Fun-filled Saturday

After going to the Polling station early at 8:30am, I made my way to J's house and woke him up as his parents wanted to go cast their votes already. I waited at his house while they went out.

After lunch at home, we took SBS 10 to Vivocity as J's brother wanted to use the car. Along the way, we were discussing about where to live after we got married. Will try to apply for our own flat once we're married, hope we don't have to wait too long.

Upon reaching Vivo, we went to get our movie tickets for "Thor" showing at 6:40pm. Since the digital version provides sharper images without extra costs and we could get a better view, we bought the tickets. By using the VISA UOB card, we were able to use the express lane so the queuing time was shortened.

We went to The Soup Spoon to grab something to eat and drink as I felt hungry by 3+pm. We met an elderly couple sitting near us and I was commenting to J that they are the type that age gracefully. The old uncle was curious about what drink we ordered so his wife asked me since I was sitting closer to her, told her it's iced lemon tea and she went to order a bigger cup to share with her husband. =)

Headed to the second-hand bookstore to look for "Water for elephants" (currently a movie) but they didn't sell the book. Spotted "The Monk who sold his Ferrari" instead and bought it since I remember my ex-principal recommending this book.

We went shopping and I met my ex-student with her mum at one of the stalls selling handmade accessories. We went to check out the newly opened Uniqlo and there were so many people buying clothes! Managed to find the Cath Kidston blouse I liked and even another camera tee (actually a guy's tee but I can wear size S). Tried on a black dress and J thought it looked gd, he also chose 2 tops: 1 of Kewpie which I told him to get so we could wear the similar tees when we go out and 1 of dri-fit top so he could wear after his jogging trips.

Left the shop and went to check out Forever21 but didn't fancy anything. We went to Toys 'R' Us to see the gashapons. We tried our luck at one of the gashapons with Tomica toy cars, I managed to get the grey GT-R which we were eyeing after J tried 2 times. The capsule for the cars were also different frm the normal ones we see. Will prob try again the next time we see the machine.

Loved the "Thor" movie, felt that the plot was much better than "Iron Man 2" as they included romance, friendship, kinship and action together. Stayed till the end of the credits and saw a sneak preview to the next movie by Marvel: "The Avengers". "Captain America" will be showing soon and we planned to catch that as well.

After the movie, it was already 9pm, we went to have our dinner at Shin Kushiya. I tried the Beef udon but the Japanese noodles they used was like a smoother "meepok", easier to eat than the normal udon. J tried the chicken udon and we shared the grilled teriyaki cod fish along with the skewers platter. We also tried the Peach Chuhai and J seemed to like the cocktail quite abit. Headed to the taxi stand where we spent some time trying to call a cab as there were alot of people. Extremely happy and contented day! ^__^

Sleepless in Singapore

Since Thursday night's episode of losing sleep, it happened again last night...could only manage 2 hrs of zzz for these 2 days as I was physically tired but mentally awake...quite frustrating when you want to rest but somehow your mind doesn't allow you to.

At least I managed to be more "productive" as I made use of the peace & quiet to do some work. Somehow with so little sleep, I can still function in the day...my sister was asking if i'm "eating battery" like the korean cyborg movie...maybe i've too much on my mind to get proper rest...

Physical exhaustion vs Mental exhaustion

Last night after reaching home at 11+pm, technically, after a hectic work day and going out with Teddy Chua in the evening, I should be very tired and can enter dreamland quite swiftly. However, I couldn't sleep at all...I managed to get a shut-eye of about 2 hours only and decided to wake up for good to complete more marking.

Managed to function for the day and still could stay back in school to do more marking before lugging the remaining work back home for the long weekend. Tonight, the difference is more physical tiredness than before but still the mind is awake. Hence the blogging at this hour when I should be in dreamland. I hope this doesn't continue or Singapore Pandaclub manager's post will be reinstated very soon...can already see slight dark rings around my eyes...

