命中注定

你相信命中注定吗？ 我相信。


所有在我们周围发生的点点滴滴和遇见的人，都已在我们出生之前被决定了。


但是有时候我不甘心，也不放弃，为我身边的人努力，加油，要找到属于我自己的天空。


你呢？


Alright, a weak attempt at trying my hand at Chinese. With help from Microsoft Pinyin IME 3.0 and http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt, i managed to type that out in slightly less than an hour :)


A while ago, i came across an article about rainbows and someone once asked me what do i want at the end of my rainbow.


Have you ever wonder what is really at the end of your rainbow? I was told, in fairy tales, that there will be a pot of gold at the end of the colorful walk. Is it really so? I don't know, i will never know until i'm there, isn't it? Will the rainbow i created have a pot of gold too?


No, not really a pot of gold. Rather i want it to be something that surpasses all my earthly wants. Or someone.


Yes, someone. I want to find someone at the end of my rainbow. A grown man. A responsible man with the heavy world on his broad shoulder, supporting it with a steady gaze, holding it up with a pair of strong hands. He may be tired from holding it too long but he will never back down, never give up and with his proud face looking up at the world on his shoulder, he will continue. He may tear, for that is human nature, not a sign of weakness. He may get temptations, he may make mistakes but to err is again, just human but he will soon learn the difference between good and evil. He may get discouraged, disheartened, but he will see himself through. He may experience setbacks but setbacks are like slingshots, once he learnt how to use it to his favour, he will overturn the table. He may get badly beaten, badly crushed but he will learn to pick himself up, bearing the scars of his downfall and face the world with even more determination.


Before the last light on my fading rainbow goes out, i want to see a responsible grown up Shane.


That will be my ultimate pot of gold.

What A Waste!

Did you all catch 'The Little Nyonya: The Final Chapter' aired earlier at 9.55pm? Really, if that's the best Mediacorp can come out with, i would rather they save it for their own private viewing. It's like adding insult to injury. With the greater audience terribly upset over the ending a week ago, i'm surprise at the pathetic finale. Now, more fuel will be added to the burning forest.


Instead of the 'blockbuster' it originally was, TLN has now officially become a laughingstock! And instead of pacifying the viewers, Mediacorp has just single-handedly flushed the whole show down the toilet. This finale should never have happened.


What an unfortunate waste of the three-minute airtime.

3.5 Days

I've been busy. Thanks to Chris who told me that someone has uploaded all the episodes of The Little Nyonya on Youtube, so i googled for it on New Year's Day. And i found it - http://www.youtube.com/user/Mediacorpfan.


I caught this show when i was channel surfing last Monday and it got me hooked in that two hours. I don't understand how certain things happened but now i do! All in three and a half days. Thank you Mediacorpfan!! Must be hard work for you.


Btw, why was the photo studio named 'Nanyang' when the Chinese words are something else? And in a pic i saw on TLN Facebook Page, the name was 'Sin Chew'. Did someone get confused in Mediacorp?

Anyway i was very glad when the elder evil sister was slapped last week and indeed, like someone who wrote in the papers, i am hoping she receive another big slap again on the last episode come Monday. I will await eagerly with two large buckets of popcorns and an evil smile.

Thank You All!

Thank you everyone for walking through 2008 with us.


Have a prosperous start in 2009! May all of you keep safe and be blessed with good health always!

Sour Grapes

Indeed they are. And these are Dad's pride and joy. The grape vines have been with us for more than twenty years. Previously, Dad planted them at our balcony which sort of restricted their growth. They now occupy our backyard which used to have two huge longan & lychee trees that never did bear any fruit. Instead, we got caterpillars falling off from the trees like snow. Yucks! Caterpillars that were fat, green and some were even hairy! Double Yucks!!


Btw, we also have apple, apricot and persimmon trees in our front yard but i doubt they will bear fruit.


And my dear readers, my home is in super hot, humid Malaysia, so yeah, surprise they can even grow huh? :)


So after three weeks of doing basically nothing, i'm really looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. But now, i have to find that darn blackberry charger. My blackberry has been hibernating for almost two weeks now. Time to wake up!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to All. Happy Holidays!

Over The Last Few Days..

I overate, slept in, watched movies with Shane, went office occassionally (i know i'm supposed to be on leave but my office is like my second home and i do enjoy the company of my girls) and of course, some 'Mommy-Me Time' :)


Went lunch with the gang on Wed at Borgo. No, diet can wait until after Chinese New Year!

Dinner and Drinks with my lovelies on Friday before everyone decides to disappear for the next two weeks:

Had dinner at Restaurant Ember (again!). I chosed it! :)

As always, i had my foie gras and beef tenderloin. Their food presentations were somewhat different from the last.

Next, drinks at The Screening Room.

We had our Round II of 'Truth & Dare'. Have you played that before? I didn't want the boring old style where everyone takes their turn. Rather i made them drew out number cards i prepared beforehand and the dices were rolled to determine the 'victim'.

This was my number - Magic Ten.

