sorting thru fotos

 

loading them onto LJ’s hard disc and trying to find a nice pict for my personal site on intranet

a pict says a thousand words.  so a thousand picts say a million words?

but seriously, picts bring back so much memories and good things

nite cream

 

YT was told tat she don’t need to use nite cream yet

mi, on the other hand, swears by it

in fact, i haf been using the aveeno positively ageless nite cream for 1.5 yrs

it’s nbr too early to start coz prevention is better den cure

and i juz got a bio essence 2 in 1 day and nite cream.  it feels very cooling when i applied, as if it contains menthol

pissed off

 

argh !  tis man reli reli gets on my nerves !

he will b ‘normal’ and nice for a couple of days den drive mi mad again.  i tink there is stg seriously wrong wif his comm skills

i hate to argue wif ppl who dun get the drift and i can’t b bothered to argue wif tis person as well…argh !  roll eyes !

there r ppl who r over cautious and over plan.  fine, u r being xtremely prudent.   but juz becoz i m not paranoid like u, doesn’t mean i underestimate everything !

and i hate the challenge thrown in my face.  wat is ‘unless u want to back out’ supposed to mean?  wif !

it’s only a freaking short 2D 1N trip and we spend only nite and sleeping hrs onsite.  u call tat hardship camp?!   when there is even ppl staying onsite to take care of facilities and even boil drinking water

i do noe the diff bet being outfield which is involuntary and going camping which is more likely driven by interest.  of coz if there r stoopid ppl who crave creature comforts and totally cannot take any amt of hardship yet decides to go camping, it’s still their choice

sorry i m not going to play the role of city girl fainting at sight of rundown toilet

yesh, i will squirm but onli inwardly.  i m not expecting 5 stars facilitites as i do haf common sense

i haf said tis before and i will say it again.  i dun do hardship tours nor backpack.

his last words were ‘don’t regret what u said’   go burn !

100,000 secular Britons seek ‘de-baptism’

 

31 Mar 2009

More than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded “certificates of de-baptism” from the Internet to renounce their Christian faith.

The initiative launched by a group called the National Secular Society (NSS) follows atheist campaigns here and elsewhere, including a London bus poster which triggered protests by proclaiming “There’s probably no God.”

“We now produce a certificate on parchment and we have sold 1,500 units at three pounds (4.35 dollars, 3.20 euros) a pop,” said NSS president Terry Sanderson, 58.

John Hunt, a 58-year-old from London and one of the first to try to be “de-baptised,” held that he was too young to make any decision when he was christened at five months old.

The male nurse said he approached the Church of England to ask it to remove his name. “They said they had sought legal advice and that I should place an announcement in the London Gazette,” said Hunt, referring to one of the official journals of record of the British government.

So that’s what he did — his notice of renouncement was published in the Gazette in May 2008 and other Britons have followed suit.

Michael Evans, 66, branded baptising children as “a form of child abuse” — and said that when he complained to the church where he was christened he was told to contact the European Court of Human Rights.

The Church of England said its official position was not to amend its records. “Renouncing baptism is a matter between the individual and God,” a Church spokesman told AFP.

“We are not a ‘membership’ church, and do not keep a running total of the number of baptised people in the Church of England, and such totals do not feature in the statistics that we regularly publish,” he added.

De-baptism organisers say the initiative is a response to what they see as increasing stridency from churches — the latest last week when Pope Benedict XVI stirred global controversy on a trip to AIDS-ravaged Africa by saying condom use could further spread of the disease.

“The Catholic Church is so politically active at the moment that I think that is where the hostility is coming from,” said Sanderson. “In Catholic countries there is a very strong feeling of wanting to punish the church by leaving it.”

In Britain, where government figures say nearly 72 percent of the population list themselves as Christian, Sanderson feels this “hostility” is fuelling the de-baptism movement.

Theologian Paul Murray at Durham University disagrees. “That is not my experience,” he said, but concedes that change is in the air.

“We are in an interesting climate where Catholicism and other belief systems have moved into the public, pluralist arena, alongside secularists,” he said.

De-baptism movements have already sprung up in other countries.

In Spain, the high court ruled in favour of a man from Valencia, Manuel Blat, saying that under data protection laws he could have the record of his baptism erased, according to a report in the International Herald Tribune.

Similarly, the Italian Union of Rationalists and Agnostics (UAAR) won a legal battle over the right to file for de-baptism in 2002, according to media reports. The group’s website carries a “de-baptism” form to facilitate matters.

According to UAAR secretary Raffaele Carcano, more than 60,000 of these forms have been downloaded in the past four years and continue to be downloaded at a rate of about 2,000 per month. Another 1,000 were downloaded in one day when the group held its first national de-baptism day last October 25.

Elsewhere, an Argentinian secularist movement is running a “Collective Apostasy” campaign, using the slogan “Not in my name” (No en mi nombre).

Sanderson hopes rulings in other European countries will pave the way for legal action in Britain, since European Union directives require a level of parity among member states’ legislation.

“That would be a good precedent for us to say to the British Information Commissioner: Come on, what’s your excuse?” said Sanderson.

The bus-side posters that hit London in January sported the message: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

The scheme was in response to pro-Christian adverts on buses directing passers-by to a website warning those who did not accept Jesus would suffer for eternity in hell.

Comedy writer Ariane Sherine, mastermind of the British bus campaign that saw a copycat version in Barcelona and other cities, said she backs the “de-baptism” movement but insisted the two initiatives were separate.

Sanderson meanwhile remains resolute. “The fact that people are willing to pay for the parchments shows how seriously they are taking them,” he said.

God Bless

A father put his three year old daughter to bed, told her a story and listened to her prayers which she ended by
saying: “God bless Mommy, God bless Daddy, God bless Grandma and good-bye Grandpa.”

The father asked, “Why did you say good-bye grandpa?”  The little girl said, “I don’t know daddy, it just seemed
like the thing to do.” The next day grandpa died.  The father thought it was a strange coincidence.  A few months
later the father put the girl to bed and listened to her prayers which went like this:

“God bless Mommy, God Bless Daddy and good-bye Grandma..”  The next day the grandmother died.   Oh my gosh,
thought the father, this kid is in contact with the other side.  Several weeks later when the girl was going to
bed the dad heard her say:

“God bless Mommy and good-bye Daddy.”

