SEP Random Musings

Collate short updates I've accumulated over the month of September-October ;)

Ichiban Sushi (2nd Sep)

It was the 5th Death Anniversary of my Uncle & a bunch of our family members headed down to pay respects to him at his Urn. After the morning ceremony, along with Kimkim & Amanda, we headed down to IMM for lunch!

Kimkim's Raw Salmon Bento

Amanda's Unagi Bento

Garlic Rice with Salmon Bentooo

Kimkim bought us Beard Papa home as well ;) We've always had their Vanilla Cream Puff because it's so gooood but this time round we brought home another Vanilla pastry to try, which was mouth-watering!

Beard Papa Goodness

IKEA (2nd Sep)

Spent one of the weekend to make an impromptu trip down to Ikea with Majesta! Thankful for her companionship & drive to do an impromptu meetup! One of the things I really look forward to whenever I visit Ikea now.. The meatballs. I wasn't a beef-eater until I got together with Aloy (who is a huge fan of meat-steak) & gradually I took a liking to it!! I used to visit Ikea sooo often back in secondary school days but I only just have their $1 hot-dog bun!

Now whenever I head down to Ikea, I'll seize the opportunity to have their jamy-saucy-meatballs!! Potatos & Beef-Pork meatballs, best combination ever!

F1: Formula One 2012 (20th-23rd Sep)

I've always wanted to visit the F1 Grand Pix whenever Singapore hosts it annually, however to no avail. This year, I'm sooo thankful I managed to be part of the F1 Team, thanks to Clarissa/Majesta!! ;) I thought I could be present at the F1 Grand Pix but no... I was situated to the F1 Sales & Merchandise store @ Orchard Green during the 4 days race period! It's an experience though!

My first external, public sales job. Sales isn't exactly my type of thing, but this job gave me loads of exposure! I did idle jobs like standing by to help customers, stocks-check (which I loveeee even though it keeps me crazily busy!!), cashier handling (which was freaky) and even simple-cleaning up the place on a morning whereby I was assigned the earliest morning slot!

I've also got to be thankful towards Jody & Gen who happened to work together with me ;) It was a great experience! If it wasn't for my own commitment, I would have loved to accept my Supervisor's offer to continue working till the merchandise store is over ;( The merchandise store at Orchard Green (Opposite 313@Somerset) will be present till October 14!! Head down to explore the storeee if you haven't ;)

P/S: Tons of Caucasians!

Sneak-peek of half of our warehouse

1st Time working with a price tag device!!

CI GUSTA (24th Sep)

Met up with the BFF for our usual eyebrow routine!! After which we spent a short night out catching up, over at Ci Gusta! This time round, we tried Dark Chocolate +Minty Chocolate which was amazingggg.

Mid Autumn Festival (30th Sep)

As we grow older, the significance of Mid-Autumn Festival changes.. It used to be lighting up candles & playing with lanterns in my younger years. Now that I'm reminded of it.. I've no absolute idea how did I enjoy playing candles back then! I mean I do burn candles now, but the joy & happiness just feels different. Nonetheless, Aloy gave me a surprise by giving me one paper lantern to reminiscence the good old times hehe ;)

Yam with Tea.

Lantern from Aloy during the Chalet ;)

Harry Potter: The Exhibition ASIA 2012

Earlier on the Saturday morning, I accompanied my Mom for praying at the Temple ;) Met up with Aloy & we headed down to Marina Bay Sands together! The Queue for the tickets was longgg but it only took us about 10mins before we managed to purchase our tickets for the 3pm slot!

Brought him to dine at a French Concept Restaurant, Au Chocolat (Pronounced: O Sokola). Atmosphere was amazing though we had to seat along the open area!

Decided to order the Star Dish which most were recommending, Duck Confit! It's extremely tasty, but it comes along with pear with I do not favor. Aloy likes it though! I couldn't get used to the taste of the sauce too!

Duck Confit, $27. Love the crispy skin!

Decided to order the crepe (I love crepes!!) because the Duck Confit wasn't tummy-filling & it's delicious! Starting to have a fetish on mushrooms... Mmm

Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Crepe, $18.

