A jam-packed weekend!

Yoz! I think ah.. I have not blog for a looonngg time, until at one point, I almost forgot how!! This shows one thing.. either I'm getting old and senile, or simply becos I never blog for a long time liaox..

Anyway, this wkend was really a very tiring one.. with me juggling work and then church stuff.. And I seldom have some jam-packed weekends! Haix..

Anyway, on Saturday, went to church like super early in the morning to help with my Youth Camp 2008 fund-raising efforts.. Well, as a Chairman for this year's youth camp, I must set an example and go down to help.. so ya..

I was the official QC tester, as well also the mixer.. I'm in charge of testing whether the dessert is okay for selling.. well, I do have a very sensitive tongue.. so anything that goes through me, should be good, becos I'm quite particular with some taste.. so ya.. I'm not in the food business for nothing ok! =P

We have spent like close to 3 hrs to finish everything.. so ya.. quite fun lah.. but lotsa work, becos the nite before, I also went to church to peel the mangoes, which were a little bit messy.. and not to mention, tiring too, becos I went after work.. so ya..

After church, went home and rest for the day.. I was out the whole day since morning.. so ya..

Sunday morning came, and the weather was so nice that I didn't felt like waking up! But eventually I did, becos I have promised to go for the Bukit Timah Hill Hike, becos' it is part of our Youth Camp's programme, and we did a reckee for it! So since its like a reckee, why don't we call some of the church's uncles & aunties to join us.. anyway, as the saying goes, the more the merrier..

Alvin led the uncles & aunties the easier route, whilst, Tjow, Jex and myself went the harder and more challenging route, as it would be the route that we plan for the Youth Camp.. if you think the hike is no kick, you are wrong.. the beginning and end was the worse.. but nothing can compare to the summit hut, whereby you must climb like a flight of easily 50+ steps (and they are steep and at least a meter high each!) to reach the summit.. that was the one where I almost surrendered!
And though there was no sun, I was perspiring like mad!! My goodness.. my shirt were all heavily soaked in sweat!! But fortunately, it was a shirt that was quick dry, but I still smell of ammonia after tat.. really stink!

After the hike, went to Bukit Timah market & food centre, to eat brunch.. and there was so many food that we were all spoilt for choice..

Then after tat, Tjow brought Christina & I to Clementi, and it being my second home, I showed Christina as to where is the bubble tea place and the cheap-chicken store!

Came home and followed parents to Vivocity for my dog's grooming session.. My dog looked so cute after grooming.. wahaha..

So ya.. tat practically wraps my weekend.. and now, I'm blogging.. so ya.. Back to reality tml.. haix..

Phew! I can breathe now,
<<< abriel >>>

Happy post!

Wheee.. my hotel is confirmed in Bangkok liaox.. Asia Hotel, here I come..

My air tickets is still not out yet, so they will take about a week more before the tickets are processed.. so gonna wait for the call from my tour agent lah! =)

Anyway, this post is a happy one!! So I'm going to post some YouTube! videos (from my favourite musical, Dim Sum Dollies) and also some "Ah Beng & Lian" jokes from last week's 8 Days magazine.. so here goes..

The videos (Dim Sum Dollies Musical)

Singapore Girl


Parking Pontianak (My Favourite!!)


Giggling Schoolgirls


Foodcourt Aunties


Dim Sum Dollies meet Sir Stanford Raffles (a teaser!)


Ah Beng & Lian Jokes

1. Ah Lian drives Beng new car

Ah Beng bought a new car recently and showed it off to Ah Lian. So there Ah Beng was, bragging about his new ride to his girlfriend.
"This is ah, so fast eben the police cannot catch ah!"
"Ha! Really ah! Steady lah!" said Ah Lian.
"Some more hor, this is automatic one, very easy to drive!"
So Ah Lian took the driver's seat and floored the accelerator.
In an instant, the car sped backwards and crashed into a lamp-post.
"Alamak! What are you doing? You see lah!" screamed Ah Beng.
'Sorry, sorry, paiseh lah! I thought, 'R' for racing mah!"

