(1) Health Screening on 11th Jan - It's a pain to have to fast for this and I decided to do a thorough one this time since it may be the last time that I have a heavily-subsidised health screening so I opted for the comprehensive package and 4 other add-ons to check my prostate, pancreas, heart, and I think my thyroid. Good thing is that generally everything is good/normal, except for my cholesterol level which was slightly high (208 vs 200) but still considered normal. The price for having too much good food! =P
(2) MJC Open House on 11th Jan - Jon, LJ and Ain came back but I didn't get to interact much with them cos I had to attend to queries at our chemistry booth in the library in the afternoon. Thanks much to Wei Ru and Ai Ting from 08S415 who did such a great job of explaining some of the things to the students and also shared their positive experiences about the school and the teachers! It was actually my first time doing this duty but there wasn't much to prepare since I just speak from experience so it was quite manageable. Most of the students also seemed very nice except for two -one was a v dao 6 pointer (or so it seems based on what the mother said indirectly) who pulled a long face throughout the time her mother was asking questions. I hope it's cos she doesn't want to come to MJC cos I wouldn't want to teach such a person! The other was a very quiet boy who's mother seemed quite intimidating and demanding based on what she was asking and it seems like he had problems communicating cos the mother talked almost all the time even though he could have answered some of the questions like his L1R5. Other than that it was almost the same stuff to me - performances by our performing arts groups (the wushu costumes were v nice though!) and our principal killed Godzilla that's terrorising our city (the theme is Ten-@-City in view of MJC's 10th Anniversary) lol...
(3) Karaoke Sessions - (a) on 15th Jan - with the crappy boys at Katong Shopping Centre's Teo Heng and again, they sang a lot of oldies (esp from Bee Gees) while I went for the slightly newer songs haha. Highlight of the session was not the singing though I would say - but rather it was LJ's vanilla cheesecake that he made which was fantastic! Apparently the vanilla essence from Phoon Huat was really magical!
After that we went for gelato at Coccogelo which was just down the road and we ordered all 11 flavours available there, at a cost of just $4 per pax it was definitely worth it! A good variety of flavours (pistacchio was apparently the hot favourite, but there many other good ones and in fact the only one I didn't really fancy was coffee but that's just cos I'm not a big fan of coffee). Highly recommend this place if anybody is in the Katong area!
I went for my reunion dinner at my uncle's place in Lorong Chuan after that and one of my aunties said I looked groovy and one of my uncles said I looked sexy LOL. The latter was certainly a strange comment but generally my relatives think I look better. =D
(b) on 21st Jan - with HS, Jo, Eric, PN and Geraldine (Eric's friend) at Smith Street's 10 Dollar Club. I sang mainly English songs cos I've not listened to much new Chinese songs and I've long been bored of singing the same old Chinese songs but I did join in the Chinese songs in the last hour when we sang some of the uptempo songs and we had some silly dancing going on as well. Really funny stuff but PN didn't film the best part when HS and I were synchronising our swaying to the beat and snapping our fingers haha.
After that we had dinner at Hometown Restaurant, which was very near the karaoke place. It's a place that's apparently known for Sze Chuan food and the food was generally quite tasty but it was a little too salty for some of the dishes (there's was this Chong Qing diced chicken and the vegetables). The ma po tofu was outstanding as well as the beef soup and I would highly recommend these dishes. Price was reasonable (about $20 per pax). =)
(4) Wicked on 17th Jan - Met up with Jon, LJ and Ain for dinner at City Hall and we ended up at Breek's at Marina Square. Have not eaten there for some time and the menu has changed quite a bit but the food still ain't great to me. Had some fish dish and salad and smoothie and it was just ok to me. At about $40, it wasn't worth the money to me. We then headed down to MBS to catch Wicked, a musical which I didn't know much about it but I was glad I joined them for it! We bought the circle seats ($125 + $3 for booking fee) and had a pretty decent view. The singing and acting were v good, in particular the 2 female leads and the settings and costumes were all v nicely done. I would strongly recommend this!
(5) Council TAs' Gathering on 20th Jan - 7 of us (Jeremy, Lawrence, Karen, Samantha, Serene, June and I) met up at June's place for lunch after the CNY celebrations in school and the food from Yum Cha was great! I was surprised cos I tot Yum Cha was just ok but it was above my expectations and the price was v reasonable - $20 per pax for noodles and 9 other dishes. Watched Running Man (apparently a v popular Korean game show esp with the students) and it was pretty funny!
Talked to Karen about singing cos she told me she has been taking singing lessons for 10 years and I had quite a few insights such as the mechanics of breathing and voice projection and I think I should make an effort to improve on my singing! It's interesting that there is much science behind it and not just a trial and error and practice kinda thing. We also talked about composing and it was good to hear that she agreed with me about how many of the songs nowadays have such crappy lyrics and I shared about my thoughts of composing an album of my own songs, something which I really want to do and hope I can get some headway this year. =)
Over lunch, we talked about a whole range of matters but the one thing that stuck in my head was UTI, LOL. Apparently it's something that females would be familiar with and that was something new to me! We also had our birthday gift exchange and in the 2 days before the gathering I went to various places to find what I had in mind for Samantha (we were each assigned one person to buy a present for) - a couple pillowcase which I felt was appropriate since she's moved into her new place recently. Finally found it at Bugis Junction after going to Nex (which is a very irritating place to shop) and the malls in Tampines!
(6) CNY - reunion dinner was better than expected - we actually talked more than any of the previous years and hopefully there will be some inroads this year to a better environment at home... Other than that it was quite the usual, grandma's place in the afternoon to settle the visiting on my mom's side and uncle's place in the night to settle my dad's side. Positive reviews from some of my relatives about my new image so that's good! =)
Played mahjong with my brother, sister and her bf at my uncle's place on chu er and I managed to pull off a win right at the end when I won a 6-tai hand to turn my $3.3 deficit to a $3.1 gain and taking first place from my sis haha. Didn't take the money though cos my brother lost to me and my sis. =p
(7) Food Reviews - (a) Nicolas Le Restaurant - went on 6th Jan with Da Jie to try one of the best restaurants in Singapore apparently (at least based on TripAdvisor) and it was indeed a v enjoyable dinner experience (can't beat Robuchon but the food was very good at a pretty decent price of about $120 per pax). I can't recall the names so I have referred to the website for them. Started with some complimentary crisp bread with duck rillette - not a fan of duck but it was tasty! Great start to the evening! First dish up was ORGANIC HEN EGG 'A LA COQUE' - layman terms it's close to a half-boiled egg but the egg was v nicely done with the broth and some ham. You might think it's just egg but I think the easier the dish seems, the harder it is to actually make it taste wonderful and wonderful it was! I realised a lot of French dishes focus on the peripheral stuff like these kind of broths to make the dish taste really good because of how they complement each other in the taste. Next up were CONFIT HOKKAIDO SCALLOP and ATLANTIC COD FISH CRUSTED WITH MASAGO - v fresh scallop and fish so they were firm when you bit into them, just the way you would want your seafood to be! Followed by TAGLIOLINI PASTA - liked the way it was done with the minced beef. My main was the 12 HOURS BRAISED ORGANIC VEAL CHEEK - was smooth and it was good but not as good as the beef cheeks I had at Bistro Suri about a year plus ago! Dessert was THREE SWEET TASTING - I really loved this one because it's like a 3-in-1 and all 3 were good - the almond panna cotta, fromage blanc gelato (I think) and some chocolate stuff... Btw, if you want to look at the pics, you could refer to a food blog I found with a more detailed review - http://foodmakespeoplehappy.blogspot.com/2011/12/nicolas-restaurant.html. =)
(b) Margarita's - went on 11th Jan with Da Jie, "Mummy" and Jojo and it's located around Telok Kurau. First time trying out Mexican food and it was quite a good experience. We shared some nachos dish, beef and chicken with fajitas, and portobello mushrooms. Can't find the name of the dishes (can't even find the website for the place disappointingly - you'd expect most food places to have a proper website that's easy to find) but generally quite tasty though slightly pricey at about $54 per pax (even taking into account the pitcher of martini they had). Reading online it seems that the branch at Dempsey's is crappy and the one at Faber Drive is v good so if anybody is interested in Mexican cuisine you might want to check it out =)
(c) Ajisen Gourmet Town - went on 22nd Jan with Da Jie and it's located at Nex. It's actually a mixture of Japanese food places (including Ajisen Ramen, which I've sworn off, together with Sakae Sushi cos the food really isn't up to standard) so you can take your pick. I ordered some combo set with salmon, chicken and beef and the beef was sucky (too much tendon perhaps, too chewy I barely ate any beef). The butter scallops was more decent but generally not great food in my opinion.
(d) Hawker Food - I decided I should include some of the very good hawker food that I've tried recently - honourable mentions go to Block 29 Bendemeer Market and Food Centre's Hwa Heng Beef Noodles and Sim's Place Prawn Noodles. For $3, Hwa Heng gives large amounts of tender beef and with rice included, definitely great value for money. Also for $3, Sim's Place's Pai Gu Xia Mian has a decent portion of great tasting food. The pai gu in particular is v good and the soup base is also nice! Also, at Block 69 Geylang Bahru Market and Food Centre, Mui Kee Noodles, Zhou, and Hong Mei Western Food serve up some great stuff at great prices. For $2.5, Mui Kee gives a decent portion of bak chor mee which is tasty and according to HS, our BCM expert, this stall is special because it uses a different oil to cook compared to the usual lard that is used. For $3.1, you can get a big bowl of pork porridge with egg added. It doesn't seem like there's a name to the stall so I just call it Zhou because the only signboard they have is a big orange one with the word Zhou. I can't remember if I talked about Hong Mei in my earlier posts cos I ate there a v long time ago but for about $5, Hong Mei has a wide range of good cutlets with a special batter that makes it taste good and you don't get tired of eating the batter unlike most other western food found at hawker centres.
Ok, that's almost it for now. Progress in my New Year's Resolution is pretty decent: (1) In terms of exercise, daily exercising proves to be tough but I've managed to do it about 80% of the time so far, which is quite good considering some of the times I missed is because I went out almost the whole day. I sleep an average of 7.5+ hours per day (including long naps) and except for about 2 days when I slept at 2 or 3, I've slept at or before 1am, which is very good already. Can't remember if I ate fruits everyday but considering I usually drink fruit juice daily in school and I've been eating bananas at home regularly, at least 80% of the time I have had fruit intake. (2) Work wise, it has been the easiest time in my life at MJC ever since I gave up my coordinatorship role. Practically everyday I report at 8.30am, have breakfast till 9, then do various stuff, not necessarily work related, and have time to chit chat occasionally. It's a totally new outlook on life - as long as I do what I need to do then I'm done, no need to exert myself too much since there isn't much motivation to do so. As we joked amongst ourselves, I have learnt to adopt the philosophies of the "Wu Jiao" (an inside joke). Also, I have become the time keeper, getting the people to go eat at 12pm and then leave at 1pm and it feels good to see the sun when I go to school and go home. That should be the way life is, not the 7 to 7 lifestyle I used to have for the last 6 years... Also, currently I practically don't work on weekends nor when I get home so it has really been minimal working. The JC1s are finally coming in next week though and hopefully I will be able to keep things at about the same pace though we have to start coming in by 730 already sad to say... Well, as long as I can leave by 1pm I'll be happy! So generally I'd say I'm pretty contented and slightly on the happier side though there's something (or maybe someone hahaha) lacking in my life that I have yet to find. (3) I need to start reading up on 1 country that I want to travel to soon! Probably Vietnam or North Korea (my ex-student jio me to go lol)...
K, that's really it for now!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Recap on 2011 (Part 1 - Students' Council); Soccer @ Pasir Ris; Buffet @ Kuishin-Bo; Start of School; Big Bang Theory
Ok, delayed my post again but not really due to gaming nowadays haha. More so cos I've been sleeping earlier and sleeping more (as I aimed to for one of my resolutions) and watching online TV series to entertain me. =) Anyway, I shall stop writing about when's my next post. Just gives me undue stress on forcing myself to blog and that's not making me happy! Heh... Anyway, so many things to think back about in 2011... It's already 10 days into 2012 and if I delay this any further I'm going to be reflecting about 2012 instead haha. Obviously most of my life has revolved around school and the people around there... Shall just start off simple with CCA first I guess - some of the more memorable times in Council...
