where have u been?

It's since a long time from my last entry.....
I have been hiding up sia... where to? definitely not preggy and to "sheeee" within the first 3 months sia... hahaha...  :P its seems like quite a norm for blogger in multiply to mia and shoot with a "I m preggy" entry... hahah  

*disclaimer : please do not take offense on what was posted...hahaha...

I have been attending dinners, dinners and more dinners... we are done with like 7 wedding dinners and 2 more to clear! Hahaha.... Not a lot of photos... just a few...


This last quarter is full of wedding dinners... hahaha... I think next yr this time is a lot of baby shower!!!

Besides eating... I am also reading.... :P ... only 1 book, which I haven finish since like 1 month ago..... hahahaha.... I was "flipping" through my blog and "realize" that its year end soon! And I think I need to post a review of 2008 sia..... hmmm.... thinking to be done...

Beside eating.... I am also doing my scratch book for reno... been collecting pictures from reno mag and pasting on my scratch book... went to IMM to walk walk see see... and realize some of the shops are damm lamme, the picture on their photo book is the same as mine! From mag one! I think these ID shops are not keen to take us as customers cos we have low budget and this dun do that dun do... hahaha... times are bad lei...  I am doing my own "drawing"... done a few perspectives... not the final yet... I think my ideas might not be feasible as a lot of work need to be done and we might end us lazy as usual and scrap the idea. :P

Have been keeping track of the progress of our home via forum, should be Q1 of 2009... It has been a long wait (abt 3 yrs) and definitely looking forward to receiving letters and KEYS!!! Though running on a super tight budget, will see how things goes and make do with what is necessary and available.
This year end we will have a few off days... din really plan what to do as our cousins' wedding are in the middle of the break. Might just nuai at home and watch dvds.... realize we have been missing a couple of movies and time to catch up! hahahah....

UpdatesI shall do a review of the food and venue as per SP's request...hahaha
October 2008
Conrade Hotel (former meridian)
- Chinese Sit-Down Dinner. Food wise 7/10
- Ballroom setting 8/10. The ballroom just renovated not long ago... The entrance is not like typical hotel ballroom where its part of the main entrance, got to walk through a few "closed" shops.
- Waiter/waitress service quite normal
- The car park is a bit small and easy to miss the entry. Overall, the newly renovated ballroom cover back the points. 

Marriott Hotel
- Buffet Lunch. Food wise I cant really comment much as I was running around...hahah... the soup (ang mo type) is nice.
- Ballroom setting 6/10. Typical ballroom setting but plus point for the location of the ballroom as it is easy to locate.
- Waiter/waitress service a bit slow... The bride is so worried when the captain keep telling her need another 10 more min to open the door... hahaha....
- Car park is at tangs which entrance can be easily missed but plenty of parking lots.  

November 2008Mandarin Oriental (the fan shape logo)
- Chinese Sit-Down Dinner. It was an Indian cum Chinese wedding... the entertainment part was really well done... they have close friends to give speech as well wishing. Indian dancer.
- The food are typically Chinese sit down but it is 10/10! Cos its too yummy!!! The way it is being presented is also very good.
- The service is really good too! About 2 waitress/waiter to a table... imagine!
- Ballroom setting is quite typical (fan shape)..and maybe because I have been there to do event, not very refreshing for me..hahah... but the location of the ballroom is very prominent and cant be missed! The table setting is black and silver cloth. The host (both family sit in a long table (ang mo style) and the guests are in the typical round table. They have this empty space in front of the stage for dancers.
- But the hotel has a confusing name with Mandarin Marina, so a lot of elderly get confused. Carpark is definitely more than enough unless marina is having some big promo sales or some big event ard that area.

Orchard Parade Hotel )- Chinese Sit-Down Dinner. Food 7/10. Typical Chinese restaurant, big portion and "big" like whole sucking pig! Although the venue is in the ballroom, the food is from Club Chinois TungLok. Elderly sure like the food as it is the typical chinese no-frill kind.
- Ballroom is small.. good for small group like about 20 tables. Not much of a setting. But the captain is really quick to keep the portable projector! Hahaha...
- Waitress/waiters are mostly from our ancestors home land... (try to imagine the service)
- Car park is plenty but easily missed as it is in between the hotel and Tanglin shopping center

Furama RiverFront
- I have been to wedding dinner at this venue before. Chinese Sit-Down Dinner. Food wise 7/10.
- The ballroom is quite big and also renovated not long ago. Last year when I attended a wedding dinner, they have the typical set up whereby the stage is in the middle of the length of a rect shape... This time round its something special. The have done the stage at the width of the rect and a long walk way plus a high T stage. Imagine walking like the super model on the stage! Hahah... The 1st dish they have a fake tummy chef dancing in.. quite entertaining...
- This couple has a very interesting morning preview montage. (some mafia stuff). The groom is very funny "beng" so overall the conversation (morning gatecrash) in that montage is quite entertaining with some vuglary. Hahaha
- Waitress/waiter service quite normal
- Carpark easy to find.. But this venue is beside the night spot (大世界) so a bit "flowery"

Shangri-La - Chinese Sit-Down Dinner. Food wise 5/10. Although its a 5 or 6 stars venue.. but the serving is very messy.
- Ballroom wise, the couple booked the entire place (3 ballrooms) so sure no confusion of ballroom. Very big place. Dior to the dinner there are canape food and cocktail served. Got cupcakes laid around the place, (I din eat the cupcake thou.. yin ying :P). Got that POsh wannabe setting ... The couple got venetta lopze as the wedding planner, so got live band singing... some ppl are "woh" by the live band... quite normal to me as I am in "this line". :P
- Waitress/waiter service is really bad... all of them have this "blur" look... drink has to be constantly requested.. and have to repeat a few times. But maybe cannot blame them cos the whole dinner end abt 11.30pm, they cant wait for us to get off. The last dish, dessert was a flop, its some mango pudding and the we are serve the big thick soup drinking spoon for that!... *faint
- Carpark sure cant be missed because the venue is a whole building on its own!  

December 2008Suntec Convention- Chinese Sit-Down Dinner. Food wise 7 to 8/10. The food is really fresh... thou not individual serving but the food was well presented... I believe its from the restaurant in suntec... got standard.
- Its at a "foyer area" lookalike... usually this place is leading to exhibition. The venue is well set up... The 1st march in is really nice... bride and groom each come down from the escalator from each side, pump with lots of dry ice... very fairy tale... The stage is a bit small and the design of the area is a long rect shape. The far end might not be able to see wat is going on at the stage. Might not be good for wedding with lots of stage program.
- Waitress/waiter service so far so good... minus pt might be the serving area is at the sides due to venue set up... so a bit messy at times...overall the pace and service standard is good.
- Carpark sure cant be missed because suntec is a common place!  



Hotel Intercontinental 
- Chinese Sit-Down Dinner. Food wise 7/10. Very hotel...hahhaa... The waiter will divide into individual serving but because we are a family table so we help ourselves.
- The floyer area is a nice place to have solemnization. The venue is well set up... The 1st march in is very palace and princess... The curtain open from the end, both bride and groom march out
- Waitress/waiter service is good... young generation waitress and waiter, mostly waiter thou...overall the pace and service standard is good.
- Carpark sure cant be missed because bugis is a common place!  

Positive Thinking

Jerry is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant.

The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.

I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes, it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gun point by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man.'

I knew I needed to take action." " What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'"

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
 

• Positive thinking the the first step towards a happy life.

• Attitude is everything

If everyone  applies  just these, the whole world will live in happiness.

Sometimes talking doesnt help

A black monday.... not because today is monday. Because a lot of things piled up over the weeks and now its like the highest peak.

When challenge with problems, issue, thoughts... some people choose the denial solution by running away from it. Think that by ignoring it, not knowing it, not understanding it, its blessful.

Too bad, I cant....

I simply cant just wipe clean of memory, of things I come to know abt, and because its unhappy or something that I dun know how to handle, simply wipe off? The most I can hold on is to let the issue rest and sit for a while then try to face it. Some ppl take ages to lift up the issue again, for me, the time span is very short, the most I can run away from it like 1 day or so. Next day I will be taking action.

There are so much things happening that I cant describe in details... this time round, its not by talking or discussing, the solution will come out... not by talking to find the inner solutions.... because these issue is not issue of myself.

