In Memories of….

I know I have been lagging in my update but I was too tired on Thursday after watching How To Train a Dragon 3D and on Friday we celebrated my dad’s birthday.

In Sci-Fi City, one may find the following attractions: Accelerator, Battlestar Galactica – Human and Battlestar Galactica – Cylon. Transformers will only be ready in year 2011.

Battlestar Galactica is an adaption from the Duelling Dragons in Universal Studio, Florida. It is currently the tallest duelling roller coaster in the world.

 The Cylon coaster (blue) is a suspended track with legs free with vertical loops , a Cobra roll, a zero-G roll and corkscrews. This coaster will also plunge into a 5-metre deep pit filled with artificial fog to give thrill seekers the sensation of a near miss with the ground.

The Human Viper Mark II is a seated roller coaster that zooms at 90km/h and propels one 14 storeys into the air.  This coaster does not have inversions. 

I did not get to try this pair of coasters on that day as there was no one who dared to take the coaster with me. I will give the Human coaster a try one day but I don’t think I will dare to give the Cylon coaster a try.

Accelerator is a whirling twirling attraction which spin guests around. I gave this a miss on that day as we have to cater time to queue for other attractions.

In this zone, you can find a pair of pretty robots on stilts. If you are lucky, you can catch them “pole dancing”.

This part is divided into 2 themes, Jurassic Park and Waterworld. However, Waterworld was not ready when I was there on Sunday.

Main attractions found here are Canopy Flyer, Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, Waterworld, Amber Rock Climb and Dino-Soarin’.

The only ride I’ve taken in this zone is Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure. Here, up to 9 passengers may sit on a circular raft on relatively fast moving waters. Along the journey, one can see different dinosaurs ‘roaming around’. The highlight of this ride is when the raft is elavated to a height and plunge down from a Hydroelectric Plant. As the raft is circular, one is not able to predict if the seat he has chosen will make him wet. I was one of the unlucky ones who was totally drenched from this ride.

Besides New York city, this is the only zone without any charactor appearance. Imagine taking picture with a Tyrannosaurus?

Far Far Away is inspired by the animation Shrek, a 2001 American animated comedy film. I personally would call it a ‘rojak’ fairy-tale made up of Pinocchio, The Little Pigs and Puss in Boots. Attractions like Shrek’s swamp house and Far Far Away Castle can be seen here.

Here, you can find Shrek 4-D Adventure, Donkey Live Show, Enchanted Airways and Magic Potion Spin. As time restriction is a limiting factor during my visit, I only managed to go for Shrek 4-D Adventure and Donkey Live Show.

In Shrek 4-D Adventure, the storyline goes that Princess Fiona is held captive and Shrek and Donkey will have to rescue her. You can feel the vibrations, water (Donkey’s saliva) and ’spiders on your feet’ from your own seats.

I personally find Donkey Live Show quite boring. Though Donkey is able to interact with the guests real-time, I do not find it amazing at all. Perhaps the reason is I am not a fan of talkshows all along.

Charactors appearances in this zone are Shrek, Donkey (I did not get to see him though), Puss In Boots and Princess Fiona.

Universal Studio Singapore (USS) opened its doors to its employees and family members as a sneak preview activity. As such, I had the privilege to visit the theme park and experience some of the rides and shows before its soft launch on 18th March 2010. The park was available to us from 9am to 2pm.

The ticket reads: RWS TM & FAMILY MEMBERS SNEAK PREVIEW. I guess RWS TM stands for Resort World Sentosa Team Members.

USS is the the 2nd Universal Studio in Asia and 1st in SEA. Although the park is only 20 hectares (about 1/6 the size of Hong Kong Disneyland), there are a total of 24 attractions although not all are ready in time for the year 2010.  It is made up of 7 themed zones: Far Far Away, The Lost World, New York, Sci-Fi City, Hollywood, Madagascar and Ancient Egypt.

Outside the theme park itself is the rotating USS globe.

Tickets prices for Adults (Ages 13 to 64) are as follow:

One Day Weekday Pass: $66
One Day Weekend Pass: $72
Two Day Pass: $118
Annual Pass-Fun Pass: $318
Annual Pass-Superstar Pass: $1098

I will try my best to blog about the 7 uniquely themed zones by this week.

