careful wish

be careful what you wish for

Sometimes, things that you wished for even in passing might just be granted.

It can be something totally insignificant, unimportant.

I've been through this many times over and yet, it's hardly a lesson learnt.

For example, since the start of Euro 2008, I've been lamenting about how I wouldn't wanna come to work after watching the finals, cos' the match is on Monday morning.

And yet, I forgot to take leave before my bosses went overseas, so I guess not.

True enough, I managed to watch the match and stayed at home today. And tomorrow.

I'm on MC, that's why.

Because yesterday, I had the runs. More like food poisoning. Geez!

I starved myself till' the evening because I fear going to the loo with everytime I consume something, even water.

I managed to have a hearty dinner, only to do a merlion right before entering the clinic. Such a waste!

By then the doc had diagnosed me with gastric flu. And I thought it was mere food poisoning...

And man! Don't those clinics that opened till late charge a lot..?! I heard the patients before me all being charged more than $60. And they were kids!

I anticipated mine to me at least $80 but it came to only $55. But that's still a far cry from the $20++ that my family doctor charged.

If not for the fact that my family clinic doesn't open till late on Sundays, I wouldn't have bothered...!

But most importantly, I got to wake up in time to watch the whole match! Woo!

And relish in watching Spain's sweet victory.

FINALLY! The broke their Underachiever's curse! After 44 years!

And since I was the only one who watched the match, I did my rendition of a victorious Red-Indian dance around the living room as Casillas lifted the cup.

So it's not a wasted effort for me to walk around Parkway Parade wearing my Arsenal jersey, to show my support for Cesc Fabregas (he was in the starting 11!). Ok, some of you may say that I might be supporting Jens Lehmann. Oh puhleez, those who know me, will know just how much I dislike that keeper.

And I'm so having the hots for Sergio Ramos. Eversince I watch that Nike ad and he went bare bodied for quite a while before accepting his medal...

And guess, Aragones can finally retire in peace, huh? He had looked sooo old! I remembered telling my mum, "This manager, he looked like he can collapse from a heart attack anytime!"

And I remembered when the team joyously lifted him up into the air, the commentator said, "Oh, put him down! He's 69 years-old!" Haha!

Mark Richmond even said, "Aragones must have been the oldest manager to win this cup."






















































And since the meds made me drowsy, I had to sleep it off, only to find that my mum had left me alone at home - AGAIN.

So I got myself a new hobby to pass the time. SUDOKU! I can't believe I would end up liking it. I dislike brain teasers because I deem them to be 'a waste of my brain juices'. But the challenge is addictive!

herbal tea

herbal tea

First it was the bottle of sun-dried yellow chrysanthemums.

Then it's that reddish looking dried fruit stuff (it's orange peel).

I've always been a sucker for health stuff so I asked for the benefits of these.

2 words had me drink this herbal infusion religiously.

remove. oil.

I know that it's best to boil them chrysanthemums but having them steeped in boiling water works fine for me, thank you.

The fragrant flowers plus the tanginess of the sour orange peel... Such delight!

I insist on drinking this sans sugar. Works all the more better.

Baby Birds 2

Baby Birds at the Office (Part Deux)

You See that..?

I came into the office to see only one fledgling left in the nest.

I frantically searched for the other one and found it on the cold floor, outside the timber decking.

Soon after my colleague came and he helped to put the little one back.

By calling it, 'little one' I mean every word of it. Maybe because it kept being oppressed by it's (much) bigger sibling, its growth seemed stunted.

I went in awhile and when I looked out I saw it looking distressed, hanging on the edge by its 2 puny claws.







I rushed to fold a kitchen towel and cut some tape. I came back out to see it hanging on with only a claw.

I carefully placed the towel beneath it and tape it.

And darn!

Due to the uneven surface of that ruddy nest, I can't see the tape clinging much so I rushed back in and cut more tape.

And so, the nest looked like that.

Something tells me that the big one ain't too pleased with my effort, though.

My colleagued had mentioned, "That's the way it is in the animal world. Only the fittest survive."

Oh well, then. I'll make sure this little one become the fittest!

Did you watch Happy Feet??!

