Wana post some pictures from Ipoh (part 1) before I proceed to Part 2!


Monster Sea Cucumber at Teck Kee Ipoh. My hand is barely half its length and not even as wide! This dish is ROCKS!

Monster chicken from Man Zhong Ipoh. This is ONE chicken, NOT TWO. How can a single chicken has so much meat???!! Nuts....

Beek Noodle at Tungkak.

Monster prawns at Tangjong Tualang. A close up pic where you can see the roe of the prawns at the heads if you look carefully enough.

Ta-dah! Monster prawns. Some are even bigger than my hand. Geez....

Food trip to Ipoh & KL. (Part 1: Ipoh)

Ok… this is not for the faint hearted. I know this bunch of people are serious foodies, but seriously, our food guide, Dr Wong, in my opinion, the is ultimate Food God who really knows where are all the good stuff.

Warning: super long post.

A total of 12 of us, packed into 3 cars and 2 bikes headed to Ipoh and KL for the ultimate 5-days-4 nights of mega-pig-out sessions.

The very 1st pit-stop was at Tungkak, which is famous for its beef noodles. The version of Tungkak’s beef noodle comes in the form of a super tasty clear broth, with beef and noodles. It was pretty good, but this dish didn’t rock my world. Personally, I will not drive all the way to Tungkak just have a bowl of Beef noodles.

After that, we basically “cheong” for the next 3.5rs to Gopeng (outskirts of Ipoh) to Tanjong Tu-alang to eat some monster prawns. And Geez…. These prawns were indeed the gorzilla types. Each prawn was longer than my hand??!! In fact, the gem lies in the prawn roe, they were so sweet and fragrant that they could easily be mistaken for crab roe!!

This Zhi Char place at Tanjong Tu-alang was indeed fantastic. It was super ulu though…. So ulu that even the GPS didn’t have its address. But, of course, our Food God can always find his way to good food.

After that, another 1 hour’s drive and we hit Ipoh. 1st dinner was at Public Restaurant, aka “Man Zhong”. Due to a special request from our good friend, Porky A, Dr. Wong ordered 2 roasted suckling pigs. TWO??!! Who in the right mind will eat TWO suckling pigs in one sitting??!! Well… this bunch of crazy people actually did. Dr. Wong also ordered a sterilized-rooster steamed in chicken broth, and the chicken was basically a cousin of Gorzilla. It was the size of 3 chickens combined??!! Seriously… Everyone almost fainted when we saw the size of the chicken.

HOW CAN ANYTHING GROW SO BIG??!! Apparently, sterilized cocks can.

The gorzilla chicken was too tough for my delicate palate, and basically I think this chicken had died in vain as most of us didn’t/couldn’t appreciate it.

Next day’s breakfast was a military exercise. All of us gathered at 6.45 am and “cheong” to this kopitiam, located at the Old Town of Ipoh. I’ve forgotten the name of this Kopitiam, but it is directly opposite of the famous “Nan Xiang” kopitiam.

According to Dr Wong, we had to arrive early because this place would get really crowded after 7 am, and he was right. Shortly after we were seated, there was this tour bus that dumped tens of local tourists and the kopitiam got really busy.

Breakfast Part1: Curry Chee Cheong Fan (really good!), with super “gao” (Ie: thick) Old Town Kopi-O, M’sia style French toast, more kaya toast. And some even ate Hakka Yong Tau Foo.
After that, we hopped over to Nan Xiang Kopitiam and continued with Breakfast Part 2:
Penang style Char Kway Tiao, more Old Town Kopi-O, peanut pancakes (super crispy and fragrant).

By then, I was kinda bursting already.

Then we went for breakfast part 3: Another kopitiam to buy more Chinese pastry and Dr. Wong ordered a plate of roasted pork belly.

Argh…. How can these people eat like that??!!

Just when I thought I’m going to skip lunch, Dr. Wong bought 5 salted chickens, supposed to be really famous in Ipoh.

