level was rocketing to Pluto(when i was young pluto was a planet!) coz i had No Signboard just the day before. -thats another story.. hmmm.... yumz!

and den made my rounds with the cooked food.
there was thai, indian, chinese, and pasta

i tried and found the mains decent but not spectacular with the exception for the Chinese which was prepared by their famous sister restaurant Cherry Garden, the sweet sour ribs was pretty tasty. I din try the pasta tho.

the main event was the desserts. Hot crispy waffles with choc drizzle was to die for! almost couldn't stop myself from getting 2 servings despite my already super full stomach.

a 4 out 5 stars reccommendation

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No Signboard Seafood
was absolutly, fabulously, lip smacking delicious!

Went to the Mattar Road main branch, that is, Geylang(fyi, red light district) and was treated(? lol) to the sight of neat and tidy rows of hookers standing a few paces apart from each other.

u know how western media portrays prevs as socially inept, lonely, fat, sweaty, clumsy individuals who drool in the mouth? ok. not exactly. its asian counterpart is skinny, cheekily and openly leering, gathering in packs.

anyways
once in the safety of the roadside zi char stall that spawned the over the top kitsch pesudo-opulent restaurants. (think chandeliers and loads of heavy gold orate frames on the walls) We were greeted by, by my approximatation, 50 odd staff. LOL. from kitchen help to waiters and professional plate collectors, there's freaking alot of staff hanging ard possibly at most 20 al fresco tables.

no signboard is really very very expansive despite the "roadside flavour".
but the food is heavenly!
i'm not much of a crab eater so i was prepared to skip their famous crabs. I was lazy to deshell them, too much effort for too little reward. But i completely changed my tune when the crabs were served. The chilli crabs were fantastic, so much so i couldn't help it but to dirty my hands trying to deshell the crabs. as my some of my friends know, i reeeeaaally dun like to deshell things.

the sauce was very very good, my mum wanted to tabao the sauce. Dipping the sauce in deep fried man tous. we literally couldn't stop.

another dish worthy of mention is the honeyed ribs. Its the most fragrant I had and incredibly, done exactly right so that the outside is slightly charred and the inside remains soft. I think i cleared half the serving by myself. yum yum.

by then again, i was hungry... was exam night and i only had some cookies before the exam started at 7 and ended 10pm. maybe i've been swayed by my growling tummy. whahaha

a 6 out 5 stars reccommendation

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Shokudo-Raffles City

Went with Layeng to try the relatively new place.

By now, Singaporeans should know that its a Jap restaurant done Marche style.

Food was decent and some even delish. will not reccommend the bbq skewers tho. comepletely over done. not sure if its their practice to keep the food on the grill till we come back to collect.

tried the unagi bamboo rice-pretty decent, i won't mind having it again.
jap paper thin pizza- alrite lah
omu rice- layeng said was pretty good

mochi, azuki and corn - i like! but i'm biased, since azuki and corn are 2 of my fave toppings
cheese cake-very milky, typical jap version.

a 3 out 5 stars reccommendation (add 0.5 star for a good place for gatherings)

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yes. I am getting fat. Lol

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my blog is drab and filled with unhappy things and no photos (fault of my office firewall, someone got smart that i was posting photos and blogging and decided to block photobucket)

i will promise myself to update happy things
1st.. end of exams
well technically it hasn't ended so i'll be really happy come 1nov

2nd... D's bday is coming.. i'm in a vague panicky mood since i have no time to do sth nice for him and will have to buy.. which i'm not sure if i have time to

3rd..i am probably gonna go try seafood paradise and cream crabs!

4th.. i am also gonna stuff myself at melt the world cafe, sometime soon with who i dunno yet

5th.. xmas is coming! presents!

6th.. my bday is coming! presents!

7th.. CNY.. Ang bao!

8th.. vday! present!

i like this time of the year/s. lolx

in between all these i wanna go for at least 1 biennale (wahlau.. dunno how to spell) exhbitibition and be all artsy fartsy and watch foreign films in languages i don't understand. volunteers? by bf is a nerd lah.. not appreciative of such things. whahaha

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finally finished my Biz strategy exam

this huge weight on my shoulders is has finally flew away
not to paint myself into a tragic heroine in my own little movie, but this exam really had me very nervous.

firstly, the lecturer made it very clear hat we have to study the ENTIRE textbook. and when it comes down to it, I realized that there is no way not to do that. additionally, he also said that we have to do our own reading. he as practically saying that we part time students will be treated as full time students. There will not be an clemency.

secondly, the freaking textbook is damn difficult to study. U know how some textbooks are clear, concise and written in a logical sequence? This is business strategy we are talking about here. which obviously means Bull Shit. It was impossible to read the textbook with its languid language and frameworks in my fatigued state

coming to that, i was working on my project all the way till monday the week before the exam. There was so much to do, i had to sacrifice all my time. It was literally having a train bearing down on me and i am running in front of it. Tuesday i had to OT till 8+ and this situation lasted all the way till Friday night.

Where got time to study sia

ended up i was struggling to study all the way till 4am on Friday. Some more my house was too noisy and i had to go to those void deck stone seats. i was struggling so badly that my eyes became all bloodshot. i couldn't focus at all, and ended up i spent the entire night trying to memorize 1 theory. only 1. and at 4am i wasn't even sure i got it.

that is how stressed i was.

I couldn't take leave and i had so much work to do, on top of that i was covering a colleague. With so much pressing down on me, my office political power shift has tried to make me a scapegoat in a loss mistake. not talking about all these, but merely taking all those that life throws at me without complaint seemed to diminish my problems. yes i am feeling bitter that my friend do not understand that i too have problems. there is a deep disappointment here. ironically, my friend is disappointed in me too because i got pissed with her over the course of the project.

o man. i didn't want to script a sob story but my life is kinda sad now isn't it?
I'm glad i have friends who understand and empathizes with me even if one doesn't. sometimes i wonder if i should whine more like a girl, not grit my teeth and say "I can take it" that way i can bask in everyone's care and concern.

I just can't do it tho. I am not a whiner, at least i can say that and not expect sympathy just because i say how pathetic i am. respect brother, respect.

so now i take a deep breath. and i look forward.

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never promise to save a drowning man when u have no time

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epiphany dawning on the drowning me

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if u do not undersatnd than u are not zen enough
attain zenism by doing a 30page project within 1 mth on top of work, OT, office political pressures, and an additional 6 page report with pple whu do not make empty promises.

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