元宵节

It was 春到河畔 last evening with parents, accompanying them for the fireworks display and the CNY festivities. Seeing them enjoying the fireworks bring happiness in me. There were millions of people though! And saw a lot of big-busted women with singlets or racerbacks that show off their cleavages. Woo.

Sunset at the Padang. On the way to the River Ang Pow.
Fortune God standing big and tall
Beijing or some Chinese perfomers with a make-shift palace pavilion
十五的月亮照在Esplanade上
Beautiful lanterns
At 930pm, the fireworks went off in a bang! Splendid!
Woohoo~~~!
There were red heart-shaped fireworks to mark the coming Valentine's Day

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Birthday dinner with family & WW

Still had a good time after a hard day's work. Work doesn't deter us from enjoyment.
Family together after the meal. Our rather frequent hang-out for dinner - 合兴“嗞喳”
The dishes
Lo Hei!

等待是甜蜜的

Quite a terrifying comic with people running out of paper. Scary! But yep, all the commotion about the Danish publishing of the comics is not that much warranted, in my opinion.

Material Possessions
When we advance in age and, for most, status, there is an increased desire to own more prized objects with heavy price-tags. However, if not kept in check, this burning desire will fuel off too ferociously that by the time we realise something's wrong, our pockets could have already been burnt off.

Being born in a relatively humble family, I was taught since young to be thrifty and question myself everytime before buying a big item. I remember how my dad used to scold us when we bought stuff he felt unnecessary and complained how expensive it was. Those were the days when our parents had to scrimp and save for our education, but of coz young us didn't know it and thought they were just very niao. But good saving habits have rubbed its effect on me. Now I think twice before buying expensive stuff, and still am unwilling to pamper myself with designer and branded goods.

Recently me been beo-ing Nokia N70 phone, rummaging through the many newspaper advertisements during weekends for the best M1 deal. But thinking this amount could potentially set me back financially, I've decided to stall and wait. Imagine everytime it's a few hundred bucks desire that I conquer, a few thousands would just vanish soon. (And I want to have that excess savings to splurge on my man ;) )

Then, seeing the people around me getting the thing I want so easily (Tian got N70 as a gift from her Henry Love, WW's sis bought N70 a few days ago), can't help but feel I still lack that purchasing power. So what if I'm a while-collared worker now? There are still so many restrictions. And this somewhat-low pay is alluring me to be envious of my friends who can afford Gucci and LV bags easily. But nah, I like this feeling of anticipation, of having the suspended desire to possess, before claiming this object as mine. The satisfaction of obtaining (and owning!) something and the lengthened euphoria then makes the object more precious.

Thou shall not be greedy! (But would be good if my pay can double...)

Still in Office at 10pm!

I'm spending the few minutes here before it strikes 10pm, which is time for me to call a cab back home! Yes, niao company only allows transport allowance after 10pm. Meant to go back much earlier, but alias..

Just now was lo hei dinner at the podium with quite a big group of staff. Wanted to network with some folks from other Groups, but didn't have much opportunity. Then no one from my function (aka department) wanted to go, so ended up I dragged another fren from another department along. So off and antisocial.

Recently there's much love in the air, hearing happy news from my dear frenz. Two of my good buddies got attached (very happily!), and one of my JC classmate is getting married in July. She's the fourth in the class to change the marriage status k.. our 98S26 class ladies damn power.

Recently me been working like siao, bringing work home to do at nights, staying in office OT, rushing work during weekends. Can't help think of a way out, say do a feasible business or strike off with some ideas parallel to hitting a gold mine. Can't image how people can slog so hard, work so many hours a day, and end up being a young woman underneath an aged woman's skin.

Oh how fast~

Happy Birthday to Tian (and myself, hee)!

Today was at Raffles Town Club for an offsite which lasted the whole working day, and zao before the rest get drunk at the Pub after the discussion sessions. My supervisor at work even got me a nice mango mousse cake, which aroused everyone's curiosity wondering how I had such a special cake when they only had the buffet's small cake pieces. So sweet of PK! Also coz of that, the group sang the birthday song in front of a restuaurant crowd, paiseh but fun!

