clocking cities

many years back, when I started travelling, one of my peers told me about his dream.....

it was to travel to 100 cities through the world. i thought it was a pretty cool dream, so along on the way by the way, i also started to take notes of the places which i visited.... viola... i'm getting close! hee.... lets see...

1. Singapore! (i'm born here leh)
2. JB (W. Malaysia)
3. KL (W. Malaysia)
4. Toba - Lake Toba (Indonesia)
5. Bali
6. Terengganu
7. Mersing
8. Hong Kong (before and after 1997)
9. Phuket
10. Bangkok
11. Pattaya (Thailand)
12. Shenzhen (China - superb shopping!)
13. Cairns (Australia - Great Barrier Reef diving awesome!)
14. Noosa (Australia)
15. Gold Coast (Australia - Dream World)
16. Sydney (Australia - 1st farm stay superb!)
17. Melbourne (Australia - 1st time musical)
18. Istanbul (Turkey - favourite church turned mosque)
19. Troy (Turkey - favourite outdoor wooden horse)
20. Izmir (Turkey - think i did bits of a silk carpet here)
21. Pamukkale (Turkey - big cotton mountain caused by minerals)
22. Ephesus (Turkey - fav ancient city, its so layered)
23. Marmaris (Turkey - got great tan)
24. London (UK)
25. San Francisco (USA)
26. New York (USA)
27. New Jersey (USA - 1st white Christmas, heavenly)
28. Boston (USA - 1st -6deg experience FREEZING ah)
29. Washington DC (USA - 1st homestay, great breakfast!)
30. Atlantic City (USA - 1st live concert by Jackie Cheung, underground tix somemore)
31. Baltimore (USA - Monteray Bay, best best underwater aquarium so far even got Sun Fish)
32. Paris (France)
33. Brussels (Belgium)
34. Luxemburg
35. Amsterdam (Holland - window pros a sure site!)
36. Stockholm (Sweden -1st english wedding)
37. Oslo (Norway)
38. Bergen (Norway - yummy cavier, salmon & whale meat yucks!)
39. Flam (Norway - oldest glacier... superb view & feel!)
40. Copenhagen (Denmark - yummy pork & fresh bread shiok!)
41. Rome (Italy - great great architecture, still amazed by the Romans)
41. Vatican (Vatican City - worlds's smallest city, met the previous Pope)
42. Pompeii (Italy - revived ancient city, still being discovered!)
43. Naples (Italy - modern city of Pompeii)
44. Bintan (Indonesia)
45. Malacca (W. Malaysia)
46. Batam (Indonesia)
47. Malacca (W. Malaysia)
48. Penang (W. Malaysia)
49. Manila (Philippines)
50. Seoul (Korea)
51. Kuantan
52. Bursa (Turkey)
53. Billurd (Denmark - LegoLand!)

cant think of anymore.... anyone?? hee.... glad that i've reached half way mark... i think my friend already clocked close to 70!!

my heart is sinking....

deeper and faster then i can catch it....

i made yet another stupid mistake.... i cannot even believe it myself... after 1.5hrs of painstakingly preparing my samples to be amplified.... i actually misplaced two sets of samples!! i put them in the WRONG PCR machines!!! ARGGHHHHH

It took me almost 10mins to believe that I made such a stuooooooooooppppppiiiiidddd mistake. now, i'm still gasping for air....

i guess the fatigue of having to manage many sets of data, samples, projects is setting in....

(in a small way, i'm still in DENIAL!!!) *BLAH*

Tradition Explained through Scientific Means

Got this through an email. Thought its worth a thought as a reflection of how we behave as a society where many "practises" and "traditions" are blindly followed without much significance. I'm sure those who are in preparation of a wedding or child birth would agree with me on this... hee.... enjoy!

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Tradition Explained Through Scientific Means

Start with a large cage containing five monkeys.
Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a ladder under it.
Before long, a monkey will go to the ladder and start to climb towards the
banana.
As soon as he touches the ladder, spray all of the monkeys with cold water.
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all
the monkeys are sprayed with cold water.
Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the ladder, the other
monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, turn off the cold water.
Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.
The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the ladder.
To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the
ladder, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new
one.
The newcomer goes to the ladder and is attacked.
The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

Again, replace a third original monkey with a new one.
The new one makes it to the ladder and is attacked as well.

