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Wednesday 31 December 2008

Last Day of 2008

I did nothing. Absolutely NOTHING so far.

I was home the entire day. I was trying to read articles and do some writing. But I got depressed just looking at the amount of articles I have to read. My mood got better when I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. :) When I saw the 5-inch thick stack of articles I still have to plough through, my mood darkened again. :(

Guess I will have to do work on the last day of 2008. Instead of partying into the new year, it is reading into the new year for me.

Tuesday 30 December 2008

Belated Christmas Party

The girls' pre-school had its Belated Christmas Party today. It was postponed from last Tuesday due to some unforeseen circumstances. The girls were thrilled to be in school in their party dresses. The Christmas Party was from 10am - 11:30am.

I attended the party because the girls were performing. I wanted to give them support. I was seated right in front for better photo opportunities lol. The girls were extremely happy to see me. I took several photos when they performed their songs. After the performances from the different classes, the graduating K2 class was asked to end the party by hitting the pinata. Marieann and her classmate together broke the pinata. :) Yes, that's my girl lol. The parents were invited to have some refreshment after the party. Some parents took their children home after the party. I let the girls remained in school so that they could play with their classmates a little longer, especially for Marieann as it would be her second last day in pre-school.


Juliane in the foreground and Marieann in the background getting ready to sing

Monday 29 December 2008

A Sure Way to have Migraine

is to be in my office. SIGH.

As it is the end of the year and most colleagues are away clearing their leave, I thought it would be the quietest time to do some writing. I could never be more wrong! :(

At 9am sharp, the drilling started and it went on until lunch time and continued again after lunch. The drilling was like a machine gun at the back of your head, firing into your head consistently and persistently, "da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da". Even when I was having my lunch far from the office, I could still hear the drilling in my head and not to mention, the pounding headache the drilling gave me.

There was just no way I could do any writing, and reading was out too. I could only looked up and printed articles useful for my dissertation and reading the abstracts was all I could do in terms of reading. Around 4pm, I gave up. My headache was just getting worse.

I really hope they will finish the re-construction soon. I really don't want to go through the noise and suffer a headache every time I am in the office. :(

Sunday 28 December 2008

Mother and Daughter Time

Here's a puzzle. See if you can solve it.

Two pairs of mother and daughter went to a restaurant. Why only 3 persons were charged?

Hahaha. Very easy, right?!! :P

After getting a few things from Isetan Scotts (yes, we were there again lol), we went to have lunch at Nanbantei Japanese Restaurant, Far East Plaza. My mother had a Grilled Eel bento set while Juliane and I shared the Obento set. We enjoyed our lunch very much. I seldom had the opportunity to have lunch outside with my mother because my mother prefers eating at home. We went home soon after lunch.

Oh by the way, you have guessed the correct answer to the puzzle, right? Only three persons were charged because the two pairs of mother and daughter's relationships are grandmother, mother and daughter. :)

Saturday 27 December 2008

Comfort and Sympathies

On a rare occasion, my mother went out with us. We took a quick look around Isetan Scotts before going over to nydc Cafe, Wheelock Place for lunch.

We ordered a few dishes to share such as Mushroom Madness pizza ($14.95), Mushroom Attack Spaghetti ($14.50) and Spaghetti Aglio Olio ($14.50). The pizza was nice but the mushroom spaghetti was a tad spicy for the girls because of the pepper. I didn't try the other spaghetti as it was spicy. For dessert, the girls each had a scoop of ice cream ($3.80) while I had the Solid Gold ($10.50): a scoop of double chocolate ice cream with cheesecake. That is what I call comfort. :)




***
My good friend's grandmother passed away. I went to her wake at night. That was the least I could do for my friend. We chatted for a while and of all things, about work. :S Sigh. But I am glad to see that my friend seems to be holding up okay.

"May your memories bring you comfort and keep the one
you loved close to you
in spirit and in thought and always in your heart.
Extending my deep and heartfelt sympathy to you and
your family."

