Mr A to Z

He was awesome. He amazed us with his free range of vocals. He made everyone laugh. He was charming. The only thing that left me wondering at the end of it all was "Where's the encore?"

P said encores are a thing of the past. Nowadays, when a show ends, it ends. No amount of cajoling, screaming or foot stomping would get the artiste to return to the stage. They turn the lights back on as soon as the last song ends. Period.

Somehow, we miss his Mosaic days, performing to an intimate crowd. But of course, a talent like him never stays "hidden" for long. Can't believe that after 2 years, the man is performing to sold-out concerts!

Here are some photos, sussed out from a whole lot of crappy ones, heh!

When CY is bored, she

Twiddles her thumbs
Stares into space
Yawns incessantly
Loses her train of thought
Has a short attention span
Speaks illogically
Starts obsessing
Watches a lot of TV
Complains that life sucks
Is crabby and antisocial
Checks her email every 3 minutes
Reads all status updates on FB
Leaves comments on blogs and FB
Looks like a dead duck
Dreads tomorrow
Looks forward to the weekend
Wishes time would fly
Dreams of quitting her job
Fantasizes about her new pad
Wonders what her friends are doing
Can't stop thinking about food
Writes nonsense on her blog

Pictures of my new toys

Here's the very pretty new silvery Macbook of mine. Downloaded the programs that I usually use, Firefox, MSN messenger, camera applications and now it's fully operational. Just need to find a way to transfer my files over from the old iBook.

New kid on the block with the white-turned-yellow-turned-grey oldie that I still adore (even though it's slow as hell and not as purrfect as it used to be).

Oh look! My new makeup pouch from none other than onebowl. Check out the lucky draw she held to select the winners of the boxy pouch contest here and here. I'm loving the pouch as it's such a nice size and shape. There's nothing in it so far except my powder and blusher...plenty of room for more!

OutRaged

The IT department never ceases to amuse me with their very serious emails announcing a system outRage on this-and-that day. I would always wonder how a seemingly innocent system shutdown could tantamount to an outRage.

I didn't realise my folly until I saw the "Scheduled outage at 4:00PM PST" warning on blogger.com. Could this outage be the same outRage I had in mind? Could blogger.com have committed a spelling error?

In times of linguistic uncertainties like these, I had to google outage to find out if the word really exists. Sure enough, it's a perfectly legit word. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines "outage" as

1: a quantity or bulk of something lost in transportation or storage
2 a: a failure or interruption in use or functioning b: a period of interruption especially of electric current

I'm quite appalled with myself, not because I didn't know this word before, but because I've just proven myself right - that I'm as blind as a batty old bat. Why do IT people have to confuse us with technical jargons like this? Why can't they use proper terms, like "shutdown" or "interruption" or just say it in more words "the system will be unavailable...".

Anyway, like what I always like to say, we learn something new everyday.....

The Blind Bat

My new Macbook came yesterday and to my surprise, it's silver and not the black I was expecting! Haha The silver's really cool, but I couldn't believe that I actually thought it was black so I went back to the website, and there it was, loud and clear.

Precision aluminum unibody enclosure.
Machined from a solid piece of aluminum, the new MacBook not only looks stunning, it's also thinner, lighter, greener, and more powerful than ever.

Was I blind, or what?

New baby

My spanking new Macbook is on its way to me! Woohoo! Check out the little beauty...



I'm not trying to sound like a Mac evangelist, but seriously, Apple's just got a way to get you hooked on its products. I started off with the iBook and I've been using it for 6 years? Initially, I experienced some teething problems and within 2 weeks of my purchase, the hard drive went kapoot...but other than that, using the iBook was easy-peasy! When I contemplated getting a new laptop, there was no question I was going to get another Mac! I still love my white-turned-greyish-yellow iBook, but don't you think the black looks uber cool and stylish?

I've also got the ipod nano which I've been using for 3 years and it's still in excellent working condition but I'm toying with the idea of getting a new ipod soon? Heh, maybe when I feel rich enough!

Mr Mraz is coming to Singapore

...on the 5th of March 2009!



