what a fun last salsa gathering for 2007 :-)

Many thanks to peter for organising the event. We had quite a blast, chilling, getting high, having good pizza there as well as great wine. I love the Whites. We were toasting and stuff. Sure was good to see everyone there. On a smaller note, its very nice to see my friends found their counterparts this year and i hope next year we will hear lotsa engagement news ! :P

You can view more pics here http://peterpew.multiply.com/photos/album/5/2007_12_29_Salsa_Peeps_Xmas_New_Year_Gathering

a happening last week of 2007...

so investor central had our year-end dinner at hard rock cafe last night.

it's been such a roller-coaster 2007, with changes galore...most for the better.

here's presenting team 2008:

we'll also be having an american intern starting january.

i'm glad we can all laugh and smile the way we used to before IT happened.

the boss did the whole "thank you" spiel to everyone on the team, and tried to squeeze in whatever he could say before the food arrived.

a round of drinks and way too much food later - nachos, cobb salad, quesadillas, surf and turf, fajitas, salmon pasta and some - the girls got the giggles and started taking weird-ass pictures with the boss.


we even dedicated "grow old with you" to the boss, but the band played "living on a prayer" instead. =P

of course, we were all head-banging away and screaming the lines of chorus.

onward, investor central!

a little more from the christmas day roll...

its beginning to look like xmas...

*grin*... this year has been good for me.... and now my wifey in a santa-baby costume? *GRIN*.. understandably my hats up for her... :P

what's the occasion? well Wifey's scout group had an xmas party to host visiting Hong Kong scouts. So wifey was of course, asked to be the MC. They asked me to be Santa but i can't speak cantonese for nuts.. hehehe.. Wifey also edited the movie clip which i felt was very well done. Its very impressive to see such good editing skills and incorporating your favourite chipmunk songs no less.. Bravo!

so the night was rather messy.. still i bet people had fun even though there was a whee bit too little to drink and eat. And well.. when you have kids... organised chaos is the best you can hope for. Definitely was quite funny watching the adults fight the kids during musical chairs.. kids nowadays are pretty smart... gotta up my game next time if i am ever gonna be in control of my kids :P

leave you with some parting shots of 2 santas fighting their way into my room :p Guys guys... i already got my biggest gift for xmas.. my wifey.... though if you wanna gimme more stuff (like more $$) i ain't gonna complain! :P

a bunny for the niece...

what an interesting weekend.

first boss kill in za

big deal for me cos i and the team wiped SO MANY GOD DAMM AWEFUL times .... but at least we downed 1 boss in za :P

whats been happening?

well, work mostly ... *groan*

been a lot of work in a not too frenly environment... but surprisingly i am not as bitter about working OT than before. Mentioned it to the wifey and she says maybe its cos i feel more responsible now since i am married and all :) I guess that's probably it... hee...

My dept had a xmas party @ indochine @ clarke quay and it was pretty interesting. Funny thing is, since we can't bring our spouse and all, colleagues who don't usually dress up or doll up during office hours took the time to doll up for the party. Now i duno u, but i dun quite understand who they are dressing up for since we have already seen you in daylight... and worse.. if you doll up and then you open your mouth and it spoils your image... eegards.... better stop trying la....

the xmas party was interesting but i found myself waiting just for the lucky draw so i can zoom zoom back home to join wifey.. still you get to see how alcohol does to people around u. I realise its pretty dangerous to be too drunk or high at a company event.... and esp for ladies you gotta be very awake and very aware of what you are doing... less scandals happen..

Can't wait for friday to come as we wil be going on a CRUISE again! YAY ! =) this time now Eugene has his psp, i have my psp, wifey has her ds lite, mom-in-law has her ds lite as well.. so besides casino i think we will be having lotsa handheld gaming time ..

hahaha

life now is pretty much cool everyday... especially when you get to go home to your loved ones .. so sometimes i don't understand why some pple do the things they do w/o their loved ones ard... or do the things they do that may betray their loved ones...

oh well.. not my problem :)

and the final tally is...

you may already know how 'optimistic' i am about my statistics grade.

i finally saw it today.

let it be on the record that i had expected a C. at most.

so you can imagine my pleasant surprise to find that i scored a B.

