Goodbye Singapore... Hello New York...

after nearly four months, the day has arrived to depart for New York City later in the morning...
leaving on Cathay Pacific 10:15am flight to JFK international airport, transiting in Hong Kong...
hopefully the weather holds in Hong Kong and no unnecessary delays...

main highlight of the trip is Madonna's Sticky & Sweet & Sour Tour...
all thanks to Teck Cheng for getting the tickets...
and offering me this opportunity...

will be spending 9 full days in NYC...
including one day trip to Niagara Falls (both the Canadian and American view of the Falls)...
one full day of shopping at the Woodbury Common Premium factory outlet and White Plain Malls...
three musicals / plays booked (The Lion King, Equus, Naked Boys Singing)...
yet to book two other shows, Wicked and Gypsy...
but looking at my schedule, may not have time to squeeze them in...
will have to play by ear...

four museums in the plan: American Museum of Natural History (to see dinosaurs), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum...

and of course what is a trip to NY without visiting the famous tourist places...
Statue of Liberty, Chinatown, Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building, Times Square, Central Park, St. Patrick's Cathedral, GE Building and Rockefeller Centre...

checking out the financial district of Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange and Ground Zero...
taking pictures of Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions before they are gone...

signed up for the Sex & The City Tour to experience life as Carrie Bradshaw...

my US friends will also be bringing me out clubbing on Saturday night...
and maybe, just maybe, we might drive up to Montreal for the night...

cut short my trip due to new job and insufficient leave (yah right)...
will not be visiting Kieran in Washington DC afterall...
and also no whale-watching in Boston...
it is a pure NYC trip this time...

still there is so much to do...
so much to experience...
and so much to see...

New York New York!!
here i come...

Kylie X 2008...

so it is confirmed...
Kylie will be in Singapore on Tuesday 25 November 2008...
as part of her Kylie X Tour...
just in time for my birthday week...
my birthday present to myself...
thrilled...
;-p

Bendemeer Secondary...

saw the news article below on Channelnwesasia.com a while ago...

Bendemeer Secondary was my alma mater...
it was my other choice after Victoria Secondary back in 1984 after my PSLE...
did not manage to get into Victoria with my 3As and 1A star results...
the selection was based on the school’s vicinity to the St. George’s area i lived in then...
my secondary school days have been the best period of education in my life...

also noticed that the new channel 5 series, First Class, was filmed in Bendemeer Secondary and uses their school uniforms too...

suddenly this “ah beng ah lian” neighbourhood school has achieved some positive limelight...

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SINGAPORE: Bendemeer Secondary School celebrated the return of Paralympian swimmer Yip Pin Xiu and sailor Jovin Tan.

Yip, a secondary four student at the school, won Singapore's first Paralympic gold and a silver medal at the recent Beijing Paralympic Games. Aside from clinching the medals, Yip rewrote two world records along the way.

Tan is a former student of the school.

Both Yip and Tan were treated to a heroes' welcome when they wheeled into school, as some 1,300 students congratulated the pair for their achievements at the Games.

To remember the momentous occasion, a teacher catalogued Yip’s achievements in a binder and the principal presented it to the teenager.

Mum’s 53rd Birthday Dinner...

celebrated mum’s 53rd birthday at Coca restaurant in Ngee Ann City...
invited my aunts too...
mum specially requested for Coca because she liked it the last time we were there...
it was a great dinner...
with delicious food...
and good company...
it is always a warm feeling having family gatherings...
especially now that my parents are now getting any younger...
it is much more important to spend time with them and make them happy...

Happy Birthday my dearest mum...
wish you good health and happiness forever...

Manhattan Fish Market / Mamma Mia / Cao Ge @ Lunar...

woke up at around 11+am...
went out for breakfast at Changi Village...
only to find out that the market was under renovation...
had prata, appam and dhosai at an Indian shop instead...
surprisingly the food were very good...
especially the appam and the dhosai...

popped by the Loyang Tua Pek Kong temple for prayer on the way home...

the outing was marketed as Jason’s birthday celebration...
glad that most of us were there...
Manhattan Fish Market disappointed most of us...
although i liked the seafood platter...

Mamma Mia was hilarious and so much fun!!
enjoyed myself thoroughly...
somehow the poor reviews given by the media were unjustified...

adjourned to Lunar for Gary Cao Ge’s exclusive showcase to celebrate Lunar’s 1st anniversary...
Jason was his fan...
and so we were there...
the showcase was pretty short...
and we left for Lau Pa Sat for supper...
as some of us were already hungry due to the early dinner...

had some really heavy conversations...
sharing of ideas and views...
by the time we ended at 2am, i was having a bad headache...
reached home, showered, popped a Panadol extra and headed straight to bed...

