Buzzes of Bee

Resolutions

2010-12-30T11:06:00.006+08:00

2010 is coming to an end… and this is only the second post in the year. I’ve been busy and lazy to write, that’s the excuse. Like I’ve mentioned in my previous post, this has not been an easy year. The emotional roller coaster is always running, still not willing to stop but I guess it’ll never stop unless… erm let’s just not go there.

Anyway it’s time for resolutions again. First of all, a big change! I’ll be freelancing for my current employer next year. With that comes some free time and flexibility to pursue my interests, have more time for the family and by the end of the year, I hope I’m able to figure out what I want to do in 2012.

Here goes the list:

To serve and give instead of complaining and expecting to receive:

Spend more time with my two lovely kids! To spend at least some time with each child everyday. Also have a quarterly 1-1 outing with each child.
Date my husband more! Every night, to snuggle up and talk about our day (if we’re not too pooped by then). A necessary date every month to just have time for each other without the kids.
Cook for family and friends! I’ll try learning new dishes not limiting to just Chinese cooking. Oh and also bake! I think I haven’t baked since secondary school’s home science classes.
Volunteer! Helping the less fortunate.

Improvements in life and taking care of my well-being:

Exercise! And more dancing!
Attend, listen to Dhamma talks. Of course practicing the Buddha’s teachings in everyday life too.
Learn meditation
Continue learning Japanese.

On a different note, this is my favorite photo taken in 2010 with my mobile phone. I think this is also the first time ER appeared on my blog since the girl arrived 15 months ago.

~ Bee is looking forward to 2011

New Perspectives

2010-08-05T10:59:00.002+08:00

Hello! It's been a long while... 1 year plus has flown by just like that.

The past year has not been an easy one, life has thrown me up to the sky then down to the pits...

I was on an emotional roller coaster and it was not fun at all.

I'm glad that chapter has ended and I came out stronger. Life will still and always be full of the same things and/or new surprises.

It's really our reactions, the making up of our own stories, blaming our ownselves or others that made us all miserable.

I'm now turning a new page in life, to be mindful, aware of my own emotional triggers and create a space for love and happiness.

~ Bee now has a new outlook in life and her blog. Cheers!

Mood

2009-02-26T17:13:00.001+08:00

Cold gray rainy days
Just like the body and soul
It is time to heal...

25 things you may or may not know about me

2009-01-21T15:35:00.003+08:00

Tagged by Mona, so here goes the list:

1. I'm a lefty - but only for writing and brushing my teeth.
2. I like collecting magnets of cities I travel to.
3. Married to my high school sweetheart, have known each other since 1991
4. Introverted
5. I'm more talkative online than offline
6. Never use a computer until I was in college studying computer science.
7. Not really a geek
8. I'm a Malaysian citizen, currently living and working in Singapore.
9. Lived in Aberdeen, Scotland for 3 months in 2000 where I worked part-time (and illegally) as a waitress.
10. People always say I'm nice, but I can also be a bitch. Oh yes, I do have a temper.
11. I'm addicted to lindy hop. Less dancing nowadays but I still LOVE it.
12. Since the birth of my son, I understand what is unconditional love.
13. Everyday, when I switched on my computer, the tabs on my browser are: meebo, gmail, friendfeed and facebook. In that order.
14. Spending more time on FF than FB nowadays. I love FF and the community here :)
15. I also have the "Hitchhiker's Thumb".
16. Bought the Lord of the Rings books years ago, and I've only read less than half of the first book. But I've liked the LOTR Trilogy movies.
17. Backpacked on my own for about 1.5 months in Sweden and Norway in the summer of 2004.
18. I don't really like playing computer games, I find it can be stressful => Have never owned or played PSP, xbox or Wii
19. First computer game I ever played was the Space Invaders.
20. The other games which I can remember are: Pacman, Super Mario, Sims City, Puzzle Bobble, Snake, Tetris, Minesweeper, 2nd Life, There, Scrabulous.
21. I love good food, music, travel and taking photos.
22. I know 3 languages: English, Malay and Chinese. Can also speak Hokkien (a chinese dialect), understand Cantonese but can't speak well. Just started my Japanese class last week.
23. I am a Buddhist.
24. I don't like wearing make up and rarely wear high heels.
25. Life is short and unpredictable... I try to be in the moment and appreciate the day.

2009 Ahead

2008-12-31T12:00:00.005+08:00

Happy today!! And I'm going on a much needed date with hubby this afternoon without the kiddo.

May all of you be happy and all the best for 2009.
Happy New Year! Dance Away!

~ Bee will have a quiet night at home with family.

Resolutions

2008-12-09T17:29:00.002+08:00

Every December, it always dawn on me that time waits for no one. It felt just like yesterday when there're Christmas decorations everywhere.

This makes me think about what I've done this year. Let's see...
~ I'm glad we took a family holiday with my parents and sisters to UK. It's my first ever long-distance travel with them in my adult life. It's been great for the bonding and we had good fun. Oh, and not forgetting my first experience with snow.

~ Raising the kid is bumpy & emotional but rewarding. He's teaching us all about life and parenting. I love him lots.

~ As for personal growth, teaching (lindy hop) has pushed me out of my comfort zone. Really, teaching dance is totally a different ball game from dancing itself. I am proud of my accomplishment. Anyway, I'm still learning to better myself as a teacher. All I need is love for the dance, time, experience and perseverance.

~ Work wise, it's been a mediocre year with a little pay raise, still better than none though.

At a social gathering last weekend, there's been a discussion on the NEW things we're going to do in 2009. Here goes mine:
1. Learn Japanese & Photography
2. Be healthy: Eat healthily and exercise!
3. Cook more, especially for ZX
4. Study and practice Buddhism
5. Be humble and patient

There, you have the "resolutions" list. And I hereby giving you (the readers) permission to knock my head/kick my a** if I procrastinate or not following. Heh!

~ Bee will start NOW

Eric the Half a Bee

2008-11-14T17:17:00.003+08:00

My "Penguin Eater" friend AL, dedicated this song to me. Just wanna share this cool song with my dear readers. :)

p/s: AL, thanks for the playlist too, lovely swingy music. Whee!

Carpool Confidential

2008-10-21T17:11:00.003+08:00

Jessica Benson is funny and she's making me turn the pages of her book.
For all my mommy friends, if you're interested in mom lit. This is one book you can pick up.

~ Bee is older today. She's gotten a lot of wishes but none from her sisters (yet... I hope)

11 years of Webscapades

2008-09-15T16:25:00.008+08:00

Found the information from my archive and my memory, so might have mixed the years up.

1997 : Yahoo Mail, Hotmail

1998 : Yahoo Messenger

2001 : ICQ

2001/2 : Trillian

2002 Nov : pbase.com. Photos are still there and still got visits, even though not many.

2002/3:

It's all about the swing forums!

~ Chatterbugs - it's under maintenance, or dead. But well, we're all communicating through Facebook nowadays.

~ Swingtalk

~ Yehoodi

2003:

~ Found Adam on smilezone and he's been a friend since. *wave*

~ Kazaa

2004:

Feb : Orkut - checking once in a blue moon

June : Plaxo - used mainly for my address book, sometimes Pulse

Sep :

~ Multiply - I think I only logged in twice, once when I was creating an account and today.

~ Napster

~ Grouper (now it's Crackle.com)

Oct :

~ Couldn't believe I had played this RPG game at Kingdomofloathing.com, because I don't think I'm a true geek. I thought my friends were talking about "Dinner & Dance" when they told me about DnD. Duh! Anyway, I think this account of mine has been deactivated. Got the bad password message.

~ Started this blog of mine, to write, share myself and vent.

~ Hello for photo sharing, it's been shut down.

~ Flickr: I still love it to this day :)

Nov:

~ Pretended to be someone else for a few months in 2nd life and There. I wonder if I'm still alive in those two places.

~ Joined 2 more networking sites at Tribe and Ryze where I rarely visit.

