The Place to be (Part II)
Thoughts. Not necessarily in a stream.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Going no where
Everybody has a plan right? Not exactly everybody I suppose. Some people live by the minute, some by the day, deciding to do things on a whim, depending more often than not on an instinct, a sixth sense, a gut feeling. Others plan things out to the tee, where they want to be, what they're going to do, who they are going to end up with, in how many years time. One thing's for sure, time is flying by, there is no stopping it. And when one grows up, that fact becomes so evident and pressingly clear, and you start trying your darndest to catch up with it.
Yup that's how I feel like now. Life is short and there's so many things to do. Having children and starting a family still sounds terribly far-fetched to me, and yet I see friends already heading in that direction. And it is true, I'm hitting 25, perfect child-bearing age! There's so much more I want to experience. And I feel Singapore is not going to give that to me. But alas, I'm stuck in this job for at least another 2 yrs, and Adriano's stuck in his for at least 5. Why do I want to move away from Singapore? Singapore is great. Small and dynamic, developing at an extremely fast pace, safe, secure, stable. But there's only so much you can do here. You can't explore the countryside (I know there isn't one, just think Bukit Timah Nature Reserve) without breaking out into a sweat, you can't walk a mile without encountering tar roads and blaring car horns. It's not that I want to run away from it forever, but I just want to be in a different place for some time. And meet different kinds of people. Not forever, just for awhile. Maybe forever, if I like it, I'll shift my folks over afterward :P
There are things I love about Singapore though. The good (and cheap) food. The shopping centres which close at 9.30 (and not 5). The Singlish (I don't care what they say about it, it makes us unique). The East Coast (somehow I just like strolling around Parkway in my flip flops or walking my dog down to the park on a weekend). The people of course.
Anyway, talking as if I'm going to migrate but the fact is, I'm not going anywhere...
Yup that's how I feel like now. Life is short and there's so many things to do. Having children and starting a family still sounds terribly far-fetched to me, and yet I see friends already heading in that direction. And it is true, I'm hitting 25, perfect child-bearing age! There's so much more I want to experience. And I feel Singapore is not going to give that to me. But alas, I'm stuck in this job for at least another 2 yrs, and Adriano's stuck in his for at least 5. Why do I want to move away from Singapore? Singapore is great. Small and dynamic, developing at an extremely fast pace, safe, secure, stable. But there's only so much you can do here. You can't explore the countryside (I know there isn't one, just think Bukit Timah Nature Reserve) without breaking out into a sweat, you can't walk a mile without encountering tar roads and blaring car horns. It's not that I want to run away from it forever, but I just want to be in a different place for some time. And meet different kinds of people. Not forever, just for awhile. Maybe forever, if I like it, I'll shift my folks over afterward :P
There are things I love about Singapore though. The good (and cheap) food. The shopping centres which close at 9.30 (and not 5). The Singlish (I don't care what they say about it, it makes us unique). The East Coast (somehow I just like strolling around Parkway in my flip flops or walking my dog down to the park on a weekend). The people of course.
Anyway, talking as if I'm going to migrate but the fact is, I'm not going anywhere...
Monday, June 18, 2007
Brisbane Adventure
Ello all. It's been more than a month. This blog is absolutely stagnating. But amazingly people do read it (only when they're really bored.. I know... straight from the horse's mouth [of course I'm referring to a little horsie called Wan] :p) Anyway, finally have the time and mood to get on with the 2nd part of my down-under trip.
The Batman Ride which shoots you up and down. I went the first time and hated it. These 2 are obviously smug with what their stomachs can handle.
Had Nando's for dinner.. great Peri Peri sauce. And conveniently there was a night market going on at the stretch behind our hotels. Played with sludge there. Anyway, the next day was our long road trip day so we settled for an early night.
And we finally reached our destination.. Sunshine Coast! Or rather Noosa Heads.. where we did some body surfing (or attempted to, mostly kept getting smacked in the face with my own surfboard). Hah. But was fun, hanged out at the beach till the sunset and it got kinda cold. Then we shopped for our trusty bottle of chilli sauce and had a load of fish, chips and calamari. That ended our long day and we drove the long dark road home (3hrs was it?) and collapsed into our beds. Next day took some pretty pics at the beach before we headed to Brisbane..
Thanks Bebe for bringing us around.. don't we look like we just Belong to the beach? To more years of travel ahead!
See it? See it? So cuteee!
Also petted kangaroos, and energetic naughty sheepdogs.. they just trample all over the poor sheep. Petted a black sheep. Bebe wanted to pet it too but it bleated at her. HAHA. After that we drove on to Bebe's uni, which is lovely btw. I wish I studied there rather than NUS man. We had lovely Sarpino's pizzas there with beer and took a walk by the lakes before heading to Brisbane city. Brisbane city shopping area looks similar to Sydney's, literally saw some copycat buildings. Anyway, there was some chinese festival going on.. walked down fortitude valley and Chinatown. Not as lively as Sydney though.. but Bebe brought us to this little cafe and we had the yummiest hot chocolate. Couldn't get enough of it... tiramisu was lovely too. 
