I love my parents.

I totally dig free stuff!!!

Not those buy 1 box of soap powder, free 1 tube of toothpaste type of freebies though. Hmmm, but i suppose if Brand A gives me toothpaste n Brand B didn't, i wld buy Brand A. BUT! This is me being a wise consumer and not an aunty okay. =P

Anyway, the free stuff I am talking about are the deals I got to enjoy last Saturday (I know this is way overdue) all because it was UOB's 20th anniversary!!!!! Alas, the benefits of credit. ^^



2 movie passes to any show at Cathay!!! Watched Babylon A.D because there wasn't anything good on. Is it just me or are movie standards falling?

Oh well, back to Babylon, I didn't really grasp the whole God and church part of the story.. I mean, if the girl was an experimented "Artificial God" how come she could predict bombs and death? And how did she escape dying? And how did she get pregnant without intercourse? And how did Vin Diesel survive her gunshot? Alot of question marks.

If anyone caught the show and understood it, please enlighten me.



I also indulged in a free Ben and Jerry's cone. MMMMmmmmmm....



There was nothing free about Daiso but its always fun to browse there. =)



And my dinner of big, fat, juicy shrimp dumplings, reminded me of Xueqin.

Hey babe, its the same shop at Plaza Sing's basement. It was the last meal we shared before you left was it? We shall go there again when you return yeah?? Missing ya.



Caught this musical with mummy just the other day.. In return for my movie treat, she bought hotdogs from Superdog which we smuggled into the theaters. We held hands as we munched on fries and was caught up in all the singing and dancing.

I Love You Ma!

And I love my very cute daddy too!!! Btw, he is back in Singapore again because its the Hari Raya week and Dubai is on holiday. Shiok right?! For the past month of Ramadan, he could end work at 2pm everyday to pray - not that he prayed, but the Muslims had to. :P

Why is he cute you ask?

At the airport, he called me...

Papa: "Ah girl, I now at duty free. You need any cosmetics?"
Me (totally unprepared): "Erm, black eyeliner? Ettusais de.."
Papa: "Ok can."

[20 secs later...]

Papa: "Here don't have your lousy brand. Want buy more famous one anot?"
Me: "Like what?"
Papa: "Macdonald."
Me: "Huh?!"

[After alot of guesswork, I concluded me meant M.A.C]

Me: "Can also.. I want black one."
Papa: "Ok can."

[Another 20 secs later...]

Papa: "You purposely want make me look stupid is it?! So many black eyeliner how I know which one you want? Hv crayon, pencil, liquid. Waterproof, smudge-proof, washable. And don't get me started on all the different shades of black!!!!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a seperate incident, Brian set up a blogger account for the father.

Brian: "Daddy, you must update so we know what is happening ok?"
Papa: "Wow, so nice blog! I will post alot!!!"

[A few nights later, on msn...]

Papa: "Ah girl, your blog very nice. But mine is nicer! go see!!!http://www.chuakc.blogspot.com/"
Me: *stunned into silence*
Papa (rather proud of himself): "Its a musical blog!!!"

*faints*

But you can't deny that he IS cute. And he is my DAD!! ^^

starhub no more

Hey friends,

if you have been contacting me via my temporary Starhub number (9109-0297), I have terminated the line already. I am now back to having only one phone and there is no change to my old Singtel number, the 911-blah blah one.. :)

After 3 mth of trying out Starhub mobile (I did seriously consider switching because of the per-second billing), I changed my mind because the reception quality is indeed very much worse. And I am not talking about talking in underground tunnels - Singtel isn't all that great either - but even in open areas, there is an inferiority about Starhub's signal and voice clarity. Trust me, I tried it out personally so this is definitely not a baseless accusation.

Oh well, some of you probably have Starhub lines so I shall not criticise further. But if you ever get the chance, try Singtel. You will not ever go back to Starhub unless there price plans are so darn attractive that maybe I will get tempted all over again. Hehe.