**Update:

Egad! I saw for myself! The big one PUSHING the little one off. AGAIN!

And the lil' one frenetically flapped it's wings just so it won't land on the floor again and manage to get on the roots of the plant right below the nest. Now it's just perching there.

I give up. There's no way I'm gonna let it back on the nest and risk it being pushed off again...

Geez!**

baby birds

baby birds at my office

The same species - Yellow-Bellied Sunbirds, set up their nest on my office garden terrace yet again. The same thing happened around the same time last year, too.

Check out last years batch at my colleague's page.

This year, they built the nest on the same plant near the same place and used the same kind of junk. By saying 'junk', I mean it - literally. Icky stuff like hair, thread, scraps of paper & plastic bits yadaa yadaa..

Whatever happened to twigs..?

Even birds go thru' modernisation....

The nest was so close to the door that we have to be careful to not slam into it. And we have to be more cautious during the roosting period, where the timid mum will fly out of the nest whenever we come out to use the sink. Last thing we need is for the long, pointed beak to poke our eyes!

The other day, one of the fledglings fell out of it's nest. This year, I guess the nest's built ain't as strong or that the babies are bigger. The opening to the nest got pretty big, as it strained under their weight. The one on top kinda' slipped off the other one and plop-ed onto a puddle.
My colleague brought it to a drier spot. I then brought it up, closer to the nest at where the sun is, to dry it so it won't shiver so much.

My other colleague eventually put it back into the nest.

The following pics were taken in sequence and zoomed in with every shot.

e-Hubbing

e-Hubbing w/ Dinah & Lil' Aqil

Something that we planned since we heard of Kung Fu Panda. Just the right show to watch with the little boy.

My gosh, despite parents bringing their kids to the show for their entertainment, it seemed like the adults are the ones who laughed the most (us included)!

Those kinda' laugh-a-minute kinda animation.








Post movie, I brought everyone to BBQ Chicken Restaurant, a fried chicken chain from Korea.

I've been wanting to come here since my accidental stumble upon it after I got lost, wanting to look for the carpark entrance.






I've just taken a look at the menu but never really checked the interior (despite the glass frontage *duh!*). And boy, was I impressed when I stepped in!

The restaurant is divided into 3 parts.
Green area for regular dining, White area where the booth seats are.


Pink area for sofa seating, which I find to be really suitable for kids cos the seats are low.














The hot pink goes really well with the black background, eh?















The food..?

I love the chicken! Juicy and well marinated. The skin ain't so thick (unlike KFC).

Choices aside from chicken ain't much though. Just a beef patty dish and the typical fish & chips.














This is the Charboiled Chicken Sandwich that I ordered.


Yes, I know! Big, rite...?

But veryyy nice!







I mistook the 2-pc chicken set for a set of drumlets and we end up with an extra portion of fries and coleslaw.

Oh the fries are the fat-fat type (ala Swensens) and the coleslaw taste fresh!










I'm so glad we finally get to meet up. Looking forward to the next one! ; )

bro's new workplace

bro's new career move

Last Friday was my brother's last day at work.

So those who have been to Wild Wild Wet @ Downtown East, please be informed that THIS 'Botak' lifeguard is no longer working there.

Cheh, as if he's so popular, liddat.























I wonder how does it feel like, to leave a particular workplace after having been slogging there for the past 3 years...?

Well, not that I want to go through that. I love my current vocation, thank you.

I accompanied him to downtown east yesterday as he had to return to WWW to return his uniform and clear his locker.

He had told me that he took a VERY long look at his locker before he finally bade goodbye to the place as a whole.

In fact, his colleague had jokingly put up a notice much similar to a classified ad, advertising his (now) available locker.

Sigh.

Today is his 1st day at the new workplace. Hopefully all goes well.

There's a lot of conveniece that he had to sacrifice to take up this job. He had to do away with the direct bus route to work and be a newly converted MRT commuter. Then there's the need to wake up at an ungodly hour and be on the train by 6+ am.

Well at least they pay better and have dual shifts (shorter hours per shift). Hopefully this will give him a chance to pursue that sports management course that he's been eyeing for so long.

Best wishes on this career move, bro!

