Macau and Zhuhai holiday

19th Nov: Weather was really cold...We took the free shuttle to Venetian Macau from the bus terminal at Gongbei custom. A nice fit old lady has led us to the custom, which was supposed to be within walking distance from our hotel as the locals defined. However, he route seems so long and we all felt tired from the walking. The old lady was walking really fast without any sign of tiredness. I lost S$33 at its casino *sob*. It was my first time visiting a casino. I didn't even managed to grab one of the free drinks. The boat/Gondola ride was very relaxing. The boat staff's singing attracted many passerby to take picture of our boat during the journey... Lucy bought the whole set of photos taken before we took off in the boat and it was so expensive.

We took the free shuttle bus to City of Dreams. There is another casino there, which I visited on the last day and lost S$10. I bought my first winter jacket, as there was some special offer for it and they have my favourite colour - light pink!

At night, we checked out of our hotel and took a cab to the Gongbei custom for entry to Zhuhai, as it would be a hassle for us to drag our trolley luggage there.

Our suite at Zhuhai Jinye hotel was quite nice with a living room and a bedroom. There were 2 television sets and I love the antique chairs and table in the living room. However, I had a bad experience with the switch in the bedroom. One of the switch was faulty and when I tried to fixed it, the bare wires touched the back of my right palm and gave me an electric shock. Luckily, I drew back my hand forcefully as it was really painful and my whole palm was trembling and numbed. The whole room suddenly went into darkness and we were in a panic. We called the reception, only to know that they didn't have any technician around. Dorothy switched on her mobile phone backup light and I checked on the plugs using the light. Then, I tried to re-enter the hotel card at the main switch near the door and luckily, the light came back on. We couldn't sleep that night as we had not gotten over the shock. I rubbed some balm onto my palm to get rid of the numbness...I wonder what would had happen if I had not pulled my palm away in time.

20th Nov: China Zhuhai. We took a half-day package tour and besides us, there is also another China couple in our tour group. The couple kept asking us about Singapore and the guy asked "Does Singapore provide free food, education and housing?" I told him no and that maybe only applies to Brunei.

The chairlift ride gives really good view of the hill, but Dorothy was scared of height as our legs were dangling in the air with a thin foot rest for support. I slipped on the steps on the hilltop and only realized the pain of the fall on the last day of our trip. There were many beggars near the Fisher Girl's statue. Lucy donated to one and soon another came. We love the breeze there... Our tour guide cum driver asked us for a tip and after he received the tip, he told us that they were actually not allowed to collect tips.

What I don't like about Zhuhai is that the traffic is a bit messy there. The pedestrians and drivers don't really obey the traffic rules, as there are just too many vehicles and people on the road. It seems a bit dangerous, but I guess the people are used to the loud vehicles' horns. Their zebra-crossing isn't as safe as Singapore, and vehicles just zoomed past the pedestrians on the crossing whenever there is sufficient space. Once, I had a car moving towards me while I was crossing and it still moved even though I was just infront of it. The drivers need a lot of skill to handle cars that cut into their lane suddenly, even though there isn't much space in between the cars. I also don't like the way people spit their germs onto the walkway, especially infront of many others who were walking nearby. I also found an interesting fact - The locals simply eat the fruits in the supermarket to test the taste without any signage or staff allowing that.

At night, we went to eat seafood after meeting up with a colleague and his family. The place he recommended had lots of live seafood stalls like in a market and we are supposed to buy them and give them to a restaurant to cook and serve on our table. The competition of the restaurant was really intense and many ladies (representing different restaurant) were following us and aggressively promoting their restaurant when we browsed through the stalls. I felt that Zhuhai people are very hardworking and they could endure working long hours and outdoor in the really cold weather.

21st Nov: After buying the buns for breakfast, we walked around in the underground tunnel where there were many shops. It was fun shopping when the crowd wasn't in yet. I happily bought my Sims 3 game at a very cheap price. In the afternoon, we took a cab (they call it "Da Di") to Xing Yuan Ming Yuan (Mock palace). We took a short tram ride, but the tram driver cum guide was not very friendly as some thing happened before we took off. The tram ride was pretty expensive (S$10 per pax) as it was quite a short ride (just 15mins?). The place was really nice with many photo-taking spots. We didn't managed to see all the shows as a few of us were tired and wanted to go shopping instead, plus they wanted to return to the hotel before it gets too dark (I'm a bit disappointed though). This was also where I slipped for the second time as the path was rather rocky.

22nd Nov: We went back to Macau and deposited our bags at the airport. We took the free shuttle to Venetian, which is nearer to our next planned stop - Taipa Village. We bought most of our biscuits there, as most of the Macau famous biscuit stores were there. The peanut candies I bought were so heavy that my shoulder ached. We went back to City of Dreams where we watch a free dragon show in this indoor theatre. We happily deposited our bags of biscuits at the cloak room and walked around without the load.

We met a very rude driver when we took the free shuttle to the airport. He scolded us for not letting him know that we were going to the airport, when he didn't even make a stop there. The signage for the shuttle has shown that it would be alighting at 2 places - the ferry terminal and the airport, and we had told the staff at the queue that we were going to the airport. I had really bad sore throat, which I guessed was due to a burn I got during lunch. I had swallowed a mouthful of the hot stone rice accidentally (was shocked by the hotness and had swallowed it instead of spitting it out). Our plane was delayed, and the waiting seems really long due to the pain.

07.11.09

Today, instead of being very busy doing the volunteer work at Redhill, I ended up chatting with the other volunteers, as there were not many people collecting the rice and vouchers allocated to them.

There were a line of early birds, but the queue disappeared after half an hour. There were complaints when we allowed two to cut the queue due to a mom who brought along a child with fever and a mom whose K2 child is at home alone with her sick husband, and she needs to rush home to bring her child to the K2 enrollment (she even brought along a letter from the school to prove that she was telling the truth). As the queue wasn't very long, I felt that they should be more compassionate and not reprimand us volunteers for allowing that extended waiting time of 5 minutes.

I realized just how little I know about the financial world when I chatted with a volunteer from the insurance industry. I really need to brush up on my knowledge and read the current news in details.

Halloween at Night Safari 31.10.09

The rain started to pour not long after we gathered in my car. Luckily, Qiuwen is all prepared with 6 ponchos for us. We got caught in the traffic jam at PIE (should have use the KJE) and only arrived at the Night Safari at 7pm. There was lots of people jamming the entrance and lots of screaming as well. Quite a handful of the staffs had put on the standard pale and bloody makeup, and dressed in scary looking costumes. I didn't really dare to take photo with them, as they were making scary gestures, trying to frighten as many guests as possible. Brave Qiuwen took quite a few photos with them.

