courtesy of mark

i like... this is the best


no comment


the thought of eating roast duck makes me very happy

mark's artistic side came out while we were waiting to go dinner. hey, feel free to comment so that he can improve. mark always think that he is a very artistic person. haha.

saliva all over the place

Is causing other people to drool a sin? i happened to come across this website while searching for some good eats in San Francisco.

http://www.foodlover.com/dining/sfobest/index.asp

p/s: zhenlin, louanne, your eyes are going to be super big when you see these.

who stole the damn toilet key??

the company's toilet keys that are on my level are all gone!! crap!! i need to run up to the 2nd floor and borrow their key whenever i need to go for my toilet break.. how annoying.

weight-loss program starting....

the beer

yesterday, a bunch of us went to patrick's new house for a chill-out session. he got this beer called franzishkaner hefe-weisse. i liked it, kind of like ladies' beer, not too bitter and there is body to it which makes it very flavorful.

an important lesson learned

last friday, i watched this video called "The Five Love Languages".

1) words of affirmation
2) gifts
3) acts of service
4) quality time
5) physical touch

if you and your girlfriend or boyfriend are always quarreling, it may mean that you might not be speaking the same love language. for instance, your love language might be acts of service but her/his love language might be gifts. you are always doing things for her/him but they don't seem to be happy ---- the reason is that you are not speaking the other person's love language. now, try to find out what's your significant other's love lanuguage is and do your best in speaking him/her love language. trust me, your life would be so much easier.

shoes

i just got back from my shopping trip with louanne. i got nothing from victoria secrets cause the sizes are damn freaking big. however, i did get a pair of sandals from anthropologies.



after that, we went to sonic burger to have our lunch. VERY DISAPPOINTING. i can make burger 50 times better than theirs. i wonder why do americans go there in the first place, they are connoisseur of burgers and yet why is sonic still here?? the burger is small and their pattie is only grilled on one side. hmm... jack in the box, burger king rule!!

nevermind, i will have something very much better tonight.

TGIF

i did nothing much today.

i woke up at around 8, wanting to go to the doctor with mark cause he got bitten by a stupid cat. a few days ago, i mentioned that i hate cats and not long after he got bitten by one. wonder if is cat revenge.. i was so angry with the cat, how i wish all the dogs in the world will just eat up all the cats (oh man, i think all the malays will come after me with their parang). the cat that bite him is a small and skinny one. seriously, don't judge a cat by its cover. anyhow, in the end mark went alone (due to some extreme miscommunication). the doctor says that he should be fine cause most cats here are vaccinated.

i went to the gym to do some running, came home and had my chau siew noodle (courtesy of mark). after that, i pretty much spent the whole day watching tv and doing nothing.

victoria secrets sales is on! heard from louanne that they have pretty good stuff during their summer sale so maybe both of us will pop over there tomorrow. very looking forward to it! hmm... maybe we should go for some breakfast first and then follow by some shopping. oh well, will talk to her later about this.

what a way to wake up!

how about having a car alarm to wake you up? comfirm loud enough and you won't be able to throw it on the floor or shut if off if it's not your car.

mark's previous car alarm is rock solid. for some unknown reason, it will go off esp when he is not around. okay, here's the story, once he came to my place in the morning and we went out taking my car, the car alarm started sounding at 8 plus till 11 plus and best of all, the car was parked just right outside clifton and wenyang's place. the night before (or should i say the morning), they slept like 4 or 5. oh man, if it was me, i would have throw all my pots and pans onto the car. anyhow quite an innovative idea for those people who always can't wake up.

about me part II

9) i only do stuff if i know i can do it whole-heartedly and well. in other word, i can't fake. don't
ask me to smile to people that i don't like!

10) brands that i like.
in singapore: emporio armani, topshop, mango, zara, certain shops in bugis and far-east
and this shoe shop on the 2nd floor of borders in orchard (can't remember the name)
in united states: guess (they are coming back! designs are very rock-solid!), gap, old navy, ebay, kenneth cole, miss sixty, aldo, urban outfitters

11) i like to go to the wet-market with my dad.

