Merry Christmas..!!!

My family and I wish you all a 

Merry Christmas 

and may your wishes come true

End of the World... ???

21 December 2012 was supposed to be the end of the Mayan calendar and it triggered some concern that yesterday was supposed to be the END of this World...!!!

Of course, we did not believe in it but it was nice that we managed to have a family dinner together in Orchard Road. We went shopping at Takashimaya and saw a bit of the Xmas lights and decorations too.

And we jokingly said that we should go home and huddle together in bed for that big moment...ha..ha....

But we ended up watching the final of the X-Factor on TV while Jas was playing his FIFA13 on his xBox and we slept slightly after mid-night.

Another day.......ha..ha...

BTW, I have yet to seriously walk down the Orchard Rd strewth to take photos and soak in the Xmas spirit which I do almost every year.

Jason's NAPFA Test

Jason went for his NAPFA test at his school recently and got the full score of 30 points and awarded a GOLD for it.

He did some serious training for the test by jogging and swimming too.

As his right knee ACL Reconstruction Surgery was done a year ago, I was concerned that he may not do well for some of the stations like shuttle run.

Happy and proud of his achievements in the NAPFA test.

Penang Trip, 21 - 31 Oct 2012

I was back in Penang again from 21 - 31 Oct, after about a week break from my last trip, to help look after my parents since my elder sister was not well.

Here are some photos taken during the trip :

Penang Trip , 8-11 Oct 2012

Hi,

Here is a slideshow of some photos taken during our recent trip backa to Penang to visit my parents.

My Dad and I also celebrated our birthdays together as it is in the same month of October.

Calligraphy Exhibition 2012

Lai Meng participated for the 3rd time in Singapore Calligraphy Exhibition at her calligraphy school.

Congratulations again...!!!

(Left to Right) - President of Singapore Calligraphy School, Consul-General of PRC Embassy ( Guest of Honour ), Lai Meng and her Teacher.

My Birthday Celebration

I just celebrated my 55th Birthday at home in Singapore and together with my Dad ( his birthday is on 19 Oct ) in Penang on my actual day, 9 Oct.

I just wanted a simple sponge cake for my birthday this year as I do not like the cream in most  of the cakes.

Joint birthday celebration with my Dad in Penang.

I will be posting more photos of my Penang trip later so watch out for them.......

Watching Korean Dramas

Recently, my wife and I watched this Korean Drama, Secret Garden, on TV channel U and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We also found out that some of our friends have been following a lot of such dramas and they even watch them online on their notebooks or PCs.

Through them, we were introduced to watch another Korean drama, My Name is Kim Sam Soon, online but connected the notebook to the TV for a bigger screen though.

When I am on the bus and MRT, I see people watching drama on their tablets or mobiles so I was curious how they did it..... online or downloaded the drama.

In particular, how to download the drama so that we can watch it on my iPhone, iPad or netbook especially when we are waiting for our flights, in the airplane and also in the hotel room.

I managed to get the names of the apps from some salesperson in an Apple store and got it working....hurray!

Now we just started to watch 49 Days and in Cantonese too..!

So far, I still like the Secret Garden drama the best and I love the songs too....... another favourite past time but we only watch an hour or two in the evening only.

Increasing My LAN Ports

During my recent trip to KL, I visited Low Yat Plaza ( their equivalent to our Sim Lim Square or Funan IT Mall )  where they sell mainly IT and mobile products and accessories.

My main router ran out of ports and I was shopping for a gadget to expand or increase the number of LAN ports so that I do not rely on wireless connection which has a slower data transfer speed compared to a LAN wired connection.

In the recent Comdex show, I saw a 5-port switch selling for S$17 and this is the solution that I was looking for.
IN KL, the same product was selling for RM22 ( about S$11 ). So I bought it without hesitation.

I managed to installed it and got it working and I thought I would make a video on the installation since the instruction that came in the box was just too brief and I have to surf the Internet to confirm how I should do it.

Hopefully, this video will be helpful to someone out there who may need some guidance.

Free n Easy Trip to KL, Sept 2012

We flew into KL for a short visit with some friends since Jason was also away on a school trip to Hong Kong.

We were in KL about 5 years ago and traveled by coach and stayed in Berjaya Times Square.

It was an enjoyable shopping and eating trip, thanks to our friends who led the way to all the good food..ha..ha...

