chervalier

so I’ve had a lot of time lately, being unemployed and all, and I’ve spent a lot of that time on the Internet searching for lists of the Best Movies of certain genres (namely horror and romantic comedies).. What I’ve realized (and found infuriating, by the way) was that many of the so-called “best movies” are films from way long ago.

Old Movie poster (I think it was an adult movie, oops)

Poster of a more recent (and GOOD) movie!

It really annoys me because the unappreciative lout in me hates watching old grainy black and white films and I’m really just looking for cheesy sugar fluff flicks to numb my brain a bit (from the harsh realities of unemployment)..

Also, I can’t comprehend how, with the advances in technology allowing for modern mind-blowing graphics and effects, the older films with their unrealistic effects and tinny music can actually be seen as better than modern movies!

Of course, there are timeless classics like Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, E.T., Nightmare on Elm Street etc And I can see the argument for strong plot/storyline holding out against special effects and all.. But all these things kept constant, I think modern films definitely surpass the flicks from older days..

What annoys me, though, is how some sites/lists just toss in random old movies from YORE that no one has really heard of (or at least, me..) and go on and on about how good it is. It struck me that a lot of Gen X-ers (and Baby Boomers) see old things as good or better than modern things..

Take my parents, for example. They hate all the current  popstars and films and insist that those they had watched previously (years, even decades, ago) were better.

I don’t think that actually is an indicator of the quality of popstars/films/anything else past and present. I believe that it’s because of their youth when they viewed/enjoyed those things. They were less cynical than they are now, plus those things make them feel young again. It’s something they can connect to.

Watching television and seeing commercials for the albums of new singers or trailers for new movies that they cannot understand the concepts of makes the people of that same generation feel old. They aren’t able to connect with what they see or they might not want to connect with what they deem to be things their children agree with. It isn’t a feeling that makes them comfortable and so they hang on to the stuff from when they were younger.

So the same reason that makes an old film seem “good” to a Gen X-er (not sure if i’m using the right generation here) is probably the same reason they find Mom’s cooking better than any other. It brings back memories of younger, happier and carefree days. It makes them remember when they had lots of hope in their life. And perhaps, by reliving those memories, they can find hope in their existing lives.

In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ll be pining for my mom’s cooking when I’m 40 (oh the horror!) or wanting to watch Final Destination over and over again, the same way my dad watches Grease to relive his youth. And I’m looking forward to it!

Some old things are good. In fact, many are.

What about you? Do you like the old things better? Imagine if you like old things now… Are you going to pine for them when you’re 20 years older? How old are the things you like going to be then!? Hmmm..

Popularity: 14% [?]

ahh, I haven’t blogged in awhile..! Regardless of how busy/lazy I am, I will still make time to post every Friday’s LOLShare because I think (cheesy as this sounds) that laughing is so very important to all of us. Before I start waxing lyrical, here’s today’s LOLShare! =)

Today’s Share isn’t so much a video per se as it is an entire series. My followers on Twitter will know that I’ve been watching anime / reading manga lately and in doing so I’ve revisited an old anime series that I used to watch – Ouran High School Host Club. It’s an excellent shoujo-manga series that is hilarious beyond words!

Ouran High School Host Club

Ouran is a series that follows the adventures of heroine Haruhi Fujioka (or Fujioka Haruhi) who is enlisted into Ouran High School’s Host Club – a club that serves to please/pleasure/entertain iow HOST the female students of the luxuriously elite Ouran High School.

Without giving too much away, let’s just say that she meets and befriends the members of the club, namely the president Tamaki Suou, Kyouya Ootori (vice-president), twins Kaoru and Hikaru Hitachi, HaniXXXX and MoriXXXX (I rarely paid attention to their full names and just called them Hani-senpai and Mori-senpai)..  And gets to know all of these characters pretty well.

