Reflections 2010 & Hello 2011!!

I've took looong leave from this space for months and now think i should do a quick conclusion for the year that just flashed past. So fast that everything's a blur.

Thinking back, it's been a rather eventful year though. Turned 30 (yikes), changed IC (finally feel comfortable enough to show ppl my IC, haha), broke my foot - major event!, went for 2 holidays - HCMC & Tokyo. Hmmmmm, dat's about it i think.....And spent time with my beloved family and my dearest friends, of course. Though we're meeting up a lot less often, i feel that we have not drifted apart. All these may not sound like much to many people but to me, that makes up a pretty good year. :)

Such a lot has happened in 2010 all over the world - more bad than good ones i think...with all the natural disasters and psychopaths/ terrorists that are out to ruin the world. It sends a very clear message to all of us to cherish every little thing around us and not to take anything/ anybody for granted - until it is too late.

So in the new year, i will aim to:

1. be nicer to people around me
2. eat more healthily - which also means to STOP my friends from over-ordering and making me eat more
3. be more environmentally friendly
4. exercise more, or rather start exercising again
5. do something meaningful - haven't thot of what, but something will turn up along the way
6. spend less time at work


The Year starts NOW!! Let's all have a smashing good time :)

Pink Foot No Good

Pink foot is cool and i kinda liked it till it cost me my taiwan trip. "pretty in pink" thus became "pity in pink". Sigh! So upset but i should have seen it coming- didn't really feel that my foot is ready yet. Luckily the angels from China Airlines & PYO Travels made cancellations & changes in air tix & hotel arrangements a breeze. So helpful they were & that really made me feel loads better. So disappointed 'cuz i had been looking forward to the trip but now have to stay behind. Felt sorry that i couldn't go with my sis & her fren but I hope they will have a really good trip.

It's now 4 weeks since the foot got casted and I seriously don't know how long more my foot is going to remain pink. Doc says fractures in lower limbs usually take around 3 mths to heal so hopefully, i'll take less than that with reiki. Good thing I'm not one to get bored easily and I'm getting pretty good moving around on crutches so all's good. And believe me, there's no pain at all. Everyone seems pretty alarmed to know that I've got my foot fractured & put in a cast. In fact, serious fractures or hairline cracks alike, doc will just cast the affected part. This is to prevent you from using the fractured limb and allow the bone to heal itself. So how long you take to heal will indicate how long the cast needs to stay on. Does it still sound very serious now?

Anyway, I just hope I can get the cast out soon 'cuz I'm really concerned with my right leg now being SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than my left working leg. HELP! I was damn scared when i saw the difference at the doc the other day while waiting to do a new cast. No joke, too disgusted to remember to take a picture but then again, better not scare people further. So now I know it just takes 2 weeks to lose your muscles and turn flabby when you don't do anything. And another 2 weeks to go all soft....Yucks, i shall not continue further, grossing myself out.

All things happen for a reason

An act of stupidity led to a fracture in my right foot. It wasn't a small crack and to think i managed to limp around a whole week before i had it properly diagnosed & put in a cast- quite amazing.

Anyway, i thought the whole process of going to the A&E Dept, having the foot casted & being pushed around in a wheelchair rather fun....heehee. Afterall, it's a first in 30 years but of course, i hope it's the last time too.

Oh yeah, my 2nd trip to hospital earned me a record MC for 2 weeks (the first visit about 5 yrs ago got me 1 week). Not bad at all, though i don't really enjoy wearing a cast for this long. Sigh. On the other hand, this gave me reason to slow down (literally) & take a step back in life. i get to spend time at home, rest more and most importantly, the opportunity to declutter and clear the backlog at work - i feel the stress at work lift off already. For the past half a year or more, work has been crazy. As the work piled up faster than i could clear them, the stress level rose too. I wanted a break but can never find a better time to go on leave. Well, this incident actually gave me the solution. Not a bad thing at all, sans aching armpits.

As i always think: all things happen for a reason. Either you see it or you don't. When things appear to go wrong, we start blaming ourselves and everyone else or getting all stressed up over it and thinking it's the end of the world. No good. What seems bad may not be bad, really. So, it's important to learn to take a step back and discover/ observe the good things that it will lead to, instead of just the bad stuff. There's 2 sides to a coin - always choose the brighter side. Helps to keep one happy and wrinkle-free - so important now.

