Happy 23rd Birthday to Shirlene!!

18th November 2008 = Shirlene's 23rd Birthday~

Shirlene said 23 years old is considered old liao... maybe she forgot that the person she's talking to is already 30 bah... hmm... wonder if that's a compliment to me *haha*

Anyway, we went to Ritz Carlton to have buffet dinner earlier to celebrate her birthday. Yes, it's my treat but don't say I'm rich wor~but their buffet is really good. Didn't know that tonight's theme was Oyster's Nite, but usually they serve good oysters and other seafood.

There were 5 different types of oysters from different countries, and I tried them all!! I read the description tags but I can't seem to remember the exact contents, so I can only provide a super brief description and my after taste thoughts.

Oyster 1 = from New Zealand, stated as the most nutritious oyster. Due to its big size, it has a thicker and creamy taste compared to the other oysters. No wonder they say it is very nutritious~

Oyster 2 = from France, stated as a fine oyster. This oyster is the thinnest among all, can eat more and the "oyster taste" is not that strong... newbies can eat this for a start but I dunno where else got sell.

Oyster 3 = from dunno which country but I think I saw the word "Irish". Anyway, this oyster has a natural salty taste to it due to the place it's from.

Oyster 4 = from France also, has a more rounded shell and smaller compared to the others. Although it's small in size, the "oyster taste" is stronger wor...

Oyster 5 = can be found in three places but I forgot where liao *haha old age lah* this type of oysters is what we usually eat (I think so cos they are placed at the same place in abundance). This is also what attracted me to the buffet dinner specifically at Ritz Carlton. Anyway I wonder why I suddenly feel sleepy after eating the 5 types of oysters wor~ cos after that I slowed down in my other food consumption liao... maybe too nutritious?

Ok enough of oysters' talk... Let's talk about the complimentary birthday cake that the restaurant had prepared for us.

One coffee flavoured cake + birthday song sang by the restaurant staff + background birthday music by the band (not rubber band leh, it's those who play the violin, piano, cello etc). Oh, and it was me who notified the staff when I called to make the dinner reservation *ahem* good hor?

Gathering on 18 Oct 08

Been meeting up with friends for consecutively two nights... but I love the gatherings, even though I am a listener most of the times *hehe* cos I simply love their company!!

Went to meet up with Shirlene's Secondary School classmates who are also my friends at City Hall earlier... seen them grow up since 8 years ago k? There's Cynthia, Grace and Yoke Yip (other people call her Jade lah, but I want to call her Yoke Yip *hehe*). Karen (our favourite CNN newscaster) can't make it cos of some personal reason and THAT Shiqi needs to celebrate her anniversary with her *honey*~ The last time Shirlene and I met up with Cynthia, Grace and Shiqi was like at least 1.5 years ago... Yoke Yip was even longer... and now she has become such a pretty (and sporty as usual) lady *haha* (erm... ok the rest of the girls also pretty actually *Ah Sze is always fair*)

Anyway, we had dinner at Shokudo (Japanese style Marche) and that was recommended by Yoke Yip. 1st time there for me... not a bad place for makan and gathering~ Here are some photos taken at Shokudo >>>

The "late for 2 hours" Cynthia and her dinner set

The Grown-Up Theresians

The sweet look

The happier look (after some motivations from me *hehe)

Shirlene killing the Green Tea ice-cream

After that we went to Starbucks to continue chatting... I had fun listening to them recalling about their school memories and we can laugh until the tears come out lor~ starting from Grace as usual... Here are some photos taken at Starbucks>>>

The Theresians again

We are the Mao Family (not the China one)

So nice to be hanging out together
(but dunno where Cynthia is looking lor)

After that we went to take more photos at Raffles City (these two nights I've been busy taking photos lor~) >>>

Timer shot which I had re-adjusted the brightness of the pic

Ahem... the thorn among the roses?

Taking pics at Raffles City after closing hours

Yoke Yip trying to test our reflex during a sudden candid shot

Beauties and the Beast

Shirlene the Milk Maid to-be

Trying to be funny with the poor cow
(except for Grace)

Wonder if the cow is happy or sad to see us posing

A decent group photo with the cow

All of us treasure the moments that we share although none of us said it out during the meet-up... it was FATE that brought us all together regardless of where we come from or the difference in age (between me and them of cos)... Thanks for being my FRIENDS~~ you make me HAPPY~~

Gathering at K-Box

It's been a long time since we went to KTV together... too bad Liling can't make it... but thanks to Shufen who organised this gathering to celebrate Baoli and Lishan's birthday... cos I rejected being an organiser *haha bad Ah Sze*

All of us enjoyed the night and we were so busy taking photos with each other that the songs were not sung properly. Wonder if we booked a KTV room to take photos or to sing song actually... Anyway I'm so glad that we are still meeting up often and have been good friends for 16-17 years since Secondary School times (some even longer~ since Primary School lor...) Guess we're the only clique from our class who are meeting so often bah?