Rio Soundtrack ♫♫♫ - Fly Love - Jamie Foxx

Patience is a virtue

Accompanied Teddy Chua for his haircut at SuperCuts at Siglap and saw this family bringing their toddler girl for her haircut...she's very smart and when she felt the hairstylist uncle come close with the comb and scissors, she wanted to turn around to stop him. Hence the parents have to try different ways to distract her and the hairstylist was very fast in cutting her hair. Besides a few frowns, the haircut process of about 25 minutes was uninterrupted. I thought the hairstylist was very skillful as he knew when he should stop, in case the child gets hurt by his scissors but at the same time he was able to complete the haircut quickly.

Lesson learnt: Next time when I have my own kid, have to find a very skillful hairstylist in handling children and have Teddy Chua with me to distract the child...or like what Teddy Chua said have to train the child to not make a scene in public, which I think is much more challenging...

Tanya Chua and The Cities concert

Waiting for the concert to begin! =)

Tanya's special guest: Kit Chan!

Her dress actually shows photos of her trips to the different cities, love the cutting but the shoulder design...hmm...

I love this gown! It has a crossed back design too!

Sis was tasked to write an article for Lianhe Zaobao for Tanya Chua's first concert in Singapore and she has an extra ticket. She let me have the chance to go with her since Mum accompanied her for SHE concert before. Teddy Chua drove us to Mountbatten MRT station so we could take a train to Stadium, which was 1 stop away. We arrived there quite early and at the North Entrance, they were selling her CDs and there was a corner where Rock Records was trying to do some promotion. By filling in your details, they were giving away flashing light torches which you can use during the concert. They will update us if there are concerts coming up as well...quite a good idea to promote their own artiste.

After we sat down, I was checking my facebook and saw that my colleague was here with his wife too! We spotted them and soon after I posted on fb, he looked around and managed to spot us, we waved to each other too...so coincidental...haha. Before the concert began, we saw 王沺裁 seated just in front of us!

Her concert's guests were 陈洁仪 & 叶良俊. It's been so long since Kit Chan sang and she sang 《Home》 with Tanya and while Tanya went to change, she sang 《追》with the grand piano accompaniment by Jimmy Yap. It has been a long while since Jimmy performed...quite a pleasant surprise to see him.

There was a section where Tanya had musicians playing music with an Indian feel but she adapted popular songs like 《Umbrella》 by Rihanna and 《Pokerface》 by Lady Gaga which made it very interesting. Tanya also danced with a Broadway performer for 1 of her songs and it’s the first time I’ve seen her dance. She also played on 3 instruments, namely the guitar, piano and harmonica. She unveiled 2 of her new songs, one in English which is slated to be released as her next album and for the encore and ending song, 《下次见》, a Chinese song whose title aptly ended the concert. The last gown she wore at the concert was also my personal favourite cos it accentuates her figure and the cutting is very flattering. Besides her Chinese slow rock songs, she also sang English songs and even a French song.

The only imperfections of the concerts were the sections where she was nervous and made minor mistakes like singing the wrong lyrics for 4 songs and was late to start the song for 1. The lighting was also quite horrendous as there would be instances where she would be singing and the spotlight would shine into the audience’s eyes, forcing us to look only at the 2 wide screens at the sides. There was also an instance where the stage lights were dimmed so low that Tanya couldn’t see her guitar which she has to play to start the next song and she had to ask for the lights…

Overall, it was a pleasant experience as I’ve never attended a concert with my sister before and it’s been quite a long while since my first concert, which was the Andy Lau 1999 concert whose tickets were won. (The 2^nd concert was by 费玉清 where my sis and I felt very out of place cos my Dad just bought the tickets without letting us know first) Hope to go to the Fish Leong concert but have to see if Teddy Chua wants to have his first concert experience by a Chinese artiste. Photos taken from xinmsn.com

TRA

After hearing from the bridal shop sales consultant and my facial therapist, decided to contact this consultant who promotes The Right Approach programme. Teddy Chua and I met her at Bras Brasah and did the analysis for weight and fats. After explaining to us about the programme, I decided to give it a go. For 3 months, I have to keep a food diary and with 2 normal meals a day with 1 meal of meal supplement, I have to down several different types of herbal capsules too...why did I decide to take this challenge? There's the urgency of the wedding photoshoot in June and the actual wedding day in November. Apparently, after stopping the programme the weight does not rebound back and the skeletal muscle would increase with a decrease in visceral and body fat. Have always been skeptical about eating products to lose weight but I guess I'm pretty much at my wit's ends. For Teddy Chua, for myself I will see if this programme works afterall...