He practically went into shock.  He couldn’t sleep all night and got up at the crack-of-dawn to go to his office.
He was nervous as a cat all day, had lunch sent in and watched the clock. He figured if he could get by until
midnight he would be okay.

He felt safe in the office, so instead of going home at the end of the day he stayed there, drinking coffee,
looking at his watch and jumping at every sound.  Finally midnight arrived, he breathed a sigh of relief and went
home.

When he got home his wife said “I’ve never seen you work so late, what’s the matter?  ”He said “I don’t want to
talk about it, I’ve just spent the worst day of my life.”

She said, “You think you had a bad day, you’ll never believe what happened to me.  This morning my golf pro
dropped dead in the middle of my lesson!”

 

Peugeot board sacks boss Streiff

 

30 Mar 2009

PSA Peugeot Citroen on Sunday ousted chief executive Christian Streiff as France’s biggest carmaker struggles in the international economic crisis.

“Given the extraordinary difficulties currently faced by the automotive industry, the supervisory board decided unanimously that a change in the senior leadership position was necessary,” said supervisory board chairman Thierry Peugeot.

The company said Streiff will be replaced by Philippe Varin, 56, current chief executive of the Anglo-Dutch steel group Corus, who will take over as PSA chief on June 1.

Roland Vardanega, a member of the managing board, will fill in as interim chief until Varin takes over.

“I am confident that under the leadership of Philippe Varin, the group will be able, with all the teams, to unlock its potential,” Thierry Peugeot said in a statement.

The company said Peugeot chaired the board meeting that decided to terminate Streiff’s contract on Sunday.

PSA suffered a 344 billion euro loss last year and is forecasting more losses this year.

France’s government has offered three billion euros (four billion dollars) in loans to shore up PSA and Renault and billions more to their many suppliers to help them weather the storm.

One in 10 workers in France is employed by the car industry and President Nicolas Sarkozy has made clear he will not allow carmakers to fail as consumer demand for cars collapses.

White House questions viability of GM, Chrysler

 

30 Mar 2009

President Barack Obama is sending a blunt message to Detroit automakers: To survive — and win more government help — they must remake themselves top to bottom. Driving home the point, the White House ousted the General Motors chairman as it rejected GM and Chrysler’s restructuring plans.

Obama is set to elaborate on that message Monday when he announces what his White House told reporters over the weekend: Neither GM nor Chrysler submitted acceptable plans to receive additional federal bailout money.

GM chairman Rick Wagoner became the most conspicuous casualty of that decision, forced out Sunday as the White House indicated Detroit must make management and other changes if it hopes to survive — and that the Obama administration will have a hands-on role in those changes.

Michigan Gov. Governor Jennifer Granholm said Wagoner “clearly is a sacrificial lamb” who stepped aside “for the future of the company and for the future of jobs.” She spoke on NBC’s “Today” show Monday.

Obama said the companies must do more to receive additional financial aid from the government.

“We think we can have a successful U.S. auto industry. But it’s got to be one that’s realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge — at the other end — much more lean, mean and competitive than it currently is,” Obama said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” broadcast Sunday.

Frustrated administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of Obama’s announcement, said Chrysler has been given a 30-day window to complete a proposed partnership with Italian automaker Fiat SpA. The government will offer up to $6 billion to the companies if they can negotiate a deal before time runs out. If a Chrysler-Fiat union cannot be completed, Washington plans to walk away, leaving Chrysler destined for a complete sell-off.

Shawn Morgan, a Chrysler spokeswoman, declined to comment ahead of Obama’s announcement.

For GM, the administration offered 60 days of operating money to restructure. Officials say they believe GM can put together a plan that will keep production lines moving in the coming years.

New directors will now make up the majority of GM’s board. Fritz Henderson, GM’s president and chief operating officer, became the new CEO. Board member Kent Kresa, the former chairman and CEO of defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., was named interim chairman of the GM board.

“The board has recognized for some time that the company’s restructuring will likely cause a significant change in the stockholders of the company and create the need for new directors with additional skills and experience,” Kresa said in a written statement.

The Obama administration move comes amid public outrage over bonuses paid to business leaders and American International Group executives — set against a severely ailing economy.

GM failed to make good on promises made in exchange for $13.4 billion in government loans. Chrysler, meanwhile, has survived on $4 billion in federal aid during this economic downturn and the worst decline in auto sales in 27 years. In progress reports filed with the government in February, GM asked for $16.6 billion more and Chrysler wanted $5 billion more. The White House balked and instead started a countdown clock.

Two people familiar with the plan said bankruptcy would still be possible if the automakers failed to restructure. Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make details public.

An exasperated administration official noted that the companies had not done enough to reduce debt; in some cases, it actually increased during this restructuring and review process. GM owes roughly $28 billion to bondholders. Chrysler owes about $7 billion in first- and second-term debt, mainly to banks. GM owes about $20 billion to its retiree health care trust, while Chrysler owes $10.6 billion.

GM and Chrysler employ about 140,000 workers in the U.S. In February, GM said it intended to cut 47,000 jobs around the globe, or almost 20 percent of its work force, close hundreds of dealerships and focus on four core brands — Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick.

The Gemini/Horse

quite true

Clever, witty and loquacious, these Horses are brainy and slippery to the touch. Do not try to tether this wild Horse! Individualistic, yet oddly dependent on family and tradition. A loner with a deep need for love, affection and… a listening audience!

The Horse’s stylish bearing measured against the Gemini mutability gives us a multitalented person whose own worst enemy is himself. There’s a nagging little gremlin wringing his hands inside the head of this goodhearted character who says, I don’t have to take this garbage! I don’t have to put up with this nonsense! I want my freedom. I want my soul back. Of course we all know that our soul is never our own. But the Gemini/Horse works very hard to disprove that. He wants to be different, unusual, better than everybody else, cleverer, sexier, better dressed, and most of all, coolest. Yes, the Gemini/Horse wants desperately to be considered cool, one of the gang, a terrific fellow.

Gemini/Horses can stick to their work. Normally, they choose a career that interests them and go ahead with that forever. They are often talented in music or graphic arts and are usually, in some very important way, involved in theatrical endeavors. Gemini/Horses are circus horses. Instead of walking, they prance. Their lovability quotient is high, but their ability to return love is often compromised. However, once they find themselves in sizzling sexual situations, like all Horses, they perform handsomely.

