Hulk @ Tangs

 

Avengers: Endgame opened in cinemas across Singapore yesterday. For a week or so now there have been news of first-day tickets being snapped up (and of course there are the "private offers"), but nothing beats first day box office numbers. 

 

No, I don't have them, but from what I hear, first day ticket sales across all major cinemas at prime slots for Endgame were pretty good. You had the fanboys- of course- for Community forms the bulk of these comic-book movies, but you also had the millennial working adults who looked like they had specially taken time off to come see the movie. There were the adults who brought their tween boys to the movie, completing the experience with a huge tub of popcorn and soda. Then there were the couples out for a movie date.

 

Endgame marks the 10th year since the first Iron Man movie was released, and also marks the end for this group of Avengers, whom, if I may say, catapulted themselves into the hearts and minds of nearly everyone who ever watched the movie in the year of 2012. If there was one thing that Avengers 2012 (as I call it) did, it was to put to stamp the definitive looks of the characters.

 

In other words, few are those who will not associate the character of Chris Hemsworth to Thor. Few are those who will not think of Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury, or Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. You no longer think of Robert Downey Jr without Iron Man at the back, center or front of your mind, and Chris Evans got the Capt look down to a T.

 

But it is Hulk of Avengers in 2012 whom Mark Ruffalo literally defined. Hulk, naturally, is not the easiest of characters to create for the screen, and although it has been  skilfully performed by Lou Ferrigno  for television, and a CGI Hulk in (I think) two more movies thereafter, it was THIS CGI Hulk that, with present day technology, sealed the stature, the pose,and the face. No more can we look at the face of Hulk without thinking of Mark Ruffalo.

 

This is also the Hulk that was outside Tangs Plaza in the December of last year.

 

He didn't stand alone. Iron Man was there as well, standing outside the other entrance.

 

Who attracted more attention from passers-by, I don't know- I didn't have time to observe both characters- but I hung around Hulk more, and can I tell you, he (and I'm sure Iron Man as well) united the passers-by in a way that I think not many movies have ever done before.

 

Ten minutes.

 

Ten minutes was all the time that I stood there, and in that span of time, there was a European, stylishly clad in pink collared shirt and tailored short pants, wearing sunglasses with a Panama-style hat on his head, taking selfie after selfie after selfie for the best shot,

 

There were five groups of Filipino ladies who, having walked by, dropped their shopping bags, whipped out their phones from their crossbody bags and struck poses whilst their friends took pictures for them. There were quite a few repeated takes.

 

Then there were the children, who, having seen the structure, ran excitedly towards it, reached out to try and touch Hulk's fingers before clamouring their parents for a picture.

 

And finally, there were a few groups of Chinese, I believe, from Hong Kong and mainland China, who stood by the side and waited patiently for the Filipinos to finish before taking up the same position and snapping the picture.

 

Three different nationalities, different genders, different ages, different lives, different lifestyles, all strangers from different parts of the world- brought together in that single span of ten minutes by the figure of Hulk standing outside a well-known department store.

 

Is it any wonder then, that there are groups of people who turn green with envy at the success of these characters? Is it any wonder that, to them, this- and all entertainment- are blasphemy because they do not have religious themes and instead "promote violence" and "bloodshed" and are forms of "idolatry"?

 

They are the ones that shrug their shoulders and snicker at the 'foolishness' of those who enjoy and pursue such forms of entertainment. They are the ones who point a finger at such characters and such movies and condemn them as distractions and harbingers of everything that is wrong in the world.

 

Yet, it would not surprise me if what they were really hankering after wasn't the immoral, unspiritual, devil-leaning elements of all forms of entertainment, and neither did they really give a s*** about society's problems and the souls of our children, but what they were really hankering about was the gigantic gap between interest in such entertainment, and the flagging interest in their own presentations from their own groups.

 

In short, one word, jealousy.

 

Jealousy over the fact that fans are running to watch a boyband or a Kpop group. Jealousy over the fact that people would rather spend money to watch a comic book movie than drop it into the bag. Jealousy over the fact that their own message gets shut down whilst this secular message engages them and magnetizes them. Jealousy over the fact that people want to take pictures with Iron Man and Hulk and no one wants to take pictures with them.

 

I could go on and on about this, and perhaps some day at the right time I will, but for the life of me, I really cannot see how evil Iron Man and Hulk can be if their mere presence is a bridge and a point of connectivity to strangers, if it charms them, lets them be a child again, and leaves them wonderful memories to take away.

the Cleanup for the Closure

 

 

 

Emotions still run a little raw at the sight of these pictures, and honestly, I am surprised, for slightly over a month it has been, and should one not have healed by this time? 

