Minou

Cruise to nowhere

2009-07-19T23:09:00.002+08:00

First time I am on board a cruise ship! Very suaku, I know....

The niece was actually sick the day before and on the way to Harbour Front, she actually threw up in the car. Luckily, a plastic bag was ready and the car need not be cleaned.
After throwing up, she said in the most pitiful voice that she did not want go gai gai (shopping/travelling) anymore. But once she was feeling better, she turned her words around and wanted to go after all.

This is also the first time I saw medicine being force fed to the niece.
Super pitiful lor!
Mum and dad grab her, one pinching her nose and another forcing her mouth open, and then a little syringe of medicine is force fed to her.
All the while, the niece will be crying and shouting that she don't want.
Sigh, little kids that refuse to take medicine.

But she is also quite wily. She will bargain that she will take her medicine at home. But if she's at home, she will bargain to take it at the grandparent's house.
And she is also quite the complainer.
She went to Grandpa and complain that she don't want to take medicine.
When her dad finished her ice cream, she came and complained to me.
Haha. Life with the niece is quite entertaining and very exhausting at times.

I think I was a little seasick on the cruise.
I had this headache that refused to go away on the second day. Jeez, I'm useless.

We watched a couple of shows. One was by the renowned singer Jenny Tseng. Her voice is really good and she can strike a rapport with the audience.
Isaiah was too tired due to lack of sleep the night before and he nodded off halfway.
The little niece saw it and proceeded to shout that "Shu Shu sleeping!"
Luckily the sleeping part was covered by her mum. Unfortunately, she proceeded to try to shout it again for a few more times. Thank goodness the show was ending then.

We also watched a topless show called Love Bites. Well...it's not really good.
I will recommend skipping it unless you like seeing lots of bare breasts.
It is basically a dance story about a vampire and his love interest.

When I tried to get the itinerary for the second day on the cruise ship, I managed to get a crew's copy.
It had names of supervisors, who's doing what schedules and dress code.
The funniest thing was a note at the bottom: Push Topless Show sales. We can do it!!!
I guess that should have been my first indication that the topless show would not be full house.

Overall, the cruise is a relaxing trip with family and it's family that made up the highlights of this trip.
I guess I will not mind going with family but just The Chosen One and I alone? Unlikely.
I would rather spend the money on a trip to Bintan or similar instead. At least there's no casino for The Chosen One to lose more money. :p

Durain in Malaysia

2009-07-19T23:04:00.003+08:00

This blog is fast becoming my travel diary....

We had a one day trip to Johor, Malaysia for durains. The verdict is not so good. It's better to pay premium price and enjoy them in Singapore.

The only thing out of normal in our trip was the tour bus ending up in some remote little road which it had no business getting into.
In the end, it couldn't turn into another road due to the narrow little road and drains at side of the road.
I saw local kids grinning at the bus and making the cross sign. Haha, funny little kids.
In the end, the bus reversed all the way back.

We must make a trip back soon for Nando's and seafood.

Japan Part 3 - Tokyo

2009-04-11T17:58:00.002+08:00

We took the Shinkansen back to Shinagawa in Tokyo. Our hotel was the Takanawa Hotel, part of the Grand Prince group.
in the same area, they have 3 other hotels : New Takanawa, Sakura Tower and Prince Hotel.

As we were informed that the hotel was a 5 minute walk away, we decided to push our luggages to the hotel.

Note to self: 5 minute = 5 minute sprint without luggage. With luggage, make that a hot and tired journey after 20 minutes.

Even though the weather was cool, poor him was sweating profusely by the time we arrived at the reception.

Luckily, the room was ready and we could go up to the room immediately to refresh ourselves.

Our first day in Tokyo was spent in Shibuya area. After the relative peace of Kyoto and Osaka, we were kind of shocked by the number of people using the trains. We never had any trouble getting seats in Kyoto and Osaka but here, there is so many people!
Thank goodness we have never met the rush hour.

