Dance in the Moonlight

It's been awhile

2009-10-25T17:17:00.003+08:00

Apologies for the lack of posts. It's been a crazy period since my last post, and can be summarized as such:

- Super-emo-period where I was going to leave my previous department (calculatedrisks no more), mostly emo-ing due to the fact that I was going to miss my fun colleagues.
- Moving on to a new department, doing a whole bunch of different things that is way more exciting
- Still keeping in touch with the old colleagues! So that's still good!
- Eating WAY TOO MUCH at the new department, what with tons of partner lunches, cool events, and an overall greedy boss
- Upping my working pace by at least 100% if not I would drown in all my emails
- Going home later and later every day =(
- Being a social hermit (i.e. I don't log onto Facebook regularly anymore), mostly because when I come home I'm so tired I just rather vegetate in front of the tv
- BKK is now turning into a yearly affair. Had tons of fun buying way too many things. But I come back still thinking I have nothing to wear! Something is really WRONG with me
- My first work related travel to sydney, which was pretty all right but the best part was the first class air ticket both ways! It really feels GREAT!

For Better or Worse

2009-08-30T23:28:00.002+08:00

Better or Worse

An original composition by Canuf Lau
Performed by Canuf and Ade

i'm a tree in the forest
and you are far across the ocean
if i fall, would i make a sound
if you're not there to listen

i am free as a bird
with no cares or woes to mention
but i need a destination
so i'm flying down to where you are cos

we both know it doesn't matter
if it's for the worse, or for the better
it's quite enough to have to hold
so hold my hand and take me home

i'm a word, i'm a sentence
i'm a page, i'm a chapter
but i'll never become a story
till you open your eyes and read me

i'm a bee, you're a flower
i'm a seed, you are the farmer
i am mud, you are a potter
so pick me up and make me whole cos

we both know it doesn't matter
if it's for the worse, or for the better
it's quite enough to have to hold
so hold my hand and take me home

and we won't second guess the future
cos we have fate between our fingers
so don't look back no more
i'm sure we have the answer

To listen to the song and view our wedding montage, please go to the following website (but you'll need to have a facebook account I think)

Good Weekend

2009-08-30T22:54:00.002+08:00

A good weekend involves:

- Buying gifts for dear friends
- A yummy japanese soba dinner
- Good music and good conversation at Vapour Trails
- Sleeping in on a Saturday
- Good brunch with mother in law
- Shopping at Golden Mile
- Shopping at Sheng Shiong
- Cooking up a storm (literally) in my kitchen for 10 ppl
- Having only 9 ppl turn up but most had good comments abt the food
- Pineapple rice, green curry chicken, stir fried pork with basil, tom yum soup, fried sweet potato leaves with sambal, fried xiao bai cai
- Sleeping in on a rainy Sunday
- Waking up to scroll through photos
- Lunch treat with family friends and baby Alicia
- Heading back to do some work while TJ mops the floor and irons clothes (good job dear)
- Heading to Mum's place for yummy steamboat dinner thing
- Snakes on a plane
- Mum's secret conspiracy to get TJ fat so nobody else would want him
- Home sweet home

Meow!

2009-08-27T09:13:00.001+08:00

Last night, I saw this adorable calico cat in our void deck, and it was acting cute with one couple so I thought that they were its owner.

When TJ came back after his bball session, he told me “quick come! A cat followed me home.” I ran to the door. It was the same calico cat, super cute and not scared of strangers at all. It was meowing, rubbing itself against us and purred when we tickled its belly. And it was curiously exploring my shoe cabinet area, poking its little nose here and there!

I want a cat!

5 years on

2009-08-25T09:15:00.001+08:00

It's been five years. This year, we celebrated our five years together, by throwing all our dear friends a bbq to commemerate this ocassion, and to thank them for being such great friends.

I've so many things to say to you, and I guess this short little speech says most of it all.

Thank you dear, to 5 years, and to many many many more ahead of us.

"A dear friend once asked me, “How do you know if a person is the one?” That was soon after I accepted Tze Jun’s proposal, and it baffled me for a while. Not because I didn’t think that Tze Jun is the one for me, but because our entire relationship felt so natural that I never stopped to think about this.

Before I answer that question, let me tell you a little more about Tze Jun, the love of my life. He’s a cheapskate who will cycle 5 minutes to Bedok Central to buy milk, even though the provision shop just downstairs sells the same milk, just to save 50 cents. But he will not bat an eyelid when it comes to spending money on me. Not that I would let him splurge on me though, ‘cos actually I’m equally cheapskate. He will tiptoe around the house in the mornings when he wakes up at 545 to go to work, and dress in the dark, just to avoid waking me up from the noise. And sometimes, in the morning he will send me a sweet little sms, telling me how peaceful I looked when I was sleeping, and how much he loved me. He is also a person, who in spite of the pain and suffering he’s going through, will write everyone a note to tell them not to worry about him and to take care of themselves, and who, instead of feeling bitter at the situation, feel touched by the care and concern that everyone has given.

So how do you know if someone is the one for you? When you can’t imagine life without him, without his enthusiasm for life, without his goofiness and lame jokes that always make you laugh, and even though he still owes you a birthday present from last year’s birthday, he makes it up with sweet and small little gestures like preparing yummy sandwiches for lunch, and kissing you goodbye when he leaves for work.

More importantly, how do you let the person know you love him with all your heart? You tell him that the overcooked noodles are delicious, and smile and tell him it’s ok even though he damaged the dining table, thank him for every little thing he does, and end each day with a hug and a good night kiss.

Thank you dear, for being all that you are, and loving me for the way that I am. "

The Great Language Challenge

2009-08-01T23:11:00.001+08:00

In a bid to improve our standard of Chinese (plus I think we had nothing better to do), my colleagues and I are playing a game whereby we only speak to each other in pure Chinese during lunch. If a person happened to utter an English word, he/she will have to pay a penalty of 10cents per alphabet. E.G. “Oh Shit” will be charged as 60cents since there are a total of 6 alphabets.

It was absolutely hilarious the way we try to translate some phrases from English to Chinese. But I think we’ve all managed to improve our standards of spoken mandarin. This one takes the cake.

“别和我心玩游戏，
和我心我该开始就知道”
~　后街男孩

“那牛奶路,
就在天空上,
在为世界祈祷”
~ <<在睡觉的小孩>>, 麦克学洛克

“在这个夜，　就这夜，　(让我们)　二和为一”　
~ 香料女孩

“哟，告诉你我要什么，我真的真的要
所以你告诉我你要什么，你真的真的要
我会告诉你我要什么，我真的真的要
所以你告诉我你要什么，你真的真的要
我要，我要，我要，我要，我真的要”
~ 香料女孩

18th July 2009

2009-07-22T10:22:00.001+08:00

The day that we’ve been planning for the longest time has finally come and gone in a whirlwind.

In summary:

my preeeetty jie-meis and hamsom mafia brothers

a whole lot of bad dancing (told you guys to practice alr, tsk tsk)

the transporter who drives damn fast and loves to play with polaroids

a hiao and absolutely funny photographer who takes v nice shots, and a botak one with a shiny head

a reluctant virgin boy who got performance anxiety

frantic tea ceremonies (one which happened in an oven), but so glad that so many people came!

being chased out of the bridal suite

not being allowed into the pre-banquet checks black table linen, rose petals on the tables painstakingly placed by my friends, fuschia and pink roses

regrets as the bride didn’t manage to go down earlier to greet the guests

pre-first walk-in jitters, groom holding flowers instead of bride, and us walking in too fast

a fantastic montage from my group of absolutely lovely FAGs, which threatened to ruin my makeup. it got rave reviews for being unique, special and so cute!

i love my emcees! Professional yet friendly and not boring at all!

rushing out to change to my 2nd outfit, then realizing that our room key doesn’t work, which resulted in even more panic… and using half a box of Hollywood tape which totally saved my modesty

a great Actual Day montage from our photographer

movie star 2nd walk-in

a super loud and enthusiastic yum seng session

thank you speeches, mildly screwed up flower presentation to mothers, surprise short speech for the groom

I’m yours by a superstar groom. Abit out of tune but oh-so-sweet. And yes he can sing!

not crying at groom’s song, but apparently some people did!

mad rush to complete photo-taking at 45 tables, which wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the mafia who arranged everyone into position, and head mafia who averted a lot of drinks on behalf of the couple

lots of hand-shaking and numerous well wishes to 早生贵子

camwhoring sessions with my colleagues!

wedding debrief with the FAGs and my JC classmates. I love you guys!

Thank you everyone, for all your help and well wishes, this perfect wedding of ours wouldn’t have been possible without you. I feel very touched by all the love and blessings :)

I have great friends!

2009-07-02T09:46:00.000+08:00

From those who readily replied that they will be attending my wedding, to numerous offers of help, to noob video-maker, noob emcee, noob secret (dunno wat the secret is, must ask Yun), to hot pink ang pow box complete with feathers and birdies…

Yesterday we met up with our emcees and video maker… and it was a super huge ball of laughs… Key words of the night:
- Impregnate
- Love toast (said together with the action of spreading kaya on toast)
- 披荆斩棘

I’ve never heard “impregnate” used that many times before!

Come Sunday, my new place is going to witness it’s biggest party ever with the XDJM gathering!

Thank you everyone for making a difference!

ps: I didn't mean to leave out your name! Pure accident!

The Final Countdown!

2009-06-18T10:43:00.001+08:00

*Cues cringe-worthy banquet first dish walk in music*

1 month to the wedding! And yes I’m starting to panic. Ok, maybe not panic, but just realized the mountain of things left to do… And on top of that work will be very busy too which means I’m not going to be able to go home early to do these wedding things. I’m beginning to sleep later, and exercise less, which may affect my prettiness on the day itself.

Be still my beating heart, and breathe!

The School Holiday

2009-06-10T09:17:00.000+08:00

Took one week off work to clear my matrimonial leave, but since I had nowhere to go, and wanted to save money, and run my errands, I spend most of the time at home. Quite an eventful 1 week, and today, on the last day of my leave, I have this feeling of it being the last day of school holidays, and being super sian that I’ve to go back to school(work) tomorrow.
Amongst the stuff that I’ve accomplished:

1) Sought new opportunities, though it didn’t pan out in the end, it was a good learning experience

2) Contributed A LOT to the economy, i.e. a lot of money was spent on me, but thankfully, I wasn’t the one spending the money. Purchases include:
a. Jewellery
b. Automatic watch! Now I NEVER want to buy another quartz if I can afford it
c. New phone to replace my super sucky one. Sony Ericsson please don’t fail me again

3) Home Improvements:
a. New sewing machine! Thanks Mummy! And I finished sewing three sets of curtains! Now only one room is “naked”, and will stay that way for some time since I haven’t figured out what I want to do with it. And I heart sewing! I’m such an auntie.
b. Assembled one decal, and it looks GREAT! Now I have one more to go, though I’m still trying to figure out which wall to put it on.

4) Wedding:
a. First look at our wedding album layout. The photo-editing was a bit weird for some photos, but so far so good! Super excited about it
b. Erm I bought some stamps? Haha. Quite behind in wedding preps due to home improvement project, but I promise to improve on that!
c. Oh yah, accompanied Mummy to buy some wedding stuff that she has to give me, like teapot set, bedside “candles” etc.

5) Was supposed to be tuition teacher but ended up being ah tiong cos I neh smile in my photo, and had a blast of a time having dinner with Lynn, Nuf, Yun and HX.

Sisters

2009-05-24T12:08:00.003+08:00

Picture of us three sisters from long long ago, on our first trip to the US. My mum loved this picture and framed it up, and so here it is...

Quote

2009-05-20T17:05:00.000+08:00

I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing; kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles.

~Audrey Hepburn

Sneak Preview

2009-05-10T17:55:00.005+08:00

Managed to get the selected shots from the bridal studio. These are still unedited of course, and only form a small part of the wedding album. Enjoy!

200.

2009-05-09T17:40:00.003+08:00

The 200th post. Quite alot I must say, but not yet enough really.

Been sieving through photos to shortlist them for the wedding, and these bring back tonnes of memories, mostly happy ones. So even though it's pretty tiring to scroll through that many photos, I'm enjoying it slowly!

Star for the day

2009-04-19T12:33:00.002+08:00

We finally went for our wedding photoshoot last Friday, after the tons of preparatory work which included:
- Fretting over gown selections and sudden change in makeup artist
- Poring over magazines and online sites for photography locations, hairdo, makeup
- TJ having his 1 hour of fun selecting his photoshoot suits, he looked dashing I must add
- Recce for photoshoot locations: Changi Beach, Seletar Airbase/Camp area, Bishan Park, Seletar Dam... and we ended up not going to any of these locations
- Last minute cancellation by my manicurist which got me all panicky especially since I was also rushing to finish work

The shoot was tons of fun! Though my hair didn't look like anything I imagined it to be, ended up letting the makeup artist do her magic, and the makeup wasn't that bad... And the photographer was a ball of laughs and loved to suan us like mad, think: "don't smile like that, look very fake", "don't clench ur fist like this you look like you're going to punch someone", and I was called chor lor, asked to pose like a lizard etc. which I guess some people might find offensive, but somehow we could take it...

And there were two big surprises: a last minute change in indoor location to Bellini Grande at Clarke Quay where the Bridal Studio booked for the afternoon to do their own advertisement shoots with paid models (the ang moh male model is handsome!), so we got pretty cool shots which I hope will turn out nice! And the sunset at Punggol was fabulous! Streaks of orange, pinks and blacks...

Just hope the models turned out looking ok, and the photos will turn out great... now I can't wait to go through the photos! And pray that I won't be spending too much money getting additional shots...

So Nice

2009-04-07T10:42:00.005+08:00

Someone to hold me tight

That would be very nice

Someone to love me right

That would be very nice

Someone to understand

Each little dream in me

Someone to take my hand

And be a team with me

So nice, life would be so nice

If one day I'd find

Someone who would take my hand

And samba through life with me

Someone to cling to me

Stay with me right or wrong

Someone to sing to me

Some little samba song

Someone to take my heart

And give his heart to me

Someone who's ready to

Give love a start with me

Oh yeah, that would be so nice

I could see you and me, that would be nice

Someone to hold me tight

That would be very nice

Someone to love me right

That would be very nice

Someone to understand

Each little dream in me

Someone to take my hand

To be a team with me

So nice, life would be so nice

If one day I'd find

Someone who would take my hand

And samba through life with me

Someone to cling to me

Stay with me right or wrong

Someone to sing to me

Some little samba song

Someone to take my heart

And give his heart to me

Someone who's ready to

Give love a start with me

Oh yes, that would be so nice

Shouldn't we, you and me?

I can see it will be nice...

Meow (x2)

2009-04-06T08:57:00.002+08:00

Sister sent me this absolutely adorable picture of the two rascals...

Awwwwwww.........

Changes?

2009-03-29T21:46:00.003+08:00

Having to work on the weekends means blasting music from my PC and invariably surfing Facebook and blogs, and I'm officially obsessed with browsing other ppl's wedding photos!

