feet ache from standing all day, but it was worth it. :) i definitely want to give this industry a go.

because i made super duper yummy carrot cake (not caidaokway - the angmoh sort) with super duper yummy ginger and orange cream cheese frosting ANDDEN NOW I AM SICK I AM TONSILLITIS AGAIN AND IS VERY IRRITATING.

why i is always tonsillitis i am very grumps.

maybe i can just go and eat the carrot cake anyway. maybe is doesn’t really matter? *hopeful.

Somehow, last week, I found myself sending out resumés and being approached for a couple of jobs. It’s strange, really, considering how I still don’t know what I want to do, nor do I really want to work. There are a whole bunch of things I want to try doing, but I always figured that I’d give myself a year to do the whole “finding myself” gig before I actually went out there and uh.. started looking.

Anyway, no, I still don’t actually have a job yet. I do, however, have some amazing possibilities ahead of me - one in particular being a chance to foray into the professional cooking world. Most of my friends (and I assume a good portion of those of you reading this) will know that one of my great passions lies in the kitchen, and cooking has been a part of me for the majority of my life. And while it’s all well and good for friends to tell me to set up my own restaurant/catering business, I also know that the (hard) life of a cook is very different from my self-imposed 72-hour preparation marathons when the bunny and I entertain. Fingers crossed that I don’t make a complete fool of myself when that happens!

Also, I’ve just been approached to do my first private dining gig, and I’m super duper excited about this. It’s a fairly simple affair (thank god), but I’m really looking forward to this opportunity and experience. It’s a welcome change from the preparation and “research” (read: massive amounts of deeelicious cupcake-making) happening in light of a wedding job (cupcakes for the wedding favours) that I’ve taken on for early August.

In light of this - and one of the dishes that I’ll be preparing, I’ll be doing a little how-to post on duck confit. You can expect this sometime next weekend (or the week after), and hopefully I’ll remember to use my 30D, so not all of the pictures will be crappy-ish ones off my sexay, sleek GX100.

If any of you can’t wait, here’s a teaser over on vicki’s photostream. I was jointing the ducks and having a rather good time when vicki came over to grab a couple of cupcakes from the most recent batch and her face was contorted in horror at the sound of bones crunching beneath my poultry shears. :)

j: It’s a RAT!!! EXCUSE ME! IT’S THERE IT’S THERE!
i: Where where! We go and find!
j: THERE!!!! It tried to run in through the glass door but couldn’t then went back to the seats! MAKE IT GO AWAY!

rat-chase ensues, and j runs indoors, away from the rat

b: TAKE BOILING WATER! KILL IT!

w swoons.. (My hero!)

[5 minutes later]

someone runs out with a MUG of boiling water.

v: Er..?
w: Are you suuuure that’s enough?
v: I think maybe not…….

v & w snicker in the corner while trying not to look too humji

b: Aiya. Like that how to kill the rat! Is there a stick? If no hot water, then must take a POLE and POKE IT. It’s either impale it or use a kettle of boiling water!
w: I think maybe boiling water only by the mug here.
v: Wah. Why your hero so BRAVE one!
i: OH BUT IT’S SO SMALL! It’s just like a little hamster! So small! With big ears! It’s not a rat!
w: Mayyyybe…… it’s a baby rat? That will grow up into a large rat?
i: NO! IT’S NOT A RAT! IT’S JUST.. IT’S JUST A MICE!

w & v glance at each other, then bolt indoors, dying of laughter. tension from mouse-hamster-rat instantly diffused.

Most fun I’ve had in a while. But it’s always fun to see how some people don’t change very much from when they were small and already had in-built projectile-launchers in their bellies. :)

Ok-funny stand-up comic, with a kickass intonation on the world “unbelievable” and “tangy”. Hahahahhaha. Honestly, the “unbelievable” was far more Singlish than Chinese-Immigrant-To-The-US though. Chekkit. (thanks vick)

I was at Breko for like I don’t know NINE HOURS yesterday with a couple of friends yesterday (okay we took a break and headed out for dinner with different friends then reconvened), and oh well, what can I say, my friends love me and know me too well:

w: Oh god. I really hate how they append extra z’s to the end of everything! Look! BITEZ, BURGERZ, DRINKZ, DESSERTZ. WHY!
s: [dripping with sarcasm] I know. I hate it too. Don’t you, j?
j: [trying to drip with sarcasm too.] I KNOWWWW.
s: I HATE IT SO MUCH. IM GOING TO GO HOME AND BLOG ABOUT IT.
w: bitch.
j: Now she’s gonna blog about that
s: Now she can’t.
w: I hate you guys.

