Bills Gone, Bills Come

My jaw would drop should I receive my next credit card bills... I don't get a bonus like everyone else, yet I think I shop/ spend more than anyone else... From lasik... to clothes, shoes, gifts, dinners.. I spent like I've never done before... And Love gave me a hand to spend his $$$.. we both might need to work extra hard on our piggy banks next month... But at least, he had a bonus, so took pity on me and gave me a very good Christmas present...- $200 Shopping spree. Wee~~~ Thanks dear!

So we started the day in town, my mind filled with so many things to buy.. He waited and shopped with me.. but to his disappointment... I took the whole day, just to get 2 basic tops, a gift for my friend, and some munchies form M&S. Love claimed that he could have spent the money in 10 mins. I went home not feeling satisfied, but I still have another $100 to spend.

I'm a real fastidious shopper and would always make every penny worthwhile. Though it's not my $$, it's still wise to get want you really like/need. Seems like the fashion nowadays doesn't suit my liking. Or perhaps I shopped at the wrong place.

Love brought me to JB for another round of spree... I din not expect much as I've been there a few times and did not really find some nice to bring back. Surprisingly, I stumbled upon this shop and found many clothes that I fancied. Tried 10 over pieces, filtered out some, leaving 8 apparels that I liked. I asked the sales assistant which of these are on sale, and she said 1.

So I bought all those clothes, and with the swipe of my card, I skipped out of the shop, feeling more satisfied than ever... But I paid them myself :) ... I was getting warmed up and bought another few apparels and a pair of shoes-- all paid my Love.

We took a night at the Hyatt which we got a very good deal and a great sea-cum-mosque view.

On the following day, we had a very reasonable and good lunch at the local food centre and carried on with our spree. Bought a lot of dvds and 2 more apparels. Love got himself 3 pairs of stylo-milo jeans. We crossed the causeway filled with bags and satifaction. We'll be back not long after, I reckoned.

Struggling with Nihon-go

Nihon-go means Japanese language. Took up this language as a form of interest and an added enrichment to my work (since it's fully subsidised:P). It was an interesting language though, but had some difficulties using the different particles for different purposes... My school has made learning Japanese pretty interesting, and the sen-sei ( teacher ) have pretty nice to us. Even Japanese find their own language difficult, let alone us. There are 12-13 different forms of each verb and it would certainly take a whole lifetime to master the language... Geez.. I'm only in Elementary 1... And my test would be in mid Jan.. Wish me luck.

Vision Perfect

6/6 perfect vision from now! From the Suitablity test-Diagnositic test-Surgery... all this happened in a span of only 8 days. I planned to do it next year after finishing up all my disposable lens. So it was kinda last-minute decision to take up the surgery.

As I was accompanying Love to the convention hall to collect his marathon goodie bag, I came across this booth set up by an eye surgery clinic, so took the chance to do the suitability test. After the tests, they gave me this $100 voucher valid till end of the year. Since I already had plans to do it, i decided to seize this opportunity, together with the DBS card promotion which gave me a pretty good deal.

And to avoid being "visually disabled" during the festive season, the appointments were made pretty soon.

I did my surgery 2 days ago and my vision has recovered at least 90% by now, even better when without aids. It's really wonderful to see the world again clearly now without relying on anything.

It's Finally Over

After months of training, the Singapore Marathon is finally over. Of course, it's not me who has been training, it's Love who has been running conscientiously for the past few months, a few times a week.

As he had some medical history, I'm always worried he might suffer from complications. I can finally set my mind at ease now but he actually told me he really enjoyed it and is planning to do it again next year.

If only I can run together with him, it would be great. But I'm not a runner, and can never be one. To my surprise, HJ took up the half marathon as well, besides the usual runners, ET and her bf.

The race started at 5-ish and I was told to meet him at 11pm. Knowing that he always overestimate when it comes to time, I told myself to be there at 1020. Yet I was awakened by his sms at 9am, telling me that he has 10km more to go. Realising that I only had an hour left, I popped out of bed, stuffed my breakfast into my bag , slipped into my sneakers and scuttled off. I reached Padang at 9.40 where he texted me ,"4km left". I squeezed my way through the supporters and finally got a good view of the finishing line.

I held my camera in my hand on standby mode and waited... He should complete by 10am. 10 min had past and there was no sign of him... which made me worried. My hands grew tired and was getting bored. Thankfully, there were a few cute dudes to kill my boredom.