But for now, I am just an eager Singtel girl browsing PDA phone catalogues because my plan have just expired!!!! Muahahaha! But then again, I am broke. Sighs.

Hugs, Joy.

happy, whimsical me

blow wind blow! blow all the troubles awaaaaayyyyyy~



aiyah, can't emo for long when i hv such a cute maid.. i told her to cut the coconut till the "brown part" so i can drink. didn't expect her to hack away ALL the white parts into the remaining brown shell... adorable hor? not easy leh. >.<

look like bomb! teehee~

she also made a tiny hole n poke the straw in. coz the round coconut can't stand so she said, "if the hole too big, the drink will spill." hmmm, she's quite smart afterall hur?

now it looks even more like a bomb. got fuse somemore. haha..

i'm also v happy coz i discovered a new feature in my camera! its called "colour swap" where one colour can be super-imposed onto another object.



my original baby pink mouse...



my new hot pink mouse!

hahaha... i'm still pretty amazed by this so i'm like busy turning everything around me hot pink. a pink ferrari anyone? =P

period

crap.
its the time of the mth.

moodswings.
emo shit.
cramps.
snuggled tight in bed. NOT!

:'(

I just want you to know that I've been fighting to let you go

Some days I make it through and then there's nights that never end

I wish that I could believe that there's a day you'll come back to me

But still I have to say I would do it all again

Just want you to know

in some ways,
i hope i am now closer to closure.

mid autumn festival 2008

back frm his penang biz trip, we picked papa up frm the airport n headed for a nice lunch.



changi beach club!



due to a wedding dinner held in the ballroom, we couldn't utilise the main dining area n had to settle for alfresco dining instead. but we still had a nice view of the changi waters. =)


the food was great too!! ^^



in the fried yam ball, there was a treasure-trove of mushrooms! my fav!!

to further wreck the diet, we had mooncakes for tea.. *groans* this time, we opened the baked ones. thankfully, they were more appetizing than the sub-standard snowskin variations this yr.. but oilier... oh my......



what is lantern/mooncake/mid autumn-festival w/o pigging out on mooncakes?!



the culprits!

bcoz one had to fly back to dubai n the other had to go back to hostel, we didn't hv time to disgest our lunch slowly but instead had to gorge down oily mooncakes in the middle of the afternoon with no "moon" in sight. :(



but we still managed to eat alot... sinful!



still, i think raffles hotel had the best mooncake in the baked catergory again!



it takes skill to position the yolk right in the middle. so when cut, everyone has an equal size.



tung lok vs raffles! THE SHOWDOWN!!

notice the tung lok yolk has floated to the side?? mama says its bcoz their lotus paste was less solid when left to set. perhaps they diluted it too much?



another crucial difference is the thickness of the skin.. needless to say raffles is the one with the consistent n virtually non-existant sides. the chef cld mould the crust so thin yet not hv it burst open during the baking process. *respect*



finally a photo of the infamous intercontinental snowskin the little brother hated so much.

"mini sknowskin mooncakes filled with japanese sweet potato and champagne chocolate" nice description hur? unmet expectations. :(



brian (trying to bluff trixie): "try it jie.. u must put the whole thing in to fully taste its true flavour.......... of penicillin."

but he just couldn't resist blurting out his true feelings at the last moment. haha..

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

somemore funny conversations...

[in the living rm]

alisa (checking through brian's revision exercise):

"how come u hv some ticks n some not marked?"

brian:

"those unmarked is coz my ans differs frm the ans key."

an irritated alisa:

"THEN WHY DIDN'T U MARK WITH CROSSES?!"

brian:

"my ans is not wrong! it is just different frm the model."

trixie:

"this is math n if ur ans differs n ur still right, ur in denial."

[in the car]

alisa: "to be or not to be, that's the qn.. who said it?"
brian: "aiyah, so easy!"
alisa: "who?"
brian: "let me think abt it n i'll get back to u in 2 yrs time."

(btw, in case u were wondering, hamlet frm shakespeare said it.)