And fuah, IT WAS THE BEST SALTED CHICKEN THAT I’VE EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE. The meat was soft and yet firm (typical of kampong chickens, different from the “factory” chickens that we eat in Spore), it was nicely flavored with Chinese herb and, of course, salt. The chicken was done is a semi-steam/baked style, so the texture of the chicken is similar to our Hainanese chicken rice, but trust me, the flavor was like 100 times better.

It was so incredible… I think I ate almost 1 whole chicken by myself.

And just when I thought I REALLY couldn’t eat anymore for dinner, Dr. Wong brought us to Teck Kee Restaurant, one of the very best in Ipoh. And fuah, it was the best restaurant for the whole trip!

Every dish served was fantastic but the star dish is the monster sea cucumber braised with scallops, chicken and chestnuts (aka Gao Luck). The flavor was robust and sweet-in-the-savory way. The texture of the sea cucumber was chewy and “Q”… really really delicious lah. By the way, the sea cucumber was about 14 inches long??!!

And the best part, each of us only need to pay 30+ sing. Best!!!

Ok, and after that sumptuous dinner, we still manage to find some room to squeeze in Supper: Ipoh Horfan with chicken, porkballs and sprouts. There’s something about the water in Ipoh that the horfan was super silky and the sprouts were super fat and juicy!!

Ok, after that. I simply cannot eat anymore. In fact, I began to feel a bit ill…. We headed back to the hotel and I had to take a indigestion pill to keep my system going.

And that was just Day 2 in Ipoh.

Children vs dogs/cats

I've heard from a few couples of how when a baby comes along, suddenly pets (usually cats and dogs) are seen as threats to the new baby.

“Car fur will cause allergies to the baby”
“What if doggy bites the baby?”
“No time to look after doggie AND the baby”

Soon, it’s a matter of time, these pets are either being given away or being abandoned.

Sigh. And to think that these owners used to call themselves “Daddy and Mummy” of their pets. Some even claim that having a pet if like a “prelude” to having a baby. Yeah right… and you give away your “first born” when the real deal comes along?

I recognize all these issues and to this date, I keep asking myself whether Im ready to have a dog or even a cat, esp when my new place is ready. Or should I just have a baby 1st? Just take my baby as a pet loh?

I’m taking violin lessons!

Yup, now that my exam is over and I can finally have my life back! Yippe!

For the past few months, weekends were spent cooping at home, forcing myself to mug. Now that I’m free, gotta make FULL USE of the precious weekends by learning something new.

Last year, I decided to be a volunteer and it was one of my best decisions ever. I’m still volunteering every Saturday but had to stop for a few weeks to mug. Can finally hang out with the horses and children again, brings a smile to my face just to imagine that.

This year, I’ve decided to learn to play the violin! Yup… I must be the oldest student ever. Ha. I’ll be meeting my violin teacher this sat and looking really forward to buy my very own violin and practice it at home!

I’ve always wanted to play the violin, there’s something heart wrenching about the violin. The quality of the sound is sad and yet so beautiful. Anyone who has watched The Red Violin will know what I’m talking about.

Alrite, cheers to an up and coming musician! :p

Frustrated

I’ve been busy pretending to study for my CFA exam lately. Why pretending? Because I’m simply too frustrated to fully absorb whatever I studied… basically what went into my brains didn’t register for more than 5 mins…

Recently, Hubby and I have been busy looking at apartments. We have been looking for an apartment since 1.5 years ago… previously we thought that property prices have to drop further due to the “greatest” recession since 1930s. So, we waited…. We camped with the in-laws while waiting patiently to buy our very 1st dream apartment at a decent price. In fact, we were so sure that we’ll pick up a good deal that we actually “rejected” a few rather good buys….

Sigh. We were so wrong.

This “greatest” recession ever is fake. Recession. My ASS.

Seems to me that most Singaporeans are still very rich, new property launches were being grabbed like hot cakes. Even resale private apartments’ asking prices have surged immediately by 20%??!!

