Book Fair and IMM trip!

Hmm... On Tuesday, i went to the Worlds' Book Fair in Suntec with Tracey, before she met up with Joseph #2 in the evening for a movie. Nothing much de! Intially i thought there are going to be tons and tons of books luring me to devour them!! Alas to my disappointment, none appeal me. Perhaps i don't like to read books ba. Perhaps they just don't have the books that i want, such as Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Enders' Game... Oh! Enders' Game is really a very very nice book. I've read it 5 times when i borrowed from the library. Now i still feel like reading it, but i think my brother lost the book i bought. Humph...

After we visited the Book Fair, we went to the toilet on level 1. Errm... i know this is nothing interesting... Go toilet only also need to blog ar? Joseph... are u nuts? LOL!! No la... just that outside the toilet, i saw these beautiful orchards!!

Indeed very beautiful that it certainly caught my attention. Since there are nothing much to do, we petrolled around suntec, looking for Song En's gift ( ideas like puzzles, watches, ties came to our mind ) before ending up at Raffles Place Shopping Centre with a pair of lethargic legs. Went home after that.

For today, i went out with my sister to IMM! Met in Jurong East MRT, we proceed to a Jurong Entertainment Centre for lunch first. Had Herbal chicken! Visited the ice-skating ring, Arcarde before heading for IMM.

Hmm... my sister treat me eat ice-cream leh... ( chocolate chip one ) Felt so blessed actually... (^.^) Actually today is the first time i've been to IMM! I'm so noob hor? Not a bad place actually! Big and spacious... suddenly we are "caught" by 2 people from prudential. They some sort of like let us hold a rubber ball and become extremely friendly to us. The real reason behind it is to create awareness about an insurance plan. This insurance plan talks about saving $100+ monthly in them, which they then use this money to invest before returning us with a 3% interest rate + additional $15000 after certain years. He stated that 80% of the money will be invested in bonds while 20% of the money will be invested in stocks. ( Just wondering... why can't i buy the bonds myself? *shrugs* )

As usual, this guy passed me a pen and want us to write down our particulars. As i was writing, he just keep on blabbering and asking me tons of unrelated question ( e.g. what church u attended? Is she your gf? etc. ), as if i'm concentrating on him. U know... guys can only do one thing at a time. In the end, i "shoot" back at him and "interrogated" him instead. So so so... he was from Temasek Poly and joined Prudential 3 years ago. Currently salary ranges from 2K to 3K, but next year going to be 6K. Why? He performed well last year. Because for every case he close, he gets 50% of the premium for the first year, followed by 25% second year, then 10% third year etc. This means that he got 100% of the premium for 6 years. Don't understand this statement? Ask prudential.. Anyway my sister got the Prudential girl talking to her, which is from Singapore poly and recently quitted being a Nike manager. Certainly not a good speaker. Untrained perhaps.

Talking about Nike, u know what does Nike means? Nike is actually the name of the Goddess of Victory. Once there is this guy called Jeff Johnson who dreamt of this Goddess. This Goddess said that if he puts her name down, this will be the best selling shoes. Then he suggested this name to Knights, whose company needed a new name and logo. As for the SWOOSH logo design created by Carolyn Davidson, it represented the wing of the Greek Goddess Nike and embodies the spirit of that Goddess. Impressively Nike sold $3.2million worth of shoes in 1972, and its profit doubled each of the next 10 years. Nike passed Adidas to become the industry leader in the US in 1980, the year it went public. The company made a quantum leap in 1984 when it sugned the 21-year old Jordan to endorse a basketball sneaker. Indeed now, Nike is the largest sportswear supplier in the world.
http://www.brandchannel.com/boty_results/global_list.asp
Not bad... though the ranking of NIKE brand did drop a little in 2006... lol...

Enough of that. After walking around in IMM for 45 minutes, we proceeded back to Jurong Entertainment Centre for Shrek 3 movie! Ok la... story plot very very much suitable for children i guess. Some funny elements, but i still like the donkey-dragon hybrid baby! They are so adorable... hehe...

Before we left the centre, we got these 2 cute pooh bear! One dressed in Penguin suit and the other in Crocodile suit. Extremely cute after u strip the suit away! Think i gave to YT and ting before...

Had a long long long long enjoyable walk! Next i took a bus, reached home, played piano for 5 mintues before going for a run. Now my whole body was "in heat". In case you don't know, you only describe dogs "in heat", which means they have strong desires to mate. My case of "in heat" was that i feel a little heaty after the run k... don't mistaken... ( though i wanna married young ) lol...

That's all~ Hope all of you have a nice day!

From dust we come, from dust we go...

Oh my... i slept at 3.30am and woke up at 8.30am. Didn't really sleep well. Dad woke my sisters and i up to collect the ashes of my grandma. Manage to reach the crematory at 9.05am. When we reached there, we were ushered to a room specially for ash collection. It is air-conditioned!

Hmm... initially i thought "ash" was really a pile of wafer-like blackish dust that we burned from paper. Surprisingly, the "ash" was actually fragments of solid bones! The man above was distributing the larger bone fragment for us, which we in turn use a chopstick and place it into the bone container. Ceremonial purpose i suppose. If i'm not wrong, the bone container have a name called urn. Hmm... i took a smaller fragment, in case i dropped it. Hehe... After which we visited my dad's bro urn before leaving. He died when he was still a child, hence the picture was a kindergarden graduation pic i think.... left after everything was done.

