Life storey

Back to Cambodia

2008-10-06T00:29:00.003+08:00

Cambodia is one of the most memorable places that i've visited, even surpassed the European countries that i have visited so far. There are still so much to learn about the rich history of the country, the culture, the adversity of the Cambodians, still trying to get out of the casting shadow of the brutal remains of the Khmer Rouge Regime.

I have learnt a few new things in this trip :

1) Siem Reap is named after a defeat of Thailand. 'Siem' meaning 'Thailand', 'Reap' meaning 'Defeat'

2) The most common auto rickshaw you seen on the road, resembling the 'tuk tuk' in Bangkok, is not known as 'xxxxxxx' (damn it! i cant recall the name! can someone who knows advise me plsss) The Cambodians are trying their best efforts to break free from the association with Thailand as they have been centuries of old bloodbath as long as the Angkor days.

3) Wondering why each step of the Angkor temples was built so steep and narrow, even a bound feet lady might not be able to fit onto the steps? There is a reason behind it, acsending to the temple is like making your way to Heaven, filled with challenges and difficulties. (not for everyone!)

4) The per annual Capital income of Cambodia is about USD480. 90% of the poverty stays in rural areas and 1/3 of the Cambodians only earns One USD a month. They survived by having their own crops and livestock.

5) Education is free for government schools, but literacy rate is still low because the parents cant afford to provide basic stationery like pencils and paper for the children.

A visit to the Angkor Children's hospital is heart wrenching. The poor brought their sick children from far away villages to visit this charity hospital. As the hospital is short of staffs, they do not operate on weekends. You see a group of parents, with their ill stricken kids, 'camping' at the lobby area for days sometimes.

Some kids are victims of landmines, with approximately 300 victims who suffered from landmine explosion each year. Their tiny lives were blasted away with a simple 'click' of the mine. Those who survived will face the brutal fact that life will not be the same anymore. Yet, the poor and sick seems to be more positive than anyone of us. They were excited to have visitors coming to the hospital, and smiling enchantingly at the cameras. I guess, simplicity is bliss.

Some pics to share, prepare your tissue papers!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/daphnelimps/Cambodia0802#

Life is PLASTIC

2008-09-28T01:26:00.004+08:00

Within the life of the plastic facade, lies an indepth personality of a vibrant, dreamy and extra ordinary character. Someone who is often interpretated as imperfection rather than precision. She is unpredictable and evocative, leaving you with vast imagination on what she is trying to convey. To discover her inner beauty, you have to learn to understand her in order to appreciate her talent. She is my inspiration, someone who i aspire to be, her name is 'DIANA'...

I had an outing with her last Sunday, we had a fun time together and she'd brought great joy to my day!! Looking forward to go out with her again :)

My favorite things

2008-09-20T22:13:00.007+08:00

Who else but my beloved niece!! ( of cos not forgetting Pola darling! )

Finally i had the chance to pass the gifts that i had bought for her in NY. As age catches up, i find that my memory storage is depleting rapidly, i couldnt remember anything unless i jotted it down on my muji doggie ears notebook or register the information in my second brain, that is my blackberry or Nokia N82.

She was so delighted to receive the pressies and i feel so honored that she added me as one of her chapters in her Zenn's Diary....

Awww.....isnt she sweet??

I realised my niece is growing more and more like her Ah Yi aka Mio.

Besides our similar twiggy-lookalike outlook, she is developing a tasteful panache, and its clearly documented in her diary, "She bought them from USA and they were expensive".... I guess our identical traits runs in the same family blood!

Oops! Btw, am i infringing her privacy by publishing her diary online? :X

We went to Kallang CineLeisure, a neighborhood hub concept shopping mall. Lots activities like KBox KTV, Cineplex, Bowling alley etc....

There was a temporary vintage bazaar sale on the top floor of the shopping mall, which brought back fond memories of my childhood.... my mummy's old Singer Sewing Machine, papa's favorite collection of porcelein figurines like the China dolls coinbank and funny teapots in the shape of a swan or cat, freebies like snoopy & garfield glass collection from Darkie toothpaste and cute coinbanks from UIC washing detergent (which they no longer use such freebies as promotional items!! :( ) and a familiar courtesy campaign mascot, called Xin Ya or Singa Lion...

Looks familar?

And the song goes "Courtesy is for me, Courtesy is for you and me, ta da na na ta da...neh neh neh...."

Come to think of it, Singapore is really a Campaign City...we have countless of posters, banners, TV advertisement on weird campaigns including the No spitting, No smoking, No littering ( not forgeting the big 'FINE $500' logo planted at every corner of the country! ).

It was a big hoo-ha in those days. I tried not to sweep my hair when i am out, wondering if in case a strand of hair falls on the floor, will i be charged?

I still remember my papa telling me, the moment you spitted or dropped ur cigarette butt on the ground, a police will pounce on you from the bushes or trees and fine you immediately! Fortunately, CCTVs are really expensive then. Our poor citizens were terrified and paranoid walking past bushes & trees with thick trunks. 500 bucks can feed a family of 4 for a month in those days. Everyone was critizing the campaigns then, but somehow, our beloved government's great plan for the country never falters..... it works every time!

I reckon the best reward i got from the vintage bazaar is a nice bargain, a pretty vintage suitcase at 80 bucks. It resembles those old era of '空中小姐' with a hardcase retro suitcase with silver buckles. So Nice!!!! Luving it!!

I've decided to post some pics and get you ppl out there drooling over my good buy :P

Reviews

2008-09-15T00:13:00.004+08:00

Besides a fruitful collection of A/X, GAP, Coach, Banana Republic, Abercrombie & Fitch, this over the moon trip to NY had given me a chance to finish my book (which i had gotten 2 weeks ago but didnt even have the time to flip the 1st page!), 'After Dark' by Haruki Murakami, and watched the show that i'd always wanted to catch, but somehow missed it on the cinema cos every damn person i knew have already watched me except me! I didnt want to catch the movie all by myself, something which i doubt i will ever do alone...cos only a psychotic dweeb does that. But i guess reading a book in a park or a cafe alone, without any worldly distraction is pretty cool!

You must be thinking wat is the great show that i am yapping about.... its 'Sex and the City' movie!! Well, you must be going 'Chey....this is so passe' *eyes rolling* But as a matter of fact, i have never catched a single episode of the much talk about drama. Besides ogling over the designers' apparels in the show, ( which inspired me to spend a 300 bucks ultra long Coach necklace, a lookalike tat Carrie matches with a simple pink dress in the show ) the movie brings forth the struggles, complexity issues of love and life face by us, the CITY WOMEN! For ladies who have not catched the show, plsssssss.....go grab a DVD, be it pirated or not! For men out there, for god's sake, stop indulging in lame superhero movie like Indiana Jones, Star wars, Transformers -_-" Be a SNAG for once, this movie will give you great insights to what a woman really wants....Not just Louis Vuitton, Prada, Manolo Blahnik etc (of cos if you can get it for your lady, it will be a bonus! )

Back to my book, 'After Dark', a set of encounters faced by 2 main characters; Mari and Eri. A pair of sisters with extreme characters, the series of random happenings with various characters after midnight. It is a simple, yet dreamlike novel that set you thinking about the mysteries in life, dreams and hope. Things that evolves around you, it happens all the time but you've never realised it and you dunno why. The author integrates reality into dreams in the dark hours, one moment seem intensely realistic, but the next instant have swayed into a mysterious alternative world.

I am obsessed with this writer, and i bought another of his book today, 'Elephant Vanishes'.... its a series of short stories, and i reckon it is more suitable for me since i havent gotten much chance to have an entire day without any disturbance to finish my book. Hmm...maybe one story a night?

Lost & Found

2008-09-09T12:28:00.006+08:00

Location : Central Park; NY
Date : 8 Sept 2008
Time : 10.39am
Weather : Cool sunny day

No birdies chirping, no froggies croaking..... Just loud screaming & yelling from the little children running and jumping at the playground.

Somehow, the kids' blaring shriek fails to irritate me. My heart is at peace, rustling like the autumn leaves that slowly fall & lay on the concrete path, spreading like a long golden carpet in Central park, NY.

I am sitting on a huge rock, located in the centre of the park, overlooking the bustling NY city...Skyscrapers, road workers drilling the ground, working men in ties & black jackets, women in their high heels walking faster than the 100m Jamaican runner in Olympics 2008....all ready to kickstart the 1st day of the week!

I am so glad to be separated from just a street across, experiencing the temporary tranquil life, deep in my thoughts. Dream vs reality...what is more sought after by most?

My philosophy in life : To start loving others, you have to love yourself first. I always have countless of dreams that i wanna fulfil, dreams give hope, and hope gives life. I am an intuitive individualist, when i dun feel like doing something, i totally put a halt to it. However, i realised that i have been loving myself too much, so much so at the expense of others.

I spend hours and hours looking at myself in the mirror everyday (those who know me know that i am a mirrorholic, never miss a mirror w/out looking into it! ) But the sad thing is all i saw is only the reflection of my pretty face ( ok...looks is subjective, dun slam me for making this statement! ) not reflecting in my innerself, the ugly side of me.

In the past 6 mths, where i 'MIA' from my papillon blog site, i seem to have vanished into another dimension, a place where i lost myself in search of my own dreams. I did turn my dreams into reality, did outrageous things that i have never done before...powerboating, outdoor painting, bicycle trekking, getting wasted at fullmoon party in KSM, staring at a plain wall and decided to do a beautiful graffiti with my acrylic paint, and the list went on....ta da ta da ta da.....

It is fun, i really enjoyed doing things that i like, but unfortunately, a dream is a dream, it burst like a bubble when you finally reach a stage of realisation....

I received an email last night from a stranger in another part of the world. What he said really dawn on me, he said, "Shame you dont write anymore...i like ur blog" He reminded me how much i love writing, and somehow, i felt bad and guilty towards that complete stranger. Again, just because i dun feel like it, i stop blogging, in this case, at the expense of my ardent fans! :P

It set me thinking that if i could feel this way towards someone that i have never met, why am i indifferent to the people who around me? This is me, the self-centred individual, i wanna start giving more love. It is actually not a bad feeling to give than receive i guess. Happiness is not about yourself, its about 'US'!! Love is nothing complicated, Love is simply SIMPLE!! :D

watercolors...

2008-03-24T01:46:00.004+08:00

Back to painting! This time, i bought a set of watercolors to try out....the effect is awesome!

My 1st masterpiece

Title : Happy Together

Artist : MIO

Date : 22.03.08

My second artpiece

Title : Countryside love

Date : 24.03.08

Project 'Farewell'

2008-02-28T21:42:00.006+08:00

My first scrapping project of 2008:

Title : Angelina's farewell
Theme : Colourful memories with the Whackos'
No. of hours taken to complete : 4 hours
Material cost : approx. 19.80 SGD (inclusive of frame)
Effort cost : A fraction of my heart ( invaluable )

End result? : To be revealed tomorrow
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Pixie in my palm

Pixie all framed up!

Turning Barney!

2008-02-16T22:29:00.004+08:00

I have juz turned myself into the less than flattering, retarded plump T-Rex, Barney!! However, i am probably the reverse version, an anorexic dinosaur!

To save my time at the salon, i pre arranged with my hairstylist to prepare a few strands of purple hair extension. Within juz 20 mins, i had streaks of highlighted purple hair on my otherwise dull and boring haircut!!

Tada!

My colleagues got a shock when they saw me in office. My immaculate boss, as usual, in his professional tone hinted to me (with a cynical smile) :"Gosh... i cant take you seriously with ur purple hair!" -_-" Alrite, i got his subtle hint and assure him that i will get it fixed by Monday. haha!!

'Barney and friends' proceeded to the ever faddy club, Velvet. It was a crazy nite, with Baby Bop (Angelina) entertaining the adolescent crowd in Phuture, and BJ (Audrey) using her gift of the 'gab' to suck in the guys!! Barney of cos maintain as the big brother, (in this case, sister) talking care of his friends!! haha..*like real* :P

鼠不完的抄票!!

2008-02-12T00:04:00.000+08:00

今天是开工的第一天，
上天赐给我一份大礼。
我梦寐以久的成绩单出炉了！
我拿到了！！！

希望鼠年大家有数不完的钞票！！
加油！加油！！

BIRDIE PARK

2008-02-10T00:48:00.000+08:00

To avoid CNY visitings, we decided to plan for a trip to the Jurong Bird Park!!

Its probably my 2nd time in entire XX years to visit this alienated, isolated part of Singapore! We ended up taking more pictures of the human than birds!! Know nuts abt avarians & their names, the only birdie name that i am probably familiar with is "Willy' the cock! LOL.... :P

Enjoy the birdie show!

CNY BLUES REMEDY

2008-02-09T00:22:00.001+08:00

Make a game Share Free games Pictogame

BANGKOK INTOXICATION!

2008-02-03T22:23:00.000+08:00

Finally i'm back from GE's kickoff meeting in BBK after 6 long days! It was much more enjoyable compared to the previous Bali trip cos i have more friends in GE now! :D

We stayed in Conrad hotel, one of the best hotels i've ever stayed. The room has a cutting edge design, with a see through bathroom from the bedroom!! It will be great for honeymooners...as for me, i simply enjoyed my 'Lush' bubblebath, soaking in the warm water and watching tv from the bathroom. However, i didnt really have much time enjoying the comfy room and amenities. Almost every night after our meetings, we will head straight for dinner, massage and clubbing!

A view of the room

Clubbing is much more exciting than any part of the world, except that the clubs closed at 2am due to Thai's government's effort in clamping down the nightlife of Bangkok. Nevertheless, they failed to fathom the fact that the hookers will have more time to hang outside the pubs and streets soliciting for business especially when the night is still young! But i have to admit that the Thai gals are explicitly HOT! Near to perfect features, slender legs, big boobs, perky butts....makes me felt like an alien standing among them!

Some pics of a hottie Thai 'gal' that we knew in RCA

My guy colleagues are all overwrought over this drop dead gorgeous babe. She appears to be extremely friendly, voluntarily jumping into our photo taking session and chatting with us. It is definitely unforgetable for the guys to have such streak of luck! The next day, we showed the photo to our Thai colleague, Krisada. With juz a look, he exclaimed in great conviction, "This is a Lady Boy"! Guess it was too far-fetched for the guys to accept the fact. Reality bites!!

Shopping in BBK is a heavenly experience for me! The sizes really fit a petite me, and i even have to wear 'M' for some clothes! Guess wat? My total damage is around 4 digit and its SGD!! But i have a nice collection of clothes and accessaries, so its worth it afterall! :D

More pics uploaded at Picassa; click on link :

kickoffmeeting bbk 08

way to bangkok

2008-01-28T12:56:00.000+08:00

I am now sitting at Pacific Coffee cafe, typing my blog and waiting to aboard my flight to Bangkok.... not for holiday though, but tedious and wearisome meeting for the entire week! -_-"

There is nothing much to update though, except for the past 2 days, i had attended 2 wedding consecutively. Most of my girlfriends are all married now, and now its the guys' turn!

So much to say, but so little time, will keep u folks updated when i return from Bangkok! Chaos! :)

Flashback 2007

2008-01-14T20:35:00.000+08:00

http://ohpapillon.blogspot.com/2007/01/1st-blog-entry-for-2007.html

This was what i've written at the beginning of last year .... Flashing back, i was rather pessimistic with my life at that point in time! 'Wish that i could just vanish into another dimension and start my life all over again', sob sob...haha!! i wonder has this ever come across anyone's mind too? I do get that feeling occasionally when i am bored to death by routine, safety and calculability life. Though age is catching up, my juvenile nature juz cant set my butt down!

Life is pretty good and rewarding in 2007.....I have acquired new hobbies such as scrapbooking & photography, travelled to countries that i've never been, like Cambodia, Switzerland and Bali, had a major revamp to my hairstyle, and most importantly a career switch that i've always yearned for!! But having said that, there are also major challenges and crises that i have to overcome in 2007. But i always believe that setback is an essential elixir of life, helping to bring out a person's strengths to light & cultivating me into a more matured & strong individual.

2008 starts off really well with more play and less work! haha! but i have to get back to my momentum soon as this year could be a major turning point for me in my career. I wanna clinch as many deals as possible, and earn lotsa money and buy lotsa stuffs! Sounds really mercenary, but i do admit that i am a money grubber!

