Fixing Replica Eames Chairs

I bought two separate Eames replicas recently.

To my surprise, they came unassembled. Well, I knew they were cheap but the listings didn’t state that I needed to assemble them myself. 

I decided to try anyway.

It looked daunting but I searched for a video on assembling an Eames chair:

https://share.google/ZuCvcXW1kVGY0ItdT

It took me 2 hours for the first chair (the blue one) as I had a lot of figuring out to do. The subsequent chairs were much easier.

My sister said she paid more than $100 for her assembled chair.

I guess $14 to $18 per chair is worth it.

But the cheaper chair is noticeably smaller and had a softer seat. It bends slightly when I lean back. 

This is what you call “you get what you pay for” and I have no problem with that.

A Schoolmate’s Demise

This morning when I woke up, I thought of a schoolmate during my pre-uni days. 

I searched on Facebook for her and found that she was not on the social media platform anymore.

I thought it strange so I tried googling for her.

An obituary came up on Death Kopitiam Singapore, a Facebook page putting out obituaries of Singaporeans who have passed away. At first, I thought it was a joke.

I read the comments and knew it was for real. She passed away in March last year.

“Oh my god” filled my mind. 

We were in the same school. Many people felt we looked similar although I didn’t think so. Our similarities were limited to us having long hair, being petite and had similar-sounding abbreviated names. 

I was in the Arts class while she was in Commerce. However, I was more inclined to hang out with her class as our frequency was closer, compared to my classmates who had superior English. 

She was a popular and outgoing girl. A guy who had a crush on me told me he met her at a pub with eight guys. He sounded very impressed with how popular she was among guys.

She had always been interested in modelling and being an actress. She spent $400 to have her modelling pictures taken professionally. Natural looking and nicely taken indeed. She was a contestant in a Channel 5 talent scout show whose name I can’t recall. She was on The Pyramid Game as a contestant as well. 

After A levels, she went to Australia for further studies.

The next time I saw her was on a Chinese evening paper, among interviewees who auditioned for some roles. The report made her qualifications sound impressive and the reporter thought she was Diane Ser’s lookalike. 

I thought it sounded promising. 

Eventually, she landed some calefare roles  on Channel 5 and 8.

Then her father passed away in the Nicoll Highway incident. She was filmed grieving at the site and throwing a bouquet of flowers into the site where her father was supposed to be on the national TV.

Some celebrities were filmed visiting her to give her emotional support.

I knew it was not easy but I thought she should do fine.

On and off, I would check out her Facebook and other social media platform/s that she was on, to see how the girl whom I was once associated with was getting on. 

Once, I found her taking selfies with exaggerated smiles with a male companion, presumably her husband, and sporting an unflattering short, permed hairdo which aged her.

Another time, she took selfies in a sparsely furnished flat. 

I was quite surprised that she would post those selfies as she used to be highly image-conscious. 

I still remember all her glamour shots. Even a simple home shot would constitute a nice hairdo and complete set of dress-up, down to stylish high-cut boots, and a confident pose. I didn’t know what to make of her strange selfies. 

Perhaps they were signals for help, but no one recognised them. 

I never contacted her as a guy friend had once told me that she didn’t think kindly about me. I didn’t want her to think that I was cozying up to her due to her celebrity status. 

Now I wonder if I could have made a difference if I had linked up with her.

I googled more about her and found more information about her on other platforms. She was also known as The Big Hair Lady.

I never knew she had gone viral with that ridiculous wig. It never came up on any of my social media accounts. 

Someone had asked her what’s with the hair and she said it was an artistic expression. There were videos clips and images of her strolling in a mall and taking MRT rides in that wig.

Comments speculated that she had been depressed due to her father’s passing. It’s been more than 20 years but the loss of your loved ones can never be healed by time.

Her belated news of passing makes me wonder if most of us are carrying great, untold pain while continuing to live. I always thought it’s only me who is living with so much pain within, trying to live as normally as I could. 

20 years of pain she carried with her, and no one knew until she too passed. 

Did she feel utterly alone in the world? Did she have someone to talk to? 

I am only left with questions without answers.

Prettying Up My Flower Rack

After my first attempt at keeping a flowering plant alive - an orchid that I bought from an NTUC - failed, I left my Taobao-bought flower rack unattended for a long time.

Someone enlightened me that flowering plants are hard to maintain (“Phew! So it’s not me!”) so I bought a leafy potted plant to try and keep alive.

To my pleasant surprise, it really didn’t die within 3 weeks. However, I like colours and didn’t feel motivated to get more leafy plants after that one miserable plant.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at Jewel when I came across an NTUC which sold plants better looking than the average NTUC.  so I bought a few pretty plants, which included a tiny pot of fern, a red-leaf plant and a plant with multi shades of green. 

A few days ago, I saw a plant with tiny purple flowers at Cheers. It was $3.90. I decided to get it even if it’s for a few days. Subsequently, I bought another small pot of pink flowers at NTUC. 

When I opened the door to go out, it felt uplifting to see pretty plants and flowers greeting you. 

Perhaps there’s some truth in the lyrics of Edelweiss,

“Edelweiss, Edelweiss 

Every morning you greet me”

Today I was at Bishan and found my way to the stretch of nurseries at Thomson Road.

I bought a pot of pink flowers at Far East Flora and towards the closing time at 7.10pm, I discovered this nursery Candy Florist which sold hydrangeas! My mother loved them and I found a pot that was light enough for me to carry home. It was $26 but I thought it was really pretty and worth it.

I have also ordered watering cans from Taobao which will arrive next week.

Can’t wait to use them on my pretty flowers!