Friday 26 December 2008

The Last Oracle - Rollins

I managed to get my hands on the latest Rollins book - The Last Oracle. It is one of the Sigma Force novels so you will have the regular characters such as Commander Gray Pierce, Director Painter Crowe, Kat Bryant, Dr Lisa Cummings, and Joe Kowalski who was from the last Sigma Force novel, The Judas Strain.

In this latest installment of the Sigma Force novel, there is no lack of fast-paced meld of action and intrigue taking Commander Pierce and his team from United States to India to Ukraine. There is also a parallel story happening in Russian Federation to a dear friend thought lost to all. The two stories finally converged at the end.

I really enjoyed reading this novel because there are elements of history (ancient Greek and modern history), learning disability, parapsychology, adventure, and mystery. All the things that I am very familiar with or have a deep interest in. :) I think this is the best novel among the Simga Force novels (then again, I might be bias because of my personal interests in this novel lol). Amidst the intense adventure and action, there are comic reliefs too, provided mainly by Kowalski. There may also be a new regular character in the next Sigma Force novel. :)

Go ahead, read the book since you only need 24 hours to finish it and there is another public holiday coming up. :)

Thursday 25 December 2008

Merry Christmas, Peaceful Christmas

Merry Christmas to Everyone! :)

It is a peaceful Christmas for us. After a sumptuous (and heavy) Christmas Eve dinner, we decided to stay home to watch a boy and some snakes. Lol.

A boy = Hellboy 2.
Snakes = Anaconda 3: The Offspring.

We rented some DVDs to pass the time lol. Hellboy 2 is good, it's the second time I have seen it and I still laughed at the funny moments. I like Hellboy too. :) As for Anaconda 3, can skip it, folks. Although I enjoyed watching Anaconda 1 and 2, No. 3 was a total waste of time. :( I could have watched Iron Man instead. Yup, we rented the Iron Man DVD too. Sigh.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. :)

Wednesday 24 December 2008

Tis the Day Before Christmas

It has been raining the whole day. I don't recall any Christmas Eve being so wet. But it was cool, felt almost right for Christmas lol.

We had our Christmas Eve dinner at 7pm, at One Ninety, Four Seasons Hotel. The girls were pretty thrilled. (Juliane actually remembered that she stayed here once but she was only 7 months old then!) It was set dinner menu where the main course was either turkey or lamb ($98++). All the adults chose the turkey. The girls had their own children's set dinner menu ($45++).

For starter, we first had Salmon and Fennel and Herb Jelly with Avruga Caviar, Rocket Salad and Lemon-infused Mustard Cream. I gave my salmon to my mother but I did eat a bit. It was quite nice but I am still not used to eating raw salmon. :P


Next, we had Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Truffle Ravioli. Yum! The soup was really sweet and the ravioli was really nice.


Pan-seared Foie Gras with Celeriac Puree was the next course. Absolutely delicious!!! Who cares if it is sinful?! Lol. :P


We had Pomegranate Sorbet (which was really refreshing and sweet) to prepare our palate for the next course, Roasted Turkey with Sauteed Vegetables, Chestnut Stuffing and Giblet Gravy. I always love the traditional Christmas turkey with chestnut stuffing and cranberry sauce. :)



For dessert, we had Warm Old-fashioned Christmas Pudding with Berries, Brandy Sauce and Vanilla Ice cream. I thought the pudding was too sweet for my liking, it tasted like fruit cake which wasn't really my kind of dessert. But the ice cream I like lol.


The girls had Tomato Soup with Cheddar Cheese Croutons, Roasted Turkey with Green Beans, Crushed Potatoes, Cornbread Stuffing, Herb Gravy and Cranberry Sauce (no photo of it as it is the same as the adults') and finally, Chocolate Log Cake with Fresh Berries Compote and Vanilla Ice cream.



During dinner, there was caroling at the lobby, just outside the restaurant, which was a novelty to the girls. They totally enjoyed the experience.




