Latest "Toy" =X

its here! my free Acer Timeline courtesy of Singtel. got this for recontracting with singnet at its 10MBps broadband. its been awhile since singtel came up with free lappies promotion. good thing my contract was 21mths old and it came so timely since my compaq is about to give way anytimw (thks lokz for your "compliments" to my old comp, thks huh!)

anyway, apparently its the lightest notebook (yes, not netbook) as boasted by Acer. i'm not really a fan of Acer but who cares since its free. overall it was a good deal coz aft calculation, i'm paying only a mere $792 for the notebook. lol~ its really light weighing at 1.9kg with the batt and 1.6kg w/o. hopefully, it will "live" for a year b4 i move to proli a Mac (high time).

the specs aren't that fantastic and for me the shortfalls mainly will be no dedicated graphics card which is impt to notebooks and no disc drive. proli heading to sim lim soon to upgrade it to 4GB ram anything. now kinda broke. lol~

Friday - 26/6

been looking at my favourite food blogs as usual whilst working. it seems rather hard to go eat my international buffets coz my kakis are bz and hard to catch :p
anyway went to meet up some good friends for dinner since there was nothing on on friday for myself. decided to visit Sin Swee Kee Chicken Rice at Seah St. was talking to phillia b4 going down. she told me that actually, they're the "father" of chicken rice here in singapore. it was called Swee Kee but later they closed down and couple of years later reopened and renamed themselves as Sin Swee Kee.

i've gotta say, the quality is really good and tasty. apparently, i'm not a white-chicken person but sadly, roast chicken was sold out (amazing) and there was like 80% occupancy despite them closing at 830pm ( i was there at 745pm). i think the whole experience was good and satisfying. the chicken was really soft and tender and the chilli (essence for all chicken rice) is amazing. i'm quite impressed by their ginger because i hardly find good ginger sauce out there. so far the best i tried is at soup restaurant and Sin Swee Kee's ginger holds its own special-ness. the dough fritters are amazing because despite it being fried, the dough is surprisingly soft and chewy. i expected a "crunchy" bite but this was simply irresistable. the veg was good and may had high compliments for them. i tried a lil' and its really nice. oily and soft yet not losing much of its wholesome greens.

the whole dining experience was great and i would give them my vote. definitely will go back for more. on a personal note, i felt it was way better than Boon Tong Kee. :)

Glorious Saturday!!!

its a hell of fun on saturday night! amazing~~ simply out of this world. i think this has got to one of the best times. i'm loving it! francis is a real fun guy! missing it alrdy bro!! haha~

anyway about 11 of us headed to dragonfly to chill. although this was not after exam but who cares! gonna start studying after. we opened a cannon!!! WOOT! this is my first and i was really excited! TOTALLY~ couple of us were early so i took my balance out to drink before more came then we open the cannon. actually i cant wait to open! lol~ the music was fantastic and i think the guys enjoyed it to the fullest! we're lugging one another's shoulders, sing to the top of our voices! hahaha~ fun fun fun! anyway, pics up on my FB. cheers~

*sorry for the quality. mayb samsung nv QC my phone.... =X

I'm deeply flattered...

jus only... my friend ping me that she saw me online. i got a shock!

anyway i'm once again thankful to the school for all the opportunities they have given to me. all that i've gained and learned at SIM is truly unimaginable and academics is also where the skies' the limit. i think i gotta buck up more and really pull my socks higher. i'm slowly getting in the grove again to achieve greater academic success. its surely not easy to study and work at the same time but as the saying," when the going gets tough, the tough gets going!"

http://www.asiaone.com/A1Home/A1Home.html

many thanks to the school and thk god for making this possible! :)

jokes!

read this off the net! enjoy! :D

A wife was in the kitchen making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband. Suddenly , her husband burst into the kitchen.

“Careful,” he said, “CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my gosh! You're cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my gosh! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They're going to STICK! Careful. CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don't forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt! USE THE SALT! THE SALT!”

The wife stared at him. “What in the world is wrong with you? You think I don't know how to fry a couple of eggs?”

