guess how much per/hr? :P 

Big Kid

Mood:

Music: David Tao - 普通朋友

Okay, I fess up. I am still a child in the sense that I love watching cartoons. Anime in particular. Anyone of you other than ML are regular anime watchers too? Wana compare lists or recommend favourites to each other?

I look up at my calendar and realise all of the suddenly I have roughly only 2 months left!!!

Ouch....lets do it again sometime soon k guys? :P

One of my "trophies" from the sentosa outing for 1s22 along with RB on sunday. Dun know which scrummage this injury came from, but after a day, it's starting to be really irriating. Not so much that it hurts, just a slight twinge whenever I touch it accidentally, but more on the inconvenience it causes. Grr...Haha.

HOWEVER, I personally thought we had great fun at sentosa on sunday. So the sun wasn't blazing, but at least it didn't rain a single drop all day as well. We all got a nice mild tan with not a single case of sunburn. Of course, it felt a little different with the absence of Nes, Pat and Zhen, but another beach outing is in the works for when they do get back. Hoorah! More beach volleyball, frisball, frisbee, touch rugby (maybe? sorry steve :P) and pure wild scrumming from sand-line to water-line! Hehehe.

To the gang, thanks for adding to fond memories and great times!

Of Dumplings & Men

Ok, so I'm cheating a little here by "back-date" posting, but since the "dumpling" festival only just passed on sat, it's not too late yet, is it :P Well, there's revealation for me this year: I've never eaten a "Ki Zhang" in all my 22 years. Not till this year! Courtesy of ML's grandma cooking no less. This is the kind of dumpling that is smaller than the usual ones that come stuffed with fillings and the glutinous rice is slightly yellow in colour when cooked. You're supposed to eat it with certain kind of condiments (sugar, kaya, dark soy sauce, etc) and RB kindly provided me with some wholesome natural honey from his fridge :) EXCELLENT combination. Accordingly, half of the credit goes to RB as well for this wonderful culinary discovery of mine. How apt, two of my best friends each pitched in with their own ways to this: ML's family's excellent cooking and RB's family's healthy but still tasty foods. I apologise for the lack of pics as I gobbled down the only "Ki Zhang" ML gave me before any pic taking thoughts crossed my mind. Yes, I'm a pig. Proud to be one too. Shall leave ya with some cute pics fifi sent to me instead, pertaining to "zhangs" of course!

Postcards of Life

Found these "post cards" at http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ which Fifi's sister pointed out to me once and here are a few that really struck a chord with me. They may or may not seem nice to you, but these few somehow managed to reach out to me for various reasons.

Onto the first postcard: I wonder how many internet relationships really work out in the real life?


It sux not having somone you can talk to, but then again there are some things you'll never tell a 2nd soul


The next 2 postcards are also on loneliness. Is it true that we as human being all crave to be loved and be THE ONE to someone?





The next 2 are about a uniquely human trait: self-destruction. It's almost like addiction, the way we seem to ensnare ourselves into harmful practices. Just what is it that stops us from moving on? Force of habit? Fear of new unfamiliar grounds?

Grouping this together as I feel addictions to drugs/alcohol is born out of the same faults that cause us to hold onto harmful relationships



This person must be in such sweet exquisite pain. Hopefully she (assuming that poster is a she cos of the colours) muster up enough courage to at least try confessing to her best friend. Then again, she might keep it bottled up inside forever, like the person who did the sealed envelope postcard. So much is at risk here...




That's IT! :) I seem to be posting on sundays quite often... hehehe, sort of a summary to the week? Well, nothing of import happened really. Mom's overseas again. Uhmm... I'm stuck at home getting fat. (work doesn't really seem like work to me at the moment) Oh, I'll be attempting to teach Jamie maths (specifically functions) tomorrow. Maths, ACK! I hope I'll be able to manage.

one of the 7 sins: GLUTTONY

OMG, how ever did we manage to eat so much!!!! here's an excerpt from what Charity said:

"Let me tell you about the time.. We rose
up to heaven.. only to descend into hell
faster than you can say "Prata Heaven!"

