twins here again....noticed many HK girls tend to have thick dark eye brows.....eg cecilia cheung and few TVB actresses. while their tw counterparts have a totally diff look...more pale, and flat features....like that kind of typical "ling dai yu" fair beauty look? 

Twins - Ah Gil (left) and Charlene 

Ah-Sa and Ah-Gil

being national day, there are lots of activities and fireworks.....and free concerts. yes, in the world of mando pop nowadyas, free concerts are a common thing for promotions. so bad in tw, that if its a paying concert, nobody be willing to pay a cent to watch a quality show!....

anyway, luckily in spore, its not like that, pple are willing to part with $200 to see some big scale live entertainement, just that dont expect them to get excited of express themseves at the concert ...haha.

one of the free concerts will feature TWINS.....a very popular 2 girl group from HK.
when i first know of them in 2002 during a trip to HK, i thot they were just commercial crap....but its 2005 now and they are still surviving very well. they cant really sing for nuts but the record company has managed to market them so well, that many people find them cute and nice to look at. they are always smiling, wearing nice clothes and posing in pleasing way.

sometimes the x factor is really quite unexplainable. ah sa is not particularly pretty but u wouldnt get sick of her looks. she is so call the cute one. Ah Gil is the pretty one but a bit more reserve sometimes and quieter. but with her beauty she can get away with any sloppy clothes and still look good. just like sammi cheng.
these 2 girls work almost non-stop for 3-4 yrs and are seen almost everyday on the media be it for movies, music, concerts, ads, events etc. and still give you their brighest smile!

there is something about these HK girls that make them look cool. unlike tw female stars, the HK girls can wear as tom boyish as they like, something that covers all their assets and still look like a STAR! tw stars always have to look cute or sexy or the boys wouldnt like them. they just dun have that "qi zhi" (charisma?)
if a tw girl singer comes out wearing a baggy t shirt, cargo pants and sneakers i think that star will not sell.

but hk its different, with nice make up and cool looking hair....everyone can look like a million dollars. for example, there is an ad by mariam yeung on tv showing her skate boarding for a chinese medicine ....she wears a boyish shirt , loose pants with bright purple/red longish sassy hair...and she looks great or cool at least. twins have worn some pretty mis match stuff but still forgivable.

thats the thing about HK, they work very hard and the harder they work, the more energy level they have. the city always has a buzz or vibe around it. a very cosmo place. i have to agree on that, sometimes the more work i have, the more energy i get. and u dun feel like stopping.
but a totally relaxed day would make me even more sleepy.

i guess the marketing people behind twins are prob quite brilliant too....from a typical girl group that i think nothing off to their concert tonight that i am curious to watch! hmmm....power of the media and commercial people nowadays.

Its Aug 9 again!

Its Aug 9 again.....the birthday of the country that i was born, bred (is there such a word? haha) and raised. haha. but do i feel any patriotism? well, not really..just enjoy the day off from work. but come to think of it, spore's success today is not easy to come by. but prob most of us take that for granted. there are pros and cons living in this somewhat plastic country.

i went to bintan 3 weeks back, on the ferry back to spore, there was an awful irritating immigration video warning pple about what to declare, what kinda of tax on cigarettes, liquor...and of course death for drugs. its such a typical spore govt style video!! i mean, must they be so lor sor? the presentation of the video was bad too, using a boring powerpoint style format with cut and paste pictures and a damm lousy narrator! prob one of the male custom officer. with that boring layman spore style english. i mean this kind of vid is broadcast to many tourists etc...how can the standard be so bad? further more, the video is about warning pple coming into spore....is that what you call a welcome? before i can visit yr country, already got 20 rules for me to follow. i dunno lah, i felt a bit paiseh to see that. maybe the narration could be a bit softer and friendlier etc.

i can just imagine the boring, maybe local grad guy behind the video talking in his monotonous voice. are they so cheap to just use their own staff for a corp video?

maybe in other countries, the customs wouldnt bother to say too much before u enter the country. some things are obviously illegal ....... spore is so systematic , sometimes overboard...it may be quite efficient but now...its loosing out to many countries cause its boring to be here.

hope in the near future, the govt would be more relaxed on certain things in spore where the people will be able to make more decisions for themselves.

