Posted at 12:57 AM by missjellybeano/">missjellybeano | 4 beanoes

So! Valentine's Day has just passed. It is a day when the male population gladly convert themselves into Mr Robertoes (aka lo-bo aka carrots) to be chopped mercilessly by unscruplous florists, gift shops and restaurants.

Personally, I had a taste of being Mrs Roberto myself this fateful day. After lunch with a friend in NUS, I walked around the NUS Valentine Bazaar but found nothing interesting to buy. My friend, however, bought a wrapped tulip for SGD3 for his secret valentine. Afraid that the tulip might wither the time I got home, I decided to buy it later in the day for my friends.

Thus, after reaching home, I went to the nearest florist at Jelita to asked for a stalk of tulip. SGD3 seemed affordable. The florist apologized that his tulips have all been sold out and recommend this yellow-looking unique lilies that looked rather classy. Okie, I said, please wrap it simply for me.

Ta dah. That sealed my fate. Right at that moment, I must have looked like the world's largest carrot to the florist.

Why? Because those plants cost like 9 times more than what my friend paid for his nicely wrapped tulip in school! Gawd.

Yep, so anyway, when I was in town, there were Robertoes here, there and everywhere. Each time I saw a girl heaving a huge bouquet of roses beside her carrot-head, I would snigger to Sausagelips,"Here goes another Roberto." We were supposed to be heading to fisherman village but ended up at Harbourfront instead. Ah well. Sushi is not all that bad.

What's the next holiday to look forward? Easter? Hmm.
Posted at 12:41 AM by missjellybeano/">missjellybeano | 2 beanoes

A week-long celebration of Chinese New Year has just whizzed past. There were plenty of feasting (of rich food and new year goodies), drinking (of fizzy drinks and red wine), gambling (of blackjack, mahjong and our lives when thronging the crowds at chinatown), gossiping, merry-making and all the other festive cheers. I am beginning to think that Chinese New Year is just a period concocted by ancient people to indulge in the 7 deadly sins.

PRIDE
Everybody indulges in this sin during CNY, especially the aunties who are forever raving about their children, even though you are as interested in the topic as you will be in speaking to like, a molecule. (Oh wait, a molecule might be more thrilling because it sorts of well, vibrate silently, peacefully, whatever) So anyway aunties will go around comparing achievments of their sons especially.

"My son har, give me ang pow har, this morning." Auntie will say out of the blue. "WAHH. So fillial!" exclaims my mother. "NO LAH. WHERE GOT?" Auntie gives a modest answer despite an unmodest conversation starter. It is all very puzzling. They start off unmodest and gets incredibly modest usually. However, if another auntie butts in to join the raving of her child, you get perfect unmodesty competition and everybody just unmodestify from there onwards.

ENVY
Envy is something I am guilty of and it happens quite very often this CNY. I often get envious when anybody at the blackjack table gets a good hand because I am frequently dealt with shitty cards that are difficult to hit. When people shout "BAN LUCK!" (for blackjack jackpot), I can only stare enviously and pooh-pooh.

GLUTTONY
Well, this is almost like an absolute side-effect of CNY. There are golden pineapple tarts, fragrant bak gua, crunchy love letters, screaming out for your attention. "EAT! EAT! EAT ME! I AM DELICIOUS," they all seem to say and very few of us escaped their enchantment. Gluttony can also be seen in some of my relatives who picks only the salmon from the yusheng, leaving the shredded vegetables to rot; gorge on abalone but exclaim they are full when offered rice, and well, other acts along that line.

LUST
Surprise surprise! This might be the one sin that is less prevalent in the CNY period because everyone is dressed in loud red and orange hues, cheong sams and sweaty shirts, making everybody stinky and painful to look at, much less, lust at. What about lusting at goodies you say? Please refer to gluttony. Okie, wait a minute, does lusting for ang pows count? Hmm.

ANGER
AH HA! I feel anger when strangers' kids come to my house and torture Mister Toto. Kids like to feed dogs for some reason, and even when I explained Toto is already well-fed, kids still throw a tantrum and demand to feed him. They will follow him up and down, pull his tail, rub their dirty hands on his body with their parents chiding that they are actually dirtying their hands. HELLO! I believe my dog is cleaner than your insolent kids. Tsk.

The pang of anger is also felt when I get a lousy card drawn when hitting, finding yu sheng to have no "yu", discovering my ang pow has only SGD2. (HA HA HA. Okie, I am kidding for the last one. )

Greed
Well, greed is similar to gluttony except it is less related to food and more to material wealth or gain. Yep, so you can see greed everywhere when people gather at the gambling tables, rubbing their hands in glee in anticipation of increasing their material wealth. Kids become extra polite because they are actually greedy for big ang pows. After collection of ang pows, they instantly transformed to brats.

SLOTH
Oh my. Depending on which perspective, I could have been a sloth or not. In terms of completion of physical school work, I regret to admit I have been a complete sloth, neglecting every aspect. But fear not! My brain is not completely wasted because I apparently worked hard through the whole of last night in mahjong till Sunday morning 5 am. Mahjong prevents dementia, yah. The sloth bug also bites when your parents nag at you to clear up dishes, visit relatives you don't recognize off the streets, etc..

So there you go, the 7 deadly sins of CNY. Please indulge in them before the 15th day expires! Oh yes, before I forget, and a Happy Valentine's Day to all too.

Posted at 03:13 AM by missjellybeano/">missjellybeano | 1 beanoes

'Tis the time of the year to crow (how appropriate!) again. Happy Chinese New Year, people! :D

Presently, I am hidden in my room upstairs, from the maddening crowds of paternal relatives and cousins whom I don't even recognize off the streets! My brother is still snugged at his bed at this godly hour of 1130AM and that means, I have one less ally to brave the throes of strangers below. In turns, that means I haven't collected any ang pows from any relatives!

Bleah.

Anyway, last night, like all other years, I stayed up the night to adhere to tradition of shou-ye-ing. I went to watch Constantine which was tremendously enjoyable, and joined the bustling crowds at Chinatown. Perhaps photos will be up later with today's family rendevous at my grandma's place later.

Meanwhile everyone, REMEMBER! To collect more ang pows!
Posted at 12:48 PM by missjellybeano/">missjellybeano | 5 beanoes

So! This hot sunday afternoon, I went to my weekly Kent Ridge Park walk with Mister Toto. As usual, we trekked to our regular pavilion-hangout to take some cool shelter. To our digust, we saw that the concrete public furniture was in a state of utter mess and untidiness. Apparently, some INCONSIDERATE brainless nincompoops decided to have some beverage party right there but neglect to clear up afther they leave. Please clean up after yourselves after your utilize public properties, people! *Wags finger*

Anyway, Toto couldn't rest at the table with the throngs of ants gathering at the puddles of leftover coke. In fact, there was a swarm of ants that lay dead, sprawled across the cold hard table surface.

Suddenly, I witnessed some movement among the dead ants. Puzzled, I poked inquisitively and the "dead" ants moved slightly. In fact, unlike the regular ants that buzzed madly as if they are forever rushing to meet some queen-ant-deadline, this ants were having slight movement every five seconds. It's like 1..2..3..4..5.. one step. 1..2..3..4..5..one step. Ant Tango, if you may. It was a unique sight.

Then I realized the cause - a bottle of empty alcoholic drink laid. Ahh. The ants have been drinking. If fact, they were so drunk they did not react like normal ants would during a finger-poking-around-invasion. I don't even think they would have realize it if they were squashed to death. Tsk, look what unlimitless alcohol does to you.
Posted at 03:43 PM by missjellybeano/">missjellybeano | 4 beanoes