Bye, January!

Today is the last day of the first month in 2012 (10 more months to Dec!) It’s my first day of work in this Dragon year. According to the belief, people are not supposed to work late on their first day of work. Or your life will be filled with overtime for the rest of the year.

Well, that superstitious is scary enough to hush me away from office before 7pm today. The first day in office has been OK. I tried to keep the positive vibes on despite all the sad news I heard… I brought some of the New Year cookies to office. Surprisingly they liked it! At the end of the day, the cashew cookies were half gone, and the onion chips were all gone.

I had my “postponed” Monday exercise today, and then remember that it might be the last exercise I had at DB’s Innovation Corner. My team is going to move to Maple Tree Business Park by end of this week! I’m excited and sad at the same time T_T Wish that everyone will move there soon, it will be quite lonely otherwise.

Out of work, we went to Tiong Bahru for dinner and headed straight back home. I guess I have time for some short movie :p

No more public holiday for the next couple of months! Sob!
ED

Happy Dragon Year!

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 – SG – Medan - TB

Three of us flatmates took the Jetstar morning’s flight to Medan. It was freaking crowded, and I wasn’t in good luck for that day. We got the longest and slowest queue during check-in. As new counter opened up, we were too late to respond, too. We ended spending an hour just to get our boarding pass. Fortunately, there are friends over there, so we chatted and the time passed unnoticeably :)

Flight was on time and decent. As I reached Medan, the same incident repeated. Apparently there were two flights reaching at almost the same time, and the immigration was flocked! Sister was waiting impatiently outside the terminal as I had a ride to catch to go back to hometown. Oh well. I went out after around 40 minutes, and had to take my lunch in the car =_=’’ I was passed from one car to another car in the next 30 minutes, and went straight back to hometown. I swear I will think twice before taking this kind of itinerary next time.

The queue at the little Polonia T_T

I reached just in time for the family gathering. I promoted the yu-sheng I bought from Singapore. It was… er… not really delicious, but at least people got to try it out. I mixed the ingredient when dad was chanting the phrases. The rest weren’t interested to join the ceremony though =_= At least we had good time and good laugh. Haha..

My Solo Yu Sheng Mix!

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 – Welcoming the Water Dragon

I woke up the next day and can’t believe that it’s New Year! Time was too short for me to slowly savor the transition from rabbit to dragon year ^^; I showered and we started the annual family visit. I got my usual red pockets. Inflation must have been high as I received 30% increase from last year’s revenue. 

At 7th Uncle and Aunt's Place

At 1st Aunt's Place

With my best friend, cousin, enemy :p

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 – Sis is back!

Second day of Chinese New Year, my cousins pay me a visit, and I followed them to visit other places afterwards. Had lunch at the famous 15 Can (a.k.a. 15 floors?) and then went to governor office to get my biometric taken for new ID. The process was fast and efficient, but I wasn’t sure if everything is done properly. I wore my contact lens when they took my eye data, but they didn’t mention anything about it (and I also forgot to ask). Lets see what happen when it’s really implemented. Worst case, I will have to wear contact lens for my whole life to be identified.

Cap Go Can - Famous for the fish but I was on medication and decided to go for chicken

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 – Chu 3

I accompanied my big sister to visit the rest of the relatives. All the snacks offered looked so good, and I finally gave up to temptation. There is this one snack which was quiet similar to popcorn and I can’t stop munching it T_T. In the afternoon, I went to have misop, as well as having a small gathering with friends 

With my all "In-Relationship" friends

At relative's house - for some reason there is lots of group pic this year

Hometown classmates :)

Thurs, 26 Jan 2012 – Last night in TB

Good times passed in a blink. I can’t agree more on that. It was last day in TB and my cough was still there even after the diligent taking of the cough syrup. At night, I decided to eat my favorite food anyway – Sweet Martabak with Corn and Cheese. I can cure my cough in the next one month, but I will need to wait for another year for the food if I miss it. That’s the logic.

