Bye Bye 2008

Last day of year 2008.

Had a lunch at office, not a lot of food, but more than enough for the people. We don't have a lot of staff yet, till now it's only about 17 people.
We ordered for 20 people, but only about 13 or 14 people were around for the food. :P

In the end, I had to pack a large tray of noodles home, and another smaller tray of other food.
Eat until I damn full.

So what's the thought for year 2008?

Too much headache with the current financial crisis faced everywhere. Amazing greed of a certain few can cause such big ripple effect all around the world.
Anyway, small fry like us cannot do much, and probably have no power in preventing it. We have to leave it to the leaders of all corporations and perhaps governments to do the work.
Then again, who are the greedy ones?
Hmmmmm ...

I have no other thoughts. I can't think.
I'm not a leader. :P

Pat

As I was searching the internet for the song 秋心赋 previously, I stumbled into a blog where some of the entries put up were pretty interesting.
noxologous

He had an entry as below:
=== Begin ===
I think there's a reason why we pat animals on their heads.

Because we have no other means of establishing communcation with them.

When dealing with humans of different wavelengths.

Perhaps we should just go up to them.

And pat them on their heads
=== End ===
I find it quite funny.

X'mas

This year's X'mas doesn't seem to be very joyful. Afterall, it's the badly-hit-financial-crisis-year. :P

Anyway, I don't really celebrate X'mas, it's just another holiday.

On X'mas eve, we cancelled our office buffet lunch, because we didn't plan earlier, and by the time we want to make booking for the mini buffet, the vendors were all fully booked! How cool!
So I told my colleague to arrange for New Year's eve instead, to usher in the new year.

Didn't do much on X'mas day itself either, only went to Karinna's friend's house in the evening for dinner. And please, 9pm somemore!
There's a purple theme to the party, but I have nothing purple, so didn't bother about the theme for myself.
Brought a wine that was wrapped in purple, and the wine won us a bottle of wine to be brought home! How exciting!

By the time we reached home yesterday was already midnight.

And yes, I did give my wife a present. It's the item (c) in this picture, the necklace. Nice or not?


Today, went office to interview 2 candidates. All not experienced in our line of work, but we should always give chance to new people right? That took the whole of my morning, and the rest of the days, I was just surfing the net researching for information regarding Perth.

Have to have a rough idea of what to do and where to go in Perth. We've booked our flights for April!

Zoo

Today, went to the Singapore Zoological Gardens. We reached there around 0930, then started our trails.

First, saw the otters, damn smelly. :P
Then walk down towards the Polar Bear showcase. They had a feeding time at around 1000hrs. Along the way, look at some other animals blahblahblah.
Can't remember what some of those animals are also.

The polar bear quite cute.
Sheba and Inuka. Inuka is the polar bear that is born in Singapore Zoo!

Took quite a bit of pictures, and some videos as well.
Enjoy!

Exciting Saturday

This Saturday, we're going to the ZOO!!!!!!!!! Yipee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've got 2 complimentary tickets that are going to expire end of this month, so might as well use it.

She has not been to the zoo for like more than 20years, and he last visited it like 15 years ago!
The 2 suakuS.
*giggle giggle gi gi*


So exciting!!!

Then don't know how long we'll stick around out of home this Saturday, and I have a date with my girlfriends around 5.30pm too!
Life is full of activities huh? :P

Last met these OLD friends like half a year ago, also during school holidays.
Guess the mamaS are free-er during holidays.

Sony Picture Station

Yesterday, one of the gift collection is a Sony Picture Station.
New toy! :D

So now can print pictures without going to the shop or machine anymore!
Cool huh?!?!

It's still in the box, coz' I have nothing to print now.



The only thing, how much is the paper, and how much is the ink? Hmmm.

Spare Tyre

This morning, after sending Karinna to work, I drove around to run some errand.
Went to NTUC at Bras Basah to collect gift redemption, then went to Kallang to collect dog food, which we had been buying for quite some time.
Buy 10 get 1 free, and we have 4 free packets.

