Off to Taiwan~

Finally the long wait is over! Am off to Taiwan from today till New Year's eve~ Cya guys when I'm back! *beams*

I'm going to LONDON!

Hah~ Not the real London in UK but the latest game from Flagship Studios, IAHgames and Hanbitsoft, Hellgate London. The game that took the world like a storm. Thanks to Ivan who got it for me for my birthday!

Talking about birthdays, this year seems different. I usually look forward to my bdae to remind myself that I managed to survive another year without ending up dead, bankrupt or seriously injured. It's always the time of year for me to look back upon the past 1 year and re-examine my life. Made more friends than lost? Made more money than lost? Stuff like that.

Although I usually announce loudly on MSN when my bdae is near but I shan't do it this year though.. In fact, when Ash asked me what I wanted for my bdae, I couldn't give her a straight answer! I always plan out what I want for my birthday present (saving the trouble from lotsa concerned people around me?) but I'm at a loss actually. I got my PSP myself, a trip to Japan and a Liverpool home jersey as well. My sis should be getting the pair of Nike running shoes (Yes, I'm going to start running again) I've been coveting for and apart from those, I've nothing to ask for already? Heh~

Am installing Hellgate right now and going to join my mates in there (Law and GY) as soon as it is done! *beams* It's going to keep me pretty occupied sia... I have Heroes 5: Tribes of the East, 5 books to finish reading as well as Gundam Seed: OMNI vs ZAFT on PSP as well as my Gundam Wing Custom Zero to do up as well. Phew~

Lost in the world of Hellgate London,

Jaron

The Golden Hitman

That's 2 shows in 4 days! Caught The Golden Compass on Friday with Ivan, Law and GY. It's not bad and it's actually adapted from a book series ala Harry Potter! Had dinner with Ivan as well on Saturday and went to Kino at Bugis Junction to find the book but ended buying The Legend of Drizzit Part II.

For ppl not in the know, that's fantasy for you and it's part of the Forgotten Realms series + Drizzit's one of my favourite characters in the series!

Then kena psychoed by Law to watch Hitman just now. The trailer for this show in the cinema already set my heart racing for this. I've played the game before (Part I only, din try part II, was there a part III?) and I thoroughly enjoyed the game. How you set up your kill, your weapon of choice (I remember there was a sick looking dagger you could use) and most importantly your escape route! You could barge in guns a blazing (like Law did) or stealth and cunning (like me) now feel like re-playing the game again... Heez

Thinking of getting the free membership for GV, Shaw and Cathay at this rate sia... Almost once a week. Woot~

Siu Mui~

Had dinner with Alice and Lu Xin at Waraku while Alice's in Singapore right now till Friday! Alice's one of my colleague from HK and she's here for a couple of days for training. So good right, go on overseas trip for training. Nice~ Wish I could do that as well...

Had my favourite Rindo (katsu don with cold soba + udon!) Shiok~ Later Lu Xin had to leave for home so I accompanied Alice to Carrefour to buy some stuff. Guess what she bought? Yakult! According to her, the only type of Yakult you'll find in HK are the original flavour ones (red cap) So she bought 2 X orange and 2 X apple flavour (she said she din like the grape flavour anyway...) and I bought my 2L Meiji milk bottle. Yum~

Alice, Me and Lu Xin


Siu Mui and Dai Gor

Later I took a cab back from Carrefour cos my feet still hurts a little (refer to last post) and I waited for almost 50 mins for a cab! It didn't help when most of the cabs that came in were on call. I tried calling almost every single cab company in S'pore and couldn't get one at all. =( Also there was this irritatig couple behind me in queue who kept bumping into me when doing their PDA (Public Display of Affection) and they din sound v sincere when they said "Sorry" Hmm! Go get a room for goodness's sake!

One nice dinner down. Tml's dinner with my team at a Myanmar restaurant with Andreas!

JLPT!

Sat for my JLPT2 today at the Japanese Secondary School at Clementi. Didn't help if my foot's injured from wearing that cursed pair of leather shoes for my company's D&D on Friday! So there I was, limping slowly to the school...

The test was pretty difficult! I will be counting my lucky starts if I pass sia.. Haiz.. Anyway, later met up with Ivan cos he wanted to buy a pair of leather shoes for his fren's wedding tml. So I gave him lotsa advice on how to choose a gd pair of leather shoes cos I've chosen pretty bad ones before.. *looks at injured foot* =(

And I managed to get the component cable for PSP and tried it on the TV! Looks great! =)

Now hope I can get well soon in time of my Taiwan trip! Cya!

The KINGDOM

Caught this movie thanks to my sis's pair of movie tickets for Cathay. She's enjoying herself in Sydney now... Oh well... Couldn't guess anything much from the poster initially, only saw Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Gardner (yeah baby!) holding rifles.

The plot is actually more than what you think. The initial credits were choreographed amazingly. Love the way they manage to compress 70+ years of history about oil + US + Saudi Arabia + terrorism all into a nice 2D package. Simply said, terror strikes right in the heartland of Saudi, blowing up US ppl living there. US too afraid to act, Jamie Foxx and his team of FBI march straight in to set things right and kill the bad guys. =)

A few more movies to catch soon.. Golden Compass, I Am Legend, etc..