Singapore is getting to be a REALLY expensive city to live in. Even government public housing flats at so-called “prime” areas like Redhill, Tiong Bahru, Bishan and Toa Payoh are going at min $500 psf.

Suddenly, the thought of immigrating to Australia seems really appealing. For S$1 mil, I can most probably buy a 3000 sqf HOUSE with a nice garden. In Singapore, $1mil cannot even buy you a decent 3 bedroom condo of 1300 sqf.

I’m a “prudent” investor. I didn’t chase after the property during the crazy days of 2007 and yet, I still cannot afford a place now -> even during a recession??!!??!!

What the hell?

Pro-gay vs gay-friendly

Is there a difference? I think there is. I’m gay-friendly but I’m not pro-gay. If you are my friend, I will still love you as my friend regardless of your sexual orientation. I will not discriminate you nor pass any ill-intentioned judgments against you.

However, I’m not pro-gay either because I still believe in the union of 1 man and 1 woman. If one day, my future child were to tell me that he/she is homosexual, I think I will be upset (for at least a while) and be in a state of denial, but finally, I believe that I will still love my child and accept him/her as he/she is. I will most probably question why did that happen and whether my up-bringing cause his/her sexual orientation to be atypical.

However, in any case, I will not be ashamed of my child, just like I’m not ashamed to have gay friends, gay colleagues, gay neighbors… … etc.

The saga of Aware, has brought up issues that have been going on, from “under-current” to main stream. And I’m glad that it has happened because I hope people will, for once, THINK about their values, beliefs and what they stand up for.

Personally, I am behind the Old Guards of Aware because I believe in being “inclusive”. Inclusive means “inclusive – all types of women, in all shapes, sizes, colors.”

Conclusion: I’m not a beach person…

D and I took a short trip to Langkawi to attend a friend’s wedding during the Easter holidays and we have agreed on the following conclusions:

1) Both of us aren’t big fans of beach resorts. I always break out in heat rash when ever it gets really hot and humid. As for D, he needs his wines and beers CHILL…. And these babies don’t stay chill for very long when it’s 33 degrees. No cold beer and you’ll get a grumpy D.

2) I simply cannot stand screaming kids in the pool. I’m not the kind to soak in the pool and do nothing. When I go to the pool, my focus is to swim and exercise. Thus, I get really irritated when kids dash around the pool, or swim zig-zag around me while I’m panting away doing my lap swims. And I thought I’m quite maternal.

3) Sentosa is actually quite a nice beach getaway too if you can block out those oil tankers.

I can take the cold winter in Japan… but the heat simply drives me mad. Nonetheless, it was a really beautiful wedding.

Just that D and I were wishing that the theme of the wedding to be "bikini babes and beach hunks - Zouk Out Style!".

Spruce at Tanglin Road

For those who have read the most recent Sunday Times will know that Spruce, the restaurant was being featured. Reviews were rather positive and the owners of Spruce used to be from the Wine Garage. We used to frequent Wine Garage all the time until it revised the prices UPWARDS by about 50-100%, then we stopped dinning at Wine G.

After a quick check that the restaurant wasn’t expensive, plus if you order a bottle of wine from the restaurant, the corkage will be free on your 1st home-brought bottle. In any case, corkage is $30, which is okay…

Spruce is at Tanglin road, directly opposite to the Brunei Embassy actually. A little ulu but nowadays, ulu restaurants are more popular. Many people, who used to go to Dempsey, are all avoiding the area like mad. We all kinda miss the ulu-ness of Dempsey.

O well.

OK, back to Spruce. The whole restaurant is very understated yet done very stylishly. That gives a good vibe that the restaurant is more into its food than some showy décor. A lot of greenery surround the little restaurant, thus it’s really nice if you can get a seat outdoors, esp if the weather isn’t hot and humid.

