Bed Bugs

I'm almost afraid to buy that super duper vacuum cleaner that would suck up all the bed bugs that I'm sure live in our mattress... and among the other furniture...

Maybe it's not a bad thing that we live together? Maybe it's a good thing that they are there? Maybe our bodies need to be bitten once in a while in order to increase resistance?

On a separate note, there was an article in the newspaper today about a person whose bed bugs problem is very evident in and around his house. Scary pictures surfaced and it reminded me of the scare which New York hotels faced not too long ago. Surely bed bugs were put on Earth for a reason, right? We don't have to get rid of them, right?

Hot, hot, hot!

I can't believe how hot this weekend has been! What's happening with the weather these days? There's no wind coming through the windows although my place is not blocked by buildings, there's just no wind blowing... sweltering while watching the telly is no fun, even if it's watching someone good looking enough to perv on. Looks like it's time for another cold shower!

Food Blog : Penang Place

I.AM.SO.FULL.

Why did I eat so much?
Was the food really all that yummy?
YES!!!

It's been many, many years since the hubs brought me to this place. It's remotely located in the International Business Park in Jurong East. I can't believe it's still around! What more, the food is still yummy. Kuay Teow, Nasi Lemak, Prawn Noodles, Rojak, Ice Kacang, Chendol, not to forget the many, many side dishes of pork, chicken and beef! I tried a little of everything, as you would when you're at a buffet. Still, I didn't get to eat the Nyonya desserts, fruits and was about to throw up at the thought of going for a third bowl of Chendol!

They'll be moving over to the Fusionopolis site in a few month's time... hopefully the food will still be delicious!

Clusterfluff

A few days ago Ben & Jerry's came up with a new flavour of ice-cream.
It's peanut butter ice-cream with swirls of peanut butter, crunchy caramel pieces and marshmallow.
Do you think it'll be yummy?
I think it'll be extremely sweet!
Never mind about the taste, couldn't they think of another name?
Clusterfluff???

Location tags

I've been using the FourSquare application quite a bit, always keeping in mind not to check-in at home or anywhere near home. As such, I've only used it to check into restaurants or while visiting a friend. Recently, Facebook's Places was finally made available to users here and everyone has been checking in in earnest.

So, what's with this concept of checking in to the places you are at? It'll be fun for a little while, letting all your friends know that you're "going places", and then what? Even you'll get tired of being a narcissist unless these kind of things don't affect you. Anyways, to get around all that, I've decided to make it a little of a recommendation to places I've eaten at. The best thing about Singapore is the abundance of restaurants, and if we were to try each and everyone of them, it'll take us a long, long while to complete... if ever.

Bubble Tea

Ever since working in the Raffles Place area again, I've been frequenting this particular bubble tea shop called Eskimo located at the Market Street Carpark. I've tried all the other brands... mostly, except the one called Gong Cha which seems to have gazillions of people queued up to place their orders.

Anyways, I like this one. I'm usually having the Grass Jelly Milk tea with super bubbles *yum*. I think they make their own Grass Jelly as it's a little sweet to the taste and they definitely have their bubbles texture right, chewy and cooked through. The tea in the milk is not too overpowering and all in all it makes a pretty yummy after lunch drink. The only thing about this franchise is that not every branch has the same taste. I've tried one other one located in the City Hall Xchange and it was awful.

Food Blog : Chendol

When you have nothing else to write about, write about food. Writing about food is always good *grin*

While in search for a good bowl of Chendol here in Singapore, I stumbled upon Grandma's. It's a new restaurant opened in the newly renovated basement of Raffles City. They serve Ipoh, Penang and generally Malaysian cuisine, all with an expensive price tag. I wouldn't mind paying a little extra, if the food is yummy. One day, we're going to have to try their main dishes.

For now, we had tea and ordered the fried chicken wings (which were surprisingly delicious and well cooked and marinated) and Chendol. Another recommendation from me!

Chendol

I LOVE the pot of thick Gula Melaka which they served on the side for you to decide how sweet you want the dish to be. The green bits were ok, a little too green and hard, and the red beans were the kind that I like, not the big beans. The only thing is, what's with the atap seeds? I don't remember it being served in Malaysia, right?

Food Blog : Brotzeit

Another food blog already?!

It was my fault this time. I wanted to have some sausages... think I'll have to go back to Frankfurt to have real sausages at some point in time! Their street sausages were extremely yummy! Or even Adelaide! Miss the street sausages...

I'm still not into sauerkraut, so I can't say if this is authentic or not, but this particular place does really, really yummy french fries. It's the chicken salt, I tell you.

Pork rib platter and a side dish of pork sausages

Food Blog : Hippopotamus

A few nights ago the hubs and I decided to try out this new restaurant, Hippopotamus, located at Marina Square. Think it took over another restaurant, which we haven't tried, called Changing Appetites. Interesting deco, especially with the huge neon Hippo outline.

As weird as the name, Hippopotamus is, the dishes were really yummy. It's a steak joint and they make their own thick potato chips as an entree. We were too hungry to take pictures of what we ordered, plus the lighting at the place wasn't good for the phone camera. But it's a place I would recommend going back to. If you're going with friends, try their 1kg rack of meat!!!

Perving Sessions

Days filled with watching drama... is that a waste? I guess not when there are things to learn *grin*

These days, I've been trying to watch Jumong as quickly as I can but every minute is full of drama that there's no way to fast forward and watch it like an old Charlie Chaplin show.

Besides, I think I've found a new actor to perv on, Song Il Gook! He acts like an amazing archer really, really well and I'm loving the up close shots of him pulling and releasing arrows. What a way to spend the weekend!

On a separate note, what did all those ladies of leisure do during the olden times when their husbands were out fighting wars and there weren't any drama to watch nor internet to play with?

Sauna Train

Oh wow!!! I think the weather's going to go a bit wonky from now on.

This morning, I was on a sauna train to work. What in the world is a sauna train, you ask? Well, it's one that's jam packed with hundreds of people, with no air-conditioning!!! The minimum reprieve would be when the doors open every 2 minutes or so to let people off and more on... hoping that some hot air from within the train would escape and fresh air would replace it.

I didn't even realise that I was sweating profusely until I decided to get a piece of tissue from my bag. There were so many beads of sweat on my forearms. And this is just from standing for about 15 minutes. Erkkk... Couldn't stand the heat anymore and decided to get off. Double erkkk... After feeling the breezy cool air for a couple of minutes, more beads of sweat from my back started to drip down. Triple erkkk... are you still reading this? *grin*

Suffice to say, I'll always test out the airflow within a train before I get on it. With the amount of people travelling to work in the mornings, it's not easy to get off a train within a few stops once you're on one and have moved to the center of the train.

Ultra-scan

Remember I was talking about this new doctor I visited about a month back for diarrhea? Well, after a brief stomach examination, he decided that there was something that needed further scanning and advised me to take an ultrasound scan. As this is all covered by my company's benefits, I thought, why not, no harm done and it would be about time for me to see if anything's wrong. Besides, there's so much fat in my abdomen area that it should be nothing, right?