We were really disappointed when we heard about the temporary suspension of the train of terror service due to the rain. We started our walk in our poncho and the path was really dark. I regretted not bringing along a torch. It was fun to walk in a group and we managed to walk through the whole park, enduring the stuffiness of wearing a poncho in the drizzle. There was one enclosed area of the park where we could get really close up with the bats; it was quite scary to walk past them as there were some that flew across our path as we walked towards the enclosure exit.

The bridge of no return was full of staffs in Halloween costumes. A few gave chase when they saw that we were scared of them. A witch chased me until I reached a pot of bones... luckily, I was not hit by the long bone, which the witch was holding up high.

Upon completion of our walk, we reached the entrance where we purchased tickets for the train of terror that has continued service. Doris and her daughter went back first, as the queue seems really long and the walk has been tiring. We met a family who put in effort to dress up as a Flintstones couple and The Mask son. They were really friendly and agreed to many photo-taking requests. I was amazed by the number of camera flashes behind us (they were queuing for the ride behind our group).

During the last section of the ride, the staffs in costumes tried to scare us by jumping onto the train as it drove slowly past them. I found it funny that disfigured Snow White could bounce up an down the train so well. There was one section where a fat mermaid had her tails cut and bloodily hanged up on the tree, while she was screaming for help on the chopping board. The bloody-looking butcher was holding up his chopper and laughing like a mad man. Nice setup.

We ended our adventure at 11 plus and I believe we all had fun, despite the scare and tiredness from the walk. It was a new experience for me, and now I know who is easily scared, haa.

Lasik Experience

The lasik operation was finally over! Dr Tay was really professional and guided me through the whole surgery process. I thought I would have to wait quite long, but everything went really fast. The last check of eyesight, changing to surgical wear and explanation of the medication kit....all completed within half an hour. I was so nervous when I stepped into the surgical room without my glasses. During the operation, I held onto my crystal bracelet for courage (it was inside the surgical robe, as it need not be removed) and listened carefully to the Doctor's gentle and encouraging voice. The eyes blacked out during the cutting of the flaps. My right eye didn't feel anything, but I felt some cutting movement on my left eye. The 2nd part of the operation was a bit tough to endure, as after the blackout, the eyes were so teary, which made it really hard to focus on the lights. I'm glad that I made it through.

My eyes were teary and quite uncomfortable on my way back home. I couldn't really open my eyes and tears were dripping down my cheeks. Upon reaching home, I quickly popped a sleeping pill from the kit and try to get myself to sleep, but it was so hard to fall asleep with those tearing and stinging eyes. I felt like I was going blind, but thanks to all the well wishes I rec'd, I didn't. My left eye has two small circles of red clot on the white area, due to the suction of the bladeless technology. I can see without my glasses now, but it is still really hard to look at bright things for too long. The vision isn't that sharp yet, and I hope it will improve as days go by. Now, I'm typing with my eyes on the keyboard, as it gets quite blur and foggy when I look at the screen for too long....

I will be going for my 1st follow-up visit later in the afternoon and I hope Doctor will tell me that everything is fine.

Teambuilding experience

Today's office is really quiet, as many went to the outdoor teambuilding programme. Even though there is peace in the office, I still couldn't finish all my work...I'm glad that the deadlines are still far away. I hope to complete my work before I go for my Lasik surgery, as I would be taking 3 days leaves for it...

Last fri, I joined the 2nd batch of participants for the teambuilding programme and it was pretty fun. We went to Gardenasia and had a hunting cook game in the morning. It was very hot that morning and we have to walk quite a distance to complete the game missions (which my team only managed to complete 3 out of 5 due to time constraint). Two of the missions were in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and our team had a hard time trying to figure out where our station master is, as the path seems endlessly long (I heard that the distance between the station and the entrance is about 2km and since we got a bit lost, we may have walked more than that). I am the only one in my team to have sprayed insect repellent, and I ended up with rashes (the areas where I sprayed on still felt very itchy till today, no matter how much cream I put). It may be due to the heat and the chemical reaction of the repellent and my sweat, since my skin is really sensitive. I saw many big iguanas at the reserve...I think it was my first time seeing so many of them up close.

There was a cooking contest after the missions, based on the ingredients we bought from a given budget. We only managed to buy 8 prawns at one of the station, as we started off at the wrong station and had to miss buying the veggie to save time. I saw teams with oyster sauce, crackers, sambal chili etc. Luckily, I have got two really good cooks in my team, who did wonder with whatever we have. The rest of us tried to help with the decoration, chopping, cleaning and other types of preparation. We were the only team that day with an opening jingle for the food introduction, with funny hand gestures to complement the 'jikalaka' cheer. I felt that our team mates were really excellent, even though I couldn't really get along with one of them, who distinguished himself as someone more superior than the rest. We may be ranked fourth out of the five teams, but I really think that we make a good team. The team spirit was there and everyone tried to do their part. It was a tiring morning, but we all enjoyed ourselves.

The afternoon session started off with the DISC personality test. I found that I always have the "D" element in my DISC personality test. It was the third DISC test I had done; I never had the "C" element and always have some "I" and "S" to complement the "D". I wonder how true the results are, as the "D" people are supposed to be quite "fierce"...

04.10.09 ~ Trip to Chinatown

The Mouth Restaurant at the Chinatown Point was so crowded on Sunday. I really don't understand why, as their food tasted very average and yet pricey. Their service wasn't very good as well. The dim sum lunch was a treat to my family (as I had just gotten my bonus), but the dining experience was really a disappointment. I wouldn't have eaten there if there was no POSB card 50% off promotion. This may be the last time I'm going to that restaurant.

I really don't understand why the carpark entrance for Chinatown Point is so hidden. There was no "P" sign to show the way to the carpark and I kept making the wrong turns. I think I have made 3 or 4 U-turns along the same road at Chinatown! I only found the right way after approaching the security guard at the building. It would be useful if the future GPS system could also state the way to the carpark entrance.

OG was having their anniversary sale and it was their last day of sale. We happily shopped and I signed up for their free membership card. I really like to get shoes there, as the price was very reasonable for the not-so-branded ones and some of the high heels there could be really comfortable. I wanted to get one of those comfy Scholl leather heels, but there were limited designs, or rather, not much modern-looking designs.

That night, I pumped air into my 4 tires for the first time on my own! All thanks to a friend who has taught me how to do that on a hot Wed afternoon. I felt that the drive is now smoother...

03.10.09 - Decided on my Lasik date~

On Fri night, I attended the free Lasik forum at The Lasik Surgery Clinic (Thanks to Dorothy for accompanying me) and took up their offer of free eye evaluation that determines whether I'm a suitable Lasik candidate. I was worried that I would fail the test due to my dry eyes and fluctuating eyesight, but it seems that my eyes were quite ok and I don't even need to take up the more expensive Wavefront technology.

