As 2009 Comes To A Close...

Can't help but reflect on the year that it was...

The year 2009 closes having jotted down the saddest event in my life. Before the saddest event happened, there were the happiest moments of anticipation. Not sure how I've gotten to where I am now, following that time, but will put it down to lotsa support from the husband, family and friends. I can't say I've totally gotten over it, I guess one never ever completely "gets over" something like that... and there are still things I struggle to do because it brings back tidal waves of emotions. Nonetheless, I have, at least, been able to become a more functional human being in my daily life, ie, being able to wake up, get dressed, go to work, enjoy company from friends, have decent conversation, etc.

So here's hoping that such things will never repeat itself in my life ever again and with such hopes, I look to the year 2010 with much trepidation.

In the later part of this year, husband and I also had the grand opportunity to travel to parts of Europe, including the slightly harder to access, Eastern Europe. Our travel itinerary included our base in Amsterdam, where my cousin lived (free accomodation - yay), London, where husband's cousins lived, then Berlin and Prague before looping back to Amsterdam.

▲ Husband sitting at window of Wei's apartment, overlooking the 

Lijnbaansgracht in Amsterdam 

We really enjoyed Amsterdam, the canals were pretty, the people were English speaking and the place was easy to navigate. Maybe it also helped that we had a super host :) - thanks Wei! I also especially enjoyed the one day roadtrip we took - driving a rented car to Broke-in-Waterland, Zaanse Shans and Rotterdam. And Gav got a first hand experience at driving on the other side of the road in a manual car!

▲ Windmill at Zaanse Shans, very pretty. We went into a paint grinding 

windmill, where they make paint in powder form, using the wind power 

for the grinding process

Berlin was a sobering city and yet we had the most fun city tour on a Segway! Our tour guide was a Bangladeshi dude who had lived and worked in London in the IT department of one of the biggest investment banks before taking a hasta-la-vista package to go live his dreams of playing in a band in Berlin and being a Segway tour guide!

▲ On our Segways on the front lawns of the Reischtag, Gav - stop grabbing my boob... ggrrr

oh ya, one thing we didn't manage to do was to climb up into the glass dome above the Reischtag!

Prague? It felt like we were on the set of a Vampire movie in Transylvania... hehe.. with all the castles, gothic structures and cobblestone roads. It was pretty and quite surreal, really. But the people aren't the friendliest nor the most helpful.

  

▲ the outside and inside of the church (forgot the name) at the Prague Castle

Fast forward to December in the last week or so.... it has been a crazy flurry of non-stop eating! omg.... it's like Chinese New Year where everyday is a celebration... and so we have been eating and drinking our way from Christmas till New Year's!

There was Christmas-cum-moving-in breakfast, then Christmas lunch, then Christmas lok-lok dinner, then Wedding lunch, then followed by a no occassion dinner, then farewell Steamboat dinner, then Sang Ha Meen dinner...

Tonite there'll be NYE buffet dinner and drinks, and then a NY's day lok lok party for the cousins with bonus entertainment from a live band tomorrow! What a way to start the new year!

▲ Cheers! Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Seng!

Ho hum....

Wanted to do a post on what makes a new house a home.... but thoughts are everywhere and so are the photos. Since I am too lazy to organise both thoughts (something about some flowers, some rented furniture and lotsa people) and photos into a coherent post, here's a snapshot of the the poochi instead: 

▲ Bubbles in new home looking pretty

▲ Model on rented furniture in new home looking pretty

MERRRY CHRISTMAS!!

Avatar

Went to watch Avatar over the weekend, a late session too, 9.30pm on Sunday night! Totally think it is a superb movie - well done James!

Loved the beautiful untouched jungle world of Pandora;

Loved the beautiful Na'vi people, though not quite sure if this movie was targeted at the children audience, yet they still made sure the characters, especially the female ones slim and 'swayed' when they walked, a little bit feline-like. Aiya, to put it in less words - the females were sexy!

Loved the soundtrack too, especially the accompanying score to the "flying part" in the movie. Am going to check out the score after this... :)

(i think i shall keep this post short - in case i keep dishing out spoilers!)

▲ Jake Sully checking out his twin brother's avatar, which he took over

 because he shares the same genome make up as his twin

▲ Neytiri, my favourite character in the whole movie

(should probably not post too many photos either, cause my captions will probably also include spoilers!)

