Resident Evil

I have had 2 sessions of physiotherapy. I learnt a few exercises from the physiotherapist to do at home during my first visit and would be meeting her the following week for a review. I wasn't the most obedient. I was trusted to do 3 sets and practise the RICE treatment on myself daily. I did 2 on some days and as the days progress, I reduced to 1. Oops. For my 2nd visit, she knew I have been lazy since she measured the degree of how much I could bend my knee with a big projector. I only improved by 5 degrees lol. And I couldn't fulfil our first aim which is to straighten my left knee and lift it up. So she made me cycle for 15 minutes and taught me a few more exercises in order for me to reach our first aim. I improved by 13 degrees after that. She was thrilled. I wasn't though as the injured knee hurt, making me limp again for the rest of the day. Lol.

Was looking through my online photo album and I found a few photos. Photos of Simba holding up his birthday present. His good friend bought me the Resident Evil board game.




Simba against the wall of his room. His parents filled up spaces of his room with photos of him and his brother.





And one day I became his competitor in the board game. He laid out the cards on my bed with utmost care. Lol. He wouldn't let me handle the cards since he always have this impression that I would be so rowdy and destroy his cards with one blow. Lol.

Then the game began. The war started. His skin tingled with anticipation.

My eyes followed his hands. I discerned that his moves were too smart for me to understand. Lol. I suck at games. I wanted nothing more than to win, be it fair or not. I cheated a few times when he was not looking. I still lost. Liars never get far in life! Lol.





Yesterday was a joyous day. I attended 2 joyous occasions. My friend is getting hitched and it's my grandma's birthday!
Actually July seems like a month for weddings and proposals. There is this one day when my Newsfeed showed 2 proposals and 1 wedding.


My first friend's wedding is a church wedding at Toa Payoh Methodist Church. It's such a beauteous wedding! I caught a glance of the Church after I registered my attendance and I must say the interior perimeters of the Church is awe-inspiring! The floral decorations were nicely arranged and gave an impression of purity and unfailing love.





The emcees displayed impressive alacrity in greeting us. My friend, Coreen, is great in her choice of emcees!
I must confess something. I felt an overwhelming emotion gushed over me when the entrance doors of the Church opened and out came the flower girl. She is so cute! She held a small bouquet of flowers as she strolled in and the smile on her face was so genuine! A page boy inched deeper into the church after her, followed by 3 bride maids, with one of them being the ring bearer. The sight of them was moving to me. This was not the most touching scene. As I watched Coreen led by her dad down the aisle and saw her looking from bench to bench greeting everyone, that glowy smile of hers touched me deeply. Omg. I think I can't handle friends' weddings. Lol.







The zoom-in as they exchanged wedding vows. Coreen looked absolutely stunning. I love wedding vows. 

I, ____, take you, ____, to be my (husband/wife). I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.

I, ____, take you, ____, to be my lawfully wedded(husband/wife), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

Aren't they the most romantic and sincere words you can ever say to your husband/wife?






Caught a picture of them after they were declared husband and wife by the Pastor. They were walking really quickly. I dunno how Coreen managed to do so since her wedding gown should be dragging her behind. Although I didn't have a good picture of them, but look at the background. Did you also see the happy glances at them? If those eyes can talk, they would be saying blessings to the couple.





And after the wedding, it's time for Grandma's 80th Birthday!
Cousin Li Jing, Elder Brother and I sponsored the buffet since we are working adults now.










Li Jing's company is a old time customer of the caterer so the caterer gave us abit more food than usual. I took a few from each tray and regretted after that. I was so FULL. Omg. Wondered how I ate up the cupcakes and the beancurd specially made by Aunt after that. Aunt made a great deal of effort imitating the Lao Ban Beancurd. The texture of her beancurd is smooth just like Lan Ban's. The taste wasn't the same since she substituted some of Lao Ban's ingredients with her own to make it a healthier dessert!








My cousins, Angela and Bernita baked muffins... They had such talents! These muffins are so yummy.. The blue spiral top tasted like New York cheesecake.






They baked cheesecake too!
I couldn't tear my eyes from the beautiful pieces of muffin made with love.
The stand was also custom made by them. They made sketches of it on a post-it note and planned how they could make it in a way that it stabilizes. Though it is shaky when we put the muffins and cheesecake, but with some physical muscle support from uncles it stood upright.

The colors blended well together. The brown colored stand, the yellow cheesecakes and the blue muffins!






The orange glow appeared when the candles lit. I was at the church in Toa Payoh where right in front of it was the bus stop. THE bus stop where the bus that goes directly to my granny's house stops at. But my cousin requested that I buy a candle that says "80". I went to Nex in the attempt to search for that special piece of candle. No luck. Found it at Plaza Sing's Spotlight. Took a 40 mins MRT ride to Granny's house. Spent nearly 2 hours for the search.