The oh-so-sinfully-delicious Sweet Martabak

Beef Martabak

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 – Bye, TB

Finally said goodbye to mum and dad and sister. My luggage was as heavy as 30kg and I was wondering how would I be able to carry it back to Singapore. I haven’t even do any shopping in Medan! The travel was smooth. We stopped twice to eat, as we can’t decide which one is the best. I slept most of the time so the travel time was almost ignorable. Reached Medan, I went to Thamrin to do my shopping. Had fine food at Jade Restaurant, JW Marriot for dinner, thanks to Winson.

Decent Fried Rice at First Stop - Sempurna Restaurant

Dinner at Jade

Interesting Cup!

Complimentary peach buns. Thanks to the b'day boy!

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 – Last night at Indo

Get my annual haircut done at my favorite saloon – Yen. I told her that I want smoothing and probably a bit of tidy up with my hair. In the end, she was giving me a complete haircut, then smoothing. My hair length was gone by half! I was so speechless when she just cut my long fringe without asking me a single question! After everything, I was still happily paying her Rp 275,000 for the work. Back to home after the 3 hours hair works, I took a rest and started packing. Dinner was at Lembur Kuring. I learnt that the place has changed since the last time I visited (during Johnson’s treat)

Lembur Kuring Menu Card - I want everything!

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 – Back to Singapore

Flight was at 11.45am, and we still manage to get a good breakfast at Taipan. Thanks again to Winson for the treat :p We met Agung, Elvi, and some other juniors who was also flying on the same date. My checked-in luggage was 20kg. on the dot. My carry on luggage was 10kg, if not more. We reached Singapore at around 2.15pm. Got my luggage and waited for MRT at 3pm. Reached back home at 4pm. Unpacked and doing facetime with family until 6pm. Then went for dinner at around 7pm. Movie time from 8pm onwards. It has been awhile since the last time I mentioned about movies – Doesn’t mean that I didn’t watch any! I don’t think I can recall every movie, but I remember The Flowers of War and Real Steel. Both are good movies, but I prefer Real Steel for its happy ending :)

Taipan - Dim Sum!

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 – The last holiday for the month

I have to thank the past me for applying leave on Monday. Helped me to escape the Monday blues and give me some time for myself (including typing this blog :) I went to visit Lily sis in the afternoon. I smiled to myself when I typed the sms to her. The last sms was the exact same sms, for CNY last year. I can’t defend myself when her sons said that I’m once-a-year auntie. In the evening, I went for my first run in this dragon year – 8km around Queenstown stadium. I was slow but it’s good to start somewhere!

Forever-Young Lily Sis & Family

Her goodies are always in such an adorable packaging!

Ready for work tomorrow!
ED

Birthday’s Dinner at Dozo

We had dinner at Dozo on Saturday night, just before we went back to Medan the next day. The restaurant is located at Valley Point, which surprisingly, just 6 bus stops away from Queenstown! For us, it took less than 15 mins to reach the location (minus the waiting time).

The restaurant opens at 6pm for dinner, and we reached there at around 6.20pm. There was only one table occupied when we arrived, but was 80% packed by the time we left.

Dozo - Entrance to its large restaurant

I found that the table arrangement was… unique? (if not weird). When you first arrived, the menu card is placed facing AGAINST you. You can’t really read it unless you pick it up. I tried to think about the logic behind, but maybe it’s just about design.

Can't help but noticing the menu card placement ^^;

It was a 7-menu-course, and there are 5 selections for each course. As I haven’t fully recovered from my cough, I picked less sinful items – something raw or not fried. The food presentation was pretty good. The waitress was pretty attentive. They explained what is the food made of, and even how to eat the food (from left to right, eat with pickles, etc). Unfortunately, as the crowds thicken, they were a bit overwhelmed and stopped telling us about all those after the 4th Course :(

Here goes my selection for the 7 courses:

Chef's Selection of Assorted Platter ("Eat from center, then right and left")

Cold Dish: Platter of Air Flown Seasonal Sashimi ("Start with the prawn and finish with the left most item")

Side Dish: Stewed Beef Tendon with Puff Pastry ("Just eat the way you want it")

