Blast from the past

9 April 2007: Another belated entry. Daphne was assigned to interview Keith Floyd at the World Gourmet Summit 2007, and was here on my birthday. Together with Flo, we celebrated 30 years of friendship, and in style some more, at the Hyatt :)

Yesteryears: when we were still convent girls, and crooning, "Take a chance on me!"

Time Flies

It's been two months since the last entry, wow. Belated post: turned out Shyun Wen was in Singapore for a longer while this year, so we had another round of 'reunion' for the ex-flatmates. Another snapshot of gals celebrating our big 4'O' year. See how far we've come! Here's to more good years ladies... keep healthy, happy and in touch, hugs.

Sleepover

Karen popped by for another CNY visit on Thu 22 Feb nite, and she was off again to KL the following Mon, and back to Glasgow. Has it been more than 10 years since we were flatmates? And lived in Clementi in that 3-rm flat with flowery wallpaper and an eccentric makcik for landlady?

Well, since then, Karen's lived in the States, and now Glasgow, and Tiep's a mother of Joshua and Lukas, and has moved back into the NUS hostel! Ha, so we got to relive our hostel days, only this time in the comfort of the Resident Fellow's home. The new hostels look like mini condos, with lifts and personal room phones! But like the new condos, the rooms are smaller. Ah well, can't have them all.

Reunion of Batu Pahat gals

We think we met in Standard One; that means we've known each other for over three quarters of our lifetime :)

Catching up on the third day of Lunar New Year at Yun's three-storey (!) house.

Star Sign

I've been told that this year of the pig will be great for those born in the year of the goat, and already things are looking up. Took a night train and spent a fab Sat (10 Feb) in KL to celebrate the launch of Daphne's set of four books. Very very proud of her, congrats!!!! Here's to more good times, Kong Hee Fatt Chai!

Night before: taking the night train always makes me feel like I'm on an adventure!

It's way past Christmas

As the saying goes, time flies when you're having fun, or have I just been plain busy... well, happy-busy mostly. Christmas and the 1st Jan New Year whizzed by, it's now the second day of the Lunar New Year. A four-day holiday sounded like a decent break, but hm, where did all the time go? :<

Well ok, I did manage to catch up with good friends, though should have taken more photos, this year being us gals' big four-O! That will be my resolution for 2007: spend more time with people who matter.

For last Christmas, received at last, a view of Shyun Wen's life in Denver, so coool

Not just for the kids

Amozozo, apparently it means "I love Zoey", Zoey being the daughter of the creator of this Luminaria by Architects of Air. Amozozo is an exploration of light and form that was inspired by Islamic architecture. Does look like a mosque doesn't it, with its big green 'onion' shaped dome?

Something about colours that makes everyone go shutterbug crazy :-)

3 DEC: After weeks of madness, finally, a quiet Sunday. Perfectly spent on a nice brunch outdoors :)
8 DEC: Flowers for making it thro' the opening, Scott's the sweetest, *muack!*

Sentosa & its man-made beach

It's been stressful at work, felt like crawling back to Krabi... failing which, I ended up on Sentosa instead last Sunday.

Man-made beach looking good...

Speeding through the island on a rickety tram-bus

KM8 where the parties and bikini babes are (not in pics though, sorry!) Ana-somebody, etienne, scott and me

Swee Cheng's Fun Stay at Ballina Byron

20 June 06

7.15pm to 9.15pm: two hours of the most boringest flight. It was jetstar (El cheapo airline with el cheapo tickets), boring because of the "no food/drinks" unless you pay for it routine (I guess something has to give in these types of airlines). On the plus side – I had 3 seats to myself.

21 June 06

Woke up to a raining day. The first person I saw was - Adrian, my nephew, having his breakkie - and heard was Lauren, my niece crooning away.





I looked out for the kookaburras (4 or 5) of them but did not see any. I heard their maniacal laughter though. Glad they laugh only in the day – they would be scary at night. By the way, nights are dark – really dark in country towns.

Kookas are the kingfisher family birds – large beaks and have claws. They are the size of a juvenile duck and can be scary.

