Secret Origins Part II: The Teenage Years AKA Let's Talk About Sex

So why am I writing this? Looking back at my early teenage years I kinda realized that it was a pretty unusual ride. And the sex part…well, it’s not what most people would expect, I think. I figured I’ll write about cos it’s kinda different and it’s something I could look back at with a wink and a smile.

Now like most teenagers back then, we never talked about sex to our folks nor were there any real sex education in school. Also remember, this was way before the days of Internet porn, mobile phone porn, VCD/DVD porn etc. I can’t speak for every teenager back then, but this is where I got me sex education.

Yup, that's The Sex Life Letters, bought it at Times the Bookshop when I was like 14 years old I think. And I still got it, complete with ancient dust cover. There are absolutely no nude pix and no graphic descriptions of any sex acts in the book. It’s all just personal stories but geez, looking back I don’t know if any 14 year-old should be reading it! By the end of it, I knew the difference between cunnilingus and fellatio (I just don't know how to pronounce them) 101 fetishes, S&M, wife-swapping, gays, G-spot, voyeurism and just about every other kinky act in the book and probably known to man.

But I guess, when I was reading it, it was just words to me not unlike any other book I read as everyone knows I’m a bookworm. And I never talked about the book with anyone at all. The thing is I didn’t turn into some sex-crazed fiend. I didn't tell my friends about any of the stories in the book.

Sometimes I think back and am really amazed by it. It’s true that I got a kick out of reading the stories (thanks to the handy dust cover, I was reading it in class, at the dinner table etc.) but I was never tempted to turn anything I read into an actual …er…deed. it was all just added information to me. I suppose it's like me when I was doing science in school. I mean, I know about electrons and protons, and maybe because I couldn't see them, but I never felt the urge to spilt an atom or anything like that. Does that make sense?

It's All About Presentation

Got back last nite after a little drinking session down the road from the office with me colleagues, good time to unwind. Am stuck with an urgent regional project due Thursday, current plan is for another unwinding session this Friday nite at The Wine Bar, got the usual one-for-one deal for us media folks. We’ll see how that goes.

Alright, here we go! The Oreo Cake that we all been waiting! I must really start working on my baking presentation. I know it doesn’t look like the tastiest-looking cake on the planet but it tastes pretty good. Really. I wish I could say it's the photographer but since I'm the photographer too...well, you get the idea.

Now the recipe called for a 9-inch pie plate and that’s exactly what I used but it seemed like there wasn’t enough mix to for a good even spread. Maybe a smaller pie plate would have been better. So the bottom crust turned out pretty thin.

Everything else was kinda easy. Once again, I had a little problem filling up the dish as in trying to make it look nice, smooth and even. Like I said, must really work on my presentations! Kept half of the Oreo bits to sprinkle on my cake whenever I’m eating it and that’s like, every nite since Sunday! Well, someone has to I guess. So every nite at about 11pm (except for last nite’s drinking session) for better or worse, I would be trying to finish my Oreo cake, slice by slice…

The Cheesecake that I’ll be doing next, I’m gonna try the smaller cupcake version!

Coming up soon…Secret Origins Part II: The Teenage Years AKA Let’s Talk About Sex

Working For The Weekend

You know how you work like crazy from Monday to Friday, and the weekend's here and you finally get a chance to relax....fat chance, you find out you got a bunch of errands and household chores to run. Is that what we are all doing? Working for the weekend? Working for our next little vacation? That's all we have to look forward to? Every Monday, it's another madcap race to Friday (if you are lucky, you don't need to bring work home) and the weekend.

Anyway, just got back home after 11 hours (11am to 10pm) running around the city, shopping for groceries from Isetan supermarket to Carrefour at Suntec City plus the bank etc. in addition to the usual stuff I got, here's something new!


That's the new Pocky Yam flavour (about $4 plus) from Isetan and new Ben and Jerry's ice-cream on a stick (3 for $4.70) from Carrefour. Have yet to try them but I have a feeling the ice-cream is gonna be kinda small as it's really light!

White Elephants In The House

So I was looking around the apartment the other day and I realised that there's actually a lot of stuff that I bought and never used at all. Kinda like what folks would call 'White Elephants'. Either impulse buys (one of those it-was-a-good-idea-at-the-time moments) or gifts. Managed to round up some of them just for this little entry. There's a lot more where that came from.

1. Sheridan's Coffee Layered Liqueur. Now how could anyone say 'no' to this? Got it last year at Changi Airport Duty Free, back when I was drinking Bailey's with my morning coffee everyday. Really, serious. It looks so cool! It's 'dark, rich coffee liqueur layered with a cool, smooth vanilla cream liqueur'. But these days, I been trying to finish my sack of tea bags (no, I do not add Bailey's to tea, heh!) and cutting back on coffee. Am pretty sure I'll get to one of these days but in the meantime, it's going to sit on the shelf.

2. My big bright orange JLA comic book T-shirt. Got it free for playing in a card game last year, washed it and all but have not worn it. Hmmm...probably wear it soon, I guess.

3. A book on yoga. Got that a couple of years ago. I actually did some self-taught yoga many, many years ago. That was during the aftermath of a breakup with a girl. Did it to forget her and focus some energy elsewhere kinda thing. Later, lent the book to someone who never returned it. Saw another book on yoga, thought 'why not', bought it but never did it. Kinda like that copy of the Kama Sutra I have somewhere in the apartment. Just kidding!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

So what should I try baking next...Jello-Cheesecake Dessert or Jello-Oreo Dessert?