During today's checkup, I was really nervous as I couldn't stop blinking when the lights were shone into my eyes through the machines. I hope I won't be so nervous during the surgery. There were many people at the clinic; I guess Lasik is getting really popular nowadays. One of the female staff told me about their promotion of having $150 off if I operate today. I felt that it was too rush, as I haven't made any preparation (there was a checklist like one could not put any hair gel, makeup, talcum powder before the surgery and I had all these on. Furthermore, I wasn't mentally prepared yet) and I'm afraid that my eye condition is still unstable. I have decided to have my Intralase Lasik on 21 Oct...pls wish me luck...

I just bought a thousand-year Tian Zhu from Worldlink Dzi Gallery located at Lucky Plaza. The sales lady took a picture of me wearing the Tian Zhu...I hope it won't appear in their ad. I hope the bead would protect me from any eye complications...

Dinner Buffet at Peach Garden (OCC)

Our first dining experience at the Peach Garden restaurant located in Orchid Country Club (OCC)~The carpark at OCC was really packed. A look at the dinner buffet menu (I felt that the number of items on the ala carte buffet menu are quite limited) :

Soup is limited to a bowl per person and no second order could be taken. All 8 of us picked the Shark Fins with Seafood soup, but it tasted a bit 'fishy' and I don't really like it. I guess to cover that weird taste, you need to put a lot of vinegar like my friend did.


Our favourite dish - Sweet and Sour Chicken (very tasty)! We ordered this dish for a few rounds and all of us felt that the portion isn't big enough, despite our request for bigger portion.


Fried bacon roll~ Some of my friends like it, but I find the bacon filling a bit too salty.


Fried Yam Shreds with Honey~ This is a yummy snack, very crunchy and sweet. We ordered 2 rounds of this~


Mock Goose with Fruits (underneath the brown pieces). My friends really like the fruits and ordered a few rounds of this...


I really don't like Peach Garden's service...too slow and not much attention was given to us. An older waitress was not very friendly when we requested for the menu and the ice water. We also ordered tea (cost us an additional $14+), but the tea cups were only refilled twice... They even kept our menu before they announced for last order. We joked that perhaps we had been ordering too much. This Fish Slice dish was ordered and forgotten, despite our reminders. I was a bit disappointed as it tasted average and really not worth the wait.


There were only 3 dessert items on the menu and all of us picked this ~Jelly with Coconut. I don't really like this as the coconut taste is too strong and a bit too sweet for me.


Our group photo~ (One of the many taken. One is missing from the photo as he is camera shy and is happy to just be our photographer. Haha.)

23.09.09

I decided to go for Lasik after much consideration. I'm so glad that my 2 friends from work would be accompanying me to the talk at Paragon next Fri. I guess fear of looking nerdy overcome the fear of surgery. I hope my eyes are suitable for Lasik, as they are so fragile now. The eye doctor told me yesterday that my eyes would be blurred again if I continue to wear my contact lens regularly and he couldn't promise that it won't go blur if I wear contact lens occasionally, but that I could 'try'. This is so frustrating, as the eye drops that were prescribed (and obediently used at stated intervals) couldn't completely heal my cornea to its years-ago condition and each follow-up visit cost $$$.

I finally completed my ironing (I thought I couldn't finish by midnight but I did. Three cheers to myself)...I realized I have too many pieces of clothing in my not-so-big wardrobe. I have to forcefully squeeze them in after ironing, resulting in slightly-crumpled clothing (as if I didn't iron them well). If only my room is bigger for another wardrobe, haiz. Guess I'll have to do some sorting and storing before I buy any more new clothes.

I'm currently watching the Korean drama "Lee San" (just finished episode 38) and I quite like the story (set in the era where all wear Hanbok), although the first few episodes have been a bit slow. I hope I could complete the entire 70 plus episodes by next month...

I really look forward to our Fri's ala carte buffet dinner at Peach Garden @ OCC...I hope the 9 of us would enjoy the food and I hope the restaurant is really as good as I read about, or our long trip from work to Yishun would be wasted.

18.09.09

These few days I have been eating too much. The buffet at Tung Lok on last Sat was good with a long list of ala carte buffet menu , but my mom, sisters and I were too full to try all the dishes (I think we only tried 25%...). I like Arena's Tung Lok service, as our plates were changed really frequently and the waitresses took our orders politely. Today's steamboat buffet to celebrate Ling's birthday made me felt so full that I couldn't sleep. I ate so much crab meat, meat balls and wonton.

Next week is going to be so happening at our company. We will be getting our bonus~hooray! Our company is also organizing a team building activity outside office and we would know the group and date we are assigned to next week.

I'm going to get my eyes checked again on the coming Tues. I hope my eyes are healing, as I don't want to keep changing my spectacles due to the fluctuating degree. I guess I couldn't regularly wear my contact lens anymore, as they were the cause of my weakened eyes. Ling suggested doing Lasik surgery, but I was scared of the surgery process and I felt that I won't take good care of my eyes after the surgery. The eye doctor at JMC has listed 3 dangers of wearing contact lens for too long (in terms of years):

1. Eyes is exposed to preservative used in the solution etc;
   
2. Friction of the lens on the eye ball causes the cornea to be less smooth and that may lead to uneven surface, which blurs the image received by the eyes;
3. Oxygen is not well received due to the covering and the blood vessels come nearer to the surface, which lead to frequent red eyes and eye infection.

I really don't like the eye drop used in the checkup, as it always make the lights look so glaring when I tried to walk back home. I tried to wash it out with my artificial tear drops, but I always couldn't manage to remove it totally. I'm going to bring along my cap and I hope it helps.

Corporate Golf Tournament at SGC

I managed to capture a shot of a Peahen at SGC...Our company organized a tournament there yesterday and I was part of the organizing committee. It was drizzling and the games were paused not long after tee off due to the thunder and lightning. I heard that the toilets on the green were so crowded that there were long queues. A guy even stripped in advance so that he could quickly finish his 'business' when it was his turn - as related by an uncle to my colleague who was in-charge of scoring.

We did not had enough bigger size shirts for our golfers and ended up with complaints from a few bigger size customers (It was on a first-come-first-serve basis since the shirts were one of our free goodies bag items). There is a massage chair in the Female Changing Room, but the attendant stopped me for using it during our break as I was just a 'tournament organizer'. I felt that they should have allowed us to use it when there are no other females golfers in the room.

