MILOGONG

River Ang Pow 2012

2012-01-28T00:00:00.001+08:00

Once again, the floating platform was decorated in red & gold to usher in the new year. And once again, the committee decided to 'allow' Singaporeans to immerse in authentic CNY celebrations by inviting half of China over to Singapore.

But first, Uncle Ringo...

Dizzying

The Uncle Ringo rides were pretty uninteresting

Pretty scary for these kids in the mini Viking ship

Tigress with her Tiger

Drawing portraits

Fu Lu Shou

Performance from Guangxi

Martial God of Wealth

Quick search on the official site about the Martial God:

Martial God of Wealth （武财神）Chinese New Year is all about auspicious tidings and good luck, which makes the God of Wealth, deemed as the patron of wealth and prosperity, an integral part of River Hongbao. This year, River Hongbao welcomes the Martial God of Wealth as the main highlight of the lantern display. According to traditional belief, the Martial God of Wealth is a symbol used in boosting economy and bringing wealth and prosperity to businessmen. An expert in geomancy has also advised that placing the Martial God of Wealth at the Bay area this year will help in stabilize Singapore’s position in the recently tumultuous global economy.

Stabilize my personal economy too please

Said to be the largest food fair thus far... but serving mainly pasar malam food

Largest pile of rubbish spotted

Huat arh!

Shiling's Birthday

2012-01-26T00:00:00.000+08:00

Just to add a few exclusive photos that can only be seen on my blog, the rest can be found in my Facebook album. Made ourselves quite prominent in the ECP Mac with all the party hats & balloons and laughter...

Led to Mac in blindfold

Having fun with the party-ware

"Happy birthday to you... "

1-2-3-Pose!

Balloon held by Huiling

Viewing the instant photos

The Hunks

Picking out the photos

Her Favourite - KTV

Reunion Dinner with (CO)KTY

2012-01-24T23:29:00.000+08:00

Good place good food good company

Trying out Mr/Mrs Ye's pineapple tarts

Telling us how it was made

Highlight of our dinner feast

I'm looking kinda tanned here

Funny hand signs

Bakers of the pineapple tarts

The Feast

Then we adjourned to Honeymoon desserts

Not the full force though...

Had 汤圆 to 团团圆圆, even though it is not 元宵

Here's wishing everyone a Happy Lunar New Year!

Reunion Dinner

2012-01-22T22:49:00.002+08:00

The feast

Famished

Thanks for the spread

eat~

Huat arh!

It's the time of the year once again to celebrate the festivities and welcome the year of the Dragon. May all be blessed with good fortune & health!

Kids

2012-01-22T00:00:00.000+08:00

Peering through the fence

"Should i get the balloon?"

Bonding time

"How much is the bag?"

My Room

2012-01-20T00:00:00.000+08:00

Testing out some app...

Prawning @ Punggol Promenade

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000+08:00

Hi there furry friend

Strolling along the park after our dinner

Glowing lallang

Decided to do some prawning for an hour

Quite a pathetic catch after the hour, which makes it $9/prawn

'V' or pointing out that we only had 2 prawns?

Our little trophies

Elsewhere, the fierce battle with the fishes continues

Big fish

Curiousity

Pretty much summed up our evening at Punggol Promenade, having spent a little fortune on the prawns but duly entertained.

Thankfully we had 2 lucky catch for a simple snack - the 2nd big head prawn was a really lucky catch as I was just pulling my rod across the water and managed to catch the tail of the unfortunate prawn. Otherwise we would be sharing that one miserable prawn.

Hopefully we have better luck (& skill) next time!

Marina Barrage PT (Reservist)

2012-01-16T00:00:00.001+08:00

CNY in Chinatown

2012-01-14T00:53:00.000+08:00

Well, the Lunar New Year is just around the corner, what better way to soak in the festivities than to jostle with the crowd in Chinatown and rub shoulders with all the sweaty strangers...

Buying new year decorations

It gets worse as night falls

Preserved pork

Nuts & stuff

"免费试吃, 试吃免费..."

Tourists amongst the crowd

The kids are probably enjoying it more than us

Multi-cultural experience for some

"I'm scared of the lion dance" the boy said

Dragon (龙) overlooking the traffic jam (车龙)

Hoping to rub off some dragon luck

Wishing you an advance happy Dragon year!

My Younger Brother's 19th

2012-01-12T00:00:00.001+08:00

Memories captured with his Sony HX9V instead. Simple dinner occasion at home with plenty of food laid out on the table by Mum.

The spread - ran out of red dye for the eggs

The birthday boy

Plenty of food to go around

His primary school friends came by to surprise him... and helped to clear the food

Family portrait

"Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to you... "

"Happy birthday to Kai Hong... Happy birthday to you"

*blow*

NS awaiting you soon

Happy Birthday!

Memories at Old Ford Factory

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000+08:00

... and some nature exploring at Bukit Batok Hill

Starting the day with breakfast at Jalan Kayu

Masala Thosai

It's quite a small museum

POWs

The man who took Singapore

The infamous bicycles

Then it was time to head out to take in some fresh air...

Plenty of walking to do

Doing some monkey portraits

Sexy monkey

New Year Day's Dinner

2012-01-08T00:00:00.000+08:00

Seriously not nice steamboat at Xian De Lai (@ Liang Seah). Don't go there unless you really have to, even so, make every effort to turn to other dining options instead. Don't be fooled by our smiling faces, we were just enjoying each other's company, not the food.

Wash down the steamboat with TCC goodness

Through The Glass

2012-01-06T00:26:00.000+08:00

New Paint, New Clothes

2012-01-04T00:00:00.000+08:00

One of the few things that I will have to get sorted out early this year is to give my house a new coat of paint before the CNY, which is just around the corner. Finally the family got down together to 'turn the house upside down'...

There were too many things lying around everywhere and moving them around to lay newspaper wasn't that easy all the time, but we managed it somehow. Or just wipe the paint off when it dripped on the unintended areas.

