Happy New Year 2007

This week was resting at home. Its really very enjoyable, and I hope the time doesnt pass too fast, but alas I know it will. Went to isetan private sale yesterday with simply odd. Quite fun. Shopped and shopped.. And realise i bought alot of black yesterday. Usually I try to steer away from dark colours. But thats not the case yesterday. Hope the new year will be full of good cheer. I dont expect things to be perfect, but just hope that it will be better than 2006!

Happy New Year and May 2007 be a much fantastic one for you.

Family in Brazil

Just want to share this lovely picture (which I took from stacey's blog) of my sis, brother in law and kids in Brazil. Think my sis look prettier and prettier! :)

My nieces and nephew have grown so much! Its so amazing as they were such babies last time.

POPPY

My Pet, Poppy. A Real RASCAL. Though a naughty doggie, he is pretty aware of his surroundings. When the mood is tense, he will stay quiet. When I see his eyes, I could tell he knows what is going on. I think he understands what we want or say, but he can be quite rebellious at times and refuse to obey.

Whenever I get home, he welcomes me with such enthusiasm that I felt very touched. When I am not home, my parents tell me he will wait at the door, looking out the main gate, waiting for me.

There are times when I just want to knock his head for been so naughty. But that said, he has brought much joy to our family. Glad to have him. Will be almost 4 years since I brought him back.

Birthday Thoughts

Its my birthday yesterday too, 22 November. Had a quiet dinner with my friend, jo. We went to Rochester Park, Da Palo for dinner. The food was so so in our opinion. Think the other outlets offer more variety and choice. Personally, I still prefer the outlets in Holland Village and Cluny Road. It was a quiet way to spend my birthday. If possible, like to meet up simply odd, wah blogger and rae's mother for our get together sometime. (with no kids can? then we can really chill out, but then I know its difficult to arrange) I still miss that tradition when we celebrate our birthdays together.

Just felt very strongly especially from the recent trip that many things in life are not within my control. I could only hope for the best.

My birthday thoughts? I am thankful for health, for the love from my family and friends. Thank you dears for remembering and thank you for your birthday wishes. I also receive a surprise wish from an old friend, zhi jun, over the msn. I am surprised he remembered, afterall, its been donkey years.

Back to work today. Glad its only 2 days to weekend!

Terror

Just back from Bahrain from my business trip yesterday. Took the 455am flight on Sunday, 19 Nov. We were all ready to sleep on the plane, before a long day ahead in Bahrain. After we ate our meal, we all slept soundly. After flying for like 3 hours, there were several announcements made in arabic, some language we didnt understand. Suddenly the English announcement came on that sounded like " There is a technical fault in the plane, we are flying back to Singapore". It just woke us up! Its terrifying as our event is the next day and we absolutely had to get to bahrain, by hook or by crook. After landing in Singapore, we were told not to leave the plane and there were no further instructions. The stewardesses were nowhere in sight, we waited for like 30 minutes, still with no news. I went up in front to ask the air stewardess, she was harrassed by some passengers who were getting rowdy and wanting to complain, etc. I asked her what next, she practically ignored me, and left and went to play with a kid on the plane. Felt so pissed then. Subsequently, the announcement came again, and we were told to stay in the plane while they repair the technical fault, which may take an hour. We started checking for alternative flights that could take us to Bahrain, but there were none. All FULLY BOOKED.

After an hour plus, the plane was finally repaired and we headed for Bahrain.
I just have to say THANK GOD!

I find Bahrain boring. Basically there is nothing much there. After the first day's event, we went to an irish pub for drinks. There were lots of expats in the pub. Saw some women all over each other, and I thought thats a strange sight. We proceeded for Thai food, and it was quite nice. Then subsequently we went to the disco. Its supposedly very happening. At 10 plus, there were only 3 other people in the disco, other than us. People start streaming in at 12 plus. They dress really nicely and very good looking. I couldnt make out where they come from though. I left early with my colleague, while the rest of our associates stayed on. We thought the disco would open till the wee hours. But apparently, it close at 230am. Kind of strange since the crowds came in pretty late.

Overall impression of Bahrain is that its freaking expensive (1 BD= 2.7USD) and boring in my opinion.

Sunday coming

Saturday is almost gone in a jiffy. The day just pass so fast! After drawing session at Lasalle, went shopping with classmate, Pin. She just started joining the drawing session not too long ago. We were talking about Singaporean men in general. Seems her thoughts on Singaporean men are not foreign. Another friend also thinks Singaporean men can be a tad boring, or 'typical'? Yet I know of guy friends who seem 'typical' at first (meaning boring) , however after talking with them, one would discover a much more interesting being with quirky hobbies. I suppose first impressions can be wrong.

