. . .

Yesterday, Shane spent the whole day with Papa.


Papa went with him to his school family day carnival, took him for lunch, shopping for toys, send him to his violin class and after that the three of us had dinner @ Aquamarine (Marina Mandarin Hotel). Little Shane was very happy of course. The last time the three of us had a meal together was in December 2006. A day after that, i penned down an entry:

Almost Perfect (December 10, 2006) Spent half a day with X-man and Shane yesterday. We met for lunch. It took us so long to finally be able to see each other face-to-face without animosity. Little Shane, naturally, was very happy to be able to spend the day with the two person that matter most to him, both at the same time. But still, I cannot fathom why he always like to choose the most inappropriate time to ask his innocent question; he asked Papa three times, "Do you love Mommy?" and Papa found it awkward as much as Mommy did and I almost felt the urge to stuff his mouth full with the spaghetti that arrived at our table only five minutes ago. We caught up a little on each other's lives. We talked about my new role. We discussed Shane's well-being. We joked a little. It was a pleasant Saturday afternoon. Nothing heavy and no emotion running freely. And I must say, X-man still look as dashing as before. We spent the next hour at the game arcade where we raced each other on the screen. Thanks to my past months crash-driving lessons, I defeated an angry Shane who was sitting on Papa's laps holding the wheel while Papa stepped on the 'accelerator'. We watched our first movie - the three of us. We shared nachos, we had hot dogs. It was almost perfect. We went to the supermart, and it seemed so natural for him to help me with the heavy basket, helped me to take down the milk powder for Shane from the top shelf, helping me with the shopping bags and driving us home. In short, it was the perfect scene for any family potrait. For some, this may be a typical normal day. For me and Shane, these are gonna be lifetime treasured moments. Strange was it not, we could never do this while we were together. Now we can start off being friends again, something I longed to do very much after the divorce, and it began yesterday. I once told Strawberry Aud that were I to choose again, I will still choose to spend my life with X-man, except I will live it differently. That was how much I loved him. Although I cannot foresee the future, I have zero knowledge of God's plan for me but for now, I cherish this renewed friendship and despite the glee in X-mom's voice this morning when Shane told her about our outing, I do not harbour any hope for a future. Because, I was bitten many times. Because, I have no more courage left in me. Or maybe because, my heart has somehow, run away to another.

Yesterday's feelings was nothing like before. This time, it was just like a meetup with an old friend. And i was constantly teasing him about a certain - Elephant Glue girl (she was actually named 'Superglue' but i thought Elephant Glue sounds apt for her coz i remember seeing an advert long ago that this type of glue can hold an elephant still. Wow, certainly sounds darn super strong neh). But no, X-man wasn't angry with me for calling her EGG coz i think he secretly agrees with me too!! I will tell you more about this EGG one day.


Anyway, just some random mundane stuff i did for the past week. Shane kept talking about the 'minute steak' he discovered while we were in Brisbane.

Shane having his minute steak in Brisbane

Another steak he had.

In fact, we had many steaks when we were in Brisbane. I don't know about you but the weather, the mood, the surroundings just made us hungry for more steaks. Plus, i wasn't in a hurry to finish all my meals, so steaks seemed like the perfect choice for a slow dinner and nice wine.


So, one fine Sunday, i decided to make him a 'minute steak'! A minute steak, to put it simply, is a thinly sliced red meat that takes no longer than a minute to cook each side. As the topside beef i bought was rather thick, i used the food hammer and hammered it gently to the desired thickness i want. I marinated it with a little teriyaki sauce, crushed pepper, salt and leave it in the fridge for at least one hour.

I used planta margerine to pan fried the beef. That day, i used quite a big chunk though.

Tada.. i know very simple, shall introduce more stuffs for him next time.

And before i end this entry, i wish you all will have a not-so-blue Monday tomorrow and beware when you are out coz i heard, the Chinese 7th Month is here!!

Christian

Karen showed me the most amazing clip today @ work and it made me cry. And now, it's my turn to make you cry. Or you probably have already shed some tears watching YouTube clips of Christian, the Lion who remembered his friends. Nevertheless, i still wanna try and hopefully can make you people cry again :)

"Love knows no limits and true friendship last a lifetime"

If animals can understand trust, friendship and love, what about us, humans who are 'suppose' to be far superior than all living things alive? Shame on you if you know not the true meaning of T.F.L.