My Room

My room was the first to kick start the whole operation, or if you may, a training ground for everyone to practise their brush/roller strokes. Having said that, at least now I can type this post in the comfort of my 4 clean walls.

Thankfully it's odourless...

The other reason to start painting my room first was partly due to my national commitments which will commence this morning at 8. Had packed my stuff the night before, digging out all the army gear from the depths of my store room.

My new clothes for CNY

Finally I'm transiting into the 3G army, ditching away the heavier 2G camouflage uniforms and donning the new light-weight, breathable, pixelated uniform. But it looks odd with my old school SBO & fieldpack but it's ok, I'm not doing a fashion show in there anyways.

Just a small comment on the new uniform, although I understand the new uniform will give better camouflage (or so I was told) and that velcro are used in many places instead of buttons (& relocation of the ranks) to avoid uncomfortable situations where the bag/equipment will rest on them, but hor...

The sound of velcro opening and closing not very tactical leh.

Enough of army talk, I will be having plenty of that till CNY.
2.5weeks of ICT, here I come...

Chiong arrrrrrrrrrrrrrh!

Counting Down to 2012

2012-01-02T12:35:00.000+08:00

Our last meal of 2011 @ Citylink Mall

Everybody was heading towards the Marina Bay

Once in a year business opportunity

MBS is sparkling

Walking to the promised land of good-viewing-point-for-the-fireworks

UFO has landed on his roof

Entertaining the crowd that has gathered

The crowd swelling as it approaches the hour

Found a spot to settle down and did an hour & half of butt watching

Wide-eyed Ang Moh

At the stroke of midnight

Mesmerised

Embracing 2012 with the loved ones

Erm, as you can see... it was very very crowded

Bidding our goodbyes to MBS as well as 2011...

I peered into my crystal ball to foresee what lies ahead in 2012 - Peace, prosperity, no MRT breakdowns, Ministers pay cut, promotion, pay rise, sole winner of the Dragon Year TOTO draw, petrol prices going down, $2 chicken rice, no ERP on Saturday, discounted ERP rates, seeing less 'foreign talent', hearing less 'foreign talent' talking loudly everywhere...

Then I noticed a label at the bottom of my crystal ball which spelt:

M-A-D-E I-N C-H-I-N-A

so much for the predictions...

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T16:10:00.001+08:00

The year is drawing to a close, 2011 has somehow went past us in a blink of an eye. What have I accomplished during the last 365days of this year?

Thankfully I have this blog to help me refresh my memory for the minute details in my life. Accomplishment-wise, I think I'm pretty much the same as the previous year. Nothing spectacular. Disappointing.

Resolution for 2012?

Never really had much of a resolution to speak of. Perhaps I should pen down some goals to achieve for the year. Being a working adult has pretty much sap most of my time and energy, drowned in the monotony.

A wise man once said that, when your life is over, you regret the things you did not do, rather than those you did.

Live life to the fullest, always.

Ethan's Wedding at Re!

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000+08:00

On Christmas day...

Prep for solemnisation

Sue Hui & Wei Keng

Bride's red carpet entrance for the solemnisation

Waiting for the start of the banquet...

Walking down as Mr & Mrs Shi

Doing their photo-taking rounds

Happy groom

Wishing the both of you a blissful marriage!

X'mas @ 313 Brozeit

2011-12-29T00:00:00.000+08:00

(backdated post)... the other gift exchange that I had before X'mas day

Mr & Mrs Ong-to-be

The other side of the table - Huiling, Shiling, WeiShi (and myself)

Here i am~

Felicia & Shiyou laughing themselves silly

Grinning at the pizza?

Meat, meat, meat

Gift exchanging

Soap, soap, soap

Overjoyed

Posing with her present

Huiling with her bag

Earphones!

Spiderman thumbdrive inside

Do not drink and drive hor

Merry merry Christmas~~

X'mas Celebrations - Nature's Wonders

2011-12-27T00:00:00.000+08:00

Welcome to the X'mas Party

Early birds doing their marketing

Back at JY's place to prepare lunch

Everybody taking turns with the potato

The girls doing their thing...

The gift corner

JY with her Perchetta

Butcher Tan

Satisfying lunch....

... while listening to WT's proposal in Korea

'Door gift' for everyone!

Had a game of Ugly Dolls

Gift exchange time!

From Benny

Lots of gifts moving around

Overjoyed with her own gardening set

Organic rice

Nature's wonders - the elements

Green earphones

Lamp + Bulb

Scents!

Bring out the logcake

Gathering by the cake

Despite being very full from lunch...

More games

Entertained ourselves till dinner as it was pouring outside

Caught in the act

Merry Christmas everyone!

Department X'mas Lunch

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000+08:00

Inspecting the gift exchange

Setting up the buffet spread

Lucky draw prizes... Grand prize is a Montblanc wallet

Mini X'mas tree

4x reindeer

Eyeing the presents

Santa getting ready

Grab your gift from the 'mystery Santa'

*shake shake*

Posing with their presents

Concentrate on your own present leh

Santa with reindeer

Feeding frenzy

Log cake is sweating

Lucky draw while the log cake is being distributed

Not the eventual winner of the Montblanc wallet

Getting through the newspaper wrappings to uncover the gift

That's a Fendi tie

Undecided

Cleaning up...

Clearing up the last bit of food

Shopping

2011-12-23T00:00:00.000+08:00

One of the favourite pastimes of Singaporeans...

Catching Up with FYPmates

2011-12-21T22:11:00.001+08:00

At Crystal Jade Kitchen, Holland Village

While waiting for Ailin who was held up by the SMRT train delays

FYP seems like such a long time ago

Survivor of the SMRT (mis)adventure

Play!

2011-12-19T00:00:00.000+08:00

Ah Gong & his pride

"I still want to play!"

Spin my world

Run! Run! Run!

MI:Ghost Protocol Concept Car

2011-12-17T18:00:00.000+08:00

She loves it

Going to watch Mission Impossible in a while!

Go! Go! Curry!

