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.

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

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. :(

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. :)

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."

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. :)

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. :)

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. :)

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.

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

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

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. :(

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.

Nature

Some photos I took...

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.

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. :)

What Holiday Drink Are You?

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... :)

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. :)

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. :)