merry christmas in advance!

not that i celebrate it, though who would say no to a public holiday. hehe. AND PRESENTS! we're actually past the stage of giving each other presents on every occasion, but this year for christmas, SSD got me something! something which i've been complaining for more than a year about. =X

zoom lens for wall-e! honestly speaking, i have already gotten used to zoom-less photography, but the new addition is certainly useful for special outings, like the zoo (which we're going again soon) and travelling. though it needs abit getting used to. test shots!

side note: i love feeding times where the sakura shrimps will crowd around the algae wafer. so cute! and no casualties so far! i hope they start breeding soon. also set up another 1ft tank for my baby mollies and mum's guppies. so much fun! =P

and then we had buffet dinner at concorde hotel last night. majority of the shots were blur; guess i need more practice in holding my hands still lol.

thumbs up for the cheese half-lobster (one-time) and crabs (comes in 5 flavours and is free-flow), and the sashimi and oysters. the rest were pretty normal stuff i must say, and variety isn't impressive. i'd actually rather much go back to buffettown or riverview.

 

looking forward to a half-day tomorrow. please let me clear my stuff in peace. =)

happiness is a warm puppy!

it's been so tiring last week - sleeping 4.5hr nights and working 10hr days. yep, i've finally found a chance at events! well...sort of. =X

first impressions. environment. the office is small, but in a way, homely and cosy. kinda in dire need of housekeeping lol. colleagues. actually, colleague. lol. that's right. only 2 paid staff including me. she's quite nice, friendly and helpful. the other committee members are actually volunteers, and they're supposedly a pretty 'interesting' lot! workload. majority of that tiring week has been clearing up backlog. according to kolic, the previous gal was an absolute horror and i certainly have her to thank regarding my OT the whole week. honestly i can't wait to start on my actual job scope. tsk.

so far, i haven't felt any reluctance to go to work in the morning despite the 1hr 15mins journey, and hopefully this won't change when the shows start. =| anyway, you gain some, you also lose some. truth be told, the pay and benefits are not encouraging at all. although it's somehow understandable since it's a non-profit organization. oh wells. i guess it's not really a long-term place after all.

... ...

finally went shopping at bugis street yesterday! don't know if i've said this before, but i have a love-hate relationship with that place. love because the clothes are on the cheaper side. but hate because there's usually no trying and i have horrible estimation of whether the clothes can fit. so if anyone wants to help me clear them off, you're most welcome to do so. lols.

'celebrated' aunts' birthday as well. it was supposed to be a buffet but due to last min booking, NO MORE SPACE! T_T had to be postponed to next week so we had to make do with eating at home. not saying that it isn't nice, but i was kinda craving for sashimi. :(

p/s. was at bugis+ too and they had this board with photos taken by canon cameras, and the photos at the food photography section was just....crap! i mean, if they're showcasing how clear and sharp and zoom-ed in they are, then i got nothing to say. but if otherwise, i bet even a beginner like me can win them hands down. really dunno what poop they shooting. tsk.

happy 3rd year anniversary!

yesterday was our 3rd year anniversary and we spent it at sentosa! got this package from deals which was kinda disappointing because i thought it had included the desperados 3D shooting game. was so looking forward! in the end it was changed to extreme log instead.

underwater world

for some reason a lot of my photos turned out quite blur, so i'm just gonna share some that aren't. it's been so long since i was here, and honestly, i didn't remember it to be so boring. lols. and we took the travelator 3 rounds! maybe, just maybe. i've been to hongkong's ocean park, which was in a way bigger and better. =\

a: i just watched an awesome movie!
b: what is it about?
a: the wife's brutally killed by a cold-blooded killer and the son gets really hurt. then there's a twist and the son is kidnapped. the father then begins a quest to find and save his son, with the help of a mentally ill female.
b: wow i wanna watch that. what is the movie called?
a: finding nemo :)

dolphin lagoon

i always get mixed feelings when watching animal shows. on one hand i like gushing over how cute and smart they are while performing. on the other hand, it doesn't seem right subjecting them to training for our entertainment purposes. sigh. photos taken by SSD anyway. wall-e has no zoom. =(

cineblast: extreme log ride

i kinda feel this was a rip-off because the 5-10 minutes of simulation ride doesn't really justify the $18 entrance fee. anyway, we were brought on a virtual tour to the himalamazon, supposedly on a log. it's almost like a rollercoaster ride because we were seated in rafts which shook and turned as we climbed up mountains, get tossed in rapids, and fall from great heights. it was exciting at first, but soon became predictable, especially since there was no 'heart-dropping' feel even though on the screen we're practically free-falling down a mountain. i think we would have enjoyed desperados more. boo.

4D magix: pirates

this is similar to the shrek 4D at USS. the story is about a young pirate setting traps on an island to get back at captain lucky, who soon arrives to locate his treasure. i got a lot more shocks as some of the effects were unpredictable. especially the gusts of air blowing from behind! the story was also longer and more exciting. although $18 is still a little too expensive imho.

maritime experiential museum

easily the most boring part of the day. lol. the museum is apparently about the chinese pirate cai qian and his pillaging voyage around the world. and also how zheng he brought them to justice. the artifacts on display didn't really interest me, although there were interactive points, like where we made our own chinese junk (which now sits on top of my betta tank), and our virtual vase. mine 'sold' for a pathetic $17 while others went up to $150+. lol fail!

there were some more artifacts on display on the lower level, but were housed in such dim areas that i didn't even bother shooting. i think people interested in zheng he would be excited. unfortunately i wasn't. =\

s.e.a. aquarium

no we didn't visit it. not yet at least. but there was a section open to 'public'. one was the shipwreck and the other the shark exhibit. i especially liked the former. water is kinda cloudy; not sure if it's meant to be like that. i think it's not completed yet (some fish still in transit?), so we'll probably drop by again when it's done.

and the end! i was beat! old liao cannot take it hahahaha. then we went back vivocity for dinner! settled on soup restaurant. i like the fish and beansprouts! veggies and tofu was normal though. and i thought the rice would be the hainanese chicken rice type but it wasn't. but SSD said to add the ginger and it was so yummy!

and that concludes our long and tiring 3rd year anniversary 'celebration'. =)

kith cafe

so yesterday, i was with zhu for dinner and breaking dawn (again!), and she had suggested kith cafe. it's conveniently located at park mall and you can see the sign as soon as you cross the road. we zhu chose to sit outside in the candlelight (need so lomantic anot LOL) and i must say, the ambience was lovely.

i thought it would be hard to take photos but wall-e proved me wrong! ta-da!

i had a cappuccino, which was quite normal, and vongole (vong-go-leh), which i super like! i don't normally take clams but here they didn't have that usual weird 'clammy' taste. amount of clams was pretty generous too. and coupled with the linguine and white wine sauce. oh yums! i think SSD would like this.

zhu's mushroom aglio olio was pretty yums too. i might try this on my next visit. and she had it with a vanilla milkshake, which looked too milk-overwhelming for me. >_< total bill was $50; kinda ex actually. =\