CNY 2 ~ Horoscope Prediction: Dragon Should not Gamble this Year!

From what I been hearing and reading, this Fiery Doggy Year is not a tough year for those born in the year of Dragon. One of the warnings was not to Gamble!

Well I been on a losing streak since yesterday and haven’t been gambling for money since yesterday night. Was just coaching Mahjong to beginners and I was still lose big time!

I wonder if my luck's bad or my Mahjong skill's crappy : (

CNY Day 2 ~ that shorter route

Was out visiting with Denise Family and I was having a hard time catching up with Denise's Dad car (I am one who don't like to speed). We were leaving the West Coast Stop and heading towards Hougang Ave 4, traveling by CTE.

We were lagging behind and when we spotted a pink Cadillac, we forgot everything about the car in front. When we were reaching the Hougang exit, we decided to call the car that was supposed to lead us and it turned out that they went by PIE!

Which I thought was quite strange and got a feeling that my group will reach before them. So by remembering the trip last CNY and the vague description of the address we reached there 5 to 10 mins earlier.

I dont understand why people can travel without knowing the address! I for one would prefer to be given the address instead of the direction of how to get there.

CNY Day 1 ~ the frequent asked Question!

I thought it would be “So when are you getting married ah?” but it turned out to be “How come you put on so much weight ah?”

It’s quite bad … it went to the extend that I was teased but 4 aunties and 3 uncles that I got the boss like look … you know the overweight big boss look … all at the same time!

even Denise's Aunties also drilled me on the new round look that I am wearing !

And I spend so much time preparing to answer the other questions ! grossly misjudged my aunties n uncles mindset! Better lose weight before the next time I see them!

What is the colour of Orange ?

On the First Day of CNY, at the first place of visit, Denise was carrying Andrew and gave him a packet of Orange Juice and then proceeds to ask,

"What the colour of Orange ah?"

Andrew replied innocently "Orange!"

I just stared at them blankly ...

Reunion Dinner Saga

This Year Reunion Dinner was at a Golf Club near the west coast, the 8.30pm shift.

The Dinner had a impressive start! We were going to have Lion Dance performance and as we were seating by the entrance, we were greeted almost immediately by the Lions! Must be a sign of GOOD LUCK for my Mom!

But our luck changed quickly as the drum and cymbals are placed right beside us! It was Loud and a few of us left the table so that our ears won't go deaf (except my cousin who sat there during the whole performance). If it was for a few mins, it was still all right but the performance lasted 15 mins and the table beside us was equally pissed at the program. Did the usual Singaporean thingy but alas it was only done at the end of the performance ... sigh but I wonder no one else from the 6pm shift complained about it meh ? such a dumb idea to have the drum and cymbals right beside your customers table ... dont thinky we will have another CNY dinner there!

Right after the racket was over, we get to eat my favourite dish of CNY ! Yu Sheng!

LOH HEI ! (First OF COS!) I wonder how many time I can have this dish this CNY!

Also my Grandma birthday celebration today!

the worst thing that can happen to U in a Changing Room

Was doing my very last minute shopping for CNY’s clothing at Marina Square’s Baleno when something unexpected happened to me when I was trying out a new pair of jeans. Something Smelly!

Yikes someone took off his or her shoes and it stink up the whole place! It was so bad that I couldn’t proceed on to the second piece of clothing that I brought in and have to evacuate the Changing Room area.

The weirdest part was that there were a few young girls trying out the clothing outside the changing room (a la fashion parade) and don’t they smell that stinky smell? I am pretty sure it wasn’t the young girls cos they were wearing slippers and when the smell disappeared (which was until after a guy left the changing room area), they were still around that changing room area.

Yikes! Worst experience trying out new clothing and weirdest experience to see the young girls that are unaffected by that smell.

My application photo for Corpses Bride's Extra

(Lokie ~ here u go)

Ebay : the 5 hours wait and the $1.50 differences

I finally found the Brazil's version of City of God dvd on ebay going at a affordable/reasonable price (starting price US$11) (even tho it's second hand). Even the shipping cost was cheap compared to the other seller's shipping cost (only US$6+). If i would to buy this brand new from a online seller (from Brazil I assumed), the DvD will cost around US$28 dollars and the shipping will cost US$30! yeah shipping more expensive than the Dvds!

