Just clearing some work before I enjoy the rest of the day. I wish it could be like this always, I wake up to a 20 degree morning, take a hot shower, brew myself a hot merchant coffee latte, have a freshly toasted crumpet, turn on the radio (for now it’s Nova938), and do my work.
posted in Random | 3 Comments
Attended Randall and Melody’s wedding dinner at the Shang on Saturday night. It was beautiful, THEY are beautiful.
And best of all… there was no sharks fin soup! Well done you two!
Wishing you all the best for the future, and may you have a lot of little Randalls and Melodys soon!
posted in Friends | 0 Comments
I love how this duvet cover feels on my skin… something about it, maybe the thread count? Or fabric softener? It’s soooo soft I could wrap myself around it for the whole day.
But of course, I couldn’t do that, I had RAC come over this morning.
Got the car battery replaced, and she’s purring like a kitty. But she looked horrible, she had a thick layer of dust over her.
After the RAC guy left, I showered, got changed, and headed to the nearest gas station to pump her tyres at 32 psi. Who says women are incapable of taking care of their wheels. Tsk. I managed just fine.
Then headed to the manual car wash to get her cleaned.
Now I finally feel like I’m on holiday, enough dramas for now please.
Went down to subi to grab some groceries, but of course by then it was 2pm and I was starving! So I had a fantastic beef & mushroom pie at Funtastico on Rockeby Road.
I was so hungry, I forgot to take a picture of the pie. Realised a bit too late, here’s a picture of the aftermath.
After which I went down to the car shop to get my lights checked, coz one of the high beams wasn’t working, turns out it was just a bad connection.
Went down to Merchant Coffee to get my week’s dose of ground espresso beans, and took a drive past Tweedale Road. It’s funny, every time I’m back in Perth, I would drive past Tweedale, just because it brings back so many good memories, and I guess I like to be reminded of those days once in awhile.
Just down the road from Tweedale was the foreshore, I spent half an hour watching a black lab play fetch in the Swan River, and watched seagulls fight for my attention at the park bench.
Seagull perched on a parking sign.
Isn’t he so cute. He looks like a little otter in the river.
I like how they had a Doggy dumpage disposal unit, a box of plastic bags to pick up dog poo poo. If they had that in Singapore, I bet someone would steal all the plastic bag aways.
posted in Travel | 9 Comments
Just when I posted about a good start, the shits of the shits happened. So here’s what happened. My car battery was dead, and my dad told me he bought a jump start kit. Ok. So i took it out of the cupboard, charged it for half a day, and tried it out.
Didn’t work.
So i thought I’d charge it overnight, and try again in the morning. Morning came… and it still didn’t work. I called up RAC to find out how much it costs for them come over for a jump start, and they quoted me something like A$120. So instead, I just waited till Jon and Chris finished work.
They came over, jump started the car, so far so good right? By the way, this was after I posted the previous ‘happy-feel-good’ blog entry.
I drove up and down the freeway for a good 40mins to charge up the battery again. 40mins sounds like a lot, but i really wanted to make sure I didn’t run into any trouble.
Anyway… as I turned off my freeway exit, the unthinkable unbelievable happened……. MY CAR DIED!!!!!! O H M Y G A W D ! I couldn’t believe this was happening to me!
The battery was completely DEAD! I couldn’t even put my hazard lights on! I was so afraid a car was going to hit me from the back! I was crawling to a stop, and i just managed to steer myself a bit to the side.
I couldn’t find my hand phone, so I couldn’t call Jon. I managed to hail down a cab, and he drove me home. To cut the story short, RAC didn’t want to come out to the freeway because it was too dangerous for them, so I had to get my car towed home for A$99. Which by the way was the easiest 99 bucks that guy could make, because my house was less than 2km away.
