Of Sunny Days and Apple Trees..

I did it again!

2008-09-10T00:00:00.002+08:00

Not posted for super long!

Anyhow, check this out..

I have actually uploaded my remaining Japan pictures, just havent had the time to narrate them. O well. Or the mood.

And the days go by-the-by-the-byyy

2008-08-10T23:47:00.007+08:00

Heylo.

To the very many that have asked why I havent been blogging.

Urm. Not in the mood. And nothing very much exciting to blog about. Life has been mostly good. I like my job. I like my bosses. I like my colleagues (bunch of jokers). So really it does seem mostly rosy. Kinda.

And i have a new friend in my office to keep me company. Yes, I am very privileged to be sitting where i am sitting, with no window into the main corridor (yes, it is actually a partner's room) and I have no room mate. at the moment.

So this is my zebra, ZERO. I chose ZERO from the very many animals because he is stripey and funky. Yes.

So i was saying i have no room mate so like ALL the interns there are possible have been rotated to sit with me. I am like the host LA.

Well, after pretty non-eventful days, HS brought me to the Night Festival at Singapore Art Museum. Apparently they had this free visits to the Museum thingy and there was a free showing of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY 1970 version or something.. (older than me lorh).. and it was good.

Talking about dreams and hoping.. rather elusive if you ask me.. but makes one happy nevertheless..

HS brought mats so we just parked ourselves on the grass. And because it was free the whole place was like PACKED larh.. singaporeans right...

After the screening, they had this "light installation" thingy from Australia.. and they made the facade of the Singapore museum so very different because of the various lighting..

Chioh lorh..
But i think it looks vaguely haunted, neh?

O the other thing was that we tried to crash the ZOUK HIP HOP party at SMU and to my great joy, the security guard thought that we were still students!!!

happiness lorh, i graduated 4 years ago..

And yes, the other thing I have been doing is speaking too much with J. Hence my very bad grammar. It's kinda cute to forget your grammar sometimes, or do i think that only because i dont have a problem with my grammar.. *shrug*

(to be honest i find it jarring, audibly, to speak to people with bad grammar, if u know what i mean.. doesnt mean that i like them less.. just that the inside of you is screaming.. SYNTAX WRONG... TENSES WRONG! etc.. )

okay the other thing i did, was also at the behest of HS.

Yes.. SINGFEST!!!

There was some LEVIs deal. All i had to do was pay for a pair of jeans and i got free tickets to SINGFEST!!! Happening boh...

Anyhow, it was like SUPER crowded lorh..

The show starts at 3 pm (or so they claim). HS and i reached at 1330 in the vain hope of getting a good seat. Man. They didnt let anyone in for like 1 hour so after Q-ing for half an hour to even get in, we had to wait again.

Speaking of which, there was this super uncool girl, who was yakking on the phone and walked all the way to the queue in front of us and just plonked herself there. This was where we got after Q-ing for like 45 minutes ! So HS asked her what she was doing there, and she had the NERVE to reply that all her friends were inside and she was hoping that we would show a little compassion (in a real standoffish manner) So HS said, no, you want to go in please join the back of the queue and whatever it is, not infront of us..

I dont get these people - inconsiderate AND shameless.. there were alot of these around at the festival..

So whilst waiting, we were trigger happy..

and from the crowd i spotted one of seniors! and then later on .. may many of my colleagues!! There were many many from the fraternity there lorh!

So after Q-ing for so long, we managed to find like a seat somewhere in front of the soundbox in the middle of the grass patch.. emcees for the day was the mutton brothers (or something like that) from 98.7.. but the emcees for the grand finale was glenn and the flying dutchman.

And the sun was BLAZING.. like everyone was wearing very little.. and i had SLATHERED sunblock on like crazy, before and during the festival.. so for my 3 hours in the sun.. i hardly changed my skin tone.. so jaszy is happy. =D

And in btw performances, we took more pictures of ourselves..

The food was really exorbitant.. i had a wrap for like 10 bucks. the alcohol was cheaper.. like 10 bucks as well.. and with the weather.. we could have taken BARRELS lorh.. but it was too ex..

snap snap...

snap snap again...

you cant blame us, really.. there were only a few good shows.. i mean generally not bad but the shows that got people moving was like.. towards the end..

I dont need new glasses with these shades..
I cant rem this band. Could be panic at the disco..

Sorry cant rem!

More boredom. Excuse us. I thought her hat was pretty funky.

And the night got really moving with JASON MIRAZ.. he KICKS ASS LORH!!!

i didnt KNOW who he was until i heard the geek in the pink song and i was like OOOO.. I KNOW this guy.. i is like!! Anyhow, Jason was the most charismatic singer of the lot.. like totally engaging the crowd... cant say the same for the rest..

i cant rem who this is, might be the pussycat dolls. At first i was real excited until i realized that they really cant do anything other than wear very little and prance around?

There was this part of the jig where the girls were like.. hey let's show everyone what we can do, and this girl KIMBERLY .. (whom I thought was quite hot, to be honest) all she could do was.. stand one one foot in her stilettos and then pull the other leg up sideways until she could kiss it..

AND SHE WAS REAL PROUD OF IT..

AND THE WHOLE TIME WHEN THE REST OF THE BAND ASKED HER.. SHOW US WHAT YOU CAN DO KIMBERLY..

SHE WILL GO I CAN DO THIS!

and she will do it.

Man.. no Nobel prizes to be given out here.. not that i can do what she did but it was like so !!!

perhaps I am too harsh. those are the goods they are selling, right?
And the last part of the show was Alicia Keyes. If we had pay all that $$ just to watch her, it would have been worth it..

I thought i would end with giving everyone a taste of jason, my new favourite..

other news, WH is coming home so i am mighty pleased.. perhaps more on that another time!!

So cute! Get one today!

2008-06-24T23:18:00.000+08:00

awwwww.. so cute can cry.

this baby above so intense.. scally he grow up with lazy eye the papa so bad teach him these kinda things..

=)

Japan 2008 Part (ii) - losing steam but must still blog the good stuff!!!

2008-06-23T22:50:00.003+08:00

As usual, when there are like a trillion photos, it gets very cumbersome to put them up. But I feel obliged to (dont know for what.. since nobody reads my blog now)..

FOR YOU FURRY!! I AM PUTTING IT UP FOR YOU!! (Actually not true larh.. i think MONKEY also reads my blog wan, and HS and WH.. actually alot of you read it, except that with these I dont actually have to instruct them to do it. Heh..)

ANYHOWS..

I was saying that I am very grateful for my 2 guides in Japan. When my gal-friends heard that I was going to Japan alone, they immediately volunteered two of their friends to bring me around as guides. These ladies went beyond the call of duty to bring me around.. Last post you guys were introduced to the funkymama Yuki , and today we have Nozomi.. a nice young lady (WHO IS THE PASTOR'S DAUGHTER LORH) working in the local university (man I sound like i am writing for SDU.. all Ps Vic's fault... check out the post in question at his blog here)..

So anyhow this is Nozomi..

I thought her scarf was nice. She said she got it from Singapore. =_=

Nozomi wanted to bring me to Harajuku, but I thought Harajuku is totally do-able by myself. I asked instead for her to bring me to Odaiba, by ferry (which was farnee because on the way there we talked so much we missed the stop and ended up at Yokohama, which is like the next city.. hahaa) .

So anyhow, I wanted to go to an onsen real bad. There was this special theme park onsen at Odaiba which was supposed to have different types of baths (special flavours, etc) and it is built like Edo-Japan. When you get on the inside, everyone changes to like Yu-Katas and you deposit your stuff into lockers. They have this electronic wristlet which acts like your wallet so you dont have to bring any money around.

This is us outside the Onsen. Oedo Onsen.

Panty vending machine! But it's not like the ones at the Sex-shop. The ones here are clean and packed for those who (forgot to bring theirs??? forgot a birthday and need to get a present quick??)

Nozomi was commenting that she thought this foreigner (i.e. me) was very brave to have requested to be brought to an onsen. Most foreigners would be shy because basically you would have to walk around naked (so that you can dip into the onsen, riiiiggghhhhtttt?). I mean.. i didnt really think about it larh, I just wanted to check out the place!

And she was right.. i got the culture shock of my life lorh!!!

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I NEVER SAW SO MANY NAKED WOMEN IN MY LIFE LEH!

But there are no pictures, for obvious reasons. But for those who are secretly wondering, the baths are divided into one for men and one for women... (some honeymoon suites have their own onsens. nice)

I realize the whole deal about the onsen is to soak yourself in SUPER HOT WATER.. then when you cant take it anymore you basically dash out to sit around in the cool air. There was an outdoor onsen Japanese landscaped style and it was spring so the temperature was very cool. And i realized that this going in and out of hot water and air-drying in a very cool landscape garden is very shiok.

So at night, I had a nice girly dinner with Yuki at Odaiba shopping complex. And here we have the famous RAINBOW BRIDGE!

It was super cold and super romantic. Alas there was nobody standing next to me, not even another tourist(!!), for me to exclaim at the beauty (I have this thing for lights at night).

Okay here we tried taking picture in the toilet a-la- XIAXUE style.. I have never tried this shooting your own reflection in the mirror thingys..

Yuki was bringing me clubbing. This was her first night out (EVER) since her handsome Ryugen was born. Calls for quite a celebration, neh?

We went to this club at Roppongi, it was SUPER happening lorh. check out the picture here..

i never saw so many good looking people in one place lorh and it was packed!!! But the name was spelt wrongly larh .. ALIFE! surely they meant alive? =P

So we clubbed till like 4 am.. which is fine, until i remembered that i was supposed to attend my friend's church at SAITAMA (suburban Tokyo lorh) at 9 AM!

I am so proud of myself, i actually managed to wake up and drag myself there. and this nice picture i took from the subs..

so now we know that all the cartoons we saw (i.e Doraemon) are accurate representations of what Japanese neighbourhoods look like. there was another place (and i cant find the picture right now) where they were growing beautiful flowers outside the homes. Very very lovely. Many many colours.. Wish we can do the same... here we only have bougainvilla (however u spell it) lorh..

After that i went to Harajuku! Sorry, didnt get to see very many exciting cosplay.. apparently the fashion now is to be LOLITA.. so you see all these young gals dressed up as french maids, except that there are wearing pink instead of the traditional black and have these huge skirts (betcha wearing can-cans inside) and holding the hand of this young boy who is wearing like normal street clothes..

blows your mind man.

Anyhow, check out this boutique. this is the entrance..

I mean, Harajuku is like PACKED right.. but when you step into this place, it is like another world. I rem when I studied a little design in school and was reading up interior design, good design kinda transports you to another place.

this is totally good design.. the moment you step in, you FORGET you are in Harajuku.. there is nice music in the background, wait i think it was probably birds chirping because it is some garden theme and the walls are lined with carpet grass.. and the ceiling is painted like yellow with flowers and butterflies.. it is amazing lorh.. i HOENSTLY forgot that i was in the middle of sweltering Harajuku..
see what I mean?
But i didnt take more pictures because they didnt really like it, the shopowners that is..

The next day, I took the SUPER UBER FASTEST EVER BULLET TRAIN in Japan, the NOZOMI train to KYOTO..

Actually in the picture above i was trying to point at the cleaners. They are all dressed in baby pink and blue!!!

Okay, to be honest, even though I paid quite abit to go to Kyoto and Nara, after awhile it is just a blur of shrines and gardens.. I am just gonna post the nicer pictures..

It was no longer sakura season when i was there, but it was the beginning for that of the wisteria.. I managed to capture some very lovely shots..

They just grow all over lorh.. (reminds me of morning glories, but they more attas the wisteria)..

Not bad horh my shots..

I am pleased..

Got standard wan lorh.. =)

And here begins the endless streams of shrines and etc.. this was the first one i visited at Nara.. I took a picture because it was the first... after that I gave up.. everything was built like in the 1st 10th centuries and took alot of skill to make and etc..

I mean I know i totally sound like I dont appreciate it but i do, it's just that.. i like pretty flowers more.. and because we were hitting summer.. trust me.. there were MANY MANY pretty flowers..

so here is the temple..

okay this park is cool because it is the famous DEERPARK because they have alot of tame deer just roaming the park (duh, why not elephant park or tiger park right).

so they had all these deer that were just roaming the grounds.

When I think deer I think Bambi.. now i see the deer i think of jason. i think it's the colour. hahaha.

observing these that roam I see that the Disneyfolks were struck by quite a stroke of genius. Deers are alot more endearing on film. The ones here were pretty aggressive, ate the ticket off the pocket of one of my fellow tourists..

i really attempted to go near them, like pose. But deers are quite scary. They are nothing like the real Bambi. Think this picture summarizes how I felt pretty accurately..

Tentative. Heh.

And deers stink.

So part of the shrine after shrine that I visited - of which like all of them were built in 7th century Japan - pretty amazing, no termites yáll..

This is the shrine that has the most number of stone lanterns..

Cute horh.

And everywhere you turn, there are these little winding paths flanked by trees. Standing at the beginning and letting my eyes wander down, I go back to the tales of Hansel & Gratel and all the little Japanese warrior children living in magical farawaylands...

I forget who I am and I wonder, if I walk down these paths - will they lead me to my castle, my lake, my prince?

But such thoughts were fleeting. The lull of reason and sobering weight of time beckons. I dont want to miss the bus back to my (I would discover.. HAUNTED) hotel. So the let's-have-fun-in-whatever-way-manner-it-chooses-to-descend-upon-us jasmine resurfaces and i thought it would be farnee to take a picure with the spitting deer..

And this picture was taken from my table at the haunted hotel.

Arguably the best meal that I had in Japan but I was too spooked!

I chose to stay in Gion, Kyoto because I was hoping to see a gei-sha. Come to think of it, it may have been a good that i didnt see one I would probably have freaked out..

This is the exterior of the hotel that I went to.

To cut the long story short, the TV in the place switched itself off in the middle of the night. The aircon blew hot and cold. It sounds like mere electrical glitches now but it really wasnt then. I was so spooked, I chose to walk down the dark alleyway from the haunted room into the familiarity of mere darkness at 4 a.m. because I was convinced if I stayed in the room any longer something was going to happen. There were NO LIGHTS.. and after figuring my way to the front desk (which was not manned) and communicating with great pain and patience to the care taker that spoke no English, the reality gripped my heart that nobody sympathized with a foreign woman who claims that her hotel room was haunted. It was either I sit in the equally haunting looking lobby (i dont know for sure if it was haunted like the room) with its no windows, dim lights and scary statutes, or roam the streets of Kyoto in stoic solitude until I reach the solace of an internet cafe.

I chose the latter.
My recluse from the haunted house.

I do myself no justice in this clinical summary of my haunted hotel. But I write because I am obliged. And in the security of my HDB room and warm cup of milk, it is easier to do injustice to myself.

Anyhows, here are pictures of the surroundings I took whilst wandering the streets at 5 ish in the morning. I had refused to return to the hotel until it was fully lit.

Looks lovely in the day. Try to imagine it at night. Take away all the lights and you have it about right.

Quaint. (and scary)

I had not dared to look into these walkways at night.

Next to the hotel.

I apologize. You can tell that I lost steam. I was my usual ranting self at the beginning of this post (which was religiously begun two weeks ago. I uploaded all the photos guys, promise. Just requires alot of stamina to finish what we begin) and somewhere in between (i.e. the 14 days) it struck me again that I write best when I write for nobody.

Hence, therefore, henceforth, perhaps, just maybe, I shall resume to my old melancholic ways here again.

Maybe it's all the books I have been back into reading. We remember how I used to read so ferociously. (actually no, i forgot) Maybe it is my HFM speaking. I have little bumps on my arms and legs. I think it might be HFM (which I know is not lethal on adults and the little bumps should appear on soles and palms and shouldnt itch but mine do) that is speaking through me.

