Monday, December 31, 2007

The End of 2007 and onto 2008

It leaves a bitter-sweet taste when I try to recall what I have done for 2007. Its easier to think of it this way, work is the Bitter part and my freetime is the Sweet part.

Lets recap, 2007 Resolutions stood at....
1) Achieve Work-Life Balance - by not being too hard on myself n cutting slacks.
2) To make time to go gym 2-3times a week, Learn the bloody guitar at a nearby place n Maple.
3) Try to manage my finances so that I can bum in Segamat as a tutor after bond! Time to read tat Technical Analysis book.... I have 1yr to finish reading...


I am kinda glad that especially during the longer holidays, I went about to do more interesting stuff besides Mapling, which can be eventful provided there are events to do, eg fighting Giant snowman.

The cocktail-mixing with the book and balloon-twisting are fun, especially the cocktail mixing. Its something I have been interested in for a few years. But things got sidelined as work came along.

The trip to KL, shopping at JB were fun and refreshing especially given the boosted financial power.

Certain devices surely make my day, Aoi my PSP Lite and my yet un-named MP3 player. Maybe should just stick to Tab's nick for it, Midori. They help manage the immense stress from work and the travelling, esp Midori since its been with me for almost a year b4 Aoi. I am guilty of playing with Aoi even when I am at home. Its so much easier and hassle-free compared to setting up my PS1/2 with TV, online gaming with Siren and internet. Just choose and play. Then switch off or leave on standby for a break, then resume.

I surprise myself my being able to set up that Mp3 player in the blog despite not knowing a word of html, as well as, setting up the wireless network router with security. It took me a while of fiddling esp the latter (wanted to go out to jalan jalan a while near noon, but up til 3pm, I just finished configuring) Now left with configuring my sister's laptop then the more powerful wireless network can start working.

Family for being my support always. Friends (irregardless of JC or Uni hor) help to cheer me on despite the shitty days of work.

2008 Resolutions
1) Go for regular exercise -
Something I havent done this year. Not to worry, I bought this Muscle workout book (same time I bought tat cocktail book) which I can use to train.

2) Work-Life balance -
The same thing that I am not interested to climb up. Dun mind promotion but rather just have the pay increment instead of having extra work. Next year, cca and committee so far not as bad as this year. For work, am running between both sessions. I cant comment abt whether the arrangement is good or not until I have seen the timetable which is not given yet. Dun ask me why. Yes, this is still only work which is mainly for a salary. Whether it will be more than that depends on how next year goes ba.

3) Go sign up for Guitar -
Yar one of the main reasons I kinda like Aoi is the guitar solos and rifts. Still keen to learn it. When I get my time table, I will see if I can squeeze out time to go for lessons. Think Jap should be still able to continue. Again want to see if I can squeeze out time for JLPT 4.

4) Continue to be open-minded and flexible in thoughts and things I do -
Still undoing some earlier programming and still retaining my flexibility in thinking up solutions and even my approach to things. If this way cant, go another way.

5) Continue to challenge myself mentally -
Play more of Aoi, esp the game, Mind game to train my 43 year old brain to reflect its true age. Most of us dont use much of our brain in daily life. To make it work faster, more new experiences, languages, learning or just trying to involve more of your brain. Yes, after 1 day, I improved my brain age to 42.

Really Pray for a decent year of 2008, especially for work. Best wishes for all, health and wealth. Hope tio Toto and 4D hor =)

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Met my new Love - Aoi sama

Meet my new guy, his name is Aoi.

Aoi-sama is my ultra new Felicia blue PSP slim. He will be my companion on the lonely and cold bus rides plus train rides to and from work.

I have to confess, I can't seem to keep my eyes and hands off him. My new love.

The colour series of PSP slim, Aoi is on the bottom right/extreme right




The package - $525 all in, for set, 4G, crystal cover, USB charger, screen protector, choice of the colour and etc. A bit pricey BUT given that my current cab fare may rise to beyond $15 (havent sat to verify but should be close to this sum exclude peak hr surcharge), I would have recovered my cost in (525/15)=>35 days. I just need to travel on public transport, excluding cabs until near end of Feb, then I cover my cost. In fact, its a nice trade. I was playing a nice RPG farmer game, yes, its Harvest Moon series. Playing farmer, plant crops, rear chicken, cow, cook recepies. Nice way to while away the time. No regrets at all.