Hmm...other than this new year resolution, i doubt there is anything more to ask for. There is no bad habits that i wanna kick, not that i dun have, but i juz dun give a damn. Entertainment wise, juz maintain the way it is, though piggyboy is complaining that i am playing too much! Family & friends wise, just wish that everyone is healthy and happy!

eat, drink, shop & be merry

2008-01-07T20:49:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong is probably my most frequently visited country, and will remain as my favorite destination, considering the good shopping, nice food, great clubbers' heaven.....minus the locals' belligerence and boorishness. -_-"

This trip is really a $$ saver! We booked our tickets with Tiger Airways at SGD 278 round trip, and had a week of free stay at Joel's cosy little studio apartment, nesting right in the hub of Lang Kwai Fung. Almost every night before we enter our slumberland, we will hop into one of these pubs, sipping our magaritas, people watching, and enjoy the cool, chilly breeze.

The countdown party in HongKong was really much more fun than Singapore! Instead of squeezing with sweat infested crowd at Sentosa or Suntec City countdown party, we had icy cold beer on the rooftop of one of the high rise buildings at their CBD area! It was really chilling though, and to keep ourselves warm, we juz danced thru' the nite under the stars!

Some pics taken during our clubbing niteouts:

Shopping was great too! There are SALEs everywhere! The branded stuffs selection are much better than Singapore, and the best part is they have my size! Bought a Prada white leather bag for a steal of S$1400, max mara skirt S$140, Bruno Magli boots S$140, and lotsa other nice clothes & accessaries! Total damage? Havent received my bill, probably this trip will cost as much as my Europe trip, but at least i got lotsa 'souvenirs' home! :D

We proceed to Macau on the 2nd last day of our trip and booked a luxurious stay at the New Venetian City. Simply luv Macau! Its a place of an age-old cultures and traditions, yet fused with modern city lightings like Las Vegas, embracing what has already passed.

The Venetian suite is probably more spacious than most of the apartments in HongKong! Cost SGD 370 for a night stay, it is extremely worth it, especially for honeymooners. The king size bed is so huge and grand, decorated with a victorian style curtain. Bathroom is the largest i have seen so far, with luxury toiletries, and mirrors everywhere!!

The pictures tell it all :

Some miscellaneous photos to share:

More pics can be found in http://picasaweb.google.com/daphnelimps/HK200802

In Limelight...

2008-01-05T22:17:00.000+08:00

The first piece of news when i touched down in Singapore from Hong Kong yesterday.... an sms from CC : "Saw Daphne's Garnier Advertisement in Today newspaper!"

I was a little dumbfounded as i didnt expect the advert to be a full spreadpage in the newspaper. Luckily it is the 'after' makeover pic, and not 'before' hehe!

Last month, Ms Ong from SPH called me to ask if i am interested to participate in a Garnier advertisement. Basically, they are doing a skin trial for different age group of ladies, and photos will be taken before and after the 28 days of using their products. The whole experience was pretty enjoyable, having free makeover and skin analysis at the Singapore renowned plastic surgeon, Dr Woffles Wu!!

He uses a high tech skin analyzer machine to detect my skin condition, and based on his expert opinion, my skin is viewed as very oily at the T-zone and dry at the cheeks & eye area -_-" So to those people out there : dun say my skin good hor...my face is oily enuff to fry an egg!!

Here i am, at his clinic 28 days before testing the product. Looks sad cos they took off my make up and let me waited at the reception for 20 mins -_-"

Our 'before' advert. in FEMALE & NUYOU mag. jan issue. Hate this pic! Looks so pale & fat :(

The ultimate make over! Cute stylist helping to style my hair ;)

Prim and ready for the shoot!

The 'end product' :)

I LuV my FiShY!

2007-12-27T19:54:00.000+08:00

I luv my fishy more & more .....
Vibrant colors in the day, chase my lousy mood away.
Night shots turn out pretty well.... 100 bucks? who can tell!
Double exposure with 2 simple clicks, the result is kaleidoscopic!
tat's why i love my fishy more & more.....the following pictures tell it all ....

All i want for Christmas.....

2007-12-25T21:27:00.000+08:00

Definitely not my 2 front tooth! hmm...I want to go for more holidays, i want my Miu Miu bag, i want an iphone, i want to clinch all my tender projects, i want to earn more $$$$.....AND...... i have gotten my Fisheye cam, my SX70 vintage polariod camera, a Hong Kong trip this coming weekend, and lotsa fun & new hope for Christmas!!

This year, i spent Christmas in Singapore, partying with my galfriends at Clarke Quay. The mood was really cool! You can see lotsa people, from paediatrics to geriatrics, cosmopolitan folks enjoying company of people from different background and interests, having great fun spraying fake snow and igniting party poppers at one another.....

We spent almost the entire night at Attica, music is cool, crowd is fabulous! After a jug of cranberry vodka & long island tea, i was already in cloud nine... ZQ was picked up by the most handsome ang mo we spotted at the dance floor!! He and his group of cool friends invited us for rounds of Moet et Chandon champagne... i was pretty lucky, or should i say unfortunate to be picked up by 3 guys too! One uncle, one SuperDuperNerd, and a 23 yr old Swedish guy from the ang mo group who looks more like a Blanga... -_-"
My pick of the night : the SuperDuperNerd, a law lecturer with oval shape gold rim specs, sweatshirt and Aaron Kwok 1990s centre parting hairstyle with lotsa blue cream that my dad used to spread on his head like a jam! Arghhh.... but he really made us laughed till we rolled with his William Hung dance moves!

Some of the shots we have taken last nite, i have yet to develop my FE films thou....

As for Christmas gifts, this year i have received quite a number of pressies from my friends and colleagues! So paiseh...i didnt expect some of my colleagues to give me presents, but they did! Well...i am notorious for always 'receiving' and not 'giving'! Hmm....its time to change! The most expensive gift i have received is a Gucci card holder from my boss and most consequential gifts are those that are handmade by my friends, HF & Jo :)

Here's some of my pressies, the rest are not here cos its consumable and my greedy self have already gobbled up!

Well...to repent, i did OT on weekends to finish up my TLC handmade pressies. But by the time i can pass to my friends, Christmas is over...hopefully can still get to them before 2008!

Last but not least, let me dedicate a nice soundtrack from 'Love Actually' to all my friends & love ones out there, "All i want for Christmas is YOU".

LOCOMOTION with LOMOGRAPHY

2007-12-21T22:48:00.000+08:00

I have finally developed my first virgin roll of film taken with my FISHEYE. The photos turn out pretty well, except for the indoor shots. Time to showcase !

THis is one of my favorite shot taken at Marina, the color is vibrant!

Ordinary shot and my arm looks distorted. But the 'subjects' added some zest to the pic! :p

Esplanade....Durian in a circle

Clubbing at B1, or better known as Barnone

My favorite shot! Using multiple exposure =)

Angelina's first attempt using the multi exposure, but cant see lei...

Shot taken in the toilet, surprisingly the effect is psychedelic!!

Besides having fun with my Fisheye, i had a great time clubbing with Angelina & gang! We 'club hop' 5 different places on a single night!

First stop was B-one, that used to be Barnone. My company had a private function and we booked the entire place from 6-9pm. We had crazy drinks and it seems like a pre requisite that GE people must and CAN all booze like nobody's biz! Surprising, my alcohol tolerance was pretty high that nite. I had 2 tequila shots, 2 cranberry vodka, 1 beer, and a potent shot tat i didnt even know WTH was it! Besides our own crowd, the place is almost as tasteless as the name sounds.... we were hoping for some yuppie crowd, but at 10plus, the club was still so quiet that if you drop a pin, it will be louder than the music!!

So we decided to move on to my favorite haunt, Clarke Quay. Audrey suggested a pub "One Nite Stand", which resembles a mediocre version of 'Modiva', although i cant stand Modiva! So you can imagine how much i detest this simply CMI ONS!! *puke*! The club has a lousy band, pathetic dance floor, crappy music in the 90s that you dun wanna be reminded of....like 'Macarena' and 'Lemon Tree'!! Arghhh...!! U can see lotsa nehs, CAB, and ugly fat angmos hanging in the pub. Angelina & moi were so bored that we decided to imitate the aunties on the dance door, grooving to the nauseating music! I was spotted by Candy, an old friend of mine in Poly that i have not met for at least 8 years! She hasnt really changed at all, still the wacky, fun loving party animal that i knew more than a decade ago.
NOW :

And THEN... (watzup with our hair?!) :

I proposed to proceed to 'Arena', since i had so much fun 2 weeks back when i was there with ZQ. The music is still cool, with the same negro hiphop band from US. Though we were dressed in dresses and heels, it didnt taunt our mood to start our hip hop moves especially when they sang Rihanna's Umbrella! But the crowd was far too juvenile! Feeling out of place, we decided to hop to 'Clinic'. But to our disappointment, i think Clinic is on the verge of closing down :( There are only a few miserable clients sitting on the taboo wheelchairs. Not knowing where to head to, we decided to just rest our butts at the OT like sitting area and shared a 'Cranberry/Orange Mojito'.

Audrey got us into 'Attica Too' free, with her Ang Mo rugby coach & friends. I'd been to Attica, but dun really like the place as its a SPG's heaven, not my shot of alcohol. The place is still filled with mostly Caucasians, but packaged with a lot of cute ABCs guys this time round! *drool* Though it was over 2am, we felt a sudden surge of energy and started partying again! But the place is still as sleazy, you can observe those drunken ang mos trying to get fresh with the banana-craving girls, dancing to the moves of shaggin' with the music -_-". My conclusion, Attica is still not a place for me! I still prefer shrimp dumpling to Ravioli -_-".

Yearning for Nostalgia

2007-12-20T19:09:00.001+08:00

Its a rainy Thursday afternoon.....when you look upon the grey skies, there is a sense of loneliness, wistfulness and longing for some comfort to sooth your hypnotic mind. Yearning for some nostalgic feel, met up with hf & Jo for a cam whoring exercise.

We headed to the olden, conserved part of Singapore, Telok Ayer Street and Ann Siang Hill and managed to 'brighten up' the tranquil street with our cam flash and big, wide smile! :D See it to believe! (P/S : i felt so inspirational today that i have given names to all my photos like some pro artist *bleh* :P haha!)

Our photos turn out great, i simply luv the antiquated look of Ann Siang Street! The only flaw that i notice is our mismatched, 21st century outfits. Next time we shall make a point to dress to style our hair in pincurls and put on vintage dresses to 'ta' with the old fashioned vicinity!

To view better images, log on to http://picasaweb.google.com/daphnelps/AnnSiangHillCamWhoring

Nutcracker & Gem in Ann Siang

2007-12-16T00:45:00.002+08:00

ZQ has planned a 'surprise' for me weeks before this day....she is as usual the mysterious gal with unfathomable ideas to delight people around her. Few weeks ago, she asked me to 'reserve' 16 Dec for her and refused to tell me the reason why. I cant stand it when people tried to dangle a carrot in front of me... either i will raise my brow and strangle the person in revealing the dark secret, or i will find out myself at whatever cost it takes! The feeling of being kept in the dark is often unbearable... its like letting a kid have a lick on the candy stick and take away from him. Anyway, she underestimated her witty friend of hers.... i manage to find out somehow :D That silly gal asked me if i like fairytale, from there, i deduce that she must have either given me a disneyland ticket or a ticket to watch 'The Nutcracker' on Ice! She was kinda disappointed that i've exposed her 'surprise' plan. hiak hiak!!

In a nutshell, 'The Nutcracker" story is pretty lame, revolving a Nutcracker toy & his pretty owner in a dreamland. But having said that, the Moscow cast is really talented in ice skating! Their moves transport both young and old crowd to a whimsical world of dreams with stunning ice choreography, Tchaikovsky's exquisite compositions and cirque performances.

After that, we went to a cosy, swanky Victorian style pub in Ann Siang Hill, 'Gem'. They serve the French top selling beer, 'Kronenbourg 1664', fresh from tap. We ordered a pint each and drank to our hearts' content.

Use the special effect function from ZQ's SE phone, and Voila!!! The photos turn out really 'Lomographical'!!

I

CUTE BB

2007-12-14T01:20:00.000+08:00

Baby Ris is so adorable!! My dear friend, Dae, has finally embarked into motherhood.... still not used to the fact that she is now a son's mummy! We used to hang out pretty often, clubbing & chilling out, but guess that is now history.... But at least we have a common hobby now, Dae has just started scrapbooking! Talking about that, my scrapping stuffs have been lying dormant for a long time ever since i started this job. :(

But hey! Christmas is coming!! Time to dig out my stuffs to make some lovely pressies for my friends :D

Couldnt resist snapping photos for the cute baby....

Baby pain pain :(

2007-12-13T19:16:00.000+08:00

My poor Pola gal had a deep cut during grooming today, I received a call half way thru' my haircut....

Groomer: "Eh....did u accidentally injured your dog when u bring her here juz nw? I notice a wound when we were bathing her"....
ME : "what wound? is it still bleeding?"
Groomer : "its like a cut, but i swear i didnt do it!! It was already like dat when i was about to start cutting for her...now stop bleeding oredi"
ME : "Is it serious?? how big is the cut?"
Groomer : "hmm...uhh....ok lah...if you are worried, i bring her to a vet"
ME : "VET???!! then it must be serious! You better bring her there nw"

I sped my french roti car as fast as a state-of-the-art german car after my own 'grooming session'. When i reached the groomer's place, i could see their conscience stricken looks painted all over their faces. My poor gal was brought out from the grooming room, or should i say surgery room? Her fur was chaotic and all over her face... she was in a daze due to the effect of anaesthesia. When they showed me the cut, my heart aches more than her so called superficial wound. It looks pretty big, like a one dollar coin, and u can see dried blood clot around the cut.

A close up pic on her wound

I felt so depressed that i dun even have the mood or energy to pinpoint fingers at who's right / wrong.

And the bill? A hefty cost of $126.40! The groomer said they will pay for it... isnt that an indirect confession of guiltiness or maybe i should be less skeptical & choose to trust them?
The bill was stated surgery procedure & anaesthesia. So i called up the vet and he explained that there is a lesion on her hind leg but of unknown cause. He did 4 stitches and give an anti biotic injection after that.

Here's the evidence :

And my poor baby gal is still groggy, sleeping softly on her favorite bed now :(

Saturday nite fever

2007-12-08T23:36:00.000+08:00

Its gals nite out again! But its only me & ZQ as our dear YY decided to fly kite last minute -_-"

Not knowing where to go, we ended up in Clarke Quay again!! We had supper at satay club and headed to a new pub, Arena. :) Though it was a saturday nite, they are giving the girls free entry and free flow of drinks!! Its always a privilege to be a girl, i dun mind being 'used' as a bait occasionally, as long as there is a mutual benefit!
And guess wat? The bouncer actually asked for ZQ's I/C!! Is the min. entry age for ladies still 18??! People always tot she is an adolescent even if she didnt even utter a sentence or let out her girlish laughter! Arghhh...i am sooooo jealous! So i politely requested that the bouncer should check my i/c too, since i am juz 2 yrs older than her :P *thick skinned*

The Arena plays hip hop music and has a great Negro band rapping & dancing. They play popular hits by Akon, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Nelly Furtado etc I couldnt help setting my feet to the dance floor when they started singing the Coolio's 'Gangsta's Paradise'!! (my fav song of the 90s ^_^ ) !! It was like watching a live concert with everyone getting high to the proximate pyrotechnic stage, swinging their hands in the air!

Pics time!! Its dark & blurry, probably due to the effects of alcohol haha!

Starry nite!!!

AU VOYAGE EXHIBITION

2007-11-19T22:31:00.000+08:00

mY MoLEskiNe notebook has finally arrived in Singapore! The exhibition is first showcase in Hong Kong, followed by Singapore and the rest of the regions. For those who are keen to have a look, the exhibition is held at 'BOOKSactually', a little bookstore nestled at an obsured shophouse on the 2nd floor along 25A Telor Ayer Street.

We had a press conference today, ST reporter was there to conduct an interview with the winners of the competition. The masterpieces of the various artists are really impressive, each having their own style of creativity and expressions. All the Singapore winners are from arts / designing background, except me. I was pretty much bowled over that i actually beat these artyfarts in getting into Top 10 in the region!

Having said tat, i dun think their work is of any less artsy-craftsy than mine. I could have won likely because my work is a little different from them. Instead of doodling and painting, i did my moleskine project in a photojournalling style, tapping on my expertise in scrapbooking, making little postcards and place them nicely into the moleskine memo compartment folder.

Here's my masterpiece!

The Top Winner who won himself a return trip to France. His work is extremely exquisite with fine detailed drawings.

Goodbye Freckies

2007-11-11T13:08:00.000+08:00

Freckles - Little brown spots of melanin that have befriended me for more than 20 years, way before my puberty. Though they are less detestable as acne / pimples, i would prefer them to vanish from my life, since the very 1st spot appeared.

