Merry Christmas dear friends! It's 6 weeks post surgery. I'm not improving fast enough to achieve the stability my physiotherapist wants me to have and the hope of having the knee brace removed before Christmas was smashed. Walking is still a tad tough for me but the warmth emanating from friends who care and quite a number of kind strangers kept me going. Strangers I met are often people who asked if I was alright, reminded me to be careful when I walk or gave up their seats for me. The unconcealed knee brace worn on top of my leggings work like a charm; I have gotten over the embarrassment of letting people stare at the brace since maxi skirts which can perfectly hide it are hazardous. I lost count of how many times I stepped on one and almost lost my balance because of that. I just ain't tall enough (ahem I am tall, just not tall enough) and the skirt extends beyond my ankles. Most girls solve the problem by wearing high heels but unless I want to run the risk of falling flat on the ground and cause another unfortunate ligament accident, I won't want to try that. Hence I was only left with the choice of wearing the skirt up above the waist (lol). Coincidentally, high waist pants / skirts are still chic! However wearing the supposedly at-the-hip maxi skirt as a high waist skirt to work wasn't the tough part. The tough part was dealing with people dashing into trains in a flash and their high tendency to injure me. Hence the brace not only serve well in its job of protecting the graft, but also say hey to people so that they avoid bumping onto me when they rush to work. Gonna give credit to the top 3 Good Samaritans I have met since I went back to work: #1. Good Samaritan Winner: Was using a whole lot of strength dragging my left leg while I walked down the slope when I felt someone hold my arm to lend me her support. She held me and walked with me at a tremendous slow speed until we reached the MRT station and handed me to Jun Wen. #2. Good Samaritan 1st Runner-Up: She asked where I was heading to and once I said the MRT, she waved down the SGH shuttle bus for me (It was about to leave) and got me onto it. And from then on, I took the shuttle bus from the Cancer Centre to Outram MRT and saved 15 minutes of both walking time and exertion of the injury everyday. #3. Good Samaritans 2nd Runner-Up: 2 men on 2 separate days walked behind me, stayed beside me and walked ahead of me to watch me walk. (lol) Then after hesitating about almost 5 minutes (of walking beside, behind and ahead of me), they finally asked if I was okay. Perhaps if they didn't offer to help, they will feel guilt-ridden at night when they self-reflect and would be unable to sleep. Lol. Either that or men tend to hesitate much more than women as their true intentions are often misread by women. Thank you Good Samaritans. God bless you wherever you go! I should really work on my appreciation towards others. Other than a dozen times of saying thank you, I dunno what else to say to let others feel my appreciation. Jun Wen uploaded the following image of us wearing helmets at Segway Sentosa in the year of 2010 as his cover photo and one of his colleagues commented, "Wah, last time u so skinny ah!" Lol.
It's Christmas Eve today! Jun Wen and I enjoyed a half day off work. Our head of department treated us to a exquisite lunch buffet while Simba had potluck with his colleagues. Being a glutton, I immersed myself in the buffet, totally forgetting to check my phone the whole time and poor Simba waited half an hour for me to return his call. He was already near my workplace when he called. Being in a Christmassy mood, I wanna walk as far as my legs could take me, so we explored the new extension of Plaza Sing together and took breaks from time to time so that my legs wouldn't feel like they were on the verge of breaking. We had one of our breaks at Gloria Jean's Coffee. He confessed that he slept at 3am the night before largely due to his love for killing man-eating zombies to make the virtual world a better place to stay in, so he was weary from the lack of sleep. Perfect timing for a cup of coffee to perk him up.
We don't usually drink hot coffee but since we forgot to mention "Iced" to the staff, we accepted our own mistakes and drank the whole thing up. I ordered Irish Nut Creme and he Choc Macademia Latte. Mine was great and worth every penny. Didn't like his but he loved it, so well what do I know? Do you know that high-end coffee is one thing that Singaporeans squander their money on? They (Okie okie, "We") are always hunting for cafes to sit in and sip on expensive coffees while waiting for their friends to turn up, studying for exams or chatting with friends. I don't remember the Starbucks in Malaysia or Thailand was ever once so occupied with people that you can't find any available seats. But in Singapore, it's always the case. Took plenty of photos with the drinks while waiting for them to cool down a little but drew some attention from the surrounding curious patrons in the meantime. Lol. I was totally blending into the background! I thought I was in for a pleasant surprise when he took up some minutes to take a picture of me but it turned out that I was totally wrong. Lol. Take 2 still failed. Lol. I quite like the bit blur though so that my flaws wouldn't be obvious to the eye. I wore a Toga dress beneath the cardigan. Toga dresses not only come in a maxi form, but also in a shorter style for girls like me with not enough height to conquer maxis with style! My turn! Now I can take lots of candid, with many to choose from later without having to worry that they might be blurred because the shutter speed is awesomely high. Stirring drinks is the man's job. Lol. After window shopping for two floors of the new extension, the leg strength weakened too much that the first instinct was to sit down and dine at Canele, the restaurant in our proximity, an hour before dinner time. Tried the colour sketch function of the camera. The tile patterns on the floor are so pretty in the sketch aren't they? Some more photos to show our active involvement with the new cam. :D My first experience with Canele was the time I dined with Cousin at the Wheelock Place's outlet. What stayed in my long term memory was that the food especially the desserts was fantastic and the service alright. But this time I was utterly disappointed. This crabmeat pasta didn't look appetizing nor taste at least passable. We even think that the crabmeat had a certain uncooked smell. Yuck right! His Marinara wasn't suited to our taste too. Maybe its uniqueness caught us by surprise so much that we didn't know how to appreciate its goodness. At least it does look good. It was both our first time having macarons. :D Left: Hazelnut Right: Chestnut Obsession We couldn't understand how these macarons have the capability of catering to the tastes of people after having a bite. They were too sweet, so sweet I think I taste obesity. Lol. The hazelnut tasted like ultra sweet red bean paste omg. That was our Christmas Eve! Couldn't walk after that and wound up taking a cab home.. again.. Found a clothing label I like there and it's Lowrys Farm! Great taste, great style! Ladies, I'm sure u will like it too so now head over there and grab something you like!
