3's a crowd

3 good things that happened this weekend which has made a tough week seem less unbearable.

1) Finally made my way to CYC. the Custom shop to use the privilege that Aunt Jay gave to me. Free custom shirt with a pair of complimentary cufflinks to go! Even added my own initials to it!

Didn't know that there were so many things to get a custom shirt done. Like the type of collar (5 types!), cuff type, tapered back / sides, even the buttons and button labels as well~ Will take a pic of the shirt when it's ready in 2 weeks time!

2) After CYC, GY and I went to Robertson Quay for Ichibantei for some good ramen. Ichibantei's my number 2, rivalling all but Miharu at Gallery Hotel. Supposed to bring Trina on a ramen tour in Singapore starting from my number 10 and GY has kinda tried all my top 5 ramen joints already. Haha! Will have a exclusive post of all top 10 joints (in my humble opinion) with pictures soon!


Entrance


My Mapo Gohan

Chashu Men


GY's Chukasoba

3) Finally bought a PS3 and Street Fighter 4 for myself ! Woo-Hoo! Thanks to Law for accompanying me on his off day to get it from AMK Hub. Which reminds me that I could count about 20+ plus at ATMs yesterday. Must be the GST Offset package...It's a real monster if you ask me, in terms of weight and performance.... Have been busy playing SF4 since ytd evening till just now and managed to unlock quite a few characters, including my favourite Akuma! *Satsui No Hado!*

Meeting Trina for dinner at Melt - The World Cafe next week and looking forward to it! See you! =)

=)

Super wonderful evening!

Had dinner with Trina last evening at Pete's Place at Hyatt Regency. The last time I went there was with my aunt and uncle and Ivan many many years ago, it has pretty changed much by now but the cosy feeling is still there~

Dinner was great. Loved the sundried tomato butter with the complimentary bread ala Cafe Cartel. Had 2 soups and 2 pastas. My lasagna was great but Trina's gnocchi was a tad too cheesy for my liking. Fortunately the soups saved the day. Her carrot soup was creamy enough but not too overwhleming and my potato and leek soup contained chockfuls of the potato which made it a treat to have. =)

Went over to Paragon to check out Cova, a cafe recommended by my Japanese sensei but it was closed by the time we reached there. Settled for Coffee Bean in the end, with my Iced Latte and her Sunrise~ =)

Headed back to Lido and caught the midnight show, Slumdog Millionaire. Thought our row was fully occupied when we bought the tickets but turned out that it was almost empty throughout the whole show. The movie's definitely worth the weekend ticket price. It touches on how the protangonist was transformed from a slumdog (leaving in slums, working as a tea-boy) to a millionaire. You can try to guess how he became rich by looking closely at the poster above. (Reminds you of a television game show?) =)

Happy Valentine's Day, Trina~

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to you! =)

Chain-girl-ling

Caught Changeling with Trina at GV Plaza the other day. It was funny when I collected my tickets from the counter when the staff said to me "2 tickets, 1150pm, Chain-girl-ling". I had to restrain myself from laughing out loud but it's true that nowadays movie titles get confusing and we might even pronounce the movie titles incorrectly ourselves!

It's a pretty good show with 2 thumbs up for me! And a long one as well, about 2 1/2 hours! Directed by Clint Eastwood and compelling storyline that keeps the audience on the edge of the seats. Makes you empathise with Angelina's character as well.

Do catch it soon as the movie's run is going to end soon based on the number of cinemas showing it and the odd movie times!

Went for supper at Crown Plaza 's Swensen's for Apple Crumble and Fries! Ended up going back late by cab but it was all worth it! ;)

Happy 牛 Year!

Really thankful for the long weekend! Didn't get to rest much but sure had lotsa fun visiting relatives and gambling!

Am busy uploading the pictures now but here are some sample pics (brought my Nikon around this year!)

My reunion lunch!

My dad and Uncle Henrik

My aunt's much-craved-after Lingzi Duck!

Start of Reunion dinner

Me with my sis, bro-in-law and my cousins


Lou Hei!

More of the album here!~

by janzer81

I also caught Love Matters with Trina and her friends at Cineleisure yesterday at 1150pm! Haha~ Kinda last minute but gladly met up at Orchard at ard midnight knowing well I had to go to work tomorrow. All becuase of you~

Love Matters revolves around a family in KL with issues like love, happiness, while exploring issues of the heart all rolled into one comedy. Kudos to Yeo Yann Yann who plays the mother with a rather too convincing Malaysian accent (no offence to my Malaysian friends!)