(1) Council Training Camp (March) - our first 4 days 3 nights camp (usually it's 3D2N) and this time it started at the beginning of the March Holidays. We lengthened the camp so as to introduce some new stuff such as the Laser Quest gaming which was super fun! Basically we had 4 teams of about 10 people each and wore those vests with detectors and carried guns (got different types) then ran around Blocks C and E, the labs and library to play. Was definitely the most fun thing we ever did in our camps! And it finally puts those skills you learnt from army and gaming (CS) to good use as I flanked and ran to the second floor to shoot people from behind cos the enemy base was outside our chem lab LOL. We also went prawning at Pasir Ris Park after the night walk and that was a new activity but it is definitely NOT my cup of tea lol, nor will fishing ever be... Seriously, waiting for something to get hooked onto you, NOT for me =P The other new things we had were the training by the Council TAs cos this time we wanted to ground the kids in proper planning and stuff which we felt would give them a headstart instead of just purely the on-job-training that they usually get cos it seemed inadequate... Had lotsa fun working with the TAs in planning some of the stuff such as the games which we used to try and link to Council spirit... =)
(2) Leadership Training Camp (June) - my first LTC that I attended because they decided to involve the Council TAs this time and we went to the MOE Changi Coast Adventure Centre (a super ulu area). It was a new experience and I quite enjoyed it if not for the timing (2nd week of Jun, which basically took up whatever little break I had then), though it's not something I would do over and over again unless there's something refreshing to it. I liked that I had to think out of the box sometimes to try and link the activities done to the 5 leadership principles that we've been emphasising in our leadership model. Good to see some of the alumni coming back to help facilitate and that certainly eased our job to some extent! Each teacher had to take a group of about 15 and mine was called Triple Kill heh. Nice kids and generally a nice cohort of students who seem very teachable. Had fun working with them although I get a little uneasy having to debrief cos that's not quite my cup of tea and strength but having years of experience working and being in council certainly helped in relating to them and sharing experiences of good and bad leadership haha. Activities were fun and I enjoyed making fun of the kids and having fun with the kids too =)
(3) Take That (July) - Well, this was new to us too and it's some sort of a talent time thingie which was well-received by the cohort. We had a good number of entries and quite a few quality ones as well, like the dance group Fluffy and singer Raina (who did a great rendition of Adele's Rolling In The Deep) and some comedy acts too by some jokers haha. On request from my fellow Council TAs in charge of the event, I performed as well, though I was quite reluctant because I was very drained by school work but I did anyway for their sake heh. Actually, I do NOT like to sing in front of a large crowd UNLESS I have a self-composed song because I don't have a great voice so I see no point wasting other people's time listening to me. I do love performing the songs I've written because they are either educational and/or motivating and the songs have meaning to me that's why I do the things I do! Anyway, I'd say the event went well and the toughest part was having to carry the wushu mat - it is * heavy! Takes like 20 over people to carry and it still weighs a lot! =s
(4) Teachers' Day (Sep) - With the new Teachers' Day being the first Friday of Sep, our celebrations happened to fall on 1st Sep instead and I was one of the teachers in charge. Our theme was H.E.A.R.T., which was meant to represent the Hope and Encouragement given by the teachers, the Appreciation and Respect the students have for their teachers and the Trust in their teachers (and also cos there was some idea of I ♥ My Teachers, kinda like those I ♥ NY thingie...). It was a simple concert with a performance by the Dance Society and Raina (winner of the most popular act in Take That) and some games including Charades and A Minute to Win It. I loved the latter cos I helped to twist it into something relevant towards Teachers' Day and we used games such as Hanky Panky (pull tissues out from a box - for the environmentalists, the tissues were fully utilised for our chem labs so they were not wasted), Back Flip (flip red pens off the back of your hand and catching them in the air, from 1 to 6 pens), Office Tennis (hit paper balls using clipboards into a dustbin), and the grand finale of Office Maximus (hit reams of printing paper off a table using basketballs). There were many hilarious moments and you could hear that the crowd enjoyed watching the teachers play the games and I played my part as the emcee (I was v familiar with the games and also how it related to teachers and also I knew the teachers so I helped out to emcee to make things more entertaining) to rouse the kids and also to make fun of the teachers hahaha. =P A large part of the concert went to the videos made by the J1s and they really had a lot of creative efforts on show which were impressive and heartening to see as they showed their appreciation. =) Prior to the concert itself, we also had activities planned and we got the students to ask the teachers what they wanted to do because over the years, we (or at least I) felt that the teachers may not always been appreciated in the best way so to do so we got the CG Chairpersons to ask their teachers what they would like based on the 5 love languages and there were more interesting things this year such as washing cars and playing sports (which I did with my CG when we played floorball and others played games like frisbee or captain's ball) instead of just writing cards for their teachers. All in all, I think it was a meaningful event and I was happy to be part of it cos that was one of the events I had looked forward to organising when I joined the SC (the other main one being Orientation) so at least I will leave MJC having done something worthwhile at least to me... =)
(5) JC1 Bash (Oct) - Again we broke new grounds this time with the event being held at Zouk (though a few years back we also had it externally, I believe at St. James) and it was a first for me haha (SK I know but I never fancied such places). This was thanks largely to one of the CG Chairpersons (we worked with the CGEB on this) who had some lobang there and a lot of the stuff were taken care of by Zouk so thankfully there wasn't much for us to do except to jaga the kids and ensure nothing strange happened =D "Mummy" was hilarious as she commented on the limited moves that the kids had on display (all the way they were just jumping and throwing their hands in the air) and showed off some of the moves from her time. Always funny to see her comical face - drama mama indeed!!!
Ok done with the more significant moments in SC that I can recall so now for more recent updates from 2012!
(a) Soccer @ Pasir Ris Sports and Recreation Centre on 3rd Jan (Tue) - finally managed to arrange a game of street soccer with some of my ex-students, 3 from the 06 batch, 8 from the 10 batch and 3 others who were friends of my students. Had a fun day of soccer and it was good to get another game under my belt but I could still feel the slight hamstring strain I had from the last time I played 2 weeks ago heh. Picked up a ridiculous wrist injury towards the end when I fell after turning too fast and losing my balance prob cos I was too tired doh! Could also feel a pain in my right ankle towards the end after I took a shot which was worrying cos that has given me many problems over the years... =( Positives - got into a lot of good scoring positions, scored 3, decent passing; Negatives - wasteful and went for power too often and ended up shooting straight at the keeper or hitting it to the left of goal from the various angles. Watching Thierry Henry's cool finishing last night in the FA Cup reminds me of the importance of placement and I'm looking forward to playing again soon though I doubt that will happen heh now that school has started for everyone... Oh yes, and Jonathan had a great game scoring 2 goals, rare for a defender and prob the most he ever scores in a game heh! =P
(b) Buffet @ Kuishin-Bo, Suntec City on 3rd Jan (Tue) - after an intense game of soccer we went back to wash up before heading down for another buffet (which after we counted really wasn't much - like five over the last 2 years haha)... Food was decent for the price ($41.9++ per pax, with 20% for those whose birthday falls in the month) and the better picks for me were the fried rice with smoked duck (biased perhaps since fried rice is one of my fav dish), beef teppanyaki, fried ika rings, pork fillet, salmon (pretty good indeed), cold Alaskan crab. The chilli crab was disappointing based on our biggest eater ZT so the rest of us avoided it. Funny parts were the moments when the restaurant had their specials (think it was on every hour) cos they had this really terrible sounding jingle but the specials were quite ok - once there were frozen strawberries and another time there was this peach-looking thingie with mochi texture and cream inside. Anyway it was quite a big group with 11 of us and we had a welcome addition, a pleasant-looking girl amongst the 10 guys hahaha. PY was as usual in his hilariously crappy mood and it seemed like everything we ate could be linked to some cheeky stuff. Talking about everything under the sun from food to games to studies and it's always fun to chill with them cos it's a whole lot of crappy guys =P
(c) Start of school - went back to school last Thu for staff meetings and surprisingly time passed quite fast, partly cos I was on my hp surfing and whatsapping heh. It actually ended faster than I expected (2.5 hours) then we had our Chem meeting. Since I didn't have any duties yet (for the JC1 team) I helped out by giving out the food, drinks, and utensils and also helped to clear up after eating, much to the amusement of my friends and we were joking that I'm too free now so I'm doing other stuff (they always joke that I'm finding stuff to do when I'm busy working heh). Relaxing start to the term so far and hopefully this will be the way as I finish off what should be my last few months in MJC...
Been watching a lot of Big Bang Theory FINALLY after Jonathan and LJ introduced it to me like years ago but I never really had the time to sit down to watch a long series so it's a good time to catch up and laugh myself silly! Shall try to recall some of the funniest moments in the series in my future posts heh... Ok, Open House tmr, hope to update again soon (dunno how soon that is though heh)! =)
(1) Council Training Camp (March) - our first 4 days 3 nights camp (usually it's 3D2N) and this time it started at the beginning of the March Holidays. We lengthened the camp so as to introduce some new stuff such as the Laser Quest gaming which was super fun! Basically we had 4 teams of about 10 people each and wore those vests with detectors and carried guns (got different types) then ran around Blocks C and E, the labs and library to play. Was definitely the most fun thing we ever did in our camps! And it finally puts those skills you learnt from army and gaming (CS) to good use as I flanked and ran to the second floor to shoot people from behind cos the enemy base was outside our chem lab LOL. We also went prawning at Pasir Ris Park after the night walk and that was a new activity but it is definitely NOT my cup of tea lol, nor will fishing ever be... Seriously, waiting for something to get hooked onto you, NOT for me =P The other new things we had were the training by the Council TAs cos this time we wanted to ground the kids in proper planning and stuff which we felt would give them a headstart instead of just purely the on-job-training that they usually get cos it seemed inadequate... Had lotsa fun working with the TAs in planning some of the stuff such as the games which we used to try and link to Council spirit... =)
(2) Leadership Training Camp (June) - my first LTC that I attended because they decided to involve the Council TAs this time and we went to the MOE Changi Coast Adventure Centre (a super ulu area). It was a new experience and I quite enjoyed it if not for the timing (2nd week of Jun, which basically took up whatever little break I had then), though it's not something I would do over and over again unless there's something refreshing to it. I liked that I had to think out of the box sometimes to try and link the activities done to the 5 leadership principles that we've been emphasising in our leadership model. Good to see some of the alumni coming back to help facilitate and that certainly eased our job to some extent! Each teacher had to take a group of about 15 and mine was called Triple Kill heh. Nice kids and generally a nice cohort of students who seem very teachable. Had fun working with them although I get a little uneasy having to debrief cos that's not quite my cup of tea and strength but having years of experience working and being in council certainly helped in relating to them and sharing experiences of good and bad leadership haha. Activities were fun and I enjoyed making fun of the kids and having fun with the kids too =)
(3) Take That (July) - Well, this was new to us too and it's some sort of a talent time thingie which was well-received by the cohort. We had a good number of entries and quite a few quality ones as well, like the dance group Fluffy and singer Raina (who did a great rendition of Adele's Rolling In The Deep) and some comedy acts too by some jokers haha. On request from my fellow Council TAs in charge of the event, I performed as well, though I was quite reluctant because I was very drained by school work but I did anyway for their sake heh. Actually, I do NOT like to sing in front of a large crowd UNLESS I have a self-composed song because I don't have a great voice so I see no point wasting other people's time listening to me. I do love performing the songs I've written because they are either educational and/or motivating and the songs have meaning to me that's why I do the things I do! Anyway, I'd say the event went well and the toughest part was having to carry the wushu mat - it is * heavy! Takes like 20 over people to carry and it still weighs a lot! =s
(4) Teachers' Day (Sep) - With the new Teachers' Day being the first Friday of Sep, our celebrations happened to fall on 1st Sep instead and I was one of the teachers in charge. Our theme was H.E.A.R.T., which was meant to represent the Hope and Encouragement given by the teachers, the Appreciation and Respect the students have for their teachers and the Trust in their teachers (and also cos there was some idea of I ♥ My Teachers, kinda like those I ♥ NY thingie...). It was a simple concert with a performance by the Dance Society and Raina (winner of the most popular act in Take That) and some games including Charades and A Minute to Win It. I loved the latter cos I helped to twist it into something relevant towards Teachers' Day and we used games such as Hanky Panky (pull tissues out from a box - for the environmentalists, the tissues were fully utilised for our chem labs so they were not wasted), Back Flip (flip red pens off the back of your hand and catching them in the air, from 1 to 6 pens), Office Tennis (hit paper balls using clipboards into a dustbin), and the grand finale of Office Maximus (hit reams of printing paper off a table using basketballs). There were many hilarious moments and you could hear that the crowd enjoyed watching the teachers play the games and I played my part as the emcee (I was v familiar with the games and also how it related to teachers and also I knew the teachers so I helped out to emcee to make things more entertaining) to rouse the kids and also to make fun of the teachers hahaha. =P A large part of the concert went to the videos made by the J1s and they really had a lot of creative efforts on show which were impressive and heartening to see as they showed their appreciation. =) Prior to the concert itself, we also had activities planned and we got the students to ask the teachers what they wanted to do because over the years, we (or at least I) felt that the teachers may not always been appreciated in the best way so to do so we got the CG Chairpersons to ask their teachers what they would like based on the 5 love languages and there were more interesting things this year such as washing cars and playing sports (which I did with my CG when we played floorball and others played games like frisbee or captain's ball) instead of just writing cards for their teachers. All in all, I think it was a meaningful event and I was happy to be part of it cos that was one of the events I had looked forward to organising when I joined the SC (the other main one being Orientation) so at least I will leave MJC having done something worthwhile at least to me... =)
(5) JC1 Bash (Oct) - Again we broke new grounds this time with the event being held at Zouk (though a few years back we also had it externally, I believe at St. James) and it was a first for me haha (SK I know but I never fancied such places). This was thanks largely to one of the CG Chairpersons (we worked with the CGEB on this) who had some lobang there and a lot of the stuff were taken care of by Zouk so thankfully there wasn't much for us to do except to jaga the kids and ensure nothing strange happened =D "Mummy" was hilarious as she commented on the limited moves that the kids had on display (all the way they were just jumping and throwing their hands in the air) and showed off some of the moves from her time. Always funny to see her comical face - drama mama indeed!!!
