R u the Energuy?

Very interactive game with a great purpose from the canadians!

How to play: Pull the Energuy by the wrist. Point up, down, left, right throughout the 5 rooms and click on objects you think are not energy efficient. For every correct answer you get (20 in total), the Energuy performs a little dance, move, somersault etc. Pull him harder and he can even fall down or hit the ceiling!

Scoring: Show how environmentally-minded you are within 2 minutes. Then on the results page, mouseover each object you found to learn how it can save you money!

If you have a desperate eye on your monthly bills like me, this provides you some great tips on how to save energy ($$). Start with little tweeks in our daily lives, and live in a greener world. :)

big birds.

JURONG BIRDPARK! (photos later)

..Is actually quite exciting, compared to the zoo. But most parents would probably pick zoo over birdpark for a greater variety of animals. Honestly, I enjoyed the bird shows much more than I did with the elephants show, which was more traditional and common in other zoos as well.

Birds of Prey. Totally loved it. Feel the falcons and vultures swoosh pass just above your head! Took me by surprise twice as I thought it was going to smash right into my face. Haha, the birds weren't that stupid of course, but that was how close and swift they were.

Birds n Buddies. Though not as exciting as the Birds of Prey, the grand entrance of a flock of Greater Flamingos made it just as spectacular. Also listen to the parrot sing in 3 languages (客人来, Rasa Sayang, Happy Birthday)!

Lory Loft. Enjoy close encounters with 1,000 lories! Great for photo-taking too. For $3 a cup, you get to feed them their favorite *unknown* juice!

Pelican Cove. Did you know the largest breed of pelicans (Dalmatian Pelicans) weigh about 40kg and can fly 40 times the height of the Statue of Liberty?? Despite their huge and bulky looks, they actually weigh less than me ye. :p

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When was the last time you visited the birdpark?

I think mine was way back when I was still in primary school. I could still remember that my P2 holiday assignment was to visit the Jurong Birdpark. I got up early that morning, and was so excited about the fishballs mom was preparing for me, that I kept pacing around the house. But just as I was making a turn into the kitchen, my dad was on his way out with boiling hot water for his tea. I bumped into him. >< Hot water spilled and scalded my neck. Poor me. I had to attend my abacus sessions in school throughout the whole holiday with a big bandage on my neck. :( And it was excruciatingly painful whenever the doctor had to clean out my wound and change a new bandage. *sniff*

Dining at Dian Xiao Er

Rating: ★★★★

Went for dinner with my family at Dian Xiao Er @AMK Hub yesterday, and it was packed with people. A rather ineffective queue system though. We started queuing for a table for 5+1, not knowing exactly how long it would take. "Not too long," was what I heard them tell everyone. There was no number, so we had to stand in the line at the exact same location throughout the wait. That's how they differentiate who came first. Finally, we got our seats after standing for 45 mins. We could however order first, so food actually arrived shortly after we'd taken our seats.

Overall, queuing up for seats was the bottleneck for me. I guess we were unlucky too because we had a large group right before us. 15 of them. Two groups of 3 who came after us were seated first. It appeared that they would give seats according to the party size whenever a table had cleared up, reasonably. It was very strange then, because when we saw traffic OUT, there was no guarantee of traffic IN. When we were finally seated after another 10-15 mins, the 15 sat down at a large rectangular table in the corner. We took a separate smaller rectangular table towards the middle of the space. The party of 7 behind us took a separate round table. ie. For the past 10-15 mins, at least, we can be sure that the smaller rectangular table and the round table were already empty, since we did not see any more traffic coming out of the restaurant during this period, and tables were separate so we need not depend on the 15 to get our seats, vice versa. Furthermore, we stood for 10-15 mins more, at least, because the waitresses were just trying to settle seats for the larger party, or so it seemed.

I'm not sure of the situation at other Dian Xiao Er branches. This was also my first time to one of them. But I did think that the food wasn't bad, ratings as follow.
Favorites: the wintermelon soup, which had a light and natural sweetness from scallops; Poached Spinach with Century and Salted Egg, quite a unique taste.
Quite good: Prawn Ball with Mayo Sauce; Duck Roasted with Ten Wonder Herb.
Not recommended: Mongolian Spare Ribs, I personally thought it had a weird taste.
Some pictures available on their web.

I might go there again for lunch. :) HUNNGRRRRYYY!

name card design 101

Earlier this week, I have scanned over 480 business cards and more than 200 businesses in one and a half day. Quite an accomplishment I would say, considering how much errors the card scanner made. So essentially, I am looking at 960 profiles: 480 during the scan, and 480 during the check. :p

The scanning was not the most boring part (the editing was) because I got to enjoy the 200+ different designs. Some which I liked. Editing was the killer. Can't really put the blame on the card scanner, it's just that most business cards are just not electronic-friendly enough!

These are a few card designs that I picked out, for various reasons:

• ueeeu. I just thought it had the strangest company name. How do you even pronounce it!? For such a cute name, I would expect its card design to be more creative than conventional as it is now


• wilsin. Roughly 6cm on its sides, a diamond shaped business card. Quite unique, but card scanners are not smart enough to detect rotated text. You will have to scan the card at 45 degrees (ie. align the text - not the edges - to the scanner).


• aerodox. Black background with neon white/green text, embossed. Looks cool, but the worst thing to scan. Scanned images retained 0% information. Might have worked with a better and color scanner. The one I used was black & white.


• yeahpoint. When I designed my first name card, I used a similar concept. Cut-out dot from the "i" in "Yeahpoint". This one's actually better, as the concept incorporated the logo as well. Rounded rectangle makes it a very handy size and hard backing makes it more durable.


• wego. Heh I like this. Really cute font and clean design. Text is big and clear, makes it easy for the scanner. But its awkwardly rectangular/ovular shape is hard to align properly.


• upstream. Most interesting logo from the stack. Looks like a fish in the waters, or those mail validation stamps you see at the postage area.


• mapicurious.com. Simple, clean, rectangular slip, like a small bookmark. Picture on back. Includes twitter, blog information.

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Rather than relying on the technology of card scanners (technology is advancing, but there are still limitations), we can actually make a little effort to improve the effectiveness of card scanning.

What constitutes a good business card:

1. Design. Yes, you want to stand out, make an impression amongst the hundreds of other business cards. Be representative and unique of your trade. Step out of conventionality. As a good start, try to incorporate your logo into your card design (colors, shapes, etc). Although traditional rectangular sized cards are best for scanning (easy to align), but I personally would give in for a nicely shaped business card. I'm thinking of a circle now... :p


2. Font type. Business cards contain important information. So they definitely need to be readable, not only by humans but also by computers. Even the smallest scale businesses will use a card scanner to electronically keep their business contacts. How to ensure that font you pick is font that works? Take note of font spacing and font size. For example, Arial Narrow will not be a good pick for most business cards, unless the words are huge enough in order for the scanner to distinguish spaces between the letters. Same situation when the words are too small.


3. Content & Layout Probably best to keep things simple for now (aligned text). For best results, stick to having just one piece of information for each line. If you really want to have two side by side, note the spacing between them. State clearly what each information is. (ie. If it's an email address, use headings like "email:" instead of "e." These tend to be mistaken as part of the email address.)