Anyway, changes that are coming up:

1) if you haven't already read the newspapers, the Company has announced a shorter work month (SWM) scheme, in which it is compulsory for us to take at least 1 day leave per month (paid or no pay leave). there was some unhappiness in relation to how the news published in the papers before being communicated to staff... but i guess all of us were kinda expecting it in some way or the other. Oh well, I don't really mind taking NPL IF and only IF i'm not expected to be working on home when i'm on NPL

2) have officially started the ball rolling with regards to my job rotation and i believe it is actually going to happen, just fingers crossed that my next posting will be reasonable...

on other news, went to select my wedding gowns last monday, i finally feel more like i'm going to be getting married!

Sunrise, Sunrise

2009-03-28T11:01:00.006+08:00

A random collection of sunrise shots from my bedroom window.

Thankful I get to start every dreary workday with a pretty sight :)

Updates

2009-03-12T09:53:00.001+08:00

Haven’t updated in a while, been busy at work and sick and all… so here’s a brief summary

Lots of fun in our Malacca adventure

Came back from Malacca to a Peranakan meal, and proceeded to puke it all out on Monday morning.

Two days MC, but by day 3 I was having fever, went back to office and got hit with 2 discussions scheduled to last 2 hours, got fed up, took half day leave to go home to sleep, and woke up with fever of 39deg.

Got another two days MC, but went back to work anyway ‘cos we were shifting office.

Packed up and moved office. Finally I have bright white lights in the office and decent furniture. Makes me want to decorate and call this place my own. But I miss the old place for it’s privacy and the fact that my boss used to have his own room. Now he sits in a cubicle like the rest of us, and we have to whisper when we need to bitch about him.

Planned a pretty successful surprise for Clara. Happy Birthday Clara! Yippee now we sit very near each other!

Working late, rushing to write papers. But still kena scolded: “I don’t mind if you all take long lunches or tea breaks, but the quality of work must still be there”. Hello, we go down for lunch at 12.40, coming up at 1.40 does not qualify as having a long lunch. Unlike you, I don’t leave for lunch at 12 noon and come back at 2pm.

Somehow after the puke attack, my tummy is going all weird on me, I’m getting these hunger pangs! 2 hours after my lunch and my tummy starts to be hungry all over again, Luckily it doesn’t growl.

Home alone, TJ’s away on a seminar. Realise I quite like having the house to myself.

One more birthday celebration coming up!

Thank you

2009-02-20T15:52:00.001+08:00

For knowing exactly what you needed to do just when I say “hey dear can you please” (fill in the blanks with activities like pick up your dirty clothes, close the door)

For helping out with the relocation of the Aw family home.

For scoring high points with my parents that way… my Dad praised you!

For taking last minute leave (my fault) and being the very important driver of the car with the red scroll on it… that really touched me…

For enduring the endless teasing and jibes by my two sisters.

For cooking yummy dinners and cleaning up the stove after that.

For your little sacrifices like skipping your own activities to join me in my family activities.

For preparing sandwiches for me to bring to office for breakfast

For clearing out the trash without me asking

For selecting your clothes every night and tippy-toe around the house to avoid waking me up when you get ready for work every morning

For sending me sweet little smses

Most of all, for being you…

Happy 4.5 years darling, we somehow don’t really have time or opportunity to celebrate this, but do know that you are very important to me and your small little gestures say a lot too.

Goodbye

2009-02-19T11:11:00.000+08:00

Goodbye Gong-gong.

My earliest memories of you were how you could hold your liquor, and how my parents always bought a bottle of cognac for you from duty free after our overseas trips. Then, we used to always have Chinese New Year dinners prepared by Ah-po complete with hainanese delicacies like mutton soup, chap chye and the deep fried prawn fritters.

When you fell ill more than 10 years ago, all these stopped, no more elaborate dinners and liquor since then. While your mental health declined, you seemed more in the pink of health than ever. And your childlike innocence was actually quite cute.

Sad to say, as I never learnt to speak the hainanese dialect, I was never able to communicate with both you or ah-po except to greet you both happy Chinese New Year. And I think that will be a regret that I will always live with.

To express my last act of filial piety, I hope the intense origami sessions of folding paper ingots in the last few days will help somehow with your journey into the unknown, and may you rest in peace and look after ah-po wherever you are. It was so heart-wrenching seeing her, and old lady of 91, wiping away tears while the Taoist priests were performing the last rites.

Goodbye...

Dilbert

2009-02-12T10:12:00.002+08:00

Someone forwarded this to me at work and I agree with most of them!
#17 totally describes my boss. Enjoy!

Here are some of Dilbert's best one liners:
1. I say no to alcohol, it just doesn't listen.
2. Marriage is one of the chief causes of divorce.
3. Work is fine if it doesn't take too much of your time.
4. When everything comes in your way you're in the wrong lane.
5. The light at the end of the tunnel may be an incoming train..
6. Born free, taxed to death.
7. Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film.
8. Life is unsure; always eat your dessert first.
9. Smile, it makes people wonder what you are thinking.
10. If you keep your feet firmly on the ground, you'll have trouble putting on
your pants.
11. It's not hard to meet expenses, they are everywhere.
12. The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the
other three, he was the genius.
13. The trouble with being punctual is that no one is there to appreciate it.
14. In a country of free speech, why are there phone bills?
15. If you cannot change your mind, are you sure you have one?
16. Beat the 5 O'clock rush, leave work at noon!
17. If you can't convince them, confuse them.
18. It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the end.
19. I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.
20. Hot glass looks same as cold glass. - Cunino's Law of Burnt Fingers.
21. The cigarette does the smoking you are just the sucker.
22. Whenever I find the key to success, someone changes the lock.
23. To Err is human; to forgive is not a Company policy.
24. The road to success...... Is always under construction.
25. Alcohol doesn't solve any problems, but if you think again, neither does
Milk.
26. In order to get a Loan, you first need to prove that you don't need it .

Vrrooom…

2009-02-11T12:29:00.001+08:00

As a lot of you may know, I got my license a very long time ago (1 day after TJ got his!), but sad to say I haven’t been driving since. I blame it on being spoilt since my dates almost always drove, and laziness, though I keep telling people that it’s very 幸福 to have people chauffer you around, and it is…

Over the CNY, TJ and I were lucky to have a car available for us to drive for 2 weeks, and it was a good two weeks with the car even though driving is really not cheap. And I decided to relearn my driving.

It was surprisingly very fun, and before long, I was driving up to like 120km/h. Before you start scolding me, I was traveling along TPE/SLE where there are hardly any cars on the road and people were still zooming past me… Normally I don't go that fast... My parking is still a problem, and I almost got TJ killed once (or so he says), but it wasn’t all that bad I think. Although my friends are all pretty amused that I’m driving again =)

And I must say, I enjoy the feeling of driving, of being in control of where I’m going, and I like also the feeling of being able to send my drunk TJ home while he is sleeping in the car… I think I got potential to become a taitai, and have the use of the car to go market in the morns, go for manicures, go for mahjong and high tea sessions, and also ferry the kids to and from schools… hahaha

Mellowing?

2009-02-05T12:02:00.001+08:00

When I first started work I was all ready to go, work hard and everything, and didn’t react well when UM (my boss) subtly put me down, saying I must write papers with logic, must provide him solutions and not just ask him questions, criticizing my vocab and grammar, saying how I could have done things differently… and having no colleague to empathise with me, I honestly believed every single thing he said, and started feeling very bad about myself and my lack of ability

About 1.5 years into the job, I got the hang of things, got better at stuff, started to be aware of when UM is “smoking” me, and can stand my ground when my ideas are being attacked, so much so that UM accepts my suggestions over his own (very grudgingly of course). But I went through a period of being pissed off and indignant…

Now it’s almost 3 years. It’s just interesting with my new colleague fresh from Uni, who gets quite pissed off with UM’s fickle-mindedness and nitpicking even though he (my colleague) looks like the ultimate nice guy. Now when UM goes into his unreasonable phase, I just roll my eyes, and accept it with a shrug “he’s like that one”…

Hmm… Am I mellowing with age or just getting used to how working life is like?

Happiness

2009-01-29T10:47:00.000+08:00

In the current downturn, it’s easy to be depressed. Yesterday I was reading a blog entry, that we aren’t really as poor as we think, and that we should be happy for the things we already have.

Today, the DJ on Class 95 morning show was sharing tips on staying happy in bad times, and he said that he has started keeping a list of things that make him happy since Monday, and is amazed at how the list keeps growing (it’s now Thursday).

Inspired, here’s my list of things that make me happy, appearing in random order:

- A simple home-cooked meal prepared with love
- A good workout, the type that you sweat profusely, and feel like swearing at the sadistic instructor for putting you through all that misery
- Lovely view of the sunrise from my bedroom window as I’m getting ready for work
- A good and stimulating lunch discussion with my colleagues (topics ranging from hybrid animals, ladder theories, Chinese names of countries, reproduction)\
- Spending time with family just catching up and talking about everything or nothing at all
- Having fun with my friends
- My FAGs: sports sessions, food, gatherings at Shuyun’s house, birthday surprises, Chek Jawa + Zoo + many others
- Travelling: carrying tons of stuff, getting lost and going round in circles, walking and walking and walking, seeing and experiencing new things and learning new stuff about our traveling partner(s), all that food, oh the scenery!
- A good song to make me smile, feel hyped up or anything
- Receiving my items from sprees, especially if that cheap dress turns out to be really fabulous
- Relaxing and reading a good book
- Rushing through the weekends doing tons of stuff
- A clean house after doing all that mopping, scrubbing and ironing
- The smell of freshly laundered clothes
- Our nightly hugs and cuddles
- Singing songs off key while driving in the car
- Anything sweet (but not overtly sweet): chocolates, fresh fruits, cakes, ice cream
- Stroking and playing with pets, especially my little rascals kink and wink
- The bus driving past the beach on my way home from work on a lovely evening

The list doesn’t end here and will be updated periodically.

What makes you happy?

Random

2009-01-22T11:58:00.000+08:00

The quantum for our annual increment is out. We should be very glad that in these times of wage cuts and pay freezes, we are still getting an increment, however slight the amount. But most of us are pissed off ‘cos our peers in our subsidiaries are getting a 20% higher increment than us at the parent company…

Hmm… I know we should count our blessings in these tough times… but can’t help feeling a bit indignant about the whole thing…

So excuse me while I rant a bit…

10 yrs on

2009-01-19T09:41:00.001+08:00

Went back to my secondary school for a reunion last Saturday evening. While the turnout wasn’t very good, and we had it in the new school campus and not the one that we spent 4 years of our lives in, it was a good reunion catching up with old friends, a lot that I haven’t seen in the last 10 years.

The best parts of the reunion was when we simultaneously broke out into the school cheer and when we stood up to sing the school song (I can still remember MOST of the song, no mean feat considering it’s in super high pitch and have two repeating stanzas with very similar but different lyrics). Think I teared during the school song…

Now looking forward to the JC one, should be fun!

Health Scares

2009-01-14T17:14:00.000+08:00

Haven’t updated in a while, went on my Vietnam trip and back, celebrated New Years at my new house, started living there on a pretty regular basis. I totally heart my new place, though it still needs some touching ups and more furniture… I just love being able to go home, cook a simple dinner and not needing to fight with everyone on what channel I wanna watch on tv. Plus the best part: I don’t need to rush so much every morning.

So anyway, within one week we’ve experienced two health scares. My dad tripped and fell on the staircase last week, and according to my dad’s colleague, he hurt his head and was bleeding profusely from the wound. That totally freaked my mum and all of us out… cos we weren’t there to see what’s going on, and my mum has a tendency to over-exaggerate. Thankfully it wasn’t serious, the profuse bleeding was due to a nose injury, and while my dad did have a hairline fracture on his nose, there was no concussion etc. Thank goodness for that. And best of all, my very hilarious tj had to remark: “wah uncle u look so cool, like boxer liddat” (cos the bandage/plasters were on his forehead and nose)

During a routine eye exam, tj’s mum suddenly found out that she totally couldn’t see from her left eye, and after much examination, it was found that her retina was detached and needed to be operated upon ASAP to prevent further retina tearing and complications. During the pre-op examination, they found that her blood sugar level was very high which may indicate that she had diabetes, which may result in her being unable to undergo the eye op…

The op sounds simple enough, but part of the healing process involves her lying face down for more than 90% of the time for 2 weeks to encourage the healing process. That sounds quite torturous to me… =(

I guess the moral is to eat healthy, exercise more, get more rest, take things easier, and spend more time with your family. And go for regular medical checkups.

For the coming CNY, I wish for my family to be healthy…

The Run

2008-12-22T14:06:00.001+08:00

We were running a bit late after lunch ‘cos we were busy chit-chatting, and were making our way back up to the office from the canteen, when DD suddenly whispered “老板在后面”. Simultaneously, the four of us quickened our footsteps (we were literally running) until we made it into the lift, pressed our floor and jabbed the door close button until the door closed. When it finally did, we looked at each other, and just burst out laughing…

What a way to keep the adrenaline pumping…

The case of the “automatic” bifold door

2008-12-19T10:48:00.000+08:00

Tonight marks my first night sleeping alone in my new house, and in my master bedroom too. (Previous two nights we slept on the balcony ‘cos I was complaining of the solvent/paint smell in the master bedroom).

It was midnight and I was getting ready to turn in for the night. I shut the bifold door that leads to the toilet, shut the room door, and turned off the lights. Less than 5 min after my head hit the pillow, my bifold door which was already shut, opened, then shut again…
For those who are not familiar with bifold doors, they are doors that open and close from the middle, kind of like an accordion. Naturally when it open and shut “automatically” I was freaked out… doors aren’t supposed to open and shut by themselves! Are there ghosts in my brand new house? Or worse, an unknown intruder?

Faced with all those nagging thoughts and pointless worrying, I had trouble falling asleep, and even when I finally did, I didn’t sleep well, and woke up feeling very lethargic this morning.

Sigh… I just hope this is a one-off thing, and not signify anything ominous…

The first night

2008-12-16T16:31:00.000+08:00

So the house’s pretty much done, just needs a lot of cleaning (the floor still feels dusty somehow, even though TJ and I have mopped it like twice, and we took like 3 hrs cleaning the grills and windows…)

But it’s all good, so in order to force ourselves to take further action, both TJ and I “moved in” to our new house, which currently is still not equipped with a study table (to put the PC on), no bed, no dining table, no sofa, no coffee table (we have a temporary one though)

So TJ and I will be sleeping on Seahorse mattress and sofa bed (respectively). And these are as hard as wood (quote the Seahorse tagline). It is a lot more convenient for me to get to work, but somehow last night I didn’t sleep well, probably due to the hard bed and unfamiliar environment… but it’s all good… We just need to clean the place a few more times, bring more stuff over to make it more liveable, slowly purchase more items of furniture (sorry we still can’t entertain requests for housewarming parties) ‘cos of the lack of stuff and the persistent smell of paint/solvents that somehow only I can detect.

Yippee I love my new house!

Sense of Accomplishment

2008-12-11T14:24:00.002+08:00

This year TJ and I made a pact to live healthier, and we signed up for gym, and I'm proud to say we've been pretty disciplined with regards to exercise.

So when yun asked if we wanted to join in the Standard Chartered Marathon (10km lah) of couse we gave it a shot.

I have bad knees which are aggravated by running, and TJ claims that he "runs very slow one", but we went ahead.

