Nothing new

Yesterday, on the way home from work, I bought bread at a bakery further away from where I usually buy from. The reason being I wanted to stop by Blk 40 to get the super yummy BBQ stingray =P Was carrying my laptop with one hand, and my Witchery handbag with another, so my laptop (almost) fell when I was reaching for the bread tray.

Then suddenly *wooooosh* came the salesguy from behind the counter and even left a lady customer there waiting. He asked me what I wanted to get and took the tray (and bread) for me.

Is that awesome customer service or what?


...versus


Today, I was carrying my laptop as well. Stopped by a bakery @ Holland Village to get the yummy floss bread. THREE girls huddled around the counter and didn't even look up when I handed my tray over. Then a Caucasian dude (mid to late 20s I'd say) came to the counter to my right.

The way the shop assistant said "one-fifty" to the guy was GOSH so yuckily sweeeeeet compared to the rude "one-fifty" she muttered to me just 2 seconds ago. I was so tempted to steal a glance at the guy to see if he flinched. After handing over a $2 note, the salesgirl gave back my change and receipt with her eyes still glued onto the guy, not even a 'thanks'. I'm not surprised when she said to him 'thanks' and 'bye' in the cheesiest way imaginable.

I guess the Pinkerton syndrome can never really go away even a country has upgraded from its 3rd world status.

week 1, 2009!

=D

Why?

1. It's the weekend!

artistic tree sculpture thing outside raffles mrt
actually found this by mistake while looking for the camera store =P

interesting name for a shop! @ a nearby mall

2. three more weekends to go before attachment/work is done! muahaha

3. Went to watch the Cinderella musical yesterday night @ Esplanade theatre. THE BEST MUSICAL EVER minus the lady in front who kept leaning forward, hence blocking my (partial) view. But all the romantic songs and dancing kept me from telling her off. The dresses and backdrop were wowly dazzling. Wished we were sitting more in front so can have better looks at the costumes and characters' faces (especially the prince and Lea Salonga's).

on the way to Esplanade- walking past the supreme court!

walkway to the "durians". can also see the flyer from here
a group of people playing RUGBY towards the right. not soccer.
RUGBY. IN SINGAPORE. -__-

the supreme court. see the UFO-lookalike structure? How interesting.

a fountain we saw along the way

a monument commemorating the fallen during the war

random singer performing @ the Esplanade
one of the reasons I like going there: there's always something on whenever

no way Regent Theatre can compare with this!

the glitter on the curtains actually flicker!

I love the lighting and how they changed scenes so quickly. the backdrop, stairs, and the beautiful carriage! We were all puzzled by one thing : how Cinderella changed from her rags clothing to the beautiful gown in less than 2 seconds!!!
yea I know it says no audio/visual photography allowed, but heaps of people were taking photos BEFORE the start of the musical, so why not?

4. I bought a Gorillapod SLR!!! *teehee*

photo by mwboeckmann
a gorillapod slr in action.

In case you're not familiar with it, the Gorillapods are super cute tripod-alternatives designed by Joby. I'm planning to try using it during some serious sunset photo session soon =)

5. I bought a new Lowepro camera bag! The old (and free) bag which came with my camera is torn at so many places already. And it was on half price! Gorillapod + bag = just enough to claim visitor rebate of 7%!

6. it is exactly 2 more weeks till I go back to Kuching for CNY celebrations! I'm not so much into actually celebrating: visiting, for me, is pointless. Having to buy new clothes every year for CNY is unncessary too, I like buying on impulse/when I see something I like- that's why I'm not planning to shop specifically for new year. And of course, catching up with the youths from church and ex schoolmates. We'll have plenty to catch up on, I'm sure.

7. The 1st full week of 2009 has offically come and gone.

8. Chyi Mei is in LV's latest commercial! =P

9. I found out that I'll be on the same flight home to Kuching with Julianna! What a coincidence!

10. Just the fact that today's a Friday, and that my mentor is coming back to work on Monday. =)

Mount Faber trip

WOOt. I noticed that I'm blogging more frequently these days. Whatever that means.

Was supposed to meet up with Julianna aka president of the ancient 38 group we created AGES ago in secondary school hehehe- but she's still sick, so we headed over to Mount Faber this afternoon instead.