That's all for now. Will add when more comes to my mind. Happy designing! :)

long kang fishing @bottle tree park

Ehh... I'm not totally sure whether this is a good or bad idea, but activities like "long kang" fishing can seem to be quite brutal and unethical when it involves young children.

I went to Bottle Tree Park @Yishun with my niece today. First time there. $10 (child) for a small plastic tank and a net, fish you catch = fish you bring home. Initially, I thought it's nice to let the kids experience getting wet and catching fish in a pond. But then I saw the quality of the kids nowadays. Tsk tsk tsk.

When I was helping my niece in the pond, I already realized a couple of dead fishies in the water. It was then I saw what took their lives.


This boy was trying to catch some fish with his plastic tank lid in the pond. Fishies are small and agile, so they escape fast. But there was this poor little fish who could not escape quick enough. I thought it was dead already as I didn't see it moving. But in between the funny boy's drastic attempts to scoop that fish up, I caught glimpses of flapping movement from the fish! It's alive with only one fin left! And this funny boy just kept swish-swooshing his lid in the water, hitting the poor fish at the same time. Can you imagine the force its little body is taking from this giant kid!?

More fishy-killing in action.. :p



It's actually okay if they don't know as they are still young. Worse thing is, even parents don't bother to correct/guide their kids to do the right thing.

I often see kids at aquariums or pet shops knocking and hitting the glass windows, their parents standing aside. At times, I wish they have these glass containers on their heads and everyone would be knocking on their walls, so at least they would know what it feels like to be one of those animals that they are torturing, if not a 100 times worse. It's very ironic sometimes because some people, as much as being civilized and educated, can't seem to read signs that say "Please do not disturb the animals" or "Please do not knock on the glass windows" etc. It's like: "Hello~ Your kids may not know how to read, but I hope you do. So please tell your kids to stop banging like nubcakes!!"

Then there's this most ridiculous fat boy that I've ever met. He dared to place his fat fishy hands on my back, as he was making an effort to waddle to his mother. Quite smart of him to use me as a stepping stone! At least the father, who was looking after him, could say something such as "excuse me" or "sorry", if I was blocking his son's way. Not even a chinese word (they sounded china-ese). But no. As if I am obliged to do that. On the contrary, I would think that their son was held too honorable to have been there in the presence of my aura. (Or my "death knight's aura" which I can imagine wx saying.) Just look at him. I can't imagine what's a poor fish like under his fatty limbs. (Notice that he was featured in both my "fishy-killing" action photos. Hehe, I was trying to capture him stomping his feet in the water. :p)


A funny girl to end my trip. She was literally rolling in the pond. All wet and soaked in fishy water. Head to toes. :)


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Fishies we caught!!


But when we got home, one of the fishies was already dying.. :(


Just like the fish I saw earlier with a broken fin. It could hardly move, so it just lays at the bottom of the tank. Occasionally, when other fishies come to nudge it and "bite" it, it would make a huge effort to swim a little, but had to stop and lay down again. We separated the fish from the others before we went out. Gave it some food, but I guess he didn't have the strength to struggle to the surface, and so it died by the time we were back. Poor fish. I was reminded of my ah-ho, who died an even more tragic death. Sigh.

Tell me this is no bug in my mee.

updated tasty ratings (Apr 15):
ECONOMY RICE STALL Rating: ★★
NOODLE SOUP STALL Rating: ★
(yes, I started to eat at this stall again. so far no other bad incidences)
CHICKEN RICE STALL Rating: ★★
(closed down!?)
ROTI PRATA STALL Rating:
(still haven't try yet)
FRUIT & DRINKS STALL Rating: ★★
(their pineapples usually quite juicy and sweet. despite watermelon juice being too plain, the starfruit juice is good)
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EEEK!! MY GAWD! I was happily eating my fish beehoon soup today @lunch until I realized some weird looking thing in my spoon.. WOORRRRRRRRM!!! Eeeeeeeeeee~ And I thought it tasted not bad the first time, so I ordered it again today. So gross that I lost my appetite. Here is the evidence:


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This kopitiam (cafe) was opened just recently, downstairs of my office complex. Convenient location for people working @Jackson Square, Toa Payoh. There are 5 stalls: 1) 菜饭 economy rice stall 2) noodle soup stall (the one that sells $4 fish beehoon soup) 3) chicken rice stall 4) roti prata stall 5) fruit & drinks stall. So I guess I'm never eating the noodle soup there again. Have a slight noodle soup phobia now.

GG, just look at the color!! Plus, the first time I bought this, it was like 2/3 of this size. Same price. Kaya + butter toast was $1.20 for 2 slices. A mini cup of ginger tea (those instant packets) is $1. I have yet tried the other 2 stalls, but I heard the Indian stall charges insanely as well.

THE ONLY GOOD VALUE: the chicken rice stall is good! GREAT service/attitude and cheap!! Only $2.50 for a plate of chicken rice and a small bowl of soup (refillable)!! The first time I ate there (off peak hour ard 3pm), the towkay even came to refill my bowl with HOT soup!!

imma macau guru.

I have visions that Cellcity is turning me into a Macau-knows-all guru! For the past week, I've been crunching in geo-coordinates and Portuguese-named streets into our Macau city info database. Not a difficult task, but certainly TIME + ENERGY consuming. And this week, I'm getting the chinese version into place. If you're planning on a trip to Macau, perhaps I could share with you some insights on where to visit. ;) Or you could just wait till our Macau city guide is launched. I'm not so sure when that is though.

Sometime in between the tedious and mechanical data entering work, I got an overview of Cellcity's future web 2.0 strategy. Parts of it are still in development, but it sounds exciting enough already. We also got a new eDM platform, waiting to iron out some technical issues. I hope I get to be involved more in our mainstream marketing activities asap. Slowly getting there, little by little.

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This database work is taking too much of my time though. I heard that this job used to be done by part-time students. But due to the controversial quality of content, it has been taken in-house, helped out by various colleagues. Macau has been handed down to me to fill up all the bits and pieces (which turned out to be a lot). In the near future, I will be building more databases like this (from scratch). There are.. after all, 50 cities in total you see.

My chibi ger is sick. :(

update: she seems alright now le bah. :p

Bladder infection, it seems. Just took her to the vet today and got medicine.. tablet + syrup. She disappeared after I forced down the tablet in her. Heh now she's back again! Gotta look out for a chance to feed her the syrup le. Hee..

Bleh.. Not as successful as I did with the tablet. It should have been easier since I did it with the syringe, but didn't lift her head high enough and ended up spilling some on the floor. Hehe, she doesn't seem happy with me. :p

Jobs search VI

Whew. At last! A temporary financial relief coming from Cellcity. [recall]

3 months contract starting Dec (next week). If all goes well, I should get a permanent contract by Feb. Pay is not too great. (wx keeps complaining plus it's less than what I earned before) But jobs are really hard to come by these days you know. =\ I hope the work style here would help me learn more from my job than my previous company.

For a start, I am finally getting my own computer this Saturday!!

untitled

Still no jobs yet. So I spent some time ironing out my website/portfolio and surfing a little online hoping to find some freelancing opportunities! :p Moved to a free host, but *a-hem* apparently the server has been down since yesterday. Can't complain too much since it's totally money free and ads free too!