The utter LOLness of this series comes from its over-exaggeration of everything (or perhaps just one character’s over-dramatization) that is coupled with deadpan captions. In my opinion the most hilarious character of all is President Tamaki, who tortures himself with his desire to watch over the group as the Otosan (Father) figure and silly fantasies about certain situations. It is EFFING hilarious!!

The many faces of Tamaki-kun (when he's overreacting).. My favorite is in the top right, when he hides in a corner.. LOL

My favorite parts are when Tamaki-kun does his stupid “huddle-up-and-go-sit/sulk-in-a-corner” act, much like he’s doing in the top right box of the above picture. It just kills!! And also his utter narcissism! Heh. More Tamaki-ness coming up..

Tamaki (right) and Kyouya (left) in their early days (when Kyouya still couldn't make head or tail of him)

Tamaki-kun in full-on CHARM mode

Don’t you just love how cheesy that last drawing was?? Lol. And the series is FULL of such drawings!

I also love that ALL the characters have different facets to them. And the reactions of the usually fearless ones to the “darker” sides of the usually amiable ones.. It’s ROFLMAO worthy! I love Honey-senpai for his utter cuteness! (The voiceover by the original Jap dubbing artiste is the best, hands-down. No lousy English dubs for me!)

Honey-senpai (middle) with the ever-present "cute" flowers around him lol

Just being silly!

I swear you will enjoy this series immensely. You can watch the entire series on tudou by following this link. You can also easily find English subbed or English dubbed versions on Youtube.

Ouran High School Host Club - The Gang

Enjoy meeting the gang from Ouran! They’re weird. You’ll love em! Ciao =)

Popularity: 48% [?]

I don’t know about you guys, but I spend a lot of my time thinking up nasty ways to get back at people who piss me off. It’s part of who I am, really.. Heh. I thought I’d share some of my more creative revenge methods.. =D Maybe you guys can learn a thing or two! Or share your creative ways to get back at people =D

I live in a corner terrace in an estate with row upon row upon endless rows of houses backed up against each other. So it’s inevitable that you’re really really close to your neighbours.. In terms of proximity, that is.. We’re not close to our neighbours in terms of neighbourliness.. We’re alright with them..

Living in such proximity makes some things unavoidable, like when the lady from the row across my house decides to teach her son Math.. And they’re going “1+1 is?.. 1+2 is?… 1+3 is?…” and all the way to 25 or something..  I really have to bite onto a towel to not scream out “IT’S BLOODY 9876543245678 you MORON” at them.

That’s not the worst. My neighbour’s maid has the voice of a witchcathenhyena. That’s right. Her voice is like a cross between an alleycat with a sore throat and Kristen Chenoweth on helium. I swear, I’m not kidding. And the worst thing is, she loves to talk really loudly, and CACKLE. CACKLE!!! It’s so effing annoying I half-wish I was deaf. But most times I just wish she was mute.

These noises seriously get on my nerves.. And I’ve just thought of the perfect way to shut them up. I’m going to make a recording of SEX NOISES. You read that right. SEX NOISES. Loud moaning, groaning, climaxing, “HARDER HARDER” and all.. And I’m going to get some really good amps. The next time someone makes an annoying noise, I’m going to hook up my computer to the amps, move the speakers to my windows and BLAST the sex noises for a good half hour or so.

If that doesn’t shut them up, I don’t know what will. Then I’ll end off the sex noises with a preachy monologue on how if you don’t like the noises I’m making then you can jolly well move out. This might cause a mass exodus from my area seeing as it’s full of families with little children.. Ahh… Then it will be peace and quiet at last…

Love thy neighbour? I think so! Heh. So what other creative revenge ideas have you guys got??

Popularity: 17% [?]

I said it’d be weekly, so we have our LOLShares every Friday! Today’s LOLShare is a video and honest to goodness, watch this and tell me you’re not either Laughing or Dropping your Jaw (the English isn’t very good here, pardon me)

Isn’t it the LULZ!? Thanks to Eugene A for sharing this! Seriously made me fall off my chair laughing lololol.

