Celebratory Week Hello :)We've been trying A LOT of new food this week (partly because Zaffrey turned a year older)! I realise that I hardly get disappointed when it comes to food cause I haven't eaten anything that's very bad. Let's hope that our new-food experiences will continue to be pleasant :)On Monday, I went towning with my sister in the late morning and early afternoon. We met Zaffrey after he knocked off from work in the evening. Monday was a blister-ful day because I was wearing my relatively new pair of flats which gave me 3 blisters despite my using 30+ plasters to prevent my feet from becoming blister-fied :( The plasters on my left foot simply REFUSED to stay in place, hence I'd to replace them regularly so that my skin will not be chaffed by the back of my shoes :( Roar. I shall stick to wearing flipflops whenever I've to walk long distances.Anyway, we decided to have dinner at Sushi Tei before meeting my mum for our durian dessert buffet at Carlton Hotel. Zaffrey and I are such forgetful poks- we forgot that we would get 20% discount whenever we dine at Sushi Tei for the month of July because it's Zaffrey's birthday month (Jeffrey's a Sushi Tei cardholder)! Ahhh. We wasted many opportunities to eat good Japanese food at discounted prices! haha I LOVE discounts & I think it's quite a waste that we didn't maximise our discount privilege. It's alright, there's always next year :) Jeffrey's Staple - K*ts* D*nAfter dinner, we met up with my mum and we made our way to Carlton Hotel for our durian dessert buffet! :) Initially, I thought that we would only be served 4 kinds of durian desserts and nothing else since it's called a "durian dessert buffet" right? But I was wrong! It turns out that we could eat ANYTHING & EVERYTHING that was on the dessert table! I was ecstatic! :) Whoohoo! I think the four of us managed to try almost every item on the dessert table! Yumyum. We were SUPER DUPER FULL at the end of the night! Thankfully none of us suffered from indigestion. Heh. Here are some photos of the happyfying food we'd that night:Blueberry cake & lemon cakeTarts & JelliesDurian Cake (It was okay.. nothing fantastic)Durian waffle, durian puff and durian-something-in-a-cupMore slices of cakeMore jellies & tartsChocolate Mashmellows (Jeffrey FINALLY found out what a chocolate fountain looks like and he likes it too! Wheee) Chocolate cum durian cake (this was the only durian dish that Zaffrey tried and I think he didn't like it cos I'd to finish the entire piece for him, haha) and Lemon cakeThanks Gumtoo for the treat! :) [We know why you treated us! ;)]Nette (my sister)Jeffrey (durian hater)Nette & MeJeffrey & Me (Nette's not bad at taking photos! Heh.)* Tuesday was Jeffrey's birthday and we celebrated it at his place. His mum cooked a storm and we finished all the food! :) I managed to find an eggless chocolate cake in time so everyone could eat the cake (Jeffrey's mum and sister are allergic to eggs)! Jeffrey hasn't uploaded the photos that he took on his birthday so the following pictures were taken by me.Happy birthday once again Jeffrey! :) Zaffrey taking photos of his cakeHis family members eating cakeI like this shot cos of the flash! It makes Jeffrey look like a fish with a glow-in-the-dark bulb thingy.. have you seen that kinda fish before or do they only appear in cartoons?HAHA! I wish this shot wasn't blur cos it shows that Jeffrey has (unintentionally) mastered THE SILLY LOOK :) hahaha!* On Wednesday, Jeffrey, Joanne (my good friend) and I watched The Dark Knight/Batman in the evening and we had Haagen Dazs fondue after the show! :) The show was good! I was pretty impressed with the complexity of the plot because it managed to sustain my interest for the entire 2h 30minutes! Amazing :) We didn't take photos that day cos we didn't bring our cameras. It was Jeffrey's first time trying Haagen Dazs' fondue and he said that it was nice :) Yay!*Friday was an overcast and rainy day :( It wasn't the best day to go out but since Nette and I had certain things that we wanted to get, we braved the rain and went to town anyway. Since it was cold, we decided to have some nice warm food at Soba So Good. Please go there during lunch time to eat their lunch sets! They're yummy and worth every cent you pay! :) The portions are pretty reasonable cos I was ravenous before lunch but I managed to quell my hunger after eating at Soba So Good :) I shall bring Jeffrey there some day!Nette and I shopped till Jeffrey was done with work in the evening and we went to Smoking Frogz for dinner! :) It's located near Jeffrey's place so parking wasn't a problem that night! :) Smoking Frogz was EXTREMELY packed partly because it was a Friday night and partly because the dining area was small. Thankfully, we managed to get a high table after waiting for 10minutes or so. Smoking Frogz is famous for their burgers so Nette and Jeffrey tried their chicken and beef burgers. I chose to eat pasta since they don't serve fish burgers. All of us enjoyed our food so I guess it's a good place to eat at! :) Alright, photos! (These photos are taken by Nette using her hp! :))CalamariLinguini with King PrawnsChicken BurgerBeef Burger*This marks the end of my foody entry :) I love doing food entries! Alright, have a good weekend everyone! :) Freedom Food Hello :)I can finally take a break from waking up before sunrise and I must say that it feels good to be able to sleep a little more each day :) I really hope that my mind & body will fully recharge within these few weeks so that I'll be ready for school in August.Anyway, a group of us wanted to celebrate Apple's last day last Friday but many people could not make it in the end due to other commitments. Nevertheless, Apple, Yueheng, Jeffrey and I carried on with our plan and dined at Cafe Iguana! :) I have read many positive reviews about Cafe Iguana's food and margaritas so this was always one of the places which I wanted to go to. True enough, the food was palatable, it was different yet not too exotic, and I think most of us enjoyed what we ordered that night. Apple was the only one who tried their margarita that night and he said it had a "full texture". Maybe I'll go back there to try their margarita in future when I'm not hivey. Okay, pictures! Apple's MargaritaApple looking gleeful with his drinkJeffrey's grilled chicken and rice dish My Vegetable BowlApple's Grilled Chicken WrapOops I think we forgot to take a photo of Yueheng's food. Anyhow, we left Cafe Iguana after dinner because Apple & Yueheng wanted to have some drinks at Brewerkz. Unfortunately, the waiting list for a table at Brewerkz was disgustingly long so we decided to go to Crazy Elephant instead. Jeffrey & I have never been to this place before and we were extremely amused by the (dirty) jokes that kept flashing across the flat screen television outside Crazy Elephant! Heh. We stayed there and talked for a while before everyone decided to go home.At Crazy ElephantMonday was officially my last day at work. While I am glad that I have more time for myself now, I can't help but feel like I miss being in school. I enjoyed being in school because my students were a joy to teach (though they can rather mischievous at times) and I'd nice colleagues whom I got along with :) I'm thankful for this opportunity and the experience that I have gained over this short period of time. Thanks to everyone who made my teaching experience such a memorable one! I owe Jeffrey a big thank you for driving me to school and back home every day.. thank you! :)Since we had a lil bit of spare time on Monday, we decided to go to Relish to try their famous burgers! Although it may sound ridiculous to pay around $20 for a burger set (burger & fries), I think the money is well spent in this case because the burgers were really tasty and we actually felt very full after our meal! The portions at Relish are definitely bigger than the usual fastfood meals and their meat patties are unique and have more kick! :) I think they served yummy fries as well. Their fries are similar to Mos Burger's fries - straight cut and fat! In addition, Relish's decor is nice and we felt comfortable dining there :) It's a must-go place for all burger lovers! Alright, pictures! At Relish Jeffrey!Jeffrey's Beef BurgerMy Portobello Mushroom & Tofu BurgerHappy burger-fied us :)Today, we watched Red Cliff at Marina Square. It was an interesting show which moved at a rather good pace because I didn't feel bored at any point in the movie. I especially liked seeing how the different strategies transform into reality. This show taught me that war needn't always be associated with blood and destruction, it is a kind of Art as well. Anyhow, I thought that the movie should be called Before Red Cliff or something to that effect because the movie ended without telling us what happened at Red Cliff! :( I wanted the show to continue even after it ended! Bah. I guess I'll have to wait for the next instalment. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable show! Catch it if you've time! :)Alrighty, I think that's all for now :) We'll update again soon yea? Have a great week everyone! :) Hokkaido The summer after the drawing class I was in Italy for a science conference and I thought I'd like to see the Sistine Chapel. I got there very early in the morning, bought my ticket before anybody else, and ran up the stairs as soon as the place opened. I therefore had the unusual pleasure of looking at the whole chapel for a moment, in silent awe, before anybody else came in.~"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"/Richard P. FeynmanI was in Hokkaido with my family earlier this month, and had the chance to visit the hot springs at Noboribetsu. One popular location is called Hell's Valley (Jikokudani Valley) The tour group arrived at the place in the afternoon and it was quite crowded. We were lucky to be staying at a hotel a few hundred metres away and the next morning I decided to do what Feynman did and went back at 4am (the sun rose at 3am) to have the whole place to myself.400 pictures here; some good, others not so good... 6am Days Again A month ago,we were set aglowwith celebration and cheer'cause the June holiday was here.It was a month of fun and contentment,which we lived with pure abandonment.We were granted the luxury of time& everything flowed wondrously like a rhyme.Tonight, we're feeling a little bluenot because we disagree about an issue...But because there is no way to bendthe fact that our June holiday has come to an end.Nevertheless, we'll do okayAs we continue our journey together everydayOn the day when we were supposed to go geocacheing (: POTUS Source: CNN16 months ago... seems just like yesterday. 