Most of the runners stopped at the finishing line giving their best pose to the cameraman. And before I realised this dude of mine dashed past right before me. Damn! I frantically tried to on my camera but it was too late... he had vanished into the crowd.

Though i did not get a candid shot, he posed for my cam after the event. He explained that he attempted to speed up in his last 5km but his heart did not allow, he had to stop running, which explains why he was delayed. I could sense that he was very happy and relieved after the whole race, just like every runner.

No matter what timing you did, it's really amazing to have completed a marathon. Cheers to all marathon runners!

B'Tech Gathering at Genting

I was actually planning a trip to Maldives this Dec but due to many many reasons.. it did not work out. Yet I'm still happy with these frequent short trips just to get away...

Really missed the days of cramping together in a chalet and crowding over a BBQ pit with my poly friends at least twice a year. But the days were long over when everyone started working and studying making it difficult to get together even for a simple dinner.

And this time we finally got together in Genting, all thanks to organiser, Joe, who failed to join us due to some last minute held ups. Cat, who had paid, yet couldn't find someone to replace her shift, gave it a miss too. The 5 of us, Choon, JH, Lau, Alv and myself went on to the highlands on a Friday night and arrived before dawn. As it was an extremely short stay ( bound to leave on Sun ), we started our activities from 6am (sat) right up to 1am (sun). It's possible with us still young and energetic, but not sure we can in the future.
Updated each other on our lives over the buffet breakfast and glad to hear that everyone is doing well. It's kinda funny to see how our topics grew along with us... talking about jobs, flats and investments.. when we used to talk about grades, projects and gibberish.

After breakfast we bought tickets to the amusement park. Though I've been there countless times, the feel is different with different company. Being the most playful one, I started off with kiddy rides like merry-go-round and jumbo. The guys were pretty relunctant but trudged along after some persuasion. You should see their faces when I asked them to take pictures... oh... they just felt so embarrassed! Oh come on, you guys are in an AMUSEMENT PARK... shouldn't u be amused??!! It felt so much like my younger days when I first came here and did the rides.

The only thing that I felt different was taking the thrill rides. I did not seemed to yearn for the thrill anymore. The roller coasters and the drop-off rides ( whatever u call that ) didn't appeal to me at all. But I still took the courage to sit on the Viking and the Corkscrew just to go with the rest.

We had dim sum for lunch , did some shopping and went to the Arcade for more games. We combined efforts and changed RM50 worth of credits and played till we achieved 1000 over tickets. Silly us got so excited and exchanged those tickets for some pathetic towels, note pads and keychains. But that's what's the fun about--Being a kid.

It wasn't too long before we had Bak Kut Teh for dinner, more rides and caught an extremely lame movie " Balls of Fury" which puts me to sleep. We ended the day at the casino where I lost RM10 to the stupid slot machine in less than 30 min.

This was a short, yet sweet gathering and I hope we can get more people to join us in our next.

Hui's Big Day

It's now her turn to be on the married list. And we ASHLY & Friends were honoured to be able to help out in her big event. But this was my first time being asked to be an emcee ( for chinese translation ) as Hui was unable to find someone who could help her out. Well, she asked me and Dia, but I volunteered 'cause I doubt Dia could managed..:P Of course I think she'd be a good English presenter, but I would probably do better this time.

So I almost freaked out when I was told to help in this way and sought mum's help in the translation. She and dad were like WHOW... and gave me tons of pompous vocab that gave my tongue a good twist. I must say it took me a few nights to practice the whole speech and I never seemed to get it perfect. ASHLY & friends have decided to go ahead to present her with a song as well-Heaven by Bryan Adams. Each of us have to sing at least a stanza and together in the chorus.

On the big day, Ally, who was my partner as an English presenter, took on another role as the co-ordinator. She must be really pro at this and I guess the whole function would not have gone so smoothly without her. I was totally reliant on her to tell me when to go up on stage an when to come down. Though I made 2 errors in the whole speech, I'm glad no one really notice as the attention was on the dazzling bride. It was a good exposure though, to understand a banquet from another perspective...other than being the "sister", the maid-of-honour and the receptionist. Who knows one day I might become a wedding planner too?

One more thing I need to mention: I'm convinced that Grand Corpthorne has high quality food after a few visits... And I strongly recommend it.