So... one month later, I went for the scan... interesting as the experience was, slightly uncomfortable and that gel is not cold but warm, the results came back today and it's all good. Easy money for that doctor!

Myanmar's 6.8

Five days ago, a shallow earthquake hit Myanmar
No tsunamis as it was a shallow one and inland
Thailand, Laos and China felt this too
I can't remember the details, but everyone is still focused on Japan

Jumong

I've started to watch this period epic Korean drama.
My third in so many weeks!
The first few episodes were really draggy, but it's starting to get interesting now.
How am I going to sit through 81 episodes?!

F1 : Australia

The first of the season...

An interesting race to watch (what more in HD!) now that we've actually applied for access to the sports channel. Lots of disappointments and strange timings. Like with every year now, new rules are added. I don't know if it's because of them and this being the first race but I've never seen a race where there were so many cars who were at least one lap behind the winner!

It started with Vettel leading the pack and no one ever got the better of him! In the end, 22 seconds separated him and Hamilton... it was a no brainer kind of race *grin*

Gifts for the dearly departed

The Chinese have an interesting ritual around this time of the year... it's called Ching Ming. Relatives will visit the tombs of the dearly departed, clean around the tomb, talk to them, burn some joss sticks, paper and offer some food, fruits and wine. As I haven't been exposed to this custom since young, it has been a fascinating visit for me each time. There's a certain ritual to follow and I've only learnt about it after following the hubs on his yearly rounds to visit his grandparents and mom.

The most interesting part of this, for me, is the offerings that are burnt. It started with hell money and gold and silver ingots. The Chinese believe that everyone goes to hell when they die. I remember my maternal grandmother doing this... folding many, many gold ingots out of paper. As the years go by people start to wonder if they could burn clothes, shoes, bungalows, mansions, cars with drivers, mobile phones, desktop computers, laptops and branded handbags made out of paper. Every year, I walk by the makeshift stall that's beside the columbarium and scan their wares. It's interesting to see what's new every year. A couple of years ago when the iPhone came out, it was there... this year they are even selling iPads. The thing is, I don't know that the person who's receiving these modern gadgets know how to use them?

Home alone

The hubs is having a wine party tonight which means I have the house to myself!

Managed to finish watching The Great Queen Seondeok, and I have to say that I'm a little disappointed with the whole show. It's 80 episodes long and it was a little draggy in the start, more draggy in the middle and at the end there were too many pause-for-facial-expression kind of scenes. Kind of reminded me of the original Star Trek series.

Anyways, the one thing that the show did give me was heaps of splurting blood! Fierce battle scenes and superb swordsmanship!

Ye old guard

Had a quick catch up with some ex-workmates over lunch today
I'm glad we still keep in touch
There's nothing like finding out what's still happening in your old workplace
Everything's changed
Nothing stays the same
Everyone knows that
But it's still great to reminisce

Divorcing the President

There was an interesting bit of news I read today... the First Lady of Guatemala needs to divorce her husband, the current President, in order to run for Presidency! Rules of that land states that family members and any relatives of the President is unable to run for Presidency. The current President is not able to run for re-election.

So if she becomes President, will she get married to the ex-President again?

Weekend Air Traffic

I was updating my list of flight schedules at work today... seeing that I've always had a GDS system in my previous jobs, having to arrange the travel for the team proved a little disorientating as I didn't have flight details on my fingertips, so a list was born.

Anyways, I noticed that flights on the weekends take a little longer than on weekdays. Do you think it's due to the kind of plane they use? I don't think so, weekend traffic in the skies must be like weekend traffic on the roads... full of vehicles with weekend drivers behind the wheel!

Senator Palpatine

Well, it looks like he can play the piano too! I'm talking about Wilhelm Kempff who looks like Senator Palpatine in the newer Star Wars movies (according to my younger brother, and I agree!). Anyways, Wilhelm died in 1991 and was considered one of the greatest pianist of our time.

He has a YouTube video playing the 3rd movement of the Moonlight Sonata. I've only managed to play the first movement (the slow one which everyone can too!) I love his facial expressions and that he's not a perfectionist.

Useless doors

This morning, the hubs and I decided to have breakkie at our usual place, the Ghim Moh Market and Food Center. They offer quite a few of the yummiest dishes like Chee Cheong Fun, Pontian Wonton Noodles, Duck Rice, Fried Kuay Teow, Chwee Kuey, Big Bao and fried carrot cake to name a few.

Anyways, we usually end up parking at this housing board car park and today we noticed something hilarious which someone has pasted on the door leading out of the car park to towards the Market in both English and Chinese.

"This unnecessary door is similar to drop pants to fart"

Weekend Dinners

The hubs and I have been pretty lazy these past few weeks. We've been ordering KFC for our dinners during the weekend. While clearing the dining table today, I found one too many KFC delivery receipts! I think it started when the hubs was not around and I couldn't decide what to have for dinner, tired of cooking and too lazy to go out. The first batch which came was so delicious that I had to keep having it!

Anyways, after all the meals that got delivered, I discovered that only one shop delivers to my home (because there was one night where they had to stop taking orders and no other shop could be assigned to fulfill my order) and so far they've been really good with my parts demands [thighs and drums :)] and the fact that their chicken is cooked through, no red bits. I haven't found out which branch this is... so that I can eat it fresh. Maybe part of its pull is that I can only have yummy chicken parts when I order in.

World Sleep Day

Today... is world sleep day. Does that mean that everyone went to sleep the whole of today? I can't even begin to imagine the whole world asleep at the same time. That doesn't happen, does it? Yeah, if it does, the world is probably dead. Maybe that's why the world is round and the sun only shines on half of it at a time, making sleep times different for everyone.

I didn't even know it was world sleep day until I read the newspapers! By then, it was too late to go back to sleep as I was in the middle of a work day :P

Anyways, sleep well, sweet dreams, all!

Houjicha

After my trips to Japan and having tasted the various teas that were offered especially in little coffee shops before meals, I tried finding the perfect cheapo tea here in Singapore. My larder is full of variations of Japanese teas (not to mention Chinese and Korean too).

I didn't think I would find the perfect (albeit expensive) houjicha tea from TWG. One kiwi scoop full brewed for 8 minutes in a little pot that will serve 4 teacups.

I've always walked into the shop and sniffed the tea canisters which are on display and prettily packaged. But today, I was introduced to the tea connoisseur and he allowed me to take a sniff of the various teas from the big pots behind the counter. I'd like to say from sniffing their secret stash one is able to tell a good quality tea from another, but I really don't have the nose for it. Besides, I was also told that what I smell might end up different after brewing. But I am amused with the floor to ceiling spinning cylindrical shelf that's used to display the canisters of teas!

Did you know that they carry over 800 teas?!?! But I think there are only over 300 in the shop. Still... 300 different kinds of teas are bit many, no? How would you be able to taste it all? How would a connoisseur know which one is which? They don't call them connoisseurs for nothing, eh?

Pigs fly?

Can you believe that 17% of the Brits think that pigs have wings? It's true, I'm not kidding you! It came out in the newspapers!! Pig wings are a readily available portion of meat at the butchery.