This week's going to be pretty busy. AM EXTREMELY busy preparing for my japanese exam this sunday. Don't think I'm going to make it this time... There's too much to study.. Tml's my company D & D and everybody (i think) is going to dress up! Next week my siu mui, Alice, from HK office is coming to SG! And we'll be having a nice farewell dinner with my German colleague, Andreas who's heading off to London and Frankfurt soon. Phew~

That's all for now! Chill~

HERO!

Today's pretty packed for me~ Went to Changi in the morning for a Japanese cultural quiz at the Japanese School. Ash was the one who told me about the event. It's a 150 MCQ quiz and i think the top prize is a trip to Japan! =)

Arrved 15 mins before registration and I could see some ppl burying their heads in books on culture and history of Japan. I was like "!!!!" It's only a quiz yah, nothing much you can do to prepare you for this. In the end, there were questions like population of Japanese living in Singapore, S'pore's population density is how many times more than Japan. Glad I could answer the questions on anime, food and transportation system in Japan. Heh, pays to visit Japan!

Met Princess at Orchard for a bit of shopping and I bought the Gatsby Moving Rubber styling wax! Gonna learn how to style my hair to the "Out-Of-Bed" Look. ;) Caught Hero later thanks to the pair of free tickets I won at my company's fire drill quiz. Hero's not bad, even if you dun understand Japanese, the English and Chinese subtitles are quite accurate. Kimura Takuya and one of my fav Japanese actresses Takako Matsu are simply great. One of the more memorable characters in the movie was the bartender in their usual watering hole. Cool demeanor, silent but yet very thoughtful in the end. ;) Catch it while you can!

=)

Here comes the bride, all dressed in white!

Just came back from my sis's ROM at Labrador Park. Really nice place but the sky was threatening to rain so the ceremony was held as soon as the JP arrived and had a reception indoors in a private room later.

My sis, finally married, *tears from eyes*~ Aww.. The restaurant there totally sucked. First, no English spoons for the fried rice. Then small plates (which were 1 standard size, according to the manager) but later I saw bigger plates used by the guests eating outside... -_- Then no small spoons for the mango pudding in the shooter glass. The manager insisted eating it like drinking a shooter, but after I asked the manager to show me how, he reluctantly went to get some small spoons for us, much to the relief of the other guests. Took some shots over there and will upload them, with my sis's permission. Stay tuned!

On another hand, I caught Stardust, Lust Caution and Beowulf recently and they were entertaining. Stardust is your typical romantic comedy. Claire Danes was not bad as a fallen shooting star but the real star was Robert de Niro as a act-tough-but-actually-a-wussy pirate captain. =) Catch the part where Claire tries to describe what Love is. ;)

Lust, Caution's a period war show but it focuses on the steamy relationship between Wang Jia Chi (Tang Wei) and Yee (Tony Leung). Wang's a spy for the resistance faction who is supposed to assasinate Yee who's working for the Japanese during Japan's occupation of Shanghai. Much hype about the R21 version and I finally realized why Carina Lau, long time gf of Tony Leung, would be flaring mad with him. LOL

Beowulf's an animated action / comedy film but the animation was done pretty well, initially letting me believe that it was acted by human beings. Story's about how a monster slaying hero becomes king but falls prey later to a seducing water demon. (Angelina Jolie!)

PSP!

Finally got my PSP Slim last Sunday! *beams*

Funny video

My recent addiction to Youtube~ 志村けん

Enjoy!

Fun-filled weekend!

This post's coming in late but better late than never, eh? I'm just blogging the events in short for now and hopefully I can find some time to upload the pics and paste the links here too..

Basically...

Friday: Halloween Party at Chris's! Kudos to Chris and his missus for organising a great party for both young and old at his place~

Saturday: Wedding dinner for Law's sis followed by a great night of dancing and drinking at Attica~

Sunday: Met up with Kitty for lunch, followed by shopping (collected by G2000 pants and bought a Levi's polo tee on sale) and movie + dinner with Princess~

=)

I'm back!

Sorry for the long delay in my posts~ Just back from Japan. Overall the trip was not bad albeit a bit tiring. But it was a good break from work!

Here are some of the highlights of my trip for each place I visited and the ppl I need to thank for making my trip enjoyable!

Hiroshima:

Went to Iwakuni for the first time with my host family! It's a nice, serene town with magnificent mountains. Looks like a scene from a postcard if you ask me. Thanks to my host family for bringing me to eat my favourite okonomiyaki and momiji manju! I bought Blokus for the children and they absolutely loved it! =)

Osaka:

Stayed at Mine's place! Enjoyed a warm reception by his whole family and he brought me around Osaka with Keiichi, who came to Singapore with Mine in September this year. On top of that, Mine and his family and Keiichi gave me lotsa of souvenirs that I had to ask him to help me to mail some back to Singapore for me. :P Thanks for everything!

Places I went to included Osaka Aquarium, Shimsaibashi, OPU (Mine's university), Universal Studios Japan! Yeah~

Kyoto:

First time to Kyoto! During one of the days in Osaka, Mine and Keiichi brought me to Kyoto as well! Went to the famous Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion Temple) and Kiyomizu Temple. A pity it was dark when we reached Kiyomizu that I couldn't take any pictures of it! It was a long trek up a slope to the temple as well though... Will go back to Kyoto next time!

