...

Wedding Bliss

2008-06-18T03:01:00.004+08:00

On the 7th June, 2008, my friend Huan Yang celebrated another stage of his life... a stage that i would never get myself into..hahahha... He celebrated his wedding at Meritus Mandarin Hotel in Orchard. The Dunman gang were there as well, together with Violet's fiance (she's next.....). The night started out terribly, when i was wearing the outfit that i assembled for the dinner. It was the pants that i wore for my JC prom and guess what...i could not fit into the freakin pants. It must have shrunk in those years of abandonment in the closet. When i finally squeezed into it, i realized that the zipper was spoilt. I had to find another outfit to wear and rush to the dinner as i was like late. In the end, i wore something that seems apt in a filming scene... Violet said i looked like a director. Everybody else at our table wore shirt and pants. Great. Tse Guang, as usual was at his fashionably best, wearing a dapper suit complete with folded napkin at his breast.

The dinner was very sweet with lots of christian elements that i am not too comfortable with. There were prayers, the usual video montages, the christian song singalong that i thought gave more pleasure to the performers than the guests. Anyway, the best part was, i got a liiiiiitle bit drunk...keke....ahhhhh the joys of a wedding dinner... free wine!

The currently still unmarried ones of the Dunman Gang.

Dunman Gang with Huan Yang's wife

The same as above, now with Violet's fiance.

Forcing Huan Yang to drink alcohol..

Anyway, i think that they make a really cute couple, and i wish them well in their married life even though i don't believe in it...

Beijing delicacy

2008-06-09T15:55:00.004+08:00

Recently, a chinese restaurant opened opposite my house, the same stretch as the famous chicken rice, a very daring move considering the legacy of the chicken rice and it being blocked by the over-head bridge. In order to attract customers to try, they're now offering 50% off everything on their menu except drinks and a separate menu which has like meat/fishes etc dishes. However, the menu that is 50% off is good enough to satisfy any hungry singaporean. They have a nice variety of dumplings and usual chinese dishes like la mians and fried rice. I went to try out the place with Marc and Daniel, and we ended up ordering food that is enough to feed 5 people; and all in all we only paid like 30 plus. The next day, i brought my 2nd brother and my grandma to have lunch there. The following are the food that we ordered.

Fried rice with brinjal and chicken...very very yummy...

2 Plates of dumplings, 1 with mixed fillings, and the other with vegetable. We also ordered the appetizer, pork in chili and garlic.

The food is good, cheap (even without the discount, a plate of fried rice is $6.80.. the dumplings range from $4 to $7.80 for the fish filing) and the service is very good. Alas, the business there isn't very good. Probably people working in the area didn't know that this place is opened and have 50%? This we do not know but i really hope that they will work it out because i really like the place and the food.

Adrian, my 2nd brother who came home a few days ago...

The 2 stone fountains, most probably for feng shui...

Beijing Yuan.. the name of the restaurant.

Grandma and me...

Studio Ghibli

2008-06-03T01:50:00.005+08:00

I realized that i really like the animes from Studio Ghibli. The company was founded in 1985, and most of the animes are filmed by Hayao Miyazaki along with his colleague and mentor Isao Takahata. The music of Joe Hisashi accompanied most of the classic animes that i love so much. For my next birthday gift (or any occasion whatsoever), you can get me a Joe Hisashi movie symphony album. It will be GREAT!!! haha.....Anyway, these below are the animes that i had watched so far...

Laputa: Castle in the sky

Watched this recently on Tudou. What a great website to catch so many classic animes from Studio Ghibli. The love between the 2 young characters are so sweet.....

My neighbor Totoro

Watched this for one of my class in the Japanese post war anime module in NUS. Marc commented that i am Totoro and he is the girl.....Ooookkaayyyyyy....

Spirited away

The very first film i watched from Studio Ghibli. Up to now i can still watch it and be lost in the magical land of ghosts and dragons. I love the soundtrack of the movie too! Currently my message ring-tone is the theme of Spirited away.

Princess Mononoke

Was highly recommended by Sam, and i didn't regret watching the movie. This movie's music is THE BEST from Joe Hisashi so far.

Howl's moving castle

Watched this in the cinema.

Grave of the fireflies

This has got to be the saddest film i had ever watched. Watched this in the Japanese post war film module in NUS too and at the end of the film, almost everyone was like crying when the song 'Home sweet home' was playing. This film portrays how children suffered during World War 2.

These films from Studio Ghibli gave me so many beautiful memories and introduced me to the wonderful music of Joe Hisashi. I really hope that in the future, more of such classic animes will be produced.

Keith

2008-05-23T21:56:00.008+08:00

On 8th March 2008, our GESL group from NIE worked together with the volunteers from Make-a-Wish foundation, fulfilled a young boy's wish of having an electronic mechanical bed, and a trip to the zoo. This boy's name is Keith. I finally receive the photos and videos and therefore would like to share that special day with you.

The star that the 'Home team' bought to decorate the house with. They came earlier to decorate the house when the 'Wish team' was out at the zoo with Keith.

The spread of food that the family prepared/bought. It includes Keith's favorite food which is KFC.

Keith loves super-heroes and therefore his room was specially decorated in that theme. We also bought him a Spider-man poster to frame in his room!

Part of the 'Home team'

Keith! After his surprise.

Keith's family and us crowding outside his room when he revealed his 'surprise gift', which was of course his bed.

With his super excited and hyper younger brother.

Me giving his brother a present. His sister also got a present but dunno why i never take picture with her...haha

Debbie, the volunteer from Make-a-wish. Keith's wish would be her last volunteer job as she is flying to South Africa with her husband. She is from Denmark...a wonderful wonderful lady.

The 'Wish team' and the 'Home team'

The surprise when Keith entered the hse

Revealing the wish

AFA show at PLAY

2008-05-18T16:44:00.006+08:00

Last night, we went down to PLAY to support Sammizhen 's AFA show, and as usual, being camera whores, we took pictures and videos of that night...

Ken and Sammizhen backstage... it was my first time backstage at PLAY...haha...Daniel bought choya for Chris so he asked us to go backstage to drink the choya..keke...

Me and Chris

Fierce Turandot look..haha... either that or Lao Lao from 'A Chinese Ghost Story'

Ok this must be Lao Lao prior in engulfing her prey...think she'll be pretty full after this

Daniel in his new Uniqlo outfit...

Marc and I...people say he lost weight...is it??

After partying and dancing (its been so long since i danced), we proceeded to Tantric for a second round of drinks...

Jack, Bryan (can see that he's a little drunk huh) and Daniel

Jack eyeing people while trying to act cute...

Daniel and Jack

Greg and a pouty Marc

He still looks happier with me huh..keke

Me and Daniel

The rivals

The btms..hahhaha...eh where's Ken?