Two of the four monkeys that beat him have no idea why they were not
permitted to climb the ladder, or why they are participating in the beating
of the newest monkey.

After replacing the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys that
have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced. Nevertheless, no
monkey ever again approaches the ladder.

Why not?

Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been around here.

I am snoopy siao!

yeah.... for those who know me... I'm the snoopy siao person who will go crazy whenever I spot any peanuts related items, be it calender, stuff toy, pencil case, book, tees... anything. Just happy to have mechandisers interested in the cartoon that spells so much meaning to adult life through the eyes of the young kids. =D

so here's abit of what's its like to be snoopy siao... heh....

coincidentally, both Ad and another friend bought me a 2005/06 snooopy ring bound calender.... hee...
so Ad was gracious enough to return his copy and got me something else in return hee...



then!!! we saw this mini daily tear out calender in the same series but with COLOR!!! I couldnt resist it!!! so Ad bought it for me as well!



notice that there's a small key chain on its background.... another recent addition to my snoopy collection thanks to Eve hee....

and here's what its really like when I'm snoopy siao.

if only I'm a kid again....

Introducing my latest gadget... the Samsung E730

Was overjoyed to recieve this gift from Ad (for our wedding anniversary gift.... dun ask me what I gave him for HIS present hee...) I have been longing for a new hp for the longest time (not so much because I was super vain... just abit vain lah, but more so because my Sony Ericsson K500 has been giving me problems, it cuts off my phone calls automatically at random, so caused a few scares especially when I'm conversing with my mum hee... not that I really minded about that phone call...)

so so so.... i've been waiting for this new gadget for a really long time, to have bluetooth facilities to sync with my Mac, so that I can transfer files, songs, pictures effortlessly... well, here it is!


pls note that the tinklet cross was bought way back in August when I was in Seoul.... (its a truely authentic Korean HP!!) hee... cant help it, am still stuck with the Korean wave...

then the hp came with a mini surprise! Ad got me a bright Chilli RED hp pouch that has a carabina to attach itself to anything! woah, i found this feature particularly useful and cant live without it ever since! it holds my hp and e ear piece for it. So I can listen to radio or the mp3 sounds anytime anywhere! so fun! so cool!


did you notice the two little korean dolls? hee.... i've been wanting to use them since my Seoul trip, they are sooo cute, they are wearing the traditional hanbok for weddings! The groom usually wears blue while the bride gets to be wearing hot chilli RED! cool eh? and they both go well with my pouchie... =D

200th Post: Celebrated with the NEW Treat in Town!

yeah, amazing, we've posted 200 blogs online, wonder which ones touches you, which ones made you bored till you resolve not to return ever again....

well, here we celebrate our 200th posting with a new treat in town: the Carl's Jr burgers! Its tasty & love the crispcut fries especially!

Return of Ms Whiskers... Close UP

I love bluetooth!

bluetooth or 籃牙 is a great tranferring tool!

I could sync between my Mac & my new samsung 730 via bluetooth, the exchange of files, music, photos is seamless!

Now my ringtones can be an endless possibility of my favourite tunes... cool!

I can even change them according to my mood hee....

*in awe of bluetooth technology*

Cup of Coffee

A churchmate emailed this just as I was trying to decipher the obstacles to my work to reach the end of my studies....

a timely email indeed!

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A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer.

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic,glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.



When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups."



"Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change." "Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

So pls, don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead

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new hp! horay!

yeah! after may drop calls, its finally great to have a fully functioning phone with many many more features!

taking advantage of the renewal vouchers, Ad got me a brand new Samsung E730!

when i get time, i'll take pic of MY E730 hee...

*happy*

Ms Whiskers, our friendly neighbourhood cat

Yes, finally I manage to capture a snap of our friendly neighbourhood cat which never fails to brightened our day with her cutsy face. Ad was the first to discover her, as she's always hanging around the children's playground which was a must-walk-by pathway between our house and the interchange. It became a daily routine for Ad to call out to Ms Whiskers and give her a friendly stroke down.