I wonder what they'll come up with next! *giggles*

One child policy

I think of the best things for this blog when I'm at work... is it because I'm reading the newspapers then?

Today's article was about compensation. China has a one child policy because there are too many people residing in the country. Each family is only allowed to have one child.

When Christchurch was hit with an earthquake which killed at least 60 over people, some of the dead were part of China's one child policy. Their parents are now demanding for compensation...

How do you compensate for a lost child?
Where would you start to seek compensation when the earthquake was an act of nature?
Do people have access to the compensation department of nature?

How much would you ask for? That's the thing I'm confused about. Claims are for future income because these kids under the one child policy are their parent's only hope in taking care of them when they are old. What about when these kids get married and start their own family? Don't they now have new responsibilities up until their own kid is old enough to take care of them? Vicious cycle... I wonder if they'll win the suit...

Moving Earth

The Earth has shifted on its axis!!!
Can you believe that an earthquake would be able to do that?!
I guess if you seriously think about it, it would, wouldn't it?

With the earthquake, the land mass has shifted and now Japan is a little closer to the US.
This has started me thinking of the fact that land masses don't move all the time.
Aren't all islands floating islands?
The giant oceans don't have the power to move countries.
I don't believe the islands are stuck to the center of the Earth, right?
If you dive into the sea, at some point in time, you'll be able to hit the end of the island, right?
So why is it that land masses move only when earthquakes happen?

Not only that, this particular earthquake has shortened time.
How interesting is that?!
I wonder if the same thing happened during the Boxing Day earthquake in 2004.
Nothing was mentioned about Sumatra moving from its position or shortening time...

Staying away

Day two of watching episode after episode.
I should really get an exercise bike or a treadmill.
It's better than being a couch potato for 10 hours, isn't it?

The Great Queen Seondeok

Weekends are great for watching drama serials. I've bought a couple of Korean period ones and haven't gotten around to watching them. After watching Dong Yi, I think the period dramas have more substance. This weekend, I'll start with The Great Queen Seondeok. It's 80 episodes long but each episode is only about 45 minutes. Shorter than their normal one hour per episode.

The first few episodes look promising with me liking the evilest person, Mi-shil, a female. Her facial expressions are just classic, bordering on going insane. She's very sweet looking and I read that she's a very experienced actress and it really shows. Everyone else are just amateurs.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking that I should watch the first ten, the middle ten and the last ten episodes. 80 to 30! I'm sure all the actors, actresses, producers, director, cameramen, stunt people and everyone else who was involved in the making of this epic will curse me if I do *grin*

Japan's 8.9

Number 3 or 4?! Just a day after China?!

Where were you when the earthquake hit some 200kms off the coast of Japan's main island of Honshu? I was at work, watching everyone with eyes peeled to the breaking news on the telly unable to stop my goosebumps.

Seeing that Japan is located along the ring of fire and that earthquakes happen more often than not, this particular quake was taken likely at first. But images kept coming and it was soon declared a national disaster. What more the threat of a tsunami was fast approaching! A magnitude of 8.9 was confirmed, just 0.2 points shy of the 2004 quake which hit off the coast of Sumatra causing a massive tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people from around the world.

Today's earthquake brought on a 10 meters high tsunami crashing into the town of Sendai, closest to the epicenter of the quake. Mud, debris, overturned cars, boats, ships, damaged houses, buildings and people. More pictures will be available in the days to come and this won't be the end of it. Where next? :(

China's 5.8

Is this number 2 or 3? Will it ever stop?
Truth be known, I didn't know that China was in the ring of fire until the Sichuan one happened in 2008

Brotzeit

Running out of things to eat, the hubs and I ended up at this German bar in Vivo City. We've eaten here once before... actually twice before. The first time was after our Germany vacation and we were looking for some yummy sausages and more importantly for me, wien schnitzel. The place didn't disappoint then... but tonight it did. Sausages were still yummy the second time we ate here... I guess by and by they've decided to focus more on their beer than food.

On a separate note, I need to go to Wien to try their schnitzel... I wonder if it's the same as in Germany *grin*

Dong Yi - Part 2

I don't believe this, but I'm still in the middle of watching this drama serial!
The reason why I finish a drama really quickly is because I sometimes fast forward certain parts of the drama.
I haven't been able to do that here because every part is important!
It's going to take me longer than usual to finish this drama which is a good thing, as I won't have to look for another one to watch after this *grin*

Computer Fairs

There's going to be an IT fair this weekend... actually starting on Thursday. Every time the hubs tries to venture into the hall, he turns right around and walks out... we don't really need that new printer, computer, hard drive, camera or shopping trolley!

Throngs of people venture into the exhibition halls all the four days and almost everyone walks out with something. After all, they've been shoved around, shoved around many, many people and queued for hours... they can't leave empty handed.

Joyous is the sound of the ringing tills for the exhibitors *chuckle* but since we don't have tills anymore, the laser or dot matrix printing sound of the credit card machines will have to do!

Radio tunes

It's the 90s weekend on the radio this weekend and it's bringing back heaps of memories.
The kind of music my friends and I used to dance to while frequenting night clubs during our uni years.
Good times, good times!

Grow faster hair!

I've been keeping this a-bit-shorter-than-shoulder length hair for slightly more than a year now and I'm already tired of it. There are only so many styles you can do with short hair, can't even tie it properly, so I've decided to grow it again. Long, long, long...

Going to have to wait awhile as I think my hair takes a long while to grow. It's now at the irritable length of just at my shoulder, which means that on some days, it'll not curl the way that I want it to.

Chile's 6.8

About a month ago, an earthquake struck off the coast of Chile. Is this the start of some series of earthquakes around the world? You don't expect the Earth's plates to move and not cause a chain reaction, right? Let's just hope that if anything were to happen, it will be on a smaller scale and not the other way. I don't want to have to think about the fact that the Earth is breaking up...

English

Is the English language really all that difficult to master? As the years go by, I am finding it so, especially when you're multilingual. I've noticed that people tend to spell the way words are pronounced. But the English language is not about that, which makes me a little envious of them little spelling bees who find it so easy to spell words they might not know the meaning of, while under pressure.

Take the word 'than' for instance. I've seen it being spelt 'then' when people really mean 'than' or the word 'this' when they mean 'these' or 'of' when they mean 'off' or 'to' when they mean 'too'.

As everyone relies on the spell check and don't pay attention to the word itself, these kind of slips happen. I used to have a good giggle at lost-in-translation websites, but I've come to realise that I get a giggle out of these kind of mis-spells too.

Gibberish

Sometimes I wonder what nonsense I'm penning. Some entries are great to read, especially when they have significant meaning or a world event. But some... I'm so close to rewriting them! But I guess I won't, it'll just remind me that sometimes, my mind is not in sync with my fingers and out comes the gibberish :)

Old medicine vs new medicine

Well, as predicted the diarrhea has started. Tried to subdue it with some dhamotil and smecta but it didn't seem to work this time around. So I went to see a new doctor today and he's decided that I needed to have some modern medicine to cleanse my system. I don't think it's working because it hasn't helped. Thought it would be pretty instant as it was the only medicine he gave... my usual doctor provides me with 3 different kinds!

