Joe's Corner

Langkawi Trip - 6th to 9th January 2009

2009-11-15T23:43:00.006+08:00

This is a belated blog entry. A very belated one indeed. Trying to get this up before the year ends, haha...

Anyway, at the beginning of this year, I went to Langkawi with my best friend, Gary. Back then, there was still no direct flight from Singapore to Langkawi, so we took Tiger Airlines to KL, and changed to Airasia to Langkawi. Lo and Behold, after our trip, Airasia announced that they are flying to Singapore... #^%#%$%@!^

Oh well, it was an excuse for us to go to KL and visit KLCC and the Petronas towers.

Let's see, we flew this plane to KL, had to take an early flight, so we did what we always do, stayed overnight at the airport, then took the early flight. This photo was taken at KL LCCT at about 6.30am. Sun was rising soon.

Then we transferred to Airasia after we had our breakfast and reached Langkawi Airport at about 11am. Sure beats taking a coach and ferry.

Can you see how excited we are to be here?

Darn tourists, haha...

This was outside the airport. We decided to save a little money and walked over to Langkasuka Beach Resort, which was about 15 mins walk away.

Langkasuka Beach Resort had a private beach, but it's advisable not to swim here as the water here isn't very clean. But nice place to chill out at night though.

The first thing we did was to crash and sleep once we got there. Loads of mosquitoes in the room, we killed about 50+ within 15 mins, and there were still lots to go around. Had to call room service to get some baygon to solve the problem.

After we woke up, we went out to Cenang Beach. A much more lively place as compared to our side. Should have stayed here, as the good food was all here.

Yes, Langkawi is as beautiful as what you see here in the photos.

Banana Boat rides into the sunset.

We had a recommendation to eat at Orchid Ria Seafood Restaurant, which is at Cenang Beach. And it is indeed good food at great prices. We had a feast, and kept coming back for more over the next few days.

Fried Calamari

Humongous King Tiger Prawns, fried with butter and garlic. There's just 2 prawns here, and it took up the whole plate. We wanted to get 4 at first, glad we didn't, cos couldn't finish if we did.

The next day we went on a package tour to see different parts of Langkawi. Our first stop was Langkawi Underwater World.

Joe Penguin is back...

An anane... annennnn... aneaeaeaeannn... anemone...

Some big fishes swimming towards Gary.
Reminds me of this McDonald's Advertisement.

Sea-Horsie...

This is a fish that I would only like to see in an aquarium, and not in the open waters.
A Picasso Triggerfish, nightmare of divers.

A hairy crab defending its territory.

And we saw a huge pufferfish!!! It was as big as Gary's head, as you can see in this picture.

And some prehistoric shellfish too.

The next destination was the Langkawi Cable Car, taking us to the peak where we can see almost the entire island.

This was the first point, where we could see our resort from up here. 652.5m above sea level, whoo hoo... It really is breezy up here.

We had to get to the other side by cable car too, and get onto that suspension bridge.
And with my fear of heights, I declare this as a victory, haha...

The view from the other side, it's really damn nice man. I would like to go back up there, the cool breeze, the horizon, and can even see mountains out there. They say the sunset is right in the middle of this picture, just imagine that.
Best place to ask someone the "ASM" or "AKYM" question, if you know what I mean.

Then we had a special detour thanks to our chauffeur, he told us that some places are kinda boring, so brought us to see this waterfall instead. Looks small in the photo, but it ain't man.

Then to another bird park or something.
Flamingos up close, haha...

Langkawi's famous statue.
Langkawi means "Eagle Rock" in Malay, and thus the eagle-on-the-rock statue.

When we went back after the day's tour, snow flakes formed in our fridge.

The next day, we went Island Hopping.

First stop was the Pregnant Maiden Lake. As you can see in the photo below, the mountain has a shape of a pregnant lady lying down.

This place was rumored to make women fertile when you drink of the lake's water.

And nah, we are not gonna get anyone pregnant anytime soon.

We took a swim in the lake though, just to cool off.

Gary flying into the lake.

We got out earlier, cos we don't want to get pregnant, or anyone pregnant. So we went to sit by the pier to wait for the speedboats.
Saw some crabs along the mangrove.

Taken with my pair of shades in front of the lens. The pier that we were waiting at.

Next stop was Eagle Feeding. Best time to go is in the morning, where the eagles are still hungry. And within minutes of the captain throwing fishes into the water, loads of eagles came flying down.

Then we went to one of the nice islands where the water was clear and the beach was beautiful.

They have para-sailing here, but that's not me.

After all that, we went back to Cenang Beach for dinner, and walked around to see some scenery. There was this padi resort, and there were some buffalos and birds.

Well, all things had to come to an end. Goodbye Langkawi, until next time.

And yea, we stopped by the famous twin towers of Malaysia.

Now I can say that I was there.
(Darn lamp post sticking out of my head.)

Amazing Skies and Lightning

2009-05-03T21:35:00.005+08:00

These are taken recently, mostly out of my bedroom window (except for 2 shots).
As usual, all photos look bigger when you click on them.

I woke up to this sunrise, and i took this half awake.
February 24, 2009, 6.35am

This was close to sunset, when the horizon cast a shadow on the lower part of the cloud while the sun still shines on the higher part of it, at about 5.15pm.

This is another sunrise on the April 20,2009 at 6.42am.

This was out at the busstop. Blue skies are too tempting, so i pulled out my camera and started to shoot.

For those who haven't seen a rainbow in their lives, this is an artificial rainbow in the National Library.

And these were taken a few minutes before I posted this blog.

My best lightning photo yet.

I like the way the sky lights up in some of these shots.

Looks like some alien reaching out it's lightning arms.

I like how these clouds were lit up.

Before The Year Ends...

2008-12-29T14:11:00.004+08:00

Thought I should update my blog before the year ends. It's been really busy with a lot of things going on, especially my studies. However, thanks be to God, my results came back with all As with only a B+ for one subject.

I sure am gonna miss the GKids children. Next year I'm not serving in the children ministry already. Too many things on hand, can't handle.

Lunch at Miss Clarity Cafe near school.

They have wonderful cheese fries to die for.

And this potato skin thing.

Chicken Chop, i think.

This is where my school is located, inside National Library, on the 10th and 11th Floor.

Some of my classmates, taking our formal photos on that day, so we were in formal clothes.

Chilling out with Daniel, Lennel and Chi Wern at Jazz@Southbridge. Nice place to hang out.

Dinner gathering with my ex-colleagues from Swee Lee at one of the Bugis Steamboat places.

The table behind us took a mountain of beef, crazy....

Wine Appreciation workshop in school.

GKids special performance for children's day. Had all of us leaders dance for the kids.

Our school had a trip to Four Seasons Hotel.

Four Season Hotel Founder, Mr. Isadore Sharp

Group Photo with Professor Vic Santiago

Lunch at Manhattan Fish Market.

Malaysia Getaway
My sister and I

Lunch at a Chinese restaurant near Holiday Plaza.

Dinner was back at City Square, at this HK Cafe. I had Wasabi Chicken Cutlet with Fried Rice

On the way back, on a Malaysian bus.

The Symmetrical Life.

Wakeboarding at Batam with my schoolmates.

Pro owner shamed us all.

Then started to pour in the afternoon.

Back in Singapore.

While studying in school til late and watching Gaming class videos, a car caught fire outside school.

So much excitement for the day.

Celebrating my Ah Ma's Birthday.

My family.

Chi Wern and Chin Ling's Wedding

Marrying Pastor was Pastor William, of course.

My Hope Singapore Event at Mandarin Gardens.

Then on the 100th day after my grandma passed away, I got into a car accident. Crashed into taxi outside Kovan Heartland Mall. Wasn't too serious though.

Shangri-La Hotel visit by our school.

The kitchen.

Presidential Suite Bed, sure is luxurious.

And a living room in the suite. Just part of the whole suite, big enough to play hide and seek.

Wine Tasting Class with Professor Nick Oxborrow

Leader's Retreat with Dennis and Dellia's side at RELC International Hotel. Nice place.

Spent most of our time playing though, haha...

Then was Zhou Qi and Abrie's wedding at TC.

Anticipation

Zhou Qi thanking his mum.

And his dad too.

Father and Son.
Dennis and Emmanuel.

Poly-mates Gathering at Settler's Cafe.

Christmas Dinner at Aileen's place.

Christmas Party at Home.

Our star of the day, Rachel.

And on a lighter note, we had fun with Stef's Canon camera which had this color function.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you...

Gone for so long

2008-11-13T11:34:00.002+08:00

It's been a while since i last posted a blog entry.
Let's see, life has been great, been rather busy though.

Haven't gotten much time to blog, because of school mainly. Schoolwork has been the main concern that I have for now.

But thanks be to God, I scored all As for my previous semester for 3 modules, Intro to Hospitality, Hospitality Purchasing, and Composition I.

Will update soon, i hope... Haha....

My Grandmother

2008-09-09T02:27:00.000+08:00

My grandmother, Mdm Pang Ah Jee, was born in Malaysia. She's 76 years old this year. She is the second oldest in her family, having an elder sister, and a younger sister, and a 3 younger brothers. She had quite a good life as compared to her other brothers and sisters, and she had a good life despite all the hardship she went through. I know little about her despite the fact that I’m so close to her.

Her familiar smile, the gesture she always make when we ask her something she didn't want to answer, the sound her jade bangle makes whenever it hits the dining table as she rests her hands on, the way she walks, the look in her eyes that always give you the comforting feeling. So many things which I remember about her, so much good memories of her.

I remember there was this time that my family and my grandma went to the zoo. We went there by bus, and that's something that I rarely see my grandma doing. When we were there, we walked through the entire zoo, and I remembered that my grandma was totally exhausted at the end of the day.

She always loved mahjong, she could play all night if given the chance to. Even after she got stroke, she would still love to watch my aunt's play. She was also a bowling champ when she was much younger. There was this time when we went to play bowling when the adults went to play jackpot, my aunt mentioned that my grandma was a bowling champ before.

There was also this time that we went on cruise to Penang on Star Cruise, and also this other time we went to Sunway Lagoon on Star Cruise. I remember we really enjoyed ourselves there, being kids. I was sharing the room with my grandma.

I remember the morning she had difficulty breathing. It was the 31st of August 2008. I remember waking up and preparing to go to church, and when I was in the toilet. Then
The phone rang for a while but no one seems to pick it up, as we usually do not have calls in the morning. I had a feeling that it wasn't good. The next thing I knew, my sister was screaming, 'why is there an ambulance downstairs?' I felt my heart miss a beat. Then I remembered that I prayed to God and asked Him to not let anything bad happen. And for the longest time when I was in the toilet, there was silence outside the door. No sound of clothes being washed, no sound of my sisters walking about.