However, I did not put on any weight as we walked a lot for food and shopping too.

We were impressed by the newly implemented GOKL City FREE Bus which travels around the central business district so we did not need to take any taxi or mono rail to places like Chinatown and KLCC.

We bought a cabin luggage bag at 50% discount and I also bought a few networking devices at the famous Low Yat Tech Mall at a cheaper price.

Congratulations to Equestrian Rider Laurentia Tan

Laurentia Tan, the 33-year-old won a bronze in her Grade 1A Individual Championship Dressage Test at London's Greenwich Park with a score of 73.650 to bag the third Paralympics medal of her competitive career.


She had also won bronze in the same event as well as another bronze in the Grade 1A Individual Freestyle test at the 2008 Beijing Games, an achievement which led to her receiving the Public Service Medal that same year.    

 

She suffers from cerebral palsy.

 

 

Congratulations to

Equestrian Rider Laurentia Tan..!

Garden by the Bay - Aug 2012

My dear wife and her friends visited the Garden by the Bay and celebrated her birthday with dinner there too.

Here is a slideshow of some photos taken with her iPhone :



I look forward to going there myself soon.

Happy 47th Birthday, Singapore!

We have our NDP 2012 at the floating platform and we watched it 'live' on TV.

 

Congrats to the Singapore Women's Table Tennis Team

The women's table tennis team beat South Korea 3-0 in an impressive fashion.


This is Singapore's second bronze medal at the Olympics after Feng Tianwei won an bronze in the singles last week.

I watch it 'live'on TV and it was again another exciting match and I am glad our women managed to overcome their opponents convincingly though there were some tense moments.

Feng Tian Wei in action, playing single in all her matches in the team.

Wang Yuegu and Li Jiawei playing as doubles team.

Congrats to the 3 women for giving Singapore another bronze medal in the 2012 Olympics; increasing our medal tally to 2 Bronze!

Congratulations to Feng Tian Wei !

Feng Tian Wei wins Singapore's first individual Olympic event medal in 52 years, an individual bronze Olympic medal for Women Table Tennis.

I saw the match 'live' on TV and it was very exciting indeed as she came out very strong and hungry for the medal.

Feng won the tense first game, in which the two opponents kept trading points, 11-9. She then followed up with three dominant games which were won 11-6, 11-6, and 11-5.

We are proud of her achievement for Singapore.....!

A very good birthday present for our 47th National Day celebration in the coming week.

Congratulations to Feng Tian Wei...!!!

Kinetic Rain - Changi Airport Terminal 1 Departure Hall

You should have read it in our local papers but in case, you miss it....

This is a new sculpture made up of 1,1216 metal droplets in Terminal 1 of Changi Airport in Singapore.

I was there last week to send off my younger sister, who stopped overnight on her way back to Melbourne after holidaying 2 months in Europe and UK.

Each droplet weighs 180g, powered by a motor housed in the ceiling of the departure hall.

The droplets are coated with polished copper to prevent the surface from rusting.

Kinetic Rain morphs into 16 different shapes in a 15 minute loop, ranging from an airplane to a kite, captures the varied aspects of flight.

The sculpture was made by German design firm led by a German based Finnish artist. Officially opens on 18 July 2012 but already operational now.

I took a short video of the kinetic rain in motion, so enjoy....

Cosby's Visit to Spore

Wei and Andrew were in Spore for a night, on their way home after 2 months holiday in Europe and UK.

After dinner, I took them to Marina Bay to take in the sight before they left the following day.
Here are a few photos but more in my Facebook....

Andrew, Lai Meng, Wei ( my younger sister ) and I.

Wei & I at Changi Terminal 1, behind us is the Kinetic Rain display.

Cosby bought us a white orchid for our garden, when we passed by the nursery nearby after our breakfast at Siglap.

Tentatively, they plan to be visiting again but staying longer at the end of this year.... for post Xmas shopping....?

Singapore Garden Festival - July 2012

We went to the Singapore Garden Festival and spent the entire afternoon there.

I took many photos and here is a slideshow of them, enjoy it!

Garden Makeover

Wow..... end of June already.... so it means that half the year has passed by...!

I have been very busy doing some gardening with my wife in the late afternoons till evenings, between 6:00pm to 7:30pm during this month of June.....

Due to recent hot weather, we can really get so soaked up with sweat....!