I forgot how to write folks. Good night.

What will i be like ten years from now?

2008-06-02T22:30:00.001+08:00

I wuz gtalking my beloved wwh just. Complaining tt we never talk now cuz he's always busy (it's true, even he admitted it! I neh bluff u.) So anyhows i wuz asking when he's comin home to Singapore and because he bochup me i very naturally and conveniently started to whine and i started. I am behaving like i did 10 years ago when we were in school lor! Freaky lor. 10 years already i still like that. Hahaa. I wonder if I'll still whine to my best friends 10 years from now? Ha!

Japan 2008 Part (i) - how do you organize happiness?

2008-06-01T01:03:00.002+08:00

Hello!

I figured if I dont start now, I wont ever start, like what I did for my Israel trip. So whilst I can I am gonna start now!

First up, what greeted me was the shocking efficiency of the Japanese. This is the busstand for the Limo Bus, they are punctual up to the minute, I kid you not. Whilst we are used to buses coming at ten minute intervals (and being late in that event), the buses here come at times like 16:23, 16:27, 17:01 and so forth.

And everybody's moves are like synchronized as they scurry around moving your luggages into the bus and issue you tickets to collect your luggage and they holler the arrival of buses to various destinations (okay i am assuming the hollering bit, I dont understand what they are hollering in Japanese... hahah.. but must be right!)

And this is amongst the first picture I took of myself in Japan, on the limo bus. I was real happy to be in Japan because for once I can wear my clothes in ALL the combinations I think they look nice in, and WONT look out of place, or all over the top, because everyone is dressed so well / elaborately!

I am glad to say that many thought I was Japanese! (That's a compliment. I think Japanese men and women are hawt! The men are like SOOOOOO well dressed and the women, I mean, I wonder if their husbands recognize them without make up... )

Actually i think the comments on Japanese dressing deserves a separate paragraph by itself and I shouldnt squeeze it in brackets! What I mean to say, is that ALL the girls are like SOOO WELL DRESSED, regardless of whether they work at Ginza (a la Raffles place in Singapore) or whether they do sales in the malls, it's like.. wahh! And they stick like both upper and lower lids with fake lashes, the individual strands kind? It's madness larh. I wonder what time they get up every day to get ready.

As for the men, I mean EVERYONE is in a suit! I was super impressed until I realize that the salesmen also wear suits, it's like default attire. But be that as it may, it's hard to look wrong if you are guy and you are wearing a black suit. I mean, if you are good looking, you look better. If you are not look goodlooking, at the very least you look sharp! And all the Jap men who carry bags all carry nice GUY-BAGS.. leather or otherwise, and you dont see any of the laptop bags that Singapore guys are so like to carry around. Heh.

It's farnee, I met ALH for lunch that day and was recounting the above to him.

ALH: Cant be everyone is so good looking right?

Me: Really larh. EVERYBODY looks super good larh.

ALH: What about the old people?

Me: Urm, the women in their 40s all are like well preserved larh. The men also. Actually you know what, I didnt see any old people in Tokyo. Unless we are talking about the REALLY old ones like 80 plus. I think old and ugly people dont exist in Tokyo.

ALH: HAHAHAAAA.

Really what. He laughed as if i was really biased and just obliterated the old people from memory. But really what. I really never see any like gross people in Tokyo. Except for the really gross ones.

So back to my pictures. The other thing that pleasantly surprised me was the DRUG STORES in Tokyo. (Drug stores my XXX lorh) These places are like DECKED with cosmetics larh. And it goes on for like floors! It is probably like 80% cosmetics (I promise I am not exaggerating) then the rest is like your normal WATSON stuff like plasters and biscuits.

I mean seriously, have you ever had such a choice of hairspray in your life? For girls?

Look!

Many had forewarned me about this sight. And many had predicted that I would go mad in Japan in these shops. But I didnt.

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Because I dont read Japanese. And everything is in Japanese. O well. Heh.

The other thing, which I already blogged about, is the vending machine food stall thingy. The picture wasnt clear in the previous post so I put it up again. What I wanted to eat is in the picture on the right side.

I actually lost weight when I was in Japan - primarily because all the food was SO HEALTHY and in SUCH SMALL PORTIONS.. no wonder Japanese women are so "tall". I was seeing everyone eye to eye and I was in flats and they in heels. But back to the issue of weight loss, and i WALKED SO MUCH... but i put the weight all back on when I reached home - blame it on the local food craving ( you know, curry, char kway tiao and the likes of those things)

So this is the first of these vending machine stalls that I ate at. The girl was nice. I dragged her out and pointed at what i want and she told me the number that I should press on the vending machine.

Actually most people in central Tokyo understand simple English, they just dont speak it.

This, is a love hotel. Just outside mine. Check out the hourly rates. Apparently such hotels are the norm in Japan - flats are so small that couples use these for a little bit of privacy. Well, if you ask me, all these tourbooks are written by angmohs. The place isnt so small what - it's like in Singapore. And I think the space in HK is much more limited in any event.

Another interesting thing is that Japan is pretty much handicap-travel-friendly. The traffic lights are highly populated areas (like the place I stayed at) play music when the green man is on. Different song for different areas. I took this picture because I thought it's farnee that the sign says it's for the use for the visually-impaired, like they can see the sign right. Hahaa.

Speaking of my hotel, I like it. There was this nice good looking guy at the front desk who remembered my name and room number so I didnt have to ask for my room keys whenever I returned... hahaha.. but seriously, it was VERY CHEAP, clean, and in a good location. Ikebukuro and along the Yamanote line which runs in central Tokyo, I will recommend it to anyone who wants a no frills kinda stay. Not to mention the very nice (and attractive) guy at the front desk who was so very nice. =PPP

This is the games thingy that they have all over Japan.. Pachinko they call them...

I also went to Shibuya, which was a little bit of a disappointment really. i expected the shopping be really good, this place i headed to is REALLY famous. but it is really like a high class Chatuchak - or Far east.. But it was nice, street fashion, except that i wasnt in the mood to buy street fashion clothes.. I did buy some SUPER BLINK accessories - which if I have the time I will blog about.

But i like this picture, because it is like in fairytales when the trees part from the clearing and you see the castle?? And excitement fills your heart cuz you are going into the fairytale castle?

I did feel somewhat like that. heh.

When I was there, I met two very kind Japanese. One of them is Yuki, Jean's friend who became my friend. Yuki was VERY hospitable, she even offered to let me stay at her room when i was looking for a hotel one of the nights. She brought me clubbing and shopping with her very dear son here, Ryugen. He looks Japanese, except for his dark skin and head of curly hair. He is very cute he is... i bought him this tshirt that says, "Cool Hunk". Indeed he is.

Of course, we had to go to take neoprints. Here I was just snapping pictures before I got caught.
heh.

I dont know why they dont let the men in. heh.

The neo-print area was filled with school girls, and pretty Japanese girls. But no surprise larh, with lighting like this in the neoprint machines, everyone will look good!

Just to illustrate how big and bright the lights are, here is Yuki inside the machine rummaging for change to take pictures. Yuki is real hospitable - she refused to let me pay for my meals. but lucky i move fast. =)

I cant find a scanner so I cant take a picture of the neoprints we took, suffice that it was very cute. Ryugen got really excited when we put him on the floor, he was just running around into other machines. And interrupting other girls taking pictures, but not that i think they mind. It's not everyday you get a cute little boy running into your room.

I also visited Mount Fuji on like the third day of my trip. I was very fortunate, because apparently you dont always get to see Mount Fuji. The weather keeps changing. I almost didnt see it because it was filled with clouds. This is the sakura at the base station of Mt. Fuji. Good larh, I also got to see sakura, which is also supposed to be super lucky cuz it was so late into spring already, all the flowers had withered. But at Fuji still cold so still have sakura.

so nice horh.

Again.
And up at the fourth station (which was the highest we could go in the weather) got this uncle selling sotong. hahaha. i like.

Okay this is me sitting near the snow. This might be the first time i saw snow actually. Quite anti-climatic actually.

And we have Fuji!

And again!

This is Hakone, which is near Mount Fuji.. and it was soooooooooooooo cold and nice and windy there. That day i happened to be wearing fake lashes.. wah i tell you, so windy one of my eyes the fake lashes nearly got blown off lorh!
Ducky cute. =)

So nice. It was probably the best place i went to in Japan. =)

Many Many SAKURA!!

Okay this is a picture with nice scenery. Then this random stranger ah ma's daughter, i asked her to take for me. Then the Ah ma thought i want to take with her (and why would i want to, since we are all random strangers. but since we are all tourists and I have a digital camera.. i thought i would pretend and let her take with me lorh. Afterall can take again right.. )
This picture so nice! Even ALH said so. =) heh. It was taken on the bullet train btw. =)

After Fuji I went to this high rise building at Ikebukuro to reward myself with fine dining. The view is good horh.
I dont know about you, but sometimes when I am faced with great beauty (which is prone to hit me when I am in a high place, or facing a wide expanse of nature - be it fields or mountains but especially large surfaces of water), but when i am facing with great beauty, i usually feel so very lonely. It's like wah so nice, then you want to turn around and tell someone - it's like the expression of beauty completes your appreciation of it. You know, like taking it in. AND if there is nobody to express that to, meaningfully.. the awareness and consciousness of that beauty just swirls around on the inside of you and leaves you feeling, empty.

You know what I mean?

So anyhows the restaurant that i went to was super nice, service very good, food very nice, waiters very cute and price very cheap. i even got a free bottle of wine. Hahaa.

So I shall end this post with my post card pictures of Japan. To illustrate the point about the expression of beauty completing our appreciation of it.

This one is the only pink sakura that I saw. Not bad lorh, even the very yim jeem P said I can use it on his online mag. Which btw has changed their name and you can take a look by clicking here.

This is another very lovely shot of Fuji.
I am going to try and blog about the rest of my trip (haunted hotel - YES! one of my hotels was haunted lorh).. but it's hard to upload so many pictures and etc. I am lazy, but I have to share my joy and stories with so many of the ppl I love, who have not seen the pictures!

Japan was so good.. possibly the best thing I ever did for myself!

I am rambling, but I am really grateful for the sms-es and the emails and the msn conversations and the blog comments, that i had when i was away - and all the little things that were done by very many people, that reminded me that i am very much loved and thought about whilst i was away. It was little but i was v touched. (Yuarh somebody commented before that i very easily touched. what to do, tender heart what.. lol). But yes, thanks peeps!

Japan was good for my heart.

Indeed. =)

Wah.

2008-05-17T10:10:00.001+08:00

So we are in e car on e way to JB and QT wuz saying if we need charger for our phones can get from him. I wuz abt to tease and ask if he brought 10 chargers for our array of phones when he pulled this out. You really can charge ANYTHING lar. Cool. So guy.

I'm in JITPOON!

2008-04-23T21:10:00.001+08:00

Yes! Thanks to ur prayers, i'm safe in my hotel room blogging from e bed, mask on my face. I nearly got lost just now! The people here REALLY dont speak english AT ALL! And e maps are SO misleading. And japanese guys are SO CUTE! The young men are all really stylish or swanky in their suits. I never saw so many men milling in one area other than in court and Japanese men look better than e lawyers lor! I'm glad to report tt i pass off as local without a doubt, i jus need to step up e makeup, which is quite easily solved! I'm so glad i bought e trench boat and boots! Perfect for weather here. Anyhow, e shopping here is pretty good, i've only been to e sama sama malls near my hotel and e stuff so nice! Can you imagine when i go harajuku and shibuya tmw? Ha! O. The picture above is of some ticketing machine for food. There are various orders and you must put in right amt and press right buttons. The ticket wif ur order comes out and you bring it to e staff who will prepare it. I really wanted to eat e thingy in e picture but at tt point in time not enough loose change and dunno which button to press so bopian. I know i'm rambling but forgive me. One sad thing abt travelling alone is no one to take pictures for you! I'll try to blog again!

Tell them what to do

2008-04-07T00:26:00.003+08:00

I think the man is hiding magnets somewhere. But anyhow, it is cool to be able to tell fish where to swim!

Recently, some guy commented (yet again) that I was too directive. Which brings me to a conversation I had with Mal C a long time ago. When we were in JC maybe.

He was telling me how most local guys like the xiao niao yi ren type of girls. (read: 小鸟依人) But yours truly is the da niao chi ren type (read: 大鸟吃人).

Wah. I nearly died laughing lorh. I had forgotten how farnee Mal C is.

=)

zhng it!

2008-04-06T00:22:00.004+08:00

Hello!

In preparation of my upcoming trip to Japan - I went today to do this to my lashes!

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Drama enough anot?

I dont wanna have to bother bringing eyeliner and mascara and what not when I am travelling so now I really dont need to have ANY make up on leh. SHIOK!

But I think it isnt drama enough, will probably go zhng it somemore just before my trip.

Now I know what to pray if i ever have kids - God please give them long and thick lashes!!! (i think a woman's appearance is dramatically improved with minimal effort with lashes lorh)

On a separate note, I FINALLY got down to uploading my Israel pictures to my computer - and I so feel like I should be blogging about it! (which was what i intended to do eons ago) .. we'll see how it goes.. I didnt think much of it then, but looking back, I really like some of the pictures.. here are 2 of my favourites..

At one of the natural springs in Israel that existed since biblical times (the name i forgot. hey i actually wrote down each day where i visited okay - so is i lazy to find, not just a nameless place in the whirlwind of the tour)

The lighting overseas - at least in Israel, is great! I didnt have to zhng the picture AT ALL lorh..

I took this picture of the Israeli flag in the old city - which is like the old and preserved part of Jerusalem. The rest of Jerusalem looks like any modern city.

We'll see how it goes. Maybe I shall blog about Israel if there is popular demand, or I get struck by a sudden streak of efficient inspiration!

Men who can laugh at themselves are good company

2008-03-23T23:24:00.001+08:00

I love it when people can laugh at themselves.

Check this one out.

Initially I thought that the objective of the game was whoever could make their own face uglier. But maybe not!

Why the pizza not round.

2008-03-13T20:20:00.004+08:00

DCK is so funny.

We all had to work late yesterday so the boys ordered pizza. I went to join them (funny, because I realized my dinner kaki all not from my dept.)

ANYHOW, DCK made an exclamation about HOW they could serve us pizzas there were not round.

The pizza was oval shaped.

I was very amused. You'd realized most pizzas are round - though I do think I have seen square shaped ones before. I think we were all very stressed because I was very amused by the pizza that was not round. Hahaaa.

Poor DCK. He is super swamped at work, and his wife is pregnant with first baby and anytime going to POP and he is moving house and renovation not complete (as is usually the case i heard), all at the same time!

Poor boy. I am not strong else I can volunteer to help him move house. But I already volunteered to help him and his wife clean the house.

so nice I am. hur hur hur..

Look at what ALH gave me.

2008-03-12T00:07:00.004+08:00

ALH is moving to his new room. He gave me this!

Somehow, I dont think what he gave me (read the print on the bottle if i have to say it so clearly!) is a statement of my femininity. Hiaks.

The Lonely-Planet Japan was volunteered to me when I told CBC that I going to Japan alone! So kind of him to lend me his copy. Wonder what I should get him from Japan. Speaking of which, I am totally enjoying planning for the solo trip. Living it out my alternative career path as an events planner! Hahaa.

I think I am going to totally enjoy me solo trip. Only thing is that nobody can take picture for me, and we ALL know how much I like to take picture!

Anyhow, back to the picture above. We should all be gracious and kind to the people in our office as much as possible. Especially when you spend so much of your waking hours there. So much of your life there, if I may more accurately say so. And by gracious and kind I mean in the altruistic sense. Not solely fueled by selfish motives that kind. I mean, for those who are honest, our motives are often, at best, mixed. So how about moving it towards altruism?