Shibuya is crowded. Very crowded.
The junctions have a system where the pedestrains can cross in all directions at once. All the cars will have to stop and the human traffic will flow.
It's actually quite messy but the locals are used to it.
Almost every restaurant and cafe is filled. You have to wait to be seated. Lucky us managed to find a fruit dessert cafe without a queue and were seated immediately.
10 minutes after our arrival, the cafe was filled.

I managed to get a cardigan in Shibuya 109 but I don't really like 109. It's crowded and small, the shop assistants keep repeating their greetings and it grates on the ears after a while. He couldn't stand it especially because their voices are pitched high and cute but take a good look at the owner of the voices and you will revise the opinion of cute (his thoughts exactly).
Space is a premium so most shopping centres go upwards. The departmental stores here are easily 7-8 stories high.

Before heading back to the hotel to rest, I grabbed some Jill Stuart costmetics and happily trotted back to the hotel for an early night.

Day 6 - Saturday

We headed to the Meiji Shrine today and we managed to catch some brides in their traditional dresses.
we even watched part of the bridal procession.

After choosing some charms, we headed back to the Harajuku Station and walked around the Harajuku area.
We didn't follow our guide and just sort of let our instincts lead us. As usual, we had our cafe stop before continuing our stroll.
We walked into Takeshita-dori Street without realising but it was here that I love it! So many things to buy but I can't buy everything. Sigh....
But this street...is really really crowded. It's shoulder to shoulder and in some parts, we could hardly move.
After emerging from the street, I took a look back and all I see were people, people and more people. Actually, it's really like the Comex situation in Singapore. Except this probably happens every weekend in Harajuku,

I happily bought even more things in Harajuku. Oops.

After Harajuku, we tried to take the JR to Shinjuku but something was wrong at the train station. People seem to be stuck and no one was moving at all. After hanging around 5 minutes, he decided to take a cab instead. Luckily Shinjuku is nearby so our cab fare was not sky high.

We wandered around Takashimaya in Shinjuku and he was not feeling well. His right knee was giving him trouble and he was limping quite badly. So we decided to call it a day after an early dinner and headed back to the hotel.

Day 7 - Sunday

We decided to take it easy today because his knee was still hurting a little. We went back to Harajuku and walked to Omotesando Hills. Luckily, his knee was much better and we took a leisurely stroll as who knows but the Samantha Thavasa store was located all the way at the other end of Omotesando Hills. =__=
I bought a Samantha Thavasa bag! I really like it. It's a cute small white bag. He chose the colour as it seems the bag came in 13 colours.
He decided that white was the cutest and since I already have a pink Miu Miu, I shouldn't get another pink bag.
After that, we tried to find the Burbuerry Blue Label store and we had some help from the Burberry store. After another of our usual cafe stops, we reached the blue label store and window shopped.
The goal here is to get a wallet for Aelynna but I didn't see any satisfactory. The new short wallets had double metal closures for the coin compartment and the other wallet was slightly longer. In the end I decided on the longer one but I only got it 2 days later.

After Omotesando hills, we headed to LaQua. The objective here was Mother Garden. Or more accurately, Shirotan!

LaQua is next to Tokyo Dome and it's an amusement park with a shopping complex attached. The roller coaster was built with it's track curving around the shopping complex and it's actually quite cool. In the shopping complex, you can't hear the roller coaster or screams at all.
I admit, I really had my Shirotan fix here.
I now have Bumble Bee and Pink Strawberry added to my collection.
The sales assistant was asking if the items were gifts and he told her, no, they are all gifts for herself. TMD.

We wandered around the Tokyo Dome and looked at baseball memorabilia. We also had sushi at a restaurant in the Tokyo Dome. After a while, we noticed the crowd increasing and it seems that there was a baseball game. We were proven right when we switched on the TV in the hotel room later that night and there was a baseball game between the Tokyo Giants and Hiroshima Carps.
Too bad the Tokyo Giants lost the game.

Day 8 - Monday

We have been really having a relaxing holiday. We would wake up around 9 and take our own sweet time to leave the hotel. Since both of us are not into clubbing and checking our night life, we were usually back in our hotel after dinner.