Came back home for dinner with family and dear WW, and such a coincidence to be on the same bus as Shou Bi. I insisted on lo hei today, so we did that at the coffeeshop downstairs, which was quite nice, both in terms of food and significance. It was my bro's first lo hei, and the first time when we (family and also nan ren) had lo hei together. Felt so excited shouting the New Year wishes, each for one ingredient: 恭喜发财，大吉大利，甜甜蜜蜜，鸿运当头，青春永驻，满地黄金，越捞越起，捞到风生水起！

WW also gave me a surprise with his very original game! I "fished up" him, a PK and both a ring and Vitasence product on the third round! So fun~ I don't need the "won" rewards, as the thoughts and sincerity are already more than enough. :)

Some photos that were not able to come up in the last post:

The lamp post with a surveillance camera beneath, at Istana Park. Goes to show how tight the security is.
WW with his cousins. All very adorable kids and note how colourful their dressing is!
Dinner at Ritz Apple Strudel at Upper Thomson. The baked dory was soo huge I simply couldn't finish
WW with one of his favourite dishes - pomodoro with extra $1 serving of veges

My attempt at an artistic photo of the dragon and phoenix at Guang Ming San temple.

Turning 25

Doesn't matter that much what age I'm going into, as long as we're all happy~

Celebrated with WW in advance yesterday, as we could enjoy the sunshine only during the weekends. WW brought me to Kong Meng San Phor temple coz I've never been there before. Took the chance to pray for peace and a good year ahead. The place is cool too, very serene, peaceful and spacious, unlike the usual clutter in small Singapore.

We went on to Bishan park which is just opposite, and wow, it's big. Spotted a bunch of Indian dancers there in the midst of filming.. they can shake their bombom real well! Haha. Dinner was at Ritz Apple Strudel place at Upper Thomson (didn't expect real food at Ritz right!), where we had Italian dishes (as below). The food is cheap! And neither service charge nor GST was slapped on us, cool huh. The total bill came up to $30, and we got to enjoy a big portobello, bruchetta, pomodoro spaghetti and a very big serving of baked dory with mashed potato. Quite a pity the restaurant is tucked in the corner and patronisers only buy apple strudels rather than stay and have their meals.

Yesterday's date was just so nice, the kind of date I've been yearning for every now and then. With loving 男人 under the big warm sun - happy!

Ah-Fong's balcony

The swimming pool view from the 8th floor
Istana Open House

Mama & Papa

With WW's four cousins

Istana House

Guan Yin Temple

CNY Photos

Me with Tian in Uncle Keng's lorry, on our way to Aunty's house in Yishun
On our way to second destination, from Yishun to Telok Kurau. Got swept all over during the ride on CTE and PIE
We three siblings at the back of the lorry
We squeezed Shou Bi out of the picture!
Papa with Fluffy (in pampers) at Ah-Fong's condo
Mama enjoying herself on the couch at Ah-Fong's house
Haha, sneakily taking photos of ourselves in the toilet

WW and YZ :)

Istana Open House

Istana Open House

We took the chance today during Istana open house to check out Istana Park and its premises, as well as to make a comparison with that of European palaces. Of course, it is incomparable, but good enough on a limited-land Singapore. The grass is exceptionally green and even! Will post the photos when they’re up.

Now, to start from the point we left for Istana. Together with Mama Papa, I went to HAN’s for lunch, then took the MRT from Tampines to Dhoby Ghuat. There were so many people in the trains, and once again, it was the time for some ugly Singaporeans to show their best characters again. My parents were in wheelchairs, waiting at the MRT platform, yet there were these two intentionally-ignorant girls blocking the way and not willing to give way. Dumbo schoolgirls. Then, when my parents were making their way into the train, there was a man rushing forward. I thought he was being helpful but he was just making sure he got in before everyone else. Come on, it’s not as if you could not get in even after my parents. The train door would not slam flat on you!

To add on, there was this man who kept knocking his baby pram wheel into my foot. Damnit. First two times I turned back and looked at him, but he pretended nothing happened. Third time I couldn’t stand it and turned and frowned at him. Totally deserved a fierce beating!

Despite all these irritabilities from the ugly people, I enjoyed the day lots. WW brought his four cousins (aged between 12 to 18) along to Istana, and the six of us just went around on our own, sitting on the greens, touring the statesrooms, commenting how popular our President is (managed to get a glimpse of him amid the crowd around him). It seemed like a mini-excursion and it gave me joy as I like excursions.

After the Istana tour, my parents went on for shopping at Chinatown while WW and I, with his cousins, went on to Plaza Singapura. Went to get some bread to fill up our hungry stomachs, and from that I realised how difficult a vegetarian’s life is. WW’s cousins are strict vegetarians and luckily BreadTalk have me as a loyal customer, thus I can recommend the right bread to them. There weren’t many choices, and the young ones had to take quite sometime to decide on their picks. If not for someone to recommend to them, how could they identify which bread they can buy?

So, I would say that some areas are still lacking in general public’s awareness. Things like facilities for the disabled and indicators (on vegetarian dishes) in food outlets or bakeries should be more seriously looked into. The “minorities” should not be left in their own communities.