Preached it. Now do it.

My mother cut her hair.

2008-03-09T23:45:00.000+08:00

Today is Sunday and I brought my mother to do her hair. Then I told her, you should be different like me, how about looking COMPLETELY different from when you step into the salon?

So after much persuasion and pressure (from me) on my very not willing to try new things mother.. she decided to CUT HER HAIR! i know. you would have thought it was something more dramatic but the only time my mom has had long hair after she passed puberty was like ONE other time.. so yeah. you get the drift..

and i think she looks like my sister larh!!

I think it looks very nice.

Then after that, I brought my parents to this Jap restaurant at Bugis. Speaking of which, I CONFIRM that i AM going to japan! Just booked my tickets, so happy my heart come out already. So happy i cant sleep. Ya know Ya know?

Anyhow, too bad my little brother the yandao couldnt join us for dinner.

My little brother, when he was actually little, now he is like he-man-i-so-strong-i-can-crush-you-like-powder, had asthma (which miraculously disappeared when he started swimming). So I remember the incident when he was like super tiny and i was slightly less tiny (no stupid jokes here okay!), my mother gave me a piece of chocolate and told me NOT to give it to him because he was coughing. Well, I remember i PURPOSELY went up to him and pranced the chocolate infront of him before popping it in my mouth.

Wah. He was very upset. Hiaks.

Well, I lurve my little brother alot alot. And I am super proud of him. He used to really look up to me when he was little. I mean, more than just literally - but maybe the figurative thingy also stopped when he stopped having to look up at me literally, I dont know. Hahaa.

ANYHOW.

This video is super cute. Big brother is very concerned.

My little brother is bleeding and it's NOT FARNEE!!!!

Kill me now!!! SOOOOOOOOOOO farnee! Brotherly love man. Brotherly love.

Charlie bit my finger!!!

2008-03-06T00:27:00.002+08:00

SO CUTE SO CUTE SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the big boy abit SM. check out how his facial expression changes.

And Charlie? Well, Charlie's sense of humour abit dark dont you think? *wink*

No more weekend getaway

2008-03-05T02:07:00.003+08:00

Was supposed to go on a weekend getaway with HM some time this month, not anymore! Spent the money that was supposed to be for the weekend getaway on this!

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I met the BF for dinner earlier and we HAPPENED (for real) to walk around the shops. None of us had ANY intention of getting anything. Then we saw it. And she convinced me (granted that it was easy to convince me) that I would be dying for one when I am in Japan. And since (a) I dont have a pair of boots, and (b) I dont want to be green with envy at all the young babes in Japan wearing nice boots and I dont, and (c) this pair of boots flat and easy to walk in...

there you have it, my first pair of boots, and no weekend getaway for yours truly.

And i JUST heard that i will be going on one leg of the Japan trip by myself! *gasp*

I know!! So exciting and so scary! This gonna be my first time travelling alone out of Singapore. Apart from the usual oh be careful getting around etc, I was up for 2 hours just, looking for accommodation.

Wah, one person staying in Japan, not cheap leh. Jialats.

Natas fair not so crowded what.

2008-03-03T00:32:00.007+08:00

To start, my usual random and unrelated rambling: Corrine came in this really pretty yellow dress. and she had this red flower with her, so we thought she would make great poster girl for sunshine girl!!but yes, her grin is not quite characteristic of a sunshine girl. i can do a better example. heh.

anyhow, things are getting... better, I guess. But the one conclusion I can safely draw is that I NEED A BREAK! So missy here is going to japan... was supposed to go shopping with fiz but i realized i wasnt in the mood to shop (how is that possible, but it's true) so fiz was saying, let's go NATAS fair!

Because missy is going japan!!!!

So here's me on the train with fizzy (and with my fake eyelashes which you cant see) on the way to NATAS fair..

Well, on the way to the NATAS fair at the expo, we, or more accurately, i saw this!

I mean, come on, i just HAD TO go and take a look right.. shoes and bags leh.. warehouse sale all at 90%????? but turns out it was a hoax.. the items were pathetic..

pls lorh. check out the boxers that were on sale. what a disappointment. should sue them for misrep.

anyhows, we finally made our way to the NATAS fair. I've heard all these horror stories about how packed it is, and how people have to wait to queue to go in. but it really wasnt all that bad at all.

Here's Fiz looking at the maps..
and i was just assailed by all the ads! I mean, granted this is my first NATAS fair... but all the booths were plastered with just air fares and package prices. i finally found out WHO would use coloured paper - I always wondered, i thought everyone in the world would use white paper only. at my work place, at most we use 2 other colours... but now I KNOW why they have so many types of coloured paper!!!

it was a little bit of a let down, i mean, it was just walking around askin for rates (which i realized actually can just call via newspapers ads) and then this lady was SOOOOOOOOO slow that whilst she was still staring at her computer to get the answer to whatever we were asking, i actually FORGOT what my question was..

then there was this other salesman speaking to a group of young people who wanted to go to london. i couldnt help overhearing his sales pitch as i was waiting for my turn to be served (by someone else thank goodness) he was talking about how he couldnt guarantee a ticket (at some soccer match) because "i dont own the stadium".

???

So not logical. Just because you dont own the stadium doesnt mean you cant guarantee a ticket. for that matter, even if you own the stadium, you may not be able to guarantee a ticket????

anyhows, it was just painful, in light of everything else he was saying.

o well, so.. that was the NATAS fair.

i supposed i might go again, next time. if say i knew for sure i wanted to go on a trip and knew for sure when i could go, then i just have to pay and book there and then.. so many booths, sure can find some super wuuuhua deals.

the day ended with dinner with parents.. my treat, as usual.

i am all set to go for japan now. as in, i am all decided. the plan is to go hokkaido and tokyo. so if you guys have lobangs or know where is good to visit, drop me a note or buzz.. you know how to reach me!

ps: i am looking at going out for a weekend getaway too, soon. I know. I am so in the mood to just get OUT. o well, at least these are things to look forward to!!

Whispers in NewYork City

2008-02-28T01:34:00.004+08:00

The story goes about this Red Indian who bumped into a friend in the heart of New York city.

In the thick of the lunch time crowd, the two friends were chatting. Suddenly the Red Indian paused. He stopped the conversation, squatted, and lifted up the cover of a drain. The Red Indian reached in and pulled out a cricket.

New Yorker friend: Wow. You mean you heard that cricket in all this noise ?

Red Indian: Watch this.

The Red Indian reached into his pocket and took out two dollars worth of loose change. He held the change in his palm. And there, in the thick of the bustling crowd in the heart of New York city, the Red Indian emptied the contents in his palm on to the floor.

As the shillings fell and rolled on the cement walkway, different faces in the crowd stopped and looked to the ground investigating the cause of that familiar sound.

The Red Indian turned to his New Yorker friend and said, "people hear what they want to hear".

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

You know, too often we are caught in the intensity and speed of work and life rolls us by. Can we take the time to hear that still small voice of reason, compassion and conscience?

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." Hebrews 4:7

It's easier to talk about shopping.

2008-02-24T20:38:00.011+08:00

I know!

I havent been blogging at all!

Well, have had to make some decisions. And been thinking alot. And we ALL know I cant multi-task. But today I decide to update abit. Lest yáll think that this blog is discontinued..

In any event, it is easier to talk about shopping than you know.. the really important stuff..

Okay so I ramble. First up, my shopping.

Hairbands!

Been on quite a hairbanding spree - cut my hair (again) you see. It looks abit like the lion-king thingy in law school that Lum and all used to call me. Havent been in the mood to take pictures of myself, so no new pictures of me new hair.

I like me new hair bands - it's like a new look when you have something on your head and you dont.

You know? (dont know never mind)

Other accessories I bought this month include: ZEBRA earrings and green stuff!
And i bought this (as WT will say TOXIC GREEN) hand bag - which i like alot. Quite a retro shade of green dont you think? Placed here together with me new nail polish - one of it is fire engine red. LURVE IT! Don't know when i'll get the chance to wear it though..

If you think that I am talking about shopping because I dont have other things to talk about - that's where you are wrong. . it's just, easier to make small talk now.

But i CAN talk about happy stuff... and one of the REAL happy stuff that's happened in abit is the return of my BEST FRIEND!! MR WWH!

Only that he has returned to London. I have to go up whilst he is still there - free lodging huang hor? =)

Speaking of which, you know how it is difficult to have some people take pictures? My best friend here has played this silly prank on me all these years! You see the picture above like so nice and normal rite.. NOT! That's like the dunno how many picture we've taken in a row because everytime i take a picture with him.. he does this!

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SO DUMB! (People is RJ top humanities scholar in my year okay dont play play... but we know how intelligent people always have a side to them).

As evidence, take a look at these other pictures we took in previous years..

you get my point already dont you? Each time i pose nice nice and then he will make stupid face and i will only realize after..

But i am not complaining.. i miss my best friend already.. =(

Thank God for my other best friend... and she's coming right up!

You must be wondering why I am showing a picture of fake lashes right? Recently I thought that fake lashes are real cool, so i thought i should go try them.. and influenced her to do so as well... You see her here POSING with the fakies....

Posing ah. She not hiao wan. (urm. okay.. we are very hiao.. but only in the we are so vain way =D )

Over the CNY, I also met my many relatives - together with my VERY adorable niece! Her bro and her super cute lorh!

Btw, if you havent already realized, these are pictures of me with old hair.. not the new funky munks one..

So cute horh? My niece that is. =P

The other stuff i can talk about includes meeting up with the boys! (other than the scouts)..

Let's see. Vincent (guy in white) is Weethong's (GAP) classmate in RJ. Vincent is Zhiyang's (guy in brown) classmate in RI. Vincent is my CCA partner in RJ (we both go and take care of old people together every week last time). Zhiyang and Weethong and I used to stay over in school together on weekends to study for our A's and prelims. But I always say that the only one that really studied was Weethong, which makes sense, because he is the doctor now on the way to being a specialist in .... (i'll save that for when i get permission to say.. haha)

As an illustration of how we have aged! See these pictures of us that i dug up...

WT and I..
Zhi zhi and I..

I know I have posted these up before but i am trying to make a point here that 10 years is a long time.

I havent put up a picture of Vincent BECAUSE HE LOOKS THE SAME AS HE DID 10 YEARS AGO!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (he's so gonna kill me)

Zhi zhi and Vinny..

WT and I..

The ex-classmates.. Urm, the ex-classmates.. (really what! they also ex-classmates marh!)

After drinks (the doctor left early because he got to go to work early), YANDAO (i.e. Vincent, incase you were wondering... should be obvious if he is really yandao.. =P gosh vincent is soo gonna kill me.. but i really think he is yandao mah!) YANDAO and i went for supper at the chinatown porridge place that the best friend showed me before...

we look very tired because we are. . check out this picture that i accidentally took of vincent whilst he was trying to dunno do what..

So farnee right! Like movie all.. so i ask him to do again when i take picture again...
HAHAHAHAHAA!!! The Yandao, my buddy. =)
(yuarh he really looks the same as he did 10 years ago. lol)

I've come to the end of my long post about nothing... Am trying to keep my chin up folks! Here's a sunny picture of bestie and me in Botanical gardens.... Yes! that every day would be so sunny..

What can i say? The dear Lord shine on us hereafter!

Till I can blog again folks!

Where is Budapest?

2008-02-05T02:53:00.000+08:00

Is this even real?

Amazing! And she isnt even that pretty!

Raffles Marina

2008-01-17T12:27:00.000+08:00

i am mildly amused by the fact that the bruise is in the shape of a yacht.

i will not be amused if there is a scar, shape of a yacht or otherwise.

So loser

2008-01-16T20:56:00.001+08:00

I'm having dinner and scalded my hand against the lamp. It's very burnt! This is after icing and 2 rounds of oinment. Sob. Pray it doesnt scar! Else i should consider suing TCC under occupier's liability!

Exercising, kinda.

2008-01-07T15:05:00.000+08:00

Yes.

I went crazy on Saturday and bought 8 dresses and 3 shirts under 5 hours. The day was spent with one of them BF, so it was a most good day. I cant wait for the other BF to be home.

I just realized that BF seems to be what it is not.

BF is best friend okay. NOT boyfriend. Cannot have more than one BOYFRIEND, that is zhek-ark.. which i am not. =)

I also bought:

A dress last week (one of which you see above);
New Specs (which you see below);
A huge-ass gym bag;
A pair of sandals (both iii and iv i din take pictures of).

I also bought a pair of earrings but the cost of that is negligible so i din put it in the list. And i still have to get shoes for new year / work.

I think I shouldnt be shopping anymore for a long long time.

I am alive!

2008-01-04T19:04:00.000+08:00

Yes.

To all that were asking. I am alive.

People (even me) don't always feel like talkin wan okay. Like even now. But just so you know I am alive. Here's a picture of me that doesnt look like me with my new specs and new hair (minus the new hair colour that was done later).. i look super alot like someone horhhh...

So any votes for me specs? This pair is new..

On this day

2007-12-18T17:38:00.000+08:00

Some of you may know that when I was much younger (like ten years ago), I used to participate in Toast-master competitions. One of the components entail the speaker weaving a whole story or some entertaining speech based on a word or sentence provided by the organizers.

Some samples of the questions I got before are:

a. What do you on a bad date?

I kid you not. This was actually during my law school days. I was first-runner up. The judge of the competition, some prominent partner of a prominent firm, actually leaned over to whisper in my ear whilst handing over the trophy - "we are giving this to you because we thought you made good of a difficult topic".

I can't remember very much of what I said except that alot of people were laughing, then again, when do people not laugh at what I say (hurhur). Something about remembering why you went on the date in the first place and taking off clothes. Hahaa.

b. "Naked" and "Island"

I kid you not again. This was the topic that I got in Secondary Four. I think I was second runner-up in the Nationals. I cant remember exactly the topic already, apart from the words above. But I do remember thinking I was the only one trying to crack a joke out of what I got. The others were all too serious, but the judges seemed to like that.

Funny what we remember when we intentionally call things to mind.

Anyhows, why am I talking about this?

I have been thinking, thinking, thinking.

And I guess I remember these competitions of old because:

i. in those days, i had to weave random ideas into a story from a word or theme that was given to me. A story that the audience would like. It made me happy that people found my throwing of ideas together entertaining. Being random helped.

ii. these days, i have to weave values and truths and reconcile them into a belief system. I guess we really live (as opposed to waking up and just living today because you didnt die in your sleep and you are just carrying on where you left off when you fell asleep yesterday) when we are forced to articulate and make coherent what makes your belief system - your own. And it is not easy.

But. Real growth comes when we have to grapple with new truths and ideas and face the possibility of changes to our belief system. Or development. Or depth to it, whatever you may want to call non-status quo. That, is not easy. Hahaa. Which is why some people grow and some people dont.

Being a source of entertainment doesnt feature so much now, though I do think I can still amuse.

So what would one say of the word, "Dreams"?

Lao ban niang

2007-12-09T01:40:00.001+08:00

Harlowz! I'm back from israel! The trip wuz most good and shall blog abt it in due course! But THIS is a picture we took at Pakk's wedding with the boys. They were only 15 when i first met them. You would agree that i look like lady mafia boss!

My bags are packed i'm ready to go

2007-11-24T17:01:00.001+08:00

I'm leaving for israel! Will be back in two weeks! Check out my new specs! Miss me and love me!

Uncle so friendly

2007-11-17T22:54:00.001+08:00

Hs and i are havin barhchor mee and i wuz exclaiming that there isnt a picture of me on her phone. I proceeded to take a picture of myself. The barhchor mee uncle who wuz apparently watching us exclaimed that i should take a picture of him and i kindly obliged. Uncle so cute, check out his fingers. Blogging from me phone so fun =)

In the mood for some..