But today, both of us were up at 6am. We dragged ourselves up and had breakfast at the hotel bakery at 730am.
By 750am, we were in front of the New Takanawa and waiting for the complimentary shuttle to DisneySea.

We arrived DisneySea bright and early at 830am. That's when we realised that the ticketing booths only opens at 9 and the park only opens at 10. *Faints*

We really did enjoy DisneySea. We took our time, caught a few shows and rides (especially those that did not require much queuing) and slowly walked the whole park.
That's also because we had a lot of time in the park. Our shuttle back to the hotel was at 1005pm.

There was a special show called BravisSEAmo and it's held in the main lake. Its about the love between the spirit of water and spirit of fire. the spirit of water was represented by a fountain on a boat. The spirit of fire was a structure in the water. When it appeared, it slowly rose our of the water, it's a metallic structure that at first looked at Dr Octo in spiderman. When it was fully extended, it looked like a dragon or a hydra. It's really impressive.
The whole show was beautiful and left a very deep impression on us.

We waited for the fireworks at 830pm but due to wind, it was canceled, sigh...no fireworks for us. But BravisSeamo more then made up for it.

And as usual, I overspent at Disney. Sigh....

A funny thing about Disney. As we were walking around, we saw people carrying this bear. It turns out to be called Duffy the explorer bear and is part of the Disney merchandise giant. Some of the bears were plain, while others were dressed up in clothes. There were even slightly smaller versions that were made for hanging off bags.
A lot of teens and kids were carrying the bear.
In the end, he got himself a Duffy bear too as he said, since everyone has one, he must also get one even though he does not know why since this is the Singapore spirit.
Okaye....

By the time we reached the hotel, it was 1040pm. But when we were very near the hotel, the bus encountered an empty parked car in the middle of the road, resulting in it not being able to pass through. The bus was forced to turn around and use an alternative road that was very narrow and I'm sure a tour bus had no business being in. But we still made it back to our hotel.

Day 9 - Tuesday

Our second last day in Japan.
Today we visited Ginza. Actually we were trying to find Burberry Blue Label and we found it in Seibu. The side result was a short tour of the Ginza shopping area.
I finally decided on a wallet for Aelynna which both him and I thought was nice.
After doing the tax refund in Seibu, we took the train to Akihabara.
This area is really like Sim Lim, except it's spread over a few streets. I had fun wandering around the streets and we even found one of the maid cafes in the area.
We had a late lunch at the maid cafe and it was quite an experience. The waitresses were all dressed like french maids and would kneel besides your table. when serving your beverage, they will prepare it for you. If you order milk tea, they will open the small container of milk and stir it into the drink for you.
After serving your food, they will ask you to do a smal chant with them in order the make the food more delicious.
Well, I'm not sure if the chant worked but the food was quite nice.

After the late lunch, I bought some snacks and we headed back to the hotel.
We bought more snacks at the supermarket near Shinagawa train station before taking a cab back to the hotel.
My right leg and lower back were protesting at the nonstop walking and today, they decided to stage a rebellion. So he decided no more walking and back to the hotel to rest.

Since we were leaving tomorrow, I decided to pack the luggage.
My half full luggage miraculously became very full. And that is not including my shirotans.
I suppose since my heavy coat is now in the luggage, it should take up more space but I didn't remember buying so much stuff!
So shirotans will be handcarried which I suppose is allowed. I packed his snacks into my luggage and now, my luggage is so full. And my boots are not in my luggage yet, Arggghhhh!

Day 10 - Wednesday

Today is the day back to Singapore.

One last top at Harajuku and we will be catching the Airport Limo back to Narita Airport.

It was in Harajuku that I spent all my money. Actually, I think I spent some of his too. :p
I bought a pet carrier for Minou!
Now she as a pet carrier I can bring her to the vet for a checkup. :p
It was in this pet carrier that I stuffed my last minute shopping.

The ride to the airport took 90 minutes and we were more then ready to go home to Singapore.
This has been a nice trip and I really love Japan, especially Tokyo and Osaka.
Already, I can feel myself missing Japan and hoping to go back for another holiday in the next couple of years!