My dad and sisters were all upstairs at my grandma's place. When I came out of the toilet, I saw that the ambulance had already left. Two possibilities came into my mind, either my grandma already passed away, or it wasn't serious and didn't require the ambulance services. Thank God it was the latter.

I rushed upstairs to see that my grandma was in her bedroom, the maid was helping her to get onto the wheelchair. My aunt Sandy and Aunt Frances' eyes were red and tear-filled. My youngest sister was still in her PJs and was in my grandma's room.

From was in what I gathered, my grandma had difficulty breathing in the morning, and it was bad enough that my uncle called the ambulance. But when the ambulance attendants came, she stared at them as though she had seen a ghost. My grandma didn't really like hospitals and ambulances. And they wanted to send her to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which was the nearest hospital. My family wanted to bring her to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) as her medical records are there. And since my grandma had calmed down much and was able to breathe better, the ambulance wasn't needed. My uncle will send my grandma down to SGH later.

So my grandma got into the wheelchair, and came out to the dining table to have breakfast. Though she was still panting, she seemed alright and well. I made my way to church, carrying on with whatever I had planned originally. And when I came home from church, my mum told me that my grandma is at SGH block 7, level 7, ward 77, room 10, bed 3. So I decided to go down to see her the next day since it was after visiting hours and we wanted my grandma to rest.

Then on Monday, after I had an hour of lesson at school, I got an sms from my sister telling me that my grandma cannot make it already, everyone's rushing down to the hospital. When I read the sms, I was in shock. I remember my hands were trembling when I packed my bag and headed down to SGH. I remember that the bus came immediately after I checked what bus goes to SGH on the board at the bus stop. A lot of things were running through my head as rushed down to SGH, the ward number, the block my grandma was in, which room, which bed number. And I also remembered walking into the lift and had all the other level buttons pushed as there were a lot of people in the lift too. While the lift stopped at each level, my heart and mind was in a mess. And when I reached, I saw my grandmother sitting on her bed panting. She was given the oxygen mask, but she was awake. My Aunt Laura (red eyed) and Uncle NT were there already. Watching my grandma lying there, resting and panting as if it was her last breath, it really breaks my heart to see her like this.
It was really scary watching her, especially when she closed her eyes to rest for a while. It was like she was going to go anytime. I remember laying my hands on her to pray for her silently. I asked God to give her strength and to sustain her till everyone was there. And He did. Everyone came down except my grandfather, because he had difficulty walking. Seeing that she was rather alright, I went back to school for my afternoon class. After school, I went to Jessica's farewell dinner with Aileen and gang.

Then Tuesday came, I remember waking up to see my sister cooking herbal tea for my dad, because my dad wasn't feeling too well. I went down to see my grandma after school. She was slipping in and out of consciousness, and when she opened her eyes when I called to her, her eyes closed seconds after she opened them.

Wednesday came; again I woke up to another shock. The phone rang at home. My aunt called from the hospital, telling us to go down to the hospital. Everyone rushed to the hospital, but my dad asked me to stay behind to watch over my grandpa. So I stayed back at home. I remembered that I went upstairs, tried to study for my quiz, but couldn't process anything at all. After having lunch with my grandfather, I went to school for my quiz, then had lessons, then I went down to the hospital.

Thursday was also the same, went to school and then went to the hospital. My grandma was still in a coma; her breathing was getting weaker by the day.

Friday, I had morning lessons, and UNLV had their second anniversary celebrations, so I went down to the hospital at 2pm. When I reached the hospital, my aunt (Ba Nin) was there with Susan, Zhong Yang and Rouying by grandma's side, Pearlyn and Kimberly were outside by the seats. When I went to the toilets near the cafeteria, Rouying called me and asked me to come back quick. I rushed back to see that my laptop was left outside by the seats. All of them rushed into the ward. When I entered the ward, I saw that grandma was shaking and trembling, as though she wanted to say something but she couldn’t. I think it was likely because she had a stroke and she couldn't control her body. What I heard was she opened her eyes, and was turning her head from left to right. We knew she wanted to go back home badly, but we couldn't bring her back. We just could not. The nurse took her BP and it shot up to 155 on one reading, and dropped very low at another within minutes. We all tried to calm her down, talking to her, holding her hands. Eventually she calmed down, and kind of slipped back into a coma. But when we talk to her, we can see that her eyes were moving, but her eyelids remained closed.

My grandma passed away on Saturday, 6th September 2008, at about 1.30pm, just when we reached the hospital. According to her death certificate, it was 1347hrs, and the cause was pneumonia, with multiple myeloma. Despite the doctor telling us she had only less than 24hrs left on Tuesday, she hung in there until Saturday. It was comforting to know that she gone peacefully. I heard from my sis that she opened an eye for a while on Saturday morning, and my dad was by her side, talking to her, all the way until she stopped breathing, and eventually passed on.

The wake is now on, until this Friday, 12th September, at my place. My grandfather wanted a 7 day wake. The cortege leaves on Friday at 11am. Thank you all for your concern, and your help. I'm very touched by all the calls, sms and msn messages I get.

A Good Lesson

2008-08-24T22:30:00.005+08:00

Got this on my email from my friend, thought I share it with you.

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold that the bird
froze and fell to the ground onto a large field.

While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.
As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize
how warm he was.

The dung was actually thawing him out!

He laid there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.
A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.

Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow
dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

*Morals of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

Haha... Anyway, on my way to church, I saw a few butterflies so I stopped to take some photos.
Here they are... And yes, I stuck the camera right in front of the butterfly, haha...

Comments are most welcomed. Please put them on my tag box on the right, thanks.

Silly designs, week of break and amazing discoveries

2008-08-22T22:16:00.002+08:00

I always wonder, who's the smart ass who designed this bus seat, with minimal sitting space. All you can do in this uncomfortable seat is to sit totally upright, with your knees wedged onto the back of the front seat, and pray that your legs don't go numb before you get off the bus.

Anyway, during this week of break for me before I start school next week, I was following Pastor William around. So the other day, we went were playing this interesting game called Chicken Cha Cha Cha. A memory game, very interesting. Finally used those brain cells that I had stored away for so long.

Then on Wednesday, for some reason, I went back home frustrated and disappointed. So much so that it affected me quite badly. Was really feeling very down. Even though I was partially to blame for the whole thing, it still affected me alot.

But however that didn't last for too long. Thankfully when I went home and switched on the computer, something surprising happened. A special someone helped lifted up my spirits. Somehow chatting with this special person made me feel so much better, so relaxed, and so at peace.
(If you're reading this, just wanna say thanks, your simple words and listening ear helped me alot. It meant alot to me.)

And so Thursday, I brought my mum, grandma and both sisters to eat Dim Sum Buffet at Excelsior Hotel. Have been wanting to bring them there for such a long time.

Mmmm... Yummy...

My sisters were hooked onto the 'Xiao Long Bao'.

And today I went for my orientation at UNLV. After a whole day of talks, ice breakers and UNLV Race which we ran around town area doing silly things, I would say I've really enjoyed myself. The feeling of going back to school is rather interesting. It's some sort of putting aside the world around me for a while, and pursuing my studies.

My Orientation Group.
Team Name: KIS (Korean, Indonesian, Singaporean)

Beginning of the End

2008-08-18T01:23:00.008+08:00

Well, after my reservist ended, it was back to work. For about 2 weeks at least.
My last few days at Swee Lee was rather fun. Being in the 'ORD' mood seems helpful. Not much work stress to cope with seems good.

Anyway, after Pastor William's Leader's Retreat, it was smooth sailing at work. Then came Thursday when my colleague, Buck brought me and a few others for a farewell lunch. So we went to Parkway Parade and had Fish and Co. there. It was another seafood platter and we happily took a 2 hours lunch break, thanks to me, haha...

And then after that heavy lunch, was a dinner gathering with my reservist guys at Marmalade Pantry. We went there as Alvin was working there, and we paid a super-subsidized amount for a wide spread meal, thanks to him. Thanks again man.

Marmalade Pantry
Famous for their "Steak Frites With Truffle Bearnaise"
Unit B1-08 to 11
Palais Renaissance (Beside Thai Embassy)
390 Orchard Road
Singapore 238871

Leason, me and Emil.
Yong and Andrew.
Billy and Leason.
They have a really nice ambience there.
I can't figure out if this shot is better like this, or rotated clockwise. Hmm...
Anyway, we had 2 starters.
I think this is the "Warm Spinach & Roast Onion Salad With Bacon & Mozzarella".

Crab CaesarI had "The Ultimate Beef Burger", which was superb. Medium done. Humongous portions.Linguini With Crabmeat Tomato Chilli & PinenutsGrilled Pesto Chicken Wholemeal Wrap With Oven Roasted ButternutRoast Pork Loin With Sage & Thyme Caramelized Sweet Potato

Pan Roasted Chicken With Vegetables Basil & LasagneAnd so after dinner, we had dessert which was on the house too. Amazing favor.

And then after that, we walked over to Mezebar at Meritus Mandarin for some drinks.
And so that was Thursday night.

Friday came and gone like the wind. My last day at Swee Lee. And so after work, we went for a farewell dinner and small outing with my colleagues.
Dinner at East Coast Park Hawker was shoik. Stingray, oyster egg, satay, rojak, etc.

And so after dinner we went bowling at Marine Bowling. Towards the end of our 4th game, the machine screwed up, and gave us strikes as long as we threw a ball in, even if it was through the drain. Now we know, 4 strikes in a row is called a "4 Bagger". See, strikes all the way, haha...

And so Saturday came, and I went to meet up with my secondary school NCC platoon-mates.
Haven't went out with them for years, forgotten that they are forever an hour late. So I reached Plaza Singapura at 12.30pm, as told, but only met them at 1.30pm. WTH man...

Anyway, lunch at Cafe Cartel, then chill out at TCC.
Jie Yang and Zi Jian.
Kwan Lian
Matthew
And then after discussing what we are gonna do at Zi Jian's upcoming wedding, catching up and chilling, some of us went for movie at The Cathay.

We watched Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Not bad, quite entertaining.

Then came Sunday, the most happening day of the week. Sunday mornings are always started with a dose of monkeys at Barnabus club. "Baby-sitting" a bunch of P4 kids requires loads of energy man. Followed by Youth service at 1.30pm, and cell group after that til 5pm+.