So during the transit btw Sydney and Brisbane we managed to find ourselves some Krispy Kreme donuts after much running around (from terminal to terminal only to be greeted with a little Krispy Kreme cart which we didn't see the first time round at the very terminal we started from). They were indeed delicious. Melts in your mouth. We touched down in Brisbane around 8, and once again a free ride to our hotel in Gold Coast Surfer's Paradise! This hotel was wayy better than the Sydney one... and so was their breakfast the next morning. Pancakes, sausages, macaroni, cereal, yoghurt, salad, ham, cheese... bad for the cholesterol levels but oh so good for the soul. The beach was a minute's walk from the hotel and it was beAutiful:
Now that's what I call beach. And the reason why I don't regard East Coast Park as a beach, becos it ain't, it's just an artificial sandbar real close to the shore.
The rest of the next day was spent shopping at a factory outlet called Harbourtown. Took a bus down (yup, familiarising ourselves with the public transport already) and found a terrific bargain (Rip Curl bikini tops and bottoms at $5 each!). Also bought some Esprit tops for my mum at $10 each which turned out to be too big. Almost lost my bikinis midway through shopping but thankfully found it in the changing room. Had coffee and cake to unwind from the stress of shopping after which we headed to our neighbourhood Woolworths (its like the Singapore equivalent of NTUC) to dabao chicken, salad and ginger beer to head back to our hotel to pig out. And the next day, Bebe came over!
And we went to MovieWorld... which is NOTHING compared to Orlando's themeparks. Heh. Sat on a 2 scary rides and slurped ice cream.
The Batman Ride which shoots you up and down. I went the first time and hated it. These 2 are obviously smug with what their stomachs can handle.
The Superman Rollercoaster. This one was better than the Batman but it still kinda gave me a headache. These 2 obviously loved it and sat on it again right at the back row with the highest G force. Show-offs.
Us slurping our ice-creams.
Had Nando's for dinner.. great Peri Peri sauce. And conveniently there was a night market going on at the stretch behind our hotels. Played with sludge there. Anyway, the next day was our long road trip day so we settled for an early night.
I love roadtrips! Ever since Orlando times its a great feeling to be on the road with the music up and chatting with your bestest pals. First stop was Glasshouse Mountains which I imagined to be some awesome sight with reflective cliffs and stuff but it was just a hilly mountain, maybe the reflective part was on the other side :\ Couldn't get to a good vantage point. The next stop was more exciting though.. the Giant Pineapple!
It's really just that, a giant pineapple. Of course around it there was a pineapple plantation, pineapple tours, and a shop selling just about everything you can make from pineapples.
After that we made stops at the Ginger factory and Macadamia nut factory and bought loads of goodies back for the folks at home. And finally we reached the Eumundi markets where hundreds of people flock to every weekend. Its a really big market which sells all kinds of stuff. Didn't get anything there except a can of slime though. Don't look at me that way, Mr Adriano bought it for his personal pleasure.
And we finally reached our destination.. Sunshine Coast! Or rather Noosa Heads.. where we did some body surfing (or attempted to, mostly kept getting smacked in the face with my own surfboard). Hah. But was fun, hanged out at the beach till the sunset and it got kinda cold. Then we shopped for our trusty bottle of chilli sauce and had a load of fish, chips and calamari. That ended our long day and we drove the long dark road home (3hrs was it?) and collapsed into our beds. Next day took some pretty pics at the beach before we headed to Brisbane.. Thanks Bebe for bringing us around.. don't we look like we just Belong to the beach? To more years of travel ahead!Oh next stop was my favourritte.. went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and came face-to-face with dozens of cute furry koala bears!!! Even saw a baby one!!
See it? See it? So cuteee! And I even got to hold one! Wanted to bring it home so badly.. it's name is Hazel :)
Also petted kangaroos, and energetic naughty sheepdogs.. they just trample all over the poor sheep. Petted a black sheep. Bebe wanted to pet it too but it bleated at her. HAHA. After that we drove on to Bebe's uni, which is lovely btw. I wish I studied there rather than NUS man. We had lovely Sarpino's pizzas there with beer and took a walk by the lakes before heading to Brisbane city. Brisbane city shopping area looks similar to Sydney's, literally saw some copycat buildings. Anyway, there was some chinese festival going on.. walked down fortitude valley and Chinatown. Not as lively as Sydney though.. but Bebe brought us to this little cafe and we had the yummiest hot chocolate. Couldn't get enough of it... tiramisu was lovely too.