Japan Part 2 - Osaka

2009-04-02T19:54:00.003+08:00

After locating our hotel in Osaka, we went exploring in the Namba area.
There was a false start where we got lost and could not locate Den Den Town. In the end, we took a very short cab ride to Sogo.

We walked through Shinsaibashi and boy, was it loooong. We did not cover the whole street.

And now I am definitely in love with Samantha Thavasa'a bags. Why must they be so expensive!

After stroling through Shinsaibashi (which took hours together with 2 rest stops), we finally located Den Den Town and walked a small part of it.
He got side tracked by a Game Taito Centre which was basically a games arcade with six levels.
The first level was where all the UFO catchers were. The Japanese are big on UFO catchers. I see them everywhere. Together with Pachinko palours.
Second was arcade games with music theme. Dance Dance Revolution, DJ, drums....
Third level was for normal arcade games like street fighter, etc.
Fourth level and Fifth was for multiplayer/online games.
This is where he got sooooo excited. There were some machines for Gundam. They looked so futuristic, and basically you go into the station (it's like a mini room) and sit down and pilot your Gundam machine. it's first person view and you are really the pilot.
The game cost more then $10 to play. OMG
In the end, he decided not to play. But we did see some people playing and one of them was good.
The last level was for Mahjong. Unlike Hong Kongers who play with each other, Japanese seem to like to play mahjong on arcade machines.

Day 4

Today was spent exploring the Osaka Station area. We wandered around and got lost a little but still managed to find our way back to the Station.

I guess the main highlight would have been Yodobashi Camera.
This is like the Japanese version of Singapore's Sim Lim Square. Actually, it's much bigger and neater.
There is a theme to every floor.
Basement 2 was computer peripherals like ink, paper....
Basement 1 was Computer equipments, Level 1 was handphones and accessories, Level 2 was cameras and videos, Level 3 and 4 were electronic goods like TV and washing machines.
Level 5 was all about gaming, Level 6 and 7 were fashion and Level 8 was restaurants.
We spent a little time exploring and left immediately after lunch. I did toy with the idea of getting a camera, but nothing caught my eye.

We wanted to go visit the floating garden but it was quite a walk away and today was especially cold! There was a moment where I had difficulty walking against the wind.
We scrapped visiting the garden and took the train to Tondabayashi instead.

Tondabayashi is a small town where many old japanese buildings can still be seen. It's located in the suburbs and we had to take the JR train, then switch to the local Kinetsu line in order to reach there.
It's quite weird walking through Tondabayashi because it is a residential area, with preserved buildings side by side with residential buildings. I think some of the preserved buildings were occupied by residents as well but I am not sure.
Walking through the area, you can almost imagine Samurais walking by.

We made our way back to Osaka, hungry and ready for dinner.
Dinner was in a restaurant with a German Pub feel.
The food was great!
The carbonara was really delicious and the roast duck was soooo good. He had a beer, Kirin Lager Beer and I had Cassis Liquor with Orange.
Together, the whole meal cost around S$50. Which was really cheap in our opinion.
With the standard of the food and drinks, we could easily be paying S$100 in Singapore.

We bought some dessert back to the hotel as well.
I don't know how the Japanese make it...but the cakes were melt in your mouth.
Literally.
I usually don't like cakes due to the texture of the cake itself but oh my, I think I can make an exception for Japanese cakes.

Tomorrow, onward to Tokyo!

Japan Part 1 - Kyoto

2009-03-31T20:51:00.002+08:00

We had planned for so long and finally, the day is here.
We left Singapore in the A380, at 1140pm on a Sunday night.

After a night flight and 7 hours in the air, we arrived at Narita.
First things first, we booked our seat on the Narita Express to Kyoto at the JR office.
We caught the train at 850am, made a stop at Shinagawa station to switch to the train to Kyoto at 1040am.
The ride was quite long and we only reached Kyoto at 1+pm. We had our first meal in Japan on the Shinkansen. :D
Bentos are quite fun. Haha.