Now only have to settle the USB cable thing, my laptop cant detect the USB so I cant upload pictures into it. Will get it fixed up tom.

In case you are wondering, Aoi is the name of the rhythmn guitarist of the group, The Gazette. His guitar solos are godly, his lip ring makes him hot too. Was wondering if I should upload his pic? Later say me like beautiful guys... but he is very talanted... and handsome. Oh well...

Err talented cos listen to the guitar solos. Very nice. Aoi is the raven-haired guitarist.


Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Continuation of Christmas... Western style

The earlier post ended around 2pm. These are some of the stuff that transpired since then.

Near 2pm, I was still online looking for some balloon art video to make flowers. Why? Cos it would make a nice xmas present bah (not to mention cheap and last minute too) I watched the video twice, then switched off my haptop to get ready to make my way to Tab's place. Then I made the flower b4 I packed the juices and Cocktail book. It took a short while, and I was teaching my sister a few basic technique. Oh yar, it started raining near 2pm then. By the time I was out of the house, it was near 3pm. It took an hour to travel via 2 buses, lugging 6litres of juices, a shaker, a thick book all in 2 separate bags, plus umbrella and a balloon flower. Somehow I managed.

By the time I reached, it was near 4.20pm. Cos my stomach was still a bit unstable, hence when I started mixing the drink, I didnt sample it. In the end, it was an amatuerish attempt (wrong type of line, didnt muddle in the cup, didnt sample the drink first blah blah) Subsequent ones turned out much better as I got more into the rhythmn of things, as well as sampling a bit b4 serving. Halfway through, I ate turkey and coleslaw as drinking somewhat caused me to want to bite something. The turkey is oiishi. Nice seasoning and soft despite appearances. My Western part of christmas I guessed.

In total, mixed 5 Tequila , 1 Vodka, 1 Gin-based cocktails. In the order of appearance...
Tequila - Mexicola, South of Border, Rude Cosmopolitian
Vodka - Mudslide, Screwdriver
Tequila - Ruby Rita
Gin - Maiden's Prayer

After a few trial and error, it seems some of the drinks need to be more diluted with either ice or juices as its kinda strong-tasting. After blending, its a nicer mix. The only thing lacking is the different cocktail glasses to better serve the drinks. But hang in there, I am still a work-in-progress drinks mixer.

Err anyway back to the story of mixing. Soon Candle left, XR left, Krynnder n ZX left. Meaning I am left with fewer and fewer 'guninea pigs'. The last cocktail, Maiden's Prayer is a Gin, Cointreu plus orange juice. Its a stronger drink cos more alcohol measures compared to the earlier mixes. And I was the one left drinking most of it...

Alcohol count as follows, 1 cup of Grape wine, 1 inch of Choya, some of the 5 cocktails, 1 cup of Ruby Rita, 5 cups of Maiden's Prayer. Man by then, I was kinda tipsy still not drunk. Its nicer to sit down then to stand, cos a little bit shakey. After that Quetzal showed me her diving photos while we tried to sober up by drinking lots of plain water.

We still made our way safely to the bus, took bus home. Taxi too expensive with fare price increase neh. Think I will go and get my PSP after I wake up from this tipsy state I am in. Think by now very sober except still a bit sleepy.

If can get Grenadine and Vermouth, with tonic water, soda water and a can of ginger beer, then the next session will be mainly Gin cocktails.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

A very Cheena Christmas

Yep a very Cheena christmas indeed. My mom decided to make Bao Bing (popiah) for lunch cum dinner. Its been a long while since we ate that. We chanced upon a stall in Queenstown that sold hand-made Bao Bing skin. So she decided to buy and make.

The dishes are rather simple and coarse compared to the finer dining outside, yet its a taste from childhood. Its fun to eat, cos you can put more of the dishes you like and wrap your own.

I was supposed to wake up earlier to help prepare and cook, but no one called me. By the time I woke, I was in time to help cook the carrots.

