I'm back from Genting!!

Ok, I did something bimbotic..Well not exactly...shall leave it to you to decide...
I've always thought long lashes were so pretty...
My lashes are of those short and "stubby" type...Not sure if you can use stubby to describe lashes..basically just short, straight and super unable to curl..

Was shopping alone in Genting on Tuesday afternoon..we all split up each to his her own directions...
And I got for myself a pair of fake lashes..long, thick and curling..
But err...I don't really know how to use them now..hmm mm....darn.

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The most sinful thing I did during the 3 days in Genting...
Was to each a cup of steamed corn each day...and well to gorge myself on dimsum on the 2nd day's lunch.. ahha..

You know corn's kinda hard to digest..so well..this morning when I went to poo poo...I realised...darn..the bloody yellow things are still somewhere in me!! haha..
Too much information I know...ahha..;p

Ok, the next sinful thing I did was to gamble at the jackpot.. haha...
Lost about 10RM. Small amount...but hor, I don't understand how people can sit there the whole day and just do nothing but press the button and let the cartoons roll on the screen..
It really takes ZERO brain power and maybe only a little arm/finger strength..

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Slept at 1am last night and was half a zombie at work today...
But am glad some things were cleard during the course of the day's work..=)

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David Tao's back here in April..Shit...dunno if I should go or not...
Kinda running low on finances after some big ticket expenditures in the past 1-2 months...

But I've been to both his previous ones liao..hmm mm....

Itchy Itchy...

sunday..

Some issues bothering me..
Both work and personal..

Not feeling too good. Feeling abit bogged down..

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Need to go to Golden mile tomorrow at 730am..zzz...
The Genting division retreat starts tomorrow..will only be back on Wednesday night...
And then back to work on Thurs xianzz..

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Recently, there's a group of Prudential people stationed at Tampines Interchange..
And without fail, everyday after work when I walk past them..
At least one guy will stop me..It's really amusing..

From Tues to Friday, every single day a different guy will stop me..lol.
Each with a different tactic..

The one on Thursday was the most hilarious..walked with me for quite a long way..
"excuse me, pls lah, stop!! wait for me..eh don't walk so fast leh! very tiring leh! do you have medishield? I only want to ask you a few questions! hey! wei! wei....!!!!"
haha...

My standard line now is..."I walk here eveyrday and I get stopped everyday already...thanks but no thanks.." haha..

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Have you gotten your CNY stuff?
Frankly, I did not really get any haha..more like those new stuff which I bought over th epast few months but have not worn...those will be my CNY clothes liao I guess.. haha..

No mood to shop too much...There's hordes of people out there..can get giddy just seeing people walk in and out of MRT stations..

Was having dinner by myself at Breko on Saturday evening...Bugis was jam-packed with people..It was disgusting man...The traffic junction between Bugis Junction and Bugis Village was a madhouse in its own right.
People crossing from one side to the other...I think at least 150-200 odd people were trying to cross from both sides...
There were stil lpeple crossing when the man went red liao and the lights turned green liao...taxis were honking and cars were stuck cos people just ignored them ahha...

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heading to bed liao...hope genting won't be too cold..:)

the emo memo!

oh no, the emo days are here again..argh! go away quick!
the below was what i wrote on my journey home..i was on the train..was looking for a piece of sracp paper or something to scribble on...but alas...i did not have any..

at times like this...there's always the trusty phone..with it's SMS "save draft" function...and this was where my words resided...till now...when they are released into the world wide webby.....


...I stand alone. Staring at my reflection in the train window.
People all around me. Talking, chatting, napping, listening to music.
Men, women. Indian, Chinese, Malay, Foreigners.
I'm plugged in too. Maroon 5 infusing my ears with drums, guitars, alternative music.
Cooly imbibing me.

I feel strangely alone. Cocconed in my own invisible shell. I wonder what each of them are thinking or feeling?
It's like as if I am ensconced in an alternate bubble. So much with them and yet so different all at the same time.

The journey home seems long. I am tired.
Feet are aching, calves are sore. The body is beat. But the mind is active though.
A mambo jumbo of broken thoughts as usual. A little here, a little there.

I am thinking of things I maybe should not.
The mind itself has a mind of its own does it not?
Scary at times. The will is working hard not to fall. Not to fail.

Pray tell, I will be strong.
Pray tell.

Lemme see..been a few days...