I've been home myself for the most time this week, but not much progress on the actual job search. Heh that's bad news. Everyday just go by so quickly. Studying in Singapore is not that cheap afterall for non-citizens. Getting a job is my only choice now, but a tough one. *Fingers pointing @relief teaching* Sigh. I started the application sometime ago, but was interrupted to do something else. Then it completely slipped my mind. Not sure if I saved my app last time. :\

Just got a call, think Tue, from TOUCH replying to my volunteering app. I hope they can find something for me to do in the meantime. Cuts down the nagging. :p

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♥ Found this cat that looks just like my chibi! Hehe the size kinda fits too!

Jobs searching V

So Cellcity finally called back on Mon and arranged another meeting with me for Tue. Later that day, I got a call from Home Nursing Foundation for an interview on the same day! Wee~ I think the interviews went okay. At least they were more interested in my application than Photonitech, and even took the time to explain/show what they do and who they need.

Cellcity is a growing small mobile communications company. Neat idea to compile a one-stop Singapore living/lifestyle/city guide for the mobile generation. Well now, they are looking for a web marketing person to help them manage web activities and promotions more effectively. Very much like the things I did back in Innovolt. The lady was very nice. She's the Director for the Asia Marketing dept. Told me a lot about their future business developments and business models. Hehe, she's also good at marketing her product to her interviewee. Let me tested the city guide on her cellphone. Quite a diversity, I believe, among the employees in the office.

It was quite an interesting first interaction with charitable organizations and much contrast to the previous job description. More hands-on, and more events planning and marketing. I've never given much thought about going into this industry. But it doesn't sound like an easy job to do, like getting sponsorships, might even be tougher than selling a commercial product. I guess the lady understood that I'm a fresh grad and still looking out for options/alternatives. She gave me a pretty good idea of VWO's job nature. "So.. why Home Nursing Foundation and not other VWOs?"

Volunteering heat

"Inspired" by my sister and brother-in-law..

I decided to squeeze part of my precious idling time to do some volunteer work! *applause* ^____________________^)v


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Just signed up with TOUCH's TCD (TOUCH Character Development) and Singapore Youth Olympics 2010. Figured it'll be more fun volunteering behind-the-scenes, developing/promoting programs for the children/youths, than what I used to do in high school. :p

Hee.. I also signed up for xx. ♥ (P.S. SEE, I got mention you! :D)

And.. I'm also developing an interest in green-earth programs (eg. CGS) and general youth networks (eg. Youth.sg).

I wonder how long I can keep up with this degree of self-awareness.. :p

Jobs searching IV

update:
I can't believe this is how people here work. I called the office twice today but nobody answered. Sent an email but got no replies. Least I expect a polite reply to turn down my application. I guess it's because they don't really care whether one more candidate showed up for an interview or not. So an email just comes in, throwing in a date, time, and location, asking people to come in the NEXT day for an interview. At least with such a SHORT notice, I would appreciate a phone call to make sure the person got the message! Can't assume I would check my emails few times a day, and not like I know when the recruiters are emailing back to me. Sigh.

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Wuuhuuhuu~

I just lost an interview! :'( I received an email on Tue (11/4) to come for an interview on Wed (11/5). But I only checked my emails today (11/6)!! HOW!?

Plus, it's a marcom position.. AHHHHH HELPPP!

Jobs searching III

GAWD! Erjie just pointed out a super 大蛋白 thing on my resume.. I mistakenly wrote $880 (half-month pay) as my FULL monthly salary instead of $1760!!! T_T.. Sobssss. That's a huuuuge difference! In SGD, the rightful amount is $2.5k+!! Not $1.2k+!! AHHHHH~~ And I've already sent out 30 over applications with the stupid wrong info. =(((((( Hope it didn't impose a fatal impression on my app. Haizzz.

Innovolt on NBC 11Alive!

Woo my ex-colleague's on TV!? click.

Awesome job at the GreenBusiness Works Expo, wishing I could be there to witness. :p

P.S: I recently thought of Innovolt.. a rather constructive one for my usual idling personality. Something I've been wanting to do during the early Innovolt days, but failed to do so. Maybe this time I finally have the heart to complete it. :)

Jobs searching II

Wooo I'm back at this stage again.

So I finally got to Parklane Mall yesterday.. but turns out that they (or their clients) accept applications from Singaporeans or PRs only. Meh no chance for me then. Quite reasonably so, considering that most are that small and more temp/contract jobs than perm.. I think.

I'm starting to flip through the newspapers classifieds now.. heh even better so, postings are also available on the web!

dan bai.

dan bai. in chinese is 蛋白. dear says 蛋白 is transparent. so if you are a dan bai, i'm saying that you have a transparent brain (ie. no brain). haizz.. my hunny was a super big one today. dear has a busy week ahead.. so today was our only chance for a bit of a 二人世界. but dear has to spoil it. T_T

he was supposed to bring me to a few job agencies to submit my resume. ParkLANE mall it is.. but he took me to Park Mall!!! zzz told him to make a list le lor.. T_T plus we had a late start earlier on.. took an unplanned nap till 1pm+, failed to submit resumes online, headed out 3pm+ and it was pouring heavily. took a cab instead, then got caught in traffic. reached at 4pm+ and realized we got to the wrong mall. D: 4:30pm and there were 5-6 others waiting for a cab. GGnated.

haizzzzz

i was furious and decided to go home. skipped dinner too. dear had to take a sandwiched bus back home.. alone. :\ sorry dear ><>

Day 1-3: Quick Updates

Day 1: Airport + Cargo Center (Wed, 8/27)
i hurried to the baggage claim area and skimmed through the row of spectators at the viewing glass. i saw my family.. but where's my hunny!? there!! a tall dark dude with a bear-like hairstyle just appeared beside baba. i beamed. :D we spent our next few hours together, settling the paperwork for chibi. my special post-flight snack (durian and mango cheong fan) went stale because of that. :'(

Day 2: Home visits + Comex (Thu, 8/28)
this is the beginning of our dating/family rep farming (actually this began on airport night) fiesta. breakfast with my parents near my house, "short" visit to wx's house, followed by the computer exhibition (comex) and dinner with baba at suntec city. hunny will be advising my new-to-be-custom-built desktop!! :p

Day 3: Science Center + short Bugis trip (Fri, 8/29)
i saw hunny's sister today but was too shy to talk! :x she took us into science center.. (whispers, for free)

*photos soon*

we spent 3.5 hours at the science center!! (whispers, that's basically for kids) tried on several mini games, two of which test your memory. the first one is a typical color memory game: 4 colors (red, blue, green yellow); repeat chain in the same order as instructed, each time the chain increases by 1. one of the ogre dailies in blade's edge mountains is a direct copy of this. the longest chain i can remember is 7. hee hunny is 6. :p the other is a alpha memory game: a long seemingly random string of alphabets GPOSBVCRMTVCSIANASAOBKDBS. how much of this can you remember? there is a good way to remember it (for singaporeans). i'm the leeter one here of course. (whispers, hee hunny is epic fail :p) other games include this quiz testing how unique you are among science center visitors. hunny's uniqueness was higher than mine T_T

then we went to bugis and stopped by sim lim square's food court to eat 牛肉饭+小笼汤包! hunny says it's lvl 2.5-3 food. i think not bad!

Rating: ★★
*photos.. wait wait*

speaking of food, i am already hungry!! D: nasi lemak for tomorrow's breakfast, but hunny cannot come with me. sad :(

P.S: 2 more books sold on amazon! whee! and new socks to go with my new shoes :D

Just 5 days more..

