Forgotten Ramen

Realised when I posted about the second ramen set I got that I forgot to post about this awesome natto ramen Angie and I bought from the Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki. Ibaraki is known for its natto, a sticky fermented soy bean delicacy that most Japanese would eat with rice. I always thought it was only something you would have with rice, but this natto ramen and some natto rice crackers did open my eyes to its flexibility. The breakfast we had at the hotel also helped change my mind about natto with the interesting pairings they made with it. My first taste of natto made me wonder why the Japanese would  like such a foul item, but I am lucky to have given it a second chance while in Japan.

Anyway, back to the natto ramen. The boxed set had 2 portions and each portion had a pack of powdered soup base, as well as a liquid one. The powdered pack also contained dried natto bits which gave a nice burst of fermented bean flavour when smashed with my tongue. The broth was really hearty and I think there might have been a bit of natto paste in the mixture as it had the broth had a slight stickiness, making it cling to the noodles, yet didn't make it disgustingly gluey. 

As you can see, I had this portion with the marinated perfect egg and a yummy tonkatsu, which was after the dinner with Angie at Ippudo.

Om Nom Nom... BURP!

This is also my one thousandth post! WooT!

Thankful Donation Drive

I spotted a post by Photojojo regarding a donation drive they had that was as simple as posting a photo on any of the social media sites. All you had to do use their template to create an appreciative note to someone you love, put it on a picture and add a colored filter. Then simply post that photo on a social media site, tag them, and a dollar was donated towards a cause they believe in. And since it was Photojojo, the causes obviously had a photography base, another thing close to my heart. 

Time For A Slight Change

Finally getting down to changing the look of this blog. Going to keep it as simple as possible and less cartoonish. Guess maybe I'm trying to make it reflect more of the person I am now. Only problem is I'm not really good at this whole html, css, xml, xhtml (blah blah blah) that the new blogger layout is using. I need help, and Homer^ doesn't cut it. Hope it doesn't take too long!

I'm Done!

Finally, I complete my essay and handed it in, marking the completion of my final module for my Psychology diploma. I'm DONE! Done with Psychology at least.

School was fun, though not as fun as college life in SHATec, but fun because it got me more info, it made me use my brain again - which can be a little redundant when most of work requires that you use you memory, and it gave me a challenge.

Furthermore, there's the bit where I discover more about myself. Oh the cliche... but who cares... it's my bloody blog.

Ok, so the discovery... I've realised that I'm really not a 'theory person'. Simply from the final module of this course, I realised that Psychology is not for me. It's too much of a theory-based subject that gets me all frustrated and tired. After reading through countless amounts of info just to complete all the essays I've had to write, the one thing I was truly comfortable with ended up being the role-play session we needed to go through for the Counselling module.

Funny enough, I didn't even practice, and actually forgot the date of my role-play session and headed to class with no plan in mind except try to get myself out of it by using the 'sick partner' excuse. The lecturer said there was no time and asked if someone could help me with my role-play. UH OH!

So after 30 minutes to prepare, and only knowing what to do by watching others before me, I managed to get through the whole thing without much problem. Everyone seemed so tense and nervous, and at first I was - probably because I didn't practice, and I didn't know the person who was actually helping me other than her name. Strangely enough, within a few minutes of starting my session, I felt strangely calm and relaxed and now I wonder if I was marked down for bad posture?

Anyway, the realisation hit, and it confirmed my next move - to seek out a course for Counselling. Might be strange and very different from Hotel Management but it's not about a career change. It's about what I enjoy, and what I've been doing all this years. The love of food and the love for my friends (those who actually deserve it anyway). After going through many nights listening to people's problems, sometimes helping them with their problems, Psychology has helped that much in understanding some things. But it's in Counselling that I will find out how I can possibly give better help.

Will I be interested in helping people I don't know? Maybe... but for now, in my mind, Counselling might be a very good retirement plan.