Let me share a story about my Mom and the kookas. According to my sis, the birds (all 4/5) like to perch on her pool safety fence, they like to forage for grub in her garden, every morning. My mom thinks they are going to claw and peck her darling cucu, when he is playing in the yard. So one day, she decided to do something. They were perched on the fence as usual – all 4 with 2 facing the pool and 2 facing house. Mom went to get her broom, slides open the fly screen and door, the birds (all 4) turn to face and stare at her – she beat a hasty retreat into the dining room.

According to my sis and mom, there is a burung hantu around but I didn't see or hear it. There is some wild animal out on the roof though – I hear it every night. Probably just an ole possum.
That is rural/sua ku life for you.

22 June 2006

After breakfast, in between showers, I took my nephew out for a wonder in the back yard – the neighbours' that is. There is this huge custard apple plantation behind.

My sis wanted to buy some of the custard apples, but they said not to worry. After picking, they sent a huge crate over – it was not in tip top condition eg size too small, not nice, cracked etc – for my sis and mom, and refused payment because they could not sell them in the market. I had some too. I liked the way the lorikeets were eating the fruits on the tree and ground!

Did you know that bananas are A$12 a kg?

Still raining today, but the sun came out mid morning. We went to the beach. This was just great. That was really fun. The water was cold though.

23 June 2006

It was a lot more mundane today. We went shopping but didn't buy much – just groceries. Not much variety but then it is country NSW - sometimes I forget how large Australia is. I actually brought indomie noodles for my sis - I didn't see any here, but the seafood is just so cheap – prawns ($12 a kg) and fish, crab and scallops are all fresh and good.

24 June 2006

Last day, how I will miss the little ones. We went to the beach again today because the sun came out. It drizzled a little later but not before we had our Domino pizza picnic accompanied by my nephew's favourite word when it comes to food - "more, more".

Adrian likes to play vacuum cleaners too – he will actually vacuum his biscuit crumbs off the floor after he finishes.

Another boring flight home. The flight left at 9.30pm and I arrived in Melbourne at 12.15am on Sunday.

sweecheng

27 Jun 2006 11:28 AM

Finally, some Adult Content

8 April: It's my birthday tomorrow! And though theatre's not quite their cup of tea, my buddies braved it out and we caught the saucy Magic Fundoshi for a lark. Aw, what more could a gal ask for, lurve you babes (u know who u are!) *muack!*

Not Quite the Golden Girls... yet

What are birthdays like these day for the, ahem, over 30s?

Kim, hatchday 27 March: "We had a nice lunch at a winery and Mark even invited some friends over for dinner and cooked a bbq. He must have thought he has a lot of "making up" to do!! My boss has offered for Mark to take me to the most expensive chinese restaurant in Melbourne on the company - he too must think he has a lot of "making up" to do too!!

Well, not sure if you saw in the news but Melbourne has been in a buzz the last few weeks because of the Commonwealth Games. I must admit I think we put on a really good show and there were lots to do and see like circus, concerts etc and everything was free. It was really good.

Life's same-mo same-mo for me too. Looking forward to going away at Easter time to the country with some friends but other than that, not much.

Sorry, no photos. I was kicking myself for not bringing a camera that day to the wineries because we actually went to a wildlife sanctuary near the winery before that and the kids had a lot of fun and I had wished I had a camera to take some pickies. Happy for you to include my email on the website - "post on your blog" - if that's what you mean."

9 April 06

I found out today that every 10 years, your birthday would fall on the same day of the week that you were born, and that I was born on a Sunday. Day of rest :)

It turned out to be a pretty active Sunday though, and I did two things I'd not done before: I enjoyed a three-generation birthday party and I watched a live rugby game. It started off as a hot afternoon of eye candy and pop music, men grabbing each other. Then, light-headed girls began 'camera-whoring' between games, drunks made rude remarks to a geeky girl beer-seller, patriotic supporters boo-ed the rivals as competition grew intense... not much of sportsmanship spotted off the field after that.

Whatever happened to...

marts terrapins, last spotted attempting a daring break out...

current fate unknown...

I-Shan's First Birthday Bash

I-Shan was one on 15 Feb 2006, happy belated birthday! How time flies, I-Shan looks set to be a fiesty gal, making her presence felt from day one.

P/S Mum's thoughts on finally having a girl after two sons.