In olden century, excessive freckles are known as 'witchspots' and known to be associated with withcraft or witches, a pre requisite of what you must have, besides the moon crested chin and sharp, hooked nose. In the new century, some people deem freckles as a symbol of cuteness & mischief. Well, i dun deny that a freckled face kid looks exceptionally cute, but as u aged, you will realise that the little spots will start to amalgamate to form a huge brown squad, battling against my flawless skin.

I couldnt wait for that to happen, thus, i've decided to take on an offensive role to get rid of my friends, before they turn into my foes!

IPL- Intensed Pulsed Light, use filtered non-coherent light to selectively destroy melanin-laden cells, blood-filled capillaries and hair roots in a process called photo rejuvenation. IPL is becoming a favorite 'lunchtime' photo-facial among the working executives, since it only take 20 mins for a procedure and has no downtime. The doctor will use a very bright laser light to zap on your face, the pain is quite bearable, like a rubberband snapping at full stretch on your face for over 20times, while you lie down as a willing victim. Your face might just appear to be a little blotchy and red. The pigmented areas will darken over 3 to 5 days to form a scab, which eventually will fall off permanently from your face!

Hard to imagine? Well... i always have photos ready for conviction!

Before & After

The cost? Its about 200 SGD per session :)

Culinary lesson

2007-11-08T20:20:00.000+08:00

Went to visit granny with mum today and they came up with an impromptu idea to make kueys for everyone. My eldest Ah yi is as usually the chef cook and me, as the bottle washer. Within 30 mins, they can whip up a wok of kueys miraculously with our great teamwork.

Took some pics thru' out the process.... u can jot down the recipe from the slideshow below, but i have no idea of the actual quantity of each ingredients! These old folks are so used to cooking w/out a recipe book, but most of the time, it taste better than mimicking step by step instructions!

Happy Wedding C!

2007-11-04T23:23:00.000+08:00

L, is for the way u look at me
O, is for the only one i see
V, is very very, extraordinary
E, is even more than anyone that u adore...

Charlyn is one of the gorgeous friends that i've met, and we amalgamate pretty well as we have lotsa common interests....DOGS & BEAUTY! Its hard to find another individual as self obsessed as me, creative, attractive, ingenious..... haha! I better stop all these egomania talk before the Plain Janes' Club starts throwing rotten eggs at us!

As like all brides, C looks exceptionally beautifully on her wedding day.... i simply love her peach, barbie doll lace gown, not forgetting she has a barbie doll alike figure after months of weight watching program for her big day!

I was the bogus backup photographer for the day. I've actually done up a very romantic video clips for Charlyn on the screw up memoriesonweb software, but the stuff just wouldnt upload onto Youtube!!!! As the saying goes, there is no free lunch in this world.... blardy free software just crashed like running full speed into a brick wall....I am on the verge of a rampage!! arghhh.....

I've tried umpteen times to load onto youtube, it just wouldnt appear even though it was stated 'uploading successfully'. Then, i tried to load onto Picasa Web Albums and it works!! To my disppointment however, the video just hangs half way. *cry* Anyhow, damned if you do, and damn if you dont.... just attached and pray that it works for you.

Just click on the play button to direct to my Picassa account. Tips : Let it buffer for a while before you play, it helps to build your patience!

Oh yeah...u can view the photos while waiting for it to buffer... http://picasaweb.google.com/daphnelps/CharlynMarkWedding

Sunday nite

2007-10-28T23:49:00.000+08:00

Guess what am i doing at this late hour?

I am still editing pictures of yesterday's beautiful bride, Ms Charlyn Tan.... I was the so called appointed back up photographer during her day ceremony. Took more than 400 shots, but only 2/3 turned out ok. Probably i was still suffering from hangover the night before :P The rest of the photos are either too dark, blurry or wrong 'expressions' taken keke! She will kill me if i dun delete those! But perhaps i should keep some for 'good use' next time :P

It is really tedious and stressful taking wedding pics, so i doubt i will ever become a part time wedding photographer ( even if i am skilled enuff :P) Had to wake up before dawn and only return at midnite, carrying the 1 ton camera in your hands at all time, worrying tat the photos wont turn out fine, editing & developing the photos etc....

Just show a glimpse of a sample picture that i have taken

ok.... need to go back and work on the pics, otherwise i will take ages to update my blog on her wedding day!

Happi Bday, Granny!

2007-10-21T23:47:00.000+08:00

Grandma is so old tat i have lost count of the number of candles on the cake! At the peak of her age, she is still pretty robust, except for her crooked spine. You may even spot her selling flower pots illegally at AMK market! But dun be deceived, not all old people peddling on the streets, selling tissue papers are as poor as a church mouse! My Ah Ma is a very good example, she simply cant stop working. Sometimes, I hope my dad will be like her -_-"

This year is slightly different, we celebrated her birthday at a Chinese restaurant in Ang Mo Kio. Auntie A-zhu from China came all the way to Singapore just for her birthday, my uncles shd feel ashamed, they are not even here today!

Wanna know how my ah ma looks like?

Tada.....My 80 something Ah Ma....

Look how much she has shrunk over the years ( i look like a giant next to her!)

Does my lovely mummy looks like my Ah ma?

Group pic of the 'Heng' Family

Little Zenn & me

Clubbing at Cannery

2007-10-20T00:00:00.000+08:00

Its Pris & Me at Fashion bar! I have passed by the place umpteen times, but never had a chance to hang around there as the place is usually packed with fashionistas, flirting and rubbing shoulders with the ang mos.

We went exceptionally early at 9am last nite, and the manager is kind enuff to give us an under 'reserved' cosy, quilted couch. Thru'out the nite, we didnt see any 'supposed to be' models with high fashion wear ... all we saw was more like a scene of ah nehs hanging at the latest discotheque in Mustafa Centre!

Some gals with more 'rolls' than Breadtalk Bakery, dressing in mid-driffs and ultra minis.... Demeaning, cheap looking bra-less tops that make them their chests resembling like fashion runway, and there was even an indian babe wearing a top w/out a bottom! It was just barely enuff to cover her butt cheeks and she thought tat was sexy ??! No wonder 'Fashion Bar' in short is also known as the 'FBar', attracting all the wrong crowd -_-"

We hopped over to the so called 'Most happening' Canto / Chinese Pop club in town, besides Dragonfly. It was a total contrast to Fashion Bar, with alot more Cheena Ah Bengs & Ah Lians enjoying the live pop band 'screaming' chinese songs. The whole stage reminded me of the ad hoc seventh month ge tai, but of cos without the interesting outfits! This will probably be my first and last time there....

Fun with fotoflexer

2007-10-18T21:46:00.000+08:00

New, fun, online photo editing software to toy with!! Its pretty cool, you can basically change your hair color, get rid of someone or something tat is an eyesore in a photo, superimpose ur face onto a superstar or animal, minimize or maximise ur boobs, etc....the list goes on with a little of creativity!

Let me present some of the creative photos i have come up with :

My Ah Lian Hair Color ( guess Rynn will definitely like it :P )

Who is the Next Paris Hilton?

Is it A) Dappy Hilton went terribly wrong with the
choice of foundation?

b) Dolly Hilton looking like an albino with the
wrong lip colour ?

c) Prissy Hilton with the 'dare to strip naked face'

or d) Charlin Hilton forgot to put sunblock on her
face?

Please cast your votes generously in my comment page.... winner will get a one year jail term in the same cell as Paris!! ^_^

True Colors

2007-10-14T23:29:00.000+08:00

I am soooo bored during this long weekend..... nothing better to write, so decided to post some gossipy stuffs for entertainment purpose.

Please see the dramatic before & after make up / photoshop of those A-list celebrities.

Alicia Sliverstone - She should have replaced Charlize Theron in the film "MONSTER'

Drew barryMore - she looks like the sulky wantan mee auntie at my market

Penelope Cruz - Tom Cruise must have broken up with her after waking up at the wrong side of the bed ( the side that face her! )

Renee Zellweger - She must have gotten the role of 'Bridget Jones' after going for the audition without her makeup.

Cameron Diaz - Charlie's angel in need of an IPL laser session!!

After seeing this video, you will understand why every celebrities & models look god damn gorgeous all the time!!

Surprise? Well ... anyone can be a celebrity i guess, it only takes some courage and confidence to be one.

I did a little modification to my photo.... i reckon that's how those typical slimming centres do to their advert.!

The Before 'Boobs Implant' and Osim Uzap

The 'After' effects (bigger boobs, slimmer waist)

I must have made your day with the 'true colors' of the celebrities.... a little message : 'Like who you are, not who you wanna be'.

Lastly, dedicate to all a all time favorite song by Cyndi Lauper

A house warming, a mooncake party or a night of incredible tales

2007-09-23T14:41:00.000+08:00

A house warming, a mooncake party or a night of incredible tales?

Finally, ZQ has officially shifted to her little cosy house near Bishan park! Her black chrome chandelier with Swaroski crystals compliments perfectly with the sweet powder pink wall and the soon-to-arrive purple couch. The bedroom looks pretty cosy with her pain staking, self painted, embroidery artwork on her wall.

We had a potluck party, followed by a series of different types of mooncake, paired with Tie Guan Yin chinese tea. Our joyous mood changed to a spine-chilling aura when Jay started his strange encounter story at his previous rented residence in Bukit Merah.

He and his roommate rented a newly furnished, 3 room old HDB flat in Bukit Merah. On the very first night of his stay, he had a bloodcurdling dream of an old lady, floating right on top of him, with her face facing directly at his! After that, he and his roommate, Billy, suffered nocturnal awakening at freaky 3 am almost every night! According to chinese belief, 3am or 'San Geng' is the most 'siong' or ferocious timing of the spirits. As Jay and Billy are both from US, they dunno a damn thing about chinese superstition and belief, therefore, it is highly unlikely that their subconscious mind is triggering them to wake up at this eerie hour every night! He was kinda freaking out when we told him that haha!

2 weeks later, Jay met up with a car accident just a day before CNY. He was flunged from the taxi backseat to the front of the dashboard. After that, his luck has been pretty down. Till now, he still suffers nagging neck & spine pain from aftermath of the accident.

The last draw was probably when he heard a cold whisper at his ears one night, with someone calling out his friend mate's name, 'Billy'.... and followed by 'Dave'..... He couldnt figure out who Dave is, and eventually, he found out that Dave is Billy's US friend who came to stay a week at their haunted flat! All of us get hair raising chills after hearing his strange encounter. It doesnt help much with Pola barking deliriously at the balcony !

To believe that he actually stayed in that haunted house for 6 months! When we asked why didnt he move away, he said that he thought the spirit will just leave them. I think he should watch the Thai horror show, 'The SHUTTER'. Probably his nagging neck pain is a result of the spirit sitting on his shoulder with her legs dangling down!

Cupcake party

2007-09-19T21:12:00.000+08:00

Recently, we are all having craze over cupcakes, probably the latest fad after the Donuts' oblivious fanatics having queue 3 hrs for some oily, fattening, round dough.

Finally, our chef master, Jo, has decided to impart her secret recipe to us, after umpteen times of trials & errors! Even since i graduated from my home economics module in my secondary school days, i have not really touched flour & butter. The closest i have probably come in contact with everyday is my Crabtree & Evelyn lavender powder and my butterscotch lip balm! Till now, the thought of baking is still a haunting nightmare as i couldnt imagine the stress of seeing my cake sinking like a crater, taste or look like some crapshit.

Nevertheless, i'm just taking this 'baking class' as a 'cupcake party' rather than serious stuff, as my main objective is to squeeze & design the colourful icing cream on the otherwise, dark and boring chocolate cake, and of cos not forgetting having great fun with the girls!! My enthusiasm only lasted for half an hour, mixing the ingredients in a blender. After that, it was just non stop cam whoring!

The cupcakes tasted great when it came out fresh from oven. It is moist and soft, with bittersweet taste! But u should look at the amount of cream we added, i cant help it but visualising my coronary arteries getting clog up by the amount of butter! For 20 cupcakes, we actually used up almost 3 x 240g of butter!! ( am i rite, Jo?)

I brought 3 of my creation home, but didnt eat it. The cake still looks good after 2 days in the fridge, but when i was about to sink my teeth into the sinful cream, my teeth nearly chip off upon hitting the 'hard rock' cupcake! But i still kept it in my fridge though, in case if piggy boy makes me angry, i will use the cupcake as my secret weapon keke!
I have edited the pictures for amusement purpose.

Huh....What's tat??

Counting gold

Still counting!

Fresh from Oven!

Tada!! Pretty cupcakes!

Ok lah...enuff of nonsensical stuffs, time for some serious photos haha!

Boo boo me

2007-09-16T23:14:00.000+08:00

SoTOnG Me had made another boo boo on booking air ticket again! I remembered deep in my mind that i am flying off tmr, but somehow, a spell cast over me and i actually book my flight on Tues! Sigh...looks like i didnt learn my lesson from the previous Cambodia trip when we totally missed the flight :P

Luckily i did a casual check on my e-ticket printout while packing my luggage and manage to dig myself out of the hole. I fluttery called the airline & hotel to change my itinerary. But tmr's 5pm flight is fully booked, so i can only go at 8pm, which means i cant go with my customer :(

My boss will surely lecture me cos he wanted me to fly with my customer... :-(
But i am not gonna tell him that i make a boo boo else they will think that i am a muddle-head. (which is true to a certain extent! keke) Probably i will just tell him that customer changes his flight schedule last min. :P As for my customer, i will tell him that i have an important meeting to attend to urgently, so i have to postpone my flight :P

I am suppose to blog on our baking class with Chef Jo today, but this booboo biz has made me spent my whole night trying to resolve it! But i promise to do a write up on today's baking session when i am back from KL. But dun expect me to share the secret recipe of Jo's soft & moist choco cupcakes! :-)

P/S : Arghh....i can never be a co-ordinator, a secretary or a travel agent!

24/7 - my current state

2007-09-15T12:19:00.000+08:00

I am feeling pretty bolt down this week with my placid life. Its all about work everyday, there are so many issues badgering me that i dun even have time to eat & shit. 'All work, no play makes Dappy a dull girl....' That's probably explain why i am not blogging as much cos i dun like to journal my work stuffs to bore you guys & myself. Another valid reason is i am hooked onto 'Facebook', that's why i appear less in my blog! ^_^

I know its kind of juvenile of me to get indulge in, but it is really a stress reliever! Feeding my virtual pet, 'Piggy boy' and entering him for race, sending fishes, flowers and surprise gifts to friends, and the best part is of cos receiving them! Sometimes, everyone is so busy that nobody aint got the time to chat up one another. Such innovative social network serves as a connection missing in our today's strenuous life!

I hope this weekend will be more enjoyable as i am really deprive of social life now, after having my current job! Am going to shop with zq later for her furniture & stuffs for her new home. Designing is my flair, I simply love decorating and designing new home, but how many times do i get to do that in my entire life? So its great to have a chance to contribute my dinky ideas to others too! Tmr will be fun too! Finally we are going to learn from our master chef, Jo, on her secret cupcake recipe!

Fun with Facebook

2007-09-08T23:11:00.000+08:00

Found an interesting and fun social networking website, 'Facebook'.http://www.facebook.com/ You can download lotsa fun applications that allow u to interact with friends. SEnd a bakery item, superpoke ur friends, sketch something for ur profile, tell others how's ur mood today... I am still exploring different applications!

It all started by a Harvard student who created internet facebook for the university students. The membership was initially restricted to the school, within a month, half the school students registered in this webbie. Then slowly, it expanded to other universities, companies, and went international. The yearly revenue is about USD 50 mil now with more than 300 employees! The whiz kid who invented 'Facebook' was offered USD 1 Billion by Yahoo to buy over this biz!!! I think such thing will onli happen in America...first & foremost, they have enuff population to sustain such biz idea, and i guess being a welfare state, the citizens rather spend their time surfing the net than to find a proper job! :P

Anyway, if anyone of you are on facebook or intending to register an account, please add me at oh_papillon@yahoo.com ^_^

Found this joke that is posted in one of the applications, very true about our 'masters'!

Dog Property Laws

1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If its in my mouth, it's mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
5. If I'm chewing something up, all the pieces are mine.
6. If its mine, it must never appear to be yours anyway.
7. If it just looks like mine, its mine.
8. If I saw it first, its mine.
9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.
10. If its broken, its yours.

A Suicide blonde

2007-08-30T22:28:00.000+08:00

Ms USA Teen South Carolina is a classic example of what we call a 'Dumb Blonde". In her case, i would call her a "Suicide Blonde" - 'Dyed' by her own hands!

