Video on Fire Starting

Alright.. finally, managed to upload the video here. Hahahahaha........

And what a failure!!!

Then..... here's the next video

MY NEW BLOG ADDRESS!

HEY ALL.....

Dr Lowly has helped me to transfer my blog to the following URL.....

http://www.alenlow.com/

I wont be updating here so c u over there! :)

Handphone

Hmmm......saturday 4 April was the day i gave up my N95... literally.


It has been almost a year or year plus since i started complaining about this phone. It would hang up on me intermittently...as in black out and shut down, or the caller couldnt hear me tho i can hear them. It wasnt laggy per se but definitely some screw lose within. Perhaps it was due to the frequent droppings (of which i am extremely guilty of) and so... i had to bid farewell.


Getting a new phone was something i had been uttering at home.... not all the time but maybe 6 to 7 times in a year? Dr lowly didnt think i had a real problem and so i continued to "whine" when opportunity arose. It wasnt until he made a call to me and failed to reach me that my problem became his. Then out of the blue on Wed (after reading Digital Life), he told me to get E71 phone. It was permission in a sense to go ahead to buy a new phone and it has to be this. Hmmm.....i was overjoyed coz i could finally get a decent one that works.


Why E71? He said the specs look good and has a Qwerky Keypad...solve & meet all my needs. And shingy has been telling yfers how great is his phone and how not laggy, etc.... I put 2 to together and so on friday, we went to buy. Not just one, but TWO!!! One for me, the other for Rachel darling. She has been having problems with her music express series and so Dr lowly suddenly showered his "mercy and grace" upon us and tada.... we got our new phones! Black for her (her choice) and grey for me!


Did all the transfer of data on Sat morning and i started using the new phone. Struggled to key in stuff and pull out contacts. Needed Shingy to give some tips and i am beginning to get the hang of it. I like the sleekness and its trim body... plus the keypad. Have yet to sort out some data transfer but i think i should be enjoying it thoroughly starting from now.


Farewell N95.... i know you have served me well and sorry for dropping you countless times. There is no doubt if i had treated you better... you would still be by my side right now. I do mourn your absence and have to trade you off for an IPhone for Iz. So long dear.....you will find a new & better owner :o)

Shifting

Thot i write about this which occured before the gate crashing thingy.


Borrowed props from GLCC early Jan for CtYF musical... but it turned out in early feb that we would not continue with the musical. And so, i had been keeping the props in the youth hall coz i thot i needed them for the movie version of the musical... which is another of my dream.


Discussed with Ji En & James, finalised props not needed coz we would be using real set or scene for the movie version. Made some arrangements with Ivan from GLCC, Jong Lee (for transport) and some youths to help. It was decided on yesterday 2pm but on Tuesday, Jong Lee called to say he couldnt. I didnt want to delay further and so asked Patricia for her uncle's lorry. I knew i had to drive if the driver was not able to make it... i did drive the lorry 2 years back when Rachel needed to transport some branches or stuff for NJC prom or something close to that. Thank God Kah Poh was in town and he volunteered to collect the lorry from tuas and drive to church.


At 2pm, JJ, Ji En, Vern, Aaron & Iz were there to help me. It was a far cry from the day we went to GLCC to collect the props. No one was able to help then and it was just Shing & James, plus Jong Lee & his lorry. Last minute, James couldnt make it and we were down to 2. Ivan helped a lot by taking most of the props out from the basement to the carpark portion. And so Shing & I had to carry the remnant. But our ordeal started when we reached church. With no trolley and Jong lee had to rush back home to get his dinner & come back for prayer meeting, 2 of us struggled with the bulky stuff. We carried a few and i started to feel hungry and strained. We were rather smart... as in i told Shing let's take our Nasi Lemak dinner first (packet back from Adam Rd Hawker Centre) to get energy to move. All the items were at the front porch and it was close to 7.30pm. After the meal, we started shifting and sure enough, my secret plan came true. There were some peope who came early for pm and they helped!!!! Oh Wow! Desmond, Michael, Raymond (if i dont remember wrongly) and maybe one more guy....oops.. forgotten. Thank God for them.. it was easy load. And thanks Shingy.....couldnt have done it without you :)


Yesterday shifting was really a breeze..... with so many pairs of willing hands...:) We started at 2pm, moved out of church at 2.20pm. Reached GLCC at 2.50pm. Ivan & his wife helped and by 3.05pm, we were done!!!!


The boys left to Adam Road Hawker Centre for makan and Kah Poh sent me home. He has this cute GPS Garmin and i kept telling him, listen to this lady in your lorry and not the automated one. haha.......


Thank God for withholding the rain too.. The sky turned dark when we were done. It was just perfect timing.


To Ji En, Vern, Aaron, JJ & Iz.... thank U! And to Patricia, Kah Poh & her uncle too!

Gatecrashing!

Never done that before and had to do it last evening. Crash what? A wedding reception to be exact.... Dominino's!

I know him since i attended FEBC night and day class. He has spoken to CtYF on various occasions & Yfers like his preaching style. When i heard he has a reception in Singapore, i wanted to attend and congratulate him, plus to give him a gift. ONE big problem.... i wasnt invited. Neither the Yfers. How?