It was interesting and exciting at the same time, to be on the MRT at 6am and seeing a whole train full of people dressed in the same blue running tee all psyched up to run later. And it was more madness at the start point! Note to self: to stand out from the crowd, do not wear blue next year.

Before this, the longest I ran was about 1hr in East Coast Park (I didn't really know how far I ran) and it made my knees pretty painful, so I was worried. To avoid killing my knees, I set myself a target: to run as far as my knees will take me, then walk the rest of the way...

It was a good run, pretty good weather, and my knee didn't start to hurt until maybe 1km from the finish line. And I came in at a pretty respectable time of 1hr 19min. For the first time in a long while, I set myself a target, and managed to achieve it... And I totally enjoyed the process, and the sense of accomplishment I felt after the whole race...

It was such fun that I jokingly told TJ that I want to complete a marathon in my lifetime, hopefully before I turn 30! So we'll see how it goes, maybe next year I'll sign up for the half marathon...

Pre-long weekend mode

2008-12-05T14:30:00.004+08:00

Print and Pattern has the cutest stuff!

And my current lemming is this:

from urbanoutfitters.com

Moved

2008-12-04T09:28:00.001+08:00

Early morning read

As much as she suffered during the last few hours of her life, her ordeal is now over and I know she’s moved on to a much better place…

But for the living, life goes on, and his love for her moves me… I hope that all those who love her will be strong, remember for her kindness and sweet smile, and be proud of her bravery…

Object of Contention

2008-11-26T09:00:00.003+08:00

Recently TJ and I have been having many discussions about of all things, soap. This is the subject of our many discussions.

He loves it, but I think it smells very auntie, even his father refuses to use the same soap because of its auntie smell…

The compromise? He can continue using the remaining 5 bars but once they are used up, he can no longer buy them.

Yet another day in the chronicles of the Lim household.

Resolutions

2008-11-24T09:37:00.000+08:00

Ok it’s a tad bit early to come up with New Year Resolutions (only 37 days to 2009 *gasp*) but I’m going to start with my list of resolutions anyway… here goes…

1) Track my expenses more carefully

Yes, I’ve been working for a couple of years now, but yet I’ve never really gotten down to tracking my expenses carefully. It’s not like I’m a spendthrift, I do save every month, and have enough to spare for holidays to pay up my debts etc. and have a decent amount stashed up, but that is dwindling rapidly into the vast debt hole known as the “New Home” and I’m already looking at absorbing losses from the wedding dinner to be held next year, no thanks to the recession.

With the recession and all, I’m thankful that I still have my job even though it still sucks, but at least every month I have a fixed income to rely on and the job stability isn’t all that bad…

To achieve my expense tracking, I’ll have to end up spending more money (to get a nice 2009 organizer to track daily expenses) but it’ll be worth it. No more impulse buys and I (will try) to online shop less (I hope)

2) To improve my standards of English and Mandarin

While packing my stuff to move house early this year, I was flipping through my old assignments in JC/Uni days, and was amazed by how “smart” I was. Seriously, I look back and have no idea how I managed to do all those integration/differentiation, write decent essays for economics, memorize and replicate the complicated organic chem. mechanisms, teach a class of year 1 students how to do lab experiments, conduct research and write a paper that really makes sense for my FYP…

I was relating this to a colleague during our long bus ride home the other day, and he was lamenting about the same thing, about how he feels he has to dumb-down his standard of English to fit his colleagues (I was kind of ticked off at this conversation but shall not go into it).

Feel like all that I’ve learnt in school has gone to waste because I’m not applying any part of it in my job, and I’ve also lost the urge to want to improve myself by studying further, which is kind of a waste… So I’m going to take the small step of improving my language standards by speaking and writing proper English and Mandarin, simply because this is the easiest to start off with, and borrowing more intellectual reading material from the library to read on my long bus rides so my time is better utilized.

And I resolve to keep my resolutions too… Wish me luck!

I Wonder…

2008-11-17T15:20:00.000+08:00

Over the weekend, my colleagues and I had a blast of a time at a BBQ. A few of us helped to prepare the food (thankfully TJ’s mum lent us the use of her kitchen). From this experience, I realized that not all my female counterparts know their way around the kitchen. I mean I don’t expect everyone to know how to cook 10 course meals (which I don’t know how to btw) but not even knowing how to cut an apple?

I brought this up during lunch today, and realized it’s fairly common among girls our age… Hmm…

Which leads me thinking: In this time and age, is it still important for a woman to know how to cook?

For me, I like to pore over recipes, to go supermarket and wet market shopping, to chop up a feast, and the best part of it all, preparing a good meal w TJ… and sitting down with family and friends to enjoy the meal.

Maybe it doesn’t matter if a woman knows how to cook, but I’m glad that I do, even if occasionally my veggies end up uncooked or my potato salad ends up looking mushy.

Gone Shopping

2008-11-10T11:27:00.000+08:00

This weekend was spent shopping mostly. And yes we did get a couple of stuff at pretty good deals.

40% discount at Giordano. TJ bought a pair of jeans (his existing ones are way too loose) and I bought a spag top, pretty good quality.

42” LCD TV!
Was initially looking for a 37” but there aren’t really that many in the market, and this deal at Harvey Norman was really enticing plus it’s full HD! Really happy with the HUGE tv! Can’t wait for end of the month when it’ll be delivered!

Fridge:
At Harvey Norman the sales auntie was trying to convince us to buy a Hitachi fridge, which even though was more ex than the Samsung one that we’ve been eyeing for a long time, was better cos (1) japanese brand, and (2) more energy efficient when you compare consumption vs capacity (3) design looks nicer.

At Harvey Norman the price was $699 (U.P $749) and doesn’t include delivery of $30. TJ went to our neighbourhood store to enquire the price of the same fridge, and she still quoted $720 incl. delivery. Since I was in Hougang area, decided to just pop into this neighbourhood electrical appliance shop to check out the price, and was quoted $650 and I only need to call them to order the fridge and they’ll deliver it, and I only need to pay cash on delivery. Coolness! Went back and checked renotalk, and found that the random shop that I went to was well known for cheap appliances. So qiao!

Wihardjia
If I had tons of money I’ll get my furniture from scanteak, but since I don’t, and I still love wood furniture (resort look), we have to find cheaper alternatives. Wihardjia came highly recommended by my classmate Laura (who has a lovely home btw) so Tj and I popped by to have a look. Turns out they were having a sale! We haven’t bought much though, planning to go the larger branch to check it out soon.

Vhive has decent furniture too that doesn’t break the bank. Now if someone can tell me where to find light/pine/birch colored coffee table and tv console I’d be very grateful!

Sneak Peaks

2008-11-07T11:06:00.002+08:00

26

2008-11-06T10:33:00.000+08:00

So I’m now officially in my late 20s, or as yun says, round-up to 30. One step closer to auntie-dom. But instead of feeling upset or whining about growing old, I’m actually looking forward to growing older somehow… weird but true.

Thank you all my family and friends, for making a difference in my life, for making me laugh, for the times we spent having fun, slogging, killing time, shopping (online or not), doing housework, for listening to me when I need a listening ear, for helping out, for taking charge, and for making the promise to take care of me for life...

Thank you...

More than half way through…

2008-10-29T09:21:00.000+08:00

Renovation has been going on for a month and we’re more than half way through. The tiling has been done long ago, first coat of the paint is up, and all the lights have been installed… we’re just awaiting the kitchen cabinets so all the kitchen accessories can be installed. =)

Oh and of course the new laminate floors too!

No pictures yet ‘cos I’ve been super lazy to take pictures and load them online… Think I’ll just post pictures when everything is done.

Next up, furniture shopping. Came up with a list of items we needed to get, and the list is 26 items long! Fun, but pretty tiring. I miss my lazy weekends.

English Lesson

2008-10-21T11:42:00.002+08:00

So apparently it makes a BIG difference whether I ask a Committee to endorse or approve something…

Sorry, stupid me thought that both words are interchangeable… And yes, by using the words erroneously I'm not thinking in the right context...

Oooo but previously in another paper to the SAME Committee you wrote this, and it was acceptable...

"ENDORSEMENT SOUGHT

The Committee’s approval is sought to include ... ... ."

Definition from Dictionary.com
en·dorse·ment
–noun
1. approval or sanction: The program for supporting the arts won the government's endorsement.
2. the placing of one's signature, instructions, etc., on a document.
3. assigning the interest therein to another.
4. a clause under which the stated coverage of an insurance policy may be altered.
ap·prov·al
–noun
1. the act of approving; approbation.
2. formal permission or sanction.
3. Philately. one of a group of selected stamps sent by a dealer to a prospective customer for examination and either purchase or return.

Much ado about rubbish…

2008-10-07T15:06:00.001+08:00

Reno has started… so in the midst of hacking there were some concerns… and collateral damage…

Case in point:
The stainless steel rubbish chute that you open to throw your rubbish out of. While removing it to treat the walls and re-tile the wall, the workers found that the previous installation was too tight i.e. too much silicone (or whatever it was) was used to seal the thing, so when they were removing the chute and it ended up spoilt.

Previously, this was not highlighted to us as one of the areas that we may have to be wary about, so when the contractor informed us of this, and told us that we have to bear the cost of the chute, of course we were pissed off… He already “waived” the installation and transportation charge of $80 and just going to charge us raw material cost of $140, but still… if they didn’t spoil the damn thing, we won’t even have to fork out a single cent for this!

Granted, $140 is not a big part of the entire reno budget in the bigger scheme of things… but to me it was a matter of principle, if you spoil my things you should pay for it. Cos you’re already charging me quite a lot for every other thing… but I’m also worried that if we piss the workers and contractors off so early in the job, they’ll haphazardly do everything else, and that will be very bad for us.

Sigh… then it got me thinking. Over the weekend, we purchased a mattress + bed frame for 3.6K, which is significantly more expensive than a generic/lower-end brand. But we really felt very good sleeping on it… And our washing machine was about 800 bucks, at least 200 bucks more than usual, but it is proven that it is very water and electricity efficient…

Then why can’t I get over this $140? Is this a case of being penny-wise but pound-foolish?

it's been more than a month

2008-09-26T12:11:00.002+08:00

yup... realise that i've been neglecting this little blog of mine... not tt there's nothing to blog about, more like i've been wanting to add pics to the blog but haven't gotten around to transferring photos... so oh wellz...

summary of the past mth:

trip to Bohol, Phillippines with TJ! our pre-honeymoon or something... it was a very good and relaxing trip, the beaches were to die for, and we saw dolphins! awesome! so as usual, it's more convenient to load photos on facebook, so if you really want to, please go see!

arrival of the cute little rascal winky
winky's a kitten tt cheryl (my sister's) fren found and winky needed a home... when cheryl first saw winky, she immediately thought "mini me!" winky REALLY looks like kinky (my older fat cat) down to the kinked tail... winky's a brat though, too curious for his own good, but now, kinky the older one has overcome his jealousy, and is performing the role of surrogate mother, grooming the little one and chiding him if winky did something wrong (which is very often)... awwww...

commencement of the renovations!
we finally selected our ID, decided what on earth we wanted to do, and chose all the tiles and flooring! yippee! super excited! but now we're like uncle and aunties... gg to see furniture, see toilet bowl, taps, fridge, washing machine... and ms aw is gg to be sewing lady... (i hope) curtains are WAAAAY too expensive...

lunchmates
somehow our lunch group has gotten alot closer with the arrival of the two newbies... we go out more, we talk ALOT more crap, and our typical lunch hour is filled with guffaws and hysterics... a typical IM chat (we were irritating colleague YY by all talking like yoda)

CW... beat them not, join them shall u...
DD... looking and reading these exchanges, gaffaws and bellows I espouse
DD... seeing YY's exasperation, shuangness I experience
Me... DD, good u are
DD.. welcome, u are
Me... meaning of espouse i know not
CW... YY, the glory of yoda awaits
DD... actually words like that, cheemness they are all.
DD... actual appropriateness and meaning, i do not know
DD... to speaketh like yoda, pretending to be cheem, we have to
DD... irritating YY, our eventual goal shall be
DD... WAHHH...i'm damn proud la...i just wrote a sweet poem....4 lines somemore.

it amazes me how i can look like i'm very busy at work when we're all talking this kinda crap

Busy Busy August

2008-08-25T13:10:00.002+08:00

been quite a while since i last updated. been busy with the following:

- national day (pre-NDP party), celebrating NDP at padang at some youth NTUC event
- Farewell for both Sharon and James = ( will miss them lots!
- Minds cafe with my bunch of crazy colleagues. Hillarious
- Bohol, Philippines! Haven't got the chance to really blog about this yet, go visit my facebook site for pics
- House stuff... we bought our cooker hob and hood! super excited can... But I just surfed some forums and realise that ariston products seem to have quite a few rants... oh well... fingers crossed! now we are in the final shortlisting process for our ID, then can go ahead! hpfully can have our first xmas party in the new place!
- Olympics... watching alot of gymnastics, swimming, vball, track... so sad tt it's over
- Newborn babies! Congrats to mel and gayle, ka fung and li han... (i haven't gone to see the babies yet... but super looking forward to it)
- and erm yah, work is also keeping me very busy...

Quesadillas

2008-08-04T10:20:00.002+08:00

While planning our national day bbq Yun and I were talking abt exactly what we wanna serve… I ended up suggesting nachos and salsa and guacamole dip (cos I love avocados especially when served as guacamole). Then Yun came across quesadillas and suggested I made those

So Friday after gym TJ and I set out to make the salsa dip that goes into quesadillas… we ended up spending 2 hrs to prepare, to chop veggies, roast green chillies etc. But yeah I’m proud to say that the end result was pretty yummy… and once you have a good salsa, you will have a good guacamole (provided your avocadoes are ripe enough), and we got quite a lot of compliments on it during the bbq too!

So although chopping veggies was tiring, (we chopped until 1.30am), it was worth it cos it reminded me of how I love to spend time preparing food in the kitchen w TJ for our friends and family and how we would be able to do more of that in our OWN kitchen in future ^_^

Hmm... any kind souls would like to sponsor us a food processor?

Pure

2008-07-25T10:43:00.000+08:00

Pure by The Lightning Seeds
-----------------------------

night time slows, raindrops splash rainbows
perhaps someone you know, could sparkle and shine
as daydreams slide to colour from shadow
picture the moonglow, that dazzles my eyes
and i love you

just lying smiling in the dark
shooting stars around your heart
dreams come bouncing in your head
pure and simple everytime
now you're crying in your sleep
i wish you'd never learnt to weep
don't sell the dreams you should be keeping
pure and simple everytime

dreams of sights, of sleigh rides in seasons
where feelings not reasons, can make you decide
as leaves pour down, splash autumn on gardens
as colder nights harden, their moonlit delights
and i love you

just lying smiling in the dark
shooting stars around your heart
dreams come bouncing in your head
pure and simple everytime
now you're crying in your sleep
i wish you'd never learnt to weep
don't sell the dreams you should be keeping
pure and simple everytime

look at me with starry eyes
push me up to starry skies
there's stardust in my head
pure and simple everytime
fresh and deep as oceans new
shiver at the sight of you
i'll sing a softer tune
pure and simple over you

if love's the truth then look no lies
and let me swin around your eyes
i've found a place i'll never leave
shut my mouth and just believe
love is the truth i relize
not a stream of pretty lies
to use us up and waste our time

lying smiling in the dark
shooting stars around your heart
dreams come bouncing in your head
pure and simple everytime
now you're crying in your sleep
i wish you'd never learnt to weep
don't sell the dreams you should be keeping
pure and simple everytime

look at me with starry eyes
push me up to starry skies
there's stardust in my head
pure and simple everytime
fresh and deep as oceans new
shiver at the sight of you
i'll sing a softer tune
pure and simple over you
pure and simple just for you

Morning Storms

2008-07-23T10:43:00.002+08:00

Well… It was such a gloomy morning, dark and gusty winds… and I was so praying that it wouldn’t rain until I got into office. Alas it was not meant to be, and 5 min before I arrived at office, it started to pour… And the strong winds ensured that umbrellas are of no use as shelter from the storm…

And guess what I saw on Channel NewsAsia website?