Puteri pacific JB

lunch @ The Puteri Pacific Hotel, JB

Okay, more specifically, it's at The Newsroom Cafe.

My family's been craving to go back there. The last time had been rad! We did try the lunch buffet at Hyatt but we somehow prefer it here. Maybe because it's more spacious.

I kinda miss the teppanyaki counter at Hyatt, though.

Hungry and raring to go, especially after going through the jam at the S'pore customs we devoured almost all the varieties available on the counters. Or at least we tried...

My bro stuffed his face with bread, bread and more bread. My dad gave up soon enough. My mum and I were like 2 curious girls, venturing from one station to another, cheking out what's available. My cousin, he's the best person to bring to a buffet. Though his massive appetitie has subsided a weeny bit...


Starters - Cold dish


















Salad - I love them Alfalfa Sprouts!














Main course (L-R) - Veggie LAsagne, Lamb Spaghetti, Chicken in Cream Sauce, Oyster Sauce Kailan, Black Pepper Beef.













Fat, juicy mussels cooked in black pepper.

And Pumpkin in Coconut Stew.

Both my fave.









My cousin's bowl of ice-kachang.

There's an ice-shaving machine to do your own.

Since we came late for lunch and they never really close to prepare for tea-time, we got to see the spread they've prepared and brought out for that next session. I can resist snitching this mini-burger and add on my own stuffing of smoked ham and alfalfa sprouts!

*burp!*

archi-students

days of being archi-students . . .

I don't know what came over me recently but I somehow realised that I do miss learning about architorture architecture. I miss being an archi student.

Amazingly.

**please note that this is in reference to only myself and those I know.
even then, not all are like what's being mentioned... ok, maybe it's just me and my mates...**

I dunno how to start on this. Right from the days back in school, we hardly get any planning right.

HARDLY.

Maybe it's true, what they say about design students. Especially those in architecture.

The reason we seem eternally stressed is not because of the deadlines.

It's because we PROCRASTINATE to meet them deadlines.

We're screwed up like that.

But that makes student life all the more interesting, doesn't it?

We're known to play hard sometimes. Becaused we worked our asses off. Fun only taste sweeter when you've already tasted the bitterness of misery. Whatever.

ANYWAY.

While wandering into Borders Bookstore the other day, I came upon the design section and I can't help reminiscing the good old days of browsing through the likes of such books in Page One @ Ngee Ann City. Or Marine Parade library. Or the library @ Orchard.

Then there's that magazine stall at Holland Road, boasting a heyuuuge variety of books and mags of all kinds. We patronised there for our monthly dosage of design mags like Wallpaper, d+t, Space, ISH etc.

And these mags cost a bomb, going by our available budget then, as students. We usually scrimp and save just to purchase them. Most of the time, we end up buying one type of mag each and exchange them amongst those in our clique.

The initial reason for them mags were to get us design ideas/inspirations. It wasn't long before it became a habit. I still continued buying those mags even after I started working. Especially since I boast a better spending power then and became so spoilt for choice. Took me sometime to wean off those gorgeous pictures.

A few days back, YEARS after I last bought such mags, I caught sight of them again. Stacked neatly beside a well-postured man, dressed all prim and proper, albeit looking pretty chic with his stylishly-coiffed hair, ironed shirt rolled till the elbows and those neatly crossed legs fitted with ALDO shoes.

I can't help stifling a chuckle. If that's the typical image potrayed by those taking interest in such mags, just how do we come off like, back in those days?

A boisterous bunch of teens, usually 4 guys and a girl, dressed drably in frumpy jeans and t-shirts, mangy portfolio cases hung on their shoulders or a scruffy drawing tube slung across their backs.

And when cutting through Time Square @ Millenia Walk late one night, hours after the office crowd have retired to the comforts of their home, I can't help reflecting on those days when I sat in the middle of the square, music plugged in my ears and balancing a booklet of butter paper, trying to gain inspiration from the people and their surroundings, sketching furiously all the ideas that came to mind.

Hey, I think I wrote about this before...!

Then there's walking around and snapping photos of buildings till we end up having (much) more photos of them than of human subjects. And those days, digitial camera was still non-existent, okay?

