Loopie - Joop

overcast with showers. that's what it looks like today. all gloomy and rainy. my fav weather for sleeping in. it's been raining since midnight last night. sometimes it feels like the hurricane is about to come, with the winds howling and the rain beating down on the shutters. i hope we never have to endure a hurricane here, although a small part of me is a little curious. maybe just a short and sweet hurricane, not a full-blown one thanks.

PICT0070 , originally uploaded by hypnotiq_joop . this pic was taken by hao-e on the way to astwook park from horseshoe bay. well, initially i thought it was a rather uninteresting pic. now that i took a second and third look at it, this is how bermuda looks like. there've been people who've been asking me, how the hell does this place look like. i've tried posting pictures of this island, but somehow this picture is the most realistic so far. my view from the driver's seat is like this most of the time. i dun take the ferry at all, so i'm deprived of the beautiful bermuda from the water. isn't it funny? things always look better from the outside (i.e. from the water), but once you get into it and explore it from within (i.e. on the road) the view seems less pretty. this applies to so many things in life. still lurve this place, dun get me wrong.

Was just playing around with blogger today and found a new feature. if you look just below the picture, you'll see a mini poll there where you can put in what you would be doing this national day. This year's national day falls on a thurs, so i suppose a third of the population especially in the civil service have taken leave on fri and perhaps even the following mon to take a vacation or just prolong the weekend. what will you be doing this holiday? If i were in Singapore, i'd probably take MC on fri if my leave isn't granted. And i'll just hang around at home on thur, go frantic shopping on fri when there're less people out, get my frens to go for ktv on sat and sleep in on sun. But since i'm here, there won't be anything special to do on that day. BUT instead of Aug 9, Bermuda's Cup Match weekend is on thur and fri Aug 2-3. these are public holidays here and there are cricket matches to watch. but i'm not into cricket. ah well, we

If yes, my condolences for enduring 2 hours of an absolutely absurd and thoughtless storyline. Can you imagine a bald guy dodging bullets, jumping out of cars, getting bashed around, getting shot at by an F35 and not get seriously hurt until the very end when he shoots himself in the shoulder? Sigh... he really is finding it very hard to die. If not, please take my word for it. DON'T WATCH IT.

We just came back from watching the show at Little Theatre. Hao-e was droning on and on about wanting to catch the movie asap. He woke up from his nap at 2.10pm and made us rush down for the 2.30pm show. I very nearly killed him for it! (You know how i value planning etc.) Anyway, the show was entertaining, though without subtitles, and the sound system being not so top-notch, i found it a little difficult to catch about 10% of the conversations. Didn't ruin the show for me. But Hao-e found it least entertaining of all the HP movies. Yeah well, there is no happiness unlike the Philosopher's Stone, no thrill unlike the Chamber of Secrets, no kinship unlike the Prisoner of Azkaban and no suspense unlike the Goblet of Fire. All it has is darkness, death and a general feeling of dread, as if everyone's just preparing for the inevitable. I suppose, for people who haven't actually read the book, the movie being only 2 hours long is tad short when the entire book is l

It's the beach darlings! and a really fine beach too! Went to horseshoe bay twice this weekend, once at 1pm on Saturday. bad move! it was scorching hot!! never am i going to be conned into going to the beach at that time again! Sunday was pierre's birthday party at horseshoe bay. and there was beach volley too. someone baked this really nice custard-y thing called milktart which is apparently a south african favourite. heh. once i get a beater, i will try out the recipe i found on allrecipes.com. btw, never knew the south african men were so sporty, brawny and not bad looking at all.

I've always driven by this park in warwick and thought, "wow! this looks vaguely like cornwall's rugged landscape." Astwood park is popular with couples who dream of taking their vows right next to cliffs and the atlantic ocean. if we weren't married yet, i would dream of holding an engagement party right there in the park too! See the gazebo and chairs, bet some couple just threw their singlehood away over there!

Have been listening to some old CDs burnt by an old friend from stanford. KTV sessions were worth looking forward to because of you dear. the short time we had in stanford didn't allow our friendship to grow as much as i would have liked. but you were the dearest to me, cooking porridge in your room, making jokes during classes, having lunch together and just plain chatting about everything under the sun. i miss cantonese lessons with you, and i definitely miss your laughter. coming back to sgp didn't help of course since we both got busy with work. I'd just like to say a big thank you for the CDs you burnt for my birthday 3 years ago in 2004, and the wonderful photo album of memories and voices you gave me. no matter that we haven't kept in touch for ages, you are always in my heart for being my best friend in stanford.

Am now watching the tv series, Corner With Love. (Last 6 episodes to go...) This time its the gal that is rich, talented and (supposedly) beautiful. well, i can only say that barbie hsu isn't my type. furthermore i think her acting hasn't improved since her meteor garden days. in some scenes when she's poor, she looks exactly like shancai. ha. alan luo is however surprisingly honest and refreshing to watch, though he doesn't get my heart beating unlike... DEAN FUJIOKA or fujioka tatsuo. gosh, he's unbelievably good-looking. this picture doesn't do him any justice. i'll go look for more.

watched shrek 3 after getting home at 9pm last evening. certain parts were funny, but i still thought the first 2 installments were funnier though. a bit disappointed cos my hopes and expectations were quite high after c told me she really enjoyed it. i didn't really like the high school part which i thought was pretty unnecessary, and would have preferred it if they stayed with the fairytale character thingamie without having king arthur and the worcestorshire people put on an american accent.