2007-11-17T14:14:00.000+08:00

Dinner was with SA last night. Good time of sharing, most precious it is. Especially when you know the other person's love language is time and they are so very busy.

I am really looking forward to Israel, now to piah all the way so I can go in peace. My bosses have been real nice about my trip too. Most grateful I am.

I am trying out this new editing program. Think it rocks big time man.. check out the little stars and what not you can add on your pictures!

So kelian

2007-11-13T02:04:00.001+08:00

It's been awhile since i left office at 2 am. The security uncle was exclaiming when he saw me. I told him upstairs still got people. He asked in astonishment if my boss was still around. I said no lar, my junior. I am actually fond of some of the security uncles, even though i dont feel very safe - how are they going to out run the bad guys with their jiggly bellies? Be that as it may, it's tough to be a security uncle. Maybe i should bless them tmw. =) Ya. Incase you're wondering, i'm bloggin from me phone. =)

==================

This is an addition to the post of last night. Met DCK and FMR in the lift back from Court just now and the conversation turned to how late one can stay in the office.

Me: I left at like 2 am yesterday can.

DCK: Single still can larh.

FMR: Yarh Yarh.

Me: No not single. If I staying alone I dont dare to stay so late wan. Scary.

DCK: I meant like not married with kids single.

Me: O.

Hahaa. Anyhows, we agreed that we should have a measurement of lateness for our ease of reference. Check out the email that DCK sent out after the conversation in the lift.

[QUOTE]

Dear all

Re: Graduation of lateness (for discussion)

This is a list of the suggested answers to be given when someone asks you the following question:-

"Are you staying late tonight? How late?"

6pm I'm married and expecting kids kinda late
7pm I've got a charity dinner for needy children kinda late
8pm -
8.45pm I've just come back from dinner and will be taking cab back home now kinda late
10pm -
11pm Damn late
12pm Super damn late
2am Scary late
6am Casio discovery kinda late
10am Law Soc final submissions kinda late

Please feel free to include more suggested answers.

Best regards

[UNQUOTE]

Hahaaa.

Btw, the 10 am above means work overnight. God forbid that happen to me man. Gross. =)

Saturday Night

2007-11-05T12:18:00.000+08:00

Think my body is physically feeling the long hours, though thank God you cant see it from my face (yet). That's grace I tell you. Wasn't particularly efficient on Saturday and decided to call it a day earl(ier).

So Saturday was dinner with the best friend - you can actually be too tired to shop! (if you look carefully you can see the fatigue in my eyes below. hahaa. )

Actually, you cant larh (be too tired to shop that is).

It was then drinks with Peh, who refused to allow his picture to be taken.

Not a bad idea since he hasn't cut his hair in awhile. OOPS! heh.

Groovy Baby!

2007-11-03T18:17:00.000+08:00

thanks bes! (check him out here)

"Do not compare sufferings"

2007-11-01T21:55:00.000+08:00

Some definitions of "grace" in the dictionary:

a. the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God.
b. the influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them.
c. moral strength: the grace to perform a duty.

you can always tell when someone is just doing it out of pure GULAK (read: bull strength and tenacity) or out of the grace of God - in the latter the humility, gentleness and moral courage is like emanating inside out - in every word and act.

Indeed.

This video is nothing short of breath-taking.

I dont think I can utter any of my alleged grievances before this man. If I ever see him, I'll probably be like completely speechless for super long and then walk away convinced that "with God, impossible is nothing" (thats like Matthew 19:26 and Adidas, but whatever larh ah..).

In fact, right now, I think with God, impossible is nothing. Pretty sure I am :)

Amazing grace.

September / October Update - it's difficult to come up with catchy phrases all

2007-10-27T16:04:00.000+08:00

My dear ardent ones,

Harlows. Come to think of it, I never started writing as if this was a letter before - and I am not going to begin doing so! Hahaa!

It has been rather challenging time for me (at work) - suffice it is to say that I don't quite recall a time as intense as this. What can i say? God has an interesting way of answering our prayers! But for those who are worried - dont be! I have been surprisingly good - my spirit most high, I am laughing half the time (the other half I am panicking) - I have to thank my crazy colleagues and God - talk about the joy of the Lord man..

But it's boring for you all to read this, when I can't give any particulars of what I am busy with at work rite?

yes yes, I know my audience - shall move on to my interesting stuff - like photos.

1. Hong Kong Cafe

It's been some time, but my lovely HS and I discovered the HK cafe - it rocks man! I mean, they serve all the HK style food - as for me, I am very pleased to have maggi mee served with my luncheon meat... Talk about being crazy..

I mean check out the soup all! It must be crazy to pay 6 bucks for maggi mee - but heck larh.. 开心就好 - allow me to indulge myself.

And here is my lovely HS - as WH puts it, with the most characterful face.. i oso say.. chioh too.. :)

She went to China for a work trip, and brought back peaches! the real kind! super sweet it was - I am more captivated by the colour and look of it. And check out the happening cheena plates - at first I was most excited to see it - old school plates! But I realized it was a faux - is plastic lorh.. =_=

2. No more WWH

Sob!

My bestest WWH has left for London - possibly for good! (crys mad tears) I is most sad! And he hasnt replied to my emails =_=

As many would know, WWH is most dear to me and now he is going to be out-stationed ! Who is going to whine and dine with me now?! So this is us before he left - I wanted to buy him dinner, but ended up he got the bill first.. drinks was on me tho..

This is JF who joined us - he insisted on me taking this picture of him attempting to look effeminate - i think cannot make it larh - he look so man how to be ahem..

But seriously, this is a great loss to me, WWH going away that is... and I meant to see him off at the airport but I overslept. =_= but okay larh.. WWH called me before he went in..

Huang! If you are readin this, you better reply to me emails! Soon!!

3. KL Trip

I went up with the Trybe! ppl to KL, to explore the possibility of setting up Trybe! there. It was a road trip - Rach drove.

I lurve Malaysian road signs - it's like super vintage. Anyhows, the ppl in the car were calling out to me when they saw this one.. so famous I am.. haha

It was a short trip, but good.. so much food! We went to this nice Penang-style Kopitiam. I mean, the decor was very old school, the marble top table and wooden chairs and tiled floors (i like!).. but it was like clean and aircon..

Most importantly, the food is sooooooooooooooooo good!

This is a picture of the coconut I had there - which is one of a kind. It came with this white thingy - they managed to prepare the coconut by shaving its head off and just covering it with the sticky food film - so all you had to do was just peel it off and WAHLA! COCONUT FLESH!

i think Malaysian food just tastes better.. like even any old road side stall also can make it. this was like penang coffee, Curry chicken noodle (the ppl in malaysia have real JELAT tastebuds man.. the uncle was askin me if i wanted my curry noodle served with roast pork (shao rou).. SO JELAT... of cuz i violently refused him) ..

Okay. the truth of the matter is that I really took time to go up to Malaysia (take leave all) because I wanted to spend time with two very special people... Pastor Victor and Pastor Kelly!!! This very lovely couple were SUCH a blessing to me in their time in Singapore - i managed to spend one night at their place, Ps Kelly and I chatted till 5 am (so siao.. hahah)..

pastor Vic insisted on sticking a finger into each of the pictures I took =_=

watever.. u see him here, or rather, his finger..

(okay this is an interruption. whilst waiting for pastor victor to finish his meeting, pastor kelly and i went shopping - CHECK OUT THE SHOES!!! ay.. i din buy any okays.. such a good girl i am :) )

So i wanted to eat durians but in the end no time, so the pastors brought me to this place .. the local food was soooooooooooooooooooo good! (check out pastor vic's finger)

But i think the best of the food in Malaysia is the CLAYPOT PEI TAI MAK.. initially when it came i was like.. whats this man.... until you taste it.. SO YUMMY!!

4. the Parents

Um. I dont have much to say about the parents actually. Except that I think this picture I took of them whilst i brought them out for dinner is MOST endearing - they are possibly the most loving couple I know.. i think it comes with the age gap.. hahaa..

5. New Place

I recently chanced upon this ultra ulu place in the East. i think it rocks, especially for the time when i own my own yatches! You recall how I like to spend time in nature, hence the Bintan fishing village trips all (which you can read about here).. this place just faces the open sea! Shiok man (minus the Cheena music)

Next time I need a break, I dont have to go so far liao.. but having said that I prob still would.. i lurve that Indon fishing village.

6. Lovely Anna

So at church last Sunday, little anna was struggling to open a bag of chips. After observing her attempts for awhile, as well as her contemporaneous shouts to nobody in particular of "open for me!!", i offered my services...

Anna: Open for me! Open for me!

Me: Come, I open for you. (takes bag from her). What must you say?

Anna: Can you please open for me?

Me: Can who please open for you?

Anna: Can you please open for me, Auntie Jasmine? (she stares at me for awhile) Auntie Pretty?

Me: LOL!!!

So cute!!! I didnt even teach her to say that! What to do - kids dont lie.. lol.. Needless to say, I definitely opened the bag of chips for her larh - most promptly too.. hahha..

HHC and his coconut tree

2007-10-20T18:28:00.000+08:00

Lunch was with the colleagues yesterday but the stars were really HHC and FMR. So funny they are - a must-have on weekends and late nights in office. It is very good that the food auntie really likes HHC who sits with the 小姐s. (okay never mind, inside joke).

I have been instructed with the honourable task as follows. You see the real famous green can above (yuarh just pretend you didnt notice our 'handsome' FMR laughin all).

Now, we the young lawyers of the Singapore bar would be grateful if you would confirm whether "Kickapoo - Joy Juice" should be pronounced:

i. "KEE-KAH-POH" (read with the Singapore slang); or

ii. "KICK-A-POO" (read with the clipped angmorh accent).

Just go with the flow and post your vote under the comments!

I promise we are not betting on this one! But prizes will be given to those who guess correctly which one is my choice! =)

In the way

2007-10-01T21:48:00.001+08:00

I literally stepped out of the office just and see what i found in the way! This huge crane was being manhandled, okay, OPERATED down the lorry. No car could move along e road. I'm very amused! My taxi uncle so crever he wait infront of e lorry. Reporting live from e CBD at 2145hrs!

Interesting signs

2007-09-26T17:58:00.000+08:00

found this on the mrbrown flickr site. hurhurhur. so farnee horh.

Malaysia photos coming as soon as i can get round to it.

Eyespy

2007-09-16T00:52:00.001+08:00

Wuz havin dinner wif wwh (this is his LAST sat in singapore for a long time. *SOB*) and i saw this! So farnee hor. =) anyhows, i'm off to KL to visit pastor victor and kel over e next few days (YES!! God bless their souls) so do pray for journey mercy, rach is driving up. Ta!

Sixteen going on 17

2007-09-11T18:15:00.000+08:00

You've guessed it.

I cut my hair!

Well, I always wanted a bob.. so on Saturday morning I woke up and decided I was tired of being goldilocks and TADAH! I wanted to dye it black with blue streaks but I figure after that I cant go to Court, so.. had to be satisfied with VERY BLACK hair.

How many years younger do i look??

Thereafter I met some of the molihualets, and they took me to take neo print! I feel young already! Did you know that Neoprint machines these days actually ALLOW you to decorate and photoshop and a la, customize your prints?

SUPER fascinating larh!

See their handicraft!

Sunday was dinner time with Spiderman (dont you think Lirong looks like Spiderman) and Nic..

and we stuff our faces at NYDC.

But I think I have had enough of stuffing faces - recently have had this unexplainable chest pains. Went to see the doc today who gave me an ECG. Turns out I am fine, and God willing, will not drop dead suddenly (not because of heart failure anyway).

Yup. That's my ECG results. *gaddd*

I am still thinking about last Sunday's sermon was on the issue of discipline - we can overcome the problem of ill discipline when we remember the 3 Ps.

Possession: whose we are;

Purpose: what are we hearing for;

Partnership: we dont have to do it alone.

The message was actually preached in the context of having the discipline to lead a healthy lifestyle - something ALOT of Singaporeans (myself super included) struggle with. But this perennial problem of discipline, for me, is more than just eating right and etc - it's this whole idea of stewardship - which is too serious for me to post here.. hahaa. I think if we were more disciplined and focused (generally), we would probably accomplished much much more in life, dont you think? (Yuarh WWH doesnt like me to make sweeping statements like that, but he is going away.. to London. Sob.)

O well, suffice it is to say, bottoms up (fill it with some healthy drink!) to a healthier me!

Legal Genius

2007-09-09T02:12:00.000+08:00

i LURVE this!!!!!

what, with the court robe monsters and the spinning court robes???

wah wah wah wah wah!

this SOOOOO reminds me of law school.. sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I love HOSSAN LEONG (i mean, Singapura)

2007-09-06T10:56:00.000+08:00

A real genius this boy, i mean man, i mean boy, i mean.. uhhh..

A real genius this one!!! REEEAAALLLL genius..

I like!

Dangerous moods

2007-09-04T14:20:00.000+08:00

I am IN the mood to shop. Like seriously - serious shopping.

For the ignorant out there, i dont shop ALL the time okays, and people DO feel like shopping some occasions more than others, especially if you are high on visual spatial like yours truly..

ANYHOWS. this is a dangerous mood to be in.

I have not been feeling like going home early of late, so yesterday met YJJ for dinner - felt like stuffing our faces so we went to Siam-dunno-what for the buffet..

The food was so so. Before the main course came we had already stuffed ourselves silly with keropok, which promptly expanded when met with our swift consumption of the free flow ice lemon tea. By the time the real food came, nobody's tummy had any more space..

early early say then we just tapao keropok and can beer and just eat at home right.. save money somemore..

OKAY. It is official.

[dramatic pause for dramatic announcement]

My love language is food.

Happy - Eat.
Not happy - Eat.
Cause to celebrate - Eat.
Hungry - Eat.
Nothing better to do - Eat.

Maybe the next question should be, eat what? But that's for another post. Maybe i should do a post of my favoritest food - but that would be difficult since i like alot of things.

So i was saying.. we were eating. I think I am very blessed and loved girl - i realized recently that in the event that i REALLY, supposing i HAD TO, leave home, i have at least 7 homes that are open for me to stay / visit (excluding family). Blessed indeed i am.

So we were wondering along the streets of Bugis when we came across this pet shop.. THE HAMSTER SO CUTE!!!

Not that i am a hamster fan at all, but this particular chappie was so garang! He KEPT running in the wheel at a pace MUCH faster than he was capable of mustering with all 4 feet and he was constantly being THROWN OUT of the wheel! Imagine!

After which he would just climb back in and keep at it! Then the wheel would spin real fast and he would get FLIPPED upside down such that he would land on his back and 四脚朝天 in the wheel!

Or he would get like flipped over such and land in the wheel such that he would be facing and running in the opposite direction!

I mean the point is the TENACITY of that chappie.

I was very amused and took pictures - you know, with the best shot thingy with my camera so they catch like MANY shots back to back - you see him here.

Like movie horh.

But seriously . I guess the tenacity of that chappie - not something i wont wish to have. or mind building greater strength in.

*Nods head*

La da di. So tomorrow is another day, other things to face.

Here's my parting shot: interesting video from Huimei's blog. Enjoy!

cool stuff!!

Zhng It !

2007-09-02T23:30:00.000+08:00

Hey'all!

I have been really swamped of late and cant post but I'm happy. Happily swamped.

First up. Check out what Nic Sit did to his car. It was a nice decent Mazda, till it became this!

The first thing I said was, WAH! So ah Beng!!

The second thing I said was, O. But I like leh.

Afterwhich I made him switch on the lights whilst I take pictures.

Come on come on. If I didnt do that, u guys wont be able to see it!