8 years since the Bush presidency, one of the few things that has kept me angry for a long while, and that's an understatement. At some point, it's going to get better, for the world, at least.I had some hope then that it would not be too unreasonable to expect the improbable. At some point, America's going to turn up someone; someone that represents the best of what we expect from America. Someone who has the nuanced intellect, humility and humanity that the world needs right now. (I got kind of sold on Obama when at the end of one of the debates with Hillary, he stood up before Hillary did as a mark of respect for her, and then pushed in his own chair as he left the table.)From now till November, it'll be dirty-tricks galore. How dare Obama rock the boat! And I really believe that this time, it'll be different, that people will see through the game. Oh, how I hope... Go Obama! Speedlight Experimentation So I've been experimenting with the SB-800 speedlight. My book says that directional light tends to be make a picture more pleasing to the eye, though I'm not sure technically that is the case. Anyhow, I've tried to make the light more directional by using the SB-400 to 'command' the SB-600 described in a previous post. Here's Jan cooking some nice pasta and spamming. Spammed Hello (:It's been three years since Jeffrey ate Spam luncheon meat and today, he had an overdose of it because of my unintended generosity. We went grocery shopping a few days ago because we needed to get supplies for school. While shopping, we decided to buy ingredients to cook dinner since we've never done that before. We got ourselves some penne pasta, Leggo tomato sauce and Spam luncheon meat. Because of our hectic schedule, we only managed to find time to cook dinner tonight.While cooking dinner, Jeffrey had to settle some technical problems with his sister/ parents online so I continued cooking alone (Jeffrey was busy taking photos before he had to settle the techy problem). Since I don't know how much luncheon meat Jeffrey eats in one sitting, I emptied the ENTIRE can of Spam luncheon meat and cut it up into smaller pieces. Afterwhich, I happily mixed everything up in his big bowl and told him that dinner was ready.When he saw his bowl of food, he asked me how much Spam I used and so I told him matter-of-fact-ly that I used the entire can. He remarked that a can of Spam can last him a week! :( Oops. I felt like a dodo. Haha I always thought that guys are carnivores, but I guess even carnivores have their limits. Heh. Sorry for wasting your Spam Zaffrey. Hope you liked dinner anyway :)Alrighty, that's all for now :) Have a good weekend everyone! :) Spammed Many People Listening To Obama 75 thousand, or thereabouts, at Portland, Oregon. Whoa!Source: Washington Post and DailyKos Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS Watch I recently misplaced my Forerunner 305 at home under mysterious circumstances. The timing of my loss was quite good because Garmin decided to release a new version of the Forerunner series around that time so I decided to get it. This is the first Garmin GPS watch that actually looks like a normal watch! (The others are moderately big and not as sleek.)Amazon.com still doesn't sell it at this time, so I got it from REI.com. I ordered it online on 26 April, and the package arrived at my home in Singapore on 7 May via vPOSTUSA. vPOST seems to be getting better nowadays with a slicker reporting system and faster turnaround of around two weeks. (Click on all pictures below to see larger versions)The second box contains the SB-800 flashlight from amazon.com. It's good to consolidate your vPOSTUSA purchases to save some money.This morning I cycled around 37km along the PCN with Jan. The pictures below show the comparisons between the Cateye cycling computer which relies on the circumference of the wheel to get the distance travelled and the 405 which relies on the GPS satellites to do the same. As shown, the difference is about 200m over 37km, or around 1%. That's good enough for me!This shows my heartrate; it's now 100 beats per minute. I didn't need to get the version that has the heartrate monitor because I can still use the one that came with my previous Forerunner 305.This is the Virtual Partner screen. It's great for running when you don't have a running companion and just need an imaginery friend to keep you company or to pace you using some target timing or distance that you input into the watch.The above two screens show the GPS satellites' accuracy. The SiRFstarIII chip is again found in the 405 according to wordings found on the box, so thick foliage shouldn't affect the signals too much.This is a view of some of the various menu items that are available.A very interesting feature of this watch is the way the menus are selected. I don't know of any other watch that uses this 'iPod' like way of selecting menus. There are only two hard buttons on the right, and four 'places' on the bezel to select the menus. To select 'menu', you just put your finger at six o'clock. To select items within the menus, just do circular motions on the bezel the same way you operate an iPod! It's quite incredible!After you've jogged/cycled, the information is stored in the watch. To transfer the info into the computer, you plug this USB stick into to the computer, and the data will be synced wirelessly and automatically. This feature is powered by the very cool ANT+Sport technology!After the data is downloaded, Garmin Training Centre will launch and you can look at the nice graphs.There's a built-in battery and you can charge the 405 using your computer's USB port or the supplied wall adaptor. This charging clip attaches to the watch and charges it. (The 100-240v wall adaptor supplied has a plug for the US. If you aren't in the US, just use one of those industry standard plug for your region and fix it to the customisable plug.)The design of the 405 is really very pretty. If you need to know how far you've run or cycled, there's no better buy than this. For more info, look at Garmin's website or their blog.And oh, this is my road bike. :) Nikon D40s, D60 With Speedlight Commander Feature Most Nikon D40-series and D60 owners would know that they own the best DSLR cameras in the market at their price ranges. However, one of the more important things missing in these models has to do with light.These cameras have built-in flashlights. Owners can also buy additional flashlights (Nikon calls them speedlights) such as the SB-400, SB-600, and SB-800. The limitation is the lack of 'commander mode'. This means that we cannot put the flash somewhere else (i.e., remote wireless mode); we need to attach it to the camera itself. (Using a flash off-camera allows for more creativity in setting up the picture.) The only way to do this, it seems, would be to buy the SB-800 which can itself be configured to become the 'commander' to command additional off-camera flashes.I just came across something totally fascinating that changes this! Having recently bought a SB-800 (from Amazon.com at around SGD$150 less than the local price), I wonder if I have to sell my SB-400. It is sort of redundant and I can't really use it to 'command' the SB-800. It turns out that the SB-800 has a 'little known' 'feature', i.e., it can be used as a remote flashlight, to be 'commanded' by flashes of light by other flashlights. And in our case, the humble SB-400, or the built-in flash! The feature is called SU-4 type settings. (The SB-600 doesn't have this feature.)So I tested it out, it works beautifully! Two lights are so much better than one. So the way to enable these three cameras' commander mode is to cheat a little: by buying the SB-800! Now I can use the SB-400 as a bounce flash, and it will in turn fire the SB-800. More info from Strobist and Nikon. Obama Desktop I was just thinking the other day about how we're going to have the worst President of the United States, and probably one of the best Presidents of the United States, back to back! And my colleague said it takes the worst to bring out the best. Oh, happy Mother's Day, Senator Clinton...There are lots of new downloadable material from the website!Today's National Education mention: The words above the eagle says "E Pluribus Unum". Out of many, one. Freedom Food GUESS WHAT? I'm free I'm free I'm free! :)Hello! :)It's been a long time since I last posted an entry here! I've been terribly busy with school :( Now that the sem's more or less done with, I can finally rest my overworked & tired brain. I've been eating a lot of fantastic food this week to celebrate my freedom :) haha Honestly I can't think of a better way to celebrate than to indulge in good food! It's been so long since I've had a nice, un-rushed and stress-free meal outside. Alright I shan't bore you with details of what I've been doing the past two months or so (it's just workworkworknothingelsebutwork). Instead, I'll make this an image-intensive post so that you guys can see what Jeffrey & I have been consuming this week.Post-Exams at Tonkichi (Takashimaya Branch)Because I have been so stressed out by work & exams, I requested to eat at a place that I've never dined at before after I cleared my exams. Jeffrey suggested Tonkichi cos his friend raved about it and hence we went there for my post-exam celebration meal :) Tonkichi has a rather limited menu but their rice sets were fantastic! :) I loved every grain of my rice and every morsel of my fish. haha Jeffrey liked his Katsudon a lot as well (come to think of it, I'm not aware of any katsudon which he doesn't like, ha). Tonkichi Green Tea in Tiny Cups Curry Dory Rice Set! :) Katsu Don SetAfter dinner, we decided to head to Isetan (Lido) because Jeffrey had a $50 voucher which had to be used before 30 April or else it would be forfeited. We combed every single level of Isetan but we couldn't find anything to buy! :( Disgusting. In the end, Jeffrey got me a present! haha :) It's quite an unexpected present cos it's something that I don't usually buy but it's nice anyway! :) Thanks a lot! :)Probably because we had such a harrowing time at Isetan looking for an item to buy, or maybe because I was feeling exceptionally greedy that day, or perhaps it's because I haven't had my post-meal sugar/ chocolate fix, I asked Jeffrey if we could go to Swensens for dessert. I suddenly had this craving for their applecrumble! haha So off we went to Swensens :) The weather was unbearably warm and humid though :( Both of us felt so sticky by the time we got our seats :( Yikes. Nevertheless, the dessert was yummy so it was worth queueing up for it.Apple Crumble with Vanilla and Cookies&Cream Ice-cream (Jeffrey does NOT like the apple crumble)Photos taken at Tonkichi:Jeffrey & His NEW Camera!Yeah it's bigger alright. He even bought this portrait-add-on-thingy which is quite cool :)Jeffrey & a Super-duper-tired-looking meLabour Day aka May DayOn May Day, Jeffrey & I woke up pretty early to go to ECP to cycle! :) It's been a long time since we went there to cycle (again cos of work&exams) so it felt extremely good to be back! :) Cycling never felt so carefree before. Haha I'm starting to understand why people say that "time is a luxury". I actually felt quite "rich" spending time doing things that I didn't have the time for or couldn't