On Aggie's recommendation, I went to try Sticky Rice in Gardens along with Amy, HP and Wayne. Ordered the green curry set that came in a pretty generous serving of rice and chicken green curry, a mango salad and Thai fish cake with a hot dipping sauce. For $10.50+++ the set was quite substantial. And tasty... well, I haven't actually met a green curry I didn't like yet. I'm not so much into Thai food, but green curry's one of their better creations. Yes.

In fact, Aggie's recommendation was so strong that I completely forgot that today was Friday, and though we could afford a little longer lunch, the opportunity to get a cheap salmon sashimi set on Friday special at Tomoko completely slipped my mind. So I made up for that little oversight by taking June and my folks there for dinner.

What? Apart from today's KI mock exam (we promised to mock everybody's answers thoroughly), I can't think of any other highlights of my day.

Just as well no one picked up on my invite to go car rallying today. I was supposed to go in Jen's car, but I'm still feeling too much under the weather to go traipsing around the island solving puzzles and getting all physical at this or that checkpoint of national and/or historical significance.

No problem for Jen, who got her cousin to replace me. I stayed home doing their research on the 'net in case they needed to find some obscure location or retrieve some esoteric information or whatever.

Turned out most of the checkpoints were in places I already knew of even without a Yahoo! search. Ann Siang Hill (which gave me the most trouble 'cos Adrian didn't spell the clue right for me), Kranji War Memorial, the Jap War Cemetery Garden, Beaulieu House.

Unfortunately, though Jen's car arrived 3rd at the last checkpoint, our team got pipped by the 4th car who scored a bonus point off a side-quest. So close to sharing the 3rd prize of $100 cash among the 5 of us. Oh well.

BTW, Ben's blog entry about our flawed political system got picked up and published in littlespeck. Look under the heading of "Leadership". The NST reporter who lives in Gardens sure loves all this subversive stuff! Link's in my sidebar.

Our good host, 'tilda, raises a glass and declares the evening's festivities open!

Co-host, Nige, raises many an eyebrow with this makeover

It's always happiest at the buffet table.

Our 3 drama beauties, and drama queens all.

The serious business of face stuffing.

Outgoing Pres, Van, addresses her minions one last time.

Over a glass o' red, Gerald and Tina find themselves good company.

Yes 'tilda, you've been a great host so far. You can let your hair down now.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, this is the official Othello Post-production Party. We're at the Gardens' Country Club and carrying on like tomorrow's a public holiday or something. Gotta hand it to the Drama Club, it certainly was an entertaining evening, what with our hosts in drag, a slideshow of candid production shots, silly improv games, thank-you speeches, oh, and I finally got to see the end of Othello -- on video anyway.

Also got to bowl as well, with the drama kids! No competition, no pressure. Just throw ball, laugh, cheer, whatever. And duck every time Johnny chucks his ball down the lane.

Thanks for a great time, Mel and NYeDC!

Ok, who left this pawprint on my nice carpet?

Was it you, Kaiser? You may look imperious, but I'm wise to your tricks.

Or you, Momo? Is that a guilty look on your face?

Dunno what's wrong with me. My bug hasn't left me yet though it's been about 3 weeks already. Today I was just feeling feverish with a throbbing headache, though for a short time, having lunch with Amy and HP helped me forget the pain. I feel a bit better now, after taking 2 cold-relief tablets. The headache's gone, though I suspect the beef I had at lunch is causing me some indigestion. Great. I've become quite the hypochondriac.

Still, I'm quite pleased that the chatbox in NYconneXions has been buzzing with activity lately. It's inevitable that people are going to put some nasty comments about our articles, but it's heartening that some of our readers are commenting back in support of our reporters. If only the debate was more constructive, though. Chatboxes don't provide enough space for well-developed arguments. Hope our readers will start using our "comment" function soon, or better yet, email us. But at least, people are starting to care.

The interior of Dragonfly, St James' Power Station. The college organized a tea party for the various CCAs that brought us honours in sports and cultural events this year, so we're all here enjoying an alcohol-free, smoke-free, dance-your-brains-out afternoon.

Well, for about half the time we were there, anyway. Apparently, the hosts of this shindig was a grassroots-type organization, so for the first hour we had something of a less-than-stimulating chat session over whatever socio-political issues the kids sort of made up on the spot. Perhaps we should have emphasized the sagely advice session a little more earlier, rather than bill the whole thing as a Party, then perhaps the kids might have been a bit more prepared for it.

Beyond the rather uncomfortable dialogue, we also had to endure about 45 minutes of MC time during which the MC attempted to liven up the proceedings by getting the kids to "sabo" each other and their tutors, pulling them up onto the stage to make them sing or dance or otherwise embarrass themselves. It was painful to sit through 'cos the sabo'ed were neither cooperative nor entertaining, and kept refusing all offers. A good MC needs to know when to quit and just get the music started. Honestly, we know how to entertain ourselves.

When they finally put the music on, most of the staff felt they had had enough. So a bunch of us took off for some proper tea at Vivo. We found the White Dog Cafe which has a decent set tea: choice of cake slice with tea or coffee at $6.

June joined us later for dinner, as did a delegation of other staff led by JY. White Dog does an ok prawn aglo olio and thin-crust pizza. A bit small, the portions, though satisfying enough without feeling bloaty.

And, inevitably, shopping to follow...

Pirates: At World's End is a convoluted mess of shifting allegiances in the form of private hidden agenda and quick-fix marriages of convenience. With an international consortium of "Brethren", the crew of the Black Pearl face off against the assembled might of the East India Company, a.k.a., the British Navy, and The Flying Dutchman that has been pressed into the service of the Brits.

Of course, the Black Pearl must rescue its Captain, Jack Sparrow, from eternal punishment first, then convince the other 7 pirate lords of the Brethren Court that a naval battle against the odds will bring a more favourable outcome than lasting out a siege at Shipwreck Cove. Considering that every pirate is his or her own master, it takes some deft politicking to get a consensus.

So apart from the number of thrilling fight sequences in which the action takes place so quickly and furiously it's hard to keep track of who's where and who's fighting whom at the moment, the negotiations and shared plots, schemes and secrets are equally disorientating. As always, double-cross and betrayal is the name of the game -- though nothing personal, it's just "good business." While such intrigue makes great fun to watch, perhaps a pen and notepad beside me would help me keep the score.

For all the interwoven treachery and skulduggery that goes on in the pirates' machinations, about the question of whether our heroes get what they want at the end, let's just say that what they want comes with a heavy price tag, with the chance for further quests ahead.

Oh, and the mention of Singapore occurs only in passing, nothing to be made a big deal of. It's set in a time of steam-and-bamboo powered technology, security-conscious to the point of paranoia, operated on the backs of slave-labour, and generally exploited by foreigners. Oh, wait, nothing new then.

Pirates is a long movie, well over 2 hours, and in places it does feel a bit draggy. But if you can be bothered, there's a tiny reward for those who sit through the end credits. The worth of the reward is inversely proportional to the fullness of your bladder, but it's your call.