Food is good, given for the price. I must say it’s actually damn good value. We had the Onion Crepes and grilled calamari with rockets for our starters. The onion crepes were really good; the sweetness of the onions went really well with the buttery cheese sauce. The calamari was tender and flavorful, nicely done. Both starters were about $15-18.

I ordered the Braised Duck pasta (shown above) in tomato sauce. The dish didn’t look very appetizing at 1st, but do not be fooled, the flavor was robust and the “gaminess” of the duck went really well with the slightly sourness of the tomatoes. Mmmmmm. Yum. That cost $18.

Hubby and K ordered the Spruce burger (shown above). A little disappointed as Hubby and I agreed that Botak Jones’s burgers was at a better value given Botak’s price point. And my personal favorite burger joint is still Relish. Spruce’s Burger is at $18.

A had the steak with fries. I didn’t get to try that but from A’s looks, he seems pleased with his piece of red meat. I cant remember how much was the steak though.

As for dessert, we ordered 4 types of cheeses to share. The truffle cheese was clearly a winner. But then again, truffle with anything is always a winner.

My personally favorite was the cheese with “ashes” infused in it. Very interesting combination. The ashes really brought out the mild saltiness of the cheese and its “cheesy” flavor. Ha. I liked that.

All in all, each of us spent $60 each, inclusive of 2 bottles of wines! A while was ordered from the restaurant and we brought our own red.

I’ll love to retun!

Do you know...?

Do you know that our PM, Mr. Lee had an interview with the BBC? You shld have read about that in the papers right?

Do you also know that the final question got "censored" by our local newspapers?

The last question was:

BBC: “Finally, Prime Minister, I read that you are apparently the highest paid head of government in the world. Your salary is about four or five times what President Obama gets. Are you worth all that money?”

PM Lee laughed and said: “I am not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings.We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent – what is the job worth, what is the quality of the person whom you want. We need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which are worth billions of dollars. And you cannot do that if you are pretending and you just say, ‘Well, we are all in it for the love of King and Country’. We want it to be honest, we want people not to come in for the money. But at the same time the sacrifice cannot be too great. And at times like these, you want the best possible government you can have.”

I'm disappointed in our local newspapers. Since our PM is already so open about his highly paid salary, why couldn't the papers share his pride as well?

Myth confirmed! -> Apple Cider Vinegar really works!

I’ve heard so much about Apple Cider Vinegar being good for our hair; since it’s acidic while most of our hair products are alkaline. So, Apple Cider is supposed to balance our scalp’s PH level and remove whatever residue or build-up from our shampoo or other hair products.

Since I have a huge bottle of Apple Cider sitting in the fridge, I decided to conduct an experiment to see whether the cider is really good for my hair.

One thing to note is that I have very sensitive scalp. So much so that, I am actually allergic to most shampoos, eg: Pantene, Dove and even, Phyto (Anti-aging) aren’t suitable. Currently, I am using Klorane – sensitive scalp and so far, this shampoo works for me.

I filled a basin of warm water and poured almost half a cup of Apple Cider Vinegar into the basin. Didn’t care too much about the proportion. Agar-Agar can already.

Then I shampooed my hair as usual, but instead of using normal tap water to rinse, I used the diluted Apple Cider to rinse out the shampoo. I also massaged my hair & scalp and let the apple Cider sit for at least 10 mins before I rinse my hair again with tap water.

Viola! My hair did feel lighter and cleaner. In fact, it also gave me some volume to my very fine and limpy hair. I am most impressed with the effects…

I highly recommend all to try. Apparently, you can use Apple Cider Vinegar about once a week on your hair for optimal result!

*happy*

Hotel626: a free horror online game!

For a FREE game... one cannot complain. Do play it if you have nothing better to do. In fact, it's really quite cool if you enable your webcam and micorophone. And o yah, BLAST your speakers and scare yourself silly.

Me, being the scardy -cat, was basically hiding behide a cupboard while hubby was playing the game. Just hearing the sound effect was already scaring the shit out of me.

