bah bah black sheep.. (dumb heading lol..)

hehe, seems like the american family is getting pretty popular! i've got 7 other ppl going with me! so now got 8 of us in all. now all i need to do is book a car.. or rather an SUV. Thanks deliang for getting 2 people to come as well! ^_^
bah~ i must learn how to book car~ then i book i need to drive also.. must prove to the guys that we can drive! right Alicia? =p

in fact, andy now also contemplating to come! haha.. no space dude! unless u can get 1 more person to come then can book 2 cars la~ 5 ppl in each car. 9 ppl in a big SUV? hmmm.. unless u can get 3 ppl who are willing to squeeze with u in the back row! hehe~

oooo... i can't wait for this weekend man.. i miss the mouth-watering food that the Kolens cooked for us the other time.. i wanna learn to cook like them~ (sorry mummy, they do cook THAT well, haha~) ooo.. and the SMORES~ i miss all the fun activities as well.. go play in the pool, play archery and guns (i still need to get my bull's eye.. gonna get more practice! guys step aside and let me show you what i'm made of! ahahahahaha!!) ooooh, and i miss the go cart races!! dat time i took the go cart ride with Arielle damn exciting la! she damn reckless driver man! driving much faster than my car -.-" lol.. but damn fun la.. i also loved the ride with Bill on his Harley Davidson's bike hee~

Darn.. i'm getting too excited liao haha..

Before i forget:
Thank you Adrian for washing the dishes yesterday and thank you whoever cleared the trash yesterday as well! =D
Thank you darling for helping me get rid of 2 ka zuas yesterday, although u let 2 others escape >.< (my bf is a pro-lifer, so he refuses to kill the ka zuas, just catch them and throw in the rubbish bag.. then i gotta bring down the trash cos the ka zuas will definitely bite outta the trash bag >.< )

DIE.. ka zua infestation in our house! they come out after midnight.. 5 ka zuas yesterday.. 1 already dead..
need.. to... buy... insecticide...

weekend outing!!

i've been trying to settle weekend outings for a long time.. last week's six flags was cancelled.. this week i wanna visit the Kolen family also almost cancelled.. at first papa said ok, then he said that he go there dunno wad to do, dowan go, but he'll go if we need ppl.. then after that he said dowan go again.. so he keep sending me other websites to show me other things to do, like go see some events or go woodburry shopping.. so i said ok, if he can get ppl.. yesterday we plan this sat go woodburry already, but today i received email from the Kolens telling me that they are excited to see us, so i felt guilty and decided not to cancel the trip. i do wanna see them, they are very nice people, just that i can't go there on my own, i don't have the capital to fork out the total rent of the car, and also because i prefer family outings like last time.. so i asked papa again, but now he turned me down because he'd rather watch soccer at home.. !!! where's the love in this family? to think i cooked bak kut teh on sat specially lor~

luckily for me, i managed to get others to join us, so the trip to the kolen's is confirmed ^_^ then sunday can go woodburry shopping also.. the sale is not to be missed! =D but woodburry trip need to get more ppl go la, cos only 4 of us at the moment..

pacey just left for florida trip. today is his turn to cook dinner.. not only did he not cook dinner, he also left a big mess for me to clean up for him. these few days i have been cleaning up his breakfast cos he everyday leave his dirty dishes around and i always needed the plates so i go clean up for him.. today he left the kitchen super dirty la.. all the salmon fish sause on the kitchen table.. so now i have to clean up the kitchen as well as cook dinner.. but that's ok.. when he comes back he will have to cook twice for the week liao hehe.. (i very good liao.. i've cooked 4 times these few days~)

yeah! no screw ups!! :P

when my bf just arrived, i was so kan chiong that i couldn't cook a proper meal for him.. but these few days my bf had been eating great food! =p on friday, which was my turn to cook, i made normal ground beef, but i made a special potato dumpling dish.. i didn't make the dumpling, but i was happy that i was able to cook until the frozen dumpling had a nice brown crispy crust~ yum! then on sat, i cooked bak kut teh for the house.. actually i wanted to cook bak kut teh on friday 1, but deliang couldn't make it back home for dinner so wanted me to cook on sat instead. he's been real busy nowadays since "someone" left.. he seldom participates in any house activities liao.. always "busy" in his room :( no more roadtrips also ler T.T haiz.. the power of love to motivate things to do :/

ooo damn.. strayed from topic XD
anyway, i cooked bak kut teh on sat night, last min cooking cos everyone was undecided whether they wanted to eat at home or something.. so in the end, i cooked the soup with frozen spare ribs.. lucky i got skill, and my bak kut teh still turned out fantastic! lol...