Not only is this video hilarious, the guy is an awesome dancer! I love how the rest of the policemen join in at the end.. And did anyone realize that they’re all him!?!?!? Awesome! And the dude at the back who just sleeps away. LOL totally!! Heh.

Enjoy your Friday, people! =D

Popularity: 47% [?]

I don’t know why exactly, but I’ve recently been spurred to sign up for some volunteer activities so that I can make some contribution to society.. It could be because of that silly TVB Drama with the dogs and cats in it with its overt animal-loving-volunteer-supporting message that got me to do this.

Volunteer!

I’ve always had a latent desire to volunteer in some way. Well maybe not always, but since at least a few years ago. When we were still in school, we had chances to volunteer and have it contribute to our Community Involvement Project (CIP) points and those were definitely fun times. Somehow, though, that didn’t really feel like volunteering. I guess it’s because we were doing it to gain the points we needed to graduate from school.

I remember being involved in Flag Days, Bake Sales, visits to Old Folks’ Homes and all.. Volunteering as a docent in the Asian Civilizations Museum was also one of the best experiences I had, and the craft-day volunteering we did at the National Day Istana Open House was also very enriching. It didn’t, however, give me the same sense of satisfaction and fulfilment as it would have if I weren’t doing it for school.

I once went with my church to a nearby Old Folks’ Home to give out food and gifts during the Christmas season. The church choir performed for them and the residents were all smiling and grateful. That, I must say, was definitely the best experience EVER. Being able to do something to make someone happy without a selfish thought for yourself is probably the best thing in the world. Well, maybe not the best, but it definitely ranks up there with all sorts of other pleasures.. Ahem.

I want to be able to help these people in need, because I feel so lucky in so many ways. In my previous blogs I’ve mentioned several times how lucky we are to be healthy, whole individuals with much of our needs cared for. The fact that you are on your computer reading this right now goes to show that life isn’t all that bad for you. You can read, you have electricity, you have a computer (or have access to one somewhere). You can use your fingers, you can understand what I’m saying. All the above are things to be grateful for.

So let’s give what we can to the people who are not as privileged as we are.

My special areas of concern (I can’t think of a better way to phrase that, but I’d say these are my soft spots) are the Elderly and underprivileged children. I am especially passionate about these 2 groups of people because

Elderly people need our love

1) I love my grandma and I know she has led a hard life. A lot of people at that age have led a tough life and most of them who have ended up in homes have been abandoned by unfeeling children or maybe have no children to support them in their sunset years. I know I don’t want to see my grandmother in any situation except being loved and cared for after all she has gone through. Similarly, I think many of the elderly folk deserve love and care, if not from their families then from complete strangers who can make them smile and realize the world isn’t that harsh after all.

Beautiful, innocent, sweet little children

2) Children, especially young ones, are the most innocent creatures on Earth (despite being born into a debt of sin.. yada yada.. lol).. I don’t think they have to suffer for things they haven’t even done. What’s more, what you could do for them in their childhood could go a long way in nurturing and shaping their futures. What greater joy is there than helping a poor child find his/her place in the world and seeing him/her succeed? Even just a smile and a hug is enough to brighten anyone’s day. I dare you not to be moved by the innocence of a young child in need.

So I’ve signed up with the NPVC (National something Volunteer something i think) and registered for a whole bunch of volunteer activities.. The only thing stopping me from going all out and volunteering is my fear of committment (to anything that requires my time).. Still though, I’m gonna make an active effort to try

Volunteers - a Gift to the Community.. Are you?

How about it guys? Anyone wanna join me? =)

(filed under Projects coz it’s a project I’m embarking on wheee!)

Popularity: 18% [?]

