Off to Sydney!

Went fer a full manicure fer the first time!
Last was an express.
(The dark purple is mine)

Always couldn’t bear the thought of parting away money fer something so short-lived.
My work doesn’t permit me to have well manicured hands; they’d be ruined in a matter of days.


Hahaha, but once in a while, it’s nice to be pampered.
$20 fer OPI polish, 2 nail art and full manicure with hand massage sounded tempting.

And splurging a lil to make someone smile, it’s worth it.
I treated Geraldine to have her nails done too.

We’d like to make this a just-before-going-overseas regime.
Hurhur, cause it’d be photoshoot time!


I pray that the lil silver beads will last long.
As I typed this, one’s already GONE! Yea.
Alvin said it's nothing surprising. -.-


Okie, Blessings to one and all!
XOXO

I need Patience

ERRATA:
The book is a trilogy! Not 7. Haha. I've found them all and loaded into my iPhone!
I left with the last ebook to devour!!


Had been reading a Nora Roberts’ fer the past 2 days, hence the previous post’s hiatus.
It’s a 7-logy book, which of course left me hanging after no.1.

I shouldn’t have touched the book in the first place, can’t stand the idea of not having a proper closure.
Googled, and it turned out that to date, only 3 out of 7 were published!!
Damnit, I thought I could read all 7 by this holiday!

Whatever, considering 3 out of 7 is still not too bad I decided to do an online purchase.
Wanted them so badly, that believe me, I went to Amazon, Acamall, India online (don’t ask me why) and so many others till the cows came home.

ALMOST clicked ‘confirm’ at Ebay when I paused to do a quick mental calculation of how much cheaper it would be if I bought it with Borders 30% coupon which they’d mail me every month.
(Ok, I lied here, I used a scientific calculator. Hurhur)
Then again, I’d have to wait till next month cause the current coupon expired!!
Also I figured why buy when I’d only read it once.
Plus, the overall cost would be pocket-burning, think multiplication of 6! (The first was bought my sis.)


So what came next was to go to NLB online and NUS Linc.
Fer goodness sake, I wouldn’t go to Woodlands, TPY or AMK just to borrow a fiction book and NUS Linc needs to get its books updated!
Argh.


No luck with e-book websites either.
Then the feeling was like as if I’ve struck gold when the word TORRENT appeared right in front of my eyes!
Such an arse, how could I have missed it!

Torrent’s my life saver.. HAHAHA..
It even came as audio format to which was actually quite a turn-off upon hearing a robotic male voice.

Anywaysss, adieu, Adieu!
With the ease of my mouse I shall burrow into my e-books now!
I’d let my eyes rest fer every 15mins, IFF I remember. Hurhur.


P.S.: Happy Holidays to everyone who ended their examinations!
P.P.S.: E.A.R would be catching Madagascar tomorrow, like finally! Yay? Yay.
P.P.P.S.: Mister Alvin Lin, I shall surprise you later and root fer your last paper on Wed. Then we shall ‘partay’ at Din’s concert. HAHA.

Fishing - 24th Nov

In recent years, something weird/crappy always happens whenever I go fishing.


What’s it again this time you wonder?
¾ of Bedok Jetty started renovation works on the very day Candice and I went fishing, la.
Gawd, there couldn’t be a better timing than this.


Barely an hour into fishing, or rather dipping, (the tahmans were so easy to catch! High tide time), a truck came.
Almost every angler there started packing.
It didn’t occur to us that they were leaving because of the presence of the truck; we thought it was because the ebbing tide!!


An uncle walked past us, ‘Mata lai liao, you all still don’t want to pack?’ (means police is here, in mix malay and hokkien)

‘Huh? Cannot fish already?’

Wth, since when was fishing here prohibited?
We looked around us, indeed the jetty was kinda empty.
Wanted to ask more questions but the uncle was gone.

Grumbling, we’d no choice but to simply start packing up too.

Took our own sweet time till only an ah pek and us were left.
It was from him we finally knew what was happening.


There’s going to be a renovation going on fer 3 months at the jetty starting 24th Nov.
Wth was the gahment thinking to renovate a crowded jetty during the holiday period?!



