09 year of love

Here is a song, another personal favorite, for my happily married/ attached friends. More importantly, remembering sad/ hurting/ lonely friends, I hope 2009 is a year of love and peace of mind, where ever you may find it. Hope is an excellent start...... and speaking as a incurable cynic, to whom therefore somehow, the belief in unmerited hope and love all given from above is no longer just an option, my God can only help.  

Have a Wonderful 2009!

Listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJOzdLwvTHA

(errm, btw, i think the song is way too good to deserve that video!)

The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson

If you were falling, then I would catch you

You need a light, I'd find a match

Cuz I love the way you say good morning

And you take me the way I am

If you are chilly, here take my sweater

Your head is aching; i'll make it better

Cuz I love the way you call me baby

And you take me the way I am

I'd buy you Rogaine when you start losing all your hair

Sew on patches to all you tear

Cuz I love you more than I could ever promise

And you take me the way I am

You take me the way I am

You take me the way I am

 

whaaat??

you guys got to enlighten me here. i read this off the reuters news filter today (was filtering for singapore trivia, ha!). this was from an article from the Straits Times about 'People That Made an Impact in 2008').

"Nordin Montong - He courts death in tiger's den..........The 32-year old zoo cleaner from Sarawak made the news last month when he did the most bizzare thing. He climbed into the white tiger enclosure and baited the animals using a pail and a broom before being mauled to death by the big cats - and in full view of unsuspecting zoo visitors who thought it was all a show. 

His death sparked a heated debate on whether the Singapore Zoo was safe. Readers wrote in to the Straits Times about their encounters with an elephant running freely on the zoo's pedestrian path and cleaners blissfully sweeping in the crocodile enclosure. 

In the wake of Mr Nordin's death, the zoo is mulling over new moves like installing alarms at the dangerous animals enclosures which guests or staff can trigger."

Whaaa??? The zoo is only MULLING over new safety measures? Wow. Those animal tranquilizers must have airborne qualities too. The cleaners sound like they need some heavy duty health and safety training. Here we are, sitting in our aircon offices with not so much as an ant to hurt us, learning about administering CPR and doing fire drills every other week, while they are crocodile dundees all.  

Me amused. Sorry about the dead guy tho.

the knowledge

My curiosity about wine started around the time I realized that the answer, 'Anything with alcohol in it', is one conversation killer. Way too long after i learnt that the inevitable conversation starter at almost every restaurant table in every up and coming borough, amongst its shiny, happy patrons is 'So what are we drinking?'. 

Too much snobbery and i could agree. After all, i don't have much that qualifies me to it. Yet despite the usual class-related flag waving that has to be endured, there is something definitely to be said about spending Wednesday nights tasting at least 13 different glasses of wine that has been thoughtfully selected by knowledgeable people. Which is exactly what I have done, for a couple of months in each of the past 2 years. Wine is a good hobby I think. But only if I spend just as much time appreciating its varied intricacies and idiosyncrasies as I do drinking it. Pickled livers and Bridget-Jones style wine-gurgling are not for me. Tho learning about the way French wine makers have stuck to their traditions doggedly helped to explain French people a little. (You can also substitute the words 'helped to explain...a little' with 'accounted for...a lot' depending on how much you like the French).

I love those wine-tasting classes which have now sadly ended. They were like mid-week holidays. Tasting really good wine (now that i know what really good means), with equally good cheeses and being entertained by the tutor's story-telling. I love the way my tutor made it equally ok to love German Rieslings as to love Bordeaux Clarets. (I learnt that German Rieslings are for philistines but in the same breath, the tutor also assured me that i am not condemned for having absolutely raved about them :(....). The wine school I chose tried its best to make it easy to like wine, with none of the pressure to say the right thing. I like the way they summarized each grape variety with just one word, to make it simple for a newbie like me:

• Chardonnay - Smooth
  
• Sauvignon Blanc - Nervy
  
• Semillon - Waxy
  
• Cabernet Sauvignon - Structured
  
• Merlot - Crowd Pleaser
  
• Cabernet Franc - Perfumed
  
• Riesling - Aristocratic (not my favorite, nope)
  
• Gewurztraminer - Spicy
  
• Chenin Blanc - Wet Wool
  
• Gamay - Fun and Fruity
• Pinot Noir - Opera Diva
  
• Shiraz - Peppery
  
• Zinfandel - Hedonistic

Yes, I am pleased with my hedonistic hobby. I now so enjoy reading restaurant wine lists that I find that i am shutting out the conversations of shiny, happy London, just so I could read the wine list quickly before the waiter takes it away. (by which then also, i would usually find that someone else quicker and more knowledgeable have ordered the wine for us). So to finally come to my point, please please please let me order the wine the next time i have the pleasure of your company over dinner ok?