Certified At Last

Went for my 2nd attempt at the driving test today. Was nervous as usual, but not as bad as my first. I was rather pissed off the day before, after my final lesson, because of cyclists and traffic lights. I got no idea why but it so happened yesterday that every time I was approaching a junction, the lights would turn orange just as I have slightly more than 1 car's length to stop, and therefore it meant that I had enough time to stop and should. Hit the brakes real hard in that similar situation about 3 times, until the instructor actually started snickering when here I am fuming. Another thing that pissed me off was a cyclist. Like in my earlier post, I was already fed up with them and here was one more taking his own sweet time to cycle at the side of the road, wobbling towards the middle. Honestly, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST CYCLE ON THE PAVEMENT??? Trying not to kill him, keeping rules in check and trying to drive at the same time nearly cause an accident itself. If it gets down to that I won't have pity for the cyclist. HELL NO! I was so frustrated with these buggers that I somehow aimed to hit the pedestrian crossing at the entrance to the school's circuit. My instructor said I made a late turning and it was too wide, but later on I realised that I was actually aiming to hit her. That's apparently how mad I was at the world yesterday and I totally didn't need stupid people like them bothering me during my test.

During the warm-up session I was driving as slow as a cow, even the car seemed to MoOoO! Then the butterflies and shaky leg came back to haunt me. Worst of all was the balloting session, somehow I knew when I looked at the board when my slip would be picked. As I guessed, I ended up with the tester coined 'The Terminator' and I knew for sure I'd fail again. I just started thinking that I'd have to fork out another $500 and wait till next year or something to retake the test.

Well, Terminator called my name and asked me to go ahead and start the car and crap. Once he came in, he cracked his neck and told me to go as if he already said I could start. Then all the way he nagged about how I should know to get around hazards and stuff. He was rather simple though, letting me choose and make most decisions but the nagging was enough to kill you. Going out to the road, he changed my test route and basically had to just turn where he liked. It was going alright until I reached the traffic light and, lo and behold, IT happened. 2 car lengths and it turns orange. Slammed on the breaks and stopped the car right before the white line, causing Terminator's things to slide and drop everywhere. I totally didn't want to look at his face at that moment. Worst part was that he didn't nag or say a thing about it and that was more irritating than him actually nagging. Then after 3 turns, he said "ok, turn left and go back to circuit". Heart sank, head thought "what did I do wrong now?"

Up the stairs and into the room, he starts by saying "you know what are your problems and weaknesses?" I honestly feel small next to him. He then goes on nagging about what I did wrong, and I just thought "just tell me I failed already and stop nagging to spoil the rest of my day". Shocks of all shocks, he finished his lecture, turns the paper around, writes 18 points and striked off the 'failed' mark, ticking the 'passed'. I was in so much shock I didn't know what to do and gave a small squeaky "thank you" and kinda whooshed out the room.

So anyone who has a p-plate they could lend me for a year I wouldn't mind taking it off ur hands. Heheheehe

Martha a.k.a. MARK

The very first time I saw this bugger was when he came to deliver stock and he looked really pissed off. He didn't smile one bit and his eyes were hidden behind reflective shades. My first thought was that he was mean and nasty, and if he tried that on us, he'd be in for more crap from our side.

Funny how first impressions seem to make the worst evaluations, and it didn't take long for me to figure that out with this fella.

The first time I actually got to know him was when he was scheduled to deliver one evening and was running slightly late. As the others had appointments to keep, I stayed back and waited for the delivery. When everything was settled, I took the opportunity to ask for a lift back to C'wealth MRT station. Since it was on the way (I hope that was the reason and not that he felt oblidged) and he agreed. During the whole trip, we didn't talk much (hello, my name is... my name is... slim shady), but I realised I liked his driving as I was busy SMSing yet didn't get woozy. He still says that I was afraid the first few times because I held on to the door handle, but THAT WAS JUST A HABIT! - formed because of the crazy driving by certain taxi drivers.

So I got posted to the main outlet, where he worked out of, and that's how it all blew up into a friendship that people seem to question. Hello... 21st century.... don't you think a girl and a guy can have a platonic relationship? Actually the people who question it are usually the type who go around falling for any Tom, Dick or Mary they meet/work with. (I hear a big MOOO!) Furthermore, he was in a relationship then and I don't know how some can go around creating trouble in other peoples' relationships. (I visualise hair flicking around to reggae music) Anyhoo, the move made it easy for us to make it to work, saving money sharing transport, and then much more money later. The hours we had to spend at work meant that we had quite a bit of time to talk, gossip, gripe and scheme. Mwuahahahaha!