2005:

Feb : started using Bloglines for my readings.

April : LinkedIn

June : Feedburner

Aug : Plazes and Statcounter

Sep : Yahoo Music Unlimited (now Rhapsody) which I used for 2 years and decided it's not worth my $ anymore.

Oct - Writely, now it's Google Docs

2006:

This is the year I wasn't that adventurous online as I was busy with life - my wedding, big project at work and preparing for my first born. It's only in October that I signed up at ebay and paypal. Hmmm, I guess I needed to buy stuff for the baby then.

2007:

March

~ Facebook! Whee! It's great that I found many of my long lost RL friends here. And I don't mind the new outlook it's gotten lately.

~ Google Reader : swapped Bloglines with this.

April : Picasa, I like the photo editing tools, it's so much simpler than Photoshop :P

June : Google Notebook and Soundpedia.

Oct : meebo

2008:

Jan

~ Globalpandora too bad it's STILL slowly coming back to us the outside of the US peeps.

~ Amazon - used it to buy some cool jazz CDs

April

~ FriendFeed!!! On my, I've been addicted for 5 months now?! :P

~ Last.fm - only listen to its radios

May

~ Songza

~ Seeqpod - it's pretty fast here and I get to listen to the whole song. Good!

~ StumbleUpon

~ Google sites

~ Youtube - still haven't come around to upload any of my clips. Boo me!

June : Twitter is for me to blather random stuff to friendfeed

July : Plurk - don't quite like it.

August
~ NoiseRiver for friendfeed
~ Rejaw

Sept
~ Ping.fm
~ Geni - built my family tree. It's cool!

~ Bee thinks it'll be cool to look back at this list in a year or two.

Teacherbug

2008-08-08T17:08:00.003+08:00

Yesterday was my first ever attempt at teaching, in a class environment. Sorry to say that I actually missed the first class which started last Thursday because I was down with cold.

Lindy Hop is what I'm teaching, a dance I've loved since my very first class as a student, that was in Oct 2001. Thanks to the non-availability of space for followers in the salsa class then. Fate! :D

Was a nervous wreck before the class started, but am lucky to have an experience teacher as my partner in class. So, both the classes have gone well, I relaxed after a while. Anyway still need to work on articulating the important points and moves. Well, I guess it all comes down to experience, both dancing and teaching.

~ Bee will build her teaching experience over time

Little Dragon

2008-07-07T16:37:00.002+08:00

I occasionally cook during the weekend, and yesterday was one of it.
This was the first time I bought tarragon herbs. It's for the vegetable broth I meant to cook, but since I forgot to buy other few ingredients for it, the broth was off the menu... :P
The other 2 dishes were both stir-fried stuff - stir-fried spinach and stir-fried chicken strips.

The stir-fried chicken strips surprised me. While I was cooking, I read that tarragon will enhance the taste of chicken, duck etc... well well the few dashes of tarragon really made the dish more fragrant than my normal chicken stir-fry. Yum!

I was too busy eating, so no photos. But here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:
5 strips of chicken meat (about 400g? sorry I'm not sure of the weight)
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1~2 dashes of pepper
1~2 dashes of black pepper
2~3 dashes of tarragon (from the herb bottle)
1/2 tablespoon of ghee (or butter, or 1 1/2 tablespoons of cooking oil)
1/4 cup of water

Preparations:
1. Wash and cut the chicken strips into smaller edible pieces.
2. Mix the dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, pepper and black pepper into the bowl of chicken meat. Set the chicken aside for 20 minutes to marinate.
3. While waiting, chopped the garlic finely.

Cooking:
1. Heat up the wok, put in the ghee to melt. Add chopped garlic and fry until fragrant.
2. Pour the bowl of marinated chicken in and stir-fry.
3. When the chicken is half cooked, add the 1/4 cup of water (if you think there's not enough gravy)
4. Season with 2 to 3 dashes of tarragon after chicken is cooked, stir-fry for another 20 seconds before dishing up.

Serve with rice.

~ Bee finds recipe writing is not as easy as she thought.

French Escapade

2008-06-25T15:38:00.006+08:00

Last Monday, H & I went out for dinner to celebrate our special day, and it's somewhat like our annual date night (the last one was July 2007 :P)

I chose André Wine & Dine, a french restaurant. Reasons being I've been craving for french food since reading about a critic's world and a chef's real life stories...well a lot of those involved fine-dining french cuisines. And discovering this particular expensive mushroom.
Also, André's got good reviews from patrons, and the price would not burn a big hole in my pocket. Guess what?! I wasn't disappointed, the dishes we ordered were yummy and worth every penny! :D

For appetisers, H got the really delicious fried prawn, the sauce and green salad went really well with it! I almost wanted to swap that with my escargots, but too bad H couldn't fathom eating snails, too icky for him. Nonetheless he tried one after much persuasion. The escargots were fresh, a tad salty but still good!

Next up - Soups! My mushroom soup was nice - not too thick nor thin, with just the right amount of cream. And best of all, I get to taste the 3 little slices of truffles at last!! But to be honest, I have to say I'm a wee bit disappointed with the taste of the truffles, it tasted ... erm just like any other mushroom, lack of the strong aroma as I've read. H had the tasty french onion soup, I liked the caramelized onion and cheese in it.

Main course, I was delighted with the Confit de canard (duck confit), the tender meat and the crispy skin offered such contrasts and paired well with the balsamic shallot sauce. H ordered the beef tenderloin - well done, but I suggested he tried it medium well... couldn't believe he agreed. The meat came and H was put off by the bloody meat a wee bit. But to be honest, I tried a mouthful - it didn't have the pungent smell of blood and was actually delicious. Did that make me a vampire? Ha! :P

Done with the mains and we wondered if we're able to finish the dessert. But oh boy! my "Live for Chocolate" cake had the warm and gooey chocolate in the middle of the warm choc cake. Ate it with the strawberry and sorbet... Man! I was almost in heavens! The orange souffle was a tad not as flavourful but it's nonetheless light. At least H enjoyed it.

Here's my rating (out of 10):
Food - 8
Ambience - 6.5 (It's pretty cozy but the lighting was a bit too bright, and they should play jazz :P)
Service - 8 (attentive and non-intrusive)
Value - 8.5

I'd recommend you foodies and/or love birds out there to try it out.

29/6 Updates - Food photos are here

~ Bee has difficulty resisting good food.

Love is...

2008-05-28T10:19:00.001+08:00

When you can keep looking for a long time
at someone while he's asleep
And think he's so cute and sweet
You feel fuzzy and warm
Those are contended moments
filled with happiness...

It's a...

2008-05-28T10:01:00.002+08:00

Spork!!

Emo

2008-05-27T14:27:00.002+08:00

So i wrote this Haiku:

Bitter bitter Bee
Forgive and forget you should
Better things will be

An Update

2008-05-05T14:44:00.004+08:00

The little voice in my head has been nagging me to blog for a very long time, and I keep brushing her off giving her all kinds of excuses...like there's enough updating with facebooking, busy with life & kid, no inspirations, tons of photos to edit, and my writing sucks... blah blah blah... the list goes on.
At last she won me over, so here goes some updates & thoughts (ahem... in point forms :P)

1) Currently, my favorite book of all time (more like love at first read) is Ajahn Brahm's Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung. He's such a great teacher sharing his wisdom in life with his good sense of humour.

Before this, I was a buddhist in forms whereas I called myself a free thinker if someone asked about my religion. Because I really do not think one is a buddhist if he/she only goes to pray in the temple without studying and practicing buddhist teachings.

Now, I can finally call myself a buddhist as I've started to practice its teachings in life, and I want to keep learning about buddhism. Taking one step at a time.

2) My baby is now a 16 months toddler, going on 17. I'm amazed at the pace he learns stuff. He observes and mimics you. The other day, I was calling H with a poke on his side and guess what, my boy went to poke his dad too. Man... I have to constantly be aware of the bad habits I do unknowingly sometimes.