A pity I couldn't join Trina and friends for supper / drinks and had to hop onto a cab home to grab some sleep before heading to the office. Sorry! Will make it up to you next time k? =)

Inkheart~

Caught Inkheart last last night with Trina at AMK Hub. We kinda decided to catch a show together like 3 hours before. Kinda like a surprise but starting to enjoy these random, sudden meetups. Looks set to be like a standard Brendan Fraser movie a.k.a The Mummy Returns and the rest of the sorry sequels after that, but out of the movies available at that timing, Inkheart seemed the most sane choice.

We entered the cinema a little late but din missed too much, I guessed it kinda talked about Mortimer Folchart's (Brendan Fraser) ability to bring stories to life. Show's not too bad, a bit of dry humour here and there, Brendan's ever-emotionless-or-blur look and the baddie din get a chance to showcase his acting talent fully. The scenery from the movie however was fascinating like Brendan's (sister's or aunt's) place and where the baddie has his castle was truly breathtaking~

I did think about the story which I would want to bring to life if I was a Silvertongue like what Brendan Fraser's Character is... Tuesdays with Morrie? Da Vinci Code? LOL

Overall it's not bad, sets u up for an adventure but ending is a little disappointing. After that we had a walk-around and I was amazed to find that NTUC Fairprice Extra was actually open at 1.30am! With people still doing their CNY / grocery shopping! Not sure whether it was because of the festive period or they REALLY open till that late.... WOW~

Had a chance to hop on a short ride on Trina's Coke Van which was kinda cool if you asked me! =) Maybe it's the CNY weekend but feeling really happy for the first time this year so far~

Seven Pounds and Red Cliff II

Seven Pounds is a touching story about how Will Smith sets out to help 7 strangers in difficult circumstances out of his way. Shall not reveal the reason behind doing so cos that's the part that really matters...

Always like catching his shows because the scripts he chooses are not just for block-busters, eye candy but that there are usually stories that captures the human soul and makes audiences realise that there's more to life than it really is. Do catch it while you can!

Also caught Red Cliff II (Sorry Val!) with GY and Ivan at the Cathay. Cathay's been one of my fav places to catch partly because they have great seats and there's my fav adidas store as well. The staff there kinda know me by now because of my frequent visits. Heh~

Red Cliff II's a great finisher to the first part which I'm sure left people wanting their money back after seeing "To be continued..." at the end. This is where all the action comes in, with generals pitting their wits against each other. (The bet between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu is quite interesting). Putting the warping of the original story aside, the plot's decent for a newbie to The Three Kingdom Classics, but now i'm sure these classics have certainly gained more fans than before, till they find out that the movie's different from the actual story!

Alas.. 2009...

This is going to be a long post. Dun say I din warn you first.. If you need, please visit the washroom, do other stuff before grabbing a cuppa coffee and read this post...

Basically it's all about 2 events in one post namely Xmas, NYE

Xmas Party

25th Dec 2008

Home

0830h

Just woke up feeling woozy cos I got back home about 3am the morning of Xmas from Ivan's friend's place and caught like 4-5 hrs of sleep before waking up and preparing for the party at home. Basically invited my buddies and some colleagues over to my place and I'm cookin'!

0920h

Headed over to Cold Storage about 930 to grab some chicken, pork knuckle and some ribs (Law's fav) then had breakfast at Mac's (it's been a while since I last had Mac bfast!) before heading home and prepared the food.

1130h

Thanks to GY and Law for coming over early to help me with the preparation! (Law cutting up the BBQ-ed food, GY for cutting up mushrooms,etc) Haven't really cooked for some time but glad it turned out fine!

1330h

Other buds arrived at 130+ and played PS3 (thanks Law!) and Wii before tucking in. Food's great and as usual, way too much!

1830h

GY had to leave and the rest hung around to play Betrayal at House on the Hill. It's an engaging game to play and has kept me hooked for some time! SL later popped by to join in as well. =)

2300h

Party's over and Thanks to Nez and Phin for helping to wash the dishes while I entertain the rest of the ppl!

Photos are on the way (Webshots) and link will appear here soon!

by janzer81

New Year's Eve (NYE) Party

31st Dec 2008

Ash's place

1300h

Took half a day off and headed home. Thought of catching some sleep but found myself bumming around, packing up my Wii and other board games and by the time I took a shower, it was almost time to head down to Ash's place!

1630h

Arrived at Ash's place and wasn't surprised to see Yiliang there cos he stays a stone's throw away. Zhexian also arrived about the same time as well. Been hearing that he'll be bringing some salmon to cook and got me real excited.

