Another Farewell Lunch

Had another farewell lunch today, and this time, was for Jane (SJ)... didnt know that she had worked at ECQ for such a long time already... Anyway went lunching at Cafe Cartel at Raffles City... there were altogether 13 people attending, including SJ... The rest of the people includes MH, Newbie, ET, GC, Ivy, S, B.Luv, VC, YS and HT...

The set lunch at the Cafe for today was stirred fried beef with pasta, or chicken pasta in black pepper sauce.... I ordered the chicken pasta set, and S was saying that every time my order will come last, so dun order the same food as me... however she had no choice as she dun take beef... and true enough, the beef set were served first... although not long later, the rest of the food were also served...

Long Long Hour

This monday was the latest that I've worked OT until since started working in ECQ... not that I had wanted though... As there was a UAT yesterday, had no chioce but to stay and fix whatever bugs that were left... Time really flies when you are concentrating on doing something... work work and work until 2 plus then left the office... The last time that I had worked OT until so late was during the initial URT development, which was around the some time last year... and its been quite a while since I have made a transport claim, so no complains... Luckily there was no major bugs discovered during the UAT... thus I was able to knock off pretty early yesterday...

Another Skating Session

Thought that was unable to go skating this week as the weather was rather wet for the whole of this week, but surprisingly the weather today was bright and sunny... But with JX unable to come, I spraining her ankle and what had happened to =.= the previous day, it was left with me and FL for the session today... brought FL to the usual shop that I had rent my skates before I bought my new pair of skates, and it was considerably cheaper compared to the shop beside the skating ring...

However, the skates from this shop was different from the one in the previous week, and FL had some trouble getting used to the skates and the balance... esp when this pair was was somewhat 'faster' than the one she wore last week... So she was complaining that it was back to square one again and she had to learn all over again... Indeed she had a couple of falls today and a few scares on some other occasion... I was also pretty worried for her esp when going down slope...

At around 12, YS called to say he was also at ECP and we meet up with him along the way... Then FL complained some more to YS about the skates... After that, YS and his wife went off as FL's pace still can't catch up with them yet... By the end of the session, I think FL had gotten used to the skates again, so maybe next time can still rent from the same shop... Then went to Mac for a drink before going to Parkway for lunch and call it a day.

Elvin's Wedding Dinner (@ Serangoon Country Club)

Attended Elvin's wedding dinner at Jumbo Restaurant at Serangoon Country Club last night... This is the 1st time that I've attended a fren's wedding at a restaurant, and it certainly feels strange that there were other public around having dinner during the occasion...

D, FL, S and me meet up and went to PartyWorld at Bishan before the dinner at around 3... and YM (a.k.a Obi) was suppose to come also but fly pigeon at the last minute due to a rehearsal for some performance... maybe he would have come if someone else was here... (hehe... :p)... Anyway this was the 1st time going K with D... and at least most of the english songs that he has dedicated were the ones I knew as well... and he also managed to sing Guang Liang's Tong Hua also... (must have remembered the lyrics by hard)... and S commented that D's voice is very suited for singing those slow ballads...

By the time we're done, it was still quite early and so we decided to walk down to J8 instead... S met her fren at the optical shop and keng abit before we went to take a cab juz outside the MRT station... The cab went one big round before we finally reached the club at around 740pm, at which DRQ and Pearlyn had also arrived at the same time...

At that time Teo, Yong Sing, Floria and Boon Chan were already sitting at the table... as we were discussing before the dinner, there were like 22 people from the office invited and were split into 3 tables of 10, 7 and 5... so S was saying that the MCs and senior staff were supposed to be in the table of 5... however, 人算不如天算, with Yen Ping and Kok Sian not turning up, the people from that table join our table instead... So my table consist of DRQ, D, Uncle Chong, Cheng Hai, Peter, Pearlyn, Teo, Yong Sing, S and me... while the other table were the HPB team, which includes Alex, Junxiang, =.=, Vivian, 13, Floria, Boon Chan, FL, Irene and her husband...

