on hols

good luck charm

andie gave mi a good luck ‘charm’ for my trip tml

keeping fingers and toes crossed tat it works!

Free Your Mind

it’s often our thinking tat leds us to believe tat we r in more dire circumstances den we actualli r. so cleanse ur mind & b free!

Many years ago there was a young man living in Korea, who felt that his life was quite empty. So he shaved his head and went up into the mountains to live the life of a monk.

He studied diligently for a number of years, but still felt that he did not really understand how to be free.

The young man had heard of certain Zen masters living in China so he gathered his meager belongings and started a long and arduous journey across arid plains.

Every day he would walk for many hours, and would stop only after finding a patch of land that had a source of water. Finding water was not a simple task in such dry lands.

There were many times he had to walk until late in the evening before finding a suitable location in which to rest and be refreshed.

One day was particularly hot, and the monk walked on endlessly, unable to find an oasis.

When he did finally find a shaded area he collapsed on the ground and slept for several hours. He woke up some time after midnight and he was tremendously thirsty. He crawled around on his hands and knees in the darkness, and ran across a roughly made cup that must have been left by a previous traveler.

The custom of leaving a cup with some water in it, for the next traveler to drink from was quite common.

He drank the meager amount of water in the cup and he felt very blessed and very at peace with the world. He lay down again and slept quite comfortably.

The next day, upon waking up, he saw what the night before, he had taken to be the roughly made cup. It was the shattered skull of a baby wolf. The skull was caked with dried blood, and numerous insects were floating on the surface of the small quantity of filthy rain water still left at the bottom.

The monk saw all of this and immediately started to vomit. He had a great wave of nausea, and as the fluid poured forth from his mouth, it was as if his mind was being cleansed.

He immediately felt a deep sense of understanding.

Last night, since he couldn’t see he assumed that he had found a cup which had been left by a fellow traveler. The water tasted delicious. This morning, upon seeing the skull, the thought of what he had done the night before made him sick to his stomach. He understood that it was his thinking, and not the water, that made him feel ill.

It was his thinking that created good and bad, right and wrong, delicious and foul tasting. With no thinking there was no suffering.

Bling Bling

i found my Bling Bling name from the beautiful nameplates i saw on the forum of ’wat to expect’ site.

the mums reli did up their fotos and profiles so nicely

luv scrolling thru their picts

so now, my name is super BLING!

YY’s spelling

in all fairess to YY, i should post tis

his spelling results have steadily improved and maintained at 8/10 tis semester

he hasn’t been getting his spelling bk back for the past 3 wks and when he showed mi his book yest, i saw tat he got full marks 3 spellings in a row

it’s reli not how difficult the words r tat matters but how willing he is to learn coz he even got words like hippopotamus and rhinoceros rite

hopefully he can keep up the good work

sore bottoms

i was browsing the ‘wat to expect’ site and came across diaper rash 101

a subject tat is so close to a mum’s heart & i forgot to tell marie abt tis!

wif disposable diapers, babies r almost certain to suffer from some degree of diaper rash

my advice :

1. change diapers diligently – yes, diapers will burn a HUGE hole in ur pocket so be prepared to drive across the causeway juz to save some $$ when stocking up
2. use a good diaper cream – QQ & YY used drapolene but kerri’s bum was so bad, we used desitin
3. minimise the use of wipes – wipes contain chemicals or soap as mum puts it which is reli bad for bb’s skin.  wipes r great for cleaning up big business but always finish the diaper job by washing wif water.  one convenient way is to pre-wash the whole bottle of wipes or rinse the wipes wif water before use.

party hats

mission of the nite : to make QQ party hat for the children’s day party tml

result : both YY & QQ got party hats tat they designed themselves

i haf beli limited creative juice so i juz did the stapling and pasting

they r obviously beli pleased wif their work

what to expect

i heard abt tis title but i prefer to get my info online or via mag rather den read a bk

well, the ‘wat to expect when u r expecting’ series sounds like a bible on pregnancy

marie swears by it and has been faithfully reading chapter by chapter as she progresses thru her preggie days

i oredi noe there r sequels for wat to expect during the first yr and toddler yrs

surprise!  surprise!  when i got the wat-to-expect website link from mypoints

btw, i luv mypoints.  if u intend to join, let mi noe so i can refer u

boy(s) and gameboys

sometimes i wonder y bro strongly encouraged mi to get YY a gameboy else YY will b ‘deprived’

and QQ has been asking for HER gameboy too

wow!  they start younger and younger

weird pose?  tell mi abt it

temperamental camera

 cam is acting up again…as if got mood

sometimes, it refuses to on at all.

at others, it refuses to take picts

sigh, looks like i haf no choice but to get new cam liao…sian…mi like my cam so much

for a 4 yr old cam, can set focus and iso, i tink it’s quite cool…nbr mind tat i onli figured out some of the functions recently.  the compact is supposed to b point & shoot anyway

more on skinfood

mi checked out the skinfood website many moons ago when marie first intro the shop to mi but the site didn’t haf much info den

juz went to the site again and viola!  so much product info nw

my new buy tdy :  Lime Secret Shine Base

Oil free double reflecting natural pearl powder to make skin smooth and slim looking with an irresistible glow.

