The new .....

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The old ....

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The new washing machine came yesterday and after having it installed, my mom commented that with the white machine, the area looks bigger and brighter. I looked at my mom and said "Maybe it's because I cleaned the area and there isn't an inch of dirt and grime there now!"

Anyway, I used the machine for the first time today and I have to say I didn't know that a washing machine could be that quiet! I guess after being used to the "bang, bang, bang" during the spin cycle, it sounded weird when silence greeted me. It made me wonder whether the machine was working properly or not. Sure enough, when the machine beeped to signal the end, I opened the lid and the clothes were spun dry.

I'm sure the neighbors are glad to be able to sleep in finally :)

Woke up early this morning to wash clothings .. last time using the old machine ... no more "Bamg, bang, bang" in the morning. After I got done with laundry, I cleared the area as it was VERY dirty! There was so much crap .. thanks to my dad's collection and years of dirt, grime built up ... my mom has long given up on cleaning the hse since there is too much stuff. It took me more than 2 hrs to clean that small area by the washine machine! I had to move the machine, scrub the floor, rinse, scrub again, rinse, move the fridge, scrub, rinse, scrub, rinse, move crap, throw crap, scrub, rinse, scrub, rinse, throw more crap ... u get the pic :)

But I have to say I am pretty proud of what I did ... though there are some stains that I could not get out .. they are embedded in the tile! I threw away some stuff and there are more that I wanted to get rid off but I know that my dad won't be happy about it when he get home if I throw away everything. There are just some stuff that are literally falling apart! I mean, I get it that when he finds it, he thinks that it is a waste for it to be thrown away, but if he is to keep it and not use it and let it rot, what is the point in taking it in the first place?

ARGH .. I will never understand my dad when it comes to this. I think I have gone to the other extreme .. I now throw stuff away without blinking an eye.

On Sat, I went out with my mom to get a new washing machine. The one that we had is falling apart. When it is in it's spin cycle, it is so loud that it sounds as if there are guns going off ... that and it machines would inch forward. I kept thinking that it would fall over the small ledge.

We went to a store nearby and bought a new 9.5kg machine. My dad was the one that wanted a big one ... haha, guys, they always think bigger is better. After that, we went grocery shopping ....

Came home and while I was online, I chatted with KL who was bored at home and so asked whether I wanted to meet him for coffee. I was bored too and since I was dressed, I said ok.

My mom dropped me off at the MRT station and so I was early. Went to my old workplace to check out the romance section. It was a mess ... so dissapointing. KL was late and so I ended up spending more time there that I had planned.

When he finally arrived, we first headed to Burger King so that he could have dinner. I ate some of his fries but that was it ... diet! Later, we went to Coffee Bean where I had my usual Latte with skim milk.

We were there chit chatting for a few hrs and for the first time in a long while, I was able to catch the train home, no need for a cab. By the time I reached home, it was midnite .... tired, bed :)

Before meeting up to celebrate Yvonne's birthday on Fri, I went to get a haircut. Talk about anxiety attacks! I was so nervous 'cos I wanted to do something different but was petrified that I would not like the outcome. I dragged my sis along and while walking to the salon, there were a few times when I tried to turn around and run. Haha ... I know, very drama.

I thought the stylist did a pretty good job and I especially loved the 15 min or more head massage that I got. I gave her the go ahead to cut my fringe which I have not had since prob primary sch. I decided for a change after looking at pics from 4 years ago and realized that my hair style has basically been the same.

I then went down to Orchard Rd where I met up with KL, Huiyi and Shanice to go pick out a cake for Yvonne. We went to Taka where there were quite a number of cake shops and we finally decided on this really chocolaty looking cake :)

We had dinner at Chong Qing, a steamboat place. I ate so much, but not according to Ben who kept staring at me while I was having my "time out" moments and asking me to eat. Worse than my mom!

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WD, Ben, KL, Huiyi, Me, Yvonne (the birthday gal), Shanice and Carol

After dinner we headed to Coffee Bean to chit chat and cut the cake ... I was so stuffed by then that all I had was H2O.

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Here she is making her wish .... We wanted to get 30 small candles at the cake store but was told no :(

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At Coffee Bean.

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Ben and I. What do u think of my hair?

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When the place closed at 1am, we headed to a 24hr McDonalds where we stayed till about 3am. We probably could have stayed longer but WD was dozing off and we took pity on him :)

Will be meeting up with my usual grp of friends to celebrate Yvonne's bday. She is hitting the big THREE ZERO .... Have not been out to eat in awhile. I think my last buffet was on 31st Dec when my bro and ash brought me out to celebrate my bday.

The annoying this is that it looks like it is going to rain again. I won't be surprised if Singapore loses a few square miles after this season of rain! Those living near the edge ..... go inland!

Well .... I will be back to update with pics from today when I get them ;)

Stupid things I get emotional about ...

Warren Beatty's acceptance speech ..... He, who was voted "Most Promising Newcomer" in 1962, thanked his wife, Annette Bening, upon receiving the DeMille Award at today's Golden Globes, saying ....

