Eventful weekend

We did quite abit this weekend which started out with a dinner on Friday at Beijing Gong, somewhere along Kreta Ayer. Steven brought us there to try it's dishes, which are supposedly prepared along the likes of what the Imperial Palace used to have during the Qing Dynasty. I'm not a very adventurous person when it comes to food, much less eat like a royal when I've always liked my good old wonton mee & mee pok tak. Whilst it does take a little getting used to the Beijing style of cooking, I must say it's a place I'll recommend for people who want Chinese fine dining & excellent service but with the warmth & comfort that usually is lacking in a high class restaurant.

Appetizers alone were enough to fill my stomach

Steven and his friend Derek who's the boss (the guy in the background)

Saturday started off with the long overdue Transformers. DH & me didn't understand the ending. Could someone enlighten me please? I thought the cube was to be put in Oct Prime's chest (or heart or whatever) as IT wanted to sacrifice ITself to save the world. How the heck did it end up in Megatron's chest (or whatever part it was) and killed Megatron?? After that I had dinner at Maggie Thai. It's SeeToh's turn to be 30! HAHAHA! Check out the pics of the really bashful b-day girl who ended up sleeping in the hotel room whilst everyone else was having the fun of their lives! Damn to alcohol! Or is it because she's now 30... HAHAHA.. Join the club Seetoh!

Sunday morning was spent with parents as usual with church. Before DH & I scooted off to watch Harry Potter, I brought them for brunch at Olio. Felt rather guilty after my talk with Ah Bee & Ah Fong last night.. which btw, Bee & Fong, I dreamt last night that I bought 4 tickets (for them, DH & myself) to fly from Sin - London - NY - Sin via Cathay Pacific??!! It was so real & scary.. heaved a sigh of relief when I woke up.. kekeke..

9am this morning

My heart almost stopped when I saw that STI fell by triple digits. My jaw dropped, I made a few quick calls to mom & dad. I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Laugh because it seemed like a good buying opportunity, but cry because that would mean that stocks at hand are worth peanuts. I've seen enough of reds for the past few days.. when can I see green? Some despaired clients called today, most wanted a listening ear, so I was there for them. Majority were lamenting that too many housewives, too many "ah te ah kow" were playing without knowing the fundamentals and it's causing unnecessary frenzy. Serious players will not be affected by trivial news and the market would not be so volatile.
Despite these heart stopping disastrous moments, I'm sure that there have been many times when people's hearts were alive because of the big profits they were raking in. We've all got to be objective, there will be ups, there will be downs. As humans, such unpredicatable moments are what gets us all excited and injects life into our, otherwise mundane tasks. What's more as Chinese, I'm sure most of us has that bit of gambling blood in us. Love it, hate it, we can't do without it.

All I can say is, let's trade with a bit more sanity. Let's not get too caught up with making money that we neglect our families, our friends and most importantly, ourselves. Let's relax & have a good weekend! Cheers!

Why collecting my new NRIC is scary?

Today i collected my new nric.. Wat does this mean? I'm sure some of u will know.. Yellow canaries was upset when she received her notification, DH was cs well. It brought about a whole new awareness for them. For me.. I'm not scared of growing old, I'm just scared of what that means. It just means that I'm a year closer to.. death.

I know this post will probably depress most people. And I dun blame you if you dun wan to read on. Recently, I've given this much thoughts. It happens usually in the night, when somehow I can't get to sleep and am tossing and turning in bed. In the stillness of the night, when it's dark, I will start thinking about the people around me who has left this world. I will recall the times which I spent with my grandparents, Uncle Michael etc. I miss them, all of them. They loved me very much and bought me many presents as I was growing up.

There was Uncle Michael who bought Ah Kong and me our daily lunches. I was really naughty. I always insisted on having chicken rice with char siew because I was sick of white rice and Uncle Michael has never once said no to me. He was looking forward to my wedding which my dad told him late 2005. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with cancer around April 06 and went in May 06. My cousin told me that before he left, he made it clear specifically that all his Chivas and Johnny Walkers were to be brought to my wedding dinner.

