It just simply another year passed by with some memories go along with it...
It started as a nice year to step in... where I finally settled a HDB flat that I call home at the right time as property 'boom' has arrived and sense of rush occupied home-seekers... and economy was riding high with skyrocket hope and wide opportunity to do any kind of job or business... but in the end, still in the same year, it's all suddenly gone in the wind... bear has come to chase the bull away!
It's a year of seeing coworkers come and go (I always jokingly call them 'graduate'...), cause they were seeking or even offered better opportunity... and what I can do was just be a good observer! And, gain a 'privilege' of being a 'senior' by natural...
It's a year to witness once again the basic characteristic of human: GREEDY. Obviously shown in property bubbled & crash, stock market bubbled & burst, commodity prices speculated & crash, big & then-prominent names went bankrupt or gone-in-24-hours cause they were acquired or merged just because they were chasing after inflated paper money which suddenly become worthless and turn to junk.
It's a year where I watch CNBC much more than any other channel on my cable tv network.
It's a year where my dream to be able to surf internet unlimited everywhere came true with my free Starhub MaxMobile subscription (bundled with my Starhub MaxOnline Plus package) and it's a year where I start bring two PDAPhone with me, one for making calls and the other one dedicated for surfing internet & read online news. Looks greedy but that's the way it should be, because of separate SIM card... silly huh!
It's a year when I think I stepped into, what people said, 'mid-life crisis' (one of my friend had ever sent me an article about it, especially for IT guys, it will come earlier) - a period of life where we stand on the crossroad, accept what and who we are today, and starts thinking what step to be made understanding no-way-back and no-start-all-over opportunity anymore. Still thinking how to pass this period successfully...
It's a year where Facebook finally hooked me to the sticky web of social networking... Because of it, I start feel missing my high school friends, university friends, and previous companies' coworkers... one-by-one I met them online (it such an exciting & challenging activities to search and locate old friends), sharing old & new pictures, sharing old & nostalgic stories, getting & posting funny comments, call each other with our old nickname with no hard feeling... it's so much fun! Ah... think this is what will happen when one getting older... ha ha ha.
It's a year where I laughed by myself like a crazy guy in Terminal 3 Changi Airport, waiting for my wife's flight, while chatting online with old high school friends sharing nostalgic & funny stories... all because of Facebook... sharks!
It's a year where I am still serving my long term and short term loans... well, this is the way of living in expensive Singapore!
It's a year where I quite actively write my blog like never before.
It's a year where I watched so many Korean and Japanese drama and movie online, much much more than I watched in previous years... thanks to broadband internet and those people who diligently upload and maintain it online.
It's a year which I want to thank for all kind of memories that make my life even more colorful and memorable...
Goodbye 2008...
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Life: X'mas 2008 & Me
For a 7 years in a row, I celebrated X'mas in Singapore... it's still a Dreamin' of A White X'mas to celebrate it outside this tiny island... hopefully in the years to come if the financial crisis isn't getting worse!
As usual, year by year, X'mas in Singapore is indeed X'mas along the Orchard Road: Giant X'mas trees in Paragon and Takashimaya (Ngee Ann City), still centre of attraction, and full of colorful lightings and X'mas ornaments on the buildings and road's trees. This year seems the celebration still as cheerful as last year eventhough the financial crisis starts showing its claws, probably because it is still early and the impact is not felt that much yet... so as usual, Orchard Road still full with the tourists from neighbor countries.
For 2 days of X'mas (25 & 26 Dec), I just roamed along the Orchard Road area with my wife to take some pictures of us to put them in our 2008 X'mas album and upload some to my Facebook. The rest of the days just stay @ home to rest and recharge to be ready for a more challenging year of 2009.
As usual, year by year, X'mas in Singapore is indeed X'mas along the Orchard Road: Giant X'mas trees in Paragon and Takashimaya (Ngee Ann City), still centre of attraction, and full of colorful lightings and X'mas ornaments on the buildings and road's trees. This year seems the celebration still as cheerful as last year eventhough the financial crisis starts showing its claws, probably because it is still early and the impact is not felt that much yet... so as usual, Orchard Road still full with the tourists from neighbor countries.
