Saturday, August 22, 2009

Marriage Life

Haha... my blog is actually still alive and kicking....

Can't get to sleep yet so might as well drop a couple of lines here.

Had been married for five months now. And I must say, I really enjoyed at these five months. Life has been good. Love the feeling of having my dear close to me every moment of my life. Simply love the way to see my dear sleep and snore next to me. Love to see her sleeping so soundly every night beside me. Anyway, just love my marriage life.

At the moment, am doing up the renovation of our new nest. In-laws are doing most of the job. From laying the tiles to calling up their lobangs for the air-con, windows ledges, false cellings etc etc.. thus, me and wife had lots less stuff to worry about, except for the money part. A simple renovation and furnitures etc can easily set us back by $20k.

Tommorrow will be going to our new house. Our tiles had just been laid. Excited to see how it turn out. :)

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Rotting

I am letting my blog rot away.

Got a new toy, the Facebook.

:p

Sunday, March 22, 2009

My One Week Leave

21 Mar 2009 was indeed a special day for me and the love of my life, Yeok Ying. This is the day when we officially and customarily becomes husband and wife. 8 years of courtship and 1.5 years of planning comes down to this single day. A day when we pledged our love for each other for the rest of our life. This was really a BIG day for us.

It seems that 21 Mar 2009 was a hot hot date for weddings. Lots of other weddings were taking place all over Singapore. Just at our hotel alone, there were two other couples hosting their wedding. I believed that this was one of the 吉日on a weekend after the Chinese New Year and before 清明, which is considered not good for wedding.

I was already losing sleep two days before my wedding. I lost appetite for food. I lost 3kgs in that one week. Yap, getting married was indeed a stressful event. Not that I am having any second thoughts but were more worried about cock ups during my big day. I mean, we have planned for 1.5 years, I would not want any major cock ups. I am not hoping my day to be prefect, I just want everything to go smoothly. Another course of worries was my guests. I was worried if my guests would turn up? Would they go to the wrong hotel? Would they be late? Would they have any parking lots? I knew I should not be worrying these much, but that is just me, I simply cares too much about everything that might spoilt my day. For these, my stress level was really high, resulting in my losing of sleep and weight.

So to remove some of my worries, I sent out emails and SMSs informing my guests of the exact hotel where my wedding would be held. Many feedback from my guests were that my wedding dinner venue was to be at the Furama in Chinatown. I do not really blamed them for not looking closely at my wedding invites as most people did not know that there were two Furama in Singapore. Moreover, they both have similar road names. The one in Chinatown known as Furama City Centre is located at Havelock Square. Mine wedding venue is known as Furama Riverfront located at Havelock Rd. So that makes the confusion. Reminders were also sent out to inform that another two weddings were going on during that night which would result in limited car park lots.

After all these were done, we were running around for that one week. Going for fitting of gowns, RSVP our guests, planning and re-planning our sitting arrangement, go for haircuts, go ROM to collect our wedding certificate, sourcing for ties for my weddings, doing up our wedding day programme etc etc etc... really lots and lots of work.

Planning the guests list for the dinner was really the most headache and difficult one. This person wants to sit with another person, another friends got conflict with this guy etc.... then after confirming our arrangement, there would be last minute cancellation of attendance. I am fine with a table of 8-9, but nope for lesser than that. We were still changing our seats arrangement on the eve of our day. In the end, a total of 10 guests from both sides drop out in the last three days leading to our day. No choice, a major reshuffle was done very last minute. I made the decision to combine my friends with her friends. This is not advisable as both sides would felt weird. But then, no choice, because we would not want empty tables.

By the eve of our day, we decided to confirm our guest list. We decided that we should not be bother any more if there were further drop outs. Luckily, only another guest did so......

Went to bed at about 1 am on the eve. Was woken up by my parents at about 3.30 am. It seems that they also can't sleep and was doing something in the living room. Told myself to get more sleep. Was once again woken up my parents at 5 am odd. Hahaha... my parents were as excited and nervous... Decided to get up and get ready by 5.45 am, 15 mins earlier than planned. Later I was told that my some of my brothers gang whom were to help me out in our wedding were already having kopi at the kopishop near my house. Some great brothers I got there... Thanks to all my brothers!

Monday, March 09, 2009

Betrothal aka The Pink Day

Yesterday was 08 Mar 2009, also known as the 三八妇女节, which is also mine Betrothal Day or the so-called 过大礼 day.