Anyway, the grass and some plants have grown wild so I lend my hand in clearing the garden and trimmed the grass and some of the plants too especially the 2 palm trees too.

Re-positioned the wooden tiles in the middle of the garden to the side instead and laid another row of artificial grass, bought from Daiso... only S$2 a piece!

Also, did the similar maintenance at the small patch of garden in front of the house too and removed the ugly looking small tree that has no flowers at all. Also replaced the worn out plastic fencing with burnt wood, bought from Daiso again!

The plants seems to be blooming again after I have uncluttered the garden and moved them around.... 

Thinking of re-painting the walls but still reviewing the necessity of it......

Well, time really flies when you have such project to keep you busy.... discussing with my wife on what was needed to be done, buying the necessary items like lawn sand, artificial grass, burnt wooden fence and then put them into actions .....

Quite challenging though it may look simple but wait until you are involved in doing it then you will appreciate the effort.

I am now starting to have a bit of lower back pain due to the bending down over time..... though I sit on a low plastic chair most of the time.

Jack must be happy to see me spending so much time outdoors with him.......

The Traazil Family

Recently, we attended a wedding reception of an old friend's child and got to meet up with the Traazil family again.

I got to know the Traazil family when I first started working in Singapore and was their neighbour when I rented a room next door. I was dating my wife then and we used to be invited to their Christmas gathering yearly and I also played squash during the weekends with James. We also got to know the other members of the family along the way.

Sheila ( James's sister ) got married and moved to US and I got married and moved out to my own home too. I lost touch with the Traazil family and was busy pursuing my career and family for 20+ years before I bumped into Germaine ( James's wife ) about 2 years ago.

And thro' Germaine ( Cassie's god-mother ), we were invited to Cassie ( Sheila's daughter ) and John wedding reception held here recently. Much to my surprise, we saw Sheila at the reception as we thought the wedding couple were here on their honeymoon but without their parents in tow.....ha..ha...

I thought it was interesting that I got to know them when I started my career here in Spore and then caught up with them again after I have retired. 20+ years...time really flies....

From left to right, Germaine, John, Cassie, Sheila, Lai Meng & I.

Lai Meng & Sheila

The Traazil Family

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there......... especially to my wife, of course.

Jas bought a cute coin purse for his Mum.

We have a nice Thai dinner too and Mum got a free spa voucher and a stalk of flower too from the restaurant .....

DBS Marina Regatta 2012

We were invited to the DBS Marina Regatta 2012 held at the Promontory @ Marina Bay last weekend.

It was an interesting experience to see the dragon boat races and I took some photos not only of the races but also the nice scenic background.

Here are a few photos but you can see the whole album under my Facebook account.

Jason Playing In A Band - JCC

Jason auditioned to play for the band in his Poly Japanese Culture Club (JCC) during the CCA Showcase 2012 festival.

He was selected and played for the JCC band on stage last week, his first public performance.
We were there to wathc his debut and I videoed it for him.

They played 3 Japanese songs and in the second song, Jas played solo in the later part of the song.

We are proud of him and I hope he will be able to take it further ( as a hobby and not a career... )since he seems to enjoy it so much.

BTW, he is playing with his newly acquired guitar as the old one has some problem and it was initially a bit too costly to repair it ( more than 50% of his guitar cost price , it was a cheap guitar though... ha..ha... ) so we decided to advance his graduation present and bought him a Fender Telecaster guitar since he has shown so much interest and progress in his guitar playing.



In case, you do not know Jas... he is the one on your right, playing the electric guitar.

This is the first song and some introduction to the JCC.....
  


This is the 3rd song but the mike was not working well so you cannot hear the vocal very well but it was still a good performance by the band.

Jas seems to be enjoying himself and also made an impromptu jump near the near of the song, much to my surprise as his right knee has not completely recovered from the ACL tear.......

Well, hope you like and give them a LIKE in YouTube if they deserve it.......

Thanks for watching the videos.

Penang Trip - April 2012

Besides visiting my parents, I also went Cheng Beng with my sister to pray at my grandparents graveyard.

We managed to buy 2 durians from the Air Itam central market for RM40 and they were quite good, it was just the beginning of the durian season so we did not expect it to be that good.

We managed to eat the Hokkien Prawn Mee and Char Koay Teow more than once.

Not forgetting the famous and popular Chendol by the roadside too.........

