Winter solstice festival

I was initially planning to catch a last minute train or bus ride home to surprise my parents in due time to celebrate this dongzhi festival.. But my current flu problem had made me stay over here to rest :S

Since my fave dessert shop is also not very near to my current staying place, I had decided to skip my tradition of having rice balls this year.. Until my spontaneous cravings told me that I should walk to a nearby mall to buy and cook myself..

So ta daaaaaaa~~~|

Can't buy 1/2 peanut and 1/2 black sesame (what I do if I buy cooked one from my fave dessert shop) so have to buy entire packet with black sesame only..

And only to realise that:

A packet of grounded peanut was also inside to eat along with the rice ball + soups! Good Hor!:p

Oh, I didn't take the grounded peanut because it was so late and I hate cleaning up more later (the powder may fly in my room) so I decided to finish the rice balls and went to sleep.

Mission accomplished!!:D

Btw, winter Soltice is an astronomical day with the longest night of the year and has the shortest day period.. Why we have tang yuans? It is to signify the coming new year, an event for family get-togetherness and that, having these means there's an increase of one year old in age.

Chinese New Year is coming soon le!

So long~

Frezprit's growth

It's my VFT's name.. Meant to be "free-spirited"; just like the insects that freely being eaten by it:p

Okay I'm not that cruel.. I just named it that hoping that it would be more free-spirited as our lives are often tied to rules or things that we have to do:p

More shoots out hor?:)))

Think I'm going to miss it a lot next year when it's under the care of its 'godfather'.. Hopefully it will grow more and live happily lah:)

I have yet to transfer the baby plant to another pot.. Planning to put it in a nice fishbowl:)

Been packing a lot of things within these few days and threw out the junks; as I didn't organize my things properly during my shifting to this new place.. 

New year~ new life~ new experiences~

:)

So long~

My Venus flytrap has babies!!

Got this Venus flytrap (VFT) as a birthday pressie last month; and another friend gave me a pretty 'colonial' style vase to accompany it. 

In which, coincidentally, I saw the same vase in a colonial hotel that we were staying for our chiangmai trip:p

Really pretty right? I have named it as Frezprit.. Heehee

This was the classic vase (left, in my room now) and the right one was seen in a colonial-like hotel:)

I didn't use the case for this plant btw.. 

Now, my VFT is about two months old (and don't look that pretty le). As I was doing mini gardening this morning to remove the black leaves, I found this... Tadaaaaa~

Baby VFT!!! :D sooo happy! I have in fact, watered it with boiled water as Sg water is low in Total dissolved solid (TDS) but after reading it yesterday, I realised that the TDS of tap water here is still higher than 50. *sigh*

Sometimes I use filtered water to water it and the forums that I went through yesterday says that--> inappropriate..

The best water is in fact, rain water; reverse osmosis water or distilled water (those that are entirely free of minerals and nutrients); as minerals can kill the plant. That explains why sphagnum moss with peat is used to culture VFT as it has high water retention and low nutrients availability.

Hence, I went to collect an approximate 500ml of rainwater just only because it was raining heavily:p

First time collecting rainwater and found that it has lotsa particles in it..:/

I remembered back in my kiddie days, my dad would be happily placing pots of flowers under the rain. Made me laugh so much when I see that. Now I know why...

And also,..

*shake head* my new obsession... *urgh*

I finally know how to propagate it too as I was only reading about it yesterday..:)

Hopefully it can go through without dormancy... 

So long~

P/s: I have a plant in school that ages same as my graduate years.. That was a mint plant that was cultured from terrarium; and from a leaf only.. Though I miss it, I have yet to transfer it to home because landlady may not be happy.. Sigh.. Talk about living in homes that do not belong to ourselves :/ 

Cow family~

I was in fact, planning to draw water colour pencil drawing but ended up doing this with oil pastels.... 

This is a private post and I don't hope for any copyright infringement stuffs becoz I did get some inspirations from the web :p

Anyway, I feel like 6 again=D

Will work on water colour pencils later then... 