Things just happen one after another... as if testing my capability to handle and to overcome. While I just manage to find some solution or closure, a new situation arises for me to think and handle. Is this some form of test the universal has for me? Whats my rewards? All I ask for is a simple life. I am sick of life going up and down like roller coaster. I always tell myself, the lowest peak is where you are going to see some bright days coming. When at bright days, learn to treasure. However, a unspoken truth is, life never fail to scare you by making u go through some experiences you would never never want to.

I discover that internet is a place where information can be found for self help. Whenever I run into an issue, I google... google to find ppl in the same situation, google to understand abt the issue, google for solution.

But internet could also be the most ironic... this morning I was reading the newspaper and saw this article who is from "http://www.lifebeforedeath.sg/", some initative by SG to raise awareness about hospice and palliative care in Singapore due to rapidly aging population and increasing health needs... Ironically, this website come in time as I am trying to figure out how to help an auntie or myself to face with her medical condition.

Just as I was surfing and reading abt real life story of how patient or family face death... at the same time I was surfing my multiply... so much of multi-tasking... reading of ppls' birth story, wedding... baby and stuff... At that moment, I am stunned... on the same window, one show "birth story" one show "a dying person's guide to death".... I feel like laughing at myself. What kind of mental stress am I giving to myself.

I haven finish with the dying site because the story and information are too much to handle. But I think its good that such resources is available. It does cast some lights into ppl who need it.

Today I discover something.... sometimes by talking, it doesnt help.

 

What is your identity?

Please stop reading this article if at any point of time you find it disturbing, hard to understand or too weird...

Last evening I was having a dinner/drinking session with my ex-colleagues. We are a bunch of pals who have come a long way. This is the group of colleagues whom we are very close back then as colleague, offwork as friends and pretty much involve in sharing each other life experiences and stuff.

One of them had come a long way and was doing some counselling, psychology diploma and futher into degree. He was sharing with us on wat he learn in his class and how those learning changes his life. He is someone who has been through a lot and due to his surrounding (freds, work), he is pretty much involve in profiling of person.

He was sharing with us that counselling is not something that is simple as it seems like apply all the theory and practical. How many of us can look at an issue without and prejudices? None! all of us come with experiences of life, teaching and influences from surrounding that form prejudices in us. Before we can subjectively judge an issue, we have already unconsciously "pre judge". In counselling, there are 300 over theories and methods. I think before one can be a sucessful counsellor, he must first go through self discovery, values struggle and openess in any issue. Which how many of us can do that.

Following are not theory from my friend nor from some psychology ppl... they are just some discussions we had and some of my thoughts...

As one move into the different stage of life with more experiences and encounter, you will come to a stage of discovery. One can be "I am the one to judge cos I know everything", or "Who am I to judge"... in life there is no right or wrong. When we talk about self discovery. How many ppl is really able to face your true self. When being ask "Who are U?" what is your answer? wife/hb to ur spouse, mother/father of ur child, best fred to a buddy, a manager at work? These are not who u are. These are the roles you play. And u din defined these roles, these roles are put on you. When it come to identity, did you choose the identity u are now? Or are u simply living under the identity that people have in perception of u? Or the perception you want people to have on you?

When you really can come to term that U need to find an identity of your real self. You will start to question, wat is your real self? How many ppl can really face the real self in them... all of us know our surface, but how many is able to face the darkside of one inner let alone to share. None of us will share our dark side... some are even unwilling to face their own dark side. Its not scary to know that everyone has a dark side, but it take courage for one to truthfully face his/her own dark side. The dark side need not be something bad, it might be some actions, values that is the real you. But because you want to be like the "norm" so u choose not to face it or admit to it.

How many time do u feel "lonely" among a crowd? I feel that all the time. Not because I am siao. Because everyone see and feel things differently. The one who are the "norm" might be the abnormal ones... because they might be wearing a mask (unconsciously or consciously) to present a person, a face which everyone will feel it should be the normal behaviour. The ones who really dare to face up to who they are, either labelled as hermit, werido or the siao lang in IMH. How many of us can stand straight up to stand by or point of view? very few.... for example, your view of an issue is A, but because A is not "normal", we would most probably choose B to go with the "norm".  Not because you are fake or unsincere, it is because you dun wish to be outcast, dun wish realise that you are "werid" in another words, you are unwilling to face your real self, or maybe the its too heavy a price to pay to be your "real self".

Do you believe in fate and destiny? I used to believe in fate, I believe that everyone life is a destiny that has been prefixed by some unknown sources... very unscientific. Do you believe in controlling your destiny? I never feel that one can control his fate or destiny. For the past, l live by everyday believing that I need not try hard to control my life, because LIFE has its fate and destiny. As life experiences and encounters, I still believe we cannot control our fate and destiny, BUT I believe we have the choice of life, we have to choice to choose the path we want. May it fate and destiny pre defined wat come along the way, One has the choice to choose the path and thus leading to an expected/unexpected end result.

How often did you challenge your values? How you defined "good" and "bad" values, what is right and what is wrong? Who are we to judge ppl with our own perceived value? Its scary to challenge your own values. You can be in a self denial stage to feel that you have the good and correct value all the time. Infact that is because you are not open to the ideas and thoughts that actually no one can define how good or bad is the value. You can only do, practice, behave by your own value, by the value u believe in. But we are of nobody to judge anyone with our own perceive value.

I feel that its not scary to live in a self denial life. Because at that point you are still believing in wat you believe. The most scary and most difficult part is to come to term with the real self in yourself. To admit who u really are, wat your values really are and to realise that you are the one who has never change! You might be trying to change the people around you, by influencing, by installing the values u have. But ultimately the scary part is to realise that you are the one who is resistance to accepting the facts, resistance to realise that you are the one who is unwilling to change because you want the whole world to change to the way you wanted it.

A friend say, nothing in this world stay forever, changes is everywhere, the only thing that doesnt change is CHANGE. 

But along the way, may it be alot of changes, Characters are something that will never change, it only get modified along the way, but ultimately you are still who u are from the day u 1st cry. Its a matter of how one can come to term with it.

Afterall, these are very thought provoking and self challenge. After reading what I have written so far, if one think I m siao or thinking too much, its ok... because everyone of us have different level of thinking. For example, last night my fred ran a test on us, (4 views). Its a real case. A model student who has a dark side of torturing cat. He likes to beat the cat and throw it down enjoying the sight of the bloody body. One day as he was about to throw the cat off a building, his teacher walk past and saw the scene. What do you think the teacher and the boy would react. Amazing, 4 of us give different answer. In such a simple questions, the answers can be so diversify.

If one is not thinking, its good, cos one most probably be happier. But pls dun classified people who think and think deeply as siao or "think too much", because they are not. They are merely trying to understand themselves better and finding answer in their innerself. One can call me a deep thinker but dun make the remark that I "think too much". Because before one make their remark and comments, think back, who are you to judge.

A good counsellor is not one who give u the answer. 100% of the time, the answer lies in yourself. A good counsellor merely help u to dig the answer out of you. Most of the time, I discover the answer in me by talking. That is why I talk a lot. :P , I m not trying to influence nor get solution nor advice. I am trying to dig the answer in me. Maybe this is a form of self-counselling.

Woman talk for the sake of talking because they need to get things off their chest and to come to a closure and find the answer in one self. Man talk when they need to ask for a solution. They will not talk if they already have the answer.

 

Looking for design ideas?

Spend the public holiday surfing for design ideas... Was looking around for renovation design idea... Look at some photos from both renotalk and sengkang.com...
I got a sian after a while and start to google for picture...hahaha... to my surprise, I chanced across some interesting design sites and links from there and so on... spend my whole day surfing...hahaha
I surf quite a number of them... 3 interesting sites that I could'nt get enough...

http://www.homerejuvenation.blogspot.com/
He is a interior design? and has link to many designers' site. Can see some sample of her interior design from this web site.

http://www.idasia.org/
The "base" where all the designers gather. Lots of interesting stuffs... cant manage to finish them all.


http://www.laissezfairedesign.blogspot.com/
The site I spend most time surfing. She is so much influence by Martha Stewart. She got a lot of interesting designs which she gathers, mostly very "ang mo" pattern. I m not a fan of Martha thou...
I simply love motifs, floral, vintage, simple gothic (but not those complicated stuff see until eyes dazzled that kind)... pastel, neutral. Brown, beige, pink, purple, black seems to be my colours. I realise beige, brown, pink was use in most of our wedding stuff design and purple is my theme for floral. Sometimes I like sweet colour like champage pink and purple, but overall vintage, colour like beige, brown seems more pleasing..Hmmm... I cant stand Martha colour (blue and brown), I prefer the combination of brown and pink...hahahah
Wanna find out your colour scheme? Try this http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/colors.php
Need some colour inspirations? Try this http://www.behr.com/behrx/inspiration/

I m looking for more DIY stuff... Have been collecting design in my digital "sketch album"... something to reference from when the house is ready for reno. :)
I like interesting utensils, kitchen ware, but I think its very expensive and difficult to find in Spore.

