Oh for the love of kids...

… I actually went to the Jurong Bird Park today.

I HATE birds. They squawk, they shed feathers, they crap. Major-ly. All over the place. And sometimes even on your head. They are, in my opinion, disgusting, unhygienic, pesky things.

Having to drag myself out of bed at 6.30am on a Saturday morning after a long work week didn’t exactly help either.

But I’m glad I did.

My firm organised a day out for underprivileged kids from the Singapore Children’s Society and the Children’s Aid Society. Most of these kids have rather tragic stories – some are orphans, some were abused, some of them just simply were born in families too poor to raise them.

I was assigned a 6-year old girl, S. S was small for her age, pixie-faced with a head of short, dark ringlets, quiet and shy… or so I thought! After a couple of hours, she turned out to be just the opposite – very inquisitive and very chatty. She was petrified when we were in the Lory Loft, though. Lories are these little colourful parrot/macaw-like birds and they are allowed to flit around freely in this aviary. You are also allowed to purchase a bowl of birdfeed and hold it out to attract these greedy little creatures. Of course, I was as disgusted and freaked out as S, who spent most of the time clutching my arm, and her head buried in my side. But I had to appear brave right? So I valiantly held out the bowl of feed and in no time a swarm of lories crowded round to lap it up. YIKES!!!!! Ok, admittedly, it made for excellent photo ops (will post pics later)… but the scratchy sound they made with their claws, their beady eyes darting around and their scaly tongues dipping into the semi-liquid feed made my skin crawl. I was as glad as S to be out of that place!

The aforementioned lories... ewl...

The rest of the day went by rather pleasantly, and thankfully, without too many more encounters of the feathered-kind. The kids looked like they genuinely enjoyed themselves Before I knew it, it was 2pm and time to send them off. I felt almost teary when we got to the exit and S reluctantly let go of my hand, turning back many times to wave goodbye. Maybe she felt a little sad to leave too?

I know just one day doesn’t change their lives and nothing we do can erase the pain they went through before, nor will it make the days ahead any easier. But I’m hoping it made at least a little difference. I’m hoping it gave them something to remember and just a little bit more to smile about.

An Evening at the Races

A long trek to Kranji, cockroach leg in my soup and a spot of gambling just about sums up this evening’s highlights.

XJ’s firm hosted a client event in one of the VIP lounges at the Turf Club so I tagged along. Ran into one of my ex-clients from B Co. What a surprise. But nothing beats the shock of finding a lone cockroach leg in my "Cream of Wild Mushroom" soup. Gross. All the waitress could muster was "oh my God…" and quickly grabbed the offending bowl of soup and scurried away. No apology, no replacement (not that I wanted any!!!!), and what?!?!? No free gift?!?!?!?

Of course, no visit to the Turf Club would be complete without placing some bets, right? But before you think we’re compulsive gamblers, let me just state for the record that it’s our first time ever. Singapore Pools kindly provided us with a "Tip Sheet" for each of the races that night. We eagarly placed bets on Gutsy Star and Akashi Champion - tipped as hot favourites to win - but they came in close to last! So much for beginner’s luck!

Unfazed, we decided to go for a dark horse next - and chose Bright Bambino - which had odds of 5:346 (i.e. you place a bet of S$5 that it will be placed in the top 3 and if it does get placed, you win S$346). Great returns, but that also means it’s unlikely to win lah. But heck the winner of the last race wasn’t a favourite either. Unfortunately, we forget - Murphy’s XJ’s best friend. Moments after we placed our bets, we heard the pre-race commentary over the PA system: our darling Bambino had broken his leg in April. If we hadn’t put our money on him, the events unfolding at the start-line would have been totally hilarious - they were trying to drag the poor horse into the starting grid (izzat what you call it?) and it was kicking and resisting like crazy. No amount of shoving, tugging, kicking, jabbing in the ass would get poor Bambino to step into his place. The poor sweetie must have been too traumatised from his accident! They finally pulled a blindfold over his eyes and led him in. Bambino dear actually did pretty well the first half of the race despite being last off the block. I think he was too freaked out and wanted to get away. He actually caught up and reached 2nd place! Boy, was I cheering for him. But for all his efforts, he still couldn’t last the distance. :(

We finally came to the conclusion that we were just not born to be gamblers when, for the next race, we placed bets on 4 out of the 12 horses and STILL didn’t win anything. Destined to slog for life I tell you. Sigh…

View of the race course and finishing line from our VIP box

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A Tale of Two Cities

All because my idea of culture is both:

..." Poetry, fashion shows, and good wine"...

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

and...

..." Going to a modern art museum or clubbing with your friends"...

You Belong in New York City

You're an energetic, ambitious woman. And only NYC is fast enough for you. Maybe you'll set yourself up with a killer career Or simply take in all the city has to offer.

What City Do YOU Belong In?

All new!!

OK... finally, my new blog's up.

The past 2 weeks have been crazy-busy. It's only my 11th day back at work since I started on 9th Nov but it feels more like 11 months. Wondering, when will my next break be?...

The weeks since I arrived back in SG seem to be filled with activity. Don't feel as if I've rested much. All the benefits of my sleep-eat-massage-eat-sleep (repeat ad inifitum) routine back in Phuket have been eroded by my return to 14-hour workdays. Sniff. And when I'm not working, it's frenzied vendor-shopping for our wedding. It's really quite fun - the hunt for dresses, photographers, videographers... but also very draining. Definitely to be done only once in a lifetime!

More details another time.

Exhausted.