Waited until near to 9 before the dinner get started... It seems that the restaurant was owned by one of our client's family, so we got a pretty big portion for each of the dishes... I think the food was quite nice but a pity the dessert was not yam paste which was my favourite... hehe... Thought the dinner would be ending quite late at it was near to 10 and half the dishes were still not served... however after the second march in by the bride and groom, the dinner gathered pace and the food were served out very quickly...

During the course of dinner, =.= was again the center of attraction, in which he was forced (or rather persuaded) to drink a lot... He may have made a mistake by coming over to our table, where Uncle Chong was around... or maybe he had wanted to train up for his wedding day... hehe... think he had drank around 4 ~ 5 mugs of beer and 2 cups of cognac... So the end result was even worse than at GC's wedding dinner... poor Cheng Hai who would be driving =.= home...

Lunching and Shopping for Frutti Day

As usual, went to Suntec to buy the stuff for the event, however we did not take a bus there and walked instead... Today there were four of us, D, GC, S and me... These days getting less and less ppl going to buy the stuff liao, cos ESC got one less member again with PS gone and also XY not ard...

Had lunch at Thai Express at CitiLink instead of at Suntec, cos I remembered that I got a $10 voucher which was expiring soon, so suggested going there... The last time that I ate at Thai Express was around half a year ago just before my birthday, so essentially my orange card was used for the 1st time today... The outlet here was rather small IMO, and the seats were like cramped together... I ordered a Tom Yum Seafood stick noodle, which was pretty nice, although a bit spicy and small in serving... The curry soft shell crab that D ordered looks very appealing, maybe next time should order that... Actually wanted to ordered desserts but thought otherwise as it was already quite late and we still havent go shopping yet...

After lunch but I was still feeling a bit hungry, so went to Gelare and bought some chocolate cookies for $3.90... Taste not too bad although I think Famous Amos one is nicer... But still managed to finish up the whole packet of cookies even before reaching Carrefour... An as usual, went to Secret Recipe to order a cake first... and this time the cake was cheaper than before, i.e. $39.90 (and there was still a 10% discount on top of that)... This the waiter there said was because due to overwhelming response in the promotion in Oct where the cakes were selling at half price, so they decided to continue selling at a lower price... Ordered a mango cake and then went into Carrefour to buy fruits... bought the usual selection of fruits, such as grapes, banana and cherries and also got a new type of fuits, i.e. pomegranate... now that I know what this is... Meanwhile we also bought another cake from bengawan solo... GC also bought some Carrefour brand chocolate ice cream and this reminds me of the tub of yam flavoured ice cream bought from here a few months back which was not finished but discarded i think...

By the time we were done, it was really late liao... and so we headed back to office ...

What Kind of Pie Are You?

You Are Apple Pie

You're the perfect combo of comforting and traditional Those who like you crave security

What Kind of Pie Are You?

Farewell Lunch

Today had a farewell lunch for FL, yes... another person is leaving the company... although these days the turnover rate seems to be less... had already decided the venue for lunch, which was going Seah St but then the weather looks bad when we were at the cross junction just outside office, and it also started drizzling... so decided to change plan... Finally settled for Sakae Sushi at Captiol Building but the place did not have a big enough table for 6!!! No choice then, we had to make our way further down to the outlet at Funan, and in the process, walked a big round... should have come here in the first place...

The 6 ppl who were present are D, GC, I, S, me and of course FL... we ordered some fried stuff and then started grabbing the sushi from the conveyor belt soon after settling down... I had ordered a cha soba and it turn out that the noodle comes in a pretty big lump, so initially had to struggle getting the strands of noodle out for dipping...

Over the course of lunch, we started discussing about how the age of ppl in the office... and D was trying to find out the age of S, although it was no secret anymore, hehe... By the end of lunch though, think everyone got their fill... but hor, dunno who still wanted to have ice cream after that... though in the end no one bought... hehe...

