seventh heaven not

diane suggested checking out this new ice-cream parlour at 10 raeburn park. that's where my secondary school used to be.

due to a mis-com over sms with diane, i had not ask janet or doris along last night. had lunch with diane and jarad at coffee club at tiong bahru plaza. doris joined us too since she happened to be in town having lunch with thomas. janet and jeff couldn't make it at such late notice.

jarad is still mostly shy and not very vocal yet. the only thing that could get him excited is ice-cream! and that's the only word that i hear him say out loud.

but alas, seventh heaven was not meant to be. it's closed till 29th. :(

but i took the opportunity to show diane and doris around my old school compound. racking my brains trying to remember what used to be where. somehow, the place feels so much smaller than what i remember.

but our mission for ice-cream is still not accomplished so off we went to ben & jerry's at great world to satisfy jarad's need for ice-cream.

thanks, diane for the cool treat. :)

dinner @ 183

it's our traditional jcgang christmas eve dinner. something which we had going for at least 5 years but we still can't pinpoint exactly when it all started. maybe we're getting old. :P since the little ones have so much fun each year, i think it's something they very much look forward to each christmas.

we have settled into a routine on who gets what for the potluck dinner over the years. janet will get the basics like the staples and drinks. this year, jason and her had outdone themselves by making curry chicken, jelly and tiramisu! wow...

lynn has become the expert on mushrooms with herbs. she made something new this year, baked scallops with mayonnaise and cheese which everybody loved. the nigella fan had also made a very yummy spiced peach. delicious!

johann and diane are the de-facto providers of baked ham. and i'm the go-to person for salads. i tried my hand at making a roasted vegetables with salad greens. roasted yam, japanese sweet potatoes, pumpkin, baby carrots, baby corn, egg plants and capsicum. had lots of leftovers so i guess it's not well-received. :(

doris is the supplier of the highlight of the dinner - the christmas log cake. tracy and eric skipped our less than healthful dinner this year because of eric's current diet restrictions. siew leng and jeff also joined us after dinner.



the decibel levels has definitely gone up over the years as doris had remarked. i guess that's expected as the little ones become good friends and develop greater lung powers. from what i know, johann's and john's family are going to tokyo disneyland because janine and janelle said so.

amidst the festivities, more good news were announced... janet is pregnant! cayden is going to be big brother soon. guess whether he prefers to have a baby brother or sister?

and his answer is a sister! surprised? janet says that's because he doesn't want to share his clothes and toys with a younger brother. :) haha...

another good news of sorts came from me, i'm now gainfully employed since the 9th. that means i can't wake up whatever time i want or have late night online gaming sessions anymore. but adjusting to a working routine wasn't difficult, think i had enough rest and relaxation already. ;)

cheers!

dinner @ the pines

it's the office christmas dinner at the pine garden chinese restaurant. haven't been there since sl & jeff's rom eons ago.

the food was ok, an 8-course menu like having wedding dinner except there's no abalone. :P haha...

it was the ride there on the boss's beemer that's exciting. he was speeding and switching lanes like a race driver. kind of impatient driver i suppose. but what's the point of arriving on time?

we had to wait for more than 1 hour for those in pearlyn's car. duh...

seeni

seeni, one of our pre-sales guy is finally back in the office this week. he had been on a long vacation followed by kl for work so i didn't really get to know him since i started work here.

but today, we had to go down to the warehouse together... that usually means hq had screwed up. :P

so it was a chance to get to know each other on the way there and back. while waiting for effendy to escort us into the warehouse, seeni asked me how old i am. i made him guess.

and his guess was '25? 26?'. i really didn't know how to react. either he is being extremely glib or terribly lousy at guessing people's age.

when i showed him my temporary pass and told him that i'm already 36, the look of astonishment on his face was priceless. he just couldn't believe it. haha...

guess i must buy him a drink for making my day. :)

keppel distripark

sk needs to go down to our bonded warehouse at kd to sort out some issues with the items that hq had sent. she had asked bl and me along. for me, it's primarily to introduce me to the warehouse guys.

it's my first time in a bonded warehouse. didn't know quite what to expect...

first, got to register and pay to enter the distripark. that is in addition to our vendor sending our names and nric numbers to the counter for prior clearance. it costs $3.21 and i was given a temporary pass with my details and digital photo printed on it. they even put your age in brackets behind your name.

then we had to wait for shekar to escort us into the warehouse area just a short walk away. sk had already warned that the warehouse is rather warm and stuffy at times.

this is unlike my previous company's warehouse which is air-conditioned. the equipment here apparently is hardy enough to be stored in a regular warehouse. the scale of the warehouse operations is really much smaller than what i'm used to.

but some items are really huge though... especially the 10-foot antenna dish. sk called it the ufo. hehe...

amara sanctuary

kenneth's friend got a room at the resort and was lucky enough to be upgraded to a villa so i tagged along for a look-see.

it's gorgeous and a miniature of the banyan tree villa that i had toured in bintan some years back. both the room and living area flank the pool cum jacuzzi. the shower and bathtub are all outdoors, obviously designed for couples or honeymooners.

check out my pictures here.

1st day

was told to report to work at 9:30 am today so i took my time and had breakfast at home.

ian had sms-ed to say it's ok to wear polo-tee and jeans today since i might be required to do some stock take. found out that jeans are ok only for fridays, when visiting the warehouse or when the #1 and #2 bosses are not around. :P

dresscode is pretty much the same as my last job but fridays are much more casual since jeans and tees are allowed. nice!

office is very small [less than 20 staff] and very open concept, even more so than my previous company. so open that conversations on the phone isn't private at all since the cubicles are smaller and partitions are lower.

and because my laptop isn't ready, there isn't much that i can do in the office today except read and filling out some forms. :)

1st half marathon

slept late last night, woke up at about 5:00am to stuff myself with soya bean milk, cereal and banana to prepare for the half marathon at 6:30am... all the while keeping as quiet as possible so as not to disturb the sleeping ph and sl.

walked over to the start point in 5 minutes... am so glad that i stayed over at swissotel. :) if i had taken the shuttle bus, i would have to be at the clementi stadium at 5:00am! gosh!

i'm so not prepared to run the half marathon but what the heck? can always walk whenever i want to. i only aim to complete the 21km, not run the complete distance. ;)

the first half was still bearable, i wasn't running fast but just a really slow jog with stops at all the drinks station plus a toilet break.

then the muscle near-cramps started after the half way mark. first on my left quadriceps then on my right, followed by both my calf muscles. had to make a beeline for the deep heat rub stations and 'whiten' my thighs with the ointment.

from then on, i had to stop periodically to stretch and massage my legs so as to prevent them from having a full-on cramp. so i would run for a few minutes, stretch and walk for a long time until i'm ready to run again and the cycle repeats itself. at the last 2km, even my toes threaten to cramp up.

needless to say, i didn't meet my target of 2:30 for the half marathon. it was a disappointing 3:07:43 and my results were embarassing to say the least. of the 9090 who completed the half marathon, 32% were female and i was only ahead of 31% of them.