Here is the video of his show at PLAY.. i did not record the first part of the song...so this is the second part plus some talking...

ok the video is super blur...haha

Another cake

2008-05-18T16:09:00.002+08:00

Hopefully its the last... diet diet

Another module down

2008-05-12T23:58:00.003+08:00

Today was the last lesson for Prof Hoh... our Biology 1 tutor whom we all didn't really like in the beginning. He had a way of speaking and a way of doing things... very JC like if you must say. However, we realized that that was just his technique of classroom management. After warming up to us (and we to him), we realized that he is a very good tutor... he provided us with so many materials and resources to use in school in the future. These 2 pictures were taken with my biology classmates after his final lesson... guess i won't be seeing much of them too after this month as all the biology classes end this semester. Next semester will be practicum and after we come back to NIE in September, there will only be math and another elective module... well... will miss you guys (those that i know personally...keke... ).

Prof Hoh is the one looking lost in blue beside Elvin, the one in green on the extreme left.

25/00 Class outing

2008-05-12T18:09:00.009+08:00

We had our JC class gathering again... since the guys at NTU had finally finished their exams. As with the tradition of 25/00, not everyone will turn up for the gathering. We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant called

With the price, i do not find the food worth it...i've tasted much better japanese food and they cost less than what they're charging me with here.

Alana with me

Teresa's wierd dish, which comprised of rice with green tea.

Alana's unagi rice... think Xian Xi tried unagi for the first time as he was commenting on why the skin of the unagi at the bottom was black. He asked was it burnt. We stared with disbelief.

Fried Shitake mushrooms

Salmon cutlet

Teresa and I

Same as above

Teresa, me and Alana

Xian Xi with Teresa, Serene and Alana

After dinner, we proceeded to an Italian restaurant for dessert..its called

Teresa recommended the place because apparently the cakes are half-priced after 9pm or something, however when we went there, they said it was at 930pm and that it had to be take away. Well, since we were already there might as well...

Siqing looking at the cakes

The girls of 25/00 (incomplete)

All of us (those that came)

Each of us ended up ordering a cake to share, and i ordered another cup of classic hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was soooo good, i don't really mind going back there again. As for the cakes, i think that its a rather interesting and good mix of classics and non-classics (curry cake??), however with a price of about $9 per cake, i would rather buy from Gastronomia.

It was a rather fun night, a night of catching up with each other and having expensive food (spent $40 for that night). Hopefully we'll catch up soon...

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-12T17:45:00.003+08:00

Last saturday, we went to this Thai place for Mother's Day dinner. It's near Potong Pasir that side and the name is called P&P Thai food (Okaayyyy....). Names aside, they serve rather pleasant Thai food that is spicy and oh so yummy. It's not very authentic in some sense (Deep fried pig leg??) however the quality of the food made me a little more willing to pay half of the bill.Grandma and I

Mummy and Daddy

Another one cos my mum says the previous one was ugly... is this 1 better?

The food.. not all was swerved when i took this.

Farewell and Hello..

2008-05-10T00:50:00.003+08:00

Today is the last math lesson from Dr Boey, our beloved math tutor in NIE. Starting from next week, it will be another math tutor coming in to take us for our micro-teaching. To commemorate this farewell, we took 2 photos with him (he is the one sitting if you're not too sure).
Today is also the day of the release of the practicum posting, and guess what: i am posted back to Dunman High...back to Ghim Moh.. They say that usually your practicum school will be the school that you will be posted to when you graduate from NIE. If this is true, i'll be very very stressed for the next 3 years. IP school, very clever students = stress.

Red bomb!!

2008-04-30T22:16:00.003+08:00

Huan Yang and Violet

Violet ordering while Tse Guang looks on

The 4 of us from Dunman High met up for dinner at Vivo on Tuesday night. Tse Guang recommended Secret Recipe, all because he wanted to eat the white chocolate macadamia cake. All the way there and they did not have it...hahahahha.... however the food was surprisingly good. I had the Catch of the day fillet with lobster sauce. After dinner we went to Marche for dessert. Violet was still commenting that it's so wierd to have dinner at Secret recipe and dessert at Marche. It should be the other way around...but who cares man haha...

Marche

Tse Guang's head

The cakes that we bought were nice except for Huan Yang's chocolate cake, which was so dry...the hot chocolate drink was yummy too...keke

Anyway, it was that night that i received my first red bomb. A wedding invitation!!! I'm so excited..hahahha... Huan Yang's wedding will be on the 7th June at Mandarin Hotel at Orchard. Now what shall i wear???

Gastronomia by Da Paolo

2008-04-27T14:09:00.002+08:00

This looks like crap but it taste sooooooo good! Its a banana chocolate cake from Gastronomia. They have a new outlet at Paragon... more convenient for me compared to Great World City. It cost 8 bucks but its soooo worth it.... yum yum

Dear Dear's Birthday Celebration!! Part 3

2008-04-27T13:06:00.011+08:00

唱歌对你那么重要吗?

For the last part of Marc's birthday week-long bash, we went to party at Tantric and Play. Earlier on in the night, Marc, Ken and I met up at Bugis Hotel Intercontinental as Chris (D) was having a show there for some Japanese company. It was there when we saw Audrey's doppelgänger! We were at the handicap toilet accompanying Chris as that was his dressing room that night, and fake Audrey walked past us to enter the female toilet. At that point i thought it was Audrey! Hahaha... both Marc and Ken thought she looked sooooo alike too!

First we had Hwee Hwee's stunt-double spotted by Daniel, now Audrey's spotted by us... its getting scary...hahah.. As usual, being cam whores and bored while waiting for Chris's show to start, we started taking pics..

Chris and I

Chris with Ken

Chris wishing he's equally well endowed like Marc

Marc's ponytail!

After his show, we proceeded to Tantric, where we started our partying! keke... Chris had to give an announcement for Mr Tantric 2008 therefore he did not remove his makeup at all on the route there... It was a chilling night at Tantric as there was an incident that happened. Chris's friend, a guy named Brandon, passed away last Tuesday. He was a Tantric loyal customer and that night, the night before cremation, there was a blackout. According to Chris, this only happens like twice a year. The timing was a little coincidental. Not only that, Chris, before leaving for Play, had a sudden flashback or a vision, and in that vision he saw Brandon. Chris gave him a mental toast and wished him well wherever he is now.... later that night, he found out from the guys at the bar at Tantric, they all claimed they felt him there. They prepared a drink and left it for Brandon, and they played all his favorite songs that night... I think Brandon just wanted to have a last night out, drinking and being surrounded by his friends.

Marc and I

Sammi

Greenlight!!

