Promotion Kicking In..

I finally got my new name cards today... frankly the feeling of my promotion didnt really kick in yet..

hmm...chinese title sounds weird.. 高级分析师。。 power hor.. but like very old like that..

One down.. Two more to go..

Nope.. not exams.. not projects..christmas presents.. knowing that i probably wont get any presents this year.. i've started to buy my presents liao.. keke.. but christmas time, i'd be rotting at hm with my presents..

i started with the shure.. the cheapest item on my list..

on the first try, not THAT impressive.. quality is slightly better than my sony ex-71.. this baby over here..



but the guy told me that after 30+ hours of use.. the earphones will be "run in" then hoh seh liao... hee hee... 30 hour sounds like a long time.. gosh.. ill listen all the way from taxi to the airport to ho chi minh to hanoi to singapore and the taxi home and wow.. i'd better bring my iPod charger...

and there u go.. my shure e2c.. comes in varying types of fittings plus in 3 diff sizes of each fitting.. and a nice nice pouch.. i'll prob use it at first then after then heck it.. hahahaha i know me so well..

Massage and Mango

i woke up with a stiff stiff neck this morning.. gosh.. so stiff i cant turn my neck.. when i reached the office, i realised that i cant work with the excrutiating pain in my neck.. decided to this massage place in Caltex House recommended by my friend.. and boy.. did i get a POWER massage...

im invigorated now...*phew*

while i was at clifford centre, i bought back some dessert for my colleagues and bought yummilicous mango sago back..

Love

i was at a wedding at that right? like many many church weddings, this verse invariably appears

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away."

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

I thought verse 8 "Love never ends" was particularly meaningful. i wonder why i didnt notice it before.

Yes, love.. true love never ends, does it? seems like once in a while, God's right.

i was telling audrey i might repair my lappie and sell it off.. in order to get some dough for buy my computer.. but i told her i cant bear to.. not after it has been so faithful to me for the last 5 years. how can i after it has passed its shelf life, sell it off to get the money to buy its replacement? for some queer reason, i find that hard to do.. though it's an inanimate object, i just find it hard to do. she said i was always the "重感情" sort.. yeah i guess...

i was reading the papers today.. one of life's pleasures that i hardly indulge in of late.. and i read this article featuring uma thurman and her divorce with Ethan Hawke..she said " If you want to have a permanent relationship and a domestic relationship, love is not enough... It takes sacrifice, maturity and hard work. And shared values are important"

Gosh, i think that rings so true...it's rare that i read something blog-worthy on the newspapers nor take relationship advice from celebrities.. but golly.. those words are golden...

i think im ready to watch Kill Bill now..

The Neighbour

It just rained. The north east monsoon came earlier this year. With the smell of freshness brought forth by the cleansing rain still lingering in the air, the Neighbour opened her gate to sweep the fallen leaves. She stretches her arms as she eyes the horizon. "Hmm.. it's a nice way to spend the Saturday with the family, " she thought. She stepped out of the gate and eyes a man standing beside his car beside a lamp post just on the road outside her semi-detached house.

"Hmm.. he looks familiar.. havent i seen him before," she thought. "Hey, i've seen him before.. i first saw him standing right at the lamp post more than 5 years ago!! but he was a student then with his dorky bag and laptop and all.. standing right there at the lamp post early in the morning and looking up at a window on the next door neighbour's house..and after a while, the gal from the next-door-neighbour's house would join him and off they went.."

And there he was again.. five years later.. in the same lamppost.. he's fatter now and more well dressed. "he's probably working by now...," she guessed as she pretended to sweep that particular spot a little longer.

"What's he staring so pensively at?" She followed his gaze and lo and behold, there was a rainbow in the sky.. there was a rainbow in the backdrop of the said window of the neighbour's house. She stared together with him.. the two with their heads tilted like how you'd expect people would tilt their heads when being caught on "Gotcha".

"I wonder what he's thinking.. could he being thinking about how a rainbow's God's covenant to his people.. to remind his people that everytime they saw a rainbow, therein lies his promise... Was there a Flood in this young man's life?"

He snapped out of it when the neighour's daughter came out.. and she went on about sweeping the cobbled path.

Christmas Presents

some people have nicely asked what christmas presents i want today.. while some have shamelessly told me what they "hoped" to get from me.. and these two groups of people are not mutually exclusive..

i dont know if i'll give out any presents this year since i dont feel too loving of late.. but i sure dont mind any of the following:

1. A new PC with the following configuration..

AMD 3000 MSI K8Neo 4 - S$369
Buffalo DDR 400 512MB - $72
Pioneed dual layer dvd-r 16 x 16 $75
80gb hitachi sata2 $95
MSI 6600 256mb silencer $189
gigabyte XC A4 casing - $89

I've listed the items separately for the more cash-strapped ones among you in case u wana get the items separately.

2. A 17" LCD monitor Phillips 170B6CB - $459

3. A Shure e2c earphones..

once again, like the movie date thingy, please leave in the comments section, which items u wana chope to give me.. again, first come first served

Movies..

