Venting and Tuition

I'm not in a good mood today so let me vent without judging.

I hate people online who add me as a friend without even speaking to me. Don't quite understand? Let me give you a hint. I came online today and after weeks of eschewing Facebook, I finally logged in. Noticing the 2 new friend request on the sidebar I clicked on it to check it out. Two pictures came out and I felt like screaming.

The two people who just added me? They're not my friends at all. Yes, I understand we shouldn't judge and all that, that we must be friends with everyone, but seriously, these two people are two of the many schoolmates I've known by name only since Form 1 and have barely spoken ten sentences to them. Then, all of a sudden, they show up for a friend request.

I'm sorry if I'm breaking someone's heart but I get annoyed because I don't even know them. It irks me, really, that these people take stuff like friendship so lightly. Isn't it supposed to be some sacred bond? Now it seems like the "Add ___ As Your Friend" button is for people who think that, Yeah, we've been in the same school for years, I know who she is, that automatically makes her my friend.

A loud, resounding No is my answer.

You might think I'm thinking too much, reading too much in some harmless gesture, and maybe I am, but my mind can't stop analysing and criticising everything I come across. And so I will now take it one step further.

I will push the 'Ignore All' button that will clear my Facebook profile from all those annoying notices. Yes, including the two not-friends request, 1 group invitation, 6 page fan requests, and 100 applications.

It's done.

On a lighter note, we had our Chemistry tuition yesterday. It was from 10 am to 4 pm and it was long, but I managed to stay fresh, unlike certain people who had to chew gum to stay awake. (hehe, Wendy, that's you.)(No, Lou, it's not our Wendy, this is Wendy from BU4)

Was the first person to arrive. Was actually really scared I'd get there late cause Mrs Foo was combining both her Tuesday and Wednesday classes and I wanted to get a good seat. It was held in our Physics tuition class so I took my normal place.

Had a good start. She used two hours to go through Form 4 work, and there was a bit where she got a bit confused or something when she came to Salts, I think, cause she made a mistake.

Mrs Foo: Now, Zinc. Yellow when hot, white when cold. What about Lead?

It was brown when hot and yellow when cold, which was what the class was yelling. Maybe it was a bit of foot-in-mouth disease due to large number of students, but Mrs Foo said:

'Lead is brown when yellow.'

So the whole class, predictably, started laughing. Then it was nearing 12 o' clock, which was the time she let us off for a one and a half hours lunch break, when she asked us if there were any questions. Behind me, Elaine was murmuring,

'When we can go for lunch?'

So yeah, in the end we weren't sure where to lunch, so we followed the rest of the class down the stairs before we decided. Elaine and I talked about calling delivery, but she said she didn't want to eat McD. She told us of a newly-opened A&W instead, so we made our way there.

Initially it was me, Montri, Ben, Candice, Elaine and Wendy who were going, but TiMi and Kai Hsiang (did I spell his name right? And yes it's TiMi = Tim and Michelle) were a bit lost as to where to lunch so they tagged along. C, E and W got caught up in some clothes shop we walked past and went in. We weren't sure whether to wait for them or not but like Tim said, 'Like the pirates, whoever stays behind gets left behind!' we left them there and went on to A&W.

Bit hazy with directions but the A&W is in SS2 (duh!) and it's about the same row as the Tai Thong Dim Sum restaurant, opposite Eu Yan Sang. We went into A&W and were debating whether to order set or ala carte when Ben said, 'Order ala carte. I added it up, it's much cheaper than the set.' But I wanted to see what the others were eating so I turned around and asked TiMi and KH. 'Are you guys eating ala carte cause that's what we're having.'

Tim went, 'Huh? Ala carte? What's that?' Then his gf gave a lecture on him about how ala carte was just the item without the set and doesn't he know that? Apparently he's never heard of it before.

Then C, E and W joined us, but C and E said they didn't want to eat fast food so they'll walk around to find something else. Fine, then. Went ahead to order. Swung around to find that TiMi and KH had left as well. Montri was laughing.

