What a Slacker

I've gotta get my life back in order. Been slacking too much. I must find Discipline!!

Cotton On

Just now on my way to meet Xinyi in Wisma I came across a new shop called Cotton On. It has replaced Charles and Keith I think. Looks tempting- 2 tops for $20! Ahh!!!

Something About You- Corrinne May

Dont what you do to me but
Everytime I'm with you its a natural high
its like re-discovering Eden
with chocolate-coated rainbows and cotton candy skies
And everytime you look my way
I wish i had the guts to say


There's something in your eyes
Something in your smile
Something in the way you move me
You make me want to sing
Make me want to dance
Make me want to cry
I'm falling in love with you.


I think i'll hire Cupid
He'll make you see I'm more than your friend
You'll be tossing and turning
Counting the hours til you see me again
And when we meet you'll
Kiss my hand and say the words I've longed to hear


There's something in your eyes
Something in your smile
Something in the way you move me
You make me want to sing
Make me want to dance
I'm falling in love with you
You make me want to sing
Make me want to dance
Make me want to cry
I'm falling in love with you.


I like this song, it sounds so happy. Haha, and the tune's catchy too! =)

so sleepy!

in rebecca's wonderful developmental psych lab lesson now, but feeling sleepyyyyyy... bleah

i have to keep awake!!!!

Pasta Fresca Da Salvatore

Evon, Yi Lun and I have heard that Pasta Fresca serves good Italian food, especially pasta, and thus have been wanting to visit the restaurant for a loooong time. Finally, Yi Lun and I got a chance one day. We went to the Changi Airport branch to try out their famed pasta.

The setting of Pasta Fresca is very nice, kind of like how I always imagined trattorias in Italy to look like (not that I've ever seen one, but the image conjured in my mind from the storybooks gave me those images). There's a water feature at a corner of the restaurant, and dim lighting everywhere... Kinda romantic, except I was with Yi Lun, so it can't get any more romantic than you can imagine. Haha! =) But there's no better company than family, I always say, cos you can always share the food in a way only family members can share, which is the most fuss-free and stressless way of eating.

I was sooo hungry I could eat so many things! I was so tempted to order one item from every category, but the prices gave me pause. If you'll look at the prices in the photos below, you'll understand why. So I had to cross appetisers, soups, sides, desserts and drinks off my list of desires, and concentrate on the main course. And it wasn't an easy choice. The photos were appetising, the descriptions as well. I just wanted to have them all. In the end, though, we settled on one rice dish, one pasta, and one pizza. The rice dish was cos Fish & Co was just beside Pasta Fresca, and I so love the rice that comes with the seafood platter, and I was reminded of it. For the rice dish, we had the Risotto Ala Catalana, that's made up of all kinds of seafood, like mussels, squid, prawns, and... well, you get the idea. Pasta was linguine, from the cream base category. Yi Lun wanted linguine, while I wanted the ravioli and the other type, the name of which I can't pronounce, cos they had stuffings of either mushrooms, beef or spinach (I think) inside, and I was attracted by the novelty. So our linguine was put with alfredo sauce, which came with lots of peas and ham. As for the pizza, we had the Rustica. We ordered the small pizza cos we figured we wouldn't be able to finish the food after eating the rice and pasta. How right we were!

The food arrived, and man, did they look good. The risotto looked as good as Fish & Co's, and the rice looked soft and plump. It looked promising. Until I took a bite of the rice and a bite of the prawn. I was disappointed. Firstly, I don't like treated seafood- that is, seafood that's been soaked with boric acid. It makes me feel like I'm being poisoned, and that I'm cheated of my money. I think if restaurants want to offer seafood, they should offer FRESH seafood. Secondly, the rice itself had a very strong taste of seafood- you know, the sea taste? The first few mouths were still ok, but the more I ate it, the more I found I couldn't quite swallow it. =S

Then came the linguine. Well, I was having rather high hopes for it, as Pasta Fresca's supposed to be good with pasta. It wasn't bad, just.... normal. I think Sketchers at Bugis Junction does a better job of pasta than they do. There's nothing much to say about the linguine, really, there wasn't much sauce, and after awhile of eating it, the creaminess kinda puts you off it.

