Maps to the Stars** follows the Weiss family, who lives a glamorous but problem-riddled life in Hollywood. Stafford makes big money from his self-help manuals while his wife Cristina manages their child star son Benjie, who has known a life in rehab at the tender age of 13. Their estranged pyromania daughter Agatha starts working for a fading diva Havana, who sees her mother’s ghost at night. A story that proves that incest (even without being aware) is not a good gene combination…
Not a good idea to watch this movie when the frame of mind is not at its best, in addition with encountering with strange people, ie people whose actions and or words which are not constructive nor positive to my present chain of thoughts!!
This week has been busy with preparing for the PPP on Iceland at Campers Corner but also having Thanksgiving and the family in mind! So let’s hope that tomorrow the mind will be focus on the presentation.
Do not even remember when I had the last Thanksgiving with my whole family
Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse – Henry Van Dyke
There is everything to be thankful for even when the family is not together. This list is never-ending, just checked into the postings from 2008 (when blogging first started!) till now 2014. My immediate family is and always will be in my heart no matter where we all may be. Grateful and blessed that we could be all together Apr 2014 to celebrate Linn’s 40Bday and the Boston Marathon.
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them – John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Thu: sooo proud of my eldest #1 grandchild Katy. Running for the SC State CC Meet and playing the violin at St Andrews Presbyterian Church. Way to go Katy bug! Glad that she still enjoys playing the violin. In spite of being a music teacher, I did not manage to get L&M playing any instruments. Tkx for the share, Linn.
Starting with some Christmas shopping and tkx to Clem for lunch. First experience at this location, Old Street Bak Kut Teh 老街肉骨茶***and quite amazed with their digital menu and order system! Liked that they came around every now and then to refill our soup bowls with steaming pork broth.
Had in mind to attend the Safari Talk at Campers Corner but turned out that Les&Ivy arranged farewell drinks for Yas. As always, family do come first and it was a lovely evening with wonderful wines. Safe journeys to a dear niece.
Fri: Seb, tkx for lunch-buffet company at the Intercontinental Hotel/Bugis***and like most shopping areas, the Christmas decorations are up but will not post anything related to Christmas until after the Thanksgiving.
CC to update Iceland PPP, tkx to Chris, Diesel and Seb for their help. News that Diesel will be a father soon and also moving to the Marine Parade neighbourhood. Congratulations and good luck Diesel.
Sat: appreciations to Campers’ Corner for dinner. Bon Appetit to chefs Roy, SengTong & wife. 2014 Beaujolais Nouveau is out, cheers to L&M, remembering that how we always had the latest vintage Beaujolais with our Thanksgiving dinner. Les does not consider Beaujolais a wine, he says it taste more like juice and he has a point but my girls and I still like it!
Sun: tkx for lunch at Jo’s. A voice from the past made my day. A call from Lumumba as he was known to us during our Dublin student days. He real name – Tan WanAn and he shared an apt with Les&Ivy and I in the 1960s. When he said guess who, and someone not spoken to for 50yrs!! Wow half a century and I have been wondering what has happened to him. Happy to hear his voice and that he is now retired. Hope to catch up with him soon. Must ask Les&Ivy if they have old pix from those days…
I’m looking forward to the future, and feeling grateful for the past – Mike Rowe
Sun: tkx for dinner at sis Jo. Nice to chat with nieces Sue & Yas.
Tkx May for the pix of Olai 1st dental visit looking so lost – wish I could just give him a hug. Can sooo relate and understand that he does not want to open his mouth. Recalling his grand-uncle, Nils who ran off from the dentist chair at one time. And it took 4 grown-ups to hold me down for my 1st shot…!!
Mon: Wayang Boy***a family comedy about SINeans living amidst the influx of foreign immigrants. Caught in all the hoo-ha is an Indian boy – Raja who is new in SIN and he was brought to SIN by his Chinese stepmother. On his first day of school, Raja is branded ‘a foreign talent’ by the class bully. And thru’ the mayhem of the children’s multi-racial ‘wayang’ performance, everyone learns anew the meaning of living together as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion.
At Campers Corner to get some help from Chris to set up Power Point!