'They left cause they no money!' I raised my eyebrow. Montri explained. 'Timothy opened his wallet and showed us he had no money!'

'Ask the gf pay for him lah,' I commented. Montri and Ben were laughing. 'She didn't bring money also. Wanted him to pay.'

Ye-ah.

So in the end it was just me, Montri, Ben and Wendy. And Wendy told us about the time the school called her dad up because she missed the Physics SPM test. Her dad ran frantically into her room and asked if she skipped the test. Turns out that she wanted to drop it but they didn't allow her to, so her HM suggested that she just not attend the test. Weird thing was, the school only called her dad after Paper 1 was over.

So we went back to tuition to find Elaine and Candice (who returned later) to be eating McD. Apparently they went to the market and all they sold there were raw fish and stuff so they had to revert back to McD.

Anyway, was feeling so tired after the whole tuition yesterday but at least it was productive.

Cheers.

Exams Woes

Ah, finally! After 3 or so weeks of slaving for the dreaded SPM, I am back to update! I've got about 3-4 days of studying for my final exam which is *ching ching chin* CHEMISTRY!


To quote Lou, I've got chemistry with Chemistry. Oh yeah!

Bimbo moment over. Allow me that brief, fleeting second of insanity. In case you didn't know, SPM is a killer. Not that it's hard or anything (really, I find it easier compared to trials where I butchered my Add Maths) but it's the stress of the whole thing, how SPM is the one that determines your future and all that.

So, first paper: BM1, Sejarah 1 and BM2. I was frantic for BM1. I used my memory palace the day before to memorise 20 plus peribahasa (which I can still recite, I think, if you give me some time--such is the wonder of the memory palace). In the end, I didn't manage to use much of them, so, crossed fingers, hopefully I can get an A. Sejarah was relatively fine, BM 2, I managed to answer all the peribahasa questions! They mayn't be right but at least I (think) know what they were! Hurrah!

Second day was English 1, English 2 and Sejarah 2. English 1 - the essay - was a bit disappointing. I expected something better. The one word title - Beauty - and the story - End with "And we said goodbye and went our separate ways" - irked me. Firstly, the story's ending was shite, to put it politely. It was bound to be some soppy tale about two people meeting up, then realising they weren't meant for each other, and then end with the sentence above. It was so cliched, there wasn't much you could do with it. What else could you say? Then the one word title: Beauty. Melinda did something about feminine beauty, something of the sort, while Erina, being her usual despressing self, had to start with some character's death, who turned out to be her mum, and started talking about the mum's beauty.

I took a leaf out of my sister's book (she did something similar with the same title, just less adjectives and fancy words) and I wrote about this sorceress, Belle, who ruled a country as Queen. It was never said, but implied that at that time the country was weak and tidak maju. So I made her character strong and tough. Modelled her after Katie McGrath as Morgana in Merlin, who, if you haven't seen her picture (check my header), looks eeriely like the black-haired version of Keira Knightley. Really, when I saw her in Merlin my first reaction was, She looks so familiar. She reminds me of...OMG, don't tell me Keira dyed her hair for the show!!!

But no, it was Katie McGrath instead. And don't laugh, but I described Belle as "the product of an encounter with a vampire and Keira Knightley". I kid you not, I actually wrote that in my English SPM essay. The examiner's gonna laugh his ass off. So Belle's rumoured to be some wicked sorceress who rules with an iron fist. And her people call her Bellamorte (loosely translated as Killer of Beauty -- I made that up. Bella, Morte.) because they think that she killed virgins to steal their beauty and thus, forever remain mortal, because, according to them, how could someone with the face of an angel have a heart so black like she does?

"And that is incorrect, ladies and gentlemen!"

See, Belle's misunderstood. She's dark, but she realises that to memajukan her country, she has to establish it as a proud land who will not bow to defeat. Unfortunately, that meant being as evil as possible. It's kind of tough-love-ish, and as I'm tying this, I'm waiting for Miss Louise to call. Oi, what time you calling?