My plan was to bid at the very last moment so in order to outbid anyone else that was going to bid for this item. But alas! the end bid timing for this item was at 6-7am in the morning ! yeah I know it's around evening time for the USA folks but it's the damn freaking early morning on our side!

sigh at around 1.45am, I had to go to sleep and staying up all the way wasn't an option. I placed a bid around US$14 dollars and to my surprise I was the highest bidder! seems like not much competition on this one and I thought I might be able to win this after all, I set my alarm clock at 6.45 which is the end bid deadline and took a nap.

Disaster strikes when I was able to get up after the alarm clock did it's job! It's like the mind is semi awake but the body is stiff like a zombie. It was only after 7am, then I was able to drag myself to turn my computer on (bad idea carried off before I slept! to turn off my cpu which takes a long time to be turn on).

By the time I was able to access the Ebay, the auction was over and the winner won by just out bidding me by $1.50! argh ! all this effort of watching this item, waking up so damn early in the morning all gone to waste !

sigh ! could have should have ! all this drama before breakfast !

Revamp Room Pt 4: Home Theatre Step 1 ?

was going to threw away my hifi set too but decided that I am throwing away too many things liao so I tried to salvage the hifi

I know the CD player had already gone bonkers liao, the radio FM can't connect to any radio stations at all and one Speaker has problem handling bass.

so before I can condemn the hifi, I decided to plug it to my dvd player and TV and hey it sound quite good! even Denise says that it sound like cinema ... yeah i know it's not a great system or speakers but then it's better than what my tv can produces

but the left speakers got quite a long tear and every time there strong bass, it's like it's going to rip itself apart. hmmm need to consult an expert on this if I can fix it with strong glue.

the sound that it's producing is kinda spurring me on to build on my first HOme Theatre sound system

Goodbye my Table : Room Revamp Pt3

The hardest furniture to move/dump (and it's not becos there wasn't anyone around to help me move). My table that been with me since Primary School and thinking back, this is the only thing I got that ever last so long. Something so big and even tho I seldom actually work on it anymore, it represent so much of my past and the moments we shared.

the letters I wrote on it, the "art" i drew on it, the secrets it kept for me and all the time i used it as a foot stool, when i was moving it to the dumping ground, I kept hearing this ...

"Goodbye my Table
Goodbye my Friend
You have been the one
YOu have been the one for me

I am so Hollow baby
I am so Hollow
I am so
I am so
I am so Hollow Baby"

~ Sing to the lyrics from James Blunt's "Goodbye My Lover"

I dare not look back becos my tears might just flowed

A Trip down Memory Lane

While Packing and moving stuff today, I found some old newspaper cuttings that got picture of me :)

The first one was taken when I was out with one of my secondary school days crush (who married my classmate and now both of them have a cute little boy). We were buying a pair of tickets to watch a movie then and movie price was $5 and the news article was about the $1 price increase in ticket Price. Sigh the only $5 ticket we can get now is if we go for a surprise screening at GV.

The second one was taken at a 3 on 3 basketball competition at Habourfront. I was having the shoulder long hair cut then and the news article was about the wheel bound folks duking it out in their own 3 on 3 competition. Don't think we make it thru the first round but hey our photo was shown on the newspaper, which I don't think the champion was even featured at all. hehehe

The last one was taken when Jae Lee visited Singapore. Jae Lee is a comic book artist and the first US comic professional that I met in person. When he was here, we were offered to take pictures with him at about $8 per picture but then I was camera shy and didn't take any pictures with him. I did however won a sketch from him and it still remains as one of my prized possessions.

When I was at my usual comic shop getting my comics, I saw these two poloroid pictures on display and asked the comic shop uncle if I could take a closer look. Quite surprise to see myself in the photo above : ) It was one of my regrets not taking any pictures with him when he visited but I never expect to see his pictures of his visit again and one that I was in the same picture with him ... that picture above was simply priceless.

Anyway I managed to borrow these two poloroid pictures from the comic shop uncle to scan and keep : )

Coconut and other brain matters

Just when Denise was ready to drive home, she suddenly remember that she left something at my place and we need to go up again to collect it. Was “irked ” at her absent mindedness and “lectured” her on it

“Where are your brains? How come so absent minded? ” Poking her head (softly) I continue asking “what inside here? Empty one issit ? like a coconut issit?” “No wait coconut got more meat that this one … must be all liquid and no meat one!”

and she said “must be Young Coconut then”

Overheard : First Kiss Tonight

There this Goodlooking Guy in a Korean Drama series declaring to everyone in a pub in french that he is going to give the lady he is with his First Kiss Tonight.

