Sunday 20 December 2009

OSO... 18 Dec... burp!











2nd time there, and i think the food got better.

Maybe the G4 should go back again soon.

Mmm...

Sunday 6 December 2009

G11... my new toy


ever since my Sony point-&-shoot has gone kaput, i've been thinking of getting another point-&-shoot.

thing is, i can never convince myself to get just "another" cammie... coz frankly, P&S cammie sucks when it comes to indoor / low light situations.

but i still want a P&S, coz it's small (relatively speaking, of course, to my black box) and thus, less intimidating to kids and animals.

ditto the restaurant staff too, when i start snapping away food on the table.

so finally, i decided to get my hands on this - the Canon G11.

a P&S with full manual control. released in October, it is as close as one can get where P&S ultimate standard can achieve.

not as good as my 5-year old black box. but for now, it will have to do.

the H monster






over the last 7 / 8 months, there's this great H-bug that went around infecting people.

people who got it seem to get hypnotized by the H-god and willingly succumb part of their savings to get the H stuff.

bags lah, shawls lah... even boots.

so far, 3 of the G4 have already gone to the dark side.

i'm the last survivor... wonder how long can i survive. :P



godson... again






i always say that he is growing up nicely. which is great.

and getting more vocal these days... which is normal for a Pisces.




Dolce




my dog died.

actually, she died some months ago... back in July.

i thought of writing something simple here.

but nothing seems to fit.

nothing seems right.

for now, maybe i should just say, that she is well loved by everyone who knew her, and she loved everyone she knew.

Monday 29 June 2009

godson... updated






my godson is growing up nicely.

healthy and high EQ.

that's good 'nuff for me.


Sunday 21 June 2009

A.L.L. . . . 2009





we went to A.L.L. yesterday. it must have been like, what, 4... 5 years since i was last there.

the place's still the same... though i think they really have limited space for new animals these days.

it's now more like a caring centre, for those animals who have been there for a while... or animals under medication. or those in their final days of their illnesses.

saline / medicated drip packets, dangling amongst rusty cages.

not a pretty sight.

but they are doing their best.

Sunday 14 June 2009

Saturday 6 June 2009

gastritis.... and appendicitis (2)

has anyone tried walking up and down, in a hospital waiting room, in the middle of the night? 

it's freaky, i tell you. 

no aircon or fan (sorry sir, but the system shuts them down. see, we do not expect visitors in the middle of the night.)

ditto TV.

i swear they try to make the room as intolerable as possible just so that visitors will leave (or in some rare cases, such as this, to prevent visitors from camping over the night). 

and to be alone in there for almost 3 hours... with nothing more than Gardenia bread, a bottle of choc milk and newpaper... 

no one to talk to, no nurse to update you on the progress of the patient, no air...

let's hope none of us have to endure that. 

ever. 

gastritis.... and appendicitis (1)

aida called me on tues afternoon, screaming in pain.

gastritis, she believed was the cause of such agony.

can you walk? 

no.

can you sit up? 

no.

ok, stay in bed. 30 minutes later, if still in pain, i'll get help.

sure enough, 30 minutes later, i activated the team.

team came. 

team diagnosed. 

team went, "oh oh... think it's appendicitis."

"what the F**K? how can? it's gastric, no?" aida screamed (or maybe screeched, i dunno... i was in a meeting somewhere up north)

"i believe it's appendicitis. let's get you to the hospital."

an hour later, it's confirmed via CT scan.

she was lucky, as it was diagnosed in time.

acute stage... but it was diagnosed in time nonetheless.

she was hospitalized. she got the op. and she's resting at home now. 

-------

but what i really wanna say here, is that sometimes, little extra cautious efforts make a lot of difference. 

suppose we chose to get her a painkiller jab at the nearest GP instead of calling in help... 

supposed the GP didn't even bother to probe further, apart from the 'rather obvious' gastric issues... 

supposed i didn't bother to use the conference call (even when i'm in mist of attending a meeting) to coordinate the team activation, or that the team is less competent (although quite unlikely, considering the bill they charged me!)

suppose i let her chose NOT to go for the op, especially when some stupid junior doc apprentice actually had the cheek to say that, "sometimes, patients who do not get the inflamed appendices removed can heal by themselves."