2. Ah Beng goes to pub

A group of Ah Bengs stepped into a lounge and wanted the DJ to play the song 'Ah Cheng Buay Roti' (Hokkien for 'Ah Cheng buys bread'). The DJ told them that they only had English songs. The Ah Bengs got very angry and kicked up a big fuss, accusing the DJ of 'seeing them no up'. The manager had to intervene in order to calm them down. Finally, after a long talk with the Ah Bengs, the manager found out that they had actually asked for the Righteous Brothers' 'Unchained Melody'.

3. Ah Lian in lift

One dat, two Ah Lians got into a lift on the 18th storey to get to the ground floor. As they looked at the panel, they could see the number 18 down to number 2. It was then followed by a G. Not being English-educated, they were puzzled and had no idea what the letter G meant. Suddenly one of them exclaimed excitedly and hit the G button. When they finally reached the ground floor, the other Ah Lian was very impressed and she asked her friend, 'Wah, how you know one?' The first Ah Lian replied smugly, "Easy lah, G for Gero mah."

Well.. I certainly had a great nite laughing at this blogpost.. I hope you did too, and enjoy the rest of your nite ya! =)

Laughter is the best medicine,
<<< abriel >>>

"Mee Khwaam Sook"

Okay peepz.. I koe I have not been blogging.. but have been busy lately with work, and it seems that the nites that I have after work, is really busy until I can't breathe.. its usually the lack of sleep (or maybe I have been sleeping a LOT!) that usually makes me really can't do anything! oh well.. signs of getting old.. hmm.. =P

Anyway, before you all scratch your head and wonders whether the title of this blogpost is considered an error (maybe becos its a computer bug/virus), or worst still, maybe some unpleasant and "forbidden-spoken" words.. let me enlighten you..
"Mee Khwaam Sook" is happy in Thai!

You all must be wondering why am I so immersed in Thai words nowadays? Of course, in my course of my work, I need to converse with a few Thai, Japanese, etc. people, hence, I have been searching for websites to learn basic Thai (for me to write emails that is. I can't speak this!)

But that is NOT the main reason for me to have a blogpost title in Thai! The reason is simple.. if you have noticed my MSN nick for the past 2 days, you would have realised that I'm going to Bangkok for holiday this year with 3 of my other army friends.. These 3 army friends are my good friends, whom we have gone together to KL for our Pre-ORD trip like 2 yrs back! We have made a point after that KL Pre-ORD trip, that we would go on a yearly holiday in the mth of September!
Last year didnt happen, but it happened this year! Woohoo!!!
The idea was actually given birth on 26 July 2008, and you see.. in about a month, everything is firmed up and we are ready to go.. am so excited!

Imagine what I'm gonna do in Bangkok.. Shopping.. Eating (esp. my khraw phao, pad thai, tom yum soup.. oh..)..

We spend about 4 times more that we did, 2 years ago when we were in KL.
We spend $180/pax on accomodation (5D4N - 4* hotel) and travel when we were in KL 2 years back. This time, we spend $708.50/pax on accomodation (5D4N - 3* hotel) and travel.
Mind you that both travels (KL & Bangkok) were NOT from reputable agencies. I was about to go with a reputable agency but then it was quite expensive.. a $35 difference.. so ya.. so if you count carefully, SIN$35 = Bhat$840 (based on an exchange rate of SIN$1 = Bht$24). Quite a lot of stuff I can do with Bht$840 in Thailand! For all you know, Bht$840 can like eat quite a good meal for 4 pax! =).. The wonder of Thailand..

========================================

Anyway, if you want to know, here is the breakdown of my travel details (cost stated below is based on a per pax basis!):

- 5D4N Accomodation @ Asia Hotel (with daily breakfast) with 2-way Singapore Airlines ticket = $359
- Airport Tax (Singapore Airlines) = $180
- Upgrade Air Ticket to "Q" class (ie. able to fly anytime of the day!) = $130
- UOB Travel Insurance = $26
- Credit Card Surcharge (I paid by Credit, so that's why!) = $13.50

TOTAL: $708.50

** Hotel is subjected to confirmation by tour agency.. so ya.. Am waiting for their call to collect both my air tickets, as well as also the hotel vouchers.