Finally took some gut to play this game in the day (hrm... during office hours!), but without blasting the speakers, one cannot fully appreciate the game lah.

Guess, I just gotta try it at home later! It's a short game, you shld be done within 15 mins or so!

http://www.hotel626.com/

Cats... I simply love them. And this one has a rather "special" face. I'll call him Mr. TwinkleBell If he's mine.

My V-day dinner (home cooked!)

Ok, the order is reversed. I prepared the prawns as starters and the steak as the main course. I actually forgot to take a picture of the dessert, which was chocolate mousse with candied cherries.

I seasoned the prawns with salt, pepper and olive oil and sautéed them in high heat for like 2 mins. As for the sauce, it was made with beetroot (thus the ruby color), onion, carrot, tomatoes and cucumber. I followed the recipe and blended the ingredients RAW… mistake. The sauce tasted way too raw for our liking, I will definitely either roast or at least cook the vegetables before blending.

Other than that, it was actually rather tasty.

As for the steak… aiyah, very easy. The mushroom sauce was basically just mushrooms, white wine, garlic and cream…. Also very easy. Chop Chop.

The dessert was a bit more complicated. In fact, I actually made them the night before… a pity that I don’t have the pictures to prove! Dark chocolate to be melted over a basin of hot water, and fold in the double cream. After that, just throw in the fridge to chil overnight.

A tasty and meaningful V-day dinner. Not to mention CHEAP! ;)

Do you know … …?

I think parliament debates used to be “live” telecast… Now, you can only see snips of it on the news. I tried to google when exactly did TCS (or then SBC) scrape that, but I can’t seem to find an answer via google… …

Anyway, I chanced upon this blog (http://www.choongyong.com/) and he attended a Parliament debate on 12 Feb 2009 and what interesting stuff I’ve learnt:

[1] You cannot have camera phones with you while attending a Parliament debate.

[2] MPs can “sign in” their attendance and somehow disappear for a large part of the debate. (Hey, that’s what I did for my lectures during JC!)

[3] Temasek lost 31% (S$58 bil) in 2008, GIC “might” have lost 41%. Actual number is unknown since there wasn’t any clarification by the Minister of Finance.

[4] One of our MPs, Dr Ong Seh Hong is a litterbug.

Hmmm, I’ll like to attend a Parliament Debate one day… and I’ll get George and Mel to go with me! ;P

And ChannelNewsAsia should show both “live” and repeat telecasts of the Parliament debates. On one hand, Singaporeans are being blamed for showing apathy towards our political scene, on the other hand, real-live debates are not being aired in public. Then, how are we going to see our very well-paid MPs prove their worth? (Or the lack of it?!?!)

These numbers are scary… …

In my job, I get to read economic data and announcements on a 1st hand basis, courtesy to Bloomberg and Reuters.

And as the days go by, I see more and more horrible data and reports...
(From Business Times)

“Singapore‘s non-oil exports plunged 34.8 per cent from a year earlier. The January fall in exports from a year earlier was the biggest since records began in 1977, the trade agency said.” (Fresh from the oven, numbers released this afternoon)

“JAPAN'S economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 3.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, or 12.7 per cent at an annual rate, marking the most savage contraction in 35 years, the government said yesterday” (Data released yesterday 16Feb09)

And I don’t even want to talk about data from the USA and Europe…

For myself, during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, I was still a nerd in JC and the “event” was merely a textbook case study for my Finance course in Uni years after.

As for the 2001 dot.com crash, I didn’t feel a thing since I was still an ignorant student in Uni as well.


2003 SARS outbreak, I was blissfully doing an extended internship in the US, so by the time when I was back in Singapore in Dec 2004, Singapore’s economy was up and running again.

This time… this time is different. I am facing this recession point blank and I am feeling every bit of it. To be frank, I do not even know whether I’ll get to keep my job by end of this year.

2009 and 2010 will be a tough ride.