wat i am currently using : Sweet Potato Chiffon Cake and Rice Shimmer Powder

wat i tried and found too oily :  Lemon Foundation

fireworks @ chinese garden

finally made it for the lantern thingy @ chinese garden last nite

juz coincidental tat it’s the actual day for mid-autumn festival

saw lotsa beautiful lanterns…in fact i tink better den last yr

and the best part is, there was fireworks at 10pm last nite

first time i saw the fireworks so close up and how beautiful !  enjoy the video, folks!

AgeCharacterCalculation

wah!  so accurate for mi!   mi neck so tired nw tat my head gona drop off soon

• stubborn and hard-hearted
• strong-willed and highly motivated
• sharp thots
• attract others and loves attention
• deep feelings
• beautiful physically and mentally
• firm standpoint
• easily consoled
• systematic (left brain)
• loves to dream
• strong clairvoyance
• sickness usually in ear & neck
• good imagination
• good debating skills
• loves literature & arts
• loves travelling
• spendthrift
• high spirited

shopping @ skinfood

check out my exciting new buys from skinfood tdy.   i luv their products and how edible they look & smell

mi got my sweet potato chiffon cake and a new lime secret shine base…mi oredi got the rice shimmer powder which is ‘blings’ quite subtlely

now my face can bling bling as much as my fone & chain!

tired!

from the chinese garden visit last nite!   we got there abt 8pm and left at 11pm!    got my very tired legs home at midnite and was deadbeat…i duno y i always end up wearing the wrong shoes for such outings….mi feet killing mi!

tonite, mi is so tired from teaching YY his compo…and it’s onli 60 to 80 words!  sigh!

以不变应万变

too many movements all ard mi

and yes, i question how to react

feel so much more clear-headed after chatting wif ah bao

gif myself another chance

but dun b too stubborn tis time

muz learn to b flexible and accept the facts

no need to go wif the flow at the moment

but prepared for my next move

at least i set myself a threshold or time limit tis time

if i can’t do it, mayb i shouldn’t b doing it in the first place

YY’s fire-engine

my fav of YY’s drawings so it has pride of place at my desk.  he did the outline using marker and the fire-engine even has shadow!

barbie exhibition

taken at barbie exhibition @ vivo in mar

yes, i like the clothes

but no, i dun like the dolls.  i’ve always thot tat dolls tat can’t stand by themselves r dumb

aircon filter not = air filter

i complained to goh tat my aircon not beli cold and to top up my gas

well, he told mi the gas is still full but my aircon filter needs to b replaced

i didn’t noe aircon oso got filter.  i oso noe abt the washable air filter

but my aircon is so much cooler now wif new aircon filters

摆乌龙

well, bro told mi one of my headlight was out and one of my tail-light oso blew

so i happily got goh to wait for mi the next evening to fix my lights

as usual i was caught in the horrible rush hr jam and arrived late at the workshop

the best part is, my headlight came back on miraculously

and my tail-light came on after a few knocks by goh

faint!  i feel like i  摆乌龙 lor

见死不救 = apathy

HQ was sharing her sob story of her fall and the man hoo didn’t even both to ask after her or help her

here, the use of the word man merely describes his gender but tis idiot is reli the ultimate in being unsympathetic & unfeeling

i m reminded of tis yishu book tat i read recently, the title of which escapes mi at tis moment.

the story was of 3 main female characters :

1. a struggling single mum who is also an aspiring writer
2. an athlete (swimmer) who juz lost her leg
3. a schoolgirl who witnessed her mum stabbing her dad to death

the story goes tat all 3 characters were approached by a team of professionals (lawyers, accountants and wat haf u) hoo turned up of nowhere to help them for a yr to get back on their feet.  their help comes wif no string attached but they cannot divulge who sent them

one of the characters placed an ad asking for ppl hoo shared the same plight as her and received help out of the blue.  thru the ad, the 3 characters met and became friends.

i luv the ending.  the lawyer leading the team reports to her client, a rich & old lady, tat the 3 characters rushed to help a lady who slipped and fell in mud, wifout a second thot to their clothing getting soiled.

turns out tat the common thread running thru the fate of the 3 characters was of them helping the old lady when she slipped and fell in a banking hall.

all 3 of them were in dire circumstances at tat point in their lives yet their selflessness earned them the help of the old lady who repaid them handsomely.

the 3 characters nbr figured out who their benefactor was as they did not tink twice abt lending a helping hand to others and haf no recollection of the incident

i tink it’s a beautiful and touching story
 

culinary attempt – carrot cake

mi saw the cute carrot cake sold at sheng siong and decided to do DIY fried carrot cake.

