I’ve been meaning to watch Puss in Boots when it started its run 2 weeks ago, but I noticed The Muppets was coming up too. So rather than taking 2 days to watch 2 movies, I decided to have a mini movie marathon.

Naturally, before the movies started, we were served some trailers for upcoming movies:

We Bought A Zoo

The trailer claims that the movie is based on a true story. I’ve not done any research on this yet, but the trailer does make it look like quite a touching story about love. Love of your family, love between man and woman and love of animals. This sure looks like a movie I might want to catch next year. Storyline and animals aside, I just want to say “What happened to Matt Damon????”. I mean.. he looks so.. matured!! On the hand, it sure is refreshing watching Scarlett Johansson fully dressed for once.

The Amazing Spider-man

Yup, I said Amazing Spider-man and not Spider-man 4. Why we need so many Spider-man movies, I’ll never know. The effects look good though and I already know a handful of my friends who’ll want to watch this. As for me, I’m not much of a Spider-man fan, as you can probably tell, so I might just skip this one.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

Alvin, the troublemaker, and rest of the Chipmunk gang are back. This time they go on cruise but somehow the 6 furry friends get stranded on a lone island. I nearly laughed my head off when I saw them singing and dancing to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”. I may not watch this one in the cinema, but I’ll mostly like catch it on DVD.

After the movies, I popped over to the nearby H&M that opened in Singapore recently to see what’s the fuss. Sure, the apparel is fashionable and all, but most of the items were a little above my budget. I did pick up a knitted beret at a reasonable price though. No exactly my “go to” place to shop for clothes, but I’ll definitely be back to look at accessories.

I went on to make a brief stop at Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream. I’ve heard lots of good things about the ice cream here, but somehow I was a little disappointed. I had the Cheesecake Fantasy, but the strawberries and blueberries tasted nowhere near sweet and had a distinct “frozen” aftertaste. Maybe next time I’ll just have the ice cream and only mix in extras that I like.

It felt good to relax and recharge for a day, even though I’ve no one to enjoy it with. The last time I did something like this was  on my birthday, which is almost half a year ago! I really should do this more often.

Meanwhile, watch out for my movie reviews coming up in the next couple of days.

I was never an Apple fan to begin with and I do not own (and have never owned) any Apple products. However, I still appreciated them for their creativity and ingenuity when it comes to design and user-intuitiveness. A quick look at the smart phone market will immediately show how everyone is trying to imitate Apples technology and/or design. It’s probably safe to say that Apple revolutionized personal computers, music and smart phones. Steve Job’s vision changed the way people work and play today.

I particularly loved watching Steve Jobs giving his signature keynote speeches. His onstage charisma is incomparable. Apple would have never become what it is today without the lead of Steve Jobs.

Steve, rest in peace. You will be well missed by all.

The big day started without any bangs. Just a frantic search for stockings since I accidentally ran a hole in the pair I was wearing. Thankfully that got fixed easily. I wish my program bugs could be fixed as effortlessly.

Next, I headed to fill my hungry little tummy before rushing to purchase tickets for the earliest screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 at my favorite cinema (which as coincidences go, happen to share the same birthday as me, only that they’re 43 years older than I am). The movie was great! However, I found it very fast-paced, which was understandable since there was lots to be packed in this grand finale. I’m just glad that I’d read the book before watching the movie, so I more or less knew what to expect. Watch out for my review of the movie coming up soon!

Here are a couple of trailers I watched while waiting for the movie to begin:

Cowboys & Aliens are 2 things that I’d never think of putting together in a movie. A rather interesting mix of genres involving sci-fi, western & suspense. Not something that will draw me spend my time and money to watch in the cinemas though.

Captain America isn’t something I’ve grown up with on my side of the world either, although I’ve heard some of my online friends mention the popular set of comics. Not particularly a comic fan myself, so probably will give this one a miss too.

The remainder of the day was themed “shop-till-you-drop“. Hey, if you’re a shopaholic like me, whose birthday happens to coincide with the annual Great Singapore Sale, you’ll most likely do the same. Finally at around 3pm, I decided to sit down to rest my tired legs and to get some late lunch. Japanese ramen followed by light cheese cake for dessert. Yummy!