IN MY DEFENCE IM ONLY BLOGGING ABOUT IT COS YOU SAID I WOULD. not that anyone’s going to believe me anymore. but nevermind.

Okay well I guess I’m on track to economic activity then!

Edit: I don’t have a job! Don’t congratulate me!

I was initially planning three trips for the second half of this year - one was to be to Hoi An, Hué, and perhaps My Son with one of my favourite people in the world which was likely to take place in July, only now her family’s in London with her and inhibiting her use of the computer haha plus it’s so bloody difficult to get to Hoi An (read: SQ doesn’t fly anywhere near there, and we both have free flights on SQ which we want to make use of). So maybe not. Vietnam trip has been vetoed by the powers that be, or maybe I’ll just go on my own later in the year when it’s not so hot.

The second was meant to be the Trans-Mongolian Railway, but now I don’t know how that’s turning out either. I was supposed to go with two or three friends from Beijing to Moscow (then carry onto St Petersburg after) but I haven’t heard from the two who were supposed to be planning this. I shall go write them an email now to find out what’s happening.

Finally, in December I’m due in Hong Kong again for yet another wedding. It’s the second of my twice-yearly trips to Hong Kong (or so the past couple of years seem to dictate), and I’m dreading having to find a dress that I can squeeze into again. I already did that last year and that was painful enough. Well, not painful, I just don’t like dresses. Maybe I can escape this wedding dinner. Just head there for the ceremony and beg out of it. The upside is that I’ll get to see two of my friends who are being stolen away by the evil SAR, so that I’m looking forward to.

And no, there’s really no purpose to this post. I’m just rambling on because I can’t really figure out what the rest of my year is going to look like. As you can infer from the previous post, I’ve started my jobsearch, and I’m really wondering if that’s going to end up being the factor that kills my travel plans. Hopefully I can find something that will work out nicely and still give me the flexibility of my short holidays, since after all I have my graduations gift from my darling girlfriend which is redeemable in the form of a few (or many, if they’re cheap) holidays, jetting off to explore the world around me, or so they say.

I wonder if this means goodbye to my lazy days spent wandering around empty streets while the rest of the nation toils away in smartly starched shirts and matching trousers.

I know, I know, you all thought I’d be done with whingeing on about my dear Alma Mater (I’m so glad I can now call it an Alma Mater), now that I’m over and done with all of that, and I’m out of there.

BUT I HAVE ONE LAST COMPLAINT.

So, I was sitting down with bunny to write up my CV, since I figured it would be prudent to have one on hand, should I decide to start looking for a job anytime soon. (Unfortunately, it is not on my cards to remain forever Economically Inactive.) Now, I can’t really remember every single course that I’ve taken, and bunny advised (being the clever, working-world-savvy bunny that she is) that I should include certain relevant courses that I may have taken, pertaining to specific job applications.

Where else would there be to find this list of modules passed to date, other than the NUS website? I logged into the Registrar’s office, and found one list, only to my horror after printing it, I realised they excluded the most recent semester, even though they already mailed me with the grades and all that. So I decided to look into the GAPS website (Graduation and Academic Planning Something-or-other) to get the list of modules “currently” taking (going by the logic that if I haven’t passed it yet on the online records, I must still be taking it).

Surprise, surprise, darling NUS had completely locked me out of the system. I got the rather friendly notice stating that “this service is only available to students currently in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.” So… I’m not in the faculty anymore since I’ve passed enough modules to graduate, but I’m “still taking” the modules that I most recently passed since they’re not on the Modules Passed To Date list.

Sigh. They’re really not very friendly. It’s really no wonder that almost all of the posts on this blog that have been categorized under “School” also fit rather neatly into the “Whingeing” category.

The Theremin is a fully electronic musical instrument, and it’s really weird (and cool) to watch this guy playing it! It’s purportedly difficult to master since it’s played without being touched - the pitch is determined by the distance between the musician’s hand and the antennae. Cooool. (via vicki)