Loopie - Joop

stagnant ˈstagnənt/ adjective ( of a body of water or the atmosphere of a confined space) having no current or flow and often having an unpleasant smell as a consequence. showing no activity; dull and sluggish. Ever felt like this?

Had some friends over on Saturday for a poolside summer grill party.  I've known these people for a long time, 14 years to be exact... Didn't take any photos as it was too dark, mental note to self: take pictures before the sun sets for the next BBQ party.   And thank God for hungrybbq .  Excellent food, i wouldn't have had the nerve to hold a BBQ party in July without you. Then on Monday, we trooped down to Corb's house to see her newborn son Tyler.  This bunch of friends, we go way way back.  Like 20 years... (!) Stay the same darlings! Besties and little Tyler!

Fantastic looking eh?  Was hoping to have some tori king ramen last week, but the queue was too long, so my colleague and I ended up at this place called Jeju Korean Restaurant. We were actually seated in a private room! For a party of two! Apparently the seafood used in the restaurant are specially air-flown in! I had the spicy seafood soup, and it had doenjang (korean bean paste) in it which I absolutely adore.  It was seriously good!  The picture doesn't even show the sashimi and starter salad! Yumz!  A bit pricier than WTB, but for a slightly different twist on Korean food, it was quite worth it!     Jeju Korean Restaurant #03-11 100am 100 Tras Street

心有独钟 作词：洪尧斌 作曲：洪尧斌 编曲：屠颖 这种感觉从来不曾有　左右每天思绪 每一次呼吸　心被占据 却苦无医　是你让我著了迷 给了甜蜜又保持距离　而你潇洒来去 玩爱情游戏　我一天天失去勇气 偏偏难了难忘记 单单为你心有独钟　因为爱过才知情多浓 浓得发痛在心中　痛全是感动 我是真的真的与众不同 真正为你心有独钟　因为有你世界变不同 笑我太傻太懵懂　或爱得太重 只为相信我自己　能永远对你的心独钟 Do you know this song?  I realized  last Saturday that I can remember the lyrics by heart!  Funny that I wasn't even a fan of Daniel's by any standard but then again, this song was probably playing on 933 every day, that's probably why.   Hao-e and I were at the Polygram concert last Saturday.  The median age of the audience was probably around 40 since Polygram was instrumental in the 80's - 90's canto-pop industry.  We were there mainly because of Linda Wong...  Hao-e's teenage idol crush. Ha!  Although she looked a little matronly, she was friendly, chatty and she sounded very good.  She has never impressed me with her vocals, every time I hear her songs on Hao-e's PC I always think, yeah, she was an idol singer i.e. more looks than ...

Most of you know i'm quite the addict. I spend most of my downtime in dramaland, rom-coms are by far my favourite, period roms come a close second. My trusty ipad 2 with a flaking red cover is my favourite medium of choice.     The show I've been "chasing" for the past week? "Scarlet Heart".  It isn't new and it was oddly introduced to me by my dad.  Ha! [Our conversations if at all related to the telly usually involves him telling me to switch it off and go to bed already!]  I'm usually not a huge fan of mainland dramas but this one had Kevin Cheng (!) and everyone was talking about it, even my dad, so i had to see what the fuss was about!  [PS: hao-e reminded me that Kevin is Linda Wong's ex-boyfriend and Linda's dad the one-armed swordsman Wang Yu criticized him for his pedigree (lack of), disapproved of the relationship... Such makjang material that we see so often in weekend Korean dramas in real life! *face palm* Oh and we just saw...

炸鸡排便当 I tried the fried chicken cutlet bento on my second visit.  No real complaints on the taste.  My only grouse is the food temperature.  There are no cooking facilities at International Plaza so the food is pre-made and sent over presumably from their main outlet in Kallang.  Would have been much nicer if it were piping hot.  Makes me wanna fly over for the real stuff. Taiwan Railway Bento International Plaza #02-85A Open weekdays only for lunch http://www.railwaybento.com/

I'm a June baby and June's birthstone is... cue drum-roll... the pearl... despite the fact that pearls aren't actually stones according to Wikipedia "It is thought that natural pearls form under a set of accidental conditions when a microscopic intruder or parasite enters a bivalve mollusk, and settles inside the shell. The mollusk, being irritated by the intruder, forms a pearl sac of external mantle tissue cells and secretes the calcium carbonate and conchiolin to cover the irritant. This secretion process is repeated many times, thus producing a pearl." but are formed by secretion in response to an irritant,a la tears and nose poop I guess. Not a romantic process for such beauty, but hey... Stones or not, I do like wearing pearls. They have a soft luster, they pretty much go well with anything and they can dress up an outfit in no time. Unfortunately they are also favored by matriarchs. The key to not look matronly seem to lie in limiting the size of the pear...

John 10:27-29   “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” Hao-e's paternal grandfather passed last evening.  We got the call on the way to range practice, so we went back on the expressway and headed to NUH. All the uncles and aunties turned up, even most of the cousins were there, several of them I have not actually seen before.  It appeared that grandfather didn't leave specific instructions for his funeral so there was some confusion and details needed to be sorted out.  By the time we arrived back at my in-laws' place at 11pm the casket services were already setting up at the void deck.   This being the second death in our extended family this year, we sort of know what to expect.  But, this side of the family is qui...

In the wee hours last Sunday, i woke up with an all-too-familiar and much dreaded ache on my right lower back.  I knew I was going to be walking around like a 70-year-old that day and perhaps for a few days after as well. Since "the incident" a few years back, when I came out of the gym shower, bent over to pick up my gym bag and my back froze mid-motion, paralyzed, which started 2 weeks of writhing in hell, months of physiotherapy sessions, crazy number of warm compresses and heatpaks, I have been rehabilitating my lower back with Pilates and I swear by it.  Not only does it strengthen the core muscles that help support my spine, after years of practicing it regularly, I can now say that I am more conscious of my posture, the way I sit in the office, the way I walk, the position I adopt while doing chores, etc.  When the pain returns as it sometimes will, I also have a ready supply of advil and bengay to get me through the day.   So last Sunday, after realiz...

Attended 2 weddings recently, one of which I regretted going to because I was there as a '+1' i.e. not my circle of friends and the food sucked. [the cocktails kept me alive, thank God!]  slipped out of it as soon as they announced the start of games... gasp! to me those are games we are forced to participate in during corporate team-building events, you know those HR things where they herd us somewhere and make us say hi to the IT guy seated in the corner and ask each other's favorite colors, that sort of thing? shudder.  i will mingle when i feel like mingling, thank you.  The couple seemed nice enough, best wishes to you both.  warning: to those reading this post and happen to know which wedding reception i'm talking about, do not repeat this to the couple. i repeat, do not repeat this to the couple! The second wedding was a lot more pleasant, the first reason being we both know the bride and she looked happy, radiant and beautiful [as always], secondly it was ...