Nagoya:

First time to Nagoya! Went there to meet up with Hiroko, a friend I got to know during my Hiroshima Homestay Programme on my 1st trip to Japan. It's been 2 years since we last met and she's working in Nagoya for about a month or so. I travelled to the Italian Village near the harbour and met her for dinner together! Wanted to eat the famous Nagoya Miso-katsu and got my chance! Look at the pics and you will know why. It's so marvellicious~ Only regret was that I forgot to pass to her the present I got for her and I got to mail it to her now. >_<

Tokyo:

This was my 3rd time back to Tokyo although I had stayed in different places in the past (Ikebukuro and Shinjuku). This time I stayed in this hostel in Asakusa~ The hostel's pretty nice and clean with friendly staff and fellow hostel mates as well. *Two thumbs up*

Went to Ginza before heading down to Sanno Park Tower to visit my fellow colleagues in Deutsche Bank~ Much awaited for me as it was my first time to another branch office! Thanks to Ohsaki-san, Kyoko and Terumi for bringing me out to a nice izakaya for a absolutely gastronomic feast and a round of drinks later at a nice Okinawa bar!

Other highlights would include my usual trip to Akihabara and on Terumi's recommendation, I ventured into a maid cafe for a look. It felt weird at first when the "maids" there address you as "Master" and they kneel down when they take your order. Too bad no pictures were allowed... Bought 4 electronic dictionaries for 3 of my Japanese class classmates and myself at a deal too! Akiba's the place! =)

Something also happened in Tokyo as well. I was buying my train ticket at Asakusa Station when a pretty Korean girl asked me for help. Apparently she and her mom wanted to get from Asakusa to another station but wasn't sure how to get there. Since my station was along the way, i offered them to show them the way. Soon after we hit it off pretty ok and exchanged emails as well. I've sent her an email when I was back and hope she replies soon~ ;)

Yokohama:

First time there as well and it was a real treat to abuse, i mean, use effectively my Japan Rail Pass for a 15 minute ride from Tokyo to Yokohama. My main purpose in Yokohama? The Raumen Museum (the spelling error was meant to be) As some of you might know, I'm nuts about ramen! It's like going to the Holy Grail of Ramen~

1st floor's souvenir shops and some history exhibits of ramen but when you go down to the basement.. It's an replica of Japan in the 1930s with traditional shophouses, although the shops are modern. The 8 best ramen restaurants have been gathered here by the museum and are plying their ware. You can buy a mini bowl of ramen at abt 550 yen so that you can try other ramen restaurants without blowing up your tummy. I tried 3 bowls in all, from Kumamoto, Hakata and Sapporo and I gotta admit that the Kumamoto's one was the best among the lot! Pity I couldn't try the other 5 cos I was too full! Will definitely go back again for another round!

That's just about all for my Japan trip and the link to my album's below. Take a look and let me know your comments, k? =) (Note: Flickr can only display 200 pics max and I have 383 photos.. -_- while try to find another online album.. meanwhile stay tuned!)


by janzer81

PECS

I just coined the term above which mean Providing Extra Crappy Service , that is the opposite of GEMS (Go the Extra Mile for Service).

Last Sunday, my sister and JB brought our families to this restaurant at Suntec Convention Centre Level 3. No names allowed but let's just call it PRP restaurant. (Smart ppl should be able to find out which one...)

We had the a la carte buffet which costs about $32.80+++ per pax and there was the free Mini Buddha jumps over the wall and the Crispy Skin Duck as well. There were 12 of us so we ordered quite a number of dishes at a time. The dishes were served surprisingly fast, in fact too fast, with the nasty waiter hurrying us to clear up plates so that he could serve up the next dish. Coupled with the irksome "后面烧，来" (Careful, something hot behind!" even when serving cold drinks, salmon sashimi, the mood was pretty dampened but some of us managed to poke fun at that to lighten things up.

When quizzed at the speed of serving of the dishes, the waiter replied "Here is buffet one, our chef cook already then serve loh, standard one." Even the assistant manager quipped "Maybe next time you can order fewer dishes at a time so that they won't be served also fast.." Even as we made some way for the waiter to serve the dishes, he would find the narrowest of places to squeeze in. -_- The restaurant was hardly far from full house... and it wasn't the case that we were sitting at a small table with not much space for the dishes...

I was like WTF! Cook already means must serve immediately meh! Still want guests to order at the pace you set? And with waiters hurrying us to finish up the food? Not the kind of service I would expect from a restaurant. Did i mention it was named one of Singapore's 50 best restaurants by Tatler? Shocking.

The only thing that saved its skin was the food which was not bad. Too bad it was a meeting for both families else I would be happily snapping pics away at the food le.. So be warned if you're going to PRP next time, either

1. Order in "moderation" as suggested by the assistant manager
2. Order the dishes. One. By. One.
3. Call along someone who can "sapu" (clear) dishes pretty fast cos after all, "buffet mah, standard one"
4. Join up more tables to accomodate the rushing pace of delivery.

Cheers to good food anyway~

美春！

Met up with Ash on Thursday to eat at Miharu! It's been a while since I saw her and she's started working loh! Been there twice and it's the best ramen joint in Singapore, in my honest opinion! I had Miso Tonkotsu （味噌豚骨） and hers was Tokusen Miso（特選味噌 ）Some pics below to tantalise your taste buds!



My Miso Tonkotsu! Savoury soup with crunchy corn, succulent cha-shu and marvellicious "lava egg!" Oomph!



Close up of Miso Tonkotsu! Oishii!



Ash's Tokusen Miso!