Busy weekend...

Sat was my 1st matron of honour day! Hahaha... The fluffy gals 把她嫁掉了! Hahaha...she is WS! Her gatecrash was a breeze because the brother group all very 乖... better than school children... This is the 1st time, we din count the ang bao money and let the guys went through the gate... because they quite 大方, so we also very 大方. hahaha... 

The day was hectic thou... cos it was a tea reception so every thing just happen in a blink... before we knew it, we are all exhausted by the end of the reception at 6pm... Nick left early to prepare for his project and presentation. I join the gals for round 2!

The gals decided to go for a drink as surin has been screaming of lacking of beer and keep telling us she need to refill beer! She keep tempting us with this green beer thing at dempsey road. The whole bunch of gals and guys went for a drinking fest... ahha... we started drinking about 7... by 9 we are all going crazy ...hahah... the topic started from some gossipy stuff all the way to serious topic about expectation in life and stuff... mid way through, we had countless of cheers session... cheers to so many things and so many people :P.... hahahah... its all the cause from that green beer! Hahahah...



Eliminate AIDS virus!
It was a nice catch up and sharing session... wc and myself share some experience in life and I guess both of us share some form of sentiments as we are in "mid life/career" crisis...hahaha.... or perhaps the green beer make us talk a lot :P The guys are having their own little talk of wat is shyness and we are jokingly saying that Steven will never understand the word "shy" cos it has never appear in his dictionary!

The nite ended at 10 plus... considered early but we are all shag and semi drunk! Hahahaha....
Sunday was my cousin house warming and the semi awaken me almost forgotten about it! My cousin called at 1pm and I quickly get bath and change to her place. She got her new place quite near mine and it was a gathering for the family and sharing of what will her wedding day plan be. She is getting married this Dec... my gugu ask me, why u still keeping your figure... dun wait liao... :P I siam when Nick arrived so they bomb him instead... hahahah... my cranky cousin keep telling me, grandfather waiting to be great grandfather lei... he continue, now the hope is on u and my going to get married cousin...  :P hahahaha

人与人的相处，非理所当然

If time is your investment chip, how would you have invested them? I was reading the newspaper this morning and this particular article caught my attention.

The title is "Invest in people, not stocks". by Geoff Tan. In a particular paragraph, he said this:

"Unconsciously, many of us tend to take our life for granted, and before we know it, would have thrown a good 20 years or more into merely building our careers and bank account.

Although you may think that you can gain much as a result of this "investment", in fact, you have lost. You could lose the opportunity to cultivate your marriage and see it bloom into a fulfilling relationship. You could lose the valuable chance to relate and bond with your children in their growing up years. You could have lose many moments of connecting with your friends, and miss having these regular encounters grow into lasting comradeships.

And just when you have attained all that wealth and sucess, your kids would have grown up, leaving you with an "empty nest". Along with that, your relationship with your spouse may have been strained beyond the point of remedy, and your genuine friends may number fewer than the fingers on one hand.

Its sad, but for many of us, its true. "

Seriously I think it take both hands to clap. Parents and children must communicate so that they can see the values each other hold. A couple must have the same mentality so that they move along side with each other to achieve the "life" they want. A friend must have the same value as you are to have the similar mindset to achieve "mental cohesive". 

While you deposit your time, effort, concern and love into someone's life, its is more important that the receipents see the same value as you are. It not so much about having the other party to appreciate with gratitude. Its more of knowing that you are spending your time more worth while. "If you spot a $20 in the gutter, u stop and pick it up. But you have passed right by a person lying in the gutter without any second thought".

Have you done the right investment? What is your investment attitude?

R you keeping your faith on some "stock" that u know it will never get return and living in delusion unwilling to wake up for the fear to realise that you have been "blind" all the while?

R you putting your eggs all in A basket to realise that things are getting risky with changes going around? Or perhap putting your eggs all over the places that you lose control?

All these while, I always believe in investing in human, money is something that you can earn and there is always a value attached to it, more or less its just digits. But human relationship is something that you cannot see, cannot touch, not value in the term call montary. Its a feeling... it take ages to build but it also take accumulative destructions to destroy. Onces destroy its hard to build cos bad memories lingers...

人与人的相遇，往往是缘分与偶然。
人与人的相处，非理所当然，是需要细心的经营。

My "investment" principle is, treat people with a real heart, you will get rewarded with a true relationship. Treat everyone with care and concern, you will receive happiness in return. Always be there for one, you will see the moral support when u needed.

As one aged and committments get more, everyone will see the difference in values towards investing in human relationship. Although I still try to stick close to my principles, I tend to review my "investments". Certain things, by doing or by saying it is not going to make an impact, I rather dun do and dun say. Not because I am unwilling to take the risk, but just because I can no longer see the value in doing so. Or perhap, I am tired of waiting for the returns.

Certain stocks, I have been holding long enough to realise that 我看走眼, but perhaps unwilling to admit, I still pin that by some miracle fluctuation will bring the value up. But I soon realise wat is call "Murphy's Law".

Certain stocks, I really miss my chance on it, by saying anything or doing anything now will no longer make a difference. I rather keep these to myself than to create some unnecessary worries or events.

I just hope its still not too late to review my investments... or perhaps change my investing attitude....

Recently I was chatting with a friend who can always lend a listerning ears. I was sharing with him my thoughts. I know that he is one who is non skeptical about my thoughts because not everyone can share my sentiments. Some people call me "deep thinker" some people call me "think too much". I think it depends on who is my listerners and whether are they on the same platform as me.

After hearing me out, he feel that I have been keeping a lot within myself and I have been doing all the thoughts and analyse without sharing. Seriously I dun think a lot of ppl can understand my theory. Call me weird... sometimes I do find myself very werid. Hahaha.. as in unconsciously I will go into very deep thoughts... I try to be "normal" by having less thoughts and acting "normal" like anyone would... hahahahah....

I rem a friend once told me, "You are that kind that you will agree with people even though you dun really agree because deep down u are thinking that they are unable to see your point, end of the day, u will still follow wat you believe in rather than listerning." Hmmm... he is right in certain sense...  but isit it stubborness....

 

普通 的 VS! 真正

普通 的 VS! 真正 的  

一個普通 的朋友從未看過你哭泣。           
一個真正的朋友有雙肩讓你的淚水濕盡。

一個普通 的朋友不知道你父母的姓氏。      
一個真正的朋友有他們的電話在通訊錄上。 
 
一個普通的朋友會帶瓶葡萄酒參加你的派對。 
一個真正 的朋友會早點來幫你準備並且為了幫你打掃而晚點走。

一個普通的朋友討厭你在他睡了後打來。     
一個真正 的朋友會問為什麼現在才打來。

一個普通的朋友找你談論你的困擾。         
一個真正 的朋友找你解決你的困擾。

一個普通的朋友對你的羅曼史感到好奇。     
一個真正 的朋友可以威脅你說出來。

一個普通的朋友在拜訪時，像一個客人一樣。 
一個真正 的朋友會打開冰箱自己拿東西。

一個普通的朋友在吵架後就認為友誼已經結束。
一個真正 的朋友認為沒有打過架就不叫真正的友誼。

一個普通的朋友期望你永遠在他身邊陪他。   
一個真正 的朋有期望他能永遠陪在你身邊.

The above is extracted from Chilam's blog.... hahaha.... imagine internet has bring ppl closer... I used to be crazy over him... Din know he got a blog now.... the above is something that is very true... good for thoughts.....

http://blog.sina.com.cn/zhangzhilin

 

ah long san's grandson, alonso won the 1st night race

I have been following the F1 race on tv channel 5 since Friday! Hahahaha... I m not really a fan of F1, I bet its curious cos it the 1st time Singapore is hosting. On Friday noon, we can hear the zroom zroom sound from office... a few col and myself try to glimpse from far... we managed to see! See a small small visual...hahah something like the size of toy car... at the hairpin turn in front of Fullerton hotel.