Friday night..
I was screaming at the Indoor Stradium..watching Jay Chou..with Daniel & Yanling
Extremely talented..he played the guitar, the drums, the piano and the zither or more commonly known as the gu zheng. And I thought the duet with Lara was nicely done...

Pity he sang too many new songs..Couldn't connect as well with the people like me who prefer his older songs..He didn't even sing Jian Dan Ai...
But it was still a good concert...

As with all other concerts, there were planned encores..
One thing was that there were too many intermissions in between songs...too many breaks..
It kinda broke the continuity..I mean, you sing a fast song...it gets you high and then there's a 3 mins break..before the next song comes up. And when it does come up, it's a slow song...

I loathe the wrath some might feel but maybe he doesn't ave enough stamina to do a "full-steam" kinda concert"? haha...
David Tao and others go through full length concerts...hmm mm.. hehe..

Oh yah, I bought a lightstick! haha an expensive lightstick!

Poppoed by Dempsey after the concert..Went to House & Barracks..and had a jug of pineapple & cucumber juice with them. It was pretty good actually ahha....probably next time can try it out at home...;p

Saturday night..
Went Hong Lim to buy CNY stuff like fish maw, mushrooms, fungus, scallops...and then made our way to Great World City to watch "American Gangster"...
Wow, long show! 2.5 hrs...but worth watching...
Ahboy said it was based on a true story..hmm mm...if it is..then wow, it makes it even more nice to watch...

The details put into this show which is set in the 1970s was amazing...from the music, to the types of cutlery they use, and the clothes they wear and the vehicles they drive and the phone sets they use...woohoo...
Nothing was left out of sync...

Sunday night...
Went to Rohlin & Yong Soon's wedding dinner at Meritus Mandarin... haha..first time in my life I had chicken rice for the main carbo dish for the dinner...
But I think ever since the chef left, Chatterbox's chicken rice has never been as nice anymore...

It was very nice catching up with the rest again...HB had an aura of smoke about him..Didn't quite figure him out to be such a smoker...
Bernard was there...hmm..the guy whom I used to call Ah Ber...the guy whom I went to school in yr 1 with..
And I shan't be shy to admit, one of the guys I think I had a mini crush on last time...ahha..
He looked much better yesterday than when I saw him about 2-3 years back. More refreshed and happier...
I think his business is picking up now...and he's helping his dad out in the family business too...

Sky was as usual in a flowery shirt..flamboyant but sweet as always...ah ger was quiet as always...laughing when necessary and von was still as chirpy as ever haha...
Saw terrie & weijie..gosh, been at least years... ahha..Tianfeng said I lost weight! hee..
Bernard said my head is smaller now hahaha....

quiz quiz quiz!

Haha lol, a quiz I did on Facebook last night...

What Kind of A Date Are You?

You are mature but still in the prime of your life.
You especially cherish your friends, and you're emotionally ready to try out long-term relationships (if you want!).
You are experienced (maybe beyond your years!), and people find that very attractive.
Your date better be prepared for scintilating conversations coupled with the occasional wild time out!


Darn, I just love doing these boiao quizzes haha..=p

states..

Confusion. Delusion. Tiredness. Anxiety. Irritation.
Hope. Happiness. Pensiveness. Brightness. Sadness.
Sunshine. Stress. Relief. Apprehension. Wonder.

Is it a little too much of a myriad of emotions to feel?
In just 16 short days of the year?

Yes, I am a little confused, pensive and a wee bit stressed now...
It's been 2 weeks into the new year and somehow it feels like it's been 2 months...
Nah, more like it feels like 2 years into the new year...haha ok, abit kua zhang.

But it just feels like so much (and yet so little) has happened in 2 weeks...
Hmm mm....
Nonetheless, I think the few broad categories I listed out sometime last year...on the right panel of this bloggie..Still stands true in 2008.

Might be a bit broad...but sometimes...specifics aren't for us to list out...
I prefer something a little more sketchy...I'll fill in the details when the time passes by...

americano..

Just finished watching American Idol..Season 7...wow..It's been that long already?

Oh yah, I only have 2 words to say. Sore Losers.

Come on, if you're not good, just face it. Why curse the judges? Why curse the makers of the show?
*rolls eyes*

Oh yah, another 2 words. Sour Grapes. Wait hang on, it's technically supposed to be a single word.
Sourgrapes.
There you go.

