too much work....

..... rushing for deadlines, endless meetings, firefighting, trouble-shooting, finding alternatives, eating lunch in front of my laptop and having dinner at 10pm...

this is almost what I do everyday now... ever since Chinese New Year.

and now I am still working at work with my new laptop... finally connected to my home wireless broadband. I know it's not a good thing but it will be for the next few months.. or should I say for the rest of this year.

I have 2 colleagues who left us already... sigh! I'm happy that they found good opportunities but then it means more work load for me. 2 new colleagues have also come onboard .... though some time is needed to spend on training but I hope that they can become more hands on soon.

oh well... better finish what I need to finish otherwise I will end up working till very late.

Dinner at Lagnaa.. Bare foot Dining

This little Indian restarant along Upp Dickson Road serves really good westerna masala cuisine. The spices used blends in with the natural taste of the food. We had ladies fingers (hmm...my favourite), cauliflower with potato, butter chicken, fish in special cream sauce, chilli chicken in special sauce and garlic naans.... the naans are really crispy and very delicious... The dessert of the house is chocolate fondue.

ha.. must be wondering chocolate fondue in Indian restaurant. We thought was a cool idea but then I think the sweet din quite mix with the spices so we didn't really enjoy the fondue. Another down side of the fondue is the non-existence of strawberries... how can fondues not have strawberries and banana. Their versions of fruits are apples, pineapple, longan and marshmellows. So this was not quite worth the monies.... 17 bucks..no kidding!!!

I would recommend to just stick to indian dishes...

The place is really nice cool and cosy. I'm sure you will have opportunities to chat with your neighbours. It has concept of your own living room... sitting on settees on the floor and have your meals... Could do the indian way too ie. with fingers!!

Oh yes... forgot to mention that the yellow walls on level one are opened for vandalism. See if you can find my writings!!!

A sailors guide for aspiring sailors

This guide was prepared by one of my team members who sailed from Salvador , Brazil to Durban, South Africa. I found it really funny but very vivid descriptions to non-sailors and aspiring sailors. Not sure if you still want to sail after reading this...

Enjoy reading....

Whilst Parts A, B and C training were all excellent for equipping us with the necessary skills to differentiate our leaches from our luffs, our forestays from our jackstays and even our bowlines from our bow lines, Leg 2 rapidly revealed that they had been somewhat inadequate in preparing the less experienced sailor for the harsh realities of ocean racing. By way of compensation, I would therefore like to propose the following supplementary training schedule, which might hopefully serve as a more practical guide to life on board.

Clipper Training - Part D

1) Ask a good friend to sleep over and wake you at regular 2 hour intervals throughout the night by shouting in a high-pitched, frenzied scream “ALL HANDS ON DECK – WE’RE GYBING!” On hearing this, time how long it takes you to put on wet oilies and deck boots (which you have conveniently left at the bottom of your bed) and move swiftly outside to an imaginary foredeck.

2) Once in place on the imaginary foredeck, ask same friend to forcefully throw copious buckets of water (preferably cold and salty) directly in your face, taking care to ensure that at least one bucketful enters your clothing at the neck and penetrates slowly and torturously inside.

3) When suitably damp, uncomfortable and miserable, proceed to throw buckets of water over your sofa and bed, ensuring that you now have nowhere dry to sit or sleep.

4) Prepare for the heads by entering a small public toilet cubicle in full oilies, lean at a 45 degree angle wedging one foot up against the wall for balance, secure a good handhold with one hand and attempt to undress and perform the necessary functions using the other hand only. Repeat in the dark.

5) Refrain from showering, brushing your hair or changing your clothes for at least one week. Notice how good other people smell! After one week, enter small shower cubicle and repeat above preparation for the heads (ie lean at a 45 degree angle wedging one foot up against the wall for balance, secure a good handhold with one hand, etc) and attempt to wash thoroughly with the other hand using no more than five litres of water. Repeat in the dark. Simulate tacking by altering direction of 45 degree lean and attempting to find new hand and footholds half way through washing.

6) Throw out all fresh food you may have in your cupboards and replace with endless tins of dubious looking meat of unknown origin. Confine yourself to a small kitchen for 24 hours endeavouring to think of original ways to make said meat look and taste edible when served with an accompaniment of rice or pasta.

7) Sit on your wet sofa and eat the above menu (alternating between rice and pasta accompaniment) from a large greasy dog bowl with a rusty spoon, daily for a little over three weeks. Supplement diet regularly with Pot Noodles.