Soup: Infusion of Cepes Mushroom with Truffle ("Start with the truffle, keep it in your mouth for 10 sec, then the soup")

Main: Duck Confit

Drinks: Green Apple Mocktail (his: Ice Mallow Apple Melody)

Dessert: French Cream Cheese Cake (his: Super delicious Dozo's warm Choc's cake)

In addition, there is free flow of Japanese tea (I love the tea – it has some flower flavour!), some munchies, and a free birthday cake! Haha. The ambiance was pleasant with instrumental music playing non-stop in the background. We finished at around 8pm and yeah, I had good experience with Dozo :)

0 cough during the dinner!
ED

Fever, Sore Throat, Cough, Flu, and finally recovering!

For me, it’s always the same cycle. The moment I start to have headache and sore throat, I know the cough and flu will follow no matter what I do. I completed my medication yesterday. I guess I am pretty much over the headache and sore throat phase… Now I’m at the end of cough phase and the beginning of flu phase. Just hope that the flu phase will come and go quickly… I have 3 more days until the big reunion dinner!

I’m in my best behavior this week. I have breakfast so that I can take my medication. I skip my exercise so I can have proper lunch. And again, I’m forced to have dinner so that I can take my medication afterwards. In normal day, you will never see me seating alone eating Soup Spoon at 9pm. Never! I hate eating alone… but what to do :( It’s also a big change for me to purposely walk up to canteen to get a steamed bun for breakfast. The most challenging part was the 3 days without coffee and chili. I believe I dreamt about them.

These 3 days have not been the best days in office, but I believe the illness played a big part in my perception. My friends told me that they are going home for CNY. Instead of feeling the spirit of CNY, I was grumpy because I got no lunch company for the next two days! Illness is really bad for your state of happiness.

I’m feeling better now and started to see things positively again :) He is coming back today, there are only two more working days, and I’m excited about weekend! Will be going back to hometown this Sunday and return to Singapore the following Sunday.

Last few steps in Rabbit Year,
ED

Photoshop: Timestamp your Digital Photos before Printing

If you’re old enough, you will know that old pictures (I mean, roll-film pictures) normally come with timestamp at the bottom right corner.

Well, timestamp within the picture is no longer a common thing in the world of Digital Photography. I welcomed the change. For me, having a permanent timestamp in a picture is like having a hardcoding in your program – it just makes things harder to edit / reuse.

Yet, apparently, the timestamp thingy is a BIG thing for mum and dad T_T I have been printing our holiday pictures for couple of years now… and they always gave the same comments “They are nice… but… where is the TIMESTAMP??”. This year, I remember and decide to timestamp my photos before sending them for printing.

One brainless way to timestamp is to right click on you photo, look at its metadata to find the date creation, open the paint program, add the date, save it back, and send it for printing. It sounds ok for one pic. But for 240 pictures? I don’t even want to imagine it.

I went to web to find some easy way to do it. To my surprise, there are not many well-defined methods! (Or my search power has degenerated?) I was kind of hoping that “Automator” would be able to do it, but apparently…. Not without some plugin and shell scripting.

Luckily, Photoshop didn’t disappoint me. Javascript + Action + Automate solve my 240 pictures issues within 5 minutes :D Credit goes to Retouch Pro Forum, member Csuebele!

For convenience sake (and my future reference), let me paste the Javascript here:

target = app.photoshop

var oldPref = app.preferences.rulerUnits
app.preferences.rulerUnits = Units.PIXELS;

var docRef = activeDocument
var dw = docRef.width
var dh = docRef.height

//Change the last numbers to adjust where text is placed.--------------------------
var inW = dw * .98
var inH = dh * .98
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

var dateString = ''
var timeDate = ''

for (var i = 0; i <docRef.info.exif.length; i++)
    {
        dateString = docRef.info.exif[i].toString()
    
        if (dateString.substring(0,18) == 'Date Time Original') 
        {
            timeDate = dateString.substring(27,29) + '-' + dateString.substring(24,26) + '-' + dateString.substring(19,23) + '  ' + dateString.substring(30,35)
        }
    }

            var artLayerRef = docRef.artLayers.add()
            artLayerRef.kind = LayerKind.TEXT
            var textItemRef = artLayerRef.textItem
            textItemRef.position = [inW,inH]
            //else {textItemRef.position = [2240,3100]}
            textItemRef.justification = Justification.RIGHT
            textItemRef.size = 40
            textItemRef.contents = timeDate
            artLayerRef.name = 'file date'

