in the meantime...

what was supposed to be a joyful weekend getaway ended with sad note when i came home to find that munchkins had passed away. though i hadn't expected him to last any much longer, it still came as a rude shock. it's sad that i wasn't around when he left, but i suppose it's somewhat comforting to know he had lived a pretty long 2 years 8 months (normal hammie lifespan is 2-3 years). it seems like just yesterday that i brought him home.

even though hamster deaths don't affect me that much, i suppose munchkins is one-of-a-kind. he's by far the pickiest hammie i've ever had, and the only hammie whose dietary likes and dislikes i learnt. he's also the sweetest hammie, having only bit (my bro) once in his entire hammie life. sighx. gonna miss him waking me up in the middle of the night. =(

may you find all the treats you love up there in hamster heaven and have fun with ginger and russbabe. ^^

... ...

it's funny how i always feel excited about unwrapping my samplestore parcel, even though i know exactly what is inside.

postcard mask again!

... ...

wanted to have 1-for-1 pasta at swensons today, but the queue was horribly long. we also had to wait for manhattan's, so we settled for breeks instead.

my baked dory. i loves! =)

SSD's southern country seafood stew. the sauce is a little weird imho, and you have to order additional rice or bread to go with it. not very worth i must say.

shared a potato island. it was filled with minced tuna and mushrooms and covered with a layer of cheese. not too bad!

service was a little slow and the food was barely warm when it came. probably will avoid this outlet in future. =\

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you will be missed.

0014

my arms are aching.

it felt like yesterday when we were informed of the exhibition that we would be participating in. how we brushed it aside thinking how far away it was.

we started on our catalogue production first. it took us 7 months, freaking lots of changes and pissing off our designer to finally see them delivering stacks and stacks of the finished books this afternoon. then our brochure. to see 2000 copies of my brochure design waiting to be distributed; a weird sense of pride.

booth design took a rushed 1 month plus, and i was finally brought to the hall this afternoon.

budget constraint = simple booth. but even this took 3-4 changes and loads of meetings and discussions to finalize. i don't like this design actually, but boss insisted, even AFTER we told him it wasn't nice. oh wells.

especially these back panel graphics. they (bosses) had absolutely zero sense of creativity and their design was so horrendous, that i took over instead. -__-

not very professional of course, but 101% nicer than what they originally designed. i remember i got so frustrated when they almost used their design, that i started blabbering my design. so funny now that i think back. but i was in charge of the booth and i ain't gonna let them ruin my reputation.

now, it's finally going to begin. what happens during this exhibition, isn't really my concern anymore. and by friday, IT WILL BE OVER! all that stress and frustration, OVER! and with my weekend getaway with SSD, even more to look forward to. :D

sighhx. this exhibition shit was torturous. i was more or less always in a bad mood which i took out on innocent people. frankly speaking, coordinating all this design stuff was easy. probably chicken feet even. dealing with my bosses' indecisiveness and fickle-mind was the hard and frustrating part.

too many times have i lost my temper because they changed their mind at the last minute. more often then not, it was those that i had already settled.

but glad to say, i gained stuff too. i'd never thought i could handle all this. the sense of satisfaction now; indescribable. =) i also learnt that it was easier to make decisions around the office now, since i've proved that i can and bosses don't really have a mind of their own.

does this count as events coordinator experience? if so, any event companies willing to take me in? :P

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"you look like a fungi!"

wanted to watch red riding hood or world invasion today, but SSD said both had bad reviews, so we decided on gnomeo and juliet.

it was hilarious as what i had expected, but i didn't think they would follow the original shakespeare story soooo closely. even the names (montague, capulet, tybalt etc) remained. a short, predictable and funny movie. a good laugh was just what i needed. sighx.

had nihon mura for lunch. it was rather empty, considering it was pretty much lunchtime. i guess it's hard for japanese restaurants to be not affected by the radiation warnings. oh wells, i ain't gonna give up my jap food! =\

i recently finished this drama series "the rippling blossom" (just read the synopsis from the link), which shows salmon sushi, or any other nigiri sushi, looking like this:

compare that with those served locally. i feel cheated. don't you?

... ...

balloon fair at marina square!

seemed like everyone down there had a kid around somewhere. so i was super paiseh to go down for photos. only can zoooooom from upstairs. boo!

... ...

sighx. it's sunday again. week-long battle at MBS begins. at least, i have the weekend to look forward to. =) please don't let me lose my temper again. *cross fingers*

2202

i conquered the world!

okay that's an overstatement. the world? no. southern ridges? yes. =)

if you didn't know, the southern ridges is a 9km stretch of green, open spaces spanning the hills of mount faber park, telok blangah hill park and kent ridge park. split into 8 sectors, it took us more than 3 hours (i think) to complete the whole walk. it was a fun experience, tiring nonetheless. but my main objective was to practise / test with sotongball, which i was pretty impressed with today.

our breakfast:

and off we go!

1. the marang trail

i was wearing slippers so i didn't quite like this part of the walk. the path was rocky and there were so many stairs up! (sotongball on foliage mode. see for yourself! ^^)

didn't take much photos here since i was concentrating on the climbing. quite worth it cos the view up there was nice. sky is pretty!

2. the faber walk

this part was easier since we could stroll under the shelter. stopped by jewel box too. i suppose it would be nice and romantic here at night. =\

3. henderson waves

4. hilltop walk

not much impression of this sector. lols.

5. forest walk

this part was kinda scary because it was like that:

madagascar anyone? =P

6. alexandra arch

took a photo of this place but it turned out not very nice so i borrowed one.

it's just a bridge to cross the road lor.

7. hortpark

sotongball more on macro mode here. it's hard to keep my hands steady enough for a clear, sharp shot. boo!

it was like a big garden with lots of flowers! a lot of plants on sale too. there was this big but shallow pond and guess what was inside? koi and cichlids and parrot fish and arowanas and even a big fat red-tailed catfish!

literally, a bed of roses. :P

oooh what's that? and the leaves are heart-shaped.

there was also a butterfly enclosure, which i didn't step in. this one was outside.

next two are my best favorite shots of today. pretty in purple (and yellow)!

8. canopy walk

another treetops trail with wooden floorboards instead. nice and cooling and relaxing up there, but the walk up was tiring.

a something-pede that so nearly got squashed.

and that's the end of our trail! upon reaching the top, we walked back to hortpark and took a bus back to harbourfront. lols. something i don't mind doing again, as long as there's SSD. =)

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