Anyway, the story starts with Ascarth, this tavern keeper who falsely accuses this peasant of stealing wine meant for the Sorceress Belle, and he gets her to throw the poor peasant in jail, even after the peasant begged for mercy, to which our girl replied, 'I value justice more than I value mercy.' But Belle means every word she said, and in the night she kills Ascarth for his wrongdoings, quoting her previous statement as she watched him die.

Up to here it takes up 3 pages, so I continued by saying she gave (anonymously) the tavern's money to the peasant's wife, and continues to rule her country as Iron Lady by day, avenging angel by night. Of course, no one knows about this, so it was only until after her death that people found her journal where she'd dictated everything she did. And people saw her in a new light, and erected statues, and every year there'd be a festival of Beauty, and her tale became the Legend of Beauty....

If it sounds cliched, yeah I know. Lack of inspiration. At least I wrote an out-of-the-box story, instead of people who write facts and what not. Could never stand them. Anyway, Sejarah 2 was a killer, especially in the essay bit where they asked about ciri-ciri Kerajaan Turki Uthmaniyah. I mean, I know a bit but not much and i'd rather not risk it lah. Third day was EST, went well, nothing much. What's there to talk about EST?

Then both Maths papers were relatively OK, same goes for Moral which I could do lah. Add Maths was the one that really got me worried. In case you didn't know, my Add Maths track record isn't exactly straight As. But it turned out relatively fine (note I'm using RELATIVELY).

Then the sciences came about. I needed to do well in Bio if I was going to take Biochemistry, and I found out that Zhuo Liang was planning to take that as well on he was taking his in Form 6 and me in college. Bio was tricky at points but again, relatively good. Physics, even though I wasn't a big fan of it even though I can do well if I study my arse off, was easy compared to Bio. I liked it very much. Now there's one last stop before we hit home free: Chemistry.

Now that academics are over, let's go to the laughs. For started, you wouldn't think that something so serious as SPM could garner laughs, could it? According to my sources from inside Bilik 2 (you know who you are!), things are boring and people pretend to study even though they actually aren't. Dunno if it applies to you but...Mine is Bilik 5 and we're freaking hilarious. I can't quite remember which paper was it, Maths or Add Maths, but everyone came back after the lunch break only to realise that someone was missing.

'Eh,' Examiner checked the name on the slip stuck on the table, 'Mana...Gerald Lim?' Yes, people have trouble pronouncing his name. Then everyone turned around, and the class started buzzing.

'Eh, where's Gerald? Why no one call him? Where he go?'

Class was buzzing like mad. Then the examiner suggested we call his house to check. 'Who is Gerald Lim's best friend?'

The class as one voice shouted, 'Darrel!' Gerald and Darrel sit together in class and everyone knows they're really good friends. Then, Nick Leong decided to start teasing. 'Eh, Darrel. Don't like that lah, dump Gerald like that. He's waiting for you at home you know.' And the whole class erupted into insinuations that Gerald and Darrel were together. Naturally we started laughing like crap, and the laughter increased when Gerald finally showed up. Even the examiner was laughing.

Moment 2. Happened only yesterday. See, I'm really grateful for my pals, and today I decided to tell Chiau Hui how grateful I am to be her friend and all that. I don't usually say stuff like that so it was a bit awkward - always felt like I was confessing my love ala BFG relationships. So in the canteen, I took a deep breath, looked at CH and said, 'Thank you very much for being my friend. I'm sorry for always losing my temper, and I thank you for being so understanding.'

She stared at me, and cried out, 'Are you migrating?' I had this really solemn voice on so I guess that's where she got her ideas. And at this point, I really couldn't resist so I nodded solemnly, and answered: Yes.

'What?' She genuinely looked shocked. 'When are you leaving?'

'Right after SPM in December,' I replied soberly. I was trying hard not to laugh, but it didn't work, so I settled for a I'm-Sorry-it-had-to-be-like-this, understanding sort of smile. That worked like a charm.

