boutique

The doors looked intimidating. For one who normally looks at stuffs from supermarkets, Uniqlo, Metro.. the experience of walking into a higher end boutique, was.. well, quite nerve-racking.

Nerve-racking? Exaggerating much? Aren't all consumers the same? Well, probably its the packaging. If someone looked like a million dollars, the doors would've automatically open. If one looks like a hobo, then guessed those same doors would've remained tightly shut...

Hahaa. So there I stood, in my usual tee-shirt and jeans. Peering outside the black door, with an uncle watching it. Walked right up to it, and made eye contact. The uncle opened the door slightly (enough for him to peer out but not enough for anyone else to enter) and with a look that says, "Ok, stop right there. What do you want".

So, I state my cause and throws in a couple of keyword with regards to the merchandise, and voila, the uncle deemed it valid, and opens the door. Whew. Then, the door man (or bouncer?) beckoned a younger chap to attend to this 'customer'.

So, tried to ask some general questions and the young chap was nicely patient enough to explain things. Was quite obvious that I know nuts about this brand, but yet, he was kind enough to provide some information. There were just two large jersey bags on display but the rest were at the lower level. (I was thinking, wow.. like a secret chamber somewhere for exclusitivity?). He was wearing a glove when handling the display bag, so I just had to ask, "Can I touch the bag?" Can see one of his eyebrow raised in question. Maybe no one asks? I don't know. So very gingerly, I touched the bag. Probably leather would feel nicer.

All in all, it was a nice informative trip. Maybe I should work on my exit. It does seem kind of hurried.

nothing new

Watching too much TV shortens your life-span. Yadda-yadda-yadda. Yup, saw the report recently. But a search on the internet revealed that this piece of information is not new...

Here's one that's dated August 2011. And this one, dated July 2012. And this, the latest dated October 2012 which says that every hour of TV could shorten life-span by 22 minutes.

funnies II

Typical day in office, with the exception that boss and xxx were in town. Left the office but my bosses decided to stay back.

'twas some hours after office hours officially ended...
One missed call from the boss, like half hour ago. So, sms'ed him back. Here's how the convo went...

Me: Sorry, just realised there's one missed call from you. Wassup?
Boss: Did you pass the office keys to auditors?
Me: Nope. Someone else has it.
Boss: Ok.

I kept looking at my mobile for the next five minutes, waiting for continuation. Can't be my boss just wanted to ask one single question bah...

After five minutes.

Me: That's all?
Boss: Yes. Actually, the lights were still on and the auditors might have left something on the table. But we decided to lock up and leave anyway.
Me: Oh, ok. As per my understanding...the auditors have xxx contact number, so if they've left anything important and can't access the office, they'd call xxx.

After some thought, I sent another sms.

Me: Unless the thing that was left behind, was the mobile phone, then too bad lo.

After somemore thoughts, sent another sms to my boss.

Me: Boss, are you sure you didn't lock the auditors inside our office?
Boss: Haha.

macadamias

front

back

coated with caramel

crunchy nuts

best bits

Each macadamia fruit only contains one or two seeds. Best to savour it slowly...

the ones that i grew up with...

fav shows

Does any of it ring a bell? Hahaa, if it does, then you know you're an oldies at heart! The soap box (aka the television) was my best companion, one that I grew up with.

The Six Million Dollar Man (or Bionic Man) starring Lee Majors, originally ran from 1974 to 1978. Guessed I watched it later, because didn't think Malaysia's broadcasting unit bought screening rights to overseas shows as soon as it starts. Well, not at that era anyway unlike now.

My mom recalled that we vied for the channels with my grandma because grandma would want to watch her Tamil shows, while I would want to watch this. The show was fascinating because a critically injured man was given mechanical parts to replace his arm, his eye and legs. Hahaa, Lee Majors was kind of gruffy good looking at that era and had a perpetual scowl on his forehead, but that's ok. And I think I did thought that why would an ang mo have the same surname as mine....

Also, bionic parts in human is already a reality by now. So, the idea was really mooted long, long time ago...

The Wonder Woman tv series ran from 1975 till 1978, starring Lynda Carter. It was equally fascinating to watch a skimpily dressed well endowed pretty lady fighting villains. Wonder Woman is also similar to Superman, Spiderman, Incredible Hulk, living the superhero lives by having a normal alter ego.

Loved Charlie's Angels too. Ass kicking, witty and beautiful women and the mysterious Charlie.

left to right: Jaclyn Smith, Farah Fawcett and Kate Jackson

"Here's Lucy" was a comedy show. Funny and hilarious, starring the funny gal Lucille Ball. Here's a link to an episode that has Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.


Have you heard of "Little House on the Prairie"? One of my favourite family drama. Probably shown around 4 or 5pm those kind of timings. American western story of Charles Ingalls and his family. The tv series was adapted from a children's book series of the same name, written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Favourite character from the show gotta be the cute Laura Ingalls character as played by Melissa Gilbert. She was just 10 at that time and spunky!

Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls

Then, when night falls, we had shows like "The Love Boat" (1977 - 1986) and "Fantasy Island". Both of these shows have romantic and comedic elements in them.

"The Love Boat" centers around the cruise ship and it looked impressive at that time. Never thought that today, cruise ships can be seen easily at Harbourfront.  Here's an excerpt of the lyrics from the theme song:

Love, exciting and new
Come Aboard. We're expecting you.
Love, life's sweetest reward.
Let it flow, it floats back to you.

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/theloveboatlyrics.html

"Fantasy Island" was most memorable with its opening sequence where the plane flies over the beautiful island and Mr Rourke and Tattoo (Ricardo Montalban & Hervé Villechaize) opening up their arms and welcomes you to "Fantasy Island~". Feel good endings, always.

"Twilight Zone" by the incredibly talented Rod Serling, is darker, morbid and has a sinisterish approach. There is always a lesson learnt, at the end of each short stories.




note: all pictures, credit to their original creator

no wonder...

Scenario: Crowded lift, post lunch time. Me at one corner, and my bosses at the other corner while in between were other people that we don't know.

Finally, lift was empty except for us from my company.

CFO (female): Hehehe...

Boss (male): Yeah, he's quite tall la...
Me: (looking blur)
CFO to me: Did you see that guy?
Me: Which guy?
Boss to me: There.. the tall one that was in here just now
Me: Huh? Never noticed...
Both of them to each other: She didn't see him la..
Me (out loud): No wonder I'm still single...never noticed..
Both of them: Hahahaha...

coffee milk

Coffee milk from Takashimaya Autumn Hokkaido Fair. Only 200ml. Small and cute.

comes with a super short straw

look how it extended!

ready to drink

art in town

Several interesting and beautiful art pieces are on display as part of the Timeless Masterpieces and Richard Macdonald - Magical Energies exhibition, outside Orchard MRT station, along the stretch of the road leading to Wisma Atria, Ngee Ann City. Many life-like sculptures that depicts fluid movement, beauty and grace of the human body, can be seen.

Three Graces Half

The three Graces symbolizes radiance, joy and blossoming life (in Greek myth).

The Trumpeteer, Draped, Heroic

from a different angle

detailed expression of the Trumpeteer

Next, was a piece titled "Transcendence".

Transcendence - Man's struggle against gravity

There's also another piece similar to the Trumpeteer, titled "Joie de Femme".

Joie de Femme

beauty and grace

Then, there's this piece titled "Blind Faith, Heroic".

Blind Faith, Heroic

reminds me of Cirque du Soleil

All of the sculptures are pretty cool.

Autumn Hokkaido Fair October 2012 @ Takashimaya

It's official. All these Hokkaido Fairs at Takashimaya (been to Spring, and now Autumn.. and soon Winter..) are dangerous for the wallet. Mine, especially. Hahaa!

What did I get from Autumn Hokkaido Fair this time? Ta-dah, picture as below.

loot from Autumn Hokkaido Fair

It was very easy to overspend. A little here, a little there... the total can be quite a lot. Blame it on the Taka mailer that they sent. The pictures really looked good. But sometimes (or maybe most of the time?), expectation and reality do differs.

expectation

reality

Hahaa, presentation was not as nice/impressive as advertised, but technically, all items are accounted for! ;)

Seafood Mix Bento @$27

In actual fact, the Seafood Mix Bento was rather enjoyable. Had it for lunch. The rice was adequately vinagered, the fish roes provided that interesting texture and little bursts of saltiness, and enough seafood variety to keep the tastebuds happy.

There was one customer at the bento stall, and he wanted to get the "Triple Variety" (has sea urchin, ikura and crab meat shreds) but without the crab meat. The chef quoted him $40 for this customization. Hmm, probably crab meat was the cheapest of the lot. A box of ikura is usually sold for $20.

Didn't get any cheesecakes from 'Farm Designs' because the cake slices were really really puny for that price...even the puddings were tiny this time round! But still ended up with something from this producer. Rather curious to try this new vendor.

shio (salt) caramel cookies

This time round, Joli Creer brought in colourful puddings.

trio of puddings (@$6 each)

Got some milk to try as well. The small packs comes in 200ml size @$1.90 each. They have a one litre pack for the non-flavoured milk as well.

milk (front) and coffee milk (behind) @$5.50 for 3 packs

Shiroi Koibito from Ishiya Confectionary are also being sold, but I didn't get any. Bought something like a baumkuchen cake instead.

Ryugetsu Sanporoku (maple flavour) @$14

There's a 10% discount for the sanporoku cake when using Takashimaya credit card.

new friend

His name is Monterey, and he's beautiful. This relationship comes with strings attached.

make yourself at home

nice to meet you

the mechanical bits

but Monterey has its flaws...(in fact, so many of them...)

And most of the times, he'll be out of tune. So Monterey needs a little assistance from his best friend, Enya.

Enya always listens

and affirms Monterey's pitch when he's right

Haha! Got them both from deal.com.sg, costing about SGD$42 in total. Yay! My very first, stringed instrument.