Now , listening to Tanya Chua's 'Beautiful Love'. Very lovely lyrics.

Post Dated Lantern Fest Pics

Had a fun celebration with my colleagues at East Coast on Oct 6, and subsequently we went to Kbox and sang the night away till almost 3am. Check the pics out. pictures tell a thousand words right? It was fun reliving our childhood despite the haze.

Hazy Sunday

Yesterday was great. After my drawing session in Lasalle, I met my friend for dinner at a coffeeshop in red hill, zi yean restaurant. (last minute notice though..)

The food was good, but alot! We ordered 3 dishes, and it felt like its good to feed 3-4 people. But both of us managed to finish the fish and the vegetables. My appetite was good. (didnt take photos again...) After which we went to Tea Chapter. It must be ages since I last went. The place still look the same. Had a really nice chinese oolong cha.. The lady at the teahouse taught us how to brew the tea. Hmm, I never really observe how to appreciate the process as it used to be my friends who would brew it, and there wasnt any 'education' on their part. But after the lady talked about it, the whole process seem more meaningful. The aroma of the tea is quite memorable, and there is a light sweetness to the tea. We had the lychee tea jelly, which is fantastic too. Had a lot of fun yesterday. :D

Not having any holiday tomorrow.. No long weekend for me! Anyway, alot of work to finish up.. so no difference for me.

Met my friend, neko , and her husband for lunch today. She is delivering in December. :D And I am going to be her son's godma. So nice to see her, we seldom meet, but we msn quite often.

Oh, before I forget. I watched 'the prestige' , and its really a very intense and interesting film. Christian Bale is fantastic. He commands alot of screen presence. Hugh Jackman is good too. I like the way the director filmed the show..


Having a slight attack of the Monday blues now... gosh..

Shanghai

In Shanghai, uploading this post from hotel room. Alone tonight as my colleague has gone to another hotel in Puxi area to prepare for tomorrow's conference. Sometimes, solitude is enjoyable. There are a few times when I went for appointments alone in Shanghai, or have my meals on my own. In times like these, I am pretty much at peace. I think given the chance, I would love to work overseas for say 2 years. That would be quite something, I think.

On a different note, yesterday I woke at 4am again (strange, quite often this past couple of weeks) , had a bad dream, though I wasnt afraid. Been dreaming gruesome dreams of cut up body parts, murders, etc. This is morbid, I know. Its just very strange as this is rather unusual for me , since I usually sleep through the night with no sleep problems. Hmm, wonder if this means something?

Anyway, yesterday I had a really good time meeting my friend (spanish classmate gang) who is now in shanghai as her husband is working in shanghai. Her dog is so cute.. bobbie is his name. He act just like my poppy. Hyperactive and jumpy. We chatted about stuff, and its nice to chill out.

Thats all folks.. tom is yet another day

Friday the 13th

Feeling the flu bug , hope bug will go away before I travel. Looking forward to meeting up with my friend who is in Shanghai. She is there with her husband who is working there now. Though a working trip.. I often try to 忙 里 偷 闲.
Have lots to pack tonight for my trip on Sunday as I gotta attend a friend's church wedding and wedding dinner tomorrow...

No 'fun activity' tonight... :(

Dinner

Met my friend for dinner. We went to Geylang Lorong 3 for frog leg's porridge and had the bamboo clam and tou fu. Goodness, didnt know bamboo clams are so expensive! Turn out 2 clams for 20 bucks?! but its tasty. Discover we both like garlic. hehe, its a 'like' that i seldom share with anyone since most would think 'bad breath' when they think garlic. We went to villa bali next , near the former site of SAJC (Now SAJC is no longer located at the venue, but River Valley High School is there now). Villa Bali is really relaxing and nice. Though I could 'feel like I am out of Singapore', my friend didnt .He need to be physically away to feel it. Anway, for me, its a nice experience. My 3rd time there, and its still comfortable and cosy.

The world is really small. Turn out he also knew one of my art classmates from last time when I was learning drawing in holland Village. That classmate was his client. How small the world is!

No photos again... I left my camera at home.. and My handphone has lousy resolution..

Boring Day

Its a boring day today as I busied myself with rushing out deadlines, preparation for next week's conference (am in the conference line). Later meeting jo at Holland village. Think the day pass by peacefully. Good. Peace is a precious commodity these days!