Phew. Finally.. I feel more confident of this day now. Shipped out all my stuff, got all the paperwork done. Now it's just to pack my clothes and chibi's little cage, grab my computer parts, and we're both ready to go. Just need to make sure I don't miss my transit in Korea.

wx wants to pick me up at the airport! 第一次见面，好期待哦。这次回来就属他最兴奋了。
He's a real swt♥ tbh. muack :)

SweetWater Beer Tasting

Rating: ★★★★

Visited a small beer brewery this evening.. they have a beer tasting/tours session every Wed, Thu, and Fri starting at 5:30pm. Pay $8 and get a "SweetWater" glass + 6 "beer" tickets! Didn't tour the brewery BUT drank 3 almost-glassful of beer, 3 different brews. 1st glass: Blue. Light ale with a hint of blueberries, 4.9% alcohol. 2nd glass: 420. West coast style pale ale, 5.9%. 3rd glass: Roadtrip. A summer only brew, 5.4%. I only drank 3 glasses and couldn't drink anymore. My head was feeling absolutely bloated after the second. Needed to pay attention to my footsteps so I walk like normal. Came home with my sweetwater glass and 3 beer tickets. Sigh, I know I'm not a good drinker. :(

Front view. See the crowd?

Back view. The brewery basically has a lot of those big containers you see here.

Pay $8 to get a stamp on your hand, collect your beer glass and tickets!
Oh, and your ID pls.

Grab your beers!! :D

xiao guo (2nd) and baba (4th).. mm the difference between the driver and the passenger.

End. :)

Killing trojans..

Yesterday my sis's com was infected with trojan. Eeew. Her desktop has changed to a blue background and Of cos, her special IT support (me) has resolved it for her. The trojan came with an anti-virus software imposter. There are many rogue software like this Antivirus XP 2008 [list]. Once installed, it will generate random files into your system and put up fake alerts informing that your system has been infected with virus.. many of them. The tactic is to scare the user into buying the fake product. Yes, it is kind of scary. How the hell did the computer manage to infect so many viruses in 1 click? Googled it and found Malwarebytes Anti-Malware on this website. It's pretty good and most importantly, it's FREE.

How we ended up with this crap?? Haiz.. here comes the moral of the story. There's no such thing as watching FREE movies, FREE Olympics online. DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY SUSPICIOUS UNKNOWN PROGRAMS. My dad did a similar stupid thing earlier. He downloaded a player to watch free movies online. Killed some of his system files and explorer could not start up. With the help of my dad's ex-colleague, we found out that the problem is caused by some trojan and adware. Previous scans did not pick those up. The website suggested this 360 Safe software (chinese) but did not completely remove all infected files. There were still registry keys that were corrupted. Rechecked with Malwarebytes and got everything fixed.

If you're feeling geeky and have time, this website gives instructions on how to manually remove these counterfeit anti-spyware programs.

Zhiyu's 1st month

Zhiyu is getting cuter day by day! \\\(^ <> ^)///
Here are photos from her 1st month celebration:

Fruit cake from a Greek bakery. Toxic, but my favorite!

Qiqi has been very excited about cakes and candles!
She's singing a birthday song for her Zhiyu 表妹.

This is Qiqi waiting to blow candles and cut the cake..

Kobe wants to give Zhiyu his blessings too.. muack!

How adorable! Even in her sleep, she holds on to her ang bao from gong gong..

Happy parents!!

We wrote a duckling card for Zhiyu. The cute doodles.. done by me of cos. :)

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Napping with her mommy's mogu man..

Mini golf tournaments and updates

33 days left till I get to see my swt♥! :D happie

Over the past couple of weeks, we had two mini golf tournaments. One at Pirate's Cove, and another at Hidden Harbor Golf. I lost both but had some great shots. Hehe. Damn hot weather. Lots of fun.

27-hole at the Pirate's Cove. Pretty well designed terrain and obstacles.

Hidden Harbor Golf is an extension of the American Adventures Park. 18-hole, with the last being a giveaway hole-in-one. But my sister managed to make it in 2. Haha. We also took rides at the amusement park area. For kids. Qiqi was happy!! But sadly, most rides are too small for adults. :(

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I mailed out $500+ worth of books and stationery the other day. Haiz. Just packed another boxful of soft toys. Probably be at least another $100 to ship that out. I have a feeling that the money I've earned in the past year is draining out. Eelk.

Work stuff is kinda disappointing, but expected. Don't even want to talk about it. Lazy I am, but I should really try to push for a recommendation letter eh? Or not.

After all these crap, I just want to get on the phone with wx. At least, love and peace could calm my mind.

world's suckiest: badminton player.

I don't think anyone could play this sport as bad as I do.

The first time I really played badminton, straight for like a month or so, I completely lost the ability to play table tennis. (Back to zero. It's as if I've never learned that sports before. I "gave up" being a better player.)

Never quite dare to touch badminton again, until someday I started going to a nearby community center to play with my mama and sisters. And.. I hurt my neck. Could turn or tilt my head for like two weeks.

The third time I played badminton was when I came to Atlanta for winter break. That time, I hurt my right toe nail because I didn't cut my nails. It remained black for months to a year.

This is the fourth time I hurt myself in badminton. Took care of my neck and toes this time, but whack too hard and hurt my right shoulder. T_T

Sobs~

world's best: fish tacos. where do you find them?

Rating: ★★★★★

I've never been a fan of mexican cuisine. Growing up in Singapore, my knowledge of mexican food was: beans, burrito, Taco Bell. Maybe more if I was from a richer family. In any case, I hate beans. So bleh.

However, I admit there are good mexican food in this world after all. Taqueria del Sol. Fish tacos. No beans. Yum yum. If you ever come visit Atlanta, you must try this! Even my mama, who never enjoys any food other than her own cooked food, enjoys it. And my baba, who hates to wait, is happily willing to stand in the long line and wait. And they never take too long to serve. Great service, great food.

Heard that it's world's 3rd best.
Soft taco shell. Fresh fried fish. Mayonnaise. Jalapeño peppers.
You'll never get sick eating it. :)

Zoo Atlanta journal

Just back from the zoo!

Zoos are pretty much the same everywhere: animals staged typically includes, lions, tigers, leopards, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, rhinoceros.. add in some pretty birds and rarer animals like pandas, red pandas, or komodo dragons.. what else? Otters, penguins, crocodiles, snakes, how about some farm animals? Pigs, lambs, goats..

I think what makes a zoo fun is no longer just about the type of animals exhibited, the number and rarity, but the type of activities it encompasses, the themes, the organization, and the circulatory system. Think of how to get the people involved..

Zoo Atlanta, as well as the one in Pittsburgh, features a petting zoo area for kids. What's so exciting about viewing animals from a few hundred feet behind the fence?? Even for the most common types of animal, goats and pigs, it can become an interesting experience for people from the city. In the Pittsburgh Zoo, there are young kangaroos to pat, and an area where people could interact with deers freely.

Soooo, took some photos and few videos. Put them together in an online scrapbook! Enjoy!

P.S. No photos from Pittsburgh Zoo :( sobs.

Meh.

updated: zoo trip postponed due to bad weather.