So there, my 33rd birthday well spent; tired legs, empty pocket and all. Nothing extravagant or grand, just a simple itinerary to satisfy my simple needs.

What are you giving up for Lent this year?

Many tend to think of Lent as a period of giving up something. Most times, these may be things that may not mean much in terms of our spirituality and faith, such as chocolates and candy. The idea of giving and abstinence during Lent, is actually a form of cleansing and disciplining ourselves, by learning to conditioning our urges and desires in a way that leads us to greater union with God. It is by no means a form of oppression or suppression, but rather a way to free ourselves from unwanted and unhealthy desires and attachments. It is only when we let go of these unnecessary burdens can we rise higher in our spiritual life. Such acts of self-discipline should not be restricted to just the period of Lent, but throughout our faith journey. However, it is especially highlighted during this period because we want to love Jesus as He has loved us, through sacrificing.

I’ve learned through the years that giving up simple things like coffee and chocolate during Lent does not essentially make me a better person. Lent should not be a treated as a season to adjust to a healthy diet. Instead, I try to assess what material things I’ve been overly attached to and learn to give these up. Such things can be either food, games, a bad habit, etc. Also, I try to devote more time to do something good, like saying extra rosaries, reading a good religious book, learning a new devotional prayer.

This year I’ll be continuing my fight with the morning alarm. I’m going to try to wake up without hitting the snooze on my alarm clock. Discipline in terms of  time management is something I seriously need to work on. And let’s not forget my continuous battle with my quick temper. Haven’t figured out how I can work on the latter, but it’s definitely something I desperately need to get rid of.

For more information on the season of Lent, as well as fasting and abstinence during this season, visit ETWN’s mini-site.

Meanwhile, here’s a good commentary on Lent by Father Barron.

100  Truths:
1. last beverage: Black coffee
2. last phone call: My dentist, to make an appointment for next week
3. last text message: My insurance agent asking for clarification on something
4. last song you listened to: CU Episode 146: The 2010 Christmas Special
5. last time you cried: Can’t remember exactly when, but I think it was some time last month, while watching a TV drama

HAVE YOU EVER:
6. dated someone twice: Yes
7. been cheated on: Yes
8. kissed someone & regretted it: Yes *headdesk*
9. lost someone special: Yes  - Dad, April 19, 1997
10. been depressed: Not clinically, and hardly ever in general
11. been drunk and threw up: No

LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS:
12. Maroon
13. Pink
14. Turquoise

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU: (2010)
15. Made a new friend?: Yes
16. Fallen out of love?: No
17. Laughed until you cried?: Yes, all the time
18. Met someone who changed you?: No
19. Found out who your true friends were? No, I found that out quite a while ago
20. Found out someone was talking about you?: Yes
21. Kissed anyone on your FB friend’s list: No

GENERAL:
22. How many people on your FB friends list do you know in real life: A third of them, I think
24. Do you have any pets: Not anymore. I used to keep terrapins
26. What did you do for your last birthday:  Nothing eventful
27. What time did you wake up today: 6:00AM
28. What were you doing at midnight last night?:  Watching Korean drama with Mom
29. Name something you CANNOT wait for:  Christmas
30. Last time you saw your Mother: This morning before I left the house
31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life: My bad temper
32. What are you listening to right now:  Geek Loves Nerd/Explicit Answers Show 13 – Justin Bieber & Weddings
33. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom:  Not that I know of
34. What’s getting on your nerves right now:   My financial situation.. or perhaps the lack of it
35. Most visited webpage: Google Reader
37. Nicknames:  Jas, neko, nekogal, girl-girl (Mom’s pet name for me)
38. Relationship Status:  Single and available
39. Zodiac Sign: Cancer
40. He or She?: I’m a she looking for a he, thank you
41. Elementary?  We call it Primary over here. A small all-girls Catholic school
42. Middle School?   A larger all-girls Catholic school
43. High School?  Not really. I went to a Polytechnic, since I decided to pursue my interest in IT
44. Hair Color?  Dark brown, it’s always been that way
45. Long or short? Short
46. Height? 1.68m so that’ll be about 5 foot 6 inches
47. Do you have a crush on someone?   Not at the moment
48: What do you like about yourself? My eyes
49. Piercings? Ears
50. Tattoos?  Nope
51. Righty or lefty? Righty
52. First surgery?  Left kidney
53. First piercing:  I had my ears pierced when I was 16
54. First best friend:  A girl who studied with me throughout Primary school. We went to the same Secondary school too, but she decided I was too nerdy for her and went to find cooler friends. We’ve lost touch since
55. First sport you joined: Squash