These are a couple of no-brainer quick mix kinda desserts that I figured should be pretty easy to wipe up. Just 3 or 4 steps and it says '15 minutes' on the box...yeah right. The fillings and crust mix are all included. I'm almost there for the Oreo but the Cheesecake one has the word 'Real' so that's gotta mean for something right? If anybody is reading this, any suggestions?

Secret Origins Part I: Childhood's End

Ever since I was a little kid, I have always enjoyed watching movies, TV, books, comics, the whole lot. Even listening to the BBC (or was it the local station?) when they would broadcast these soap opera-ish English serials at 2pm in the afternoon after my morning school.

Anyway, one of my favourite parts of all these stories would be the part where the good guy or bad guy would reveal his secret origin or master plan. So I decided hell, why not do a little secret origins myself? Why do I call myself “Child of Order, Servant of Chaos”? Did I really decent into the darkness after being a perfect little angel? Heh, ok maybe that last one was a little over the top.

Now remember whenever a bad guy recites his origin or dastardly plan, you ask yourself ‘can he really be trusted, he is after all the villain and they do lie’. Just a little food for thought there. Heh.

Once upon a time I was born in a pretty much perfect ideal family. We weren’t poor nor were we filthy rich. I was really, really lucky to be surrounded by family members who loved me a lot and took real good care of me (till today, you can’t imagine how grateful I still am). I was truly blessed with a happy childhood and I was a contented little critter. Read comic books, watched cartoons and played with tons of toys. Was left to my own devices and imagination most of the time. I was told that I was a good kid who listened to all my parents and elders. Man, I could spend the whole day talking about how great it was growing up, running around my neighbourhood in Orchard Road but I think it’ll just bore everyone here, that is, if there’s anyone reading this in the first place. On second thought, this whole blog thing is by me and for me, sure as hell didn’t do this to win any fans or anything like that! So hey, I’m gonna take the long route here.


So fast forward to primary school. Back then, I was pretty much an average kid. Average grades, was no star athletic, super genius or anything like that. Good in English but totally sucked at Chinese. Hah! Am only ¾ Chinese, mom’s side (nope, its not Peranakan, Eurasian, Indian or Malay! heh).

Opps….looks like this is taking longer than I thought. Maybe I’ll tell more later. The weird shit, all-hell-breaks-loose, did-he-make-all-this-stuff-up only happened when I started working as an adult so if anyone wants to read about that, they’ll have to stick around for a bit.

Of Showbiz & Sleaze

You know how you sometimes ask for more challenging assignments or projects cos you are starting to feel a little bored then you get handed the freakiest, nuttiest, no-chance-in-hell-it-will-work, no-one-else-wants-to-have-anything-to-do-with-it kinda job by the guys upstairs? Hmmm…ok, gotta remember not to talk too much bout work here.

Anyway, thought I would just point out a couple of really cool sites that I visit every day.

Ain’t It Cool has all the latest news and insider info on what’s happening in the entertainment world. We are not talking about gossipy stuff like who’s dating who but more like which actor or director is about to sign on to what movie. Reviews of movie test screenings. First exclusive look at posters, costume designs etc. Want to know what’s coming up on the latest seasons of 24, Lost? And oh yeah, the best damn hard ass, no-holds-barred comic book reviews ever!

The next one is a guilty pleasure. It’s like a daily Japanese tabloid. Lots of normal ‘serious’ news from Japan and around the world but also an almost equal amount of stories on murder, Japan’s sex industry (no photos) and the usual tabloid sleaze. You got your occasional interviews with housewives turned hookers, crazy killers, nerds-turned-perverts etc.

There’s even a book featuring a collection of stories called Tabloid Tokyo: 101Tales of Sex, Crime and the Bizarre from Japan's Wild Weeklies. Needless to say I bought a copy when I was in Tokyo last year but you can find it here at our local Kinokuniya.

Another Tuesday Nite

So it's that day of the week again. Tuesday nite. Heh...anyway, just noticed that I haven't put any pix up for awhile now. Another round of Tokyu pix? Well, maybe not today. But if anyone out there is wondering, that's my first overseas trip with a digital camera. I got a ton of pix that I ought to start scanning one of these days as soon as I sort them out and bring them down to some photo lab shop or something.

Now I'm thinking what should I do to make this blog thing more interesting? Should I talk about work? Well, I was at a photo shoot this morning and there was this really beautiful overseas female pan asian model, flown in just for a day's shoot. Not that exciting for me cos it's like the millionth shoot that I have been to. So.... how to at least make this entry a little more exciting?

Ah heck, why not? We'll show some poop! Here we have the famous Beware of Bird Droppings poster from Yokohama.

Time For Food

When I first started this blog thing, I wanted it to be about food, baking and stuff like that. But I realised it ain't that easy, for starters I don't usually carry a camera with me whenver I eat out. Then there's also the fact that I don't really know that much about food...yah sure, I love food but to write about it....well, I dunno if I'm up to it...anyway, I'll do what I can and maybe remember to bring my camera next time.

Let's see now... last week, managed to dine at a couple of new places. First was lunch at Menotti at Raffles City. Very crowded during a weekday lunch. Had the linguine with crab meat in tomato-based sauce. Not bad, think it was the first time I ever had pasta in a bowl. Dessert was a little pastry thing. Not that great, I'm afraid.

Was at this famous seafood kopi tiam at Ang Mo Kio called Mellben Seafood for dinner. They have a rather interesting and tasty dish Rojak Chicken which as the name suggests is chicken cutlet doused rojak sauce. Their signature dish is the claypot crab with bee hoon. Damn good.