Parenting is the most challenging job, ever! It's hard work, sometimes daunting and can really test your patience. However, the returns you get while you mold your child and see him blossoms into another human being with his own individuality is all worth it. Love, happiness and bliss!!

On that note, for the coming 11th May, to all mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day! Especially to my mother, I love you, Mama!

3) While I'm getting fatter & fatter these days, a foodie will always be a foodie. Haven't been to restaurants for a while now (other than at a friend's birthday party & another friend's wedding dinner in April), and still haven't got the opportunity to hunt for the exotic mushroom.
But I've cooked twice this couple of weeks, which is rare because I think it's really not economical (in terms of money and time) cooking for two than buying cooked food from food courts or kopitiams. On the other hand, cooking can be fun and there's satisfaction while gulping down the wholesome food. Yum!

4) After the three points above, lately, I've noticed that the types of books I mostly read are about life, parenting and food-related. Gone were the days of romance, hero and/or heroines, mysteries fictions... I guess my interests and perspectives have changed. :D

~ Bee will now indulge in a strawberry milkshake...

Things I need to bitch about

2007-12-04T15:18:00.000+08:00

Smoking in a lift or when they’re walking. Please go kill yourself discreetly, do not drag others with you.
Pretending they deserve the seat more than another who is old or disabled or pregnant.
Crowding in front of the train door and dashing into the train before letting passengers alight first. Then stood rooted near the door. Geez!
Hogging on the right side of the escalator at train stations. Can you please move it and stand on the left. Thank you very much.
Banging continuously on the traffic-light button. Helloooo… no matter how many times you press on it, you’ll still have to wait for the timer!
Putting a packet of tissue paper on the table DOES NOT reserve the table for you, idiot!

Okay, rant over :P

Mushrooms! Mushrooms!

2007-09-05T12:26:00.000+08:00

Done reading Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl, she’s the New York Times restaurant critic from 1993-1999 and currently the Gourmet editor. The book filled my train journeys deliciously. I was in the gastronomic world of aromas and tastes. This is where I discovered truffles, and after that it pops everywhere ~ on photos, blogs… man I’m curious as a cat!

So my truffle quest begins, have researched online on these rare and expensive (may be overpriced) seasonal fungi. It’s supposed to be so awesome that one bite will send you floating to high heavens. White truffles (Tuber magnatum) are going to be in season soon, I’m sure it’ll be on its way to fine dining restaurants here.

I do hope it won’t squash my high expectation like foie gras did. Then I was the foolish little girl who thought a luxury dish with beautiful foreign words would be yummy. No idea whatsoever that it’s made of duck or goose’s liver, and was so excited when it’s served…. One bite… Yuck! It’s over to H to force it down his throat, as it’s too expensive to waste. “But it’s good!!” you’d say. I’m sorry… internal organs are not my thing.

Anyhoo, if you’ve had any good truffle dish in Singapore recently, or if you can get your hands on fresh truffles and know how to serve it… Please fill me in!! :D

~ Bee is in discovery mode.

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

2007-08-27T21:51:00.000+08:00

On the Singapore's national day holiday weekend, we went on our first family holiday. It’s also baby’s first holiday and my first visit to East Malaysia. Read on for more firsts.

Day One:
After a late brunch of yummy & hot soupy pork noodles (no photos as I was busy gulping down the dish when it’s served), we visited a beach resort at Kampung Karambunai. The stretch of white sandy beach is pretty and many people (mostly Caucasians) were sunbathing at midday…for the sake of getting a tanned skin (is it considered fashionable?), it’s crazy considering it’s SO hot and you soak in the harmful UV rays. And no, sun-block lotion doesn’t block all the rays. Sorry.

We were hiding under shades enjoying the sea breezes, the scenery, people-watching and drank cooling coconut water, straight from the fruit.

The rest of the day was spent at H’s uncle’s home, catching up on stuff. Had durians, mangosteens and Tarap fruit for tea. It’s H & my first taste of Tarap, and we’ve never known its existence before. And have never seen one in West Malaysia or Singapore. It has strong smell (strong but unlike durian smell) where you can smell from a few meters away. The flesh is soft, chewy and sweet. Nice.

Tarap Fruit

Dinner time, it’s steamed fish head (the biggest fish head I’ve ever seen, and again I was too busy eating), sautéed vegetable with steamed rice. It’s all good. The price for 4 adults, RM45!!!! That’s what I call value for money.

Day Two:
Day trip to H’s uncle’s plantation in the outskirts. I was amazed that my almost 8 months old baby could withstand and fall asleep on the 2.5 hours of bumpy car ride (each way). Views of Mount Kinabalu, highest mountain in Malaysia and 3rd highest in South East Asia were breathtaking. I’d love to train and conquer it one day. But for now, it’s good enough admiring from afar.

Lunch consisted of more durians, mangosteens and tarap from the plantation. And my poor hubby fell sick after that. He threw up thrice on the way back. Cause was unclear as the rest of us were fine. Luckily, he’s back to his chatty self after a nap and downing 2 panadols.

Day Three:
In the morning, I visited my aunt (my mom’s sister) for the first time in my life. She’s moved here before I was born and she’s never been back. And hey she lives pretty near H’s uncle place (where we stayed on this trip). When she appeared from her front door, it’s unmistakably my relative. Her features are like mom’s, and her voice is pretty similar too. It’s funny how my mother’s sisters all look & sound pretty much the same.

What’s more surprising is that my aunty and her husband know H’s uncle and H’s cousins, who used to live across the street from her.
My aunt treated us to a yummy lunch. And this is the only meal I remembered taking food photos because I wanted to take a picture with my aunt for memories.

It’s KK city tour after we bid farewell. I imagined the city to be full of skyscrapers (I guess I live in Singapore…:P) but no, there are only a few tall buildings. I guess the tallest building in KK is Tun Mustapha Tower at the Likas bay area.

Tun Mustapha Tower. Also a Sabah icon.

Love the view of the City Mosque.

And this is the Sabah State Mosque.

Window-shopped at one of the shopping malls (couldn’t remember which) and had coffee at Starbucks. Ok I admit it’s such an un-touristy thing to do, mediocre but expensive coffee :P

At this Pasar Ikan Masin (Salted Fish Market), we bought a box full of dried shrimp, anchovies, fish crackers and dried cuttlefish. The seller will pack, seal and tied the box with rope and made a handle for you to carry. Cheap and good service!

Then we caught the lovely lovely sunset at a yatch club.

If you ever go to Kota Kinabalu, you should have at least one seafood meal (if not all, heh), the reason: cheap and very fresh seafood. H’s uncle & family brought us to the seafood restaurant where the locals go, and well, to be honest, the seafood was indeed fresh but the cooking was just ok (may be my expectation was too high).

Boiled prawn is sweet which is nice, fish is fresh but the buttered prawns were a tad too salty. The best dish of the night was actually a non-seafood, it’s the braised chicken with some kind of gravy which is so delicious. I’m sorry I cannot explain what’s in the gravy. It’s just… YUM!

It’s bye bye Kota Kinabalu the next morning.

~The travel bug’s itch is scratched, at least for now. :)

Day Off

2007-07-26T15:49:00.000+08:00

On the 9th July, H & I took leave and went on a date, yes without the baby and the first one after baby arrives.

Started our day right after the babysitter picked him up in the morning. First stop was to the Cineplex to watch Transformers. The front part was more enjoyable, the fighting scenes at the end were a tad too fast for the eyes. A couple of my friends gave the thumbs up but I think it’s just an OK movie…

Next, a much needed massage session for two. Massage is pretty expensive in Singapore, how I wish I could be in Thailand right now, I think I can get 6 solid hours for the amount of $ I paid for 1 hour. Anyway, the hour went by so quickly... but hey was I ready for some actions (read: shopping) after being rejuvenated! :P

For the shopping experience, I’m proud to say that I bought a blouse and a pair of pants in 30 minutes (actually it’s the time left before our next itinerary). Whereas I normally would be window-shopping for many hours and still got nothing at the end.