I haven’t blogged in awhile, so I thought I would.. I haven’t been up to much lately, but recently I’ve felt like putting down my thoughts in Chinese.. I think it has to do with the fact that I’ve been watching TVB Dramas online and reading a lot of chinese material (forums, blogs etc) so I just wanna express myself in my second language for a bit. Plus, everything always sounds so much more poetic in properly-constructed Chinese. Heh. So here goes! =)

最近整天在家里上网，看电视。。 也没做什么。。 找工作找了一会儿，现在正在等电话通知我去应征。。 同时手头又有点儿紧。。 呆在家里就变成了最理所当然的事了。。。

呆在家里的好处很多！不必花钱，不必化妆，可以整天看电视。。 看电影又是免费的。。 也无需买东西吃。。 饿的话就吃面包，或煮面吃。。 太爽了！可惜这种生活方式真的对健康没有好处。。 我快变肥猪了！ 想去健身室运动一下，可是一想到得交健身室的入门费就马上打消念头，还跟自己说可以在家里做一些仰卧起坐, 推升, 或原地跑步之类的。。

认识我的人都应该知道我到底有没有做到了。。 呵呵。。 本小姐懒惰虫的个性是很难改变的。。 一生下来就是个懒惰虫，没救了。。

其实我今天想和大家分享一下我最近正追看的一部戏。。 你们也应该听说过。。 就是由罗嘉良及胡杏兒主演的《当狗爱上猫》。。。 嘿嘿。。。 你们一定听过或看过吧。。。

TVB drama 当狗爱上猫

其实当我刚留意到这部戏的花絮时，我真的觉得我不会喜欢看。。 因为我本人是一个不大喜欢动物的人。。 哈哈！你们吓着了吧！在今天的社会当中，好像很流行“热爱动物”咧。。 有好多人一看到猫阿，狗阿之类的动物都会像看到宝似的，会尖叫起来，而且还伸手去摸摸它的柔毛。。虽然如此，我还是对这些动物有些恐惧感。。 面对它们会觉得浑身不自在。。 可能跟我的洁癖有关吧。。 我一摸着这些动物就觉得得马上洗手。。

有时候我认为大部分自称“热爱动物”的人都是为了形象才那么狂爱动物的。。 唉，还是别说了。。 不然可能会惹上一身麻烦。。 话归原题。。 《当狗爱上猫》 这部戏还真让我对猫猫狗狗产生了微微的好感。。。 不知为什么，看着戏中的“小巴”及CanCan跟戏中角色的互动之后，觉得它们真的很有灵性，还颇有一点可爱之处哦。。

猫咪 CanCan

狗狗小巴！

呵呵。。 可爱吧！！ 在戏中，它们还会说话呢！CanCan还妒忌小巴跟其它的狗一起散步。。 真可爱！！

久而久之（不知道用词对不对。。 呵呵。。）我还真的对这些动物感觉有点喜爱。。 大家别误会哦。。 我还是有一点恐惧感。。 就像我对陌生人的婴儿一样。。 不敢摸，不敢碰。。。 对婴儿我是怕会吓着他们。。 动物呢我是怕。。 肮脏吧。。 也有一些担心会被它们咬。。

哈哈。。 今天竟然给你们发现我不只是个懒惰虫，还是个胆小怕死鬼！真没面子！好了，话说到这儿。。 诗情画意的意志都没了。。。 可能得去读我的《书剑恩仇录》来激发一下我的诗意吧！嘻嘻。。 好了！下次见！

Popularity: 13% [?]

Today’s LOLShare is from a movie I just watched – Where Got Ghost!?

It’s a local film directed by Jack Neo. If you’re Singaporean you’ll probably have heard of it by now. If you’re from somewhere else, well, Google’s always helpful. The movie, in my opinion, was very funny but rather poorly executed. Though we laughed a lot for most of the film, we left feeling rather disappointed.