I watched Harry Potter last friday.. not too bad.. except that i dont read the books so there wasnt this immense love for HP and his frens and all that. It was just a normal movie for me..but it was quite enjoyable. There were a couple of trailers before the show which made me realise that Christmas is coming and the perennial influx of movies in the year end.. here're the shows i want to watch and hope i dont have to watch them on the dvd..

(in absolutely no order of merit)

1. Just like Heaven
2. Chicken Little
3. Saw II
4. Prime
5. The Family Stone
6. Noel
7. Aeonflux

seem like most are lomantic comedies.. no brutal firefights or SWAT team action.. i guess it's in line with the feel-good christmas mood.. but oh well..

i jus had a radical thought... u can make a date with me here!!!! hahaha.. ya.. jus leave a comment to book me for the watever movie.. first come first served..

Dopod 900 and Silicon Valley...

Gweneth Powto called me during my lunch today...she said she picked up a dopod 900...i act have no idea how much one costs...but i tot kio dio..at least S$400 - S$500...can sell off and buy the iPod she wanted to get... but then she added in the next line that the guy came to find it and got it back from her.. the bugger didnt even give her a reward..

oh well, i tot..S$400 - S$500 all right la.. no need reward..

after a while she sent me an mms.. a pic of a dopod 900 pamphlet.. gosh.. it costs a whooooooping S$1,888!!!!!

gosh, and he didnt offer even a S$50 reward.. so ngiaw...

Powto said the guy was an indian fella techie type .. who looks like the silicon valley dudes...(not being seditious here but there're tons of indian dudes in silicon valley). i thought it was normal right.. since non-tech guys wont carry phones worth almost S$2k!!!!

Powto says the weirdest things.. she said.. ".. yeah.. those silicon valley types lor.. something i dun have.. "

that cracked me up.. hahaha.. she doesnt have a silicon valley.. muhahahhaha..

ok.. back to pretending to work..

Since you were bored..

ok la.. since you're bored, then i thought i'd direct you here...

:)

maybe you wont bother me from doing my work tonight...kwa kwa

Welcome Welcome

this is an entry to welcome 2 more newbies into my fanclub..

*wave*

you know who you are..keke..

membership has its privileges... tell me when you find out what they are though..

Weddings...

did i mention i have two weddings this weekend? one is my jc fren in the afternoon.. a church wedding.. another one is my uni fren's wedding dinner at Swissotel Merchant Court...yawn.. it's going to be an expensive weekend..

as i thought giving ang pao in a church wedding is quite crass plus im damn stingy.. i suggested to aaron and dax that we get a gift and share.. and since i didnt feel like working today, i went down to orchard to buy a prezzie..



im so cheap.. :)

Milo in a cold day

aaaaaaaaaaaah... the pleasures of a promotion.. got ple make milo for u..

nothing like a warm milo on a cold day...

喝在口里，甜在心里

Weather Forecast

Ho Chi Minh City: 23 degrees low, 31 degrees high

Hanoi:13 degrees low, 23 degrees high

yup.. im going vietnam soon, hanoi and ho chi minh.. yawn.. hate it when they have such varying weather...

i got good news today.. the shanghai hotel has agreeed to give me back the money they overcharged me.. keke..

Dear Cornball,

I have forwarded your details to accounting and they will refund you the difference. I thank you for your co-operation and I apologize for the trouble caused.

I have been informed by the banks that it may take up to a month to process as your credit card is a foreign one.

If you have any further inquires, please do not heisitate to ask me.

Yours sincerely,
Natellie Sun


i'll call my daughter natellie ..that's a weird spelling really.. i wonder if she spelt it right..

Phew...

On my plane back to singapore, i was congratulating myself.. congratulating myself cos i didnt lose anything and missed out anything despite staying in 5 hotels in 4 cities and flying 3 domestic flights and clocking 15 hrs in the air and 10 hrs on the road.. lugging my laptop, camera, luggage and documents.. first time i move ard so much in one trip mah.. i was actually afraid that i left something impt behind in one of the hotels in my haste..

so on my plane back, i was giving myself a pat on the back.. in the midst of my sleep..

so i came back n claimed my expenses.. a WHOPPING S$2,200!!!! i kinda persuaded my accounts department to do my expeneses for me earlier than the usual month so gosh.. S$2,200 leh.. no money.. so i push push abit n she agreed...

the accounts ger came to me ytd... eh.. how come the hotel bill and credit card bill diff one? hotel bill was RMB2,146.20 but u signed off RMB2,416.20 on ur credit card bill... siao liao..i called the hotel up to clarify.. scanned both receipts...typed a long email to explain explain...

im awaiting their reply.

Hip Hippo

It's so cold i decided to open this pillow my colleague gave me some time back.. some free gift that Post It gave her...

quite cute la.. keeps me warm in the cold lonely day at work..