My family has been here for almost a month, my baba just arrived couple of days ago, and I have been so slacked ever since. All the work that I wanted to do part-time are on hold. Sobs. That means no money. Shipping stuff back to Singapore will cost a bomb. =( Just sold another book on Amazon, earned $65. But I still have like 8 other books waiting to get rid of. Sigh. Went to factory outlet today and I bought nothing!! woot. Only spent $9 on a little dress for Julian. (OMIGOD I just carried her for the first time just now! So small and chubby, and doesn't make a fuss when people carry her, unlike Qiqi.) Going to the zoo tomorrow. Hope it's not as unworthy as the Children's Museum we went on Tuesday. Much smaller than Pittsburgh's and not very well maintained. $11 for adults AND children. So that's how they treat children at a museum especially for them. To charge them like an adult. Why do they even bother having both adults tickets and children tickets? They're the same!

A new life.

I just witnessed the birth of my 2nd niece today. Julian/芷瑜 is the name. My gawd. I mean, how many times in your lifetime would you actually witness someone giving birth, watching the baby come out of the... (forgive me, but my bio knowledge sux way beyond your imagination) Anyways, it was quite a smooth delivery (and yes, it was all bloody and I watched through EVERYthing). I thought this would be a good chance for me to understand the procedure visually, trying to comprehend the amount of pain during the giving birth. My sister finally resorted to epidural anesthesia, it means sticking a needle into your spinal cord to numb your body so you don't feel pain from contractions. I guess the pain is really menstrual cramps amplified n times. :s Most part of the process is just gross. Looks painful, and I wonder if without the epidural, whether the pain from contractions or the pain from tearing the vagina is more significant. Ewww.

Pictures to come.

new avatars!!

At last my love!! Our avatars are done!
Ain't they adorable??

my hunny:

me:

People and Humans.

• peo·ple
  human beings making up a group or assembly or linked by a common interest


• How do you tell that a woman is angry? Sudden display of intentional cold-heartedness and cruelty.


• What makes an angry woman angrier? Everything.


• Tip: You must more cruel than her.


• What makes a human human? Selfish and greed.


• Are you seriously different from anyone and everyone? No, because I am human. You are too.


• How do you differentiate between an angry woman and a jealous woman? You can't.


• How many non blood-related persons can one love? Just one.


• Between people and humans, which is your pick? Humans, because it sounds wiser.


• What actually makes an angry woman angry? Jealousy.

In my other life..

• Been quite into Wii sports after my family arrived. They're quite into it. And oops, I forgot to do my Wii fitness today. Although I can never quite believe how a 23 yr old and a 61 yr old can have their ages switched in a virtuality. =\


• They watched 2 HK dramas and I missed out on both. =( Caught only a few episodes over the weekends. But this House drama is awesome. Watching Season One. Only just started watching so I've missed quite a number of episodes now, but it's a different medical case each time so no missing out on plots.


• I got my international license today. $15 + 10 for 2 passport-sized photos. Eh hem.. don't know if you are aware of how it works, but this is supposed to get me my license in Singapore. We'll see.


• Nothing much happening on WoW these days. We transferred servers (back on a PvP server.. exciting). But it's like everyone's disappeared after the transfer. I don't log in as often too. Plan now is to focus on leveling and PvPing (I'm learning). Season 4 just came out.


• It's MidSummer festival now.. xiang xiang surprised me with a Captured Flame yesterday. Muuuuacck. So sweet. ^////^ Love you much!!! =D

Uploading 2-3/5

• Whee~ finally finished the Gen. 3 project specifications tho a day late.. more like a draft I would say, but meh, that's the best I can do for now. =p Will see what's next on Thurs. =(


• Info site status: still on hold. I put the text into a word doc today so the prof could edit over it. Stupid me didn't think of that before. Mmm.. 不够完善。


• Website edits: 1) Video link still needs to be updated on 26 other pages. Plus I need to add a fullscreen option. 2) Job openings changed. More interns. No more NPI. Add technician. 3) Create a form that allows customers to submit information for product registration.


• Many other things that I will not have the time to do. I should at least finish my operations manual so I could hand down the trivial tasks to Alyssa.


• I just want to do as much as I can. For my own sake.

Uploading 1/5...

Yawnz.

My whole body is aching bad and I am feeling awfully drowsy from today's team lunch. (Not that I'm usually awake at work :p) Buffet again at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. Something more today though... A CAKE (& a card)! My gawd.. A farewell celebration for me as this is my last official week at work. So sweet. :) For some reason, I've always been teased around by my bosses and colleagues. I guess it's because I don't talk much?? :x But all that's fun, so it's okay.

I have a 2-page project specifications to finish by tomorrow. Darn, I forgot about it ever since I got home on Friday. Haha! It's for revamping the Innovolt website to Generation 3. 2nd meeting on Thursday with people from ObjectNet. It's a pity I couldn't stay to see this project gets completed. It'll be a great experience to further boost my resume. ;) Grr, they could have started this earlier though. :( But at least during the time I'm here in Atlanta, I will be "assisting" with the project as needed. Don't know what that means exactly. :\

The info site that I wanted to do is ~80-85% completed. Putting them into html then getting them approved by the technical people (that's basically just Dr. Divan). Looking great so far, personally. The proofing part is usually the worst part. >< Some people just prefer something else that is not your style.

We'll see how things go.

Fortune telling

"The details of a certain person's manipulative behavior could come into fine focus. Since these likely affect essential matters, you are strongly encouraged to deliberate before responding."

Sometimes it is more interesting to read your fortune at the end of the day than at the start: It may shine a new light on you. Rethink. See a different side of things. Laugh. That's the way to appreciate the present even more. ♥

"I'd love to spend hours troubleshooting @#$% computer."

Wah sianz.

Since I arrived in the office this morning around 10+, I have been scratching my head and chin *pulling my hairs* trying to fix a silly Vista problem for this guy from our partnering company (they do concept design/development and initial manufacturing), who just arrived from India recently.

The problem was..
Somehow this morning around 8, after a forced shutdown, his default Windows account profile could not load up correctly, so a temporary profile was created, and he could no longer access information previously saved on the original profile, including old emails in Outlook. Now, the problem is actually pretty straight forward. The old account no longer function properly; we want to restore old emails, and documents saved to that user account. A straight forward solution would be to create a new profile and copy the documents/application data from the old account to the new one. Open Outlook and boom! Everything should have been perfect.

Unfortunately, we were so distracted by the Windows scan disk (or check disk), it kept prompting whenever we restarted the system. Looks like it would help with the problem. I mean, you would have assumed that following instructions, step by step, should get things fixed. But not really. The check disk kept hanging at 3%, restarted, and it hung again.

From this point on, my decisions just spell out how plain stubborn my brain is structured. In chinese, I would call myself "死脑筋". It's a common type of structure among people, but not one of a creative or wise person. Instead of going back to the original problem and finding alternatives to solve it, I tried to drill through a chain of secondary, tertiary problems stemming from the initial failed check disk operation.

Sigh. Stupid leh. Waste of my time.

dotdotdot

Ever felt awkward when you are talking to someone, who tries to joke around.. acting friendly and humorous, yet you don't really share his/her level of humor but you are forced to respond positively to everything that person said? It's like: "Ha-ha-ha. So now what?" It happens real quick.

I just saw three people talking in the office and I wonder if they realized how awkward they had been. Or maybe they just don't think their jokes were lame.

