[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 =)