I wonder if he meant the first kiss that he has ever given or just the first of many that he will be giving that night ?

Revamping the room : Part 2

today is the last 2 days to dumb bulky items for my estate : )

and when i was about to clear my stuff ... Rain came ! and I also discover that it's not easy to move my empty cupboard ... it's still quite heavy!

the worst part was that after I moved it down to the dumping ground and came back to packs what left over from the cupboard that i just dumped ... I realized I forgot to take a picture of my room before I clear the major big item

and no way i am going to move the cupboard back so i guess i can only take picture of my room after i am done with the moving

The Wake: a gathering for old friends?

Strange but that what just happened …

My friend’s mom just passed away and during the wake, I didn’t even had to pay respect to the deceased or speak much to my friend as she was busy with her colleagues and other family matters.

Instead I spent 3 hours there catching up with friends that I haven’t met for many many years. It was fun and it’s like we never missed a beat at all and it was back to the good old days of organizing camps for Ywca.

Heck we even talk about potential business partnership, grading my photo taking skills (hahaha I got praised by my professional photograph expert fren which was very rare !) and even how to scoop curry out (without the oil) … yeah like the good old days !

And when I overheard someone else (whom I don’t really know) said, “Don’t wait till the next wake to meet up again” It did summarized how strange I felt after the whole gathering ended, Must we wait until someone to die before we can meet up?

Yeah like what my photograph expert fren points out > “I am too busy” excuse doesn’t really stand too

Mental note : must meet up with old friends more often !

Western Barbeque @ Old Airport Rd

Monday Night and no where to go makan except the same old places so I suggested Old Airport Rd since after going thru local food websites, Old Airport Rd Keep popping up. And since we were at my cousin new place yesterday, I been thinking of the hawker centre beside his place ...

shouldnt have visited on Monday as most of the stalls are closed ... only left with very few good ones

the best part was that I found this Western food stall

Consumed >

Beef Steak

Goodies > Superb Garlic Beef Steak Sauce

Yuckies > Not enough sauce to spread around! Didn't know what dishes are they famous for except for Chicken Chop which I don't really like.

Cost > $6 for 1 plate of Beef Steak

Returning (?) > oh yeah !

Weblink > sbestfood.com's website for Western BBQ

High and Low

High > told there a gift waiting for me after watching a movie premiere

Low > the wonderful looking gift have my friend's name on it

ARGHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

~okie i shall not be that greedy ... I got free food, free popcorns + Coke, free goodie bag which contains First Mag, a small shower bag and other goodies and a free french movie which was quite good and my friend had to run 2.4km while i was enjoying all those above in his name hehehehe~

My Second Dvds Purchases : Part 3

the arrival of my Korean Dvds ! and to think I almost missed it ! The Postman rang the doorbell once but i was still too sleepy to be care about it ... "No way man, It's too Early"

Lucky Denise came to my place and rang the bell over and over again until I had to open the door for her. Before I reach the door, I saw a white slip of paper that had been slipped in and at that Moment I knew It gotto to be the Dvd package !

Heng heng ah, the postman only left to the next block in my estate and I was able to collect my Dvd package from him! Or I have to wait until tomorrow then i can collect it from the post office... Phew

The box that contains my dvd was quite bang up ... was worried for a while but once I opened it, all my worries are gone : ) all 3 dvds are wrapped in a nice bubble wrap and they were in Great Condition

The First Dvd that I saw was Sympathy For Lady Vengeance : ) everything as I expected it to be

the Next one was A Bittersweet Life ... the outer casing is made of matt surface and the inter casing is made up of glossy surface ... felt kinda weird specially this is a restock item ... gotto ask the other folks who got this if it's the same for them

The last and most Grand Dvd packaging I received so far would be Welcome to Dongmakgol : ) a TV box set which contains lots of goodie : ) include one that U will see below : )

Yup it's a card that signed by someone : ) hehehe hope it was signed by someone who had a major role in this film : ) hehehe anyway i post this pic up on other forum and see if anyone can figure out who signed it ...

Art of handling questions

Denise asked me today …

“Will you send your kid to all those expensive classes like your sister is doing now?”

