Tuesday, August 21, 2007
one half - 881
when royston tan came to the school to give that assembly talk, i had no idea i was speaking to the man who made this show. he is this humble, friendly guy who explained why he was late and what happened to his flight the previous week. a rare celebrity, i'd call him.
watched 881 with HL, @ncy and bK on National Day. How else to celebrate our country's 42nd birthday? i'm really quite proud of the show. it's homemade and totally heartwarming. there were tears, of course.
and i love the song too. catchy melody and mega meaningful lyrics. and whoever sang it sang it so well and real. the hokkien verses made the song more authentic and closer to the heart. bravo! bravo! bravo!
think i'll buy a copy of the dvd to keep when it's out, kind of like trying to preserve our culture. a tiny bit. try.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
zoo again?
it's not even been a while yet and i'm back at the zoo. already. thanks to @ngy and iC for the tickets, the whole gang had lot's of fun. muah!
this time it's with the kids. and i think they're possibly the reason why i'm so tired this weekend. weekends are meant to be rest days. rest and relax. relax yes, but i don't think i'm getting enough rest. the kids are so hyper. and as far as i know, these 2 are the less hyper ones. and already i'm screaming "tired"!. but yet at the same time they are so adorable i wish i can see them everyday :)
i just hope that i'll have a good, quiet, peaceful week ahead. same to you if that's what you are asking for.
this time it's with the kids. and i think they're possibly the reason why i'm so tired this weekend. weekends are meant to be rest days. rest and relax. relax yes, but i don't think i'm getting enough rest. the kids are so hyper. and as far as i know, these 2 are the less hyper ones. and already i'm screaming "tired"!. but yet at the same time they are so adorable i wish i can see them everyday :)
i just hope that i'll have a good, quiet, peaceful week ahead. same to you if that's what you are asking for.
Monday, August 6, 2007
happy birthday, singapore
it's our first time at a ndp (preview).
i think there probably isn't going to be a next time for me until quite some time later. and so i wonder why people go to ndp year after year. it's really a little too much work for me.
but i still would like to applaud the thousands of people involved in the show - parade contingents, dancers, musicians, etc. after months of hard work, the big day is coming soon. let's pray for good weather and a fantastic show on 9th Aug 2007!
happy 42nd birthday, Singapore!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
ten years (or more?)
when they come up to you and say "hi", and you can't remember them or take a while to do so, i can think of 2 things:
1. far too long.....i've been here for quite some time now.
2. i must hv done something nice, for otherwise they wouldn't have come forward.
Singapore Girl
--------------
I was on my way to Bali for a weekend getaway with @ncy, bK and the rest. the drama of that trip was that i didn't get my tickets confirmed until 5 am the morning the plane was supposed to take off. but that's another story. while i was looking for my seat on that singapore plane, a girl tried to help me with my bag. then she said, "do you happen to be Mr Tan?" and i thought i must have been the 1,000,000th passenger or something for a stewardess to know my name. Her name tag said "shuhui" and she said i thought her english. totally not possible. but she did get my name right.
DBS Girl
--------
I'm usually in and out of parkway parade within 2 hours each time i go there. but this day, i was having lunch with stef who has just flew in from indonesia. we were waiting in line to draw money at the atm when this girl at the next queue asked, "are you Mr Tan?" i tried to recall and thankfully i was honest enough not to say i remembered her. turned out, i have not taught her but she "has seen me around in school". i wished her a great day.
Tamil @ Prison
--------------
He works there. I was there every wednesday evening last year. this year it's mondays. we gathered as usual at the gate until some officer comes to escort us to the classrooms. this indian guy walked past us and then turned back and called out "Mr Tan". and i immediately recognised that smile. i have always missed my 5A1s. i always like 5A1s.
Girl on MRT
-----------
It was after watching ndp preview. i hardly ride on the train nowadays so it's really great to bump into someone who knows you when you do so. She said, "Hi Mr Tan." I pretended to recognise her and i suspect that she didn't think i was pretending. Because the journey lasted more than a few stations, i had to do the adult thing and behaved like one in public. We talked for a bit and she did an almost touching thing. She said that she's still using my class notes now. She is studying early childhoon education.
