A solemn post

Merry Christmas to all...

This Christmas, however, is not that merry to my cousin and her children as her husband just passed away suddenly in his sleep the day just after Christmas. I really feel sorry for my cousin and her children as my cousin in law went without any signs or warning.

This incident really shows the fragility of human live.. Like what my dad always say, 人生无常. Always cherish your loved ones when you still have the chance, because you never know when your loved ones might just leave you. I don't think that anybody would want to live out their life with regrets that they did not treat their loved ones nicely, or that their last moments together ended in conflict. It will be very sad situation.

My heart goes out to my dear cousin and my 2 nephews and niece, and I sincerely hope and pray that they can be strong enough to carry on life meaningfully.

X'mas!

Christmas was spent at 2 places this year. We began the day by collecting the party packs of food we ordered from Coffee Bean for both parties. Lugging our bags of gifts, and party packs, and feeling like Santa Claus, Pete and I first headed over to Lloyd's studio.

It has been some time since we have met up with Lloyd, Dave, Toon, Johnny and Sally, so it was good to get together again on this festive occasion. Dave attempted a strawberry cake. It looked a little messy due to the bumpy car ride but it still tasted good, with sweet strawberries. The lunch spread included the box of mini quiche that Pete and I bought, turkey and ham, curry, fried chicken wings and fritters bought by Johnny and Sally, and more home-cooked stuff from Toon.

We exchanged gifts after the meal, and spent the afternoon chatting, laughing and playing with our new gifts from each other.

Pete and I left earlier to head for our next celebration at my Aunt Helen's place. There was a huge gift exchange (forty plus gifts to be exchanged), as we had relatives from both my aunt and uncle's side of the family. We exchanged the gifts several times amongst ourselves as "instructed" by the host of the game, and I ended up with shower gel and body lotion from Body Shop :)

Here are some pictures taken at the get-together at Lloyd's studio. Overall, it was a good X'mas. Till next year... ciao!

Nice X'mas tree with ghoulish theme

Dave with his strawberry cake

Posing with our lunch spread

Lloyd unwrapping his gifts

Pete and me with our gifts from the gang

My geek at work

Relaxing...

Office X'mas Lunch

We had an office X'mas lunch last Friday attended by colleagues from a few departments. There were lots of food, singing, fun and laughter. My boss cooked curry, and fried puri on the spot. It was great stuff! One of my "sianer" colleagues, Jingle Bell, made a chocolate cake, and I must say it tasted good too. We had a gift exchange before the party ended, and I got a stationery holder. I think one of my colleagues from the Exam Unit got my gift of a packet of raisin chocolates, and a box of biscuits from Marks and Spencer. Yummy.....

Here are some pictures from the party. Merry X'mas, everyone!!! 메리 크리스마스!

With our English Subject Head and colleagues from the Exam Unit

Choc fondue!!

Gifts...

... and cakes...from colleagues and trainers

Everyone with their gifts from the gift exchange

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!

Hello again,

I'm back again with good tidings~ I've got Wiiiiiiii!

However, its not as cheap as I thought it would be. Anyway, this is the only console out there that I can get my folks and gal to join me in gaming, and it provides great exercise too! (my poor aching arms.. *groans*) Am very excited to get ah mi to play games with me!

Wahahaha, we can be like Queen Amidela and Anakin Skywalker! I am sooooo kiddy, but then again, it's just me~ :-P As you can see, I'm very very excited about exploring features on the Wii, and that is exactly what I shall do! Wahahaha!

Like I said, its great to be home for Christmas.. And to anyone reading this, Have a Merry Merry Christmas!!!

X'mas Cookies

I took the day off last Wednesday and spent it baking cookies with Karen as X'mas gifts for some of our friends, colleagues, and families.

I reported for "work" at her place at about 10 in the morning, and by lunch time, we had baked our 2 batches of Sticky Chewy Chocolate Cookies. The first batch was a little too crispy, but the second turned out more chewy, just like they should.

We continued with shortbread cookies after lunch, and I must say they turned out more successful than the chocolate ones. The shapes could be seen more clearly, as compared to the chocolate ones, which looked more like odd blob shapes after they were baked, despite using the X'mas tree, teddy bear and other cookie cutters. However, the shortbread cookies took twice the time to be baked. They were not Walkers standard, but they tasted quite good.