Madagascar II

 

tis has been in my drafts for the longest time ever.  i decided to post tis coz QQ and i couldn’t rem all the names besides alex

 

When New York Zoo Animals Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo finally leave Madagascar, they find themselves instead stuck in the wilderness of Africa. There, Alex connects with his roots when he meets the rest of his family, but has trouble communicating with them after spending most of his life at the Central Park Zoo.

biased

 

i thot long and hard if i m being cruel to spell things out so explicitly

frankly speaking if i dun treat the person as a fren, i won’t bother lor

i haf to keep trying very very hard to keep myself in check when i feel like rolling my eyes wif each exchange

tis is one difficult conversation for mi

coz the other party is so subjective !   jumps to so many conclusion wifout basis

at least my conscience is clear nw tat i haf offloaded tis matter.   if he’s a girl, i won’t hesitate to tell him not to waste his time coz i m more protective of girls

and i thot i was the one being biased

very stubborn.  i dun feel like arguing though i feel like i keep getting challenged and i m toking to the wall.  

so long-winded tat i tink it’s scary

when i complain abt a person, i always ask myself  ‘am i like tat too?’

i probably m as long winded coz i find it reli irritating to b in such conversation.

sorry man, u r not engaging mi at all.   i dun even feel like toking since u r so opinionated

help!   he’s still going on & on and i haf not said a word for the past 20 mins

wtf!   i m not interested audience at all

when someone writes some very explicit and obvious things on msn den tell u to ignore it,  i tink it’s rubbish and b/s lor

人生何处不相逢

 

my sentiments tis morn when i ran into ZJ in the office lift

we were both equally surprised to see each other here

it took mi 6 mths to bump into him

i started climbing

 

stairs on tue nite!  wif QQ as my backpack

i took 7 mins to climb up

den YY had a go at it too.  he was raving to go.  and he took 3 mins

i tink i m far from the fitness required to climb mount KK so i know it will b beli beli tough

i can only try to train abit to make it slightly less siong

Earth Hour

 

28th mar 2009 from 8.30pm to 9.30pm at anywhere in the world

OFF YOUR LIGHTS AND SUPPORT EARTH HOUR !

we r all global citizens staying on planet Earth.  let’s all do our part for mother nature

 

   Earth Hour 2009 by WWF – Sign up for Earth Hour!

shopping

 

is the best part to mountain climbing

i m drooling at the salomon website

my concept for layering is reaffirmed

basic/first layer followed by my sweat jacket and an outer jacket or windbreaker

and the footwear !   i m in luv wif the amphibian footwear tat doubles as sandals / hiking shoes.  tis is one item tat i muz invest in

goals

 

i need to re focus

and tonite is the turning point.  i juz thot long and hard abt tis on the train home.  if not nw den when?

i feel like i m wasting my time if my passion is not enuff to drive mi to greater heights

i muz grow and learn and improve wif each passing day

QQ’s 2 lower front teeth

 

dropped tdy – 23 Mar 09

they have been xtremely shaky for the past wk or so

according to QQ, the first tooth fell out when she was in skool so she kept the tooth in her pocket for showing grandma

finger painting

 

got the kiddos tis finger painting kit wif instructions cum activity booklet from faber castell

reli easy to do and kiddos have lotsa fun wif it on their own even.  QQ can play wif it by herself even and enjoys it a lot

but the best part is, it’s non toxic and easily washed off, without even having to put soap.  it gifs mi a sense of security to know tat  they r not playing wif anything tat could poison them accidentally

i m for one, nbr a fan of play doh.  i mean tat stuff is like plasticine.  ok, not as hard but i m beli worried tat it’ll get stuck in their fingernails and they will ingest tat stuff

2 men fighting on horses

 

guess a stationery brand

 

 

A

N

S

W

E

R

 

 

 

Faber Castell

Alaska volcano Mount Redoubt erupts 5 times

 

wow!   i didn’t know alaska got volcano !

 

23 Mar 2009

 

Alaska’s Mount Redoubt volcano erupted five times overnight, sending an ash plume more than 9 miles into the air in the volcano’s first emissions in nearly 20 years.

Residents in the state’s largest city were spared from falling ash, though fine gray dust was falling Monday morning on small communities north of Anchorage.

“It’s coming down,” Rita Jackson, 56, said early Monday morning at a 24-hour grocery store in Willow, about 50 miles north of Anchorage. She slid her fingers across the hood of her car, through a dusting of ash.

Ash from Alaska’s volcanos is like a rock fragment with jagged edges and has been used as an industrial abrasive. It can injure skin, eyes and breathing passages. The young, the elderly and people with respiratory problems are especially susceptible to ash-related health problems. Ash can also cause damage engines in planes, cars and other vehicles.

Alaska Airlines on Monday canceled 19 flights in and out of the Anchorage international airport because of the ash.

Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage told only essential personnel to report to work. The Air Force says 60 planes, including fighter jets, cargo aircraft and a 747 commercial plane, were being sheltered.

The first eruption, in a sparsely area across Cook Inlet from the Kenai Peninsula, occurred at 10:38 p.m. Sunday and the fifth happened at 4:30 a.m. Monday, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

The wind was taking the ash cloud away from Anchorage, toward Willow and Talkneetna, near Mount McKinley, North America’s largest mountain in Denali National Park.

Dave Stricklan, a hydrometeorogical technician with the National Weather Service, expected very fine ash.

“Just kind of a light dusting,” he said. He said the significant amount of ash probably dropped immediately, right down the side of the volcano.

“The heavier stuff drops out very quickly, and then the other stuff filters out. There’s going to be a very fine amount of it that’s going to be suspended in the atmosphere for quite some time,” he said. “The finer ash is going to travel farther, and any ash can affect aviation safety.”

Jackson said she was taking a sip of coffee when she tasted something funny on her lips — ash. She was experiencing other affects, too.

“My eyes are itching really bad,” she said as she hurried to get out of the store and to her car.

Jackson, who unexpectedly got the day off, hurried home from the grocery store to secure a motorcycle, snowmachine and vehicles under protective blue tarps.

The 10,200-foot Redoubt Volcano, roughly 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, last erupted during a four-month period from 1989-90.

In its last eruption, Redoubt sent ash 150 miles away into the path of a KLM jet and its four engines flamed out. The jet dropped more than 2 miles before the crew was able to restart all engines and land safely. The plane required $80 million in repairs.

Meanwhile, the volcano became restless earlier this year. The observatory had warned in late January that an eruption could occur at any time.

