in another world

Wah, the storyline for these 2 days of "The Peak" (once again, it's on channel 8, 9-10pm) is rather heart-rendering... Left 4 episodes liao, and we are looking at car crashes, paralysis, rejected marriage proposals.. high drama. That Chen Tianjun guy can really act lah, super convincing not just as a cheeky flirtatious babe magnet, but also as a remorseful, defeated, directionless man.. super power. He'd better garner at least a nomination for that mediacorp "Best Actor" award or something. Xiaoyang's amazing too. Fiercely intense acting. A "Best Actress" nomination/award for her then. =)

This week, it'd be badminton on wed and ping pong on thurs. Sure hope I can keep up with this regular exercise routine for as long as possible. Makes me a much more balanced and happier person.

And after carrot cake (any more orders?), it'd be butter cookies. Watch this space.

Homemade Carrot Cake II

Query: "How to store your carrot cake, and how long can it last?"

Answer: "3 days in airtight container in open (cool environment). 5 days in airtight container in refrigerator. Up to 2 mths in airtight container in freezer."

Homemade Carrot Cake

Okies, the homemade ang moh-style carrot cake's out. Spent most of yesterday afternoon fiddling in kitchen, and here's the product, complete with (equally homemade) lemon glaced icing.



If you like what you see, can starting placing ur order(s) liao. =) 1 piece as shown in pic (abt 8cm by 8cm) goes for a low friendship price of S$2.50. A whole cake (abt 12 pcs) goes for S$25. So, if your sweet tooth is calling out, just drop me a note.



Btw, special orders (e.g. replace lemon icing with other fruity icing/no icing etc) can be entertained. =)

Ping-a-Pong

Played ping pong today. For someone who's used to relaying strength to rackets to hit balls, table tennis is no child's play. The orange bola is so light (compared to basketball - my pri sch game), and the bat so small (compared to badminton - my sec sch game), it's a herculean task to keep the bouncing ball in the game, on the table. It tends to fly.. up.. left.. right.. I've to make a super conscious effort to silently recite "keep it down, keep it down" at each return, with my arm holding the bat positioned in a rather strange location, perhaps too conscious of the need to treat things gently. But all said, it was good fun. At least, i'm learning a new skill, there is some sweat involved, my heart + muscles are working out and calories are being burnt.

Dad's still down. Coughing away in his sleep right now. =( Hope he recovers soon. Then perhaps, i can bring him to eat some grilled stuff, either turkish or brazilian..

Drizzling still. Pity our northern neighbours (if u've seen 'The Focus' yesterday night on tv). Sometimes, i'm really thankful to be borne on tiny red dot. Just a few kilometres away from a different destiny.

mere coincidence??

Was tidying up a big pile of accumulated newsletters and brochures when this little nugget of info caught my eye.. Eerily freaky. U decide if it's mere coincidence. =P

1) New York City is the 11th state and has 11 letters, so has Afghanistan.

2) George W Bush has 11 letters, so has Rasmin Yuseb, the terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993.

3) The first plane crashing into the Twin Towers (viewed as 11 from a distance) was Flight Number 11.

4) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11

5) Flight 77 which also hit the Twin Towers was carrying 65 passengers. 6 + 5 = 11

6) The tragedy was on Sept 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1 + 1 = 11. The US emergency service telephone number is 911. 9 + 1 + 1 = 11

7) The total number of victims inside the hijacked planes was 254. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11

8) Sept 11 is the 254th day of the calendar year. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11

9) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11

10) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.

Freaked yet?

Next one... me?

Went back to old JC for an afternoon workshop. Funnily didn't feel myself to be 10yrs older than those strolling along in uniforms, that is until I hear the clickety click of my high heels on concrete pavement lah. It's nice to be back on windy grounds, although frankly, JC's prob the period which I'd most dread re-living. Super stressful days, I remember. =P Uni days are my fav.

Anyways, can feel a soreness creeping up my throat. And my body is starting to feel a little warmer than usual. I can only pray that dad's bug has not made its move on me... weekend's coming, I cannot imagine lying ravaged in bed then.. I need an orange now.

since sunday

Sneaking in a min between work to write. Time is chugging along pretty quickly, it's coming to end Jan soon. Solid. In another 3+ weeks time, it's CNY again. Another perfectly legitimate season to pig out and chill. This time, US uncle is flying in to soak in the festive atmosphere, away from wintry cold states.. My turn to play host. What shall he eat... crispy roast suckling pig? traditional cantonese dim sum? salted veggie pig intestines? soy sauce braised trotters? Hmmm, time to up the exercise frequency before irreversible damage sets in.