song to share

ever so often, a song comes along that makes it to the top of my personal charts right away. this is the one that i think will be playing from my itunes for the next couple of months. Listen to it at Maria Taylor's MySpace site- http://www.myspace.com/mariataylor

Clean Getaway

I made my place by the door

I didn't know what I was waiting for

It felt just like home

Except no grass, no yard, no pictures hung

I could see across to the park

And there were friends

They were laughing hard

They looked just like my own

With no face, no name, no voice I know

I finally made it

I made a clean getaway

I finally made it

I made a clean getaway

I met someone at the bar

He had a great smile and a great heart

It felt just like love

Except no fear of losing and it wasn't tough

I finally made it

I made a clean getaway

I finally made it

I made a clean getaway

And I miss you

I miss you every single day

expectations

this is from Grey's Anatomy:

"No one believes their life will turn out just 'kind of okay'

We all think we're going to be great

And we feel a little robbed when our expectations aren't met

But sometimes, our expectations sell us short

Sometimes, the expected simply pales in comparison to the unexpected

You gotta wonder why we cling to our expectations

Because the expected is just what keeps us steady, standing, still

The expected is just the beginning

The unexpected is what changes our lives."

Quite an apt description of just what moves us and what changes us. For me at least. Most of the time we go along our daily paths, all hoping to become someone, go somewhere, or even just striving to lead a way of life that is true to ourselves. And out of the blue, amazingly wonderful or woefully devastating things (hopefully more of the former) happen that change our courses completely.

I wish for amazingly wonderful things to happen in all our lives in the new year. 

inebriated christmas

Boxing Day. Just got home from a full 2 days of celebration where a bunch of us stayed over at Alison's place over 2 nights. 

We first met up at the Slug and Lettuce - Canary Wharf, on Christmas Eve afternoon for drinks. It seems everyone that's left in South-east London were there that day. The bar staff were in high spirits to the point of doing shots themselves behind the bar. Tho they didn't get drunk enough to lose their senses. They kicked all of us out at 6pm - early closing time on christmas eve, unleashing all of us onto the hapless patrons of Carluccios in the midst of their secondi and montepulciano. After our very own italian dinner, we ended up at Alison's front room doing a group song and dance to the Sing-A-Long Mamma Mia DVD. 

Christmas Day was equally busy with 5 inebriated wannabe chefs, 4 hangovers disguised as headaches, 3 slightly-frightened guests, 2 exceedingly indulgent meals (champagne breakfast and christmas dinner) in one very crowded flat. 

 

my list

The weekend just past - the weekend before Christmas, is traditionally the biggest shopping weekend of the year. It is said (or so they say) that UK retailers make up to half their revenue in the few weeks leading up to Christmas. Apparently, London retailers alone ringed in 120 million quid in sales in the last 2 days. All in all, that made very good excuse for me to stay in last Saturday. It was just too scary on the high streets out there. 

Indulging myself as both winter and shopping frenzy raged on outside, i slept in. Upon slowly waking, i made a big bowl of instant kimchi noodles for brunch and sat watching continuous episodes of LOST - Season 3. 

LOST - is newly found to me. I never watched beyond a couple of episodes of the 1st season on TV. To my surprise, Episodes 18 to 23 of Season 3 were wonderful and now i am hooked. 

In Episode 23, the rockstar - Charlie, went on a kamikaze mission to shut off a telecom jamming device that was underwater. He knew the risks he was taking and had the composure before the event to take time to reflect on the best moments in his short life. They included the first time he met Clare - his sweetheart in the show, the first time he heard his song on the radio etc. He had 5 items on his list. 

This being the year end, plus the fact that i just celebrated my 3-?th birthday a month ago, my mind has been drifting towards creating a list of my own. Venturing tentatively and in no particular order, i came up with 3. Reserving 4) and 5) for the next ?? years of my life seems appropriate....

1) When i found out that i had the top scores for the A Levels. (if you ever read this, I am still thanking you for it Jen!).

2) Touring Nami-Island in South Korea with my parents, sis and bro-in-law and realizing in one moment that we were enjoying the most perfect day.

3) Dressing up as very 'dead-from-internal-injuries' French-maids with my best girlfriends for Halloween at Zouk. Causing a stir by dusting down the cars entering the compound with our neon pink dusters.

It was difficult to pick just 3. How good it is to be blessed with a rich, abundant life.