Bintan Retreat

I had a company retreat to Bintan in late October for a team building exercise. It was a 2D1N retreat but a few of us extended another day for leisure.

We were spared from stepping into the office on Friday and started the day at the ferry terminal. Our casually-clad boss invited a few giggles and murmurs from us who were all excited to see his "unusual" outfit. It took us an hour's ride and a quarter's bus transfer to get to Nirwana where we started our games with Focus Adventures.

We had a few ice-breaking indoor games before the long-awaited paintball. We donned on our masks and coveralls and got to war in no time. And with yours truly around, the rest of the 3 teams got defeated by us! Thank god I did not bring home any bruises.



The ATV activity brought more fun after lunch. We took turns to drive/ride on these hardy vehicles downslopes, over rocks and on the beach. The long rides to and fro allowed us to sightsee and have fun at the same time.

We got back to Nirwana for more indoor games and ended the team building adventure with Focus, feeling closer and more familiar to each other. We checked in at Bintan Lagoon Resort which was a beautiful resort with big rooms, pools and a nice beach in the evening. We had a mouth-watering buffet that comes with steamboat for dinner, followed by a KTV session in a large room.

I was kinda apprehensive that most people ( esp my boss ) would not enjoy the singing session since there are some new members to our family and some British whom I assume do not frequent such places. To my surprise, we got to hear Boss' sing after we got the ball rolling. And the amusing thing is, he sang a song with an animated MTV " Puff the flying Dragon"!

On the very next day, we did LaserQuest and my team ( with different members ) won again! It was more exciting then paintball as you get unlimited "ammo" and the place was pitch dark. After lunch, we took a ride on the banana boat, checked out the beach, chilled out in the pool's jacuzzi and had buffet again for dinner.

At night we played Charoodles which I borrowed from Ally, UNO and a round of Mahjong when everyone was totally zonked out by the drinks of penalty. It was whole lot of fun... if only we can have this once a year....

Transition Layout

Since Ally has yet to keep her promise to get her job completed on time... I decided to give my blog a temporary new skin because it just can't wait to shed. So Ally, we'll wait for your new skin still yah?? Meanwhile, I will to keep you guys updated on how I survived the month...

Kiss Goodbye

No no.. not me.. but this.. this old old bloggy skin. This skin has served me for a good old 2 years... Come, bid farewell ... and stay tuned to it's new look! Ally... I'm waiting...

Mr. Lonely, No Longer Lonely

Got another Betta clown tail from Chong Pang at only $2.00! This is a blue one, a contrast to ex-Mr. Lonely... But he's more timid and less active, compared to the latter. I still prefer the first one... because he tends to get very excited when he sees me. Here's a chance for you folks to name my fishes... Suggestions anyone? I'm really bad at names..

Ex-Mr.Lonely and his newly decorated home!

My 2 fish tanks. Note that the prison behind has been torn down....

My New Pet

Let me introduce this new member of my office--Mr. Lonely, a betta fish that I got it from Gim Moh Market. It costs me only $1.50! Love bought the tank for me and I'm gonna get some pebbles to redecorate it. Mr Lonely is very active, as compare to Love's 3 other bettas. He was very picky on his food when I first brought him back, but eventually got to train him to feed on the frozen bloodworms. Hopefully Mr Lonely will no longer be lonely...

Summer in Osaka

It's so nice to go back to Japan, to a city where I've never been to... My boss presented SM and I a unique opportunity to experience working life in Japan... It was awesome..

Boss was pretty much interested to introduce a piece of equipment that is used by our Japanese collegues, so he just wanted to send us over to check out on it as well, and since it's a 1-week site visit, we were provided with some training for some new techniques too.

SM and I arrived on Sunday after so much anticipation. But I was a little disppointed the moment I set foot on Osaka as I wasn't aware that it was much more industrialised as I've expected. There were factories and building everywhere, so much like where we departed. The weather was hot, a few degrees hotter than Singapore, but I already felt that I was in an oven.

Though this is already her 4th trip to Japan, SM gave her "oohs" and "aahs" as a fan of the Nippon culture. We checked into our small but cosy room of Hotel New Hankyu, located right in the heart of the city area. We dumped our luggage and went out for dinner. It took us a few streets to finally spot a decent place for dinner. We were seated in a private tatami room and given the menu which was "unreadable". Well, of course we had a few illustrations to help us plus some chicken-and-duck talk with the waitress before getting what we want on the table.

