King of Fruits

"It's in season!" went the Facebook post by my dear cousin...which could only mean one thing!

A couple of WhatsApp messages later, we were on our way to her supplier in Chinatown for our King-of-the-Fruit fix. *yums*

101 Fruits at Keong Saik Rd is a family-run business which imports their durians from Malaysia and Thailand. However, the Malaysian varieties are definitely superior and we tried three different levels of taste. Really sweet, sweet and more-bitter-than-sweet...lol!
It was interesting to note that some patrons actually wore gloves to eat and my cousin told of a friend who would use chopsticks! All to prevent their fingers from smelling of durian long after the feasting was done.
But not us...no way!

Truth to tell, I'd recently had a craving for this fragrant and tasty repast, which I have loved since I was a kid. Strangely, my own kids never caught on to this wonderful fruit.
So now I mainly enjoy eating it with like-minded friends who totally understand the sheer pleasure of biting into the succulent flesh and getting it all off the seed....and licking our fingers clean...bliss!

So I've had my fill and craving is satisfied....for now. ;)

Wingardium Leviosa!

Ah yes!

I remember very clearly how Mr Potter cast his spell on me many years ago, one fateful afternoon in Popular Bookstore, which was then just around the corner from my workplace.
It was about 1:45pm and as I was wandering around the store, something compelled me to pick up a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Partly because there was great interest in the series as the movie adaptation was underway and due for release soon. And I was curious as to what the big deal was about this children's book.

Chapter One, entitled, The Boy Who Lived got my attention straight away!
And following that was:
"Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much......."
JK Rowling's narrative was so arresting that I had read about four pages of the book before I realised that it was nearly 2pm....and time to get back to work!
What else does a girl do but hop along to the cashier post-haste to part with her money and hurry back to the workplace, whilst wondering how to sneak in reads of the book for the rest of the afternoon....yes, it was that interesting!
I finished the book that very night and the next day, it was back to Popular to get the other two or three titles which were available then.
I even entered a contest by Popular for entries about why we loved Harry Potter....and I won a $50 voucher! Not bad, eh??

I cannot remember my exact words for that entry but it was to do with escapism in the magical world of Harry and friends, where one could have fun with the swish of a wand.
The school setting of Hogwarts was also reminiscent of all the beloved Enid Blyton books of my childhood like St Clare's, Mallory Towers and The Naughtiest Girl series in Whyteleaf School. The kids in those stories seemed to have so much fun at boarding school that I often wished I could do the same here in sunny Singapore too...lol!

Subsequent book releases would see me queueing up at Kinokuniya early on the Saturday mornings to grab them as soon as possible to devour and finish reading within a few hours....so keen was I to know what would happen in each new installment!

Anyway, the first Potter movie was released to a wonderful reception and I could certainly see why. Great casting for both the child and adult characters, a good script, John Williams' brilliant score and the attention to detail for the sets and costumes ensured that there would be more book-to-screen adaptations and the journey only ended last year with the release of the eighth and final movie.
What was amazing about this franchise was how beautifully the child actors stayed and grew up with the series over ten years!
And the plethora of acclaimed British actors who portrayed the senior wizards and witches were nothing short of awesome!
Special mention must be made of Alan Rickman's Professor Snape...those who have watched the movies and read the books will agree that he is easily the BEST character in the story,

Ok, now I feel like reading the books and watching the DVDs all over again!

A Mozart Memory

Growing up with piano lessons and lots of music in school and at home gave me an opportunity to learn to enjoy both classical and pop music. My piano background enabled me to appreciate the great masters such as Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy et al and there was also lots of pop music going on at home and at school.
I'm glad to say that I'm equally at home, listening quietly at an SSO concert or screaming and singing along at a pop/rock gig. :)

Listening to the classical music station this evening in the car, I thought back to my very first orchestral concert experience which was the Singapore Symphony Orchestra sometime back in the early 80s...I think. I do remember clearly that I attended it with my best friend, MY and the conductor was Choo Huey. The SSO was in its infancy then and it was quite an exciting time for the classical music scene locally.
Here is a link to a blog post by my friend Dr Chang Tou Liang, a well-known pianophile, about the history of our local orchestra:

http://pianofortephilia.blogspot.com/2009/10/short-history-of-singapore-symphony.html

As MY and I both loved the piano too, it was most appropriate that the programme for the concert we attended featured not one, but TWO pianists and on TWO pianos...viz Mozart's Double Piano Concerto in E-Flat Major KV365. And the pianists were none other than our very own Toh Chee Hung and her partner, Dennis Lee (from Malaysia).
It was truly a night to remember as the concerto is very easy to listen to (it's Mozart, after all!)and their performance was wonderfully enthusiastic and brilliant in every way. One could see that they were having a lot of fun playing together!
It's a pity there isn't a youtube clip of that concert but I did find clips of Mdm Toh and Mr Lee and I shall share them here:

Something more recent:

And this is the first movement of that concerto in three clips from youtube but NOT the SSO....I love this piece!