If you don't get in. You are just not good enough. The least is that be man (or woman) enough to accept it and fark off. Don't go barking around every streetlamp and pissing around every corner...I mean sheesh...

Sunday...

Went to wine Network on Saturday evening with ahboy.
Damn it! They ran out of the Spinach Pizza. I was thinking to myself, we were the first customers there for the evening...we reached there around 7pm maybe...and there were no more Spinach PIzzas?
Sigh, guess it was our day to have it..though we were craving for it haha..

Neveretheless, the Italian Ham and Mushroom Pizza was very nice as well..same goes for the Grilled German Sausage...the cheesy interior was just oozing and oozing...haha..

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I'm losing steam for French...But it's the longest I've lasted for any course I have taken..So I think it's still a mini feat to celebrate haha lol..

Oh by the way, I've gotten my test results...75/100! haha...
And for that, I got a Good. 51/70 for the written and 24/30 for the oral...=))
In the slightly above average band within my class who took the test...Wonderful!!

Am thinking of whether to continue for the next semester or not..

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Did I mention? My trip to Taipei in February is confirmed.
Official trip. Should be from 24th till 27th. Only thing is, I think the conference venue is not anywhere near to Shih Lin Night Market, darn, was hoping to get a chance to go there and jalan abit...

Think there's quite abit of things to do..Hmm..better ask around what are the procedures like..think I am only given $220 a day for my allowance...(hotel stay inclusive.)
How to survive?? The hotel is already $190 per night I think...the one that the conference people is reserving for us...Gosh...

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Ok, wonderful number 2...My BKK trip in March is confirmed hahaa...hotel & tix all booked.
But hor, not worth it leh! Dunno how come the currnecy rate dropped so much...It's now around 20.5BHT for every SGD$1. A few weeks ago it was at 23BHT for SGD$1...*faint*

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Sometimes, when friends grow older...expectations change, dynamics change, people change...
I don't know if it's me who changed..or my expectations are unreasonable or...
Oh well..sometimes I wonder what happened over the last 3 years...we grew so so so apart in such a jiffy..

Oh yeah, when you met with a break-up in July last year, you called me out of the blue and I tried to be there...Think that was one of the rare times we had dinner together and talked heart-to-heart...
After that? Earlier this year..when you had another relationship problem again...Another rare time.

And then? It was silence all the way...not even meeting...unless for group gatherings...

Sigh..Things change. People change.

Love Stories Project

Am helping a friend to promote his project...

www.lovestoriesproject.blogspot.com

He's hoping for people to share their love stories or other stories of love...with the eventual aim of spreading warmth, happiness and hope as well to share stories where people can learn from..

If you have any articles...or things you wish to write on..just visit that site, there's an email address to drop your article to...

Let's just say...he was a dear one to me oh so long ago..

OMG

What have I done? hahaa...I paid $$ to torture myself every Monday from 630pm to 730pm...

TBT class. To tighten the Tummy, Buttocks, & Thighs.

The instructor is a nice lady....who had a dark side to her...
She absolutely revelled in making everyone groan and complain haha..
It's a course organised by the company. Held at the studio in our common recreation floor...so it's pretty convenient..

Thighs aching now man.. haha..About 15mins after the class, when I was stepping down the road kerb to cross the road, my thighs actually "wobbled" from being overused today ahhaa...

Oh well, such is the price to pay for being a slob for so long...

p/s: Xiao bai, yes, I am still freezing in office haha lol..

fatter?...:(

Wah. Sad...sigh.

My French classmate. This lady in her 30s, reaching 40s. Told me straight in my face.
"Ni fei liao!"

aka "You're fatter!" What happened to you? Ate too much during festive season?

Gosh. First time she told me this was in early to mid December. Then now January liao. Another remark from her....:(
Demoralising...

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Wah, I bought a bra from Vietnam for $40 SGD after conversion...
Went to check out the same model just now at a department store..It was selling for $70...
What a huge price difference.. ahha

Ho Chin Minh...

Oh well...some pictorial mementoes from my Ho Chi Minh trip recently...

Xiao Bai, have fun viewing!! Hee...Hope things are going fine for you...

Have you ever seen bikes parked inside a fast food restaurant?

This was on our first evening..

Interesting hor..Their fast food outlet..I think it's a big chain cos I saw a number of their branches...