This came pretty late cos I was lazy to upload the pictures since that day~ It's been a busy weekend for me so far. Next makan with Ash at Curry Udon at Central! After my Japan trip, I guessed~ ;)

It's always a circle... O

I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry! One of the funniest movies i've enjoyed this year so far. Totally hilarious and had me in stitches! Caught it with Ivan and GY on Sunday before meeting up with Law for pool and to buy his pool cue + case.

Story in a nutshell: Long time buddies / firefighters Larry Valentine (Kevin James) and Chuck Levine (Adam Sandler) are getting married to help Larry out of his legal woes.... Until they meet a pesky investigator and a hot lawyer Alex (Jessica Biel) There's this unforgettable scene where Chuck gets to fondle Alex's assets for like infinity... The cinema went "Aww!" But the best parts of the show are Ving Rhames shining in one role which I possibly would never imagine him in and the funny Asian pastor who marries Chuck and Larry....

Anyway, met up with Law later to play pool and we finally got for Law his pool cue and case which costs a whopping, jaw-dropping 780 bucks! But he really likes it and we're ok with it. YY, you owe me $$$, if you happen to read this!

But anyway, v v v v happy to know Law's hot date on Saturday went well! *beams* Wish I could have something like that soon~ *mind drifts off*

12 days to Japan!

Ra-Ra-Ra-Men day!

Heh, had my favourite food twice in a day! Lunch with my colleagues at Fuji Don cafe, which is quite secluded but price is ok and serves pretty decent food! I ordered Katsu Ramen which tasted not bad surprisingly!

Then met Cecy for dinner, which was postponed some time ago when I had to OT in the office one day...

Anyway, we ate at Marutama Ramen at Central! Been there a couple of times and only had the Marutama Ramen and the Karashi Marutama Ramen (slightly spicy) before. This time I tried the Aka Ramen with the soup base made from 7 different kind of nuts. Soup was orange in colour but it tasted really nice! Even cecy said it tasted better than her Marutama Ramen~ Also had Kakuni which is pork belly with seasoning and cooked in a very nice stew~ Woot~

After ramen, we went to Yamakawa Super (a new Japanese supermarket) selling all kinds of snacks and drinks to get some tidbits and a orange pudding which we shared, little doughnuts going at 4 bucks for 12 and to round it off, Hokkaido Asabu Sabo Ice Cream! Yeah~ Had my fav. Rum and Raisin which she had her Macha Vanilla Twist. Too bad I din take any pics of the Ramen and the stuff we ate but I got a pic of the Marutama Ramen on my phone which I'll upload soon when I have the time, i guess...

Peace~

First contact...

After 1 long and tiring week of trying, I finally got my contact lenses on! Haha.. Most of you would laugh at how long I took to wear my contacts but considering that the lenses are 14mm and my eye aperture is only 13.4mm, it takes some level of difficulty to open them big enough, okie? :P

Went out with Law and GY on Sunday for a couple of games of pool and played pretty well, I thought. Thanks Law and GY! Then went on to meet Ivan's friends at Chijmes for a outdoor jazz thingy but it was raining and I guess it was cancelled. Nevertheless, we still took a picture to show that we were there!

Later we all chilled out at a lounge in Swissotel Stamford where we also celebrated Cecy's bdae! If you're reading this, happy bdae girl! =)

Now gotta wake up earlier than usual to wear my contact lenses before I head off to work~ ;)

ようこそ、シンガポールへ！

It means Welcome to Singapore! That's for Ohta-kun who came with Mine from Osaka! It's his first time outside Japan and first place is Singapore! Hehe, nice to see Mine after some time, although I'm going to visit him next month! *beams*

Came in on Friday and stayed at my place till Sunday night, then they checked in into a hotel at Beach Road although I insisted that they could stay at my place all the way~

Brought them to the Singapore Zoological Gardens, Chinatown, Merlion Park, Esplanade, Glutton's Bay, even to Pitstop, my friend's board game cafe! Went there on Friday and Saturday, twice in a row! That was on Saturday..

Sunday. Wet market near my place for a look, then off to Vivocity (Mine wanted to see it so much!), Saw JJ Lin there and i was surprised when Mine mentioned that he knew who JJ was. *impressed* After that the whole lot of us went to Sentosa to the Merlion Tower, Pink Dolphin Lagoon and Underwater World and the Song of the Seas show~ Frankly speaking, I've never been to the Pink Dolphin show and the Song of the Seas show! So quite an experience for me~

Heard that today they went to NUS today and going to Orchard tml! Meeting them for dinner after work~ Took lotsa of photos and going to need some time to edit them before I post them up!

On another note, I had a bad headache at work today and my boss let me go home early. Even missed my Japanese class today as well. *sulks* Feeling a tad better now but hopefully can go to work tml~

Here's something to chase the Monday blues for some~

XXX

No... that's not what you think... It's actually a turkey!

Went bowling with Sonia and Tun Naung on Saturday at Safra Yishun and I got my 2nd turkey in my entire life! Turkey by the way is 3 strikes in a row. So that's about a cool 70 points at least already.. Woot! Too bad din take any group photo with them that day and it was a pity that Xin and Adrielle couldn't join us that day too..

Tucked into a sumptous mutton briyani at Northpoint Food court which I dared to recommend to my colleagues. I mean, where else can you find 10+ ppl queuing up at a foodcourt stall? (Although my father says the reason is that the people serving are slow...)