Sigh… now i’ve got to wait till tomorrow to get a new car battery. Flips of flops man.
posted in Geek | 5 Comments
Woke up at 7:20am in the morning in a bit of a shock, I forgot where I was and was shocked to wake up in an unfamiliar bedroom. Got changed into my running gear, and decided to go for a morning jog.
The air was crisp and cold, running in this temperature is definitely a lot different. It takes you a longer to warm up, and your chest feels extremely tight and small.
Spent quite a lot of time sorting out the hot water, phone and internet connections, car servicing and dead battery. Which by the way still isn’t fixed yet. Am waiting for Jon to jump start my car later this evening.
Feel like I’ve wasted a day, because I’m stuck in this apartment with no transport. But I did walk to the nearby shops to get myself lunch and a coffee. Sat by the esplanade and fed a seagull and soaked in the sun’s rays.
posted in Geek | 2 Comments
I arrived to see two familiar faces, Jon and naree at the arrival hall. What a rush….to be back at my second home, great weather and to be here in time for one of my best friend’s birthday.
After i settled in, Jon and Naree took me to Leederville for coffee. We walked by this funky café with tons of oriental paper lamps hung from the ceiling. The walls were filled with concert posters from Robbie williams, armin van buuren, def tones, Marilyn Manson…you name it, its there on the wall. The placed smelt heavenly! I knew the coffee was going to be good just by the smell of it.
As we walked down the café…. I was thinking to myself… hmmm…. This green couch is so out of place… all the chairs were dark and… and… wait a minute… OMG… I’M IN THAT CAFE KAREN WAS TALKING ABOUT LAST WEEK!!!! Isn’t that bizarre!!
Jon and Naree
After coffee, Jon bought us dinner at Spaghis, this little Italian restaurant at Mends street, hold on to your knickers, I’ll save the best for last… ciao Italia on millpoint before i fly back.
Day 1 and i’m already so content, this break is off to a good start!
posted in Food, Friends | 4 Comments
I couldn’t blog yesterday because I didn’t have internet connection. Yesterday morning, I was on a flight to Perth Australia. Since I was at Changi early, I decided to take the sky train over to T3.
Don’t know what the hoo ha is about, its just…new…new design… new fixtures, but nothing out of this world.
I met Wayne at Yakun for some kaya toast and egg. Hmmm….
QF72 bound for Perth, Australia.
I don’t usually go trigger happy on a flight, but today, the view was just ab-so-lutely amazing. Here’s a couple of my favorite shots from the air.
Indonesian islands. I loved how the couds and islands were all lined up.
Just out of Singapore
fluffy clouds, was just waiting for a care bear to pop out.
The yellow part in the picture is actually sand.
beaches
Perth on aproach
more beaches
I flew on a Boeing 747-338. Don’t usually notice these sort of things, but the Rolls Royce engines are REALLY quite quiet!
posted in Photos, Travel | 6 Comments
My parents came back from LiJiang today, and guess what my mum decided to bring home? Flowers!!
S$35 worth of flowers wholesale.
ALL THIS FOR JUST S$35!! Amazinn…
posted in Family | 3 Comments
With all the hype surrounding the F1 night race coming up, here’s a novel idea for you running buffs, a night marathon!
The Adidas Sundown Marathon will be held at the end of May.
Race Details
Date: 31st May 2008
Venue: Start and End Point, Changi Point.
Time: Various Race Start Times from 8pm onwardsUltra-Marathon 84km Marathon 42km Corporate Challenge Relay (10.5km x 4 Runners) Team Challenge Relay (10.5km x 4 Runners) If you’re scared to do it alone, register as a team! I’m sure it’s a lot more fun! Maybe get your colleagues together to form a team? Registration closes soon!
Did a shoot last month for the creatives at Maxling’s crib, which went really well.
I’m loving the final artwork, so here it is….If I’m not wrong it’s in the upcoming issue of Shape. Whoop!
posted in Geek | 11 Comments
I’ve been blogging since 2001, but after the crash of my old website, I went on a hiatus for a year. I remember doing a poll like this awhile back, and I’d like to do it again on this new blog.
posted in Geek | 30 Comments
WELCOME TO THE WORLD, BABY OLIVER!