. . .

What is your dream home like?

Here's mine:




[source: Freshome]

Much like the Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe.

[source: e-architect]

Very open, flowing and dynamic living spaces carved cleverly by the use of materials and the circulation of spaces. Pretty neh... Imagine relaxing in the living room whole day not doing anything. No loud TVs. (A cool laptop and internet connection is sufficient. Ok, maybe a flat panel TV just for console gaming. =p)

Green note:

"...the design integrates concrete flooring to absorb the sun’s warmth in the winter, operable windows and large sliding doors to facilitate natural ventilation and low-maintenance recycled materials."

- freshome.com

Last month at work

...and counting down to my sis's EDD (Expected Date of Delivery). =)

Woot finally.

I'm recreating my online portfolio and adding in projects from work. Too lazy to revamp my website right now, so using webjam as the temporary solution. Erm.. looking back now, seems like I haven't achieved much over the past 8-9 mths!! =D haha ha ha T_T *shhh keep this to yourself wink*

First, the Squirrelville video. Just a couple of weeks back, I heard that some executives at Only Green 4 Me saw my video series and wanted to hire me on some projects. Unfortunately, I could not offer you any more details about this company, their "website" does not help either. But apparently they are our first distributor for Innovolt products. Whee.

Then comes the "major" website upgrades. Mainly involved changing the organization of the content, adding in new content, and giving it a newer look (home page: product views, animated banner, "buy now" link; connecting website to webstore). This is the so-called Generation 2 website: commercialized.

Other personal developments include:
1) building professional relationships with different vendors. The webstore is the first, where Michael and I worked on getting it set up with CoreXpand. Then comes the problem with the actual selling online. Securing credit card transactions, authorizing transactions online, and processing the authorized transactions.. Selecting the compatible Gateway, hiring the right merchant bank.. Was fun getting involved in the decision making/problem solving process, even when I was only just assisting. The second one was sort of a project I initiated. Well.. they approached me first but I went on with the discussion and finally received a proposal from the company. Search engine optimization is what the company PointMetrix does. While no decision has been made yet, I think I'll send in a note before I leave to remind them of the proposition. Looking to totally revamp the website, so further actions will only likely take place after the Generation 3 upgrade.
2) getting things done... and follow up!! 2 major events. Assisted in getting peripherals designed, printed, and ready for the show. First, the ITEX show in Vegas - feb (sadly, I did not go on the trip). Then, our official launch event, with a press conference and reception - apr. Very basic principle that you already follow in elementary school: meeting deadlines. Now the key is to follow up. It's something that my dad has stressed repeatedly in the past before.. then my eldest sis as well.. and now my boss too. So reeeeaaally important. Following up with the people from ITEX (that was Michael's job) then the people who we invited for our event - I did a newsletter for that which my bosses thought was fantastic and very much impressed.

Being the youngest in the office, I think my colleagues and bosses dote on me much. My bday celebration.. "slacked" hours :x ..and always praising me for good work oO I've seen ppl come and go.. Blanche and Madhav, always bringing to the office joy and laughter. I've seen new ppl joining the team.. Michael and Tania, then Alyssa, Lanecia and Jason. Kudos to Michael for the help and snacks and photos (!!); Tania for getting me paid on time =D Seen people grow, and more kudos to Michael for his work attitude and capabilities. Sometimes I get inspired.. *sometimes* And now, it's my turn to say good bye..

My last tasks on this job:
1) Finish up the addition I wantED to make to the website. So I can put it on my portfolio too. IMPT!!
2) Finish up the product brochure that I started *ahem* week*s* ago.
3) Listing ideas and next steps that I feel is required for a Gen 3 website. Generally modularity and flexibility is of highest importance. Then comes the theme and content upgrades.. I've had those ideas but didn't have time to make it happen.
4) Train Alyssa to perform some of the routine tasks I'm on.. web admin, email stuff, IT stuff..

My family is coming June 15!! =D So time is running low.. and there's packing and many other things to settle.. cat stuff, visa stuff, air tix, money... T_T

Last day of work: June 30.

Looking forward..

Hmm... a lot of things ah..

1) Job
I should reeeally reeally get my resume ready again. Tie up the loose ends on my current job and add that to my portfolio. Brush up the website that I tried to give it a complete look. My feel towards job searching (again)?? Is just *sigh*. Seeing that things I want to do.. things that I should pursue.. and whether I would successfully end up with any.. don't always converge to a single focal point. Perhaps the only common ground would be $$.

2) Life
Definitely a different lifestyle than now. But I wonder if it's for the better or for worse!? 4 years alone, far far from parents' reach.. I have already forgotten what it was like to live with my parents. Like erm.. being watched!? oO But the food is definitely better. *droool*

3) ♥
Hehe, 'nuff said. ~(^-^)~

Going home...

Last Monday, I finally got the chance to inform my boss of my wish to leave at the end of my OPT. So now there's a huge list of things that I need to get done in prep for my return. Yes, I am finally going home. =)

夢醒時分

Someone sang this song to me today.



你說你愛了不該愛的人　你的心中滿是傷痕
你說你犯了不該犯的錯　心中滿是悔恨
你說你嚐盡了生活的苦　找不到可以相信的人
你說你感到萬分沮喪　甚至開始懷疑人生
早知道傷心總是難免的 你又何苦一往情深
因為愛情總是難捨難分　何必在意那一點點溫存
要知道傷心總是難免的 在每一個夢醒時分
有些事情你現在不必問　有些人你永遠不必等



Today, I shed my last tear.
...


I thank you. =)

The sun sets.

When you are finally free from something that you held on to very closely before... it comes a point where you wonder, why am I still doing this now? It doesn't hurt to like beautiful sceneries, to like traveling, though it has never been my interest before. Oh well.


My colleague forwarded this to me. Sunset at the North Pole.

Mar 14: Tornado hits Downtown Atlanta (transcript)

I know this is OLD news...but I was just researching on the topic and came across a CNN transcript for a live broadcast on March 14th about the tornado attack in downtown Atlanta. The CNN headquarters is just a 2 min drive from my place. I don't read/watch news, but reading this, even a month later, is still quite exciting.

I remember once I was hyped up about being a journalist, years ago. It was after watching an Andy Lau movie..can't remember the details but really showed dedication to the job and societal duty of journalists. I am no writer, so the fire died down pretty quickly. But bits of it just came back to me as I was reading the transcript, the dialogue between the broadcaster and the reporters stationed in different locations.. the parts with Don Lemon (stationed right outside CNN Center from the transcript) really caught my attention. My first thought was..so this was why he became a journalist. Really eager trying to capture the atmosphere, the situation, to the best he can.

心肝寶貝

痴心絕對

This make a good KTV song. ^^ Gogo!

愛我別走

3 versions of the same song. Whose version do you like better? :p

張震嶽(original):


Jacky Cheung:


Jay Chou:


Hehe u noe my pick lah.

我到了这个时候还是一样
夜里的寂寞容易叫人悲伤
我不敢想的太多
因为我一个人

迎面而来的月光拉长身影
漫无目的地走在冷冷的街
我没有你的消息
因为我在想你 yeah

爱我别走
如果你说你不爱我
不要听见你真的说出口
再给我一点温柔

爱我别走
如果你说你不爱我
不要听见你真的说出口
再给我一点温柔

talkster: free international calls

Hmm... not sure if this is worth it unless both parties have monthly plans with xx amount of minutes to use.