After catching a cab at Kyoto Station, we reached our hotel in short order.
We are staying in Toyoko Inn and as per reviews, it is pretty small. But everything that is required is there and the room is neat and tidy.
They even managed to fit a bathtub in the toilet, and the toilet is the smallest one I have ever seen yet!

After checking in, we wandered around the hotel area, and walked till our feet nearly broke.
What on the map seems to be a short distance is actually very very far. Sigh...I am too used to seeing maps drawn by the people in charge of Sentosa and the Zoo.

In the end, we took a short bus ride to Nijo Castle. But we both don't really like to look at architecture so decided to skip it. We decided to walk to the Imperial Palace instead. Actually, I was more interested in the National Garden and since it was besides the Imperial Palace, we took our chances and walked there.
Well, it's a really long walk.

But the cherry blossoms were beautiful and the park was full of them. I think both of us really enjoyed the view in the park.

We had our first proper sit down meal in a tiny little shop along the streets. The shop was run by an old Japanese couple and only had space for maximum 16 people. They didn't speak english and we had to point to their display of fake food to indicate what we wanted.
I had the most delicious Omu rice and he had the most delicious Curry rice. We felt we have both been spoilt and will never find the ones in Singapore up to standard.

By then, we were both quite tired and trecked back to our hotel. But the train did not stop at the stop we wanted and wwe had another long walk in the cold night. He could not stand it and flagged for a cab and we were back to our hotel in short order. I mean, the cab only drove us past another street or 2 before we were in front of our hotel.

I think due to the lack of sleep on the flight and the travelling, noth of us knocked out fairly quickly and slept like 2 logs until the morning.

Day 2

We were supposed to wake up eary and try out the free hotel breakfast of rice balls and tea. It's simple but we wanted to experience all sorts of Japanese food.
Well...we overslept.

So we spent our day in Nara.
After figuring out the bus routes, we took a bus back to Kyoto Station and took the JR to Nara.
I had always thought Nara was nearby but it was actually one hour away by train!
Once we were at Nara station, we were feeling very lost .
Luckily for us, a tourist information centre was nearby and the very helpful lady gave us a map in english and drew on the map which way we should go.
She did thought that Singapore was in China and wanted to give us a chinese map instead.

The cherry blossoms were even more beautiful here and I saw so mnuch free roaming deers!
The deers here are a sort of tourist attraction and there were lots of vendors on the way selling some sort of biscuits you can feed to the deer.
The deers in the beginning of the route were more shy and will only approach you if you show that you are going to feed it.
At the entrance of Todaiji Temple, however, the deers there were aggressive. If they see you holding the biscuits, they will follow you in groups of 4-5 and nudge you until you give them the biscuit.
I saw an old Japanese man give up and throw his biscuits on the floor while making his escape.

The deers were pretty cute though.

When we made our way back to Kyoto, it was early evening.
We had a very satisfying dinner of Japanese grill. The meat was great, the service is of course good as usual.

As you can see, we are not fans of visiting temples and palaces so we skipped them. But I really love walking around and looking at the streets and watching people go by. i have been taking every chance to snack and wander in convenience stores.

Already, it's the second night and we will be travelling to Osaka tomorrow,

Happy Valentine's!

2009-02-15T14:31:00.003+08:00

What started out as a depressing Valentine's made itself into a happy and funny day.

The Chosen One had to work this weekend and poor me was left all alone.

Luckily for me, my bunch of friends immediately made plans and I finally got my long need trim and treatment for my hair.
It was getting so dry that knots became a big part of my life.

Good thing The Chosen One decided to join us for dinner and the play afterwards.
Dinner was at Timbre and thanks to Unker Kell, we ended up having a long stroll because he brought us to the wrong Timbre.
But nevermind, a little bit of exercise has never hurt anyone.

The play was Dark Knuts: Welcome to Avenue Quantum at Victoria Theatre.
As with plays like these, you run the risk of someone's head blocking your view which unfortunately, happened to The Chosen One and myself.
Well, I supposed I was luckier as I could lean to the other side and watch the play relatively unblocked.
His view, unluckily, had 2 heads leaning towards each other.