sat noon, the guys wanted to watch world cup, so i brought my darling to the african restaurant opposite our house to eat. oooo, the food is great!! i ordered this stewed lamb which was damn nice lar! the meat was deeply marinated and extremely tender! *SLURP!* my bf loved my lamb dish too! :P i think we'll go visit that place to eat again hehe~

on sunday, pacey, deliang, me and bf went to the arts museum. six flags trip was cancelled cos deliang and pacey pang seh me T.T but the museum was nice. glad that at least deliang gave face and joined us =p we thought that pacey would take the longest to finish the museum, but ended up he finished first! haha.. me and my bf finished less than half the museum! >.< then after that we all went to niki's house for dinner. niki was very hospitable and made char kuey tiao for us! yummy~ ^_^
PS niki: ur bf will love ur cooking!! =D

for today, i also swapped cooking duties with deliang because i feel like using up the mushroom in the fridge to cook mushroom alfredo pasta! ^_^ i've been buying a lot of mushroom from frogo recently because it's on sale!! $1.29 per pack, much cheaper than the usual $4/pac. this is a simple dish, won't screw up la huh? think my dear will like this too! =D

this week i think everyone has become super lazy~ or super busy.. everyone is doing their own things, like no more cosy house gatherings ler.. T.T because last week most of the guys went for the poconos trip, we didn't go for our weekly grocery shopping, then end up me and my bf going to frogo everyday to stock up the house.. we went to chinatown to buy rice and sauses as well >.< my poor darling.. carry most of the stuff~ then back at home, no 1 bothers to boil water to drink anymore~ no 1 bothers to throw trash anymore~ i've been doing housework everyday when i come home >.< then my bf commented that i'm like my housemate's mummy, fussy around everyone.. (i've been calling everyone if they needed me to help them buy whatever meat they want to cook or if they need me to help them thaw the meats) and i thought to myself: omg.. i'm so auntie T.T cannot cannot!! i shall stay in office and do more work! =p

Phantom!!

went to watch phantom of the opera broadway on wednesday in New York City!! so happy!! the play was very good, it was like watching life cinema! the scene switch was so seamless that it's just like a scene switch on tv!! the cast was very good too! i didn't know that there are so many good opera singers around who can sing that well.. i just can't believe how they can sing so much everyday! there's 2 shows a day 7 days a week.. do they all act in every show? i bet they must have backups! that means more pro opera singers!! ^_^

i love broadway.. last time when i was young, my mum brought me to watch cats and les miserable. at that tender age, i was able to appreciate cats more, cos i love animals and there were a lot of action. for les miserable, i still don't know the story up till now haha.. mebbe next time can watch again hehe.. as for phantom, i thought that it was a great time to watch it now cos i'm watching it with my darling, and phantom is a love story =p i watched the phantom movie and the broadway with him! hehe~ the phantom movie was out last year i think, and i thought that the voice of the female lead of the movie was much better than the OST of the original play. i went to buy the OST CD last time when phantom came to singapore, but i didn't watch it.. anyway, wad i was trying to say was that the female lead of the movie had a much sweeter voice than the OST, so i loved the movie a lot.. for the broadway play that we went to on wednesday, the female lead was a young girl also, so she had a very sweet voice too! =p i enjoyed both show thoroughly with my dear ^_^

too bad we didn't really get to tour around NYC cos we were pretty time constrained.. mebbe can go there again with my dear another day =D

in bliss~

now with my bf here with me, i feel so xing4 fu2!! hee~ ^_^ got someone to talk to at work the whole day (cos same timezone), go someone to fetch me to and fro from work everyday (i got someone to protect me in this dangerous place!!), to eat lunch together and of cos, lotsa "X X O O X O xx oo" hahahahahaha... sorry, i stole this line from the movie Nacho Libre which i went to watch together with my dear on Sunday :P guys, pls dun think too far.. it's not what u're thinking! >.<