To make it worse, we didn't even take photos of ourselves back then! Now I hardly have any photos of my mates from back in those days. Why waste film on people when we got buiding facades to snap? Or gorgeous interiors for ideas?

Now they are collecting dust in a shoebox somewhere... Pfft! -_-

And how I never drank coffee until my dad made me a cup to help me stay awake when I'm 3 days away from my deadline, struggling to finish something meant to be done since 3 weeks back.

That one cup led to another and over a period of less than a year, I upgraded myself to be a 'kopi-kaw' drinker. That, or a triple shot at Starbucks.

My longest night-without-sleep record?? Almost 50 hours. 4 horrendous nights that I have to endure. The one that concluded with the last sumission for my final year project. The one where I hallucinated so badly that I thought my face had turned black. Or the light from a distant airplane was a fireball headed towards me. Really!

I regained back mental stability after sleeping the rest of the day away.

And a couple days back, I saw an award winning design by a top architecture firm here. The design was reminiscent of a commercial building I proposed for my final-year project. Theirs was a residential development.

And how the inspiration was derived from a Norman Foster design. Ditto.

And they used a pneumatic system for their rubbish disposal! That's what my friends and I proposed for our 2nd-year condominium project. That was almost 7 years back, man!

I'm proud of the fact that something similar to what I've thought of years back eventually became and award winning design... Hah! As if!

. . . . . . .

Guess, I've been mulling over those days, huh? I miss them...! :'(

iphone knock-off?

iphone knock-off?

Look at them both. What's your take..?


























In case you have troube identifying, (L) is the iPhone (R) is the Instinct Phone from Samsung.

Apparently, the similarity is only skin-deep. Pro-apple peeps may not accept the fact that there are people slamming their baby, claiming the Samsung to be wayyy better.

Go figure.

father's day..

father's day..?

Bah!

Things just don't go as planned, doesn't it..?

Geez! My grandma had gone to Indonesia so my grandpa was all alone yesterday. Apparently, I fetched him to go to a wedding reception yesterday.

Then there's a another reception that we got invited to, so we brought him along.

So we end up being really full eventually. Doesn't help that grandpa had a really small appetite. Therefore treating him to lunch is definitely out of question.

Then my mum had wanted to visit her cousin at the hospital and my grandaunt wanted to come along. My mum had thought that her daughter would be coming along so we decide to send my grandpa back home (no more room in the car!).

He had insisted we come up and collect the fried rice that he had cooked cos' there's no one else and he cooked too much. It's only right that I went along. No use disappointing him.

Gave him some cash before I left. Whispered to him, "Selamat Hari Bapa, Tok (Happy Father's Day, Gramps) " followed by a peck on each cheek. I tot' it would have been awkward initially but I felt good doing it. He was pleased and I'm proud of myself, somehow.

Being chummy once in a while can be pretty delightful, no?

I still wished that I got to bring him out after the wedding receptions yesterday... Just like how I brought my grandma out during Mother's Day. It would have only been fair :(

bmw gina

BMW's new design study

Droolsome.....!

This is GINA, BMW's Light Visionary Model design study.

The car is encased shrouded with taut fabric, can you believe it...?

Just. Fabric.

Man, can anybody assure me that it will be tear-proof..?

What is some a**hole decide to slash the car surface..?

What if I scraped the surface against any car, for instance? *gah!*

But the thing about the rear lights beaming through the 'skin' and that peek-a-boo headlights...?

A definite winner!

tastespotting gone

tastespotting gone..!

My favourite food blog is GONE...!

Waaargh...!

This is like...

THE food blog of ALL food blogs!

You'll be greeted with gorgeous pictures of drooling-ly enticing food - from beverages, to starters to main courses to desserts.






Click on a picture and you'll be automatically transported to the entry on the whoever's website that is.

If you're lucky, there will be a recipe that comes along with that awesome pic.

I don't see why this is a cause for any legal issue....

I'm sure there's no major case of plagiarism involved. I mean, the link brings you DIRECTLY to that person's page on that person's blog! Not as if the whole thing was extracted and put on tastespotting like it belonged there....

Geez, now I've one less webpage to go to. Not just any webpage, ok? It's a webpage that updates DAILY with loads of new photos everytime!