I have a feeling that my body's allergic to it even! Guess I'm not taking it anymore...

Diarrhea and solid food

When you have diarrhea, everyone tells you to stock up on liquids, eat soupy dishes or congee. Yes, after having to run to the toilet every 3-4 hours or so, you get pretty dehydrated, so plenty of liquids it is.

Water, water is liquid, right? If you're stocking up on water, shouldn't you be eating solid stuff? I hate extreme diarrhea, the fact that nothing gets processed properly in my body and comes out as liquid. Well, it looks like this week's going to be a week of delicate eating.

Chendol

Why is it so difficult to find yummy Chendol here? Do I really have to make it myself?!

Chendol is a Malaysian dessert made primarily of ice. Toppings include green coloured rice flour which look like short rats tails, red beans, a good dollop of coconut milk and the most important ingredient of all, melted palm sugar. I could eat any dessert with palm sugar... it has just the oddest yummy taste!

Anyways, I had that last night for dessert and I'm so looking forward to the diarrhea which I can predict would come, if not today, tomorrow... such is the weakness of my tummy and my greediness for yummy roadside desserts in Malaysia.

Sudoku

I know I've written a short post on this about a week back, but I can't get over how great this game is. I play it on the train while on my way to work, while waiting in queue for my lunch... it's such a waiting-time filler!

Ever since the hubs got his android phone, he has introduced me to this game called Daily Sudoku which is also available on the iPhone. Amazing, amazing and highly entertaining game which allows me to wile the hours away. Do I sound nerdy?

Anyways, with some practice, I should be able to narrow the nightmare level to less than 10 minutes? At the moment, spending more than a half hour on one game is just not on! :D

Meanwhile, I don't think I'll be able to play the game with a pen on paper anymore. I need the colours, highlights, the ease of placing pencil marks quickly and having the program take care of everything for me.

JPEG

It's used all the time for compressed picture files. But have you ever wondered what jpeg actually means? No? Not interested? Well, I chanced upon it, ergo I'm having it etched here :P

In the computer world, all files have a three letter extension, a dot something. Everyone knows that .doc is for word documents, .xls is for excel files and .exe files are sometimes very, very dangerous. Yes, you need them to run some scripts, but like all scripts, it's very easy to hide a devious script that will create havoc on your computer.

.jpg or short for a JPEG file means Joint Photographic Experts Group
Hmm... now that I know what jpeg means, it doesn't really make sense, or does it? Saving a picture file as a jpeg file will compress the file at the same time. If you're talking about compressed files, bitmaps and gif files can't even compare to how amazing a jpeg file is.

Dong Yi

I've started watching this Korean drama and it's really gripping! Set in the olden day era where Kings still have concubines, and it's riddled with heaps of funny scenes and plots, some elaborate, some not so elaborate.

Dong Yi, an extremely clever and observant girl, blessed throughout her life. Even after having lost her father and brother at a young age, to a trap set by the baddies, she manages to overcome everything that's thrown at her with a smile plastered on her face and become the love of the King's life. That's just the gist of it! The drama is 60 episodes long and each episode is an hour long. These are the kind of dramas you want to watch when you can't sleep on a plane that's flying halfway around the world *grin*

Mighty Mouse

"Here I come to save the dayyyyy..."

I can't believe they don't show those kind of cartoons anymore. They were the best! Although it showed slightly violent themes if you think about it, but it wasn't all that violent because they were cartoons! Even Ultraman and Thundercats weren't all that violent. These days, they don't call them cartoons anymore but animation. It's a whole different world which we live in now... kids watching them animation tend to follow, especially the action figures.

Anyways, this entry is not about cartoons... it's about the current mouse which the Macintosh computers use. Have you tried it out yet? It's an amazing piece of equipment. It has track pad features on the top which allow users to scroll, zoom, pinch... all this and it's still a mouse! Aren't the people at Apple just the best?!

New Zealand's 6.3

Christchurch was hit by an earthquake today, magnitude of 6.3
Looks like it's the start of a chain of events...
Didn't something similar happen around this time last year?
What is the world coming to?
Why now?
Does extinction need to happen in order for things to be set right again?

Printers

Slow day at work today...

I read somewhere that it takes 22 seconds to print one page, that seems a bit long, doesn't it? If we're not talking about laser printers, it's apparently pretty quick, for a bubble jet. But 22 seconds is still a bit long, no?

Do we take the printer for granted? I know I have. Been living with laser printers at work, and my prints come out in a jiffy.

Have you ever stood by a printer and waited for your prints to come out? How long does it take? If there's nothing that needs doing, you might have the time to stand by the printer and wait for your prints to come out. But most people don't have the time to do so, which brings me to my question, 22 seconds for one page? Not acceptable!

Wiling the hours away

There's a game
In the iPhone
That has me hooked
It's called Sudoku Daily

There are only 16 levels a day
Not that I know all the rules
I'm still learning
But still...
What now?

Home

This weekend is the first weekend since the Lunar New Year that I've had to myself.
Waking up late, not eating on time and generally just lazing around.
The laundry is finally up to date and I guess I should really get to the ironing.
But it's my first weekend to myself!
The ironing can always wait, it's only two baskets full *grin*
On another note... do we really have two baskets full of clothes?!
That's a tiny bit of one too many pieces of clothing for two people, isn't it?

Whole Milk

Reading today's newspaper (The Straits Times) brought the following picture. It's part of a double page advertisement for No Frills, a house brand stocked in Cold Storage, a supermarket here in Singapore.

Whole Milk

I just don't know what to say about the kind of milk this is. I mean, it's the first time I've seen something like this. Sure it's cow's milk... right? What I'm curious about is, will you buy it? Or will you just not notice the wordings? Or will the wordings just not bother you?

I'm just trying to think... the milk which I used to drink (which was incidentally super yummy) was a Home Brand from Woolies. Did it say whole milk too?

Photo Blog : Chap Goh Mei

One of the things to note on this final day of the Lunar New Year is the full moon.

Here's a pic taken by the hubs on the 105mm. My hands are just not steady enough *grin*

Chap Goh Mei Moon

Internet Friends

Tonight's meet up with some friends I met over the internet back in '96 was amazing. Not only did the years not age them, everyone's character is still the same! It was a really, really great catch up, especially over some sausages and beer at a German waterhole. We should do this more often... like once every 5 years, yeah?

Am Idol 10

The american idol is back on again! Preliminary eliminations... but it looks like for this round, there are quite a few great singers! How do you eliminate the good?

Photo Blog : Raw Fish Dish

The infamous Raw Fish Salad dish... every Lunar New Year, it's a must have dish... at least once! Of course, people tend to have it as many times as there are days, and then some! It's all in the good name of prosperity.

So this is what the hubs and I ended up having on Valentine's Day *grin*

Raw fish salad from Putien

Laundry, Oh Laundry

I don't know what happened but I'm wayyyyy behind on my laundry again!

Not to mention the ironing... yes, don't even mention the ironing, the basket containing clothes that need to be ironed is overflowing!

*sigh* I guess I should get to it now and not be writing this, huh?