We managed to raise more than $10k for our adopted charity! First time ever, partly due to our parent company's policy of us being unable to solicit for sponsorship from our suppliers, which led to us soliciting for donation instead. I heard that some supplier even scolded my colleague when she solicited for donation, saying that we want money and that was why we held the tournament. I felt that the comment was really unfair to us, as our company had spent lots of money on the event (20+ golf flights, doorgifts, dinner, charity tokens for donors etc) and all donations had gone straight to the hospice. It was a free event for all our major customers.

My arms were a bit painful after all the carrying of cartons. However, my sore eyes had healed after a good night sleep (was supposed to be on MC yesterday but had tried to put lots of eyedrop to cure my sore eyes, so that I could be at the event, which we have planned for months).

CDAC's Family Bonding Camp at Bishan Park

Last Sat, Dorothy and I participated as volunteers in CDAC's Family Bonding Camp. It was a hot and sunny day...the high temperature was just so unbearable. Most of the game stations were in the shelter, except for mine *sigh*. The blue shirts for the volunteers were a bit big...we only got our shirts when we registered our attendance. Anyway, no complaint since it's free and kind Ling has already helped me to change my shirt to one size smaller.

My "Act of Service" game team (incomplete as some of the guys weren't in the photo...). A bunch of very on-the-ball people who survived the hot sun! I was glad that I brought along my cap or I would have had a worse headache after the few-hours-long game.

Our game station where there were lots of sand. Our team leader informed us that the park management has instructed us to "take good care" of the sand, which they have specially bought for the volleyball court. Our game "Act of Service" works this way - One of the parent gets blindfolded and the remaining family members have to lead the blindfolded parent through 3 points - A, B and C and guess the name of the food written on the paper at each point. 50% of the points is derived from the completion time, while another 50% comes from the level of cooperation between the family members in term of giving out hints. The parents were very cooperative and didn't complain when we asked for them to be blindfolded under the hot sun.

The camp fire was a bit disappointing...the camp fire songs were supposed to be sang by the camp participants, but the speaker volume was so loud that we could only hear the emcees' singing (like a concert). The atmosphere would be so much better without the microphones during the singing, as I'm sure the volunteers would be singing together loudly to make it feel more like camp fire songs. However, I think many of us enjoyed the cute dances as many of the volunteers even went up on stage to demonstrate the steps. I didn't dare to go up as I weren't familiar with the steps, but I happily danced away with my team mate at the back of the audience. Some of the families saw us and tried to dance along...we created 'courage' for them. Haa.

23.07.09

My eyes felt so tired...They have been really unstable recently and have became reddish at times while I were wearing my contact lens. That may be caused by my lack of sleep and excessive intake of junk food. I went to read up about Lasik and found many cons...scary. I guess I just have to bear with my shortsightedness, since I don't have the courage to do the Lasik surgery and no confidence that I won't get shortsighted again.

I love free samples! I collected my Loreal 50ml shampoo sample from Jurong Point Watson, which I will bring along to my Oct's KL trip. Go to the following website to register yourself for it - http://www.cozycot.com/elseve/?utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_content=eyktay%40yahoo.co.uk&utm_campaign=2009+Week+28+-+Loreal+Elseve

22.07.09

Lalala~I rec'd some freebies today from the corporate gift exhibition we visited at Suntec. I really like the colour-changing ornament, which reminds me of the Disney castle lights...ahh, how I miss those parks. I must go to the Universal Studio at Sentosa IR when it opens next year!

Last Sat, I went for a volunteer briefing and learnt some funny dance moves for the coming camp fire. The steps are a bit embarrassing for someone my age, but since the camp is aiming at families with young kids; no choice but to bear with it and imagine that I'm part of the Hi-5 team. Anyway, I believe we will still have fun acting childish once in a while. I really look forward to the camp on Sat...I hope the sun won't be too bright or I will be burnt since I won't be under a shelter. Thoughtful Dorothy has given me a sunblock sample from her recent Shape Run goodies to prepare me for the sun and I guess I will use it so as to 'repay her kindness'.

There seems to be many good comments for mineral makeup in the magazine and internet. The minerals are supposed to help improve the skin while providing coverage, just like BB cream or maybe better. I tried the Loreal mineral concealer and it seems more natural than the liquid ones with more dabbing. However, the powder really irritates me by dirtying my shirt during the dabbing process.

10.07.09

I have not been writing on my blog for so long~was a bit lazy and addicted to Viwawa games with no time for other stuffs (except going into Facebook to check on my Restaurant City's Cheng Restaurant). During this no-update period, I have went to the Marina Barrage, National Museum and Zoo, which I didn't write about as the weather was so hot and that dampens my writing mood, haa. Thanks Ling for accompanying me on the Marina Barrage and National Museum tour organized by my company's recreation club! And not forgetting the food...The dim sums at the Pioneer Wharf restaurant at Jurong Point tasted great even though they are a bit pricey. I like the HK Street home delivery dinner that tasted quite good. Too bad the delivery service is only for those living in Jurong East/West and Boon Lay, thus I have only recommened it to colleagues living in these areas.

I have started shopping online at Gmarket. There are just so much stuffs for sale! I really regret buying a shirt dress that went half price on the day I received the item! It is so easy to pay for items on Gmarket as you just need to have a debit/credit card instead of having to do fund transfer to the bank account of the seller and communicate to seller via several emails.

I finally managed to transfer from Vivo's New York Skin Solution (NYSS) to Jurong Point's! I felt so glad as I always hate the an-hour-plus journey back (I have to put up with so much redness on my sensitive face due to the pimple squeezing. Some of my pimples became more obvious...sad. I always have to bring along my BB cream to cover up the really obvious ones). I have got more pimples now...I wonder whether it's the mask (which they seems to forget about), as the girl replacing my consultant (while she's away to attend another customer) had only removed the mask for me after more than half an hour.

I got a free DKNY Be Delicious perfume sample from Vivo's Tang and it smells so nice, like the scent of the NYSS's facial cleanser. Mango is having sales and the store is full of ladies even though I don't think the prices are really that low.

Recently, I am addicted to a collagen drink of the brand Kinohimitsu sold at Watson. It tasted really great and is good for the body skin, which I felt is smoother now. Its usual price is $39.90 for a pack of 6 bottles, but I managed to get it at $34.90 from Causeway Point's Watson during its store special promotion few weeks ago.

I really look forward to the Sakura buffet lunch at Orchard tomorrow to celebrate Qiuwen's birthday....I heard that the buffet spread there is better than its other branches. Qiuwen is going to wear the blouse we bought for her...I really hope that she likes it as we have went to several boutiques before deciding on that one (and we ended up buying new clothes for ourselves too, haa).