Ken getting 'there'

Sharp chin

After Tantric, we went to PLAY. To complete the tradition, we had supper at Maxwell Market eating bah chor mee...keke...

Dear Dear's Birthday Celebration!! Part 2

2008-04-26T12:43:00.003+08:00

We celebrated Marc's birthday part 2 at Greg's house on Wednesday, Marc's actual birthday... a small dinner gathering, with the company of friends... whats not to love... its a pity we did not get drunk with Marc's Vodka though..hahaha...

The HUGE amount of food we bought!

Chris (D)

Greg and dear dear

Co Seng aka Melvin

Marc's birthday celebration part 3 coming up!

Brown baby

2008-04-21T21:54:00.003+08:00

I decided to take a few pictures of Brown Baby in my room. For what reason? For fun of cos.

My CD shelf

Brown Baby promoting Mariah's latest album...keke

Posing with my operas, with the key necklace that Marc bought for me

Any one wants to go? By the Singapore Lyric Opera... it should be good...

Soma

2008-04-21T21:42:00.003+08:00

This is place where Marc is working... a small little cafe named Soma. It's just behind Great Eastern building, the one with the huge Hans on the first floor. The cafe is also home to two tigress that are not exactly in good terms.... hope Marc will survive this clash for supremacy between the 2.

To give a brief review for those that had not been there before, the lattes are there very good... i love their Kahlua latte, Tiramisu latte and the Irish cream latte. The sandwiches are also good, the Turkey ham bacon sandwich and the Chicken sandwich. If you're in the vicinity, go try it out. Who knows, you may be in time to catch a show of 2 fighting tigress if you're lucky.

Dear Dear's Birthday Celebration!!

2008-04-21T00:07:00.008+08:00

Marc celebrated his 24th birthday at Goin Om, our current hangout place...keke... almost 20 people turned up for his birthday, to have some wonderful finger food and good old champagne, coupled with actual couples and desserts. Let the pictures do the talking.

Marc with Barry, one of the owner of Om

With Tim

With Audrey, the only real rose in the room.

Marc with Greg sans Winfred

With Ken and Tony.

Birthday boy doing an Eric Cartman

With Cake.

Audrey and me

Audrey with Daniel with his favorite tee

Me and Daniel

The Trevvy Trio

Chris (D) with his new toy...

The other boss of Om

Eric Cartman!

Ken lee... kenlebelebe outuuuu

Tony again..

Guy with a moniker called Bandung

Greg

The 2 with the mushroom theme tees

Buddha in the house too..

Playing games...

The birthday boy...cam whoring again

Danielboy

Tim

Happy Birthday dear dear!

E=MC2

2008-04-20T01:29:00.009+08:00

Have you bought this yet?

This is her 2nd single from her latest super album, named bye bye. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho28txSGqxs

Bye Bye

This is for my peoples who just lost somebody
Your best friend, your baby, your man or your lady
Put your hand way up high
We will never say bye (no, no, no)
Mamma's, daddy's, sisters, brothers, friends and cousins
This is for my peoples who lost their grandmothers
Lift your head to the sky
'Cos we will never say bye

As a child there were them times
I didn't get it but you kept me in line
I didn't know why you didn't show up some times
On Sunday mornings and I missed you
But I'm glad we talked through
All them grown full things separation brings
You never let me know it, you never let it show
Because you loved me and obviously
Theres so much more left so say
If you were with me today face to face

Chorus
I never knew I could hurt like this
And everyday life goes on like
“I wish I could talk to you for awhile”
“Miss you but I try not to cry”
As time goes by
And as soon as you reached a better place
Still I’ll give the world to see your face
And we were here next to you
It feels like you're gone too soon
Now the hardest thing to do is say bye bye

(Bye bye bye bye bye bye) x3

Bye bye

And you never got a chance to see how good I’ve done
And you never got to see me back at number one
I wish that you were here to celebrate together
I wish that we could spend the holidays together
I remember when you used to tuck me in at night
With the Teddy Bear you gave me that I held so tight
I thought you were so strong
You'd make it through whatever
It’s so hard to accept the fact you’re gone forever

Chorus
I never knew I could hurt like this
And everyday life goes on like
“I wish I could talk to you for awhile”
“Miss you but I try not to cry”
As time goes by
And as soon as you reached a better place
Still I’ll give the world to see your face
Am standing right here next to you
It feels like you're gone too soon
Now the hardest thing to do is say bye bye

(Bye bye bye bye bye bye) x3

This is for my peoples who just lost somebody
Your best friend, your baby, your man or your lady
Put your hand way up high
We will never say bye (no, no, no)
Mamma's, daddy's, sisters, brothers, friends and cousins
This is for my peoples who lost their grandmothers
Lift your head to the sky
'Cos we will never say bye, bye

Chorus
I never knew I could hurt like this (I never knew it)
And everyday life goes on like (everyday of my life I wish)
“I wish I could talk to you for awhile” (I wish)
“Miss you but I try not to cry”
As time goes by (I wish, I wish, I wish as time goes by)
And as soon as you reached a better place
Still I’ll give the world to see your face
And we were here next to you
It feels like you're gone too soon
Now the hardest thing to do is say bye bye

(Its hard to say bye bye bye bye bye bye
So come on somebody sing it with me
Wave your hands up high
Hey hey, this if for my peoples who just lost somebody
So this is for everybody
You put your hand to the sky
'Cos we will never say bye bye)

Another track that i love from the album is the 4th track "I stay in love". You can hear the song here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWovsex9EBo

I stay in love

I Stay In Love
Baby, I stay in love with you

Dying inside cause I can't stand it
Make or break up
Can't take this madness
We don't even really know why
All I know is baby I
Try and try so hard
To keep our love alive
If you dont' know me at this point
Then I highly doubt you ever will
I really need you to give me
That unconditional love I used to feel
It's no mistaking
We're just erasing
From our hearts and minds

And I know we said let go
But I kept on hanging on
Inside I know it's over
You're really gone
It's killing me
Cause there ain't nothing
That I can do
Baby, I stay in love with you

And I keep on telling myself
That you'll come back around
And I try to front like 'Oh well'
Each time you let me down
See I can't get over you
Now no matter what I do
Baby, baby
I stay in love with you

Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na
Baby, I stay in love with you

It cuts so deep
It hurts down to my soul
My friends tell me
I ain't the same no more
We still need each other
When we stumble and fall
How we gon' act
Like what we had
Ain't nothin' at all

What I wanna do is
Ride shot-gun next to you
With the top down like we used to
Hit the block
Proud in the SUV
We both know our heart is breaking
Can we learn from our mistakes
I can't last one moment alone

We said let go
But I kept on hanging on
Inside I know it's over
You're really gone
It's killing me
Cause there ain't nothing
That I can do
Baby, I stay in love with you

And I keep on telling myself
That you'll come back around
And I try to front like 'Oh well'
Each time you let me down
See I can't get over you
Now no matter what I do
Baby, baby
I stay in love with you

Going OMmmmmm

2008-04-12T01:55:00.006+08:00

The staircase leading up to the 2nd level.

