Loopie - Joop

Heyhey. Was out playing texas hold'em with some of hao-e's college mates and guess what? I got lucky tonight!! Won $3.50 in total! HAHAHAHA! Some income for someone who will be living off savings and hubby for the next year! YEAH!!!

Ok, if you are into the organic food thingamie, go try Yogihub behind Tekka Mall. Darn nice and healthy (organic of course) food at affordable prices. Just look at the food presentation! Salivating just looking at the photos.

Yes!! We've finally made our pilgrimage across to the northern part of the island last night. Got there after 9pm after navigating through half of amk central to look for the bus interchange... heh... Anyways there was so much to see!! (and sometimes smell) We saw deers, tigers, lions, elephants, giraffes, tapirs, zebras, otters (my fav!), rhinos, pigs (babirusa being the cutest name i've heard), buffalos, hyenas and even jackals! I don't know whether all of them were noturnal, especially elephants and giraffes which we can see at the zoo, (they probably had 2 shifts, starting with the zoo in the day, and night safari at night). But in the ambience created by the dim lights and cool air due to the thick vegetation, it was really quite special. I would even venture to call it quite ethereal. For poor city kids like me who's only contact with wild animals is through the teletube or books, it was really an eye-opener. So the animals were fantastic. How about the people? I ...

Short excerpt taken from wiki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda : Bermuda (officially, The Bermuda Islands or The Somers Isles) is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the North Atlantic Ocean . Located off the east coast of the United States , it is situated around 1,100 miles (1770 km) northeast of Miami , Florida and 840 miles (1350 km) south of Halifax , Nova Scotia . The nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras , North Carolina , about 640 miles (1030 km) west-northwest (see Geography section below). It is the oldest remaining British overseas territory, settled by England a century before the Acts of Union and two centuries before the creation of the United Kingdom . Although commonly referred to in the singular, the territory consists of approximately 138 islands , with a total area of 27.7 sq. mi. (53.3 square kilometres). Compiling a list of these islands is often complicated, as many have more than one name (as does the entire archipelago, which, in addition t...

So i suppose everyone knows that i am currently on long leave from the office? Got a call and subsequently a letter from HR today about my PB. Looks like I will not receive it. Uhuh. Not that i mind much, cos (i) i don't suppose it's a lot, given my boss' "appreciation" of my work and (ii) in the old scheme of things, i would still haf to return the money if i quit while on leave. so there you go, i have forfeited my PB. And for the world's information, i am fine with it. Saves me the trouble of writing cheque later on. GOOD RIDDANCE!!!

Interesting Read: http://www.cjr.org/issues/2007/2/Graff.asp

Dear all, The very suaku me will be visiting the Night Safari for the first time tomorrow evening with Alice and Jo. Very excited. Went to surf the NS website (yeps, they call themselves "NS" in typical Singaporean fashion with no relation to the particularly dreaded short-term imprisonment all men in Singapore go through) - http://www.nightsafari.com.sg - and found itineraries online?!?!? wowee!! and of course a disclaimer that you are free to plan your own trip itineraries at the bottom. (read: control freak!) Haha.... so anyway, there are trails to walk on, tram rides, and animal shows (oops, it's sounding more and more like its neighbour the "SZG" a.k.a. ah meng zoo...), themed F&B and of course souvenir shops. I think i'd better steer clear of those shops in case i buy a hugh stuffed animal (which i'm likely to buy given current state of frenzied shopping in anticipation of possible lack of retail therapy overseas....) Think i will be suf...

Sent my dog over to my in-laws' place last sunday and taught my mum-in-law how to shower her, brush her fur, brush her teeth, etc. Things that i have gotten used to doing for my little girl. Very heavy heartedly left her there. It's been a tough 2 days at home without her whining, innocent looks, and playful prancing. How i wish we could bring her there straight away! I will just have to live with her pictures in my phone for now.... As always, being realistic and level-headed, we decided to leave her here till we find suitable accomodation. I really hope she still recognises us when we next come back here. Or else, i will cry.

Yeps, i had my tasty crabs again last night. Pined for them for so long, and i am now satiated. You guys have got to try the crabs with vermicelli at Seafood Paradise at Defu Lane. Super delicious, thick stock. Gorgeous.

Was flipping thru a photo album of mine, after adding in a couple of new photos i had developed of my colleagues, and realised that i have aged. I mean - I HAVE LOST MY INNOCENCE ! No more bright-eyed happiness for me... What happened? Who robbed me of it? Or is this just part and parcel of growing up? I know I'm no longer that young, but i wouldn't call 25 going on to 26 years old really that old right? Is this just life?? I am just puzzled.