I love my new boyf, Mr Nikon D3200! What else would I have time for now that I have my new toy? Lol. Having the whim of the moment to present you the 1st few photos I took using my new boy! The old boyfriend Jun Wen not only succumbed to become the "old boyfriend" but also a guinea pig! He said he wanted to take a nap but was farming at "Hay Day" on his iPad! When I drew nearer to him with the camera, he shrieked for me to keep it away but after assuring him that I just need to test it out, he caved and gave me his most natural look. Sad to say this was his natural look. Lol. I'm deeply sorry for the eyesore I have caused in the background; I wasn't aware that the Disneyland plastic bag and Mr Eeyore fell onto the floor. I might never capture this ultimate epic expression of his so I'd better not take the risk of pushing aside Eeyore to take a 2nd photo with a less busy background. Well well this is just a test shot. Don't take it too seriously okie? He then said, "No no more photos of me!" and used Stitch to block him. I seized the moment to make him the background, and he actually posed for it. Don't you think he is so ironic? He basically wants to seek attention but was hiding this intention. Then I coerced him to sit down and gave me an expression of joy but he seemed to portray a masterpiece of the meaning of the word "doubt". What do you think? Did he manage to pull off the expression of happiness? Now one last photo to show before I dive into Dreamland: It's the photo of Xmas presents I have prepared with love for my friends, the photo I posted on Facebook. Took MC every Wednesday to go for doctor's consultation and physiotherapy. Had sometime in the afternoon last Wednesday to wrap all the presents. Took hours to wrap 16 of them, both mine and Jun Wen's. I had to msg JW to quote him a price for the service. I quoted $2 for 1 present and thus it totalled to $16 for 8. And the good natured simpleton replied, "Sure, I will subscribe to your wrapping service." Lol. I guess the daylight robbery wasn't much of a problem to him! In the relentless pursuit of a great photo, I lined the pressies up on my new sofa, and took almost 20 photos of them with occasional rearrangement so that I can choose one which captures the kind of feel I want my audience to have when they first set their eyes on it. Wanna make my photo look as though the presents are endless, and like Christmas, a day of sharing and giving, the joy of giving and receiving is endless. (*Note that I wrote "giving" first to imply that the joy of giving is greater than that of receiving.)
Dad is so cute. He saw me working so hard to capture one good shot and exclaimed, "Go and learn some photography skills at our nearby CC. This camera needs some good angle and lightning you know (He is so hip right!) Ask Jun Wen to learn and teach you!" Oops, looks like Simba got another homework to do!
Bought all of these from Nex's Isetan and The Body Shop, and was entitled to be their member! (I'm so sorry that Nex is still the furthest I can go.) The knee brace was still grasping onto my leg for support while I shopped for presents and this saleslady came up to me and exclaimed, "Oh dear, that's some unique pants u have!" LOL! After I clarified that the knee brace wasn't some kind of fashion accessory but a tool to aid my stability, she was utterly embarrassed and walked away after apologising a million times.