This drink definitely did not come cheap! But they're well-known for their deserts/chocolate so we ordered a boost! Made up of pure banana flesh soaked in sweet syrup. A-m-a-z-i-n-g. Will try to fix up something similar to this soon!! ;)

Banana Boost, $12

It was a one-time indulgence & the total cost of the meal came up to a hefty tag of close to $70! Well-worth for the atmosphere & food. Looking forward to the next visit with my parents ;)

Tix @ $20 each!!

Rare moment ;) Made use of the opportunity to use the polaroid he got me!

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Finally took time off to head down to Harry Potter: The Exhibition a day before it ends!! ;) I'm not a fan of Harry Potter, but I'm a great fan of Exhibitions!

Rough Guide of the Exhibition!

A huge pity, photography was strictly not allowed once you enter (unless you managed to sneak a few pics), so I ripped off some pictures from their official website ;)

1) Entrance --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The entrance down leads to a queue to a photo-shoot! It has the green background effect which will be replaced by the Hogwarts Castle. You'll be given Ravenclaw (Blue) or Gryffindor (Red) scarfs to be worn over your neck too! But Aloy & I skipped that because we didn't intend to purchase the shot/ too shyyyy. They also provided audio guides at $6, to allow you to have a better understanding at the various exhibits pit stop!

Signature Flying Car

Pathway to Photo-Shoot!

Shoot!

2) Harry Potter's Sorting Hat ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the photo-shoot, you'll be ushered to another room by batch! They even made an effort to hang every Harry Potter's Movie Poster portrait along the wall ;) There will be a witch, male one in our case, who'll be awaiting for your arrival at a mini stage upfront. He'll request for volunteers, one at a time, whereby he'll use the sorting hat to identify which tribe you belong to!! (Didn't know until I read about it during the exhibition). The witch was smart enough to retrieve some background info from the volunteer personally- Which tribe do they like/ Which movie they like & then a background speaker, representing the Sorting Hat will group you accordingly!

3) Hogwarts Arrival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Past the display of the infamous Hogwarts Express.

4) Gryffindor Common Room -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We moved forward to The Fat Lady Portal!! (I just found out she's called Fat Lady) She's so hilarious! She's known to guard the entrance to Gryffindor's Tower. In the Exhibit, she put up her hands to pause viewers, to watch her sing screaming (bad singing) onto the wine glass she was holding onto... Until it broke. It was an hilarious sight, but for those who're patient to watch the entire what's probably 2 minutes process!

The Fat Lady

Screaming onto the wine glass!

5) Gryffindor Boys Dormitory ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next were various displays of the casts' costumes in Harry Potter! Could recognize the usual few characters only!

Harry Potter & Ron Weasley's Costumes

6) Hogwarts Classes -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Hogwarts Classes includes display of the Squealing Mandrake!! I had Aloy pull one of them up first & they let out a squeal for as long as you pull up!

Squealing Mandrake

7) Quidditch -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is one of  Harry Potter's unique games in the movies ;) We managed to tryout the "Quaffles", whereby you've to throw the shaped-like ball over a loop! I only managed to gain one shot after... numerous tries.

Tools for their games!

8) Hagrid's Hut ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was looking forward to Hagrid's Hut!! I love the bigggg guy ;) But it fell short of my expectations.. It didn't feel like I was in a real hut, more of like displays of the hut. I'm starting to regret for not spending more time in the hut & making me feel more like at home ;(

9) The Forbidden Forest & 10) Dark Forces -------------------------------------------------------------------------

The scale of The Forbidden Forest was rather small! The Dark Forces involves the following which I know nothing of!!

11) Great Hall --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Had the highest hope for the Great Hall!! It's the most common venue of all the gatherings' in Harry Potter! I was extremely disappointed ;( I was expecting tables & chairs, arranged neatly in a longggg row straight but no :( They displayed certain food-sweets that were consumed in the movies. 

Entrance before the Great Hall

12) Shoppe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The last stop of the exhibit was the Harry Potter Merchandise Store! The items are rather highly-priced! The cheapest was probably the Chocolate Frog which cost $6... Left the shop empty handed, without much regrets.

That pretty much sums up our 40mins expedition at the Harry Potter's Exhibition in Asia 2012! According to Aloy he felt unjustified spending $20 on a 40mins activity.. He wasn't even interested to start this off. But he accompanied me along because he knows I wants it <3  I would agree that it's not worth the penny, but worth the experience!

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I planned for us to visit Gardens by the Bay but Aloy decided it was too warm!! I succumb to his demanding excuse. We took a long stroll down to Marina Square, to satisfy his crave for Tom Yum Soup (As always).

