Summer exclusive

Today was a half-day. I met WW for lunch at Amoy food centre before heading to his house, where we took a rest before visiting the two doggies - Ally & Shasha - which were quarantined. The doggies were back from NYC last Tue.

Played with the little mixed-character Summer (Highland Terrier aka Westie) and took some photos of her. She appears to be very guai sometimes but naughty like a puppy when she knows you well enough.

Summer tilting her head when I made funny high-pitched noises. So cute :)

Jayce & Jason's wedding

We had a fun time sabo-ing the brothers on Feng's wedding day! The best part was the big big heart filled with $$$ notes. Woohoo!

Wishing Feng & Jason 甜甜蜜蜜到永远！
A high Tian taking photos of us while I was driving along SLE. We were on the way from the bride (Feng)'s house to the groom (Jason)'s house.
Lucky Ivan to sit between Jun & XHIn the lift of Jason's house. Our faces a little sweaty from the morning's games. You can imagine how the brothers have sweat outside the house.
Jun, Tian, XH, meThe sisters (with Ivan) and the wedding couple
Happily taking photos of ourselves while waiting for Feng to change into her teadress
Me and IvanSisters with the couple. Feng in her very pretty and special tea dress.Back to Feng's house. The couple with Feng's big big family!
Feng's nuclear family. And shy doggie.
The Brothers. Quite sporting - lucky for usSisters Brothers combinedThe dinner @ Furama Riverfront Hotel. Sisters manning the reception desk.Annie (Ivan's ger) with Jun, XH and me

My dear Nan Ren :)Dear Huang Tian sisIvan and Annie
Feng in her wedding gown. Jason blocked by the tall wedding cake
In their evening gowns

I miss WW

This is one of the first few photos we've taken and I like the way it was taken. 我们迈进第五年！It's so cold tonight, I just want a 抱抱 from the 男人.

Be happy my dear ger! :)

Tks for the advice :)
Soon there'll be an answer.

Today marks the start of the second month of 2008. I'm pretty numb to these things, after a while. The turn of a new year didn't make a mark on me; CNY will just come and pass. I used to look forward to these times of the year, but this year every event seems the same.

I am down with stomach flu and am nursing my sickness at home. Although the discomfort in my tummy is not acute, it can be rather irritating as it affects my overall energy levels. And it brings along fever and a headache. Now I can understand the discomfort WW has to bear when faced with a bloated stomach. But I would still be willing to take over his share of the discomfort, as long as he feels good and is healthy.

Tomorrow is Feng's customary wedding day. We seven sisters (except for Xuan who is in Aussie and can't come back this time round) will be helping out from the early morning. Time for us to exercise our creativities and exhibit the mean side of us. We are going to sabo the brothers! Wahaha. I remember vividly that three years back I used to do the same for Stephie, then two years back for Sophia, helping out as a sister on their wedding days. These events now bring tears in me (and my eyes) although I thought I used to be a strong, no-tears lady. I'm getting emotionally vulnerable to these meaningful events in life coz in this cold realistic world, it always warms my heart to see such strong emotions and faith hold true.

To dear Feng, wedding is a beautiful thing. Although it may come with hassles and troubles, it is worthwhile as both joys and frustrations come as one like the black and one seeds in a chess game. Let go of your expectations and take whatever comes up with an open mind and heart. Just go with the flow! Meanwhile, you have us behind you for support!

Weather overcast

nottozlady is troubled over whether to pursue her Masters after all. Financially it’s going to be very tough. What will happen to the monthly household allowances the family has been getting? Does she have to spend up to two hours on public transport getting to the school campus, four days a week? Can she get married this year?

Lots of things are uncertain; the weather seems overcast. The longer it is, the gloomier it becomes.

Separately, she wonders if she’ll be able to eat her birthday cake this year.

Drive with care!