Please go to my Facebook album to see more photos of my trip.

Earthquake & Tsunami in Penang, April 2012

My family & I flew into Penang in the late afternoon on Wed 11 Apr to visit my parents.

We understood that there was an earthquake in Sumatra while we were in the air, Jas got a tweet about it upon landing at the Pg airport and was confirmed by my cousin who met us.

We still went for a seafood dinner near the jetty area ( this is not facing the open sea so we sholud be safe .. ) but when we were driving back to our hotel ( located in Georgetown ), we saw people outside the shopping mall like what you see in a fire drill. Apparently, there was another earthquake and there was some talk of a tsunami coming in about 2 hours time, around 7pm+.

So we decided to stay inside the hotel and my cousin rushed home as she did not want to be caught by any flooding waters, etc..... but it was a false alarm eventually. THe tsunami warning was called off when I saw the news on TV at 9pm.

We decided to go to the shopping mall to buy some drinks and snack for supper and also to stock up the fridge.

Guess what happened?

All the shops were closed and only 7 Elven was opened and Pizza Hut too! We have no choice but to follow the crowd ( mainly tourists, I think! ) to get our stuff at 7 Eleven and quickly returned to the hotel, which is just next to the shopping malls.

It was quite an experience as the town looked deserted and I have never ever seen this before....... having lived in Penang for 18 years before I left for my overseas study and eventually, working and living in Spore!

Even my Dad felt the earthquake and asked my Mum if someone pushed him when he was lying down in the sofa in the living hall.

Luckily, other than earthquake felt, there was no tsunami at all. When I spoke to the shopping mall staff the following day, they were scared as the hanging lights were really swinging to and fro and this is not usual at all! They were told to go home and be with their family in case there was a tsunami coming later, it was nice of the management to care for their staff.

Finally, I am glad to report that my family & I have a great time shopping in Parkson in 1st Avenue and also saw 2 movies, Battleship and Hunger Games, one after another... something that we are unlikely to do in Spore.....ha...ha.....

A panorama view of Georgetown, looking towards the Jetty, taken from  8th floor in 1st Avenue shopping mall.

Fender Telecaster Electric Guitar

Jason's electric guitar needed some repair and since it was quite expensive, almost 50% of the cost, we decided to buy him a new electric guitar.

After he has tried out some guitars over the 2 days, he has decided on a Fender Telecaster electric guitar.

Jason has been playing electric and acoustic guitars for 5 years+ and he now knows what he wants and still very keen on it, so we do not mind buying him a better guitar.

He is very happy with his new guitar.

The guitar case is a hard one and it looks like a sniper case...ha...ha... Quite heavy too, to protect the expensive guitar!

Well, we told him that this Fender Telecaster electric guitar is his graduation present which we have brought forward by a year.

Happy 19th Birthday, Jason!

Jason turned 19 this year and we celebrated it a few days before the actual day as Uncle Charles was visiting from Australia.

Happy 19th Birthday and may your wishes for the year come true........!

A toast of red wine to the birthday boy..!

In case, you are wondering what presents did Jason get for his birthday....?

We bought him the Call of Duty - Modern Warfare 3 ( COD-MW3 ) PC game and lots of hugs for the year...ha..ha...

Penang Trip in Feb 2012

I went back to visit my parents from 9 - 14 Feb 2012, my quarterly visit so to speak.

All seems well but my father was warded and had a stone removed from his bile duct a week after I left. Otherwise, all including my 5th aunt are doing reasonably well or status quo.

Here are a few photos... for the complete album, visit my Facebook page.

Mum exercising in the hall when she does not go for her physiotherapy session at LWE hospital, twice a week.

I took dad out for a western salad lunch and a movie at Gurney Plaza, our usual outing when I am home provided he is up to it.

5th aunt who is also living with my parents.

A huge statue of Goddess of Mercy or Kwan Yin was built on the hillside next to the Kek Lok Si temple, the area is brightly lighted up in the evening and quite a lovely sight.

Congratulations to Mary Jean Lupas on her newborn baby boy in Nov 2011...!!!

Jean worked for us for about 12 years since Jason was 4 years old. She left for home about 2 years ago to get married and started her family.

We are so happy for her and wish her and her family well with this new addition to the family.

Here are a few photos received from Jean recently :

and a complete family photo with her hubby too......

Finally, another lovely photo of the baby boy........