Attended a marketing seminar at St Regis

Few weeks ago, I attended a free half-day marketing seminar at St Regis alone. It was a very classy hotel and I guess it must be quite expensive to hold a seminar there. I was surprised to see a comfortable-looking cushioned bench in its lift and hand cream and rolled cotton towels in the restroom. The seminar room looked really spacious with its high ceiling and tall mirrors. Instead of the usual mentos sweets or individually packed mints, they prepared a black box of mini mints for each of the guests.

The seminar started with a presentation on some marketing processes (I tried to copy some notes, but didn't manage to complete my copying as the speaker was too fast). There was a teabreak session and the mini tarts tasted really good... After the teabreak, there was a Q & A session and the speakers commented that we marketing people should go out more often to meet customers and hear from them personally, instead of just relying on data. Data is just data, which is meaningless, unless one could translate it into insights from the information found. The speakers also said that we need to understand customers' experiences to discover ways to improve our product and services.

That reminds me of the "survey" Yi did to find ways to improve her shop "Pet Street". Today, we visited Yi's new pet supplies shop on the third floor of Sun Plaza. It was a really neat shop with many types of pet food and snacks. Yi was really generous and treated us to Pasta Mania. The new mutton spaghetti tasted a bit weird, and I had to add a lot of cheese powder to get rid of the weird taste. All the best to Yi and may her business prosper! I will definitely add your shop website link on my blog when it's ready!

I heard from Xin how London Weight Management pressured her and her friend to sign a package when she accompanied her friend to the trial. (Xin is an average-sized lady who don't have much excessive fats on her, and yet they told her that she needs to lose weight.) The consultant was really persistent and she only allowed them to leave the room after they both signed up for a package. Her experience sounded quite similar to my experience at New York Skin Solution, and these two companies are under the same parent company. I find it really unethical for their consultant to pressure people to sign up for a package on the spot. They should give up after a few rejections and allow consumers to go back to consider, and not repeatedly exaggerate on the problem areas to close the deal.

I won't go for facial trial again...

I went to Vivocity's New York Skin Solution for a facial trial and before I had the trial, I undergone a skin consultation, which turns out to be an aggressive selling session. I told the consultant that I would like to consider before taking any package and also due to budget constraint, I told her that I couldn't sign up for anything above $1k. At first, I felt like leaving the place without the trial, but she kept asking me to wait so that she could check with her superiors for better discounts. She went out to "check" several times, and I really felt like leaving the place. After the one hour plus "consultation", I signed up for the $700 (before GST) for 10 intensive treatment sessions despite the consultant persistently promoting the expensive collagen treatment package. During the trial treatment, which she insisted to be the collagen treatment, she persuaded me to come back to the Vivocity's outlet for the first few sessions despite me having told her that it was inconvenient for me (I have informed her that I want my future sessions to be at Jurong Point's branch when I signed). I don't like their facilities as there is limited privacy. The beds are so near one another and I could hear others' conversation so clearly, which makes me so uncomfortable.

After the trial treatment, her colleague, who was serving the customer next to my bed, joined in the selling session and commented how the intensive treatments that I have signed for are not good enough for my skin as they are just application of masks. I was really fed up - if those intensive treatments are not good enough, then why promote them to me in the first place? Now that I have signed, I could not request for refund and could only top-up for the collagen treatment. At first, she wanted me to top up to $1K plus for just 5 sessions of collagen treatment, but I told her how I really couldn't afford such luxury. She gave me a look of disbelief and started to question me on how much I earn and why I couldn't afford it. She even asked why her Malaysian customer could sign for the $3K package and I couldn't. I have never seen such bad service. After telling her just how much commitments I already have and how skin isn't my priority, she unwillingly lowered the price to $800 (before GST) for 5 sessions of collagen treatment. After she left the room and my card was swiped for the additional $107, my consultant told me that since I'm paying for the sessions at a lower price, the masks they would be using may not be as good as those used in the trial due to the cost and there may be redness after the session. I was so disappointed. When I returned home, I did a search online and found that they already have quite a few complaints reported to CASE. I hope they don't sell me anything again during the 5 sessions (their aggressive selling stressed me), or I think I may get mad and write in to the newspapers' forum sessions. I am going to request for the transfer of outlet again on my next session.

So people, don't ever go there for facial trials unless you have already decided to set aside a huge sum of money for your facial treatments. I really regret going there and wished that I had just left the consultation room without the trial. I bet there are other places offering cheaper collagen treatments with better facilities and service.

Visited IMDEX Asia 2009

Before the Changi Naval Base tour at the Expo's IMDEX Asia 2009 exhibition with my colleagues...It was an exhibition with many visitors in their white sailor uniform as the focus was on marine military. We registered ourselves for the warship tour and waited 30 minutes for the next shuttle bus leaving Expo as the bus was full.

At the Changi Naval Base's warship tour...before we started exploring the warship. Due to security reasons, we have to take two shuttle buses before we could enter. It was really hot; we were sweating and trying to shade our eyes with whatever brochures we have from the exhibition. Luckily, the air-conditioners in the ships were on full blast, so I managed to cool down at some point. We wanted to visit the largest warship, but it was closed due to maintenance.

It is really not easy to work on board. The steps are very steep and the sleeping quarters are not very spacious...The lowest deck (I think it is their equipment and machine storage place) was really warm and stuffy. The people working on board the warships really deserve our respect.

The Southern Ridges Walk

It was so difficult to wake up early on a Sunday morning... I thought I would be late but luckily I wasn't. Lan and I reached the Harbourfront mrt at 8.40am and I had ample time to finish my doughnut breakfast before the walk. There wasn't much people at the gathering point at 9am, so we waited for more people to come before taking group photos. The weather was a bit hot during the wait...


The Marang Trail was a bit hard to walk...there were many steps and I had not climbed so many steps since years. I was panting hard, but managed to get to the top with Lan's encouragement. It was drizzling when we reached the top, but the drizzle stopped as we walked towards the Henderson Waves. The breeze was so nice on the Henderson Waves (Lan and me had such messy hair in the above photo), but the breeze only lasted for a while.


See the PSA building? It was our ending point...The sky was so dark and Lan was worried that it may rain before we reach there. Thus, we hesitated on whether to proceed to the Forest Walk or U-turn back to the Marang Trail. At second thought, I encouraged Lan to continue the walk with me as I probably won't visit this place again. Luckily, the weather was good as we continued our walk.


Resting cum picture taking time...

The Henderson Waves have got nice curves right?


See the carvings? We are 74.14m above sea level at the Henderson Waves...

This is the end of the Henderson Waves and supposedly the start of the Hilltop/Forest Walk...though I didn't see any sign mentioning Hilltop Walk.

On the Forest Walk! The metal bridge is really sturdy and easy to walk, and it goes round and round. I only realized how high I was when Lan told me to look down. It was a bit scary to see through those holes of the metal as you could see the top of the trees and how far the ground is from the bridge.