And that was the end of our trip! The next morning we woke up at like 4am to catch the coach to the airport and we had a long day just sitting on the aeroplane flying around Australia till we finally ended up back in hot ol' Singapore. We even passed by Perth and saw good friend Maria Tandun there. Haha. That was a pleasant surprise.. anyway, yeah, was a good trip. And that's all my photos for now. Oh I did go for another holiday soon after I came back.. short family getaway to Malaysia but I'll leave that to another post. :P
Goodnight folks!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Our Sydney adventure
Good evening, time for another monthly update! Finally went for my long-awaited holiday. I tell everyone its adriano's grad trip while he tells everyone its my get-away-from-work trip. I suppose the latter is true to quite a large extent, work was getting really mundane. Its nice to kick back for 11 days and not have to worry about waking up early, taking the train, checking the rats, having late lunch, and taking the train back home. I love holidays.
We chose Australia because the weather is cool there now (its autumn there i.e. cool and dry, whereas in Singapore, its the season I would name Sweatumn i.e. hot and wet). We wanted to go to HongKong at first, the cheaper alternative, but we hear it is sweltering there as well and it wasn't sale season too so we gave that a miss. Qantas was having a promotion S$598 (which actually came up to S$1009 after taxes/phone booking charges, the cheats! but still a good deal) for 2 stop-overs in Australia. Was a little tempted to go to Melbourne and Cairns but in the end, we chose Sydney and Brisbane (to visit Bebe) and off we went!
Sydney was lurvely. Favourite thing about it besides the weather, the streets. The roadside cafes, the girls in their trendy high boots, the dogs and their owners at almost every corner, the pretty orange autumn trees. We landed on a friday night after a 7hr flight and thanks to my brother again, there was a bus waiting for us to bring us to our hotel. It was a rather oldish hotel though (3-star) run by Chinese it seems, situated in Potts Point, which was pretty near Sydney's red-light district, King's Cross. But the hotel had all we needed, a nice big bed, lights, fridge, clean bathroom, air-conditioning (which freezed my ass off in the morning). As soon as we deposited our stuff, we decided to take a walk to Woolloomooloo. A place which is dear to our hearts. Hehe, it had a pie-stand there which was strongly recommended by Sue who lived there for 6 mths. And judging by the hungry-looking crowd hovering around it every night, and our growling tummies, we had no option other than to order a beef pie with mushy peas on top, and another chicken pie with mayo on it. I'm sure they had fancier names but they're hard to recall now. We sat down on a bench overlooking finger pier wharf (I think it was called). Yachts were lined up along the river way with a terrace of tall apartments alongside (so everyone has their own boat, doesn't it make you sick? I want my own yacht too.) We saw a huge one which had a living room fully equipped with large-screen plasma tv and beverage bar, and the owners were cuddled up on the sofa. Whereas adriano and I were cuddled up as well, on the pier trying to take night shots of the nice yacht. Good thing it wasn't TOO cold.
The next day was a saturday, which is a day for marketing, or rather visiting weekend markets. We visited Paddington market (pricey) which was held outside a church, Glebe market (bohemian, pretty cheap, sells food too) which was held outside a school, and Paddy's market (typical pasar malam, just a really big version) which was held in some warehouse in Chinatown. Also went to Fish Market to have fresh lobster and fish and chips and Darling Harbour (more boats). For dinner we visited Leichardt (pronounced as lie-kart), which is Sydney's Little Italy, and had really hearty and inexpensive pasta (spaghetti marinara and meat ravioli). Yums. We even had gelato after that. Double yums. And we are such enthusiastic tourists, where most people would have their legs aching and be yelling out to return to their hotels and their snuggly beds, we instead jumped on a monorail to Star City Casino. And attempted to gamble but lost $5 to 1 cent per try one-armed bandits. Damn them. Then we finally retired to our snuggly beds.
On a sunday, bright cheery beautiful almost cloudless Sunday, we took a train down to Circular Quay and finally saw those 2 unmistakable icons of Sydney:
1. Sydney Harbour Bridge
2. Sydney Opera House
Took loads of photos including some pretty artistic shots done by yours truly of course. Check out my talent man..
Pretty huh?
Anyway, after that we strolled to The Rocks, which is supposed to be a historic part of Sydney where the buildings are older looking and it really did look like a different part of Sydney with the autumn trees giving everything a nice orangey glow. There was a real nice market there. Bought loads of nougat and some earrings. One of which broke before I even got a chance to wear it! Think it can be fixed though, it's really pretty. Another artistic shot from me...
They had this thing at almost every market.. makes your eyes go a little googa
To incorporate our whole "see Sydney in 3 days" itinery (we reserved a day for Blue Mountains and another day for Hunter Valley..wine-tasting..mm), we had to speed down to Town Hall on the rail again (we were so in tune with the public transport there man, we could have been mistaken for Sydney-landers, we've more or less taken every form of transport there besides horse-carriage). Shopped around the city shopping area, visited QVB (Queen Victoria Bldg) and The Strand, didn't buy much though. Then we had to head back to the harbour to take a ferry to Manly Beach! Bought kebabs, salad, and beer for dinner and devoured it as we sat by the beach, surrounded and watched intently by a team of seagulls. We then attempted to be enthu tourists again and took a bus to Fox Studios, which turned out to be mostly closed at night, only the cinemas were open. But the funny thing was we got a little lost and ended up in University of New South Wales where there seemed to be a kind of rock concert going on. The bus we took was overflowing with students, mostly dressed in black, with long hair and piercings, and shouting 'Lamb of God!!'. Damn goth-wannabe rockers.
