Doremon On Honda!

Things that I wanna blog about....

I have about 10million 501thousand things that I wanna blog about starting from as early as January this year, BUT I cant!

I cant because I feel bad "wasting" time on blogging while I'm supposed to be doing eyes-popping actions of analysing data, writing reports, reading journals.

*boo* *hoo* hoo*

here's a mini list hee...
1. young singer in the making....
2. how to be a safER traveller
3. new tech toys at home!
4. birthday bashes!
5. new "kang-taos"
6. work-life-balance
7. car race
8. lego
9. story of a tree
10. how to feed a 2yr old & 30yr old at the same time....

see... so much to blog about! but I cant.... yet.... soon I hope.... I pray.... pls pray for me too!

:)

A sweet gesture

I was helping out at ADEX with Dive Junkie over the weekend and there's this gentleman who made a really sweet gesture that is deeply engraved in my mind. He has a gentle nature and a sweet smile, tanned and semi-blonde hair due to the expose to seawater.

Over the three days, this gentleman came over to our booth to purchase our apparels and wore them the next day! We had great fun asking him to stand infront of our booth to take pictures of him with our apparels. :) hee....

On the last day, again he came over and purchased yet another tee shirt while wearing OUR tee shirt, I cant resist but to ask him to take another photo with our booth again.

After taking his solo shot, he whipped out his camera and wanted to take a picture with ME hee hee... (cos i'm the self-proclaimed BEST sales person on the sales floor...)

He said that he'll email me my shot! Yeah!

At the end of ADEX, while everyone was madly packing away, I was hidden away in the store trying to organise our stocks, suddenly a head popped into the store and it was HIM! He came to say goodbye! Just for me! So sweet hor?

These days, everyone is so involved with their own lives, they dun make the effort anymore to have a personal relationship with each other. Emails, sms feels cold while a face-to-face, over the phone feels warm. I'm touched by this very sweet and heartwarming gesture, which reminds me that I should have a more personal relationship with those around me too!

(now I hope that I look GREAT in that photo hahahahahaha)

Come & Find ME!

Its an exciting time for all divers again!!!

Time to look for great deals, hunt for the best diving spot around the world and time to listen to some of the very experienced divers who can find you something interesting underwater, take the most gorgeous underwater photography eg. Michael Aw, renowned underwater photography who organised numerous trips to discover new species, lead a few campaigns to save our marine life.

Its called ADEX! happening NOW! Suntec City Convention Hall 602-603.





Why am I so ON about this??? Not because I've been soaking myself under the sun too much, but rather, I've fallen in love with the Dive Junkie casual wear! They are so comfortable! Color lasts me 4yrs already and its still going on BRIGHT (mind you, I throw them into the washer & dryer to wash them hee) Their collars will NEVER stretch, their prints are always fashionable. What more can one ask for in a tee shirt?

Plus they've got NEW designs in exciting colors! Sunset orange, Atoll, Kelp... sounds so delicious already, how can anyone resist?


Check out their website NOW!

Jen's current music

Saw the movie "Music & Lyrics" by Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore over the weekend and I cant get enough of its theme songs!!!


Don't write me off just yet
Its never been easy for me
To find words to go along with a melody
But this time there's actually something on my mind
So please forgive these few brief awkard lines
Since I met you my whole life has changed
Its not just my furniture you've rearranged

I was living in the past
But somehow you've brought me back
And I haven't felt like this
Since Frankie said relax
And i know based on my track record
I might no seem like the safest bet
All I'm asking you is
Don't write me off just yet

For years I've been telling myself the same old story
That I'm happy to live off my so called former glories
But you've given me a reason
To take another chance
Now I need you
Despite the fact that you've killed all my plants
Although I know I've already blown all my chances
Than anyone should ever get

All I'm asking you is
Don't write me off just yet
Don't write me off just yet


Way Back Into Love
I've been living with a shadow overhead
I've been sleeping with the cloud above my bed
I've been lonely for so long
I've trapped in my past for so long
I just cant seems to move on

I've been hiding my hopes and dreams away
just in case i may need them again some day
I've been having a sad time
Clearing a little space in the corners of my mind

All I want to do is find a way back into love
I cant make it through without a way back into love

I've been watching but the stars refused to shine
I've been searching but I just dun see the signs
I know that its out there
There's gotta be something for my soul somewhere

I've been looking for someone to shed some light
Not somebody to get through the night
I could use some directions
And I'm open to your suggestions

All I want to do is find a way back into love
I cant make it through without a way back into love

If I open my heart again
I guess I'm hoping that you'll be there for me in the end


There are moments when I dunno if its real
Or anybody feels the way i feel
I need inspiration
Not just another negotiation

All I want to do is find a way back into love
I cant make it through without a way back into love

If I open my heart to you
I'm hoping you'll show me what to do

And if you hold me in the sun again
You'll know that I'll be there for you in the end

Very awesome lyrics! Go and enjoy them! watch

What's Up Jen?

I think the very interesting question which many have been asking me is... What are you doing Jen?

Sometimes I also wonder.... yes, mostly to myself... especially in the past few days, crunching the data is really driving me up the wall... now I know why they call it permanent head damage, its actually quite hard NOT to have some form of brain damage considering the amount of time one has to sit infront of the computer staring and staring at the screen....

So after a really long and painful time, I finally figured out the relationships between some of my data... but still a marathon away from putting them together in understandable form... well at least I can seek some contentment in my enlightenment... its another one of those toilet bowl enlightenment moments.... I guess if I'm a smoker, its much faster with a cigarette in my hands... ha ha I can truly appreciate those artistic people who comes out with innovative ideas when they are shitting or bathing or just dazing...

