Sunday, November 30, 2008

A Tragedy

Singapore lost a young life (28 year old female lawyer) to terrorism on Thurs 27 Nov 08 - the first Singaporean to die in a terrorist attack.

This was such a shocking news. Lo Huei Yen, 28 had gone to Mumbai on Wednesday to attend a business seminar (meant to be only a one-night trip) and she became one of the 24 Oberoi hotel hostages found dead on Thurs.

An Indian news channel had reported that the terrorists had held the woman at gunpoint and ordered her to tell the Singapore Government to tell the Mumbai authorities to refrain from acting against them, or she would lose her life. She was still killed by the ruthless terrorists - such a waste!

Although all the terrorists had been killed by the commandos, far too many lives have been lost in this man-made disaster (195 dead and 300 injured).

What is happening to this world? Why do they have to create horror? One 9-11 incident is enough, we don't want an Indian 9-11! Life is precious! Let there be peace in this world!


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Saturday, November 29, 2008

Retro-licious



Just back from company D&D. Initially I don't intend to dress up to the theme, but got to know that my colleague will be donning a retro dress, so I decided that I should also join in the fun...

Some were transformed back to the 50s, 60s and 70s where they wore big culy hairs (aka wigs), printed dresses, bright colourful tops, tight shirts and pants, high platforms, suspenders with bermudas (the men) while others remained in their era and dressed like their every other day (i almost belong to this group :P).

My formula:
Straight long hair (No fuss 'bout this cos I've already had it, no need to pay stylist to get it styled)
+
A big and colourful headband (Printed Cloth Headband works too)
+
A pair of coloured framed shades
+
A pair of huge loop earings
+
Red red lipstick (Colourful eye shadow should work too but I skipped this since I'm wearing the shades)
+
Poka dot dress

The result:



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Friday, November 28, 2008

New Laptop from Sitex

Look what DC got me from Sitex! :)


Fujitsu S6420 (White)
Specs:
P8400 (2.26GHz, 3MB L2 cache, 1066MHz), 4GB memory. 320GB HDD. Intel® GM45 Express Chipset. 13.3 in screen.

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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Booting Up

End of a two-day orientation programme (yes, it's a very belated one) at the Orchid Country Club. Feeling refreshed and fully booted up now! :)

There were fun games, numerous food breaks (sometimes a little too many) and an information overload. I love the tranquality of Orchid Country club. The serene landscape does wonder in taking your mind away from work.

Through the two-day programme, I made new friends and most importantly obtained valuable information about the company that I need to know as a staff. The most interesting and relevant part was the briefing conducted by the HR - Now that I'm aware of some of the benefits that I stand to enjoy, I shan't waste time and will start to plan how to utilise them before they lapse! :)


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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

An Autumn Tale

The theme of the new blog header is "Autumn Tale". As you know, we visited two great cities this autumn - Seoul and Hong Kong and had an enjoyable time there.

Undeniably, the colours of autumn are the colours of the autumn leaves - Red and Orange. Coincidentally, I found the two colours in Hong Kong too. It was easy to decide on the colours of the blog header this time. :)

Orange and Red, the colours of autumn leaves in Seoul
Orange and Red, the colours of bustling street lights in Hong Kong



I hope this new theme gives off a colourful and warm feeling just like what we've experienced in both Seoul and Hong Kong. The best of Seoul and Hong Kong (in my opinion) were included on the blog header! :)

What's on the blog header?
Seoul (on the left):
Autumn Leaves, DC&CP in Changdeokgung Palace, the signboards of our favorite Seoul restaurants (gyoza restaurant and tea cafe), the blue buildings on the DMZ, delicious green tea cube snack and a colourful lighted walkway that I've used the divider.

Hong Kong (on the right):
Dim Sum, Mickey Mouse (which rep. HK Disneyland), DC&CP in Disneyland, Cable Car ride at the new Ngong Ping 360 attraction, the magnificient night landscape of HK and the signboards of our HK favorite restaurants (dim sum restaurant and dessert cafe).

Other minor changes - Have you noticed them?
1. Our Seoul travel photos were uploaded to Flickr
2. All our posts were tagged with labels
3. A new Banner that links to our travel blog on Seoul (HK one coming soon!)


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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Lucky 6-0

It's another good 60 on the 24th. :)

Numbers decoded were 19-22-33 and 21.