Tue: a rainy day. Met Gel & Mil coincidently at the congree stall at Marine T. Sad that this stall again will be closing down 🙁 On top of that to discover that Katong CHIJ/Marine Terr will be relocated for some years while this will be torn down to make way for bigger and higher buildings! Hope that the lovely tree will stay. First the TaoNan School on Marine Cres and now this. Surrounded by constructions and dust 🙁 🙁
Gel & Mil were there to help Mr & Mrs Lim to clear and sell off their stock by the end of the week. They have been selling school’s arts craft and stationery at this shop thru’ out Gel’s school years.
Tkx Mil for cutting my hair and appreciations to both Mil & Gel for a nice afternoon at their place and new discovery of another food joint – Whampoa. No touting!!!
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tout: a tout is any person who solicits business or employment in a persistent and annoying manner – another one added to the others SIN NOs signs but how would to this is a signage without words??
Wed: deadly snowstorm up to 12′ of snow hits US NorthEast with fatalities. To those who are affected in these areas, plx stay safe! Pix credits for the weather to various news sites.
Blow, blow, thou winter wind Thou art not so unkind As man’s ingratitude… – Shakespeare
Sun: raining cats and dogs here at Marine Crescent. Quite delightful hearing kids enjoying the rains and playing in the playgrounds!
Big Hero 6****the special bond that develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax, and prodigy Hiro Hamada, who team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes. Needed something like this and the heroes to get me thru’ this and the next couple of weeks…
Sat: tkx to bro Steven’s branch for including me to this movie and for lunch. Really appreciate to be with the nieces and nephews and families. Happy Bday to the other younger hero 🙂 Chris at Campers’ Corner.
The week has been quite an exhausting one! Lawrence was in town since Tue. Have been meeting up with him daily to realize that the energy level is way way way below as hoped. Reality hits hard 🙂 🙂
Fri: completely beat after seeing Lawrence off. Changi Airport is in a Mikey Mousing mood for the Holiday Season. A trip to Mustafa@Little India to get some gifts after the airport and later crashed in my space switching off everything except the AC 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thu: a long day after blood test@Mt E and paying respects to our parents at Mandai with Lawrence and Jo. Sooo wanted to go on a ZooMooV ride@AMK Hub, but had to be happy with just a pix. Appreciations to Charles/SY for his good company all day.
Wed: was when my young hero risked himself into the densely over-grown jungle and over-pop with fire-ants! Tkx Chris and tkx for the rides. Early Bday greetings to him and belated Bday greetings to Sam@Campers’ Corner.
Tue: met Lawrence at the airport and had dinner with Les&Ivy. Here is proof that my family does eat at hawkers centre, especially when it is one of the best Fried Kway Teows from 18 Zion Rd****Everything to moderation according to the cardiologist…
The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom – Plato
14 Nov 2014 – And Masjid Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim.
Wed: bright and early to pay a visit to the mosque, Masjid Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim. It is the only mosque in SIN managed by the state government of Johor, Malaysia. Originally built in 1890 and named after Daeng Ibrahim, son of Temenggong Abdul Rahman.
History buffs may want to pay a visit to this mosque as the Temenggong’s tomb lies within a small cemetery surrounding the Johor Royal Mosouleum located which now has its own building under construction.
Tue3May2022: edited with this interesting YouTube link tkx to TuahBugis/SarafianSalleh but plx note that Haji Khairizan bin Haji Khair info regarding the remaining pillars to the gate is incorrect. They did NOT belong to the Istana Lama, but were remains from #5 Temenggong Rd, my birthplace and where I lived for the first 15yrs of my life.
Coincidentally met up with this night guard and asked him if he had any knowledge of the neighbouring land to the mosque. To my surprise and delight he told me that when he and his friends were kids, they used to help themselves with rambutans from our trees and how the owners of the grounds let loose the dogs to chase them. OMG, I remember just like it was yesterday about those incidents. When we parted ways, he asked if all is forgiven. Told him that there was nothing to forgive as when we were kids, we too helped ourselves to the jumbu fruit trees in the cemetery and exchange was no robbery 🙂
Unfortunately my knowledge of #5 Temenggong Rd (marked O on this ariel map-tkx to Benny for this map and X on other maps here) is minimum and no one from father’s generation/blue generation had any interest or facts that I can find to go on.
Used to climb down the drain behind the stone-bench in the early 1950s, one of my earliest memory recalled.
Have been told by word of mouth that grandfather LAM SongKee bought #5 from the WONG AhFook’s family. When? When was this house build?? By the time the LAM family acquired this site, it would have been around the 1940s??? Area of site????