Working Day 1:
Our Jap colleague greeted us at hotel lobby after breakfast and brought us to work via the railway. It took us only 2 stops to reach our destination and a 10-min walk to the company. The company covers a pretty large landscape and though some buildings looked a bit old but the interiors were clean and pretty much well-maintained. We got our keys to the locker and were supposed to change into their working pants before stepping into the lab. Well-known for their hospitality, we spent the whole morning moving from 1 office to another,just to receive warm welcomes from the management. SM and I got a little tired walking around and was looking forward to lunch. Much to our surprise, we were told to wait for the chimes to go off at 12.20pm.And finally, the annoucement came! Everyone proceeded to the canteen with so much discipline.... The good old days are back ...RECESS TIME!

Streams of people were flowing into the canteen where you can choose which level to go to for the certain set meal. And we queued up at the kitchen collecting our bowls of rice, soup and salads. We set down together with our colleagues and everyone just tucked in quietly... 20 min later people started to leave the canteen, and my surrounding lunchmates were all seated there quietly, with an occasional chat, all waiting for SM and I to finish our lunch. Needless to say, I was the last to complete my hasty lunch, giving an embarrassed smile to indicate that we can get our ass of the chairs... *phew*

Lunch break was strictly 1 hour and everyone would be seated with their eyes glued to their pc waiting for the chime to tell them to get back to work.
And all this while SM and I would be sitting at an isolated table facing each other wondering how impossible it was for us to do this back home...At that moment, we realised that we've been taking things for granted.

So we finally got down to business and started trying out the new piece of device and did some training.

We knocked off at abt 5pm, feeling a little tired and hungry but never failed to save some energy to walk and shop.
Trying to make full use of whatever time left, we had dinner and dessert and got back at 11-ish.

Working Day 2:

We made our own way to work, got changed and started our training throughout. During lunchtime, I noticed that most of the ladies did not finish their food. So I thought I should do just and to finish lunch earlier. Smart aleck! My hunger pangs arrived in the middle of my training and I just could wait to end work!



There was a dinner invitation my our colleagues at the guild house to welcome us as well as our British counterparts. It was a sumptuous steamboat dinner, sashimi and beer and welcome speeches by our colleagues. They insisted that we speak as well, and we eventually did after much persuasion.It is a culture to go to ktvs after dinner but we turned down the invitation politely.


SM and I head back to the city and had a ride on the Ferris wheel sitting at the top of a building. Not only were the tickets cheap (SG$7), we definitely got a bird's-eye view of the night scene in Osaka. Dessert follows... Oh well, they really have a wonderful range of ice-cream desserts it is a MUST to have it... fresh strawberries with ice-cream.. YUM YUM!

Working Day 3:
If you say that I enjoy food,I'm really nothing compared to SM. With her around, you'll always be eating good food. We settle our breakfast with buffet at the hotel before going to work. And for lunch today, I made sure I finished all the food in my plate. We got more familiar with the place and knew where to go for free coffee and newspapers. And this is the only place we went without getting lost :P. Of course, you'd find us here waiting for the chime for the rest of the days after our lunch.
It was a terribly long day... We worked from dawn to dusk. We stepped out for the building without seeing the sun-7pm, and guess what, we started at 8. Although their official working hours is 8-5, they usually stayed till 8pm.

So looking forward to dinner, we rewarded ourselves with a meal of beef teppanyaki, ~$35/pax. Walked till late and back.

Working Day 4:
4 days in a row with only 5-6 hours of sleep, we dragged ourselves to work, saddled with exhaustion. I really took my hats off my Jap colleagues; they were extremely patient and sincere in training us, making sure that we really learn our stuff. Our training ended at 7pm again but we were delighted when they offered to bring us to a place for Takoyaki, which is a popular food in Osaka. It's a unique experience where one gets to cook their own takoyaki, just like steamboat. Due to my past working experience, it's not too much of a challenge to me. I was trying to stuff the money to the cashier after dinner, but still ended up losing the bill to my colleagues. SM and I felt kind awkward and embarrassed having them to treat us as well.

Working Day 5:
Looking forward to this day, yet shadowed by a sense of reluctance; the feeling of departing this place, where people are so endearing, warm, hospitable and helpful...Though we were of different nationalities, speak different languages, practice different cultures, there were like my friends for years and it was so comfortable around them...recalling how long I took to get comfortable with a person back at home? 5 days? No way!

