cracked ceiling

Retirement!

2008-04-23T10:23:00.000+08:00

Dear all, it's been so long since I've posted that I've decided to retire this blog. I will still keep it around just for the memories, but will not be updating it any further.

For those using it as a means to keep in touch, come find me on facebook instead. :) There, we can have greater interaction! :)

Bye!

SO FUNNY!!

2007-10-13T17:12:00.000+08:00

OMG, this is sooo cute and funny!!

The 1st Day at Barcelona

2007-09-22T01:49:00.000+08:00

We walked around G's neighbourhood, the famous Sagrada Familia is just 2 streets from G's apartment (if you stick ur neck out, u can see it from his balcony)!

Then we walked to his University to check it out, and ended up in Park Citudella next door! Great place to rest and relax. Lying on the grass is something u definitely can't do in Sg..

Photos from Barcelona

2007-09-22T01:43:00.000+08:00

At the SG, Milan and Barcelona airports...

Yasmine's Wedding

2007-06-08T17:27:00.001+08:00

Oh yah, also had intended to blog about Y's wedding, which was also 3 months AGO!!!! (Y, how does it feel to be married for so long?? haha). But as you can guess, I'm too lazy. I'm still in Barcalona now (It's 8pm here and I'm still enjoying my siesta), so the best I can do is to upload the photos. hehe.

The church reception

At the wedding dinner, awaiting the Bride's entrance

Our table

All the pretty girls. :)

Us and the happy couple

The rest of us can kiss too!

The table floral arrangements were so pretty we had to take them home..

= Day 9 =

2007-06-08T17:20:00.000+08:00

Most of Day 9 was spent at the tailors - I don't think I'll tailor so much stuff next time.. really went a bit mad with the tailoring. Some stuff turned out nice, others... well, let's just say I won't be wearing those clothes anytime soon...

Oh yah, all this while I forgot to take photos of our motel with its *ahem* tasteful decor. haha.
Look at our messy room!

Ok, that's the end of my Shanghai trip report. Can you tell I've run out of steam? hahaha.. Don't think I'll be reporting on my Barcelona trip anytime soon, 14 days is just way too much. Maybe I'll just post my photos or sth. haha.

= Day 8 =

2007-06-08T16:55:00.000+08:00

Hey guys, sorry for the long MIA, life has been insanely busy/frantic/depressing. The only time I have energy to even consider blogging is ironically while I'm vacationing in Barcelona (yes, I'm here now, Hola!)

Even so, I'm too tired to blog in detail about my trip to Shanghai, which was like 3 months ago!!!!! hahahahaa.. So too bad, you guys will just have to be content with looking at the photos.

Can't remember what we did on Day 8, but it looks like we spent alot of time eating more xiao long baos, and more KTV-ing. hahaha.

= Day 7 =

2007-06-08T16:22:00.000+08:00

On Day 7, G and I went shopping by ourselves to try and find some 'real' golf clubs/stuff for G. There were shops full of them. We went to one that was recommended by G's friend. He marveled at how much copies there were, I frankly couldn't tell the difference. Neither did some angmohs in the shop with us who were getting ripped off. They actually thought they were buying the real thing. G had to subtly cut in to tell them EVERYTHING was not real. *haha*

We didn't buy anything, but the moment we left the shop, we were poached by one of those "real" goods agents and led to many other shops.

After looking at rather boring things (to me la), we went to another mall which supposedly sold more sports wear. We bought lots of hats, sweatsuits etc. I even bought myself a cap (and i'm totally not a head-wear kinda person).

Soon after, we were due to meet S at Shanghai's 2nd tourist stop to check out Shanghai's supposedly best xiao long bao. Since we hadn't had much breakfast or lunch, we were quite hungry...

Us at Yu Yuan Garden (0r sth like that.. for the life of me I can't remember names of places anymore haha) See I'm wearing my new cap so that it doesn't get squashed in the bags. Totally doesn't go with wat i'm wearing haha..

Before we went to try the xiao long baos, G insisted on going to Macs to try their fries to "compare". haha.

This is Shanghai's supposedly most famous and best xiao long bao restaurant. It's super packed! the queue on the first floor for takeaway is insanely long. Quite unbelievable.. And apparently, the higher floor you go, the most expensive the food gets. Us being on a budget only went to the 2nd floor.

Unfortunately, the xiao long baos were really terrible. Not inedible terrible, but definately not worth the price, hype nor wait. They were the worst xiao long baos we ate in Shanghai. The skin was too thick, the meat not tastey and the soup was nothing to die for. Not to mention it was insanely crowded. Totally not a pleasureable experience.

This is the view from the xiao long bao place. Not bad, but look at the crowds! So many tourists!!

We didn't even venture there...

After the disappointing xiao long baos, we went to try the giant tang bao. It was really disgusting! Like drinking lard. Yucks. It's like a xiao long bao the size of a char siew bao, served in its own individual long with a straw stuck in the middle for you to slurp soup up. We took a sip then threw it away.

We then went to the Small Goods market next door which sells... you guessed it.. anything that's small and classified as goods haha. I bought a few necklaces. Nothing much. After that we got tired and went to KFC to rest.

Then, for dinner we met up with R and her family who was also in town on holiday. Was a bit strange meeting her here in Shanghai, and especially her family whom I've not met before, but it went ok. We went to one of the most famous and hard to get into restaurants in XingTianDi for dinner. Frankly, I wasn't that impressed with the food though. OK only. And it was super expensive! R's dad treated us though, but felt a bit paiseh.. R's dad also introduced us to suan nai (or sour milk) which is a drink that's very popular in China, despite it's horrible sounding name. I realise it's just a plain yoghurt drink, sort of like yakult which i love so I liked it alot. :)

After the expensive dinner, we went to see the sights along the river and enjoy the cold weather. The wind was so strong and cold! Luckily, I had just bought a jacket that afternoon, or I'd have frozen to death.

Despite our smiles, we were freezing.

After a while of walking, we decided to go to Hyatt hotel to observe the night lights from above. While walking to Hyatt, we spotted a grown Chinaman peeing in the streets! They have no shame! I really don't understand, we were in like their version of Esplanade, and there are new buildings with free, new and clean toilets readily available inside. Yet they pee on the streets into bushes??? While poor tourists are innocently walking pass?? *shakes head* It's really beyond me.

Anyway, back to Hyatt. It's sort of like their version of Swissotel. It's free to enter, really high up, except that you'll have to place a minimum order of drinks/food. Not that we minded. The ambience was not bad, very much like any hotel in Singapore, although the service could be better. Then again, we were extremely underdressed. All the angmohs were in like suits and party dresses and here we were going, with typical Singaporean casualness, in jeans and berms. But according to S, all we had to do was to speak English and we wouldn't be turned away, no matter how casually dressed we were. And it worked!

G and I separated from R and her family (cos we didn't want them to pay for us again + it's more romantic just to 2 of us rite haha) and got ourselves seats, drinks and their specialty flaming desert.

The blue glow of our flaming desert makes us all look purple.

Haha, look at the purple man! So funny..

Oops, by the time I took a proper non-shaky photo of the desert, the flames had mostly died out already. But you can still see a bit of the blue flame!

However, I can't say that the taste was to my liking. It was extremely sweet. Ah well.

After hanging out a bit, it was time to say bye to R and her family and head back to our motel..

P.S. K, this post is for you.. I'll try my best to procrastinate work and finish blogging about all the days!

= Day 6 =

2007-06-06T13:30:00.001+08:00

Today's was the only day that S had to go for class so we all went to his university to check out his campus and the food in the area. Of course, S had to go ahead first since he'd have to wake up at like 6am to get to class. No way were G and I going to wake up at 6, we're on holiday ok!

So, G and I got directions from S and decided to take the MRT ourselves. Didn't get too lost except for one part (G didn't want to listen to me and made us take the wrong exit). But we found S in the end so everything was ok.

Turns out S's campus is REALLY far from where he lives. Took us like 45 mins to get there. Not only do you have to take quite a long train ride, you have to find the correct exit, walk through a whole park, get to the campus and then walk walk walk inside to get to the correct building (which was pretty far away).. It also didn't help that by the time G and I got there it was noon and really HOT! Our first hot day in Shanghai and I had to wear a black turtleneck top. *sigh* Couldn't really enjoy the scenery or the walking when it's sweltering.

You can't tell from the pics, but it's super hot!

The park was quite pretty.. not that I enjoyed it much.. although the shade from the trees did provide some relief.

Pretty?

Before we could tour the campus, we had to feed the boys so we headed to a small, family-run xiao long bao shop call "Nan Jing Jin sth" just at the entrance of the campus.

This is practically the whole shop.

Before I get into how the xiao long bao tastes, I have to first tell you the price!

It's 8 xiao long baos per long, and each long costs only 3 yuan! 3 yuan!!!! That's like S$0.60 for 8! S$0.075 for each xiao long bao! Is that cheap or what! Can't believe it right? I took a photo for proof:

What was even better was the taste. It was really GOOD! Much better than any other xiao long bao we've had so far in Shanghai. G gave it a rating of 8.5 (if I remember correctly). We had other things to eat too (like their siew mai, which is completely different from what we're used to: it has rice instead of meat in it), but I think amongst the 3 of us, we ate 5 longs of xiao long bao! That's quite alot huh? Very impressive for a small place (and when I say small, it's really small. There're ony 4 tables).

Btw, in case you haven't already realised, xiao long bao in Shanghai is called "tang bao" or "soup bun". Makes sense, doesn't it? Don't know why they call it xiao long bao, the longs look pretty standard-sized to me! haha.

After our nice, satisfying brunch, we braved the sun and heat to tour S's campus and check out the local students there. Strangely, as we were walking into the campus, a man came running out shouting "Jiu Ming! Jiu Ming! You ren xiang sha wo!" (Or "Save me! Save Me! Some one's trying to kill me!"). Very strange. Soon after a few other men came running after him rather halfheartedly, I mean, it was clear they were chasing him, but they definitely didn't look murderous.. S says it's the first time he's ever seen anything like that there. Curious.

Anyway, back to the buildings, they are an interesting mix of old and new and the architecture doesn't look Chinese. Not exactly what I would have imagined, but there was lots of greenery so that warmed the place up.

While we were there, we also visited the international hostel that S would have stayed in had he not found his apartment. There's no other way to put this... but the place STINKS! Literally! We walked into the 'lobby' and it smelled like dirty laundry, old food oil and OB meshed into something completely awful-smelling. I got an instant headache and dragged the boys out. Wah lao. Can die.

Anyway, after walking around in the hot sun and getting 'diao-ed' by all the local students, we decided to leave and go shopping instead. So we caught a cab and went to this ATAS shopping street which had quite a few interesting small shops and cafes. Not cheap though. However, the weather got too hot to shop, G desperately needed a drink so we went into a cafe instead and hung out there until we cooled down.

While in the cafe, we also spotted our first "sportscar" in Shanghai. Just parked along the road outside our cafe. Told you it was a posh place...

Hyundai coupe

Shopping itself was quite uneventful. Since it was such a hot day, we would only enter shops that had aircon (not many did), so that limited our shopping somewhat. There were some pretty cool shops, like one huge sneakers shop with a huge sneaker tower (sales person would have to hoist himself and 'fly up the tower' to retreive the sneaker you wanted) and another shop which sold cool but disturbing t-shirts and the like.

The boys did more shopping than me I think, G bought some cool sneakers, S almost bought some footwear too. I just got myself cute earrings in the shape of killer pumps. (Not cheap!) Can't remember what else we did... Probably walked up and down the street....

After we had enough of window-shopping, we walked to another small family-run restaurant for dinner. The restaurant's business is so good that it's first floor was packed! So we were asked to go upstairs into what I believe is their actual living area/living room to eat (it had a sofa and tv!). We had to negotiate some pretty steep/small/flimsy stairs to get to the room. In fact, S was so amazed at the stairs that he kept climbing and climbing, completely by-passing the floor we were supposed to be on and reaching the roof. I was quite afraid that the floorboards wouldn't hold our weight, and given that the railings/walls were covered with sticky oil from the kitchen, there was nothing to hold onto and we would plummet to our death. But it held up. Thank goodness.

See the Cabinet and TV in the background? It's somebody's house!

Got fridge somemore!

The food though was great! G rated it the best meal in Shanghai cos he liked every single dish, especially the vegs cos they had leaves. (All the rest of the veges we ordered didn't come with leaves, just stalks). This time, I remembered to take photos of the food before we gobbled them down.

G, being half-teochew, loved the fish. It really was pretty good. Me, being half-shanghai-nese, loved the soup chock-full of bamboo shoots. I also really like the tomato salad cold dish. They cook tomatos with suger here! I love all things sweet so I really liked it! S, being greedy, loved everything. hahaha. Just kidding. About the greedy part - he really loved everything.

See the scary stairs?

After that what did we do? Can you guess? We went for a massage again. Yup, think we went 8 out of 10 nights. Quite crazy rite?

After the massage, G and I decided to buy some cheap beer and peanuts back to our hotel room to chill. At the convenience shop, we debated whether to buy a beer bottle opener or not. But in the end, we figured the hotel should have rite? Wrong! We asked the reception, who told us to call house-keeping, which we did, and after some mild confusion attributed to the fact that neither one of us knew what the term for "bottle opener" in Chinese was (although I came quite close with "kai ping ji" - it's called "kai ping qi"), we were told they didn't have any beer bottle openers, only wine bottle openers. !?! How can they NOT have beer bottle openers? There's beer everywhere here!!

Anyway, no use arguing rite? If they say they don't have means they don't have. (Nevermind the fact that we don't have the vocab in us to argue with them - haha) We had to be creative. I told G to use the countertop in the bathroom to do it, but instead he went and used the windowsill. Needless to say, beer and froth spilled all over our carpet and living room. Yuck. I hate the smell of beer. (Yes, I can drink it but I don't like the smell of it on furniture.. kind reminds me of dirty bars and puke.) See la, don't listen to gf!

Eventually we got the carpet dry and the smell sort of went away. But the evening didn't improve because G kept complaining about the peanuts and how bad they were. Given that the peanuts actually cost more than the beer, it was quite disappointing. I mean, I thought they were edible, just not that nice. So yes, if you're ever in China, don't buy their peanuts. Stick to crackers or something.

= Day 5 =

2007-05-30T15:29:00.000+08:00

Today was the day that S brought us to the "real" branded goods place that he's become an agent for (haha, jus kidding).. Throughout this whole time, whenever we're on the streets in the shopping district, people will yell at us or approach us attempting to sell us "real" goods. We've always just ignored them. However, today, being bored of normal shopping, we decided to follow a few of them to see just what exactly they had.

It's an interesting experience. *haha* They'll gleefully lead you down some back alley and into someone's house, climb 2 storeys of steep and narrow stairs then suddenly you'll enter a room full of things. Some even look exactly like a shop. It's like being Alice in Wonderland, if you Wonderland is rooms full of "real" stuff. *haha* Bags, clothes, wallets, watches, sunglasses, they have them all. Needless to say, we didn't buy anything, but it was interesting to follow them and see haha. There were loads of tourists there too, especially Jap and Koreans. I would have loved to take a photos/video of our experience but I didn't want to get scolded or killed so no photos!

Most of the Chinese people are quite nice. They won't scold you for not buying anything. Even those agents that bring you around to all the various hidden shops. Of course, we've also learnt the art of bargaining. You can bargain everywhere in China (well, almost everywhere). Even in real shops! S even bargains with the fruit sellers (so auntie haha!).

There's a few tactics:
1. The "let's be friends" tactic. Used when it's your first time in a shop. You say, come on, let's be friends! What's your best price? I'll introduce all my friends to you and ask them to give you business.