Morning storms expected

Posted: 23 July 2008 0738 hrs

SINGAPORE: If you are headed out Wednesday morning, you may want to bring along your umbrella. The weatherman said heavy showers with thunder and gusty winds are expected over many areas between 7am and 10am.

PUB also warned that flash floods may occur in low-lying areas in the event of heavy rain.

Traffic watch reported vehicles pinned by fallen trees in the Chinatown area. One tree is reported to have fallen on a taxi at about 7.35am at South Bridge Road heading towards Tanjong Pagar, at the junction of Pickering Street, causing slow moving traffic.

According to the meteorological department, there are showers with thunder all over the island and such weather can be expected over the next few days in the morning and afternoon.

- CNA/yb

Our very efficient weatherman issues us a warning of morning storms at 7.38am, when MOST of us would have stepped out of house to head to school/work already. Thanks hor, can give more advance warning next time? And it was so strange, first song I played today on my ipod (shuffle mode no less) was “Blame it on the weatherman”

On a lighter note, I placed my slightly wet bag on my chair when I arrived in office. When I removed the bag, I see the imprint of a smiley face on the chair :)

BKK 2008

2008-07-22T10:23:00.000+08:00

Went BKK over the weekend with my family. This is a very long overdue family trip, our last one was also to BKK over 10 years ago… Sisters and I flew in one day earlier to shop, and shop we did… until we totally did not drink ANY water for 6 hours and be so parched, but continue shopping ‘cos “hey that dress is SOOOOOOOO cute”

Temple tour with parents was a tad disappointing, cos we only made it to Wat Arun, not even the temple with reclining Buddha (forgot the name) and we spent quite a lot of time at some other temple cos nobody there understood English or Chinese…

But yeah, I honestly have not spent so much time w my family in a long while… though they do get on my nerves sometimes, it was overall a pretty fun (if not very tiring trip)

An approximate count of the number of stuff I bought:

10 dresses
5 tops + 1 cardigan
2 skirts
3 belts, 2 bracelets, 2 pairs of earrings, hair accessories
4 bags, miscellaneous small pouches as gifts
2 pairs of shoes
tailored 2 shirts (one for me, one for TJ)
1 bikini, some shorts, underwear
miscellaneous titbits
one bench stool (for the new house), compact mirrors

For TJ:
5 t-shirts, 1 polo shirt, 2 shirts

sounds like a lot right? Multiply the above by 3 (three sisters mah) and you can understand how much luggage we ended up with…

and now I think I need new shoes to go with my new outfits ^_^

I don't have a blog

2008-06-30T15:05:00.002+08:00

Boss was chatting over lunch whether my colleague and I are Gen X or Y. He says he belongs to the babyboomers era. Anyway according to him, the difference in Gen X and Y are:

Gen X: takes digital pictures of themselves

Gen Y: takes digital pictures, posts it online, blogs about it...

So I guess I'm Gen Y.

He proceeds to ask us if we blog.

Not wanting him to ask me what my blog address is, I told him that I didn't blog.

So yah, I don't have a blog lor...

Photos!

2008-06-24T10:43:00.002+08:00

Thanks to all my photo contributors, I've consolidated most of them and selected some for your viewing pleasure, but I didn't post them here cos v troublesome to do so...

Pls click on HERE to view the photos loaded on picasa.

Enjoy!

Pictures

2008-06-20T15:24:00.007+08:00

First few shots from my own camera: not a single shot of me in it cos apparently the camerawoman doesn't take flattering shots of the bride, so all censored out! hehe...

the TWO men in my life: my hubby and my daddy

(the pink-shirted man is my dad-in-law)

my HOT mum and cute dad: his facial expression is damn funny!

mum-in-law and my grandma, a spritely 90-yr-old! so honoured that she's present

the chest and the boobs (i meant the cupcakes, what were you thinking?)

my sisters and my cousin

19 June 2008 (^_^)

2008-06-20T11:11:00.002+08:00

And so the day I’ve been looking forward to came and went… It was a ball of nerves, excitement, fun and laughter all rolled into one, and ended up oh so sweet…

Don’t really have many photos yet to tell the story, but from the photos I’ve seen so far, and the feedback that I’ve got, seems like everyone enjoyed themselves, food was not bad, cupcakes were cute, venue though small was intimate, though I’m sure nobody could hear us say our vows ‘cos we opted not to get the mike.

Lesson I’ve learnt: things always work themselves out in the end…
- The venue flowers were supposed to be yellow roses with white eustomas, but turned out to be white + pink champagne roses with yellow/green orchids and vines… but it matched my bouquet of white and pink champagne roses perfectly.
- My cupcakes, though not a complete match to my specifications, turned out cute and yummy! The tier was pretty too!
- My skin, though still terrible, looked pretty decent after the makeup artist did his wonders… and no major wardrobe mishaps occurred…
- And though it was rainy the day before and looked totally cloudy before the ceremony, the weather held and it was nice and sunny (though abit too stuffy and humid) and the solemnization was carried out outdoors as planned…
- Though TJ and I were nervous and excited and rushed and everything, the solemnization went well (ok we both really have a lot of amusing facial expressions) and I think everyone had a good time (I hope)

And in the end… I’m thankful for a lot of things, for having a supportive and caring family (so touched that my grandmother turned up), for having great friends who went out of their way to help (esp my photographer Delvin), and for the rest who took leave specially to join us… and most of all, thankful that at the end of the day, I’ve found you and we’ll have so many more sweet moments in the future…

P.S. In the meantime you can go Yun’s blog to check out photos!

Do you remember

2008-06-18T10:15:00.000+08:00

Inspired by a Jack Johnson song that I love

Do you remember…

- When we first met, we chit-chatted on the train all the way from Buona Vista to Bugis and XM was beside us looking very bored, sms-ing his gf?
- The times we were sitting on the bus from Outram Park MRT to Jurong Island (vv) and we were talking about cats, exercise, food etc., and when we just go to the pantry to heat up our tabao-ed food, while everyone heads down to the canteen to eat?
- How it felt so warm and fuzzy sitting on Changi Beach on our sandals back-to-back while watching airplanes fly by and talking about everything and nothing in general?
- The first time we held hands after we finally told each other how we felt, in that small park in Serangoon Gardens?
- The first flowers you gave me and you told me you wanted us to look forward to the bright future together?
- When I fell very sick living alone in the hostel, you came over to nurse me, putting wet towels on my forehead, fetching water for me, buying me “honeysucker” water, porridge and feeding me my meds? And when I was having dysentery you came over to saying me, and called pharmacies for me to help me find medicine, looked so worried and wanted to send me to the hospital?
- Our cycling sessions to East Coast Park, sometimes with yummy picnics thrown in between?
- The time we went MacRitchie for tree-top walk and were totally drenched by the torrential rain, your sandals broke and we had to walk through the country club to find a cab? Thank goodness you always prepare some food on our outdoor adventures.
- How I’ll be so bitchy and irritating when you’re away (in Canada, China, Batam etc.) but when you’re back everything disappears and I’m so happy to see you?
- All our little cookouts in your house, from pasta and salad to pineapple rice and green curry?
- Our salsa/mahjong/squash/chilling out/outdoor adventures with our dear FAGs?
- Your dreadful accident and how all the arrangements sucked but you were still trying to be upbeat and cheer your mum and me up? And how I was so glad to finally see you get well. Your positive spirit always never fails to uplift me too
- All the little arguments we had over the wedding preparations, but one of us will always give in eventually?
- How we love to sing 80s songs while you drive me back home, and how we would always try to imitate the singers and end up going off-key?
- How you always make me laugh, and I hope, I always make you smile…

List to be continued…

The Final Countdown

2008-06-17T11:52:00.000+08:00

The title, if you realize, alludes to a very popular and cheesy song played during wedding banquets during the presentation of the first dish… Why was it selected as a song to be played during weddings? Cos the groom is counting down to his “doom” (since a popular Chinese joke is that marriage is the grave of love)? Or the bride can count down to the end of her diet (and gasp, days of looking pretty)? Never mind.

Anyway I’m in my final days of singledom (in the eyes of the law that is), and I’m counting down till the day! =) Received a super sweet SMS from TJ this morn that totally brought a smile on a dreary Tuesday.

Someone close asked TJ why he wanted to get married now (i.e. isn’t it a little early?) Which got us thinking, but we came to the conclusion: the question is not about the who, it's about the why now… which then means that it doesn’t really matter when we get married, as long as we are, to each other…

Pray for good weather, good food, good skin, everybody coming on time and totally enjoying themselves!

OMG super exciting

2008-06-11T09:51:00.000+08:00

June is a month full of excitement ‘cos of the following:
- B’day celebrations! Canuf and Winson’s one was a blast with so many different people and we just had tons of fun talking rubbish and laughing. Glad that while most people thought the venue was abit ulu (Bishan is ulu?), they liked the overall feel… Chris’ bday was also fun, the sashimi there was fresh and good! Thanks for the bday treat! Next up two members of the FAGs also celebrating their bday! (on a side note, why got so many june babies? Big blackout in October?)
- Keys, keys, keys! Received the keys and the title deed to our new home! The previous owner very KS, there’s a duplicate for every single key, and the keys to one window somehow opens all other windows and so do the cupboard keys… leaving many many many extra keys (I think). Hope we hurry on and start with the renovations and move in soon! But still totally don’t know how to do up the new place…
- LOTR symphony: It was very good, a nice combination of orchestra, choir and I was totally amazed with the original artwork from the book. The movie looked totally like the drawings! Thanks Ade for informing us about it!
- Soon-to-be-Mrs-Lim: after months of fussing about venue, cupcakes, what to wear, invites, seeing my mum “fashion-show” her clothes to decide what to wear, we’re still left with the favours and music! But I’m super looking forward to it… Last weekend as a swinging single!

Crazy Things

2008-06-05T12:32:00.001+08:00

Subjecting my body to torture in hope for some good returns that I’m not yet seeing ‘cos I went to subject it to some other form of torture.

Not being glad when my laptop had it’s hard disk replaced and now running fine, albeit without all the data I’ve lost. I call it “a new brain but no memory”. So I spent 300 bucks (refundable) to loan the spoilt hard disk for 3 weeks while I figure out what to do with it. And I’m sending it to a data recovery centre, where it’ll cost at least 500 bucks to recover the data IF it's not already lost forever by fragmentation and what not... As my friend puts it: your photos so precious meh? Bleahz

Fun weekend coming up so hopefully that will make up for all the crazy things…

Sianz

2008-05-26T10:34:00.000+08:00

Went for facial on Friday which effectively means tt my whole weekend will be plagued by crappy skin. Considering how much I’m spending on facial, I’m expecting that the problem will be solved, and not be aggravated. Am quite pissed and running impatient…

So ended up spending more money on my stupid face during the weekend, this time on oral supplements. Am praying tt they work, cos I have like less than a month left? The focus now is on calming all the irritating big outbreaks, the rest can be covered by makeup for the big day, then later must spend even more money treating the problem at the root. Arghz.

Friday was made even more crappy cos after suffering at the hands of the facialist, I go home to find that my laptop is no longer working thanks to my stupid idiot cat who had to go run around and knock the table down, bringing my laptop crashing to the floor. It can no longer start, with error message stating there’s some cable failure. Which according to my IT friends, means some form of hard disk failure. =(

Following my LCD screen crack in dec 07, I pestered TJ to get me a portable hard disk drive so I can back up all my stuff. But because of procrastination and an overall dread to handle all stuff electronic, it was left unused and untouched. So I’m even more upset, faced with the possibility that ALL my data will be gone, including all my lovely photos I’ve collected over the years =(

And now, I just realize that my ideal cupcake design is complicated and maybe can’t be made =(

Severe Monday blues…

Life Lessons

2008-05-22T16:30:00.001+08:00

TJ and I have been attending this marriage preparation course conducted by Focus on the Family (the Singapore affiliate) every Tuesday evening for the past 4 weeks. One more week to go before we “graduate”. It’s a group session, where 6 couples sit down and listen to this old, recently retired couple talk about their life, love, marriage and anything under the sun. Many many tips from them, including marriage, financial and life lessons…

Looking at them, I’m very inspired to be like them, to have a strong relationship, to have an open, loving relationship with their children, to live life happy, knowing that they’ve led the life that they wanted, and have no regrets…

Which brings me to examine my own life. I’m happy relationships-wise, very excited that I’m going on this long life journey with TJ, family and friends are also supportive and caring. But I guess there’s still this big hole about what I really wanna do with my life, career-wise. I feel like I’m stuck in a rut, I surf net everyday, shop online, chit chat with friends, totally no motivation… The money is alright though, and the friends are great. Just that I’m getting too comfortable here, and that’s totally scary.

What do you want to do with your life?

2 years on

2008-05-16T11:22:00.000+08:00

“Celebrated” my 2nd anniversary working in my company yesterday. Guess time just flies even if you don’t enjoy what you do, and I must say that it’s primarily due to the crazy bunch of friends I’ve made, and the little perks here and there.

Was slightly disappointed with the bonus announced, while the quantum is quite large, it was totally off the “canteen talk” amount, which was hard to understand ‘cos our profits increased by damn a lot, but somehow, it appears that selling off assets is still the best way for staff to earn more money.

Oh well, new colleague is here, she seems nice and eager to learn, but I’m lazy to teach her cos she’s only here for 2 mths plus to serve her notice period… She wanted to transfer here, but before the transfer occurred she decided to do MBA, so she tendered, and serving 3 months notice here, which makes it difficult for me to really pass her stuff to do…

Maybe it’s time to start looking for options

the LS girl

2008-05-02T15:57:00.002+08:00

Cambodia was a good trip, with Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh and the fun massage/pedicure sessions w the girls... not to mention the bear sanctuary! for photos, you can check out my facebook...

alas, have been suffering from diarrhoea ever since I returned from Cambodia, which I found out later that I was suffering from Bacillary D ysentery, thank goodness there's no bloody diarrhoea or what not, but the number of times I can visit the toilet a day is no joke. not to mention I just received a call from MOH to check what did I eat to kena this, and the guy sounded quite relieved that I'm an "imported case"... guess this means less investigation on their part...

in the meantime, the LS continues as I miss out on all the fun and yummy food =(

on a brighter note, this is a surefire way of losing a hell lot of weight

Orh-bi Good

2008-04-06T22:26:00.002+08:00

Orh-bi good

Meaning: Serves you right

Usage: See lah, tell you don't eat the curry already cos it's spoilt, then you eat already diarrhoea. Orh-bi good.