2011-12-17T00:04:00.000+08:00

Walking Billboard

Grand Slam (with pork, chicken, prawn, sausage, egg & rice), shared by 2

Plain Udon

Thankfully there was a 30% discount off their menu, hence the total bill came up to be quite cheap. Very worthwhile place to dine at Parco @ Millenia Walk... well, while the offer last (till 31 Jan '12).

Caine's Housewarming

2011-12-15T00:01:00.000+08:00

Overcrowding at the humble Punggol nest

Feeding time

Proud home owner showing us around

Catching up in his study room

Dug out old photos from the storeroom

Those were the days

Group shot~

Haircut

2011-12-13T00:02:00.000+08:00

I had my hair cut too (taken with SE X10mini)

Her Cousin’s Wedding

2011-12-11T00:02:00.000+08:00

Thankfully the weather cleared

At Miramar’s Peach Garden restaurant

Bride & Groom

Lim sisters

The brother & his fiancée

(not very nice) Shark’s fin soup

Delighted

“Everyone loves me”

Small hands

Shot of Bliss & Happiness

Revamped!

2011-12-10T00:46:00.001+08:00

Finally going to give my blog a new look, though it is just a default template from blogger. Just felt that it was time to give it a facelift and start to upload larger photos instead of the small little ones that i used to do.

Self-shot with the X100

I will try to share some interesting shots from time to time just to keep the blog alive and entertaining. Feel free to critique on them =)

Been seeing a lot of babies around lately

Christmas shopping

Very tempted to convert the pictures below into black and white. Sometimes i do feel that B&W photos are much simpler and powerful to look at, taking away the colourful distraction and drawing your attention to the subject.

But shall just control that urge, and present to you the Christmas colours in town.

Been busy snapping away since i got the Fuji, i have to admit that it is a little challenging when it comes to focusing under low light or close distances. But it is something that i will have to get used to, or get around with.

Still loving it!

Forgotten

2011-12-07T11:27:00.000+08:00

Departure

2011-12-05T10:59:00.000+08:00

My New Camera

2011-12-03T15:12:00.001+08:00

I’ve just made the biggest investment in photography by splurging on the Fujifilm X100… For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the camera, just click on the link. There are numerous reviews on it so i guess i’m not really going to pass much comments on the camera (at least for this post).

Though i know that it is often not the camera but the person operating the camera that produces a good photograph, but there is no denying that the soft creamy bokeh images from the lens is just amazing.

That’s what you get with F2.0 - a wide grin

Intense Facebook-ing look

So after attaching the UV filter on, we went about town to test out the camera. As mentioned in a dozen reviews, the shutter is really very quiet. Really quiet. So quiet that i did not hear it go off even though i’m the one squeezing the button.

1st step to achieving any dreams… is to wake up

Of course if you do it in a quiet room and tune your ears, you will hear the soft satisfying click of the shutter. Turning it to silent mode allows me to operate rather stealthily, which is where the camera excels in…

And it is at this point, i’m going to turn my blog into black and white.

Still lacking the confidence to operate the camera & pointing my lens at anything that appears interesting to me. Hopefully i’ll get better at it.

and hopefully i will be able to update the blog more often too.

Rainy Days

2011-11-26T14:10:00.001+08:00

Happy Meal Toy

2011-11-13T00:14:00.001+08:00

NYK Dinner & Dance – Retro Night

2011-10-30T14:08:00.001+08:00

Had my first company DnD in NYK, having joined them only in July. I shall let the photos do most of the talking i believe most of you are not paying attention to the words.

Don’t know how many of you are still following the blog after such dismissal efforts from myself to keep it updated.

As you can see, i was one of the few who tried to dress to the theme. Not that i was those funky striking personalities for the night. Also one of the few times you see me in specs ever since i adopted contact lenses almost full time.

i sucked at throwing this

Bob Marley

GL Trade NA/LA team

As you can see, we had plenty of photos before entering the ballroom, and my camera producing some disappointing shots. Should wait for those pictures from the DSLRs.

All the beehives

More photos once we were inside the ballroom, the wait for dinner to be served was long, so long that most people were restless and up and about roaming the rest of the ballroom.

No ‘yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam…’, just ‘Gambei’

Followed by some games, by which time we were famished.

Despite being very hopeful, our table didn’t produce much winners for the night, unlike our counterparts on the other table. Such is life… =(

And finally… DINNER is served. Pretty much like all the weddings i’ve attended lately, so i shall skip the foodie part.

Karen, our only winner from our table, with her early bird draw ($30 taka voucher)

and thanks to Matthew who nominated me for the ‘best dress’ award… kinda sabo. I got to be on stage and if you ever wondered what it’s like to be on stage… here’s a photo FROM the stage.

so briiiiiiiiight~

Made to act/dance, which are both not my specialties. In fact, usually i prefer to just sit at the table during DnD and enjoy the food and await the big prize at the lucky draw.

So this DnD was very different from all those that i’ve attended before, because finally people get to laugh at me instead of the other way round.

Thanks to all who voted for us, we know you really didn’t want to see us go down without any votes.

Then the emcee got everyone down to the dance floor and raised the volume and brought the roof down.

Super Mario looks like he had some mushrooms

And yep, my lucky star number 8042 did not produce any prize for the night. But if you bought 4D with this, and won something, please give me some of the prize money k…

Thank u~

Bangkok Trip (Day 1)

2011-10-09T14:15:00.001+08:00

Finally decided to sit down and type out the looooooong overdue post on my Bangkok trip in June this year. Keeping to my ‘promise’ in the teaser post that i will be doing this entry.

It’s been quite some time since i last updated my blog, so i should start by dusting off the cobwebs that have formed on my netbook. Ever since i gotten my Tab, I’ve been neglecting the netbook. Thanks to all the technology for making product lifecycle much shorter…

Back to the Bangkok trip, let me recall…

It was the first time that we took a flight from the Budget terminal, and also the first time we flew with Tiger Airways, having heard all the horror stories of how they like to cancel early morning flights and squeeze everyone onto the later flights.

