chap goh mei

Happy Chap Goh Mei or 元宵节快乐！

Picture taken at 730pm, using ISO 400 with exposure time 1/20 sec.



Then at 921pm using ISO 80, exposure time 1.6 sec.

ponggol marina

Dinner outing at Ponggol Seafood, so off to Ponggol Marina we went. It's quite a deserted area (at least that's my impression!) and out of the way. Luckily SL has a car! Yay!


yatchs floating


actually sky was still bright


i like how the water reflects the light...


For dinner, we chose the set for 10 pax. Was quite amazed at the sheer amount of carrots in our yee sang. And the pitifully scarce and thin slices of the salmon...


yee sang

Here are some other pics of the food that we had:


fish maw soup


slightly overdone scallop in xo sauce and yee mee basket that tasted pretty much like mamee!

Didn't shoot any pics of the other dishes like steamed fish, steamed prawns, lotus leave wrapped chicken, fried rice and orh ni... too busy eating!

Dinner was very filling because it had fried rice and orh ni ;P


makan kakis

curiosity, is a curious thing

Be curious!

My teacher once said. But why? A-H-A! That question "But why" posed, in itself is a manifestation of the curious mind. This is what I think.

Wiki says:
Curiosity is related to natural inquisitive behavior such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human and many animal species. The term can also be used to denote the behavior itself being caused by the emotion of curiosity. As this emotion represents a drive to know new things, curiosity is the fuel of science and all other disciplines of human study.


Being curious, means we want to find out more. By finding out more, we might learn more. By learning more, our thinking and behaviour might be geared towards change, as a resultant of this new learning. When our thoughts and behaviour changes, is this what we term as growth? Well, only if the change is towards the positives in nature.

Wiki says curiosity is a "natural inquisitive behaviour". Doesn't natural implies that it is inborn?

If following the argument that curiosity in itself is an emotion, then we might like to think that emotions as nodes wired in our brain that can be fired on or off, depending on triggers/conditions. If the condition is right, or there is a triggering event, then a certain emotion could be activated. That is from the neurobiological and James Lange theories, in accordance to my understanding.

Perhaps it is not wrong to say that we are capable of emotions (especially if the brain is already wired up with all these nodes just waiting for the right juice to pass through or right conditions to trigger), but to me.. curiosity in itself can be acquired. For example, a less curious person can be compelled to be more curious.

By using the term "compelled", I'm assuming that humans are selfish by default and will do things for their own benefit first (may not be first n only.. but usually, the first). Some may argue that this could be our self-survival instinct. Perhaps so, perhaps so...

Anyway, if this skill/behaviour of being curious gives us benefit, and we are indeed AWARE that we are gaining the benefits throught this thing called curiosity, then why not? All the more we should engage more of this activity called being curious! Do you agree?

unexpected luck?

who said i had some unexpected good fortune? didn't strike any toto, 4D whatsoever... nope sireee, it didn't happen!

if i'm a positive thinker (aka gambler more likely), then i'll continue to hope.. if i'm a realistic thinker (aka logic overwhelmes the heart), then i shld be doing something more productive instead of throwing money into the drain...

but i suppose, i'm a dreamer.. so, i'll dream on.. and on... (insert celine dion's my heart will go on here)

going home

Taking the choo choo train home to Kajang. It's a six hour journey (or more!), depending on the reliability of KTM.

Activities at home involved changing of cushion covers (somehow this task is reserved for my bro and me) haha, as most of the cleaning would've been done by my sis and mom already... hopefully! Kaka, I'm sooOOoo unfillial siah!

On reunion day's eve (hopefully can strike SG toto!), we're gonna have home cooked food.. cooked by my sis likely. She's head chef.. hmm.. make it the only chef in house! Then, on first day is to receive visitors at home. Then second day is to go visiting my mom's side, my uncles and aunties.

After which, is continously nua'ing at home till end of holiday, then travel back to SG. That's my annual ritual. What's yours?

Here's wishing everyone, a lifetime of happiness, a smooth ride over obstacles and may u find ur innate ability to overcome any challenges ahead. Spirits up, and yum seng!

