weekends (I)

havent blogged in awhile but i had a happy 3 weekends! managed to try a different thing for the past 3 weekends, something whick i think is very important.

Megazip
SC organized an outing to Sentosa's Megazip adventure park. it was newly opened in september, so 3 of us decided to try it out and test our limits! we took up the package for 2 rounds of Climbmax and the Megazip. Climbmax is an obstacle course of walking with ropes,wires and planks at 1 to 3 levels above ground. we started off with level 1 and the xiao didi in our group started with level 2! it was really scary at 1st cos my legs were wobbly balancing on the rope and somehow i kept going in the wrong way such that my safety wire kept getting entangled. had to overcome a series of 10 obstacles and it was tiring! really a test of courage, strength and balancing skill. its only when you relax your body and trust the equipment fully then its easier. but easier said than done.
by the time we were done with level 1, the xiao didi was already finishing level 3. really pei fu these small kids. he finished with such ease while we were struggling. i was really tired and wanted to forgo level 2 but i just continued anyway. surprisingly, i found the front part much easier and could go on with relative ease. then came this obstacle where we had to walk across tiny planks that could barely fit the width of 2 feet, suspended by ropes. sy had already fallen before me and i was scared. through the guidance of the instructors below, i managed to get to the 3rd plank. then i just couldnt continue. my arms were aching from gripping the ropes so tightly and my legs were swinging in bigger and bigger circles as i stayed there longer. i tried again and i just fell through one of the bigger planks. strangely i wasnt afraid of the height as i though i would. but i was too tired with no strength left to climb back up. so the instructor had to rescue me. but i fell the wrong way and my safety wire was entangled. again. i had to somehow hoist myself back through the plank and ropes which were now at my chest level. mission impossible. my arms were useless now and i was dangling like a helpless doll. luckily the instructor managed to pull me up high enough to sit myself on the plank. it was so embarassing that he had to rescue me to the platform but i never felt so thankful. my arms and back felt like they were going to snap. and i still had to complete the rest of the course. i suffered from rope burns on my palms for the rest of the day but i felt a sense of achievement! finally completed something that i didnt know i could do. really a one of a kind experience for me.
next was the megazip! it's a flying fox that spans 450m, speed of up to 50km/hr. it was simply EXHILIRATING!!!! i went down together with sy so our speed could be faster. and i think after the obstacle course, this is like nothing, even when the instructor told me to just let go and dangle my legs. haha.. could even take photos on the way down. the best 1 min of the day!! i would love to do it again.

14102009

saw the jetstar 1-for-1 airfares promotion today.. so tempted!! 2 tix to hongkong only costs $333! but the promotion ends tomorrow.. told ny about it but he only said 'difficult to plan'. wonder if he's even keen at all to go on a trip cos it seems like its only me who keep bringing it up. though we dont know when is his fyp presentation, but it should be over by mid may. and my schedule is not fixed too. but i wish that we could be more spontaneous. i really wanna go on a holiday...

actually my parents are going hongkong in november with my grandpa and aunts. they asked me along but i just dont feel good leaving to play when i know that my work is not done. but the hotel is so cheap!! the same 4 star hotel that we stayed at last year cost about $40 cheaper per night this year. sigh..i do miss the food. hopefully i'll manage to go somewhere next year, preferably with friends..

met up with M and K last night for dinner. tried out Dallas bar and restaurant at boat quay, recommended by my colleague. didnt regret trying cos i love the place! the 1st floor is the bar and it was quite noisy. the waitress took us up to the 2nd floor and its so different! it was totally quiet, plush sofa seats and dim lighting, with side windows overlooking the singapore river. the ambience is really nice. their signature dish was pork ribs and they have 50% discount on mon and tues. i shared the full rack and a cheesecake with K and M ordered rosti with smoked salmon. then ordered the mixed platter for two to share. the mixed platter had chicken and cheese quesedillas, salt and pepper calamari and chicken wings. yummy~ i liked what i ordered. the ribs were really tender and easy to eat and the cheesecake was really soft. tastes different from those i tried before. only the rosti with salmon didnt appeal to me. bill came up to $61. not bad i think. they usually have 20% off the bill if you order before 7.30pm but we already had the 50% off the ribs already. glad we could still meet quite often this year.

