Monday, May 19, 2008
Super weekend!
Managed quite a few activities again this long weekend. Did our usual roller-blading followed by breakfast at Cafe Cartel, hmmm.. redeemed a free Orea Frappe with vouchers we earned from the last visit. Evening was spent at my second uncle's place for dinner gathering with families from my mum's side. It's the usual once-a-month potluck my uncles take turn to host in their homes. The kids were made to queue up (by my cousin-Derrick) for their cone of Gelato, before they went to play at the playground. Not sure why, but all my cousins are fond of and good at taking care of children. With Yinghong tagging along with my brother's children to sleep-over at my mum's place, BC and I decided we can finally attempt a long distance cycling trip the next morning from our home to East Coast Park! We did ok for the 10 km, reaching East Coast Park connector behind Safra Resort, but I think we really exhausted ourselves by the time we reached home, after a total of 3.5 hours of cycling. The EFFECTS on our thighs were only felt in the afternoon, when we were shopping in Great World City. WAHH... so painful and tight muscles! We would have been able to cover more distance if not for the small wheels of our foldable bikes. With a proper mountain bike or racer, I am sure I could reach East Coast Park McDonalds in 1.5 hours.
Good thing we recovered from our painful thighs this morning after a good sleep. So we continued our exploration of the new bridges in Alexandra road. The Horticulture Park turns out to be a very nice surprise. Will surely bring my Mother-in-law one evening.
And we went to Dempsey Hills for lunch! Food was not fantastic at the "C.A. California" restaurant, but it's got a nice, homely,casual restaurant that resembles an american country diner. The in-house Ben & Jerry counter makes it an exciting place for the kids too. There's this little corner with wooden panel folding doors which can separate the corner for children party, but the carved decor on the wall makes this corner feel like a chapel. The cute thing is the hole in the wooden folding doors are in the shape of an ice-cream cone!
Nice place to bring your family to, they even have live band playing in the night...
Ok , that sums up my weekend..enjoy the pictures!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Mother's Day Weekend - Part 2
Sunday (May 11) - Went cycling in the morning.. hee.. took the long way via the Park-Connector to the Century Square in Tampines to have breakfast @ HANS.
Went to my mum's home for lunch.. she's happier and insisted on cooking for us - my brother, myself and her precious grandchildren...refusing my original idea of going out for lunch.
Then went to Singapore Concert Hall to catch a concert by the SCO (Singapore Chinese Orchestra) , thanks to BJ who got the complimentary tickets from our old friend, the Conductor. The children enjoyed it as it was more like a narrative music class on different Beats (2/4, 3/4, 5/4 etc) intertwined with a slew of melodious pieces. Met a few old friends from the old orchestra days too...Dinner with BJ's whole family at the Korea grill restaurant in East Coast Park... and went home with our clothes and hair smelling of barbequed meat... but what a fulfilling weekend!
Mother's Day weekend - part 1
May has been a busy month so far, at least socially.. .hmm.
Saturday -- Went roller blading ; went out for an early Mother's day lunch with my MIL , took some nice pictures at in "Zhou's Kitchen" restaurant and in the surrounding area "Far East Square" ; then brought Ying Hong to Isaac & Elyna's church wedding service ; had tea and the marvelous Lychee Martini Tart @ the Coffee Club (with BC, Urai, and of course YingHong).
Exploring the new "e!Hub"@ Downtown East
May 4th outing to NTUC "DownTown East" - Couldn't find time to load these pictures that we took when we checked out the new extension "e!hub" of Downtown East in Pasir Ris. My advise - Don't bother taking that Ferris Wheel ride! So small and slow, not exciting at all, yet you have to queue and pay $6.50 per person! More exciting looking at it from outside the building. With the kaleidoscope of neon lights, looks quite pretty, but that's really all.
Nevertheless we are excited about this place, since it has a movie theater! We watched "Iron Man" the following week here. It's quite amazing how they squeeze so many restaurants, cafe, a ferris wheel, a bowling alley, a super market, a huge children indoor playground (exorbitant charges though..). After exploring the new wing, we went back to the older wing, and Ying Hong enjoyed a $3 per 10 mins ride on a "Pony" so much more than the Ferris Wheel ride. She got some good exercise too, as its' a mechanical pony that requires you to stand up and down to push it to move.
Friday, May 9, 2008
I wish.....
Been a busy week but I suddenly have so many thoughts in my mind.. can't remember yesterday's thoughts now (yes.. memory fading.. aging). There are many things I wished for and if my wishes come true, I truly believe the world will be a better place... I wish that...
All humans can eat less meat and be more compassionate. It is obvious by now to those who read news reports - it takes xx more times of crops to rear one cow, we would save so much land, resources if we could eat less meat. Compassionate... share your food, or at least don't waste them. I remember Boon Chong told me once that one of his ex-colleagues always asked for more rice when he orders lunch from a food court, but he will always leave a thick layer of rice behind when he's finished lunch. When asked why, he said he's worried the plate is not clean enough, so he will only eat the rice that did not come into contact with the plate!!!! Horror! Using precious rice to line his plate. Disgusting!