Criminal Minds

The hubs and I were watching Criminal Minds this afternoon and it was awesomely gruesome. This series delves into the mind of a criminal. The team profiles criminals with the evidence that they have and somehow in the last 5-10 minutes of the show manages to catch the serial killer.

Today's episode was especially gruesome. It was about a pair of brothers, one brilliant and paralyzed from the neck down and his brother, a person who's mentally challenged, living on a pig farm. The brother has the amazing ability to kidnap people, usually homeless junkies, paralyze them by breaking something at the back of their neck with a hammer, collecting some spinal fluid and while they're still aware, cut into them with a knife and saw off their limbs and body parts to feed to their pigs. Gruuuuuesommmmme!

Pigs eat everything, bones and all, so when the police finally came, they only found shoes, all 87 pairs. Nothing was left by the pigs. I'm guessing that they had a really good life while they were being fed fresh meat *shudder*

Smelling Unique

I've picked up another new scent and hopefully I won't have to change it for a while. I remember getting my first bottle of Bvlgari and using it for close to fifteen years. Not the one bottle... I think one lasts me a year and a half. I'm not a massive sprayer of perfume. The scent was just comfortable to the nose, not too overpowering, my skin didn't turn it into another smell and lasted the whole day. I think I still have a couple of half bottles sitting in my cupboard somewhere.

Then in July 09, I found something from Hermes which was also easy on the nose, not too overpowering, although it didn't last as long as the Bvlgari.

While wondering around a mall today, I found one by Annick Goutal. It's a new name for us here in Asia, we usually stock the bigger more famous brands and not the cottage industry ones. But I'm glad I came across this one. It's going to be my new scent for the next 15 years!

Paternity Leave

There should be a law in this country that grants more than 2 days of paternity leave... or was it 5 days? I'm not too sure, but I'm sure it's a whole lot less than maternity leave. The current maternity leave is 16 weeks. Sounds like a lot but I'm still envious of the Western countries where working mothers are allowed to take a whole year off without having to worry that they will lose their jobs.

And here we are trying to increase paternity leave...

Dream High

I'm currently following the above k-drama. It's about a group of high school kids, each with their own amazing musical talent. They get to study in a prestigious music school which helps gifted kids debut sooner. Such is the aim of most kids in Korea?

The show kind of reminds me of Glee... the singing, dancing, not so much of fighting between the kids... except that it won't stretch as long as Glee will... the kids can't stay in high school forever and this will end at episode 16. After which, I'll want more. The show casts real singers and dancers making most of the singing and dancing executed amazingly well. But they have tight schedules to follow... so there will be no extending of the drama. Maybe they'll do a season 2, eh?

Gold

I read an interesting article about gold today. There is, apparently, a lot of it sitting idly in a warehouse. I thought gold was kept in safe deposit boxes. Aren't they?

With the world economy spinning out of control with the help of some natural disasters and some brought on by humans, gold is slowly coming back as a medium to have. How come I'm the only person without a warehouse, hmm?

Photo Blog : 35mm

Piano's make great subjects
Playing with the 35mm
I can't believe how with the digital era, we're going back to the basics. Film cameras without zoom used to have 35mms lenses only

My Piano

Damnyouautocorrect!

Whenever you need to laugh, really laugh out loud... this is the one website you've gotta go to. It's amazing what the auto correct within the iPhone can do! What more, this is only in English, for those of us who speak other languages, it's a whole new world of, "Damn you auto correct!"

Home Sweet Home

There's really nothing like home. We're back in Singapore after a few days of celebration and I'm thinking that the watching-what-I-eat thing should start today. Yeah, after a few days of good food, I'm ready to settle for mediocre food!

Grand-pere

We're usually at grandfather's house (on my hubby's side) on the second day of the Lunar new year for some catch up time with cousins, aunties, uncles and their kids. It's the only day I distribute ang pows in Malaysia... I think.

I never knew my grandfathers, one passed away 4 years before I was born and another a whole lot longer than that. But this particular grandfather is old... yeah, I hear you saying aren't all grandfather's old? But he's really, really old. I think he's turning 90 this year. And I've known him for more than 10 years.

I don't think he remembers who I am, we only meet once a year on the second day of the Lunar new year when his house is open for family gatherings, and the odd gathering when there's a funeral for someone in the family. His siblings are all not getting any younger, and as a part of life, funerals do happen.

So, Grand-pere lives alone in a pretty large house... strategically placed, I think the house has 8 bedrooms. Could be more, as grand-pere has 8 kids. Everyone has gotten married and moved out, save for one daughter, who's not married, but has decided to live away from her childhood home. I can just imagine how 'festive' it would be when everyone comes back to celebrate; kids with their extended families.

Chor Yat

Today is the first day of the Lunar calendar
Many, many traditions to be held
Vegetarian for lunch *yum*
Massive choices of yummy stuff for dinner

The Lunar new year is all about eating, eating and more eating
Tossing of the thinly julienned array of vegetables with raw fish for luck
Home-cooked dishes, mandarin oranges, cookies, tarts, fried thinly sliced vegetables...
Hmm... I haven't seen any love letters around, have I?

The best part of it all is that it goes on for 15 days
Can you imagine, 15 days of merry making?
What will this do to our waistlines?
That's ok, we'll have the rest of the year to work it off!

Firecrackers

You know the Lunar new year is approaching, while living in Malaysia, when the first sounds of firecrackers start popping. These are singular ones that whistle while flying upwards and pop at the end. Currently firecrackers are illegal items, but people still find a way to purchase and let them go, usually around the eve of the day, the first and second days.

In another 10 minutes, there is going to be a cacophony of noise as the real firecrackers start. These are unlike the official ones (hosted by the governments during while welcoming the western new year) that last a whole 10 to 15 minutes with bursts of colourful light, although if you put enough of them together, it could last that long. On another note, it is fascinating that people are able to come up with the kind of fireworks that we have now, complete with flowery names like willow, chrysanthemum, dahlia and peony.

The Lunar new year firecrackers are short red sticks, tied together such that when the fuse goes off, the crackers pop one by one but at an alarming pace and sound. It's loud and according to the Chinese, that's meant to scare away the bad and old in order for the new to come into the new year.

Passwords

I vaguely remember writing about passwords around May or June last year, about how complicated your password should be to prevent hackers from guessing and getting access to your email/facebook/twitter/blog accounts. I hope you don't use one password for every internet account that you hold.

Having said that, I have a few passwords. Most of the time it's one for each account and I've written them down somewhere because you just don't remember 20 passwords for 20 accounts, I'm not that brilliant. The good thing about that is that I get my personal macbook to remember the passwords for me, so that when I launch that account, everything's there and I just have to click 'login'. The bad thing, I don't bring along that little notebook of passwords when I don't bring my macbook along with me.

So, whenever I travel and have to use another computer, a few minutes is spent pondering on what the password should be, and sometimes even the login name. For instance, Twitter is forever logged-in on the iPhone, there's no way to log out. So when I'm trying to update something on the computer, as I don't use the data roaming, I sit there for a few minutes wondering what the password could be.

Moral of the story? There isn't any... keeping a various array of passwords is good AND bad for you *grin*

Diarrhea

If you're squirmish about bodily fluids gone wrong, don't even read this post.