12) food that i like: la mian from crystal jade, coffee from coffee-club, mian tiao near my house,
pastry from baker's inn, food from indochine (the one at empress place and not the one at
HV), nasi lemak from bukit batok, golden shoe market and lucky plaza, bak gu teh from most
shops at balestier, yong tau fu at siglap, rojak from the market near my house.

about me

things about me:

1) i like italian food. this is the second option after rice. i can eat pasta like 2-3 times a week, and i luv tiramisu and wine.

2) ideal day: Start off on a shopping trip with my auntie and high tea in the afternoon. after half a day of walking, i want to go back home take a nap or chill out by the pool. after that, i will go dinner with my parents and end my day at a cool and quiet place (most prob, at a pub call one tree hill), drinking wine or beer with my friends. PERFECTO!! by the way, my best friend, edwin told me that there's a place call thumper which is near goodwood park hotel which has a very good live band and the crowd there is pretty fun. he will bring me there when i get back.

3) i hate people who talk alot. God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth, we should listen more than we talk. i dislike people with no initiative, guys who are MCP and also those who can't make decisions.

4) i respect people who lead by example. if you are cute and cool, that's an A++

5) i'm a super laid-back person (err... not when it comes to work and school though), and i luvvvv the beach to death.

6) i have a wonderful family. that includes a super cool and open-minded grandma, a dad who provides me with so much, a mum who does everything for me (and also nags at me), a wonderful auntie who is also my best friend, a supportive network of uncles and their wives (we used to go on a drinking session together, and i don't have to hide from my family when i drink cause they are not a setting a very good example either). i love my family and that is why it makes my stay in tucson so hard! also, my wonderful grandpa who passed away in 2003, he has done alot for me.

7) i am very stuborn and if i don't like someone, it is super obvious to see it. hai... trying to change that and i need God's mercy and grace.

8) i hate cats

emmm....as i'm typing the above, i sound as it i'm looking for a husband..ops..sorry got someone in mind already.

will think more and continue later...

my trip to the DMV

it is 9am now and i just got back from the department of motor vehicles (dmv). i was there at 7:30am and the thing opens at 8am. oh well, that was the recommendation given to me: GO there before they open so i don't have to wait for a life-time just to get my driver's license renewed.

ahh.... that reminds me of something. u know what i miss most back home: the efficiency of singaporeans---everything also must be fast and good. when i first got to the united states, i nearly died of heart attack while waiting for them to get things done. for instance, once when my uncle brought me to the social security office to get my SSN, i waited for like 45 minutes and in the end, the officer told me i needed a letter from my school before they can get that processed. i was in san jose, california then and not in arizona, so there was no way that i can get the letter from my school, actually school hasn't even started yet for me, so i waited for nothing. also, it is a big norm to wait 10-15 mins just to pay for your groceries. after a few years here, i guess i'm used to it already and actually don't really mind the waiting part. haha, cause i get to read magazines for free. see, the supermarket put alot of magazines along the counter and the reason is to tame grouchy customers like me!

thoughts...

sad to admit, but i realise that i'm a person who likes to live in the past. i can't help it, there are too many memories given to me. today i was at the rec center running, here's the list that i thought of:

1) when i first came to tucson, i had no car. among the 6 of us here, only louanne has a car then. once when clifton, mark, wenyang & i needed to get some food stuff, we decided to head to the supermarket. the guys carried their harvasacks with them while i have a basket on my bike. when we came back, you can see their bags full of stuff, and also plastic bags hanging from their bike handle. funny scene.

2) i like hanging out with the pilots. when i first came here, i wasn't homesick at all and it is largely due to them. they are a funny, interesting bunch of people. i remembered when i first got to know them, i hated them for their snobbishness. you can see their freaking proud face and nose hanging high high, and it takes a while to know them. however, once you get past that initial stage, it is downright fun and interesting. we go shopping, clubbing, eating and chilling out till the wee hours in the morning. i remembered once when i first started going clubbing with them, i noticed a very weird thing that they do. they will first buy their drinks and nobody talks to anyone UNTIL.... they have enough shots, then everyone start to laugh, talk rot and just have fun. waahh... the power of alcohol.