the minute the carrot cake went into the wok, the loud hiss of the oil sent the kiddos scampering under the table.  but they didn’t forget to shout encouraging words to mi

“u can do it, mum!”  “quick!  cook!”

i had to brace myself and quickly stirred fried the carrot cake

the finished product looked and tasted alrite so the kiddos decided to take pictures wif the wok and carrot cake

and yes, we finished ALL the carrot cake.  another benefit of kiddos, more guinea pigs for culinary attempts.

mint

ok, after much id-ing of my mint, tis looks the closest

QQ & YY

juz some shots of the kiddos showing off their siblings affection at home.  the first shot is of them showing mi wat ‘angry’ looks like

andie & fans

taken at first karaoke session wif andie

we are all his fans….hehe…ppl so pro mah

1st tram ride in HK

tis was taken after kim brought mi to buy the century eggs from central.

we took a tram back to happy valley…cool!

(red) fone

taken on the occassion of mi getting the fone 1st Mar 07

 

interesting mule facts

In its common modern meaning, a mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, which is classified as a kind of F1 hybrid. The reverse, the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey, is called a hinny. The term “mule” (Latin mulus) was formerly applied to the offspring of any two creatures of different species – in modern usage, a “hybrid“.

Mules and hinnies are almost always sterile.  The sterility is attributed to the differing number of chromosomes of the two species: donkeys have 62 chromosomes, whereas horses have 64. Their offspring thus have 63 chromosomes which cannot evenly divide. 

mint

the mint plant 薄荷 tat my mum has

i duno wat hybrid of mint tis is but tis is the most common ones grown in sg

great for coughs….can cook wif meat

the wiki on mint is too mind boggling….sigh….so many varieties ah!

Spearmint is an ingredient of mojito, the traditional Cuban cocktail. It is used as a flavouring for toothpaste and confectionery, and is sometimes added to shampoos and soaps. In herbalism, spearmint is steeped as tea for treatment of stomach ache.

Peppermint is generally regarded as ‘the world’s oldest medicine’, with archeological evidence placing its use at least as far back as ten thousand years ago.

my fav is peppermint tea of course!

lovers in paris

happened to see tis on tv

gosh!  the 舅舅 where got handsome??

修赫 is so much better looking and younger!

yolks in mooncake

mi like 4 yolks coz i want to taste the yolk in every slice of mooncake when quartered.

according to dot, shangri la’s dbl yolk situates the yolks so nicely tat when u quarter the mooncake, all 4 slices will haf half a yolk

tis is a x-section of the man fu yuan dbl yolk mooncake.   see!  the yolks are no rite smack in the center!

mi @ rowas

taken while we were out roaming the streets and thanking merchants

it’s a yrly event and i’ve participated every yr save for one

tiring but beli meaningful

juan ave

ain’t it cool !!   i haf an ave named after mi…haha

taken on a particularly bright day, at the wheel

thanks bud!

The Four Wives

which is ur fav wife?   easier said den done.  vain & superficial mi still lavishes most of my luv on my fourth wife & third wife the most.

the order of luv or priority is so true for most ppl!

———————————————————————————————-

Once upon a time, there was a king who had four wives. He loved the 4th wife the most and treated her to the finest things in life.

He also loved the 3rd wife very much and was always showing her off to neighbouring kingdoms.

He also loved his 2nd wife. She was his confidante and was always kind, considerate and patient with him.

The King’s 1st wife was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and kingdom. However, he did not love the 1st wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her.

One day, the King fell ill and he knew his remaining time was short.
He asked the 4th wife, “I have loved you the most and endowed you with the best. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?”

“No way!” replied the 4th wife and she walked away without another word.

The sad King then asked the 3rd wife, “I have loved you all my life. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?”

“No!” replied the 3rd wife. “Life is too good! When you die, I’m going to remarry!”
He then asked the 2nd wife, “You’ve always been there for me. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t help you out this time!” replied the 2nd wife. “At the very most, I can only send you to your grave.”

Then a voice called out: “I’ll follow you no matter where you go.” The King looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinny, she was suffering from malnutrition. Greatly grieved, the King said, “I should have taken much better care of you when I had the chance!”

We all have four wives in our lives – our 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish on it, it’ll leave us when we die. Our 3rd wife is our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, it will all go to others. Our 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how much they have been there for us, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.

And our 1st wife is our Soul, often neglected in our pursuit of wealth, power and pleasures of the flesh.

However, our Soul is the only thing that will follow us wherever we go.

The Weight of the Glass

how heavy is ur glass?

———————————————————————————————-

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, “How heavy do you think this glass of water is?”

Answers rang out through the room. Some said 20g, others said 500g.

The lecturer replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.”

He continued, “If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.

“And that’s the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.
“As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.

“So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don’t carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.

