I don't get it.

The Thais overthrew Thaksin in a military coup because they thought he was corrupt. Then after a brief rule by the military chief, they elected someone from the same party (ok, technically a different party but formed from the same roots) in a supposedly democratic election. Then they accuse him of being Thaksin's puppet (hello.. they're from the "same" party and you knew that when you voted...) and then they find any excuse to oust him (this excuse being he accepted money for doing a "Samak can cook, so can you" show) and now, they elect Thaksin's BROTHER-IN-LAW?!? Hello??? Anybody hoooome??? If they don't want their leader to have anything to do with Thaksin, then perhaps they should look OUTSIDE of his circle, do you not think so???

That said, the new guy does look pretty genial so I hope he will turn things around for Thailand. I do hope they stop the merry-go-round here though. I can only remember that many names. This could be a great pop quiz question in future.

Sigh. I so do not understand Thai politics.

Now everyone's been talking about the incredulous collapse of Lehman Brothers and the "heng ah"* escape-by-the-skin-of-your-teeth save of Merrill Lynch. And I'm sitting here thinking, okaaay, so what else is on tv? Don't get me wrong, it was a terrible, terrible thing to have happened but nothing seems to faze me anymore. Not the ripple effect this financial disaster will present, which in turn was caused by the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the States, not the earthquake in Sichuan, nor the tainted milk powder by Sanlu, not Hurricane Ike and definitely not Lance Armstrong returning to competitive cycling after overcoming testicular cancer.

Nothing. Fazes. Me. Anymore.

I wonder if we've somehow along the way been exposed to so much tragedy (ok, Lance Armstrong is not a tragedy) that what's bad now becomes the norm and what's good is either suspicious or unbelievable. If someone were to tell me that civil war broke out in Thailand or a crazy gun-toting psycho massacred everyone in a shopping mall, I'd have as much of a facial reaction as Paris Hilton with Botox.

I wish it wasn't this way. I wish good things would be the norm again. That you could walk the streets of JB without worrying about getting mugged (ok, sore spot for me), or take a plane and not have to throw away all liquids in your cabin luggage that are over 100ml and not packed in clear re-sealable plastic bags, or simply take the most convenient route in your vehicle without having to go through the ERP gantries.

Life, as I knew it, is gone. But ever the ACSian, I will say, The Best Is Yet To Be.

*heng ah - hokkien slang for lucky

The hub-to-be (henceforth 'h2b') and I have had yet another fight. I'm incredibly annoyed with him and wondering for the 1ooth time why I had to give up rolling pastures of green meadows for one COW.

Which brings me to the conclusion that men are like cows. They like to stand around and do nothing. Most of their time is spent eating and when they want attention, they ring their bells. When they feel like it, they can be productive and give some milk. But the whole process of squeezing the milk out is such an ordeal that it's hardly worth the effort. Might as well just kill the darn cow and make a good steak.

So yep, I'm not too pleased with the h2b at the moment. And I'm sure he's not delighted with me either. And round and round we go on the Singapore Flyer, not really seeing the point of it all.

We did our wedding shoot recently and it was a ball. But I had fun because I got to do fun stuff like jump around and pose and sprawl on the grass. Not because I got to get up close and personal with the h2b. In fact, those were my most uncomfortable moments. I hated the "romantic" poses. It felt too unnatural.

I used to think I was a romantic person. Not anymore. Not with the h2b anyway. For some reason, I can't bring myself to be romantic with him. It gives me goosebumps. Is that bad?

I will be terribly honest and tell you that since getting engaged, I've found many other guys to be so much more attractive in every sense of the word. That's definitely the devil having a go at me there but in all fairness, if I wasn't weak, he'd have no trump card to play either.

I tell myself that very few of us end up with the love of our lives at the end of the day. Most of us just make the best of what we have. If the h2b were to read this, I'm sure he'd feel sad. I feel sad just saying it. But maybe romantic love is really overrated. Who knows? I'll tell you when I feel that way again. Hopefully, it will happen.

Ok, that previous paragraph bordered on emo so I shall end on a more 'mel' note - I HATE the new Facebook. It's awful!