After dinner, went to Changi Airport to see some of my other colleagues off as they are going to London for training! So lucky.. It's part of their graduate trainee program and why didn't I join it at first.... Here's a pic we took together before they left.



Bon voyage! Cya back soon~ =)

Procrastination...

Procrastination means... putting off something you've set to do that you've decided for a long time already..

2 movies to give my 2 cents' worth! Caught The Bourne Ultimatum with A07/08 (uni class) last Sunday and Brave Story with GY and Law today...



1. Bourne Ultimatum

The final of the trilogy about Jason Bourne, a government assassin who's trying to find his lost memories and getting them back at any cost... He's cool, slick and very clever, outwitting everybody in the CIA. Heh~

Liked the part when he lures the chief out of his office and the chief tries to lie to Bourne over the phone that he's in the office. Bourne says "I doubt so. If not you and I would be having this conversation face-to-face right now." Hysteria among the CIA ensues. Classic.

Overall not too bad a movie, some scenes are really draggy... but it does round up the story nicely and there could be a sequel? DN commented that the movie could be watched as a single movie without watching the first 2 Bourne series cos it introduces the first 2 in a nutshell. =)



2. Brave Story

2 thumbs up for the movie! Good decent storyline, not too draggy, sits well with fantasy fans. It's almost like a RPG (role playting game), even has a good guy gone bad. Wow~

It's about this boy, called Wataru, who's facing some troubles at home. Father left the family and Mom landed in hospital. He befriends a nonchalant guy called Mitsuru who unleashes some kind of magic to scare some bullies away for Wataru. Mitsuru asks him to enter a certain doorway to another world where he can change his destiny, i.e. get his broken family back. Ends up meeting new people and embarking on a quest to find 5 different gems to get his wish come true.

The whole show's in Japanese but the transalation's decent enough. Nice graphics and soundtrack add icing on the cake~ It's ending its run soon so better catch it quick at any Cathay cineplexes (cos they're only showing that) before it's too late!

Cheers!

What are ya' good for? Absolutely nothing~ 1, 2, ya'll~

Finally caught Rush Hour 3! Always skeptic about watching sequels.. I would rate this as mildly entertaining for the action and the witty one-liners~ But other than that, the show's pretty much a flop, sad to say.. NO storyline, some elements in the story go missing, abrupt ending, etv, You name it, it's got it!

And my favourite character in the show? George, the French taxi driver! V funny and pokes fun at America in a light-hearted way~

So many other shows to watch as well.. Bourne Ultimatum, Brave Story, etc. Help!

=)

Pictures say it all~

Joined Law, Ys, Lx, HF and James down to Marina Area for graduation photo taking last Sunday and visited Pitstop later~ Let the pictures say it all~

For the record, we threw away the Starbucks Coffee after taking this photo. No we did not litter!

Pictionary drawing by Yisen! Guess a person? Answers below~

This one's by Law, guess a place?

Another one by Law. Guess a person as well?

1st Row (L to R) LX, me!, GY, Law

2nd Row (L to R) Kaitian, Astro (her hubby), HF, YS!

Answers to weird Pictionary Drawings...

1) Policewoman

2) Venice

3) President

And I got all correct! Yeah!

Btw, finally got some photos of Sephiroth which I bought earlier and Saber as well from the National Day Sale~

Cya ppl!

Long weekend!

Some of the stuff I did in chronological order~

Wednesday: Met GY for dinner at orchard and played pool with Law after that. My fav. haunt, Pool Junction at Middle Road just revamped their place. They removed 6 of their pool tables and created a cosy lounge / bar, that means fewer tables = longer waiting time for a table. So the 3 of us chilled out at the lounge and Law took this nice photo of my Shirley Temple with a candle behind cos my phone's camera wasn't as good as his~

Finally got our table at about 11pm and played for about 2 hours before heading back home~ Yeah~

Thursday: Mentioned this in my earlier post that I was going to go down to La Tendo to check out its 20% sale and got for myself a cute small version of Saber from Fate/Stay Night. Will try to get a pic of it and upload soon. Then had dinner with Ivan and GY before heading back to Ivan's place. The dogs were happy to see me (i guess...) and one of the older dogs even gave me a small bite to get me to play with him~ Hehe~ Also introduced Ivan to the world of Granado Espada and seems like he's taking it like a fish to water!

Friday: Met up with Agnes for dinner at Fish and Co @ Wheelock Place and got my favourite window seat. There was some kind of National Day Celebration thingy at Fish and Co, there was a balloon sculptor going around making free balloon toys for the customers~ Check out the pics below.

My Baked Salmon with Mushroom Sauce! Oishii!

Patriotic Agnes with her Seafood Platter for 1!

1st free balloon: Teddy bear with Heart. Found this quite nice actually~

2nd free balloon at background: Flower with Stalk and Teddy Bear at the foreground.

The girl who was making the flower was quite skillful and quite cute as well! Haha~

After that, went to Timberland at Taka and bought a pair of walking casual shoes which I had contemplated for a long time.... Having this phobia of shoes ever since I bought 2 pairs of shoes that din really fit nicely. Hope this one works well... The guys (and girl) came to my place for mahjong later and I lost about 6 bucks which was not bad, considering YY and BZ won quite a bit.... Felt a little lucky not to have continued when Law took over my place. Phew~

That's all for now. More updates for the weekend to come when I blog on Sunday I hope~ Off to make my contact lenses, my first step to changing my image! =)

Count on me, Singapore!