Blackheads Part Deux

I've had quite a few comments on the blackheads entry.. most expressing their immense disgust.. but some.. just some actually wonder if the pore pack is really effective.. i say these ple are those with lotsa blackheads too.. muhahahaha.. you know who you are.. dont need to cover your noses. kwa kwa..

anyway, audrey taught me the real effective way to use it.. first u must exfoliate to remove the 死皮.. i duno wat it's called in english.. maybe SEBUM... since they have the same hanyupinyin.. SB.. keke..

i use this to exfoliate..



then i dab my nose with some water and apply the pore pack... i wait for abt 30 mins.. (more than the 10 mins stipualted) then remove it slowly.. remember my previous post on my nose injury... it happened at this stage of the process...

then WALA!!! the blackheads are on the pore pack...

Brrrr...

it's cold this morning...feels like winter soon.. my boss is in a scarf and i didnt bring my jacket to work... bleah. im freezing.. maybe ill jus use this excuse to go home early.. keke..

the radio is also starting to play christmas-y music. not the usual carolling kind but those soulful xmas songs sung by female african-american singers... it's amazing how songs like this can transport you to a memory..

xmas of 2002 was quite possibly the best christmas i had..

anyway, i just heard that i'll be going macau and vietnam next weekend..

Blackheads

Ive been meaning to do this for ages.. but too lazy to take out the cam.. but just as i was uploading pics from my trip to the laptop.. i tot wat the heck..

2 weeks since i exfoliated ... here's the result..click the pics to enlarge.. :)

Edit: Due to the graphic nature of the pics, i've put them as links.. do click them to check them out..

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Welcome Diana

as part of my early morning blessing to my friends, i told diana abt my blog just now..

diana is mentioned in one of the earlier entries...

welcome di!

ORLY?

dumbass keeve had this new phrase he learnt from his friend..

"ORLY"

which means "Oh Really?"

prounced as "Or Rare Lee?"

and this phrase comes with this pic


so when u say it, u must turn ur head and have the eye like the owl like that..

muhahahha it cracks me up.. iamshitfong pronounces it as "Or Lee".. damn funny.. and when he combines it with another geek term " woot", it becomes read as "wood tor lee".. muhahahahha.. for some inexplicable reason, it cracks us all up and YK didnt really get our jokes during mahjong...

orly? really.

Cornball's BAAAAAAACK

WHOOPEE!! i'm back..which also means not so many interesting pics.. :(

kwa kwa..

Poem by my boss

my boss wrote me a poem..

As Soon As there are any Cracks, it will be swiftly highlighted as Earthquakes;
As Soon As there is a Molehill, it will be magnified as Mount Everest;
Nuclear missiles will land at your doorsteps swiftly, As Soon As.

Motives are what drives a person - what's paddling below decides the direction, not the beautiful swan you see floating above.

he was writing about someone and i was like.. wow... so poetic...

Home Coming...

Hmm.. im going home soon.. whole host of problems waiting for Cornball to settle.. my laptop's status is in limbo.. duno wana fix or buy a new PC... no money also.. and i think if i buy a PC, i'd definitely just be stuck at home.. kwa kwa....

dilemma dilemma...

I'm so hardworking it... *yawn*

Even in the shanghai office, im the earliest one.. well, technically earlier one cos there's only two of us...

*yawn*

got the key from my colleauge ytd cos i thought i'd come in earlier to do some work since im leaving at 2pm..

i see esther online.. maybe i'll tell her abt my lil' Korner...

*wave* esther...

Weird Shower Foam

I saw this weird shower foam thingy that day in one of the hotels.. the tube is a soft rubber thingy u can squeeze and then the 3-in-1 liquid comes out from the bottom..



here are the instructions..

Quan Ju De

shanghai is the only place in all the countries ive been to that i have a fren..well, it's technically someone i knew from work from one of my trips to shanghai..so whenever i go to shanghai, i'd ask her out for dinner...

she decided this time we'd go to Quan Ju De. For the uninformed, Quan Ju De (全聚得） is one of the most famous restaurants for peking ducks in china.. so i was glad that she suggested this place.. keke..

in typical tourist fashion, i posed in front of the restaurant..



then came the food...



i managed to convince her to pose for me for my blog.. she was shy at first.. until i told her that the 1.3 billion people in china wont see this pic cos china blocked blogspot.. kwa kwa.. she agreed... this is perhaps the only pic of a fren on my blog.. ok la.. give 2 pics... =)

Shanghai Office

I worked in my shanghai office today...we have a small small office there and at my suggestion, i told my boss i'd stay back in shanghai for these 2 days to hang around.. so here i am.. it's a small service office.. means it's an entire floor of small units that houses different companies which leases them.. quite a cool place we had.. 47 levels up and the corner unit.. we had a view of city...


here's my seat in the office..

Higher Chinese

I mentioned Higher Chinese in my previous blog.. yes i took Higher Chinese.. it's nothing im proud of la.. cos my command of chinese sux.. but anyway getting into higher chinese is cos of my slightly better PSLE result.. but that's dumb..

an eg of how lousy my chinese is is when my chinese teacher was reading out our GCE 'O' level results to the class.. only A1 and A2 ple can go on to take higher chinese in sec 4...n so he read and read until he came to my name.. he stopped for a while, looked up at me and checked the result again and read "A1". I'd have been offended if i werent more engrossed in my stellar result!! haha wat a fluke..