Well, it was Valentine's day.

Dark Knuts is GREAT!
It was so funny that there were times I found myself gasping for breath, stomach threatening to cramp, and yet I still cannot stop laughing!
It's so sarcastic and brilliant and I really marvel at the cast of four who carried the 2 and half hour show flawlessly.

I will be so going to their next production next year.

And our Valentine's day ended at MacDonald's. Chit chatting and making lame jokes like we always do.

Finally....

2009-02-02T21:30:00.002+08:00

Finally, we will be heading the the Land of the Rising Sun!

I think this has to be the most exciting thing that will happen to me in the near future.
Air tickets and accomodations are all booked.
Only thing left is to get the JR Pass and to plan our daily schedule in Japan.
Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka...I can't wait for the time to come.

On the other hand, what I feared is somehow slowly becoming more and more exciting.

Baby Plans....

On one hand, I am so scared.
I'm like this big kid. Sigh...can I take care of another life?
Can I handle motherhood?

On the other hand, time is passing quickly.
I don't want to enjoy my freedom so much now that I regret later.
And somehow, deep inside, I really want a child of my own.

So I am flipping between 2 sides.
Yes, I want my own baby!
No, I can't do it!

So I guess the best way will be to let things take their natural course.

Year 2009

2009-01-06T19:37:00.002+08:00

Hibernation during the last 2 months....
Why?
I don't think I know and if I can explain.

I was in a odd mood during that period.
Times of depression, times of elation.
Too much up and down resulting in...disinterest?

I was almost constantly sick during the last month.
Too much work stress?
Too much games and fun?
Not enough time to properly rest and recover?

Sometimes, I feel so tired.

This year, there are big plans.
Our long delayed honeymoon. Our first trip to Japan.
I have that feeling I will spend as much as I can.
I should stop spending and save now.

Baby plans in 2009?
I am scared.
How can I be responsible for a new life?
Can I take this stress?

I suppose only time will tell.

Breathe Me

2008-10-23T16:19:00.001+08:00

One of the most beautiful song I have ever heard.

Presenting

SIA
Colour the small one

Breathe me

Help, I have done it again
I have been here many times before
Hurt myself again today
And, the worst part is there's no-one else to blame

Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
and needy
Warm me up
And breathe me

Ouch I have lost myself again
Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found,
Yeah I think that I might break
Lost myself again and I feel unsafe

Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
and needy
Warm me up
And breathe me

Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
and needy
Warm me up
And breathe me

Ouvrir la Porte

2008-10-18T15:26:00.002+08:00

Open the door please, don't leave me outside.
Open the door please, let me inside.

I have my fur coat, the night is still cold.
I love the shoes here, but I'm lonely here.
The night is still long, my supper's inside.

Open the door please, don't leave me outside.
Open the door please, let me inside

**********************************************

Finally, at 8 am, the door opens.

Followed by....

"Baby! You locked the cat outside last night!"

Happenings

2008-10-13T23:15:00.005+08:00

It's a time for celebration because two of my good friends got hitched at the same time!

Seeing that they are getting hitched to each other, I supposed it's not surprising that they are getting married at the same time.

OK. That was lame.

As in my earlier post, I am wishing them a long and fruitful union!
(Some people may realise that I am stealing this phrase from their speech as MC.)

The day of their ROM, I was rushing to and fro.

This was what my day looked like.

Early in the morning, The Chosen One sends me to work in the west from the northeast.
At 330pm, he comes back to the west to pick me up from work.
After reaching home in the north east and a hurried shower with full primping, we rush back to the west.

Yes, it was a east/west/east/west and finally back home to the east situation.

Now, consider this from The Chosen One's perspective.
It was a east/west/east/west/east/west/east.

I lost count but I think I got it right.
He wasn't hanging around in the west area waiting for me to get off work.

I should stop rambling and just show the picture of the beautiful bride.

I am now happily waiting for the customary.

OK this picture is here just because the little niece is so cute.
The story behind this picture is that she cried 10 seconds after this picture was taken.

The reason?

