Wednesday Dinner...

chatted with an ex-colleague from the Auditor-General's Office...
decided to meet up for dinner...
another ex-colleague joined us...
it's been a year since we last met up...
good to know what's going on...
all three of us are going through rough patches with our jobs...
one has quitted...
the other contemplating...
me... still wondering... will at least wait for the January 2007 bonus...
hope that Ju Liet will recover quickly from her knee injury...

Lust, Caution... The Book...

could not resist the temptation and bought Eileen Chang's book...
it was part 14 of her entire collection that has the short story "Lust, Caution"...
i just have to read it after watching the movie a few weeks back...

now waiting for the release of the uncut version on 8 November 2007 (Deepavali)...
*drool drool*

the last time Ang Lee released "Brokeback Mountain"...
instead of buying the book, i finished reading the short story at MPH...
cheapo to the max...
hahahaha...

Singapore Films @ Taiwan 44th Golden Horse Awards...

Just Follow Law, the Jack Neo movie, garnered three nominations, including Best Actor for Gurmit Singh...
the other 2 being Best Original Screenplay and Best Visual Effects...

while 881, the blockbuster by Roystan Tan, managed just 1 nomination in the Best Makeup & Costume Design category...

The Home Song Stories, starring Joan Chen and Qi Yuwu, ran ahead with 7 nominations...
including Best Picture, Best Actress for Joan Chen and Best Original Screenplay...
Joel Lok also had 2 nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best New Performer...
the remaining nominations were for Best Art Direction and Best Makeup & Costume Design...

let's hope there will be good news on the award ceremony night on 25 November 2007...

for more information, please visit: Golden Horse Official Website

Closer + Perhaps, Love...

watched Closer on Saturday and Perhaps, Love on Sunday...
superb movies...
great casts and strong plots and very sad endings...

a superb cast of Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Jude Law and Clive Owen...
Closer was disturbing with the character cheating on each other...
makes one wonder what is love??
do you fall in love with someone knowing that you are in love with someone else??
do you then cheat on the person you fell in love with because you love someone else more...
and do you tell the person you fell in love with about your affair...
in the process hurting the person you fell in love with...
and finally leaving the person you fell in love with...
and went with the someone else whom you think you truly love??
Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter" will break anyone's heart...

Perhaps, Love...
another great cast of Takeshi (金城武), Zhou Xun (周迅) and Jacky Cheung (张学友)...
an endearing love story...
10 years of waiting for the person you love to return...
only to realise that the person no longer remembers the past...
do you give up or should you persist??
the song that left a deep deep impression after the show ended was not one by Jacky Cheung...
instead it was an old song by Qi Qin titled "The World Outside" (齐秦 - 外面的世界)...
it so aptly describes the situation the lead couple were in...
and brings tears to one's eyes...

Rainy Sunday...

breakfast with family at AMK...
came home and went back to bed...
recovering from the late night earlier...

wanted to go for a run in the evening...
but the rain came...
heavy sia...

was watching the Singapore Cancer Society's charity show on TV...
played my part...
was totally moved when Ling Bo and Hu Jing came on to sing The Butterfly Lovers (Liang Shan Bo Yu Zhu Ying Tai)...
both of them had cancer and managed to pull through...
reminded me of the time mum had to go through radiotherapy for her breast cancer...
am glad she is fine now...

if you have missed the show, you can still donate until 04 November 2007:
1900 112 6611 - S$6 donation
1900 112 6622 - S$20 donation
1900 112 6633 - S$50 donation

Patrick's Housewarming...

attended Patrick's housewarming in the evening...
took a ride from Melvin, who looked tired and sickly...
must be all the late nights from his preparation for the exams...
take good care, dude...

met some familiar faces at the housewarming...
caught up with some old pals...
not being the social animal, did not chat with the new faces...
left by 10pm, before the group photo was taken...

visited the Loyang Tua Pek Gong temple with Melvin...
it looks more grand...
but some parts were not sheltered...
wonder how to pray if it rains...

reached home at around 11pm...
stayed on the net for four hours...
i couldn't believe it myself...

Friday Run...

dinner with colleagues was cancelled...
nothing else planned for the evening...
headed home for a run...
much better than the one i did last Sunday...
gotta do more now that the StanChart 21km run is on 2 December...

Half-Marathon Training Commences...

went for a jog this evening...
wanted to do at least 10km...
could only managed 8km...
pathetic timing...
time to train harder...

StanChart half marathon...
2 December 2007...
target of 2hrs 15mins...