Tada, a traditional Hokkien meal - Bao Bing. (yep I cooked the carrot with some pointers from Mom)


As an experienced Bao Bing eater, lemme explain how its done. The main ingredient is the carrot and turnip. You drain them and lay them out evenly on 2 layers of skin. Then you put other stuff like green beans, fried tofu pieces, some 3-layer pork or chicken, egg, fish cake slices, some fried onion, some garnish and the sweet sauce.

Viola! A balanced Bao Bing with all the dishes laid out inside, only awaiting the wrapping.


Now you do the wrapping. First a tight roll, gathering the sides so nothing falls out. Then fold the sides in and give it another roll. A delicious Bao Bing is done.

In my younger days, I would skip certain ingredients like fish cake or beans but now to taste it fully, I just added all the ingredients. Its a nice lunch. Just 2 rolls and I am kinda full. Had a good laugh at my sister, whose roll disintegrated cos she put way too much ingredients. It turned out to be a very very fat Bao Bing. Eat until all over the hands. Ahaha, I've got the skill.

Signz invited for Christmas at Tab's place. Kinda having a funny-feeling stomach... Anyway I bought a drink mixer, a book of 501 cocktails and some juices to bring over on the long ride to make Tequila drinks. 2 problems, firstly I have not bought my PSP yet, so the long bus ride there, maybe have to consider sleeping. Second, some of the juices are kinda the cheaper grade, cos cant find eg Lime juice even from the better selection, hence no time to QC the taste. Maybe I make my way near 2pm bah... stomach...

Thursday, December 20, 2007

More balloon art and my fingers hurt

Yar after more hours of ballon-twisting which cost my time for mapling... I got better and came up with these...

Rabbit - Front and Side view




Followed by Lion




Tried to make a pig, it bursts twice... grr. Then that dragonfly again burst... not fated yet I guess.

My fingers are kinda sore now and I am sick of listening to the balloon rubbing sound cos me and my sister worked on our pieces from 3pm til 7pm then 8.30pm til 11pm. The good news is she has gotten her balloon christmas tree up and christmas wreath too. The bloody star/snowflake, we both gave up after more than 1 hour of trying...

Ouch ouch, need to go wash my hands and give it a rest.

A Day of Blowing and Twisting...

Hope you all are not having hentai thoughts regarding the title. Its another rainy day except its a public holiday. Hence my sisters are at home with me. We went out next door to eat brunch.

After that, we visited that cheap toy shop that sells cheap and mostly china-made toys. A particular pack caught my eye. Its a balloon-art pack. It comes with about 10 long balloons, a balloon pump and a small booklet to make 14 types of balloon art.

Hence after buying 4 quick-dry type of polo tops for work, we headed home. The first thing I did is to start making some of the balloon art. My sister is in-charge of organizing the christmas party and had to handle food, deco, even organize the events... plus no budget.

I was thinking since she had no budget for the deco, so balloon-modelling would help save costs. No need to buy wreaths, christmas tree. Just a few balloon art pieces related to the Christmas theme. Put them around. Much more economical. Hence the hunt online for balloon-making.

HEHE... lemme show you what I have done so far. (though I burst 4 balloons) My dragon fly was complete but it burst... Later I am going to get more balloons to try. The most difficult is actually tying the damn balloon, my fingers too thick.

A good skill to master, next time sell balloon-art on the street...


The most basic, the dog cum giraffe or ram according to slight variation in the length of the twist.


The swan which looks like a snake instead...

More to come later... after I get a new stock of balloon. Found some good videos, about flower bracelet etc.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

A Busy Day....

It was a busy and wet day yesterday.

I woke up bloody early around 9am though I had slept at 4am the night b4 watching the anime "Fate Stay Night" on veoh.com after my JC friends introduced me to the website. I woke up that early to tidy up the place a bit as the technician from StarHub was coming to fix up the cable for internet. Cos that tv box is near the shoe rack and its cluttered and dusty... think you get the picture.

While waiting from 11-1pm, I realized I hadnt eaten a morsel yet. But bo bian. Nobody's at home. My sisters were at work. My parents were in Msia, so I am left very much home alone. He came and fixed up in a jiffy, the only problem I have now is where to put the modem and the wireless router (which I have to go to Funan to buy) as both will take up quite a bit of space and the TV, with the VCR, VCD and DVD players are already cluttered enough. Not to mention need to have a fan to cool it.

