my ajumma notes

I think I've found a way to re-boot some of my synapses, neurons, etc, which have fallen into disuse since I stopped working full-time. While channel-surfing one day, I discovered that funnyman Richard Quest was covering the World Economic Forum for CNN. That man can talk so much and so fast and his reports of the WEF were rather rivetting. Of course the WEF is important, important issues were discussed, our PM was there, etc. However, I must confess it's not the kind of thing that I'd watch or read that much about, so it was a good thing that CNN sent him to Davos. I caught some of the short interviews he did with CEOs, big shots of big-time organisations such as the World Bank, etc, when he got them to 'vote' in this 'recession-o-meter' (picture and story source) for whether they thought the economy was going into a recession or just a slow-down. No laughing matter, of course, but he made it sound so entertaining, and these CEOs and big shots were smilin...

Well, well, the AO is turning out to be the tournament of the unexpected. Sharapova prevailing today was probably the most (only?) expected thing in the past few days. And I'm not just talking about this year. After 2004, when Justine and Federer rather expectedly won their respective titles, there were Justine and her stomach conceding the final to Mauresmo in 06, and Serena crushing Sharapova last year. Then there was Safin defeating Federer in the semi-final and winning the thing in 05, Baghdatis reaching the 06 final and Gonzalez last year's final. No need to go into all of this year's surprises but I think it is significant that Justine, Federer and Nadal were gone before the final. I wonder if this bodes well for the rest of the year, in that there may be more colour in the tapestry. We'll see... Anyway, there can be only one (man and one woman), of course, and much as I do like to see fresh faces and strokes, I have to say that one of the last two men left endear...

So the young Serb trio has made it to the Grand Slam semi-finals once again. Well done. It would have been a right old party if Tipsarevic had done what he nearly did - boot Federer out of the picture. Aiyoh... wasted... so near and yet so far... Well, I think they should all throw him a party anyway, lah. After all, when did Federer last have to play for more than four hours and five sets before winning a match? Never? Ok, anyway, very impressive, indeed, how the three of them, Sharapova and Tsonga made it to the semis. Sharapova should win her match (being played right now), and whoever wins the other semi, it will be a battle of beauties and their pretty outfits in the final. I was disappointed, though, at how the Spanish-speaking armada went out in the way they did, with only Nadal left standing. Ferrer was a shadow of his best in his losing match , not to mention he was one of the better looking men in the tournament, ha ha (or maybe the best??). And Nalbandian was even more of ...

Like many others, my mother and I were astounded to see the new Toa Payoh ERP gantry the other day. I remember that sometime ago, some official guy said that they take great care in working out the location of gantries and they wouldn't want to make people pay ERP charges just driving to the market or something like that. Well, looks like some people may have to start paying while driving to the market now. And going to school. Or to work. Apparently, this and the other latest gantries will only be used if necessary. I.e. if the traffic flow goes below a certain speed. Ya, sure, like they will put a gantry there and not use it at all. Earlier this week, there was also this report of some official statements about the ERP and a telephone survey the ST did about the ERP. Here are a couple of astounding findings: 1. 'Fewer than half of all motorists pass through ERP gantries on their way to work' (based on 295 people interviewed). Duh. We don't all stay or work in the same...

On the economic front, things aren't looking too good either, what with lower economic growth in the last quarter, rising transport costs, oil prices at a high, the promise of inflation, etc... However, the price of my favourite moisturising hand soap from Guardian has come down! Sometime after last year's GST increase, the $1.95 hand soap became $2.50 or something, which, by my calculations, is more than a 3% hike. Maybe they have some special calculators there which calculate differently? Anyhow, like any other calculating tai-tai or non-tai-tai, I turned to rival hand soaps. After paying $1.95 for years, it was kind of hard thinking '$2.50', ha ha. Now, perhaps there were large enough numbers of people like myself who could not stomach anything more than $1.95 (hence contributing to a severe decrease in sales of the hand soap). Just last week, I saw that the hand soap is now 'on sale' at $1.95 (original price). Yipee... time to stock up on hand soap... Much h...

I checked in on the 2 new night serials on KBS World this new year and they are both unwatchable. No doubt, they will have huge numbers of fans but I won't be among them. Cruel Love starring Lee Yo-won (LYW), Kim Seung-soo (KSS) and Kwon Sang-woo (KSW) Get this story: LYW and KSS (front and back in the pic) fall in love but KSS is married to a rich girl with an impossibly big hair-do. He gives LYW up. LYW is actually pregnant. KSS doesn't know it but his wife with the big hair does and stomps into LYW's house to tell her off, threaten her, etc. Thereafter, LYW has a miscarriage, following which her parents get into an accident and her mother dies. Meanwhile, KSS and wife have a kid themselves and though he does well in her rich dad's company and all, he has never forgotten LYW. (His wife gets a normal hair-do.) And, meanwhile also, KSW (middle in the pic) returns to Korea after having left in a huff with his girlfriend, who was disapproved of by his rich dad, but by ...

I can't believe that it's not just our holiday, but the whole of the holidays, and the whole of 2007, that have flown past. Sigh... wish we were still on holiday... Anyhow, since we were in Sapporo, might as well have some Sapporo beer, right? Which we did, along with some all-time favourites - kasugai peas, daikon (white radish), Mosburger and lovely, yummy strawberries (I believe they were from Fukuoka). Cheers.