29 August 2005 — Today was supposed to be the day I go to the Shanghai Museum, but you know, the weather suddenly turned warmer, I had to blog, the ah-yi was here to clean the place and I got carried away listening to all her gossip, and before you know it, it’s time to meet Tommy again. So, mebbe tomolo. (It has now become a standing joke: which is the day that Tiffany would finally venture out on her own in the day? hee hee…)

So anyway, a bit of background first. The night before Tommy was due to fly back to Shanghai, his tooth filling fell out, and he’s been suffering from excruciating nerve pain since. His threshold for pain must be pretty high ‘cos it’s taken him a whole week to finally do something about it, and not before Lynn and I had to persistently nag him to see the bloody dentist! We are so sick of hearing him whine about it.
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28 August 2005 — First of all, today is William’s birthday. Happy Birthday Pipi-pie! I know I know I so mean to be away during his birthday, but I didn’t forget about him entirely. Before leaving for China, I had already prepared a surprise gift package for him, filled with all his favourite things, including his must-have black sesame cakes and of course a few scratchies!

And now back to Shanghai. Remember a few days ago we were at IKEA to buy cushion covers. Yup, so today with one of those as a sample, we’re going to the fabric market to make duplicates of it. With the costs of buying fabric and tailoring in Singapore today, nobody really have their clothes made anymore, much cheaper just to buy off the rack. Well, not the case here. Tailor-made clothes are still very much in fashion, and you’ll soon see why.

For a change today, instead of grabbing a cab, we took the public bus. Very fun, I’ve always loved double-decker buses, haven’t sat on one for the longest time, don’t think they exist in Sydney?!?

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27 August 2005 — This morning I was abruptly woken up by very loud “firing” noises, it was continuous and didn’t stop for a long time. I was quite alarmed, but turning over to look at Tommy, he didn’t even bother to stir, like it was no big deal?!? When I pressed him, he muttered something about firecrackers and fell straight back to sleep. Turns out some shop further down the road was celebrating their opening, but Tommy says whenever he hears the firecrackers, the first thing he thinks is when the shop will be closing down. ‘Cos with the speed that the economy is booming, shops shoot up very fast but also go bust soon after. (and it’s true, in the last fews days, I’ve heard firecrackers going off at least once per day. Now it’s also no big deal to me.)
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26 August 2005 — With the weekend, and being out all day, I’m now a bit behind in my blogs, yup, got a bit of catching up to do. So you know why if they’re a bit sketchy.

So Friday, Friday. We were off to IKEA to pick up a few things.

And as typical of Tommy or when you’re around him, drama unfolds. Even as we were about to step into the building, we eyed a potential target for Lynn, good bod, good looks, a bit like Jude Law that kind. And cos he kept turning back to look at us, we thought: oh good, he’s reciprocating the attention, got chance, got chance. We kept nudging Lynn to go ask him for his number, but she very bo-ji, so in the end, as good friends should, Tommy and I decided to nab him for her. But before going in for the kill, we first hovered around our prey just to monitor the situation. He seemed to be waiting for someone… is it that angmor girl? No leh, she got another angmor guy with her. Who leh?… the only other angmor around is that guy… can’t be right… no… Ah Shit! It is. Buying bed linen somemore. So salah. Aiyah wrong orientation then don’t anyhow send signals lah! It’s so true lor, good-looking guys with good bods — assume gay until proven otherwise.
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25 August 2005 — Here we are at Carrefour again. The mission today is to get Lynn a washing machine and a mattress protector.

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24 August 2005 — Tommy has left for work and I’m home alone. Suffering from a bit of inertia to leave the house, and also a bit jet-lagged too. The night before I was due to leave Sydney, I was typically doing last-minute packing, and in the end only managed to catch half an hour’s worth of sleep. Billie was really sweet, stayed up with me. By 5am, we had to leave the house, and got to the airport by 6am. Pretty zombified by then…
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22 August 2005 — In less than 6 hours, I’ll be on a plane heading for China! As mentioned in “Mad Dash“, I’m taking a sojourn for 35 days in the land of my forefathers, and calling this my Saturn Return trip. My itinerary: Sydney –> Singapore (Tommy) –> Shanghai (Tommy) –> HK (Shihui & Peiling) –> Beijing (Weiling) –> Shanghai –> Singapore (Family & Friends, esp. Wendy + Baby G) –> Sydney (Billie!)!!! Haha, isn’t this crazy?!? I am so excited! It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to really spend so much time with these friends of mine. Other than Tommy, all the girls are friends from secondary school days (RV, can you believe it?!), that’s a whopping 16 years since we’ve known one another. And in our e-mail exchange prior to this trip, I was just saying how we have really transformed from giggly young juvenile girls to the strong, powerful, independent women that we are today (though we still have our giggly juvenile moments from time to time, ok ok, some of us more so than others).
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18 August 2005 — Ever since voyeuristically experiencing Billie’s haircut at Hanavie, I’ve been very gian to go back myself. And now that I’m due for a holiday, hah, what better excuse do I need?!?

Since I’ve oredi spoken at length about them previously, I won’t be so lor-sor today, save to say that my first-hand Hanavie experience was just as superb as William’s. You guys should really try it out for yourself! Heh heh, and what hairstyle did I opt for today?… bangs: checked, ultra-layering: checked, perm: checked… PERM?!! Wow! Really ah? Haven’t permed my hair since JC 1. Ended up with disaster Maggi-mee hair, and the worst thing, had to take class photo the very next day! So I will forever be remembered by my JC mates as such. If you think that’s bad, the second year, they simply recycled the photo, so still I kena the Maggi-mee hair! 冤枉啊! So how did it turn out today? (actually I oso very scared…)
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Have you voted for Jeff yet? Only 1 day to go!

17 August 2005 — Of late, my Pipi hasn’t had much time for me. He tries to make time on Saturdays and Sundays, but during the week I’m pretty much left to my own defences. The restlessness within me stirs, and a week later, I’ve booked myself on a plane to Shanghai. Yes folks, I’m heading for the land of Mao and giant pandas! In the next 5 weeks, I’ll be meeting up with Weiling, Shihui, Peiling and Tommy in various places in China before heading back to Singapore for a week in late Sep. How fantastic is that?!? I’m calling this my “Saturn Return” trip, but that’s another story. Read more »