[7 tips for making yourself happier in the next hour]

apparently it's World Mental Health Day today...posting this article from the NUS Counselling Centre..

[meet the folks]

How was the conference?
- Excellent. Topics were useful for upcoming project, very impressive infrastructure they've got in place for genetic research in the whole of India, and even Hyderabad alone (picture Biopolis times 3). Not so worried about finding jobs there now Inshallah ;)

- Organisation could've been improved e.g. sticking to schedule and starting things on time.

- Kinda sucked being at a conference alone..glad I stuck to the Aussies at times. Sucked too that my poster didn't have much "business"...unrelated stuff I guess...and primitive techniques compared to the theme of the conference (DNA microarrays n stuff).

- Great conference venue/location and food...yummy. Even had a sightseeing trip to a handicrafts bazaar before the conference dinner at a 5 star hotel. All in all, pretty well taken care of. Oh, but don't ask about the service at the hotel..gasp...If the room hadn't been nice and big, I would've given them a bad rating immediately.

How was the meet-the-parents session?
- Excellent. Wayyyyy better than expected. Wayyyy more relaxed than I expected to be. Hell yeah, first meeting a day earlier than proposed was like..NERVE WRECKING (kept telling MB I needed another 24 hrs to be mentally prepared lol). They were soooooo eager to meet me, I didn't really have a choice..they sorta like just told me they'd be in my lobby in abt 30 mins time and I was like..oh shit. Lol. Will always remember the first warm hug and kiss on my forehead from ammi. Hee. And can't believe I was bold enough on our first meeting to make such a lame joke abt the restaurant owners being related to them just cos they had the same title and surname..hahaha. Nervous crapping perhaps?

ammi and me at hotel lobby 2nd night
- Met them everyday except one day...that's 2 days more than planned heh. Even regretted going for the conference dinner cos it was quite boring...was actually missing their company and would've preferred it anytime.

- Felt so much sincerity in their love. And I'm not exaggerating. Ahh..could get used to it. Hehe.

- Eventful day on the last day where, apart from trying the Eid dress ammi got tailored for me (wee!), I also managed an incredible feat of shoving GLASS bangles through my hand till they broke and I got a cut which bled for more than an hour even after compression, elevation AND icing...which subsequently needed a stitch (image not for the faint hearted) at the nearby community hospital. Found it quite hilarious actually..heh. Not the pain part though....and they're docs have really neat handwriting...check this out:

- Teary goodbye at the airport. Had to leave them too soon cos of the silly arrangement of the airport whereby non-passengers can't go in. Changi airport concept still the best lol...but must say..the new Hyd airport was really impressive. Ammi cried as she hugged me goodbye...Abbah seemed sad too...I still go awww thinking of the way he patted my head..cute..heh. They waited for me to check in and (quote) waved till my scarf was no more in sight. I'll miss you too ammi and abbah. Till we meet again.... :)

What lil pics I took...

[The Journey]

by Mary Oliver (Dream Work, Grove Atlantic)

On the day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice —
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.

“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.

It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,

And there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do —
determined to save
the only life you could save.

[when all i'm asking for is a clean slate]

Every now and then you come to some big hurdle in your relationships. Sometimes it's a lingering issue that has yet to be resolved. Till it explodes into one big volcanic eruption. And sometimes even after that explosion, there is still no resolution. Or the resolution is not satisfactory, or ends up benefiting only one party. Simply because someone expects you to be practical, even when ur sanity is at stake. It sucks. But I guess like mum said, only you can bring yourself true happiness. So if I really believe that something should be done, I shall just do it myself. Meanwhile, patience.

[more than halfway through]

Ramadan is zooming past..again. Seems like just a few days ago that I was worried about the first day of fasting...will I survive the day? Haha. Yep and soon only 13 more days to "survive". Things have been going well so far. I think I'm doing a pretty good job...rushing home after work to try to cook at least one dish for buka ("open"/break fast) or sahor (morning meal). Thanks to prof who "officially" gave me 30 mins off work so that I could go home slightly earlier even tho I had no official circular from HR to show him. I gave myself "unofficial" 5 to 10 mins more on certain days..lol. Or shouldn't I be annoucing that? Hehe. Nvm lah..then again lunch hour is 1 hour...so it's not like I'm cutting back on work hours by much.