Pondering for a while, a Yes or No answer might give me troubles so in the end, I thought the best answer would be

“I will have to discuss with my wife about it”

: ) Mian Shi Qing Pai or in English > Avoid Death Gold Plate

ANDrew the Sandcastle Destroyer

I was happily Building Sand castles at East Coast when the little guy came and destroy all my handiworks!



yeah Drown that Little Bugger !

Homophobia

Stefan asked me tonight,

“Are you homophobic?”

“No Lar, If I am, I won’t be having dinner with you” : ) hehehehe

(oh we have a long string of "Do You KNow how I know you are gay" crossfire after watching the 40 year old virgin)

2 Biggest Mistakes of the Day

I won tix to watch Proof at Plaza Sin but dont know how I managed to read it as Marina ... sigh

then Denise and I were stuck at City Hall becos of the rain ... made a stupid suggestion to ask my folks to fetch us ... by the time they reached and found us, the rain had stopped.

URGH

Quote of the Day

“I will always be your Knight in Flabby Amour” ~ Homer

My Second Online Dvd Purchases : Pt 2

OKie I think I made a mistake : ) Sympathy for Lady Vengeance was on Pre-Order and won't be shipped until 10 Jan 06 and I just received an email from DvdFromKorea.com that my Dvds had just been shipped.

So 6 to 9 working days from today : )

Budget Airline Terminal Gets a Name

12 Thousands participated to name it and they decided to call it "The Budget Terminal" in the end

PENG AH

I heard it on the Radio and like the DJ who took turns to swan it, i want to know what did the 12 thousands folks came up with ...

Not very creative ah ...

My Second Online Dvd Purchases

Finally made my 2nd online Dvd Purchases and they are "A BitterSweet Life LE"(ABL), "Welcome to Dongmakgol LE" (WTD) & "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" (SFLV). After considering Yesasia.com, DvdHeaven.com and DvdfromKorea, based on my friend's recommendation and the feedback from Import Forum, I decided to go with DvdfromKorea for my first Korean Dvd Purchases.

ABL and SFLV are 2 of my top 10 movies of 2005 and I never really had any favourite Korean Movie until ABL. WTD is a blind buy, based on the buzz surrounding this movie and it's the representative for Korea in the upcoming 06 Foreign Language Academy Awards.

However it wasn't a smooth purchase for me. I been planning to buy all 3 Dvd titles at one go to save on shipping cost but ABL was sold out at the DvdfromKorea.com (my first choice of online seller) and then the inital pressing of SFLV LD went out of print. Then the composer took out the OST in WTD LD because he refuses to sell it in Korea. (which make me wonder why he compose the soundtracks for a Korea Movie in the first place ?)

Argh !

But SFLV LD was released again (in 2nd Printing) and when I was about buy both SFLV LD and WTD LD, DvdfromKorea.com restocked their ABL LD. I guess that a sign for me to make my purchases now before anymore regrets set in. Even tho the weight of WTD LD went up and caused the shipping cost to go up by US $3 (irk me a bit cos the initial weight was just nice to fit into the cheaper shipping)

Part of the reason why I didn't buy this asap was because I found the Korean Dvd kinda expensive compared to the USA ones. Money was a bit tight but with the red packet I received on my birthday and the recent sale of the Free Herbie Dvd that DeepDiscountDvd.com "gave" me, it add up just enough to enable me to make this second purchase : )

Should be reaching me within 6 to 9 working days : ) and since today a Saturday, I am kinda expecting it to reach me by 16th Jan 06 or 19th Jan 06.

How i saved 10 cents on my bus ride : )

Today when taking a bus back home, my ez link card ran out of money and I have to pay by coins. The Bus driver wasn't really nice in telling me how much to pay and told me $1.10 for the distance of 5 bus stops. When I told him that it's only 5 stops away, he unwilling/unfriendly told me that it's 90 cents ride ... argh

So I took out 90 cents and when I was about to drop them into the coin box, I saw a 1-dollar coin wedge in the coin box entrance. Since the Bus Driver was kinda rude to me and being a cheapo, I took the obstructing 1-dollar coin out and drop my 90 cents into the coin box.

Happily I sat down and did some calculation on how much I saved today ! heheh 10 Cents !!!