Wong Ah Fook, Immigrant, Builder and Entrepreneur by P Lim Pui Huen
Early 1950s – the house where I was born and grew up in from 1940-50s
Later in 1950s – after the wall was built, and I remember watching that stonewall being built in the early 1950s.
The 1950s views of the lower-field and Pulau Blakang Mati then.
When the State took over the land, it was supposed to be used for PSA then (so they claimed!). But who knows what they have in mind now?? Better with a green densely overgrown jungle than a concrete block or anything concrete. Anyway it was supposedly to be full of spirits as most of the bank staff experienced when they had to attend their annual dinners at #5. Have never experienced or seen any in the 15yrs there! But then according to my grandmother, even the spirits fear me – lol.
Much appreciations and thanks to my young hero Chris who accompanied me to #5 and helped to tear off a piece of the cement where the bulb-wire fencing was! So sorry that he got bitten by fire-ants. Without him, this journey would have not been! Now a closure to this chapter is possible before the memory fades!
Sunlight through the trees in summer Endless masquerading Like a flower as the dawn is breaking The memory is fading – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats
Inside the densely over-grown jungle and at the lower field. I was a total wimp, fully dressed and sprayed from top to toe, even with gloves and cap! Not about to take any chance in case a snake crosses my path. Tripped a couple of times over the roots but thank goodness nothing broken except the heart 🙁 Disheartening to learn that the house where I was born was deliberately burnt down and destroyed.
The house in the 1950s. The stone-bench was@the upper-field when rockwall was not yet built. This pix is after the rockwall was built and the stone-bench moved to from the upper-field to the same level as the house, must have been around the mid 1950s. Remember father planting trees by the stone-bench after the rockwall was built. Discovered that part of the rockwall by the upper field still stands today.
The wall and I in its heydays 1956! Some parts of this wall still stands and as far as the memory can recall, this end section of the wall ended with a smaller set of stairs which led to rambutan orchard.
1950s view of part of TemenggongRd (by the fence) and the row-houses on TelokBlangahRd, the godowns@Gate8 with a cruiseship. Today’s (2000s) VivoCity with Sentosa in the background.
Tue3May2022: downloaded pix of then&now TelokBlangahRd/TemenggongRd with fond childhood memories of the ice-cream-man (can still remember his face up to today!) ringing his bell on his icicle tricycle by the EssoStation. 2000s Habourlights condo, TelokBlangahHouse.
To be edited, hopefully when more lights & pix and factual info are gained…
#5 no longer exist and thus no info can be google or provided anywhere. The only info are my memory which I will be putting in this blog posting and editing when more info or facts turn up. This is a touchy subject as the State took over our family’s land with the min compensation at a time when I was too young to understand!
By words of mouths, ie not sure if these are facts: the State bought over the house and land at min price in the 1970s? claiming to be used for the cable car. PSA also had part of their hands in it. Somehow nothing was done and there were squatters in the house. The house was burnt down and destroyed…
Cousin YatSoon in London asked ‘What has happened to the site?‘ And the only answer I could provide was: the site has been taken over by the State many moons ago. Do not know when the house was destroyed as I left SIN in 1965. Today it is a an overgrown jungle and the only ruins left standing are the one gate pillar and the rock wall by the upper field.
24 Feb 2015 – saw this fantastic map at the National Library. Will look more into it when time permits.
Updating with more info&pix when they get into my hands as time goes by…
Edited 10May 2018 – appreciations to the Malaya Heritage in FB and to Tuah Bugis who shared this YouTube. I heard about the IstanaLama Bugis (just learnt the name) when I was a child but unfortunately by the time I could run and play in this area it was no longer. Instead there was a BataShoe factory there and that too is no longer. Now replaced with condos.
Incorrect info the above video – both the pillars to the gate and the rock wall did not belong to the Istana Lama. They were remains from #5.
Edited 16Apr 2019 – grandfather LAM SongKee’s (1891-1950) funeral – is the building in the background part of the Istana Lama??
Mother Tsang MayLan’s (1911-1965) funeral – the roof&building in the backgound was probably the BataShoe factory??
Many moons and another life ago, this property belonged to my father and his partners! Now it is the one-and-only shopping mall with a library that straddles both sides of Orchard Rd.