The pizza... well, if I had to go back to Pasta Fresca, I'd order the pizza. Rustica pizza had spicy salami and mushrooms and cheese as its toppings. The mushrooms were fresh and juicy, and the pizza was soft yet crispy- the crust was crispy, but the base was soft- and the cheese was still sooo soft when you first eat it. Look at the picture of Yi Lun below and you'll know what I mean. The cheese didn't have the irritating Kraft cheese taste, and it wasn't too salty, just the way I like it. And the salami... A bit salty, if you ask me, but that's ok with me, cos I don't mind a bit more saltiness.

The service at Pasta Fresca? Well... I like to go to places with good service. Even if the food's passable, at least the service may be the last factor that pushes me to visit the place again. For Pasta Fresca, well sad to say, their service doesn't match up to Fish & Co's. They didn't even fill up our glasses even though our glasses were so obviously empty already. We had to indicate to them to fill up our glass on 2 occasions. So... I think I'd minus points off them for that.

Now, the photos!

Top 75 Most Annoying Things to do in an Elevator

1. When there's only one other person in the elvator, tap them on the shoulder and then pretend it wasn't you.

2. Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock. Smile, and go back for more.

3. Ask if you can push the button for other people, but push the wrong ones.

4. Call the Psychic Hotline from your cell phone and ask if they know what floor you're on.
Even more relevant when we Psych students isn't it? ;)

5. Hold the doors open and say your waiting for a friend. After a while, let the doors close, and say, "Hi Greg. How's your day been?"

6. Drop a pen and wait until someone goes to pick it up, then scream, "That's mine!"

7. Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the elevator.

8. Move your desk into the elevator and whenever anyone gets on, ask if they have an apointment.

9. Lay down the twister mat and ask people if they would like to play.

10. Leave a box in the corner, and when someone gets on, ask them if they can hear ticking.

11. Pretend you are a flight attendant and review emergency procedures and exits with the passengers.

12. Ask, "Did you feel that?"

13. Stand really close to someone, sniffing them occasionally.

14. When the doors close, announce to the others, "It's okay, don't panic, they open again!"

15. Swat at flies that don't exist.

16. Tell people that you can see their aura.

17. Call out, "Group Hug!"and then enforce it.

18. Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering, "Shut up, all of you, just shut up!" Multiple personalities disorder? Haha should be hilarious to watch!

19. Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside, ask, "Got enough air in there?"
20. Stand silently and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.

21. Stare at another passenger for a while, then announce in horror, "Your one of THEM!" and back away slowly. So schizophrenic isn't it?

22. Wear a puppet on your hand and use it to talk to the other passengers.

23. Listen to the elevator walls with your stethoscope.

24. Make explosion noises when anyone presses a button.

25. Stare, grinning at another passenger for a while, then announce, "I have new socks on".

26. Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers, "This is MY personal space!" Does Venus talk about personal space in class? If she does you can suggest this in class!

27. Put police tape in front of the door before entering.

28.Fart loudly when there are only two of you in the elevator. Argue vehemently that it wasn't you.

29. Hold an auction.

30. Do the "potty dance" all the way to the elevator door. Upon arrival, sigh and look greatly relieved.

31. Ask every passenger coming if you can borrow a tampon. Especially effective if victim is male. Even more effective if you yourself are male.

32. Throw a rave. I'm not sure what that is, but according to dictionary.com , it's "An all-night dance party, especially one where techno, house, or other electronically synthesized music is played."

33. Place potted plants and water fountains at strategic locations in the lift. When people ask what you are doing, tell them you "won't ride an elevator that's not fung shwei."

34. Greet everyone getting on with a warm handshake and ask them to call you "Admiral".

35. Hum the first six notes of the "It's a small world" over and over again. Oh this is really annoying, trust me! Just try this out and stop at the sixth note. Try it!

36. When you brush past someone, whisper "Was it good for you too?"

37. Lean over to another rider and whisper 'Noogie patrol coming!'"

38. Have a heated debate with yourself. This should be fun to watch. And maybe try debating about a really stupid topic, like... whether blue pens or black pens are smoother to write with.