After dinner, we took a ride down Orchard Road to look at the lights and we also passed by the Christmas house in our neighbourhood. The owner decorates his home every Christmas! It has actually become quite an attraction every Christmas and his house never fails to wow passer-bys with all the Christmas lights and decorations. :)

Tuesday 23 December 2008

Iljimae - Korean Drama

I am now watching Iljimae, a Korean period drama, on U channel at 10pm weekdays. It's the only other Korean drama that I am following faithfully since Goong in 2006 lol. It is not a bad show for a weekday night - drama, comical moments, mystery and romance (soon, I think).

There is this song that is sometimes being played in the show. I am attracted to it because of the instruments accompanying the entire song (the main ones are piano and violin, I think). The instruments made the song really haunting and sentimental. :P When I first heard the song, it really made me sad. It still does. When I saw the lyrics, I understood why. Sigh.


Monday 22 December 2008

Surprise!!!

Today, we gave our good friend and colleague a surprise. It was to celebrate his birthday in advance.



Saw our surprise to him?! :) 41 cans of Coke Light!!! :) You see, our friend loves Coke Light hahaha. It was pretty fun building the Coke Light tree. But the timing for building the "tree" had to be coordinated carefully because we had to make sure our friend was around but he had to be away long enough while we built the "tree". I was in charge of intel lol. I was digging information discreetly from our friend as to when he was around and when his meetings were. I must have done a pretty good job because he didn't suspect anything at all. :) If I may say, Scorpios really make good spies hahaha. :P

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (in advance) Dennis. Hope all your wishes come true for you. :)

PS Oh by the way, we were only in charge of building the "tree" on our friend's desk. If our friend needs to do work, he will have to clear the "tree" himself. But we bet he will probably clear the "tree" within 40 days or less by drinking at least a can of Coke Light a day. Hahaha. :P

Sunday 21 December 2008

Bolt

Bolt 3D is awesome lol. I was very tickled by the 3D effect lol. The movie is very funny too, especially Rhino the Hamster lol.

In short, Bolt is like The Truman Show where instead of Jim Carrey, it is Bolt the dog who lives his whole life on the set of his hit TV show and he is convinced that he is a super dog! That is until he is separated from his owner, Penny and the tv studio. There begins Bolt's journey of returning to Penny and at the same time, begins the journey of Bolt's self-discovery and acceptance of who he really is. Bolt is a heart-warming story that tells of loyalty, family and friendship, and not forgetting lots of hilarious moments. Bolt is great entertainment for everyone, both kids and adults! :)

Here's the main song "I thought I lost you" from Bolt.




There's also another song "Barking at the Moon" which is really catchy but I can't find it yet. Maybe later. I really like the music scores too in Bolt. Here's three scores from the soundtrack.

Winter Solstice, Bolt and Wake

***
Today is Winter Solstice or Dong Zhi. Juliane and I helped my mother to prepare the tang yuan or glutinous rice balls for cooking (Marieann was too engrossed with her computer game lol). My mother prepared both the sweet tang yuan (plain) as well as the savoury tang yuan (which had meat filling in it). We were all enjoying our first bowl of tang yuan by 10am. :)

***
After our dim sum lunch at East Ocean, my girls and I went to watch the 12:30pm Bolt 3D at Lido. More about the movie in another post. Lol.

***
I attended my lecturer's mother's wake in the late afternoon. Wakes are usually very solemn, grave, serious and some might also be quite depressing for the visitors as family members might be tearing and crying. So far, this is the only wake where I was really surprised because the family members quite cheerful. Yes, cheerful as in joking and smiling but definitely not being disrespectful. My lecturer explained that her late mother was a very happy person and she has told her children that they should be happy at her funeral when she passed on. So they are now obeying her last words. I see. Whatever it is, I still hope my lecturer will take it easy and take care.

***
Actually I quite like what my lecturer's mother has said. Next time for my funeral, I would want my family and friends to be happy too. They should celebrate that I have lived my life and not be upset because I am lost to death. :) Ok, ok, getting too morbid for some people lol. :P

Saturday 20 December 2008

Last Minute Shopping

This is the last weekend to get Christmas stuff lol. There sure were A LOT of people at the malls. Juliane and I were window shopping at both Paragon and Centrepoint in the late morning.