P.S: We are going to volunteer at SPCA after my recovery. Cool~ Loving animals now after loving mice. :D
Being an extremely helpful person, I helped Jun Wen make a phone call for an advanced reservation at the restaurant Bosses (黑社会) Vivocity for his Christmas lunch with his colleagues. Had formed a simple sentence in my mind few seconds before the phone call to avoid stammering later on. My perfect sentence would go like, "Hi, good afternoon, I would like to make a reservation for 7 for the coming Monday at 12 30pm." But the Chinese waitress caught me by surprise. She greeted me in Mandarin! As I always have the habit of replying people in the language they first spoke to me with, I accommodated to her but stammered in Chinese throughout. "嗨你好，我想订一个桌子给coming的星期一。” How much more cui can I get? Can you believe that I literally translated my sentence to Chinese? As much as I wanna complete my sentence in Mandarin, the anxiety got better of me and no Chinese character to replace "coming" came to rescue me out of that frantic moment. How can I not think of practising my sentence in Mandarin too to save myself from such unnecessary embarrassment? 命苦啊！ How do you say "make a reservation for the coming Monday" in Chinese? Let me try it again here. "嗨你好，我想订一个七个人的位子在下个星期一的十二点半。” Sounds much better but still it might leave an awkward impression. Well am glad it's over and gonna throttle Jun Wen afterwards. Lol. A xmas present came knocking on my door early this year. It's Nikon D3200! :D This is an entry-level DSLR for beginners like me. I'm so going to Gardens by the Bay for some intense scenery photo-taking after the knee is ready. Not saying that I wanna learn or cultivate ultimate photography skills and be one of those hardcore photographers but just wanna try my best to capture vivid beautiful moments of the places I may visit later on in life. Was inspired by my friends who own professional cameras and take good quality images. Some have exceptional photography skills and make their photos one of the kind - you may not be able to recapture that candid momentary shot ever again no matter how much you try to get everyone in the picture to cooperate and relive that moment. Once the moment has passed, it passed. I shall let the following photos which were taken by my friends' professional cameras do all the talking now. Thank you Miao, Ling, Sharon and Kevin for all the spectacular photos. They will remain as my favourites! :D Photos that got me inspired into getting a professional camera
Photos are in chronological order.
Hi dears! 12.12.12 is the last repetitive date for the century. I mean, the next one will be on 1st Jan 2101 and I won't live to see that day. All those dates since the start of the 21st century are a timeless classic, as they are such memorable and romantic days, although I admit that to wed on these dates is kind of uncreative. How many weddings have you witnessed from 01.01.01 to 12.12.12? I have seen many. Just feel that it's a pity not having able to wed today! BUT it's fine. It's fine really. REALLY. . . . Okie I lied. Lol. I have a thimbleful of regret. Here I said it! It's just cos I am such a hopeless romantic. LOL! Here's a rhetorical question: 11 chances to get married these 11 years and I did not grasp any one of these? Oh well, ultimately it's just a date. I don't have to be so melodramatic about it. Don't even know why I had a propensity to wed on such dates. We will find another date more personal to us. No biggie! Gonna introduce you to some songs that I never get tired listening to before I bombard you with pictures of dinner at Chillis. 1. David Choi's Lucky Guy. Promise me you will watch the whole MTV and tell me later if you teared watching it. Cos I did.
Beautiful lyrics. 2. 失落沙洲. After Jun Wen recommended this song to me, it kept lingering in my mind. "我不是一定要你回来。。" Sad but definitely a endearing song.
3. Jayesslee's cover of Price Tag. Twin youtube celebrities with angelic voices.
4. Jayesslee's cover of Payphone
3rd Oct was the day I accomplished a year of work at NCCS, and so did PH and KP, and something that calls for a celebration! We were at Chillis hoping to uncover the secret behind the large dinner crowd during dining hours. Secret #1. Happy Hours daily, 1-for-1 cocktail! My all-time favorite mojito. Anything with mint leaves is top-notch, mai siao siao! Now please don't hate me for posting the following food pictures that may make you salivate. I was just hoping that they speak to you. Secret #2. Good food. Monterey Chicken was what I ordered. I had no qualms on why people swarm to Chillis after tasting this but in case you have qualms on the sensitivity of my tastebuds, my colleagues had tried parts of it and only affirmative comments of its goodness were heard. The cauliflower too was Awesome with a capital A. PH's Southern Smokehouse Bacon Burger. I don't think the chefs there disappoint her too! Crispy Honey-Chipotle Chicken ordered by CS. According to him, this wasn't warm enough and the taste is at first good but not great, and then it deteriorates. Texas Cheese Poppers as our sides. Coming from a person who doesn't eat hard stuff, this was a no-no. KP's Fajita Trio. Grilled steak, chicken and shrimp at a whopping $35! I guess he was feeling rich that day, but from the look of it, he might have found that money worthwhile. Yea, it rocks. Like me, KP loves capturing photos of food. Maybe someday he will get to be a food critic/blogger. CS. The guy who loves mice, and wound up looking like one. Also not forgetting the undying love for his nephew. KP. The future inventor of beauty scanner and Mr More-than-Perfect. PH. Ms chatterbox who may possibly die anytime when she stops talking. :D Secrets #1 and #2 are pretty much it. Not that I can't think of anything else but don't you agree that the formula for a well run F&B business should be good food plus attractive promos? Good service will be a bonus too. I rate Chillis a 4 out of 5! It loses that 1 point mainly due to the noises made by the large crowd, although most of them were contributed by us muahahaha.
