it's amazing to see there are so many things happen in the background the moment you click that 'publish' button: the life cycle of a blog post

joined a few friends for chinese new year shopping tour organized by one neigbourhood committee. I woke up super early this morning, and went to the meeting place. there were about 40 people involved, including the committee members. we got goodie bags, snacks and drinks.

places visited were cake factory, otah factory, Camel shop, chocolate tree shop, sauce factory and of course bakwa wholesale shop. it's so crowded especially the bakwa shop.

how would I know that a payment without receipt printed at AXS stations means payment not made, even though transaction is succesful?

quite agitated when I saw late charge in this month's credit card statement as I remembered clearly I paid my last month's charges in time (a few days in advance!) at the AXS station in my office building. the person before me who used that machine warned me that the machine didn't print out receipts. I still made the payment anyway and didn't bother to check if deduction was indeed made to my saving account. tsk!

after several attempts calling the bank's hotline, I managed to speak to the phone banker (their term, not mine) and had my late charge waived.. otherwise I'd have asked for cancellation.

glad that the wedding went well, both the church ceremony as well as the lunch :)

got a chance to sit at reception table and encountered all sort of stuff receptionists should go through, like looking for guests' names in the super long list of table allocation when you're not even sure how the names are spelt and if the surnames are even printed at all. answering people's queries on their table numbers even after they've been told just a few minutes ago. people who're not happy with their table-mates and request for a swap. people whose names are not in the list. people's queries on why couples' names are printed twice on the list (*sigh*.. answer: 'cos you can't expect two persons to share a single seat).

people at table no.2 played around with the conrad bear souvenirs - bear gathering for seabass fish head.

went for rehearsal for friends' wedding this evening. although the chapel has low ceilings, the acoustic isn't that great.. we're unable to hear any feedback at all from the front, as the speakers are located near the second pew facing the congregation. it's quite frustrating since we can't gauge how we're being heard although it's actually quite loud. cross my fingers now.. hopefully we can hit the right notes at the right time..

so many places to see, yet so little time..

went to clementi arcade in between sunday morning mass and choir practice for a friend's wedding, to try the famous the daily scoop ice cream. we took bus, train, plus 600m walk, only to find out that it opens on 2pm on sundays.. argggh!

done with andrea hirata's third book edensor, from the laskar pelangi tetralogy. loved this series. totally different from other teenlit, chicklit and metropop novels, it talks about the courage to dream, and to believe in your dreams. can't wait for the final book to be out.

tried the new eatery at the newly revamped bugis junction basement - hip diner usa by billy bombers, as we wanted to try their cheese fondue. ended up ordering the snail chicken & cheese as well.

sausages came on a hot plate, with mashed potato and corn on the cob. cheese sausage was juicy and tender, but I didn't really enjoy the snail-like sausage, marche's is nicer.


cheese fondue was yummy - onion rings, fries and nachos served alongside a bowl of hot melted cheese.

I've just finished watching denias - senandung diatas awan, thanks to youtube. a story about the struggle a young papuan boy went through to get himself a proper education. it's entertaining and at the same time inspirational.

nothing much happened recently. just the same routines over and over again. work on weekdays, church and choir practices on weekends.

tried surf 'n turf at suntec city this evening, to make full use of the voucher from the bank that we got recently. ordered meatball spaghetti and steak & cheese melt sandwich. nothing fantastic about this place, just a usual american food joint. but service was quite good, though.

current songs in the playlist: connie talbot's from over the rainbow.

had lunch at bangkok jam - great world city this afternoon, as we needed to attend a choir practice on the nearby church afterwards. chose this place because of the voucher we got from a bank ($15 off for minimum $30 of purchase).

we ordered the food we're already familiar with - pad thai with seafood and olive fried rice. ice lemon grass tea and banana tempura for dessert.

olive fried rice was good and not oily, although the portion looked small due to the big white porcelain plate they used. pad thai was satisfying as well, but the seafood comprised of only prawn, squid and fried fish - 2 pieces each.

ice lemon grass tea was flavourful. but the best was the banana tempura - 5 pieces of deep fried sweet, soft and warm banana topped with gooey caramel sauce, sprinkled with white sesame and raisins, accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. heavenly!

made oreo cheesecake this afternoon at a friend's place. ingredients include toblerone white chocolate plus sugar plus thick cream, hence the result is a bit too sweet to my liking, as the cheesy taste from cream cheese is almost taken over by the sweet taste. maybe we should tweak the recipe a little bit..

met a few ex-colleagues for dinner at pasta de waraku, marina square. had a nice time catching up with recent updates and happenings :) we only walked out from the restaurant due to nature call to visit the ladies, haha.. I really have to commend the waitresses for the effort in topping up our green tea..

I had a big bowl of prawn cheese curry udon. it's good, but I think I prefer rice to udon.

to prove to myself that I can still write a proper, comprehendible article in my mother tongue, I submitted a travel journal of my new zealand trip to one of the leading online newspaper communities. and it's already published! *so excited* the editor did a few minor changes like setting italic font for non-standard words and splitting the long paragraphs into shorter ones. I'll now monitor the comments, to confirm that it is indeed understandable enough :)

new year's eve, new year day - early knock-off from office. grocery shopping. food preparation. bbq and steamboat dinner. male vs. female taboo session. tip of fireworks. new year call. new year greetings. another taboo game. supper. last train. changi. popeye. T3 sneak preview. long nap. laksa fried rice. chocolate and strawberry the movie.