Ok done with the more significant moments in SC that I can recall so now for more recent updates from 2012!
(a) Soccer @ Pasir Ris Sports and Recreation Centre on 3rd Jan (Tue) - finally managed to arrange a game of street soccer with some of my ex-students, 3 from the 06 batch, 8 from the 10 batch and 3 others who were friends of my students. Had a fun day of soccer and it was good to get another game under my belt but I could still feel the slight hamstring strain I had from the last time I played 2 weeks ago heh. Picked up a ridiculous wrist injury towards the end when I fell after turning too fast and losing my balance prob cos I was too tired doh! Could also feel a pain in my right ankle towards the end after I took a shot which was worrying cos that has given me many problems over the years... =( Positives - got into a lot of good scoring positions, scored 3, decent passing; Negatives - wasteful and went for power too often and ended up shooting straight at the keeper or hitting it to the left of goal from the various angles. Watching Thierry Henry's cool finishing last night in the FA Cup reminds me of the importance of placement and I'm looking forward to playing again soon though I doubt that will happen heh now that school has started for everyone... Oh yes, and Jonathan had a great game scoring 2 goals, rare for a defender and prob the most he ever scores in a game heh! =P
(b) Buffet @ Kuishin-Bo, Suntec City on 3rd Jan (Tue) - after an intense game of soccer we went back to wash up before heading down for another buffet (which after we counted really wasn't much - like five over the last 2 years haha)... Food was decent for the price ($41.9++ per pax, with 20% for those whose birthday falls in the month) and the better picks for me were the fried rice with smoked duck (biased perhaps since fried rice is one of my fav dish), beef teppanyaki, fried ika rings, pork fillet, salmon (pretty good indeed), cold Alaskan crab. The chilli crab was disappointing based on our biggest eater ZT so the rest of us avoided it. Funny parts were the moments when the restaurant had their specials (think it was on every hour) cos they had this really terrible sounding jingle but the specials were quite ok - once there were frozen strawberries and another time there was this peach-looking thingie with mochi texture and cream inside. Anyway it was quite a big group with 11 of us and we had a welcome addition, a pleasant-looking girl amongst the 10 guys hahaha. PY was as usual in his hilariously crappy mood and it seemed like everything we ate could be linked to some cheeky stuff. Talking about everything under the sun from food to games to studies and it's always fun to chill with them cos it's a whole lot of crappy guys =P
(c) Start of school - went back to school last Thu for staff meetings and surprisingly time passed quite fast, partly cos I was on my hp surfing and whatsapping heh. It actually ended faster than I expected (2.5 hours) then we had our Chem meeting. Since I didn't have any duties yet (for the JC1 team) I helped out by giving out the food, drinks, and utensils and also helped to clear up after eating, much to the amusement of my friends and we were joking that I'm too free now so I'm doing other stuff (they always joke that I'm finding stuff to do when I'm busy working heh). Relaxing start to the term so far and hopefully this will be the way as I finish off what should be my last few months in MJC...
Been watching a lot of Big Bang Theory FINALLY after Jonathan and LJ introduced it to me like years ago but I never really had the time to sit down to watch a long series so it's a good time to catch up and laugh myself silly! Shall try to recall some of the funniest moments in the series in my future posts heh... Ok, Open House tmr, hope to update again soon (dunno how soon that is though heh)! =)
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year! New Year Resolutions
Was writing a recommendation letter last night and ended up didn't having time to update cos I went out to meet a couple of friends for drinks at the IntroBar at Swissotel The Stamford. The original plan was at the Inter-Continental Hotel at Bugis where they went to celebrate last year but now they had a new deal where you need to fork out $98++ per pax for free flow champagne and none of us was going to pay that crazy price to celebrate the new year (esp. when I'm not a fan of alcohol). So in the end we tried IntroBar cos we went there before and it's a nice place with nice "fish food" (those snacks like the assorted nuts and crackers that most bars serve when you order drinks). I ordered two mocktails (the menu uses the term "soft cocktail" instead haha - Hokkaido Berry (which was quite thick) and Lady Marmalade (I really liked the taste and it's fizzy and esp. since it's $12++ for a fairly big cup and reminds me of my favourite virgin mojito). Talked about various stuff from coordinating weddings, office politics and whatever we saw on TV including racing camels haha... Watched the fireworks that were on display outside MBS and too bad there was a tree outside obstructing part of our view haha so after a while we switched to watching it on the TV. =P Going home was CRAZY bad though. We left at about 2.30 and after walking around trying to catch the cab and NightRider at various locations, I realised I made some bad choices. Should've just grabbed any NightRider to get out of town to catch a cab cos it was insanely difficult to get transport. The phone lines were jammed, queues were long, buses just drove past without stopping cos they were soooo packed. Got home at about 5.30 after finally getting the bus at 4.40 and it snaked around the city until I finally got off around Lavender and then cabbed home. Gives me second thoughts about ever going out for drinks again. But at least I'll learn from this experience and I'm more familiar with the various NR services now cos I was staring at the stops plotting how to escape the city hahaha. So I should be able to make my way home if I get stuck late outside and I can't get a cab...
Anyway, I shall look forward to the new year and I'm glad a painful 2011 has come to an end. I'm not too sure about what the future holds though but I shall just keep to some simple New Year Resolutions with the hope that this time I can really stick to them. And to make them more achieveable I shall break them down into more manageable parts...
(1) Staying healthy
(a) Exercise everyday - even if it means doing just abs exercises.
(b) Sleeping early and sleeping more - latest by 1am and at least 7 hours sleep every day.
(c) Eating fruits everyday
(2) Being happy
(a) Don't overwork myself and give myself undue stress - just do the bare minimum required in school.
(b) Stay calm in the face of difficulties.
(c) Hang around with happy people.
(3) See more of the world
(a) Read up on 1 country that I want to travel to every month.
(b) Travel to 5 countries/cities that I have never been to before this year.
Yup, that's it for now - simple and achievable I would think. There are other things on my mind but I shan't classify as resolutions cos things may not be within my control and I don't want to stress myself too much over such things outside my sphere of influence haha.
Ok, shall keep my first post of the year short and sweet! Looking forward to hit the gym again tmr! Recap of 2011 tmr night!
Anyway, I shall look forward to the new year and I'm glad a painful 2011 has come to an end. I'm not too sure about what the future holds though but I shall just keep to some simple New Year Resolutions with the hope that this time I can really stick to them. And to make them more achieveable I shall break them down into more manageable parts...
(1) Staying healthy
(a) Exercise everyday - even if it means doing just abs exercises.
(b) Sleeping early and sleeping more - latest by 1am and at least 7 hours sleep every day.
(c) Eating fruits everyday
(2) Being happy
(a) Don't overwork myself and give myself undue stress - just do the bare minimum required in school.
(b) Stay calm in the face of difficulties.
(c) Hang around with happy people.
(3) See more of the world
(a) Read up on 1 country that I want to travel to every month.
(b) Travel to 5 countries/cities that I have never been to before this year.
Yup, that's it for now - simple and achievable I would think. There are other things on my mind but I shan't classify as resolutions cos things may not be within my control and I don't want to stress myself too much over such things outside my sphere of influence haha.
Ok, shall keep my first post of the year short and sweet! Looking forward to hit the gym again tmr! Recap of 2011 tmr night!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Team Fortress 2; Mahjong; Massage; Dental Tips; Review of Eateries
Have a new distraction recently - Team Fortress 2 - a really cute game (it's like Counter-Strike but much cuter with various items) introduced by XL and the best part is that it's free to play! Considering that, it's really a v good game and I realise that the offers on Steam (esp the Xmas deals so far) are really v good and MUCH cheaper than buying from the shops here!
Anyway, nothing much recently other than enjoying myself playing com and chilling at home. Met up with Jon, DS and Roy to play mahjong on Wed and after going up the 1st round, the 2nd round was terribly bad with v bad luck. You know it when you keep picking up bad cards like the 2nd last or last card of a wind or dragon and when you're calling 3 cards to game and pick up a card to throw for a "men-qing" (that's a ping-hu with nothing on the table) [not as bad as the time when I almost tian-hu then threw 3 kah-loongs to lose lol]. People zi-mo 4/5 tai when I never throw anything to them so it's just suay lor but oh well, that's mahjong and puts and end to my winning streak, just when I thought I was bouncing back on a string of big wins haha. But it was really fun and enjoyed the crapping when we were playing - a lot of dirty jokes and trash talk =P Dinner at Eastpoint Paradise Inn and the food is quite tasty, one of the reasons I enjoy eating food at the various Paradise Inn outlets - so far all have served good quality food at reasonable prices. =)
Met up with the MJ Bros for a massage at Chinatown on Thu at this shop called Teo Chew Meng Reflexology Centre and it was pretty good. For Singapore, the prices are probably on the cheaper side ($20 for 45 min of foot + shoulder massage - mainly foot) and the aunties there quite friendly and seem quite pro lol. They will tell you what problems you might have as they press your feet and mine asked if I'd been drinking a lot of soya bean (true, a small pack everyday) and cold water (not water itself, but other beverages) and drinking water too fast (maybe true)... The most painful part for all of us was when they press the region between the toes and the toe joints cos those are the least meaty parts so it's super pain! But ok lah, I felt good after the massage I think it's worth it =) Went for dinner at the nearby market at People's Park Complex and the guo1 tie1 from Tian Jin Fong Kee is really good! After that we went to HS's place to play a new game he bought called San1 Guo2 Sha1, basically a game based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms but the ideas are the same as a game I played before called Bang! It's just that they used the story to link to the cards but concept wise it's the same. Quite enjoyable first game but second game was a drag (and quite silly because I died abruptly after being struck by lightning, crap! =P) because it took ages to finish after the game was left with 3 so probably need to tweak that. It's a good game though at a price of $24.9, especially for fans of ROTK. =)
Met up with LJ (for gym) and XL (to see MY off to Canada) recently and they had some dental tips - (1) Floss everyday - something that people rarely do but it is v effective in preventing problems. Both of them do it regularly and even spend half an hour daily so it must be v important! (2) Do NOT brush your teeth immediately after you have eaten. Wait at least 30 min because your body produces lactic acid to break down the food (that includes drinks and sugary stuff such as sweets are the biggest culprits if you don't take care of your teeth properly) and this will soften the enamel which you will remove if you brush your teeth too soon. Your saliva will help to remineralise the teeth over time hence you should wait at least 30-40 min before brushing. Great tip I think! I used to think it's good to eat breakfast then brush so that can remove the food immediately but looks like it's not a good idea! (3) Brush your teeth in the correct manner so that the food from the small holes around your tooth (not visible to our naked eye) can be removed. This means to angle your toothbrush at 45 degrees to the base of your teeth (not a flat up and down kind of movement).
