Singapore Travels: Chapter 1: Little india

Diwali (or "Deepavali") decorations in the street

I have, regrettably, never been to India. 

I have, however, been to Little India in Singapore during Deepavali with my best friend in the world, who happens to be Tamil (as many of the Indian origin residents in Singapore are), so I think that is the next best thing!

We went out to eat at this place called The Jungle Tandoor, which was a really cool place decorated like a jungle (think Rainforest Cafe). I ordered the tandoori chicken. (Healthy tip: anything baked tandoori-style is likely the healthiest item on an Indian menu -- watch out for those calorie-laden curries!). The Jungle Tandoor is a very peculiar place, with the interior decor decked out in jungle-themed decorations but with the odd polar bear and Native American Indian thrown in (I assume as a joke?). 

I really liked being in Little India during Deepavali (Diwali to some of you) because there was a real celebratory feeling in the air.

Inside: The Jungle Tandoor

I visited an open market where they had loads of Indian sweets for sale. Indian desserts are the best. Don't let the nastiness of Gulab Jamun food you - there are a lot of great sugary treats to be found in Indian cuisine. 

I personally am obsessed with burfi, which sounds gross but tastes great. It is super sweet (probably too sweet for many tastes) and comes in a variety of flavours, like pistachio, almond, etc. It is very rich (almost like fudge) but has a flour-y taste. 

The Jungle Tandoor

Little India MRT Station

We've come back to Little India a few times to visit another one of our favourite Singapore restaurants: Anjappar's restaurant, which has delicious South Indian food. We've also had delivery from the numerous times, even though we live on Orchard Road which is a bit far away.

Click here to see Anjappar's website! Highly recommended by myself. :)

General Sam Houston

Omni Hotel

So I just got back from Houston, and I can totally see why my husband is obsessed with Texas! Call me stereotypical but it just seems like everyone is happier and friendly in the Lone Star State!

I stayed at the Omni Hotel, which was beyond luxurious. They had a huge outdoor pool (the only kind, if you ask me) and a large pond with black swans in them (in reference to their Black Swan night club). I have to say the swan looked rather depressed and disinterested in living. I tried to feed him some tuna and bread but he wouldn't even try it. Seriously, I am concerned for that swan.

The Omni Hotel is located near the Energy Corridor area of Houston, where there are a lot of oil companies. I am surprised by the wealth I see around me--until I look up the house prices in the area.

Honestly, if you want proof of why a small government is a good government for an economy, go to www.trulia.com and look up the house prices in Texas. In-fucking-credible. A 5 bed, 5,000 square feet house (mansion?) costs less than half a mil. Compare that to any other state in the union and you're almost guaranteed to pale in comparison.

Yeah. I used to do that, too.

One of the other things I love about south Texas is the weather. Warm, humid, with gorgeous palm trees and delightful wee little lizards. It reminded me of my childhood vacations visiting my aunt in Tampa, Florida. Except I wasn't chasing after them and using them as earrings.

One of the highlights of my trip was getting to visit the Houston Galleria. If you visit this mall, be prepared to part with your money! All the best designers and stores have a location here.

As part of my idea to sprinkle my dad's ashes around the world, I started with Niagara Falls on the Canadian side of the border (Toronto). Since my dad was such a staunch Republican, I thought he would like to be able to visit Texas waters, too. I did some research and read about Kemah Boardwalk, which I wanted to visit for this occasion.

Not as good as it looks.

I have to say, this one was a big miss. Kemah Boardwalk was like a second-rate city fair on a boardwalk, with horrible restaurants (couldn't even get seated in one, and not because it was crowded) and dirty water. Nevertheless, I sprinkled dad's ashes on the boardwalk next to a flock (band? tribe?) of jellyfish, which reminded when we went snorkelling together on our family trip to the Bahamas and he claimed to have gotten attacked by a manta ray. I was a bit tickled when a group of fish immediately surfaced to swallow my dad's ashes down. I guess I should have been horrified, but it amused me a bit because my father was such an animal lover, and hopefully those fish will carry my dad's remains far away from the nasty waters of Kemah boulevard.

I concluded the last week of my month in Houston in an Embassy Suites hotel near the Energy Corridor.

EDIT: I also learned that Houston is named after General Sam Houston, an influential senator/governor who helped Texas join the states when it was still part of Mexico. Apparently he was married for an extremely brief time to Eliza Allen, who left him and publicly announced that he had "sustained the 'dreadful injury' of emasculation in the Creek War of 1814". I can only imagine what that means (although I don't want to). 

