An ERP Story

Two weeks ago yesterday, I went to catch the film The Blind Beast, which is part of the line-up of this year's Japanese Film Festival. I was there with my colleague, who had alerted me to the festival, and her boyfriend.

The movie was good (and free), better than another festival offering that I'd paid money for to watch. (If you have to know, it was A Snake of June.) But that's not what this blog entry is about. It's what happened after the movie, on our way home, that was unforgettable.

When I think back about it I wonder if it were my fault. The film was screened at the National Museum, which we all know is walking distance from Dhoby Ghaut station. Yet, somehow, I assumed that my colleague would be giving me a lift, because my previous experiences with her were of futile attempts to make my own way back home/to my destination. I didn't even ask her, I just said "Oh, you can drop me at the nearest MRT station". I don't know really know why, actually. I could have very well just walked to the station myself.

Anyway, they being the nice people they are, decided to send me home. Her boyfriend took the wheel, and I took a rear passenger seat. We took the CTE, and it was around 9.20pm. Everyone knows that on CTE the ERP gantry between Jalan Bahagia and PIE is in operation till 10.30pm right? Wrong.

We were on Lane 2, approaching the gantry, and traffic was rather heavy so we were not travelling exceptionally fast. Say, 70 or 80km/h. I remember were discussing the movie in the car, from the director's purpose in making films, to what the film was trying to convey, when I noticed that the Merc ahead of us was exceptionally slow. So slow, it seemed almost stationary.

I leaned forward to get a better look – by then we were  maybe about 5 car lengths behind it – and realized it was indeed not moving. "Look out, the car's not moving," I immediately alerted my colleague's boyfriend, noting a slight sense of alarm in my voice. Instantly I felt the car slow as he hit the brakes, but still it was rolling steadily towards the Merc. He just had enough time to utter "Oh no we're not going to make it," before the inevitable took place.

Upon impact we were all flung forwards, then back, and thank goodness I'm a scaredy cat and I always put on a seatbelt even when I'm seated in the rear, because the impact was great enough to send my handphone flying to the front of the car, and for my glasses to pop off my face and onto my lap.

When I opened my eyes again and exhaled, there was a dull ache in my chest, as if someone had used a hammer and hit it against the point where the seatbelt made contact on my skin. The next five or six breaths were equally agonizing, but I remember replying "I'm ok" to my colleague's worried calls of "Is everyone ok?" I also remember a smarting pain on both sides of my hips, which I recognised to be the other contact points the seatbelt had with my body. My tongue felt a bit numb, and so I knew I must've bit onto it during the accident.

After locating my spectacles, and failing to locate my handphone, I undid the buckle of my seatbelt, got out of the car gingerly, and tremblingly joined my colleague and her boyfriend outside the car, where the driver of the other car was also standing.

She was a new driver, panicky because this was her husband's car, and she told us that the car in front of her had slammed on its brakes before the gantry, then drove off after presumably inserting the cashcard. She managed to stop her car in time, but thereafter was too shocked to resume driving, or to even recall what its license plate number was.

I had a look at my colleague's car, a wee vehicle of barely 600cc, and saw that its front headlamps were smashed. The bonnet was a little crushed too, and steam was coming out from under it. There even appeared to be a leak of some sort. My colleague called the police, who said they were sending over an ambulance.

Being on Lane 2, we were obviously creating a bit of a traffic jam, so we had to drive the cars onto the road shoulder. There was an ironic beep of the IU when we passed under the gantry. I remember feeling really vulnerable while waiting for the ambulance to arrive, because I was paranoid that we would cause another accident. My colleague, on the other hand, was exceedingly brave; she directed traffic while her boyfriend was steering the car to the road shoulder.

(Aside: While waiting, we also witnessed another near-accident, in the same lane, for the same reasons, this time with a taxi. Then, two days after the incident, my colleague drove by the same spot again, and saw that yet another accident had taken place under similar circumstances.)