The truth is, I really miss the drawing sessions that I had with our dedicated lab techs' twin kids years ago... 

They used to guess my drawings and jumped around happily in the old office lounge (in which there was really a huge whiteboard) 

Now, a really, really small one without any additional space to write; what more to draw :S

So long~

learning is a bliss..to me

Well, the title says it all;)

We visited a children's home today at Chen Su Lan Methodist Children's Home..
And the children did practically scare us (maybe me and C, and perhaps other volunteers) because they were really active and noisy.. And some, cheeky as well..
Lol
C was saying " No wonder my best friend didn't want to have children". I can see that this fella is afraid of children XP
Well, to be frank, after entertaining them, I felt really tired too... and was missing my dog miles away.
Concurrently, I felt bitter to see so many sort-of abandoned, without parents or some with certain backgrounds in which we have never encountered and should really feel thankful...

We were first briefed by their staff that the home's name was derived from Dr. Chen Su Lan; and his funds was also used in setting up this huge children place that currently holds 88 children.

First, it was ice breaking..holding hands in 3-somes and changing partners
The girls were really shy of the already-not-many-guys though..Anyway, it was pretty :) :) =D lah

Then, we went on to balloon sculpturing and I'm surprised that the cute poodle dog was quite well-made by C despite only learned a day eh..But I didn't manage to learn it completely because I was then non-stop entertaining other children in blowing and tying the balloons =.="
Anyway, I did overcome my slight fear of balloon popping..heehee
Repeat: learning is a bliss ah~!

Some other children that weren't comfortable with balloons were given the chance to colour. I handled one that started to play balloon and then decided to colour. She was quite 'guai' (obedient), and was asking my opinions to colour the dinosaur. I then drew a pig on her drawing paper so that she could colour it later as well. She even asked me if she could bring the colour pencils back to her room and I said yes. Reminded me of my previous experiences in MINDS...there was a girl who kept keeping the printed drawings in her pocket non-stop

Well, I should have brought my drawing blocks along but I was really late today..sigh
Late for quite sometime somemore... *embarassed but wasn't scolded heh heh...

But when it was finishing time, I felt it was really too short. The event lasted for only 2 h in fact. I left wandering on bus (didn't want to be back early since the day is still really early!) and decided to accomplish my next mission.....

Ta daaaa~

Finally!! :D
Actually, I was having some down moments since yesterday night and then this morning: due to a minor clash with my collaborator but it should be clear that it was neither any of his or my fault..
It was just a useless project...
But I felt really wasted of my time. Thankfully, I was doing another person's project at the same time or I would feel that that week was a total waste..7 days of non-stop late nights and working..plus two pushy emails... tsk tsk tsk...*shake head

Anyway, after spending hours in the music store, the rejuvenated feeling was really good. Though it would feel much better if that someone also stayed there..oh well...they had a very late night yesterday... :/

So long~

P/S: Listening to the songs now...wishing I have a very good audio system to blast it but..hmmmm

Questions you should ask yourselves weekly

Read some interesting posts that I couldn't help but to summarise here a bit..
Thought-provoking things on life-enhancement thingy..
And some of my own's perceptions too. Well, what should we ask ourselves at the end of each week?

1. What was something new that you've done this week?
2. What was something memorable that happened this week?
3. Did you keep your previous plans/ resolutions?
4. What did you missed and why?

Something to ponder eh?
=)

Tzu Chi Love Charity Fair 2011

heya~

It's 2011 and Tzu Chi is organising a charity fair for 15.1.2011 and 16.1.2011!
The venue is located just right next to Pasir Ris MRT and I'm sure you'd be able to see it when you turn right from the MRT ticket check-out counter.
What I want to say is, I'm seriously impressed with this!