Helped to carry the tables, chairs, BBQ pit, set up the tables, helped carry the food out before finally taking a quick rest and freshen up before the rest of the guests arrive.

1800h

This was when the majority of the guests started streaming in. Mostly YCK ppl and some of Ash's frens whom I have met before for CNY last year.

Food was absolutely great esp Zhexian's salmon and Ash's mom's tiramisu (Can I have more please, Auntie?) And Samuel, the fried rice was quite nice, honestly speaking. We joked that it sucked, alright? ;)

Some ppl asked me what I brought (it was a potluck) and when I said Wii, people started turning their eyes up... and later caught them having a great time playing the Wii... LOL

Had Bingo later! Everybody had to pay a buck to buy a card and winner takes all! I was the MC at Ash's request and it was quite fun! Congrats to Ash's friend and Dingren for winning!

More of Wii later and some of the people left early to go for Night Cycling before the countdown. So did many couples as well. Such's the usual stuff. In the end, there were only a handful of us for the actual countdown and we all watched the TV and countdown-ed with Gurmit and Gang.

Shortly after, we had a gift exchange but some of the people who brought presents had left early but we still managed to get it sorted out in the end. Only Zhexian, Yiliang and me and Weihao were the only survivors till about 3am when Ash gave me and Yiliang a ride home. Thanks Ash dear!

Pics of the party (some cos I was busy eating) to be uploaded soon so stay tuned!

by janzer81

Wishing all a happy 2009!

Happy birthday to me!

Happy birthday to me!

No. of birthday SMSes received so far: 14

No. of presents / treats received so far: 5

No. of birthday wishes on Facebook received so far: 7

Amy, Helen and YH celebrated my birthday yesterday at Sun and Moon dining @ Central yest night and the food was good! Pics to come soon~

My team and other colleagues (Thanks ya'll!) in my office had a mini celebration today in the office for me as well and I'm still waiting for the photos from Simon... Where are they?!?!?!?!

And i just came back from another celebration, this time with my YCK friends, organised by Ashlyn! A big thank you! We queued up at Marche @ VIVO for an hour before deciding to go to Modestos instead~ A sample of some pics below.... Rest are on Facebook or in the album below!

by janzer81

Feeling blessed~

Klaatu barada nikto

It's a famous phrase in the science fiction world apparently... and it's used as a "safe-word" by the protagonist (Keanu Reeves) to prevent the human race from being eradicated, Just caught this with Ivan and GY. It's not an action packed movie but it's rather thought provoking. The storyline's like protect-the-earth-else-aliens-will-come-to-destroy-us, which are similar to other movies that I've watched before... But Jennifer Connelly is HOT! :)


As promised, here's a quick update on what I was able to accomplish during my leave period.

• Catching up with friends before NYE
  - All 4 people postponed the appts...


• Doing up that MG Unicorn Gundam!
  - Not yet, maybe soon


• Getting back into shape by jogging
  - Customized my adidas shoes today!


• Sign up (and actually attend) a photography course
  - Signed up! Course starting on Sunday!


• Clean up my room
  - Done! Almost... I think..


• Staying over at my cousin's place and visiting the dogs
  - No chance, I missed the dogs...


• Sit back and enjoy a novel
  - Did go to the library at Northpoint but no novel that caught my eye...


• Catch up on World Of Warcraft
  - Giving my level 71 Blood Elf Warlock a break and playing a Orc Death Knight! Busy with Red Alert 3 instead..


• Travel around Singapore to take photos (and improve my SLR skill)
  - Did travel around a bit but did not bring my SLR with me...


• Plan for my much-awaited Japan trip next year with my buddies
  - Law leaving for Hainan Island in 5 hours time and GY might be searching online for place s he wanna visit...


• Re-arranging my complete figurines in my display cabinet right now.
  - Not yet...maybe soon


• Prepare to send Xmas, New Year cards (Yes I still do that... but to a select few who actually bother to return)
  - Am not going to send this year actually and see how many people actually send them to me. Hehe...

And something I just ordered! It's Itoshiki Nozomu from Goodbye Mr Despair! Damn cute!
Click here to catch it on crunchyroll.com! It's Season 2 though. Am sure you can find Season 1 from there...

Finally on a break!

I'm off for the rest of the week! And it's a great opportunity to do some stuff that I have procrastinated. Here's just a quick list that I've drawn up so far...