The next day was Blue Mountain day! 2 hr train rides back and forth. But the view there was magnificent:
Just endless valleys, trees, and plateaus (rather than mountains) stretching as far as the eye can see. Do you see the blue mist? That's how the 'mountains' got its name, its apparently caused by the oils emitted from the leaves of the eucalyptus tree. We even went bush-walking! Climbed down this rather steep flight of stairs into the valley and trekked across the mountains to Scenic World, this touristy spot which provides cable car rides and steep railway rides up, down and across the mountains. It was a rather long bush-walk though.. haha, but was pretty fun and we took some pics with our trusty tripod:
I like this one :)
Next day.. Hunter Valley! What can go wrong with a day of tasting fine wines, cheese and chocolate? Just one thing.. coming out red as a lobster!
Hur hur.. look at his ears! They're glowing red :D
This has turned out to be a pretty long post. Anyway, to end off Sydney, we spent the last day at Bondi Beach, which was simply sparkling in the sunshine that day, and the afternoon before our flight taking a long stroll from the harbour all the way to our hotel, through the botanical gardens. Was lurvely. Goodnight folks.. will update Brisbane adventure in the next post!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
My monthly update.. hah
Damn hot night. Everyone has their air-con on except me. The remote control for my room has disappeared into oblivion and everytime I want to switch mine on I have to use the remote in either my paternal grandma's room (which she's using now) or go all the way downstairs to the home office (to rummage through papers, stationery and general mess) just to find another remote that's linked up to my unit. *switches on fan to speed no. 2*
Happy Good Friday. I'm just glad the weekend's longer. Met up with old college girlfriends for lunch at billy bombers. Its kind of weird the transition from schooling to working. In school, we're so used to seeing each other's faces everyday. Eating together, studying together, sitting in classes and snoozing off together. And now our meet-ups are limited to once in a coupla months due to everyone's busy schedule. So proud of all of them though.. we've all come a long way. Wore my new wedges and for the first time I was taller than all of them.. haha! Proceeded to shop the afternoon away and got general lessons on facial and eye care from Dris. Spent almost 50 bucks solely on face products. Namely Biore pore pack (I know it's not meant to be good for you and opens your pores and what not, but you haven't seen the number of black heads I have), a special tool for removing even more blackheads, pore-refining toner (see, I take care of my pores), and eye (wrinkle-reducing and anti-dark circle) cream. That should see me through to my thirties :
Met up with Mr Adriano who looked zombiefied from design project part II. He made me walk the whole of orchard in my wedges (which were starting to put a little strain on the backs of my calves) because the gemini couldn't decide what to eat. Walked all the way to Far East to check out that popular jap place everyone's always talking about, but it was bloody closed. Walked back to food republic to eat $4.20 yong tau fu : He had double servings.. duck rice, and fish and pasta, good to see he's recovering from his food poisoning episode. I had treated him to a meal at Outback Steakhouse to celebrate my bonus and also as a belated Vday gift and lets just say the great steak I bought for him went down the toilet bowl, literally. Anyway, he was saying some boyfriends get overdoses of their girlfriends but for me he never gets to see enough of me (uh huh.. I'm glad he realised that) and misses hanging out together more like we used to. Aw. Anyway, went to try out this supposedley good choc/cake dessert place called Canele at Paragon. Had the tiramisu. Honestly, it wasn't up to expectations at all. The cake part which was rum-soaked was a bit too hard for my liking (it's supposed to be soft and fluffy!). And apparently everyone else thought so too because NONE of the other customers finished their cakes!!! Now that's a bad sign (at least we finished ours.. $6++ can). O well.. headed home after that, he was giving me long hugs and forehead kisses and acting like we're not gonna see each other for a long time which I presume to be true because his exams are in 2 wks time. rawr!
This morning I actually woke up at 6.30am can. Crazy parents booked the tennis courts at 7am (apparently every other time-slot was full), but surprisingly I woke up without a problem and even played better than I usually do in the evenings. The underlying reason I went though was mainly the thought of a nice hearty breakfast after the game which was exactly what I got. Mushroom, ham and onion omelette with toast... mmm. I love big fat-laden breakfasts. The ones in US were crazier. US$3.99 bfast buffets (ALL YOU CAN EAT) and there are pancakes, waffles, sausages and everything oily and fattening you can think of. Loved it. After bfast, I went to apply for my PDL (provisional driving license) at the driving school.. waited for more than half an hour.. and I kept getting weird looks cos I was in my full kick-ass tennis gear. haha. Went home after that and gave Beth a bath. For the first time she didn't roll in the earth right after drying her off. Instead she raced into the house when I opened the grill and made herself comfortable in her little corner behind the sofas. Had to help mum clean the whole house after that. Damn tiring.. that's the problem with big old houses though. They're big and old. Which means they get dusty real fast and every week dust accumulates on the surfaces. And there's tonnes of corners in the house which can't be seen but are honest to god dirty like hell, and there's nothing much we can do about it because it's beyond salvation :\ And even if you do clean them out they'll get dirty again eventually so what's the point? WHY MUST DUST EXIST???