It would be easier of course if I had more help in the kitchen. 1 hour isn't very much time to cook...alone. But yeah, we've gotten by...and as much as I rant about not liking to cook I do enjoy feeding my family (what more the multiplied rewards of feeding a fasting person)...and I also can't bear to eat the same old food dad buys back every other day...I need variety people! Variety! I guess he lacks creativity lol. Well at least he's cooperative in buying food on days I can't cook. My only complain...my sis ain't spending enough time buka-ing at home with the (already tiny) family. So much so we couldn't even celebrate her birthday with her, on time at least. Sigh. Plus I have no company to go for terawih...sucks being squashed up in the mosque alone haha. Oh well, on the bright side, at least I've been picking up the Quran to read at home. Slow and steady..haha.

The clock is also ticking...to my conference...and the scarier part..meeting the future in-laws...all alone in their home ground. Yikes! I'm one hell of a brave woman if I survive it. Just gotta put on my charms. Haha...*wink wink* ;)

[1.2m is just loose change]

What's a govt that can't spare 1.2 million on building a school for the intellectually challenged? Money-minded I say. Hope I don't get shot for saying this. But seriously, when you earn a million or more a day just by killing people with ERP charges, what is 1.2 million for a school? Or what is 1.2 million when you can build 2 huge gambling dens albeit the protest of the society just so that it will reap you huge tourism profits? Money-minded.

As reluctant as I was in attending the acapella concert yesterday (would rather spend time at home during Ramadan), it indeed touched my heart to see the effort going towards raising money for autistic and mild-intellectually disabled kids from Grace Ochard School yesterday. The video they played was heartbreaking yet heartening at the same time. What some people would consider as unproductive members of the society - well these kids were really making an effort to learn skills in the hope that one day they might make it out to society (a few of them already do, like one who helps out in a Secret Recipe kitchen). Furthermore, they need these life skills so that they can live independently when they no longer can be cared for by their aging parents one day. As MB put it, these are really the heros - who don't use their handicap as an excuse but instead continue to fight on. And apart from the determined young minds, hats off to the teachers too for devoting their lives to helping these kids - it must be one challenging task.

The "emotional blackmail" they used using "When You Believe" (Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston) as background music worked indeed cos right after the video I almost teared and I rushed out to donate. Hehe. It was a worthy cause and perhaps I was meant to go there to be inspired. Plus the acapella groups were good too heh. So if any of you would like to do your bit to shape special lives, please visit this website.

[scrabble scramble]

Believe it or not I finally went for a Scrabble tournament. Another tick of my list of things to do this year. And though I lost 3 out of 4 games (beginner lah...hehe)..I was still high at the end of the day. So high till I didn't mind waking MB up at 7am his time to go on and on about how my first two games were. Poor guy. Haha.

I expressed interest in the staff team 2 years ago but only this year the leader called us to tell us abt competitions. I was one of the newbies..never played in a competition before (does Inter Faculty Games count? Cos I got a silver for that when representing USP as an undergrad hehe). And talk about last min...K only told me on Thur that I shld play for the Public Service Games scrabble competition on Saturday...talk about being unprepared!!

My team mate MR actually knew many of the opponents since she's been to competitions before..like wow. The competitive Scrabble scene...amazing. There I was picturing a bunch of ppl only with my (mediocre) skills from my Literati days (Yahoo's version of the game). But these ppl are like HARDCORE. They memorise unheard of words...list after list...two letter words..three letter words...Z words...Q words..u name it, they know it. Yikes. I hadn't even memorised my short list when K gave me the 2007 list of updated words accepted by Collin's dictionary. Help my poor lil brain! Oh and surprisingly, there were many MEN and Malays (ok not being sexist or racist here..but just thought men would be more interested in like...chess..haha. and abt the Malay part..well...I guess I was just surprised to see they weren't a tiny minority.)

We had friendly opponents...I told my first opponent to be nice to me cos it was my first time...but he wasn't. sob sob. lol. (was hoping since MR knew him..he'd listen to her to be nice to me lol). Second game was really close and really a heartbreak...I was leading all the way with 2 bingo words then I opened up the board for my opponent to score 40 points on his 2nd last word. Ouch. So close..... My margin kept improving and that was really motivating. Won on the final game with a relatively easy opponent..I think they were there really just to have fun (or maybe just so that their organisation cld say they sent participants lol). My opponent was so heck care that she was just making tiny 3 letter words and not caring about winning (can't blame her..by that time we were all pretty tired and having headaches cos of the noise during breaks and well..we did have to use our brains on an early Sat morn haha). Actually we were both quite heck care till we were like taking our own sweet time, daring the other to challenge our words..no loss mah..we were only playing for the consolation prize haha. Anyway that was a pretty easy win for my team...and I guess that was what got us the consolation prize in our category ("losers" category lol). Yay anyway! :P