i was so upset when a few of them had to leave cause their training was up. they were really my good buddies here and pretty much like a family to me. i seem to be living in a dream world..no worries, just have to study, get good results and then have fun. by the way, they kind of set the standards as to what i expect from a guy. i didn't quite expect much of a 'gentlemancy' from singaporean guys but well what can i say, they are a unique bunch.

when i'm happy!

salute to clifton and wenyang

oh..you know how amazing wenyang and clifton are? or should i say, singaporeans are damn powerful, everywhere they go must leave a DEEP IMPRESSION

okay, here's the story. the unit that wenyang and clifton were staying in had to be totally refurnished because of the mess that 'they' made. haha, yesterday when i went downstairs to their place, the carpet and the kitchen tiles were totally new. this is the result of extreme drinking and cooking. i think our apartment manager found no hope in salvaging the place so she decided to just pull the old carpet and tiles out and get new ones.

p/s: the 'they' in the sentence could refer to wenyang and clifton, japanese, americans or ONE middle eastern guy.

brain crack

i'm blogging from the office (currently doing my summer internship). have not been doing anything since lunch and now my head is as big as the damn computer screen. gosh, i feel so tired from not having anything to do....hmm.. sometime is worse not to have anything to do than to have tonnes of stuff in front of you. it is just like being the co-pilot for a long distance drive---you're not driving and you CAN'T sleep too.. still must crack my brain to think of stuff to talk to the driver, feed the driver when he/she is hungry or thirsty.. worse than a maid.

anyhow half an hour more before saying sayonara.. hang in there carol..at least your working life here in better than your peers in singapore!

p/s: lunch was at 12:30pm and i knock off at 5pm, so that means i've been staring at the bloody screen for 4.5 hours!

more food

pig out time for Yui (japanese but live in singapore since he was about 15)

my fantasy

people have many different kind of fantasies (*wink* *wink). some big-time fantasies include chocolate, lingerie or sexual..i have never really given this topic much thoughts till now..after 3 years here, this is my fantasy.

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recently, i have asked my buddy to bring some stuff back from singapore and that includes some 8 days and a few packets of coffee. also, i mentioned to her that i so miss the deep-fried pork rib shanghai la mian from crystal jade (holly crap, that's the best stuff man!). the thing is that it's quite impossible to carry that 10,000 miles with her. until.....she suggested using a vacum flask.. wooo hoo.. feasible, workable???don't know yet but very likely we will embark on this experiment..the thought of this just make me smile (crazy right? oh well, for those of you who have never been to singapore or not a singaporean, you won't know how it feels)

haha, just remember something:
1) louanne, my room-mate dreams of sugarcane juice and fishball noodle

2) zhenlin made a list of the food that she wants to eat way way before she actually goes back home

3) whenever we go back, half of our lugguage is reserved for food

by the way, we are still in pretty good shape.

my day

at long last, mark & i booked our tickets to san jose this afternoon. from aug 11 to 20, we will be traveling to monterey bay, napa valley, half moon bay and of coz san francisco. i have been to san jose and san francisco a-gazillion times so this time round, i'm going to do stuff that i have never done before and i'm going to racky the hell out of california. i'm sure that there are tonnes of interesting stuff to do in san francisco other than going to fisherman wharf, chinatown etc. hmm..in monterey bay, we are thinking of going kayaking. some wine tasting will be done in napa and maybe some hiking trips in san jose. also, definitely some shopping trips will be fitted into the schedule. oh.. i can't wait, i need to just travel and also see my family. by the way, talking about travel. mark just mentioned that we have been travelling at least once every 3 months. last dec, clifton, wenyang, mark & i were in new york & boston. in march, we went to vegas for our spring break and now, we are going to san jose. well, the reasons as to why we are going to san jose are that 1) i need to get out of here and going there is the cheapest option, 2) i can see my aunt and family. at least now, i have something to look forward to.

anyhow, i just spent the day at borders, got a t-shirt from abercrombie (is on sale!) and then went for coffee. very familiar kind of lifestyle. this is what i would normally do when i'm in singapore and also when i first came here. now, i've cut down on these activities alot already. Reasons: 1) i need some kakis to do that with me (all of them are not here anymore), 2) i used to go to abercrombie when i first came. now i don't go there much cause i find their stuff too expensive and i don't think they are really worth the money. haiya..my parents work so hard and i just don't feel right anymore in spending their money for my pleasure.

