the entry going goo goo gaa gaa part deux

more little talk!

partisan in baby-fest leads to prattling in puerile baby language and perpetual camera clicks. in a single day, i was invited to two baby showings, if that's what i think you'd call it. my cousin's newborn, shanel (pronounced as bag mogul chanel), has just turned a month old. hopelessly bored stiff with her confinement in situ, she decided to throw a small gathering in honor of that and gave us first dibs on how shanel's blossoming already into a damsel at thirty days old.

utter revulsion after finding out mitts aren't 300 thread count egyptian cotton.

i couldn't help giving it a shot but i am pretty sure i totally rocked the father role, as evidenced by my adeptness at baby-carry. note the nurturing stance.

rigor mortis beckons with valiant attempts at baby-lugging

 

silence .... finally sound asleep

in the afternoon, it was a stopover at the local kandang kerbau hospital where my other cousin lays exhausted at one of the many wards. having endured five hours of intense, breath-stopping labour, her newborn arrives, enveloped in a snug, blue blanket. by default of gender-defining color, i deduced newborn to be male. name of little one could not be procured as of blog time however.





i just can't wait for my sister-in-law to join the bandwagon and pop baby d out. oh well, one more month, and counting...

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the entry going goo goo gaa gaa

a busily scheduled week has permeated my otherwise hopelessly mundane life. i had been running dutiful errands for mom who has since been discharged from the hospital for gall stones removal. i had imagined them stones to be bigger, but they turned out to be nothing more than little specks of unpolished graphite. they were stored in a nice, see-through container, to which i surmised, was memorabilia for our viewing pleasure.

anyways, in between being a chauffeur and a filial (read: parent-fearing) son, i had managed to cram in client meet-ups, lingering at poseur cafes, attending drinking binges, demolishing massive amounts of ben and jerry's, whilst still looking fervently in good shape. i am not bragging, that's just the way it is.

however, this entry isn't a how-to guide to keeping fit, neither is it any more a dedication to gall stones. i am here to write about something painstakingly rewarding that delights me even as i think about it. as it always has been, baby rearing has been the cornerstone of our family policy. thus, being the ever diligent husband, and being the ever more assiduous wife, my elder brother and sister-in-law have succeeded in bringing a new member our family.

at eight months and still in active fetal development, baby d will face the world sometime next month. meanwhile, here are some pictures of my nephew-to-be during the ultra scan at earlier times performing various acrobatic positions in mommy's tummy.





in a morbid frenzy to usher the newborn's arrival, i was invited by the happy couple to a viewing of the baby's room. it was the quintessential room with white walls plastered with colorful stickers, a crib that matched the room's setting, baby paraphernalia, and a bright yellow stroller that i wasn't aware i was to sponsor for (thanks for the love, bro).

a baby-bathing contraption that set the happy couple back by eleven hundred dollars.

my sponsored gift: quinny stroller taken out from a bee movie

garb-scrub for babies. totally unheard of!

as if that wasn't enough, i was pretty much taken aback when i had a look at the baby's cupboard. stocked with baby clothings, my brother and sister-in-law takes baby planning to new heights.

stockpiled with attire from "for 1-month" to "for 12-months"

mommy dearest wants matching green kate spade baggie with baby shorts.

so, having a baby isn't exactly economcally viable, but what the heck, i am gonna be an uncle!

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the entry about my pet peeves

1. people who take the elevator to go up/down just one floor (complete waste of other people's time).

2. bigoted pedestrians who give the haughty oh-i-am-so-significant mien after giving way to them.

3. nose-diggers who perform in public (see the entry of gold nuggets).

4. office ladies who use packets of tissue paper to "chope" seats, thinking that it's completely legit (not!)

5. friends who borrow and promise to return within certain timeframe but take forever to repay their dues. (so much for "a friend in need is a friend indeed")

6. friends who mumble, then frustratingly say "never mind lah!" when you ask them to repeat themselves cos naturally you can't hear them only because they are speaking at the decibel level of a housefly.