MR made me get up to get the prize..bleah..bullied for being the youngest in the team. I think I was one of the youngest in the whole competition in fact. So yeah, imagine playing against a bunch of Scrabble experts/veterans...it was scary at first, but really worth the experience. I'm really glad I went for it after wanting to try it for so long. Plus I came home with a (extremely yellow) CSC towel and t-shirt..even tho I'm not a civil servant...haha. It was pretty motivating when K emailed the whole team to congratulate us on our lil win..he even added good job since 2 out of 3 of us were beginners. Wee! Maybe next year we'll come home with a medal ;)

basking in our lil glory :)

[kiss me clean]

Realised that I'm quite turned off by dirty teeth. Stained ok...but tartar n stuff...GROSS. Was just thinking, as someone was talking to me...eugh look at his teeth...his poor wife. Or maybe she doesn't care lol. Ok this is quite random I know...but just felt like blogging it down.

[who wants to be my pen pal?]

the things far finds....heh. those were the days...i was 9 and young and collected stamps and stickers..lol. i still read tho. :P

[the lab rat]

[breast talk]

It was a day of breast, breast and more breast. No we weren't watching some porno movie...Much more tamer...our Breast Cancer Symposium held in conjunction with our 60th anniversary celebrations. It was cool to see our department on TV, apparently M invited CNA to film the thing. I was quite lucky to catch it on TV..actually came out of my room just to refill my cup. Then as I stood by the TV (distracted for some reason), they were like "Breast cancer is on the rise in Singapore..." and I was like hey that sounds familiar lol. CKS, PH and KWP were on TV with their interviews..kewl. We had guests from all sorts of places...even the National Cancer Registry, Breast Cancer Foundation, AWARE (we think), and even a couple of breast cancer survivors. The article also appeared in yahoo news and CNA. We're famous!

Anyway what did we learn? Yeah breast cancer is on the rise..we might catch up with Sweden/US in a couple of decades so better do something about it now. Obvious causes: lifestyle factors like diet and having fewer children and later. Take home message:

1. Eat soy. Just a minimal serving a day is sufficient. It seems to protect Asians against breast cancer.
2. (Get married and) have kids. Not 1, not 2, but about 3 to reduce ur risk significantly. No I'm not promoting the PM's national day msg haha. But hey, double benefits...reducing ur breast cancer risk and contributing to the nation..lol.
3. Breastfeed..and for a longer time. It was found that Malay women had more kids and breastfed, for a longer time, than Chinese...and their breast cancer risk was reduced by quite a bit comparatively.

The 2nd and 3rd point lead me to think about how Muslims have been rightly guided. How getting married and setting up a family is considered half of faith, and how a seemingly small point like breastfeeding your child is highly recommended. Verily Islam is indeed a way of life. Even surrogate breastfeeding is recommended if for some reason a mother can't breastfeed her own child. Interestingly even the WHO states that: "The second choice [after breastfeeding] is the mother's own milk expressed and given to the infant in some way. The third choice is the milk of another human mother. The fourth and last choice is artificial baby milk (formula)." Glory be to God for guiding us with such precision.

And then of course, there are a whole lot of other benefits associated with breast-feeding:

-- Bottle fed infants are fourteen times more likely to be hospitalized than breastfed infants.

-- Bottle fed infants are three to four times more likely to suffer from diarrheal diseases.

-- Bottle fed infants are four times more likely to suffer from meningitis.

-- Breastfeeding reduces the risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

-- Children who were breastfed as infants have IQ scores which average seven to ten points higher than children who were formula fed.

-- There are one million white blood cells contained in each drop of breast milk.

-- Breastfeeding reduces the risk of juvenile-onset diabetes.

-- Formula fed babies have a higher rate of allergies than breastfed babies.

-- A breastfed baby often has smoother, softer skin than a formula baby.

-- Breastfed babies have a lower incidence of eczema than formula fed babies.

-- The mother who breastfeeds passes on her antibodies to an infant whose immune system is still developing.

-- Breast milk contains DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid which is widely considered to be vital for the growth and development of brain tissue. Formula does not contain DHA.

-- Breast milk is rich in cholesterol, while formula has none at all. Cholesterol helps build the brain and manufactures hormones and vitamin D.