Don't Play Me Like That

I have an issue.

It’s with the music that is constantly harassing my eardrums every time I turn on the radio in my car.  

 Since when did mainstream music become so ....
                                                                           ..... completely inane and artless?

I literally cringe every time I hear Nick Minaj’s unbearable baby-voice or Drake’s "gangsta" rap. What happened to the days when rap and hip-hop had lyrics centred on social justice and politics? What happened to rap stars that were actually from the 'hood, who understand the real movement and the concepts behind it?

Nicki and Drake are the ultimates examples of the Great White Cultural Appropriation of Hip Hop. I don’t want to be a hater (e.i. anyone who is jealous and spiteful towards someone because they are richer/more successful/better-looking/more talented than them) but some things just need to be said.

Gross.

Today, mainstream hip-hop artists make music that is designed for affluent people in the 'burbs who have enough money to spend $12.99 on iTunes for their album. Music used to be the only voice for the masses of disenfranchised people living in the ghetto. Now that's been stolen for the sake of a trend. 

Today's hip hop artists would not be so bad if they were honest with themselves about where they come from and who their audience is; I really have no problem with a wanksta from the suburbs who wants to rap. But be real. Just own up to the fact that you have no street cred. Admit that you've taken rap out of it's original context. 

Don’t pretend to talk in Ebonics, wif all da bad grammar, when in reality you were raised by an upper-middle class white family. It is disgusting that hip-hop and rap on today’s mainstream radios actually claim to have a connection to the roots of hip-hop. 

Listen, the most “gangsta” thing Drake has ever done is buy a bag of weed with his Bar Mitzvah money. Since when are Canadian Jews from upper-middle class Caucasian families in touch with the heat on the street? (This is similar to the media phenomenon claiming that Obama is from Chicago; since when does working somewhere make you "from" there? He was raised in Hawaii/Indonesia, went to college in New York and only in his later years moved to Chicago.)

I guess Chris Brown agrees with me that Drake is a wussy. The two hate each other and brawled once at a night club, and were later offered a million dollars each to officially duke it out in a boxing match. Since Chris Brown can't hit women anymore he had to decline.

The Queen Bee, one of the last living REAL rap artists. 

Child actors like Drake have stolen hip-hop away from its rightful voice. It’s been taken away from its original context, raped of all meaning, and regurgitated to the public because of the infectious beats. The only prerequisite that seems to have remained is that any artists representing this genre be black, or at least half-black. Nothing of the original struggle, racial and social issues are there in the lyrics. 

And people listen to this music -- with its endless and repetitive references to booty-shaking, clubbing, drugs, fame, reckless money-spending -- and scorn “that black music.” 

Hiding under the guise of the African-American subculture to deflect criticism, (mostly white) CEOs of music companies can produce scandalous, sex-obsessed, drug-infused hip-hop music that sells with less of the scandal. When cute lil white girl Britney Spears wears a sexy schoolgirl outfit in a music video, people were horrified! But when Lil Kim talks about how she can "make a Sprite can dissappear in her mouth" people don't even blink.

(NOTE: I am in no way hating on Lil Kim. She is one of the few original players out there who truly reps her hood and remembers where she came from. 15 years later, she's still the one and only wicked Bitch of the East. The Queen Bee is among the most talented female rappers in music history. And she never went all diva -- she even did time in jail trying to protect her friends in court. Loyalty). 

But .... stealing things from other cultures is good for sales. In exchange for appropriating the once-dignified music of a minority race and selling your soul to the devil, of course. 

Here's a cool video of Drake getting a cap in his ass when he was an actor on the homosexual children's show Degrassi: 

Inducing Menstruation

I drank the Goya nectar and it worked!

Have you ever had a late period, knowing that you weren't preggers, but struggling with all the yucky side effects of PMS all the same, without any end in sight? I have. As someone with PCOS (maybe) infrequent or non-existant periods have always been a problem for me. I'll get bloated, have mood swings, cramps, fatigue and, alas, no period.

I've done a lot of research on inducing your period and have found that there are, surprisingly, some remedies that really work (or, at least people say they do and in one occassion, they have for me).

1. Papaya. Vitamin C suppresses the production of progesterone, thereby allowing the lining of the uterus to shed more easily. I have taken Vitamin C supplements without any effect, but the papaya trick worked for me. My dear, sweet mother picked me up some papaya juice one month when I was having menstruation issues. After drinking it, next morning I had by far the absolute worst cramps I've ever had -- I literally could not walk -- but I think it was worth it, because my period came that day. The trick is papaya juice is very difficult to find in the UK. In the US, where there are large Hispanic populations, you can usually find it in the ethnic food section of the supermarket with the Latin ingredients. It is possible that it the papaya and the period were just a coincidence, but the fact that I've never had cramps before makes me feel that there was a definite correlation.