For 2 days of X'mas (25 & 26 Dec), I just roamed along the Orchard Road area with my wife to take some pictures of us to put them in our 2008 X'mas album and upload some to my Facebook. The rest of the days just stay @ home to rest and recharge to be ready for a more challenging year of 2009.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Life: Japanese Cuisine, Koh-San = Sumo
Refer to my previous posted blog where I mentioned that I went to Lot 1 Choa Chu Kang (CCK) and found out my fave food stall, a japanese cuisine, no more there... well I finally found it again last Sunday but under different name: Koh-San Japanese Cuisine (in CCK it called Sumo Japanese Cuisine).
It's a quite interesting how I found it... backed to couple weeks ago when I was windows shopping @ Compasspoint Mall, someone pat my shoulder and when I saw him I forgot who he was... but later he reminded me that he used to work @ CCK's Sumo Japanese Cuisine... what a coincidence because since I found out Sumo has closed down, I'm still wondering whether it has opened in another place or not. He then told me that one of the chef now working @ Koh-San at Koufu Toa Payoh HDB Hub... so there I went last Sunday to taste back the original sashimi which stimulate my taste bud on raw fish, specifically raw salmon!
Below is fave meal, Sashimi Set Meal (picture), which I order regularly everytime I eat there... the set comes with tuna but I always ask to change it with more salmon. But quite sad now, the slices getting smaller and thinner... sigh! Singapore increasing rental cost eating my salmon! Well, but at least, it still fresher and the taste just nice for me.
This is the complete set meal menu:
And, this is the familiar Sumo ornament...
Well... interested to try (especially if you are boring with long queue or taste of Sakae Sushi)? Just take MRT to Toa Payoh then go to HDB Hub 2nd floor, Koufu Food Court, stall 1.
It's a quite interesting how I found it... backed to couple weeks ago when I was windows shopping @ Compasspoint Mall, someone pat my shoulder and when I saw him I forgot who he was... but later he reminded me that he used to work @ CCK's Sumo Japanese Cuisine... what a coincidence because since I found out Sumo has closed down, I'm still wondering whether it has opened in another place or not. He then told me that one of the chef now working @ Koh-San at Koufu Toa Payoh HDB Hub... so there I went last Sunday to taste back the original sashimi which stimulate my taste bud on raw fish, specifically raw salmon!
Below is fave meal, Sashimi Set Meal (picture), which I order regularly everytime I eat there... the set comes with tuna but I always ask to change it with more salmon. But quite sad now, the slices getting smaller and thinner... sigh! Singapore increasing rental cost eating my salmon! Well, but at least, it still fresher and the taste just nice for me.
This is the complete set meal menu:
And, this is the familiar Sumo ornament...
Well... interested to try (especially if you are boring with long queue or taste of Sakae Sushi)? Just take MRT to Toa Payoh then go to HDB Hub 2nd floor, Koufu Food Court, stall 1.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
FYI: EPL Managers Funny Picture
Source: Thesun.co.uk article
From left to right: ... Rafa Benitez (Liverpool's Manager) as Cinderella with Alex Ferguson (Manchester United's Manager) and Phil Scolari (Chelsea's Manager) as the Ugly Sisters.
Quoted from The Sun: "Liverpool are top of the tree going into the panto season. But the Ugly Sisters of Chelsea and Manchester United are right behind you, Rafa. "
Very funny and creative... Ha3x lol...
From left to right: ... Rafa Benitez (Liverpool's Manager) as Cinderella with Alex Ferguson (Manchester United's Manager) and Phil Scolari (Chelsea's Manager) as the Ugly Sisters.Quoted from The Sun: "Liverpool are top of the tree going into the panto season. But the Ugly Sisters of Chelsea and Manchester United are right behind you, Rafa. "
Very funny and creative... Ha3x lol...
Life: Me & Facebook
Social Networking is the 'in' word nowadays... but it has been existed, up to certain level, since email gains its popularity. Mailing list or group connecting and allowing groups of email addresses interact each other... then comes the Messenger (Yahoo!, MSN, etc.) which allows peoples communicate online in real time using it's chat facility.