"....thank you for our life together and for always making feel like your most promising newcomer."

So sweet ..... I got teary eyed hearing it. They have been married since 1992.

It has been raining almost everyday, what a depressing sight. Moroever, with the rain, I can't go out running .. which means that my ticker has stopped moving, which makes me even more depressed.

So, I spend today at home, as usual, working on my resume. It was too short to began with. With help from Ben, I managed to lengthen it to almost 2 pages. I also tweaked the design a little and BS some(more) ... haha.

Was prob on the comp for more than 6hrs ..... my sis commented on it but I could spend hrs on it and still find stuff to do :) Plus, there is nothing to watch on tv with the TWO channels we get.

With all the rain, the one thing I miss is the dryer! I love how clothes come out of the dryer all fluffed, warm and smelling of Downy .....

My dad received this letter from his alumni and OMG, the president needs some English remedial lessons ... or just fire whoever proofread his message. I'm not saying that my English is perfect, I make mistakes regularly while writing on my blog, however, this is informal and spontaneous. That letter was sent out to hundreds (maybe even thousands) of alumni members, you would think that they would have at least made sure that there were no grammatical errors.

In the first place, there were already errors that they tried correcting (note the blue pen corrections) Isn't that embarassing enough, having to manually edit your message? However, upon reading it, my sis and I found even more errors (red markings) ... and some were NOT minor.

One major error was when he used the word "jest" (click for definition). I'm pretty sure he meant "zest". It could have been an honest slip, even I did not immediately catch it. Or maybe he was just spelling the way Singaporeans pronounce.

The other word is "commanderie" ... there isn't even such a word!!! The closest is "commanderies" or "commandery". What the hell happened to his spell check? I'm pretty sure he meant "comradery" or "camaraderie".

Has Singaporeans become so lax that they don't even give a damn anymore?

Please lah ... don't be like that leh .. very paiseh (embarrassing) one leh!

P.S. Please forgive me for ALL the errors I have made in this entry .... and all future ones too :)

It seems like my dad is going to be in Germany for a lot longer than expecting. According to my mom, my dad won't be home until at least Feb 20 ... yup, that is after the Lunar New Year. It's a little sad knowing that my Dad won't be here during the period. Hopefully he will be back within the 2 weeks that we celebrate it.

On the plus side, that means my mom really does not have to cook for more than a mth and that means that I would be able to control what I eat. I tend to hover over my mom when she cooks to make sure that she doesn't add too much salt or use too much oil ... that's why I prefer to eat what I cook, that way I know what is inside. No mom's home cooking ... well, I have survived 6 years without it, it should not be too hard.

Now with the car at my mom's disposal, she is going out almost everyday. She was thinking of joining my dad in Germany but my dad told her to stay put. He said that she should just use what it would cost to fly over there and spend it here. I guess no matter where she goes, my mom will be spending money .... I wonder what my dad's reaction would be when he comes home and sees how much she has been spending on the slot machines.

I, for sure, do not want to be around for that "discussion".

Went jogging with my sis yesterday, did our 2.4km at the stadium. This time I did not manage to continously jog for the full 6 rounds .... gave up after the 4th. Just could not take it anymore. However, my time was still the same as the previous ... guess that means if I had persevered I might have improved my time ... damn!

I wonder if I can meet my deadline of CNY ..... we'll see. Maybe I should start taking bets :)

Nothing else much going around here ... have not been out of the hse much other than going out jogging ... which is gd as that means I will not be stuffing my face and spending $. Moreover, it has been raining almost everyday now ... what a sad and gloomy sight :(

Seems like a great complement for my mood ....

Damn .... stupid delicious chocolate cake .... chocolate is going to be the bane of my diet! That's why when my sis asked whether I wanted to go running today, I said, "Sure!"

Instead of running our usual route today, we walked to Serangoon Stadium to do our 2.4km. It is prob about 15 mins away. It was nice running on even ground but 6 laps?

GROAN!

My goal for today was to jog continuously for that 6 laps and I made it! :) I almost gave up during the 5th lap but I pushed myself. This time around, my sis beat me by about a min. She jogged about 2-3 laps, walked and then sprinted during the last lap. It was so demoralizing when I saw her past me .... that was also the time when I wanted to give up. I'm glad I didn't.

After the run, we strolled our way back home as our cool down. It was a pretty good workout if I may say so myself :) I have never not walked during a 2.4km run and I have to say that I am pretty proud of myself.

Now if I can only reduce my time.

P.S. I hate my sis's super metabolic rate .... she eats so much and is still so god damn tiny. I just have to sit by her and eat vicariously :(

Belated Birthday Cake

My brother brought me to pick up the cake that they wanted to get me for my bday. We went down to Mohamed Sultan Road to a place called The Patissier. The cake that we got is called Double Chocolate Pralines.

