I am content. The week has been good. Having one off day per week is my idea of perfect.
Monday night was spent chilling at Ben&Jerry's (Dempsey) in the middle of the night with Char & Alex. I love dark, quiet places with a history. Dempsey fits the bill, minus all the annoying crowds that pack in on weekends. We ran into a weird situation where this alarm went off at about 1+/2am & it wouldnt stop. It had a melody too. It was soo bizzare.
Tuesday was spent running around collecting my passport, letters & then wrestling with my UK Visa application. It's such a bitch! Argh... So apparently, we had used the wrong forms & now I have to go back again with MOREMOREMORE supporting documents to satisfy those Anglo-custom officers. GRAH. It was made better with a nice evening spent rollerblading in sentosa. Josh & I crashed some korean prize ceremony at the beach near Rasa Sentosa, but too bad no one served us free beer!
Wednesday was the girls' night out with Sween's homecoming. We added lovely Rebecca into our gang. Ivy as usual poofed into thin air again, despite all her promises. (What's new? If you're reading it, that's great!) Too much food for dinner, plus Haato gelato to top it all off, you thought thats all our tummies could take. Then Char had to suggest we go DblO to grab free drinks, so off we went. We are suckers for bargains, especially when the wallet's the empty. This guy called himself Peter Pan came over to join our table. I reckon he's prolly the best looking guy in there, but too bad we werent in a social mood. Plus, theres no point since we were leaving in like 30mins. Haha. But really, whats with the weird names & pick up lines these days.
Thursday evening was like entering into a new realm. I visited COLBAR, i think its like an angmoh style kopitiam in this picturesque angmoh neighbourhood, near Portsdown Road. It looks like a school canteen with the brightly coloured plastic tables & chairs on cement flooring and florescent ceiling lights. It's airy with a really laid back vibe. The place even had some kinda history-story plagues to describe its background. I really like the place- so unassuming, so old school, so personal. It sells its drinks like a mama shop- they have coolers selling self-service exotic beers ales & ciders & other usual soft drinks. They have a japalang menu - steaks to local food to sandwiches. My Chicken Merry-Land, was a kick ass stuff-yourself-silly meal- 1 huge Chicken cutlet + fried bacon strips + a sea of baked beans + 1 goreng pisang (banana fritter) + fries. Yeah... Definitely for the Angmoh appetite. Haha. I had some a bottle of Cider which looked extremely harmless. Until i took a sip & i was like woah. Then i looked carefully at the description & saw "Extra Strong". Haha. Deceptive man.
Anyway, this new land is also home to the posh Cicada bar which I've always wanted to check out. Theres another pasta place which I recommended to wh to take her wj to. Next door is laurent's chocolate cafe, so thats good. On top of the hill above it, is another small bar. This residential enclave is gorgeous really. Its on top of a lush green hill, behind the tanglin halt HDB estate. All over, there were colonial style apartments and bungalows. I love the majestic old trees with over-arching branches. Most of them have tyre swings from the high branches. I wonder how they put it up. It's really like those American TV dramas, with a treehouse and all. When we were heading there, we saw the kids roaming around with their torchlights, all ready to visit a friend's house which was shrouded in the looming darkness & shrubs. After they disappeared out of our sight, we heard squeals & screams. Haha. Other than kids, the pets also run about freely. Josh & I were happily scratching this lazy cat on the stairwells. Families also tend to have their meals alfresco. We saw them take out their wine bottles & candlelights to have their dinner in front of their apartments. I guess if i stayed in such a lovely place, I would too.
After we had our dinner, it was really dark but still very nice. The walk back to Josh's place was really treacherous, because of the darkness. But the coolest part was trekking to that place from Tanglin Halt & back. To get there from Commonwealth, you'll have to go behind the HDB blocks, walk to the railway line, go through this cut away grilles which made a hole in the metal gate, so u go through the fence like an illegal immigrant! Then you run across the the rocky railway, past all the stones & debris, then walk on some narrow broken pebbled path up the hill, take a crooked flight of stairs, only then you'll see the cool estate. Walk back has a higher level of difficulty, especially when your companion was convincing you that there's a witch on your trail and there are some things in the trees, in the darkness.
Friday evening was meant for slacking. Bumming the night away, and it was. I merely met Az for supper at our favourite Mat hangouts i.e. alameen or alazhar. That boy has sold his soul to insurance, so all I can do is just twiddle my thumbs until he miraculously gets an extra hour. Haha. Anyway, the irony was that I made it a point to come home for dinner on friday, and no one was home! Except my maid. So i was listening to her sob stories about how her husband isnt doing a good job of maintaining the family back in Indonesia. I told her to slap him upside down when she goes back. It's really tough on her being the sole breadwinner, when her husband isnt even being a proper father.
So there, that was a vivid post. I havnt posted an entry of all what I did, where I went, etc etc in ages. It takes too much effort to describe everything in detail, although it is a joy to share my mental images.
Anyhow, I was just browsing through my older brother's buddhist books and it was rather enlightening. I realised that I like to contemplate over such advice with an open mind, from a philosophical point of view. Without any strong allegiances to any major religious institutions, makes you an ideal sponge for absorbing knowledge. I do acknowledge that faith is beneficial for people who believe that it is and that their faith is the truth. It's just that it's my personal preference to keep this status quo, so i can explore everything from an objective point of view. For example, I thought that the talk given by Venerable Ajahn Chah in London, in 1979 was filled with immense wisdom.
He talked about metta(loving kindness), panna(wisdom), sati(mindfulness), kilesa(mental defilement), tanha(craving) and sila(morality). How we can achieve happiness via 5 basic principles to keep sila. 1.Spread metta. 2. No infringement of other people's rights (e.g. not stealing from others). 3. Moderation (in one's sexual relations) haha. I found it a bit amusing, but yes its very true. Promiscuity hardly ever brings good news. 4. Honesty in speech, being truthful and upright. 5. Refrain from taking intoxicants, as it "creates darkness in the mind". Fulfilling these principles in your life will bring about "contentment, free from worries and remorse". So thats the sense of happiness we will experience. But he adds that happiness is transient. How we shouldnt cling onto things, such as happiness.
So yes I'm glad. I'm glad that I'm happy at the moment. I know that I wont be happy forever, but at least I am now. I wanna spread my lurveeee to everyone. I havnt stolen anything, except your hearts. Definitely moderate in sexual relations. I'm kinda straight-talking, I guess. It also helps that I'm not a member of Alcoholic Anonymous. Haha. I hope my happiness isn't that superficial, so even if it ends soon, I'm sure I'd find it again soon. From the bottom of my heart, I wish you happiness.
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