According to wikipedia, these bone fragments are mostly made up of calcium phosphate + minerals and represented roughly 3.5% of the original body mass, while the larger part of the body and the soft tissue vaporized from the heat. Back into the topic, in fact, there is this "no taking of pictures" sign in the crematory. Just took it anyway... for memories sake... Don't know why i have the affinity to be rebellious.

Actually i was very mad at the monks in the crematory. After the ash was placed properly in the urn, 4 monks meditated for my grandma immediately after another meditation for another funeral. Fair enough they are tired as they walked in a Bo Chap manner towards us. As they are meditating, that fat monk don't know for what reason smile so happily. Are u a laughing buddha? ( Not able to use the F word cos Bugs bunny don't like, but it is most appropiately used here ). Please. Be serious. Even monks from other countries are looking at you. Don't disgrace yourself. Just beside this fat monk is a thin monk from China. KOU! Cannot keep still and the gaze is not fixed. Look up... look down.. look as if he is sick of the job and seriously, he really didn't meditate properly and just wanna do it a fast and quick job. You can tell this kind of attitude in reluctant people easily. Suddenly for no reason, there are 5 monks. One monk has joined the meditation for no reason just beside that Bo Chap china monk. I really doubt he is meditating cos even when his mouth is chanting, he gave eye signal to the opposite monks. After 15 secs, they left and we followed behind. What's more. After we place the urn at designated place, they smile so happily to us and tell us to pray for good studies etc before leaving. Smile so gayly for what. 3 words: Cannot make it.

The anger in me subside rather quickly. No point. Its their job afterall. Next my family went to a renovated hawker in hougang for our lunch cum breakfast. Took a picture with my sister!Not much things i've done today. So that's all~ Hopefully i can make full use of these 2 weeks before i go for reservist. Just a moment of thoughts: Cherish those who are alive! Make sure they know u love them :) Something for myself: Don't always complain. Learn to be thankful~!

Last day of the wake

Indeed these few days are super tiring. Friends and relatives visits are very supportive and i appreciate all your presences. Below are some snap shots i've taken for the past three days:

This is my cousin Bao Di. Despite his past mistake ( i do not wish to elaborate ), he started to cherish his life and make full use of it. Hmm... from the photograph, u can't see what he is drawing. But in fact, he was drawing this frog picture with thousands of small little dots from his thin black marker! So he just keep "dotting" away! The camara didn't manage to capture the tiny dots, but it was a very delicate piece of artwork. He told me that he needed at least 2 to 3 days to complete one piece of artwork. My Bro and i in a moment of boredom... Trying to act bored!My parents On thursday, i almost went crazy. Nothing to do!!!!!! In the end, i went to the neighbourhood shops and window shop alone. Then before i went back to the wake, i visited one of the playground! Below is just one of the snapshot i've taken, one of the area contained small pebbles for people to step on. Bedok seems beautiful isn't it? Though the void deck is rather dirty, the renovated playground is very nice. Beyond this bench is the playground! Filled with greeneries everywhere... Oh ya... the wind is very cooling also in the evening... It greatly hightens my mood and distract me from doing anything silly. As i was about to return to the wake, i saw a place nicely decorated with white flowers and ribbons nearby! Oh!! Its a malay wedding which is going to be held this weekend! Initially the void deck we occupied were booked by them, but we some sort of like "forcefully snatched" it for our funeral. Errm... then they have to make do with their wedding just diagonally across our wake. The place was very very beautifully decorated on the facade that it caught my attention immediately as i petrol around the vicinity of the wake.Again, before i returned to boredom, i saw a group of pigeons having a meeting on the grass patch! Seems like one bird is late for the meeting... notti bird... Back in the wake on friday, a group of people dawn in black clothing arrived at our wake and started chanting from a book. Only a few of our relatives participate in this event cos its optional. Oh ya... people who are dressed in these black clothings are volunteers. I don't think they are paid. However for the rest, such as the monk, the priest etc, everything else is paid for. Perhaps i should highlight on a thing which i'm not very happy about. Even my relatives are also not very happy with her. There is this nun who was present in our wake. Not everyday, but often enough. Guess her appearance? Let me tell u, she wore a nice blond wig, long leather gloves with a striking white bracelet. Mini skirts and high heel boots to compliment with it. Note also the high heel boots was up to knee level. Impressive. This nun was an estate broker as well, and before she left the wake today, she drove a monk in a red coloured car. I understand... bad example indeed... and i shall not elaborate further to protect myself from the law. Who knows? I blabber things here and may be charged unknowingly 2 days later? Just like getting fine for jaywalking.. People nowadays are so free. Truly a "democratic" society indeed. I would say, 50% democracy and 50% communist would be more likely. Maybe you don't quite understand what i'm saying, but it is produced from a mixture of thoughts. The essence is more or less here le...