No pics of this weekend though. I did take pics of last weekend (or was it last last?) where I brought my family, grandma, uncle and auntie for lunch at this chic chinese restaurant. Meals were served individually course by course on different shaped plates (like leaf shape for veg dish.. how appropriate) and we had a private room with arty chinese paintings. Oo and after that my uncle brought us to test drive the Jaguar! I didn't actually get to go for the test drive though cos there were too many of us. But I did take lotsa pics. Didn't realise the jaguar had such a big gaping mouth. The interior of the sports jaguar's cool though. But the outside could have looked a lot sportier. Also met up with adriano for our long-awaited dim sum brunch at crystal jade the day before. Forgot to take pics of the dim sums! *slaps self*
Happy Good Friday. I'm just glad the weekend's longer. Met up with old college girlfriends for lunch at billy bombers. Its kind of weird the transition from schooling to working. In school, we're so used to seeing each other's faces everyday. Eating together, studying together, sitting in classes and snoozing off together. And now our meet-ups are limited to once in a coupla months due to everyone's busy schedule. So proud of all of them though.. we've all come a long way. Wore my new wedges and for the first time I was taller than all of them.. haha! Proceeded to shop the afternoon away and got general lessons on facial and eye care from Dris. Spent almost 50 bucks solely on face products. Namely Biore pore pack (I know it's not meant to be good for you and opens your pores and what not, but you haven't seen the number of black heads I have), a special tool for removing even more blackheads, pore-refining toner (see, I take care of my pores), and eye (wrinkle-reducing and anti-dark circle) cream. That should see me through to my thirties :
Met up with Mr Adriano who looked zombiefied from design project part II. He made me walk the whole of orchard in my wedges (which were starting to put a little strain on the backs of my calves) because the gemini couldn't decide what to eat. Walked all the way to Far East to check out that popular jap place everyone's always talking about, but it was bloody closed. Walked back to food republic to eat $4.20 yong tau fu : He had double servings.. duck rice, and fish and pasta, good to see he's recovering from his food poisoning episode. I had treated him to a meal at Outback Steakhouse to celebrate my bonus and also as a belated Vday gift and lets just say the great steak I bought for him went down the toilet bowl, literally. Anyway, he was saying some boyfriends get overdoses of their girlfriends but for me he never gets to see enough of me (uh huh.. I'm glad he realised that) and misses hanging out together more like we used to. Aw. Anyway, went to try out this supposedley good choc/cake dessert place called Canele at Paragon. Had the tiramisu. Honestly, it wasn't up to expectations at all. The cake part which was rum-soaked was a bit too hard for my liking (it's supposed to be soft and fluffy!). And apparently everyone else thought so too because NONE of the other customers finished their cakes!!! Now that's a bad sign (at least we finished ours.. $6++ can). O well.. headed home after that, he was giving me long hugs and forehead kisses and acting like we're not gonna see each other for a long time which I presume to be true because his exams are in 2 wks time. rawr!
This morning I actually woke up at 6.30am can. Crazy parents booked the tennis courts at 7am (apparently every other time-slot was full), but surprisingly I woke up without a problem and even played better than I usually do in the evenings. The underlying reason I went though was mainly the thought of a nice hearty breakfast after the game which was exactly what I got. Mushroom, ham and onion omelette with toast... mmm. I love big fat-laden breakfasts. The ones in US were crazier. US$3.99 bfast buffets (ALL YOU CAN EAT) and there are pancakes, waffles, sausages and everything oily and fattening you can think of. Loved it. After bfast, I went to apply for my PDL (provisional driving license) at the driving school.. waited for more than half an hour.. and I kept getting weird looks cos I was in my full kick-ass tennis gear. haha. Went home after that and gave Beth a bath. For the first time she didn't roll in the earth right after drying her off. Instead she raced into the house when I opened the grill and made herself comfortable in her little corner behind the sofas. Had to help mum clean the whole house after that. Damn tiring.. that's the problem with big old houses though. They're big and old. Which means they get dusty real fast and every week dust accumulates on the surfaces. And there's tonnes of corners in the house which can't be seen but are honest to god dirty like hell, and there's nothing much we can do about it because it's beyond salvation :\ And even if you do clean them out they'll get dirty again eventually so what's the point? WHY MUST DUST EXIST???