So wanna have a look at what "enlightenment" looks like?


ok, it took a few attempts to make it look pretty, I have to right? Afterall, this will be pasted on my wall for quite a while until the whole experience is wrapped up :)

(some of the o-biang drawings are contributed by my very artistic other half hee hee)

Hand hurts from too much keyboard?

ok it hurts to type this blog post...

does it really happens?

this was a rested hand from a night's sleep...

it hurt the moment i placed my right arm on the keypad to start typing. Now i'm doing a slated hand typing!

I used to spend about 16hrs infront of my keyboard and it doesnt happen. Why now?

hopefully it'll get better with a few days of CNY "break".

You know CNY is round the corner when....

You see trays of pineapple tarts waiting to be cooled after baking...



sometimes, they can get really creatively created...(especially when there's an excess of either the dough or the pineapple fillings)



It is almost heavenly when they are all nicely packed into festive mood containers, ready to be shipped "away" (into the mouths of the makers! ha ha ha)
(btw, orders are welcomed for 2009's CNY because we've received overwhelming reviews for our pineapple tarts and have decided to give chance to MORE people to enjoy them hee hee)


If you were to take a walk to Chinatown, you'll see rows and rows of stalls set up selling tonnes of auspicious looking ornaments, food, drinks and even some form of entertainment....

This belongs to a very ancient form of chinese entertainment as there were no television, no internet, no mobile phones, no movies, instead there were lots of creative juices flowing by artists who can mimic a few different voices to bring out a puppet play. The audience have room for imagination to enjoy the play to the fullest. Not bad for entertainment I would say for the dull minds ;)

Ahh... CNY cannot happen without some of these yummy food, namely the waxed duck! This year, these stores are few and far in between, we combed about 4 streets to spot this stall, so we grabbed the opportunity to stock up our waxy food. But they are pretty EXPENSIVE this year, one tiny drumstick was sold for S$7! *ouch*


Another sure sign of CNY is when you see Mother Mary and Baby Jesus dressed up in traditional chinese costume in your church! hee hee... Ad says there was an original painting by some ya ya artist in Rome, so here's a replica.


Finally, when NTUC doesnt sleep, you KNOW for sure you HAVE to stock up your food supplies to combat the few days of store closures. This year there may be more stores who will opt to close for a longer term as the public holidays falls on Thursday & Friday, they can get super extended holiday by just taking another two days off. So be sure to stock up people!

Yes, NTUC closes at 2am until the 5th of Feb. So all the night owls, you can start shopping at midnight, or if you have been cleaning the house till the wee hours, rest assured that NTUC waits for YOU.

(but hor, I feel that the late night opening has always been a feature of the wet markets, for the hawkers to make a killing before they close for the only time in the whole entire year. So with NTUC in the competition for late night business, is there anymore decent profits for these hawkers? hmm....)

The Scare of my Academic Career

As with every career, especially those which you are going to see the end of the project, there are usually some "excitement". Mine is no different.

Just in the last few days, there was an active discussion among those in the community about how postgrads have "displacement activities" as Alvin calls it. Most were to describe how different individuals would be extremely productive in all other aspects of their lives EXCEPT for that ONE thing they had to do, that is their thesis! ha ha ha

Today, I noticed that my main harddisk space is dropping very quickly (HD is partitioned for Applications and another for DaTa). So I happily backedup my photos, music etc, deleted those music files that I hardly listen to.

NEVER for ONE single moment did I actually think of backingup my OWN research data which I've been working on for the past few years.... (my last backup was 1month back). I'm not sure why I'm so careless!

After happily deleting most of the files, I started to work on some of my data until 2pm when hunger pangs took control over my body, I had to run some errands during lunch, so I put Peppermint to sleep and went off.

When I returned, I was shocked beyond words.... imagine if someone just took away 4yrs of your research, analysis without your knowledge, you did not even get to say goodbye....

I have absolutely NO idea where my DaTA drive went!????

*panic*

(quickly open my trash bin... nope, I have diligently emptied my trash as well)

*more panic*

I recall Jr saying that these data are never really "deleted" off your machines, they just get over-written.

Ad is in KL on his way to a meeting... what do I do? I cant possibly wait till 11pm! I called Jr, hanged on to the foreign sounding ringtone.... I guess he's overseas as well, but he's my BEST BEST bet at recovering anything....

Thankfully, Jr picked up my call and Thank God that he was quick-minded to give me some VERY useful instructions in VERY simple steps in addition to his assurances.

OK, here are the steps, just in case anyone needs them, (but pls do YOUR backUP NOW!)

1. shutdown the computer
2. unplug power cable from machine
3. remove battery from machine
4. Do NOT do anything at all to the machine until....

a. you find another Mac (Jr calls it the Happy Mac)
b. download the trial version of SubRosaSoft
(use the trial copy first to check if its "powerful" enough to see the documents that you want to recover before you pay for it)
alternatively, you can use Virtual Mac Lab or Boomerang Data Recovery
(Jr was the BEST, he gave these links to me within mins of my panic phone call, kept me on the line to ensure that I got the steps right...)
c. Close all software on the Happy Mac and just open the data recovery software
d. ensure that both Macs (Peppermint was Sad Mac for a while...) are plugged in with power (so reassemble Sad Mac withOUT turning the power on) If either one runs out of juice during the recovery, it'll be total failure!
e. Find a firewire cable and connect Sad Mac to Happy Mac
f. Power your Sad Mac while holding on to the "T" on the keyboard until you see the Firewire Logo flashing on your Sad Mac's blue background
g. Recovery software will be able to "see" the files that you might have lost on Sad Mac, so copy them out to an external harddisk or to Happy Mac first
h. leave both Happy & Sad Macs alone to do their stuff - to take a pee/coffee break
i. JUMP up and Down in joy if you can "see" & recover ALL your files, if not, try another software.

