Jay vs Stephen

First of all, a Happy Chinese New Year to all! It's been a great break so far, although I've been sleeping late almost every night.

Had a sumptous steamboat for the reunion dinner on the eve at my maternal aunt's place, then had my favourite "lotus duck" at my paternal aunt's place on the 1st day. That's the one thing that I always liked about visiting on the 1st day.

Then another feast on the 2nd day at the same maternal aunt's place, but this time it's more rowdy cos all the families on my mother's side (except for 1) came visiting! A madhouse with 20+ ppl, adults and children alike!

Anyway, caught 2 "CNY" movies or 贺岁片 over the weekend with Law and gang. Watched Kung Fu Dunk with Ivan as well on the 2nd day. It's not too bad considering the negative review by some friends and in the papers. Some parts made me laugh out loud and Jay's acting has considerably improved since Initial D. Add in cameos by lotsa famous personalities and with some nice fighting scenes + basketball scenes, you've got yourself a decent movie to rake in the money!

Just caught CJ7 with Law and GY a few hours earlier. Wasn't really keen on the movie initially but still caught it in the end just to find out how "good" or "bad" it was... Well, you've got your typical Stephen Chow movie but not as funny as Kungfu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. If you're expecting more laughs, then you'll be sorely disappointed. Kudos to Xu Jiao, prodigy child actor discovered by Stephen for acting as a schoolboy when she's a girl *gasp* Also, another actress discovered by Stephen is the beautiful Kitty Zhang Yuqi, who plays a nice teacher in the show as well. Here's some pics to get the point across~




Kitty Zhang. Isn't she beautiful~


Xu Jiao with Kitty Zhang. She looks absolutely fabulous in a cheongsam~



In summary, Kung Fu Dunk gets my vote over CJ7 for me~ =)

Dined with 4 ladies this week. =)

It's my luck that I managed to have dinner with 4 different ladies this week and it's considered my honour! =)

Tuesday:

Accompanied a colleague of mine. Amy after work to get her laptop fixed at Sim Lim Square, cos she wanted someone who could give some IT advice and she was afraid she might kena "eaten" by the ppl there. After sending the laptop for repair, we had dinner at some HK cafe at Bugis (can't remember the name for the love of God...) but it's opposite Ma Maison and got some HK celebrity endorsing it... Thanks Amy for the treat!

Wednesday:

Had the long-delayed dinner with Ash at Ma Maison (yes.. bugis junction again..) Suggested there cos she hasn't been there before and I liked the decor and ambience there as well. =) Managed to persuade her to try escargots and seems like she din regret it. heh~ She asked me an interesting question over dinner actually. "What's your plans for V-Dae?" To which I answered "Go to work, work, run home and hide" It's going to be depressing to be walking the streets to see couples hand-in-hand and kids trying to sell balloons and flowers at astronomical prices. Just reminds me of the state I'm in right now. To me, V-Dae's just a day when everything becomes expensive (like ERP and bak kwa). She suggested asking someone out but which sane girl would wanna come out on V-dae with me? *GASP* LOL

Btw, thanks for the treat, Ash!

Thursday:

Met up with Iris, a secondary school friend of mine who I met one day while shopping for a present. She remembered me and gave me a special discount on top of the sale that was on. =) It was her off day so we had dinner at Sakae at northpoint (we both live in yishun) although i'm sceptic of sakae, it was fine except the chawanmushi took too long and our orders got mixed up. =( Tat was my treat for her for giving me the discount. Had starbucks later and I showed her my Taiwan photos on PSP. Promised to show her my Japan photos next time....

Friday:

Met up with a friend of my cousin, Louise for dinner at Kyo-Nichi Ramen at MS which I had been craving for some time~ It's my no. 4 ramen restaurant and the soup never ceases to satisfy my tastebuds. =) After that, she went back to work as she was on standby but she would be joining the rest of the gang (my cousin's frens) after that.

Got a ride from Hanjia to Arab St where they all were. He was at Millenia Walk for Salsa dancing and I'm tempted to try it out now... Cecy and gang (my cousin, Anto, Brandon) were at this Turkish place which looks good and the food there tastes good as well. Going to try there one day! We later settled at the lounge at Hotel InterContinental (bugis junction again) and more frens dropped by later (Huat, Jansen, Leni, Louise) It was nice to catch up with them over drinks and stuff and we went for supper nearby at the bak chor mee stall at Liang Seah St which Jansen "highly recommended"!