2. The "I'm practically your agent" tactic. Used when you've brought friends over to their shops. You say, See I brought so many friends here, I'm practically your agent! I should be asking for commission! But I'm not so you must give us a better price.

3. The "wait very long and look like you don't want to buy" tactic. Used when you're in a place where people earn commission. S was telling us about his mom who was standing in Watson's looking at a product. A salesgirl came over, and the longer his mom deliberated, the more free products she threw in! I sort of experienced this myself at the supermarket, where S "bargained" for freebies for me. So different from Singapore!

4. The "walk away before naming your price" tactic. Used when your starting price is obviously much less than the price they've named. Helps to avoid looking like you're out for a bargain and gives the impression that you're genuinely not interested enough/rich enough to pay the amount they're asking. Usually effectively only if they are desperate for business and call you back.

5. The "I don't want to name my price cos it's just too much lower than yours and I don't want to waste your time and insult you" tactic. Where you pretend to be very reluctant to name your starting price and they'll have to fish it out of you. Not always effective but at least prevents you from being scolded for being cheapskate.

6. The "We are all part of the same family" tactic. Used when ang mohs are around and have bought things at substantially more than you would pay for them.

Of course, everyone knows about buying in bulk and pressing figures into the calculators when Ang mohs are around tactic so I won't go into that.

All in all, bargaining is just so tiring. I think Singapore shopping is easier. You just need to decide whether you're willing to pay that price or not. No need to wonder about hurt feelings, whether you're being ripped off or not, no need to bargain until feel paiseh and just give in and buy stuff that you'll later regret. I'm tired just thinking back on it. *yawn*

After a long day of walking in back alleys, we went for dinner at quite a nice ATAS place which served Western food and ate soup and burgers for about S$12. Can't remember what else we did that day. Probably ended it with yet another massage. Notice a trend? haha.

= Day 4 =

2007-05-29T10:20:00.000+08:00

Whew after such a long blog yesterday I bet you guys tot I'd give up rite? But nope, once I commit to doing something I do it! Impressed rite? *haha*

Anyway, Day 4 began with a good breakfast. We went to this hotel near our place to eat dim sum.

Quite nice place rite?

Not too ex too!

The reason why we were there was because that restaurant serves not just any ol' dim sum but especially cute ones in the shape of animals! See?

So cute rite!!!!!!!! I love this hedgehog one. It's the cutest! Tastes good too. It's really pokey (the spines can attack the roof of your mouth if you're not careful) and has got sweet yam paste inside.

Look at that cute face! I really had a hard time trying to eat it. TOO CUTE!

Ah well, had to if not the guys would gladly eat it for me. Bye bye cute hedgehog!

We also ordered snails. Cute ones. Not real slimey disgusting ones.

Cute?

Think not as cute as the hedgehog.

Off with its head! G has no qualms about eating cute things.

There were many other cute animal dim sums (like 15 different ones I think) but we only ordered 2 cos they were all sweet like desert and too gelat to eat all at once.

After breakfast/brunch, we went back to the tailoring mart for fittings then went shopping I think. Can't really remember what we did already. Oh dear, my memory is failing.

Anyway, onto dinner! We went to Super Brands Mall where all the mid-range brands like H&M etc are. We also had to eat at this restaurant (something like their equivalent of our Crystal Jade I think) the famous roast duck and pigeon. Yummy!

The decor of that place was typically Chinese - lots of gold and garish ornaments haha. But it looked quite decent.

Poor S and G always have to model for my camera.

Think they're getting sick of it?

We ordered beer as usual (cos their tea is undrinkable - the smelly water taste is too strong) and found out that the waitress is a part time comedian! We shared one bottle of beer and look at how she poured it!

WOW! Such even distribution!

I mean, I've been discriminated before in our previous restaurants, the waitresses tend to give me about 10% less than the guys, but nothing like this! *haha* Anyway, in this case, the waitress was not being discriminatory, just incompetent, cos the glass with the least beer was the last glass to be poured was S's. And in fact, judging by how generous she was with the 1st glass (G's) we all knew that there was no way she could give the same amount to everyone. By S's glass, we were all wavering between shock and giggles.

So, what do Chinese waitresses do when they perform comedic/incompetent feats like this?

Nothing. Or rather, they attempt not to giggle and walk away as if nothing had happened and try to pretend they don't know that the whole table is staring at them and laughing at them. [Yes, they ignore their incompetence and don't apologise or ask if they can do anything to rectify the situation.]

In the end, poor me had to 'sacrifice' myself again and give S my glass.

After our dinner, we went gai-gai-ing. I ended up buying a nice bag and earrings at H&M :). Soon it came to closing time. For once I wasn't unhappy cos my feet were ACHING! Wearing high-heeled boots one whole day is not fun. By the end of the day, I was counting steps. Worse that the boys and zero sympathy for me. G just had this "I told you so" look. Stupid boys. What do they know about fashion?

So, we caught a cab back to home area and went for a massge! The best foot massage I had in Shanghai (probably cos my feet hurt so much)! On the way back, managed to capture a few shots of the Bund from my cab window. Not good photos but decent la.

Shanghai has very interesting architecture. It's a fusion of Chinese and Western. These are clearly more western.. Looks a bit like our old Supreme Court.

After the massage, it was midnight. Just in time for KTV happy hour. 55 yuan/S$11 per room from 12midnight - 6 am. The guys went nuts. I fell asleep at around 4am. [Imagine how tired I was to be able to fall asleep in a KTV! Booming music and 'stellar' singing. *haha*]

Can't remember much after that, it was all blurry. Must have made it back to our hotel somehow. I remember the guys were still awake and wanting to eat breakfast somemore. Xiao! I need sleep ok! They're mad! Mad!

Think we conked out until it was time for lunch.

Ok, end of Day 4. Day 5 coming soon... (are you guys bored of Shanghai already??)

= Day 3 =

2007-05-28T16:24:00.000+08:00

Since we were going to be in Shanghai for that many days, we decided to make a day trip to Suzhou to see-see-look-look so we caught a train early on Day 3 and made the 45min trip there.

The train was surprisingly spacious and new, although nothing like the Harry Potter kind of carriages that always comes to my mind when I think of train rides. The only peeve we had was with the other passengers on the train who talked very loudly especially when they were on hps. I mean, it was like 8am in the morning or something, we need our sleep! Listening to your whole conversation is not something that we're interested in. But oh well. Apart from that, it was pretty uneventful. That said, the train ride was only s$5 each way so how cheap is that!! Got fixed seats too so we didn't have to fight with anyone for seats.

Anyway, compared to Shanghai, Suzhou is alot more dusty and more industrial, although there are very pretty places to see too. It's also supposedly the "Venice of China", with many waterways and "sampans" instead of roads.

See the waterway behind us? We're in Venice!

The first thing we did was to visit Tiger Hill, a more tourist-y attraction. To fully appreciate the place, we hired a tourguide to bring us around and tell us about the history of the place. I understood like about 60% of it only haha. Mostly because I'm not that familar with "cheng yu"s and all sorts of old chinese sayings, but she was a pretty good tourguide and even slowed down her narrations when we asked her to (although she still spoke pretty fast).

At the entrance of Tiger Hill (aka Hu Qiu)

See these cute pony carriages?? I wanted to ride one but didn't think it could take the 3 of us + the tourguide. Didn't want to abuse the poor animal..

In addition to being the "Venice of China", Tiger Hill also is home to China's Leaning Tower of Pisa! Of course, being Chinese, the Tower is MORE slanted and MORE ancient than the more famous Italian one (Can't lose out to ang mohs, can they?). Can't remember the exact details though. As I was there, I noticed that the ground around the Tower ws strangely slanted in the opposite direction (although no one else seemed to notice that). Maybe I'm a cynic, but it seems like a bit of an optical illusion to me. There's no doubt that the Tower slants, but the degree of its "leaning-ness" seems to be exaggerated. What do you think?

I don't think the ground is flat, do you? Look! In photo 1, the area away from the Tower is slanting in the same direction as the Tower. In photo 2 and 3, notice the ground in the immediate vacinity of the Tower and the wall built around it slants the opposite way.

Anyway, we hung around Tiger Hill for a bit before going for lunch at what appeared to be some kind of tea house. The food was so-so only, nothing to rave about. After that, we decided it was too HOT to do anymore tourist-y things so we headed to Starbucks to beat the heat until it got cooler. That's the good part about being on a leisurely trip, you can choose to spend a whole afternoon at Starbucks and not feel like you're wasting valuable time. Starbucks in China is like Starbucks in any part of the world, a refuge from dust/smell/oil/loud music/loud talking.

How we passed the time at Starbucks:

Sharing about his experiences with the Chinese students.

Sharing about his encounters with Chinese students back home.

Me? I took a nap. *haha*

After Starbucks, we decided it was still too hot to visit those gardens that China is so famous for, so we headed to the newly-built Suzhou Museum for some culture instead. Needless to say, we couldn't take any photos within the Museum, but it was pretty impressive, being new and clean and zen-like and all. I especially loved the restrooms, which were the cleanest and nicest thus far. The Museum even had a nice zen-like lake in the middle of it.

Attempting to look "cultural"

The zen-like surroundings

As for the actual exhibits, let's just say G and S didn't really take them too seriously and spent most of their time there either making me laugh or embarrassing me.

After the Museum, we decided it was still too hot and too tiring to visit the gardens so we went to Haagen Daz instead for icecream! *yummy* Then we went for dinner at Suzhou's most famous restaurant (according to S) and had a very yummy fried fish which was supposed to be some emperor's favourite dish and was actually invented by the restaurant. Yes I know I'm being vague on the details, but honestly I don't remember much of it, I was just enjoying the food haha.

After the satisfying dinner, we headed to some little village in Suzhou which reminds me a bit of Tang Chao(?) (the place we have in Singapore near Jurong? Not sure if it's still open).. Felt like we were back in the olden days, although everything looked very new and freshly painted.

At the entrance of the "little village"

My attempt at taking a artistic photo

With the pretty lights I also managed to take quite alot of "ye jing" (night scenery). Here are some pics:

After all that, we had to catch our train back to Shanghai which went pretty smoothly save for an attempt by an old man to 'snatch' our seats. Luckily, another Chinaman evicted him before he could get comfortable.

You'd think that after such a long day we'd head back to our rooms to sleep rite? You're wrong! What we did was ahead straight to the massage place to be rejuvenated by a massage (foot one for me!) then head over to the local KTV place for some late night singing. It was then that we found out S's secret training in singing mandarin songs! I swear he went to Shanghai not to study law but to train for Jue Dui Superstar haha.

The photos I took were all blurry partly because they were singing so energetically and partly because I was laughing too hard to be still. But we had fun. We sang for only 2 hours and found it too short! Made plans to pull an all nighter the next day... :)

Ok, this brings me to the end of Day 3 (and an extremely long post).. Tune in for more Shanghai updates coming soon! :)

Call break: Trip to Shanghai

2007-05-25T11:10:00.001+08:00

= Day 2=

We awoke bright and cheery-eyed to have our first breakfast in Shanghai. So exciting. S brought us down a little old street just around the corner of our motel to eat where the locals eat.

The little street

What do you think we ate for breakfast? No prizes for guessing cos it's so obvious! Of course we ate xiao long bao la!

Check out photos of the xiao long bao place:

Unfortunately, there are no photos again of the xiao long baos as we were too busy eating to take any. *haha*. They were quite good though! G gave them a rating of 6.5 /10. I personally preferred the wo tie (aka. pot stickers).

After that, we went to this street which sells "antiques". I put the "" because who knows whether they are real antiques or not. The cynics in us thought the store keepers were just out to cheat ang mohs and other unsuspecting foreigners. Needless to say, we didn't buy anything. But it was still interesting to see what kinda funny stuff they were selling.

The antique flea market street

As we walked away from the antique market, we emerged at a junction just across from Xing Tian Di. Shanghai is such a mish mash of old and new, it's amazing what different views you can get just standing at one spot!

The new Shanghai

The old Shanghai

That said, the new Shanghai is really very modern. From these pictures, it looks like we could be in any western city!

I'm not sure whether it's a good or bad thing, but it's obvious that Shanghai is modernising very fast.

After that, we were off to the Shanghai's version of Carnivore, the Brazillian buffet. It was YUMMY! Only S$12 for lunch, and beer was cheap! About S$12 for a whole bottle. (Yes you realise we're drinking alot of beer, that's cos it's cheap like softdrinks!) No pictures again this time as we were erm, busy eating haha. But not much to see also la, unless you like many pictures of hunks of meat. Spent a whole afternoon there gorging ourselves and drinking lots of beer haha. Ironically, after that we were off to church (not drunk or anything like that though!).

Church was interesting and very international as we went for the English service, which locals cannot attend. Apparently, you need your passport to get into the church, but for us, I guess it was obvious that we weren't locals as we had no problems getting in. There were loads of Singaporeans there, worship was a strange mix of old and new songs and the sermon was... unusual. *haha* Honestly, it was a bit long-winded and convoluted and frankly I'm not sure what it was about. *haha*. S must have been tired from all the tour-guiding as he slept through most of the sermon and became the source of our amusement hahahaha. (Sorry S.)

After that, we had a quick dinner then went for our first massage in Shanghai! It was a chinese kind of massage, dry not oil and you don't have to remove your clothes. I found it to be quite an interesting experience. G LOVED it. His massager (yes, did you know that the word "masseuse" is by definition a woman?) was a blind man who apparently is the best massager in the whole shop. I was a bit jealous. Does he massage women too? After hearing a bit about his massage techniques (one of which involves your tailbone), I decided I would try him only for foot massages. (It was ok only la, maybe his foot massage isn't as great as his body massage. Anyway, I stuck to my regular masseuses after that.)

Best of all, the rate is only $8 for an hour. SO CHEAP RIGHT??? Can't get over that. haha. That was the start of a very beautiful, albeit short, relationship with the massage place. We went there almost every night so much so that we bought a package (12 sessions) and almost finished it (left 1.5 sessions) haha.

Ok this bring me to the end of Day 2. Tune in for Day 3, coming soon!

Call break: Trip to Shanghai

2007-05-25T09:53:00.000+08:00

Just got back from my trip to Shanghai with G.. it was FUN! :)

Ok, since I'm still on call break (yay!) I shall attempt to blog more while I'm still free so....

*Caution: Long post ahead*

= Day 1=

Our trip to Shanghai didn't have a good start, mainly because of our taxi driver who was very very late in picking us up. Being very kiasu/plan-ahead type of persons, G and I arranged for a cab to pick us up the night before (or rather at 1am in the morning on the day of our flight) to pick us at 6:20am. We had already checked in online so we had to be at the airport to check in our luggage at least 1 hour before our flight (8am). However, the stupid taxi driver was late! At 6:15am he called G to tell him that he'd be "a bit" late, but by 6:25 he was still not here.

G calling the taxi driver to find out where the heck he is.

Turns out he was still at Bukit Merah! Later at 6:30, he claimed he was already at Fort Road. We give him instructions on how to find the condo, hoping that it'll speed things up. At 6:35, we call again, he doesn't pick up (!?!). Finally, at 6:40 - a full 20 mins late, he shows up saying that he got LOST (yes, even after we gave him directions!).

HOW CAN A TAXI DRIVER BE LATE WHEN HE KNOWS WE HAVE A FLIGHT TO CATCH!!

Such bad service. So unprofessional. He apologised, and said he would speed to the airport and that it'll be very fast. He also said it was his first day at work and he wasn't too familiar with all the roads yet.