RIGHT NOW:
59. Eating: No
60. Drinking: Still sipping on my black coffee. Mystic Monk Christmas Blend 2010, for those interested
61. I’m about to: Get back to work
62. Listening to – Podcasts
63. Waiting for – 6PM, so I can knock-off and go home
64. Want kids? Not now, since I’m not married
65. Get Married?  God willing
66. Career?  Yeah.. sort of. I’m happy with what I’m doing so I guess that’s what counts

WHICH IS BETTER :
67. Lips or eyes?:  Eyes
68. Hugs or kisses?:   Hugs, followed by kisses
69. Shorter or taller?:  Taller
70. Older or Younger?:   Older
71. Romantic or spontaneous?:  Spontaneously romantic
72. Nice stomach or nice arms?:  Arms
73. Sensitive or loud?:  Sensitive to my needs but not the touchy-feely type of sensitive
74. Hook-up or relationship?:   Relationship, definitely
75. Trouble maker or hesitant?:  How about rational and considerate

HAVE YOU EVER :
76. Kissed a stranger?:  No
77. Drank hard liquor?: No
78. Lost glasses/contacts?:  No, thankfully
79. Sex on first date?:  No way!
80. Broken someone’s heart?:  Yes
81. Had your own heart broken?: Yes
83. Turned someone down?: Yes
84. Cried when someone died?:  Yes
85. Fallen for a friend?:  Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
86. Yourself:  Self confidence, yes. Self-worship/narcissism, no
87. Miracles:  Yes!
88. Love at first sight: Not anymore. I’m too old for such fairytales now
89. Heaven:  Yes!
90. Santa Claus:  see #88
91. Kiss on the first date: No
92. Angels: Yes!

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
93. Had more than one bf/gf?  Not at the same time
94. Is there one person you want to be with right now?  No
95. Did you sing today?  Yes
96. Ever cheated on somebody? No
97. If you could go back in time, how far would you go, and why? Back to when my Dad was still alive. I will let him know how much I love him
98. If you could pick a day from last year and relive it, what would it be?  12th March, the day I fell from the stairs and badly sprained my ankle. Only this time I’ll make sure to be more careful and not hurt myself again
99. Are you afraid of falling in love?  No
100. Posting this as 100 truths? Why not?

Tue Aug 17

沸点与冰点…

水的沸点是100摄氏度。
水的冰点是0摄氏度。
究竟人心的沸点是什么，冰点又是什么呢？

水沸腾时，会变蒸汽。
人心沸腾时，会变热情。
同样充满了力量，
同样容易让人灼伤。

水冻结时，会结冰。
人心冻结时，会冷却。
同样的沉静，
同样的默默等待能让自己再融化的温度。

Fri Aug 13

a swollen eye..

apparently does not increase your field of vision..

Wed Aug 11

Ramadan..

a time when our Muslim friends fast to cleanse body and soul..
and I take over (the food) from where they left off..

saying sorry..

is a basic form of politeness..
especially if you just stepped on someone’s foot..
even if it was just by accident..

just saying.. in case you missed it during morals and ethics class..

Wed Aug 11

saying sorry..

is a basic form of politeness..
especially if you just stepped on someone’s foot..
even if it was just by accident..

just saying.. in case you missed it during morals and ethics class..

Tue Aug 10

to the folks who enjoy talking loudly on the phone..

1) I know you have a working mobile phone.. I have one too.. there’s really no need to grab our attention that way..

2) I’m really not interested in listening to your lunch catering arrangements, your logistics plans on how to pick up your dog from the vet, and the results from your mom’s health check.. neither do the other passengers on the PUBLIC bus, so please keep your conversation to yourself..

Fri Aug 6

hurray..

to the long weekend that just started!

The z-monster gets to go on overdrive while I slide low on the couch.. sweet!

