happy birthday bran baby!

happy birthday bran!

everybody say YAY!

bran..can't you take decent photos..

his birthday card

the inside

hm?

with pearl in his mouth

bran didn't shave!

his bed is so comfy, the cuddly sheep is from me, the green pillow with
cross stitch is from me too

coco exotic from four leaves. yum!

and more photos from bran's graduation, taken by his brother

bran receiving his wings

bran receiving his award

the fella who got 'best in flying'. no fair, he graduated LAST YEAR

flying guru, rahman. he's pretty notorious for being insanely strict

haha aunty nancy looks so happy

Singapore Youth Flying Club 35th anniversary

so what if your boyfriend has a driving license? mine has a flying license!

i'm very, very proud of bran. he finally received the coveted wings at the graduation yesterday.

the wings and his SP's crest

i wasn't interested in going initially, because syfc is at some secluded place (with snakes) at seletar camp. and bran insisted i dress like i would to a wedding dinner, and i wasn't allowed to wear denim. (!!) but that place is an airbase! not a hotel! so i rummaged through my wardrobe but nothing seemed suitable, until he finally said "ok lah..can wear jeans". i have already wasted half an hour.

i didn't realize it was such a momentous event until i got there. they mobilised every possible person, even the alumni and even invited the minister for defence to grace the occasion.

bran, taken from my seat

bran receiving his wings

and that's not all. he went up again twice to receive SYFC Best in Ground School and ST Excellence Awards - Best in Ground School.

see see see

SYFC Best in Ground School

so happy

Singapore Technologies Excellence Awards - Best in Ground School

bran's mummy and brother

taken with my 2 year old cam

taken with bran's brother's cam! see the world of difference?
he's a professional photographer

with bran's family

then we had dinner at genki dining, strolled along the waterfront and bran fell asleep while watching lost in my room. i woke up at 11am and went marketing with my dad!

bran having his brunch at 1pm. he had just woken up

must there be a title for every entry?

i just realised that the post on the bangkok trip has some sentences mixed up. part of a sentence went to the previous paragraph. so embarrassing.

oh! i have forgotten to mention that bran and i visited the cockpit after we landed. the pilots and head stewardess were very nice to let us take a look. and the first thing the pilot said when he met us was, "sorry, bad weather." hahaha. so silly. bran says the equipment on the plane is primitive. ahh..what to do..we only paid $150 for a return trip. when we entered the cockpit, the pilots were already filing and preparing for the next flight which i believe was scheduled to depart 20 mins after we landed.

Cynthia's wedding dinner on Sunday was routine. similar to all other singaporean chinese weddings, but sweet nevertheless. she was my ex-colleague. we last worked together 2 and a half years ago and i'm glad she invited me. may, my fellow ipoh-ian, was also invited but she had work committments. so i lugged bran along. heh. thankfully bran could make it, or i would have to share the food with a weird chatty aunty and her children. coincidentally, cynthia and her husband stays one block away from bran. small small world

weekend

what was i doing this time last week. watching outbreak with bran on HBO in bangkok.

i haven't seen bran since we returned. i'm alright with that since i'm busy with projects as well. the longest we have not seen each other is 3 weeks. he has been in the band camp since wednesday and he's at his alumni band practice now. bran, band is consuming your life...

i'm back!

yep i'm back from smelly bangkok, my first trip with bran, besides the one back to ipoh.

thursday
met bran, aunty winnie and his cousins for dinner after calculus paper and we left for bangkok punctually at 10.05pm. there was a glitch during our check-in at the hotel, the hotel did not receive our reservation. but the staff were very kind, they gave us a room and everything was solved by the next morning.

friday
we had intended to visit the grand palace but it would be closed till tuesday because of the grand celebration. we stepped out of the hotel and were shocked to see everyone dressed in yellow, except us. visited the emerald buddha, hot and stuffy, ignored it. walked to the very smelly river and took a river cruise (because i insisted). the planks seemed like they were going to be detached from one another everytime the boat was hit by the choppy waters. okie and we were off to MBK! among other things, bran bought a pair of jeans from a tranny. we walked down to siam paragon and ate had my favourite dunkin' donuts and shopped some more. bran is addicted to head massages after my mom brought him to a salon to cut his hair that wash, massage and cut for RM3, so he HAD to get a head message and hair cut there.

then we proceeded to chinatown to have sharks' fins recommended by travel guru, bran's aunty winnie. we got stuck in the jam for an hour on the way to suan lum night bazaar and bran is such a bum. he slept in the cab for an hour while i tried very hard to stay awake for fear of getting robbed, sold off, or fleeced of cab fares since we are unlikely to wake up soon after we've fallen asleep. wowee, i love suan lum night bazaar.