My darling P has such quick fingers! He bought the tickets to surprise me for V-day and it was supposed to be a secret till then...but he couldn't contain his excitement and spilled the beans!

Thank you my dear boy! :)

Damn that slipper thief

3 months or so ago, I had a pair of my favourite (green) Havaianas slippers stolen. In its heyday, it looked real groovy and cool but after 5 years of wear and tear, the last I remember of it, it looked dirty and disgusting. At that time, I was thinking who in their right mind would want a pair of old and crummy flip flops? To even pick up a pair that's not my own seems gross and unhygienic to me. Ugh. On the bright side, I had 2 pairs outside and I was thankful that the thief didn't steal the pair that I liked better (plain boring brown pair).

After the incident, I did my best to keep the brown pair in the house, but of course, I grew complacent and forgot now and then. 2 days ago, the worst happened - the brown pair got snitched! I bet it's the same thief and I hope that idiot trips and falls flat on his/her face in those lovely flip flops of mine.

It really makes me wonder if the thief is a worker or neighbour? I've got size 6 feet so it's probably a girl or teen? My very helpful landlord took the trouble to walk around our level and a few levels up and/or down to see if he could rescue my slippers, but his efforts were in vain.

So...the verdict is, if you live in a HDB flat, never ever leave your slippers outside and take it for granted that no one's gonna steal it coz it's just a pair of smelly slippers. The slipper thief obviously knew how to tell a branded pair from an ordinary pair. Just look at my neighbour's unharrassed ugly Batas?

So, 3 pairs stolen in total...one for each year in Queenstown. I am not beaten - I have a new pair stashed away for emergencies like this, and I'm gonna make sure this pair stays with me for a long, long time!

The Big Day

8th January 2009 marked the 2nd time I became a "jiemei" to a good friend who held her customary wedding on that day. There's a hearsay that a single girl should become a "jiemei" not more than 3 times - anything exceeding that just destroys her chances of becoming a bride herself. This means that I only have 1 chance left - Kaybo, that's definitely reserved for you! :)

Personally, I find the Chinese traditional wedding very meaningful. I must admit that I don't understand the whole extent of it, but I found the tea ceremony bit very very touching and some moments almost reduced me to tears.

Anyway, the "jiemei" (me!) doubled up as a photographer as well, and here are some of my favourite shots of the day.

Lots and lots of moolah! This certainly came as a shocker to me, as the groom dispensed with the many "big" angpows with small money and instead presented us with the one and only BIG andpow with a wad of blues in them!

Leaving for the groom's place - my other co-"jiemeis" looking pretty in the morning sun.

At the groom's place...

Having a morning snack of sweet soup and bao. The groom had to feed the bride! That was such an old-fashioned gesture but sweet!

The groom's "brudders"!

Luci playing around with the groom's spanking new G10!

PMP applying lip gloss for the bride before the tea ceremony.

The bride and groom were posing for the professional, but the poses were so cute I had to snap as well!

One of the "brudders" looking pensive...

This picture came out a tad dark, but it's one of my favourites nonetheless! I like the expectant look on the bride's face.

I saw the photos taken by the professional and I must say my photos really pale in comparison! I'm toying with the idea of getting a SLR in 1-2 years' time? Maybe, maybe.....

Shawn & YJ's pre-wedding celebrations!

My experience with the G9 has been pretty good so far. Only problem are night shots. Without flash, they turn out reasonably well if my hands are perfectly still. With flash, pictures always look glazed and unnatural? Perhaps it's time for me to get a tripod!

So, the only 2 photos from dinner last night at The Wine Company will have to suffice.





Seriously Jason, I don't get the "I'm on the phone" pose at all!!!

1:16:38

This was my running time for the Stanchart 10km run. Not too bad, I'd say :)

I found some rather unflattering photos of myself from the Stanchart website.

This one ain't too bad except the guy in front of me seems to be the main subject and I look like one of the "calefare" girls in the background. And the guy's not even cute! Hmmpphh!

This picture shows an unfit and fat me. My footsteps look to small to be running.