Term often used with a arms clucking motion...

Definition posted here 'cos I happen to know some people who don't know what this term means!

Advice?

2008-03-31T11:29:00.001+08:00

Basically somehow I was talking to boss about my wedding plans next year… So he asked whether this will coincide with the “busy” period at work, fair enough…

Next morning, he called me bright and early asking me whether I was free to go in to discuss something with him. Then he started to ask me stuff like this: (Items in brackets represent what I was thinking)

Background: A few days ago boss was discussing with big boss on job rotation plans for me… and boss just got married in Dec 07, which is not too long ago.

Boss: OK let me ask you something, have you been together with your bf for at least 21 days 24/7?
Me: (Huh this is a weird question). Nope, we did go on holidays before, about 14 days longest.
B: Hmm 14 days not long enough you know? First week everything is nice and rosy cos you’re on holiday, only after 14 days will the bad habits start to show and can annoy you… even small things like squeezing toothpaste can irritate people and break a marriage
Me: Erm ok… (I’ve probably been through a lot more with bf than you w your wife [the whole China accident thing], so what business have you questioning my decision to get married?)
B: Then ok this is not really about religion, but what religion are you? And your bf?
Me: Erm we’re both free-thinkers (this is not technically true but easier to explain)
B: Ok then you both won’t have any issues w religion, but basically cos wife and me are Catholics, we have to attend a marriage preparation course before marriage, and we found it very useful, you should attend.
Me: (This is a good tip) Yah, bf and I are looking at attending such courses (as in we’re trying to find a good one to attend)
B: Yah, cos marriage is a big thing, need to take one year to adjust, are you sure you still want a job rotation next year? You’ll still need to move into new home, plan for wedding, and adjust to living together…
Me: (ok I think my personal stuff should remain personal) Yes I still want rotation cos I think I can cope, plus moving into the new home will be done in 2008, and we have planned enough buffer time for the wedding banquet so we can take our time to prepare…
B: Are you sure? Cos marriage is a big thing… even wife and me, when we first moved in together there was a lot of adjustments to do, even after the marriage preparation course… … …
Me: Yes I still want the job rotation… (Why he telling me that his problems with his wife?)

The discussion ended soon after, I had no questions for him and basically it was him talking most of the time and me feeling v uncomfortable with him firstly questioning my intention to get married, and also me discussing personal plans with him… sigh…

goodbye...

2008-03-05T23:00:00.002+08:00

very stressed this week, what with the tons of stuff happening at work, and the need to take leave on friday didn't make the situation at work better... just cos my mum decided on a whim to change the date of moving house to this week instead of next. then after i come home from work dead tired, i still have to pack my stuff...

packing 20 years of stuff is not easy... too many things of sentimental value get dugged up, and have to be thrown away because there simply is too much stuff and not enough place at the new home...

it was a chore, until it hit me tdy when i was on the bus home, tt this will be like the 2nd last night i'll sleep in LHP, the place i've called home for the past almost 20 years, and i started getting all emotional and melancholy... it isn't easy leaving this place, the convenience of it, the tons of memories, and the lovely neighbourhood... not to mention all the yummy food at chomp chomp...

suddenly someone came to my place and took jewel away... jewel, my dog of almost 10 years, whom i have a love-hate r/s with as she bit tj the first time they met... but tj and jewel have made peace... and it was just so sad seeing her go... she was just so understanding, didn't bark at all, just sat there looking sad... it's like she understood that we had to give her away as she was just way too big for the new place... and from the looks of it, it seems she'll be happier in her new place, a fish farm at choa chu kang... where she'll have lotsa company and be happier (i hope) running around a huge new home... but it just doesn't seem right looking out to the backyard and not hearing her running over to lick my hand...

i'll miss LHP and all the memories...

CNY 2008

2008-02-12T23:09:00.000+08:00

CNY was a blast, but i ate way too much, and gained 2kg just over 3 days!

didn't manage to mahjong too, but it was great just catching up with family and friends.

and yah, i learnt how to make homemade yu sheng (made it so many times tt i was getting quite sick of yu sheng)

took one day leave on Monday tgt with yun, ade and tj. and decided to go sentosa to get a tan! since jk was also on leave, he came along as the v nice designated driver

my fave photo over this CNY:

ok we both need more work at the gym and need to get a better tan too!

I am your brother

2008-01-18T00:11:00.000+08:00

ok watched this on American Idol. Hillarious!

"I am your brother, we're best friends forever!"

another great weekend

2008-01-16T20:02:00.000+08:00

great weekends are classified by some level of planning, great company and food, and of course my darling TJ...

Cheryl treated us to fish steamboat at Whampoa to celebrate her first paycheck. Spent 1 hr waiting for the food, but it was fun just chit chatting with my family... Following that it was mahjong back at TJ's and erm yah i kinda won quite abit (of chips, we dun play money)

Saturday was our turn to treat Chalene and Cheryl, pasta waraku, desserts at azaru sabo (i hope i didn't screw up the name). Following that we rushed down to parkway for a game of pool, (SJ is really damn zai), frog porridge at geylang, then drinks and chit chat in east coast park. All those we managed in JK's super beng subaru, we even blasted ah beng tetno to complete the experience!

Sunday was leisurely, and a great SO3D class gathering at marina waraku... we had the private tatami area which was perfect for catching up... i love this bunch of ppl. and to think we've known each other for 9 years! ok getting super old le...

great weekend

2008-01-07T21:22:00.001+08:00

the great weekend started off with an afternoon half day with TJ. went to the outdoor bridal show at bugis green, checked out some wedding banquet places, and got scared off due to the supremely high prices... damnit, shd have gotten married like one year ago (haha)... but it was nice and leisurely, even did a spot of shopping!

met up with the OBS cherries for dinner at curry udon (Central), the unagi rice was good! but the place was a tad squashed for us 10 ppl... we adjourned to pitstop games cafe later, though it was slightly out of our age group, it was tons of fun hanging out with them and bitching about work (duh)...

Saturday was good, but started with bad news that our potential love nest was bought by someone else =( but it's ok, we'll wait for another one... then we went to attend Teck Chia's and Betty's wedding! a few screw ups here and there, but it was sweet to see her settle down...

Sunday was spent at brunch (or rather lunch) with the FAGs... we went to Riders Cafe, an ulu but absolutely charming place located at Saddle Club... the food was not bad, the company even better and best of all, we found a perfect place to take wedding photos!

after a leisurely afternoon, we headed off back to my place for yummy home cooked meal. i love pork ribs! =)

ok obviously i began blogging abt this last week, but didn't get to complete it...

Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008

2008-01-01T18:24:00.000+08:00

apologise for the lack of posts. what happened is that my laptop LCD screen cracked and died, and it was in the workshop. I haven't got it back yet, now blogging on TJ's laptop. will get my lappy back 3 weeks later and $380 poorer, but tt's pretty ok...

Xmas came and went, didn't do anything special this year since TJ wasn't around, but did go to two bbqs on two consecutive Saturdays, where it rained both times. But it was plenty fun chit chatting with friends and family...

Today's the start of a brand new year, when I look back, time really seemed to have passed very fast, especially since I don't exactly LOVE my job... some recap what happened in 2007:

Work: another year in my company, made alot more friends due to my recreation committee, and also because of OBS. the OBS gang rocks... knowing these friends really make working alot more bearable =) came to the conclusion tt i can't stay long in my current position, really can't learn much from my boss, and i've come to disagree more and more often with him... but my colleague going on maternity leave and all makes him appreciate my presence more so hopefully this effort will be rewarded sufficiently...

Friends: new friends at work, met up with older friends... As more and more friends walk down the aisle, I forsee alot more catching up to do... which is great! (only not so good for the wallet)... the expansion of FAGs...

Travel: Penang, Batam, KL, Bangkok, Europe: Switzerland, Paris, Amsterdam... All fantastic trips! Hope to go on more...

Love: TJ recovered fully from his injury, and obviously "gained" more (weight i mean)... he proposed! and ROM is planned in June 2008 =)

Stuff to look forward to in 2008:

1) Shifting of the AW family home to a yet-undisclosed-location (rental), then sourcing and renovating the new AW family home

2) Hopefully a job rotation, if not then it's time to look for greener pastures

3) More travelling, either USA or Australia, with other small trips in between

4) ROM

5) Building our love nest

6) Planning the biggest party of my life =)

7) Meeting new friends, re-connecting with the old

8) Spending more time with my family, as I join a new one...

Happy 2008 everyone!

Shine

2007-12-04T21:37:00.000+08:00

Ok, haven't been blogging. Actually I've resized the photos from the last few days of my Europe Trip, and blogged it out, but too lazy and not free to load them all... so yah...

anyway this song is dedicated to a special someone: Take That's Shine, currently playing on repeat on my lappy...

"Shine"

You, you're such a big star to me
You're everything I wanna be
But you're stuck in a hole and I want you to get out
I don't know what there is to see
But I know it's time for you to leave
We're all just pushing along
Trying to figure it out, out, out.

All your anticipation pulls you down
When you can have it all, you can have it all.

So come on, come on, get it on
Don't know what you're waiting for
Your time is coming don't be late, hey hey
So come on
See the light on your face
Let it shine
Just let it shine
Let it shine.

Stop being so hard on yourself
It's not good for your health
I know that you can change
So clear your head and come round
You only have to open your eyes
You might just get a big surprise
And it may feel good and you might want to smile, smile, smile.

Don't you let your demons pull you down
'Cause you can have it all, you can have it all.

Hey let me know you
You're all that matters to me
Hey let me show you
You're all that matters to me.

Hey let me love you
You're all that matters to me
Hey so come on yeah
Shine all your light over me.

Paris Day 3, Amsterdam Day 1

2007-11-21T21:42:00.000+08:00

18 October 2007

Paris -> Amsterdam

We were due to travel to Amsterdam on a 1255 Thalys train from Paris Gare du Nord station, but we were unfortunately caught the transport strike. Very thankfully, our hostel is located not far from the train station, and we planned only to walk around our hostel area in the morning before we left, so we weren’t really affected much.

The Basilique du Sacre-Coeur (dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus), is located on the top of Montmartre (or the Butte). The Butte is as tall as the top of the Eiffel Tower, and offers fantastic views of Paris as well. The Sacre-Coeur is the hippest church I’ve ever been to, because the art and stained glass within the church is decidedly more “modern” than other churches. No wonder, as artists used to congregate in the Montmartre area which is more laidback than the rest of Paris.

View from the Butte, the top most point of Montmartre

On the streets of Montmartre

We left Montmartre early, and reached the Gare du Nord station to take our train to Amsterdam.

Paris Gare du Nord station, the statues on the top represent 7 of the cities that the trains go to, including Amsterdam, Paris, Cologne etc.

The train was very crowded, but it was a good train ride as we were sitting next to a Dutch lady and her young daughter who just returned on a trip from Paris. She spoke good English and was very chatty, talking about her experiences as a reporter, asking us about Asia, Singapore, even though initially her daughter thought we were from Japan. And we also talked about how Asians can’t tell Ang Mohs apart, much like they can’t tell Asians apart. She also gave us tips on where to go in Amsterdam, and suggested we rent a bicycle to get around the place. They got off at Rotterdam, and after 45 min we arrived in Amsterdam Centraal.

We got to our hostel, a hip and happening place, abit too rowdy for our liking, and we had a very bad experience there, won’t blog about it, but ask me if you do happen to be interested. But our hostel was close to the Rijks and Van Gogh museums. We took a leisurely walk around the area, went to the supermarket and was pleasantly surprised to finally see cheap food, bought a lot of stroopwaffels , and got microwave meals to have for dinner. They sell Nasi Goreng and Chinese fried rice! You can even find beansprouts in the vegetables section.

Paris Day 2

2007-11-21T20:47:00.000+08:00

17 October 2007

Paris

We’ve designated this “Museum Day”. First up was Notre Dame de Paris, which to me, was a humbling experience. The cathedral was lovely on the outside and somber on the inside, and I rank this the best church I’ve been to on the whole trip. The stained glass, paintings, sculptures inside were amazing. We didn’t go up the tower though.

Next, Sainte Chapelle, a Gothic chapel not far from the Notre Dame. It’s really small, and we spent quite a lot of time looking at the guide and identifying the biblical scenes depicted on the stained glass windows. The guide called the stained glass “a comic book sketch of the bible”. A pretty and interesting place, but not really worth the entrance fee in my opinion.

The delicate spire of Saint Chapelle

The lower chapel

The "comic book" stained glass

It started to drizzle lightly, the first and last time throughout our whole trip. We made a brief stop at the flower market on the Île de la Cité before heading to the Pantheon.

The art-deco Metropolitan sign designed by some famous artist

All the metro stations look romantic when taken on digital camera/film, but in real life, it's really quite filthy. I call this the "hard at work studying the maps"

We followed the recommendations on our guide book to this delightful little Creperie for some delicious French crepes. Yum!

The Pantheon is modeled after the Pantheon in Rome and was originally a church dedicated to St-Genevieve, but now functions as a burial ground. We spent quite a lot of time here, and it was great. The interior is filled with huge and very old paintings, sculptures and a famous scientific experiment, the Foucault’s pendulum, demonstrating the rotation of the earth. The pendulum actually tells the time very accurately. We also joined the free walking tour to the top of the Pantheon, and it was very good, we got to see the dome up close, stand on the outside of the dome, and admire the architecture up close and personal. Finally, we visited the crypt, burial ground to many famous French people including Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Louie Braille, Pierre and Marie Curie etc. Not much to see there though, because all the write ups were in French.

Don't know what this painting symbolises, but the fallen head is quite disturbing

Saint Joan of Arc. All these paintings are hundreds of years old, and yet still preserved wonderfully

Foucault's Pendulum

We made our way to the Musee de Lourve, through the Place de la Concorde and saw a small student protest near the entrance of the Tuileries Garden. We walked through the Tuileries Garden, but as it was autumn, there wasn’t many pretty flowers, and the very strong winds blew lots of sand into our eyes. There were many interesting sculptures around the garden too.

Autumn at Tuileries Garden

A nude sculpture with a super gay pose

We went to the Lourve at around 5pm since it’s open till 8.30pm on Wednesdays. The entrance fee is further reduced at 6pm on Wednesday, but we headed in at normal price anyway. As expected, we headed straight for the Mona Lisa. There were many tourists there, but the queues weren’t as bad as if you were to go in the morning. Up close, the Mona Lisa, though a tad small and grey, was fabulous. The brush strokes and everything made her very lifelike, and no reproduction in the world can ever replace seeing her up close and personal. Other than that, the museum is HUGE, and you can really get lost in it, as we got lost as there was something wrong with the maps. We spent about 3 hours walking around there, and by the 10^th Madonna and the Child painting, they started to look alike to me, and I was getting abit restless. I think, to really appreciate all the priceless pieces of art here, you’ll have to budget at least 2 full days, and take ample breaks in between to prevent fatigue. My camera battery was also flat, thus I didn’t get to take many photos of the Lourve L

It was a chilly, windy day and we were both craving for something hot and soupy. We found a little Japanese restaurant near our hostel and though the SGD 15 bowls of udon tasted more like mee suah instead, the tasty soup and noodles eased a little of my homesickness.

