finally booked our japan trip!
scribbled at 6:57 am
.::.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
wwe summerslam
this is a way overdue post, and i've given my dearest the honour to leave his first mark on my blog. :-)
a naïve chap’s blog entry – i was so excited when I knew I was going to watch a WWE event as the last time I went to one was when I was a kid. although I only remember a bald guy bleeding from his head which kind of made me quite terrified then. yes, I know it’s all fake but I still like to watch it for its entertainment value and stunts like in the movies.
[1] one of my many presents for this birthday.
[2] a very ‘pasar malam’ looking souvenir shop just outside the indoor stadium.
[3] premier entrance for those with the higher end tickets (>$155!)
[4] tour schedule of the smackdown/ECW summerslam tour.
[5] gf posing in front of the ring which looks much bigger on tv.
[6] a happy couple in front of the ring.
[7] WWE self portrait.
[8] argh! my 1st WWE tour t-shirt!
[9] diva!
[10] the “big red machine” kane sizing up finlay.
[11] an “impromptu” tag team match between batista/kane vs the great khali/finlay
[12] a funny sign from a funny fan.
the only disappointment was the non existence of all the pyrotechnics like what they have in the US. especially those explosive red flares for kane and those behind batista when he does his usual machine gun pose during their entrance. but all in all I had a great time there!
thank you baby for the surprise and making this wish come true!
scribbled at 2:04 pm
.::.
this is a way overdue post, and i've given my dearest the honour to leave his first mark on my blog. :-)
a naïve chap’s blog entry – i was so excited when I knew I was going to watch a WWE event as the last time I went to one was when I was a kid. although I only remember a bald guy bleeding from his head which kind of made me quite terrified then. yes, I know it’s all fake but I still like to watch it for its entertainment value and stunts like in the movies.
[1] one of my many presents for this birthday.
[2] a very ‘pasar malam’ looking souvenir shop just outside the indoor stadium.
[3] premier entrance for those with the higher end tickets (>$155!)
[4] tour schedule of the smackdown/ECW summerslam tour.
[5] gf posing in front of the ring which looks much bigger on tv.
[6] a happy couple in front of the ring.
[7] WWE self portrait.
[8] argh! my 1st WWE tour t-shirt!
[9] diva!
[10] the “big red machine” kane sizing up finlay.
[11] an “impromptu” tag team match between batista/kane vs the great khali/finlay
[12] a funny sign from a funny fan.
the only disappointment was the non existence of all the pyrotechnics like what they have in the US. especially those explosive red flares for kane and those behind batista when he does his usual machine gun pose during their entrance. but all in all I had a great time there!
thank you baby for the surprise and making this wish come true!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
fireworks festival 2007
scribbled at 7:14 pm
.::.
happy birthday!
[1] i was quite surprised when i walked in the restaurant and found that they decorated our table with rose petals. let them know somebody is celebrating his/her birthday, and they'll probably do the same.
[2] the birthday girl hates the taste of coffee, so tiramisu wasn't exactly the right choice, but anyway it's FOC... haha, so the rest of us got to enjoy it. and it's nice, btw!
[3] birthday girl posing with her cake.
[4] the restaurant ceiling.
[5] lion & the sheep.
[6] our two pastas - cream pasta with duck and the day's special which was fettucine with asparagus, mushrooms and soft shell crab. erm, the reason why there's only two dishes for four of us... when we were about to order, the waitress actually told us the serving for each pasta was enough for two persons. the end result wasn't the case, but we made it up with another servicing for free bread! hahaha.
[7] the other two desserts which xp described as "look exactly the same but with different shape" - stick toffee pudding and chocolate brownie. i especially enjoyed the chocolate brownie, it was the usual brownie that is harder and drier, it tasted like a soft rich sponge cake.
[8] me and the bf who decided to join the gitls last-minute since his ICT ended earlier than expected.
[9] yay, best friends - we've known each other for 11 years!
scribbled at 1:07 pm
.::.
[1] i was quite surprised when i walked in the restaurant and found that they decorated our table with rose petals. let them know somebody is celebrating his/her birthday, and they'll probably do the same.
[2] the birthday girl hates the taste of coffee, so tiramisu wasn't exactly the right choice, but anyway it's FOC... haha, so the rest of us got to enjoy it. and it's nice, btw!
[3] birthday girl posing with her cake.
[4] the restaurant ceiling.
[5] lion & the sheep.