It's weird and somewhat heart-wrenching to see two car accidents on the way home last night. The first was a red proton which seemed to have skidded in the CTE tunnel. The damage shouldn't be so great; though windscreen was shattered, the airbags were activated. Then along AMK Ave 1, another collision occurred with three cars (two were taxis) involved. The middle taxi was badly damaged, with great impact on its rear, having being rammed straight on by the taxi behind. I didn't get to see very clearly since I was driving, but WW saw the cab driver of the middle vehicle with bloodied head and was unconscious at his seat. Hope all are fine.

One can't emphasize enough the importance of safety in driving. Given my character to want to be fast and efficient in everything, I could not stand slow drivers and sometimes am tempted to beat amber traffic lights so as to save that few minutes of the journey. But good thing WW always instills the good habits of driving in me and I've since learn to be more cautious and patient.

等待

我以为我的担忧与躁急许多，可我没想到男人的处境更加难为。我的担忧在于是否有多个选择；男人的是能否逃离可能发生的“别无选择”。

希望男人能够看开。能够看开与接受，事情就有所转机。

Reflections on the fly

Took Fluffy out for a cycling trip to Pasir Ris park and took the chance to reflect on the intricacies of life.

The view on the overhead bridge above TPE, from Tampines Sun Plaza park to Pasir Ris

No, that's not Fluffy's vomit. Ha, I poured water onto the sand.

What a sunny day, just the right kind of weather for one of my favourite activities.

Fluffy does know how to appreciate the beauty of nature. Lovely little dog, just that she refused to look into my camera. hmf

I thought about a lot of things in the 2 hour cycling trip. Thought about the lot WW picked at the temple and what it meant. I wondered if he would have plans if not for the manpower plan his co drew up. Then I realised I know very little what the grand plan would unveil in future for us. Does he know?

I have not been feeling genuinely happy for a while now. My mind replayed, in brief moments, the 26 years before now. When was my happiest moment? Those kinda happy moments that last? I suppose it was the hall days, those times when I had my time to myself and the flexibility to organise my life the way I wanted it to. Of coz, not forgetting the interesting moments of learning about and understanding a person so close to you.

I can't be feeling neutral all the time, without ups and downs. It leads somewhat to nonchalance and it'll be rubbed off onto the ones around you. Conversely, I hope he will be able to feel more genuinely and open up to the spectrum of emotions that humans can experience. It's not only white, grey or black. Look at the rainbow in the sky.

My proudest Mahjong moment

Ruby dragon! Did a 红一色, which won me 15 fans in my PC mahjong game last night. If only this could happen in real life!

Shopping!

I was on leave today, with the intention to study for my GMAT if I did not get to finish my practice book over the weekend. But good thing I completed it last night and had the whole day today for shopping! Went to Tampines Mall for lunch with parents. (I like to take the chance to buy lotsa yummy food for them, since they usually scrimp and share a plate of rice). Then spent two hours or so shopping for new clothes. See the fruits of the trip!

New clothes for the new year. Hmm, was I already engulfed in the sea of CNY's ang-ness?

You hardly see me blog on Monday but today is an exception!

It has been an eventful day and a very busy one at work. As usual, Mondays are the S.G. days and are as black as ever. Today's been so hectic that the main big event seemed like a non-event at the end of the day. And this (non-) event even slipped my mind when I smsed to WW this evening.

Today took a ride from office to home. Unfortunately, CG's car got a bump at the back from a cab. Poor thing that his car was only a month old. But the good thing was that it was only 皮外伤，没有内伤。 C handled the situation amiably; I don't know if I could maintain his cool if the car was mine.

I am on leave for the next four days! Managed to finish the thick practice book and will be moving on to the sample papers (six of them!) in the next two days. I may be able to do shopping on one day even. For now, I'll play my mahjong game first.

I wish I could blog more often

I wanted to write a short blog entry after lunch earlier, since it was pouring horribly heavily and it somewhat evoked my blogging emotions. However, once the work starts, it doesn't stop, at least not any small time gap for me to blog. Work's getting heavy and stressful, having to do things that should be done by another team and not quite getting the recognition for another piece painstakingly done by me. Just because my boss is a high-level person and might not have conveyed the detailed info on to the bigger boss.

That's why I feel, although my working hours are ok (I knock off at 7 plus usually), I still face high stress during work. Reporting to two direct bosses is not an easy feat.

