China again

In China from 27 Dec to 7 Feb.

Catch ya later folks!

Update.

Lucky.


Meanwhile, I'll be in China from 16 Nov to 04 Dec.

KL with the family!

Me and Mummy!

Jie and Mummy!

Do we look alike then?

YUM!

Langkawi!!

My favourite picture of the trip. WOOHOO!

When we say best friends forever, we mean it.

Just to catch up on what's happening..

Meeting up with the Mountaineers! Tea at Oriole's Cafe

Farewell Thor! Take care!

Jotting down some quick notes.

I'm stuck at home, sick of some viral flu infection that I caught. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be back at work and moving around! Yay! It's quite boring to be stuck at home while sick. Fever saps wayyyyy too much energy... euck..

Meanwhile.. temping ends this week. Whilst I will be glad to have some time off before I start work officially, I will miss the funny funny people and the PAY. ha..

This Sunday is the 4.5km run! I hope that I will recover in time for the run or else I train so much but come to nought in the end. *cross my fingers*

Too much office work has caused me to contemplate taking up tennis. Seems like quite a fun sport. Maybe I will buy myself a tennis racquet once I've confirm taking it up. Mandy, are you game? haha

And.. I'm flushed anew. Time to go shoppingggggg! I have 3 weeks before work to lose weight and to buy more clothes. Office work and no control really causes me to put on weight. A lifestyle that is too sedentary is NO GOOD! Need to work out!!

Hmm..

"I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine. "

:Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged)


- Snitched it from Molie on fb

Also..

MJ is dead.

The King of Pop has passed on and the world who knew him mourns for his passing.

The world that did not know him, grieves for the lack of knowing for another like him who has the talent for song writing, the skill of artful dance and the ability to touch your heart through his actions would not come so soon.

Artsy..

There's one thing that is quite sad about not having enough money is that you can't go on holidays overseas...


And stuck in our sunny island of Singapore, what is there to do, besides the never-ending movies shown at the theatres, the GSS that we are supposed to be actively spending on in order to stimulate our economy?


*ponder*


Why not see what does the local arts scene have to offer?

In the past couple of weeks, I have been to Own Time Own Target (OTOT)as well as Ballet Under that Stars (BUTS).

In OTOT, what I have come to realise that the Singaporean brand of humour is unique to its homeland. This is of course assured by Singaporean's own tourism campaign whereby we are Uniquely Singapore. Why is this so?

The first show of OTOT, Full tank!, a story whereby a runaway tank captures an escaped terrorist reveals the depth of Singaporean humour. We laugh at others who are representative of ourselves (Am I paid to do your job for you?) and glimpse at the political criticism with regards to the dealing of escape of Mas Selamat. The 'sex scene' was crude and totally uncalled for. The political tirade unleashed on the reporter was not further developed on and the escape of the 'fainted' terrorist was not funny. Along with half the story being scripted in vulgarities, I wonder if Singaporean humour is just that much or did I miss a more subtle message encrypted in the story.

The second story of Botak Boys provided a look at the BMT days of freshly recruited boys. I felt that this story was more reflective of the Singaporean society. The inter-racial mix of an Indian, Malay and Chinese much better than the flamboyance of the Full Tank team. The three Chinese boys also carried the sterotypical Christian boy, the Ah-beng as well as the overseas educated Kantang (Potato). It made the show more relevant as we would have encountered such characters in our daily lives, Perhaps I am biased by my enjoyment of the songs in the second show but I felt that it was more interesting compared to the first where there was too much unknown and angst underlying the reason for the runaway tank. The freudian scene of the dreams by the gay BMT boy was a little overwhelming although the plot of friendship was sweetly poignant.

I have to say that I expected more musical than play and this probably contributed to the letdown of Full tank in my opinion. That being said, I felt that the Botak Boys made up for it and made the price of my ticket worthwhile.