This week, it's FCBC's 22nd Birthday!!! Happy birthday to us, hehe...
And so after service, Jun Liang and I went over to see Dennis and family. Sick again, so we dropped by. But before that, we had dinner at Ding Tai Fong at Tampines Mall with Ingrid and Nel. My first time eating here, haha...

Sun rays cutting through the clouds at Expo while we walked towards the MRT station from Max Pavilion.
Emmanuel tapping Jun Liang's hands, as we were too engrossed with the Table Tennis match on the TV.
Hooray!!! Singapore's Wang Yue Gu, left, Feng Tianwei, center, and Li Jia Wei.
Silver medal for Singapore for Table Tennis in the Beijing Olympics 2008.
Then later watching the following match of Korea vs Japan, noticed that Ai Fukuhara of Japan is quite cute, haha...
Got my photos from Yahoo News. There are some funny photos that I can't believe that they actually post up online. For example:

Haha, oh well... And after a tiring day today, and playing with Emmanuel, it's time to call it a day.
Time to sleep... 3am already, heng tomorrow no work, haha... Oh yes, for those who still don't know, I will be starting school at University of Nevada, Las Vegas on the 25th of August 2008. Taking Bachelor of Science in Hotel Admin. They have a local campus at National Library, level 10 and 11, so I won't be flying to US for my studies. So excited about this, haha...

Ok, sleep...

Farewell, Proposal, Reservist and Leader's Retreat

2008-08-11T23:31:00.004+08:00

So much has happened through the weeks and I am so busy nowadays that I'll only cover the major events that happened during this period of time.

Firstly, we sent off Roger and Pamela to Australia.
And Colin proposed to Aileen on the very day too.

See how happy Aileen and Colin are?
Light refreshments after that.
We could draw on the table, so I drew. This is my dream, to one day walk down the beach with that special someone, enjoying the slow walk, the empty beach, the slow pace.
Pastor William and Chi Wern playing games on the table.
Other food that Colin ordered for us.
And so Saturday came, and it was Ps Benny Ho's seminar on "Why in the world do we work?" at TCT Auditorium. On my way to Bukit Merah, I took this picture of the tower, half painted with fresh paint.
Looking at this picture, I can't stop but think that Jackie Chan will come jumping down floor by floor.
And this is Jai, my colleague at work. We had a little photo moment after work, haha...
'Peeing' on his own car.
And they caught this colourful bird the other day, didn't have time to shoot it, turned out not focused properly, but oh well...
And the NDP Rehearsals, fly-bys by the Black Knights just above my house.
Inverted 5
This year they did the heart shape.
Flying by again. Into the clouds.
And then Reservist came. My first cycle. In Camp Training. Not much photos, as can't take inside anyway.

My Troop after we dug a Foxhole. Some of us are in it.
Troopers... Brothers...
And then came the celebrations and gatherings.

On Friday, the 1st of Aug 2008, I finally met up with my poly classmates, most whom i haven't seen since graduation. Not many turned up, but good anyways.

Charlene, me, Eugene, Bryan, Shi Jin at the back row.
Celia, Maria, Keli and Ian in front.
After dinner at Cafe Iguana, we went over to Lunar Club, this "cheena" place that has a live band for some drinks.
By the end of the day, I was rather tipsy but not drunk. Thank God for Celia's friend who offered to drive her back, and I hitched a ride back together. If not I would have probably ended up sleeping by the river, hahaha....

And on the very next day, Saturday, 2nd August 2008, I met up with my NCC gang for our annual birthday gathering. We watched the NDP preview fireworks then had dinner at Marina Square Spageddies. Following that was some desserts at TCC at Millenia Walk, then we walked over to Brewerkz at Clarke (Again...) for some drinks.

Me, Jolene, Gary, Kashing, Rong Chang, Si Ying and Satish.
And on Sunday, 3rd August 2008, it's another celebration at church.
And then Monday came. My actual birthday, 4th August. Spent the whole morning at reservist, doing planning. Then we went out for lunch and somehow I ended up at Thomson Medical Centre in the afternoon. The very place I was born 23 years ago on this very day. Hahaha...

After the whole day of planning, everyone had something on, so I was heading home already.
When suddenly, I bumped into Celia on the bus back, how coincidental, haha...
So we went to watch the Dark Knight at Bishan J8 to celebrate my birthday.
And when I reached home, my two beloved sisters and my mum prepared another cake for me.
My sister's creation, Mango and Durian cake.
Happy birthday to me... Dad's overseas, so not in picture, but nevermind, hehe....
And so my birthday marks the end of my reservist. 1st cycle down.
And it's back to work, for another 2 weeks before i take a 1 week break and start my studies at UNLV.

But before all that, during the National Day weekend, we had Leader's Retreat at Vision Farm located at Jalan Lekar. Near the Home Team Academy in Choa Chu Kang.
The road is long....
Pastor William sharing with us his message.
I will be Still, Lord. I will be Still.
And then we went over to ECP for a bbq on sunday after service.

Chi Wern and Chin Ling
Alvin and Vivien
Dennis, Dellia and Emmanuel
Happy crowdWe can't go without games. Captain's ball seems to be a favourite in this Leader's Retreat.
Waiting for the ball to come over
Now it's on the other side
And some kids on the Kangaroo Shoes by the beach.
And BBQ Food....
Sarah, Josiah, Jefferson and Chi Wern cooking.
And this is the flower that I've so long wanted to take at Expo. Most of the time I'll rush past it, but this Sunday I managed to stop and take photos of it. Hahaha....
Ok, enough of blogging already. Time to sleep, haha...
4 more days of work to go, before I get my 1 week break. Already in the ORD mood, haha...

Who Am I

2008-08-08T16:44:00.003+08:00

I came across this video on my friend's friendster account.
It's a very nice song and watching it, my heart is so touched by it.
Thought I share it with all of you.

Diving Trip at Pulau Aur - 20 to 22 Jun 08

2008-07-05T16:35:00.006+08:00

We went Diving at Pulau Aur!!! Haha... Now I'm a certified Open Water Diver. We went with Wetworks Scuba, PADI training.

For those who just want to see the photos, here's the link to my flickr album.

We departed on 20th Jun 08, Friday night at about 7.30pm from Tanjong Pagar, took a minivan all the way to Mersing, Malaysia. Then waited there til 1am for the ferry to bring us to Pulau Aur, Malaysia.

All tired from the long journey.
Chew Peng and Ps William, and we're playing "Dai Dee" throughout the journey.
Hungry? Ramly Burgers are just outside, running 24/7.
And finally it's our turn to take the speedboat out to switch over into the ferry.
Irritating everyone with the camera flash isn't one of the brightest ideas.
And by the time we reached Pulau Aur, it was 4+ in the morning. And guess what, it was low tide so we had some problems with getting to the island. But as soon as we reached the rooms, instant knockout for most of us.

Something I discovered about my camera cos I couldn't sleep and was walking around and enjoying the peace and tranquility of the night, was that my camera has a preset night mode that allows up to 15 seconds of shutter speed, at ISO 100. Let me show you what it can do. (I was shocked by what what came out too.)

This is how it looks like at 5.59am.
This is what my camera took using the night mode feature at 15 secs exposure.
Of cos, I put it on the railing and used a 2 sec delay to reduce handshake, if not the shot will not turn out so nicely.

Our Dive schedule for the first day.
Retreating to our rooms.
Our accomodation at Pulau Aur.
Bridge linking us down to the main area.
Breath-taking view, clear waters, my kind of life...
See how clear the water is. This is high-tide, covering all the dead corals which we had to walk over the night before.
The main area, where we have our meals, rest and socialize.
From the canteen, looking at the open showers and the rooms.
See how much fun we are having already?
Very tribal feel.
And after breakfast, we had our pre-dive briefing.

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
Launching out to our dive boats, where all our equipment is on.
Poor immigrants who came on board our sampan.
Life on the sea.
Preparing our gear, checking the air, BCD, mask, snorkel, etc.
Gear up...
And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. - Genesis 1:6-8
The other dive boat. Lush green scenery in the background. Feeling good already?
Map of Pulau Aur, with all the dive locations.
For our first dive, we only brought our camera casing down to test if it leaks or not. And since I was still taking my open water course, I wasn't allowed to bring it down. So the camera and casing was with the rest.

First Dive: Pulau Aur, Kador - 21st Jun 2008
Max Depth: 5m
Bottom Time: 60 mins
Pressure Group (PG): L
Air in: 190
Air out: 50
(Too excited first time underwater, so hyperventilate)
Time in: 1015hrs
Time out: 1115hrs
Avg depth: 5m
Visibility: 15m
Condition: Calm
Notes: Partial and full mask flood, Belt and BCD removal and replacement, Fin pivot.

Reward from first dive, fish bite on my knee.
Lunch time after first dive.
Our dive master, Minna, and our diving instructor William.
And schedule for second dive is out.
Our dive boat. Island Express.
For the second dive, Colin was using my camera with the other Leisure divers.

Second Dive: Pulau Aur, Lang - 21st Jun 2008
Surface interval: 3 hrs 15 mins
PG start: A
Max Depth: 10m
Bottom Time: 45 mins
PG: K
Air in: 210
Air out: 90
Time in: 1430hrs
Time out: 1515hrs
Avg depth: 6m
Visibility: 15m
Condition: Slight Current
Notes: CESA drill. We saw 3 huge Palmhead Parrotfish and Yellowtail Barracudas.

Jefferson brought bread down in a bottle to feed the fish.
Here fishy fishy...
Sea Anemone?
Golden Damsel
More Fish...
Marbled Sea Cucumber
More fish...
Worm?
Sand Lizardfish
Clams
There is certainly a very colorful world underwater.
Many fishes...
Nemo... False Clown Anemonefish.
We found Nemo....
A whole school of fish near the corals. Very colorful indeed.
Bright yellow fishes, these Golden Damsels.
So after the second dive, we had our 10min tread-water in the open sea. It felt like forever, and the current keeps pushing you away, so had to fight against it too.
Fish charts. We saw the Humphead Parrotfish.
Looks so much bigger in real than in this chart.
And then came a photo moment, when the sky turned magical.
Sarah, Vivien Loon and Aileen.
Melvin, me, Zhi Xiong, Colin, and Jefferson in front.
Viv and Minna.
Alvin and Vivien.
And then it's our third dive. More "zai" already, so now I was allowed to bring my camera with me. Muahahaha....

Third Dive: Pulau Aur, Jawa - 21 Jun 2008
Surface Interval: 2 hrs
Start PG: B
Max Depth: 14m
Bottom Time: 35 mins
Pressure Group: N
5m Safety Stop: 3 mins
Air in: 175
Air out: 80
Time in: 1715hrs
Time out: 1750hrs
Avg depth: 10m
Visibility: 10m
Condition: Rain approaching, lightning struck a tree.