things that cheer me up

i have been very unhappy lately. most of my friends are back in singapore, the fate of my team project is scary and i'm worry about my future. in the mist of all these thoughts and worries, 2 funny things happen today. 1) i was browsing through friendster and i found this picture of mark and his 2 very good friends. in order to post this picture on the blog, i promise him that i will post a very good-looking picture of him soon. 2) mark did a funny thing today. he decided to send an olympic poster to one of his friends, so off we went to the post office in school. it was a 15 mins walk under the hot and meciless sun and apparently other than the poster, he was also asked to post his electric bill. nearly 5 hours later, he then remembered that he just posted the poster and not the bill.


the funny trio


the man as promised

i'm in trouble

i'm in deep trouble! the summer class that i'm currently taking now is heavily focused on project. 60% of the grade depends on it. okay, i'm not afraid of that because i'm a project person. however, the worse thing is one of my team members might be a nightmare. i heard from my best friend that he talks alot and he is a MCP (male chauvinist pig). oh man, i just hope that for the next 10 weeks, there won't be any volcano erruption here in tucson coz i hate MCP.

for instance, once my bestfriend had to do a presentation with him and you know what? after the presentation, he told my friend not to fake the american accent (coz she's from Indonesia but has been in the states for a while). holly crap, hey that is not something that you can control. if that is the way you speak, so be it.. well, i hope he won't say such thing to me. oh at least, i don't have the american accent but who knows maybe he will say that my accent is too strong. yah.. by the way, some americans find our (singaporean) accent very strong, and it seems pretty amusing to them.

the 10 reasons

10 reasons why i'm still alive in tucson

1) the 99% bright and clear sky. because of the weather in tucson, it is one of the best places for aviation and astronomy.

2) the powerful arizonian gang. the 6 of us are so diverse in characters and yet we can still live in harmony (most of the time). Asian style "Friends"

3) you can get drunk and come back in half a piece and yet, no one will make a big fuss about it cause that will happen to everyone at some point in time.

4) i have a car and so called my own apartment. hmm.. it is significantly harder to do that in singapore.

5) the malls here are pretty huge and are empty most of the time (excluding weekends)

6) people here are downright friendly. i remember once when one of my friends and I drove up north to see stars and we just stopped along the road. not long later, a car drove down and asked if our car broke down.

7) i like the education system here. you don't have to study like shit. here, as long as you put in enough effort, most of the time, you would get an A. in singapore, you study like there's no tomorrow, you still get a C.

8) oh yah.. alcohol here is cheap!

9) i like steak and some of the restaurants here serve really good and cheap steak.

10) the abundancy of outlet malls here in U.S.. damn shiok. shop till your dad's wallet explode.

the weekend

crossroads mexican seafood restaurant


sunset

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"
Philippians 4:6

for the past few weeks, i have been missing home alot and also due to the amount of free time that i have, alot of reflections were done too. i haven't been quite myself since the start of the year and i suspect this is largely due to the worries that i have. 1) classes that i took in the spring semester were some of the hardest that i have taken. at the same time, i'm also doing my internship, and that makes it even harder for me to cope. however, with God's grace, i managed to survive it and actually did well in both areas. 2) the biggest worry on my head now is to get a full-time job (i'm graduating in dec!). i want to be a system analyst and design consultant and hopefully in phoenix. the reason why i love phoenix is its close proximity to tucson, it is much much more developed than tucson (we, singaporeans always joke that phoenix is like orchard road whereas tucson is like sembawang) and last but not least, i can be close to mark and my friends. the road ahead is full of uncertainties. all i could do now is to continue praying and have faith in the lord.