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Monday, November 24, 2008

Body of Lies

Watched the "Body of Lies" with DC yesterday. It's about the Middle East (Jordan, Iran and Dubai), terrorism and war, definitely not my type of movie. I dozed off during the interrogation scene - supposedly the most exciting scene and was caught by DC. Now, you know how deeply loved I am by DC - that he can't bear to take his eyes off me even when they should be on the big screen! LOL! :D

Rating: NC16
Consumer Advice: Some Violence
Genre: Dramatic Thriller
Language: English with Chinese Subtitle
Director: Ridley Scott
Main Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe
Runtime: 128mins

He is the best man US Intelligence has on the ground, a sophisticated operative negotiating hot zones while no one close to him makes it out alive. But Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a man with no identity beyond his last blown cover, trusting his life to the dispassionate voice on the other end of a secure phone line. CIA veteran Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) wages war from a laptop in his living room in the suburbs, dictating Ferris’s movements even as he dodges bullets on the ground. An emerging terrorist leader has orchestrated a global campaign of bombings, eluding the most sophisticated intelligence network in the world. To lure him out into the open, Ferris will have to penetrate the world of underground financing and desperate martyrs, and form a shaky alliance with the head of Jordanian Special Ops. His quest takes him across Iraq, Jordan, Washington and Dubai, but the closer Ferris gets to the target, the more he finds himself caught in a hall of mirrors, where allies are only as good as their last deception, and trust becomes the most dangerous tactic of all.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Yes We Can

Just to post an entry to mark the historic moment in history...

On 4 Nov, Barack Obama defeated his opponent McCain to become the 44th President-elect of the United States and the 1st African American (Black) president.

Obama is definitely the buzz word this year, you see and hear reports of him everywhere - on TV, Internet, radios and whatever forms of media you've got.

I wasn't really into politics but I do know what comes after his sweet victory. That he's about to face the tough (definitely not sweet) challenge of saving troubled industries (financial, automobile and which is next?), devising strategies for the economic downturn and tackling racial issues to bring about the "Change" he sung during the presidential campaign.

Whether he is able to accomplish the mission, we shall all see in the future. God bless! :)









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Saturday, November 22, 2008

Seasoning friendship over hot charcoal

Just returned from BBQ with the bunch of friends that I've known for 10 years.


We had a BBQ session organised by Jimmy's at his newly purchased condo in Pasir Ris. It was raining in the afternoon but luckily the rain stopped at 7 plus. We were still able to do grilling and eating, otherwise the food ordered would have gone to waste.

DC came along too and we were pleasantly surprised to discover that Jason was one of the bosses of the camera rental shop that DC used to frequent. Just nice, we are planning a photo shoot for DC's buddy's family, we decided to book a studio space from him.

Sharon came with a baby bump. She brought along her 1+ year girl Kaylene and she sure had a great fun playing catching with Jason's boy Joshua.



Think the one who benefited from this BBQ is Don, who will be getting married in a month's time. He had the convenience to confirm and distribute the wedding invitation to all in one-go!

It was a great session, too bad HJ, Cecilia, MH and Lawrence were not around. Hope to see them at Don's wedding. Till the next meeting, yeah! :)


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Thursday, November 20, 2008

Spending Birthday in HK

This year's birthday was slightly different because we celebrated DC's birthday in HK! :)

Besides the birthday gift he'd received earlier, actually I had planned another bonus birthday programme in HK for him (I was the one who plan the itinery and hence, it's easy to include the surprises as part of the travel programme) but my plans were wrecked somehow by the birthday boy himself (what a letdown!). Can't really blame him... holiday schedules are naturally difficult to keep up/follow.

Surprise Item 1
What it should have been:
To get him a Nikon D90 in HK as a supplementary birthday present. That was the initial intent of going HK.
What it had became:
He was swayed by his HK colleagues and started considering D700 instead. Too bad, after checking prices from a few shops, we realised that hometown Singapore's price is cheaper (much to our surprise!).

Surprise Item 2
What it should have been:
To treat him to an expensive and romantic dinner with a great view for shooting and ambience for eating.
What it had became:
On his birthday itself, one of his HK colleagues kindly offered to play host and showed us around. We followed his trail to good food that the locals love and found ourselves to a different but wonderful and tasty 大排挡 dinner. :)
On the next day, I tried to bring DC to this place for dinner but the idea was dropped because it was too late for dinner after the symphony of lights show at the waterfront. We had dinner at a cafe that sells roast goose at Mongkok instead.

So yup, I was not able to carry out my wonderfully planned birthday surpise for him but , as an alternative, I still managed to buy him a birthday card at a gift store in HK and scribbled some birthday messages hastily on it just before meeting up with him on our last day in HK(Does this sound confusing? Why were we not together? Find out from here).