[THE SUPERMARKET SCENE]
starring: me



some root fruit thingy tt first reminded me of bull's horns n a MOUSTACHE?! i think it some calypso root? but i think spelling wrong.



trying to be happy as mama teaches me the art of grocery shopping. haha.. the process to domesticate me is a long n ardous journey....



a fan of sliced shabu-shabu pork!!



baseball bat = sugar cane
baseball ball (got such thing?) = USA potato!

i'm racist. even potato muz USA de.. =P



fine, i hardly look like i'm fighting...

but i left ntuc, a rather entertained girl with a brother in stiches.

p/s (he is still laughing now.)

boredom

i'm bored.
i was so bored, i screamed into a pillow just now.
i nv dreamt i wld live to say this...
but thank god,
for wrk tmr.

but blast the stupid weather!
i was supposed to go play with lanterns
n sparklers!!
at bedok reservoir, no less...
sobs.

:'(

a comical conversation

in the morning, i went grocery shopping with mama n the kids.. on the way back, the following conversation amused me.

alisa says:
"i'm going to be a doctor. nothing else interests me... banking is blah, i suck at doodling n my dreams of stardom is dashed."

mommy replied:
"dashed? why?"

me sacrastically:
"she so old.. stars nowadays get younger n younger."

my brother eager for a share of the limelight:
"i'm gonna be an architect. so u can all pay me big bucks to build ur hms!"

doctor alisa:
"u dumbass! if u profit frm me, i wun invite u to my mansion on wkends!"

a calm brian:
"then i shall not build u a house."

doctor alisa:
"with all the money in the world, i will hire my architect frm paris!"

architect brian:
"then u go ahead lor.. later he build u an eiffel tower."

-alot of bikering later-

alisa suddenly got all maternal n said:
"i hv alot of brilliant boy names so i shld hv more boys than girls.."

me:
"hmm, i can't decide.. mayb i'll hv 7 kids n name them aft days in the wk..."

brian then said:
"i will hv a daughter n call her blair."

me:
"aft the "gossip girl" girl?! i tot she didn't hv a v gd character?"

he eagerly adds-on:
"yeah, but she's hot like her father, me!"

alisa agreed:
"and she is cool too!!!!!"

mama indignantly interupts:
"i forbid u to call my grandchild, blair!!! everyone will make fun of her! they will call her blair blair..."

a defensive brian:
"she'll be so smart, so pretty n so rich tt everyone will not dare to make fun of her!"

mama audibly in the background:
"blairblair blair blair BLAIR!"

me feeling cheeky:
"she'll be mocked at alright.. by her v own grandmother. my my, the poor kid."

brian wavering in his stand:
"hmm.. okay, then i shall call her ashley."

me thinking hard:
"aft ehhhh, what was tt show???"

in a spilt second he replied:
"suite life of zack n cody!"

me:
"oh, u like tt show hur?"

him matter-of-factly:
"no.. i hate it."

everyone:
"......"

DADDY CAME HOME FOR A SURPRISE VISIT!!!!



he surprised mama outside the office with a dozen roses which surprisingly looks to be of standard! dubai has made my father's taste improve!! =P

the surprise was sorta marred by the doo-doo security guard though..
papa: can u buzz for someone to take this in to my wife?

guessed what?!?! the stooopid guard buzzed my mother herself out! zzz... but come to think of it, my dad is quite dumb too! i mean, hello??? i'm working in the same bank, on the same floor, why didn't he even think of it?! *faints*

anyway, his trip back was totally kept frm all of us n he was actually headed to penang for a biz trip but detoured over to s'pore for an impromptu night. =)



in the end, i pangseh xinyu (sorry babe!!!) to hv lunch with mama n him.. trix came by all the way frm ntu too.. so it was like a mini reunion. hehe.



went to 包今天 meant to mimic some chinese folk story judge, 包青天. direct translation into eng somemore. cmi!