We arrived in time for a nice McBreakfast before entering the departure hall. Nothing special there, just some eateries and duty free items.

In no time we were queuing up to board the plane, much like you would for the bus.

our plane

We got a warning from the airport staff for taking the pictures, so the law abiding us kept our cameras much to her disappointment as she did not managed to get a photo with the plane.

Fast forward the 3hour flight, we arrived at the Suvarnabhumi airport (yep, i had to google that name to verify the spelling) and promptly made our way to the new train station which would take us to our Ratchaprarop station (yep, googled) where our Baiyoke Boutique hotel is.

Bought a one-way express ticket to Makassan station and transfer again. It was a long wait for the express train to come, might have been faster on the non-express one.

The train brought us through the ‘countryside’ to the city in about half an hour? Memory is failing me…

By the end of trip, i would have mastered how to buy the ticket from the machine in Thai language.

It was easy locating Baiyoke Sky hotel since it’s the tallest building there. But Baiyoke Boutique was a little tricky to locate, had to ask the Sky’s staff for the directions. Turns up, it was just behind the back alley… seriously, how to find?

Evening time

Some pictures of our ‘home’ for the next few days in Thailand. Quite dark with the purple walls, and there wasn’t any view from the window. And our room was quite near the railway track.

After a quick change of clothes, we head out in search of dinner as well as some light shopping to get ourselves warmed up for the coming days.

Dinner was settled at MBK, can see her face light up when the food was presented in front of her. The below (+ gyoza) set us back SGD9.45, cheap for a 2-person meal.

After refueling, it was her paradise… Though we did not buy much on the first day. Just to check out the price range and what’s on offer.

Leaving MBK, we decided to walk back to our hotel, though it wasn’t exactly that nearby. But the journey back will take us through the sights and sounds of BKK as well as…

This is nothing compared to Vietnam’s traffic

… the night markets that lined the streets

And once again, found something related to me, though a little distant…

Well, our Day 1 adventure was rather short due to the time constraint, we rested well instead in preparation for our Day 2 instead.

Stay tuned to find out where we went/did!
(or maybe you’ve already read her post)

Organisational Chart

2011-09-18T00:12:00.001+08:00

Trusty Bike

2011-09-17T17:02:00.001+08:00

Movies In The Park

2011-08-30T11:52:00.001+08:00

Its a backdated post, but whose keeping track anyways... It was a very crowded event by Class 95, screening Despicable Me & Iron Man 2. Damn hard to find a place to settle down... Luckily we managed to.

Bt Timah Hike

2011-08-21T13:44:00.001+08:00

Conquered the summit and walked the railway track before they are being removed...

Hello Cub

2011-07-16T15:31:00.001+08:00

Farewell

2011-07-09T10:13:00.001+08:00

Left my first job after almost 3 years, reporting to new work place come Monday...

BKK Trip (teaser)

2011-06-26T22:14:00.001+08:00

Do await the actual post of the shopping madness

Crab Dinner

2011-06-14T22:49:00.001+08:00

@ No Sign Board, Esplanade

Voting Fever

2011-06-06T22:35:00.001+08:00

Breakfast For Dinner

2011-06-06T22:33:00.001+08:00

@ Wild Honey

Haircut

2011-05-29T14:19:00.001+08:00

Post-elections

2011-05-26T19:32:00.001+08:00

Delivering the 'promise'

The New Cabinet

2011-05-23T11:15:00.000+08:00

Ministers lining up for a pay cut:

Top row (L-R): Heng Swee Kiat (Education), Lui Tuck Yew (Transport), Gan Kim Yong (Health), S Iswaran (Minister in PMO), Chan Chun Sing (Community, Youth and Sports — acting)

Middle row (L-R): Vivian Balakrishnan (Environment and Water Resources), Khaw Boon Wan (National Development), Yaacob Ibrahim (Information, Communication and the Arts), Ng Eng Hen (Defence), K Shanmugam (Foreign Affairs/Law)

Bottom row (L-R): Lim Hng Khiang (Trade and Industry), Teo Chee Hean (Deputy PM/Home Affairs), Lee Hsien Loong (Prime Minister), Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Deputy PM/Finance/Manpower), Lim Swee Say (Minister in PMO)

(as seen in yawningbread)

Cold Stone @ OC

2011-05-20T21:53:00.001+08:00

King Louis @ Vivo

2011-05-19T09:58:00.001+08:00

Grill overdose

Frying The Ice Cream

2011-05-19T09:54:00.001+08:00

Just How Small We Are

2011-05-12T11:51:00.000+08:00

(click on the picture to enlarge)

Big Bird

2011-05-08T21:21:00.001+08:00

"I want to eat chicken wing!"

Planet Shark

2011-05-08T21:19:00.001+08:00

At the Science Centre last (long) weekend

Mad For Garlic

2011-05-02T12:06:00.001+08:00

Thumbs up to their Snowing Pizza

WP Rally @ Bedok

2011-05-02T12:03:00.001+08:00

Wow

Catching Up Dinner

2011-05-02T12:01:00.001+08:00

General Elections being one of the most talked about topics that night.

WP Rally At Hougang

2011-04-29T13:33:00.001+08:00

Wow

Cycling At ECP

2011-04-23T18:55:00.001+08:00

Went into the road safety park to top-up our fuel

Flyer Nostalgia

2011-04-22T13:09:00.001+08:00

Can't help over hearing the person queueing behind me "last time the ice ball is only 5 cents..."

Now it's $2.50... Look how far we've come

Congo River @ ACM

2011-04-17T12:13:00.001+08:00

Managed to catch the last day of the exhibition at the Asian Civilisation Museum... Which was (thankfully) free

Kua Si Mi...

2011-04-16T00:30:00.001+08:00

Blu!

Pinhan's 27th

2011-04-13T00:37:00.001+08:00

Over at Orchard Ion. Ironic to be having brunch for dinner...