The hot plate tofu was the greatest man!
Who goes eat zhi char and orders double
helpings of hot plate tofu one?! We are
the incredible disgustingly piggish
gluttons. Sam you are damn wussy. How
can you choose not to eat rice. Make all
of us look fat only lor. *smack you*

Recap of the night:
- 5 ppl - Me, You, ML, YS and Hardy
- 2 hotplate tofus
- One sliced fish soup
- 7 plates of rice
- 1 black pepper venison
- 1 vege (xiao bai cai)
- 1 gu lu you
- 4 cheese pratas
- 3 kosong pratas
- 2 banana pratas with ice cream
- 1 paper prate with ice cream
- 1 banana prata
- unlimited servings of hysterical
laughter and great company from JOOK."

for everyone's info, I did cave in and eat half a plate of rice in the end, but considering the amount we later had at the prata stall.......... Argh.... I AM STILL FULL!!!

Hahaha, but it was all in good fun, was celebrating Chat's bday and yes, there was unlimited fun and good will all around tonight.

I think it's officially 1st June now? Happy Bday Chat!

A Lazy Sunday

mood: Lazy (wat else :P)
music: Lisa Ono - Tea For Two

A lazy sunday indeed with the torrential rain and dazzling lightning display coupled with rumbling thuinder. My bed is just beckoning me back into its warm embrace so that it can lull me back to sleep under the warm coccoon of the comforter.

Supposed to be hunting for Charity's bday present, but ML and I just can't be arsed to get out of our respective homes. HAVE to get it by today though as her big day comes along this wed, 1st of June.

Guess what, I'm half man, part woman! (look below)

Your Brain is 46.67% Female, 53.33% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Happy Bday ML!!!

So ML's bday gathering finally came and went. All in all, it was a pretty nice evening. The main point being ML enjoyed it very much (mostly cos of the great cake). Some not so nice, but interesting, things happened like MR's car batt dying on him, the poor guy, and RB wasn't feeling very well either. He's STILL under the weather. That boy seems to be falling ill rather frequently recently. Maybe having to take care of a gf is stressing him out too much :P Anyway, here are the pics LITERALLY ripped off from WX who was smart enough to bring her digi-cam. I think she did quite well with the captions too! Enjoy

















Wishing you a great 22nd yr ahead bro~



Now to crack our heads over RB's bday next... :P

Coming of age

mood: Apprehensive
music: Metallica - Stairway To Heaven


It's Jintao's 21st birthday today (best wishes to you buddy, hope you've received that card by now) and in just 2 more days, ML turns 22 as well. Got a simple gathering lined up for friday and hopefully it'll be a time well enjoyed with good food and great company. I really wonder if this coming of age is significant to them and what goes through their minds as they blow out the candles on the cakes. Their birthdays actually served as a reminder to me that a very big step is looming ahead of me in just 3 months.

Things have been moving along in spurts for me and needless to say, the gaps of stasis in between have been the more unwelcomed part. Applying to UCAS.... WAIT for UCAS to reply... Confirming my choices... WAIT for the universities to reply to me with their offers.... choosing the offer I want... WAIT for the university to accept me... WAIT for the school's available accomodations... WAIT for the British High Council to approve my student permit... WAIT for school to start. I feel like I'm being grinded by all the red tape.

That's not even the part I dread the most! It's the start of lessons I'm dreading and pining for at the same time! So eager to start life as a student once more, yet so worried I'll not manage to fit in or revert back. So eager to get back to U.K yet so reluctant to say goodbye to my dear friends and family. I think it's mainly due to the fact that I don't foresee myself coming back to Singapore as often as I did back during "A" levels. Maybe once a year during summer break. Tops.

Target flight date: 9th September 2005

How is it possible to feel so elated and yet so miserable about something at the same time?