I got lucky, I could see my Data Drive on Peppermint without the recovery software's assistance.

YEP, I backed up and backed up and backed up like mad.

And after the backing up exercise, I had to sit around to physically, emotionally recover from the shock, when that wasnt enough, I headed out for Retail Therapy to "remove the cache" from my system... ha ha ha

I must admit I got a pretty nice dress :P

Once again, thank you to Jr for his calm, collected assistance and patience, he makes a great instructor in a crisis anytime.

(some of you might be wondering hey where's Ad in all this action? later I found out that the sms never got to him... *sigh*)

A very tiny World

The world could not get any smaller... or maybe its because we are in Singapore?

Last night, I bumped into our ex-tenant from Hell. Yep, took the train with him, on the same NIGHT, at the same TIME, in the same TRAIN, in the same CABIN! Can you believe that? I only saw him in my last 2mins of "reunion" with him, not sure if he spotted me from the beginning, I suspect that we actually got onto the train from the same station as well ha ha ha

Last weekend, I attended a good friend's wedding reception and bumped into another old acquaintance. Why not a friend you might ask.... after spending 1month in Aussie land together on a backpack, I still dunno this guy! Can you believe that? ha ha ha Some people are just weird... or maybe its me... hmm...

Have a couple of friends who are also friends of friends'... so the world is getting smaller for me. Is that for you too?

I was analysing it as Singapore being a tiny country, so the chances of bumping into each other or having a chain-friendship is normal. Besides, most of these folks that we are talking about are in the same age group as ourselves, so naturally, the social circles also revolves around the same space.

But then hor, I also have friends who are cousins of my other friends... that is freaky! ha ha ha

I wonder if this would still occur if I'm not in the country? hmm... will have to live it to try it out! ha ha ha

Sinking heart

my heart is sinking faster than I can catch it.

Usually, when something goes wrong with an experiment, especially if its human error, one can easily, readily point it out. In my case, I'm dealing with a multi-dimensional error that only by God's grace am I able to figure out what went wrong, in order to fix it.

So my dear Lord, please help me see the light to the mountain of errors, guide me to find solutions with the limited resources that is available. HELP ME! Bless me!

Tonight

Tonight was a happy sad occasion where I got to meet up most of my family and extended family in a "celebration" of our grandfather's passing of 20yrs. Yep, Grandpa passed away suddenly one monday night 20yrs ago, the year when I just finished my PSLE, we were looking forward to the annual dinner with Beijing Duck...

That evening is still pretty clear in my head after 20yrs, Grandpa told us to pick up something from him and when we arrived, he was still doing his sums told us to wait for him. While waiting, he had a cough and laid back to rest. So we thought that he was tired and had to take a nap. We waited for around 20mins and never did we realised that the cough was a heart attack. Grandpa passed away before our very own eyes.

My world of comfort, fun, security changed from that moment onwards. Grandpa has left many legacies behind and we continue to discover them when we talk to our elders.

In my conversation with a cousin, I noticed something was not right with her and upon further probing, I realised that she's divorced from her young marriage of barely 3years. My heart sunk for her, to see that sadness and knowing that there's nothing I can do for her at this point. While she learns to pick herself up, I can only pray for her to have the strength to move on, to stay strong.

Remembering, Trusting & Cherishing

This weekend has been one that brought bitter news to many of us. Of those who know the 5 national dragon boaters who met with accident in their Cambodia race.

Ad was shell shocked when he read the news on Sat morning. Because he knew one of them. They had been to the same primary school, secondary school, junior college, entered army at the same time, went to the same university and after all these years, they ended up in the same industry. It is hard to count how many shared experiences they both have together. The fights maybe as kids? The jokes? Maybe even lots of pranks!

Just a few moments ago, I realized that another member of my extended family knows another victim at a personal level as well. Grieving is not an easy task and I'm glad that she took a brave step forward to grieve for her loss. She has decided to share what she knew of him with everyone who is interested to know through a blog. RVHS 2J 2001

It is during such shocking times that we remember all our interactions with these lovely people who has passed on.

In a conversation with a friend who used to BE in the team, so imagine his grieve.... he was wise to chose to TRUST that the accident happened because they were possibly unconscious due to the capsized boat. With that he could bring some closure to the accident and not try to be upset with anyone for it. Because anger cannot bring them back either.

This accident is yet another reminder for us to cherish those around us, tell them that they are important to us and let them be assured of their presence in our lives.

So go tell your loved ones you love them today. Tell them that you thought about them today.

Watson's is EVIL

I tell you.... How....

After working really hard today, I opened up my mailbox to find an interesting broucher, photocopied, scanned and sent to me by a not-so-IT-savvy friend. She got ALOT of heart, remembered that I LOVE Snoopy stuff and bothered enough to send it to me.

So I decided to take a small detour to Watsons before my dinner this evening....

I even planned to buy just 2 Snoopy items because you will need to spend $15 for every two Snoopy items. I cannot really figure out what I'll need at Watsons at the top of my head.

So I called for backup!! (yah like when Macs have their snoopy collection for their value meals, I also request for reinforcements)

I called up a good friend who is usually very sporting hee hee... (although I have to bear with her teasing for a long time to come... nevermind all that, its norm for people to tease me over Snoopy)

She was indeed very supportive, she "ordered" enough items through me to support my cause... hahaha which means I get to purchase another two more Snoopy items if I just throw a few things into the basket.

Then hor, their baskets now come ON wheels... which makes shopping alot easier, you just keep throwing things into the basket, full, overflowing nevermind, got a 2nd basket below it, can continue to fill it up, with its ultra light wheels, even if you put an elephant on it, you wont feel it when you push it around. So you just keep topping it up! (see how evil that is??)