Anyways, I wasn't so sure about the target audience for this movie, because the first person i talked to about the movie was my little niece, she's about 5 years old, I think. She pulled out her Avatar toys from her bag and started talking excitedly about each character! hehehe was taken a little bit by surprise at her sudden animation!

▲ Jake Sully doll behind the 6 legged horse-like creature doll

that Clarise, my niece, pulled out from her bag

(oh ya - Jake Sully doll lights up when you pull at his tail)

If you haven't watched the movie - this is a DEFINITE must watch before the year end at the cinemas. There's also a 3D option, but am not sure the extent of a headache you may come out with after sitting down with 3D glasses on for close to 3 hours! But if you're one of those who don't get headaches, think the 3D version will definitely transport you even deeper into the beautiful world of Pandora!

It's Christmas!

This is as far as the Christmas decoration I have in my house:

▲ Christmas fridge magnets!

haha.. got them all from Changi airport - they were free gifts when u purchase over x amount at the airport. :)

▲ "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Will get a christmas tree next year :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Doggie Adoption Update

Took the doggie to the vet this morning. So here's wat we know and did:

• she's about 8-8.10 kgs (wow - unexpected!) 
• vet thinks she a terrier mix
• estimated that she's about 10 months old, young adult he said
• hence, shouldn't grow too much bigger, maybe to about 10kgs
• gave her vaccinations jab, to go back for booster in 3 months' time
• also gave her deworming tab
• her heartworm status will be tested via a bloodtest when she goes back for her vaccination booster
• she's DEFINITELY female! hahaha... :) 

At the vet she was a curious li'l fella... looking at everything that was happening around her, not scared at all. Unlike the old lady, Bubbles, who gets so scared until her tongue turns blue when she's at the vet... just from being in the vet and waiting.

She was happily sniffing and saying hello to Scruffy, another terrier, who was there waiting for her check up, after a near death experience from liver failure about a month ago.

Am so glad that I never became a vet, I think I'd cry at work everyday seeing all the poor sick doggies and cats. :)

She did get scared though, when this big momma of a malay lady walked into the vet carrying her 3 cat cages. hahaha.. she went and hid behind the maid's legs when the lady was walking in.

Otherwise, she was very calm on the vet's inspection table, just lied down, didn't protest/struggle when the vet examined her...

▲ I'm sitting quietly and waiting for my turn to see the nice doctor

"Anyone wanna take me home yet? I'm getting better and better with people everyday..."

Doggie Looking for Home Part 2....

Here are some better photos of her... the husband said I should've groomed her first then only take photos *pengsan*.

▲ hello folks... am looking for a good home

▲ oops - i blinked.. but i don't like the flash

▲ i'm long and skinny.. not quite sure wat breed i am.. looks

like a bit of mousedeer fur on my back too..  hehe

▲ have a patch of white fur on my chest

▲ i can shake hands too... but only with Fina

▲ I love playing with the other doggies....

▲ I do love a good scratch but I'm very shy with people

▲ So please take me to a good, warm, loving home..

i'll be good and will be easy to love... *licks*

Doggie Looking for Home....

Here's a (not so good) photo of the little fella looking for a home: 

▲ now named 'Siti' by the maid

My mom's maid brought home this dog last weekend from her friend's place. Said that the friend was giving it away and asked if my dad wanted to keep the dog. My dad's non-committal response was, "Have to see the dog first" and hence the dog appeared in the house.

Since then, the dog has been in my parents' house... chewing up some slippers... but surprisingly has made friends with the other doggies - Gracie and even the bad mood, territorial, old lady, Bubbles.

First impression of her is she's incredibly shy of people - not sure if that's a sign that she's been abused or that she's been neglected, hence not trusting of people. She only goes to the maid, and plays with the maid, no one else. Though, whenever Bubbles is around, she loves coming over to say hello and then play :).

▲ another look at Siti

She has a long body, with short legs.. so looks likes she's got some daschund (sausage dog) blood, mix with golden retriever (although my sister reckons that's not physically possible... hehehe) resulting in a mousedeer like coat on her back... Should call her Sang Kancil instead. :)

Anyways, since we said we didn't want to keep her, the maid's friend has said that she was just gonna take her back and let her run off. She had no intention of keeping the dog.... That's just plain cruel and so wrong!!! Couldn't bear the thought of her running off and getting hit by a car.... *sobs

So, anyone interested in adopting her, please drop a line! Will try to take better photos of her!

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009

So ar... we just got back from the weekend trip to Singapore, or Stinkipore as nicknamed by an ex-resident of the island nation. Something about it being stinky when it rains, and it rains quite often in the island....