A new mall with an overhead see thru’ tunnel glass tubular bridge (Emerald Rd side has yet to open) crossing and linking to the other side of Orchard Rd. When this is completed, it will be the ‘gateway’ to the bustling shopping belt. There is also an underpass…
Cheerful and colourful décor inside the mall with unique sitting areas.
This newly opened library@orchard is the first public library to span two storeys in this shopping mall carries the largest public library collection on design and applied arts. Worth the visit, especially now with the display of old pix of Orchard Rd.
It was interesting to see old pix of Orchard Rd in the library where the Keller Piano Co was located opp the Cathay, SIN first skyscraper then! Again this property there was owned by my father then and I do remember very well shopping for my music notes in that location. Those were the days!
Today it is a green corner area with a grey electrical or gas box and the drain is still there…
A movie just as colourful as the new Orchard Gateway – The Book of Life****an animated with a unique visual style, is the journey a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure where he must face his greatest fears which encourages us to celebrate the past while looking forward to the future.
If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret – Jim Carrey
Fri: finally done with the outfit after nearly a week of mess in my living space! This has cost me less than S$30 for all the materials. But if one includes time, then that is priceless.
The only snag is that the eyes are not good enough with threading a needle without the help of this wonderful little gadget and another bigger eye 🙂
Thank you Carmel & Soon for an enchanted evening at the St Regis. Appreciations to HongSze for driving us there.
A fun evening with Irish dancing and other dancing…
Good and food and wines…
Good company.
Auctions raised S$250,000 for the Autism Resource Centre and the government matching every S$ raised making it half a mil raised.
The Blue Head by Thierry Noir fetched a good price and appropriate for today’s date being 25yrs ago when the Berlin Wall was taken down! This painting is the 1st artist to illegally paint on the Berlin Wall.
The Berlin Wall go down, that was the most wonderful thing that could happen, absolutely. I celebrated with everybody in Berlin that day when the Wall was down – Nana Mouskouri
Les&Ivy’s Private Dinner of Gourmet Food and Stunning Vintage Wines fetched S$18,000, 4K more than last year. Les also bid for this lovely painting of his old school, the former SJI, now SAM!
Good to catch up with Josie & Brendan Lyons, SIN’s first Irish Ambassador and welcome Jane & Geoffery Keating, the new and number 5 Irish Ambassador here.
The Wall was brought down, not by Washington or Moscow, but by courageous people from the east – Gerhard Schröder, Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005
Wed: hello Evelyn (Linda’s sister), appreciate your input for The Enchanter Forest outfit and tkx for showing me her lovely apartment, 4 floors above me and the only unit apart from my that I have been into in this block.
Hopefully she will figure out what to do about the wood-worm problem and best if she can rid them in some ways or other.
Welcome back to SIN niece Yasmine and her English hubby Andrew who is visiting me for the first time in my HBD. Thought he might enjoy dinner downstairs with our Marine T heartlanders! Andrew 6’3″ is as tall as Neil Humphreys (the only English writer I know of who has lived in a HDB!) and the monkey-bars in the play cum exercise grounds are not somewhere for him or Neil to hang on without bending their knees 🙂
Thu: thank you Pat for a lovely dinner of home-made popiah, congee, herbal omelette and desserts by Angela – tasteful fish jelly, fresh fruits cocktail, etc. Pat is good with her organic cooking and it does taste sooo much better.
This week’s movie – Love, Rosie***Rosie and Alex have been best friends since they were 5, so they couldn’t possibly be right for one another…or could they? When it comes to love, life and making the right choices, these two are their own worst enemies.
It is supposed to be filmed in UK, but somehow the scene when Rosie’s father was working in a hotel and that hotel sure looks like The Shelborne in Dublin/Ireland!!
Fri: dress for The Enchanted Forest Charity Ball has to be completed by the end of today. The rains in the afternoons started a few days ago not just light showers but pouring cats and dogs. It is much more pleasant than the haze and heat. Been out walking with a big umbrella and enjoying every minute of it…
The rain to the wind said, You push and I’ll pelt. They so smote the garden bed That the flowers actually knelt, And lay lodged–though not dead. I know how the flowers felt – Robert Frost
3 Nov 2014 – Have Yet To Give Thanksgiving A Thought…
Sat: unbelievable, Christmas decorations are up on Orchard Rd, but the light-up is not until mid-end Nov. Still it is way too early to see all these decorations when Halloween was just yesterday and there are 3+weeks before Thanksgiving!
