Decorations to amplify the mood

3 more days to CNY! The feeling's right in the air~ Got these deco to add on to the atmosphere at home:

May fortunes knock on our door
Such a happy and jubilant Prosperity God
Spring coming through our bedroom door
New change of bedsheets, no more maroon satin comforter.. for now
Little hanging ornaments tell a lot
I knew Mama likes round gold fish
Piano top's full of little black bad-badtz Maru, hee

What will keep us alive?

Not a good day at all at work today, where even at one point I thought I’ve landed up in a totally wrong office. I go into the office to start handling all sorts of minute tasks, all involving chasing after people for confirmation and information. TMD. Gotta organise an offsite for TEC Management, prepare a set of slides for boss to present to EXCO and HR, arrange bus trips and arrange logistics (human as well as physical) for a series of workshops.. endless! Really see no value in the work I do, all sai gang and no deliverables! If it goes on like this..

On the way back home, my head was pounding away coz of all the stress and coldness in office. Seems like headaches are common thing on Mondays. And I’ve gotta squeeze with the crowds in the MRT, where people stick so close together that intentional molestation may be mistaken for incidental bumps or knocks. So I blasted music max to drive off all this craziness, let my mind be free, let my soul lose its sense of rationality. At that point, I could have stepped hard onto anyone’s toes if I get offended. It was insanity at its best.

After a while, one of my favourite piece came on in the mp3 player and it dwindled my irritation. Then, as I was reading an article in The Economist, evil humour got into me and I started laughing at the pitiful plight of others (I’m most evil when irritated). It was about the plain boredom of Saudi Arabia folks’ lives, and how when a new store in Jeddah handed out gift vouchers to promote its opening, 15000 people turned up and created a stampede killing two. What attracted the people was “the utter lack of anything else to do”.

Such a tough balance. Do you want simply nothing to do, or get swamped with endless work? Why can’t we live a moderate life, to be equally able to smell the roses and pump the adrenalin?

Some weekends round-up

Blur me left my mobile phone at home today. The first emotion I felt when realising my forgetfulness was a sense of handicap. I have no means of connection today! But it may be a good thing after all without this dependence on the handphone to fiddle my fingers on in the MRT or to check for sms every now and then. Hmm, but how forgetful can I get. This is the first time!

Saturday I was free for the day, thus went to IMH (Institute of Mental Health) with Sher for volunteer work. The work itself wasn't that much, just playing games and accompanying the folks there, and it was pretty relaxing and mind-easing. We visited a ward of middle-aged men who have schizophrenia at their rest & relax room, but from what I see they are an okay bunch of people. There were two or three sleeping on the floors, and a handful being with themselves and not interacting much. But on the other hand, there were those who are friendly to us bunch of volunteers and some of them are really smart in their own ways. There's James who is damn good in chinese chess and dumb (he ate three of my seeds in one go!); Alini who draws so well, I think he has a special talent for minute things and he wanted one of my dangling earrings which I gave to him; Francis who reads the chinese papers and is so street-wise, knowing all the areas in Singapore; and Joseph who plays good 3D tic-tac-toe. Rather impressive.

In general, it's more a fun session with them rather than putting in hard work trying to do manual and dirty work. Although we may have to put in more concentration in understanding some of their words, in all it is still relaxing on the mind. Those folks have no ulterior motive and you don't have to put on guards against them like how you would against your colleagues or some peers. Thinking of going there again!

Also happy that Apa Ama agreed to have dinner out last night, at the coffeeshop downstairs. The only thing that peeved us was the extremely long waiting time - around an hour! The zhu chao business is good, yes, but they shouldn't let customers wait to damn long. We heard people cancelling orders.. must have be filled up with anger in their stomaches to eat their main meal. Next time we'll really consider hard if to eat there again. But nevertheless, all members of the Wong family were able to have dinner together today! Happy.

Breakfast, I like

There's always this feeling I have while eating breakfast out. It's like getting a good headstart to the day by giving myself a pamper. Would be nicer if there is someone for company. It's heart-warming seeing each other's semi-sleepy faces, raw from waking up.