It's basically a hill measuring 105 metres near Harbourfront mrt station, a nice lookout point and a popular tourist destination- according to wikipedia.

The sun was blazing hot, but we made it to the top after a 2 hours' hike!!!

Just kidding. We took the shuttle bus number 409 from harbourfront interchange straight to Mount Faber =P

orchid! SG's national flower

here we saw SG's 4th (and smallest) merlion
ah the beauty of self timers- not risking it to let someone else take handle my camera after that "fighting-couple-during-NY-countdown" drama haha

arrows pointing to a country/city's direction
this one's pointed to Brunei

basically the view from the top
...of HDB flats. and more HDB flats. and moreeeeee HDB flats =P

peeking through

not sure what to call these... wall art?
they show SG's history -> present

see the resemblance?

another lookout point

one of the many prepaid binoculars around the park
I actually think it looks like wall-E

greenery. everywhere.

Nice view, probably not the best and most representative of Singapore, but not bad for a lookout point & park. Wanted to use the cable car to go back to Vivocity but ehhhh $20+/person just for a short ride when bus is only $1, no thanks. Saving that cable car ride for a Sentosa trip soon.

Tomorrow's another Monday. Mondays are particularly loooooong. =(

But I'm looking forward to Thursday night's Cinderella musical @ Esplanade YAY!!! and of course, less than 2o days before CNY and home again =)

running ahead

So here's the looking-back-at-2008 and what's-ahead-at-2009 post =)

Here's the list of 2008, in no particular order:

1. 2008 was the year of work experience.

I started off 2008 still working at a job I had since late 2006, as a motel cleaner at a motel along George Street. The boss and wife were such good employers, I felt bad leaving the job, and them. It was minimum pay ($12/hour), and I can assure you that it's never a nice feeling waking up early on a Saturday morning washing toilets and occassionaly smelling some pretty nasty things. I finally quit my first job in NZ around Feb 08.

My 2nd job was at Domino's Pizza. Ah, the memories there. I remember how you guys used to make fun about how that particular colleague of mine there who had a crush on me and always offered to drive me home. Hey, nothing wrong with getting free pizzas and garlic cheese bread once in a while! =P It was a fun job, though I got to see the ugly side of drunk students working there. I'm glad it was a short-lived job. Great manager(s), though.

I quit Domino's to join Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in their temporary workforce sometime in March. My first "real" job, I would say. An office job. One which I had my own swipecard, own workstation with dual-screen lcd monitors, getting to work whenever I want and how many hours I want to every week, getting paid above the minimum pay, and working alongside Michelle =) It was great; freedom in my work hours, no worries, rushing to and fro from lectures and labs to work, wearing formal wear etc. It got pretty stressful towards the end of the year, trying to juggle work (yes I was greedy) and studies at the same time. I'm grateful for those 6 months I got to working in that environment, not a perfect one but definitely a real eye-opener in so many ways. And yes, it contributed a lot towards my Europe travel fund =) Too bad work there is only during office hours; if not I'd continue working there this year.

Now, in SG, I'm thankful for this job/attachment at Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS). My first "job" that's actually related to my future degree. Though I complain quite a bit about how it's not entirely microbiology-based but more towards genetics, it's still a valuable experience. A chance for me to live in another country, albeit a short 3 months, to consider the possibility of working here after graduation. Getting to explore SG is a definite bonus, considering the last time I actually stepped out of Changi airport was more than 5 years ago.

2. 2008- the year we organised our very own SHINE '08 camp!

stolen from Greg's facebook photos. eh why some of you guys' faces hidden?

I'm sure every single one of you who went to SHINE '08 have sooo many stories to retell. From secretly giving gifts to "mortals" and trying to guess who our "guardian angels" were, to the hunt to see glow worms at night, and the shoe stealing competition... and also the hundreds of photos to capture those memories and friendships that were strengthened. SHINE '08 was easily, my favourite camp ever.

3. Ray and Mich's wedding 15.06.08


The 1st ever wedding of close friends that I'd been to. Truly an honour being one of the bridesmaids, and boy did we have fun during the pre-make up session, the hectic-ness trying to decorate Blue Sky restaurant, praying for good weather during the photoshoot... Now I have a rough idea of what it takes to organise a wedding- nothing but easy. So remember, couples, *wink wink you know who you are* give us extra notice ok! =P

4. All our birthdays. =)

It's tradition: to plan for a fake surprise at midnight only to say that we're too busy for lunch/dinner then have another surprise again. And the presents which are getting more and more expensive. Who knows, we might actually break the tradition this year. OR maybe even create a new tradition?