They really need better photographers next year. Who would feel enticed to buy photos that are unflattering like that?!?!

Margarita's

Found a fellow Mexican food lover in Luci! It was the first time us girls hung out together on a weekday in Singapore, I think! Usually, it's lunch at the boring Raffles Place area - at Fion's favourite high-class Killiney.

We headed to the Dempsey area and chose Margarita's, a Mexican restaurant. It's been a while since I've dined at a proper Mexican restaurant. The last time was donkey years ago at this Mexican joint at the Siglap area. Think it was for food tasting with Stef? Anyway, most of the time, I satisfy my penchant for Mexican food with quesadillas from Taco Bell and Dorito nacho chips (yea I know, how sad is that).

We had a tough time deciding what to order as I don't eat lamb, Luci, lamb, pork and mussels and Fion, beef. So we compromised and ordered chicken & shrimp fajitas, pork carnitas and nachos. For drinks, we went alcoholic with sangria.

The food was really good! The nachos were a lil' soft and unlike the crisp Dorito ones but I'm not sure if they're supposed to taste like that. They came heaped with jalapenos, sour cream and cheese and tasted so good! The shrimps and pork were darn tasty but the chicken was tough. And the sangria, ooh it was definitely strong. Luci and I took turns to go red! :)

Ambience was nice, though I would have liked to sit out on the verandah. I'm really keen to go back again and also to try Cafe Iguana that Luci suggested! Yeah!

The LV Fan

Shopping with my guy friend, J, was a very interesting experience. First up, J is the biggest and not to mention well informed LV fan I know. He carries an epi leather LV bag that he claims only connoisseurs of LV would recognise. His belt is, you guessed right, of LV descent and it has a flashy LV buckle you won't miss.

This boy got a LV toiletries bag for his birthday and wanted to exchange it for something else. So J, me and 2 other friends trotted into the LV boutique at Takashimaya in search of the worthy replacement(s).

I was so amused with this friend of mine. From the noisy bantering with the salesgirl, loud rejections of certain "piratable" models and proclamations that LV is "recession-proof", he broke down the reserve of the aloof salesgirl and made her laugh.

He finally settled on a LV ring but expressed his genuine concern as to when he would wear it as he's got flashier and more expensive diamond rings in his possession that would beat this palladium one flat. Anyway dear, I wiki-ed palladium and here are certain excerpts that may be of interest to you:

"Palladium, along with platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium form a group of elements referred to as the platinum group metals (PGMs)."

"Palladium is also tarnish resistant, electrically stable and resistant to chemical erosion as well as intense heat."

I love J's honesty and candid outbursts! He is true to himself and doesn't try to be someone whom he's not. He's sincere and would never hesitate to go all out to help his friends (he even helps friends wrap presents if they are hopeless at it and he claims he can do it in one-tenth of their time). He's the eternal optimist. At times, he can be so brutally frank, but never malicious, that it's funny.

As I grow older, I realise that surrounding myself with positive people like J makes me forget my incessant grievances and grouses about life (albeit temporarily) and slows down the "getting-jaded" process. Thank you my friend :)

X'mas car boot sale

I'm gonna participate in a car boot sale with Maesy at ECP in 3 weeks' time! Details are as follows:

Location: Playground @ Big Splash
Dates: 20 & 21 December 2008
Time: 10am to 10pm

For information on how to get there or if you're interested in participating in this event, please go to http://www.sgcarbootsale.com/index.html

I wiki-ed car booth sales and this is what it said:

"Car boot sales are a mainly British form of market in which private individuals come together to sell household and garden goods. The term refers to the selling of items from a car's boot (U.K.) (or trunk in the U.S.). Although a small proportion of sellers are professional traders selling new goods or seconds, the goods on sale are often used but no longer wanted personal possessions. Car boot sales are a way of focusing a large group of people in one place to recycle still useful but unwanted domestic items that previously would have been thrown away. Car boot sales generally take place within the summer months, however a growing trend of indoor boot sales and all year hard-standing outdoor boot sales are now appearing in some parts of the UK. Car boot sales are also very popular in parts of Australia, and have a growing presence in Europe."

Yayy! I just spent 2 hours digging out stuff that I wanna sell. My wardrobe has shrunk by a third and is breathing a lot easier now. Between Maesy and me, we're gonna be selling t-shirts, skirts, dresses, tops, bags and accessories. I'll be hawking stuff from Abercrombie, Zara, Song & Kelly, Topshop, Mango, Forever 21, American Eagles, Delias, Urbanoutfitters, Gap, etc! Everything's gonna be priced really cheap ($10 to $20). If you're not doing anything that weekend, do do do come down to support us or just say hi! :)

Shopping in times of a financial crisis

I've been telling myself that I should tighten my belt and stop splurging on clothes, shoes and bags! A basic dress from Zara costs $89.90 at least and a shirt $75. I could easily get a simple top for $20-$30 in the past, but nowadays, they're really pricey, probably in the region of $40-$60?

Before these bad times, it was perfectly natural to go shopping on weekends and buy that dress that you fancied without giving it too much thought. Last week, I was told by my company's HR department not to expect too much from the bonus and pay increment next year. That made me think, and especially in the face of mounting financial liabilities, I thought it prudent to cut down on purchasing non-essentials.

Yet, girls being girls, what's the pleasure in life if we can't shop? Surely we are entitled to shop a little to pamper ourselves from time to time? Not to mention that I looked in my wardrobe the other day and realised that I didn't have enough tops for work. Thus, I thought hard about it and came up with a few ways to feed my shopping pangs without burning a hole in my pocket (as long as I continue to stay employed, that is).

1. Flea markets

I went to the flea market at Haji lane today and got myself 3 very nice tops at $10 each! Some of the tops needed alterations to make them shorter but otherwise, they were perfect for work!

Alternatively, join a flea market and sell your old clothes to finance your acquisitions of new ones!

2. Join sprees

Take advantage of the ailing pound and shop at UK online sites. Try ASOS for really nice cocktail or party dresses! Those on sale are as cheap as 8 pounds! And instead of ordering directly from the site, join a spree on _spreee or sgspree. Or host your own spree (you need a lot of time to do this)! Even after you add up your share of the shipping cost, a dress will not cost more than $50.

3. Cheap local shops

Explore small, local shops that you never thought of going before. I've walk past these shops so often but never bothered to venture in because the arrogant me have always associated these shops with bad quality and being common. But I ventured into one of them (it was called Sixties) on Saturday and made away with a simple shirt for less than $30. And mind you, it wasn't even on discount! The trick is to buy simple, understated apparel and not the bright, recognisable ones!

4. Redeem shopping vouchers from credit card points

Redeem those credit points amassed from past shopping sprees for shopping vouchers! I usually get Tangs, Isetan or Robinsons vouchers. That way, you won't feel the pinch when you do buy something.

5. Sniff out the special bargains

In light of decreased consumer spending, it's no wonder that there are sales going on everywhere! As we all know, sales doesn't mean cheap. My advice is to head straight for the "special bargains" rack and suss out the 50-70% discount items! Forget about normal priced items, even if there's a 10-20% discount carrot dangling right in your face. Not good enough!!

6.Set targets

It's a sure-die situation if you set out shopping with an open mind and not knowing what you want to get. For example, I needed work tops so I concentrated only on these when I went shopping over the weekend. Avoid buying things that you don't really need, even if they are super cheap.

If you're the obsessive compulsive shopper who never has enough clothes, bags, shoes etc, set targets for yourself when you go shopping, like how much you would be willing to pay for a pair of heels, etc. Here's my very own guide:

Dress (work/cocktail) - $50
Dress (casual) - $30
Tops (work) - $30
Tops (casual) - $20
Bottoms (work) - $50
Bottoms (casual) - $30
Shoes (heels) - $30
Bags - AVOID at all cost (literally and figuratively!)

Abstinence is still the best policy but sometimes, the more deliberate the avoidance, the stronger the urge!!!