                
            
            
                
app.preferences.rulerUnits = oldPref

Step by Step:
1. Save the above as timestamp.jsx
2. Start your Photoshop. Open one of the pic you want to timestamp
3. Create an action (Windows: Actions: Create New Set: Create New Action)
4. Press the record button to start recording
5. Go to File > Scripts > Browse > timestamp.jsx
6. Optional: Do further enhancement to the timestamp to make it readable. For me, I add white stroke 7. Press the stop button
8. Go to File > Automate
9. Select the folder of pictures you want to timestamp, then select the action you just recorded.
10. I’m done!! :D

Now all I have to do is to save my pics to thumb drive and show them off to my parents next week. Fufufu. I’m actually thankful to them. It has been a while since I tried to automate anything. This has helped me to realize that even though I haven’t been doing programming for the last 4 years, I’m still a lazy geek, deep within.

ED

Birthdays Party cum Reunion Dinner at Swensen’s, Plaza Singapura

We decided to have one last reunion in the year of rabbit before we all go back to hometown for CNY; as well as to celebrate our friends who were born in the month of Jan, since it’s probably the last gathering until the next month.

Being a "dedicated" organizer, I went to Swensen’s at Plaza Singapura 30 minutes in advance, to queue and ensure that we got a seat at 6pm. Turned out that I overestimated their popularity. The place was almost empty when I reached, and they are able to arrange 20 seats easily within 3 minutes. Rather than waiting inside the restaurant, I decided to walk around and killed some time until 6pm.

The manager at Swensen’s didn’t look happy at all when I told her that we would start the dinner at 7pm once we’re done with birthday’s celebration. Yet, behind her iron face, she and her staffs were really providing us a superb service through the night (or at least that’s how I felt). She personally come and asked me how many candles I want for the cake. Her staff also offered to cut the cake for us. The dinner was served quite promptly, they topped up our water regularly, and quite speedy with delivery of our random request like tissue, spoon, chili flakes, etc.

Black Forest Ice Cream Cake!

The stars of the month - posing for cake cutting

The stars of the month - trying to figure out how to cut the ice-stoned cake! Lol!

Family Pic! :) missing Stefen, Fidel, Handy, who come later

We dine until around 8.30pm, had our fortune cookies and ice cream cake as dessert, and then walked out from Swensen’s. I wasn’t feeling really fit so I decided to go back early. Some of them stayed at PS, most probably catching some movie.

I love the CNY decoration at PS!

I had fun for the night… which I have to pay out the next day with the return of my cough. Duh! People said illness comes in by mouth. I couldn’t agree more v_v

Happy Birthday to Ivana, Fidelia, Winson, and Agung!
ED

Chinese New Year Shopping at Woodlands Terrace

After a whole day of sleeping and eating on Friday, I felt so much better the next day! New respect for the Dawson Clinic!:)

So I decided to start my day fresh and joined the DB Rec Club for Chinese New Year shopping. I don’t have anything in mind to buy, but I’m just curious of what is this Woodlands Terrace looks like.

Apparently, the place is known as factory outlets area. I heard about fashion factory outlet frequently, but this is the first time for food factory outlet.

We reached the place at around 9am and was given time until 10.30am to shop at the whole stretch. It was quiet early in the morning, but there were already more than 10 big buses parked at the roadside. I believe the passengers were all here for the same purpose, shopping!!!

Our Chartered Bus! Is known as 137 on usual day :)

There are different factories along the stretch. Some, like Fragrance, are dedicated for the Chinese New Year delicacies. There are also Boon Tong Kee and Tiger Brand there, promoting their condiments for chicken rice and bak kut the respectively.

Fragrance Factory Outlet!