Haircut

Oh, forgot one more thing. Went to a different hair stylist on saturday. Cut and coloured my hair. The salon specialised in japanese styles. Anyway, I quite like the cut, but the color highlights turn out too blond. I had to ask the stylist to darken the color. Hope I dont look too weird.

MIA

Yes, its been ages since my last update. There's been so much going on , meeting up with friends, going for classes, work, etc. Pardon me for my absence. Dont really know how to start, but here it goes...

Was on leave today to take my mum to see the doc. Turn out she need to go through a cataract operation on her right eye as its getting worse. That I guess is more common these days amongst the elderly. What is sobering however is that I now have to 'grow up' faster and take care of my parents, who are getting older, and weaker. That responsibility at times is daunting as I find myself hardly able to take care of myself at times. However, I suppose this is life and I would have to live with it, and be strong.

Recently, also visited a friend who is suffering from cancer and resting. He is a dear friend of mine, tk. I saw how weak he grew , however I am determined not to be too sad in front of him, else he would feel worse. (Thats what i feel) . Hence I am often very 'normal' in front of him, cracking jokes with his SO, and just 'entertaining' him. There is not much I could do, except to let him be , help him when he needed help, and be with him. Well, sad thoughts aside, I am glad my friend is not overtly depressed and spends his time listening to music or reading books. I think at the end of the day, life is only such. We can only appreciate whatever we have, our blessings , our tribulations and hope that through it all, we grow stronger and not crumble.

That aside, I had a really fun time yesterday. Watched a funny show, Scoop with Jo, and it was hilarious. Woody Allen wrote the script and the lines are really witty. He is as funny as ever, though he has aged a fair bit. I had a good laugh listening to the dialogue. Afterwhich , I met up with a friend for dinner. He told me about Arnold's Chicken located at City Plaza, saying its really v good, better than KFC. At first I didnt believe him, but when I tried it yesterday. Wow, it really is true. The taste is fantastic. And its Full House! We waited for like an hour before our turn came. The wait was worth it though. There's Lots of wholesale/retail fashion shops there. Friends who love shopping, I think you would be thrilled to check that out. Some of the fashion is bad, but think there are some gems there. The complex is pretty old, and reminded me of MBK in Thailand. Friend told me he knows of some retailers who get their goods from city plaza. The haze was not that bad, so we went to East Coast to hang out. Quite breezy and good to be near to nature. Good thing I am on leave today!

Loud MP3 Music on Handphones

This morning, met a group of people on the MRT, playing loud indian MP3 music on a handphone, which they took turns to hold. I was really turned off by this. Its my 2nd encounter. The first time, I had 'tolerated' the entire journey. Not this morning! Got rather peeved and in the end turned to one of them to tell them to lower down their volume. They did, and it was less irritating.

I was thinking if they want to bash me up ,I would just scream out loud, or else I would fight back. In a fighting mood today

Vibes Restaurant, Meritus Negara

I am lazy with photos. In the end, I only took 1 photo of my mushroom soup... (if my handphone also comes with good camera, maybe I would be less lazy!). The buffet is good, true to brazilian tradition. Too bad they didnt have chicken hearts tonight..But there's a good spread of salads, cheeses, pastas, and cute brazilian waiters would go around, serving up different cuts of meats like beef, lamb , chicken and even pineapple carmelised with cinnamon ! At 50% off for ladies,its really worth it, and they have chocolate fondue at the buffet line too. Yummy! Also saw some really thin Brazilian ladies having buffet.. We were all wondering where their weight went to! Its fully packed today and my friend had made a booking 2 weeks or so back. Gotta book early, its highly popular on Mondays.

As usual we had a good time, laughing at silly jokes, etc. My friends have comic timing, especially YK. He just cracks us up! I am already looking forward to the next dinner! Indeed, nothing beats good company with great friends and laughter to destress a blue Monday.

Weirdo

made a call to middle east today ,looking for speakers for my program. called this chap up, conversation went like this.

Mideast chap: We wont be able to send any one there (keep laughing)
Me : But could you try to see if you could participate? I could send you the brochure . What would your email be?
Mideast chap: But its a central email
Me: Its ok, I could just send you the information in case you change your mind about participating.
Mideast chap : (laughing) But I am married
Me : ....

The whole idiocry of the situation struck me as funny. Had a good laugh after I put down the phone. What a day!

蓝 调

Its been a long while since my last post. Life has been busy. Alot of work.. making a living, so to speak...

This is one of those days when I woke on the 'wrong side of the bed'. Woke up hearing myself talking in my sleep about some issues and realised I had a bad dream. Came to work and met with some snags.The day didnt start off well. Hope it will get better as the day progresses.