Hot...

had a Japanese lunch with Jason in Raffles Place...
followed by coffee at TCC...
discussed about our upcoming trips to NYC and Japan...
so exciting!!

but the weather is so bloody hot these days...
and it is already mid-September...
time to move the typhoons and hurricanes from Hong Kong and USA to Singapore...
to at least cool down our little island...
*pant pant*

Spizza...

met Kerry for dinner at Spizza...
to celebrate my new job...
somehow we have this habit of buying each other dinner after receiving our first pay check with the new company...
had a good time catching up with him...

Failed...

met Tracy, Grace & Priscilla for measurements again today...
failed to meet the KPI of 4kg loss in one month set by Tracy...
only managed 3.7kg...
it was a nice gesture from Tracy to still give me the "reward" of a mixer...

had dinner at RIA Ayam Penyet at Lucky Plaza...
my second time there...
enjoyed the Ayam Penyet and the Gado-Gado...

paid Borders a visit and bought the Frommers NYC 2009 travel guide...
just in case i need it for my upcoming NYC trip...
also bought Suchen-Lim's Fistful of Colours which was reviewed a few months back on the Sunday Times...
also bough the Lillian Too's fengshui book for Rat (me), Tiger (dad), Rabbit (younger brother), Sheep (mum) and Dog (elder brother) @ S$8 each (after 25% + 10% discount)...

on the wayhome, bumped into my ex-students from Beatty Secondary at the void deck...
chatted for a while...
sad to see that one of them has just failed his Poly 2nd year exams while the other is repeating his "O" Levels as a private candidate...

US Dollars...

darn... the US dollar has gone up over the last few weeks...
it is now US$1 = S$1.43...
just bought US$1,000 at the money changer in Change Alley...
with the Lehman Brothers filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
and Bank of America purchase of Merrill Lynch...
i think the US dollar will fall in the next week or so...
will continue to monitor and change some more over the next week...

Run Baby Run...

today is the mid-autumn festival...
had breakfast with my family in the morning...
and then came home to rest...
woke up in the afternoon for some TV programme...
before heading out for a run...
the drizzle came and i had to cut short the distance to 6km...
came home and had mooncakes...
coffee flavoured... sambal shrimp paste flavoured...
watched more TV...
posted pictures on facebook...
still had not planned my NYC itinerary...
will do it on Monday...

Mooncake Gathering @ Eunos...

had our annual mooncake gathering for the second consecutive year...
met up with the gang for dinner at Eunos 60s prawn noodles...
disappointing food...

the gathering was so much fun...
joked about the story behind the piggy in a basket...
and also the link between mooncakes and Chang Er...
chatted a lot about our travelling stories and plans...
it is always a pleasure meeting up with the Dolls...
hopefully we can continue this tradition for many more years to come...

Simple Friday Dinner...

i have been so tired after the recent global meeting in the office...
totally shagged out due to lack of beauty sleep and waking up early...
had dinner at Sonny's place...
simple dinner of BBQ chicken wings and beans...
heavenly... sinful...

Singapore Flyer...

one of the highlights for the global meeting held in Singapore this year was the Singapore Flyer...
and being the host country, we also got the chance to go on it...
i must say it is an exhilarating ride...
the ride is unusually stable and you can hardly feel it moving...
although the view was spectacular as the capsule gets higher...
it was quite scary for those with fear of height, like me...
i was practically standing still for most of the time...
while trying to take pictures of the surrounding scenery...

dinner was served at Seafood Paradise...
an extraordinary 9-dish sumptuous seafood dinner...
first dish was the combination platter of jelly fish, yam scallop pie, smoked duck and silver fish...
followed by the usual shark’s fin soup with scallop...
the bamboo clam with golden mushroom and garlic was next...
next came the steamed garoupa, lobster in salted egg yolk, sauteed mushroom with abalone and asparagus and sze chuan roasted chicken...
last main course was the black pepper crab and chill crab...
finally the dessert of mango with pomelo...
i had beer and red wine to go with the food...
ultra sinful... but ultra shiok...
not often that we have such extravagant meals...

New iPod nano...

http://www.apple.com/sg/ipodnano/

i guess by now the whole wolrd knew that Apple has just unveiled its new iPod nanos...
9 colours to choose from...
all curvy and sexy...
give it a shake to shuffle...
and you can even view it sideways...
how more cool can you get...
only Apple can do that...
where are you, Mr Sim??