anyway, me and my bf xing1 you3 ling2 xi1! we actually chose the same path to go my workplace hehe.. cos i work at the science center, i need to walk 3 streets east and 1 street north to work.. but i choose a pretty weird path going halfway north then east then north then all the way east to work.. amazingly, my bf chose the same pathway as well! woooo... i chose that pathway because it has more shades and quieter, as i'll be skipping the huge crowd at the subway which i think can be pretty dangerous and rowdy. i also chose that path because i'll never need to wait for traffic; if i'm at traffic junction, i can choose either path which is available to reach diagonally across. i guess me and him think the same! ^_^

just now i met him for lunch. i brought him to the foodtruck to try the philly cheesesteak. i haven't eaten that for a long time.. taste so good!! :P next time i gonna bring him to pat's steak to try the original philly cheesesteak where they use cheese whiz instead of the normal american cheese. yum~

bleah~

philly is soooo boring! >.< where can my dear go when i go work? there's nothing interesting around the neighbourhood which he can go tour around when i'm not free :/ there are also so many weekends that are still unfilled.. i dunno where to bring my darling~ but that can be settled.. just need to find other interesting places on the net where we can go.. just.. not too far so that i can keep in budget haha..

yes, my darling is here! sooo happy! ^_^ lucky the rest of the guys at home are pretty tired these few days, so they nv bully my dear hehe~ won't let them anyways! >.<

on saturday when my bf arrived, i was so nervous that i didn't know what or how to cook.. and i ended up cooking super awful food for him T.T he hasn't tried any decent meals that i've done.. sometimes i feel he a bit sway.. come here and the temperature just shoots up dramatically; he had called me at the exact time which the shuttle bus company i booked for him also called, causing him to miss the bus cos i didn't pick up their call over him; when he reach he witnessed like 3 serious crimes with 2 dead people.. but.. doesn't matter.. his luck's gonna get better each day! right dear? =p anyway, he's got good first hand cultural experience mah lol..

countdown~~

i have sooooo much homework to do.. but i'm distracted.. my darling's plane is gonna land in an hour!! argh.. dunno wad i'm reading already.. can't concentrate.. think i should just write a blog entry hehe~

just now during lunch, me and pacey watched the movie: the breakup, starring jennifer aniston. at first i didn't want to watch cos i may want to wait for dear to arrive before we watch together.. but i was thinking.. the breakup? mebbe it's better not to watch that first thing when he comes >.< so, wad the heck.. i need to pass time!! today's time is passing sooo slowly!! T.T

anyway, the show is about this couple who broke up.. the reason? like what happens to many couples there.. inability to compromise and give in.. i shall just start with the difference between men and women. women usually like the home to be neat and tidy, men on the other hand, doesn't really mind if the dishes are not done, the clothes are piled up, or if the bed is not made. in a house where a couple lives together, what happens when there's double standards? women of course will then insist that the house be kept in order and so will cook, wash the dishes, pick up the dirty laundry etc. but these are mundane jobs.. who likes to do them? especially when both parties are working.. women when they tire, hope that men will help them out.. but the idea is that they hope that men will offer to help, to want to do the dishes.. men's remark: why would i desire to do the dishes? most men don't get it! they don't understand why the dishes must be done immediately after dinner, why they even have to help out in the kitchen when it's women's "duty". women then get upset that men take them for granted to manage the house, that men don't really care if the women also worked the whole day (just like men), and still had to come back to cook, to wash and to tidy up the mess in the house while the men just sit down and relax.. women's job sometimes is like 24/7.. especially if they have kids.. not that men don't care, just that men usually are not capable of doing as good a job as women.. women's standards for cleanliness and order in the house is just so much than the guy's standards.. as a result, usually men feel upset that they have to maintain such a high standard just for the sake of making the women happy.. as such, because of these little difference in values that both parties hold, conflict arises as time goes by.. y? because women want the men to want to maintain such standards, or at the very least, want to help their wife to do that.. and obviously when they don't share the value, women start to nag.. when women complains, men shuts off or becomes defensive and the tension just gets worse.. if none are willing to give in, they break up..

such issues are so common in most relationships, and they take all kinds of form.. everyone has different values for different things, and sometimes a person's values are just too far apart from their partners, which makes things very difficult to resolve. i have read an article on WebMD before on finding out if you've found the "right one" and one of the main issues that they listed was if the couple had similar values. if both parties value religion highly, say, it makes things so much easier for them.. or should i say, make one less thing to fight about..