 

But I guess emotions run deep and long with me, and so, despite the fact that I no longer cry or feel sad upon seeing these pictures, I do remember how I felt at that point in time, and that memory stays with me. 

 

It is like how I remember trudging into Hong Lim Park with the sesame bun in my hand that I'd bought from the shops outside People's Park Centre, and finishing it by the time I wandered down towards High Street Center. 

 

It is like how I tore open the bag of almonds given to me by a loved one, poured them into the jar, then munched them along with a breakfast of strong coffee, week-old bread and a slice of cheese.

 

Or how it was that I didn't stand by the stove to cook my ramen even though I like my noodles thick and chewy like the texture of noodle pudding. but instead poured hot water over it in the big bowl. let it stand, and ate it that way.

 

It is also like how I remember drinking cup after cup of hot ginger tea and hot chocolate for breakfast and dinner because one stimulated the nerves and the other calmed me down.

 

And it is like how I recollect spritzing on lavender scented facial mist just so I could conjure up the courage, focus, and get out of the house with at least a bit of a smile.

 

It was a week- only a week- but it felt so long, so tedious, so frightening, so worrying and so uncertain that each day challenged my spirit, and my soul. 

 

I hardly ate.

 

I hardly slept.

 

I cried all the time. 

 

Yes,  it really wasn't the calmest nor the happiest of times. For the first time in my life I really understood what grief was. I really understood what it was like to have a loved one unexpectedly separated from you with no preparation, no warning, no prior arrangement.

 

No doubt it wasn't permanent, but it was the shock that gripped me- and it gripped me hard.

 

Had it not been for friends and loved ones who reached out to me, had it not been for them who sent me messages, spoke to me and encouraged me, and had it not been for those who offered help to me in one way or another, I don't think I would have made it.

 

It had been my intention to put it all out in a gratitude list of thank yous, but for now, having had spent a month cleaning things up, and still cleaning, I think it might be better for the present moment to keep things moving along, in short, to move on, and have the list written out some time in the future.

To Labrador with Daffy

 

Which date, or even which month it was precisely that we biked our way to the boardwalk at Labrador Park, I don't really remember. But it must have been either a public holiday or a weekend. We would not have gone so far otherwise.

This ride, in fact, could be considered a short one.

Our rides used to be longer- much longer- that extended from this space all the way to Jurong East and Bukit Batok, or Jurong West then Jalan Bahar and Kranji.

But in the last year it was decided that short, speedy, intense rides were in order, so a typical ride would bring us from the east coast side to Marina Barrage then Keppel and Harbourfront before going further upwards to where Alexandra Road was.

Today, however, I wanted to go to Labrador Park. It had been some time since I'd come, and even though the place is most scenic for her sunsets and her dusky twilight, I wanted to be near the open sea and the waves, and upon this stretch it would be this park, I knew, that would bring me as close as one could to the surface of the sea.

I wasn't disappointed.

The skies were a cloudless blue and the sun was burning hot, but the tides were high, the waves were rolling, and if I dared to lean over the railing any further, I thought I just might feel the swell of the sea wash over my outstretched hand.

Libraries- a Place, a World

Ask anyone who knows me long enough what one of my favorite activities are and they will tell you that I'm a book reader. Loved ones also will gladly tell you that I'll always arm myself with some sort of reading material during familial visits on festive occasions.
 Come to think of it,  reading truly is a habit of mine. 

During Christmas lunch at an uncle's place near the old Railway Station, I sat at a corner near the window and flipped through copies of Reader's Digest that he had subscribed to. At an aunt's home in Australia, I discovered a copy of Jung Chang's Wild Swans on the shelf and sped through the thick book in two days, staying up till 2am so as to finish it before I left. And at my grandparents' I read and re-read a Literature book titled Lady Precious Stream that used to belong to one of my aunts- that day so happened to be Chinese New Year.

It ran in the family. I had relatives who were schoolteachers. My parents encouraged me. Even in curriculum, reading was encouraged- we had designated reading periods of half an hour on some days after morning assembly during primary, and my free periods during secondary were spent in the school library. The place was airconditioned- better than the canteen- and anyway there was no where else I could go to. 

It comes as no surprise then that I've frequented many a library in Singapore.

From the old Stamford Library to the ones in the 'hood, from Central Library and Esplanade Library to the new ones at the malls of Harbourfront and Orchard, I've been to them all. I don't know if there is a library that I've not been to. Maybe Sengkang... Every library has its charm, and some will tell you that they prefer one over the other.