hari raya holiday

met up with lihui, mei and gloria for Klunch at marina square during the monday holiday. havent sang with them since more than 1 year ago so it was fun! we got a very big room with a big lcd screen to ourselves. so nice to have a big screen but the big room was also very cold and we ended up huddling together. haha..

looking forward to going lizan's house for her raya open house! expecting lots of good food! yummy~

20092009

20-09-2009. a very nice date when many couples choose to get married. and this way the guys have no excuse of forgetting their wedding anniversary! my colleague fy also got married today. =) she invited us to her wedding in JB. this morning, i met sy at kranji to take the bus over to JB. havent been to JB since i was 6 so i was quite excited and feels like i'm going on holiday (i wish..). 10 am and the jam was already forming on the causeway. luckily we were slightly early and manage to avoid the full jam. the new malaysian custom is now located just opposite the City Square shopping mall so its very convenient and i guess much safer too. sy's sis picked us up from the mall and we went back to her house to make up etc before leaving for the restaurant.


the restaurant was located at a golf course clubhouse and we were seated with some other colleagues, he current japanese boss and his wife, and some guy whom i suppose is the groom's friend who had no space at the friends table. so ke lian! we were quite a mixed group so it was kinda awkward. but the 8 course lunch was delicious. the seafood was very fresh and i like the glutinous chicken rice. fy was so pretty! all brides really look the prettiest on their wedding day. the photoshoot album was so nice and she look so different in it. looks like a model. these wedding albums always make me feel the blissfulness and love between the couple. so sweet!

6 out of the 8 dishes

waiting for her groom...

幸福的背影，往他们共同的未来走去。。。

second wedding of the year and many more to come!

My favourite place

last sat was a busy day! met vinc and jy in the late afternoon to chill at j.co in tampines. it was jy's bdae and they came all the way to tampines so i could meet them so how could i not go right. haha.. havent met them in a long time. everybody has been busy with their own lives and jobs etc after graduation. kinda sad..anyway, jy happy birthday! hope you can faster save money and propose to your gf!

at night, i went to meet xh and the girls to celebrate lay's birthday. after dinner, we went to marina @ kepple bay. sw brought me and mz there a few months back and i really really REALLY love that place! its so beautiful and relaxing to sit outside by the sea enjoying the breeze. for a moment just dreaming that i am the owner of one of the yatches and staying at the condo beside. drinks dont taste that great, especially since my malteasers milkshake costs $12. but i like the cakes that i tried on my first visit. but i feel the ambience is worth it. too bad my bf dont know how to appreciate. its a good place for a date or a girls' night out. we stayed there for 5 hours! hope our plans for a chalet in november will go through this time.

>cafe from a distance and the bridge to kepple bay

>the bridge at 1.30 am when the lights are off..

met dear on sunday to go for swenson's 1-for-1 ice cream and desserts buffet. they were supposed to have 50 ice cream flavours with 40 kinds of toppings and desserts like cakes and choc fondue - a truly sinful meal. =P ate about 8-9 scoops. not alot right. haha..getting old, dont have such a sweet tooth already. there were alot of people there for the buffet but luckily there were many seats. but service wasnt very good though and many of the flavours that i wanted were not there. at least the ice cream was not as sweet as new zealand's ice cream. ny took 2 different slices of choc fudge cake. very nice but omg so filling! this buffet is definitely for dessert lovers..go before end of sept!

Cycling from Tampines to Changi

the weather was good today and we decided to go ahead with our cycling plan. wanted to cycle along changi coastal road but realized it was too far. found online about this relatively new PCN Pitstops for bicycle rental. there are 6 pitstops along the Eastern Coastal Park Connector and cyclists can rent bicycles and return them at any of the 6 stops along the way. thought it was really cool cos it means we dont have to cycle back to the same shop and we can travel further.decided to try cycling from Sunplaza park in Tampines to Changi Beach. rented our bikes at Sunplaza park and discovered they were having promotion. $6 for 2 hours! i initially thought it would be $5 per hr. it was easy finding our way around as there were many signs along the way and we just had to follow the bicycle path. cycled along a few canals in pasir ris to downtown east then along loyang avenue which is mostly factories or just trees. its fun just following those signs though, anticipating where they will lead us next. a long stretch of gentle slope really zapped me of all my strength and energy to cycle on. but i'm glad i managed to get through without having to get off and push my bike. haha..the reward after that was a fast downhill. woohoo~