and so, the final tally of term 1 grades is as follows:

creative thinking: A+
business, government and society: A
political science: A-
statistics: B
analytical skills: B-
economics: B-

pretty much evened everything out huh?

not too bad for ms "back-at-school-after-six-years". =)

on a sad note, dan fogelberg has passed away, losing a battle to prostate cancer.

the hubby and i love his song "longer".

our condolences to mrs fogelberg.

and here's to a great singer-songwriter.

longer than there've been fishes in the ocean
higher than any bird every flew
longer than there've been stars up in the heavens
i've been in love with you.

stronger than any mountain cathedral
truer than any tree ever grew
deeper than any forest primeval
i am in love with you.

i'll bring fires in the winters
you'll send showers in the springs
we'll fly through the falls and summers
with love on our wings.

through the years as the fire starts to mellow
burning lines in the book of our lives
through the binding cracks and the pages start to yellow
i'll be in love with you.

i am in love with you.

investor central goes places.

there's been some changes in the office.

the mood's changed a whole lot since.

and i think it's for the better.

we can now put the unhappiness behind us and trudge along. =)

and moving ahead we are!

the gang's gonna be suited up by raoul for our on-camera work! *beam*

i got a little buzz getting measured for my outfit today. =P

i'm back to my daily routine of humming a happy song as i walk to the bus stop.

and singing to myself as i walk into work.

overqualified.

i never quite understood what that word meant.

i mean...wouldn't you love someone who's "more than qualified" for your company, what with all that experience?

unless you equate the experience to baggage, in which case wouldn't it be more prudent to say that you want to take in untrained minds?

i don't know.

i'm still a little puzzled why they would tell me their scope would not do my experience justice.

i'm not too disgruntled by not getting the internship though.

because the hubby and i can go house-hunting and plan other stuff...

i'm still deciding if i should do SHINE next year, in addition to all the goodness that i'll be doing in school. =P

watch this space.

barney's left hanging...

i made a trip down to the costume shop at bali lane today to try on a santarina costume.

yes, i'll be playing santarina this christmas...for a buncha boys, no less (but no, santa baby's not on the list). =P

i wonder how little children will feel seeing barney's skin hung out to dry, or its head hung up on a wall with other animals'.

or how there're so many santa costumes waiting to be rented.

before sending the in-laws to the airport for their trip to spain and portugal, we had a simple dinner, ending with some ice wine and gelare ice cream cake.


the hubby's had a tough day and he'll be heading back to work tomorrow.

i feel slightly sad that i can't do any more than just offer him hugs and kisses.

but i'm sure he gets some kicks outta WoW so i should be doing just fine. =P

whats your daemon?

so we went to watch THE GOLDEN COMPASS today. Its a kinda rushed movie with many short shots of action and adventure but din really have much time to play out the characters. Thus its kinda like LOTR on speed...
one very interesting thing about the show is that it depicts humans as having their soul outside of themselves in the form of animals (a bit like spirit guides)... so depending on how your soul is (i guess??!?) the Daemon will take the form of an animal and be your constant companion. However if it gets hurt or if you get hurt, then your alter ego will also be hurt as a result....
which is kinda stupid really given that in a war? you have double the opportunity to be killed...
which brings to me mind a few questions....

1) what happens when humans marry?they kinda form a family of 4 instantly right? what happens if they like you but don't like your soul?
2) what happens when humans mate? do the daemons just sit by the side and watch.. or they engage in acts themselves too?
3) what happens when humans give birth? do you get 2-in-1 birth? kid + daemon?

yup.. its mostly me that always think of such stuff

AHAHAHAHAH

wifey reckons she will have a huskie / wolf as a companion.. which depicts her strong independence streak and also showcases her herd mentality where she wants to protect her pack...

me ? hmmm ain;'t really sure what i will have...
maybe a sunflower... no wait.. animal huh.... what always brings a smile to the face? hmmm...

yummy yummy for my tummy...

the brother was on leave this week and we met up for lunch a couple of times this week.

being the foodies we are, we revisited our favorite food haunts and i introduced him to a yummylicious and affordable place.

we went to grab some tai hwa noodles at crawford lane today.

the stall used to be at the old marina square food court and when that closed down, it moved over to the coffee shop at crawford lane.