ANYWAY, chinese is never my forte and in JC, cos i dun have to take chinese, v lil ple knew my chinese name.. even nowadays too.. and everyone always laughs at me for my stuttering chinese..

And so, i'm in China.. tough place to be if ur chinese sux.. but cos i boasted to my boss during that interview that im biligual than no choice lor..my colleague says my chinese feels very textbook cos i use lotsa proverbs 成语s... n i use the correct terms.. like i use "结账" instead of "买单".. she was suitably impressed and we had many a good laugh.. but the ultimate came when we were talking to clients and they asked where we were going.. so i said (in chinese) that we were going to go visit the other hotels.. to get a feel of the market.. cannot jus sit in the office and 纸上谈兵。 my colleague just burst out laughing!!!! the clients looked at her in shock but i knew why she was laughing..

as a punishment to her, i gave her a lil more work to do, in english.

Swanky Hotel

Im bored.. thought it'd share some pics..

this hotel i visited has this nice bathtub.. so cool... it's a bit small though.. but very cool..



then i went to this restaurant.. the cutlery made of jade one.. quite cool.. so i told my collague we shld have lunch here.. keke.. the food not bad.. price also.. *sweat*



i didnt mean this to be another story but i remembered something funny..

so we orderd lor.. my colleaque asked me if i eat 茄子。。stuffed with meat. i thought hmm.. tomatoe stuffed with meat.. quite nice.. ok lor..she was quite surprised cos i dun eat veg one.. oh well..and we ordered other things too.. like this soup, which looks damn like the plate... see? even the handle of the spoon and the spoon stand also got jade parts.. pretty cool.



then came the 茄子... "hmm.. how come the tomatoe purple color one? gosh the chinese are weird.." then my Higher Chinese kicked in and i realised, it's not tomatoe but EGGPLANT!!! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

i think it's abt the grossest veggie in the world sia..here's a pic of it..

it actually looks quite nice... and smells nice too.. i ate some la.. since it was quite ex and it was partly my fault.. i think my mum would peng if she saw me eating that... haha..

Blog

gosh, just tonite, i received an outpouring of love for my blog.. im so touched..

*i realised the above line sounds very xiaxue-ish but wat the heck*

everyone's asking me to "post more post more", "i hope to see more when i get to work tmr".. etc..

they forgot i actually got work to do also...

*yawn* im tired..

i jus calcuated my expense claims.. so far.. S$1,800.. and i havent included the two remaining days in shanghai.. gosh... i cant wait for my pay cheque and expenses to come in...

Suzhou

Suzhou's actually quite a pretty place.. traditional architecture with all the gardens etc...

here're some pics..

COOOOOOOL!

In the end, they decided not to take back the nuggets..

so i now have 3 nuggets and 5 chicken wings...

apparently french style chicken wings means there's no meat along the bone one.. all bunched up to the top.. weird man the french.. weirder than claiming mcnuggets to be their invention..

KIO DIOOOOOOOOO

After chastising me for my bad eating habits, not-so-private-agnes said i shld be angry for the wrong order...what the heck.. i called the room service person and said hey i ordered wings but u gave me nuggets.. she offered to give me my wings ... cool!!! now i dun have to worry abt supper..

oh btw, i ate all my three of the nuggets before they came to get it back.. i'm not all cheap... *wink*

Gosh

Gosh, the not-so-private-agnes actually reads my blog and chastised me for eating nuggets!!

muhahahah.. im so touched that more than a few people actually come back for more...

*burp*

French Style Chicken???

I ordered room service cos i didnt have any cash with me. felt hungry (as usual)..decided to order a side dish in addition to my yangzhou fried rice (as usual).. hmm maybe ill have this "French style chicken wings"

for some reason, french style chicken wings refer to this...



there's something wrong with the french... french fries dont come from france also ..(belgium for the uninformed, btw) so stoopig... that's obviously a mcnugget lor... and we all know where mcnuggets come from... McDonald's lor!!

MAHJONG!!

my dear frens have decided to commenmorate my return to SG with a much missed mahjong session..

so i'll be playing mahjong on the saturday im back..it's the usual suspects.. i am shit fong, keeve and YK.. long time since we four played..

i hope i win... *sweat*

Where's Cornball

Cornball's now back in Shanghai again..

after a 2 hrs ride from Suzhou this evening, Cornball's back in the room watching "Courage Under Fire" and doing his expense claims for the last 7 days... so far it's abt S$1,000.

He hopes there's more to claim...

SICK!

woke up with a fever and sore throat.. and lao-saied..

i hope i dun lao sai on the way back to shanghai later..

*sweat*

Nice nice place..

im here tonite.. perhaps one of the best city hotels ive stayed before..

Dinner is Here

WHOOOPY!! Dinner or supper is here!!

Spaghetti and Earl Grey.. except that the buggers forgot my sugar and milk...

Doesnt anyone drink Earl Grey with milk? im beginning think im the abnormal one...