On the way to office, I decided to stop by at a Caltex Service Station to check on my tyre. Suspected another hole in the tyre again!
The guy checked checked checked, then told me that the tyre is beyond repair. He suggested to use the spare tyre in the car, and then get another older tyre from him as a spare.
OK. What choice do I have? NOTHING!

Let him do lor. More important to have the tyres in proper working condition.

The "new tyre", have not seen the daylight for the past 2.5 years, is finally put its use on the road.
The only tyre on my car that has 'colour lines' on its surface. :D

Dream or SleepTalk

Yesterday night (more like wee hours in the morning), I was awoken by Karinna around 3am+. She was telling me something ...

Karinna: dear, do you have ????? stage?
Simon: huh? wat stage??!?!?!
K: ?????? stage lah (still cannot hear her properly ...)
S: simi stage?!?!?! huh?!?!?!
S: wat again??!??!
K: ????? stage..... ohhh nevermind

Then went back to sleep. Since awoken, I went to peeeeeeeeeeeee.

This morning, on the way to work, I asked her what she was trying to ask me during the night.

K: got meh?!?!?! i dun remember anything at all
S: har?!?!?!
K: what did i ask u again??
S: dunno what stage or something like parsley sage... like parsley sage rosemary and thyme ...
K: isit?!?!?!?! hahahah... why would i ask for parsley sage?!?
S: wa ma la eh zai? siow
K: (still laughing like siow char bor) hahahahha ... i dun remember anything...got meh?
S: die lor...u sleep walking!!!!!
K: u dreaming is it?!?!?!!
S: ahhh...may be lah....

I should have left the jeo I peed at 3am+, unflushed, as proof... ... :P

Police

Few days ago, went to Bedok Police station, hoping to get some updates regarding the previous weekend hooha.

Actually, I tried calling the number provided in the website, but can never get through. Gave up, and went personally there.

At the counter, the police on duty there simply cannot trace the case log, even after I provided my IC and my mother's IC.
Address also supplied, still cannot find.
Don't know what kind of Business Intelligence tool they using. Maybe it's time to change. :P
After many many tries, he said he'll try some brute force way, and finally manage to trace an incident number, and the investigation officer's name.
Officer not on duty, hard to get update from them. Their system has no record of what is the next update status!

Funny.

Just wait for them to call might be a better choice ... ...

FSI Congress

We had a exhibition booth for an event in Suntec today and tomorrow.
It's Financial Services Industry Congress.

Basically, we're there to promote some awareness to the software which we are reselling. PowerSim
It's a software that helps to do simulation, be it for financial purpose, logistic purpose, or even resource planning.

Just a small booth in the exhition hall.

See the hamsom guys from Hypercube, entertaining the prospect in the centre.

Well, the crowd is not a lot, but I guess this is a good practice for us to start reaching to a little bit more mass audience.
It can be helpful for the future. :P

心晴大动员 Life Transformers

I think this is a fantastic show.
No doubt, it can be very heart-aching to watch the show, but at the same time, it can be very overwhelming to know that you are living so much better than you think you are.

Of course, home home has a hard to pronounce mantra.
I've learnt to one laugh and go ... ...

Today's episode was great. I find the 9 year old Wang Chunfeng an amazing child. I believe any parent who has a child like that, will feel very blessed.

I think I have a liking for such shows. Previously, the US show "Three Wishes" is a must-watch for me on Sunday mornings if I were home. Likewise, "Life Transformers" should be watched if you have the time.



Apparently, it appears to be receiving very high viewership in Singapore.
心晴大动员， 加油啊!


田铭耀: 不要阿！！！ 雪糕那里可以拿来炒？！？ 它会mmmeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllttt的！！！

Furniture

I've been going to Ikea a few times lately. Went visiting some furniture shops at neighbourhood areas as well.

Why?

Need to get a more proper bed for the old man at the old home.
And he specifically asked for a wardrobe that has a locking compartment too!