5. of unicol, unicol, and unicol

Nothing's better than having so many friends being Residential Assistants (RA) at a residential hall. I'll always remember the sleepovers at Sam's room, free lunches/dinners & trying to avoid getting caught, the night it snowed there, watching football matches, watching the live Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, playing Halo3 on xbox360 at the RA room, Lighthouse bbq at Greg's, etc. It feels sad not being able to just walk into Unicol this year =(

6. travels

2008 wasn't a big year of traveling for me. During early Feb when my parents came over to NZ, we toured around south island- went to Te Anau, Milford Sound, Queenstown. During June, I spent the mid year break at Auckland with the Pancakes, fun times. And now, it's safe to say I'm a visitor here at Singapore- taking time to explore this city.

7. New friendships & strengthening of old ones ;)


The addition of the new (not necessarily young =P) ones to the family: Hsiu Ping, Valerie, Bernard, Sharon T., Glenn, Amy, Mae Ann, etc. Oh and of course, the new couples hehehe Bernard & Val, Mae Ann & Ben. Getting to flat with new flatties: Sharon and Yan. Can't wait for another year of flatting with a group of awesome girls =) Letting go of the "oldies" who have to leave after their graduation/postings with a heavy heart.

2009 would (hopefully) be the year I:

1. Graduate with good results
2. Secure a job before graduation
3. Know where I'm heading to after goal #1
4. Organise a fabulous graduation trip (US/Aus/North Asia?)
5. Aim to organise my finances aka actually record down my income/expenditure

and of course, all those be-a-better-person-or-friend blahs. Don't be surprised that I'm not wishing for a relationship- 2009 will not be the year. There's still so much to accomplish, so little time. Agree, Chyi? =P The right person and the right time will come some day, so I can't be bothered chasing after that right now. Questions answered, I hope?

2OO9!

This year, ushering in the new year was different from the previous years.

2008/2009- I spent it in another country, this time in Singapore. There's no excuse in spending a boring new year countdown here- there's heaps of countdown events going on simultaneously everywhere around this small island I've been calling home for almost 2 months now.

Being (slightly too) ambitious, I'd wanted to try out my camera capturing beautiful fireworks displays. Sadly for me, I began my hunt for a tripod (I left mine among one of the many packed boxes somewhere in Dunedin) too late in the afternoon yesterday. Only managed to look around at Orchard Road and resigned to NOT having a tripod after being told they were sold out. *sniff* Which means there's no way of getting good photos of the fireworks without blurring issues.

So Ron and I went to the countdown show at Marina Bay quite early; I wanted to scope for the best spots there. Gosh there were already so many people crowded around the Esplanade Drive and along the bay by 7pm-ish. Many people even brought picnic mats and secured a nice spot for fireworks-watching by then.

Not wanting to be squished among the hundreds upon thousands of people later during the night, we opted to buy the tickets to watch the (quoted from the website): "star-studded countdown show at The Float @ Marina Bay, where they will be able to enjoy 'live' performances by popular MediaCorp Channel 5 celebrities, such as Fiona Xie, Michelle Chia, Gurmit Singh, Adrian Pang, Taufik Batisah, Hady Mirza and many more. Tickets for the show are available at $18 and $25 through authorised SISTIC agents. Performances start from 9pm onwards, all the way till 12.15am".

The countdown show was BLEH. Poor emcees trying to hype up the atmosphere, which I thought was lacklustre enough except for the times after each tv commercial break (the countdown was aired live) when I could hear the occassional shouts and cheers. I have to give them props for making us do the "Marina Bay wave" (copyrighted from the Kallang/Mexican wave) many times, from the left to right, from front to back...). No outside food/drink was allowed inside, and the queue to buy food and to go to the toilets were soooooo long. According to the emcees, there were more than 10,000 people who bought tickets to see the full show, and more than 250000 in total @ Marina Bay.