Hello. 1st of all, I'm not that inclined to believe him that it's his first day at work. Would the taxi company send someone on their first day at work to pick passengers who have flights to catch? I don't know. 2ndly, assuming they're that dumb to do so, still he had ALL MORNING to figure out where we lived. We booked at 1am, the pick up time was 6:20, that's a whole 6 hours later ok. And he KNEW he had to pick us up as we were already told his taxi cab number and he had our contact numbers! Does he not know how to read a map? Or follow directions?

Worse of all, in G's view, his driving was really bad. Like unsafe kind of bad. The never-turn-corners-correctly, change-gears-wrongly and weaving-in-the-lane-unsteadily type of bad driving. AND he was slow too.

He's lucky we're such nice people that we didn't give him too hard a time. It took all of G's patience not to scold him for driving badly. (G is very anal about bad driving. NOT a good person to have in your car haha *stress*)

Anyway, unluckily, we're such plan-ahead type of persons (ok, maybe it's just me) that we had already checked in online and chosen our seats (when we bought the tickets) so we had little problems at the airport. By the time we reached, there was absolutely no queue at the "internet check-in" booth so it was all very quick. With the new-ish scanning customs, we were in the boarding area in less than 10 mins. We even had time to have breakfast and check out the movie theatre. (YES! Changi has a movie theatrette inside! Machum like a whole mall inside already. Quite impressive. Best of all, it's FREE - i think la. Didn't go inside)

We even had time to check out the sunflower garden and take photos. Pretty, right?

The flight itself was quite enjoyable. There was even a mini drama involving a French man (seated next to me) and a flight stewardess involving food. *haha* Won't go into too much about that, but the gist of it is that the man made a mistake and scolded the stewardess for nothing, only to have G and I point out his mistake to him, making him very paiseh and have to apologise to the stewardess. *haha*.

The second hick up in our trip (which we kinda already expected) was that when we arrived at Shanghai, we couldn't find S. *haha*. The Shanghai arrival area is super chaotic la! Imagine tonnes of China people crowding around the gate waving signs and all passengers from all flights exiting through the SAME gate. It was madness. And S was no where to be found.

Call his SG hp, it was off. Forgot his China hp number. Don't know his exact address. Don't know OUR hotel's exact address. (This is what happens when you let other people handle all your affairs and when your computer cannot read chinese characters such that the email containing all the vital information about where he lives comes out as ???? 89? 3? 704? and where you are to live comes out as Motel 168 which is along ???.)

Die la. What to do? We just had to wait and wait and wait outside the gate, amidst the chaos, praying that Shawn will find us.

About 30 mins later, we spot him! YAY! SAVED FROM THIS MADNESS THANK GOD.

After a long taxi ride and checking into our motel, we went to visit S's apartment, a mere 5 min walk from our motel *shiok*. Not bad la. It's quite a nice place!

Having fun in S's room

After that we head off to the Tailoring Market to make suits and then go for dinner at a nice Shanghai family-run restaurant. Very yummy food! I especially loved the "Ji Gu Jiang" (some chicken dish) and the "Ba Si Poh Luo" dessert. No photos because we were too hungry and busy eating to take any. *haha*

After that, we took a walk around the very haps Xing Tian Di area and found ourselves at Paulaners with a beer in each hand. How did that happen??

The beer was not cheap (65 yuan/S$13 a pint) but the ambiance was good and drinking al fresco in cool weather was really shiok! No worries about the beer getting warm!

After that, we went back to bed. Too exhausted to do much else.

Ok, that's the end for the post on Day 1.

Coming soon: Day 2 (and 3 and 4 and 5.. hopefully we'll make it to Day 10)

Rain Gear?

2007-04-26T12:00:00.000+08:00

With all this weather, I've had to put up with alot of wet dog smell and wet paws on furniture and self. In a bid of desperation, I've started looking for raincoats for Cassie.

Look what I found!

Exactly what I want! A yellow raincoat! Cute or not?

Also found this:

Also found this: seems like a better fit... but it's not yellow!

And found this: SO ADORABLE! (ok, yes, this is not a raincoat... got a bit sidetracked... )

Unfortunately, all these are from the US and I gotta ship it over if I want them. Goodness know how much that will cost... :S I want to make sure they fit first tho! Anyone knows of any pet stores in SG that sell these?? Somewhere that Cassie can try them on? *haha*

Ever heard of Bunnies doing Agility?

2007-04-12T14:57:00.000+08:00

Check this out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE9OXATfF0o

Amazing! Who knew you could train rabbits?

Back from the abyss

2007-04-12T10:33:00.000+08:00

Hey guys!

Sorry for MIA-ing for so long.. After the last post, I couldn't bring myself to write much. And between that and work, there's not much to write about.

However, I do have a cute video clip of Cassie to share!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-4Qg3VCg_tM

Enjoy! haha

Off to the Rainbow Bridge

2007-03-05T14:00:00.000+08:00

It pains me to announce that my beloved Berri has passed on.

She was a good dog, well-loved by the family and will be dearly missed. May she rest in peace.

Happy Lunar New Year!

2007-02-18T10:23:00.000+08:00

SO CUTE!

2007-01-30T18:05:00.000+08:00

High life?

2007-01-30T11:54:00.000+08:00

I have to say that I've been juggling work and having a life quite successfully these few weeks. Probably because work has been somewhat light these 2 weeks. (Shhh... don't tell the people at work!)

Between work, gym, playing settlers/hearts/bridge, Cassie and the bf, I've really had very little time to myself or my family. *feels guilty*In the last week or so, I've lost count of the number of bottles of wine/cocktails/beers I've had. *haha* None of which were initiated by me mind you, it's the people around me that I have to drink with! Nonetheless, it's a wonder I can still wake up on time and go to work without hangovers.

People at work have been commenting that I look tired. Or maybe it's I'm complaining to them that I'm tired. But it's true! I feel very tired being at work! My head hurts, my eyes hurt, it's just exhausting. After work though, somehow I become more energised and have all this energy to do all the things that life calls for. *haha* Maybe I'm just allergic to work.

Happy times are ahead! Chinese New Year and Birthday coming up soon. *Yay!*

WHY?

2007-01-24T09:51:00.001+08:00

Why don't people hold lift doors open for people anymore? Why? Is it so hard to reach out and use one finger to press the "DO" button? Is it too much to ask for you to care that someone outside is trying to get in? Do you think that just because the lift doors are supposed to have an automatic response not to close on a person means that it's a pleasant sensation to have the lift doors bang against your body?

I'm sorry, I can't help ranting. I don't like lifts to begin with. They're small. Confined. Still air with little or no ventilation. And everytime I step into one, I have morbid thoughts of plunging to my death.

And despite my general dislike on lifts, I have to ride in them everyday just to get to my office, high in the sky. WHY do people insist on making this already bad experience even worse? I've lost count of the number of times i've been 'kissed' by the lift doors. I think I have permanent bruises on both shoulders now.

Hey, I'm not unreasonable. I understand if you didn't see me coming. It's not your fault that the lift randomly opens on floors. If I were in a lift and it stopped on a floor which no one pressed to get out, the lift must be crazy! Sure, I'd press "DC" immediately. Afterall, just because a lift stops on a floor doesn't mean that there's someone on the outside that wants to get in rite?

Oh, and those footsteps you hear? Those that seem to be getting louder and coming closer? Yup. It's all your imagination. Just ignore it and it'll go away.

HOWEVER, what I do not understand are those people who clearly see me walking towards the lift. Yes YOU. You made eye contact with me. I KNOW you see me. Fine, you may be on the phone. But holding the phone only requires one hand. You have two. Speaking and listening do not require extra hands. You have a spare hand, even one finger will do. WHY CAN'T YOU REACH OUT TO PRESS THE BUTTON AND KEEP THE DOOR OPEN?

Do you enjoy watching people get attacked by lift doors? Do you think it's funny? Would you want it to happen to you? Or are you just inconsiderate, rude and too self-absorbed to care?

Some people. *shakes head*

The next time someone refuses to hold the lift door open for me, I will ask them why. I want to know your answer. And I don't care that you're on the phone, or busy in your own world. I will ask you until you give me a satisfactory answer.

***

On a completely unrelated issue. Since i've been going to the gym, I've noticed something that I can't figure out.

Why do some girls work out in the gym with makeup on?? I mean, this is like the full works u know? Foundation, eyebrows, blush, eyeshadow, lipstick and everything! What's up with that?

Do they think they look pretty? With makeup dripping down their face? Do they really want to highlight their features when they're looking like that? Besides, who's going to look at them/admire them? It's an all-girls gym for goodness sakes. The only people who will look at you are people like me! The perplexed!

Maybe they just too lazy to wash off their makeup. I'm not the expert, but wearing makeup while exercising can't be good for your pores rite?

*perplexed*

How do you think they'll react if i go up to them and ask them why they still have makeup on?

Do you think i'll get beaten up?

Bernice's Life in Brief

2007-01-16T18:37:00.000+08:00

Summary of what Bernice has been up to since the start of the year:

Work
Play Settlers
Work
Play Settlers
More Work
Prepare for Small Group
Attempt to go shopping. Buy nothing. Very tired and depressed.
Bring home work to do over the weekend. Feel very sad that I'm doing work over the weekend.
Work, Work, Work
Attempt to exercise
Work
Play hearts
Go to church
Work, work work
Eat
Play dress up and attend A's bday party
Back to work.

That's about it. Fun to be me, rite?

Return to Reality

2007-01-06T10:36:00.000+08:00

I'm back from Bintan!

As predicted, it rained for the 1st 2 days we were there, which was expected but depressing nonetheless.

What I wasn't expecting though, was how TERRIBLE the ferry ride to Bintan would be. It was really HORRIBLE. Worst turbulance I've ever experienced. Silly me not to realise that heavy monsoon rains affect open waters. Imagine being on a Viking ship + Simulator for almost an hour!! There were points where I seriously felt like jumping ship. This coming from a person who doesn't even get seasick/carsick/airsick. Don't underestimate the powers of surround sounds of retching. It really gets to you after a while. By the end of the hour, even I almost puked. It didn't help to that I stupidly ate a whole bowl of porridge which G's mom 'forced' upon me. Should have known better. My body isn't used to that much food early in the morning, (I eat very small breakfasts, if any) why eat a whole bowl of porridge minutes before embarking on a sea journey??? Ironically, I felt the worse as we were getting ready to dock on dry land. There's just something about being on stable ground suddenly which throws kinks into your body system.

The whole time though, I kept thinking about how it must have been like for our ancestors made the journey from China to SG. It's really quite unimaginable. Months out at sea??? In dunno-how-bad conditions? Makes me feel like such a wuss complaining.

At least I managed to keep breakfast in my tummy. How embarrassing otherwise.

That said, I will seriously think twice about ever venture onto a ship/ferry during monsoon season. While the trip back to SG wasn't as bad, I'm not about to take my chances any time soon.

The actual time spent in Bintan was predictably lazy. Had very little beach time (only 1 morning where it didn't rain), but the little time that we had was WONDERFUL. There's just something about lazing on comfortable deck chairs, with deep-fried sotong in one hand and riesling in the other, while strong cool breeze embraces you and comforting sounds of the crashing sea are all you hear.

My peaceful and quiet morning at the beach was soon shattered however, when 3 of my friends, ZW, SC and LK almost drowned while attempting to body surf. It's a whole other long story, which really isn't for me to tell. Suffice to say. the waves were very big, and without realising it, they had been swept out to sea. Pretty scary stuff.

IMPORTANT: If you ever attempt to body surf WITHOUT a board, make sure your feet touch the ground at the end of the wave, if not the backwash will easily sweep you out to sea.

It was partly my fault, I sort of told them that before they ventured out to sea, but I didn't really stress the importance of 'not being washed out to sea'. Them being guys, barely listened to what I said. But thank God for helping them swim back, and also for the lifeguards.

The rest of the vacation was spent reading novels (such a luxury!), playing Hearts and Bridge, as well as learning this new board game called Citadel (which was really fun although I never won).

And of course, alot of eating. *looks at tummy* sigh.

Looks like I'll have to do more of the dreaded E-word.

Speaking of exercise, I tried out a new aerobics class on wednesday called New Body. It was funny in a very pathetic way. *haha* Think my body co-ordination really is bad man. Couldn't keep up with all the moves, nor could i make out a single word the instructor was shouting out over the very loud and fast paced music. It was made worse by the instructor calling me out to be at the front of the class (because it was my first time there). It was very paiseh to be upfront and not being able to follow. *haha* Not that I was that embarrassed. Think it was more of a challenge not to burst out laughing and to keep a straight face. Worse more that A my supposed exercise-partner DID NOT come to to front despite it being her first time too and was laughing at me from the back of the class. Bad A. Very bad A. *hehe* Even worse is S telling me beforehand that New Body is her favourite class.

Now I feel like such a failure. :/ Seriously having doubts now about whether I should even consider trying out hip-hop.

Maybe I'm really more of a pilates person.

Off to Bintan

2006-12-26T18:27:00.000+08:00

I've officially finished my last day of work for the year 2006!!

What a relief! Granted, I've only been back at work just over 2 weeks, but work is so tiring, draining, stressful and boring!! I know I have it alot better than most other fresh graduates, but somehow that doesn't lessen the pain of dragging myself to work everyday. Waking up early everyday sucks. Sitting in office gives you a flat ass. Facing your bosses makes your stress levels sky-high.

I've had enough.

*haha*

So, I'm off to Bintan! *yay* It will be my 2nd trip to Bintan this year, and even though the weather forecast looks bleak, I'll be glad just to get away from dreaded W-O-R-K. *haha*

Days of lazing and sleeping in here I come!

Comfort

2006-12-22T11:34:00.000+08:00

Never underestimate the power of sweet milky hot tea.

2006-12-19T09:09:00.000+08:00

"Warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all" (1 Thessalonians 5:14).

All of us live with a complexity that is not easily understood by others or ourselves. This is one of many reasons the Bible encourages us to relate to others with a spirit of thoughtful patience and firm gentleness rather than with a spirit of judgment and condemnation. If we are followers of Jesus, filled with His Spirit, we will be more than moral drill sergeants. Guided by His Spirit, we will give others the consideration we want for ourselves.

If troubled people need our help, we don’t do them a favor by ignoring or indulging unhealthy thinking when there is reason to believe they could be making better choices. Love needs to be strong, and sometimes even tough, in dealing with those who are profoundly impaired. But this is where we need to use wisdom and patience rather than the presumption of ignorance.

How true.

The End of An Era

2006-12-11T11:55:00.000+08:00

EXAMS ARE OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, hopefully at least.. assuming I passed all my papers. :)

Had a brief 'break' over the weekend and felt like I've finally rejoined civilization *haha*

Went to A's house on sat to cook dinner and it was so much fun! S made 3 DELICIOUS courses:
1. Watermelon salad with cheese and almonds
2. Salmon in cream sauce (with lots of other secret ingredients) and
3. Cheese and spinach tortellinis (which I helped to roll!).

It was so yummy!! And not only that, it was presented so BEAUTIFULLY! We all had to take pictures before we ate the food. S, you are such a great cook. Please cook for me more often!

The rest of us mere mortals stuck to the easier stuff.
A and SM made White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies (yum).
With M as my washing boy *hehe* (later promoted to Co-chef), I tried my hand at making Sticky Date Pudding and Toffee Sauce with Vanilla icecream on the side.

We made everything (but the vanilla icecream) from scratch! I was inspired to make the pudding after treating myself to the one at Marmalade's Pantry on friday. But I have to say, my sticky date pudding was a pale comparison, although everyone else thought it was really yummy and licked the pan clean. *haha* Ah well, my next batch will be better!! :) Maybe I'll try again next week. :)

My break was short-lived though. Now I'm back at work (and secretly blogging from the office)! Moved into my new office which is nice. :) It's fairly big and tucked away in a corner of the Pupil's Wing so I have quite alot of privacy. :) My view... is not bad.. it's 80% overlooking the port (I see rows and rows of containers) and 20% buildings. *haha* At least I don't get the evening sun.