Basically, it's like Skype To Go, where you are allocated a local number to call, so you're always paying at a local rate when calling overseas. But with Skype, you still have to pay $/min and a connection fee. Talkster is free!

With Talkster, both you and the person you're calling will be given a local number through text msg. To make the call, dial that number, ask that person to hang up and dial his/her number then you two will be connected through Talkster! Bit complicated eh? Here's a little animation to help you understand how it works. In this case, both parties will be paying for the call, but at their own local rates. So it's essentially free if the minutes is included in both parties' cellphone plans, rather than paying $/min (some local rates can be expensive).

Of course, nothing is absolutely free. Talkster needs to earn its money, and that is through advertising. Prior to connecting the calls, both parties will hear a 10sec local ad. But what is 10sec compared to "unlimited free" talking?? :D

So "busy" at work!! XD

Today at work:

I did shopping! Newegg.com has some great deals on USB flash drives. Got a 4GB one at only $17 (+shipping) for the company. Figured that while I'm at it, I might as well shop for one myself. And so, the shopping list just grew longer...

For myself:
Cute Mickey Mouse head-shaped USB flash drive, 2GB for $23. Even more expensive than a 4GB one, but for the design!! Can you figure out where the USB connector is?? =D

For baba:
Sleek looking 4GB flash drive for just $14! I like the white and green one better, but they were out of stock. Ah well.

For tim:
Heh another cute one and 4GB! In the shape of a Robot. $21 good buy!

P.S: Just had a haircut too. ^^

Set me free.

When you are feeling bitter and miserable about someone, and can't get out of the black hole, the best solution is to talk to that person, realize that nothing you say or think actually matters, and you will be freed.

Basically, get pissed.
It's a temporary relief. :)

鼠年鼠运

It's the year of Rat!!!!!

出生年月日
1900年01月31日 - 1901年02月18日
1912年02月18日 - 1913年02月05日
1924年02月05日 - 1925年01月24日
1936年01月24日 - 1937年02月10日
1948年02月10日 - 1949年01月28日
1960年01月28日 - 1961年02月14日
1972年02月15日 - 1973年02月02日
1984年02月02日 - 1985年02月19日
1996年02月19日 - 1997年02月06日

性格
鼠年出生的人， 直观力强、 环境适应力优越、 加上天性乐观，所以到处受人欢迎。 唯不善於表达才智， 定性不够， 也不适於担任团体领导人物。

属鼠的人容易相处，工作努力，生活节俭，除非他非常喜欢的人，他是不会慷慨解囊的。所以，假如你从他那里得到一件贵重礼物，那么，他对你的评价一定相当高。然而尽管他会精打细算，并以此来炫耀，但他从不需要崇拜者。
表面上，属鼠的人可能表现得沉默寡言，但实际上，他很容易激动，但他能控制自己。这一点是他为什么受欢迎，并有许多朋友的最好解释。
属鼠的人天性灵巧，勤劳而且注重积蓄，一般没有衣食之忧。中年后会有一笔可观积蓄，其胆小谨慎性格决定他们不会将之投向股票市场，而宁愿将此存入银行以稳定利息。
属鼠人的后半生仍然继续过着平稳的小康生活，或者比前半生过得更好。属鼠人的性格魅力就象沃尔特·迪斯尼笔下和米老鼠一样诱人。他们诚实、坦率、开朗、乐观，无论在多么险恶的环境中也不会意志消沉，在愁眉苦脸的人群中，如果有一个依然谈笑风生，那么此人一定属鼠。
勤奋、积极进取，意志坚如铁。有顽强的生存能力，灵活机变的适应能力，看似渺小，也不喜欢突出表现自己，没有虎虎生威的魄力， 不具咄咄逼人的气势，但他们不屈不挠，默默奋斗，为事业，为家庭，不达目的，绝不罢休。
表面沉默寡言，实际上从来是我们想象的那么安静。他们性格开朗、快乐，善于交际。很珍惜与亲朋好友的关系，并对之有着深深的依恋。受好结伙、集会、聚会，积极参与并成功地组织。在社交场合，属鼠人总是以自己的聪明机敏使气氛活跃，大家开心。
属鼠人很勤俭，爱储存，喜收藏。生活中属鼠人没有穷困潦倒的时候，把生活安排得井井有条，过着富足、和美的日子。
属鼠人直觉敏锐，能预示危险，并因此适可而止。但也有不相信自己直觉的时候，这时就碰得头破血流。不过一生中这样的例子只有一次。机警灵活的属鼠人也喜欢冒一点小的风险，也许受老鼠神灵的何佑，成功的机会很多。

命理
生年地支：子年生
五行：子属水
五常：水属智
吉祥方位：东南、东北方
吉祥颜色：蓝、金、绿；忌黄及啡色
幸运数字：二、三；大凶数字为五、九
幸运花：百合花,非洲紫罗兰,铃兰

优点
觉力强，反应快，有很强的环境适应力和应 变能力。 机智、点子多，善解人意。 有一副乐天命的模样。 多才多艺。 女性特别喜爱乾净，会将家务整理得有条不紊。 伶俐乖巧，具有样样都学的灵巧和乐天性格。 个性比较活跃多变化且利欲心强。 富幻想力，识时务，很会利用机会，爽朗活泼，讨人喜爱。 属鼠人感觉敏锐无所不能而且善於多角经营。 好奇心强对任何事情都想很快插上一手且能巧妙地处理。

缺点
缺乏胆识、做事魄力不够，缺适当指挥能力 ，不足以担任商业机构或其他团体之领导 ，欠威严。 有固执已见之性格，有见利妄行之缺点。 有晚睡习惯，因为鼠是夜间活动的动物。 本性善良但态度有些不礼貌。 具自私的本位主义或桀傲不驯的个性。 善於投机取巧，爱挑剔，心胸不够远大。 【以上各项缺点经修持是可以克服的。】

流年运势
生肖属鼠者在整年运势中好坏掺半，多变而不稳定。 容易出现意料之外的事情和突然发生的事情，需要保持处变不惊和稳定的情绪才能化 险为夷。同时当心人际关系上失误，不能过分计较朋友间的得失。财运和事业运却很好，有名利双收的机遇。

鼠人逢鼠年，其年财利正旺，事业高就，多有一鸣惊人之举。年中如遇丧葬之事，当有小病。本年之末，有极富刺激之事发生。少出远门，或可防止发生。

事业
将星带权，前景乐观。从政、警、军及企业管理层负责人，有升职的机会。打工族也将加薪。需要注意的是不能这山高看那山高，失去现有的佳机而转错运程。

爱情
感情方面会出现放纵、消极的情绪，爱情方面也不理想。虽然与异性投缘，但容易惹上桃色新闻，也容易欲火焚身而做出有辱名声的行为，切收敛。
大吉婚配： 龙(辰)、猴(申)、牛(丑)
忌婚配： 马(午)、羊(未)、鸡(酉) 、兔(卯)

财运
财星高照，财源茂盛。很适合投资和创业。若与人合资，只要选对项目并保持自己的权利，会有很好的回报。

健康
健康情况大有改进， 久病多能痊愈。 应小心饮食及留意肝脏之类的疾病。

造字因缘
老鼠是十二生肖中，繁殖力最强的动物，所以排在第一，在山上为最多，过去把山鼠叫山禾，古时代人们喜爱打猎，如上山打山禾打山猪打野猴 ，古人上山必带有训练有素群犬随行，人类打猎 吃野味最先听说以吃鼠肉开始，因为那时代遍地 皆有山鼠洞，古人以草枝点火熏鼠洞，山禾被迫 出洞，猎犬即予咬死，所以吃野味以鼠肉最易获 得，所以打猎的猎字系以犬与鼠组成『猎』字， 其道理在此。

A lot of these actually don't apply to me at all, unfortunately. >____< (I am just a half-ass rat.)

damn ants.