afford spending the time on. Fantastic.After cycling, we went home to bathe & then we met up again for lunch! :) Jeffrey wanted to eat pizza and I didn't want to patronise our usual pizza places so we ended up at Prego! :) Jeffrey thinks that Prego is a place for "lazy" people cos the crowd only started coming in at 1ish/2pm! haha I guess they must have slept in cos it was a public holiday or they went to walk around before having a late lunch? Hmmm. Anyway, the food at Prego was good! :) The only gripe I have is that they serve this superduperBIG piece of bread which has an uberduber HARD crust! :( GROSS. Sorry I don't really like bread with hard crusts so I didn't really like it. Nevertheless, I was pretty hungry so I gobbled it up anyway. Ha. I think I'm just greedy.May Day Lunch at Prego! :)Olive Oil in a Cute BottleMy Pasta (which has a very long name! The pasta had a wholemeal-ish taste. The cream sauce wasn't too creamy so it wasn't difficult finishing it. It's not bad at all!)Jeffrey's Ham & Mushroom Pizza (he says it's not bad too :) tastes like Modestos' pizza)Tiramisu! :) I thought this was only s0-so. If you're considering whether to have this or to walk across the street to have icecream at Haagen Dazs, I suggest opting for the latter option. Heh.Jeffrey cutting the really hard breadJeffrey! :)Jeffrey & His New Toy :) I'm quite proud of this shot actually. I like it quite a bit :)Oh that's me trying to take a photo of the olive oil bottle. Heh.We're contented with lunch! :)3rd May 2008, SaturdayEugene, Jeffrey & I met up for lunch on Saturday! Yueheng had a wedding to attend so he couldn't join us. I enjoy meeting up with the three of them because we always have loads to talk about and share :) Anyhow, it's nice to know that everyone's doing okay! We went to Monster Mash at Holland Village to have lunch before proceeding to Borders to check out their sale! :) It's my second time at Monster Mash & I must say that the food didn't disappoint a single bit! :) Jeffrey liked the food there as well :) I highly recommend this place if you're feeling VERY hungry cos every Monster Mash main dish comes with a generous serving of potato so you'll definitely be full after dining there! :) Alright I'll let the pictures do the talking.Monster Mash Sign (with pop-up "T" and "S")Decor at Monster MashSausage Set with Mashed PotatoVeggie Burger with FriesBread & Butter Pudding (which I loved! surprisingly, Jeffrey found it okay despite not liking puddings. Ha, there's hope in the world for all the puddings.)Eugene! :)Jeffrey talking to EugeneJeffrey Taking PhotosWe were highly amused by our purely coincidental choice of coloured shirts, bottoms & footwear!Me, Jeffrey & EugeneAlrighty. That's all for now :) I think I should try to sleep soon cos I've to wake up early tomorrow! haha It'll be an exciting first day! :) Will update again soon. Have a good month ahead everyone! :) School Choir "When I'm President, we'll rally this country to the cause of world-class education. That means putting our kids on a pathway to success with universal, quality, affordable early childhood education. That means paying our teachers more, and making sure they're not just teaching to the test - but teaching art and music and literature..."~Barack Obama/30 Jan 2008/Denver, ColoradoThe school where I spend most of my time at has a new choir, and they performed tonight at the annual awards day ceremony! I think it's always quite fantastic when teachers step up to the plate and create a new musical group, such as a choir where many people can take part at the same time.I think music changes people for the better, and bring about a semblance of the divine to a place that's usually uninteresting and dry, which was what happened tonight; the school foyer became a stage that almost felt unreal, with first-time singers attempting to do something that few probably have the privilege of doing...Teaching art, music and literature... what bold notions in a country that doesn't reward such pursuits which bring in 'concrete results'. Obama mentions the inherent contradictions in matters such as these. 'Pathways to success' is greatly determined by 'succeeding in tests'. But is it possible to not only teach to the test, but go beyond it, as he suggests? Maybe the answer lies in the school choir... Microsoft Worldwide Telescope I think I'm a little late to the game with this one. There was this piece of news regarding Microsoft blogger Scoble who started crying after viewing this new technology from Microsoft. It had something to do with telescopes that were online so that people can use them to view the universe on their computers. I wasn't totally surprised with his reaction because the first time I saw Saturn on a couple-of-inch refractor telescope that my grandfather gave me many years ago, I didn't cry, but I gasped. It was pure beauty, and quite indescribable.So I just came across a fascinating presentation of this new Microsoft intiative, and now the new website is also up. I originally thought that this was a little like Google Sky, but it seems that the WWT is much more than that. Truly exciting; it will launch in Spring 2008.I've been researching for a few weeks now to get a telescope. I want to see Saturn again. I've narrowed down my choice to this, and I may order soon to take advantage of a discount with vPOSTUSA and also the astonishingly weak US Dollar. Clear skies! March Holidays Hellobello! :)It's already the last day of March holidays! Ahhhh! I think time zooms by too quickly when we're having fun! Boo. It's alright, we'll work hard in the mean time and wait for the arrival of June hols! :)As you can probably guess, this post will show snippets of Jeffrey's life during his March hols! :) I'm not having my March hols but we still managed to meet up for some fun times! :) Okay we shall do this chronologically.Last Sunday, Jeffrey and I went out for lunch and did some shopping in town after cycling at ECP in the morning! Jeffrey felt like eating at NYDC so we headed to the Wheelock branch for some good ol' mushroom madness pizza! I usually eat baked pasta but since I didn't feel like eating baked pasta that day, I opted for Jeffrey's staple at NYDC aka Mushroom Madness Pizza, hence both of us had the same dish for lunch that day! We also shared a yummylicious mudpie cos I needed to get my after-meal chocolate fix. Here are some photos taken at NYDC: From top left in clockwise direction: my gorgeous (at least to me) picture of the stuff on the table, fork & knife, mudpie, mushroom madness pizzaJeffrey driving to Wheelock and us trying to take focussed shots using Jeffrey's new lens at NYDCOn Wednesday, we met up with Eugene & Yueheng (who doesn't want his photos to be up hence you'll not see any photos of him) for dinner at Holland Village! :) Since most of us were feeling rather cold due to the rain, we decided to have some warm food at Crystal Jade! :) It was great meeting up with them cos they made me laugh a lot! :) We should try to meet up again when we're free so that we can help each other stay sane :) hahaEugene, Jeffrey, Myself at Crystal Jade (Yueheng was somewhere near us. haha)DIAN XIN! (:From top left in clockwise direction: Charsiew Puff, Hargao, Some kinda vege dumpling, Charsiew BaoFrom top left in clockwise direction: Chives Dumpling, Yam Cake, Fried Spring Roll, Carrot CakeFrom top left in clockwise direction: Custard Bao (I LOVE IT!), Water Chestnut Cake (if I'm not wrong), Jeffrey and his Crystal Jade staple, Beef Noodles (if I'm not wrong)Since we can't get enough of each other (hurhur), Jeffrey, Eugene and I decided to meet again on Friday for lunch! haha Actually, Eugene and I went swimming in the morning and the three of us decided to lunch together at Holland Village again since we were free! This time, we decided to eat at Pho Hoa (a Vietnamese restaurant) cos Eugene says that Pho Hoa serves good food! :) True enough, the noodle soup that I ordered didn't disappoint and the guys were quite happy with their food as well! Thanks Eugene for introducing that place to me! :)Decor at Pho Hoa From top left in clockwise direction: Seafood noodle soup, Beef with rice, Beef noodle soup, Bean sproutsAfter lunch, we relocated to Haagen Dazs (which is diagonally across the street) for some sinfully wholesome dessert! haha :) Once again, I must thank Eugene for being so kind cos he helped us get closer to achieving our short-term frivolous goal! It's a good thing that all of us like Haagen Dazs icecream (despite its cost)! :)From top left in clockwise direction: Table top stuff, Eugene's icecream, Cookie Crunch, Jeffrey's icecream (with superduper nice whipped cream design!)My wonderful lunch buddies :)If you look closely, you can see Jeffrey playing with his new toy!From top left in clockwise direction: Jeffrey & I being silly, I've no idea why Eugene's face is chopped off :(, Eugene & I, Eugene & JeffreyAfter lunch, Jeffrey and I dropped Eugene off at his school (which has nice art pieces placed all over the school compound!). Then, we headed to Peninsular Plaza to get Jeffrey's new camera bag! :) It's pretty roomy so I hope that he won't have to change his camera bag again when he gets a new lens or a new camera (which I hope won't happen any time soon. haha). Okay don't get me wrong, I don't oppose his buying of gadgets but sometimes I can't help but feel that he's on the verge of opening his own gadget shop cos of the increasing number of gadgets that he owns! haha It's alright, he can buy as many gadgets as he likes as long as he's happy :)After getting his camera bag, we made our way to Marina Square to catch Step Up 2! :) I'm a huge fan of dance movies hence I was thrilled that I managed to catch this movie in spite of my busy schedule! :) There was a lot of breakdancing in this show and the characters portrayed such great passion for dancing! They definitely added extra oomph to the show :) Please watch it if you love watching dance movies! :) The lead actor and actress are pretty good looking too in my opinion! :) OH! Look out for this skinny guy with soft curly hair! He's really cute! hahaAs it was still pretty early after our movie ended, we decided to drive all the way to Tampines to get stuff for Jeffrey's classroom from IKEA! :) He's supposed to decorate his homeroom so we scouted around to see what we could get. I think we'll be going to Popular tomorrow to get additional material such as construction paper and stuff. Decoration will take place on Monday! :) I hope we'll do a good job! :)From top left in clockwise direction: Jeffrey & I on the way to IKEA, Jeffrey driving, Me, Jeffrey IKEA! (:Upon reaching IKEA, we decided to eat before walking around. The eating area at the Tampines outlet is much larger than Queenstown's but it's also more crowded! Thankfully, we managed to find seats around this playpen thingy. There were boisterous kids running and playing inside the playpen and it made me feel a little weird cos I'm not used to being watched