-- Breast milk contains lactose, while formula contains glucose and galactose. Lactose is valuable for brain tissue development and promotes intestinal health.

-- Children who are breastfed are less likely to be obese during adolescence.

-- Breastfed babies have better jaw alignment than formula fed babies, and are less likely to need orthodontic work when they are older. This is because the suckling action for breastfeeding is more complex and involves more "work" than the suckling action for an artificial nipple.

-- Breastfed babies develop a larger nasal space, which can reduce problems of sleep apnea and snoring later in life.

-- Breast milk contains the easy-to-digest whey proteins, while formula contains harder-to-digest casein proteins. This means that breast milk is digested quicker and is less likely to be spit up by baby.

-- Breastfed babies have diapers which are much more pleasant to change than the formula fed baby. Because formula is harder to digest, their stools are harder and more foul smelling than the breastfed baby's.

But the advantages aren't just for baby. There are advantages for Mama too, such as:

-- A faster post-partum recovery. The sucking action of the breastfeeding baby stimulates the release of oxytocin, which helps the uterus contract to its pre-pregnancy size.

-- Breastfeeding mothers normally have an easier time losing weight than formula feeding mothers. (woohoo..I've witnessed this with my own eyes..)

-- There is a reduced risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and uterine cancer in the breastfeeding mother.

-- The mother who breastfed her infant is less likely to develop osteoporosis in her older years.

-- Breast milk is free. With the costs of formula, bottles, nipples, and additional medical expenses, formula feeding can cost up to $1,200 a year.

-- Breastfeeding promotes mother-baby bonding.

-- Breastfeeding allows a mother to take some quiet relaxed time for herself and her baby.

For the environmentally conscious mummies out there...I even read that breastfeeding is better for our environment because there is less trash and plastic waste compared to that produced by formula cans and bottle supplies.

Hurray to breastfeeding!

[birthday fun!]

As usual, I had an awesome birthday thanks to my dear family, friends and colleagues. Thanks for making my day guys! **Kisses**


Just for fun...AwArDs of BiRtHdAy 08:

• Most fun outing: Bird Park with the HP gang
• Loveliest "surprise": Bouquet of roses from my darling MB..hee
• Most yummy cake: Awfully chocolate that yun n gang got me...mmmmm
• Most innovative: Birthday pizza by my colleagues (should I add the b'day sash and candles that never extinguish? heh)
• Coolest gift: 8 GB Creative Zen from dad & sis...now I can watch movies on the go..haha
• Best thing I did for myself: Makeover..wee!
• Longest day out: Shopping till we literally dropped with aunt & cousin...good thing I relaxed myself with the spa first heh. Finally got my engagment outfit. Yay!
• (Couple of disappointments but I guess I shouldn't add those heh.)

I'm one satisfied 26-year-old. Haha. =)

Party pics here.

[i love my makeover pics...la la la la la]

don't have to say more...hehe

[a night of BUTS]

Yes finally! After two years of procrastinating and waiting for company to attend Ballet Under The Stars, I watched it at last. I was so determined on watching it this year that I actually bought a ticket for myself. Luckily I persuaded Sakura to join me, so I didn't appear to be such a loser afterall. Haha.

I had one fantastic day, which started off with meeting the girlz for lunch at Go India @ Vivocity. The buffet lunch was really cheap at only $20++ per pax. I could've spent the whole day there eating the yummy chicken kebab. Heh. The disappointing part was when the manager was dishonest about the discounts we were entitled to...nvm lah..next time I should be more persistant about it. Anyway, was really happy when I got my yummy choc cake from awfully choc. Thanks for getting it yun! And thanks safari-Ruth for coming even tho ur tummy wasn't well. The cake was complete with my name written on it (was claiming it to be MINE lol). Mmmm. If the lunch hadn't been so heavy I'd have eaten the whole piece haha. We had a good time catching up with Mz and Azzy (hey it rhymes!) and too bad I had to leave early but I had a picnic to catch. Heh.

Almost had a heart attack when I came home to find Sakura sleeping (as usual!). So I dragged her out of bed and surprisingly she was responsible enough to prepare our lil picnic snacks even tho she was still a lil groggy. Thanks for keeping your word babe..enjoyed the picnic lots! =) The performance was amazing, even better than what I'd expected. There was a medley of short dances from SDT's different performances over the years, so it wasn't like one draggy piece. And the variety was also good, they had classical pieces, contemporary ones, and even fusion pieces like an African tribal theme fused with classical ballet movements. Awesome! My favourite was the African themed one...as I've always been a traditional arts form buff. The most abstract was the animal piece...I think the only two animals I could make out were the monkeys and frogs lol.

