March 31, 2005
Movie Prices Going Up!
Driving into work today, 
I heard on the radio that movie prices will be going up from May 1 2005. Only 2 operators will maintain current prices (for now...) and they are Overseas Movie and Cathay, bless their non-money-grubbing souls.
For the other cinema operators movie prices are going up from $0.50-$1.00 depending on the time and day of the week. In a nutshell,
Monday - Wednesday: $7.00 (from $6.50)
Thursday: $8.00 (from $7.50)
Friday - Sunday, eve of public holiday and public holiday: $9.50 (from $8.50)
Being the cheapskate that I am (and here's a tip: Hold up your hands to the light with your fingers straight out and touching each other. If there's lots of gaps that means that you tend to spend money freely. Mine, of course, have no gaps whatsoever. Hahaha.) I refuse to pay anything more than the absolute minimum for a movie, unless it's a great movie or someone else is paying.
Which basically means that I will never ever be able to watch a movie in Singapore again because
a) Monday night is "Desperate Housewives" and Comedy night.
b) Tuesday night is training night.
c) Wednesday night is conference call night.
d) Thursday-Sunday nights are cheapskates-stay-at-home nights.
e) Who's going to pay for me to watch a movie???
Time to get in all the movies I can before the deadline. So, anyone up for Spanglish, Hitch, Robots, In Good Company, 3-Iron (no, not a golf show but a Korean flick) and The Woodsman (starring my fav Kevin Bacon)?
March 29, 2005
Back!
Hello folkies! 
I be back from my dive trip, mon...
Over the long weekend I went with Martha Wannabe (who is still maintaining radio silence on the blogging front) and her hubby to Aur for 3 days of diving, sea and sand. I hadn't dived since 2003 so I'd been itching to go for quite a while, and the trip exceeded my expectations.
The most exotic creature I saw was a cuttlefish. It was blending into the sandy bottom but some eagle-eyed diver spotted it. If not for some slight movement I would not have been able to pick it out from the sand. Then after a while it changed to a brilliant white colour and swam off. It probably got pissed off by the 16 divers that were crowding around it.
Other creatures we spotted on the trip: turtles, nudibranches, slugs, eels, urchins, batfish, titan triggerfish, barracuda (including one giant male that was probably 2 feet long), humphead wrasse, lionfish, lots and lots of starfish, little Nemos in their anemone homes and lots and lots of corals.
The fellow divers were a pretty friendly bunch, as were the dive masters and instructors. On the first night, I was reading in the canteen and the DMs and DIs were playing cards and then they started dunking each other in the sea. There were 3 other girls from the same trip who were chatting and reading as well, and when they picked up one of the girls, chair and all, and dropped her into the sea, the remaining 2 girls and I looked at each other and decided to go back to our rooms. Luckily I escaped but the other 2 girls weren't that lucky; though they managed to get back to their room the DMs/DIs had a spare key and threw both of them and their sleeping roommate into the sea.
I also got stalked by 2 batfish that were about 20cm in height. *shudder* They kept swimming across my line of sight and everytime I saw them I would swim to the opposite direction but after a while they would swim past again. Ewww...
And, I also did my first ever night dive, which wasn't as scary as I had expected. The only thing was, I barely saw anything on the night dive but when we surfaced as a group everyone was saying stuff like "Did you see the crab? Did you see the stingray? And the shrimp?" and I was like "I didn't see SHIT, man."
Anyway I had a great time. Now I just need a buddy to go on dive trips more often. Perhentian, Sipadan or Manado, anyone?
March 24, 2005
Something Fishy
I hate fish.
I hate their beady gelatinous eyes that stare in one direction and I hate their scaly bodies. I hate how some of them look like mutant freaks from other planets, and how they travel in schools. I hate how they move in a solid mass and churn up the water when you feed bread to them. I hate how when they die, they float upside down. Most of all, I hate thinking of how, if all of a sudden they decided to attack you, there'd be thousands of them to fend off.
My fear of fish stems from a childhood incident which I still recall with blinding clarity. There used to be a fishtank in my grandmother's house, right next to the restroom. Inside the fishtank there were goldfish. (Incidentally goldfish are one of my most hated fish. It's the bulging eyes.) One day, we went to visit my grandma and I saw that one of the goldfish was floating upside down. At that time I was probably 4, maybe 5 years old. When I asked my aunt what was the case with the fish, she said that it was dead.
Naturally that freaked me out. But what was worse was that she said she would flush it down the toilet bowl. I started bawling and bawling, and to reassure me she said she wouldn't flush the fish down. So, with my fears allayed, off I went to play with my cousins.