I'm disappointed... ...

Sigh. I'm sure many of you have went through this: "to salvage or not to salvage a friendship" ...

After being friends for almost 20 years, I seriously wonder whether I'm being taken for granted or i'm just plain petty. Maybe my expectations are too high, maybe I'm disappointed that my love and friendship arent reciprocated.

It's just such a pity to give up a friendship of almost 20 yrs... yet, I can't simply just bottle up my frustrations and displeasures. Yet, at the same time, I cannot bring myself to confront the issue. (which is very, very unlike me)

The bestest friend is now an Alien.

Funny Conversation with Hubby


I said: You know, some people said that guys with small feet have small d**ks?

Hubby: Ha. That’s dumb. Woooh… look at Ronald MacDonald’s then. *Grin*

I: Wah Lau… YOU ARE GROSS.

Hubby: Maybe that’s how BIG breakfast comes about?!

Yup… that’s my hubby for you.

This is not right... ... ... I dont think I ever wana eat suckling pig again. It kinda kills me a little to see a little, pink. baby piggy on that grilling pan.

It almost looks like a new born baby! Geez...

"I didn't do anything wrong... why must I have children?"

Ha. Think i'll use this line during CNY next year...

Brothers and Sisters!

Wedding couldn't have happened without these very important people!

Happy Birthday to Hubby!

Hrm, although he's arent no cat... but the idea is there lah. Heh, mine is coming up in 2 days time! ;P

Back from the Land of the Rising Sun

One word to describe the trip: F.A.T

I ate so much Japanese food in the 2 weeks while I was in Japan that I think I’ve surpassed an average Singaporean would eat in 1 year.

I’m not kidding. Somehow, my stomach was tuned to the geez-im-never-full-until-im really-going-to vomit mode. Very unhealthy… Hubby and I wana try so many restaurants that we ended eating 2 sets of dinners most of the time.

We would hit this Unagi restaurant and order 1 bowl to share and then hit another sushi place to whack on more sushi. Or I could eat 1 huge bowl of ramen and when I walked past a really delicious-looking pastry shop, I just had to sit down and eat another huge slice of cake.

I can’t believe how almost everything we ate were so freaking good. Even milk from the supermarket was like the best I’ve ever drank in my life.

Foodies aren’t no foodies until you have been to Japan.

OMG. I'm married!

Ok, below is the video that I wanted e groom and his brothers to do during the gate crashing and their expressions while they were watching the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeRGd4Rn7fA

I love the expressions...

I hope my hand bouquet will look like the one as the 1st pix. So green and pretty... I will not get a chance to see the actual hand bouquet until the day my groom picks me up.

Talking about flowers... Geez, how much did these angmohs spend on the flowers manz. Look at the tons of flowers! I've learnt that flowers are like damn bloody expensive... *ouch*

My mum loves me and gave me the wedding that I want.

I’ve always been willful and head-strong since young and so, when it comes to the planning of my wedding. I’m driving my mother (the tradition-ist) up the wall.

I told my mum that I’m going to have both luncheon and dinner, so that I can have a cozy dinner with friends ONLY. Ie: Even she will not be invited to my dinner. She was like “huh”, but she agreed.

I told my mum that I want a small & intimate lunch of only 100 pax. She requested for 5 tables to contain our relatives and I was “No Way!”. I’m not going to invite those distant cousins and aunties whom I spoke less than 5 sentences in 5 yrs. My mum was upset and said that it would put her in a difficult position but I insisted and even made her made phone calls to tell relatives that they are only allocate to 5 seats per family. No maids and “extra” persons are allowed. She wasn’t very happy about it, but she agreed and did it for me.

I told my mum that she will be sitting at the VIP table with MY relatives instead of the hubby-to-be’s parents. She once again “huh? But that’s not the norm”, but she agreed.

I told her “NO Yam seng” during Lunch and she was a tad disappointed, but she agreed.

