Hiong Gong, here i come!! (41 days to go)

bwahaha, from the title you noe that i am going to the land where you can 买东西，吃东西，买东西，吃东西. lol yeah man.... lalala..... can't wait for June!!! yeah...think going for trips every June has become a highlight event for me... this will be my first time going to HK though, and i have not passed my Cantonese 1101 yet... :(

anyways, we manage to dig and dig and got a not bad lobang to go HK for 7 days. Air Tix + Lodgings only add to $578 per pax bwahaha. This is really cheap for peak period man haha.. (of course you would have guessed that my flight would have to be on jetstar for this to happen rite? well, we are gonna stay in hostel again... hehe so stay tuned to see my feedback on the hostel... will recommend it if it is gd...cos the rental is only $35 per head per night, and it is situated next to 女人街...:P)

well for this trip, going with qm, Cao and Nv Ren (best tour buddies), and degoon and gf, and qm's sis. looking forward to this as i haven't had a trip with degoon before. hehe, like to go with diff ppl every year so can have different experiences...

can imagine the dim sums calling out to me oredi.... "Eat me, eat me...I am a tasty siew mai.", "I am a delicious dan3 tat4" lol and of course Disneyland!! haha, shld go to HK one then next time go japan one then can compare.... me and qm are both looking forward to this!! haha just that we must bring our own food and drinks...heard they sell those at inhuman prices inside. XD haha but the most farni thing that comes to mind is, would the Mickey Mouse and Goofy mascots be speaking in cantonese? haha, that would really be very hilarious and funky. haha

And i also would like to see whether can buy back some nice VV dramas at cheap prices lol and mebbe can try to hunt for poster of Myolie!! haha think i am going crazy le...

Hope i will have time to post pictures and more update soon as well as after the trip.

P.S. Cao was suggesting we go Guangzhou also...told me we can go there call pros******..... -_-!!!

Driving is Fun!!

Started my driving lessons at long last!! after all these years of enduring questions such as "Huh? You got no license meh?" and "Why you don't want to learn driving?", I have finally dragged my lazy butt down to CDC to sign up as a school learner. -_-!! If I had the money, who would not want to learn driving early? Some people just asks the silliest questions.... Taking school instead of private as that is my personal preference la. There are of course good and bad school and private teachers. My Daddy and Mummy also wants me to learn in school so i go lor.

Anyway, CDC is so near my house, and if i learn from school can go circuit to drive every time and no need to pay, so not bad la. :)

Had my first 4 lesson since last monday, and I must say that i had a lot of fun!! initially felt a bit weird sitting behind the wheel and controlling the car, as my whole life i have sat in the passenger seat happily enjoying the view and the air con lol. I must say now that having a clutch pedal really screws up the learning process man....after first 2 lessons, i realised if I learn auto, i can start learning parking and obstacle course after a few lessons in driving and stopping. For manual, learning to use the clutch effectively really takes up all the lesson time. if not for that, i don't need to pay so much for so many lessons le....

Anyway, even though I never asked for a fixed instructor, i've been getting this old chap who is a bit long-winded, but he is kinda nice. lemme go drive on main road once i applied my PDL (told me to go apply asap after first lesson so we can go out for spins, cos he seys staying in circuit is so super duper boring!! which is quite true...got bored after 2 lessons there)

So for my experience driving outside...it is cool!! and so much easier to drive..cos the lane big big, won't drive out one....haha then can use up to 4th gear man...haha but my instructor keep scolding me for going too fast....even got once i upped to 4th gear at a bend then got scolded by him big time....told me i was not supposed to do that until i got my license -_-!!! haha but i oredi floored the accelerator ma....dun up gear then engine very loud...oh well.. haha....after 3rd lesson, i start liking manual driving le....switch gear then fun la....more exciting... then can engine break and slow car bwahaha....think my left turning still not zai for some reason....my right turn since first day no prob...but my left turn always wide de.... I must improve!!