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The light brown specks u see is actually gold dust ... according to the website, it is a rich praline sandwiched between layers of chocolate mousse with crunchy chocolaty crust.

According to me, it is heaven :) It wasn't too sweet, the slight bitterness of the cocoa powder on the top helped even out the sweetness, the mousse was creamy, then there is the crunch when u bite into the crust .....

Death by Chocolate is Yummy!

According to my bro, they have tried a few cakes from there but this is by far the best. However, from the looks of the cakes on the website, there are a few others that I want to try on my own. The downside? Their cakes are pretty expensive ... that little 500g cake is S$42 (inclusive GST)

After we got our cake, we went to Don Pie Club which was nearby. This is also another reccomendation by my bro and Ash. Their pies are pretty good, but I'll take the Double Chocolate Pralines over it anytime :)

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Don Your Personal Pie Club

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The oval bumps are half hard boiled eggs.

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We also got this from Don ... Claypot Crab Noodle. The soup (on the top left hand corner) is an herbal soup ... not too bad. However, u don't get much meat out of a crab ... crap :)

There goes my diet for today .....

Managed to do my two laps yesterday even though I thought it was going to rain anytime. Jogged for more than one lap before the stupid slope won ..... finished off the second lap walking and jogging.

Checked my watch when I completed it .... Sigh. Well, I don't remember my running time back in the days, but still, it was a disappointment. Tried to go online to find what is that time limit for 2.4km for my age level but was unable. The oldest I found was for 24 year old and below.

Guess it doesn't really matter as long as my time keeps improving. Moreover, setting a time limit is going to make it more stressful, at least now I am doing it at my own pace.

Went jogging with my sis yesterday around my estate. I mapped out a route that is about 1.2km, so 2 laps will be about 2.4km. However, we got a little lost, should have made a turn but we continued on ... but we did managed to find our way home b4 it started pouring.

At least I did :) ... my sis got a little more soaked than me.

Because of the rain, we only managed to make one lap ... well, we'll try again on Fri! This time we figured out where we needed to make a turn. The only thing I don't like about the route is that there is a stretch that is uphill, but I guessed that can't really be helped when u are running in an estate instead of the track.

MUST fit into my Skinny Skinny Jeans!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Was woken up by my bro on new year's eve morn. He wanted to know whether I was free so that he could go get me my bday cake. After finally dragging my butt out of bed, I drove over to my bro's only to realize that the bakery that my bro wanted to go to has closed early b'cos it was new year's eve. Therefore, my bro, ash, my sis and I went out for a late lunch, early dinner.

I was going to meet up with my friends for the new year's countdown so I had to go home and change. By the time I reached town, it was madness ... there were so many ppl on the streets! We headed to a bar called the Loof but even though there were empty seats, they were all reserved.

We tried to make our way to the Esplanade but we were moving against a sea of ppl and so we finally gave up. We headed back to the Swissotel and ended up at their lounge. Some idiots decided to leave just as we came in and we got one of the best seats in the hse. It had a pretty good view of the fireworks :)

??? 4 Flowers :)

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Waiting for New Year's ...

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The fireworks display!

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WD, Scott, Evon, Huiyi, Shanice and Me.

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It was a bitch trying to get home, there was a long cab line outside that sometimes did not move an inch in an hr .... The lines were constantly busy so we could not call for a cab .... So we waited and waited till about 4am in the morn b4 we finally managed to book a cab.

I had a great time that nite but it was kinda sad knowing that another year has passed

On my bday, I met up with LC for lunch at at really nice Irish Pub called Muddy Murphy's down in Orchard Road.

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LC had the lamb stew.

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I had the beef stew ... it was really yummy!

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After lunch, I met up with my sis who was in town with a couple of her friends. They surprised me with a small cake and even lighted a candle for me to make a wish. My sis, together with my mom and Justina, gave me a gift voucher to Forever 21 :)

Later on, I met up with my friends and we went out for dinner ... yes, it was eat, eat, eat the whole day. We went to this chinese restaurant that just opened called Bottle Tree Park. The food was not too bad but the service was bad ... it took them so long to clear table so we had to wait because we wanted a table that was in the air-conditioned room. It was so new that they did not even have their credit card machines up and running, everyone has to pay by cash.

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Here we are sitting while they clear a table for us ...

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Huiyi, KL, Shanice, Evon, Me and Ben.

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The gang .... Huiyi, Shanice, Me, Evon, WD, KL and Ben

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We then headed to a KTV lounge where we had our karaoke nite. It has been so long since I have been to one. I mainly set there and listened to the rest sing as they were all singing chinese songs.

GX and LC joined us for karaoke as the wedding dinner that they were at was at the same place as our karaoke. My friends bought Ben and I a birthday cake and it was there where we sang out happy birthdays.

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Cutting our cake ... chocolate .... yum :)

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The Pretty Gals :)
?? :)

We had to leave at 2am when the lounge closed but we then headed down to Jalan Kayu for some coffee and tea ... by the time I got home, I was so tired that slept the moment I hit the bed ....