The Image of Indulgence

As an additional treat for my mom, I got her this: mini-chocolates from Haagen-Dazs. It's the branch in Orchard Forum and interestingly, I didn't see a single scoop of ice-cream for sale there. Only cakes and chocs

The nice little carrier it came in....

There, the box out of it's carrier. Getting closer to the main character liaoz :)

Tada! First look at the 4 nuggets of bliss I bought for mom. You can only see the "Vanilla Sublime" on the top right. Do you see "Perfect Tea Harmony" peeking out on the left?

A top view shot of all 4 pieces.

The taste test: "Vanilla Sublime" as expected, had a strong does of vanilla essence nicely encapsuled in the thin crust of chocolate outside. So thin in fact, you hardly taste it over the vanilla cream inside just waiting to explode on your tongue. The pistachio nuts on sprinkled on it adds a nice crunchy texture to it as well.


Last but not least, "Perfect Tea Harmony" - as apparent from it's appearance, it's a green tea based praline in a bed of green tea infused (again) cream. I would say it was refreshingly different, but not something I would choose normally.



Made the choices for these flavours as my mom doesn't have a sweet tooth at all and rarely enjoys chocolates in the first place. Was hoping the somewhat different tastes of these ones will suit her palate.

Yes, I tried them at the shop first before deciding on my purchase :P



ps - Laura~~ thank you so much for finding out how to post multiple pics! It's a breeze now! :)

Sums it all up

mood: lethargic
music: John Mayer - Daughters


No, this blog has not fallen into ruin and banished to be forgotten in the recesses of my flagging memory that this sorry excuse of a brain of mine has. It's just been a wretched week for me and posting on this blog just wasn't that high up on my piorities. My apologies. I am back now, aren't I :)

First things first, my sister and I finally decided on a crystal bead necklace/belt and a box set of bird's nest for my mom. The necklace is quite elegant and is different from the common jewellery available at Lee Hwa or similar jewelleries. It is quite long in order to serve as a belt as well and so has to be tied a certain way when worn around the neck. Goes without saying that this "fashionable" side of the gift was decided upon by my younger sister. I chose my half of our gift as a little something to help bolster my mother's health since she is always zipping around the world in airplanes and exposed to both extreme ranges of the weather.

Dinner plans were left up to me as well and I decided on a vegetarian restaurant RB brought me to before: The Whole Earth Vegetarian Restaurant
As most of my family members prefer vegetables over meat, going the way of the vege wasn't that hard of a choice. Furthermore, this place doesn't rely heavily on MSG to season their dishes as most other places do. I understand, MSG helps add more flavour to vegetables which can be somewhat bland at times, but adding HEAPS of that (as is the common practice) just sucks. We finished dinner without feeling thirsty as camels in the desert for once :)

On a totally different note, I was waiting to check out the facilities at the newly renovated Chinese Swimming Club in the footnote of the previous post. Went to play badminton with RB and Charmaine. RB's gf was supposed to come along as well (doubles) but she unfortunately fell ill. Poor girl. Overall, the club is now very nicely done up - well, the last time I visited was years ago - and mayhap I'll be popping by more frequently now.

My sinus is giving me problems again! That's why I haven't been in the mood to post recently. It's been so bad, I'm worried I might have my first migraine attack in 3 years. *head throbs* ML is pissed at RB and me too. Over some small matter (at least it seemed small to RB and I) concerning basketball and tempers. Hopefully it'll blow over soon.

Mother's Day

mood: waiting for tomorrow to come
music: Gigi Leung & 古巨基 - 许愿

It just struck me, 0ut of nowhere, that even though my mother, sister and I "live together", I have seen my mother a total of 4 days (2 in London and 2 in Singapore) over the period of 2 months and sat down to a proper meal with her 3 times. That's 3 meals out of a possible 180 meals if I have an average of 3 meals a day.