The trapdoor on the 2nd level opens to the front of the cafe on the 1st floor

Buddha painting on the wall of Om. The 2nd floor is supposed to be a meditation room in the weekdays, but whenever we're there, its a disco party...haha

Part of the room...on the 2nd level

The laptop area where i always put my Ipod touch, to play my songs of course...on our very 1st day, Oliver (1 of the boss) just said that we can even use his laptop to surf net etc... its really like a home of sorts..

New Discovery

We discovered a new hang out place recently, after our dinner at a Egyptian restaurant at Arab street. We were looking for a place to have coffee and desserts, when i remembered the small cafe that Janet had her birthday once. It was called Black room or something. However, when we reached the cafe, we realized that the cafe had closed, but in its place is another cafe. At the entrance there are plants, a wooden swing and birds, real birds in cages. It looks promising and therefore decided to give it a shot. At that time it was still very new and therefore they do not have any food as they do not have their food license yet. Drinks were available though and thus we stayed. We went to the upper level of the shophouse and realized that the sofas that were there during 'Black room' days were replaced by mattresses and plush pillows. I guess the whole idea and concept is like being at a friend's house. There is no menu so the owners or whoever is serving you will try to read the menu off their heads, the speaker is just there and that we can just play our music, there are boardgames and whatnot.... a very nice place to hang out. Naturally, we kept returning to that cafe as the owners are soooo nice to us (they gave us complimentary stuff!) and that the food is not too bad. The 1 thing that kept luring me back is the dessert. 1 of the owner came up with a dessert called strawberry delight or surprise and THAT is heavenly. If you happen to be there you have to order this dish. It has frozen strawberries at the bottom covered with cream and hot cheese at the top. Just that dish alone can make me a regular customer. Other food that i can recommend is the fried mushrooms, seaweed chicken and this meatball thingy...i forgot to take pictures of the 1st floor but since 19 April Marc will celebrate his birthday there so there will definitely be more pictureS.

Going Om is situated along Haji lane... Just find the only shophouse with lots of plants and a wooden swing at the entrance.. can't miss it

More pictures taken from Daniel's camera..

Chris (D), Daniel (Wagaa) and dear dear

Fiddling with hp...

Daniel testing out his camera function...

Saw a ghost?

Another ghost?

Trying to show my Wong Kar Wai look...

Orchidville

2008-04-12T01:39:00.003+08:00

The pot of orchids that Estelle bought after the tour.

Last saturday, estelle, diyana and i went to Orchidville. Do not get me wrong. I am not becoming a nature lover/biologist. We have to go there to get information for our project in NIE. We actually learnt some interesting facts that we do not know, eg vanilla comes from orchids, or that a certain part of a certain species of orchids can help fight cancer, and is very costly when sold in chinese pharmacies. The lady in charge of Orchidville also mentioned to us that the company supplies most of the orchids that you see in hotels and the airport. They cultivate and harvest orchids, and even have a laboratory to experiment with different hybrids of orchids, to create new hybrids. So interesting......... They even have a restaurant that serves damn expensive chinese cuisine, and is situated in a former green house. Will i recommend the restaurant? I'm not very sure as i did not try the food there, however looking at their menu and the number of people dining there on a saturday afternoon lunch hour, i guess not. There's not much reason to travel there too as majority of the farm is closed to public, therefore its all the way there for an expensive meal and maybe grab a pot of orchids after makan...

Supermodel Naomi Diyana strutting her stuff on the runway, showing off the latest spring/summer collection of a malay tudung...kekek

John Galliano

2008-04-08T19:44:00.005+08:00

Recently, i was so into watching John Galliano's Haute Couture shows for Dior on youtube. What wonderful beautiful outfits he created. This post is therefore just photos of his past work. Loads of his shows are on Youtube so if you're interested, you can go check them out.

One of my favorite dresses that he created. Eva Green wore a blue version of this gown in a Dior perfume advertisement shot by Wong Kar Wai. The picture below is the full gown during one of his shows.

Egyptian theme during his 2004 show.

Fairy theme...

Beautiful beautiful gowns! Don't you want to wear these to your wedding??

Japanese theme...

His male runway show...

John Galliano himself.. those that is familiar with his shows would know that he always take his bow in outrageous outfits, in the same tune as his crazy creations.

www.sammizhen.com

2008-03-30T16:16:00.006+08:00

Group before the drinks flow...

Last night at Tantric was thaaa bomb!! hahaha... Its been so long since i had so much fun, partially cos i'm drunk..keke... and full of surprises too.... finally saw Chung Peng, saw Janet and Terence etc... even Beven, Colin and Kelvin were there that night... Chris (D) launched his new website and invited us all the Tantric for a party. We were there very very early, at about 10pm, and were bombarded by videos of hunky naked rugby players on the various television screens in Tantric... haha... drinks started to flow and chocolates from Prestat started to be passed around. I went to Prestat to buy chocs as i promised Chris (D) before that i will let him try the ultimate champagne truffles. I ended buying 300g worth of chocolates from my old work-place. As Chris (D) birthday is coming up, we decided to celebrate it at Tantric too. A birthday song was sung when he was on-stage, a cream-filled cake bought by either the trevvy people or the fabulous sunday people was presented and the candle blown. When he came down i told him that he has another cake to eat, the one that is not filled with cream.. hahaha...

Sammi

Me and Sammi

Sammi and Stevie, the last 2 surviving icons of the community

Champagne!!!

After the champagne and multiple drinks...

As you can see, i am sooooo having fun. Marc is holding the cream cake..

However after the night is over when we were having supper at Niak Maf (dunno how to spell that place), when the cake was presented, realized that it was partially destroyed. Haiz... but the cake was still fabulous tasting. After travelling from Tantric to PLAY back to Tantric, i guess its hard to really stay in 1 piece. haahaa... more pictures can be found on my facebook...for videos, you can go to Daniel's blog at http://mongster.wordpress.com/

Chris eating the cake we bought

Anyway, Happy Birthday Chris (D)!!! HUAT AHHHHHH!

Last lesson for Ed Psy 1

2008-03-29T13:25:00.003+08:00

Yesterday, we had our final educational psychology lesson with our tutor Daniel Tan. I was an hour late as i had set my alarm wrongly at 830am the previous night.... the class starts at 830am! Anyway, i rushed down in a cab and that cost me a freakin $22, just to catch the final group's presentation and the peer evaluation. In a way, i'm a little sad that this lesson is over as Daniel's lessons are engaging and oh so fun. However, a majority of me is sooooo relieved that this is over as the lesson is at 830am on a friday morning.