Last stop, indulged ourselves silly having high-tea buffet at Carousel of Royal Plaza Hotel. The food’s pretty yummy and we had fun eating and catching up with each other.

At the end of the day, we’re recharged for our lovely baby.

What a fun day!

Kuih Pai Tee

~ Bee is stuffed!

Mind your spelling!

2007-07-12T10:26:00.001+08:00

Man... such a big mistake NOT to use spell check for your advertisement!

The "r" was added by somebody who has noticed the mistake.
Would you notice it if it isn't for the correction?

Lost in Translation

2007-06-25T10:35:00.000+08:00

This is the translated results of "I'm fine":

a) Dictionary.com Translator - 我优良是
Direct word by word translation, but wrong order for the sentence.

b) Altavista's BabelFish - 我是优良
Again it's the direct word by word translation, but at least the order is correct.

c) Google Translate - 我被罚款
This one is funny, the order is correct but the meaning is totally out. 罚款 is "fined" not "fine".
"Fine" should be 好 or 优良. And the present tense has become past tense.

Anyway, all the results are not the result I'd expected it to be.

When people asks "How are you?", the answer of "I'm fine" would be "我很好"

But then Google Translate can argue that it's in "Beta" ;-)

~ Bee is learning stuff everyday!

Hair 2.0

2007-06-19T00:21:00.001+08:00

After much consideration for a makeover, here's what I've done.

I was kinda worried that I might look like a school girl sporting the short hairstyle, but spending the $70 for a “Art Director” hairstylist’s cut was worth it. Thanks to spammie for recommending him.

The next morning, I’ve got some Ooh, Aah & Whoa from colleagues, but was glad most were good comments. A friend introduced himself to me again, as if we’re meeting for the first time. Heh!

No regrets! My head’s so much lighter now and hair wash is a breeze! And saving shampoo, water and electricity, it’s for a greener earth eh?! :D

And I’m sure the leads would be happy, no more hair-whipping dances!

Oooh, Bee is refreshed!

Backdated

2007-06-04T11:20:00.000+08:00

25 May 2007:
I was struggling to stay awake at work, kept nodding off in front of my notebook. This is caused by the lack of sleep these couple of nights, baby’s more cranky as he’s got stomach pain due to diarrhea… been almost 2 weeks… poor boy. Plus I was on drugs for sore-throat & runny nose. The tea in the morning didn’t quite work, the 50% power only came at almost lunch time. And after lunch, episode 2 of sleepy town was aired! May be I should draw eyes on my eyelids such that I can sleep wide-eyed. Minus the snores. Heh :P

*****

It’s been a month since I moved to this new home, and for the record, I’m still in the midst of unpacking, organizing and cleaning. Not an easy task while we’ve to take care of baby at the same time! Plus H’s on business trip for 10 days just after we’ve moved in.

Anyway, it’s kinda exciting to have a place of our own to decorate, even though the kind seller actually left us most of his still-usable furniture which saves us a lot of $. But I’m still waiting for my bonus to get a new mattress, coffee table, a cabinet for the storeroom, shoe rack & a table for the kitchen. Whee! Shopping! (must get all before the GST hike in July, additional 2% will add up to a big chuck for these purchases :P)

This new area is not as convenient as the old one. It’s further away from the city, I need to travel about 50 minutes to work which is about 20 minutes more. And changing trains 3 times in total to get to office! Food-wise, it's further away & they’re not as tasty, plus not many choices either. AND I missed the stray cats back there… Got to know that another favorite cat of mine went missing... sigh :(

But I should say we’re lucky to have nice friendly neighbors still. My babysitter who happens to stay at the same block as me offered to help “ta-pao” (i.e. packed) lunch for me when H’s on that 10-days business trip (just like my old neighbor), and she even asked me to have dinner at her place when she’s cooking… I can say she’s a pretty good cook. :)

*****

More photos of my 'lil boy have been uploaded!

Bee needs home decor inspirations...

Bee-ware!!

2007-05-30T17:29:00.000+08:00

*Sniff* - I smell TNT!

Refining

2007-05-29T15:36:00.000+08:00

Just upgraded my classic template, now it's so much easier for me to play around with my blog layout without having to touch html. Ah... cool! ;)

Also spent some time to label all my posts, and noticed I have only 55 entries in 2.5 years (exactly 951 days from first post). Hmm... not as chatty as I'd like to. But it's ok.

People, notice my wish list... Ha!

Bee is not done yet though. :D

Strange Things

2007-04-05T11:46:00.000+08:00

Episode 1:
Sniff... urine stench! "Hmm... must be the cat" I thought.
But what greeted me halfway on the stairs of my flat is... the unsightly mess of human waste!
OMG, who on earth would do their "business" on the stairs?! Shit!
I bet the cleaners will be mad the next morning!

Episode 2:
H to me:"Hey look, mom bought new slippers"
Mom came to lock the door, then she asked H:"Is this your new slippers?"
H: "No, I thought you bought it.... Weird, where's my other old blue slippers?"
Me: "Don't know...hmmm where has it gone?"

Who would swapped the not-so-new slippers with an old one? I wonder...
It's pretty sentimental to me (eventhough it's not mine) because my fave stray cat scratched on them when she visited our house when she's still alive.

And speaking of slippers, I remembered someone stole my slippers once (also at this TP home). I was swearing when I couldn't find it. Gone without a trace. Blech.

Bee is listening for more queer stuff...

My Shared Items

2007-03-15T11:04:00.000+08:00

Spam said I'm on a roll after such a long hiatus. Heh.
These shared items are some stuff I find interesting online. There's also a feed that you can subscribe to.

I'll share out new things from time to time. So check back when you have time. Happy Reading!

Five things you (probably) didn't know about me

2007-03-14T14:08:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Adam for tagging me in this blog memes (like 3 months back, just a day after my delivery :P)

1. I've never seen nor experience falling snow before.
Reasons being that I grew up in tropical country and I visited those countries with 4 seasons in the summer. So I never knew how it felt like in freezing cold weather, but I don't think I'll enjoy that anyway. Was shivering when it's 12 degree celcius in Aberdeen (Scotland) during summertime. To my surprise, those locals were running about in singlets & shorts. Whoa!
Someday, I'll plan a holiday in the winter.

2. I played the piano.
Haven't been touching it for years though, my fingers are not as nimble anymore. And I bet I've forgotten most of the music theories. Well, my dad advised (actually as a complain :P) me not to give your children piano lessons since it's such a waste of money. BUt I think it's not a waste as I know how to appreciate music (eventhough now I enjoy jazz more than classical music)

3. I'm supposed to be a boy, my mom wanted one. But... ta dah! :D

4. My nickname during primary school was xiao(3) ma(2) yi(3) (i.e. lil ant)
I've almost always the shortest & smallest in class for the 6 years. And when I was with my little sister, I hated it when people asked "Who's the elder one?" because she's taller than me... :P

5. I have a driver's license but I haven't driven a car for at least 14 years.
Please remind me to renew my car license in 2009. Thank you.

Okay, now I too have to tag 5 others, they are:
Ajantis
Spam
FrimFramSauce
MappaeMundi
Charles

Being A Mom

2007-03-13T16:25:00.000+08:00

What is it like being a mother now? That’s the question I get nowadays since my baby arrived last Dec 15th.

Hmm… it’s really indescribable. I know my priorities in life changed, my baby & family comes first… work, hobby etc is taking the backseat. These sacrifices are worth it. And I appreciate my parents more as I know what it’s like being one.

All in all, I feel complete, joy and for the very first time I learn about unconditional love. There’s really nothing that’ll stop me in providing for him, love, care, anything & everything. Even to the length of sacrificing my life.