Time to review the many eateries that I've been to from July onwards! It's been really long though so I can't remember every dish but vaguely recall the better ones... (1) Bali Thai (at ION Orchard) - food's quite tasty at a decent price but the wait was v long (on a weekday dinner). The dish I like most is their chicken wings! (2) 3-Inch Sin (at Cluny Court - beside Serene Centre) Went there for dessert after Kuriya Dining and the molten chocolate cakes were AWESOME! I'm not a fan of chocolate but I loved eating it so that says much about it! (3) Lawry's (at Mandarin Gallery) - went there for high tea with my HJM from MJC after the mid-year exams, LOL. It was quite nice and a real "attas" ambience there. Food was decent but maybe pricey (attas food) but if you're a tai-tai that's not a problem. A nice place I'd say. (4) Marutama Ramen (at United Square) - I rem the first time I went to Marutama was at Liang Court with quite a few of my MJC friends a few years back and it was quite tasty though pricey. This time it seemed just ok and still quite pricey so not a fan of this - perhaps standards have dropped with the franchising? (5) Santoro (at Amara Hotel) - considering we spent about $80 per pax but I can't recall any dish that probably means it's decent but not outstanding to me at least... (6) Otto Ristorante (at Maxwell Road, Red Dot Traffic Building) - v nice place, nice ambience and I loved eating there, even though I'm not a big fan of Italian food. I think I had the degustation menu (nowadays I tend to spoil myself occasionally if it's about $100 or so - I've not earned enough to go for those $300+++ types yet =P) cos I remembered having a lot of dishes there and the one I remembered most was the amberjack because it was the first time I ate it and it was really tasty. I remembered they had a vegetarian set also so veggie lovers can try this place too! =) (7) South Coast (at MBS) - an Australian eatery I think and this was part of a dating event thing that I attended lol and the food was just ok to me and so were the people (most of them were much older than me lol). This really is NOT my kind of thing but I just accompanied a friend to look look see see. Can't hurt I guess but ya, I rather not go for such things again... (8) Novena Peranakan Cuisine (opposite Novena Square) - food was not bad but I remembered there were ants in the drink so that is a big no-no for me, never going back again. (9) Western Bar (at Jalan Gelenggang) - Quite a nice place but not easily accessibly via public transport. White truffle mushroom soup was the outstanding choice but the rest of the food was just ok. The boss was quite nice though cos the salad given didn't match the description in the menu so when we explained he offered us something else at no charge! (10) Honeymoon Dessert (at Bugis Junction) - my first visit was with some of the MJC (and ex-MJC) friends and the dessert there is quite tasty. Go for the "ren2 qi4" ones as shown in the menu and you can't go wrong! (11) Prive Cafe (at Keppel Bay) - nice ambience but can be v dark outside lol but also v inaccessible without public transport. Food there is decent and it's just a quite place near the waters if you like those kind of setting. (12) Tajimaya (at Vivocity) - v popular place and rightly so because the wagyu there is fantastic! It's a place I would want to go back to eat! (13) Ice Edge Cafe (at Kovan) - decent place for ice-cream but didn't excite me haha (14) Novus (at National Museum) - nice ambience but having spent about $100+ per pax I can't remember clearly what we ate. I think I had cod fish and some zucchini soup there but didn't recall v much, not a good sign I guess haha. The service was decent and they did have signs which explain the dish you are eating so that's quite cool. (15) Verve Pizza Bar (at Marina Bay City Gallery, around MBS) - ok place, food was just ok. The other thing I can recall was the waiter was v friendly and helpful haha... (16) Tampopo (at Liang Court) - quite a large variety of food and went for their ramen which was ok. The thing I like most is the milk pudding which is a must try! (17) Seafood Paradise (at Defu Lane) - have been hearing about the crabs at Defu Lane for a v long time and it didn't disappoint (though they only had the small ones) but quite inaccessible again.
(18) Joel Robuchon (at RWS) - By far, THE BEST restaurant I've ever been! It's soooooo good it deserves a paragraph of its own LOL. Really, eating at Joel Robuchon wasn't just a meal, it was a LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE. From the moment you enter, it's like wow - super posh! Beautiful and grand decor, from the lights to the table setting which have a grand black and gold colour combi, this was fine dining at its finest. It really made us feel under-dressed for the place so if you ever go there, please dress to the occasion! Why is it an experience? Because I saw and experienced more things than I ever did eating there. (a) They have separate menus for guys and ladies - the guys one have prices and the ladies one don't LOL. That's in line I guess with the French culture where the gentleman pays for everything. (b) There's a trolley for bread, another for cheese, and yet another for desserts - free flow! It's like OMG! The bread trolley was like wow - every single thing you've ever seen and more! From the basics like croissants (and there are many varieties) to basil and saffron flavoured bread, it'll bring tears of joy to bread lovers! Then there's the guy who comes around with butter flown in from France which is kept in a bell jar and he'll cut the butter for you on the spot before serving you. How cool is that??? I'm not a cheese fan so I didn't try but they also had huge varieties from the soft to hard so cheese lovers will enjoy that, together with the fruits that you can choose from. The dessert trolley was another wow - again almost everything you can think of, from macaroons, fruit tarts, opera cake - everything looked and tasted great! (c) The food was exquisite and some of the designs were simply intricate - like the dish where the chef dotted the entire plate with some greenish sauce and the dots were symmetrically placed and each dot was well done - something which looks so simple but yet requires much skill to make it so visually appealing! I had my wagyu, which was very nicely done (medium rare actually, something which I don't normally try in normal restaurants cos it can be v bloody) but it is the foie gras that was mind-blowing! Anyone who eats foie gras knows that moment when you bite into the foie gras and the oil oozes out to give you a truly o* feeling in your mouth. Hence the texture of the foie gras is important because if it's a little too hard then the kou3 gan3 will be lost. What distinguished the foie gras from anything else I've eaten is that it was sooooo smooth and soft inside that when you bite into it, it just melts into your mouth and gives me a high I've never had before. You know those food shows where the celebrities will give you this face and say it's soooo good? I'm sure you'll be like this too if you eat this! The only bad thing about eating this is that all other foie gras I eat since there just pales in comparison to it LOL. Summary: At about $200++ per pax it's the most expensive place that I've eaten at so far but NO REGRETS. Remember: It's NOT just a meal, it's an EXPERIENCE!
(19) Mozza Pizzeria (at MBS) - a popular place it seems and food was quite ok but seemed pricey to me and I don't think I'll ever like the salty meat kind of dishes that many Italian restaurants serve haha. (20) High Society (at MBS) - had stacks of macaroons, many funky flavours as we celebrated Shan's Birthday together and I realise macaroons really aren't my kind of dessert. It's too sweet for me! (21) Cherry Garden (at Mandarin Oriental) - went there for dim sum lunch and it's very tasty! Can see why they are so highly rated! Maybe a little pricey but for hotel food and the standard they have I think it's ok. (22) Urban Spoon (at Jalan Kayu) - food was sucky and really NOT worth the money. That was the worst $40 I spent on food! (23) Todai (at MBS) - as I'm listing out I just realise I seem to be eating a lot at MBS haha. Anyway, the buffet spread there was ok but for $50++ it was kinda difficult for me to eat my money's worth. It's good, but not good enough for me =) (24) Prime Cut (at Kovan) - ok heartland type of food at ok prices, nothing special to me... (25) Itacho Sushi (at Plaza Singapura) - v good place and they have a lot of good daily deals. The fresh scallops were the outstanding pick and highly recommended! (26) Tatsuya (at Goodwood Park Hotel) - outstanding sashimi! Fresh-flown from the famous Tsukiji Market! The $100 platter for 2 is definitely worth it cos there's a good variety and most importantly they taste really good and fresh! Will go back definitely! (27) Shin-Sapporo Ramen (at Century Square) - decent place, nothing much else... (28) Momoya (at Picardy Garden) - nice place for Jap buffet but quite inaccessible. (29) Ikkousha (at Iluma) - the place where there are many ramen stalls and we went for the one which seemed most popular and it was quite ok but seemed to be slightly more ex. Come to think of it, I really need to pay attention and find out which is the best place for ramen! (30) Nara (at Goldhill Centre near United Square) - decent Jap food at reasonable prices. (31) Royal China (at Raffles Hotel) - went for dim sum lunch with my HJM from MJC and the food there is quite good at decent price! Wouldn't mind going back again. (32) Keyaki (at Pan Pacific Hotel) - a real disappointment considering this was I think the first place that I ate during my journey of fine dining. Went for the omakase and had like 10+ dishes but none of them left me wanting for more and the worse part was that there was a bone in the salmon sashimi - something I've never had in years of eating sashimi even in crappy food places and nobody else seems to have experienced that before. The worst thing? Having to pay $150 for the meal - THAT is a waste of money! Not going back there again! (33) Peach Garden (opposite Novena Square) - decent dim sum at reasonable price. The XO carrot cake was quite good! =) (34) L'Angolo Ristaurante Italiano (at Maxwell Road, Maxwell Chambers) - nice place for Italian food at a price though. The cod fish was quite well done and other dishes were decent though I can't recall much... (35) Jones the Grocer (at Dempsey Hill) - had the wagyu beef burger and it was quite nice. Nice place to chill but Dempsey Hill isn't a very accessible place. Mandarin Gallery would be much better and there's another branch there. (36) Megumi (at East Coast) - nice place for Jap food and went there to celebrate Jana's birthday. Liked the fried rice but foie gras was just ok =D
Ok, finally done with the reviews - phew! Been absent from blogging too long already and still need to update my thoughts and reflections for the year before 2012 starts soon! For now, it's time to play! Just bought L4D and L4D2 online and downloaded liao so gonna start killing zombies! =D
Anyway, nothing much recently other than enjoying myself playing com and chilling at home. Met up with Jon, DS and Roy to play mahjong on Wed and after going up the 1st round, the 2nd round was terribly bad with v bad luck. You know it when you keep picking up bad cards like the 2nd last or last card of a wind or dragon and when you're calling 3 cards to game and pick up a card to throw for a "men-qing" (that's a ping-hu with nothing on the table) [not as bad as the time when I almost tian-hu then threw 3 kah-loongs to lose lol]. People zi-mo 4/5 tai when I never throw anything to them so it's just suay lor but oh well, that's mahjong and puts and end to my winning streak, just when I thought I was bouncing back on a string of big wins haha. But it was really fun and enjoyed the crapping when we were playing - a lot of dirty jokes and trash talk =P Dinner at Eastpoint Paradise Inn and the food is quite tasty, one of the reasons I enjoy eating food at the various Paradise Inn outlets - so far all have served good quality food at reasonable prices. =)
Met up with the MJ Bros for a massage at Chinatown on Thu at this shop called Teo Chew Meng Reflexology Centre and it was pretty good. For Singapore, the prices are probably on the cheaper side ($20 for 45 min of foot + shoulder massage - mainly foot) and the aunties there quite friendly and seem quite pro lol. They will tell you what problems you might have as they press your feet and mine asked if I'd been drinking a lot of soya bean (true, a small pack everyday) and cold water (not water itself, but other beverages) and drinking water too fast (maybe true)... The most painful part for all of us was when they press the region between the toes and the toe joints cos those are the least meaty parts so it's super pain! But ok lah, I felt good after the massage I think it's worth it =) Went for dinner at the nearby market at People's Park Complex and the guo1 tie1 from Tian Jin Fong Kee is really good! After that we went to HS's place to play a new game he bought called San1 Guo2 Sha1, basically a game based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms but the ideas are the same as a game I played before called Bang! It's just that they used the story to link to the cards but concept wise it's the same. Quite enjoyable first game but second game was a drag (and quite silly because I died abruptly after being struck by lightning, crap! =P) because it took ages to finish after the game was left with 3 so probably need to tweak that. It's a good game though at a price of $24.9, especially for fans of ROTK. =)
Met up with LJ (for gym) and XL (to see MY off to Canada) recently and they had some dental tips - (1) Floss everyday - something that people rarely do but it is v effective in preventing problems. Both of them do it regularly and even spend half an hour daily so it must be v important! (2) Do NOT brush your teeth immediately after you have eaten. Wait at least 30 min because your body produces lactic acid to break down the food (that includes drinks and sugary stuff such as sweets are the biggest culprits if you don't take care of your teeth properly) and this will soften the enamel which you will remove if you brush your teeth too soon. Your saliva will help to remineralise the teeth over time hence you should wait at least 30-40 min before brushing. Great tip I think! I used to think it's good to eat breakfast then brush so that can remove the food immediately but looks like it's not a good idea! (3) Brush your teeth in the correct manner so that the food from the small holes around your tooth (not visible to our naked eye) can be removed. This means to angle your toothbrush at 45 degrees to the base of your teeth (not a flat up and down kind of movement).