You guys should try this: http://www.superfate.com.cn/channel_fortune/index.php For those who would like to watch the feel-good show, it's quite good. Earns a 8.5 out of 10 points for me. Spoilers below, so don't read on.... The gist: the movie was about C hris Gardner , who was a high-school graduate, working as a salesman peddling some scanning machine. Business was slow, and the family was behind in their rent and tax payments. That was in 1981. Chris had a 5-year old kid, Christopher, who went to day-care at SF's Chinatown, ran by Mrs Choo. Outside his day-care was a wall mural with the word "happiness" spelt wrongly as "happyness". The wife got too stressed working double shifts to pay for their bills, that she left Chris pretty early in the show. (That's not to imply that she wasn't a good mum. She left rather tearfully and reluctantly cos she couldn't take the stress.) So one day, Chris saw this man with a red ferrari and asked h...

Ok, i admit i went for Yoga class before. That was ages ago, during Stanford days. And most hilarious thing was, hubby was in the same class, and we saw each other in some of the weirdest poses ever!?!?! Anyway, so i took Yoga for a term. And basically didn't see any meaning in the meditation bits, or the incense bits, or the visualise energy flowing through your fingertips bullshit... Ah well, so it took a lot of persuasion from mum to get me to try yoga again... this time at amore this morning. very funny teacher with a thick american accent (not natural but not grating, thank God) and she's ultra flexible. none of that bullshit mentioned earlier. but boy are my bones stiff. can barely reach my toes now. i suppose with my back injury i was having trouble with all the poses, so it was quite difficult to keep up with my class mates. (all slithe and toned and tai-tai)... ah well, perhaps i should try pilates first. maybe it won't be so taxing....

What did i do yesterday? Went to the dentist first thing in the morning. she tried to make me do the expensive flouride treatment again. not going to get conned again. so i immediately replied " nothankyou ". hehe.... no probs with teeth, so went on a binge for breakfast. subsequently nuahed for half a day before heading west to see the topic of this post - Mr Zheng Gu IN THE RAIN . Pouring down from the heavens... gosh. soaking wet by the time we got there.... Zheng Gu Man is this 40++ year-old singaporean, of chinese descent, who's well-versed with the art of making good twisted ankles and pulled muscles. His real name is of course not Zheng Gu lah, but his shop on jurong town hall has a huge board saying "zheng gu" in chinese. He's amazing. A short 20 min consultation, where he tugged, pressed, massaged, kneaded, and basically caused a lot of pain to me, ended up with me having to pay him $50 for all that ... groan... Anyway, hopefully Zheng Gu Man has f...

Woke up this morning at 7am, as per normal, blamed myself for being a twit and promptly fell asleep for another hour. Do not need to wake up so early now.. remember? Collected my JLPT cert at bugis, spent some time in Topshop, committing my favourite sin i.e. shopping and spending money on some t-shirts and a pair sunglass. Then went to Cantonment Police Station to pick up my certificate of no criminal conviction. Yeps need that to get my visa into Bermuda. Had lunch at Hong Lim Complex - one of my favourite teochew dish, pig trotter jelly and some claypot rice. Mum and i went to people's park complex after lunch and i lost myself in the beads/charms/DIY jewellery store. Wendy warned me that i would have to purchase $80+ to get started and she was right! I haven't started doing anything yet, but am definitely looking forward to it. In the afternoon, enjoyed a class of belly blitz at amore. it was nice to sweat it out. More classes to come!!

Yesterday was the last working day for me at the office, was "busy" playing sudoku, pulling out the telephone line to stop it from ringing, talking to ppl, dumping and packing.... It has been 2.75 years! And the best thing (and i must thank HR for their wonderful job) about this place is the PEOPLE. No matter that HR screws up in career and individual development, they have definitely gathered a bunch of beautiful (literally, thank you!), smart and really funny people. (despite leaving the organisation, i still have a lot of things to say about them...) Here's just a sampling of some of them who's been supportive, motivated and generally great to be with... I would just like to thank God for His love and blessings, for I have felt the beauty of life and friendship through the love and care of the people who sit through long, boring meetings with me, go through the daily grind with me, stay late to rush out things with me, and generally just accompanying me through th...

Had a fulfilling lunch break. Popeye's 2-pc chicken set with coleslaw and coke. yummy, delicious and darn sinful. haha. a bit sad to leave this place mainly because of the ppl who have made these few years a little less long, less dreary... think i'm going to miss the bitching/swearing/complaining sessions over lunch, the jokes, gossips, etc. BUT i'm looking forward to not having nightmares about work, not having to cover asses over nothing, not entertaining requests from tenants, not handling the bosses, not changing drafts after drafts to change content to suit the next rung of bosses and not making ppl reply to you on email to get something down in black and white. haha! cheers!

Its Friday today!?? Been having a holiday at work.. clearing up debris and shredding loads of paper. my cubi is more or less cleaned up now. i'm ready to go.