Anyway just to prove that the Bus Driver was Rude, before my stop, he actually came out of his operating area and asked a passenger sitting in front when is she getting down, hinting that she might be cheating the bus fare and the female passenger told him that she is using ez-link card. Then the passenger turn to her friend and give that "wah lao" look

Yes U bus Driver of #36 bus plate number SBS3675 going from Marina heading towards Orchard Rd at around 1045pm ... You better learn how to be nicer to your passenger

Blowing my own trumpet

Just met up with my secondary school friend, Delong and passed him the book that I got Neil Gaimen (with massb's help !) to autograph for him. It was a long over due surprise as I wasn’t able to contact him after his wedding and forgot to try to post this book to him during the Christmas period. The whole experience can be summaries as below

Cost of Book: $20 +
Getting Neil Gaiman to Sign it: 2 hours wait
Seeing my friend’s expression when he saw Neil Gaiman Signed “Delong Dream Neil Gaiman” : Priceless

I don’t know why, it’s easier for me to spend money on gifts to others than to myself. Recently my little friend’s birthday on the 1st of Jan, I got him a remote control plane that cost about $50 dollars without batting an eyelid. For the same amount of money, I been thinking, delaying and thinking whether or not to buy a Korean Dvd. Argh … must learn to be nicer to myself.

Doggie's Zodiac First Day Cover

Beside collecting Comics, DVDs, Posters, Movie Postcards and old love letters, I also collect First Day Cover of the Chinese Zodiac series for Singapore Postal Office.

and today is the day they issue First Day Cover for the upcoming Zodiac animal > the Doggie !

Although I was expecting it to be issued before Chinese New Year, I almost missed it because I didn't have the time to go down to the post office to check when the issue date. Lucky today's newspaper carry an advertisement for it and I got to go down to the post office to send some letters so everything's cool.

I didnt go on the issue day for last year Zodiac FDC and nearly couldnt get one becos U have to get ur First Day Cover on the First Day ... not Second or Third ! but lucky one of the staff kept extra FDC and sold me one : ) met her again at the post office today but I dont think she remember me

Was thinking of scanning all the FDC covers I got and show off here but dont really have the time to do so ... well if anyone really want to see it, I will scan them : ) it's either that or I will scan them all after next year's FDC

When I was going thru my Presentation Pack (which I normally buy with the FDC), I realized the cycle that I am collecting is nearly over ... the Doggie is the 11th Animal and next year Piggie will be the last Animal for the cycle. I wonder will there be another series for the Zodiac and got to start all over again : ) which will be Denise's Rat

Before I left, I overheard an old uncle who is a collector as well, said this to the staff about collecting the next cycle,

"Next Cycle ? I am not sure if there another 12 years for me"

that late night conversation in the car ride back home

the following conversation took place in between 2am and 2.15am, during the drive to send Denise home.

Denise: “Why issit raining so much nowadays?”

“Maybe God had too much to drink during the festive seasons?” I replied (er there no reaction from her but I was laffing out loud ... anyone find it funny or issit a cold joke?)

Then while waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, I saw her looking at a taxi driver uncle and I asked her

“I am not old enough for you ah?” (er folks who do not know this, I am 8 years older than her)

Her killer return serve was “but he richer”

That choke me for a while … cos it’s quite true

Revamping the room : Part 1

The notice that I been waiting for is finally up beside the lift button : ) the annual bulky item disposal dates <9 Jan 06> !!!

Been harboring plans to renovate my room for a couple of months now and cant wait for the bulky item disposal dates to be up so i can move my cupboard n table out of my room.

However i am kinda miss my table as it had been with me since Primary school time. it gotto be one of the oldest and biggest item that I have all this while.

Anyway I will post the before and after revamp photos to see if which deco is better after all.

when are you getting married ah ?

U Know it's time when 2 of your friends from different stages of your life ask you that question "when are you getting married".

I keep getting more and more such questions from friends ... sigh I wonder how many times will this question be posted to me during the Chinese New Year ...

anyone wanna place bets ?

1-2 = pay 100 times
3-4 = pay 50 times
5-6 = pay 25 times
7-8 = pay 12.5 times
9-10 = pay 6 times
10 or above = pay 3 times
0 = house wins

Quote of the Day

Just saw a standup comedy by this Indian-Canadian comedian and during his routine, he mention something he replied to his mom when his mom pester him to get married & questions if he is a gay or not

"I love women and not woman" ~Russell Peters ~

oh boy I can relate to that !