After dinner, we went to Ikea because I needed to get some frames. Again, there were many people. The queues were really long at the cashiers. :( After that, we had desserts at Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe, Anchorpoint. The girls shared a Mango Pomelo Cream while I tried the Triple Snow Ice. I thought the girls' dessert was much nicer, mine tasted kind of weird, the 3 favours (mango, strawberry and red bean) didn't really blend well together. :(

Friday 19 December 2008

Why is there cake?

That's what my father asked when he saw the cake on the table after dinner.

My mother rolled her eyes and shook her head, "It's our 38th wedding anniversary!". "Huh? Is it? Aiyo, who bothers. Come, let's eat cake", said my father.
Sigh. I think my mother is pretty resigned but I think there was still a tiny shimmer of hope in her that my father might have remembered after she told him in the morning, "I have been married 38 years today".

Hang on, that was a pretty LOUD hint and my father didn't pick up on that. Oh gosh, who did he think my mother was married to?! SIGH. Lol.

Thursday 18 December 2008

Nature

Some photos I took...



Wednesday 17 December 2008

PTM

Today, I attended my girls' Parent Teacher Meeting. It is the last PTM for the year. I am always a little anxious about PTM because I don't know if the teachers have any complaints to make lol.

Phew. Both girls have made improvements and their teachers are happy with their progress over the year. :) I can relax a little now until Marieann goes to Primary 1 in 2 weeks' time and until Juliane goes to Nursery 2 next Monday.

Tuesday 16 December 2008

Christmas Drink

My responses in red. :)
You Are Hot Chocolate



Your holiday personality is generous.
The holidays are your favorite time to practice the art of giving.
Besides birthdays, now is the best time to give presents.

You enjoy picking out presents, sharing treats, and making everyone's day a little brighter.
Yes, I love picking out presents and giving presents. I especially love to see the look on their faces when they open their presents. :)

And you don't even notice if you don't get anything in return.
The looks and smiles on people's faces when they get their presents are enough for me. :)

Monday 15 December 2008

Good Food, Great Company, Best News

That is exactly what I experienced today.

I had lunch with BR and a professor at Sakae Sushi. Ok, you must be thinking, aren't I sick of that already? Well, today I got to eat other stuff since there were 3 of us sharing. Boy, it was good. :P

The company was great. We were catching up with the prof over lunch (BR's farewell lunch actually lol) as he had been away for two weeks. Even though we were having lunch with a full prof , we were very relaxed and chit-chatting away. This prof is a really nice and sincere person. He doesn't put on airs and he treats us Research Associates very nicely. :) I really don't mind working for him if I have the chance. :)

I heard a piece of news today. It is something I have been praying for since June 2008. No, I haven't finished my dissertation yet lah. But soon I hope, haha. This piece of news is the best thing that I have heard. :) There were some people who were telling me otherwise but I held on fast to my faith. I always believe even in the midst of uncertainties and negativity.

The time of change is coming... soon... :)

Sunday 14 December 2008

Perfect Day...

for sleeping, haha. It has been raining the whole day.

I just didn't feel like moving much. I was trying to read some articles but ended up falling asleep lol. :P Blame it on the weather. In the afternoon, I decided I have had enough of sleep and time to stretch my legs.

We went to Tiong Bahru Plaza to get school shoes for Marieann and I wanted to buy her some stationary from Popular. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my Popular card. I will have to get the stationary another day. Before going home, we had some desserts at the Basement - Milk Pudding, Mango Pudding, Almond Tea with Tang Yuan and Peanut Soup. I love the milk pudding I had, rich with the taste of milk and not very sweet. :)

Saturday 13 December 2008

People, People Everywhere!

Juliane and I went to Paragon. She wanted to go to her "turn-turn" but I refused. She refused to talk to me and was sulking away when she followed me around at Marks & Spencer. Fine, if she wanted to sulk, go ahead. I wasn't going to coddle her. Finally, she broke her silence when we were at The Spoon Soup. She was hungry haha. We shared a set meal: Clam Chowder and Walfdorf salad.