As what he mentioned at the end, "all good things must come to an end... so that more good things can come.."

However the best lesson that he taught us that still lingers in my mind is " Please see a counsellor when stressed!"

Class picture

Movies again...

2008-03-28T20:30:00.003+08:00

I've nothing much to update on my blog recently except what movies i had watched... haha.... now for another 2 more movie reviews.

Shutter

Just 2 words, don't watch. If you desperately need to watch this movie, rent or download the thai original. Trust me. DO NOT WATCH! Don't say i never warn you.

Horton aka the cartoon with the elephant

I watched this movie at Jurong point with my NIE friends during a 4 hour break today. Compared to the other movies available at Jurong point, this seems to be the most promising. Reviews from magazines are also favorable and thus this movie was chosen. I had mixed feelings about the movie. Loved the graphics, the story, the music and the animation. Hated Jim Carrey's voice over for the elephant. You see the elephant and everything that it does is what Jim Carrey does normally in his movies aka slapstick humor. Can watch but not during the weekends, when the tickets are so expensive now... even GV had increased their prices...

2 new movies to recommend

2008-03-23T17:07:00.003+08:00

During the weekend, i managed to catch 2 movies that are currently showing in the cinemas.

The Orphanage

This movie produced by Guillermo del Toro, the guy who gave us movies such as Pan's Labyrinth and The devil's backbone. The movie is about a woman who returned to the orphanage that she used to be in before she was adopted by a family. She bought over the building, to change it into a residence cum orphanage for disabled children. Her son starts to play with imaginary friends in the house and upon chancing upon his drawings, realized that he has 6 imaginary friends, one of them has a bag over his head. This boy disappeared on the day that the new disabled children moved into the house and nobody has a clue to where he went to and who abducted him for almost a year. The woman and her husband are worried as the child has AIDS and thus needs his medication. A medium and a seance later, she decided to 'play' with the 6 children ghost, to rescue her son and to solve the mystery of why they're haunting the place and why her son was abducted.

This movie is a typical Guillermo del Toro movie, where there are no cheap scares and a strong storyline to hold up the movie. This is definitely different from the typical Hollywood horror films as there is almost no blood and no gore. The whole movie has not much noise to begin with and thus the audience is constantly wrapped in a sense of apprehension and suspense. This is the type of horror films that should be made more than the gorefest of Hollywood.

Secret Sunshine

This is a korean movie about a woman who brings her son to Miryang, the hometown of her deceased husband. She decided to set up home to live anew in Miryang, cutting all ties with her family and life in Seoul. She opened a piano school and starts to befriend the town people. Similar to The orphanage, her son was abducted and later killed when she couldn't pay the total sum for the ransom. Deeply depressed and heart-broken, she started going to church, to accept God and whatnot. She decided to 'follow God's command' and forgive the murderer of her son, who is serving his sentence in prison. During the meeting, the murderer told her that he also accepted God and that God had forgiven him. He is at peace and he prays for the wonders of God everyday. This pisses her off as she accused God of letting him off so easily while she suffers in silence. The next half and hour of so shows her defying God and spiraling into madness.

For her role, Jeon Do-Yeon won Best Actress at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and she definitely deserved it. Great acting do not only come from her but also from the other actors in the movie. This is another movie that i will recommend. Go watch it. The acting from Jeon is enough.

Norm reference or criterion reference

2008-03-14T21:00:00.002+08:00

In my opinion, norm reference is shit! There... i said it... for people that do not know what are these, norm reference is your typical assessment of students, where results of the whole cohort is used to draw up a curve. Top whatever percent will be A grade and stuff. Criterion reference is where there are certain guides or criteria and students are assessed based on those criteria. If you score an A, you are a A student. This is the difference between the 2. For the norm, you may score like 90 marks but if most of the students score above 90, after the curve is drawn, you will be a C or even a D grader. What shit is this right? However, the education system we have uses more norm than criterion. I just received my SMMT results and of course i failed. We were warned that after the 3rd try, if we still fail, the ministry will send a letter to the place where we're posted to; to warn the school of our results. I asked my tutor:" if u guys draw curve for every test, after the 3rd test there will definitely be people who fail, since only a A grade is considered pass..." He replied with a shrug and a laugh and said "yeah"

I think its time to break bond.

ocar movies

2008-03-03T09:57:00.003+08:00

I watched a few movies that were nominated in the Oscar recently. Here are my views...

Away from her

This movie, where Julie Christie was nominated for Best Actress, is about an aging woman who starts to lose her memory. Not wanting to impose too much on her husband, she checks herself into an old age home. The home has a policy, that no guest can visit the patients during the 1st month. This is to enable them to settle into the new environment. However, when the husband went to see her after a month is over, he found out that she had forgotten about him and has formed a close bond with a fellow patient. She now sees her husband as a peculiar guest that visits her everyday. This slow movie is basically just showing how different people are affected by her attachment to the other patient (I can't remember their character names). Julie Christie is an actress that i'm not too familiar with, however she impressed me with her beauty (at that age) and her acting... very subtle and sad... This is a movie about undying love, from her husband, and how scary it is when you're old and losing your memory.

The Diving bell and the butterfly

Another movie about loss is this beautifully shot movie, about the editor of Elle magazine, Jean-Dominique Bauby. He suffered a stroke when he was 42 and thus suffered 'lock-in-syndrome' where he can only communicate by blinking his left eyelid. From his restrictions, he was still able to write a book about his life, his memoirs. This memoir is then made into this movie. Along the way, the audience is given shots of the movie in his view, thus seeing what he is seeing...however this is done nicely and beautifully unlike the vomit-inducing Cloverfield. You will see flashbacks about his life, his family and his love, the mistress...not the poor wife. This movie was nominated for Best foreign film as the whole movie is in french. Beautiful movie that u have to watch.

La Vie en Rose

This movie is about the life of another famous French, Edith Piaf. The actress that played Edith won Best Actress at the Oscar's and while watching the movie, its not hard to see why. She morphed from an aspiring singer to a drugged addicted ruined body. Edith died young with liver cancer and throughout her life, she depended on alcohol and morphine to support her pain and body, to go on stage and sing. And sing she can like nobody can. What a voice and how much passion. The only complaint i have about the movie was that the sequences of her life are all jumbled up. I get lost sometimes wondering which part of her life is this etc. As the whole movie focus on her, sometimes i am left wondering who are the people around her. Anyway, the movie is great because of Marion Cortillard, the actress that played Edith. Its a role that's bound to win awards. Just catch the scene where she found out that her only love, Marcel the married boxer, died in a plane crash while on the way to see her. It's heart-breaking.