MY and I frequently enjoyed getting together to play duets too. :)
I would usually pop over to her place as she had a grand piano (Bosendorfer, no less!) and one absolute favourite was the Mozart Symphony No 40 in G Minor for Four Hands. Haha....we could more or less manage the first movement with lots of practice!
After all these years, we still like to play it but unfortunately, due to lack of practice, there are mistakes aplenty but there's just something about playing a duet which is really fun!

MY:

If you're reading this, hope you enjoyed this little trip down Memory Lane!

Fangirl's tribute to Mum

In my very first post in this blog, I gave thanks to my dear late mother for her understanding and tolerance of my fangirl behaviour from childhood. I often wonder if she had NOT been so whether things would have been different.
Curiously, television viewing was a very family-oriented activity back in the 70s, as there were only so few channels to watch and limited times of transmission, which were usually in the evenings after work and school. There was also only one TV set in the house so we would happily set ourselves in front of it to catch whatever was being telecast that night.
Contrast this with now when we have loads of channels on cable and I find that I hardly ever watch anything on the telly anymore with my family because there are so many other sources of entertainment and information.
My Mum enjoyed many of the same programs and books that I did and some notable shows which were book adaptations eventually led me to reading the books on which they were based..eg the Little House On The Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder which were fairly easy to read and detailed life in pioneering America.
There was also the wonderful British series All Creatures Great And Small, about the life of country vet James Herriot. It got me (and my Mum) reading his bestselling books about his experiences and escapades in the Yorkshire Dales with the Farnon brothers.
Haha...for awhile then, both the book and the TV show got me fascinated about being a vet...but obviously, that did not happen. :)
And yes, she loved Donny and Marie Osmond and Man In The Net as much as I did! :D

My Mum also loved to write, mostly to keep track of the activities going on in the family especially after she had retired and had loads of time on her hands. We still have all the diaries she faithfully kept and reading them (after her demise) jolted many of us as to the details of many milestones which she recorded.
As my nephew, her grandson commented: "If Facebook and blogging had existed in her time, Mama would have been THE champion!" :)

Suffice to say, I was very close to my mother as I was the only girl in the family and we had very few disagreements over the years.

She passed away peacefully last year at the ripe old age of 88 and I've dreamt of  her a couple of times since...nice dreams. :)

Here are two lovely Mother songs.
The first is Mother of Mine, from my younger days, sung by the cute Jimmy Osmond:

Lyrics:

 Mother of mine, you gave to me
All my life to do as I please
I owe everything I have to you
Mother, sweet mother of mine.
 
Mother of mine, when I was young
You showed me the right way things had to be done
Without your love where would I be?
Mother,sweet mother of mine

Mother you gave me happiness
much more than words can say
I pray the Lord that he may bless you every night and everyday

Mother of mine, now I am grown
And I can walk straight all on my own
I'd like to give you what you gave to me
Mother, sweet mother of mine. 

And the next is written by Jay Chou, who's renowned for his filial piety and love for his Mum, who nurtured his genius and talent from his early childhood. It's safe to say that without Mama Chou's efforts, we would not have the Jay we know and love today. :)
There are English subs...and do look out for the end for pics of Jay and his Mum....too cute!

A recap of sorts

"Writing of every kind is a way to wake oneself up and keep as alive as when one has just fallen in love.”
“Writing is, in the end, that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.”
― Pico Iyer


The above two quotes were posted on a friend's Facebook Status earlier today.
I smiled when I read them as they resonated strongly with me, given that I've been on the blogging bandwagon for nearly four weeks now and still have the feeling of (to paraphase a well-known truism):
"So much to write about, so little time!"
Certainly, I feel more alive and it does feel like I've been penning letters of a somewhat intimate nature in these vignettes of mine.

I have to credit my son for inspiring me to start this blog, as he wanted to set one up to write movie reviews. I mean, I've always liked to write and had toyed around with the idea of blogging now and then, but never really knew what to blog about.
So when he actually got started on Wordpress, I thought about it a little and realised that I could have fun doing the same with my many years of obsessing and fandoming!. After all, I had even set up my youtube channel last year to collect vids and record my playing of fave songs on the piano. This would just the next step. :)

I must say it's been a really fun trip down Memory Lane for many of my posts and yet, there's so much more I want to cover and in greater detail, not just for my own satisfaction (although that's the main reason!) but for my friends and others who may be reading this randomly.