Shanghai Nights

Phew.. i finally left the Island (machiam Ewan and Scarlett like that.. muhhahahah).. in shanghai now.. gosh it's cold.. from 32 degrees on the Island.. to 14 degrees in Shanghai.. brrr... but i like it cold.. it's like u r in a big air con like that..

im staying here for one night then leaving tmr for Suzhou...



im waiting for my dinner now.. i hope this doesnt give me a lao sai like the other time.. *sweat*

A Story

He was a newspaper vendor.. with a little setup just by the steps of the MRT station. Everyday, he sat there, as throngs of people passed by him in the morning. As the early rays of the morning peeked through the clouds, he laid out the magazines and newspapers of the day. And once in a while, a student would come buy a copy of "8 Days" and a working executive might buy a "Her World" to while the dull journey to work. Peak hours would be when the students from the nearby college got off school in the afternoon, in the evenings when the rat pack got off work. Many private driving instructors waited for their students here at the station and have made friends with him over the years.

Business was affected when the SPH and thereafter Mediacorp Publishing decided to come up with free newspapers. Now, there was something else to take the minds of the commuters and what's more, it's free! Damn the capitalists, he muttered. Throngs of people would queue up in front of the yellow boxes to wait for an old man to distribute free newspapers. Sometimes, he found the old man quite familiar. "Maybe he graduated in the Class of 64 from the Academy of News Vendors. Or maybe he didn't even graduate, cos he failed the "NV 401 - How to Set Up Your Very Own News Stand" module."

He laughed as mean thoughts swam in his mind.

He decided to open his little newsstand later since the morning crowd wont be buying anything from him in the morning anyway.

It was the morning of 14 November 2000... it was a slow evening.. maybe everyone's down cos it was a Tuesday. No one wants to read anything else after work, they're all brain dead in the beginning of the week. He twiddles his thumbs as he eyes an awkward looking boy, holding a Seiyu plastic bag.. looking around furtively. (He doesnt think the boy is a terrorist cos the Sept 11 terrorist attacks hasnt happened yet). He decides that looking at the boy is more fun than waiting for people to buy newspapers.

Soon, a girl comes along. The News Vendor checks her out.She's in a white Winnie the Pooh shirt and pink shorts. Bespectacled, she looks quite studious. She approaches the boy. "Hmm.. are they a couple," he thought. He decides this looks interesting.

They dont kiss or hug when they meet. The boy stands awkwardly. He suddenly whips out a bouquet of blue tulips from the plastic bag and presents it to her. She looked surprised. He then asks her a question.

She gasps and exclaimed, "Wah.. so sudden ah!?!" She smiles and they hug.

Hand in hand, he sees the two of them enter the MRT station, grinning ear to ear.

Adapted from: Chronicles of Cornball - The News Vendor, the News Stand and the Other News Vendor

Early Morning Announcement

I woke up feeling frozen all over...

I'd thought i'd bring some warmth to someone this morning..

So i told another person abt my blog.. muhhahahahaha

Enjoy yourself here *wave*

Mambo Jumbo

I duno abt u guys but im pretty sick abt this hainan mambo jumbo...i prob said and typed the word "hainan" more in these 3 days than in the last 26 yrs!!

i think i'll prob post one or two more entries abt it when im less sick of it.. n then that's it.. no more hainan..

anyway, im flying off tmr to Shanghai liaoz...

Chek Ah!

some people have said i've been very chek ah abt complaining abt the food my relatives have prepared for me.. some have said i was funny. my sister said my mum is secretly happy the chicken she cooks is better than the place of origin of THE chicken rice..

but oh well, in all fairness, the chicken used was probably an old mother hen kinda chicken which is not very tender and with a huge HUGE layer of fat... it was abt 3 milimetres thick ok!!!

and i guess im just not used to eating with flies flying ard and chickens (live ones) pecking at my shoes.

plus i dun like to eat veggy..

*shrug*

Surreal yet Real

my relatives managed to find my hotel and i rented a car to drive us 150km into the deep throes of the hainan jungle..

by 1.5 hours, we were at the edge of the jungle and i tot it was on foot from here.. but nooooooooooooooooo... apparently the taxi i rented also doubles as a four-wheel-drive SUV...up and down the jungle trail that is no wider than the taxi itself..here's a pic of it..


i thought that was pretty scary already..until the trail got as wide as one person walking kind ya... like this..


anyway, that's my aunty's house in the horizon..i was glad to be finally here after a 2hr ride..

i officially entered Hainan-dom..

Here, if u dont speak Hainanese, that's it. u dont get no tissue, u dont get no water, u dont get no nothing.. hainan all the way. if u duno how to say "sister" in the proper way, u jus point at the picture and say female in hainese and hope they can put two and two together. And whilst you're trying to piece a coherent conversation together, you hear firecrackers outside.. hey cool, they're welcoming me with firecrackers.. of cos there isnt any in SG.. so like a perfect tourist that i am, i took pics of it..


then there's an authentic hainanese dinner..chicken(yucks), prawns(yucks), veggie (yucks), soup (nice!)