We completed our walk at the Alexandra Arch, hooray! Lan and I visited the HortPark to freshen up before sharing cab with Dorothy to Jurong Point for lunch. Some of my colleagues were really enthusiastic walkers and continued their walk to the Kent Ridge Park via the HortPark. I strongly recommend this walk for those who like nature and exercise!

West Coast Plaza

I tried to use my new GPS system to get to the renovated West Coast Plaza...I found that it is a bit difficult to drive fast using the GPS as I was afraid to miss any turns. I was honked at twice, as I was not on the left lane when I was supposed to make a left turn. The two cars who honked at me refused to let me cut lane even though my signal was on for more than 3 seconds...they just simply speed up and honked at me. Till today I have never honked at anyone yet, even though I've seen many cars that abruptly cut into my lane. I wonder why people are so impatient, especially towards drivers under probation.

My family and I ate at the Paradise Inn for the first time. The queue was so long and there were so many customers that we felt neglected. We waited so long for our fish head and it didn't taste as good as we expected. The other dishes were just average too and there were irritating houseflies flying around. The bill came up to $105! Not really worth the money... The new West Coast Plaza looked a bit empty, in term of crowd and shops. The large game arcades that we liked to go to were no longer there. Haiz.

It's Fri again~

Oh I am so full. The Fish and Chips that I ate at 8pm plus still haven't digest yet...the thick flour of the Fish and Chips was so disgusting that I regret eating it. Haiz. I think I have been eating too much lately.

The last few nights were full of activities (quite rare for someone like me who loves to be infront of the computer or TV)...

Tues night: I had dinner with a lady whom I met at BBDC on my test date and she invited me to her church. However, my parents don't really like the idea of me visiting a church so I rejected her. I think I won't feel easy too, as my family practised Taoism. I like being a Free-thinker (self-declared) as there is no restriction to how god should be like and I could believe in whatever I want.

Wed night: I went to play in water with my colleagues at the Jurong West Sports and Recreation Centre's Aqua park . It was quite a last minute plan as we wanted to avoid the crowd and I suddenly remember that this is an exam week where most students are at home studying. It was the first time the four of us visited that place. I had wanted to try the water slide, but it was closed at 7pm (by the time we walked there, it was exactly 7pm!). We had played in the lazy pool and normal pool before two of us decided to try the exciting-looking slide. It was a decision that needed lots of courage for non-swimmers...but I always like things that look fun. The lazy pool has quite strong waves and it was funny to see my colleagues getting swept by the waves, haha. Dorothy, you need to go faster next time, try to put on contact lens lah. The Jacuzzi pool was pretty relaxing, but the force of the water was so strong that my back felt painful and was a bit reddish after the "water massage". It was quite fun to go there with my colleagues (New finding - Qiuwen is quite sexy in her swimming suit!). I also found that I'm not the slowest in bathing! Haha. So, I could actually be quite fast if my mind don't go blank during bathing (which happens every morning).

Last night my colleagues and I sang KTV until 10.30pm. My colleagues tried to sing a popular Hokkien song but in the end, no one sang as we were distracted by some topic to chat on. Next time you all must sing that I-ask-heaven song ok? So far I have never heard any friend sing Hokkien songs in KTV.

This Sunday, Lan and I would be going to the South Ridge walk organized by my company's Sports and Recreation club. I signed up due to curiosity of how it would be like to be on the Henderson Wave. Hopefully I won't regret halfway during the walk...as I don't really like hiking type of exercise. I remember that I was so sick of hiking during the last Taiwan trip...Please let us have nice weather that day.

Just an update...

My eyes are ok and I'm wearing my contact lens again, yeah. The eye doctor finds no problem with my eyes except that they are too dry due to the long period of time I wore my contact lens. What a false alarm and there goes my half day leave. Jurong Medical Centre is really big, but I felt that it is a bit empty. The rates are pretty reasonable even without a polyclinic referral. I managed to redeem my free 3-mths supply of contact lens from the Optometrist (which I won from a lucky draw contest and where my 1st redemption failed due to the supposedly "eye problem").

I tried Zhou's Kitchen lunch buffet for the first time today - A treat from my mummy. There were a lot of diners and the food was gone in minutes. The chefs must be working really hard to try to replenish those dishes. One of the aunties was really kiasu and kept lying on my back to push me towards the front, so that she could try to grab whatever that was available. It was disgusting to feel her breasts on my back, yucks. However, there was little space for me to move, as there were people infront. Some people were also trying to cut queue. I think it would be better to eat there on a less crowded day.

Waited so long at the Polyclinic...

There were so many people at the Clementi Polyclinic today...I waited an hour plus for my turn! I wonder how they assign the doctors for consultation. The doctor I am waiting for seems so popular with such a long list of patients, while the younger doctor beside his room finished his list of patients so much earlier and happily knocked off. I really agree that it was so much cheaper to get consultation and medicine from a polyclinic. I was surprised that my eyedrop costs just $1.40! I managed to get a referral from the doctor to go to Jurong Medical Centre's eye clinic. He told me that I might just be allergic to contact lens...hopefully that won't be true as I don't want to be stuck with glasses forever.

I am worried that I would get summon for beating the amber light yesterday as there were cameras at the junction. I was bypassing a construction work area and didn't notice the light turning amber until I have crossed the white line at the speed of 40 (was driving quite slow, so should be quite easy to capture my number)...I checked online and found that the penalty could be as serious as getting 12 demerit points and $200 fine! I am keeping my fingers crossed...please don't let me get it. My luck is so down these days...everything kept going wrong for me. Please make my bad luck go away.

A tiring day...

Last night, I was told by an Optometrist that there were some problems with my eyes and I should get them checked by an eye doctor...he also advised me to not wear my contact lens for a month! Oh no, I really don't like my "four-eye" look...I'll visit the Polyclinic tomorrow to get a referral to Jurong Medical Centre's eye clinic. I heard that it's so much cheaper to be referred.

This morning, I finally sold my old laptop and the buyer was very patient and friendly even though I was late. I had a very heavy breakfast with my family at Burger King before going to the bird park. My car hit into a pole at the shopping mall carpark's exit...I'm glad that my Picanto survived the hit without any damage! I love you, my dear Picanto! The people in the car behind mine looked a bit shocked.