Paris Day 1

2007-11-20T23:07:00.000+08:00

16 October 2007

Paris

As the Lourve was closed on Tuesdays, we decided to make this the attraction day, then tomorrow we can go explore the Lourve. Having being forewarned of the horrible queues to go up the Eiffel Tower, we decided that we would try going up at night, but I still wanted to take daytime photos of the Eiffel and so we headed there in the morning.

It was breathtaking to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time, and up close. Look at the photos and you can probably see why…

The interesting thing is that Paris was hosting the World Rugby Cup during this period, so there was a giant rugby ball hanging right in the middle of the tower, and even the All Blacks had their own rugby ball on the ground. And yes, Paris loves Les Blus (even though by the time we arrived, Paris was already kicked out of the competition).

We headed to Hotel Les Invalides just to see what it’s like and take some pictures. The Napoleon’s Tomb really looked spectacular from the outside, especially the Dome.

Entrance of Les Invalides

Napoleon's Tomb

We wanted to squeeze some time to tour the Musee d’Orsay, a museum that was converted from a railway station, but by the time we got there, it was late, and we were pretty put off by the queues, so we left to find lunch.

Beef Steak with Fettuccine, Chicken Salad

Next on the itinerary was a stroll down the Champs Elysees, past the Petit and Grand Palais, towards the Arc de Triomphe. The sun was out, the weather was lovely (about 22degC) and we took lovely pictures.

Grand Palais

Entrance to Petit Palais

Champs Elysees is a great place to shop. And I found Sephora there! Girls can really go crazy in that store, lotsa lovely, tempting perfumes and cosmetics! Had to practice a lot of self restraint, but managed to get gifts for the family as well as the girls too!

Super sleek car in the Citroen Showroom

Disneyland Paris was not on our itinerary cos we didn't want to hear Mickey Mouse and friends in French, but I still took a picture outside the Disney store

The Arc de Triomphe is situated right in the middle of a “star”, 6 streets radiate outwards from it, so although it was a pretty long walk scaling the monument, we were rewarded with breathtaking views. But if you are just there for some history, do you’ll be much better off joining the rest of the crowd downstairs admiring the Arc and it’s architecture and sculptures. While we were there, plenty of military personnel gathered around for some ceremony, and it was very interesting to see their decorative ranks, the beanie shaped berets, and the numerous old men who could be war veterans.

It was finally time for us to go up the Eiffel Tower. I was pretty tired by then wearing my cool boots that unfortunately weren’t very suited for long spells of walking but it’s the Eiffel Tower! But the queues were absolutely horrible, I think we spent a grand total of 2 hours queuing for the tickets and lifts up and down the Eiffel. There was a long queue to visit the ladies as well, and I was pretty disappointed with the ang mohs, as there was this old and frail lady queuing up to go to the ladies (the handicapped toilet was out of use), but not one of them let her go first, choosing instead to look the other way. That aside, it was really a once in the lifetime experience to ascend the Eiffel Tower, we even managed to see the sunset which was gorgeous.

Views from the Eiffel

Can you see the All Blacks Rugby ball in the middle?

The giant screen on the Tower plays highlights from the Rugby World Cup 2007.

By then, we were absolutely bushed, so we headed back to our hostel, grabbed a kebab on rice on our way back and retired early.

Switzerland Days 4 - 6

2007-11-06T21:32:00.000+08:00

13 October 2007

Golden Pass (Lucerne -> Montreux) -> Lausanne

Golden Pass day, we spent like almost 7 hours on the train, but it was a good, relaxing way to spend the day, made it through plenty of pretty farmland, vineyards etc. refer to previous post for the pictures.

The train stopped at Montreux, we had initially wanted to spend the night at Vevey or Montreux, but couldn’t find suitable accommodation, so we decided to head down to Lausanne instead, a short train ride away. These few areas surround Lake Geneva, a beautiful lake, and you’ll see more of it in the next day’s entry. After finding our B&B and dumping our bags there, we headed off to the old town for a walk around Lausanne.

Lausanne is quite irritating to walk. It’s full of steep gradients and we find ourselves walking up and down slopes a lot, and we weren’t really armed with a good map, and coupled with the steep slopes, we kinda got abit lost. Not to mention a pretty weird experience I had trying to find a toilet, and found one finally near the subway, it was dark, wet, smelly and when I was going to walk in, a guy walked out of the ladies. Not to mention a rubbish bin in the toilet that had the sign of a syringe on it. Don’t ask me what that dustbin was for.

Nonetheless, it was an interesting place because of all the steep gradients, found a couple of churches but I can’t seem to remember what they’re called, and wiki is not helping either. After that, we went to search for a place to have very good and authentic swiss fondue.

Pictures!

Views from the Old Town

The cathedral we went to, near the yummy fondue place.

Fondue! It’s really delicious! And we really finished all the cheese lor.

14 October 2007

Lausanne -> Montreux -> Vevey -> Geneva

We spent the day going around little cities surrounding Lake Geneva. First stop, Montreux, full of rich residents and tourists. Nothing much to see here, as it was a little snooty for its own good, but our main destination was the Chateau de Chillon (or the Chillon Castle). Thankfully, we managed to get onto the scenic ferry to the Chateau, and it was really beautiful. Really enjoyed myself on the short ferry ride (about 15 min). If we had more time, I’d have taken the ferry just to go around the misty Lake Geneva aimlessly.

Chateau Chillon is a very old castle (earliest written record is in 1100) and we liked how all the rooms were accessible to tourists and not sealed off. It’s in pretty good condition too. We spent an enjoyable morning there, not to mention it was free because of the Swiss Pass.

The Freddie Mercury Statue

Lunch was at a little restaurant in Montreux, somehow it was filled with a lot of senior citizens, and we waited very long for our food, but it was delicious! Rosti and salad. We came to Switzerland wanting to eat authentic Fondue and Rosti and we finally did both.

Next stop, a short bus ride to Vevey. Another lakeside resort for rich tourists, it was very very pretty. We had an enjoyable stroll around the lake and had Movenpick ice cream again even though Vevey is the world HQ of Nestle. Nestle even commissioned a giant fork in the middle of the lake, outside it’s food and nutrition museum. We also casually strolled into the Vevey museum, and met the curator who married a Singaporean wife. Interestingly there was a circus at Vevey, and though we didn’t enter, we saw white camels for the first time.

The Charlie Chaplin Statue

From Vevey, we headed to Geneva by train, found our hostel, went out to look for food in the supermarket, and headed back to cook. The City Hostel Geneva, is by far the best hostel we’ve stayed in our entire trip. It was high-tech, clean, had nice, clean and comfortable beds, a good kitchen complete with industrial size fridges, and best of all, it’s the only place equipped with a hairdryer! (note to self: bring a hairdryer when backpacking to prevent bad hair days). Though the rooms were a tad cramped, I totally enjoyed staying there. We also had a roommate, a University student from Argentina who was on student exchange in Geneva. He was very curious to find out about our trip, about Singapore, about Asia. The hostel also sold cheap Swiss army knives, and we bought a couple as gifts for our family.

15 October 2007

Geneva -> Paris

We spent the morning walking around Geneva. It was enjoyable, though a tad cold and misty in the morning. And we also ran into a strike, which I had blogged about previously.

Geneva is a nice city with lots to see and do, not to mention it holds the world headquarters of the fragrance company I used to intern for, so I had heard a lot about it from my ex-colleagues. Anyway we spent a leisurely morning strolling around the old town, yes, it appears that ALL Swiss cities have their very own old town, full of cobbled stones walkways, old tiny buildings and ancient churches.

Autumn leaves in the Bastions Park

The Reformation Wall, a monument that commemorates the major events and figures of the Protestant Reformation. The statues are of Guillaume Farel, Jean Calvin, Théodore de Bèze and John Knox, and this wall is several hundred years old.

The Saint Pierre Cathedral

The oldest building in Geneva, but I can’t remember exactly how old it is.

Bird getting a shower in a drinking fountain

The Jet d’Eau: basically a large water spout in the middle of Lake Geneva. It really can be very beautiful in spring or summer, but because we went on a misty day, you can’t really make it out.

Standing in the middle of a bridge, with a protest going on behind

The bibs that the strikers wore

Manora Café! A Marche concept place where you choose your own food, reasonable prices. And we bought all our Swiss chocolates in Manor, our first and last shopping stop in Switzerland.

Following that, we left the beautiful Switzerland to head for the romantic Paris. Unfortunately, we manage to leave TJ’s camera on the train. Thankfully he transferred all the photos out the previous night, so we only lost one morning’s worth of photos.

We flew to Paris on EasyJet, and it’s really very cheap, I think each ticket costs about SGD 75 only. And it’s pretty nice and new, just that somehow their flights are always prone to delays.

We took super long to get to our hostel, situated on Montmartre, the place where artists like Van Gogh used to congregate. After that, we were so tired so we decided to just walk around Pigalle area to grab some food, though we were kinda lost because we forgot the map, and it was getting very windy and cold, we managed to get yummy kebabs, and retired early for the night.

Choo Choo!

2007-10-24T21:43:00.000+08:00

Swiss public transportation (CHF SBB) is a delight. Each city is linked to each other by train, and those that we planned to visit were mostly 1hr by train away from each other. Each city has a major train station linked to the rest of the cities, and each train station is in the middle of the major business district, and walking from place to place within the same city is definitely no problem. Trams and buses within the city are also clean, nice and very punctual. They have an electronic board at each stop to tell you how long the next ride takes to arrive.

Each train station also comes equipped with baggage lockers which we fully made use of, since we traveled from city to city we obviously had to lock our stuff somewhere before we explored the area. Not to mention, some of the train rides were absolutely delightful, through country/hill areas, with lotsa pictures of quaint villages, cows, sheep, framed by the majestic Swiss Alps.

If you’re a tourist and visiting Switzerland, please get the Swiss Pass. We got the Swiss Youth Pass (4 days unlimited free travel on all intercity train, trams and bus journeys within the cities, including boat rides and free entrance to many museums, not to mention discounts off mountain visits like Mt Titlis (50% discount!) All for abt than USD 150. The Golden Pass panoramic ride, which took us from Luzern to Interlaken, to Zweisimmen, and Montreux, a relaxing train ride through picturesque Swiss, was free too! (but I think it’ll be more worth it if it were Winter, and all of the Alps were covered with snow)

To me, the train rides were an essential part of our journey. Not having the opportunity to stop at the countryside, passing by them on the train was very lovely. We also got to see the plentiful vineyards around Cully! The rides were very relaxing, and there’s always lots to see and hear (cow bells!)

Check out our lovely pictures all taken on the Golden Pass line! (I’m too lazy to add captions, you can scroll over them and see the file names)

Switzerland Days 1 - 3

2007-10-23T19:41:00.000+08:00

It’s not easy condensing 11 great days into a few short paragraphs, not to mention sieving out fantastic photographs out of 2GB worth of them, but I’ll try, by chronological order. Hopefully, I’ll manage to finish the entire diary, not like jkaiser, who has yet to finish his

Taiwan

entry from last year!

10 October 2007

Zurich

Took an overnight plane from SIN-ZRH and arrived early in the morning. Since I wasn’t due to meet TJ until late in the evening I decided to have a short tour around Zurich first before proceeding to Basel where we were staying the night.

Like all the cities in Switzerland that we visited, Zurich is a nice mix of old buildings and new development. I walked down the shopping street of Bahnhofstrasse, with luxury brands like LV,
chain stores like Manora and Co-op, occupying old historical buildings. Not having many Swiss Francs with me and since Europe is an expensive place, I managed only to window shop, a pity really.

After a leisurely walk down Bahnhofstrasse, I made it to the sightseeing area, fully of cobbled walkways, cute little shophouses and many churches. Thing about Swiss is they are so mad about watches, that EVERY church has a clock tower. Zurich has St Peters Kirche (with the largest clock face in the world). Also went to Fraumuenster, and Grossmuenster. Churches in Zurich are very spartan compared to the rest of the churches I’m about to see.

Clocktower of St Peter's Kirche

Fraumuenster

Grossmuenster

Since I was alone and jetlagged, I decided to make it to our first pit stop, Basel, to dump my bags and catch some rest. After some confusion (the train station in Basel is very big cos it’s near the borders of France and Germany), I finally made it to the YMCA. It’s really fun to stay there! Though we didn’t manage to talk to anybody, our room (5 bed) was v nice, and the toilets were great. Took a shower, made my way to Basel airport to pick TJ up.

11 October 2007

Basel

Since we were in Basel, we walked around for a while before going to other cities. Being a highly industrialized city, there wasn’t very much to see, and the weather in the morning was very misty, which made the photos not very nice. But we did make it to the Rathaus (Town Hall), and we wanted to see their church Muenster, but part of the façade was closed for renovation. In fact, when we were there, quite a lot of renovation was going on, because spring/summer was the tourist period, and it’ll be way too cold during winter to renovate. We did make it into Muenster, no photo-taking inside, but the outside premise was quite nice.

Rathaus (Town Hall)

Marktplatz (marketplace)

Muenster

Berne

The capital city of Switzerland. A medieval city which is also a UNESCO heritage site, it is to me, sheer delight. Though it was undergoing major renovation works around the train station and city centre, once you get past the drilling towards the old town area. One of my favourite areas in Switzerland.

The Zytglogge is one of the city’s most enduring symbols, a clock tower. Check out the bears!

Cobbled streets of Old Town

View from the Nydeggbrücke, on the way to the Bear Pits.

The Bear Pits (Baerengraben), it has real bears in it! Berne is crazy over bears, their city mascot.

Lucerne

Another 1 hour by train away from Berne, our base city for the next two days. More about it in the next day’s entry.

12 October 2007

Mount Titlis

You haven’t been to Switzerland if you haven’t visited the Swiss Alps. Since it was only the beginning of Autumn, most of the Alps are covered in lush greenery, and trees in different shades of autumn gold, red and browns. That means that there wasn’t going to be snow unless you headed way up. Mount Titlis is 3,238 m high, so there’s definitely going to be snow there. So up we went, plus it boasted the world’s first rotating cable car, and comes highly rated by Yun (a lot of Swiss tour packages in Singapore go either to Titlis or Pilatus).

We made our way to Engelberg, (1 hour from Lucerne) and then made it up to Titlis in three stages: Engelberg – Truebsee, Truebsee – Stand and finally Stand – Titlis. The whole cable car journey up to Titlis took 45 min, and we took a short stop at Truebsee first before heading up.

At the entrance of the cable car

Lake at Truesbee

Glaciers seen from the rotating cable car

Things to do up on Mount Titlis.

1. Attempt to eat Movenpick Swiss Chocolate ice cream on the mountain top, then run indoors to finish it cos it’s way too cold outside. The ice cream was yummy! And the freshly made cone was delicious!

2. Take photos

3. Take photos with fake snowman

4. Take more photos of Swiss Alps

5. Take the sky flyer, which is a kinda chair lift which allows you to see more glaciers.

6. Get your feet frozen when taking the sky flyer (really very cold can, and I was only wearing one pair of cotton socks with my adidas trainers)

7. Lick the snow

8. Sitting pretty

9. Food! Veal sausage and veggie soup (both quite salty though)

10. Visit glacier cave

11. Go 147 feet under stone and ice

12. Worship the snow Buddha.

Engelberg

Enough with the mountains, we headed down, wanting to catch the 2.15 train back to Lucerne to complete our sightseeing of Lucerne, we ran down, but unfortunately missed the train, and had to wait an additional one hour. Thankfully we did, so we had some time to explore the lovely Engelberg, a charming little village! Since we had time to spare, we had more ice cream!