Time to review the many eateries that I've been to from July onwards! It's been really long though so I can't remember every dish but vaguely recall the better ones... (1) Bali Thai (at ION Orchard) - food's quite tasty at a decent price but the wait was v long (on a weekday dinner). The dish I like most is their chicken wings! (2) 3-Inch Sin (at Cluny Court - beside Serene Centre) Went there for dessert after Kuriya Dining and the molten chocolate cakes were AWESOME! I'm not a fan of chocolate but I loved eating it so that says much about it! (3) Lawry's (at Mandarin Gallery) - went there for high tea with my HJM from MJC after the mid-year exams, LOL. It was quite nice and a real "attas" ambience there. Food was decent but maybe pricey (attas food) but if you're a tai-tai that's not a problem. A nice place I'd say. (4) Marutama Ramen (at United Square) - I rem the first time I went to Marutama was at Liang Court with quite a few of my MJC friends a few years back and it was quite tasty though pricey. This time it seemed just ok and still quite pricey so not a fan of this - perhaps standards have dropped with the franchising? (5) Santoro (at Amara Hotel) - considering we spent about $80 per pax but I can't recall any dish that probably means it's decent but not outstanding to me at least... (6) Otto Ristorante (at Maxwell Road, Red Dot Traffic Building) - v nice place, nice ambience and I loved eating there, even though I'm not a big fan of Italian food. I think I had the degustation menu (nowadays I tend to spoil myself occasionally if it's about $100 or so - I've not earned enough to go for those $300+++ types yet =P) cos I remembered having a lot of dishes there and the one I remembered most was the amberjack because it was the first time I ate it and it was really tasty. I remembered they had a vegetarian set also so veggie lovers can try this place too! =) (7) South Coast (at MBS) - an Australian eatery I think and this was part of a dating event thing that I attended lol and the food was just ok to me and so were the people (most of them were much older than me lol). This really is NOT my kind of thing but I just accompanied a friend to look look see see. Can't hurt I guess but ya, I rather not go for such things again... (8) Novena Peranakan Cuisine (opposite Novena Square) - food was not bad but I remembered there were ants in the drink so that is a big no-no for me, never going back again. (9) Western Bar (at Jalan Gelenggang) - Quite a nice place but not easily accessibly via public transport. White truffle mushroom soup was the outstanding choice but the rest of the food was just ok. The boss was quite nice though cos the salad given didn't match the description in the menu so when we explained he offered us something else at no charge! (10) Honeymoon Dessert (at Bugis Junction) - my first visit was with some of the MJC (and ex-MJC) friends and the dessert there is quite tasty. Go for the "ren2 qi4" ones as shown in the menu and you can't go wrong! (11) Prive Cafe (at Keppel Bay) - nice ambience but can be v dark outside lol but also v inaccessible without public transport. Food there is decent and it's just a quite place near the waters if you like those kind of setting. (12) Tajimaya (at Vivocity) - v popular place and rightly so because the wagyu there is fantastic! It's a place I would want to go back to eat! (13) Ice Edge Cafe (at Kovan) - decent place for ice-cream but didn't excite me haha (14) Novus (at National Museum) - nice ambience but having spent about $100+ per pax I can't remember clearly what we ate. I think I had cod fish and some zucchini soup there but didn't recall v much, not a good sign I guess haha. The service was decent and they did have signs which explain the dish you are eating so that's quite cool. (15) Verve Pizza Bar (at Marina Bay City Gallery, around MBS) - ok place, food was just ok. The other thing I can recall was the waiter was v friendly and helpful haha... (16) Tampopo (at Liang Court) - quite a large variety of food and went for their ramen which was ok. The thing I like most is the milk pudding which is a must try! (17) Seafood Paradise (at Defu Lane) - have been hearing about the crabs at Defu Lane for a v long time and it didn't disappoint (though they only had the small ones) but quite inaccessible again.
(18) Joel Robuchon (at RWS) - By far, THE BEST restaurant I've ever been! It's soooooo good it deserves a paragraph of its own LOL. Really, eating at Joel Robuchon wasn't just a meal, it was a LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE. From the moment you enter, it's like wow - super posh! Beautiful and grand decor, from the lights to the table setting which have a grand black and gold colour combi, this was fine dining at its finest. It really made us feel under-dressed for the place so if you ever go there, please dress to the occasion! Why is it an experience? Because I saw and experienced more things than I ever did eating there. (a) They have separate menus for guys and ladies - the guys one have prices and the ladies one don't LOL. That's in line I guess with the French culture where the gentleman pays for everything. (b) There's a trolley for bread, another for cheese, and yet another for desserts - free flow! It's like OMG! The bread trolley was like wow - every single thing you've ever seen and more! From the basics like croissants (and there are many varieties) to basil and saffron flavoured bread, it'll bring tears of joy to bread lovers! Then there's the guy who comes around with butter flown in from France which is kept in a bell jar and he'll cut the butter for you on the spot before serving you. How cool is that??? I'm not a cheese fan so I didn't try but they also had huge varieties from the soft to hard so cheese lovers will enjoy that, together with the fruits that you can choose from. The dessert trolley was another wow - again almost everything you can think of, from macaroons, fruit tarts, opera cake - everything looked and tasted great! (c) The food was exquisite and some of the designs were simply intricate - like the dish where the chef dotted the entire plate with some greenish sauce and the dots were symmetrically placed and each dot was well done - something which looks so simple but yet requires much skill to make it so visually appealing! I had my wagyu, which was very nicely done (medium rare actually, something which I don't normally try in normal restaurants cos it can be v bloody) but it is the foie gras that was mind-blowing! Anyone who eats foie gras knows that moment when you bite into the foie gras and the oil oozes out to give you a truly o* feeling in your mouth. Hence the texture of the foie gras is important because if it's a little too hard then the kou3 gan3 will be lost. What distinguished the foie gras from anything else I've eaten is that it was sooooo smooth and soft inside that when you bite into it, it just melts into your mouth and gives me a high I've never had before. You know those food shows where the celebrities will give you this face and say it's soooo good? I'm sure you'll be like this too if you eat this! The only bad thing about eating this is that all other foie gras I eat since there just pales in comparison to it LOL. Summary: At about $200++ per pax it's the most expensive place that I've eaten at so far but NO REGRETS. Remember: It's NOT just a meal, it's an EXPERIENCE!
(19) Mozza Pizzeria (at MBS) - a popular place it seems and food was quite ok but seemed pricey to me and I don't think I'll ever like the salty meat kind of dishes that many Italian restaurants serve haha. (20) High Society (at MBS) - had stacks of macaroons, many funky flavours as we celebrated Shan's Birthday together and I realise macaroons really aren't my kind of dessert. It's too sweet for me! (21) Cherry Garden (at Mandarin Oriental) - went there for dim sum lunch and it's very tasty! Can see why they are so highly rated! Maybe a little pricey but for hotel food and the standard they have I think it's ok. (22) Urban Spoon (at Jalan Kayu) - food was sucky and really NOT worth the money. That was the worst $40 I spent on food! (23) Todai (at MBS) - as I'm listing out I just realise I seem to be eating a lot at MBS haha. Anyway, the buffet spread there was ok but for $50++ it was kinda difficult for me to eat my money's worth. It's good, but not good enough for me =) (24) Prime Cut (at Kovan) - ok heartland type of food at ok prices, nothing special to me... (25) Itacho Sushi (at Plaza Singapura) - v good place and they have a lot of good daily deals. The fresh scallops were the outstanding pick and highly recommended! (26) Tatsuya (at Goodwood Park Hotel) - outstanding sashimi! Fresh-flown from the famous Tsukiji Market! The $100 platter for 2 is definitely worth it cos there's a good variety and most importantly they taste really good and fresh! Will go back definitely! (27) Shin-Sapporo Ramen (at Century Square) - decent place, nothing much else... (28) Momoya (at Picardy Garden) - nice place for Jap buffet but quite inaccessible. (29) Ikkousha (at Iluma) - the place where there are many ramen stalls and we went for the one which seemed most popular and it was quite ok but seemed to be slightly more ex. Come to think of it, I really need to pay attention and find out which is the best place for ramen! (30) Nara (at Goldhill Centre near United Square) - decent Jap food at reasonable prices. (31) Royal China (at Raffles Hotel) - went for dim sum lunch with my HJM from MJC and the food there is quite good at decent price! Wouldn't mind going back again. (32) Keyaki (at Pan Pacific Hotel) - a real disappointment considering this was I think the first place that I ate during my journey of fine dining. Went for the omakase and had like 10+ dishes but none of them left me wanting for more and the worse part was that there was a bone in the salmon sashimi - something I've never had in years of eating sashimi even in crappy food places and nobody else seems to have experienced that before. The worst thing? Having to pay $150 for the meal - THAT is a waste of money! Not going back there again! (33) Peach Garden (opposite Novena Square) - decent dim sum at reasonable price. The XO carrot cake was quite good! =) (34) L'Angolo Ristaurante Italiano (at Maxwell Road, Maxwell Chambers) - nice place for Italian food at a price though. The cod fish was quite well done and other dishes were decent though I can't recall much... (35) Jones the Grocer (at Dempsey Hill) - had the wagyu beef burger and it was quite nice. Nice place to chill but Dempsey Hill isn't a very accessible place. Mandarin Gallery would be much better and there's another branch there. (36) Megumi (at East Coast) - nice place for Jap food and went there to celebrate Jana's birthday. Liked the fried rice but foie gras was just ok =D
Ok, finally done with the reviews - phew! Been absent from blogging too long already and still need to update my thoughts and reflections for the year before 2012 starts soon! For now, it's time to play! Just bought L4D and L4D2 online and downloaded liao so gonna start killing zombies! =D
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Done with Skyrim - FINALLY! MJC Prom Night; MJ Bros Games Gathering; CT's Death; SRPQ Outing; Pool with Army Kakis; IGC Outing; Futsal @ The Hangar
FINALLY, after about 170 hours of Skyrim I have finally completed possibly the biggest RPG ever! =D Having spent such a huge amount of time playing this game - I don't think I want to spend another few hours typing a detailed review of the game haha. So shall just try to keep this simple...
Pros: (1) Value for money - $65 for 170 hours is as good as it gets. (2) Fantastic graphics and sound - really HUGE world with beautiful scenery and intricate designs of buildings for each of the major cities. Characters and monsters look great! Sound effects and music were well done and contributed to a very enjoyable experience. (3) Huge array of things to do - smithing, enchanting, training, fighting, dungeon exploring, quests - THAT's why it took so long to complete (my quest log was practically bursting from about 10 hours into the game to nearing the end of the game) (4) Great storyline - the story of the Dragonborn was interesting (shan't reveal more to avoid spoilers) and so were the respective ones involving the war of Skyrim, Thieves' Guild, Companions, and Dark Brotherhood and some of the powers gained made it more interesting. (5) Fuss-free gaming - I liked the fact that the game was generally quite smooth - from the installation to the gameplay - something I don't take for granted after some bad experiences with other games (Bioshock and Deadspace). Nothing irritates you more than getting your hands on a much anticipated game and being unable to play it properly!
Cons: (1) Toooo long (lol) - Hard to please eh? This is ironic since I talked about value for money earlier but the game did get kinda draggy towards the later half of the game and I just wanted to finish it asap. (2) Quests were not well organized - While it's nice and important to have many things to do in an RPG, the problem was there were too many and I spent a lot of time to keep track cos I couldn't even remember what the point of the quest was and who it came from until I make the quest active and find the location on the map to jog my memory. Considering there are many other games which keep a good catalogue of the quests and gave descriptions so that you remember what is happening, I felt that this was a big drawback of the gaem. (3) Battles too easy - Fighting was fun at the start when it was still fairly challenging but once my mage got stronger and I got dual-casting and impact, it was just too imba as I spammed firebolts from range. Might be better if you played a melee character. (4) Lack of affection for the characters and sub-plot - Despite the length of the game, the great storyline, and the fact that you can have followers, there is virtually inexistent interaction between your character and your follower (if you choose to have one). This is in comparison to Dragon Age: Origins (DAO) whereby I would normally travel with 3 other companions and would have to find some of these companions myself through certain encounters. These companions could have interesting conversations leading to their personal quests and romance options and you even have to pay attention to what they say so that you know what they like and know the appropriate gifts to make them like you more. Also, the decisions you make with the 4 sub-plots as mentioned above in the Pros point (4) have no impact on the main storyline and you could even get through the game without them (if you don't want to have the particular achievement). This again loses out to DAO big-time, which brilliantly tied in everything as part of the bigger picture and the decisions you make have significance on the game and the ending. (5) Achievements - Somehow I think the game-makers don't realise how important achievements are to RPG players. Generally I think we are quite OCD people with the aim of getting any achievement (within reasonable means at least) and for a game which lasts 100++ hours, it is surprising there are only 50 achievements. As I played the game, I could certainly think of much more things they could give credit to! (6) Bugs - rare for a game to not have them, esp one as big as Skyrim but there was one which threatened to ruin the game near the end which I thankfully avoided due to an earlier saved game so my warning if you want to play this game is to be careful if you kill any soldiers.