No more Sai

A few of my readers have asked me abt my sai..and some have guessed that it's the supper burger i had..

thank you for the concern.. i took some charcoal pills and im now ok..

in fact im just back from visiting my relatives.. will update moreon that later.. im zonked...

Hainan 好难

I only slept like 4 hours cos i woke up at 8am... *yawn*

woke up cos there was an urge to lao sai... bleah.. i hate waking up like this..

and then i thought i'd call my relatives and asked them wat time they wana meet me..

I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THE NUMBER DOESNT WORK!!!!!

i called them, i asked the operator to call them and i called my mum to call them but the no. jus doesnt work anymore. but i already called them in SG before i left..

it's 10 am now and i jus lao sai-ed a 2nd time..

Hainan isnt turning out as nice as i thought it'd be...

the chicken rice later better be good.

Laundry

I actually just sent my things to the laundry.. called the laundry gal to come to my rm to collect.. then i quickly rummaged my bag to get my dirty clothes.. then i realised the clothe im wearing also need to be washed... quickly removed them also.. my shirt, my underwear and my socks... when i put them in the laundry bag, it kinda felt warm..

i think it's very disgusting.. i hope she doesnt realise the warmth..

*sweat*

Touch Down

Phew.. i just touched down in Hainan and im blogging already...

im glad they gave me a king bed this time.. the twin beds are a lil small for fattie me..



i quickly ordered room service cos i didnt have dinner.. although it's like 1230am now.. but well, im hungry..

yummy burger came...with a nice pot of tea.. and yes.. with a small cuppa milk..=)

Motherland

Im heading off to Motherland soon on a 10pm flight... im quite excited...

ok ok.. this is getting boring...

oh well, since i was chatting with YK, i thought i'd tell her abt my lil' korner...

HARLOW.. *wave*

Im on a roll..

i just told xhlimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm abt my blog too.. im on a roll now..

and she siad my blog mostly abt food..

yeah, i guess so.. it's abt food..my life revolves around food...a lot

Kenna Red Bomb in the End

Apparently after her parents read my blog (!!!), my fren was apparently allocated some tables for her wedding.. so we're all invited again..

damn.. S$28 down the drain

:~~(

3 More Added into the Inner Circle

On a spur of a moment, i told 2 more people abt my blog yesterday morning and one more today... you know who u are...

*wave*

enjoy yourselves here and leave more comments...

Mooooore food

After a hard day of walking around boring shantou and visiting some hotels, we decided we were hungry again... and my colleague wanted to eat some freshwater crap.. called 大闸蟹... ok lor.. she siad she eat one whole thing then no need to eat anything liao.. since it's 大 i tot ok lor.. then i shall order a black pepper beef, fried bean sprouts and fried rice (another type this time) for myself...

keke..

here's wat we ordered...



a lot hor... turns out her crab damn small.. then i offered her some of my rice (sob!) but that gave me more room for dessert..

turns out dessert in the chinese resturant was rather boring..all these aunty and uncle kind of desserts like tang yuan.. i asked got some more of not then she said got western dessert.. i said ok onz... turns out she went to the western restaurant to get the menu.. gosh i had to order something.. ok lor.. ordered some fried banana and vanilla ice cream thingy.. and since i tot i was going to stay up late to run some numbers, i thought i'd order a cuppa Earl Grey..the ger didnt really understand wat Earl Grey is even when i pointed to her on the menu... and when it came, it came in a glass cup.. a clear glass cup like those coffee shops in SG... hmm.. kinda weird la... but ok la.. i asked for milk.. she looked at me quizzically..milk?? hmm.. a glass can??

i said ok.. n she brought me a humongous glass of milk and a straw!!.. bigger than my tea!! i was like waaaaaaaaat?? i jokingly asked if i'd be charged for for the milk.. she nodded... diaoz....


so i had an Earl Grey in a SG-Coffeeshop-like glass cup, with a huge huge glass of milk and drinking frm a straw... it was pretty weird..




this feels like the time i ordered Camomile tea with milk..

Walking around Shantou..

after lunch, we went abt the city.. it's a damn boring city.. nothing much.. it's really boring..took some boring pics..

here's a pic of a gargantuan chicken for the year of the Chicken this year... my sis is born in the year of the chicken.. so i took a pic of it.. =)



that's abt the most interesting thing i saw...

Foodie...

After a very tiring inspection, my collague and i decided to whack some good dim sum and cow stomach.. (apparently there's 2 kinds of cow stomach.. i think it's called tripes in SG but i cant be sure..). Dim sum cost 5RMB (S$1) per long and we ordered like 8 longs...that is obviously not enuff for me but the waitress said it was enuff.. she obviously doesnt know me (DUH!)n therefore i ordered a yangzhou fried rice..

here's the pic of the spread we (or rather I) whacked.. aiyah.. the fried rice pic got my face there.. too bad then...