Going into the cinema you’d expect more of the film, being the first hormedy (as an article I read somewhere put it) by Jack Neo. I would have appreciated some attempt at genuine suspense, so that my emotions run a little higher than usual and my blood might see a spike in adrenaline levels. That’s usually why I go to watch movies – to engage in a story that will make me laugh, cry or fear for my life.

This movie didn’t manage to do much of that. The script was pretty strong in terms of its witty insight and humorous dialogue. Also, as usual, the film was a smart social commentary that showed the ironies of life in Singapore (though there was really very little of that). However, the scares were more shocks than real chilling, gripping suspense, and I found it hard to connect emotionally with any of the characters at all (though this is forgivable since it’s 3 short stories, making it difficult to create engaging characters).

The biggest letdown was the unimpressive digital effects in the last part of the show. Blatantly fake, the audience was expected to suspend ALL belief as they were led down a stormy road despite knowing for sure where it would end. The plot was predictable and if not for the laughs, it would have been -gasp- boring.

If you must watch this film, go into it with no expectations at all. Be prepared to suspend your (dis)belief for the duration of the movie (about 90mins) and go in for the laughs. Neo has always excelled in presenting family-oriented fare that focused on relationships in a satirical manner. You can expect some of that. Also, the overdose of preaching was slightly annoying but, I guess, expected.

All that said, here are some of the LOLs from the film: (you may need to be Singaporean to truly understand the hilarity of the following)

(while walking by a roadside offering, A realizes he forgot to buy fruits for his boss. B suggests they just take the oranges from the offering)

A: are you sure? is it safe?
B: of course! Even if we don’t take it, the bangalas (coloquial term for foreign construction workers) will come and eat it. Have you ever heard of a bangala dying because he ate an orange?

(when the boss bites into the orange later after they give it to him)
Boss: what the hell is this?! it’s tasteless! it’s not even fit for animal consumption! where did you get this tasteless shit!?
(folklore says that food that’s been offered becomes tasteless as the ghost has already consumed its essence)
B (after a guilty moment’s silence): boss, this orange is sugar-free. it’s healthier. you need to be careful these days. Kidney failure is no joke.

LOL these 2 were amongst my favorite moments in the film lol

Disclaimer: I had no intention whatsoever to reproduce parts of the film as a spoiler and I’m not stealing the film in anyway. Also, my descriptions above are not 100% accurate. Just what I recall.

So watch WGG for LOLs =D

Popularity: 47% [?]

Today marks the anniversary of my departure to New York City. Exactly 12 months ago, I was sitting in Changi Airport with beloved Steph babe. I was bawling my eyes out and ignoring the curious stares of the rest of the people waiting to board the flight. It was an unexpectedly difficult time for me.

Frankfurt Airport during the Transit

You’d expect that it’d be a happy and exciting time, full of anticipation and eagerness. After all, it wasn’t like I was going away for a year or more. I was going away for only 4months. Granted, it would be my first time away from my family on such an extended trip but still. I wasn’t going to some extremely dangerous place or something (though some would argue the state of New York is one terribly dangerous state indeed).

Yet it was an overwhelming day for me. Firstly, it was a great big rush because the bimbo in me had to make sure my nails were done so I went out to get my pedicure.. I returned home and still had about half my packing to do. My parents then suggested we go watch Jack Neo’s Money No Enough 2 before going for dinner.. So with about half my packing left to do, my parents, grandma and I went to the cinema near my house to watch the movie.

It is an extremely bad idea to watch a family-oriented tear jerker before a transatlantic flight that will bring you away from your family for 4 months I tell ya. Especially when the film was about a generous and selfless grandmother/mother. The whole time I was crying and crying.

the grandmother/mother in MNE2 (played by the brilliant Lai Meng)

Overdramatic? Not very. You see, we very nearly lost my grandmother awhile back and I was more or less brought up by my grandmother so I have a very very special bond with her. On top of that (and I’ve only told like, 3 people this), my mom had just been found to have a tumour and the doctor thought it might be cancerous.