39. Bring a melon onto the elevator. Try to sell it to the other passengers.

40. Drum on every available surface.

41. Write a big X on the elevator floor, and hand out "pirate" maps to everyone as they enter.

42. Give psychotherapy to the other passengers. Haha, we can try practising that!

43. Greet everyone coming on as if they were your best friend. Use the same name for all of them.

44. Say "ring ring," then pull a banana out of your pocket and start talking into it. Hehe sounds familiar? Who likes bananas huh? ;)

45. Propose to the other passengers. Si Huan, you can try this too, increase your variety!

46. Challenge people to duels.

47. Sell girl scout cookies.

48. Bring a large pile of ice. Build an igloo on the floor.

49. Come on looking really scared, and say to another passenger..."I'm kinda nervous...this is my first time flying..."

50. Any time someone enters the doors, recoil in horror.

51. Stick your tongue out. Act like it's a cigarette, and ask someone for a light.

52. Pitch a tent on the floor, and "camp out" for the weekend.

53. Play "I've got your nose" with the other passengers.

54. Shout "Food fight!"

55. Every time someone else talks, angrily shout: "Some people are trying to sleep here!"

56. When arriving at your floor, grunt and strain to pull the doors open, then act embarrassed when they open by themselves.

57. Lick one of the buttons. Tell the other passengers you're sick and tired of people stealing your food the second you turn your back.

58. Elevators were practically MADE for riverdance!

59. Bring a snowboard onto the elevator. Put it on. Every time the lift goes up or down, shout "WOO-YEAH! This is what I call sick air!"

60. Make sushi.

61. Press your nose against the other passengers, and say "You know, this is what the Eskimos used to do before having sex."

62. Shave. Eeew!

63. Every time the elevator goes down, loudly scream "OH MY GOD!!! We're all gonna die! This is it! This is it! It's over! IT'S OVER!!!" Look relieved when it stops moving. When you begin to drop again, repeat.

64. Ask the other passengers if they want to see your glass clown collection.

65. Practice your kung fu.

66. Make race car noises when people get on and off.

67. Ask everyone on the elevator: "Are you my mother?"

68. Fly a model airplane.

69. Do yoga.

70. Play the accordion

71. Enter the elevator with nothing on your head. Individually ask everyone if they like your hat.

72. Bring a rocking chair. Sit and knit.

73. Recite gangsta rap lyrics in monotone.

74. Enter with a shovel, and attempt to "dig for treasure."

75. Read "Green Eggs and Ham" at the top of your lungs. Sound out every word.

Love is...

What does Love mean?

A group of professional people posed
this question to a group of 4 to 8
year-olds, "What does love mean?"

The answers they got were broader and
deeper than anyone could have
Imagined. See what you think :

"When my grandmother got arthritis,
she couldn't bend over and paint her
toenails anymore. So my grand-father
does it for her all the time, even
when his hands got arthritis too.
That's love."
Rebecca- age 8

"When someone loves you, the way they
say your name is different. You just
know that your name is safe in their
mouth."
Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume
and a boy puts on shaving cologne and
they go out and smell each other."
Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and
give somebody most of your French
fries without making them give you any
of theirs."
Chrissy - age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when
you're tired."
Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee
for my daddy and she takes
A sip before giving it to him, to make
sure the taste is OK."
Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time.
Then when you get tired of kissing,
you still want to be together and you
talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like
that. They look gross when they kiss"
Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you
at Christmas if you stop opening
presents and listen."
Bobby - age 7

"If you want to learn to love better,
you should start with a friend who you
hate,"
Nikka - age 6

"Love is when you tell a guy you like
his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a
little old man who are still friends
even after they know each other so
well."
Tommy - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the
best piece of chicken."
Elaine-age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly
and sweaty and still says he is
handsomer than Robert Redford."
Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your
face even after you left him alone all
day."
Mary Ann - age 4

"I know my older sister loves me
because she gives me all her old
clothes and has to go out and buy new
ones."
Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your
eyelashes go up and down and little
Stars come out of you.."
Karen - age 7

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the
toilet and she doesn't think it's
gross."
Mark - age 6

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you'
unless you mean it. But if you mean
it, you should say it a lot. People
forget."
Jessica - age 8


And the final one -- Author and
lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked
About a contest he was asked to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find
the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child
whose next door neighbor was
An elderly gentleman who had recently
lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little
boy went into the old gentleman's
Yard, climbed onto his lap, and just
sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said
to the neighbor, the little
Boy said,

"Nothing, I just helped him cry"

Aww...

Envy

I think envy is really a poisonous emotion. Envy by itself can be seen as a good thing, coz it might create motivation in a person to seek improvement of his/her current status, and then allow that person to obtain the goal. BUT when envy becomes jealousy, that becomes a problem, coz that person will be unhappy and bitter, always seeing what others have and coveting it, without thinking that they could turn the emotion around and change it into something constructive, or by remedying the situation so that their current situation will improve.