I showed her our unconventional wedding photos online and she was like “huh, no albums??” But she’s ok.

She requested to go for food tasting and I told her that we have actually went ahead with another couple friend of ours and ate everything liao. She was like “huh? I didn’t get to eat??” But she’s ok.

She gave me so much room in the planning of my wedding that I truly enjoy the process and am grateful. I know my mum loves me and this is the greatest wedding gift that a mother can give.

I begin to feel like I’m a horrible daughter.

Looking forward to the cold

It has been 5 years since I last visited a country during winter. I think I’ve forgotten how it feels to have snow melts in my hand…

Thus, Im looking so forward to a cold, cold winterland trip to Japan! Wooyoo! I’m NOT going to Hokkaido though… yeah, I know that’s the REAL winterland. But, Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Kinosaki and maybe, Hiroshima will be good enough for me!

I really do hope that there will be snow though!

I can’t wait to freeze my ass off!

Last night, I had so much fun digging out all my winter stuff, my knee-high boots, my scarves, my overcoat, my gloves, my hats….. On top of my new, kick-ass jacket from Mango and 2 new additional sweaters, I am good to go!

Although I have to admit that my winter overcoat looks so passé that I’ll most prob save that for a trip to Russia instead of Japan. To go Japan, gotta travel in style!

Fishy business

It felt really weird to have fishes nibbling at your feet. Took some time to get used to...

Weird things that girls do for the name of beauty!

Friendship

I don’t know whether my friends know this, that I really treasure the relationships that I have with my friends. As long as it’s within my means, I will definitely try to help if a friend is in need. But since I might come across as independent/insensitive/unemotional, maybe some of them didn’t dare to approach for help…?

Looking back, I realize that I didn’t really get to keep in touch with my secondary school friends, and thus, it turns out that I only have 2 surviving friends. That’s kinda sad since I’m from a girl’s school and usually girls from girls’ school have very strong bonds. Hmmm, sorry to say, I only have strong bonds with only 2 girls and 3 of us are leading such different lives right now, I can’t help but to feel that we’re all drifting apart.

Turns out that my closest group of friends is from my uni days. Thank goodness that I stayed in a hostel to cultivate these friendships with this bunch of crazy people, or else, I think I really wouldn’t have many friends.

As I’m growing older, I begin to realize how vulnerable friendships can be, and how one has to “work” to maintain the relationships. Frequent meet-ups, frequent catch-ups are indeed necessary to ensure that there is an exchange of ideas, feelings and thoughts to keep that connection going.

Although I am keen to keep that connection going… how many of them have the same thoughts in return? Expectations and disappointments can affect the friendship and it will be such a pity to lose a friendship due to a misalignment of expectations.

Sigh.

Can I live without friends? I don’t think so… Without the support of true friends, I don’t think anyone can function normally! All I can do is to treat my friends with love and respect, and hope that I can get that in return.

His name is Lawry and he's a handsome, white pony at RDA, but he really looks daft with that hood on, doesn't he?

Lawry might looks cute but he's a tad grumpy and tends to bite. Esp when u place your hand on his neck... he just doesnt like it.

What i've learnt about horses...

[1] When horses snort, do try to stay clear, or else you'll be covered with horse mucus. Pray that you are wearing an old t-shirt.

[2] Horses do bite and they are not like those cute little ponys from the cartoon "My little ponys". They can be grumpy, kick or stomp their hooves to show their displeasure.

[3] DO NOT STAND behind a horse at all times. Once again, they do kick.

[4] Horses can shed TONS and i mean TONS of hair/fur. There are many times I wish that im wearing a mask when im grooming them.

Ahh... the joy of having dogs is when you can dress them up in silly costumes for Halloween and they will still love you for it. Cats, just dont quite have that kinda love nor patience for these costumes.

These pictures totally made my day!

Isn't that a pair of, really cool red shoes?? Check out the feathers!

I've alwas had a thing for red... then some Fashion Guru told me that one has to be tall to wear red well... Like Julia in Pretty Women when she went for her opera.