So now here I am, having my breakfast of kaya toast and teh at the coffeeshop downstairs. Around me are mostly aunties and uncles. To my left there is a group of aunties who seem to have just came back from exercising; to my right there are middle-aged couples and another uncle by himself, reading the papers. Above my head blasts the music - Chinese New Year songs. And around the coffeeshop are a lot more people walking around towards their various destinations, people setting up clothes stalls (cart-style) and attending to a handful of patronisers. I wonder why people (those who don't have to work) wake up so early!

I like my neighbourhood for its vibrancy, there are so many activities and movements around!

=================
Okay, it's another trip to California Gym today, though I've mentioned by dis-preference for it. The weather was perfect for a jog along Esplanade and Marina Promenade, but my poor kaki is down with flu. So I saw quite a handful of fully naked women changing at the ladies, right in front of their lockers and many other women. It's quite gross actually. Imagine changing halfway and someone you know walks in and sees you. Disgusting, isn't it? Dunno if it's the same culture at other branches, perhaps only urban city-dwellers do this kinda thing. That's like very shameless, tsk.

I do things for you, but what do I get back?

So much for helping do the marketing every Sunday morning, tagging the bulky trolley basket behind me and squeezing with the crowds of aunties and fishmongers and all. I was still telling myself how nice it is to go “shop” around in the neighbourhood every week, easing my parents’ burden of buying fish, meat and vegetables. But when I came home with the load of groceries, I get only complaints, first from my mum then from my dad.

They asked me to buy a 黄白 (can you tell what the heck this is??), which appears to be a kind of Beijing cabbage. I told them I am not sure if I can get the right one, since there are so many varieties of white cabbage in the supermarket. Then they described it as whitish-yellow, oval-shaped like an egg but wth, don’t all cabbages look like that? So in the end I still got it wrong, and had to listen to their grumbles. I countered Apa saying every Sunday there are so many people downstairs in the neighbourhood, I have to squeeze through the crowds and bear with the waiting time at each stall. Sometimes Ama wants to get a lot of stuff k. Pork ribs, braised duck, vegetables, fish, chicken, fried bee hoon… can you imagine the agony of visiting these stalls one by one and waiting at each, while my empty stomach growls loudly away?

Then Apa said I could have gone to the market earlier in the morning, rather than at 9 plus am. Come on, I need my precious beauty sleep during the weekends, the only time I can catch up on my neglected sleep! He is super insensitive and inconsiderate. I help them with household chores every weekend, yet they take it for granted. I could have just gone out the whole weekend, not iron the clothes, vacuum the floor, do marketing and sometimes accompany them to NTUC. Sometimes I wonder why I should bother this much while my brother is treated like a prince.

So, it’s time to set my priorities right. Time is precious and I don’t want to waste it doing things I don’t get appreciated for or even get blamed for.

My extended weekend flew past just like that!

Lunch at Ichiban Sushi with VJC 98S26 clique. Beside me are Fang and her bf, Mark. His first appearance in our gathering.. more of him to come! :p
Lovey-dovey Stephie and XZ - the rather-newly-wed couple :)
The whole group of us. WW and I took the centre-stage heh.
Sophia and me. One to be respected (coz she's super nice and good) and she's very observant, just like me!
Sophia and Stephie - the "S" sisters
Nan Ren yeah :)
This is a damn weird butterfly!! Two wings with a worm attached to each wing; their butts stuck together. Very freaky indeed.

Can you see it?

It’s nice meeting up with the S26 gers, coz I can just be myself and engage in meaningful conversations with them. Although we gers gossip about those we know, we do talk update on each other’s life and it’s cool to see how they progress. Two of them are married happily, and I must say they lead a very different life from the rest of us unmarried ones. Happy for Fang too; she has found a very suitable guy who’s able to connect with her emotionally and make her hard-ice heart melt.

Appreciate very much that WW spent the whole day with me, firstly rushing to Parkway for lunch with us even though he had to fetch his family around the whole morning. Then, had to bear with me being frustrated while waiting for free table at Yakun. I think he has a lot more patience than me. Kudos! And me felt apologetic that he couldn’t enjoy dinner coz Papa decided to order Thai food for dinner instead of zi cha. That’s the thing with coordinating with the other family members; you really couldn’t get a fast and good decision. Everyone’s opinion has to be taken into consideration.