I can't remember when I fell asleep..but I awoke at 3:43am, feeling flustered. (I don't recall dreaming of anything. Though I most probably did.) This wasn't the first time I felt it this way, so I intuitively did what I always do. I walked to my computer and left an MSN message. Nauseous. I went back to sleep.

At 7am, I heard my alarm and snoozed it. Around 7:24am, I stood up. Had the same horrible feeling again, left another MSN message and went back to sleep. At 8am, I felt worse. Woke up from a nightmare. Kobe and I were running in a rural environment, lots of hills, water, trees, rocks. We were trying to get home. Everywhere seemed the same and yet different. We got lost. I turned, ran towards where we came from, not knowing if I still remember the way back. Then I realized Kobe wasn't with me. I stopped and shouted for him to come. I think I caught a glimpse of Kobe, but there were other dogs around. I think he was scared. He ran further and I lost sight of him. I woke up. Sent my third message.

I was getting ready. Chibi kept meowing for attention. There was still food in her tray. No wait. There was something more than just food. Something overflowing. ANTS! I quickly grabbed Chibi away. I hope she hasn't eaten any. Gross. I had to get rid of it quick. Damn the ants. I hate insects.

Gloomy Monday.

crunchyroll@work

What are the advantages of bringing your own lunch box to work?
1) You can save $$.
2) You don't have to commute to anywhere. Just stay at your desk!
3) The privilege of staying at your desk is so that you can enjoy your mini theater during that 1-hr lunch break.

I just started watching this Taiwanese drama (those so-called 偶像剧), "They Kiss Again". Some of you may be more familiar with the chinese title, 恶作剧2吻. It's a sequel to the Taiwanese version of Itazura na Kiss (aka 恶作剧之吻 or Mischievous Kiss), originally a Japanese drama (adapted from manga) starring Kashiwabara Takashi and Sato Aiko.

I actually never liked Taiwanese drama. Just not used to the way they talk, their dialogues, despite having lived in Taiwan for 2 years. But this is actually the second Taiwanese drama that I've watched. And I like this one. Not too cheesy, at least for now. In the first 2 episodes, 湘琴 (Kotoko) and 直樹 (Naoki) went on their honeymoon! And it was sooo sweet. It was that feeling that hooked me on to this drama. The life of newlyweds.

Envious.
Indulgence.
Imagination.

Getting on with work...

I'm slowly accepting that there are certain things I can't control. At the same time, feeling more relieved as things may not turn out as bad as I imagined. But, I will never know what's in store for me in the future. Good or bad.

I'm actually getting happier at work these days. Got some great accompany here in the office. They realized that they missed my birthday last week. So this Wednesday, they bought me a cake, a card and flowers, and even sang me a birthday song in the office.


Thank you Blanche, for making all these happen. You may not know how much impact this had on me *A LOT* when I was still feeling so miserable about my birthday. Especially that redeemable coupon for 2 round trip air tickets...it really meant a lot to me. Truthfully.

I'll be earning extra bucks from one of my bosses soon. He has his other company website that needs some revamping. Yay, more $$!

Happy Birthday to me.

update:
So I guess I still have some birthday luck despite being so blue and lethargic lately.
1. I got 5 Primal Mights in one transmute. (altho it hasn't proc-ed for ages >.<)
2. Innovolt website hits for Jan 14 is 986. Unbelievable. That's like 4 times the usual!

Maybe...just maybe...my birthday wish can come true?

----------

I'm 23. >.< Finally feeling old about myself. Yet still so naive.
mr. goh messaged me today and he called me a "stubborn and stupid cow". Oh well.

My birthday wish:
I want to lead a simple life with that someone I love...forever.

幻想未来。

从小到大，我就时常活在我所幻想的世界里。二十三年了，我依然做着同样的梦。去年十一月十一日，我天真地认为我的梦想终于可以实现。很浪漫，很完美的一个爱情故事。

人的幻想力是很可怕的。它可以在霎那间让一个人从天堂掉入地狱。我可以继续幻想幸福快乐，期待着一个不知道会不会实现的未来。可惜这种幻想并不持久。每当我幻想到一些我最不希望发生的事，我就陷得很深。心情变得很沉重，很害怕。而且这种恐惧只会无限制的扩大。

我想要幸福。我想要追求。即使希望非常渺小，我也不想放弃。每天我不停地在幻想，但我没有办法压制我的恐惧。心情就跟着起起落落。我要怎么支持下去，让我有勇气去追求我想要的...幸福？

好想好想...

Recently, I've been looping these old Leo Koo songs on my iPod every night on my bed. Nothing extraordinary about the tune...but I was especially attentive to the lyrics (there are some similarities) because they really spelled out my feelings these days. Supposedly happy, but with a tinge of sadness.

=*= 喜欢 =*=
喜欢你的头发　喜欢你的脸颊　喜欢你微笑的时候眼里藏不住的光
喜欢你的害羞　喜欢你的疯狂　想要一天二十四个小时守在你身旁
喜欢开你玩笑　喜欢叫你傻瓜　喜欢吓你一跳的时候看你慌张的模样
喜欢搭你肩膀　喜欢你会怕痒　喜欢趁你没有防备偷袭你的手指甲
想要抱你一下　贴紧我的胸膛　想要告诉你这样下去不是办法
想要把你绑架　想要带你回家　想要非常认真严肃的承诺地老天荒
思念你令我惊慌　想到你令我膨胀　你的每个笑容都会令我幸福的快爆炸
见你的时候　总是说些傻乎乎的蠢话　令我随时随地频临疯狂

=*= 嗜好 =*=
晚上想去山顶数星星　还是想要赶场电影　懒得动没有劲　宁可赖在家里　只要你高兴什么都行
你说公司最近不景气　我说你失业我养你　你抱我好用力　差点不能呼吸　在爱里被需要是种最美的甜蜜
我的嗜好就是看你撒娇　你想要的我都尽量做得到　有多费力劳心都不重要　心里全都是幸福的味道
嗜好就是将你拥抱　要做你最暖和的依靠　总是想替你烦恼　想代替你感冒　舍不得你失去微笑

=*= 好想好想 =*=
好想好想和你在一起 和你一起数天上的星星 收集春天的细雨
好想好想和你在一起 听你诉说古老的故事 细数你眼中的情意
好想 好想 好想 好想 好想好想和你在一起
踏遍万水千山 走遍海角天涯 让每一个日子 都串连成我们最美丽 最美丽的回忆
好想好想和你在一起 并肩看天边的落日 并肩听林间的鸟语

P.S: There's another song which I would add to this playlist if not for its different style, Jay Chou's 彩虹.