Now why has this bugger made it on the list? He's nuts. Well, he is, but the main thing, as I finally realised, is that he's a compliment.

Amigos Para Siempre

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Kuka

Another person that I initially did not like during the 1st semester of school in Shatec. The whole reason was that she went to class and secretly read a novel under her table. Well I just felt that if she wasn't there to study and concentrate on the class, she could've given someone else that chance. I was actually closer to the girl sitting next to her, the one right before me, who ended up as the middleperson once again. This time, the middleperson didn't seem to bother keeping in touch unlike Yo.

Back to Sudha... She was a whiney and dramatic girl who wanted to break out of her traditional Indian roots, badly. She wasn't exactly a rebel but she tried her best to be. This didn't really give me a better impression, and the project we did together didn't help my initial thought about her not being interested in the course. One thing that we will never forget is that we started the whole course on her birthday and basically every year ahead started out around there. We got closer during the second year, because of group projects although we were actually seperated into different groups and sessions for most lessons. Eventually her 19th birthday was spent at a pub called De Javu as the owner was a close friend of my dad. From that time, maybe it was the drinking and the music instead, we got closer while the middleperson drifted away as she found another life with her, then future, husband.

There was one night that will always be etched in my mind and it's the very day we ended our work attachment. Happy that our lives were no longer stuck to the crappy hotels, we went out clubbing and someone decided to get really drunk. It's situations like this that u find out who are the people you can really trust and count on and the ones that basically get in the way and are plain useless. Well it's neither her nor me that I'm talking about here.

Anyway, long story short, clubbing lead to her meeting her husband and now they're both living in the US, too far away to just sit down and have a coffee with. Thank goodness I don't have to keep that secret from her parents anymore. She still pisses me off though ... doesn't know how to reply emails.

When are ya comin back?

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Kak Nurul

He was the guy that I totally loathed when I got a look at his flamboyant ways during the orientation for Shatec. At that time I was hoping that he wouldn't be in the same class but I wasn't that lucky. He ended up being class monitor and I was dreading my first semester in school. The teacher then gave us our first project and told us to get into groups. Somehow I ended up not joining any group, and since all were full except his, he asked if I'd mind joining his. With no choice, could I have said no?

I guess I was luckier than I had previously thought as he turned out to be the one that I worked very well with and ended up being encouragement for each other. The very thing about him that I really hated, I've grown to like and it's what makes him really stand out from the rest. It was rather obvious that partnering for our projects did us good as the ones that we didn't resulted in rather crappy grades.

The project that got us really close was the one he dreaded most; our Conventions & Exhibition project. He heard from a friend that the worst job for that project is heading the whole class, and was worrying the whole semester break before that lesson. So the day came when the whole class decided to vote, made us Project Managers, and didn't understand when they were cheering for us, why both of us had faces as black as coal. Furthermore, there was another guy who, we confirmed much later, secretly wished to be heading the whole project and added more trouble to the ones we already faced. The sleepless nights we had were spent yapping on the phone till one of us kinda dozed off from tiredness, only to see each other again in school the next morning and face more problems. Finally the day came when everything just fell in place and we ended up sleeping the whole weekend after to make up for lost time, dead to whoever tried to contact us.

When we had to start our hotel attachments, he found a nice little hotel that took another classmate and me in as interns. Finishing that hotel stint, we were to write a whole essay, or rather a whole book, on our experience. With the amount of information we needed as support, it was easy to get all of it with him in Reception and myself in Accounts, with access to the copier and no one to bother about what we were doing. I think we were the only two who handed up our essays with a whole load of documents about what we did in the hotel.

Even after all those wacky years, the one thing that I found out about him, and really like, is his appetite. My goodness! The boy can eat! If you see a guy having a feast at Pasta Fresca and ending it with 2 helpings of the Tiramisu, you'll know it's him. He's the one guy who doesn't sting when it comes to food and he sure knows how to enjoy it. It's too bad his religion restricts him from certain foods but then it doesn't really stop him from enjoying the rest. Now that is the best part!

That's 4...

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Oh Mandy....