More updates on this when i drive more....hope i dun fail my final theory....CDC got so many people that my instructor told me now ppl taking August dates for driving test le.... :( like that my dream of getting my license b4 my ORD are shattered........ sobs.....stoopid leh.... why people all wanna pia driving now......mebbe should really have gone to BBDC to learn haha....everytime take 2 hours to go home lol

Long Weekend Fun Part II

Well, went down to watch Jolin's Dancing Diva concert on Sat (7th April), held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Got the 130 tix for this concert.....initially wanted to buy tix off this chap who was selling it on MINDEF eForums, but he kept jacking up the price for no reason and it really irked me. He was selling the tix that faces the stage, but then they were only the 80 dollar one and he wanted to sell me at over 180 for a pair......must be thinking i was desperate to see jolin shake her booties......Crap, so i went ahead and bought tix from SISTIC instead....serve him rite if he was lying.. i was actually quite ready to pay him the original price or slightly more if he was trustworthy.....

Anyway, took Cao's car down to Lido area to pick up Jaamie after her yoga before setting our for dinner at Oasis (this restaurant place beside Indoor)...went for teochew/taiwan porridge there....while waiting for Cao to finish his geh seh getup rugged look in his denim jacket, we took more photos...of ourselves of course: (blurry again as usual)



was raining 猫和狗 that day man....had to leave home with my super duper Esso umbrella (the one with the tiger/leopard/cheetah whatever skin underneath)

Enuff digressing...back to the porridge, went there once before with Cao, Alan and Chuan, and their respective counterparts, but seriously, I dun remember much of it, but qm seems to remem that we got served by some old ladies, and the place was a bit darker...This time round.. the waiters/waitresses were young ppl in their 20s... and the place seemed renovated (I highly doubt that but haha whatever)....1 Thing haven't changd though....the food was STILL mediocre...they lose to 阿里山 hands down man....and 阿里山 is only 5 min walk from my house.....

Best thing that occurred before the concert was......Cao sported chanyx queueing up to enter too!! was utterly surprised by this, hope if she sees this she will explain herself... oh well....at least i did not see Marcus there...if not I will definitely think that i was having a nightmare...(joking) Chanyx seems to be watching the concert with 2 of her sisters...(i think it is la, oly recognise one as her sister....mebbe the other one is their fren......oh well :P )

Well anyway, think i shocked her with the revelation that Jolin had G cups. Her eyes went very round when i said that, then i reassured her that Taiwan ppl had a different standard of measuring bust size, compared to singapore... here C is unimaginable oredi... well i learnt how to convert from watching 我猜，我猜，我猜猜猜。吴宗宪 once said that H cups were useful as they can be rested on the table like 贡品. lol, so i guess this helps u visualise.... anyway chatted with chanyx for a while then had to enter to find my seat.....

...which happens to be at the side (really at the side.... we were really close to the stage but we were right at the edge.....had a wonderful side profile of Jolin the whole night :) and also the dancer's when they rushed on and off the stage...) think this photo of the stage where i am sitting shld give u the rough idea of how 'side' i was lol:

Decided to pay attention to the concert, so we did not take photos of jolin during the concert....only have photos of us (again) b4 concert started lol:
Well, only comment i had after the concert was that if 1 day Jolin lost her job as a singer, she can go become a contortionist... hehe she seems to enjoy stretching herself in impossible directions...OUCH.... scary sia...

She made a grand entrance at the start, rising up out of the grd with her legs in a 'split' position thru 2 hand rings (those type a gymnast use to perform the swing here swing there stunt) She was also in this nice glossy metallic blue dancing suit...skimpy as usual but not bad la....

She alternated between fast dancing songs and slow emotional songs (to rest), but i must applaud her, she was in very high heels the whole night, whether she was dancing or not... it's quite incerdible that she never twisted her ankle....bleah...i noe i noe u would sey, "her dancers also ma, what is so special?", but the fact is, some dances, the dancers were in sports shoes,to give the funky hip hop image, but poor jolin insisted on heels...(think she too short la) but hey, dancing in heels really very challenging leh, somemore her dance moves not all the dainty dainty type one somemore.