So with a movie like that to remind you of all the worries you have, it really sets the mood doesn’t it? We went back home and I continued packing with a feverish rush. The seconds ticked away and soon my parents were screaming at me to get down. The scoldings came relentlessly with my mom furious over what I had chosen to wear for the flight (a tube maxi dress with sandals) and the fact that we were running late.

I realized in the car that I had forgotten to print out my boarding pass. Thank God for friends like Val, who kindly printed it out and brought it there for me. Overcome by stress at this point, I started crying in the car and during a yummy dinner of my favorite foods (chicken rice, fried fish with sambal chilli omg yums).

I cried and cried and cried as I continued to think, “What if they discover it IS cancer? What if Daddy doesn’t watch his eating and gets some kinda cholesterol induced sickness?” I barely dared to think bad thoughts about what might have happened to my grandmother. Clutching my por’s hand in the car, I cried silently all the way to the airport.

My friends were a source of strength and support as I was there. Darling steph was awesome with her constant encouragement and sympathy; Val was comforting and consoling; Ben was wonderfully supportive; Yarn was there (that alone was good enough=)); auntie josephine and cousins shannon and nicole were also there which was <3 and many people flooded my phone with texts of farewell and “I’ll miss you”s.  My auntie mary called up and cried on the phone for not being able to be there to see me off.

darling yarn!

Lovely val (see my cried-out tired eyes? )

Wonderful Ben

It was a highly emotional affair and I cried throughout the flight over there. It was so bad that my eyes got really dry and stung and hurt very bad. Steph was very concerned, thanks babe.

oh US of A.. you were fine after all

And yet, despite (or maybe because of)all that crying, everything turned out fine. I had a ball of a time, and I believe I’ve come off better with the experience behind me. I know I can be strong, independent and am definitely streetsmart. I will never forget this experience, planning everything more or less by myself and executing everything to near perfection.

with steph dearest in NYC

Much love to steph, for experiencing the whole thing with me from start almost to finish. I’ve gained a great friend in Steph and many more great friends from the whole experience. That’s one thing I know I’ll value forever.

First Snow in Buffalo when we were there.. Oct 08

So a year ago today, what were YOU doing?

Popularity: 11% [?]

i’ve re-discovered an old Johari Window that I set up ages ago.. And I’ve recently bugged some people into doing it for me. Here’s my Johari Window as it stands currently..:

Dominant Traits

75% of people think that cherlynn_low is friendly

All Percentages

able (8%) accepting (8%) adaptable (0%) bold (0%) brave (0%) calm (0%) caring (8%) cheerful (33%) clever (0%) complex (16%) confident (16%) dependable (25%) dignified (8%) energetic (33%) extroverted (41%) friendly (75%) giving (0%) happy (16%) helpful (16%) idealistic (0%) independent (0%) ingenious (0%) intelligent (0%) introverted (0%) kind (0%) knowledgeable (8%) logical (0%) loving (16%) mature (8%) modest (0%) nervous (0%) observant (0%) organised (8%) patient (0%) powerful (0%) proud (16%) quiet (0%) reflective (8%) relaxed (0%) religious (0%) responsive (16%) searching (8%) self-assertive (25%) self-conscious (16%) sensible (8%) sentimental (16%) shy (0%) silly (25%) spontaneous (33%) sympathetic (0%) tense (0%) trustworthy (16%) warm (16%) wise (0%) witty (33%)

Yup! I’ll comment more on what I think about it for now, but I want you to add your thoughts first! Haha. As of now, I’m pretty sleepy so I’ll update next time. Ciao!

Popularity: 12% [?]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!

Singapore Flag

Today was a victory for Singapore in some ways, I believe. We had the most entertaining and extravagant National Day Parade yet. We made it into Twitter’s trending topics, putting Singapore on the map for a very dubious reason (Singapore Idol 09). So yes, those were some small victories. In my opinion we’ve also seen the best batch of Idol hopefuls this year, so that’s another small victory.