Ballet under the stars (BUTS) was my first time at a concert in a park. The comfortable atmosphere of a picnic in a park, together with an appealing performance of ballet was awesome! It took away the cultural pompousness that one would expect for a ballet performance for those not educated in dance. The performance was graceful and beautiful although at times the classical ballet items seems too long and draggy. Contemporary ballet was more interesting and captivated the audience more. Company of other picnickers who brought wine, food or families also helped to make the overall atmosphere more friendly. However, I felt that the lucky draw was too much and too boring despite understanding the rationale behind it. The ballet dancers needed some rest and needed to change but the emcee could have prepared more for it. Lame jokes that failed to engage the audience made the audience restless and was incongruent with the whole graceful and classy performance of the dance theatre.

Overall, considering that we split the cost of one ticket of $21 between the three of us (Leong redeemed another two free), the performance was quite worth it. Particularly since the weather was good and thankful that there was no rain, the picnic was also a fun-filled experience.

As for paying full price for the tickets in the future, I wouldn't mind going with a bigger group of friends, a larger picnic basket and a more comfortable seating(Now I see the need for the group bringing lots of cushions and pillows, despite sniggering at their trouble prior to the performance).

Next up! SINGdollar~

Birthdays

*Dragged down the hallway of 22 and tossed into the 23rd doorway, screaming and shrieking*






I lika lika!
Nice catchy sound to it.. ahaha

This year.. I'll be reluctantly 23.

Japan.

今年の五月からの休みに日本へ行きました。友達と私は大阪と京都と奈良と東京へ行きました。大阪と京都はとてもきれいです。私たちは大阪城公園へ行きました、でも桜を見ませんでした。そして、私たちは京都の八坂神社へ行きました。夜の寺は静かですが、きれいです。東京はとてもにぎやかです。

日本の生活は楽しいです。日本の食べ物はおいしいですが、高いです。私は日本とてもが好きです。

来年の五月の休みに北海道へ行きませんか？:)

Bcos Adam Lambert is sooo smexy..

Mad World lyrics
Songwriters: Orzabal, Roland;

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Goin' nowhere, goin' nowhere
Their tears are fillin' up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dyin'
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world, mad world
Mad world, mad world

Children waitin' for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sits and listen, sits and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson?
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dyin'
Are the best I've ever hadI find it hard to tell you
'Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world, mad world
Mad world, mad world

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dyin'
Are the best I've ever hadI find it hard to tell you
'Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world, mad world
Mad world, mad world
A raunchy young world
Mad world

- compliments from elyrics.. THANKS!

Tokyo.

Kyoto.

Osaka.

Post-exam activities!

It's time for my termly ritual... post-exam activities planning!!! YOSH!

• 20 April last paper Ethics Mon (Meeting Babes for dinner)
• 21 April Settlers and KTV with 日本語クラスのともだち(D-san と F-san と K-san)
• 22 April Asoc Gala
• 23 April Travel team mates dinner
• 24 April midnight/25th April morning JAPAN to 7 May
• 9 May BOH Japanese dinner gathering
• 10 May Johor seafood dinner with the Babes
• 16/17 May Babes
• 30/31 May Siu
• 19 June to 25 June Taiwan (Pending employment commencement date)
• 11 July Commencement

Work starts 17 August.

Crazy about cakes! Obolo and Patisserie glace

Prive at Keppel Bay!

Take in the sights and scenes!

Rider's the Food!

YUM!

Rider's the Place!

HEART MELTS!

My friend's friend's relative's daughter..

HA

Wants & not needs

Wants:

1. Scanner
2. Airpot.. cos the one at home was spoilted and now we boil water out of a pot.. not even a kettle.. "Hello.. ancient times.."
3. Codless phone for my room
4. Ipod touch
5. Make-up

The good thing is that I technically can afford all these but i refuse to buy them because I'm not used to spending so much money. Although, first up would be the bloody airpot because making coffee and boiling water is such a hassle at home. Isetan please have a private sale soon.. like NOW NOW NOW!