The ideal is to put on the computer table but the long wire and not to mention, need to hang the wires overhead on the wall and stretch all the way to the table... a bit daunting to think about. Will try to tackle this on Friday. For now, I just link my laptop manually to the modem near the TV. Nevermind the wires dangling all around the living room, cos nobody's home. Have to think up something b4 sat when my parents come home...

After that it rained heavily and I didnt go out to buy food. Ate 1-2 nougouts then watched animes until 3.40pm. Then I made my way to the hawker centre to eat, and headed down to Serangoon to collect the sample photos from that studio. It is a bloody long journey to and fro. I didnt go anywhere, just there and back. By the time I reached home, it was about 6.30pm. Had frooze my butt off in the air-conditioned bus that I didnt feel too good, giddy and stuff, and decided to sleep.

Woke up near 9pm to find one of my sister back. She didnt know the sample photos were ready and I told her. She took it out and looked. When she looked at her self-portrait, she kept on complaining that she looked so fat, got double-chin, face so round. (though I thought that hers was quite okay taken, compared to mine...) Well I do share a similar sentiment for mine, out of the 4, very obvious 3 are very fake smiles.

(OH SHIT! LOST MY LONG POST COS I PRESSED THE WRONG BUTTON T_T BUBU)

The family portrait looked okay but the individual ones are really unflattering. The standard like not there. My parents had 5 shots but 2 of them were slanted.

My sister stared at the photos for about half an hour ranting about the chin issue. I was hungry and decided to go out to buy my dinner. Before I left I told her to choose one she disliked that least and to finish doing so b4 I come back. I had somewhat chosen 1 whcih is the one with the most natural looking smile, yet still a fake one.

I came back half an hour later to find her still undecided. She was still going on about the chin blah blah.

"Come on lah, that is how you look like lor. Even if it is at an unflattering angle."

"I know that but I can't handle the truth"

Later she was still going on about it whilst I ate my dinner.

"I feel sick looking at myself."

"Good then, you bring one photo with you every day and b4 you eat, take it out and look at it, then you will feel so sick that you'll lose your appetite and lose weight to get rid of your chins..."

"Good idea."

Later my youngest sister came back and she looked at that photos and a bunch of similar remarks came out, fat, face round, so unflattering, dun recognize myself (in a negative sense) After another hour of complaining about each others' photos, she went to bathe. She had brought back some food from her office and we ate those finger food. When I saw my other sister eating... and it was already 12++am,

"Eh? Thought you want to be on a diet to get rid of those chins and where is the looking at your photo to feel sick?"

"Forget it. Already lidat, so nothing can change that so just zi bao zi qi and just eat..."

I was laughing so hard, tears almost came out and was clutching my stomach. I wasnt mapling then but was playing a puzzle game like Bejeweled but with a twist of city-building element. Cradle of Rome, a yahoo game, where u blast resouces like the jewels in Bejeweled. The difference is you have to try to link and do combos for the resources you need to build up certain buildings. Also clearing the stage is not necessarily winning if you cant build up your city. The only thing is that I am playing the trial version and now its expired, I get kicked out every 5mins. The music is damn nice too. Am thinking of getting the original to play cos I like city-building games and some puzzle games.

Thats about all for yesterday.

Today is similar where it rained b4 I could go out, and I havent eaten anything save nougouts. Then I spent some time setting up the mp3 player in this blog. Have to sign up for various free pages to host, create the player then put it into the correct part of the blog template. Phew! I am very happy with the results. The 2 music currently playibg are Saber's Theme. The two versions of it are only similar in the melody. This is the current tune in my head. It appeals to me alot because it sounds melancholy, sad yet gallant like Saber from Fate Stay Night. Wont put up more until I get a new tune. Until then, have to get food soon.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Mou Ni Hajimeru (Another 2 Firsts)

Yep, its like dejavu again.

After the earlier post about 2 firsts, today is another 2 firsts but more related to eating again.