After lunch, we walked over to Takashimaya where we did most of our Xmas shopping. I was really amazed to see so many people around. It was quite scary too as there seemed to be quite a number of people coughing around. Don't want to catch something... :(

After 2 hours, I decided we have had enough with the crowd. We waited close to 30 minutes before we got a cab home. Real glad to be home, away from the crowd. :)

Friday 12 December 2008

DVD night

Yesterday after work, I went to Borders to buy DVDS since it was the last day for the 3 for 2 dvd/ vcd deal. I bought Kungfu Panda (for the girls), The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (for the girls and myself) and Transformers (for myself). I also bought 2 books by L. Hamilton. :)

After dinner, close to 7:30pm, we watched Prince Caspian. The girls were most excited to finally watch the sequel. They really liked the first one - Aslan, the centaurs, the griffins, the talking animals... :) I am surprised that they sat through the whole 150 minutes of Prince Caspian. :) We didn't finish the movie until 10pm which was way past the girls' bedtime! I think everyone enjoyed Prince Caspian, including my parents lol. I love the music scores in the movie. Maybe I will get the sound track.

After the girls have gone to bed, I watched Transformers on my notebook lol. Already told you, it is DVD night. A pity, I am missing the popcorn. :P

Thursday 11 December 2008

Farewell, Bai Rui

Today, there were two parties. One was the year-end bash for our research centre and the other was the farewell party for Bai Rui, one of the funniest persons I have ever met and a very dear friend.

Year-end Bash
The bash started with buffet lunch. It looked good but as I had a heavy breakfast, I couldn't eat much. :( There were games after lunch, followed by a lucky draw. I didn't take any photos as there were colleagues with better photographic skills and cameras taking the photos. :P I will upload the photos after I get the photos from them. :)

Bai Rui's Farewell
His farewell started just after 1pm. There were about 15 of us gathered in the meeting room for Bai Rui's farewell party. :) Bai Rui found out about the farewell by accident. He tried to grill Sharm and I about it but we were really good actresses HAHAHA. :P We had Bai Rui give a speech, followed by each of us saying something about him in return. This is one of the best farewell I have ever attended because I was laughing so hard. Bai Rui is really funny and a real entertainer. Without fail, whatever we said about him, he would say something funny in response. Hahaha. I think the world has lost a stand-up comedian to research. :P


Us listening attentively to Bai Rui's speech :)

Bai Rui going to cut his cake.



Bai Rui, you are a very dear friend. I really treasure your frankness, something we don't see much of in people now-a-days. So please don't change. :) Thanks for all the candid and valuable advice you have given me. I really appreciate it. Thanks for your friendship too. We will keep in touch, especially since your new workplace is not that far away! :) Take care. :)

Happy Birthday, YM

Hey YM,

How are you? You should be breaking for Xmas break soon, right? Any plans of going away for a short break, maybe to Brighton or Eastbourne?

Here's wishing you a really Cheerful Birthday! Enjoy yourself!

Take good care of yourself, and your lovely family. Send them our regards too. :)

Lots of Love,
Ma & Pa
Sis, bro-in-law
Marieann & Juliane

Wednesday 10 December 2008

Notebook's Back :)

I have got my personal notebook back from the service centre yesterday. I waited almost an hour just for the collection.

The engineer told me that one of the RAMs in my notebook was faulty. I have two 2GB RAMs in the notebook, one that came with the notebook and the other one was a free gift (an up-grade) when I bought the notebook at the IT Fair in June. However, the engineer didn't say which one was the faulty one. The replacement of the RAM was free as my notebook is still under warranty until 2011. The additional warranty of 2 years was a free gift too. Hopefully I don't have to use it in the future...

It's nice to have my notebook back. :) I hope it will stay healthy.

Tuesday 9 December 2008

A New Breed of Touts?

