my life is monochromatic.

it's sunday night again. the weekend is gone and seemingly wasted. it will be another 5 days before the next weekend comes again. hope it will be better than this.

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anyway, i went to work on saturday. not exactly work per se; more like to check for an email. for peace of mind. damn waste of time. but at least i did my job. and i helped myself to lots of chocolates. :P

expensive honeydew chocolates from japan which supposedly costs SGD2.50 each. (boss(es) went to hokkaido over the CNY 'holidays'. company not making money? i don't quite think so. like anyone believes they used their own money. *pui*)

then went PS to watch 新少林寺 with SSD, under recommendation of PL.

don't really like andy lau, but i have to admit this show is meaningful. i understand why PL likes it. i probably would have felt it more if i had remained a buddhist, but nevertheless, it was full of 人生道理s that was pretty 发人深省. for a moment i even thought of going back to religion! lols.

went to funan to buy SSD's alienware. but he refused to accept a substandard graphic card, so 活该 have to wait till monday. =\ lunchie at pastamania! haven't had this for so long. i can never make sauce as good as them. mine's either too watery or too thick. :(

minestrone (pronounced "min-uh-stroh-nee") soup. i likes!

SSD's al funghi. mushroomy!

my cheesy crumble haven. damn shiok. but mad sinful. =(

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sunday was spent cleaning baby boy and watching show. how boring!

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came across this by chance. pitter patter chargers! way cuter and most importantly, 6 times cheaper than SSD's external battery case he kept haolian-ing. should i get one just to spite him? :D

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2011: 鱼生 no.6

"Jeanette Aw injured in filming accident"

this is really dumb.

just because she's a 'celebrity', they have to report her getting a scratch?! either that or they really have nothing better to report. next, they're gonna report someone else having a pimple or something. zzZz.

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had my sixth and last 鱼生 this festive season yesterday afternoon during lunch.

鱼生 veggies and tilapia slices were from soup restaurant, and salmon slices from ntuc finest. this is so far my best 鱼生 so far. the sauce made the whole dish really yummy and the salmon slices were thick and fresh. there were like, 10+ slices and only for $3!! we had 6 people tossing, and only 3 ate salmon. i think i ate almost half of it. LOL. :D

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met up with zhu and cher for dinner today. this time we had sushi! no more steamboat! lols. cher apparently met her friend on the bus and invited her to join us. (i should have brought 亲爱的 along too.)

my cha soba! *loves*

mushroom tempura. this is nice! gonna order this next time.

zhu's fried age tofu.

super hilarious when her ramen arrived when we were about to finish. poor gal had to stuff herself again. looking forward to vegetarian dinner next month!! =)

lalala. busy busy weekend. no time for myself again. boo. X(

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was in a bad mood today...

...about work. for the 19472138th time. so i'm going to rant. and it so happens that i kept remembering this guy i saw on the bus yesterday. (i know it's quite bad to badmouth other people but i guess it serves as a warning. guys please learn NOT to follow him.)

so yesterday, a couple of stops after me, this guy got on and happened to meet his friend, so he starting chatting happily to her. i don't normally care if not for the fact he was so darn loud. everyone starting looking at him, including me, but he didn't seem to notice. but it was obvious that his friend was paiseh and tried to keep her voice down. people on the far end would probably think he was talking to himself. irk no.1: i thought only old people speak so loud cos they can't hear themselves? he disrupted what would have been a nice peaceful journey.

unavoidably, i heard his side of the entire conversation. first he was saying that there's this bus that goes from his house in jurong to his office, but the journey takes about 2 hours. and he complained that this journey is very 辛苦 (even though he got seat and slept all the way). then he goes on to say that it looks nicer and more hardworking to stay a bit longer after work (OT) so he will go in half an hour late in the morning. "睡多半个小时也好嘛". irk no. 2: i have a personal hatred dislike for sissy/weak men that cannot seem to take 'hardship'. and is proud enough to broadcast it. 男人有所为，有所不为.

then he mentioned that he used to rent a room with his wife, but after she went back home (malaysia i presume) to give birth, he moved in with his sister's family because it wasn't worth it to rent a room himself. irk no.3: stingy and 不自动. it's not that he can't afford it. just because he feels it's not worth it then go squeeze with his sister and her own family. not paiseh one meh? tsk.

maybe he got 苦衷 i don't know (and don't really care). but 15mins of hearing him talk is enough for me to dislike him already. i feel so sway for his wife, and no wonder she can stay alone in malaysia to look after the kid. how to depend on someone like him?! tsk.