The amazing thing here is this: I'm not overly sad, distraught or anything negative like that. Truth of the matter is, over the past decade and more, I've gotten use to the absence of my mother due to her work commitments. No, I do not have a close bond with my father because of this. How do you miss someone who never played a role in your life? He's just a character who comes and goes fleetingly. The stronger bond and kinship still belongs to dear ol' mom.

What did bring this bout of reflection then? Mother's Day which falls on 8th of May this year (I think this means there'll be a Friday the 13th?) My sis and I already brought Mom out to a meal for her bday in Feb, so I was wondering if we two should do something else for a change... But what? Flowers are out of the question: my mom owns a flower boutique! I suppose this calls for another discussion with my sister over a session of mahjong to sort our ideas out.

Suggestions anyone? What will you be doing for Mother's Day this year?


p.s. I'll let you know if tomorrow works out tomorrow and why I'm waiting for it. *grin*

A New Era?

mood: Interested
music: Audioslave - Like A Stone

Something monumental happened in the aviation industry today. The Airbus A380 finally took its maiden flight after much delays from Toulouse, France.

Link to the news report. CLICK IT

This new might or might not be of interest to you, but any news regarding this baby of Airbus has always caught my attention through the years: the first orders made by Singapore Airlines, technical difficulties, radically different business plan compared to Boeing - whose 747 is soon to be dethroned as King of the jumbo jets. Why? Firstly, the Airbus A380 was once called the "bumble bee" by one of my friends - it should be too big to fly! Secondly, the sheer engineering feat that this airplane embodies. Thirdly, this WILL be my field of studies in a few months to come. How can I not be interested in something earmarked to be a corner stone in the industry?

Boeing might have made a half-hearted attempt to meet this challenge from Airbus with their new model - Dreamliner I believe it's called - but it'll never be able to match the A380 for sheer size ( read capacity and thus economical returns) and travelling distance (read business reach). In the early stages of the 3rd millenium, the world's aviation industry is split between firstly the European belief of the world becoming more global and travelling aboard more and further between airport hubs.

The other camp would be the American's one of travellers flying to ever increasing, but nearer, destinations. They believe that soon air hubs like London, Los Angeles, New York, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong will soon be a thing of the past as travellers prefer flying direct to places with smaller airports in smaller groups at more remote locations. For now, their new plane, the Dreamliner, aims to serve low volume long-haul flights at better fuel efficiency and operating costs to compensate for the smaller seating capacity their airplane has.

The race for dominance has been heating up in recent years as Airbus has finally managed to catch up with Boeing in terms of orders, planes manufactured and delivered. Boeing, of course, contends this point by bringing attention to the fact that Airbus Industries receives government subsidies from various countries amounting to as much as 30 billion dollars. Airbus has shot right back with claims that Boeing gets indirect assistance through the form of federal money for military research, financial incentives from US states, and export tax breaks.

It'll be really interesting to see whose camp bet on the right bid down the road as there clearly isn't going to be middle ground between these 2 giants. For the common layman though, what all this competition translates into, hopefully, is ever safer and economical airplanes as Boeing and Airbus try to outgun each other with their planes' respective features.

Here's to safer skies and cheaper airfares - with the frills, thank you very much. :) Cheers.

Do you match me?

mood: musing
music: Jordan Chan - 0932

Alright, a pretty random blog, but I'm bored at home anyway. Did absolutely NOTHING of significance today. Don't like wasting my days like this. Alright, I did go for a short night jog in the park, but that's about it.

Really looking forward to the snorkelling trip next month though. Should sit down with RB to discuss and plan it properly. It'll be a birthday celebration for ML as well. As things stand, we'll be leaving on the 19th of May and arrive on the 20th (ML's bday).



Here's something interesting ML came across:

Your dating personality profile: Funny - You laugh often. People never accuse you of lacking a sense of humor. You don't take yourself too seriously. Athletic - Physical fitness is one of your priorities. You find the time to work athletic pursuits into your schedule. You enjoy being active. Practical - You are a down-to-earth individual who is not impressed with material excess. You care about the stuff of like that really matters.