Anyways, we were there for the weekend for the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. This was the first Stand Chart Spore experience for my sister and the husband. They were both doing the half marathons, so we had flown in on a 7.45am flight with Tiger Airways on Saturday.

I've never been so tired in my life, having to wake up at 4.30am (after only just about 4.5 hours) of sleep, having to get dressed and then catch the airport taxi cab to the LCCT. I was so tired that I actually fell asleep sitting on one of the chairs while the rest of them were waiting in line to check in. When I gained consciousness, they have moved about 10-15 feet in the queue, and were not even looking behind to check on me - HUMPH!!! How did they know if I was just taking a (super) power nap or had actually passed out from exhaustion and lack of sleep?

Grudgingly, I got up and joined them in the queue.

I seemed to have regained some little bit of energy from the power nap. The flight was uneventful. Arrived at the budget terminal of Changi and Yen was told by her friend that the race packs collection place was actually near the airport... not in the Durian area, like it was done in previous years.

So, after asking around, we took the free shuttle bus service to Terminal 2, and then caught a bus to the Singapore Exhibition Centre to collect the race packs. Yen's friends, whom we had bumped into upon arrival at the airport, were also headed there, but they decided to take the MRT instead from Terminal 2. We got there first - Nyeh! :)

When collecting their packs, I told them to check their chips and make sure that it was their chips... You don't want to run a race and then later can't find yourself in the official results. That would suck.

After that, we took a cab to Scarlet Hotel, a boutique hotel in Tanjong Pagar, where we were staying. Our rooms were not ready as yet, so we asked the concierge if there was a Yakun Toast nearby. We walked in the direction he pointed us in, but there was no Yakun Toast in sight. grrrrrr! So we ended up taking the MRT to Somerset and went to Killiney Kopitiam instead. As we were walking from the MRT, it started to rain, and got very heavy very quickly - see! Hence, Stinkipore!

During this whole time, I was already so tired, like I could just fall asleep on the spot, you know that jetlagged feeling - ya, like that. After eating at Killiney's and waiting out the rain, I asked to go back to the hotel to sleep, but the husband veto-ed that.... and said, "you can sleep in KL".... grrr, so okay lar. I soldiered on... husband had to go get a reload card for his prepaid mobile, and then we had to go to the bank. Oh - we had to go to the bank because we were going to deposit a $1,000 bill into the cash deposit machine and then withdraw it out in smaller notes - imaginative way of getting small change? It was an imaginative way, except, it failed because the cash deposit machine would accept only up to $200 bills...

Fast forward to the following day - husband woke up at 4.30am, got dressed, I was in and out of sleep, but at one stage when I awoke, he seemed to be watching tv all dressed up in his gear - maybe he was all ready.

After they left, I finally woke up at about 7ish, started packing up our bags... then washed up and got dressed. At 8.30am, headed out towards the Padang with sister's boyfriend - good choice, Chris, on the jumping into a cab! We got to the finish line about 2hrs 15 minutes after the start of the half marathon, which should be enough time to catch either yen or husband, assuming they're really good, considering they hadn't been training for this run!!!!

Neways, they finally both came in.... not at times they were both aiming for, so won't reveal them here. But I had a really good time watching the marathoners finishing their run at sub-4 hours. Love it! Love it! They are awesome! I'm going to so do a full marathon! The MC's did a great job welcoming them back at the finishing line, calling out some of their names too! Awesome - can't wait!

Below are some of the snapshots taken while hanging out at the finishing line.

▲ Dude with funny looking hat, finishing up his half marathon

▲ Group of guys (in red and yellow tops) finishing

their marathon together, sub 4 hours - awesome!

▲ Rollerbladers and one on wheelchair coming through

 

▲ Guy being wheeled in on a wheelchair

▲ Even Spiderman made the run!

▲ "Donate Eyes for..." not sure, cause couldn't

get a good look at this banner

▲ Yen!! Finally! :P She didn't hear us

screaming her name from the sidelines though!

Her run blog post here.

The Digital Age...

My sister works for a media agency, one of the larger ones too. More specifically, she's with the digital department of the agency, that is, she specialises in placing ads on the internet and also mobile data. So she gets really cool gifts as part of her job...

Googly Man!

Which actually is a.....

a 2Gb thumbdrive!

:)




She's also given me this Facebook notebook! :) hehehe.... these are better than any of the other cheapo "premium gifts" I've ever gotten! So you see, this is what Gen Y is up to with their work these days....