Just as a brief update, I’ve been messing around with other social networking sites recently, such as the likes of Tumblr and Sina’s wei bo (微博). I’ve been using the former for posting short, adhoc thoughts that may be a little too short for this blog and too long for Twitter/Plurk. The latter is  China’s equivalent of Twitter, and I generally use it to keep track of updates from my favorite celebrities from Taiwan/China. Speaking of Twitter, please note that the big whale currently has a bug where as an owner of a private profile, I’m unable to access follower requests. So if you’ve requested to follow me on Twitter but has yet to be accepted, please be patient and do not spam my mailbox with repeated requests.  The big whale is currently working on a solution, so let’s cross our fingers that a fix will come soon.

I’ve also been playing with AudioBoo, since they now have an Android app that I can use on my new phone. Currently there’s only one entry, which is my test boo. I hope to utilize this more often in future, but for now, I have to first get used to hearing my recorded voice and stop tripping over myself during recording.

To make up for the lack of activity here, I thought perhaps I can port some of the posts I’ve been doing recently on Tumblr on a weekly basis. Currently, I’m doing this manually as I haven’t found a while to automatically update WordPress from Tumblr, so if you have any solutions/suggestions, please let me know. Here are my Tumblr from the past week. God willing, I hope to find some time to do a couple of reviews of some of the Android apps I’ve been using.

Wed Aug 4

time..

must be the scarcest resource on this universe in this life..

waking up..

is hard to do..

Mon Aug 2

similarities..

are abundant between 2 good friends who share the same birthday..

similar outlook on life..
similar struggles with the z-monster and procrastination..
similar freedom from Monday blues..
similar interests in technology and gadgets..
not forgetting our similar appearances (glasses)..
and similar sounding Chinese names..

no wonder people used to believe us when we told them we’re twins

“ Nothing endures but change. Lives of the Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius

Sat Jul 31

热…

热血青春? 非也…
热恋激情? 非也、非也…
是这酷热的天气
真是难耐啊!

Fri Jul 30

无奈…

是当你想要完成,
却不知从何开始,
而在你挣扎、思考的过程中,
一切却早已匆匆的过去了…

laughter..

when it makes everyone sigh in disgust, it’s no longer funny..

taking the tumble..

inspired by some friends who’ve recently started their own tumblr blogs, I decided to toss away my procrastination (for now at least), gather some thoughts, and take the tumble..

posts here will most likely be rather random, not just in theme, but also in choice of language. So sit tight and enjoy the tumbling ride!

Mom and I spent Sunday the usual way, hanging out and eating out. But instead of the usual fare, we treated ourselves to something we haven’t had in a while, Korean BBQ. Yummy!

The next day, I took the day off to have some “me” time. I had originally made arrangements to meet my BFF for lunch, but she had to cancel the appointment at the last-minute as she wasn’t feeling well. (Hope you’re feeling better now Maril!) I ended up making a “journey to the east” to Changi Airport. It’s been a while since I last set foot here, and boy have things changed!

There’s now a 3rd terminal, which, frankly to me, resembles a shopping mall more than an airport terminal. I noticed that buildings nowadays like to use lots of natural lighting. This generally makes the entire building look bright and welcoming, and it helps conserve energy, but it’s not so good for people like with a phone that has a not-so-fantastic camera that cannot handle all the brightness. I did get a few shots of the orchid corner at T3 and a couple of sculptures near the sky-train platform.

I then moved on to the other terminals. Terminal 1 looked pretty much the same as I’d remembered it. Most of it was under retro-fitting though, so I didn’t stop for long. I quickly took the sky-train to Terminal 2. Terminal has changed some-what over the years. I remember it as being the “newly added” wing of Changi Airport when I last visited it during a school excursion, almost 20 years ago. Now it’s starting to show its age, especially when you compare it to T3. But it’s still rather new in comparison to T1. Much like me at this age, where I obviously look more mature than teenagers, but still have much to catch up on when compared to our elders. Interesting analogy, I know.

I headed straight for the viewing gallery, since there wasn’t one at T1 (if there was one I couldn’t find it), and the one at T3 was under renovation. And as soon as I was there, the lyrics “Time.. I’ve been passing time watching [planes] go by.. all of my life..” starting flashing pass my mind. Ahh.. now I know why students like coming here to study. Watching planes take off and land does have a calming effect.