So pretty tiring this week, eating out and sleeping late, but with friends around for you, who needs love? ;)

P.S all 4 ladies are taken by the way... Haha!

Da Mist~

A jam-packed Saturday for me yesterday! Went to my uncle's place to help him upload his webby to his page and had a free lunch treat at J8's Din Tai Fung~ Thanks!

Went back to office to do some testing for some app server upgrade which din go too well, collected my Levis from Orchard, bus down to Sunshine Plaza to stock up on Gundam modelling tools (I'm finally going to start on them!), then to Sim Lim to get a clear case for my PSP then off to dinner with Ivan at Bugis Junction. Ended up buying a pair of clip ear phones from Sony cos the in-ear phones din work well for me and reminded me pretty much for ear plugs for live firing ranges back in the army. Eeek...

Then off to his place to visit the dogs, who I missed v much~ All 7 of them. =) Then got a call from Law about catching The Mist back at Yishun GV at 1210!

The Mist's not bad, although I did not read the book. But I realised that I'm into sad movies which usually doesn't have happy endings... once again like cloverfield, it shows what men (and women) can turn into when they are overwhelmed by fear like what the movie's slogan said "Fear changes everything". If the haze were to come to Singapore, no points for guessing what I'll do. ;)

In the end, the show ended like 2.30 and I finally got to bed at about 3... zzzz to think i planned to have a good night's sleep this weekend...

Something must be wrong with me...

While walking back from the train station back home, out of sudden, tears started streaming down my face! I was taken aback and shocked!

After quickly drying my face with tissue and checking whether my eyes looked weird after crying, I quickened my pace and walked home briskly....

Tear gland problem? Something got into my eye? Or was I hit by a wave of sorrow suddenly? All I know is that there must be something wrong with me...

On another note, I found myself at a crossroad recently. Should I continue to go to YCK or finally leave?

It's been a while since I turned up at YCK and after joining them for the past few sessions, i realised things have changed quite a bit. I missed the kids and was very touched when the kids remembered me. That's one of the happy moments I've tucked away in the corner of my mind. But i felt somehow distant and not so welcome by some of the other volunteers. Maybe after I've been away for so long, I've been forgotten? Or been perceived as a "leaver"?

Leaving is painful but if it is necessary, then so be it.... Perhaps it is really time for me to put the past behind and move on...

Enlightened!

It's been a great weekend for me so far! Managed to clean up the mess in my room in time for CNY thanks to my mom. ;) and met YCK ppl for dinner at ol' AMK S11 and KTV later at Chinatown. After that went to catch the much-anticipated Cloverfield with who else but Law and GY!

Show's great, i love such shows where they dun reveal too much about the story
and let you watch it for yourself.

***WARNING Minor spoiler below***
***Highlight the text below to see the words if you want***

______________________________________________
I like the part when the 2 friends lament about what they said and should have said to their loved ones before they died. Made me treasure my friends and family around even more. Also the film was made in a good way that it was all from a video camera. The tape in it was supposedly recorded over a previous video made by the lead guy, when he was on a sweet date with his girl. :) But the ending was a bit... anti climax, but expected from J.J Abrams of course...
______________________________________________

Now talking about being enlightened... Invited by my colleague, LT to her church service at Suntec City. was apprenhensive about attending a church cos of previous bad experiences but she assured me that nothing of that sort would happen. So there I was at 11am this morning and attended my first chruch service of 2008. All went well, there was the singing of hymns (with a twist, new age + rock), holy communion (i got cracker and ribena) and bible lessons as well. The service did me some good as I could relate part of it to my own situation actually. Felt slightly better and motivated after that.

Had lunch with LT, her hubby and her hubby's brother as well at Crystal Jade and got a free treat from her brother-in-law. Thanks! After that, I took a slow walk to Sim Lim Square from Suntec (contrary to popular belief, it's not that far as you might think, about 20 mins walk?)

Bought 2 X 4GB mem sticks for Simon and was contemplating a PSP clear cover for myself but not sure what to get... Going to consult Law for that..

Later met the guys for dinner and LAN (Battlefield 2 rox!) and bought Unicorn Gundam from James as well. =) My first MG Gundam!

Happy weekend for me so far. How about yours?

=)

Boring sunday..

Slept at 4am this morning and woke up at 10+! I just couldn't stay in bed any longer after I've woken up...