All in all, pretty happy. :)

1 down 5 to go..

2006-11-27T16:07:00.000+08:00

Dear God, how will I survive??????

The Man No One Sees

2006-11-24T12:32:00.000+08:00

I was sitting at kopitiam having a late dinner last night and while eating, I noticed the cleaner who was waiting on the tables in my section.

His hands were speckled with sunspots, wrinkled and tan. His face was linked with deep etches, the permanent kind. His hair, snow white. He moved laboriously pushing his cart, weaving between the tables to clear dirty plates and tables.

I couldn't help but think to myself: "He shouldn't be here! He should be home, resting! Living his final years surrounded by the warmth of a family! Not cleaning tables at 9pm at night!"

It really got me thinking about life. Or rather, the lives of people around me. The lives that no one gives much thought to..

How does one end up being a cleaner at the age of 70-ish?

He's had to have had a hard life. Probably grew up poor, never had much of an education, struggled to hold down jobs, providing for his family (if any). His wife is probably not around anymore, maybe his children don't care about him much.. Maybe they themselves have no money to support him.. Maybe he wasn't there for his family when they needed him.. Maybe he has no family..

I know, knew, that this is just all my imagination, but I bet the truth isn't too far off.

I reflect on my own life, the life of my parents.. the opportunities that we've had, and I know, it's unlikely that any of us will ever end up being 70 year old cleaners. So, I know I have no right to sit there and feel sorry for myself, that I have to spend all my days reading muggers, preparing for exams, worrying about work and struggling to meet the expectations that I have of myself. Because at least I have expectations and opportunities. I know I can make something more of my life. I know should feel blessed and happy and thankful for myself. But I couldn't, can't.

I can't help but feel overwhelmingly sad for that man and his life. I felt his struggles, the pain, the loneliness. Doing a job where people don't even look at you, don't even acknowledge you or value you. It became increasingly hard to sit and watch him approach tables.. and when he came to mine, I tried to help him clear the plates, I tried to look him in the eye and thank him. But he didn't even look at me. Nor did he hear my words of thanks. Guess he wasn't used to people talking to him.

And so, tears were starting to well while I struggled to keep it under control. But G noticed, and he asked what was wrong...

How do you explain such emotions? I'm feeling sad.. Just thinking about myself... my father... and that cleaner... I managed to mumble it out as we were leaving..

*perplexed look* What cleaner? said G.

My point exactly.

You know you're getting too old to be studying for exams when:

2006-11-22T10:54:00.000+08:00

a) You can't remember life before the exams

b) You get paper cuts from carrying your textbooks/muggers/lecture notes

c) Your finger splits open and blood gushes over your notes, just from the built up of pressure from the pen resting on it while you're writing

d) You tilt your head at a certain angle to read your notes and end up with a sprained neck

e) Your butt starts to take the shape of the chair (ie. flat and saggy)

f) You have permanent backaches

Cassidy v Meow Meow Round 2

2006-11-21T07:53:00.000+08:00

In a vain attempt to force a friendship between Cassie and Meow Meow, I brought Cassie to visit Meow Meow for the second time..

Slightly better this time round, no embarrassing shrieks from Cass but basically they sort of avoided each other... Cassie doing more of the avoiding and Meow Meow doing more of the heart-racing stuff..

Cassie was quite miserable to be there though.. I feel like I'm torturing her.. *sigh*

Should I continue bringing her over? Or just forget about it? Maybe once they get more comfortable and used to each other they'll be ok? *haha*

True to my obsessive yet generous nature...

2006-11-17T16:01:00.000+08:00

It's amazing how when you're stressed or bogged with lots of boring and uninteresting things to read, you find all sorts of things to become obsessed about..

Latest on my list of things to be obsessed about is: Unbreakable Heart by Jessica Andrews (at least, that's who I think it's by..)

For the last 3 hours or so, I've been listening to this song over and over (it's on repeat on my iTunes) non-stop!

I don't know why or how I suddenly became obsessed with it, I've had this song for years and never really thought that much about it.. For goodness sake's it's country! *haha* I have quite a low tolerance for country music.. But then again, I do have an affinity for sad sad songs..

Anyway, true to my generous nature (*wink wink*) I've decided to share my obsession with you guys! :)

Also true to my considerate nature, I've placed the music controls conspicuously at the top so you can turn the song off.

Enjoy!

***

Unbreakable Heart

An empty room, a broken fairytale
A hollow girl, with empty arms
From an angel's tears, God made the stars
Why can't He make me an unbreakable heart?

In my blue world, you shone like heaven's fire
And left me crying, in the dark
How could anyone be so hard?
Did you think I had an unbreakable heart?

I suppose I should know
Sometimes loves just comes and goes
But I believed, foolish me, we'd go on and on..

One day, someone will come to you
And rock you tightly in her arms
Please remember this, when you drop your guard
Nobody has an unbreakable heart

From an angel's wings to a fallen star...
God makes everything but unbreakable hearts.

***

PS. For those concerned, G and I haven't broken up, I just really like the song. *haha*

Cassidy v. Meow Meow

2006-11-06T14:58:00.000+08:00

Took Cassidy to vist Meow Meow (ZW's kitten) over the weekend just to see what would happen. ZW and I have been discussing this visit for quite a number of weeks now and both of us were excited to see what would happen. Of course we were hoping that they'd become friends and play with each other. And although I was secretly afraid that Cassie might eat Meow Meow, I knew the chances of that happening was close to nil, given that Cassie is generally afraid of cats and generally quite a scaredy cat herself.

So anyway, brought Casside over to Meow Meow's house and it was so cute to see them together. Their first glimpses of each other was through the safety of ZW's balcony sliding door. Cassidy was calm but excited. Meow Meow was curious but fearful. It was so cute to see Meow Meow doing the dance of fear/curiosity/stalking prey. She/he (we're still debating whether Meow Meow is male or female haha, ZW says it's a boy, I think it's a girl) kept creeping up to Cassidy (who was on leash by my side) then running back to the safety of the balcony.

Finally after an hour, both parties seemed to get more comfortable, with Meow Meow generally under the safety of furniture and Cassie by my side. Then came the turning point: Cassie discovered Meow Meow spying on her under the chair and stuck her nose and paws under the chair (it was a really low chair). Moments passed and nothing seem to happen. All humans had no idea how Meow Meow was reacting under the chair since it was too low and small a space for us to peek under. Then suddenly, Cassie shrieked and ran away from the chair. Quaking with fear. I think Meow Meow probably batted Cassie on the nose or sth.

Anyway, after that point, Meow Meow got over her fear of Cassie and became brave enough to come within 20cm of Cassie. Cassie however, was a changed dog. She sought the 'protection' of the humans, retreating slowly to safety behind another leg everytime Meow Meow came too close. Meow Meow thought it was great fun to chase after Cassie's leash which was dragging on the floor behind the scaredy-cat dog.

*sigh* I'm embarrassed that Cassie is such a chicken. One small bat or hiss is enough to make her afraid of this teeny-tiny cat, one fifth the size of her!! Goodness. Cassie's one paw is probably bigger than the whole cat's head.

When we were about to leave ZW's house, you should have seen the joy and relief on Cassie's face. She practically flew out of the house and into the lift.

I'm now considering if we should try this again. Maybe next time, they'll settle in and play? Maybe Cassie will get over her life-long fear of cats?? After all, cocker spaniels are supposed to be good with other pets, aren't they?? *shakes head* Don't think Cassie will relish another visit to ZW's house though. But as long as Meow Meow doesn't attempt to strike at Cassie things should be fine rite? *haha*

Here's some photos of the cute and daring Meow Meow:

Here's a photo of Cassidy hiding:

Haha, she's hiding from the light not Meow Meow. This photo was taken on a different day: she was attempting to sleep at 2 am in my room but the damn humans were still awake and insisted on keeping the lights on. So she had to hid her eyes behind the curtains.

You can imagine how she was hiding from Meow Meow. Just replace curtains with human legs/bodies. *haha*

At the end of the day, I have to annouce the score of Cassidy v. Meow Meow as 0 v 2 since Cassidy freaked out and shrieked twice while Meow Meow kept her/his cool through out.

I can't help thinking that if this were between Meow Meow and Berri, Berri would have won hands down. It's God's will that I have one fierce dog and one scaredy-cat. Why the extremes??

Cassidy the Bath Monster

2006-11-04T19:50:00.000+08:00

Couldn't resist uploading this photo of Cassie taken just after her bath:

SO CUTE RITE?? *haha* I've made it my desktop picture, my msn picture etc etc. A bit of overkill, but can't resist cos she just look like a giant teddy bear (or teddy dog to be more accurate) haha.. I especially like looking at her photos where she looks so cute I can almost forget the times where she jumps up to bite my butt. Almost. *hahaha*

Hmm.. while I'm at it, I might as well share some more of her photos haha (such a proud owner I am *hehe*)

This is Cassie playing at the slide at the playground. She looks so cute sliding down the slide..

Yes yes, I know pets aren't allowed in playground, but I'm not the one responsible for bringing her there and I'm not about to point fingers at who's the naughty one who did*heh*.

Oops! How did such photographic evidence end up here?? *hehe*

Ok, last picture: This is Cassidy at Palawan Beach @ Sentosa. She loved being on the sand and sniffing around so that her whole muzzle is coated with sand (then proceed to inhale/swallow it and choke the silly dog).. Guess she thought it was worth the risk just in case there was chicken bones buried somwehere.. *shakes head*

Oh yah, and if you look closely enough, you can see X in the background. Not that she's important, it's obvious who's the star of this shot. *hahahahaha* (No offence, X)

In Celebration of Halloween

2006-10-31T09:18:00.000+08:00

Couldn't resist sharing these photos of dogs on Halloween with you guys.. they're so cute! I especially like the teddy bear one! Can bearly (bear-ly...geddit? hahaha) see a dog in there.. So adorable.

Too bad Halloween isn't a big thing over here, or I'd dress Cassidy and Berri up (they might hate me though). Although my neighbours do celebrate it in my estate, they're mainly the angmohs not over the age of 5.

Come to think of it, I've only dressed up on halloween once in my entire life (I was a pink bunny and I was like 4) because my mom made me go. Still remember I hated the face makeup (it stank! Makeup from the 80s somehow were very stinky.. like petroleum oil or sth hahaha).

The Gah Men is worried about my social life

2006-10-30T16:32:00.000+08:00

An official-looking envelope addressed to me lay awaiting on my table. It had, in bold print, "ON GOVERNMENT SERVICE" printed on the top.

Thinking it was something important, I dropped all I was doing and tore it open.
What is it?
Taxes?
Free Money? (I should be so lucky)

chey.

It's a free membership to SDU - the gah men's matchmaking service.

Apparently, my newly-gotten law degree has qualified me to part of the government's marriage/baby-making scheme.. So, apparently it's an opt-out scheme, which scarily means I'm already part of the system since I've not opted out. *haha*

Interestingly, they have a computer matchmaking service. The brochure states:
"A sophisticated matching system where demographic and psychographic information of yourself and your ideal mate is processed to produce a suitable match for you. In other words, you decide what you want and the computer churns out the matches based on social quotients, interests and lifestyles. So sit back, relax and let the computer do the work for you!"

Wow. Sounds like the perfect scheme for some lazy bum who can't even bring himself/herself to go out and meet people in real life... perfect for me! haha.. I showed it to G, but he wasn't as amused. Probably because he doesn't qualify as a candidate yet haha. Sour grapes!

Typically though, the only service which I find remotely interesting requires a subscription fee. While I might do it for fun to see what kinda guy the computer churns up for me, I'm sure as h*** not going to pay money for it. *haha* Oh well.

Slumpity Slump Slump

2006-10-26T14:44:00.000+08:00

I'm in a slump.

I'm not having much fun, I'm not doing any real work, I'm eating too much, I'm watching too much tv, I'm not exercising enough and I'm starting to fear the coming of the dreaded Es.. the word I can't even bring myself to say... (exams)

If I'm going to flunk, I want to at least have fun doing it.. At least then it would be worthwhile *haha*

People, take me out! I need to not be at home anymore!! Home is bad!

My Club Med Bintan Photos

2006-10-17T14:44:00.000+08:00

Here's photos from my trip to Club Med Bintan!

I've added more photos! Will add even more to the loop once I have time!

Will blog about my trip... er.. soon! :)

My Tagboard Has Gone Wonky

2006-10-17T09:44:00.000+08:00

It's strange. I leave the country for a few days and suddenly my tagboard went AWOL too! Came back and suddenly it was acting all weird, prompting me repeatedly to enter some username and password and displaying some website where the tags should be.

Now, the tagboard being absent from the blog for more than 3 continuous days without prior leave or reasonable excuse shall be deemed to be in breach of its contract of service. As such, I am entitled to elect to repudiate that contract, effective immediately. To mitigate my own loss from lack of tagboard, I am entitled to replace that position with a new tagboard from a new tagboard service provider.

In other words, I've fired the old tagboard and replaced it with a new one. *haha*

These days, there's no talk of loyalty in the business world. Nevermind that my old tagboard served me well for the last 3 years, rarely ever even taking leave. These days, you mess up once, and that's it.

So new tagboard, beware: I've got my 2 eyes on you..

P.S. Start leaving new tags! We're starting on a blank slate people!

2006-10-07T12:35:00.000+08:00

Daily Show: What Exactly Is President Bush's Job?

This is really funny! While I don't think making fun of your president is always appropriate, it still is funny.. haha

I am apparently less precious than Doritos

2006-10-05T21:04:00.000+08:00

Just caught G eating a bag of Doritos by himself at his desk. When I asked why he didn't offer any to me, he said: "Cos there's very little left what.."

Very little left! Very little left that's why you should offer me before you eat it all right??

Then, even as I was questioning him on his selfish behaviour, he was quickly putting more and more Doritos in his mouth, no doubt to eat as much as possible before having to give the bag up to me.

G: "You want to eat or not?"

Me: "Whether I want to eat or not is besides the point. You should at least offer me some before you finish the whole bag rite??"

G: Crunch Crunch Crunch. (Quickly downing more Doritos)

Me: "Bring the bag over here! If you eat one more Doritos I'm going to...."

G: Quickly pops 2 into his mouth.

Me: !!!!!

G: "It's not one whaat... it's 2! hehe"

Me: Grrrr.... (takes away the bag of Doritos and keeps it out of his reach.)

I take out one piece and eat a small bite. THEN, G's big mouth comes and tries to eat the piece I'm holding. We struggle but his strength and greediness wins. Tired of being pinned down, I surrender the bag of Doritos (which I didn't really want to eat anyway) and G gleefully goes back to his desk, pouring the remaining remnants of Doritos bits into his mouth.

Too much man, what kind of greedy boyfriend does these kind of things???
His love for Doritos is more than his love for his own gf!!

HMPH!

Watch Cassie Grow

2006-10-04T11:45:00.000+08:00

I've finally transferred photos from my phone into my laptop so that I can share them with you guys! *haha* so it took me about 8 months to do this, but better late than never right?

The quality isn't so good cos it's taken with my camera phone, but these are the photos that catches Cassie in her everyday cuteness. haha. I've arranged the photos such that it goes from when she was 2 months to about 11 months. Her face changed so much! it's so much longer now. You can also spot the haircuts that I give her myself *heh*

Help the Fight against Child Abuse

2006-10-03T15:07:00.000+08:00

The innocent victims of Internet child abuse cannot speak for themselves.

But you can.

With your help, we can eradicate this evil trade.

We do not need your money.

We need you to light a candle of support for these children:

<http://www.lightamillioncandles.com/>.