Hehe, noticed 1 thing abt the audience that night (we sat down early so got a lot of time to sit quietly and observe the crowd), realised a lot of mummies and daddies brought their kids (and i really mean pri sch kids) to watch Jolin....think this is what kids watch nowadaes....kinda weird, can u imagine bringing ur whole family to watch a concert tog when their average age is ard 10? lol...what's more is that....THEY WERE ALL HOLDING THE 170 DOLLAR TIX.....bleah, all of them went down and sat right in front......now u will really see the weirdness man, eg. man, wife plus his 3 kids = $850.....enuff to pay for a trip to batam le.....family fun nowadaes seem very diff from what i have come to expect...man...i am really getting old....haha ...it is also fun to see the small kids holding cylume sticks (i still remem the ARMY term for lightsticks!! yeah baby) and shaking them off beat to the music....really cute and therapeutic (or however u spell this word)

Anyway, i went into the concert with not much expectations so i came out quite enjoying the show, unlike chanyx, who tot 'it was alright only' haha, old woman le, last time she always full of energy. k la but i must agree with the tabloids that she was not very good at 带动气氛. She tried to make the crowd more interested but the response was all the way lukewarm at best, but then she lied with her eyes open by seying, "你们是我到过的地方最热情的观众。"..-_-!!!

Oh well, at least she never lost heart. Learnt a few technical taiwan terms which are the equivalent of our singlish terms. 人体海浪 = Kallang Wave. she made us do it over and over. haha like national day man...so patriotic...yet so farni. haha

Another thing is her ang mo really quite weird...She pronounced 'Sorry' as 'Soori', making it sound really french (even though i dun noe french...haha was thinking of soiree). and she could not pronounce this brand which no one could decipher...except QM!!! kudos to her man....she figured out that Jolin was trying to proounce.....'Salvatore Ferragamo'!!! diao.....she took like 5 seconds and she went like 'saaaa......ver.......tori........fur....阿咖摸.' sounds very mystifying to me until i was enlightened....

After the concert, we adjourned to Jaamie's house for our regular MJ.... and this time I got to play with her 85 year old granny!! professional man, and she stayed up the whole night to play with us.... and she was so much more alert than us... haha can count the tiles right after dice roll, and can shout 'pong' faster than a speeding bullet, ok faster than an old speeding bullet (joking), thoroughly enjoyed myself even though i think she really banned me that night lol. Jamie dun worry, i enjoyed her company!! Give her back the 30 dollar she paid me, when u see her again, k? don't wanna be branded as a con-artist who tricks old luvly grannies!!!

Best weekend in weeks!! Roars!!! haha

Long Weekend Fun

It's been a really long while since there was anything remotely close to a 3 day break from work, so this Good Friday was really a 'good friday' to me!!

I stayed over so we took our time and slept and recharged before heading out to enjoy our friday!!. hehe, here is a picture of us on the bus:


One noticeable thing is that we looked very shack, but happy (luckily being happy is the most impt thing). We were heading out to shop shop walk walk, and just to relax. Heard about the a few shopping centres springing up all around the town area so we felt that we shld investigate and 'pak tor' a bit cos we haven't been doing that a lot recently.

After much deliberation, we decided to head to Central, the 'new' shopping place located at Clarke Quay, to go chup with the Ah Bengs and Ah Sengs. HAHA, feels so cute to see little boys acting beng. Those were the days.....

Central is a relatively medium-sized shopping mall, which is designed to make you feel that it is big! This is mainly done by building it really tall and and having farni corners incorporated into the whole set up. Quite clean and bright place. First stop: FOOD, as my poor gf is hopelessly hungry as she slept past lunch: *****Drumroll*****

Long John Silvers!! haha we have a perpetual craving for this now and then. If you don't like it, too bad.... We like it and that's all that's impt anyway. Central has a wide range of finger food (located in their basement) and many Jap restaurants (for some reason) and of course the ang mo food (Fish Market) for the rest of you food junkies. The most notable point abt the food joints is they are all located in 1 particular wing of the shopping mall. For the hell of me, I cannot understand why (until later on when it dawned on me....).