“Relax! Pick them up later after you’ve rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!”

talking dictionary

since andy lent mi his talking dictionary,  marie & dot oso beli excited and installed the same.

and us gers haf been searching for words like stoopid, bitch, idiot, silly

haha….stress relief!

mooncakes

karen & elsie helped mi get the champagne truffle and dark chocolate wif crunchy pearl from raffles.  both are equally yummy!  and i dun take snow skin so tis is the onli snow skin i dare to try so far

mi got the traditional mooncakes from man fu yuan which i haf been gettin for yrs.  standard is there & i luv the traditional 双黄 kind, in fact, i luv 四黄 but so hard to find in sg.  mostly need to pre-order.  i miss lavendar’s 四黄 tat i got last yr.  both bro & moi got similar taste in mooncakes, the more yolks the better

YT oso kindly helped us got meritus & tunglok mooncakes.  marie’s $88 dragon mooncakes come in a long rectangular wooden box tat i teased her it’s her 尚方宝剑 !

and i learnt tat 金华火腿 means 五仁 faint!  i thot 金华火腿 means it’s wif ham!

car washing

YY & moi washed, applied leathercare & armorall and vacummed tis afternoon

been 2 wks since the last car wash so it’s long overdue

i luv the armorall wash N wax!   it’s so wonderfully rich in lather & washes off grime so easily.  i luv the shine after washing!

it’s so satisfying to haf a car tat’s clean both on the outside & inside & tat’s y i prefer to wash it myself den go to car wash.

my carpark didn’t haf a car wash bay till the last couple of yrs so i reli appreciate the luxury & convenient of washing the car so close to home.  i duno how ppl wif open air carparks wash their cars.  carry a pail of water dwn to the car?

 i drive to tampines to use the vacumm at shell after the washing.   tat’s the one & ONLY station wif vacumm stations tat i noe. 

wangshiton

i was an article abt famous ppl in sisters’ pictorial when i saw the name ‘wangshiton’

guess who is wangshiton!

the pict was of george WASHINGTON!!

Blogger horoscope

i read tis from the horoscope section in sisters’ pictorial

the most likely horoscope to haf a blog is gemini!   basically becoz we r so expressive and talkative

the next horoscope is pisces coz they luv to share yet wana haf privacy and preserve their secrets…..so 矛盾！

sisters’ pictorial aka 姐妹

tis used to b my fav mag since sec skool coz of the entertainment news of hk

i oso learnt to read 繁体 chinese from 姐妹 mag

and discovered the luv of my reading life -yishu, from her contributions in 姐妹

i stopped buying for yrs den i suddenly got an issue but i was disappointed by the percent of ads in the msg.  seems like there r more ads den interesting articles

and 姐妹 mag has grown so much physically from a pocket sized mag into roughly a4 in size

Work Horoscope Friday, September 21

wah sei, so chim….duno wat they writing! 

Choppy waters are visible from the moment you venture out of the boathouse, and within minutes, you’ll be more concerned with your immediate safety and comfort than the ultimate cause of the commotion.

Tremors reported in Singapore after 6.7 quake hit Sumatra

tremors were reported to be felt after 4.30pm tdy

i didn’t realise last wk’s quake is 8.4, thank goodness the no. of fatalities is so small

tremors felt again tdy

in the late afternoon tdy, boss suddenly came ard and asked if we felt the tremors

i didn’t feel anything but the lights were swaying gently

guess we should keep a fish tank as tremors detector

but the frequency of the tremors is making us paranoid coz dot said she felt something subsequently and i felt slightly nausea and giddy and very tired generally (but tat could b due to my late nites…haha)  anyway, i checked my cup of water & it was still so i’m sure our ‘feelings’ are false alarms

kerri on hols

 

kerri after crying when discovering her ‘mama’ is not in the hotel room (wif YY & QQ in background, QQ is juz waking up from her nap, she slept thru the commotion of kerri’s crying)

i haf a dream

wat is life wifout dreams?

i always wonder if ppl in adverse situations succeed because their hunger is so much stronger

which means tat most of us in comfortable circumstances will continue to ‘float’ in life

wat an irony when all the factors flavourable for us to live an easy life should make it easier for us to live our dreams

if day to day survival is a prob, how can we haf the luxury to dream?

the crochet bks tat ann got for mi has rekindled my passion for crochet and my dream, yes, something i wanted so much to do even b4 i left skool

i count my blessings for

my job i enjoy in a FANTASTIC company working wif GREAT ppl gifing mi the means for mi & my family to live comfortably

my ever supportive immediate family

my friends who stood by mi thru thick & thin

QQ & YY who are awesome in their imperfect ways

  

i seem to haf it made so do the above allow mi to pursue my dream?

windows msger v8.1

mi is back in action wif windows msger v8.1

which means tat kind ppl, pls gif mi ur emoticons

woohoo!  msn oso got offline msg-ing!   ah bao will b flooded by my offline msgs when he next sign in….snigger

so happy i can use my beautiful foto as avatar again and can see ppl’s avatar, ok, mi vain AND kaypoh

一品排骨面

my fav 一品排骨面 aka grilled pork chop noodles…omg!