Girl at Macdonald's
-------------------
This was the night before the opening of Harmony Room. We worked late and i decided to bring the kids to Macdonal's for a happy meal. Just as we were about to start eating, this fellow-patron-of-the-(fastfood)-restaurant at the next table said, "Hello Mr Tan". In front of two current students and a young colleague, I could not lie. So I admitted that I have aged and apologized for not remembering her. She tried to help me recall but I guess I have really aged too much. So I said, "anyway, it's great to run into you. teach your kids well for soon they'll be mine." She is working at a child care centre now.
I have a good feeling there will be lot's more. and i'm happy that there's going to be more. it really does feel quite good.
1. far too long.....i've been here for quite some time now.
2. i must hv done something nice, for otherwise they wouldn't have come forward.
Singapore Girl
--------------
I was on my way to Bali for a weekend getaway with @ncy, bK and the rest. the drama of that trip was that i didn't get my tickets confirmed until 5 am the morning the plane was supposed to take off. but that's another story. while i was looking for my seat on that singapore plane, a girl tried to help me with my bag. then she said, "do you happen to be Mr Tan?" and i thought i must have been the 1,000,000th passenger or something for a stewardess to know my name. Her name tag said "shuhui" and she said i thought her english. totally not possible. but she did get my name right.
DBS Girl
--------
I'm usually in and out of parkway parade within 2 hours each time i go there. but this day, i was having lunch with stef who has just flew in from indonesia. we were waiting in line to draw money at the atm when this girl at the next queue asked, "are you Mr Tan?" i tried to recall and thankfully i was honest enough not to say i remembered her. turned out, i have not taught her but she "has seen me around in school". i wished her a great day.
Tamil @ Prison
--------------
He works there. I was there every wednesday evening last year. this year it's mondays. we gathered as usual at the gate until some officer comes to escort us to the classrooms. this indian guy walked past us and then turned back and called out "Mr Tan". and i immediately recognised that smile. i have always missed my 5A1s. i always like 5A1s.
Girl on MRT
-----------
It was after watching ndp preview. i hardly ride on the train nowadays so it's really great to bump into someone who knows you when you do so. She said, "Hi Mr Tan." I pretended to recognise her and i suspect that she didn't think i was pretending. Because the journey lasted more than a few stations, i had to do the adult thing and behaved like one in public. We talked for a bit and she did an almost touching thing. She said that she's still using my class notes now. She is studying early childhoon education.
Girl at Macdonald's
-------------------
This was the night before the opening of Harmony Room. We worked late and i decided to bring the kids to Macdonal's for a happy meal. Just as we were about to start eating, this fellow-patron-of-the-(fastfood)-restaurant at the next table said, "Hello Mr Tan". In front of two current students and a young colleague, I could not lie. So I admitted that I have aged and apologized for not remembering her. She tried to help me recall but I guess I have really aged too much. So I said, "anyway, it's great to run into you. teach your kids well for soon they'll be mine." She is working at a child care centre now.
I have a good feeling there will be lot's more. and i'm happy that there's going to be more. it really does feel quite good.
fun-filled day
when i left home at 8.45 in the morning yesterday, i didn't expect to get home only after 11.30 in the evening.
the day started with the 3 of us, actually it's just 2 (go figure that out), running at east coast. i always feel very good when i start my days exercising. there were lot's of people at the beach. many army guys, not my favourite species, but they certainly make up the group of people living life outside home and taking in fresh air and sunlight.
by the time we finished, it was time to get some food. uncle M is always there when everything else fails. nothing too fantastic but i always like sinful food, so i hv no problems with uncle M. after breaky, we got environmentally friendly and swung over to sh@ron's place in my airwave, leaving lucky and precious behind. this was "park-your-car-at-east-coast-and-get-into-one-car" day, our bit for the environment.
after cups of tea and a nice shower at sh@ron's, it's time to eat again. we drove to jalan tiga to get the famous channel 8 bao and then went over to old airport road hawker centre to eat (breathe in): hokkien mee, chicken wings, popiah, soursoup drink, tea/coffee and (the famous channel 8) rojak. it wasn't until after 6 that we decided we've over-stayed at one-single location and had to move on.
after dropping sh@ron at her mum's, we quickly got ourselves booked for a foot massage appointment. it was sooooooooo good. the food massage was good, the conversation was good, the people were nice. i give 3 and a half out of 5 stars. after 45 minutes of indulgence, it's time to add another member to the team.