Plug
They own a fantastic kitchen paraphernalia store in Portsmouth, England called The Good Cook Shop. And I believe they opened a new store in Worthing, West Sussex. If you’re living around there, do check out their shop. I could spend hours in there.
*edit
Lynn is my cousin from my mum’s side.
posted in Geek | Comments Off
I did my first 10km last year at the Great Eastern Women run, and I still remember how torturous 10k felt. I did zero training (not that its a good thing), but I thought it was pretty awesome that I still managed a decent time. But I don’t think I want to go through that struggle again. This year, I’m not going to make the same mistake.
Great Eastern Women 10k 2008 will back on Sunday, 26 October 2008.
So I got back to jogging. Oh lordie… I hope my knees hold up!
posted in Geek | 4 Comments
There were a lot of screams and shrieks in the office this morning! I wish I had my camera ready to capture that moment.
Will edit the post later on. But for now…
CONGRATULATIONS TO AN ICONITE!
posted in Work | 3 Comments
Ian and Auntie Ros’ cat just hanging out on the cupboard while Wayne got his bike fixed.
She is a cross of a domestic cat and the Asian Leopard cat, more commonly known as a Bengal Cat .
Her coat is absolutely beautiful! You can’t really tell from this photo, but her body has markings like a leopard. I’m not really a cat person, but its hard not to love this little fella.
Serena: Is yours a Bengal cat too? I can’t remember if its the same breed.
posted in Geek | 6 Comments
A week ago, I was told to keep my diary free on Saturday, because i had a date! OOooooooOoooo…. I got picked up around 11:30am, and was told to dress for the beach! When i got in the car, looked behind, and there packed and ready was a picnic basket and mat! OOoooooo…..
I later found out Wayne actually COOKED LUNCH! Shock Horror! Am sure his mum would be very proud to read this!
Sentosa is changing so much it’s hard to keep up with new attractions and restaurants , so I’m glad we had a chance to go in the day when there was light!
We found a nice spot under the coconut tree (with no coconuts of course), and got comfy. Wayne took out his homemade spaghetti, warning me that it’s not that great, and how we might have to eventually buy something from the nearby restaurant. My final verdict? Nothing short of F A N T A S T I C! I was honestly impressed. I’m not sure if its a good thing for him though, this means he can’t be excused from cooking duties in the future.
We spent the next few hours with me lying on his lap while we watched the days go by watched a couple of boys TRY to pick up three boobie-ful girls in bikinis. Entertaining!
It was the simplest of afternoons, and i loved it.
See, girls aren’t that hard to please right?
More pictures HERE
posted in Food, Love | 8 Comments
Ok, I’m not sticking to my resolutions!!!! I’m suppose to be blogging more often! Back track to last month, we attended Carol’s wedding at the Conrad Hotel.
I missed hanging out with Penns… Doesn’t she look gorgeous here?!
And it was good to see Danli after such a long time too, the busy bee was running around the whole night making sure everything was running smoothly.
From left: Wayne, Ken, Carol, Penny, Angela
Congratulations Ken & Carol!
posted in Geek | 6 Comments
In usual ICON style, birthdays in the office are all about food! Together with Sarada’s birthday, we also celebrated Judith’s return from maternity leave.
Gwen’s mum made us a BUCKET full of dry laksa!! Have you ever heard of that before? Dry Laksa? It tastes exactly like Laksa (Curry mee for the Malaysians) but without the soup! F A N T A S T I C ! A no-mess lunch.
And of course, a birthday can’t go by without a Secret Recipe Hazelnut chocolate cake, which by the way, for the umpteenth time refuses to cut neatly to the bottom. So we usually end up eating mush cake… But…. BUT… its AMAZING mush cake. Definitely in my top 10 cakes tasted. It’s called the ‘Chocolate Royale’ just in case you want to try it out.