(oh i so wanna kill that SOB.) 


sometimes, cost-benefit analysis makes no sense, when it comes to people we care about. 

in times like these, no effort is enough.

in times like these, no worries are plenty.

in times like these, it's nice to let the heart rules the head. 
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.
.

Housecall - SGD270
initial painkillers and drugs - SGD210 
CT Scan - SGD880
early identification of problem, and getting it solved in time - priceless. 

Sunday 31 May 2009

i dun understand the exorbitant price behind the bag... but i appreciate the effort being put into making it



nope, i dun think i'll understand how a bag can cost a bomb (trust me, its a very big bomb) and yet still command such high demand. 

and i'll never understand how a term "vintage" or "classic" can edge off the fact that the design really has really been around for decades without much change.

(try telling a woman that she looks "vintage" and see what happens...) 

guess i'll never will. 

but i do appreciate the craftsmanship being put into the making of such bags.

it could be the fine cutting of the leather. 

or maybe the hand stitching. 

sometimes, it's down to this small little leather wrapped lock.

still...

... would i pay a bomb for such bags? i guess not.
 
but i'm sure they bring happiness to the owners, happiness which can't be measured by dollars and cents. 

(hmm... or is it that it can't be measured by dollars and sense.)

& if my friends are happy, then it's good enough for me.   :)



and as for me, i'll be waiting for my 16" Alien Queen figurine to arrive...  something which i believe it's a purchase my friends will never understand.  :P

Friday 29 May 2009

burp!...





Bread...


Onion rings...


Wild mushroom cream soup...


Spaghetti Bolognaise

Wagyu Sirloin


Sunday 24 May 2009

... and just like that, a new dynasty has arrived.

one of the G4 members recently got a Birkin.

oh, hang on, that was a few weeks ago. 

she got a Birkin few weeks ago.

she now got a Kelly.

in little less than 2 months, she got both a Birkin AND a Kelly!

and so i humbly (& happily) hand over my crown and my title, for there is now a new platinum peanut in the G4 gang. 
.
.
.
.
All hail Wen! All hail Wen! All hail Wen!

Sunday 17 May 2009

his royal shallowness in the making... sigh.




like mother, like son. 

hiaz.


hahahaha

Sunday 10 May 2009

there are swiss army knives, and then there are swiss army knives.


got this multi-tool few days ago.

actually, i was supposed to get a simple wire cutter, but somehow my eyes got transfixed to this wide range of swiss army knives. 

the hypnotic powers of cold steel somehow had this power over the weak minded, and as my eyes moved from a SGD5 cutter to a SGD45 keychain knife, they kept chanting, "why stick to the pathetic one trick pony when you can get more?"

"why stick to a 5-tool toy?"

"only 10 tools? surely you can do better than that..."

and at the end, after 10 minutes of staring, i got this: a 15-tool monster!

let's see... 4 screw drivers, a saw, cutters and pilers, scissors, can and bottle opener. heck, there's even a cock screw and an awl (actually, i have no bloody idea what am i to do with that when i go camping, but what the heck).

oh, and there's a knife somewhere in it too. 

& the damage? let's not talk about the damage here. 

point is, that i got the best of the best.

now all i have to do is to get me a tent, some gas canisters, so that i can go camping and try out the monster.

Monday 4 May 2009

Equanimity... Ooommm

equanimity. 

now that's one word i have not heard for a long while. 

in times when our lives are measured by either success or failure, we forgot how to be zen about things. 

we forgot that trauma is survivable, and that we can't be too corky when we succeed.

we seem to think that setbacks are bad and defeats are unacceptable. 

that can't be more wrong.

Sunday 3 May 2009

too many toys... or is it?


sometimes i think i might be buying the boys too many toys.

then again, if the boys enjoy the new stuff, who are we to say it's too many.

*shrug*

Tuesday 28 April 2009

My precious...



woohoo! waited almost 7 months for it.

and it's a damn good looking piece of tin can. 

Sunday 26 April 2009

Dun try, won't know.


'nuff said. 

17th April... Cats... sucks!


did i say it suck'd? well it did.

but what to expect when the crew did lip-synching? whatever happened to the live-singing version? 

next time, please bring back the UK production. 