For me, I don't have a preference- I like any location that has got adequate seating and maybe a good armchair (I like them compared to benches cos being the introvert that I am, I can curl up with my bag and my hoodie and keep my head down)

Libraries are reckoned to be places of quiet and places of friendly refuge for me. They are not just places for me to sit and read, they are places where I feel time drifts away whilst I'm being transported elsewhere. Where there's a library, I don't have to tire myself out walking around the shops, and I don't have to spend money (unless I want to) at coffee houses.

It has been a Thing of mine to do, and I've got seasons of variety.

At one time I read the Baby Blue comics a lot. After that came the book versions of popular movies- which I particularly relished as it made me feel like I were going into depth of the movie- and it didn't make a difference whether I watched the movie or not. Later I progressed to short stories and local fiction which I would borrow five at a time then read them over lunch. Then later still I fell in love with the writings of a crime writer from LA, a science fiction writer most famously known for his book on dinosaurs and an adventure writer who wrote lots and lots about maritime technology, espionage,  political intrigue, the mountains, treasures and the sea.

The library remains one of my most loved places, and loved ones know just where to find me when I'm killing time. It doesn't matter where I am- or even if I'm borrowing anything- chances are I'll just be hanging out there.  

Either sitting on a chair, or taking a wander amongst the Young People Fiction and the Children section where who knows, I just might take down whichever book that catches my eye.  

school Uniform Life

You don't drop in to visit the museum of your alma mater without dropping in to visit your old classroom, and that is precisely what I did when I dropped in to the PLMGSS Museum a year or so ago.

It was actually 2017- that's close to two years- and although in the span of time it can seem rather long- after all, much can happen in even a year, but consider that this classroom has been here for more than twenty years, and time is no longer as distant as it seems anymore.

If you have ever wanted to know how some Singapore schools built in the 80s looked like, the first picture would be it. A good number of our schools had courtyards that were basically a square field of grass, a few plants here and there, and little else. The Primary side of my alma mater had a  nice little pond and bridge. The Secondary side didn't. Just what you see above- the same as it was when it was constructed more than twenty years ago. 

Amazingly I don't remember any one of us cutting across the courtyard in an attempt to save time.

NO ONE.
 Maybe because our hawk-eyed P had her office behind one of those shuttered windows, and none of us wanted to be singled out as the "girl cutting across the courtyard" over the intercom loudspeaker.

To this day I wonder why it was forbidden.

The picture of the classroom is in fact the actual classroom where I spent five days a week over a span of two years in Upper Secondary. My seat was close to the window where the centre pillar is- not directly next to the shutters- that seat was occupied by my friend WW- I sat next to her along the aisle and right in front of the teacher's desk, three rows from the front.

And I was a fairly different person then.

At least I think so.

Some of my closest peers might say that I'm more or less the same. Others might wonder how this bespectacled, short-haired, hack-fringed girl who didn't talk much turned out to the long-haired, selective-speaking gal today.

I'm not sure myself.

But what I do know is that, as quiet as I used to be, I do have fond memories of my last two years in this very classroom. It was here that I managed to read a whole bunch of fashion magazines for the first time. It was here that I got to know my friends better and with a close pal, raced to the canteen for a prolonged recess on Mondays.

And not only was it the time of the Casio Baby G craze, the Ant and Dec craze, the Take That craze, the TCS craze, the Cantopop and Mandopop craze, it was also the years that we ploughed through balancing Chemistry equations, algebraic formulas, the history of Thailand and WWII, the complicated (but also not so complicated) diagrams of the heart and respiratory system, and the sentences of Shakespearean plays alongside with the characters of Bathsheba, Gabriel and Troy from the writing of Thomas Hardy.  

Casual Rides & Decathlon

 

I haven't gone biking for a while- not very much since the middle of this first quarter- when there were hints of new rules being implemented for road riders. The new rule didn't come as a surprise- and in fact it would have made no difference to many a rider- but it made a difference to me.

 

See, I'm one of those riders who rides on the road and eschews the wearing of helmets.

 

No, I don't have anything against safety riding and helmets- I've attempted them before- it's just that I find the helmet wobbly and distracting, and my personal argument is that if there's something that distracts me whilst I'm on the road, I avoid it.

 

But rules being rules, and since no one wants to get fined for nothing, I guess it shall have to be a trip to Decathlon for a simple helmet very soon. After all it has been some time since I last bought anything from there for the bike, other than the front pouch, my water bottles and a pair of clear protection glasses. I guess it is time to look at helmets but I'm looking at the polo ones though, you know, the kind horse riders use...