kewl~ i spent half an hour on this!! half an hour more and my darling will gimme a call!! yay~

why why why why why??

aiyah.. stupid weather!! it was still so cool yesterday!! but in a span of 2 days, the temperature's gonna rise 20 degrees!!! omg.. yesterday was 70 degrees, today's 80.. tmr when my bf comes it's gonna be 88 degrees.. he gonna reach tmr night so the 1st daytime temperature he will feel will be on sunday.. and sunday's temperature is the highest at 94 degrees.. T.T why why why?? liddat he come over he cannot experience the cool weather~ like aircon in the outdoors.. pls pls pls.. let the temperature fall again! i wan my bug to feel the cool air outside!! ^_^

well, at least he come over he still can experience some other things which he can't see in sg.. like having ang mo construction workers instead of the banglah workers hehe.. and the beautiful architechture of the houses and churches~ :D

but most of all, i get to see him at last!!! yay!! yayayayayayay!!! hee~ *jumps up and down in joy~

Finally!!!!

at last i've gotten all the pics and videos that we took at Kolen's family!! must go see my photo album! see us eat the SMORES and envy us! hahaha.. i've got loads of other video clips of the fireworks, but too lazy to upload all of them. here's just a very short 1 ^_^


a very short video clip of the fireworks~


lol.. just.. plain crazy haha..

Congrats Michelle!!! ^_^

OMG! my gal pal michelle is getting married in Dec this year!! I'm so happy for her!! I was so shocked to hear the news from Geraldine, my best dance pal back in JC :D I think I'm so excited about that news that I won't be able to sleep tonight!! hee~ Aiyah, just a bundle of joy for her~ I haven't met up with her and the rest of our gang for so long! miss them all so much! T.T

me, michelle, geri and grace were best pals in JC.. the four of us were in dance and we are always together haha.. miss all the fun we had last time.. always practicing our dance steps together, choreographing dances and talking about Mr Tay and.. oh no.. forgot my ballet teacher's name!! haha.. but we didn't really do ballet, we did more of Jazz, Rock 'n Roll, Hip Hop and Lindy hop with Mr Tay. I still remember Mr Tay was always so adventurous, making us do all the dance stunts where the guys will throw us girls here and there and swing us around lol.. I had sooo much fun!! I think that was one of my most memorable times of my life.. I was so sad when all of us went to different unis after that.. geri and mich went to NTU, grace went to law in NUS and i was in science.. we got together once in a while, but we were all busy with our own stuffs most of the time.. but.. i'm very glad that we are still great pals ^_^

now that mich is getting married, she's inviting all of us to her wedding!! but her wedding is on Dec 10 or 11 this year, which means i may still be working.. geri told me that she wants us to be her bridesmaid!! oooo i can't turn that down!! i think i'll go speak to my boss to end my job at the end of Nov. I'll fly back man.. this event is not to be missed!! =D she gonna have her wedding in church then tea at westin stamford~ wow!! so kewl!!! bet she gonna have a uber grand wedding! ^_^

2 more days~~

yay! I've been waiting so long!! I just need to hang on a little longer and my bf will be here with me!! ^_^

There's much to do before he comes.. we just had house cleaning a few days ago, but the house is still very dirty la.. yesterday cannot sleep cos deliang never switch off the light in the living room and the light shone into my room through the glass at the top of my door~ so i had to climb outta bed and go switch off the lights.. that's when i saw another ka zua scurry into the toilet from the carpet outside! >.< Confirm got a ka zua family in our house la.. I hate carpets!! so mafan to clean!! the patch of carpet outside the toilet is still soaking wet.. and it's starting to stink! >.< sad.. my room is just beside the toilet :/ lucky my dear is coming on sat night.. that means i got time to clean up the mess on sat afternoon.. already planned wad i wanna do liao:

wake up
eat breakfast
go center city dollar store
buy floor rags for toilet and kitchen (adrian went to buy door mats and hand towel instead the other day lol..) and insecticide to kill all the ka zua~
come back home and start soaking up the water outside the loo with rag (anyone has a hair dryer?)
tidy up the whole house
take a shower
call the shuttle service to confirm my reservation
do homework and wait for dear to arrive!! =p

PS: chestnutties~ have fun at Poconos!! ^_^

Embarrassment of my life~

today is my senior's graduation from NCBV and it was a cocktail event so i had to wear a cocktail dress. luckily Estee had a very very nice dress which she lent me to wear.