anyone who likes bak chor mee should definitely try this!

we visited astons grill at east coast road two days back.

and since the brother already had lunch, he could only share some of my meal - a rack of honey bourbon ribs with pasta salad and mashed potato sides.

we ordered additional sides of fries and cream of mushroom soup.

of course, nothing beats using your fingers when it comes to ribs.

you get to polish off every single bit of goodness on those bones!

boy do i love food. =)

i sing because i'm happy, i sing because i'm free.

i miss singing.

i wonder why i haven't been singing as much since i met eric.

because aren't i supposed to sing when i'm happy?

reading through my blogs from a few years back, i know why i sang so much then.

pain was the reason.

i was in so much pain that i wanted to tear my heart out and sing it little songs to make it feel better.

it was catharsis.

i sang all sortsa songs.

among those included "someone like you" from jekyll and hyde...

but if someone like you
found someone like me
then suddenly
nothing would every be the same

my heart would take wing
and i'd feel so alive
if someone like you
found me.

and "last night of the world" from miss saigon...

a song played on a solo saxaphone
a crazy sound, a lonely sound
a cry that tells us love
goes on and on

played on a solo saxaphone
it's telling me to hold you tight
and dance
like it's the last night of the world.

i revisited these two songs last night, singing parts of them to snuffy hubby.

i feel different singing them this time around.

it's like...being in love makes you sing of love differently.

you emphasize parts of the song you wouldn't have if you were not in love.

it's just like reading business news - you only know which words to emphasize on if you understand it.

now, i do not feel like digging my heart out, sing to it to make it feel better.

instead, i sing in celebration of how it feels.

if all that i've written and said made you think that love and marriage makes one whole, i apologize.

they don't.

because only you can make yourself out to be who you want to be.

and only you can decide how you want to be happy.

you should not get hitched as a solution to your esteem and abandonment issues.

you should be self-aware and feel whole enough before you get involved in someone else's life.

do not bring your shit into a marriage.

the hubby is not your punching bag.

which sci-fi character am i?

oh my goodness!!

A venerated sage with vast power and knowledge, you gently guide forces around you while serving as a champion of the light.

Judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not - for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminescent beings are we, not this crude matter! You must feel the Force around you, everywhere.

omg ! i'm a pansey elf....

A naturally skilled companion to those around you, you earnestly use your prowess out of concern to those you care about.

new toys :P

so over the weekend stuff happened. Wife's exams are OVER (yippie!!!) and we went shopping. Eugene bought a new PSP and wifey bought a DS LITE. Supposedly its for the mom... but after playing with Nintendogs and Mario, wifey decided to let me get one for her today (Happy XMAS baby! ahahaha)

Waiting for the women to buy their DS lite

eugene and our fav toy :P

Its quite fun watching the wife play with her doggie ... especially the patience she takes to try to train the dog to do tricks... i especially love her "shake butt" one... the little pup will come over to the screen and shake its little butt @ us :P

its quite cute to watch the wife get engrossed with Mario and her little groans when mario dies... how she has shrieks (ok not really shrieks... ) of delight when playing with the little pup... heheehe... so glad she's a gamer @ heart too

just one of those shots we had to take :P i love her so so muchies heheheeh

oh my bro and the sister-in-law came back to sg for a break as well and we had steamboat and a po piah dinner on sat. I also bought 881 to share wif my family just cos me and wifey found it astoundingly good. I knew my dad will like it (which he does) but my mom didn't really enjoy it (she prefers more mainstream stuff). Not sure if my brother and alison will enjoy it or not. Hope they do !
Sun we spent quite a bit of time shopping and ended the night of a perfect week (as eugene put it) with Crazy Xmas. It was quite wholesome nice feeling punctuated with comical tidbits from the various artists though it was a ted bit too short... wish it was snowing though cos it will sure add to the mood of xmas and all that...

but i'm sure me and the wife will make it special ourselves..

like she says, we make MAGIC together :P

*huggies*

a crazy christmas.

exams ended with a political science paper yesterday.

whoopee!

i hope i do well enough for this credit to further it as a major...=)

so post-examination euphoria extended till today, which just ended with a concert put up by selena tan at friends at the drama center called "a crazy christmas".