8) Most importantly, commence therapy immediately to help you come to terms with the vast sum of money you’ve had to part with for the thrill of this “unforgettable” experience!!

9) Seriously though, I do actually have a couple of genuine tips to pass on:

10) If you’ve signed up for a hot leg, take a bed sheet to cover your bunk mattress. The cabin is like a sauna in the Tropics and the RTWs assure me that lying on a sheet rather than on the mattress is a lot more comfortable. If you’ve signed up for a cold leg – Good Luck!!

11) Practice bread making! Fresh bread REALLY IS a treasured delicacy and if you can make bread rolls even half as well as James, the rest of the crew will love you forever!

12) Make sure your camera is waterproof if you want to capture any of the real action and convince your friends you didn’t really just book a Sunsail cruise!

13) Above all, have the time of your life! After all, who knows when you’ll next get the chance to experience anything quite like this again?

In preparation for my sister's wedding - part 1

Ooo.... the preparation has started since I returned but with wedding just a month away ... there are a lot of things to be done.

1) Gowns and studio shoots
erhmm... she chose the gown with my younger sister last year during my absence. So I never got to see the gown besides seeing from that small little screen of her mobile. So silly of them not to bring camera along...sigh so no photo to show yet.

I remembered she did her fitting before Chinese New Year when I was still busy with the new year cookies....so there again she went without me.

but I dunno when is the studio shoots though. should ask her tonight I guess.

2) Selecting the venue for soleminisation and dinner
This was quite a pain and after looking at various or numerous options, she finally decided to have the soleminisation and dinner at The British Club. Her hubby-to-be or my future brother-in-law was so fussy... aiyo worst than us event planners.... hehehe

This was finally confirmed before Chinese New year as she needed to print invitation cards pretty urgently. As far as I know... the cards are still not printed yet. hahaha

3) Painting the house
haha... must be wondering why we need to paint the house. well for good occasion, it's better to dress up the house a bit too. Actually it's more likely we need a fresh coat of paint. The walls are turning yellow from the joss sticks burning over the years. We painted the house some 3-4 years back - can't remember exactly - but we didn't paint the whole house. We only painted the living room walls and ceiling. This time its really oveahaul... every walls gets a new coat of paint and new colour too.

4) Wedding cakes for the bride (xi bing in Chinese)
I heard my sister asking my mum whether she wants all the cakes and all. In Chinese traditions, the groom to be is supposedly to arrange for match-maker to go to the bride-to-be's house to officially ask the hands of the bride from the parents. In our case, my sister has to prepare and arrange for all this as her dearest hubby to be knows nothing about all these traditions and customs. Any how, we will help my sister wherever possible.

5) bridesmaid dresses & dinner gowns
eh... both sisters have not found anything yet... time to do some shopping. Geez.... I will be busy at work. Not sure if I have time to do all that needs to be done for her and myself sigh... oh man... i still have to think of designs for my mum. alamak!!!

My mum is fretting over my daddy's pants, shirt and coat la.. eerhmmm. too much for us!!!

6) manicures, pedicures and facials
ha...I'm sure my sister has been preparing herself for very long. She faithfully goes for her facials. As for her nails... she's not the kind but I gues she will attempt to do something on her nails for her wedding.

Ok.. that's it for part 1... look out for the next few!

Am getting a New Phone

After all that whining of losing my precious mobile and all the content lost... I still have to get a new phone. Been using my sister's samsung phone for 4 weeks, she is finally chasing to have her phone back. Though I thought of buying over her phone but after much consideration, I still prefers to use a nOkia phone. Don't ask me why... guess it's habits. perhaps it's plain stupidity. any how...

so the old phone is Nokia 6101





















and my new consideration is Nokia 6111.




















so any comments to my new phone? any violent objections?

Last 3 days of CNY

CNY is ending in 3 days... this new year is no different from the others. Eat the same kind of food on new year's evet - steam boat and vegetarian on first day. Though there 2 new marriages last year - which makes them eligible to give ang baos. But I didn't get from any of the new couples. One couple decided to 'escape' and went on holidays and the other couple is younger than me ...so makes me not elible. Well not that it bothered me.. guess I just wanna say that cny has become so boring and same every year.

I sat on mahjong table for about 12 hours for that 2 days of celebration. Eating is not my hobby now.. perhaps mahjong is now.

am heading for more mahjong at my cousin's place tomorrow... how boring my life is now!!! sigh !!!