I spent the next 10mins very constructively looking for items that I will NEED and will USE like tissue paper etc, I was even tempted to get shampoo! but it'll be too heavy for me to lag back alone haha

THEN! One innocent looking sales girl walked by and asked me if I was interested to learn more about their products (Silkpro).

Deep deep down inside me I was violently saying NO NO NO

But I just nodded my head because I had to "get MORE stuff" to buy MORE Snoopy items (might as well right? Since I'm at it anyway...)

Then she disappeared!

I should have just ran off that very instant! But I didn't (or else, there wont be this long essay on why Watson's is evil...)

She returned with another lady who was the beautician for Silkpro products, she started with moisturiser, then why I would need their toner and went on to the night repair and why my skin is the way it is now and blah blah blah.... I ended up with 3 bottles in my basket (overflowing already but still can put them on top safely)

Sigh, I'm weak lah. How??

When the cashier kept scanning the items, my heart kept jumping.... total damage $140.

I NEVER EVER EVER spend so much at Watson's before.

See how evil Watson's is?? They put up the Purchase with Purchase for Snoopy items and made me spend SO SO SO much!!

Just as I was leaving the store, I spotted this booth that is operated by Roman (a Germany company that sells pretty good quality stuff at good prices). They were selling anti-slip insole gels for shoes, in many shapes and sizes. Even some for men. Okay lah I thought of Ad and how tired his legs must be daily, I took a set for him. And I also chose another set for myself.

THEN the sales girl said that if I buy 3 sets, I will get a free gift! An anti-slip thing for shoes (on the outside when it can get slippery on rainy days)

Okay, I'm a freebie queen, mention the word FREE and you see my eyes light up!!

So I bought 3 sets lor. another $30 fly away...

See how evil Watson's is??

Now I have to go put on my 3 bottles of newly acquired stuff to see if it does all the magic that the lady claims, if not.... SOMEBODY's going get hurt real bad!!

here's what damage looks like....

Beautiful Day, rude people

Its the weekend!

And we have a mission, actually two.

One is to go for a warehouse sale and the other to complete some assignments.

To complete the assignments, we will need a reference book from the National Library.

So we head out to the library. Woah the seats were comfortable, quiet environment and even power supply for notebooks!

Wonderful

but being mid-day, there are many people here already. All the seats were taken up.

As I spotted 3 young kids packing up to leave, I stood by the side patiently to let them go.

When they were almost done, a couple came in between myself and the kids and happily charged forward.

So I went to gently remind him that I was waiting for the kids to clear out before occupying those seats.

He had a very unhappy look on his face and still ignored me and went ahead to put his things on the table.

Fine, the table was big enough to accomodate 4 of us.

But there was only ONE power supply available on the table.

I quickly took out my power plug and plunge it into the power source.

He looked ultra buay song and wanted to pick a fight with me. I told him that there was two of us with machines.

He almost wanted to eat me up and said that I cannot "chop" the power plug since my husband is not here.

I told him that my husband IS here. He went to look for a reference book.

He bo chap me, And used his power cord and plugged it into the wall plug.

He threw the cord over my seats even.

Good thing the lady next to him removed it. else, I'll would have just dumped it on the floor.

Ass!

If he had negotiated nicely, I would have been nice. He was just too rude for my taste.

GRC level Green Initiative!

I am so happy to catch this piece of news! Finally, someone who has "power" and resources is actually doing something practical and useful to ease the global warming issue in Singapore at the GRC level.

Am very happy to share that the Tanjung Pagar GRC has just started a "Make Your Own Bag" scheme which recycles used banners into shopping bags!

Makes perfect sense, doesn't it??

The material used for these banners are water-proof, hardy and best of all colorful!

Each bag is ONE of a kind!

Hand sewn by someone who can earn some spare cash or for that retired lady to spend some of her leisure time contributing to the environment.

Excellent idea!

Get the story from CNA here!

How was your weekend?

My weekend has been SHORT! yes too short to start with....

Watched a DVD on friday night and slept in late on sat.

Wanted to clean the rest of the house (because we started clearing things out from our study a couple of weekends ago and felt that the de-cluttering exercise was so liberating that we should extend it to the rest of the house) but guess what? the progress is slow.

My greatest fear: that the process if decluttering is slower than the process of purchase/gifts...

over the past few weeks, while we were actively decluttering, our family and friends were also actively contributing items BACK into our household... hmm... we'll need to put up some signs to tell everyone to hold back their "goodies" till Christmas for us, at least let us enjoy some SPACE first. hahaha

Anyway, sat was a super lazy day coupled by the fact that we were sleep deprived, so we spent a good deal of the time catching back our sleep.

Spent the evening at a girl friend's house and we talked about everything under the sun particularly make-up while Ad went on to do more cleaning up at home and did his mooncake shopping for the year... (see what I mean by slow speed of decluttering vs fast rate of purchase?? *tsk* *tsk*)

When we returned home, what was meant to be putting the mooncakes into the fridge became a "lets clear the fridge now" exercise. We spent the next hour, discovering the amount of sauces, pastes, drinks, food items that we had (hee hee) and YEAH we got more space in the fridge!!

well, after we stuff the box of mooncake into the fridge, we are like kinda back to square one with the not so much space left thingy.... *sigh*

Sun was a even shorter day. We sprang out of bed early to go to church, it was our church's Food and Funfair day. Time to take out those dusty coupons and utilised them! yeah, we were excited about being able to purchase something with our coupons as with previous years, we were always not in time to catch the stores by the time our Mass has ended...