I love you all *hehe*

Glad we're still as close

The Result

The long-awaiting application result is out!!

Just got the confirmation from the sole winner earlier on...

Haha... heard from him, only 1 out of 37 got it, and I'm glad that the winner came from my department. Well, Zul is good and I think there's only one last stage before he's offically accepted bah - medical assessment *hehe* that one should pass easily lah~

Anyway, it's a good experience afterall, having the opportunity to talk to No.2 in the hierarchy and other people whom I had never seen before haha...

Next plan in life>>> save money

A Call For Papa

I just received a call at my house from an auntie... and she asked to speak to my father... who had passed away for almost 4 years liao!! I was kinda speechless cos I dunno how she'll react if I said "He die liao leh"... luckily my mum was home and she heard me said my dad's name quite loudly in surprise. So she came to take over the phone and I was laughing away when she told the auntie that my dad had passed away since Dec 2004. The auntie did not believe and still said that she had recently saw my dad and had now wanted to ask him to help her do some painting job cos my dad was a painter. Dun think she would really want my dad to help her do the painting now bah... *haha* scary wor~

Anyway, after my mum had so-called chatted with her over the phone about my dad (though she dun really know who she's talking to *typical anutie*), that unknown auntie was finally convinced that my dad had really passed on *hehe* wonder who else would call and look for my dad again.

Still Waiting...

I am still waiting for the photos taken on Adrian and Baoli's wedding since 10th September 2008 for uploading in my blog... can't wait to share the Big Day with the rest of the world, even though they might not be interested *haha* but at least there are a handful of MY readers wanting to see the beautiful bride and her handsome hubby, who had been smiling the most number of times in his life on that day and night~ cos usually he's camera shy.

Well, good things are worth waiting for mah... so I will continue to wait... and wait... and wait...

Happy Birthday to My Beloved Buddy!!

Happy Birthday to Baoli!!!

Gave her a dinner treat at Waraku Reastaurant - Novena Square 2 to celebrate her birthday earlier at 7pm since I have to work 24hrs later on. If not she can grumble for at least a year for not having the time to celebrate her birthday... As usual, the Fantastic 4 (Baoli, Adrian, Shirlene and I) were there *hehe*

Anyway, Shirlene and I gave Baoli a little surprise during the dinner - 2 slices of cakes bought from "Canele" cafe beside Shaw House, as her birthday cake and asked Waraku staff to keep it until we finished our food.


We sang the birthday song as usual but have to sing it softly cos we're old liao, so can't malu ourselves in public like youngsters do. After that Baoli made her wish (or wishes since she can be quite greedy sometimes *haha*)... just hope her wishes will come true soon~


I am quite proud of my N95 8GB handphone cos I took these photos with it... and also my photography skills not bad cos I press the button at the right timing *hehe*


Buddy ah... Hope you will be happy everyday and may good health stay with you always wor~ *genuine wishes, no guilty feelings involved cos you always dun trust my words leh*

"อยากรู้...แต่ไม่อยากถาม" (yahk roo ... tae mai yahk taam) by Calories Blah Blah

Anyone watched "Bangkok Love Story" before? I like the thai song that was played during the movie wor~ sound nice even though didn't know what he was singing...

Oh... by the way, "Bangkok Love Story" is about a gay couple in Bangkok and also covered the issue about AIDS problem in the country. It's a sad movie especially about the AIDS issue... made me cried lor~ (but I cry easily during movies lah *haha*)

Here's the KTV song with the original singer>>>



This is the song with some clips from the movie>>>



Anyway I was lucky enough to have a nice friend who happened to have that song and found the translated lyrics for me>>>

Just to feel your breath,

just to spend time together,

just to be friend,

but it's hard to stop feel'in it

what i still wondered,

is how you really see me.

I love you but it's hard to say so.

Pre-Chorus:

What is inside, should be kept inside.