My cousins!!! The girl is called Zeean and that little boy is called Zeon! Haha... a very cute pair of siblings. Always wanna make one another cry. Very entertaining de!Late in the night ( last night of the wake ) we burned those paper money, buildings made of wooden sticks, "treasure box", paper Mercedes-Benz and lots more. Even as i'm taking this picture far away, u can still feel the infared heat!!
On the last day of the wake, which is today sunday proper, we are very busy and very tired. Of course i still went to church in the morning and played hymns for them. Hmm... praise the Lord! Though i didn't practise well, a good job was done nonetheless. (^.^) *beaming* I also don't know how come i can do it... very surprising...

After which, the whole family ( other then Esther ) went to the funeral. A lot of Kow tow, offerring, crying followed. Next came the band. Trumpet, saxaphone, cymbal BLASTED. Staying there for 15 mintues can make u instantly deaf, trust me. The whole thing lasted at least half an hour, which i think everyone was deaf after that.

When the coffin was closed, we were asked to walk behind the coffin as my relatives carry the coffin in front. That time was 1.30pm and the sun was SCORCHING HOT!!!!!!! Really cannot make it. CMI CMI... since we're wearing only socks, the tremendous amount of heat generated from the nuclear reaction of the sun impacted the concrete road as our 3mm thick feet absorbed 70% of the heat while walking and 95% of the heat while standing. Seriously, my feet still feel the burning pain after 4 hours. I think the heat can reach up to 80 degree celcius. No kidding.

After we took the bus, we went straight to the crematory at Guang Ming Shang. When we reached there, we are told to kneel down, then walk 2 rounds around my grandma's photo ( while 4 priest was meditating in a "fast forward" pace, chanted super duper fast ) and before we knew it, "PLOP" goes the coffin into the silvery metal plate. OMG!! I didn't even realise the coffin is ours and it just went in without us noticing it. Then the 4 monks just left. Below is a snapshot of the crematory:

Of course my relatives cried. This is the time where i heard the most crying. Straight after the short ceremony which lasted for less then 10 mintues, we chose the place to put the ash. According to my dad who made the decision, everything is computerized. Of course in the meantime when we are still there, i saw that 4 monks again, repeating the same thing again and again for at least 4 times before we left. It's a busy job afterall.

Anyway today is really a tiring day. All my relatives are tired from the 7 day funeral. I just hope that now that it has past, all of us will face the future with a thankful heart. Thankful that there are still many love ones waiting for us... thankful that we are still alive and should live our life to the fullest.

Mixed feelings...

Finally got to practise a few hymns that i need to play this coming sun for an hour. Oh my... still unfamiliar with it... perhaps i won't play well afterall...

Reached the wake rather late.. about 8pm! Before that have to pay the stupid "Jaywalking fine". Called 100 and asked them for the traffic police hotline, then they transfered me to an emergency hotline for traffic police, which then transfered me again to a traffic offence department. Tried to give my bro's NRIC number to obtain the reference no. for the fine, but unable to give any info about it. Useless bums.

Seriously, from the fine letter they gave, no email address was given for further enquires. What if my friend got the "Jaywalking fine" but gave my name and NRIC instead? What if i wanna appeal? In summary, i don't have good impression about traffic police. Seriously, no email for us to give further enquire, no proper system to check who got the fines from the NRIC. Don't expect them to do great things in future, other then giving fines for jaywalking and staying in an office with cocked up computers unable to generate simple data like fines reference number.

Oh ya, today only church friends and my dad's friends came to the wake. It was rather quiet... But wonder why my title is called mixed feelings?

Reason is simple. Pooh bear like Bugs bunny. Though Bugs bunny likes Pooh bear also, he likes Taz most. Pooh bear feel it's hard to make Bugs bunny his because of the love Bugs bunny have for Taz. Actually Pooh bear feels sad, but he cannot expect anything because he was the third party. Bugs bunny also feel stress too... but luckily, Taz don't know anything. So what should Pooh bear do?

Maybe Pooh bear should just make a bee dance and collect nectar la... Afterall, Pooh bear was in the wrong since he is the third party... Lol... Go find piglet la... or Eeyore... Anyway, i'm talking rubbish. Thanks for listening anyway.

3rd day of the wake

Today is the 3rd day of my Grandma's wake. Reach at 1.30pm, played in the nearby swing alone, slept a while before friends and relatives came. Bored to death. The End.

Lol!! Seems like i'm not remoseful at all? I'm not ok... Just that the place is warm and it makes me feel vex... Hmm... in fact, our family do have a lot of friends who came!! My dad ex-colleages, my uncle Mei de, Dad's hawker best friend and wife, mother's brother and wife, Xin Shi fellowship, Uncle Daniel and wife, relatives, Esther's ex-boss and friends etc. Thanks for coming! Oh ya... Uncle Daniel must take care of yourself! Recently slipped and have to recover from the injury. Lucky you're alright!!! Thanks for being such a nice brother to me! Always didn't get to see u in church these days cos have to fly here fly there for work and training... Appreciate your presence actually... (^.^)

Thanks Xinshi also! Hmm... Let me try to think... Jeffery, Huiping, Wenmin, Shan shan, Tracey, Joseph. Thanks for all your precious time! Hmm... Noah, Pan pan and Huifen came again! Thanks Fen fen for coming though i know you're very very tired... :P Thanks Gan jie and Wenmin for staying back a while and chat with us too! Appreciate all of your presence...