So the thing that fascinates me most about this car is it's multi-faceted light emitting capabilities - so many colours! Actually it had this SUPER COOL function where it will keep changing colours as the light moves from the front to the back of the car - SUPER AH BENG LARH! (But i like.. lol).

Second, the good old firm has taken to investing into our welfare and has now provided all lawyers with:

ERGONOMIC chairs! *wolf whistle*

Not bad at all, you can adjust the back rest, head rest, arm rest and seat height! i like! (though it took me awhile to figure out how to do it larh. i think besides being a closet lian i MIGHT be a closet geek, i like gadety stuff. heh)

well, funky seat above replaces this one, the one we used to have:

(that's my colleague's chair .. super gross check out the stains on the seat of the chair, which she claims she is not responsible for.. lol)

And here's KXL posing in her new chair. =)

Third, FIREWORKS!

We had to work on Saturday (late) like after the fireworks at 2100 hours still carry on okays.. and i thought might as well go downstairs to take a look.. It was MILLING with people outside Fullerton larh!

urm, actually this was taken AFTER the fireworks cuz it was real smoky (yeah i went back to work after the fireworks.. =S )

actually it was quite farnee because for the duration of the fireworks, there were these huge SBS buses that were in the way sometimes, and you could hear everyone groaning when one of these monsters totally obstructed the view to the fireworks.

sigh. so pretty. i wish there were fireworks everyday. i remember praying before that when i go to heaven, i wish to see fireworks everyday, and whole harvest fileds of sparklers (u know the mini firework on sticks that kids (and jasmine) really really like?).

can u imagine, if instead of wheat, you have fields and fields of sparklers that never go out????

*stars in eyes*

yuarh.. i know i can dream on.. i did say i only realistically expect to see that in heaven!

Urm. I have also been stuffing my face. This was from the dessert shop at Tiong Bahru - corn and peanut ice kachang!!!!

Corn is like my favourite (is it a fruit or vegetable?) can? This was totally kick ass man.. like liquid peanut butter, but that doesnt even do it justice..

and we also had chocolate fruit fondue - one of the better ones i had. we were too eager to eat so i din get to take good pictures, but here's one..

not bad horh.. i edited it a lil on Picasa - see the celestial glow about it? ahhh.. heaven must be full of food and dessert!

I also went to watch 881 (support local production!) and really enjoyed it. Here's the song I cant get out of my head.. (and no, i dont understand hokkien but got subtitles)

The story line didnt require much thinking and certain scenes were, i felt unnecessarily homo, but I totally enjoyed the music, the costumes and the colour. Oh, and some parts quite farnee too.

Sometimes I wonder if I entered into the right profession. Some of you may know I never wanted to be a lawyer. Growing up, the occupation I remember really wanting to take up was that of a creative director - you know make ads for tv and stuff? But I didnt do well enough to get a scholarship to my then choice of university, New York Uni that is. And so law it was. And law it has become.

Yeah I enjoy my work now. But one cant quite help but wonder WHAT IF? I think that would probably be something I would have really enjoyed doing.

One life. One choice. No turning back.

Has the concept of time ever intrigued you? Like how it goes one way (forward) and is like two dimensional? (we seem to be going into metaphysics here.. too much for a Sunday night post!)

Well well. One life. One choice. No turning back.

Tough.

Yo ah Yo

2007-08-07T18:35:00.000+08:00

This monkey is still wearing pampers!!!

My theory?

1. It's the curly hair. Like wear helmet like that.

2. It's the height. Head to floor less distance so less impact when kenna.
3. It's the head. Thick.
4. It's the age. Fool hardy.

Sigh. Lost youth, lost time!

Maybe one day i post my baby pictures.

the art of cross-examination

2007-07-22T10:33:00.000+08:00

I like to get farnee stuff in my email. Here's an example. *beams*

These are from a book called "Disorder in the American Courts", and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

-----------------------------

ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
__________________________________________________________________

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
____________________________________

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-one-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty-one.
________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you s h* tt'in me?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh.... I was gett'in laid!
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Are you shitt'in me? Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Now whose death do you suppose terminated it?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
A TTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Guess.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people. Would you like to rephrase that?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him!
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh....are you qualified to ask that question?
______________________________________

--- And the best for last: ---

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Hahaa. =) Hope you had a good Sunday.

Long Rambling Post and Something Serious

2007-07-14T12:53:00.000+08:00

You see.

When you keep uploading photos, meaning to put them up at some point in time when you feel more organized, you end up being like me, having LOADS of unrrelated photos that make no sense when you put them in the post - heck, they arent even current no more. THEN you think, o no.. so wasted if i dont post it.. so "no choice" lorh, put it up as ONE rambling post (thank God i am entertaining.. hurhurhur).

But before I begin my long rambling throwing together of photos (which i am prone to).. i have SOMETHING SERIOUS to say. *nods*

''SOMETHING SERIOUS''

=_=

HAHHAHA.. so kill me already..

But seriously (hurhur), Corrine and I had a project that day. Project-make-a-day. It all started when I realized a new friend that i've come to know was not on MSN (and wasnt supposed to be in court). So i texted her, i realized that: she knocked down a pedestrian, albeit through no fault of hers. Even so, that is sufficiently traumatizing.

I thought it would be nice to give my new friend's heart a lift, so we embarked on Project-make-a-day. During lunch, I staked through the terrain of CBD and found a flower shop and bought her a "Auntie i want bright bright happy happy" hand bouquet!

So chioh horh (bright like me!) ...

Then Corrine decided that we should also make her like a card, but we didnt have materials so we spent lunch decorating a magazine / file holder for her..

to prove that it WAS lunch time.

heh.

And of course it HAS to be a SURPRISE!! So yours truly delivered the bouquet to her office! Ay, had to brave through the various teasing amused looks from uncles on the street okay..

So. During these months where I have not updated, there have been many happy developments. For one, by the grace of God I am back in touch with a VERY dear friend of mine, who is none other than....

.
.
.
.
.
.

(heh. I thought if cover her face for first picture got abit more surprise marh. heh.)

So anyhow, THIS is LIVIA!!!

I have been out of touch with Livia for the longest time and somehow our paths crossed again and all I can say is that.. I AM VERY GLAD! livia is one of my dearest friend (read: she is very accommodating towards me. very) and we used to go home together like almost EVERYDAY back in secondary school because we stayed in the same area and were in the same CCA (council and aep).

okay, just random photos of us mucking around. hahaha.

i think i look kinda tired in these photos but.. WHATEVER! (speaking of which, see my previous post below) i so WOULD NOT teach my baby these things. can u imagine ur baby doing it to you when you are trying to teach her something serious? HARLOW!!! i wonder what parents are teaching these days.

MOVING ON, as some of you would know, I am a STAR WARS fan, and there is a toy shop near my office (happiness!!) So i saw that they were selling STAR WARS figures!!

check out yoda - i thought he looked pretty life-size he did...

close-up.

and check out leia - i thought they captured her pose and expression EXTREMELY well..
not bad horh.. and of course, we have JABBA THE HUTT, who is missing leia in her bronze bikini strapped to him.. heh.
so fat he is gross lorh. yucks.

AND, i also checked out MINDS or was it SETTLERS? anyhows, one of those, for the very first time with dawn and some of the molihualets. wow. it was good!

initially we got carried away by the food, you can see the board game beneath the food because we (okay I figured) it was more important to settle the food first.. hiaks.

yup, close up for the less observant (actually that's an excuse, i just wanted to put up dawn's picture.. hahahahahah)
anyhows, there was this animal game that was super dumb and fun. it's kinda like SNAP of sorts. You see, everyone takes an animal randomly from this bag, and decides what kinda animal sound you want your animal to make. For instance, if you get a hen, instead of CLUCK CLUCK, you can make it go CUCKLE DOODLE DOOOOO or some other spastic noise.
The animal then proceeds to hide in the little house that you see below.

After that the cards are dealt and we all produce our cards SIMULTANEOUSLY and QUICKLY.. and we are supposed to make the sound of the animal of the person with the same card as you. First person who makes the sound correctly wins and you get to hand over your card to the person who failed to make the sound in time. Person with most cards at end of game wins.

O GLORIOUS MADNESS!!! I mean it's really farnee to see adults clucking and cooing animatedly and all that.. =)

so after that, i went to meet furry and monkey.

Somebody once commented that all my guy frens are like really good looking, afterall, birds of the same feather flock together right? I mean the good looking part, not the guy part.. DUH. .. hahahah.

Anyhow i think i agree with that comment... here are two fine specimens..

FURRY
You would agree with me that he looks like some Bollywood star horh.. though to his credit, he doesnt have the signature paunch and moustache.. ay dont prey prey okays, this bollywood friend of mine is gonna one day conquer the skies. HE'S GONNA BE A PILOT!!! okay, so do i get any free tickets with that furry, if i dont marry you will i still get free tickets? lol..

and we have MONKEY!! the hongkong star look alike!!!

But i dont think that elijah is a real hiong-gong-zai.. anyhows.. this young man is like super bright.. so u also dont think that he is a himbo (even if he LOOKS LIKE ONE!!!) he will take his brain out of his head and whack you until you shuddup ah. hahahahahaha..

so one saturday was spend over ice cream and stuff, all 20 somethings commiserating over work.. but HEY HEY!! Labour is worship so a NEW DAY has come!! *beams*

okay next is just me fooling around with gracia whilst babysitting her. She had some toy, a plastic ball which you could like open up to its various halves.. I thought it made a pretty cool helmet for a baby.. hurhurhur.

i decided to wear it together with her too.. but o well, the photographer was laughing too hard, so you cant see the helmet on me.. hahahahaah.

Some of you know that I went to Malaysia for a church retreat for the leaders. (o yes, i must take this opportunity to affirm corrine who took leave to go babysit the kids for pastor!! God blesses the heart of service!)

Back to the retreat, Urm, it was good.. but i didnt take very many pictures cuz not very many SUPER FARNEE moments.. here are some of the highlights..

Not that the toilet was interesting, but the door wouldnt open up all the way. (btw this was taken at the ferry terminal) so yes, the door wouldnt open up and if you HAD TO GO.. you have to squeeze through the door larh.. i thought it was quite farnee, so here's the picture saying soo. hahah..

Here's some of my cell sisters and me, with gracia, the helmet baby.. heh.

Guess which luggage bag is mine?

No prizes larh. but more than one person commented that my luggage bag is very loud horh.. hiaks! suits me marh like that. heh.

Okay, i really like this next picture I took with Terry. At the sea, in the sun, wind tousling hair all.. hahahaha. i think he really looks like my younger brother here.. i mean, not like MY BROTHER!!! but like a younger brother. you know?

Okay, this is like the last picture for the time in Desaru, Malaysia. There were monkeys everywhere, so some of the girls decided it would be fun to feed them. NOT!! You see this joker here?

Well, she literally climbed all over, she came over from the garden at an alarming speed and went to our tables, climbed on the pillar and onto our table in a matter of SECONDS.. and at first i was still garang garang snapping away at her.. then she was like. all over us!

of course we were like screaming away and the nice waiter came to shooo her off. yucks man. imagine, if she took my camera with her. brrrr...

Okay, next up is just me showing off pictures i took with my cammy.. this is EAST COAST PARK leh, mind you.. hahaah..

not bad horh.. like some exotic place..

Last but not least, just me having dinner with the latest addition to my cell group.. KERRY!!

I think she is pretty as a pea.. you would agree horh.. =)

this is me fooling around with the coaster.. dont ask, i was amused that it was so orange.. when i was a little girl, for a short time i confused the shape, CIRCLE with the colour ORANGE because you know, circles are always presented as orange..and oranges are always ROUND.. so yeah. you get my drift..

moral of the story? when you teach your kids shapes, make sure circle is like in purple and blue and all the other colours of the rainbow.. =D

Finally, picture of a baby!

my friend's nephew.. cute horh.. looks like poster material..

that's all folks, till next time!!!!

WHATEVER!

2007-07-01T20:28:00.000+08:00

now is cute larh.. but i hope she doesnt become like this when she grows up!!

Man Enough

2007-06-30T12:46:00.001+08:00

Look what i saw in e papers yesterday! Hunky black boxer with BABY PINK boxing gloves! And if u look closely his boxing shorts have a pink belt too around his waist! Hahaa. Talk abt being MAN ENOUGH! Hahaa. And yes, i'm blogging from me trusty old phone. =) gonna be at my grams place tonight!

Who's your Daddy??

2007-06-25T00:59:00.000+08:00

I remember when we were back in uni people used to greet each other by saying, "who's your daddy?" or "WAAAASSSSSUUUPPPPPP!!!!!!!!! (followed by a exaggerated sticking out of the tongue)"..

Heh.

Well, I recently came out of an episode i can only describe as long drawn and excruciatingly crushing. But the good thing that came out of it was the revelation of a deep conviction i cling on to in my heart of hearts.

I know who to trust to take me out of a really sticky situation.

And i know Who it was that TOOK me out, Who RESCUED me, Who reached down and PLUCKED me out of that long drawn and excruciatingly crushing episode.

And it isn't me.

It's Someone stronger, bigger, better and wiser than me. Someone who has my best interest at heart and loves me dangerously. Someone who places His protective boundaries around me so that nothing can harm me. So I know I can rest. Not to be complacent, but to do my best and surrender the rest. Someone is watching my front and my back.

I know "Who's my Daddy".

O dear dear friends, hear me! This is nothing to do with being weak. We all put our trust in something. It may be in our own strength, the tenacity of a dear one's love for us, the favour of a big boss, the power of money and status...

We all trust something. I guess the question is, do we have the confidence that the object of our trust would never fail us or come through for us or give us the hope to look forward to tomorrow? Do we have the confidence that the object of our trust is good and IS powerful enough to do just about ANYTHING in our best interest?

I do. Oh i do, i do, i do!

I have the confidence that my Father in heaven..

would never fail me
would never fail to come through for me
would never fail to give me the hope to look forward to tomorrow
Is good
Is powerful to do just about ANYTHING in my best interest..
and not just that, i know He WILL do just about everything for me because He loves me.

1 Corinthians 13: 7 - 8
"It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

O dear dear friends, hear me! Having come out of that long drawn and excruciatingly crushing experience, I can only say that in my heart of heart, i know Who it was that was protecting me ALL this time. There is no other explanation for the outcome.

And He did it simply because He loves me.

And I bless everyone to experience this love that I know.

I thought this song, both the music and the lyrics personifies this Someone so well. Close your eyes. Trust it would bless you as it blessed me.

Childhood games

2007-06-19T23:48:00.000+08:00

If you and i were born in the same era, you would recall these rather large grey handheld TETRIS sets where you basically have to manipulate various shapes so they fit into empty slots.

Here's another version - less malleable.

=D

yes yes, havent been bloggin much because many many things on my mind.. will get down to it soon.. soon.. sooooooooonnnnnnnnnn...

Which Sesame Street Character are you?

2007-06-06T15:05:00.001+08:00

So.

Some of you may know that i really liked Sesame Street when I was a lil girl.

Come to think of it, I still really like Sesame Street. Here's what I found today.

Test Numero Uno.

Your Score: Kermit the Frog

You scored 52% Organization, 53% abstract, and 72% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables.

First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.

Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.

Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.

You are mostly organized, both concrete and abstract, and more extroverted.

Here is why are you Kermit the Frog.

You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Kermit is also reasonably tidy. He'll even dress up for interviews.

You both are sometimes concrete and sometimes abstract thinkers. Kermit spends a lot of his time as a reporter collecting facts, but he is also the author of the dreamy song "The Rainbow Connection." You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course.