Dinner was at Ichiban Boshi @ Esplanade with WW，while we tucked into udon and chasoba and enjoying the view from the window at our table. How I wish we can have the luxury of time every now and then!

做人要随便（随和）

这是我说设下的新年新原则！不能每样事都讲求完美，一切都需100%。打从昨晚我就开始实行，用在每个qing kuang下. (Okay, my Word has failed to chunk out more Chinese characters, I don’t know why.)

Why a new motto in life?

Yep, yesterday morning I was so mad with Mama that I slammed my bedroom door hard and blasted the music full volume. I was supposed to help her with clothes-hanging (I volunteered) before leaving the house, but I was still doing my make-up and intended to help her straight after. But as usual I was too slow for her to bear and she got angry with me, labeled me a “say-yet-never-do” girl and ended up calling my bro and sis to help out instead. She just doesn’t trust us and expect us to do things immediately. (!) And why scold the person who so willingly volunteered her help, yet not the others who didn't bother?

But a little while after the incident, when we were about to set off, she apologised to me and even gave me a small hug! That dissolved all my angers. I felt bad having Mama apologise to me, but don’t blame myself for flaring up as it’s all accumulated resentments built up in me. (I’m still wondering why I was the only one helping out in the last-minute housecleaning while both Shou Bi and TP can do their own things! It has got to be fair mah.) Commanding myself not to flare up would suppress these resentments further and next time I may just become schizophrenic or super vengeful!

So, for everyone’s happiness, I’ve decided to be 随便 (not in the bad sense, lah), to accept things as they wish to come. A mentality of bochupness helps too. Even as the bad things come, I can tackle!

Gimme the SUN

Mama is super naggy! We think she has menopause coz she can nag non-stop and complain about anything under the sun. At times it really pisses us off, when she asks me to do small errands now and then when I am doing my own stuff. She is so negative that no amount of optimism can change this trait of hers.

The weather’s so fine! Wanted to fly kite this morning at West Coast Park with WW, then help him wash his car. But as usual, all plans remain as plans. Mama wanted me to help her with last-minute housecleaning – vacuuming and mopping the floor. I lament being “trapped” in the house with the sun outside shining brightly. Staying indoor gives me a sense of loss, not being able to enjoy the weather I love most. Staying in the office all day is bad enough, I want to be spared the agony of being beside something yet couldn’t feel it.

Next three days will be off-work days. Surely would not want to just 拜年, but want to do out in the sun too. Perhaps cycle to East Coast Park tomorrow morning and hopefully can visit Istana during its open house on Tuesday. Tian and I have decided to explore places and go gai gai once we are done with house-visits. Not going to stay in relatives’ place and rot… what a waste of time doing something we used to endure terribly!

Vitasence

Bought my second Vitasence product yesterday, just before its 20% discount ended today! Got the Revitalising Tonic (toner) and hope it does good to my skin. I trust Vitasence from the reviews on its website (http://www.vitasence.com) and have got a friend to verify it from her own experience. The first product I got from them was a Pore-clarifying essence.

For those who have the intention yet don’t know what to get, can get me Vitasence Cleasing Mousse or Protective Hydrator. Hee BHB me.

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Saw this on Sher’s (http://shoezgal.blogspot.com) and thought it looks interesting, and did one for myself!

4 jobs you've had in your life:
- accounts assistant
- Mobil speedpass promoter (petrol kiosks and roadshows)
- private tuition teacher
- internal auditor

4 movies you could watch over and over
- 15 first dates
- LOTR
- (no more since I hardly watch movies)

4 TV shows you love(d) to watch
- Sex and The City
- 秋天的童话 (Korean show)
- 同在屋檐下 (Japanese show)
- 世间路 (Taiwanese show)

4 places you've lived
- Singapore
- (that’s all, I’m a rooted person)

4 places you've been on vacation to
- Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and Prague)
- Hong Kong
- (no more, not even Malaysia)

4 places you would rather be
- Home instead of work office!
- Beautiful Switzerland
- Scotland islands
- actually there is no where like home

4 of your favourite foods
- 豆沙包
- steamed golden promfret
- orangish food – pumpkin, papaya, persimmon
- 男人煮的爱心面！

4 of your favourite beverages
- papaya juice/milk
- teh
- McCafe’s Himalayan tea latte (hot)
- Magnolia low-fat milk
- Avocado milkshake (I used to love them, but don’t dare drink anymore coz of its high fats content)

4 (or more) websites you visit daily
- http://www.channelnewsasia.com
- msn newsonline
- Blogs (own, sis’ and some close friends’)
- http://www.singaporepools.com (看爽的)

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!

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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)