I'm having the worst diarrhea of my life! I don't think I ever remember a session being so bad! After everything that's been cleared in my bowels, water's just coming out. I now know what an enema feels like and it's not something I want happening ever so often!

Gurgling

It's gurgling!
My tummy has been gurgling for more than 9 hours now...
What on earth do you think it's doing inside???
I'm almost afraid of going to the toilet...
But I know at some point in time, I'll have to!

Clean, clean, clean!

Short post today, gotta clean the house... the hubs is coming back! I know, I know, I've left it too late again, haven't I? Maybe I should think about getting a weekly maid, if only to do the floors and the bathrooms.

Mt Bromo Erupts

There's a volcano located on the ring of fire in Indonesia called Mt Bromo. It's not all that famous (to me, that is) but it has been spewing smoke since mid December last year and there's a wiki article about it.

Today, it decided to spew heaps of volcanic ash, so much so that flights in and out of Bali and Lombok have been cancelled. I guess it's not as powerful as that Iceland one, Eyjafjallajokull.

En Garde!

In the world of fencing, En Garde is like "Fore!" to golfers.

What would you use in light of the new American Idol judges?
Fail?
En Garde! also as a warning to expect something totally different... fairy tales? Where everything is seen through rose coloured glasses.

It's just not the same, is it? Everyone's happy, too happy it seems a little fake. Oh well, I guess it was inevitable that people move on to bigger and better things... After all American Idol is in its 10th season!

Happy Australia Day!

Sometimes I wish I worked for an embassy in a foreign country, only to enjoy both public holidays.
Can't complain, Singapore does have a few more holidays as compared to Australia.
I guess I'll just have to stick to working for an American firm that does not observe US holidays.

Damn You Auto Correct!

Whenever you need to laugh, really laugh out loud... this is the one website you've gotta go to. It's amazing what the auto correct within the iPhone can do! What more, this is only in English, for those of us who speak other languages, it's a whole new world of, "Damn you auto correct!"

Today's one is especially hilarious "Special Cucumber Unit!

The Snow Queen

I don't think I remember reading Hans Christian Andersen's version of this story, and I'm sure there are heaps of versions around, but the Korean's have managed to come up with a sob fest of a story with this underlying theme.

The only reason why I picked it up was for the actor, Hyun Bin. Not liking the way he looked in his most recent drama Secret Garden, I decided to pick this one up and it was one of the saddest k-drama I've ever watched. If you're going to watch it, stop reading now.

The story evolves around two people, the dorky guy, a maths genius and a girl who's been sick all her life. Something about the storyline should have warned me not to watch it, usually when someone has a weird illness, they will surely die. That's just the way dramas are meant to be. I thought my brain was mature enough to handle this, but no... my eyes are all swollen.

To make the story more sobby, the guy's best friend, who happens to be a good-looking maths genius commits suicide when he loses in the countrywide maths Olympiad. He didn't even place second, he didn't even place third. Of course the dorky guy came in first, so he blames himself for the reason his best friend committed suicide. Which if you think about it, is a bit silly, how can you be sorry for being smart? But he's supposed to be a 17 year old...

The story picks up again 8 years later. We find out that the dorky guy leaves school and decides to become a boxer. It was the dream of his best friend to be one, so he takes it on himself to fulfill that dream. Meets up with the younger sister of his best friend without knowing so, falls in love only to discover who she really is. Anyways, they somehow patch up only to have the weird illness claim her life. Such a sad, sad ending because the dorky guy spends most of his life being miserable... and lonely.

Will I watch this again? Yeah, if only for the early scenes between the main actors as they bicker and become steadfast friends.

Korean Tongue Twisters

I can't even handle the English ones and I'm going ahead of myself in trying to learn ones in a foreign language of which I'm not fluent in. I guess it might be easier to remember if I knew what I was actually saying... kind of reminds me of the times I was in school and uni trying to memorise sentences and formulas that don't make any sense to me! That's right, it doesn't make sense ergo it's not easy to remember.

It's a mesh of weird things, doesn't even make sense, something akin to she selling seashells on the seashore.

This is from the Secret Garden Korean drama where in order to take his mind off something the lead actor recites this over and over again.

"Kimmm soo han moo, keo bu gi wa du ru mi, sam cheon gab ja Dong Bang Sak! Chi chi ga po, Sarisarisaenta, Wori wori, sapeurika..."

Storm turns one!

Happy Birthday Stormy!

When I first heard this kid's name, I thought, "Boy, is he going to have a hard time at school!"
I still think that *grin* but the name is beginning to grow on me, the more I see him and the more I call out to him. Cute kid, it'll be interesting to watch him grow.

Handbags and crowded food courts

Your handbag doesn't deserve a seat in a crowded food court. I don't care if you've paid a thousand dollars or ten dollars for it, it doesn't deserve a seat in a crowded food court. It's not eating, even if it is, it should be sitting on your lap or hanging off the table or chair.

I don't know if this is a normal occurrence in Asian countries, but here in Singapore, it's everywhere, something of a culture. With Singapore being relatively safe, the handbag can afford to be left on a seat of its own while the owner eats.

And I love asking people to move their bags to make way for my bum. The daggers I get sometimes are just priceless. I wonder if they know that they're actually shooting daggers for the fact that their precious handbag has to vacate a seat.

My Name is Kim Sam Soon

A legend among all Korean Dramas! It's a series which I have no trouble watching over and over again, a feel-good drama. The writers and producers have strayed a little away from the norm of a pretty girl with a good-looking guy. Instead, the story is about a plus sized girl who's a great pastry chef. She meets a good-looking younger guy who runs a restaurant and ends up being the pastry chef. They somehow get close and against what their brain tells them, start to like each other.

The good-looking younger guy doesn't have a string of girlfriends as he's still hung up on an ex-girlfriend who left suddenly 3 years ago. Anyways, the leads end up being together, a happy ending, the kind that I like. One of the plus bits to this drama is of course the good-looking younger guy. He's none other than one of my favourite actors, Hyun Bin, and I'm guessing that this is one of his early dramas for which he started getting famous for.

Halfway through!

The hubs is away again for work and luckily it's only for 3 weeks this time.
Can't wait for him to get back... then life will be back to normal *grin*
I never knew how much I would miss him...
Always thought I would be ok being alone, it was always ok when I was younger.
Maybe he's just attached himself onto me with super glue, eh?

Wanna Cookie?

It could only happen in this day and age.
Bust enhancement cookies...
Absurd, no?
Just the thought of cookies being able to enhance busts...
Well, just so you know, they exist.
Not that they're safe...
These kind of things are never safe.
But people still want to try...
People can be silly sometimes.

Tidbits Galore

It looks like the Lunar new year is nearly upon us.

Everywhere you go, stalls are starting to display all the yummy goodies; cashew nut cookies, love letters, peanut brittle, pineapple tarts, mandarin oranges, barbeque sliced pork and the list goes on! Hmm... I've got to remember to get a couple of new clothes!

Takashimaya market place

Sunday's are for resting...