Increased earthquake activity over the past 48 hours prompted scientists to raise the alert level for Mount Redoubt on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, 40 to 50 earthquakes were being recorded every hour.

A steam plume rising about 1,000 feet above the mountain peak was observed Saturday.

FedEx cargo plane crashes at Tokyo airport; 2 dead

 

23 Mar 2009

 

A FedEx cargo plane smashed into a runway and burst into a ball of fire while attempting to land at Tokyo’s main international airport Monday, killing the American pilot and copilot. Investigators believe wind shear, or a sudden gust of wind, may have been a factor.

Questions were also being raised about the safety of the MD-11, a wide-body airliner built by McDonnell Douglas and based on the DC-10.

The flight from FedEx’s hub in Guangzhou, China, appeared to bounce after its initial touch down, and then skipped along the main runway at Narita Airport before flipping over and coming to a fiery halt, footage from airport security cameras showed.

Firefighters and rescuers immediately swarmed the MD-11 plane but the pilot and copilot — Kevin Kyle Mosley, 54, and Anthony Stephen Pino, 49 — were killed. Mosley lived in Hillsboro, Oregon, while Pino was from San Antonio, Texas, according to online records at the Federal Aviation Administration.

They were the only two people aboard.

Investigators said the accident may have been caused by low-level turbulence or “wind shear,” sudden gusts that can lift or smash an aircraft into the ground during landing, said Kazuhito Tanakajima, an aviation safety official at the Transport Ministry.

Unusually strong winds of up to about 47 miles per hour (76 kilometers per hour) were blowing through Narita City on Monday morning around the time of the crash, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

But Tanakajima said the wind speed at the time of the accident was not enough to be considered dangerous, unless wind shear was involved. He said there was headwind of about 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per hour), and a crosswind of about 7 miles per hour.

Strong winds and turbulence have caused other recent incidents at the airport.

Last month, a flight from the Philippines was jolted by severe turbulence as it circled prior to landing, injuring 50 passengers and crew members.

The MD-11 has been involved in accidents in which it flipped while landing, and pilots have complained about the aircraft in the past. The plane is no longer used by carriers for passenger travel but is widely employed for moving cargo.

In 1999, an MD-11 flipped over and burst into flames, killing three people during a crash landing in a storm in Hong Kong. And in 1997 one of the planes landed hard, flipped and caught fire while landing in Newark, N.J.

Tomoki Kuwano, a former Japan Airlines pilot and aviation expert, said that although wind shear could not be ruled out, the MD-11 has a tendency to be unstable during landing.

“In the past, the MD-11 has a record of landing failure,” he said. “And when that happens it often flips over.”

FedEx said it was investigating the cause of the accident.

“We will continue to work closely with the applicable authorities as we seek to determine the cause for this tragic incident,” it said in a statement.

The plane smashed into the longer of Narita’s two runways, which remained closed Monday with all incoming flights diverted, said airport spokeswoman Misuho Fukuda.

Parts of the wreckage were still burning hours after the crash, forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights. At least 10,000 passengers were affected, according to airlines contacted by The Associated Press.

Japanese media reported that Monday’s was the first fatal crash at Narita Airport, a major international hub located about 35 miles (60 kilometers) east of central Tokyo. It is Japan’s second-busiest airport, after Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, which is used primarily for domestic flights.

Last month, FedEx opened a new $150 million operations hub for the Asia-Pacific region in Guangzhou.

Sandra Munez, a spokeswoman for FedEx in the U.S., said customers that had packages on the plane will be dealt with on an individual basis through the company’s risk management and claims departments.

“As soon as the authorities give us permission, we contact customers and notify them of the incident,” she said.

single parenthood

 

 

QQ was doing non-stop story telling to LJ and mi in the car tdy.  it seems like she wants to tell us all these stories she learnt in skool.

she will always start wif this line  ’haf u heard of the story of XXXXX’ and more often den not, we haven’t !  so she will proceed on wif the story ‘proper’

anyway she started out on this story abt the sisters’ island and it went like this :

‘last time there were 2 sisters living with their mother.  i don’t know where is their papa coz the story didn’t say.’

tat’s a pretty good observation on her part as a 6 yo.  come to tink of it, there r plenty of stories and fairytales which r based on single parenthood !

juz off the top of my head i can tink of  :

The Three Little Pigs who lives with ONLY their mother

Jack and the Beanstalk who stays with his mother

Snow White who has a step-mother

Hansel and Gretal – stepmother

 

from karen

Rapunezel

Beauty and the beast

Aladdin

Cinderella

little mermaid arial

bambi
 

come on ppl, i noe u can tink of much more stories den these 3 tat i haf listed.   tell mi via comments and i’ll update tis posting.

实用价值

 

MM Lee stressed tat learning a language should be based on its practicality value

yes, if it’s purely as a second or third language

NO!!!  if we r toking abt our mother tongue

shame on u for tinking of practicality value when we r toking abt our NATIVE tongue

on dialects

 

On learning dialects, the minister mentor said it causes negative interferences with the learning of Mandarin and English because dialects have different vocabulary, phonetics and syntax.

“Today’s Zaobao had a whole series of middle aged and older generation saying we must have dialects. If you’ve got 100 gigabytes here, then you can put it in. But you haven’t got 100 gigabytes… and the more you use dialects, the less you will use your Mandarin. Your Mandarin will go down, your English will not go down because you have to use it,” Mr Lee said.

Mr Lee also said the value of a language is its usefulness. If one speaks Hokkien or Cantonese, one could only reach some 60 million people in Fujian and Taiwan, or about 100 million in Guangdong and Hong Kong.

With Mandarin, one can reach 1.3 billion Chinese from all provinces in China.

