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what cushions the drag of returning to work on the 3rd day of lunar new year is the company’s CNY celebration.
i remember how it was such as fascination for me last year. we have lion dance, everyone came in red and the most fun part was to collect ang baos from the directors 
this year, the managment agreed to make an exception. collys can come in festive colours; not necessarily red. i think the lion dance procession was somewhat shorter… not sure, i could be wrong. i think the lions were prettier last year (though they are from the same troupe).
(left : 2008, right : 2009)
(left : 2008, right : 2009)
(left : 2008, right : 2009)
(left top & bottom : 2008, right top & buttom : 2009)
the 2 days CNY hols came and went just like that… i did prepare myself mentally for it tho’ that the break will be over sooner than i expected. i din do much but to hibernate at home. well… the weekend before CNY was very much the usual; well, not really – considering that was no cg on sat. but sat and sun were still very packed with last minute appointments that i could not squeeze in before in my schedule.
went to B’s house for reunion dinner as my family had ours the week before. i quite like B’s mum’s cooking. their family doesn’t do steamboat like mine. but i like her noodles, broccoli + abalone + mushroom, prawns, pork chop… delicious. we went to watch inkheart on CNY eve and bride wars the night before.
both were enjoyable. my collys were surprised when i told them today that B watched bride wars with me i din think much about it and just asked him if he wanted to watch that. he agreed without any hesitation. half way through the movie, i was wondering if it was bored for him. but he said it was an interesting movie as he is now informed of the “full-works” when a girl gets married. i’m sure it is nothing so complicated in singapore as compared to states… as least, we do not have the maid of honor in singapore. the latter plays an important role at her friend’s wedding – from planning a bridal shower to etc… 
anyway, i caught the flu bug just when we were on our way to watch inkheart. my nose was stuffed throughout the movie. it was quite bad as in my ears were a little blocked. i could still hear the movie alright but i couldn’t hear myself or B very well when we tried speaking to each other during the movie. it was quite miserable and i went home with a headache and stuffed nose. i went home and popped a cold panadol and slept.
thanks be to God that i woke up feeling better. the head was a ‘lil light – probably because of blocked passage way that caused little oxygen to flow into the head – hahahaa LOL i just spent my 1st day of CNY hibernating at home – watching DVD and catching up with my sleep AND prepping myself that the CNY hols was coming to an end soon… heh!
for a boring CNY, dressing up our dog for CNY visitation can then be considered as a highlight… hahaaa LOL! we dressed him up in an outfit i bought from tokyo last nov. 
went to my 3rd aunt’s place for visitation. we reached about 1.30pm – very hungry by then. this year was unusal as my 2nd aunt’s family was not present. 2nd aunt is on business and couldn’t get home for CNY. 3rd aunt’s hubby is also away on business attachment and does not come home til 20 feb when his term ends. so, it was a small gathering in relativity. we still ended up staying there for about 4 hours. it was only that afternoon that i learnt that my 3rd aunt likes to cook. whenever our family gathers at her house, she would cook a feast and she does not prepare all the food at one go. she cooks dish by dish. so i’s like the chinese banquet style – a lot of work! though this year’s CNY lunch was simple (as i asked her to), i still enjoyed it food is life’s simple pleasures! 
needless to say, the day ended with more food. we had home cooked popiah for dinner/supper… sighh…. so much input! and sigh even harder for the fact that the CNY hols has come to an end.
i wish so much to be able to update my blog regularly than what i’m doing now.
it’s another late night for me today. left office at midnight. though borders closes at 12mn on fridays, i did not leave early enough to see it open. u know how when u work late, that it is a good feeling knowing that u are not alone and that there are still people around. its great working in orchard road. cos’ there always seem to be people and traffic around when u leave the office very late.
i’m quite behind in my schedule and it doesn’t help that my weekends are packed back to back for these 2 weeks. i need to complete quite a lot of deadlines by next week and i pray that i’ll survive through it well and healthy. can’t afford to fall sick just before my holiday trip to tw.
and prayers definitely work! i was so, so, so tired today. and wensing, gilbert, daniel said they would pray for me. i really was quite shocked that i had the stamina to work through till 12 mn and am still blogging away now at 1.50am! prayer works!
our company is getting ready for our christmas party next week. we had a renovation of the reception area recently and i think the christmas tree corner is very nice!
stayed in the office till 10pm today… i was the only one who stayed till so late. i was hoping for some company, so that i won’t have that “i’m all alone” feelin’.