then we came to a junction in changi where we were supposed to turn right to Netheravon road. but i insisted on riding straight as i wanted to detour to the changi boardwalk. had always wanted to go there. but haha, super wrong decision to go there with our bikes. there were so many stairs, upslopes, downslopes and narrow paths. guess its not called a boardWALK for nothing. we ended up being so tired from having to carry our bikes up and down. or rather dear carried his while i dragged mine. while dragging the bike up one of the stairs, i think i dragged along some angry red ants and brushed the bike against my leg. the ants were all over my shoes and ankle and a few went into my shoes and bit me! i was really panicking and jumping non-stop then finally managed to brush those damn ants away. changi boardwalk is actually a very nice place just by the sea and some quiet beaches. saw many people with dslrs taking photos. wished i could have taken more photos too.

returned our bikes at the pitstop at changi beach carpark 1. we have cycled around 10km in 1 hr 45 mins. would have been faster if not for the delay at the boardwalk. shall try other routes next time if possible! i love the old rustic feel of changi, the quieter and different route that we took as compared to just cycling in east coast or other parks. feel more accomplished? haha.. had dinner at changi village after that. my fave carrot cake! enjoyed myself today~

Jap food weekend

last friday i met up with yu and hui to celebrate hui's birthday. decided to try out Botan at Far East Square after seeing mz's recommendation. i was early off work and spent time by myself at the esplanade library and rooftop before walking down to raffles place, taking a detour to fullerton hotel. first time inside the fullerton..so pretty! having time by myself like this is quite relaxing sometimes. anyway i digressed.. botan was located amidst a few bars and restaurants lined outside the building. as it was happy hour when we went, the bars were really crowded with many office workers holding a bottle of beer and chatting outside. botan seems to be hidden among all the activity and we nearly missed it. the chefs are japanese and we were given hot towels right after sitting. read much about their value-for-money bento sets and we ordered the pork katsu, chicken terriyaki and beef yakiniku sets. and boy were the servings huge! my set consists of rice with pork katsu+salad+macaroni, chawanmushi, agedashi tofu, salmon+tomato side dish, chasoba+fried salmon, miso soup and watermelon!

Pork katsu bento

Pork katsu bento

the food was quite nice overall but the pork was abit tough and beef abit too salty. the soba and salmon was really bad though. but at $18++ per set, it was still worth it.

sat went liang court for dinner with dear after watching harry potter. wanted to try another recommendation by mz. hee.. reached Saizeriya and saw a loonng queue outside. but the restaurant was quite big and the queue moved fast. the restaurant was very noisy but we managed to get a corner seat. oredered the chicken chop hotplate with cheese and tomato sauce, cabonara and doria with beef meat sauce. when the cabonara came, i thought it look very plain with only a few pieces of bacon, but to my surprise it tasted quite good. it got sticky after sometime though, due to the egg coating on the spaghetti. the doria was really delicious!! another good thing was that they had a drinks bar buffet which was really worth it. had free flow of a selection of drinks. the bill came up to $28, cheap!! thanks mz for the recommendation! walked to city hall after dinner. i love night walks~ good food and company makes me happy. haha..

weekend

met up with sw and mz last friday. tried a new vegetarian restaurant, Naive, in the Katong area. the restaurant emphasizes on being all natural with no artificial flavourings or preservatives. they have a sesame pounding ritual where they let all their customers pound a bowl of sesame and pass it round the table, to receive blessings and give thanks. the pounded sesame can then be added to the food. interesting...
food was quite nice. i like the mushroom tempura-like dish with a citrus sauce. crispy on teh outside and chewy on the inside. yum~ and the oatmeal tofu, similar presentation to the oatmeal prawns. i dont usually eat brown rice but i like it when i add loads of the oatmeal to the rice. haha...1 mouthful sweet and the next abit salty. didnt find their speciality monkeyhead mushroom fantastic though. and their mushroom miso soup was too salty to my liking. tasted like someone poured soya sauce into the bowl. yucks.. overall, its a nice place for vegetarian food but the price we paid ($56) for 3 persons for a meal of tofu and mushrooms was a little too steep. would have been alot better with the one-for-one deal though.

on sunday, i went to watch the 3D version of Monsters vs Aliens at the Cathay. i was really excited before that but the 3D effects disappointed me. there wasnt much 3D effects and the glasses were uncomfortable. not worth the money.. going to stick to the normal version next time..