The training round on Friday is the 1st time I get to hear the racers' name... hahah... I only know who is Lewis Hamilton... because he keep appearing on Ads...hahaha.... Nick and his col (lao uncle) has this funny joke on Friday... They were telling the rest of their col that both of them "racing" and the lao uncle is renault and nick is Ferrari...Siao rite... 

On Sat nite we watch the qualifying race from a big screen near china town... one of the renault car crash(dun know who lar), then I tell nick, u call "ah neo" (the lao uncle col) say why he so crash car! Hahaha... Surin was looking out for pretty gals on screen, I mean the gf or wife of the racers... dun mistaken for the grid gers, all CMI one.....Joke aside... we are just being bo liao...

Sunday is the exciting one... We watched the race at nick's cousin home on the big LCD screen...hahah... The 1st few rounds are a bit boring lei... then knowing they have to run 61 rounds, I a bit sian liao... just as I was fiddling around with the potato chips, the guys shouted! Some renault guy crash his ass! It was Piquet, handsome guy lei... I think he was the one who also crash his ass on the qualifying...hahah... cos I recognize his handsome face! At least something exciting after a few rounds! Hahaha.... 

Just as things starts to get boring again with the cars going rounds and rounds... Corka-nadan Massa pull the fuel pipe!!! Then he suay cos his team de Ferrari car mate behind him, the cockpit attend to the other car and he is left stranded waiting for his crew to pull of that "thing" So damm funny!!! I was wondering how come the pit crew arrange for 2 members to pit stop same time one... bo logistic control one lor... cos I read from newspaper, they say every seconds count... but they waste their racer's timing by getting them to Q! So damm funny rite.

Something exciting sia.... Massa confirm "go up the car" liao loh... the screen got capture his face while he is waiting for his crew to pull that "thing" off... dun know is it pressure, they had a hard time "pulling"... although Massa is all covered up, but can see from his eye sight its like damm sian liao...hahahah... can imagine!

I think Singapore F1 is damm interesting lei...I thought usually racing is like u see car crashes and stuff... 1st time see from corka-nadan pull off the whole fuel pipe...hahaha.... Then while all hope lost for Massa, the focus is on the other ferrari car, Raikkonen, then he also kuku go and "hai" ppl crash cos he come out of the small hole! Hhahahahaha.... Ferrari really Kuku Corka-nadan! Hahaha... ok lar, they provide some enjoyment thou...

As for Lewi Hamilton, I think he too famous liao... ganna blocked by a lot of car loh... no way to siam man! Then the ah long san's grandson, Alonso wont as black horse! (Disclaimer: the term ah long san's grandson come from ChannelNewsAsia forum). The grid gers all really cannot make it, some even have the tummy poping out! Please!!!!! Nan dao SG really bo sui de woman meh... if really dun have hor, maybe they should get "wai lai de ren cai" its ok to import! Hahaha.... Really not so visually appealing lei... hahaha... no wonder not much screen shots of the grid gers! The camera man rather take the audiences than the grid gers!

This morning I walked pass a watch selling store and saw the 2 renault racer photo on the adv.... (they endorse the watch), Piquet was much much better looking than Alonso loh... hahahah!
Btw, I am trying to find the picture of the corka-nadan Massa car pulling off that "thing" online..hahaha Cos I think its classic lei...

Just as I was searching for the picture, I saw this article, http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080928/tsp-auto-prix-sin-massa-5820418.html  its not massa's fault... he was given the green light... so it was the crew who are corka-nadan! Hahahaha.

This article describe Massa's incident as "a comical error"  Alamak loh! It seem like our ground pro to comical error cos David Coulthard in a Red Bull also almost become Massa No 2! Hahahaha.... http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080928/tts-auto-prix-sin-c1b2fc3.html

老uncle学sms

This morning as I was happily drawing my flow chart I heard a beeping sms...

I saw messager : "Par"

Surprise... my father never know how to use sms one loh... I thought must be some funny msg that he accidently anyhow click... so I "open" up the sms

it reads : 叔玲拜一早上要帮我载学生

Huh! Really is him bo ... so I reply "你会打汉语拼音meh"

Then the beep sound and he replied "我在学"

I replied "很好 :)"

Woh... lao uncle also learn to use sms liao.... I think his trip to China and making more china freds are helping him to improve...

Btw that happen to surin too... not as in she learn sms but her very not so good Chinese become super "Tok Kong".... Always use chim chim de Chinese shoot me sia.

Ok,.... the world is improving...

 

 

Mark the Paper Anniversary

It our 1st year wedding anniversary. As Nick has a packed schedule for school and homework. I guess its not a good idea to plan for a short trip overseas. I told Nick I will be doing the planing and organizing our 1st year anniversary and he will do for next year! :P Therefore I set the standard! hee hee hee! :P

There are thoughts of going batam for spa, but the traveling would take some time and Nick has a Sunday class. I search for some local stuff...hahaha... I have a package from Body Contour and we been to its Roxy Sq outlet. They have couple room and we enjoy the jacuzzi!


About 1 month back, I did an online reservation for a room at Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel. Wrote there its our 1st year wedding anniversary... I was hoping some freebie from the hotel... hahah. I made the couple room reservation for spa too. I told Nick I have arranged programme for the day.

There are a few times he tried to trick me into telling him what plan I have. But my lips are tight. There's once he told me he made a reservation for dinner and paid... I almost told him where I have planned. But I realize he is trying to dig info. Hahahah

On Friday evening we joined our friends for a steamboat at Nelson's house. We have fun standing grilling n steam boating! Hahaha... We say it shall be an annual event and next year hopefully will be at our new place.

On Sat morning, I wake Nick up for work. He say he din feel like going office, got hang over from previous nite drinking but he say how tired he is for work every day...hahah... He decided to go for work, "give u time to prepare mar", he said.

I arranged to meet him at his work place and reveal to him that we are going for spa! Hahaha... I ask him if he wants to know the programme of the day? He say "No... surprise mar".

We reached Body Contour at Mercure Roxy and while waiting for the room. Nick is anxious about knowing where we are going after that... Ichy to know lei.... hahah... I reveal the plan of the day.

We enjoyed the body massage, scrub and jacuzzi. After which, we checked into the room in the hotel and eat the pastries we bought and the fruits provided by the hotel. Ya, the hotel wrote me an email the day before to inform that free fruit platter provided for anniversary... hmmm that's all? They added, other request at cost. Hahaha... Ok lar, I got the room at a discount rate.

We rest for a while, flipping the TV channels and went for a dip in the swimming pool. Only me dip. Nick was enjoying the free beer from the hotel. We were feeling hungry and I wanted to eat tepanyaki. We walked over to Marine Parade and eat Saka Sushi... After that we went to border where Nick get himself a book and I get my free reading :P. We bought some tibites and head back to the room. I brought a red wine from home and we get to enjoy the red wine and tibites after dinner.

We went to work on Monday. I was having meeting from morning till 11am. Right after I reach my desk, there is a call from a col whom I do not know. She mentioned that there is a flower for me. Surprise abt it, I went to meet her at her level. The delivery guy send the flower to another floor and she received on my behalf. Hahahaha... I thank her and she turn to me and say "Happy Anniversary" :P It was all written on the card.

It a surprise bouquet of yam rose. Its our wedding flower. Last year we had this flower as our wedding deco for the solemnization table and I din get to really admire or keep the flower due to the "gan cheong" here and there situation towards the end of the banquet. I did mentioned once that it would be great to get yam rose. Nick remembered and he order the bouquet from the same florist this year.

I think I really like purple. See the picture! How the yam rose matches our new bed sheet cover! Hahaha.... I also got to realize the match! This bed sheet is newly bought for our new bed.
We agreed to meet at my work place after work to go Tok Le, Space at my humble house for dinner. He gave me a buzz at 6.45 to inform that he will be reaching by 7. As I walking towards the meeting place. I heard a voice "hello", I turn and saw him. He was holding a Bonia paper bag. Hee hee.... that must be my present rite. He originally intend to hide that gift and proceed back to the car before meeting me. I was a bit early and so zun he was just behind... I told him, its the thought that count. Hahaha... Its a Bonia card holder cum wallet.