B asked me if i managed to get alot of work cleared and if i would need to do OT again tomorrow night. i told him i got lots more to clear and OT would be the norm for the next couple of months or so 
he said to take care and don’t be tired out trying to do too many things… there’s lots more i want and need to do – scrapbooking, read a good book, catch up on my blog… and i need to exercise!!! there’s so much to do!
it’s zees’ 6th birthday and this is the 1st time i thought of “inviting” myself to join his family to celebrate his birthday.
his dad couldn’t make it because of a leaders’ meeting and so, it was just the rest of us. we met at swensons in parkway parade.
he picked his cake… and then we played the “making faces” game. think it is an idea juliana had that they played at home. it was really funny and fun, i must say
a player will be the banker/judge. he/she will call out a description such as “happy” and the rest around the table will have to make a face that best shows it.
ray kit was really good. for a young child, i’m very amused he could make a “tortured” face.
anyway, it was quite hilarious as it was obvious that zee was biased towards shang as the latter always win when zee is the judge.
i went shopping for zee’s present before i met them. i must say, it’s no easy task whenever it comes to playing a present for zee. there was a year that i bought him a toy which he already has. i’m not a parent and so, i guess it’s natural that i’m not updated about the ‘in’ toys and what’s fun for what age etc. i cracked my head and ended up making a purchase for a Transformers toy.
i got it wrapped up and didn’t give it to zee initially. but he noticed it and asked who was it for. i said it was for someone else. after a while, he was still curious about the present and asked me again. it was quite fun teasing him and seeing his curiosity around it. anyway, he likes the gift and i’m all pleased
i have always wanted to participate in some sort of CSR activity and with my kind of schedule, i’m thankful for the “convenient” opportunity presented through the invite extended by one of our company’s business associates – AC. he is donating towards a habitat project to be held in chiangmai and it was happening lack to back with my company’s off-site in chiangmai.
the invitation was given to our staff to asia for volunteers to participate in a 3 days’ build that would begin on a sunday. due to my ministry commitment, i was going to give it a miss when AC said it is alright that i join them a day later.
i must say that i didn’t think much about it except to wonder what a team of 10 can build within 3 days? they sent us information of the habitat programme bit by bit and nearer the trip, i got a sense that it can be quite a tough job.
they sent us info of the family that we are building the house for and they also shared with us the state and condition of their current home. it did stir my heart and i was glad for this CSR initiative to be able to do something for the less fortunate.
i got in a day later than my singapore collys. by the start of the 2nd day, they have already done quite a bit.
we started the day’s work by forming a human chain and passing buckets of cement to the various parts of the house. it was good work on the arms. those buckets of cement were not light. we then distributed ourselves to the different parts of the house and started work with laying of the bricks.
i must say that it was more diffcult than i had thought. first, i was expecting those red, small bricks but what we had were much bigger. secondly, there were “guidelines and rules” you had to adhere to. you have to make sure it is not lower than the markings they have set and you have to keep piling cement until they are of the right amount so that the brick stands to adequate height.
it took me half the day to finish just a small portion of the wall. my colly said newbies are usually slower
second day’s lunch was much more spumtous than the first day as our thailand business associate arranged for food from his cousin’s restaurant. think i loved the sticky rice the best! interestingly, i saw that they have purple sticky rice too in chiangmai. in singapore, u can get it from QQ rice.
our progress is quite fast; so they say. the schedule was quite spaced out with quite a fair bit of time for rest and relax.
we left our “mark” in the house by engraving our name/initial on this cement floor. reminds me of the hollyhood celebratities’ hand print
on the last day of the project, we had a house dedication ceremony. it was meaningful. we “handed” the new house to the owner and his wife. and we could see that the owner was closed to tears. our business associate shared with us that the construction labourer gets but just 250 baht a day!
it reminded me of the needy in the world. and if u ask me if i would want to participate in yet another habitat programme. yes – i would be open to consider but what’s to me that is more important and urgent i feel is to share the gospel to the needy and lost. so much needs yet so little labourers!
though i managed to get more sleep towards the end of last week, after about 2 weeks of accumulated lack of sleep, i was still relatively stoned and i knew it quite so when i was leading worship yesterday. everything that could have gone wrong have gone wrong – singing the wrong words, singing in the wrong keys…
i introduced a new song and it has proved to be a “tricky” song. it was a off-tempo song (don’t know what the technical terms is) and we had to keep drilling on the song… still, all in all, i’m thankful God saw us through.
i was totally zonked and drained by the end of service.
am glad for an “un-occupied” early evening that i can leisurely walk around vivo-city and catch a movie and eat my thunder tea rice!
i was craving for the thunder tea rice as i didn’t get to eat it last tues before my meeting at sally’s office. i simply love eating thunder tea rice. B enjoys it too. between both of us, we finished 4 saucer of chilli. their chilli is nice. kind of goes with the food.
watched dangerous bangkok starring nicholas cage. guess, any movie with nicholas cage can’t go very wrong?? yes/no? charlie young (hk actress) looks very thai in the movie, i must say.
managed to get some buys at vivo too. wanted to buy some more folders from daiso for my scrapbook stamps. i came across it some weeks back and purchased some to see if they serve any good and practical storage function. then a scrapbooker blogged about it and true enough, they were all gone except for 3 when i got to daiso. hopefully, they will bring in some more.