Conclusion: 9/10 - Huge, worth buying but if you've not played DAO, play that instead cos that is the bomb. Finally I can go back to life on planet Earth =P
Moving on to the other things in my title...
(1) MJC Prom Night (7th Dec) - Held at Mandarin Orchard Hotel (incidentally where I had MY prom 13 years ago lol) and things went smoothly. Quite standard dressing from the guys (almost all in suits and tie) and for the girls, one of my friends observed that most wore quite tight-fitting dresses, which seemed to be the trend. I saw one dressed like for a wedding and I heard there was someone dressed as Snow White but I didn't get to see that haha. Only the Council TAs and the Photography Club teacher were around though, unlike previous years, and we could only surmise that this was a reflection of the relationship between the teachers and this cohort, something that I will elaborate upon when I do my reflection of my teaching experience for the year and cohort later this week. In fact, there was also not much photo taking this time round, unlike my previous 2 proms from past batches, and very little interaction with the students. Anyway, this time we were quite laxed though, and found time during the Prom to go to Bar on 5 (conveniently located just below the ballroom) for some drinks and to catch up on recent happenings, holiday plans, and future developments. I'm sure we will all miss the times that we've spent together as Council TAs after all the events and camps that we have been doing but we will still keep in contact after we move on. =)
Other than that, the trip to the prom itself was fairly interesting as the cab driver was v chatty but could converse quite well in English and seemed quite up-to-date with all the recent happenings and he talked to me about being a teacher and also about youngsters who seem to be lacking in values nowadays and cited to me an incident about some drunk youths who threw up in the car but refused to pay up. Funny thing was he said that karma was at work and they got what they deserved because after he cleaned up the car he found a phone which probably belonged to one of them and promptly sold it for $500 and joked that he was thankful to have a holiday after that cos he could stay at home for the next 2-3 days. Can't really say that he was wrong there and they deserve it for affecting his livelihood...
(2) MJ Bros Games Gathering (9th Dec) - met up with some of my MJ Bros for lunch around Boon Keng and then to one of their place to play board games (more like cards actually cos all our games involves cards only). We played some of the ones we've played recently, such as Loco (self-made because the game is apparently sooooo old that it's out of print lol, but it's really simple and fun!), Take 6 (my friend bought Take 5 actually but the rules were so complicated I just taught them to play Take 6 using the same cards) and the classic Citadels. Lost by 1 point after 6 rounds of Loco, tragically, then won Take 6 after 4 rounds including an epic comeback (3 of us were laughing and cheering everytime we managed to sabo the leading player until I came back from a 46 point deficit to win by about 20 points, quite unbelievable indeed), and won Citadel in a truly epic ending. I had a card in play called the "Ball Room" where after I called out each player to take their turn they must say "Thanks Your Excellency" or else forfeit their turn. After I built my final district thus making the current round the last round, my bro got too excited to finish building his final distract also and thus got caught by us (this after another person got caught by me in the previous round) and that cost him the game and we all had a good laugh after that. Perhaps it was karma also lol since I was assassinated twice by him in the game. Quite a few of them have flown off though so it'll be next year before I meet up with them for more of such entertainment!
(3) CT's Death (10th Dec) - on a more sombre note, my CT from AJC passed away on Thu and I went to pay my last respects at the Singapore Casket on Sat. I had actually arranged with some of my other ex-classmates to go there but on the day itself, some of them couldn't make it last minute and in the end I ended up going alone. Not too sure how important some of the things they had to take care of are, but I thought it would be important to pay my last respects even though I wasn't exactly close to her and didn't keep in contact with her after A Levels, apart from seeing her at one or two of my friends' weddings. It also makes me wonder when my time comes, who will actually take time off to see me for the last time... Anyway, it was surreal to see her lying in the coffin and it was a long time since I last saw someone in a coffin (can't even remember when that was, maybe as a child). At the point of time I was thinking back about how she was like last time, getting flashbacks of her teaching and stuff. I learned about what had happened from her cousin, who was the one who did all the funeral arrangements and contacting as many people as possible about my CT's death. She was suffering from cancer from about end of 2009 after she decided to not undergo a major operation on some growth in her throat (or somewhere around there) even though doctors said there was a 25% chance that it might be malignant. Unfortunately, it did turn malignant and she went on radiotherapy and then chemotherapy and it subsided in March 2010 but then she had a relapse I think around end of last year and decided not to have treatment because it was too painful. We actually planned to visit her about 3 months ago but my friend who was coordinating said that she was in too much pain and thus she suggested we visit her later on when things were better and in fact we were just planning to make that visit 2 weeks ago when news of her death arrived so I felt I had to go down after all that delay. Seems like I was part of her first batch and I felt a bit bad that I wasn't a good student (at least not for Biology, my most hated subject) but I guess it's all in the past now. The whole incident has given me a lot of food for thought in recent months about how much to give in teaching and how important good health is and to not neglect it in the midst of the busyness of my work. Also, her cousin said that at least she led a colourful life, going skydiving, horse riding and stuff and in death she wore her favourite Vietnamese dress and boots and accessories. Also gave me more food for thought about doing the stuff I have not done yet and there are many things I want to do over the next few years as I take a break from teaching. I've given too much of my life these 6 years to teaching and it's time for me to find some time of my own... More about my thoughts later this week...
(4) SRPQ Outing (12th Dec) - Back to happier stuff, went out with the SRPQ (minus MY cos apparently she was sick though the other girls joked that she pang-seh us) to play. Met AQ at Stadium MRT to bring her over to Singapore Swimming Club (cos XL's tuition kid is a member there), which was quite a walk from the station and she kept saying that we were lost though I assured her I knew we were on the right track haha. Eventually got there and we played about 1.5 hours of badminton, a good workout after about a year's break since playing with the SC. XL was coaching haha and apparently he played for his primary school and the girls damn funny lah cos after a while they change their aim to hitting my face so sometimes during the rallies they will aim but I changed my stance to one where my racket is always covering my face lol. Anyway, badminton is definitely not my strength but still decent enough for some proper rallies lah. After that we went for 1.5 hours of bowling and played 3 games each in total. It's been soooooo long since I last bowled and the first game was so sucky (even though all sucked in the first one). At least after a long while I finally started to find my ground and improved in the next 2 games, esp after switching to a 14-pound ball (never used that in the past), to win by a big margin but nothing to be proud of lah haha. Throughout the whole game, XL and his student kept laughing and mocking each other and it was quite entertaining at first but after a while, it was a bit irritating haha. I definitely cannot teach young kids - too immature!
(5) Pool with Army Kakis (13th Dec) - met up with my 10SIB army kakis for our usual dinner and pool at Katong Shopping Centre. PT is back for good after his studies in Australia are done and will take the rest of his law modules in NUS. Eric is in charge of some research projects with MINDEF and busy with his new-born kid. WC has switched from his design field to working at the People's Association at Geylang Serai CC, haha a very huge change in work. MZ is still the same. As usual, they like to ka chiow me cos most of us were late and someone joked that the last one to reach should pay for pool and we were updating our statuses over Whatsapp and towards the end, Eric said that PT hasn't reached yet and that I might still beat him to it if I ran from the bus stop. I guessed as much they were fooling with me cos PT was around Katong Mall a long time ago and even with a traffic jam it wouldn't take him so long but nevertheless I played along and msg them that I was running but in the end I strolled in and unsurprisingly the four of them were huddled over Eric's phone to see my replies and having a good laugh hahaha. Anyway, pool was terrible and I never felt right the entire night hitting the shots. The moment I got onto the table, the posture and positioning seemed all wrong and I had so little confidence in myself that I used the stand even when I didn't have to and deserved to lose my relegation match where I missed a sitter for the black ball using the stand. Ah well, I better try to practice soon and make sure I get back at them! =P
(6) IGC Outing (14th Dec) - Went out with 11 of the guys from 06 and 07 batch, including some of the semi-IGC people haha. Went to Chin Chin Eating House at Purvis Street for dinner, which is mainly a place for Hainanese food I think (or at least that's their speciality) and they had quite decent "zi char" food at reasonable prices. Not blown away (I rarely am nowadays, probably been eating tooooo much good food hehe) but it was ok. Haven't met up with many of them for years, particularly those in the 07 batch, so it was good to find out how they are doing. Ended up at Bugis Junction's Honeymoon Desserts, which is quite a good place for dessert and then ended playing bridge with Jon, DS, and LJ, reliving the good old days of our time in IGC haha. Those were the days when we used to hang out for dinner after IGC meetings on Wed, playing at BK or Mac's at White Sands and even outside the MRT (for god knows what reason lol). The intellectual stimulation is always something I have missed but it's a lot of work to play at a high level and something which many can't appreciate. I'm happy to hear about the gold and silver medals that Singapore won at the Sea Games recently though and hopefully that will encourage more people to play contract bridge rather than some crappy floating bridge that youngsters normally play. =D Need to find the time to meet up again to play bridge and board games!
(7) Futsal @ The Hangar (20th Dec) - Went to a really ulu place at Punggol Marina Country Club and good thing I got a lift from my army buddy after we went for dinner at Old Airport Road Food Centre. Had 17 people, mainly from my army buddy's clique of secondary school friends and it was a good kickabout considering I haven't played much in recent years cos I kept getting major injuries so I was happy just to have a few decent games and keep myself relatively free from major injuries (got a couple of bruises and seems like I strained my right hamstring/gluteal but better than the sprained ankles that I had from previous times). Surprisingly my best performances came when I was goalkeeping and my passing was better there. Pretty pissed off with myself when I went upfront cos some of the attacking moves broke down after some uncharacteristic bad passing and missed a few chances. Trying to arrange with some of the boys to play soon and am looking forward to it. Would be a good way to kick off 2012!
So far it's been a fruitful holidays and I shall try to meet up with more of the other people whom I've not seen for some time. Will try to post daily from now on now that I'm done with Skyrim lol...
Pros: (1) Value for money - $65 for 170 hours is as good as it gets. (2) Fantastic graphics and sound - really HUGE world with beautiful scenery and intricate designs of buildings for each of the major cities. Characters and monsters look great! Sound effects and music were well done and contributed to a very enjoyable experience. (3) Huge array of things to do - smithing, enchanting, training, fighting, dungeon exploring, quests - THAT's why it took so long to complete (my quest log was practically bursting from about 10 hours into the game to nearing the end of the game) (4) Great storyline - the story of the Dragonborn was interesting (shan't reveal more to avoid spoilers) and so were the respective ones involving the war of Skyrim, Thieves' Guild, Companions, and Dark Brotherhood and some of the powers gained made it more interesting. (5) Fuss-free gaming - I liked the fact that the game was generally quite smooth - from the installation to the gameplay - something I don't take for granted after some bad experiences with other games (Bioshock and Deadspace). Nothing irritates you more than getting your hands on a much anticipated game and being unable to play it properly!