it wasn't their usual dose of funny, but their chemistry and voices made my night anyhow.

the venue (snuffy hubby and i went there for "chestnuts" last christmas) at the drama center, national library seemed cosy enough for a christmas concert.

a few of my favorite moments of the show included john lee's rendition of "geylang sipaku geylang" (which made me tear some), pam oei's "i saw mommy/daddy kissing santa claus" and selena tan's attempt at broadway-ing the nativity play.

some know that i'm rather a fanatic of musical theater.

so right from the day snuffy hubby and i got together, i've been sharing with him all those songs i know from watching musicals and movie versions.

tonight, i was pleasantly surprised when tan kheng hua and her daughter, shi-an, did a short version of the fantastik's "soon it's gonna rain".

it was one of the first songs i sang to snuffy hubby because singing that song makes me feel so happy.

of course, the last line of the song applies especially to us.

soon it's gonna rain
i can see it
soon it's gonna rain
i can tell
soon it's gonna rain
what are we gonna do?

soon it's gonna rain
i can feel it
soon it's gonna rain
i can tell
soon it's gonna rain
what'll we do with you?

we'll find four limbs of a tree
we'll build four walls and a floor
we'll bind it over with leaves
and run inside to stay.

then we'll let it rain
we'll not fell it
then we'll let it rain
rain pell-mell
and we'll not complain
if it never stops at all.

we'll live and love
within our own four walls.

and lim kay siew's "dancing monkey" reminded me of how i felt when i heard it for the first time some years back. i can't quite remember where or when i heard it though.

i made a fool of myself over you
and here i go again
i keep falling over you

i'm such a fool.

the song's melody is wonderful. i just had to look over at snuffy hubby then.

ashley once said that i was like a "marriage-whore" because i kept gushing about how i love being married to snuffy hubby.

what can i say. i really love being married to eric.

before eric, i did not believe in marriage because i saw how many married couples turn indifferent. after all, a couple can still be happy living together. they're just...not married.

but with eric, i just felt like i wanted to be bounded to him like that. and so did he, with me.

so barely a week into our relationship, we were already talking marriage.

then he shocked my parents by asking them for permission to ask me to marry him just a month later. =P

i never believed in settling for any lesser.

but i tell my classmates (who're mostly way too young to think about marriage as yet) that one shouldn't have a checklist to check off the qualities of a potential mate.

because most of those qualities exist in less superficial ways.

ways that can only be unlocked and seen when two people share real chemistry, comfort and have common fundamentals to base their relationship on.

snuffy hubby and i make magic together.

and i know that with his love and care, i will accomplish so much more than if i were without him.

i truly believe in fighting for what you want and what you think is right.

and things sure are a lot easier to fight for when you've got a supportive hubby propping you up from the back.

as eric says, "behind every successful woman lies a very good husband".

and in time, the world will know just how "very good" my dearest snuffy hubby is.

watch this space. =)

gruul down!

my first time :) ... though 2nd try... lucky for me it dropped leet gloves for me (gloves of the dragon slayer) which i promptly went to get +15 agi enchant and nice shiny gems :)

luckily for me i'm mostly decked out like a red ang bao (my wife's fav color btw).
Yay tml is her last paper and we are looking to have some fun tomorrow to "celebrate" :P

taking a breather...

three papers down, two more to go.

i'm THIS sure i'll be failing at least one paper, failing (pardon the pun) which i would just barely scrape through - something which i will be very happy about.

exams are really not my thing.

i have an econs paper tomorrow and a political science paper on saturday.

i strongly suspect having five papers during the week is costing me my grades. =(

anyways, as i was pottering the hubby's room yesterday, i found that these things always make me smile (in absence of snuffy hubby)...

of course, there's our wedding photo series...

we had brought gwizzly and donald to our photoshoot because they are so us.

we also loved that gwizzly played a major part in our wedding - from being the model on our invite to being our ring bearer. =)

a short honeymoon later, we added two more members to the gang - viktor (from just for laughs) and sully (from monsters inc.).

sully never fails to get me smiling because he just looks so cheeky.

and hubby is as glad we got sully because i was contemplating buying him at the fifth avenue disney store but didn't get him until we were at california disney.

the gang keeps me company during the day...

until snuffy hubby comes back home. =)