Some time later, I had to use the restroom. I went in, locked the door, did my thing and when I looked into the bowl there was a goldfish floating around in my pee. With one eye still staring up at me. And that, my friends, is why I hate fish.
(This story also explains why I also hate sitting on the toilet bowl for extended periods of time: for fear of what could come up through the plumbing. Imagine, a whole school of mutant sewage fish. Who knows what they could do... And once, I caught an X-Files episode where a serpent got into the plumbing thanks to a freak storm. It was an antsy few days for me after that, whenever I used the restroom.)
Having said all that, I'm off for a diving trip. The irony!
Anyhow, I'll be back on Sunday! I hope the fish leave me alone.
March 23, 2005
BQOTD
Teeheehee. 
I was surfing merrily merrily merrily along when I read this quote, which nearly made me spill my MacDonald's coffee, that came with a sausage McMuffin (yumyum) for the princely sum of S$2, onto my crazy laptop.
From here, on the new BMI index calculations which suddenly put half of Singapore into the fat-ass category:
... Not half as colourful as the way a reservist platoon mate puts it: Nabeh! Ang Moh always different standard! Pay also higher, BMI allowance also higher, Lan Cheow also bigger, fuck lah, like that how to compete?
Hehehehehe.
On another note, the lesson for today is that the MacDonald's in Ngee Ann City opens at 10am BUT it doesn't serve breakfast. So if you have a hankering for some artery-clogging-but-fairly-yummy-tasting breakfast, you'll have to trudge to Lucky Plaza. Or maybe Wisma Atria.
March 22, 2005
Things That Make Me Go *drool*
Man, I'm super sleepy and I'm not sure why, because I had more than the requisite 8 hours of shut-eye last night. Must be the lack of coffee in my diet recently...
Anyhow, after spending the weekend at the softball carnival and conducting extensive research, I have definitively decided on the body types that I find physically attractive. In a word, the most appealing body type to me is "lanky" - I just have a thing for tall and lean guys. And by "lean", I don't mean to the point of emaciation; well-built but not overly muscular is what attracts me. If they're too skinny then they look under-nourished.
For the face, I think "angular" attracts me the most. Sharp chin, well-defined bone structure, slitty eyes... Kinda like Kevin Bacon but more Asian. Sounds awful I know, but somehow I just like the look. The boyish type works well for me too, maybe because they look more cheerful.
In fact, I spotted one guy at the carnival who physically suits me to a T. He plays 2nd base/pitcher for a certain team and he's rather good. (I also have a thing for pitchers. Maybe because somehow most pitchers tend to be tall and lanky.)
It's a pity he's 18.
EIGHTEEN! I can't believe I'm ogling 18-year-olds. How come, when I was 18, my team members looked nothing like this guy???
March 18, 2005
Killing Time...
I'm sitting in the office, wearing my suit, after a nice relaxing day at the softball carnival and waiting for my 15 minutes to start. So to kill the time I thought I'd get in some b-time.
A couple of weeks ago my sister (aka Fishkiller) decided to buy some mollyfish for her home aquarium, and I then told her that "Mollyfish" was one of my many many nicknames. In Primary 4, for some reason or another someone started calling me Mollyfish and that name kinda stuck for a while. (I'm not sure why they picked Mollyfish -- though it may have something to do with my initials -- but anyway if you guys are reading kindly refresh my memory.)
After my sister went to the shops, she sent me a text message which read:
"Your friends must not like you very much. Mollyfish is ugly."
Boohoohoo.
And how come there haven't been any comments since March 7th? :(
March 17, 2005
It's Friday BABY!
And, I'm on leave! WOOHOO. What a great way to spend a Friday :)
Except, I have to go back into work at 5pm. For one single solitary stupid meeting. GRRR. And, I have to get all dressed up for it as well. Sian. Which means, I have to cart a suit around with me if I'm going out, and find some place to change and grab a quick shower before I head back into work.
(Plus, now that the cute guy has left, there's less incentive for me to go to work. Haha. Oh wait... it should be boohoo. Boohoohoo...)
In case you're wondering why I'm moaning about wearing a suit, it's cos it's super hot. That's the key reason why I try to schedule all my meetings on the same day, so I minimise the number of days I have to look presentable. So on meeting days, it's shirt and maybe a suit; on non-meeting days it's tank tops/spaghetti strap tops.
But the absolute worst thing for tomorrow's meeting is, and I will bet good money on this, that I only spend at most 15 minutes in the meeting AND I will probably have to hang around until sometime past 6pm just to have my 15 minutes of "fame".
Super sian. Ah well, at least I don't have to work over the weekend :D
March 14, 2005
Weekend Update!