Jealousy then makes a person very dissatisfied with life, and might keep the person ruminating in what he/she doesn't have, rather than what he/she has, and then capitalizing on it. I think sometimes, depression arises from this dissatisfaction with life and an inability to see the silver lining that comes with this dissatisfaction.

Therefore, I have resolved to be a happier person, and to be happy for others when they have achieved a goal they want. I shall be a bigger-hearted person.

Let's hope I'm a big enough person to do it.

Kayden's Birthday

I just have to blog about these darling boys- my nephews Jing Xun and Kayden! They are brothers, but Jing Xun is usually called by this name by his mother instead of Kirren, so I shall do the same thing. He's sooo adorable!!

Anyway, it was Kayden's first birthday last week, so according to some Chinese superstition, it's good to celebrate a child's first month and first year of birth, so that's what they did. I was looking forward to going, coz that would mean seeing Jing Xun! Haha... Jing Xun's become more confident, and he's more active now too! And he's very accommodating. In the very first picture in this slide show, it was taken when I told him to smile. He was trying to figure out his bubble gun, trying to make it shoot more bubbles when I approached him. I said, "Kirren, smile!" and he looked up and gave me that smile. Oh my goodness, my heart melted!! So handsome!!

Haha I shall let you see the pictures taken at Kayden's birthday.

Some quotes

I recently came across some quotes that set me thinking:

"Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last fish has been eaten, only after the last river has been poisoned, only then will you realise that money can not be eaten." - Cree Prophecy

"If you can't do anything about it, why worry? If you can do something about it, why worry? Therefore, put aside your worries..." - Buddha

And here's a story I heard the other day:

A high monk and a government official were having a meeting one day. The official asked the monk, "What do you see when you see me?"

The monk replied, "I see a Buddha."

Naturally, the official was very happy to hear this. He said, "Would you like to know what I see when I see you?"

The monk replied, "Please tell me."

The official said, "I see a pile of shit when I see you." To which the monk burst out laughing upon hearing it.

Why?










The monk said, "We are what we see."

Gets you thinking, doesn't it?

Sabah Trip

Very long entry ahead. Even if you don't read the words, look at the photos! =)

Before school starts proper, I figured I'd better post up the photos we took while in Sabah. I had a good time at Sabah, and we really experienced a wide variety of things, like getting lost and walking around for an hour before being saved by the taxi driver whose photo you'll see soon below, getting drenched in the rain while walking the mountail trails at Mt Kinabalu, me falling down at the Mt Kinabalu hotel, which you already read about in the last entry, Si Huan and Merrilyn being wonderful sports during the whole trip, and them getting drunk. Haha, but let's not talk about that last event, shall we? =)

Anyway, on the first morning of our stay in Sabah, before going for the registration of the conference, we explored Tanjung Aru Town, which was only a few minutes' walk from our hotel. Tanjung Aru Town was recommended by the driver who sent us to our hotel, who said that they sold breakfast there. Hmm. When we went there, there were many many Korean restaurants, which we were not interested in. We wanted to find Malaysian food, so onwards we went, and we found 2 little stalls selling what looked more like normal food. Well, only one, to be exact, as you can see from the picture of Merrilyn and Si Huan eating nasi lemak. I didn't order nasi lemak or other dishes, but waffles. Yes, I can see some of you rolling your eyes now, and I think I probably deserve it, but that day I didn't have an appetite for anything big. The shopkeepers were very hospitable, kept talking to us, and were so patient!

Then on we went to Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) for the registration of the conference. And what a wild goose chase that was! Apparently, the organisers had decided to change the venue of the conference to one of the resort hotels, and we weren't informed of it, so we had to find out about it only after we reached the Universiti -_-" So never mind, Si Huan met up with Guan Qi, her good friend, and we visited the UMS canteen. UMS is friggin' big! If you thought NTU was big, wait till you look at UMS. It's bout 3 times the size of NTU. And the view from the canteen...!!

The conference registration wasn't due to start until 4pm that day, so we had time to spend, and we went to Centrepoint Sabah, which seems to be a popular shopping place among the Sabah people. And yes, Sabah has Internet, and not bad connection k! Yep, so after we'd gone to Centrepoint, we went on to Sutera Harbour Resort for the registration. Wow, that place is so shiok! Anyway, photos are below.