Do you remember there used to be plenty of touts around Orchard Road area, especially near Tangs, Isetan Scotts? I am referring to those touts who would grab people, ask them questions and then give them a scratch-it card for their effort. Often they ask you to scratch the card on the spot. They would get highly excited that you have won a big prize, usually a trip. They would persuade you to claim the prize at their office near-by. Anyway, when you get there, you realise that it is a time-share gimmick and they don't let you out until you have attended their session, etc., etc. Not so many now-a-days, I think.

However, when I was at Orchard Road this evening, I realised there might be a new breed of touts. I needed to get something from Borders and was just outside International Plaza walking towards Isetan Scotts traffic crossing. I was stopped by this chap. Here's what happened.

Me: "Oh no, not those touts again" (thinking to myself)
Chap: "Do you know her?" (pointed to this picture of a model)
Me: ... (no chance to say anything)
Chap: "I think you have the potential to be a model too"
Me: "WHAT THE XXXX??!!!", "Did I just hear what I think he said??!!" (thinking to myself)
Me: ... (smiled, shook my head and walked away)

GOSH, that is the most ridiculous and outrageous thing I have ever heard!! Sigh. I am mature enough to know there is something not right going on. But what about impressionable young teens? How many would fall for something like that and then realise later that they have been tricked after forking out money to train as a model... Or worse, things might happen to teenage girls should these people be unscrupulous... There is definitely cause for concern. :(

PS. On the other hand, should I be glad that the chap thought I was that young to be tricked?! Hahaha. :P

Monday 8 December 2008

Baking Time - Lemon Cookies

I promised the girls we would be doing some baking today. So for the past few nights, I have been surfing the net for a simple kiddy cookie recipe. Most of my cookbook recipes are far too complex and complicated for the girls. I managed to find the ideal simple recipe last night lol.

We went to buy the ingredients after a pizza lunch (ordered in, lol). We were going to make Lemon Cookies. We only needed ingredients such as butter, sugar, flour, and lemon. Told you it is a very simple recipe, even the steps were really simple lol.

The girls helped me to measure out the ingredients needed, they helped to stir the mix, and they helped to put the trays into the oven for baking. Don't worry, I was there to supervise lol. After 8 minutes, the cookies were ready! The girls enjoyed eating the "fruits" or rather the cookies of their labour. :P


Saturday 6 December 2008

Fax, Movie, Lunch, Wedding

Frantic Fax
I was woken up in the morning by an sms. It seemed there was a problem with our book review. Apparently the publisher never received our License to Publish form. I was positive that the form was faxed in mid September because I received the phone bill for it! There was slight panic as I hunted around for the form. Managed to find it after a while, faxed the form over to UK again. Not feeling secured, I scanned the form as well and emailed it to the publisher. I will post the form once the publisher acknowledges that the form has been received. What a frantic morning.

Merry Movie
After the frantic fax, we rushed to the 10:45am movie, Madagascar 2 at Lido. We have already bought the tickets online so have to be there. We managed to be seated just as the movie started. Phew, lucky. :P My girls and I really enjoyed the movie as we were laughing a lot during the movie. :) (See the other post on Madagascar 2)

Luscious Lunch
After the movie, we went to Sun Moon for lunch. Somehow, we were all craving for Japanese food lol. The girls had Tori Kamameshi ($17.80) while I had Pork Kamameshi ($20.80). Although our kamameshi didn't look spectacular (no photos), the taste was good. Or maybe because we were hungry haha. :P The girls' father had Mini Unagi Don and Kinoko Nabe ($17.80): grilled eel on rice and mushroom hot pot. The hot soup was quite nice. We shared desserts: Red Bean Pudding with Coffee Jelly ($5.80) and Tofu Cheesecake. I like the desserts at Sun Moon because they aren't too sweet.





Wonderful Wedding
After lunch, I attended a Malay colleague's wedding. This is my first time Malay wedding attendance. It is all very new and interesting for me. :) I also met quite a few of my other colleagues at the wedding. So it was Makan time (makan means eating in Malay) as well as catching up time lol.



