A Short Day Out with Mum

11:45 PM Edit This
My mum has been doing some voluntary work at different organizations. Last Friday, during her routine trip, I thought I'd tag along and find out more about what she does, and I'm quite free anyway.

We drove to one of the HDB blocks at Aljunied - to a centre "Kampong Senang". The name doesn't really sound like a voluntary organization, it can be easily mistaken to literally be a kampong or just a name of a place to any unknowing person. We walked in through the back door into a huge kitchen, in front of which is a mini cafe - they all serve healthy organic food.

It was later that I found out that one of the activity of this organization is to promote organic food - healthy living & a balanced environment. Part of the organic food which they obtained (in cartons) are to be packed and distributed to needy cancer patients. Well, I think that's quite a nice idea - donating fresh organic food once a week to these patients - I'm sure they will benefit from these vitamin-packed fruits & vege.

So just like my mum's routine every week, she got a list of fruits/vege to pack from the person-in-charge, and we begin to distribute carrots, apples, potatoes and beetroot into smaller packs.

that's my mum opening a huge bag of beetroot for packing.


I've eaten beetroot in its 'food' form, it's this dark reddish-pink colored vege that actually tastes sweet when boiled. And it can be eaten raw too (just like carrots). This is the first time I see beetroot in its original form! haha... so 'mountain-turtle'. =P


Yay! Packs of apples & carrots & beetroot to be distributed to needy people. Although it seemed very laborious to do all these packing, I'm sure my mum do feel some sense of fulfilment knowing that she has indirectly contributed to the process & helping out needy people. Well, I'm proud of her! :)

Birthday Treats :)

3:50 PM Edit This
Celebrated dear's birthday by having an eating feast throughout the day. First stop is Tatsu Sushi Restaurant @ CHIJMES, Mango sundae during tea time @ MOF and lastly a hearty dinner @ Australian Outback.
In picture: my order of Alice Springs Chicken & dear's Sirloin Steak *YuM!*

GSS - Comics for Sale!

12:07 PM Edit This
Hi everyone! In line with the Great Singapore Sale, I've decided to put up my comics for sale too! They've been taking up too much space and still in great condition! Well, I've got 2 sets of comics to sell. Click on the pictures to enlarge - you can see that they're good as new :)

1) The Celestial Zone (Vol 1-18)



2) The Return of the Condor Heroes (Vol 1-18: complete set)




Both sets are illustrated by our very talented local cartoonist - Wee Tian Beng, and they're in English. As you can see, although second-hand books, they are still in very good condition - no doggy ears or yellow pages - and they are at bargain prices of $45 each set, considering the original price of each book is close to $10.

Also, I have individual books from 'Adventures of Wisely' for sale at $3 each. Please see the picture for individual titles - still in good condition - can make great gifts for children too :)


SO PLEASE please help me spread the word to whoever's interested. Thanks!

I've been to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

6:39 PM Edit This
I've been to the zoo thrice since I finished exams for rackey, trails, and zoo camp. I'm glad that at least I can earn some income from working part-time in the zoo, especially now that i'm still jobless. hee...

Here are some pics I've taken during my rackey. That rackey was necessary cuz I haven't been working for at least a year since I'm back from exchange. So... need to do some homework before facilitating in school excursion trails.



Talking about lemurs... I was conducting the zoo trail into Fragile Forest with P1 students. FYI, Fragile Forest (FF) is an enclosed dome shaped exhibit where the animals within are free-ranging i.e. the mouse deers, butterflies, sloths, lemurs etc will all be roaming around the visitor.

So I was trying to calm the screaming P1 girls down, I told them, "Don't worry! These animals won't bite".

Right after I said that, this lemur suddenly jumped onto the railings of the balcony, grabbed my arm, opened its mouth wide and bit me. *ARGHhh!*

Immediately after that, a terrified girl commented, "But that one just bite you!!"
=_=... super suay. Well, luckily there's no blood, just a few scratches from its teeth. Didn't know my arm looked so yummy.





The zoo camp was held last weekend - 2D1N family camp. Maybe it was the presence of parents, it gave me higher pressure to facilitate well. The other 2 facilitators were Azilah & Haniman, long time regulars (still part-timers) as education facilitators in the zoo.

