Conversations - 15th October 2011

"There's no present. There's only the immediate future and the recent past." - George Carlin

***

Someone: that's why i prefer talking to the guys
they do something after talking [about their situation]
females, on the other hand...


Ken: i'm a bit skeptical abt "true love" nowadays. probably more
than u r abt "democracy in singapore"


Someone: i reallyprefer a sat class but oki lah i neeed to spend my voucher

Me: you got voucher? what? marry french man AF give you voucher? [Ed: AF = Alliance Française]

Someone: runme shaw price


Hum Sup Guy: i just came back from Lyon
the food was good, but i spent about 70 euros on every meal, and this
was at humble bouchons


Someone: my worker was telling my malaysian office girl
"I voted PAP because they will withhold my CPF if i don't."

Me: how old is he

Someone: 55

Me: was he referring to PE or GE

Someone: GE.


Ralph Waldo Emerson: what do u think of yaacob Ibrahim
and his family.

Me: no opinion

Ralph Waldo Emerson: how can.

Me: I dont care
never do NS who cares

Ralph Waldo Emerson: because it's your country.
do u not feel a sense of anger
and indignation
or at least in a more rational perspective, a conflict of interest

Me: my anger and indignation are reserved for the system of Slavery
which poisons the national rhetoric


Someone: theyre planning KTVs
nooooooo

going to get raped by prc commandettes. ughhh

i got raped there lah
shucks

it was BS kareoke
in the middle of geylang

we went in

the mamasan came in and said, u ready
(name of kareoke is BS kareoke)
then like dozen plus prcs came in and assulted us

Me: uncle
karaoke in geylang
what were you expecting

Someone: sit on you boobs to your face
no room to fight
and with my friend yelling
EH DONT LET THEM TOUCH YOU ISTS 20 a TOUCH

Me: eh if he knows how come he went there

Someone: i was yeling FUCK YOU WHAT U MEAN DON TTOUCH THEMTHEYRE ALL OVER US
and the stag was beggin me to protect him

in retrospect it was quite funny

Me: -_-
you all quite cockah


Ken on how to buy things in China: well...my bargaining sux initiall
but i got used to it

subsequently i bought everything close to cost price
and enjoy exasperating the shop keepers

just underbid
and walk away

if they dun chase after u....it means u've underbid
and then go to the next stall and raise it by 10 yuan


Someone: i think prcs are very gracious

in general most of them have been more polite accepting
they dont mind sitting next to indians on buses/trains

Me: haha
as compared to locals?

Someone: yea!


Me: how to know expats and foreigners

but then she's a girl
and seems quite young
and quite hot
so NO WONDER

MFTTW Of cos
There are entry costs to hanging out with expats

But you get to enjoy rich lifestyle

Me: no costs if you're a young, pretty girl
people will pay for you (:

is it just me or are there many girls who hang out with expats, but almost no guys?

MFTTW The entry cost is having to be a young pretty girl and dress up

Me: hurr hurr hurr

MFTTW Guys got some la but not common

Me: that's why I said almost no guys

MFTTW For guys you must be rich very very rich


Someone on The Tree of Life: some thought it was pretentious. i think it's brilliant.
won't last more than a week, i bet. lots of singaporeans walking out of the cinema during the screening
even the FREE preview

it's like a virginia woolf novel set to film and music
lots of interior monologue drifting in and out, story told out of order, weird editing... the works
but damn beautiful visuals

like someone's life flashed by the moment he dies.

Me: i.e. like a drug induced delusion


Someone else from another girls school: maybe she is just from RGS
a bit fucked up inside

Me: are your *** girls all well adjusted?

Someone else: nope
fucked up but in diff way

all girls are fucked up

Me: how are they fucked up then
well girls are neurotic

Someone else: want guys' attention and the way they go about it lor


TC: u got any friends working at STD?

lol lol!!!

stb
:/


Ken: guys going to japan without buying porn is like going to singapore without seeing the merlion

France/Spain 2011 - Day 6, Part 1 - Paris: Church of St Etienne du Mont

"Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think." - Niels Bohr

***

France/Spain 2011
Day 6 - 22nd March - Paris: Church of St Etienne du Mont (Part 1)

For some reason my body clock was kicking me up after 6 hours of sleep. I hadn't managed 7 hours on any night so far. However I took it slow as I was still sick, and the attractions were not open yet.

Someone else was coughing in the room. Since it was rather run down, it was like La bohème. Besides the lack of sanitary facilities, it also lacked power sockets. So much for the nostalgia value - I don't want to lodge there anymore in future. Even if the restaurant opposite is excellent.

I felt a touch bad disturbing the Australian and American girls in the room as I packed to leave, but the previous night they had kept talking (I had needed to stuff my cheap backup set of in-ear earphones as earplugs) so it wasn't unfair.


Rue Mouffetard before all the tourists come out


Square Ortolan
The word is borrowed from English, but means small public garden


"Jeune homme qualifié donne des séances de massage à domicile sur rendez-vous"
("Young qualiied man gives massages at home on appointment")


Rue Mouffetard


Crêpe/Panini place which serves Halal meats - but also ham and pork sausages


"OBj'ai TROUVÉ" ("OB I have found")
This is a play on "objet trouvé" ("Found object")


Menu of Bubble House. Bubble Tea is more expensive than wine.


Subway. With "15" and "30" subs (6 inch and 1 foot). They use metric here!

I then walked into a pâtisserie to get breakfast. I refused to have the hostel breakfast, as I remembered it sucked (at least compared to the wonderful things available on the streets).

The pâtisserie had "croissant nature" and "croissant au beurre" (with butter). I thought all croissants had butter. I wanted to try the baguette spéciale, which I had read about (supposedly the price of the normal baguette is monitored so they use cheap ingredients - the baguette spéciale is the one you want), but that would've been too big for me.


Flan Havrais (Flan lait sucré fleur d'orange)
A Flan in the style of Le Havre - a sugared milk flan scented with orange blossom. The orange blossom lent it a delicate flavour that you don't get with normal orange flavour.

I also got a Feuilleté Framboise, which you will see later.


Shots of the pâtisserie


Bonobos movie poster. The movie is probably all about sex.


"Every Thursday evening. Happy Hour Non stop for girls"
They didn't say Happy Hour was for women (femmes) or ladies (dames) but girls (filles).

There was a traffic holdup, with 7 cars behind a truck on a narrow one-lane road. The truck driver was making a delivery, and there were no horns. Amazing.


The mélange of Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese cuisines


Church of St Etienne du Mont


Lycée Henri IV. The Tower of Clovis is from 1180, and the rest from the 18th century.


Another Nazi Victim memorial plaque, with a condemnation of Vichy France. They were exterminated because they were "born" Jewish. Apparently some of them converted out of Judaism, but were still targeted. Were those who converted into Judaism targeted by the Nazis?


The Panthéon


Church of St Etienne du Mont


Portal, with The Martyrdom of St. Stephen by Gabriel-Jules Thomas


Nave


Commemoration of Pope John Paul II, here for World "Youth" Day in 1997


About the church. The sign below reads: "Vous avez admiré notre église. Aidez nous à l'entretenir" ("You have admired our church. Help us maintain it")


This is one of the few jubés (rood screens - a barrier to segregate the church) left in France. According to Wikipedia, no medieval rood screens survive in Britain.




Chapel of the Sepulchre, with The Entombment, 16th c. (stolen from another church)


On the same plane as the rood screen, portal to another part of the church


Church organ