My mom, dad and bro went back to the hometown, leaving me in spore to settle the studio photo collection as well as the setting up of cable broadband connection with StarHub, plus I had dinner arrangement with JC friends, hence I stayed behind.

After getting the bonus, I wanted to 'qia' my family but couldnt make it on Sunday cos one of my sister working, I going out, my family going back. Given I know how wet a blanket my dad could be. I decided to qia my sisters first. Today had to settle our own dinner, plus its off day for one of my sister. So we met up with the youngest sister at Buona Vista Mrt and walked towards Holland Village. Its just that there is nothing much else to makan around our area unless Zi Char.

I asked them to choose, cos I had an idea of the restaurants around the area, being there just a day ago. They couldnt decide. Suggested Sushi Tei, nope, Crystal Jade, nope, Swensens, nope. My youngest sis was very hungry and wanted western. Then I remembered there is this HOG'S BREATH western restaurant. Hence we went in.

Surprisingly they do not serve huge slabs of meat, pig's knuckles or ribs as pictured from the name, but instead serve more western fare like sandwiches, pasta, western meals. I saw some rings, thought they looked delicious. When it came to ordering, I ordered Onion rings, instead of the Carimari rings in mind. BUT it is piping hot and delicious. Next we ordered Crispy Dory Pasta, Cajun Dory set and Garlic prawn pasta. Quite delicious. The portions were quite big except for the prawn pasta. Hence I topped up with another order of the Carimari rings. Its very very nice. Nice tasty batter. The seating is not on chairs but on an elevated platform with a low table and cushions for sitting. Very much like oriential. Interestingly, they serve fusion teas and quite a number were drinking their tea.

After dinner, we headed to COLD ROCK. The ice-cream place featured on HDB-TaiTai. I had scouted its exact location the day b4 and we went to eat. Again as part of my treat.

Its pricing is like this, Small $4.50, Med $6, Large $7.50 To fry it with topping is an additional $1 per type of topping. Luckily we werent too ambitious and went for Large, we chose Medium and very filling. They are very generous with their ice-cream. Usually others will scoop and fill the cup, flatten and make sure its level with the cup. For them, a Medium is about 4-5 scoops of ice-cream. If you didnt mix with toppings, they put 2-3 scoops of one flavour in the cup, another 2 scoops pile onto the cup that makes it resembles a Mickey Mouse :) No wonder business is good. We choose, Mango Sorbet n Lime Sorbet, Cuppacino n Dark chocolate and mine was Pistacho n Cheesecake mix with a chunk of Fudge.

The verdict, mine was GODLY, especially chewing the fudge pieces. Surprisingly though the colours of Pistacho is Green and Cheesecake is Yellow, the Cheesecake is nice. The Pistacho mixes well with it. Luckily its not pepperminty-like Pistacho at all. A flavour to try again is definitely the Cheesecake with Fudge.



The Pic above shows the frying counter where they take your selection of Ice-cream and mix it with the topping of your choice. Yup they have different chocolate bars, eg Mars, Snickers, peanut butter, nuts, fruits, bubble candy, chunks of Fudge, some exotic stuff like Rocky mountain and more. Not sure of their opening hours though. We left about 10.45pm and its still enjoying brisk biz despite the cold and wet weather.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Two Firsts...

As the title implied, today had two first experiences by meeting up with my JC gp of friends.

Again I am 'destined' to go out cos by the meeting time of 4pm, the rain had stopped and the sky was kinda sunny.

Lemme backtrack a bit to talk about this 'destined' thingy. I met up with Tab on thurs, where she remarked that the rest of the uni gang had tried to jio me out during the week to no avail. At first Quetzal tried on Sat, where I replied her, staying home to maple. On Monday, Tab came back and tried. My reply was similar. On Tue, Candle tried, my reply was again I intend to stay home to maple and cos it was raining, so hesistant to go out. Finally on thurs, I came out for Jap and it wasnt raining at all. It was the only sunny day in the entire week of rain. Hence I was 'destined' to come out to air the mouldy self in the sun.