...And recipes!

Uwahhhh...! How to learn to cook liddat???! I need those gorgeous pics to inspire me!

Darn those who brought on the occurance of this legal whatnots! Pfft!

Nike - Euro 2008 - Spain

Nike - Euro 2008 - Spain
Torres, Cesc, Iniesta, Puyol, Ramos

**Quoted from: Spain World Cup Blog**

Another very cool Nike advert….

Kinda freaky tattoo rock and roll kinda thing with Iniesta, Cesc, Puyol, Ramos and Torres.

Tattooing slogans about what the press said about them at different euros or world cup tournaments…

Poking fun at the underachievers title. Translation below.

Background voices: Why has Spain gone so long without winning a tournament? They lack the blood..

Iniesta: In 82 they said there was no passion

Cesc: In 94 they said there was no magic

Puyol: In 78 they said there was no respect

Sergio Ramos: In 90 they said there was no belief in the team

Torres: We are going to another level




Puyol & Ramos: Nice bods!

sports weekend

crazy weekend

The past weekend had been really hectic for sports fans, ain't it??

Especially yesterday.

We have the Tennis Final Showdown between Rafael Nadal & Roger Federer. No points for guessing who won that one. *hint* CLAY COURT *hint*.

Then there's the Barcelona MotoGP. My baby Dani Pedrosa took first place. Naturally. It's his home ground! Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner got on the podium with 2nd & 3rd place respectively.

Formula 1 has been tragic. Lewis Hamilton had somehow rear-ended Kimi Raikonnen's car, leaving them out of the race. Did you see the result of that crash??!












Mangled


And then there's soccer. The Euro Cup is gonna get me panda eyes very soon. Thank goodness, the first match start at midnight. So I can more or less watch those.

Even over the weekend, I find it difficult to stay up for the 3am matches.

First thing I did when I woke up was to watch the re-runs. Best if I can get the results so I know how many goals there are to watch.

Shoot! Tomorrow morning got France vs. Romania at 12am. Then theres Italy vs. Netherlands at 3am.

How..? How..? I think I need to plan on taking leave for the semis and finals, liao!

Is it just my eyes or is it that the Nike jerseys have somehow tightened up? The Portuguese seem to be wearing them tighter jerseys rather well... YUM!

obolo

Obolo

I made it here!

Fast, eh?

I thought I'm the only one who can't resist the temptation.

My 2 mates think likewise too!

The interior.

Seating is quite limited. Maybe can seat up to 10 pax.

We came early to chope the seats but the place filled up only after 7.30pm.

Was pretty surprised to see the pretty small display counter.

But it wasn't disappointing though.

It somewhat gives the desserts on display an 'exclusive' appeal.

Maybe they only display a limited amount to retain the freshness...?

What we ordered.

From left -

Dome Amore, Le Cassis, Verrine, Macarons.

My Our favourite?

All in unison chose the Dome Amore as the most delectable of the lot.

We agreed that it felt like, 'an explosion of flavours' upon the 1st bite. Who would expect raspberry & dark chocolate to go so well together?

Then there's the white chocolate core. And the delightfully crispy Valrhona chocolate pearls hidden within.

Had we not tried the dome, Le Cassis would be our favourite. Their mousse is dense, therefore it contribute to a pretty rich taste, be it the Blackurrant or the Dark Chocolate. Dreamy!

Oh, the crunchy praline base is lovely!

The macarons? It's definitely better than the ones I had before. However, after all the others, they don't seem as enticing anymore.

But they were delicious, nonetheless.

We chose 3 flavours. One each. The Noisette, Bittersweet Chocolate & Chocolat-Menthe. So much for variety, huh? All of us chose the chocolate variant!

The favourite? Chocolate-mint. MY choice. Hah!

The outcome?

Heheh!

We literally cleaned out our plates! Believe it or not, these are our dinner.

We can't ingest anything else.

The best part?

The total cost of these desserts came to only $26! Well of course we paid more eventually, when we also ordered the beverages.

It's not as costly, especially when compared to other places selling stuff of similar type and quality. And the presentation of the stuff at some other places can't even be compared to the ones here!

We hesitated to tuck in at first because they all looked so nice!