** Price above also includes a 2-way airport transfer and a complimentary half-day city tour (but we may or may not go for the half-day city tour, becos a bit wasting time.. we see how lah! =)

My date of departure would be from 18 October 2008 - 22 October 2008 (Saturday - Wednesday).
(Reason being flying on Saturday becos we want to make full use of our time to shop Chatuchak Market, which opens only on weekends!!)

Departure on 18/10 from Changi Airport Terminal 2, SIN (via SQ 970) @ 0845 hrs (SIN time) and arrive in BKK @ 1010 hrs (SIN time).
** Which means I have to check-in at Changi Airport BEFORE 0645 hrs.. my goodness! But I think the night before I can't sleep due to excitment.. ha.. so its ok! =P

Departure on 22/10 from BKK (via SQ 981) @ 1910 hrs (BKK time) and arrive in Changi Airport Terminal 2/3 (only known 2 hrs before arrival), SIN @ 2235 hrs (SIN time).

========================================

So yupz.. that above sums up details of my trip.. Am really hoping that I would get Asia Hotel becos a lot of my colleagues are recommending this hotel due to its excellent locality of the hotel. Its within 3 mins walk to Skytrain (in fact, its even linked!) and 5-10 mins walk from the shopping belt!
I first wanted a 4* hotel, which is like probably a 20-30 min walk from the shopping belt and that would cost me a whopping $800! So if I get this 3* star hotel, I save like SIN$92 = Baht$2208 (based on an exchange rate of SIN$1 = Bht$24)<-- now look at this! Bht$2208 can certainly do wonders!! =).. so ya..

Am now patiently waiting for my tour agent to call for me to collect my tickets.. hmm.. or should I say anxious? wahaha.. =P

Over the moon over a BKK holiday,
<<< abriel >>>

Goodbye Warren!

Giving my brother a farewell treat!
Well.. it was something which I actually don't enjoy giving.. Not that I don't want to spend money, but its the purpose of it! I don't really like giving farewell treats.. and for me, if I give you a farewell treat personally, it means you are someone who has a place in my heart!

But yet, I still have to do it for my brother, Warren.. Haix.. It was quite a sad event lah.. not the dinner was sad, but the purpose was saddening.. haix..

Anyway, shall not talk all these sad things liaox.. a bit saddening lah..

This restaurant that I went serve quite good Thai food (recommendations are the Mango salad & Clear Tom Yum Soup!) at reasonably-priced prices , and the best of all, the ambience of the place.. I've even got a window seat (overlooking the Sentosa coastline) so how cool was that lah! =)
** I've got a window seat all by chance, becos' I only book a place for 2, but the window seat was for 4 pax.. All becos I reserve in advance.. so ya.. so reservation helps lah! =)

We chatted over food (which was like we didn't order a lot, but it certainly multiplied like we have order tons of food!.. or maybe we were not hungry at all? but 2 guys.. hmm) and had a great time of fellowship!
We did get to know more about each other, and I really do mean more, becos' during my stay in my current company, I don't remember Warren telling me so many things about his siblings, parents and his past working experience. It was indeed a good time to learn from his experience, and that gave me great motivation to excel myself further!

We've even came to the topic that next time when I get married, he would be one of the first to be invited, and in the event he has a child, I would be the child's godfather! Ha.. talking about brotherhood huh! =)

Well.. Warren is one colleague which I dared to say that was closer to me than Cheong! I don't know why.. maybe its our characters which click very well, or just that we both are very friendly and have a joker character!

To see him leaving my company is certainly a loss to me, becos there are not many good buddies which I can really click and call buddy or brother.. so ya.. But at the same time, happy for him that at least he is moving on with life and learning something really totally new!

But wat's comforting to know is that at least he is still in Singapore, so meeting up may be infrequent, but not entirely impossible. =)..

So here's wishing Warren all the best in his career and brothers forever! Cheers!!

The one with the red teary eyes over the leaving of his brother,
<<< abriel >>>

The sad feeling all over again!