I should really clean the house... but I'm just so lazy. One of the benefits of having the house all to myself (and the hubs) is that I don't really care that there's dust all over the place (neither does the hubs)!

Maybe I'll do it next weekend... the Lunar new year is coming up and as a custom, one has to clean the house of all things old, dust is considered old *grin* A couple of weeks will be all I need to clean this place up, right?

Money is a scary thing

What would this world be if we didn't have money? There will be other forms of barter of course, but now that we have to live in a world where money is the major form of barter, we'll just have to make do.

So, how much is enough? Enough to live comfortably. I'm living comfortably at the moment. If I don't want some maids trailing me, a house that's too big for the both of us, a driver in a flashy car, massive jewellery hanging on me and jet-setting all over the world at a whim, I'm alright! Although, that last one would be nice *grin*

Right! Money... as the Lunar new year approaches, the Singapore pools will be preparing for another big draw. Can't remember what last year's one was, maybe it's the same every year, but this year it's $10 milion! Will you be buying into it? Queues have formed everywhere tickets are being sold, everyone's donating to the pool... parting with a little in the hopes of winning big. Would there be a possibility of no one winning?!

Facebook the generation gap

I was having dinner with a few of my workmates sometime last year and I know I should have written about it sooner but it just hit me that there are some things that are obvious with age.

We were all in the middle of discussing Facebook. On the one side, it's a phenomenon which everyone wants to be a part of, and that makes the concept work, because ultimately Facebook is about connecting people. People you haven't seen in a long, long time, people whom you see everyday, but don't have the time to connect, parents who want to know what their kids are up to, parents who connect with their kids on 'their' platform and new/old friends to learn more about that friend.

Some people use it to advertise every moment of their life, I do that from time to time, but not to the extent which some do. It's a great platform... teeming with information, some irrelevant, some surprising... I find that I'm mostly happy when there's an update because it means they're still alive.

So, one of the topics that came up was the amount of information that appears on your news feed. You'll have to remember that these are people you've either asked to be a friend of or have accepted their request to be a friend. Why did you befriend them when you weren't going to like their news updates? Or curse them for updating ever so often.

Would this be considered a generation gap thing? Generation X living in generation Y's era and trying to understand it. If you're irritated with the updates, just don't read them. Apparently, that's easier said than done, some people are really drawn to gossip.

For those of you out there who have Facebook accounts, what do you use it for? I think everyone who has an account should treat it like a marriage with the following vows; for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, till death do you part.

Pasta Dinners

Pasta would be the easiest out of all the meals-for-one to make.
Grill the bacon to perfection, cut them up into bite size and stir in the sauce.
Bought a bottle of cabonara to last me a whole week, and then some!

Cabonara Spirals with Bacon

Touch Keyboards

So an interesting thing happened just now, not something I would've done before and it just took me by surprise. I had to trim the nails on my thumbs (only) as it was difficult to type on my iPhone touch keyboard. Isn't that just the whackiest thing ever? The nails were in the way of my thumbs flying over the keyboard and sent the predictive text crazily into overdrive.

Kindy for toddlers

While I was driving to get my dinner tonight, the traffic was crawling, allowing me to think a little on the side and I came up with this - "Money can't buy you the ability to use your brain."

I've never come across a society that puts their kids through school, private lessons and tuition at a young age of 3. Yes, not 13, but 3. Where's the physical play time? Where's the getting some vitamin D from the sun? I guess if I grew up here and never knew any better, it wouldn't be strange to me, but I didn't. I grew up roller skating on my driveway, cycling around the neighbourhood, climbing over drains behind houses in my estate, don't remember much about the studying part of school as I was usually out for a tournament or something...

What in the world brought this on? There was an article in the newspapers today. Parents queued up for 12 hours in the hopes of getting their child who was born in 2010 a spot on the waiting list of a prestigious kindy in 2013. I don't know about you, but that whole sentence doesn't make any sense to me. It was such an absurd notion that I didn't even bother to read the article in full.

But I do have some points I want to bring up. Firstly, it's a spot on the waiting list. Even if you're number one, if everyone who has been granted a spot (I'm sure there's another criteria for this too) takes it up, where does that leave your child? Kindy-less? I don't think so. These parents would have a back up plan, which means a domino effect, doesn't it? At the bottom of the chain, some kid would be on the waiting list hoping to just get into a kindy, any kindy!

Secondly, would you even take your baby to queue? Is one of the criteria, "Oh, your baby is so cute, let's just grant them a position on the waiting list"? Pure utter nonsense, just pure utter nonsense.

I don't know if I'm furious or just vexed...

Anyways, just on the side, I miss driving to and from work. I remember that I do a lot of thinking while I drive, not to mention catch up on my music! I'm still stuck in the 90s, which in 5 years will probably the 'oldies'!

Blue is the colour of my room

I knew there was a reason blue is a favourite colour... next to lilac... But yes, I've always leaned towards blue when there's a colour decision to be made.

Blue is the colour you want to look at when your brain needs to absorb information. Blue is also a soothing and calming colour. And that's apparent in the sky. Don't you look up to the blue blue sky and feel a sense of pleasant calmness? I guess you can also say that about the sea. But sometimes the sea is more green than blue.

Anyways, when we first moved into this house, I got my own bedroom and I knew I wanted to paint it blue and paint it blue I did. I can't remember the exact pantone colour (a shade darker than reflex blue?) but it's a dark bright blue, not navy. Coupled with the yellow lighting, my nights were pretty comfortable. Then I got married and moved into the hub's room, which was painted a whitish green (lucite green?) and the hubs has now made my vacated room into his library cum computer room. I'm glad we didn't repaint the rooms, not that we were going to after we got married.

Swollen Eyes

So, for anything that you watched on the telly which brought tears to your eyes... who would you 'blame' that on? The actors, directors, screen writers, your own imagination gone wild, your heart, your brain for getting sucked in??? Countless!!!

I'm one of those people who get emotionally involved with a show that I'm watching on the telly, or even in the movies. Sad, but it's not something I can help. I remember when I was young, my mom and I would catch the cantonese dramas which were showing on the telly right before dinner. She would cook a little, come out to watch, cry heaps and serve dinner when the episode was over. I also remember that the old dramas had a lot of sad scenes in it. Must have been its forte because it forced everyone to follow it.

So, for no reason at all, but being too attached to a drama, I've just finished a bawling session after watching the 17th episode of Secret Garden. I think I might watch that episode again, and again. It was just so sad... no one died... well, not yet, but just the anguish, the thought, the plot with which I can relate to, is creating havoc with my brain.

Terminal 1

Singapore has three airport terminals. The recently opened Terminal 3 is now 3 years old. How time flies!

Meanwhile, it has been decided that Terminal 1 was in dire need of some upgrading. Of course, for a place which has been in operation since the dawn of Singapore Airlines... I'm not saying that there hasn't been any upgrading of facilities between then and now, but compared to the newly opened Terminal 3, Terminal 1 was really in dire need of some upgrading. Started in 2008, it looks to only be completed in 2012!