Why we call her Ms Whiskers you may ask, she has the cutest moustache grown above her lips, its a birth mark I suppose. I've seen quite a few of her offsprings with it too! But none as cute as hers, she's the original source... hee...

On Wed morning, I spotted an object at the back of my car (on the boot), first thought was: " wah, who so irritating throw things down in the car park??"

Then I realised that it was none other than Ms Whiskers...


ha ha ha... now i've got a cat story to share as with Otterman's 2 tyrants, Cav's Koji, Ben&Eve's Ginger & Smokey...

The night that i spoke up...

not too long ago, we celebrated All Saint's Day in church on the 1st of Nov.

Sitting in the left wing of the church again brings back lots of fond memories. 4yrs ago, on that same night, I was having quiet time in church, feeling tired from meeting all the different guys in my life and unable to "find" the "right" guy on my own. I spoke to the Lord and asked Him for His opinions.

I knew that if He had wanted for me and Ad to get together, He would provide the ways and means to do so. He just have to say YES hee... soon enough, things fell into place and we got together.

On that very night when we first talked about our "feelings", we were seated in our car, running the radio through the conversation... then as I was going to leave, I realised that I cannot start the car's engine!!

OMG! I thought that was a sure sign from God that "ooi! u siao ah? what are u thinking of??"

But Ad's faithfulness in God shone and we prayed together for the first time for God's hands on us (to get the car started....) and it worked! YES! the car's engine started right after that prayer!

In sharing our story, I hope to share the wonders of joy, happiness that was brought to my life because of the Lord. All Saints' Day holds special memories and significance for us as its the day that the Lord taught us about being trusting in Him.

Later on I learnt that All Saints Day was to commemorate the unsung heros who act saintly towards others, and not those saints that were "knighted" (okies, my knowledge in this area is seriously lacking... but here's the joy of learning new things rite? hee...)

Today we celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary, feeling evermore loved and cared for by the Lord and towards each other. indulging in life's simple pleasures....

Farewell ZS

In life, its becoming more common to have welcome home parties and farewell parties. Many of our friends are moving around the globe, each building their own niches. A couple of weeks ago, another of my friend had decided to pack his bag and leave the country for another place where there are more opportunities, to start his own start-up. Perhaps it was a chance of a lifetime to do something totally brand new, to be an entreprenuer.

I wonder how many of us, Singaporeans can actually do the same. At 31, a young man packed his 6yrs of life into 30kg suitcase and left town, in a cab, to look forward to another new begining. How many of us can actually squeeze your last 6yrs of life into 30kg? I know I cant! Not 6yrs of life.... I cant even pack 3.5wks of travelling! hee...

oh well, wishing my dear friend ZS all the world's very best for his new venture. Thank you for all the joys that you've brought to my life by just being you. We'll never forget the "Zhan You", the "Zhumb" hee.....

One conversation that took place went like this:

J: how come the dumplings came frozen? are they freshly made?

ZS: 1st reason is, if its not frozen, how do we transport it from the shop?

J: okay, then what's the next reason? (waiting eagerly....)

ZS: (after a thoughtful moment....) well,basically, it is like this, Only 1 reason! that's it.

Everyone: HA HA HA HA (bursting out in laughter)

well, you may not relate very well to the "joke" above, but its such pure joy to be immerse in the delightful company of a simple friendship.

ZS was a really cool dude standing at 1.8m tall, he was often the nice guy who would help anyone in need without hesitation. In his simple ways, he's cracked us up millions of times.

Oh man, how I miss these guys....

So on his farewell, I've opened my house for him to "perform" his culinary skills (before I have to fly to Beijing to taste them again... :( ). So he cooked the veggie and the tomato eggs for us, while Liu Liu took charge of the dumplings, Ke Ke amazed me with his superb garlic cutting skills. While the chief organiser took a step back and LAZE around..... hee...

The techkiest mum....

Many people may know us as the tech couple.... although we are gadgety, we can safely say that its probably an inherited trait... hee... *wink*



the mandarin version...


If I can live till a 100 and still be so sporty to try new tech toys... I'll b a really happy person!

One Boy, One Celebration...