There, a nice mel ending :)

I've just come back from the One Fullerton party and my boss' farewell dinner at Forlino. I'm slightly inebriated so I hope that what I write makes sense (you wouldn't believe how many typos I corrected in that sentence alone). In any case, I've discovered what I suspected all along - I'm definitely more a red wine person than a white wine one and prosecco is fine by me but champagne turns my tummy upside down. I think the bubblier it is, the worse my stomach feels.

So anyway, I'm a firm believer of responsible reviewing. Which means to say that if I liked a restaurant, I'll say it but if I wasn't blown away (or, God forbid, I had a terrible experience), I would just not write about it. People's rice bowls (pun unintended) are on the line here and I think it would be irresponsible to ruin a restaurant's reputation just because you didn't enjoy your experience there. Like they always say in Singapore - nothing good to say don't say.

So I was at Forlino (and the very fact I'm writing about it means it passed). Let me just state from the start that Forlino is perfect for a romantic tete-a-tete in the evenings. Take your better half there for dinner. Even if the food doesn't do it for you, the view certainly will. You get a lovely view of the marina with sparkling lights, courtesy of the moon and the 5-star hotels fronting the bay. Very romantic.

Inside, the decor seems just a tad eclectic, with an blend of baroque and contemporary styles but I have to say it works. I took a hydraulic lift for the first time in my life and was so thrilled by it! But I digress.

Food. To start, I had the Culatello Ham with Peach and Spicy Fruit Preserve. The ham was very thinly shaved and went well with the fruit. Interestingly, Forlino has their own cure room where they cure meats and cheeses. You can even peek in through the glass window to check out the cheeses on the blocks.

For mains, I had Deep-fried Pork Leg with Stewed Ribs. Was not what I expected at all. There were 2 slices of deep-fried pig skin, 2 little ribs and a patty of sorts. Think I was expecting more of an Oktoberfest-type pork knuckle. I know, some of you are probably shaking your heads in disdain that a girl like me would dig meats so much. But I must say that I'm very much a carnivore. And a seafoodivore. And a durianivore. I'm an unhealthyfoodivore.

Dessert was half a baked peach with amaretti but I didn't enjoy it because I'm not an almond person. Chestnuts, yes. Hazelnuts, yes. Brazil nuts, yes. Almonds... not so much. However, they did give us a plate of sweets to end of, which consisted of 2 tiny dark chocolate ganaches, teeny meringues and shortbreads. Nice touch.

All in all, the food wasn't amazing-knock-my-socks-off fantastic but there is definitely potential there. Maybe they still need a little time to settle in but once that's done, I think they'll give the other restaurants a run for their money.

Ok, and you know it's time to sleep when you've spelt 'money', 'monet', more than once and when the alcohol's making you punctuate everywhere.

Nite, eoplep. I mean, people.

Much has changed since the last time I wrote. I was just going through my archives and marvelling at what I've gone through in the 5 years I've had this blog. It's interesting to see my thought processes and derive the stage of life I was at when those posts were written.

So here I am, on the threshold of adulthood. I know, that was supposed to have happened when I turned 21. Or maybe even when I left home to study overseas. Or when I came back and started work. But somehow, the little girl remains. All 28 years of her.

I think getting married is scary stuff. We all expect it to happen sooner or later but when it stares you in the face, it's seriously scary stuff. And then you realise, "hey, this is REALLY happening. My life will be different forever."

But then you look around at the people who've gone before you and they did okay. So I guess it IS going to be okay. Even for a worrywart like me. I worry about everything - a trait lovingly passed down by Mum. I worry that things will not go as planned, I worry that I'll marry the wrong guy, I worry that I'll develop Alzheimer's. Just like Mum.

So will I know if marry the wrong guy? Eventually I will :) But it's not about whether he's right or wrong is it? It's about constant effort every day and entrusting the relationship to God. What a difficult task at times for a control freak like me :)

Will I know if I'll have Alzheimer's later on in life? I don't know. If I do, I do. If I don't, I don't. I've read that children of patients with early onset Alzheimer's have a higher risk of developing the same illness. But I guess that's something I can't do anything about and it's pointless to keep thinking about it.

At the moment, it still looks like I have my whole life ahead of me. Now if only the government would stop increasing the GST, number of ERP gantries, surcharges etc. I promise to have more babies ok!!