by kids while eating. Thankfully, we didn't take that long to finish our meal so we could escape being subjects of their prying gazes. As a sidenote, I think I'm a little too stressed these days cos I misheard a kid saying "Quickly drink your water"as "Have you read Elaine Showalter". Yikes. Anyway, PICTURES! :)Where we had our dinner. I love the stars that were printed on the ceiling of the play pen. Jeffrey and his trolley full of food. I swear he has this thing for trolleys. He ALWAYS wants to get a trolley wherever we go (especially at airports even though we've no luggage. Bah.)From top left in clockwise direction: Our dinner, Meatballs, Daim Cake (my love) , Salmon SetHmm I think that's all I've to say for now :) I hope you guys are having a great weekend! :) I shall post a collage of car-shots that we took some time during the March hols as a way of ending off this post. Shall try to take more car/ escalator/ reflection shots in future! :) Take care everyone! :)I'm wondering why Jeffrey's facial expression looks similar in all four shots. Hmmm. Our First (Frivolous) Short-term Goal Hello! :)It's been a crazy week so far but I'm glad that Jeffrey & I have checked most of our important-things-to-do items-this-week off our lists. What a relief. There's still a lot of less-important stuff to do but we'll take clear them off slowly :) Since Jeffrey's going away for camp tomorrow, we decided to meet up before he 'books in' for three days two nights. haha We walked around and hunted for a dri-fit shirt and a pair of shorts but we couldn't find anything that he likes or fits him well so we didn't buy any clothes in the end.We had dinner at Cafe Cartel after our little shirt-cum-shorts hunt. Cafe Cartel was surprisingly quite empty tonight (probably because it's a rainy weekday) so we dined with relatively more comfort and peace today (cos of lesser noise pollution). As most of you know, Jeffrey usually eats a particular dish whenever we visit a Japanese restaurant right? Fortunately, Jeffrey's law of gastronomical inflexibility does not apply when we visit Cafe Cartel cos he usually chooses a different dish each time we visit this place! :) Cool. I think two reasons why we always choose a different dish when we go to Cafe Cartel is because they don't really have a signature dish and we don't particularly like any dish very much, hence it's more like a pick-what-you-feel-like-eating-at-that-point-in-time situation.I'd grilled fish combo if I'm not wrong. It was quite alright :) Thankfully my fish was grilled or my tummy wouldn't be able to take it! Jeffrey had a pork chop if I'm not wrong :) He liked the sauce! :) After dinner, Jeffrey and I went to the esplanade area for a walk. I enjoy our post-dinner walks but today's wasn't as comfortable as usual because of the wet floor! :( It rained during the late afternoon hence the floor was wet. Yikes. My feet got wet because I was wearing slippers :( Boo. Nevertheless, it felt good walking along the river next to the esplanade with Zaffrey :)We entered the esplanade after our walk and we were pleasantly greeted by melodious music! It turns out that there's this free live music display at the open area inside the esplanade! There were 2 performers tonight: a pretty lady who can sing very well and her partner (this guy who's her back up singer cum superb guitarist). We sat at on this cushy bench and listened to them sing and play till their show ended. It was a nice experience just listening to music together and I liked every bit of it :)After the show ended, Jeffrey and I decided to put in some effort to fulfill our first (frivolous/ foody) short-term goal: To get a Haagen Dazs Privilege Card! :) Haha I realise that we'll probably get fatter due to the increased consumption of icecream and icecream toppings BUT we will probably also get a lot happier cos we'll be charged with endorphins! Eating good food/ desserts make people happy! Whee. You should try eating chocolates when you're down. Chocolates NEVER fail to make me feel better. Alrighty I shall post pictures that we took at Esplanade/ Haagen Dazs now to save you from my crapping.Decorations for Mosaic Festival: Piano ManJeffrey the Piano TeacherDecorations for Mosaic Festival: DrummerJeffrey and his darling palm-phoneJeffrey's vanilla and cookies&cream icecream with whipped creamA slanted shot of my icecream (I forgot what it's called). Basically it's made up of a scoop of coffee icecream and a scoop of chocolate icecream with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and cornflakes :)Ice-cream makes Jeffrey a happy beffrey :)We love haagen dazs! :)Alrighty that's all for now :) Oh for those who are interested, there's going to be an IT show from tomorrow till this Sunday at Suntec City! :) Whee. Check it out if you've techy gadgets to get yea? Okay, time to sign off. Take care everyone. Bye! :) AIRSHOW 2008! :) Hello! :)Jeffrey and I travelled all the way to the other end of Singapore today (not to cycle) but to check out the Singapore Air Show! :) We have never been to any air shows before hence we were quite excited about going for the air show! :)Before we could check the air show out, we had to decide how to get to Changi exhibition hall. We couldn’t drive in because we didn’t have a parking label (it’s pretty difficult to obtain one), hence we were deciding between taking a shuttle bus from Pasir Ris MRT/ places in town or to take a cab instead. In the end, we decided to park at Changi Airport T3 and we took a cab there! :) Oh as a sidenote, I think this is the first time Jeffrey and I are taking public transport (if you count buses, mrt and taxis as modes of public transport) together. It was a relatively different experience cos I was quite aware of the taxi driver’s presence and I realised that he was privy to whatever we were talking about (which means he probably heard my comment about the ‘black face guy’ but I shall assume that I provided him with some light-hearted entertainment, hurhur). We were waiting for a cab at T3We finally reached Changi exhibition hall around 11am and there were already quite a lot of people there! We’d to queue up in this tent-like place where security checks were being carried out. After clearing the check-point, we made our way towards the exhibits! :)Since it was quite warm outside, we decided to explore the indoor area (which was fully air-conditioned!) first! :) The indoor area reminded me of COMEX except that it wasn’t as crowded as COMEX, which was a good thing because we had enough space to walk around freely. Before today, I only knew that planes are more complicated than they look but today’s exhibition brought my awareness to a whole new level. On top of that, I must admit that I’ve newfound respect and admiration for engineers! There are SO MANY components in a plane that it’s almost impossible to know each & every part. Moreover, the technology involved in plane-making in general is unbelievably high. I was overwhelmed by the machines that were around me and it got me thinking a little about the intricate relationship between Man & Machine. For a moment I felt that I was part of a pseudo-machine world cos I was walking around like this little automata whose function is to view other machines (aka planes and plane parts). In some sense machines help to expand Man’s capabilities by allowing us to visualise and to think of possible improvements that we can make to what we already have. In that sense, there is some kind of symbiotic relationship that exists between Man & Machine (we make machines, but the machines in turn stimulate our thinking processes), and it is quite fascinating to know that we are somewhat mechanised whether we like it or not.Okay enough of my crapping. Here are some of the photos that were taken in the indoor exhibition area. Entrance of the indoor areaA F1 Car! It looks so sleek! I love it! :)Jeffrey took gorgeous photos of the F1 car using his new lens. Nice!Different parts of the plane. Yeah the structures are usually very large and they look very complicated.Jeffreybobeffrey!Oh I think the main highlight of our indoor viewing experience was that we found a plane that we both like! haha It's called Cirrus and it looks really cool. I think I'll add this to my "items on my wishful thinking wishlist". HahaSexy Cirrus! :)We covered most of the indoor area by 1215pm so we headed outdoors to watch the Flying Display! :) Out of the 7 different displays, I think the RSAF Black Knights’ team acrobatics performance was my favourite. Not only were the planes nicely decorated (they were painted in Singapore colours!), they managed to execute flawless stunts with grace and speed! It was a WOW experience. I loved every bit of it, including the noise that the F16s made! Haha I guess the noise made the entire experience more real in some sense. I think Jeffrey liked the Airbus performance quite a bit! The airbus was the biggest and bulkiest plane that took part in the flying display BUT it tried to fit in with the other planes by shifting its weight from left to right! It looked really awkward doing that! Haha I don’t think the airbus is supposed to do stunts (cos passengers will probably tumble about inside the plane) so it was quite unusual to see a big plane lumbering along, attempting to mimic the actions of the (fighter) planes that came before it. It was quite a cute sight actually :) Anyhow, the planes were flying too quickly so all flying display show photos were taken by Jeffrey! :)Oh the show started a little behind schedule so while waiting for the show to start, Jeffrey and I started taking photos to entertain ourselves as usual :) Whee. The Outdoor Area (look at the number of people there!)Us before the show began More photos of us before the show (the show started about 10 minutes late) The Black Knights! Black Knights executing cool stunts Two fighter planes flying really near to each other I think this is some plane from the USAF (it's really fast & it is able to make sharp turns) Another fast plane (I'm sorry I can't remember which plane this is and neither can i remember its characteristic move) RAAF Roulettes. They were the 'finale' item. They made lesser noise compared to the Black Knights and the looked flatter. haha Thanks Zaffrey for the beautiful pictures of the planes! :)Since the rest of the flying display performances after the Black Knights’ seemed quite boring, Jeffrey and I started walking around the outdoor area to look at the outdoor exhibits! :) The organizers actually brought in REAL military tanks, planes and helicopters for people to view them! Oh we didn’t miss out on the rest of the flying display performance because we could always tilt our head skywards to look at whatever that’s on display! Haha I think that’s the beauty of the airshow- the sky becomes the stage and hence every single person is entitled to a clear view because we can just look up! There’s no need to worry about getting a seat that’s closer to the stage or what not! :)First, we