Well peepz.. remember my post (06 August 2008) whereby I said I was very sad with myself that a thing keep happening to me? Well.. I think its no secret.. everyone knows it now.. so ya..

Anyway, wats bothering me is that Warren has resigned from my company, and this makes me very sad!

As you all know, Warren and I had known each other for only about 3 months, with our first interaction at the Paintball activity (which happened just 3 days after I was enlisted into my current company).. And from there, we had developed a brotherhood bond that we were so comfortable with each other that we just chat anything under the sun!
We were so comfortable with each other that Warren joked that I would settle his funeral for him since he doesn't want any kids!! wahaha..

And you know me.. I'm those kind of people who really when go into such brotherhood bonds, to get out of it would be something very difficult.. I think its my nature of loyalty!

How I knew that he has resigned was simply really out of coincidence! I had saw an ad on jobstreet and then saw a job scope which is very similar to his.. so I msg him on MSN offline and ask him whether is it additional headcount.. but never did I expect that it was him!
At the beginning, I really didnt believe him, but as our conversation continues, it appeared to be true!

When I heard that, my world kept tumbling down.. I was super sianx the whole day (even until the badminton session that day!)..

So by looking back, the news that was broken to me was exactly 1 week old already..

To suddenly think of Warren not in my company anymore (who not only is the badminton captain, but also my big brother), would definately bring some tears to my eyes.. even now, I'm almost at the verge of shedding tears!

My colleague asked me whether would I still play badminton, since Warren is like my brother, and he is also playing badminton as well..
Well, I did answer my colleague that I would still play becos I play for my interest and not for someone.. but then at the bottom of my heart, that question would still be very real, as in I would say "I don't know".. Without Warren, badminton may be never the same again !!.. haix..

I know you all have called me a crybaby and all.. but I can't help! Its the same feeling as when Cheong left MDI the other time! The feeling is like ya koe.. its very heart-breaking to see this happen!
But I guess that it would be some way or another we will still meet lah.. Meet outside for dinner that is.. so ya..

Tomorrow I'm giving him a farewell treat then.. so ya.. looks like I must cry enough tonite before meeting him.. His last day is drawing nearer, and the sadder and miserable I would become! I may look strong outside, but I'm a softie in my most inner being.. I may just put up a front that I'm happy, but in actual fact, I may be sad for that matter! so ya..

Ok lah.. its getting late.. and I think I must go turn in liaox.. Crying maybe will help to ease the pain of losing such a good brother!

The sadness starts all over again,
<<< abriel >>>

A Shining-Singapore moment!!

Tao Li, Singapore is proud of you!
You have tried your best!
Well.. today I didnt go to work, so was at home resting and just watching part of the Olympics! I'm indeed catching on the Olympics fever! Who won't? =).. No wonder my cousin, Melodi, has said in her MSN nick.. "Olympics is highly addictive but highly distracting too!" Ain't it true? =)

Anyway, I did catch Tao Li's semi-finals yesterday on Cable TV and the Finals today at 1024 hrs (also on Cable TV)!!. Here is a history of her timings:

2006 Asian Games - 58.96 seconds
(Her national record set @ 2006 Asian Games)

100m Womens' Butterfly Heats @ The Water Cube, Beijing
(09 Aug 2008) - 57.77 seconds

100m Womens' Butterfly Semi-Finals @ The Water Cube, Beijing
(10 Aug 2008) - 57.54 seconds
(now her personal best and also set an all-NEW Asian record; the previous Asian record of 58.20 seconds was set by China's Zhou Yafei in Melbourne last year!
Moreover, she is the FIRST Singaporean Swimmer to have qualified in an Olympic Finals!)

100m Womens' Butterfly Finals @ The Water Cube, Beijing
(11 Aug 2008) - 57.99 seconds
(Failed to win a medal for Singapore but finished an incredible fifth in the Finals!)

Well.. I admit that it was a little disappointing for me to see this 18-year-old girl from the Singapore Sports School to be like "so near yet so far".. but oh well.. this is her FIRST Olympics, and she has got another 2 more Olympics to shine before she calls it a day! So we'll see in the 2012 Olympics then !!