Human population should come under control, and people should just get out of places that are not suitable for inhabition... I have long wanted to voice this, but I am sure lots of humanitarian groups will hate me for this. But isn't it so true that there are not enough resources in this world to sustain the ever-growing human population? Why are all other beings subjected to the natural life cycle, but human get to artificially extend their lifes (through medical means) and at the same time terminate other creatures and also squandered resources in the name of economic development... besides diseases, we really don't have any natural predators .
only video/computer games that promote goodness exist. Humans are sinners, it is SOOOOO true. Most popular games are those that includes violence, vices. The latest review I read in the papers is about a game that allows you to walk around in the "city of liberty" to assume a role of a new immigrant who found work for the thugs and gangs. Apparently it included many gun-fight scenes that look very real lor.. Why waste time worrying about how to educate, influence, control and limit access, etc... if you know it's bad, just ban it lah! It they don't exist at all, then no need to worry mah, why waste time and resources doing damage control.. If such games are popular it only prove one thing.. that people actually would like to do bad things, but since they can't (or at least someone would need a BIG motivation to go against the law) do it in the real world, they do it happily and without qualms in the virtual world. Children, teenagers or adult, there will be some kind of influence from such games. And who says we must be open and allow companies to be creative? Pathetic man... the only reason for those companies to create such games is simply to make money lah. And those suckers who really pay and play, are just fooling themselves to say it's fun.. when truly they are satisfying their own secret dark souls in them to do some evil.
Thats why I like Nintendo WII.. sports, cooking..good clean fun.
Ok, enough of nagging here.. going to bed now.. good night. Tomorrow is weekend, hurray!
All humans can eat less meat and be more compassionate. It is obvious by now to those who read news reports - it takes xx more times of crops to rear one cow, we would save so much land, resources if we could eat less meat. Compassionate... share your food, or at least don't waste them. I remember Boon Chong told me once that one of his ex-colleagues always asked for more rice when he orders lunch from a food court, but he will always leave a thick layer of rice behind when he's finished lunch. When asked why, he said he's worried the plate is not clean enough, so he will only eat the rice that did not come into contact with the plate!!!! Horror! Using precious rice to line his plate. Disgusting!
Human population should come under control, and people should just get out of places that are not suitable for inhabition... I have long wanted to voice this, but I am sure lots of humanitarian groups will hate me for this. But isn't it so true that there are not enough resources in this world to sustain the ever-growing human population? Why are all other beings subjected to the natural life cycle, but human get to artificially extend their lifes (through medical means) and at the same time terminate other creatures and also squandered resources in the name of economic development... besides diseases, we really don't have any natural predators .
only video/computer games that promote goodness exist. Humans are sinners, it is SOOOOO true. Most popular games are those that includes violence, vices. The latest review I read in the papers is about a game that allows you to walk around in the "city of liberty" to assume a role of a new immigrant who found work for the thugs and gangs. Apparently it included many gun-fight scenes that look very real lor.. Why waste time worrying about how to educate, influence, control and limit access, etc... if you know it's bad, just ban it lah! It they don't exist at all, then no need to worry mah, why waste time and resources doing damage control.. If such games are popular it only prove one thing.. that people actually would like to do bad things, but since they can't (or at least someone would need a BIG motivation to go against the law) do it in the real world, they do it happily and without qualms in the virtual world. Children, teenagers or adult, there will be some kind of influence from such games. And who says we must be open and allow companies to be creative? Pathetic man... the only reason for those companies to create such games is simply to make money lah. And those suckers who really pay and play, are just fooling themselves to say it's fun.. when truly they are satisfying their own secret dark souls in them to do some evil.
Thats why I like Nintendo WII.. sports, cooking..good clean fun.
Ok, enough of nagging here.. going to bed now.. good night. Tomorrow is weekend, hurray!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Catching up with Friends...
Its a nice feeling to catch up with good friends. This week I happened to do that a few times ..
Wednesday - Facial and chat with my trusting and caring Beautician Jennifer, and had a nice dinner chat with fellow Libran and good mate Bee Yean at "One-Ninety" in the Four Seasons Hotel. Finally got to try the liquor jellies - "cocktails can eat". Their new menu with smaller size appetisers and main courses is simply wonderful!
Thursday - had a good chat over phone with Ching, my dear friend in Sydney. Too bad we had to cut short our conversation when work got busier.
Friday - The lovely and funny Catherine Li arrived from HK and made a dinner date with us fellow bloomies. Dinner was great fun, followed by a nice chat at Nectarie in Clarke quay.
Saturday- went roller blading with Nancy, Arthur and Amanda. We all had great fun, and the kids went for a swim in our Condo pool after that, and played on the "WII" . Had a good chat with Nancy, sharing our parenting experience.
Childhood
Childhood memories are most precious. I suddenly remember I have not taken a picture of Ying Hong and her daily playground gang before, so when I had a chance to watch them play this Monday late afternoon (thanks to being on early shift), I got them to pose for 2 pictures.
Last weekend was fun too, I had a chance to quickly shop at Raffles City and had a nice sandwich brunch at "Ah Teng's Bakery" at Raffles Hotel, such a nice and free feeling! This was all while Boon Chong was out in Toa Payoh and Bukit Merah running errands with Ying Hong tagging along. We subsequently met at National Library to read some books, then head to Hans Cafe before heading home. Was fun!
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