went to take a look at the military vehicles. There were many different kinds of tanks, navy boats (do we even call them boats?) and helicopters on display. The only similarity that they share is that they’re camouflaged in jungle-colour! Haha I think I’m starting to like the versatility of the helicopter (as opposed to the aeroplane) but somehow I still prefer planes to helicopters. Military Vehicles (I'm impressed that Jeffrey knows quite a lot of military vehicles by heart! He also knows a lot about planes! This is what I mean when I say I lack general knowledge. haha It's almost non-existent compared to Jeffrey's.) Jeffrey and his planes (I noticed that people generally like to knock on planes to see what kind of sound is produced)Next, we proceeded to the military planes section. The planes were HUMONGOUS! Goodness. It’s a miracle that they can even take-off from the ground! Most of the military planes that were exhibited are from the US if I’m not wrong. They come in all shapes and sizes and they serve many different purposes as well! The exhibit which stood out the most, in my opinion, is the unmanned aircraft. Don't you think it looks like a grey whale? You can see it at the bottom left hand corner of the collage. After a while, Jeffrey and I started taking photographs of each other taking photos. HAHA! That's Jeffrey taking photos! :) And this is me.We walked around some more and soon we chanced upon a plane which Jeffrey has taken before! Apparently, he took this plane to Taiwan in the past, probably during his NS days? Since the queue for the viewing of this plane wasn't that long, we queued up to get inside the plane! This plane is able to detect hurricanes and it is able to fly right into the middle of a storm! Cool! The interior of the plane looks more colourful than expected (I suspect it's cos of the red seats) and there are many storage compartments. Unfortunately I can't remember the model of this plane but if you're really interested, you can ask Jeffrey about it! (Yeah I promise to make an effort to remember stuff from now on so as to increase my general knowledge!) The insides of Jeffrey's "Taiwan" plane Oh here are two pictures of a cute guy I saw today! :) Don't you think he's cute? haha We met Jeffrey on Jeffrey's "Taiwan" plane! :) He has a great sense of humour! :) The caucasians in charge of the exhibits were incredibly friendly! :) You can see how willing they were to take photos with members of the public! :) Oh and I took a photo of the bald guy cos he reminded me of Daughtry. Haha After viewing the military planes, we moved onto the civilian planes section! I think there were two kinds of civilian planes on display- the personal and the business civilian planes. Basically the business planes can sit more people, hence they are usually larger. Here's a picture of the plane that Jeffrey flies when he plays his flight simulator game:It looks pretty sleek right? I hope Jeffrey'll get more time to play his flight simulator game during the holidays :)Oh yes we also saw three helicopters at the far end of the outdoor area! Initially, I thought that they were quite small cos they looked quite small from afar but actually, they're larger than expected! Here are two photos of the helicopters that were exhibited:One thing that Jeffrey and I noticed is that Changi Exhibition Hall sits on an area which reminds us very much of Perth! There was hardly any lush greenery that we see in most parts of Singapore, there were no highrise buildings (cos it's near the airport), there was a lot of flat concrete (reclaimed) land! The cloudy sky and little sunshine probably added to the Perth-effect as well cos we felt like we were standing on a Perth-like terrain. See what I mean? Look at the big empty concrete spaces at Changi Exhibition Hall! :) More concrete empty spaces! (paradox unintended)Our excursion ended around 3pm and we faced a little problem: how on earth do we get out of that place without getting caught in long queues? There were more people at Changi Exhibition Hall at 3pm than there were at 11am! From what we could see, there were many people heading out of Changi Exhibition area and we were quite worried that we'd be stuck in the taxi queue for ages. Basically, we could either take a shuttle bus , a cab ($8 surcharge) or a limousine taxi out ($45 per trip! madness!) of Changi Exhibition Hall. We decided to queue for a cab cos that option seemed the most logical. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait that long for a cab! The taxi co-ordinator's really good at doing his job AND he's very funny as well! hahaWe made our way back to Changi Airport T3 where we quickly hunted for food! I think both of us were quite famished by the time we reached Earle Swensens at T3! :) Thankfully, this place operates like Sizzlers which means that we are entitled to free-flow servings of food that's available at their salad bar! Cool :) Jeffrey ordered a burger and I ordered some salmon thingy. The food was not bad and the dishes at the salad bar were good as well! :) Oh their calamari was slightly spicy but it tasted nice :) FOOD!We were finally full and contented after eating for an hour or so! haha We took a short walk back to the carpark and we proceeded home soon after :) It was a fun-filled day and I enjoyed myself thoroughly! :) Thanks Jeffrey for taking time out to go to the airshow together! :) I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did! :) Here are two nice photos of us :) We actually took a mini-series of neoprintish shots but they're too embarrassing to be placed here. HahaAlrighty! I hope you enjoyed reading this entry! :) Have a good week ahead everyone! :)*THANK YOU ZAFFREY! :) :) :) Chingay! Hello! (:I'm back again with another update because we've taken new photos! :) haha I realise I usually post an entry here whenever we've a new batch of photos. Anyway, today's FRIDAY (TGIF!) which means we can all take a lil breather and let our hair loose because the week is over! :) I went to school to study/ clear readings today and Jeffrey picked me up after he was done with his CCA =) I'm really glad that he likes his CCA cos I think it's important to have interest in what you're doing especially if you've to commit to that particular thing over an extended period of time! :)Anyway, we decided to head to Esplanade's Ichiban Boshi for dinner cos I felt like taking a walk along the Singapore River. Traffic to town was heavier than usual today and I think it was partly due to CHINGAY! YES! haha We didn't know that there was going to be a Chingay Parade today so both of us were pleasantly surprised to see hordes of people gathering along the streets near The Esplanade, looking and appreciating the colourful floats that went by! :) River Hong Bao was also decorated with many bright and festive colours! :) I started getting excited cos I've never immersed myself in the River Hong Bao atmosphere (my dad doesn't bring my family to River Hong Bao during CNY cos he doesn't like crowds) and I was overjoyed when Jeffrey said we could take a walk at River Hong Bao area after dinner! WHEE! :)Dinner was interesting because we tried a few new dishes today, namely the cheesy sushis and tempura icecream! Yumyum :) I'm glad our gastronomical journey is gathering steam cos both of us are becoming a tad more adventurous! :) Fantastic! Somehow I was feeling exceptionally cold today hence we had to walk quickly to the exit after settling the bill so that I could bask in some non-airconditioned/ natural air. Okay here are photos taken at dinner (once again these photos are taken by me hence pardon me if they're slightly blur or what not. if you're a photobuff, please ask Jeffrey for the photos that he took!):From Left to Right, Top to Bottom:Salmon&Asparagus sushi, Softshell crab sushi, Lobster Salad Sushi, Softshell crab handroll, Crabstick&Cheese sushi, Jeffrey's Usual (hint: K*ts* D*n), Cheese&Ham Sushi, Cheesecake (on a BLUE plate), Tempura IcecreamJeffrey and I are proud to say that we managed to finish EVERYTHING we ordered! haha It's amazing! The food's really quite good so you guys can to there for some yummy Japanese food if you want to. On top of that, the seats are very comfortable! There's A LOT of leg room and there's ample space on the table top for everyone (including those sitting along the conveyor belt)! It's definitely one of the nicer Japanese restaurants to dine at :)After dinner, we made our way to Connaught Drive so that we could take a closer look at the Chingay Parade! :) I think my favourite part of the entire Chingay thingy is the decorations! :) I love the lights and the fake flower structures that are planted all over Hong Bao River area! :) Here are some photos of lighting decorations which I like a lot:I think Jeffrey kinda likes the Cai Shen Yes though they're fakos. haha I think we saw 3 people dressed up at Cai Shen Yes tonight but only ONE looked like a Cai Shen Ye cos he's fat enough. I didn't take photo of that particular Cai Shen Ye cos he kept moving around and he kept dispensing good wishes to people (after they give him some money. ya, quite dumb right). Anyway, there's this HUGE Cai Shen Ye structure that everyone wanted to take a photo with. Kinda remined me of Taka's annual Christmas tree? Taka always uses the same tree but somehow people feel compelleld to take a photo with it every year just to make their Christmas photo collection complete.A Skinny & Old Caishenye and the Humongous Statue of CaishenyeAfter taking some photos, we decided to line ourselves along the road to watch a few floats go by! :) I must say they look better than expected! I loved the performers' energy and spirit! I think they contribute most to making the entire event come alive :) Jeffrey and I kinda appreciated the foreigners' participation a little more cos they brought cultural diversity to the entire event.Photos of Floats (Yes there actually was a Starwars display! Can you believe it?)As timing is key to the Chingay processsion (so that the floats will not collide or get jammed up), the different floats can only move in at specific time. This meant that there were times when there was not a single float in front of us cos the previous one had moved forward and we were still waiting for the next float to arrive. Waiting wasn't that boring because Jeffrey and I started taking silly photos again as usual! hahaClockwise from top left: When we first reached Chingay groungs, Waiting for the next float to arrive, What's that in the sky?, Waiting for another float to arrive :)Oh Jeffrey used his new lens today to take photos at the Chingay parade! Apparently that lens is better for taking photos at night. I can't wait to see the photos that he took! :) The only troublesome thing about using his new lens is that he has to adjust the focus manually, which may be quite time consuming. Nevertheless, I think it's a teensy price to pay for nicer photos! :)Jeffrey the PhotographerHis many different standing