7. being put on hold forever .... and then getting disconnected.

8. drivers who take forever to leave a parking space when others (i.e. me) are clearing waiting for it.

9. parents who let their kids roam around in stores/restaurants and scream thinking the rest of us are yearning to hear it. (no we aren't!!!)

10. people who write pet peeves lists like this.

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the entry about getting back on track

after a perilously deciduous week of decadence (e.g. sleeping right past noon), i decided enough was enough. being terminally single, it generally meant that i was legally bound to attend all the parties available, wherever, whenever and whatever. it was no doubt a daunting affair, considering that i used to come with a relational appendage for the past five years. however, after almost two months of complete inertia on my part, it dawned on me that my desire of trying to be an observer of life was actually keeping me from having one. so i gave a swift nod when my friend kenneth invited me to his house for an evening of alcoholic corruption.

dubbed "a tupperware party", the soiree was somewhat different from the rest for the mere fact that one could shop whilst getting drunk. apparently, the host for the evening had invited a close friend who owns a merchandising arm in europe. the apparels that were brought in featured previous seasons of y-3, fred perry, dsquared, neil barrett and kris van assche. i felt a pang of motivation to be promptly on time for the party.

once there, i didn't know what to expect of the guests because my mind suddenly wasn't focused on them anymore. the agenda for the evening had suddenly switched to garb ransacking instead of what i had originally fashioned (no pun intended). opting for plan b was certainly the easy way out of avoiding repeating the dreaded rite of passage of introducing oneself and formulating responses that marked of dry wittiness and spontaneous humor.

by the umpteenth glass of vodka cocktail, i was out of the place with my new purchases and no one in tow. i had broken the cardinal rule of single-dom. i had abandoned all opportunities of introductions, flirtations and possibly consummations when they presented themselves. maybe it might take a while more for me to adjust to being single. meanwhile, i am still pretty contented with my apparel acquisitions.

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the entry that's blah

snooze... my life is starting to drone on. this has been a absolute week of boring nothingness. zilch. nada. zen-like. 

perhaps i have been resting on my laurels for way too long. my self-imposed sabbatical didn't turn out to be as enriching or rejuvenating as i had expected. the only highlight, if it could be considered to be so, was that my pink eye problem has been resolved (yeah!). on the other hand, my stiff neck plight is still resident (boo...).

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the entry babbling techno-geek

consider this: what do you get when you have a warehouse-like event, housing a phantasmagorical gamut of vendors, peddling the latest gadgetry and computer peripherals over the weekend? the answer: throngs of geeky crowds that finally surface the earth's epidermal layer, in a bid to lay their grabby hands on the most advanced technology to outwit, outplay and outlast fellow geekaways.

unfettered by the hordes which could only be classified under nerd-dom, i went against my better instincts and trudged my way to comex, singapore's greatest computer fair. though, i am not sure if it's the largest computer showing around anymore, because every other month, there's some other computer exhibition boasting itself to be the incumbent in town. there's the pc show, then sitex and now comex. perhaps dumex might come around soon too? i'm just confused with the differences between these trade fairs. but then again, it's not my biggest concern.

anyways, arriving at the doors was a huge, glitzy affair. greeted by many vendor reps that lined the aisles as i walked past, it was almost a red-carpet affair. except, instead of flashy light bulbs, i was overwhelmed by flyers shoved into my hands; whereupon it was supposedly a red-carpet, it's now just a passage littered with unwanted paper paraphernalia. so much for daydreaming.

pictures! got myelf a nifty sound system from harmon/kardon and bought an hewlett-packard tablet for my dad. so, another computer victim bites the dust. any other victims out there?

p.s. just a shout out to auggie. thanks for being porter of the day. and theresa too. for just being there.

the non-compromising sleek, black tablet looks better than my macbook air already.

not the latest offering, but this set of speaks were at a grabby discount. how could i resist?

my two purchases of the day. chummy pair, aren't they?