On happier matters, I met up with two of my Computing seniors last evening. It had been some four years since we last met! I find them to be pretty down-to-earth people who slog hard to advance ahead. One of them is taking Masters in Information Systems and the other switched line for better long-term prospects.

I remembered the guy taking the Masters was eyeing a Celica some years back. And now he owns one, which he further zengs up. And of coz I had the privilege to ride in it last night, woohoo! (I still hope to ride in a Honda Integra one day. Or perhaps, I should aim to own one.)

Life's tough. Aim high and pray hard.

登鹳雀楼

登鹳雀楼 王之涣
　　
白日依山尽，黄河入海流。
欲穷千里目，更上一层楼。

Parents-meet-Parents

Last night WW and his parents dropped by my place for the very first parents-meet-parents session! It was an impromptu announcement to my apa ama but good thing they were keen. They chatted for close to half an hour then left as it was getting late. Heng apa didn't say his usual valgarities, hee hee.

Been meeting ww for the past 6 days and now that we didn't meet today, I'm missing him quite terribly!

Am enjoying my break!

Making use of the two public holidays, I've gone on leave from 20-25 Dec and am enjoying my full six days of break! Have been going out with WW for the past two days. We had lunch at Amoy, tried out 汉纪fish soup and had ah balling for the 冬至。We walked from Amoy to Liang Court then to jushilin temple. We had bread and orange pekoe tea at one of my favourite bakeries - Simply Bread. We tried the authentic Japanese Ramen at Sapporo Ramen Miharu. It's great that we still go out exploring parts of Singapore, doing what we like to do.

And WW gave me a set of lovely and cute present for Christmas (on top of the Baby Belling oven)!

Great weekend!

WW and I attended Tong & Ying Jun's wedding last night at Safra, Telok Blangah Way. Didn't manage to take photos of the bride and groom, but shall wait for Tong to send the digital ones over soon!

Back at my place, we took photos of ourselves before I washed off my curls specially made for the occasion.

Earlier this afternoon we met up with Stephie & family (XZ & baby Josh), Sophia & family (Vincent & baby Ian), Huifang and Huiling. We had fun time with the kids at MINT cafe along Seah Street. Baby Josh is getting quite naughty but can run around pretty fast! Baby Ian is getting active with his jumping (aided by Vincent). Both are so cute!WW and me reached early so we checked out the place and menu first.Baby Josh still a little dazed from his sleep.Me carrying Baby Ian. A little heavy and he's dripping saliva! HehStephie with both babies. Ian's expression was so much like his dad's!

Later in the afternoon WW and I went over to Upper Pierce Reservoir for a short stroll since the weather was good. It has been raining for the past few days and glad that there wasn't any earlier today. An AM volunteered to take photo for us. And he was quick to add on "10 bucks pls" after the shot. Haha.Me enjoying the dou feng. Wind and sun on my face. Wee~

A happy week ahead! It's gonna be short, just 3 working days!! Yippie.

Dream is here, or yet, to be?

WW accompanied me to an open house cum talk at at-sunrice, Fort Canning Centre. I am interested in the Diploma in Pastry & Baking Arts offered by the culinary academy school. It offers the science of baking, teaching the fundamentals of measurements, kneading, proofing, mixing and the proper steps of baking. The instructor of the diploma class, chef Frederic Deshayes, is a French chef who has worked in Paris, Korea before and Singapore now. The CEO of the school, chef Christophe Megel, is also a French chef. He is a renowned one (I suppose) who has worked six years for the world-famous chef Alain Ducasse previously.

We took a spice walk in the spice garden, toured the kitchens & class room and had a hands-on session in piping the french cookies prepared by Frederic. After which, chef Megel gave us a 40-minutes presentation and Q&A session to address the many questions the audience had. His presentation was so inspirational that it got WW interested in the other diploma, Diploma in Culinary Craft & Service Excellence. Well, if there's no current commitment and a strong resolve, we might have just chose to lead our lives in another path.

Now I just hope the diploma course keeps running, perhaps till 2012.