QQ post NDY celebrations

i simply luv these 2 fotos!

going, going, gone

for 860mil

my emotional attachments of 8 yrs, afterall i’m the 62th person to join in sg

不舍又能如何？  离别依依。。。道不尽离愁

凡事合久必分， 分久必合

and another blog is born

andy’s lifestyle and products review blog

http://www.thecloningclone.blogspot.com/

talking parrot

or rather the death of ‘the’ talking parrot, Alex

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070911/ap_on_sc/obit_alex_the_parrot

台灣老化速度 世界第一

i swear tat i didn’t noe i’ll b researching oldest ppl when i read tis article tis afternoon.

it muz b yahoo’s plot to lump all the related news together.

anyway, here’s the article:
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/070916/2/ko6j.html

it basically says tat taiwan’s population is turning grey (& white) at the highest rates in the world

my beautiful fone

as decorated using the sparkies from the cover karen got for mi, many moons ago when LJ, SY and XM came to do lunch wif mi

fotos galore

since i got the (red) on 1st mar, i haben been able to upload the phone fotos coz mobile phone tools wasn’t installed on the phone.  argh!

i had prob sending the fotos to bro’s lappy via bluetooth and couldn’t do the FTP from the lappy neither

bro finally helped mi to transfer all the fotos  ~grin!

so it’s fotos galore for the time being 

world’s oldest person??

a search on yahoo for ‘world’s oldest person’ gave varied results of death news of various holders of tis title.

the info on wikipedia seems to b beli US centric.  i can’t believe tat china has onli one person on the charts when they even haf 人瑞村

according to wikipedia, the present world’s oldest person is Edna Parker at 114 yrs old & still counting.

mi is looking at china.gov and found so many ppl older den 114 lor

-117-year-old Chinese Applies for Guinness Record (Chinanews.cn September 9, 2005)

-World’s Oldest Person Turns 120 in Sichuan (China Daily April 26, 2006)

-116-year-old Chinese Woman World’s Oldest Person (People’s Daily June19, 2002)

the guinness site doesn’t even haf the result….anyway, as long as the person’s age can b verified, y do we need guinness’ confirmation

world’s oldest man 112 yrs old

tat’s not as old as i thot the world’s oldest person man is.   i thot the oldest person is more den 130 yrs old

japan has one of the lowest birthrates yet the highest no. of centenarians in the world.  they will haf 30,000 centenarians by end sep!

881 赞！

好看吗？  well, according to mum, yes lor!

she was so excited after watching tat she told bro & sis-in-law to go watch too while she looks after kerri

the theatre was unusually packed wif uncles and aunties when we watched and i could hear them commenting during the show

the natural dialogue in hokkien, touching acting and familiar hokkien songs muz haf brought back many fond memories for the middle-aged and above

the jokes in hokkien were well received as i heard the chuckles from the audience

for mi, it was oso a cultural lesson.  though i can’t speak hokkien well, luckily i can understand it very well so didn’t miss out on any jokes.

i didn’t realise tat the lyrics of the hokkien songs are all very well written and touching eg.  the song abt SGH

the lyrics need not b overly flowery.  simple & true emotions touch ppl more den ‘chim’ words.  quite unlike the overly commericalised chinese songs saturated wif bgr and wincing

kudos for a show tat touches so many levels of audience, especially the aged who r usually neglected

kudos for a show tat showcases a truely local topic abt our unique culture.  if anything, it has certainly rekindled the interest in getai amongst both young and old now

and lastly, kudos for a show tat i can enjoy wif mum mum and i can enjoy together

881 效应

luckily watched liao wif mum coz we met some cousins over the wkend at a wake and wedding dinner and tis was the hottest topic for aunties!

so many ppl asked my mum if she has watched 881

wow!  tis show reli captured the hearts of aunties and uncles who usualli wouldn’t go to the cinema!

一品排骨面

mi is totally addicted to the new 排骨面 stall at the foodcourt

it’s called 一品排骨面 and has the yummy king cert which means tat it muz b famous before moving here

the 排骨面 is actualli grilled pork chop noodles.  onli the noodles used is so smooth and not the usual pasta but some unnamed chinese noodles.  and the pork chop is grilled to perfection and cut thinly enuff to b easily chewed and not tough when cooked.

mi is so addicted i ate the noodles 3 times last wk, twice for lunch and once for tea break

i would haf eaten it a fourth time for tea break but the stall was closed when i popped dwn at 5pm…wat a disappointment!   i had to make do wif BK.   真是委屈我了！

i hope the stall don’t move too far away next yr….i will miss the pork chop and noodles!!