Had an enjoyable chat with my dad's friends also. From their conversation, i learned a lot. May it be people-to-people relationship, how u treat people who betrayed you, how u should confront a difficult person, how to manage if people asked you for money for food, etc. Of course all these are very real in their life. I like to listen to them talk about their perspective and opinion and how they react to such situation.

Today is a short day for me. It has been long since i see Moon... well.. take care k.. though we cannot meet up often because of certain circumstances, i know you're well taken care of by Bryan. Do help YT with her work too! She say she didn't do well leh... (^.^)

That's all for today. Smile! Cos in everyday, it's a gift to be alive... Life is beautiful afterall...

Extreme boredom

As usual, straight after i woke up from my bed, our family rushed out of the house again... Why? Because today is my bro's birthday! Happy Birthday Mr Josh! Sitting comfortably in Crystal Jade located in TM, we had a set meal and held a mini celebration for him!

My little bro smiling away!Making a birthday wishThe birthday cake itself! Hmm... my 1.3mega pixel camara phone is rather blur! Nonetheless, sometimes is good. We don't always have to see things so clearly... blurness has its beauty sometimes... right lala? :P We had a quick lunch and rushed to the wake immediately. Wow... this is where the boredom starts. Not a lot of people reaches there so early and I felt so tired after the heavy lunch! Hmm... then i remember to apply the sunblock! ( no choice, since i'm paid to do it... ) oh ya! my face was exceptionally oily after applying the sunblock. It's very normal... Happens all the time...Then people started to stream in... church friends, pastors and preacher ( + their baby! ), dad's ex-colleages and relatives. Stayed all the way until 1.30am!!! So what did i do? Nothing. Just open your mouth, and either eat or chat. What a great day today. So bored that we are trying to show it in this pic:
My sister and I posting for a pic!Today didn't accomplished much, and i don't hold much hopes tomorrow.

At the wake

Disclaimer: For those who are intolerable to criticism of religions, please refrain from reading the below entry. I will try my best not to deframe anyone of your religion and YET expresses my personal feelings and thoughts.

Today seems like a busy day for me, though i felt not much things has been accomplished. Waking up at 9.30am, my entire family rush to prepare ourselves, so that we can be present at the wake by 10.30am. When we reached, only 2 relative were there with a team of people to set up the wake. Err...

Anyway the buddhist ritual proceed smoothly. Seriously, the ritual seems absurb to me. Nonethesless, we respected the religion and witnessed everything at the side. When my grandma preserved corpse arrived, all of us gathered. People helped to dress up my grandma before asking the males to button up. Next, a monk came and mediate... don't understand a single thing, but the sentence structure seem to rhymes. Interestingly, i observed an external person standing at the side, who also murmered the exact stuff! His mouth correspond exactly to what the monk mediate. Impressive. I really wonder how u all memorized these, which lasted for at least 15 minutes. After the meditation, my dad's brother were asked to offered incense and bring back the soul of my grandma, while the rest of my relatives were "instructed" to cry for my grandma to come back. As usual, they burn paper money and offered incense.

A lot of things that they do were tag with a certain meaning, which i completely disagree. For example, the sons and daughters were asked to simulate "cleaning" my grandma by using a wet towel and "imagineryly" wipe my grandma without touching her body. This is to make her "pure" so that she may become a buddha. Errm... no doubt, different people have different thoughts. So even if you are a buddhist reading this blog now and feel that what i'm typing its not right, don't bother to comment. Comment only when you yourself know what you're doing, understand perfectly, deeply believe in what u're doing and are confident to convince me that this ritual is ABSOLUTE necessary.

Imagine you are the most devoted buddhist, are you confident to become a Buddha? Be realistic. We are man with limitations, not God.

Haha... religion is always a sensitive topic. People will always Bo Song one another. But this is my blog. Not yours understand? I comment the way i want it. This is call "monopoly" in Economic terms. I'm monopolising my own blog. What the hell am i'm talking anyway... People just want to believe in things they don't really understand, or blindly follow what others are doing. Don't you have a brain to think for yourself?

Finally after most of the procedures are more or less done, the placing of my grandma into the coffin were next. They placed a certain kind of powder like substance into the coffin + paper money before placing my grandma in and nailed the coffin. Well... the money is not for her. It is to give to some "creature" or whatever la, that is along the way while my grandma is on her way. If this seems reasonable to you, believe it in all you want.

All i can say is that my grandma is no longer alive. No matter what we do, she can never witness it. The ritual stuff is not going to convince me anything. I am NOT going to offer a single incense and kneel down to any of the dead, but i worship the true and LIVING Almighty God who has power over life and death. The time to show care and concern to my grandma is over. Of course i grieve for her absence and am going to miss her for sure. I am not heartless when i deny going through the ritual. I understand who i believe in, and i know He understand me. And please, don't pray or offer incense to me when i died. Flowers will do. Blue rose would be nice.