Talking about family, it’s also a very fortunate thing that my parents have each other and that they are getting more independent. Now they are free on their own to go out and explore new places, with Mama’s wheelchair and Papa’s motorised wheelchair. They are able to do what they want, and even do some exercising while travelling around. Previously Mama used to stay at home all day, all week and could even not go out in a month. That’s really unhealthy; one time she was so yellowish (due to sunlight-deficiency) that we thought there was something wrong with her liver. Now the worry is on Papa’s health. He needs more exercising to get rid of that pot belly and lower his cholesterol.

Soon WW will have to start work proper and may have to work late hours. Wishing him all the best at work and find that motivation to look forward to work. Most importantly, one has to find what makes him/her tick in life, to hold on to own beliefs in life and be happy. I hope my loved ones stay healthy and happy, to find the thing that makes them go on with life each day full of satisfaction and pride.

It's a Happy Happy Saturday

Itchy butt - seriously thinking there may be bugs in our cushion on the chair coz Tian and I have itchy butts after sitting on it.

Anyway I am supposed to be on the bed sleeping now, but decided to come blog instead since.. I have the next 3 days free from work! Woohoo.

Just now WW and I had a hard time trying to settle our dinner. We wanted to go Queenstown food centre for some simple fare and satisfied our respective food cravings, but we had to wait for free lots at the car park there. Me know WW don't quite like waiting at car parks, we then gave Queentowns FC a miss. Next wanted to go Chin Swee Market, but couldn't find it! Hidden in some small corner. Lastly we decided to go somewhere with food, definitely. Didn't want to get all disappointed and having to look for alternatives. So we settled for Parkway, and it was horrendous to see the many cars waiting for free lots (again!) at the HDB car parks opposite the main shopping buildings. Why does all Singaporeans crowd at the same few places during the weekends? So jam-packed!

Despite the hard time trying to get our nice dinner, the day was well-spent coz we washed the car together. People must be thinking how foolish we are to wash the car in this perpetually rainy weather (it was pouring somemore when we were washing the car), but they don't know that the wash was all-needed. Can the satisfaction of accomplishment after the wash.. seeing the car sparkling white. That's damn shiok.

Earlier in the morning me had encounters with some relatives. Drove papa to ah-bo's house to help her repair her 20-years-old Baby Belling oven which she's going to use to bake her pineapple tarts (yummy!). We had to send the oven for repairs since they don't sell separate parts anymore. Then ah-bo wanted us to wait for her tarts to be ready, which required another hour or so, before she heads down to the repair shop with us. But that was not needed since as long as we manage to carry the duper-heavy oven into the car, the others are a-okay. At most call the shop uncle out to help carry.

Then I was thinking, how come some of our relatives can be so stubborn and wanted things done their way all the time? Some advice the older relatives give are no longer applicable in this modern world and the youngsters definitely won't hear from them. How, then, to engage the younger ones?

Brr. Weather is superbly-cold. The chilling wind is even worse, sending shivers down the bones. And best part is that Mama opens the living room windows to the max! That's crazy la... making us all suffer the extreme coldness. Can't take it!

Quirky Habits

Kana tagged by shoezgal to write down five quirky habits of mine, but I can only think of three (I'm a "prim and proper" lady mah).

1) Kneading with my fingers the thickened toenail on the last toe of my left foot
2) Eating my sunny-sideup or hard-boiled egg only after I finish my rice and other vegetables
3) Squeezing blackheads, including those on my cheeks, and leaving behind a little patch of skin bruise (so ugly)

Who wants to get tagged? Self-volunteer :p

Welcoming 2006

Happy 2006!

Good start to the new year with a clear blue sky first workday and a sunny weather. I love the sun!

So happy to step into the new year together with WW, with much merry and fun. We were at Kallang Stadium Cove snacking on our bread and blackforest cake, taking night photos and racking our brains on the code-breaker game. I just can’t seem to beat WW at all these games! Perhaps with the exception of Scramble (which needs lotsa patience) and tiao4 qi2 (which I’ve started playing with Mama since young while WW never tried it before hoho). But I still lose big time at Reversi, with as few as 5 seeds left. So back to New Year’s eve, we were sitting on the steps along Stadium Cove, waiting for the new year countdown and with WW asking ourselves not to expect any fireworks (coz he’s scared of being disappointed :p).