however, last weekend, louanne, wenyang, simran, mark & i had a blast. for a few hours, i was actually glad to be in tucson and didn't feel that homesick anymore. on sat, the 5 of us went to a mexian restaurant for some serious seafood. oh man, the service was just fantastic. the guy kept on coming to our table to refill our nachos and salsa. that stuff is the best that louanne & i had. you just kept on eating and eating and to get the full-kick experience, all of us decided to order some margaritas. i would say that the margarita is much better that the ones at apple bee. my main course is some fish thingy. shiok is the only word that i can use to describe it. in addition, the decors of the restaurant is pretty authentic and with some mexican music in the background, the feeling was just out of this world. after that, we went to get more beers and went to the roof top to chill out. Great!

on sunday, louanne wanted to get a picture of the sunset in tucson... so in the evening, we drove west to the desert museum to accomplish our mission. oh..the view is scenic and stunning, very peaceful i would say.

this concludes my weekend.

cheers my friend. all the best to you!

surfing down at san diego

my good buddy -- wenyang is leaving the united states for good this wednesday. that guy is damn lucky. a few months before his graduation, he managed to get a job with a company in tokyo. so, come august,he will be out in the streets of tokyo, surrounded by the most happening gadgets , the best of what the fashion world can offer and also not to forget, some kick-ass cute girls!

just want to tell you.. thanks for all the fun that you have provided us with. i will never forget that drinking semester (Fall 2003) where every friday and saturday wines and beers are our best friends! we talked, laughed and all our worries just ceased to appear. also, the trips to san diego, new york & boston during our breaks were just amazing!

i don't know when we will meet again. so.. take care buddy and farewell my friend!

p/s: remember to leave a space in your apartment for me when i come visit you in tokyo.

the hammock man! (sorry about the blurry picture, flash is not used)

my boyfriend did a remarkedly interesting thing yesterday at my place. he was so happy that his parents sent him a hammock, he decided to use it regardless of the environment. with his extreme creativity, he used my room-mate's toilet door knob and my mini storage room knob as the support from one end to the other and bingo, there he got his hammock hanging! the best thing--the air-con is just blowing from above him.

one of the best things about studying here is that -- whatever happens in tucson, stays in tucson!

fun!

thanksgiving time in tucson

i was going thru some of my old phots and this was taken like 2 years ago. the feast was a blast! the sad thing is most of them will be gone soon. i miss my party time.

the arizonian gang!
myself, wenyang - the selfless, louanne - the roommate, clifton - the chef, mark - my man, zhenlin - the photographer of this picture!

new knowledge on men. highly classified

it has never occurred to me that men also make an effort to wear new underwear on chinese new year!

okay here is how things got started. my boyfriend's parent sent him a parcel from singapore and in there, are a few new packs of underwear. i was casually asking him so when do you intend to wear those? the reply was "i'm gonna wait till chinese new year". ladies & gentlemen, please take note that this occasion is approximately half a year more from now. haha, talk about patience, my man has got it all.

also, another new found knowledge. it seems to me that guys have no problem with their mum getting their 'inner stuff' for them. hmm.. i think we girls would normally do it ourselves and i think the main reason is that we are the choosiest species around. anyway, not too long ago, my good buddy, clifton told me that not only does his mum buy his underwear for him, but that the colors that his mum chooses are pretty special too. this consists of yellow,red and other 'out of the range colors'..hmm.. till this day, i still can't understand what's on our parents' mind at times.

come & gone in 24 hrs

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
Mathew 21:22

okay, so my aunt and her family were here. after they arrived in tucson, we went to have japanese food at my all-time favourite restaurant----shushi ten. since i came to tucson nearly 3 yrs ago, i have been going there with all different categories of singaporeans, from the pilots to the student gang. the food is pretty good and i would say it is actually better than genki shushi & hisatomo in singapore. other than the main course that you order, you would also get soup, edamame and california roll. good deal right!

anyhow, my uncle went abit crazy over his ordering process (without my knowledge). after each of us ordered our own stuff, he ordered "the boat" (which consists of a huge plate of shushi and a boat that consists of raw stuff). in addition, he also ordered another dish which he told me belongs to the cheek of a fish (it is pretty good, the meat is real tender, you should try it some time). all of that are our appetizers! at the end, we ended up having 4 to-go boxes, the most since i started going there to eat!

after that, we went home and rested. they left the next morning..SAD!