 

Because I do miss cycling very much, I haven't been to New Tiew Estate and Kranji in a long while, yet sometimes it doesn't have to have a long, round-island ride. A simple 45 minute one for the purpose of paying a visit to an elderly person would also do.



Christmas @ Universal

 

 

For all my love of Christmas, and for all the years that Universal Studios Singapore has been here, I consider it befuddling that only in the December of last year did I finally get to experience a Universal Christmas right in Resorts World Sentosa here.

 

I should have done it a long time ago.

 

And maybe in the future I will.

 

The weather is cooler at the end of the year, the winds blowing over this part of Sentosa are stronger, the theme park is beautifully decorated for the Christmas season, and when night falls, the lights all around the park make it even more magical. 

 

Having chosen the evening slot, we got in around 5pm and went straight to the Madagascar ride, but not before stopping for a live performances at the end of Main Street where the shops are. We didn't really go into them- we wanted to go straight to the rides, but there is a Starbucks now where there wasn't one before. (I've not been here for a few years now)

 

So we went on the Madagascar ride, very light and fun with plenty of lights and funny moments and a bit of singing. Following that, we headed to the Shrek 4D ride, and although it hasn't changed one bit at all since the first time I sat it, listening to the story, and the voices of the Shrek characters again was refreshing. It has been a long time since I heard the voice of Fiona and Shrek and Donkey and the villain and the gingerbread man. In the same area there was a new Puss in Boots ride. I thought it had a lovely charm to it- at the beginning at least- where you got the story and the set of a typical village pub. which of course led to some sort of rollercoaster without it being a rollercoaster.

 

A bit of a fried chicken for our dinner (larger pieces would have been more delish) and we headed to two of the must-go rides in Universal. For me, at least, that would make it The MUMMY and Jurassic Park. 

 

The MUMMY has a mysterious vibe to it, and you will feel it, that I can assure you, from the moment you step through the barriers and start making your way to the ride. The path (or the queue, depending on how you see it) leading there is a maze. A real maze that takes about seven minutes to get through, which will test your patience, which is scary if you're alone, and if you momentarily shut your eyes, or go quietly, you can just imagine yourself getting lost in the chambers of the real pyramids over in Egypt. The ride itself has starts and stops. It isn't one of the cheerful ones, but the thing I remember most of this ride are the "bugs"....

 

It helps that I've played it before and I know just when to lift my feet up.

 

But that's the beauty about theme park rides. Adrenaline is instantaneous and even if your memory serves you well,  you will want to have the full fledged experience again, and again, and again.

 

That's how it is for me and Jurassic Park. It doesn't matter whether it is my first time or how many times I've gone through the high arched gate into Jurassic Park. The theme song inevitably comes to mind the moment I walk through those gates, and it keeps playing in my mind as I queue up for the ride thirty minutes to an hour.

 

Yes, it is a popular ride.... and I always, ALWAYS get drenched. No matter which side of the circle I'm on, inevitably I will get drenched on one side, either right or left.

 

But hey, water dries up pretty fast, and great fun it is too!

 

I'm glad I went at Christmas time.

 

Nothing beats seeing part of the park lit up so beautifully and magically like a fantasy wonderland, and even though I missed the Sesame Street show, I loved the candy cane, gummy bear colored Christmas tree with all its twinkling lights and bright, sharp colors. The whole place looked like a completely different world altogether. It reminded me of US, of LA and Universal City. I loved how surreal the place looked, even now in my memory, and I loved how warm and cosy it made me feel.

 

We went for a quick dinner at Mel's Diner thereafter, sharing a beef mushroom burger and sweet potato fries with Coke in a nice memento cup, then headed to the lakes area where we hung around and waited till it was 9pm we watched the fireworks at USS that night, my friend and I, marking our first (and what would be only) fireworks display for the end of the year. 

Wallet Pressie

This was a present I got for Christmas last year, and a very timely one it was too, for my previous wallet- despite its brand name- was turning black at the edges, and having a brand-name wallet with blackened sides is as good as carrying a flea market $10 one  in the world of glamor and fashion. 

 

Don't ask me the logic. I don't quite get it. Maybe I should have gone to get the wallet cleaned, and then it might look like the investment piece it is supposed to be, but at that time I really didn't think about it, and so, this brand new teal wallet from Charles and Keith was a godsend that I really needed.

 

And I'm loving it for the space that I get to utilize.

 

May it be a storage of overabundant $$$$ blessings the same way I have been blessed by it. :)

Japanese Platter

Hardly is it that I have a purpose to go to Cuppage Plaza- except maybe for the grilled eggplant at one of the Mexican restaurants- and even less seldom is it that I have a reason to go to the other side.