Met up with 2 grps of great pallies over the past 2 days. IE buddies @ Hog's Breathe Cafe for a way overdue dinner date (our 1st meet-up since work started 3 wks ago) and JC galfrens @ Sushi Tei for an equally blue moon catch up (since last July?). That cosy feeling when catching up with good friends is like some magic balm.. soothes ur soul and makes you feel safe. Tks, pals. Gd luck for ur body workouts, masters course and korean hunks.

Was supposed to play badminton with HL on mon, but she sprained her poor ankle, so dragged dad to sports hall instead. Not too bad, 15 yrs since he last touched racket but some sporadic traces of magic still emerged. With more training, he'd soon soar like those senior uncles at adjacent court. Too bad, pa's down with fever + cough now.. Wonder if it's some bug caught at the court.

Pan's carrot cake

Went to watch Pan's Labyrinth @ Vivo just now. There were some pretty graphic scenes I must say. Some visual enough to make my goose pimples cringe e.g. when the hard liquor the Captain drank leaked through his slit upper lip-lower cheek and stained the bandage soaking red. Eeew. To me, the line between fantasy and reality is not too blurred. Ofelia IS living out her own fantasies. There is no faun, no fairies, no hidden doors. Her world exists the way she wanted it to be and how she saw it coming. No contradiction. Btw, I like that haunting, lyric-less lullaby.

Perhaps it's the golden village hot tea (priced at a horrendously exaggerated price of S$3), I'm not too sleepy now.. The legroom at Vivo GV is more than ample, the aircon's just nice and cool, the sound system's not deafening, and best of all, it seemed like there is unrestricted access to other theatres across the level. Amazing. I wonder how many ppl had squeezed combos on a single pass.

Had my first exercise session for the yr last thurs - a 1hr badminton session. And booked my 2nd session liao. Gg try my best to make it a weekly routine. My bum's happily aching away now. Twds better health, and taut-er butt.

As CNY inches its way forward, I'm thinking of using my oven to spread some joy (and earn some miniscule pocket $ if possible). Ang moh-style carrot cake, anyone? Filled with generous doses of raisins, carrot and pineapple and brushed with a layer of light spice cream. If I get down to it, will upload pics, and u can then start placing ur orders. Free delivery for one (and above) full cake. =) Or u'd prefer cookies?

Sunday again. It'd be over before u know it. Grab every min and waste no time on self-pity.

Yak yak yak

Haha. Boys not bad, girls dun like. V true lah (i've known that since JC days). =P Do u watch the 9-10pm channel 8 drama "The Peak"? That Cai Tanjun's such a charming combination of wits, intellect, sensitivity, cheekiness and street-smartness (and we are not even talking abt his physique and dimples yet). Haha, i realised i'm swooning like some puberscent teenage girls. Oh well, yah lah yah lah, I'm speeding towards the wrong side of 20s liao, better wake up my idea and stop oogling at young screen gods. But hey, once-in-a-while-indulgence is no big deal right? That's probably why tv can be addictive at times. =P

In any case, today's XX ministry's recruitment talk @ NUS... thought I only did ok (not excellent as could have been). Silly human/technical error loh, somehow during transfer of folder from thumbdrive to laptop, the sequence of photos got messed up.. (should have checked again, my oversight) so had to stop halfway and just continued with pure verbal sharing loh. Thankfully I decided to persist, so when my 'speech' ended, I firmly stood my ground and quickly readjusted the pics before running thru them again, this time in right sequence, elaborating off-head as I clicked. Glad I did that, can see that they enjoyed that last part much. A picture really tells a thousand more words eh. Another experience. Another learnt lesson. Hope there were more than a few inspired souls in the LT just now.

During my short 2 hr visit back to alma mata, got waylaid by a couple of ex-kiddos who excitedly shouted greetings. My goodness, time really flies eh.. my 1st batch of gals are already in their 2nd yr!? Hmmm, like what I said in LT earlier - in this line, you either inspire or you kill their desire. The kiddos' appreciation is what keeps most of us going. The knowing that because you exist, it has made a difference to their lives. This is prob something that cannot be bought with any type of package.

Haiz, damn that wrong sequence of pics.

