11.22.2005

Good, bad, yummy

Good: Finally, my Drebel came today. Got a crappy 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III (no IS) along with it (not by choice), but it was cheap and I need telephoto. Andrew also threw in his Photoshop Album 2.0 and an extra battery. Haven't ordered my 50 f1.8, will probably get my wide-normal next week. Andrew dropped off the goods with E at work; while carrying it home, some random guy inquired about it at the bus stop. Everybody loves dSLR.

Bad: E's uncle passed away suddenly over the weekend of a heart attack. E's family is coping. Just came back from the viewing; the funeral is tomorrow. It was cold and dark by the time we arrived at the funeral home. There were a fair number of people, clumped in groups, chatting away with light classical music in the background. The mood was oddly cheery, it was very unsettling and surreal. Kids were playing hide-and-seek; some of the grownups had red eyes. The 93 yr old mother, who was still "sharp as a tack", sat by the casket, greeting friends and family. I didn't know him, but when the mother leaned forward to kiss her pale lifeless son one last time, I couldn't hold it in. It was incredibly depressing.

Yummy: Making plans for Turkey Day. This shall be my contribution.

Driving 2+ hrs with the cat tomorrow could be interesting.

11.21.2005

Bwahaha

Locked doors foil escape

If anything, I linked the article for the picture. Excellent capture. It's like something out of a dream sequence - not as bad as the one where you're walking down the street naked and everyone's staring at you, but close. I'd be blushing bright as a beet. Gotta give him credit for a thick skin and occasional sense of humor.

11.20.2005

Sore

Oy. Feet hurt, knees ache, ears are ringing. E is wrapped in a blanket and nursing a glass of water. We're getting a little old for this... how sad, so much damage from a single night of fun.

Last night E went to his fraternity formal at a fancy shmancy country club up north. I skipped out to go to Courtney's birthday bash. One year closer to dramatically reduced auto insurance premiums! Anna and Adam came up from Baltimore, Paul invited his law school buds; we converged at Courtney's chic pad and passed around champagne, punch, and finger food. The punch was a cool blue concoction with almost everything in it - reminded me of the giant buckets of Jungle Juice back in the day. Caught up with JM, SP, and MS; work is a bitch, so the story goes. After the cake-cutting and mingling, we headed down to the foyer and piled into two stretch limos.

The best part was not having to wait in line at Matrix - the agent took us past the people freezing in line and waved us through. Went through coat check, got a drink, then hung out in the Velvet room while waiting for the others to settle in. Latin music, red velvet decor, people making out on couches... Got to know the guys in the group a little better (Courtney's cousin and friends). Drinks in hand, we made a beeline towards the action in the next room. Finally got to see Bonics and DJ Goofy Whitekid in person. Courtney got a shout-out.

I got groped by eight dudes - wtf. That broke the all-time record. They clearly didn't see the bling; I would've passed them on to the birthday girl, but she deserved better. At first it just seemed like the dance floor was getting really packed, but hands in the wrong places were no accident. The first guy was old and sleazy, the second was big and beefy. Didn't get to see the faces of the others, but judging from Court and Mel's reactions, I didn't care to. There was even one poor sod in the 80's room, haha. Grinding to Devo isn't exactly hot. Adam, Mike and Eric took turns fishing me out of sticky situations. (E got a laugh when I told him about my close encounters of the breathing-down-the-neck kind.)

At the end of the night, we stumbled back into the limos, toasty and happy. Alicia swore off champagne and kept on babbling about something, in spite of her wardrobe malfunction. Courtney had a blast, that's all that mattered.

Meanwhile, in the land of chicken cordon bleu, E had overpriced Long Island Iced Teas and shots with the guys, followed by a few good games of pong when they got back. He'd forgotten how to hold his drinks, so by the time I picked him up at 3am, he was not quite a staggering mess but his tongue was loose. Irresistibly cute. Stayed up talking till 6am.

Fun times, fun times.

11.19.2005

Tsk tsk

We've a pile of bags for recycling that we keep by the trashcan in the kitchen. Pepper loves the bags (it is rumored that some bags use milk-based ink). This is the mess we occasionally find...


The perpetrator poses by her master work with uncanny sangfroid

Singapore's sex life

... is becoming healthier, but is still pretty conservative. During my bimbo years my time-killer of choice at airports was Cosmo - I couldn't believe I couldn't find it on any 'zine stand back home because it was banned. But not anymore! That, and Sex and the City (though they're as exciting as the reruns on TBS), and, uh, maybe sexy chewing gum. Once I even thought I saw a whole page on how to pole-dance in the Sunday paper's lifestyle section.

Now there's a three-day sex exhibition featuring vibrators, condoms, lingerie, and scantily-clad dancers. Sexpo 2005 was fun enough for now, but it'll get racier, the director promised. I don't think it'll go so far as strip shows and live sex demonstrations though. It kinda creeps me out that the crowd mostly consists of much older men. *shudder*

See how Singapore compares globally in Durex's sex survey [pdf]

Jones for the holiday

Brussel sprouts soda, anyone?