Ramen, books, beauty queens etc...

So KH has flown off to Paris. Yesterday was Sunday. Took the kids to Plaza Singapura to watch Meet The Robinsons. Everyone, except Trinity. She stayed home with Lolita.

So the Ramen Ramen treat took place this week instead of next. The kids loved it, slurping every last strand up. Meet The Robinsons was not bad - much, much better than Happily Never After. Unlike Happily Never After, I didn't fall asleep, so that means something. Just as the movie was starting, KH called. He had just landed in Paris and had two hours before his connecting flight to Casablanca. It was so good to hear from him. The connection was so clear, he sounded like he was somewhere in Singapore. I miss him but I also know that if he had been around, the kids and I would never be able to do this - eat ramen and watch a movie. KH would have disapproved.

After the movie, we browsed at MPH and I ended up buying some more books - Lost Roads by ST reporter Tan Shzr Ee and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. Then down at Carrefour, Isaac and I bought some more - Greek legends for Isaac and Travellers' Tales San Francisco and Pilgrimages for me. Yes, I am really a book addict and I find solace in knowing that I have a hoard of interesting books awaiting me in the week ahead.

Isaac was so engrossed in the book on greek mythology that by the time he fell asleep on the couch at 8pm, he had finished it. I was alternating flipping through stories in Pilgrimages and grimacing at the Miss Singapore pageant on telly. Quite surreal. On one hand, I was whisked away to the miracle site of Chimaya Mexico, the Bodhi tree in India, wheat fields of Castile Spain on the road to Santiago on reflective journeys of religious seeking and on the other, right there on the screen - the best example of mindless empty hedonism.

By the time the pageant was over, I had roughly counted 9 as the number of times Adrian Pang used the phrase: Oh Yes! and 6 as the number of times Andrea de Cruz gushed: Ab-solutely!

The girls were bug-eyed watching the pageant on telly. I remember being as bug-eyed as they were when I watched it 'live' during the Miss Singapore World pageant at the Neptune theatre in 1984 when my aunt won. Heady days. She was Ms Singapore World and later, the first Mrs Singapore World. I remember how jubilant we all were when she was crowned on stage and how proud my late grandma was then. I also remember how she was 'the star' at family gatherings, and how unintentionally but inevitably, this upstaged the bride at a wedding we attended. Everyone wanted a look, a handshake, a chat with Miss Singapore - who cared about the bride! I remember feeling sorry for my aunt - the bride I mean.

But fairytales don't exist in real life and happy endings are not guaranteed - even if you are a beauty queen. And beauty is no immunity to unhappiness. My lovely aunt got married to an equally handsome man, had a dream wedding, gave birth to two lovely children in quick succession and generally seemed set to 'live happily ever after'. But sadly, things unravelled after a while. The 'prince' turned out to be a jerk who physically abused her and cheated on her. So she divorced him, took the children and left. C'est la vie eh?

Her eldest son is my god-son. But I am a terrible god-mother and sadly we have lost touch. Today, I think she lives in Shanghai with her children and her second husband, an American working in citibank. I think she is happy.

Watching the pageant on telly, it all came back to me.

And so ends Sunday. Eight more days and counting.