The husband calmly replied, “I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm driving

Jones the Grocer

the "rebellious tripartite" forms today during breaktime in class! lol~ kev, claire and myself decided to head off during break coz lesson's mundane... the state of quiecence allowed our thoughts to unite. we headed to holland v but no parking so went to DEMPSEY! i was excited coz its gonna be my 1st trip there after hearing all the exciting stuff about the place.

we wanted to settle for Ben and Jerry's but i decided not to give dinner a miss since i was excited to try out one of the many stuff i heard about from ironladychef. Jones struck me coz one of the renown stores closed (cant get the name now). i was getting pumped. lol~

i ordered quite abit although i wasn't really that hungry after getting used to missing dinner. lol~ its like that. food's my weakest point. if i could, i would love to try a bit of everything. i ordered some duck thingy with herbs which turned out to be a nightmare for me and a bliss for claire (god bless vege-land) kev ordered a pot of english breakfast and claire got some really nice wine which was hell, goooooooood!! some other desserts to go along with my love for pastries. :)

anyway, love it here at Dempsey. a pity its out of the way for me. would love to come back to try out Jones' breakfast menu and some other restaurants there. till next time. signing off~ :)

ken's bday!

we celebrated ken's bday in adv coz he's leaving for a short holiday the next day and back only on monday. so shiok... cant wait for my turn which is like next yr... anyway it was a happy occasion. cake's from rive gache which is fantastic!!! yummy~ been having too much pastries lately.... =X

bro, wish you a good year this yr! may all your endeavours come to pass!! huat huat! lol~ be blessed~ dun bio too much charbo la~ aiyo!

more pics on my FB dear ones. :)

Scarcity?

been a awhile since i blogged. as i said in my earlier post that its gonna be a busy wk last wk and this wk. but i'm quite positive about completing these busy wks.

alot of things are in my mind lately about stuff and planning. its really a test of my faith and i really need more wisdom. sometimes we plan so much and not all things will go according to plan but its still important to plan coz if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

jus org another class outing this sat and i think its gonna b exciting. claire's going to bali, how i wish i can go for holiday and really relax myself.... :(

anyway, i thk god for putting really good ppl around me. lately, i've been thinking about certain things but i think sometimes we look at ourselves, we cant see wats behind. so sometimes i can so coped up with my thoughts i neglect the complementing details. the words that releases endorphines, they're so scarce... love you guys!

cant wait for this wk to end! go go go!

Woooohoooo Wed!~

Today is a super happy day for me!!!

First up, i managed to conquer myself and go for prayer meet with my bro early early in the morning and hell it was goooood! pastor shared a short message and it was really really good. past 2 days, the school results are out but i felt quite fearful to check 'em and wanted to let the physical results be sent to me. today i had a sea of faith to check and oh my dogs!!!!

Anyway, thankful to god for everything man! HUAT! I'm very very happy with my results. i did much better than expected and for finance, i didnt have high hopes coz i was going thru a bad transition at the wrong time right before the exam. anyway, i'm looking forward to getting my econs results coz i believe i did not bad!

later lunch heading to check some stuff out and heading to meeting in the evening. its a busy busy week this couple of weeks.

i thk god for my mum coz i was touched abt some stuff she said although i dont totally agree on everything but its heartwarming to see that she's behind me although many things happen and i'm already so old.

(shit amos, say i'm over a quarter over a century old).

BOOKS!!!

i just bought 2 books recently and glad to have saved quite a bit on both of them. the other book i left it with lokz coz she helped me keep when we were at wala's yest. the book is called "Blue Ocean Strategy". its an awesome book on business. anyway, pls do get the book coz its real good, not gonna say anything. got is at a 40% discount off its retail. the above book "Nocturnes" is a book recommended by Time Magazine. normally i read the Fortune but since it was free, why not? anyway, shall finish this fiction soon. reading is good! :) and i got the above book at a 20% discount. GSS is simply AWESOME!

some of us was there to support one of our friend whose performing at Wala's. she's the keyboardist if u can figure her out. anyway, the band's pretty good. sadly, they perform only on mondays and mondays are non-chilling days for me. proli will visit them soon. i'm looking forward to EIC's performance which i cant rem when their next performance at St James with a malay vocalist. EIC's gooooood! :)

Thoughts of the day...

today, i was came across this news which i didnt even know it skipped me on monday. anyway, that aside, the news was about this father and son who committed suicide.

full news:
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_387449.html?vgnmr=1

apparently, i've been reading about suicides and stuff, esp in japan where they have one of the world's highest suicide rate. I was talking to my mum, what if i also commit suicide. then she say i crazy. say if wanna talk about suicide, she don't know how many times needa die liao. i lol~

honestly speaking, i know that death cant settle anything and suicide is selfish but i have actually have suicidal thoughts. no, i'm not lying or in an unsound state of mind. simply, given a choice, i wouldn't want to know so much, be a lil' more naive and simple-minded. how true it is that with greater knowledge and information comes greater responsibility and maturity.

anyway, that aside, i wanna applaud this guy name Brryan which i read on the news today. i take my hats n pants off him. he has such great capacity that he can forgive his dad for injecting the HIV virus into him when he was a mere 11mth baby. although he has nv met his dad before since the dad was sentenced to life imprisonment. now Brryan is a spokesperson for Hope and Forgiveness.

just want to quote something he said, "God wants us to forgive people. Am I going to make myself as low as he is? ... I've got to be the better person."