Basically she was given a rather silly question to start off, i must say.... The question goes "A poll has shown that 1/5 of the Americans cant locate US in a world map, why is that so?". It took me 3 times to repeat the video, trying to figure out what was she fumbling. Fortunately, i dun sing the same tune as her. I suppose none of the people in this world could understand where the hell she came out with her brilliantly unstructured, irrelevant answer! For that 30sec, she started throwing words like 'Some people out there have no maps, south africa & asia should be educated by the Americans, US can build a better future' ????!!!!! What a fish! I think the South Carolina citizens should be educated by us instead! It is like asking you what have u eaten today, and your reply is ' Uhhh....I have just farted' -_-"

Poor girl is now infamous not only in US, but the whole world! This proves that god do make mistakes too, he gave her a good figure but forgot her brains! Either that or she could be 'Barbie Alive' but with defected speech. I would suppose if you were to ask her what is martial arts, her answer would be "Paintings by the Sheriff"!

The next video is really insulting and funny! I nearly fell off my chair while watching!

Happy XX Birthday!

2007-08-28T21:18:00.001+08:00

The woman who reveals her age is either too young to have anything to lose or too old to have anything to gain. I fall under neither of these group, so it is top secret! Shhhh......

This year, i have 2 big birthday cakes from my dear ones, Piggyboy & ZQ. ZQ nearly turned us into drunken skunks with her extra dose of alcohol in her homemade Tiramisu!! Warning : Consuming 2 pieces of her Tiramisu will exceed the 80/100mg alcohol limit, so beware of roadblocks!

Today, i met up with my scraphoholic kakis for a feast and ti tar session at Sun with Moon....and the usual routine will land us in SDU! ( Not the SDU where average Joe meets plain Jane, here we refer to Scrapbook Design University) But i am proud of myself from refraining in any impulsive purchase! keke!!

Too tired to blog too much as i have been uploading pics for the past 1 hour..... To spare u all with the lengthy story, the pictures say it all !

Champagne Brunch at Cafe Brios

2007-08-26T21:58:00.000+08:00

I had my advanced birthday celebration at Cafe Brios, Grand Corpthorne with Piggy boy today. The concept of the champagne brunch is very similar to Ritz Carlton...Similar spread consisting of oysters, sashimi, foie gras, cheese, u name it, they have it!

Look at the food....do u feel like drooling? :P

Macorons! My favorite dessert!

But in terms of food quality & champagne, Ritz Carlton beats them all! They serve Moet Champagne instead of the 'Munmun' brand that i had today. But of cos, you pay peanuts, u get monkeys. The buffet at Cafe Brios is 78 bucks compared to the hefty price of $120 u paid at ritz carlton. Hmm....but $120 could be peanuts to certain people too. I still couldnt forget the classic raised brows remark from someone from the political world, "600,000 annual pay is peanuts" -_-"

The crowd consists of mostly foreigners, especially the 'Ang mohs'. Some even brought a family of 10 for brunch, and i can bet that they need no special occasion to dine at a place like this. Basically there are 2 groups of 'foreign talents' we observed today. The 1st group is the elite class, comprises of ang mo expatriates dining at the restaurant, the 2nd group is the mediocre class, comprises of china / indian nationals, serving at our tables. We can see a widening gap between the rich & the poor, with the influx of foreign talents. The poor Singaporeans just have to slog our backs to make a living when both low & high end jobs are taken by the new immigrants.

Nevertheless, i am quite glad that i fall in between the 2 classes. It is a rather romantic place to dine at, with a band playing music from table to table. Piggy boy dedicated this song 'Love will keep us alive' by Eagles, and it was kinda sweet on! *blush blush*

But it would be even better if he could sing it for me haha!

Lyrics of 'Love will keep us alive'
I was standing
All alone against the world outside
You were searching For a place to hide

Lost and lonely
Now you’ve given me the will to survive
When we’re hungry...
love will keep us alive

Don’t you worry
Sometimes you’ve just gotta let it ride
The world is changing Right before your eyes

Now I’ve found you
There’s no more emptiness inside
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive

I would die for you
Climb the highest mountain
Baby, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do

I was standing
All alone against the world outside
You were searching
For a place to hide

Lost and lonely
Now you’ve given me the will to survive
When we’re hungry...love will keep us alive (x3)

A day at East Coast

2007-08-25T00:28:00.000+08:00

We had great fun at east coast today. I have much heard about how good my niece, Zenn is in rollerblading. This is the first time, me & Zenn finally have a chance to blade together. I could say she is really swift and pro in rollerblading! She can brake almost instantly, skate in S-shape and even backward! Though my legs are as long as her height, i couldnt even catch up with tat lil' mouse! She grabs my hands and speeds like a bolt of lightning, with me screaming at the background as u can hear in the video. keke!

I think i really need to pick up some lessons to master the skills!

After blading, i went to zenn's house, as she insisted that she must show me how she feeds her 'Baby Alive'. Its actually a living dead doll, who can chuckle, cry and talk. Not onli tat, she can oso eat & poops too!

Baby Alive eats & drinks__ After Baby Alive eats, its
from her bottle__________ time to change her diaper

It takes no brainer to figure out how tat 'thing' shit.... Basically, whatever junk u feed into her mouth, it will be discharged from the hole at the back of her ass ^_^" Thats when the ingenious merchants sell the suckers the accessories, such as diapers & doll food. Sounds like a smart idea, but my poor sis got to help to clean up the mess and 'bath' the doll after each meal! A hell lots of trouble for mothers, so think twice before u get it!

In the evening, we went back to east coast again for a seafood wine pairing event organised by some French association. It was really a good steal, with free flow of different wine & champagne to complement with the 5 course seafood for just 32 bucks! The rules of thumb - red wine with red meat & white wine with fish & poultry don't really stand today with the complexity of today's multi-ethnic and subtly flavored foods and the corresponding wide range of wines from around the world. It was like an experimental project, testing how each wine enhances and interacts with the food to provide different taste sensations.

Sean & his gf are as usual the lovey dovey couple of every event, holding hands even while eating chilli crab :-) How i wish piggy boy is half as attentive as him :( Sean was very much 'harassed' by a fargot sitting at the same table as us, after that gay failed to entice Jaye with his gleamy eyes. The gay, dressed in purple T looks so fat tat when he steps on a scale, it says, "To be continued.... He was trying real hard to seduce the guys while licking on the chilli crab, relishing the men more than the food. I bet the gay man gives others the jitters rather than the eye!

Cheers! I think i look weird in this pic cos i
was wearing my sister's clothes. haha!

Scallops ! The setting looks perfect
except for the ugly plate that spoils
the whole thing!

Fireworks - my birthday celebration!

2007-08-18T21:47:00.000+08:00

I had a memorable '3 in 1' birthday celebration this year with ZQ and YY. Believe or not, our birthdays all fall in August! In celebration of our significant day, Singapore has specially prepared a firework party at marina bay for us! There were thousands of people who gathered around to participate at our gala night. The crowd was overwhelming that we couldnt accommodate everyone at the restaurant, some have to sacrifice laying picnic mats on the floor next to us. *soooo....touch* We would like to express a big THANK YOU to everyone who attended our party tonite! *Hugs & Kisses*

We actually had prepared this event 3 weeks in advance, booking an Al fresco seat at a Lebanese restaurant 'Sano Bar', along One Fullerton. When we arrived, the waiters were all busy laying out the tables and no one was free to attend us. When one of the nehs finally came, we had a shock of our life as he said "Sorrie mdm... but we dun have ur name in our reservation list!" Our brain almost spewed into fireworks and we demanded that they should give us a seat since we had make the reservation ages ago and specified that we wanted a seat next to the railing at the river side. "Oooo...okay, u wait".... The dumb waiter made us wait at a corner, taking as long as a pregnant nun going for confession!

When the captain finally came, all he could offer was a table with blocked view in the middle of nowhere. What makes him think that we want to dine at his restaurant when the food and service sucks? Some people are wise and some simply otherwise -_-" We had already specified that we wanted to watch fireworks, so wat is the point of giving us a lousy seat with big heads and fat arses blocking our sight??

Before me & zq could say anything, YY with her formidable gift of the gab started tongue lashing at the manager until he was speechless and relented to our demands. We even got a complimentary glass of wine each from the restaurant, hopefully it is not half filled with wine, and the other half with saliva :-) This woman (YY) can speak in 10 languages and u cant say 'no' in any of them keke!

The rest of the night was really enjoyable, having fun with my MR 400D. I have bought him a pair of nice sleek legs so that he could stand firmly, taking good pictures of us & the fireworks! I've even gotten him a pair of telescopic eyes, not to see my sassy neighbour in the opposite block taking shower, but to capture the distant fireworks :-D But to my disappointment, Mr 400D decided to throw tantrums cos i made him stand next to me for too long without offering him a seat :( The pictures didnt turn out well at all...sigh....

Anyway, juz to show off some of the pics that we took :

Pic taken along the river with my zoom lens

Guess wat bird is this? Its a crow!

The attendees for my party

Cupcakes anyone?

The Birthday gals

The maboh queens (Stage I)

The maboh queens (Stage II)

Fireworks? Nay...its a tree on top of us!

The real stuffs : Fireworks!

As the firework was bursting, little black specks started felling from the sky juz like when the shit hits the fan. Those families next to us was screaming "下雨 lei" -_-" , not knowing that they are so near to the 'explosives'. Luckily we had finished our food & wine, else YY might probably demand that the Society of Fireworks should give us a refund!

While we were settling our bills, the manager of the restaurant invited us in to watch their sexy belly dancer performance. We were enthralled by the dancer's hour figure, six pecks on her stomach and 2 big round boobs! She dragged us to dance along with her in the "Alalalala song". I think the 3 of us did a pretty good job wagging our butts, probably with the ecstasy effect of alcohol keke! We are so motivated by her that we have decided to take up a belly dancing course!

881 - 'The Papaya Sisters'

2007-08-15T20:53:00.000+08:00

Anyone who hasnt seen this movie, '881' shd go and catch it! Its my favorite local production which i will not mind paying 9 bucks to watch in a cinema. I have always regarded Hokkien songs as music invented to torture aristocratic and cultured people like me ^_^... music cater for the lians & bengs, dancing techno to the rhythm & beat.

But after watching the movie, my perception has changed totally! Royston Tan created the movie like a musical play, brought forth meaningful and touching lyrics of those Hokkien songs into the show, though half the show was rather slapstick, with laser shooting out from the durian sisters' boobs and the troupe in mermaid suites, having fun in the underwater world.

My favorite song "一人一半" though the singer looks like a piece of porkchop

Another nice song :)

This is the song written by the late famous getai singer 'Chen Jing Lang' when he was stricken by cancer... One could feel his pain & anguish in his song...

Pigging out, bitching out

2007-08-10T18:59:00.000+08:00

We had a great gals' night pigging out tonite! First to an italian restaurant in Craig place, and i almost got into a fight with a bitch over a parking lot.

We were turning into a multi storey building where my macho 307 met a dumb bitch struggling on her claws to maneuver the giant metal tortoise, which is better known as a Chrysler. I wonder does Chrysler design their car in such ugly shape and size to cater to frumpy fuddy dubbies? But on second thots, i think this car suits the bitch perfectly with her grandma in undies look! Some late 30s botox injected face trying to act young with her rebonded hair and juvenile dressing that she probably stole from her daughter's wardrobe -_-" Try harder or go for a face lift lah Auntie!

Anyway, my macho steered past her, not knowing wat tat tortoise was trying to do, and got into a lot that another driver just got out. While i was on my reverse gear, gostunning halfway, the tortoise suddenly charged like a hare and nearly kissed the ass of my Macho! I started horning at that bitch, but she was indifferent to my Macho's warning... So i tried shifting a little to get into the lot, the blardy bitch charged forward again, nearly hitting my Macho with just an inch away!!!! @#%#&$*^@#%@!!! I wound down the window, asking her what the hell she want. She stared at me, as though i'd slept with her boyfriend last nite, and shouted "I WAS WAITING FOR THIS LOT!!".... she immediately looked away and wound up her window with a guilty look. I was extremely furious that i could feel my blood pressure shooting up, ready to get a stroke anytime. I yelled at her "YOU STUDID BITCH!!!!" and drove off.

There were plenty of lots upstairs, i wonder why these morons just cant move a level up and rather wait for infinity. If YY wasnt with me, i would definitely got down my car to slap tat bitch, or refuse to shift my ass and see who is more patient to wait. Anyway, we were quick and got into the same lift as that bitch when the lift door opened at level 2, where the bitch parked her tortoise.

ME : Well...there are plenty of lots upstairs (Giving a cynical look, with my eyes rolling....)
BITCH : THIS IS CAR ETHICS! I WAS WAITING FOR THAT LOT AND SHIFTING MY CAR TO LET THE OTHER CAR OUT ...BLAH BLAH BLAH...
YY : huh.... isnt it a bit too far to wait??? (giving the same incredulous look as me :D )

Lift door opened, and the bitch stormed out. WTH! Would u want a Macdonald hamburger but queue at KFC? She parked the ass of her tortoise at least 100 meters away from the lot and expected others to read her half-baked mind! Too bad my driving instructor never teach me about car ethics of moronic freaks!

Heez... i felt great after telling her off...its been sometime since i used my sarcasm on people. After our italian feast, we headed for an oldies pub along Tanjong Pagar for beer and sausages. Then me & YY had a craving for Rochor Road 'Dao Huey' and we finished our night with a sweet filled of the smooth, soft, beancurd...

More work, less play

2007-08-08T23:19:00.000+08:00

More work + less play = More $$ in my piggy bank!!

One month ago, i probably wouldnt imagine myself slogging from morning till 11pm, a whopping 14 hours of work! Whenever i saw piggy boy or my friends working till wee hours, i couldnt help but sympathized with them for their 'misery'.... Now that i'd just started getting busy on my new job, i 'tasted' the so called 'agony', but the weird thing is I dun feel miserable at all!

It was a great transformation from the laid back lifestyle that i had as a medical sales rep. My brain has been in dormant mode for a long time and suddenly, it is rebooted to run on a 12 hours non stop shift! It is still tenacious after 2 weeks of my job, i am praying hard that it doesnt get a nervous breakdown!

Having said that, i am pretty enjoying what i am doing now though some people might think that i am crazy giving up a pseudo tai tai job for a slave driving job! =) Well, when god gives you a lemon, make a lemonade rather than lamenting that lemon can't quench your thirst. At least i am learning something new and i definitely feel less of a parasite in the society. Another advantage is i will probably save more $$ as i have lesser time planning what to buy and where to eat and shop. Seems like life is more than just eat, play and be merry! As the saying goes, when going gets tough, the tough get going! I really need to just 加油, 加油, 加油!!

photo taking - Haji lane

2007-08-05T23:49:00.000+08:00

Another new Kaki into photography! HF has just bought a Canon DSLR, probably inspired by me :P We went to Haji Lane today, as she wanted me to share with her the functions of the alien looking buttons on the 400D. I must say a Digital SLR is rather complicated to use, if i hadn't attended the course, probably the camera might end up in my store room now!

I think our initiate objective is to capture the nostalgic streets & culture of Haji Lane. But when 3 vainpots get together, we ended up snapping more photos of each other! Anyway, the models added life to the otherwise quiet & boring streets. keke! As usual, i have loaded the pictures on the web album. Enjoy!

Big Bangs

2007-08-05T00:00:00.000+08:00

Bangs is hot again! I was browsing through the magazine yesterday and noticed tat a couple of celebrities have snipped their long fringes to shorter, blunter styled bangs.

I might be wolf down by the stress of my new job. As i was staring at my bathroom mirror, i realise that my forehead is getting pretty high, and make my face seems oblong. I took out a pair of scissors and started snipping.... bits of hair fell onto my white toilet bowl cover. My fringe looks rather 'crooked', so i continue to clip & snap till the end result became a classic baby bang! I simply luv it! Everytime when i did something to my hair, i felt rejuvenated keke! Its a pity i didnt go into hair styling biz!

Let me show u a before & after picture :)

I WON!

2007-08-04T00:58:00.000+08:00

Yippee!! I am one of the top 10 winners of a 'Au Voyage competition' organised by moleskine! This is the 1st time i took part in a regional competition and i am really proud of myself to outshine 100 over entries!