i think for a start, they shld relax a lot on rules for running a business in spore. lots of youths may have brilliant business ideas but its just too tough to implement them. in the end, what do we do? get a job in the office, 9 to 5pm with a fixed salary is the way to go to survive. is that the young people we want in the future to propel the country future in this competitive world?
maybe this will work 20 yrs ago...but not now.

i chat with some of my customers sometimes and they said their local business....the real headache is getting all the approvals and licenses...it could be up to 20 such approvals before any thing can start! of course, there must be a reason for each approval but this is certainly way to cumbersome esp for aspiring and amatuer people who like to try it out for the first time.

oh well, but in anyway, lots of people do say spore is a safe place for living and stuff (yeah...touch wood....terrorism is on the cards).... yes i do agree with them in a way. but we sure gotta also learn from other countries. they also have their strong points...despite higher crime rates or negative media reports....sporeans cant live in a well, watching those patriotic videos and songs on TV and always think we are the best. that would be our downfall.

ok...Happy 40th Birthday Spore!
i am still proud to hold the red passport and wish spore all the best for the future.

why why!?? so hard to close a gas deal? everytime its near to conclude, something crops up! sometimes i dun know if i shld give up this industry...really getting boring and stale.
although colleagues are nice, location is good but i dun seem to be acheiving something that is satisfying.
and now the boss says more investors will be coming into spore...that means more investor relations needed...sure that could be fun but not when we are talking about chemical process and other non-interesting topics!

cool on the outside

Just started using the oh so cool and sleek Motorola V3 Raz...yep.....the thinnest phone around made out of aircraft aluminum....its definitely nice piece of art ...but function wise ....not so high tech as it looks. wonder why?.....why why does motorola never make smart user freindly phones...why why does motorola make boring old fashion looking phones...i guess its cause they are american?. america never really had many interesting innovative interesting designs...somehow they dun look modern.
now that the V3 looks so good but sadly the functions and technology inside the phone is prob only half of Sony Ericsson.

i could make a wrong judgement as the blue tooth apparently works very well in the v3 and its a quad band phone (i know tri band works in US as well as GSM networks..what about quad band? works in Japan and Korea?...have to find out)....but as you go thru the phone, ..the interface is quite dull, icons everything not like sony's 3D looking icons, memory is only 5mb, sony is 41mb for a model that came out last year, no video capture only video playback (V odd...the latest black version has video capture though)...and one function that i really miss is that during SMS....if a tel number or email add is in the message, SE phones will automatically recognise those numbers and highlight it and prompt you if you want to save it to the phonebook! that was really a useful function!

maybe SE is so cool cause they got most advance mobile phone technology from Japan and the also modern urban looking designes from Sweden. but still the v3's look is a winner..the 256k screen is sharp too. but after a while...the phone is really not that much fun. i guess depends on the user too. SE may be too cutesie for some users ..... i guess prob asians would love SE phones more

check out their websites and compare the feel
www.hellomoto.com
www.sonyericsson.com

never laughed so hard for a long time!

borrowed 3 DVDs from Music Junction to watch over the weekend...was thinking...hey $6 per dvd for 5 days aint that bad...yah i wun get to keep them but so what?! anyway i normally dun watch movies twice. the first feel is always the best. furthermore, the cinema ticket prices are up again! but yet the stupid screens keep getting smaller and smaller ...no logic to really go to cinema now i think unless u want the darkness and the booming sound and echos. haha...

borrowed 2 titles that i always wanted to watch and 1 that i was just curious to watch.
1. Briget jones - the edge of reason
yes! the badly reviewed part 2 of BJ!! heck with the reviews...i had to see it for myself...after all she is cute and so real and that boyfriend of hers...hmm...mark darcy (acted by colin filth..pardon the spelling)...he doesnt look handsome or anything but there is just something special about him. he is a top notch lawyer but super serious and boring ...in a way. but with a heart of gold.

the part 2 wasnt as fresh or funny as the part 1 but i think that is common. this time bridget has a BF! finally...but she feels insecure about the relationship. the movie actually deals with the more settled side of BJ but i guess the masses wanted to see her goof up more. the movie is not without those goofy moments like her ski trip, buying a pregnancy kit using german..haha, taking to her bf on the answering machines and the door intercom at the same time..., staring at him in bed in a silly manner ...rather adorable .... but to follow the success of the first show, the director prob lost some of her ideas and followed the winning formulas from the last show. so a bit made up for some scenes.