 

tink again, u haf lost touch wif the younger generation.  though i m not fluent in my own dialect as a direct result of the speak chinese campaign tat my dad was supportive of, i m proud tat i m fluent in my mum’s dialect

it’s not juz abt being understood by the 1.3 billion chinese

it’s abt being accepted by the 60 mil ppl or 100 mil who speak the same dialect as u

it’s abt the depth of the acceptance or understanding one desires

it’s not even juz abt speaking dialect, it’s abt understanding the culture of each dialect group.

each dialect group has their own distinct flavour in dressing, cooking, customs for all kinds of occasions, day to day living habits and even looks!

wat i haf always been fascinated by is the segregation of trades by dialect groups in sg.  our forefathers bring wif them distinct skills and trades.  the hakka will open chinese medicinal halls, the hainanese will open kopitiams and the heng hwa will open tyres shops.   there is so much to learn juz abt the cultural melting pot tat sg is yet we haf missed teaching our kiddos the rich heritage we haf. 

and of coz the ultimate test of ur roots and dialect group comes at the end when ur origins ie. province and dialect group is encraved on your tombstone.  the purpose is more den one.  it’s for u (or ur spirits) to find ur roots and for ur children and grandchildren to know their true lineage

On learning chinese

 

isn’t this being realised a little too late?   the ’speak english’ campaign is so successful tat those who can’t speak english used to b looked dwn upon.

don’t singaporeans feel superior becoz we r fluent in english?

if u reli wana help our kids learn chinese, pls overhaul the education system first

who is the idiot who came up with the learn hypy first, read first and recognise words later idea?!   i curse tis person every time YY struggles wif chinese

and learning a language is not juz abt speaking and reading ‘words’.   it’s a whole cultural immersing experience, the same concept tat is making learning english such a breeze for our kiddos tdy.

they watch cartoons in english, all gadgets they play wif r in english and all the skool subjects save chinese is taught in english.  is it any surprise tat they find learning english a simple task?

in my opinion, we need to turn to the sages.  we need to get the basics rite and start from teaching them poems and literature which will improve their standards.

and tat’s y i always feel tat while YY hasn’t been exams smart in chinese, his standard and grasp of the language is not tat bad.  he is able to understand and converse fluently and tat can only come from frequent use of the language.

 

17 Mar 2009

The trend of Chinese dialects dying out in Singapore is irreversible, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who urged Singaporeans to focus more energy on learning Mandarin instead.

Speaking at the 30th anniversary of the Speak Mandarin Campaign on Tuesday, Mr Lee said the key challenge is no longer about Mandarin versus dialects, but about getting more Chinese Singaporeans to speak Mandarin to their children.

Mastering both English and Mandarin is not an easy task for most children, including the minister mentor’s grandchildren.

He said among the seven of them, only one prefers to use Mandarin, whereas the rest often answer in English when he asks them questions in Mandarin.

Mr Lee urged parents to help their children master the language at home.

“If both (parents) can speak Mandarin, don’t speak to your child in English, or one in English and one in Chinese. Speak to them in Mandarin, leave their English alone — they will master it,” he said.

Research has shown that it is difficult for most children to cope with two languages which are as diverse as English and Mandarin.

According to a study done by Cornelius Kubler, an American professor who teaches Mandarin to US foreign service officers, it takes four times as long to train someone to a level where they can function professionally in Mandarin, compared to other languages like French, German and Spanish.

That is why Mr Lee said there is a need to build a strong Mandarin foundation in children.

On learning dialects, the minister mentor said it causes negative interferences with the learning of Mandarin and English because dialects have different vocabulary, phonetics and syntax.

“Today’s Zaobao had a whole series of middle aged and older generation saying we must have dialects. If you’ve got 100 gigabytes here, then you can put it in. But you haven’t got 100 gigabytes… and the more you use dialects, the less you will use your Mandarin. Your Mandarin will go down, your English will not go down because you have to use it,” Mr Lee said.

He added that if the government had left language habits to evolve undirected, Chinese Singaporeans would be speaking an adulterated Hokkien—Teochew dialect.

Mr Lee also said the value of a language is its usefulness. If one speaks Hokkien or Cantonese, one could only reach some 60 million people in Fujian and Taiwan, or about 100 million in Guangdong and Hong Kong.

With Mandarin, one can reach 1.3 billion Chinese from all provinces in China.

Statistics from the Education Ministry showed that the proportion of Chinese families in Singapore who speak dialects at home has dropped significantly in the past 30 years.

It fell below 10 per cent in 1988 and continued on a downward trend. Since 2001, less than 2 per cent of Chinese students in each cohort have come from dialect—speaking homes, demonstrating that majority of parents prefer their children to focus on learning English and Mandarin well.

“Did you watch the Beijing Olympics Opening? I was there. I was watching the reactions of the foreign leaders and I knew that they knew this is a country that is going to rise,” Mr Lee added.

He said Singapore is useful to China because we have access to the English—speaking world and have developed links with them due to our language policy.

At the same time, Singaporeans are fluent in Mandarin; hence we can communicate with those in China and help them understand the West.

As part of this year’s Speak Mandarin Campaign, the Promote Mandarin Council will launch a challenge in two weeks to encourage Chinese Singaporeans to embrace Chinese language and culture.

mi is most compatible with Libran

 

so wat else is new?  i mean aquarius, gemini and libra supposed to b best matches rite

 

You are most compatible with LIBRA!

I’m sure most of your friends are Librans! Together you’re going to rock!

They have elegance, charm and good taste, are naturally kind, very gentle, and lovers of beauty, harmony (both in music and social living) and the pleasures that these bring.

They have good critical faculty and are able to stand back and look impartially at matters which call for an impartial judgment to be made on them.heir characters are on the whole balanced, diplomatic and even tempered.Their love of pleasure may lead them into extravagance.

Librans love to impose a sense of order in their lives-everything must look perfect-appearance, clothing, possessions, home and environment must be scrupulously clean and tid. To achieve balance in all aspects of their lives is the ultimate aim of most Librans, but sometimes the means does not justify the end.

I’m a May Baby

Livia took What does your birthday say about you? quiz and the result is May

Stubborn and hard-hearted. Strong-willed and highly motivated. Sharp thoughts. Easily angered. Attracts others and loves attention. Deep feelings. Beautiful physically and mentally. Firm Standpoint. Needs no motivation. Easily consoled. Systematic (left brain). Loves to dream. Strong clairvoyance. Understanding. Sickness usually in the ear and neck. Good imagination. Good physical. Weak breathing. Loves literature and the arts. Loves traveling. Dislike being at home. Restless. Not having many children.Hardworking. High spirited. Spendthrift.

climb every mountain

 

mayb it’s the excitement of having secured accomodation for the climb but tis line juz keeps repeating itself in my head

catchy tune, anyone has the song?

Clarins’ free 10 days’ supply

 

of winning beauty products

 

http://www.beautywinners.com.sg/

He’s Just Not That Into You – the plot

 

from wiki

The plot chronicles the romantic misadventures of nine individuals in their twenties and thirties. Set in Baltimore, the common thread of the story is that one person in each relationship is more enamored with the other person than vice versa.