:))

Jason Mraz's Wordplay

Ha La La La La

L-listen closer to the verse I lay

Ha La La La La

I'm all about the wordplay

Ha La La La love

The wonderful thing it does

Because, becauseI am the wizard of ooh's and ah's and fa-la-la's

Yeah The Mr. A to Z

They say I'm all about the wordplay

Graze @ Rochester and Laurent's Chocolatier

Eliza, Qian, Jasmine and Jules

Brunch @ Graze

Eggs Benedict

Cast Iron Pan

Cinammon French Toast


Banana Pancakes

hmmm

A friend once said 'Trust is more important than monogamy.'


What if you don't have either?


Then I wish you all the best.

It's amazing how you think you know someone for years only to find out you don't know him or her at all.

Hmm..

I'm going to JAPAN!!!! YESH!! Dream come true!

Meanwhile.. I got to know some nice nice people through Siu - Wei Liang and Kangwei. Kangwei is going to become my latest food kaki! haha.. YAY!

Konliza: Semper Fidelis

Megumi doesn’t move. “Yokoyama san,” she says, shivering, “I’m not part of your routine.”

Yu shrugs. “Maybe on the day I die,” he tells her seriously, “I’ll look back on my life, and you’ll be that one thing worth remembering.” He doesn’t think he’ll ever forget the way she looks, as if the sky was crying rain tears just for her, sitting all alone on a park bench and somehow still pretty and bright.

Sweet.. "to be the one thing worth remembering"

Kope from Junyi's blog

Lunch at Satsuma..

Today, I brought Alvin to Satsuma Shochu Dining Bar for his birthday treat!! (His birthday is on 9th Jan... Remember to wish him Happy Birthday on Friday!)

The beginning of the day was quite funny because my mum gave me a lift and she thought that I wanted to go to ANSON road whereas the actual location of Satsuma was at NANSON road. So after being lost for awhile and confused over the actual location, we whipped out the street directory that would guide us to the eventual location.

Satsuma is located at The Gallery Hotel. You can drop by Miramar hotel and walk a short distance over the bridge to where it's situated. Here, lunch is only served on level 2 of Satsuma whereas dinner is served on both.

Walking into the restaurant, you're greeted by polite staff and guided to your seats. The interior is done in a wood finish and with the yellow lights, the ambience at night would be most romantic. The menus were wrapped in fabric and laminated, a plus point for the contribution to the excellent service and ambience at Satsuma.

The Tatami room at the back

The decor that will look marvellous at night!

Now for the food...

We were offered the raw vegetable bowl but being here for the main courses, we declined their offer. (Plus I heard that the vegetable bowl is chargeable and the bowl is really big for 2 people.) Alvin ordered the pork shochu curry rice set while I ordered the osyter omelette with rice set (On recommendation from Jules!). I also ordered charcoal-grilled foie gras since I have never tried foie gras before! There were two other couples dining there so service was quite prompt. The waitress was quick to refill our teas and take our orders.

Pictures.. (All lunch sets come with miso soup and a fruit dessert)

Pork shochu curry rice set ($14):

I couldn't taste any alcohol so I'm not sure about why the name shochu was in the meal but since Alvin finished it off, I guess it should be fairly decent. I think they used lean meat or fatty meat sliced thinly so the meat was slightly tough for me. It's those chewy texture type.

Oyster omelette with rice set ($13):

Appearance-wise, it looked like a standard omu rice that you can eat at any Japanese restaurant. The rice was wrapped snugly in a runny omelette.

Prying it open...

You reveal juicy mushrooms and deliciously plump oysters within! Here at satsuma, this is a set that you won't want to miss. It puts your local hawker center or jian/or lua to shame!

Charcoal-grilled foie gras ($13)

My first experience with foie gras left me with only one conclusion. Foie gras is indeed an acquired taste.

The first bite of foie gras burst into the famous oily texture that people enjoy. The creamy and oily texture was an interesting combination, vaguely reminding me of uni, another creamy texture that I have previously tasted.

However, it drove me to the conclusion that whilst I do not distaste creamy foods, it will not be something that I would be ordering anytime soon...

Satsuma Shochu Dining Bar

1 Nanson Road

#01-10/02-10

The Gallery Hotel

Singapore 238909