Never seen the jetty in such a desolate state before.


As we walked pass the barricades, we realized the other anglers merely moved to the front part of the jetty!
Tmd, had we known earlier, we would have just dragged our rods along!


‘Wah, you all finally came ar?’ (The same uncle who said Mata lai liao)

('F. You')


The other ah peks there were kind enough to make space fer us in the crammed up ¼ of a jetty. Haha



What’s fishing without food?! =)
Candice’s potato chips plus my new improved egg potato salad.

Lunch was great under the cool weather.



Time to count the Tahmans!

We’ve caught over 30+ and gave them to the ah pek who sells them to Nasi Lemak sellers.
I learnt from him that the Kuning ( Yellowstripe Scad fish) in Nasi Lemak is also called Tahman!
All along, I thought Tahman and Kuning are 2 different fishes used in Nasi Lemak.

Plus, I now know how to differentiate the gender of the Tahman. Heh


Chatted with him about the huge ikan billies I caught yearsss ago too.
They made really great soup stock according to my maid.

He said they’d only bite the hook when it’s drizzling(I wonder why) and their market price is 1kg for $15! LOL
Haha, well, till the next time, next year!

Surprise Bouquet! -20th Nov

I couldn't watch Madagascar and had to wait fer a few weeks fer Alvin's exam to end to go out fer dates (speaking of which we hadn’t went out on a proper date fer MONTHS) right?

He gave me something wayyyyyyyyyyy better than catching the movie!


Titled, ‘Love’s an Adventure’, it represents 2 madagascar characters (Alex the Lion seemed to have gone fer a facelift) plus an elephant intruder!

Wheeeeee! HAHAHA!
Never expected it, SO OUT OF THE BLUE, YELLOW, PINK AND ORANGE!!


I wasn’t at home to receive it, as usual.
Brought KFC over to his house that very evening though he said it’s ok, need not come over.

I am always spoiling surprises.

To think it was on my table and I didn’t even notice it till I called him and he asked if I received anything!
My immediate reply was 'No? What? Card ar?'
followed by 'OMGGgggggggggd..WAhhhhhhh' a few moments later..

The sunflowers must have camouflaged well with my yellow walls..
OK, I am so blurrr.
LALALA!~~~


It really made my day! On top of my shopping spree earlier on!
(I shopped alone fer the first time the ENTIRE day)



My very own version of Madagascar!
The ladybug and Gloria the hippo are my favourite.


I mentioned in Oct 07, I found his old post about his Idea of Love?
Told him he hadn’t completed one particular thing..
Hahahaha, it was merely a passing remark.

The list is complete now!
But of course, the ACTUAL list is endless.. Hurhurhur.


Well, here’s a BIG..



*MUACK!*

Pre Exam Dinner - Crab Bee Hoon!

Foursome had a pre exam dinner just fer Amanda!
Haha, well, cause Emily doesn't have any! Heh


We went all the way to Ang Mo Kio's Melben Seafood just fer their famed Crab Bee Hoon dish.

Had been wanting to eat the Crab Bee Hoon fer as long as 2 years!

About 2 years back, Cheng Xi bought it fer me and I could never ferget how superrrrb it was..
He fergot which restaurant he bought it,(there were 2 restaurants at AMK selling this dish) so I assumed it was from Melben via the net.
(My ol' post here)


After the bill came, then only I knew how much my dinner costs a in Jan'07!
Hahaha!
Of course we had other side orders such as cereal prawns and scallop tofu.
All these were more than enough fer the 4 of us.

*Burps!*
Would definitely bring my family there another day!
And all the best to those having their examinations soon!!

Biennale 2008

Once again, the Biennale’s here!
Candice and I were the only ones who went cause the rest had to rush fer submissions and whatnots.



The first exhibit that greeted us were the mega maggots at City Hall level 2.
Apt place (a former restaurant) to exhibit the gourds where the Korean artiste had nurtured them for a year.



Hah! I love this sculpture and I called it SUBTITTIES!
I’d LOVE TO DISPLAY the white one with pink titties on top of my roof!


*Imagine 'my house's the one with pink subtitties!'