People just park their bikes in there while they order food for take-away..Some just park right in there while they have dinner...

The food was good here. Sort of abit like Mos Burger's pattern. haha..

The other interesting thing is that...I did not see a single MacDonalds around...But there were lots of KFCs...Oh yah, they don't have 7-11 stores too!!

On our first night, we tried to find a French restaurant that was recommended by some people...

But then walk here walk there...wah lau!!! We couldn't seem to find it!

So we ended up at a Korean place...Food was nice...We ordered two mains but didn't realise it came with so many little accompanying side dishes...

Ate till I couldn't quite stand up straight haha. And the bill was only S$15 for two...for so many things...

Visited a War Gallery Museum..lots of lots of pics depicting scenes from the war...from blasted bodies to American soldiers to Viet natives running..to scenes showing people before they were executed by firing...

This particular pic is of a guy aged 23. Born deformed because his parents were exposed to chemical used by the Americans in an attempt to force the country into submission..

Chemical warfare....effects are still around 30 yrs later...

These are some of the other pics they put up at the gallery..to show how the effects of biological warfare is like..An extremely cruel form of warfare.

30 yrs later after the war, children are still being born deformed becase their parents were exposed to the harmful chemicals last the when they themselves were children....

Ok errr...these two jars contain specimens of deformed foetuses, also deformed cos of Agent Orange..The one on the left is a pair of Siamese twins joined at the chest/tummy.

The one in the right jar looks almost full term...severely deformed head.

And um, the hole you see in the middle of the jar, is actually its mouth, with a gaping cleft...

Let's just say..it was kinda disturbing lah to see these..

This is a guillotine used by the Communists to execute their enemies..

It was I think close to 8m to 10m in height...Check out the blade...

Ok, this is how they sell puppies...

They keep most in cages which are strapped onto their bikes..and then they tie about oe or two on top of these cages so people can see them clearly...

Wanted to take more pics but the two ladies were sorta like staring at me already...so I inched away.......

This is the Notre Dame Catheral..

A pity that when we went there, it was closed to the public already..Took some peeks through some holes in the walls. There were lots of stained glass walls within the church..

We visited their General Post Office...

The interior of the Post Office...

A small glimpse of rural living..drying spices on your roof...

The first 3 rattan plates of "stuff" is actually frangipani flowers..It's an old lady's shack..

Wanted to ask her what was the use of drying frangipani flowers. But doubted she would understand English so I just kept my mouth shut haha.

Visited the Cao Dai Temple...about a 2 or 3 hr drive from Ho Chi Minh City

The monks or venerables were having their prayer rites..Apparently in the month of Dec, they will pray at the temppple 4 times a day for 30mins each time. At 6am, 12pm, 6pm and 12am.

We visited the Cu Chi Tunnels...a 200km maze of tunnels used by the Viets during the Vietnam War to overcome the American GI soldiers. This is just one of the many many little holes hwich they used to get into the tunnels...This ang moh tourist was like almost 1.85m in height I think..and definitely bigger sized than most Asians. He went in there but couldn't really move around as you can see from the next pic.

Seriously think I will freak out from claustrophobia if you ask me to go in these tunnels...

Must applaud this ang moh for trying it out.. haha.

But the desperation & will for survival must have so very strong for those Viets to have hidden in these tunnels for long periods of time at a stretch..

Some bomb relics... View from my hotel's highest floor restaurant. 9th floor...

Taken while I was having my breakfast on my last day there.

Common common sight..little stalls everywhere, selling things from trikets to food to sunglasses to hats, blah blah blah...
This is considered a nicer looking stall with chairs & a counter to sell from.
Some just carry a basket, find an empty space, sit down on the street and sell their wares...
Some don't even have a basket, more like a rag to hold everything together.
Oh, the WC you see behind stands for "Water Closet" i.e. Washroom....so traditional haha.
Alternatively called "Nha Ve Sinh" in Viet.

Common common sight..rows and rows of motorcycles parked along the streets..

They even have valets to help you "arrange" your bike into a nice position..

Nice little can of Sprite with artworks of CNY 2008...damn cheap.

This costs only S$0.90.

My fried beef rice topped with a lovely sunny-side-up.

The rice was pretty good...except that some of the rice was abit little too hard...

His beef noodles..
It was really just lots of vege & beef thrown into a bowl of maggi mee.. haha...

The goondu is not co-operating..