After hanging around there, we decided to visit the night market. Unlike those night markets I've been to in other parts of Malaysia, this night market really only sold food, but they were rather repetitive. Anyway, we ordered barbecued Ikan Bakar which was seasoned with tumeric and came with sweet sauce, and Si Huan ordered the barbecued chicken wings which were seasoned with honey and were really juicy and nice. The ikan bakar was good too! Haha, I like eating at such places actually, the food seems to taste better there. =p So then you know from the beginning that we got lost on our way back, so let's not dwell on it. Suffice it to say that we experienced something new that day. =)By the time we reached the hotel, our shoes were dirty, so Si Huan whipped out her secret weapon, and this is her advertisement:

The second and third days were spent at the conference, which was an eye-opener for me, and the symposiums were rather invigorating in the sense that when the participants were interested in the topic, they continually voiced their opinions, and it resulted in a throwing around of ideas among the researchers. As an amateur, it was quite nice to see them discussing these issues, and I was more than content to just sit and listen to them talking. =) The photos below show the resort and the dinners we had. We had dinner at Anjung Selera, a row of hawkers selling seafood by the sea. But before you think such a location is synonymous with fresh seafood, I'd advise you to think again. The seafood wasn't fresh. So after awhile of deliberation, we settled on a stall that seemed to sell the freshest seafood. As you can see, we ordered fried chilli stingray, lemon butter sotong, and sambal kangkong. We were expecting the stingray to be barbecued, but it was fried! It tasted quite good actually, but I guess the expectation that I had for barbecued stingray kinda marred a bit of my tasting of the fish. The sotong was not bad, it had a unique taste, but a bit too salty I felt. The kangkong was the best- it had the fire taste in it, which I love, and it was rather fresh. All in all, it wasn't a bad meal. We had lots of fun there actually, and looking at Si Huan's face, I guess you can imagine how much laughter there was.

On the fourth day, we made our way to Mt Kinabalu. It was a 2 hour ride, and the scenery was beautiful, as you can see from the photos we- or rather, Merrilyn- took. It was freezing there! We were planning to climb the mountain, but when we reached there, we realised that we were actually too ambitious. We were hardly prepared to climb the mountain- we didn't have the right clothes, we also didn't have the most basic- enough warm clothing. So we travelled the mountain trails, and it started raining like it did the whole time we were there, and we felt even colder. It was fun travelling the mountain trails with Si Huan and Merrilyn, and the scenery was nice, just that because it was raining, we had to keep our eyes on the ground most of the time in case we slipped and fell, which was what I was doing the most, and was what earned me the nickname of "大只的" from Si Huan. -_-" Since we were so cold, we ordered steamboat for dinner! Man we were sooo looking forward to the dinner. Frankly, I was shocked at the amount of vegetables there were in the bowl! As that day was the 15th day of the Lunar month, Si Huan and I had gone vegetarian for the first half of the day, which meant we had a meal of salad for lunch. And seeing that bowl of vegetables.... Well, you can say it was veggie overload for me. And Si Huan was right in saying she felt like a rabbit. Haha, what an apt description. There were 3 groups of caucasians sitting around us, and they were soo intrigued by the steamboat I'm sure their hands were itching to take photos of us cooking the steamboat. There were discussions at their tables, and one by one kept taking casual walks past our tables. Hehe imagine if we'd had a hot plate around the steamboat, they'd be even more excited. Haha!!

And the fifth day, our last full day in Sabah, we went to the Sunday market. Well, I was expecting Petaling Street's (KL) size and variety, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw that they sold mostly the same things. It was quite a small market as well, hardly comparable to Petaling Street, much less Thailand's Chatuchak, but of course, the atmosphere there was comparable to those two places. It was crowded there, full of tourists and locals, trying to get the best bargains for their goods. Because of the crowd, I couldn't take a good photo of the market. =( Before we left the market, we went past this van that was playing whimsical kind of music, the kind you'll hear at funfairs, the "ting-ting" kind of tone? It was an ice-cream van selling dual-flavoured ice-cream! So quaint!