me and estee~

i was the usher and the certificate presenter for the event. my job as the cert presenter was to pass the graduation certificates to the guest of honour who would present the certs to the seniors. that was alright.. it was a piece of cake.. but what happened next would effectively put me in the limelight. as i thought that all the certs had been given out, i blur blur go and show the guest of honor back to his seat.. then kaian quickly pulled me back, because the gift of appreciation forgot to pass to him.. damn paiseh, i quickly called him back and apologised to him.. everyone laughed.. T.T then i paiseh until i more blur, i took the present and i presented the gift to him MYSELF.. I SHOOKED HIS HAND AND THANKED HIM.. christ.. i could just die of embarrassment man.. that was because niki in front of me just announced to pass the gift of appreciation to our VIP, Lily Chan while i was happily shaking the guest of honor's hand and giving him the present.. T.T call me a SUCCESSFUL stickiness factor man.. i think the audience can laugh until they fall off the chair >.< then the guest of honor so poor thing must pass the gift I gave him to the VIP member, Lily.. ROFL~

ok, this wasn't actually the worst part.. at least i could be in self denial and pretend no 1 saw me? >.< but when every single person who came to me after that with either a knowing smile, shaking heads, empathy or downright bursting into laughter wasn't helping my self denial :/ well, at least they said i looked damn cute when i made the blunder.. i wonder if i should take that as a compliment and continue with my self denial haha..

jiaxian and me

niki, eric and me

the chiobus~

thank you pacey for helping all of us take so many pretty photos!! and making the the amazing video clip! i'm so proud of u!! ^_^ betcha gonna make it big next time =D

EEKS!! Pest Infested House!!!

these couple of days i've really been the target of pests in the house.. now is spring.. nearing summer.. all the pests are coming out of their hibernation from winter and starting their family in my house! >.< at first it was xiao qiang in the toilet.. i saw it like a few days ago late at night.. everyone was asleep except deliang.. so i ask him to get it for me.. he so blur n slow by the time he came over, the ka zua had already ran away.. -.-" then like on friday night 2 days ago, there was the mouse, aka "brian" in the toilet.. again only deliang was awake, so i asked him to come get it.. again he was slow n the mouse ran away T.T

yesterday evening AFTER house cleaning, while i was preparing dinner, there was a ka zua in the cabinet drawer.. all of the guys were there n adrian was the hero.. he was 1st to try to catch it.. but he tried like a couple of times, he kept missing it, and xiao qiang just kept running around the drawer.. then came lawrence.. he pounced on it and caught it 1st time haha.. guess he was the last hero standing lol..

this morning, i woke up for our school fieldtrip to Intellifit. i was walking to the kitchen wanting to take my breakfast when i screamed.. there was another ka zua... n it was right in front of my feet.. T.T lucky lawrence just woke up n came out of his room and he went to get it.. while trying to lure it out from the pots n pans where it was hiding, he accidentally squashed it under a pan.. -.-" i'll make sure i'll never touch that pan again lol... but anyway, thx to law, another ka zua down! ^_^ law can become the next superhero liao.. batman? spiderman? no!!! ka zua man!! =p

today's event

wah~~ at last man.. after more than a month of not cleaning up the house, we finally settled down to clean up the whole place!! i would say that the house is still pretty dirty, but it's so much cleaner compared to before we clean it. good job chestnuts!! ^_^

n i'm so happy that there was ding!! bwahahaha.. now got cheap air tix!! today damn busy man.. checking for the cheapest hotels n stuffs.. and i also found out that the cruise that i booked to go bahamas is sold out! phew!! lucky i've booked it.. so scary man.. if we didn't book it early then we'd have to pay so much more!! the.. importance.. of.. being.. KIASU!!! wahahahaha...

today's day is so short! woke up at 12.30.. ate banana and pistachio nuts for breakfast cos there was no milk left for my cereal.. then after that research online n book hotel tix.. then after that house cleaning!! then after that grocery shopping.. bought my cereals, microwave lunch and the usual groceries.. then after that i cook dinner n watch a bit of tv.. (thx adrian for cutting the watermelon, and pacey for washing up the heap of dishes!! :) ) n now.. talking to my darling!! ^_^ collecting my emoticons from him too haha.. stupid msn.. suddenly all my emoticons disappeared.. so sad!! i've got like a thousand emoticons damn cute one lor.. all gone T.T n my darling dun have all my emos too T.T

time flies~ it's already 9.30pm... whole day gone liddat.. but.. but.. still got 6 more days!! T.T oooo.. i'm soooooooooo excited!!! i can't wait for my dear to arrive man.. *jumps up n down in excitement!! =p i have a feeling i gonna be so distracted this whole week man.. counting down every second... >.<