We're definitely coming back. We just have to try at least one from the cheesecake variety and also their best-seller, the Noisette.

random cheesemax

random cheesemax

31st May 2008
After sending my aunt & cousin off at the airport (umrah), my aunts and cousin came back to my home cos' they need to perform their Asar & Maghrib prayers.

Seeing that it's my bro's birthday, my mum got everyone to join us for the birthday dinner. Booked a table for 15 at Chai Chee Restaurant.

Somehow, we always come back to that place for seafood dinners. We went there countless times and the taste of the food has remained pretty consistent over the years. The service is alright and the price is reasonable.

Anyway, I'm so glad my mum chose that place cos I'm dying to eat their Shanghai Chicken and Cereal Sotong or Prawns again.

My cousin Dzul & my bro.

This Dzul ah, he started working at my bro's workplace only recently and he got wayyy darker than my bro.

And I thought my bro was really chao-tar.






Maybe I'm such a sotong but I've always wondered why it seemed so special when these 3 guys hung around together, doing the same thing.

Like when the 'relak-one-korner' for a smoke break.

It just dawn upon me that they're are arwah Yayi Lawin's (my paternal grandpa) only grandsons!!!


And my bro is the ONLY 3rd-generation son.

My bro attempting an 'act-cute' pose (as always).

Too bad, my camerafone's in night mode.

Macam momok!

Hah!






1st June 2008
Recognise these..?

Cuteness!!!!

With heads soo big and looking so cushy, I was very much tempted to drop something heavy- just to see if it will bounce off them.






Bad, I know.

Having just read Bill Bryson's, 'The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid', I can't help thinking of naughty things that I can do when in a busy shopping centre. Especially when you look into the void and see all the way down to the basement.

Imagine the ruckus if I 'accidentally' drop a packet of liquids. Even ice-cream will do just fine...

*rubs hands in glee*

kecik2x tak jahat. dah besar gini baru jadi nakal!

Ok, something else altogether.

2nd June 2008
I saw that they've already installed the lighting tracks for the upcoming F1 night race this September.

Wah, not bad!









Now I'm contemplating whether to join the crowds at the Marina area during raceday or simply watch from home.

Nothing beats watching the race from the comfort of one's home. What more, the televised version shows clearly the exact locations, all the technical info, various views, updates etc....




This time however, I was drawn to the fact that I can hear the engine sounds for myself, deafening as they may be. The feel of the ground vibrating and the 'whoosh!' caused by the impact of cars going at over 300kmph.

All these are worth experiencing.

Besides, the race falls on my birthday, you know. Those who know me, knows that I'm such a race freak, be it F1 or MotoGP. I've been to a MotoGP race.

So ain't anybody buying me a tix for the F1 this time...???

Anyone..? Please...?

macaroons

i'm having the hots for ....

MACAROONS!

Gawd, I'm almost choking on my own saliva while holding back my drool from dripping on the drawings on my table.

These crunchy bits of babies are such ....

Ouwh! I dunno... Indescribable!

But..

I'm craving more for the chocolate variety.












... You know, something like this?

Oooh....

The soothing, slightly bitter taste of Valhorna chocolate-infused cream in between the 2 crispy/crunchy cookies.

And I'll pop them, one.. by.. one..

Ahh.... Bliss.









Somehow, this one here looks more enticing!

*hyperventilates*

















I've tried those from Gobi. A tad on the sweet side. Not to mention, pricey.

And I've heard of those from Canele. Or even BakerzIn.

But you know the issue. They're a tad on the expensive side.

Sure, anything for indulgence but... Are they even worth it..?

Well, until I stumbled upon Camemberu's (foodie) site. And chanced upon her entry on this particular boutique confectionery.

I am so, so keen to head there. OBOLO just seem so nearby and the pricing, though NOT considered cheap, is pretty affordable.

And the collezione they have..! Ouwh!

Can't believe that this place is set up by 2 architecture graduates. Wahaha! Talk about changing lines!

I already made appointments with my 2 sweet-tooth pals. Pals who share my passion for things like these. And willing to spend! Haha!

We are soo traipsing there at the next available date for us 3 to meet. U hear that guys??!