This competition requires the contestants to design an own ultimate travel journal in their moleskine notebook, and the most creative & interesting one will win a ticket to Paris. Though i didnt win the top prize, i am already pretty contented with the prize of 3 city notebooks & 3 moleskine edition notebooks worth ard 200 sgd. But i promise to share with ZQ since she is the sponsorer for the moleskine pocket book that i used for the contest. My masterpiece will be in an exhibition held in Hong Kong. If anyone is there, they can go n have a look, or go to this link http://www.moleskineasia.com/s.nl/it.I/id.253/.f

But i think what they posted on the website didnt give justice to my beautiful work lei... I did my contest piece like a scrapping L/O, and added them as inserts to the Moleskine plain pocket holder. Decorated with some embellishments such as flowers & buttons, and Voila! An artpiece is done! If i were to paint or draw like the rest, i bet i will only make it to the bottom 10! haha! Anyway, i took some pics of my L/Os before i submitted for the competition. Too tired to post every cos its 1am now Zzzz.....

Front cover :

Interior

F & F in Office

2007-07-28T22:09:00.000+08:00

PLS NOTE* : This post is actually created 2 years ago. I save it as a draft, hoping that one day when i finally tendered my resignation, i will publish it without any apprehension! I have added a few more characters and their names have been changed to protect the individual's identity. So here it goes......!

"Time flies.... i've been working here for the past 4 years. Next year will be my fifth year soon and i've yet to achieve anything. I used to have lots of aspirations and drive in my job, but now everyday seems like a passing time for me. As long as i'm making money, i have no complaints. Dun really give a damn about office politics or trying ways n means to climb up the corporate ladder. But sometimes, people just dun want to spare the 'innocents' like us. There is a list of 'Friends & Foes' in the office that i wish to remember when i leave this place one day."

dandan - We had countless of things to talk / gossip about although our characters and values are miles apart. She tends to be tyrannical & gan cheong whereas i'm laid back and carefree. I enjoy her companionship as both of us have a wicked sense of humor which not many people could tolerate. However, her neurotic nature will show up if one gets too close to her. She is prone to anger or aggressive outbursts without justification. But the good thing is she has memory lapse. The next day after a catfight, she will treat you as her best friend again as if nothing has happened. A conformist in family value, it is best if you are her parents or kids. Friends are probably the last few priorities in her life.

Tuah Tao Lian - First look at her, you thought you have come across the path of Chinatown ah Lian. But she is probably the nicest person on earth that i've ever met. Sweet temper, kind, forgiving, reliable, helpful and the list goes on ... ... She will lend a helping hand to any tom, dick or harry in distress on a 'first come first serve' basis, so much so that you dun feel privilege to be one of her good friends. Sigh.....
Her world only revolves around her doggy boy aka bunnyboy aka babyboy aka SPIDER. Her social life is as big as a 50 cents coin. She is like a butterfly caught between his spider web and cant escape. In this case, she chooses not to escape. Just a word for her, 'stop thinking about sex and man, life goes on with or without them!'

Ms QQ - A girl with a cheery & positive disposition, sometimes i wonder what can really upset her. Please do not attempt, u may end up getting a heart attack at the midst of trying to upset her! Treats everyone like her buddies, believing that all human beings have a good nature, but forgetting how people are being nurtured. Men cant wait to devour her with her innocent & 'blur' look, and i am probably her guardian angel or vice versa :-) Oh yes! She can be really versatile too. A shoulder to cry on when u are sad, a punching bag when u are upset! ;P

Ms Paranoid - An intelligent, witty and fun loving person. A great pal to hang out with and most of the time, she is pretty nice, willing to help and has a good listening ear. However, she seems to be suffering from Paranoid Personality disorder. Often interpreting the actions of others as deliberately threatening or demeaning. Watch wat you say to her, cos you never know when you are going to trigger her time bomb! A word for her : "Someone gave u the poison apple and said that its a gift from me. But i dun plant apples at my yard lei... Sometimes, its better to be more trusting and give others the benefit of doubt so that u will be happier & stress free."

Mr 'ne'er-do-well' - Goofy, irrational loser who is always faltering, never progressing. Pants up to his chest, hair styles like a pimp, loves to wear ugly accessories bought from Pasar Malam. Suffering from mid-life crisis, he probably hope to find someone to have an affair within the organisation. Sigh.... He should grateful to God that there is someone who is kind enough to marry him!

Ms Wikipedia - She is the walking encyclopedia who knows from where to get the cheapest cooking pot, to the secretive recipe of Kentucky Fried Chicken! She is also the 'antenna' in our company, who knows the latest gossip / information in the industry due to her vast satellite network. Though I am not 100% sure of the accuracy of her information, one thing i am sure is she is a kind & genuine friend who is the first to give a helping hand when u are in need of help.

Professor Dolores Umbridge - Have u watched the latest 'Harry Potter & the Order of Phoenix' ? Prof. Umbridge is the new evil art teacher of Hogwarts, a real fake and manipulative character. She enforces laws & orders and disciplinary approach, punishing whoever defies her. Her power increases as she is appointed the first ever "Hogwarts High Inquisitor", in which she proceeds to evaluate the teachers at Hogwarts. Sounds familiar?
This does not only happen in fairytale, it is occurring everywhere in the corporate world!

Ms Personality - Has an unique sense of fashion and personality. She can dress up as a walking Ang pow today and transform to a harajuki kid tomorrow. She spends her day powdering her face till she looks like a bled pig. Every morning, she will sashay in the office to attract attention. Even if u fail to see her, u can hear her from the carpark! Some men describe her laughter as 'orgasmic', experiencing an intensely pleasurable sensation after hearing her laugh. Wanna to try a cheap thrill? Try dropping a pen in front of her, and see if tat tickles her funny bone! But please pardon her. Her brains are only developed in her boobs, but the saddest part of all is, she's a Cup A -_-"

'Pussy in boots' - She is my number No.1 arch enemy in the company. Always portraying as the pitiful damsel in distress, she bewitches men with her 'Puss in boots' heart melting look, hoping that all men will come to her rescue! Acting so pure that not even moses could part her legs! Transformed into a green eyes ogle when others are doing better than her. Well known to resort to her dirty trick in order to fight for low target and less workload. She tried her trademark technique on me, but too bad it didnt work! I HATE BITCHES!

Corpse bride - She looks like corpse bride with her sunken cheeks and bony frail body, except corpse bride has a bigger boobs than her! A sidekick of 'Pussy in boots', she is a typical Hokkien Ah lian trying too hard to act like an Ang Mo lian. Every month end sales closing, i had to bear with her 'fabulous' telephone skills. "Good morning Mrs ABC, this is Corpse bride from XXX. Can you help me to buy extra boxes of XYZ this month? I really need the sales....huh? sure, sure, i understand....no prob, thanks" .... this will usually follow by a loud SLAM on the phone with her middle finger pointing, "F U C K lah! Dun buy dun buy lah, F HER BLARDY CLINIC, F THE MOTHER & SON, U THINK I CANNOT FIND OTHER BUYER to F MEH?!" -_-"

I can probably write an encyclopedia if i were to list all the characters in the office! There are alot of other nice working colleagues that i didnt mention, cos there nothing much to bitch about nice, ordinary people. :-) Thanks to them for making my working life more enjoyable & memorable!

*Lastly, please note : The above descriptive could be deemed as explicit for the pure purpose of making my blog more dramatic. So please dun take it too seriously if you are one of the characters mentioned above ;P *

Last day as a MSR

2007-07-25T18:27:00.000+08:00

"Life really sucks as a lowdown rep,
if this goes on it will drive me mad.
When can i become a real tai tai,
having high tea and shopping from nine to five..."

This was a part of the poem i've written some time ago when i was feeling pretty down in my career.... ( if u wanna read the whole poem, pls refer to
http://ohpapillon.blogspot.com/2005/10/innermost-thoughts-of-msr.html )
Finally i am leaving my medical rep. status after 8 solid years though i am not going to be a tai tai! keke! Looking back, i was still a freshie without any sales experience. Though i am currently quite happy working in such carefree job, i have decided to move on cos stagnation is no good. 10 years down the road, if i am still doing what i'm doing now, my market value will depreciate like a Korean car. Not sure if it is really for greener pasture, but no venture, no gain!

It was kind of sad to leave my colleagues ... You can rarely find a bunch of co mates with similar frequency & mentality, we can gossip about anything under the sun. They had farewell lunches for me and the gals bought me a pretty pink name card holder from Kate Spade. :) So touch.... will definitely miss those happy days!

Jo's bday

2007-07-20T18:03:00.000+08:00

We celebrated Jo's birthday at Ajitei, brother of the famous rubbery Japanese noodle, Ajisen. Food was ok, extremely salty for my taste bud even though i was suffering from sore throat & flu. Probably the amount of salt added has an antiseptic effect, my throat actually felt better tat!

We order an extremely romantic, pretty mini cupcakes from http://creamed.wordpress.com/
The best part is the cupcakes tasted as good as it looks! So who says that pretty things dun have substance? If a guy were to present this to me, with a boutique of flowers, i will definitely accept his proposal or whatever pleases him! (*hint*hint*) Sounds real easy i know, but i am a sucker for cheap thrills ! Sometimes we gals aren't always looking for expensive pressies, even a sweet little note by the pillow side will perk up our day, rite?

Here are some of the pics we took today :

Yummi Cupcakes

A close up of the pretty thing

Bday girl & me

The '四大美女'

For One More Day

2007-07-15T23:37:00.000+08:00

Another book accomplished! "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom, the author of the bestselling book, 'Tuesdays with Morrie', for the benefit of those who doesnt know who he is...

Mitch Albom's writing style involves the simplicity of the ordinary people livelihood, which brings forth much emotions & thoughts. As what the title mention, 'For One More Day' is what a man with a screwed life needs, to redeem his chance to reconcile with a lost parent. The author found this man coincidently at a league field one day, with a true story to tell. His life was in a total mess, destroyed by alcohol & regret. He decided to take his own life when he found out that his only daughter did not invite him to her wedding. In the twilight zone between life & death, he saw his deceased mother and was given a chance to make up for the time he thought they would be here forever.

His story brings back happy moments and also tears of nostalgia i've during my childhood days with my mum. I especially like the part where the author added inserts of 'Times My Mother Stood Up for Me" and "Times i did not stand up for My Mother" in every other chapter.

As i read, i felt as guilty as the book character, Chick Benetto. There are indeed countless of times my mum stand by my side & yet i used to feel embarrassed by my parents when i was a kid...

TIMES I DID NOT STAND UP FOR MY MOTHER - It is my 8th yr old birthday. My family dun usually celebrate birthdays as we are too poor and my parents are often busy working to make ends meet. That day, my mum spoke to me in the morning, "Ask your friends over to our place after school, i've prepared something for your birthday". I wasn't in great anticipation as i hate having friends visiting my bedraggled house. Nevertheless, as instructed by my mum, i invited a few of my buddies to the party that my mum has planned.

As a child of that age, my dream birthday party comes in a package of nicely wrapped presents with big ribbons, rainbow color balloons hanging all over the ceilings, 2 tier fresh cream cake with a plastic ballerina on the top tier and perhaps little door gifts for my friends for attending my party....
To my disappointment, or rather my speculation, it was just a humble 'get together' with plates of fried spring rolls, fishballs & chicken wings. The salty buttered cream cake edged with rice chocolate was a huge disparity from my ideal 2 tier cake. I couldnt wait for the party to end and I did not even thank my mum for her great effort in spite of her busy schedule. In contrary, i put on a sulky face and sank my head under the pillow, pretending to be exhausted after the party. Wat an ungrateful, horrible kid i am....

TIMES MY MOTHER STOOD UP FOR ME - It was summer holiday... i frittered away my entire month sleeping, watching tv and playing 'tug of war' at the playground. I knew that the deadline for my summer holiday homework was drawing nearer, but i'd decided to let it rest undisturbed at the back of my mind, until the last day of my vacation....

The 'then' teachers were a bunch of hare-brained dumb arses who make the children do senseless stuffs. Instead of giving assessment or exercise sheets, we were told to RE-WRITE word by word of the entire chinese textbook in a jotter book. Dun they know anything about copy rights? -_-"

My procrastination nature is congenital i guess, till now, it has not diminished... i specifically asked my mum to wake me up at 8am on the 1st day of school. For a moment, my mum thought that her diddle-daddle daughter has set a new resolution to be a more diligent gal in the new school term. keke! Guess i was overly ambitious to think that i could finish that pile of shit in just a morning. As the clock ticks, my heart beats faster... i started bursting into tears as if i will be beheaded if i didnt hand my assignment on time. But the teachers during my era are like witches devouring on little children who do not listen to their wishes. If u talk in class, they will put a piece of chalk in ur mouth and u are not supposed to spit it out till the class ended. By the end of the lesson, ur table will be smudged with ur drool!

My jotter book was smeared with tears as my mum went on reprimanding me. She became my accomplice and tried to mimic my handwriting to speed up the process. Alas, our 'combined efforts' didnt accomplish the assignment on time. As i was preparing to face the music from my teacher, i saw mum tearing the last few pages of my jotter book. "Tell your teacher you have run out of pages and couldnt get a new one as the school bookshop was closed for holiday", she said in a stern voice. Bowing my head low in shame, I gazed at her with admiration for coming up with such brilliant idea. Guess i know where my wittiness & street-smartness came from :-)

This book has taught me to appreciate the people around us, especially our mother. We always thought that there is time for everything, but u never know when it is too late. Imagine filling with regret that your last word with ur loved ones is an argument instead of a lovey dovey note. Isnt it great to treat each other nicer now than to pray for one more chance to reconcile for the loss?

Bali - My Idea of Heaven

2007-07-07T22:10:00.000+08:00

I've never expected Bali to be so beautiful..... The blue sea glows like sapphire under the gleaming sun and the sand feels as soft as talcum powder. I could just laze on the beach, enjoying the cooling sea breeze, and reading my book for the entire day!

We stayed in Ayodya Resort, a 20 mins ride to the tourist town, Koota. The resort was a far cry from the Hyatt resort located just next to us. The onli consolation i got was the magnificent sea view i had from my room balcony. :-) Actually it doesnt make much difference where i stay cos we are not in our room 3/4 of the time. Whenever there is an opportunity, we will go to Koota for bargain shopping and have a relaxing massage.

The massage cost onli around 12 SGD for an hour, half price of wat i paid in Singapore! We went to the same massage parlour for 3 times, cos they were exceptionally good! The foot reflex was really hard though, but it definitely beats the 'toe tickling' massage i had experienced in Vietnam. The onli drawback was we had to past by the Bali bombing site as the palour was just 50 meters away from the calamity that took place in 2002, killing more than 200 victims.

Though the surrounding is now filled with pubs and tourists, i couldnt help getting the 'hair raising feel' as i gazed at the the memorial site with names of victims engraved on the huge gravestone, and the forsaken piece of land with photos of the victims hanged over the metal bar barrier, probably left by their love ones. But I believe that although these people are gone from our life, they will never remain absent from the hearts of their love ones....

This travel blog could be the shortest one i've written keke! But a picture speaks a thousand word, please enjoy my following photo journal of the lovely Bali... :)

Family Fest at Botanic garden

2007-06-30T22:17:00.000+08:00

A picnic on a super hot day! The air was so humid & dense that i felt tat i was breathing solid... There was a family fest today at botanic gardens, featuring a silly penguin cartoon, "Happy Feet". It was one of the dumbest cartoons i've ever watched and i couldnt imagine myself watching a 2nd time! Nevertheless, the good food and company didn't manage to dampen our spirits. :-D SC prepared lotsa good food and well presentation in a picnic basket... Lazy me just sponsored beer and chips :P

I brought along my new love of my life.... Think I am falling head over heels with him more than anything else now! He looks so cool in his black outfit, damn solid & macho body, excellent memory, and i feel so shiok to just even hold him in my hands....So far he hasnt failed to disappoint me with his excellent performance!

INTRODUCING MR Canon 400D! Tadaaaaa.... here are some of his master pieces today :

A cute gal who came to play with Pola

Our picnic goodies!

Do i look like Asahi model? :P

The forever 2 young at heart gals

Horrendous crowd adding to the humidity level

A meatball + a mysterious man (-_-)

Darling Pola & mummy...awww...so sweet!

Kinda like this candid shot i took as i was lying on the ground. Please do not mistaken this as a handphone advertisement...

More pics can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/daphnelps/BotanicalGarden

Happy bday, Pola!

2007-06-28T22:15:00.000+08:00

I am officially 3 yrs old today!! But i am not feeling well today cos ah ma fed me with too much goodies since yesterday... Kept farting non stop and so mummy didnt dare give me a good treat today. :-(

Mummy threw a mini party for me last sat, together with vodka cos we are both June babies! We had a great feast eating the beary birthday cake, bbq pork & chicken... Mum took lotsa of pictures with her new dslr, Canon 400D. The cam really give justice to our pretty faces as we all look great in the pictures! But of cos it takes a synergy between skilled photographer PLUS a good cam to turn out great pics, am i right, mummy? :D

A slideshow of the fun time we had tat day :

wHO U R

2007-06-23T01:02:00.000+08:00

This is fun & its so accurate! Try it!

http://web.tickle.com/tests/brain/result.jsp?PREMIUM=Y&test=brainogt

I AM A RIGHT BRAINER! KOOL!

http://web.tickle.com/tests/hairstyle2/result.jsp

CUTTING EDGE STYLE!!

http://web.tickle.com/tests/qualities/result.jsp?PREMIUM=Y&test=qualitiesogt

I AM A FUNNY PERSON!! ( i couldnt agree more! keke!)