Meanwhile, amidst all this upgrading, the airport is still in operation. It's only the aesthetics part of the airport that is being upgraded. Disruption is kept to the minimum as everything is boarded up and if you don't frequent the place, you won't even know what you're missing. But I've been there so many times this year that I've started to notice certain things, mostly the availability of food outlets. And the fact that there's absolutely NOTHING to entertain you with while you wait to board your flight or are in transit. All the entertainment worthy experiences (the ones that keep you awake enough to wile the hours away while you wait for your connection) are located in Terminal 3. Kind of reminds me of airports from not so developed countries. I guess I've been pretty spoilt in all these years, expecting an airport to be a building full of entertainment too, and not to mention the fact that they should be a shopping mall masquerading as an airport!

Rashes

I can't believe in this day and age, I'm still allergic to certain creams.
I've really gotta go do a skin prick test to find out what I'm really allergic to.
The only reason I've been putting it off is because I'm afraid it's going to tell me that I'm allergic to all things expensive!
I'm sure the hubs would be happy about that tho...

While the chicken man is on holiday...

... the help comes out to help?

I had the strangest experience buying from our regular chicken wing and bee hoon place today. The regular uncle is away for a holiday and had two friends come help him out. It's great that they're willing to help, but it took 3 dudes to do his job. One to cut the chicken wing, one to pile on the regular order of bee hoon, and whatever side dishes and one to place the packets into a plastic bag. The person who piles on the regular order collects the money too, looks like he's the leader of the dude-pack! But he gets help from the dude who cuts the chicken wing with the calculations. With so many heads, I'm not sure if they made money these couple of weeks.

Anyways, on top of that, the dude cutting the chicken wing was carefully cutting it (like he was afraid it would hurt) and the dude who was piling on the regular order was extremely slow and neat. It was strange to see it all as I'm so used to the way the regular uncle packs, cuts and serves his customers. Had me entertained while in the queue, but I can't wait for the regular uncle to come back.

Anniversary Meal

It's been thirteen years since I started going out with my husband... to date, it's still a poignant part of my life. I remember the tears... of sadness and joy and I will never regret saying yes. Hopefully the hubs doesn't regret asking either!

Anyways, today's blog is about food. Again. When has it ever been about anything else...

We were supposed to have a simple dinner of grilled chicken wings, satay and a plate of noodles but the East Coast Laguna Hawker Center was closed. Not sure if they're just doing renovations or are only cleaning the place up. Late as it already was, we ended up having Korean food at Ju Shin Jung.

Loved the atmosphere (big open restaurant with excellent ventilation), the beef and generous side dishes. The short rib beef was gobbled up so quickly that I only managed to take a picture of the belly pork. Will definitely come back again but will only order a variation of cow parts.

Slow grilled belly pork and onion on a slice of lettuce

Organising the iPhone

Is your iPhone inundated with hundreds of apps, most you don't use and has been filed away in folders which take up 5 or more screens? Most people are afraid of throwing away an app they previously downloaded, for free, for fear they might use it sometime in the near future. I'm trying my very best to not be one of those and to keep to three screens. Why three you ask?

Well, there's the home page which is my second screen. This is where all the most used applications are on. To the left screen, I have my games, food, language and miscellaneous folders and to the right, utilities (app store), misc social networks, radio and news. Does that sound organised to you? I'd like to think so. So how do you organise your iPhone?

100 Trillion

That's 100 with 12 zeros to follow
Only in Zimbabwe can this happen

100 trillion Zimbabwe dollars is worth 5 US dollars. That's kind of sad, isn't it? So even if I were a millionaire in Zimbabwe, I wouldn't be able to buy anything or survive, would I?

Sometimes I wonder if the world would be a different place if there was only one currency... what are you talking about?! Of course it would be different.

Firstly, there would be no money changers. What in the world would they do??? I'm just sending this world into chaos, aren't I? Other repercussions would be the people who make money by trading money... they wouldn't exist also, right? Let's not even go there...

Secondly, there would be wars (or hefty words) to decide which currency to use and if they're not able to single that out, a new currency would have to be prepared. IF that is done, how do you peg it? I won't even go there because the money changers and foreign exchange traders would come after me. Anyways, let's call it "world currency"

Thirdly, on average buying a mediocre cup of coffee in England would be the same price as one in Zimbabwe, which is 7 world currency. No one would think that as expensive or cheap as they wouldn't have known otherwise. But then again, 7 world currency could be point zero zero seven cents in current day pounds ;)

Fourthly, and more interestingly would be salary! Yes, it's always been a hush-hush subject, but with the world currency, everyone would be paid fairly, you think? If I were an average maid in Indonesia, I should be paid the same as if I were working in the US, right?

Then, immigration and emigration wouldn't happen as often as it does now. Why would I want to move to another country if not for money... experience? Standard of living? Argh... boggles the mind. I've got to plan this right... but I think I'd like to live in that world... what a weird world it would be!

D7K

I've been itching to buy this since it came out in November... or was it October last year.

I've always been a point and shoot (PnS) camera kind of person for most of my daily pictures, but after playing with the hub's dslr for a week (while I was in Tokyo last year), I was sold. As a camera to bring along while travelling, dslrs are just so much better. There is only so much a PnS can do. Don't tell me it's the person behind the camera, having a steady hand and all that rubbish. Yes, those are important facts, but a PnS cannot give you swoon-erable bokeh.

Being a little sheltered, I only discovered bokeh when I started playing with the 50mm and 105mm lens'. Boy... was I hooked! I started to notice pictures with really, really good bokeh and what you can actually do with it. And when I had finally finished drooling over everyone else's pictures, I sighed to myself and decided that I really needed to get a dslr. At the time, the only worthy camera was the D90 (don't really care for the other brands as the hubs has a Nikon too, interchangeable lenses come in handy), but since there were some announcements that another model of the same size and weight would be coming out, I waited. I didn't want to get the smaller (S size) or bigger models (L and XL sizes) as the smaller one felt like a toy camera in my hands and the hubs already has the bigger one (L size). The M size that the D90 and D7k are sounds about right.

At the moment, I'm still waiting for the price to drop, seeing that I don't have any trips planned in the next month or so. Bringing the camera out on a daily basis just doesn't fit into my bag, however big it is. Hopefully the sellers would realise that people want to spend some money before Chinese New Year (which falls on the 3rd of February this year) and put up some hefty discount. The camera is currently sitting on S$2,100 with the kit lens.

... and a Happy 2011 everyone!

The first of January is just another day in the year but why does it always feel different? This year, there was a slight change in the air... a tiny change, but I felt it, did you?

What did I end up doing today? Well, there was a house warming party to prepare for and I think I was born a food preparer in my previous life... not that I'm supposed to believe that, the previous life thing. When in the kitchen, I prefer slicing and dicing food (especially vegetables) as opposed to cooking, cleaning and washing. But I'm not deft with the knife, unlike how all those professional chefs who appear on the telly do when they're slicing and dicing vegetables. No, I still take the normal amount of time an average person does...

Anyways, when all was said and done, I ate toooooooooooooooo much! But the food was way too good to say no to. Every 15 minutes, "Just one more little bite..." The tummy is still bloated and I'm going to have problems tomorrow... excellent start to the new year!