At the core of these multiple stories is Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin), a young woman who repeatedly misinterprets the signs that men give her about their level of interest in her. After a rejection from Conor (Kevin Connolly), Gigi begins getting dating advice from the romantic and promiscuous Alex (Justin Long), the manager of a bar and Conor’s best friend.

Gigi’s co-worker Janine (Jennifer Connelly) is having difficulties in her marriage. Her husband, Ben (Bradley Cooper), begins cheating on her with Anna (Scarlett Johansson), a yoga instructor and aspiring singer. Anna, in turn, is dating Conor, but isn’t as interested in him as he is in her. Anna receives romantic advice from Mary (Drew Barrymore), a newspaper editor who also helps Conor promote his real-estate business.

Gigi’s other co-worker, Beth (Jennifer Aniston), is living with her boyfriend Neil (Ben Affleck), who also happens to be friends with Ben, and who she has been dating for seven years. Beth is upset that Neil refuses to marry her which prompts a breakup.

He’s Just Not That Into You

 

reli funny

great show for girls.  the truth may hurt but i’m glad i haf more gfs who will go ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ den fuel the great illusion of false hopes.  as andie puts it, the gfs who fuel false hopes r juz fakers

so girls should watch tis WITH their best friends, not their men

we all hope to b the exception but we r the norm

will post spoiler tml

freaked out

i was ready to abandon ship after less den 15 mins

it made mi realise y i dun bother anymore. coz i hate to entertain sometimes. i still can if i want to but i hardly tink it’s worth the trouble

luckily the winds changed post dinner, mayb i was juz hungry and blue due to hunger pangs

vote for javier

 

sorry mun, i forgot to email blast tis time round

luckily i saw tis on sun nite and got everyone who was online on my contact list to vote on the spot so u haf another 7 votes tonite

if u see this before 10 am on mon 9th mar, pls vote for ah mun and javier ! full name is javier kang ruijie !

 

ABC bargain centre

is my fav haunt coz i luv getting titbits and knick knacks from them

they go back a long way to the first shop i noe at bugis village

my parents used to shop there every wk when they go pray

and thanks to radha exports, lotte chocopie is now so affordable

i rem getting my first pack from bkk coz sg dun sell den

later on, i found it at selected places but a pack of 6 costs almost 4 bucks

now, it’s only $3.25 for a pack of 12 at ABC stores

and candy are mostly at $1.05 a bag

Why Do Limbs “Fall Asleep”?

You know how it goes. You sit too long with your legs crossed or lie with your arm under your head, and when you go to move the limb, it’s tingling with a “pins and needles” sensation. But why?

We’ve got nerves running through our bodies that act as lines of communication between the brain and the other body parts, transmitting commands from the brain and relaying sensory information back to it for processing. What’s happening with a sleeping limb is that your nerves are going a little haywire because prolonged pressure has actually cut off communication between that limb and the brain. (The tingling sensation is technically called paresthesia)

Pressure puts the squeeze on nerve pathways and blood vessels, so the nerves can’t transmit signals properly, and the blood vessels can’t bring oxygen and nutrients to the nerves. The cut-off interferes with the normal flow of information between the limb and the brain and the signals going back and forth get jumbled. Some nerve cells stop sending info entirely, while others send impulses erratically.

The problem is compounded by the fact that our nerves are pretty specialized and different kinds of nerves and sensory receptors receive different stimuli and transmit different information (last year, we talked about another bodily oddity caused by this). When the various signals get scrambled and aren’t transmitted normally, the brain starts to misinterpret the info it’s getting and generates an array of sensations, like warmth, numbness and that tingling feeling.

When a limb falls asleep, we usually try to “wake it up” and change positions. Blood flows back to the limb, giving a little boost to the misfiring nerves and making the tingling seem worse, but eventually the nerve signals begin to flow properly again. The pins and needles sensation is annoying for a few minutes, but it’s a nice little prompt for us to relieve the pressure on a limb before serious nerve damage occurs.

personality test

personality test

Your view on yourself:

Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They’ll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.
The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.
Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.
The seriousness of your love:

You like to flirt and behave seductively. The opposite sex finds this very attractive, and that’s why you’ll always have admirers hanging off your arms. But how serious are you about choosing someone to be in a relationship with?
Your views on education

Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.
The right job for you:

You’re a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you’ll be set for life.
How do you view success:

You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don’t succeed. Don’t give up when you haven’t yet even started! Be courageous.
What are you most afraid of:

You are afraid of having no one to rely on in times of trouble. You don’t ever want to be unable to take care of yourself. Independence is important to you.
Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

injury

YY called mi on fri afternoon and told mi in a very serious tone tat he has a piece of bad news for mi

He asked “Mama, when is the Cold Storage run?”

BECAUSE he injured himself while playing soccer tdy. In his own words “I don’t think I can run at full power unless I recover by then”

I asked him how is his leg and he went “Very serious! Bleed till the grass all red”

小酒窝

is my morning alarm

i luv my walkman fone coz JJ will wake mi up every morn

i haf several alarms and snooze a lot so other stars will croon to mi in the morn

bz

been reli bz coz we r so spontaneous and quick in our response tat there r more and more adhoc reporting and new intiatives being rolled out everyday

there is no other time like now to b doing risk

i m so glad i made it back to risk just in time, a wk before lehman started the domino effects worldwide and dealt us the hardest blow we haf experienced in our lifetime.

i wouldn’t want to b anywhere else but here, doing the things i m reli passionate abt and can support

risk mgmt

is the new sexy after investment banking made its exit

i nbr thot i will live to see the day tat risk mgmt would b so respected and sought after

risk mgmt used to b the poorer cousin of glamourous customer service. and there were labels like legalised loan sharks being slapped on us. i m guilty of tinking tat of my trade too

but after some time in the job, understanding the dynamics of biz, i truly luv risk mgmt

many yrs ago, when i understood how risk mgmt affects the bottomline, i realised how very impt risk mgmt is to any biz. no matter how much biz and revenue is brought in, if the back doors r not guarded closely enuff, wat goes out the back door can truly cripple financial institutions and companies of the biggest size

the next era is tat of risk mgmt

bejeweled

is one of my fav game

now available on fb

rainbow

thank u all for notifying mi abt the rainbow

unfortunately i still can’t spot it from my office tdy : (

my rainbow day will arrive one day

edison!