Ouch

2011-04-10T11:51:00.001+08:00

Udders

2011-04-09T12:26:00.001+08:00

Ice cream goodness at Novena

Lunch @ MFM

2011-04-06T19:23:00.001+08:00

2nd time in 1 week for the $3.99 deal

Day @ Botanical Garden

2011-04-05T23:13:00.001+08:00

Been a long long long time since I last step foot in this garden

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Balloon Sculpture

2011-04-05T22:24:00.001+08:00

As seen at Marina Square quite some time back

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

New Phone…

2011-03-20T14:41:00.001+08:00

Pictures taken with my new SE Xperia X10 mini.

Small phone, but produces quite good photos despite the low light conditions. Have been taking pictures quite religiously on this mini performer, though viewing the photos on the tiny screen is a challenge.

Been really laggy in my posts…

Green Lantern/Hornet

2011-03-08T00:19:00.000+08:00

As seen in Cracked.com

Tablet – The Next Big Thing?

2011-03-06T00:07:00.001+08:00

I’m one of those sucked into this electronic gadgetries… Lets see, the list of them i own:

Tablet
I got myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab about 2 months back. Yes, i did not get an iPad. Though i know the tablet war is heating up with plenty of manufacturers jumping onto the bandwagon.

Some still debating on the ideal size for a tablet. I think 7” is adequate and convenient enough to carry around, and i can only pray that Honeycomb will come to my Tab. Can’t really expect all the tech stuff i own to keep up with this fast-changing environment… they will probably be obsolete in like 2years time, either that, or i get distracted by a new piece of tech.

Smartphone
Most of us would be holding one now. How far we have moved along since the days of Nokia 3210 – aka brick phone.

Think my first smartphone is from Nokia… then another Nokia… then they got a bit boring, and it was HTC Desire. Then now, i ~~downgraded~~ changed to SE Xperia X10 Mini.

The thing with smartphones & their 3G services… the battery runs out really fast. With all the development in making the product faster, sleeker, marketing $ spent… i think more should go into the department of battery R&D.

Netbook
Not really using the computer for much except to blog, surf a little and to stream online movies. So a cheap alternative is good to replace my aging laptop that had been with me since my Uni days (damn it was expensive)

But now netbooks are slowly losing their ground to Notbooks. New to the term? Click the link.

There you have it… my lineup of gadgets.

Valentine’s Breakfast Celebration

2011-02-27T23:34:00.001+08:00

Well, this is a really backdated post.

Our Valentine’s day was spent at Wild Honey @ the Mandarin hotel, the restaurant that serves breakfast menu all day long. Breakfasts from all over the world decided to appear on the same menu there, spoiling whoever decided to settle their ‘breakfast’ there.

Being V’day, we were made to wait (they don’t take reservations) for a good 30 minutes. Thankfully we were allowed to roam and wait for their phone call to inform us of the table.

Our American & New York breakfast laid in front of us. But we ate them like dinner ‘cause we were starving by the time we managed to get our seats.

Don’t belittle the portion, it was quite filling.

Happy Valentine’s Day~

Sec Sch Catch Up

2011-02-15T23:54:00.001+08:00

Been really inactive in blogging lately, but have decided to do some catching up. Starting with the freshest post possible (before catching up on some backdated ones).

Just came home after my Sec Sch gathering, the classmates i spent my sec 3-4 with after i shifted my place from Jurong to Sengkang.

Randomly snapped a photo or two as most of us were caught up chatting. Thanks to Jing Kai who was nice enough to suggest the meet-up, think it was last year since i saw him.

For some of them, i think it had been more than 5 years since we saw each other. Everyone is so different, yet the same… different topics that we talked about, work, life, etc…

It’s so interesting that at one point of our lives, we all shared something in common, and yet now, everyone has a different career to pursue, a different life to lead.

Old liao ah…

Happy Lunar New Year

2011-02-03T01:31:00.001+08:00

It’s the Year of the Rabbit, so it’s time to dig out those bunny costumes you’ve hidden it during the naughty party time. This is once again a belated post, but at least it’s still in time for the Lunar New Year.

It is kind of a must-go places in Singapore during this period, otherwise the festive mood is not really there. We were there ‘pretty early’ after work so the crowd has yet to arrive.

Anyways, the photos are taken with my new Samsung Galaxy Tab, (there goes my bonus money), not the best pictures taken and probably drew a few stares when i whipped it out with the large viewfinder for a shot.

The streets were transformed into walkways of goodies – food and decorations lined the heart of the Chinatown. Music can be heard faintly in the background as the hawkers shout on with their own ‘sales slogan’.

Free samples were given out too, so we tried to taste a bit of everything.

Didn’t really buy anything when we were there. Anyways, if you happen to be there during the CNY Eve countdown, i hope you are not drenched in the rain.

It’s really raining a lot lately…

Spring is here! Huat Arh!

DnD @ Turi Beach

2011-01-26T23:59:00.001+08:00

This is a really backdated post. More than a month late.

Our company DnD was held in Batam on the 18-19th of December, this is the first DnD i’ve attended since i’ve joined the company about 2.5years back.

Their last DnD was at Malacca 3 years back…

Anyways, the company was split into 2 groups in order to manage the crowd. The brief description of our day tour was as such…

Lunch

some ‘shopping’ at the local mama shop

some ‘shopping’ at souvenir shops + Polo shop

Some more shopping at Nagoya

There were a ton of pictures from our official photographer, hence i shall just try to pick random pictures (preferably) with me in them to tell the story.

The familiar Turi Beach resort which i’ve stayed in before. Still the same, nothing much has changed. And i’ve been put up at the Hut section again, instead of the newer wing.

Just a quick run through of the place once again.

So after we checked into our rooms, we had a brief moment to settle down and freshen up for the long night ahead.

Me & KG reached pretty early, donning the flowers as it was Aloha Night. But i guess i wasn’t too Aloha-ish for the evening.

Well, more and more people gathered at the reception area before we were given the chance to sit in the ballroom.