Zhi Xiong, my dive buddy.
Starfish with a broken end that outgrew the rest.
Clark's Anemonefish
Open Water Divers, line up...
From left to right, me, Zhi Xiong, Hooi Kiat, Aileen, Vivien, Alvin

And this is me.
I have no idea what these are, but they look very cute. They look like underwater fungi.
Alvin. All free...
Surface. Sun was setting, boat is waiting.
On our way back, there was this lightning flash across the sky, and then this deafening thunder. The next thing we know, these 2 trees caught fire on top of this hill. Struck by lightning.
Another hill before we reach.
Then it rained so heavily that the night dive was cancelled.
The next day, we almost cancelled the first dive too due to weather.
So we went around to have a little fun while waiting.

Sara and Melvin
Drumstick brothers and the girls.
Alvin jumping on Vivien, who jumped on Aileen.
Fly....
Street Fighter, Aur Wars.
Flying kick.
Then we headed out to the dive boats, and suited up.
My wet suit is this black long sleeved suit that looks like Bruce Lee's famous yellow suit.
I'm free....
Fourth Dive: Pulau Aur, Telerum - 22 Jun 2008
Max Depth: 17m
Bottom Time: 35 mins
Pressure Group: N
Air in: 185
Air out: 60
Time in: 0815hrs
Time out: 0850hrs
Avg depth: 12m
Visibility: 15m
Condition: Slight Current.

We were supposed to go to Rayner's Rock, but the water was too choppy, so we went here instead. Heard that the leisure divers got lost so they went around in circles at the sand bed.

First thing I saw when we reached the sand bed was this colorful speck on a rock.
Then we headed for the corals, where all the life is.
Weird fish with big eyes.
Don't know what fish this is, but it seems to follow us around.
Moon Wrasse
Hooi Kiat and Aileen.
Crown of Thorns. Better stay away from this.
Colorful stuff on this coral. When a fish swam past, they all retreated into their shells.
And Zhi Xiong saw a whole school of fishes
This is what we saw.
Then we reached this huge yellow coral, where a whole school of Fusiliers were there. They even swarmed Zhi Xiong, haha...
The Moon Wrasse followed us.
My Shot of the trip.
A pair of Copperband Butterflyfish
Then we saw this sea snail, or something like that.
Lots of life in the corals.
Look carefully, many fishes.
A school of Yellowback Fusiliers followed us for a while.
Clams....
Threadfin butterflyfish
Aileen having fun.
And this marks the end of this entry.
After this, my camera went flat. Out of battery and out of memory space. Sad... And guess what, we saw so much more stuff on the last dive.

Fifth Dive: Pulau Aur, Crocodile Rock - 22 Jun 2008
Surface Interval: 1 hr 40 mins
Start PG: B
Max Depth: 13m
Bottom Time: 35 mins
Pressure Group: N
5m Safety Stop: 3 mins
Air in: 200
Air out: 110
Time in: 1030hrs
Time out: 1105hrs
Avg depth: 10m
Visibility: 15m
Condition: Drift Dive
Notes: We saw a 2m long Longnose Shark, that swam about 2m away from me. Also saw cuttlefish laying eggs.

The reason why I took so long to blog about this is because I just found a photoshop action, that will auto correct the underwater shots. Reduce the blue, and add some red, etc.
See below for before and after.

Before:
After:
And it's back to Singapore after that.

Time to sleep now, got reservist tomorrow.

Crazy May and June Schedules

2008-06-23T23:24:00.004+08:00

Let me begin by asking, have you gotten your magicbox tickets already?
I'll not be able to watch it as I'll be away for reservist in July though.

Anyway, Meridian Hotel basement has this amazing seafood platter is yummy and won't burn a hole in your pocket. I think this was S$6.50 and you get so much. Mmmm....

Architecture shot

So we went to Vivien Loon's place to play that day, Guitar Heroes 3.

We were trying to kill Dr Lucky behind at the dining table while Seth was jamming away on the XBox 360.

And it was my Dad's birthday and Mother's Day on Sunday.

Then came Thursday when we went to Shinuan's chalet and we were happily shooting each other in the middle of the night with these toy guns that Ps William brought.
Super fun man... We were all sweaty at about 3am. And I had work the next day, haha...

Then on Saturday we went to help out with the BB Adventure Stage 2 and 3.
This is at Kranji Dam, overseeing Johore, Malaysia. Very nice place.

Last checkpoint. Finding out which tower is the MGR (Map Grid Reference) pointing to.

Then back at the toilet, Zach stepped on a crab unknowingly.
Poor fella lost a leg. It was still struggling in pain when I went in to shoot it.

After that, we went to wash up at Ps William's place and went to Ps Hee Guan's Wedding at TC Auditorium.

Bliss... Ps William and Chew Ping

Ps Hee Guan awaiting for His Bride.
They requested that we do not take any photos during the ceremony, so I didn't take much photos.

I was very amazed by the variety of food they had at the reception in Chapel, and also their very wise choice to put the photo-taking after everyone has eaten and were about to leave. Very impressive wedding indeed.

Ps William's family with the Bride and Groom.

Nice Skies... Bird flying by...

Helping out Zach with his work at Gan Eng Send Primary School.

After helping out, we went to Marina Square for Spageddies dinner. Saw this Pokemon show at Marina, haha... They were kinda forcing the kids to dance with them. Poor little children.

And then came the Swee Lee Mid Year Clearance Sale on the 31st May 2008 to 1st June 2008.
Queue was long as usual. And there were even showers of blessings during the afternoon.

The Acoustic Guitars section before the sale.

And this was after the sale.

More sale photos here.

Michelle's 21st Birthday Celebration

Swirling Clouds at home

Pigeon Hole Dwellers / High Rise Dwellers of Singapore

Rainbow... The same one as the previous post.

Nice Skies.

Building in front of my office. Nice Skies too.

Looking down to the ground from level 7.

Swee Lee Building.

Storm Clouds displaying His Awesomeness.

Rainbow Covenant

2008-06-04T09:26:00.003+08:00

I was on my way to work this morning when God reminded me about His covenant with us.
So I decided to share it with you, in a form of a wallpaper for your computer.

Click on the pictures to get the bigger image, then save and use the bigger image.

For normal screens:

For widescreen:

Will post up all other photos soon, when i get the time to. Really busy nowadays.

Malaysia Trips and stuff

2008-05-06T23:11:00.005+08:00

There was a sudden urge to go to JB's City Square for food and movie, and so Jun Liang, Mei Fang and I went there on the 26th of April.

We reached there and went for lunch at the chinese restaurant after getting tickets for the movie. Dim Sum and Roast Duck. Yummy...

Soya bean and Grass Jelly Drink.
Part of the Dim Sum. Didn't take much as was too busy eating.
We had half a roast duck.
So after lunch, we went to walk around City Square, and was quickly feeling sleepy as we had nothing to do. So we had dessert at this shop called Seasons that serves Swenson's ice-cream.

Strawberry Cheese Yogurt Cake
Banana Split
I finished my drink.
So after that we went for our movie, "Definitely Maybe" and went to buy 5 tins of milk powder for Emmanuel. Cheaper to get from JB.

Rarely do you get purplish sunrises.

And then this weekend, I followed Ps. William up to Mount Ophir following Gin Hin tribe's young adults retreat. And thanks to Jun Liang's underwater casing, I was able to take the shots at the river.

My camera battery ran out after paintball, so didn't manage to take any more photos after that. So after this was at Cowboy Town in A Farmosa Resort.
The only picture I got now is the one that Jeric paid for at the entrance and he scanned it for me.

Pat the stoned tiger on it's back.
And Emmanuel misbehaving on this sunday at Expo.
At dinner at Tampines Mart when Mike blow the soup for it to be less hot, Emman also was blowing.
And I came across this on Wikipedia the other day.
The middle one is Ham.

Rainy Days are back, Chi Wern and Chin Ling's Wedding shoots, Gabriel's Birthday and Other Random Stuff

2008-04-26T01:34:00.002+08:00

And so, the occasional rainy mornings are back. I always like it when it rains. The cool air, the pitter patter of the rain drops, the occasional lightning and thunder. But what I do not like about it is walking in the rain when you got no dry clothes to change into.

Raining at Sims Drive, on my way to work.

At 3am at home, thunderstorm at home.

Anyway, Thank God for the good weather when we went to help Chi Wern and Chin Ling with their wedding photo shoot. I went to help them out as a 1 day slave, as what Jun Liang calls it.
And the wonderful and amazing photos that Jun Liang took will only be released at the wedding, or by the couple themselves, so sorry, no preview here, haha...
We were not the only ones shooting there.

City Hall, Old Supreme Court.
We are not alone.

Plant's view of the City.
Welcome to Singapore. You've just been caught on my camera.

Looks like a ginseng root, but it's just some dried up plant root.

Lonely plant.

There's our photographer.

He Da Man.

My first try on Jun Liang's DSLR Camera, Manual focus, which was obviously out of focus, haha...

The look in your eyes.

The Supreme court, really supreme indeed.

Adjusting Chi Wern, our star of the day.

In the end we ended up having our own fun.

Jun Liang, our well recognized professional photographer.

Pro at work, giving orders.
"Eyes open bigger. Show me more of your right shoulder. Ah... Correct. Good Good."

Reviewing the shots.

As I said, we're not alone. Then Jun Liang started to say that we are more pro, got more helpers and got umbrella flash with stand, they don't have. Hahaha...

Behind the scenes.

Holding on forever.

Additional Camera Tricks.

City Hall, 14 Feb, Valentines Day. No wonder so many couples there.

Towards greater heights.

Vivien took this wonderful shot. The both flashes went off just nicely.

The famous red and white shot.

And so Gabriel turns 16. Of course, there was a cake for him.
And he asked for it when he said, "no need to sabo la."
The next thing you know, cream on the face.

And then met up with my poly gang. Haven't seen each other for such a long time.

And today after work, went trigger happy on the way to Marine Parade for my cell group, since I had a lot of time.

And the other day, my dad found a rat's nest beneath a plank, and the rat babies are so cute man, haha...
And my sister was playing with my camera when i was playing with my PSP on my bed.
And tomorrow I'm going to JB. Whoo Hoo...
And Mount Ophir next week with Pastor William and Gin Hin's people.
So looking forward to that, haha...