Because the server cleared away all the dishes.

To end off, a picture of Minou happily sleeping on The Chosen One's army uniform.

To be honest, I think he can't fit into them anymore.

May you have a long and fruitful union!

2008-10-10T23:39:00.002+08:00

I just want to say:

Congratulations to the newlyweds on their ROM this evening!

Thank you for inviting me to your special day and eagerly look forward to your Customary which is hopefully next year!

PS: You have a very funny photographer.

New shoes

2008-10-07T23:49:00.001+08:00

I splurged today and got a new pair of shoes I totally didn't need.

Photos will appear when I feel like it.

Twitter

2008-10-05T22:43:00.002+08:00

Weee!
I'm finally on Twitter.

See the top left hand corner on my side bar?

OK. Now I just need to convince Aelynna to add Twitter on her side bar so she will do the proper graphics for me also.

And to have people add me to their Twitter list so I can pretend I have more friends.

Complaints

2008-10-03T23:28:00.002+08:00

1) My poor Vaio's sound has gone wonky. It refuses to speak to me now!

2) I need to lose weight.

3) What happened to the trees in the parking lot? Who cut them ALL down?

4) I need more hours in a day.

5) And my writing is now very stale and forced.

I need a nice long break and something to spur my creativity.

Watch out! Slow Ferraris ahead!

2008-09-25T23:13:00.003+08:00

While traveling home from ECP today, The Chosen One loves to go via the newly opened KPE.
It links all the way to Tampines which is really near our place.

However, that tunnel has a strict speed limit of 70km per hour.
It's famous for the large numbers of speed cameras in it and on its opening, lots of unsuspecting drivers were caught speeding.

While dutifully following the speed limit and sometimes even going below the speed limit (it's the car in front!), we saw a whole convoy of Ferraris with a couple of Maseratis thrown in for good measure.

Most of them were red. Maybe 2 were black and I remember seeing a silver one.
But the rest were definitely the trademark red colour of Ferrari.

I'm sure the owners will have plenty of spare cash to pay the speeding fines, so I believe it's the demerit points system that is deterring them from speeding.
Once out of the tunnel, the convoy immediately sped up.

How often can you travel side by side with Ferraris even when the roads are clear?

What's wrong with me?

2008-09-23T21:39:00.003+08:00

I have so many games waiting for me to start.

1) Age of Conan
2) The Sims 2
3) Numerous RPGs on my NDS
4) Soul Caliber 4 on the PS3

But what I think I wanna play are games on the Xbox.
This is all QY's fault.

Sidenote : I saw this scooter that has 3 wheels. 2 smaller ones in front and one larger one behind. The driver did not need to balance the scooter when it stopped and it could still do turns.
I never knew 3 wheeled scooters exists.

Buzy Buzy

2008-08-28T00:00:00.002+08:00

Wow, time passes so quickly.
August is ending and the little niece's 2nd birthday is just around the corner.

Last weekend was filled to the brim.
Saturday was work, facial and dinner with some friends.
Sunday morning was spent at the temple and we promised to attend a 7th month dinner also.
And I also received some terrible news.

One of my uncles has left us.
So every single night for the past few nights was spent at his wake.

And it is always at wakes that you see relatives that you have no idea you had.
I supposed that one good thing that came out of this is that cousins have now set up a mailing list with all our names in it so we can msn and email each other now.
I suppose the next big gathering among us will be my sister's wedding next year.

Other news: I got the iPhone.
I thought that I had to carry 2 phone lines for a while until my current line's contract has expired but turns out, my current line's no longer under contract already!
I am going to port my number this weekend.
The Chosen One also got the iPhone and he has already ported his number.
It's supposed to be porting....now. But I have no idea on how it works.

My new computer is up and running and I have no time to use it!

Beijing Olympics 2008

2008-08-20T21:11:00.002+08:00

Ever since I got cable, I've been stuck to the TV.
Even The Chosen One is surprised that I am watching so much of the coverage.

Hey, it's once every four years, so I should catch as much as I can!