I wish my colleague, Redzuan and his lovely bride a wonderful life together. :)

Madagascar 2

I brought the girls to watch Madagascar 2 as I have promised to take them two weeks ago. We went for the morning 10:45am movie at Lido.

We managed to be seated just as the movie started. Phew. :P (Something happened in the morning, that will be another post lol.) I thought the movie was really funny and a really good stress reliever haha. The girls were laughing too but I don't think they understood all the jokes in the movie. :P But I know they love the music/ songs in the movie, especially "I Like to Move It" lol. I think "The Travelling Song" is quite nice too. We remained in our seats until the credit roll ended. The girls were actually dancing along to the music. I am glad that they really enjoyed themselves with this movie. I did too. :)






For those of you who want a good laugh, I think Madagascar 2 is not a bad choice. :)

Friday 5 December 2008

Betrayal II

Some friends were concerned and asked if I was alright when they read about my post on Betrayal on 1 December 2008. Thanks, Friends for your concern.

It was a betrayal but not from a person. It was from my new personal notebook. But it doesn't mean the betrayal was any less painful. My new notebook conked out on me after 3 months of usage. Yes, only after 3 months! Being a new notebook, I didn't think to back up my data any more frequent than once a month. And it conked out on me just a day before I was due to back up my data... I could have lost a whole month's worth of data. I had a good friend who helped me to check and my hdd is fine, (THANK GOODNESS!) so it could be the motherboard that is problematic. Anyway, I sent it to the service centre on Tuesday 2 December. It sure didn't invite confidence when the centre was full of people and the wait to see an engineer was 2 to 3 hours minimum! Sigh.

I think what made it hurt so much was because I have always defended this particular brand to my friends, especially my guy friends who couldn't fathom why I was using the brand at all, and my new notebook's untimely demise just seemed to prove their point about the brand. But when my guy friends knew about my notebook, they have been quite nice to me. Other than the "I told you so" look and the shake of their heads they gave me, they didn't rub it in. Thanks, guys. Really appreciated it. :)

I will be collecting my notebook next Tuesday. I will know exactly what was the problem with my notebook. Will keep you guys informed.

Thursday 4 December 2008

Eerie

Just a day after working furiously on completing my Results chapter, it is so eerie to read the results of this Blogthings quiz.
Your Spiritual Number is Four



You bring stability and order into people's lives. You are a devoted friend, and you are able to help others get out of extremely chaotic situations.
I try my best to be a true friend.

Right now, your life is about making difficult choices and complicated decisions. You find yourself at a crossroads, and you can't stall any longer.
So true of my PhD!

While you may be going through a confusing time, you are confident that you will do the right thing. You have the courage to do what's best, even when it's hard.
I have to, no choice.

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Writing, Calculating, Working

That's what I am doing for my dissertation chapter on Results - writing, calculating and churning out the numbers and working hard on it. I have wasted enough time. Sigh. My bad.

Now, I want to get my Results chapter done as soon as possible because I am finally seeing that faint speck of light at the end of this long PhD journey. Just a little more to go...

Tuesday 2 December 2008

I Love Soup

I am pretty surprised that with a few simple questions about soup, my personality can be thus disclosed. :P And it is pretty close to the truth lol. But whatever it is, I love soups, be it clear soup, creamy soup, hot soup, cold soup,...
You Are Miso Soup



You are worldly and well traveled. You have lived a lot of life, and you know there is a lot more to see!
You are very interested in new experiences, especially new literary and cultural experiences.
Oh yes, there is so much more to see, so much more to live, so much more to experience!!

You have a refined palate and love many exotic tastes. You get used to "acquired tastes" fairly easily. Guilty as charged. :P

For you, soup doesn't have to be a meal. You can appreciate a simple soup any time.
I think soup is the most versatile of food and can be enjoyed any time of day. :)

Monday 1 December 2008

Betrayal

I have been betrayed today.

For the last 4 years, I have stood by her, stood up for her and supported her when no one else did, when no one else would. I was her biggest fan. And to be betrayed like I was today is one of the cruelest way ever. It hurts a lot.