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i love macro mode! :D

yes my keyboard is very dirty. :P

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went over to SSC for dinner, and SSD treated me to sushi to make up for yesterday. (i wanted salmon bento but he go and order unagi bento by mistake.)

it's under sakae, so prices are much higher than suki. and if i had known at first it was under sakae, i probably wouldn't have dined there. first i ordered tenzaru soba, and the manager said it wasn't available. then i tried cha soba, but also not available. turned out that the soba noodles were out of stock. it was only 7 plus. -__-

i think their inventory management is pretty bad. when we were finishing up, in came a family of 3 who wanted a kids meal for their son. it included a bottle of yakult, and 10 mins later, i saw the staff bringing in a bag of newly bought yakult. zzZz. i don't think i'll patronize them again.

anyway, SSD ordered spicy seafood ramen, which he said was really spicy. to be honest, the soup base was just spicy and nothing else. tsk.

variety of sushi on the revolving belt was pretty pathetic. so i settled for this and salmon sushi. oh and chawanmushi, which tasted horrible.

sad sad dinner. but at least i managed to eat my salmon today. =P

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went home and practised somemore with sotongball.

auto scene selection is really bad. and since i prefer macro, i think i'll just stick to perfecting my manual macro for now. and i really need to stop shaking; photos aren't sharp enough! boo.

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welcome to the family

rofls! in addition to the late satio baby and present froggie, i have now thought of the perfect name for the new addition. *drumrolls* it's SOTONGBALL!! :D

cute right the name?! lol. mainly because of the round designs in front that looks like a ball, and how i'm such a sotong when it comes to using it. played with it for the first time just now, and did a few test shots. quite disappointing i must say, though of cos i hope it's my problem and not sotongball's.

it's like, super hard and difficult to press the control buttons (partially because of my nails i guess) and even harder for the shutter button. so i had to take many blur shots for that one nice presentable one. the auto mode was quite normal and blah, so i switched to the manual mode to choose my own scenes. i guess i need to get out there and practise more. :(

oh yeah, the battery turned warm after like, 10 shots? -_-''' and i couldn't find the icontrast option even though it stated there was. %#_*%&)

anyway, here goes. auto mode which automatically switched to macro. (quite horrible right?)

auto mode. (so normal?)

this is probably my best shot tonight. manually-selected digital macro mode. (wish i added some water drops first!)

i love how it turned out! albeit by luck and it's still a tiny bit blur. was super shocked at how blur many before it turned out, cos i didn't think my hand shook thaat much. lols.

read many tutorials that stated the best equipment doesn't necessarily produce the best shots. even i myself have seen photos that far surpass all those up there, taken with an iphone 4. so i guess it's practise practise practise!

before my short-term interest in photography dies out. =\

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情人节快乐~!

i always have trouble starting a post. so let's skip the formalities and go straight to the point. =)

been wanting a camera again. ever since i hardheartedly gave up satio baby for froggie, whose 5mp camera is undeniably incomparable to satio baby's 12mp. (shall we skip this discussion too?) spent 2 days reading reviews after reviews of models like panasonic lx3 and lx5, canon sx200 and 210, and even the olympus ep1 as recommended by a professional blogger. and finally concluded that the models i wanted are impossible to get with my meager budget of $250. LOL.

but mummy saved the day!

according to her, it has been with her (brand new) for almost 2 years already, and nobody wanted it. lucky me! so now i only need to spend on the SD card. :) mad happy, even though i haven't exactly taken any photos with it. super old model and not the best, but at least online reviews have been mostly positive, and somehow it's GOT to be better than froggie. "no fish, got prawn also good."

now, to think of a name for it.

... ...

SSD sent me a photo of a rose this afternoon, stating it as my v-day flower cos he forgot to buy. guess what he held when i turned up after work?

猪头! everyone knows flowers are exuberantly expensive on valentine's, and silly him still go and buy. 12 stalks somemore! 3-digit figure *poof* =X

then he brought me for dinner at this simple glassy place for western food. naturally i wanted japanese food, but it's nice to have something else for a change. lols.

shared a citrus drink. tangy sour goodness!

my beer-battered atlantic salmon fish and chips. a nice and interesting way to eat salmon; i've never tried it this way before. and the greens were especially yummy. =D

SSD's baked/panfried atlantic salmon. veggies underneath with what tasted like cheese sauce. really nice! but portion size may be a little too small for bigger eaters. lol.

staff was nice and responsive. ambience was not too bad, but could have been better if we weren't seated smack in the middle of 2 couples. i really hate small 2-seater tables. next time we'll make any reservations for 3. lols.

and last but not least, the price was mad expensive. to me at least. i could have gotten a similar meal at manhattan's or coffee club or breeks, albeit this one is a bit better and nicer.

feel guilty especially at times like this when i feel i'm not that worthy of all the TLC and money he lavishes on me, but still i selfishly laps it up. hmmm. i promise not to lose my temper so often k? muacks! :D

2359

2011: 鱼生 no.5

gosh my 5th 鱼生 this festive season! and i think i have another one this sunday. @_@

we had our company CNY lunch at szechuan court, fairmont singapore. the interior was super cheena, but nevertheless had the grand appearance. and it was fully packed! luckily they gave us a corner table for more privacy.