So now, the medal hopefuls for Singapore would be the Table Tennis team.. let's just see whether they can fulfil Singapore's wish of having at least a Bronze Medal after a 48 years wait! =)

Other than catching the Olympics action on Cable TV today, I did not do much today, except that I had a 4 hrs power nap this afternoon, and now as I blog this, my eyes is totally wide opened! Not a good feeling actually! I still got to work tomorrow.. haix.. talking about Monday blues.. but I think it would not be known as Monday blues tomorrow.. it would be Tuesday blues!!
Oh well.. I still have to go to work rite, unless I'm some rich man's kid but unfortunately I'm not.. haix.. =(

End of my looonnnggg weekend,
<<< abriel >>>

The Japanese Buffet Affair!

The title text in the photo explains it all!
Ok.. I must admit.. I didn't jog this morning, becos I was simply too lazy, despite knowing the fact that I would be bingeing on Japanese buffet tonight!

Anyway, went to Kuishinbo for dinner with family and friends.. and man.. the food menu changed slightly, with its signature tune of "Tong-tong-tong-1-2-3, we are Kuishinbo" only ring 4 times out of our 3+hrs of bingeing!
Last time, with 3+hrs of bingeing, it could have easily rang 7-8 times already! But oh well..

Just as we was about to call it for a day, suddenly the signature tune came on again over the PA system, and I was like telling the ppl who were eating with me to go queue for stuff, becos confirm it would be a dessert!
And true enough, it was! And it was as above! Cool right? They were air-flown from Japan! =).. so ya..

Had a nice time of fellowship and great food! What more could I ask for my 2nd day of my loonngg weekend! Wheee... tomorrow don't need to work.. =P

Oishi-neh,
<<< abriel >>>

Happy 43th Birthday Singapore!!

OCC Youth Ministry (Generation Joshua) Leaders' Dinner
@ Hans Restaurant, Great Eastern Centre
Its Singapore 43th Birthday.. and I am proud to say I'm really proud to be a Singaporean! After 43 years of independance, Singapore still stay strong! Kudos for the great leadership of the Singapore Government! =)

However, becos today is a Saturday, I would not be watching fireworks, but instead at church (becos got Service mah)..

After church, went over to Hans Restaurant @ Great Eastern Centre, for Carlise's "Thank-You" dinner.. so ya.. She is stepping down from the leadership role to play a more important role in church.. so ya.. but we were all sad to see her stepping down, but oh well.. Life still goes on!
Had a great time fellowship over food and talk!! Its been a while since we have gathered all into 1 location and just fellowship over food!

Oh.. this morning, Christina (my church friend) came over to my house to do the mango-pomelo dessert for my youth camp fund-raising activity.. so ya.. quite fun actually.. ha.. and we've got a lot of orders (though can't really hit target. We need to think of other stuff!), so looks like the peeling of mangoes and pomelos would be a slightly difficult thing? I don't koe.. we shall see.. When the youths do the thing, I would then take photo and then blog it lah! So ya.. anticipate it ya! =)

Ok lah.. tired liaox.. gtg and watch my recorded NDP 08 liaox! =)
Tml is another day.. let's just see whether I would jog tml, becos I'm starting to be lazy.. I'm expanding sideways.. Oh my.. but oh well.. who likes a skinny fellow? wahaha.. =P

Happy birthday Singapore once again,
<<< abriel >>>

Why does this thing always happen to me?

Well.. I wasn't expecting this event to happen so soon, but it did.. it all started out as a normal chat, and it developed into something which this person revealed and it was really surprising and shocking.. I have not expected it so soon.. I kept asking myself why does this happen to everywhere I go?

You koe its really torturing and saddening to see this happen time and time again! Just when you thought you are there, and then this thing happened! Why? Why?

I was totally sian this morning when this happened.. I hope that I would get over this thing as time goes by!

I hope I don't cry when this happens!! Haix..

Not exactly in the best mood to blog,
<<< abriel >>>

The day where I worked till 0130 hrs!