On the strike of midnight, we heard people in the indoor stadium behind us cheering and saw beautiful fireworks in the skies in front! Initially we thought there was nothing new about the fireworks as the first few minutes comprised of those we have seen last year. But as how things usually proceed, the display climaxed towards the end with new and impressive fireworks. We named some of the fanciful ones:

1. Cauliflower – small yellow ones with mini-bursts and have small streaks coming down
2. Porcupine – as its name suggests, this is one round ball with short spikes at its outer sphere. There were varying sizes, but there was a mega one which I like a lot
3. X’mas ball (my naming) – with red, green and yellow spots and seems to be running towards us. Very big and is my favourite

And there were others which mostly had been featured in last year’s Singapore Fireworks Festival. Hope CNA online can post some nice photos!

After the display, WW and I played with sparklers and left one tiny white mark from the burning at one of the steps. Around us were people screaming away happily (dunno why they got so happy at the turn of the year) and also groups of friends celebrating. It was indeed a very fun way to welcome the New Year and happy to have WW with me.

Last few days of 2005

Time for a break. Pouring outside the office building now, which suits me just fine coz I had my 40-min run last evening with Beng See. Can’t imagine 2005 is left with only 2.5 days and 2006 is coming right in our faces. It’s very true that once you start working, your years will fly past just like that. 2000 doesn’t even sound very far to me.

I can’t seem to capture the magical feeling of the Christmas season anymore these years. I remember how my sis and I, as kids, loved the cooling weather come year-end and spend our time watching Mickey Mouse Christmas cartoons on TV. We never had a Christmas tree erected in our house, and never thought much about celebrating the festive with relatives and friends, but the feeling is just there. In comparison, now as we stroll down Orchard Road, the lightings and decorations have no appeal at all. The log cakes, turkey and ham also induce no drool of mine. What remains to be appreciated, I feel, is the gathering of loved ones, friends and relatives. Perhaps also the gingerbread men cookies that we didn’t used to dare eat. Haha, used to think it quite cruel to chew off arms and legs of a gingery man.

With the recent meet-up with friends, I’ve got to know quite a fair bit of gossips and news. There are lotsa pieces of happy news – one of my gang of seven got engaged, one of my dearest friends at work is attached and a colleague is pregnant. On the other hand, there are surprising bits which make my friends and I realise how typical our lives are. Some people have the courage to venture into new fields, and even do things their peers never would. Kudos.

In the end, I still think I prefer a moderate and simple, yet happy life.

Christmas Presents

I think we females like to list down the presents we got during Christmas, and then take pleasure in getting gifts from friends. To the male counterparts, this would be like.. "what's the big deal?" But women are women afterall. Wahaha.

This Christmas our very-famous artiste cousin gave Tian and I a bottle of perfume each - Givenchy 30 ml EDT and Valentino 30ml Parfum. The Givenchy is a limited edition somemore. My other cousin (elder sister of mentioned) gave us a mask too, which turns out to be coincidentally needy for the new Hiao-convert (that is me). Hoho, the best part is that both sis and I didn't turn up for that Christmas party cum gift exchange at our small aunt's place. And of course, our semi-cheapo family (bear with us, we're on our transformation path!) got only chocolates and some recycled gifts for the rest. Mama is a thrifty and cost-conscious virtuous mother.

WW got me a purple Zara top yeah. We were choosing between white and purple, yet decided on the latter coz it gives a more sexy feel (according to WW). ;) On Christmas Day we had zi cha dinner together with his family @ Mei Chin market. The food should be rather good; I didn’t really know as I was munching more on the yam slices than eating the main meat in the dishes. After that it was King Kong at Clementi cinema. Quite amazingly the scriptwriters managed to squeeze in many components of a movie into that 3-hours show. Parts of it were rather exaggerating, but we enjoyed it to bits, laughing our heads off. I was touched by King Kong’s little acts of gentleness. Imagine such a big beast being able to convey human emotions. Miraculous indeed, even though it’s just a show.

Kinda hard to pick up pace now that I am back at work. Somehow I’m thinking… if I venture into other career fields involving financial mathematics, how will it be?