To me, this term sounds easy yet difficult....

Manpuku @ Tampines One

my bro and i were on our way home. we talked abt food then he said next week lets go to Manpuku to have dinner and stuff. then i said, hmmm.... why not now?
simply like this, we go off the train at tampines and headed over.

surprisingly, the place was crowded on a weekday! Shiat! anyway, think the waiter thought we were gay or what, brought us to a dimly lit seat! -_- i was like 0_o" coz i was excited to take some pictures of the reknown fruit tarts here. it was highly recommended by Camembaru. anyway, i was not here to eat the mains since i heard poor reviews about 'em. explored the place abit and headed straight for the tarts counter! lol~

oh my dogs, i was spoilt for choice since there were several available for selection. i was dying to try the blueberry and i was ready to whack 2 since it was dinner! lol~ decided to take the orange and grapefruit tart over the mango one since my mum cut some mangoes for us yesterday. i was really looking forward to tasting them!!! :p

whilst waiting for my bro to come with his tamago wrapped rice with assorted fried stuff, i kept myself busy snapping away with my worthy Omnia. as i said, the lights were bad and flash's being always bad unless u're in really dark places.

I couldnt wait and when my bro returned, i started to taste them. i've gotta tell u, its really awesome. started with the orange and grapefruit tart. the taste is gooooooood! the fruits are so nice! it taste ichiban! ;p the cream is nice and it fulfills its role as a co-actor. the crust is good as it serves the finishing touch to the tart. sturdy yet crispy to hold the tart against "rough play" on it.

i was kind of disappointed with the blueberry tart. proli i was really looking forward to eating it. i think the staff left it in the open for a bit of time as compared to the other. you couldnt taste the coldness in the tart and the lower layer cream was like "melted". i was pretty turn off coz i compared the 2 tarts. i tasted the cream and compared it to see if it was the same. anyway, i will give the win to the orange and grapefruit tart. the blueberry came in second this time but hell, i would give it a second chance given the nutrition values of blueberries! law of diminishing returns sets in after i was about to finish the blueberry tart and i felt an overdose of cream.... =X

too much pastries lately..... oops~

Supper Treats.... =X - 2/6

after cracking my head for an hour plus... i decided to relax and watch some anime... so says, what's watching a nice show without something to munch? i felt greedy... i cut a slice of strawberry cheesecake and indulged myself a lil'. felt greedy since its not me to take supper... lol~

A man's story

What if one day, you realized your parents are not your real parents?
what if one day, you realized that the siblings that you lived with are just mere cousins?
what if one day you realized that your life's a joke to begin with and your last memories are not found?

"i was on my way to school as usual today. it was yet another beautiful day with the sun smiling at me as i prepared to go to school. school was something new to me as i have quit school 2 years ago. i wanted a new start in my life and therefore, took up the courage to return to school together with Ben.

it wasnt easy adapting to school life since ben and i was two years senior to our fellow mates. it felt weird in the first place but thank god they were accomodating. it was great to start life afresh. having a certificate was important especially in this realist world of ours. papers do the talking most of the time.

6months or so has passed and i have been busy preparing my o level exams. one day, i was visiting my cousins (apparently), i come to realize why these 2 cousins of mine had so much similarities in their outward appearance to me. i wasn't much bothered but it did left an impression on me somehow or rather. i left for home.

as i was the eldest in the the family; where my 2 "siblings" was much younger than me, i often found time to be on my own. today, this thought about my cousins kept revolving in my mind and it simply felt nostalgic. i couldnt brush away these flashes of their faces off my mind and it kept me thinking. how often do one find their cousins resembling themselves much more than their own siblings? it all seems so ironic.

as the days go by, i couldnt help but kept on having such thoughts running through my mind. even in school, i couldnt help but wanting to spend time on my own. ben wasnt least bothered because most of the time, he's busy dozing off in class. this feeling within me yearns to erupt and seeks answers to its questions and i do not know if i could hold them down any further.

as i began to contemplate if i should tok to "mum or dad", my mind was going berserk. everyday, it seems to be some sort of nightmare or battle that's going through the confined space of my head. the evanesence of time has not been able to rid my mind of the doubts i have and yet as the days go by, it seems that the reminiscene of my cousins' faces kept appearing in my head. doubts and questions are all i had and all these began to take a toll on my studies and personal life. Soon, i knew i should follow my heart. i broke all that i wanted to know and doubts to "mum and dad".

i guess it was a tough call on them. to begin with, they looked shocked but i wouldn't call it entirely shocked since i believed they saw it coming one day. rather, it was an awkward situation that the three of us were in this very moment. soon, they began to unravel such unnerving stories where i simply wanted to close my ears and eyes and scream at the top of my voice. these "answers" that i seek; what are they? is this all a joke?

as the conversation came to a close, the lifeless me began to stagger back to my room, falling face down on my bed. my mind was in a blank. to me, my life, 18years of it, was this all a game? is the heavens toying my life? tears began to roll down my cheeks as i closed my eyes because i know, i can't handle the truth.