It's been cathartic, in a way, to:
a) Share about my multiple fandoms by writing about them.
b) Look back on the past forty years wryly yet affectionately, albeit with a touch of anxiety as to what others might think about me.
c) Yet conclude that at the end of the day, what I'm writing about is uniquely me and I'm proud of it!
d) Discover that quite a few of my friends are closet bloggers and opened up their blogs to me when I shared mine with them. :)
e)  Realise that this activity has inspired other friends to think about starting their own blogs. :))

As well, it's no secret that many of my friends (and family) already know what a nutcase I can be when caught up in an obsession and I hereby wish to express my deepest gratitude to my dear hubby for his patience with me over the past 25 years of our togetherness (comprising courtship and marriage).
Come to think of it, he has also shared a few of my fandoms and was actually instrumental in getting me hooked on at least two franchises, viz Star Trek and The X-Files, which I will post about in due course. :)

The Army...reel and real

One of my favourite TV shows as a kid was...Combat!
Haha...yup, an American series, starring Vic Morrow and Rick Jason and set during WWII kept me and my family glued to the screen as we followed the brave soldiers fighting their way across Europe. The TV intro was another iconic one which I can remember to this day:

I'll take the description from IMDB to share here as it is very apt:

"Combat!, a one-hour WWII drama series on television, followed a frontline American infantry squad as they battled their way across Europe. With mud-splattered realism, the show offered character studies of men striving to maintain their own humanity in the midst of a world torn by war."

I was quite fascinated with the guns and tanks in the show and it also happened that two of my older brothers were in the National Cadet Corps in school during that period. They were also about to enlist for National Service then, so naturally, there was great interest in army stuff as such. But no, this did not translate into me joining the NCC when I was in secondary school...lol!

What reminded me about this show was my eldest son, T's enlistment into the military (or NS as it's popularly known as) today. It is a rite of passage for our country's 18 and 19-year-old males; one which their fathers had gone through since we became an independent nation in 1965. And one which said fathers would regale everyone with tales about their trials and tribulations during those army days.

Starting from Pasir Ris Interchange, where we boarded the buses for Changi Ferry Terminal to take the ferry ride across to Pulau Tekong, my hubby, myself and my son's girlfriend were taken on a tour of the camp premises and shown the dormitories where 'your sons and loved ones' would be staying in.
The bunk beds were quite solid; lockers were a decent size; there were adequate numbers of fans and I must say, the mattresses were much better than those I have at home...think it's time to go shopping!
There were also short talks by fellow soldiers about the equipment, training and finally a meaningful oath-taking ceremony before we adjourned for one final meal with T before his Basic Military Training commenced.

No, I did not cry during the oath-taking or when saying goodbye to him and neither did I see any other Mums doing so. But a few of my friends who had gone through this ritual told me that they did.
Maybe I've been used to T going away for some trips for a couple of weeks at a stretch since he was 15. ;)
There were, however, some poignant moments when I remembered my friends who had lost their son, Dom, only recently during a routine NS training session. I would be lying if I said I was not worried about T but at the same time, I told myself I had to pray hard for his and the other boys' welfare and trust in the Lord that all would be safe.

Well, we just heard from T tonight, when he was allowed to make phone calls during their Personal Admin period at 9.30pm. His brothers had a good time questioning him but as it was only the first day, there was not much to report. We look forward to more updates from him soon. :)









 

My 1000-piece Jay Jigsaw 周杰伦拼图

 This was given to me by a friend who knew how partial I was/am to Jay. It had been sitting pretty in my cupboard for a few months as I had never done anything like this in earnest. It was only
after my son had tenaciously finished his 1000-piece Hitman Reborn puzzle that I was inspired to give this a go.

First things first...his cute face! And as much of the edges as possible.

 Then came the body. Thankfully, there were alphabets behind the pieces and after a while, we got the hang of the order/grids somewhat, and it became easier.

 TA-DAH!!!! Everything in place at last!!! 

 Framed-up and ready to be displayed!!

I actually have a spot to hang this up on but he looks kinda nice, sitting on the floor of the landing outside our rooms... :)

And for added perspective, see the CD at the bottom righthand corner....that's how big the finished 50cm by 75cm picture is!

Some thoughts on the experience:

I never realised that putting together a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle could induce such a spectrum of emotions! It was a surreally obsessive yet fulfilling experience over six days of intermittent work which involved my family (bless their kind hearts!) as well.

The process started off with eager anticipation as we emptied out the pieces from the box and started sorting them out...slowly. When the fit was right, the satisfaction was great. But when nothing seemed to come together, frustration would set in. Which was also not helped by the fact that neckache, backache and eyestrain were all part of the whole procedure!

The most agonising incident was when I accidentally dropped the 60%-completed puzzle whilst transferring it to another room to continue working on it. I saw our hard work go to pieces...literally! The feeling then was indescribably awful, that's all I can say. But after wailing in despair and uttering countless expletives for about 30 minutes, life had to go on. Pieces had to be picked up and put together again...painstakingly. And with a firm resolve not to let something like that happen again!

Another heartstopping moment was when it appeared that there were missing pieces, just as we were nearing the end of the puzzle. That triggered off a thorough search, and it was with immense relief that the errant pieces were found.

Of course the most exhiliarating part was at the conclusion when the last few pieces were put in place and..voila!
The whole process appears rather like an allegory for life on the whole, don't you think? ;)