Another thing ticked off my list of things to accomplish before next year. Yay!

[moovie weekend]

Had a pretty fun time last weekend. It started with my makeover-cum-photography session which was part of the UOB Lady's card birthday treats. My philosophy: if it's free, why not. Haha. Except that it wasn't so free, with the "compulsory sponge for strict hygiene purposes" they asked me to buy. But ok lah..just $14 :P. It was really exciting...I was nervous at first cos I didn't know what kinda make up they'd end up doing, didn't even have an idea of what hairstyle I wanted, in case they asked. Thankfully the lady who did my makeover was really pro and experienced...I loved my makeup every bit, right down to the fact that she knew red lipstick didn't suit me. Heh. And I was planning to let my hair down..so yep..she did that too even without me asking. Gooood! And as if they knew me inside out, the photographer even asked me if I liked purple cos he had that backdrop. Woohoo..really felt like it was my day! He was really friendly too - and I realised that it was important to have a good sense of humour cum vibrant personality along with great photography skills for the job. After a few of his jokes, and the "warm up" poses, I was raring to go! Lol. Wouldn't have had half as much fun if the photographer just stood there saying..ok hand here, leg there, smile how. After a few poses and some awkward hand positions (u can't really look natural with ur hand on one hip I thought..unless u were scolding someone in that position..haha), I was actually tired. Wonder how models do it whole day long. And I thought it was easy being a supermodel..just having to smile or act sexy in front of the camera. The only disappointing (although expected) part was the freakishly expensive costs for getting the soft copies of the shots since the b'day promo only entitled me to one free 4R print. Hey, after all that hard work (may I add pretty shots..haha), I wanted more than one pic to take home. So since they were so expensive, out of the 30 odd shots, I decided to pick the best 10. Even picking the photos were fun, though a bit painful cos I had to abandon so many... sobs. But something tells me I'm gonna really enjoy my bridal shots. Looking forward to that already! ;)

After the lady took my heavy "studio" makeup off (actually more like just fluff some off with a piece of tissue...I could've done that myself...) I went off to meet Sakura for Hancock. And yeah, my friends were warning me about the mediocre reviews it got...even Sakura wasn't that keen..but like her sister's motto..if it's is free, why not. Didn't regret it one bit...especially when scrubby Hancock transformed into glorified superhero-Hancock. Woohoo..that's my Will Smith. Lol. There wasn't much of a plot, but the acting was good and Charlize Theron was hot (especially the scene where she got all heated up with raging hormones when Hancock entered the kitchen). Now I know why MB likes her!

On Sunday I was filling in for Far's friend who couldn't make it on time back to Singapore. I've never been a fan of Batman, so I was warning her that if I get lost during the movie she has to help me. But not too bad I guess, I don't think I needed the prequels to understand it. After seeing Joker's role, I realised what a pity it was that Heathe Ledger ended his life. Or perhaps there was some possibilites of truth to the rumour..that making the movie drove him to his end. Dark, as what I recall from previous Batman scenes I've watched (never sat down long enough to watch a whole movie..heh). After the movie, had dinner at some Indo restaurant at the basement of cathay. The food portions were a bit disappointing but I guess the food was not bad. Had a good time talking to Far's friends. I'd thought they'd be a wild bunch who weren't my type initially. But they turned out pretty tame and easy to get along with heh. Was even surprised they were actually interested to find out more stuff about me e.g. how I met MB and my travel escapades. Maybe cos Far's been gossiping to them abt me behind my back. Haha. Ah and we found out too that there are a lot of older brothers out there who are pretty useless/undependable/or just plain lazy. Comfort in company...

Unfortunately am back in office to face the reality of WORK. Ahhh, too bad weekends don't last long...

[we're healthy at work]

***yes we march on!*** ******one team ****** ***naughty banana***


according to prof, one of the few times we can do silly things to him..and boy did we take advantage of it lol

What better way to promote healthy living than organising a departmental walk (020708). Thanks to the NParks idea of buiding bridge connectors between different parks in Singapore (with the ultimate aim of connecting ALL parks in Singapore), we managed to hike our way from Mount Faber through Henderson Waves and ending at HortPark at Alexandra road - the Southern Ridges trail. The trail consists of a series of stairs and sloping footpaths that descend about 70 metres from the top of Mount Faber.

