Success

taste sweeter when it is achieved with with YOUR OWN HANDS.

I am really proud of my group.. we "PIA" everything in 2 days.. we worked on weekends from 11am till 6pm? We skipped lunch.. snacking and coffee passing around us..They even continued after that on sat..the gals slept at 3am somemore..

not that we dont want to start earlier... schedules do not allow us too.. with the timelines so goddamn fucked up.

anyway except for some hitches, its finally completed.. now all heave a sign of relief.. we gave our best.

now printed and ready for submission tonight.

and I have one LAST assignment for this semester.

One after another..

dear fetched me from work on thursday to hand in assignment in school.. after that we went West Coast Plaza for dinner... so big and empty -_- various eateries and a Cold Storage and nothing much..

Had Sushi Tei! hee thanks dear for the treat~ this was definitely the highlight of this busy week for me.. dear went back home with me after dinner..

Dear sent me to school on friday before he headed off to school to do his work too.
Went school at night for class.. had group discussion after class till 11+ then went supper with dear after that..

Was in school by 930am today for group assignment and ended around 5pm.. cause the student louge's closing..

gonna take a break tonight.. and continue tml.. done my part already.. now waiting for the others. Tml we shall compile and do the conclusion..

the light is near..

one more after this assignment which is due on monday

hang in there!

Dinner at Sushi Tei~

carpark of West Coast Plaza




katsu don

Both of us love this! miso soup base.. with snow crab
Great for the cold aircon place.

scallop baked in cheese~ melts in your mouth.. chewy..

tamago and unagi.. lethal combi.

I think

I am a very angry person nowadays tsk tsk
too easily agitated.. sigh

just finish another bloody essay.

Two more to go.

4000words and 2000words.

damn.

I am
so tired, stress at work, stress in studies, stress in meeting assignment datelines.

must work on my stress management.

I must

constantly remind myself WHY did I subject myself through this agony of working and studying at the same time...so as to make it more bearable.. to know it will be worthwhile in the end..

Ok fine.. I am complaining again.. I am trying not to let envy engulf me.. to make me lose my sight on my goals.. for the temporary pleasures in life.. I can make do without it.

DAMN, I should stop looking at facebook pictures.

*****

On friday, a classmate of mine came to my workplace to look for research materials for our group project... and I realised I am not the only who's "out of place" with the rest of the classmates.. not that I do not want to be with them.. the activities aint suitable for us anymore *laughs* and we talked about the extra burdens and responsibilities and also expectations that came with age..

On Sat, had breakfast with mum before making my way to school for group project before heading dear fetched me to go for the show "The Proposal".
Made me laugh and cry so much during the show.. the wonderful feelings of having a close family, never take them for granted...

THEN dear said he wanted to cook dinner for us. Heh. I was cautious whether it will be tiring and time-consuming, he insisted he wanted to make dinner. So we went grocery shopping at Carrefour and bought our ingredients.

SO.. our dinner was Surf and Turf lol with receipes he gained from watching online.

Had Icewine with muffins later at night too.. heavenly combination. We even made our way out to get ice-creams LOL and we watched Hell's Kitchen through the night.

Sun was woken up early by his family for breakfast around 8 in the morning. His sister brought us to Robertson Quay for english breakfast.. such as sight.. usually I will be there only at night but its a different feel altogether in the day..
anyway.. walked passed Double O.. and it brought back memories.. memories that made me SIMMER with anger... another reason I do not fancy such places now.

After breakfast, dear fetched his mum to work before sending me back home. And... today was spent writing up my essay again.. and later in the evening, went to visit grandpa and saw alot of other relatives.. and they talked and talked.. and 3 hrs just passed in a flash before we made our way back home.

Came back home to finish up the essay.. draft though.. and next few days will be editing and it should be ready for submission by wednesday.. hopefully.

AND thursday will be spent doing the next essay.. due next week.