Cons: (1) Toooo long (lol) - Hard to please eh? This is ironic since I talked about value for money earlier but the game did get kinda draggy towards the later half of the game and I just wanted to finish it asap. (2) Quests were not well organized - While it's nice and important to have many things to do in an RPG, the problem was there were too many and I spent a lot of time to keep track cos I couldn't even remember what the point of the quest was and who it came from until I make the quest active and find the location on the map to jog my memory. Considering there are many other games which keep a good catalogue of the quests and gave descriptions so that you remember what is happening, I felt that this was a big drawback of the gaem. (3) Battles too easy - Fighting was fun at the start when it was still fairly challenging but once my mage got stronger and I got dual-casting and impact, it was just too imba as I spammed firebolts from range. Might be better if you played a melee character. (4) Lack of affection for the characters and sub-plot - Despite the length of the game, the great storyline, and the fact that you can have followers, there is virtually inexistent interaction between your character and your follower (if you choose to have one). This is in comparison to Dragon Age: Origins (DAO) whereby I would normally travel with 3 other companions and would have to find some of these companions myself through certain encounters. These companions could have interesting conversations leading to their personal quests and romance options and you even have to pay attention to what they say so that you know what they like and know the appropriate gifts to make them like you more. Also, the decisions you make with the 4 sub-plots as mentioned above in the Pros point (4) have no impact on the main storyline and you could even get through the game without them (if you don't want to have the particular achievement). This again loses out to DAO big-time, which brilliantly tied in everything as part of the bigger picture and the decisions you make have significance on the game and the ending. (5) Achievements - Somehow I think the game-makers don't realise how important achievements are to RPG players. Generally I think we are quite OCD people with the aim of getting any achievement (within reasonable means at least) and for a game which lasts 100++ hours, it is surprising there are only 50 achievements. As I played the game, I could certainly think of much more things they could give credit to! (6) Bugs - rare for a game to not have them, esp one as big as Skyrim but there was one which threatened to ruin the game near the end which I thankfully avoided due to an earlier saved game so my warning if you want to play this game is to be careful if you kill any soldiers.
Conclusion: 9/10 - Huge, worth buying but if you've not played DAO, play that instead cos that is the bomb. Finally I can go back to life on planet Earth =P
Moving on to the other things in my title...
(1) MJC Prom Night (7th Dec) - Held at Mandarin Orchard Hotel (incidentally where I had MY prom 13 years ago lol) and things went smoothly. Quite standard dressing from the guys (almost all in suits and tie) and for the girls, one of my friends observed that most wore quite tight-fitting dresses, which seemed to be the trend. I saw one dressed like for a wedding and I heard there was someone dressed as Snow White but I didn't get to see that haha. Only the Council TAs and the Photography Club teacher were around though, unlike previous years, and we could only surmise that this was a reflection of the relationship between the teachers and this cohort, something that I will elaborate upon when I do my reflection of my teaching experience for the year and cohort later this week. In fact, there was also not much photo taking this time round, unlike my previous 2 proms from past batches, and very little interaction with the students. Anyway, this time we were quite laxed though, and found time during the Prom to go to Bar on 5 (conveniently located just below the ballroom) for some drinks and to catch up on recent happenings, holiday plans, and future developments. I'm sure we will all miss the times that we've spent together as Council TAs after all the events and camps that we have been doing but we will still keep in contact after we move on. =)
Other than that, the trip to the prom itself was fairly interesting as the cab driver was v chatty but could converse quite well in English and seemed quite up-to-date with all the recent happenings and he talked to me about being a teacher and also about youngsters who seem to be lacking in values nowadays and cited to me an incident about some drunk youths who threw up in the car but refused to pay up. Funny thing was he said that karma was at work and they got what they deserved because after he cleaned up the car he found a phone which probably belonged to one of them and promptly sold it for $500 and joked that he was thankful to have a holiday after that cos he could stay at home for the next 2-3 days. Can't really say that he was wrong there and they deserve it for affecting his livelihood...
(2) MJ Bros Games Gathering (9th Dec) - met up with some of my MJ Bros for lunch around Boon Keng and then to one of their place to play board games (more like cards actually cos all our games involves cards only). We played some of the ones we've played recently, such as Loco (self-made because the game is apparently sooooo old that it's out of print lol, but it's really simple and fun!), Take 6 (my friend bought Take 5 actually but the rules were so complicated I just taught them to play Take 6 using the same cards) and the classic Citadels. Lost by 1 point after 6 rounds of Loco, tragically, then won Take 6 after 4 rounds including an epic comeback (3 of us were laughing and cheering everytime we managed to sabo the leading player until I came back from a 46 point deficit to win by about 20 points, quite unbelievable indeed), and won Citadel in a truly epic ending. I had a card in play called the "Ball Room" where after I called out each player to take their turn they must say "Thanks Your Excellency" or else forfeit their turn. After I built my final district thus making the current round the last round, my bro got too excited to finish building his final distract also and thus got caught by us (this after another person got caught by me in the previous round) and that cost him the game and we all had a good laugh after that. Perhaps it was karma also lol since I was assassinated twice by him in the game. Quite a few of them have flown off though so it'll be next year before I meet up with them for more of such entertainment!
(3) CT's Death (10th Dec) - on a more sombre note, my CT from AJC passed away on Thu and I went to pay my last respects at the Singapore Casket on Sat. I had actually arranged with some of my other ex-classmates to go there but on the day itself, some of them couldn't make it last minute and in the end I ended up going alone. Not too sure how important some of the things they had to take care of are, but I thought it would be important to pay my last respects even though I wasn't exactly close to her and didn't keep in contact with her after A Levels, apart from seeing her at one or two of my friends' weddings. It also makes me wonder when my time comes, who will actually take time off to see me for the last time... Anyway, it was surreal to see her lying in the coffin and it was a long time since I last saw someone in a coffin (can't even remember when that was, maybe as a child). At the point of time I was thinking back about how she was like last time, getting flashbacks of her teaching and stuff. I learned about what had happened from her cousin, who was the one who did all the funeral arrangements and contacting as many people as possible about my CT's death. She was suffering from cancer from about end of 2009 after she decided to not undergo a major operation on some growth in her throat (or somewhere around there) even though doctors said there was a 25% chance that it might be malignant. Unfortunately, it did turn malignant and she went on radiotherapy and then chemotherapy and it subsided in March 2010 but then she had a relapse I think around end of last year and decided not to have treatment because it was too painful. We actually planned to visit her about 3 months ago but my friend who was coordinating said that she was in too much pain and thus she suggested we visit her later on when things were better and in fact we were just planning to make that visit 2 weeks ago when news of her death arrived so I felt I had to go down after all that delay. Seems like I was part of her first batch and I felt a bit bad that I wasn't a good student (at least not for Biology, my most hated subject) but I guess it's all in the past now. The whole incident has given me a lot of food for thought in recent months about how much to give in teaching and how important good health is and to not neglect it in the midst of the busyness of my work. Also, her cousin said that at least she led a colourful life, going skydiving, horse riding and stuff and in death she wore her favourite Vietnamese dress and boots and accessories. Also gave me more food for thought about doing the stuff I have not done yet and there are many things I want to do over the next few years as I take a break from teaching. I've given too much of my life these 6 years to teaching and it's time for me to find some time of my own... More about my thoughts later this week...
(4) SRPQ Outing (12th Dec) - Back to happier stuff, went out with the SRPQ (minus MY cos apparently she was sick though the other girls joked that she pang-seh us) to play. Met AQ at Stadium MRT to bring her over to Singapore Swimming Club (cos XL's tuition kid is a member there), which was quite a walk from the station and she kept saying that we were lost though I assured her I knew we were on the right track haha. Eventually got there and we played about 1.5 hours of badminton, a good workout after about a year's break since playing with the SC. XL was coaching haha and apparently he played for his primary school and the girls damn funny lah cos after a while they change their aim to hitting my face so sometimes during the rallies they will aim but I changed my stance to one where my racket is always covering my face lol. Anyway, badminton is definitely not my strength but still decent enough for some proper rallies lah. After that we went for 1.5 hours of bowling and played 3 games each in total. It's been soooooo long since I last bowled and the first game was so sucky (even though all sucked in the first one). At least after a long while I finally started to find my ground and improved in the next 2 games, esp after switching to a 14-pound ball (never used that in the past), to win by a big margin but nothing to be proud of lah haha. Throughout the whole game, XL and his student kept laughing and mocking each other and it was quite entertaining at first but after a while, it was a bit irritating haha. I definitely cannot teach young kids - too immature!
(5) Pool with Army Kakis (13th Dec) - met up with my 10SIB army kakis for our usual dinner and pool at Katong Shopping Centre. PT is back for good after his studies in Australia are done and will take the rest of his law modules in NUS. Eric is in charge of some research projects with MINDEF and busy with his new-born kid. WC has switched from his design field to working at the People's Association at Geylang Serai CC, haha a very huge change in work. MZ is still the same. As usual, they like to ka chiow me cos most of us were late and someone joked that the last one to reach should pay for pool and we were updating our statuses over Whatsapp and towards the end, Eric said that PT hasn't reached yet and that I might still beat him to it if I ran from the bus stop. I guessed as much they were fooling with me cos PT was around Katong Mall a long time ago and even with a traffic jam it wouldn't take him so long but nevertheless I played along and msg them that I was running but in the end I strolled in and unsurprisingly the four of them were huddled over Eric's phone to see my replies and having a good laugh hahaha. Anyway, pool was terrible and I never felt right the entire night hitting the shots. The moment I got onto the table, the posture and positioning seemed all wrong and I had so little confidence in myself that I used the stand even when I didn't have to and deserved to lose my relegation match where I missed a sitter for the black ball using the stand. Ah well, I better try to practice soon and make sure I get back at them! =P
(6) IGC Outing (14th Dec) - Went out with 11 of the guys from 06 and 07 batch, including some of the semi-IGC people haha. Went to Chin Chin Eating House at Purvis Street for dinner, which is mainly a place for Hainanese food I think (or at least that's their speciality) and they had quite decent "zi char" food at reasonable prices. Not blown away (I rarely am nowadays, probably been eating tooooo much good food hehe) but it was ok. Haven't met up with many of them for years, particularly those in the 07 batch, so it was good to find out how they are doing. Ended up at Bugis Junction's Honeymoon Desserts, which is quite a good place for dessert and then ended playing bridge with Jon, DS, and LJ, reliving the good old days of our time in IGC haha. Those were the days when we used to hang out for dinner after IGC meetings on Wed, playing at BK or Mac's at White Sands and even outside the MRT (for god knows what reason lol). The intellectual stimulation is always something I have missed but it's a lot of work to play at a high level and something which many can't appreciate. I'm happy to hear about the gold and silver medals that Singapore won at the Sea Games recently though and hopefully that will encourage more people to play contract bridge rather than some crappy floating bridge that youngsters normally play. =D Need to find the time to meet up again to play bridge and board games!
(7) Futsal @ The Hangar (20th Dec) - Went to a really ulu place at Punggol Marina Country Club and good thing I got a lift from my army buddy after we went for dinner at Old Airport Road Food Centre. Had 17 people, mainly from my army buddy's clique of secondary school friends and it was a good kickabout considering I haven't played much in recent years cos I kept getting major injuries so I was happy just to have a few decent games and keep myself relatively free from major injuries (got a couple of bruises and seems like I strained my right hamstring/gluteal but better than the sprained ankles that I had from previous times). Surprisingly my best performances came when I was goalkeeping and my passing was better there. Pretty pissed off with myself when I went upfront cos some of the attacking moves broke down after some uncharacteristic bad passing and missed a few chances. Trying to arrange with some of the boys to play soon and am looking forward to it. Would be a good way to kick off 2012!
So far it's been a fruitful holidays and I shall try to meet up with more of the other people whom I've not seen for some time. Will try to post daily from now on now that I'm done with Skyrim lol...
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Skyrim; Unique Names in the Army; SRPQ @ Penang Place; Easing back into things...
Delayed my update no thanks to my latest distraction - "Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim" - which I went to buy right after my ICT ended on Fri. Apparently it is very popular and the guys I've spoken to have heard good things about it. Anyway, so far it does look like it's a HUGE game - been playing for like 50 hours over the past few days (or at least that's what the record says) and I don't think I'm even 20% done with the game cos there are like soooooo many places to travel to and things to do. When I'm finally done with the game, I'll do my review of it heh. =p
Anyway, just recalled some funny stuff in the army, namely unique names cos I saw on the uniform names such as Roshe (reminds me of Roshan in Dota) and Maison (reminds me of Ma Maison restaurant), and somebody with the surname "Tuang" (LOL it's so striking that sure kenna arrow so that he can't tuang hahaha). I remember when I was serving as an NSF there was somebody named Goose... Then some of my army acquaintances said that they say other strange names, and I think the one that takes the cake is Concept. LOLOL, like seriously?! If I ever had a student with that name you can only imagine the kind of crap that can take place in class... e.g. Concept is absent - "Oh, so today we have NO CONCEPT?" Concept answers a question wrongly - "Oh, looks like you have WRONG CONCEPT?" Hahahaha. Sounds like there won't be a reservist for me next year but there's a big one in 2013 so we'll see what happens then!