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the entry eyed after

bah, so carrying on about my pilgrimage to the eye-jabbing doctor...

my name was finally called by the nurse. i walked into the room with trepidation, and hands clutched tightly behind me. i sat on the chair and waited with bated breath whilst doctor sim analyzed my right eye. he was using this gargantuan, complex contraption that was made up of varying degrees of lenses, magnifying glasses, and a nozzle that shot jets of air into the eyeball. it was all too familiar.

no injections please, i prayed to myself. i couldn't possibly deal with the pain of another needle puncturing my eyeball. ha! the irony of it all.

the verdict: doctor sim made my day when he diagnosed the eye problem to be a case of conjunctivitis. so it was just the regular pink eye. a little eye drop would have sufficed. and of course, i had to be off contact lenses during the interim. i see the light!

me in post-consultation, ocular-preserving mode: geeky specky.

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the entry about seeing eye to eye

well, i must have been reaching for the stars when i prayed for a better day tomorrow, because i woke up with not just one, but two bouts of malaise. the first was a sprain at the back of the neck. i gather this must have been from the built-up tension with the intensive gym visits i have of late, which was almost once a week. i tried a couple of neck-twists and thumb massages to the sore area, only to come out of it feeling worse. reminder: do not attempt to orchestrate chiropractic mastery on oneself without prior knowledge.

the other illness that welcomed me with open arms was this burning, stabbing sensation in my right eye, to which i immediately panicked. i feared that it was a case of deja vu. just earlier this year, i was at the eye doctor's for a tumor-like infection in the corner of my right eye. okay, so it wasn't the size of a tumor but more of an ulcer. still, it didn't feel good at all. every blink of the eye sent a white-hot, throbbing signal to my brain, which only suppressed the pain a little by secreting tears to lubricate the lacerated area.

according to doctor sim, my eye doctor, the reason for the ulcer-like growth was improper eye care. i had, upon my negligence, worn contact lenses throughout the day and night, and night and day. this went on for as long as three to four days at times, without removing my contacts. the accumulated protein in the cornea caused the growth of the ugly boil. and because my problem was more severe due to delayed consultation, the infection could not be treated with simple anti-bacterial eye-drops.

the treatment was to introduce a jab of antibiotics (yes, you heard it right, jab) into the eyeball. whilst this sounded terrifying enough, doctor sim reassured me it would not be as painful as he would administer a jab of anesthetics into the eyeball prior to that. right, that made me feel so much better. i was pretty sure i was about to bolt out of the room any second. it was only when he warned me that i might become blind from the infection had i come any later, that i calmed my nerves, rationalized, and decided to go through with the literally stinging procedure.

so you could imagine my fear when i was at the eye doctor's again today. more needles? i hope not. still waiting for my name to be called...

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the entry about an a.a. meeting

on a particular saturday night, a group of serial alcoholics congregated and conceded to their addictions. the result was a slosh-fest of inebriated drunkies who were all too eager to whore it for the camera. introducing the colorful characters in their sober plights:

jem, the life of the party

daryl, who just can't get enough

ethereal beauty ray

duncan a.k.a. siu mong an

ruz, the mama den

glum pierre

venes

benjamin, who refuses to reveal his true facade

hi, my name is desmond and i am an alcoholic.

with alcohol as our quick fix, we managed to look human all over again. i'll just leave the narration to the pictures this time. on a sidenote, i absolutely abhor my new haircut.

the rose amongst the thorns, venes puts her best face forward.

two in tow: the winning couple look goes to *drum roll*: siu mong an & venes!

varying degrees of sobriety...

as part of the alcoholics anonymous programme in a bid to encourage less drunks, we willingly sacrificed our bodies of temples to guzzle down every single drop. as a result, the alcohol kicked in sooner than you'd say "cheers", and intoxication took place in the form of crazy. big time crazy.

smashed from the alcohol, squashed by the camera

hot chimps gone wild

_______________ (fill in the blanks)

pierre and venes takes the cake for being the most animated couple of the evening.

the gang engaging in a little polygamic kissing.

i was glad i got my ass out. i enjoyed myself totally. what did you do over the weekend?

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