Work work

Oh no... more work coming my way for the new proj... some more tomorrow need to go client side for support (sianz, cannot siam)... and need to clean up my office PC for audit purposes, now dunno where to put all my stuff (u all shld noe wat i mean)... any kind soul wanna sponsor a HD? hehe... I think 20 GB shld be enuff...

Of Bus Waiting

This morning, the time taken to wait for the bus to MRT station took me like,

1. More than twice the time of bus journey to the MRT station;
2. More than the time of MRT journey to City Hall;
3. Enough time to finish almost half of Ivana Wong's new album.

Enough said...

Harry Potter

Watched Harry Potter 4 today with Stef, SJ & husband, FL, XY and D and one of Stef's fren... Not that I can remember the plot of the story as I did not read the book and had only watch episode 3... Compared to the last episode though, I think this one is better... Perhaps should go and find the 1st two episodes and watch for completeness sake...

Brain Cell Zapping Day

Today had to think a lot to solve some problems faced in my project... Didn't managed to complete the solution as yet, but have gotten an idea liao... Gonna finish it up tomorrow...

Skating at ECP

It's been quite some time since I last went skating, think was at least 3 months ago bah... Was actually thinking of going on Saturday, but since FL had asked me and a few others to go today, went with them instead... Had to dig out all my skating stuff, esp my skates which had collected a fair bit of dust for lying around in a corner for more than 3 months...

Meet up with FL, I and her husband, C, at ECP Mac, and then =.= at the skating ring... then FL went to the shop nearest the skating ring to rent a pair of skates, while I skate down along the pathway for some warm ups... I and C, brought their own skates, but there were some problem with C's skates and he had to rent another pair as well...

After doing a few rounds at the ring, FL felt it was ok to go out and skate along the path, so all of us headed down towards the direction of Bedok Jetty... It was only the second skating session for FL, but she was starting to get a hang of it already, although she was still not very confident when going upslope or down, which is perfectly normal for newbies... Think would probably need another 1 or 2 more sessions to get her balance right and the strides correctly...

By the time, we went to Bedok Jetty and back, 2 hours had already passed... and FL had to return the skates... Then we all went for lunch at the Beach Road Prawn Noodle shop, which is located at East Coast Road rather than Beach Road... Think the standard drop liao, although the last time i went was like 5 years ago already...

Hopefully I can pick up my weekly skating once again, now that got new kakis...

Quote Of The Day

"The only difference between a rich person and poor person is how they use their time"

by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Tired Week

After the whole week of late nights, decided to sleep early today cos my eyes can hardly open at this point of time liao... Still got quite a few back logs of entries to catch up with... Hope to finish by the weekend, though it seems to be unlikely...

Malaysia Trip: Day 6 (Malacca -> Singapore)

Nothing much for the day as we prepare for check-out, went for lunch at the pizza hut juz beside the restaurant then headed to the bus terminal... Managed to shopped a bit at the Tesco Supermarket nearby the bus terminal and then went to an internet cafe for a while as we still had some time to spare...

Finally, it was time to board the bus, and we were on our way back home... Although it should be commented that the seats for the coach on the return trip certainly feels more comfortable than the one up north...

Malaysia Trip: Day 5 (Malacca)

Was supposed to wake up earlier for breakfast but instead by the time everyone was up and ready to go, it was almost lunch time... Went to the Chicken Rice Restaurant near our hotel to try out the famous Chicken Rice Ball... We ordered half roast chicken, half white chicken and a plate of vegetables, and of course not forgetting, each of us ordered 5 balls of rice (I thought it was a bit too much initially but turn out to be ok...) ....

After lunch, walked down to the San Po Temple, which was about 10 ~ 15 minutes walk away... There was also the San Po Well at the place, which was built long long time ago for a princess' usage... Took quite a few pictures here though... Then we hailed a cab and head down to the Melaka Zoo... Had wanted to go to the Mini Malaysia, which was pretty near the zoo, but it was not open until after the weekend... Well, it was a long long time since I last went to the Zoo in SG, to think that I had went to the Zoo in Melaka instead... Spent almost the whole afternoon at the Zoo snapping more pictures, and also watched the Tiger show (it was a real tiger on show)...