Solitude at East Coast Park

2008-04-13T01:58:00.002+08:00

What a hectic week of events.
Wednesday was prayer meeting, Thursday was Choir rehearsal, Friday was Planetshakers Concert, and today is solitude at East Coast Park.

So I was supposed to meet Dennis and the guys to run before Solitude at 9am, but overslept so didn't join the run. And when I took the bus to ECP, I dropped too far off from the macs at Kai Bin's place. Then walked all the way back to Macs. But it was a good stroll, had some interesting photo opportunities. Enjoy...

Mandarin Gardens

A moth among at the underpass entrance

Watchout for this winged terror... Haha...

Some interesting plant at the other side of the underpass, just outside the chalets.

The green pond.

Dragonflies.
One of my best shots, a rather lucky one too.

Tai Ji Couple

What are you looking for?
Original Photo here

The sand and the sea

So halfway through solitude, it started to rain very heavily. Had quite a good discussion time though. And after that we went to wash up and played Guitar Heroes at Alvin's place for a while, before heading to Plaza Singapura for lunch and some snacks.

After that we headed over to Chin Ling's place for the "Chi Wern and Chin Ling's Wedding, Committee Meeting and Dinner". Had a great time and great meal. So much fun with everyone there.

After that Jun Liang went to meet Candice and Ingrid at Serangoon Gardens Cafe Cartel, so I tagged along. Had a real interesting and fun time, chilling there. Do watch out for 2 new video clips that Candice is going to post up on her blog soon, haha... (Sorry Jun Liang and Ingrid, some pre-advertising)

I had a Missisipi Mudpie.
Warm and moist mudpie with a scoup of icecream.

And after that when I got home, there was a ladybug in my room wall. So took out my camera and shot it, then released it back into the wild.

Small little thing

Close up on the lady

Update of a long while

2008-04-08T21:43:00.005+08:00

So much has happened within such a short period of time. I don't want to post them here, so if you really want to know, then ask me in person.

Sanctification week was good. Good time to get back to the Lord.

Setting ourselves apart for the Lord.

Accident at the road outside Expo. Lots of accidents nowadays, drive safely please.

On my way to work, saw this cat basking in the sunlight, but couldn't stand the sunlight rays, so it closed it's eyes. Looks like it was praying.

After work, outside my workplace.

Vernonica in the distance

Leaf shelter

A different view

Feeling yellow

Up is down, down is up

Cotton-candy clouds

Fiery sunset

A few more minutes more and the sky turns purple

BBQ chicken from Old Airport Road

Singapore Expo hall

Happy Birthday Jun Liang, sorry didn't photoshop the pictures.

Chopping the cake

Animal Personality

2008-03-31T13:12:00.003+08:00

I am an Otter. What are you?
Take this quiz.

I am a Warm Rock

2008-03-28T11:20:00.003+08:00

Today, I took MC cos I've got a sore throat since 2 days ago. Due to eating oily fried food without drinking enough water (even though I drink alot normally). So it's a rest day for me.

Anyway, Dawn intro this quiz to Jolene, and Jolene forced me to take, TWICE!!!
Results:
My First Choices: Warm and Fuzzy
My Second Choices: Rock Steady

Conclusion: I'm a Warm Rock.

Not all about it is true about me, not all of it is false either. It's very general things though, oh well, have fun discovering what love means to you.

Bolliwood at it's best

2008-02-25T20:22:00.003+08:00

Remember Michael Jackson's Thriller?
There's an Indian version of it too. Saw it a few years back, thought it was very funny.
And like most fads, they die out fast. Until today when my sister showed me the one with English subtitles, we just burst out laughing reading the silly subtitles.

Enjoy, Girly Man...

And then we went on to look for more, and found the one with chinese lyrics. Lots of vulgarities though, but we bursted out laughing again at the first line.

Weekend Activities of the week

2008-02-24T23:54:00.002+08:00

And it's another interesting weekend this week again.

After fishing on Friday night in my last post, Saturday afternoon was a good exercise at Pastor William's place with gym and swimming. My whole body is still aching now, due to the serious lack of exercise.

Pastor William and Dennis having a discussion.

Groovy Grape

And then after that, Dennis, Dellia, Emmanuel, Simon, Hui Juan, Chi Wern, Chin Ling, Sara and her sister and I went to the Night Safari.

Preparing Emmanuel for the trip. Sticking anti mosquito patch.

Dennis and Dellia. Sweet couple.

Dinner at Bongo's Burgers. Bongo Beef Burger. Yummy man. Really worth it. Dinner with a show too.

Fire swords and fire show.

Fire breathing people

Shooting at night is really terrible. Cannot flash as the animal's eyes are sensitive to bright lights. So most shots turned out blurry.

A Deer.

A Stork.

Crocodiles.

While we were watching the Animal Show at the Amphitheater, a small little frog came hopping by below the bench in front of us.

Giant Phyton in the show. The host was good, very outspoken.

Saw these at the souvenir shop. Really nice way to display the zebras.

After the Night Safari trip, we went to AMK S11 for supper, then went home.

On Sunday, after service we went for dinner at the Airport. Then went to T3 to send Ying Ying (Ling Ling's sister) and Steph. They were going back to Melbourne for studies.

Waiting.

Take Care ya all...

And saw something interesting at the toilet.

The urinal in the guys toilet had a fly picture, haha... Sort of like a target to aim at. Ingenious.

Fishing outing at Bedok Jetty

2008-02-23T13:18:00.003+08:00

Oh yes, did I tell you, i got a flower on Valentines Day, haha....

Anyway, yesterday we went fishing at Bedok Jetty. After it was postponed from last week. Haven't gone fishing for a long time, since we enlisted for NS. Used to go once in a while with Gary and Zhi Xiong.

We reached there at 10 plus in the night, but couldn't catch any fish cos they were all sleeping already. Was raining before we came down, good weather to be sleeping.
Anyway, Zhi Xiong drove me, my sister, Shi Hua, my cousin, Rouying and Chi Wern there on Yoshi (Car's name) .

Shot on my mini tripod on the floor.
Iso 100, Shutter Priority mode - 1", compensation +/- 0, used 2 sec timer so that won't shake while i press the shutter.

Chivalrous Chi Wern

Onion skin effect of Chi Wern. 3 sec exposure while he walked by.

Pastor William made a surprise visit with Pamela Chong, Shinuan and Jolene while we were setting up, thought it was a timely appearence.

Me on the ground sheet, Zach on the stone bench. Keeping the stuff to go home already. Catch of the day, sea breeze and night air.

Long post ahead...

2008-02-19T01:33:00.008+08:00

I haven't been blogging for a while... So much photos accumulated, oh no...

Warning: Long Post Ahead...

Well, Always start your days with blue skies and cotton clouds.

Let's see, first up we have Chinese New Year...

My mum, dad, grandma and two sisters with me. This was the serious shot, the other one I dun think I want to put it here.

Celebrations starts with my father's side, gathering upstairs. And since it's just upstairs, we can wear slippers up, convenient...

Reunion lunch gatherings are always filled with so much people. I have a rather closely knitted big family.

We the young ones...

And so that was morning at my dad's side. Then afternoon we went next door to my mum's side visitation.

My uncle and aunt came back from Hawaii to celebrate with us this year.

Lau Ah... This year I tossed 6 times in total... Must be a prosperous year ahead of me.

Messing up the table is always part of my sisters' plan. Look what they did to the table...

I was quite amazed with this. Fried Kiwis. Didn't knew they had these, thought there was only dried mango and apricots. Anyway, it tastes like dried mangoes, just with a zest of kiwi flavor.

Managed to meet my granduncle and grandaunt from my mum's side. Though they are not exactly on good terms with my grandma and my mum and aunts and uncles, they are still nice to us. Grew up with them next door, and we always climbed the fence and shouted to them for lollipops and yakult, haha...

And Chinese New Year Day 2... Yes, all those before was just in 1 day...

This curious and playful hummingbird flew and was swinging on the strings hung outside my living room. According to my dad, it always flies around here and into our houses, looking for something interesting.

And so, lunch was over at our side on CNY day 2.

After the visitation at my house, we kids went out, haha... Met up with Dawn, her sisters, Claire and Ariel, Zhi Xiong and Yvonne, to hang out and chill. Wanted to watch movie at first, but decided to go have ice cream at Changi Airport instead at Swensons.

Sisters unite...

All anticipating to play Saboteur and have Swenson's Earthquake.

And since we all parked at T3, we walked over to T2 to have Swenson's cos the one at T3 closed earlier. The travellators above the MRT station.

T3 this way please. The lights on the floor makes it looks like some disco or club.

Well, back to T3 again... So much space here.

And so on CNY Day 3, we went to Ps William's house to visit in the morning. After that, we wanted to go to Dennis and Dellia's place to visit, but forgotten that Dennis was still at reservist, so went to Pasir Ris area for lunch instead. Anyway, we made a detour over to the pet farm at Pasir Ris before lunch.

How much is that doggy at the window? Woof Woof...

When the German Shepard came out, all of us got a shock. It was quite tame though.

Beagles... Going at $499, muahaha... Zhi Xiong liked this one, but both me and Dawn thought that it looked silly, cos it had a rather big head. Very "gong gong" le... We felt the chocolate colored one below is more adorable.

And after lunch, we didn't have anywhere to go, so went back first before going to Aileen's place at night for another CNY celebration. Welcome back YY!!!

YY is back, haha.. With Ingrid, Vivien and Jun Liang in Aileen's kitchen...

Colin and Aileen with the dishes...

Alvin and Viv's bro setting up the Xbox 360 for Guitar Heroes III.

Happy Birthday to Ingrid, surprise...

Got a little bo liao, so started to play with my camera.
Chicago...

Then on Sunday after service, CNY day 4, we guys went to Spageddies at Paragon for late lunch or dinner.

I love their Fish and Chicken Combo...

Yvonne had Seafood Pasta.

Jun Liang had er.... I dunno what is that, but sure looks good. I think it is Spaghetti Ham & Mushroom.

Ham Heaven
Shot by Junster

Lennel had the Crayfish & Tenderloin Combo, his usual favorite. There's little wonder why.

Tomatoes anyone?

And so that was CNY madness. Coming out of it, I was struck with awe while consolidating my ang pows, that my family has been very blessed this past year. So I packed the ang pow money back to my parents, one for mum and one for dad.

So next up is Valentine's Day. The Tuesday before, I went to Far East Flora along Thomson Road with my two sisters and Zhi Xiong. Wanted to get flowers for the girls on Thursday, but after much thought and discussion, I didn't get them. Instead, I took photos of them, haha... Flowers

Cute Cactus, very brightly colored.