Met up with the SRPQ (i.e. XL, ZY, MY, AQ) on Mon at the Penang Place. But before that, I was busy rushing all over to settle some stuff in school and then some last-minute shopping heh for birthday pressies... Went to Plaza Singapura and good thing was I managed to find everything I needed there for the presents for the 4 of them as well as an ice-cream cake - challenging though! But they seemed to like it based on their expression and response (some more so than others haha) so at least the effort, thought and time was worth it even though it was quite last minute! Good thing I do things fast... =P
Anyway, great to have caught up with them after so long! It's like the last time we met was in Jul I think to celebrate AQ and my birthday and before that was last year already! So XL and ZY are going on strong and they are a really compatible couple and they went on a trip around Singapore and had a picnic at Botanical Gardens - so sweet! They are going to Vietnam soon for 10 days and it's pretty interesting that there are so many things to do there cos I never heard of anyone going for holiday there for such a long time. Had a good chat with XL about com games also lolol and we shared about the upcoming games and great games from the past (Skyrim, Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect, Team Fortress 2, Diablo 3) and I think the girls were quite baffled by our guy talk lol. =p Then XL had a call from his tuition kid who was trying to change timing and he was v stern to him and ZY was joking that he's having an affair - so funny the way she put it! MY going to Canada very soon for her minor on environmental chemistry and AQ is taking a break from band and they were talking about some of the chem profs in NUS and asked about my time in NUS cos they are going to their honours year soon - how time flies!
Btw, food at Penang Place was pretty decent and if there are any concerns about eating there it is (1) venue - fusionopolis is probably kinda far for most people but at least it has a mrt on circle line right beside it so that helps (2) value for money - $24.9++ for dinner (Mon to Thu) - which doesn't sound v ex but looking at the variety of food, it's probably kinda hard to eat your money's worth cos most of the stuff should be quite cheap (for those who have been to Penang before, their specialty is the large variety of cheap hawker food so what do you expect?). But having said that, if you have a hankering for Penang food, that's a decent place to go to cos at least the food is quite tasty so ok lah =)
Went jogging with Jon ytd and then gym with him and Liju and we were crapping about "talented" people cos I was telling them that we should train our abs to be like this China Got Talent guy where he held a pole and lifted himself to a horizontal position which requires god-like abs to do that and would be hell to train for it but it's damn impressive! Then they talked about this woman from another country where her "talent" was to crush watermelons and beer cans with her boobs. LOLOL, yes, seriously! I just saw the video that they posted and it was damn sick... The power of silicon hahahaha. (google "watermelon smash talent" if interested to find the youtube video). Our conversations drifted all over and included a discussion of Schroedinger's Cat and jokes about being dead and undead and being in 2 different states at the same time and also our tagline of the day was "easing back into things" cos we kept finding excuses to slack (but it's still a tough workout) since we are just starting to gym again after a break due to Jon's exams (and I had OGL camp and reservist so I also took a break haha). Went to HDB hub for lunch at the food court there and I had some really good curry chicken (from Bishan apparently) and the rojak was also damn solid so highly recommended! =D
Prom night tonight so going out later to dye my hair again (cut off all the brown bits for reservist) and also to style... Looking forward to it!
Anyway, just recalled some funny stuff in the army, namely unique names cos I saw on the uniform names such as Roshe (reminds me of Roshan in Dota) and Maison (reminds me of Ma Maison restaurant), and somebody with the surname "Tuang" (LOL it's so striking that sure kenna arrow so that he can't tuang hahaha). I remember when I was serving as an NSF there was somebody named Goose... Then some of my army acquaintances said that they say other strange names, and I think the one that takes the cake is Concept. LOLOL, like seriously?! If I ever had a student with that name you can only imagine the kind of crap that can take place in class... e.g. Concept is absent - "Oh, so today we have NO CONCEPT?" Concept answers a question wrongly - "Oh, looks like you have WRONG CONCEPT?" Hahahaha. Sounds like there won't be a reservist for me next year but there's a big one in 2013 so we'll see what happens then!
Met up with the SRPQ (i.e. XL, ZY, MY, AQ) on Mon at the Penang Place. But before that, I was busy rushing all over to settle some stuff in school and then some last-minute shopping heh for birthday pressies... Went to Plaza Singapura and good thing was I managed to find everything I needed there for the presents for the 4 of them as well as an ice-cream cake - challenging though! But they seemed to like it based on their expression and response (some more so than others haha) so at least the effort, thought and time was worth it even though it was quite last minute! Good thing I do things fast... =P
Anyway, great to have caught up with them after so long! It's like the last time we met was in Jul I think to celebrate AQ and my birthday and before that was last year already! So XL and ZY are going on strong and they are a really compatible couple and they went on a trip around Singapore and had a picnic at Botanical Gardens - so sweet! They are going to Vietnam soon for 10 days and it's pretty interesting that there are so many things to do there cos I never heard of anyone going for holiday there for such a long time. Had a good chat with XL about com games also lolol and we shared about the upcoming games and great games from the past (Skyrim, Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect, Team Fortress 2, Diablo 3) and I think the girls were quite baffled by our guy talk lol. =p Then XL had a call from his tuition kid who was trying to change timing and he was v stern to him and ZY was joking that he's having an affair - so funny the way she put it! MY going to Canada very soon for her minor on environmental chemistry and AQ is taking a break from band and they were talking about some of the chem profs in NUS and asked about my time in NUS cos they are going to their honours year soon - how time flies!
Btw, food at Penang Place was pretty decent and if there are any concerns about eating there it is (1) venue - fusionopolis is probably kinda far for most people but at least it has a mrt on circle line right beside it so that helps (2) value for money - $24.9++ for dinner (Mon to Thu) - which doesn't sound v ex but looking at the variety of food, it's probably kinda hard to eat your money's worth cos most of the stuff should be quite cheap (for those who have been to Penang before, their specialty is the large variety of cheap hawker food so what do you expect?). But having said that, if you have a hankering for Penang food, that's a decent place to go to cos at least the food is quite tasty so ok lah =)
Went jogging with Jon ytd and then gym with him and Liju and we were crapping about "talented" people cos I was telling them that we should train our abs to be like this China Got Talent guy where he held a pole and lifted himself to a horizontal position which requires god-like abs to do that and would be hell to train for it but it's damn impressive! Then they talked about this woman from another country where her "talent" was to crush watermelons and beer cans with her boobs. LOLOL, yes, seriously! I just saw the video that they posted and it was damn sick... The power of silicon hahahaha. (google "watermelon smash talent" if interested to find the youtube video). Our conversations drifted all over and included a discussion of Schroedinger's Cat and jokes about being dead and undead and being in 2 different states at the same time and also our tagline of the day was "easing back into things" cos we kept finding excuses to slack (but it's still a tough workout) since we are just starting to gym again after a break due to Jon's exams (and I had OGL camp and reservist so I also took a break haha). Went to HDB hub for lunch at the food court there and I had some really good curry chicken (from Bishan apparently) and the rojak was also damn solid so highly recommended! =D
Prom night tonight so going out later to dye my hair again (cut off all the brown bits for reservist) and also to style... Looking forward to it!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
ICT
With the end of the A Levels on Tue, it is about time that I get back to updating on my life and recall the various moments of interest in my life!
For a starter, I'm almost at the end of my 4th high-key ICT (from 22nd Nov to 2nd Dec) which passed by relatively quickly except for this Mon to Wed where we had our brigade exercise and time passed excruciatingly slowly... But I'm blessed cos I wasn't given a specific role (was a spare) so I kept a low profile and even though it rained everyday I was either in shelter in the 5-tonner or in buildings so I didn't get wet which was our main concern haha. We went to ITI (at Jurong Camp 2) on first day for a short while before going to Tanjong Gul Camp which is probably one of the most ulu places in Singapore and were there for a day before we relocated again finally to Murai Urban Training Facility (never knew there was such a place) and that was a really good place to be located in cos we manned comms in an air-con room and could sleep in air-con comfort (though it was too cold at times esp at night) and I managed to dodge arrows accidentally, including one where I was eating prata so another person from the spare team was chosen to replace someone who was in a team located in a very hot location. Someone even joked that I was blessed after observing the various people and said he would stick to me cos I'm a lucky talisman. =P Indeed, so far, my four ICTs have been relatively relaxed, especially in comparison to the infantry people who had to "chiong sua" and we were all thankful to be signallers. Hope this will continue in the future!
Anyway, realised I really don't like combat rations now, even though the menu has certainly improved and there is quite a variety of meals (known as entrees lol, though nothing like the good food I've been eating over the year), including Peranakan, Vietnamese and Burmese lol. I had teriyaki chicken pasta and claypot rice with yam and chicken which were fairly decent I suppose compared to the past haha. Did a little bit of reading during the exercise cos some brought books and I read something about "Practising the Power of Now", which was fairly interesting and it was about meditation and spiritual enlightenment although parts were pretty abstract and I thought it was quite true that often the problems we face are self-created due to our imaginary fear of the future and the burdens of the past when we should instead focus on the joy of the present. Shall share some tips in my next post =)
The first week passed by quickly cos the lessons were generally relaxed as usual and we escaped from the route march cos it was raining so that was good! Cohesion Day last Friday was fun though (and it was short so that was even better) as we played water games and I realised it's been a really long time since I swam and it's something I enjoy though I need to quickly get into shape soon haha cos otherwise paiseh. =P IPPT on Sat sucked and I expected it after barely running during the last 10 months and also was tired and not in the right frame of mind. I'll be back with a vengeance though, just realised I missed out on silver by 4 seconds in Jan so I wanna go back and not just clear it but do it in style =p
That's all for now - can't wait for the holidays to start once my ICT ends tmr and it's time for some gaming with Skyrim, Dota 2, Diablo 3, Mass Effect 3, and a whole lot of other big games coming out this holidays and the next few months and also it's really time to catch up on the many people that I've not seen for months and take stock of what happened this year and looking forward to 2012. It's time for a shake-up to my life! =)
For a starter, I'm almost at the end of my 4th high-key ICT (from 22nd Nov to 2nd Dec) which passed by relatively quickly except for this Mon to Wed where we had our brigade exercise and time passed excruciatingly slowly... But I'm blessed cos I wasn't given a specific role (was a spare) so I kept a low profile and even though it rained everyday I was either in shelter in the 5-tonner or in buildings so I didn't get wet which was our main concern haha. We went to ITI (at Jurong Camp 2) on first day for a short while before going to Tanjong Gul Camp which is probably one of the most ulu places in Singapore and were there for a day before we relocated again finally to Murai Urban Training Facility (never knew there was such a place) and that was a really good place to be located in cos we manned comms in an air-con room and could sleep in air-con comfort (though it was too cold at times esp at night) and I managed to dodge arrows accidentally, including one where I was eating prata so another person from the spare team was chosen to replace someone who was in a team located in a very hot location. Someone even joked that I was blessed after observing the various people and said he would stick to me cos I'm a lucky talisman. =P Indeed, so far, my four ICTs have been relatively relaxed, especially in comparison to the infantry people who had to "chiong sua" and we were all thankful to be signallers. Hope this will continue in the future!
Anyway, realised I really don't like combat rations now, even though the menu has certainly improved and there is quite a variety of meals (known as entrees lol, though nothing like the good food I've been eating over the year), including Peranakan, Vietnamese and Burmese lol. I had teriyaki chicken pasta and claypot rice with yam and chicken which were fairly decent I suppose compared to the past haha. Did a little bit of reading during the exercise cos some brought books and I read something about "Practising the Power of Now", which was fairly interesting and it was about meditation and spiritual enlightenment although parts were pretty abstract and I thought it was quite true that often the problems we face are self-created due to our imaginary fear of the future and the burdens of the past when we should instead focus on the joy of the present. Shall share some tips in my next post =)
The first week passed by quickly cos the lessons were generally relaxed as usual and we escaped from the route march cos it was raining so that was good! Cohesion Day last Friday was fun though (and it was short so that was even better) as we played water games and I realised it's been a really long time since I swam and it's something I enjoy though I need to quickly get into shape soon haha cos otherwise paiseh. =P IPPT on Sat sucked and I expected it after barely running during the last 10 months and also was tired and not in the right frame of mind. I'll be back with a vengeance though, just realised I missed out on silver by 4 seconds in Jan so I wanna go back and not just clear it but do it in style =p
That's all for now - can't wait for the holidays to start once my ICT ends tmr and it's time for some gaming with Skyrim, Dota 2, Diablo 3, Mass Effect 3, and a whole lot of other big games coming out this holidays and the next few months and also it's really time to catch up on the many people that I've not seen for months and take stock of what happened this year and looking forward to 2012. It's time for a shake-up to my life! =)
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