All the stalls (bout 50 stalls!) were sponsored, tables and chairs, whatever you find there, all were fully sponsored! You can find a variety of food (all vegetarian!) from sushi, chicken rice, rojak, lontong, to pastries and ice creams). I would say, many of those were really yummy~

They promoted  vegetarian food as less meat consumption could significantly harm the earth less. So, eating vegetarian is not only healthy, prevent animal cruelty but also being able to contribute positively to the environment! They have pledges around too, and I'm pledging 5-meals of vegetarian a week. In fact, I've been trying to pledge on this lately (bout one month plus ago, hehe) but I'm just trying my very best at the moment)

What amazed me more is with super high technology, those recyclable PET plastic bottles (those drinking water bottles that we buy now and then) were all fully utilised by the Tzu Chi volunteers in Taiwan to save the environment, by turning them into clothes! Can't believe it? Check this out!

Green colour comes from green 7-ups PET bottles

 

coffee colour from coffee

All from:

left (bottle) to right (thread!)

All these products were made from Taiwan's dumps by Tzu Chi volunteers (@ Taiwan based) through the following love and hard work: From those PET bottles that we recklessly dumped into recycle bins without proper cleaning:

1. caps removed 
2. ring removed (ring of the water bottles, which consists of different material/ colour) 
3. labels removed
4. washed properly (many people who have the 'heart' to recycle never wash their bottles prior to dumping those into recycle bins!)
5. sent for recycling

So, the message here is: Please clean your PET bottles before recycling! It saves much of their hardwork in doing these!
 Thank you!!

They also introduced the production of eco-enzymes.
In fact, my mom has been practicing this at home for more than half year and the product can be so multipurpose- from dish washing, floor cleaning, clothes washing, to skin treatment!!
My mom’s friends are also promoting this awareness among housewives to prepare these and dump it into rivers with high pollution.
Can suddenly feel that the love for the earth has increased tremendously eh?? :D

Well, if you’re wondering how to produce eco-enzymes:
This is it:
(very simple)

1. Stock up brown sugar
2. Throw any leftover food in the bottles (any fruits skin, vegetables leaves, etc, usually vegetables and fruits but not meat)
3.  Remember to have sufficient brown sugar to be utilised by the fermenting bacteria to produce eco enzymes
4. After 2 months, yay, you can use these!! They're odourless, non-sticky and trust me, really useful in anything =) 

It's so much better than using detergent which is harmful to our skin, and polluting to the environment too!

So long~

Speak now- or never?

This new song is just the right way as Taylor sings it :)



Can't find a better video, either with no audio or the audio's not good (when both the lyrics and words are good)
anyhow, the audio from this video is still much better, though the graphics are definitely not good enough :P

is that what you wanna say to somebody too? ;)

so long~
enjoy!!

Glitter of lights

When the world treats you badly,
When there's no more motivation in your life,
When there's an idiot trying to push you to jump to the end,
Causing you to end up feeling sulky,
Disappointed,
Down,
Whatever that negative emotion is,
Just keep moving on.

Filter off those negative thoughts
For negativity will lead to more negativity..

And when there's someone kind that you could think of,
Or somebody in a worse condition but keeps on moving on,
That gives you a glitter of hope,
Like a glitter of lights.
Because you're possibly in a much better position.

And that's when you'll realise,
That there's still hope
There are chances,
And the glitter of lights that would lead you out of the darkness.

There's still hope.
There are still chances.

So keep moving on..

For the first time~

The script's new song~
=)

enjoy!

Btw i saw some bacterial-infected media yesterday and got really disgusted
My hair really stood up..!
But what's worst is the ladies in my floor one got stuck..ewww... went to flush it, not realising that it was out or order and realised that.......

what is this lah..at this age still don't know if certain high grade tissues can't be used in the toilet?

already the first toilet in this problem few days ago.now the next one..i don't know how many more toilets have to be suffered by your deeds.. =="

use common sense lah!

Kite runner

Despite my uber busy life, or procastinating life.. I still crave for fiction books, which I've hardly ever read since I was in my teens..

Lately, I've been trying to read books whenever on the bus, despite the short 15-20 mins journey

And guess what? I've managed to finish these two within 2 weeks! But I guess I should put a halt to this again..Or my eyesight will spoil ><

Before I read The Kite Runner, Life of 'Pai' has been a really funny and interesting one..