Goodbye Bloglines, Hello Google Reader

2007-03-13T14:37:00.000+08:00

I've changed to use Google Reader to read blog feeds since yesterday. Well, I can say I like the features and it's user friendly.

Some features I like where Bloglines is lacking:
1. It'll mark items as "Read" when you scroll the page down (using the Expanded View). So if you have 10 unread items, and you've scrolled and read through 6, the 4 will remain as unread. Whereas bloglines will mark all as read once you click on the particular feed.

2. I like the labels & stars to organize my reading list.

3. You can also share items with friends. (I still need to check this one out though :)

There are lots of other nice functions, and I'm sure I'll discover more later. People, start exporting your subscriptions and import into Google Reader. It's as easy as 1,2,3! ;)

p/s: If you've done so, you can also click on the "Add to Google" button on my blog to subscribe to my feed. :D

My take on Men in Singapore…

2006-12-05T15:42:00.000+08:00

For the last 5.5 months since I have a visible pregnant stomach, I can count the number of times men offering their seat in 1 hand. Most of the time, it’s the women who are more considerate.

1st time – An Indian man (I bet from India, not local).
2nd time – Another Indian man (but he’s being kicked by his girlfriend to get up… but at least he did :)
3rd time – Chinese man, offered me upon waking up from his sleep. The rest (including the women in the proximity) just ignored me.
4th time – Malay teenage boy, he sweetly smiled at me and stood up (ah… I was thinking to myself that there’s still some hope for the future…)

Worst experience – This guy & I were boarding the train at the same time, he simply ignored me and take the only empty seat. Then went on to take out his documents and studied it. It’s the girl beside him who let me have her seat. Argh…I’m sorry to say I just couldn’t stand this guy, he was studying his engineering notes printed with lots of complex stuff…who cares if you’re highly educated but have little or no moral etiquette at all!!

So I’m wondering, is it because of ignorance? Or simply being self-centered? For those married men, don’t they have pregnant wife? I know we did have moral classes at school, so do we just study it without practicing it?

Sigh…I can say I’m disappointed in men in this issue. I’m sure I’ll be educating my boy to be considerate and courteous in the future.

Things to do before baby’s arrival

2006-10-18T00:24:00.000+08:00

1. Lindy as much before I’m too heavy. But that’s good for having a solid centre eh? ;-) [I think the days are limited now]
2. Prepare baby stuff
3. Spend as much time with hubby as a couple (err... well, most of the time we're discussing and preparing baby stuff :P Actually it's kinda fun!)
4. Meet friends up.
5. Doing Prenatal yoga is kinda cool.
6. Read a little, blog a little.
7. Prepare baby stuff.
8. Celebrating my birthday with friends & hubby
9. Have a weekend holiday.
10. Attend Antenatal Classes.
11. Relax & sleep while I can...
12. Erm, have I mentioned preparing baby stuff?!? :P

Random Thoughts

2006-10-18T00:19:00.000+08:00

(Written this a couple of weeks ago... just posting it up now... hmm... speaking of procrastinating :P)

1. I think it’s really such a waste of money and energy to build a nice pedestrian walkway over a construction area and just to have the walkway demolished after the IMF.

2. Do not park your car at the parking lot in front of Somerset MRT station in the evenings, you’ll find it beautifully decorated with tons of bird shit after.

3. After that shitty event, I had my first drive-through car wash (hand wash) session at the petrol station in Singapore. I pity those workers though, they’re all pretty soaked and skinny. I bet the work burns lots of energy.

4. Feeling your baby’s motions in the womb is really amazing and awesome. I say the little rascal is having kickboxing classes in there everyday. It’s really not too early to learn self-defense. ;-)

5. Would you watch a movie alone once in a while? I found the experiences to be refreshing and you get to have some me-time. (as long as the movie is not dull as hell)

Financial Woes

2006-10-03T00:19:00.000+08:00

Been wanting to write but I was kinda lost in space. Guess I wanna look good on my blog too… But what the heck?! So here goes :P

Have you ever worry about money? I bet everybody does at some points in life… I am a bit concerned about my financial status now. Not that I’m in deep financial shit, but now that I’m expecting, my priorities in life have changed. Been doing some calculating and financial planning (not all done yet tho) and realized it can really take a heavy toll in the pocket to safeguard baby’s future, providing the best for baby and at the same time still have a comfortable life.

Sometimes I really do envy those who are well-off and wonder if I’ll ever make that 5 figures every month end. But really I think one can make the best of what one’s has and be contend and happy. I also believe money can’t buy happiness, not in my world at least.

I’ll leave you with a “Rothism” from Van Halen (which my friend E quoted to me the other day :)
"Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it."

What do you think?

Bee is counting and preserving her honey…

Missing...

2006-08-31T00:11:00.000+08:00

Sigh... another cat I love is missing...

She's the stray cat that always linger at the next block's coffee shop
Well taken care of by the coffee shop people
But was left alone after the shop closed down last month...

Heard she hasn't been eating for 2 weeks before she went missing
If she's in kitty heaven, I hope she's happy.

Will miss her much.

People Watching

2006-06-27T23:33:00.000+08:00

Got inspiration to blog today from my observations...

1. Was lunching in a foodcourt today. There's a section which is obviously rented by a stall. 3 people just took the food they bought from other stalls and walked right in and made themselves comfortable. Well I say they're either ignorant or oblivious to their surrondings as there were obviously no other customer at the other tables in that section. :P
The manager just looked at them without having the guts to confront them. Or may be he's just too kind.

2. Saw an old couple while I was walking home. The old man with some walking difficulties was pushing his wife in a wheelchair. What this scene translated to me was LOVE. I was touched and sympathised them at the same time. Almost got teary eyed.
I've always liked to see old couple holding hands, it'll bring a smile on my face. Wonder if I'd be so loving with my husband when we're that old.

Some updates

2006-06-10T19:28:00.000+08:00

Hmm... nothing much to blog.

1. Tired most of the time, weekends were spent zzz-ing.
2. It's good to excercise when you're tired. It's actually energizing! Dance, dance!
3. I missed live jazz music! Wish they're going to ban smoking in lounges & bars soon.
4. My house's messy. I'll see when I'll stop procrastinating. Ha!
5. It's the Great Singapore Sale season again, and you know what, I just can't be bothered this time. Hmmm... weird.
6. Spending more time in front of the tube than the computer these days. Just watched the Gospel of Judas on National Geographic. A couch potato I've become.

Bee needs a holiday soon, the travel bug in her is waking up...

So how has my life been since April 16th?

2006-05-12T12:22:00.000+08:00

1. I've quit from the Swing Express performance group and I was really touched and honoured that SL dedicated their performance at Swing Fling to me last night. It's cute to see my ex-dance partner danced with his new "follow" Mr. SA. Heh Heh.

2. These couple of weeks at work has not been as busy, so it's good. I get to go home by 730pm at most. I'm keeping my fingers crossed to stay this way as long as possible. I need rest.

3. The movie Paradise Now is good, giving me a new perspective of the suicide bombers' world. Some say they're evil but this movie has shown they're as human as the rest of the human kind. I'm not saying they're not guilty... sometimes it's the world that we live in, situations that can make people do the unthinkable cruel things.
The bottom line is, I say we're responsible for our own emotions, actions and choices that we've made.
The silent ending was thundering!

4. Had lunch with a friend at Uberburger yesterday. The restaurant has mixed reviews but I agreed that it's not so uber after all. The chicken sandwich that I had contained too much spice and I don't quite like the salad that came with it. My friend had the beef sirloin burger which he said was a bit too tough. I don't think I'll go back there again.
By the way, go see the menu, they even have the $101 burger!! Too expensive for my taste, I don't like foie gras anyway.

Yay, today's the Vesak day public holiday! Time to slack...

Article on Asia's most overworked people

2006-04-16T17:38:00.000+08:00

Read this news article yesterday, it said 72% of employees in Singapore work 50 hours a week...