Sunday 5 April 2009

Frank conversations

Read this excerpt on "Psychological Today" recently. and it somehow kinda reflected on a recent conversation i had with a friend. she claimed that we had different views in seeing things. i said that we had the same views, just that she was not willing to see the common grounds. 

no two people are alike. & when we do things that friends are disagreeable with, it should not be seen as i don't respect their views. sometimes, it just means we each choose a different path. 

most times, a different path means a rockier route. who wouldn't want to follow the crowd and take the easy way out? who wouldn't want to leave office at 6 and spent the night with loved ones by the sofa and just nuah at will. it's so much easier. 

but when i dun follow the group and take the "advice", it doesn't mean i deliberately choose to ignore friends, or i love them less. or judge them in a bad light.

sometimes, we choose a different path coz (at that point of time) it's the best option. i dun choose them coz i wanna piss friends off. 

--------

whatever it is, it's good to have frank conversations with friends. 

i think we lack those these days. 

frank conversations. 

i just hope that in the heat of arguments, we dun lose the main purpose of having such conversations in the first place - to express own belief but respect each other. 


"Irritations are inevitable in relationships. It's just not possible to find another human being whose every quirk, habit, and preference aligns perfectly with yours. 

We each have differing values and ways of looking at the world, and we want different things from each other. Such differences derive from our genetically influenced temperaments, our belief systems, and experiences growing up in our family of origin.

Sometimes, little irritations may code for deeper problems. It's as if ice cubes become an iceberg. Think of ice cubes as free-floating irritants —bothersome but meaningless. But small problems coalesce into a vast, submerged force when they take on a different meaning in your mind—when you add them up as evidence of a character flaw or moral defect. 

you begin looking for evidence that your partner is self-absorbed—and of course you find it. 

Every annoyance in a relationship is really a two-way street. Partners focus on what they're getting, not on what they're giving. But no matter how frustrating a partner's behavior, your interpretation is the greater part of it. What matters is the meaning you attach to it."


excerpts from Psychology Today, April 2009


ps: people, no comments on this entry please. i just wanna leave it as it is. thanks. 


Sunday 29 March 2009


my hair stylist gave me this for my B-day prezzie. 

cute as it is, i really dunno how to use it. i mean... i can't wear it, nor can i place it with the rest of the Swarovski stuff.

hmm... i need to go and think what to do with it.

but it's the thought that counts and i'm glad that after 14 years, she finally got my B-day right. 

that's the main point. and i'm happy. 

someone i thought i once knew...

few days ago, i saw her. a friend. 

well, more like an ex-friend these days.

we were close in the old days. no... not the lomantic lomantic kinda close. but the can-talk-about-everything kinda close.

then she met a guy & asked for my opinion of the dude.

frank then i was, i said he gave me bad vibes. 

next thing i knew, i lost a friend.

over the years, i heard about him being abusive towards her... but there's nothing much i can do abt it.

i'm not sure what's the moral of the story to all this. should a friend be honest and risk losing it all? or shd a friend be diplomatic and hope for the best.

maybe there's no moral to this story.

i dun know. 

Sunday 22 March 2009

why are we so focus'd on the 8 prawns?

8 tiger prawns for SGD239. that's a lot of moolah.

all these talk about touting and over-charging...

but when the said hawker centre has more than 1 stall being suspended at any one time for touting and/or over-charging, then the more relevant question is, "so what has the authority done about it?"

if something has been done, why is it not effective?

in fact, what has the authority done about SLS (the mall that has just as notorious for over-charging electronic gadgets) anyway? 

gahmen shd get down to the core of the issue and flush out the bad blood, once and for all... not make a din out of one event, then forget abt it few weeks later.

and why is the National Environment Agency giving the punishment to the stall holder anyway?  you want to attract tourists into the cty? make over-charging a criminal act and get the mata involved.

imagine over-charging a grilled sting-ray & get 6 months of jail... nice. 

Tuesday 17 March 2009

why am i holding so many accounts?

Ah V. mentioned today (quite incorrectly, of course) that i am holding a very big portfolio.

it's so not true. it's definitely not very big.

just big. 

just... insanely big.

and with the current cost cutting measures, i dun think i'll be getting much additional assistance any time soon either. 

(sorry G4, no position for any of you at this time.)

think i better start to farm some accounts out to others. or i wont have any energy left to enjoy my leave (that is, of course, provided i DO have opportunity to take leave in the first place). 

grrrr....


photo of the bride...

13th March... attended a wedding event.

from 6am till almost midnight.

energy depleted. 

but it's nice to see a happy couple, so i'm good.