rare gym visit

the moon was blue last tue

i did 2.5 km on the stepper machine in 33 mins….which means tat i’ll take over an hr to complete the 5 km for the women’s 10k

but glad tat i did move my butt and burnt some 300+ calories

soba

i didn’t used to take soba coz i tink cold noodles is strange

but YY is a soba fan.  he first downed a bowl of soba noodles when we were at a jap restaurant and has been bugging mi to cook tis since

so we got the noodles and the sauce but didn’t get ard to preparing it for mths

to b honest, i m not well versed in soba at all

so i cooked the noodles and poured ice cubes over the cooked noodles
den i mixed the soba sauce
i thot tat i was supposed to dip ALL the noodles in the sauce den serve but YY corrected mi immediately
according to YY, everyone gets a bowl of the sauce and a portion of noodles
and he demostrates the dipping of the noodles into the sauce and sucking in the noodles beli loudly!

he actualli finished 2 bowls of the noodles, by himself.  i told mum tat we should juz gif him soba everyday to save us the trouble of feeding him

sing a song of sixpence

YY was singing tis nursery rhyme

“Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye.

Four and twenty black birds, baked in a pie”

bro heard him and told him tat he noes it coz it was his speech and drama piece in skool

YY asked him excitedly “舅舅！  were u the king?”

“no” came bro’s answer

YY continued excitedly “I noe, u must be the pie!”

……bro went “nobody was the pie, the pie was juz a piece of blanket”

YY & ping-pong

i was surprised to hear tat YY was playing ping-pong everyday in skool

in fact, sometimes, he plays for too long and forgets to eat during recess

anyway, i got him a pair of bats while shopping for teachers’ day pressies which got him all excited

now, i get stories abt his ping-pong playing and kakis almost everyday

Ratatouille

we caught Ratatouille while on hols

besides the fact tat we had the luxury of time to catch a show instead of rushing over the wkend, the tix was onli RM10 each

i heard lotsa raves abt the show from kim and i was surprised tat a ‘BIG’ man (literally!) like him would like a ‘cartoon’, ok, it’s animation, i noe!

i still wasn’t moved by his review to see the show but the kiddos bugged mi to watch ‘Rat-a-too-ee’ or as QQ puts it, ‘the 老鼠戏’  
thanx to the appropriate advertising done on kids central, the kiddos haf no prob pronouncing ‘Rat-a-too-ee’

the show is touching and the storyline moving.  the messages of daring to dream and living ur dreams were loud and clear.  and remy realised his dreams despite enormous odds against him.  he faced objection, danger and rejection not juz from humans but oso from his own kind.  it is nbr easy to b ‘different’ even if ‘different’ means u haf a special gift

everyone is gifted and special in his or her own way.  no wonder QQ keeps saying tis song from skool ‘i m special, i m special, so r u, so r u’ (sing to the tune of ‘i hear thunder’)

my fav scene is when all the chefs walked out but remy stood by linguini and the kitchen was over-run wif rats whipping up a storm

kiddos oso learnt abt trust and feelings of betrayal through remy’s and linguini’s friendship

YY was so engrossed in the show tat he was surprised to see QQ is crying when he finally turned his eyes away from the screen after more den an hr!

QQ is hyper sensitive to loud noises and started sobbing soon after the show started.

she managed to smile and laff at the funny scenes throughout her 2 hrs of sobbing but i reli need to plan carefully b4 attempting another movie wif her

tis isn’t her first time catching a show but she is certainly not coping very well.  she watched ‘the wild’ when she was little and was quite noisy in the theatre.  she was toking loudly to ‘gor gor’ during the show and no tears.

wif the recent TNMT, she was quite cranky but alrite once outside the theatre coz we went in & out of the theatre 3 times during the show.  i suspect the fact tat the shows r in the late afternoons and she being deprived of her daily naps are the main causes of her behaviour.  luckily i made sure she was well fed before the show or she’ll b even crankier!

new hairstyle

<back view of my hair as taken in gym> 

i realise tat new hairCUT will not do my hair justice so yes, it’s a new style altogether

and tis was achieved wif the molding clay

some asked if i blew my hair/permed my hair/did my hair

and the answer is so simple.  juz some clay and styling by hands, viola!

surprisingly, a lot more ppl notice wat i do wif my hair den i expected…i guess tat’s a wake-up call to mi NOT to juz tuck my hair and allow it to look so unkempt…but wait a min, my new hairstyle is supposed to look ‘messy’

world’s 100 most respected companies

was reading an article on Barron’s list of world’s most respected companies as surveyed amongst america’s professional investors.

Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway tops the list, taking the top spot from J&J.

Corporate-governance, transparency and cultivation of top management from within the company are some distinct qualities of the top companies rather den stock performance.

tangerine peel could help fight cancer

wah!  so we should eat more preserved tangerine peel or start eating the peel wif the fruit?

but it’s cool tat natural remedies can be found

Aily shoes

mi got a pair of aily shoes from OG when it was having 20% off

given my sweaty feet prob, i was constantly on the lookout for shoes wif leather insoles which is the most comfortable for mi.  short of moccasins, it hasn’t been easy to find such shoes

i was impressed by the leather inner lining and insoles of the aily shoes plus i luv the color of the shoes, maroon.

but the shoes haven’t been as comfortable as moccasins as the leather is still hard and gifs mi blisters

peeling

i enjoyed the nice cool weather so much tat i forgot the sun is doubly strong on highlands

after a day spent outdoors, i noticed tat my arms grew darker and QQ & Kerri had slightly red-looking cheeks.

i realised on sun tat my arms were peeling….wow!