So humans, if you can still find some love in your heart to spare, please help spread some @ BornFree and do buy an ORIGINAL DVD of Christian, The Lion. You'll be glad you did :)

"Who will now care for the animals, for they cannot look after themselves? Are there young men and women who are willing to take on this charge? Who will raise their voices, when mine is carried away on the wind, to plead their case?"

George Adamson
1906-1989

Her Mother's Heart

In the fast moving world of the internet, it's no wonder what one does can be traced rather easily (and rather quickly too). There is absolutely no anonymity so to speak. And it's also scary to think how internet acquaintances would join forces helping someone they don't really know, gathering evidences, busting lies and fighting for something they so strongly believe in, be it on the world wide web or *IRL*.


*IRL*, a new internet word i learn on blogosphere today, means 'in real life', took me some time to figure out actually and boy wasn't i pleased when i finally got that right!!.


In case you are wondering what i am talking about, i'm referring to the recent spat that is very much the highlight of Singapore blogosphere today, the much awaited and much watched legal battle of the year. The XX vs DY issue.


I couldn't help googling the net this evening on this and what i read threw me off. No it wasn't some heinous crimes committed by either of the young women that threw me off but rather it was how mere acquaintances who knew each other only by screen names in the cyberspace worked together, holding hands, sacrificing their personal time unearthing bits and pieces of information that could eventually lead to an ugly fight. Personally, despite what DY has done (or not) i do feel sorry for her. It's like a riot waiting to explode anytime, uprising her, overthrowing her and i sympathise with her. Integrity and reputation are at stake. There's even a petition going round.


But know what, the person i sympathise most is DY's mother, for a tiny cut on her (DY's) little finger is a thousand cuts on her mom's.


I cannot imagine how all these would further hurt her mother's already-wounded heart.

I Love You or You Love Me

I was in the midst of writing my article for T3 when my ipod started playing this song. I stopped in the middle of the sentence and let my mind wanders. To a long forgotten entry i had.


Can love ever be that simple?


I remember when i was young, i often dream of falling passionately in love with an imaginary man who will ride a white horse wearing that darn shining armour. Okay, forget about the horse and the armour, maybe, a Kawasaki motorbike and a simple plain white shirt will do. As long as he loves me to heaven, i will marry him.


Then as i grow older, i realised, it's not enough just to have some guy who loves you dearly. It's not enough even if he's willing to fly you to the moon or get you that huge red rock from Mars just so you can auction it off on Ebay for fun. Not when you don't even love him that teeny weeny lil' bit.


I began to also understand that having a relationship with some man who doesn't give two hoots about you won't work either. Especially when you happened to love that man to the sky, ever ready to start the bungee jumping trend down from New Asia Bar if he ever casually asked you to.


So, tell me, which is better:


"To marry someone you love to death or to spend the rest of your life with someone you don’t love but who loves you dearly?"


For me, i want to marry someone whom i love and one who loves me back. Coz only then can i be truly happy.


Tell me, am i too idealistic?

Do the David Gan??

Just got this fresh from my mailbox from Omy, a 'Do The David Gan'.





Looking at this picture of Mr. Gan, i remember i had one picture that is rather similar.





So there you are, my 'Do The David Gan' in 2007 :)


My dear readers, how about you doing something like this too?

Oh What A Week

The perks of working in my firm? Apart from the occassional parties, it is our very frequent Eating and Drinking.


I have gained 7 kilos since 2005. It's no joke and it's hard to shed fats, especially when one is getting old. I have also became an 'alcoholic' officially. We have wines like twice a week (thanks to Champion) and we also have a mini bar in our pantry. As and when we are 'thirsty', we made our own drinks. Most recently, me and Sister Scarlett concocted our 'Longan-tini'.. :) No picture to show you unfortunately.


And last week alone, i had the pleasure of having one very good lunch and one very good dinner.


My very good lunch was at Nicholas Le Restaurant. This unassuming French restaurant is located @ Keong Saik Road. Its decor is simple with a few thai paintings and the food is also garnished simply.

BUT i tell ya, the food is oh-so-yummilicious. For S$38+++, we got a very value-for-money set lunch. Here's what Dora, Karen, Pammie and me had.