Anyone cares to share ur personality? hee....

Chronicle of an abandon dog Part II

2007-06-17T22:06:00.001+08:00

Thanks to those kind souls who share my sentiments and sorrows. At least i feel less despondent in life now, knowing that there are many people out there who are more concerned about me than my callous ex owner :-)

Some updates on my present situation :

After staying with the fosterer, Auntie Alison for 4 days, i have finally found an adopter. (I am keeping my paws cross!) They are a couple who doesnt own a dog at the moment since their poodle passed away 3 years ago. They fell in love with me the moment they saw me! hee.... I was trying to 'hard sell' my manja-ness, lying on their laps and drawing my lethal weapon, which is the enticing look of my lovely puppy eyes!

In fact, there was another couple who came to visit me today and were also interested to adopt me! Looks like i've underestimated my market value! keke! Like 2 fleas fighting over who owns the dog, Auntie Alison was quite in a dilemma who she should give my fate to. Eventually, she'd decided to let the first couple adopt me as their profile fits me better. Basically, they will have someone at home most of the time, so i dun have to worry much about my separation anxiety. More importantly, i will be the only pet in the family, which means i wont have someone fighting with me over my owner's attention. ;)

Thinking back, life as a dog is really so vulnerable..... Imagine if Uncle Song and his friends couldnt get a fosterer in time, i guess i will be reporting to rainbow bridge now! Just heard that SPCA has taken over God's job in deciding our life & death in just 24 hours, as people continue to dump their pets mercilessly at SPCA's doorstep :-( I dun blame SPCA in reality, though many people perceived them as being cruel. Imagine having 9,000 abandoned pet cases every year... if SPCA were to keep all of them, they might probably take up a quarter of the human population in Singapore in just a decade! The most malicious of all are those imprudent arse holes who simply purchase a pet like a toy and 'slaughter' them indirectly when they just abandon the pets.

I am really one of the lucky ones to survive.... my heart cries out for my buds in SPCA. I really hope there are more people out there who are willing to adopt a pet rather than buying from those unscrupulous & mercenary pet shops who dun give a tinker damn on our well beings.

Chronicle of an abandon dog

2007-06-13T20:17:00.000+08:00

"Where am i..... the world is so huge, but there ain't any space for me...."

As i roam around an unfamiliar neighborhood, trembling in fear, a man resembling my daddy approached me. "Are u lost?", he asked in his tender-loving voice. I looked up in anticipation, but he was not my daddy :( My heart just sank into a bottomless pit as I gawked at him helplessly. I think my innocent look melts his heart and he asked me to follow him. I've decided to trust my gut feel and go along with him cause i have nothing to lose in this world....what can be worse off than being betrayed by your own loved ones?

The moment i reached Uncle's place, i was being repulsed by their family pet, a Jack Russell by the name of 'Lion'. And he literally acts like one too! He started barking and dashing around on a rampage the moment i stepped in. I think he felt threatened by my existence. I could understand his fretfulness in losing the attention or sharing his owner's love with an intruder. Thus, I kept smiling & waggin' my tail, hoping that Lion will take me as a friend. But that didnt work at all! In fact, my friendliness backfires as a catalyst in antagonizing him further! The more Uncle kept praising on me as an obedient dog, the more Lion felt resentful towards me.

Finally, Uncle surrendered to Lion's persistent power struggle and decided to send me to SPCA after Day 4. I dun blame him at all and i could see his predicament. Afterall, Lion has been the only precious gem in their family for many years and who am i? i am just an insignificant abandoned dog....

SPCA wasnt as scary as what others described..... I always have this impression that only mongrels or old and sick dogs are available for adoption. But this is not the case! In fact, there are a lot of young pure breeds like Chihuahua, Jack Russell, Golden retriever, husky, maltese, and even a Shar Pei! I am not advocating that pure breeds are of more 'value' than mongrels. My point is .... why are there so many pea brainers who treat animals like commodities, spending lotsa money to purchase us, and simply dumped us when we are perceived of 'no value' to them!

I have made some friends in the shelter and here are their pics :

SPCA realised that i have a microchip, and that means i have a chance to reunite with my family! However, SPCA called up my owner and realised that they have already shifted. Flashing back, i could sense that i am just an old piece of furniture that they dumped along when they moved to a smaller apartment.... I thought i could just stay in SPCA until i found a suitable adopter.... but they'd decided to put me to sleep as there are limited space to house another abandoned case. SPCA called Uncle and informed him that if he doesnt bring me back within 2 days, i will be euthanatized!

Thus, uncle seek help from his dog lover friends and finally managed to find me a fosterer. Today, he came with 2 pretty aunties to pick me up from SPCA. I was whining frantically as i dunno what lies my future.... We took a long car ride to another unfamiliar place where i am supposed to meet my new owner.

A nice lady opened the door to welcome me. Hiding behind her was a pretty babe who looks pretty much like my old self.... Long, silky tresses, nice manicured nails, pretty as a pudding pie! Her name is Jeannie and she will be my friend from now on :) Though she seems a little reserved, i am certain that we can become best of pals in the near future! Today is the start of first day, of the rest of my life and i wish that i have a great life ahead in my new family! Wish me luck!!

Dogslaves' gathering!

2007-06-10T17:54:00.000+08:00

Our owners have decided to give us a post labour day break for a gathering at 'Window on the Park' at Holiday Inn Parkview. Yippy ya! It was a buffet from 1230 to 4pm, but the food selection was pretty limited and sucks! Nevertheless, we still kept our butts stuck at tat restaurant for 3 hours keke....

Its been some time since we last met, and as usual, we had a non stop 'ti-tar' session. Rynn looks great in just less than 2 months of her delivery! :P She has a new hair cut and colored her previous signature ah lian looking rusty golden mane brown. ^_^ Ask about her delivery ordeal, she seems to take it like a piece of cake unlike her agonizing pre natal blues. keke! Her baby onli weighs 2.8kg, so according to her, it was easy to deliver. Lenny cracked a joke saying: "It is definitely easy to squeeze out a small baby, but provided the hole is xxx!" :x wahaha!

Sometimes i really wonder why women have to go thru' the affliction of child bearing process.... is it because Eve tempted Adam to eat the fatal fruit and thus it is the punishment fall upon on women? Cant imagine squeezing an elephant poo out of a human ass.... No wonder 'Vagina' starts with the Letter 'V' and not 'W'agina..... 'V' sounds more painful when u try to push thru' the pointed end -_-" Some may argue that the opening of vagina is stretchable, tat's explain why a monster can pass thru the burrow. So i reckon Mr Incredible's wife, the "Elastigal"who can stretch any part of her body, can deliver a baby as fast as a fart!

Ok... enuff of child bearing! Next topic was on 'Strange Encounters', an off-topic posted in DS forum. Apparently, a forumite has kept those 'gui kia', child spirit. According to her, hers are known as kunmantong, which is child spirit that did not get a chance to live their life. With the help of the highly reputated monks, the kunmantongs will be in a baby or kid-like statue available for ppl to buy home for worship. The spirit is supposed to bless the owner / family. By doing so, they will gain merits/good karma for themselves so that they can be reincarnated.

On the contrary, the toyols or luk krop are infants that died of tragic death or forced to commit evil stuffs. Luk krop comes in the skeleton form and looks pretty errie. Pictures of the luk krop and KMT were posted in the website at page 37 and 39.
http://www.doggiesite.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=53784&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=540

The owner of the KMT has to worship the spirits with milk and drinks, and even place toys and clothes at their alters. The milk will curb like beancurd after 30mins to an hour, and sweet will taste bland after the 'spirits' have consumed them. I think its really freaking scary.... i wonder why these people want to indulge in such stuffs. You never know when 'they' will bite the hands that feed them!

Pictures time!!!

Rynn & me ( mei mei de cos she cut the hair like mine) keke!

Sweet Jasmine and 'jie jie' keke!

Hey Jasmine! are u preparing for 'Shrek 4' audition?

Group pic : Lenny, Jenny & Jasmine, ME, Rynn, Jo & Huan

Boredom leads to....

2007-06-02T22:41:00.000+08:00

BOLIAO-NESS! Was toying with photo-impression and came up with these nonsensical altered photos with a pinch of my creativity! keke! Specially dedicated to everyone who just spent a boring weekend like me! Hope it will take the edge off your monday blues!

Famous or Infamous?

2007-05-29T18:31:00.000+08:00

Wow! someone has found that my blog is so interesting that he had posted an abstract version of my blog and my link in his weblog! I think he had succeeded in boosting his hit rate as his entry on my blog is now the 2nd top most read post, and has probably made me either famous or infamous for my style of writing. :-D The blog entry goes :

Another satisified customer

May 25th, 2007

Phnom Penh is not for everyone ( my blog link if u were to click on this )

New face of my blog

2007-05-26T11:37:00.001+08:00

I have decided to discard the childish, bimbotic barbie doll pink template and gave it a more sophisticated, professional outlook, in view of my increased profundity in blogging my extraordinary life keke!! ( i think its more like giving a false perception of a professional journalism image ) :P

But the problem is when i change a template, all my alignments went haywire! I have to spend like an hour, editing my previous blogs especially pictures that went out of positions :( Can Blogger do something about this??!! Arghhh...... Thus, i shall keep this template as it is, even if i get sick of the layouts and colors!

Anyway, the new version of blogger is quite good, i have added a new page element on my 'Favorite entries', located at the top left side. Most comprises of my travel blogs, bringing back fond memories of the times i had in these countries. The miscellaneous entries are those i find interesting to worth a second look. :-) Please feel free to give any comments, even negative but constructive ones are welcome! :-)

Follow Lor!

2007-05-23T10:15:00.000+08:00

Singapore is such a 'FINE' city. Since young, singaporeans are nurtured to follow the laws. Even our unique Singlish often ends with the word 'lor' ( law ) Every step u make, you will see posters, banners, signs telling you wat u shd do and wat u shd not do. Even in public toilet, there is a sign saying "Please flush after use or fined $500" :( WTH!! will the officer be standing outside ur cubicle, with his ears glued to the cubicle door to detect if there's any flushing sound? Imagine opening the cubicle door one day and find that there is a fined ticket stuck in front of your cubicle door! >_<" Probably the government shd install a CCTV in every cubicle, to make sure that u are not spotted for not following the laws! Even in our working environment, there are many rules and regulations, compliance issues, code of ethics & protocols on wat we can or cannot do. Everyone in the company will adhere to the rules strictly no matter how ridiculous, cow-sensed rules that the organisation come up with. For instance, to establish ourselves as an ethical and righteous organisation, we are not supposed to bad mouthed our competitors, or seem to bribe the doctors in using our products. The most absurd rule is we can buy a cake tat is sliced into many pieces for a customer, but we cant buy a 'whole cake'! Reason being, whole cake is deemed as one item, thus it is unethical as its consider a 'bribery'! The main problem with Singaporeans is that we often resign to our lives and not fighting for our rights. 'Aiyah...just follow lor, wat for get ourselves into trouble?' But i do agree to this statement to a certain extent, there is no point teaching a pig how to sing, you will only waste your time and annoy the pig! Thus, no one is willing to be the first to throw a boomerang and ends up getting hit!

In office politics, there are a classification of a few types of people.

1) Drama queens - These are the bitches that looks like angels on the outside, full empathies and compassion. But they often had weapons beneath their wings, when triggered, they will turn into devils with horns!

2) Robin Hoods - These are the new age Robin Hoods, who dun use bows and arrows. With the advancement in technology, they are able to shoot 'invisible arrows' via emails, poison letters, feedback forms etc. The invisible arrows are so formidable that no warnings are given until you kena shot at the back!

3) Taiji masters - These are the chou bo people in the office. Whenever they are given a task, they will tell you "Paiseh lah, this one not under my portfolio, you should go to so and so, i am not in charge" Another classic example of the Taiji masters "Huh? how come screw up? i dunno anything hor, so not my problem"
-_-"

4) Ass kissers - These are the people who climb up the corporate ladder by first, licking the toes of the boss, slowly proceed up to the bosses' ass, and probably ended up as their bosses' 'lap tops' in order to get a promotion.

Anyway, i am hardly involved in any of those office politics. I rather go home and play with my dog. Afterall, working is just to just earn a living, to keep myself and my dog alive.

There is simply just the '4Ps' of office laws that we should follow :

1) Pang jio
2) Pang pui
3) Pang sai
4) Pang gan

After retirement, there are only '3Ts' of laws that we should follow :

1) Tan koon
2) Tan chiak
3) Tan si !!

Swee Zhabors' Portfolio by Song

2007-05-20T22:12:00.001+08:00

I've finally received the photos that Song took for me few weeks back! We went to Pasir Ris beach for the photoshoot. The weather was great after a shower, with light breezy wind that gave me windswept hair. :( Using his Minolta SLR, the pics look great after developing. I'd scanned the photos and created a slideshow :-)

We went to Wernes, a German restaurant in Siglap, for a feast of crispy pork knuckles, sausages and German beer. The pork knuckle is the best i've tasted so far, even better than the ones i had in Germany! It was crispy outside, soft and tender inside. Once u slice the meat, u could see fatty juice oozing out! Its sinful, i know.... but i can afford it! :P haha!

Yum yum!

A toast to u!

Gave him a little pressie for his coming birthday. Can anyone make a guess wat is this cute little bugger?

The Kite runner

2007-05-16T20:11:00.000+08:00

Just completed another novel, "The Kite Runner" by an Afghan guy, Khaled Hosseini. Its a highly recommended book for those who havent read it. Before Osama Bin Laden, the Talibans and terrorisom, Afghanistan was almost unheard of by most people in the world. The closest i know of this country before the war was the 'Afghan hound', a beautiful long coat dog breed, that could probably be originated from Afghanistan some 4000 years ago. I believe that Osama bin laden is probably the descendant of the Afghan hound, but a devil in incarnation. Worse off than a beast! Look at the similarity between the two (except that the afghan hound doesnt wear a turban) hehe!

I enjoy reading the biography of people from different chronicles of life, residing in different era or countries. It is through learning the experiences of such individuals that make me appreciate what i have in life, and how lucky we are today. The feeling is the same as someone pitying himself because he has no shoes to wear, until he met another person who had no feet.

The story is about the friendship of 2 Afghan boys of the same age, a low caste servant, Hassan and his owner, Amir. The betrayal of Amir has changed Hassan's life, leaving him in Afghanistan during the invasion of the enemies, while Amir and his father flee to America. Eventually, Amir realises that he need to find one thing that his new world cannot grant him, that is redemption.

The book will bound to steal a few drops of your tears, and bring you smile in warmth and humanity. Go get it at most bookstores! Or u can purchase from me at a fraction of the recommended retail price keke!

Piggy birthday celebration

2007-05-12T23:29:00.001+08:00

Its piggyboy's birthday! We went to a nice Japanese restaurant at 'The Central', that serve a speciality dish, 'Black Pig'. Wat a special occasion....Celebrating Piggyboy's birthday in the Year of the Pig, eating the mouth watering, chewy black pig!! Piggyboy is born in the Year of Pig, tat's how his nickname came about though i know its not much of a novelty keke!

The restaurant has a nice view facing clarke quay. I had a nice snapshot of the view, using my new Samsung Z720.

Took another pic of Piggyboy smiling like a cheshire cat when sms-ing, i wonder who is the other party! huh!)

Very fresh sashimi!!

U can 'scrub' the wasabi plant on the mini wooden grater to get some fresh wasabi. Very fun !!

A Thursday niteout'

2007-05-10T23:59:00.000+08:00

Its been a while since i've met up with Pearlyn, Nicole and Vivien. We had a belated birthday celebration for Vivien tonite at a newly open Korean restaurant in Novena 2. Had a hard time finding the place as the old Novena square is now sandwiched between 2 shopping malls, Novena 2 and Velocity.

We updated each other on our progress..... Nic is looking for a new job as her company had been acquired by another monster organisation. Vivien is still busy traveling in her current job, she is also a sales person but she gets to go overseas conferences with doctors. Her next trip will be to Barcelona!! *envy* But the most shocking news we received was Pearlyn is pregnant again!!! Her baby is barely one year old and she is preparing to receive another new member into their life! Her womb is like a manufacturing plant, line after line of production without stopping keke! But with her good looks and intelligence, i bet the quality of the 'product' must have surpassed the QC with flying colors!