Anyways, I brought qm to do manicure, as promised, so she can look pretty and nice! We went to Nail Art Gallery (I think) and she took a package to do french manicure and pedicure. I sat thru the whole thing and found the whole process quite cool and funky!! haha, express manicure and pedicure they never massage you with funny smelling oil and cut ur cuticles (think it is spelt this way rite? wateva la). they also never wash ur feet with plain water with orchid on it.... (orchid seems to make the water more high class....think it is just tap water with some farni chemicals anyway).

A farni interlude to the whole process was when this female BRE student (JAMIE!!! DO I LOOK LIKE I OWN A MANICURE PARLOR?? kau i think she was from BRE becos....read on) and entered the shop with a clipboard file and asked, "Sir, do you all accept credit cards?".

I conveniently turned ard, and asked the lady servicing qm the same question and the ger was so paiseh.....(duh tot i shld be the one paiseh.....I look like I can give ppl gd maniures meh?!?!?! lol) Then when the shop assistant shook her head, the ger happily ticked sth on her board and left...........diao.... and i tot she wanted to do a manicure and pay with her "VISA". She doing some market research on shops in Central, which makes her a prime suspect as a major in BRE... oh well....

Thinking back I should have like told her "Yes Dear, we also accept traveller's cheque." *Bleah* Don't noe shld cry or laugh.....

Anyway I realised I don't have a picture of my Darling's nails.... but they were pretty well done. Think the lady who did the manicure is quite pro!!

After that disastrously unfunny and uncool mistake identity episode, we went to grab more food. There is this British food joint (prob fake but nm) in the basement which sells nice finger food...forgot the name....but they sell nice spicy cheesy chicken (looks a bit like KFC popcorn chicken but comes with nice spicy chilli powder on it and a cheedar cheese dip!!! perfect combi)

Also discovered 2 very VERY unexpected shops there. 1 sells imported Japanese tidbits, and other foodstuff (quite common in singapore) and the other sells imported TAIWAN Snacks!!! at affordable prices somemore. ZJ!! got ur fav 太陽餅. Cool Sia! Then the foodstuffs are split by regions of Taiwan, into Hualien, Taipei, Tai Zhong, Gao Shiung. They have the fantastic tasting Mua Chee of Hualien, and 鐵蛋. so fantastic man.... see oredi drool liao, some more got 特產 of the other areas, where i haven't been :(

Must go see when u people have the time. We decided to walk outside and eat our cheesy chicken. Walking out to the Singapore river, we realised that the shopping cetre fronts the stretch of Clarke Quay bars.... and that other side has been totally revamped....think I am out of touch with this place. Looking up, I realised the ans to my earlier question. All the shops which fronts the river and gives you a fantastic view of clarke quay night areas..............are restaurant....from coffee club to the main food restaurants like Fish Market........ no wonder all cluster at that wing la.... They even have balcony sitting areas....this is definitely 1 gd spot to hold gathering...nice and pretty. Took some shots of the 'new Clarke Quay': (photo is a bit blurry due to my sucky photo skills)

Sat and ate with qm as we look over at the highly expensive (& dangerous) bungy thingi... looks really freaky and scary man.... Think you will never catch me on that haha, but quite enjoyable to be sitting down to chicken and nice green milk tea (also from the taiwan shop) and watching ppl regret why they gave them the stoopid idea to pay $50 to sit on that contraption lol. Took another blurry photo but think that it is beyond recongition haha:

After the meal, took a walk down to Brewerkz (never got the spelling right for some reason lol) to show qm where i was hanging out the night b4 with Joy and SHY, drinking free beer. As i walked towards the place, I realised that my office took a picture there 1+ years back with riverside point as the backing. Have been wondering where that place in the photo was....At least now I know...