Average km is a crawling 8 minutes and 54 seconds and average speed is 6.7km/h.

7127th place in the entire field with 1963 finishers behind and about 78% of finishers ahead.

5112th place in the male category with 1051 finishers behind and about 83% of finishers ahead.

948th place in my age category [35 to 39] with 137 finishers behind and about 87% of finishers ahead.

just for comparison, the male winner of the half marathon completed the run in 1:08:02. that is less than half the time i took. if he can run at this constant speed, he could have ran 3 x half marathons in the time i take to complete 1!

what's worse? my ipod nike+ recorded a longer distance than 21km! argghhh....

dinner @ vienna

went down to meet sl & janet & family. they had already checked into the rooms at swissotel. yeah, we're all very serious with our standard chartered runs. hehe... ;)

after dropping off my bags in the room, i joined my folks at vienna at united square for buffet dinner to celebrate my dad's birthday. jan and wilson were rather late. somehow, estee and myself find the buffet spread kind of disappointing. i think we're getting tired of this place.

i did my carbo-loading by eating the sushi, maki and steamed savoury rice in bamboo. the maguro wasn't good tonight. had sake and tako sashimi and 5 oysters. estee complained that the oysters were not fat and big.

i also had a few servings of 芋泥 and cakes, all fuelled up for my half marathon tomorrow. :)

christmas cards

managed to get on with my christmas card project in the morning. did some embossed stamping. i like the silver embossing lots, think it's real nice. :) but my christmas stamp is breaking down, the sponge support has dried up and falling off in bits and pieces. :(

btw, if you receive a christmas card from me in the mail box, you're one of the lucky 22 on my very exclusive christmas mailing list featuring 1 of a kind handmade cards from yours truly. i wouldn't mind if you frame it up and tell your grandchildren about it. :P

dinner @ waraku

met up with amy & ml for dinner at marina square to celebrate amy getting wiser. :) however, getting wiser doesn't mean being more punctual leh. :P

went shopping for creative speakers and a 'little miss' tee for her when she finally turned up. saw a set of creative t3 speakers that were real cool... sounds great too, to my non-audiophile ears. we bought her miss bossy. thought it's fun... and also to amuse her staff when she wears it to work. haha...

after that, we went to queue for a table at waraku. while waiting for one, somebody behind the glass partition waved wildly at us... then i realised it was ph who got her friend's help to get my attention. she's back from beijing for her brother's wedding and to run the standard chartered 10km.

dinner was fulfilling to say the least. amy and i took the opportunity to do our carbo-loading for sunday's run. i had a negri-toro don and shared a salad and maki roll with the ladies. plus i helped myself to ml's tonkatsu as well.

we were so full that we skipped desserts and drinks. :)

race pack

went expo to collect my race pack for the standard chartered marathon this afternoon. thankfully, it wasn't crowded at all unlike what sl had experienced last night. i collected my bag within 15 mins.

even had some time to go to the john little sale next door to pick up some christmas presents for the little ones. yeah! i'm done with the kids' presents for christmas. :)

g6pd

deficiency of the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (g-6-pd) is an inherited abnormality which may provoke the sudden destruction of red blood cells leading to some very undesirable consequences because this enzyme is essential for ensuring a normal life span for red blood cells and for oxidising purpose.

guess who i know has this deficiency? ;)

dear eric who is hospitalised at sgh now has it.

something that i found out today. he was up and chatting with his sister when i arrived. from what i know, his blood pressure is still elevated although x-ray has shown his pneumonia to be improving. 2 ultrasound scans have also indicated normal-sized kidneys which is reassuring.

he complained about the potassium chloride solution iv which he likened to a hard, stinging pinch. having had 2 dialysis sessions so far, with the 3rd one re-scheduled, he's up for a kidney biopsy tomorrow. hopefully, that will provide more insight into what's ailing him.

before i left, i passed eric something to keep him occupied. :P

let's hope he gets well soon.


* g6pd deficiency information from www.g6pd.org

eric's down

received an sms from jeffrey this morning saying that eric is hospitalised and had to have dialysis. gosh! this sounds so serious...

going to visit him later at sgh to find out more.

good offer

would you book your air tickets 9 months ahead?

yeah, i admit it's kind of crazy... but i was totally tempted by the jetstar sale that i booked the return tickets to bangkok for august next year! it's only $97 inclusive of all fuel surcharges and airport taxes and it's for the national day weekend. with the $6 facilitation fee per ticket, it's $103 to bangkok and back.

it's the cheapest ever that i've seen for jetstar. so how not to be swayed by the bargain prices? absolutely irresistible.

and i got my mum & sis in on the craziness as well. :)

roaming dinosaurs

eric won some $300 worth of vouchers for double o at robertson walk from one of his racing competitions and invited us to share his bounty tonight.

janet had suggested a 'guys' night out' event for the 'nightlife-deprived' husbands. :P tracy and doris were there too since both of them don't have to put any little ones to bed. sl was invited to help consume copious amount of alcohol because eric and doris had found out that double o drinks are really cheap. only $6 a glass or $24 for a jug of housepours.

we estimated that we could get 50 glasses or 12 jugs. but why would we need help since there're tracy, doris, thomas and jeffrey? that's because eric is banned from drinking by tracy. he had been feeling unwell and had slight pneumonia but insisted that we do not re-schedule.

tracy said eric lost his temper and looked like he was going to have an heart attack when she broached the topic of a re-schedule.

sl & i met tracy & eric at the door. i got free entry before 10:00pm with compliments from safra. doris said she felt weird queueing at the safra line with the nsfs. jeffrey and jason also felt out-of-place when they queued to get in 'cos the crowded was overwhelmingly young.