Entree:

Main:

Couldn't find the pic of our dessert that day. Really, i do like this restaurant apart from Ember, which is just across the road. I'm sure i'll be back again, if not for the food, then is for that cute chef :)


My very good dinner was at Au Petit Salut @ Harding Road courtesy of Mommy Al & Mr. Fangtastic. It's a well-deserved promotions dinner. We had a truly great evening, very loud and very ourselves. Fortunately, no one threw us out.

Wines from Champ's private cellar:

Again, i couldn't find the dessert picture - Orange and Grand Marnier soufflé with chocolate truffle.


So you see, it's hard to lose weight in my firm, unless i change my job. I find it so hard to resist these glorious food and fine wines but yet at times, i'm so sick of them. Anyway, have you watch Wall.E yet? I have not but Shane has smugly announced that he has to watch it. He saw the trailer last year and it has now became his current obsession.

And what's my current obsession??

With my trusted helper at home, i can only practise my cooking on Nintendo DS.

Time to sleep...

Btw, a big thank you to those who voted for me for the Singapore Blog Awards - Best Individual 2008 and continue to do so ya..


BIG KISS..xx

Video

Hmmm.. this was eight months ago, on Shane's birthday last year. I love creating vids of my little hero and put them into a nice DVD. Memories don't have to be confined to just pictures, isn't it? He has grown so much since then, losing some of the fats he has accumulated, and no, he definitely has no long hair now. School forbids. In the past, Shane was mistaken for a girl because of his hair and his fair complexion. We laughed so much when someone called him "xiao mei mei" and he would say "I'm not xiao mei mei, I'm a Boy!".


The above vid was uploaded to Blip.TV. Blip.TV allows me to share my video as WMV file which retains the original quality of the video. I am therefore able to embed Windows Media Player as the default player and then ta da, a nice higher quality than Youtube vid. However, you will have to wait at least one minute after clicking 'Play' for the vid to start. Read this if you want to know more about what i just did. I'm not good at writing techy stuffs.

Same video as above.. for now

For the above vid, i'm using MotionBox. I feel although the video quality is only slightly better than YouTube but their streaming is much faster. I read about a review on video uploading sometime ago on Digital Life, but i can't remember which sites they recommended. Any idea?



I googled and found many video hosting sites. I'm gonna test them and i shall be certain to tell you which one in my opinion is the best.

What A Wonderful World

Is the world really gonna end on 2012? Google that and you can find many articles on this. Will i still be around then? I dunno and i dread to even think about it. I fear death and i prefer to evade this discussion.


The world has become such an unfriendly place to live in. There are too many delicate issues surrounding mankind today. The pollutions, politics, natural calamities, famines, over-population, terrorism, environmental issues, resources depletion and i'm sure many of you will come up with a much better list than my small brain can.


I like how the world was when i was young, it all seemed so rosy, nice and very sweet. I knew nothing of the aforementioned problems the world had and i probably wouldn't understand any bit of it. I was happily enjoying the world i was in. Although i had to ask very hard for a strawberry shortcake doll but i have a very happy childhood that i'm proud of. Dad drove us round Malaysia during the school holidays, we drove from state to state, stopping to take pictures here and there and to have small quick meals. During those times there weren't any North-South Expressway, we had to drive past small towns, making the journey three times longer than what it would have been today. There were six of us then, Dad, Mom, two older sisters and an older brother. Being the youngest, i was pampered by Dad but not overly pampered since i had to ask very hard for that strawberry shortcake doll didn't i? :)


I remembered how the four of us had to squeeze behind in Dad's car, and when we slept, our legs were all over each other. I remembered how once the air condition broke down halfway on the one of the trips, we wind down the windows and let the strong gust of wind blowing straight to our oily faces. Dad played our favorite kiddie songs and we sang along to it, clapping and making funny sounds. Those glorious days. I never grow bored reminiscing those times.


Now, older, jaded and sometimes cynical, i'm glad to have my little sunshine who never fail to make me see rainbows after each downpour.


No matter how the world turned out to be, all we need are our loved ones and friends to make it a better place for us.


Let's take a pause, sit back, have a look around and enjoy the rainbow while it last.

They keep me sane @ home

:)

They keep me sane @ work

This fella keeps me sane at all times!