Sounded tame to me, I've slaved 20 hours more than those peeps this week.
My neck has grown long waiting for the official salary review that my manager has told me about 1 month ago.

There are not many strands left in my hand.

What "Slavery" has maketh of Bee...

2006-04-15T01:38:00.000+08:00

A little schizophrenic she has become.
There are evilbee, nicebee, crazybee, seriousbee, sillybee, scarybee, sickbee, angrybee, sadbee...
The one who's lost in space is the happybee.

Schizobee would like to thank C who's given her a listening ear to her nonsense online.
She also appreciate A's virtual hugs all the way from Michigan.
And her lovely H for being there for her.

Those are the things that kept her going.

Weekend

2006-04-03T01:23:00.000+08:00

Yay! Was free from work & performance practice this weekend :)

Things I do to avoid thinking about work and the coming monday:

Watched 2 movies on Fri & Sat:
- Les Poupées russes (Russian Dolls) is pretty entertaining. I think Cécile De France is darn hot & sexy in the movie.
- Eight Below is heartwarming, love the huskies and well...the main character Jerry is cute :P

Bad experiences while watching the 2nd movie at a cinema in JB, was greeted by a stench just after stepping into the cinema. Was wondering what the smell was but I couldn't believe I was that lucky to sit beside that stinking guy with unbearable body odour!! So I leaned away from him to the left throughout the whole 2 hours.

And guess what?! I found my left upper arm filled with bug bites after the show! Now it's all red and swollen. Have taken some photos of it but I don't think I wanna gross you guys out. Heh.
Blech! I wonder if I'll go back to that cinema ever again. :

Sunday was relaxing. All I did in the afternoon was surf, surf and more surfing.
Oh, people please try the new Google service: Google Romance . You'll find your souldmate there ;)
Read the press release.

Had some fun cooking dinner (err... it's been 1.5 years since I last cook, been too busy :P), cooked Cincaluk chicken again, H & I both thought the first time was tastier. Hmmm... I guess I didn't put enough chilli this time.

Okay, bedtime for Bee. She wishes the week to come will be a breeze.

Untitled

2006-03-30T02:27:00.000+08:00

Up, Down, Left, Right
Top, Bottom, Front, Back
Work is all around...

Calm, Havoc, Excited, Agitated
Good, Bad, Perky, Fatigue
Work is the devil...

Complaining is my special dish
Suffering is served everyday
Ketchup or chilli sauce?
Both!

White sandy beaches are out of reach
But bitches are in-sight
Close the door
It's gloomy and dark!

Light!
It's at the end of the tunnel
Crawl, Walk, Run, Sprint
Monsters, please stay clear!

Busy Haiku

2006-03-23T00:30:00.000+08:00

Beesy is the word!
Overworked and Underpaid...
Sugar Daddy, Help!

Amused

2006-01-23T09:43:00.000+08:00

Was reading a documentation for Flickr's uploading tools and found this talking to me. ;)

Random Notes

2005-12-09T16:48:00.000+08:00

- I'm bitten by the pre-wedding shopping bug, ok ok...I admit that's an excuse for me to go window-shopping a lot these past few weeks. Shoes, bags, jewellery, hair accessories, and all those little little things needed for the wedding... :P

- Surprised myself that I can actually balance and walk in those 3 inches heels... albeit the slower pace and tired feet after. It's funny that a colleague of mine said that her calf will be painful if she wears flats. Hmmm...

- Well, brides-to-be normally tend to lose weight for their wedding but I am getting more fleshy. And yes... I'm still thinking about what to have for dinner.

- If your office is at the 28th floor with magnificent view, you'd wish it's on the 1st when there's a fire drill. Your legs will appreciate it. Lucky ours is on the sixth. :)

- Squeezing my head for some creative juice on how to make my hen night enjoyable & memorable... Feel free to spill your ideas here, guys!

- Oh, lastly... Bee is no longer a christmas tree virgin!

Sunset at the Airport

2005-11-05T00:31:00.000+08:00

Went to the airport the other day, just to have Popeye's chicken and biscuits for dinner. Of course it's also to take this sunset photo... :P

Seeing the travelers & backpackers happily rushing about in all directions, the feet is getting "itchy" again.

Yes, Bee is a travel bug.

Clown

2005-11-05T00:09:00.000+08:00

or Be Anything that you want! :)

Rude Taxi Driver

2005-10-20T18:07:00.000+08:00

Flagged down a taxi at 430pm.

Me: Hi, Pasir Ris MRT, please.
Taxi Driver: Going home so early?
Me: No, that’s my client’s place, am going back to the office.
Taxi Driver: Nowadays, there are a lot of LAZY girls doing sales!

WTF?!? *#%^*!
Just because I’m going to the train station at 430pm (and giving him business), and he didn’t even know what I do for a living. I really do not need his judgments or opinions about me.
And even if that comment wasn’t meant for me, I still don’t need to hear his complaints. Damn!

Ok, felt better now. : P

Working Day

2005-09-21T23:00:00.000+08:00

Beesy Bee will get her butt virtually kicked if she doesn’t write an entry tonight.

At the train:-
- Bee sometimes gets annoyed with the ignorance of those people who didn’t budge but stood rooted swarming near the entrances when obviously there are spaces in the center. And even when the voice from the broadcasting system sweetly announced “Please move towards the center of the car for the convenience of other passengers. Thank you!”.
Bee would unapologetically excused herself and squeezed through the crowd. :P

- Bee noticed she takes the same route everyday, goes to the same few sections of the train cars and seen a few familiar faces sometimes. She remembered the father with his two playful cheeky kids. The caucasian lady who looks sulky most of the times. And the cool, smart and bald (ok he might be one of those guys looking good being bald… heh:) Indian guy, always dressed in black and has a LV watch. Have you ever noticed the routines in your life?

Today
At work:
Bee was sick of the political bitching conversations of her two colleagues about their manager during lunch hours. Bee ate her lunch and let those words went in one ear and out the other.

At client's:
Bee was mad with the pain-in-the-ass client who didn’t know what he wanted and wasted her precious time. She dislikes the anger of hers, it’s not a good feeling.

After work:
Bee cooled down after browsing at a bookstore and had yummy sushi dinner. She walked home smiling in the breezy evening with Ella’s Embraceable You...

Bee wishes her mom Happy Birthday!

Memory of My Fav Stray

2005-08-22T23:50:00.000+08:00

Just realised that today's the anniversary when she left for the kitty heaven.
And I'm still missing her.

Caption This!

2005-07-18T15:39:00.000+08:00

"Hey, don't take pictures while I'm sleeping..."

"No... No... No!"

About Blogging

2005-07-14T00:23:00.000+08:00

1) See the banner above... Is anyone going to our own Singapore Bloggers' Conference 2005 this sat?

2) Bloggers Need Not Apply
via Mr. Brown

I think we have a right to write what we want in our own blog, but we also don't have to be stupid.
Read my friend Adam's advice on Blogger Don'ts. :)

Reminiscence

2005-07-08T15:21:00.000+08:00

Writing about things to take note of at Herräng dance camp for a couple of friends, then went shopping at Ikea last week made my memories wonder back in time. It’s been exactly one year since I packed my backpack and headed off to Sweden, Norway and London for 6.5 weeks of excitement.

As a first time solo traveler and being a petite black-haired Asian girl among the tall blonde blue-eyed Scandinavians, I was anxious, suspicious and cautious at first, but felt at ease after a while (may be I got distracted with their pretty faces with nice complexion, rosy cheeks minus the freckles…cute! :). The people is generally nice and friendly, and found it’s easier to make friends while traveling alone, whether be it in the hostels or trains.

Herräng Dance Camp!
2 full weeks of fun, play and dance. I really did have a blast! Working at the camp made blending into the scene easier, my friends who came a week later were surprised I have known many by their names.