Happy Birthday Sarada, and Welcome Back Judith!
posted in Work | 6 Comments
Preparation started on Friday night, Wayne and I had so much things to pack, its almost ridiculous the amount of things we brought down to Tampines! But i think everyone appreciated the effort, because we were totally prepared for everything.
We had first aid kits, deep heat, cold drinks, food, ice, TF2, tools, bike stands, tables, chairs, ground sheets… EVERYTHING!
Line of bikes before race start.
Post race report
The race went alright, Wayne signed me up for the Women’s solo category, which meant 10 laps of 10km non stop around the Tampines trails. There were other categories such as duo, mixed duo and quads, but I guess I wanted to see how far I could push myself.
The race started with a 200min sprint to your bikes, which meant a slow jog for me. After the scuffle to get your bikes, it’s an uphill battle to overtake people on the crowded switchbacks. Oh i must add, it was a super mud fest that day. urgh.
My biggest fan and support.
The day started off sunny, but on my 5th lap, the sky suddenly turned to a dark blue grey. When i was going through the pits, it was announced that the race has to be stopped due to bad weather. The sky opened up and lightening streaked across the skies. (WoooHoooo!) In all honesty, I don’t think i could have finished the 100km!!! My legs were already screaming on the climbs by the fifth lap.
With Leon in the rain.
I must thank the support crew, they were wonderful. I don’t think anyone can do such a race without any help. Thanks y’all! Really really appreciate it.
I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the bikes, unpacking, and took a short hour nap before getting ready for dinner. We picked up Benny boy, Ian and Jason and headed to Dempsey for the post race gathering.
Post race dinner at Fabricca Dempsey Road
I had a good time laughing and chatting over beer and hot dogs. These bunch of people are just so carefree and fun to be around with, it must be something in the mud.
The starstruck boys and Tinker Juarez. Oh… he’s just a * 4 Time US 24 Hour Solo Champion * 3 Time NORBA XC Champion * 2 Time Olympian * Gold Medallist, Pan Am Games * ABA BMX Hall of Fame * Mountain Bike Hall of Fame * Three top 10 finishes in World MTB Championships, that’s all. No big deal right?
I forgot to bring my camera along, so I’ll have to depend on other people for photos.
This one courtesy of Colin, thanks mate!
And this one by Noel Chian.
Oh yes, I also met one of my blog readers, Llyod and his friends at the race. A big hello to the Pinoy mountain bikers I met that day!
posted in Exercise | 15 Comments
Tomorrow is the BikeAsia 100 off-road bike race at Tampines MTB park. Didn’t really blog about it because I wasn’t sure if I was taking part in the first place.
Wayne signed me up for it, so I guess I’ll be doing it.
I don’t know how I’m going to complete this race, it’s 100km!! I hear all the roadies going “oh a 100km, that’s not far, a couple of hours maybe”… no no, this is 100km off-road , it’s a different game altogether! Plus I haven’t trained AT ALL for this… seriously, I have not done much XC riding at all, been a naughty naughty girl and spent a lot of time at Gangsa. Then there was the fall, which wipped out two weeks of riding. Last weekend was DH Clinic at Kiara…. Shit… I’m screwed!!!!!!!!!
Argh! Angela don’t be such a baby, it’s not impossible…
Well at least I’ll be in company of good friends.
I know Leon and Joshua are going as a duo, Yew Weng, Ming, Birdman are in, and I think Jason, Ian K & Benny Boy (on his v10!!!!!!) will be doing it too. For the ladies, I think it’s becks, Janice, Cheryl, and Athena. Would be a great time to catch up.
Another crucial element of this race is the all important support crew. Wayne is heading up the tent for a few of us, and I believe the OMJs and AAA will be beside us as well. Whoop~!
Wish me luck!
posted in Geek | 11 Comments