But the Kite Runner is simply fascinating!

Today, as I was finishing the last part of the Kite Runner during my dinner, my tears swelled up..

         

       

I just couldn't control my cravings for storybooks

They say it's a good way to relax and relieve stress, even if you just read for 10mins

For me, I'll probably be finishing a book within the same day if I could. I wish laa...

For you a thousand times over~

:')

Hope..

Really no hope meh??

I don't know..
If only I have the answers..
I personally believe that if we never try, we'll never know..
But I can't go through my own stage also.. Haih
So forget about myself..
And forget those hopes la..

But my senior and I both think that,- 'some' people nowadays are just so hopeless

And the same goes for our ballot tickets..

I'm desperate to go to this one!! Though the next day I would have to move to a new room~
BTW the next day's Mother's day ler...
Hmmmmmm..and I'm stranded here not going back
>.<

If only I can get larrrrrr~
To see him live!!

 Picture borrowed from here

21 guns!

Heyaaa~
Wondering if you've watched this..
But it has been my fave ever since..before Chinese New Year :D
Still addicted to it..

In fact, I am confessing here that I listen to it thousands and thousands of times already during work (in lab) or whenever I'm in the bus..But I still couldn't let go of being craved to it..
Aiii....

So sharing here for you guys, in case you might liked it too! :D



Lyrics:
Do you know what's worth fighting for?
When it's not worth dying for?
Does it take your breath away
And you feel yourself suffocating?

Does the pain weigh out the pride?
And you look for a place to hide?
Did someone break your heart inside?
You're in ruins

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I

When you're at the end of the road
And you lost all sense of control
And your thoughts have taken their toll
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul

Your faith walks on broken glass
And the hangover doesn't pass
Nothing's ever built to last
You're in ruins

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I

Did you try to live on your own
When you burned down the house and home?
Did you stand too close to the fire
Like a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone?

When it's time to live and let die
And you can't get another try
Something inside this heart has died
You're in ruins

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I

So long~

Large sizes of Seafood!

Alright, this is a long time overdue post. I had this last year in June before I came back here, after my horrible exam.
Incredibly huge isn't it??
It's a freshwater prawn reared in Sabah. My brother got it from his colleagues and he brought back about 3 kgs I think (can't remember the exact one). Those were very sweeet and juicyyyy!! One of the largest prawn I've ever tasted! :P

Excitingly...
Last Saturday, I had another huge surprise :D :D

I managed to have this!! It's one of the largest crab pincher I've ever tasted in my entire life..hehe! I think my friend was like =.=" (speechless cause I was given the priority to taste it! Though I felt guilty because I wasn't the one who picked it..Anyway, since I was given the chance to eat it, I had it! :D

Reluctantly, my picture was captured along with this huge crab pincher :P I was too busy eating and didn't bring my camera that day.

It was super duper sweeeet and juicyy!! (haih very jakun but really, undeniable!)

Note the yellow small sauce next to my plate- it's sesame sauce. Because many steamboats over here in Singapore consists of pepper hot (Beijing style- lots of pepper and is spicy) and normal soup, therefore the sesame sauce can help to relieve the spicy pepper hot soup. It's different from KL where the steamboats consists of 'tom yam' (sour and hot) soup and a normal soup.

The sesame sauce is supposed to be added with various kinds of other ingredients such as sesame oil, coriander leaves, and any other ingredients that you wanna eat to relieve the spiciness. Trust me, it really helps! (highly recommended for those who can't take spicy soups). You'd be amazed on how the sesame sauce works in relieving the hot symptoms (runny nose, teary eyes, hot tongue). I remember my first time having Beijing steamboat here with those symptoms and also I couldn't stand the beef smell in the soup so I didn't take much of it. Now, I'm proud to say that (ahemm...), I'm used to it already :P

The enjoying dinner in Geylang lasted from 530pm to 8pm. Long hours~ This time's buffet really worth it- for me:P (since I always can't take much food)

In fact, I feel pretty bad for my friend because since I don't eat beef, all the meat were substituted with mutton. Also, I'm regretful to say that I didn't keep my promise.Will for sure, keep my promise for the next time!