Lust, Caution...

decided to lift the boycott and went to watch the movie with Kerry...
another marvellous production by one of the best directors around...
simple espionage by students resulting in the woman giving not just her body but also her soul to the person they were supposed to kill...
superb acting by the Chinese actress, Tang Wei...
huge disappointment by Lee-Hom, whose accented Mandarin was such a turn off...
as for Tony Leung, though we couldn't see his full nudity scenes in the censored version showing in Singapore, his commanding presence was still felt throughout the movie...
Joan Chen, what can i say, so natural as a typical tai tai who plays mahjong and shop all the time...

what would you do if you were Tang Wei in the movie?
i am not a romantic but if the sex is good, i would probably betray my comrades too...
;-p

Marina South Bowling...

last week there were only three of us...
this week the number increased to seven...
didn't know Steve has so many bowling kakis...
hahahaha...

the lane and ball conditions at Marina South Superbowl were bad...
cannot find one ball that suits me...
managed a bad first game of 117...
second and third games were better at 156...

we were discussing about which other bowling places left in Singapore...
not many actually...
:-(

Resident Evil: Extinction...

Resident Evil: Extinction turned out to be quite entertaining...
partly due to the fact that i treat it as a separate movie...
since i did not watch parts 1 & 2 and have not played the game before...
simple story line with interestingly scary fight scenes...
the living versus the undead...
you go figure who won in the end... no prizes though...
of course, the 2 babes of Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter (of Heroes fame) added to the watchability...

Social Smoking...

posted this question on Facebook: should i quit social smoking?
mixed responses from friends...
some for it, some against it...

discussed with Kerry about it after the movie while we were social smoking outside Plaza Singapura (how ironic)...
for me, smoking is more a habit / lifestyle...
for i dun get any high out of the nicotine / lack of oxygen feeling...
only felt good when i smoke in the clubs...
together with alcohol and dance music, the feeling is good...
but on a normal day, smoking makes me giddy...
as for Kerry, he smokes more nowadays...
started with having smoking breaks with his colleagues...
and one cigarette after every major meal...

Kerry commented that we should quit together...
one step closer to a healthier lifestyle...

Treats @ Royal Copenhagen...

wonderful royal treats at Royal Copenhagen in Takashimaya S.C...



salmon wrapped with egg mayonnaise...



grilled chicken with potatoes...



date pudding with fruits and caramel...

Childhood Biscuits...

bought these biscuits at an AMK wet market... so retro...
any idea what to call them??

New Shoes...

wore my new Pedro shoes to office today...
bit it before putting it on... so that it won't bite me... some old wives' tale...
will try not to walk too much today...
else my feet will hurt by the end of the day...

Family Weekend...

was still in a daze when i woke up at 10:30am...
missed having breakfast with my parents...
was like a zombie i met Triston for his birthday lunch at Royal Copenhagen...
not sure why, but we never ran out of topics to chat about...
i bought three DVDs from HMV...
but did not buy anything from Borders, despite having a 30% discount with my Borders Preferred Card...
think i really want to save up...
will try not to buy any new book until i have finished reading my entire bookshelf...

at 5pm, i decided to make a trip to my aunt's place in Yishun to have dinner...
mum and elder brother were already there...
it's been ages since i last visited my aunt's place...
good to see all my four uncles and aunts...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday morning was breakfast with my family at Tiong Bahru market...
lucky to find a parking lot easily...
had the kway chap... simply delicious...

came home and rested for a while before going out with my family to Chinatown...
dad wanted to visit the Buddha Tooth Relic temple...
while the rest of us went shopping...
found this shop at the basement of Pearl's Centre selling nice HK fashion...
bought a V-neck T-shirt...

it has been a wonderful weekend spending time with my family...
will make it a point to do it more often...

Bull Run 2007...

attended the annual Bull Run organised by the Singapore Exchange...
the distance was 3.2km... not a problem for me...
ran with my staff until the half way point...
and sped all the way to the finish line...
saw Christopher Lee and Fiona Xie, the two ambassadors...
didn't get to see Jade Seah though my colleague said i ran past her...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

went to Cali Orchard for a quick shower to freshen up...
bumped into the two deafies...
it's been a really long time since i last met them...

after dinner at the Cineleisure food court, my colleagues and i adjourned to K-Box for a farewell celebration for one of the managers...
we had a great time singing our hearts out...
reminiscing the oldies and the goodies...
i actually fell asleep by 3:15am...
decided to leave the gang at 3:40am...
reached home, showered and was dead in bed by 4:30am...

Lunch @ Raffles Place...

met DK & PL for lunch at Raffles Place...
simple nasi lemak at Golden Shoe market...
luckily the place was not packed when we reached...
DK bought soya drink for us... without syrup...
i could hardly finish half of it...
coffee was served at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaves...
played with PL's new phone...
damn cool...
but the price tag of S$850 is too steep for me...
will check out the new SE k770i...

now it's back to work...
Bull Run later at 6:30pm...