Wishie Washie~

haiya.. wad should i do? i find myself in this kind of spot all the time!! given 2 choices, i always dunno wad to do.. should i take the risk or not? now i need to decide if i should wait n see if i can push my luck n get a probable cheap air ticket to florida or just buy a relatively reasonable priced promotional ticket now.. if i wait for a chance that there will be a cheap ticket (southwest ding), the promotional ticket may be sold out before i know it, and i'll end up paying for expensive original priced tickets.. how how?? T.T argh.. i love excitement.. i love roller coaster.. i love horror movies.. but.. but.. i just dun like mind boggling stuffs >.< i.. i've got no guts to take risks T.T so usually wad happens is that i'll just be unable to make decisions and end up just wasting time n mulling over it :/ and in the mean while, i'll just be pulling my hair out haha..

talking about hair, i've got another issue which i can't decide.. ok guys, dun read this; meant for girls only haha.. i can't decide which shampoo to use! LOL.. when i just came over to philly, it was winter. the air was dry and cold, and i was using the neutragena haircare for over processed hair. that was why my hair was pretty soft and smooth initially.. nowadays as the air becomes warmer and more humid, my hair is frizzing up and curling badly.. and my hair is getting pretty bombastic with all the curls.. my hair's pretty dehydrated because i got rebond it last time.. now my hair a bit spoilt la >.< singapore so humid my hair everytime frizz up, so i just end up rebonding n rebonding again, making things worse.. anyway.. back to the topic.. i can't decide what shampoo to use!! cause right now i'm using this VO5 strawberries and cream shampoo which smells heavenly! i love it man, can smell my hair to sleep ahahahaha... but it's cheap shampoo la.. giant bottle for 99 cents only.. normal hair i think sure no prob 1.. the shampoo is not lousy quality.. the problem is my current hair needs extra good quality haircare like the neutragena 1.. dat 1 works wonders for my hair man.. i used it yesterday my curls calmed down dramatically n there was no tangles! my hair was super smooth n soft oso.. actually the shampoo doesn't smell bad la.. it smells very very nutty, like hazelnut liddat hee~ but.. i like strawberries n cream~~ T.T n dat giant bottle so big.. i think i can use till the end of the year lor.. should i let my hair smell great but dry n frizzy or should i go buy my neutragena shampoo n conditioner which will cost me $13? lol.. feel so bimbo talking about shampoos haha..

Horror~

Today's 06/06/06.. or 666, the devil's code. today is also the opening of the movie: the omen.. i cant wait to watch it! ^_^ i love horror movies all my life, it's just so.. scary XD i still remember when i was young, i used to hide under my pillow, my blanket and even under my mattress while watching horror shows haha.. when there were scary scenes, i often didnt really know what happened since i would close my eyes and hide under covers in fear >.< nowadays when i watch horror shows, i've learnt that i shouldn't really close my eyes cos i'll end up not knowing what's going on, so i watch.. and i end up screaming >.< my housemates say that the horror shows are usually not scary, but because i keep scaring them with my sudden scream or when i jump during those sudden scary scenes, it scared the hell out of them hahahahaha... after i jump or scream they will also jump up in shock and go: "wah lao!! why u suddenly scream? don't scare me leh.. the show not scary, u more scary lor!!" >.< ROFL.. sorry, i didn't mean to scare u.. but really scary mah.. the ghost suddenly appear T.T

just now was the ultimate.. we were watching the show last comic standing where people compete to be the best comedian and all of us were laughing at the jokes.. then during the commercial break, there was a ad on the movie the omen.. then we started discussing whether we should watch it in the cinema or ***** to watch.. then i suddenly saw this scene from the corner of my eye that there was a monster in the reflection on the mirror of the toilet cabinet when the woman closed it.. ok, u guessed it.. i yelped.. and they all jumped up in shock >.< now pacey say that next time we watch horror movies, they need to put me at the back, so that i can be part of the surround sound to make the horror movie more scary.. T.T

well, at least i only screamed >.< i still remember last time i went to watch house of wax with my bf in the cinema.. i got so scared that i really cried >.< but lucky got my darling to sayang me XD
yay! i'm counting down now.. 11 more days and i got someone to protect me ler! ^_^