What we have today is already good, isn't it?

just to stay close till the last breath

the time we spent together

the time we were friend

but it's more than the heart longs for...

if you go with your heart ....

deep down inside what do u think of us?

no matter how much i love u..

i'll never able to say it...

all the love i have for u... need to be kept inside

if it gives us this much happiness... let it be

chorus:

do u every have feeling for me?

do u every glance my way?

the place that we spent together...what does it mean?

do you ever have feeling for me?

it's your true feeling i seek for..

but, i keep the question to myself...

because i don't want to ask...

i'm afraid that you'll drift away...

it's better to not ask...

coz'i know that we're questioning same thing..

and afraid the answer will break our hearts

(afraid that my heart can not accept it)

Have you ever have a room for me?

Have you ever looked at me?

Who are we really to each other?

Have you ever have a room for me?

That's only what i wanted to know.

It bothers me but i'm afraid to ask.

I'm afraid that you might change.

(I'm afraid it might be unbearable)

Verse2:

I'd better not asking,

since it might break my heart.

A Way of Supporting

Juz got to know that one of my best friend's hubby has officially started his online business... and he's also one of my other best friend's elder brother. His name is Kenneth and you can say he's a mischievious 'boy' if you know him well enough. Anyway, here's his online shopping website and he didn't ask me to post this here lah... I juz feel that I need to show some support as a friend (ahem... my initiative) lor *hehe*... help him create some awareness to the potential online shoppers *wonder if he'll reduce the number of times he disturb me if he sees this haha*

Check this out

http://www.laedee.com.sg/

Wish Me Luck - Part 3

I had gone for the psychologist interview on 4 August 08 and the Final Board Interview had been fixed on 22 August 08 in the morning...

Didn't perform well for the mock interview prepared by my internal people on 13 August 08 and I expected it... was feeling kinda groggy after I took the cough syrup in the afternoon and the mood just wasn't there~ anyway I got the necessary advices during the mock session and shortly after I went back to rest... cos my eyes really cannot tahan liao~

Anyway, I'll definitely give my best for the thing that I wanted to achieve and hopefully things will go my way that important day. The remaining thing that I need is LUCK~ so wish me lots of it and we'll see how my career goes... hehe

2nd Trip To Racha

People might be wondering why we chose to stay at the same resort again...

Reason is simple - we know it's worth the $$ and the staffs are friendly enough to make us feel comfortable.

Well, this is going to be a long post cos I'm compiling the 8 days trip in Racha *hehe*.

The 1st day when we arrived at the waiting lounge at Chalong Bay Phuket to take the 1st boat to Racha, it started to rain heavily. We had to put on the disposable transparent poncho that the staff gave us cos we had to walk to the jetty area to ride on the shuttle bus, which would then bring us to the speedboat. (fyi: all timing in the photos are in Singapore time so please minus an hour for Thai time, in case you are interested to know when I took the photo *hehe*)

The Shuttle Bus

Shirlene said I brought the rain over cos during the previous trip at Racha on one particular day, it would start to drizzle whenever I took off my T-shirt for a tan or swim... and I did wear my swimming costume so dun think otherwise hor... that's when my new nickname appear - Rain God.

Anyway, coming back to my narration, it continued to rain for the whole day and so there was no outdoor activities for Day 1. The Sun came out to play on Day 2 and both of us spent almost 4 hours (unknowingly) under the Sun swimming, tanning and reading novels at the Infinity Pool... and because of the long hours, our 1st outdoor activity resulted in sunburns. And the worst thing was... we didn't apply the suntan lotion that we brought and left it in our villa, cos we were too excited to get under the Sun *stupid duo*. After we were burnt and became red skinned, we then started to apply the suntan lotions on the subsequent days, which we know it's too late but had to minimize further "cooking".

Our Deluxe Villa

Abit of sea view from our villa

New shades from Oakley

The Singapore NTUC plastic bag followed us whenever we went for our swim

The Infinity Pool where we usually hanged out

The swimming items + Racha's complimentary water + Shirlene's novel

The novel which I borrowed from the Racha Library to read by the pool
(the ending sucks and I even had a nitemare about it *nonsense me*)

The consequence for not applying suntan lotion during the 1st tan
(no afterburn lotion either - everything was left to Fate)

We finally tried the ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) as promised from the previous trip and it was so exciting and fun... it costs 1000++ Thai Baht (subject to 10% service charge and 7% VAT) per person and a guide from Racha would bring us tour around the island using the ATV.