we sat at the section with the pool tables with 'live' music. the band wasn't outstanding. sl commented that the lead singer didn't bother to dress up at all. none of us got drunk or even high since the drinks were kind of weak according to jeffrey and jason. jeffrey claims there's only orange juice in the screwdriver and insisted that the whisky green tea only had green tea.

sl & i begged to differ. we thought that the whisky was quite strong and can't really taste the green tea. it was nice catching up with everyone. the guys were less distracted without having to look out for their little ones. a pity john didn't join us.

altogether a nice and pleasant night with the jcgang sans the 'mothers'... until jason's friend remarked to him 'eh, dinosaur also come clubbing?' while we were leaving double o. :P jason said his ego was completely deflated. hehe...

the 'dinosaurs' wrapped up the night with good old bak kut teh at the junction of mohammed sultan and river valley road. yeah, we're carnivores. :)

president

how often do you have to meet the president of the company as part of the interview process?

my sis asked me whether i had applied for the vice-president post... haha... i wished i could. :P

ceragon

have you heard of a company called 'ceragon networks'?

family outing

don't know what possess estee to organise a family dinner and bowling session today.

i couldn't make it for the early dinner since i've already made my bella appointment much earlier and i wasn't inclined to change it at the last minute.

i joined them after a quick bite of my favourite 云吞面 at the marina square food court but i didn't play since my hip is still hurting. i didn't know how i manage to do that but i highly suspect it's due to my unergonomic use of my laptop on my bed. :P

in the end, only estee, wilson and jan bowled while mum, dad and i watched on. the bowling ball went left and right initially eluding the 10 pins. hehe... told estee to practise on the wii at home but she didn't listen to my advice.

their game improved slightly for the 2nd game. for the record, wilson was the winner for both games.

then it was desserts at swensen's, estee and wilson had supper too... :)

canele

the latest addition to the chain at shaw centre. canele is popular for their macarons but i don't really fancy them.

i ordered the 2 slices of cake to share. the strawberry shortcake and triple chocolate cheesecake.

Fresh strawberries layered with crème chantilly and Japanese shortcake laced with kirsch.

hmm... didn't know the cake is soaked in brandy. no wonder the cake is rather moist. i like the generous layer of fresh strawberries. a pity that they weren't sweet.

Walnut chocolate fudge cake, chocolate chip cheese cake and dark chocolate chantily.

the cheese was rich and creamy well-balanced by the chocolate cake and cream so this slice of triple chocolate cheesecake wasn't heavy at all.

between the two, i would recommend the latter 'cos i really wished the slice was bigger. :)

new project

check out my new project using scrap blog...

this time, i used the photos taken during my tioman diving trip earlier this year with ky.



hmm... this is fun :)

scrap blog

inspired by janelle's scrapbooking but decided on the online version for less fuss and more fun...

check out my first attempt using a template for janine's birthday party. :)

bear show

estee asked me to accompany her to the singapore teddy bear show 2008 at the arts house because she doesn't know where it is.

it's just a small exhibition organised by making our own bear [moob] which i later learnt is started by my secondary school classmate, isaac kong and his wife in an article in today's papers. didn't say 'hi' to him since he was busy fielding enquiries and he didn't seem to recognise me.

bear-making seems so interesting... shall i learn how to?

mac party

not the cool apple but the golden arches that is the favourite of all kids. which kid doesn't like french fries? i can't resist them nice and hot either. :)

it's janine's 6th birthday party at ang mo kio avenue 10 but guess who couldn't make it? eric who literally lives a stone's throw away from the party venue. oh well, jeff is away on business too.

the birthday cake looks fabulous and gorgeous, right?

it's a dream come true for janine i suppose considering her current love of disney princesses. yes, janelle and janine are best friends who have long planned to visit disneyland together, way before john or johann even thought about it. :P

check out the fun the kids had here, adults included too.

see if you can find the picture showing joshua 'cleaning' the cake knife. haha...

北京

the most expensive olympics to-date was held there in august this year.

back then, not even ph knew that she'll be working there for 2 years. was supposed to have dinner with her tonight but she couldn't make it because of a family dinner so we had drinks and desserts with her instead at new york, new york.

here's wishing her all the best in china.

obama

today is a historic moment in the history of US. a minority is elected to the most powerful seat on earth. but growing up in multi-cultural singapore, i find the whole issue about his race a bit 'blah', kind of making a hill out of a molehill.

my dad asked if obama will be able to solve the current financial crisis plaguing the US economy. i don't think so. not that the new president-elect is incompetent, but the scale of the problem is too complex and has reached a global proportion.

standchart marathon

it's 1 month away to my standard chartered half marathon and i'm not prepared! oops... :P

i've not even done the 2-hour run suggested by ts.

gosh, i need to run more this month.

sipadan

pl told me she's planning to go diving in sipadan next february. she's hoping to fill up the whole resort with friends and asked if i'm interested.

hmm... can i afford to dive there?

happy deepavali

another public holiday and a long weekend for those who're grinding away for your future. :P

may good triumph over evil always.

missed

sigh... mum has to decide to go and make offerings to my maternal grandparents today.

that means i can't take part in the photo marathon organised by canon this year. :(

room with a view

a friend's friend got a suite at rasa sentosa for her birthday celebration and i tagged along for look-see of the room.

check out the view here.

lunch @ element

it's our traditional birthday meal for the birthday boys, gordon this month and belatedly for ky. ky suggested element cafe at amara hotel.

the spread is reasonably good for the price although i wished there were oysters. :P

as usual my enormous appetite raised some eyebrows although i didn't really think i overeat today. hehe...

f1

while fernando alonso raced 61 laps tirelessly around the singapore street circuit in a historic night race to an unexpected win tonight, eric also raced and won first prize at maxxium singapore x-tour 2008.

check out the evidence here. :)

sean

little sean dropped by today with my aunt. he was very attached to my aunt and clung to her stubbornly, crying loudly whenever she put him down.

it took a long while for him to be warmed up. he knows and is able to say many words for a toddler 1 month shy of 2 years old.

f1 coming

saw this fully lighted up today at marina square.

if you've been in town for the past few months, you would have noticed lighting railings sprouting up along the route of the upcoming f1 night race coming up in about 2 weeks' time.

while the structures seem out-of-place and do not blend in with the surroundings, they do serve their purpose in filling the road with a brightness that's blindingly unreal.

ah chew's

don't think i've written about ah chew's desserts at liang seah street. was introduced to this traditional chinese desserts shop by doris and eric.