Then took a bus back to Melaka Sentral bus terminal... It was also a long time since we've seen a bus conductor issuing the tickets on the bus, with his hole puncher... Took another cab from the bus terminal to Chinatown / Jonker Street area... It seems that the street is more 'happening' tonight, with the whole street closed off for some sort of a night market...

As we walked down the whole street, we bought a bit of snacks here and there, and it makes up our dinner... There were some uncles and aunties singing KTV and dancing out in the open, it seems like they were not afraid of showing off... Also at the end of the street there were some sort of a singing competition on a big stage... Again the contestants were not those Super Idol that you would normally see on TV...

After touring the whole street, we went into a little pub a distance away from Jonker Street and settle down for a drink, chit chat and rest... There was a giant screen here but pity there was no soccer match on show as it was a friday... Finally headed back to our hotel after that...

Malaysia Trip: Day 4 (Kuala Lumpur --> Malacca)

Was going to catch the 1030am bus to Malacca today, so woke up at around 830am to wash up and have breakfast... On the way back to the hotel, there was some performance juz outside of the hotel, so stopped by to have a look... The person was actually trying to sell some medical oil and the performance was to showcase how good his product was... Stayed to watch a bit of his "performance" as there was still time before the bus ride... but waited a while he is still talking about his product...

Anyway the bus journey from KL to Malacca was supposed to be about 2.5 hours... but the bus actually went to a few small towns for stops before finally arriving at Melaka Sentral, where the bus terminal was... and time of arrival is 1330... E had already arrived at Malacca at around 12 and she went to an internet cafe while waiting for us to arrived... Then we took a cab to meet up with E, who had also searched the net for some hotels and places to visit in Malacca...

By the time we meet up, it was already 2pm and we decided to walk down the street to find an accommodation for ourselves... After walking for about 10 minutes, reached a hotel called "Lucky Inn" and decided to stay there... It was RM115 per night, which i think it was cheap enough until someone else told us that we can get even cheaper acommodation else where... But sadly, I am going to sleep on a spring bed for the next 2 nights (argh... gonna miss my cosy bed at home, and think will appreciate it more after the trip)...

After checking into the hotel and putting down all our barang barang, went out the street for some sight-seeing... The whole street was rather empty with not a lot of shops opened, maybe cos of the Hari Raya holiday... And as usual, did a lot of walking, from our hotel down to Christ Church Melaka / Melaka Fortress there... Climbed up the hill and took quite a fair bit of pictures over there... Then walked down to Jonker Street for window shopping...

Then we decided to have a rest at this place called Bamboo Hut, which was selling stuff and also food... Wanted to order the chendol here but the waitress said that it might take half an hour! Later on they even stopped taking orders (wonder if it was that good...) ... It was here that we met a family of 3 from Johor, who were sharing the table with us... We started chatting, and then E asked them the places that we could visit here in Melaka (it was first time here for all of us...)... Then out of the blue, this family offered to bring us around the area... And since we have no idea of where to go from here, we agreed to their suggestion...

All of us then continued walking down Jonker Street before going for dinner... They had wanted to bring us to some back lane alley for dinner... According to them, the street side stalls there sold a lot of delicious food... But all the stalls were not opened, perhaps due to holiday... Instead, we went to a restaurant selling satay celup, where you would dip the food into a boiling pot of satay sauce and then consume it... this was something that couldn't be found in SG... everyone was tucking away happily, especially the little kid of the family... At the end of the day, we could see a table full of empty stay sticks, although compared to other tables, this was only small case ...

After dinner, the family offered to drive us to some of the places for visit oso... We passed by the San Po Well and temple, St John's Hill, and went to the Portuguese Village... In the course of going to the Portuguese Village, we made a couple of wrong turns and circled the town quite a few rounds... At the Portuguese Village, there are a lot of stalls selling seafood, and also sourvenirs...