Today's National Day! Think the new Floating Platform is going to be quite cool but usually won't be able to get the tickets anyway... Haiz...

A fan of fireworks but too bad everybody ard me has some plans or some sort, so I guess I might be heading out alone later to La Tendo as they have a 20% sale for today only. See if I can grab anything while I'm there~

Anyway here are some questions from my Japanese class that my sensei gave us to see how much we know about Singapore! My team got 10/15 questions correct! How about you?

1. How old is Singapore this year?

2. What is the boarding (starting dare) for taxis in Singapore?

3. How many MRT stations are there altogether (not including LRT but including NEL)?

4. When will the new Ferris Wheel near Marina Bay be ready?

5. Singapore Airlines would be celebrating its __th anniversary this year?

6. What is the official name of Singapore in Japanese?

7. What is the country code for Singapore when dialing overseas call from outside Singapore?

8. When was the Night Safari established in Singapore?

9. When did Sir Raffles Stamford land in Singapore?

10. How many Merlion statues are there in Singapore?

11. What was the Fullerton Hotel used for before it was used as a hotel in 2001?

12. What is the name of the famous Cocktail that was concocted in the Raffels Hotel?

13. What is the model of the Jumbo aircraft due to make its maiden voyage for Singapore Airlines?

14. When were Singaporeans able to take the MRT in Singapore?

15. How much does it cost for a 10min ride on the DHL balloon near Marina Bay?

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1. How old is Singapore this year?
42!

2. What is the boarding (starting dare) for taxis in Singapore?
s$2.50

3. How many MRT stations are there altogether (not including LRT but including NEL)?
64

4. When will the new Ferris Wheel near Marina Bay be ready?
February 14th, 2008

5. Singapore Airlines would be celebrating its __th anniversary this year?
60th

6. What is the official name of Singapore in Japanese?
シンガポール共和国 (The Republic of Singapore)

7. What is the country code for Singapore when dialing overseas call from outside Singapore?
65

8. When was the Night Safari established in Singapore?
1994

9. When did Sir Raffles Stamford land in Singapore?
1819

10. How many Merlion statues are there in Singapore?
3, 1 at Sentosa, 2 at Merlion Park near One Fullerton (1 Big, 1 Small)

11. What was the Fullerton Hotel used for before it was used as a hotel in 2001?
Post Office

12. What is the name of the famous Cocktail that was concocted in the Raffels Hotel?
Singapore Sling

13. What is the model of the Jumbo aircraft due to make its maiden voyage for Singapore Airlines?
Airbus A380

14. When were Singaporeans able to take the MRT in Singapore?
1987

15. How much does it cost for a 10min ride on the DHL balloon near Marina Bay?

s$23

D'oh!

Yeah! Caught the much-awaited The Simpsons movie at Sun Plaza with my usual mates on Thursday. Got through quite a bit of trouble to get the tickets cos the bloody Shaw Website was down and the hotline wasn't really.. ermn.. hot....

Anyway, I was practically the only one who was laughing from start to end... Guess the rest of the ppl in the cinema din understand or thought that wasn't funny... lol! Liked the part where Homer and Bart playes Truth or Dare! Keke~ For those who are going to watch the movie, be early so as not to miss the start when the 20th Century Fox part comes up!

Wanna watch Gone Shopping but there isn't anyone to join me.. *sulks* oh well...

Meanwhile enjoy your remainder of your weekend! Peace~

Mahjong frenzy~

Been playing mahjong late till the wee hours in the morning on Friday and Saturday. Managed to escape unscathed each time although there's always a big winner amongst us each night. Managed to make a couple of dollars~ Phew~

Mahjong's more than a social activity to me, I feel. Requires thinking, anticipation, keen observation and probability skills (yes, maths!) And the 1 thing I like about the game is how almost every game is different and you could change your playing style during each round to match your opponents'. =)

Going to chill out at home today and just GE all the way... Just managed to clear my credit card bills after sorting through the wad of receipts accumulated in my box all these while! Heh~

Peace~

日本へ行こう！

After a real busy day at work, I was fortunate to have something to look forward to!

1. Japan Trip!

Collected my air tickets confirmation slip from Pricebreakers at Marina Square just now. Will be leaving for Japan for a week in October! My first real long break from work since Dec 2006! *beams*

2. Dinner with Ash!

Had Carl's Junior with Ash at Marina Square. It's been a while since I tucked into sinful Carl's Junior and had one of my favourites~ Portobello Mushroom Burger!

It was pretty cold in there but at least we enjoyed our burgers and had a good chat! Then we had shopped around in MS, like G2000, Zara, Topshop, etc. I din get anything cos i spent a bomb at the recent sale at Isetan already.. But Ash got a skirt from G2000, and a pair of pants from Topshop! All prepared for her new job next Mon! Jiayou!

It's always nice to meet her for dinner and stuff~ *double beams*

And my first credit card bill is here~ *Gasp*

Expecto Patronum!

Had a pretty late dinner with Agnes at Sakae Sushi @ Wheelock Place last night. Supposed to go to Marina Square last night but i had to make another trip down to Isetan Scotts.. That's because I've bought a Levi's Tee on Thurs but they forgot to remove the security device!