it has since expanded from 1 shop unit to 2, making it easier to get a table. although peak hours should still be avoided. grab a table, decide what you want and order at the cashier.

i usually stick to the traditional ones like almond paste, black sesame paste and steamed egg with milk and ginger juice. it's cheap and good!

do drop by if you're around bugis junction. :)

water fun

saw the little girls having fun outside suntec city last night. they seem to be enjoying it tremendously.

i felt a bit sea-sick looking at them playing. :P haha...

oriental cadence 2008

yup, it's another year and time for ky to perform at jubilee hall with his choir. trust him to perservere in attending weekly practices all these years despite his work.

this year, ts and i were there to lend him our support.

i feel that the performance this year is more engaging and accessible to non-arty farty types like me. the items seems to be more lively.

the japanese bamboo flute [shakuhachi] accompanying the japanese harp [koto] provided a more layered sound playing off each other, making it more interesting than having the koto alone.

ky is standing in front this year... maybe he thinks that the choir performance is better this time round hence no need to hide in the back row like last year's. :P

the hainan hwee kuan's harmonica orchestra included some japanese pieces in tune with the rest of the programming.

as usual, the japanese association's ladies choir gave the most polished performance. there were 3 members who even flew back just for today's concert. talk about having passion for the arts!

check out the pictures here and a snippet of ky's performance here.

back to life

my digital camera is back to life! :)

it's back from panasonic and my sis is $180 poorer for it. the lcd unit was replaced and the damaged unit was even returned.

check out the expensive crack line. hehe...

no fox

of all days that i choose to visit the fox boutique at imm, i decided to reach there after 5:00 pm today when they're closed for a company event.

arrgghh...

nike+ human race 10k

the crowds were overwhelming and the race didn't start on time at 4:15pm as scheduled. the skies were overcast and threatened to rain, yet it was warm and humid. i sweated buckets before the run even started.

i had arranged to meet up with ts to run together. but i lost him quite early in the run 'cos he was weaving through the crowds while i was too lazy to bother with that. furthermore, the organisers didn't close the esplanade bridge or shenton way so the route was rather congested.

yeah, i'm blaming them for my slow timing for the 10km run. :P haha...

the heat didn't make running easier either. i stopped for drinks at all 3 stations. the last 5km along the singapore river past boat quay, the central, riverside point with the u-turn at robertson quay and clarke quay while fun and interesting, was too congested at some points, especially at the many underpasses.

whenever i encountered any upslopes, i would walk... sigh, i guess my 1 month plus of thrice-weekly runs of 6km wasn't enough preparation for a better timing. guess i need to work harder for my standchart 21km this december. gosh! >_<

just checked the results online, the singapore men's open winners did it below 35 minutes and the women did it below 40! wow...

my results and worldwide ranking? click on the picture to see. :)

1 hour+ wait

went down to collect my nike+ race pack at 12 noon, gosh, the queues were crazy. snaking all over the central square at clarke quay. it was super crowded and many seemed to have just hopped over from the safra bay run/army half marathon.

argghh... decided to give up and go for my lunch and appointment before coming back this evening.

reached clarke quay at around 7:20 hoping for the best. the queue is still there but is determined to be more humanly possible compared to this afternoon. joined the queue and entertained myself with mahjong on my phone for slightly over an hour.

it was raining rather heavily throughout this afternoon. let's hope the weather is great for the coming sunday run. and i'll be running with 1 other million people around the world. :D

sighted @ clementi

not a sighting of a haunting at the clementi mrt station platform but a lady who was sashaying up and down the platform as if it's her own private catwalk runway.

so naughty me decided to whip out my phone to capture part of her performance. :P hehe...

cute music video

one of my favourite songs, 童话 done in "lego".

so cute, right?! :)



the original is here...

olympics fever

doris asked to go watch the table tennis women's team finals tonight.

since i was out watching 12 lotus with the guys, i dragged them along to robertson walk for the match against table tennis powerhouse, china.

as much as i had wanted singapore to win, i knew it was an uphill task since the chinese team had the home ground advantage, not to mention the crowd fervent support. even president hu jintao was present tonight at the match!

the pressure was on the chinese team as they were expected to win. wang nan and zhang yining were jittery at first conceding their first games to feng tianwei and li jiawei respectively before finding their footing and outplaying the singapore team.

the doubles of zhang yining and guo yue [world no. 1 & 2 respectively] beat li jiawei and wang yuegu in 3 straight games, resulting in china winning the gold with 3-0 score.

after a 48-year wait or lapse, depending on how you look at it, we got another silver olympic medal. finally.

brunch @ zenden

we're celebrating kl and ts birthday today. both of them are august babies.

gordon suggested this cafe restaurant at the gallery hotel. this is a boutique hotel in the robertson quay area noted for its facade and its unique swimming pool. i've not stepped into this hotel before today.

brunch comes with a complimentary beer or mocktail and we all chose the mocktail. the buffet spread isn't very big but we were glad that oysters were served. didn't overeat too much today.

terry is in a rather good mood today and very energetic. running all over after he had his fill of food. tried to take pictures of him but he likes to approach the camera until it's too close.

by the way, it's my first time taking my father's pentax dslr for a spin. so not very familiar and took some getting used to. had to delete quite a few pictures due to the short depth of focus for near shots.

overall, it was nice to catch up with the guys over a lazy sunday brunch.

check out the pictures here.

七月十五

i went for a run today after dinner at around 8 plus.

my mum asked why i had to run after dark so i complained to her it was her fault since she had called home to ask me to heat up the soup and rice earlier. i couldn't have left the stove unattended.

on the way to the sunset way canal, i saw this whole long stretch of pavement by the side of the road all lit up with candle light at regular intervals. it was quite a nice and magical sight if you don't see that they're those red candles on a wooden stick used for prayers.

fortunately, there were still some runners and cyclists on the track and the moon is full and bright tonight. after warming up by the canal, i tried to get my ipod nano to start recording my run. something happened...

it returned an error message telling me to attach the receiver before i can power up the workout option. this is weird 'cos i've never had this problem before!

the sensor on my right shoe is already switched on while the receiver has been firmly attached to my ipod before i left my house. hmm... what's wrong?

i fiddled around with the sensor and the menu. didn't work, still the same error message. must this happen tonight?!

then i removed the armband which held my ipod so that i can look at the screen more clearly and also to make sure that the receiver had attached itself properly to my ipod.