The more complete social networking tools gain popularity, in Asia particularly, through Friendster, and then Facebook.
Well, for myself, I started it with mailing groups... be a member of my ex-university and ex-workplace mailing lists... but then its cooling down because less and less member posted message there.
I never been that active using Messenger eventhough I have both Yahoo! and MSN Messenger account, just use it as and when, mostly to communicate with family members or talk free online instead of using expensive overseas phone call.
Then for social networking, despite its popularity, I never join Friendster just because I don't feel 'fit' into it.... well, this is what called 'positioning' and 'target market' term in Marketing. In my own perception, the name Friendster fit into young age target market (yeah... this is a confession that I am 'old' already... ha3x), that's why most of Friendster members are children, teenagers and young adults. Since I don't have Friendster account, I can't write that much about it... but, to share, I didn't like its look and interface that much... well, probably because I am quite particular on this issue.
Then here comes Facebook. It was started as social networking portal for Harvard University students before it is open up to the world. It is the gains popularity in faster pace than Friendster and more and more Friendster member migrating to Facebook.
As I feel 'fit' into its target market (well, again... this is just my own perception...), I then started my journey in social networking in Facebook... and found it's really fun, and its complete, neat, and well structured features hooked me... so I decided to start building my friends network there... my old high school friends, my previous workplaces friends, and my current workplace friends.
It's quite challenging finding old friends, especially my high school classmates, because it has been 23 years ago and lost contact with them for quite long. But, I managed to get them one by one... it just a matter of time to have most of them since not all of them use computer and know how to use computer. Sharing old memories, old & new photos, and life journey of the last 23 years really exciting and fun, some even make me laugh-out-loud!
Hopefully Facebook will last long enough so I can still link up and maintain this friends networking till I much older and getting lonelier... I am quite optimistic because internet is the future and the computer getting cheaper, smaller, lighter, and easy-to-use... Don't surprise if one day most of the people on the street actively carrying small gadget to do social networking everywhere... Well, this is my vision! ha3x...
The more complete social networking tools gain popularity, in Asia particularly, through Friendster, and then Facebook.
Well, for myself, I started it with mailing groups... be a member of my ex-university and ex-workplace mailing lists... but then its cooling down because less and less member posted message there.
I never been that active using Messenger eventhough I have both Yahoo! and MSN Messenger account, just use it as and when, mostly to communicate with family members or talk free online instead of using expensive overseas phone call.
Then for social networking, despite its popularity, I never join Friendster just because I don't feel 'fit' into it.... well, this is what called 'positioning' and 'target market' term in Marketing. In my own perception, the name Friendster fit into young age target market (yeah... this is a confession that I am 'old' already... ha3x), that's why most of Friendster members are children, teenagers and young adults. Since I don't have Friendster account, I can't write that much about it... but, to share, I didn't like its look and interface that much... well, probably because I am quite particular on this issue.
Then here comes Facebook. It was started as social networking portal for Harvard University students before it is open up to the world. It is the gains popularity in faster pace than Friendster and more and more Friendster member migrating to Facebook.
As I feel 'fit' into its target market (well, again... this is just my own perception...), I then started my journey in social networking in Facebook... and found it's really fun, and its complete, neat, and well structured features hooked me... so I decided to start building my friends network there... my old high school friends, my previous workplaces friends, and my current workplace friends.
It's quite challenging finding old friends, especially my high school classmates, because it has been 23 years ago and lost contact with them for quite long. But, I managed to get them one by one... it just a matter of time to have most of them since not all of them use computer and know how to use computer. Sharing old memories, old & new photos, and life journey of the last 23 years really exciting and fun, some even make me laugh-out-loud!
Hopefully Facebook will last long enough so I can still link up and maintain this friends networking till I much older and getting lonelier... I am quite optimistic because internet is the future and the computer getting cheaper, smaller, lighter, and easy-to-use... Don't surprise if one day most of the people on the street actively carrying small gadget to do social networking everywhere... Well, this is my vision! ha3x...
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