The carpark at Jurong Bird Park was so packed that cars parked in any available space, even though it was not meant for car to park. It was scary to drive in such a packed carpark with such narrow lanes. I felt that they shouldn't have allowed cars to enter when the carpark is already so full! I even saw a luxury car with its plate gone, as some car has hit its front and its plate has dropped onto the ground. I didn't witness it, so please don't ask me about what happen. After driving in rounds, I finally came across an exiting car. There was a car that waited way infront and it tried to reverse to that lot even it saw my car just beside that lot. Thus, I quickly drove into that empty lot and that car driver wasn't too happy. He winded down his window and the people in his car started to blame me for taking "their lot" as they have waited very long for an empty lot. I felt that they were really unreasonable, as that doesn't mean that by waiting way infront, he has the right to all the lots in that long stretch of carpark! I have also been driving very long in that carpark to find a space!

Today's weather was really weird; the rain was so unpredictable - it shines one moment and rains at another! I was lucky to have my cap and umbrella with me. We took the bird park's panorail ride for the first time and it was so much easier to view the whole park from the ride. The Lory Loft was packed as usual, with many chatty birds and people feeding them. While waiting for the show to start, we waited at the indoor Penguin exhibit to hide from the rain and humidity. The show was a bit different from what I remembered years ago, with new mascots and more birds.

We went to IMM for dinner after the show. The carpark was also quite packed; seems like today was a popular day to drive. The salad crispy prawns at Crystal Jade were really delicious.

Movies & Bdae celebration...

Recently I watched two new movies because of two contests that I won...

My sis and I watched it at the GV Marina for free, thanks to xin.sg contest. Detroit Metal City is a very hilarious Japanese movie with a very exaggerated storyline. The male lead was the one who acted as L in Death Note. I never knew that he could be so funny, which is such a contrast from his cool L. The rock music was quite nice, if you ignore its vulgar lyrics that were pretty entertaining, haa. It has a happy ending that is rather cute.

Today, Lan and I caught the movie Dragonball Evolution at West Mall for half the price, thanks to the one.motoring contest. The effects were not bad (I like the contrast of colours) and Lan commented that some scenes reminded her of Naruto. It was a rather short movie and it would have been better if there are more scenes. My first time driving to West Mall was quite smooth, despite been horned at once. I thought I would have missed a turn, but my intuition told me to follow the car infront of me at a junction and I was correct in guessing that they are also going to West Mall.

I just found another scratch on my car's left mirror...I gave up. I don't want to care about scratches anymore.

Recently, I celebrated my 26th birthday (Haiz. I'm older by one again). My colleagues gave me a set of cute Cinamoroll headrest for my car, which I went to place in my car on the same day. It was really adorable and my sis also liked it. I also received a very lovely angel handphone keychain and a Japanese pouch with combs and mirror from other colleagues. This is the first year that I received so many birthday gifts at work! To celebrate my birthday, my mum treated my whole family to the buffet at the Penang Place restaurant in the Atrium. I nearly missed its carpark entrance. Luckily my colleague has told me that I just need to drive a few rounds to look for it, so I still managed to find it after driving one round. The spread was only ok in term of variety, but a few items are quite tasty - its nasi lemark, curry and chicken wings. However, these are cheap stuffs, so the buffet price of $21.80++ seems to be overpriced.

On the actual day of my birthday, I went out with my secondary school clique to Taman Jurong Partyworld KTV and it was funny to see them getting tired of singing and waiting for the KTV session to end. I ended up singing many English songs that I have never sang before, as only few of us are singing and it was a long 4.5 hours session. We found out that it was cheaper to sing in the afternoon and with student pass (thanks Yi for having a valid student pass, haa), we get additional discount on top of the usual member discount. We were all hungry after the KTV and to make that worse, we have to wait quite a while for our curry fish head and hotplate tofu to arrive. The food was delicious...maybe it was due to our hunger. However, we noticed that almost every table that ordered from the stall order curry fish head too. I got a car vacuum for my car warming gift in addition to my birthday red packet. I tried to use it on the following day and it was a bit noisy...but it really helps me to clean the car interior.

First time driving to the town...

Today's such a cooling day....what a contrast with yesterday's hot day. The office was so cold today and I was already wearing three layers.

Yesterday, I tried to drive alone to City Hall for the very first time. I exited too early on the expressway and ended up at somewhere near Shenton Way...I got a bit scared as I didn't find the buildings familiar and the road names sounded foreign...I also found out that my phone GPS service is chargeable and it was really distracting to look at the phone while driving. The sunlight was really glaring to my eyes, even though I was wearing my sunglasses. I managed to drive to Marina Square with the help of the road signs and had a really scary experience at the carpark entrance of Marina Square. My car almost skidded when I made a sudden right turn into the carpark entrance from two lanes away. I didn't know that the entrance was there until I almost drove past it, thus I didn't really slow down and there goes my tyres screeching sound again. When returning to Jurong, I took the wrong lane and instead of going to the CTE, I u-turned back to City Hall in heavy traffic. Luckily, I spotted the S'pore Flyer and managed to go into ECP via a familiar road. It took me an hour to get home, haiz. I found a weak point of my Picanto - its ability to pickup speed isn't very good, even though the car is not fully loaded. I tried to pickup speed to join the expressway and it took quite some time to speed up.

I found many scratches on my car's tyre rims during my first car wash on Sat...Waxing didn't really help much. I guess they were scratched when I accidentally drove near the kerb on that night of returning from Beauty World Plaza. I had thought that the scratching sound was from the tyres rubbing against the kerb, not the rims. It was really tiring to wash and wax the car, and I haven't even done a complete job. I only carried a one-fifth filled pail of water to wipe my car, as it was too troublesome to drive down to the ground level to wash it. Waxing was a bit messy and tiring, so I only did it for the scratched areas...I really hope there would be no more scratches.

Felt like going for a holiday...

On my wish list - Australia's Gold Coast and Japan! Too bad I don't have extra money for going on holiday...now that I have my Picanto, I really need to plan my financial carefully. My sis said she would like to go to Gold Coast with me after she has saved enough, which will be at least few years later, haa. I miss the theme parks in US and I heard that Gold Coast also has quite a few theme parks. The Australian dollar exchange rate is so attractive now... I wonder whether I should get some to keep for future...

I finally had my first try at speeding on a real Go-Kart track (not those at Escape Theme Park) at Johor. It was a really bumpy drive (It was painful on the palms that tried to firmly hold the steering wheel. My palms were all red after the first ride, thus I didn't go for a second ride) and really exciting during the sharp turns (I could feel my body swinging to the side and hear the screeching sound). Speeding was fun, but I was disappointed at how old the Go-Kart vehicles are. There were newer ones with even gears, but that would cost a lot more to ride. My poor Adidas shirt was stained by the oil that somehow splashed onto my shirt and arm. It took quite a while to get rid of the stains on my arm (Soap and thinner were no use, and the thinner was really painful on the skin. Luckily the medicated oil works or it would seem like I have a patch of moles on my arm), but the stains on my shirt just won't come out. I wondered why I was the only one who got stained...was it because my engine died during the start-off? The slope to the Go-Kart venue was really bumpy like a roller coaster ride, haa. We bounced up and down in the bus on the rocky road up to the place.