in my mind, i was telling myself that if i can't get the nike+ to record tonight then i'll skip the run and walk home. after a few more minutes of fiddling, i finally managed to get it to work!

so i ran and came back in 1 piece with nothing else interesting to blog about. :)

was it a coincidence? or something spooky?

well, i seriously have no idea! >_<

sms from japan

i received an sms from my sis on her first working trip to japan today.

i am sorry i broke your camera lcd screen. i will get you a new camera when i am back.

wah liao... so careless, right?

i wonder how she did it and the extent of the damage.

duh!

do us in

hehe... i enjoy mrbrown show podcast very much and always make it a point to download them onto my ipod. they comment on current issues and are always creative enough to get away with it hilariously.

check this one out. :)

happy 43rd birthday

happy birthday, the place where i call home and where i belong.

movie trailer

doing my bit to help publicise the movie. :)

this is the international trailer...


and this is the asian one...


do the trailers make you want to go and catch the movie? can you spot the difference? ;)

run, run

just signed up for 2 runs today.

nike+ the human race 10k on 31 august. it's free since i won the complimentary pass from fitness first. so i save about $46. :)

thomas wanted to take part too, more for the t-shirt. :P but registration was already closed when he wanted to sign up.

the other is the half marathon for standard chartered on 7 december. ambitious, right? since the furthest i've ever ran was the 10km at last year's standard chartered marathon.

oh well, just have to set aside time to train for my runs.

got to stay motivated. yes! :)

the spirit compendium blog conference

found this video of the main cast talking about their roles filmed at the blog conference.

shopping

spent an afternoon shopping for janelle's and jarad's birthday presents at takashimaya with tracy and eric. you can see our effort filled up whatever space that eric has in his car boot.

i think janelle and jarad will be thrilled to receive their presents from all of us. :)

5 changi south lane

took the train to tanah merah this morning, haven't done this for the longest time. feels kind of familiar yet different. will i have to do this on a daily basis again?

wanted to have lunch with janet at simei or the airport. sms-ed her but no reply. gave her a call and realised that she's working from home. sigh...

next, sms-ed sally and serene. serene needs to rush some work, not lunching out. sally already had a lunch appointment liao. :(

nobody wants to lunch with me! :P haha...

theme song

the theme song from the spirit compendium and some footage from the movie

media release

the spirit compendium is produced by pro-action [singapore] pte ltd.

here's the english synopsis...

Tom’s girlfriend dies in a tragic accident and he plunges into depression. May is shunned by the people around her because she claims she can see the spirits. Sam’s family loses their fortune and is forced to move in with his friend, Tom and May, his housemate.

The three friends embrace on a journey that begins with the mysterious disappearance of Tom’s father, who leaves Tom with only a spiritual book and an ancient Tibetan Dzi Bead. It is not until Sam is trapped in a spiritual realm that they realize the importance of the items.

for those so inclined, here's the mandarin version which find is so much richer and different from the above...

周振前往中国河南省安阳县钻研周易，却神秘失踪。只留下一本《灵问书》和一串天珠给儿子周旭。周旭在即将完成兵役之时，认识了阴年阴月阴日出生，患有梦游症,时运低又常见鬼的女孩叶美玲和家庭中落当起兼职按摩师的大学生温健忠。

周旭在农历七月鬼门关大开之时,因神秘人的布局,阴差阳错的把健忠误认为是前女友而发生了一夜情,为此他心感不安。在向健忠告白之即,神秘人却夺走了健忠的魂魄。这让周旭经历了一场浩劫。电影《灵问》是一部讲述人,鬼,神仙的故事。

do look out for the movie at cathay cinemas from 1 august onwards.

blog conference

yay! just received an email confirmation that i'll be attending the blog conference for a new local production, 'the spirit compendium' [灵问] this saturday.

hmm... don't know what to expect...

go there

now that streetdirectory.com is still down...

and the alternative [legal] sla web site doesn't provide public transport directions, you can check out gothere. i think it's very nifty. :)

some thoughts

人心虽然是肉做的, 但毕竟还是隔了一层肚皮.

no worries, to my dear friends who're reading my blog. i wasn't backstabbed or hurt by anybody. just some thoughts after watching the hong kong serials, 火舞黄沙 and 溏心风暴 on cable.

it's just a show i know but i'm sure some parts seem really plausible in real life. and i believe that people like some of the 'evil' characters do exist.

i'm glad that i've not met any nasty backstabbers or 2-faced meanies at work or in my life so far. or maybe i had but wasn't skilled enough to detect them and perhaps, i already have many invisible knives sticking out of my back. :P haha...

what i know is sincerity is a very important criteria for all human relationships as most misunderstandings are created by mis-communications. as long as there's no ill-intent, it usually boils down to a matter of perspectives as to why people do what they do.

then again, sometimes 'for your own good' may be misguided too. that's why we have the proverb, 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions.'

hehe... :)

durians galore

i don't eat durians but for those who do, how many have you tried?

Everythings about Singapore.. girls, life, promotions, events, .....: Do you know how many durians are there? More 20 shown here

update: thanks to eric for informing me that the original article is found here.

happy birthday to me

thank you all for remembering today's significance for me and making this weekend specially memorable.

the delicious meals, presents and hongbaos and of course the great company. not forgetting the many smses bearing well wishes too, nice to know that i'm in your thoughts. :)

as much as i like to say that it's just another day on the calendar, i appreciate very much the gatherings you folks organise. it was great company starting from having tea at crystal jade on saturday, followed by dinner at coca. today's extended lunch at aquamarine was delicious, next was tea at toast box and finally dinner at ichiban sushi.

burp...

tsr ver. 2

due to popular demand, i conducted another tour of the southern ridges from the marang trail to the hortpark.

it was altogether another experience walking on a sunday morning, the weekend crowd livens up the hike and lends a more 'festive' air to the trail. somehow, it feels shorter today.

after hortpark, we were all famished and took a bus to funny lasagna for lunch. i had a maraimana, and was served with penne although i didn't specify the type of pasta that i wanted. portion size was reasonable given the price. i only wished that the tomato sauce contains more tuna but can't complain much since it's only $5.

we also shared a chicken and spinach lasagna that had a light cream sauce. for somebody who usually avoid cream pasta, i feel this isn't overly heavy or cheesy. i think i would be adventurous and try another of their lasagna the next time. wanted to try their tiramisu but it wasn't available. so we rewarded ourselves with cheesecakes at secret recipe after lunch.

all the morning exercise was in vain. :P haha...