i took the other side of the table, and as i was facing the window, the sunlight made it almost impossible to take any photos. so i gave up. and i ain't gonna wait for D cos i don't think he'll pass the photos to me. lols.

and here's the rest of the dishes. =)

the heavenly pot was, well, heavenly. lol. it was slightly spicy but silly me bit and swallowed a green chili padi, so i didn't quite get to enjoy the rest of the soup much. there were stuff like fish maw, abalone, sea cucumber and other 山珍海味 inside, and PL kept saying "eat all the expensive things can le." so i did lor. lols.

the steamed codfish was the best imho, albeit a tiny bit overcooked. the sauce was yums and even the skin, which i usually don't take, tasted nice! no bones, and they served it in individual plates. yummy!

the lobster was disappointing though. they gave us each a set of knife and fork and we were expected to dig out the meat ourselves. it was quite hard and chewy and difficult to dig out. and i was super scared it'll go flying. lol.

a super full and satisfying meal. and mad expensive - $138++ per pax. oh i ate meat too, accidentally. but looking at the price, worth it i guess. =P

back to work! sobs.

2047

2011: 鱼生 no.4

had a mini housewarming cum new year gathering at home on sunday.

see so many people! was super noisy the whole afternoon but thankfully i had the 'luxury' of staying in the room and watching tv and SSD game.

the worse part of the whole day was that night after majority of the guests left, when SSD was made to join the drinking session. he managed to escape with just half a glass of beer though. =P unfortunately, after he left, i succumbed to temptation and had quite a few glasses of XO myself. the 'high-ness' was shiok max! but it wore off way sooner than i expected. boo.

by the time i cleaned up and bathed, it was already 4.30am. needless to say, i slept till past noon. lol. then popped down grandma's house in the evening with a birthday cake and some 寿包 for her.

another late night. off to bed! more cooking and eating tomorrow. boo! XD

0107

2011: 鱼生 no.3

恭喜发财!! :D

can't believe it's 初二 going to 初三 already! it's been a hectic day 1 and a stressful day 2, and i sure am looking forward to a more relaxed weekend. (and 4 days of compulsory rest after that.)

anyway, how did you spend your day 1? mine's busy as usual.

love love love my maxi! (SSD's gonna start praising himself again cos he chose it.) though i don't like how it makes me look super fat sometimes. spent a bomb on it and people said it wasn't worth the $110. sobs. T_T

it was breakfast at ah ma's house, then lunch at a relative's. visited 2 temples to pray before meeting up with SSD and heading to my ah gong's place. it's probably the last place i'd want to celebrate CNY at, cos it's so small and i have so many relatives. not to mention the number of dogs. O_o luckily this year we have a mini housewarming session at home so i'll be able to spend time with ah gong without so many people around.

sat for a short while before heading off to SSD's place. (feel so bad cos for the 2nd year i only spent like an hour plus at ah gong's house and it's like the only time of year where i see the rest of my relatives. oh wells.)

reached home around midnight. super shag. and SSD spent the night. imagine 2 adults squeezing into a single-size bed. -_-''' next time i'll make him sleep on the floor. zzZz.

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day 2 was stressful because i had to go 拜年 with SSD's grandmother. that wasn't exactly the scary part. meeting his relatives for the first time was. but luckily it wasn't as scary as i though it would be. i would probably freak out if his relatives were like mine. lols. hope i left a not-too-bad impression but there's nothing i can do if not. *cross fingers*

went back home cos ah ma and gang came over. and i had my 3rd 鱼生. XD

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more eating this weekend. fat fat fat! boo! T_T

0011

2011: 鱼生 no.2

did my CNY nails at summer sweet last sunday afternoon. 2 extensions plus gel overlays as manicure, and a simple floral pedicure. threw in a foot spa too. mad shiok. and cindy's art skills are damn good. super love the 3D and nail art flowers she drew for me. see see!

everything costs like, only $93. PL did her pedicure with 3D flowers and it was almost $70 already! sighh. but still, i wish i hadn't gotten addicted to gel extensions. they're super pretty, but mad expensive too. oh well. one year once nia. lol.

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then popped over to kallang for reunion dinner. (had steamboat reunion dinner at SSD's on saturday, but paiseh to take pics as usual.) anyway, the "Lai Wah" restaurant was so full that we had to sit outside. me don't likes! and they gave us such a small table. boo.

the 9 course dinner cost almost $500 for a table of 10! so not worth! i think i could have had a better, fresher, more comfortable, tastier meal at seafood international. boo.

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mad tired; slept at 2am and woke up this morning for 'work'. damn bo liao to be in the office for a mere 2 and a half hours ALONE. oh wells. one more dinner to go to later. and then it's the new year!

恭喜发财 to all! :D

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