No pics of this weekend though. I did take pics of last weekend (or was it last last?) where I brought my family, grandma, uncle and auntie for lunch at this chic chinese restaurant. Meals were served individually course by course on different shaped plates (like leaf shape for veg dish.. how appropriate) and we had a private room with arty chinese paintings. Oo and after that my uncle brought us to test drive the Jaguar! I didn't actually get to go for the test drive though cos there were too many of us. But I did take lotsa pics. Didn't realise the jaguar had such a big gaping mouth. The interior of the sports jaguar's cool though. But the outside could have looked a lot sportier. Also met up with adriano for our long-awaited dim sum brunch at crystal jade the day before. Forgot to take pics of the dim sums! *slaps self*
My attempt at beautifying pics, can see not? Too small? and.. yes I forgot to take pics of the food again.
Nah.. the rest of the pics big big for you all to enjoy (lazy to beautify liao). 19 more days to Australian adventure :D Booked air tickets (not free.) and hotel stays (free!) in Sydney and the Gold Coast for 10 nights with Mr Adriano. Visiting Bebe too.. I hope they don't make me sit on scary rides together *worried look* I want to thank my brother for allowing me to use him TimeShare (which allows for free hotel stay). I'd like to tell everyone that he is single, very available and pretty well off to boot. AND he will prob get his driving license before the end of the year. Ladies. Please make yourselves available, if interested, email me. (Note: He may be a techy geek, but he's a cute techy geek :P)Sunday, March 11, 2007
Back from Penang
ello, I'm back from Penang. My maternal grandmother passed away and I went to attend her funeral. She looked peaceful.. like she was sleeping. She was 80 years old, she died from organ failure. She had diabetes and recently a heart bypass surgery which went relatively well, but the past few months have not been good. She began coughing up and passing out blood, the doctors didn't know the cause, the endoscopy of her intestines turned out cancer-free. Soon, her kidneys had failed, liver was degenerating and her lungs were filled with water. Breathing was impossible without a tube down her throat. Things were not salvagable, and they brought her home to the family hairdressing shop in Sungai Ara to make the cross to 'the other side'.
My family in Penang is big compared to the one in Spore. 5 aunties, 1 uncle, 11 cousins and another dozen relatives whom I'm still not clear on our exact association despite asking my mum a million times. But one thing was for sure, they all loved my grandma. She brought up the kids single-handedly, started her own hairdressing business which she passed on to her 2nd daughter, and always willingly helped out her fellow neighbours without question. Which is why they turned up in droves at the funeral this afternoon. This is what I missed out on not being brought up in Penang. Sure, the roads are congested, the drains are blocked, and the cityscape not as clean and sanitized as Spore, but the people who live together are as close as family. And the family members themselves are inseperable. Cousins look out for one another, siblings stick it out through thick and thin, grandparents are lovingly taken cared of till their very last breath. I'm sure in Spore there are families and maybe even communities like that, but just how many are there? Kampong days are long over. It's hello to living in a box and the 'mind your own business, don't peep into my apartment' days. And forget abt grandparents, let the maid look after them.
Hai, what to do? Just treasure your own family lor. Because in the end, when you're old and helpless, sick and bed-ridden, they're the ones who'll stick around to wash you up, bring you to the toilet and sit by your bed. Not your business associates, nor your drinking buddies, not even your boss, although hopefully they'll be nice enough to send you flowers.
Yawns. Work tomorrow. Hopefully I might take a half-day off. Gotta clean the house, wash the dog, and iron the clothes. Mum's not back till wednesday and she's been through enough already. Beth's so cute, the maid next door has been feeding her and they've made good friends. She was sitting in front of the house when our uncle drove us back, like a proper guard-dog awaiting it's master's arrival. And she went beserk on seeing us. Crazy Beth. I love dogs. Cats are cute too though. There was one in Penang who was chilling on the cushioned seat outside the shop, rolling around in an absolutely carefree fashion and ungratefully digging its claws into the seat.
Kays.. catch up next time. Here's Beth's naughty face.
P.S. Nope I haven't forgotten... HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jo! *throws confetti*
My family in Penang is big compared to the one in Spore. 5 aunties, 1 uncle, 11 cousins and another dozen relatives whom I'm still not clear on our exact association despite asking my mum a million times. But one thing was for sure, they all loved my grandma. She brought up the kids single-handedly, started her own hairdressing business which she passed on to her 2nd daughter, and always willingly helped out her fellow neighbours without question. Which is why they turned up in droves at the funeral this afternoon. This is what I missed out on not being brought up in Penang. Sure, the roads are congested, the drains are blocked, and the cityscape not as clean and sanitized as Spore, but the people who live together are as close as family. And the family members themselves are inseperable. Cousins look out for one another, siblings stick it out through thick and thin, grandparents are lovingly taken cared of till their very last breath. I'm sure in Spore there are families and maybe even communities like that, but just how many are there? Kampong days are long over. It's hello to living in a box and the 'mind your own business, don't peep into my apartment' days. And forget abt grandparents, let the maid look after them.