Although both our parents wanted it to be simple, there were still many preparation involved. Here are the list of items that I have prepared.

1) Two bottle of brandy
2) 12 oranges
3) 6 cans of pork legs
4) XX boxes of wedding cakes
5) Two packets of peanut candies
6) Two packets of rice candies
7) Two packets of dried longan
8) Two packets of winter melon candies
9) Two packets of 马蹄苏
1o) Two pairs of dragon and phoenix candles 龙凤烛
11) Four items of gold 四点金
12) Dowry 娉金

The items above were then put inside two traditional baskets we borrowed from the cake shop. They were so darn heavy lor.

Anyway, set off early in the morning at 8.15hrs to collect my cakes at Chun Tin Road. Each box costs $6.50 and I find the cakes tasty and very presentable. Good as a wedding gift. Collected the cakes with my mum and proceeded straight to my future-in-laws place.

Now came the coincidence of the century. I was dressed in my, yah, usual pink polo T-shirt and my mum was in red top. Reached dear's place and saw her cousin and husband at the void deck. They were helping us to distribute cakes to our relatives. Yah, both of them were also in pink. Well, went up to dear's place and oh, dear was in pink; her mum was too in pink; and even dear's second aunt was in pink. Ha ha.. they all very give face, all worn my favourite colors.... ha.

Well, the rest of the day, we would travel from north to east to south before heading back to north. By the time I reached home it was already hitting 2230 hrs. What a tiring day. But at least, the day went smoothly and the weather was great. The day was hot but at least it did not rain. Will post some pics once I get hold of them.....

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Huh? Pre-Honeymoon?

Its set; no more going to Taipei; well, at least for our next trip.

So it will be my fourth time, and our second time going to Hong Kong together. The trip has been booked, real quick after we made a fast decision where to escape to after our wedding. We decided to keep it simple and decided in double quick time to re-visit Hong Kong.

We will be spending 5D4N there and will be visiting some of the places we did not visit the last time we went. Places like Disneyland (ya, I know it sucks, but no $ go Jap), The Peak, or maybe go Ave of Stars at 8pm to see lighting displays. In any case, it will be another eat, shop and relax trip. This time round, we will be flying on Cathay Pacific, our first. Must see if this is a good airline.

Actually, we have also considered places we have not been to. Places like Japan or Korea. In the end still keep to Hong Kong because we wanna save some money for our honeymoon either in June or Dec. We will consider this Hong Kong only as a little get-away, not honeymoon.

If situation allows, we will definitely want to travel further for our real honeymoon....

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Honeymoon

Has been wondering where to go for our honeymoon. Recently, we seems set to going to Australia, that is to go Sydney and make my friend Sandra's place as our base. From there we can drive to places like Blue Mountain, the vineyards in Hunter Valley or even go to Melbourne. Just yesterday told Sandra of our plan, she said that June is also a not bad time to holiday in Sydney. Furthermore, her parents will be there till end June, so we can actually honeymoon together with them... ha...

Sandra suggested taking a domestic flight to Melbourne instead as it will only cost about $100 both ways. Sounds good. Anyway, Sandra told me that they will be only to Tasmania from 04 to 14 June with her parents. We can either 1) Join them and holiday together. Sounds fun as her parents are darn cool and fun; 2) Take over her place and make it our own or 3) Go over only after 14 Jun. Actually, option 1 & 2 sounds good.

But, however, today just received news from office that there could be a leave freeze comes June and we were asked not to plan any holidays during this month. Darn!

Maybe, we can go year end then..... huh......

Monday, February 09, 2009

MobileOne

My first handphone line was with M1 and I had stayed faithful with this company for 8 years before changing over to Singtel. Well, dun really think that Singtel value its customer as I dun see any loyalty discount from them. They also did nothing when I told them that I will be switching subscriber soon.

So, earlier today, went to M1 to make the switch as my Singtel contract was over some months back. Was truly satisfied with the switch. Got the cheapest plan at corporate rate. It is so darn cheap man.

Monthly subscription is only $14 for Sunsaver plan which offers 100 minutes of talktime, 500 SMS, free in-coming and 3 M1 lines I can call and talk for free. Furthermore, I will get free caller display and auto-roaming for 24 months! Not only that, I was given free registration and also free 3G SIM card which would have cost me some $27. Lagi best is I got a free phone, Sony Ericsson W890! Well, I am not a big fan of Sony Ericsson and will prefer a Nokia, but what the hack man, its FREE lor....