Secret Recipe! Boon Tong Kee!

From the crowd, I can see that the best buy and bargain come from the factory outlet Fassler. They sell all kinds of fresh seafood as well as readily packed frozen soup. All look so fresh and I can’t believe the price is within one digit. No wonder they have the longest queue in that area.

Fassler Factory Outlet - The best Factory Outlet in the area

I reached back to the bus at around 10.00am, bought a pack of wasabi peanuts for $6 (usual price: $7.8) as well as a pack of yu sheng for $10 (usual price $10.90 at Fair Price). Even with only 2 purchases, I have already saved more than 2 bucks! Some of my colleagues brought their mum along, and yeah… I can understand why they went crazy with shopping.

After shopping, we were further awarded with a lovely breakfast at Hans. At around 11.30am, we were drove back to Yishun MRT :)

Omelet Chicken with toast + tea

Will remember the place for future shopping if I ever start to learn how to cook! Hehe… for now... one week to CNY & home cook food!
ED

First Visit to Dawson Place Clinic

I wasn't feeling really well since Monday. It started with a swollen tongue. I ignored the sign. Next day, I started to have sore throat. I ignored it and further had almost a pack of Doritos. Following day, I got headache, but I still stubbornly went for a jog and even had grilled chicken for dinner.

The next day, my body protested. Headache, sore throat, coughing; all come at the same time. As a bonus, I also got neck strain and started to sneeze. I was contemplating if I should take an MC... but I'm the busiest on  Thursday. Taking MC on Thursday will be equal to more work for the rest of next week. In the end I decided to get a pack of lozenges and go to office. I felt like going back every minute, but in the end managed to stay until the end of my last call at 9.30pm. I slept at 11pm hoping that more rest will make me feel better the next day.

So here come Friday. I woke up and was greeted with cough T_T later I realized that my sore throat is not getting any better too. I showered and got ready anyway. At the last minutes, I decided to give myself a rest and went to clinic instead of office.

Well, I learnt that it's not that easy to look for doctor nowadays. I went there at 8.30am and they told me to come back at 10.30am as the doctor is already fully booked until then. I went back at 10.30am and still have to wait for half an hour =_=. Ok, lucky that the receptionist was pretty kind, and they were even showing Mr Bean cartoon in the TV, making the wait more bearable.

Misleading view. I thought there is no one waiting!

I met up with the doctor for 4 minutes, and he came out with 4 medicines. There goes $50 bucks. Haha.. I reached back home and had the whole lot of antibiotics with me. Now its time for me to sleep and hope to be well before CNY!

One for sore throat, one for phlegm, one for cough, and Panadol for headache

I supposed to attend the team Year End Dinner today... T_T Something I have been looking for since couple of months back. What to do :( Instead of Masala Art, I ended up with Dawson Place Clinic.

ZzZ,
ED

2011 Tzu Chi Year-End Blessing Ceremony

It all started with my sis asking me to attend one of Tzu Chi events. Actually, “ask” might not be the right word. She basically reminded me every week over the period of 3 months to get involved in one of the activities.

Thanks to Kuan Seong, I managed to get two tickets to attend the Tzu Chi Year-End Blessing :) Really appreciate his help to pass the ticket in person to me, and even explained to me on what Tzu Chi is all about.

We went for the event on Sunday, 10am – 12pm at Kallang Theater. I can see that they have put a lot of preparation for the event. There was usher helping us with direction right after we step out from the Stadium MRT.

As you walked in to the Theater, there are people singing and clapping to welcome you. I wasn’t really good with estimation, but the Kallang Theater was 90% full (if not more), so I believe there are around 1000 people in the theater.

Stunning multimedia!

The event started at 10.30am. Everything was great, but I did have difficulty understanding in depth as all the ceremony was in Chinese (talk about regret of not learning Chinese properly v_v) luckily, most of the videos shown come with English subtitles, so I can understand 50% of the whole things.

If I understand correctly, the ceremony is similar to AGM. They played back what has happened throughout 2011, and what contribution has Tzu Chi done, globally and locally (Singapore). At the end of the event, we prayed for a better future, as well as given ang pao (red pockets) as our blessings.