The label said "WARNING, Tampering with the device could release ink and cause injury" It felt like a time-bomb so i placed it carefully back into the bag... So after getting the tag removed, shopped ard more while waiting for Agnes to arrive from her workplace. Delighted to find a G2000 shirt on sale when it wasn't on Thurs! Prompty bought it on the spot. =)

Rushed back to Yishun to catch Harry Potter, Order of the Phoenix with Law and GY, by now my usual movie buddies already~ Despite not-s0-good reviews from friends, I found it entertaining~ Had quite a number of laughs and enjoyed the epic battles at the end. But felt disappointed at how the ending was shown~

But do catch it cos there's that phenonmenonal, much-talked-about kiss between Harry Potter and Cho Chang during the movie. ;) Quite sweet and could see they weren't awkward for that scene. Heh~

Sin....

Met up with Clara for dinner today at town. Tucked into a nice dinner of Soft Shell Crab pasta at Spaggedies! Yummy~ She had Crayfish with Ink Pasta~ looked damn delicious sia...

Chatted quite a bit, mostly about YCK cos I kind of left YCK since Feb already. I didn't tell many about my exodus from YCK but ppl shld know it by now. But oh well...

After that, we had dessert at Bakerzin and enjoyed some nice dessert with my favourite sin, cheesecake. Hee... Didn't realised she was a foodie like I am. Going around, looking for good food to eat! *High Five!*

Cheers to good food! =)

More than meets the eye!

Finally managed to catch Transformers after half the world has caught it already... -_-

I find it not bad although there has been mixed reviews from everybody I've asked. As GY said after the show, it was kinda confusing who was fighting who during the epic battles.. Basically I got Ratchet and Bumblebee mixed up at first, cos they were both yellow. Could identify Optimus Prime by colour and Megatron by his ugly face (yes, ugly) But kudos to Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg for adding familiar stuff to the movie like how Megatron calls Optimus Prime "Prime". Very nostalgic indeed~ =) Another catch-it-if-you-can movie recommended by me!

On another note, kept seeing so MANY couples out at Marina Square today.. which made me think of one question.. "Would I be able to find my true love one day?" Sigh... =(

Weekend's almost over and another week at work looms ahead~ Hopefully there's something to look forward to mid-week else I'll go mad!

Reminiscience~

Dropped by IRAS after my appointment at the National Skin Centre to visit my ex-colleagues. Just happened so that the temporary place that was set-up on the first floor to handle the hordes of taxpayers was still in use during this period, I stepped in even after they were closed and was delighted to see them there!

Looking ard the place, it reminded me of the short but enjoyable 3 months I worked there with my great colleagues. Thus the title of my post~ (Means remind of or something in that manner)

Then met up with Angie for a while, who was my instructor and mentor in IRAS back then and we had a short chat before she had to go back and finish her reports (which was way after office hours) Nice to meet up with you, Angie!

By the way, this weekend is Live Earth day! Do wear green if you're heading out today to support the event for awareness of global warming!

Peace~

Can't he just die right?

Just caught Die Hard 4 at AMK Hub with Law and GY.. First time catching a show there. Seats are nice and comfy and not too large! Just nice for small sized ppl like me~

The show's not bad... There's Maggie Q, explosions, computer geeky hacker stuff, more explosions, corny one-liners, government agencies being screwed left right centre and all the top brass can only say "there's nothing we can do" Haha!

Bruce Willis is so cool in the show that suddenly you wished you had a dad like him, but when the lights come on after the show, you're plunked back to reality in an instant~

Catch if you can! =)

The thing about taxis...

The day went pretty well as planned~ Met Irene for shopping and dinner at Bugis Junction and she bought quite a bit of stuff! But there was the GSS around and I think she scored quite a few discounts~ I din get anything though cos the stuff I was looking for wasn't on sale...

Had dinner at V8 Movie Cafe and ended up watching part of Seoul Raiders while eating! Haha~ More shopping and we parted cos she was meeting her sister for (more) shopping and I to my buddies at Pitstop~

The games we played were not too bad. Here are my reviews~

Jurassic Jumble: A cross between PIT, Heart attack and Dog and Bone (literally) Provided loads of fun for everybody~

Gift Trap: A supposedly simple game with too many rules to remember. Didn't even finish the game. Changed to a new one in 5 minutes flat.

Imaginiff: Quite a fun game I played before. Lets you get to know more about the ppl you're playing with, plus loads of laughter. Always a good ice breaker and easy rules to pick up.

SWAP!: A card game something like Uno with 1-2 extra special cards with the oh-so-gd-touse SLAP! where everybody pools their hands together at the centre of the table a.k.a Heart Attack and the person who played the card chooses his weapon (inflatable mace, toy hammer, hand, fist, karate chop...) to strike down on others. Definitely evil~ but fun!

Took lotsa of photos and will try to upload them soon... Hee

Left at abt 1030 and proceeded to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf down the street for coffee and chillin out~ and chatted and chatted till about 1.

Here comes the frustrating part. Tried to get a cab home and empty taxis refusing to stop, making a beeline for the nightspots or waiting for booking calls instead, leaving poor us stranded somewhere along North Bridge Road.. One Maxicab stopped and we were delighted initially cos the 6 of us could fit in and we all stayed ard the same area.. but he wanted to get us to quote a price instead of using the meter. It's common sense for him cos he'll be ferrying 6 ppl and if he went by the meter, he could earn a bit more from each person instead. We deliberated and he drove off saying he'll find a better deal somewhere..