Enough of all these craps. After all things are more of less settled, our family had lunch together before i went out with my sister to Orchard. Haha! Collected the sunblock from I.E.C. in FORUM. 54.49 gram in weight and has a nice fragrant! Oh ya, i also understand one thing, that to become a dermatologist, u have to first become a doctor before specializing in dermatology. Look at this white tube! Brandless de leh...
Next i accompanied my sister to Taka. I had my first Mos burger meal!!! OMG... i'm so noob... next we went to Sunplaza to take a walk and play "spot the difference" before i return to the wake. Oh ya! My sister bought me this writable DVD! So thoughtful of her... cos i told i that i wanna reformat my com and need to back up my movies! But alas... the movie does not seem compatible... sian...When i returned back to the wake, i manage to see Pan pan, Huifen, Song En, Carol, Mui Qiang and his wife, my mum's elder sister and husband, employees and Esther boyfriend's family. Thanks for coming!

I just hope tomorrow will be a better day.

Grandma left the world

At 1.40am, Dad called home. My paternal grandma just died. Both my maternal parents are gone long time ago le... now left with only my paternal grandpa all alone in the world. He not only have to face the loneliness at home, but also have to live with the stroke he's sufferring now.

Indeed our family are not very close to my grandma. But the thoughts of not able to see her again just make me grieve. Oh ya... let me start to account my day first...

In church today, we had an evangelism sermon! The speaker was particularly good in delivering the speech. God has let us know His heart from the bible, which is to spread the gospel. Though it does matter whether people believes in Him or not, but most importantly, we as christian have to share the blessings God gave us, unconditionally and willingly, to the people around us. I like the way the pastor interpreted the bible. Initially God intended to give the Israelites the blessings and wanted them to share this blessings with the world. But they guarded the blessings among themselves!! In the end, God took away this responsibility and allow non-Israelites to be blessed equally.

The pastor also talks about swearing. In one of the scriptures, God sweared by Himself. Normally when people swear, they swear by something more superior then him. E.g. i swear to God that i didn't eat your cookies!! Since God is the highest, and when he sweared by himself, it truly highlight the importance of what He meant.

Ok... perhaps i didn't manage to bring my points across since my English is rather atrocious. Next, i drove some church friends to Changi Airport before going home. Tiredness overcame me since i slept only 3 hours yesterday!! After a short 1 hour break, i had lunch with my parents before they left for work.

Afternoon was dreadful. Don't know what to do!! I played ( or bang again ) the piano for a while before using the computer. At around 6pm, dad called and desperately wanted us to visit the grandma for a while. Well... not really easy for the 4 of us to meet up, especially on sunday!!! Hence i gathered my siblings ( Esther from ACCA school, Eunice from Buona Vista mrt ( didn't manage to meet up with her colleages ) and Joshua from church ) and took a taxi to my grandma house. Manage to reach there by 6.30pm and stayed there until 8.15pm

From what i observed, my grandma was unconscious. Every breath needs concerted effort. I stood there looking at her until my legs ached a little. My relatives, whom are all buddhist, are all enchanting "Namo Amitabha" repeatedly. I do not believe all these. But out of respect, i just stood there listening and looking at my grandma in her final hour. Shortly after that, she passed away at 1.40am, 21st May 2007, Mon. Grandma, i did pray for u when i'm looking at u. I asked God to take your soul and be with Him in paradise, despite the fact that u're not christian. I have no control over life and death, but i hope God will be gracious to you. You are always a very loving grandma to me, smiling to me always... appreciate you a lot...

I wonder if my family is going to celebrate my bro birthday on 22nd May or not... -______- "

Ok... i shall end my entry now... Papa, be a strong guy. Don't let circumstances deter you from living out the fullest of your life. You're always a role model to me... your hardworkingness and diligence... (^.^) Let's hope for the best tomorrow... Wonder what is going to happen...

Sleepless nite!!

A sleepless nite makes me rather restless today. Haha! Don't know why i can't sleep... No wonder i'm so tired today...

Hmm... Today i went out with Huiting! She's back from Thailand trip i think... 2 weeks ago? Opps... late for 15minutes in meeting up with her, yet we still manage to catch up with one another. Thought we're going to be stuck in Vivo city today, but in fact, we are like ghosts. Once we reached a place, we almost "vanish" immediately to another location. As a result, we went to Vivo City, HabourFront Shopping complex, Raffles City Shopping Centre, Popular in Bras Basah and Bugis within 3 hours. Oh yah! She brought me this cute little key chain!!!Haha! She say she bought me this keychain because it looks like me! Perhaps its more of like my smile? Haha! This stickman is very cute. An enormous head + thinking cap ( or graduation cap? ) + small body with a male reproductive part. Err... actually u cannot see very clearly from the picture la, but that's the point... u're not suppse to see it... -_______- "

Anyway had an enjoyable day today with her. In the end, i followed her to Bukit Panjang from Bugis, then go all the way back to Sengkang. I spend 2.5 hours in the train. OMG... overtime for me... so sian... haha! Ok la... that's all for today!

Marine parade trip

Late in the nite when the cool breeze swept across the whole country and brought away the heat, i felt peaceful and happy as i cycle home. Look at these boats!! My sister and i folded it de! Seems like a normal boat? Indeed, it is a normal boat that may not even float in water for long. Yet no matter how weak this boat may seems, it must be strong and persevere in the walk of life. This reminds me when i'm still active in church, i'm taught a little about christian apologetics. Simple reason why i like christian apologetics:

Know the enemy and know yourself
In a hundred battles you will never be in peril.
When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself
Your chances of winning and losing are equal.
If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself
You are certain in every battle to be in peril.