the thailand bit was not really needed but one scene was quite meaningful as BJ was complaing to her thai inmates how angry she is with her BF. then the thai girls said, their bfs, make them work the whole day, beat them up, ask for money etc etc...and asked her what nasty things he did to her?...and she could only mumble :er..."fold his underwear in a boring manner "..haha..and he is boring or something...hahah..then she got nothing to say any more and said : yeah, he made me sell drugs too! etc..." so as not to loose face. hugh grant is as usual charming and he continues to have an entertaining and amusing fight with darcy.
overall, ok lah...watchable but dun think there will be part 3.

Now the really hilarious movie was "Harold and Kumar goes to White Castle". This movie is awesome!!! (do i start sounding like some american...hehee)...really one of those movies that will have you launghing out LOUD till your tummy hurts! always wanted to watch this movie as the plot sounds interesting and silly...but u know its still something that i can relate to.

Its really a guy buddy movie...these 2 frens Harold (korean guy) and kumar (indian guy) are room mates. harold is a little uptight and always get bullied in office while kumar is a fun loving happy go lucky kind of guy who hates to comply to his parents wishes for him to be a doctor.

one night while they were watching TV and smoking some pot (i think), this White Castle ad came out (burger joint) and they suddenly craved for it like crazy!!! the prob is the nearest white castle is quite a distance away..so they drove off to find white castle but inbetween, they met with unexpected and crazy adventures along the way!! all in one night!! its just hilarious!!! they actually took a ride on a cheetah along the highway!! haha and one part they stole these hooligans (who always bully them) truck like vehicle to continue their trip, to their surprised the Cds in side were like "baby baby" by amy grant and hold on by Wilson Philips!! haha i couldnt stop lauging when 2 of them started singing along to the cheesy "Hold On" with a lot of feelings too! esp the chorus! haha
another really funny part was when a staff at another buger joint went bersek at the drive in counter as they were trying to order their food. he just went crazy and started swearing like mad!

along the way there are many sterotype jokes on asians and blacks ...but really just humourous.

its really been a long time since a movie can make me laugh like that.
i think a lot will agree, the movies nowadys are hardly memorable or that entertaining as before. this is really a simple movie but lots of crazy ideas and fun. just like those fun movies from the 80s.
sometimes, we can really do without the big budget and packaging.

the last movie i borrowed was suprise surprise : Mean Girls....sigh,,yah...one of those current teenage crap movies. i was curious what is exactly the hype about lindsey lohan..(spelling)...
anyway, its ok lah...talks about this generation high school and all...not exactly mean as i thot...more like fluff. dun borrow it unless u wanna watch some high school girls prancing about. the story is real weak too, so is the romance interest.

blogging in my jail cell

ah...poor blog....its quite pathetic that i am not been filling up anything here...dunno why, perhaps i am too lazy...i do think a lot , lots of dreams and funny thots...typical pisces but somehow i am so lousy at penning whatever i think! sssshhh...feel quite shallow suddenly.

wouldnt have entered anything here until an sms from a happy go lucky friend....its 19:45, spore time and i am here YES here still in my office prison cell...finishing up the remains of the evil monday blues! well, hmmm...at least i just closed a deal...not a big one but at least something.

but hmm today aint that bad as last week, last week was just total NO MOOD to do anything feeling in the office...felt life was grey...went to read a friend's blog about her life in japan. as visually exciting as tokyo can get but ultimately i thot...hey she has her own stress in japan too despite the colour clothes and vibrant urban life there. nobody said life was easy. perhaps spore is just too small and we get bored easily. hey any spore bloggers here? what do you guys do on the weekends?!!!! BEsides hanging out at orchard rd lah, suntec city lah...
not sure what are my hobbies now.....maybe i shld take up higher chinese...that shld be useful enough....

