Yet another Photolog

Yeah so what else is new... haha.

This is the day Laraine left... 6 months. so fast, yet so long as well. getting used to having my own room.... wahahahaha...



Fast forward to Chinese New Year eve.

we had quite a different reunion dinner this year. instead of the usual restaurant dinner, we had sukiyaki at my uncle's house. yummy... look at the delish beef... and my favourite japanese mushrooms... slurp.


some random pictures taken that night.


my pretty cat, miao miao. she's got attitude... i like.

Chu Yi...

CNY day one... it had to be sunday morning.. so went to church.

My CNY outfit is PINK!!! pink dress and pink shoes.... haha... i love it!


thats my co-worship leader for children's church


met so many cute kids...

My cutie of a niece who did this beautiful drawing for me.

the girl in the drawing is me... and i'm in a park. so nice!!!


my other niece wrote this. isn't she good... i think it looks almost professional!

too tired to write much except for captions... haha... there's more photos from MOS yesterday night too...

another time... goodnight!

Happy CNY

this year seems like a relaxed year in terms of visiting and festive mood. seems like no one is really in the spirit of celebration. and with the long weekend, visiting is spaced out... which i don't mind, cos i really want a good rest. got 2 extra days off... yay... absolute bliss! but it is kinda sad... i used to like the festivities of chinese new year...

but now... old already... my aunt just asked me "ni you mei you nan peng you" and when i said no... she said... "bettina, ni yao kai shi chu dian le"

OMG... pretty soon i'm gonna have to fob off the when are u getting married question.... faint. maybe that's when i'm gonna start taking holidays over chinese new year.....

anyway, looking forward to the next few days of good food and catching up. more photos to come! :)

Leaving on a Jet Plane

well... not me... my sister. she's flying off to Aberdeen, Scotland tonight! for those who are wondering, she's going on an exchange program. 6 whole months!

i think i'll miss her... but i like having my own room though... haha... don't kill me Laraine.

anyway here's wishing her all the best. i pray that she'll be safe, healthy and have lots of fun!



now back to last minute packing and getting stuff for her.

It's been a while...

... since i last blogged... didn't have anything exciting going on in my life... and didn't particularly feel like blogging.

feeling so tired and sian... can't wait for CNY. my period is coming... i'm PMS-ing. the world has turned dark and grey.

i'm feeling broke too. think i should start saving. it's amazing how money disappears so quickly. shall make it a point to save up this year.

Back to happy things... Saw this beautiful dress at Trixilini!!!!! omg... it comes in different colours... black, lavander and pink. momo, after much thought, i like the black one the best, followed by lavander... but it's kinda expensive... but oh-so-pretty! i wish i had a picture to show you...

so this is my new baby!



Isn't she beautiful???? awwwww.... so pretty... takes brilliant pictures too. and lotsa funky modes. perfect for a point and click person like me. so cheap too! it was only $495. $512 with tax. free 512mb card too. yay!!!!!

my other baby...

She's beautiful too! for those who can't tell what that is, that's my new portable hard disk drive. the one i was talking about. it's only like palm sized... and so cool and sleek. and with 40gb, it's got 2x the memory of my lappie. haha.

so many geeky buys... i'm a closet geek... haha. oh well... it's all out in the open now... I'M A GEEK!

Celebrated a colleague's birthday on sunday... went to have dim sum at crystal jade kitchen at taka. great food terrible service. i complained to the manager. these cantonese-speaking people are the worst. talking behind our backs... do they think we don't understand????

french toast... the best outside of Hong Kong. yummm...

the lot of us...

omg... for some reason Shuy, Janice and I all wore shades of green to church. and guess what, we met michelle and marvin later, and they were both wearing green too! so this is us all in green. haha...

body-torturing day

welllllll..... had an interesting experience today...

ahem... went for a brazillian wax... ahem... THAT HURT!!!!

and went for facial... THAT HURT TOOOOOOO!!!! but this is normal pain... the other is... *shudders* PAIN.

anyway... i dunno whether i'll do it again... it's interesting though... i thought i'd be paiseh having strangers see my... ahem... parts. and it was initially, but they just made it seem so normal, and i just forgot all about it. and let them do their work... trust me... it hurts. but they say the pain will lessen b y 50% if you go back within 3 mths.

anyway my brazilian is called Tease-me. *wink* got different patterns you see... and that is one of them.

after that, waxing my legs was not painful at all. compared to the brazilian... legs was nothing...

who wants to go for a brazilian now? raise your hands...

my new toys

My folks recently went on a gadgets buying spree... went to sim lim square and got 2 webcams, and a portable hard disk.

our new logitech webcam...So cute hor... we're keeping this one at home

we got another one which was from an unknown brand, intelli. this one, my sister's taking it with her when she goes to aberdeen for exchange. which is why we got the webcams anyway... playing around with these things now... so fun. who wants to watch me on webcam?? hahaha...