Anyway, to cut the long story short, I got transported to A&E in an ambulance, waited for over an hour to be attended to by a doctor and had various procedures done on me – heart check, several x-rays, an ultrasound and a jab to relieve me of my chest and neck pains (from the whiplash effect). I was wheeled around on a hospital bed for over 4 hours that night. I don't know which ordeal was worse.

I'm much better now, of course – the only physical reminder of that night is the pain I sometimes get in my chest, but it goes away when I take my medication. My dad said I should really write in and complain, that they should erect road signs that signal the upcoming gantries (e.g. ERP Gantry 1km away!), and state the operating timings. But for now, this blog entry shall have to do.

Top 5 Signs You've Been Working Far More Than is Considered Acceptable

5. Every night in the office, you have to stand up and yell "I'm still here!" when someone turns off the lights.
4. You suddenly recall, one week after the payment due date, that you have yet to settle your credit card bill.
3. You think it is okay getting 4-5 hours of sleep per night, every night.
2. You have repetitive strain injury in your index finger from using the little cursor directional... nipple thing that's found on your laptop.
1. When you accidentally flip your clothes inside out, you start looking for the "undo" button.

Hotel Re! Stay

As promised! Pictures from our anniversary stay at Hotel Re!. (Tsk. How to end a sentence with two punctuation marks?! ...Well! Apparently you can.)

Our verdict of the boutique/budget hotel would hover around the 3/3.5 out of 5 mark.

For starters, the hotel was kinda ulu, I reckon you'd have to walk some distance before chancing upon any decent food. We also had to wait at least 15 minutes for our room (no we weren't late):

Service was pretty mediocre. When we asked for a late check-out, the reception staff turned us down without bothering to check. Her tone, though polite, was also firm and final. (On the up side, however, we did get a glass of ice from the hotel restaurant, no questions asked, to bring back to our room.)

Hotel lobby. This was taken during check-out. And check out the long queue of people waiting to check out! Damn slow staff. And they tried to charge us for the non-drink items on the mini-bar menu, when our room package came with mini-bar! And we double-checked before our stay!

By the way, I was quite amused with the guy in the middle of the frame, looking straight into the lens.

One of the highlights of the hotel was the decor. Behold, Marilyn Monroe greets you whenever you take the lift! (Looks deceive, however. It was always an appallingly hot and stuffy ride in the day.)

Next two pictures: Bathroom door and bathroom, groovily tiled.




Groovy chairs.

The rest of our groovy room. I assume the three silhouettes to represent Charlie's Angels. Very disappointed not to have gotten the Elvis room.

Us in front of our room.

A portion of the gift I gave The Boyfriend. :)

Outtake: It rained on our way back so we had to make a pitstop in the tunnel. I got bored, so decided to snap a pic I wouldn't otherwise have had the chance to.

Ok my neckache's coming back on again. Is it ok to post first, edit later? I suppose it'll have to do.

P.S. Yes, this post has since been edited - 18 June 2009

5 Super Years!

Last Thursday marked the 5th anniversary of my relationship with The Boyfriend. That's right, 5 years! We are damn proud of ourselves, haha.

Still in the midst of editing the photos we took, and I would like to hit the sheets before midnight tonight, so I won't be putting them up just yet.

... Okay, I'll leave you with one photo. Actually, it's a photo of a photo, a polaroid to be exact. The original is with The Boyfriend so I'll have to be content with this:

It's Another One of Those Nights...

Rare nowadays to have the night to myself, I find it hard to say "good night" and to let go.

New Friend

I made a friend today.

I'd noticed his presence in my neighbourhood for the longest time; always a loner, he would appear every once in a while, presumably to patrol his territory. His battle-worn face was not the friendliest or prettiest of miens, so I only paid scant attention to him.

Lately, however, the black cat had been moping around the grass patch in front of my block, sleeping the days and nights away. Even if I wished to see his face, I wouldn't have been able to - not once in the many times I passed him did he lift his head from the ground.

But I knew he was still surviving, however frailly. He would take shelter when it rained, and in the hotter hours of the day, he would seek the shade from nearby bushes.