Planned to do some work from home today and ended up wathcing Great Teacher Onizuka and Gundam 00 on Crunchyroll. Finally got my butt down to start on the 2 reports I'm supposed to do by Monday. Shall touch up a bit tomorrow in the morning....

After that I continued my game in Hellgate London and my Marksman's pretty fun to play considering the different type of weapons she can use (pistols, rifles, sniper rifle) Guardian was just simply boring (sword and shield)...

Took a quick nap again at 4.30 till 7 to recharge myself and woke up just in time for dinner with my sis and my brother in law. On that, my sister and I had a short talk today. I confided in her something and it's been a while since I've done anything like that. Usually I'm afraid she'll laugh at me or laugh it off but it was nice that she gave me some advice and consolation. Am v grateful for that! Thanks Nez!

Off to sleep now. Hopefully. After 1-2 episodes of GTO. It's going to be a long week and nothing to look forward to at all. =(

=) =(

Went down to YCK for the 2nd time this year... Ended up having mixed emotions when i was over there as well. I must be thinking too much according to some of my friends...

I was happy to see the kids. Really happy. They remind me of the time when one can truly smile with no worries on their mind. And I find myself actually smiling in return. My own true smile in a while. However, there were some things today that triggered unhappy thoughts as well. Shall not give more details lest ppl start guessing and misunderstanding... By the end of the session, I was feeling mentally exhausted and didn't have the energy to chat with other volunteers.

Had a quick dinner with some of the volunteers and quickly headed off to meet Law and GY for pool. Sadly, I didn't play very well and lost quite a number of games.. We caught Vexille at the Cathay and it's definitely one of my favourite movies of the year so far!

Decent storyline (better than AVP2), the 3D animation's superb but could use some touch up here and there and the music was great too! Catch it soon at the Cathay (only showing there if I'm not wrong) before it's too late!

Happy and Sad Jaron

On a short note, a very Big THANKS! to Agnes for sticking beside me when I was down, enduring the whole load of crap from me, giving me countless advice, consoling me, cheering me up, listening to my woes, watching me cry. I'll take care of myself and hope to be a stronger person soon, k?

Need to be stronger...

A friend of mine told me a couple of days ago that I need to be more assertive, more confident and be more reliable / dependable. On that, I realise that people around me who are happily married or attached are of that calibre. My brother-in-law's one of them, my 大哥's also one of them as well!

Sad to say, I'm someone who's the opposite! Flighty, irrational, emotional, totally undependable. To change all that will be tough, but I gotta try no matter what. I somehow suspect though, even if I were to change myself, everything else would not have changed at all.

I find myself shying away from happy stuff and stories and feeling more and more attracted to sorrow and loneliness. You feel peace with yourself. You don't have to put on a face for people to see. I've been on 2 trips alone and it was fantastic. Planning my next solo trip to Vietnam or maybe India. Friends out there, do not worry I am not suffering from depression! I used to fear being alone and all, and try to surround myself with friends. Often making a fool of myself and humbling myself to no end, just to win their hearts. Hence the joker was born.

People usually say I'm warm and approachable and stuff like that. But that's not entirely true. My smile's usually a facade. Not to deceive people, but nobody likes a pouting sad face. it ruins the whole atmosphere. So I have to force myself to smile. When I come to the office, when i meet friends, when i return home from work. it's tiring to force myself to smile when there's nothing to smile about actually. I'm a optimist-turned-pessimist, you see. There are some rare times when I actually smile for real. Those rare moments are locked away in my brain somewhere to prevent me from going insane the next moment.

Needed some form of therapy today so I splurged a hundred odd bucks on 2 Final Fantasy VII playarts figurines of Cloud and Aeris. Too abd Tifa is sold out right now but i'll be waiting for the next batch to come in hopefully... If time permits, I'll get some snaps and post them here.

That's enough rambling for today.

P.S it appears that my previous rambling caused some worry, but rest assured, I'm still in 1 piece and to the one who gave me your advice above, i'm not angry with ya. I'm just angry with myself....

1st week of 2008

And it's been a rollercoaster ride of emotions. 358 days to go... How to survive?

Alien Vs Predator vs Legend

2 movies in 1 week is my usual fare these days. It starts with one of us (Law, GY or me) suggesting and the rest to follow along~

I am Legend was much awaited by Law ever he saw the trailer in the cinema while catching another show. He almost tried to persuade us to watch it in Taiwan when it opened but it costs about SGD$17 to watch it there! So you think $9.50 on weekends is expensive huh?