Then and Now

Yesterday, bio comrades came over for a long overdue house visit. Time moves by pretty fast @ HV, it's been more than 6mths since we've changed address.. anyways, I digress. It's great to see the work team lounging around, relaxing and chatting abt all and sundry while munching on semi-melted rocher choc and iced longan. As batches of young blood come in, we see our population size increase exponentially, from 1 to 2 to 3 to 5 to 6 to 7 to 8... that's 800% in just over a decade? The thing about our line of work - it's the people (both comrades and clients) who make u stay and also the people who make u go. The 'smallness' of our group has always made it easier for us to consult, bond and mentor. I only hope this will not change as we grow from strength to strength.

p.s. I'd just been asked to return to tertiary alma matar to help gahmen's XX ministry with its scholarship recruitment drive.. the men do national service. I do my community service. Funnily, I am looking forward to going back.. (never would have thought I'd be back to speak though). It'd be a bittersweet, nostalgic kind of visit. Hope I'd be able to inspire a few and not make a boo-boo of myself that day.

continuous flux

That Durai face is splashed all over papers and tv again. Start of civil trial.. day 1. Bigger cans of worms are gg to be dug open. Peanuts are gg to be hot once more.

And the missing Air Adam remains missing. Even with all those sophiscated, international, volunteer planes & sea vessels scouring so hard for over a week, not a single trace of that ill-fated aircraft. What is this, another bermuda triangle in the works?

More bombs expected in the 'Land of a thousand smiles'... and investors are threatening to pull out, peeved by newly proposed changes to foreign investment criteria. Wonder how long more those friendly thais can continue to smile.

Hmmm... the universe is in flux. Like it or not, nothing stays still even for a millisecond. Good luck trying to make sense of it all.

a new generation

Some of these young ones, are really amazing. As workaholic and perfectionist as me when I was younger. Or even worse. Scary leh, when I see them work so hard.. and that is when I didn't even push them so bad (or at least I think so). Send me work attachments on friday nights, saturday mornings, sunday evenings... And I've got to tell them to take it easy! Imagine that. I wonder if I've so scared my bosses those few years back... But I totally appreciate their hard work and effort lah, know they really want to do a good job. Great! As long as they don't burn out before reaching the end-point.

I'm getting my bum outta office soon. Gigi Leung is singing her last song... I'd let her finish. Fish, I just got her album (in case it's not obvious).

First weekend

First sat of the new year and I had to wake up with a work-induced headache. Not a good zzz I must say, been uncontrollably tossing and turning some work thoughts in my head as I played marathon chess with Uncle Zhou last nite. Or perhaps it's because I watched the Hong Kong triad show "Elections" before zzz and the nerves got irreversibly freezed up as Simon Yam bashed Tony Leung... =P Whatever it is, I hope that cloud of iron mash in the head clears soon. I still need to do housework.

Hmmm.. weather's returning back to being sunny, so that's good news for ice-kacang man once more. And the block opposite looks like it'd be finishing its facelift soon, so that's good news for everyone nearby who has been putting up with the noise and dust.

......

Mind suddenly at a blank. Don't know what to write liao, so I guess it's breakfast prata time. I'd get some good, strong kopi to knock some sense back.

p.s. only 3 days into non-hol and I can already sense the pace hotting up. Eeeks. I shall try my best to avoid SIAD (self-induced anxiety disorder).

p.s. btw, I made up SIAD. There's probably no such term... or is there?

First day of the year

First time probably since a decade (?) that I spent the actual last few seconds of countdown with dad. Past years had always been either BBQs at beaches and parks, all-night mahjong sessions, movie dates etc with JC partner, university pallies or nurturer buddies.

Yesterday night, it was a slow dinner at Lau Pat Sat (with throngs of fellow s'poreans) washed down with traditional Teh Aliah (ginger milk tea). Then a visit to the newly restored Asian Civilization Museum - the exterior's nice but the galleries inside are rather limited, cramped and not really intuitively-organized.. haiz, i guess NY's Metropolitan Musuem has changed the standards forever. =P. After a shorter-than-expected visit, left the musuem for the Esplanade Park. Hasn't planned to squeeze with the crowds but heck, it's just an hr to go before the much-awaited, taxpayers-paid-for mega display of pyrotechnics... so decided to snag a place amongst the wet grass to sit with dad and people-watch while waiting. *Wheeezee... BOOOOM! Piak Piak Piak... Boom Boom Boom* It's a nice way to end the year, with bright colours filling half the sky and excited, satisfied cheers following every mega burst of fireworks. The car and human jams that followed after the 2-min display were not too desirable though.


Lau Pat Sat


ACM


Grand old Fullerton, all decked out for the New Year


Heaps of excited comrades waiting for pyro display - on bridge opposite too...

New Year resolution-making has never been on my agenda for as long as I remember. For 2007, I know I'd be going back to volunteer work. Possibly an overseas volunteer expedition again. To find back more meaning and touch base with humility once more.

Happy New Year to you and loved ones. May there be more peace and love in the yr ahead. (It's ironic how the simplest things can be the most elusive.)