'Ha! And you tell me this now! Why can't you tell me after SPM? Now I can't concentrate.' And if you were there, you would've noticed how sad she looked. Really. I felt it. Felt almost guilty. Repeat, almost guilty.

Well, not really. I've got a lack of remorse. So, no, I felt no guilt at all.

We sat down, and she continued bombarding questions. 'Where are you migrating to?' she demanded. I didn't expect that so I fumbled a little bit (she didn't notice though), and crapped out: New Zealand. My relatives just returned from holiday there. Wanted to say Canada or something but my brain got ahead of me.

CH didn't relent. 'When you leaving?'

'On my birthday.' I even managed to inject some reluctance in my voice, like how much I didn't want to leave. Then her brow furrowed. 'I thought you were working for your mum on that day.' Yeah, helping out my mum for some sale thingy.

'Yeah I am,' I said deliberately. I could almost see the cogs in her head, piecing it together, and then... 'You're not migrating, are you?'

Smiling at her, 'Nope.' And got a whack on my arm for that. I was laughing though. She honestly thought I was migrating, and she was scolding me about that, but hey, at least it brought a bit of levity. Then I decided to do the same to Miss Erina, so I walked up to her, and used my solemn, someone-has-died voice and repeated what I told CH. Being the depressing girl she is (like I mentioned earlier), Erina gripped me by the shoulders (really!) and asked, 'Are you dying? You're not dying are you? You sound like you're dying. Don't die!' she wailed. OKlah, not wailed, but you get the point.

Then I was like, 'No I'm migrating.' That took her by genuine surprise. Her eyes widened. 'Seriously?' I nodded. 'Where to?' 'New Zealand.' She broke into a smile. 'Hey, when I migrate over I can see you.' Yes, she's most likely migrating to NZ after college or SPM. I nodded and smiled. Forgot what happened next, but then she turned at me and said. 'You're not migrating, are you?'

'No.' I replied cheekily. Don't mean to brag, but felt proud, really, taking them in. Erina gave a noise that was half-laugh, half-exasperated and she clutched her book. 'I should whack you lah.'

OK, number three. As you know, Physics paper 3, for the experiment bit, one was about the number of weights and the spring, which I looked at and was like, okay, can do, but let's see the other one first. Then I flipped the page, and KABOOM! It was solenoid! It was about, when the current increases the strength of magnetic field increases and the experiment was something about using a solenoid and a soft iron core to create a temp. magnet to attract pins.

Well, I didn't focus much on this experiment, only flipped through, because it already came out for my trials (for which I got full marks on that bit) and I thought to myself, Can lightning strike twice? Apparently it can. So I was smiling all the way when I did the question. Afterwards, Erina confided that she had a feeling that the solenoid would come out again. In case you didn't know, for trials Erina randomly flipped a page in her Physics book and studied the experiment on the page moments before the exam. That particular experiment was the solenoid experiment. So Erina told Candice that if solenoid came out again for SPM, she would kiss the floor.

Naturally after that announcement, Candice and I immediately pestered her to kiss the floor. Erina protested by saying too dirty, must use Dettol to clean first. I pulled out my Dettol sanitiser. She looked shocked. 'Ha, serious ah?' Well, duh! Then we compromised by having her kiss the table, and she agreed, but she took one look at the name on the slip, recoiled in something between dislike and disgust (Yerr, it's Montri's table!) and moved onto the next one. In the end she kissed the back of Melinda's chair, but Candice and I weren't really satisfied.

Now the best for last. Jo and I were staying back during the 4-hour break between Add Maths 1 and 2. Stupidly enough, I checked my schedule not realising that we have 4 hours break, and I didn't want to go to my cousin's place so I stayed in school. Then turns out the canteen didn't provide lunch, so after worrying a while, I called Dad and he turned up with our orders for McDs! Jo came down with me to get the food, and everyone was looking envious. JY even got someone to send him Burger King!

