30
Mar 09
owarimasu
A number of anime I've been
chasing has just simultaneously ended and I'm feeling despair now. I
didn't really appreciate/understand the ending of
ToraDora.
SkipBeat! ended
abruptly for me (since I've read the manga and know what follows, it
didn't seem like a good time to end it), Gundam 00 Season 2
ended differently from other gundam series in that it
urges the by-standers to stop being ignorant and empathetic and try to
understand the world in order to strive and bring the true peace that
everyone's wishing for. I applaud this. The CGI was terrific, no
complaints about that.
Omi's quote for the day:
Keep telling yourself that it is possible and set the deadline and
sooner or later, something that seems impossible will become possible
because you made it possible. GANBATTE!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
28
Mar 09
A Break & Earth Hour
Break and Eating spree -
After working on
overdrive for the last few weeks (worked at night and on weekends,
probably nothing new to all the working folks), decided to take a
break. Also decided to stop my Jap class b/c I'm starting to stop
enjoying it. The presentation on my proposed project scope to sup this
week went pretty well but the next step is more crucial since it is
implementation. But first off, I have to trudge through assignments,
poster design & presentations, critical report and powerpoint
presentations, exams.. before I start my experiments. With the above
in mind, I decided I'll reward myself with a little break with weekend
by not doing any work for ONE FULL DAY>
Woke up to start the day by
bringing my Indonesian friends to sample hawker fare at bedok. Started
with jasmine's favorite fried carrot cake at the interchange. Topped
off with a nice, cool glass of sugar-cane juice with lemon, and a
popiah, it's a start to a wonderful day. Went on to the other market
in the hope of finding the snail sausage stall that I read from an
online blogger but ended up not finding the stall, bumping into my
ex-colleague, spend a long time reminiscing/updating and letting my
Indonesia friends sample my favorite chai chee mince-meat
noodles. To walk off the food before our last stop at simpang bedok,
I made them walk all the way to my house and to the roti-john stall.
Needless to say, it's a very hot day and we were perspiring (hopefully
skin not very damaged by the sun rays by then) when we reached the
stall. Ended the meal with a gusto with cheese-mushroom-roti-john
and a big glass of overly-sweetened teh-bing. We went
Shop-&-Save
to cool down after that
and after consulting on the types of good Australian wine from my
friends, settled on a
Shiraz
from Adelaine. Hope it's good.
Read an article on how to gradually reduce your caffeine intake.
Though I'm controlling my coffee intake to be <2cups/day, I
decided to try mixing decaff with caffeinated coffee and slowly upping
the decaff portion till I weaned from caffeine. Anyway, that was our
last stop (since we can't eat anymore) and I'm already thinking of the next few places that we can visit in bedok
after the exams (Hill street chay kway tiao, fishball noodles, botak
jones & e pasta stall next to it, missU cafe...).
Was supposed to do my report
today but of course, I ended up swimming and we went to Werner's
Oven (since mum wanna try German food after hearing the sis
brought her MIL there). I was upset to see that the price has
increased a lot. We ordered pork knuckles, a sausage platter for 2, a
special set (grilled flatfish with potato wedges seasoned with
parsley) and it cost a whopping $98. It was a very "porky" meal and
probably would taste better if I had washed it down with a glass of
beer but there was no one to share with and I was feeling the pitch
from the $98 so we didn't. Actually I feel kinda sick after all the
sausages and crispy pork skin. I won't say it taste bad but I prefer
the fish dish better (and it cost a whopping $22!!!), it's too meaty
and expensive for me so I'll probably not return for a very long time.
Earth
Hour -
Ended the evening with
earth hour. Went around the house with a blue lightstick to realise
that with the light streaming in from the corridor, there is
sufficient lighting in the house and no need for the light stick.
Decided it defeats the purpose of earth hour to switch on other forms
of appliances that use electricity (ie. fan and tv), I opted to play
my piano in semi-darkness. After 1/2hr, I got bored and just lie on
the floor half-sleeping and half-thinking about my report structure.
Less than 1hr into the darkness, mum couldn't stay it any longer and
switch on the lights with 5min to spare. I'll say that at first I
didn't want to join in Earthhour because I felt that saving energy and
switching off appliances should be a daily routine, not something that
you do in 1hr. In addition, the amount of energy consumed by light is
the least of our worries (when compared to air-con, cars etc) so
switching off the light pale in comparison with the other energy
guzzler. But if the world needs evidence to show them that the
majority of mankind means business and support this cause, I will do
it.
The irony was that I fell asleep
later that night with the lights and tv on while watching NGC's
special on "6oC could change the world" before mum switch
off at 1am. After saving <1hr of energy, I wasted 2+hrs of energy.
Duh.
Needless to say, I'm ashamed.
Maybe I'll "pay back" by taking public transport instead of
driving next next week.
24
Mar 09
Still controlling...
controlling... dun lose it!!!
Omi realises that health lies in
your own hands and like so many other things in life, when the
symptoms first surface you have to take the initiative to find out
facts, think for yourself, and find means to help yourself before it's
too late.
The title's a misnomer. I'm still
holding my breath and trying not to lose my temper every time
something (that I feel is not right) sets me off.
23
Mar 09
Staying positive/neutral
Every time Omi felt injustice,
that omi's contributing more, being bullied, criticized, others
seemingly lazy, omi has to take a
deep breath, calm down, not to take it against others,
to think the better of others, that there is a reason for all these,
that it's not that bad to do all this...
Omi
wonders how come there are people who dun do much of the work but
still dare to criticise and make sooo many demands. Sigh....
21
Mar 09
In a wonderful morning
After forcing myself to sleep in (woke up at 7am even though it's a
wonderful Saturday to sleep in), I woke up (happier I think) at 9:30am
(long time I go beyond 8am), had breakfast, made a nice cup of white
latte (something like masala), accompanied by a nice greentea-red bean
cake (small, expensive but admittedly very nice!), it's a wonderful
day.
In the last few weeks, managed to
whip up very nice! salmon fried rice. I was astonished at how right the
taste is (saltiness etc...) and it tasted on par with mum's! I'm sooo
proud!! It's really very nice friend rice. Miracles do happen once in a
while :p
Then I tried out another weird
recipe, chicken breast marinated in
mustard+honey+greenchili+onion+salt+peppar sauce, coated with a layer of
cornflake and baked at 225oC for 40min (turn after 20min on each side).
The mash potato with onion was of course foolproof and nice but the
chicken taste kinda weird. It's not horrible but I think I need some
time to get used to mustard being a main flavour instead of a side
flavour (like with ketchup). Niwae, luckily I only tried out one piece
for myself. Dun think I'll try again. Next time I'll go for the
traditional hotdog with mustard and ketchup. Saw another sinful recipe
on Chef@Home regarding baked cheddar
cheese potato...Simmer the sliced potato in cream/milk for a while, add
seasonings (pepper, garlic, nutmeg), mix, pour into casserole plate, add
shredded cheddar on top, bake at 300oC and worla! Another sinful delight
that I think i'll try it out another day after exercising :)
Weird news from YahooNews!
Pa. boy, 11, accused of
killing dad's girlfriend
Strangely, what is more
appalling to me is that they actually have guns sized for kids... why
in the world do a kid has to have to gun?
Unnatural selection: How far will
parents go?
This reminded me of
Gundam Seed; I didn't know that they are already trying to practise
this even though it's quite a failure now but the weirdest thing is
that in spite of the high failure rates, there are still people going
for it. Imagine when the technique is perfect, what would happen?
Maybe a real war between the naturals and the coordinators.
Sigh...