long long time ago - tioman trip

dunno why i decided to flip through the pictures from tioman trip, which was 4 years back. went there with my jc buddies.

guess which one is me?

scroll down for the answer.

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if you are shocked nvm, cos i also quite shocked when i see myself like that 4 years ago. =p

i want to go for another holiday again! thinking of just a short trip to somewhere near singapore during the 3rd week of the june holidays.

pls come and jio me. thank you~

busy activities

ok let's see.

now is already 16th april. holidays start on 26 may. so that means i have to endure another five more weeks before i can get my long break.

there will be quite a few activities to look forward to.

this friday will be going to watch jackie chan's and jet li's latest movie, forbidden kingdom, at vivocity with my kevii wushu friends. this outing is also meant for colin's farewell gathering, because he is going to study in france for two years.

this saturday is my workplace's dunno how many anniversary celebration. then after the anniversary celebration, i will be heading to bedok reservoir with some of my colleagues to take part in a dragonboat competition. yes you din see wrongly. i am in dragonboat! haha. until now i haven attend a single dragonboat training.

the first training i din attend, because i was on mc. the second training i din attend, because i bring my kids for competition. the third training was cancelled, because of heavy rain. the 4th training, which is today, was also cancelled, because of heavy rain. yays. so that means on saturday i will be in the same dragonboat with my colleagues, paddling together with my colleagues, with ZERO dragonboating experience. how cool is that. =p

every sundays i will have dance practises at TAT. 18th may is the actual performance. the performance is very chingay style. roads leading to chinatown will be blocked. there is a long stretch of pathway which is about 2 km. in this distance, there's 3 performance zones. so we have to walk for 700m, perform at the 1st zone. after performing, walk another 700 m, perform the 2nd time at the 2nd zone. and same thing happens at the 3rd zone. i think will be quite siong. haha. thankfully the performance is at night.

24 may to 1 june, i will be going to this place in indonesia called su-ra-ba-ya. its an educational trip, with expenses fully paid. i will be going with another 4 colleagues, and we will be bringing 32 kids.

if you are interested to know more about su-ra-ba-ya:

Su-ra-ba-ya is a progressive capital undergoing rapid change. Former negative reports about the city from foreign visitors are thus clearly unwarranted today. In fact, Su-ra-ba-ya now enjoys the reputation as being the cleanest city in Indonesia, equipped with every modern facility and offering a standard of accommodation to suit every taste and budget. Places of interest for the tourist require Kalimas harbour and Kampung Arab in the old part of town, the Mpu Tantular Museum, as well as one of the largest zoos in south east Asia.

Su-ra-ba-ya is located at the centre of the northern coast of East Java Province, bounded to the north and east by the Java sea, the district of Gresik in the west, and by the district of the Sidoarjo in the south. The topography is mainly flat at about 3-6m above sea level, but in the west, two low ridges from west to east have an elevation of about 20-30m above sea level. The lower hill slopes have tended to be occupied by low income groups because of the low cost of site development. The high ground has become popular for high income group settlement, now that there are good access road and water supply.

The tropical climate has two main identifiable seasons. The dry season generally lasts from May to October, and the wet or rainy season from November up to April. The heaviest rains normally occur between December and January. wind velocity normally ranes from 3 to 20 knots and is relatively constant throughout the year. The mean annual rainfall is 1,321 mm, and the highest monthly mean rainfall is about 260 mm, usually in January. The lowest temperature, usually in February, is about 25.5 celcius and the highest temperature is 33.0 celcius in October. The average annual temperature is 27.8 celcius.

Su-ra-ba-ya's dominant roles, both national and regional, have changed little since it emerged as a major administrative and trading centre of the East Indies in the early 18th century. The development of urban Su-ra-ba-ya since this time has therefore been related to study growth to meet increasing demand, rather than any change in role or function. Since the governments 1960s city policy, Su-ra-ba-ya has functioned as an industrial, commercial, maritime, education and government city. This multi-function policy has required Su-ra-ba-ya to provide land for industrial areas and infrastructure support facilities.

Commercial trading in Su-ra-ba-ya has an important role for the development of Eastern Indonesia, and especially for East Java. The primary trade activities covering the large area from the port in the north to the city center is wholesale trading of products.

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2nd june to 7th june, i will be going back for reservist. sianz.

after the reservist, hopefully i can enjoy the rest of my holidays.

t-a-i-ji session

this afternoon, my two friends from kevii wushu, yenling and hueyshin, came down to my workplace to teach t-a-i-ji to my colleagues.

its very nice to see all my colleagues being so focused and serious while learning. think they really enjoyed it. :)

pictures:

my big boss presenting tokens of appreciation to the both of them

keviians unite! :)

thank you yenling and hueyshin for coming down to bedok all the way from nus. my colleagues love the both of you alot. haha.

千丝万缕都是情

this article is written by 尤今, who is a famous 作家 in singapore.

it is a very long article, so i am just extracting a portion of the article. this particular portion is purely talking abt spaghetti.

