Sunday, 26 August 2012

define happiness

whenever I promise I'll be back in this space more often, I don't. Opps.
a better work-life balance is needed perhaps, just like what PM Lee mentioned in the national rally minutes ago.

It's been more than a year since I graduated and started my career path properly.Strangely enough, this year hasn't been as smooth-sailing as the past. oh wells, think POSITIVE and things will only get better. I pushed all the blame to my zodiac though, cause I was being told that the dragon babies will have a tough year for 2012. I have since stopped eating my favorite meat - BEEF OH BEEF! if that brings me more luck. I'm not any greedy, I don't pray for more wealth, just good health for everyone and everything to go well for me and my loved ones.



so WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO?



Been ill for the past 10 days - fever, cough, sore throat, sounded like a Bapok, or even worse than that!
the lack of exercise + all the non-nutritous meals -> the culprit!

Finally felt much better and had a great celebration with my boy yesterday :)

mad love this photo :)

Lunchd at this place, ION. 
Been wanting to try for really long. 

Here's mine, 
Seared Scallop Linguine $24
a tad salty

and boy had this
Oriental Grilled King Salmon with soba $26
which tasted much better than my linguine I thought

For the sweet tooth
Chocolate Deluxe. Coffee and Almond cupcake

As I'm blogging with all the photos above, I'm reminded of a video that I just watched recently. 

Here's a good one! 

What's your happiness? hah!


Sunday, 5 August 2012

Paint a Colorful Singapore

my alarm went off at six this morning.
and I got myself ready for the long day ahead. 

Hitched a ride from boss and off we headed to Jurong Point for Social Creatives Flag Day.
we were tasked to manage the booth in the west, and there were two other stations - newton & pasir ris.  

somehow, myo agreed to help us today :)
so this was like really my final time working together with this dude, aka my buddy. 

we both took on a donation bag and started decorating them with some markers, it's supposed to be 'COLORFUL SINGAPORE' so... of course the bags shouldn't be left plain white. 


Ta Dah! 
Here's my not-so-creatively-colored bag!
I added some firework later on but didn't snap a photo of it. 

In an effort to canvas for more donations, we set up a booth for face & body painting. 
I requested for a butterfly on my hand, and again, didn't take a photo of it. 
It also kinda 'flew away & disappear' by the middle of the day. 

large crowd waiting for their turn to get some pieces of art on them. 
its popularity brought us about a couple of hundreds in the donation box! 

We were also blessed with super enthusiastic & motivated volunteers from Bukit View Sec where they refused to stop even when we announced that the event has ended. 

So, what's this whole COLORFUL Singapore about???

Apparently, there's a budding arts charity organization 
- Social Creatives, 
where they help paint 1-rm HDB flats for the needy families. 
Not only that, they get the troubled youths involved in their community projects, which helps build a better community within our country. 

Read more below...


I have always been skeptical about all these fund-raising efforts but having done it for today, I've witnessed the beauty of mankind; encouraged by people's generosity and love for one another. 
WE ARE ONE! 


i'm gonna live my life

I'll be back in this space soon! :)

Thursday, 5 July 2012

i went over the sea. to batam.

no gold coast, no japan. only batam
got up at 550am on a sunday morning!!! 

boarded a ferry and off we went! 

glad that I brought my sunglasses along, to protect my eyes from the glare. 

another shot with my family, dad obviously wasn't told that we were snapping away!
 
first stop: polo ralph lauren outlet
we were so blessed that there was power outage in the shop, no lights, no fans, no power. 

we spent a mere 5 mins in the shop and decided to come out for some fresh air 

2nd shop: their newly opened chocolate outlet
don't get deceived by their outlet, they were barely a shop size. 
When we were told of the outlet, we had the impression that it's gonna be big! haha

3rd stop: at their biggest temple. 
Okay, this is really BIG. 
the space houses a school too. 

next on, we headed to their dry market. 
Erm, okay, it's actually more like a slightly bigger provision shop. 

we were told to try their honeycomb cakes before entering the stop. 
small bite size pieces for everyone. 

2nd recommended item to try was their coffee. 
Well, I'm a hardcore fan of 3in1 nescafe, nope, even starbucks can't win me over!!!

MEOW. spotted this cat before leaving the stall. 

Bus 59, our bus for the day. 
a tad small and old. okay, small and cozy perhaps?

HOT MARKET? 

Before proceeding for lunch, we dropped by their bakery, famous for their homemade kueh lapis.
There were many different flavours, 
original, with prunes, chocolate, cheese.
$25 for a big piece!  

Here's how the baking process goes... 
They put it in and take it out.. and it goes on and on for the layers... 

Next up, performances by the villages. 
It started off with their cultural dance and then the freaking part came about. 

This isn't the freaky part yet. 
but still, strong teeth he's got!

OPPS. 
just realised that I only took videos of the next 3 acts. 
swallowing fire stones?

eating glass?

jumping over a fire hoop?

Reminds me of Madagascar. 

Finally, lunch! 
The same restaurant that I came 3 years back. 

a huge event space, 
I think it can house at least 150 tables? no joke! 

Oh. now i know why it's called golden prawn. 
Their deep fried prawns were the best dish of all! 

Serenity. 

Have you seen a coconut this big??
It's bigger than my brother's head! 

Coke & Sprite inspired. haha! 

Okay, this is something new. 
I've not been here before. 
Apparently, it exhibits all 33 different house designs in batam. 

All in miniature size. 

This, is where the flying fox happens. 
Woooo.. Across the river

another stop at the Batik shop...



the only shop that i managed to get some stuff
the tour guide claimed it's all 'original', that was what she kept emphasizing. 

believing her, I bought a fred perry and CK shirt for my boy. :)

another recommended dish by the tour guide Sutina, 
This Ayam Penyet costs just $2.20 but the serving was so small, it could barely fill my stomach... 

finally, boarded the ferry again to get back to our lovely island. 


ending off this post with the yummy kueh lapis! :D

Saturday, 16 June 2012

happy belated birthday to... myself

it's friday night.
and finally, I'm done with my biggest show; I'm done with most of my post-birthday celebrations.
Tough time is over and bye to sleepless night. I'm still in the process of recuperating as these few days were mentally-draining. For once, I'm back to HTML codes and SQL, stuff learnt when I was in Poly. This is the time when I finally understood that whatever you learn is really a benefit to oneself. Knowledge is power!


Digressing


When life brings you down, remember, you are never alone.

At the darkest moment of my life, I was so grateful that I had this bunch of people whom stood by me.
Ten years of friendship and still counting...


And of course, my family. 
their support and encouraging words that spurred me on. 

Many a time, we choose what we want in life. 
No one could ever force you, nor could they change us. 
Ultimately, it all depends on ourselves. 
to make that change, a good one, in our lives. 



Wednesday, 30 May 2012

when life gets busier, you just need to find time

so.
again, my weekend was burnt. this time round, for a family day near my area. 
3rd event. 2 more to go :)

event venue at night. 
it was already midnight when we were finally done with the set up.

I always love wrapping hampers as game prizes! 

Mindy & Sharon, 
helping me out with the Sand Art Station

these people are anxiously waiting for the VIPs

 And after all the preparation, the most critical moment of all.

the folks enjoying their rainbow popsicles.

Daddy got himself a free Ice Ball!

And so did we! :D

And as a form of reward to myself, sheer indulgence! 
Nothing beats a good meal and a good night's rest