I will always remember Ah Kong (daddy), who passed away when I was 14, the night before my Literature mid-year exam, always giving me $10, sometimes as often as 3 times a week. I accepted it the 1st few times. Subsequently I tried to be a heroine and told him I didn't want his money anymore. Actually when I turned him down, it was because I felt bad to keep taking his money when he could spend it on himself. But I never realised until I crossed the rebellious teenage years that he wanted to give me because he loved me and that I may have inevitably hurt him by turning it down. I'm sorry Ah Kong. I still have your garfield and his friend, the brown teddy that you bought for me. They will always be my side. Ah Kong, thank you for taking care of me from baby till Sec 1.

I don't remember much about my Ah ma (daddy), as she passed away when I was only 3. Surprisingly though, whilst I don't remember much about what I did as 3 or below, I remember very vividly her funeral. I still remember the tantrum which I threw as I was the only one who couldn't fit into the mourning clothes that all my other family members wore. I remember going to Choa Chu Kang cemetry & seeing the coffin being lowered into the ground. That was the 1st funeral I ever attended, and at 3 yrs old , that is the only one which I can remember so clearly.

I also can't remember much about my Ah Kong (mummy). He passed away when I was 8. But he was a kind man, almost like my dad. Soft-spoken, easy going and always ready to help other. His funeral was at Mt Vernon and it was there that I had my 1st and worst sprained ankle ever. And the best part was I didn't even know I had a sprained ankle until an aunty saw me limping and informed my mom. How it happened, my cousins were all able to jump across the drain and me being the youngest & having the shortest legs, obviously failed miserably.

Ah-ma (mummy) was a funny one. She was rather vain, like my mommy, always dressing up & looking pretty. My 1st time on the aeroplane at 9 yrs old to Hong Kong was with her. It was there when she bought shoes, tried them on but somehow came back with 2 lefts! How, we still do not know up till this day. She passed on when I was 15, whilst peeling tow gay in the kitchen. It came as a shock to all of us, she wasn't that old and she had been healthy. But I guess God has plans for her.

I've often wondered why am I so afraid of death. Is it because I'm weak in my faith? Different religions have different beliefs. Reincarnation, eternal life with God or even becoming dust. All these are scary and I dread to think what will become of me. I was even discussing the possibility with Kathy many years back that we may play the harp in heaven. In other words, be angels. How do we become angels? I tried getting an idea from the bible, but the language was beyond your humble servant's comprehension. A resolution I've made for myself in advance for 2008, to seek an understanding of the Book of Revelations.

My Maternal grandparents, Aunty Connie, Mommy & a really tiny Moninet
My Paternal Grandparents, Kevin, Che Che & baby moninet

The Reason

1) Why I try to go back by 10pm on weekdays recently is to watch this serial on CH U. Absolute eye candies! Shirley posed this question to me last week. Do I feel the same way about her that somehow most Hongkong male actors are more charismatic as they grow older, but it doesn't happen to local actors. I used to be an ardent fan of Li Nanxing since his early days of Sunshine after Rain, but pity, he doesn't seem to be aging well.

2) Why I was so stressed last week was that my leave application on DH's birthday was rejected. My colleagues went on urgent leave & mc on Monday, leaving me with tons of stuff with tight datelines to clear. And when Monday doesn't go well, somehow the rest of the week will be just as bad.

3) Why I was a tad happier at the end of the week finally was that I managed to figure out how to use my new handphone. So now, I'm a handphone navigation expert! Not only I figured out my way with my N95, I even beat DH to it on his D810! Terms like Wi-fi, wireless@Sg, 3G no longer baffle me. I'm glad I made this step to upgrade myself! Kudos to moninet!

Happy birthday DH!

Lucky birthday boy! So many cakes! :)

Weddings - Specially dedicated to Jasmine & Dale, Alan & Sophrine, Angela & Brian, Pam & Kenji

Today is 7 July 2007. It's Live Earth day, but just as significantly, it's the day when many couples all around the world are getting married. It has been reported that 777 couples are registered today alone in Singapore. Funny though, out of these 777 couples (which makes 1554 people) none of them are my relatives nor friends. Nevertheless, last weekend was Meifen's wedding, Saturday was the church and Sunday was the dinner. I was excited about that day because I was happy for her and because I knew it would bring back beautiful memories for me as well.