We were lucky as we managed to spot the flying 'kites' i saw the day before. Being the resident 山龟, I have never seen kites with flashing LEDs, and no strings attached (pun intended)... haha. They seem to be some remote control gadget that were very sensitive to the controls.... The guys there did many stunts with their 'kites' and it was quite fantastic!! wished i owned 1 like them. Looking down at the grass patch, i saw blinking lights flashing on the grd too.... Pondering i think the 'kites' are EM gadgets...hehe, but then, that is in the realm of oh so scary EE, so i shall just leave it at that...no pictures for this.... was too mystified to take (forgot to take la)

Walking further into Clarke Quay, we found a mini, mini Cooper exhibition ... haha quite cute and exquisite! :

Took a photo with this Cooper also, but did not turn out well, so won't put here :P

Anyways, wanted to bring qm walk to Butter Factory, but realised that it is a really long walk, so bring her see MOS only haha, still as jammed as ever. Wanted to show her Butter as I've been there quite a few times recently :)

That very much conclude the day....Stayed tuned for the next day...when i am not so tired.... going to bed...will add to this post when i can.....look out for my Saturday (7th Apr) entry soon.... Jolin Dancing Diva Concert.... :P

Life in MINDEF CIO Office

Well, I started my work as a Grade '-3' staff in MCIOO 7 mths ago. At first, I was quite worried that I won't be able to fit into my office, and won't be able to get along with my fellow colleagues, but 7 mtha down the road, i find that i am getting along just fine! :) Our office might be small, but it sure is cozy, and we do not lack funky activities mixed in with work. AS my boss Cheok might say, we must get our priorities right! Nothing is more impt than badminton!!

Many have asked me what exactly do I do when i go to work? Well, my job scope is vretu9we8ycew nyryhrweihuri wurbyqwyrq iwhrbInryrn32yr2 3bruhd uhrwhur ucqrhurburyub ryuqwrg gbwergrg werewyrwey rwru39 8rr09r. Hope that clears up the air. :P (Words have been scrambled to prevent myself from being invited to have coffee with anyone from MSD.)

These WERE my colleagues last year (in the past tense as many have left the office thus):

As you can see, being forever the Extra, I wore something 'outstanding' so that I will stand out among the old Folkies. This photo was taken outside Tao's Restaurant, after our visit to the National Museum :)

We will also go to hotel restaurants for dinners, when we are celebrating NSF's farewell, other the farewell of our pioneer colleagues (pioneer int he sense that my office is only ard 4 years old, some of my colleagues were with the office from Day 1, back in the days when my office only had 7 staff and no NSFs!! We had come a long way since then). This one is taken at Furama, at the farewell of a fellow NSF and my Deputy Director:

and of course there are the house warmings (to the newly weds house - Joseph, and those married for donkey years - Steve) They are got nice houses which are just so designed in that special way. This was taken at Joseph's house:

And this was taken at Steve's house:

and of course the times when they go drinking without ME!!!! So saddenising, but old well. A picture taken from 'Little Bali', without me inside of course:

Me and My Wife

Well, decided to do a post about me and my paranoid yet cute little Lao Po!!! Due to the recent spate of events, she seems to think that I grew more yan dao (as if that was possible), [this is when i insert a photo to make myself feel gd]:

Haha, not yan dao at all, yet this silly ger I met actually fell in love with me (lucky me), well i can only begin to describe my joy in sharing my life with her. To tell the truth, for a happy-go-lucky person, she brought true joy into my life, so i can really be at peace with the world, and keep my optimism. This is the ger that gives me ever-lasting energy, to become a DURACELL Battery!! Nothing in life is too difficult with her around. My Wife:

To reward her for praising me (yayayayay!!!) I should do a post of her and me!!! 小夫妻，我的福气，这一辈子让我爱上了你。:) This is dedicated to my wife! For you my dear!! No matter where we are, how we look, we are just so happy together:

But comparing this photo and the previous one, I realised that i actually was eligible to be Santa Claus last year....so scary man....push me a little and I will roll down the hill liao. I do enjoy taking photos with my dar dar, and over the years, we have taken so many nice photos, :) :

The picture below shows our 订情信物, our second pair of rings :->, with our names engraved nicely, though I do feel that CoupleLab did quite a shabby job on them. Nonetheless, I like them all the same: