what started out as a good day for me totally turned upside down towards the end. 6th sep was yours truly's practical driving test , which is totally delayed considering the fact that i had my theory test the same time as jovi and she's already been driving for more than a year.. but i digress.. the warm-up started well enough and surprisingly, butterflies evaded my stomach throughout the entire test itself.. thought i did a rather horrible job though, my driving has certainly seen better days but the kind (but extremely stern looking) tester decided to spare me the agony of another test and passed me!!! (with 14 demerit points, but that's just an insignificant detail..) so ladies and gentlemen, watch out on the road, for i'm a bona fide driver now!!

silly grin - checked.

my first solo attempt at car parking.. not bad eh?
(got it only on like the 6th time.. -.-)

to cut a very long story short.. my grandma passed away that every evening.. thank god i was at home with my aunt and cousin.. but i think it's a relief for ah ma for she hasn't really been well since the stroke 2 years ago and her condition has been on the decline.. rest in peace, ah ma..

it was due to this that my sydney trip was cancelled at the 11th hour.. thankfully almost full refunds were made but still feel terribly bad for cancelling on hiang and have been trying to think of ways to make amends.

事事无常...

finally hit the big 2-0 and its bye bye teenage years, hello stress and pressure of adult life.. guess we all have to grow up someday, somehow...

think i might be suffering from a quarter life crisis.. gosh..

image from http://cookielmo.deviantart.com/art/Happy-Birthday-55235672

oh ya, happy birthday to me.

thank god for spontaneous friends...

despite having 2 left feet altogether, i've always liked watching people dance.. i feel that dancing is a way of expressing oneself and some people just look so darn good while doing that.. -jealous jealous!

had been kicking myself for missing out on burn the floor a couple of years back so when i heard that the original cheographers were bringing a new show to our shores, i mentally booked myself a ticket. so ladies and gentlemen, yours truly's gonna watch floorplay on sat!!

with hiang (who else?) who is every bit as sponataneous as me.. for who else would do f&e in tapei with only 2 weeks for planning and who would go sydney without an itinerary (as yet)? the answer would no doubt be a loud and assured, US!

info from burnthefloor.com...

Burn the Floor combines the incredible talent of the worlds best dancers, spectacular costumes and music, a collage of dance styles including salsa, rumba, cha cha and tango all with a sexy, modern edge.

While Burn the Floor has performed to over 3 million people in 93 cities in 32 Countries around the world, the new show Burn the Floor presents Floorplay builds on the raw and sizzling soul of dancing and the physical chemistry that dance ignites.

some reviews..

"The young female dancers look more like they’ve stepped off a Victoria’s Secret photo shoot than out of a ballroom dance hall, while the shirts on the male dancers start off unbuttoned before they succumb to the collective will of most of the audience and are relinquished altogether. " - Regal Theatre Review Pier Leach

"At the end of the two-hour performance the audience gave Floorplay a standing ovation and more than one person was heard to say on the way out, "How do they dance like that for two hours? I'm exhausted from just clapping!"" - The Sunday Times Australia

dig the poses and the cheeky name!

heading down under .

okay, this might be really shallow, but WHOOHOO! I'M GOING TO SYDNEY! after much planning and deliberation, hiang and myself have finally cemented the details and gone ahead with the visa application and airfare purchase.. flying on sq no less! whoohoo! hehe.. this was mainly due to hiang's kindly reminder on monday morning that 8th sep (the tentative date of travel), was next friday.. - cue loud omg. - this set in chain a furry of motions that resulted in us finally confirming our trip after like a year plus of planning.. :)

here i come... in bout 10 days.. :P

picture from http://flickr.com/photos/compot/459717021/

wanna be on top?

a million thanks goes out to the creators of video uploading programmes like youtube and daily motion among others, for thanks to them, i've finally finished watching bout cycles 7 & 8 of america's next top model.. while the format was by and large the same as the past 6 seasons, it was still a thrill to watch the girls mature into models and take good photos week after week... the mindless chattle, bitchin' and back stabbin'.. thta's what make the show such a joy to watch.. plus, there's the amazing tyra. who is the main reason why i watch the show.. hehe

girls, you can be good, but you'd never be as good as tyra. that should be the slogan of antm i reckon.

ps pulled some of my fave shots from past seasons.. enjoy!

the gorgeous kahlen from cycle 4. this is my ALL TIME FAVOURITE antm shot. i love the way her face captured the light! kinda elfen-like no?

simply breathtaking.

kahlen pics from http://www.flickr.com/photos/56466754@N00/257170411/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/56466754@N00/257170409/

jaslene, winner of antm cycle 8. powerful shot. intense.

her reward for winning the go-see challenge.. kinda cindy crawford-ish isn't it?

ps it's shot in sydney and ON the harbour bridge somemore!! -faints-

jaslene by tyra. i adore the light and waves in the background and how powerful this picture is without jaslene having to look into the camera. heck. even her eyes are shut. someone superimpose a perfume bottle on the right and we're ready to go!

renee, aka nene (NEH-NEH) 2nd runner up of cycle 8. i love the positioning of her hands..

all antm cycle 8 pics courtesy of antm fanpop spot

fanpop.com - search antm

patriot for a day, part deux

remember the kampong spirit? that was still in existence not so very long ago.. with it came a sense of patriotism and camaraderie, where neighbours would celebrate festivals together and invite each other to their houses for chats or tea. where they'd commemorate national day with gusto by handwashing their flags with utmost care and hanging it with pride...

my family was no exception and although most couldn't care less about flag hanging these days. well of cuz, except those by the various residents' committees, who attempt to outdo the next district, i still diligently hang up my flag come each august (tough its remained unwashed for quite a number of years.. sorry!).. now that's national pride okay.. even for 1 month plus..

and some shots that managed to get the slip from the previous post..

patriot for a day

taking a break from my trip blogging, let me tell you about the only perk of having a major in the army for a uncle-in-law.. (don't let him hear bout that, if not i'm screwed.) is that i get to attend national day parade previews for 4 years running. even if seats are drastically reduced at the floating platform this year, i can always count on my trusty uncle-in-law for tickets.. hehe.. :)

though this posting's a lil late, just wanna let all the uninitiated out there to know that this year's National Day Parade is taking a break from the conventional venue of the National Stadium (host of nth number of NDPs) and is held at the marina bayfront, with the stunning view of the Marina-Bay-Sands-in-construction as a backdrop. The reason for this change is due to plans to turn the National Stadium and its vicinity into a sports hub, among the many other hubs that we have now.. Arts Hub, Science Hub, Toa Payoh Hub, Ang Mo Kio Hub... but lets go back to the topic at hand, ndp preview 07...

all in all, this year's show's great for the choice of an open venue near the water FINALLY provided the navy and air force with a chance to show off their goods.. and boy did they do so.. on show were stunning displays of rescue missions, apache helicopters etc etc.. the sight of a helicopter flying literally close to the water surface really gets the adrenaline pumping.. plus. there's beautiful enya, who was only 3 months old during the last ndp.. hehe... how time flies..

let the pics do the talking ba.. :)

ja'dore my canon ixus!

grumble

gosh. formatting pictures on blogs can be such a bitch. >.<

my first all out beach holiday...

been wanting to share this for the longest time ever but due to my ever present state of procrastination (despite me having NOTHING to do), it's been delayed again and again. till now. whoohoo! the aim of this post is to sort of serves as a chronicle (wah, cheem word) of my first ever solely beach holiday - 4 days spent in the beautiful isle of krabi, southern thailand and its outrageously beautiful offshore islands.

plus it's a chance for me to show off some great shots (hehe) from moi brand new Canon Digital Ixus 850 IS which costs a bomb. (actually it isn't mine, but my mom's and it isn't ex at all cuz she won it during her company's dnd but those are just details....)

day 1 - 17th july 07
state of mind - panicky and paranoid.

this being my first trip aboard with bert, whom i've not really been in contact with for quite some time, i was naturally feeling rather anxious. not all friends can be travel mates and not all travel mates can be friends, unless of cuz, you are damn lucky. i am quite blessed i guess, to have hiang, who's both rich and crazy enough to embark on adventures with me around the world, but i'm digressing. well, i'm seriously gonna find out if we can tahan each other for the next 4 days, or i'm gonna end up drowning him in the adaman sea, or him drowning me in the hotel bath tubs. watery deaths in either ways. -shudders-

anyways, was scrambling to pack stuff last minute despite having all the time in the world the day before. (told cha i was a major procrastinator) thank god i wasn't the only 1 for bert was doing the same too, and he had work in the morning. keeping in line with the theme of firsts, in was my first time travelling on the good ole and trusty 858 to the airport for a holiday (instead of work.. hehe) and my first time departing (choy choy!) from the Budget Terminal.