Out-of-date carpark coupons

i use coupon parking for the office.  i juz park across the st coz it’s so much cheaper. 

after lunch on mon, i suddenly realised tat i had tore the wrong date on my parking coupons-again!!  luckily no summons yet when i walked to the car at 2.30pm

tis has happened twice within the past few wks.  sign of old-age??

and the most unbelievable thing is, my casio watch got date!  juz tat i nbr tink of checking the date on my wrist.  tink i nbr own any watches wif dates b4
 

molding clay

 

desperately in need of help for styling, i checked out the range of styling products at Kempt while marie cut her fringe

i was recommended a hair clay from the long name brand Sz…. but it looks oily

went back to salon for help tis evening

and got tis erratic molding clay…hopefully my hair will look better tml

hair tonic

didn’t realise salon oso got packages…wow!

but quite worth it lah coz i got bonus credits and i seldom salon hop

i tried tis hair tonic from kadus tat feels very good on the scalp

and the stylist mentioned tat i shouldn’t use shampoo for damaged hair as it’s too oily.

it’s exactly wat i had been suspecting since switching to the organics shampoo to prevent damage for styling hair.  it feels so rich tat one wash is not enuff to stop my hair from feeling oily

new haircut

cut my hair yest

couldn’t stand hair at the nape of my neck

the stylist did an unconventional bob.  meaning it has to look messy

unfortunately, i couldn’t reproduce the style wif my hair wax and gel so i got many questions of ‘wat did u do to ur hair?’

ppl didn’t even realise i cut my hair.  they thot i juz styled it differently

881 party tomolo

mi is online at tis hr to book my tickets tomolo, gonna watch wif mum

wat a coincidence!  the ladies in my office all watching together tomolo too!  but can’t join them coz promised to bring mum liao

car rally tomolo!

so exciting, it can last for 50 yrs!

mi needs to Zzzz soon.  muz b up by 5 tomolo

benefits of gv movie club

the 20 cents sms confirmation charge is waived for every booking

QQ’s fish drawing

QQ the artist at work.  and in case u r wondering, those r the bones of her fishes!

H&M

through a conversation wif michelle (my hk colleague) and dot on sat, we realised there’s H&M in switzerland

according to HQ, lotsa H&M in europe and it’s a swedish brand…wow!  so swedes gave us more den ikea!

sigh…it happened to b H&M’s opening in HK when i last visited in mar so the q was horribly long. 

conclusion, need to check out H&M when i next go HK.  designs supposed to b cheap N good.  everyone seems to haf bought something there

i wana check out the bb clothes

welcome! little joevan!

i m back juz in time to welcome ah von and ad’s little bundle of joy – joevan!

isn’t him adorable??!  and looks juz like big bro jayden!

Life’s Little Instruction Book

i first read some of the entries on my celestial seasonings peppermint tea box and i was touched

it’s a great collection of simple, candid and direct observations abt life by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.  for his son.

Some sample entries tat i like

1. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
2. Leave everything a little better than you found it.
3. Regardless of the situation, react with class.
4. Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something.
5. Don’t let weeds grow around your dreams.

gv movieclub

juz joined the gv movie club

i suppose there will b some privileges

not tat i m a great movie goer

Pavarotti dead at 71

juz saw tis piece of news

victim of cancer

if man don’t kill himself first, cancer probably will at some point

Work Horoscope for Friday, September 7

i suppose i can interpret the below to mean tat i will haf a good day tomolo?

after all, TGIF.  pretty productive tdy, cleared all my mails.  juz need to catch up on more work tomolo den it’s the wkend again!  it’s great to b working

—————————————————————————————– 

A good mood seizes your coattails and lifts you into waltzing mode, letting you spin and turn throughout the day to your own tune. People smile and join in, until the whole workspace is vaulted into joy.

mi is back

great trip!  considering how paranoid i haf been abt not being able to cope wif the kiddos and luggage, being left behind by the coach and anything else tat go wrong, things worked out fine.

muz commend YY for his contributions.  he helped wif the luggage, looking after QQ and kerri and is cooperative for most part of the trip.

and we r back safe & sound!  phew!

15 points of advice abt man (for woman)

1. Don’t imagine you can change a man – unless he’s in nappies.

2. What do you do if your boyfriend walks out? You shut the door.

3. If they put a man on the moon – they should be able to put them all up there.

4. Never let your man’s mind wander – it’s too little to be out alone.

5. Go for the younger man. You might as well, they never mature anyway.

6. Men are all the same – they just have different faces, so that you can tell them apart.

7. Definition of a bachelor: a man who has missed the opportunity to make some woman miserable.

8. Women don’t make fools of men – most of them are the do-it-yourself types.

9. Best way to get a man to do something is to suggest he is too old for it.

10. Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener.