We went on to the handicraft market after that, which was rather repetitive in terms of their variety again, but there's one thing you can't deny about the people of Sabah- their handicrafts are really nice. And then we went on to Kbox. You have to be there to see what happened! Si Huan went rock, and was so emo! You can see from the slides below! Merrilyn was a good sport too. Both of them agreed to sing "One Night in Beijing" for me to record, and they gamely sang the high-pitched parts, complete with wayang actions. Cool! I'm not going to upload videos here, but you can watch some of the videos on Si Huan's blog. There's none of the "One Night in Beijing", you'll have to pay money for that, I'm afraid. =) At night, we went to eat seafood! We were recommended this Chinese restaurant called "双天" by the taxi driver, so we went there. Man the food was expensive by Malaysia's standards! We ordered one grouper steamed Foochow style, 3 tiger prawns, and one plate of broccoli, and it came out to RM138! That was very expensive. However, the food was good and fresh, I gotta admit. Still.....

The last day, just before we left for the airport, we went to Tanjung Aru Beach! Early morning scenery's beautiful. Let me just let the pictures speak for themselves. And as usual, we were up to our usual antics, so.. enjoy the photos! =)

Before I end this super long entry, I'd just like to say that the people in Sabah are pretty friendly. We encountered good service during the time we were there, and everyone was helpful and smiley. Haha, that just made the trip nicer for me, together with good company! =)

My back

So. After 2 weeks of kidding myself about my back, I decided that if I didn't want to be crippled when I grew old, I'd have to go see a doctor. And lucky I did, if I can take the doctor for her word. My upper back has 6 discs which have shifted out of place, and the part of the lower back which I'd injured while in Sabah had swollen rather much. So I did the ba guan thing- you know, the bottles being suctioned onto the injured area of your body- and voila, from the difference in colours, you could see which part was injured, and they were the areas she'd said were the most badly injured. Looks like even when I dismiss any discomfort as just that- discomfort, there's really something wrong. =S

Oh well. I better be more mindful of my sitting posture; seems like it was the sitting posture that made my spine go out of alignment. Thank goodness it had only been out of alignment for 6months at the most. Can you imagine if it had been for a year or more? I think that would have been bad. Do you think I should go back for follow-up treatments? That's the tedious thing about Chinese medicine- follow ups are always needed, and since they treat from the root cause, there's no way of knowing if you are getting better or not. But I shall take comfort in the fact that she said just going 2 more times will make my upper back ok. Let's hope that's the case! Ah, so that means no sleeveless clothes that expose my back for the next week. The ba guan marks are too obvious. Haha, it makes me look like I've been beaten!! =S

OK, and I shall end now. Hopefully the next post you'll see will be the Sabah trip! And I wanna post up a picture of my favourite boy Kirren!! OMG he's the next love of my life after the LG Chocolate phone. Haha!!

Writer's Block

Oh! So I've written on the topic before. Oh well.

They say the best way to get round writer's block is to write about it, and it's worked for me a couple of times, but this time, it's not working. I can't think of anything smart and critical to say about this article that I'm supposed to write a thought paper about. It wasn't that bad when I had to do Prof Chang's reports, and write other reports, so why is it so hard now? I wonder if it's anything to do with my inclination to procrastinate? But I can't do it anymore! No tum no tum!! Tomorrow's the start of my academic year, and I want to start it off as worry-free as possible. So that means finishing it before dinner time today, by hook or by crook. It's 4.09pm now, which means I've about 2 hours to finish this off. Think I can do it? I sure hope so.

One page. One of the hardest one page I've ever done, and I think this takes the cake.

理想情人

穿上洋装看着手表
时间快到心碰碰的跳
和你的第一次约会来临了

金色的阳光洒满人行道
换了新唇膏把头发弄好
要你看到我的好
喜欢看你走路充满自信
说话时候你的专注眼神
温柔的表情笑容里的天真
我相信找不到有比你更好的人
你心里理想情人是几分
是否也会有我的份
好想知道你的100分
会给怎样的人
亲爱的你不要再陌生
增加我戏份
我想问亲爱的你把感情升等
朋友变成情人
可不可以告诉我标准
不要让我一直等
听着那时间滴答的走
对街的你在点头
好像一个梦渐渐走到我前头
好想知道你的100分
会给怎样的人
亲爱的你不要再陌生
增加我戏份
我想问亲爱的你把感情升等
朋友变成情人
可不可以告诉我标准
不要让我一直等

- 杨丞琳

My current favourite song!!

Food Trip 2007

Be warned: Long post ahead

This is a very belated post, seeing as we went on the food trip on the 8th of July. I've been trying to get slide.com to put more pictures into the slides, but I don't know what's wrong with the system, so I've given up and put in whatever pictures can be put up there. Meanwhile, I've to find somemore websites which will allow me to put multiple photos. Blogger's too idiotic to use.