So after lunch, Jo and I retreated to the outside of my Bilik 5, where it was quiet since no one was around. We chatted, and then he took a nap while I went through my Add maths. Then we got bored and started walking back to the badminton court. We met Xin Wei and Candice at the Co-op and sat down on the chairs, me next to Jo, Xin Wei next to Candice. Afterwards, XY and C stood up trying to balance themselves on the step, and Montri came over and plonked down on the bench, head in Jo's lap! We were laughing so hard when Giselle, Alicia and Phei Fang saw us and came over. We started talking with Montri closing his eyes while Jo motioned silently for a pair of scissors.

Which was rather appropriate as at this moment, Alicia was talking about chopping off her long hair for a shorter do. Fang had scissors ready and passed them to XW, who passed them (exaggerated) silently to me to pass to Jo. Jo motioned to me to cut Montri's hair which I refused. Then there was a silent, motion-only argument between us until Jo took the scissors. And all these time we were actually keeping up the conversation as if nothing was happening.

Alicia buried her face and said, 'I can't bear to watch.'

'Watch what?' Montri piped up. 'Cutting her hair off,' Jo replied smoothly, slicing off a bit of his hair. He did it quite a bit, only tiny snips that don't really make a difference, and Montri never knew. In between we cracked quips about how Jo could be a barber next time, and the Thai boy never knew a thing!

Then XW wanted in on the fun, and she took the scissors. Believe me, it was quite a feat keeping up talking while we watched the proceedings.

Then Montri started to wonder why everyone wasn't talking as much (too busy watching the hair-snipping with bated breath) and he swept a hand through his hair the same moment XW snipped a lock of hair. Naturally, his hands touched the scissors and he sprang up and everyone was laughing like shit.

He started spewing expletives while Jo brushed the hair from his pants. It was all cool though; you couldn't really tell if his hair was cut or not.

Well, laughs all around. But I need to sleep. Got revision tuition tomorrow for the whole day so I'll catch you guys around yeah. Thank you Ben for helping me calm down before BM by saying, "What's the point of studying so hard if you're too stressed to pick up the pencil?" and "Not studying a while won't kill you." Thanks very much.

Alright, then.

Cheers.

Knights of Fairy Tales

Dialogue taken from King Arthur (2005)...

"My father told me great tales of you," Guinevere said, by way of making conversation.

"Really?" Arthur asked, interested in spite of himself. "And what did you hear?"

"Fairy tales," Guinevere answered. "The kind you hear about people so brave, so selfless, that they can't be real." She gave a mocking smile.

"Arthur and his knights."
________________________

She had a thing for knights. Not the modern day kind, where all you had to do was do something great for the world and Queen E would grant you a knighthood. Where you had the title "Sir" in front of your name but had no royal blood lineage in you at all. Where your occupation was not to defend the kingdom but to play music or act in films.

She loved the old knights of Arthur's time.

Her fascination with Arthur started when she watched King Arthur. It started with a disclaimer where people never knew who Arthur truly was, but that later historians found Arthur to be based on a Roman Centurion called Arthorius Castus, or Arthur.

Then Merlin came about, and it was all she could do to stop herself from jumping in excitement. The swordfights excited her, and the magical moments, Morgana's moments especially, fired her blood up. It didn't hurt that she was always fascinated by swordfighting as a kid.

There would always be one truth: She believed in knights, so much so that she wanted to be one. Everything could change, but this one thing will not. She loved the fact that knights were chivalrous (a dying practice in this modern times); she loved that they stood for all that was right (unlike the corruption taking place throughout the world); she loved the way a sword would feel in her hands, strong steel that could cut through anything - she would give a world just for a chance to touch one.

Guns were alright, she guessed; like any other hot-blooded teenager, she liked guns. They were fast, deadly, and brilliant. But sometimes a part of her bemoaned the fact that guns lacked the finesse swordfighting did. Guns detached one from the real scene; anyone could pick up a piece, pull the trigger and walk off, unaffected. But it took guts to pick up a sword, fend iff your opponent, parry him off, use your head to turn the situation against him, with a large possibility that you were going to get your hands dirty with blood. Guns ended things too quick; she wanted to feel the snag of resistance, wanted to see how people would fight for their lives. She wanted to hear the hum of the blade as it swung in the air, feel a sense of satisfaction when it hit another blade with a resounding clang.