The Blessing Pack - Really appreciate how the volunteers packed every single one with hearts!

After coming out from the ceremony, I was trying to find a donation box, but well, there aren’t any! So the best I can do is to buy something from their bazaar and hope that I helped them in a way.

During one of the Master Cheng Yen’ Videos, she highlighted that 1/3 of the food available in the world was actually gone wasted. I was shocked with the statistic for a while, but then remembering how people / restaurant throw excess food everyday, the statistic started to make sense. Oh what a waste! :( She further continued that the food would have helped to feed all the poor in the world. I promise I will reduce my food wastage to the minimum… not that I leave much of anything… :p

We went to Kallang Leisure Park for lunch (I finally remember to take vegetarian for this che-15!) and then went back home. The MRT was delayed for around 10 mins when we transferred to Paya Lebar. It seems like people are much used to the breakdown now – I didn’t see much fuss anymore. Haha.

No more wasting food!
ED

Shiyi’s Wedding at Bliss Garden Restaurant

The first wedding I attended for the year of 2012! :) It has been so long since the last time I met Shiyi. In fact, this is the first meet up since graduation! Freaking 3.5 years! How time flies.

I learnt that she had her ROM back in 2009, and this wedding is for their marriage renewal. They have been married for more than 2 years but they looked so full of energy and love, like those newly wedded couple :)

The dinner was held at a restaurant at Singapore Expo. I started my trip from home at 6.15pm and managed to reach there on time.

Dragon @ Expo, can't resist to snap some pic even when I was almost late

I know Shiyi has changed quite a lot since university (from bob-hair-forever to feminine long hair lady), but I was still startled when I saw her wedding photography. She looks like an actress!

Kenneth & Shiyi - *Feel a bit guilty of taking pic without permission*

I was seated at table no#14. It was 7:30pm when I went to the ballroom. The event was planned to start at that time, but then… well: I was the first one on my table. Lucky for me, I can select any seat I want :) The table was actually really good, like only one table away from the stage after the VIP.

Table 14! - Looking at the condiments and I was already hungry

Later on, I managed to meet my Computer Science’s fellas – Lynn and Hai’an :D It was a really nice meet up. We started the catch up around marriage topic. Hai’an just got married two months ago. Hui Min was just married couple of days ago. Lay Sum is going to get married in next couple of weeks. And now we’re sitting at the marriage of Shiyi. It was really overwhelming for one-minute talk. Took me awhile to absorb and start recalculating how old I really am. After that, we also chatted about work. Apparently, both of them are also sticking with their first job. Phew! Finally something which I can say "Me, too!"

Happy to be among the geeks

The dinner started at 8.30pm, after a grand appearance of the couple. They come walking and singing at the same time. This is the most talented singer couple I ever seen. Their voices are wonderful!

The Groom dedicating a Cantonese song for his bride. And he is a Philipino! So sweet!

Apart from the wonderful performances, the food deserved a special mention, too. All of the courses are nyummy, but the cereal prawn was really their best menu, in my opinion.

Most Awesome Cereal Prawns - Have to pinch myself to make sure it's real

The dinner ended at almost 11pm after a nice warm yam dessert. I walked back to MRT feeling super full, and reach back home at around 11.45pm :) Didn’t have much energy after all the laughter, so I went to sleep early.

Feel good to catch up with CS friends!
ED

Lunch at Robert Timms

Just a short post!

Never thought that I would be revisiting Robert Timms in such a short period :) It was for another gathering.

Robert Timms @ Orchard with Sarah, Adeline, and Ching-Ching

I tried the pasta before, so I decided to go for the Breakfast set this time. Well, I’m glad that I try it out. It was better than the pasta, and the portion definitely meets my standard :p

Sarah and Adeline are currently staying in Australia. Yet, for some reasons, they never heard about Robert Timms before. *Starting to doubt Robert Timms claims of "Australian Coffee"

Heartily Breakfast + Original Robert Timms Coffee

Anyway, till the next visit, Robert Timms!
ED