We parked the car at the super expensive car park at esplande, din know per entry was 5+... *faint. Then just nice, Space at my humble house is closed for dun know what cleaning. So change of plan. We went to the open air food place. Always wanted to try the food there. We ordered the "happy pot" bbq. Not bad thou, but I think I eat too much meat! Hahaha...

The evening ended with a leisure walk along the esplanade river.

How true are you to your life?

That evening I was watching channel U, an interview on Christopher Lee. I was watching the programme at coffee shop while having dinner. The noisy environment, I cant really pick out everything that they are talking. But what David Gan said made an impression.

David Gan was brought into the interview because he is a close fred of the couple and when being asked by Quan Yi Feng on wat advise he gave to the couple. He said, "In life, the only real happiness period is very short, at most 20 to 30 yrs only. U must learn to treasure your happiness and live your life to the fullest."

At that moment, I suddenly felt wat he said abt that 20 to 30 years of happiness is really very short... Looking back in your life, things are happening at an alarming speed. Before you knew it or even realise it.... U are already reaching half way in your life journey! Looking back, what have you really achieve in your life. What have you bring to the people in your life.

A year back, when I was in an organisation who is full of politic, I used to think why these ppl so bo liao, nothing much to do. Dun know how to enjoy life... play stupid game and what do they really gain in return. At that point of life, I am concentration on "Quality of Life". How to enjoy life.

But recently it got me thinking again. Beside "Quality of Life", wat about the difference you made in your Life. As much as all of us wants to enjoy life, we all forget that we cant control our life and our fate. So given that limited time of life, do we waste our life away by having fun, playing politic at work, doing nothing at all, leaving everything to fate???

When is the last time u be true to your life, be true to wat you really want out of your journey here. Life is a journey, in this journey, u define wat you want to do. But u have no 100% control of the outcome. In this journey, u cannot plan the people who surround you. I always believe a saying "百年修來同船渡，千年修得共枕眠". In this vast land, the people u meet, the people who become your families, your friends. It take a lot of fate to be with the people around u today.

Beside treasuring the people around us, we should seriously think about wat life has installed for us. We cannot control this journey but we can try to achieve wat we want out of this journey.

 

Moonnie Mooncake...Pandan skin full yoke...Green Tea skin full yoke...Strawberry somemore!

Mooncake Festival coming next week... Its a tradition every year that I will buy mooncake for elderly and also for self consumption... Hee hee... my fav is the yoke, orangy red with oil ozzing out! Yummy!

This year the price of mooncake increase a lot... and cant find nice yoke ones... Last Thur Nick brought home 2 mooncake from office. It was given by some company his office deal with. The mooncake were from intercontinal hotel... but bo yoke one! Dun know is it economic no good or inflation high... bo yoke de loh... hahaha

Decided that I shall try to DIY this year...hahah... wanted to do it last yr but lazy... Friday I went to Phoon Huat intending to buy the "premix", all went out of stock... biz so good. Decided to buy the separate ingredients to do the mix myself... got a recipe sheet from Phoon Huat but I overheard some aunties say the recipe not good... hmmm...


I surf online and found some recipes too... but as usual, I like to use my own "agaration" hahaha.... I created 3 flavours...

1) Pandan skin (not very strong pandan smell cos I din want too much artificial colouring and flavour) with yoke / white loutus / almond
2) Green tea skin (from green tea powder) with yoke / white loutus

3) Pandan skin with white loutus and strawberry


For those who like to try:
- Kou Fien 150g
- Icing sugar 130g
- Shortening 50g
- Ice water 180g
Filling: white loutus paste, roasted almond, duck egg yoke + own creation :)

Sambal BeeHoon

Today we cooked lunch! I wanted to fried beehoon, so dig out whatever ingredient at home... Hahah... Nick wanted to learn, so let him do the physical cooking while I gave the instructions by the side.
He commented that the taste like not strong, then I suggest "you want sambal?" We stil got a bottle of sambal from Soup Resturant (foc from mother day dinner) Hahaha... Transferred the cooked beehoon out from the wok. Heat the sambal till it bubble out the oil, the fragrance of "hei bee" filled the kitchen. Return the beehoon back to the wok and continue to stir. I let him have his free play and here the final result.

Concentrating at displaying the veg for photo shoot...hahah

Sambal Bee Hoon! The look of it abit like dried mee siam.. Hahahah
The taste is good. Quite spicy though..

The quest on matress search

Last year we went to look at the various brand of mattress and Serta Sophistication caught our eyes! Hahaa... very expensive mattress... Queen size plus bed frame 3k plus. We hold back on buying, consider getting it for when new house come... We got a sofa bed from ikea as our matrimony bed.
Recently we decided to buy a queen bed to be place at my parents place, the quest for mattress start again. Hahaha.. Saw the promotion on Sea Horse and got good comment from friend who used it... I always joke about my mattress at home, cos I used to sleep on very thin "ti-lam" on the bed plank. Anyone who had tried my bed b4 would know its "harder" than seahorse! But I think nowadays I used to sleep on the sofa bed till not really used to hard mattress liao... The seahorse one is either too soft or too hard...hmm... cant find a suitable one.

Decided to pop by our favorite store, ikea. Went for free drink with our ikea friends' card 1st...hahaha... Saw a promo on full set at 600+ but it turn out to be a gimmick, cos 600+ is for the mattress nia... But the mattress is good! Can really feel the support at the waist and shoulder! Its the pocketed spring inbuilt with plush top one... considered the top range in ikea.

Din get the ikea mattress as we needed bed frame too... so decided to hold back the ikea mattress. We went back to IMM to the famous 3 S brand. The last round we test on these mattress was last year. Tried Sealy and I din really like the softness. Nick like the mattress, but he let me have the last say. Hahaha... We went to try on Simmon. I really like the BeautyRest one! Really comfortable lei... got that kind of lie on it dun want to stand up liao de feeling "P hahaha... but the price also that kind see liao will scream one! Hahaha... 3k plus for queen mattress not including frame. Way too out of budget liao. We went to Serta and tested all the range... hmmm... feel normal lei... There is one on promotion about 2k including frame and mattress...

Decided that we should go sungei kadut to see since a lot of people recommend this place. I saw on newspaper there is a promo on king coil. Went to the warehouse and its like "lei long" place... very difficult to test and best is the price not "lei long" lei... 2k+ for mattress and frame... not very attractive. If spend 2k on "lei long", would rather go back to choose sealy or serta. 

Along the same street, we saw another furniture shop. Might as well drop by since we are already there... We saw Dunlopillo Dutches on promotion. Not bad, comparable with ikea one at first try, it come with a latex top. Test a few more. Found that Max Coil also not bad, the latex inbuilt into the pocket spring but I cant rem where I heard this brand. Nick reminded me, the shop next to serta at IMM, that "dirty" uncle. Hahaha... I was laughing and the sale ger look at us amazing... I explained to her, last yr when we were searching for mattress, we went to this shop, the sale man uncle damm funny, keep telling us, a mattress is used for "办事" one.. so must be able to tan han the shake and bonging! I wanna faint lor... some more at that time we haven married lei.. so pai sei lei... Then he keep on non stop and keep telling Nick, u know lar, the frame must be so and so lar... I cant be bothered with what he say, cant wait to get out of that place man!

We tried on the Max coil and Dunlopillo Dutches again. Dutches prove to be a much comfortable one.. Both cost around the same price. In the end we sign on the dotted line for Dutches! :) Yeah our new bed is coming next weekend.

The promo end tomorrow. $1499 for queen size, free bed frame, 2 pillow and mattress protector. I did a search online, seems like the mattress are usually cheaper than 1499, so the price we paid might not be entirely FOC frame... Saw a lot of good review on Dunlopillo Dutches online. Will write my review on it soon! :)

Here's our new mattress :

DUCHESS Leave behind the cares of the day for the sheer luxury of a combination of latex and Honeycomb Pocketed Spring, Anti- Dust Mite STRETCH Fabric 10 years manufacturer warranty

5-Zone Pocketed Spring System.A combination of honeycomb and parallel spring coil arrangements, the 5-Zone Pocketed Spring System offers varying degrees of firmness in one mattress.

The system is designed around the body's five zones - head, shoulders, waist, hips and thighs. Firmer support is provided by the honeycomb spring coil under your head, waist and thighs while the parallel spring coils provide gentler support to accommodate your shoulders and hips for greater comfort and deeper sleep.