oh yeah and the portable hard disk, that one is my baby... looks so sleek and pretty. one of these days i'll take a photo of it and show you all... i've been wanting one for so long cos my lappie is running out of space! can you imagine, my poor 5 year old pentium III laptop only has a memory space of 9 gigabytes on 2 drives. that's a grand total of 18 gb! an ipod has more memory than my laptop... haha. and with my vast collection of MP3s and photographs. there's just NOT ENOUGH SPACE!!!!!! so now.. i have 40gb more space!!!! WOOHOOO that means i can take a shitload more photos and still not run out of space. *blissful look*

gonna get my camera next week too. i've decided on a panasonic lumix fx-8.

found a shop in Sim Lim Square that sells it for $495. so cheap!!! read so many great reviews about it too that it totally swayed me from my love for canon cameras. but the best this about this camera has to be the anti-shake function. u can sway the camera about and take the photo, and it still will come out perfectly clear! and apparently the lens is better than the canon lens as well. but i dunno about all that... all i need is a point and shoot.

yeah me and my new toys, and my soon to be new toy.

Perfect weather for sleeping

today's weather was PURRRRFECT for staying at home, watching tv and just slacking around. which is what i've been doing all day! whee!!!! i didn't even make it to church... which is terrible, i know, but i really meant to go. me and lar left the house, albeit we were late, but we couldn't get a cab for like half an hour... so we decided to take a walk to the churches near by our house. BUT by the time we got there, one service was almost over and the over had just ended.
oh well.... i hope trying counts for something...
seriously, i'm old already. went to MOS on wednesday for a short while. (it's beautiful in there btw... i didnt take any pictures tho... next time i will!) i didn't even drink... but by the time i got home, i was SO TIRED.....

the next day was tiring too... met up with my ACJC ex-classmates... that was fun... i don't get to see them at all... catching up was really good.

Weili, Godwin and Yaoyang

Kwek, me and Debz

me and debz with joanne

rainbow outside my office window... i just looked out and saw it! so beautiful...

then friday, i celebrated a friend's birthday at Thumper. the party ended too early! keith (the birthday boy) got drunk before 1am. and everyone started leaving... booooo....

me and the birthday boy.

Looking forward to yet another public holiday on tuesday! woohoo!

excerpts from KL

Took a short break to KL over the long weekend with the family. Haven't been on a vacation with them for such a long time!

Spent New Year's Eve in KL... the kids there are so rowdy! walked down jalan bukit bintang, and the kids were just spraying people randomly! This is some black guy getting sprayed by some other people. and this is like at 10pm... no where near midnight.



I hear this happened in singapore too!!! OMG... terrible... i'd hate getting sprayed at by a total stranger... and if it's the string type it's not that bad.... if it was the foam spray..... i'd be hopping mad! probably slap the person.

Anyway, more pix coming right up...

EDIT: The sister thinks she looks like shit, so this pic is removed. i'm so kind...

Having dinner at Jalan Alor. that's where the street hawkers are! we had a great dinner there... tze char style... yum yum...


Dinner! Stir fried beef and satay! that's just like 2 out of 8 dishes that we ordered. haha... we're such piggies...

We took a walk down Jalan Bukit Bintang to check out the New Year's concert and stuff...

Look at the crowd!!!


yeah that's us.

the crowd there was too rowdy for our liking so we took a walk down to KLCC to check out the celebrations there!


Lok Lok at KLCC. there's tons of these little carts...


the twin towers, so beautiful at night!

Anyway, there was practically no "atmosphere" there even though there were so many peopl cos the stage was SO FAR AWAY!!!! we couldn't event hear the screams from the stage. everyone was just sitting down...


Me and Lar.

Fireworks at the stroke of 12!



SO pretty right? this is the nicest clip. after this, the fireworks were obscured by the thick smoke, and all we could see was little sparkles... sigh. wat a waste of good fireworks.


Nat with his COLD Ramly Burger...

Next day, we went to church.

The church that we went to on New Years day. it's a presbytarian church. quiet solemn service.
I did something embarassing... when they had communion, they passed around a basket of bread. real bread. i accidentally hit my sister's hand as she was passing it to me and the whole basket fell onto the floor. sigh. not enough bread to go around....

On the way home, we stopped by at tangkat to get beef noodles. the beef noodles are famous here! really really good stuff. well, i remembered it to be better... but it's still good!



thick broth, tender pieces of meat... SLURP...

SO that was my family's KL trip in a nutshell. it was overall an ok trip. nothing much special. nothing much to buy, nothing much to see. just a good restful time with the family.

what major are you?

You scored as Sociology. You should be a Sociology major! Sociology 100% Anthropology 100% Dance 92% Psychology 83% Theater 75% Linguistics 58% Biology 58% Journalism 50% Art 50% Engineering 50% Philosophy 42% English 42% Mathematics 33% Chemistry 25% What is your Perfect Major? created with QuizFarm.com

well... it turns out that i did the correct major in uni! but then again... how true are these quizzes... i could have chosen those that i know will skew my results towards sociology. heh oh well...

better late than never... thoughts from 2005 and looking ahead to 2006

So i was away in KL over the new year holiday... so had no chance to post up some thoughts about the new year.