So back to the story, I met up with my JC gp of friends for SeaFood dinner. We had agreed earlier back on 18th Nov, the wedding of one of them, to do so. To eat some good seafood. K, hence we met up in Clementi central. What a great change of meeting place. So near to mine, instead of always being in town. Partly cos all of us stayed in the west, from Holland V, Clementi, Jurong East up til Bukit Batok. Hence hanging around the west is more convenient for all of us. We headed to my newly-wedded friend's place to check it out. It is located very near Central. We hung around a bit, half talking about the show on SCV about Guns, Artillery, Warships, half discussing about places to eat for the dinner, half talking about 'Zen Hu' and the pay, half talking about the websites to visit to watch anime, canto drama online.

Later we headed to Holland Village to one of the coffee shop with that XO-Crab bee hoon thingy to eat 'Zi Char'. We ordered Chilli Crab, 'San Wei' Prawns and Baby Kailan plus StingRay. It is to be my first official Chilli Crab ever in a Zi Char place. (this excludes the Chilli crab offered by those 'Za Fan' stalls)(I had never eaten Chilli crab b4 in a zi char place cos my dad absolute refuse to order it. He will say the chilli taste will cover the original taste of the dish, hence he only occasionally order Pepper Crab or Steam Crab) It is nice, though not the heavenly-type where one taste and I will be transported to another realm much like those animes I've watched. The prawns are very good but the portion a bit small.

An interesting comparison now exists when I compared the 2 main group of friends I go out with.

1) My JC friends all earn higher than me (now got 1 is below) vs My Uni friends where my pay is like the average pay.

2) My JC friends will gather to do more activities eg Karaoke, Pool, Movies, BBQ birthday, BoardGames@Settlers, eat Zi Char at coffee shop types, drink coffee at Coffee bean/Coffee Club, sit at coffee shop to drink tea, coffee, milo vs My Uni friends will meet up to eat at non-cheena restaurants eg Cartel, Fish n Co, go for occassional expensive restaurants eg Black Angus for birthdays, shopping, drinking coffee at cafes, drinking alcohol at pubs, now into Boardgames@Pitstop.

3) My JC friends would meet up once about every 3-6mths vs My Uni friends we meet up weekly on most weekends and even on weekdays for dinner.

4) My JC friends dialogue can be intellectual about some serious discussions about some issues, interests, pursuits, work (anything under the sun) or be trival about mundane stuff vs My Uni friends tend to talk about work, attached-status and trival stuff.

An interesting contrasting picture and I enjoy the company of both groups. Just wish that the JC group we could meet up more often. Often we will be talking non-stop about different issues and things until the moment we part. Hmm maybe could organize something more regular.

Anyway I noticed this sharp contrast in Pt 2 when we reached the Coffee shop and ordered Zi Char to eat. We ate the crab with our hands. Its something I dun experience much with my Uni friends. When me and my JC friends each found permanent employment about 2 years back, we took turns to give lunch/dinner treats and organized it into our outings. There were times we ate at Zi Char dinner at a coffee shop, another at Merchant Hotel buffet, another at Coffee Club dinner and the final dinner at some Indonesian restaurant at Clark Quay. A different experience each time, kinda unique and refreshing. Think I enjoyed it cos I really like to do something different and new. Dunno if its an Aquarius or AB+ thingy.

After the first Chilli crab, we walked around Holland Village to first check out that Ice-Cream place that was featured on HDB-TaiTai. As one of my JC friends stayed at Holland Village, he led us to the place. I looked at the pricing, reasonable - S -$4.50, M -$6, L-$7.50. The inside of the shop is mainly white and nicely air-conditioned. You can see the person 'frying' your ice-cream to mix your selection of ice-cream, if u picked more than 1 flavour, and the toppings thoroughly well. We didnt try, just took a peep and headed to Ya Kun. Another first for me.

Yar I have never eaten nor drunk at Ya Kun yet. The reason mainly is I didnt even go with my Uni friends to the place. Partly most of the time, we meet to eat dinner so no chance to eat toast/drink coffee/tea. Orchard dun really have much Ya Kun too. The nearest is Far East. I drank the tea, nice and ordered the butter n kaya toast. The verdict is the toast is nice when dipped into the tea as it is very thin n crispy. The amount of butter n kaya though is a bit little. A first bit into the toast, cant taste much of it, cos its spread more in the middle portion of the toast. Hence a bite into the side, one encounters more of the plain toast. In Segamat, there is a very very good Nanyang coffee shop with godly toast. Important not to be too stingy with the butter n kaya and to spread it evenly. Nearing ten, we all headed back home. Its a nice meeting, glad that one of my friends is staying so nearby. Was joking that I'll bunk over if I've missed my bus.