The weather was threatening to dampen our event but luckily the rain stopped just in time for us to commence the walk (and apparently started to rain again just after we departed...maybe GK asking us to pray to "our respective Gods" did work afterall lol. Or maybe it was me singing "rain rain go away, C-O-F-M wants to play" hahaha). In fact it was pretty sunny halfway through and everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves while munching down the bananas they got in the little "healthy pack" we provided. The walk through the secondary rainforest was pretty effortless and the stop at HortPark was fun cos we got to see lovely orchids and take silly photos with each other. Definitely wouldn't mind going again some time...perhaps next time equipped with my camera to take pictures of the scenic walk. Well done to the Health & Wellness team for organising the very successful event! Yay!

[the countdown begins]

on another note, today marks exactly one year from D-day. if things go as planned. maybe it's time i start my countdown. monthly perhaps. heh. ;)

11 July 2009

(note it down on your calender folks..hehe)

[automated lameness]

Talk about lameness... check this out:
http://www.eppendorf.com/int/hawkpopup.php?contentid=13

[the lil big getaway]

Oh what a relaxing getaway it was. 13 of us trouped to Pulau Besar ("Big Island"), a tiny island 20 mins off Mersing. We dreaded the 6.30am (on a Sunday morning!) assembly at Golden Mile, but I have to say it was well worth it. We had almost the whole island to ourselves, not counting a few ang moh families. The beach was awesome and the resort was simple but service was great (including the yummy food!). D'Coconut Island Resort..so good we're likely to take the super deluxe rooms next time heh. The only disappointment was the no snorkeling cos the weather wasn't good. Rained on our second morning there and the resort said the waters were too choppy to go out to sea. Ah too bad. Luckily we did our mini snorkeling on the first day albeit pathetic. Imagine 13 of us out at sea, or rather just a few metres away from the shore, desperately looking for (live) corals and (many) fish. We were happy with what we saw though, and I'm glad Sakura had her first adventure at snorkelling.

The highlight was definitely the treehouse with hammocks on top. It was like..wow the perfect hideaway. Sakura, Soefie and I discovered it first...so we declared it ours lol. Imagine just lying there, enjoying the brilliant view and breathing in the fresh air amidst the cooling sea breeze. It was definitely calming closing my eyes and listening to the waves crashing to shore. Oh what a perfect escape.

I had my first try at mahjong - I am proud to say I can now recognise Chinese numbers, and I even won a few games (beginner's luck they say...when I won my very first game heh...see grinning winner on the right lol). Of course I had a bit of help lah...from Lyn and whoever else who was coaching beside me hehe. Thanks PE for being my mahjong shi fu! :P

We also had an adventure to the set of Survivor 2 Norway (or some other Scandinavian country). There was an Angkor Wat replica on the island so the local seeing how bored we were without our snorkelling trip brought us to the set (God knows what a Cambodian structure was doing in Malaysia..ah but well..maybe the ang mohs didn't care to differentiate just "another" southeast asian island...hmm). Alas we discovered how we've been fooled on TV, as we realised how the ferns and even moss were plastic and the "rocks" were made of wood and styrofoam (note how "strong" the boys look carrying the "rock"..it's all camera trickery..hahaha). Still it was pretty fun posing as "survivors" and exploring the set. Survivors Singapore!

We were having such a good time it was a pity we had to leave so early. Next time we should check out later, afterall we had to wait 2 hours till our bus arrived at Mersing. How did we kill time? As typical Singaporeans, we were dying for a place to shop...so we ventured to the town nearby and shopped at Giant (only "shopping centre" we could find lol). We were happy anyway, some of us even managed to get some stuff haha. After some chocolate waffles and kaya balls, we headed back to our bus.

Must say it was a very good trip and I got much closer to my colleagues after that weekend. AW's HK friend, cousin and her friends were a fun bunch too and it was no problem getting along with them. In fact we more than got along with the nonsense we yapped abt heh. Looking forward to the next "lab getaway" already. Wee!

Had a trigger happy time with Sakura as my main model lol. Glad she didn't strangle me. Enjoy more Besar pics here!

[congrats siti!]

14.06.2008

they pulled off a terrific event for something that was planned in 4 months. wow! and i guess i should be thanking siti for providing me her contacts, and helpful hints for planning my big day. heh ;) May God bless your sacred union always =)