Hai, what to do? Just treasure your own family lor. Because in the end, when you're old and helpless, sick and bed-ridden, they're the ones who'll stick around to wash you up, bring you to the toilet and sit by your bed. Not your business associates, nor your drinking buddies, not even your boss, although hopefully they'll be nice enough to send you flowers.
Yawns. Work tomorrow. Hopefully I might take a half-day off. Gotta clean the house, wash the dog, and iron the clothes. Mum's not back till wednesday and she's been through enough already. Beth's so cute, the maid next door has been feeding her and they've made good friends. She was sitting in front of the house when our uncle drove us back, like a proper guard-dog awaiting it's master's arrival. And she went beserk on seeing us. Crazy Beth. I love dogs. Cats are cute too though. There was one in Penang who was chilling on the cushioned seat outside the shop, rolling around in an absolutely carefree fashion and ungratefully digging its claws into the seat.
Kays.. catch up next time. Here's Beth's naughty face.
P.S. Nope I haven't forgotten... HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jo! *throws confetti*
Sunday, March 04, 2007
What I've been up to since Feb 11
I've been busy okay. And lazy. And I think I'm coming down with something, my throat's feeling a bit sandy. But that's enough excuses for now. It's been almost a month.. what could possibly have happened in a month? Nothing. That's what. My life is a bore. I brought my grandma to the birdpark though, during the CNY break. That's like the highlight of my CNY, apart from meeting adriano's relatives. They were nice though, played 'in-between' and mahjong with the aunties there. Playing mahjong with them damn stress can.. I need more practice. Lucky didn't lose too much money, in fact, I think I walked away with profit in the form of angpow earnings. Anyway, here's some pics of my grandma having fun with da birds...
Mmm.. so after CNY it was back to work work work. Boss went away for 2wks for training in UK (why didn't he bring meeee?) and I was left with mounds of work to do. Which left me eating lunch by myself and at 3pm for 2 days consecutively. I even missed lunch entirely once, only because of the incompetency of some supplier. Sent him an email that said his actions resulted in 'serious delays', mainly of which being my missed lunch. It is very serious okay! Sigh! Mum went back to Penang yesterday. Penang grandma's very ill.. and I feel bad for not being able to visit her. I ought to, once my boss comes back. Right now, taking leave would be unforgivable. It's hard being indispensable :P
Anyway, went shopping today!! Spent $210!!! But finally bought skinny jeans.. woot.. but I can't wear them till 2 wks later cos they're being altered. Boo. Bought 3 tops, 1 casual, 1 casual but good for work (actually everything's good for work, that's the great thing about my job), and 1 nice simple black top with a silky ribbon at the back. And did I mention skinny jeans? Yup, they do wonders for the butt and the thighs. But they're also really snugly fit.. which means I have to maintain the current waistline, which means more running for me! And maybe those hiphop classes would also help keep me in shape, was aching all over from the last lesson :\
Adriano thinks I can cope pretty well without him. Hah, cos I keep myself occupied with lotsa stuff. Well I have to don't I so I don't overthink our relationship?! Things are still good tho, he gave me Godiva chocs for Valentine's and a hand-made pencil holder, and what did I get him? 3 pairs of black ankle socks. Yup. I'm romantic like that. hahhhhh. It's a complicated story, I didn't think he would get me anything so I didn't want to overspend to make him feel bad. And now I feel bad.. in other words, I still owe him a post-vday dinner at Sun&Moon. Which probably won't materialize for the next few weeks cos of his design 2 project, poster presentation, mid-term test and HR project. Yup. Busy boy.
I need to sleep now. Why can't weekends last longer?
Also met up with some ex-classmates for the annual ' lao yu-sheng' and ktv-ing and more 'in-between' (I broke even!) at a friend's place. He has his own ktv system and he likes Andy Lau. He's the one in yellow, you can see he's been practicing by the way he poses (compare with guy in orange).
Mmm.. so after CNY it was back to work work work. Boss went away for 2wks for training in UK (why didn't he bring meeee?) and I was left with mounds of work to do. Which left me eating lunch by myself and at 3pm for 2 days consecutively. I even missed lunch entirely once, only because of the incompetency of some supplier. Sent him an email that said his actions resulted in 'serious delays', mainly of which being my missed lunch. It is very serious okay! Sigh! Mum went back to Penang yesterday. Penang grandma's very ill.. and I feel bad for not being able to visit her. I ought to, once my boss comes back. Right now, taking leave would be unforgivable. It's hard being indispensable :P
Anyway, went shopping today!! Spent $210!!! But finally bought skinny jeans.. woot.. but I can't wear them till 2 wks later cos they're being altered. Boo. Bought 3 tops, 1 casual, 1 casual but good for work (actually everything's good for work, that's the great thing about my job), and 1 nice simple black top with a silky ribbon at the back. And did I mention skinny jeans? Yup, they do wonders for the butt and the thighs. But they're also really snugly fit.. which means I have to maintain the current waistline, which means more running for me! And maybe those hiphop classes would also help keep me in shape, was aching all over from the last lesson :\
Adriano thinks I can cope pretty well without him. Hah, cos I keep myself occupied with lotsa stuff. Well I have to don't I so I don't overthink our relationship?! Things are still good tho, he gave me Godiva chocs for Valentine's and a hand-made pencil holder, and what did I get him? 3 pairs of black ankle socks. Yup. I'm romantic like that. hahhhhh. It's a complicated story, I didn't think he would get me anything so I didn't want to overspend to make him feel bad. And now I feel bad.. in other words, I still owe him a post-vday dinner at Sun&Moon. Which probably won't materialize for the next few weeks cos of his design 2 project, poster presentation, mid-term test and HR project. Yup. Busy boy.