party @ 183

another month, another birthday... we're celebrating cayden's 3rd birthday today. just a small gathering of friends and janet's & jason's family. since i'm still not working yet, i volunteered to take charge of the buying of the present.

in the end, i settled on a leap pad with 3 story books from toys 'r' us and a bob the builder lego duplo set from metro after shopping around. toys 'r' us has the best price for the leap pad and a buy 2 and get the 3rd book free for the leap pad books. while only metro and tangs have a 20% discount for lego sets.

when i arrived at punggol with siew leng, janet was out collecting the cake with jason and cayden. and the caterer had not arrived! so i sms-ed janet to complain 'i'm here liao... where's the food?!' :P hehe...

as with all kid's parties, there was a lot of screaming and running around. soon the playroom's floor was filled with toys as each of them brought out more toys to play. followed by the inevitable throwing of tantrums when some of them want to play with the same toy.

strangely, i didn't think they were overly noisy today... maybe my hearing is going off? or i'm conditioned by the upgrading construction noise at home?

the food by neo garden was quite good, i had 2 servings of it as well as 2 servings of the longan almond tofu cocktail dessert. jarad likes the dessert too! :P

next up was the birthday song singing and cake cutting, much-awaited by the kids. however, cayden doesn't seem to have warm up yet, looking a bit spaced out and detached.

i think the grandparents looked most happy.

somebody asked why so many photos of jarad? that's because he's still not running around with the rest yet! haha...

the southern ridges

went for a little trek at the latest 'in' trail provided by our national parks. since its publicity in the media last month, it has become a popular destination for families especially during the weekends.

the start point is at the marang trail, a stone's throw away from the bus stop in front of seah im bus food centre or harbourfront mrt station. although it was a weekday, there were still people on the trail ranging from families with kids, retirees taking a walk, joggers, students on excursion, tourists and expats experiencing a different facet of singapore.

i didn't know that marang trail is a challenging 70 metres upward climb [equivalent to a 24-storey building] until later at night when i read about it at the nparks web site. so those less-fit or have bad knees might want to take it easy and slow.

the slightly strenous ascent will be well-rewarded with superb views of sentosa and the southern islands when you reach the top of mount faber. from that point onwards, it's pretty much an easy hike all the way to kent ridge park without much difficulty.

henderson waves, the tallest pedestrian bridge in singapore at 36 metres high is truly beautiful with it's undulating curves and wooden deck. this connects mount faber to telok blangah hill. my knees felt wobbly when i looked straight down onto the traffic below on henderson road. :P

the forest walk reminds me a little of the hsbc tree-top walk in macritchie except this isn't as high nor is this a suspension bridge. then came the alexandra arch which was a slight anti-climax after the spectacular henderson waves.

next up at the bottom of the bridge is the floral walk leading to the hortpark. i must say i've not seen so many flowers here in singapore except the time when millions were spent landscaping orchard and suntec/marina area for the wto delegates.

the hortpark - the gardening hub is a beautiful place showcasing many themed gardens and is southeast asia's first one-stop centre for gardening-related recreational, educational, research and retail activities in a park setting. there were actually picnickers having food and drinks on the grounds of the park while we were there.

at the end of the hort park is the canopy walk that connects to kent ridge park. couldn't see much on the canopy walk. kent ridge park gave better views of the southern islands. since the park is adopted by the army, there is actually an amx-13 and a howitzer on display.

the orginal plan was to proceed to clementi woods and finally to west coast park. but due to the lack of directional signs and proper research, we got lost and stumbled upon lim seng lee duck rice [recommended by eric previously] instead. just in time for our lunch break! yeah!

the skies darkened and started to rain after lunch. we took shelter at the village centre and discovered allan bakes' cheese cakes for desserts. yummy!

the wet weather prevented my plan to continue to west coast park. so although i've been living in the west for so long, i've yet to see how the park looks like. haha...

dinner @ wasabi tei

i've heard of this tiny japanese place on the 5th level of far east plaza from a friend previously but didn't have the chance to try it since there seems to be a perpetual queue outside the eatery. me and a friend braved a 45 minutes wait before i was seated around the 16-seater counter.

wasabi tei is staffed by a dour-faced peter and a lady whom i think is his wife. long queues and less than good service mean only 1 thing in singapore - the food must be cheap and/or good. first of all, the prices are nett meaning there're no add-ons of service charge and gst so that's a good start.

peter served an intriguing warm appetiser of indeterminable origin. i think it's fish and something else. if you happen to go wasabi tei, let me know if you can figure out what it is. :)

the size of the california maki are the biggest ones i've ever seen in all my years of having japanese food. taste-wise was pretty standard. when my sashimi set was served, i understood why there's always a queue waiting outside. i think it's the most value for money sashimi set i ever had in singapore. it costs a grand total of $15!

check out the pictures and drool! :P

not msk

haha... thought this is cute...

a not-so-oblique reference to the poster of the most wanted guy in singapore.

sales job

ever since i've updated my msn and facebook to read that i was looking for a job, i've a few helpful friends who volunteered lobangs for me... including a not-so-close friend whom i got to know from playing the mmorpg, cabalsea.

he enthusiastically called me up to ask if i'm interested in doing sales. so i politely replied that i'm keeping my options open and enquired what kind of sales job is he referring to. and guess what?

he said, 'selling cars.'

i think i exclaimed a very loud 'har?!' :P

not that i've anything against a car sales job, but i told him i wouldn't be a convincing car salesman since i can't even drive. how credible will my sales pitch be? i declined his kind offer.

would you buy a car from a car salesperson who don't drive? or something which the salesperson obviously can't or don't know how to operate?

world class

how do you know if our public transport is world class?

hmm... when the commuters start to feel so 'at home' and comfortable enough to do their own things, blissfully oblivious to their surroundings?



i was utterly disgusted that i whipped out my mobile to film this clip, lest nobody believe what i saw, so that i can rant about it here. she was really enjoying herself, right from the time i boarded the train at city hall station to the time she alighted at clementi station.

duh!