Ok, very cliché, but a new year resolution list is snowballing:
a) Beauty make-up session
b) Making use of diary from Sher to jot down major international news and events
c) German language course/tennis lessons/yoga lessons (/ = ‘or’, can’t afford to do ‘and’)
d)

Funny Comics on Christmas

*lol* really very funny!

Spending $$ like nobody's business

Actually not that big an amount, but I spend just as I wish! Who cares?

Yesterday (X'mas eve) WW and I went to Great World City shopping centre to get some stuff and had a good meal. I got for myself:

i) Royal Jelly pills
My first try at pills though never used to believe in them. These are meant to smoothen out my skin as small bumps have started to surface.

ii) Vitasence pore clarifying essence
I've become hiao all over again! Wahahah. But hope this expensive 30ml stuff can treat my ever-lasting (so far) blackheads and also prevent pimples from popping up. Hormonal changes causing all these pimples; I didn't used to have them.

iii) Hearty Ichiban Boshi meal (treat for WW too!)
Always feeling very fortunate when eating @ Ichiban Boshi. Not everyone gets the chance to tuck into such good food k.

And happy that WW likes the leather name card holder I've gotten for him. Phew, I've gotten it correct to match Ah Tiao's tastes, heh.

It feels good to be able to spend as I wish, but gotta save up to pay for bro's $1550 new bicycle!! Where is fairness in this world?!

Heck care~ Gonna deduct from his ang pow $$. Wahahha

Helplessness

What does one do when faced with a helpless situation?

Be bochup and take things easy! Heck care about the consequences and don't blame urself or others. Some things are just meant to be lah. Whether it's bound to happen, you have no control over.

Which is, hmm, easier said than done.

I dunno why I take things so seriously and have this temper on the spur of the moment which I can't control. Mama always says no one can tolerate this easily-unleashed temper of mine, and I agree.. and am actually very scared of it. Sometimes I even thought of giving up everything so that it won't affect anyone else.

I give almost all credit for things turned worse (deterioration of my skin texture, viewing things more seriously than I should) to work. Expectations are high - the stupid scholar's role to fulfill, and there is a constant pressure to perform. So that lies the trick of switching between life within and outside work. If you treat your our-of-office life as seriously as you do to your social life, you'll bound to be in trouble.

Lalala.

Be happy and merry. Why care so much after all? Life is short!

What an uninteresting bunch of colleagues!

After my block leave, I made my way happily to work yesterday morning. There's this corporate-wide X'mas theme event going on, where every floor dresses up in colours of green and/or red and bring out their best performance to charm the judges. The best floor will win $500 in F&B vouchers, while the runner-up and second runner-up get $300 vouchers and $200 vouchers respectively.

But sadly, the 21st floor (my floor) was pathetic. Only a few cats were around, with most colleagues either on leave or away somewhere (maybe partying on their own). Perhaps that's because our floor consist of functions from two different groups - Operations and Technology. So there was no coordinated effort and the happening ones were away. Most of us were dressed in dark blue or black, and in jeans. I donned a olive green skirt with a black top (at least there were some greens in me!). So while other floors were merrily caroling away, we were obediently seated at our desks, typing gibberish stuff away.

But with the wild party animal in me, I ran off to 25th floor, my old home (娘家) and watched their performance. Quite cool leh. And they had a buffet lunch at the pantry area... if only I were still with them! But never mind! My other colleague and I resolved to hold a New Year's party. It ain't too late to party.

Met Sher for lunch yesterday during which she passed me two gifts! One souvenir each from Paris and Korea. Tks Sher! I told her the diary from Paris would serve as my "physical blog", where I can jot down my ideas and thoughts everyday. And yesh, I still want to play 通宵麻将. Who else is keen? :)

Yeah, it's Christmas eve today and though WW and I have no specific plans to spend this day, we'll just do what we like best. Maybe fly a kite. Christmas is nice with the spirit of giving and sharing, a time when friends show their concern explicitly and everyone feels warm. Yesterday Beng See gave me a box of chocolate early in the morning. So nice! I shared a box of Royce whole milk and white chocolate with my IA colleagues. Happy to see them enjoying it too.

Hanging out @ McCafe

The night view from my living room window. It was around 1230am and you can see quite a number of families were still awake.
The moon shining from behind the dark clouds. A slight feeling of ominous, but I like the backdrop, plus the orangish reflection in the skies.