Another long wait

Visited the condo yesterday to check on its progress. 10 floors are completed now, but it was obvious that the expected TOP date of 31 December 2008 cannot be met.

I decided to call the developer to check on the status and was referred to this lady Catherine. She nearly caused my blood to reach boiling point, I tell ya. She replied "I think..." to every question I asked, and when I asked her if she could confirm or transfer me to someone who knew the answers, she told me to check with my lawyers. Erm hello? If I had heard from my lawyer, I wouldn't be calling you right? To make matters worse, she kept interrupting me throughout the conversation and verbally shoo-ed me off the phone by telling me "you check with your lawyers bye!" Notice no full-stop between "you check with your lawyers" and "bye". I was not even given the chance to talk!

I called my lawyer and he confirmed that he had not received any letter. He also (quite sarcastically, in my opinion) asked, "Why? So eager to get the keys ah?". Hello? I'm not some rich girl buying the condo to host parties or for my tiny pooch to live in? Of course I am waiting to get my keys and move in so that I can stop paying rent! Moreover, if you are expecting something you bought to be delivered to you on a stipulated date but it doesn't arrive, surely the right is yours to enquire the next delivery date? I then asked him whether he can call the developer to find out, and he said that it was not necessary, "we will hear from them once the keys are ready". What the ?!?!@?#@?$@%?$

I refused to give up and called that Catherine woman again. She obviously wasn't too pleased to hear from me again, but at least, she had bothered to recall some files, done her homework and was able to give me some decent answers in a civilised manner. God! Professionalism is almost non-existent in customer service these days.

So the million dollar question: When's the new expected TOP? It's freaking JUNE 2009! I'm definitely expecting to be compensated for this huge delay man...oh well, on the bright side, it'll coincide with the Great Singapore Sale so hopefully, I'd be able to get my furniture and electronics at a huge discount.

The Lady reigns

When I was in Japan, I pocketed a lot of the free tea bags from hotel rooms. Typically, that's not my style, but I'm a big tea drinker so when I saw the interesting tea bags, I just couldn't resist.

Recently, I was looking through these tea bags and this one caught my attention.


Everyone's heard of and tasted Earl Grey, I'm sure, but his partner, Lady Earl is quite unheard of. Curious, I steeped the tea bag in hot water and waited. The scent emanating from the tea was very pleasant, it smelled like a milder and fruitier version of Earl Grey. The taste? It was very delicate and fragnant, and it definitely soothed and calmed my spirits (not that I was anywhere near worked up though). I would love to enjoy this tea with a yummy muffin on a breezy afternoon, and armed with a good book.

I wikied Lady Grey and found out that it consists of black tea scented with oil of bergamot, lemon peel and orange peel. That explains why it tasted fruity!

I like to drink the tea hot, as all teas should be drunk, but another favourite variation is to chill the tea and add Haagen Daz vanilla ice cream to it. That's just pure heaven.

Construction in progress

My new place. TOP is supposed to be end of this year but look how "fast" it's coming up...

Only 7 out of 17 floors.

Looks like my goal to have X'mas here is too ambitious!

Mt Fuji & Hakone

Day 7: Mt Fuji & Kawaguchi-ko

Getting to Lake Kawaguchi was no easy feat. From Osaka, we had to transfer trains twice to get to Kawaguchi-ko station and then another hour by bus to our hotel. The journey took 6.5 hours, and by the time we got to the hotel, it was already late afternoon. Here's the beautiful view that greeted us from our hotel, Konansou.

Service was personalized in this hotel. We had an obahsan taking care of our every needs. She brewed green tea for us when we arrived, showed us where the yukatas (Japanese robes) and futons were kept, got our dinner ready in a private room and even gave us a call to remind us about dinner. As I was the one who made the hotel booking, my last name was neatly transcripted onto this reservation slip.
We decided not to venture too far from our hotel as we didn't have much time before dinner. All voted in favour of the Mt. Kachi Kachi ropeway which will bring us to the top of a hill for a view of Mt. Fuji, if we were lucky enough. We did catch a glimpse of the elusive Mt. Fuji but the photo's nothing to brag about.
Bird's eye view of Lake Kawaguchi.
At the top of the hill, there was a heart-shaped metal structure with a bell in the middle. We weren't quite sure of the story behind this but all couples were already busy posing for photos...so who cares? I suppose it's a sort of good-luck love charm - if you take a photo here, you will be bestowed with eternal love and happiness. That's my version :)
Posing with the Kachi-kachi friends.
View of Lake Kawaguchi. The swan boats are available for rental to paddle around Lake Kawaguchi. As it was getting dark and cold, we gave this a pass.