Anyway i'm not against buddhism or what. Yet from what they taught me, i learned a little about buddhism. Correct me if i'm wrong, but my Uncle ( a vietnamese Pastor major in buddhism teaching ) told me, that the ultimate teaching of Buddhism is to achieve: nothingness. Life is like many boats in the sea. We are the boats. Some boats are bigger with bigger responsibility, some boats are smaller. Yet all of us have to live it till the end no matter how tough life goes. Hence i would like to encourage all of you, that life is tough. Don't give up so easily but persevere.

Today i went out with my sister again! Woke up at 10am and reached marine parade at 2.30pm. Had great fun! Windowshop the whole day again... Had KFC as dinner and took a bus blindly!! Initially wanted to go home, but ended up in Bugis and had a walk in Bugis street. Oh ya! My sister brought me to a 7 storey building just one street across Parco Bugis. Hmm... nothing much there! In the end, we return to Parco Bugis and played "Spot the difference"! Haha!! Had a lot of fun leh!! My sister is really good in spotting the difference from the photos, such that we manage to hit a record of level 18. Impressive! She like it also... Though we didn't spend a lot, we enjoy one another's company. I think that's the most important. Hehe... In the end, i piggy-back her for a few secs before reaching home. LOL! so fun...

Back at home, i catched the news and was told something fascinating! The flood in Indonesia was actually caused by the alignment of the earth, a planet ( the moon? ) and the sun. It was believed such alignment induce much gravatational force that cause the upsurge of sea into the coast. This is how direct nature can affect the lives of fragile humans... Hope those in Indonesia are alright!

Hope all of you had a great day ahead!

Raining day...

Today i made 19 rum balls!!! Impressive huh? And i did all the mixing, squeezing and coating within 1 hour before i left for work. hehe.... all for tomorrow's outing! YEY! Hopefully the person trying out this will be delighted... :PImproving right? So happy that i did this all by myself without the help of my maid this time. Shortly after i'm blogging this, the skin testing centre called me. Oh ya... i actually applied this job 2 years ago, involving testing of skin products on myself and getting paid for it. Ok la... some sort of guinea pig hor? Don't worry! I believe my skin is durable! If i disfigured myself, please don't be alarm when u saw a horrendous looking person saying "Hi!" to you... its me actually...

As usual, i went to work for my parents in the afternoon. But at around 6pm, i saw my sec sch physics teacher Mr Ng!! Didn't say hi to him, but all Hai Sing Catholic sec friends please take note!! Mr Ng is still alive!!! It has been 7 years since i last saw him... a very cute teacher whom i think retired already. I'll never forget the jokes u made in class ( actually u're the joke itself la ) A very nice and cute teacher!
Mr Ng and his wife eating in bedok hawker 85A closer view... eating minced meat noodles!!!Time flies... although work is tough, the effort in paid off. Feeling tired from the long hours of standing, but i think its worthwhile. That's all for today! Looking forward for tomorrow... (^.^)

Working life started ( updated version )

Hmm... Slept at 5am and woke up at 12pm! Yesterday nite was a happy nite, chatting with my sister. Really nice of her to wait for me till late night!! Been busy these days working for my parents.. Actually nothing much happen at the workplace, so just briefly account for it.

My job scope ar... err... evolve around taking order, delivering food and clearing of the rubbish at the end of the day. Perhaps pour chilli also ba... haha! General worker like the rest also... see! I'm so proud of the chilli i poured... so neat!

Oh ya... yesterday got "updated" about the "internal politics" in the hawker. Well.. i'm sure there are "politics" among friends and office workers, and i think it's the norm. Nonetheless, it was another tiring day for me. I'm not used to standing for long hours! Tend to deliver the food more often also le...

Yesterday get to see my primary school friend Wan Chin! What a coincident! Saw her with her boyfriend eating happily! Haven't been seeing her for a long time le... Perhaps life is just too busy ba... Anyway hope you're coping well in life~

Then came the three children of Ah Hui ( one of the fellow worker ). Haha! The cute girl drew a picture for me leh!The day was not really that bad ba... Today is off day for me! Going to Orchard for a while ba... before i start work again tomorrow... Hmm... by right Jie Hui, Zhi Hui, Moon and me is suppose to meet in orchard before catching up with Ying Yang in Bedok, but it ended up only Jie Hui and me walking in orchard. OMG! All put me in aeroplane... haha! Went to Paragon cos thought Moon is doing her facial there, but then we just proceed to Heeren to windowshop while Jie Hui try to finish her Old Chang Kee stick. Don't know what stick is that la, cos didn't take notice... hehe

Next, we went to Taka where both of us bought a donut each. I wanted to buy the donut from the donut factory! Since we don't know where in Orchard we can buy it, we took a train to City Hall and went to Raffles Place Shopping Centre. Wow.. the queue was... rather long la... think not a lot of people is queing, but the serving of the 12 or 6 assorted/glazed donut that was the longest. You know... the limiting factor is actually the manufacturing of the slowest donut... blah blah... haha! Didn't mange to buy cos rush in time to meet Zhi Hui, Moon and Ying Yang in Bedok.