This afternoon, I had the luxury of passing time leisurely. I took the golden opportunity (weekday afternoon ok.. wonderful) and cycled from home to East Coast Park McCafe.

Brought back some work from office, and took them along to McCafe
My favourite latte - Himalayan Tea Latte!

It was a day well-spent :)

Yann Arthus-Bertrand

While walking along Orchard Road one day last week, I came upon this long row of pictures on display. Good that they left the website address under the pictures, which then led me to introduce this great photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Just look at his aerial photos.

“Love Parade” in Tiergarten Park, Berlin, Germany
Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany
Storage area at the Daimler-Chrysler truck assembly plant, Worth am Rhein, near Karlsruhe, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

And his biography, extracted from his website http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com.

Biography
Born on March 13th, 1946, Yann ARTHUS-BERTRAND has always had a passion for nature. From age 17 to 20, he does a brief stint in the cinema, first as assistant director, then as an actor, playing with Michelle Morgan in “Dis-moi qui tu es” among others. In 1967, Yab settles in the centre of France where he is in charge of a nature reserve. At 30, he moves to Kenya with his wife, Anne, in order to study the behaviour of lions in the Massai Mara reserve. Feeling the need to tell the facts through images rather than writing, he then truly becomes a photographer... The experience is at the origin of his first book, Lions (1981), and gives him the opportunity to discover the beauty of the world from the air aboard a hot air balloon.

Upon his return to France, he becomes a photojournalist specialising in adventure, sports and nature. He has covered ten editions of the Paris-Dakar rally, produces each year the Roland Garros yearbook and takes photographs of nature lovers, such as Dian Fossey and her mountain gorillas in Rwanda. In 1989, he decides to gather 100 of the best French photographers and organise "3 days in France" – an event and a book. As his passion for aerial photography develops, his work is recognised internationally and his pictures are published in famed magazine such as Paris-Match, Geo, Life, National Geographic...

In 1991, he creates ALTITUDE, a visual data bank of aerial views gathering the work of photographers from all parts of the world. In 1995, under the patronage of the Ecological Science department of UNESCO, he embarks upon the ambitious project of creating a scientific data bank of the Earth seen from above. This continuing survey of the planet’s ecosystems seen from a new angle still constitutes an important part of his work; it is reflected in exhibitions and publications allowing the public at large to better comprehend sustainable development and what is at stake there. In parallel, Yab carries on with the systematic inventory of house pets and domestic breeds, photographing the animals in the studio or outdoors against a canvas backdrop.
Finally, in 2003, he launches the project “6 Billions Others” and sends three cameramen throughout the world to meet the people who live within places photographed from the air.

More.. breakfast and our eateries hangout

Some residual photos that I wasn’t able to upload just now:

Breakfast @ Coffee Bean, Bras Brasah
Waffles, scrabbled egg and toast. Yummy!
The guys in suits and hats are Jews. Quite a rare sight, but we managed to see them coz their synagogue are nearby.
Dear WW having his tea. Still feeling very fresh in the morning.
Night view of CBD

It is nice how settled our life seems yet we could progress steadily. Like how we have a set of eating places we frequent, with food we both savour. For vegetarian delights, we visit Yogihub, which leaves us 100% satisfied and happy after every meal. (Ok, perhaps only that time when they ran out of salsa sauce which left WW really disappointed.) For Chinese cuisine, we like Crystal Jade, usually with WW ordering hor fun or noodles, while I order porridge. We like hawker centres too for they bring about a different flavour all together. Ones that tickle our stomach juices include Margaret Drive food centre and Bedok 85. Bet lots will start drooling at the mention of the Bak Cuo Mee there. Also, there is the fish soup dish at Kim Seng Road coffeeshop. With these varied choices, there is no need to think about where else to go for our meals. And I can’t imagine being with someone who has a very different taste from mine. How can I enjoy my vegetarian food or simple fare at such ease and joy?

Wonder-Times

Been kinda like a getaway with WW, spending time with each other without disturbances and work worries on our mind. As usual, time passed by faster than we would like it to be, but that did not bother us coz there was no rush at all.