Baby's Breath

Don't cramp my style

Innocence and Purity

Passionate and Fun loving.

Pineapple at $1.00. The mini kinds.

Majestic and Creepy Door behind Far East Flora where Zhi Xiong parked his car. Houses here are all very big and expensively decorated.

And so, came Thursday, Valentine's Day. I always find it overrated and too commercialized. Everywhere, people are taking advantage of this one day to push prices up up up... So we (Dawn, Jolene, Steph, Yvonne, Wanlin, Shunyi, Zhi Xiong and me) went to Werner's Oven for dinner. We made reservations at the start of the month, but think they screwed that up, so we had to wait.

Happy V-Day to all... I only noticed that I didn't take any photos of myself the whole day, haha...

Happy, Merry Merry...

Someone received 12 roses delivered to her office, Aw....
(To the sender of the flowers, if you happen to read this, good job.)

Look!!! They have a cute chicken ornament at their bakery, haha...
Ber Kop...

Flowers from Zhi Xiong to all...

See how happy Steph is, haha....

I have no idea why were they frowning, but don't you think this shot is very funny, haha... I think it was partly because they took a very long time to bring us the menu, a very long time to serve us drinks, a long time to bring out the food. We were all starving by the time we started eating.

Flower Girls

We got so bored waiting that we started playing pick-up sticks.

Beer... Haha...

Seafood Pasta for Yvonne...

Wanlin's happy with the food. Dunno what's it called, some German name I think. It's chicken with potatoes and salad to me.

More German Food. Dawn had Beef with Sour kraut and potatoes.

Drinking their wedding drink already, haha...
At this point of time, my camera battery died. Even though it was being dropped earlier on, I'm very pleased with it cos besides a little scratch and a small dent, the camera still works as per normal, and the lens wasn't event spoilt. The next few shots were taken on Dawn's canon, that's why I didn't sign on it. And also I'm not used to using another camera, so some shots turned up blurry. Too used to my cam already, haha...

Zhi Xiong had Cheese sausage. Sorry, but this shot made the food look like crap, literally. Plus the mustard sauce, haha...

I already started with mine before taking the photo. Farmer's Sausage with Potato Salad and Sour Kraut.

Jo and Steph had Pork Knuckles, and of course, Jo had to change a side to potato wedges. It was huge, but good.

So after dinner we wanted dessert, so we walked down to the Cheesecake Shop which was closed. Wanlin and Shunyi is really funny when they walk together. Very cute couple, haha...

A surprise summon on one of the cars parked nearby. A scarily sweet idea.
In the end we ended up at this coffee place to have cakes and another few rounds of Saboteur(yes, Saboteur again).

Anyway, I recognize that I'm a Food Junkie. Just topped up my drawer at work with supplies.

"Lai ah, Lai ah... Mamak Stall open liao..."

Follow the white rabbit.

So on Saturday I was at Changi, pass to Dennis somethings, then saw the Airshow rehearsals. Black Knights flying really low in their planes over Changi Village (Thank God there weren't much 'ah guas' around then ).

Zooming by in formation.

This one single crazy pilot flew straight up, did a few acrobatic acts with the plane, and flew all over with such freedom. If it was me, I would have puked all over the cockpit already.

Wa....

Oooo...

And of course, natural fliers were all over.
Then after the planes stopped flying, I was at the bus stop waiting for the bus to go home, when I saw a few cockatoos in the trees, so went over to take photos. Had to climb this old HDB styled chalet to the 4th level to take the photos.

They have long and creepy corridors.

This way please...

These birds were squawking and squawking.. I think they have a nest there.

Another one on the other tree.

And so, it's Sunday again, and this Sunday we went to catch "P.S. I Love You" after service. Good show, just that we had to watch from the front 3rd row, haha...

I like romance movies, die la... I'm a big softy liao... Haha...

So after the movie we went to Starbucks to have a drink. Yes, a drink each. Then I asked for ice water, the guy was good enough to give it in mugs, thus explaining the many mugs on our small table.

Yuki and Dawn. Looks like they are in a cold country.

Me, Xiong and Yvonne. Ice Mocha with whipped cream. Mmm...
Finally I reached the last photo, haha... This post took me 1 whole day, starting from yesterday night, ah.... Ok, back to work... Muahaha...

An Interview with God

2008-02-12T17:32:00.001+08:00

THE INTERVIEW WITH GOD

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.

“If you have the time” I said.

God smiled. “My time is eternity.”
“What questions do you have in mind for me?”

“What surprises you most about humankind?”

God answered...
“That they get bored with childhood,
they rush to grow up, and then
long to be children again.”

“That they lose their health to make money...
and then lose their money to restore their health.”

“That by thinking anxiously about the future,
they forget the present,
such that they live in neither
the present nor the future.”

"That they live as if they will never die,
and die as though they had never lived.”

God’s hand took mine
and we were silent for a while.

And then I asked...
“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons
you want your children to learn?”

“To learn they cannot make anyone
love them. All they can do
is let themselves be loved.”

“To learn that it is not good
to compare themselves to others.”

“To learn to forgive
by practicing forgiveness.”

“To learn that it only takes a few seconds
to open profound wounds in those they love,
and it can take many years to heal them.”

“To learn that a rich person
is not one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.”

“To learn that there are people
who love them dearly,
but simply have not yet learned
how to express or show their feelings.”

“To learn that two people can
look at the same thing
and see it differently.”

“To learn that it is not enough that they
forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves.”

"Thank you for your time," I said humbly.

"Is there anything else
you would like your children to know?"

God smiled and said,
“Just know that I am here... always.”

-author unknown

Update of an Eon...

2008-02-05T16:43:00.000+08:00

Been so long since I've update my blog already, cos have been busy with alot of things.

Oh well, let's go...

The other day we saw this hideous looking pink bike at Bukit Merah. All of us guys crowded around and started taking pictures of it with our cameras and handphones. Wonder what went through the head of the owner when he chose to make this. Yuck...

Anyway, much much later, Dennis and Dellia organized a reunion dinner for all of us at Dennis' Dad's Restaurant. Their "Oh Ni" (Yam Paste Dessert) is very good.

Plate of Prosperity

Our Table, early comers. Those who were late didn't appear in the photos because I was lazy to take out my camera after that, haha...

The table to our left or right, depending on where you are sitting, is the noisy table.

On the other side is the quieter table.

Emmanuel is always stuck with Mike.

So that was the reunion dinner. So Chinese New Year is here, and alot of CNY decorations came up at home, including these 2 pots of sunflowers outside my house lift. I'm still thinking, are they sunflowers or chrysanthemum? Haha...

Yellow, yellow, dirty fellow.

And also, we managed to meet up with Gary to catch up at Botak Jones, AMK one.

Fish & Chips

Botak Burger with Cheese

Cajun Chicken (Large of course)

Gary... Meow...

Zach is hungry...

And on Sunday after service, we're supposed to go home cos of the "Lights out by 5, be home by 6 program. But then... We went out of course. Guilty... Yvonnne and I went to T3 to pick up Jolene, while Zach sent Dennis and Dellia home to get some stuff. Then we went to Vivo to watch "27 Dresses".

T3 looks like some kind of chinese restaurant.

Spacious indeed

See, they even have a big and useless fan that doesn't do anything but spin slowly in many weird directions. Maybe they prepared it in case the air conditioning spoils, then turn this on to full.

Well, I have to say, even though it's supposed to be a chick flick, I enjoyed it alot. Romantic Comedies seems to be one of my favorite type of movies among many.

So after the movie, we brought Emmanuel to Crocs and he tried on this red pair. He seems to like it as he was trotting around with it happily. So then we changed back his shoes and brought him outside, and he only noticed that after we're outside, then he started to pull his pants up and gave this very sad expression on his face. Oh man, we just couldn't help it but stand there and laugh. Emmanuel is getting so adorable man, haha...

Now he laughs, cries and makes funny faces on demand.
I think he has the talent to become an actor.

New funny face that he just learned from us, say "Wuuuu".

So after our outing at Vivo, we went to Tampines Mart for supper, or late dinner. Also considered 1st meal of the day for most of us.

Salad You-Tiao

Sambal fried rice, Wa-Tan (Hor Fun with egg, that I just found out after ordering another plate of Seafood Hor Fun), and Salad You Tiao.

2008 - Year of Sabbath

2008-01-10T09:21:00.000+08:00

It's 2008. A Year of Sabbath. A blink of the eye and a whole year is gone.

Key Verse of 2008: Isaiah 58:13-14
"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

And also, we have started on our corporate QT, where the whole church will read 1 chapter of Psalm each day. Our cell has posted up our daily revelations on our new blog site.

So on the 5th, we went to East Coast Park to do solitude together. Our little timeout once per month to meet-up with the Lord. And I finally had the time and motivation to shoot some photos.

Come, follow me...
Silhouette of the trees on the sea
Man in deep thought (That's Zach)
Psalm 5 - Prayer for Protection from the wicked
ECP shoreline - would you like a summer holiday?
The following shots were inspired from this other person's live journal that I don't know.
Thinking back, I think it was quite suicidal to use my Fujifilm F31fd camera, without the waterproof casing to shoot the following shots.

I call them, "Tsunami in Singapore" or "Tides Rising" or maybe "When the Oceans Rise"

And where does all that water go? Vivocity of course.
Flowers from outside my house.
Same place as the previous shot.
Ok, now that i finished blogging, it's back to work on this Thursday Morning. Yawn...

An Exciting December (Part 2 of 2)

2007-12-28T22:07:00.001+08:00

Ok, the second part of our December adventure.

After eating at Wheelock Fish and Co, we went to the Botanical Gardens to take photos.

Guppy pond at the reception

Keep the fish healthy

Follow the mushroom trail

Where to now? Swan lake, of course.

We were constantly distracted by the people walking their dogs.
There were alot of Golden Retrievers around.
And yes, it was drizzling when we got there.

We were not the only ones who were sad with the the weather.

Swan lake

Lovely water ripples

Graceful creature

The pond was swarming with fish and tortoises.

Flowers...

Through the looking window

Lonely Tall Tree

Couple under the tree

Looks like a nice sheltered hiding place

Don't you just want to kick her into the pond?

Warped Plant

This flower has candy colors

Layers of Green

Red Flowers

This bird looks like those in documentaries which get eaten by crocodiles.

Stairway to Heaven

A shot of a shot

Lines vs Stairs

Frangipani FlowerAbout to be crushed by those popsicles toes.
Notice that the flower is sweating with fear.

Portable happiness

The "hill" is greener on the other side.