We were at Elbow Beach yesterday, enjoying some sun after slathering on dollops of sunscreen of course (as if i haven't had enough, nah, i really haven't) the pinkish sand and the aquamarine sea. Hao-e couldn't stop gaping. We pitched our tent on the beach and i proceeded to stare and gawk at the bods around me. all these pictures were taken sneakily from within my tent. Don't you just feel like relaxing too? Actually our main aim was to play some beach volley. the boys had to get the net from the volleyball association and set it up. it took a while, and hao-e said the net was darn heavy to carry... psst: besides the brawn, there was a russian lady lena that's so pretty. i couldn't stop staring at her. and it was the first time in years that i've heard someone (kasey) actually shout 'bollocks'. so endearing these brits are.

Kenna nagged by jo, hk and sy that there aren't any photos of my shopping spoils in new york. didn't have much time to buy much lah. but i had a lot of fun just looking at the shop windows and admiring the wares. Let's see what i'd bought: 2 pairs of shoes, 3 pairs of socks from Daffy's. I love the yellow shoes, they are so cute and comfy! The first time i wore them here in bermuda, i received a compliment! guess they are too bright. haha... 2 dresses, 1 t-shirt and a hat from H&M. This is my favourite store but the lines for the fitting rooms are horrendous. i could have died of exploding leg veins while waiting. 2 t-shirts, 1 bag, 1 pair of shorts with suspenders from Uni Qlo. It gives me great jap-piness to wear these things, and imagine my hubby to be takuya kimura. ah.... 2 t-shirts from American Eagles. Darn cheap like USD9+ each. damn essential for the weather here in bermuda. other mundane stuff i bought include loads of chinese food (noodles, ferm

Total waste of time. the 2nd installment for Fantastic Four sucks big time. Corny-to-the-extreme storyline, bad effects, worse acting. Even Jessica Alba's bare body couldn't save this show. Thank goodness we didn't pay $$ to watch it. a real flop.

"More than meets the eye" How many afternoons did i spend in front of the tele watching cartoon after cartoon? There were smurfs, sesame street (not quite a cartoon but still kiddy), he-man, and of course transformers. of course then, i wasn't particularly happy watching transformers , he-man was much more entertaining i find, but it was on channel 5, so i watched it. i recall finishing up my sums and whatever homework i had in front of the tele while waiting for mum to (hopefully) not burn dinner. ( in those days, my mother's cooking left a lot to be desired. hee...) Hao-e and i watched transformers last friday evening at liberty theatre. a proper cinema i might add, for this island's standard at least. he was the fan, and i was just there to have fun. it was pretty entertaining, and i absolutely dig the visual and sound effects, my gosh, the screeching metal-sliding-over-metal sound, so shrill, so grating, yet way COOL . leaving out the storyline, and the

This week, my mum will be away in Genting and my sis will be spending the weekend in Bangkok. aiyoh... i want to go too.

I wouldn't even call it a cafe. Aggie's Cafe is a really small, family-run establishment that takes pride in serving healthy home-made snacks and light meals using fresh local produce. i had their squash soup last friday and was plesantly surprised that there was no compromise on the taste and flavour despite the use of ultra healthy ingredients. it is proof that healthy food can taste real good too! salvation is at hand! This first photo shows the entrance to the cafe. note that there is no seating within the narrow cafe. Seats with tiny table are placed outside alfresco facing the water. see 2nd picture. This 2nd photo shows the view of the harbour with paget and warwick parishes on the far coast. a very casual and relaxed atmosphere, perfect for a beautiful day on the island. and mind you, this cafe is popular, we had to give up our seats to 2 elderly ladies after 1 hour there, cos it is so small, seating is really limited. many just take away and go to the nearby poi

He's missing a torch, and why has his crown turned green? no wait... the statue of liberty is a female. He's an ordinary male! why is this man with a goofy grin posing as the famous symbol of the free world? well, because we were at the observatory deck of the empire state building, and we didn't want to buy the extortionately priced souvenirs. keke... We just returned to the island last evening after 3 days of heaven in nyc. will be posting the photos on yahoo. you guys can have a look. http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/gin_na_tao/my_photos

Have you guys seen Evan Almighty yet? I think it is the feel-good movie of the year! made me laugh so hard i had tummy spasms after. yet certain parts of the movie were quite touching and thought-provoking, cos well, who has never thought of what God's plan is for us, what the meaning of our life is, and how do we "change the world"? Morgan Freeman played God again (our generation and those younger would probably think that God is indeed a black man!!), and in the show he said something to Lauren Graham's character Joan Baxter. the conversation between God and Joan in a diner went something like this, God: When you pray for patience, what do you think God gives? Patience? Joan shrugs. God: No, He gives you the opportunity to be patient. When you pray to be brave, does God give you courage or the opportunity to be brave? Joan shrugs and looks puzzled. God: It is the opportunity. And when you pray for the family t