We had a chance to do what I like most – to have breakfast together. Furthermore, this time we did not settle for breakfast anywhere near our house; we went Jalan Kukoh for the delectable yam kueh and soon kueh; we also went Coffee Bean for its breakfast set the next morning. Having the whole day to ourselves is a rare enjoyment we get nowadays due to work, thus the opportunity for a whole day’s worth of time together is just simply marvellous.

Loving man gave me a bouquet of roses. :) We don’t usually celebrate monthly anniversaries, but this month’s has been a rather special one. Moreover it’s near Christmas, and the lightings and atmosphere around have contributed to the warm and magical feeling. Being the girlfriend who hugs at big furry stuffed bears in shopping malls and goes lingering at stores selling cute stuff, I appreciate and love the roses so! (Nan ren must be wondering what’s the big deal with flowers. Hee.)

We also talked quite a lot about life topics such as marriage, faithfulness and also a little more of each other’s rainbow-coloured past (those JC, NS [for him] and Uni times when life was more colourful). It feels so good to be able to connect deeply in thoughts and ideas with WW – one who can understand and never bears any grudges even if I said or do the wrong things.

We had the chance to take some lovely photos too. Can tell where they are taken from? Wong Tian not allowed to reveal. =P

Splendid CBD view
Sunset view
Marvel at the blend of sunset, night-blue skies and dark clouds
The orange lining from the sunset
Woo how old is that tree? (Park Emily)
Cool pose huh. Must thank the photographer~
Roses from WW
I like the smell of it, gingery!
Roof set up beside Crazy Horse Paris site

WW having his English tea

Though Man likes to joke and crap around sometimes, he has a very rational mind which is incomparable. Thus, I believe Man is even more matured than he thought he is. :)

Transformation in the Family

We used to eat small flat fishes with lotsa bones; now we eat Golden/Silver Pomfret. We used to dine at coffeeshops once in a blue moon; now we frequent Chinese restaurants for occasions and birthdays. Mama used to wear the same few dresses year after year (during CNY people must have noticed it); now she can shop at OG happily.

Yay, we’ve transformed!

Some photos:

WW and I have a penchant for city views seen from a great height

The city skyline on 40th story

Forfar Heights

Our maroon comforter

Wind chime from Prague

Messy table

Ice-cream Cake - unappreciated?

Doesn’t this look appetising?

Bro ate a little bit; Papa complained it was too big to go into the freezer; and Mama tried to squeeze pieces of it into airtight containers to place into the freezer. Haha, worst of all, I dared not eat the ice-cream bits coz of its fats.

Shall wait for the chocolate cum ice-cream monster to be back! Wong Tian, Swensen’s Cookies & Cream ice-cream cake is waiting for you!

Weekend Updates

I just can’t get down to doing work on a Monday morning, feeling so sleepy and wishing I were nuaing at home. Last week was a sleep-deprived week, having slept at 2am on one night and 3am on two nights. So Saturday night I went to bed at 9pm, dozed all the way till 8am in the morning. Woohoo!

This morning upon rising up from bed, I thought of the word “breakfast”. Why do they call our morning meal “breakfast” instead of something like “breadfirst”? When we pronounce it, “breakfast” does sound like “breadfirst” and word-wise, the latter makes more sense. The former word reminds me of Muslims breaking their Ramadan fast. Unless the word-originator took sleeping as a long fast for our stomachs.

Last evening I was at Monterey Park with WW and his family, on invitation by WW’s sis and bro-in-law for their new house-warming. They booked a BBQ pit, beng-ganged some chicken wings, prawns, lamb chops, sausages, stingrays, sweet potatoes, satays, fishballs and otahs. On top of those, they ordered catered food of bee hoon and fruits. Quite a spread, as you can see. But lazy us were sitting at the food table, helping ourselves to the BBQ-ed food. Anyway, the BBQ pits were electronic – they had temperature control features and need no fire-starting. Cool. Besides eating and chatting up a little with relatives, the gang did not do much except to simply enjoy the breezy sunset winds. The sunset was splendid though; a pity I didn’t capture it on camera though I’ve brought it along.