My Sister had her Solemnization at Flutes at the Fort earlier this month, a colonial-style house converted restaurant/wine bar. Situated beside the Central Fire Station, it used to be old fire chief’s home so that they can be operationally ready at all times.

It was a simple ceremony with about 30 invitees made up of our relatives and the couples’ close friends. Cosy ambience with finger food (heavy snacks or rather), both of them took their marriage vows in Chinese (for the sake of the English illiterate parents) with us as their witnesses.

With 2010 arriving in about an hour’s time, it would be the best time for me to post my new year resolutions (By the time this post appears in my facebook notes, it would be 2010).

1. Meet up with my friends more often (Dawn, Vernon, Gavin, Qunjie, Guowei and more. This year marked an incredibility low number of times I met up with them.).

2. Brush Rinko’s undercoat at least every 2 days (I have been slacking on this, been brushing him only once a week together with his weekly bath).

3. Exercise more to keep myself healthy (I had fallen sick quite often in year 2009).

4. To try to sleep at least 5.5 hours per day (My average sleeping hours is 3-4 hours).

5. To improve my skill on the pool table (I have a pool table at home but I’ve never taken the effort to utilize it).

6. Cut down on my spending (this resolution should have been in place since years ago!)

Last but not least, I wish everyone a Happy New Year!!! Let’s hope 2010 will be a better year.

As promised on my facebook, I will post my ala carte buffet experience in Si Chuan Dou Hua, top of UOB Plaza branch.

The 1st thing I would like to say, the view of Singapore from 60th storey is really breathe-taking!!! I did not manage to take a good shot with my shakey hands though. The reflection from the glass doesn’t seem to help as well.

One thing impressive about this place is how tea is being served. The tea master skillfully fill up our teacups with a teapot with an extremely long spout. He told us he has been mastering this art for near to 10 years.

The way he keeps his teapot is so fast such that the camera couldn’t capture him!!!

Appetizers were served in tiny portions so that we still have the capacity for main dishes later.

For main dishes we had stir-fried beef with spring onions and garlic  (which I don’t eat though), shark fin soup, soft shell crabs, fried butterfly prawns, roast chicken in Thai sauce, sweet and sour prawns, sweet and sour pork, braised egg tofu, steamed Soon Hock, black pepper scallop, 8 Treasures seafood soup and Ee Fu noodles.

For dessert, we ordered almost whatever was available.

An unintended scene: a chef was serving Peking Duck at the next table:

If you wish to know how is the food, I think QJ’s satisfied face should be more than enough to answer your question.

I have done 1 re-bonding, 3 perms to my hair before but have never dyed my hair before. Ironically, I was often caught in school for ‘colouring’ my hair as my hair is naturally “non-black”

However, this little product has been appearing in all major supermarkets, Watsons and Guardian such that I can’t help myself but pay some attention to it – Liese Bubble Hair Colour.

After reading up forums for reviews on this product, I realised about 95% were good reviews. Therefore I decided to try the Marshmallow Brown over the long weekend so that I have time to get use to it.

I took about 30 minutes last night to get the solution to become foamy enough for my whole hair and little doggies were starting to get impatient and barked outside the bathroom.

Another 30 minutes for the colour to set in before I could finally rinse and shampoo my hair!!! The 1st shampoo was a little dry though but I felt that the effect was not too bad. It didn’t differ much from my natural hair colour though. I will post pictures up if I take any pictures these few days.

Off to Kittylab Singapore Tour we go!!!

The exhibition is from 14 Nov 2009 to 29 Nov 2009. I understand that during the 1st week of the exhibition, photography and videography were prohibited. However, we were allowed to take pictures this week!!! No flashes were allowed though.

This huge kitty can be seen at the main entrance of Expo Hall 1 just before we walked into the main exhibition hall.

There are a few stations for us to play and in each station we are supposed to play some games to gain Kitty’s accessories like shoes, clothes, hairpin etc. If you win the game, you get to choose what you want; but if you lose, the computer will decide what accessory you get.

Completing the stations within 35 mins will win you a “citizen badge”.