Gardens with sundials looks complete

Waiting...

Sky in the water

Lovely raindrop pearls

Balding Tree

Shot of the day... Butterfly

A Big TreePip welcomes you to the Botanical Gardens

Hand-rails

Nature's curtain call

Lines

Well, after Botanical Gardens, we went to Chinatown to have porridge for dinner. Then we proceeded to Mount Faber for more trigger happy moments.

City of Lights

The tree of life?

How many merlions are there in Singapore?

Well, after a whole day of photo-fun and crazy moments on our well used public holiday, it was back to work the next day.

I woke up and saw that there was a very nice sunrise. I took this shot half awake. Not sure if i was aiming or not. Dawn of a new day..

From Dawn to Dusk...

And the very same day when I came home, the moon was so round.

Then on Saturday it was Aileen's Christmas Dinner at her place. We had so much fun with Alvin and Vivien's Xbox 360. We really jammed out with Guitar Heroes III...
Nice shot by Jun Liang.Then on Sunday we went to church for service, but before that we watched Pam Chong and Dawn in the GKids Musical. Look at how adorable Dawn is in a uniform, hahaha....

Christmas Party at Expo. Balloooooons.....

Then on Monday (Christmas Eve), I was on my way down after work to City Hall to join Pam Chong's Christmas Caroling when I saw this saw this at Aljunied MRT.
Please blow up your heads and mine the gold in it, thank you.

And I was there too early, so I went to the Roof Terrace of Esplanade and started taking photos with the help of my mini tripod. All these were shot on my Fujifilm F31fd.

Peninsular Plaza with St. Andrew's Cathedral beside.
The "L" on the word "Plaza" is not lighted up.

The Supreme Court and Fullerton Hotel.

In hindsight, I found it extremely interesting that in the above two shots were taken before the caroling. Then after caroling, that was where we went. First to St. Andrew's Cathedral for their midnight Christmas service, then to Supreme Court to hang out and chill til late.
Interesting that my camera can see the future, hahaha...

Anyway, on Christmas Day, we had an Hougang Party at Yin Han's place.

After the party, me and Xiong met with Jo and we went to Seletar Dam to chill for a while.
Again, my Point & Shoot cam serves me well with a mini tripod.

A Hectic but interesting week I had.

Merry Christmas to you all, and a Happy New Year.
God Bless...

An Exciting December (Part 1 of 2)

2007-12-27T22:45:00.000+08:00

This post took me 4 hours to post up, arughh...
So much has happened today in this short span of 4 hrs.
Flickr refuses to work cos i put up too much photos on the free account, many things happened at home, and suddenly everyone seems to have gone upset and in need of a listening ear.

On top of all that, my two sisters are still making alot of noise even though it's 12+ in the morning.

Lord, indeed you are training up me in the area of patience.

And so the other day we went to Excelsior Hotel for Dim Sum buffet.
A random urge to go on a food adventure by our all famous "I'm Hungry" Girl.
Saw the firemen on the platform changing the flag or cleaning the flagpole while i was on my way there.
Mark 6:31

I always love White Christmas Trees

Blue...... round thing with gold patterns.
(I was stuck for 5 mins thinking what is this called)

And Jolene says, this is hot pink. (The one on her hand).
To me it's all, Dark Pink, darker pink, very dark pink, light pink, lighter pink, etc....

Towering Skies

Happy Birthday to Aileen Lam. A little twin stars cake for you.

Because You're Special

A glimpse behind the scene, cheeky Aileen holding the balloon behind.

Finally, noodles for men.
Further surprise birthday celebrations for Aileen at Tamaya Japanese Restaurant in town.

I ordered a Hamburg Steak for myself. It's really nice.

Haaaaaam-Burrrrrrrg Steeeeeak

Gift Exchange at my workplace.
My lucky number is....... 13.
The 13 men who changed the world.

Then came Hari Raya. We planned to go to Botanical Gardens for a photography outing.
But Lo and Behold, we were late so we went all around, then finally to Botanical Gardens.
Jolene outside AMK MRT Station

Lonely Christmas

We had lunch at Fish and Co's at Wheellock, and a certain polar bear joined us.

And it went for a nose dive too.

Zhan Hou sneering at the polar bear.

Polarbear meat? Anyone?

Bored at Borders.

Meet the Polar Bears. The one on the right is Pip. He's English, and has an Englishman's accent.

A whole lot more coming up soon, when i finally get less problems with the uploading.

Insanity

2007-12-18T12:11:00.000+08:00

A Healthy Dose Insanity to your life
Feeling bored or all tied down with work? Ever get the feeling that you are not doing well, and things go bad? All that can be solved right now with a phone call. Call and make an appointment with your local mad doctor, Joe, and see your problems go out the window (Results may vary due to unforeseen circumstances). So what are you waiting for? Call now and make your appointment today.

Recommended servings: 3 times a day, 1 shot per dose.
Preferably once in the morning before going out of the house.

Warning
Insanity may cause permanent damage to brain functions. May affect daily performance and cause undesirable side effects such as random outburst of laughter, occasional giggling to oneself and attracts weird stares from sane people. Use with caution

Taka Basement Fish and Chips, Orchard Christmas lights and Mee Pok Breakfast

2007-12-12T23:58:00.001+08:00

And so yesterday after work, I was all ready to go home and have a good rest. But then, Jolene had to drag me out to go out for dinner. I literally mean drag.

At first she wanted to go to Art Friend to get something, which was at Bras Basah. So I didn't want to go, so she dropped the topic. Then after a while, she wanted to go to Sim Lim Square for "minicows" (Refer to previous blog entry). So I was hungry, so i decided to meet her for dinner.

Then the next thing I know, is that we'll be going to Art Friend since it was near Sim Lim Square. And guess what, we both finish work at 7pm, and Art Friend closes at 7pm, so we changed our meeting place to Taka instead.

And I was supposed to go home and rest, ended up squeezing on a super crowded train down to Orchard. I was so squeezed up, that I was breathing down the neck guy who was in front of me. Terrible experience. I have a comfort bubble around me, if it's compromised, I will feel very awkward. And I felt like pushing them out of the train, oh man... Thank you Lord for blessing me with your Peace...

Anyway, we finally had dinner at Taka Basement. The Fish and Chips was very, extremely GOOD. And I mean it. We ordered Beer Battered Fish and Chips, Calamari with fries and Cheese sticks which came with fries. I was too tired to take photos at first, then until I ate the food, I just knew I had to blog this.

It's all the way inside the basement foodcourt.

As you can see, I only pulled out my camera after tasting the food, which is super good. The beer battered fish is really good. When I cut open the fish, I could smell the beer. And when you bite the fish, you can taste the beer in the fish meat, which compliments it very nicely.

Cheese Sticks and Fries, with Calamari and fries in the background

See the cheese oozing out? It's heavenly.

Calamari with Fries. Looks like onion rings right?

Takashimaya's famous big christmas tree.

There was this sweet old couple who were taking photos.
Someone kept squealing beside me saying, "So Sweet!!!".
I'm naming this photo "Adventures of Scary Auntie and Happy Uncle". And we kinda tailed them down Orchard Road til Heerens.

Orchard lights from Taka.

Then I was chased by the "security guard".
Notice the hand by the side of the shot trying to grab the camera.
(It belongs to the squealing elephant.)

I had to use my mini tripod and squat next to the road to take the following photos. Quite pleased with them anyway, though can be done much better.

Whizzz.. goes the bus.

Wish... went the car.

Then this morning on my way to work, I got breakfast at the Sims Drive Coffeeshop Fishball noodle stall. It's my favourite breakfast stall around this area before work. And I've become one of their regular customers already. No need to order they also know what I want already. This couple works the day shift, while another takes over in the afternoon. But the morning shift one tastes much better even though they use the same ingredients and cooking utensils. Indeed their experience counts. And also they gave me this huge piece of pork lard before, haha...

Anyway, I was seeking the Lord for direction in my life before the Batam retreat. And from what I am hearing now, it's a go ahead from God. So I'm leaving it all in His hands. This is the verse I got from God:
"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." - Proverbs 16:9

Lord, I surrender it all to you. You are my Master, my Potter, my King. And I will follow you for the rest of my days.

Batam Retreat 7 - 9 Dec 07

2007-12-10T21:52:00.000+08:00

Dennis and Dellia's G12 Retreat this year is held at Harris Resort, Batam. I took 300+ photos throughout the whole retreat, filled the whole 1gb xD memory card, haha... I had to pick out about 89 photos and editing them, scale them down from 70+ mb to 11+ mb.

Here we go...

Lunch at Harbourfront Subway

Me, Zach and Aileen on the ferry

Me on the ferry

Zoom and we're away for holidaySea sick?

Me, Zach and Chi Wern giving me a belly rubNoooo.....ZachBatam is over there...Check out my matching spare tyres
On to our short getawayDennis' Guys.
Chi Wern, Daniel, me, Dennis and ZachHe's the man...Penny for your thoughtsWonder what Emmanuel feels about the retreat? Ask him then.Dellia, Chin Ling and Aileen on the ferrySurreal islandDaniel can sleep everywhere, anyhow, any wayWe could see Harris Resort from the ferry there.
It's only a 3 min bus ride from the ferry terminal.We're here finally...Down the AisleHappy FamilyThe Ferry Terminal has a certain charm. The pointy roof reminds us of Lord of the Rings.Candid shot on the minivanWelcomed at the resort with a Christmas Tree. Feel the festive spirit yet?A white church outside the entrance of Harris ResortOur room is super comfortable and spacious. The beds just swallows us.TV has many channels including HBO, Star Movies, MTV, ESPN, Singapore Channels, etc..A sofa in the room seems to make the room feel more comfortable.The view from our room is very nice. Sea view...Looks better when the sun comes out. BBQ bar below.Also a fountain.And a private beach.Sunset from our room.Pool view from Dennis and Dellia's roomHarris ResortView from the pool sideSunken Bar next to the poolChildren's pool with slidesThen after checking in on the first day, we went for dinner, then shopping at their shopping centre which was an hour's bus ride away. There were many interesting shops and things, but nothing much to buy though. Lots of counterfeit things though.