You are both extroverts. Kermit gets along with everyone. Sure a few folks annoy him, but that's just because they are annoying. Kermit likes to meet new people when he does his job as a street reporter. You definitely enjoy the company of others, and you don't have problems meeting new people... in fact you probably look forward to it. You are willing to take charge when necessary or work as part of a team.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Kermit starred on Sesame Street years before The Muppet Show.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on Organization
You scored higher than 99% on concrete-abstra
You scored higher than 99% on intro-extrovert

You can try this at:
The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test

Test TWO

Or we have another one here you can try:

You are Elmo ( Tickle Me ! ). You are cute, and everyone loves you. You are a best friend that no one takes the chance of losing. You never hurt feelings and seldom have your own feelings hurt. Life is a breeze. You are witty and calm most of the time. Just keep clear of backstabbers, and you are worry free.

Last but not the least: Test Trio

You scored as Ernie, Ernie is a dreamer with a strong imagination. He's always thinking, imagining, and playing word games. He's mischievious and a bit of a trickster. He's good natured, bubbly, wise, playful, naturally outgoing, very affectionate, and spontaneous. He always has a good time and he knows he is funny. This crafty free-spirit always finds a way to come out on top!

Ernie

78%

Prairie Dawn

73%

Rosita

70%

Zoe

68%

Elmo

65%

Cookie Monster

63%

Big Bird

63%

Telly Monster

50%

Grover

48%

Count Von Count

40%

Bert

40%

Oscar the Grouch

38%

Which Sesame Street Character Are You? (Many outcomes)
created with QuizFarm.com

what to do, so loveable I am (then again, very few Sesame Street characters not "love"ly - so probability of gettin something yucky is like.. down there)

Yes Yes. You cant tell I am bored alreadyyy..

I ish gong hokkien waaayy

2007-05-21T23:18:00.000+08:00

Okay i stunned this from Huimei's blog..

closet lian manifesting again. =)

sometimes i wonder what it would be like if i REALLY spoke hokkien.. *shudder*

Bday (finally) and MANY other pictures!

2007-05-20T23:23:00.000+08:00

Today, at church, I made an observation.
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ANNA HAS THE SAME HAIRSTYLE AS ME!

Really! I neh bluff u!! See!! . . . . . . Even the back is the same man!
Hahaaa. I had quite a difficult time persuading Nana to take a picture with me - but my patience paid off... Elsie also wanted to take a picture.. FRONT

And BACK.

Hee. *grin*

So anyhows, here's another random shot of Keifu, who was very inspired by my Bintan-see-whose-eye-bigger series of photos..
And this is just a gross shot of himself he took whilst waiting for me to come out of the toilet.. LOL. But my Keifu is handsome wan okay, and SUPER CUTE..

hor hor hor hor hor?

Okay, enough of all that pink..

So. Here are the pictures of how i celebrated me birthday.. with the many people who remembered! (Yuarh those of you who forgot are not going to hear the end of it until my next birthday.. tsk.. shame on you (vincent).. lol)

Yvonne was so sweet - way before my birthday (which, if by now you dont know.. *gasp* is April 12!!) she made known her intention to give me a BIG TREAT.. initially she wanted some place nice, but i was thinking, it would be quite nice to go to east coast hawker centre and order a feast right? (yes yes.. ms low maintenance already)

And it was really very nice.. (my camera lens not wide enough to catch all the food and i lazy to stand up to capture everything. .hurhurhur)

not that we could finish the food - but the fellowship was good!

Thank you YJJ! love you to pieces!!!!

Then horh, my best friend (weihuang) also decided to give me a birthday treat.. i said i wanted jap, so he did some investigations and brought me to this authentic old school japanese restaurant, Kazu Sumiyaki (at Cuppage) for some yakitori.. which they cook infront of you.. (btw, dont think i so crever know all these fancy jap names, I am asking Huang on msn as I blog this.. i only know i like sashimi and wasabi, of which the restaurant that we went to didnt serve (!!!), and that fish on rice is sushi =) )

Huang is real sweet too.. check out what he gave me for my birthday last year!
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FLOWERS delivered to my office!!!!

Super big basket can?

Which girl dont want? Guys, if your girlfriend or girl friends tell you they dont like flowers - THEY ARE LYING.

I still remember that day was a real horrid day at work for me. i was in court, and on my way back to the office from court just wondering what time and HOWWWW i could leave the office and guess what greeted my weary eyes when i was back??

aaaawwwwwwwwwwwww...........

and if i remember correctly, before i could call him to say thank you (he was still in Stanford then), he called me to wish me happy birthday!!!

DOUBLE aaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.......

Heh. Yuarh my best friend spoils me - so i put up with all the suaning that he throws my way.. (okay writing this.. i suddenly have a huge rush of affection and reminiscence for wwh.. it's been almost 10 years!)

So anyhows, this is a picture of the jap chef that i thought was rather striking and which huang tried to take a picture of, just because...

Dont duh larh, of course is the chef on the right larh.

So Jianfa was at the dinner too..

Jianfa is another sweetie. i remember when we were still in uni, he used to buy me lunch all the time because back then i didnt have enough pocket money to eat.. =)

Okay this is just a random shot of this hp accessory that i bought during my birthday proper.. cute horh.

so after dinner, JF decided that we wanted to bring us to this nice place at Swissotel, where he bought me drinks for me birthday.. actually i thought that place would cost a bomb larh, being right at the top and the view being excellent, but it didnt.. so we were all pretty happy..

the next arty farts shot is wwh take wan..

And so ends night out with the boys.

I also celebrated my birthday with my cell group..

Yuarh Qingtian birthday close to mine.. I thought i look very happy above.. haha.. btw, YJJ gave me that pretty dress.

My birthday card nice horh.. is Julee make wan..

Picture with (spiritual) Mummy and the birthday present my cell sisters gave me.. actually it's quite farnee because they were all commenting that it is not LOUD enough and not quite my style.. lol..

Picture with my pastor and spiritual father (yuarh the one that trashes guys half his age at basketball. heh). and the book he gave me (of which I have only read till chapter one in the last month.. oops)..

I realized that the fork appears in all the pictures.. hahahah.. not i greedy okay.. quite cute marh the fork.. but yes, the cake was very very nice too.. =)

Then my cell members also got me something... Guess what?
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Mirror leh. Hahaha.. According to Corrine, they were wondering around for a long time and couldnt agree on what to get me until they saw this and unanimously agreed.

Sometimes I wonder what I teach them. And what they think of me.. hahahahaha..

Anyhows, on my birthday itself, I also brought my Mom and Ah por and Aunt for a buffet lunch. (okay larh i think the verdict is out. i think my love language might be food, since i always buy people i like food, and people i like buy me food.)

The food and service wasnt too great so i didnt take alot of pictures.. except for this pregnant fish which i was very amused by.. so yeahh.. heh..

And then when we reached home, my mom proceeded to cook a big bowl of my favourite soup - which is this herbal thingy with XO and wine and chicken and ginger and pig kidney and chicken gut and fried egg..

Heh. (u see what i mean about the food thingy?)

And then right, with the girls arh.. they decided that it was high time i got to a KTV lounge with that.. I mean.. i was pretty excited, that might have been the first time i stepped into Cuppage Plaza (with huang at kazu sumi yaki was second time)..

I tell you, the whole time I was inside.. I was just laughing and laughing.. I mean check out the MTV.. so cheena can (okay at least is modern cheena)

Check out the white background.. so 80s lorh..

I think they were singing ABBA's Take a chance or something.. but i was really laughing my head off.. I mean, really..

I remember there was this self-made MTV (i.e. English song but made in Taiwan) there was this angmorh lady who KEPT TWIRLING in her flowery skirt THROUGHOUT the WHOLE song leh - wah i see her i also feel very heeeeennnn i dunno why she not heeen.. and worse, when the lyrics the grammar is ALL WRONG.. wahlauz.. how to sing... just laughing alone can already.. but the ULTIMATE of the ULTIMATE is this one man..

CHECK OUT THE SNOWMAN.. i mean, dunno come out from where, and totally unrelated to the song?? LOL.

Hahaa.

I think it's something about being cooped up in an enclosed area with microphones because we all went absolutely mad.

So anyhows, a pretty alright birthday season for me.. blogging about this reminds me that i am indeed very blessed, and very loved!

I also think that with this post, I have truly, out-done myself..

heh.

Forty winks

2007-05-20T01:14:00.000+08:00

Recently I haven't been sleeping enough as well... so it was aaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww in my heart when i saw this today.

very cute horh. reminds me abit of this..

Not that my pastor is like a polar bear lar.. but the cradling and the sleeping infant bit..

i was so amazed at how anna can just sleep in that awkward position.. And she was really sleeping, when we picked her up and passed her to another person - she was still sleeping!!

So cute! How not to smile right?

Vincent used to tell me how in the army, guys would like sleep standing on the parade square - but i think that would be more comical than awww... LOL.

I can run 42 km!!! ( in due course. heh)

2007-05-16T12:53:00.000+08:00

Nope. You didnt see it wrongly, this is tissue paper! That's how people mark their seats in Raffles Place - i believe this is a culture seen only in this part of Singapore - maybe because it is really crowded and everyone just wants to get lunch over and done with. So you use your tissue and other not valuable items to mark your seat. It's abit silly because if you were to leave valuable like your mobile phone or wallet - confirmz it would be gone when you return - *shrug*

So in this instance, my friend and i had ONE packet of tissue, and two seats to chope - so we placed, okay, I PLACED (closet auntie surfacing already, dont bluff i think there is a closet ah chek or auntie in all of us! we just pretend it's not there, come to think of it, all my close guy frens very ah chek in some way or other! *gasp* =D) the tissue deliberately over the two seats so no one would take them away.. so dumb horh.. but whatever works!

So anyhows, the friend I am talkin about is Huimei!!

I think you guys should know all about her because she managed to do something pretty special.. she managed to inspire Ms. Nuah Queen, yours truly !!! *gasp*

You see, at the beginning of the year, I had several noble (faith) goals:

Memorize XXX number of bible verses in a year;
Study the Bible for 2 hours a week on top of my usual devotional time;
Exercise twice a week!

The above is challenging because of the disposable time I have a week - hence faith goals, but a large measure is also cuz I choose to sleep more than to do the above ( i mean my working hours are quite something right).

So anyhows, time has past, we are into half the year and I have sadly not accomplished my goals.

But hahaha.. I have been inspired by Huimei! This lady has set her heart to complete the Ironwoman race - she's going for a Triathalon this year and boy, has she been training! Talking to her makes me feel like - it can be done!

Me: I was thinking of getting all my girls to do the 21 km Standard Chartered Run this year. 10 km is achievable even for me. No stretch, no point right?
HM: Why end of this year, you go and do the Half Marathon in August which is 21 km, end of year you do 42 km larh!
Me: Hmmm... (seriously thinking)
HM: O. but you going Israel, so you cant go for Standchart.
Me: O.

Hhahaha.. luckily for me! To do 42 km at the end of this year is QUITE a faith goal indeed! But hey, I think the fact that I can even CONSIDER doing such a thing, is break-through indeed!

It's not like I dont have people around me to inspire me (My Brother!!!! people who finish Ironman, my pastor who beats people half his age at basketball) but sometimes I think it takes a lady to inspire a lady. =) Okay, I have other female frens who are athletic (like Bella and Vaneh - both my juniors and both presidents of the Student Council of their batch.. hurhurhur) but hahahahaa.. maybe cuz they dont have snazzy sports gear so it doesnt get the attention of posers like me *grin*

i've been electrified out of inertia!!

Come to think of it, is also the fact that she didnt laugh out loud or tell me that it cant be done because i so nuah or my working hours so jialat - infact even lagi ask me to go further than what i intended (whether or not i agree with her is quite another matter altogether. heh) i am encouraged!

So anyhows, end state - one of the chief reasons I am deciding thus is also because I always preach about choice. Choosing. It's a choice - and I think I can make it if I want to - to have a healthier life style. But more importantly, choosing to be disciplined!

dis·ci·pline (dĭs'ə-plĭn) Pronunciation Key
n.

Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.

I mean physical rigor is just one MANIFEST aspect of discipline - we all exercise discipline every day - what we read, what we say, what we choose to watch or do - so ... if i can do it in other areas, no reason why i cant do it here.

I always say that if I were as disciplined as MY BROTHER!!! i would be able to accomplish so much more - so, quit thinking already! It's high time to get moving!!

I picked this picture of HM because I think she looks cute and abit yah yah here. =) this is totally out of point, but HM is very kind wan okay - when I burnt my leg at the exhaust pipe in Bintan - she help me apply aloe vera gel cuz I was a wee little bit in shock from the fact that i just got burnt, it hurt and it might scar.. haaha =P

So anyhows, I dont believe in talking without action. I went to do a search of some of the (half or a quarter! whatever!!) marathons available this year.

So the site is under construction but the run is gonna be in September 2007 - 10 km only, but heck.. then i can take the time to be real good at it right? *grin*

As a further pledge of my sincerity, I am putting this up here for all to see. As my senior would say, BOH BEI ZHAO!! so all of you can keep an eye on me and spur me on! (But dont nag me, I will get irritated wan. Heh. Positive encouragement ah, suaning doesnt work either, my love language is Words, remember that!! =P)

Yes ! So I will start cracking as soon i recover from my sprained ankle, and bout of cold. The doctor actually prescribed nose drop for me leh.. gross lorh (but it works)

You are supposed to be looking at the iliadin Nose Drop, not the pink furry pencil holder behind horh.

SO. how about YOU?
When was the last time you CHOSE to just get down to doing what you know is good but been draggin ur feet all along?

Get crackin' already!! =D

ps: anybody wanna run with me? *grin*

Bintan 2007

2007-05-13T23:17:00.000+08:00

I know i know I am supposed to put up photos from my birthday. But this one is farnier so I thought I would put it up first!

Anyhows, so some of you may know that I headed off to the Kelong in Bintan for another retreat last Monday thru Wednesday. The day began at 7 am (cuz I hadnt packed my bag, again. haha). Actually I had been sick over the weekend, and that morning as well, but thank God i was alright during the trip, till after i came back my flu morphed full blown!

The purpose of this trip, for me, was to really bask in God's presence. Realized awhile back that I am a naturalist - get huge kicks out of being in nature (doesnt quite go with my xiaojie image but those who know me would know i really not THAT xiaojie marh. i think.. =P)

this is huimei and i at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (Yes sebas, now I know we also have a CHANGI Ferry Terminal).. Lookin fresh, but was really quite sick that morning.. heh

God was good - I was fervently praying that it wouldnt be raining during the trip - can you imagine, really the ULTIMATE SIAN OF THE ULTIMATE SIAN if it rains at a kelong when you there to relax right.. so the weather was really good for the time we were there. (except like in the morning we were returning, the wind was blowing so strongly i scrambled out of bed to check out the commotion.. which was like SUPER LOUD.. i promise the attap house we were in was shaking, my bed was confirm shaking lorh.. At least if got Tsunami i want to see it coming =) )

yeah this picture was taken the ride there - only drizzling abit outside.

This time around we were at a different ferry terminal then when i went the last time - for awhile we were wondering if I went to the same kelong cuz everything was like different (how their rooms had TV and mine didnt. Different staff and different ports and different ferry services and different vehicles and different towns! =P)

So we all had to take this vehicle to travel into the kelong - it was about an hour's ride in.. not bad larh, since i like to sight see anyway - I am proud to note that i saw ONE cow... seems like Indonesians dont like to rear cows, unlike in Malaysian countrysides. hurhurhur.. =P

i know this is out of point, but i wanted to put this picture here because i think Sebas really looks like a Mat here - the driver in the picture above asked when the guys were not in the car..

Hendra: "他是印度人 ?"

Me:" 他是 BABA, Peranakan."

Hendra: "O yuarh. So obvious. Can tell."

AND he proceeded to show Sebas the Ferry times in Berhasa.. LOL.