Karma

2008-02-28T19:20:00.001+08:00

I think karma has finally knocked on my door.

I'm posted to 822 SIR with effect from 19 Feb, 2008.

Just look at this!

2008-02-27T20:53:00.001+08:00

9 modules, 18 assignments and tests... great

Date Due	Modules
10 March	Math test 01
17 March	Edu Psy 01 group presentation
18 March	Edu Psy 02 group presentation
31 March	SCLP (ICT) presentation
7 April	Math test 02
14 April	Edu Psy 02 Assignment
14 April	Bio 01 submission of concept maps
16 April	Communications written test 01
25 April	Math lesson plan
28 April	Math test 03
30 April	Communications group test
5 May	Bio 01 Assignment
8 May	Bio 02 Assignment 01 (Recording)
14 May	Bio 02 Assignment 03 (Website)
14 May	Communications Major oral exam (50%)
16 May	Bio 02 Assignment 02 (lesson plan)
16 May	Bio 03 Group presentation
30 May	Bio 03 Assignment

Biology 01 (QCB 520)
Biology 02 (QCB 521)
Biology 03 (QCB 522)
Math (Lower sec) (QCM 530/531)
Educational Psychology 01 (QED 520)
Educational Psychology 02 (QED 521)
Communication Studies (QLK 520)
ICT (QED 522)
GESL (QGS 511)

I'm going crazy soon... its worse when you're constantly sick.

A birthday up in the skies and an asthma attack

2008-02-19T16:46:00.003+08:00

Last saturday, Marc and i went to Greg's birthday bash at Icon, a unique condominium where there is a garden with hot tubs, steam rooms and jacuzzi among hung terraces and comfy sofas up on the 39th floor. The condo is just beside Amara hotel, right in the heart of the gay district, just in tune with the gay bash. It is also a party where u realize how lucky the birthday boy is. Winfred, prepared most of the food, the drinks, the cake and deserts etc and what a cook he is... pity i did not take any pics that day except for 1. There were alot of people, and mostly i had never seen before in my life. I saw an ex-camp mate from 2PDF, a medic (chief medic ok...). haha... After a cups of Khalua with milk and Vodka orange, the conversations among the group grew raunchier and thus more fun...hahaha... there were people from Thailand and Japan too! Anyway, that night grew from a little boring to quite some fun...hahaha... Daniel came in his Zara suit that night, after his brother's wedding in Sentosa (sad sad huiru......) and thus gained quite abit of attention from the rainbow crowd...hahah... one even mentioned straight out during the conversation that he looked quite hot! Daniel, i think you should keep wearing suits out in the future...hahaha...

The birthday boy looking all rosy and cute...

Yesterday morning, i woke up at 7am, a rare timing for me as this week is a reading week and thus no class. The reason is not because i slept early to get back my normal waking hour timing, but because i woke up breathless and couldn't breathe. I had an asthma attack, something that i knew was coming as i was coughing for like 2 weeks already. I went to see the doctor at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and got my medicine. Among certain familiar faces there was one that i had never seen before. The new inhaler.

Isn't this so cool looking? hahahaha.... I have to finish this whole bottle, thats what the doc says..

Just ignore the 'Poison' warning. Anyway all drugs are poisons.

Familiar faces... i think i have a family of this in my fridge.

Well, hopefully i recover soon as i have a Math 'O' level test this saturday morning. Wish me luck.

And there was 8...

2008-02-16T01:58:00.004+08:00

Today (15 feb), we had our 25/00 JC class gathering. As usual the usual suspects turned up. Most of the other guys couldn't make it as they are rushing with their FYPs. A surprise when Elaine turned up as i haven't met up with her for like ages. We met at 'Dome' in Paragon for dinner. The food was not bad. I had a seafood tomato with squid ink linguine. 8 of us turned up for the dinner: Alex aka Dabian, Baoni aka Alana now, Teresa, SQ, Michelle and her husband Steven, Elaine and me.

Me, Alana and Dabian, looking dark as always..

Elaine, Michelle, Steven and SQ

....... with Teresa

The other side of the table...

Mini 25/00 class pic!

As you can see from the various pictures below, we're having a ball of a time..... take that those that say they're 'busy'...hahahahahha

Will her BF get jealous??

My fierce look... is it fierce enough Tyra?

okay... probably you don't REALLY get to see us having a ball of a time, but trust me, we did.

After the dinner, we headed down to P.S Cafe at Dempsy Road in SQ's car. Elaine left for a movie with her current bf (no need to really know the name as it may most likely change the next time we meet her) and Michelle and Steven left as Steven only slept for 1 hour the previous night. With only 5 people left, we managed to squeeze into SQ's car. So off we go to Dempsy. SQ tried to call the place to make reservations however no one picked up the phone, so we got to risk the possibility that there would not be a space for us. Second option would then be HOUSE also at Dempsy. Luckily, we managed to get a couch seat after 15 minutes of waiting. While waiting i saw something amazing and got my heart pumping...

Along the bar facing the entrance are rows of cakes whose sizes are rather extraordinary. This is one of the cake that i managed to take a picture of before the staff commented that photography is not allowed. These cakes are like olympic size arenas of cakeland... in China! We ordered 3 different types of cakes thinking that we could finish them as they all looked soooo tasty...

Look at the size of the cakes compared to the drinks!

Top left is the damp cake with toffee, next is the triple dark choc and lastly a orange flavored cake with a cream puff on top... all 3 came with vanilla ice-cream.

MMMMMMM.....

However..... all 3 cakes are too much of everything bad. The cake with toffee is soooooo sweet that after 3-4 bites, i feel light-headed with all the sugar... not a very good feeling though. It's really too sweet. There is a layer of cheese at the top, like those that cover carrot cakes, so...oh what calories. The triple dark chocolate cake is too big, too thick, too chocolate-y and thus too heaty for my liking. Its those cakes that after 2 mouths, you feel your throat closing up. The third cake with is recommended by SQ is the best of all... not too sweet and have a nice crunch to it.... in the beginning. However the more you eat it, the sweeter it gets. It's quite disappointing considering each cake is like $12.50. I also ordered the Hot chocolate drink (a mistake) which made my desert meal a torture for my health.

While waiting for our seats.

In my opinion, unless the cakes and drinks get better, i will not return to P.S Cafe. It seems that everything at Dempsy is all ambiance and impress more with aesthetics than quality food (HOUSE also had the same problem when i was there... baby chino is really made for babies it seems...)
However, the company is what all makes it happen. The magic, the experience, the sex talk...