So, left M1 store as a very satisfied man, not paying a single cent and a new phone in tow. Best is my monthly phone bill will be reduced. Next is to get rid of my Singtel broadband. Darn freaking lousy, my internet line will surely drop when any telephone calls comes in. After getting rid of Singtel broadband, next to go will be my home line... No more Singtel!

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Online Shopping

Dun understand why girls always like shopping, until recently, I seems to enjoy going into online shopping sites. I was been told that it will be much cheaper when we shop online especially from sites in the USA. Been to online Adidas store trying to look for some jogging apparels but nothing caught my attention.
The other website I have been visiting recently is this, a UK online store selling retro and classic football jersey. Haha.. what else I am interested in right? Most of the shirts I wanted did not have my size, but got two I pretty like.

Here are the two shirts.



Used from 1999 to 2001. Of course I preferred the home shirt which is the red one. But no size la. Cost £24.99 before postage.


This shirt is used from 1997 to 1999 and cost £34.99. I like the JVC shirt more.



This is the shirt that I like best, but no have my size lor.... so sad...
Given that £ is at the lowest in years, I may considered getting one... no, maybe two of the shirts.... keke...

Sunday, February 01, 2009

At the Esplanade

Do not think can sleep early as I had just doze off on my sofa watching Arsenal play West Ham, so do some blogging here.

Date : 31 Jan 2009

Venue : Esplanade Theatre

This is my very first time stepping into the theatre of our famous durian, the Esplanade. My virgin visit was for a play titled "Design For Living or 《华丽上班族之生活与生存》". This play is in Mandarin and all the casts are from Taiwan. Went for the play because my dear wanna see her 郑元畅 who acted in Taiwanese idol show like 惡作劇之吻. The play was written by the famous Taiwanese actress 张艾嘉 who is also one of the leading cast. It was almost a full house and I guess most of the people were there to see these two artistes.

Basically, the play is very real in current situation. The plot was set in a financial crisis where a company was planning for retrenchment which created office politics. It may sounds like a typical boring plot, but by adding the elements of love and power-struggle, the play turns out to be pretty entertaining and funny. The casts are also real good in their acting skills and able to stir up feelings among the audiences. One or two shed some tears.. hur hur....





After the play, which lasted for about 3.5 hrs with a 15 minutes interval, went for dinner with my future in-laws at the Bottle Tree Village near Sembawang Park. Food is good, as usual, but the Satay I wanted is closed. So sad. Hope the Satay man will be back come Friday... ...

Friday, January 30, 2009

Brand New Year

The Lunar New Year comes and goes, just like that. This year does not really has any new year mood. This can only signify that I have aged. Well, basically did not really go house visiting except to my sister and brother's house. Collected the Ang Bao that I am due... keke... This been my last CNY in single hood, come next year, it will be mine turn to give Ang Baos.

The highlight of mine CNY must be when my sister visit with her 5-month old son, my nephew! He is darn cute, very active and cannot stop moving. Kids are really so adorable!

My nephew, me and my sister.



Trying to pose with my little nephew who cannot stop moving.




Bascially, nothing else to blog about for my CNY. So let me go back to before CNY......

Date : 24 Jan 2009

Place : Bosses Restaurant at Vivocity

Went to this restaurant for lunch with some of my poly mates and my dear. One of these mates is my good buddy, Sandra, back from Sydney for holiday. In poly, we will always be seen together in school. We will be doing projects together, play basketball till the lights goes off, skip classes together... so much so that many in school think we were a couple. Haha... those were the fun days.

She will be staying here for some 3 months plus so that she can attend my wedding! I will be inviting her whole family as I know her parents too since poly. Know her bro for more than 10 years too. Furthermore, me and her bro attended a same course together last year. Another two in the group were also from Sydney, back here for holidays

Before I digress too much, back to my lunch....

This is my first time at this 黑社会 restaurant. They served Chinese food, stuff like dim sum and so on. The food were rather good, but abit expensive to me. The lunch cost us some $210 for seven of us. But the service is pretty good and their toilet is darn cool. Must go check up their toilets if you happened to dine there.

After the late lunch, we went for some ice-cream at Ben & Jerry. Disappointing. The waffles we had tasted sour. Although the stuff changed the waffles into brownies, we had lost our craving for ice-cream... or maybe we were already full... hee

The girl sitting behind me with her face partly covered is Sandra, my best buddy. The girl sitting infront of me is mine sweetest and cutest and chubbiest dear.. :p

After the awful ice-cream, we went on our own way. I guess most of us got other committments, as the next day is already CNY's Eve...