However, his general non-activity increasingly worried me, especially since I did not know how, when or where he got his sustenance from, or indeed if he still fed. It's always painful to see an life fade away, no matter how small.

So when I saw him again last night, I told myself if he were still here today, I would buy him something to eat. On my way home, I remembered this promise I made to myself-to him really-and wondered if he would even be in a condition to eat. I wondered if the money spent would be money wasted.

True enough, when I approached the grass patch, his dark body was there. This time, however, he was not in his usual spot in the middle of the patch, but at the edges of it, lying motionless. Fearing that he had breathed his last, I quickened my pace to approach him. This enabled me to see that he was not lying down, but in fact, crouching and drinking from a small pool of water in the grass. As I drew close, he looked up, and his eyes, wet with infection, met with mine.

And that did it for me. I knew he was still trying to take care of himself, so it was worth a shot. I went to the nearby mini-mart and got him a tin of catfood. As I neared the grass's edge, I opened the tin.

His ears pricked, and he turned to look at me.

I decided to pick a spot closer to him, and walked round the edge of the grass to the other side. He studied me, and watched keenly as I placed the meal on the raised concrete slab concealing a drain.

I walked off, worried that he would be fearful of me and run away if I came too near. But to my surprise, when I turned back, I realised that he had not headed towards the food, but to me. So I backtracked and led him to the tin of food, where he gingerly sniffed at it, then proceeded to rub his head against my legs.

This cat was either blind, lost his sense of smell, or just plain manja.

Eventually, I had to scoop out the food from the tin, and he would proceed to chow it down eagerly, yet with a neatness that is quintessential of a cat. A neatness that one would not expect of a cat like him. The disjoint images of his scar-lined face versus the earnesty of the leg rub, the etiquette of his table manners, made me view this cat in a different light.

After his meal, I took a last look at him before taking the lift back home. He was grooming himself now, the first time I had ever seen him do so, the sign of a satisfied meal (surely).

Hooray for the Old Guard!

As well as for common decency, honesty, and respect for proper discourse on matters of morality/ethics.

Last Order

Heard Yoga Lin sing it on "百万大歌星" earlier tonight, and remembered his very memorable performance on "超級星光大道" which was simultaneously mesmerising and bewildering:



And from the original singer (Easonnn!!!!):

Orange Moon

The first time I heard Eason's version, I was mesmerised and enthralled. The first time I heard 方大同's, I was blown away. Here, they perform the song together. Orgasmic.

P/S I bought Khalil's album just for this song.

I Stand Corrected

Of late, I've been seeing this phrase being used in our company internal foums quite often. A member of staff would start off a post with the statement "I stand corrected", then go on to tell everyone how he (it tends to be a guy) feels something should be done, with nary any reference to how he was wrong.

"I stand corrected" basically means "I have been proven wrong". What these people meant to say, however, is "I stand to be corrected". As in, "I believe the procedure is this-and-such-a-way, but correct me if I'm wrong".

Can't they just keep things nice and simple?

Parting note: Vampire Weekend's song of the same name.

The Mundane Life

First two photos: Toa Payoh

First Thai Restaurant, 23 Purvis Street

SIFF'ed Out: Films to Watch

Films I'm gonna catch at the 2009 SIFF:

1. Sincerely Yours
2. Girl Inside
3. Lucky7 (I know! I missed it for a whole year!!)
4. Let's Fall in Love
5. Boy Interrupted

I found my old blog template!

And I actually reverted back to it. For a grand total of 2 minutes. After all this time of simplicity, I think I like my blog the way it is now, save for some minor changes that could be made here or there.

A day in February

Two years ago, The Boyfriend said, "You know, X doesn't celebrate Valentine's with her boyfriend. I think that's a good idea." So that year, we had dinner at Botak Jones on 14th February. I still remember that rocher chocolate that the wait staff gave out to all their customers.

Naturally, I gave him grief for that everytime I remembered the occasion.