After a long opening address by the CEO/etc etc, we toasted to everyone who made the contribution to the company, wishing a better future ahead…

And after a few more speakers/talks, we attacked the food outside. Buffet style, so it was a mad rush as most of us were already starving.

And while having our dinner, the emcee for the night continued to create fun and laughter and involvement from the floor.

i shall let the pictures do most of the telling, since there’s no way i could narrate the whole night. That’s something only those present can relate to.

But you could tell from the above expressions that the night was pretty interesting & embarrassing for some.

Especially when you have to remove stickers that were pasted on your colleagues, and you have to remove them blindfolded.

And the emcee went to stick the stickers… erm… there.

Anyways, thankfully i won the #8 prize at the lucky draw so i wouldn’t have to go home empty handed. Not that the prize was anything great. The top 3 prizes or special prize would be a lot more interesting. But well, better than nothing.

Towards the end of the evening, everyone was made to stand up, ‘dance’ along to the music and move about the tables to 'mingle’ about…

… and to let out a large cheer for our company…

“BONUS FAT FAT AH!”

New Year Day @ Philatelic Museum

2011-01-16T13:34:00.001+08:00

Been visiting the museums quite religiously over the past few years, due to all the free entry promotions. Thankfully, the museums were open to public on the 1st day of 2011, and we decided to check out the Philatelic museum, having not been there before.

The museum sits modestly beside the Peranakan museum with a huge arse sign that admission is free on the 1st Jan. They should have put it way outside in the main roads, so that kiasu Singaporeans are alerted of the ‘Free Admission’.

The retro looking postbox to mark the start of our educational/informative tour of the museum.

posting my letter

The small museum is packed with plenty of stamps and other related stuff, and some information related to postage etc, which right now i can’t recall much. More of photo taking for us actually…

There were my favourite Simpsons there as well, along with many other exotic/interesting stamps.

The nostalgic postie scooter

Below is a case of, better check the background before you snap a picture, or it will appear as if you’re growing feathered horns on your head.

The museum isn’t exactly huge, but rich in it’s historical archive, well at least for some of us who have seen these old postbox, it’s a reminder of how we’ve progressed, and how we’ve aged.

Now with all the electronic/digital communication, how many long was it since you’ve posted your last snail mail?

Minus the probable festival-greetings + credit card/warranty/etc application form, i guess it’s been a very long time…

Everything is just a sms/email away…

Off to deliver my letters loh!

Last Workday of 2010

2011-01-12T23:00:00.001+08:00

I really should start to blog faster, been really lazy when it comes to updating my blog. Plenty of outstanding events that i should have just pen it down there and then.

My last working day of 2010 was not really spent working, but waiting for the buffet to arrive and we can just ‘party’ the rest of the afternoon away.

While most companies would choose to celebrate X’mas, we chose to do it on NYE, mainly because our company DnD was near the X’mas week.

Speaking of which, i’ve yet blog about the company DnD… somewhere in the near future, i shall sit down and blog it out.

Anyways, the NYE lunch was a simple affair, everyone crowding round the table for our share. Some went back to their desks to continue working, until it was time to bring out the cake.

Then came the lengthy speech by our director which ended by asking us what we really hoped for in 2011…

“6 months bonus!”

NYE Countdown

2011-01-07T00:43:00.000+08:00

The last few hours of 2010 was spent at the Marina Bay Link Mall for our dinner at Ding Tai Fung. We reached there pretty early so the dinner crowd had not arrive…

Took our time to make our orders and sat back and relax as we feast our last meal of 2010.

A bit sian since my office is just around the corner, though the atmosphere was entirely different. Holiday mood and all ready to usher in the 2011…

Actually not really that ready… feels like 2010 was just yesterday and now it’s gone. Should really make full use of everyday and not let time slip by that easily.

After our long dinner, we strolled out into the Marina Bay, the place was already filling up with enthusiastic crowds.

Plenty of cameras lined the edge of the Bay, and it was still about 8pm in the evening! Talk about Kiasu-ism!

We took a short walk towards MBS, music can be heard blaring across the park, some street performers, plenty of families picking their picnic spot…

It was after all, the Marina Bay Countdown party… Not much of a party over at our side, more happening over at the Floating Platform area. But in the next few hours, the whole Marina Bay will be filled with eager people all hyped up and ready to welcome 2011.

But till the moment arrive, we decided to just walk and window-shopped at the MBS… Which was crowded.

Been a while since i last checked out the Integrated Resort… and they have an artificial ice skating rink! Need quite a bit of courage to skate in there with so many curious stares at you.

Which partially explains where the rink is filled with kids and a couple of foreign teens (from China).

After we got some tidbits & drinks to last us for the long wait till midnight, we picked our spot to spend the remainder of 2010 idling away under the stars.

Didn’t really have a new year resolution (even till now, as i type this post), but i wrote on one of the floating balls…

“Huat arh!”

And even though i’ve been writing that for the past 2 years or so, it still have not come true. Guess the wishing plastic ball is not that effective?

So we sat patiently as midnight nears, only to stand up at the final moments as everyone was excited to welcome the new year and also to catch the fireworks…

… …

The skies lit up brilliantly and soon filled up with smoke… and sadly we were at the wrong end of the wind, so the smoke kinda blurred the otherwise magnificent fireworks.

2011 is finally here~

We didn’t stay around long after midnight, and followed the human traffic towards the exit. Shoveling our way through the sweaty bodies…

And thankfully i have my trusty Ah Ong to fetch us home… can’t imagine the traffic jam + the exorbitant taxi fare…

To all, Happy 2011!

May the year be filled with happiness and all the goodness you can find!

Brief Reunion

2011-01-05T23:40:00.000+08:00

*this is a really backdated post (20 Dec’10, in fact)

Been some time since the bunch of us got together…

Especially when Sue Hui is away in Sweden for her studies and Ethan is busy with his new shop and Wei Keng is… erm… 'busy’.

Quite a nice catch up with the old colleagues over lunch, though they went on to chit chat back in office, making the place their home. Luckily the bosses were not around.