Appreciations to Calvin for sharing his new stock of wine. Made Chicken Guacamole Beet Salad and did warn Chris about red pee! Glad to meet up with another younger charming man, Emerson. Hope that he and friends will be able to join the Iceland presentation at CC/51 Waterloo St Fri 28 Nov 1930hr, day after Thanksgiving.
Amy SG Lam is a avid hikier/walker who has been almost round the global exploring different places. This time, we are pleased to have her again for a presentation of a 9 Days Tour (1 to 9 Sep 2014) in the Best of South & West Iceland. This talk will Include the dormant Thrihnukagigur Volcano that erupted 4,000yrs ago and the ONLY volcano on earth that can be explored on the inside. Let’s get together and enjoy this joyous occasion !
While waiting for the bus, I spy these events at SMU,
and some of the outdoor displays at the National Museum.
Tkx Clement for dinner me to his pot-luck dinner. Good to see his ex-banker colleagues and a year does make a difference to their kids. Too busy watching TV with the kids that the camera was forgotten!
Audrey’s contribution, delicious beef soup and even to doggy-bag some home. Tkx Aud and also for the ride. Beef soup pix ix credits to Aud.
Sun: those who are in the areas of Fall Back (DayLight Saving Time), remember to turn your clock an hour back and enjoy that extra hour of sleep. Many moons ago when I was working with the airlines in MCO/FL, USA forgot about Fall Back and was the only one at the gate counter that early and dark morning…
Dinner at Glory and ice-cream at Marble Slab/I12, both within 10mins walk or 3 bus-stops. Chose the bus bc of the stupid haze. TKx Clem for dinner and company. Bad haze today – stayed indoors, nice to get out just for a short evening walk but the eyes were teary!
Mon: haze is still in – PSI readings, 100+ Rescheduled app to remain indoors in my own space and AC surroundings. No fan nor friends of the haze, otherwise the eyes and throat will be unhappy! Stirred-fried baby KaiLan in XO sauce garnished with celery and pumpkin puree to use up the veggies before they go to waste.
A movie from last week: The Rewrite***a romantic comedy. Keith is an Oscar-winning writer stuck in a slump and decides to leave Hollywood. He starts teaching screenwriting at a small college on the East coast, and soon finds himself falling for a single mother who is one of the students taking his classes.
Feel good movie with Hugh Grant who plays Keith here…
Wed: Happy Birthdays to Lock & Kiera. Needed to make sure that the muscle does not get knotted again. More sewing but making sure to not sitting in just one position. Got up and cleaned in between!
Thu: tkx Carmel for yummy lunch. First time tasting savoury scorns and salads with mangos and tangerines. Refreshing combination. Great to catch up with MeiLin and to meet her mom Irene. They are the only people I know who have lived on Christmas Island and seen the migrations of the crabs.
Thought Carmel would like a couple of the Shanagarry pottery bowls since she is from that area. She has the brown & whites collections. I still have one of their first mugs bought for a few pence in the late 1960s and they are the black & whites. Have been collecting them thru’ out 10yrs and some broke during the many moves.
Appreciations to Henry for a delightful performance of The Covent Garden Soloist Orchestra for the Charity Toyota Classics Concert at MC Theatres MBS featuring SIN-born Pamela Tan-Nicholson.
Fri: Happy Birthdays to Mark and Adeline and Happy Halloween.
Thrilled to receive #6 grandchild Halloween pix – #6 Olai pix today. His mother May CA/USA,1987 and both dressed as pumpkins!
And the other 5 with their friends: #1 Katy/fictional book character named Kate Witherol , #2 Ellie/Cleopatra, #3 John/dragon behind Cleopatra, #4 Sophie/Tinkerbell and #5 James/grey-shark. Oh how I miss them all 6…
Thanks Ivy for lunch at Halia at Raffles***This is the 2nd visit and yes better than the 1st.
Had the small pates of beef, chicken, duck and tuna which was well presented. Our waiter was rather observant. After paying the bill, I completed a form and rated ‘good’ for all except for food where I rated ‘average’. Fir, our waiter asked how they could improved on the food. Explained that the beef and duck were good, the chicken on the dry side but the tune was not fresh which we did not finish…
Apologies were extended and the charges for the tuna was deducted from the bill. Now this is service and yes I would go back again and will request for Fir to serve me.