So last year, we did better, camping overnight at ECP. Still, we didn't exchange gifts, though I did present him with chocolate clusters I personally made (it was someone else's idea and I conveniently tagged along).

And this year - since we'd already bought advance tix to The Flyer (and I had been pestering him to take me since its goodness-knows-when) - I suggested that we take a ride on Valentine's Day.

He agreed, and made the bookings, which was nice. He even took the extra step of suggesting, and buying tickets to, the annual Chestnuts spoof musical. Okay, not exactly the most romantic date, but not bad by The Boyfriend's standards. So our itin for the day was Chestnuts at 3pm, romantic dinner at Popeyes after, then Flyer at 9pm. All well and good.

After Chestnuts, he asked for a suggestion on where to go.

"How about the River Cruise? It comes along with The Flyer tickets," I offered.

"Yah hor. Ok then, let's go give it a try!"

Very good. So he passed me my helmet, and I put it on.

"Close your eyes." Thinking I had something stuck in the corner of my eye, I complied.

"Now open you mouth."

"Huh??"

"Just open it."

"Err... okay...."

"Don't peep!"

And he placed something on my tongue and made me swallow it with a swig of water.

Fearing slightly that I'd been drugged, I pestered him for 15 minutes, non-stop. "What is it? What is itwhatisitwhatisit????"

And suddenly, I realised we were NOT headed in the direction of the Singapore River.

"Eh! Are you taking me to Sentosa?"

"No-o-o."

"Mount Faber?"

"No, we're going to take the river cruise."

"But this is obviously not way there. What do you think I am, stupid?"

"... ...."

"You're turning into Mount Faber! We're going to take the cable car!!!"

Yep, he couldn't deny it any longer, it was apparant that we were going to experience cable car sky dining. Woo hoo!

And that's how, people, he made up for his V Day gaffe two years ago.

Edit: By the way, that thing he popped into my mouth? It was a motion-sickness pill! Apparently, while doing his homework on sky dining, he found out that quite a few people got cabe car-sick and couldn't finish the full dinner. And true enough, the ride was quite a bumpy one. Only downside to that? I had to struggle to keep my face out of my food when the drowsiness kicked in.

Rachel Getting Married

On a whim, I decided to go watch Rachel Getting Married today. Heck it with all the crummy CNY fare this year! I wanted something I could sink my teeth into.

I called The Boyfriend for a lark, not really expecting him to be interested, this being Badminton Day and all. But lo, he agreed to traipse down to town to catch it with me!

So I rush there, right, almost not making it 'cause of work to do at the office, and we sneakily ate our dinner in the dark (BK burgers - it's been a while).

And I totally loved the movie. I love tormented characters. It's like they live out all the pain and hurt and vulnerability and destructiveness so that I don't have to do it myself. Pure, cathartic, vicarious, glorious pain.

The only marring of my enjoyment was the concern that The Boyfriend wouldn't like it, and I'd have dragged him once again to a movie that he didn't connect with. But it turns out that I needn't have worried. He liked it too!

(Watching movies is like the fortune-telling equivalent of relationship evaluation, for me. Each time we like a movie, we score on the compatibility front. Instantly, I know we'll live to a hundred together. If we differ on opinions on a show we just caught, it's like it's Doomsville for us. Yes, it's that simple.)

So yes, I totally recommend this movie to others, if they are like me. Or if they like to catch Oscar-linked movies. Or if they are Anne Hathaway fans (she's a full-fledged thespian now, can command respect from me liao). Or if you like dysfunctional people/families, or drama, or tragedy, or bitter-sweet endings.

Merry X'mas! Happy New Year! 恭喜发财！

Yes yes, I know it's been ages since I last blogged, I can almost see the virtual cobwebs hanging from the corner of screen. Always wanted to, but it was either no time, no inspiration, or a combination of both.

Did all my essential new year visiting yesterday, and I basically rotted at home today. The Boyfriend kept saying he would pop over, so I resisted the urge to blog in case it took too long, but morning rolled into afternoon which rolled into evening which rolled into night... and I'm still waiting.

