Delicious Adventures in Cooking Land Ep 1

Eeee Cockroach!

The Thrill of Waiting

On Wednesday, 17th Jan, I placed a long-distance phone call to the US (or at least I think it was the US) to Musician's Friend, an online retailer of musical goods. I ordered a guitar strap and guitar stand that wasn't available locally. I'd have ordered guitar polish as well, but I was worried that they wouldn't ship it because it's potentially flammable and besides, I can buy it here. I made a mad dash to the post office after my class, in order to pay them by Western Union transfer. Fortunately for me, the post office is open till 8pm on Wednesdays, otherwise I'd have had to wait another agonizing day to settle the payment.

On the 19th of Jan, they finally informed me that it had shipped. Strangely enough, the parcel shipped from Kansas City in Missouri, though the company was based in Oregon. Sheesh! The company was in Oregon, my shipping address was in Oregon, and if only it'd shipped from the headquarters, it wouldn't have taken so long.

On the 25th of Jan, it arrived at my US address. The parcel sat there for several more days before being "handed over to distributions". You mean you don't process it immediately? Oh man. But I suppose I don't have a choice, after all they need to consolidate the shipping to Singapore instead of sending out shipments as they come in. On the 30th it shipped out, and I imagined my precious parcel flying in the sky above my head, wondering which part of the world it was traversing at that moment.

On the 31st its status was changed to "Final Delivery" and I couldn't track it any more.

On the 1st of Feb, I kept checking my email like a fiend, hoping for that message from hall office that would inform me of my parcel. It was like adopting a child you'd only seen in pictures. I knew what the parcel contained. I knew the dimensions of the box it came in, even. But I had to wait.

On the 2nd of Feb, I went to the dining hall to buy an apple from the fruit juice stall. On my way back to my room, I saw a brown box sitting below the window ledge of the counter. I backtracked and peeked at the address on the invoice. There was no mistake, my baby was here.

I asked the hall office for my invoice of hall fees, and in an offhand manner said "Oh that parcel's mine too." It hadn't even been entered in the package collection book, I wrote the entry there myself. Good thing I took the initiative to collect it myself. It was too large to fit through the slot, so they had to open the door to pass it to me. I sand a little happy song to myself, silly grin plastered on my face, as I walked back.

And now for the grand unboxing!

This is the box and the invoice from VPost, which is the service that I use.
That's how large the box is.

Inside the box, lying coiled up like a snake, is my guitar strap on top of the stand.

Why is it necessary for them to use so much packing material? If they'd used less, and used a smaller box, I could have paid less on shipping. VPost charged me by volume, so I came out on the losing end.
The folded guitar stand and strap in its plastic covering.Mmmmrrrr! That's my sexy guitar strap. To quote the guy in the guitar shop, it "looks like lingerie". It's an Alexis Corset Strap from LM Products.
The guitar stand, assembled. Assembly consists of opening it. That's all. It's supposedly stomp-proof, and to make sure, I pressed on it until both halves came apart, then I put it back together. It's a great stand, but I wish I'd known it was plastic and not metal. Metal is just so much classier, but then I'd probably have paid a lot more for it. And besides, as long as it holds my bass, I don't really care.

So finally, 2 weeks after it shipped out, my parcel arrived. Most of the time between payment and delivery was taken up by processing, I'm sure it didn't spend more than 5 days doing pure travelling. I don't mind waiting, because in the end everything arrived in good condition, and I got what I paid for. So I'm happy. I guess. But I won't be in a hurry to order items from overseas, it's too much cost, hassle and emotional energy spent.

More V-girls

Feeling fulfilled

I had a good day. It was my first full day back home, I was travelling yesterday.

Today my sister and I hit MidValley where we spent 6 hours trawling the malls for bargains, unashamedly scavenging through the '50% off' bins, and pigging out on ice-cream and battered fries. We loaded up on saturated fats for lunch, I bought several tops and a very expensive guitar magazine buying guide, and laid my hands on my dream lover for the first time. Even though that's all I did, because we were in a public place and I was too shy to take it any further. I had a look at some other stuff that I wanted to buy, but I haven't finished my comparison shopping and I'm loath to make a commitment before I've fully explored my options. It's not just the money. I can always buy another wallet, but what would I do then with the one I already have? I just don't like to see wastage.

Our parents picked us up and we headed to the hawker centre for dinner. I continued with my artery-clogging dietary habits and ordered char kuey teow for dinner. The Singaporean version lacks flavour and 'wok breath', so it's insipid and for some reason, strangely sweet. Not the dish I had for dinner. It was just as I wanted. Ahhh. Satisfaction. My parents, being more health-conscious, had porridge. Which I also helped myself to, it's my favourite pig-intestine porridge with complimentary yau char kway. That was one truly enjoyable dinner, topped off with sugarcane juice.

Back home, I showed my parents the video of Second Nature performing at GRASS, then I pointed out the bass guitar to my mother and informed my parents that I was taking lessons. They seemed to enjoy the video of our hilarious Pussy Pleasers performance. My dad seemed to think that "the bass guitar is easy to play, there are only 4 strings" which earned him an earful from me. Hey, at least my parents know now that I'm serious about the bass, it's not another little flirtation of mine. I showed my mum the pictures of me flirting with a crazy pink glittery bass, and she agreed with me that it gives off a very "look at me" vibe. That bass is a proper, nice-sounding bass, with good construction, but like a pretty girl with brains, people only look at the surface and make their decision based on that. Either way, that pretty-girl bass is too high-maintenance for me.

My mum even told me I could go and get a guitar with my card, but I told her I'd get it in Singapore because the price the KL shop quoted me was way insane. I mean, even after multiplying by 2.3, there's still 600-odd ringgit unaccounted for. That 600-odd is for my amp and strap and guitar case and cables and stand! No taking extra money that I don't really have!

And hey, my mum bought some Christmas cake from the bakery so I pigged out on that. Whoa. New clothes, permission to buy my baby, and dessert. Life doesn't get much better than this.

I love being home for the holidays.

Love by lamplight

This is my room by lamplight and candlelight.


This is the object of my affection by lamplight.


Imagine waking up to those gorgeous curves, that long slim neck, every day and every night.

It's Rename Your Friends Day!

I had a funny conversation with 2 of my juniors just now. I was walking back from my Japanese lecture, when I heard someone calling me. I looked up and it was one of the girl freshies.

"Lynn Lynn Lynn" she said.

"Yes yes yes" I replied. Then she started poking my collarbone. I was wearing my Miss Lim t-shirt with the Localbrand logo on the collarbone. It's 4 arrows pointing inwards and that was her target.

"Why are you poking me?"
"Because it says "poke me"!"
"No it doesn't!" I know it doesn't, it's my shirt after all.

I threatened not to give her any food at the supper tonight. She seemed blur so I had to remind them about tonight's meeting. Then she said I looked very stripey. I usually wear striped sandals, and Big Pink Bag is obviously striped, but it sort of slipped my mind that I was also wearing corduroy pants so I was all parallel lines today.

"Stripes are good, they slim you down," she said.
At this point the other freshman intervened.
"So you're saying she's fat?"

"Yay [name deleted]!"
"Argh you can't pronounce my name properly! It's [name deleted], not [error]!"
"Well, in that case we'll just have to rename you. That's what we do when we have a name we can't pronounce. I declare you..."
The girl freshie jumped in. "His name is Alvin!"
"Yes, you do look like an Alvin... ok! I'll make the declaration tonight!"

So tonight I am going to keep addressing him as Alvin, perhaps it'll grow on him. Haha.