• Catching up with friends before NYE
• Doing up that MG Unicorn Gundam!
• Getting back into shape by jogging
• Sign up (and actually attend) a photography course
• Clean up my room
• Staying over at my cousin's place and visiting the dogs
• Sit back and enjoy a novel
• Catch up on World Of Warcraft (I'm only level 71 now...)
• Travel around Singapore to take photos (and improve my SLR skill)
• Plan for my much-awaited Japan trip next year with my buddies
• Re-arranging my complete figurines in my display cabinet right now
• Prepare to send Xmas, New Year cards (Yes I still do that... but to a select few who actually bother to return)

And that's just the first few things I've sent out. I'll prob update on how many of these things I've actually accomplished!

Tata~

AFA'08

This was kinda like last weekend but only updating it now cos I had a pretty rough week... Better late than never as they say. 100+ photos for you to enjoy. Cheers!


by janzer81

I like to Move It!

This week was pretty OK for me! Attended training at Marina Mandarin Hotel on Monday and Tuesday and I gotta say that the training was good, fellow trainees were great and the food was marvelicious! And I think I kinda put on a bit of weight during those 2 days. Morning Tea + Buffet Lunch + Afternoon Tea = Not good for body....

Was helping Law to fix his com sound problem on Thursday and Friday. Apparently, nVidia GeForce 8800 does not sit well with Creative X-Fi Sound cards.. nVidia blames Creative, Creative blames nVidia... (Just look at the forums!) and Law's contemplating a change of sound card if we can't fix it. But he bought a PS3 yesterday for Fallout 3! O_O

I've only played Fallout 1 which is a pretty good IMHO. But Fallout 3 looks great from the pics and gameplay trailer! Prob going over to his place tomorrow to take a look and marvel at the beast they call PS3... Lugging around the PS3 last night, we went to Bugis to catch Madagascar 2.

Not as funny as the previous one but I'm just there for the penguins! Who cares about Alex (the lion), Marty (the zebra), Melman (the giraffe) and Gloria (the hippo)! Penguins are way funny and devilishly evil (keep your eyes peeled for the Dreamworks SKG part at the start of the movie!)

I'm giving it 3 out of 5 in general cos some parts just kept me laughing! And I haven't caught Bond yet despite the reviews from friends!

Nanjya Monjya

As Monday was a holiday, my Japanese classmates and I decided to head down to Nanjya Monjya for dinner. This came a bit late cos I was way too tired to blog after a week of work in the office....

Monjyayaki is a type of Japanese food where you have the ingredients mixed and pour them out on a hot plate to stif today and make the pancake. 1st time round, we (actually just me) made a whole mess out of the table and had to call in the waiter to show us how to make monjyayaki properly. Then we ordered another one and I had a second go which kinda turned out ok! =)

Anyway, the food was great and it helps that there was a promotion at that time. 50% discount for monjyayaki!

People who are interested, they're located at the Waterfront Plaza beside Grand Copthorne Hotel at Havelock Road. Take bus 16 or 175 from Orchard Boulevard and alight after 5 stops.

Choice pics below. Enjoy!

Entrance

The ingredients!

The "correct" monjyayaki

Jaron-yaki!

Adrian, Andrew Au and Andrew Yeo

Tonkotsu Suigyoka. Umai!

Animation Nation 2008

GY sent us this sms once about some anime fest going on and asking us to register for a free screening of an animated film yesterday. Venue: Fusionpolis (?!!?!?!!)

We went to Holland V for dinner and I recommended the place that my colleague brought us to for a team dinner. Essential Brews's the name. It's a tea-themed diner with tea-infused foods gracing the menu (Earl Grey Ribeye Steak, anyone?) We kinda enjoyed the food there except for GY who was not really satisfied with his Matcha Catch (Dory with Green Tea). Pics of our main courses below. (GY's one wasn't worth taking... LOL)

My Blackened Salmon (Grilled Salmon with Mexican spices and Herb Butter)

Law's Earl Grey Ribeye Steak (Looks and tastes good!)

We caught a cab and headed down to Fusionpolis. Looks pretty futuristic and excellent breath-taking architecture. Pity we were in a rush and I din get to take many photos of the exterior, probably go there again next time. Show started a bit late past 7 and the theatre was really freezing....Brrr....

It's a animated film (not anime) based on a new game from Electronic Arts called Dead Space and it's about the massacre of a crew on a ship that's transporting some mysterious artifact to Earth. Apparently the artifact's attracting the aliens and people can go hysterical because of the artifact... Wasn't really fantastic but it's free, so who's complaining?

After that, we had our cuppa coffee at Starbucks @ Fusionpolis and decided to go to Pitstop where we played till the wee hours of the morning~ Some random photos I took below

Sound proof theatre

Fullerton Hotel from Boat Quay


Chilling out at Starbucks @ Fusionpolis

Official Poster of Animation Nation 2008

Supper near Pitstop

Get ready to fill the thunder!