I got so bored at one point that I just took my un-showered self out to the neighbourhood centre to see if I could get my hands on that new Lee Hom cd. Sadly, I had neglected to remember that today was only the second day of the Lunar New Year, so basically I was greeted with something that resembled a ghost town. Actually, there were quite a few people around still, and some enterprising shopowners did keep their shutters up for business. Good for them.

Speaking of Lee Hom, I went to his concert in November last year. It was showy, noisy and loud. Did I mention it was deafening? In any case, it made for uncomfortable listening. But I still love him! (He did a beautiful rendition of 摇滚怎么了, by the way, which kicks the ass of the radio version.)

I'll leave you with some pictures. Not very good quality 'cause my camera sucks at long shots.

His custom-made guitar, made in the guise of a dragon.


The Boyfriend acting all excited at the start of the concert.


On the guitar,


violin,


(Attentive listeners)


(Scenes from Lust, Caution played while he sang 落叶归根。Sadly, the rock concert-level sound marred the emo-ness of the song from coming through completely.)


And piano. He played some other instruments but I didn't capture them all.


Got fireworks somemore! Damn, really got my money's worth. Keke.

A*Mei Star Tour Part Duex

I'm telling you, this woman really knows how to put on a show. Of course it helps that her fans are hot-blooded and ready to rock from the get-go, but she literally commands you to get off your seat and up on your feet. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, nevermind that the sound system was a bit distant-sounding for my liking.

Dwarfed under the light.


One of the many reasons why I loved the concert: the thoughtful inclusion of lyrics so the audience could sing along with gutso. Don't ask me about the dubious costume choice in this picture, though.
This one was my favourite. The jacket had armpit cut-outs, for better airing, I suppose.

The audience on their feet (or should I say, at her feet?) lapping it up. I must say this was one of the better concerts I went to this year, atmosphere-wise, and I've been to quite a number.

Costume Number.... Six, I think. I liked the birdy/feather headpiece as it reminded me of Faye, plus it conjured up scenes from the Sex and The City Movie. Would love to find an occasion to wear one of these! Ooh, my favourite part of the show, in part due to her four chippendale dancers. The dancers emerged from the center of the stage first, dressed in stuffy suits and doctor's gowns and whatnot, then ripped off their clothes, much to the delight of the females in the audience (myself included). And they strip some more!

Hubba-hubba! The ang moh has the cutest butt. He wriggled it so well.

A*Mei's enjoying herself, but ugh, it looks like there's some acne party raging away on that dancer's back too.

Poor dancers. Fluorescent leotards with bikini tops reminiscent of coconut husks. Lucky for them they've got rockin' bodies. But still, they reminded me of Stefanie Sun's styling gaffe (below).


The stars on this number actually were lit-up and blinking away. And check out the platform heels. Crrraaazzy.


No concert worth its salt is complete without the requisite 3-storey rising platform!

Well, waddaya know? The woman plays the guitar too!

All in, I really had fun. Really glad she came back to Singapore for this tour, because the first time, we had really sucky seats all the way up in the sky, and even though we knew the world below us was really having fun, we couldn't really soak it all in simply because we were so far removed. So yay for coming back again!

I'm Going to the Grand Prix... Qualifiers!

Heheh. My friend got free tix and her boyfriend's out of town, so she asked me along with her. His loss, my gain. I'm gonna snap many pix! Too bad my Olympus has been given away. Only left with The Sis' below-par Konica-Minolta.

Maybe I should bring a mini-tripod?

Watch/Listen to Eason

Yay videos! These are videos of Eason's Meet and Greet sesh at HMV on 23rd Aug that I've managed to find.

This first one was done by students of Ngee Ann Poly. Think they were commissioned by HMV to do so or something; saw them in their (I'm assuming) ECA t-shirts -ourvoicebox - with their videocams.

It was quite nicely done. At the end are scenes of him signing his albums. Makes me giggle just to realise that none of those expressions I saw there quite matched that on his face when he saw me. Oh, and see Eason do splits in the air @ 1:44!