must digress here.. interesting tidbit, do you know the airport authorities held a contest to name the new budget terminal prior to its completion? thousands upon thousands (just a wild guess) of entries were submitted and the winning name was.... you've guessed it! - BUDGET TERMINAL.. dotz. my 15month old cousin could have thought of that.. then again, maybe not.

okay, back to my holiday.. budget terminal, as the name suggests, does not have all the perks and glamour of its more famous cousins slightly down the road. in its place there's a cavernous check-in area with a LOT of space and very little check-in counters, which totally defeats the purpose i guess, but who am i to say? the departure lounge fared slightly better, but was still quite sad for someone who's used to the myraid of selections at t1 and 2. (ie me). there was the usual quickbites of genki sushi, killiney coffee, o'briens and shopping wise the usual suspects of dfs, times newslink but there were also shops like sports connection and hang ten, catering to the slightly different profile of travellers at budget i guess..

- budget terminal's departure lounge -

after walking down a extremely clinical walkway which immediately conjured up images of a hospital ward, we finally reached the departure gates, which was faintly reminiscent of those at tanah merah ferry terminal, of all places.. -.-'' after much fanfare (yea right), we finally reached the plane. sorry for the lack of pictures cuz they weren't allowing it and i really don't want to risk spoiling my holiday before it even began..

the aircraft was really nothing to talk about. a normal A320, single aisle, with 3-3 config. unfortunately wasn't assigned an emergency seat despite much begging but the check-in staff was kind enough to put me 2 rows before the emergency seats (so can easily cheong to when seatbelt signs were off - and we did just that. hehe typical singaporeans.) non emergency seats can be a killer, especially for people with longer legs like myself and bert.

it was a fast 1h40mins flight which bert (his first time flying) linkened to sitting on a shuttle bus.. very anti-climax.. but perhaps it was due to being on tiger and also due to a lack of service, wasn't feeling particulary excited myself either..

- shots on board -

ps didn't get the window seat so pardon the lack of nice skyshots..

pps 10A would be a FIRST class window seat on cathay's flts! hoots!

random weird encounter 1

i'd really hate to attribute it to the fact that's its tiger, but the captain actually SWITCHED off the power onboard before the external mains kicked in.. the entire plane was stranded onboard and the emergency lights even went on.. u know, the one where they say "in the event of an emergency, crouch low and follow the green lights on the floor towards the nearest exit." eerie. bert and i were being irritating for the sake of it and were screaming stuff like "it's kidnapping!" "get us off the plane!" (softly of cuz, we're still very kiasi travellers after all..)

eerie green light, failed self shot attempt 1, getting it right on the 2nd take (god i look fat.)

that's our plane!

random weird picture 1

came across this just before passing through immigration... seems like a captain logbook for pilots to input their necessary details.. but it was just laid open there, for everyone to see.. (okay maybe not everyone, but i was very curious.) if that's the way things are done around here, i have a feeling that krabi and i are gonna get along just fine.. :) tempted to input my own entry put once again, dun wanna be jailed or something.. (dunno where the singapore embassy is around here.. so better not play play..)

it's really hard writing about something when you've so many things to say.. have to take a break first and see how this first section go.. will complete the rest of the trip asap i promise.. including a review of the fab Buri Tara Resort!!

ready to be extraordinary .

since we are in the mood to discuss music, allow me to reintroduce mandy moore to the ears of listeners everywhere.. now an extremely far cry from her days of yearning for a particular candy and asking people to walk her home, mandy has evolved into somewhat of a more matured singer, churning out folksy songs that will still no doubt cater to mainstream listeners. while it is faintly reminiscent of her last album coverage, wild hope continues to break new ground.. joining a more indie record label has certainly got its advantages for it's not hard to realise that mandy's not only got much more freedom on this record, but she sounds really at home here as well..

while it might not be the kind of album that top charts everywhere nor will sell tons of millions, wild hope when at its best, brings warmth when listening.. great for rainy days, summer times, in fact, anytime.

dig the cover !