Busy weekend

Saturday: Followed my parents and sis to Mount Vernon to pay our respects to my maternal grandfather as it's the Qing Ming period. For lunch, we went to have wanton noodles where the waiting was much longer than the eating. Had to keep Teddy Chua waiting as he finished his praying with his family much earlier than me. Met him at Bishan and after buying a Kevin Kern music score book, we took the Circle line to Suntec city. Went to the MOE ExCEL fest to check out the exhibition as most of the classes are full already. They gave away a recyclable bag with a mug and after touring the exhibits where there were more secondary school projects, we left the convention hall. Walked over to Raffles City to start my hunt for the wedding heels. Went to Robinsons first and they were giving more discounts for members this weekend. Managed to get 1 pair from Vi Vie and quickly went to pay for it. Also got the silicon bra so that I can wear it for any strapless dress. We went to Tangs Studio next and found a pair of heels that looked quite normal but was quite nice after I've tried it on. Was hesitant to buy it but Teddy Chua insisted in getting it for me. Thank you dear! Went to Occasion next and tried on a black dress that looked quite good, found a clutch bag too but in the end left the shop without buying and Teddy Chua kept asking why i didn't buy it...tried on a few more gowns at Dress Sense but their gowns are super ex...the one I really like costs $999, rental would be $200+! Browsed around for the rest of the shops but didn't buy anything else. MOS burger was selling t-shirts to help raise funds for Japan. Wanted to buy a same design tee with Teddy Chua but they ran out of my size so we only bought 1 for Teddy Chua. Headed home around 8+pm and Teddy Chua was dead beat. After dinner, he just "concussed" on his bed and entered dreamland while I used his computer.

Sunday: Teddy Chua came to fetch me and we headed to Kovan to fetch Yifen as I've arranged to have lunch with her. We went to Suntec as she wanted to get a braun buffel pouch for her handphone. We went to Shin Sapporo Ramen to have lunch and the food is quite nice. Yifen kindly agreed to come along for my gown fitting and help give her opinions. Before we left the area, walked over to Raffles City, Occasion where I showed Yifen the dress and the clutch...she said both were nice and I bought them...this weekend spent alot of $$$. Today's gown fitting was much better as the girl kinda figured out my taste and could find gowns that are to my liking. The sales person, Helen was also around to help give her opinions. Yifen left around 6+pm while I continued to try the gowns. Managed to find 7 gowns which will be reserved for me...so happy! =D Teddy Chua also reserved 2 suits but hopefully they will have more the next time we visit as his size provided quite limited choices today. After having dinner at a nearby Korean restaurant, 2D1N Soju Bang, we headed home...very very tired...

Citibank Joint account

After work today, Teddy Chua came over for dinner as we needed to sign a courier document. The document is for a joint account with Citibank which Teddy Chua thinks is good for us to start saving money. Initially, he suggested having 2 such accounts and I thought why not make it a joint account since by pooling our money together, we can get a higher interest. There was a section to state my relation to the main applicant and I asked Teddy Chua what to fill in...was thinking if there's such a thing called wife-to-be...haha...in the end, he asked me to fill in "wife"... Hmm...for the first time, there's a change in the status...have to get used to it i suppose...

"Red Riding Hood"

Yesterday after work, i went to get tickets at GV Vivocity for "Red Riding Hood" before heading to PageOne to check out the books. Managed to find some travel books about Taiwan and spent my waiting time browsing through them. As I had Big Breakfast with sis in the morning, didn't take lunch so by the time Teddy Chua appeared, I was quite faint with hunger.

We went to Shin Kushiya for dinner as they were donating 10% of the bill to the Japan earthquake. Tried a prawn head miso soup, very nice...Teddy Chua loves the lychee martini with sake...think they made the drink very well.

Found a necklace with a small treble clef pendant at a shop that costs $13, decided to get it. We went to see the gashapons next and I got the new range of macaroons with animals, koala, bear, cat and dove!

GV came up with a Rio popcorn set and it comes with a tumbler with straw so decided to get it. The movie is very interesting. The female lead, Amanda Seyfried looks very good in the red cape and her two boyfriends look presentable too. By the time the movie ended, we were quite tired. Reached home by 12:10am.

Tappety Tap...tappety tap...

Been trying to finalise and get the tapshoes for the students so that they can begin wearing them and get used to them. I actually dreamt of the shoes and students with the instructor saying that she's preparing a performance and how many students are needed. There were some students who quitted and we needed to find more to get the required number for the performance. (0__0") Today during the practice, the students got the new shoes which we ordered for them. They were excited to try out their new shoes and have to learn how to walk as quietly as possible with the tap shoes. They need to control their feet and not make so much noise. Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap......

Great World City

After having lunch with Teddy Chua's parents and mine with sis at Mao Xing Teochew Restaurant, headed to Dynasty travels to collect our air tickets. They made a mistake with the hotel booking so they will mail it to me.

Headed to Great World City next as I wanted to check out Dorothy Perkins. Intend to use the voucher my colleague gave which can get 20% discount on regular items. Managed to find a dress with my size that looks quite nice. I've been wanting to get something similar for some time but couldn't find a suitable dress. Got the dress for $60.80. A little pricey but it's all lace so find that it's worth it.

We tried to look around for ideas for my wedding footwear. Some of them look good but the heels are not tall enough. Need to get an evening bag so that I can put my handphone and wallet when I go for wedding dinners or to nice restaurants like Mimolette.

We saw a sparrow flying around in the 3rd storey, looking very lost. In the end, it just perched on the GV gold sign and rested. Looked so pitiful...hope it manages to find it's way out. Had Island Creamery's Apple Pie ice-cream while Teddy Chua had Banana ice-cream.

I bought a Japanese brand mascara which comes with a mascara remover. Quite interesting as normally people just use make-up remover. Will try it for the coming weekend with my contact lenses. ^_^

Acuvue Moist

Saw that the site for disposable contact lens were giving away a free pair so decided to arrange for an eye examination to try it out. The optometrist told me I had very slight astigmatism and that contact lens won't help to correct it but just give me clear vision for the degree. Was advised to get Acuvue Moist as the lens are softer and won't give as much stress to the eyes and would not cause dryness. The optometrist taught me how to wear the contact lens and also how to take them out. She commented that I'm quite fast in learning how to wear and I was able to take the lens out on the first try. Since it's the first time I'm wearing the contact lens, I can only wear them for 4 hours to let my eyes adjust to them and not to stress my eyes out. Subsequently, I can increase the hours by 2 each time and normally the disposable contact lens can last up to 10-12 hours. The contact lens that can help enlarge the eyes costs more so decided to wait and see if I can get use to the moist lens first. By getting 4 boxes that can last me 2 months, I can waive off the eye examination fees and since there was a promotion, I bought the 4 boxes. Will probably wear them during weekends since I need to use the computer at work and it might create more stress for my eyes.

Observation

Had my classroom observation by RO and VP for my P1 class this year. Went for the post-observation conference this morning and they were not pleased with the lesson. They said that I didn't meet expectations as the lesson was conducted in English instead of Chinese. My rationale was that the students were international students and when I tried using Chinese to teach them before, they couldn't understand. I thought that by using English, they would be able to follow the lesson and can learn the Hanyu Pinyin taught. Looks like my move was wrong. From now on, I will have to use Chinese to teach them even though they have difficulty understanding the language. They just have to get used to it and cope.