Evening view of Lake Kawaguchi.
Dinner time! Us gals all dressed up in yukata. Don't we look the part of sweet, demure Japanese schoolgirls?
Can't say the same for the guys though...the one on the left looks gangster-ish, the one on the right seems to be picking at his food, and the one in the middle just escaped from Disneyland (check out his Mickey mouse ears)!
This was the kaiseki dinner we had. From top left clockwise: steaming udon in crab soup, grilled steak with mushroom and asparagus, curried pork, assorted sashimi, a tiny marinated sardine, tofu and an appetiser dish (made up of a tiny perfectly-shaped octopus, raw fish and Japanese escargot?). Verdict? Only the udon, steak and sashimi were palatable. The curried pork, according to my friends, tasted like dog food. And the rest just tasted weird.
Day 8: Picturesque Hakone

We had breakfast at Konansou the next morning. Breakfast was similar to dinner, we were given a tray filled with an assortment of small and "interesting" dishes. Sadly, the food looked better than it tasted and we were disappointed. What really turned us off was a small cockroach running around in our dining room! We hurriedly finished the edible stuff and got ready to set off for Hakone.

Like Mt. Fuji, Hakone wasn't easy to get to. We had to take a bus from Kawaguchi-ko station to Gotemba station, and then another bus to get to Lodge Fujimien, our hotel in Hakone. The view from our room really wowed us, enough for us to momentarily forget the stale/stinky smell in our room. But I thought the hotel was decent.

Our initial plan was to go to Yunnesun, a hot spring theme park in Hakone. But the owner of Lodge Fujimien, Mrs. R Abe (who spoke impeccable English, by the way) dissuaded us from going. So we ended up whiling our time away grabbing lunch at Togendai (near Lake Ashi), strolling around and soaking in the fresh air and beautiful scenery.

My G9 was on auto mode but it just couldn't capture all of us in the air together. Mr Lee was undoubtedly the best jumper in our group! The worst 2 were Ms Vong, who was too hungry to jump and Tyre, who was supposed to count down to each jump but not a single photo captured him in the air. Definitely not a multi-tasker, this boy.I love these shots of us standing around in a staggered fashion - gives the photo depth!
This is the 2nd series of the "wedding" style photos. The grass was so green and inviting! Here's Ms To and tyre in the "we're-more-than-just friends" pose.
The Vongs in the "we're-so-kawaii" pose.
And Mr Lee and I in the "we-have-long-legs" pose.
One of the very rare group photos that we have. We shared a private joke about bedroom habits here (Hahaha).
After lunch, someone (I can't remember who) suggested going to Lawson (chain convenience store in Japan) which we glimpsed from the bus on the way to our hotel. We decided to try walking there as we desperately wanted to load up on beer (to avoid a sleepless night) and snacks (we weren't expecting to get filled up by our 2nd kaiseki dinner, obviously).
The 6 of us walked from Togendai in search of Lawson. We walked...and walked...and walked...but Lawson was no where to be seen. By this time, we had walked for about an hour I reckon and a few members of our troop had started to show signs of fatigue and wanted to drop out of the search. Mr Lee and I decided to persist, despite the threatening dark clouds weighing heavy on us.
YES! We found Lawson 20 minutes after our friends deserted us! I insisted on taking a picture of it to remind ourselves that we made it there! Boy were we exhausted!
2nd kaiseki dinner @ Lodge Fujimien. Again, we didn't enjoy the dinner too much. The plum wine was darn good though!
And of course, the instant noodles, snacks and beer came in useful!