This optimizes support for your entire body by eliminating pressure build-up on your body, relaxing your muscles, and keeping your spine in its natural alignment to minimize spinal stress.

2.5cm Talalay SP Latex Padding,latex mattress is able to support your weight independently yet localize movement to one side of the mattress, allowing you to move freely without disturbing your partner

The honeycomb arrangement is ideal for those who prefer stronger, firmer support without compromising on comfort.

Inspired by the honeycomb - Nature's perfect utilization of space, Dunlopillo is the first in the market to combine this arrangement with the Individual Pocketed Spring (IPS) System to develop a range of mattresses that offers superior support.

Arranged in a honeycomb pattern, the coils are packed tightly together to reduce the gaps between them and increase the spring count. The result is added strength and superior support for the entire length of your spinal column.

The parallel arrangement is designed for those who prefer the lush comfort of gentle but firm support. The spring coils are arranged in parallel rows to enhance the mattress' rebound and conformity to your body's contours.

Anti- Dust Mite STRETCH Fabric£¬2.5cm UKTalalay Latex,Pillow Top

1000gm/m2 Felt£¬2.5cm Highly Cluradle Padding£¬30 mm Quitlted Mattress Cove£¬14cm Honeycomb Pocketed Spring£¬Edge Guards to Impove Stability

Amazing!

Friday morning! Time to relax!

Today on my way to work... I was walking quite a distance from a "couple", why a distance? cos the perfume smell from the woman is damm powerful! Until to the extend like 2 arms away the smell is still very strong...

Then as I walk I saw a puddle of dog shit, a bit flat cos got bicycle tyre track mark (must be some bicycle "over ran" it)... The amazing thing is... no smelly smell... cos the perfume from that woman who is "near-by" over-power the dog shit smell!!!

Hahahah... btw this is not a joke, its real incident! hahaha

Thoughts and Plan

Recently there are lots of topics going around baby and child birth. Actually before the national rally that announce the increase of perks in bb in sg, Nick and myself did discuss this topic before. I think family planning is not really depending on the perks but the perks does help to ease the mind a bit on "INITAL" financial issue.

Our idea initally was to wait for the house to come. Enjoy a while then start family planning... So that was the perfect scenario.. At the comfort of our own place. But the word "plan" does not equal to "as planned" along the way, we realise that age is catching, house is going to get delay...then its time to "re-plan".

We got disappointed again and again by the delay of possession of the flat. Initally was Q4 of 2008, then last dec got to know its Q1 2009, Now the most "zun" date is Q2 for possession... Being through BTO, I always advise friends who are getting BTO to be prepared for the wait. It might be longer than you can wait or willing to wait.

If we had in mind to stick to the initally handover date on paper which was 2010 maybe we would have planned things in a diff way... But the whole world is telling us wont take that long one..(we apply in 2005, development work in late 2005), even the HDB sales lady tell us "die die worse case also 1 yr in advance) so happily we planned as we thought.

I was thinking, if we had move ahead of our planning, maybe we wont be in a caught situation now.. why I say caught in a situation, because 1st of all, the hse is coming most probably between mar to jun 2009. If we wait till then to do family planning, most probably I will be over 30 yrs old 1st time mum...... by the time we cross over 50, our children haven even finish schooling... "retirement" seems like a damm far far road....

Our inital thought was to aim for a baby calf, but after Jun 2009, its impossible for bb calf... and such things usually dun come as u plan. Heard b4 that the more u plan they more u wont get...hahaha... Read in some forum, "Plan no shiok! Accident more shiok" hahaha... But its a life time of commitment.. cannot say "su ka, su ka" one rite...

Now if we have a bb and the bb is born before the hse come, we can stay at my parents place and do the house later or concurrently. But if the hse come before the bb is born, then I cant even be involved in the whole renovation process. And heard that even the bed cant be shifted... where are we going to sleep in new place?

Who says can dun plan? I haven finalise my plan, just thinking nia already so many issues liao... Sometimes just feel like hack care, wanna do jiu do it... Dun want to think...hahaha but worried about the impacts that comes with 冲动.

Financial is a big big issue, the reno of the place, added monthly expenses due to electricity, gas, etc... .... cannot help not to think about it also.... or take it as "船到桥头，自然直".

 

Story for sharing

A pathetic situation....

Its like in the olden days.... 无奈 married into a 豪门 to a dying son as 二姨太. The dying son is son of the mistress of a wealthy man name whose big wife is call Ah Head. Ah Head hated the dying son so much as its a stepson from  the mistress of her husband. The wealthy man had long passed away and Ah Head rule the family now.

无奈's life was not peaceful as she wants to be, not because she is stuck with a dying husband. The husband is going to die anyway... but her life is hard because she is responsible of iAd, iAd is a son from the 1st wife of the dying husband. iAd is a bright boy and is doing very well in life... so much that it surpass the Bsg, the retarded grandson of Ah Head. So much that Ah Head hope that iAd will die so that Bsg become the main limelight in everybody eyes.

Facing the dying husband plead to take good care of iAd, a full of potential iAd, critism from the relatives eyes (cos all scared of Ah Head).... its really a tough situation now...

If you are 无奈, wat will you do?

Everyone has a plan.... why must it be as per planned?

Watch batman and joker last weekend. Din want to catch it at 1st... but heard a lot of good review about it. I feel that the show is a bit like ang mo version de 无间道, just that its not talking about good and bad guy all the time.

The main topic of the movie is not about how physco is the joker... I think it has a deeper meaning to his character. He said something like this in his lines "Everyone has a plan, I hate it when everyone play by rules" I think he is sick of guessing wats everyone's plan. I think in a corporate world, everyone is guessing wat plan one another had. Everyone is trying to "read" and "analyse" a personal character.. esp those in HR.... trying to "breakdown" each and everyone and trying to "influence" everyone thinking.

Wat the joker does is, he upset the rules... he din want people to guess wat he is up to. He wants to show the world that rules does not apply!.... I like his attitude. Cos I am also sick of guessing everyone plan and the main thing is I hate to think of a plan for myself... why must everyone has a plan. Ok, just as I was typing this, I just overhead someone next to me say "fall back plan". See! its plan again...

Our whole life evolve around plan plan plan, work plan at work, family planning at home... marriage plan, financial plan...

I think sooner or later, we will have more jokers around in the world. Those who are sick of planning.

And batman? He also has plan of his own. If u read deep enough......

 

1st dish by Nick Tan

1 week in Perth, he said he was very busy, day time go school for lesson, evening time go back apartment for "cooking class", nite time drinking till 2am... Indeed very busy loh...

At least his 1 week in Perth taught him some cooking knowledge... he got a house mate who cook really well, its rare nowaday for guy who can cook and handle the meal for about 17 ppl! Nick shown me some pictures they took. Nick said most of the time he is helping his chef housemate and learning some cooking skill from him... Suddenly Nick is so interested in kitchen stuff :P

Presenting Chef Nick...hahahah...
For the very first time Mr. Tan is cooking a proper decent meal :) He say he will cook me my favorite cream sauce spag! This is the result of his 1 week training! Hahah... The sauce is not from those readily made one... The sauce consist of egg, whipping cream, pamesan cheese and milk.
Considering that this is the 1st time he is cooking... this is quite good! He say he wants to learn more dishes! Just hope that its not 3 min interest! :P I m waiting to try the roast chicken!

No Antibiotics

Hate the feeling of falling sick... hate it most when it attack my throat and nose... I have very weak nose. Whenever watever virus I ganna, sure attack the throat and nose. I simply hate it..I hate it!!!

Went to see doc ytd.... to realise that how expensive medical bill can be... My previous coy is use those vista card so I only pay 5 bucks... now diff liao.. new coy dun have vista card... The stupid doc just see me for the sake of seeing.. anyhow see then give 1 lump of medicine... in it include antibiotic... Nick told me not to eat it cos will rely on it de... I also think so... so din took the antibiotic... but its seems like the virus is still hovering ard... sian.... so I keep poping logsenges... but dun seems to cure lei....

Today back to work... but whole body feel like dragging.... stupid virus.

 

Do we allow time to age us? or we allow ourselves to be aged?