Feeling hungry, I started looking for food nearby. I ended up at a Japanese fusion pasta outlet, Pasta de Waraku. There were some lunch specials available, so I picked the Seafood Pasta in Curry Soup from the lunch menu, and top-up the meal with a frozen Mango Shortcake. Yummy!

It was time to leave and get back to town. Before that, I decided to do more testing of my Sony Ericsson X10 Mini‘s camera. This time on the little floral corner of the Departure Hall at T2.

As I walked towards the bus terminal, I passed by the Arrival Hall of T2. Apparently a flight had just landed, and I saw many friends/relatives waiting in anticipation for their loved ones. It was a heart-warming sight. The sight of having someone/something to come home to must be one of the most comforting things in the world.

Although I didn’t have any elaborate birthday celebrations, but it was a thought-provoking one, and that made it another meaningful birthday. Thank you God for creating this beautiful universe, and for giving us wisdom and a rational mind to appreciate and enjoy what we have.

I quickly moved on from the Car Park Garden towards the section of the park known as Flora Fancy, where there are various display plots that showcase various garden designs, concepts, products and home gardening ideas. Among those on display were some playground setups, a scarecrow garden and an orchid garden. Interesting.

As I trudged along in the heat towards the Glasshouse Complex, I passed by the Tree Garden. Nothing too interesting to me, except for a unique looking piece of log. The Golden Garden looked quite cheery with its brilliant sea of yellow, but I only stopped for 1 quick “photo op“.

And here we are, the climax of my HortPark experience, the Glasshouse Complex. As the write-up describes, this complex consists of a collection of large and small glasshouses that are designed to simulate different growing conditions (temperature, humidity, etc) of different climates and geographical regions. Contained within the complex was a plethora of various species of flowers and shrubs. The interior of the glasshouses was not accessible to members of the public, so I could only take pictures from outside, through the glass. Since it was a bright and sunny day, reflections were aplenty. Hence if you spot a green shadow “lurking” among the flowers, it’s probably my reflection.

Not only was there a breathtaking variety of beautiful flowers in the glasshouses, there were also beautiful flowers in the outdoor compounds of the complex.

After almost half an hour, I finally managed to tear myself away from the beautiful flowers in the Glasshouse Complex, and started making my way back to the Visitor Center. Along the way I passed by some interesting topiary. There were 2 pairs of dragon topiary, a tiger topiary and a pair of Merlion topiary. I think there was a chicken topiary too, but I didn’t take a photo of that.

I also passed by the Herb & Spice Garden as well as the Bamboo Labyrinth. I stopped for a couple of quick shots.

On my way back to the Visitor Center, I also passed by the Silver Garden, which features a collection of silver, grey and white hued plants set against a backdrop of green dominated landscape. I appreciated the serenity this section of the park offered. Despite all the greyness, I still managed to find bits of color hiding in little corners, and I marveled at the genius of the Creator, and the creativity of the landscape designer.

Finally back at the Visitor Center, I stopped for a breather and a quick drink. Before long, I picked myself up and made my way out of HortPark and towards my next destination, the Forest Walk. The Forest Walk consists of an Elevated Walkway and an Earth Trail. Originally, I wanted to try the Elevated Walkway, but it was a little too elevated for my comfort. (Have I ever mentioned that I’m afraid of heights?) I only managed to cover probably 1% of the entire distance, before I quickly (and carefully) scampered down one of the exit stairways (complete with cold sweat and shaking legs, no doubt). The Earth Trail is quite rugged and seemed rather deserted since most of the visitors chose to take the Elevated Walkway, so I give up on taking the Forest Walk. However, I did venture back up on the Elevated Walkway via another entrance where the height of the walkway didn’t seem so intimidating. I spotted a pair of monkeys, probably mother and child, but they ran off before I could even whip out my camera phone. Ultimately, I had to end my Forest Walk midway as it was already getting late, and I didn’t want to risk getting stuck in the forest alone. I did take some pictures, just so that I can tell my friends “yup, been there, done that“. Maybe if I can find someone to accompany me in future, I’ll try to complete the Forest Walk.

There are still other attractions on the Southern Ridges, which HortPark, Alexandra Arch and Forest Walk are a part of. I definitely will find time to visit  the other attractions when I get a chance to. And you’ll definitely updated when I do. Meanwhile, for more photos of my little date with nature, as well as my other photos, please visit the Photos page on this blog.