yesh, the lead in the biggest scandal in chinese entertainment in 2008 and hot topic during CNY period too

i haf liked him, for his charming good looks and also his altitude

my most memorable impression of him was duing SARS when he was shopping wifout any mask on and struck a literal tongue in cheek pose for the media

mayb it’s his westernised upbringing. mayb he’s juz full of altitude and guts. but i reli admire him for his guts and setting a good example for Hkers to carry on life as usual and not letting SARS get them or the retailers and in turn the economy dwn

五塔标行军散

i discovered tonite tat my friends have been using 五塔标行军散 from young.

whether we call it 五塔标 or 行军散, it is still the same great wonder cure that relieved my throttling knee last wk

http://bonbon78.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/ouch-2/

sadly the generation after mine ie. those born in 80’s dun noe tis, even boys who haf been thru NS

tis should b in every army boy’s personal first aid kit

antiseptic

when i had the bad fall in sec 4 which took quite a lot of skin off, i discovered tat mouthwash makes an excellent antiseptic

and using antiseptic is key to helping wounds heal

Happy Weight

makes sense coz u can b happy at a certain weight which is not skinny or necessarily slim. lose of appetite or having no appetite is certainly not something i envy

能吃是福

more imptly, eating should b coupled wif higher activity level which translates to a healthier lifestyle rather den juz losing weight coz u r not eating much and maintaining same activity level

——————————————————————————————————

If you’re trying to lose weight, you probably have a goal, your ideal weight, in mind. A good question to ask yourself is, “Where did I get this number?”

Is it what you weighed in high school? Is it what health experts suggest you should weigh, based on your age, body frame and body type?

While weight loss is an admirable goal for a woman who is truly overweight, many women who want to lose weight don’t need to. In study after study, researchers have found that the majority of normal weight women think they need to lose 10 or 15 pounds: what I call vanity pounds.

Why is this a problem?

If our happy weight is based on unrealistic expectations, it will cause us much pain and suffering. We’ll exhaust ourselves, trying to achieve the impossible. We’ll live in fear: when we’ve lost weight, we’re fearful of gaining it back; when we’ve gained a few pounds, we’re fearful that the scale will keep rising. We may delve into all sorts of whacked out behaviors: crash dieting, food obsession, fasting, and overexercising in our desire to reach our goal.

Unrealistic expectations can create an unhealthy focus on our appearance. You can only be 10 pounds underweight if you’re working very, very hard: by exercising for hours a day and being very stringent about what you eat. These behaviors can easily morph into an eating disorder.

The flip side, accepting a realistic happy weight, may mean giving up our wishful thinking of being a size 2. This can be painful; I know. But the rewards of letting go of our impossible expectations are many: vitality, feeling satisfied by the variety and amount of food we eat, energy, stable moods, confidence and a healthy appreciation for our appearance instead of obsession. It’s also a sure way to temper the jealousy you may feel about other pretty women.

How can you find a weight that is realistic for your body? Here are 5 tips:

1. Look at the unique factors of your body. Self magazine has a calculator to determine your happy weight which takes into account your age, exercise habits, and if you’ve had children. You can also factor in your eating and self-care habits: Do you have ways of comforting yourself without turning to food? If not, accept that this may mean weighing a bit more than you’d like until you have stronger nurturing skills. As you learn how to care for yourself, your weight may go down. But accept where you are right now. Then, as Maya Angelou says, as you know better, you do better. And then you can adjust your goal. Having realistic expectations is about looking at what is – not what you’d like to be – and using that information to shape and mold a positive, yet honest expectation for change.

2. Aim for a healthy body fat percentage. One of the best ways to compute a realistic happy weight is by basing it on a healthy body fat percentage. Start by figuring out your current body fat percentage. Then, you can use this number to figure out how much of your weight is comprised of core, lean mass: your organs, muscles, water, and tissues, and how much of your weight is fat. It can also tell you if your body fat percentage is in a healthy range. So, if you want 22% body fat, which is considered a healthy body fat percentage for a woman, you can see whether you need to lose a few pounds, or if your body is healthy just as it is. With hard data, and real numbers, you can see if your expectations are realistic.

3. Look at media images of women with a critical eye. Look at window mannequins in most women’s clothing stores, and you’ll see a woman whose body fat would make her underweight. Likewise, the “ideal body” that is touted in the movie industry, fashion industry and media is also underweight. This skews our perception, where, as Stanley Tucci’s character in The Devil Wears Prada famously quippped, a size 2 is the new 6; a size 6, the new size 14. Separate yourself from these images by recognizing them for what they are: unrealistic. This doesn’t mean turning into the body image police. When I see celebrities who look clearly underweight, I bypass judgment. But I do feel compassion for them — think of the enormous pressure they must feel to always look their best. I know I wouldn’t want to live with that kind of scrutiny on my appearance.

4. Give yourself enough time to lose weight. If you are wanting to lose weight, one of the best ways you can support yourself is by giving yourself time to accomplish your goal. You didn’t gain weight overnight; you won’t lose it overnight, either. If you’re holding onto an unrealistic expectation about how quickly you can lose weight, you’ll either be discouraged and frustrated because it’s taking longer than you think it “should,” or you’ll delve into drastic measures to lose the weight faster, such as starving yourself, purging, or overexercising. This is being kind to yourself, allowing time for changes to manifest. It’s nature’s way – growth and change take time.

5. Recognize that your happy weight will change over time. Health is dynamic, not static. Our bodies are always changing, and life is always in flux. The media focus on Jessica Simpson was ridiculous because it denied this basic truth. It is normal for our weight to go up and down, particularly as women. One year you have a baby; another year, you have major surgery and have limited exercise capabilities; another year, you’re under tremendous stress and gain weight. All of these things can effect what a realistic weight is for your body at this moment in time. Accepting that your ideal weight may be higher than you’d like – for now – doesn’t mean that this will always be the case. Accept the ebb and flow; the highs and the lows, and learn to love a weight range for your body, not just one ideal weight.

We are so much more than a number, but as women in an appearance-conscious society, it is very, very eased to get hooked by the promise of an ideal body. It’s easy to believe that it will solve all our pain – our confidence, our needs, our desire for intimacy, acceptance, and belonging.