After Mass, we cheong out to the funfair again and yeah there was MORE food available, we ate and we ate and we ate. So guess what was the BEST afternoon activity to do???

SLEEP!! hahaha

oops, with the afternoon GONE, its time to get ready for a wedding dinner.... ironing, washing up, drying my hair to style it, putting on make up (including my first attempt at eyes... hey girls, i did it!!! Ad says it looks GREAT!!), finding the right pair of shoes, bag, accessories etc....

the weekend is GONE just like that.

How was yours??

Warning from Orchard NPC- Snatch Theft

please warn all your friends and family.

I hope they do not spread to the outskirts of heartlands nor "upgrade" into motorbike snatch theft which would be very much more dangerous for anyone to be walking along the streets.

Singnet is NOT trustworthy!!

Singnet SUCKS!!!

I pay $88 a month for 10Mbps broadband speed but hardly reaches that kind of speed EVER, nevermind, but in the past few months we have been putting up with drop lines throughout the day and Night!!

It is terribly frustrating to have such a lousy service provider and its supposed to be our national service, leader... *PHUI*




We used to be on Pacnet, we have hardly encountered such situations, if yes, its rare, in our 3yrs of contract with them. Gosh, even starhub subscribers get a faster download speed then singnet with lesser problems.

this is terrible!!

Earthquake Tremors Felt

Finally, I felt some tremors, actually now that its being pointed out to me, i realised how INsensitive I am.

I thought there was some underground train that was passing through hee hee



for a local update of the seismic information go to NEA website


for a global look at the seismic situation, go to GFZ

local site address kindly provided by Ad, global site address kindly provided by someone's bf, who is IT savvy....

Specialized eateries popping up at TP

These are just two of the many that was spotted at TP Central.


Their business seems very popular, its usually sold out by 7pm!!




not sure if there are so many almond lovers out there, I only like them as raw/roasted nuts, never enjoyed those almond jelly, got funny taste!!
someone should try their cakes and let us know if they taste nice!! hee

amazing strength in a woman

this lady was born without her arms, yet she made full use of her legs to do everything that anyone else can.

amazing!

BS wet wet

Each time when it pours heavily, there's a small problem with we have a call of nature...

Because directly above our toilet bowl is a small ventilation window....

Normally, this window can closed fully until....



our money plant decided to seek more sunshine outside of the room!

here's a closeup!


next time might have to use an umbrella when we need to pee!! hahaha

You-Hoo!

I found a LAN line that is still active, accessible power point, secure, aircondition room with a huge window view....

what more can I ask for??

maybe some music... yeah nothing that Peppermint cannot provide for me hahahah

YOU HOOOOOO

1 man car

This is so cute, i cannot help but take a picture with it....

its a solo car, driven mostly by electricity!!



so cute, but it would be an issue to use it for gorcery shopping. wont have enough boot space! hahahaha

PM's Rally

woah, lots of interesting new ICT included in his speech.

my first proper rally experience. because i'm "forced" to watch it.

Was waiting for some interesting announcements but none so far, just depressing news of delayed retirement age...

but am impressed that PM used google earth-like programs to show the latest developments for our HDBs.

also looks like PM is using Keynote for his presentation.... wont that be kinda cool?? hehe

New Mac, iLife08 and who knows what?

woah its so exciting trying to catch what's happening Live @ Cupertino. But the feeds are coming in too slowly for me. Its exciting enought to read about the new Mac that comes with wireless bluetooth keyboard and mouse. way cool!

iLife has new iPhoto called events! which makes so much sense!! let's hope that its backend system is less messy then the current iPhoto.

catch updates at TUAW, The Apple Store, Engadget, Mac OS Rumours, Gizmodo Live, SlashGear, The Mac Observer.

Still got lots more to unfold. Jobs is way cool!!

blue black monday

Last week's monday doesnt seem quite the good for me. (And it wasnt even Fri the 13 or anything like that!!)

in the early morning, i went to take blood for a blood test... ended up with a huge bruise on the arm! (it never happened before!) *bleah*


then in the afternoon, fell and sprained my ankle (never in 17yrs!!)
*double bleah*

then in the evening, got the results of the blood test and found that its not ideal!
*triple bleah*

a very painful and disruptive sms

I never knew that I would be lying down on a spot in a public area groaning in pain ......

Well, I did that today.

I missed 2 tiny steps down the stairs because I was totally distracted by an sms which cost me a leg...

sms content somehow indicated that there was two different runs for women, instead of just one. So I was happily replying my "surprise" of the two race instead of one and WHAMP!

I was lying on the floor, shocked and in alot ALOT of pain.

I cannot believe that I sprained my right ankle, AGAIN! after like 17years.....

But I truly dun remember that it was this much pain the last time many years ago.... Maybe age reduces our tolerance for pain? Or just alot of faded memories haha

In that painful moment, a few million thoughts came flying past my mind, here's what they are:

1. Shit, why did i miss that step?
2. Darn, its damn painful!
3. Now ALOT of my plans for the weeks is going to CHANGE!
4. What should I do now?
5. Call Darling! (even thought he's like half a country away... yes call him)
6. flashback of my teenage sprain ankle moment...
7. flashback of how my MUM responded to my teenage sprain ankle moment....
8. No cold drinks/food for a few weeks....
9. Its going to be PAINFUL to be treated by sinsehs.....
10. PICK up the phone and CALL darling....
11. Thank God I still have my phone with me
12. Dial darling's number and was greeted by a very cheerful Darling....
13. weak answer to darling's cheerfulness and meekly explained my mini-misadventure...
14. darling's reply, stay where u r, i'm coming over right now.
15. shall i try to get up from the floor? It might be quite dirty....
16. check pain index... still OUCH
17. a lady in pink walks by... will she try to help?
18. nope, she went right by.... SINGAPOREANS! so CAriNG hor??
19. girl returns, asked if I was okay...
20. replied sprained ankle, in alot of pain...
21. girls walks away. ????!!@@#$%#@!#%^&
22. get up and hobble back to lab first...

yep, hobbling back to the lab was not as bad as I thought. It felt weak but not dislocated...