We took a leisure walk after lunch along the Marina Promenade to MBS before strolling back to our office. The weather wasn’t that wonderful, bright and sunny.

That’s the old gang of colleagues, time flies, people just come and go…
wonder when it will be my turn?

X’mas Celebration

2011-01-03T13:50:00.000+08:00

… with COKTY+
(though this year’s group is smaller than the previous year)

The theme for this year’s Christmas celebration was decided by Jasmine/Pinhan…

Playful Christmas – That’s the theme. And our gifts for the night were meant to be for the opposite gender… so you could guess where this is going.

While the organising couple was thinking of something suggestive, the rest of us decided to play innocent.

You could tell from our gifts in fact, who were the playful (or naughty) people in our group.

The four of us arrived early, or rather, on time for our dinner appointment… and as usual, have to wait for the late couple.

So we entertained ourselves with the camera & all the random stuff chat…

and the potato wedges.

The final couple arrived after we finished our wedges, but in time for our dinner order.

The hunks…

… and the babes

The X’mas platter was served shortly, assortment of sausages + pork knuckles & pizza, which was just about enough to feed the hungry 6.

Shall spare you from the unglam pictures of us eating and jump straight into the gift exchange portion of the night.

After clearing the table, we arranged our gifts neatly on the table before beginning our exchange. Had a confusing time deciding who to exchange the gifts with though…

Once we got the order sorted out… the exchange began.

Weiting presenting to WeiShi

WeiShi to Pinhan, with Jasmine at the back

Pinhan to Huixian, with Jasmine at the back again

Me to Jasmine

Huixian to me, with Jasmine at the back AGAIN! extra…

Then came the moment for us to unwrap the presents that we have just received.

Like an excited kid, she ripped open the wrapper (+ newspaper) to unveil a mouse which reads “your bf gave this to me” or something to this effect.

Huixian was next, taking the present apart carefully…

Halfway through, she realised what the content was… at which point she burst out laughing in embarrassment.

See how happy she is with her present from Pinhan.

I’m so sure it was Jasmine who suggested (and bought) it for her instead of him.

a bit big hor?

Next up, Jasmine struggling with my present from Toys ‘r’ Us…

Innocent, fun-filled game of Topple which we can try playing later in the night.

So unexciting right?

We are innocent people… Pinhan is next, with a simple looking travel game of magnetic soccer from WeiShi.

Weiting next, could already tell from the size/shape of the box, what it was inside. Especially after seeing what Pinhan got for Huixian…

Yep, it’s a box of condoms

Hope he had fun that night… =)

And you can tell what i got from the sneak peek of the present…

Cluedo~

After we have gotten our presents, we decided to move to somewhere else to spend the rest of our X’mas eve…

Donning the Santa hats, the group of us head out into the crowded Orchard Road.

We only had 2 hats, so we had to take turns to wear it…

After roaming Orchard Central for a while, we finally decided to settle at Spinelli, figuring out how to play Cluedo.

That’s about as far as we got to playing Cluedo…

Setting up the game.. and that’s it.

So we moved on to Topple, which kept us entertained for a while.

Then we got bored and started playing with our hats. trying hard to get them erected and to make them stay that way for a picture.

As the night draws closer to X’mas, we headed out to the balcony to countdown the final moments. Actually not much of a countdown but just to soak in the atmosphere.

and away from the crowds…

Merry Christmas everyone!

Though this post is a tad too late…

It’s 2011 Already!?!

2011-01-01T12:00:00.000+08:00

ermm… wow, 2010 just flew past…
That’s a really fast year, ever since I started working, time seems to pass really quickly.

Anyways, here’s wishing all readers a happy & smooth-sailing 2011!

Ultra Belated Birthday Celebration

2010-12-29T23:49:00.001+08:00

My birthday celebration, >1 month late, with my FYP mates…

Been postponing it for countless times due to our busy schedule but finally managed to find the time for all to sit by the table of Shokudo. It was another long session of catching up since we don’t (actually is me) keep in touch as often as we (once again, it’s just me) wish to.

So i get to download a massive chunk of missing info since our last meetup, topics revolving about work, relationships, family/friends… How we’ve moved on from the dreary school subjects.

Come to think of it, it’s only 2years+ since i’ve left NTU, but it feels like a long time… Feeling old & jaded.

Happy belated birthday to me!

Merry X’mas!

2010-12-26T13:43:00.001+08:00

Seeing Double

2010-12-25T11:21:00.000+08:00

Well, almost the same bike, except the red one is the Honda C70D, and mine’s the C90.

Ethan’s New Shop

2010-12-23T10:53:00.001+08:00

Actually it’s more of a new shop location. Instead of the ulu Vista Point @ Woodlands, he has moved to an equally (if not more) ulu place in Upper Bukit Timah.

That life-sized remote control car is Ethan’s… synonymous with his shop.

Didn’t expect him to launch his shop with a mini drift competition at the premise. Last time no track, now got track, got cable car in front of his shop…

Food and drinks to welcome the guests & participants.

But i guess most of them are busy outside tuning their miniature cars.

Didn’t hang around long enough to see the winner of the drift competition, but from the few competitors that ran their first few rounds, i could probably tell.

Here’s wishing many prosperous years ahead for Ethan’s Street Revolution!

Steph’s BB 1st Mth

2010-12-15T22:55:00.001+08:00

My ex-schoolmate/hallmate is now a mother!

That is really fast… considering we just left Uni less than 3years ago.

The apartment is pretty much the same before and after having the baby, except that the foosball table has been moved elsewhere and a baby cot was placed in their study/work room.

Something got to give.

See how excited everyone is when the baby lets out a little cry. Mum ever ready attend to her precious.

While there are plenty of presents waiting for the month-old Xuan En to play with, now all she knows is the bed and her parents.

To her, that’s her world.
And to her parents, she is their world.

May you grow up to be healthy & pretty!