(heh. Come on.. what is life without cheap thrills right? =) )

I took like 163 pictures this trip - obviously cannot put everything up here.. but was thinking long and hard on how to organize the post.. shall be in this manner..

a. Swaku Singaporeans

b. Just nice pictures.

c. Siao liao (this is the best part of this post! so i would stick with this post all the way if i were you! =P)

My high C nature larh.. cannot ramble aimlessly (which actually i do larh, but i dont feel like doing that now. =D )

a. Swaku Singapoereans.

Actually it could just be me that was Swaku. I was super excited by things that I dont get to see in Singapore. Like the cow I mentioned above. Little kids crossing the road like it belongs to them. So we were particularly fascinated by the "wild life".

You see us here being fascinated by a dead puffer fish.

We fished it out of the fishing pool in the middle - but cuz of the way it was slammed down, its innards were like leaking out larh.. but i was pretty fascinated nevertheless - poking away all.. ahhaha..

then after we finished playing (with the dead puffer fish), we threw it back into the water again.. hahahahas.. like cats.. they play with their food u know, dead rats larh.. heh..

b. Just Nice Pictures.

Hahaaa.. Must start with nice picture of me. =)

Anyhows, all the pictures below were taken from my trusty k800i. So go get one already - it's pretty cheap now.

This picture was taken from the panaroma view function thingy of the cam phone..

I feel very relaxed when faced with wide expanse of space - especially it be the sky or sea.. couldnt help taking tons of these..

you know it's like what we study in secondary school geog.. the dunno what.. ccc-something-something- clouds which means that the weather would be very hot.. which it was, praise God! else yes yes.. ultimate sian of the ultimate sian!!

Moving on to the evening sky on the first day..

You see, our kelong is kinda like in the middle of no where - and there were like stuff on the left and ride of it.. here we see something on the , i would say left side of the kelong, which i explored - waayyy coool.. pictures below.. but the right side is cool too.. according to huimei and sebas got lotsa kodak moments .. pet monkeys feeding dogs and little children waving - whilst they were running into the sunset together.. hurhurhur.. =)

Actually one of the more memorable time for me was when I was praying in the morning on the second day and just staring at the water below my feet - sitting with your feet dangling over the side in a kelong is WWAAAAYYYY COOOLLL man (after that u feel like u can draft a 1000 page submission no sweat okay maybe not no sweat but you get my drift) .. but the point is.. i was gazing at the very clear water below me and was suddenly so overwhelmed by God's love for me that i started to tear (God must love me very much to allow me to rest in an environment that means so much to me)

the picture below was taken from a boat ride, which ALMOST DIDNT HAPPEN for me.. cuz i was afraid my stomach CMI - thank God in the end was okay.. so i get to say that i took a boat out to a nameless island-let in Indonesia, and went fishing in a boat that kept spinning around because we couldnt really anchor.. hahaa. imagine fishing and seeing that you are actually rotating in the same position.. quite farnee actually.. =)

anyhows at the island i found this crab in a shell that was like alive and crawling - nothing much but the stuff that Singaporeans who never see it before would ooohhh and aaahhhh over.. heck lar.. being childlike is good horh..

but i didnt get to take no pictures cuz i left the camera in the boat whilst exploring on the island-let.

Evening of the second day - waaayyy beautiful..

Okay this is abit out of point from the postcard pictures above but i wanna show u the chickens we saw whilst exploring the left side of the island - all the chickens arh, NO MEAT WAN.. lean like dunno what - hence all the chicken dishes we had there - the pieces had more bone and skin than meat put together lorh..

Looking at their chickens above, we are not surprised man.. really mountain chicken very fit - run around until no flesh left.. =)

We dont get to climb over boulders in Singapore very often - at least not for Ms. Chin who spends most of her waking hours in CBD. I think, since I feel so close to God in natural environments, I SHOULD take these expeditions more often.. was sharing my salvation story when i had a fresh revelation: yes, God must love me very much to draw me to Him in such a drama way (thanks amos!)

Morning Sun of the third day.

I realized that the sky at different times of the day tells me of different aspects of God. The morning sky and sun here, tells me that God is strong. Full of hope and promise. And will break through for me.

The evening sky invokes in me, a deep gut wrenching longing for beauty - not unlike God's longing and love for us. For me.

Okay. Now that the serious stuff is aside .. the nice pictures of people in this trip - not alot arh.. just the few here.. (I cant keep putting pictures of myself up right.. LOL)

Actually it was quite hard to take nice picture of 4 ppl with one phone camera..

c. Siao liao!

So when you put farnee ppl and ppl who are easily amused together - it gets kinda fun..

Don't see this Walls Umbrella no ups.. whilst initially given to us to shield us from any potential rain..

it becomes both an act cute device..
As well as props for Man-Hunt..

As it is, I am already the very easily amused type - so I was super happy that simple things get carried on so far in good humor.. like how we went to collect toilet paper, and I was very amused by the way the guys were carrying theirs, macham like the toilet paper was a wallet, or other matter of grave importance - like something you hold when you do inspection -

See what I mean? =P
So on the day of the first evening, Amos spotted a purple crab, i mean it was PURPLE.

And we spent some time trying to catch it with a hook on a liner =S

Then after that i went to find the net (old school kind man) from the rearing fish area.. and our attempt got slightly better..

But the FARNEE THING was the serenade that Amos belted to the purple crab!!

Amos starts to strum.
Jasmine already doubling over with laughter.
Sebas: Come out already come out already..
Amos: Purple crab, please come back. Purple Crab. Please come back. Purple Crab. Please come back. Come back.
Huimei faithfully capturing the video, but if you listen carefully you can hear her holding her laughter in.. =D

wahlauz.. BWAY TAHANZ LORH.. =)

So i was taking a picture with Amos, and i think it got into his head that his eyes must be as big as mine..

The above isnt farnee until you see the real size of his eyes.. below..
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Then I think it got into everyone's head that it is farnee to have big eyes and we couldnt take normal pictures anymore.. hurhurhur..

the girls are not to be outdone.. think i look like some animae character where the female lead always look permanently in shock kind.. lol..

but i think the ultimate was THIS!!!

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NEOPRINT!!!
I havent taken a neoprint in like ten years can - okay.. really, 8 years. check out the big eye shot... and the act cute shot - but i think i was the only one who pulled it off, the rest look normal or like some 武侠小说 hero (Sebas larh)... hahaha

So all in all, pretty good trip - Surreal actually.. on another note, i was amused at how we concluded that since this can drink had a rhino on it, it must be cooling (since i was sick must drink cooling stuff).. hahah.. i think our recognition of the rhino = cooling = good for sick people is a sign of our age..

But God was good, I only became really ill after I reached Singapore - i think it's the office.. hahaha.. the only mar on the trip was the fact that I got burnt by the exhaust pipe, the needle below was given by the doc, meant for me to burst the blister myself but i didnt - until yesterday it accidentally burst in kalai's car.. (eeeeeyyyyeeerrrrr). hope it doesnt scar man..

I have to end on a higher note - so i put nice picture of me.. hahahaha.. =P

Actually, there is a shadow across my face - but that's not the point really. Thank God, for His love for His people, and His love for me. Hurray to the deep blue sea!!!! *grinz*

Inspired by TV

2007-05-04T14:28:00.000+08:00

So it was one of those rare days where I found myself home before 10 p.m. And not unpredictably, I also found myself infront of the TV.

But yesterday, it became an unexpectedly beautiful time.

So I was channel-hopping and came across this documentary that Channel U was running on locating Singaporeans in obscure place around the world.

This repeat episode happened to be about a Singaporean, Ms. Yeen-Lan Lam and her work in a Rafiki Village in Kenya. The Rafiki Foundation, as I understand it, is an organization that provides health and educational aid to the needy in Africa. Specifically, Rafiki is a Christian mission organization that seeks to show God's love in a practical and tangible way - through His people and their works in His name.

Whilst what drew me to the programme at first was the chioh host, as well as the fact that it WAS about Africa (which I always have had a heart for), I was practically glued to the screen after the first three minutes.

This particular episode was about the Rafiki Village in Kenya which Ms. Lam runs.

So Rafiki provides medical care to the sick in the surrounding area for free. According to Ms. Lam, the clinic opens at like 7 am but they have hordes of people queueing outside the clinics from 3 am - hundreds of queue tickets are given out in the morning (could be thousands, I didnt catch the stats, but it is alot of sick people).

The clinic stops giving out tickets after a certain count because it is literally not safe for people to travel after dark. I was struck by the fact that the sick people look forward to the first thing that the medical personnel does when the clinic opens - no, it's not the free medicine or consultations. The medical personnel breaks into praise (of God) and prayer for the people (like a mini service) before commencing the day's work of caring for the sick.

To quote Ms. Lam, the staff want to not just care for the physical needs but to minister hope and love into the lives of the Africans.

Here, I saw how people, professionals who left their home countries to give of their lives to complete strangers, regardless of race and religion.

In the documentary, we had this Angmorh doctor speaking and smiling to an African man (who was like 94!) - speaking and smiling through the African's grand-daughter - and the doctor was just commenting on how happy, hearty and hale the man was.

I dont know if i should say, despite his circumstances [his circumstances being his being very old, and poor and not having a career and having to trouble a long long long long way to see a doctor], but "despite his circumstances", not having his spirit snuffed out. To quote the doctor, "this young man (and I believe he is at heart!) is such a joy to me whenever i see him!".

The other thing that brought tears to my eyes was the work done by Rafiki for the orphans in Kenya.

These children are legally adopted by the Foundation and organized into family units, under the care of an African lady who would be their Mama. Siblings are kept together, and each cottage lives together as a family – eating, going to church, playing, and working together. The children and the mothers bond as family.

There was this scene really pierced me to the quick.

So Ms Lam and the host was going around after meal time to visit one Mama (Mama Faith, to quote the kids) putting her kids to bed. This little African girl was saying the bedtime prayer for all, I suppose they take turns. But my heart surged to hear her simple child-like prayer,

"Thank You God for uncles. For aunties. For mamas. In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen."

These kids have no parents.

The first person they thank God for are uncles and aunties. Men and women, unrelated to them, but who have chosen to give their lives to these young people. And the child was not ungrateful. She was not lamenting her destitute and unfortunate state.

She was grateful. She was genuinely giving thanks.

Actually.

The documentary hit me alot harder than I thought it would.

I remember this scene where Ms. Lam was standing outside the school and there were these kids But looking at the children running around - all of them so young, some barely knee high! All of them so eager to be in school and having a meal, my eyes were wet (to which I am grateful that my heart is not so cold). I guess part of it was because I saw another Singaporean choosing to give up her life with her family to be in Africa. And I saw joy and contentment in her speech and life. I saw how isolated that place was - you know, ulu and all. You dont get no pradas and LVs and spas and beach side resorts there. And yet I saw the children just surrounding Ms. Lam.

I found myself asking whether I would ever be happy doing something like that. And to my grateful (and relieved) surprise, I found myself recognizing, yes.

Not a YES! But a "Yes". Resolute, firm, daunted, and especially, vulnerable. But nevertheless a Yes.

You see, I recall a conversation I had with Daniel Kalai and his wife over dinner just a few weeks back. We were talking about some general stuff and my career and life and I remember making a statement, "I want to have an illustrious career larh". And I think at the point of making that statement, I suppose I meant it.

And I am very sure it was because at that point in time, whilst stuffing pepper crab into my mouth, I forgot that there are other things in life that are very important to me too.

You know, it scares me how easy, how so very easy, it is for people to forget the stuff that life is made of.

I hope and pray, by God's grace, I wont be the sort that would run out and build my own kingdom - but the fact of the matter is where we finally end up is happening right now. We wont wake up one day and find ourselves a different person - we become that person. It's a process. Through the decisions we make each day. The people we choose to spend time with. The things we choose to do. Or do without.

I talk alot about choice. But it's true. In criminal law we have actus reus (which is the act itself) and mens rea (which is the mental element to commit the crime) - most crimes need both elements to be a CRIME in the strict sense of the word.

It's the same with life. We choose to lead the life we wanna lead.

The mission of Rafiki resonates with me, "Since our goal is to develop these children to be godly contributors to their countries in Africa, we do notfacilitate the adoption of these children out of their countries, nor do we plan on educating them in the UnitedStates. Instead, we will raise and educate them in their home countries so that they will remain and provide themuch needed leadership and help in their own culture".

I cant bring no accolades into the grave with me. Heck, I dont want to. I pray so hard that God would help me to remember that life is not just about me and what I want - but there are alot of people out there who need heroes, and more importantly, a Saviour.

I am really thinking about just how I can live a life that reflects the really important things in life. You know, the balance between your God-given dreams and passions, as well as the world out there needs love and hope.

When I was in JC, my best friend (not the chioh bu, the other one, heh) got me reading the Little Prince.

Which has been like translated into ten million languages (okay not ten million but alot alot) because it's so beautiful - a children's story written for adults (like the Chronicles of Narnia). Anyhows, there are lotsa quotes from that book, and one of it is that spoken of by the Fox (whose philosophy the little prince learnt alot from):

The Fox: It's only with the heart that one can see clearly. What's essential, is invisible to the eye.

True ain't it?

May we always remember to see from the eyes of our heart.

Jaszy is a Happy Girl

2007-04-27T10:46:00.000+08:00

This is Laffy!! (the tall, dark ahemm.. cough cough cough.. one)

This is Laffy again! (okay his real name is Rafeal Panes)

sorry guys, i dont know why this picture turned out so small...

This is Jaszy (and the twins.. hur hur)

And here are some of the other super heros at Trybe!

(i really apologize.. i dont know why the pictures all so small!!! but they are all BIG HEROES okay)

Dy!!!!

Eric V!

Praise!

I really should and would write a post on the Superheroes at Trybe another time (ps: if you wanna see more photos of the Trybe! superheroes you can click here), but i want to say Laffy is Jaszy's HERO today because...............

Now I know how to edit in MANY DIFFERENT COLOURS AND FONTS AND ETC!!!!

Everybody should thank Laffy! (and Jaaaayyysoooon for his assistance =D)

Jaszy is a happy girl today =D

Perfect English (1)

2007-04-24T22:26:00.000+08:00

To all who do not already know (hur hur) my love language is words (yuarh, i know!! so low maintenance!). I will talk about love langauges another time folks, thats not the point here.

What this means to say is that I express, and receive, affection, chiefly through words.

This observation has set me thinking alot and often, about the importance of speech in our daily lives.

Have you been given the excuse, or have you made the excuse that " You / I dont mean it! I just said it only in a fit of [anger / happiness / because I was high / insert emotion as appropriate / weakness ]"

Let me give you an illustration of the importance in our choice of words.

Part of lawyering includes the ability to articulate what's on your mind directly, with minimal fuss, unless of course you intend to not say it clearly.

You can say that is the art of good (simple) english. But you should really see the amount of flak [not flag, thanks corrine, see my english is not perfect!] we get, I get because of how I should say what I mean to say.

You see - much as I agree that a lot of times, especially in the beginning - after correction and amendments suddenly my draft reads so much clearer. In fact, often times, especially when I read the emails of other lawyers (especially the angmohs) it's amazing - it's like somebody cut open their minds and you can SEE EXACTLY what is the point they are putting across with extreme clarity. It's almost like a dissection of their minds? Like this picture...

My mental picture when I find somebody highly articulate on paper is always of a brain being cut open and like a projector just beaming out whatever is in that person's mind.

But you my intelligent readers you get what I mean. *flashes classic grin*

Okay, as usual I digress, I was saying that much as I agree that often times drafts can read better after amendments, sometimes, it is not a matter of being clearer in what you are saying, but a matter of style..

You see, we often thank people at the end of a correspondence for whatever we have requested that they do in the letter. Some people say, "it would be appreciated". Lawyers often say, "grateful".

So I have a habit of saying, " [make request]. I would be grateful if you would [do as we requested]".