I also made search on internet as well, and found this some websites that sells bed and bedframes etc.
I think the site is pretty good. In fact, lots of reviews seem to be more on the positive sides. Of course, we cannot be sure if the reviews are specially done up to entice customers.
There are other forums that gave comments regarding the items from the website.

I just made an order for a single bed and bed frame, plus another wardrobe. Can't expect much from the wardrobe quality, but the more important item which is the mattress should be ok.
Total damage for that is $463!
Expensive? Cheap? *shrug*

So, let's hope for the best. :D

Maidless

This morning, sent my maid to the airport. She went back home to help take care of her daughter who is going to give birth in a few days' time. Yeah, my maid is going to be a granny soon.

Already told her to watch out her luggage weight, in the end, have to pay extra 8kg of excess baggage! 1kg costs $10! Wow, if put my in as excess baggage, that would be $750 extra!
Ooops!

Thus, we'll be left without maid for the next 3 weeks or so.
So have to do a bit more house chores again. *yawn*

Hope she enjoys her break from our clutches. :D

Candy Candy

Yes. I am crazy.

Just not long ago, I posted this.

Yesterday, after our swimming lesson, we went to Marine Parade. There was a pasar malam (actually, more like morning lah, not malam :P), and I was walking around and saw Candy Candy DVD.

My brain must be working weird then, I bought it. heh heh heh

So if any one wants to reminisce the past for a moment with this classic famous cartoon, feel free to borrow from me! :P

Hort Park

After the popiah/laksa, we just did a bit of shopping at the NTUC and bought some stuff. Cannot remember buy what also.
Age is catching up, memory is failing some times. Perhaps a lot of times ...

Since we're in the west, decide to pop over to Hort Park, which we had wanted to go for the past many weeks.

We just walked around the place without any aim. Went to the other end which supposedly will link up towards Kent Ridge Park as well, but we didn't move on from there. Not in the correct attire. We wore sandals there, but the path to go further seems to be a little more muddy place, and appears to climb up higher as well.
Damn hot weather you know, it was 4+pm!
I'm not crazy even if I am SiowKow.

Some pictures taken within Hort Park, probably can arrange another time to go again, and go further to Kent Ridge Park. *shrug* We'll see.

After the walk, we drove to McDonald along Farrer Road to take a quick bite. More like greedy than hungry lah, but terrible, I mean the fries tasted horrible (although edible), and the coke is somehow not good as well.
Just rested there for a while before heading back home. :)

Radish Cake & Chocolate

Today woke up pretty early, at 7am. Early for non-working day. Probably due to sleeping early the day before. Slept at 11pm yesterday night, partly because of the anti-histamine which I took as well, to curb my running nose.

Anyway, so early wake up also do nothing, so just read newspaper. By then, it's like 9am already.

Switch on TV to watch the new Free-ti-air channel Okto.
Nothing interesting to me, except it shows "The Three Investigators". It's the detective series fiction by Alfred Hitchcock, and it's the kind which I read when I was in my late primary levels.
Just a little refreshing to watch a bit of the stuff on TV.
Didn't really finish watching. hehehe

Went out to buy some electrical wire for our salt lamp.

After lunch, went over to visit my mother. Alas, she went out! I was supposed to go there to get some stuff for my father anyway. So took the stuff, and off I go to the old home, where the old man is.

Passed him the stuff, and more importantly, the mobile phone for use. Have to teach him a bit on how to use it, you know. Suaku is mountain tortoise. :D

Then clean up the toilet a little for him, somehow, it was a little dirty at that time.

Then went for a little walk, and back home to rest a bit.

Then as we watched TV, they shown something about popiah, at Coronation Plaza. Then I said, let's go! And off we go.
Damn lucky too, "My Cosy Corner" is closed. And they don't sell popiah on Sundays too! Since travelled that far, decided to switch to Sunset Way, to get the nice nice radish cake.
Didn't take picture of it, yet.