Lucerne

We can’t stay 2 nights here without exploring the city, and since it’s our last night here, we had to do something about it. We walked around the Old Town area, explored the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrueke), it has triangular panels in it telling the history of Lucerne, though unfortunately many of which were destroyed in the fire.

The Jesuit church and it’s ultra glamourous rocco interior (pink marble and white cornices!)

Hof church

Finally, we went to the supermart, bought ourselves some salad, dressing, ravioli and sauce, and cooked ourselves this yummy dinner in the hostel to reward ourselves. =)

STRIKE!

2007-10-19T04:57:00.000+08:00

in amsterdam now, on the final leg of our crazy but absolutely fun europe trip.

in Geneva Switzerland, on 15 Oct, we walked head-on into a strike, which we were very amused by, and later found out that it was a constuction workers strike.

read all about it here.

so basically in Geneva, the worst hit state, they marched onto a bridge and blocked it, causing a massive jam downtown

but it was ok, we mostly walked anyway, and the strike meant we could even walk happily across the road (since there was no traffic anywayz)

ok then we made it to France, did all the touristy things, and when we were about to leave France, our hostel put up a notice on the wall that said "no public transportation on 18 Oct". So the french transport system went on strike. which affected all of the metro (subway) and the bus system as well. read about it here.

we were due to leave Paris for Amsterdam by TRAIN on the 18 Oct 07. to get to the train station we had to take the metro, but it was closed (or rather not really running, we later learnt that it did run, like one every 30 min). thankfully our train was run by an amsterdam-based company and hence unaffected unlike the TGV (French). but then we still needed to get to the train station. we were told "it's not that far, you can walk, takes about 30 min". which on the map it's abt 2km, but walking tt far with a 13kg backpack is no joke. but we were very prepared to do that already, luckily, we managed to hail a cab along the streets and got there without any event. later we were to hear that some ppl walked for 3 whole hours to get to the train station... madness!

last i read, the strike is due to continue. let's hope nothing happens in amsterdam...

think i so "heng" can go buy toto! huat ah!

ps: now my blogger homepage is in nederlandish. go figure.

Finally!

2007-10-08T23:14:00.000+08:00

the consultants came and went, pretty interesting and learnt quite abit running around with them. hope they manage to do a good job so it reflects well on us. but yah, was kinda hoping that one of them will be cute. he's not too bad, but not super cute. oh wellz. and the other (older one) looks like italian mafia! but without the black super greased hair, his is more like greying and curly.

my boss was such a liar, my project mate's boss told my boss that he's taking her out of the team since she got rotated and cross-dept projects aren't supposed to last tt long. so both agreed that my boss will inform her that she's no longer required to do this project. so since i didn't know tt she's not supposed to be in the project, i informed her to join in a teleconference with the consultants. my boss was "surprised tt she turned up, and tot tt she was being reassigned to the project" and continued with the arrangement, until her boss found out, and was hopping mad and screaming to my boss. win liao lor. at least her boss apologised to her saying tt it was partly his fault tt he didn't inform her, but my boss never said nothing! instead, he started coming up with excuses. what an ass...

but yah, will leave tt all behind now, cos i'll be flying off to zurich for my lovely holiday! yippeee! and it seems like good news on tj's job too... yippeeee! =)

screwed up

2007-10-03T21:54:00.000+08:00

have been running arnd here and there attending meetings. record 6 meetings a day is no joke. heng i'm only there mostly to coordinate and observe, so i kinda pity my consultants. but they signed up for the job! i'm just here to help make things ezier for them.

this project is getting abit irritating. with politics, manpower issues... and apparently my boss likes to assume things, turns out my project mate was no longer on the project, but nobody informed her cos both bosses (mine and hers) all thought the other person would. so she was continuing with it... poor girl...

SIGH!

something to look forward to

2007-09-19T18:42:00.000+08:00

haven't really had time to sit down and blog properly.

work sucks as usual, past two weeks have been tiring rushing for deadlines, preparing for meetings, doing project, fundraising etc. for me, being tired is ok, being frustrated isn't, and i'm frustrated w my boss (who isn't?) and now got a new source of frustration: a colleague who's been newly assigned to the same project, doesn't wanna pull his own weight, asks way too many questions, says things like "the project is still in it's very initial stages..." totally wrong as i've been doing alot of shit for it...

but all the busyness is bearable, because coming up is my Switzerland-Paris-Amsterdam trip! have been dreaming abt europe since last year, but nothing really happened until recently... so now's a mad rush to confirm everything b4 tj leaves for aberdeen on course this friday. so many things to do! get swiss pass, book hostel in every single place we're staying at, book internal flights, confirm my europe ticket (this is one of those ocassion i'm glad i work in my company, free ticket!), figure out where to go and what to do...

Bangkok 2007

2007-09-02T15:03:00.000+08:00

A post about our Bangkok Trip.

23 August 2007

Woke up early in the morning to take cab to Budget Terminal, to catch Tiger Airways flight to BKK. Spent quite a bit of time duty-free shopping before we caught the flight, it was not too bad, no food no nothing but plane is new, seats are comfy, price is cheap, so no complaints there.

Landed at the new Thai airport, shan't attempt to spell the name, didn't really like the place cos I find the workmanship quite shoddy and everything. Hopped on a cab to Asia Hotel, our home for the next few days. The hotel's decor is really quite dated, but it's pretty comfy, price-wise ok (approx SGD80 per night for 2 ppl), and location is good (one BTS station away from SIAM).

Decided to go shopping around MBK area. Went around MBK, Siam Centre, Siam Paragon. Didn't buy anything cos quite atas, but had fun just look-seeing, check out the pictures:

yummy lunch at MBK food court. Beef noodles (salty but good) and pad thai!

we saw this advertisement for a bra shop there. super hillarious!

Siam Paragon has this area filled with fancy car showrooms, so we were happily taking photos of luxury cars.
a canary yellow hummer
Ferraris

Lambo

Enough of window shopping in posh places, we headed off to suan lum night bazaar by public transport. It was tiring walking there, not to mention slightly confusing.

The infamous Patpong area, didn't check it out at night though, but the signboards are already super sleazy.

Dinner at Suan Lum Night Bazaar. Pad Thai, kangkong, green curry and tom yum.

Suan Lum is really quite a good place to shop. Good mix of shops which are pretty spacious, but must be careful what you buy cos alot of stuff can be bought at Chatuchak for alot cheaper. Pleased with our buys and since we were very tired, we headed back to rest.

24 August 2007
Sightseeing morning, headed down to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho by the scenic route (Chao Phraya Express). The river is really very dirty.

On the boat, there are safety floats just in case of an emergency. If you look closely, they're really floats. Not even life vests!

Wat Arun, across the river from Wat Pho. We didn't visit there though, but it looked lovely from our angle.

Wat Pho, with the famous sleeping Buddha.

Walked on foot from Wat Pho to Grand Palace. The weather was super hot, and I was so dehydrated and tired from all the walking. At Grand Palace, it was tons and tons of shrines with elaborate designs, very pretty! But it was really very tiring.

After walking for very long, the weather was getting to us. We hopped on a cab to Khao San Road, a backpackers area, with lotsa ang mohs there and some shopping too. Atmosphere was quite laidback too. Before we came, I already had a plan of buying a backpack for travelling purposes. So we looked around here for an ideal one. Ended up buying 2 (a 60 litre for me and a 40 litre for TJ) for only SGD 50. Cheap!

Khao San Road
SawadeeJun

Headed back to keep the giant backpacks, then went shopping around Pratunam area. Platinum mall was interesting, but they closed early, so we headed off for dinner. Ended up in some shopping mall, where we had two separate dinners, both in very typically thai fast food chains.

In particular, this place Yum Saap, with a deceptively cute smiley face logo, had this killer Tom Yum soup that got both of us surrenderring! (the Coconut freeze is very good though)

Following that, we went supermarket shopping, paid a visit to the Erawan shrine, and went back to zzz.

25 August 2007

Chatuchak day! Didn't think I'd like shopping in a squashed environment whereby you're bound to get lost, but I enjoyed myself totally. TJ did too! Good food, great shopping, great prices. In fact, my best authentic thai food experience was there.

Preparing the food.
Grilled pork salad, with beef vermicelli soup. Yum yum!

Had takeaway friend tanghoon too. They put in lots of raw beansprouts (Shuyun will definitely hate it) but it was very nice!

Bushed and starting to run out of money, we headed back to dump our stuff, and went in search for tidbits to bring home, a good thai restaurant and thai massage to soothe our aching muscles.

to take stock of our trip, check out our purchases!

26 August 2007

Packed up to go home. Pls do not take AirAsia, had friends telling us not to, but we decided it can't be that bad. Well it was, the plane was very old, complete with old vinyl seats. Quite scary actually. So yes. Should have listened to their advice.

Reached SG safely, tired but absolutely satisfied. Very fun trip with my TJ! =)

Random

2007-08-27T21:20:00.000+08:00

did you miss me?

ppl who ask this question on their blog sometimes are asking for it, so don't answer that.

many things happened recently which explain the lack of blogging activity:

1) lots of work since the busy period is coming up, and it can only get worse in Sept. 2 more mths b4 my colleague comes back from maternity leave! arghz

2) tj's ah-ma passed away =( don't worry ah-ma, i'll take care of him

3) BKK with my man. lots of crazy walking, shopping, eating and mostly fun. though we did end up pissing each other off once in a while, it was all good. will blog more abt it later.

4) lord voldemort makes one comment that "our discipline is crumbling", now everyone has to watch over their shoulders to see who's monitoring how long they take lunch, what time they go home, and which websites they surf. youtube, gmail, friendster photos bad... blogging also bad =(

national day

2007-08-10T09:55:00.001+08:00

Put on my red blouse and off-white berms on national day, and promptly went across the Causeway to J.B. Mum had to buy medicine for grandma so asked us along for safety (in numbers).

Note to self: never go JB on a public holiday! We spent like 1.5 hrs queuing at JB customs to get our passports stamped. That resulted in us reaching the place late, not enough time to go the places we wanted to go etc. Well I did get my haircut (think he layered too much so now it sticks out) but he spent so much time cutting it I can’t fault him, and at least my split ends are gone. And for the first time, we had difficulty finding a cab in JB! (almost half hour spent trying to flag one down, and cabbies reject us saying got jam near customs! Where got such thing one?)

Yes, so after a whole day of waiting, queuing etc. I made my way down to Padang for more jostling with people. Reached around 7, was amazed to find the sheer number of people in red, picnicking at Padang, walking around the area to find a good spot. Thankfully tj’s family went early to chope seats (what a S’porean thing to do), so I joined them, watching parts of the parade on the large screen, chit-chatting, eating and indulging in another s’porean activity: cam-whoring. It was fun playing with my camera, trying out different settings (though I haven’t gone to figure out the ISO ones yet) but I must say I’m v pleased with it so far

The fireworks were pretty. Love the gold ones with the stars at the end. Think I’ll go through idiotic things just to catch fireworks. But I love them.

Thing that struck me is the patriotism that people have, I see a lot of people wearing red, and everyone young and old seems v happy sitting there, chilling, queuing up to buy food, to “chope” a good spot, clapping and cheering during the fireworks or when the helicopters go by with the giant national flag. Feels good, even if nobody really gives a damn about patriotism or being Singaporean after August 9 is over.

OBS

2007-08-06T11:47:00.000+08:00

Went OBS on a 5 day course sponsored by my company last week. This was my third time at OBS (incidentally, my first time at OBS was 10 years ago. How time flies.)

We did quite a lot of stuff, not as physically taxing as my previous school trips, but a lot more mental and emotional stimulation like reflections, discussions, sharing sessions etc. which made it more meaningful. I think OBS should be attended by young adults to make the outcome more fruitful.

It was great. Throw a bunch of young people from various departments and divisions together and you’ll get an instant mix of people who will work together in the best way they can to get the task done in the most efficient way possible. Winning is a plus, but not a must. Mistakes if any, are forgiven. Having never really experiencing teamwork in my line of work, I found this very refreshing, bringing me back to my school days of being heavily involved in sports CCA. Of course in the real life work place things are never peachy, and there are lots of politics involved. It’s also “comforting” to realize that people everywhere are complaining about the same things: the cover backside and taichi syndrome, the I don’t wanna do work but wanna claim credit syndrome. For a while it became almost depressing.

Most of all, it was a journey of self discovery for me. I set out trying to improve my self confidence level, and stumbled at a particular obstacle. Cried, didn’t wanna do it, stood there for the longest time, but chickened out in the end. Just couldn’t get rid of the fear of falling, losing control. But even though I berate myself for not having the courage and the guts, I was very comforted by the encouragement shown by my teammates, telling me that people still care and that was really touching (though I felt quite bad for letting everyone down). So from a random bunch of colleagues I’ve gained a bunch of friends that I know I can always count on…

On the whole, it was a fantastic experience. I highly recommend it if you get the chance.

the "MACHO" cat

2007-07-26T08:58:00.000+08:00

last nite my mum saw the cat come in biting something black, walking towards his food bowl. thinking it was a sock, she called out to him, "kinki, wat is tt you're biting?" he panicked, and dropped the item right outside my room (i had closed the door for privacy).

soon after, there was a mini-commotion.
cheryl: "wah kinki you're so macho"
mum: "kinki! you're so cruel!"

curious, i opened the door, to find a dead mynah lying there. i jumped a little at the strange and unexpected sight, since he has never brought home anything dead. was kinda "flattered" cos i read in cat books that cats sometimes drag home dead animals to "feed the family" and since he left it outside my door means he loves me v much. then i realise it was just because my mum shouted at him while he was outside my door that he left it there.

and the culprit just happily sat at the stairway preening himself and looking pleased, while we debated on how he managed to kill the bird and how finally he's not a wimp, while waiting for the maid to clear up the mess. after a while, he still gave us his "puss-in-boots" look tt melted our hearts...

i took a picture of the dead bird but haven't uploaded it yet. will upload when i'm free.

ewan and laura

2007-07-16T20:39:00.000+08:00

attended the very sweet wedding of my jc classmate laura and her v talented hubby ewan... all their friends can sing and play instruments! *envious* and throughout the solemnisation i was erm trying to think of ideas for my own wedding

idea 1) laura had someone dancing a lyrical dance to a hymn... v lovely and graceful. so i told yun who was sitting to my right, tt at my wedding ade and her can come up with a dance. she immediately started to cough/laugh. tt came out weird...

ideas 2-4 onwards come from yun.
2) no speeches longer than 5 min *yawn*
3) need to find talented friends who can sing
4) find a song tt tj and i sound ok in

idea 5 courtesy of laura
5) hold my wedding somewhere near national day period near the marina area so there's a chance tt there'll be fireworks after my wedding to erm celebrate for me

ok pics!
one of the few clear shots of the lovely couple. dun they just look cute tgt?

the S03D gang! how i miss those days

the wedding was getting too long and it was a tad too humid outside on the ACM balcony, so we left for clarke quay to join the FAGs for a night of partying!
it was great fun, haven't been out partying till so late for so long, and the music was good too. didn't take any photos with my tj though...

last photo of me alone! haven't taken solo shots for like ever... kinda like how it turned out

2007-07-11T10:19:00.000+08:00

Being on course then having to coordinate and attend the meetings to senior mgmt of three companies meant that it had been a stressful week…but yeah, now tt it’s over and my boss is away on some seminar means that I can take the time to take a breather, clear my mailbox (it’s way too full), chit chat and do whatever stuff tt an employee’s not really supposed to do…

Quite an exciting July for me. First week was spent on course, then all the meetings, then organizing a fundraising sale, attending a wedding this weekend, going to KL the next, then the submission of quotations for this big project we’re doing, and OBS for a whole week! Hehe.