The pimple-inducing 'potluck'

2008-02-14T22:10:00.005+08:00

Marc, both Chris, Daniel, Co Seng and i had a potluck lunch at my place in the afternoon yesterday. The idea 1st arose when i was talking to Marc the previous night, and he was like describing to me how he wants to cook his fried rice the next day. I got tempted and wanted him to cook for me to eat. From there, it moved on to potluck for the gang. All were supposed to bring some food or drinks for the potluck and in the end, we had like ALL fried food! Daniel bought KFC, which had like 8 pieces of chicken and some extra fried commodities at the side. The KFC meal also came with the only vegetable on the table, coleslaw..haha... Chris (D) brought Sakae's Lou Hei (which was goood) and Chris (H) brought drinks. Co Seng, who was asked to come at the last minute, bought Old Chang Kee's stuff at Novena Sq.

Marc fried his fried rice with loads of char shew and roasted pork, which i went to buy at this store in Balestier. He fried an egg for everybody too! There was also toasted pork-rib which my aunt made.

This is the Lou Hei that Chris (D) got from Sakae Sushi. This was after the pimple-inducing lunch.

After the lunch, we all gathered at my small room to watch a damn funny thai movie called 'The Maid'.

"who calls themselves 'MaaaDammm' haha....."
"Oh dear..now i have 2 Jim (slang for vagina)... ok now u shall be called 'Big Jim' and you 'Black Jim'"

Hilarious.

In the night, we went to Bugis to walk walk... went to Bugis village (where Co Seng kept exclaiming that its so nice...) and walked to visit Lasalle (where Co Seng..again.... gave us a detailed presentation on the building's layout and architecture marvels)

Hwee hwee... can u recognize the guy in the pic? on the lappie

Co Seng and Marc

BaBa Tan going to suck Ediseng's cock

Saw Cecilia's

Co Seng at Lasalle

See you in December

2008-02-11T12:41:00.000+08:00

Huiru flew back to Japan today at 820am. Daniel, Chris (H) and i sent her off at the airport terminal 1. This time round, she was not as emotional (aka...crying wreck) as the previous send-off probably because she knows that she'll be home in december. Another reason might be because prior to her departure, we were contemplating on the attractive qualities of our own international superstar aka GEISHA, and her singing from her ho-haaaa, her 2 singles 'Mr Bill' and 'Chinawine'.

Just a few hours before the send-off, the original modsquard gave Hwee Hwee a 'farewell' supper at Chomp Chomp. As usual, we had the marvelous sting-ray and pints of sugarcane juice. We also shared some tim-sum, dishes from the sting-ray store and fried hokkien noodles. During the supper, Hwee x 2 also received her present, pictures from her trip back and also a Braun Buffel photo-album (Daniel's free gift).

Hwee hwee receiving her photo-album

We also video-ed the process of her receiving her gift. This is take 2.

So now off she goes, back to Miyazaki, the land where students think that Korea is a run-down country and more importantly, porn. HAHAH.. until then, take care Huiru!

Sweeny Todd

2008-02-09T00:13:00.000+08:00

Huiru, Daniel, Chris (H), Marc and i went to catch Sweeny Todd at Golden Village Grand at Great World city. The time was 1130pm. There are 2 reasons why we chose that place to catch the movie; 1 being that the timing is just right for all of us, and 2 it is very close to this nice malay food place just along the stretch of Spize that is cheaper and serves excellent naan.

Sweeny Todd is a Tim Burton film that stars Johnny Depp in the title role and its a musical, a genre of movie that Marc totally couldn't enjoy. I, being somewhat a fan of musicals, loved the musical numbers and thought it to be different in style from alot of musicals that i had watched or heard before. Prior to the movie, i only came into contact with 2 songs from the musical, 'Pretty women' and 'Not while i'm around', both from the album 'The broadway album' by Barbra Streisand. In the movie, both songs were sung by males and thus was a pleasant surprise for me as i had no contact with the musical before. The movie is in the typical shade of grey and black that is very Tim Burton, with almost all the major characters painted with ghostly dead white faces and dark eye-shadows. The blood, when spew from the victim's throats are thick rose red that is very contrasting from the overall picture. Certain scenes are rather animated that it seems very familiar compared to Corpse bride, another film by Tim. Johnny, a frequent collaborator with Tim is as his usual devilish fun and i have to say, his singing voice is still rather pleasant. Most of the actors are not professional singers thus you won't get to hear songs being belted out like singers from American Idol, however they sing with heart and are still in tune, thus pleasant and blends in with the movie.

This movie overall is a dark revenge film but still funny in certain macabre scenes (eg, the scene where they wonder how the meat tastes like for different men with different professions, and the scene where Sweeny Todd started slashing the un-suspecting victim's throats while singing..)
It is a recommended film, both for the wonderful music and the actor's performance.

This is surprising..

2008-02-08T10:17:00.000+08:00

For countless of years, i had been telling myself and people that i do not see the point of a blog because i do not have anything much to say anyway. Plus, why do people need to know what i did and where i go? However recently, i realized that my memory is failing me. I do not remember events, do not remember dates and names of people, do not recall the fine details of wonderful times spent with close love ones. Therefore, this blog is more for myself than for other people, to document my life so that i can look back to view these memories like a silent movie.

This very 1st post is actually an old post that was originally posted on Friendster, however i realized that i hardly go to that site anymore thus creating a new avenue for storing my memories.
This was written on the 27th January ... for this post it's going to be thoughts of movies that i had watched.

The Mist

This is 1 movie that i was so disappointed with, probably because i read the Stephen King short story and i thought it was a good story to put on the big screen. The most obvious disappointment (and disgust) was the ending. Why can't they just end the movie with them stranded in the car, as in the short story? Why must they end it so terribly and with no taste at all... My friend told me it was a shocking ending...'shocking' indeed. The whole movie in my opinion was too long (2 hrs plus) and the monsters in the MIST are all too CG for my taste. They do not look real and that itself did not help at all with my ratings. As my friend Daniel pointed out, the things that the people do in the supermarket is not realistic at all. Knowing that there are creatures out in the mist that can kill, they kept making decisions to leave the safe confines of the supermarket, for stupid reasons that we normal people won't do in the 1st place. There are a few cheap scares as well that left audience laughing... probably it will work well as a comedy? I can see the spoofs for Scary movie already...

Cloverfield

This other monster movie was widely criticized and scolded at on the Internet. The movie was filmed with a camera and thus in the 1st person's perspective. Watching the movie on the small screen saved me from the nauseousness that other people might experience in the cinema, and thus made me appreciate the movie more. The movie is simple. Monster attacks America and this group of ppl just filmed their experience for that night. As the film is made to look like it was filmed from a camera, i thought the special effects were rather good. Buildings burning and destroyed, the attack from the army and even the monster, the main big one and the smaller scarier ones. Certain scenes are really dark and you can only imagine by hearing what they're saying. The ending of this movie sucks as well but at least i can understand why it ended like that and not feel cheated (unlike The Mist) and i have to say that certain parts were really exciting. Watch this on the small screen eg tv or computer.