中西合璧的意大利肉酱面

午餐时分到了，孩子团团地围坐桌畔。日胜将他的精心杰作捧了出来，啊，原来是意大利肉酱面！米黄色的细条实心面上，浇了浓浓的一大圈肉酱，绚丽的鲜红色，洋溢着无限的喜气，一看，食欲便被大大地挑起来了。食物，必须在饱口福之前，先让人饱眼福，才算是成功的。眼前这一大盘意大利肉酱面，便美得像陈列在橱子里的蜡塑品。

这 “金玉其外” 的肉酱面，到底会不会 “败絮其中” 呢？

几个孩子，化身为横扫落叶的狂风，我注意到，当他们在狼吞虎咽的时候，眼睛全像是通电的灯泡一样，亮闪闪的。

我急切地夹起一尝，哎哟，从来，从来不曾吃过如此精彩的面条！

这面，软硬适中，富于弹性，好像不必怎么咬嚼，便滴溜溜地滑下肚了。以碎牛肉熬成的酱汁，有姜的清香，没有姜的辛辣；有酒的甘醇，没有酒的辛烈。裹在浓酱里的碎牛肉，细软鲜香，吃进嘴里，每一口都是满满满满的，无可替代的幸福。

日胜是以 “中西合璧” 的方式来调弄这面条的，他在西方的食材加入了一些东方的调味品 （比如绍兴酒），因而取得了最佳的效果。

连续好几个星期天，孩子都无一例外地央求老爸给他们煮一式一样的面。他们都说是 “百吃不厌” ， 我想，即使吃上一千次，他们也许还会要求老爸煮上一千零一次的。

意大利面并非只能配肉将

我家孩子原以为 “肉酱” 是意大利面条独一无二的 “内容” ，然而，有一年，带着他们去意大利旅行，他们才发现，意大利面条的种类着实多的令人眼花缭乱。对于意大利人来说，几乎什么都可以入面；地上种的瓜果蔬菜，水里游的鱼虾贝类，路上跑的鸡鸭牛羊，无一不是煮面的食材。

我们不谙意大利语，每回上餐馆时，只好对着菜单胡指一气，端上桌来的面条，每次都有不同的配料，不同的酱汁；我们也因此有了五彩缤纷的美好记忆。最好吃的是汇聚了海龙王家族的奶油海鲜面，最不讨喜的是单调乏味的花生素面。最荒唐的一次，面条上居然孤芳自赏地坐着一大团螺旋形的牛油！

吃来吃去，不论何种配料，何种酱汁，心里觉得最好的，还是家里的那一锅。

那一锅意大利酱面，有这家的味道。

千丝万缕都是情。

spaghetti cooking

due to the success of sandwich making, me and darling decide to go one level up.

we want to cook a simple dish, and so spaghetti is the choice.

ingredients:

spaghetti

spaghetti sauce

minced pork

canned mushrooms

garlic sausage

prawns

procedure:

1. marinate the minced pork and prawns with salt, 蚝油, 麻油 and 花雕酒. for the minced pork i also added an egg.

2. cut the garlic sausage and canned mushrooms into small slices.

3. fry the minced pork, sausage, mushrooms and prawns separately. fry until 70 percent cooked will do, because still need to cook them together with the spaghetti sauce.

4. cook the sauce in the wok. if sauce too little, or too thick, can add water.



five. pour the minced pork, sausage, mushrooms and prawns into the sauce. let all of them react together for around five minutes.

6. cook the spaghetti. this one must cook quite early, cos it take quite some time for the hard spaghetti to become soft and eatable spaghetti.

7. transfer the spaghetti sauce onto the spaghetti, and you are ready to eat! :)

ta da! our wonderful dish! looks nice and appetizing isnt it?

the minced pork is nice. the garlic sausage is shiok. the prawns are fresh and chewy. on the whole, the spaghetti rocks. i declare our spaghetti cooking a success. yay~

cool pictures

last saturday, i was at v-j-c for the olympic dialogue session. i walked around the school, and saw some wonderful posters.

although i am not from that jc, but i am very happy by the fact that this sch really 重视 wushu. imagine how much money the sch has to fork out to make all these posters.

i really want to learn adobe photoshop, so i can edit photos and make these amazing posters. for example doing a 腾空单拍，旋风腿 or 旋子 over effiel tower, or just doing any cool wushu poses on the top of the pyramids in egypt. haha.

since i dunno how to use photoshop, i have to make do with paintbrush and powerpoint. pls try not to mock or laugh at these poor works, although i admit its really of very low standard.

now let me show a work from the expert. have a good laugh.

statue of darth vader? haha.

finally...

to end this post...

i shall show a very frightening pic.

up to you to decide whether the pic is being photo-shopped, or the pic is for real, without any interference from the human being.

if you have a weak heart, pls refrain from scrolling down further.

if you still want to see, and its already in the middle of the night, pls cover your mouth with your hand in case you let out a loud scream and wake everybody up.