Halloween falls on 31st October every year. The word “Halloween” (also known as “All Hallows Day” or All Saints Day”) has its origins in the Catholic Church and is a Catholic day of observation in honour of saints.

Halloween costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. They are said to be used to scare off demons. Today, costumes are also based on themes such as those of characters from television shows, movies, and other pop culture icons.

We decided to celebrate Halloween with Jackie’s friends this year at our place this year.

Our wedding picture is covered with spider web!!!

I self-baked some cupcakes and a birthday cake for one of his friends, Terry’s birthday. Terry’s girlfriend, Winnie wrote the wordings on the cake.

Halloween dress-up somehow became a Cosplay dress-up.

The Wii team and the PS3 Rock Band team!!!

Finally, it’s time for food!!! Look at the spread we have:

I have been a fan of Nicky Wu (吴奇隆) since my secondary school days and have all his solo albums (I did not manage to collect all Little Tigers’ 小虎队 albums though) and all his shows. Hence, it’s not surprising that I follow all his news too.

Nicky Wu has divorced his wife of 3 years and the following is what he’s posted on his blog:

感情是緣份不是工具

緣分盡了就該放手了

我的感情問題在今年八月正式劃下句點

我知道這兩年讓許多長輩 朋友擔心

很抱歉為了我的堅持

很抱歉為了我的個性

但這就是你们這麼多年還站在我身邊的原因不是嗎

我希望我還是我

我會走出讓你們驕傲自豪的路

新的生活已經開始

我

為自己走出自己

PS不需要再為我操心

為我開心

Short but touching short paragraph which tried to summarize everything in a casual way.

For those who did not participate in the Little Tigers’ era, here are some pictures of Nicky Wu.

(photos taken from http://blog.sina.com.cn/wuqilong)

As Kian Gee will be leaving Singapore soon, we decided to bring him to eat the authentic 剪刀剪 curry rice. As luck would have it, the shop was closed for renovations!!! For the past 20 odd years, this is the 1st time I heard of this shop undergoing renovations. So, our dear Kian Gee did not get to try this afterall.

Luckily my grandma stayed in that area when I was young, so we took another 10 minutes walk to Swee Choon for Tim Sum. It was a blessing in disguise as Kian Gee turned out to be a Tim Sum lover. He asked me if the Tim Sum here were as nice as the Kopitiam in Compass Point.

I guess Kian Gee’s happy face would have answered his own question. The total bill came out to be only $29.50.

(Photos with courtesy from Mr Liaw Chan Kong as my handphone was low batt.)

We went to U-Petgamart in Pasir Ris Farmway 1 to buy Kookie & Rinko’s food today. Since we had the day free, we decided to bring the 2 furkids along for a swim in the 10m swimming pool meant for dogs owned by the pet megamart.

U-Petgamart owned a gigantic dog by the name of 阿呆 which is at least 30 times of Rinko’s size (I forgot to take his picture but I promise to take it the next time I go there).

This is the 2nd time our 2 furkids swim in the pool. They were quite scared of the water the 1st time they went there and we were scared that they may drown but this time round they proved themselves to be natural swimmers.

Two Poms!!! Guess which is Rinko?

Facebook readers, please refer here for the video.

Forest Adventure is an aerial course built through the trees comprising ladders, bridges, swings, nets, trapezes and giant zip lines.

10 of us, Guowei and girlfriend, Dawn, Guorong, Vernon, Nancy, Karen, Ethan, Jackie and I gathered at Bedok Reservoir Park at 10am to start our forest adventure activity.

We had instructors to demonstrate and brief us on the safety rules before we start on our course.

Zipping across the reservoir was so exciting!

When we reached a free-fall point where we had to do a “Tarzen Swing” to get to a net on the other side, Vernon who was afraid of  heights hesitated for a whole 3 minutes before he dared to jump.

The whole course took us about 2 hours and we were very dehydrated by the time we completed the course. Luckily for us, the weather was quite cloudy and the sun wasn’t very strong.  A prefect weather for such an outdoor activity.

I usually have my salad with Thousand Island dressing, but I decided to try something new today by mixing it with Apple Cider Vinegar and honey. The taste is totally refreshing!!!

