On This Side Of Mars

June 2nd, 2008

i know two Martians. there is the crabby Martian who is all impatience and angst, and then there is the Martian who gropes around the bed in the middle of the night to find my hand and hold it tightly to his chest. the first Martian can be either amusing or maddening, depending on the situation, and the second Martian doesn’t let go of my hand even if i try to squirm away to get some blood flow back into my arm.

i couldnt show you or tell you all about Martian even if i tried. there’s just so many things to say and so many experiences to delve into; i could fill up a hundred scrapbooks with every laugh, every fight, every conversation, every emotion that we call ours, and i still would not have captured the essence of the person that Martian truly is. some days i wake up and i think i know him inside out, but i love him most when he catches me off-guard and surprises me with a side of him i’ve never known. like the other day, when he made me walk in the rain (i hate walking in the rain) and i was extremely pissed off throughout the whole walk home. plus my new suede shoes were all wet from the puddles. when we arrived home, my mother called, and i was on the phone with her for a while, glad for the reprieve from Martian because i was so angry at his inconsideration. when the conversation ended, i went into the kitchen, and saw Martian drying my shoes and my bag with paper. i felt so small.

i went around the apartment today taking pictures of many Martiany things. i thought i’d put up some of the pictures to share with you guys a little slice of my boyfriend’s life :)


#1 paintings he bought during our Hanoi trip


#2 a little trolley on the shoe cabinet, where he keeps his wallet and other loose change. the wheels move!


#3 he bought me the pink dinosaur from Vivo one day simply cos i said i liked it. and i bought him the duck from Bugis when he was still living in Hong Kong. it used to stay on top of his stereo. note the jacket on the right! every time we go out for a movie, Martian likes to annoy me by asking ‘do you think the cinema will be cold?’ and then when i say yes, he will say ‘oh it looks like i will have to take my jacket’. i have no idea why he insists on doing this. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.


#4 my flats and his loafers and a little bit of my toes. he got that wooden box so that he had somewhere to sit when tying his shoelaces -_____-


#5 these are studio pictures with his friends from HK - Adrian, Raymond and Kaz


#6 these are the Pooch salt & pepper shakers that i got him from my last trip to Bangkok. we were fighting and it was a sort of I’m Sorry gift. it was either the shakers or this really large bronze bell that he would have liked more, but i was too lazy to carry it around. behind Salt & Pepper is a card he left me this morning before he went to work =)


#7 his really messy shelves to match my own really messy shelves back home. sigh. a man after my own heart!


#8 his bedtime reading ever since we got here. Next by Michael Crichton (j0n this is the book i was telling you about!), Tash Aw’s Harmony Silk Factory, New Malaysian Essays by various local personalities (SO GOOD!) and …. the Genotype Diet -____- yes it’s that bloodtype diet thing. haih.


#9 SOME of his shirts. there’s more in the other room. what did i say?! a man after my own heart!!!


#10 ties! rolling up the ties and putting them in these little compartments was my favourite task when we moved into this singapore apartment. oh and those are my earrings! shit i always wondered where i put them


#11 his extremely awesome bookcase that i SO WISH I HAD. i think it is more ME than it is him! right? right? do you think i should make him give it to me?


#12 one page of the scrapbook i made him for our first anniversary. it was divided by cities - and this one is in the Hong Kong section. hehe see the Bank of China! and the junk boat!


#13 really messy coffee table. this is after cleaning. random things from the table that i can see from here - Tatler’s Guide to Singapore best restaurants, AA batteries, a Stabilo highligher, a wedding invitation, boxes of souvenirs from our Kunming trip, a pen that has not been capped, tickets to Radio & Juliet tomorrow, lots of random papers


#14 his really gross flax seed crackers (WTF?! is this even food?!) and my Pods. PODS!!! Snickers flavor! no contest which one deserves more attention.


#15 sticker photos taken at Bugis Junction and random passport photos we needed for our china visa.


#16 the Dell printer/scanner/fax machine thingy that Martian so loved when he bought it. i think he was scanning documents rabidly for a month


#17 bathroom counter. when i come to Singapore, all i need to take with me are my glasses and my passport, cos all my toiletries are already here. best!


#18 random candles in the bathroom. these came from his HK bathroom. i once pointed at them and laughed at their randomness, then he said it was his attempt at serious interior design. -_-


#19 OMG THE FRIDGE… okay let me describe the contents. the freshest thing in there is the box of Awfully Chocolate cake at the top shelf, and that’s two weeks old. two cans of diet coke - one three months old, the other 5 months. MOONCAKE FROM RAFFLES HOTEL. MOONCAKE. MOONCAKE FESTIVAL WAS IN SEPTEMBER. mcvities biscuits from about 7 months ago. chicken biscuits from Pangkor Laut which was 6 months ago. rolled-up Doritos at the bottom shelf… who the heck puts Doritos in the fridge…. and those Doritos were bought when we moved in..


#20 my junk food pantry!! i say mine because he doesnt buy any junk food.. and even tries to impose an embargo on my junk food buying. the only thing in there that’s not mine is that white pack of Tyrells organic lightly salted carrot chips whatever. carrot chips?? wtf…


#21 plates we never use


#22 Tyson sitting among the dvds. he used to sit in between Salt & Pepper but they ostracized him for his color


#23 photos on the bookcase. i gave him the wooden one for Valentine’s Day in 2007, and the bottom frame as part of his birthday gift in 2006. that photo was taken in Penang.. haha what a trip. i remember so clearly how i felt when i wrote that post.


#24 the wooden duck i got him for Christmas last year, and our very cute plastic plant that flops its leaves! i bought it because every house needs a plant :D


#25 his tempur pillows. i hate. he loves.


#26 me and Pink Giraffe. Martian and i had a very big fight over him the other day. if you can guess what it’s about, i’ll give you one buck. sieutheng you cannot play


#27 our newest DVDs. we spent all day yesterday watching the first season of Entourage… seriously… besides playing Spot The Star, why do people even like this show. P.S I Love You had me crying like an idiot. sigh.


#28 dont tell Martian i jumped on his couch :P

Entry Filed under: Martianisms, Photos

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