By about 5.30pm, we are all ready to go bedok hawker 85 to eat! We ordered Stingray, Kway Teow, Fried Oyster ( replaced with prawns ), Oyster Omelette and Fried Prawn Mee served with sweet sugarcane drinks. Thanks Papa and Mama for the "free" food!! A little embarrassed because you're working and i'm eating away with my friends... haix... Of course after the dinner, all of us proceed to my house for a game of Mahjong! Moon was particularly "lucky" man, keep winning leh! Nonetheless, all of us did win at least once as the 9pm Chinese drama show was blasting away in the background.

As the late night falls, i drove all of them to Boon Keng MRT for them to take a train before i go back home. Straight after i reached home, i walked all the way to Sengkang MRT to retrieve my bike which i took before going out to Orchard. Cycle back home and after which, drove all the way to Bedok again to fetch my parents because i borrowed the car. Not nice for them to take taxi ma... :P

Seems busy hor? A little tired ba... still, i chatted with my beloved sister till 4.30pm. I think its kinda an addiction to talk to my sister le... cannot live without it... LOL!!! It's a good day and enjoyed myself thoroughly! Thanks to all those who make my day... hehe...

A Happy Mothers' Day!

Today is a beautiful sunday and i wish all mothers, a happy Mothers' Day! Impressively, i slept 2 hours yesterday only. Slept at 5am and woke up at 7am for church. Surprisingly, i manage to keep myself awake until the end of sermon! Pastor's wife was giving the sermon and her voice is very... "awakening"... hehe...

Anyway after the service, i got hold of a red carnation flower for my mum!Actually the church gave out the flowers to all mums present. Hehe... thank God for His grace! Certainly, i believe He will bless all mothers on this day!

As i was waiting for my sister to finish teaching sunday school, i came across this cute boy. He just recently recovered from a bacterial infection around the anus. Now he look so happy and cute!!!! Oh my.. i think i fall in love with this boy... hehe.. See how he stare at me as i'm taking a pic of him?A closer look... He has a high affinity for camara!! haha!! After i took his picture, he wanted to take a look at himself leh... no doubt, a very cute boy. His mother is a very hardworking pretty lady. I don't anyhow compliment people, but from what i see, she is indeed a very good mother. Always taking care of childrens, not only hers...When i reached home, i was dead tired. Hmm... my mum wants me to help her in the hawker next week le. Since i dated 2 groups of people on wed and fri, these two days shall be my off day! Intend to go buy donuts from the Donut Factory in Raffles City for my mum as Mothers' Day present, but she decline.. haha! Well... i just go sleep lo, since i'm deadbeat.. Moon wanted to buy the donuts also, but was busy celebrating Mothers' Day... haha..

After waking up at 6.30pm, i surfed the net and came across a lot of beautiful photos. Let me give 2 examples:
Delicious pastry!!

Chocolate rum balls!!Super motivated by these photos, i left the home immediately after dinner and make the relavant purchase, with deep desire to make the above. Of course, all things starts small! With the assistance from my maid ( thanks so much Daisy! ) i manage to chunk out these!!!
Chocolate rum balls!!! Omg... i know it does not look nice... but its really an effort.
Actually i wanted to make an apple cookie and rum balls, but the apple cookie turn out to be a disaster. Anyway for this chocolate rum balls, all my siblings tasted it and say its nice! YEY! Inside contain raisins, citrus fruit, condensed milk, honey and coco powder. ( Esther seems to like it... hehe... she ate 3 already! ) Actually this is not the real receipe, but because of the disaster apple cookie, i just matchmake the ingredients so as not to waste it. Not bad! All in all spend around $20 bucks ba... This beautiful day just ended with me hearing the Hallelujah from the Vienna Boys' Choir and chatting with my beloved sister.

Smile! Be thankful for today... (^.^)

An uneventful day

Not much was done today. However the newly delivered running machine was "squeeking" away as our weight generate tremendous friction on the running mat as well as the motor. The person servicing it is so poor thing. He has to try running on it to test it out. In the end, he was sweating like crazy. Lol!

Since not much was done today, i've decided to do a "Mission Impossible I"!! Haha! Curious what is it? Nah! I'm not going to tell you! But the whole mission took 3 hours and i enjoyed it a lot. This mission is suppose to put a smile on someone's face and yup! I think i did it... ( or at least i think the one who is involved is beaming! ) LOL!!!

On the way back, i read a book cos nothing to do on the bus. This book is written in chinese characters and it's called "Sculpturing With Love". Its a book meant for mothers, but i guess i was too lazy to authenticate before leaving the house. Lessons learned from this book:

1) A child is a life, and this life needs another life to nurture and educate.
2) How successful you raise up your child will not be immediately evident, but it will be obvious 3 generations later. Lots of love and guidance is definitely needed.
3) Mothers plays an important role. More often then not, the values in the mother will shape and sculpture this child.
4) Being a housewife is better then being a career mother. When a boss fire you, he can look for someone even better then u to take over the job. For a housewife, nothing can replace her in the hearts of the child.

As i was chatting in msn with Tze Siong, Melissa and You li, my sister send me this!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1189119.stm
Microsoft may be going to charge us for using msn!! And this fees could be introduced within 12 months. Well.. i don't think i'll pay for it. Hence, please download Skype and add me!!! my nick for skype is cute_joseph. Thanks!