A Tad Bit Yucky

This is where im putting up tonite.. a lil yucky leh.. sianz.. staying 2 nites here some more... :(

Loong Trip Part Deux

it was a long ride.. so it deserves 2 posts..

i was bored.. so i thought of calling some ple to chit chat.. but everyone was working leh.. 4pm+..

i remembered it was diana's bday.. jus out of the blue like tat.. my memory works in strange ways... yeah.. shld i call her to wish her happy bday?? like quite bo liao hor.. nvr see her for 5 yrs liao.. suddenly jus call like that.. nah i dun think i shld even waste S$0.87 on an sms too.. keke..hy but wait, she jus smsed me that day to tell me she changed hp no. but it was in my other fone.. oopsy.. too bad then.. no bday sms..

then i remembered this person.. smsed me at 1am in 2 consecutive nights.. but i was on the plane the previous nite and asleep already on the next.. n the anonymous person knows my name..hmm weird.. then i decided to call the person.. maybe my fren gave my no. to the pretty gals i mentioned in my previous entries below and one of them is smsing me!!! so i called..

hmm.. the voice sounded familiar.. DIANA!!! hahahaha.. such an amazing coincidence.. after some chit chat.. she ascertained that i was in a cab going towards shantou.. she said "eeewl. u? in china? it's like a naked african in antartica!!" i had no idea what that analogy meant really.. these mass comm ple.. arent they supposed to communicate to the masses? no way, hoseh, for this particular graduate..

anyway she made me sing her a bday song in the mountainous terrains en route to the middle of no where in China.. after assuring my bemused colleague that i dont do this often, i went back to sleep..

LOOONG Journey

We took an uber long cab ride from Xiamen to Shantou... almost 4 hours man.. thank goodness we booked quite a comfy cab and my colleague was quite thin so it was quite spacious.. actually supposed to take coach one.. coach only costs RMB100 each but cab costs RMB600 each.. my boss decided that since i had motion sickness and that the journey so long then let us take cab.. keke..

anyway my colleague took out her laptop and started doing some work.. i cant la.. got motion sickness so i jus slept lor.. then my boss called.. chatted with him for a while.. seems like he likes to chat with me when im overseas.. well, it's fine..since he's paying the bill anyway.

anyway it was boring and i had a good share of sleep..

took this pic in the toilet during a pit stop..hah.. damn funny

First Night in China

Stayed in this hotel on the first night..great room..pity only staying for one night...

Welcoming my 11th fan

Seems like everyone likes a lil blog here to inform the rest of my fans that ive informed yet another person..

my 11th fan is a someone i knew from JC time... same class as me some more and keeve, imshitfong and her would go to bedok and eat johnson duck at the interchange...

shortbin's getting married soon but she just informed us she wasnt allocated enuff tables and thus we are ALL not invited..

i didnt know that you're allocated tables to your own wedding.. keke.. in any case, S$28 saved!!!

YAY!!

Yay!! seems like i cant access blogspot in China.. and thus i didnt blog in xiamen.. but now that im in shantou.. i thought i'd try this proxy switcher thingy that Voxeros from SPUG taught me.. and lo and behold i'm here!!!!

anyway, yeah, im in Shantou..

*wave*

Happy Bday Keeve!

yesterday was my buddy Keeve's birthday!!!

he doesnt like to celebrate his bday so we didnt lor..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU MAN!!!

=)

Chatterbox

Since i'm blogging and pretending to do work, i thought i'd post a pic of this chicken rice i ate at Chatterbox restaurant in Meritus Mandarin Hotel yesterday..

i think i first ate this exact same dish when i was 5 or 6 yrs old and i rem then it cost a whopping S$15!!!! that's mighty EX for something that long back. Today it costs S$18.. not cheap but its certainly grew less than inflation..

Assuming an inflation date of 2.5%, something that cost S$15 20 years ago, would cost S$15 *(1.025^20) = S$24.57 today!!!

wow.. so S$18 was a steal!!!

My Mum

i actually didnt wana blog abt this cos dun wana talk bad abt my mum.. haha..

my mum came to me that day all excited abt my trip to Hainan with a box of Ferrero Rocher..she said, " if u have any friends in shanghai, u can give it to them but if u dun have any friends there, u can give to our relatives in hainan."

i was like.. wow.. that was a good way to slip that item to hainan thru my imaginary "frens" in shanghai.. that's my mum for u..

Anyway, i was just telling my colleague abt it anyway jus now.. when a courier came..

FOR ME!!! an item for me!! so cool!!

Turns out it's from Audrey and lo and behold it was a box of Rochers!!! amazing timing man!! so impeccable...

anyway she was nice to send me chocs to wish me well for my trip

here's a pic of it..

Getting a head in life

as i was rummaging thru my treasure trove of prezzies, i found this old key chain which i used to hang on my bag in JC.. hahaha...

i think my mum bought it for me...

it drew lotsa comments in sch.. some say morbid, some say cute.. some say act cute.. haha... obviously i didnt care..