We're aiming to light at least One Million Candles by December 31, 2006.

This petition will be used to encourage governments, politicians, financial institutions, payment organisations, Internet service providers, technology companies and law enforcement agencies to eradicate the commercial viability of online child abuse.

They have the power to work together. You have the power to get them to take action.

Please light your candle at:

http://www.lightamillioncandles.com

or send an email of support to:

light@lightamillioncandles.com.

Together, we can destroy the commercial viability of Internet child abuse sites that are destroying the lives of innocent children.

Kindly forward this link to your friends, relatives and work colleagues so that they can light a candle too.

Bernice Bonkers

2006-10-03T02:23:00.000+08:00

It's 2 plus am in the morning and i still can't fall asleep despite being exhausted and knowing that there's a full day of work ahead of me tmw (correction, later today..)! Wat's up with me man??

I think i'm going crazy.

I was just telling S and R today about how i think i'm becoming a compulsive multi-tasker. I need to multitask. I can't just do one thing at a time. Seriously. It feels uncomfortable to me. So eg, if i'm watching tv, i have to be doing at least 1 other thing at the same time. Usually, it's playing games on my laptop, or doing homework, or surfing the net, or WORSE snacking.

I'm starting to think that the reason why i can't fall asleep at night is because my brain doesn't know how to shut down. It seems i can only fall asleep when i'm watching tv, or when i'm reading a book, but NOT with my eyes closed and lights off.

*help*

Even More Bangkok Photos!

2006-09-30T12:01:00.000+08:00

See! Once I get started on something, I'm really quite efficient! :) Anyway, Blogger takes too long to upload photos so I'm using FilmLoop instead. Enjoy!

More Bangkok Photos!

2006-09-30T00:12:00.000+08:00

As promised, I'm uploading MORE Bangkok photos! And this time, didn't take me long at all do to it! *haha*

Here we are enjoying Dunkin Donuts. Since there isn't a Dunkin Donuts outlet in Singapore since it closed down, Z and G insisted on buying a WHOLE box to share amongst the 4 of us, even though I said I only wanted one. Have to say though, the donuts could have been better. Maybe this is why they closed down their outlet in Singapore.

Here's J and I begining our first day at ChatuChak weekend Market (we looked to fresh and clean then). If you can't see what we're buying then er haha.. look closer and try to figure out.. :) Suffice to say, the guys weren't interested at all..

Here's G and I at Suan Lum Night Market (I think.. Shop so much until get confused where we are already). It's really happeneing, there're rows and rows of food stalls by the side and in the middle of the quandrangle, there are many tables for people to sit, eat and watch the live performances on the stage at the far end. Also has a HUGE screen where they aired live soccer matches. Would have been a cool place to hang out during the world cup (which unfortunately was over by the time we were there).

Also note all the bags that poor G has to carry. Not all are my stuff though! Some are his own! :p

G is a good bf, always help me carry my shopping bags. He has to work on his patience though. Half the time he looks like this when I'm shopping. But when he's shopping, I have to wait very long too wat! You don't see me looking like that!

Beautiful

2006-09-30T00:07:00.000+08:00

I want to be beautiful

And make you stand in awe

Look inside my heart

And be amazed

I want to hear you say

Who I am is quite enough

I just want to be worthy of love

And beautiful.

- Bethany Dillon

Finally! Bangkok Photos

2006-09-27T19:04:00.000+08:00

The procrastinator in me has taken 2 months just to download the photos from my camera (and j's) and upload them to the blog.. haha..

I still have yet to take photos of all my shopping and I fear I will never get around to doing it. Ah well. :)

This is us at the hotel, all bright and chirpy, ready for a LONG day of shopping :)

Of course I have to post the food photos! Didn't take much because we were so busy eating but LOOK! It's so yummy looking! One of our nicest dinners in Bangkok. Beautiful place with live band playing and CHEAP too!

Look at Z's face! He can't wait to dig in. Also note J's drink. The SWEETEST teh ping ever. Seriously sweet. Undrinkably sweet. Everything in Bangkok is sweet.

Buying TONNES of tops! Between the 2 of us at least 30 tops I think, from this one stall alone.. *haha*

Ok will post more later!

Lament of a Shopaholic

2006-09-12T16:19:00.000+08:00

Online shopping sucks. As much as people try to convince me that shopping from the comforts of your home (or office, or lecture, or tutorial, or wherever ur access to the internet is) is great, there is just NO REPLACING the joy of shopping in real life. Yes people, call me old-fashion, but shopping entails more than just looking and buying. You must FEEL the items, INSPECT the workmanship, TRY the fit, CHECK whether the colours complement your skin and get SECOND OPINIONS. Best of all, there's that thrill of instant gratification of saying "Yes, I'll take it" and carrying packages and packages of crisp and clean shopping bags as you move from store to store.

Unfortunately, shopping is Singapore is horribly disillusioning and terribly depressing. S will attest to the fact that just 1 afternoon of shopping in Singapore is enough to reduce me into whimpering, hollow shell of a person whose only vocabulary consists of "I don''t believe it!" and "Why is there nothing to buy??"

Correction, nothing that I can AFFORD to buy.

[Sorry S, for putting you through that.. ]

I want to go NY I want to go NY I want to go NY I want to go NY.

Maybe if I say it enough times it will come true. Or even better, maybe some fairy godmother with gossamer wings will poof in front of me and take me shopping in shopaholic paradise. Paid with fairy money, of course (those are the best!).

The Big Snip Snip

2006-09-11T15:19:00.000+08:00

I regret to announce that Cassidy is no longer a fully functioning dog. The 2nd attempt at sterilising her was successful. For those who don't know about the 1st attempt, what happened was she was rejected from the operating table because of a spontaneous bout of diarrhoea (they sent her home and charged me $50+ for the whole fiasco). She has since recovered and is running around fine.

So anyway, those of you with lingering hopes of adopting a mini-Cassie, I'm sorry for your loss.
On the plus side, hopefully now she won't smell anymore.. *please, God, please*

Since the operation, which was on thursday, we've been forbidden to bathe her for 10 days. And prior to that, her last bath was on last saturday.. SO she's not been bathed for a total of 13 days now, YET she does not smell!??!

Is it too good to be true? Or is this a temporary lull in her stinkiness? Only time will tell.. The family, however, is hopeful..

The Public Perception of Lawyers

2006-09-08T00:57:00.000+08:00

Singapore lawyers as a group have deserved reputation for integrity and
honesty in their dealings with clients. We have built up a Singapore brand of
honesty and trustworthiness and we must sustain it.

- Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong

Yet, Singaporeans choose not to recognise this brand of honesty and trustworthiness and instead, mindlessly follow after the laypersons of non-Singaporean jurisdictions! Why persist in making lawyer jokes?? We (and I use the term 'we' loosely, given that I am not technically yet a lawyer) do good work ok! Overworked, underpaid and, worst of all, under-appreciated. *tsktsk*

That said, people must learn to laugh at themselves. Surely others are not so silly as to believe that all jokes are true rite? I won't make specific references (in case you-know-who is trolling through blogs searching for OB marker violations), but Singaporeans shouldn't take things so seriously sometimes. There's a time and place for everything.. Lighten up man!

So, in the spirit of things, here's a lawyer joke for you to enjoy (at our expense):

Qn: What do you have when you have a lawyer buried up to his neck in shit?

Ans: You have not enough shit, that's all!

Laugh, people! Laugh!

Michael Jackson and Mouldy Chocolate

2006-09-04T21:10:00.000+08:00

Cassidy has Michael Jackson syndrome. She's turning white! It first started out on her head and cheeks which used to be chocolate brown and now are so platinum blonde it's practically white. Then recently, I noticed that the inner fur on her chest and shoulder area are turning pale blonde too! It's really strange because the top or older fur is dark brown but when you separate to look underneath it's all light coloured. I fear she's going to have blonde shoulders the next time I bring her to the groomers to be shaved. *sigh* I might have to change her name to Michael Jackson. Or Marilyn Monroe. Or Gwen Stefani. Or any other famous person whose hair or skin colour has changed dramatically.

***

On a completely different and random note, I just ate mouldy chocolate. Yes, I saw it looked mouldy. I went around the whole house getting 2nd, 3rd and 4th opinions on whether it was mouldy. They all said it was mouldy (except the 4th opinion, but that's mom and she's both short and far sighted therefore the opinion is compromised). But I still ate it anyway (after scraping off the mouldy parts). Pray that I don't die from this. Or at least Lao Sai. Lao-Sai-ing is really quite unpleasant. *recalls the last lao-sai session from eating overripe sugar plums...*

On the other hand, mei mei and bren bren have both eaten chocolates from the same box (mei mei ate 1 and bren bren ate the rest of the box) and neither of them show signs of running to the toilet. So I should be safe.

Then again, they didn't check their chocolates to see if it was mouldy. What if I'm the only sway one to get all mouldy chocolates? What are the odds of that happening? hmmmmm......

weekend getaway

2006-09-02T13:14:00.000+08:00

Last saturday, after a long tiring morning arguing cases at the Sub Court (yes we have to go back even on saturdays - well some saturdays at least).. G came to pick me up (yay! chauffer services) with our friend A and we just couldn't decide where to go for lunch.

Singapore's so xian.. although there are 10 million shops or something, opened almost all day and all night, there's just nothing to eat! nothing! Too ex, too boring, too far, too hot and no aircon etc etc etc. Singaporeans are just so fussy and pampered.

So where did we decide to go in the end?

Make a guess.

Just try. You know how i like to play guessing games.. :)

haha. Give up? So lousy one you.. *tsktsk*

We decided to go.... *drumroll* Somewhere not ex, not too far, not too hot, not too boring..... BATAM!

Yah, not too far wat, only 1 hour boat ride away. Not too ex, only S$30 there and back excluding accomodation. Not too boring (duh! how many people decide to go to Batam for lunch?) and as for not too hot, well, you can't be so greedy and expect all your wants to be met rite?

SO, naturally when G and A suggested this brilliant idea of just packing up and going to Batam for the weekend, I was expecting something like this:

Nice, relaxing, sandy beaches.. getting massages and being fed succulent fruits and drinking ice-cool lemonade.

What awaited me, however, was more like this:

and this:

Not that it was bad. It was just a bit unexpected. What kind of weekend holiday is this?? I asked myself.

So anyway, them being guys, by the time we actually reached Batam was like 5 or 6 pm. Too late for lunch. So how? Go for massage lor.

In light of me being a girl, they decided to take me to somewhere 'cleaner' (ie. no cockroaches) and 'posher' (ie. walls are made of concrete, not cardboard). We went to a hotel spa. Planet I think it was called.

The place was not too bad looking in fact. Fairly posh with huge private rooms that had open baths, attached toilets and private individual saunas (not that we used any of those). G and I went to a twin room and proceeded to begin our massages. A, being shy and dao, got his own private room. Unfortunately, 10 mins into the massage, I was starting to question the skill of the masseuse. Not that it was bad. Or painful. It just wasn't very good. I started to regret wasting my time and money.

When the wasted 1 hour was over, G and I left the room (after being accosted for tips - money-grubbers!) eagerly anticipating dinner. We were hungry! BUT! Where's A?? No where to be found.

We wait wait wait. and then... wait somemore.. Where's A?? Isn't he hungry? He didn't even have lunch! You'd think a big man like A would keep his eating time sacred. But no.

Turns out A's masseuse was so good that he extended his massage session. Not once but TWICE. Why we so sway one, get lousy masseuses? Poor hungry and homeless G and I were forced to wait in the hotel bar and pay exorbitant rates for snacks to fill our grumbling tummies.

FINALLY, when A was done, we could go eat! Called new friends DT and K to come with their driver to pick us up and go for yumyum seafood dinner. So, A said he has a very good and happening seafood restaurant to intro us to. Where is it? Somewhere very far away. Outside of the Batam city. So we drive and drive and drive very fast on very dark(no street lamps) and scary Batam roads which have NO street names and NO traffic lights. Lucky DT's driver was not bad: can drive fast and don't get lost.

So apparently, "happening" in A speak means "ulu" in normal person's speak. Very deserted place. When we got there, all the lights of the place were dim and there were no other customers plus it was already 9pm Batam time (10pm Singapore time - imagine how hungry we were). We thought for a moment the place was closed!!! *gasp!* But luckily, it was open. Thank goodness, didn't think my tummy could wait much longer.

After dinner (which i thought was so-so only), we toured a bit of the city then headed for DT's kelong resort - yes he owns a kelong - to spend the night. Truth be told, I really didn't know what to expect. What the heck is a kelong resort? A and G didn't know either cos they've never been there before..

To answer your questions on what a kelong resort is: it's a huge monstrous kelong. hahaha. Think this:

but times 10 in size and painted in brazilian colours - bright green and yellow. It has private jetty and like over 20 guest rooms, function rooms, mini theatre and even a KTV room complete with 10,000 songs with a full-fledge computer system to run the whole thing.. So what to do when u're trapped literally in the middle of nowhere on a huge kelong which is big enough to have multiple floors, aircon rooms and its own generator? You sing KTV all night (or at least watch people sing). hahaha. Then, you gingerly bathe yourself in the not-so-clean, ant-infested bathroom, sleep, wake up, eat breakfast then catch a ferry back to good old Singapore to try and make it back in time for church.

haha. Ah well, not bad for a weekend adventure.

Also must say BIG THANKS to DT for giving us free accomodation, food, entertainment and driver! Thanks! :)

Happiness is a choice

2006-08-29T00:53:00.000+08:00

I'm strangely happy.. even though everything is the same..

The Cry of a Student

2006-08-24T15:10:00.000+08:00

Dear Lord,

Please grant me the strength to do what repulses me.

Amen.

The lack of foresight is a noisy affair

2006-08-15T11:22:00.000+08:00

Why oh why did I do it?

Sure, it was cute and all, but WHY did I not think this through carefully??
I assumed that by teaching her I could teach her not to, but NO!

Btw, if you're lost at this stage, I'm talking about teaching Cassidy to 'Speak'. I was so proud when she learnt how to speak on command so quickly (really, it took all of 10 minutes) but now she's got it into her head that whenever she wants something (or attention) she can bark.

Dear lord, what have I done??

I've turned my nice and QUIET dog into a barking monster! *shucks*

I really need to teach her how to 'Shush' now. If only that were so easy.

In an attempt to do some damage control, I've starting to teach her how to "speak" SOFTLY. A small 'woof' will do. And it's working, but when she gets excited it's all loud "ARF"s which are extremely unpleasant and shocking when you're trying to enjoy a nice, relaxing meal and she barks without being commanded to.

On a side note, I've also starting to teach her how to jump through hoops. It's a much more entertaining and challenging (and quiet!) trick to teach because Cassie is deathly afraid of the hoop. But not bad, we've progressed to teeny jumps (if you block all other passages for her she'll jump through the hoop). But she's a very smart dog, she'll take any opportunity she can do avoid going through it.

Ah well..... perseverance!

***

Update: Berri miraculously has gotten better.. Last time I blogged, she was collapsing as she peed/pooped (literally she falls over) but since last night, she's found enough strength to walk, run, go down the stairs and bark at Cassie. Not bad for a 17 year old dog. :) Praise the Lord! I know it's cos of all you people praying for her! Thanks!

the dreaded S word

2006-08-11T15:10:00.000+08:00

PLC is Stressing me out!!

Someone please remind me that it's pass fail!

why so stressed? why?

I dunno really.. I just hate the unstructuredness of it all and the lack of information. I don't know what I'm doing!!

why do all good things have to come to an end?

2006-08-09T20:34:00.000+08:00

I've feared from writing this post for the longest time.. but it seems inevitable and I have to prepare myself for the worst.