Atonement

This movie i loved. It won best film in the Golden Globes and i can see why. Its beautifully filmed with wonderful music. The acting were all very good and the script wonderful too. This also has a shocking ending but in a very good way i have to say. Go watch this, you'll not regret it.

P.S As you can read, i have more to write for movies that are not very good...hahaha

Merry Christmas (Joex noel)

This film won Best foreign film in the Oscars and it talks about how during Christmas eve and day of the world war, the germans, the french and the scotts ceased fire at the frontline to celebrate the festive season. together. They gathered at the 'dead men's zone' to listen to Opera and the mass. They played games together, shared champagne etc. This beautifully shot movie will remind us that ultimately, we're all the same... humans living together in the same world and we share the same worries and joy even when we're separated by religion and nationality. It is really a very heart warming movie that everyone must watch. As 3 different languages are spoken in the film, subtitles are a must.

I will try to constantly update this blog with the movies i've watched this year (2008) be it in the cinema or 'elsewhere'.

Encore: "HUAT AH!"

2008-02-07T21:48:00.000+08:00

Just received the pictures from Daniel. These are not the full set, rather the nicer ones....

Daniel and Huiru (aka hwee hwee)

Hwee hwee and Audrey

Marc trying to pick up Chris (H)

Our Winning!!!

Hatsuhweehwee

Hwee hwee and me

Daniel and Audrey

SammiZhen

The blow-up Doll in action

I like this picture, looks rather Wong Kar Wai dun you think?

The original lineup of the modsquard

sans Daniel...

Ms SammiZhen with her Hao-Yi outfit

Me and Daniel

King Kong and Jane

Huat ah!!!

2008-02-07T19:16:00.000+08:00

Chris (D): Let me hear this side say 'HUAT AH!' 1 2 3...."HHUUAAATTTT AHHHHH!!!"

After a rather quiet and simple reunion dinner (it seems that Chinese New Year has lost its lusture and excitement.. to me at least), i met the modsquard, the full modsquard, at Tanjong Pagar to go to Tantric for the counting down of CNY. Chris (D) was performing that night and thus we went down to have our own little reunion gathering and also to support Sammi-HUAT AH-Zhen. All of us had a glass of orgasm there...love love love their version, and waited patiently for the Diva to appear. Chris (H) brought his friend Guorong along and realized that it was his first time at such premises. No wonder he was 'hiding' among the walls and pillars, looking rather lost at times..haha.. Sammi performed and gave out ang paos with prizes sponsored by the club and we won the 1st prize! A bottle of Absolute Vodka!!! What a good start of the chinese year. After that when the bar got a little too crowded, we moved to maxwell market for supper, to find out that it's filled with people that were at chinatown. Everything was like sold out! The dumplings, gyoza, mutabak etc... however the main reason was for hwee hwee to have her bar chor mee, with loads of vinegar. We also tried the very good fried oyster that Chris (D) kept recommending. It's good as he said, tasty and most importantly, crispy. Chris (D) was supposed to meet us after he removed his SammiZhen persona however i believe he got hooked.. cos he did not appear at all! HAHAH... Anyway, below are 2 videos of his performance that night. Pictures would be uploaded soon, after i get it from Daniel since it was all in his camera.

The birthday of the master of Boris, the Cow

2008-02-07T18:20:00.000+08:00

The following conversation took place sometime before the birthday dinner that prompted me to start this blog to save memories.

Daniel: What did u guys get me for my birthday last year ah?
Me: erm... is it?...erm...wait....
Daniel: You guys never give me present!!!
Me: Got la...pls...wait ah...its erm.........
Marc: oh! oh! tee-shirt! Audrey and i went to buy for you one....
Audrey looks lost...

For this year's birthday, we shared present for Daniel and got him 2 ties from Takashimaya. I forgot what the brands are for the ties but Chris (H) and i took a long time to choose it because both of us are not very good at ties u see. The ties are placed in a special bag with candles on the print from Borders. Since last year's Christmas party gift exchange, i realized the un-necessary-ness of wrapping gifts because lets face it, no 1 is going to sit there and appreciate how well this gift is wrapped. Thus, why not just get nice paper bags and put the present in? The paper bag can be reused anyway. Chris (H) got him another set of presents and also a 1kg Jupiter cake from Canele that gave us sore throats for days after... but what wonderful cake it was. The present was shared by me, Marc, Audrey, Co seng, Chris (D) and Edward.

Dinner for that night was at Trattoria Lafiandra at Prinsep street. It is a small rather cosy italian restaurant that serves excellent Tiramisu. I had the squid ink pasta and it tastes rather good, with loads of squids. Marc had a seafood paella which was huge and filled with seafood that had protective shells. The rice was non-existent though which caused him great distress. With good food, wine and wonderful company, the dinner progressed to games at Mind cafe just further up along the shophouses. We had more food there (Marc was finally satisfied), played some time-wasting mindless games before we moved to Citadel, which was so fun, and for the finale, the 1kg Jupiter cake.

The birthday continued the following night at St James Powerhouse for the Fabulous Sunday party, where i had a terrible orgasm (the drink, not the real thing). As for that night, i can't really remember much but i guess its just dancing and drinking and supper at Spize (i think).

Chris (D)

Marc acting cute...again

Jupiter Cake from Canele

At Mind's cafe... look at Daniel's expression

At the restaurant...

A nice picture of Co Seng aka Melvin

Daniel and Chris (H)

Chris (D) and me

Cute? kekeke...

La Traviata

2008-02-07T18:19:00.000+08:00

29/01/2008 Tuesday 8pm at Esplanade theatre

Went to watch Verdi's La Traviata with Chris, his mum and waileong. With 2 intermissions and a scene change, the whole opera took 3 hours to finish and what glorious 3 hours of music. In the 1st act, i think Nancy Yuen's voice was not really warmed up yet as at times she was practically drowned by the chorus and orchestra. Her solo scene which is one of opera's most popular aria and cabaletta (Estrano..estrano...sempre libera) was not as strong as her performance in verdi's gala concert last year. Her strong force lies in her pianissimo moments where her voice just glides...very beautiful. Overall i think she fully deserves the wondrous applause the audience showers to her right at the end of the opera. The tenor and bass (Alfredo and Germont) are equally good especially the bass. His voice is just so powerful. Vocally they are very secure and confident...something that Nancy lacks sometimes in my opinion.

The chorus is the one that i am really really impressed. They were so strong and all wonderful actors. I always find myself smiling when they sing. They obviously love being on stage.

This being the 1st full length opera that i've watched live, i have to say its a very memorable experience. Looking forward to Turandot, their next production.