Singapore’s Google Earth Image map!
Having fun at the only interactive installation.
Guess whose house is it and who wrote what?



I had mine found easily thanks to my former sec school acting as a HUGE landmark!
KC was filled with Post –It(s).
My alma mater clearly instilled a strong sense of belonging in her students.
~Once a convent girl, always a convent girl.

Hurhur, but I chose to paste my Post-It at where my house is instead.
Heh, cause no one occupied my spot!



The Kids’ Biennale!
Most of the room emitted a strange odor.. Hmmm…


Lunch accompanied by a cool weather at the War Memorial was pretty romantic fer Candice and I until she let out a shrill. -.-
Ants were busy crawling all over her feet where she spilt Milo on minutes ago.


We headed to South Beach Development building next.
And I must say, I hope this would never be a choice venue for Biennale again.(!!)


I felt so stifled indoors.
The extremely poor ventilation and musky odour put me off so much, I rushed through the exhibits.



Luckily most were video presentations which I don’t mind giving them a miss.
And though I was attracted a few exhibits I could not bear to linger around any longer.

If the organizers had wanted to pull off the dinghy grungy look, they passed off.
Seriously, 2 or 3 of such exhibits are more than enough.


Last but not least, to find a chewed chewing gum (photographed and enlarged x100) a piece of art.. It’s totally CHEEBS.
But this inspired me to come up with a chewed Rabbit (Milk) Sweet exhibit to express my love fer it and my disgust towards the milk scandal. K.... nongsense..



The outdoor environment was no better; the numerous bars of soap 'scent' overwhelmed me.
The stench at the decaying boiled sugar sculpture made me felt nauseous too. (But I’d say great concept fer this!)
Even the bees mass suicide there la.

Only heaved a sigh of relief when we finally stepped out of the gates.


Our last stop was at Central Promontory to Shigeru Ban’s Containart pavilion.
It’s so freaking far off from the rest of the Biennale exhibits to fit into its site.
But I shan't complain as it was a place worth visiting the most!



The exhibit ‘Flight’ looked interesting and on closer inspection, they were actually slippers worn by Changi’s prisoners impaled on wooden poles!

The exhibits here surpassed the rest of the other sites.
For instance, there was a dark room where the floor plates (light beamed from ceiling projector) appeared to be shifting.



And the best exhibit that blew us over was ‘Location’.
The whole wooden structure appeared to have us teleported to a bleak and foggy winter in another part of the world.
Candice commented how great the place were to be if it were air-conditioned and I couldn’t agree better!



There were many more sculptures, portraits and what nots, but only a few outstanding ones.
Ahh.. with that, we’ve come to the end of 2008’s Biennale.

I would say 2006’s was definitely better, and 2008’s a so-so. Tight budget’s not an excuse.
What would 2010’s Biennale be like? Stay tuned!

PEAs

-FISHING ANYONE?!

Who's free during the examination period.. (It's exam-free fer me!)

Most are either working are mugging now..Argh.

(Even Madagascar would have to be a 2 week wait from now.)

-Baking!

-Shopping

-Slumber Party (never too old fer that.. haha)

-Marina Barrage Picnic/Dinner

-Island Hopping (This had been kiv-ed fer a year!)

Naming a few but my list is endless..

My hols in Singapore would be a short one..

The rest are spent in Sydney, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City!

Hope to catch up with my beloveds!

P.S.:

-KTV!!

I just went fer it till late with my archi-mates..

To think of it, I hadn't step into any ktv lounge fer a year.. Really do miss it!

Random Assays

I do really feel like Christmas is here.

The lights are bright, the weather's right.

Purrfect fer a Christmas night.

And here I am stuck with ASSays, aight!

By the way, I was scanning through some of the assays my guest lecturer wrote when I noticed his incessant rave on Mazu and Zhenghe.
(Back in year 1, I thought he was really insightful to dig up so much on a eunuch and learned that he is a muslim but prays to Mazu and linked all these to S.E.Architecture!)

Unbeknownst, my eyes wandered to his biblography to take a look at who his fellow M&Z-obssessed compatriots are.
How my brows raised when I saw that 75% of his biblo cities his previous papers.
What a 'brilliant' idea!! He totally wins left-right-up-side-down.