Social dancing here requires some skills to dance smaller than usual as the dance floor’s normally packed like sardines earlier in the night. It was great nonetheless… if not I couldn’t have pulled myself up in the middle of night at 3am and went dancing until the cleaner came to sweep and mop the dance floor at 8am. Hmm… may be I can hide in my friend’s luggage before he leaves for Herrang tomorrow.

Ooh, and it’s here that I fell in love with blues dancing. ;-)

Hospitality of Scandinavians:
Another 4 weeks I spent walking the streets of Stockholm, Uppsala, Oslo, Flåm and Bergen. The great accomplishment for a map dummy was I didn’t get lost even ~~once~~. :D Ok ok… may be not in Scandinavia, but once in London :P ... I guess it’s a coincident that the cities are all not that big and the sights are pretty near to the city center.

2 online friends of mine hosted me, J. in Uppsala and T. in Bergen. J’s a friend but T’s almost a stranger before my trip. I know some of you would think I was crazy to do that. But they are really 2 kind generous souls.

J. brought me around town and even took me to the summer cabin to experience a day of life like in the days before there’s electricity, water supply and bathroom in the house. It’s interesting to know how to keep the house warm at night and during the winter days, to cook and wash dishes without the ease of modern tap. What about doing your businesses outside in the cold little shed with a hole in the ground and a raised wooden seat ... I’ll leave it up to your imaginations. :P All in all, it’s a good back to basics experience that made me appreciate our modern technologies and not taking it for granted.

In Bergen, T. met me at the train station and brought me to the hostel where I stayed for the first couple of days. He showed me the city, treated me to coffee and sandwiches, took me to dinner with friends, got invited to his friend’s birthday party, hosted me for the 3 remaining days I had in Bergen, then drove me on a daytrip to Rosendal with his girlfriend. Man, writing all these actually made me realized he’s been such a good host who went all out to make a stranger comfortable in a foreign city. I still remembered what his girlfriend told me: “It’s weird that he’s bringing me to meet a stranger for dinner and doing all this”.

Thank you very much, J. and T.! :)

Encounter at the Lift

2005-06-15T18:07:00.000+08:00

Met a guy on my way up to the office this morning, he courteously let the other guy and me into the lift first, then greeted us to have a nice day when he got out. Not sure if he heard my “have a nice day too” but I sure did have a bright smile. He made my day with a cheery start. :)

I wonder if he’s always been like this or something really nice has occurred to him this morning. But I guess sometimes when we’re just being happy and cheerful, it just shows. :D

The Great Singapore Sale

2005-06-10T18:13:00.000+08:00

The annual event has started 2 weeks ago, and I haven’t been shopping yet!
You can’t believe it? *sheepish smile* Yes I’ve been window shopping for a bit when I have some time to spare between rushing from 1 place to another… But what I want is to REALLY shop, have at least an afternoon … just shopping. :D

I’ve been thinking about adding some decent working clothes and a nice bag to my almost bursting wardrobe. Oh… and not forgetting to find a pair of comfy shoes that I’ve mentioned about in this entry.

With inventory in mind, I just made my list of bags. To my surprise, I have a total of 25 bags (if I haven’t forgotten any, that is :P) for all occasions, e.g. casual, work, dinner, sporty, shoes, travel and also 1 for notebook.

Caught my lil’ voice talking:
Voice: So why do you need more?
Me: Well, I need a new one for work, I’m a little tired with the only one I have since forever…
Voice: What?! With that many, how come you don’t own more stuff suitable for work, bags and shoes likewise? Me: Errr… I guess my taste goes for more casual stuff. :P So I really need a new bag.
Voice: …

I AM going shopping tomorrow.

P/S: Saw a guy carrying a Caribee bag. Tha name's cute as it sounds like CarryBee and cari in the Malay language means find. ;-)

The Great Singapore Jam

2005-06-10T17:55:00.000+08:00

Written by Mr. Brown

Found his blog accidentally while googling and have been reading his blog regularly since May. I enjoyed reading his writings, it's very entertaining and funny.

Was deeply touched by his mother's day entry too.

Answers to A Friend

2005-06-04T13:18:00.000+08:00

A friend posted this question:
[If you could put down whatever you're doing right now and be in another place, where would you be and what would you be doing there, what would you be eating, where would you be living, and where would you go if you wanted to write?
Write all this down, and ask yourself if it could be possible.]

My take:
I wish Teleport is for real! Such that I can go anywhere and visit friends. Wouldn't it be good? ;-)
I bet all the airlines will go out of business unless they own the teleport business. Ack, no! I want it to be free if there's one! (Here goes my imaginations…)

Where: Europe/US/Canada so long as the place has a good swing scene. Probably gonna stay there for good. :P
Do: Dance! (Lindy, blues, may be salsa…)
Eat: what I'm craving right now is fresh seafood & chilli crab!

Where would I go if I wanted to write: Someplace with water…
a) The beach – reminded me of Nice
b) Lakeside – Lake Lucerne, Switzerland
c) Streamside – in the highlands in Scotland
d) Riverside – errr...most of the cities in Europe, they have the old town at 1 side of the river, and the new town at the other. Prague is the most romantic city so far. The lovely view of Charles Bridge & Prague Castle across Vltava River at night…ahhhhhhhhh… teleport please!

If all of these could be possible?
When there's a will, there's a way. With or without the teleport. :-)

Here's The New Member

2005-05-31T18:27:00.000+08:00

"Hi guys, nice to meet you! I'm Aibo"

Isn't she adorable, guys? ;-)

New member in the office

2005-05-25T16:28:00.000+08:00

She joined our company last week. She’s smart, talented, pleasant, cute, fun! And I have to say I adore her after knowing her in such a short period of time…

Guys, if her characteristics match your dream girl, let me know. ;-)

P/s: she dances too!

More Haiku

2005-05-13T15:25:00.000+08:00

Close your eyes and feel
The subtle moves and music.
Addiction's calling...

Bodies move in sync
Complete connection is bliss.
Man… it’s wonderful!

Bee’s falling in love
It’s not the man but the dance.
Blues it is, oh yes!

Amazing Race 7

2005-05-12T02:19:00.000+08:00

Yay… Robber lost!! Woo hoo!
RoBBer… yes that’s how I’m gonna call them (not Romber which is given by CBS).

They annoyed me, especially Rob. He’s a sly dog with dirty tricks throughout the whole game. He lied, bribed…heartless even, as he didn’t even care to stop & see if the other team members were alright when one of the team’s car had flipped over in an accident.

However reluctant I might be, I still have to admit that the Robber team is pretty smart even though I disliked their dishonest tactics.

Hmmm… I don’t even know why I’m blogging about them now.
I’m just so glad they lost. Period.

Shoes Shoes

2005-05-06T14:34:00.000+08:00

What about my shoes?!?
Just this week alone, my friends have lots to say about it.

On Wed,
C. said: “Ah… the pointy shoes again!”
I said: “Yeah, it’s good for kicking asses”
Hmmm...sounded mean eh? Actually I was just being silly :P

The next day,
K. said: “Your pointy shoes will look good & sexy only if they’re high heels...”
I responded: "Oh well, I prefer comfort than looking good"

A while after, A. came into the room and said: "Ah... the same one again"
Me: "What's the same?"
A.: "The pointy shoes"

Ok ok... I am wearing the same shoes to work everyday because it's very comfortable and it's suitable for work.
You’re probably thinking now “Women always have MANY shoes, don’t they?”
So just in case you're wondering how many pairs of shoes I own…

Let me count…
Non-working Shoes:-
Dancing shoes: 3
Sports shoes: 3
Sandals: 2
Slippers: 1

Working Shoes:
Non-Comfy ones (banished in boxes) –
Heels: 2
Slides: 1
Mary Janes: 1

Comfy but need minor repair shoes (so they're still sitting on the rack)-
Flats: 1
Heels: 1

Comfy:
Flats: 1 (i.e. THE POINTY one)

Total: 16, but comfy working shoes: one and only one!