端午节

although this chinese festival isn't as widely celebrated here as places like hong kong or taiwan. you know it's round the corner when hotels and restaurants bandy new and sometimes bizarre flavours of dumpling. or when you hear news reports that the dumpling chains have increased prices or have long queues at their shops.

it only hits home when my mum makes her own today assisted by my sis. i contribute to the process by eating the dumplings. :) hehe...

i don't know if her version is cantonese or teochew because some of them have a dollop of red bean paste in addition to the usual ingredients of pork, chestnuts, dried shrimps and mushrooms since i'm not a dumpling connoisseur. this year, she didn't make the cantonese version that comes with steamed green mung beans.

my mum's version isn't too salty and she trims off most of the fatty bits from the pork belly meat that she uses, so it's less of a cardiologist's nightmare. i relish the annual indulgence for a few days while she gives some away while saving some for prayers on the festival which falls on this coming saturday [5th day of the 5th lunar month].

how did a festival originally meant to commemorate 屈原's patriotism and his love for his state become another gourmet experience? guess that's uniquely singaporean, isn't it? :P

bad blood

hmm... unexpected fallout from the icj ruling last week considering that both governments had pledged to accept the outcome with good faith.

i wonder if any singaporeans will feel so aggrieved to start something similar if the ruling had been otherwise.

party @ mac

jerrell is turning 4 and i'm invited to his party at macdonald's at king albert park.

met up with the gang and the little ones. all were present except for diane who is mugging for her exams. i think the kids enjoyed themselves very much. i mean it's nearly impossible to find a child who doesn't like good old mac and french fries, right?

check out my photos here. somehow, the pictures weren't very good. i think the shutter speed weren't fast enough to capture the action resulting in blurry pictures..

anyway, it was a great opportunity for the adults to catch up with one another as we went for drinks and ice-cream at the daily scoop at sunset way after the party. i had a double scoop of mango magic and cha which is flavoured with earl grey. taste great!

then janet suggested having the famous claypot chicken rice at block 328 for dinner. and we waited more than 1 hour for the food but it was really good and satisfying.

yummy. :)

weekend warrior

my 2nd 'mishap' during my days of self-declared vacation, i sprained my ankle while playing tennis with some friends.

i twisted my left ankle too much until it gave way. momentarily unsupported, i fell on my right bum. at that time, the fall hurt more than the sprained ankle.

but as the day went on, the swell became worse and i was limping around as if i had another gout attack.

ouch!

洛阳大伯公

first time there... went along because there was transport available. :P

it was still bustling even though it was nearing midnight, there was a continuous stream of devoutees the whole time we were there.

the prayer offerings package costs $2, consisting of 6 items: incense, candles, joss paper, another piece of 'petition' joss paper, crackers and tea leaves. the whole process of offering incense to the various deities has been systemised.

you start off with placing the offerings on the table. next you light one candle on each side. once your incense are lit too, just follow the numbers and proceed from station 1 to 12. a small card-sized note at each station even tells you the correct number of incense sticks to offer to the deity.

after that is done, you can proceed to offer the joss paper in the fiery mini pagoda.

what's so different about this temple?

1 of the stations is the indian elephant-headed god, ganesha while another i don't even have any knowledge of. hmm... so this is the temple that a certain minister had commented on how multi-culturalism had seeped into our everyday lives.

surreal.

bmw

bmw 1-series launch party at one fullerton.

hmm... so what has that got to do with a non-driver like me you think? well, 'cos i've friends like eric who share the good stuff. :)

free flow of alcohol and finger food. the moet champagne flowed for quite a while too. i had a cocktail, lychee martini, red wine and champagne. can't remember when was the last time i drank so much. the rest drank more! can you imagine that?!

apparently, the alcohol works wonders and doris is smitten with the 1-series. will we have a bmw owner in the gang? let's wait and see...

dinner and drinks

doris wanted to meet up with the guys and suggested having dinner at pasta de waraku. as usual gordon is late. kind of expected liao. :P

it was a rather long wait for a table of 5 and ky joked that we should have told gordon that the dinner plans are changed to drinks and desserts since a smaller table will be more readily available. haha...

fortunately, doris made a reservation at tcc next door and we didn't have to wait again for our drinks and desserts. it's a very small outlet but warm and cosy with an intimate ambience. as with most tcc outlets now, the look is posh.

bangkok with mum

this trip was made possible with compliments from thomas and doris. :)

'cos i was dangled the carrot of 2 nights' stay for free at nai lert park swissotel! :) :) :)

actually, i wasn't keen to make the trip since my sis wasn't interested and i knew my mum will surely nag if i went. but just for fun, i asked if she interested in a short trip to bangkok and lo and behold, she expressed interest!

took thai airways this time round since jetstar will cost about $350 for such a late booking. decided to pay $25 more for a full service airline. and since i paid so much for the air ticket, i decided to arrive a day earlier on saturday.

we stayed at ambassador hotel before meeting doris and thomas at nai lert park on sunday. time was spent on thronging the malls, japanese food, massages and donuts in between.

the mochi donuts from dunkin donuts and mister donut were addictive and sadly not available in singapore. doris likes them too.

visited platinum mall for the first time. it's a shopping paradise for ladies and everything's on wholesale prices as long as you buy 3 pieces.

check out the 5-star hotel room and yummy food here.

dive @ tioman

many 'firsts' for this trip...

* first time diving with amy, chantel and desmond
* first time diving at tioman
* first non-penetration wreck dive
* first sighting of pharoah cuttlefish

the visibility according to desmond is the best that he can remember of tioman. the pharoah cuttlefish was simply awesome. got to get the video from amy.

check out my underwater adventure here.

sunset @ 318

the chinese has a saying that the beauty of the sunset is especially poignant since it's so close to the end of the day.

this picture was taken right after a heavy downpour and i thought it was a weird juxtaposition of something utterly man-made like our hdb flats against the rather breathtaking suset.

goes to show that beauty can be found anywhere, you just need to look with seeing eyes.

sunday @ 101

janet is bringing cayden over to jeff's place on sunday morning and asks me if i want to come along. since i haven't seen the little ones for a while i said yes.

julian has grown much since i last saw him during christmas. the 2 older boys get on like a house on fire and was screaming their lungs away at nydc. fortunately, the cafe wasn't too quiet or else they'll be frowned upon.

check out jerrell's chocolate moustache here. :)

24hrs@acm

guess most of you don't know that our museum is so hip and happening to open through the night, right?

well, it seems that this was brought back by popular demand with free entry round the clock from 22nd till 23rd marking the close of 'on the nalanda trail', an exhibition of buddhist artefacts detailing the spread of buddhism in india, china and southeast asia.

not unexpectedly, the asian civilisations museum was packed. the highlight of the exhibition was of course the bone relics from the only known archaeological find that can be linked directly to the buddha himself. devoutees were praying in the room featuring the relics brought in with special permission of the indian government.