Berri isn't doing well.. she's become increasingly weak in these last 3 days. She barely has the energy to walk or stand and dad says it'll be within the week or so..

Of course I keep saying "choi!" but...

*sigh*

I can only hope and pray that things go well..

Cassidy's latest trick

2006-08-08T18:55:00.000+08:00

Today I decided to teach Cassie a new trick: Speaking on command, and I discovered something so cute! Whenever I give the command to Speak, Cassie's tail starts to wag furiously, even before she barks. And the moment she barks, the tail stops wagging.

It's so strange because with all the other tricks, her tail never wags.. I wonder what this means? Is she excited? Confused? *haha* I'm not entirely sure, but it's cute. :) I can almost see the thought processes in her mind before she decides what to do.. Sometimes, she gets impatient when I keep going "Cassie, Speak" over and over and she goes through her whole repertoire of tricks, sometimes combining a few (like begging and shaking at the same time) or just jumping on me in frustration..

Now if only I can control the volume of her barking. It ranges from small "woof"s to loud "arf"s which can be quite shocking even to me and I'm the one telling her to do it haha! Ah well, it's only the first day yet... :)

The Unwelcomed Flush

2006-08-01T21:49:00.000+08:00

I hate it when those automatic flushing public toilets go off when you're not done!

Maybe I need a little bit more time to be rid of my bodily wastes, ok?

Maybe I'm embarrassed to go when all cubicles are occupied but it's deathly silent, ok?

Maybe I need to sit there and contemplate the meaning of life, OK?

All the above activities do NOT require icky water from spewing out of the toilet bowl and onto my unmentionables.

Understand that, Mr Toilet Bowl?

When a person of not insignificant weight and stature sits on you and DOES NOT MOVE, that means you are NOT to flush!

Don't be so trigger happy and any how waste water OK? Have you not heard of the Save Water Campaign? Don't you know that poor Singaporeans are now forced to drink NEWater? Yes yes I know it's safe to drink and all, but PLEASE don't be so eager to turn clean potable water into one which qualifies for the NEWater treatment plant!

Back from Bangkok

2006-07-29T12:13:00.000+08:00

I'm BACK!!

Bangkok was so fun! Largely due to the people I went with - all SHOPAHOLICS! Can you believe that I was NOT the biggest shopper?? haha.. Ironic since I was the one who insisted on only shopping and nothing else (ie. no stupid tours etc- who wants to see old buildings when you can SHOP???) haha

Anyway, i brought back =quite alot= of stuff (promise to take photos of them and post.. er soon) as well as some bangkok bacteria (down with throat infection now) *cough cough*but at least I didn't fall sick during the trip! :) Or lao sai *grin*

Bangkok food is shiok! YUMYUM! and so CHEAP! I ate so much thai food - tom yam, phad thai, green curry, thai desserts (mango sticky rice and tapioca with coconut milk - the BEST) everyday! Also, the roadside banana and choc pancake is the best!

Bangkok massages are shiok! and so CHEAP! haha.. It's the best feeling in the world to go for foot massage after a full day (and i mean FULL - we start at 9am and finish at 10pm) of shopping. :) Can't believe it's like wat, S$12 for an hour of massage? I wonder how I can go back to paying hundreds of dollars here in Singapore.. *sigh* no more daily massages. *boohoo*

But truth be told, I find haggling so tiring.. It's such a lose lose situation. Either you beat the seller down and emerge triumphant but then end up feeling so cheapskate cos you saved like wat? S$2? And deprived those poor people of hard-earned money? OR you walk away feeling like you've just been ripped off of a tonne of money and you curse yourself for being so stupid (or for pressing calculator so much until you yourself get so confused as to how much you initially offered then accidentally offer alot more) and you friends (or boyfriend) 'scold' you for being so soft-hearted or buying into their scheming business tactics etc etc.

Come on.. it's like.. 10 baht per piece lah! that like wat? 42 cents?

I much prefer fixed price shopping. You know what the price is upfront and then you can consider whether it's worth it or not. No emotional pulling of strings. No flirting with the salesperson. No "Can lah, can lah..." followed by putting the money in the other person's hand. It's so much easier and saves SO much time! Of course, G also reminded me that I'd be paying alot more if it were fixed pricing. Ah well. Things are never perfect.

But of course, I'm proud of myself too.. I've become quite the bargainer. :) Saved myself a significant amount of money. :) And it's a good thing to, cos ALL of us spent every last baht we had. It was hilarious that at the bangkok airport when we were about to leave, we had to pool our remaining assets (225 baht to be exact) just to buy 5 pieces of chicken from KFC for lunch! We were literally counting all our 1 baht coins at the counter and seeing what we could get.

oh, and to PS => you'll be so proud of me, I went to Chatuchak market TWICE! I spent 2 days in the maze of shops and didn't die. haha. You can make me a special T-shirt that says "I survived a full day of Chatuchak and went back for more!" :)

haha, ok i'm out for now.. will be back with photos soon. :)

Irregardless is NOT Singlish????

2006-07-14T08:49:00.000+08:00

I was always under the impression that the use of 'irregardless' was a Singlish thing, much as other grammatical errors present in Singlish..

But much to my surprise, I came across an American website which made reference to the word 'irregardless'!

Check it out:

PINK is the new BLOG Everybody's Business Is My BusinessTM

Monday, November 21, 2005

Irregardless Is A Word

I'm not sure why ... but every time I use the word irregardless I end up getting tons of emails and comments letting me know that "irregardless" is notreally a word and that I should stop using it. I am not interested in getting into the debate over whether or not the word irregardless is an actual word or not ... I only use the word because it is featured, quite nicely, in the movie Mean Girls ... here are some screencaptures of Lacy Chabert's character, Gretchen Wieners, saying the word:

People ... it's not that big a deal. Who cares if the word irregardless is an actual word or not ... hasn't anyone ever heard of poetic license?

Irregardless, the word is used in the movie Mean Girls and that is the reference I am trying to make when I use the word. I'm sure this won't put the rest the intense ire that the word inspires in the Grammartarians out there ... but hopefully it's a start. [thanks to Shane for the awesome screencaps]If you haven't already, you really should watch the movie Mean Girls ... it's so freaking hilarious ... and it's totally fetch!

The gosspel according to TRENT, PREACH! Posted @ 12:01 AM
[Permalink]

For the actual blog, go to http://trent.blogspot.com/2005/11/irregardless-is-word.html

Furthermore, http://dictionary.reference.com has this to say about the word 'irregardless':

Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

So you see? "Irregardless" is not Singlish! It's American!!! With all the influence of the US media, it's no wonder our English is screwed up!

Damn Americans! Why can't they speak proper English? They should start a Speak Good English campaign over there.. and while they're at it, revise their whole dictionary and sort out all their pronunciation errors. [eg. Iraq is pronounced E-Rarc not I-Rec. Tsk tsk]

hahahaha.

P.S. My dear American friends, please don't be offended. But it's true, you guys don't know how to speak English either.

Shutting down of brain functions

2006-07-14T07:57:00.000+08:00

PLC classes are sooooooooooooooo boring....

*help*

must keep awake must keep awake must keep awake must keep awake

Hair woes

2006-07-11T23:12:00.000+08:00

I'm extremely upset.

I paid $240 only to get black hair. Now why would I do that? If I wanted black hair I could just buy hairdye and do it myself. Instead, I spent more than 3 hours sitting in a chair in anticiption of nice new not-damaged looking hair and what do I get??

Sigh. So much for dark choc with toffee highlights. bah.

The stylist promises that it'll fade with a few washes. Let's hope he's right.

Back to books it is...

2006-07-08T22:03:00.000+08:00

Time really flies when you're chained to the desk at work.. Weeks are just going by like nobody's business and suddenly I find myself going back to study.. PLC begins next week and I don't know whether to be happy or not. While I can't say I love work, I can't say I love studying either. What I can say though is that I really REALLY love going on holiday! :)

I'm in serious need of some time away, so despite the fact that i'm supposed to be a full-time student and despite the fact that my time table for PLC hasn't been released yet, I've gone ahead and booked a 5D4N trip to Bangkok wheeeee!!!

Can't wait. 12 more days...

Think of the shopping! and eating! and more shopping! and dirt cheap spas! pedicures! hair treatments! tailoring! No more work or class! yay!!

Just hope i won't get into trouble for skipping classes (if any).

***

On another note, commencement is this tues and i still have no idea how to wear the damn gown/funny square hat thingy. Hope i don't malu myself on stage. sigh. I know it's supposed to be a momentous occasion, but frankly, i don't see what the fuss is about. Ah well.

Stinky Update

2006-06-19T10:54:00.000+08:00

I'm relieved to announce that Cassidy no longer stinks.

Haha.

On another note, I attempted to give her a haircut yesterday and the results, though not disasterous, are less than asthethically pleasing.

Oh well, fur will grow back, right?

New Phase in Life

2006-06-14T11:13:00.000+08:00

Blogging from the office is scary. I have to be extra aware of my surroundings just in case someone walks past. And those who know me know I'm not the most aware of persons haha.

Anyway, many of you concerned friends have been asking me how work is. I have to say that though it's stressful, much of the stress I feel is self-created (I think). And all in all, the firm is a pretty nice place to be in. I get along well with the other pupils and we all sit together in the same cubicle area in our own little pupil wing of the office. We have so much privacy and space here, it's really a luxury that many others in other firms don't have. It's great bonding time and I'm starting to understand how they work.

The LAs are pretty ok and easy to talk to, though they are the ones mainly giving me work. There's so much I don't know and have to learn that sometimes it's really overwhelming (and stressful). But now that I'm in my 3rd week, I've started to settle in and take the attitude that while I know the work that I hand in is probably crap, it can only get better rite? Afterall, no one comes in knowing everything already. SO. Hopefully I'll tackle the steep learning curve with a positive attitude and not let myself get pulled under by my circumstances, asfter all, life is always a challenge rite? That's what makes it fun.

My mentor [Boss] by all accounts (and from my limited experience here) is a really good boss. On my 1st day when I reported for work, the office manager took a look at who I was assigned to and said "Oh, good." and smiled. That comforted me a little. Later, when talking to the senior batch of pupils, they referred to Boss as "the handsomest one in the office." Haha, I hadn't really looked at Boss in that way before that statement, but now that I'm observing his appearance more and I guess he's not bad la. If you like the whole older, dignified kinda guy. What impressed me the most though, was the statement that apparently, the BIG BOSS himself (the guy who started the firm) calls Boss "the milk of kindness" hahahaha.

I really have to thank God for this. He's really watching out for me I think; I'm so blessed to have things come my way smoothly.

So, so far while I've been fairly stressed at certain periods (like when work with urgent deadlines all come in at the same time from different people), all in all, it's not bad. I constantly feel like I don't know what i'm doing, but I guess I'll have to get used to that feeling cos it's going to stay for the next couple of years at least. *yikes*

***

On a entirely different note, it's been brought to my attention that some persons in law school go around searching for blogs of law students to get the gossip. One person even told me that she breaks password-protected blogs to read! This is scary stuff man. This is why I consciously keep my blog as anonymous as I can, save for photos which I do put up occassionally. I mean, I keep a blog to update all my friends and talk about things generally, and it IS a public blog. But still, the thought of random strangers from law school searching for scandalous blogs to read is quite disconcerting. Makes me all the more wary. Anyway, even if they find and read my blog, I bet it'll bored them to death haha. As Dorcas said (and i'm only putting her name because she openly said this on the tagboard), nothing scandalous ever happens on this blog hahaha. Sorry la, I lead a scandal-free life! :) Nor do I enjoy engaging in gossip (though the kaypoh in me still likes to hear some stuff every now and then) haha.

Now that I've started work, there's no running away or isolation attempts from the law community anymore. It's all there in my face. *sigh*

There are truly scary people out there man..

The Stink of Love

2006-05-31T22:52:00.000+08:00

Remember the Cassie problem? Well it's gotten worse.

How can a problem get worse?

1st of all, Cassidy has come into heat. My little Cassidy, the tiny thing I cradled home not 5 months ago has suddenly turned into a full grown, fully functioning dog. *sigh* Sadly, my deliberation (to fix or not to fix; that is the question) has caused me to miss the window of opportunity. Apparently, according to some unknown doggie websites, if you sterilse a dog before she has her 1st heat cycle, you reduce her risk of developing breast cancer to almost nil. Sadly, I've missed that chance now.

2ndly, you'd think that by missing that chance, decision-making would become fairly straight forward rite? Or at least, less urgent (no more timeframe to fight against) BUT NO! The problem has intensified! Why? Cos Cassie has become a walking stink bomb. It's something to do with the pheromones. What smells like L-O-V-E to dogs smells like S-T-I-N-K to a human's unsuspecting nose. To make matters worse, according to those said websites, a dog's heat cycle lasts for approx. 30 days.

30 days??????

I can't take 30 days of this!! it's only been wat, 12 days (???) and it already feels like forever!! Dear God, please make this smell go away.. PLEASE.

*help*

3rdly, she's not been having doggie - PMS (thanks goodness), but she is behaving strangely. It's like she can't control her body anymore. She pees randomly in the house (not the excitable peeing nor urgent peeing) and that is, obviously, extremely unpleasant. I've caught her in the act many times and despite my scoldings and her sorrowful attitude, she seems to not be able to control herself. Even as I am reprimanding her, she's continuing to pee. Maybe she feels very uncomfortable down there. Maybe she's trying to relieve herself. Whatever it is, I can't take much more of it..

According to the vet, it's not good to sterilise her while she's mid-cycle cos it'll result in major hormonal imbalances so I'll have to wait it out and only get her fixed 1 week after this cycle ends. I'm really leaning toward doing it, don't think i can go through this a 2nd time, much less twice yearly for her lifetime! I dunno how people with unfixed dogs can live with it..

Still, my mom says it's so sad and such a waste to sterilise her cos she's so cute and good natured; her pups will definitely be really cute too. But the more i think about it, the more i think it'll be a bad idea. 1stly, i don't relish the idea of my little baby dog being *ahem* raped by a big male haha. But more seriously, i'm a responsible owner/breeder (altho not bred any before), and i'd definitely want to ensure the best for any future pups which i'd allow to come into this world.. Cocker spaniels are cute and all, but they're definitely not dogs for inexperienced people. They need alot of special care and attention, both physically (exercise and grooming) and emotionally (they don't do well when neglected). I can't just give/sell them to anyone. It's worse because many people have already expressed interest in Cassie's future pups, but to be honest, i don't think i'd sell dogs to them. It's not that they're bad owners or not loving enough, it's just that my standards are extremely high. Dogs must be healthy to be happy.

Sadly, most dogs in Singapore are neither. We owners just don't have the time to really invest in a dog. Dogs are treated like glorified stuff toys. Or worse: substitute children. Don't you know dogs are DOGS? They must be treated like dogs. Pets, not kids. But well, I'm rambling.

(Disclaimer: I'm not saying all dog owners ill-treat their dogs, some are great! but most just don't know what they're doing..)

So. What is my conclusion?? The truth is, I still don't know. Whatever it is, I need you guys to pray that the smell goes away. I've tried everything: bathing everyday, buying doggie perfume, wet wiping her constantly.. nothing works. Only God can help me now...

:/

New Phase in Life

2006-05-31T13:08:00.000+08:00

I've started work.. it's official..

These first few days have been surprisingly good (i hope i'm not speaking too soon..)
My mentor seems to be a nice man, rather soft spoken for a lawyer haha.. and so far, i've not been given any real work, which is great considering how some others are suffering already and working late..

Working is tiring though.. i dunno how people can get up so early in the morning and not seem to want to go home. I'm embarrassed to say that so far, I've always been the 1st to leave work *yikes* Hope people aren't taking note of that. But i stay my official hours wat! and i have no real work (yet)! I should be allowed to relax while i still can afford to! So why is it that i feel so pressured to stay back?