HL hopped in at tampines and we invaded changi next. porta porta insisted that there's no place to house the 4 or us so we conqurered further towards changi point and ended up next to airfield. my ex-neighbour gave us a 10% vip discount and dinner cost $10 each for the night. bK and HL said they're 7/10 full, i was at 12/10.
And finally it was time to collect precious and lucky.
then it's home sweet home.
the day started with the 3 of us, actually it's just 2 (go figure that out), running at east coast. i always feel very good when i start my days exercising. there were lot's of people at the beach. many army guys, not my favourite species, but they certainly make up the group of people living life outside home and taking in fresh air and sunlight.
by the time we finished, it was time to get some food. uncle M is always there when everything else fails. nothing too fantastic but i always like sinful food, so i hv no problems with uncle M. after breaky, we got environmentally friendly and swung over to sh@ron's place in my airwave, leaving lucky and precious behind. this was "park-your-car-at-east-coast-and-get-into-one-car" day, our bit for the environment.
after cups of tea and a nice shower at sh@ron's, it's time to eat again. we drove to jalan tiga to get the famous channel 8 bao and then went over to old airport road hawker centre to eat (breathe in): hokkien mee, chicken wings, popiah, soursoup drink, tea/coffee and (the famous channel 8) rojak. it wasn't until after 6 that we decided we've over-stayed at one-single location and had to move on.
after dropping sh@ron at her mum's, we quickly got ourselves booked for a foot massage appointment. it was sooooooooo good. the food massage was good, the conversation was good, the people were nice. i give 3 and a half out of 5 stars. after 45 minutes of indulgence, it's time to add another member to the team.
HL hopped in at tampines and we invaded changi next. porta porta insisted that there's no place to house the 4 or us so we conqurered further towards changi point and ended up next to airfield. my ex-neighbour gave us a 10% vip discount and dinner cost $10 each for the night. bK and HL said they're 7/10 full, i was at 12/10.
And finally it was time to collect precious and lucky.
then it's home sweet home.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
porta porta
we were on our way to changi airport to eat at the soup restaurant when i decided i'll try my luck and bring mum to porta porta.
mum is usually skeptical about such adventures and can sometimes turn a happy occassion into a not-so-happy one. but i took my chances anyway.
seated at the table next to ours was this couple from the states, a black woman and a norwegian man. before we tucked into our food, mum acted cute and brought up her glass to propose a birthday toast. we "clinked" our glasses and the next table said "happy birthday". and this was followed by the most bizzare happening of the year, almost like fated to happen on this very day. the woman said that we've chosen to sit at the table next to theirs and they have come all the way from the states to sit next to us.
they arrived on monday and are going back tomorrow 5 am. she works for hp and he is self-employed, some kind of property business. they are staying at shangri-la and some colleague recommended them this restaurant, so they took a 45-min taxi ride from town to the east.
she saw my purple t-shirt, a gift from stef, and said that's where they're from - washington. then (the bizzare thing), she for whatever reason i can't remember, mentioned university of portland. bingo! that's where i intended to go to (at least, that's the university i put down as my first choice in the scholarship application - which i failed to get) she offered to help me pull some strings and so i naturally had to offer my name cards. that's when she said "you've come to sit next to us and we've come from the states to eat at this restaurant", or something like that.
mum said i should offer to send them back to the hotel. and this, i think i got it from mum, this side of her. it was too easy to catch a cab from outside the restaurant, so i had no reason to offer them a ride. all i could say was that when they next come back to singapore, i'll show them around.
so this kind of marks this (2007 - 1971)th birthday.