11. If you want a committed man, look in a mental hospital.

12. The children of Israel wandered around the desert for 40 years. Even in Biblical times, men wouldn’t ask for directions.

13. If he asks what sort of books you’re interested in, tell him cheque books.

14. Remember a sense of humor does not mean that you tell him jokes, it means that you laugh at his.

15. Sadly, all men are created equal.

On hols

有朋自远方来

michelle is in town visiting wif hubby

dot & i brought them to no signboard for white pepper crabs

so happy i could catch up wif her so soon after our training at desaru

can reli feel tat we haf grown closely as a team bet the first time i met her

we tok-ed abt so many things, abt food in sg & hk and compared ez-link wif octopus

can’t wait to visit the pearl of the orient again 

pre-trip jitters

mi needs to b up in 3 hrs’ time

all packed but still feeling nervous

hope the kiddos cope well during the trip

1st getai for the kiddos

i brought them to penjuru rd tdy for the getai marathon

wah sei!  at first i thot it’s at hdb blk 28….turns out to b rite inside the industrial area

and it was packed !  at 2.30pm!

the whole area was oso full of cars soit took mi a while to find parking

shupin n i were amazed tat so many ppl purposely drove there to watch the getai!

i enjoyed the hosting by 阿南 while the kiddos enjoyed their ice-cream cones in the sweltering heat….so hot tdy!

香或臭？

mum washed QQ’s pillow and bolster covers

QQ starts complaining tat her pillow and bolster smells like the washing powder

she tinks her pillow smells better when it’s smelly and unwashed

getai

so tempted to bring kiddos to watch getai, thanx to 881 for bringing back fond childhood memories

but gotta travel to watch lor. 

tis yr so cool to haf getai a-go-go on stomp wif all the schedules listed till the last day on sep 11

i tink the kiddos should watch the real thing before watching 881

wat a cool idea!

wow!  i muz try tis!

Ever wonder how people chilled things before they had the refrigerators, ice-makers and insulated coolers of today?

Evaporation!   

Bottle coolers take advantage of this natural property.   Simply place the bottle inside, dip in water and hang or place the cooler in the shade where there is a breeze.   Dampen again as needed.

Even on hot days, you’ll find your soda stays pleasantly cool without the use of any energy except the natural breeze!

The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women

hmm….tis was in the news tonite

how come the list for men usualli is for riches while women is ranked by power?

mayb for men, power comes wif riches while for women, power brings riches

anyway, Angela Merkel,  the first woman to become chancellor of Germany, is first for the second year in a row and Wu Yi is second.  i tink it’s cool tat both germany and china haf powerful women at the helm while they are close contenders for the world’s third largest economy

and of course, Ho Ching is third.  wow!  temasek holdings and spore can reli hold their heads high.

addicted

to yishu’s online books

i take 2 nites to finish one book

but it’s all worth it

self-centred(less)

yes, i m extremely self-centred…it’s always abt MI!  but at least i m willing to share thru my blog

marie is beli partial.  she respects the positions of others and relates the message.  take a recent example.  so-and-so is leaving the company and we planned a farewell dinner

marie said tat so-and-so DO NOT want a farewell and so it’s changed to ‘juz a gathering’

my immediate reaction :

i dun care wat he chooses to call the dinner.  to mi, it’s can’t b juz a gatheing since i dun care enuff for a gathering to forego other commitments.  so to mi, it’s still a farewell dinner and i told marie he can express his likes/dislikes but ultimately, i m going becoz i noe tat it’s a farewell (the following day is his last day!)

y tis so-and-so in such denial??   he got calibre to b politician liao

blogging

yet another one of us has been bitten by the blogger’s bug and infection is now full blown

as i looked at his reasons for blogging, i realised my reasons r quite different

i write for more personal reasons so who do i write for & why do i write?

first and foremost, it’s a way for mi to channel the energy from my thots, experiences and views.  certainly beats seeing a shrink.  it’s unhealthy to bottle up feelings but hoo got so many frens and so much time to 大吐苦水 as required?

secondly, i luv the way i can connect wif frens tat i dun haf a chance to mit up as often as i would like to.  i noe many of them do read my blog and it’s reli neat tat i can write at MY leisure and they can read at THEIR leisure.  in tis way, i feel like they r reli up-to-date wif wat’s happening in my life

and my style has changed.  i used to b reli trigger-happy.  nowadays, i m more trigger-lazi

we r all changing and evolving all the time.  we learn to hone our communications skill everyday.  when i saw emails tat i wrote a yr old, i can see distinct areas where i haf grown more knowledgable in.

yahoo photos

uh-oh, i was reminded when i read hock’s blog

mi haben completed the transfer of mi fotos.  another to-do before my trip….y tis wk so many things happenin??

ppl, rem to transfer ur fotos from yahoo!