A candid pic of Vivien and Nicole .... ( dare to post their pic here cos i dun think they dun have my weblog haha!)

Ben happened to 'jio' me and SC to Wala Wala on the same nite. Since i'm out, might as well go all way out ....from north to central to west! keke! Holland V on thursday nite was incredibly packed! We waited quite sometime for a parking lot, and i was cursing and swearing again at the infinite number of cars in Singapore.

Think the last time i've gone to Wala was almost a decade ago. It was amazing that this place could still holding strong as pubs in Singapore always come & go. Perhaps, the credit goes to the groovy live band and 1 for 1 drinks. The female vocalist has a powerful voice that rocks the place all nite long, though her guy partners sounded like frog croaking. If they are good looking, they could still be pardon for their lack of singing talent. But i think my security guards look better than both the backup singers!!

Pay and Pay!!!

2007-05-09T16:58:00.000+08:00

I'M GOING TO BLOG THIS IN RED BOLD CAPTION TO EXPRESS MY ANGER!! THE BLARDY ERP RATES FOR CTE INCREASE AGAIN!!! FOR PPL WHO DUN KNOW, TO CROSS THAT CRAPPY ANT CRAWLING GANTRY WILL COST AS HIGH AS 6 BUCKS IN THE MORNING!! NOT EVEN MY BREAKFAST COST SO MUCH!

BUT IS IT GOING TO SOLVE HORRENDOUS TRAFFIC CONDITION AND POLLUTION WHEN MORE AND MORE COES ARE ISSUED EVERYDAY AND WITH CARS ARE GETTING SO AFFORDABLE THAT EVEN PANTRY AH SOH CAN OWN ONE CHINA OR KOREAN MADE CAR? I WONDER WAT'S NEXT? TO INCORPORATE ERP GANTRY OUTSIDE EVERY SINGLE CAR PARK ??!!

INFLATION HAS SEEMED TO BECOME AS UNAVOIDABLE AS DEATH & TAXES. MY EXPENSES BALLOONED UP RAPIDLY OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS...... RISE IN PETROL, CARPARK, ERP, GST....AND THE LIST GOES ON...... ( of cos not forgetting my new expensive scrapping hobby and my craze over designer clothes and bags! keke! )

YES, IN GENERAL, THE ECONOMY IS GETTING BETTER AND GDP HAS A HEALTHY GOOD GROWTH UNDER OUR DEAR GOVERNMENT. BUT OUR PAY IS STILL HAVING THE PATHETIC 3-5% INCREMENT EVERY YEAR! HOW COULD THE MISERABLE PAY RAISE KEEP UP WITH OUR EVER ESCALATING EXPENDITURE? IT IS LIKE A YORKSHIRE TERRIER CHASING AFTER A GERMAN SHEPHERD, NO MATTER HOW FAST THE LITTLE DOG RUNS, IT WILL NEVER CATCH UP WITH THE HUNTING DOG! SIGH....... OUR POOR TITS ARE GETTING SORE WITH ALL THESE EXECESSIVE MILKING AND VERY SOON, WE WILL BECOME DEAD COWS IF THESE GO ON!!

I HAVE TO CALM MYSELF DOWN NOW.....JUST REMEMBER "DUN SWEAT THE SMALL STUFFS"...... MAYBE I SHOULD MAKE MYSELF FEEL BETTER BY TREATING THE ENTIRE 'PAY AND PAY' ISSUE AS A "VOLUNTARY CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTION FOR THE BEST OF OUR COUNTRY" -_-"

Scrapholic CRaZe

2007-05-05T11:01:00.000+08:00

My scrapping momentum is back!! Met up with C, HF & Jo for a "Scrapspree" day on last Thurs. C was the 'Champion' again for this spree :-) They all have so much new stuffs in their new L/Os!! Seems like i've lost this title for quite some time....its time to catch up!!

Am doing a 8 x 8 album for my beloved niece, Zenn. Here are some of the L/Os i've created :-)

Zenn in the park with Grandma

A
pic taken by my N73, editing with Picassa

Nice L/O, inspiration by Charlyn :-)

Superimposed picture edited by Photoimpression software.... Zenn will surely yell at me for this injustice amendment to her cutie face!

Another of such 'superimposed' pic

Since i am on a scrapping topic, i would like to 'show off' a project that i'd done for Pat. We have been colleagues for about 6 years, but she is regarded more of a friend to me than just workmate relationship. She has added alot of zest to my monotonous life in P**Z*R, with regular gossips and kopi breaks. Now she has a plan install for her future, that is to set up a beauty parlour after she comes back from Canada with a beautician cert. I really admire her courage for her 'Dun give a tinker damn' attitude, 'Wat a heck! Just do it!" For me, i am a rather pragmatic individual, i would probably consider the potential risks involve, and the 'what if' mentality if i were to set up a business. However, too much sanity is madness, you will never achieve much in life if u dun take risk! Having said that, a laid back person like me might be better off with a nonchalant job, enjoying the pseudo tai tai life.....

Anyway, i decorated a plain wooden box with pattern papers, embellishments and lacquered the whole thing with mod podge.

Inside the box is just a mini album of the trip we had in swizterland. Some of the L/Os in the album :

A new milestone!!

2007-04-29T20:07:00.000+08:00

'Life storey' has finally reached a new milestone! ..... 1000 hit rates to my weblog! But it wasnt an accurate figure cos i'd just added a sitemeter few months back. Hmm....53 entries over 3 years...though the number of entries seems pretty low, i have run out of ideas on wat to blog on.... Maybe my life is too stagnant?? But blogging is definitely a brilliant way to reminisce on my self documented unassuming life, and probably serve as a remembrance for families and friends if i was to kick the bucket one day! keke!!

Recently, i've read a book "Dun sweat the small stuff....and its all small stuff" with compliments from ZQ..... Basically, the author touched on letting go of the little things in life that drive us crazy, through simple ways and strategies, to deal with the midst of our stressful and nerve wrecking life. Though i am cynical on how such self help book could change your life, or mould your character, i'd decided to read on as a bedtime storybook!

There are a few good pointers that i have come across. First and foremost, i have to list down all my obstinate points and see how i can soften them.

1. 'Winning isnt about everything, its the only thing!' Looks like i have to forgo this theory that i've lived by it for a long time. The strategy to be happy is to let go and let other people be 'right' most of the time, as nobody loves to be corrected. It takes a great deal of mental strength, when u try to correct or change the opinion of others. I've been practising this strategy on my dim-witted boss, and find that i am less agitated if i simply just ignore or pretend to agree with her one dimensional point of view. -_-"

2. Resentment Through all walks of life, especially in workplace, it is inevitable to make a few foes, whether from a disagreement, a misunderstanding or simply just cant stand the sight of each other! To such people, i would either pay no heed to them and /or exterminate them once i have the opportunity! Sounds like a real devious witch....hehehe!! But the toes you are stepping today might become the ass you are kissing tomorrow!! So why should we hold our anger on these little resentments, turning every little small stuffs into big stuffs? Rather waiting for someone else to reach out to us, why not take the first step to turn our foes into more friends? Easier said than done.... i am still trying to overcome....

3. Judgmental Being judgemental is my trademark, as i tend to be pretty superficial about certain people or issue. I would often throw a cynical remark on someone i rarely know, seeing them as 'guilty' instead of 'innocent'. As the scripture says, "we should not even be judgmental of ourselves, let alone one another. The time for judgment will come and it will be the Lord who will then rightly judge us all (1 Cor. 4:1-5)."
The book suggested that we have to become an anthropologist, in the way people chose to live and behave, replacing judgments with loving kindness. In this way, we will be less bothered or frustrated by the actions of others.

4. Better to have than not need than to need but not have Its human nature to focus on what they want, and not what they need. Happiness cant be found when we are yearning for new desires all the time. The strategy is to 'think of wat you have, instead of what u want'. So STOP complaining that i dun earn enough! at least i have a job :) STOP pointing out onli at piggyboy's stubbornness and grouchiness, he is caring and gives in to me most of the time :) Stop thinking of upgrading to a freehold condo in the east! At least my current house is huge and has lots of facilities :) STOP thinking of going for a holiday! Home is still the place closest to my heart :) Well....there can never be an ending list! The more i list, the more i feel more satisfied with my life! So maybe u should start listing too!! :)

Phantom of the Opera

2007-04-15T19:12:00.000+08:00

Finally, the moment i've been waiting for!! The most long live broadway - "Phantom of the Opera"!! A decade ago, i was still a teeny weeny gal who cant even afford the cheapest seat in Kallang theatre..... Today, i've bought the most expensive category seat to compensate for the 10 yrs of long wait!!

It was indeed worth the price, judging from the great orchestra and the huge production with spectacular bombast backdrop and a gigantic chandelier flying from the ceiling to the stage of the esplanade. The onli regret is the lead actress, 'Christine' looks like a frumpy, middle aged dwarf :-( She is too much of a soprano and half the time, i couldnt catch wat she was singing about. Listening to her shrieking voice makes my ear drum hurts! Ouch.... But most of the songs were nice though.... classic n romantic..... My favorite songs are 'Think of Me', 'Music of the night' 'Angel of Music' and 'All i ask of you'. I have embedded the theme songs above, just click 'play' and enjoy!!

Geriatric Dance Club

2007-04-14T10:38:00.000+08:00

Went to club at St James Modiva with Pris n colleagues. Although this was the 2nd time i'd been to Modiva, i didnt have much impression of this place the last time as we were almost high tat night, having free flow of cocktails at the Mini Cooper launch b4 heading down to St James. keke!!

The moment i entered the Modiva, i felt so energized and young! Cos the pub comprises of 80% 'aunties', ranging from working executive old women to filipino maids, and 'Uncles', from balding, potbelly Ferrari owners to Citycab taxi drivers! No doubt the aging group were dressed in branded / stylo clothes, but even if you put glitters on the shit, it still stinks!!

They have a live band, playing mostly Latin music and many other varieties. Like the wide selection of music, you could also see different nationalities and races flooding the place. As we were dancing, a short and fat ah neh tried very hard to pick us up, sticking to us like a fart in a phone booth!

We decided to leave the geriatric dance floor and just hang around our table. Pris still looking forever gorgeous in her new short hair, of cos including me too :PAlmost half of Priscilia's colleagues, who are all secondary school teachers turned up last nite....They are unbelievably too good looking and havoc to be teachers! By 1am, a few of them were intoxicated with alcohol. But it was fun looking at them, just like uncles enjoying 'birdwatching'. hehe!

Extreme makeover

2007-04-10T22:03:00.000+08:00

ZQ n i just did an extreme makeover. Let me present the 'before' and 'After' pictures .... Make a guess on wat we did :)

'Before' makeover

'After makeover'

ZQ received a filler injection on her smile lines, a nose implant, a botox injection to shape her square jaws and IPL to even out her skin tone.

Daphne received a filler injection on her smile lines, a nose implant, laser to remove moles and freckles, IPL to even out skin tones and lighten eye dark circles, and dental surgery to fix her crooked teeth.

The cost??

NOT A SINGLE CENT!! haha!! I've just mastered the art of using the 'clone' function in photo editing software. Now i can even remove Pola's tear stains in the picture! Wanna have a 'makeover' photo for your resume or match making session? Or wanna get rid of tat ugly mole stuck to your chin? I charge onli $10 bucks per photo, subject to my time availability! So act fast to avoid disappointment!!

Spirit caught on Camera!!

2007-04-04T18:26:00.000+08:00

Encounter with the supernatural :

We were allocated a corner room at one of the nights in Swissotel, Zurich. Corner room often gives me a creepy feeling as it was said to be spirits' favorite hideout. But we accepted anyway cos we wanted a triple room and corner room is often larger than the standard.

Well...we dun usually take pictures in the hotel rooms, onli tat exceptional day, cos we wanted to pose in our same hello kitty PJs that we bought in the afternoon! haha! :)

Notice the little round spot on the top right hand corner? That is known as an 'orb'. Orbs are believed to be ghosts in the form of balls of light. Ghostly orbs are the most photographed anormalies caught on film. They can be completely transparent or display themselves in a bright solid form. It is theorized that ghosts prefer the form of an orb because it takes less energy, thus being the mode of choice among ghosts. However, some argued that orbs are actually just a refraction's of light on the camera lens. But the coincidence part is the orb was captured in different positions of the 3 other photos that we took in the same bedroom. However, we did not have such a 'problem' with the rest of the 800 pictures that was taken by the same camera.

I did a 200% zoom and actually saw a face forming from the orb! It was a smiley face looking at our imprudence childish acts keke! So i cropped the picture to enlarge the orb image. This is what i get :

But it definitely require some sharp observation and perhaps imagination to figure out the 'look' on 'its' face. There are 2 black dots and a smile on the orb.

SC and i were the 1st to notice the orb when we review the screen on the camera that night. Both of us knew about 'orbs' and were terrified. So 3 of us slept together on 2 joining beds and had a rather sleepless night, waking several times. But i bet the ghost had a fun and enjoyable time on that night. :)

Not for the faint hearted!

New Look! New Start!

2007-03-30T23:31:00.000+08:00

I've finally gotten rid of my long tresses which has been with me for at least 5 yrs! But dun worry, i'm not as bald and broken as Britney Spears.... at least i have a professional to cut it off!

So it goes from this....

to this :-)

Some people who saw my new look asked me :"How would u bear to cut off your long mane??" I think its a pretty weird question.... why should one feel attached to a pure filament growth of non living cell from the skin? The reason why i kept growing my hair is simply because i dunno wat to do with it...... Now that i am real sick of my look, i just need a change! :-D I'm the sort who usually dun regret after i've done or decided on something. Why look back if its not gonna turn back the history ???

I'm happy with my new look and brought my dogs for a walk today. The onli regret is i cant pin up my hair now to 'pair up' with my maltese anymore :-( Maybe i should 'chop' off Pola's top knot too?! ^_^ keke!!

Out of misery :-)

2007-03-28T19:30:00.000+08:00

Hey yo! I'm finally getting betta, though its still not 100% well. Past few days were living hell for me.... I've hardly been so sick in my life! Felt really paiseh reading my previous 'suicidal' post and i was even contemplating to delete it hehe! But eventually i've decided to keep it for remembrance sake, to hark back what a weakling i am, unable to cope with stress and illness. Thanks to those friends who shower me with love and concern via pm-s and phonecalls. *hugs*

Have yet to blog on my switzerland trip since i came back.... The 1st week with my company was a real disappointment :-( We did nothing but sat on the bumpy coach ride all day long, with occasional stopover for photo taking. Chinese sayings "走马看花", describes exactly what the blardy trip was all about. We unpacked and packed our luggages everyday like gypsies, as we moved from city to city everyday. -_-" We were hoping for authentic Swiss delicacies, but all we had was western food and inedible chinese food that even crows wont devour. It was really amazing that they could find awful restaurants in Switzerland! We were feasting like pigs during our own F & E, even the pretzel from the road stalls taste better than the food we had during the 1st week.

But that's not the worse....on the last day, we had a lecture from the Trafalgar tour guide just because we wanted to extend half hour more for shopping. Our marketing coordinator was asking him in a meek tone : "Can we...."
Then the fat chao ang mo, knowing wat's on her mind, shouted : "CAN WE ? CAN WE WAT??!!! YOU PEOPLE ARE SO INCONSIDERATE, MY DRIVER IS TIRED AND HAS TO GO BACK TO MILAN...AND U GUYS STILL CANT SHOP ENUFF??!!"

WTH!! We paid for his service and yet he screamed at us as though we are his slaves begging for another bowl of porridge! Anyway, we just treated him as the noise were coming from the zoo. Everyone was rushing for last minute shopping. My clique as usual was charging to MIGROS and COOP at every city they go, to get chocolates for their friends and relatives. Oh yes, for the benefit of those who dun know, MIGROS & COOP are just like our NTUC & COLD STORAGE supermarkets.

But i guess we had a 'good deal' afterall..... cos we've travelled to 3 countries within a week *_*"

1st stop - Milan ( Italy ) - And i literally mean 'Stop & go'! The stupid agency told us that flights to Zurich were full, so we had to touch down in Milan airport and take a long coach ride to Switzerland.

