Pictures taken during CNY

Pictures taken on Chinese New Year Eve...

Little Frog Prince is also looking forward to the upcoming Reunion Dinner... :-)

Steamboat buffet!!! Unfortunately, there were plenty of leftovers in the end.

Game of mahjong right after dinner.

Pictures taken on 2nd day of Chinese New Year

Hehe, adorable little squirrel perched on a tree located around Thomson Heights. This was taken soon after we left Kor-kor Teck's house and on our way to the bus stop outside.

Awesome scenery taken from Kor-kor Hong Hua's house

Lohei time

Another round of mahjong!! I still couldn't believe I, a pure novice, won 2 games.

Birthday celebration for Kor-kor Teck. Check out the different layers on the slice.

Bowls of smokey ice cubes... something like a practical test in chemistry.

"Flying cows" of various colors along the empty grass patches in front of Kor-kor Hong Hua's flat. The pic of the sunlight across the blocks of flats is something like God Almighty speaking to anyone in general.

Celebrating Chinese New Year

Happy Birthday to...
27th Jan- Fann Wong, Andrew Lam and Tan Eng Soon
28th Jan- Hady Mirza, Nick Carter and Gayle C

This was how I spent CNY this year...

Sunday (25th Jan)
Went for morning service with family, then I went to help Mother collect some duck pieces from marketplace. I reached home rather early at abt 11.30 am, had frozen pizza for lunch, and then spent the next few hrs surfing the Net. Tris' friend Aaron (who hailed from Canada) came over and the 4 of us took a taxi to Cousin Teck's house. It was there that we had reunion dinner steamboat style... and apparently us youngsters could only manage to finish half of the food on the table, while the elder generation still went rather strong. After a few games of mahjong, me and family headed back home, in time to watch the CNY Countdown on Channel 8.

Monday (26th Jan)
We bought some Big Breakfast Meals from McDonald's, and then spent nearly the whole day slacking at home. Initially I thought of going out,but was just too lazy to do so. Nevetheless, I managed to successfully download a really old VGA game titled "Quest For Glory 1: So You Want To Be A Hero", a game I had not played for abt 10 years. Yet surprisingly I can still remember the map and some of the objectives, even though I no longer have the self-made walkthrough booklet to the game. After I watched "Little Nyonya Big Reunion", me and family took a bus to Changi Airport... it was there that we had dinner at a pasta restaurant at Terminal 2... one that had very few patrons. We then took the Skytram to Terminal 1 to welcome Dad back. Lights out at 1 plus.

Tuesday (27th Jan)
Ahhh, this is where the real fun began. We left the house at 10 plus to visit A-kin first, pray for her and then take a bus to Hoon-jie's house. It was there that we (along with Kor-kor Teck and family) had lunch of spagetthi, beef steak, pizza, potato slices and the like. Then we celebrated Kor-kor Teck's birthday with a multi-flavored cake bought by Hoon-jie herself. Then after KK Teck and family left the place at 3 (and Tris off to visit friends), I had my first taste of mahjong, and with some help from Hoon-jie, I managed to win the first 2 games (I call it beginner's luck). While the others continued playing, I went to surf the Net for cheat codes to "Quest For Glory 1". Me and folks then left the place at around 6, had quick dinner at Bishan and then headed back home. Tris and Wendy came over at 8 plus and we played Taboo (which we had played before) as well as 5-Alive (a game we had not played for a long time). I tried to watch the whole of "Evan Almighty", but found myself becoming rather weary and sleepy, so I decided to go to sleep at 12 plus. Thing is myself and Tris got lesser angpow money than the last 2 years, mostly due to the economic crisis, and also partly bcos Kor-kor Teck had just retired.

Stay tuned for pictures in an upcoming post... ;-)

My thoughts on latest news for recent weeks

Happy Birthday to Vince Carlo and Jerome Neo

In regards to the 2008 milk scandal in mainland China, he Intermediate People's Court in Shijiazhuang sentenced Sanlu employees Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping to death, Tian Wenhua to life in prison, on 22 January 2009. Zhang was convicted for producing 800 tons of contaminated powder, Geng for producing and selling toxic food. The China Daily reported Geng had knelt on the courtroom floor and begged the victim's families for forgiveness during the trial. The court also sentenced Sanlu deputy general managers Wang Yuliang and Hang Zhiqi to fifteen years and eight years in jail respectively, former manager Wu Jusheng to five years.

I'm not exactly good with words, and I also partly fear that I may offend anyone in general... but the only thing I can say is that it's only right for Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinpeng to bear full responsibility for the deaths of many kids and get the death sentence for the distribution of contaminated powder and toxic food. Then again, who would have expected such things to happen? Life is just so unpredictable...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal

I am personally horrified by the latest murder case in Virginia Tech University, the very site that saw 32 people gunned down in 2007 by Korean student Cho Seung Hui who later shot himself after the massacre. This time round, it involved a male Chinese national named Zhu Haiyang killing a fellow student named Yang Xin and (gasp!!) cutting off the poor girl's head!! In fact, the sick and demented fella who had been suffering from depression and extreme frustration following stock losses and other problems could only think about either killing someone or committing suicide. And who knew then that Yang Xin, who arrived in VT the very next day after Zhu had published that disturbing blog entry, would eventually become hie ultimate target? And she had only been in the unviersity for about 2 weeks... this Zhu HY is inuman to kill an innocent girl under such graphic cicrumstances... :-(

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,190840-1232920740,00.html?

And this piece of news is really sad... a Brazillian model named Mariana Bridi lost the fight for her life after having her hands and feet amputated as well as part of her stomach due to a deadly infection she sustained just last month. And to think that she was only 20 years old... may she rest in peace, and may God watch over her grieving family. :-(

She died on the morning of January 24, 2009, in a hospital in Espírito Santo as a result of complications of from necrotic septicemia resulting from the original infection. The cause of death according to the hospital certificate was a severe sepsis, urinary infection and abdominal bleeding which led to the failure of multiple organs. Due for its rarity and public commotion, the Mariana case also attracted a great deal of attention from international press, not just from the world. Her funeral was attended by more than 1000 people.

Go to the following link to find out more about Mariana's illness... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Bridi

Wishing everyone Xin Nian Kuai Le, Wan Shi Ru Yi

Wishing everyone a very prosperous and Happy Lunar New Year... may you get lots of ang pows in the days to come...

Do stay tuned for updates on what I did during the CNY period... as well as my thoughts on the recent happenings around the world.

Here are pictures I took on Friday night during the 10-minute walk outside the Esplanade prior to Daphne's Late Nite performance... the River Hong Bao extravaganza for this year will take place at the Marina Bay region instead of the Esplanade Park region. Enjoy... ;-)