Dear's cooking

Surf and Turf with grilled prawn

grilled tomatoes on vines

grilled seabass on asparagus with butter prawn


herbs used for steak

BReakfast at Robertson Quay






mine.. tomatoes.. mushrooms, peppers..


baked cheese, egg, shrimps

I am thankful for the nice meal again. :)

I think

I have become very "money-minded"

nono, not stingy .. but mindful of money.

seems like from the recent conversations, most revolved around money.. how they Need lots of it and how they gonna Spend lots of it.. even going into details of the allocation

such a realistic and materialistic world afterall..

but then, its good exposure..I learned lots.
you get to be mindful and careful and able to plan better.. for whatever reasons you have in mind.. not just for weddings and such..

and so.. I resolve to keep 5 digits in my bank all the time ><

***********
before that.. I need a new formal dress -_-"

More protection for parents

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_418924.html

it will be quite sad if the government has a enforce a "LAW" for children to take care of aged parents.. what happened to the "filial piety" practised by chinese and admired by others?

it is not because the children CANNOT afford to take care of their parents.. they do not want to.

"...He was responding to calls made by MPs on Wednesday to do more for elderly parents who do not get support from children who are financially able to do so.
Dr Balakrishnan - pointing to children who abdicated responsibilities and forced parents to turn to the state or charitable organisations - said this was unacceptable and unfair to the parents, charitable groups and taxpayers..."

and the children purposely became uncontactable by changing IC addresses and such..
well.. what cannot be done on will must be enforce by law, the sad truth..

to me, its like having double meaning.

-the children has the obligations to look after aged parents
-the government do not want to be burden with this responsibility
(..that is why the addition to all your medisave, longevity plans etc for the aged to look after themselves next time.. if you cant look after yourself after all these plans, and your children do not want the responsibility.. the gov will only be the last resort)

either way you see it, the aged parents are the suffering party

*******

i still feel.. no matter how rich or poor you are, parents should be given a monetary token..
"its the thoughts that count" do not apply here
unless the parents extort an unreasonable amount that is.
whenever we are out, i do not let them pay, even breakfast for mum, i buy for her lol
unless its casual family dinner where dad pays.

call me old-fashioned in this sense.

Who's that girl? Facebook entries stir jealousy

saw this from a friend's blog

http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20090814/tbs-us-facebook-jealousy-1d79e03.html
By MICHAEL HILL,Associated Press Writer AP - Friday, August 14ALBANY, N.Y. -

Alice Connors-Kellgren was surprised by her boyfriend's new Facebook profile picture a few weeks ago: He was kissing another girl on the cheek.

The picture was up only briefly. And she figures it was just a friend. But she plans to discuss it with him when they're back together this fall at Cornell University.

"We trust each other. Deep down, I know nothing is going on. But when you first see it, it's like `Oh my goodness! What's going on here?'" says the college student from Westchester County, N.Y.

All this friending, poking and picture-posting on Facebook can get you in trouble with your significant other. Couples are finding that old flames and flirty friends on the social networking site have a unique ability to stir jealousy and suspicion.

Jealous types now have to deal with brand-new kinds of provocations, such as a comment on their partner's wall from a possible romantic rival, or their loved getting tagged _ identified _ in a picture from an old relationship. Boyfriends and girlfriends can view all of this on their partners' walls.

"It seems like Facebook is creating jealousy even where there was not jealousy to begin with," said Amy Muise, a doctoral candidate at the University of Guelph's psychology department who led a recent study on how Facebook can spark jealousy in romantic relationships among college students.

She said Facebook doesn't necessarily make people more jealous than they would be normally. But all the information divulged on Facebook _ those answers to "What's on your mind?" and reactions to those posts _ can increase "triggers" for jealousy.

"Part of the issue with information on Facebook is that it lacks certain context, " Muise said, "so there could be things posted on your partner's wall that you really don't know what it means."

The study was based on anonymous online survey data from 308 undergraduate Facebook users, three quarters of them women. The study, published in CyberPsychology & Behavior, found Facebook users can get snagged in a "feedback loop": Their interest piqued by a cryptic wall comment, they become suspicious and start monitoring their partner's pages, thus finding even more suspicious information.