2nd stop - Switzerland - ( Our actual incentive trip. Effectively we onli had probably 2 days of real holiday, after deducting sleep time & travel time -_-" )

3rd stop - Germany ( Blackforest ) - We travelled for 4 hours, just to go to this blood sucking touristy shop that sells cuckoo clocks. They made us watched a demonstration on the makings of the 'cuckoo' clocks in their mock up 'factory'. But the real cuckoos are probably us, who fell into their traps of purchasing from them. Later did we realise that the price quoted in the so called factory is far more exorbitant than those clock shops in Switzerland!! I bought one eventually in Switzerland, thanks to piggy boy :-) Its always better to have and not need than to need and not have :)
It was really cute to have the little birdie coming out every hour initially. But after a few days, it has become a nuisance. Imagine the blardy cuckoo bird will eject from the hole 12 times ( i know i sounded really vulgar keke...) when the clock strikes midnight!! Luckily the cuckoo clock has a function that could switch off the sound. The cuckoo bird needs a rest too !!

The onli fun day we had was going up Mount Titlis. Though we had to take 4-5 rides to reach the 10,000 feet high mountain, it was definitely worth it!! The view was magnificent, we had great fun playing on the crystal like snow, gleaming under the sun. Took lotsa pics : may view at : http://picasaweb.google.com/daphnelps/Swizterland

Terribly sick

2007-03-26T16:13:00.000+08:00

I am feeling really sick and terrible now. This happened since last sat, after my lunch, i just felt lethargy n nauseous. Went to see a doctor at night, but the stupid locum doctor only gave me antacid and Omeprazole for my gastric pain and anti emetic drug. I am feeling much worse than that!!!

Didnt eat anything for the past 2 days, i simply threw up the food i ate and i couldnt control my emotions. Kept crying and thinking that i am going to die anytime. I could just cry for no reason... Hate to look at myself in the mirror as i look horribly haggard and skinny. The world just came crashing down and there is a strong heaviness in my heart. All i want to do is to sleep....

Went to see a doctor again today and he said i should be suffering from mild depression and thus worsening my IBS. I dunno what trigger it... there is no particular incident, neither am i stress at work. I just felt that i look horrible each day. I blamed it on the hormonal pill i am taking, but the doctor said its unlikely.

Thinking back, i've been easily agitated recently. Even a minor comment could set off my anger. Felt really apologetic to those people i flare at, especially Piggy boy and Sow Cheng. I used to sell anti depressant drugs, so i know wat are the symptoms : Lethargic, feeling sense of worthlessness, agitation, sad and miserable etc. i think i am getting a nervous breakdown. I am feeling so helpless now. Only god can help me....

greetings

2007-03-13T18:27:00.003+08:00

helo, i am in Zurich now..... the internet cost 12.6 sgd an hour :( but its free in the museum haha.... and we only paid 5 bucks for the entrance fee :)

chaos.....

2007-03-13T18:27:00.002+08:00

helo, i am in Zurich now..... the internet cost 12.6 sgd an hour :( but its free in the museum haha.... and we only paid 5 bucks for the entrance fee :)

chaos.....

2007-03-13T18:27:00.000+08:00

helo, i am in Zurich now..... the internet cost 12.6 sgd an hour :( but its free in the museum haha.... and we only paid 5 bucks for the entrance fee :)

chaos.....

7 Days of Adversity - Day 5 to 7

2007-02-13T18:41:00.000+08:00

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Enjoy the romantic slideshow of wat i did for siem reap Ang Kor Wat..... more pics are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/daphnelps/Cambodia

We spent our last 3 days enjoying the nice views of the relics in Ang Kor Wat, eating and lazing at the holland village lookalike Pub street and even went for spa... If you are ever in Siem Reap, u have to stay around the happening Pub street and dine at the Blue Pumpkin. We simply luv the ice cream :-)

7 Days of Adversity - Day 4

2007-02-09T23:28:00.000+08:00

We were finally heading for Siem Reap after 3 days of adversity!

On our way, the driver brought us to Wat Ek Phnom, a ruined temple on top of a hill. In order to reach the top, we had to climb a steep flight of stairs, 356 steps in total, which is about 15 storey high of a HDB flat. When we arrived at the site, we were surrounded by a group of local kids, who are so enthusiastic and helpful. They held our hands while we were climbing up the stairs and even 'fan' us with a piece of old cardboard. At the top of the hill, the little boys will start picking wild flowers and place on our heads (so sweeeet.....) Anyway, there nothing much to see on the hill other than some piles of stones which they called the temples.

Me and a group of cambodian boys

I was kind of touch by their kindness until they started their standard protocol statements : "Auntie, we no money go school, we are very poor etc"..... -_-" I wonder if the Cambodian schools do have a syllabus on "101 Ways to Extort $$$ from Sucker Tourists"... Anyway we gave them some USD to share among themselves. Once they have gotten their $$, they started to incarnate into little devils, squabbling over the split. Gave them an inch and they will take a mile :( Our driver had to step in to give them a good lecture. After they had reached a settlement, they vanished into the thin air within secs, leaving us crawling down the stairs like old folks who are abandon by their kids. -_-"

We proceeded to the next site, Phnom Sampeau, a hill top, where the Khmer rouge did more killings. The prisoners were marched to a small cave opening, bludgeoned and pushed down a 15 meter deep hole. Those who survive the fall were left there to be starved to death. Another gross site to remind us on the cruelty of civil war.

The drive from Battambang to Siem Reap was a bumpy, rollercoaster ride. Without our seatbelts on, we were 'lifted up' from our seats umpteen times. Basically, there isnt any proper infrastructure network, we traveled on the little red dirt tracks left by vehicles 3/4 of the time. However, it was pretty scenic though, passing by rice paddies, gray buffalos and brown cows, little huts make of straws that squat on 4 stilts above the paddyfields, little children running around barefooted, in rags older than the crust on my grandma's underpants.....

Me & ZQ were trying to fall asleep as the driver rattled non stop on his ordeal during the Khmer Rouge days. With his limited vocabulary, he still managed to instill lifelike details on his survival skills. He was depoted to work in a field, probably 15 hours a day. The people were only given glue like rice water without any veggie or meat once a day. Facing starvation, they had to source for rats, frogs, snails etc to keep themselves alive. Many people were starved to death or fell ill due to widespread diseases and unhygienic conditions.

The driver was separated with his family during the war and only reunited with his sister 20 yrs later. When the sister saw him, she told him in tears : "All were deaddd.....only 2 of us now!" :-( A wave of heaviness descended upon me after hearing his story. I couldnt bear to look into his face as his voice was already breaking down, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. If ever such sufferings were to happen to us, i dun think i will have the will power to keep myself alive. If this is living, i rather be dead. Sometimes i wonder why do God let such terrible things happen? Especially when these innocent people werent even given a chance to be evangelised....

We finally reached Siem Reap after about 6 hours of rough journey. Siem Reap is very different from other parts of Cambodia, with high rise poshed looking hotels, clean and beautiful gardens, and the air smells better too!! By the end of the day, the driver's white toyota Camry was covered by the dusty red terrains, resembling a huge toasted french loaf. From this trip, i am convince tat you can probably trade in your Land Rover for the impeccable Toyota Camry sedan :-)

7 days of Adversity - Day 3

2007-02-08T21:15:00.000+08:00

We decided to stopover at a small town, Battambang in Day 3. As recommended by Lonely Planet, the place sounds really nice..... French colonial buildings, 2nd biggest town in Cambodia, less touristy place with a provincial atmosphere..... Nothing was close to what is described!

Another sucker story :

Bought a bus ticket for USD 4 each. We were told by the hotel tat the bus is air-conditioned and takes only 4 hours to reach Battambang, but when we arrived at the bus terminal, wat we saw was grimly, old buses with lotsa their local Cambodians, waiting to board the bus! They dun even have a compartment for us to place our luggages :-( As we paid a 'premium' price, we were given VIP seats right in front, with our bags serving as our leg rest. :-( The locals just dun give a damn on the capacity. They just allow their people to aboard the bus even though there werent any more seats! And along the way, when someone waves, they will just stop and give them a free ride as if they are ferrying commodities. And Guess wat? The locals only paid 1000 riels, which is US$ 25CENTS for a blardy seat!!

A girl just place a plastic chair in the middle of the aisle and sat down. A poor woman, holding on to two filthy little girls with badly matted hair stood next to us for a long time before being allocated a seat. SC nearly died of suffocation from the awful stench of the kids. The entire bus simply smell of ranchy, sour sweat! 'They' actually smell worse than Scooby. :-( I might probably stuff Scooby's fat paws into my nostrils if he was around!

The best part is the delapidated bus does not come with aircon! My breath felt even 'windier' than the pathetic air blowing out the the supposedly 'aircon' vents :-( They dun even allow us to open the window when i tried to steal some air from the dusty roads. To make matter worse, the driver kept horning every 30 seconds at every damn car, bicycle, pedestrians, dogs, and maybe even cockroaches or watever crap u can find on the road! The torturing journey lasted for 6 long hours! I felt like i've been through the Khmer Rouge regimen after the long rough ride....

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The moment when we reached the bus terminal in Battambang, we sort of regretted making the trip here. The entire town looks as foggy as London, but its actually dust emitted from the gravel ground. Buildings are old, scattered and sparse everywhere.

Some pics of the town :

Mother and son walking barefooted on the hot gravel ground

My 5* guesthouse in Battambang

When we alighted the bus, we were encircled with dark, sweaty men waving and shouting at us.... I was kind of stoned out from the lack of oxygen. These men are actually fighting for business to promote their hotel stay. We were too shacked out and just took the van from the guy who kept splattering saliva at my face :-(

We checked into the hotel and only came out for dinner in the evening, when it is less polluted. The food was really good despite the laid back outlook. We knew a guy who could take us to siem reap and along the way, bring us to visit two of Battambang's main attraction the next day in his dashy Toyota Camry :)

He was delighted to clinch a $50 USD deal with us, and offered to bring us to the hottest discotheque in Battambang. The discotheque resembles those nightclubs u have seen in the 80s Hong Kong movies, with big hanging crystal balls, multi colored spotlights, and trashy retro remixed. We left shortly as we felt pretty uneasy with the locals staring at us.

7 Days of Adversity - DAY 2

2007-02-07T22:48:00.000+08:00

We decided to spend on our 2nd day in Phnom Penh at a leisure way as there is nothing much to see & do in this laid back capital besides finding ways to steer clear of beggars and street peddlers.
Gosh.... another 5 more days to go in this dreary place!! We simply cant wait to get out of Phnom Penh :(

Headed for brunch as we woke up pretty late. Basically, we had abundant hours of sleep thru' out this trip. Probably, sleeping is a more meaningful way of spending our time rather than the worthless sightseeing. At less, sufficient sleep helps to rid of our dark eye circles and eyebags whereas the bad air in Phnom Penh will probably give me more outbreak and worsen my sinus. :(

Anyway, we settled for a shoddy looking cafe as we felt that the restaurants in town will be cheaper than the quayside restaurants tat are infested by tourists. But when we flipped the menu, things were the same price as the quayside! The Cambodians are damn good at ker tok-ing tourists. They will present different menus to different groups, depending on which 'sucker category' you belong to, with markup prices of at least 3-5 times more than wat the Khmers eat at their restaurant. Seems like whichever country i go to, i am always the big sucker with my fair skin and dainty looks :P Bet the Kuali face from my office can get a discount of at least 50% as his chocolate skin and oily hair can pass him off as 99.9% authentic Khmer.

Our hunger pangs forbid us to search for another makan place. So we ordered our usual Khmer fried rice, noodles and SC's favorite sandwiches. SC & Sean as usual, needed their dose of caffeine, so they ordered a coffee each. Then i noticed a queer looking residual sitting at the bottom of SC's transparent cup .... Initially, i tot it was probably some undissolved coffee powder, but with a closer scrutiny, it was actually LIZARD'S POO!!! Sean & i strongly felt that it is some lizzy shit, but SC tried to convince herself tat it was coffee powder. When we pointed the suspicious thing to the waitress, she gave a disgusted and apologetic look. Bet the Cambodian lizards must have mistaken the cup for a toilet bowl and forgot to flush -_-"

We took a tuk tuk and visited the Russian market like Bangkok's Chatukcha and Royal palace etc. Took some snapshots of the streets and the locals.

A local praying to the monk

Streets of Phnom Penh ( Edited to give a more nostalgic feel)

Pretty Cambodian gals

Royal Palace

Who is that Crazy gal running under the hot sun??

I felt really exhausted and my sore throat was getting much worse under the scorching sun. So i bought some medication from a pharmacy and went back to the hotel to rest. After shower, i started to get feverish and cold tremors. The miserable towel, that is supposed to serve as a blanket didnt help much to soothe my condition.

Didnt go for dinner that night as i was already half dead due to my fever and cough. At that moment, i wish i was in Singapore, at least i could seek proper healthcare and family's TLC.
sob...sob... i missed home!! I was telling myself if i cant recover for the next 2 days, i will get another one way ticket back to SG!! But SC will sure kill me for tat ... :P

But i did get some TLCs from them especially SC, who went out in the dark to get anti biotics for me and checking my temperature in the night to make sure i am fine :) I have to say this although it sounds really cliche : "A friend in need is a Friend indeed"!!

7 Days of Adversity - DAY 1

2007-02-06T17:16:00.001+08:00

We started off our trip with an ill omen as i've mistaken the departure timing :-( Although we were still half hr b4 the departure time, the pilot refused to let us go onboard. In the end, we had to fork out another 400 bucks to detour to Phnom Penh.

It was a mere 2 hrs flight to Phnom Penh. The moment we'd reached the airport, we took a cab to the Sisowath quay, a long stretch of shop houses facing the chocolate-colored Mekong River, a place resembling the 1960s boat quay. There were numerous hotels/guesthouses and many Khmer street salesmen bugging us along the way, trying to promote their guesthouses. Sean took the guide book and we simply just kept walking, ignoring the consistent calls of the salesmen. We settled for a lousy guesthouse, Indochine for USD 20 a night. The beds were as hard as planks and there werent even proper blankets. We had to use a towel instead. -_-"

Anyway, we just settled for the cheap accomodation and headed for lunch. It was almost impossible to have a peaceful lunch with street peddlers trying to sell their books, sunglasses, souvenirs every other minute.

We bargained for a tuk tuk to view the infamous Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal crimes and Choeung Ek, better known as the killing fields. The killing field is a series of exhumed mass graves, with a stupa at its centre, filled with skulls of thousands of men, women and children. Toul Sleng, or S21 camp is the former high school the Khmer Rouge converted into a torture camp where thousands of prisoners were prepared for their deaths with electric shocks and other atrocities such as having their heads locked inside boxes of scorpions.

The bumpy 45mins tuk tuk ride at the countryside was indeed a crazy rollercoasting experience. The air was really dusty and polluted and we had to put on a face mask b4 our nostrils get clogged up by the dust.

The commemorative stupa stood highup in the centre, looking more like a temple than a place storing thousands of skulls.

Exterior View of the Stupa

The 'Faces' of the Stupa's interior

In order to save ammunition, the convicted were often executed using hammers, axe handles, spades or sharpened bamboo sticks. Some victims who did not die from the brutal attack were buried alive.

It was really disturbing to know that the world actually condone such vicious acts to their own mankind. It is still hard to imagine that the place, looking so tranquil now was a brutal murder site 30 yrs ago.

Before we had yet to recover from our traumatise experience, we headed to the next destination where more distressing truth of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge was unveiled. Once we hopped off the tuk tuk, we were approached by 2-3 disabled beggars asking for money. We paid a $2 admission ticket and embark on our horrifying day tour. The old school compound was eerie and deserted. I could feel goosebumps and cold chills all the time as i marched through the place. The 1st block was an interrogation unit with individual classrooms housing a rusty metal bedframe and torturing tools. The floors and ceilings are splattered with visible dried blood stains. There was also an enlarged photo showing a mutilated body chained to the bed.

After just viewing 1 or 2 interrogation rooms, SC and i couldnt bear to view more. We proceed to the next block, which is the most chilling and compelling part of the whole museum. The block consists of different rooms where thousands of black & white face photographs of the victims, including men, women and children, before they were slaughtered. I was really shaken, looking at the faces of the helpless victims. One of the pictures that still stays vivid in my mind was a woman with an emotionless face and a trickle of tear on her cheeks, holding on to her newborn who was sleeping soundly in her arms, with his tiny fingers grabbing on the woman's sleeve.

There was a huge board with faces of innocent little children, some as young as 2-3 yrs old. As i entered from one room to another, emotions started to build up, looking at the world where everyone was condemned to death. At the same time, i felt so lucky to be living in a country with much thrive & stability.

That account for my DAY 1. Will update the rest of the days in my blog soon....stay tune!!

For more pics with description, please view at http://picasaweb.google.com/daphnelps/Cambodia