very big ferris wheel at suan lum

bran

we took the mrt back and you'll be shocked how they squeeze into the train. haha and a little boy's legs got stuck between the plastic panel and the seats. how did his legs get in there! even his mom was laughing at him. bran and another passenger were trying not to laugh while helping the little boy. hahaha

saturday
off to chatuchak in the morning, good thing it's very near the hotel. we returned to the hotel at 3pm because our hands were too full and we were tired already. i watched hbo in the hotel while bran slept again, and we visited MBK for the second time. bran bought another pair of jeans from the same tranny and she was very happy he remembered him/her. but he/she was not too happy to see me with bran. walked down to dunkin' donuts and shopped in the area again. returned to the hotel and had some drinks at the lounge before returning to our room to watch HBO again. heh i think we caught 3 movies that night.

sunday
whee~ to chatuchak again. frankly speaking, it's not as good as everyone claimed it is. it's only good if you manage to find the right shops amongst the 15 000 shops, and it was annoying when after walking so much, you realize you're at the same stall again, because everywhere looks the same. pui..returned to the hotel at 2pm because our hands were full again and we left for suan lum night bazaar again! yay! but bran was very eager to visit patpong so we left the bazaar at 7pm and took the sky train to patpong. the night market was disappointing. bran saw what he wanted to see and we left for nana night market which was even more disappointing. so we hailed a cab back to the hotel and the cab drove in the opposite direction of the road to avoid the jam! we laid out all our buys on the bed

my buys took up 3/4 of the bed

i got some 15 tops, 7 bottoms, 7 tops for my mom, 2 bottoms for my mom, some for my brother and dad, accessories, home accessories and blew $800 on this trip. thanks to mastercard, or bran and i would have to start begging on the sunday. caught more movies on HBO that night.

monday
went to central and pratunam as recommended by the hotel stuff. pui..so disappointing so we went back to siam area again. returned to MBK for the third time, got the stuff we wanted and left for the airport at 3.45pm. the plane was delayed due to the bad weather. it was originally scheduled to depart at 6.15pm, when we checked in, we were told that it would be delayed till 7.45pm. what a bummer. so we had dinner in the transit area and we checked the screen again only to see that it was rescheduled to depart at 6.45pm, but it was already 6.15 and it didn't say 'boarding' on the screen. so we checked with the customer service officer and she told us to go to the gate at 7pm even after we pointed to her "1845" on her screen. crazy. we had nothing to do anyway so we made our way to the gate, only to see there were people boarding already and it says "FINAL CALL" on the screen at the gate. what?! the mother behind us complained to the airport staff and i bet they do not see the big deal in the matter. almost everyone boarded the plane by 6.40pm except for one. we finally departed at 7pm. bran said my ticket was a 'buy one get one free' because the seat beside me was not occupied and i extended my legs across the other seat.


the trip was great, great hotel, good breakfast, but i hate to wake bran up because you need half an hour for that and he eats a hell lot. everytime he eats, i eat too. how to not get fat like that....

aren't we lucky.. CNA says that the protests have stopped because of their respect for the king, and the protests are likely to continue when the celebration stops, which is today.

now bran is asking me to go over to his place to unpack his luggage. how lazy can he get!

byebye!

calculus paper just ended 2 and a half hours ago and i'm at terminal 1 transit now.

byebye everyone!

happy 4 years & 9 months bran

that's a good 57 months with bran =)

christmas 2005

haha, look at bran, after i asked him to smile properly

and happy ten-ten birthday elaine! weet!

alrighty...i'm so hooked, but i've found someone to share my obsession with. that's cassandra! in fact, she's more obsessed than i am. she can sim till 9am. oohlala..

diyang is finally breaking out of his shell. went karaoke-ing at night eh? but calling your mom to ask her what time she wants you home is so unnecessary! i hope we can drive back in our new car this hols, but we may have to settle the sale of the old residence first..hmm..

rants

oh please, don't get personal. there's nothing to be emotional about at work! really!

help!!

someone save my hamsters...


they're turning gay..


i haven't noticed their inverted acts until today, probably because i never sat down to observe them at 8pm, possibly their most active period. i saw a male hamster trying to mate with another male hamster. for a moment, i thought i had mixed the genders up. i quickly flicked the assertive one away and held the violated hamster. damn. it's a male. so i sat there and observed for another 20 minutes. they're doing it to one another! why...someone save them...

Tuesday

i think i'm tired..but i don't care, i am going to play the sims. i just killed a sim today..it's ok..clearing up the gene pool.
hmm..done with the ppt for my issues presentation, and partly done for interim report, just left with siao zha bor meiqi's part. and i ran out of foolscap to do my calculus tutorial. humphf.
i'm contemplating to skip apel tomorrow. yes yes shocked? come on! i haven't skipped any classes from day 1. i need to rush to bran's for dinner tomorrow..so..should i?

sunday

isn't it great to be able to complete tasks taking your own sweet time. whee~

bummed my sunday away again. it's 9pm now and feels like my day has just begun. i'm waiting for my brother to return to camp so i can play the sims. it was so warm and toasty under the comforter while it rained the whole morning. bran went berserk when i told him i couldn't join his family for dinner, because his mom had gone to the market in the rain as i expressed interest in having spaghetti..i'm sorry..

ahhhs..i need a book to read.