Prezzies from V-Day 1997

Agnes asked me wat stuffed toys i meant in the comments below and since i was staying up for Man U vs Chelsea.. i went in search of them.. and here they are..

please dont ask me how come i know where they are...

iamshitfong is crazy

my buddy iamshitfong was on duty tonite and asked if i have a webcam. I said nope, i didnt install the drivers on my office lappie. then he asked if i got a mic, wanted to start a voice teleconference with me over MSN...

i thought what man...

turns out... get ready for this... turns out he wants to stream the sounds of my tv over msn for him to listen on his end while he's on duty...

what program is it, u might ask?

it's the Chelsea vs Man U match tonite...

he's crazy...

it's ok man. i promise to stay up n give u updates...

GOOOOO BLACKBURN ROVERS!!!!

Another New Fan

Gosh..this long weekend mus be a record.. i told quite a lot of ple of my blog and i think Agnes is no. 10!!!!!

yes, she doesnt mind being named.. as she says she's not a private person..so yeah.. there u go...

it's like almost 8 yrs since i've known her in JC.. amazing...

Weather Forecasts

Planning whether i should bring some cold weather wear, decided to check out the weather..

Xiamen: 28 degree celsius high/20 degree celsius low

Shantou: 27 degree celsius high/20 degree celsius low

Haikou: 30 degree celsius high/22 degree celsius low

Shanghai: 18 degree celsius high/14 degree celsius low

gosh... shanghai looks like it's gg to be cold...

Packing Time Again

Bringing this up again as I'll be going to Shanghai and Hangzhou for the whole of next week. It's been 2 mths since i travelled. I must be losing my touch as I forgot to bring some things from the office home to be packed and have to go before badm to get them :(

here's the list again:

1. passport
2. PDA
3. ipod
4. namecards
5. toothbrush
6. facial foam
7. powder
8. saline
9. contacts case
10. glasses
11. shirts
12. pants
13. suit
14. underwear
15. ipod charger
16. sunglasses
17. long sleeved tee shirt
18. camera
19. cologne
20. stationery
21. briefcase
22. pen
23. cufflinks
24. ties
25. socks
26. gel
27. tissue
28. story book
29. gel


Weather's pretty cold now... not bad

Mistake

I made the eternal mistake of telling gweneth powto my blog.. at first she didnt believe me when i told her cornball.blogspot.com, she thought it was a joke.. but i think curiosity got the better of her and now she's hooked to this site!!

she's now insisting i blog abt her...

i also duno to say..

i think i'll paste the frenster testimonial she wrote for me eons ago:

damn.. friendster changed so much i cant find my testimonials...

Well, Cornball's a gd pal of mine in sch.
And a strange twist of events gave us
the chance to know each other. One of
the most efficient and intelligent
people i know, he's been an advisor to
me someway or another during the past
two years. He's a leader at work and
play. Efforts of him organising school
projects as well as badminton and makan
sessions, he's really all u ever wanted
in a friend.

Always suaning me about my metal
braces, my fats, my singlehoodness, my
bad english and the list seems
inexhaustable... he's still my friend.
Maybe coz he does it in a funny way. I
never fail to crack up whenever he's
around. Makes my study life so much
more interesting and fun-filled.

Pretty Gals

I met a couple of my fren's frens that day.. all three of them quite pretty. And one of them caught my eye cos she looked very familiar. On knowing her name, i realised i met her like 10 yrs ago when i was out with my fren. of cos i told her la.. but i think she kinda forgot n then thought it was a lame pickup line on my part.. i mus admit it does sound lame.. but hey it's true, i remember her!

Incongruences

I like the word "Incongruent". I dont use the words "different", "dissimilar" or "differing" very often.. i prefer to use "Incongruent". tat's mostly cos i wana act chim and i love the way the word rolls off my tongue...

u can check out the pronounciation here..click on the red speaker icon

so there u go :- Incongruent.

the world is filled with incongruences and it's painful. it's a big pain in the fat ass when your expectations are incongruent with your client, it's saddening when your partner's thoughts of the relationship are incongruent to yours. it hurts when two ple have incongruent views on their frendship.

some may argue that incongruences lead to improvement. when one doesnt agree with another, he/she may strive to do something different and thus create something new.

that's rare and most of the time, incongruences hurt.

i still like the word.

Welcome.. Welcome.. my 9th Fan

i've just told a ninth person abt my blog..

welcome welcome to Cornball's Lil' Korner

*wave*

pls read through all 82 posts and leave ur comments

=)

Eye Bags

More than a few people have commented on my eye rings and i've also noticed them.. actually i've had eye rings and eye bags for the longest of times cos i also sleep so little.. and i think the prob has been excerbated by my serious lack of sleep recently.. so i've decided to do something abt it..

As usual i asked the ple in SPUG..

I've gotten a few suggestions:

1. Bodyshop Eye Revitaliser
2. Bodyshop Vit E (not sure if it's the same as No.1 )
3. Sisley Paris
4. SKII

and since my sis says Sammi Cheng so pretty, SKII mus be gd.. so i've gone on a nation-wide hunt to all SKII counters to get samples.. muhahahaa. ive 2 so far..

:)

i hope this works

Halloween

It's Halloween that day and i changed my MSN nick to

"Harlow.. Win Liao Lor"

Go figure..

my sis says it's the ah beng version.. hahah