On Saturday, it was shopping at Expo John Little Warehouse sale with Papa Mama. We set off, with Papa Mama on their wheelchairs and me on legs, to Expo by the MRT. Thanks to SMRT’s thoughtfulness (I give them the benefit of the doubt, despite previous news forum articles of complaints raised by the handicapped community), Apa and Ama were able to travel easily to places using the MRT. So I was with them as a companion, not as a caretaker as they are as independent as can be.

We had lunch at Ma Lan Ramen at Expo at 230pm, so late that I was hungry till the point of being unsatisfied despite having finished my bowl of ramen. But I felt happy treating my parents and making sure they enjoy themselves.

Then it was a 3-hours shopping trip that followed, which left me feeling drained (plus I slept 5 hours the day before) and with wobbly legs. But still very fulfilling as we bought a set of maroon bedlinen – comforter, bedsheets, pillow cases and bolster cases – all in satin! Woo, can sleep like a queen!

Lunch-in & Cantonment Towers - photos

High-rise HDB apartments (as high as 30 stories!)
Skyline view on the 28th floor
That's me
My favourite meeting room for big groups
Market street area - the view from our 19th floor meeting room
Two of my male colleagues in Planning & Governance - Ebansha and Marcus
We ordered 933 Golden Pillow Curry Chicken for lunch on Fri
Haryanti, me and Peng Peng

My Take on California Fitness

Tks gers, I'll bear that in mind: work is secondary to balance in life. (And last night I slept at 3am coz was doing slides for work!)
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Since I don’t really have anything happening going on these days, let me open your eyes to the modern, high-end work-out place frequented by the busy executives and young rich kids these days.

My regular jogging partner couldn’t join me these two works (blame it on busy work), I’ve decided to continue my weekly after-work exercising in the gym. Happily using my LadyCard’s complimentary passes, I popped into California Fitness gym at Republic Plaza II on Wednesday evening.

Right at the front entrance, a reception counter with black beings (who ask them to have all-black polo tees as uniform) “welcomed” me. It was my first visit there, so was a little apprehensive and didn’t quite know the procedures. But of course I didn’t want others to know I’m that “suagu”, so I put on a false front and acted like I’m just going through the motion. The scene behind the counter wasn’t exactly that inviting – endless treadmill runs with small TV screens in front. Everything looks like components of a standard manufacturing machine in a factory.

After signing in with my pass, I followed the other women and headed down a small flight of stairs to the towel counter, exchanged towels with my towel pass, followed again the rest of the women to the changing room. In there were rows of lockers, changing rooms, bathing rooms, toilets, big mirrors and hair-dryers. Then I realised we need own key locks for the lockers since padlocks are not provided. Quite stupid huh. In the end I took the risk and dumped my barang barang into a locker near the hair-drying area (where more people hang around compared to the inner lockers). My wallet and valuables could have been easily stolen by anyone who noticed the absence of padlock. I must have been lucky to have all things intact at the end of the 2-hour workout session.

The equipment was insufficient for all’s needs, especially the static ones. And I couldn’t find the abdominal-cruncher equipment! How can they miss out such an important one? So I went running on the treadmill facing the glass window, but with blinds covering most of the beautiful city view, left for only a veiled view. I wasn’t able to go fast, with maximum allowable speed of 7.2 and limited inclination periods. But it’s good coz I can set any time period I wish to. So it was a 30 mins run for me.. shiok. Proceeded to the “tedious machine” (dunno its real name) and only managed a meager 10 mins. So siong! Gotta do strenuous leg steps with arm movements (hands grabbing the handlebars). No wonder I saw only guys using that equipment.

Bathing there is not that bad, they provide shampoo, conditioner and body foam. But I dare not use theirs in use it gets my hair entangled. And the women there don’t really care about privacy. They wrap towels, wear their undies and bras in front of everyone else without even glancing to see if there’s anyone whom they know nearby. Their “openness” is indeed quite eye-opening, just that you may not want to see lumpy pieces here and there.

In conclusion, I much prefer my breezy Marina Promenade and stone-pathed Bedok Reservoir track. Wanna soak in own sweat, even to smell it, feel it. Plus I get to see fellow joggers, including the hunky ones and sometimes ang mohs too! Extra motivation to run faster and catch up. =P

sinking

Nottoz lady has sunk into the deep abyss.





Yah, go put all the blame on work.





She will be back up soon.