Hello folkies :)
'Twas a busy weekend for me, thanks to the softball carnival that my club is organising. BTW if you drive and plan to go down anywhere near the Padang, I'd advise you not to. Just this weekend alone 4 cars were dented and many more were hit by foul balls. I don't know why the club doesn't put up more fencing but one day someone will complain or there will be a fairly serious accident and the carnival will be cancelled, which is a pity cos as far as I can tell the kids have a great time.
(I now sport a pretty nice tan, thanks for 2 days of sitting in the sun and swimming. Hehe. If you have a couple of hours to spare, come down to the Padang over the next 2 weekends and catch a game or two.)
Then, when I got home on Sunday night, I just crawled into bed and slept till this morning. 13 hours of sleep, to make up for the sleep deprivation over the past week. That probably explains why it's the first Monday in months that I haven't woken up grumpy. I really should sleep more...
March 11, 2005
Cats and Caviar
Today's 
BQOTD comes from my boss, who was talking about someone she had met at a company meeting:
"You know, the kinda-Singaporean guy, slightly gay..."
And people still ask me why I'm single...
In other news, I made 2 types of vol-au-vents yesterday: cream cheese with chives and caviar, and crabmeat with sourcream and caviar. The objective of the exercise was to use up excess ingredients and help clear up the fridge. Vol-au-vents are basically puff pastry shells and they're pretty versatile cos you can fill them up with basically anything. I had made puff pastry a while back for a chicken potpie party so this was a good way to use up the rest.
Unfortunately my mom's digital camera was dead so the only photos I have are in my trusty, distinctly non-digital Canon. Again, if/when I get a scanner, I'll put the photos up. One comment that I got was "Yummy... Can consider doing it full-time..." so I guess the experiment was fairly successful.
March 10, 2005
Triathlon Update: Day ???
Man I'm tired. 
It's been 3 weeks so far and every week I've had 2 swim sessions, 2 bike sessions, 2 run sessions AND 2 softball sessions. I've skipped a couple so I'd say I have a 90% attendance record.
Man I'm tired...
Today I have to run/walk for 47 minutes. On Tuesday I biked for 45 minutes and had softball training. Tomorrow I have to swim 1 km. Over the weekend I have to bike, run AND swim.
Man I'm tired... ...
March 08, 2005
More Scary Numbers and A Puzzle
Following yesterday's entry, here are more scary numbers.
By July 18 2006 it will have been 15% of my life.
By May 1 2008 it will have been 20% of my life.
Please kick my ass on July 18 2006, and if I still do not repent please kick my ass again on May 1 2008.
And now for the puzzle (this is called the Monty Hall puzzle):
You are a contestant on a game show, and the rules are simple. There are 3 doors and behind 2 of the doors there is a goat and behind the other door there is a car. You have to choose one door. Once you have made your choice the host opens one of the other doors to reveal (tada!) a goat. Now, he gives you the option of either sticking to your original choice, or switching to the remaining door.
What do you do, and why?
The answer will be up within the next few posts. If this is popular I'll add like a brainteaser section to the blog.
In other non-related news, coffee w/ Flyboy yesterday was good :) Which explains why even though I only had 6 hours of sleep, I'm still in a good mood today. Hehehehehe.
March 07, 2005
#202!
I've gone past my 200th entry without noticing it! 
The last time I had a blogging milestone (read entry #100) I tried my darndest to make it special, but the effort wasn't very well appreciated. This time around I've forgotten totally about it.
(And yes, I do realise that for some reason the tags on those entries read #211 and #109 respectively. I think it must be because I had some unpublished/deleted entries...)
My first entry was on December 8, 2003. The 100th entry was on July 7, 2004. The 200th entry was about my impending work trip (yawn) and was written on February 28, 2005. It took me 212 days to reach my first milestone and 236 days to reach my second. That means, my pace has slowed down from 0.47 posts a day to 0.42 posts a day. (And FYI, you can easily calculate the number of days in Excel so I barely spent 5 seconds calculating this.)
I wonder if this means I'm slowly losing my enthusiasm for blogging, given that
a) I've forgotten the milestone, and;
b) my pace is slowing down.
Or maybe it just means that I have less bullshit to write about these days...
And using the same handy Excel capability, here's a list of interesting facts.
1) I have been walking/talking/bugging people for 9952 days.
2) I studied in Singapore for 4351 days.
3) I spent 1371 days in Berkeley.
4) I have been working for 1547 days.
5) I have been playing softball for 6636 days.
6) I have been waiting for Flyboy for 1069 days. AND COUNTING...
This means that up till today, I have spent 15.5% of my life working, 57.5% of my life studying, 66.7% of my life playing softball and 10.7% of my life waiting for Flyboy.