Dan Fitzsimmons, a 21-year-old University of Albany student, said he has had to explain Facebook photos to girlfriends in the past.

Samantha Siciliano, an incoming freshman at Quinnipiac University from North Adams, Mass., said she has become jealous over the back-and-forth on her old boyfriend's wall, especially from too-friendly comments like "You look cute."

"If your boyfriend is calling or texting another girl, you can't really see it. But on Facebook, you can see it and so can everyone else," Siciliano said. "So in a way, you do get jealous because he might be hanging his dirty laundry, and not only are you seeing it, but other people are, too."

Colin Booth of West Virginia University said he is not the jealous type, but finds it a strange, modern phenomenon to watch your girlfriend develop other relationships in real time on Facebook.

"It's been happening forever. You're with a girl, she meets a guy, they're friends at first," Booth said. "But it's the way you see it and what you see. And then you think: What's going on under the surface if this is what's going on in public?"

Laney Cohen, a 24-year-old who works in public relations in New York City, has a longtime boyfriend now in law school in Florida. She began noticing last year that her boyfriend was being tagged in photographs with a female friend who "kind of rubs me the wrong way." One picture in particular upset her: The pair were in a bar, and the woman was looking up at Cohen's boyfriend.

"I felt that it was a very couple-y picture to be in, and I freaked out and I called him and said, `This is disrespectful to me and our relationship. What if people start asking questions about why you're always hanging out with her?'" Cohen recalled.

This is not just a problem for young people, especially as more middle-aged people get on Facebook. Cohen said her father, after 29 years of marriage, was tagged in a 32-year-old photo by a former girlfriend. Cohen's mother was amused, not upset.

Muise said researchers are just beginning to learn all the ways social networking sites are changing the way couples relate. She cited the case of a young woman who found out her boyfriend broke up with her when she noticed he had changed his relationship status to "single."

For her part, Cohen said she and her boyfriend worked out their photo-tagging issue.

"He's either untagging photos or not showing up in the photos anymore," she said. "Either way is fine."

***********

so if you do not want to incite any hatred, stir jealously, provoke anyone etc, BE MINDFUL of your photos, "status updates", taggin etc

unless you want your whole network to know.

In the sun

150809

Dear fetched me after class to go supper at Al-Ameen at Bukit Timah.. and a stroll after that before heading back home.

We went IMM on sat morning for breakfast at Cafe Cartel.. hmm price comparable to Mac but foodwise of course much better.. and went grocery shopping at Giant after that.. dear's cookin! lol

Later in the afternoon.. went clementi to buy snoopi's food in the afternoon with mum..
the moment snoopi saw me taking his leash and his "gai gai" bag, he was running up and down the whole house and making really "sai jiao" noises.. he knows its time for "gai gai" -_-

Somehow.... price for a lot of pet food brands have risen.. snoopi's usual Timberwolf 15kg pack used to cost me around 140+ now it costs 200+ ..
Anyway I decided to switch brand cause we had recommendation from other schnauzer owners that Solid Gold is good. Bought a medium pack to try and hopefully snoopi will like it..will monitor his health regarding the new food.

Dear then sent us back home before heading back to meet his family.

At Cafe Cartel






smoked sausage and salmon belly .. that is not oil.. its cheese from the sausage

160809

Went to find dear in the afternoon at Paya Lebar before going East Coast for cycling.
Dear lives so near the sea yet we seldom make use of the chance to cycle.

Had a good workout haha.. leg muscle was so strained after that.. and it rained alittle while.. had to quickly find shelter.

AND we went KITE-FLYING!
AND it was so impromptu lol .. we saw people flying kites then decided to just buy a kite to try ourselves.. we never flew one before.
It was easy on the first attempt.. took us just a few minutes to get it up in the air.. but after we changed place, the wind decided to die on us and we made several futile attempts..

Dinner was at Old Airport Food Centre with his family.. thanks to his mum for the great dinner~

Dear then sent me back home and also to work this morning.



wind/solar powered generator

At Old Airport Road.