His licence plate number is etched in my mind already and I'm considering whether to report him or not, cos ALL taxis in Singapore should run by the meter no matter maxicab or not. You already pay extra for using a maxi cab and you still want to extort us???

We were running out of ideas when I tot of calling my sis for phone numbers of other not-so-popular cab companies. Thanks to my sis who gave me quite few numbers from Smartcab, Transcab and Silvercab. We managed to get 2 cabs from Smartcab at abt 2 in the morning!

Ride home: 25 mins
Waiting time for the cab in all: 1 hour+

Well, this is just Singapore for you.....

Fortunately the rest of the day was great! Thanks to all yeah? =)

Here's a pic of my current family in GE in my favourite V of Victory pose~

Good days and bad days~

Good day:

Met Ash for dinner at Cafe Cartel at J8 on Thursday and got a chance to use my new Citibank Visa~ Keke. Ash just came back from Japan and she managed to get a box of 白い恋人 (should be able to guess the meaning from the chars right?) chocs for me from Hokkaido! Thanks Ash!

Then later we went for dessert at the basement, forgot the name le.. something like 味-something-园, nice dessert stall and we tried the black sesame paste, which was pretty ok~ =)

Bad Day:

Bad day at office the moment I stepped in in the morning... Can't really reveal much but basically something wrong with my program, no damage done, problem was resolved after 2 hrs later, reputation and confidence loss... Haiz.. then whole day no mood to work, felt a little disappointed...

Nobody like bad days, but we all need bad days to remind us of the good days that we've enjoyed right? And there's something to look forward to everytime, like I'm going to meet Irene for tea later and meeting my buds at Pitstop for a night of fun and games ;)

お見送り

My title means "to send someone off (usually someone going overseas)" i think... Suzuki-sensei, who had been teaching me for the past 2 years left Singapore early this morning for Japan and then going to New York to teach Japanese. A few of us went to the airport to see her off and wished her all the best for her new job!




From L to R: Eddie, Me!, Suzuki Sensei, sOx and Wins


Me and Suzuki Sensei!

Here's wishing you all the best, sensei! Keep in touch! =)

Fantastic Four!

Caught it with Law and GY last friday at GV Yishun. The show's not too bad~ Great for the family, the kids and even ppl like me. Silver surfer's one of my favourite characters in the Marvel Series. Powerful, cool and noble with a cause...

Catch it if you can! Now waiting to watch Shrek 3 (if it's still ard..), Die hard 4.0, Transformers (No money to buy...)! Wahaha~

Happy Birthday Irene!

Met up with Irene for dinner at Newton Food Centre yesterday evening. Planned to dine at Orchard but she suggested Newton instead. It's been a while since I've been to Newton ever since it was renovated. Place looks good, but still can't stand the touts pestering us here and there. The thing is the more the pester the more turned off I become.

Found a nice little spot (away from the touts) and had fishball noodles with satay. The noodles were normal but the satay was pretty ok. We actually met up to celebrate her bdae which was on Sunday and I got for her a Care Bear! One of her favourites~ =)

We went on to walk around Orchard cos she wanted to look for a makeover studio and check out the price. Not really sure where is it in Orchard, and ended up finding none. Anyone who knows a good studio, please tell me thru SMS, MSN or my chatbox in my blog, k? Thanks!

To Irene if you're reading this: Happy birthday once again! =)

=)

Went to Pitstop on Sunday with Law, GY, Elaine, Yunyun and Huishi. Yunyun told me she'll be bringing a friend along, but i din expect to see one of my fellow ex-course mate there. Hehe. First time for all 3 ladies to Pitstop and glad they really like the cosiness of the cafe. Great job, Eve!

Played quite a few games. Some interesting (The Igloo game, can't remember the name), some fun (Imaginiff..) and some outright lame (Ugly Dolls!) We all pretty much enjoyed our time there and here are some pics~

All of us~

Elaine and Yunyun

Hmm...

Had dinner at Xing Wang HK Cafe and walk-walked around Marina Square later. Thanks to Law, who recommended a place for us to chill out at a nice bar in Marina Mandarin Hotel..

=)

GE Raid Party at ZOUK!

Joined Law, GY and James yesterday to go on down to ZOUK for the Day Raid Party for Granado Espada. First time at an official launch so didn't know what to expect. Heh. Wasn't really planning on going cos I had to go for my A07/08 (Uni class) BBQ gathering later in the evening but Law had persuaded me to join them anyway..

Went to Great World City for lunch and reached Zouk at about 3, even though the event started at 2. Here are some of the pics I took during the party although most of them are quite blur.. I need a better camera...








Nasty Hill Giant at the entrance


Phobitian War Chieftain


There was also a cosplay parade as well!


Here's a Muskeeter...


And an Elementalist...


2 lovely Scouts with a pirate


There was also a FHM gamer babe you could take on 1v1 (in GE) She was nice to smile for the many cameras clicking away at her. =)


Me with my favourite Grace Bernelli~


Solune Faction~
From L to R: Darkon Family, LawHain Family and LupusArctos Family and me (missing)

Managed to catch some of the cosplay characters while on the way out! Heh~

Female Wizard. Law thought she looked great~


Female scout 1.


Female scout 2. I prefer this scout though~ LOL!



But she's definitely number 1 for me in the party. *Starry eyed* (*-*)

Peace~
Level 32, Janzer family, Solune Faction, Pachebel server