29th of december

this day is the the day Ariel becomes 3 years old. She;s been a great pet and a great family member all these while. Guess she did not have the slightest idea it;s her birthday today.. she;s behaving like any other day... Typical cats' behavior i guess. Well did not have much time with her today cos i have been busy with other stuffs.

this day is also the birthday of our beloved great friend, Jackson, who regrettably left us about 6 months ago. Seems like a long time ago though. However, we still celebrated his birthday with a steamboat dinner and of course, a cake for him. Guess it;s time we do our part and start buying cakes for him, cos his always the one who buys the cakes for the gangs' birthdays. Day started early with us visiting him at his "condo unit" at the church. There;s quite a number of us there who went to pay our respect and wishes him Happy Birthday. Guess he must be happy to see that we still misses and remembered him fondly for being such a great friend in the circle. It was great to have his girlfriend joining us for the dinner too. Life is short and full of unexpected ordeals, i am just glad our memories of him are such pleasant ones.

Off to Chiangmai

Goin off to chiangmai early in the morning tomorrow. .... first time there, and i need the fresh air... After conquering tokyo and shanghai, i think i need a slow down the pace slightly.. Anyway, will be paying Bangkok a visit in this trip too.. So back to another big city.. Stay tuned for updates!

Ah-do-gen!!!!

Yay, just read that the the new installment of the street fighters series is goin to be released soon.. arhhh, this arcade game brings back so much memories.. I dunno how much i thrown into the stupid box with 6 buttons and a joystick during those times. I skipped classes to play it, i hang out in the wee hours just to play it, i go illegal billiard saloons to play it. heh... I think this is the game that really starts my interest in arcades.

Now the new one is comin out soon.. shall i go get the game console? so tempting. Although i have to admit my interest in games are weaning. No game can grab my attention for like 30 mins. I'll be so bored with it and stop playing. I believed i have short attention span. But check out the glorious colours and graphics of the new street fighter? Looks so yummy...

star wars toys....

Haha, new toys from Star Wars. From the left, the fried remains of Aunt Beru after she is being killed, The force (which is a packet of nothingness) on the middle, and on the right, dead ewoks. because the only good ewok is a dead ewok. haha..

Planet Alderaan boxedset. A pile of rocks, after begin destroyed by the death star...

Of course these are not sold in stores, u stoopid! It's done all for fun by this guy called McMoran.

Archifest Tour

Attended a day tour organised by some architectural students in-conjunction with the Archifest/Singapore Design Week thingy. This tour is supposed to show us those unique post-war buildings in our sunny little island state. We had a boring tour guide/student who tried to slang in any way he thinks is possible.. Maybe that is why he kept repeating himself, maybe he find himself sounding sexy with his half-fucked English. Anyway, thanks to *** and *** (names are censored to protect the persons involved) for the free tour (worth $40 in the market, worth $10 to me). haha..

First stop was the Singapore Conference Hall, and i decided that place was not picture-worthy to even take out my camera to snap.. However, place brought back some fond memories. I had my first performance/competition of my primary school military band there.

Second stop is the Golden Mile complex. Above pic is taken inside the commercial side of the complex, which most of us will not have the chance of seeing the building in this perspective.

View of the residential block

Hmmmm, The ventilation hole is pretty elaborate eh?

Another view from the residential block. Quite unique in design for a post-war building

Next is Tiong Bahru area. Great area to have a house!!!

3rd stop is the PearlBank condo. Super anti-climax cos the security does not allow us to enter the building, cos it's a bloody private condo. So, well, this is the best shot i could get. I think the interior facet of the condo should look more impressive.

Last stop was People's park. Who could have forgotten this place? Many childhood memories. Mum used to bring me there when i am young. She and her entourage of my other aunties would chiong for the cosmetics and toiletries, cloths, and dunno what else... I would have to tag along and waited patiently for hours.. Cos i know my reward will come at the last stop, which is that she will bring me to the toys section of the old OG where every single toy they have would be opened up and displayed in huge glass showcase. Yah she will buy me something as a reward for being nice and quiet and patient. :)

I wonder how many illegal workers are housed inside this unit. heh..

my mental state

running low on energy reserves mentally...... Dun you hate it when there's something that u wanted so badly but not being able to have it? The thought of it being within my grasp (i thought) but yet not being able to grasp it, the feeling is unimaginably irritatingly Teh Lum Pah!!! I am known to exhibit a certain degree of patience to things, but this is getting on my nerves and it;s kinda difficult to keep my frustration in check. I admit i am lousy at playing mind games.. Breathe in, Breathe out........

Another issue is, my work.. Yah i have to admit it;s not getting really interesting in recent months.. I am not getting my brain challenged, unless doin paperwork is considered challenging for my vastly superior grey matter. My drive and interest is weaning too... i can see the pattern that makes me quit my other jobs starting to resurface... I think i'll just hang around for the time being, see how things change with the new acquisition. Oh, my company is officially known as Continental instead of Siemens VDO 2 days ago... Let's see if the new management decides to retrench (please retrench me me me) or do anything to my small little pathetic department. Guess it's just not very healthy to work in a department, with the current strength of 2! Me and my manager. The other designer is on maternity leave and we are also searching high and low for 2-3 more designers without avail..

Arrrhhhh... Lisa Ono's sweet voice playing on the background manage to sooth some frustration now.

Christmas is comin...

The shanghai that i know

Well time to write something about shanghai now that i am back. Quite a nice place, maybe the weather being cool and nice makes it better. Having the luxury of some free time, i did some exploring myself to a few tourisy places. The Bund was nice to at nite.. The view was quite simply amazing i would say. The old buildings juxtaposing against the new mega high-rise ones. Imagine sitting on the coffee tables in the open sipping a cup of warm latte (yah starbucks ones), weather around 15 degrees, facing the full view of the buildings opposite..


I had the best crab ever tasted (my me) during one of the dinner with the vendors.. Yah Hair crab!!!!! First time tasted it and i would say, our monster sri lankan crabs, be it cooked in chilli sauce or black pepper, still cannot hold a candle to the taste of a simply steamed fresh-water hairy crab. The roe is simply heavenly... It's been a long time since any food left a lasting impression on me.:) see pic below..

Went to the Yuyuan garden also. The whole place outside was full of ppl and tourist.. Luckily, once inside, it;s slightly more peaceful, but there;s still groups of noisy japanese and korean aunties around too. Good thing i could find quiet spots in the garden to just sit down and relax. the garden exudes this calm and peaceful feeling that makes me feel really relax.. But dammit, cannot smoke inside there, if not, will be perfect. All in all, i actually spent 2 hours by myself inside there.. haha...

Went to their shopping streets like Nanjing road and well, it was a mess. Lots of ppl, lots of buildings, well, just like another big city. Hang around there for 1 hour and couldn't take it anymore. Crap...

One thing with chinese ppl, they can quarrell everywhere, buy things also quareel, even Queueing up at the airport for checking in also can quarrell. Amazing. My experiences with the taxis there are really great. Most are friendly enough to make small talks, eager to get your business and does not go around the long way to try to earn a little more from you.

Hmmmm, nothing much to say anymore, cos my time spent there is more for work then doin the tourist things.. enjoy the photos.......... Sorry today no mood to write properly, anyhow tamba...

Spot what is wrong with this pic???

Yup, Why is that thingy doin in the middle of the hotel roof top? I have no idea

The view of the Bund in the day is not as spectacular as compared to at night

Yuyuan garden

Shanghai Lao3 Jie1