2005 was an eventful year! A look back at the highlights from each month...

January
I started my new job, my first real job! It's a blessing how i got the job in the first place, even though i have never really wanted to work in a bank, but the opportunity presented itself, and here i am. i have to say though, the pay is alot better in a bank than anywhere else.

February
Chinese New Year. 2005's CNY was kinda depressing, with my uncle's business not doing well, my dad having problems at work, my cousin got retrenched, and some other not so pleasant stuff. everyone still went through the motions, but it was just not the same. However, things changed later in the year.

This is my family at the CNY eve dinner.

I had an issue with a friend. i felt that she wasn't treating me as she did her new friends. granted we were never really close, but when we had to do certain things together, she'd never want integrate me into her group or whatever. anyway i accepted it as it is, and life went on. i guess life is like that.

March
Nothing much happened this month... work went on... and on and on and on.

April
all the TBOs got a pay increase cos the bank did really well last year! so we got a upward pay revision. WOOHOO!!! show me the moolah

May
Went on holiday to Hong Kong with Jessica and Wendy! it was really fun! i simply lurrrrve hong kong! the weather is nice, the shopping is great, the food is fabulous!

Travelling with like minded friends is like going on a 3 day long shopping expedition! pure enjoyment!

A sad thing happened on the 21st of may, my malaysian cousin-in-law passed away in a road accident leaving behind my cousin and her 2 young children. forunately, the family rallied around and provided support. it's gonna be hard for them from now, but i'm sure she'll pull through. we'll always be supporting them in any way we can.

June
I started working on the Basel II project for my bank. well... i'm there for a learning experience. I'm still there now... seems like the project has been extended till June. that was when i got closer to eve, and we are good friends now!

This was taken at the Basel II Kick-off Party, which is basically just an excuse for people to drink... we had to leave early though cos... the GBB Pool Tournie was going on!
This was when i was "picked up" by a woman for the 1st time too! wahahaha... it's just a joke... but a really funny incident nonetheless. I was in the toilet of China One where the pool tournament was being held... and suddenly this woman asks me what i'm doing here and where i work for. how did i know that she's also working for my bank? and all of a sudden before i know what's going on she says later i'll buy you a drink. must come and find me ok? i was like.... okaaay...
haha so i get a free drink. her husband later bought me a drink at her command.... haha. interesting huh.

In June, I also started my new photowhoring obsession. since June i think i've taken over 1GB of photos... every event needs photos to mark it!

Met up with my secondary classmates. that was cool catching up with them...

July
The most significant July memory was spending $70 on a department dinner at Long Beach Seafood restaurant... super expensive and not worth it at all! they over ordered... we had so much food, and such expensive items too! Lobster, crab, prawn, and the most not worth it of all, the bamboo clam. *disgusted* can't believe i paid so much for a dinner that wasn't even fun.

I got confirmed! yay... no pay rise or anything... but i'm no longer on probation!

August
I lost my IC in August... that reminds me... i haven't gotten it made YET... i have no idea how i lost it either... cos we went clubbing, me, jess and wendy, and i made it back home with everything in my bag intact, and my IC missing. upset.... it's gonna cost me $300 to get it done this time... sigh.
Maybe i'll get it made in Feb...

Kenny came back to visit! I was so happy to see him! and his lil brother was such a darling...

September
Nothing much happening, 1st wedding of the year i attended. one of my colleagues got married.

October
the whole month was like party month. practically had a party/event/something happening every weekend.

It started with my department offsite, then the division D&D, then jeanette and samuel's wedding, a popiah party at another colleague's house, and the finale to all the events my committee at work as been organising, chillout nite - another excuse for people to get drunk silly.

Jeanette's wedding was a cool time for me not really for the wedding itself although that was cool... really sweet seeing them married! it gave us (the girlfriends) time to get together, dress up and do silly things like take photos and act like we're 18 again!

bear with me... just 2 more months to the end of 2005.

November
birthday month!
we weren't able to celebrate janice's birthday properly, cos so many of the girlfriends were away. but a mini-celebration took place...

my 3-celebration birthday... well actually 4 counting the one with my family...

oh and let's not forget... Qing's (my cousin) wedding...
and most importantly, my dad got a job!

December
China Mission Trip...

then Christmas!
family, then a basel department dinner party, christmas dinner with the girlfriends...

New Year's Eve in KL with family. pictures to come soon. :)

that was 2005.

my happiest moment in the year was when my dad got a job. that was a huge blessing and full of God's favour.

haven't really thought much about 2006. i'm not one for making resolutions, cos i prolly will never keep them. haha.

But i hope 2006 will be a fulfilling year. i wanna serve God more, and maybe consider a change of job (i'm thinking about it... just thinking), and attempt to save more too!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

And lastly, i leave with you, my dear readers, this song. I realise that after all this time, i still do LOVE Santa Cruz, some of my happiest times were spent there. I wanna go back there for a holiday at least.



The title of the song, I Love Santa Cruz. :)