Ok anyway, our first stop was to try the rice balls and bread at Square 2, at Novena. Photos below!

For this, only Merrilyn, Si Jia and I went, coz Pony and Kaori were not free in early afternoon. I think the rice balls are worth a try. It's a departure from the oily and rather unhealthy foods we are exposed to outside- I felt very "clean" and healthy after eating it. They have a variety of 6 different types of rice to choose from, namely purple rice, brown rice, mixed grain rice, wheatgerm brown rice, red rice and ice lake wild rice. And there are 46 different types of fillings to choose from! So the basic idea is this:

1) Choose the type of rice you want
2) Select 5 types of fillings that you want inside your rice ball.

They'll then layer your rice, and then put the fillings inside, then ball it up tightly, and tada! You have your rice ball!

Si Jia's rice ball was mostly fruits- raisins, green apple (and many more, can't remember), Merrilyn's one... I think had chicken and vegetables, mine was mostly spicy; I had hae bee hiam and spicy something else inside. All in all, it was a rather good variety of rice balls. If you want to try healthy food, try here!

After that, we tried the bread at Mama Bakery, also at Square 2. It's opened by an old Japanese lady. We shared 3 different types of buns- the seafood vege mango, the red bean, and another one I think had wasabi and seafood. So sorry I can't remember the names!! I bought the Choco Bowl home for my family to try, since it's their best seller, and my mother loves it. Verdict for Mama Bakery? Oishii!

So that was lunch. Next stop was to the fish slice bee hoon which Merrilyn discovered at Bugis, and where we met Kaori and Pony. Photos are below!

As Merrilyn, Si Jia and I were still full from the lunch earlier, we opted to share a bowl of the noodles. Verdict? They were nice, and I rather liked the soup, which was creamy. I like fish slice soup with milk inside. The fish was rather fresh as well. Business there is brisk, and perhaps the next time I visit that place, I'll try the fish head curry. It looked quite popular while we were there. Anyone wants to try it? =)

The next stop was desserts which was near to the Fish slice bee hoon place. Again, as we all wanted to save some space in our stomachs for dinner, we shared the dessert. Merrilyn, Si Jia and I shared the ginger in barley, and the egg water dessert, while Pony and Kaori shared in something which looked like ice kachang. I felt the ginger dish was too hot for my taste, probably cos I don't really like ginger, but overall, I thought the sweetness of the dessert and the ginger went rather well.

Dinner next was at Aston's. Haha, I finally know how to go to that part of the East. The stretch of East Coast Rd and Siglap's a really inaccessible place to go to, but I'm glad I found out how to go. As you might have guessed by now, I love Aston's. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to eat Western food. Besides, that region has alot of food that looks promising, so the knowledge of how to go there is definitely useful. Anyway, the photos are below.

We also celebrated Pony's birthday at Aston's. I bought a chocolate truffle cake from Savoury Fare, and while I was waiting for the shopkeeper to write her name on the cake, I browsed around and saw that they sold trick candles that cannot be blown out. So what would good friends do? Buy the candles of course! She had quite a time blowing the candles out, and I must say, I was quite surprised that the candles could last so long. Haha, you should have seen Pony's face when the candles came back on! That was priceless. Alas, I wasn't quick enough to take a photo of that expression; maybe next time, eh?

After that, we set off to Bedok Interchange to go home. Or so we thought. Merrilyn and Si Jia had just dropped off at Tanah Merah MRT station when we reached Bedok 85. I recommended the place to Kaori, since she's a visitor to Singapore, and is very interested in our local food. So we dropped off there and went to have supper. I ordered the minced meat noodle for Kaori, and Pony ordered 10 sticks of satay and otah. By this time, Pony and I were really really full, and I'd expect Pony to be fuller than me, since all I had for dinner was a bowl of mushroom soup, while she had the Prime Rib-eye steak (I wish I'd had that, but my appetite during that period of time was shite. A pity, really). But anyway, Kaori responded to the minced meat noodles with a "oishii!" upon the first mouth of the noodles, which I felt rather happy upon hearing it. She finished the whole bowl of noodles, and while Pony and I had 4 sticks of satay, she finished the rest of it including the ketupat, and the otah, all the while praising our food. Haha, I felt really happy that she likes our local food so much. Makes me feel proud of our food. We should make her our spokesperson! At the same time, I was in awe of her appetite. Remember the places we mentioned above? With the exception of the first stop at Square 2, Kaori was an active participant in all the other stops- she ate a full meal at each of them! And the thing is, from the photos, she's NOT FAT. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? ;)

Yep, so that was the end of our food trip. I would say this food trip was a success, and I got to eat food which I haven't eaten before, and learnt ways of going to various places, AND got to introduce our local food to a foreigner! Though this is an unofficial food trip, hopefully there'll be another one next year?