I really caught up a lot on my manga craze now that I'm not studying part time. I'm still hooked on Bleach and Naruto, with some new addition such as Skip Beat. I really respect those creative people...I'm amazed at their interesting story lines and ability to write such long series... Recently, I finally finished watching a 55 episodes Korean drama called Song of the Prince. It was really addictive and I broke my record of watching the 55 episodes without skipping any part!

I found a great online shopping site for the ladies at www.mingoshopping.com. The site sells many interesting beauty products and I have already bought three items from them via Ebay (They also sell on Ebay - where I get to know about them). I'm really impressed by their fast delivery; I always get my item in my mailbox one day after my payment is made.

Trying my best to recognize roads...

I kept missing my exits at expressways! The first day I drove my family around, we were supposed to go Bukit Timah Plaza and I missed the expressway exit and went to Woodland to make an U-turn! My sis said I took 30mins to reach there... On that same day, I missed the U-turn point when going back home and went to Woodland again to make a U-turn. Luckily Singapore isn't that big.

My attempt to drive my mum and sis to IMM via the newer road failed when I missed the Toh Guan exit point on the expressway. I was on the extreme right lane, thinking that the exit will be on my right...(I just understand from my colleague that all exits on the expressways are on the left) In the end, I drove them to Beauty World Plaza for dinner, haa. It has been years since I last visited that place. I wonder how the shops could survive...it was a Sunday evening and yet there were not much people. It was drizzling that night. I did an emergency brake at an amber light upon seeing the traffic camera at the junction. There was a loud screeching sound from the rubbing of my tyres against the wet road. Luckily I was driving a new car with new tyres.

I will try to drive to the central area one day...maybe this Sunday. Hopefully I will not get lost and end up at somewhere unfamiliar, since I will be alone in the car...I hope my phone's GPS will work properly if I really end up in some weird place, haa.

My new Picanto!

I finally collected my dear silver Pica! I have erased the car plate number from the photo as my friend has advised me that it should not be made known to too many people. Haa. Lan has accompanied me to collect the car on Friday the 13th, and experienced a very scary U turn with me...next time I will definitely slow down before a U turn. I went to pump my first tank of petrol and realized how hard it is to park near to the pumping station when there are cars to avoid. I guess I'm still not very good at narrow-kerb U turning and parking. Parking at the side of the multi-storey carpark is really challenging without any pole. I have to do so much adjustment before I could park my car in the side lot (I wanted to park there as I would be able to see my car from my house). I hope my Auto transmission gear could withstand my frequent shifting between D and R.

I have my first scratch on the car on the 2nd day, due to my several attempts to park between the railing and the pillar. I have tried to re-park my car on a higher level to get a clearer view from my house. I felt really sorry for my car... There are some minor scratches now. I hope there won't be more to come. I really want to master parking. At BBDC, the indicator to turn the wheel was really clear and accurate, but with my Picanto, it's so hard to see the barrier and judge the turning point as the side mirrors and rear view don't look the same as a Honda City's. I the circuit, there is so much space to do any adjustment, but in a real carpark, there are a lot of barriers to avoid and I don't dare to go too near to other vehicles. How I wish that the parking lots could be wider (Luckily, I didn't get a bigger car). I panicked when I couldn't turn my key to start the engine after adjusting my steering wheel to straighten the wheels. I called my car salesperson and he reminded me about moving the steering wheel left and right while turning the key (he has already told me what to do in such scenario when I collected the car, but I have totally forgotten about it as I was too excited at that point of time).

I love my car even though it does not have much space to store things at the dash board and I'm not very good in handling it yet. It is a cute Picanto and I hope I would have some spare cash to dress it up one day. I hope I could park effortlessly and drive smoothly in the days to come.

"Kai Gong Da Ji"

Today is my first day of work in the lunar year... A kind colleague has brought her CNY cookies to office and offered them to me during lunch time. I accidentally dropped an entire bottle of tasty Gua Zhi cookies (Luo Di Kai Hua) while trying to cover the containers...so sad. She was really nice and insisted that it's ok. My new high heels are so painful to wear...I think I'm going to shelf it for a while. It rained halfway while I'm walking home. The only lucky thing is that I collected 4 red packets in office today - Thanks to my generous colleagues. :)

I would like to recommend this new restaurant at Jurong Point - Pioneer Wharf (Seafood Restaurant). Their seafood was really fresh and nice. My family and I went there for dinner on the first day of CNY, and we spend a total of $193.50 for the six of us! However, there were half a duck, a nonya red garoupa, cereal prawns, pork, tofu with chicken balls and veggie...price may be on the high side, but the taste is definitely worth it. Their service was also not bad, and they have a very friendly and elderly boss who walked around to wish each table happy CNY. Their staff has informed us that they were almost fully booked (only 1 table left). We were their first customer, maybe that was why the food was really tasty, haa.

Happy Chinese Niu Year!

May the year of Ox bring us luck and joy! According to various Fengshui masters' forecasts, those born in the year of pig will not be having much good luck this year and will be really busy and stressed by work. That means my job is saved from recession? Haa. We must think positively when we hear negative things...read or listen to only what you want, to avoid being over-stressed. Remember the commercial advertisement where the girl was driving so badly and her passenger was complaining, but she blocked out all those negative words?

Visit the below website to check out the 2009 forecast for your zodiac sign:
http://www.jmine.com/chinese_horoscope2009.htm

The reunion dinner makes me so full, but the home-cooked food was really delicious (my mum's chicken wings are the best!). Anyway, I am staying up late to Shou Sui.

I hope our newly-announced 2009 budget would improve Singapore economy. By allocating such a big sum of money to assist companies, I guess there would be lesser retrenchments (Don't wish anyone "Cai Yuan Gun Gun" ok?) and more job opportunities. They are expecting public transportation prices to drop too. Maybe I will become one of those who still takes public transport despite owning a car, as it will be cheaper especially when going to the town area where the parking fees are so expensive and ERPs are so common.

I will only be paying for my car insurance and first installment after the CNY public holidays. My C&C sales exec promised to give me 5 OPC coupons! Actually, I was asking him for further discount as Picanto auto's price has just dropped by $1000. I was just trying my luck, knowing that I would be "rejected" since I have already signed the sales agreement form. I think my car will only be ready for collection in Feb. I'm going to buy $1 4D i-bet on my car plate number when I get it...

Anyone wanting to buy a car? You may want to read this interesting article published in 2006 by SPH on "Confessions of a Car Salesman":
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,104091,00.html