It should be of hands reach fer him to clinch the most cited prof award in the School of Design & Environment.

Is this ethical?
It makes me wonder the credibility of his papers.

I'd give him the benefit of the doubt since he's still sitting comfortably in his staff room.
Then again, if this is indeed ethical, I urge every uni prof to follow in his footsteps to help gain more points for his/her university under the citation category for uni world rankings. 

Sheesh.
Just simply have no mood to do my urban quiz and I want to watch Madagascar..

- Nothing of me is ever going down south. 

The famous quote from Emily to Timothy. Hee Haw.

Submission Madness

Had immense help from Lim Productions +2.

My design only came up 2 weeks before the deadline thus this submission had only been made possible because of a wonderful family, maid, boyfriend and God!


The physical model was so demanding that my family (Jasmine was spared cause she’s in hostel) and maid, Tina, morphed into factory workers overnight.
It never cross my mind to engage Tina’s help till my dad called fer her. Haha.
Plucking and pasting moss, pasting and more pasting of things.

Almost every part of my house was transformed into an assembly line, from the porch to the living room, dining table, bedrooms and the Japanese set.


At first, it was only my mum helping me.
It so happened that she was clearing leave Friday and Monday! Grace grace!
My dad told my mum, ‘Lucky you took leave.’
Mummy retorted ‘She’s (me) lucky, not me.’
Hahaha.


Geraldine helped to cut some beams after we enticed her with Sakae Sushi dinner as incentive.
Mummy called her, ‘Daily worker’
Heh.


Papa drove me to and fro to buy materials, not once but thrice! (all because of my initial flimsy cardboard ‘hedge’ which had to be change to wood)

Each time he’d buy food back to treat everyone.
The last one was strawberry shortcake, ganada? cake from Rive Gauche,yakatories and takopachies from Taka.
We’ve also been downing countless of sushis, hana maki(my current favourite!) and sashimi fer the past week!


Papa’s back ached from sitting on hard floor drilling 100+ holes.
He cut the wooden ‘hedges’, pasted and spray painted them fer me.



Tadah, here's 1 great piece of my dad’s hardwork. (lil blur..taken in a rush at studio)
There was only a need fer 6 such 'hedges' but I miscounted and told him 7!
I felt reaaaaallllllly bad.

I told him to display and show-off the extra at his warehouse office!
Tina and mummy helped me paste green moss on the wires to resemble aeroponics pipes.


I felt even worse when Mummy stayed up till 6am fer 2 consecutive nights till she had water retention on one of her leg cause she sat for prolonged periods.


Besides my model, there was also Alvin, who stayed up and helped enhance my panel despite his heavy work schedule.


THANK YOUuuuuuuu everyone! MUACK!!

Going to take a looooong beauty sleep now considering only having 5 hours of sleep in the last 3 days..Nights

Trick or Treat!

Haha, 2008 marked my first encounter with Trick or Treat..

I was reading the papers when 4 kids (including 2 celebrity’s sons) came and pressed our door bell yelling ‘TRICK OR TREAT!!!’ followed by giggles.


The next thing I knew was that my mum had to push me out and entertain them when I refused and kept saying the longest NOoooooo(s)…

I was like at my worst.
Disheveled hair (just bathed), oversized tee (rag n flag, though it states ‘s’ size), sexy shorts (KC PE shorts with slits damn high cause the seams burst.. haha), pale and with specs..
The kids might think I’m dressed up fer Halloween too.

Thus I was in a rush to give out sweets and only saw Vlad Dracula and his pumpkin at first.

To my horror, I saw more lil’ ghouls coming up with paper bags and what nots..
Haha, I gave the vampire so much sweets, the last 3 only had 2 -3 sweets each before I emptied out the entire packet.

At the background, their mums was taking photos..
Eew.. I hope the gate bars covered my face..

‘Thank you! Thank you!’ and more giggles..

‘Thank you, Bye bye!’
And that was the end of my first Trick or Treat encounter.


(Why did I say thank you instead of welcome!! O plus, why do people bother to celebrate a satanic day in the name of 'fun'?)