I ain't the romantic kind. Lol. My cousin wants to make the cake special she couldn't want that candle to be replaced by those typical 8 large candles. She really didn't want me to disappoint her so I tried not to, although I think that maybe the type of candles wouldn't make much of a difference. It's the people that matters. Lol. But after I saw the cake and cupcakes, I saw effort. I saw my young cousins brighten up when the candle came in sight. I was surprised by how much joy the candle can bring and I felt a sudden newfound respect for it. Lol.






This is hilarious. My relatives have the habit of having Grandma pick lottery numbers out from the containers with the aid of one of the younger kids in the family. My young cousin, Clarrissa, would swirl the folded bits of paper in the container and then give it for Grandma to pick.

Our beloved Granny!





A group photo! They commented that I drew my eyebrows too thick. Oops, I thought they looked fine until I saw this photo. Lol. Li Jing looked so funny with her trying-to-look-tall thing.
On the left of Granny are my 2 Singaporean-Vietnamese nieces. They are so cute and pretty!








Granny cutting the cake and hands started surrounding the stand to ensure that it wouldn't fall back ruining everything.





Uncle helped me with the other candid shots.


It was hilarious hearing how my cousin failed her Chinese O levels Oral Prelims. It is a sad story to see that my jia-kang-tang cousins spoke Chinese with an ang moh accent. Sad case.



And one last photo!



Ying and I at Miao's new house. I was so pleased with this photo that I showed it to Simba saying that it is so cute. He nodded his head and burst out laughing. He said I could be the only one saying that I'm cute. LOL.

Gardens By the Bay

Like any other weekday, I entered the lift at the Cancer Centre today to get to the 5th floor for work. But today wasn't like any other typical uninspiring morning. I entered the lift with an old lady and an old man with his wife. The old lady was telling the old man it would always be a bad thing to go up to the 3th floor (where our cancer clinics are). She said she just went up to the 3th floor and had to go to the 2nd floor or something after that. Couldn't really remember what she said. Anyway she exited the lift once it reached the 2nd floor. The old man then turned to me, smiled politely and said, "Going to the 3th floor is a bad thing? No, that's not what I think. I think it's still alright." He appeared relaxed and radiant when he said so, before exiting the lift at the 3rd storey with his wife.

Thank you uncle. You have cancer yet you stay so optimistic. The smile on your face will stay an impression in my mind for long.  I hope I can be as optimistic as you. :D


It was a Sunday yesterday. I decided I was ready to venture out of Serangoon! Lol. I wouldn't mind walking a little as long as my knees don't complain of pain. I broke into a grin when Jun Wen finally agreed to take me out. It's been not just a difficult time for me but him too. I held his neck for support. He had to support part of my weight. I postponed our 4-year anniversary date for a month now. Lol. And yes, WE are 4 years old! LOL.

I slipped into my comfortable dress, and waited patiently for him to finish his brought home work, and afterwards complained of hunger. I drummed my fingers against the table until he stopped working on it. That is how patient I was. Lol.






I came across a stamp card of this restaurant in Ion Orchard when I was laboriously grooming my room and remembered I long wanted to dine with him there. It was Ling's recommendation! 



Orchard MRT was busy. We had to push our way through the crowd to get out of the station. :( 
I have no idea why I get frustrated easily in trains and train stations. I always have the urge to grab someone by the collar. Lol. Do you too?






The Cheese Croquette Curry Rice I had. Still fantastic. You might get tired of the curry pretty soon but you will love the croquettes.





I looked awkward. But whatever.







His toronto ramen. It was great too but wasn't too filling for him. I think guys need to have rice instead of noodles for dinner to prevent their stomachs from rumbling near their sleep time.


It was 8pm when we were done with dinner. Gardens by the Bay closes at 9pm. Lol! I didn't think gardens would in fact close. But oh well.. It wasn't exactly a garden anyway. More like a tourist attraction.

Please pardon all the following photos I'm gonna show. The Gardens is a really too dark a place!




A glimpse of the "garden" upon entry.

Everywhere in the gardens was really dark, in contrast with the bright decorations.
Smoothing classical music that greatly compliments the garden played in the background.
A very "cui" photo taken by me.






This was slightly better but I wasn't at all satisfied.





U can walk along the boardwalk that leads you up to this bridge where optimal photo background is allowed. It's always a dilemma taking photographs at night. If you set flash, you see yourself but not the background. Vice versa if you abandon flash. Jun Wen tried optimizing the settings on my camera.
Bit blur but managed to light up the background.





Better but could have been better.





The best we could do. I steal glances at other people's camera and have the urge to ask them to send their well taken photos to me.






Guess this building behind him. Unfortunately to get a more meticulous photo, I mean, to able to capture the background with insufficient lights around us, we have to hold our camera to as stable possible. But I am born with shaky hands. Lol.







Marina Bay Sands Hotel could be seen just on top of us. I didn't know there is an image of the Singapore flag below the "boat" until yesterday. Yes, I am a true blue Singaporean. I am just not very observant. Lol.