Shanghai Work Trip

2010-12-12T00:10:00.001+08:00

This is my second work trip, the first being the earlier trip in May to Klang. Of course, this trip is nothing like the first, since i will be taking SQ to and fro, and also the fact that i’ve been notified on Monday itself about the Wed morning trip up.

Winter at Shanghai was another issue. But that was tackled by spending money on last minute shopping.

So across the skies we soared, from our tropical island into the chilly Shanghai. Thankfully the temperature was not that low during our stay.

During the 5-hour flight, i was duly entertained by a couple of short sitcoms & movie and quite a long chat with my GM who was seated beside me.

Sneaking a picture of myself while GM’s away

It was my first time in Shanghai, or China, for that matter of fact. It’s a good thing that it did not coincide with the Expo (though i wouldn’t mind visiting it), otherwise the customs clearance would have taken ages.

We queued for almost 45mins before our passports were stamped

We were fortunate as we need not haggle with the taxi drivers but headed straight to find our driver who had been waiting out there in the cold for us.

The car sped through the new highway that was constructed (or rather extended) for the Expo, passing by the Expo area where the China Pavilion could still be seen. Then crossing the huge bridge into Puxi and straight to our hotel at WaiTan (The Bund).

My hotel (Seagull) is the building at the left, sitting just beside the Huangpu River and facing the modern Pudong. The reason we were staying in there was because of it’s close proximity to our Shanghai Office, which was just across the roundabout – 20metres away.

Here’s a quick view of the room:

Work desk + closet

Window view of the Bund + Pudong + Huangpu River = Brilliant, except for the fact that everyone can see me in there as well.

We didn’t idle in the room for long, as we had a dinner appointment at 6.30pm. So after a quick change of clothes, we put on our heavy coats and left for dinner. Which was at 锦庐 (No.59 Mao Ming South Rd, Shanghai, China. 200020).

Well, you can imagine how good the food was.

After dinner, our Shanghai colleagues were nice enough to take us on a short exploration tour of the tourist spots. Skipped Nanjing road (shopping belt) as it was kinda late and the shops were probably closed or closing, hence we went straight to XinTianDi instead.

Once again, i decided to use online sources for the photos since i only had my miserable hp with me. You can choose to click on the link above as well. Almost the same like what i see there anyways.

The place consist of the old shikumen architectures and is full of bars, pubs, restaurants and what-nots. Much like Singapore’s Clarke Quay…

After a short rest & chat at Starbucks we headed back for our hotel as we had a long day ahead, stopping by The Bund and strolled back to our hotel.

Romantic 2 men walk – Boss + subordinate.

While trying to stay warm from the gentle breeze which made the temperature about 3degrees or so?

Pudong district just opposite The Bund at Puxi

Retired for the night before a full day of work on Thursday.

View from my window

The next day started bright and early with a lousy-tasting breakfast at our hotel before we strolled across to our office.

The whole morning was taken up by meeting + discussions until it was almost lunch time, where we had arranged to meet up with another customer for lunch. Can’t recall where it was already though…

But it sure was a pricey and filling meal at a restaurant suite. Not that comfortable trying to speak in all-Mandarin the whole day, often having to pause and think of how best to rephrase/translate my Singlish thoughts into something comprehensible.

Should have studied harder…

After lunch, it was back to our office to continue off our earlier discussion and stuff. blah blah blah, all the way until it was dinner time. Was supposed to meet up for a business dinner appointment but was cancelled, so instead, the office people went off with us for a get-together dinner.

We didn’t get to experience much traffic jams though

After another shiok dinner and a couple of beers, the Singaporeans went off to XinTianDi again and settled into one of the chillout places with a live band (much like Timbre). Just that for me, it’s pretty odd. Youngest of the group hanging out with a G.M., A.G.M. and a S.M. …

So after the semi-awkward chilling session, we headed out into the chilly night and hail the cab back to our hotel.

That’s how i looked when i walk through the streets of Shanghai. Doesn’t look too thick?

Underneath the coat is a suit, followed by a shirt, then a long john.

Actually that was enough to keep the body warm, it’s the hands & ears (and probably the neck) that felt colder.

The next day morning’s meeting was the main reason for my journey to Shanghai, which was concluded fairly quickly, considering the amount of time we took to fly to & fro.

Right after the meeting, it was time to rush for our lunch and pack up as we had to catch our flight at 4pm.

Instead of getting our driver to send us straight to the airport, we opted to take the Maglev train ride into the airport, which is about 6+mins ride with speeds of more than 400km/hr.

And it only cost RMB40/pax for airport passengers.

But in order to get to the Maglev, we had to cross the river which meant crossing the bridge… At least this time there were better lightings to capture it’s full glory.

Our driver dropped us off right in front of the Maglev station so there was no way we could get lost.

We went straight to purchase our tickets and while waiting for the other 2 to return from the toilet…

… another self-portrait. Otherwise there will be too little evidence that i was there.

We were still early for our train (or rather we just missed one), so we had some time to explore and snap some pictures of the place.

erm, or snapping pictures of them snapping pictures. Ha!

There wasn’t really a lot of passengers on the train, i believe during the Expo days, it should be filled to the brim.

The interior of the train is simple. Nothing too fanciful about it, except that at every carriage, there’s a display to tell you the time and the speed you’re travelling at.

There you have it, our maximum speed…

The Pudong airport’s departure hall is certainly more spacious than the arrival and walking from one end to the other is quite a long distance. I guess in China, everything has to be big and wide.

After checking in our luggage, we went to do some shopping before we say our goodbye to Shanghai. It was the first time during the whole trip that we manage to find the time to buy some local products as testament that we were there.

Actually, almost everything is made in China nowadays anyways.

So we just grabbed some food stuff to distribute back in office and a piece of souvenir for myself to mark my first trip into Shanghai, China.

The plane was slightly delayed in taking off, but it caught up during the flight. Once again, we were back in the airplane for our 5hours flight – managing another movie once again and a few more sitcoms before our plane touch Singapore ground.

Good bye Shanghai~