Here, i wish all mothers, a Happy Mothers' Day!!! May the Lord bless all of you with good health. smile!

A nice day

Broke record. I chatted with my beloved sister until 5.30am today! Woke up at around 12pm. Hmm... The jogging machine is here today! Well.. no time to explore that machine, but as what i say, it cost us a hefty $5800. Not bad la.. considering it did stimulate my sister to run. ( though she don't like running )
After the fixing of the running machine, i proceed to Plaza Singapura with my sister for window shopping! Let me re-cap... hmm... saw a shop with vcd on sales, some clothings, looking for keychains and saw a lot of cute accessories and decorations! Then finally, we chance upon the Secret Recipe! My sister longed to taste the Chocolate banana cake!!! She said it is very nice and terrific. Haha! Hence we took a seat and bought it with no question.
This is the Blueberry Cheeze cake that i chose! Very cheezy and nice. The blueberry residue can be tasted in this entirely soft-textured cake! Hmm... but my sister don't like cheeze. Haha! Can eat this cake all by myself... yum yum!Chocolate banana cake! Not bad la.. The marble-like cake was richly filled with cream decorated with banana before it was finally coated with a layer of smooth chocolate. Delicious!Next, we shop and manage to come into this "Japanse Shop". A cute spectacle caught my attention and my sister so happily took a photo of me:After which, we proceed to the new Cathay that is very near PS. Not much people there. Oh ya! Both of us went basement and my sister introduced me the XXL Crispy Chicken from a stall. Very spicy and cripsy indeed! I certainly want to try that again. The chicken was nicely fried and its aroma is enchanting... Can compete with Kentucky Fried Chicken.

As usual, good things always come to and end. On the way back home, my sister actually passed me an empty music book and ask me write a simple song that she liked! haha! She wanted to learn the "When the Saints go marching in" ok la... Though its a simple song, it has been long since i practised writing music notes!! Did it for her nonetheless.. :)

Before i reached home, i called home and asked if my brother wants any bubble tea. Hmm... He ordered 2 cup of peach tea ( red ) while i ordered the green apple. Funny leh... don't know why my cup so tall. But as i'm tasting now, wow... the taste is both sour and sweet. Certainly not diluted! Look at the depth of pearl she gave me. I think it's a lot! I like the taste too.. its so much better then the usual bubble tea i bought. Oh ya! I bought these bubble tea from a newly opened shop outside compasspoint. The shop name was called "Cup Walker" and is always blasted with FM933... Lol...
Reached home, bang on the piano for a while before i bathed. Not a bad day afterall! Thanks sis for always willing to spend time talking, playing and accompanying me. I appreciate you a lot...Haha! My sis watch "SILK" at night and was scared to death! This flower above is the daylily and actually signifies the relationship between a son and his mother. It actually talks about a boy suffering from mutiple tumour disease. It was a malignant one and it some sort of like spread to all over his body. Face was covered with tumour!! In the end, he jumped off a building to commit suicide. But he didn't died!!! Then his mum strangled him to death. Oh my... his mum had the intention of not letting him suffer in the earth, that's why she did this. Haha... my sister was so notti... so scared and still see... I think she is traumatized.

Anyway, i hope tomorrow will be even better! A nice day that is.. :)

Badminton day~

A brand new day today! Although i was awakened by some arguing background noise, it subsided after i ate my breakfast. Lol...

Today my sister and i met up Yu Sheng, Jessica, Yin Yang and two other Yu Sheng's primary school friends for a badminton game at 12 noon. Moon cannot make it because she was sick... suffering from a severe sore throat. Must take care k! Please don't talk too much at home... so that your throat will heal faster. I know u have lots of brusies to heal as well.. Rest well!

The badminton game was fun! But i have not much stamina. Yin Yang is much much better in playing the game! Able to execute the stroke with force. Jessica hor... always trick me one.. must play mind game with her to win her! Yu Sheng always like to give surprise "attack" and suddenly smack on the shuttlecock. All have their own style of playing ba... Anyway, the weather is very cooling! Drizzling and raining did cool down the extremely hot weather for the past 2 days.
Inside the badminton court is really warm! After which at around 2.30pm, we proceed to Hougang Mall and ate at Long John Silver! There, we took a few photos:

My sis and Jess posting for a pic

Picture taken! I think both of them looks terrific in the pic. Me and Yu Sheng again! Haha... he was under Jess pressure to take this pic actually!Yin Yang and his super big racket bag! Sitting with Yu Sheng's primary school friends and chatting with them. After eating, we did a little window shopping in Hougang mall! Our eyes gladly feast upon all the beautiful display stuff in all the shops. Not enough. Next, we take a walk in Compasspoint!! Nothing is bought, but the company is enjoyable. Although we're super tired, legs are falling apart, everything turn out as planned. (^.^)

As we parted at 5.30pm, my sister and i joined our family. We had a great dinner and make a trip to Parkway Parade to buy a machine meant for running. It cost us a hefty $5800. Errm... actually my dad fall for the warranty instead of the machine itself -______- " 10 years warranty ma...

In fact, i'm not really bothered about how much they spend. As long as my family remains intact, i'm happy. Thank God for giving me a happy family!