These needs are valid and important. But the problem is when we use our bodies to feel these needs, instead of our innate worthiness, our beingness. It creates too much pressure, too much focus on one area of our lives. It keeps us from enjoying the present moment, trapped in a place where we are never satisfied; always striving to improve. It keeps us from appreciating what our bodies can do, how we live in them and enjoy their many gifts.

It’s a gift to live in a female body. Our beauty should be cherished and appreciated; our sexuality, enjoyed; our strength, celebrated. Yes. While we are not our bodies, we do live in them — and when we love and care for them, we send a message of love and care for our entire selves.

So, yes, love and care for your body as a loving caretaker, even as a mother lovingly cares for her children. Exercise. Move, sweat, dance, run play. Rest when you’re tired. Eat when you’re hungry. Feed it whole foods that nourish your particular body (because no one diet is right for everyone.) Breathe. Dream. Release your hurts.

But do so with detachment. Do it out of love, not out of hatred, fear, jealousy or disgust — I am such a fat cow! … I am going to run 5 miles because I ate that pizza last night…. I am so sick of being fat … I hate that skinny b***ch. Love your body with acceptance, embracing every stage and weight of your body, recognizing that your real worth has nothing to do with a number on a scale.

Card Issuers: How Can We Make You Go Away?

Carrot and sticks to pay in full

26 Feb 2009

Consumers who carried a big balance and made the bare minimum payment each month used to be a credit-card issuer’s dream. Now, they are their worst nightmare.

With defaults on the rise, credit-card issuers are employing all sorts of tactics to persuade consumers to reduce their balances and, ideally, close their accounts. Some issuers are using carrots: American Express is offering some cardholders a $300 gift certificate if they zero out their balance by April 30, and Citibank is offering to match a portion of the payments some cardholders make beyond the minimum amount due. Others are using sticks: Chase is tacking on a $10 monthly fee to the accounts of consumers who have carried a large balance for more than two years.

Reducing the liability of outstanding balances is an effective way to head off problems at a time when defaults are rising and it’s become increasingly difficult to collect, says Tom LaMagna, director of Auriemma Consulting Group, a Westbury, N.Y.-based consulting firm that specializes in payments and lending. Credit card charge-offs (when issuers write off unpaid debts and send them to collections) rose to 6.3% during the fourth quarter of 2008, up from 4.15% the year before, according to the Federal Reserve.

At first, credit-card issuers targeted cardholders who hadn’t used their accounts in a year or two. Now, they’re going after another group: consumers who carry high balances and make few new purchases, many of whom have low rates from longstanding promotional balance transfer offers.

“When the economy was really booming, we were seeing a lot of 0%, low-rates-for-life offers because the industry was profitable overall,” explains LaMagna. “Now they can’t afford to keep them on the books, as good as that customer may be.”

If you’re an American Express or Citibank customer, don’t sit around waiting for the card issuers to come knocking on your door with an offer of a gift certificate or cash aid to help you pay off your balance. Both card companies say their deals are by invitation only.

American Express sent out its offer to “a relatively small number of cardmembers who have sizable balances and little spending and payment activity,” says spokeswoman Molly Faust. (She declined to specify how many.) Eligible consumers received a special offer code that, when redeemed online by Feb. 28, immediately cancels their account and sets the offer clock in motion. Fail to pay off the balance in full by April 30 and you’ll be out on both the account and the gift card. (The remaining balance must be paid off under your regular card rate and minimum monthly payment.)

Citibank spokesman Sam Wang declined to comment on the issuer’s program, saying eligibility and details depend on the customer’s unique circumstances. But cardholder Lynn Murphy, of North Little Rock, Ark., was happy to tell us about the deal she received last week: 10% back on payments made above the minimum for four months, with a maximum rebate of $550. “I was surprised that they just offered it,” says Murphy, who is considering the offer although she worries that it will limit her ability to manage debt during the offer period. While participating in the program, she can’t make any purchases on her card. After she completes the program, her account’s $17,750 limit will be cut to just above the balance.

A credit score of more than 800 wasn’t enough to save Lee Frizzell of Farmington Hills, Mich., from Chase’s new policy, which took effect in January. Chase is tacking on a $10 monthly service charge to many low-rate accounts with big debts held for more than two years. The fee is added to the balance, where it earns interest just like any other charge. Chase also raised the minimum monthly payment from 2% of the balance to 5% for affected cardholders. Frizzell has $12,000 in debt on his $35,000-limit card from three years ago, when he consolidated his bills to take advantage of an offer promising a rate of 3.99% for the life of the balance. “It was the cheapest rate around,” he says. “Now they’re trying to renege on the deal.” (Changes affect fewer than 0.5% of accounts, says Chase spokeswoman Stephanie Jacobson.)

how to get good genes

tis joke is from YY

and the answer is : go to levi’s

听写

i changed strategy again coz YY is so bz on wkdays, he hardly has any time left to learn

so i declared sun as 听写 day

after spending the whole afternoon, he managed to get half correct

now the challenge is to let him learn the reminding words in the coming wk and not forget the 5

Nike waterbottle

has made YY very happy tdy

he literally had the spout in his mouth the whole afternoon

his rationale for it was, he wants the bottle to reek of his saliva so QQ won’t take it

gross ! and QQ is not interested in his bottle lor

习字

i dun believe tat reading more and writing less is gonna make learning chinese easier

and YY is living proof of tis

writing is key to learning chinese as it is thru writing practise tat u learn the correct strokes for every chinese word subconsciously

QQ has been diligently practising her chinese words and is oredi quite good wif her strokes and word recognition

腐竹薏米

 
my first attempt at  腐竹薏米 began wif some hard work deshelling gingko nuts last nite

whole family sans bro and mum got into the operation but it took mi a while to work out the easiest way

the first time round, i didn’t get the portion of the ingredients rite so it was more gingko and barley den  腐竹薏米

i had 2 bowls of barley porridge (my pot too small, too much barley, not enuff water) den added more water and another sheet of  腐竹. 

now it’s juz rite but i tink 3 bowls a day suffice

and i dun take gingko nuts but can’t leave them out coz QQ & YY luvs the gingko more den  腐竹薏米

i like  腐竹薏米 coz it’s so 滋补养颜 and yet dun cost a bomb

YY most prob attributes his lovely fair complexion to  腐竹薏米 coz i usually haf a bowl after lunch.  it onli costs 50 cents at golden mile basement if u order rice and dishes from the stall

got other desserts too but  腐竹薏米 is my fav