So long~

五月天- 你不是真正的快乐 You're not really happy

Been listening to this niceee song in the lab way too much, and happened to listen to it again while on the bus today..




人群中哭着
ren qun zhong ku zhe
你只想变成透明的颜色
ni zhi xiang bian cheng tou ming de yan se
你再也不会
ni zai ye bu hui
梦或痛或心动了
meng huo tong huo xin dong le
你已经决定了
ni yi jing jue ding le
你已经决定了
ni yi jing jue ding le

你静静忍着
ni jing jing ren zhe
紧紧把昨天在拳心握着
jin jin ba zuo tian zai quan xin wo zhe
而回忆越是甜
er hui yi yue shi tian
就是越伤人了
jiu shi yue shang ren
越是在手心留下
yue shi zai shou xin liu xia
密密麻麻深深浅浅的刀割
mi mi ma ma shen shen qian qian de dao ge

你不是真正的快乐
ni bu shi zhen zheng de kuai le
你的笑只是
ni de xiao zhi shi
你穿的保护色
ni chuan de bao hu se
你决定不恨了
ni jue ding bu hen le
也决定不爱了
ye jue ding bu ai le
把你的灵魂
ba ni de ling hun
关在永远锁上的躯壳
guan zai yong yuan suo shang de qu ke

这世界笑了
zhe shi jie xiao le
於是你合群的一起笑了
yu shi ni he qun de yi qi xiao le
当生存是规则
dang sheng cun shi gui ze
不是你的选择
bu shi ni de xuan ze
於是你含着眼泪
yu shi ni han zhe yan lei
飘飘荡荡跌跌撞撞的走着
piao piao dang dang die die zhuang zhuang de zou zhe

你不是真正的快乐
ni bu shu zhen zheng de kuai le
你的笑只是
ni de xiao zhi shi
你穿的保护色
ni chuan de bao hu se
你决定不恨了
ni jue ding bu hen le
也决定不爱了
ye jue ding bu ai le
把你的灵魂
ba ni de ling hun
关在永远锁上的躯壳
guan zai yong yuan suo shang de qu ke

你不是真正的快乐
ni bu shi zhen zheng de kuai le
你的伤从不肯
ni de shang cong bu ken
完全的癒合
wan quan de yu he
我站在你左侧
wo zhan zai ni zuo ce
却像隔着银河
que xiang ge zhe ying he
难道就真的抱着遗憾
nan dao jiu zhen de bao zhe yi han
一直到老了
yi zhi dao lao le
然後才後悔着
ran hou cai hou hui zhe

你不是真正的快乐
ni bu shi zhen zheng de kuai le
你的笑只是
ni de xiao zhi shi
你穿的保护色
ni chuan de bao hu se
你决定不恨了
ni jue ding bu hen le
也决定不爱了
ye jue ding bu ai le
把你的灵魂
ba ni de ling hun
关在永远锁上的躯壳
guan zai yong yuan suo shang de qu ke

你不是真正的快乐
ni bu shi zhen zheng de kuai le
你的伤从不肯
ni de shang cong bu ken
完全的癒合
wan quan de yu he
我站在你左侧
wo zhan zai ni zuo ce
却像隔着银河
que xiang ge zhe ying he
难道就真的抱着遗憾
nan dao jiu zhen de bao zhe yi han
一直到老了
yi zhi dao lao le

你值得真正的快乐
ni zhi de zhen zheng de kuai le
你应该脱下
ni ying gai tuo xia
你穿的保护色
ni chuan de bao hu se
为什麽失去了
wei shen me shi qu le
还要被惩罚呢
hai yao bei chen fa ne
能不能就让悲伤
neng bu neng jiu rang bei shang
全部结束在此刻
quan bu jie shu zai ci ke
重新开始活着
chong xin kai shi huo zhe

Cravings!!