One consolation for today is I would be meeting my friends from spanish class tonight. We are going to Meritus Negara in Orchard, supposedly some brazilian grill. Think ladies get 50% discount as its ladies' night today.We would be celebrating a friend, yk's,birthday. Would update more later

My friend's dogs - Cooper & Teddy

Got this some time back. Just thought my friend's dogs are too cute... Just want to share...

Copper is the Jack rusell, and Teddy is the other dog, but I have no idea what breed.

Dilbert and joke..

wah telling me to update. Oh well, not much that I could think of. I do have some pics I want to load, but havent the time to do so. will do that soon.

Anyway, check the following link.

http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20060920.html.

Got this from Wolf. Cheer me up considerably as currently I am cursing and swearing over my project as deadlines are pressing. Does this sound rhyming?! I am babbling and mumbling as my mind goes racing.

anyway, will hope for the best. Enshallah, hope I finish up in time.

Speaking of which, Neko sent me another joke, which i thought is funny. see the pic.

"Blind" Saturday

Attended a digital photography workshop today. Alot of theory , and stuff. Benefit out of it is I finally understand what is ISO, white balance, etc, etc, etc. Though still takes practice before I come up with decent pictures. I have been told my pictures suck and its true. :p. Gotta work on it!

After the workshop, went for a 'blind date' with my gf , Jo. This was arranged by our common friend. At first was wondering if it would be awkward and strange. But surprise, surprise, the night turned out to be fun. Our friend and her husband stayed around, and it didnt felt too strange during dinner. Helped that the 2 guys were friendly and conversations flowed. We stayed up singing karaoke after dinner. I was dead beat when I got home at 3am. Good thing we all had fun.

Godma ?

My good friend, neko, wants me to be her baby son's godma. I am thrilled at the honour, but at the same time, wonder what do 'godmas' do and if I am up to it. I cant wait to see Baby Ethan. hehe. So many friends having their first or 2nd kids this year. Looks like its the year of the babes. or 'gasp' , I am not getting any younger?! I still feel like a kid though. Call me '老 顽 童'.

My family in brazil

Took this when I went to Brazil for holiday in Dec 2004. Thats a photo we took at a resort in Forteleza. With no offence to anyone, but honestly, the town we saw wasnt very pretty, with loads of graffiti. The beach was nice. We were all wondering, why is Forteleza "The Place to go to"?What were we missing? Why the fuss? Were we at the wrong side of town? Every friend my sis knew told her Forteleza is really fantastic.. Unfortunately, I think those sentiments were not shared. (We still had a great time though!)

Has it been almost 2 years? The holiday felt like yesterday though. How did I have a 'family' in Brazil? To cut the long story short, my sis met her husband on the plane when she was an air stewardess, they fell in love, they got married and the rest they say is History. Hehe, Romance does happen in Real Life! Now, I am the proud " 二 姨" of 3 nieces and 1 nephew. :D. I could still remember the times when I helped to change their diapers, and now, they are so tall, and taller than me! Not that I am biased, but I think they are a good looking family and would turn heads wherever they go. :D

My holiday in Brazil was good, and took a little adjusting to at first. I havent meet with them for almost 4-5 years before that trip. Its strange when you dont see your loved ones for a long period of time. But in this time and age, the distance didnt feel that massive. Technology has made keeping in touch wonderfully easy, though it certainly cant replace meeting them 'face-to-face'. I love the times we spent together, joking, laughing. There's always something funny or some trick someone would be playing. Really fun. I miss them.

I definitely want to go to Brazil sometime again (but I gotta go Europe first!) and the next time I go, I want to go to the Amazon or the Pantanal. Hope it would be soon. Maybe my beloved friends (jessie, susen, amy?) can make a trip together next time?:D

Oh well, Who knows what the future holds?

Pretty A.B.C.

Am v 'free' today, thats why you can see me writing my 2nd posting today. Listening to Wang Li Hong's song. For the uninitated, he is a pretty ABC (aka American Born Chinese) with loads of talent in different music instruments. He can sing pretty well too though personally I think he sings slow songs much better.

What a Day!

My first posting, after reading countless blogs by friends and strangers alike. Not a budding writer though. Just want to record some of my musings. Maybe due to my narcisstic nature? or because I am self centred? Whatever you call it, I suppose this is a good release for me, to 'scream out my thoughts silently' , in a world that is becoming more silent as more communication becomes text messages instead of voices.. in a world of images , of blogs, instead of close interaction. See, there I am babbling again. Perhaps this shows how my mind is. Chaos. Just like how our world is..