The one thing I'd remember the most is probably the loud quarrel between an angry wife with her poor husband sitting one row behind us. It started off with the husband handing the camera over to another guy to take a photo of them. Then "PLUNK" went the camera, onto the ground the lens looking irreparable.

A few seconds later, we were greeted with the angry screams of the wife: "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!!! It's MY camera you know!!! It's a good camera, you know! I spent so much money buying it you know! I want you to buy it right now! How am I supposed to take photo of the fireworks!!!" I pity the husband (who didn't raise his voice at all), looking so downcast and has probably muttered more than 100 sorries the whole night, who knows how many more when they got home.

He very patiently took in more screams and demands for the next hour or so, until an exasperated couple behind them spoke up. I know it's Asian culture to mind our own business, but obviously it's been going on for far TOO long and no one else dared to interfere.

The young lady who spoke up (TYLWSU), with tattoos and all, said "EH everyone is here to celebrate, so can you take your quarreling outside?"
Angry very pissed wife (AVPW): Who are YOOOOOOU to tell me what to do?! You don't even know what happened!!!!!
TYLWSU: I don't CARE what happened. WHAT you think that your voice very loud so more big shot is it?
AVPW: (clenching her fists) (can't remember what she said except the B**** word)

By then, everyone around was looking at them. TYLWSU's boyfriend/husband was already rolling up his sleeves and looking menacingly at AVPW and her husband. TYLWSU took a few steps forward after hearing the B word, looking ready to punch AVPW. I've got to salute AVPW's super patient husband for apologizing to TYLWSU and bf so many times, while his wife just stared them down.

After countless apologies, TYLWSU and bf went back to their seats. AVPW was finally quiet, while her poor husband kept saying he'd buy her a better camera the next day.

"Don't want! It's a good camera, YOU KNOW!"
"OKOK I'll buy you the EXACT same camera tomorrow"
"DON'T WANT I want a new one TONIGHT!"
"How to go tonight...?"
"I don't care HOW!!!! I want to take photos of the fireworks tonight!!!"

P.S. It was dark, I didn't get a good look at the camera, but it's no dslr, just a compact cam. And during one point, AVPW even demanded the husband to take out his mobile phone, and she deliberately threw it away! Poor husband went to pick it up (not sure if it was damaged) with so many people watching the drama.

Somehow AVPW didn't force the poor husband to buy one that very night during new year's eve. Emotional abuse! So funny right after that Ron suddenly said he didn't want to buy a camera anymore =P And we were guessing how long it took for people who sat right in front of AVPW to move to other seats. Some of them didn't even last for 20 seconds.

What a sad way for them to spend New Year's day. While PDA was going on in front of us, they sat in silence after the fight, not sure if they even wished each other happy new year.

ANYWAY besides that, the fireworks display was AWESOME!

just before sunset, the skyscrapers overlooking the clear blue skies.
those floating balloon-like things are part of the "wishing sphere project"

The Wishing Sphere Project is a significant component of the Marina Bay SINGAPORE Countdown. Members of the community are all invited to join in the project by penning their wish for the New Year on a wishing sphere. Each wishing sphere represents a hope, a belief that the New Year will bring new possibilities and the promise of a brighter tomorrow.

dusk. such a gorgeous view

the view from the "floating platforms" where we sat
different coloured lights illuminated the wishing spheres: blue, orange, etc.

one of the noisy rock bands performing. local, I think.
the lead singer even climbed one of the poles once- crazy stunt

can you spot the celebrity? =P

unidentified singer & dancers

Phua Chu Kang (PCK) and guy in blue suit (can't remember his stage name) with Barbarella Posh Beckham (girl with PRC accent/infatuated with VJ Utt)

another singer

Gurmit Singh, Adrian Pang (if I'm not mistaken), and VJ Utt (left - right)
PCK: I never changed so fast in my life! haha!

the whole cast of performers towards the end of the show just before midnight. managed to get home by 1am, thanks to the trains extending operation till 2am

last but not least, a short video showing the last part of the fireworks display
be prepared to say WOW

I'd wanted to blog on NY eve but didn't have the chance to. Anyway, to all my friends & family- no matter where you are =D I treasure and miss you all SO MUCH, really wished we could all celebrate new year's day together. Much love to all you SHINERS

Have a HAPPY and fruitful 2009 =)