positionsOh I was also intrigued by the 12 zodiac signs that were on display! I think they were done up quite nicely! Can you spot your zodiac sign?AnimalsOn our way to the underpass, we saw people standing on the war memorial sign as if they're about to attend flag raising ceremony or something. I guess certain festivals prompt people to stand at places where they usually will not stand on just so that they can get a better view :)People congregating at the war memorialAfter covering most of the Chingay ground, we headed back to Esplanade so that we could go home! While driving out of the carpark, we heard LOUD noises and it turned out that there were fireworks being released! WOW! :) I LOVE FIREWORKS! haha They were beautiful but they weren't the enormous kind. Nevertheless, it was nice seeing fireworks today! :) Alrighty I think that's all I've for you today :) Take care everyone and have a good weekend! :)Escalator Shots! :) Veeday! Hello! :)It's been a while since I've blogged here but I'm glad to be back! Firstly, happy lunar new year to all of you! :) haha I hope you guys had a great time visiting, eating all the yummylicious CNY goodies, collelcting angbaos or simply catching up on work/ rest! :) I'd a blast at Thailand during the CNY period! :) Everything there is super duper cheap! I went to Bangkok and Pattaya and managed to try lots of new things such as parasailing, jetskiing and going for a 2h full body massage! The trip was funfilled and awesome! :) The only bad thing was that I was flooded with work the moment I came back to Singapore ): These few days have been busybusybusy cos school life is getting more hectic as the term progresses. Nevertheless, I've finally found some time to blog! :) Whee.To be frank, I'm feeling rather sleepy now cos I haven't been sleeping much these days :( However, since I've to wait for my hair to dry and for some of my food to digest before I can sleep, I decided to blog about today, which is Valentine's Day! :) Don't worry it's not going to be a sugarcoated, honeylayered, loveydovey mushy post! I can't stand over-romanticised things! Yikes. hahaha Hence, this post will be like most of my other posts - crappy, simple and (hopefully) fun to read =)Jeffrey and I met after school to watch Juno! :) It's a pretty good movie in my opinion and it's worth watching! :) I initially wanted to catch P.S. I Love You since it seems like the perfect Vday show to watch but I'm kinda glad that we caught Juno instead cos its plot seems to be better :) Though the movie centres around teenage-crisis (aka pregnant teenager deciding if she should keep the baby or abort it or whatever else), it didn't seem like a normal teenage chickflick. The relationships between the characters were downplayed such that they appear more real and this made the show better than expected.After the show, Jeffrey and I headed to Newton Food Centre for dinner! :) We've not eaten there since it was renovated hence we decided to give the food a try! We reached Newton Food Centre around 930pm and surprisingly, the place was still packed! Thankfully, we managed to find a parking lot so we could proceed to fill our empty tummies with mouthwatering food!Oh before I show you guys pictures of our dinner, let me share something which I thought looked a little odd. This is what Jeffrey and I saw while we were buying bread from a particular bakery in town: Don't you think these buns look like phallic symbols? How do they expect anyone to eat them? Alright back to proper(looking) food. Jeffrey was surprisingly adventurous today cos he agreed to try eating stingray! :) Amazing! :) I think it was slightly too spicy for him though :( It's okay we'll slowly up his/ our threshold for spicy food so that we can eat other things like Katong Laksa together in future! :) Oh these photos are taken by me so pardon me if they look blur or anything. haha If you're interested in looking at clear and gorgeous food photos, you can ask Jeffrey for them cos he recently bought a new lens which enables him to take absolutely fantastic photos of food! :) The difference between the food photos taken by the new lens and the normal lens is quite stark! Lovely!Here's what we had for dinner: From left to right, from the top: Fried Hokkien Mee, Teh Peng, Sugar Cane Juice, Fried Hokkien Mee and drinks, BBQ Stingray, Fried Carrot Cake, Food on the Table, The Flavours of Singapore signboard, Photos of Famous Singaporean Dishes My companion for the night :)Oh my sisters and I actually took the extra effort to do a little baking yesterday so that we could give our cookies as vday presents to our friends! :) Here's what our end product looks like:Wrapped-up Chocolate Blossom Cookie!Gave Jeffrey one cookie as his present for Vday :) haha He hasn't eaten it yet but he said he'll do so tomorrow. Hopefully he doesn't get a stomachache or food poisoning after consuming it! haha! If so, he'll probably never ever eat anything that I cook/ bake in future (which may be a wise choice haha).All in all, I'd a great time with Jeffrey today and I'm glad I ushered in my long weekend this way :) I'll have to use my time wisely to catch up on the gazillion readings that await me but I think I'll crash for now. Need to get some rest! Alrighty, I hope you guys had a lovely day (pun unintended). Goodnight! :) Happy Valentine's Day once again! :)*To Jeffrey: Thanks for everything :) I hope you enjoyed today as much as I did! My advice to you is to enjoy as much as you can before reality hits you in the face hahaha!To Lynnette: Thanks for the presents dear! Happy friendship day! :)Update from Jeff (!): Yumyum haha Scarlett Johansson: Yes, We Can My favourite actress Ms Johansson can sing too! The video is produced by will.i.am, a Black Eyed Peas' singer, and directed Jesse Dylan, son of Bob Dylan. Oh the times they are a-changin'...It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.Yes we can.It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.Yes we can.It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.Yes we can.It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.Yes we can to justice and equality.Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.Yes we can heal this nation.Yes we can repair this world.Yes we can.We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --Yes. We. Can. After School Hours Hey! :)It's FRIDAY once again! :) Whee. I love Fridays because it marks the beginning of the weekend! :) We can finally stay at home and rest/ catch up on readings/ slack around/ do whatever we usually can't do on weekdays. This Friday feels exceptionally free because there's only 2 days worth of lessons next week due to CNY holiday :) Hence we can afford to procrastinate a little more than usual because there's extra time to catch up on work next week during CNY hols :)Frankly, I'm blogging right now cos I'm too full to sleep. I met Zaffrey for dinner after he was done with his cca! :) We wanted to go to Newton Food Centre but it was raining when we met hence we decided to go somewhere with shelter (including shelter from carpark to wherever we're going to eat). We landed up at Modestos again! haha I realise we usually eat pizza when we're famished and today's one of our gluttony days (probably cos the chilly weather made us hungrier than usual or maybe we're just piggish. haha).Initially, Zaffrey wanted to order the same pizza that he had the previous time we visited Modestos so I grunted a little and he chose something else. OOPS :( Sorry Zaffrey. Haha I'm trying to let his tastebuds savour varying delights otherwise they'll get so bored! :( haha In the end he ordered Beef Pizza if I'm not wrong and I ordered Al Funghi Pizza :) They tasted great as usual. I think Modestos is a fantastic place for pizza lovers! :)Sorry for the dark photos of our Beef (Left) and Mushroom (Right) Pizzas. I forgot to switch the flash on :(Oh since I'm on the topic of food, I might as well load photos that we took a few days ago at the Sushi Tei outlet next to Taka's taxi stand. It's quite an obscure outlet in my opinion cos it's not located in the main building and hence I always forget that it actually exists? Oops. Anyway it was quite packed though it was a weekday night :)I like sepia tone :)We love Sushi Tei! :)Since Chinese New Year is just around the corner, I asked Zaffrey if he would like to go to Chinatown for a walk and he agreed on the spot! :) Talk about spontaneity! :) I don't usually go to Chinatown to see red (hurhur) stuff because my dad doesn't like crowds hence I never had the experience of walking down the brightly decorated streets and to feel the chinese new year atmosphere in Chinatown. You should have seen my excitement when I saw the sea of red when we reached the heart of Chinatown! :) WOOTS! It's like hitting the jackpot. hahaha The heart of Chinatown looked exactly as I imagined it to be and I felt extremely happy walking and immersing myself in the crowd :) Unfortunately, neither Zaffrey nor I brought our cameras hence we could only take photos using our hp cameras! Nevertheless, these photos capture my first Chinese New Year-ish trip to Chinatown! :)Decorations at ChinatownOne of the many things that people look forward to during the CNY season is the bah kwa feast! haha :) Besides the famous Mei Zhen Xiang bah kwas, there's also Lin Zhi Yuan's bah kwas (which are supposedly nicer than Mei Zhen Xiang's) ! :) It's crazy! There're queues for CNY goodies almost everywhere we went but thankfully they aren't THAT long yet (maybe because we went on a weekday night). Check out the queue in front of Lin Zhi Yuan's store:Queue in front of Lin Zhi Yuan's outlet and men barbequeing meat at Mei Zhen Xiang's outletAfter walking around for quite a while, we decided to head back to People's Park Centre for dinner. Along the way back, we saw a beautifully painted shophouse (it's the blue one with yellow flowers) and hence I decided to take a photo of it. We also walked into this super duper old departmental store called The Majestic if I'm not wrong and it's like the Chinese version of Mustafa Centre! You can see a how oriental looking The Majestic is from the photo below. Actually Zaffrey went in cos he wanted to get some cool air. haha!Alrighty I think that's all for now :) Here's a complimentary neo-print-ish shot of us! I think I should make Zaffrey and I put on various expressions so that we can exercise our facial muscles! haha Zaffrey disliked the "stick out your tongue" shot but I think it's quite cool! haha :)Say Cheese!Okay that's all I've to say for now! :) Have a great weekend everyone! Please buy more CNY goodies! They'll keep you full and happy next week! :) Bye! Borders 40% Discount Coupons Borders is offering yet another substantial discount; this voucher is redeemable at the Parkway Parade branch.As usual, if you with to buy more than one book, just print out a few vouchers, queue up to buy one book, then queue up again to buy the second book. Repeat if you want to buy more books. Valid