I thought the ball-like building behind him was Esplanade. Simba always try not to be mean around me but once I pointed to it and exclaimed "Hey, that's Esplanade!" He couldn't contain himself and burst out laughing! Lol. He said I have such good knowledge. Lol.










Camera settings were revised by Simba. I'd take back the wish I have (buying a DSLR and using it to take part in photography contests). I'd ask him to submit his masterpiece and I can get the award for him. Lol.











The gardens consist of 5 smaller themed gardens. We were in one of them.
A lady saw him go all the way behind this rock statue, sticking his head within the hole. She asked me gently if I could take a photo of her behind the statue too. And she also went behind, sticking her head out. Lol.










The elephant rock looks more appropriate without him beside it. It looks so serene and sophisticated.










Me and my unkempt hair. Still the attempt to show u this gloriously magnificent background outweighs my look in this picture. I felt noble. Lol.











Me and the "Esplanade".
It is one of the cool conservatories actually, where you get to look at souvenirs, watch performances and dine at.





















He thinks rhinos are pleasing to the eye. Lol.











One of the photographs in the Viewing Gallery. It was 9pm when we entered the gallery and were told by the staff there that it was closing. Hence very hastily, I only took a few snapshots of the displayed photoshoots and hurried out.














Last photo before he cooked up an excuse to go back. Lol. He said my knees would hurt more if we continued exploring the place when actually he needed to get home to finish up his work.
Hope u fill up the rest of the themed gardens we hadn't been to!

Meet-up with People I have known for 8 years.

Didn't keep my promise again! Lol. I thought I had some free time but didn't! :D

The MRI results are out. In simple terms, I have a minor ligament tear and an ulcer on my cartilage. Poor me. Surgery is the best solution offered by the specialist. However, he said I could start with physiotherapy first and see how it goes. He is seeing me in 2 months' time. Let's hope for the best! My heart was pounding really fast when I waited for the results outside the clinic. I was hoping nothing serious would come up. I must say it was a relief to know that it wasn't that bad.

I am declaring finally I am going on a strict diet. One of the ways to ease pain and stress on the knees is to lose weight. Sigh. :(


Went out with the people I've met in Poly not too long after I fell. Jun Wen tried hard to persuade me but I followed through my own decision. Lol. It has been a long time since I last met them. It also wasn't nice to turn them down at the last minute. And so I went. To my surprise, the pain on the knees weren't as intolerable as before. :D


Wei Jian suggested having dinner at Just Acia, a place I wanted to patronize way back but didn't have a chance to.





This is us! We were missing Jason, our half sister who is in Australia pursuing his degree right now. Jia Liang and Song Hua have just graduated! It must be a long hard journey in school but they know it's worth it.
This photo was taken after dinner, so the not-too-pleasing-to-look table explained itself.






Another photo taken by Wei Jian's "friend". Wei Jian was exclaiming so loudly when he talked that the waiter beside us started to laugh. Lol. We then termed him as his "friend". My friends have grown to a marriageable age. We were updating one another about which apartment we bought, or going to buy. Most of us are getting married in the next 5 years I suppose with some of us having attached to the same partner since poly. Omg. It has been about 8 years!







The ice-cream at Just Acia is free flow. Love it. It was just too bad I couldn't gobble down all the ice cream there. But I asked Wei Jian to scoop all the flavours for me. Lol.



Someone suggesting going fish watching after dinner. Hence, Wei Jian, Daniel and Si Ting's boyfriend drove us down to Sports Hub @ Punggol. The definition of heading there was not to prawn or fish but to watch people fish. The people who did that said it was exciting seeing people get excited while fishing. Okie, I have never been to any places for fishing, prawning or fish watching, so I keep my opinions open.


I found some young girls skilfully catch fishes and was truly impressed. Some adults were struggling to catch one and eventually the fishing line broke.

Ting told me their charges. U would have to start paying $5 for a fishing line. And for every fishing line u broke, u pay another $5. I guess those young girls would just need the initial 5 buck.

I was also told that there was no bait. The hooks were in the ponds and some time or another, fishes in the pond would get hooked. Poor fishes. They struggled alot when they were caught on hooks, and even more when they were pulled out of the pond. I looked at the fishes filled with blood in the pails and quivered. Omg. Joanne was saying that the fishes must be traumatized. When they escaped from a hook, they have to worry about getting hooked again. The pond containing them is so small, they would be just waiting for their deaths.

I remember Jia Liang saying, "Whose idea was that? Such a sadistic idea! We just stand here and watch fishes die?!" Lol.





Wei Jian then called his "brothers" to play a game of table football. The machine was not functioning properly so we don't have to insert any coin to play. And we played endlessly.




I thought table football was sadistic too since you are controlling men with no limbs stuck in a long metal stick to make them kick the ball with their joined feet. Lol!