7th swim

After 2 weeks without swimming, it's back to the pool again this morning. Did 22 laps and Teddy Chua commented that I'm getting the strokes correct now...getting more used to it. Lost 2.3kg since the first swim. We went to IKEA Tampines next to check out the wardrobe design and to have our lunch. Managed to get some ideas for our wardrobe before we headed for French Bridal at Tanjong Pagar to do the first gown fitting. Managed to choose 2 gowns out of about 12 that I'd tried. Still got to make another trip down to choose the gowns for the Taiwan photoshoot as well as the evening gowns.

Sun with Moon Wheelock

Went to town with sis as she's meeting her friends there to celebrate her birthday while I'm meeting Teddy Chua. We went to Pacific Plaza first to see if we can send his adidas watch strap for replacement. In the end, the strap would costs $55 and have to wait 2-3 months...we decided that it's not worth it so headed to Sun with Moon Wheelock to get our dinner as the $20 voucher I got expires today. Got to wait for about 30 min as the restaurant's full. Both of us were quite hungry but we can only wait. Had sashimi, yakiniku kamameshi, agadeshi tofu and a dessert that is similar to creme brulee only milkier. Headed to Levis in ION for Teddy Chua to get his free tee and also to buy a pair of jeans at $50 off. Picked up sis at Hilton before heading home.

"Gnomeo & Juliet"

Went back to school for CCA till 1pm. Shared the cab with the instructor and dropped her off at Tampines before heading to Teddy Chua's place. After lunch, we went to Suntec and was told that the adidas watch can only be sent for repairs at Pacific Plaza's Fossil shop. Went to redeem my Old Town coffee as I got an mms advert which allows me to get a cup for free. We were walking over to Marina Square when we were approached by a UOB staff to sign up for their credit cards. Teddy Chua decided to sign up for it and he gave me a supplementary card! Thanks dear! We thought that the Manhattan credit card was by DBS but it's by Standard Chartered. Teddy Chua signed up for it too. We went to buy movie tickets at Marina Square before going to see the kiap wa was. We tried for the cinamoroll and when that didn't seem possible, I tried for melody and it dropped to the side...cos the bottom was lined with fake grass, melody got stuck there. The person said it didn't count...must drop to the bottom...sheesh...so sickening! In the end, didn't manage to kiap anything. =( The movie was very cute and funny. We had a good time watching it. Went to Sushi Tei for dinner before buying the nice takoyaki home. Bought a share for Teddy Chua's parents too and his mum seemed very happy about it. =)

March holidays are here!

So glad that the March holidays are here...though it's only 1 week but still it's a welcome break. Need to go back to school for tap dance on Wednesday but other than that, the rest of the days I'm free. Plan to pack my room and throw away or give away alot of stuff...luckily sis promised to help...Looking forward to 20 March as it's the first fitting for my gown!

Occupied Weekend

Sat: After we had lunch at home, we went to NATAS travel fair at EXPO. Managed to book our flight tickets and hotel for June to Taiwan. A lot of flights are taken up already as it's the school holidays. We head to Sim Lim next to get the solar hp charger so that Teddy Chua can use during his outfield training next week. We went to Pan Pacific to have dinner at Keyaki but was told they had a full house, so got to wait for their call. We went to buy groceries at Carrefour first for his outfield training. Managed to go back to the restaurant at 8+pm to have a very nice Jap dinner.

Sun: Went to swim at SSC...it's our 6th trip there and I've lost 2.4kg since the first trip. We had lunch and headed home first. Around 4:30pm we went to fetch Jixin to go visit Shuying and her baby boy in Ang Mo Kio. Went back to Teddy Chua's place for dinner as he has to book in by 9pm.

Monopoly Millionaires

After seeing Teddy Chua play the game twice, decided to try it out myself. Think the graphics are quite colorful.