Back in the lab, boss came in and started discussing work with me. Had to cut him short to announce my handicap and need to get out to see the sinseh before my other medical appointments.

Darling arrived and we headed off to see a sinseh.... remembered that a friend had seen one before and mentioned that they were quite good. called friend to get contact. friend called back to say that they have moved... and in the taxi, the driver mentioned that the move was to Tiong Bahru. OH? so famous ah? Later we verified that it was two different sinsehs.

hmm... which one to go to?? Call friend's contact first to check check.... they say that they do massage of the affected area, preferrably after 1 day when the leg is no longer swollen. Oh well... that leaves us to the hands of the recommendation by the taxi driver... so go lah.

turns out that the sinseh is not in office yet, he's out having lunch, I almost forgot about the numbering system... we took a number tag and headed out for lunch... hehe... guess what? Beo Crescent Curry rice is just round the corner... dun care, hobble over to eat first....

came back and waited a while more for the sinseh to return... he looked very very YOUNG leh!
You know hor, usually the older the sinseh, the more experience he is... the less painful, the more effective.... this one looked like he's just started out only leh.... *fingers crossed*

when it was my turn, he told me to sit down and rolled up my jeans all the way to the knees. He applied medicated oil from kneecap onwards down towards the ankle. he pressed some acupuncture points along the legs and ankle and got it bandage up and gave me a long list of instructions....

here's my bak chang ankle.....

the leg just look fat because of the angle that the photo was taken.... dun be mistaken... haha

jen's wonder encounter

Finally!! After immersing myself into the MJ scene since..... BEFORE my birth, I finally did a 13 wonders!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

best part is.... I drew the winning card in MYSELF!!


HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

HP is so so only leh

I want to WARN all who has yet to catch HP's latest movie NOT to waste $$ at the cinemas. Just wait patiently for the DVDs, buy one copy and share among 20 friends.

Its really not that exciting nor engaging. Probably better to read the book. All the magical feeling and flare of HP is kinda lost even though its a 143min show. Should consider to have extended version like the LOTR series, which makes it super worth it to re-watch the extended version DVD.

After watching such a poor HP movie, makes me wanna watch something much better to "neutralise" the effects.

but when the next movie is released, I gues I'll be one of those suckers who will watch it at the big screen again....*sigh*

Funky Way to Play

I always love the swings in the playgrounds. Especially whenever I see them empty hee... The carefree feeling of sitting on it and swinging is simply Fun Fun and Fun!

All these years, I've only used the swing in two ways.... one: put my butt on it. two: stand on it.

Here's a third and more funky way....

Let's Celebrate NDP

its been a good 10years since I went for my first NDP at the National Stadium. Then, we had "lobangs" to get the tickets to watch the preview parades with 95% of the items as for the actual day (only difference was the fireworks, super weak or non-existence). But its always a very feel good atmosphere to celebrate a birthday. What more the birthday of my birth place?

Got the rush to wear red & white lots in the coming weeks. hee....

Also hor, anyone out there with lobangs to get tickets? 2 for me PLEASE! I've tried doing that online balloting since 4yrs ago, I never, NEVER got any reply or sms or email from the organisers saying: "Thank you for your interest in the NDP parade tickets ballot, we will get back to you shortly." or better still, "Congratulations, you have won yourself two tickets to the NDP."

*SIGH* I wanna go and watch the parade wearing my RED and White!

UOB Phone Banking Sucks!

How long does it take for one to call through to talk to a phone banking officer??

In OCBC, about 2-3mins.

in UOB, I've been on hold for over 10mins, its still the same message, "over officers are busy with other callers at the moment, please hold."

terrible, its time to terminate the card!!!

Heavy rain...

Woah its been a really long time since it last poured like it did this evening.

The winds are exceptionally strong. I can hear many doors being slammed shut. Flying objects in the skies banging into other things.

Let's hope that there are very few causalties on the roads/jungles/hills tonight.

brrr... even our main door has sounded its resistance towards the wind.

Which is stronger? wind or rain? hmm....

Internet Banking Boon or Bane?

*sigh* banks seems to chose the "right" time to have system maintenance. Just as I got ready my machine, remembered my userid, password and armed with the 2FA token (which generates random numbers which only the bank can decipher), I logged onto the website only to find out that they are having a system maintenance the very same hour after I'm done with my emails/work/dinner/drinks/late night out with friends & family.....

WHY????

Does majority of the folks do their internet banking IN the DAY??

Let's vote: When do you do your internet banking transactions?

A. Day
B. NIGHT

Its so frustrating to have every piece of equipment ready only to find out that the source is NOT ready! Now I've to put the banking stuff on my TO-DO list which is already growing by the minute and come back to it another time and hopefully I would not pass my due date for the transactions that I wanted to make..... *bleah*

It was easier last time when we dun have so many bills to pay, no scv, no broadband, no hp, no PUB, no singtel, no house renovation loan, no gas, no conservancy, no tv license....... the list goes on..... cant we just pay one central place for ALL of our bills?? Wont that be lovely? hee....

yes I know, for some of it, its called GIRO but we need to keep track of our bills so that we can use less electricity, less water, less gas at home.... if we GIRO everything, we will just see numbers flying in and OUT (cos more OUT going cost so OUT is faster and bigger haha) and hopefully got enough to support ALL the OUTs haha

notty banks! make me post so late at night. sleepy. *yawn*

An evening walk

Last night Ad decided that we should put on our walking shoes and start to a causal neighbourly walk in the evening.