Beautiful Sunday

Went to watch the (free) PAYCO concert at esplanade this afternoon with Runying & yes, being a FREE concert, it was full house. Even the stall seats behind the stage were occupied-i dun remember having this big an audience before or did we? I realised I've not been to the concert hall for a very long time - I dun even remember when was the last time I've been to the concert hall - was it as an audience or performer?

Yellow Envelope's crowning glory is quite impressively, looking shampoo-ad glossy (swish, swish) - no signs of balding yet. The revolting Watermelon is still there, yucks. Anyway, seeing the kids play just bring back fond memories & I still miss the days of playing music together with da gang. I wish we'll somehow have a chance to play together again but STEEL, I'm very glad that we are all still very good frens. :)

Celebrations -days of no work & all play. Yay!!

Finally, it's come to the last month of the year. For the first time, I'm really glad for Christmas to be here cuz work has been sooooo busy lately & I'm sorely missing the slack days at work when I can FB (& youtube even). Arrggh. Then suddenly from the Monday before Christmas, the number of emails just dropped to a low and I began to feel some peace & quiet coming back to my life again. Oh yeah, & only then I start to feel some Christmas cheer..lalallalalalaaaa....... Shall enjoy while it lasts!!


"Wish Upon A Star" Party. We went overboard with stars!



No, the picture is not upside down, the tree is.



Tang Yuan day. The mini ones are cute! They remind me of the ones we will make during the PAYCO camps. When there are leftovers, we'll always play games & stuff ourselves silly with tangyuans as forfeits.

Christmas Day at latest hangout place- pool on the roof @ Celestia

Went White Rabbit @ Dempsey. Nice place with gigantic tables & chairs. Too bad there was a wedding held indoors so we were restricted to outdoor seats. Didn't get to see how it looked inside. But anyway, I liked the souffle with apricots, almost finished the entire thing myself. Hmmm, on second thots, not so sure if it's really dat nice or cuz I haven't had souffle for a long time :-p

How high is your threshold for stupidity?

I realised I have a low tolerance level for stupidity so if i suddenly have an heart attack, you should know why.

i do nothing but eat

Yet another month passed with nothing much accomplished except if you count trying out new food places..........?!

RAKUZEN
Had put together a last-minute hen party for our dear fren who's getting married soon. Not so much of a hen party but more like a treat for her. Went for foot massage + foot spa (shiok!), followed by dinner at a new restaurant - RakuZen @ Millenia Walk. Not sure how new it was, but it was the first time i came across it. It is located at where Sushi Tei used to be and we later found out that it's affliated to Sushi Tei. Quality of food is pretty good n its got nice decor :)

Sashimi, yum!



We love our greens.



Scallop & salmon Carpacio


Chawanmushi


Fierce-looking dragon-roll


Xinyi's yakiniku don


Anqi's garlic rice - simple but delicious all the same!


Kushiyaki -Asparagus with pork -- it's not very clear but the dish's more asparagus than pork actually.



AFTERNOON TEA AT AXIS LOUNGE & BAR -ORIENTAL MANDARIN
Met up with Daphne, Rachel & Cindy for our once-in-along-while gathering. Chose the place mostly cuz the price was decent for the selection (S$20++ for single portion & $32++ for 2 to share) and that I've not tried it before. It was a nice place to laze n gather for a catch-up session with a view of marina bay. I wun consider the view breath-taking cuz afterall, it's just on the 4th floor but still nice - especially when it started pouring so heavily till the buildings in CBD became just blurred outlines - there's a nice cosy feeling to just be sitting indoors watching the rain - ready to zzzzzz......

Here's pixs of our food:

The spread


An additional tray of mini pastries - 2 quiches and 1 chicken puff - good for the hungry souls who come to tea without lunch.



Overall, the variety is good but the food is so-so only. Just like with Melt next-door, i think cakes & sweets are not Oriental's strength. Only a couple of them are good, the rest are average. Another thing i didn't like was that, other than the savoury stuff, the sweet stuff all came in single pieces. So if you are sharing a set, you either had to fight for what you like to eat or spend half the time trying to get your friend to take the piece and her trying to do the same. End result: you both decide to share and risk making a mess out of the cakes as you try to half them when they are already such tiny pieces to begin with.

Think it's nicer there at nite though in terms of view and mood. Shall go back another day. Happy hour comes with complimentary tapas, anyone?