I felt that I've learnt alot more during this camp, especially from observing how both of them facilitate. I'm always impressed with the amount of animal knowledge that Haniman possess. Despite starting out as a guide at the Night Safari, he sure knows a hell lot about animal behaviors and how they interact. There are definitely ALOT of info I can get out of him than my notes and research from the net.

Azilah, on the other hand, is the one who's really good at conducting the camp, controlling the crowd and she's always the one that calms my nerves. Well, being the most inexperienced amongst them, I felt that the families who were in my group probably did not benefit as much in terms of extra info on the animals. But, every experience I have in the zoo is a learning experience for me.

I'm really glad that I went for this camp with a positive mind. It's this positive mindset that makes me open to learning skills and knowledge from them. :)

Desaru Bike Bash 30-31 May 2009

2:03 PM Edit This
Last weekend, Weiann & I participated in a Bike Bash to Desaru. We joined other 30 peeps from his company at Changi Village to take a ferry to M'sia (blue), then cycle all the way to Desaru (red).

It's my first time taking part in such a LONG cycling trip, approx 100km from the ferry terminal to Desaru and back. We started cycling at 1030am, went past alot of kampong houses and coconut trees, a sight that's also quite common in Pulau Ubin. We were pretty lucky cuz the sky was covered with dark clouds - it didn't rain and the breeze was cooling & fantastic!

After 2hrs of cycling, this is our first stop for lunch break at Restaurant Good Luck! @ Sungei Rengit.


Oh, I also spotted one of the uncles that looked so much like HK actor. Anyone watched Gem-of-Life? This uncle looks so much like the actor portraying HoFung in that show. hehe...


The second part of the journey was super challenging! First of all, the seasoned cyclists keep telling the newbies bout the high slopes and they always gestured it to be like a deep valley. Then they warned us to be cautious of them and learn how to adjust our gears properly so that we won't fall down etc. Quite daunting k! Secondly, the rest of the journey is practically treeless and the sun was blistering hot already! :( Oh well, was too focused cycling up and down the slopes that we didn't take any pics, but the rustic scenery was very nice. Fields of lalang moving in the wind, little boats sitting stationary out in the sea, beautiful sight :)
And thanks to dear for all your encouragement!! The slopes were really tough to take on... but when we finally reached Desaru, that sense of achievement was immense!

At Pulai Desaru Beach Resort! Beautiful sandy beach~ ;) Buffet dinner & breakfast the next day!

Ah An floating~ *and his face looked super calm*

Sumbodies shoe...

Nice sandy beach!!!


Amazingly, some of the guys still got energy to play volleyball! *Ayez* but weiann & I still joined in, haha.


Well, after day 1, dear fell sick - had high fever - everyone was really worried bout him, especially the uncles. They all took turns to tell him to drink more water (so did i) until Ah An got a little irritated, hehe.

Yup so I had to cycle back from Desaru to the ferry terminal on Day 2 without a companion cuz An took the safety car following us. Well, but most of the journey, I was really motivated to reach asap - cuz Ah An was still being super encouraging.

Despite being sick, he still waved at me whenever the car drove past, showed me 'thumbs up' gesture, and shouted from inside the car "Jiayou!" Thanks alot dear, it's a pity we don't get to cycle back together cuz the return journey was really more manageable & the downslopes were shiok!

But most of all, I still enjoyed the trip and definitely learnt a great deal bout cycling - sense of achievement! ;)

Just Saded.

7:06 PM Edit This
For the past month ever since exams are over, life seems pretty mundane for me compared to friends who are flying all around the world for their grad trips. No grad trips for me yet.

So began searching for jobs, and that's no easy task at all. Applied for a few jobs, got 3 replies and all ended up unsuccessful. Even my biggest hope as product designer ended up in rejection, quoting "You do have talent in design, but we're looking for a person who is industrially trained". Sigh

I'm beginning to feel pretty demoralised. Everytime I look at available job positions related to engineering, they just look so unappealing to me - requiring us to know specialised softwares, design & calculations, need experiences. Then when I look at design-related jobs, they all require knowledge of Illustrator/Photoshop etc. I feel so lost, and feeling full of regret that I never pursued what I liked. Now it seemed that whatever I'm interested to do is not related to what I've studied at all, and it feels terrible cuz it's like I've totally wasted my parents' money and effort putting me through university. Everytime I felt this way, my FYP prof's words will come to mind... "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". Yes, I failed to plan my future for myself... now I just need some positivity, some direction & guidance in life. Cuz I really dunno where to head from here on.