Went for supper with the family after that, and yet ordered a great variety of food... E ordered a super duper extra spicy taiwanese sausage which all of us managed only one bite... Cos after the bite, the lips and the tongue all simply went numb... After dinner, we were driven all the way back to our hotel....

Malaysia Trip: Day 3 (Kuala Lumpur)

Woke up at 815am and prepare to check out in time to catch the 10am shuttle bus to Genting Skyway Station... Chop chop went for breakfast and then proceed to pack up and checkout... Reached the Skyway Station it was 1020am, and bought the 11am bus ticket to go down KL....

By the time we reached KL, it was 11 plus... had wanted to come back to SG but XY received a message from E asking we still had any plans over here, cos she had taken leave on Friday... Then suddenly FL, PS and S all wanted to come KL to meet us tomorrow and asked us to look out for hotel to stay in... So we put our bags in the luggage center in Puduraya Bus Terminal and walked around the area...

Walked along Chinatown area, but there was nothing much there in the afternoon... Then had lunch and went back to the Mc near the bus terminal and call S asking about the plan for tomorrow... More walking after that around the area and then went into an internet cafe to search for hotels in the area... The connection speed is like &*^#@... Can't get used to this kind of speed after using Cable for so long...

Finally settle for a hotel in Chinatown, which was RM90 for one night... the room was super small though and without any window... But at least they have Astro TV, the Malaysia equivalent of Cable TV... This means that I was able to watch the Champs League match between the Gunners and Spatar Prague on ESPN, hehe (but in the end only managed to watch 70 min of the match and dozed off... only get to know the final score on Saturday)...

Then after putting all our stuff into the hotel room, walk down to Berjaya Time Square... The building was really huge with so many levels... At least the 1st 10 levels are for retail shops and there are still more levels up there... And of course there is a theme park at Time Square, from level 5 ~ 9... Spent the next 1.5 hours walking around the building doing window shopping... Also settle our dinner in a japanese restaurant (forgot the name liao) at level 4... Wanted to go KTV but found that it was really expensive, comparable to the weekend rates at K-box in SG, if you know what I mean...

This time decided to take the mass transit back to Puduraya instead of walking... There are actually 3 different lines, each operated by different companies... and we actually had to make a transfer between 2 stations to get to Puduraya... First taking the PRT monorail from Imbi to Hang Tuah, then transfer to STAR line from Hang Tuah to Plaza Rakyat... Upon reaching Puduraya, went to buy the bus tickets to Malacca, which was our next destination... Cos by this time, we already knew that only E would be joining us in Malacca, the rest had "fly aeroplane"...

Explored the night market at Chinatown, which was pretty much selling the usual stuffs that you would find in Bangkok night markets, e.g. T-shirts, perfumes, handbags, shoes, DVDs etc... As we had nothing to buy in mind, we managed to finish exploring within an hour... Thus we went back to the hotel to hava a good night rest, esp after walking such a long distance during the day... zzz... zzz...

Malaysia Trip: Day 2 (Genting)

Got up at around 830am and went for breakfast at the hotel cafe... proceed back up to Genting on the skyway and by the time we reached the theme park it was already near to 11am... Bought the Outdoor Theme Park day pass at 25% discount with the coupons given... There were quite a few rides that are closed for maintenance... but I shall summarize the rides that we took:

1. Spinner

Time spent waiting: 5 minutes
Time on Ride: 2 minutes
Thrill Rating: 2 / 5

As indicated by the name, this ride juz go spinning round and round... no much thrill after the 1st few rounds liao... Apparently a lot of kids are queuing up for this ride, so it tells a story...

2. Space Shot

Time spent waiting: 25 minutes
Time on Ride: < 1 minute
Thrill Rating: 4 / 5

Duration of the ride is pretty short but each time can only take 12 people on board, so it accounts for the long waiting time... 1st time taking this kind of ride, so was abit anxious... Decided to take some photos while on the top of the Space Shot though, so i counted how long it will remain stationary at the top, which lasts about 10 seconds... Finally when it was time to go up, I got ready my Digicam for the shot... Juz (and really juz) managed to snap two pics before the Space Shot descend at great velocity... However it did not go all the way down at the 1st attempt, so would give it a 4 out of 5...