88th Street, what the...Polo King... King of Polo. Maybe a sign from God, that Pastor Khong will be victorious, haha...Child sized power ranger balloons. There's also the black spiderman too.Godiva Coffee. But there isn't any chocolates there though.BFC, Best Fried Chicken. Best indeed.Gior. Think it's cheaper as there are less letters to make.Polo. Seems convincing, but ain't it Polo Ralph?Anker Beer. Cheap Beer though.Heineken is 6,975 Rupiah. About SGD 1.00. Beer here is cheaper than Singapore mineral water.A&W is a must have whenever we go overseas. Curly Fries, Root Beer Float, Ice Cream Waffles... Heavenly...A&W Root Beer Float is only S$1 +The poster model looks like Chi Wern.Snacks that we bought there in our room. Well supplied emergency rations.The next day, we went to play some water games at the pool and outside. Also, we went for wargames.

Green Team.
Joe, Zach, Daniel, SimonOrange Team.
Roger, Wei Loon, Jaqueline, DennisRoger and DennisIs that Zach or me? Take cover...After running around and getting all dirty, we went back to wash up in our rooms.

Sighted an eagle or hawk soaring outside.BBQ Dinner by the pool. Nice Ambience, beautiful place.Lights by the poolThe pool looks as nice in day and as night.Happy Anniversary to Dennis and DelliaLunch on the last day. They finally spelled our organisation correctly.
It was "Faith Community Church" on the first day.Say Cheese-cakeLife is simpleThe spring of lifeMother and ChildLeaving on the bus to home. The bus was super humid on the first day when we took it to the shopping center. Had to endure the damp feeling for a whole hour. Good thing it was only 3 mins to the ferry terminal.Our Ferry back, Sea Raider IIGoodbye BatamSky and wavesWe could see Singapore from Batam.Lots of planes flying over.Pam and Aileen gazing for homeSomewhere beyond the sea...
Heading for the HorizonWe're all awaiting home.If the skipper sees this big ship coming towards him, what will he do.Reflection of cloud on the waterFinally, a rather decent photo of myself.A yatch near SentosaA view of Sentosa from the ferrySentosa on the left and Keppel on the right.
We're in safe waters nowHarbourfront Centre. We're home...

Unglam photo of the year(s) award

2007-12-07T00:12:00.000+08:00

I was going through all the photos in my computer, and well, there's so much unglam photos that I have of myself.

After much hesitation, I decided to showcase it all here. Prepare yourself for a side of Joe that you may or may not have seen before. Well, there goes whatever "market-value" left which may be salvaged. Lord I surrender to you, haha... Well, I can see myself a few years down the road, looking back at these photos and laughing about it.

Warning: Some content might not be suitable for the sane minded. The owner of this blog does not hold responsibility for any injuries, trauma, shock, stomach cramps from laughing, temporary or permanent scarring to the state of mind. Please advance with caution.

In no running order, here are the horror photos......

Taken when I went to Kota Tinggi with my NS friends.

Me and my sis found a piece of magnifying sheet, and we decided to have a little fun with it.

Me and Zach Bumming around at Sentosa

Hello, can you hear me? I'm at Siloso Beach la...

Heavy la....

Christmas caroling, or should I say screaming

Palembang mission trip, on the plane back. Gary and I.

"Oktober" Fest this year was rather "prosperous"

Superman meets Singapore Ah Beng.

Shocked by the amount of food that we "ta pau" after Hui Juan and Simon's Wedding.

Ed Sivelso Conference. No cameras allowed hor...

What you mean no cameras allowed!?! Take that!!!

Jolene, the root cause of all my madness and insane moments.
Staring contest at Dempsey Ben and Jerry's.

What more can we do to burn time at 1421 Exhibition? Take photos loh...

Dylan and I getting dragged into the room.
(Actually we're grabbing ourselves with our own hands.)

The Gelatio tastes a little like.... ice cream.

Surf's Up, Chicken Joe.

Grumpy little boy ah.
This was me a long time ago. Notice how young my dad was.

Pasir Ris park was a favourite place for us when we were young. It is still one of my favorite places to go even now.

Sometimes I wonder why am I so crazy, and if I'm the only one. Then when I look around and see my family, I know I'm not alone. Hahaha...

My two "lovely" sisters.

Me and my crazy sisters having fun with the camera

More madness with a digicam

Wonder if we were crazy? I think now you know for sure.

Wei wei wei...

My dad and my aunt. See, they love to take this kinda photos too.

My Dad, the best one that I can ever ask for in the whole wide world.
Feel the Luuuuuurrrrrveeeeee...

Honour your parents, some old photos from the past

2007-12-06T23:47:00.000+08:00

"Honor your father and your mother" -Exodus 20:12a

What else more do I have to say. I love my family, even though sometimes I take them for granted. The Lord has indeed blessed me with the best parents I could ever wish for. Thank you Mom and Dad.

FAMILY = Father And Mother I Love You

Indeed, how precious and lovely it is to have peace in the household.

Grandma and Grandpa(Dad's side) at a birthday celebration a few years ago

I wanted to take this photo with my grandma for the longest time, which was also why I bought this camera also. And after taking this photo, my grandma had a stroke, which changed her life totally. Looking back at this photo, makes me cherish her much more. Life is fragile, treasure it.

Me and my grandma(Mom's side) at her birthday celebration yesterday. She is always so joyful. Love you, Ah mah...

My sister when she was just a kid, and my grandma. Taken long ago when we were still living in the bungalow, which was torn down to build our current house. Sometimes I still have dreams of the old house.

Keli, me and Maria at our Graduation Dinner a few years ago.

Indeed, taking night photos require a tripod stand. Photos turn out much clearer and nicer too. This was just taken a while ago. There's a nice long stretch of clouds in the distance which is lighted up by the city lights. The reason why we don't see many stars too. Singapore is just too bright.

Update on my life, Swee Lee Sale 07, Gibson Robot Guitar Launch and some night shots

2007-12-04T21:15:00.000+08:00

Recently I've been so busy with work, preparation for the Swee Lee Sale, preparation of the Gibson Robot Guitar Launch, the sale itself, the launch itself, and also with church itself having Nick over to speak with us. All tiring, but good.

And also, God has seem to be showing me something regarding the "Rebekah" of my life, my missing rib, my "Lang Lang". But still there seems to be so many questions running through my head, but also at the same time, I seem to be putting it all aside with one thing, Surrendering all to the Lord. Here's just some things which I'm thinking about. Wanna help me with some?

Is it my own imagination? Just an infatuation? Or maybe, just maybe it's love? But also, how can love be one sided? Is it like? If it's just like? Then what am I attracted about? Looks? Personality? How deep do I look? Just surface? Am I that shallow? Am I stalking her? (My Gosh...) Does she know who am I? Do she even know I exist? Is she even available? And God, is she the one for me?

Well, time to fast and pray over this. Retreat to Batam is coming this friday. Will be a good time to do so.

"Lord, I pray that you will reveal to me your plans for me with specific regards to this area. I will follow you, to the ends of the Earth. I know you have the best plan for me, and I humbly submit to Your plans. I will change my heart, that you may use my circumstance for Your Glory. May Your light shine in my life, that everyone that sees it know that it is You, Lord Jesus, and not me, that lives in me. Holy Spirit, guide me in all things, let me not fail you. Give me strength that I may overcome my weakness, and gentleness in all my ways that I will not cause others to stumble. That I may be sensitive to Your words, that I will hear You clearly when You speak. In Jesus name I pray, Amen..."

And here are the photos.

Swee Lee Sale queue usually starts the night before. Crazy as can be.

The queue must be the most memorable thing when it comes to Swee Lee Sale.

And when you are finally inside, go grab whatever you want quick, before anyone else gets it.

Next up was the Gibson Robot Guitar Launch just today.

Yes, this is the Gibson Limited Edition Robot Guitar which will be available only on Friday.
And it's already in my hands, hahaha... One of the perks of my job.

"Talk about class..." Said one of the invited guest.
Indeed Gibson really put in effort for this event. Even the plastic cups and serviettes are branded.

Messy stains that just won't go? Worry no more with Gibson's newest serviette. Takes up to 50ml of water, juice and stains.

After the Guitar launch on my way home, I took out my camera and started to shoot the lights of Orchard. Have to dedicate one day to go take better shots. Anyone free?

It was raining the other day, and when I came back at the bus stop, I took this shot.

Couldn't sleep on another night so I was trying to take some photos of stars.
Have got rooms and corridors for improvement.

Dota Madness

2007-11-22T00:14:00.000+08:00

This is my best DOTA game yet.

Hero: Rooftrellen - The Treant Protector (Random)

Items:
- Power threads
+65 Run Speed, +35% Attack Speed, +10 Selected Attribute

- Battle Fury
+100% Mana Regeneration, +4 HP/Sec Regeneration +65 Damage, Passive: Cleaving Attack 225 Radius 35% Splash Damage

- Vladmir's Offering
Grants a +12% Lifesteal Aura (melee), 0.8 mana regen Brilliance Aura, a +5 Devotion Aura, and +12 damage.

- Buriza-do Kyanon
+75 Damage, Passive: Critical Strike, 20% Chance 2.2x Damage Multiplier

- Radiance
+8% Chance to Evade, +70 Damage, Passive: Immolation, 400 Radius, 35 Damage/sec Immolation

- Divine Rapier
+250 Damage, Drops upon Death

1 vs 3 Easy AI Coms. What to say...

Compilation of recent shots

2007-11-20T23:03:00.000+08:00

Recently, it has been raining quite often. And it's usually heavy thunderstorms. So I was trying to take lightning photos.

This is the only photo that managed to catch something.

Sunset from Swee Lee Building (My work place)

I can see clearly now the rain has gone...
I can see all the obstacles in my way...

Singapore's CBD area from Esplanade Park

The Fullerton Hotel. Majestic building in the midst of sky scrapers.
The Merlion beside too...

Yew Fie and Clara's Wedding

2007-11-20T22:23:00.000+08:00

Congrats to the lovely couple, Yew Fie and Clara.

The Entrance

The Reception

Pamela Goh and Faith

Pam and Grace

Ushers on Duty

The Aisle

Roses on the Aisle

The Groom and the kid

Me and Joelle

Happy Emmanuel

Grumpy Boy

Come on Emmanuel, 'Tsut' the pretty girl

Faith, our full-time flower girl

The Ring Bearer

Clara's Dad escorting her out

The congregation welcomes them

Pastor William wedding them

Paul translating into mandarin for all

"You may now kiss the bride"

After signing of the documents, the couple was left on stage.

Hooray...

The Happy Couple

Reception at Chapel

Heart-shaped mango pudding

The sandwiches are yummy-licious

Crab claws, Samosas, Chicken Wings and Sotong balls (R-L)

Fruit tarts always look very cheerful

Sotong Ball, Siew Mai and Noodles (R-L)

Dawn and Ling Ling, the notorious balloon thieves, hehe...

Emmanuel reaching for the balloons