The girls were busy scribbling their Truth questions and silly embarassing Dares .

We had an amazing nite just drinking, chatting and acting silly. Try this game at your next Girls' Nite Out. You can check this site http://www.getdare.com/index.php for ideas.


And today, i did something frivolously fun. I blinged stuffs for my sisters, nieces and girlfriends. Yes, bling blings are for girls.



Do you like the sparkling effect on my picture? Sorry if i put one too many. I just learnt how to do this from the web today, so it's rather exciting for me. If you want to know how to create this, here's the tutorial to guide you: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/sparkle/. I had the photoshop program for over two years but never knew how to use it well. I didn't know this effect can be done using photoshop until i saw Eve's pic and i googled for it. I also came across this site that allows download of its stars and sparkles brushes. Here you go, you might like it too - http://www.photoshopbrushes.com/brushes/28.htm.

















Here are what you need to get started:

1) Glue. You'll need special glue that dries up fast, clear and water-proof. Mine is 'Perfect Deco' which cost about S$8.80.

2) Magic Pick S$16.90. This toothpick-like applicator has a rubber end that helps you pick up the rhinestones effortlessly. It works hand in hand with the double side tape found on top of the rectangular pad next to it.

3) Pen S$2.00. Length app 8.5cm.

4) Toothpicks. I use this to dot the glue on the pen bit by bit.

5) Lastly, size 10 Swarovski flatback rhinestones. I used different shades of pink (Fuchsia, Rose & Light Rose) and green (Olivine, Peridot & Erinite) for my two pens as shown in the pics above. Each pack are sold in 144 pieces and cost about S$5.40 per pack. All the materials shown here are from Mix & Match at #02-69 People’s Park Centre.

Now that you know where to get the materials, go try blinging something for someone today. It holds more meaning than getting your good friend that Red Lipstick from Chanel.

Music To My Ears

Shane has been taking music lessons for the past eight months and out of drum, violin and piano, he loves playing the piano most. Well, if you think i'm one of those 'kiasu' mother who forced her kid to go for these classes, you are very far from the truth. With the exception of piano, Shane was in love with drum and violin. I started him off with drum lesson which was the first instrument he wanted to learn and a week later, i started him on piano. i got him a violin too at that time. However, i didn't like the group classes he attended at Yamaha and i stopped him after 3 lessons. Now he's happily taking individual violin class for four months already at the same music school as his drum and piano and is loving them all.


I love the elegant sound of piano since young but unfortunately, had no chance to learn. Shane is my little piano teacher at home and he would get me to practise with him. What i enjoy most is listening to my kid playing my favourite instrument. Here's a clip showing Shane playing one of my favourite song - Long Long Ago. I gather taking vids of him practising is a good way for him to learn from his mistakes. Surprisingly, Shane agrees with me too.

Lost In Translation

Yours truly is taking almost a month long break from work. I needed not-to-work for a while. The beginning of the break saw me taking off to a land four and a half hours flight away from our sunny island. I ended up in cold Taipei.


So enjoy these pics while i collate and organize my thoughts. Time for a mind spring-cleaning session.

If you have not seen me before, you would think i'm as tall as Aud but the truth is.....



I'm being 'elevated' :)











The temperature was hovering between 13°C-20°C and i'm constantly wrapped up in at least three layers. Don't laugh, it's seriously cold for me na!


Taipei, the land of glorious food. Thank goodness i have Lotus & Pammie with me. I serously couldn't read Chinese and i have no clue what some of the food are.


















A super gigantic raddish cake!



A different variation of the smelly toufu. I don't quite like this, prefer the normal one.



Braised chicken leg and duck wings. Lotus bought some on the last nite and we had a quiet nite eating this, drinking Taiwan beer and chit chatting about everything in the hotel room.



The super big chicken steak. Everything is like extra big in Taipei, even their hotdogs!






Woah...!!



Bubble tea stalls are aplenty but this one specialised in white bittergourd juice. Supposedly to be good in battling heatiness.






Beef noodles



Grilled squid



Gyoza



I love smelly toufu!!! It's really very tasty. You got to believe me and try it once.



On the third nite, i just craved for some good old familiar food and i found Kentucky Fried Chicken!!


Taipei streets are flooded with gorgeous, slim and very pretty girls. Seven out of ten wear fake lashes though and their noses are sharp, small and with a slightly high nose bridge.



Fake lashes sold in packs of twenties. I'm not good at wearing them although Lotus gave me a lash applicator from Make-up Store. But ain't it tiring wearing them day in, day out?



It so happened i saw this - nose clip in one of the shops. Decided to buy and see if it can really make my nose as sharp and high as the Taiwanese girls! The sales girl told me all i need is to wear this for 15mins a day.



Immediately i tried it on when i reached the hotel. This is how my clipped nose looked like from the left.



And this is from the right. But alas, i didn't bring it back with me and so, my dream of having a nice higher bridge nose is gone :(



So until the next entry, have a great day at work everyone. I'm going back to my warm bed until dinner time. Then it's wine time with a good DVD in bed.