Lastly, before I end my post, wanna show a wallpaper dear created for me. Nice nice... thanks dear...


Yah, will be on leave today 30 Jan. :-)

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

More wedding updates

It is really not easy preparing for a wedding. Tons and tons of stuffs to do. Something that just the two of us will not be able to accomplish. That's when family and friends will have to help.

Recently, we just ordered our bed and the delivery date is 08 Jan 09. As our own flat is still under construction, we will stay with my parents first, taking over the room my brother once occupied. This room definitely need a new coat of paint. I was thinking that I would paint the room together with dad last Sunday as I was out on Saturday. However, after I reached home late on Saturday's night, there was a strong smell of paint. Yap, my dad had already finished painting our room! He is a super worker, wonder how he did it at his age. He even painted our room PINK! No, I did not told him I wanted my room pink. Anyway, brought my dad to G2000 couple of weeks ago to get his suit. Got him a blazer, pants and a white shirt at discounted price. Only cost a total of $160+. Next, will get him a pink tie!

Furthermore, my friend had agreed to be my bridal car driver for the day. He will be driving a BMW 7-series for that day! Yahooo!! Hope that the car will be available that day, if not got to look around for a decent car. Next, Waterbear will beg, borrow or steal a camera so that he can be my backup photographer! Thanks bro.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More things to do in the next couple of weeks

1) Registered our marriage online.
2) Look for our ribbon. Prepare all the wedding cards, inserts etc.
3) Decide on our dinner menu. Also time to decide when to go for food tasting.
4) Come out with a rough schedule for the wedding day.
5) Cleared my room. Will clear all unwanted books. Will try to clear a cupboard for my dear's books. :)
6) Choose a wedding photo for Raymond.
7) Look around for any wine dealer, nice cheap ties.
8) Almost time to confirm our guest list. This is the more headache one, so we should start early.
9) Also time to research items needed for 过大力。Also check with future MIL what she needs.
10) Start to go bank and change new notes for angpaos.
11) Dear to start no-food-intake after 8pm; and start to move your butt. Time to lose some pounds! kekeke :p

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Fly me to the moon...

2008 comes and goes in a flash. Totally no festive mood this year. Was just glad to have the 1.5 days of holidays to spend with my dear! Nothing beats spending quality time with each another. :)

And so, it is time to start our count down to our big day. It is less than 3 months now. All our preparation for the past one year just to make sure everything goes smoothly on 21 Mar 2009. Much of our preparation can be considered done. Nevertheless, the more headache ones are yet to come. That is the guests list and who to place behind the pillars.. ha. Darn, leave that later on.

On a happier note, I had been thinking where should we go for our honeymoon! Some of the places that we had consider are:

1) Australia / Taipei

Last went Sydney in 2001 and it seems a good idea to go back there again. My best pal is staying there and she had been bugging me every year since 2001 to go holiday in Sydney. Was thinking we can set up our base at my pal's place and from there we could drive out of town to be on our own. Sounds like a not bad idea. Probably can do a 15-20 days if $ permits. Then was thinking maybe we could re-visit our favourite Taipei by taking a flight from Sydney. But dropped the idea because SIA flight to Taipei need for transits in Singapore lor..... what the.....

2) New Zealand

Actually New Zealand is a place I will like to go. Like rent a car and drive all over the country. However, need to do research and scare got stress by the driving. Dun want to spoilt our honeymoon because my tempers can flare easily.

3) Japan / Korea

The other options are Japan and Korea. These are the two places that we will love to go. If we choose these distinctions, we have to decide between Free-n-Easy or tour packages. We both hate tour packages so Free-n-Easy seems to be our options. Maybe, just go Tokyo and get lost at their shopping district? Hmmm.... sounds not too bad cos we love shopping.

4) Europe

This one got to prepare lots of $. Switzerland is a place I wanted to visit after watching European Cup. The other place that I long to visit is the Colosseum in the city of Rome. Has grown to love this magnificent amphitheatre when I study about it during my degree course at SIM. Simple love the history behind it. Place where the gladiatorial games used to take place. Well, the other place that I will pay my last cent to visit is of course Ashburton Grove in North London. Why? Oh, cos it is where Emirates Stadium stands, home ground of the mighty Arsenal. Will be happy to catch a match there.

Well, well, well... many places can go, lots depends on our $. But no matter where we ends up, we will still enjoy our honeymoon....

... its the company that counts.