***********
and again.. the discussion of housing and upcoming weddings were part of the conversations with people around me.. and I learned alot.. like how expensive it is and the various details you need.

Budget wise you need 40-70K for renovation+furniture and around 20K for weddings..
Do the math and your timeline and you know how much you need to save per mth.

from the estimates of a friend who's a bride-to-be:

5k+ loss from dinner
4k photographer/ videographer
ang baos 1k+
paying for bridal package 3k +
traditional stuffs like 4 dian jin
excluding honeymoon

adding on, marriage is not just about the money but also about "mental preparedness"

And of course, it has to be mutual.

Virtual scrapbook

lazy me lazy to do scrapbooking for now..
so did virtual scrap pages instead :)




still cute eh? lol

Reach

Nothing is impossible.

**********


a self reminder.

Post National Day

Monday was spent trying to write out something for LM.. then dear came over with his mum to pick me up for dinner.

DInner was at IMM's Crystal Jade. We had steamboat buffet! surprising lol cause I have not heard of Crystal Jade buffet before.. but sadly, there werent any xiao long baos..

Still.. the ingredients were of good quality, especially the meat, the clear soup was good, the mala was kinda too salty yet not too oily.

I took polaroids of dear and his mum! lol, she seemed so pleased.
She talked about her Hokkaido trip with her colleagues.. and the things they did, seen, ate and admired.. seems so fun~ I admire their persistence.. they travelled free and easy and had to do alot of walkin.. but they had the chance to see 3 festivals, climb mountains, steambaths and walk around the markets and so much more~
Afer dinner, we had a walk around GIANT for some grocery shoppin too hahah

Later at night, they fetched me home and I went back to "k" notes again..
But I am still thankful for that welcome "distraction" :)



fried fish skin




"carp fillet"

bacon

pekin duck!

Our 6th yr Anniversary

was really full of fun and laughter.

Dear came to pick me after school on friday and we went supper at East Coast Food centre before heading for alittle night fishing. It feels good to just having the cool sea breeze in my face..

Saturday morning was spent at ParkWay Parade.. dear brought me to buy present... spectacles! lol we chose from a few frames before deciding on one. After choosing, I went to check my degrees.. when the person told me, my degrees was close to none -_- so no need spectacles.
Its only 0 and 75.. dear was feeling kinda sad cause his plan failed ah I did not realise my degrees dropped.

Anyway, after that, we went Marina Square and my treat for dear was KENKO fish spa and massage lol our first time for both.

Dear was worried... as he was ticklish. BUT we survived LOL. Proud of dear.. lol and the massage was good.. as usually I have low tolerance for pain but it wasnt that bad afterall..
Shall try the full body massage soon.

And we had Seoul Garden beforewe went to watch GI JOE. Luckily we booked tickets in the morning already.. it was full house till midnight..

GI JOE was GREAT! much better than Harry potter >< I still prefer action movies. Graphic was great, plot was engagin till the end.
Before the show.. we walked past all those UFO catcher machines.. then dear decided to try out of curiousity. And he caught one with 3 tries LOL.

This anniversary...I felt like we were relieving our early dating yrs.. especially during his NS days..

Despite the seriousness in me, its good to let down my hair and be young again :P
Dear always mention that we should enjoy life.
That I agree, BUT I wont just enjoy the present, I will live and plan for the future too heh.


dear's mum came back from Hokkaido and got us this kissing mossball LOL

busy fishin for sotong~

Breakfast at Parkway

KENKO fish spa

washing our feet first.


worried

looking on...


ticklish LOL
there were a few ponds.. we couldnt take one of the ponds though -_- too drastic for us..
the rest of the ponds with smaller fishes were more bearable

and we had the massage too ..
we felt so much better after that..
will go back for more.


Seoul Garden~ dear had craving for this




and dear caught this! luckY~
one more to my collection LOL.
so now.. I have a dog, a bear, hippo, cow, monkey and now a dolphin