My one and only friend from my final years in primary school that has always bothered to keep in touch. The others in my final year basically died off as time passed by without easy access to pagers and handphones. We met because they were closing her school and the students were to move into mine, but before the official move could occur, their school's principal had a heart attack, or something, and died. I got no idea why I remembered that fact but can't recall a thing about what we did during the first year we met; 1992 (Pr. 5). Maybe it's the trauma of having Liu Lau Te as my Chinese language teacher again. The same biatch who made me lose interest in learning Mandarin because she was such an irritating woman, who screeched louder than the noise made when one of our chair legs scratched the ground.

The following year, we were stuck like glue conquering every project, sharing secrets, hopes and dreams, good times and bad.. blah blah.. you get the drift. I remembered going to her house to complete one of our projects and will never forget that it was located within the grounds that also housed the Queenstown Remand Prison. I'm not sure exactly how they got a place there but they definitely weren't law breakers. They were a family that made do with what they had and another thing I will not forget is her father sending me back to my grandmother's place with the whole family, that came up to about 5 people, 6 including me, in their car. Somehow we were still small enough to squeeze in there.

Sadly after our PSLE we were separated to different schools, and separated further when her parents got a new house. Good thing is that we're all still in the western side of Singapore and it was still easy to visit each other. Even during the busy secondary school years, we still managed Dewali and Christmas at each others' place, with a few moments to play catch up when you're a host. Finally one Christmas, she came into the kitchen and told me that she's found the perfect man in her life, with no reaction from me that satisfied her. Honestly I'm not the type to be jumping around in the kitchen for the fear of slipping on the floor, but I was happy for her. I wasn't exactly the type to swoon over an engagement ring and not crazy enough to be shouting "woohoo" at the top of my lungs either. Well, so me and my non-excitement had her whacking me on the shoulder for not reacting more elated. Anyway, she's happy, I was happy for her and we didn't really communicate much for the next few years as we had work and all that crap.

Fast-forward a couple of years and I get a call from her that I've been dreading ever since we left primary school. Not that I wasn't happy she was getting married, but I was dreading the very part about giving the best friend's speech. So she called, she asked and I warned her that I'll try my best but I'll might not make it through without fainting mid-speech. The wedding went great, I had fun, and I hope she did too, although I would've said it was a chore. I think she did really enjoy the part of stuffing my face with the sweet rice that was to bless the unmarried girls to get married quick. The rice isn't working as fast as she wants to though.

Waiting for the call to go shopping for maternity stuff...

Vinnie Makes 3

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Yo Yo Yo

Once I started on Amy, I decided to be fair and just do one on all my close friends. The few who shared some really good memories and possibly a few to be kept as blackmail. So this installment would be of the other girl from secondary school, the middleman known as Ms Yeo. With the help of a classmate and corruption over the years, she decided to sign of emails with a "Yo!" that was falsely copyrighted by her own odd way. Well I can say it's waaaaaaaaaaay better than calling herself ... Like

To start of with Ms Yeo, we go right back to secondary 1 again, and she was part of this noisy bunch of girls who I rather disliked in the first week. Those who know me are probably thinking that I'm not exactly the quietest one in the school BUT I can say for the first few days before you really got to know me I was almost unknown, except for my size. Our class was supposed to have an even number of students but one girl was injured and I ended up sitting alone the first week, which was really fine with me, but when the girl came back, I was supposed to sit with her. When that girl finally hobbled to class, she was told to sit in one of the seats upfront and I that's when I got seated next to Ms Yeo, with Amy right infront of me, leading to us getting stuck together.

All through the 4 years, we were stuck seated next to each other, and although she complained and bitched, she never did move away even when she had the choice to do so. I thought that she would move the very first chance she got because I would poke her in the sides, or threaten to half the time. Maybe she enjoyed it or it helped her keep awake. One thing that got to me all those years was that nothing during recess-time seemed to satisfy her enough and she would've always complain that she was hungry right after the break although she had eaten. Honestly, she still hasn't changed that bit about her and I find her telling me that she's hungry at work even after she went out for her lunch.