Es war eine wunderbar Tag! (It was a wonderful day!)

Took leave yesterday (Friday) to do the things I like. Yippie!

I woke up two hours later than usual, thus caught up on my beauty sleep. Went marketing with my parents and contributed to their marketing fund. It’s such a joy to give, especially to your loved ones. We – Apa, Ama and I – had breakfast together where one of their friends joined in too. They had a good chat on recent hot topics: HDB resale values, HBD sale deductions for CPF retirement account and about taking care of grandchildren. Though all these topics were quite distant for me, I was pleasantly listening to them and since I have no time pressure at all. Yippie!

I wanted to take the MRT to Phoon Huat confectionery at Geylang Lorong 23 but spent too much time on the computer that I missed the timing. So of course cab was the most convenient option. While lunching on my Nutri plus milk, I made my way to the 1st baking class of my life. (As a MEP student in Secondary school, I didn’t have to attend Home Economics class.)

There, we made 4 cup-sized desserts: tiramisu, mango mousse, crème brulee and cream caramel. The class size was around 30, with women ranging from 18 to 58 (wow!). There was a guy too, tagging with her girlfriend. But the guy seemed like interested too. We split into 3 groups, each with around 10 persons to a chef. In my group there were 4 young girls, likely from Poly. They were particularly friendly and made themselves very much at home, especially with one being very enthusiastic in getting hands-on. She might well be the baker in the group! Not that I minded since I’m more a notes-taker, but those times she pushed me around (unlucky to be beside her) peeved me much. I guess some people don’t know basic courtesy.

At the end of the class, we were able to dapao the desserts back. Each had two cups of each of the four desserts. I went on the buy $35+ worth of X’mas Fruit Cake ingredients. Happily hugged onto my stuff and flagged a cab home.

Afternoon back at home was spent mainly on fruitcake baking preparations. Mixing the flour, mixed fruits, almonds, eggs, butter and essences. Beating the mixture. Quite simple, but as the ingredients spanned up to 20 different ones, I spent close to two hours getting the mixture done, just ready for baking in the oven. However, I didn’t want to let the lousy oven at my house spoil the efforts and thus brought the whole tin of mixture to WW’s place to bake.

The way to WW’s house was a little long (around an hour) but was relaxing. I had to walk about 20 mins, 10 from my house to the bus stop and another 10 from bus stop to WW’s house, and sit in the bus for about 45 mins. Given usual days, I would have taken a cab but it would have been my 3rd cab in the same day. Plus the weather was cooling and I didn’t have the chance to run yesterday.

WW’s colleagues were at his place for mahjong, drinks and simply hanging out. By the time I reached, most of them were nua-ing. After an hour plus, it was time to go home and also the time my cake would be done. However, even after all his friends left, the cake was still moist in the insides though it had been baked for the past hour plus. I thought it would fail. But good thing another 50 mins of higher heat salvaged my efforts and it made a delicious fruitcake after all!

Now I can’t wait for tomorrow morning to try the real taste, after it cools. If successful, I will bake more for family, friends and colleagues!

Shaped

When I was just back from NYC about a month ago, I was thinking of having an easier life. Taking things at a more relaxed pace, slowing down to appreciate the finer details around us. That includes adopting a more laid-back approach to work, especially since I've been placed in two teams since April.

However, after slightly more than a month since the return and after soaking in the Singaporean culture again, I'm beginning to feel the KS mentality. Need to pia in work, do my best to exceed expectations and strive to be the best among the rest. (Though I know that can't be done. How to be the best out of such an elitist society?) Work hard (and smart) for a big increment and a fat bonus next year and to own that big car some five years down the road. Go to fancy restaurants, dress up stylishly and own the latest gadget. See what this society does to you?

Then we neglected the poorer ones, surviving on tight-string budget and not having the luxury to enjoy the more-than-little entertainment in life. The forgotten ones living in their world, having a totally different set of worries and priorities. How can we reach out to them? How can they ever break out of the poverty cycle?

I suppose the world is too complex for our complete understanding. I'm just glad I have a relatively simple life to deal with. Simple wants, simple aims.