A New Level Of Pain

Also known as the Miss Singapore ( Universe ) pageant ( although I've always thought the "universe" bit sounded ridiculously unnecessary ).

I was home last night and chanced upon the "live" telecast, in between flipping channels at such a fervent speed my mom finally couldn't take it anymore and told me to stop. :P Believe it or not, we settled on watching this spine-chilling event, or at least the last 45 tortuous minutes of it.

I can't be specific ( ie. mention contestants by name ). I usually just say "Girl in Pink Sequinned Gown", "Girl With Vacant Look", or "Girl Who Lost Train Of Thought In The Middle Of Answering The Question". The last one won, I think. :D

All sweet young things. Some quite pretty, in fact. Most, unfortunately, not very articulate. Intelligence-wise, I can't really say, since I'd like to give them some benefit of the doubt, and ASSUME all the bright lights and stage fright had some part to play in their vapidity ( does that word exist? ). But based on my assessment of their pageant antics, they just come across as really ditzy.

The questions round was my favourite. Standing next to hosts Gurmit Singh and Michelle Chong, both of whom are excellent speakers and actually have brains, the girls would've made any sane person cringe. ( I thought the gimmick of getting people off the street to ask the questions was quite ingenious, by the way. Especially that obese Primary 1 schoolboy who asked, "What in Singapore's history would you change if you had the chance?" And in case you didn't catch the answer, the gal who picked that question said, "Improving Singapore's defence during the Japanese Occupation, because we were too complacent." Er, okay. )

Looked like we weren't the only ones suffering, though. Judge Andrea de Cruz definitely grimaced after one particularly agonizing answer. As for my mom: "Giving birth to you was less painful." :P

Trust women to be more astute. Vaya, you hit the nail right on the head. :) I'm in awe of anyone who doesn't watch any TV. How do you do it? I even sacrifice much-needed sleep for some one-on-one time with the goggle box. And now, with "The O.C." ( short for Orange County ) premiering on Thursday night, I'm gonna lose another hour each week. I've read excellent reviews in various magazines, so yep, will be sure to tune in ( and give my two-cent review ).

Remember that "incident" at a Blogger Dinner a few nights ago? Here's what a friend of mine had to say ( or write -- this is an email transcript ):
"This is indeed a dark day for women everywhere...a bachelor with the self-love of Kim Jong Il and physical appeal of William Hung is officially off the market. I am worried that when this news reaches other parts of the world, there will be a lot of women committing suicide because they will never know his touch."
This came from a guy. He's one of the best counsellors I know. Naturally. :D
And for the record, he's taller than William Hung. Heh heh. ;)

Is it just me, or is moving house always such a big headache? Granted, the last time I shifted residence, I didn't have to look for furniture. Having an empty apartment poses new challenges, I suppose. Especially when my parents and I have so many books and little storage space. Anyhow, the saga continues, this time with light-fixture-hunting and fixing of minor defects. Next up, assembling all the furniture, installing the lights, the tedious process of carting stuff to the new place, then finally, bringing the TVs and piano. I'll be glad when it's all over. But it's gonna take a while longer still. Sigh.

So did you see the new links? The medical ones are my favourites from a long list I ploughed through. And if you read every one of them, you'll probably notice similarities in writing style. More is to come, however. Can't tell you what at the moment ( re-m, you know what I'm talking about :)). Just be patient.

Right then, time for me to sign off and see more patients.