the four right chords can make me cry

havent been blogging the past few days cos i've been busy. yes, even during this supposed most slack time of my life i can be busy, believe it.

best friend is back! yayness! =) finally have someone to talk to and do stuff with! its been great! but she's leaving on friday, real soon...

today had an exceptionally fun & good day so i just had to blog it down for posterity! on my way to work i was thinking really hard about where to go and what to do for mandy's birthday. trying to pray about it but kept getting distracted by other thoughts. weirdly, this guy, as he got off the bus, gave me a namecard from tecman, that christian bookshop, cataloging all the stuff they sold! woah... what do you make of it?

work at bugis was ok, not fantastic, was really busy at some parts, quite stressful. but i managed to stay calm. you know, in thailand, the biggest compliment you can give someone is to call them "cool heart". (forgot how to say it in thai, alas) seems that they prize steadiness and calmness even in the midst of a crazy environment (think bangkok traffic). and yeah, i think its a pretty cool character to have too. so have been trying to cultivate that.

the moment it hit 3 i rushed off to meet en'ai and aunty chiew ping for high tea. at... GOODWOOD PARK HOTEL!!! muahahahaha!!! aren't you jealous? it was fabulous, fabulous, fabulous!!! had laksa, mee siam, popiah, chicken curry, chicken wings, kueh pie ti, fried thingy, creme brulee, mango pudding, very nice cake, banana cake, key lime pie, bread and butter pudding, chendol, red bean and lots more! woah... the food was incredible, both in terms of quantity and quality.

and i love aunty chiew ping. she's so nice to us and i just love talking to her. one of the few adults i take very well to. she's godly, and you know that she genuinely cares about you, she remembers everything you tell her, she's kind. i want to be like that when i grow up!

she drove me down to raffles city for me work. today was special, i was to report at patara, our parent thai restaurant at 5 today. originally supposed to go with big boss, but cos i was meeting en'ai and aunty chiew ping i made my own way there. got a little lost, cos the restaurant is at the hotel side not the shopping side.

it was such a NICE place! definetly more high class than siam kitchen! they had a sofa set waiting area with the cashier thingy and the furniture was so luxurious. and the kitchen was HUGE! at least 6 times bigger than bugis. swanky sia.

i waited around until the guy who reminds me of tian en told me to follow him into this amazing maze-like place leading to the car park. it was so cool, it was linked right to the kitchen, i felt like i was in a movie. i loved it!

cos i was the only girl, i got to sit in front. twas fun, the others were nice to me. driving around in a small goods van... i dunno, it was just the funnest thing ever. now i know why tian en finds it so fun to go around delivering stuff! i liked the idea of how we were on a mission, going to someplace, setting up our gear, doing our job, packing up and going home, it was just incredibly enjoyable for me.

at first i was a little scared of the others, except for the tian en guy (michael). they all spoke hokkien to each other, i could only recognise the swear words, they smoked. they spat on the ground. but somehow, i felt very at home and at ease with them, they felt like some kind of family to me. and as the night wore on, i began to feel that they were very good people indeed and i liked them very much! the kinship of service-liners.

and they were very gentlemanly! even better than the guys at church! who maybe have stopped treating me as well cos i've become one of the guys now that they have known me for so long. when they walk through any door, all the guys without fail, will hold it out for you too, even when we're busy taking trays in and out. cos the catering shirts were quite transparent, michael gave me a newer one. the manager of catering kept asking me if i was doing ok and intended to let me and the other girl off earlier. when i was cleaning up a broken wine glass (some guy dropped it) he helped me clean up and asked me with no accusation in his voice if i broke it. this more senior waiter was super funny, everytime he saw me he'd make a silly face and behind he'd try to make me smile. i had a great time with all of them!

and the job itself was incredibly fun. it was at an art gallery!!! so shiok! it was an exhibition of the work of these 3 crazy looking jap guys who couldnt speak a word of english and kept grinning and nodding to reject the food i brought them. it was a high class, chi-chi kinda event. the kind with finger food like vol-au-vents, quiche, proscuitto on melon, eclairs, prawn cocktail, roast duck breast, smoked salmon with capers, red and white wine, heiniken beer, only evian or san pellgria for water. can you say FANCY?

my job was to walk around with this heavy glass platter of food for those artsy farts to nibble at. it was such a glam event! reporters and video cameras and everything. bossa nova music softly playing in the background. ang mohs and japs and germans and gays and tai tais. i walked around and wondered at the amazing assembly of weirdos, how their lives were so vastly different from mine and the other wait-people. some of the art pieces were pretty good too! i liked these by this guy called hiroshi osaka, all about the play of light. too bad i couldnt afford it. (my favourite painting cost $10,000)

big boss said that the paintings were lousy and that his son could draw better any day. big boss really seems to see me as his kid of sorts. morning shift: i'm summoned out of the kitchen with a call of "xiao mei mei". when he saw me in the catering uniform, he grinned a very parental smile and said "aww... you look so sweet!" despite me having worked there for months now, and he being the one who interviewed me, he still thinks im waiting for my O level results.

well, i guess its not too bad being babied once in a while. from today i realised that i felt so at home with all of them cos my place was clearly the small kid role. people just naturally take care of me and look out for me. i was said to have an innocent face. and rather than fighting it like i usually do, i guess i should embrace it. that is who i am afterall.

waitressing has been an incredible incredible experience for me. in one day i see the high society of singapore, the rich and the well-heeled, and also the common waiter, working his way through a function, laughing, joking, smoking.

in the van on the way back to raffles city after the function, they demanded to listen to the song "ni si wo de lao po" on the cd. it was heartwarming that even this motley crew of seemingly rough people had dreams deep down of romance and finding a wife to grow old with, which was basically what the lyrics were.

i feel privileged to have an insight into their world. although i may never be one of them, coming from an english speaking background like mine, they accept me and let me join them. they're warm and friendly. i cant say the same of those guests at the art gallery today. i'd rather be friends with those waiters than any rich, highly educated, smart-aleck.

and yet i also feel sorry for those people who never get to interact with people other than their own tiny social circle. JC people cant name more than 5 poly friends and probably zero ITE friends. they'll have such a small world view! spending time and working alongside people who've never even finished primary 5 has changed me for the better. i'm more humble, i will never ever look down on anyone based on something as stupid as a result slip.

woah. long post.

posted by beckyboo @ 11:24 PM