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Monday, November 10, 2008

Off to Seoul

Here we are at Changi airport, waiting to board the flight. As usual, we didn't get much sleep (I didn't get any). Somehow, packing was still up to the last minute ...


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Sunday, November 09, 2008

What? The Market Rate for Wedding has risen...

... to $150!?

That's what we heard from a friend whom DC and I met for dinner on Monday. The average price for one table is now $1,500 compared to $900-$1,000 3 years ago! Even actual day photograpy and videography rates has escalated quite a bit... To think that we are still giving people $80-$100. Hmm... time to re-consider how much "blessings" to give out to the wedding couples, huh?


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Saturday, November 08, 2008

James Bond Film - The No. 22

Rating: PG
Consumer Advice: Some Violence
Genre: Blockbuster, Action, Thriller
Language: English with chinese subtitle
Director: Marc Forster
Cast: Olga Kurylenko, Daniel Craig, Gemma Arterton, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini
Runtime: 106 min

Quantum of Solace picks up one hour after Casino Royale. Betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 (Daniel Craig) fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and M (Judi Dench) interrogate Mr White (Jesper Christensen) who reveals the organization which blackmailed Vesper is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined.

We intended to watch this movie in Hong Kong but DC couldn't wait to catch it here in Singapore. He grew up watching the Bond movies and likes Pierce Brosnan and the new Bond Daniel Craig (though he had not caught the legendery "best Bond" Sean Connery's protray of the role). In this spy-thriller film, there were exciting land, air and sea chases, of course not forgetting Bond's signature cocktail Martini and gorgeous Bond girls. As usual, we enjoyed the action-packed film.

I did a stock take on the countries Bond went in the film... How I wish to travel to these countries too! :P

  1. Palio di Siena - The most famous palio in Italy, is a horse race held twice each year on July 2 and August 16 in Siena, in which ten horses and riders, dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen Contrade, or city wards.

  2. Madrid - The capital and largest city of Spain

  3. Baja California, Mexico - Where the aerial battle is held

  4. Malcesine, Limone sul Garda and Talamone in Italy

  5. Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England

  6. Bruneval Barracks, in Aldershot - where the snowy closing scenes were filmed

  7. Panama City, Republic of Panama

  8. Cusco, Peru

  9. Chile and the Atacama Desert, South America

  10. Floating opera stage at Bregenz, Austria

Friday, November 07, 2008

Faithfully taking medicine

Just look at the amount of medicine we (Yes, DC has just caught the virus!) had to take to get well before Monday! That was our requirement for the doc when we saw her today.

Her Dos and Don'ts list for us:
1. No cold water, herbal tea and alcohols.
2. Stick to only warm water.
3. No fruits but vegetables is fine.
4. Refrain from Ginseng Chicken in Korea. (What??? I was quite saddened when I heard this. Have to get well soon! I want my ginseng chicken in Korean!)





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Thursday, November 06, 2008

We were on TV

Not on channel 5, 8 or U but just the LCD TV of the weekend Samsung roadshow at Plaza Sing. Hehe... :P

We were "invited" by the host to have a photo taken with the latest Samsung 8M phone camera - innov8. Our photos (not just ours but a lot of others too) were displayed on the LCD screen. There was a contest going on during the roadshow and I guess the response wasn't that great, that's why the host had to get people in the queue (that's us) to participate. There were two categories: individual or group. The one with the best smile and the group with the most creative pose get to win a Samsung innov8.

DC waited no chance in getting his toy out and we strike this pose with the DSLR:



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Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Nikkor 50mm F1.8

I am very tempted to get this lens. It's compact and should make a good companion in the upcoming holiday trip. Just as I was contemplating, CP decided to buy it for me, as my birthday gift! Alright, no problem with me. So another lens to my collection - the Nikon 50mm F1.8.

DSC_6436

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Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Last Episode of 十九岁的清纯


Today is the last episode of the super long korean drama - 122 episodes! For months, DC and I have been sitting in front of the TV, laughing our heads off at the hilarious scenes (there's always something funny or stupid going on in every episode). The characters are so funny and lovable! Although a little far-fetched, it's really a good remedy for stress. It can also be warm and tear-jerking at times...

If you have missed it and would like to catch it, go get yourself the dvd (169 episodes altogether). It's only selling for $29.90 at Suntec video shops. Quite worth the buy... :)

Synopsis:
明朗的延边少女在试练克服期的过程中找回失去的纯真的意味,具惠善首次主演的『十九岁的纯情』是部描述无论在怎样的逆境中,都不屈服的纯真朝鲜族少女梁菊花,她的感动和爱情故事,具惠善在剧中饰演主角梁菊花一角,并说著一口朝鲜方言,呈现不同以往的面貌.
杨菊花因为家里的经济状况不好,决定国际结婚,就离开延边搭上了开往首尔的船。在陌生的地方等待她的不是洁白的婚纱,而是要做她丈夫的尸体。最终菊花在连一个人都不认识的陌生地被丢下了。但她以乐天、积极的性格克服各种困难,绝不泄气,终于找到真爱,并结婚了。

This drama portrays the life journey of an upbeat and cheerful ethnic Korean girl, Kuk-hwa, from China who comes to Korea to get married and start her own family with her own efforts. By overcoming hardships with a smile and wisdom, she teaches the meaning of innocence in the era when love is determined by too many preconditions. The role of the modest and honest guy Hong Woo-kyung, who works at telecom company UT, is played by Lee Min-woo, while the ill-mannered Yoon-hu, a scion of a conglomerate, is portrayed by Seo Ji-suk. The cast also includes several famous middle-aged actors: Shin Koo, who plays the oldest person in Hong’s family, and Kang Nam-kil and Kim Mi-kyung, who play Woo-kyung’s parents. Kang Seok-woo appears in a comic role of Shin’s second son as a third-class bar singer. Adding to the cheerful atmosphere of the series is Cho Jung-rin, who plays Woo-kyung’s younger sister. Han Jin-hee and Yoon Yeo-jung appear as Yoon-hu’s family.


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Monday, November 03, 2008

Singapore's fine dining

Excerpt from Channel Newsasia:
"...according to the inaugural Miele Guide, published by German home appliance maker Miele, Singapore also has Asia's best fine dining restaurant in the form of Iggy's ... It took 84 of the most respected food critics, votes from over 15,000 diners across 40 countries, and a special jury of 1500 journalists and foodies, to come up with the final list.

Eight Hong Kong restaurants and four in Singapore made it to the list of Asia's Top 20 Restaurants. The ones from Singapore include Les Amis, Gunther’s and Garibaldi, which are placed at the third, fourth and seventh spot respectively ..."

Gunther's was definitely an experience. Fantastic and ingenious cooking. Garibaldi wasn't too far off and it brought Gunther's to our attention as they were just next to each other

The full list can be found here :
http://mieleguide.com/asias-top-20


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Sunday, November 02, 2008

Out goes the K850i, in comes the Omnia

Sony Ericsson is getting boring, all the same old phones. Well, with our old K850i getting buggy and nearing expiration of the warranty, better get rid of it fast.

Order placed for the Samsung Omnia, with a free 8GB SD card to go along. The Samsung Innov8 8MP phone takes fantastic pictures but it's not a PDA phone and bulky too.

Out goes the K850i sold for a cool $200, which was bought last year for $288.

We see how the Omnia fares when it arrives into our hands :)




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Saturday, November 01, 2008

Down with Flu

Been having running nose all day today, throat was not comfortable too since Thurs.

Why this time? However, this will not dampen my travelling plans, I will recover fast before the upcoming trip! :)


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Ah Boy and his Questions

They all say that being a parent/teacher/elder/care-giver to small kids is never an easy task as kids are naturally inquisitive and always expect answers to their burning and never-ending questions. Well, Ah Boy posed me some questions today when he was at my home today and one of them was a repeated one and rather difficult to answer...

Dialogue 1:
"Yi Yi, have you bought my Christmas present?"
"No, Christmas is not here yet. It's also your mummy's birthday, why did you only ask for your present only? What have you planned for her?"
"Err...I'm going to draw her a card and ..." (didn't catch it as I was busy with my work while talking to him :P)
"Wow, So what do you want for Christmas?"
"I don't know, what do you want to give me?"
"..."

Dialogue 2:
"Yi Yi, why haven't you give birth to a baby yet?"
"Why did you ask me this question (again)?"
"Because my school teacher say when get married, girls must give birth to replace the aging population." (I was quite surprised teachers taught that in school! Another method to encourage/influence the country's child birth rate (i.e. through the kids)? Hmm, seems like my pressure is getting greater and greater now!)
"..."

Dialogue 3:
"Yi Yi, where are we going?"
"We are going somewhere nearby."
"Where?"
"Opposite"
"Opposite where?"
"Next street."
"Let me guess, Ha, we are going to the prawn pond?" (there is a prawn fishing pond at the park nearby...)
"No, we are not going there."
"I've not been there for a long time. Can we go there later?"
"..."

Sometimes I really feel that I cannot see him as a seven-year-old kid, his actions, the way he talks and oh his appetite can sometimes be so adult-like but other times yet so cute and cheeky! :)


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