Brillant idea I thought. I asked, Normal walk or Brisk walk?? hehe

Ad stunned and shocked for a while, erhm, brisk walk?

Good idea I thought it'll help me burn some calories and finally see the effects of brisk walking after hearing so much about it. (can lose weight wan right?)

Then the big question came.... How to brisk walk huh? Do we have to walk alot faster than our normal casual walk? Do we swing our arms by our side? Do we need to have proper warm up and warm down??

hmm... too many unknowns. So we decided on what we know best. Casual walk! haha

Next was target destination.... to Thomson? Walk there and do what there??

To give ourselves some motivation, we estimated that if we walk to Balestier, it'll be dinner time by the time we reach there. Cool! Lots of great food along that stretch of road.

So we put on our walking shoes and started our walk.

We cut through a few blocks in the neighbourhood and realised that we do have alot of stray cats around. Like 3 in a small area of 20m radius. No wonder there's a need to look into the stray cats issues. I bet there's really alot of cat-lovers who go around the neighbourhood feeding these cats. Cos they dun look a wee bit hungry to us. Just having a relaxing evening lying around the void deck.

There was one cat however, still had its native instincts to hunt for rats hee.... Ad spotted it carrying a rodent in its mouth, scurrying to safety before it devours its dinner. Cool! That's how cats should be doing right? I mean their natural instincts is to hunt down rodents. Thus getting rid of the pest. The natural food cycle.

We crossed the giant overhead bridge towards Balestier, marking the halfway point of our walk?? It was barely 15mins before we started our walk haha. Then I realised that I should have worn white top and a blue long pants hee hee... Cos this bridge is the favourite spot for TP standing behind one of the pillars with their handycam. Wonder if I stood there in the same position would have any effects for fast travelling vehicles. Erhm, I doubt so, peak hour, too many vehicles travelling on the expressway that time. No chance for them to speed. No wonder there's no Uncle White there at that time haha

We arrived at Ah Hood Gardens. Hee.... what a local flavoured name. Imagine filling up in the address column as Ah Hood staying in Ah Hood Gardens. Robin Hood Gardens would have sounded more glamourous.

We walked spotted a coffee shop that has a huge banner that says that its got Hotel Standard Chicken Rice at coffee shop prices. Hmm.... too early to stop now for dinner, we'll come back for it on the way back....

We were walking by Caltex Petrol Station when Ad started walking towards one of the parked vehicles next to the pump... He knew the driver of the vehicle! haha... What a small world.

It turned out that this person is a teacher from my alma mater! What a tiny world! Like that also can hor...

We continued to discover more of our neighbourhood on our feet and spotted a telephone booth! haha.... its been a while since I last saw a phone booth in the middle of the pavement with a working phone in it! Card Phone. Who uses it these days?? Not even sure if the book stores still sells the phone cards hee abit retro hor??

As we walked further, we realised that our stomaches are growling.... its 745pm! We've walked for about an hour! We headed back... along the way we found an Italian Resturant serving beef, soup and salad in a pretty upmarket set up and the prices are also very Up Market ah!

As we move towards the chicken rice (supposed to be by the famous Mandrian Hotel Chef) and reached there in time to buy the LAST order of their chicken rice. Hmm.... chicken is not bad, not as tender as the Boon Tong Kee one, rice is soft and chewy but again not as nice as the BTK one haha... so the verdict is... BTK is more expensive but nicer!

8pm we started eating.... one of the bus that will bring us back home pasted by.... I figured it will take another 15mins before the next bus comes along. We ate at our normal pace and before we know it, we are done eating, its 815 and guess what?? Our bus is coming!!

Yahoo! We jumped out of our seats, ran 20m and we were at the bus stop waving madly for the driver to stop the bus for us. haha

Yep, that's how our walk ended, with a yummy dinner and a bus ride home! :P

tiny slit

one would think that one tiny slit across the thumb where only the skin is flapping away from the flesh, no bleeding would be a small insignificant cut....

But it wasnt.

2 hours after the slit then I realised how useful that part of the thumb is to me. After opening and closing close to 200+ tubes, that flap of skin has threatened to tear to unearth the red bloody flesh beneath it.

I had to find a remedy before it gets worse (of course stopping all work would be the BEST hehehe but who would issue a 2-3 day MC because of a tiny slit on the thumb??)

(side track- why 2-3days, cos I old liao mah, skin take longer time to regenerate and grow back, so that 1day MC would not have made any difference haha)

I went to the first aid box in the lab and scanned for a handiplast. I found one easily and realised that the contents of the box has been refreshed (from the ghastly overdue bandages, antiseptic creams which I saw last year). Good sign!

There was a few packs of plasters. I took the first one box on the top and found that there was only one plaster left inside. Perhaps someone else also had a cut?? Or they gave us a used pack of plaster?? Were these contents re-cycled from another first aid box?? hmm....

With the plaster, I worked with much ease almost like that tiny slit wasn't there! Until I took out the plaster and found that the slit is still threatening to open wider.... must take care of it.

Next day, came back to the lab, first thing I did was to put on a fresh plaster over my thumb. After 2hrs of lab work, opening and closing another 200+ tubes, the plaster torn!

sigh, wonder how many plaster will I go through before my tiny slit heals....

Marriage Celebration 2007

Each year, there is a group of dedicated folks who would work very hard to put together a day of activities to celebrate being married.