3. Grand Prix Fun Kart

Time spent waiting: 40 minutes
Time on Ride: 5 ~ 8 minutes
Thrill Rating: 2.5 / 5

Basically, this is Go Karting... the speed would not be comparable to those at a real Grand Prix though... There was a delay when it was our turn to go as the PC at the counter went off... We were supposed to sign certain online form before taking the ride, so wat a time for the PC to break down... After a few minutes the Theme Park staff put out some physical forms for us to sign... Attended a safety talk juz before going off...After the first few rounds, it was kinda boring as the circuit was pretty short... simply went round and round... managed to overtake 1 or 2 vehicles though...

4. Flying Dragon

Time spent waiting: 15 minutes
Time on Ride: < 2 minutes
Thrill Rating: 2.5 / 5

Had a hard time finding the entrance / queue for this ride as it is inside First World Plaza... However queue was not that long and ride was short... Speed of the dragon not really flying but the ride was bumby... Managed to sit at the head of the dragon as there were only 6 people when it was our turn to take the ride...

5. Monorail

Time spent waiting: 70 minutes
Time on Ride: 25 minutes
Thrill Rating: 0 / 5

Had lunch just before, so decided not to take those rides that are too siong (wouldn't want to throw up my lunch...)... But the waiting time was simply too long... Maybe because there were 2 queues for the Monorail, one indoor and the other outdoor, with 2 trains stopping indoor and 3 at outdoor... We queued at the indoor one, so waited for quite long, although the queue outside was even longer... At least while taking the ride, we could see the whole of the Outdoor Theme Park and of course not forgetting to take pictures... On a side note, a little gal who was in the same cabin as us managed to fall asleep during the ride (maybe she had waited until very tired liao or the train was too cosy... :D)....

6. Flying Coaster

Time spent waiting: 15 minutes
Time on Ride: 2 ~ 3 minutes
Thrill Rating: 4.5 / 5

This is the signature attraction of the Theme Park, and I think it really live up to its name, i.e. you really feel like you are flying... Although had to pay RM10 for the ride, I think its value for money... Thought gonna miss this as it was closed for maintenance in the morning... Anyway, as usual, queue up for the ride and, when it was our turn, we were already in position but were hold back for quite some time... think the previous person who has taken the ride had dropped his specs... Finally, we were on our way and it was really a thrill, twisting 360 degree in mid air... Although I was also abit concern about the stuff in my pouch would drop out during the ride...

7. Cyclone

Time spent waiting: 20minutes
Time on Ride: 2 ~ 3 minutes
Thrill Rating: 3 / 5

Finally, this was our last ride of the day... Although we had wanted to queue for this in the morning but was told it would be closed for a while... Anyway finally get to queue at a time when the queue is not so long... By this time we were probably well-trained for this kind of ride, especially after the last one... Indeed this was considered a small case compared to the last...

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By the time, we were done at the Theme Park, it was dinner time and we headed down to Hotel Resort Cafe for dinner... Dinner was also buffet, but this time there was less variety, in terms of food and fruits... However there were a lot of different kueh on offer...

After dinner, went jalan jalan again at First World Plaza... Wanted to go to Snow World, but cant take photos inside, so dun see the point of going... Then wanted to try que bowling but the staff said it was no more liao... Finally went into the bowling alley, took a seat and watch others play...

Also went into the casino to take a look... The place was so hi-tech that even placing the bets can be done through PC terminals; there was still those conventional betting tables though, playing games like baccarat, roulette etc... Then, for the fun of it, slotted RM10 into one of the jackpot machines and started playing... Managed to win RM19.70 in total (lolz)... Went to the cashier to collect my winnings, and found that everyone was collecting in hundreds or more (hahaha)...

After coming out of the casino, went to KFC for a drink and rest before taking the Cable Car down to Awana Skyway and head back to hotel.