So people, until I find another comfortable shoes (which is very hard to find these days) or after I got the shoes repaired. I’ll stick with my ass-kicking pointy shoes! :p

2nd attempt at Haiku

2005-05-05T12:00:00.000+08:00

Air headed Bee writes
First haiku very badly
Needs three corrections!

My First Haiku

2005-05-04T16:19:00.000+08:00

Hot dark gloomy night
Pat the head of purring cat
Feelings soothes coolly

Bloglines and Readings

2005-04-22T16:46:00.000+08:00

Been using Bloglines for a while now and I like it a lot. It’s a way to keep track of all the blogs I read at one place where I’ll know automatically if there’s new posts. It saves my lazy ass time to go to each blog separately every time to find out if there’re new updates.

Another point is you can search for so many hot and interesting blogs out there and also keep up-to-date with whatever topics or news groups you’re interested in, be it techy writings, geeky stuff, comics, etc.

Like today, I stumbled upon this interesting Alpha Male Lessons, found myself reading through all the 18 articles at one go. Had some insights, some laughs, and was really touched by her story in lesson 13 where she wrote about her father. Lesson 15 is also not to be missed. ;-)

Just give bloglines a try!

P/s: when you do, subscribe to my feed by using the button on the right template here. :-)

Lindy Hop

2005-04-20T18:10:00.000+08:00

Inspired by a friend’s writing on lindy hop, here’s my share of what the dance is to me.

Lindy has been a part of my life for 3 ½ years now, I’m still loving it. It’s all about fun, connection with your partner, musicality, body awareness and play. Of course enjoying swing music is a big part.

The swing community here is pretty small as compared to other countries, even when there’s the inevitable bitching sometimes, it’s still warm & cosy and I love our circle of friends. :-)

Swing has also brought me to places for dance camps & exchanges, learnt lots from fabulous gurus and the experiences from those camps are invaluable as well as fun! Plus, many precious friendships were made along the way, you won’t believe how easy it is to start a conversation with like-minded people without feeling awkward.

All you have to do is ask “Do you wanna dance?”

Will I ever quit lindy? My answer today is a bold NO!

Let’s dance, baby!

News from Feb

2005-03-07T00:35:00.000+08:00

ok... here goes a quick blog on what's going on this past month ... and sorry it has to be in point form :P

- Went back to 9am to 530pm cubicle on Valentine's Day after 7 months hiatus.

- Attended the ever so fabulous SeaJam swing camp at Sentosa last weekend, and won the lindy competition and the Battle of the DJ. It's worth all the time and effort I've put in preparing for those 2 competitions. Also learnt lots from the awesome teachers and had tons of fun social dancing. :-)

- The dance documentary "Destination Dance" which we took in a crowded Mustafa in Dec last year was aired tonight over Arts Central...It's a funny music video and it's a weird feeling watching yourself on T.V... But the t.v. shoot experience was another first.

- Tap, tap, tappity tap... it's fun! Took the taster class today, think I'll take it up soon.

Tapping off to slumberland now...

Kinsey

2005-01-29T21:56:00.000+08:00

Watched the movie yesterday, it's a thought-provoking film touching on the whole range of sex topics and the meaning of love, ethics and morality.

I find it interesting, thought I'm open minded in this area but it did provoke me when it comes to morality...

Anyway, I enjoyed it and I think Dr. Kinsey's a brave determined man. Anyone's up for GenderBender next? ;-)

2004 Recap

2004-12-30T19:00:00.000+08:00

2004 is quite an interesting year, here's a list of stuff:

Firsts:
- Solo travel through Sweden, Norway and London : a memorable & interesting trip indeed
- Landmark forum : another good experience
- This blog

Others:
- Quit my job, and still hunting
- Lost my digital camera to a pick-pocket
- My beloved computer crashed on me this Dec, that's why I'm typing away in the library now.

and the time limit is nearing... will list more later if I have. :)

Happy New Year 2005!

Smileys

2004-11-28T03:35:00.000+08:00

Hmm... I just noticed I have smileys on almost all of my posts here, informal emails, cards, notes... etc everywhere!

Guess I chat too much on the messenger. : p (Oops... here goes another one! Haha!)

Party

2004-11-28T03:31:00.000+08:00

Will you go to a party if you knew only the host? If you do attend, how will you feel?

I was in that situation tonight when I went to a birthday party, knew only the host well. Ok ...there's a few familiar faces whom I met for a few hours at the same function last year :P

Felt pretty awkward at first, shifting around drinking, stuffing my stomach and observing .. just being the quiet bee. It wouldn't be a fun night if I kept going like that, so by smiling and just taking the first step to say hi has opened up space for chatting and getting to know new friends.

I had a fun night! I bet I might only meet those peeps again next year... if I'm invited to another party... that is.
Hehe.

Reactions

2004-11-17T17:56:00.000+08:00

Last weekend, lent K. my precious 5 months old digicam to Bangkok, and it got pick-pocketed away...
Of course my first reactions was heartache and upset as it's my hard-earned money, and the 'old' me wanted to blame him for being careless.

But I can say that I felt powerful when I didn't react the way I would have. I let my blame and my side of story of what's happened go. What's happened is a fact, and it wouldn't change the situation around or make it better if I had throw a tantrum or not in talking terms.

And hey, I bet I'm gonna have a NEW digicam soon. ;-)

The Eternal Child

2004-11-13T11:58:00.000+08:00

This is the first documentary book that I find interesting. It's a page-turner book by Oxford zoologist Clive Bromhall on human evolution.
His hypothesis of a single process of "infantising" is what made us human as we are today, from our body structure, emotions, the variety of human behaviours, homosexuality, intelligence and creativity.

I bet there are many theories on human evolution, but this one fascinates me. A recommended reading, especially for my gay friends. ;-)

The Frequent Visitor

2004-11-09T03:45:00.000+08:00

Gimme the fish!

Another Visitor

2004-11-09T03:42:00.000+08:00

Meeeow....anybody home?

Cincaluk Chicken

2004-10-28T13:52:00.000+08:00

Inspiration: Tres' Crumbs and Betty Saw's recipe book

Borrowed the recipe book from the library, saw the recipe and it reminded me of Tres' excitement over lemongrass. ;-)

A novice cook that I am, decided to try it out since I haven't had cincaluk chicken before. And I've never really cooked all dishes in a meal from fresh ingredients, it normally includes some cans (non-ayurvedic that is :P).

Preparation and cooking time for cincaluk chicken, steamed fish and stir-fried french beans was 2 1/2 hours. Eating time was over in 30 minutes.

Stuffed and Satisfied. :D

Pet owners, Bellobox anyone?

2004-10-27T16:50:00.000+08:00

I like the creative design. :)

Wincing at the idea of having to use the hand to pick the poo poo up.

Upsets

2004-10-26T11:47:00.000+08:00

I had a couple of upsets with someone recently because of my unfulfilled expectation of the person. Then I started to blame, become childishly rebellious, got moody, then pretended to enjoy myself when I was not. Such a bleh situation.

Now, I've realised that my feelings has nothing to do with anybody or anything. I'm the one who's in control to choose either to be happy or be sulky, so I got it over with.

I choose to be happy. :)

Last 20s

2004-10-20T16:53:00.000+08:00

What am I doing in front of computer on the last day of my precious 20s? I should have been out having fun... instead I'm here reading up on blogging stuff: XML, RSS/Atom, etc. becoming more geeky. Oh well, what can I say, my glowing monitor is addictive and welcoming. ;-)

Hey big three O, here I come, jobless but blogful!

Blog Virgin

2004-10-20T03:27:00.000+08:00

Have always wanted to have a blog, what has stopped me in my path before was my reasoning that I'm not a good writer, thus resulting in boring posts. I guess I wanna look good on my blog.

Today, I've decided to give up looking good, and I've committed to myself to have a blog before my birthday. So here I am.