Hmmm... I'm not exactly tall. Just barely average height. Haiz, I can't wear red well then.

But.... I can still wear red shoes!!!

As for the other 2 pictures, just feel like posting them... to celebrate my love for the color red.

These dolls seem very scary to me, they are like the bride and groom version of voodoo dolls... YeeeeeeK!

Saw these dolls at a wedding website and they arent selling cheap, I tell you! Gives me the goosebumps. and I can so totally imagine my enemies sticking needles into a version-of-me doll.

No dolls for me.

Marley and Me

After reading this book, I wish I have a dog.

Nope, I don’t think I can handle a dog such as Marley. I’ll most probably kill him when he destroys the sofa for the 3rd time or eats my 50th pair of shoes.

But for all dog lovers, this book is a must-read. It’s such a touching story and best of all, this story sounds really REAL. (Although I wouldn’t be surprised if parts of it are made-up for entertainment value)

Nonetheless, I truly enjoyed myself and the book also reminded me of my dog, Puggy.
I had Puggy when I was a little girl, and being too young (like 5 yrs old), I couldn’t take good care of her and my mum simply couldn’t handle 3 young kids AND a dog. Thus, Puggy had to be given way.

I only had Puggy for only less than 2 yrs but I remembered that she was my best friend and we had so much fun at the beach, riding in my mum’s car, our moments when we shared our food (she basically ate everything that I hated). She was such a comical dog and I remembered many moments when my mum and I would just laugh at her for all the silly things that she had done.

Puggy was eventually given away to a neighbor, and I remembered missing her very badly and would run over to the neighbor’s place when ever I could until that neighbor moved away and I never see Puggy again.

I still think of Puggy once a while and I sincerely wished that she had a good life and died as a happy dog.

Above are some pictures from Cameron Highlands. Decided to escape with E to somewhere cool and nice for a short getaway and Cameron Highlands come to my mind immediately. Since I haven’t been there before, thought that a short 3 days 2 nights will do me some good.

Weather was really indeed cool, in fact, temperature dropped to about 13 dc at nights. During the day, it was really pleasant at a comfortable 20 dc as well…

Nothing super exciting to do at Cameron Highlands, except visiting strawberry farms, eat tons of strawberries, eat tons of fresh sweet corn (really sweet!), and look at veggies (and eat them too).

All in all, it was a really pleasant holiday. Except for the treacherous, agonizing, 8-freaking hours bus ride from Singapore.

That sucks

Some other pixs from our pre-wedding series. Above shots havent been edited by our photographer yet... so, these are as raw as they get. ;P More pictures are available in my Facebook account, so friends, do check them out!

As the date draws nearer, I'm getting more excited... not that I'm in a hurry to be Mrs. Tan. But I'm just curious how our actual day photos will turn out... ...

I'm so glad that I have a photographer whom I can count on. To me, he's as good as it gets.

Wisdom tooth saga

It has been almost 3 weeks since I extracted my right, lower wisdom tooth and… … … my gum around that area still hurt?!?!

Geez. This wound is really taking a LONG time to heal. Well, it doesn’t help that my wisdom tooth was actually FUSED to my lower, right jaw bone. And thus, the dentist had to drill into my jaw bone to release the tooth.

From the pix above, the blackish part of the tooth is actually the bits from my jaw bone. By the way, the pain was so bad during the extraction that I thought I would faint.

Now, I’m so obsessed with dental hygiene that I kinda rinse my mouth with Listerine at least 6 times a day and brush my teeth like 4 times a day…

I just wana be pain-free again. ;(

That's one of my pre-wedding shots. Love it.... ... ...

Conclusion: Both JW and I simply couldnt do those "lovey-dovey" shots, we either burst out laughing while trying to look loving, or we would end up looking as if we were trying to beat each other up instead of loving.

I felt that I was taking pictures with my best friend. Yup, he's my best friend.