Soft Shell Crab, $8.90 which was so delicious that evening<3

Perfect date day ;)

Au Chocolat Pte Ltd.
Bay Level L1-03
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
2 Bayfront Avenue
Singapore 018956

Life & Death

"Fear of Separation"

Just lately, exactly a week ago, my dearest Xiao Gu Ma (Dad's youngest sister) passed away. I was overwhelmed with emotions because I was supposed to head down on that evening, along with my sister to the hospital to visit her. She left even before I could see her for the last time...

 Cancer--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She was diagnosed with nose cancer many years ago.. She was the lucky few who managed to conquer cancer ;) But she was faced with the side-effects of her recovery of cancer. She couldn't consume tough food down her throat, speaking speech was affected due to her windpipe and gradually even her right side of her hearing was affected & just only recently end of last year she got a hearing aid.

Her cancer relapsed earlier on this mid-year & her health took a 180degrees turn as her throat was affected which disabled her to consume solid food... Recently 3 weeks ago, she was scheduled for the last operation as she was getting better. Who would have thought just within a span of a week, came such a huge twist.

 Lost------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She's the closest Aunt I've had on my Dad's side & she has been one of the nicest aunt ever. The bond between us is closer because my Grandma/ relatives would say that I resemble her looks. It just pains my heart that she's no longer here & we can never ever see each other again even though we used to live just a street away. Feels worse than a break-up. My heart goes out to my uncle & my cousins. They're gradually the ones who'll be affected the most, be faced with the void they will have to endure, in their heart.

I stand by the saying of "Appreciating everything you've right now before it's gone", through her gentle gestures of delivering us with Kuehs from Subway Niche (since she works there). She used to shower gifts upon my sister & I while we were younger, even bought me my first Armani outfit I've ever had. Everything still feels so surreal... Can't believe she's out of my life. God has definitely taken one good lady that I've always looked upon, out of my life.

You'll not be forgotten, Xiao Gu Ma.

Double Date

Resident Evil

Aloy had complimentary GMAX -3D tickets for Resident Evil: Retribution, as he managed to achieve the title of Top 50 Runners for the Resident Evil: Retribution race along with his brother/friends ;) Initially he thought I had work & wouldn't wanna head down after work as the movie wasscheduled at 730pm! But thankfully at the end of the day we still managed to meet up on a Thursday evening ;)

It was my second visit to Lido, Shaw Theater after Aloy brought me for the first time there after their renovation, during christmas last year! The seats are spacious as I've remembered it! We were seated smacked right in the centre so we had a good view during the 2hours ;)

The movie was exciting & I love how they started off by rewinding the last part of Resident Evil 5! I also like the twist of change whereby they placed Alice into a typical-family's life for a moment before the usual intensive battle began ;) According to Aloy it isn't nice but I thought they focused more on the battles instead of planning a good story plot, without the best of both worlds.

Featuring the Top 50 runner ;)

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On the same week, we decided to meet-up again on Saturday in search of his advanced birthday present from me!! While deciding on what to eat... Aloy gave me the choice of picking where I wanna eat since we rarely dine out! Since we were at City Hall, I thought we could give Raffles City basement a visit! They've TONS of restaurants there! In a blurt I said "Actually I'm not very hungry so I thought you could decide where you wanna dine at since I'll be having it minimal." He decided to bring us to his all-time favorite Thai Express!! Extremely cheeky & naughty!

Thai Express- Tom Yum Soup, $7.90

Since we only had soup for our lunch, we decided to indulge in Cold Stone Creamery, which was just a few restaurants down! My first time! Our fav combination, his favorite strawberry, my fav banana!! A pity it was starting to melt.

Strawberry Banana Rendezvous

Lunch snack treat for the boy for scoring GPA 4 ;)

Love, Bonito Tasmin Tube in White (S) & Shelburne Skirt in Violet (XS).
Blue Scarf from Chinatown & Bag from Billabong (Don't laugh)

Our term results was out just yesterday! I'm sooo proud of Aloy for scoring a full GPA 4, beating the top scorers hands down!! I did not fare anywhere poorer as well hehe ;) Extremely grateful for the result I've scored for this Sem (highest ever in my GPA history) though I'm feeling the pinch for not doing better for the past Sems!