OBS is like such a distant memory… I last went there 8 years ago? Quite looking forward to it especially as I heard tt it’ll be lotsa eating and sleeping (and they charge 1.2K per participant!) So taking the opportunity to try up my fitness level, so I won’t suffer that much during OBS. Hope I get to lose more of tt dreaded flab!

we'll miss you dear Dewy

2007-07-08T12:28:00.001+08:00

NDP 2007

2007-07-01T16:14:00.001+08:00

thanks to delvin, tj and i got to attend the NDP combined rehearsal yesterday.

it's everything the NDP is, big hoards of ppl, sitting aimlessly in the hot sun waiting for the good stuff to happen, new NDP songs that gets tons of airplay now but will be forgotten after august 10, and mostly, lots of fun.

granted, it was a rehearsal so there were lots to iron out, we didn't get running commentary so didn't know the story behind each mass display, but i enjoyed myself alot. the new location made it all the more interesting, and there's always the nationalistic pride when you see your national flag flying in the central business district.

pictures:

delvin, adeline, and her jap tuition kid and mum who braved the sun and crowds to experience s'pore nationalism at its best

i dunno wat this star's for, but it looks cute and i love the clouds in the sky. pretty!
national flag flying past the best view of s'pore, with pretty clouds in the background.

the sweetest thing

2007-06-26T09:25:00.000+08:00

The previous post got some ppl asking questions (very perceptive you guys) so yeah, I believe that the following pictures will explain it all… Lunch date at Jaan (Equinox, Swisshotel Stanford).

Lovely view, great food at great prices. And the best dessert ever, arriving in a black box =) on a chilled plate, with the magic words written in chocolate.

I was quite stunned, so the events that followed were kinda in a blur. He popped the question (on his knees of course) with a lovely, single stalk of rose. The ring was gorgeous, just the way I liked it (we did go ring window-shopping before that). So I just nodded my head, and he put the ring on… Only moments later did I realize that I forgot to say “Yes, I’d love to”, just like the way I’ve been mentally practicing to say.

It was quite a lovely surprise, the lunch was scheduled at the last minute, so he must have rushed through with all the planning… with help from the helpful staff at Jaan, though they screwed up the instructions abit, were kind enough to execute the whole thing for him.

Didn’t get to announce it earlier ‘cos the ring had to be resized and we wanted to tell the important ppl first before announcing it to the world.

More pictures:

yes, i'd love to

2007-06-19T08:33:00.000+08:00

absolutely... =)

The Promotion Theory

2007-06-11T22:55:00.000+08:00

My boss’ theory on promotion: we must show that we are doing over and above what is expected of us before we can get promoted, even if we do our own job well, it’s not enough for a promotion unless we prove we can perform the work of a manager, otherwise there’s a chance tt we’ll be promoted into incompetency, not good for the company.

To explain his theory more clearly, I’ll draw this analogy. A Primary 5 kid, takes an exam. It doesn’t make any difference if he scores 1/20 or 20/20 cos he’s only doing what’s expected of him. To far exceed expectations, he should also hand in an essay on top of doing the test. And to get promoted to Primary 6, the Primary 5 kid has to already be doing P6 work right now. Even if he shows he can do his P5 work v well, it’s not enough, cos what if he can’t handle P6 work when he gets promoted?

Batam 2007

2007-06-11T22:50:00.000+08:00

Since TJ was at Batam on course and had the weekend off, Mich (his colleague’s gf) and I decided to go Batam to pay our boys a visit. The interesting thing is tt Mich works in the same company as me too! And we have a few common friends, so had lots to talk about, esp since she’s a chatty, bubbly girl, but then next to her I feel older somehow (she’s one year younger)

We arrived abt 5pm on Saturday. This time around, we stayed at Hotel Harmoni, an ok hotel in Nagoya, close to a few seedy nightspots and some spa places. Tj had already been staying there for the past two weeks. Nothing much to tell this trip around, didn’t take many pictures too, it was quite a fun trip, lotsa oily food (I tried to hold off the chili but thankfully my tummy was ok)… we had a great seafood dinner for SGD 10 per person, went to an ang moh bar to have beer and play pool for free, then headed off to some place with a live band, but the sound system was so lousy (read: super loud) tt we decided to head off for the night.

On Sunday, we woke up for crappy hotel bfast, then went for a nice and cheap spa session. Only SGD 40 for 1 hr massage, ½ hour body scrub and ½ hr steam + Jacuzzi session. A bargain if you ask me. The place isn’t as nice as the one in holiday inn, but at that price I can’t complain much…

On the whole, a great trip, went back with a dozen of J.CO donuts. Why don’t they come over to S’pore? Not as good as Krispy Kreme, but not half bad either…

just plain suay

2007-06-07T21:58:00.000+08:00

this continues the previous entry on the suay day tt i had on Wednesday.

woke up at 3am, super nauseous and all... ended up both puking and diarrhoea-ing... then couldn't really sleep after tt...

nauseous feeling continued in the morning. i was scheduled on for an exam (some RM thing) but i felt i was in no shape to take it, lack of sleep, sick and all, so tried calling the offices to postpone, but they told me since it was the day of the paper, there was nothing they could do abt it, and advised me to call US (the hosting org) and see wat they said. i tried, but it was like maybe 10pm there, the customer service hotline was already closed. so bo pian really had to go for the thing, if not lugi abt SGD250

decided to go see a doctor to get medicine b4 the paper @ 3.30pm tt day... ended up waiting 1 hour just to see tt doctor, feeling utterly crappy cos the aircon was super duper cold. diagnosis: gastric flu... i already had all the medicine tt he gave me, only useful thing was the MC, which wasn't bad, cos i could convert my leave to MC.

so went back, ate medicine, slept a while... totally not into studying the thing already. woke up, tried having lunch, and proceeded to puke it out 5 min later, tgt with the rest of my dinner. so i guess the stupid medicine didn't work. nauseous feeling continued, thankfully the diarrhoea stopped...

time to head down to jurong east informatics centre for the exam. took cab down, cab driver didn't really know where it was, so i ended up dropping way too early (he couldn't turn in), walked in the wrong way (i didn't see the entrance so ended up walking the really long way in). 15 min in the hot sun, feeling puky really felt like shit... plus i didn't really know where the hell the stupid entrance was... but finally i made it there...

the test centre was a dreary place, aircon was musty, it was dark, v conducive for sleeping... plus the lady didn't allow me to bring water in, cos the rules say so. i thought: huh? it's just a bottle of water, my bottle is transparent for goodness sake... so i said i was running a fever then, i needed the water... but she said no, you can come out and take ur water if u want... crap, she scared i pour the water and spoil the computer meh? so yeah, the sick feeling got worse by the minute, i tried my best to do all the questions to the best of my ability, but the questions were so crap and v confusing after a while (guess i wasn't in the best of mental state). i once took an exam in NUS when i was having severe gastric, and got C+ for tt stupid module. so yah, no surprises when i found tt i failed the exam... sucks...

walked to jurong entertainment centre to draw money from ATM (not enough money to take cab home). got on a cab... and it was a slow, jerky ride cos of the jam... finally made it home, and ran to the toilet to puke again, since i already puked out EVERYTHING, there was nothing left except to gag...

didn't dare to eat anything after tt, so it was honey water and more rest for me.

just suay i think. thinking y this year i'm having such lousy luck...

the only good thing was: i went back to the doctor tdy, got another day's MC and stronger med (which i totally didn't eat), and went back to keng... haha! still dun dare to eat too much and avoiding oily, spicy, dairy... got hokkien mee craving now!

the irony...

2007-06-06T08:32:00.000+08:00

after wanting to fall sick for the whole of 2007 (half of it gone liao still never), i end up falling sick when i'm on leave, the day of my exam somemore... i hate the feeling of puking... and still having diarrhoea now... =(

Almost kena conned…

2007-05-29T10:42:00.000+08:00

During lunch yesterday, I received a call from NBYN Image Consultants informing me that I’ve been recommended by a friend to receive a free makeover session. I can “leave all my cash and credit cards at home and just go and enjoy, after which I can bring home two shots for free…” Sounds almost too good to be true right? So I asked her for the name of my friend who recommended me… she told me it was a list whereby the recommenders name need not be written down. Didn’t think too much of it, and she asked me to come down on Vesak Day for the shoot. Since she told me it was trial only basis and I was in a good mood, I decided to accept, but requested to shift the date to next Tuesday since I was on leave whole day but had nothing to do in the afternoon. Then my handphone went flat and I didn’t put in a spare battery until 1 hr later, during which I received abt 8 missed calls, cos she needed to get some details from me…

After about 2 hrs (I wasn’t around to pick up the phone) she called, then asked for more info… What I can remember of the conversation is below.

NBYN: What age group are you in? 25 – 29?
Me: No. 24.
NBYN: May I have your occupation?
Me: Executive
NBYN: Can I have your full name as in NRIC and fax number so I can fax you the invitation?
Me: (gives my full name). Can you just email me the details?
NBYN: Sorry we don’t do emails.
Me: All right then (gives fax number). Do you all do Resume-type photos? (I don’t have a professional one taken, thought since I was there, might as well do it)
NBYN: Oh you mean those passport size photos? Oh we don’t do those…
Me: Erm ok. What do I have to bring for this shoot?
NBYN: Oh we will do two styles: Casual and Fun, you can bring 2 sets of your own clothes, or we have costumes that you can wear…
Me: Huh? What kinda costumes?
NBYN: Oh we have Korean, Western etc etc costumes…
Me: Ok (totally not interested in those). Then I’ll see you then… Bye…

I received the fax, and found out that the company is called Naughty by Nature. Weird name I feel, so I went to google it. And found tons of bad reviews in forums, blogs etc. To summarise, many many people have been called by this company since 2004 cos they’ve “won some shopping centre lucky draw (when pressed they can’t name the shopping centre), or was recommended/referred by friends”. If they realize that you’re young, e.g. someone told them she was 21, she can’t go unless she brings her parents along (presumably so she can have cash to pay for the package). If you bring friends with you, they can’t wait there for you, unless they join you for the shoot (so you won’t have someone to drag you away). Though they say the shoot is only for 2 hrs, it takes up to 6 hrs and they don’t let you leave in between. And the standard of the makeup and photography is lousy, the photoshopping sucks and the printing is bad (photos with white background got stains at the back). They’ll hard-sell you and give a lot of pressure for you to sign a “lifetime membership” and to give you your photos (price varies, approx $2000) if not they’ll delete it on the spot (or they tell u tt they delete it). Some readers were asked to dress in skimpy/revealing outfits and give sexy poses. There was one who was even told to remove the top of the gown and even the bra (and pose behind a pillow). But who knows if they really delete the photos (or what they do with it after?)

I usually take forum postings with a pinch of salt, but if so many people are complaining then there really must be something wrong. To me, the “I don’t do passport photos” was weird, cos it’s additional income for them, especially if I don’t end up purchasing anything. Of course there’s no such thing as a free lunch, when you go for free facial/spa package of course they’ll promote their packages. Totally understandable, but there has to be a limit somewhere, and the more I read, the more I feel disgusted. So yes, though I have an appointment, I’m not gonna turn up, and I’m not even going to call them to cancel the appt, since as what I’ve read, there’ll be tons of people there (50+) getting conned at the same time, so I think they won’t miss me. And if my phone rings non-stop, I’ll just not pick up…

In the meantime, if you’re free on Jun 5 afternoon, let me know?

interesting wedding

2007-05-28T11:47:00.000+08:00

Attended a very interesting wedding over the weekend. TJ’s cousin was getting married to a guy she met while studying in China. She’s been living there for ages so I’ve yet to meet her.

Since she’s marrying a foreigner, there were two separate wedding dinners, one in China, the other in S’pore. They held the China one first, so the pictures were on display as a slideshow during the dinner itself. The similarities were there, gathering of family members to congratulate the couple, decorating the house, taking of studio photos…

the interesting thing is this: in S’pore the couple offers tea as a sign of respect to their elders (and also for the elders to give them angbao to recuperate the “loss” associated with holding a wedding). In China however, they offer CIGARETTES instead. So there were a whole series of shots whereby the couple (more often than not the bride) would be placing a cigarette in the elder’s mouth, and she’ll be lighting it… tt kinda thing. The highlight of the pictures was that she did the exact same procedure (ciggie and all) for her mother, who totally doesn’t smoke. There was even a shot of her puffing (not sure the term, I just know tt she was blowing smoke out)…

TJ’s cousin definitely met with some resistance from her family (esp her parents) when she decided to marry this guy… but from the whole ciggie thing it is clear that her parents have given her support ultimately, which I felt v sweet.

But the wedding studio shots were still v tacky… (u shd see her hairdo in some of them. *cringes in horror*

Ouch!

2007-05-24T09:28:00.000+08:00

Was doing some random stretching thing at office, then suddenly felt pain… oh shoots, turns out, I pulled some muscle in my upper back, when I look down and sideways my neck hurts, and my shoulder too… =( but rubbing deep heat does help a lot, but can’t they make deep heat tt doesn’t smell medicinal? Feels old to be bothered by aches and pain… like auntie liddat

One year down the road…

2007-05-15T10:22:00.000+08:00

Exactly 1 year ago, I joined this company, a huge change from my basic degree and my previous job. I had to learn everything fast within the first three months, with practically nobody to guide me, and I was the floater without any friends too… Then my colleague AT joined the dept from the neighbouring dept, and it got better I learnt a lot abt the workings of this organization, not to mention making fast friends with my lunch kakis… that certainly helped to make time faster and more enjoyable too… My CCA also helped as I got to work with a bunch of crazy young ppl to plan fun activities…

After about half a year, I started getting used to the workings here, and learnt abt the long rivalry between a few bosses here, how they’ll make things difficult for each other, making it v difficult for us small fries. Not to mention it’s v difficult to work w my boss in the first place, a v petty guy who says one thing and preaches another, who goes arnd in circles and takes his time on things, then when it isn’t done at the end of the year, turns around and points his finger at his staff… my appraisal was totally unfair and a mess, and while at tt time of appraisal I was super motivated to prove him wrong, I’m not sure I wanna do that anymore…

Thankfully, the recent good news made it tt much easier to hang on (at least until july) but I’m starting to look out for the next better thing I wanna do with my life. With rumours of our dept expanding and AT’s coming maternity leave, it’ll certainly change the dynamics around here… Hopefully not for the worst, the period she’s gg away is the 2nd busiest time of the year…