That said, i've received my 1st paycheck woohooo! *haha* it's for all of THREE days worth of being in office, but still it was a pleasant surprise :) I wasn't expected to get paid on my 3rd day of work. :)

Now i finally have money to buy (boring) office wear.. *sigh* must i really spend it?? a nice bag would be so much nicer.. but i guess i need proper clothes to wear to work. *sigh* byebye paycheck.. :(

Product of much boredom

2006-05-20T10:28:00.000+08:00

I've decided to try out a new look for the blog.. mainly cos I was really bored haha.. I must be getting better at HTML because this time it didn't take me nearly as long to write as the last layout..

Still, there are a few problems that are once again beyond my capabilities.

For example: Paragraphing. Why is it that while I paragraph my posts here in bloggers, it doesn't show on my blog? I hate it when blogs come out as one long mass of words, who'd wanna read that?? Yet strangely enough, the paragraphing shows on Mozilla, but not on Internet explorer. Once again, why my blog appears different on these 2 internet browsers is beyond my understanding. So. I'm not sure how to correct this problem, thus it seems if I want my blog to appear in paragraphs, I have to double paragraph in the bloggers. It's tiresome and doesn't fix the basic problem but what to do? My computer knowledge is limited and I can't fix it.

Another thing: why is it that my text box design doesn't appear on Mozilla? In fact, not only does it NOT appear, the background colour also seems to appear one shade brighter. Again, I'm stumped. Mozilla seems to dislike my blogs.. none of them have appeared on it without problems.. But anyway, given that these are simply minor issues, I shall not gripe too much. In fact, G has told me that the distorted Mozilla appearance is actually nicer. Ah well.

***

On a completely different note, Cassies has turned 7 and a half months. The time to make an important decision has arrived: to sterilise or not to sterilise? That is the question.

I'm really not sure what to do.. I've never really lived with a non-sterilised female dog before, Berri was sterilised within 3 months of adoption so I've never actually lived with a dog in heat. Is it messy? Dirty? Troublesome? Will I have random male dogs hanging around the house? Worse: will there be accidents resulting in unwanted litters? Even worse: will there be complications??

For those not in the know, when I adopted Berri from the SPCA a good 10 plus years ago, she was certified to be sterilised. Yet, within a MONTH of adoption, she gave birth to 4 extremely cute puppies one lonely night in the kitchen when my whole family was out and only my poor (new and not fluent in English) maid to handle this unexpected (messy) event. Luckily, all made it through fine and my sis and I were delighted at suddenly having so many new playthings. My brother was was aghast.

My parents were similarly not pleased (though they were soon won over by their cuteness). My mom called SPCA angry, demanding to know why the "sterilised" dog we adopted was IN FACT a pregnant dog. (Simple calculations showed that she must have been already pregnant when we took her in.) To cut a long story short, my parents don't want to suffer the trouble of such instances again, and we had Berri sterilised as soon as the pups were weaned (and given away - to my dismay).

So, now i'm not sure what to do with Cassidy. If we decide to do it, now's the time. Yet, I'm not sure if we wanted her 'fixed' so early on. Plus the prospects of cute puppies (from an arranged mating) are appealing haha. MORE new playthings. But of cos, neither do I want unexpected litters. But still, plenty of people keep unsterilised dogs and nothing ever happens. Given how much we keep the eye on Cassie, surely we could protect her from randy males, rite? Besides, female dogs only go into heat maybe 3 times a year, that's not too often.

Then again, I've heard that 'fixed' dogs are more sweet-tempered? But greedier? Hmm.. I find the prospect of a greedier Cassie a bit scary. Goodness knows she's already very food motivated as it is..

Decisions, decisions, decisions..

The Third Party

2006-05-12T10:48:00.000+08:00

I cave.. i admit the source of my frustration is not his competency. Instead it's because of the third party.

Who would have thought the advert was correct? The source of all my problems and wasted paper is because I've been using third party ink. :(

Now my printer will NOT print properly and has caused me to be unable to print many important documents.

Damn these generic inks.

Of course, the only reason why I got my printer to begin with was because of these third parties. My printer was FREE when my dad bought TEN cartridges of third party ink.
Sneaky third party ink salesmen. Now i'm stuck with a faulty printer and many many cartridges of third party ink which don't seem to print properly.

However, I'm hopeful that the incompetency of third party ink is limited to just this one particular cartridge. Maybe if i change to another cartridge it'll work properly? Afterall, the first few worked rite?

*keeps fingers crossed*

No Votes from me...

2006-05-05T09:26:00.000+08:00

"YOU HAVE A CHOICE!"

But I don't! Why didn't some opposition party contest my constituency?? I feel sore now after attending the WP Rally in East Coast. While some things they said were pretty true, i didn't agree with everything. And for the 1st time, I see for myself how bias our media is. Shame on you media!

That said, I would still like to exercise my democratic right to vote (now i can't remember my public law.. do we have a contitutional right to vote??). I feel left out. Abandoned politically. Cast aside. Not worth fighting for.

Bah.

sick again

2006-04-25T10:44:00.000+08:00

i dunno wat's wrong with me but i keep falling sick.
2 weeks ago it was vomiting and diarrhoea.
now it's high fever, sorethroat, cough and flu.
i've lost so many days of studying it's not even funny anymore.
how will i study for evidence??
i'm so behind!!!!!!!
and even though i try my best to perserve, my brain jus simply does not function at temperatures over 38 deg cels. coupled with the fact that i can hardly BREATHE.
damn. i just hope i dun fail.

Good Friday - more than Good for a couple of couples

2006-04-18T23:03:00.000+08:00

I fear it has begun.

"What?" you ask?

It's the race to the altar that's wat!

haha, perhaps race isn't the most apt word for it, but whatever it is, it's definitely there.

Yes, my friends have been getting married these few years, you know the usual 2 every december (seems to be a hot month).. but they were always either significantly older (at least 4 years?) or had significantly different lifestyles (ie. graduated early, marrying foreigners etc). This year however, it's the start of the weddings of those who, if you think about it, are really in pretty much the same position as i am, save for the fact that their significant others are already in the workforce.

What brought this blog entry on? well, in the span of 24 hours, not one but TWO engagements were announced. I even had the pleasure of witnessing the proposal of the 1st happy couple (Yes, he proposed in sight of 20 odd peering, kaypoh faces haha.. talk about confidence haha). Of course, we were all in on it and giggling with glee as we watched those 4 words float up on a banner into the star-filled sky hahaha.. ok, now i'm starting to get dramatic (although that was exactly what happened)..

Amidst the excitment though, there was an unmistakeable tension as the next dreaded question surfaced....

"Who will be next?"

haha. NOT ME! (why does everyone look to G and I??)

if it's anyone, it should be S and E rite? or E and K? haha, ok i don't want to be accused of naming names.. :p

Yes, i know i've been together with G for longer than most of these soon-to-be, if not already, married couples.. but you know wat? it's not long enough. haha I don't know why but it still kinda feels like early days yet, i suppose this is a good thing? If we are to be together for life, this is supposed to be honeymoon period rite??

And yes, i know i've always maintained that i want to marry young and settle down, but now as i'm rapidly approaching *ahem* marriageable age (don't say i'm already of age!!), i find myself not quite ready.

So, as i've told G and his friends, don't be too sure i'll say yes. But if you do plan to ask, you better make it good cos i have high expectations haha. Banners and balloons in the sky isn't going to cut it (now that it's been done already hehe).

SC & Y, S & E, congrats! I"ll save my good wishes for when you make it official hehehe..

Some Dlogs

2006-04-12T09:09:00.001+08:00

To answer Dorcas' question, i dun really know what dloggers write on their dlogs. i suspect it's everything from what they ate, where they went and who they played with. (although one dlog i found suspiciously sounded like some family abuse was going on - why they would dlog about that i have no idea)

anyway, if you're interested, here are some links to some dlogs which were published on the straits times. i'm sure the dlog owners won't mind me putting the links up. (but the lawyer in me feels like i should put some form of disclaimer haha)

http://herbiegr.blogspot.com/

http://joeyjrt.blogspot.com/

http://rafvrough.blogspot.com/

Should Cassidy Dlog?

2006-04-09T17:26:00.000+08:00

I've been reading some of the dlogs which have started the latest trend in the blogging world.. It's cool to see people who love their dogs so much plus they seem to be part of this whole dog community which i'm not in.. haha i feel left out, no doubt Cass needs some playmates.. maybe i should bring her to these doggy hangouts.. Where's the nearest dog park??

That said, it does seem weird to be speaking from the dog's perspective and as much as i love my dogs, they are my pets, not my babies or alter-egos haha.

Don't think Cassidy or Berri will start any of their own dlogs anytime soon..

I dream about the weirdest things..

2006-04-08T12:50:00.000+08:00

Last night in my dreams, it occurred to me that the Alphabet was so named because it starts with A and B, otherwise known as Alpha and Beta hence Alpha-bet! hahaha.

Was quite amazed that I never realised this before and how my mind processed this while i was asleep! haha!

How accurate this is I have no idea.. but i suspect it should be cos it seems logical to me even in the day.

Dreams being what they are though, coherency didn't last long. I went on (in my dream) to wonder if capital punishment was so named because it was reserved for the most heinous of crimes hence they got Punished?

Geddit? Punishment with a capital P? Capital Punishment?

hahahhahaahahaha

2006-03-29T12:59:00.000+08:00

Why must people let me down?
Why it is that talking to them makes me feel worse than before talking to them?
Aren't friends and loved ones supposed to support you and make you feel happy and contented?
I know I'm to put my faith and trust in the Lord for only He will never fail to give me contentment. Yet, people still hurt me and i still hurt nonetheless.
There's just not enough love in this world.
Not enough love between family.
Between friends.
Between loved ones.
And saying all this doesn't make me feel better at all.

Collegiate Dinner

2006-03-27T15:15:00.000+08:00

ok ok, i crave from the public pressure.
I don't usually like uploading photos of myself cos u never know who is surfing through these sites, but ah well, once in a while it's ok rite?

Here's some photos from the recent Collegiate Dinner held for graduating students.

My CG Shalom

And a couple of others that were either taken by my camera before it died from low batt, or from some kind, efficient people who've sent me their photos haha. Can't be bothered to upload too many, these photo sizes are HUGE! haha.

So there, you've seen my curls.. have to say though that these photos aren't the best ones of my new hair cos i was having a bad hair day that day haha. slept with damp hair the night before and woke up with hair straighter on one side than the other, so i loosened the curls to make them become waves. haha which i like too la. :) Other days they're more spiral-ly. haha.

Thanks to those who complimented my dress. Personally I didn't think it was all that nice, jus something i found at the back of my closet (which also I realised, matched the table cloth color exactly haha), and rarely wear. Maybe i'll wear it a bit more often now haha. :)

My Johari Window

2006-03-16T11:54:00.000+08:00

haha, i've jumped onto the bandwagon of johari windows..

if you're feeling bored and need a break from work, head over to this link to amuse yourself and help me find out what you think of me:

http://kevan.org/johari?name=Bernice+Ong

:)

Bernice gets new hair

2006-03-14T22:53:00.000+08:00

Yes yes I know I said earlier that I would spend the money on Cass. But when S made plans to go shopping with me, then cancels last min leaving me stranded in town alone, what's a girl to do? haha

I ended up spending 3+ hours at the hair salon getting my hair curled. :)

so now i have curls! yay!

of course it cost alot more than i was willing to pay, but no choice, can't refuse to pay rite?

hope these curls last! I'll be very angry if they straighten out in a couple of weeks!

Cassie turns 5 months and gets a new hair cut

2006-03-06T18:15:00.000+08:00

My little baby is growing up! After my EU law exam ended this morning (Thank goodness the 48 hours of torture is over!!) i was torn between giving myself a haircut or sending Cass for grooming.

My hair was annoying me like crazy as i was writing my exam paper, but in the end, i decided to spend the money on Cass haha.

She was getting so shaggy! (although quite cute la) So anyway, spent the last 2 hours watching her get her hair cut.

She was terrified, shaking the whole time, especially when she was being blown dry.

2 mishaps happened: She was so scared that she pooped right on the grooming table! then had to be bathed for the 2nd time (they had just bathed her). then during the 2nd blow-drying session, she peed all over the table again! SO they had to bath her for the 3rd time! i felt so bad. Esp since we just bathed her last night. 4 baths in 24 hours is not fun if you're a dog. Of course, i felt bad for the groomer too.

So, 2 hours later and $50 less in my pocket, i brought a new dog home!
She finally looks like a cocker spaniel, unfortunately, that also means she doesn't look like a puppy anymore.

This was the reaction when we got home:

Maid: "She looks so old! Mei (my sis) is going to get a shock!"
Mom: "Hiyoh she looks bald!"
Dad: "SO UGLY!"

boo.

Nvm, I still love you Cass, you may not look like a puppy anymore but you're clean and so neat and tidy now!

haha.

Look at the NEW CASS!

Bald!

GROOMED!

and BLINDED from CAMERA flashes!

haha.

Here's an older photo so you can compare and see the amount of fur she had cut off:

This photo was taken a month ago, can you imagine how much longer her fur was this morning??

Affirmation

2006-02-27T14:25:00.000+08:00

I'm

So what if laptop is in ICU again?
Exam this sat? No problem.

Nothing will take my away because the BIBLE tells me to rejoice and be glad. :)

[Psalm 118:24; 31:7; 97:1; Lamentations 4:21 and the list goes on..]

The computer saga continues...

2006-02-22T14:58:00.000+08:00

My dad is more litigious than I am.

Where I passively accepted the Computer Man's assertion on the phone that cracked LCD screens are not covered by the warranty (which has still 1 year to go mind you..), my dad challenged it by asserting that the screen is IN FACT NOT cracked at all!

After examining it carefully, I have to agree with my father. There are no signs of external damage at all. This means that the LCD broke down for no reason!! Toshiba should PAY!!

But first, as all good lawyers know, we should scrutinise the terms and conditions to make sure Toshiba has no way of squirming out of this one:

Me thinks the 1st trump card Toshiba will use is Clause 8(iii) which states:

This Warranty shall be void if:
(iii) Failure or defect was attributable to any extrinsic cause, accidental damage, improper use, modification, adaptation, neglect, wear and tear, improper installation, improper connection with any peripheral, external electrical fault.

Ok let's see:
there is no extrinsic cause (NOTHING HAPPENED!!),
no accidental damage (DID NOT DROP IT, STAB IT, SCRATCH IT IN ANY WAY),
no improper use (Can the opening and closing of the lid be construed as improper use? NO WAY),
no modification (how do u modify an LCD screen? that's certainly beyond my capabilities),
no adaption (ditto),
no neglect (what sort of attention does an LCD screen require??)
wear and tear but certainly not to the extent that it dies
no improper installation (i certainly did not install the LCD)
no improper connection.

So Clause 8(iii) is out.

The next clause that Toshiba will try and fall on is Clause 11 which states:

Receipt by Toshiba Reseller or authorised service provider of Product does not mean that the Product will be repaired without cost to you.

If Toshiba's Reseller or authorised service provider determines that the repairs are not covered under the Warranty, you will be duly notified.

If you were to authorise repairs not covered by the Warranty, you will be responsible for paying the current repair charges.

I'm taking out my Unfair Contract Terms Act.

How could i have allow this clause to slip by? This seems to suggest that the party with sole power to determine what is or is not covered by the Warranty is Toshiba! Can I at least show the defect was due to some intrinsic cause?