finally having a busy week at work this week~ not that i'm very happy but it beats being free and unproductive!

random ramblings

I'm back from Taiwan! since 3 weeks ago. haha... the trip was fun, could have been more fun. i wanted to do up a blog on my trip but kinda lazy so i'll see how it goes.

had a fun week after i came back slacking and meeting up with friends. i did go back to work on sunday but after that met ny for lunch and made a spontaneous decision to go to the science centre. haha...ran out of places to go. havent been there since those primary school excursions. we had 2 hours to walk around but didnt finish covering all the exhibits. some of the exhibits seems rather old now. though the ispace was cool. it showed some past inventions like the super huge old handphone, and new ideas of what may become common in the future. there was this table that showed the world map where you could zoom in and out, left and right, by turning the table. can even zoom in to see the buildings in singapore! after that, we went to catch an imax movie on monsters of the sea. the screen seems smaller now compared to what we remembered from coming when we were young. guess we did grow much bigger. haha... its fun to do spontaneous activities like this once in a while.

right now feel kinda depressed in lab. dont know where is my project headed. always seem to have problem with my cells and end up slacking alot. (hence the time to type this during office hours) i have to get back my motivation to continue. lucky i still have sy in the lab. results will be out this friday! sigh...hope i can get a B- for neuro. i dont wanna retake any module!

01052009

yay~exams are over! neuroscience was an extremely disgustingly difficult paper. felt so helpless during the exam cos i dont know what to write at all. havent had this feeling since the BS203 exam in ntu. 40% of one of the questions was asked on something which the lecturer briefly mentioned and was not in the notes. on the other hand, biostats was an open book exam, impossible to fail. i've been very slack though i had alot of time to study. i'm just not motivated enough to study anymore..

wednesday was leo and haris's last day in the lab. so sad...now got no one to go lunch with me..leo's place was beside mine in the lab and we used to talk quite alot. now less one person to talk to le. the lab is getting more and more empty. prefer the noisy atmosphere we had during our fyp. anyway, we went fig and olive at vivocity follwed by hagen daaz ice cream. i had the fish and cheese at fig and olive. yum~ its like fish and chips but with cheese on top. the portions were huge. and of cos, ice cream is always good for me. hee...

i'm going to taiwan tomorrow! but somehow i feel very lazy to plan for this trip. not very enthusiastic about it. maybe cos i've already been slacking for 1 month. and my gum infection is making me feel uncomfortable. dentist say it may be due to cracked tooth. i seriously hope and pray that its not. i still want my tooth. *sobz* i've always been scared of going to the dentist since young and it still has not changed. just hearing the word dentist makes my body go weak. really worried and i pray that everything will be fine...at least its not giving me pain.

shall update when i get back!

i'm back!

have not been coming to this site for a long long time. surprised that there are still people asking why i never update. haha... kk just a quick update on what i've been doing the last couple of months:

- worked at Canon during Nov-Dec last year. it was a totally unexpected job scope of chasing debts by phonecalls. lol..

- went hongkong with my family. i miss hongkong! simply love the char siew bao! must go back there soon. next year maybe?

- went genting with friends. its fun to go there this time with friends. too bad the food and holiday crowd spoiled abit of our enjoyment.

- finally decided to do my masters and after many complications, i didnt get the scholarship. but managed to become a staff and get concession for school fees. its better financially. that is provided i get to keep my staff status. hope dr khan gets new grants soon.

now for recent stuff..i atended kr's wedding at hort park last sunday. though his wedding was simple as he combined the engagement and wedding itself, it was beautiful and sweet. his wife is so pretty in the tube gown and trailing head-dress. they walked down the grass lawn on the path lined with pink and white rose petals, and their friends stood by the side and blew bubbles as they walked past. dinner was served buffet style. the chocolate fondue was the best! then they showed a video their friend made, with cartoon figures of them and their photos from the time in sec school where they met until now. such a long relationship. they even went back to their sec school to take wedding photos. after that they gave a speech thanking their parents for bringing them up and the bride cried. and me and mei had tears in our eyes after that. haha... nothing to do with us but we were touched anyway.

really liked their outdoor wedding. more special compared to the usual hotel banquet. now i'm starting to dream of my future wedding. haha...still a long long way~

congrats Kr! may you and xf live in happiness and enjoy your honeymoon!