After washing up and filling 12 cookie jars between us, we finally stopped work at about 6 in the evening. After helping to direct Karen to Tampines Mall in the car, I met up with Pete later in the evening to get more pressies and sweet bundles wrapped for X'mas.

It was fun spending the day baking, and I hope we can do it again next year!

Sticky Chewy Chocolate mix

Filling our cookie jars with the odd blob shapes Sticky Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Karen rolling the Shortbread dough

Shortbread cookies before heading into the oven

The completed product - Howard 's nice acrylic decor for Karen's jars, while I dressed mine with ribbons

Fond Memories

Pete's early X'mas present to me came last weekend in the form of a set of fond childhood memories!

I mentioned to him that my colleagues and I were just reminiscing about books by Enid Blyton that we all read throughout our childhood, and how I especially love Malory Towers, and the sweet guy decided to bring back those memories for me this X'mas.

Malory Towers is set in an all-girls boarding school in Cornwall, and revolves around Darrell Rivers and her friends as they progress their way up the school from being young first years to the more developed sixth years. There is the spoilt girl (Gwendoline Mary), the cowardly girl (Mary-Lou), and other girls who join each year, and together with the classroom tricks and midnight feasts, they make this set a great read. Thinking back, it's funny how we used to shape our characters (or rather I did) according to some of the main characters in Enid Blyton's stories. I used to think I am Darrell Rivers, and am attending a boarding school with all these fun friends, and my mom is the headmistress or something hahahaha!

Other stories by Enid Blyton that have left deep impressions on me also include The Magic Faraway Tree series, which has this special tree in The Enchanted Wood inhabited by characters like Moonface, Silky (the fairy), and The Saucepan Man. Every week, at the top of the tree, a new magic land appears, which the 3 children, Jo, Bessie, and Fanny (who live nearby the wood) can visit; but they have to leave before the land "moves on", or they could be stuck in that land when it is replaced by a new land at the top of the tree. I remember one of the lands that appeared was the Nursery Rhyme Land, where the children met characters from the different nursery rhymes. There are many other interesting lands, but I can't remember them now. It's been a really long time.

And who could forget the Secret Seven and their secret meetings, passwords, and their dog, Scamper. The numerous little mysteries they solved, and the cookies and lemonade they always have during their secret meetings. When it comes to solving mysteries and exciting adventures, we will have to hand it to The Famous Five as well, in a world where ginger beer is the staple beverage, and George is actually a girl called Georgina, who wants so much to be treated as a boy.

I am looking forward to starting on my new books, and begin my adventures again with Darrell Rivers and her friends at Malory Towers. Thanks Pete, for this great gift. It's one of the best gifts ever! It will be a great addition to our "library" in the future. A pity the new covers make the characters look like they are from the Rugrats cartoon, and nothing like the classic covers before, but it's the content that matters ya :)

Anyone wants to get me the The Magic Faraway Tree Series next...?

Christmas is coming~

Hello! I realise that I have not been updating for a long time and left the duty to my responsible co-author, ah mi. So in a rare appearance, here i am! Ta da!

Christmas is coming and its my first Christmas in Singapore since I started working back in 2005. The past 2 Christmas was spent holed up in my room back in Korea, but luckily it was much better during the Christmas of 06 as I kinda spent it with ah mi. ;-)

This Christmas is different. I'm spending this Christmas with my family, my friends and most importantly, my loved one. (Gosh am i allowed to say that here? *blush*) Anyway, this Christmas is gonna be awesome!

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I sounded cheerful up there, didn't I? Well, that's one side of what I am feeling now.. Work is sort of dragging me down to the dumps. Feeling kinda a little jaded already. I've been working for barely 3 years and I'm feeling jaded already. Fantastic isn't it? Maybe its just this period where the load is quite heavy bah.