But this Olympics is causing a lot of problems left and right.
News reports that the public transportation was not able to cope with the demands of the locals as Beijing restricted the numbers of private vehicles on the roads.
In an effort to control air pollution, factories were shut down and the number of trucks on the roads were heavily controlled.
I even heard that locals in Beijing were encouraged to stay at home more and leave the streets for the visitors.

In my line of work, we also encountered quite a few problems.
Any shipment to Beijing is severely affected.
Shipments to other parts of China were not spared. Customs check is super tight now.

And all these problems will not be over after the Olympics. That's because the Paralympics will commence after that.

And then there are the conspiracy theories.
Underaged gymnasts.
Judging skewed towards the host nation.
Male contenders in the female events?!

But still, I am enjoying myself on the sporting events.

Quiet weekend

2008-08-17T14:18:00.002+08:00

Poor baby has to work this weekend.

He was in the office the whole of yesterday and today, he went back to office to continue.

This weekend was supposed to be for shopping for my new computer and assembling it. Guess I will have to wait.

On a happier note, we finally have cable!
So I am making up for lost time by sticking my face to the TV nonstop from yesterday.

Should I?

2008-08-15T23:40:00.003+08:00

Should I get my poor webmaster to put up more stuff on my sidebar?

I predict a "Wah lau, why don't tell me earlier." response.

But having a side bar with what I'm doing currently sounds fun.

Example:

What I'm reading : Anything I can get my hands on.

What I'm playing : Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles : Ring of Fates on NDSLite / Rock Band on PS3.

What I'm listening : Some $2.50 CD with chill out songs. And only when I'm driving.

What I'm watching : Nothing. Waiting for the cable guy to appear magically tomorrow.

Will my webmaster kill me?
I think I better not push my luck and bide for time.

Wishlist

2008-08-14T16:15:00.002+08:00

My wishlist is up!

Here is where I keep track of my many wants.

Hopefully it can remain short and sweet because that means that I have little lemmings.

Worse case scenario will be a wish list that grows longer everyday it's up.

Hmmm....I have to curb my instant gratification ways!

Loneliness Inc

2008-08-06T22:46:00.003+08:00

Today is not a good day.

For some weird reason (maybe PMS?), I'm feeling extremely lonely tonight.

I know it's a pact we made.
I know I should support him.
I know it's all for our future.

But somehow tonight, I feel lonelier then usual. Even worse then the period where he was not in Singapore.

I just feel that we have not been properly with each other for a long time now.
When he's at home, there's always something he has to work on.
His deadlines at work are so tight that he is working constantly, even on weekends.
He rarely has time for me, not to mention his family.

And all I can say is, "Don't worry, I can entertain myself."

Loneliness Inc.

Another Bag

2008-08-05T22:50:00.003+08:00

I gave up my lust for one bag and now I'm lusting after another.
Actually, two others.

I am incorrigible.

Fortunately, I can take my own sweet time to get one of them but the other seems like it will not be around forever.
I hate Miu Miu.
Or do I love Miu Miu?

Love and Hate. They are not the different sides of a coin but are actually sharing the same face.

Can some fairygodmother magically appear and tell me that my wallet is now a magical wallet that will never run out of cash?

Help! I need to save for my Japan trip!

AMAZING SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES

2008-08-01T23:37:00.004+08:00

Received this in a forwarded email.
I dunno whether to laugh or cry.

AMAZING SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES

1. IF YOU'RE CHOKING ON AN ICE CUBE, SIMPLY POUR A CUP OF BOILING WATER DOWN YOUR THROAT. PRESTO! THE BLOCKAGE WILL INSTANTLY REMOVE ITSELF.

2. AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU CHOP.

3. AVOID ARGUMENTS WITH THE FEMALES ABOUT LIFTING THE TOILET SEAT BY USING THE SINK.

4. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS. REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER.

5. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROL LING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.

6. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES. THEN YOU'LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.

7. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.

8. REMEMBER - EVERYONE SEEMS NORMAL UNTIL YOU GET TO KNOW THEM.

9. IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.

DAILY THOUGHT:
SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES - NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.