About a month back, Lyn (my boo) and I popped over to the National Museum for a little site visit. Ever since we embarked on our little life changing project, the both of us have been somewhat (not very) busy in planning and preparation. But amid the busy weekends running around the southern part of the island, we still did find some time to be together and do what we like doing best as a couple – eat, sleep, take the dogs out and catch up on some episodes of Heroes and Psych (amongst others).
Once again, excuse me for digressing. While waiting for the nice lady at the museum to show us I stood at the main area (you know, the one with the dome on top?) and wondered if I had the potential to be an architectural photographer. So I pulled out my trusty Nokia N95 and fired some shots.
So as you can see, I got nothing. Thank God I have a day job and I am keeping to it.
After a grueling six months of record breaking wins, tough losses, injuries, winning/losing streaks and questionable trades (just to name a few), the Boston Celtics headed to the NBA Playoffs with a 62-20 record, third in the league. To be honest, their performance is not exactly what I had expected for a defending champion. But given that every single team in the league wants a piece of them just to claim bragging rights and prove that they are champion killers, we all know that the journey is no picnic.
After struggling to tie at home against the Chicago Bulls for the first two games of the playoffs, I have a funny feeling that the TD Northbank Garden will not be raising banner 18 this year. It also saddens me to know how sports columnists are feeling the same way as they ignore the chants of “Repeat!!” from the Celtic fans and write about a dream finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers . However upsets are always known to happen and I am crossing my fingers. Gooooo Celtics!!
This is me keeping track of every single game during the season
Popped over to the Grand Corpthorne Waterfront Hotel on Sunday evening to witness the opening reception of the World Gourmet Summit (WGS) 2009. From 19 April to 2 May, the WGS 2009 will serve up host of epicurean delights spanning across the world and headlined by a number of Michelin-starred chefs (chef list here). I won’t go into the details of the events since you can read more about it at their website.
Touted by the F&B industry members as one of the best opening reception in recent years, yesterday’s event saw a large number of gourmands and wine aficionados all converging at one place to get a teaser of what the two-week summit has to offer. As a person whose culinary knowledge go as far as an empty stomach, I’m just happy to be in the presence of good food and people who prepared it. Amongst the variety of fusion and traditional gourmet wonders served that night, here are some unique ones worth pointing out.
Left: A concoction of champagne cocktail topped with whipped cream… |Left: …served by Ryan Clift
Right: Good ‘ol beef..best eaten while hot | Right: The last few spoons, I got the last one
Left: King prawn dumpling in lobster soup | Right: Reconstructed prawn cocktail
Left: Frozen dragonfruit… | Right: …dipped in some sort of nitrogen (or something). First time I breathed out white vapour while chewing
I know I know, the photos are blurry and faded. Not exactly a good way to caputre the delacies. But armed only with my trusty N95 8gb, this is the best I can get… . You can check out a few more photos in my Flickr album here.
Coming out of a very long break spanning over couple of years, my next basketball season will begin in a few weeks time. Given that I haven’t been playing competitively for a while now and that I am pretty much out of shape, not to mention getting a lot older and slower, its easy to convince myself that my mistakes and failures on the court are forgivable.
However, knowing how professionally-minded my teammates are in a very much amateur league, there are no excuses. But how can I blame them? Its the same everywhere – to make it in any league, you have to work your butt off through practice…and loads of it. If you are going to be a liability to the team on the court, its best you do it on the bench.
To be honest, I am already very late in preparing myself for the season and its going to be tough matching up with players 10 years my junior who are alot quicker and stronger. But if I can’t beat them, the least I can do is to make it difficult for them to convert points. So as I begin my regime in conditioning body in time for the season, I need some form of an inspiration to help me pull through. My recent one is this motivational video from the Jordan website (yes..the #23 guy Michael Jordan) which pretty much sums up what every player should do. Stop making excuses and start working out.