I need to sleep now. Why can't weekends last longer?
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Why is it so freaking hot this weekend??
Lucky for me, I am typing this in the comfort of my air-conditioned bedroom. Didn't do much this weekend. Boyfriend was busy with his school projects and preparing for a test coming up on monday. The poor thing's so stressed he even fell asleep on his table last night. He's the most extreme person I've ever met when it comes to studying... you know the kind, the kind that don't sleep and take concentrated black coffee till it loses its effect. But I was quite pleased on Friday night when he Finally put down his work for once and decided to go for dinner with me. Woo hoo, I have shifted myself one more rung up the adriano priority list.. hah :P Had burgers at Carl's Jr at Vivocity and he bought himself 37 dollar Silver Needle white tea leaves from Tang's (he is secretly an old ah pek disguised in a young man's body).
Unfortunately, this Valentine's he has classes from 6-9pm which he can't miss so I may have to preoccupy myself with something else.. which may take the form of hiphop lessons taught by a cute ex-Jpop instructor of a colleague's. Yup, I secretly aspire to be a great dancer who can do flexible stunts like splits and pirrouettes. Hiphop's cool tho, and the lessons are pretty cheap and its a open class so why not. I remember an old Valentine's when I was also doing hiphop classes at some community centre with old friends mae and jm. De ja vu.. hmm. Came to naught tho, I hardly remember the steps now, even after rehearsing in front of the mirror incessantly before.
Oh we just got a new LCD tv from some relatives of mine, and guess what? Nope, I bet you can't guess this. The tv came with a FREE bICYCle. Weird combi eh. Anyway, I was never good at cycling. I think I'm still not that good given the number of times I've crashed the new bike into fencing. Thank god for fencing tho (it prevents me from riding my bike down into the canal). But it's kinda cool having this new form of transportation. It would actually be possible to cycle down to the east coast now, given I get more confident at it and stop crashing into things. I shudder to think about cycling along roads though.. good thing the route to ecp is along the canal (with fencing), and I only have to CROSS roads and not ride along it. I should find like ppl in the neighbourhood I can go cycling with. Mm.
I need to take a trip! Hopefully in May the boyfriend and I may be heading up to Hongkong.. I have lots of leave days to clear I realised. CNY is coming. Argh.. a noisy period with lots of dish-washing I presume is arriving. Some tension amongst the relatives this year too. And I'll be visiting adrian's big family of >70 ppl. Good luck to me. Have a happy new year y'all!
Oh and guess what this is:
I am famous now. Haah.
Unfortunately, this Valentine's he has classes from 6-9pm which he can't miss so I may have to preoccupy myself with something else.. which may take the form of hiphop lessons taught by a cute ex-Jpop instructor of a colleague's. Yup, I secretly aspire to be a great dancer who can do flexible stunts like splits and pirrouettes. Hiphop's cool tho, and the lessons are pretty cheap and its a open class so why not. I remember an old Valentine's when I was also doing hiphop classes at some community centre with old friends mae and jm. De ja vu.. hmm. Came to naught tho, I hardly remember the steps now, even after rehearsing in front of the mirror incessantly before.
Oh we just got a new LCD tv from some relatives of mine, and guess what? Nope, I bet you can't guess this. The tv came with a FREE bICYCle. Weird combi eh. Anyway, I was never good at cycling. I think I'm still not that good given the number of times I've crashed the new bike into fencing. Thank god for fencing tho (it prevents me from riding my bike down into the canal). But it's kinda cool having this new form of transportation. It would actually be possible to cycle down to the east coast now, given I get more confident at it and stop crashing into things. I shudder to think about cycling along roads though.. good thing the route to ecp is along the canal (with fencing), and I only have to CROSS roads and not ride along it. I should find like ppl in the neighbourhood I can go cycling with. Mm.
I need to take a trip! Hopefully in May the boyfriend and I may be heading up to Hongkong.. I have lots of leave days to clear I realised. CNY is coming. Argh.. a noisy period with lots of dish-washing I presume is arriving. Some tension amongst the relatives this year too. And I'll be visiting adrian's big family of >70 ppl. Good luck to me. Have a happy new year y'all!
Oh and guess what this is:
I am famous now. Haah.