Ok.. maybe my long 10 hrs sleep last Friday didnt help at all.. haix..

Yes.. you did see right! I've worked till 0130 hrs this morning not in office, but at home (doing office work lah!).. here's what happened..

My boss leaves Singapore today for her business trip, and she needs to discuss with the ppl there regarding a few projects, and it so happened that one of them was mine.. so she has asked me to do some samples and a summary sheet for discussion purposes..

So since last Friday (1/8), I have been rushing the samples.. then yesterday in lab (my boss was still in), she asked me to do another sample.. and then today asked me to do another sample as well and share with her the sample results via email..

So you see.. I've got so many things "on my plate" to achieve this morning (FYI: A typical simple trial from setup to clean up takes close to 6 hrs!, but yesterday I had a pre-setup, so it only took me half a day.. but then still.. its a lot of work!)..

So thinking that I don't have the time to do it today, I've decided to do it last nite.. after coming home from work (becos I didnt want to stay in office again.. yes.. though I would not be distracted, but the aircon is off after 8pm and that is torturing.. so ya..), bathe and eat dinner.. relax for a while.. and then I drank a can of instant chilled coffee (so that I would stay awake), before I started my office work proper at 2200 hrs.. then I did it all the way till 0130 hrs.. and surprisingly, my mind didnt want to shut down after 0130 hrs this morning! It must have been the coffee!!

So I slept at 0130 hrs this morning and woke up at 0600 hrs to go to work.. Fwah! Tell you.. I felt really sleepy I tell you..

Fortunately, in the morning, my mum made coffee for me, and I had it as my beverage for breakfast.. then after I go to office, had 1 small bottle of Essence of Chicken (EOC) and then started my work.. I've send the document to my boss first thing in the morning, so that I won't forget..

Afternoon came (ie, abt 1500 hrs) and my eyes were getting heavy (becos I'm now into heavy research and doing necessary paperwork), so I cldn't take it anymore.. I drank another cup of coffee becos its like 2 hrs more to knock off work..

So after drinking the coffee, felt more awake, and then I continue with my work loh.. so ya..

Today I was very high on caffeine lah! so ya..

Ok.. *Yawns*.. I need to go sleep liaox.. or else, tml I die whilst playing badminton.. so ya..

Tired guy,
<<< abriel >>>

10 hrs!!

Well.. peepz.. yes.. 10 hrs was what I have slept yesterday nite.. Never in my whole life I have slept like 10 hrs STRAIGHT WITHOUT any distubances!! Usually its like just waking up automatically abt 7-8 hrs after a nite's rest, and then can't sleep liaox.. If my mum has not woken me up this morning, I cld have slept longer.. haix.. am I getting lesser sleep, becos the past weeks, I'm surviving on lesser sleep? I don't know.. but hope this doesn't become a habit, or else I would be piggie liaox.. hahax..

So now, I'm wide awake as I'm typing this blogpost.. oh man.. haix.. let's see what I can do with this wide awakeness I have loh.. maybe do some research for my BKK trip? we'll see.. =)

Eyes WIDE open,
<<< abriel >>>

After work.. so tired..

Well peepz.. if you have not realised, believe it or not.. I just came back from office only like 50 mins before I've blogged this blogpost!

You all may ask how come? Well.. apparently, my boss needs me to hand up to her a report by this Monday (4/8) before she flies to Thailand for her business trip on Tuesday (5/8)..

Monday (4/8) morning I've also got samples to do.. so ya.. today I do my samples from 1350 hrs - 1900 hrs (non-stop!).. not even for toilet or water break! Ya.. tats how tight my time is!
Cleaning the equipment already take almost an hour!

After 1900 hrs, I did my post-sample paperwork, and didnt finish it until 2125 hrs.. *gulpz* WITHOUT dinner somemore!! So ya.. was hungry, tired and hot (becos my office once at 2000 hrs, automatically, the whole air-con system in the building would be off!.. so ya..

Cabbed home and then eat my dinner.. and then blog this blogpost loh.. Super shag.. I need to sleep now.. need to sleep now!!

Eyes wide SHUT.
<<< abriel >>>