2. Parsley tea. I am trying this now -- there is a fresh, hot cup of parsley tea on my coffee table as I type! I will report back on it's efficacy, however, I have read reviews claiming that it does work. One reviewer wrote that it "tastes like ass" but the taste is actually nice to me. It reminds me of the great Hungarian dishes with parsley in it that my father used to make.

Here is the method. It is recommended that you use fresh parsley.

1. Pour hot water (not boiling) over a few sprigs of parsley.
2. Wait for 2-3 minutes.

Some recommend using the parsley as a vaginal suppository but I will not discuss this here. That is a bit too much for me: I don't want to turn my vag into a some strange stewing pot of fragrant roots and herbs.

I have heard that adding honey makes it taste better, but to me that would be gross! Just suck it up, drink it and we'll see what happens!

EDIT: Verdict on parsley tea: It did NOT work for me.

What I Learnt As An English Major

What I Learnt As An English Major Well, truth be told, there are innumerable things I learned as an English major, so maybe this title is a bit misleading (one of the less interesting little tidbits I've come to know is that in the UK it is "learnt" while in the USA it is "learned": for clarity's sake I will evoke the British standards henceforth). However, this list will focus on the things I have learnt as an English major that are actually relevant to the workforce (in no particular order). This entry will be designed to refute the notion that liberal arts majors have "no skills" and "should be pelted with rotten tomatoes." I was inspired to write this by hearing from many people that being an liberal Arts major is “useless” and simply “majoring in your hobby.” Truthfully, I would be reading literature and writing and analysing the world around me even if it didn’t contribute to my GPA (which is 3.9, thankyouverymuch), but choosing an English major was right for me because it capitalised on my already existing talents and challenged me to hone them and make them better. 

1. As an English major, I learnt to speak in front of a large group of people concisely and articulately. I learned how to present and communicate material to an audience in an efficient and clear way, and, more invaluably, I was taught how to express my thoughts and opinions in an impromptu delivery. For many people, public speaking is a phobia and speaking candidly and extemporaneously in an unplanned, off-the-cuff fashion in a professional group setting is intimidating. While I admit that I have always suffered from "a shyness that is criminally vulgar", I have definitely learned to express myself well in an academic or professional situation. 
2. I learned how to process written information and summarise accurately the important parts, drawing correlations between them and other information I’ve read. I’ve learned how to research information appropriately, evaluating said information on its own and in comparison to other sources, and sometimes in the process coming up with my own information based on a comparison of the two (the good old-fashioned thesis). This skill is applicable to other majors as well, but is specifically valid for English majors, who do not read information that is as straight-forward and factual as, say, a science major does. This ability is, supposedly, one of the main reasons many English majors decide to pursue a career in law after graduating. However, I think that this skill is universally applicable in many fields. Finding connections and patterns takes time and training, and no one is better at coming up with new ideas and forging new connections than the good ol' English major. 

Louis Vuitton Speedy Bandouliere 30

So, my DH ("dear hubby" for those of you unfamiliar with forum-speak) finally caved and bought me that bag I've been lusting over for, I don't know, around 8 years!

The agreement was that if I accompanied him on his business trip in Houston for 3 weeks he would buy me an LV. Not a bad deal, eh?

I wrote about my purchase (complete with pics and everything!) on The Purse Forum. I think I might even do a video review, not because anyone will watch it, but because I am keen to try the camera function on my MacBook.

Here's a pic of the bag taken with my digital camera:

Here's a semi-anonymous pic of me modelling the bag (of course, my digital camera/video recorder BROKE just after taking the first picture ... maybe God's punishment for being so materialistic?).

Pigeons. Everybody loves them. But are they suitable as pets?

So this hotel I'm staying at has loads of pigeons in the parking lot area. Since it was really hot out I opened the window and forgot to close it when I left.

I came back to find two pigeons perching on the lamp.

I was kind of freaked out and a bit afraid to go near them so I just got a towel and threw it near the lamp (not at them). They immediately flew out the window.

Now I feel immensely guilty ...

I wasn't sure if they would attack me or feel threatened by my presence so I'm glad I scared them away. It made me do some research online to see if pigeons really can become aggressive, and the answer is a resounding YES.

This video is indisputable proof: