Most of the pictures posted in my blog were taken using my Sony WX5, Nokia n73 and 7610 handphone.
If you have any comments pls leave on my cbox.
31 December 2009
Fr2 maiden skate
Hi guys,
I'm back from my morning FR2's maiden skate. The first time we put on FR2, we were totally not used to it. Very cramp and tight at the leg, but its normal as assured by the sales girl and what i read from forums. I got reminiscence of my first time skating. The new wheels are very smooth, i almost cannot balance well. Just a small kick and the wheels can roll for a smooth distance. Totally different from rentals.
True enough, after skating for about a mile or so, we were used to the tightness. In fact, we actually felt the comfort and support of FR2, compared to normal blades. We skated to the end of East Coast Park (Exit to Fort Road), and back to Mac Donald. Today we both skated without any guards. But my advice to all newbies, do not ever ever ever attempt any funny stunts or trick without guards. Unless you want to get some nasty cuts.
Behold FR2! Got it today finally. Every year end i always get something nice to pamper myself a little bit. :) This year i gotten myself a roller blade. Now i can slowly master the skill of roller blading, which i missed in my younger days.
Great minds think alike, Prata also chose FR2. We got the same model, same colour haha. Got our FR2s at Urban Inline, East Coast Park. Planned to straight away skate one round after buying, but dropped the plan due to rain. Never mind, we will test our new our roller blades tomorrow. We will go for a morning skate at East Coast Park, fierce!
Right now, show you my new Roller Blade's bag. Can see my FR2 inside? Hehe. FR2 pictures will be reveal tomorrow.
Urban Inline Tel: 63452455, 64445655 East Coast Park (BigSplash) 902 East Coast Parkway, Playground@BigSplash, #01-23
Take a $1 shuttle bus at Parkway Parade, near Old Chang Kee. This shuttle bus will bring you directly to Big Splash. Please remember to keep the bus ticket, you can use it for a free ride back to Parkway Parade later. (That means 2 bus trips for $1)
It has been one month since my last east coast park run. My kneecap hurts then. But it only hurts when i run, walking its fine. Now that i had rested for a month, i decided to give running a try again.
We had an evening run instead of our usual morning run, waking up early is a chore haha. Besides Prata, Chris 1st time joined us for the run. We reached east coast park at 6pm, thank god it did not rain. I wore my knee guard through out the run, it proved to be a good protection for my knees. Worth investing. We had our usual running routine. From Mac Donald ran to chin up area near Lagoon, do some statics and ran back to Mac Donald. We had an interesting encounter during the run. One Ang Mo woman cycling from behind cursed aloud us for running on the cycling track. That's not all, when she cycled passed us, she showed us her middle finger. Haha. My knees were fairly good during the run, except that it starts to pain towards the end.
I believe one should not rest on your laurels. So even though my homemade chicken breast meal is already fantastically clean and tasty, i'm constantly trying out new recipes. With unlimited imagination and combination, every day can be a chicken breast meal day without getting tired of it. :)
With that in mind, today i gonna try something new. I added a raw egg into my marinade. Remember whats our original marinade ingredient? Light soya sauce, pepper and sesame oil! Now try with me, add one raw egg into the marinade. Let our fingers do the magic...
Ta La!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Doesn't it looks creamy? Rocky will drink straight it! Rawr!!!
Hows the taste? Tell you my review after i cook and try it. Now gonna go cook...
OK! heres my review!!! When you pour the marinade into the pot of boiling water, DO NOT STIR, else the egg will scatter around! The eggs sticks to the chicken meat after boiled nicely. My first mouthful reminds me of chili crab. Chili crab also got eggs sticking on them rite. :) But the final taste is still tasteless as before, with just a little creamy feel. Enjoy~
See how the eggs stick to the chicken. Remember don't stir the pot!
Merry Xmas! Did you had a great Xmas eve? I did. This year i finally celebrated Xmas eve outside and not the usual watching tv at home. All thanks to my supporting buddies, we had this plan drafted and organised one month earlier to realise it on this big day. Our initial plan was to find a secluded place for our retreat on Xmas eve night. Then each one of us would bring some food and eat together. We had a hard time choosing the hideout. Location and cost were our top consideration. We thought of various hotels, chalet and camping under the moonlight at East Coast Park.
Our final decision came only just few days before the eve. We chose to retreat at Hangout Hotel. We were lucky to still have room available at this last hour. I'm thankful everyone managed to turn up for this gathering (Prata, Chris, Crispy, Joe0, Joe1). After years of not celebrating Xmas, this was really a special day for me.
We met up at noon to buy our food at Carrefour Plaza Singapura. We bought enough for a feast. - grilled chicken x2 - sushi platter x3 - grilled pork rib - sausage x2 - honey baked ham - salad - red/white wine x3 - green tea x2 - yogurt - potato chips - log cake (breadtalk) - pizza x2 (pizza hut) - prawn crackers - durian puff - apricots
Our ordeal came when we walked to Hangout hotel carrying all the food. We took the long route climbing steep stairs before we found Hangout.
Look out for this narrow and easily unnoticeable stairs to go to Hangout.
Hangout hotel is located at mount emily. Quiet and away from the noisy city crowd.
Hangout room cost us close to $300, but it was worthwhile since its a big room that we can all stay together. The room is cosy and simple. No tv, no music. But its ok, we bought laptops so we had music, MTV and internet.
>
We had our dinner feast at the roof top, Look out. Lushness of green, Buddha sculptures, water fountain, perfect romantic spot for our romantic night. We had some moments enjoying the quiet night scene from here.
Great spot for nap under the sun? We had our dinner at their spot in the evening.
Prata
Joe1
Enjoy soaking your legs in the cold water.
See those fruits growing?
Good place for chill out at night.
Our feast. We used out bare hands to tear and eat the chicken. (pic grabbed from Crispy)
Silent night after dinner. (pic grabbed from Crispy)
After dinner, we went to Log out to relax. Surf net, play pool, wasting time. Back at our room, we exchanged Xmas gifts. I got Chris's porcupine keychain haha. We spent out night watching MTV from youtube. And also helping Joe1 savage her laptop from virus. Guess how many virus were detected after installing Avast Antivirus? 600+ virus!
This was our last supper, log cake and durian puff. How can Xmas goes without log cake :) We surfed youtube for super old Singapore soap dramas's MTV until 0430am then we decided to retire for this wonderful long night. Let's hope next year we will have another great Xmas eve celebration too!
I am one year older again, kinda scary nowadays as i'm approaching the age 3X generation. It is very easy to remember my birthday, just remember 汤圆, "Tang Yuan". My birthday falls on 冬至. So whenever you eat Tang Yuan, remember its my birthday. :) I don't really celebrate my birthday, every year just receive red packet from mom and few presents from close buddies. No parties. How i spent my birthday? Morning at home. Afternoon go Bugis walk walk with Chris. Evening go gym. Night feast with Fatina.
This year my presents include Renoma's singlets and a Modern Amusement's cap. How's my real life modeling? Can go model for blog shop? hahaha.
Mom home cook Tang Yuan, best! Just use hand to mould the glutinous rice flour into ball ball.
And of cos a birthday cake from mom too. This year received 3 birthday cakes total.
Today was supposed to be a hiking day, Adventurers Six up the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Too bad, the sky threatened to pour, so we postponed the plan. From clementi, we took a bus to Suntec City. The rest of the afternoon was pretty boring for an active outdoor maniac, we browsed the IT fair at Suntec. Dinner was buffet at Yuki Yaki Marina Square. I specially went there to target their salmon hehe, everyone ate until damn full. Some more, we ordered their d.i.y ice-cream too. My 1st time trying their fried ice-cream, it was fun. We tried all flavors: Yam, Rum & Raisin, Durian, Raspberry, Peppermint, Tiramisu, Chocolate... Imagine how blotted our stomach. Then came the surprise, we went to Carefour at Suntec, out of expectation Crispy held out a small cake with candle! My pre birthday cake! I was touched, really. No other better words to describe, just touched.
Today i going to share with u guys how to make a more tasty chicken breast meal. This is more advance than my previous meal, but don't worry just follow my steps you will be able to do it as well. :) I named this meal dried tomato chicken mee sua with baked beans. (I know its a pretty long name :S)
First, as usual cut up the chicken breast and wash them. Today we will be marinating the chicken breast.
To start our marinade, you will need: 1) Light soya sauce 2) pepper 3) sesame oil
Put our washed chicken breast meat into a small bowl. Then do this: (1st step) Pour 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce (2nd step) Pour 2 servings of pepper (3rd step) Pour 2 teaspoon of sesame oil.
Then using our delicated fingers, give the marinade a good massage. Make sure the chicken is well mixed. After its done, leave the marinade for 20mins. This is to let the chicken meat absorb the fragrance of the marinade.
After 15mins, our chicken is ready to cook. (1st step) Start boiling water. Boil only a little water as we are making dry meal today. (2nd step) Add the chicken meat when the water boils. For this meal, we do not add additional seasoning. That's right just plain water, no additional oil or salt added. The chicken already have great taste from the marinade. Cook 3mins. (3nd step) When chicken meat turns white, add mee sua. Cook another 2min.
Total of 5mins cooking, stop fire and bring out our nicely cooked chicken breast mee sua. Be sure to take away the soup for a dry meal. To finish this meal with a nice finishing, add some tomato baked beans. Doesn't the rich golden colors of the baked beans complement the chicken mee sua perfectly? My brother says "disgusting", i'm sure he meant disgustingly amazing!
After 5 rounds of roller blading, i think its time to invest in a skate. Every time renting skate its only money down the drain with no returns. (Not to mention that you don't own the smelly skates in the end) If you intend to blade for at least 20 times, it is already worth $140 in rental, might as well get a brand new skate from the start. Likewise, if you are into fishing, get a rod :) I figured that if i get myself a pair of skates, it can open to more playing options:
1) I can blade anytime i want with no time limitation. Rental charges by hourly rates, you have to return when the time is up. Rental shops are closed at night, that means i can't blade after they are closed.
2) With my own skate, i can explore anywhere i want. Like maybe from East Coast to Suntec City, or down Pasir Ris Elias Park. I can't possibly skate so far with a pair of rentals.
3) Most importantly, can learn stunts. Would you risk paying for breaking a pair of smelly old rental skates while trying to learn slides?
Having said that, Joe0 and Joe1 already bought their own skates. They got it at good prices, with full guards and carrying bags. So yesterday skating session, they wore their brand new skates while Prata and me continued to rent. Prata said he also want to get himself a skate too, he can't stand rentals skate's quality.
Before buying, i got do research one. There are different skates for different play styles. Generally these are:
1) Recreational skate. The basic skates for leisure skating. If you want more, get the more advance skates. 2) Aggressive skate. You see skaters jumping up and down on ramps, skate parks, that's aggressive skating. Eh, i'm a puss if you ask me to do these bone breaking stunts. 3) Speed skate. Very big wheels, low cut frame. Very traveling long distance at high speed. Not my cup of tea, i rather use my bicycle for long distance. 4) Freestyle/ Slalom Skate. Whats Slalom? I say its dancing gracefully around cones. I'm into Slalom, so you can guess i'm gonna get a Slalom skate. Take a look of Slalom.
Girl Slalom.
Coincidently, Prata is eyeing the same pair of skate as me. He wants to Slalom too? Lets keep our finger crossed. Anyway i'm targeting SEBA FR2. There are other colours available, but we both like fully black. Price not confirm yet, but its consider on the average range. Can't afford those high end ones.
I was thinking if i should get this membership. Its a privilege membership for Bugis arcade. In a nutshell, can get free extra tokens as you accumulate points in this membership card. Hardcore arcade goers must really get this membership. But i'm just a weekly small spender whom spend less than $4 a week, so i'm really contemplating.
How it works: First pay $10 to get the membership card, with $5 worth of tokens inside. The gripe is this card is only valid for one year! zzz. There's a renewal charge of $10.
The privileges that i can enjoy:
$5 for 10 tokens, $10 for 12 tokens (FREE extra 2 tokens), $20 for 16 tokens (FREE extra 6 tokens).
The accumulation part is not really fantastic. Accumulate at least $90 then FREE extra 10 tokens zzz.
A simple calculation will shows if it is worth applying for:
Membership application $10 = 10 tokens (lose out 10 tokens) **$10 normally can change 20 tokens. top up $20 = 46 tokens (free 6 tokens) top up $20 = 46 tokens (free 6 tokens) Total spent: $50 (at this time 1 would have offset the 10 tokens lost initially, with 2 extra tokens)
If continue on this formula, top up $20 = 46 tokens (free 6 tokens) top up $20 = 46 tokens (free 6 tokens) top up $20 = 46 tokens (free 6 tokens) Total spent: = $110 (entitled for 10 FREE tokens for accumulate 200V points. Total free tokens = 2+6+6+6+10 = 30 tokens.
$110 to be spend within one year means i have to spend $9.50 per month, or $2.50 weekly and get FREE extra 30 tokens. So i can conclude that for a small spender like me, this membership is feasible.
Looking at the queue at M1 outlets, i phone is still so popular! Even after 930pm i still see people queuing at Bugis M1 lol. So good meh the i phone plans? Curiosity makes me do some research to compare the prices.
Basically the prices are almost similar, less few dollars difference. So lets compare the extra benefits provided:
Please check on the actual details, terms and conditions from their respective sites.
M1 - Free calls to 3 M1 Numbers - Only M1 highest plan got unlimited local calls and SMS/MMS. - For students and NSF: UNLIMITED2 SMS and MMS, and Free Campus calls and Army Camp calls. - Only M1 lets you get the iPhone without any upfront cost. Eligible to choose the iPhone plan, take the iPhone available on the selected plan and exchange it from the 10th month onwards. You can always get the latest iPhone or any phone with Take3. - M1 Multi-Line Saver. If you combine 3 or more mobile or mobile broadband lines, you can start saving as much as 35% on total subscription fees. - $300 Handset Re-contract Voucher for iPhone Unlimited plan.
Starhub - For students and NSF: UNLIMITED2 SMS and MMS. - FREE $500 Handset upgrade voucher for SmartSurf Unlimited plan. - FREE 100 SMS with GIRO. - $0 data charges for StarHub TV on Mobile & MobiTweet - FREE IDD 018 calls to 18 destinations at $5.35 / mth - FREE Caller Number Display & International Roaming
Singtel - FREE MobileTV (Live TV viewing). Unlimited LIVE TV viewing until 31 March 2010. - FREE SingTel AMPed for Unlimited song downloads with no data charges from AMPed Music Store. - FREE 6mths TrafficLive. Plan your trip with the fastest, cheapest routes and get alerts on real-time traffic conditions. - $300 handset upgrade voucher every year, for iFlexi Premium plan.
Waa long time never cycle to explore new routes. Always cycle to and fro same routine, mostly to gym or swimming. I discovered a new route to cycle to Boon Keng, a much easier to remember route. Starting from Upper Boon Keng block 13 (near the community center), just cycle all the way straight, and you will reach Boon Keng. Heres some landmarks to make sure you don't lost your way. Just go straight, no left turn right turn ok. :)
Starting! Upper Boon Keng Block 13. Around here got SHOP AND SAVE.
Go straight for a min, cross the river and you will see LIM KIM HAI building. Mattress FOUR STAR building is beside this building.
About 5mins bumpy narrow road straight ahead, a very prominent E EXTRA SPACE building. The road to E EXTRA SPACE is very narrow and bumpy that its better to cycle on the quiet road beside.
Straight some more, we can smell Boon Keng quite near already! See this red builing beside the road junction? The "69" is very easy to see from afar.
Just a stone away from here, we reach Boon Keng. CENTRAL SIKH TEMPLE. If you are interested in the other route via Whampo click here.
Today my N73 play punk again. Users of Nokia smartphones will find this problem common: Phone Memory Full. please delete some data. But ironically, i never store any mp3, images or files in my phone memory other than using calendar, sms and contacts. So why is my phone memory full? Please note that as long as this memory problem is unsolve, you cannot send or receive sms. You also cannot open many applications with ease. I want to source if there is an alternative way to solve this memory issue other than reformatting my phone memory. So after googling high and low, i finally found an effective way to solve this memory problem.
First, identify the cause. The reason why Phone memory is full even though you did not store any things is because of LIFE BLOG. This LIFE BLOG serves no purposes yet stack up a great deal of memory over time. When you sms, snap a picture, add a mp3 it stores data into memory. Pretty useless and annoying. Best thing is, if you try to delete it, it can't be done!
Next, we solve this shit. LIFE BLOG is running in background, thats why you can't delete. Download Jbak TaskMan here. Jbak TaskMan is a Task Manager program which lets you view the processes running in your handphone background. Once you downloaded and installed in your handphone, launch it. Go to MENU > TOOLS > PROCESSES. Then scroll and search for LifeblogDBSERVER.exe. bring up the menu and TERMINATE IT!
Now that LIFE BLOG is no longer running, we can delete it. But you cannot delete the whole application like this. Download Y-Browser here. Y-Browser lets you see all files including hidden files in your handphone. When done installing in your handphone, launch Y-browser. Go to C driver > DATA > LIFEBLOG > DATABASE. Delete LifeBlog.db!!!!!!!!!
Finally, my handphone memory is empty again :) Stupid memory problem is solved! To make sure the LifeBlog doesn't give me future problems, do this: Go to APPLICATIONS > LIFEBLOG > SETTING > ITEM TYPES and UNCHECK EVERYTHING. And, under AUTO-CLEAN UP, set ALWAYS for everything.
I revamped my blog's layout. Took me 2 days to conceptualize and restructured everything. How do you feel about this new look? :P
What i had in mind was to make my blog looks more of my own feel, while not losing my initial simplicity base. It's not easy to find a banner that i really like, keeping in mind that my photo editing skill is the bare minimum. I changed the banner to Nokia N73 picture with a slideshow to complement it. This is the main feel of my blog which is most important and most time consuming. Without this banner, the whole blog will not have the feel i want to present. Haha. Took me hell lot of time to finally get to this banner. Encourage me ok, i only used BITMAP to do this banner. The pictures in the slide show were all taken during my adventures. Tell me, does the slide show makes the pictures look alive? Hehe.
Other minor changes: - Fixed the width of my blog's body to actual size of photos. (Landscape size) - Add color to my background. (Used to be white, now light grey) - Add a blog patrol counter (Just for the fun of it)
If you have problem viewing my banner, make sure you install the latest version Adobe Flash Player. Get it here. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari works fine.
Just now at my void deck downstairs, i was approached by a black baby meow meow. It was waiting for me among the bushes, i knew cause i could hear its "meow meow" while walking towards my lift. Then it came out of the bushes and came right in front of me. Normally i don't entertain streets animals, cause i don't want them to miss me when i'm gone. Very sad one, if you are nice to them, they will follow you and miss you when you ran away. Instead of kicking it away, i stood there and let the black baby meow meow harassed me. (Disclaimer: I had never kicked any cat before.) It seemed to liked my legs very much, you can see it from my pictures. Curling around my legs for warmth i guess, it must be taking my hairy legs for some cosy fur. Black baby meow meow felt no sense of paiseh at all, it scratched my socks and even try to climb my legs. But its shy in front of camera, running around when i wanted to take a good shot. I haven't got anyone who appreciates my legs so much. :) At this moment, i felt honored! I gave it a good stroke on it's head and back before i hurried to the lift.