Having Apple Cider Vinegar as a dressing is also healthier than Thousand Island Sauce.

I went Chomp Chomp with Kian Gee and Jackie this evening. Though it was drizzling, it did not dampen Kian Gee’s mood. He happily went to order 2 large and 1 small sugarcane juice (I specially told him to order small one for me) and was shocked when he saw the size of the cup!!!

Nevertheless, he was still very satisfied with the drink and finished the whole mug (or should I say jug?). Instead it was me with the smaller glass who couldn’t finish my drink.

We had carrot cake, bbq chicken wings, satay, sting ray, fried Kailan and the 3 gigantic sugarcane juices at only $37.

Then, Kian Gee did something out of the ordinary: dipping his bbq chicken wing in satay sauce and ate it!!! LOL!!!

Rinko came to my house when he was 2.5 months old. The pictures below show pictures of him when he was still a puppy.

Today, I was holding Rinko’s poo with the kitchen towel in my hand while waiting for Jackie to get a plastic bag from the storeroom when Rinko demanded me to carry him. With one hand occupied, I couldn’t possibly carry him.

When I finally got to throw the poo into the plastic bag and washed my hands, our little Rinko got angry. So, he decided to show his unhappiness in his own way.

He raised his leg and peed on my right foot!!! “Spare the rod, spoil the child”, in my case it’s “Spare the rod, spoil the dog”. I must have spoilt this little dog of mine too much for him to show such disrespect to me.

Later he knew I was angry and kept a distance from me until I decide to speak to him. Nevertheless,  we’re still bringing Kookie and him to Sentosa for a little picnic on 21st September to celebrate their birthdays. Anyone’s keen to join us?

I personally feel that Day 2 of Mayday’s 《DNA 创造》concert is much better than Day 1’s. I was closer to the stage and best was, I was only 10cm close to 阿信、怪兽 and 石头 when they walked on the stage extension during the concert!

Jackie was thrilled when 阿信 held his hands. Our Mr Jackie Tan was never a Mayday fan until he went to Mayday’s 《离开地球表面》 concert with me 2 years ago. Unfortunately, we missed 《回到地球表面》last year as it clashed with our Hong Kong Trip.

The stadium was 100% occupied this round and everyone was so high! Most of us stood throughout the concert. I shall let the pictures and videos speak for themselves.

You may view more of Day 2’s concert pictures on my flickr.

阿信 played drummer a few times during the concert. For viewing on fb, please refer to link 1 and link 2.

I have actually bought Mayday concert tickets in January this year. When I went to their 《后青春期的诗》mini outdoor concert last year, the recording company announced that Mayday will be holding their concert on 29th August 2009 and pre-sale of tickets will be held in January. At that time, no concert theme nor seats allocation was announced; yet the tickets were almost sold out.

The organizers then decided to add one more show on 28th August 2008 and as it happens to be Mayday’s 10th Anniversary of their 1st concert, the concert last night ended at 12.10am.

As I have already bought the $178 tickets for the 29th’s show, I bought the $118 tickets for the 28th’s show, and I am glad I did so as they sang a few songs which they have not sung for a long time during the last 30 minutes of the concert like 《志明与春娇》- 木吉他版, 《I Love You无望》and 《憨人》.

As I was seated quite far from the stage last night, I did not manage to take very good pictures but I think this video should be significant enough for last night’s show. How many times do we see 阿信 and 冠佑 switching roles?

Facebook readers, you may see the link here

Happy 44th birthday Singapore!!! Today marks the 44th year of Singapore’s independence.

This year’s NDP (National Day Parade) theme is “Come Together – Reaching Out, Reaching Up”. It is about our coming together as one united people, to Reach Out to all Singaporeans regardless of race, language or religion, and to Reach Up towards our hopes and aspirations articulated when we pledge to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.

I remember the 1st year I was involved in NDP was in year 1995 when I was part of Red Cross marching contingent.  1996 onwards for the next 8 years, I participated as part of the first aiders team.

This year I will not be able to watch the parade live but I decided to let my dogs show their love for Singapore too by dressing them in red.