The main thing that got us yapping a lot was actually music. During that time, the boyband craze hit and blasted us with a whole load of made up groups who lied of how they formed. She introduced me to Take That just when they decided to split up and they were soon overthrown by the Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, Code Red and a whole lot more weird names before the girl group, Spice Girls, hit. No matter what people want to say about boybands and their music, I'll just say that some of them had some well written songs and I listen to them. Yes I got their CDs, some of which were good buys while others weren't. From that time, she would be borrowing CDs from me, and I got some from her. Now it's still the occasional text message asking if I've got any new CDs or if I've got some other track. Helloooo... I'm not a radio station!!

Honestly I don't know why she's one of the close ones but I guess it's just the fact that she has bothered to keep in touch. It's the few years after you part that play a crucial part in how you end up on this list or just one of those people I've schooled with or known from somewhere. Although we meet up less often now, what can one expect when everyone has got their own things?

2 down....

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Ms MIA

After reading her blog and the things she has posted, I've been inspired to write about Amy. Let me introduce her by saying that the very first memory I have is of her making me join something only to end up playing me out. I still remind her of that fact but I understand why she had to do what she did. Anyway, we met in secondary school and she was the really quiet one among the bunch of us at the back of the class. The first person I met in class wasn't her but another girl, who actually scared the hell out of me and I couldn't hear a word she said because she mumbled like a certain Singapore Idol finalist who has such a fake attitude.

Back to Amy... So the first Saturday of school was set aside for all of us new-comers to pick a co-curricular activity (or as we knew it: extra curricular activity). Amy, along with a bunch of other quieter girls she was friendly with, and myself were going round and we got stopped at the Girl Guides' corner. The girls were apparently so persuasive that she decided to join and since the computer club didn't have anyone there, I joined so that she'd have company there. Let me say that she bugged me to join with her and it was absolutely NOT totally my own choice. 6 months down the road, she turned up for 2 Saturdays and next thing I knew, she decided to leave and join the Community Service Club.

Anyway, throughout secondary 1 & 2, we and another girl, Ms Yeo, were quite close. Ms Yeo was more like a middleperson/translator as my Chinese was crap and Amy wasn't comfortable with English. Then during secondary 3, we were separated into different classes. I guess this was where we roughly grew apart though we tried to keep in touch as much as possible. After finding out about each others' problem with the school and certain teachers, we ended up getting much closer with late night chats and complaints about life. Throughout the years, there were few more cases of her flying planes, joining the mountain turtle community, hiding herself from the rest of the world, eventually ending up with the current nickname Ms MIA (Missing-In-Action). It happened again last year and eventually decided to make her presence known to a few people by a sneaky little text message if you were on that special little list she had.

Within the year we've been chatting a lot and getting up to really weird things. The first quirky little thing was getting some clothes made for her bears/soft toys. Oddly enough she has to ask me to do it when I'm no where near efficient with a sewing machine. So that task basically ended up with my mom who took about a minute to get a whole set done.

Next thing was getting something to keep her busy and have some sort of routine in life. While work is a little harrowing for her, and there wasn't anything she was really interested in to keep her staying at one place long enough, it ended up being school as the other option. After a rather interesting discussion, she realised that she might enjoy Psychology as a subject she could pick up, and to give her some encouragement, I decided that I would take it up too. This time it was my decision to join her as I wanted to do it for some time now but didn't have any reason to actually go through. Soon after that, we were off to Career 2006 looking at courses that we could join. That was a big waste of time as we found nothing that offered what we wanted and a few weeks later, she found an article for a talk on such a course. We were rather set on joining the course but wanted to look around for other schools. Finally, the energy to search ran out and it was decided that we would do the course at Path, where signing up for it was another story on it's own.

In between the time we took to choose the school, she was introduced to blogging and decided to go overboard with the number of blogs when she didn't have anything to write. She could say that I'm the same but then after taking a look at how long I've been on this and the amount of stuff I've blogged about, I don't think we can compare just yet. The problem with her is indecision and when I thought she had finally been happy with one template, she decided to re-do the template of her other blog. The first one was just something she got off another website, the second was something she decided to go at on her own, and almost went overboard... but I got a feeling it'll end up there eventually. It took about a week to get her finally happy with the current one that she keeps adding stuff on to. Go get Frontpage lah!

1 down....A handful more to go.

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