'you're not our son... you're actually given to us when you were very young. your parents couldnt afford to take care of you because they're too poor. that two cousins you saw that day are your real siblings, flesh and blood. these "siblings" of yours now are your cousins. its ok if you continue to stay here because to us, you're like a son...'

i lived my life as if all's fine. as usual having fun with my friends. yet the difference was i was trying to have fun rather than having fun. i do not know who am i anymore. who am i? what am i? where am i going? i do not know how an eighteen year old school boy like me should react. truths set us free but harsh truths knock so hard that it either becomes our tombstone or stepping stone and in this entire situation, mine was the former.

my world started to collapse in the next few months. i began to lose myself. i knew it was only right to acknowledge my true parents even though i was grateful to my foster parents for bringing me up and all the support they showed me throughout this period. it was a tough call indeed but BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER. These 5 words help me with the decision to make.

reunited with my family, poverty was the only word that i could grasped. my parents had heaps of debts and to make matters worse, we were living in a rented flat. my elder brother was serving national service and my younger brother was schooling. i decided to quit school to help make ends meet. it was a tough call but i had no choice. schooling was considered a luxury because my parents couldnt afford it. soon after, my younger brother also quit school to help make ends meet.

cutting the long story short, after completing national service, i was consumed into working several jobs to help my parents make ends meet and start my own savings for my future. life's been hard but better after my other two siblings completed their national service. if you ask me whether i would choose between acknowledging my real parents or continue to hide and live a life of lies, i will still choose to acknowledge the truth."


epilogue:
today, Wayne is married to a beautiful wife where they both just had a cute baby girl. he's living in his own flat with his mother-in-law here in singapore. it brings tremendous joy to see him breaking out of poverty and creating a future out of his situation. i'm always encouraged when i remember his life story because i come to realize that none of my problems can be as huge as his. we're indeed created to be champions and conquerors.


*this a a true life-based story. names have been changed to protect identities. any similarities and resemblances are purely coincidences.*

Cakes!!! yummy~ :p

yesterday, after buffet, i bought the chocolate Amer from Bakerzin's. i decided to get it since it was half price and it was highly recommended by Tricia. didnt eat it yest since i was not feeling well after catching a midnight Terminator with my bro on sat. slept thru fr 6 till nx morning! Shiat! 1st time i slept THAT long.


today, i jus decided to surf bakerzin's webby at work. then it was 1st June. so it was a new promotion this month. the price attracted me to be honest. $20.90 for a 6" cake. oh my dogs, i headed down to taka during lunch and hooted the cake without consideration. lol~ anyway i told tricia abt it, she was like 0_0"
anyway, i realized that i had a slice of cheesecake left on sat. ivy bought it at this cheesecake house at siglap. i realized that i overdid it! too much cake. yesterday's choc cake was not even touched! anyway, i will be having a wk long's cake fiesta. think the dairy stuff will boost me for my exams. lol~

at home i cut a slice of the strawberry cheesecake for mum and i had the sat's cheesecake and a small slice of choco Amer. the choco Amer is awesome, dark choco the way i love it. yummy~ the cheesecake fr siglap was not bad. but i think bakerzin's strawberry cheesecake is 1 notch above it. jus a lil' on the sweet side, less who be great.

Tricia told me cakes contain bad fats for the body and i went -_-" how can i deprive myself of such heavenly delights? thk god i was fasting today and i didnt feel that greedy after having to slices of cake. oops! =X

Pu tien Buffet - 31/5

was invited to one of my old friend's baby 1st mth at tampines. decided to ask my mum to go buffet since i guess i will be only eat a lil' over at my friend's place. the baby was so cute. the name's nice to, Annabel! anyway, it was a short catch up with my friend and i think this friend of mine is really a strong person. he's being thru i believe hell and i applaud him for his courage, everything. anyway, yeah.

later headed over to tamp mall to meet my mum. i wanted to try this buffet since it was cheap. $12.99++. in the end, i guess u get wat u pay for. the whole meal was ok. i think only the deserts are really good. white fungus desert and ice jelly. =X dun ask for too much since it was cheap lol~