[6] our two pastas - cream pasta with duck and the day's special which was fettucine with asparagus, mushrooms and soft shell crab. erm, the reason why there's only two dishes for four of us... when we were about to order, the waitress actually told us the serving for each pasta was enough for two persons. the end result wasn't the case, but we made it up with another servicing for free bread! hahaha.
[7] the other two desserts which xp described as "look exactly the same but with different shape" - stick toffee pudding and chocolate brownie. i especially enjoyed the chocolate brownie, it was the usual brownie that is harder and drier, it tasted like a soft rich sponge cake.
[8] me and the bf who decided to join the gitls last-minute since his ICT ended earlier than expected.
[9] yay, best friends - we've known each other for 11 years!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
another turning 26!
pictures taken at xy's birthday celebrations on saturday. few more days to the actual birthday! :-) the chosen present was this lovely pair of vintage mismatched earrings from trixilini (a boutique at mandarin hotel shopping gallery) - expensive but at least it's the only one of its kind!
scribbled at 7:11 pm
.::.
pictures taken at xy's birthday celebrations on saturday. few more days to the actual birthday! :-) the chosen present was this lovely pair of vintage mismatched earrings from trixilini (a boutique at mandarin hotel shopping gallery) - expensive but at least it's the only one of its kind!
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
nothing beats coming back home
after 29 hours - yes, TWENTY-NINE hours - which includes a total of 20 flight hours and 9 hours waiting time, i'm finally home. when being asked what was the thing i'd miss most about arizona, i gave it some thought and concluded that it has to be the people i've met, talked about and learnt from during the trip. no doubt the grand canyon was majestic, the heli-ride was an eye-opener and gave us an awe-inspiring view of the entire place, it's the people that left an impression - the technical folks we met from all over USA, the ever-so-friendly organisers and directors, and not forgeting those from our region who made up a tiny percentage at this international conference. we even had a prime rib dinner with mike & george from austin, texas. other than boring equipment talk, we chatted about singapore laws (you should see their faces when we mentioned about the death penalty for drug trafficking), the michael fay's canning case (which as opposed to what the media mentioned, most americans are in favour of it! can't trust the media, huh!), george's japanese wife and kids whom he missed dearly... it was a truly great night out.
it was also our pleasure to have met the kennedy family, who hosted us for an afternoon. kirk brought us for a drive along the apache trail - we passed the superstition mountains, stopping at the lost dutchman state park, canyon lake and tortilla flat for some sight-seeing and photo-snapping.
kirk and his wife, jeany, showed us around their beautiful home. although a tad untidy (i'm being nice here, considering they moved in three years back, haha), their place was incredibly HUGE, and it was a paradise for animal lovers. they've got a total of 12 animals - 3 dogs, 4 cats and 5 horses, and we eventually found out that it's jeany who's the pet collector, and kirk just "tolerates them". it costs US$85 for a farrier to shoe a horse, and this has to be done every 8 weeks - no kidding, no wonder jeany mentioned not to speak a word about this, haa! now you know who does the home finances. :-) jeany and kelly (their 17-year old daughter), prepared the bridle and saddle for our ride, and although it was just a couple of minutes, it felt real cool to be sitting high up there! dinner was at a italian place in scottsdale, just check out the size of that pizza, typically american sized! the dessert was absolutely divine - it's half a pound of macadamia and chocolate chip ice-cream over a huge chocolate chip cookie base, quite a good idea for house parties in future.
our day tour to the grand canyon - amazing view huh! imagine the beautiful layers of sedimendary rocks were created purely by the forces of nature, the erosion from the water and the wind over millions of years. there were only six of us in the mini tour bus, including two fellow singaporeans (see picture), led by kurk, our guide and driver for the day. there are simply too many pictures to put them all up here, so here's just a few of them. i'll probably put up a couple taken from the heli-ride later on. :-)
scribbled at 10:52 am
.::.
after 29 hours - yes, TWENTY-NINE hours - which includes a total of 20 flight hours and 9 hours waiting time, i'm finally home. when being asked what was the thing i'd miss most about arizona, i gave it some thought and concluded that it has to be the people i've met, talked about and learnt from during the trip. no doubt the grand canyon was majestic, the heli-ride was an eye-opener and gave us an awe-inspiring view of the entire place, it's the people that left an impression - the technical folks we met from all over USA, the ever-so-friendly organisers and directors, and not forgeting those from our region who made up a tiny percentage at this international conference. we even had a prime rib dinner with mike & george from austin, texas. other than boring equipment talk, we chatted about singapore laws (you should see their faces when we mentioned about the death penalty for drug trafficking), the michael fay's canning case (which as opposed to what the media mentioned, most americans are in favour of it! can't trust the media, huh!), george's japanese wife and kids whom he missed dearly... it was a truly great night out.