Finally caught it on 2nd of Jan with the guys and it was pretty ok. For some you might be able to identify with Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville (played by Will Smith) when he's pretty much the last human on Earth, after the world's population was wiped out and transformed to "vampires" (Darkseekers, nocturnal hunters, whatever the show calls it, they're still vampires ^^") Sometimes when you're alone for a looooong time, all you want to hear is another human's voice. Liked the part when he had some mannequins arranged in the DVD shop to enact a day-to-day trip to the DVD shop and it was amusing to see him trying to hit on one of them~

Read in the papers that Will holed himself up in a NY apartment for 4 weeks to get the experience of being lonely.. I've only achieved 1 week liddat so far overseas.

Overall, the show's not bad but the ending is the anti-climax, which made me go "HUH????"

On the other hand, AVP2 (it's called AVP Requiem or R in the states) is a letdown, totally B-Grade trash and not worth the 9.50 i paid yesterday. Bleah~

Too many characters involved and most of them end up dead. Fight between Alien and Predator not v exciting and clear. Bah~

That's all for now. Awaiting Cloverfield! Trailer got me hooked~

Finally my Taiwan pics...

Hi guys, here's the link to my Taiwan photos! Enjoy~

People I need to thank for making this trip enjoyable for the 3 of us: (in no particular order)

• The staff at Taipei Train Station for helping us get tickets for the high speed rail.
• The staff at New Zuoying station for helping us to get to Kaohsiung station
• The kid at 7 eleven shop at Kaohsiung station for showing us the way to our hotel.
• The girl at the visitor's information center at Kaohsiung Station who we bothered on both days asking where we could visit in Kaohsiung and Kenting.
• The nice bus driver giving us directions in Kenting and recommending a nice hot spring to us when we got lost in Kenting.
• Tim and Chi, owners of Amigos Hostel for a wonderful time at Hualien
• People we met while at Amigos Hostel, Evan and Nicolai (Dude!) from America, Mai and Maki from Japan, Xiao Ting from China, Geoffrey from Japan, Alvin and his friend from HK, SY from Malaysia. You guys rock!
• 张纷华小姐，our cab driver who brought us along Hualien.
• Raul, owner of Taiwanmex hostel in Taipei, who lent us coats when the weather became super cold and for driving us to the airport.
• Hui Ting, fellow Singaporean we met at Taiwanmex, who I bought my JR Rail Pass from in Sept last year! Small world!
• Michael from Australia and Rick from America.
• Gillian and Lillian from Malaysia.
• The kind train conductor who helped us get to SongShan station when we boarded the wrong train.
• And to other people that I may have left out!

=)


by janzer81

*SNIFF*

I din really have a good start to 2008 so far. I was down with diarrhoea and fever yesterday and last night.. I was overwhelmed with sorrow with too much thinking, that i cried myself to sleep last night.. It's been a while since i last wept. Last time being the death of a good friend...

Kinda forgot how it feels like to cry... You might be asking me why do I feel sad for me to cry about? My answer: Everything.

Looking back at 2007, it wasn't really a good year for me... I wasn't converted to a permanent staff but got a little pay raise to keep me from jumping ship. I left YCK around CNY despite having helped there for a little over 5 years.. Apparently, I didn't sit well with some which caused me to leave before things became worse. I'm still single after 26 years of coming which worries me that I might end up like my uncles who are living alone. My uncle recently had a close brush with death which made me realise the fragility of life... I'm still unable to see any good in myself after all this while. I'm kinda like the average guy or quote from some "below-average" guy... Short, slightly overweight, skin problem, no driving licence, no car, no $$$. I'm glad that some of my friends out there continue to encourage me to keep my sanity in check. To Valerie, Lawrence, Ash, Agnes & Elaine, a big Thank You for making me feel good about myself from time to time.

However, the no. of ppl who seek to belittle me and bring me down out there are so many and I'm almost losing it...

I ever thought of running away from Singapore and start life anew somewhere. Somewhere where I won't be judged by others for who I truly am. But I just can't leave my family and a few of those I can truly call friends behind. It takes a lot of courage to do so and I'm afraid I can't do that.

I have been known to be too nice to others such that many people take me for granted and seek to exploit me which saddens me more that such people can stoop so low for personal benefit.

Stuff to do in 2008:

a) Get a driving licence
b) Slim down, (can't do much abt height anyway)

Not gotta let ppl look down upon me anymore...

Enough of my tirade, back to sleep now.

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~