Don’t get me wrong, its never my intention to be an all-star there. Its all about keeping fit and doing what I can to be a team player. Even if I don’t score a single bucket, constantly make perfect passes or dazzle my opponents with lighting fast moves, as long as whatever I do on court contributes to the team dynamics and ultimately win games, I’m a happy camper. Its okay to let the younger ones get the honour, I’ll be the supporting cast. So here goes…
Every once in a while when my colleagues return from an overseas trip for either work or play, they would lug with them a huge stock pile of food and snacks enough to feed everyone in the entire floor. The bunch of us greedy ones have taken to occasional tea time parties such as yam paste with ginkgo nuts and pumpkin as well as other types of biscuits from the premiums to the nostalgia. Such internal events really do help us maintain our sanity (or what’s left of it) amid the mountain of work we are used to receiving on a daily basis.
When Pau(line) got back from Japan a couple of weeks back, she fed us with a number of unique snacks from biscuits to sweet treats. Doing my daily rounds disturbing colleagues and searching for food like a scavenging pest, I chanced upon a number of differently flavoured Kit Kats in Pauline’s cubicle. Being the extremely shameless person that my colleagues have already gotten accustomed to, I opened a box of green tea Kit Kat and helped myself to a pack.
To be honest, I am always intrigued with the unique flavours of easily acquired products like Kit Kat from other countries. Japan is one such country famous for experimenting with a number of flavours with much success. I remembered back in 2007 when my ex-colleague Slave passed me a Pineapple flavoured Kit Kat. I was extremely elated and happily skipped back to my cubicle.
Yesterday, I passed the green tea flavoured Kit Kat to Lyn (my boo) in hopes of sharing it with her today. Problem is, I can’t find it. Hope we didn’t leave it in the cab on our way home…tsk.. .
Lyn (my boo) and I passed by the Bishan Library while making our way to the nearby food court last Sunday. Given that have not paid my fine for close to a decade now, I figured its best I go “NETS it” and be a good citizen (or at least closer to one).
To be honest, the reason why I opted not to pay earlier on was because of two questionable books the library claimed I borrowed, which I was pretty sure I didn’t. Yes, to me, its the principle but I think it would be an issue that the library wouldn’t entertain if I brought it up. Heck, it was just a little over a dollar… .
No longer working in an environmentally conscious organisation, I do find myself slowly slipping away from blogging about green issues. Thankfully, I had the honour of participating in Earth Hour a couple of weeks back (although I felt it was somewhat incomplete) which reminded me to stay on track toward the environment and help spread the message. So when I chanced upon a green initiative from NBA sometime last week, I figured this effort is worth sharing.
Tipping off from 2 to 10 April, NBA is hosting its inaugural Green Week in a bid to become more environmentally responsible. Teams and players are all chipping in taking turns to dish out tips and advice on green issues such as recycling and energy conservation. Capturing my attention in their website is this one on top 10 team initiatives. I mean this guys are serious, one such example is the Cleveland Cavaliers swapping all traditional plastic glasses in their arena with biodegradable cups made up of corn plastic.
You can find out more about what they are doing in the video below. Once again, I don’t normally link videos to the jBlog but hey..its a good cause… .
After a very enjoyable one-week self-imposed “familiarisation programme”, I finally got used to the 24-inch LCD monitor I purchased from Dell on a sweet deal earlier on. Nevermind that I have to turn my head slightly as the mouse move from one end to the other, or that it is taking quite a signifcant portion of my table. Heck, I couldn’t even care less knowing that I could have gotten the same model at an even better price earlier in the year. All that matters is the LCD monitor is big and I love using it.
Left: The box arrived on Monday | Right: Comparison with my 13.1″ Macbook
This morning, I experienced the wonders of watching the NCAA Final Four online, surfing the net and concurrently participating in an IM conversation in just one screen. Of course it would be even sweeter if I could do them all with a dual 24-inch LCD monitor, but hey, I don’t have a bigger table and want to spare myself from Lyn’s (my boo) constant nagging about my cravings for gadgets (amongst others).
My colleagues on Thursday evening bought some old skool candy and biscuits from a store at Ang Mo Kio after a good run at Bishan Park. Sorting through the big pile of unhealthy but oh so lovely and nostalgic goodness, I chanced upon a tin of candy with a political twist.
That’s right, a tin of Obama Black Currant gummy candy for just 80 cents. I’m pretty sure whoever made these candies did not seek branding permission from the folks at the White House but hey, its in the name of humour… .
. You can check out a few more photos in my Flickr album 
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