The next two vids are fan vids, so they aren't as stylo. But thanks to the vantage point, I got a few peeks of Eason in slippers which I couldn't quite see where I stood that day. I never thought Hong Kong-ers would wear slippers beyond their apartment block!!! But he mentioned that these are what he wears whenever he comes here. Aww... What laidback charm.

Aren't You Glad



不要说话

Am still eagerly awaiting someone to post vids from his Lunar Bar showcase, though. I'll bet those'll be tonnes better than the Meet'n'Greet.

And if you're interested, I've uploaded the .wav files of the two songs he performed that day:

Download the live version of 不要说话 here.
And the live version of Aren't You Glad here.

Do you think I came on too strong???

So I managed to head down to Eason's Meet and Greet sesh on Saturday, even though it was raining and I was late. The Boyfriend was supposed to accompany me to the event, but he was put off by the weather and so, in an unprecedented move, I went down to a 粉丝 event on my own.

I was 10 minutes late by the time I'd arrived, and a healthy crowd had already gathered on the first, second and third floors of Heeren outside HMV. Still, I managed to find a decent spot to perch, and so I stayed for the next hour or so waiting, even though I had to go wee-wee.

It was worth the wait. When he finally arrived, Eason delighted the crowd with two songs from his latest Mandarin album <<不想放手>> Aren't You Glad and 不要说话. There was also a Don't Forget the Lyrics-esque game segment, and the participants had the honour of having Eason harmonise for them. He's super nice to his fans - he gave each of the participants a great big hug at the end of the game, and personalised the prize - an autographed copy of his cd - for the winner of the game, which was very thoughtful of him because the next thing on the programme was an autograph session. D'oh.

Which I stayed for, naturally, even though that meant that I would be late for my dinner appointment (I did struggle with my decision for a bit, though) and also that I would have to shell out another 20 bucks for an album I already had (albeit a newer version, complete with MVs).

Anyways, I joined the queue, which was mercifully short (relatively speaking) and proceeded to interact with my immediate neighbours, who initiated contact. As I edged closer and closer to the head of the line, I started to get more and more nervous and excited. I'm gonna meet Eason Chan, up close and personal!

In a short span of 10 minutes that we were in the queue together, us QuikFriends (because it was so instant and so brief) chatted about his songs, his performance and his recent concert. Someone started asking what we would say to him when we met him - provided we didn't suddenly get a case of Celebrity-induced lockjaw - and that was when I decided, and declared to my QuikFriends, that I would ask him for a hug.

I was the last of the QuikFriends to get my autograph, and as I stood and waited, heart pumping, for the right opportunity to pop the question.

I know he took his time to sign my albums, but I don't remember exactly what, so excited was I. I only knew that my cue to speak was when he finished signing and looks up to shake his fan's (that's me!) hand. Which by and by he did.

And so I launched into my monologue:

Me (Grabbing his hand): Hi Eason!
Him (smiles): ....
Me: I really like your music! (milisecond pause) Could I have a hug? (Please! I really meant to say please, I did!)
Him: ??? (I can tell he hesitated for a fraction of a second, then very magnanimously, he stands up and extends himself for a hug, across the table)
Me (after separating myself from him): Thanks!!! Thanks so much!!!!!!!
Him (polite smile, nods): ....

And that was it, my encounter with Eason Chan. I walked off with the albums in my hands, and almost did not bother to look at his name scrawled across them before placing them in my bag.

The moment was brief, but it was mine, all mine. For one second, Eason Chan the Amazing Singer with Manly Forearms, Effervescent Personality and the Energy of a Teenager was mine, all mine.

When I think back on that little episode where I was mad-struck by the Awe of Meeting My Idol, I still can't help but grin.

Well, at least I didn't take his hand and snatch it forward for a forced hug, which is what I heard some other (more manic) fan did.

I leave you with the best shot I captured of him that day:

(Wanted to upload a recording of 不要说话, but too lazy to find a server to put it up. Maybe another day then.)