till 10 February. Older. Ouch. Hello! :)As most of you can tell from Jeffrey's previous post, he got himself a new handphone! :) It's actually a palm phone and it has all the handydandy functions that he uses so I think he likes it quite a lot :) There's bejeweled on his phone so I like it too! haha okay that's such a frivolous reason for liking his new toy but frankly, it's pretty awesome! :)Despite today being a Monday, I'm feeling slightly better than most Mondays because it's my birthday! :) I don't like the idea of getting older but I generally love celebrating birthdays :) Thanks Jeffrey for taking time out to celebrate my birthday with me! :) Whee. He met me in school after my lecture and we went to NUH to get some iron tablets before heading to town for dinner! :) On our way to townWe decided to have dinner at Japanese Dining Sun with Moon cos the place that we wanted to have dinner at was fully booked! It's alright we can always visit it another time! :) Dinner was yummy and we loved the wonderful ambience! :) Do check it out if you like Japanese food! Their desserts are fabulous! :)Dinner Menu Decor on the ceiling Jeffrey searching for his staple (which unfortunately isn't available) Zaffffreyyy! :) I managed to capture Jeffrey's flash! :) COOOOL! :) Salmon sushi with roe (it's not bad!) The 1-minute Timer (which Jeffrey and I agree is placed there for aesthetic and non-practical reasons) Salmon Slices and Rice in a Hotpot :) Tempura Udon! :)Green Tea Tiramisu (it's superb!)Somehow Jeffrey's camera decided to misbehave today so we didn't take that many pictures with his camera but it's alright since I brought mine along! :) While waiting for our dessert to arrive, I decided to play around with the self-timer mode since my hand was unusually unstable today (hence we couldn't really take self-portraits that well). I think Jeffrey was feeling weird throughout the entire thing cos it's quite weird taking self-timer shots when there are people eating around you. hahaha! But it's okay cos we managed to take a nice shot! :) Look!After dinner, we decided to go for one of our usual walks to digest our food :) I'd a nice time today so thank you Zaffrey for celebrating my bday with me and for making me forget (temporarily) that I'm becoming an old hag. THANKS! :)Alrighty that's all for now! Have a good week everyone! :)My successful escalator shot! :) WHEE! :) Obama Wins South Carolina! Test posting using a Palm Treo 680.Obama's new speech can be found at Youtube. There is hope for the world yet!(Added later) Factory Owners And Workers: Who Is Worth More? "I'm not running for President because I read something in a book. I'm not running for President because some political consultant told me what I'm supposed to say.I'm running for President because of 54 years of my life, I have believed to my soul that the men and women who worked in that mill with my father were worth every bit as much as the man that owned that mill."~John Edwards, 'Mill' adI've always liked the rhetoric found at the Singapore 21 website. It claims that 'every Singaporean matters.' The cynic would say, sure, every Singaporean matters, but some matter more than others. :) As I said in my last entry, we need more emphasis on this sort of thing, not less. And we can't just say it, we should act upon it, if possible...John Edwards nearly became US Vice President four years ago. He's trailing behind Obama and Clinton right now, but will be giving those two a run for their money. Go John! Obama On National Education "In lines that stretched around schools and churches; in small towns and big cities; you came together as Democrats, Republicans and Independents to stand up and say that we are one nation; we are one people; and our time for change has come."~Senator Barack Obama, Iowa, 3 Jan 2008 (text)A few hours after Obama victory at Iowa two weeks ago, I watched his speech on Youtube, and sat stunned as he talked about 'one people, one nation', amongst other things. It just seemed incredible to me at that time how he was just getting better and better at his speeches. This guy sure doesn't look like a politician. Politicians aren't supposed to be hopeful and uncynical. Politicians aren't supposed to make Youtube viewers sob just a little bit...As I thought more about the Obama movement and how parts of his speech are similar to our own National Education pronouncements, it suddenly dawned on me that those of us in Singapore who don't really like 'NE', and wish to see it being reduced in schools might have gotten the thing backwards.It now seems to me that far from reducing NE, we should be actively engaging in it because there is still much to be done. But it can only work when we are honest with people, when we say it like it is, when we acknowledge the intelligence of the population, that 'together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things', as Obama proclaims. Indeed, we can, as one people, and one nation. You're So Good To Me Hello! :) It's finally Friday! :) I'm pretty glad that we managed to get through this week without too much uneasiness. School is pretty okay and my modules are looking fine too, nothing too staggering at the moment. Let's hope it stays this way.Anyway, Jeffrey & I met after he was done with school. We made our way to Great World City for dinner & to watch Cloverfield! To be frank, I was pretty excited about watching this movie cos it's produced by J.J. Abrams (I love Alias!) and the trailer was pretty cool. If you're interested in watching the trailer, you can access it here:The movie started off pretty well but as it progressed, I got increasingly giddy :( I thought I was experiencing momentary uneasiness but I was proven wrong because thing started getting worse from then on :( Okay for those who don't know, the entire movie is shot from this videographer's pov but the problem is that this videographer is a noob and he has LOUSY videography skills! UGH! I understand that the shakiness and chaos are there for dramatic effect and to replicate the reality of the scene, but I think it was simply too topsy-turvy for me :( The seats started to feel increasingly uncomfortable and I felt the urge to puke. Jeffrey told me to close my eyes (which I did) but it didn't help much cos I could hear the pandemonium that was emitting from the speakers. Yikes. In the end, Jeffrey and I left the cinema halfway through the movie cos I really couldn't take it anymore. I think we must have caused certain people to feel irritated cos we were sitting right in the middle of the cinema and hence we'd to cross quite a number of legs and block certain people's view for a while.. sorry to those people :(After stepping out of the cinema, I didn't feel better cos I experienced hot and cold flushes concurrently. We looked for the toilet but before we could reach it, my tummy started retching! Yikes. Thankfully I saw a dustbin in front of me so I quickly walked to it and puked into it. YUCKS :( I haven't puked in years and it felt really horrible puking just now. BLEAH. The ticket-checkers were nice enough to pass us tissue rolls and asked if I needed warm water. So nice :) I went to the toilet to rinse and make sure I didn't need to puke again. Afterwhich, we went home.Today's lesson: Please do NOT watch Cloverfield unless you are able to withstand jerky images and panic conversations for 90 minutes. I believe that Cloverfield is a good show so you should catch it! :) Hopefully it won't make you react the way I did :)To Jeffrey: I'm sorry you'd to skip the second half of the show :( I feel very bad about it :( Thanks a lot for taking care of me and for making sure that I was okay. I hope you'll get to find out what happened in the end when the DVD comes out or something yea?Alrighty, I shall end off with a video. To be frank, I've never watched this before today though I've heard this song quite a few times and I like it because of its catchy tune. Hope you guys like it too :) It's called Hot by Avril Lavigne. You're so good to me :)(Taken on a less dizzy day) Back to School Hello :)I'm feeling less cheery than usual because school's starting tomorrow. This semester's going to be quite challenging because I've a lot more stuff to read! Yikes. Hopefully I'll take things in my stride and all will turn out well eventually! :) Don't worry, I'll try to post here whenever I'm free or when I've (crappy) stuff to say so this blog won't be dormant!This december break has been one of the best holidays I've had in a long while not because of it's adhoc touristy theme but also because it gave me time to reflect and think about things that were chucked at the back of my head during term time. It is with great reluctance that I step out of the holiday mood and force myself to face a reality that's constantly littered with words, deadlines, presentations etc. Having said that, I'm also quite excited to start this sem because I think there's a lot to be learnt! :) I'll let you know how school is like after a week or two yea? :)Alright, to lighten the mood, here's a photo that never fails to crack Jeffrey and I up when we see it. We took it as the traffic light turned green hence you can see our varied expressions! I think he was thinking "oh no! it's green!" whereas I was thinking "ahh quickly take the photo!" It's hilarious! You've to see it for yourself:After that laughter-inducing photography session at a forgotten traffic junction, we started taking more photos at traffic junctions whenever the camera's around. As you can see, Jeffrey hasn't mastered the art of making stupid facial expressions (yet) and he needs more practice! hahaAlrighty, here's a nice photo of us! :) Goodbye december holidays and welcome school! :) We'll be looking forward to May (that's when my term ends)! :) Wheeee.Have a good week everyone! :) *P.S. Thank you for being such a great companion Zaffrey! :) Drunk by Festive Spirit Hello! :)Jeffrey finally loaded the photos that we took just a few days before 2007 came to a close so I can blog about how we spent the last few days of 2007 as well as how we ushered in 2008. I know this is a rather belated post since we're already a week or so into the new year but it's never a bad thing to spread some joy around right? :) I hope I'll be able to finish this post before sleeping cos I can foresee that it's going to be quite a long one. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading my seemingly endless post :)Christmas DayOn Christmas Day, Jeffrey and I conveniently ignored the almost universally known fact that town will be flooded with people on Christmas Day and headed to town for lunch! :) It was quite a novel experience trying to weave our way through the crowds since I usually stay at home or go to less crowded places on weekends & public holidays. Anyhow, we went to the Modesto's outlet next to Forum for lunch before heading to Lucky Plaza to get Jeffrey's camera lens filter. This time, both of us tried different pizzas and I must say that I enjoyed mine a lot! :) Visit Modesto's for yummy pizza if you feel like eating pizza but don't feel like eating at Pizza Hut yea? :) My Smoked Salmon PizzaJeffrey's Beef PizzaAfter lunch, we decided to take a walk to digest our food. Just check out the crowd at Orchard Road in the midafternoon! Yikes. We can only imagine how congested the roads will be at night :( Thank goodness we left after walking around for a while. Human Traffic at Orchard RoadOrchard Road was closed for a period of time on Christmas Day due to some kinda Christmas carnival cum concert thingy. There were many exhibits on display in the midafternoon, ala stationary Chingay, and people were just happily snapping away cos it's not every day that we see such pretty Christmassy exhibits :) Apart from the stationary exhibits, there were also mobile Romans walking about the place! Jeffrey thinks it's highly ironic that the Romans were allowed to strut the streets on Christmas day since they're the ones who wanted Jesus dead or something like that :( Yikes. I guess it's best not to think too much about the biblical past and just indulge in the Christmas cheer yea? I know subscribing to such ignorance is bad cos we may become unthinking individuals BUT sometimes we just need to let our brains take a break yea? It's Christmas afterall! :) The Cutest & Friendliest Roman on the StreetsExhibits & People Merry Christmas! :)Boxing DayBoxing Day marked the beginning of our one-movie-a-day marathon which ran for three days! haha We watched I am Legend, My Blueberry Nights & Elizabeth! :) I think these three movies are very different but they are worth watching! I think I am Legend was very well made because I felt as if I could experience Will Smith's desperation and solitude vicariously through the producer's effective manipulation of certain cinematic devices. My Blueberry Nights struck a chord because each of the short stories was heartwarming in its own little way and I liked how the different fragments kinda came together in the end. I didn't catch the first instalment of Elizabeth but I liked Elizabeth the Golden Age mostly because Cate Blanchett's acting was superb in the film :) I love watching movies not only because they can entertain me and that I can escape into another world for a while but also because watching movies gives me some kinda reprieve. It's like an alternative to jogging I guess? They're both mind-defragging processes in their own way.After catching the late morning show, Jeffrey and I went to Crystal Jade for lunch! :) We ordered dian xin again! :) HOHOHO! I love dian xin! Here are some of the food we ate: Water Chestnut Cake (It's sweet!) Chee Chong Fun with MeatShrimp & Chives Thingy (It's darn good!) Spicy Chee Chong Fun (I like it!) Jeffrey's Beef Noodles (which he likes a lot!)Day(s) After Boxing DayWe decided to revisit the Esplanade area again since we like that place quite a bit. Certain (fond and otherwise) memories are pegged to Esplanade and I guess those memories make each visit rather nostalgic in a good way. I really love the view of the skyscrapers from the Esplanade/ Singapore River area and I enjoy taking long walks there at night. Before Jeffrey and I took our night stroll, we decided to check out Ichiban Boshi at Esplanade! I've tried other Ichiban Boshi outlets but I've never been to the one at Esplanade. It was Jeffrey's first time eating at Ichiban Boshi and I guess he was quite okay with the food there :) Here are some pictures of our yummylicious food:Softshell Crab Handroll Lobster Salad Thingy Forgot what this is called but it's nice :) haha California Handroll Salmon Asparagus Sushi (I love salmon & asparagus!) Agadashi Tofu I forgot what this is too. Oops. Do I need to tell you what this is? (Jeffrey's KATSU DON!)I felt like a pregnant whale after dinner cos I'd a heavy lunch before dinner! At this rate I'm gonna stay a fattybombom :( Anyhow, we went walking after dinner! :) It was really breezy and the weather was nice for a stroll! We chose to sit at the bridge overlooking the floating platform thingy and we took quite a few pictures there! :) Jeffrey & I on the BridgeOh something interesting happened as the sky got darker: the spotlights came on! Fine it's not so much that the spotlights came on but rather what we could do with the beams of light! haha I noticed the straight beams of light (I've this thing for "light travels in straight lines") shining from a particular direction & told Jeffrey to stand at that particular spot. He was clueless as to what I was trying to do but he kindly stood where I told him to so that I could take this: Jeffrey's Enlightened! (hurhur not funny) It was really windy! (There're many small balls on the Singapore River)I believe we were happy :) The next day, we decided to go to Kranji War Memorial! Out of all the cemetries and burial places, I think this has to be my favourite because it's well-kept and it exudes a atmosphere of serenity and peace. My dad used to bring us there for walks and I developed a liking for that place since then :) Jeffrey took many beautiful pictures there so I shall let them do the talking: EntranceTheir Name Liveth For Evermore Tombstones Extremely Neat RowsInscribed Names Wreath on the Floor In Remembrance They Died For All Free Men (I thought this was quite fitting cos Jeffrey's a liberalist) Mega Huge Cross Running towards the nicest tomb Dr. Benjamin Sheares Yusof IshakJeffrey and I at Kranji War MemorialNew Year's EveJeffrey and I made our way to Changi Airport on New Year's Eve cos I'd to send Joanne (my very good friend) off to Shanghai, where she'll be spending the next 6 months doing her internship. I must thank Jeffrey for keeping me company throughout the entire 1+ hours at the Budget Terminal otherwise I would be very lonely. Thanks Jeffrey for not running to the non-existent bookshop and talking to me instead! :) I was feeling pretty upset that Jo was leaving cos it means that I've to be more independent again this sem! :( Oh well, I'll seek consolation in the fact that she'll be back by the end of June so it won't be that bad :) Here are some photos we took at the Budget Terminal:Budget Terminal Logo (Yeah there was a BIG difference: everything looks as it sounds - budget) Jeffrey REALLY likes to believe that he's a tourist Joanne & I I miss you babe!Jeffrey & I Outside the Budget TerminalAfter sending Jo off, we went decided to grab some dinner at Terminal 2. I guess we were pretty lucky that we beat the dinner crowd cos we managed to get a seat at Pasta Fresca with ease and we got our food quite quickly too! :) I always feel silly eating at any other Pasta Fresca outlet besides the one near our place cos it's like we're travelling so far to eat something that's so near our houses! haha However, the food was great so we've no complaints :) Here's what we had:Jeffrey's Ham & Mushroom Pizza (which he claims tastes like NYDC's mushroom madness) My Marinara PastaYummy Tiramisu for dessert :) (I LOVE desserts!)Okay I think you should notice a pattern: Jeffrey & I tend to take a walk after meals. So guess what? We went to Terminal 3 after dinner to walk about! haha :) We took a skytrain to Terminal 3 and it was the longest skytrain ride I've ever taken. I guess T3 is further from T2 as compared to T1 eh? Anyhow, Jeffrey managed to take a self-shot using the skytrain's reflective screen, it's quite cool:Terminal 3 didn't disappoint me at all since its design was extremely modern and aesthetically pleasing to the eye :) I also loved the fact that it's very clean and the entire place seems spacious and people-friendly! Here're a few shots of T3:Escalators/ Elevators and some people I love playing the black/white tile 'game' Jeffrey on his malleable seats (: Jeffrey the Counter Guy Jan the Counter 11 GirlJeffrey and I left the airport around 9ish or 10ish and decided to go to head to his place for countdown! haha As I was feeling rather blue, we didn't watch any countdown shows so we wii-ed our way into the new year! :) Oh I also tried tiger beer for the first time in my life! haha It tasted okay I guess? Don't really like bitter things so I guess I'll never be able to get drunk. Haha After wii-ing, we did something that I usually will not agree to doing: we went camping! hahaha I must admit that it's one of the cleanest camping trips I've been to so I've no complaints :) Thanks Jeffrey for putting up with my blabberings till the wee hours of the morning cos I couldn't fall asleep. HahaAlright we've finally reached the end of my lengthy post! :) I hope you guys had a good start to the new year yea? :) Jeffrey and I are going cycling again in about 7hours time. Please hope that he'll not meet any unfortunate accidents -touchwood-. Goodnight everyone! Happy 2008 from us! :) First Day of School Hello (:Today marks the start of a brand new academic year for most students and teachers. My siblings managed to survive the first day of school despite sleeping very little (their bioclocks were messed up cos of the hols) and they seem rather fine with their new teachers/ classmates. Jeffrey had a busy day at school today and he only had 5minutes for lunch! :( Poor thing! I hope that things will start to normalise after the first few frenzy days :)School officially begins on the 14th for me so I've the next few days off :) Module bidding begins tomorrow though so I guess I've to look through the list of modules again to see what I can take this sem. I'm rather thankful for this 'extended' holiday (actually it's justified that my semester begins later because my dec hols began later as well) because it actually bought me some time to get used to a non-december-holiday-ish lifestyle. It was rather strange waking up today knowing that we have to put aside certain plans once again and shift our focus to work. Then again this shift in focus may be good because it'll help us cherish our holidays more right? (Though I really doubt I'll mind having holidays all the time if money were to fall from the sky.)After giving it some thought, I've decided to clarify a teensy lil confusion that some people have but before I do so, please watch the following video. It'll help you appreciate my not-so-humourous point at the end of this post a little more :)Have you watched it already?Then can you guess why I posted that video?No?Though it seems like I'm "kimmy" cos of the username thingum or what not, I'm not actually called Kimmy. As a matter of fact, I'm not Tee either. Kimmy and Tee are two very special people otherwise known as my parents :) I apologise for confusing you guys by not introducing myself from the start.As most of you already know, I'm Jeffrey's (crappy) friend and I post entries on his blog once in a while to keep it alive. I don't want to get a personal blog cos I doubt I'll have the diligence to keep it alive.. it's easier to help others keep their blogs alive cos they do the bulk of the blogging you see. Oh and if you're wondering what my real name is, it isn't Kimmy.My name is Jan.