Eii... part of my blog was deleted ..

I'm literally craving for food for more than 36 hours dy!!

Symptoms that I should go back soon??
Or having some FCS (Food Craving Syndrome)?

I was trying to distract myself from hunger and these missing-food-syndrome by busily sms-ing yesterday night..but the cravings are still here today! >.<
SO am blogging to relieve it..

Craving for these currently:

1. Kepong's Char Kuey Teow, HK Prawn Chee Cheong Fun & Fried oyster egg
2. Jinjang's dimsum and bak kut teh
3. Nga pou rice near home
4. Jalan Ipoh's satay
5. Taman K Doh's pasar malam popiah and carrot cake
6. Taman Batu's yin yong and fried rice

Literally, my food cravings started since I tried that CKT (char kuey teow) two nights ago..
I think that uncle cincai fried it one. I've tried 2 times there and this time was the worst ever..
I seldom complain that much for food because we should be thankful with food..
But it was by far the worst ever CKT i've ever tasted here..
My landlady always says.."what's so nice bout CKT laa?" cause I always tell her where to get better CKT.. but eeeee, no more CKT here for some time!

Just can't let go of the cravings now... >.< ish...

Even if I go back home that time, most of the shops would start to close for business already due to CNY..

Cravingssss~~~~

Back home and Esplanade trips pictures

Happy New Year 2010!!

Basically, what I did during new year was to fulfill the promise I've made to myself earlier- that is...ta daaaaaaa...owning a better better camera!!

=)

Well, I kept my promise..although presently, I didn't really spend that much of the time 'entertaining' my second 'pet'..
However, I did play around with most of its functions..

Here are the functions that I've played it:

1) Changing the tones- as G 11 has various tones, these are some that I've played with.

Sepia

B/W Black and white
Neutral

Automatic mode
I was watching this! :P
You can select the colour that you want.. this function should work really well when all the focus is to a particular object only, especially if that object is less striking.. but I think it'd work very well with a stalk of flower too.. ;)2) And esplanade! =) Was playing around with the aperture and shutter speed..I had this at F8.0 and shutter speed of 1-2"

Hehe..my fave pic!! Turned out just so so nice! =)

With lotsa lotsa seashells for this month's Esplanade's theme..! =)

Fyi, all the pictures were unedited at all, except for the size..

So long~

Bali trip

Happy New Year 2010!!

Had some traveling few weeks ago, or precisely end of last year from 17th to 21st December 2009. Most of my photos are uploaded in facebook, and I'm pretty sure that my friends had captured better pictures too so I'm just uploading some (many) of my favourites here =)

The cute cute guy who caught our attention (especially mine! :P) due to his hyperactive behaviour..

We stayed in a homestay before waking up at 5.30 am at Lovina- as dolphins is a must-see there. However, I personally think that it's not fun for the dolphins at all as all the boats with tourists like us were racing towards it just to see them..

Babi Guling (Pig fried dish)- a famous dish which made us curious but most of us felt that it was definitely too 'piggy' as the pork smell was too strong with lots of internal organs served to us. I couldn't finish the dish :S But the fruit tea was very light and refreshing.

Jimbaran Beach- where you can watch beautiful sunset while enjoying seafood dinner..The platter costs SGD20 or RM50. Unfortunately, many of them had diarrhea the next day

At their temples- Goa Gajah and Tirta Empul
Note that their statues wear sarungs
They have many multiple-coloured Bougainvillea there..grafting skills must be good

Kuta Beach- where you can fly kites and surf all you want

Tanah Lot- the must see temple that was built by the seaside. We couldn't catch the beautiful sunset there (The bright sun was so clear that day when we watched from the car that we were traveling with!). We had to leave much earlier because of the booked spa event..

The group of patient drivers waiting for tourists in front of Tanah Lot entrance
And stalls selling these..

Decorations at the spa area
For Balinese prayers

At homestays and hotel..


One of my fav drink!! :P Found the tree..so so happy:P

And this is their petrol station- Pertamina with petrols
So long~