In addition, the housing situation in Singapore seems rather bleak, adding misery to my already "sian" mood. Not to mention the financial planning to bring ah mi and I to the next step of our lives. It can be quite intimidating to think of the figure needed to get married. (including housing and stuff) Intimidating, but can be done with proper planning and discipline. After all, so many other people can afford to get married, why can't we? :-P

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Having said how sian I feel at times, I decided that a little retail therapy is needed in order to cheer myself up. And I decided on a..... WIIIIIIIIIII!!! I mean a Nintendo Wii. Yah, its a toy, for boys, for geeks, or boyish geeks, or geekish boys. Whatever, cos I am a geek and I'm a boy (and I'm proud of it!) For those who don't know what a Wii is, let moi enlighten you.

Ta da! Isn't it a beauty? With this, I'm really looking to some Starwars game that I can play with my dad. He can be Darth Vader and I'll just have to settle for Luke Skywalker.

Well... Something just cropped up so I'll just stop here for now. Ciao!

Festive Spirit

Christmas is approaching, and it's the season for gift-hunting. I received an early X'mas present from Karen last week. She has been bugging me to let her know what I would like to receive from her for X'mas. I could not come up with anything, till we were at Takashimaya's Crabtree and Evelyn section. A few years back, she gave me a Nantucket Briar travel set from Crabtree and Evelyn containing bath and shower gel, soap, powder, body lotion and so on for Christmas. It smelt so nice and refreshing, I could not bear to use it. Instead, I left the set in my cupboard for my clothes to soak up the smell, and they did. Till today, that set still smells good.

Hence, last week, I requested for another set of Nantucket Briar so I could finally use the one in my cupboard, and use this new set as my "diffusion" set. I remembered what Karen said after paying for it: "Use your old set first ya." So on Saturday, I took out my old Nantucket Briar set, all prepared to use it and smell nice and fresh.

New vs. Old Nantucket Briar Bath & Shower Gel

Ewww... With lesson learnt, I have started using my new Nantucket Briar Bath & Shower Gel that I received last week. Ha ha!

Received a gingerbread man at work this week. I must say he is the biggest around that I have seen.

We will be having a Christmas lunch party at work next Friday. Seems there is lots of good food lined up. There will be lots more of pigging out during the next few weeks, so hopefully, my throat, which has been giving me some trouble since the weekend, will recover by then. Meanwhile, I will have to catch up on my X'mas shopping this weekend!

Grandma's Night Out

Several years back, my cousin, Suping, and I, took our grandma to Orchard Road to view the Christmas lights, as well as to soak up the festive spirit. This year, my aunt reminded us of the "tradition", and Suping and I decided to carry on with it.

So came last Sunday, Suping, Pete and myself took Grandma out. We started with dinner at Tiong Bahru Market. Back in the good old days when Grandma could still walk with ease, and Grandpa was still around, they would visit my family and me every Saturday, and took me to dinner at Tiong Bahru Market. I thought it would be a good idea for her to see the renovated market, as well as eat some of ther favourite food there. We shared some chee cheong fun, Tau Kua Pok, fried carrot cake, and ice-kachang.

Happy Grandma with food

After dinner, we proceeded on with the car ride to Orchard for Grandma to enjoy the Christmas lights and decor. The last time we took her, she was able to get off the car and walked a little, but this time round, as her legs were too weak, she was only able to enjoy it all from inside the car. When we reached town, we started pointing out the major departmental stores to her. She surprised us all by recollecting the old days when she went to Robinsons, John Little, and Metro. It even put Pete to shame that she knew more about Orchard than he did! ;)

As we reached the Marina area, Grandma became less chatty, and started nodding off. Guess this little outing was a little tiring for her. As we were approaching Grandma's home, she gave us a little shock by throwing up her dinner. Poor Grandma had motion sickness :(

Although it was not that much time spent with Grandma that evening, but I'm sure she was very happy to have us around. She stays alone, and with her weak legs, she is not able to go anywhere without help, and her outings are mostly confined to the doctors' for her regular check-ups. The TV is her only companion at home, and other than family members' occasional visits, she is just facing the four walls at home. I'm sure she feels very lonely most of the time, and will welcome any form of company, especially from family members. I remember fondly of the days when she and Grandpa would take the bus around to eat, to visit us, sometimes to visit their friends. They would always arm themselves with nice snacks and food when visiting us. With that in mind, I really think I should drop by her place more often, especially when Pete stays quite near her.