A side add-on unrelated to this post.
The Hellbound Ranking of the various flavours and types of Pocky

There is this supermarket, Yamakawa Supa at Central. It sells lots of different flavours of Pocky as well as an array of Japanese tibits. Everytime I go in, I'll end up buying lots of Pocky, chocolate sticks as well as Green Tea flavoured chocolate.

OMG, the Green Tea flavoured Pocky is heavenly.
Hence No 1 is the Green Tea with Chocolate Swirls Pocky.
A close No 2 is the Green Tea chocolate with Macademia nuts (Think not Pocky but still oiishi)
No 3 is Green Tea Pocky.
No 4 is the very nice Double Twirl type Pocky, vanilla one (very light)
No 5 is the same Double Twirl type Pocky, double chocolate (too sweet...)
No 6 is Pocky chocolate crush with Almonds
No 7 is Pocky chocolate crush with crush cookies

Man I really love the Green tea Pocky and the double Twirl vanilla ones. After eating those, the chocolate crush just went straight to the bottom of the list. Hmm when am I going there to stock up more again? Almost finished all the Pocky with family. Cant show the pics cos the boxes got thrown away liao... so sad.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

PhotoShoot!

Yep went for a Studio session with my entire family last Sat morning.

The story was, after my youngest sister's graduation, they signed up for a graduation shoot with the famous studio Serangoon Broadway. But we never got about to shooting it cos my Dad was nagging nagging about it. Hence it was kept on hold.

Now he's retired. And all of us could make it, including my brother who came out specially for the shoot, we all headed down in 2 cabs.

So we were all wearing like long sleeved white shirts, pants and shoes, so formal... There, the ladies got make-uped and got pple help u wear the gown. My father choose to take individual portraits on top of the family portrait for each, including for himself n my mom together.

For the family portrait, I wore the Biz NUS gown, complete with hat. For the individual I wore the NIE gown without the hat.

It was kinda of hard to smile infront of the camera so early in the morning. Especially they want u to smile with teeth type. Dunno how all the pics turned out, will get the sample around the 18th dec for choosing.

My bro's gown is black and looked much like the Harry Potter gown. His hood is a nice royal navy blue. He only lacked a wand :P Well he had the hardest time trying to smile. The most dabian nian amongst us.

Anyway it was interesting to see how they could change the backdrop fast and set up the props so fast. But the photographer keep saying "Hello.. hello" so kinda not easy to smile to that. The feeling is that it is a more traditional studio.

In fact while posing with that NTU booklet thingy, I was wondering if I should have brought my Mogena and posed with it? But that kinda of funky pose ideas were quashed when I asked the guy why must pose with that NTU booklet thingy instead of a scroll. The helper replied that NUS is scroll, NTU is booklet, so is lidat one. Orth...

A different and eye-opening experience for the whole family. At a hefty price tag though, $1.3k

Friday, December 07, 2007

1 week of holidaying and the funny things that happened

For starters, its been a week of gluttony and sloth at home. Hardly exercising, sleeping poorly (will explain later), hardly going out save for chores or jap class.
Havent gone about to sign up for any guitar course yet... Another 2 daunting tasks still await me ie clean up the remaining part of my table in the living room and clean up the pig-style of the room that this 'pig' currently resides in.