security was tight and no cameras were allowed for that exhibition. janet was there with cayden and sunarsi. how was cayden's first visit to the museum? guess he was totally bored. :P

fox fashion show

my first fashion show with compliments from fox. it's part of the fashion extravagance series held at marina square centrestage.

for those who're wondering... it's true that fashion shows do not start on time. the models are really skinny and look very tall in their heels. and they actually strut and sashay down the catwalk.

and my sis thinks the guy in yellow is cute... unfortunately, i only get a shot of him in shades during the closing of the show.

korean bbq chicken

can deep-fried chicken be healthy?

guess not... but there's a less unhealthy version available at orchard cineleisure that's cooked in olive oil. makes one's indulgence a less sinful transgression. :)

meat

do you love your meat?

ribeyes, fried chicken, char siew, etc.

i know i can't live without meat... will this video [from the US] of how your meat is like before it becomes a dead piece of flesh make you change your mind?

redevelopment

this garishly coloured building has been standing at clementi central ever since there was a town centre. yes, that's right. when i moved into my flat in clementi, the town centre wasn't even ready, not to mention the bus interchange. yeah, it's that long ago. :)

the building used to house just 1 cinema and later re-furbished into 2 smaller ones when cineplexes became the norm. then macdonald's came along.

after that, the arcades and snooker halls joined in the fray with the party world ktv and the many food kiosks outside macdonald's on the ground floor.

it's not iconic in any architectural aspects. just like an old lady sitting there watching the years go by and quietly witnessing the hustle and bustle of the town centre. with the redevelopment of the interchange into a mixed commercial and residential project by hdb, it's not unexpected that this buidling has to keep up with the times too.

sigh... i'm missing the macdonald's already. :(

zi yean

sl wanted to meet up for dinner so i suggested zi yean since i've heard so much about the place from eric and tracy. finally have the chance to try the food there after a failed attempt during chinese new year with the jc gang.

the restaurant occupies the entire void deck of the hdb block, just a short walk from redhill mrt station. it's divided into air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned sections. the difference being the gst charges levied at the air-conditioned section. i also read that this section also serves the more expensive stuff like shark's fins and 'live' seafood.

doris spotted apple who helped to recommend the dishes to us. janet commented that we seemed to have over-ordered when all the dishes arrived. in the end, we finished almost everything. that's testament to the good cooking and delicious flavours. all of us enjoyed the meal lots.

an interesting speciality here is the deep fried shrimp in beancurd skin. it's not a pretty sight but somehow the combination works. the other is the dog duck. no worries, no dogs were harmed in the preparation of this dish. the name is such because it's supposed to be dog stew but with the dog meat substituted with duck meat.

the deep fried fish skin was interesting. crispy yet not fishy. could it have come from all the salmon used for the chinese new year yusheng? :P i like the chicken especially. didn't really catch the name of the dish. but it's flavourful and goes well with the rice.

dessert was black sesame paste. not too sweet and thick a consistency. the sweet deal? it's on the house!

yummy! :)

new year goodies

what's your favourite and must-eat chinese new year goodie?

mine's the most fattening pineapple tart and bak kwa. not to mention the accompanying sore throat that comes with over indulgence during this festive period.

argh...

rats

it's the year of the rat heralding a brand new cycle in the chinese zodiac.

may the new year brings great fortune and wonderful health to one and all. and it's supposedly a good year for those born in the year of the rat too. yeah!

happy chinese new year!

ramen santouka

tucked into a little corner of the mall, ts decided that this ramen shop needed some business from us. although we were apprehensive about the food before we stepped into the restaurant, reassurances were quick as we noticed tables of japanese enjoying their ramen.

it was a nice ramen dinner although the soup base was on the salty side. ramen-wise, we all felt it is way better than bishamon at the basement of raffles city. perhaps the more chewy bishamon ramen is an acquired taste.

the interesting thing about the santouka menu is that the ramen also comes in set meals with a choice of rice or don. unlike other ramen shops, you can also up or down-size your ramen depending on your appetite.

i couldn't resist not ordering the tokusen toroniku [limited to only 60 servings daily]. those conversant in japanese must be intrigued by the word toroniku since toro is tuna belly and niku is meat.

but it's not melt-in-your-mouth tuna belly sashimi, it's the pork equivalent since the meat is taken from the cheek and slow-cooked to a level of tenderness that i feel can only be achieved with fat, streaky pork belly.

it's yummy without the cholesterol overload. hopefully, they can tone down the salt and that will be bliss.

wedding dinner

left for the hotel at about 3:30pm. kind of tired since i didn't get to catch a nap. hoping to catch one later in the hotel room. :)

by the time wilson brought us to room 4160, it was already past 4:00pm. after we were settled in the room, wilson brought mum up to his bridal suite for her make-up to be done while dad stole some shut-eye in the room.

the tape that i brought from home wasn't sticky enough to secure the safety pins onto the corsages. had to go downstairs to buy another. estee came along because she needed to look for a salon to style her hair.

the one at the hotel wasn't available till 5:30pm which will be too late since the solemnisation was scheduled at 6:30pm. after finding the tape at mph at the basement, i accompanied estee to look for another salon.

there are no other salons in raffles city. the next nearest, hairworks is at citylink. thankfully, she didn't have to wait to have her hair done.

i left for the hotel to get a shower and steal a much needed 40 winks. bought some buns at the new bakery at the basement extension to last me till dinner.

once estee was back in the hotel room, there was a flurry of activities as all of us got ready for the night. when estee and i arrived at the function room, we realised that there was a confusion with the corsages. duh!

and wilson's corsage came loose! arghh... but the banquet staff managed to pin it back on for him.

the solemnisation ceremony at clarke room was a short and simple one. both fathers witnessed the ceremony. many of jan's relatives attended the ceremony while we didn't informed ours since it was rather early.

after some photo-taking, all of us proceeded to canning ballroom to prepare to receive the guests. estee, qijin, sharon and i helped out at the reception. that meant i didn't have any opportunities to mingle nor take pictures with the guests. sigh... :(

the rest of the evening went on like clockwork. the 1st entrance, cake-cutting. 2nd entrance, champagne-pouring followed by toasting onstage with noisy "yam sengs". and finally the photo-taking table by table.

the general feedback for the banquet was good. i enjoyed the dinner too. managed to go around to take some pictures for my parents as well as play with the little ones.