We had our own hands-on, or rather a "test" to show how much we've learned over the past few days. These 5 days were quality time spent. Really appreciate every minute they spent, teaching and guiding us ever so patiently.... We really learned alot from them in terms of techniques, pratices and bits and pieces of Japanese greetings.

A farewell dinner was organised for us in the evening at a Jap restaurant near our hotel. It was situated at the higher storeys where we can get a panaromic view of Osaka city. The usually quiet and shy Yamamoto-san became a little bit more chatty and cheeky after a few rounds of sake. He wanted to check out my cool dude back in sg so I showed him the pic. Soon after, my phone was being circulated around by those curious folks who all nodded in acknowledgement at the sight of him. And of course, I got to see their beautiful wifey pictures as well!

We parted with a tinge of sadness but exchanged emails to keep in touch...

R&R Day 1:
Though we were quite drained form the week's work and walk, we forced ourselves out of bed, making use of whatever time's left to explore as much as possible. We hopped onto the train to Kyoto,one of Japan's largest cities and an important cultural and spiritual center. With the aids of maps and the locals, we managed to visit the 2 most popular temples. Despite the stifling weather,tourists swarmed from all over just to catch a glimpse of the rich cultural heritage displayed through the Japanese architecture.



R&R Day 2:
Mirie, our Jap colleague, had volunteered to show us around her hometown, Nara, a 30-min train ride from Osaka. Ritsuko came along as well as she's never been to that prefacture before. So 4 of us, got around the city with Mirie being the driver cum tour-guide. After some time, Mirie realised that she'd left her wallet at home, so we took the chance to check out her cosy home which was under renovation. Took some pics nonetheless. Afterwhich, she dropped us at a famous bakery, where mouth-watering cakes get swiped out in the morning. She drove us through her University campus that she once attended.

We had a stroll at Nara Park where Bambi deers graze freely on the greens. Mirie led us to the Todai-ji temple, the oldest temple in Japan and world's oldest buildings, with 1000 over years of history. In it, sits one of the worlds largest bronze figure, a 16.3m Buddha statue.

Lunch was at a quiet Jap-Western restaurant where I managed to feast on a plate bacon spagetthi after so many days of Tempura and Miso.

Oh.. here comes the exciting part..the 100 yen shop! Daiso! A hundred yen means $1.35 and got myself some pretty socks, ribbons and wrappers which I got at daylight-robbery prices back here! Needless to say, SM trugged back with 2 humongous bags of goodies, grinning from ear to ear.

Dozing off at the back off the car, I woke up finding myself at the hilltop at dusk. I stumbled out of the car and walked towards "Lucky garden", a small Sri Lankan cafe overlooking the lowlands and greenery. We had al-fresco dining, or rather, tea-break, talking about our hobbies and past-time. As the night grew, Mirie sent us off at the train station and handed each us a small farewell gift--sovenir from Todai-ji temple... Aww.. I was so touched...and there we parted.




Last R&R Day:





Osaka Day... so many days in Osaka, yet no chance to explore.. We visited the Osaka castle and we walked our separated ways after lunch. SM loves shopping, so she went on with her spree. I made my way to Kaiyukuan, Osaka aquarium looking foward to find my Mola Mola and whale shark. It's the only aquarium in the world that displays the world's largest fish .. and I'm not gonna miss it! Then I can proudly tell my fellow divers that I've seen it, so what if it's in an aquarium??!

The was a slip of paper that came together with the tickets, it stated, " The whale shark has been moved back to it's home, the new whale shark will arrive on 12th Sept" ... My legs weakened.. my heart turned cold..couldn't believe my eyes.. I turned back to the counter and asked the counter again. Yes, my eyes were not lying... THE WHALE SHARK IS NOT AROUND AND THE NEW ONE IS ARRIVING ON THE 12TH WHEN I'M LEAVING ON THE 11TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHH!! WHAT THE @#$%^&*!


I took a few minutes to convince myself of the wretched fact and walked in. Not much in a mood of taking pictures until a cute little creature caught my eye... I've forgotten all about the Mola Mola... It was a consolation at least.. I stood by the glass panel observing the poor lonely creature swimming by itself.. I brave through the freezing waters in Bali and I finally found it.. yet my heart aches to see it being imprisoned in a cold dungeon.. Hope that it can be returned to it's home soon, like the whale shark.. I'll be back again for it.

Largest Ferris Wheel in the World