The patient tour guide called "Banthao" teaching Shirlene how to maneuver
the ATV using the gears cos we never ride a motorbike before

Ready to tour the Racha Yai Island on our ATV

Some free-roaming cattles we saw during the ATV tour

We visited another resort on the island called "BanRaya"
but I dun think any of you would want to stay there...
(ps: there was another couple who were with us on the ATV Tour)

Reason No.1 for Rejection: Insufficient chairs for tanning
(I only spotted 4 - maybe they know their occupancy rate standards)

Reason No.2 for Rejection: Who would want to sit on the chairs under the Big Creepy Tree?

Reason No.3 for Rejection: Check out the Public Toilet location
(guess they want to maintain a balance with the Nature)

My No.16 ATV could not get started on the engine after this photo shot
(poor Banthao had to "jump start" it for me down a slope and he is skillful lor, but he kept reminding me not to turn off the ATV engine during our breaks)

Another beach around the island which is quite isolated
(gives me a "free land" feeling when I see how empty the beach is)

Natural stream forming from the sand leading to the sea
(wonder if one day the whole beach would be split into two sectors)

Close up of the sand giving way to the stream *amazing nature*

Our Great ATV Guide - Banthao and my problematic No.16

We also went to the beach and got ourselves a body board each from the Sea Sports & Activities Centre to surf the waves... didn't get any shots of the surfing cos we can't risk losing my buddy's Samsung 8.2 Megapix DigiCam if we were to bring along and leave it lying around while we enjoyed lying along with the waves - my head will roll lor...

During the last few days in Racha, Shirlene decided to learn some cycling. So the Helpful Ah Sze rendered her humble service after their breakfast (which ended at 11am - nice time) and managed to rent (for free and unlimited time) the smallest bicycle we can get for learning purpose. She practiced along the straight pavement near our villa, and tested the downslopes to get some auto movement started. Sweats dripped like free flow water under the hot Sun and still she persevere... it was a good try and we decided to switch to swimming which was more relaxing since there wasn't any success... anyway, you did your best Shirlene, *hehe* next time we try again k?

The Hardworking Shirlene

The Helpful Ah Sze

As usual, we took some photos of some nature creatures we came across outside our villa...

Oh, I remembered one funny encounter we had with the female staff over a phone conversation. We were preparing cup noodles in our villa at about 4pm plus (Thai time) when we realised that we needed one more fork. Shirlene called up Housekeeping thru the phone and requested for a fork.

This was the fork we requested

Shirlene: Hi, this is room 316. Can I have a fork please?
Staff: Mdm, you want fork? (based on what Shir told me from her hearing)
Shirlene: Yes, I want a fork.
Staff: Ok Mdm.

Then we waited for the 2nd fork while Shirlene started with her eating. After she was done with her noodle, I took over the fork and eventually finished my noodle... but the fork had not arrived. About half an hour later, there was a knock on the door and when Shirlene went to open it, this was what she received...

Newspaper + Goodnight Card + Orchid
(this was the standard evening items given)
+ Frog (meant for putting outside the villa door to represent "Do Not Disturb")

We were confused for a moment and wondered where was our fork, and then we realised that the staff had mistakenly thought that we had requested for a "frog" when we told her we wanted a "fork". Luckily I did not wait for the "frog" for my noodles, if not maybe I could have "frog legs noodles" bah~ *haha*

There was another nonsense incident we created... one particular day after our room had been made up by the Housekeeping staff, we climbed onto the bed to watch TV and suddenly I saw some blood stains (about 1.5cm in length) underneath the quilt cover. We were shocked and checked ourselves but did not spot any injuries. So we requested the Housekeeping to change the quilt cover immediately... but I kept thinking how was it possible that they could have missed out such an obvious red stain when the quilt cover was white in colour? Anyway the quilt cover was changed, and the staff gave us the usual Goodnight Card and Orchid (and it's not yet evening time *haha*). The next day, I used the towel to wash my hair and prepared to go for breakfast. Shirlene then told me that there was another similar stain on the towel. So I asked her to check my head if there was any cut and she said no... There wasn't any other cuts on my hands as far as I know so it remained a mystery... where could the blood come from??

Anyway, I dunno which day that I discovered that I had a 1.5cm cut (wounds already dried up) at the back of my elbow... and I really dunno when and how I got injured cos I didn't felt any pain and if I had knew that the mysterious blood had come from me, I would have wash off the stain on the quilt cover on my own in the first place liao *hehe paiseh leh*

My mysterious injury

Hmm... I wonder if Racha had put our Villa number under the "Beware" category during our stay since both of us are really nonsense *haha*