Your date match profile: Funny - You consider a good sense of humor a major necessity in a date. If her jokes make you laugh, she has won your heart. Conservative - Forget liberals, you need a conservative match. Political discussions interest you, and a conservative will offer the viewpoint you need. Athletic - You aren't looking for a couch potato. You seek someone who is active and who keeps her body in top shape.

Your Top Ten Traits 1. Funny 2. Athletic 3. Practical 4. Outgoing 5. Religious 6. Traditional 7. Adventurous 8. Liberal 9. Big-Hearted 10. Wealthy/Ambitious

Your Top Ten Match Traits 1. Funny 2. Conservative 3. Athletic 4. Practical 5. Sensual 6. Adventurous 7. Religious 8. Traditional 9. Shy 10. Intellectual

Take the Online Dating Profile Quiz at Dating Diversions

E.I.C

mood: lazy...stormy sunday
song: Damien Rice - Blower's Daughter

What a weekend! Recommended and invited by RB who's heard them play before, the 3 bros - RB, ML and myself - headed down to Walawala's on friday night to listen to live band E.I.C perform. Brought the house down!!! An extremely tight gig pumped out song after songs of high caliber singing and playing. They cater more to rock listeners, but I'm pretty sure some of their rock ballads can still win over non-rockers. Give them a try, you'll probably see us 3 there again this friday after grabbing an early dinner at Holland Village (horrendous parking and prospects of getting seats in Walawala instead of standing the whole night like we did this time around)

On the whole, it was a marvellous week as well. Managed to play basketball twice and swim twice as well. My body is enjoying the stretch and I can tell it wants a little more, a slight push to test the muscles further. No aching of any sort, so I know this is still way below my limits. Maybe another round of bball tonight? Will call the guys later. Heheh.

I am more than suspicious that my positively bouyant mood this weekend was brought about by the long awaited reply I've received from Manchester University. For those familiar with the UCAS system, letting you know that this school was the last out of 6 to reply should explain my anxiety and frustration at their late reply. However, all is fine and dandy with this part of the plan down pat. One thing less to worry about on my mind. *grin*


incidentaly, E.I.C performs "Blower's Daughter" quite well too!

Europe Tour Part Duex

Finally, it has arrived! The second installment of my European tour. A feast of 42 pics in total! For this time, the pictures and memories will be coming from the capital of both Belgium and the European Union. Belgium marks the start of the picturesque part of our tour and the beauty will be evident in the pictures I believe. Some very interesting points about this French speaking country are its international population due to the commerce and mere fact of being the EU capital, 350+ different kinds of locally brewed quality beer to suit any kind of taste or preference (each has it's own uniquely designed cup/mug too. There's even one that has a round bottom and wooden holder to help it stand!), great food (Belgian waffles, CHOCOLATES, etc etc). Our guide starts the tour from the centre of Brussels, La Grand Place and walks us to most of the more significant sights in the city. Most of the pics coming up are from the walk, but some are from after as well when we were wandering on our own. I'll hit you right off with a pic of La Grand Place, one of the more if not most beautiful central squares in the cities of Europe.










A musical instruments museum. Was really sad I didn't get to visit this one.






if only the trees had flowers in bloom... winter has refused to release its hold yet this year.



breath taking view



a busker





Quirky buildings we saw while walking on our own. Cool drawings eh?