This year, we were roped in to help with directing traffic for this event. We thought that its held at our own backyard, would not post any problems at all.... but needless to say, we have met with some interesting situations that teaches us not to take anything/anyone/anyplace for granted. haha

here's the team of traffic wardens....



with our light sabres hee.... was alot of sweat and hardwork getting over 400 couples into their respective venues for the talks and 1000 into the church to attend mass. At the end of the long day, covered in smelly "uniform" we retreated to feast at railway haha

Fungus by the park

This park was undergoing re-construction, although now that its done up, I cannot recall what are the new features being added to it besides the more ah-tas looking carpet grass grown next to some paths. These grass require alot of water to survive, doesn't seem like a good idea to be grown in hot tropical Singapore unless they intent to have someone full time to maintain them. Else, it'll only look good for the first few months then ha-base!

On this plot of garden, the wood fillings were put on it for a couple of days and no plants were planted over it yet. Then we noticed something cute growing out of it hee....


close up


its amazing how one day it was vacant and another day its fully occupied by these hardly fungus. Well, they died a natural death quickly as well, but the amazing sight of overnight growth never fail to amaze me :)

Bad Driver!

One lovely evening, my sis and I took our mum to a concert along with sis-in-law, grandma and cousin....

As usual, the parking in Indoor Stadium is atrociously full, with the road works, national stadium under construction and the construction of a new train line in the same area, a few roads were closed/diverted.

Anyone with any slight imagination of the traffic condition will know that it'll be a game of patience to get OUT of the car park.

There was only ONE exit point for the whole entire car park just infront of the Indoor stadium for about 100+cars. And the road leads to another one lane traffic all the way to Nicoll Highway, imagine the nightmare.

I was fully mentally prepared that it'll take a while for us to get out of the car park...

However, there was this other driver who seems to think that by honking his horn persistently, the jam will magically dissolve.

He was super annoying!

His horn was loud and long, lasting almost half a min in his first attempt. I saw that there was NO WAY anyone could miraculously hasten the traffic, it was not due to incompetent driving nor navigating of the roads, there was simply 200 cars trying to get out of one tiny road.

I was furious that there would be someone who is so self-centred and impatient, ignoring the pain he caused to other's standing next to his vehicle.

Considering it was a concert for MOTHERS, you can imagine how many mothers will be there and the normal age for anyone to be a mother would be say 24yrs old? (very liberally speaking hee) and for their kids to grow up, earn enough money to pay for their mothers to attend the concert will take another 20yrs, so the MINIMUM age of mothers there would be 44yrs old!

Of course grandmas will be alot older....

Who can be so insensitive to spoil such a lovely evening with their sickening noise??

I went up next to his car to take a good look inside his car, perhaps he has an emergency??

NOPE, seated next to him in the passenger seat was his young son about 6yrs old with both his hands covering his ears. Behind was a woman with another younger kid both trying to shield their ear drums from the sound of the horn.

Imagine, his entire family was INSIDE the car and found the sound of his horn intolerable. What about the tonnes of pedestrians standing outside? Along the pavement, waiting for their loved ones to come and pick them up since most of them are old folks, who cannot walk 500m to reach the car after a 3hr concert...

I stared at the driver with all my might (it was quite dark lah, dunno if he'll see me if I just looked intently hee) and I put my index finger to my mouth to indicate shut up!

He certainly got my message and did not dare to sound his horn again. For a brief moment, he wanted to unwind his car window to pick a fight I think, the window came down like 1/3 and went back up again. Bet it was family pressure for him to just shut up!

He was pretty obedient along the jam (could be I secretly continued to stare at his vehicle, at one point I was walking alongside of it hee hee)

Well I had to take a picture to remember this bad driver. I was tempted to send his particulars to TP for bad driving ethics.



What do you think? Shall I do it?

Hello Kitty

In the last NATAS fair, we saw a kitty that we cannot resist saying hello to... hehe

yes its a rare cat appearance on our blog... catlovers, enjoy!

careless me...

i dropped my mobile in the bus that i take to school!!!

let's hope that it can be recovered!

there's quite a bit of sms & mobile numbers which i dun have backup of.... :( *bleah*

dun try calling me before 6pm today....

wish me luck and PRAY for me n my mobile to be re-united!!

(at least there's no answer on it now when i dial the number... so hopefully its still sitting quietly on the bus floor)

Be careful with your receipts!

Do you know that the receipts that are generated at cashiers when you pay with credit card has ALOT of personal information about you? Your Card?

In one of our shopping trips, the cashiers mistakenly gave us another person's receipt and we din realised it until we got home and when we looked at it, we got a shock!

It has his full name.
Full credit card number.
Expiry date.

information sufficient for anyone to make online transactions with..... all these, you dun even need to steal the card to "buy" things FREEly.

So be sure to watch where your receipts go when you shop....

smart designs

I always enjoy looking at smartly designed furniture. One of such are the benches available in Vivocity Basement.



This bench-cum-table is a clever space saving idea, fully functional and gives the user different options! so clever!

I got a model to show how it can be used differently hee hee....





If you are interested in using my model for your photo shoot, feel free to contact me! Where can find such a smiley model? hee

Making money vs Being Socially Responsible

In this recent years, many production lines for medicine, clothes, food items are shifted to China for production because of the cheaper production cost and the rising standards in productions. However, there are also many more reports of "fake" productions or replacement of an expensive ingredient with a cheaper alternative which can take away lives. At the end of the day, those merchants who switch these ingredients around not only violated the production agreement, they are also directly responsible for the damages caused.

My question is: How can these people sleep at night? Knowing that they are possibly murderers??

There is a need for checks on the authencity of the goods that come out of China productions. I'm not saying that ALL products are ingenunie, but it just take ONE to be ingenunie and many will die from it. Shouldn't there be more care & concern about it?

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