Shanewei - The Beginning

Yesterday evening, i turned on my MSN, something i have not done for eons and immediately, a message came blinking. No lah, it's not some salacious propositions from Edison Chen. We definitely move in very different circles.


The message was from X-Man, asking about Shane and then he asked about me which he hasn't for the last three years. I told him about this Blog Award thingy and implored him to vote for me.


No, i take that back, i think i told him that if he didn't vote for me, i would splash all his triple X pictures on my site. Now that the traffic here has picked up tremendously, X-Man would be the next 'famous' face in Singaporeland and i'm very sure, his pictures would ahhhemm... put Edison Chen to shame!! :)


X-Man asked, "You very freeee hor"


To answer to that, i think i am.


It all happened when i finally plucked out my courage to tell X-Man for the last time, 'Good-Bye'. That was Year 2005. Long story cut short, me and Shane moved into a nice little apartment and re-started our life. Finally i was at peace with the world.


With just the two of us, i did away with the maid, handling all by myself, which at times was a little too overwhelming. My daily weekdays routine was almost the same: in the morning, dropped little Shane at his playschool before rushing to work. After work, picked him up, cooked, washed, played and put him to bed. Whatever was left of the day was Mummy's self indulgence time.


And during one of these Mummy's Time, i discovered a whole new world on the internet - blogging.


I started writing on Moblog end July 2005, making many friends along the way. Most of my wonderful memories are left on Moblog so if you are keen on a little walk down my memorylane, pop over there. Get your popcorns and Diet Coke ready plus maybe, a box of tissue! Moblog has a very interesting platform that link bloggers to each other which resulted in a very lively and 'interactive' blogsite. You can also update and send MMS straight to your blog from your mobile phone. Go visit Moblog and you know what i mean.


Back then, i didn't realised Moblog was that 'interactive' until i posted my first entry - Moving On By Letting Go. People started to read about me. They seemed to like what i wrote and kept coming back for more. Or maybe it was their sympathy for me. Or maybe they were just curious.


As much as i enjoy Moblog, i also like a site where i can doodle with a little html. Thus the birth of shanewei@blogspot. In fact, i registered my blogspot first on June 2005 but i failed badly at trying to create a masterpiece. Learning html is like trying to read Hebrew. I gave up until late last year where blogspot's interface became friendlier.


So there my friend, if you are a first time reader, a short insight of my humble beginning.


Btw, i do not give out my mobile number. If you insist on wanting it, please read, Hi, My Mobile Number Is....

Singapore Blog Awards 2008

I'm super honoured that this site of mine has been nominated in the Singapore Blog Awards 2008 which i accepted humbly. Now i'm further honoured that it's one of the Top Ten. If only my Os & As were like this, am sure Papa would have been super proud of me :)


This blog award is organised by OMY - Singapore's first bilingual news and interactive web portal under the Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH). There are a total of seven categories in the inaugural Singapore Blog Awards – Most Insightful Blog, Most Entertaining Blog, Best Individual Blog, Best Blog Shop, Best Blog Design, Best Youth Blog and Best Photo Blog.


Yours truly's site is one of the finalist for Best Individual Blog.


So i humbly seek your votes if:
1) You love all the songs played on my site
2) You fell in love with me
3) You like my narcissistic pictures
4) You find my Shane very cute
5) You just like my site :)

6) I'll add more once i think of something or you can tell me :p


To vote, please click here.


Then follow the guide below (i'm not very good at this but i did this as best as i can).

Fill in a valid email address and password, then click on 'Start Voting!'. Once you click on the 'Start Voting!' button, you will get the rest of the form where you need to complete (see pic 2). I know, a bit long-winded but i think they want to make this fair, so everyone can only vote for one blog per category per day.

After completing, click on my pic as shown above.

Make sure my picture appears before you hit the 'Vote Now' button na.

Remember, everyone is allow to cast ONE vote in EACH category EVERYDAY! 3 lucky voters stand to win attractive travel packages, so good luck to all you voters out there!

Voting is open to everyone even if you are not from Singapore. All you need is a valid ID (such as passport or driving licence) so in the event if you win a prize, it's easier for the organiser to identify you. All particulars will be kept strictly confidential.


So hurry up, voting close on ... shoot, i forgot, a month later?


Sincerely :)
Shanewei