We sprang a surprise birthday cake celebration on surin on her bday... I got a spy to check out for me if their super freak boss is ard... Gather all the gals, got a cake, din buy food cos mr super freak is ard... sneak into her office with the help of the spy... she was sleeping... i whisper "sing loud" then she whisper "听到了" kao!!! She cant really act loh.... *blar blar blar....

In any case, glad that surin enjoy the not so surprise de surpise bday surprise... wc got a small cupcake and surin is asking if her diamond ring is inside! Hahaha... the evening was filled with wc sharing with us abt her proposal and how dreamy she still was... hahaha... we went for some ang mo food to end the night.

The following day I saw wat sw post on her blog on "before" and "after"... I realise visually we age a lot.. if put in nicer word is called more "contemporary".... but seriously I could sense that we dun "laugh" as 放 as younger days... we no longer act as "crazy" as before... trying to maintain 仪态? hmmm.. more we become more matured? hmmm.... wc was commenting that nowadays gathering was always gossiping.... I was jokingly saying better then sharing abt "children go which school, and complain abt husbands rite, that is like worse loh... really auntie lei" But come to think of it.... wat do we usually talk of in our younger days????

Scary.... seems like we really move off very far from younger days liao.... trying to recap wat we usually do like 5 yrs back... 5 yrs jiu enough liao... 

Ytd evening I met up with 3 guys from my poly days, kheng hock, qinghai and desmond... I m suspose to be the one organising but... because desmond was the 1st to arrive so he ask wat food the rest of us wanted... at first all say "anything" then after that we all flicker minded, one want this, one wants that... ok liao change mind again... he was jumping mad liao :P... we end up at NYDC... kheng hock came last and from the minute he stepped in, laughter was non stop.... and best was... I still cant figure out how a man 30 都要没得change de 人 how can still be like poly days??? Faint right...super crap, make fun of waiter... best part is I came to realise that the person who really aged is me! I keep reminding them that 4 of us add up over 100 liao... BEHAVE....

The night continue with drinking session and happen to bump into collin and freds. So coincident.... they are talking abt profiling ppl! HR ppl always do that... ok 2 extreme group of freds.... mind stimulating!... Jingyi joined us. As usual, gossiping, dun say man cannot gossip one ok... :P and sharing one another life. hmmm...pin pointing who has the highest man ego... :P the session ended with kheng hock asking if the pub got sell mee poh bo!  

Very hard to imagine that they had not changed much from poly days... and very hard to come to term that over the past 10 yrs... I feel so aged...isit because we keep telling ourselves that we have to "carry" ourself well... less childish stuff... more "corporate"? oh gosh.....

what happen huh? Life experience caused the feeling? or man never grow up and woman always aged too fast?

Dun be surprise if one day I start to do things I enjoy doing like 5 yrs ago.... catch back the youth???

 

tired... moody... sianz

Dun know why.... I just feel very sianz today.... tired... feeling damm sleepy from the minute I get off my bed....

The rest of the day even more sianz..... dun know is it because feeling damm sianz... I totally bo mood to do anything... I just feel like lazing ard... just feel as if I am dragging my body for the hours and minutes to pass.....

Feeling the tension... invisible... maybe its time to do some review and analysis... but I m just feeling so tired that I dun feel like doing anything now...

I just want to hide... I want to hide in my blanket now... :( .... I think I badly need to 发泄!....before I ki siao....

I just feel that bo lang understand what I m going through... maybe I should just dun think and sleep my head off...

 

 

my "lonely" week

Nick flew off to Perth last Sat... I was jokingly telling him that he must be feeling the freedom for 1 week huh.... hahahah... I spend the sunday watch scv drama, wash the car and do some work... Catch the hellboy 1 but din catch the ending... cos Nick call so we chat on the phone while channel 5 is airing the ending...

He bought a calling card and we thought its cheaper to call via the calling card but we are wrong... just realise ytd that it still charge roaming! Hahaha.... he say going to try a new way of calling which is flat rate charges.

I bet he is having a fun time in Perth, cos everytime we talk over the phone can hear a lot of merry making sound behind the scene, every night party...hahahah.... Luckily he got a room mate who can cook really good spread of food... I was still worrying that he will hunger himself in Perth cos he is not really a angmo food eater... He describe to me what his room mate cook... and he is learning his culinary skill too! I told him, its time he cook something for me after his "learning" from this trip! He say he got photos as evidence of wat nice stuff they have! Hahaha.... and suddenly he become damm siao on in jogging... he say everyday after school is jogging cos of the cooling weather... hahaha...cant imagine....

Well, while he is having a good time in Perth, I m having a great catch up with the gals. Monday evening I had dinner at this "si chuan" resturants with surin, wc and sw... damm spicy lor.... everything is "ma ma la la" one...alamak! But shiok lar... hahaha... it was a so call pre-celebration for surin and wc. We had something sweet, ah bo ling for dessert... hahahah...

Last nite Wc had a bday dinner with her steven... Surin and me meet for dinner, we went to this korean bbq at tanjong katong... bo lang de shop... but food is really nice... although on a expensive side, but the food is worth the price... while we are enjoying ourselves, we both got a sms at the same time, surin's first reaction was "Must be wc" hahaha.... and the msg read something like this "hey gals, taken aback..." Surin and me look at each other! proposal! hahaha... we both call wc at the same time... hahaha... then I let surin call, surin was all excited and tell me she is the shelves now... ahahah.... I told surin, we should get wc to buy surin drink... cos surin need to drink herself silly (excuse to rip wc wallet :P )... hahaha ....

Wc call me shortly to ask if we wanna join her for bday cake... we of course dun want to be light bulb loh...hahaha.. she was'nt sound as excited as I expected... I wonder why... surin and myself feel this she must be "geng" loh... happy until siao liao but must act "zai" hmmm... Found out the answer this morning, cos steven really caught her off off guard this time... Wc has spoken to me a few occassion on steven's behaviour towards marriage was simple avoiding the topic... but never did she know, this man really put in a lot of thoughts and effort to ensure things are in "proper order"... eh too much uniform discipline liao loh... hahahah.... But I m really glad to know that steven has this thought... cos wc never appear to be a "organised" gal to me... finally she found her match!!! Hahahah... Great one steven!

This morning wc was sharing with the gals on how smug steven get when he finally accomplished his "mission". I can fully understand that.... cos they belongs to the "uncle", "ah peh" clan loh.... man egotics 100% over burst.... wc, dun worry, u are not alone... I can "chuan shou" u a few stunned to curb man egoistic problem! :P

Wedding bells ringing!!! Hahaha....

 

《赤壁》

We caught this movie on the 1st day it was screen. Nick is a fan of 三国志. We decided to catch it before he goes to Perth on Sat.

We watched the 10pm slot on a Thursday... Before the movie start, I was asleep oreadi...hahah.... I woke up when the movie finally start... I thought I will be sleeping away half the movie... but I was wrong...

The story is not something I am familiar with but the way John Woo directed the movie is quite interesting... such a long winded story he can make it interesting in its way... mid way of the show, it was like introduction to the 3 brothers, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. I like Zhuge Liang the most...hahaha....

This is only part 1 of the battle of Red Cliffs. The most interesting part on burning the battle ships of cao cao is not in this movie. It will be in part 2.

This movie actually triggle my interest to read more abt the story. Found 2 links which are the most comprehensive one...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms
More stuff on the movie can be found at
http://ent.sina.com.cn/f/m/chibi/
Interesting....will definetly catch part 2.

4th July 2008

I haven been updating my blog for the longest time...hahaha....
Been quite busy with new task and new job.... to the extend I feel that I m working to repay my nuai sai time for the previous 2 yrs.... :P

Nick has been busy with school work and preparing for his 1 week perth trip this coming saturaday. I have been busy with office stuff mostly... Life move very fast for the past 1 month.
Be it busy, we have made it a point to mark 4th July 2008 a special day... 4th anniversary of togetherness...hahahah.... we collected our new set of wedding band, and wore it on this special day.

Our previous set has 1 diamond fallen off... so sookee got the set replaced, the new set has a much stronger holding due to the placement... 

We din really have any planned celebration. We met after work and went to ikea to catch our fav chicken wings! Hahaha.... I had my salmon and princess cake too! hee hee hee....

We meet surin and wanching on sat for K-Box.... had a great time... singing all the oldiess.... for the 1 time, I feel shiok that I know more new songs than Surin!!! Hahaha... The session end nearly 3am... from 1am onwards, half the time I was sleeping... :P 

Nick made fun of surin and wanching, he asked them "do u gals rem wat u do 4 yrs back de ytd?" They looked blur... I prompt wc, u 1st knew Sh**n that day loh.... hahahaha....

Nick is going for perth this coming Sat for 1 week... 1st time he is traveling without me after wedding..... he is going for classes... and visiting his University which is the same as mine... :) I was there like... erm.... 7 years ago!!! ops! Hopefully we can both visit the place together in future... but I think I would prefer to go other parts of Australia. :P

North Star

The North(ern) Star is the prominent pole star that lies closest in the sky to the north celestial pole, and which appears (approximately) directly overhead to an observer at the Earth's North Pole. The current North Star is Polaris, which lies about two-thirds of a degree from the pole at the end of the "bob" of the Little Dipper asterism in the constellation Ursa Minor. Polaris has a visual magnitude of 1.97 (second magnitude). (Some people mistakenly think that Polaris is the brightest star in the night sky. This title belongs to Sirius, and there are many others stars also brighter than Polaris.)

The North Star has historically been used for navigation, both to find the direction of north and to determine latitude. It always appears due north in the sky, and the angle it makes with respect to the horizon is equal to the latitude of the observer.

I am looking for the "North Star of life".......

 

Sing For Love ~ Sichuan Earthquake Charity Concert

We need your support for
Sing For Love ~ Sichuan Earthquake Charity Concert
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Time: 7:00pm - 10:00pm

Location: EZ50 (轻松50) - One Neil Road
(diagonally opp Maxwell Market)
Nearest MRT Station: Tanjong Pagar MRT Station, Bus Service Nos.: 80, 145.
This is a charity concert in effort to to do something to help the victim of Sichuan earthquake. Our fund-raising principle is: ALL ticket proceeds MUST go to charity. We will ensure that all the money we raised will be handled directly by an authorised beneficiary. (https://www.charities.gov.sg) There MUST be absolute transparency.

With Averil's efforts, she has gathered full support from a group of young people who are passionate about singing and doing something meaningful. They have agreed to perform for free (no allowances are given).
100% of fund raised will be used to help the people who were affected by this natural disaster and hope for your generous donations to the earthquake relief.

***Our stellar cast of performers***
From Singapore Idol, Project Superstar, Campus Superstar and elite students from Singapore Raffles Music College (Pop Faculty):

Let's gather for a common cause. 'SING FOR LOVE" Sing to raise funds for the Sichuan's earthquake victims.

We sincerely hope that you would give us your support by attending the event.

Give us your greatest support!
Come to our charity concert. Be a part of this meaningful cause.

Http://www.singforlove.blogspot.com

Porting MSN Emoticons

I love my msn emoticons. I was so "depressed" when I thought I am going to lose them. I even tell my msn kaki to save for me into their msn then "return" to me on my new computer.

Today I ask my msn ppl if they want to see my emoticons. Got ppl scold me "siao"... ok lar, I know I am a bit siao... then I figure out that why dun I google for methods to save them.

I got a few solutions from the net, some need to create account, but this one seems the best:
- Go to run, then type %appdata%
- Go to Microsoft, MSN Messenger, you should see some account numbers, find out which is yours
- Go to CustomEmoticons folder, and they will be in .DAT files, you can just change the extension to .GIF.

Yippy!!! I have my emoticons out!!!

 

Dinner at Garibaldi

It's an award winning Italian Resturant. We sure know how to enjoy! Hahaha... Had dinner with my colleagues at Garibaldi last evening. We have the tasting menu which comprise of 5 main dishes... each come in a small and exquisite serving. Their in-house bread is damm tasty... esp with the olive and balsamic sauce! I went to their website then I realize their olive oil is specially created imported from different regions of Italy.
~~~~~The Tasting Menu~~~~~~

Carpaccio di Manzo Wagyu Wagyu Beef Carpaccio with Parmigiano Cheese and Rucola
Capesante al Taleggio
Grilled US Scallops with Porcini Mushroom and Truffled Taleggio Cheese Fondue
Tagliolini Neri ai Frutti di Mare
Black Squid Ink Tagliolini with Seafood & Fresh Tomato Sauce
Gamberi alla Griglia
Grilled Big Head Prawns with Garlic Lemon & Extra Virgin Olive Oil

OR
Carre` di Agnello
Roast Lamb Rack with Mint Sauce and Artichoke Cake
Guazzetto al Mandarino
Aromatic Herbs Jelly with Passion Fruit Mousse and Mandarin Basil Soup
2004 Gewurztraminer Passito, Cornell, Sudtirol Alto Adige glass

It was a very special experience, the atmosphere of the resturant is very good, the dishes are tasty, the most special one is the ink squid spag... I think they mix the ink into the flour and made their own spag...
This meal is too extragavant... heng is ah gong pay for it... hahahah :P

I m 懒女人...

Conversation between Nick and Me this morning over breakfast:

Me: U think I look better with straight hair


Nick: Ok lar


Me: Or you think curly hair good?


Nick: Both also ok...


Me: why u bo point of view de?


Nick: Politically correct answer....


Me: Ok, then which u prefer? Straight or curly? Must choose either 1!


Nick: Botak!
Me: woh bang!

Nick: Ok lar, this one better.


Me: I dun believe liao, just now ask u, u say both. Now then u say.


Nick: See, now I say liao u dun believe.

What derive the above conversation? Cos I was struggling with my perm hair for a month!
Not exactly a wrong decision... I did not super duper regret after I walked out of the salon after the perm. In fact the perm is more dressy than straight hair. Just that I think I m too lazy for perm. why? Because of the following reasons:

• When you have perm hair, its either u make it super pong or super flat, the stage of half flat and half pong is the worse. When you have thick and high volume hair like mine, dun ever expect that it will get flat! Pong pong ness is the only option.

• Dun ever think that it is achievable to the style the mag show! Actually the hair stylist told me before, those soft curls are only achievable when u style or use temporary curls. It will not happen on perm curl hair.

• Every morning, need to wash (I only sprinkle water) the hair, pump hair gel to twist into curls. I tried with 2 big ones, cant work. Increase to 4 curls, not really enough, finally to 6 curls. I only have one style when it comes to working, half tied! Cos cant stand the side hair sweeping my face! Usually I will need to “re-style” when I reached office, cos I messed up my hair on the way to work.

• There are more patterns that can be explored with perms, but need time to style. During weekend when I eng eng, I spend time curling and I actually like the look. I hate it during working days when I need to spend some time “sprinkle water, put gel, curls, wash hand”… For the 1^st week, I spend on average 30 min to style, 2^nd week about 15 min… 3^rd week down to 5 min…. not that I get used to the process, but simply I get too lazy for it… clip, put gel mix with water, curl. The end results? frizzy ness. Hahaha… Then when I reached office, I will have to “re style”

• The curls will only look good when properly styled. Meaning locked in place. If left to “free play”, each strand will be on their own, then it become frizz!

• The curls will never stay if the qty of hair gel used to too little. As per instruction on the label, a 50 cents coin size is enough… well its never enough I would need a PAPER dollar size for that. There is once I apply too much, my hair look stiffed! The worse is everyday, I need to spend extra time, shampoo and water to wash away the gel, cos I dun want to smell like bubble gum (the smell of that purple ball gel)

• There are different comments on my curls, most ppl say it make me look more feminine, some say dun suit my style (cos I straight-forward type).

• Nick say it make me look more woman, when I ask look older? He still reply “more womanly”.... No elaboration required....

• The 1^st time wc saw me, she say I remind her of her mummy!

• The 1^st time surin saw me, she call me “Auntie”, when I got my hair straight, I ask surin how come u din realise ar, she reply, “ I know ar, that’s why I din call u Auntie!” Should I be happy with this remark? Hahahah

• Ws scold me for wasting money, but I think I dun want to torture myself having to delima, how? how? how? Hahaha

• I know I badly wants to have it "straight" back when I start to google "perm to rebond" and start to read of "regret" stories online. hahahah

• My conclusion is, I am too lazy… too lazy…Perm is definitely not meant for lazy ppl like me. Actuallly, the stylist told me b4, U need to spend time on styling de, 世上只有懒女人，没有丑女人。Ok,… I had to admit, I m that 懒女人……

• I still like curls, I think those temporary type is better and easier to managed...but I would only try it occasionally when I m feeling more "hardworking" hahahah...  :P