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(only the faces of these pple are being paint-brushed to conceal their identities. the rest of the pic is for real)

sunday post

this morning, i woke up at 6 am. not that i want to, but is because one of my sisters who set the alarm at that time, and refuses to wake up to off the alarm, and so, everybody in the family suffers.

actually i also intend to wake up early, because i am going to hall to give darling a surprise visit. yesterday night she had a terrible headache, and i wasnt there for her. then some more i made her unhappy on her 21st birthday... so i decided to make amends this morning, by visiting her and delivering breakfast.

thankfully, she is very happy to see me and very happy with the yummy and nutritious breakfast! yay!

at night i went to TAT (Theatre Arts Troupe) to rehearse for a vesak day performance at this very new and magnificient temple called 佛牙寺. so every sundays, from 730 to 930, i will be going down to tanjong pagar for practises.

had dinner at maxwell food centre. went to ieatishootipost to search wat types of yummy food is available there. and here's wat we ate:

very yummy but extremely oily balls. come in a few flavours. peanut, sweet potato, red bean. the favourite choice is the pandan coconut.

super delicious sliced fish soup. got alot of MSG inside. makes me very thirsty.

yummy and deliciously crispy ngor hiong. everything was fried to perfection. but the sauce for us to dip the ngor hiong is disappointing. taste a bit too bland.

another week of work is coming ahead. sometimes i wonder am i really suitable for this current job. getting more and more disillusioned. haiz.

got two more days of wushu competition for my kids. until now not a single medal won. i really hope they can win something, as a reward for the hard work and efforts that they put in during training.

going to sleep, good night!

y-o-g dialogue session

went to the above mentioned event this morning with my hod and a few kids.

teachers and students from other schools also went for this event.

the guests invited are:

1. mr jacques rogge (president of IOC)

2. mr sergey bubka (pole vaulting champion who broke the world record thirty-five times; chairman of Coordination Commission for 1st summer YOG)

3. mr ng ser miang (chairman of Singapore YOG Organising Committee)

4. mr teo ser luck (senior parliamentary secretary, ministry of community development, youth and sports & ministry of transport).

the students ask them questions regarding YOG, and the guests answered them accordingly.

there are 2 ways in asking the questions. one is to go to the microphone and ask. another way is to sms to this hp, and the questions will appear on the big screen.

one of my kids very cheeky. he sms his question, and the question is: will the failure of capturing mas selamat affect the confidence of locals and overseas athletes in the security of singapore.

but the question nv appeared. haha.

i like to pay compliments to the students from ju-rong jc. i really think they did a great job in warming up the atmosphere inside the LT.

and they even choreo a Y-O-G dance using a bollywood song. so creative. keep a lookout for a very chio teacher at 0:43. haha.

pictures:

my hairstyle is very chui in this pic. must be the wind too strong.

cute babies!

pls watch this! very cute!



funny isnt it? makes me wish to have children, and i can take videos of them doing the darnest things at their young age.

but, a coin has two sides.

watch this.




pls consider carefully if you really want to have a child. haha.

happy birthday darling

darling, happy 21st~

i noe i am a lousy bf, for screwing up ur bday celebrations. :'(

you dun sad anymore le ok?

i also feel very sad that you very sad.

create your own magazine cover!

i think this is very fun. haha.

this is my favourite pic:


wonderful isnt it? :)

p.s. thanks huizhi for letting me have all these cool magazine covers. if i nv go to ur blog i wun have discovered this cool website.

wushu competition

this two weeks i will be bringing my kids to ch-ung ch-eng ma-in for the national inter-sch wushu competition.

to speak the truth, most of them are definitely not in the favourites' category to clinch the top 3 positions.

but their commitment and perseverance really touched me.

they will come to me and ask for extra training sessions.

if i cannot supervise or train them, they will ask to borrow the weapons so they can train on their own.

today, i was having a staff meeting.

feeling bored, i looked out of the window.

i saw my captain, and another kid, jogging around the school, running up and down the stairs of the school buildings, to train up their stamina for the competition.

i was so touched.

and, this is a video that touches my heart.

the nice music. the wonderful choreography of the dance. and of course the exceptional marvellous technique of the dancer. the best dance video i have ever seen.

psyche 庆功宴

庆功宴 was held at michael's condominium, inside the condo's function room.

the turnout was a bit disappointing... but nevertheless, those who turned up had lots of fun.

i hereby showcase to you, 当晚的高潮:

video 1: sound of the music teaser version

teasingly presented by fen, huizhi, zhunian and clarissa

pay special attention at 1:27, where clarissa showed her 迷人的背影.

video 2: hot salsa dance

hotly presented by nzj and sophia

you can hear how wonderful the performances are from the cheers in the background. haha.

after both performances, is the stepping down of exco 07/08, and the stepping up of exco 08/09.

congrats to exco 07/08, for doing a great job for the past year.

congrats to exco 08/09, for being chosen to lead nus chinese dance to greater heights. jia you~

my partner for distance, and also the chairperson of 08/09! pls give her a round of applause!

才刚上任就要打人. tsk tsk.