(today i received a few sms from overseas: peter in perth, wendy in nz, richard in china and stef in the states. @ncy msn-ed from china and thierry sent the card from uk. very internationally celebrated, hee)
happy birthday to me.
http://food.rumspace.com/2007/02/02/porta-porta-italian-restaurant/
mum is usually skeptical about such adventures and can sometimes turn a happy occassion into a not-so-happy one. but i took my chances anyway.
seated at the table next to ours was this couple from the states, a black woman and a norwegian man. before we tucked into our food, mum acted cute and brought up her glass to propose a birthday toast. we "clinked" our glasses and the next table said "happy birthday". and this was followed by the most bizzare happening of the year, almost like fated to happen on this very day. the woman said that we've chosen to sit at the table next to theirs and they have come all the way from the states to sit next to us.
they arrived on monday and are going back tomorrow 5 am. she works for hp and he is self-employed, some kind of property business. they are staying at shangri-la and some colleague recommended them this restaurant, so they took a 45-min taxi ride from town to the east.
she saw my purple t-shirt, a gift from stef, and said that's where they're from - washington. then (the bizzare thing), she for whatever reason i can't remember, mentioned university of portland. bingo! that's where i intended to go to (at least, that's the university i put down as my first choice in the scholarship application - which i failed to get) she offered to help me pull some strings and so i naturally had to offer my name cards. that's when she said "you've come to sit next to us and we've come from the states to eat at this restaurant", or something like that.
mum said i should offer to send them back to the hotel. and this, i think i got it from mum, this side of her. it was too easy to catch a cab from outside the restaurant, so i had no reason to offer them a ride. all i could say was that when they next come back to singapore, i'll show them around.
so this kind of marks this (2007 - 1971)th birthday.
(today i received a few sms from overseas: peter in perth, wendy in nz, richard in china and stef in the states. @ncy msn-ed from china and thierry sent the card from uk. very internationally celebrated, hee)
happy birthday to me.
http://food.rumspace.com/2007/02/02/porta-porta-italian-restaurant/
Monday, July 23, 2007
turning 36 or 37?
i seriously can't remember. i hv to use 2007 to subtract my year of birth.
this is quite an "eventful" year, if i may call it so. it's not even my birthday yet and i've already had a few nice surprises. m@rt, theres@ and i had a nice dinner at fish & co the other nite, a "sort of" birthday dinner for post-m@rt and pre-mine birthday celebration. last nite ic, bK, @ncy, sh@ron and i had dinner at the ex-punggol restaurant at changi. after dinner we went back to ic's place and they surprised me with a lovely cake from conrad(!).
today i received a lovely card from tHierry, all the way from London. and my first thought was: how sweet, but he is one day late. then i kicked myself after i realised my b'day is not even here yet. how silly.
i think i'm losing track of time, or am i trying my best not to remember?
tHierry sent a beautiful card: hope this card will reach you on time. take a moment to look at this card and relax, breathe and enjoy the peace and tranquility this picture brings you. when this is done, Go and Enjoy Yourself. such a thoughtful guy. thanks, my friend.
there's still half a cake left in the fridge. simple pleasures.....last.
this is quite an "eventful" year, if i may call it so. it's not even my birthday yet and i've already had a few nice surprises. m@rt, theres@ and i had a nice dinner at fish & co the other nite, a "sort of" birthday dinner for post-m@rt and pre-mine birthday celebration. last nite ic, bK, @ncy, sh@ron and i had dinner at the ex-punggol restaurant at changi. after dinner we went back to ic's place and they surprised me with a lovely cake from conrad(!).
today i received a lovely card from tHierry, all the way from London. and my first thought was: how sweet, but he is one day late. then i kicked myself after i realised my b'day is not even here yet. how silly.
i think i'm losing track of time, or am i trying my best not to remember?
tHierry sent a beautiful card: hope this card will reach you on time. take a moment to look at this card and relax, breathe and enjoy the peace and tranquility this picture brings you. when this is done, Go and Enjoy Yourself. such a thoughtful guy. thanks, my friend.
there's still half a cake left in the fridge. simple pleasures.....last.
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