Down, Down & Down...

oh no, i am not referring to the stock market over the last couple of days...
but rather my weight over the last three weeks...
62.8kg --> 61.5kg --> 60.4kg --> 59.4kg
3.4kg in the three weeks i have started Herbalife...
hopefully can reach my target of 6kg by the end of the month...
and then start to put on mass after my NYC trip...
jia you, everybody!!

PS: a big thank you to Tracy and Grace for introducing Herbalife to me...

Yellow Ribbon Project...

saw the advertisement for the Yellow Ribbon Project...
was surprised at the stereotypical association of tattoos with ex-offenders...
is there any statistical truth to that??

US Open 2008...

the game was plagued by bad weather in the final stages...
both the women’s final and men’s semi-final matches were delayed by more than a day...

the women’s game was really open...
and Serena Williams beat Jelena Jankovic to it...
and with this win, she regained the world number one title...

the men’s open had its fair share of surprises...
at least we are not going to watch another Federer-Nadal Grand Slam final for the third consecutive time this year...
for Nadal lost to Andy Murray in the semis...
good to see fresh blood performing so well...
but i disliked Murray’s cockiness...
yawnz...

Sunday Dinner...

met Sonny for dinner...
a last minute arrangement after my facial...
went to some food centre next to Bedok camp...
food was superb... and not crowded in a Sunday evening...
ordered the cuttlefish kang kong, satay, wan ton noodles and cheng tng...
loved the cold cheng tng although it was a little pricey...
would want to come back again another day to try out the other food stalls...

Slim...

met up with Elsie and gang for our monthly gossip dinner at Victoria Road food centre...
she noticed that i have slimmed down...
but still prefer the meatier me... lolz...

asked her for my Tim Tams from Perth...
she hesitated about giving them to me now that i am on a weight loss programme...
hahahaha...
i will still eat... slowly but surely...

we had so much fun gossipping about everything and anything...
maybe i was tired cos i slept late the night before...
was unable to produce as much jokes as i usually could...

i am so motivated to have my figure back!!
after slimming down, gotta tone up and pump iron...

2008 Kusu Pilgrimage...

the annual Kusu Pilgrimage season this year is from 29 September to 28 October...
the “theory” is that once you did the pilgrimage in one year, you have to do it for three consecutive years...
this year will be our third year...
another family outing with my parents, my younger brother and Patrick...

got the following information from the website:

Current ferry services to Kusu and St. John's islands will be temporarily suspended during the Kusu Pilgrimage season from 29 Sep 2008 - 28 Oct 2008.

For those who wish to visit Kusu Island during the Kusu Pilgrimage season, ferry tickets are as follows:

Mondays to Fridays (excluding Public Holidays) S$14.00 (Adult) / S$12.00 (Child, 1 – 12 years)
Saturdays (excluding Public Holidays) S$16.00 (Adult) / S$12.00 (Child, 1 – 12 years)
Sundays & Public Holidays S$16.00 (Adult) / S$12.00 (Child, 1 – 12 years)

For those who wish to visit St. John's island during this period, you will need to charter your own boat.

for more details, please visit:
http://www.sentosa.com.sg/explore_sentosa/nature/southern_islands.html

Dinner @ Coffee Club...

had dinner with Patrick, Tracy, Grace & Pris @ Coffee Club...
it has been months since i last met Patrick...
glad to see that he is still the same...
still as gadget-savvy as ever...
helping Tracy with her new Asus Eee...
dinner was good, despite the slow service...
the company was of course, beyond description...

came home received Patrick’s SMS...
reminded him about the annual Kusu Pilgrimage from 29 September to 28 October...
will have to do it after my return from NYC on 11 October...

Another 1.1kg Lighter...

met up with Tracy & Grace for measurement taking...
was still worried that there will be not much improvement this week...
mainly because i have been eating quite a bit over the weekend...
seafood pasta, prawn noodles, high tea...
was thrilled that my weight has gone down by another 1.1kg...
it has been two weeks since i started Herbalife...
and i have lost a total of 2.4kg...
another 3.6kg more to meet my personal target of 6kg...
the gals said that my progress so far has been excellent...
considering that i am only doing one meal replacement...
and only on weekdays...
told them it is very difficult to do meal replacement on weekends...
cos i will be out with friends and family...
how not to eat??

will strive to work harder...
and hopefully can start on my exercise regime really soon...
i want to reach my target before i depart for NYC...
27 more days to go...