this shop reminded me of jerry during our citibank challenge.. we also saw the same shop at marina sq n he being a chinese national remarked tt singaporeans liked to play with chinese wrds. but he did admit it was pretty funny though. lol.



i like dim sum so much, i had this with mama 2 days in a row. teehee~ i dun eat with her everyday so she tends to indulge me when we do eat tgt (so far only 3 times in 2 wks).

at night, we visited ah ma with mooncakes. in the afternoon, my poor grandmother dropped a glass plate on her foot which smashed n cut a main blood vessel. sighs... she cld hardly walk n she lives alone!!! *worrying* :(



at night, we had boon tong kee chicken rice coz the father misses it...



the ultra big bowl of fish maw n crab soup coz i love-love it. hehehe... if u can see mama's hand in the background, shld be can estimate how really big it is ba?! n my ah ma v cute.. keep referring to it as shark's fin although i made it clear so many times i'm morally against eating shark's fin.



papa got really excited over beansprouts bcoz dubai doesn't hv them... they were a disappointment though. an overpriced disappointment. :(



we had half a chicken n fried tofu too~! aiyo, like tt how to lose weight sia? *sobs*

the night aft he left, mama was feeling pretty down so i wanted to treat her to the dhl balloon.. but sadly, it was down bcoz of wind conditions AGAIN! suay to the max lor. but since i promised the mother a treat, we headed down to raffles place's sakae for dinner buffet n trix appeared too!



being a part-time student at SIM, mama cld get youth rate leh!!!! tt made her rather pleased n smsed the daddy immediately specifically telling him she was a "youth".. hmm, old age does tt to ppl does it? haha.



screw the diet!!!



mama n me!



trixie n mama!! ^^

moving on, the job!!!! i hv been living n breathing standard chartered for the past 2 wks..



a really cool machine! n i like the ppl in the mailing rm.. its really the old ppl tt r nice. other than alex, edwyn n the chinese n malay girl who first taught me the ropes but nv got around to telling me their names. or mayb i was supposed to ask but didn't. haha.. but quite weird to ask aft 2 wks lor. so yeaps.

btw, the aunties in the office call alex, 偶像. n i suppose frm some angles he is quite eye-candy material lah.. but he gives me far too much wrk for my liking. ahhhh!!!!!



introducing the fabulous machine!!!!



1) put the stacks of paper to be inserted into the envelopes on the 2 trays...

2) obviously put the envelopes in the bottom envelope tray.

then press start.

.
.
.

the machine will make a hell lot of noise before it sucks 1 paper n 1 envelope in.

.
.
.

the paper will get folded into 2 or 3 parts depending on the size of the envelope.
(i think the ingenuity is just plain brilliant!)

.
.
.

the folded paper then gets fitted into the propped open envelope.

.
.
.



3) this is the glue part of the machine for the sealing of envelopes...



there r 500 filled envelopes here n the entire process for this 500 copies is approx 20 min.



before tt machine was introduced, poor me took a whole day!!!!!!!!!! :(



previously, i self-entertained with staples. now, i play with "toys" i happen to hv....

i turned the tikam tikam machine at vivo just the other day. these r meant to be disney desserts.. TWICE i got stuff frm the same range - milk pudding n peach jelly. i was dismayed but cheeleng pointed out tt at i got a pair n someday i can give one side to my bf.

IF tt someday ever comes n i DO fall in love,

I WANT THE BROWN ONE!!!!

it looks more yummy ma. heeeeeeeee.



this was the swissroll i wanted n jessica got it on first try. sigh bigtime! even got cute little strawberry on top can?! neh neh pok!



on to the sad bit, aft the stanchart-amex acquisition, amex staff hv been leaving the bank so the past wk has been rather gloomy with alot of solemn goodbyes n snippets of ppl reminiscing back on times 10 yrs ago. it was a rather nostalgic atmosphere..

nothing much has really changed.. i rmbr coming into the office 17 yrs ago with mama. i was then a toddler n was v satisfied with my crayons n bullying little trix than to bother tt mama was busy working on a saturday. hey, 5-day wrk wk was a recent implementation yeah?