another disappointment was my attempt to buy a particular type of julie’s biscuits. i brought them once before at least half a year ago at vivo’s giant. i couldn’t find them anywhere else in a couple of other supermarkets and thought i would try vivo’s giant again. hmm…. seems like they might have discontinued it. or i can try hunting them down in the other supermarkets
i learnt about tampopo restaurant from my colleague and that it serves very good ramen. i’m not sure if it’s because it is really good or that because it is in liang court (one of our company’s properties) that we are encouraged to patronize… HMMM… i think it HAS to be that because it’s good la… .
i never got to try it until yesterday and that’s only because collys requested to have their cake for our company’s september birthday celebration.
seems like the ramen with black pig is their speciality… hmmm… but me not a fan of pork and me not adventurous when it comes to food i decided on one of the ramen that comes with pork (still).
the soup is good. the ramen noodles is good. they also give u a scoop of roe which u stir into the soup. and the egg is VERY good! the only not-so-good is that the soup is not hot enough for my preference. maybe it was a lil chilly and had thought a hot bowl of soup would make it all perrffeecct.
i’m especially “impressed” with the way they did their egg. it’s hard boiled on the outside but half-boiled on the inside. YUMMICIOUS!! i’ve been to one other jap restaurant that does the egg in a less than conventional way. i learnt about it from the radio broadcast and the restaurant is in tanglin mall. (can’t remember it’s name.) for all eggs-lover, this bowl of ramen will make u happy (“,)
tampopo is located at :-
liang court shopping centre, #01-23/24
and about the cake – i couldn’t get any in the end as a big cake would require 2 days’ pre-order. but apparantly, their cakes are good; according to my collys. they do serve them in slices at the restaurant and also at tampopo deli (which is at the basement 1 of liang court).
juliana asked me if i could take zee and the children out on 30 aug as tiak and her are going for the india mission trip. i couldn’t because of whampoa cg. i offered to “baby-sit” them on sunday instead. i had to bring them to sunday school too on 31 aug morning. i drove to their new house and after having been to a new condos, i must say the security at their place is quite “on-the-ball”. i wonder if it’s because it’s a new property. they took down my vehicle no, took my driving licence, gave me a “V” pass (to put on), gave me a “V” display to place in my car’s dashboard….. and at the end of the evening; commented that i “visited” so long. hahaaa…. ok, the last one was said in a friendly and joking way… and i replied them … yah… actually, i drove a different car out.
i drove their mpv that day. it took me a while to get used to it. i drove their mpv before but that’s at least a couple of years back. it took me about a minute to figure out the gear stick, brake release… (and i did call tiak 2 days before for a “mental refresher”) but am glad, shang knows well enough to “guide” me what to do.
it’s really about familiarity and adaptation. not easy driving a big vehicle especially when own and drive a smaller car. the adaptation took longer; compared to when i drove their mpv years back (when i didn’t own a car yet). it’s quite “scary” when u have to park. i even had to “get used” to the mirrors – which just seems differnt. but driving a mpv has the advantage of havng cars give way to u on the road! though i was not very confident and probably moving very slowly, all the cars around me seemed to be keeping the distance.
anyway, i took the children to the RSAF Open House at Paya Lebar Airbase.
it was threatening to pour by the time i was ready to leave. i asked the children “how” and if there was anything they wanted to do. i’m glad they are quite decisive. shang suggested that we go as planned to the rsaf open house. and so we did. 10 minutes after we went pass the entrance, it started raining but it was a very short pour – thanks be to God!
there were long ques everywhere – from flight simulation experience to photo-taking opportunities in the various air crafts. we settled on the fastest moving que we could get to.
we later ajourn to the fun-fair section where there are 2 big air balloon scrupltures and games stations. we spent quite a lot of time there – the children were trying their wits and pitching their skills at the various game stations and winning prizes. it was a good way to end the day at the rsaf open house.
i took them to dinner at parkway parade. no prize for guessing what their preference is when i asked what they would like to eat. JAPANESE!
it’s one of those mondays i start off the day; determined to go home on the dot and sleep early. u know how usually mondays are meant to recuperate from the weekend rather than to be rested during the weekend from the week before?
last week was long and tiring. and it doesn’t help that i choose to release stress by form of chasing after a korean drama i’m no tv person. i didn’t even catch any of the beijing olympics 2008 ceremony or games on the set. the tv in my house is switched on probably for a couple of times a year only! and most of them, i’m not even sure if my tv is working fine.
and about the korean drama – it also doesn’t help that it has 167 episodes! *roll eyes*
so, i’m very zombified now and as usual, on gear 1 today. i gear up gradually as the week goes by and by the time it’s gear 5 on fridays, it’s time to hit off from office for cell group meetings LOL.