We should definitely carry on the Christmas "tradition" too, and hopefully my sister would be able to join us next year to make it a complete "grand-daughters" outing.

One for the album

Wassup With Us

It's been a long time since we updated our blog. On this cool Saturday afternoon, we are seating together for this entry to update what we have been up to for the past few weeks, and here's wassup with us:

• 8 Nov - Being a public holiday, we decided to attempt our Lemon Cheesecake at Pete's place. Once again, it was not a successful attempt. The taste was there, but the texture was too gooey. Perhaps, it was due to the condensed milk (instead of evaporated milk), the wrong measure of gelatin or even cheese used, that may have resulted in the heavy cake. Nevertheless, the taste was rather good, and here's our end result:
  
  

  

  
  
  
• 9 Nov - We celebrated Pete's birthday a day earlier. Brought him to Jack's Place for dinner, and ordered a Tiramisu cake. Arranged a little "surprise" for the cake to be brought out by the restaurant staff with the birthday song being played over the speakers, however, the birthday boy was highly suspicious of the way the restaurant manager reacted when I gave my name when we first entered the restaurant. Hence, the "surprise" was spoilt. Sigh...it's alright, as Pete does not really enjoy being the centre of attention in public. Ok, ok, no more next time lor....okie?
  

  

  
  Incidentally, it was Pete's first time wearing pink. Way to go, dude!

• There was another surprise later on in the night. This surprise was far more unexpected than the "surprise" planned for the birthday boy earlier. Ironically, this latter surprise was planned by the birthday boy himself. Let's just say, this surprise came with a scrapbook, bended knees and the acceptance of a ring. With this, we started on our quest for our love nest. We joined our first queue with the queue number of 6649 for the flats in Jurong West. Not surprisingly, the available flats were snatched up before the queue hit 3000. However, we have to soldier on like all couples out there, and try out for the next ballot exercise in December.

• 10 Nov - We attended Pete's cousin's wedding, and it was my first time meeting his extended family. I must say they are a pretty crazy bunch (in a good way, of course). Throughout the dinner, there was much laughter, alcohol, and crazy pranks involved (not necessarily just for the bride and groom ha ha!). *Pete's mental note: keep them away from the drinks station, and lock away all hard liquor next time*

• 21 Nov - The month of November saw the demise of my phone, or rather the charger. After some thought, I decided to get a new phone, rather than replacing the charger for my old one. Now, I am the proud owner of a Samsung U600 - the Ultra Edition II. Currently, it is the world's slimmest slider phone, with a thickness of 10.9mm. Sleek as it is, it has its glitches too. For one, the battery life is the shortest I have experienced so far, and it has the tendency to reset, often in the middle of a long message.


• 24 - 25 November - As part of Pete's birthday present, I treated him to a spa session at Tea Tree Spa at the Holiday Inn Resort in Batam. After scouting around for some time, I decided to heed my friends' recommendation and try out Tea Tree Spa. Our spa session comprised of a body scrub and a massage. It was a totally relaxing experience, as the ambience there was very laid-back and rustic. In addition to the soft, soothing sounds of nature being played in the background, the massage was good as our knotted muscles were kneaded out slowly. Comparatively, the prices there were better than those found here, and we will definitely be back.

  
  
  

  

• Today - Finally, the exterminators came to my place today and got into action. Corners and cupboards were sprayed, and gel was applied. Lastly, fogging was done outside the house. Hopefully, we will see some results. I met Pete for lunch at his parents' canteen, and were stuffed with delicious nasi lemak. We went back to Pete's place after that and set up the Christmas tree. I personally like the ornaments as they are very old school. They look handcrafted, and I doubt they can be found in shops anymore. They conjure visions of spending Christmas night in front of a fireplace, accompanied by hot chocolate with marshmellows, in the company of loved ones, with snowfall outside the windows. Oooh....maybe add a golden retriever lying beside me too. This is how I hope to spend Christmas one day... Meanwhile, our end product:
  

  

  
  

  

Whoa! We have actually spent a few hours in front of the PC. Time for dinner. We will be heading to IMM. Till then, ciao!