Food Expiration

Since young, my mum had taught me the importance of food and its impact on health. My mum is very particular when it comes to eating the best to ensure that we are healthy. She would buy the freshest of things she can get hold on.. for perishables, the freshest food will be those that are still alive. whenever possible, she would buy live prawns, live fish, live crabs and only kill them as late as possible, such as when we are gonna cook and eat it. when me and my mum go grocery shopping where the food available are often mixed together with different expiration date, she teaches me to pick the freshest; the "premium quality" as i would call it. if we are buying milk, we'd choose the pack that can last the longest (the latest expiry date). the reason is not so much that we can keep it in our fridge for longer but because they are the freshest.

whenever i shop with friends or other people, they often ask me why i insist on buying the "lastest" when you can definitely finish up the food before it expires. well, i guess it's because i've been brought up this way, to choose the best quality products. i often muse to myself and ask: when you have a choice between 2 items that costs the same but are of different quality, why would anyone want to pick the one of lower quality?

being a life scientist myself, i should explain my rationale:
the moment living things die, they start to rot. period.
bacteria is everywhere in the air, and no matter how well the perishable food is packed, they contain live bacteria. what bacteria does is that they break down the food to produce acids, some of which are toxic. acids produced by bacteria in milk for example, causes milk to curdle and turn sour. the sourness is actually the taste of the lactic acid btw.. sure, the milk will take a couple of weeks before u see it curdle, but the process of it turning sour happens the moment the milk is squeezed out of the cow. the reason why u can drink it is because it will take that much time for the bacteria to produce enough acid to turn the milk sour. that is the threshold point when food "expires" and we deem it unsuitable for consumption.

many of us are taught that once u keep the food in the refrigerator, your food will stay fresh. wrong! lowering the temperature will only slow down the process of rotting. when the temperature is low, bacteria are still alive. the only difference is that they work more slowly. they are still trying to rot your food, but at a slower speed.

so the next time you buy your grocery, think about the stage of rotting of the food that you're buying. would you want to buy food that are already half rotten or food that are just beginning to rot? they all cost the same most of the time you know?

here's an interesting article that you guys might want to read. Click here.

Kolen family visit

yesterday i went to a family visit after my senior, Yew Zhen jioed me there for a weekend getaway. we booked a car and headed down to Westchester where they stayed. We were late. we were supposed to go there to watch their son, Billy Kolen play a baseball match. We tried calling them but their phone was down so we couldn't inform them that we would be late. When we reached their house, we were afraid that they could have left but luckily they weren't. they were at home because the match was cancelled due to the rain. lucky! the kids were playing in the pool when we drove up the drivwway. When we came out of the car, we were warmly welcomed by Jill Kolen, the mistress of the house. Bill was not at home that time, i think he was out riding his Harley Davidsons which he just bought =p

I had lotsa fun in their house. first, me and the kids, Arielle (6yrs old) and Billy (9yrs old), played with the table disc (the one u find in arcades), taking turns.. dun really know what it's real name is called, but it's like a table tennis table, but the surface of the table got lotsa holes with wind blowing out. on either side, there will be a hole for the disc (the goal) and each of us will have a plastic handle to hit the disc and try to get it into the opponent's goal. i love that game. it's so cool that they actually have it at home! ^_^
next, i went to play in the pool with the kids. It was pretty chilly, but at least it stopped raining. they had lotsa pool toys like giant killer whale float, and all other kinds of floats. We had fun, especially with Arielle screaming everytime Billy comes to attack her haha..
after the pool, we had a late lunch. boy, the food was simply sooo delicious! there were potato salad (yum! my personal favourite), baked beans (the best voted among all of us, i like that too! =p), fruit salad (I LOVE FRUITS!!! got blueberries, strawberries, cantalopes and grapes, and they are extremely fresh!! ^_^), grilled chicken, hot dog, beef burger and jelly cake. *salivates~~ haha.. i ate so much i think i gained 2 pounds in that meal lol..