Haha! Enjoy~

tarafuku fish market?

Somerset 313 basement now boasts alot of food shops. So decided to visit one of them, Tarafuku Fish Market Seafood. Ok, they opened like less than 2 weeks so, it's like practically empty with like around customers in the shop when we arrived.

HS commented that the shop seating arrangement is salah... as the conveyor belt is within the deep recess of the shop while the shop front has non-conveyor belt seating. When we came, we found that most of the customers chose to sit at the conveyor belt.

The interior of the shop is bright and ceiling decorated with lots of paper umbrellas and lightings. It was darn hot inside! Haha, probably from the lightings!


colorful decor


The service staff are mostly foreign employees (not Japanese!), some students part-timing there... While it takes you a few seconds to reconcile the foreign accent during taking of orders, one service staff who is quite aunty like admitted sheepishly that she's still not quite familiar with the runnings of that place. Ha! However, they did try their best to serve with constant refilling of the drinks. Tables are cleared once in a while to allow diners to dine in comfort (but I suspect its because they really have so few customers that the service staff needed something to do to kill time!)

The price here is quite exhorbitant, but they're having a promo for Hamachi sushi where it's going for $1.99++ per 2 pieces. Usual price is $2.99. Another example of exhorbitanance is the sashimi where 3 slices of fish could set you back $8.99++!!! Can you imagine? Faints.. it's not like the slices are ultra fat/thick slices.. just normal looking ones... wow.. I don't know who'll pay those prices man! For opening period, the hamachi sashimi (5 slices) is going for $8.99++. Errr.... I'm still not going to pay that price, siao!

Below are what we ordered:


salmon sushi (the size is like any other conveyor belt sushi chain here but at least the saving grace is the rice)


tamago sushi for $1.99++ for 2 pieces... sooOooo expensive! The tamago here is kinda soft


free salmon sashimi (and it's actually quite tiny!) 'coz we used the coupon


hamachi sushi, which texture I quite liked!


saba shioyaki


Conclusion:
It's like any of those conveyor belt chain that's in Singapore (like sushi fast food!) with nicer decor but not so nice pricing. Good to try out once, but I think people will just be going back for the $1.99 sushi as this price can still be stomached by consumers.

mobile

Recently my phone has gone bonkers. It switches off by itself, and I won't notice 'coz seldom be checking the phone anyway. So, don't assume I'll be reading your sms'es immediately!

It's true that no one ever calls me on my mobile.. except for a fav. customer who has my number.. sigh.. doesn't anyone realize that I'm not on free incoming plan?

Now that the contract has ended, I'm suppose to go n pick a new phone, right? What to pick? IPhone? Everyone has one.. how abt the cheapest mobile? Sounds good too... Switch out of M1? Hmmm.. no incentive also.. probably just to get $100 off the new phone?

Decisions, decisions.. or leave it as it is till the phone dies.. ha ha.. probably that's my general motto in decision making.. dun make one till absolutely necessary! Is that good or bad?

and i thought i was smart...

You know... My phone bill for the Japan trip was about $100, and my normal usage is around $50 per month.. hence, the extra $50 is for the 7 days in Japan. Did I make any call? Only like 2-3 calls and that's like less than 3 mins talk time in total. Did I send any sms'es.. yes, and that made up the bulk of the bill, and of course $10 for roaming subscription...

Each sms sent is SGD$0.60... actually this looks like the flat rate no matter what country you're in. Imagine... so I must've sent around 20-30 sms'es to chalk up the bill and the best part is... Gina didn't receive like 10 of those sms'es... $6 down the drain for nothing... faints!

Actually, if I had done my homework... there's a cheaper way to roam... which is to use M1's smartroam.... *sob*


To call SG numbers when overseas:


To call international number when overseas:


To use smart roam SMS:


Then apparently must key in and send your message within 40 secs! Wah.. gan cheong siah..

Hmmm.... apparently SMS smart roam is only applicable when you're overseas and wanna send to SG number.. Hmmm.. ok lor.. like when you wanna sms your tour mate who went missing or something while shopping...

So many things to remember right? Don't wanna remember, then be prepared to pay more :P