Jensen's Birthday Dinner...

met Jensen for dinner to celebrate his 25th birthday...
it's been more than 6 months since we last met...
glad to know that he's attached now...
and kinda admire his attitude to relationship...
keep it up and all the best...
we managed to clarify a mis-understanding we had nearly a year ago...

Happy Birthday dude!!

Bowling Wednesday...

met Steve and Tianwei for bowling...
it's been a long long while since we last bowled...
and we're trying to make it a regular event from now...
played 4 games with an average of 147...

Insurance Tuesday...

met my AIA insurance agent today to discuss on some insurance matters...
the last time we met was back in July where she first threw me the idea of getting more coverage...
now i am stuck between buying
(a) another living policy (life insurance with unattractive returns)
(b) a growth policy (savings plan with very attractive returns)
(c) a personal accident policy (to cover some medical expenses)...

will check with my uncle in Income on supplementing my living policy with a personal accident rider...
and i am still left with (a) and (b)...

decided to invest S$50,000 of my CPF savings in some unit trusts...
at least the amount is locked away and cannot be swiped away when i purchase a 4-room flat next year...

Durian Durian...

rushed down to Geylang to meet Lewis and Roger for durian...
for Lewis had sudden craving for it after we were there yesterday for dinner...
instead of meeting at the odd lorongs where the food are, Lewis was at the even lorongs eating prawn noodles...
odd lorongs = food (there is the letter "O" in both "odd" and "food")
even lorongs = sex (there is the letter "E" in both "even" and "sex")

after dinner, we proceeded to have a quick tour around the lorong 12...
i must say the women are very pretty and daring...
they would just grab you and touch you to ask you if you want to have sex with them...
and there were so many of them... easily 50 in that lorong alone...

after feasting our eyes, it's time to feast our stomachs...
we first ordered two durians...
an XO one that costs S$50 (2kg @ S$25 per kg) and a D24 one that costs S$25 (1.4kg @ S$18 per kg)...
while eating the D24 one, Roger ordered a S$5 and a S$8 durian...
the pricey ones were indeed far better than the cheap ones...
after durian, Lewis continued with mangosteens...
before we left, he packed some more durian, pomelos and luku home too...
what a feast we had tonight...

本地歌手

近期的华语唱片市场，突然汇集了几张本地歌手的专辑。。。

石欣卉 - <<剧欣卉集>>
陈伟联 - <<i 伟联>>
潘嘉丽 - <<在世界中心>>
阿杜 - <<撒野>>

祝福他们在本地与外地打出一片好成绩。。。

Sunday Mahjong...

woke up in the morning to meet Lewis & Vincent at Roger's Waterina for breakfast...
it's the meeting of the Square Table gang...
a regular event whenever Lewis is back from Shanghai for holidays...
this time we played three rounds with a lunch break in between...
Lewis updated us on his sexcapades in Shanghai...
while Vincent and Roger amused us with their WOW adventures...
it was great to see everyone again after so long...
Roger was the sole loser this time...
i won S$90...

Eric Moo Concert 2007...

my first time watching Eric's concert although this was his third time in five years...
Max Pavillion is disappointing in the location, setup and acoustics...
it's not meant to hold concert events...

fortunately, Eric more than made up for it...
coupled with his two special guests, Fang Wen Ling and Qiu Hai Zheng, he took us on a nostalgic trip down memory lane...
the acoustic set of songs from his xinyao days worth more than the ticket price we paid...
and the audience was incredibly spontaneous in singing along...
they must be hardcore fans who grew up with Eric's music for they were able to sing along to all the songs...

as the concert came to an end at 10:45pm, some of the crowd refused to leave...
the chants of "Encore!" and clapping of hands prompted Eric to come on stage again in a casual outfit and sang three excerpts in acapella...
with that, the music extravaganza came to a perfect ending...
i am so looking forward to the next meeting / gathering with Eric...

bumped into Ken and Alvin outside the concert venue...
chatted for a while...
time to do some catching up...

Kusu Island Pilgrimage 2007...

was discussing about the Kusu pilgrimage with Patrick on Thursday...
i did not realise that it has been a year already...
time truly flies...
discussed with mum about this year's trip...
she commented we should go in the afternoon instead of the morning when the crowd is not as much...
she asked me to discuss with Patrick on a suitable date...

Medical Appointment @ TTSH...

it's been two years since i last visited TTSH for an appointment...
this time it was for my piles...
mum accompanied me and we had lunch at Novena Square food court before the appointment...
although we were early, the doctor was held up in the ward with some scope procedures...
doctor advised not to operate as there has not been bleeding...
prescribed medication to be taken for six weeks...
and the next appointment was six months later...
hopefully everything's fine...

Back To Work...

after an 8-day hiatus in camp, i am back to the office...
ultra super duper Monday blues...
sianz...