Even though, my sis watched this show before I did and told me it was just 'OK', I still decided to give it a try, dragging GY and Law along for the ride as well. Best thing about it is you dun even know what's the movie about.

Golden rule of mine: NEVER, EVER read or trust reviews cos they're subjective...

Could guess it's a comedy (Ben Stiller, Jack Black) but Robert "Iron Man" Downey Jr making an appearance as well as a black? Woo.... In a nutshell, actors trying to act out a war movie but director senses there's no realism at all so he throws them in the middle of the jungle in Vietnam and "attempts" to film a "real war movie". Actors fending for their lives = Laughter.

Look out for a special guy who also acts in the movie and does a corny dance and some people could only recognize him when the credits were reeling~

If you want a good luff, here's the right movie for ya!

Hell Yeah!

Chelsea 0 - Liverpool 1!

HELL YEAH!

*grinz*

2 more movies!

Yes, it's ture. According to a new friend of mine, i'm a movie fan~ Hah! Caught the 2 movies over the weekend. 20th Century Boys is like watching a manga (Japanese comic) brought to life. Was pretty amused by it and pretty liked the time when the main characters were children. Brought back fond memories for me when I was young too. It's the winning script for a nationwide manga script competition and it's only the 1st of a trilogy. Can't wait for the next 2 to come!

Max Payne was a show that wowed us when we were watching the trailer but the actual show kinda sucked. Pointless storyline, not much of the bullet time that was the main attraction of the computer game. Coupled with Mark Wahlberg's expressionless face, it just bores the hell outta you. Fortunately the CG effects and the whoop-ass sound system in the Grand Cathay saved it...

Some random personailty test I took and the results are pretty true actually....

Your view on yourself:
Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:
Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education:
You may not like to study but you have many practical ideas. You listen to your own instincts and tend to follow your heart, so you will probably end up with an unusual job.

The right job for you:
You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.

How do you view success:
You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of having no one to rely on in times of trouble. You don't ever want to be unable to take care of yourself. Independence is important to you.

Who is your true self:
You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

Try it by clicking here!

Hort Park

Decided to use the holiday on last Wednesday to visit Hort Park. Haven't been to it since it opened and was praying that it didn't rain as well. GY tagged along with his camera too and me with my trusty Nikon.

Reached Vivo at about 3+, got the tickets to Eagle Eye before making our way by bus to Hort Park. For people interested to go, you can board any of these buses (61, 93, 100, 166, 963) from the Vivo bustop and alight after you pass by the bridge below near Hyderabad Road.



Can't upload them all here cos the pics are about 2MB in size. I'll just include a couple of my fav. pics here and leave it up to you to enjoy the rest of my album at Webshots. ;)

Album


by janzer81

We left the park about 5.30 and went to Vivo to meet Ivan for dinner at Modestos! One of my favourite Italian restaurants in town. That would explain why the last 3 pictures in the album didn't look like they're from Hort Park cos they're from Modestos instead.. Hah~

Caught Eagle Eye at Vivo at GV Max and we were lucky to get decent seats. The show's pretty good, considering it was produced by good ol' Steven Spielberg. Story and action scenes are great and it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats as the story unfolds.

Recommending to catch it on the big screen if you can!

My modest weekend

Haven't been blogging for a while cos getting kinda lazy but get my butt down to type some random stuff in here now and then.

Went to SL's fren's place for board games on Saturday and ended up spending almost the whole day there but it was fun considering we played 4-5 games and had a whale of a time. Plus caught the F1 show at her place as well.

Almost had tickets to watch the qualifying race but my other cousin took it from my uncle instead. Drats.... All I can say that the drivers must be cursing Singapore for the make-shift circuit and tricky bends to make Monaco look like a walk in the park...Was hoping for Felipe Massa to win but looks like Hamiliton and Alonso are in the lead with Massa's pitstop boo-boo...

Today was great. Woke up feeling a bit better then Wow-ed a bit to get my warlock to reach level 69 (1 more level to go!) Then went playing pool with Law and GY (after some time of pool inactivity) Got off to a rough start but managed to win most of my games today! Headed to Bugis Junction to tuck into Swensens' for the 1 for 1 Sundae promotion. Thanks to Kogi for forwarding the voucher to me! And all of us agreed that the sweet Malay girl serving us was quite pretty. Ha.

Planning to visit HortPark on Wed if weather goes well and I'm going to use my D60 in an attempt to take a few good shots. Saw the Nikon D90 ad on TV and winced. Should have waited...