finally open the wrapper of my 2 mth old incredibles DVD on sat....was finally bored enough to do that and look forward to a good movie...who knows i turn the damm DVD off after 45 mins. Sadly the movie was dry and wordly....sigh.....nothing compared to nemo and toy story. i think i like cute silly characters...the beefcake looking guy inside just bores me. and the dialogue isnt witty AT ALL. some say that european designer woman inside with her italian or french accent is cute...but i think i will be more entertained watching that weird and dried up karl langerfeld talk at some fashion show.

nowadays as i get older, i find i have no patience to watch any movie of a drama nature. it just bores me and make me feel even more dull.....crazy comedies is what i like best.
never get sick of those HK classics....just totally no meaning but funny. at least they let out their craziness.

hey! quite happy to see that i have 2 guest from US who left comments on my blog...hello hello...welcome ^^
i feel really happy and surprised as my blog is practically nothing. thats the wonder of the net eh...the world does indeed gets smaller:) ok..... thats it for a monday....back home, dinner get forced to view desparate housewives (my sis fave show)....cheerio!

and more

not to mention in 2004, i had a promotion, a smooth working environment, watched jeff chang. jay chou and faye wong live, transfered to town for work...etc etc...hmmm...can 2005 be just as fulfilling? have to try.

was i ever there?

suddenly thot about the trip to europe again...its always like that...after a while, this trip will come back to my memory and i ask myself "was i ever there?"
got an email about special fares from air france, so i visited the site.....there they listed many cities we could book over the net...and yes ..i saw Sin - Cote D Azur - Nice as one of the desitinations. $1400 ...so easy to book and buy a piece of dream.
ah.....i went to see some pics of it on the net...its really so pretty and nice . and i was there walking along the Promenade des Anglais last Oct, feeling so relaxed and comfortable.....

some times i wonder why i still have a imaginery feeling about the trip to europe. when i was there, why does it feel so common and natural....like spore was just next door. and yet now in spore, i feel cote d azur is a million miles away from me.

i also remembered the little boat ride along the italian coast...porting into protove...ah whatever....that is such a pretty town too with pretty little boats.....
how many sporean have been there?

if only i could just absorb the place for a little longer.

last year was indeed a fantastic year for me and somehow i feel so afraid that this year would not be such a good one. doesnt help that the fortune for rabbits aint too good this year!
last year was quite unbelievable....visited HK, Tokyo, Taipei , Kl, M'cca and 4 cool countries in europe.
what to discover this year?

sian qi day

although today is not the dreadful black/blue monday but it seems worst. super sian in office with silly colleagues doing "tachi" of job duties!!! how can a sales marketing person like me go and chase cust for debts?!! so stupid man. dun understand why we have to suffer locking ourselves in a small cubicle staring at the computer, looking busy and taking shit from weirdo freaks around us. i dun understand lah.....seems some people around you are just there to make your blood pressure go up.
well, maybe the KL trip next week is a consolation. hrd there is a new mega shopping mall there with indoor roller coaster!! that is prob worth checking out. but besides that, KL has nothing much to offer actually, except some good cheap food!
there seems to be a lack of christmas mood in spore this year, or maybe the whole world.

dizzy and sian

kawaii! donald duckie! 

4 mths and 5 days....eck.... ^^"

yes..it has been that long, my dear blog....4 mths and 5 days! since i last wrote something here....
suddenly came across a rather good blog by some girl in spore....pretty good account of her life and many interesting photos uploaded too. ah...how come some people can be so consistant? felt a bit "ashame" of my poor blog here.

actually i have lots to write....within this 4 mths 5 days, i never thought that i would have visited europe for 2 weeks! yes.....all the way to europe, somewhere i thot i would not visit until i retire..haha. it was all done in a sudden impulse ....on a boring sianqi working day in office...with the radio playing Jay Chou's italian opera style "yi fu zi ming" ....i suddenly decided " yes! i will go ahead and book the tour!! yes, i wanna see the sights in italy!!...yes!! i wanna visit europe before i turn 30!!"

i didnt even think of if my leave will get approved.....haha.....so that makes 4 holidays to ermm...how many countries this year......taiwan, japan, hk, malacca, spain, italy, france and monaco (if that counts) and..oh yeah bintan...9 countries! heh heh...new record.

ok..later...more

2am again on a weekday

ok, finally a pic here of my idol JC.  somehow the photo software suggested by this blogger site is not really good....the quality of the images is not 100% as the orginal! what a waste.