We did, however, see some EPIC FAILs during the National Day Parade. SM Goh’s listless waving when the camera panned to him, President Nathan’s ever stony face.. The utter irrelevance of the “chapters” to the content of each chapter.. The SOKA performance literally had their performers unable to think out of the box with their odd box-enclosures for their performers’ heads.. The list goes on.

Yet despite all these fails, I found this year’s NDP highly entertaining and so much more engaging than any I’ve ever seen. The location was breathtaking (especially as night fell) and the integration of water features (lighted boats! gorgeous!) made for a fresh take on the usual Parade.

I’d long wanted to blog about how perfect Singapore is to me. What a better time to do so than *checks clock* oh crap. The last 14minutes of my country’s 44th birthday?

After having been overseas many many times, I have arrived at a conclusion. Singapore might not be a place I want to live all my life, but it is definitely my home. Where else can I find everything I need? I realized this about a month or so ago when I fell in love with 书剑恩仇录 (shu jian en chou lu), a television drama based on a novel by Chinese wuxia (martial artis) novelist Louis Cha, again. When I scoured the Internet for episodes from the show, my searches yielded disappointing results.

The only efficient-loading videos of the version of the show I wanted was dubbed in Vietnamese! No offence but hearing my favorite characters speak in a foreign and strange-sounding language really grated my ears. In a desperate bid to satisfy my longing (this sounds soooo wrong), I rushed out of the house to the mall nearby and headed for the VCD/DVD store.. The emotions of gratitude, relief and utter euphoria that welled up in me the moment I saw the box made me so giddy that I hugged onto the box for dear life.

Not only did they have the version I was looking for, they were selling it at only S$19.90!!! Can you say cheap!?!??? The new version of the show was going for about S$29 (special offer, too) but I wasn’t so interested in the newer version (since I could get good quality versions of it online =P)

After making my purchase, I floated out of the store on a cloud of sheer happiness. And that’s when it hit me. If I had been living in the States like I had planned to, this moment of happiness would never have happened. (Oh please pardon my OTT style of writing here. I NEED to exaggerate how I felt because I truly felt indescribably happy). I highly doubt there would have been a single vendor in the States that would have had copies of this version of the show, especially so long after it had aired on television.

That led me to think about what other things I would never have been able to find in the States easily if I had needed to. And I came up with a pretty long list. Nim Jiom Pei Pa Gao (i love!), Salon Pas(i know this from experience), Roti Prata, all sorts of bizarre Singaporean food cravings, cheap electronics from Sim Lim, cheap nail cutters or other knick knacks from Pasar Malams… I think I might have killed myself if all these needs presented themselves at the same time when I was there.

It opened my eyes to how unique Singapore is, and how so many of her strengths lie in the little nooks and crannies of Singapore’s society. It’s not the big things that make Singapore beautiful (like excellent healthcare or efficient public transport).. It’s the small, delicately precious things like the cobbler at the nearby MRT station (who scolded the crap out of me for ruining my shoe), or the aunties pushing their market trollies home after a trip to the wet market.

It’s the mwah chee that I love from Pasar Malams, and the aunties who run the small news stands beside MRT stations. It’s knowing I can go see the Chinese doctor when I sprain my ankle or catch a Jack Neo movie anytime I want. It’s everyone speaking Singlish, it’s the funny ah bengs and their hokkien jokes.. It’s so many things I love that can’t be found anywhere else.

On top of everything else, it’s being with my family and seeing my aunties and uncles stand and recite the pledge, making us kids stand and sing the National Anthem. It’s trying to recite the Chinese National Pledge in Cantonese and laughing a lot while we’re at it. It’s making fun of Singapore Idol Auditions and laughing at the parade.

And so, as the clock strikes twelve on your birthday, I wanna say, for everything you are I love you, my sweet Singapore =)

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