THIS CLAUSE IS UNREASONABLE! It was NOT red-flagged to me before I entered to contract! it should be unenforceable!

hmph. Let's see how this goes. I shall have it out with stone-faced, cold-hearted, unfeeling Mr. Computer Man at the Toshiba Service Centre.

HAH! They even have the cheek to put " Service" as part of their name?? What a joke. They're one of the most unhelpful, bad service people I've ever seen!

Grrr...

When will i find the time to go settle this??

EXAM NEXT WEEK.

urgh.

I need to find joy in all this. JOY!

So help me God.

The Emblem of Efficiency

2006-02-22T14:51:00.000+08:00

UWA has sent me a NEW student card.

How nice of them.. esp since i've ceased being a student there since JULY 2005!!

*shakes head*

Aussie's aren't the most efficient of people, are they?

I hope they realise i've not been paying fees.. they aren't still trying to charge me are they?

I bet my uwa email account still works.. haha.

EU law + Laptop = Disaster

2006-02-21T23:27:00.000+08:00

It has happened again. While i was preparing for my EU exam by typing out notes on EU law on my laptop, my laptop screen cracked. To to more specific, it cracked at some mysterious time in between typing EU notes. One day i'm typing away, the next day i open my laptop and the screen is cracked.

How this happened i have no idea. There definitely was no dropping of laptop or any impact of that sort. It's a real MYSTERY. Makes it all the more frustrating.

It's so sad. I just got my laptop back from the Service Centre last week, after a whole MONTH of waiting laptop-less. Now i realise i should have just bought myself a new laptop at the start of it all and save myself all the hardship.

The last time my laptop died, i was in the middle of typing EU notes in preparation for my assignment.. so this is all horribly familiar. EU law must be a jinx or sth.

The good news is, this time i could recover all my work (because the laptop still works fine except that now the screen is spoilt - can't see 30% of it properly).

The bad news is the warranty doesn't cover such physical damage so if i want to repair it, it's gonna cost me at least $500. which doesn't seem worth it considering that's 1/4 the price of a new laptop.

I'm resigned and sad. Didn't want my laptop to die like that. It's worse cos i dunno what happened to it. Perhaps if i knew i could have closure. haha. It does have sentimental value.. had it for almost 2 years now.. it flew with me to perth and kept me sane there.. now it's fate hangs precariously, it all depends now on whether i can find a cheap repair in SimLim..

Ah well, there are worse things in life..

To you all

2006-02-14T15:43:00.000+08:00

Yes, i know it's a highly commercialised 'holiday' but it's always nice to tell people how much they mean to you.

So to all my friends out there, I LOVE YOU!
And so does GOD! :)

Hope you guys have a good Valentine's Day!

I'll be spending mine in a classroom (yes, I have classes until 9pm).. :( It hurts to think of all those people out there wining and dining while I'm stuck in class listening to some boring thing, typing my hands off.

Ah well. There are worse things. I should be joyful. :)

BE JOYFUL EVERYONE! :)

Rude people should have their mouths stapled shut.

2006-02-10T14:20:00.000+08:00

People can be so rude.

Sure, they may not always have the guts to be rude to you in your face. But being rude to your back is more rude.

What is WRONG with the world today? Why has it produced so many obscene people? People who think so highly of themselves? People who think throwing hissy fits is not only glamorous but their RIGHT.

Pershaps people were always rude. Things don't change much do they? It's just technology that's enabled them to be LOUDER and more IN YOUR FACE.

Heck Freedom of expression.

Don't express yourself if what you have to say is not worth listening to. I will not allow you to speak if all that comes out is foul rubbish.

I say we shut them up. Staple their mouths shut and feed them through a tube inserted into their neck. That should teach them a lesson.

Alternatively, I suppose I could just turn off the TV.

A life of contradictions

2006-02-10T14:07:00.000+08:00

It's been a good week.

It's been a bad week.

I'm tired.

I'm happy.

I'm doing so much work, it seems it's all i ever do.

I'm so behind on my work that the propects of catching seems overwhelmingly impossible.

I don't sleep much.

I wake up everyday at 7am.

I stay up past 12, somehow finding the energy.

I love my new dog.

My new dog drives me crazy.

She also makes me very angry sometimes.

But she's cute, so who can blame her.

I only have myself to blame.

I value the people in my life.

I don't see them much.

I hate law books and laptops.

I read and type almost 14 hours a day. Easily.

My life is too complex, too busy for its own good.

Yet it's the only life I have so I better learn to love it.

Not so new Movie Reviews

2006-02-07T14:22:00.000+08:00

I know these movies aren't new, but i've just watched them in recent weeks so thought i'd give my 2 cents worth..

War of the Worlds

There was such great hype about this show, it's a wonder i took so long to watch it. I remember watching the promo on Oprah Winfrey and it seemed to be marketed as something so unique and different.

Sad to say, i watched it and it was a GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT. Maybe there've been just too many "end of the world-alien" type shows already. I've reached saturation point. But this movie was just SO typical, SO passe, the acting was average, it did not make me like Tom Cruise anymore, even my impression of Dakota Fanning whom i usually find fairly cute and interesting went down a notch. Not to mention the EXTREMELY anti-climatic ending. I say BOO.

Save your money/time and go eat ice-cream instead; that's much more satisfying.

City of Angels

OK, i KNOW this was a very very very old movie. But somehow Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan just didn't inspire me to fork out the $ to watch it in the cinemas, despite the good reviews from everyone.

I have to say though, it is one of the better movies that i've seen Nic Cage in. Yes, he's a good actor, but there's something about his face that makes me feel like slapping it haha. This movie though, is very watchable and even touching. there's a scene right at the end where if tears don't come to your eyes, you must be pretty stone-hearted or cynical.

Even Meg Ryan seemed less cutesy and a tad more credible.

If you've not watched this movie yet, go find the DVD! you won't regret it. And make sure you have your loved one next to you to cry with. (i didn't. wat a waste)

Vanilla Sky

After the horrendous War of the Worlds, i wasn't keen on watching another Tom Cruise fiasco. the addition of Penelope Cruz made it seem even more distasteful. (i'm sorry to you Penelope Cruz fans, she's just the most annoying person ever allowed on screen. that face? that accent? save me please!)

However, my brother highly recommended it and my dad and G were quite interested in it. So i got out-voted. (I wanted to watch City of Angels again)

So, there i was at 1am in the morning after a long second day of CNY struggling to keep my eyes open and not puke at the sight of Tom and Penelope. The storyline though, was a bit more intriguing this time (thank goodness!) and when it hit 3am and our eyes just couldn't stay open any longer, i actually resumed watching the next morning to see how it all ended. I'll have to give that to the Director. Good directing.

Other than that, the storyline is so-so, a bit uncommon but nothing i'd rave over. I say, watch only if you're extremely free and if Tom and Penelope don't make you feel nauseous.

Kingdom of Heaven

I can hear you now, "not another fighting show" you say. I admit that was exactly what i was thinking, the 3 times my dad asked me if i wanted to watch it. (i said no. ) But there was no escaping it, because on the 2nd day of CNY, he played it for all visitors to watch.

It's wasn't that bad though. Although i only watched snippets of it here and there because of all the running around i had to do (greeting, socialising and dog-watching), from what scenes i saw, it's a pretty good movie. In fact, i would watch it again just to catch the whole story.

Orlando Bloom surprisingly isn't bad at all. and the rest of the cast is watchable. Eva Green, whom i've noticed for the 1st time only, seemed especially intriguing and mysterious.

I say, watch it if you're not tired of the LOTR-type movies. :)

CNY

2006-02-02T12:10:00.000+08:00

A brief recount of my CNY 2005 experience:

CNY Eve:

Reunion dinner. Eat eat eat VERY QUICKLY because restaurant staff is trying to kick us out. that's the bane of eating out on CNY eve.. they have like 3 shifts of people coming in, 530, 730 and the 900 batch. This year, we were unlucky enough to be the 530 batch. They served us food even before everyone had arrived, and the time between each serving is a grand total of like 5 mins. Seriously. Despite our best endeavours to eat slowly, we were out by 7pm. Insane. Food was good, the experience was not. What a waste.

CNY period:

Lots of eating, visiting, angpao collecting, dog-sitting (ie. Cassie the little monster who's actually pretty well-behaved), little studying, no gambling and did i say eating? Yup. LOTS of eating.

Yu Sheng is shiok. Had it about 7 times already..will have it a couple times more probably haha.

Cassidy at 3 months

2006-01-27T14:18:00.000+08:00

Here's a couple of photos of Cassidy at 3 months (+1 week to be more accurate)..

she's growing up so quickly.. *sigh* her face is not as cute and short as it was when she first came. but oh well, she's still alot of fun (and trouble too!).. :)

She's sitting in the patio wondering if i'm going to bring her out to play.

Look at that cute face! :)

html is the bane of my life

2006-01-27T11:04:00.000+08:00

*Warning: wild rantings ahead*

I suck at html.

Granted, i don't even know what it is really. i'm just working by trial and error, tweaking it a bit and checking to see how it turns out.

i think i've managed to get by pretty well until now. usually i'm able to do the superficial things like moving things around, changing the size, colours, borders etc. i've even figured out how to store my own images and edit them to my liking (although the latter is probably due more to my photoshop skills)..

but for the life of me, i just can't figure out how to move the picture in my blog from the left to the centre! i can move everything else, the text body, the sidebar everything! but i can't move the picture. why? why? i've been able to move pictures before! why can't i do it now??

i've been attempting to for the last 3 hours (yes, more precious time in my life that i'll never get back) and i think.. i give up.

sorry for those of you who complain that the text box aligned to the left makes my blog hard to read.. i think it's already somewhat better than the previous one where the text box was tiny (also then there was no way to change it, or rather, i didn't know how).

so if you really can't stand it, COME OVER AND CHANGE THE TEMPLATE YOURSELF.

because i've tried and i can't do it.

yes, i am a blogger-idiot.

don't tell me to go buy "Blogging for Dummies" because frankly, i have better things to do with my time. there are piles and piles of notes on Evidence law, EU law and Insurance law that are gathering dust.

i really should touch them soon. or at least dust them abit.

if you too are a blogger-idiot, then i suggest you just tahan a bit and love me enough to read my wild ramblings..

computer hospitals suck

2006-01-27T11:03:00.000+08:00

also another thing: yes, i am aware that if you're using mozilla firefox, my blog comes out misaligned. why this happens, i have no idea (surprise surprise! MORE things that are beyond my understanding.).. technically according to my html template which i've pored over, it shouldn't come out like that. and since it appears perfectly on internet explorer, i'm going to attribute all the blame onto stupid mozilla.

yes yes, i know it's safer yadayadayada, but it's quite problematic sometimes rite? i've used it before and certain websites/pages just cannot load in mozilla. which means you end up back in internet explorer. what's the point? *hiaz*

you spend so much effort keeping your computer/laptop nice and safe and clean. but in the end, it STILL dies when you need it the most (ie. right before an assignment is due)!

Yes, sometimes that happens because your puppy comes along in the 2 seconds that your back is turned (or more accurately, you're under the sofa retrieving that said puppy's ball) and the ungrateful puppy pulls your laptop wire, causing it to fall on the floor and die a tragic death.

there are many times when these things, which are supposed to make your life easier and more convenient, die on their own for no apparent reason.

and THEN, you take them to the computer hospital to attempt some form of revival, and you find that those computer doctor-quacks are off taking 2 hours lunch breaks and goodness knows how many tea breaks. and when you finally get to meet them face to face, they tell you, oh it needs a transplant which will take an indefinite amount of time to be done. in the meantime they kidnap your laptop and tell you to go back to class with a pen and paper to take notes, a method more primitive but 100 times more reliable.

then you wait and you wait and in the meantime you take copious amounts notes and your own hand nearly dies from exhaustion. 10 days later, you call the computer hospital and find that not only are they off on their 2h lunch break and have to call back later, but when you speak to them, you hear them making CNY plans and they tell you (before you allow them to hang up on you), oh, laptop transplant will probably only be done after CNY.

thanks a whole lot, computer doctor-quack.

*leaves stupid http://www.blogger.com/ website fuming*

P.S. if you find my 'new' blog familiar, it's cos i'm using a picture that was in one of my older blogs.

2006-01-27T00:54:00.000+08:00

A product of severe, out-of-control procrastination:

A fresh look for a fresh new year!

Happy Chinese New Year to you all, dear friends!

The Passage of Time

2006-01-26T11:08:00.000+08:00

Time is a curious thing.
It flies when you're having fun, yet makes the reflection of time spent having fun seem long.
It crawls when you're stuck in class, but makes weeks feel like years.
Things that occur may make a week feel like a lifetime, yet a lifetime in reflection is really quite short.

But time in reality is fixed. 24h a day, 7 days a week. The only thing that's changed is our perception of it. Does this mean that i can accomplish so much more in the same amount of time? I do want to embrace the gift of time that the Lord has given me; indeed, we never know when our time on this earth will end.. yet.. i just can't bring myself to make constructive use of my time.

i want to nuaa away at some resort. take me away, somebody!

The Lessons in Life

2006-01-20T10:47:00.000+08:00

The Lord has taught me patience

He gave me hurdles to cross

He watched as I fumed and stumbled

He waited patiently as I reacted out of proportion

He saw as my faith was shaken

He let me struggle on my own strengths

And at the end, when I was exhausted and defeated

He took me back and comforted me

And told me that I needn't have struggled

It wasn't life or death

Through it all, He was in control

And at the end, a lesson to be learnt.

So now I know:

Friends do disappoint you

People do go out of their way to make things difficult for you

Unexpected things will always crop up and ruin your plans

Computers and laptops do die

Even you fail yourself

Life has all these things

But this is not MY life

My life is my walk with God

Listening to Him

Talking to Him

Doing His work

And when my time on earth is over

I will return to Him

With exciting stories to tell

See Cassidy Grow

2006-01-14T12:08:00.000+08:00

To grant the request for more photos of Cassidy, i've uploaded more. but these were taken at about the same time as the last batch so she still looks the same time. in reality, she is about twice the size already. scary huh?

haha..

this is Cassie looking grumpy at being the constant object of endless photoshoots haha.
actually, she almost always looks grumpy, but that's because of the characteristic eyebrow furrows that American Cocker Spaniels have. haha. i think it's cute. :)

Here's Cassie successfully ignoring the camera. or maybe she's just conked out from the tiring work of chasing people around the house, which is her main activity, apart from eating and sleeping and trying to terrorise Berri (who is extremely not amused).

This is how Cassie looks when she puts on her "eager" face. haha. can you see the difference?

And not to let Berri feel left out, i must include some pictures of her too.
Berri, in my opinion, is more photogenic haha. probably cos she has a "smile-y" face and she actually smiles.. and of course, no eyebrow furrows..

Berri loves her walks.. they are the highlights
of her day.. we bring her out twice a day, yes she's quite pampered. see how fat and fluffy she is? she's not really that fat though, it's just massive amounts of fur. haha.

Cassie of cos, gets brought out almost every 2 hours, but that's cos she can't control her bladder yet and pees/poops in the house if she's not brought out in time.. highly unpleasant for the rest of us.
i hope she learns to keep it in longer soon. haha.

Cassidy is one heavy dog

2006-01-09T20:06:00.000+08:00

i weighed both my dogs today and shock shock horror!!

Cassidy is now 5kg!!! FYI, she was less than 2 when i got her 3 weeks ago. and when i brought her to the vet 2 weeks back she was only 2.4kg. so she's more than doubled her weight since in the last 2 weeks!! and she's only going to be 3 months old in 2 days!

she's rapidly losing her puppy cuteness. boo! haha, but still cute la. :)

Berri, despite being so much bigger (in size) than Cass, is only 9kg! (i think she lost weight) She looks really fat and fluffy though, must be all that fur. haha.