The Royal Palace















The Manekin Pis concludes the guided tour of Brussels and its sights and we were free to wander by ourselves for the remainder of the day. It was sort of like a pit stop as well as most of the group dived into the nearby MANNEKEN PIS - CAFE A BRUXELLES for our first taste of authentic Flemish beer. Pat had Kirk (a cherry flavoured beer) while I had DT, a darker sort of brew. Was nice! The statement on how the Belgians treat their beer like the French treat their wine isn't far fetched at all. Such class, hard work and attention to details. After a drink, and pics of the pissing boy, we began our own tour of the city before heading back to La Grand Place to look for dinner. Here's a helpful map of Brussels. Next: de Pis, self-tour of Brussels (already posted some of the pics from this part of the walk)



The "Manekin Pis" literally translated as "The Pissing Boy" so significant because it supposedly embodies the ambivalent spirit of the Belgians. The stories goes that the commander of a great vast army (during the Holy Crusades?) saw this boy, probably his personal squire, taking a leak nonchalantly in the middle of a raging battlefield. The story elicited a very big "huh?" expression from me. Seriously...for real? That aside, another reason why the Manekin Pis is so popular is that people from all over the world donate costumes for it to wear on all sorts of festivals. When we passed by it again on our night stroll, it was already stripped of the costume and laid bare for all to see in its naked bronze glory. ; ) Anyway, in keeping with the ambivalent spirit, we proceeded to take pics, some quite amusing ones too with us (mainly me) in disregard of the queer looks people were shooting at us :P












Pat drunk (after only 1 cup of fruit beer! but at least she liked it) and snapping any ol' pic. Actually have other more "unglam" shots... but I kind of want to keep my head attached to my neck. So there. Hehe.



Trader's Guild Building - the statues actually have inscriptions of "India", "Asia" and some others, but I don't think the statue for Asia looked very Asian at all.



Guild buildings, middle one is the Ships Guild if I'm not wrong. Top of building supposed to resemble front bow of ships.



Is that Cupid?



back at the square





After all that walking, we decided to have an early dinner at Leon, a diner that even locals frequent! You can just about see the name printed on the napkins. I settled on Carbonade Flemanade while Pat had mussels in fish stock with fresh greens (celery, brussels sprouts, lettuce, etc. Hey, we ARE in Brussels, what did you expect? Bean sprouts? :P) - both traditional Flemish dishes. Mussels are self-explainatory: excellent when in season, fresh, properly prepared. Interesting thing is, how to know WHEN the mussels are in season? Simple, months that are spelt with an "r" in them means the mussels are in season! There's a bit of trivia for you :) My dish, Carbonade Flemanade is beef stewed with beer. Fries and alfafa sprouts on the side Both dishes were of the highest standards. The diner really lives up to its reputation. The service, according to Pat anyway, was impeccable as well. Seems like all French speaking people know how to treat their ladies right. *wink*



Traditional Flemish dish, mussels. Pat was pleasantly surprised by how much she likes it. Oh, of course, it came with beer, which I had to finish for her. Only too gladly. *grin*



Looking out the window by our table, we could see the street really start to come alive. Right on the dot at 7pm too, just like the guide book said! Hehe. Pat claims this is her favourite street, wonder if it's because of the sights or the dazzling variety of food and the way each restaurant tries to entice you into trying their dishes :P



The next few MAGNIFICENT night shots of La Grand Place were taken by Pat. Amazing, aren't they? Was actually seeking shelter from the downpour when we took this. It makes me believe how the display of light shows must be really wonderful when it occurs in summer. Was after these few shots that we decided to try to make our way back to the hotel and got woefully lost in the rain. However, wasn't all bad. Still saw lots more of pretty sights and we didn't really mind the rain. Can't remember if we were freezing though. Were we, Pat?









By the time we saw this, the nightly downpour had arrived right on schedule, give us a proper drenching and stopped. It wasn't so bad getting lost though. We managed to see this as well as the Palace the King once built for his brother (I think?)



Beautiful garden that we chanced upon while wandering around Brussels. Was here that my camera decided to annouce that it was both out of batt as well as memory space. Superb timing I say *scowl* It's a pity we couldn't any night shots of the Grand Parliament as it has a dome that's even larger than St. Petersburg's! It has a very creepy war memorial monolith in front of it though. Feels almost as though there's someone buried in there... Oh well, this concludes this post then. Tried a new way of blogging, the Hello! bot in picasa. Which version do you prefer?

Stay tuned for part 3~~