Like most things, the art of swordfighting was lost.

But she missed the knights the most.

She liked the Ancient times. At least back then, the only way you died in battle was by a sword, knife, axe or arrow. Nowadays, as the crime preventing tech gets more effective, people are looking for more deviant ways to kill. Truth be told, she preferred it old school. If it were against any medieval weapon, you could always fight back. But how could you possibly resist sodium penthothal (truth serum) or fight back against nuclear bombs and stuff like that?

Knights were her heroes. King Arthur was her favourite fairy tale. Because while other stories like Snow White, Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty focuses on a young prince on a white horse that arrived at the end of the day to sweep the credit and the young maiden into his arms (how unrealistic that people could fall in love at first sight and marry the next day- they should make one where, after marrying the prince, Cinderella files for a divorce), Arthur and his knights had to prove themselves able to defend the kingdom. Arthur had many choices to make, difficult ones that had a specific outcome, but that made him all the more humane.

He worked hard to get where he is now: a great king of a great kingdom that forms a legend that will never be forgotten, however fictional he might be.

And instead of hoping for princes to sweep us off our feet, shouldn't we charge forth and do the right thing?

"Sometimes you've gotta do what you think is right, damn the consequences." ~ Morgana to Arthur in Merlin, episode 4 : The Poisoned Chalice.

Today I Felt Down, But Cheesecake Cheered Me Up.

Yes well, I helped Mum to make the loveliest cheesecake ever. And it was delicious. For some reason, I can't stand it when people spell delicious as delish or especially as espesh. Sounds a bit rojak, no?

Yeah so was chatting with Chiau Hui during recess. Walked to my class with her and we were chatting all the way when I saw Jo outside the class and waved him in. And so the three of us started talking and Jo suddenly mentioned he still remembered I called him an idiot (albeit unknowingly, unthinkingly--refer to previous posts) and we started laughing, so I told CH what happened.

Then Jo and I had a hilarious laughing spree where I suddenly talked about Slowpoké the Talking Snail. If you'll go to my profile and scroll down you'd be able to see it.

Anyway, gotta go.

Cheers.

Just Because I Try To Justify Myself

I like my previous blog title: Just Because. Two simple words that mean a lot of things. Mostly used by the misunderstood to justify their actions.

Just because I lie..

Just because I hate him..

Just because this, just because that.

It's the universal answer to justify one's self. This example can be seen most times in crime dramas like CSI, Lie to Me etc.

"Just because I hate him doesn't mean I killed him."

Yeah you get the point.

We justify ourselves everyday because we believe what we're doing is right. We believe that the other side is wrong. But what if the other side believes they're the ones that are in the right and we're the bad guys? What happens next?

We're at an impasse, that's what.

Both sides will not give in, they'll just keep on going. And so the war continues.

Here's the thing, though.

What if, the action you are trying to justify, isn't really that all justifiable?

Cheers.

Fish Tales

Yeah, how is everyone lately? I'm fantastic, thanks for asking. SPM is how many days away? I don't know. Désolé, but I lost count. I don't like stressing myself unnecessarily when I'm already stressed enough.

Saturday we went to One Utama. Was deciding where to go for lunch when Mum caught sight of The Gardens. Yes, it's the one with the adjoining boutique and whatnot. So we decided to give it a try, and we ordered from the Lunch set or something of the sort.

The drinks were a choice of Ice Lemon tea, Ice Coffee or tea. All of us toook ILT, and one thing that was cute was that it came in small pitchers! Uber adorable, with the stirrers that had a flower at the top. The soup of the day was onion soup, which I expected to be nice, but I was a bit disappointed as it was just clear broth that smelled heavenly of onions but tasted bland. Like I said,

"It was like drinking onion-smelling water."