Simple?

But I get so much flak for not saying, "I will be grateful".

And I would get scolded like nobody business like I made some cardinal error - the point is I am not wrong! (For those who havent spotted what I am talking about, it's in the tense of the words larh). So one day, when I really couldnt take it any more, I went to do a search to PROVE that I was correct.

And I am!!!

You see from above that it is grammatically correct to use "would" when we are talking about a probable event that may happen in the future.

Catchword: MAY

Which means to say, I am not wrong, *cough cough excuse me* i am CORRECT when I say I "would be grateful if (the person would do as we requested) because at the point I make the request, there is no guarantee that the person will actually go and do as I requested - whether they will do it or not is still PROBABLE.

Hence, I am correct, to say "would be grateful", instead of "will be grateful".

TNEH TNEH NEEEE BOO BOOO!!

But no, I am not going to run out and plaster this finding on all doors.

This pendantic exercise apart, lawyering illustrates to me the importance, of choosing our words carefully.

The Bible talks about how we should let our yes be a yes, and our no be a no.

I've seen how cases fall apart because solicitors were less than cautious in saying exactly what they mean to say. A quick perusal of the case law in any jurisdiction would show how people try to pull fast ones over the other by their words, either

i. carelessly phrased; and / or
ii. intentionally ommitted; and / or
iii. intentionally vague.

*rolls eyes*

And people DO know the importance of careful drafting, that's why they employ lawyers to say what they want for them marh.. that's why solicitors are gainfully employed so long people have something to say!

That's for legal obligations. There are some things that are worth more.

I think that human hearts are alot more fragile and valuable than legal obligations. In that same vein, shouldnt we exercise more care and caution in our daily speech than when solicitors are drafting? (yuarh this is an exaggeration but you get my drift).

Come on! This world has enough as it is, if only people would mean what they say, and say what they mean! By that I mean people should also act like what they say - you know, conduct consistent with words?

Also, if people would choose their words and actions more carefully (yes, I have talked about this elsewhere), I think there would be less pain in this world - is a matter of being considerate and honest, you know?

Mind you, I am not talkin about running out there and wearing all of your heart on your sleeves, shirt and pants and etc.. I do believe in tact and grace you know..

But think about it:

(a) When was the last time someone hurt you because they were callous in their speech?
(b) When was the last time you thought you could have saved another person some heartache if you had choosen to put things across another way? (i.e. more heart and tact and grace and truth in the content)

It's not easy, granted. But this world would be a happier place if everyone tried, yes?

ps: this is totally out of point, but does anyone know how to write and post with different colours than that provided in the template? heh.. I am gettin sick of patches and patches of green *grin*

awwwww SO swwwweeeeeeeeeeeetttttt !!!

2007-04-12T00:35:00.000+08:00

my very own video!

thanks KDD!! u da bestestestestest!!! (thats makes u pretty awesome!!)

you made my day on this not so good day (and you too ms chan!)

having a hard day?

2007-04-04T01:48:00.000+08:00

so cute!!!!!!!

kill me now kill me now kill me nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

i cut my hair!!!!!!!!!

2007-04-03T01:16:00.000+08:00

Yes!

And here's a picture to show tis true!

initially, the project gripped me on impulse ( i am apt to do such things from time to time, to be honest. heh.. and to be even more honest, i ENJOY it!!) so after that i decided that it would be a good idea to do something for radical.. so you have me with my funky specs and new hairdo!

Yes. I do apologize for my hiatus - tis most jialat, because it appears everytime i disappear (usually for a legitimate reason) i take an EVEN LONGER time to get back! so my many apologies, and here's the spade of photos i meant to put up BEFORE the arbitration for all our viewing pleasure, but failed to do.. but shall nevertheless do it now.. (i mean it it was sitting in my draft box for so long. dont waste it right.. just reorganize and print lorh.. hur hur hur)

So random picture no. One is

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SPONGE BOB!(s)

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it should be apparent that i am a spongebob (or it would be more accurate to say, PATRICKSTAR fan) - took this off some guy's blog - okay he aint some guy, he's a wedding photographer..

we had a church conference where personally i was very inspired and moved - think we are really blessed in singapore to be able to freely worship..

admist the worship, i was really moved as i remember the last two years since i have started work and i was weeping with gratitude for God's mercy and grace in my life.

it was a good time of catching up, see we have here, YeanTying and me =D She's an archeeeeteck u noe.. dounch play play..

so during the conference, we had these sessions like for men only or for women only - so whilst we had the mens only session of course we are free la.. LO AND BEHOLD at the expo, there was also 2 mega sales - METRO SALE (i noe is for aunties, but a true blue shopaholic would nevertheless check out a sale, you never know what you would find!) and POPULAR SALE ..

Yuarh la. my teacher friend was like.. huh.. i thought popular only sell stationery wan.. no lorh uncle.. so whilst alot of the other female church goers were gathering together to process their thoughts of the conference, my cell members and i (under my superb leadership.. hurhuhur) went to RAID THE SALEs!!!

and look at our findings!

Cheap christian books on sale lorh! ANOINTED FOR BUSINESS going for 13 ++ Sing can?

so who say we not holy right? hmfph.. lol.

So at night, Sebas decided to bring us to this new supper place at Geylang (woot!) where they sell cheap crabs (wu yearh boh).. yours truly was very amused by some of the street signs there.. hurhur.

here kitty!

cluck!

finally at the place!

i was super amused because the drinks LITERALLY CAME IN A BOWL.. so next time you say 一碗 sugar cane and some smart aleck tells you that you have your 量词 wrong, tell them to think again!

量词 thats like, you know, collective nouns ( a flock of birds, a swarm of bees, etc? lol)

and they really had six dollar crab leh!

awright larh, as they say, mai hiam bway pai - the zhup was good though.. steamed crab with garlic.. yum yum! so we just eat lorh!

so anyhows, i have decided to go eat seafood in JB sometime, since i promised Sebas we would all goo to JB for seafood if he finishes Ironman, WHICH HE DID! COME ON!

the day i finish ironman.....hmmm

let's not digress!

so this is another random shot, we have a large jasmine plant (potted) outside my flat, and it is forever in bloom, so i thought i would show off here.. all jasmines are good i say.. muahahah.

and this, as we all know, is my keifu..

you'ld think he is handsome, but really, he is crazy!

that's right, playing with bananas!

gross lorh, i was wondering why he so guai take picture with me - if you look closely, where his smile is, thats like mush bananas..

sigh..

so i was talking about the POPULAR sale, and that was real farnee too, i was browsing when i heard two little boys laughing really loudly about CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS. i was thinking in my head, where got such things wan. silly boys..

until
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really have leh!

needless to say, i was very amused.

so here, i have some shots which i was coerced to take, to make a trilogy - corrine wants everyone to know her cell-leader is so boh liao wan.. take picture of shoes..
(speakin of bohliao i just bought a ONE GIG memory card for my phone. yayy!!! and it just occurred to me that, THAT's actually the same memory as my existing digital camera =_= but here's to many many pictures!!!)

corrine's foot

my foot

chioh bu foot (she just went for lasik and got me thinking about gettin one too!)

i brought Keifu for his belated bday dinner, and was amused by this..

so i just had to take a picture of this, because that day i wore a jersey to church, and like everyone was commenting - wahhhh why you wear so casual (=_=)

keifu say colour nice

i just wanted to reinforce the point that this young man is secure enough to not care about looking silly, all for good fun!!!! =D

So yes, on another note, i was out all week at an arbitration. here's a picture of old and new, the new Supreme Court is the flying saucer you see, and the old Supreme Court (from where this photo was taken) is the present Singapore International Arbitration Centre..

So, in my absence, i also went to Meiru's wedding and met lotsa old friends and mentor there.. been thinking, shall write soon!

Speak Good English

2007-03-21T23:43:00.000+08:00

Please please please please.. pretty PUUUUHHHHHLLLEEEESSSSEEEE click on the picture below. (Confirm you will laugh until cry, especially if you, like me, have started work liao)

An auditor friend blue-toothed it to me. She got it from her colleague, who got it from dunno who.. And I wonder why this thingy is passing like wild fire amongst the likes of us.

Anyhows, I have been SUPER SUPER SUPER SWAMPED. Have alot of random photos to put up, and promise to get down to it soon. Also have alot of 感想 . Will attempt to articulate them AFTER my arbitration. Yes, have been pressed to close tears this week at work!

Meanwhile, this came in my email today. I laughed my head off.. enjoy.

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of their colleagues nationwide.

Here are last year's winners.

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River .

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

POP! goes my heart!!

2007-03-15T00:25:00.000+08:00

You GUYSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS SOOOOOOO FARRNEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

did u see,

i. the checkered background?
ii. the BACKGROUND DANCERS (o kill me now.. they are SO hilarious. Go rewind the video and watch it again!)
iii. the POP sign?
iv. Hugh Grant, (YES!! I also thought the yandao looked familiar) Hugh Grant in the Austin Powers suit?
v. the shoulder pads, on the MEN AND THE WOMEN?
vi. the 80s make up?
vii. the doctor dancing with the drip?
viii. Hugh Grant's pink. neon. heart. POPPING????!!!!!!!!!

omigosh! LOL.

No, I havent watched the drew and hugh movie.. but i thought, the title of this song was quite thought provoking.

"Pop! goes my heart!"

When was the last time your heart popped? Mine hasnt. In a long time - in the sense of this song la.. otherwise.. my heart also popped couple of weeks ago when i made that mistake. Hahaa.. Heng Heng my boss never *@#$%!!! me.

=) He so nice..

But this kinda popping i dowan ah. Give you, u want meh? LOL.

Tarzan & Jane

2007-03-10T12:30:00.000+08:00

A friend got married last Sunday. I didnt attend, but I sure heard about it..

LOOK!!

Elephant bride!!! As in, coming in on an elephant, not that she looks like an elephant! FAR from it!

I heard from her later that she was quite terrified of coming in on an elephant though she desperately tried not to show it. I asked her why didnt she just come in on another animal then (if you havent figured by now, she got married at the zoo okay?).

Yuarh. Another animal like a horse, her groom was in white mah - 白马王子 !! But I think, in that case, it has to be a white horse, not a groom in a white suit.. hur hur hur..

Anyhows, she said the zoo doesnt provide any other animal for you to come in on. Oh well. This one also not bad larh, like INDIAN PRINCESS AND HER RAJAH.. lol.

I think I probably want to get married at the beach, or some yatch club (cuz i lurve the sea!!) except that I havent quite found a solution to hair being messed up by the wind and make up melting in the sun.. EEEYEEERRR.. lol

Humble Pie

2007-03-03T17:05:00.000+08:00

Have you ever made a mistake so bad you cant believe YOU made it?

Like it's SO out of character. YOUR character.

Well recently, that happened to me.

You see, I have always taken pride in the fact that I am a person with alot of common sense.

Don't laugh.

But to be honest, growing up, I realized that common sense isnt really that common - because what comes to you naturally, actually depends on what you have been exposed to.

I remember a conversation i had with my colleague before (fellow junior) and we were laughing at the expectations of some seniors - like how they would examine another person's work and look very irritable when the person doesnt get it.

Irritated senior, "It's common sense isnt it?"
Colleague / me / any other junior person: Blank look.

It's common sense to YOU cuz u've done it before, but not to us! we havent seen something like that!

So our conclusion - actually common sense isnt really that common.. haha.

Actually you can fit the above in any context la, medicine, law, accountancy, event management, etc.

I am suddenly reminded of the army lingo, "BLUR RECRUIT" -

Yuarh.

HE IS RECRUIT THATS WHY HE IS BLUR MAH, if he is not blur he would be your sergeant or OFFICER ALREADY!! that's why we have blur RECRUIT!

USE UR BLANE USE UR BLANE USE UR BLANE!

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Okay.

I am digressing, as usual. And, my closet arh-lianess is manifesting. But you get my drift.

SO.

We were talkin about me taking pride that i have common sense - by that i mean the knowing-how-to-take-care-when-it-comes-to-important-things-that-you-have-to-do. So maybe organized / prudent / responsible would be the right word.

ANYHOWz.

Recently I made a mistake. I mistake that was so dumb. So careless and so RIDICULOUS i was momentarily stunned. Then i spent a whole night trying to rectify the problem and worrying about how i would cook in the frying pan the next day.

But I decided that I would be brave and "TAKE IT LIKE A MAN". It's really my fault anyway.

So the next day, I marched up to my boss and told him about it. And what I did to rectify the problem. And waited with bated breath.

A picture speaks a thousand words.. So this was really how i was feeling, what i was really expecting to get (and i fully deserved it i think).

To my VERY GREAT surprise, he didnt say a thing.

Or it would be more accurate to say, he said, "it's okay. people make mistakes".

Then he went on with the work.

I was stunned.

Let me explain. Yes, the mistake was one that was rectifiable, i.e. it's not the end of the world. But i was HORRIFIED because I MADE IT, and such a stupid one that could have been TOTALLY AVOIDED.

STUPID MISTAKE = Stupid / careless / inefficient / unorganized / [fill in the blank urself] person

If i were my boss, I would've skinned me alive.

But he didnt leh. He showed grace, which is basically - (unmerited) favour.

WAH.

So what did i take away from this incident?

One. To show grace.

Two. To not judge a person quickly. (even if we are talking about work, and what is "common sense") So much for sizing up people - interviews are farces - they should be called oral exams. Ha ha ha..

Three. Give people time to develop. What is common sense to me is because I had the chance to see it before, in some way or other - others may not have. Give them time to see it.

Boohooo. i want to be a good boss too!

how I LIKE lawyer jokes

2007-02-28T00:35:00.000+08:00

I usually like lawyer jokes. alot.

I like them because they make light of what happens on a daily basis.

It's like how you find out, whilst you are in the middle of a flight, that what you are wearing may be a fashion disaster at the airport where you would be landing, shortly. And what you are wearing cost you.

Then you step out of the plane, and quick gasps of relief wing you when you see another person, in similar garb at the airport. That other person looks at what you are wearing. Approving.

Yay. Somebody else recognizes this darn thing on me probably can feed a whole lecture theatre of students for a month.

You get my drift? But it's okay if you dont. hahaa..

Once, I had an application where we managed to enter judgment against the opponents (That's a good thing, btw). The only issue before the Court was that of costs and disbursements - and my learned friend (that's how we address our opponents in Court) and I slugged at each other. We got pretty upset with one another there and then in chambers - over 300 dollars. At some point in time whilst we were sparring, it crosses my mind whether he is putting up a fight simply because he is spoiling for one, or, if it is a question of principle and not the quantum of whatever we are squabbling about.

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On rare occasions, I actually stop and wonder why solicitors fight.

Perhaps because on the one hand - they are paid to further their clients interests, in accordance to, justice. So, the lawyer does what he is paid to do. But others of times, maybe the lawyer fights because he wants to win, real bad - and it doesnt matter who is on the other side, or who is paying his bill. Maybe, sometimes, the lawyer fights because the opponent solicitors remind her of an ex-boyfriend. Or she just wants to make her mother happy.

In all of the above, if they all win, which lawyer is the greatest?

And does it matter why they do it, so long they win? Should it matter? Then again, what is really the big deal if the judge rules either way?

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Then I think about myself, why I am fighting tooth and nail this time, to get what I think my clients deserve. Even if it is just 300 dollars. Because it is my job. Because it is a matter of principle. Because some people need to be put into the right place

And sometimes I think, I dont know.

After the adrenaline ebbs, there is the ugly grainy taste - like holding rusty iron nails in my mouth. I am not sure if it was because of the manner we were fighting, or what we were fighting about. The judge gave me what I argued for, but so what?

All I am saying is, the heart of the matter is really what matters. Maybe we shouldnt be so quick to judge another, when we dont know whats on their heart.