And so I gave up and cut him out of the pic...

1st Thursday of 2008...

2008 is here...been meaning to sit down & reflect & to pen down my goals for the year ahead..but frankly, I've not had the time nor the energy to do so
Though I really hope to be able to do it this weekend..Sit down & think about things...

All I can say is that the past 2-3 months have been pretty hectic and sometimes abit draining.
Oh well, you've heard all about it. I blog so infrequently these days...and when I write, it will be mostly about me being tired...Gosh, I bore myself even haha..

The last two weeks were a rush of things at work..these few days too..
Just for the simple hour-long briefing to a minister tomorrow afternoon.
So much work, ,just to prepare for a 1hr - 1.5hr slot with him.

Wonder how it'll be tomorrow...haha..don't think I will be asked to speak else I'll pee in my pants..will just be there as part of the bosses' entourage..
Macham going for a triad meeting..so many people there..but only the bosses speaking.. haha..

Such is civil service life for the working level people...;p

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First time in my life that I spent the New Year's overseas. Ahboy & I went Ho Chi Minh..
It's much like how Bangkok is..but the traffic was horrible..

Traffic
This is one glaringly obvious characteristic of the city...Nobody paid attention to road signs, nobody cared where each other went haha..It was a stressful first day. We just stood by the road side and were dumbfounded, didn't wuite know how to cross. There were lots of zebra crossings...but no one stopped..haha.

Took us at least a day to get the guts to just cross like the local people..i.e. take a leisurely stroll across...the vehicles will just swerve and scoot around you...(hopefully) hahaa...

Oh yah, motorcycles galore...Actual statistics says there's like 5 million bikes in HCM itself. wah lau, more than SG's population...You can see families of 4 riding on one single bike. Dad controlling with a little one in front. Mum at the rear, with another little one in between her & the Dad. I saw a bike carrying 4 adults too...wonder how they balance man...kaozz...
I suddenly feel a surge of love for the orderly traffic here hahhaa...

Food
Food was ok lah..Bangkok's food is much nicer..but the coffee is good. Not that I drink it..but ahboy ordered a number of times so I just took a few sips...and most that I tried, whether iced or black or with milk, were good. :)

People
The girls are generally slim with good figures..mostly well-endowed. If you think Taiwanese girls have good figures or are slim, so do Viet ladies... haha..

The people there are not so well-versed in English compared to those in Bangkok, both street vendors & hotel staff alike.
I had a massage done. The girl spoke to me 100% in Vietnamese. I just stared at her thinking wtf?

Weather
Weather's good at the end of the year..not very hot...bright but not too sunny. Only on about 2 occassions it was very sunny and very very hot but even then it was only for awhile...

Sight-seeing
Went to visit the War Remnants Museum..saw lots of war photos..some disturbing, others normal...Saw how bio warfare can be so-so-so damaging to a country..In fact, till now, the bio warfare effects are still around...
Kids being born deformed..some are now in their adulthood but unable to care for themselves..blah blah...Saw photos of those who were tortured and who were paralysed for life after that...saw jars of preserved deformed foetuses..

Went to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels as well..200km worth of underground tunnels used in the Vietnam war to fight the American GIs...well, Am proud to say I walke dhtrough like 30m of it? ahhahhaa...Eh, damn stuffy lor...and you have to duck walk through it..it's that small..and yet, that section of the tunnels were actually enlarged already for tourists to go through...My guess is for the ang mohs cos they are larger in physique...

NYE
It was a busy busy noisy noisy night...alot of streets were packed with people & stalls & stages...it wasn't one consolidated stage...more like a few big stages here and there, a few small stages here and there..all belting out performances of their own...
We hid in the hotel room...not much of a crowd-person I am..so is he. Lol...so I crossed into 2008 in a Deluxe room of the Liberty 4 hotel along Pham Ngu Lao street in HCM.
Haaa...

Technology
Hmm m...I was subtly impressed when I took a 2hr bus to the Cu Chi tunnels...and I passed by the outskirts of the city...relatively ulu places actually...and I saw shops carrying signs that said "Internet ADSL here"...lol...
Okook, I know I am bad..but I seriously did not expect them to even have Net access in the more rural areas of HCM...
Wah lau, I even saw at least 2-3 people in HCM using iPhones lor!!! (hmm...dunno whether are they authentic pieces or not hehe ;p)