It is very reluctant of me to start tidying up the rest of my table n room cos that is what I have exactly been doing at work. I had spent 2 days tidying and packing up my workstation and another day to unpack at another workstation and do it up to my liking, making sure I remember where I put my stuffs. Hence another housecleaning task really really is too much for me in such a short time. The plus point is I cleared part of my table, the sides where I chuck my bags and alcohol into those big storage boxes. Its more organized, just left my actual table, clothes in the room etc etc... *groans*

The second thing is I have not been sleeping well, NOT due to mapling until the wee hours of the morning. But the fact that I had to open the window in the room. What's up with that. Well my usual habit of closing the windows, closing the door so that I can sleep in complete darkness with minimum sound. That habit of mine was mentioned to the sinseh and he said that it is not healthy. Therefore I had to open one pane of window when I close off the rest. Fine. I did it, for the past few weeks. And the result is my darkening eye bags. Couldnt sleep well at all, I havent had a decent night's rest since. WHY? Cos it got cold in the middle of the night, I will wake up shivering and irritated to find I had kicked aside the blanket and was chilling cold. Bad enough to have wake up once a night. NO. Around 4-5am, I would be woken up by the sounds of truck and buses zooming past the estate to deliver passengers or goods... Then there is the irritating sounds of birds chirping around 6am, plus the irritating bird with the damn loud cry. Then there is the sun filtering in through the curtains that light up the room like some fireworks. Then the room would get hot like a toaster oven... Think you get the picture? It was quite bad enough with the usual glare and heating up of the room in the early morning. BUT now as the window pane is open, I can HEAR all the sounds made by the vehicles, birds etc. ARGH!!!

K enough of that ranting... I try to make do by covering my eyes with my bolster, then making my pillow indent and lying in it so that the pillow covers both my ears.

Onward to amusing incidents that happpened over the span of the week.

1) Went to Vivo with my dad n sister as part of our leave and accompanying my dad. We parked at lobby A, which is at the Branded belt in Vivo ie the part where all the branded boutiques are situated. We headed to Giant cos I wanted to buy a large storage box to put all my clothes and stuff to pack up the room. Anyway to cut the long story short, my sis and I had to take turns to push the unglam supermarket trolley past Giant, through most of the Branded belt, avoiding many many people. Its kinda embarassing partly cos there was no one else pushing a trolley around save baby strollers and partly we were a bit conscious of how unglam it was to be doing what we did. BUT we put on straight faces and brave fronts and pushed the trolley as nonchalantly and as natural as we could T_T" Anyway we comforted ourselves saying that we arent famous or what and we were helping our dad with the heavy stuff and how if many people wanted to stare, then we successfully made them stare without having to dress to the nines or wear branded stuff. Hooray...

2) Last friday, on the drive back from pit-stop in Quetzal's car. I noticed a cab with car no 4444. Hurried motioned for the rest to take a look. One made a joke about how if you had made a cab reservation and the operator confirmed with you saying "Your cab, 4444 is on the way." How would one react? Another joke was if you had an extremely bad day, then you decided to flag down a cab to take your exhausted body home and this cab 4444 stops for you. What would your reaction and thoughts be? Yesterday, on my way home from Jap class (sat got something on, so attended thurs class), I hopped tiredly onto a bus. The bus no is 7474. What a coincidence? I was wondering if I should be worried for my safety and sent some joking sms to friends to check their reaction. Well I made it home safely in one piece. That says volumes about being superstitious about just some numbers related to 4.

Hmm thats all that is happening. Some moments kinda boring, some kinda routine, some kinda interesting and is revealing to the person eg who would have thought pushing a supermarket trolley could be eventful?

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

The 7 deadly sins & I

Man lost my post, nvm rewrite it now...

The 7 deadly sins,

Lust Gluttony Greed Sloth Wrath Envy Pride

Not that I have turned Christian or what. Its just that its kinda appropriate at this point of time. My holidays finally came on 30th Nov after braving through 2 weeks of work after school closed. Most I know started holidaying after the 1 week.

Oh well, as I was saying, I have been hibernating at home and eating and sleeping. Its like you wake up hungry, then eat, after eating then feel like sleeping. I am guilty of Gluttony and Sloth.

Maple recently launched this system of ridng an animal ie a pig that can run real fast. I was commenting to my sister that I am turning into a pig cos I kept feeling hungry and just eat n sleep. She remarked soon, I'll turn into one for riding...

Yep the hog is shown below, my bro is riding it. Me and my bunny hat :)



In line with the turning into animal theme, chanced upon this rock band - Three Day Grace. Like 2 of their songs.

Animal I Have Become (for my case, a pig)(real nice guitars)


Home (mirrors exactly what I feel about my Muar home currently after my grandparents passed away) (dedicated to my bro)