it was also our pleasure to have met the kennedy family, who hosted us for an afternoon. kirk brought us for a drive along the apache trail - we passed the superstition mountains, stopping at the lost dutchman state park, canyon lake and tortilla flat for some sight-seeing and photo-snapping.
kirk and his wife, jeany, showed us around their beautiful home. although a tad untidy (i'm being nice here, considering they moved in three years back, haha), their place was incredibly HUGE, and it was a paradise for animal lovers. they've got a total of 12 animals - 3 dogs, 4 cats and 5 horses, and we eventually found out that it's jeany who's the pet collector, and kirk just "tolerates them". it costs US$85 for a farrier to shoe a horse, and this has to be done every 8 weeks - no kidding, no wonder jeany mentioned not to speak a word about this, haa! now you know who does the home finances. :-) jeany and kelly (their 17-year old daughter), prepared the bridle and saddle for our ride, and although it was just a couple of minutes, it felt real cool to be sitting high up there! dinner was at a italian place in scottsdale, just check out the size of that pizza, typically american sized! the dessert was absolutely divine - it's half a pound of macadamia and chocolate chip ice-cream over a huge chocolate chip cookie base, quite a good idea for house parties in future.
our day tour to the grand canyon - amazing view huh! imagine the beautiful layers of sedimendary rocks were created purely by the forces of nature, the erosion from the water and the wind over millions of years. there were only six of us in the mini tour bus, including two fellow singaporeans (see picture), led by kurk, our guide and driver for the day. there are simply too many pictures to put them all up here, so here's just a few of them. i'll probably put up a couple taken from the heli-ride later on. :-)
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
missing home
this isn't the first time i've been to phoenix, arizona. the last visit was when i was 15 - it was a geography trip organised by the school, for god knows what reason, the teachers managed to convince the school management for us to enjoy such a long overseas trip during the june holidays when we were in secondary three. other than the two days spent at the disneyland and universal studio, half a day at the factory outlet, and another night at las vegas (the only night we were allowed to sleep at midnight although we were given strict instructions not to touch the slot machines or pick up any of the leaflets lying on the streets), the rest of the 15-day trip was spent at the national parks with the lakes, mountains and valleys. the breath-taking view of grand canyon 11 years ago was truly awesome and unforgettable.
anyway, back to this trip. the conference went fine so far, the organisers did a truly good job - there weren't too many topics in a session, there were sufficient breaks so that our eyelids can stay up, and the speakers (mostly americans) were rather engaging. well, the only times we had to put up a fight with the zzz monster were for lectures right after lunch. it has been raining the past two evenings, i can't imagine rain at a desert, not the type of rain we experienced today - heavy rain and strong wind, thank god i had a hood on my jacket to help me get back to the room. not that many more pictures to upload for now, the only photo-taking opportunities were during the long breaks at the conference venue (there's where you see all the cacti and desert plants, and i shot almost every plant species there), and at the marketplace which is the only nearby shopping and dining place. i truly miss home!
scribbled at 12:01 pm
.::.
this isn't the first time i've been to phoenix, arizona. the last visit was when i was 15 - it was a geography trip organised by the school, for god knows what reason, the teachers managed to convince the school management for us to enjoy such a long overseas trip during the june holidays when we were in secondary three. other than the two days spent at the disneyland and universal studio, half a day at the factory outlet, and another night at las vegas (the only night we were allowed to sleep at midnight although we were given strict instructions not to touch the slot machines or pick up any of the leaflets lying on the streets), the rest of the 15-day trip was spent at the national parks with the lakes, mountains and valleys. the breath-taking view of grand canyon 11 years ago was truly awesome and unforgettable.
anyway, back to this trip. the conference went fine so far, the organisers did a truly good job - there weren't too many topics in a session, there were sufficient breaks so that our eyelids can stay up, and the speakers (mostly americans) were rather engaging. well, the only times we had to put up a fight with the zzz monster were for lectures right after lunch. it has been raining the past two evenings, i can't imagine rain at a desert, not the type of rain we experienced today - heavy rain and strong wind, thank god i had a hood on my jacket to help me get back to the room. not that many more pictures to upload for now, the only photo-taking opportunities were during the long breaks at the conference venue (there's where you see all the cacti and desert plants, and i shot almost every plant species there), and at the marketplace which is the only nearby shopping and dining place. i truly miss home!