Oh yah, before I end off, if there are errors in the names of the dishes or places we went, do tell me, yah? I wanna be as accurate as possible... Haha... I realise I should have taken photos of the signboard or something, and noted down the dishes we ate. No matter, I'll do that the next time!

To Sabah!

Ok, I know I haven't posted in a loooong while, and this is gonna continue for about another 2 weeks (or more, if I still haven't got round to posting about the food trip =p), coz I'm going to Sabah this afternoon, won't be back until 30th July, next Monday. So meanwhile, take care and leave msgs on my tagboard if u wish! =)

See y'all!

Good Service Goes a Long Way

Dinner at Ast0n's was, once again, nothing short of good. I love their ribeye steak- you can taste the charcoal the steak was cooked on, and the meat is sooo juicy! But though I've been there several times already- and recently I've been going there more often than usual though I'm not complaining- today was a pleasantly good trip, simply because of the good service there.

Don't get me wrong. Aston's has always had good service, but it's the incident which happened today that made me more impressed with them.

It started off pleasantly enough, with us going through the usual routine of placing our order and then waiting to be shown our places, and then receiving our food. We were enjoying the food and each other's company, when, just as the meal was about to end, my mother said, "Uh oh. Should I complain?" And she placed something white on the edge of her plate. It turned out to be a piece of broken plate. Eeew I think some of you would think, and so did we. But because of Aston's good service, my mother decided not to press the issue and just thought to notify the people there so they'd be more careful in future. Who knew, the waiter whom we alerted went to fetch the manager, and he replaced my mother's dish with an entirely new plate, and made our whole meal complimentary. Yep, the whole table of 4 ribeyes and 1 Snapple, which amounted to $58.30. Not a huge amount, perhaps, but I felt it was quite generous of the manager to make such a gesture. Normally, other restaurants may just give the plate that had problems a complimentary replacement, or write off the bill for that dish, but seldom have I heard of such a thing done. Aston's is not a big establishment, so such a measure is not expected of them.

My point is that Aston's good service- even before the incident- made us rather impressed with them, and this good impression made us reluctant to pursue the case any further, or even make a scene in the restaurant. However, if it had been a place with lousy service, well then, my parents would probably have been 不客气 with them too. Their further gesture of writing off the entire bill made us even more impressed with them, so as you can already guess, we will be going back to Aston's again. =)

Back to Square One

Well well well, Evon left for Palmy again yesterday, and needless to say, I'm going to miss her. The house seems empty again without her (and her mess). It's a bit quiet too. Haha no more shopping partner! The three weeks she was here, she was going from one meeting to another, we only went for short shopping trips twice. Not shiok enough, eh, Von? We didn't manage to go Bugis Village! Well... her trip back was better than expected I guess, since we did straighten out some things with each other. A fruitful one. The next time we'll see each other will be next June/July, another year away. You know what the irony is, though? She came back to see Yi Lun, coz they'd probably have far fewer chances of seeing each other than they do me, and she saw more of me instead. Yi Lun was busy working, and when they wanted to go out together, one of them would not be free. Haha, 3 weeks is just not enough lar.

And in another 2 months, Yi Lun will be flying off. This time, the house'll really be very quiet. I won't have anyone to complain and talk to when I go home, and who's going to listen to the stupid things I say and laugh at them and not think any less of me because I suggested doing stupid things no sane human keen to survive in a social surrounding would do? And we'd hardly see each other- I meant it literally- until next July/August.

Oh well, but nothing can stay the same forever, right? We all have to leave sometime to prepare for our own futures. One thing I wish would stay, though, is that we'll still be able to talk freely and laugh at each other freely whenever we see each other. =)

Eew

Bleagh. My hair feels friggin' oily today. Yuckyuckyuck!

Zhang Xiao Quan!!!

He's so cute!!!!



and the video below is the sequel to the first one. =)



Aaahhhh!! 好帅哦！ *swoons*