really felt happy from 15-19 jul as JC was finally in town again ....after nearly 2 years!
he hasnt really changed and is still that kind of down to earth person whom u think u know pretty well. had to organise a gathering and it was damm fun and also amusing. the gathering was held a a rather quiet , new and charming cool backpackers place on Mt Emily. lucky that my sis knew of this place from her designers. and the place is only 3 months old!!

it was a beautiful evening where the rain stopped from the morning and early afternoon and a cool breeze accompanied everyone during the whole event^^ just perfect! the party was held on the rooftop of this new place. JC liked the place a lot too and kept looking around at the decor and surroundings. could see at the end of the party he didnt feel like leaving, just wanted to sit down not move and relax. but oh well, star being a star, always have to listen to manager's schedule in hand....

ok....cant write anymore as my brain is getting that numb feeling again (eg tired and need sleep now!)......zzzzzzzzz.....hello dark eye circles .......

me and my "ou xiang"!! (of 7 years)......Mr JC. 

lazee

a month since i last wrote in my blog! how lazy can i get? i never seem to stick to something for long. this is my big problem. or maybe its not....perhaps i am just curious and yearn to learn more about the earth while i am still living on it. u know ...maybe i am a special pisces-human who was sent to earth to get as much info as possible.....

yesshh...who wants to stop at one place for so long?

well anyway, i shld get writing something, i think i dun let go of my imaginative thots enough....everything is just in my complicated mind. my fren writes really well in her blog, in fact so well it sounds like its for publishing .....if she werent married, maybe she will be something like spore brigette jones. haha. hope she can find a career related to her writings ....feel that spore need women like us to say something!!!!

another thing why i didnt write for a month is because 3 weeks ago i heard news that my favourite singer/idol will be in town! its awfully crazy but i have been following this guy for like what....7 years?!! oh well, that is just how time can slip away.....its definitely a weird feeling to describe to frens how this kind of idol worship behavior can happen but perhaps its just that i know this group of nice people who are great friends too who are also fans of this singer.

maybe one day when, they stop, i will stop too or vice versa. but meanwhile, we all still having fun chasing this singer around.

mama mia!

heh...so proud of myself today!

did a full set Italian meal for lunch...
salad (olives, expensive looking greens and purple veg, sweet red pepper)
Bravo! fettucine - creamy tomatoe ham sauce with pasta
mussels in garlic wine sauce
and yes! tiramisu!! (instant mix lah...but still turn out good^^)

quite tiring but i think worth. now i know why they charge $20 per plate of pasta in restaurants...ingredients dun come cheap man......

suddenly feel that i can open a small cafe selling stuff like this...heh...

watched "office ladies" on TV today...hilarious.....typical office crap that is acted out. hope those "little people" are watching..

"crabs" in the office

badd...blue monday! thot i could get away with it but nooooo....work was crap.
terrible boss was at it again, his usual pathetic temper....un cooperative colleagues were also such nuisance.

lucky i could get home in time for a nice dinner and some relaxing tv viewing.
hope i can smile tomorrow.....
awaiting sept....

Noisy Subway

sunday again...so fast ...monday tomorrow and back to work... yuk
read the Sunday times today, nothing much, as usual getting thinner and thinner.
spore's media is truly boring....SPH rules the media here and now they are even buying over Female magazine!!! what's next man.....
very soon, we will see similar looking magazines with the same blocks of format everywhere..yessshh.

saw something funny on the comic's page though....local comic strip was making fun of the silly irritating ads we see in the subways. and the irritating noises that come from it.....e.g "bai liu li bai, hui bu hui kai x 1000000" thats a line from the latest jack neo movie called the "best bet". typical heart lander tried and tested movie....hahaha the comic was funny ...glad we have some cynics here too.
yup, the tv ads on the subway in tokyo have no sound. just cute pictures and words. remembered this ad while in tokyo last month...a father and son polar bear having BBQ in an air conditioned room...so cccuuuuuttttte!!!!!!! ahhh...japan.

in japan and hk , ppple turn their phones to silent mode on the trains...its weird man...i think in spore, we hear the most irritating ringtones and sms alert every 1 min in a train or bus!!!! dun understand why too.....