the family has a lot of pets. they have a big dog, Mex, 2 cats, buttons and buttercups,a rabbit, a toad and 2 frogs haha.. i love her cats! so cute~~ =D

after the lunch, we did a lot of other things like playing the monkey bar, go cart, shooting copper bullets with bebe gun and even archery!
Arielle is very strong, she could do monkey bar very very well. She even became our teacher, teaching us how to train our arm muscles and doing different tricks haha.. both Arielle and Billy have a go cart. they have a very big field outside their house that they can drive the go cart around. Arielle took me for a lot of rides on the go cart and it was so exciting! she was driving extremely fast and because the ground was uneven, the ride was super bumpy which made it more exciting with the go cart flying up and down lol.. i think i had the most rides on the go cart compared to the rest. i took 3 rides with Arielle while the rest of the girls only had 1 ride with her. for my last ride, it was also extremely long because Billy was chasing her so we were in the go cart for a long chase by Billy. All i can say is that they both can drive very well.. who knows, they can become real profesional racers next time with their standard man! if only i have go cart like that man.. while we were riding the go cart, Mex, the dog, will also run along with us. pretty interesting to see it running side by side hee..

i also had a chance to play with the bebe gun and archery which belongs to Billy. i would say i shoot badly haha.. but u gotta give me credits for it being my 1st time >.<

Bill and his friend, Chuck, came back while we were playing with the kids and we went to look at the gardens where they plant the vegetables. they plant corn, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, parsley.. dunno wad else haha.. so cool! get to eat fresh home grown vegetables! ^_^ after that, he took each of us on a ride on his Harley!! ooooo sooo exciting too!! feel like a biker man, ultra kewl~ and for me, Bill even rode up to 85mph! oo hoo!! boy, i love the wind ^_^

bill has lotsa hobbies. he plays baseball, hunts wild boars and all kinds of other animals, go fishing, rides his boat and so many things which i cant recall right now haha..

after that we prepared dinner. dinner was sumptious man.. we had fresh salad from the garden, pork ribs, beef and chicken steak, potato salad, baked beans and BBQ prawns prepared by Billy.. yum!~~ that's another 3 pounds to my weight >.< while i was eating, buttercups keep purring and rubbing me to get me to give him some food haha.. he sure was insistent! =p and the cats really love me XD

after dinner we still had other activities... we went to make SMORES!!! bwahahahaha... i have AUTHENTIC SMORES to eat!!! whee~~~~ what we did was that we had marshmellows, hershey's chocolate bars and graham crackers. we went to barbecue the marshmellow until they melted then put them on top of the chocolate bar which will melt. the graham cracker is put below the chocolate bar. vuala! smores sandwich!! ^_^ the melted marshmellows and chocolate plus the graham crakers together was simply heaven~ it tastes so good that i ate ALOT! think that put another 5 pounds to my weight T.T we had so much fun, laughing and joking together. after that, Bill also played the electric guitar while blasting the music.. haha.. bill is charming =D actually he wasn't really playing.. he was strumming, but the guitar wasn't plugged in haha.. but he can play. he used to play for some rock stars. he's got drums too!

even later that day, we had the finale.. we went to set fireworks! wow.. it was soooo beautiful. i'm really really touched that they had spent so much on us! Billy and Bill together set the fireworks. i think this is such a memorable day for me. it's really a great experience to see what an american family is like and i'm touched to see how nice these people are.

if Bill hadn't just shouted to tzeling they all last year (during their halloween roadtrip to the corn maze) to go over to their house for dinner, we would most probably may never meet each other at all. it's interesting how fate brings people together.. but most of all, it's amazing how just a nice simple gesture to invite strangers to their house would make such a wonderful experience for all of us and create lasting friendships.

check out my photo album to see my day at their house ^_^

roomie~~~

now that weijia has gone back to sg, my room is suddenly so empty.. weijia is a very fun girl to be with, perhaps because she's smart and full of witty remarks. i'm sure all of us will miss her very much as a sparkling star has left the chestnut house..

i've always wanted a girl companion/roommate where we can be like sisters and best friends. we'll like have girls night out, girls gossip sessions, sharing all our clothes and stuffs and even have pillow fights haha.. however, me and weijia never got to that stage sadly. maybe it's because she not as wild as me =p but i still think she's very bubbly lah ^_^

hope she likes the home video we made for her (which unfortunately i'm forbiddened to upload it here =p). miss ya lots roomie~ cya back in sg! =D