anyway, back to today's farewell... today is a friday. over the wkend, s'pore amex will fully intergrate into stanchart so many many many ppl left today n no one really worked. some went away on vacation presumably to avoid the coldness of the office.

the mailing rm uncle had a laminated cert proudly displayed thanking him for 30 yrs of service dated yr 2000. tts decades of wrk n association to a place (like a 2nd hm)... imagine having to leave all these suddenly?

no wonder fong yin had tears in her eyes. she's the woman who sat behind me these past 2wks. i think she treated me as the daughter she nv had.. i used to think she was queer frm how much revealed to me abt her life on my first few days. but soon, i got used to listening to her stories n at times, i got quite emo when i listened to them.

her climb to the top at citibank with only an o-lvl cert, her love for her only son tt made her leave the job she loved so much n her battle with breast cancer. i hv always admired cancer survivors but i hv nv heard a live recount of the radiation sessions, the vomitting, the hair fall, the probing of ur most intimate areas by scary doctors with strange instruments. eek!

n scarier still was how they removed the lump n finally the whole breast. it wasn't like i imagined it to be. n the scars streaking down frm her armpit to her chest; pained me just by looking. its tough, n they r strong ppl. i doubt if faced with the same prob, i will hv the courage to live through lor. :(

oh man, i feel like i hv matured overnight.

i wanted to get her flowers but i tot tt wld kinda be over-the-top so i was pretty overwhelmed when she gave me ferraro rochers, hugged me n when she took me to the shreadder machine n shreadded her diary coz it held, "memories of this place tt i dun wanna keep."

sighs. forever only exists in fairytales.

happier stuff......... lantern festival/mooncake feasting day!



a broker fren gave us our first mooncakes for the yr - baked double yolk.



i was initially totally in awe of the brand... but seriously, they didn't taste all tt spectacular. but st regis muz hv been pretty hip this yr coz i dun rmbr seeing them set up booths previously.. however, i felt tt their individually wrapped toothpicks for sampling is redundant n v unfriendly to the environment. =X



munch munch munch.....



mama seemed to like marriot hotel this yr... she bought snowskins frm there for the grandparents n the neighbours... however, i only fancy the box with actual embroidery ribbon!! preeeety~



mixed snowskin... tasted like plasticine to me though.



mix n matched quarters...



nxt up was frm intercontinental but i doubt they were v gd since they didn't really make an impact n i forgot how it tasted liao. oops!

UPDATE: my bro just reminded me how it tasted.. the chocolate n rum wasn't mixed evenly so the choc parts were gd but the rum part was soooo overbearing tt it tasted medicinal! tsk tsk.. rushing to produce till standard drop. BAAAAAAD!



another st regis gift frm mama's counterpart..



bloody mary mooncakes..

no alchohol taste. SAD! red outside, yellow inside, super look like ang ku kueh! n the inside is lotus paste so even more like ang ku kueh. =P



daddy takes a bite n remarked: THIS IS BLOODY NO GOOD!

his sudden outburst made di roll around on the floor laughing...



the nicest of this yr goes to raffles hotel. chocolate champagne snowskin.... =D

i heard goodwood park wasn't bad too. the chempedak n durian was apparently solid stuff.. anyway, the queue at change alley proved its standard. but no one gave those to us n mama only hv a buy one policy per yr to avoid being excessively extravagant. I WANT MANGO POMELO, arrrghhh! =(



daddy: "ahhh, no one can match my milo!"

thickskin daooooo~



this yr's snowskin SUCKED!!!!



i miss these piggies in baskets.. i used to squat ages at the cakeshop choosing my fav basket colour when the inside r actually all the same n not tt i keep the basket afterward anyway. haha.



i used to play with these battery-operated cartoon characters too! we wld compete whose had the longer music but now, i find the screechy "music", noisy. hee.



ooh... the neighbour just came by with tung lok.. i shall go n taste it.

tootles~