Dad ordered the Beef Ginger, which was basically rice, pompadom, and a side dish of beef slices in a brown ginger sauce. Not bad, although the beef was a little tough to chew. Sis ordered the Spaghetti Aglio Ed Olio with Prawns (ha! I actually remembered how to spell it!). It was just spaghetti fried with garlic, olive oil, chilli flakes and some sauteed prawns. Sis was looking expectant when it came in a super large triangular dish that took up almost her whole corner of the table, but the portions were a bit small, though the prawns were big. It kinda reminded me of a convo I had with some friends last year in school when we were talking about French food.

"French food, like foie gras (goose liver), is very expensive, but it's very con lah! You pay so much for the dish, and your plate on the table very big, but then they serve it (the food) on a small dish served on a slightly bigger dish stacked on top of the big plate on the table. Then when you look at it, the foie gras is actually less than a quarter of the size of the original big plate. So, basically, you're paying lotsa money for the stacking of the plates instead of the foie gras itself."

True, in a sense.

Mum took the Seafood Noodles, which comprised of yee meen, mussels, prawns and vegetables. At first she was dubious about it, but later realised that it was worth every cent because the portions were big. Hello, mussels?

Mine was the Butter Ginger Dory Fish with Pineapple and Mashed Potato. Sis wanted to order that as well but took the spaghetti in the end. I was actually quite excited, because I had the idea that it would be those high class-looking dishes, where they'd melt butter in a pan, add in some ginger shreds for flavour, then pour it over the dory fish in a light, brothy kind of sauce, like the ones they used in the posh western restaurants. Then, on the side, they'd give a dab of mashed potato and some pineapple slices.

I had never been so disillusioned.

The fish came, sitting in the middle of the same big triangular plate as Sis's spaghetti did, surrounded by a creamy looking sauce. My first thought was, Hey, is that creamy thing the mashed potato? Maybe they made it so creamy and nice they filled the plate with it and placed the fish on top. Don't laugh; I've learned to appreciate the art of arranging food. Blame Jamie Oliver.

So I dipped my fork into the creamy thing, stuck it into my mouth....and resisted the urge to spit it out again. Because, dear friends, the creamy thing WASN'T the mashed potato; nope, it was the butter sauce. And I love butter, but this time, it tasted as if someone had mushed the soft butter up with 5 pounds of sugar, mixed it around, and dumped it on the plate. Really, it was that sweet. Reminded me a bit of Nigella Lawson.

"Now we pour in a cup of sugar--" dumps in half the bag. "--and we add a pinch of salt--" throws a whole cup inside. Honestly, the woman can give you diabetes.

The butter sauce, it's like you stick it into your mouth, the first thing you can taste is the sweetness. Then after a bit, you can taste the strong taste of butter. Horrible combination. Exactly why I don't like jam. Too sweet.

I want to avoid getting diabetes, so I did what every normal person would do under the circumstances: I skipped the sauce and ate just the fish. Very obviously, I wasn't full. The fish was actually quite nice, but one part annoyed me a bit: Remember the pineapple? I found a thin, tiny slice of it right on top the first portion of fish and that was it. Now I have a feeling that the sweetness in the butter sauce was contributed by the errant pineapple. Then I dug deeper and I found: mashed potatoes! The saving grace! Bit bland, but after the too-sweet texture of the sauce, I was ready to welcome it!

Mum couldn't finish her noodles so I helpfully (ha!) finished it for her, all the while declaring, Thank God for the person who invented the yee meen! Honestly, I wasn't about to underestimate it again.

You might have found The Gardens to your taste, but for me, it was a one time only, never again sorta visit.

Got any bad restaurant tales to share?

Cheers.

I Wear A Mask Every Single Day, A Façade of Calm and Removedness, But Sometimes, The Veneer Cracks, And You Get A Glimpse Of Who I Truly Am.

People take everything at face value.

Their first impressions of people they meet decide if that person would be a good friend or a good colleague. However, first impressions are not the only thing that decides a man's future connections. It is that man's personality, his essence of being, that magnetises the people around him and draws them closer. It is just a matter of getting the time to know them, after all.

The question is, will you take the time to know me?