This time ok. The shop is opened, and they still have radish cake! So we bought 1. It's not cheap ok! But it's nice. We ate before.
While there, they sell cakes as well. We decided to have 1 single slice of "Best Ever Chocolate". Yum! Yum!


By then, it's like 6pm already, so headed way back home. On the way back, stopped by at Far East Flora, as the 花痴 wanted to buy some flowers to put at her office desk.
花痴? Who? Don't ask me! :)

Villa Marina

Yesterday, after work, went to Villa Marina.

Karinna's colleagues have some sort of 'pre-Deepavali' celebration at one of the colleagues' home at Villa Marina.
Thus, it's Indian food catering! :D

First of all, the place is nice. The pool looks great!
Then the food is good. Probably not cheap, since it's about $17 per head for the food catering. You have nasi bryani, tandoori, naan, mutton curry blahblahblah.
All tasted pretty good actually.

Actually it is more of have the colleagues mingling around with each other, building rapport etc etc. Some of them brought their kids along as well. Not many, just less than 10 kids actually.

Food lasted around 9pm+, then it was adjourned to the Karaoke room. Since it is not a single race group, so all choose only English songs. And due to the age group, the songs are not so new songs. hehehe
ABBA, BeeGees, BarryManilow. My goodness! Oldies, but goodies.
I sang one song. This song. :D

Then the Indians had a special session. They did some indian dance! hehehe
Kinda cute.

It was around 1130hrs that we left, and gave her colleauge and his family a ride back home.
Tired.

Noise?

Sigh.

It wasn't my intention to put music background for the previous posting of the slides. Didn't even know it was there.

I am not sure how it got in, maybe it was defaulted to have the music in there, and I didn't notice.

Somehow, when web pages play music without my 'consent', I didn't really like the idea. No wonder I always keep my computer volume to super low all the time.

I have to admit though, that many years ago, when I created my own website, putting background music in there is a novel idea.
Now I think, such novelistic stuff disappears as age goes up. hehehe

Well, that's a few more post before the music goes off from this blog. Before that, catch the funny face before it disappears from the first page of this blog!
*giggle*

PSP

Today, after settling the electricity and water supply at Bedok home, I went to collect gift redemption from NTUC Income at Bras Basah.

It is a promotional gift for purchasing Vivolife Insurance. Anyway, that should be the last time I get any more insurance plan. No $$$ already!

So here it is, the Slim and Lite PSP from Sony, courtesy of NTUC Income.

Actually, I had wanted to give to my nephew Eugene, but he rejected!
How cool huh?!??!?!

What am I supposed to do with this PSP then? Hmmmmmmmmm

天长地久演唱会

昨天， 和老婆去看演唱会。 天长地久演唱会。
地点在新达城六楼。时间八点正。

我们大概是六点钟抵达那儿。随后吃了些晚餐，再逛一下街，买了点酒，就差不多是进场的时间了。
没有爆满，但还是挺多人的。

我们坐在后排位置，大约离舞台有一百米吧。当然不能仔细看到艺人们的脸，只能靠大荧幕了。
听歌就没问题了！都是唱将！

台湾歌手赵咏华、伍思凯、千百惠、孟庭苇、潘美辰和本地歌手黎沸挥。

首先出场的是黎沸挥。 他唱最少，两首而已。其余的歌手有五，六首歌吧。
接着是孟庭苇， 还是那么的有气质。跟她习佛有关？
再来是赵咏华。 她最活泼乱跳的， 而且会带动气氛。很好！
后来就排到千百惠了。这个也许是多数人最陌生的名字， 不过我认识！
然后是潘美辰了。还是一样的帅气形象。舞台魅力很棒！
最后是伍思凯， 非常好。 气氛十足，魅力十足，唱功十足。一级棒！

唱着唱着，已经十一点多了。演唱会结束了。奇怪的是，没人留下来喊“安歌”！
年纪大了，都该回家睡觉了。嘻嘻。

因为太远太暗了，拍到相当乌漆麻黑的，也没啥好拍的。看看吧！