Okay, so I did hang out at the Starbucks besides OG Orchard a couple of times, but I'd never ventured into the strata shopping centre behind, and truth be told, had it not been for the one evening that we ventured over for this nook-in-a-wall eatery, I wouldn't even have known of such a shopping centre there. 

We happened to be looking for something else other than the usual to have for dinner and since the online search turned up this little café, off we went, and found ourselves perched on two stools right by the .door of one of the side entrances into the mall.

Now, this little café is no izakaya, nor is it a Japanese restaurant, but on its menu are offerings of ramen, gyozas and this huge platter you see above. The ramen comes in two sizes, and there're both the spicy and non spicy types in soups of shio, shoyu and tonkatsu. I've tried the shio (or is it shoyu...) and I think I'll have the tonkatsu if I want to have ramen there next time.

Either that, or I'll go for this platter.

I don't know the name- I don't even think there is one- but just point to the picture at the back to the server. You won't miss it. It is a huge portion, mind, but great for sharing and totally worth the price. Think of it as Japanese cai fan, and you get the idea. There's really good fried rice on one side, very eggy and smooth, with a range of other dishes on the other.

The selection of those dishes vary from time to time, so you don't really know what it is you're going to get. On one occasion we had a combination of chicken and pork. On another we had fish and fried chicken pieces. But there is always the shredded lettuce and the cherry tomato right smack in the centre- the addition of fresh vegetables makes the whole dish feel healthier.
  But no matter what it is you order, don't miss out on the gyozas. Served either steamed or fried, they come in portions of five, have lots of delicious filling inside them, and are made with skin so chewy that they make munching on them an absolute delight.

Pier 39: at Paris Baguette

 

The memories of San Francisco and the Bay Area had not been on my mind when I settled down to a dinner of cranberry scone, mushroom pizza bread and clam chowder soup served in a sourdough bread bowl.

But taste- and the memory of taste- is a peculiar thing, and even though I ought to have been thinking about South Korea, all it took was a single spoonful of this wonderfully thick, creamy clam chowder to remind me of the one I'd had for lunch at a bench table near Pier 39 a long, long time ago.

It didn't matter that on this evening I was sitting on a very comfortable chair in a Paris Baguette café in a crowded shopping mall near Downtown.

The soup, the clams, and especially the sourdough bread, brought me straight back to the city and I thought of her sunshine, her lovely chill air, the horse carriage, the horse clomping down the street, Ghiradelli, Alcatraz, the snorting sea lions down at the dock, and the fragrant dried lavender flowers sold in a shop within the Pier.

having Brunch

It has been a couple of months since my Co-Diner and I travelled all the way to the East for a spot of brunch because "this place came recommended and the reviews were good".

 

And as much as I remember the cotton candy-fairground-whimsical-fantasy atmosphere of the café, as much as I remember the pop art cushions and the soft toys strategically placed around the furniture, and of course, the lovely food, of all things that would slip my mind- it would be the cafe's name.

 

Embarrassing, and unfortunate it is, really, for the café is indeed a bright, sunny, cheerful spot, with glass panels on two sides allowing tropical sunshine to stream in, cute looking furniture that you will sit and dine from, and a wall of built-in shelves holding various decorative items and knick-knacks to make any picture Insta-worthy. 

 

I would have taken shots with the knick-knacks on the wall- they were really cute- except that I wasn't very active on Instagram at that time.

 

Still, what matters in a café is the food, and we did have a lovely plate.

 

Along with complementary freshly pureed juices served in test tubes came a platter of English muffins, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, sausages, roasted sweet potatoes and salad.

The scrambled eggs were moist and fluffy- not too watery, not too dry- textured with just the right amount of milk and butter, and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. Smoked salmon was, of course, smoked salmon- pretty huge slices they were- and can I say that the combination of scrambled egg and smoked salmon is always a perfect one, regardless how smoked the salmon slices are? 

The sausages were done nicely. You could taste the pork, and yes, it was soft and tender, but you didn't get the overwhelming aftertaste of oil and grease as some fried sausages tend to do. And I love sweet potatoes no matter how they're prepared, whether steamed, stewed, fried, grilled or roasted.

But what made this brunch really special had to be the muffins. I'm particularly fond of them, and though some of us might say that these muffins are commonplace- you can get them at McDonalds any morning- it is precisely because they are part of the Big Breakfast that eating them here was especially heartening. Thickly buttered like how I always do mine, and crusty at the edges, each bite of the muffin brought back a sense of nostalgia for all the special holidays and weekend breakfasts that I had with my family in my childhood.