I was never one of those girls who dreamt of donning a white wedding gown when I was little. (Possibly why I chose a blue/white gown eventually for myself about 29 years later) In fact as little girls, there have been giggly conversations on how old do we want to marry and what we envisage our weddings to be like. I could never bring myself to participate heartily in these conversations. I was never excited about weddings. I could not understand what the fuss was all about. Isn't it better to live with my parents for the rest of my life? Afterall, parents are the only ones who will ever love me unconditionally, well at least I know for mine.

Now, I'm all grown up. I'm excited about weddings, just as I was about mine. More and more friends are slowly walking down the aisle. I still remember when I called Angeline to ask her for Father Sitaram's tel no. (he was my JP btw & a very good one), she told me that I must enjoy my preparations as that was the best part of it all. She missed the fun she had. She married about 3 years before me. I was skeptical. How can that be possible? For me, the preps had just started and I was mighty cheesed off by how much there was to be done. Everyday was like war, war between DH and me, war between parents & me, war between my inner & outer soul, just to name a few.

When the wedding was finally over, I thought over what Angeline told me, and I realised what she meant. The actual day had gone by in a flash, and at the end of the day I was totally exhausted to ponder about what had happened. The video was the saving grace, if not for it, I would not have had the chance to recall events that happened. What I remember vividly though were the preparations which took place from the day I started searching for the venues, around July 2005, right up to the day before my wedding on 21 Oct 2006. The arguments with my DH, though extremely trying at times, ultimately brought us closer as we took this opportunity to know each other's likes & dislikes as well as each other's characters even better.

The fact that the day had gone on so well gave me pride in my step by step planning and knowing that I had friends who had so willingly sacrificed their time to help. On this point, I do also think that wedding is a good time to know who are your friends and who are not. There will be people who immediately accepted your invitation, or at least had the decency to tell you upfront that they can't make it. Yet there were some, who hemmed & hawed, unable to decide if they should attend. The worst of the lot, those who didn't turn up the day itself though they had said they would. Fortunately, these were less than a handful and I'm not sad to say that I've not spoken with them ever since. I'm better off without such people in my life.

To my friends who are preparing for their big day, I dedicate this entry to you, with the hope that you will put aside all stress & frustrations you are encountering with your preparations and focus on the joys derived throughout this process. Treasure these memories as they will never come by again.

Indignant

Pam juz said I may like the disposed Taiwan idol contestant... wah rau! Have more faith in me la! No more bengs.. Just take a look at my handsome, banana husband! hahahaha!but granted, his singing is Goooood! (It's the 2nd singer, dressed all white) I've copied one of the links fr pam's site for my ah lian frens to check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQdiaorSJ_k

JuMp

Jump is in Singapore for 2 nights. It was pretty comical and I belived lotsa effort has been put in to ensure that the audience are thoroughly entertained. The sound effects were good. To me, it's takes a huge skill to co-ordinate the movements with the sound. It's a live performance and there's no 2nd chance.

However, I think the "old man's" appearance was rather bland. It was a poor imitation of our own Liang Po Po. Given the talent that Joo Sun Kim has in martial arts, he could have been given a meatier role when entertaining us. Instead there were scenes which were repetitive and after a while, it was just no longer humorous but rather a pain to watch.

There were also a few boo-hoo scenes. An actor missed catching his rod and another lost his balance when perfoming the somersaults in the air parts. Anyhow, since I am nowhere near doing any of these tricks, I shan't comment further as afterall, noone's perfect!

Overall, I think Jump pales in comparison to Nanta (cooking). I watched this many years back, when I was still in Uni, possibly 1998 or 1999. I missed it when it came to Singapore a couple of years back. Nanta is truly a joy to watch, I recall that every single part was funny, if not exciting. The way the knives were thrown about. It was a pity that when DH & I were in Seoul 2 years back, there wasn't enough time for us to slip in this itinenary in our hectic tour schedule. If anyone is in Seoul, do make it a point to catch this, it's worth every cent!