Lazy Saturday

spent 3 hours working on the projects, and lazed my day away watching tv, playing the sims and watching the hamsters' lives go by. my sim has just opened up a salon and it's hilarious what they do to their fellow sims. running THEIR business is tough!

life has been pretty mundane these days. that's a good thing. wish i am at the sales now but i'm feeling lazy, and i'm still a poor student.

look what i found

bran watching apollo 13

that's bran watching apollo 13 at tp's library on the day before i left for japan. he sent me to school and was sweet enough to wait for me while i attend 2 interviews. one with the deputy director regarding the china cds, another with a malaysian reporter who was doing a story on my course. that's the classic bran look.

Friday

yep yep, returned to school for a project meeting today and it's bad that women are inquisitive creatures, we were gossiping a third of the time. CCN day is chaotic and a bummer, as usual. every stall is selling the same snacks - fries, nuggets, chocolate fondue, brownies lalala.. but there are some pretty nice stuff at design school though.

now i know why the hamsters sleep on their backs. because it's too warm, so says a hamster research report

yiddy yadda

so i spent one and a half unproductive days at home. i reached home at noon yesterday and slept till 5pm, and went back to bed at 11pm. i actually enjoy doing nothing at all. let's see..i revised OB and cleaned the hamster cages and watched tv for the rest of the day.

oh quit laughing at my hair already! it'll grow back!

sloths

big butt

brotherly love

surprise!

weet! i received a package this afternoon and it's from ms china, jie xian! ahh..i can't believe she took me so seriously when i reminded her about the lays potato chips. she sent 4 packets over, 2 hokkaido crab flavour, one mexican tomato chicken and one texas grilled bbq, together with a packet of chocolates and one ridiculous letter.

oh boy i hope she has enough to spend there, the postage is an outrageous $14, 6 times more expensive than the contents.

oh yes yes, thank you papa, mama, ho diwei, bran, see hwee, sarah, doreen, cassandra, jie xian and weili. whew..

weekend

where have my weekend gone to.

yes yes, i had xiao long baos at nan xiang twice last week. once with bran and another with my family. i was so elated to find the authentic nan xiang in singapore. simply superb. i think they imported the staff from shanghai as well. thanks see hwee for noticing the poster! if not i would never have found it.

anyway, after the stupid waking up incident on thursday, i woke up at 4am today. but this time, i didn't wash up =)

i've finally finished ichigo mashimaro today..ahh..it's pretty slow-moving but nonetheless amusing. nothing beats azumanga daioh.

walalalalalala.

ahhh..

so so so, i slept at 1am last night.. i woke up at my own will and washed up to prepare myself for school. i was wondering why was i feeling more tired than most mornings while looking at myself in the mirror. i went back to my room, damn, it's only 2am.

my mom reckons i was sleepwalking. yea, i think so too..probably can't wait for the beginning of a new day because there's so much to do. all the internship stuff are making me very anxious.

ahh..so sorry weili, for being late twice consecutively..next time please seek shelter at guardian, or anywhere with aircon...

happy 4 years & 8 months, 1700 days, bran

lalalalala
siautung is a happy girl. i had a really good sleep last night and i woke up an hour earlier than i was supposed to. i cleaned 2 hamster cages before leaving for school at 12.30.


*update
ok, i'm not so happy because bran is not coming back tonight..hmm..

Hyundai Trajet

alrighty, my dad collected his new hyundai trajet in ruben red yesterday. that's pretty fast, just 2 weeks after he placed the order. it's a pity because the previous sedan is barely 4 years old but COE is considerably low now so i guess it's a wise investment. and most of all, it's a MPV! big cars, i like!

look, we can even picnic in the car

yoohoooo!

so there goes the first week of semester 3.1. hmm...looks like there's alot to be done. visited the FHA 2006, thanks to sarah for the complimentary passes! it was indeed an eye-opener for me. ('mouth-opener' as well, lots of yummy food to try. US PORK makes very nice cheese sausages!) you look at those brands, you try the food, but i don't think many of the brands will be retailed to plebeians like us, it is afterall a trade-only event. sigh..if not i would have bought some US PORK. or are there US PORK sold out there? if you see it, lemme know ok? bran loves delicatessen. anyway, why aren't hospitality events front-page news-worthy? no one knew that singapore's national culinary team led by our own TP chefs won top honours at international competitions, beating other culinary powerhouses. but everyone knows who won what, who lost what in sporting events. hmm..

oh! oh! whee! i'm on the director's honours list again! happy?

this is a female, the dark brown one is a male

all huddled up when i switched on the aircon in the hall; there're actually 4 hams,
one hidden below the dark brown ham