porta porta

we were on our way to changi airport to eat at the soup restaurant when i decided i'll try my luck and bring mum to porta porta.

mum is usually skeptical about such adventures and can sometimes turn a happy occassion into a not-so-happy one. but i took my chances anyway.

seated at the table next to ours was this couple from the states, a black woman and a norwegian man. before we tucked into our food, mum acted cute and brought up her glass to propose a birthday toast. we "clinked" our glasses and the next table said "happy birthday". and this was followed by the most bizzare happening of the year, almost like fated to happen on this very day. the woman said that we've chosen to sit at the table next to theirs and they have come all the way from the states to sit next to us.

they arrived on monday and are going back tomorrow 5 am. she works for hp and he is self-employed, some kind of property business. they are staying at shangri-la and some colleague recommended them this restaurant, so they took a 45-min taxi ride from town to the east.

she saw my purple t-shirt, a gift from stef, and said that's where they're from - washington. then (the bizzare thing), she for whatever reason i can't remember, mentioned university of portland. bingo! that's where i intended to go to (at least, that's the university i put down as my first choice in the scholarship application - which i failed to get) she offered to help me pull some strings and so i naturally had to offer my name cards. that's when she said "you've come to sit next to us and we've come from the states to eat at this restaurant", or something like that.

mum said i should offer to send them back to the hotel. and this, i think i got it from mum, this side of her. it was too easy to catch a cab from outside the restaurant, so i had no reason to offer them a ride. all i could say was that when they next come back to singapore, i'll show them around.

so this kind of marks this (2007 - 1971)th birthday.

(today i received a few sms from overseas: peter in perth, wendy in nz, richard in china and stef in the states. @ncy msn-ed from china and thierry sent the card from uk. very internationally celebrated, hee)

happy birthday to me.

http://food.rumspace.com/2007/02/02/porta-porta-italian-restaurant/

turning 36 or 37?

i seriously can't remember. i hv to use 2007 to subtract my year of birth.

this is quite an "eventful" year, if i may call it so. it's not even my birthday yet and i've already had a few nice surprises. m@rt, theres@ and i had a nice dinner at fish & co the other nite, a "sort of" birthday dinner for post-m@rt and pre-mine birthday celebration. last nite ic, bK, @ncy, sh@ron and i had dinner at the ex-punggol restaurant at changi. after dinner we went back to ic's place and they surprised me with a lovely cake from conrad(!).

today i received a lovely card from tHierry, all the way from London. and my first thought was: how sweet, but he is one day late. then i kicked myself after i realised my b'day is not even here yet. how silly.

i think i'm losing track of time, or am i trying my best not to remember?

tHierry sent a beautiful card: hope this card will reach you on time. take a moment to look at this card and relax, breathe and enjoy the peace and tranquility this picture brings you. when this is done, Go and Enjoy Yourself. such a thoughtful guy. thanks, my friend.

there's still half a cake left in the fridge. simple pleasures.....last.

crashing

after trying to log on to the system for about 45 minutes, i eventually gave up and packed up. in a sms 40 minutes ago, gN said i should pack up and go join juli@n@ and her for dinner.

i think this is possibly the first time since i started that i feel it so 'up' in my chest. almost choking me already. endless.

i'm rather reluctant to think of myself as less capable and hence not coping. the truth is, before the thought of one 'thing' flashes across my head, the next 'thing' comes pushing its way through. it is so tiring.

constant rings of concerns keep circling in the head. but it really can't be that bad. deep breath helps, tea helps, walk around a bit helps, in fact going to class becomes theraputic.

i need to go finalise the papers now.

good nite, eng soon

one of those sms that catches you off guard.

eng soon's passing came as a shock. i had no idea he had been in the hospital for the past 6 months. he must have suffered quite a bit.

it's so difficult to start writing about a friend who has just recently passed on. images float into your head but you can't seem to be able to catch hold of any of them. other than those times we spent together at HWA, the most memorable time we had must have been that trip to tasmania. otherwise, he is this kind, always smiling, chatty and hardworking friend.

how is it that we lose friends like this?

i feel this weird sensation in my tummy now. it is as if i want to talk to someone and yet at the same time also wish to be left alone.

perhaps now is the best time to just go to bed and see how things are when i wake up tomorrow.

good nite, eng soon.

cousins & friends

xiaojia says i should include pictures and write about them.

somehow as we grow older, we tend to speak to cousins more. i think von and miin are closer than before. sh@ron and me also. now we are big kids playing together, something that we missed out in our childhood. now that we've become sensible adults, we find the correct click and get on from there. perhaps it is also the polite thing to do.

afterall, family is most important, isn't it? and cousins are family. and to me, friends come just as close.



first heard michael w smith's friends when sh@ron brought me to bedok bethesda church to watch that play. i didn't really pay attention to the song then, except that the tune and title sounds familar and easy to remember. now i hear this song again and am touched by the simplicity of it all. the message, the music, the song.

and it makes me remember shuli@n, a friend i lost to cancer. she must be in heaven now.

turning 36

this time i feel it coming.

there was this phase when i lost track of time and doesn't know it's coming. some years i even forgot about it. some years i can't remember my age and have to take whatever the year to subtract 71 to know my own age. this time round i'm crystal clear: 35 turning 36.

(sigh...)

but why sigh? life is good to me. i got a job, decently paid. i can drive to wherever i want to, whenever i want to. i brought mum and aunts to macau & hong kong. i brought the whole gang to eat xiao long pao. and i have a pair of lovely niece and nephew.

LY says i'm a little pessimistic. i'm not sure if i should agree with that.

the other nite yZ and i went for supper. he asked this very mature question: what is life? i still think of myself as his teacher, so i said "you'll find out when you find out."

june has come and gone. very soon july will be over too. i look at the books in my room and think of how lucky i am.