Rev Koshy spoke to CtYF last Saturday and i took the opportunity to enquire more on the reception. Then i sheepishly revealed that i wanted to go but not invited... haha... Rev Koshy graciously extend the invitation to me... as from a Pastor of Dominino. He told me just go! Got the contact for RSVP from Amy and i sms the unknown number on Tues....received a positive reply and yah.... :)

Thot it would be ideal for our Yfers to come....Discussed with Jamesy and i asked the exco. Ben replied it was pretty near his home and he could make it. I could sense Ben has a lot of things on hand to do and so i asked him not to come unless he could really afford the time and it was ok not to go. He listened and stayed home. Shingy wanted to go & eat but he has pw. Aaron & JJ seemed very interested in the food too but they didnt make the final decision to come. And so, i gathered all the greetings from the exco (whoever minded to write) and put into the card for Domi. Inserted some cash and i was ready to crash!!!!

Arranged to meet the Seahs at 6.45pm at Paya Lebar MRT....they decided not to drive due to traffic condition, plus it is very convenient for them to hop into MRT and get to SingPOst. At 5.30pm, i left my home to start the journey. While on the way, thot i check on the Seahs... just in case they overslept... send this sms at 6.30pm

"R u almost there?"

Hahaah.....sadly, no reply. Reached Paya Lebar at 6.40pm and sms the Seahs again with this

"I have reached."

This time, they replied:

"We're in train. JElignite acct-so"

A Da Vincci code? What was that????? All i knew was they were in the train. Where would be what i needed to know.

I replied

"Huh? U jus boarded the train?"

"No board at JE. U can go ahead to e seminar room. Think they shd be there already."

I read as they just got on the train at JE and on their way. Oh man... i wasnt about to wait 45mins at MRT... and so i decided to walk to the seminar room on my own... tho i did hesitate since i was supposed to gatecrash it and kind of got nervous and shy....

Spotted a familiar face in the MRT station crowd.......FEBC student that i know..... I walked behind and called his name

"Agus"....no response.

"Agus".... not stopping.

"Agus" (slightly louder).....argh....this guy is deaf or what???

"AGUS"...and i popped my head to his side to let him see me & wondering why he didnt know his name!!!!

He finally stopped! Flashed a smile at me and said

"My name is Arnold"

OH YEAH!!! Arnold! Whoa... so embarassing... calling a name that matched no one and acted like a crazy fool! How long was i absent from FEBC? 3 months..... memory's leaking.....

We talked and walked to the seminar room. There i met Jeremy Mark, Dennis, Eliezer, an African friend whom i ate supper with but forgot his name.... just not going to repeat the same mistake and so i smiled from a distant. Spotted Domi & Sharon & took a pic with them. Alas... the photographer took twice and both were blur. In fact, all the pics taken last night by others were all blur.. except the ones taken by me.

And so, i hanged around after writing my congratulatory wish on the couple's guest book (kind of) & passing to some lady the envelope of gift. It was an awkward moment for me. The seahs were supposed to cushion the crashing effect werent there. Guess no one knew i came uninvited but i felt very uneasy....very uncomfortable...very extra! I took out my hp to play with it and decided to send a real sms.... so as to be seen doing a real thingy. Sms to Shingy to tell him i felt like slipping thro a hole. He told me to continue playing with my hp and sms him if i needed to so i didnt feel out of place.... thanks for suggesting that despite your pw stuff. It didnt help when Jamesy & Damien came. It also didnt help when i spotted Eld Boon, Dr J Khoo & a host of others. I didnt know to sit or stand or perhaps hide in the toilet. Finally, i had enough of trying to smile & found a seat and slumped in. Some guys were playing back the wedding video and so i turned my head to watch. I wished no one noticed my presence and let the night slipped by.

Then popeye came....with his pair of very black specs! Haha... and Billy too. They tried to talk to me but i was feeling very very strange. The seahs finally showed up & so did my African girlfriends!!! YEAH!!!!! I was so overjoyed that i jumped out of my seat and gladly gave to the Seahs... It has been a while since i last met them.. and Indonesian friends too... Rebecca. Too bad Daisy didnt make it because of stomachache. Gave Lyn a hug and Apasia a tight handsqueeze. Passed the little keychains to them too. Then we stood at the back during the singing of hymn & short sermon by Koshy. Apasia had no place to stand and so she hid behind the board with photos. Lyn stood with me and we had an enjoyable time together. We talked about facebook poking, then to Tengah's past camp and then just simply catching up and teasing each other too. It was so fun and the tension i felt slowly drifted away.....

Need to mention the singing of hymns tho.... TO GOD BE THE GLORY. Oh man... dont know who gave the starting pitch but it was extremely HIGH! Sounded high. Lyn was clever. She sang the auto. I struggled with the melody. Halfway thro the song, she finally admitted it was very high and she told me to hang in there. We laughed. Finally, at the last word of the chorus, i heaved a sigh of relief and uttered.... "and i am so blue"..... we burst out laughing again.

Rev Koshy encouraged the couple from Psalm 128, primarily verses 1-3 or maybe 4. From our end, Domi & Sharon seemed so tense... so serious... so FEBC style.... they never smiled at Koshy and took in the verses like they were in classroom. Hmmm.. why they didnt smile? It was their happy occasion.. yah, it was God's Word but heh... not a worship service. Felt very strange... commented to Lyn and she thot so too. Why so glum... why no expression... maybe i am different.... if i am the bride, i will smile and smile and nod my head. Perhaps it is just my style... i dont know. Anyhow... i was so so so famished. Couldnt wait for everything to be over and then food!

Pastor finished his short exhortation and prayed the prayer.. then only senior citizens and young children could go first. I had to wait. For once, i didnt mind pretending to be old and bending.. i was really really hungry. Waited and waited... some senior people didnt go and take food.. they talked and talked. And i kept asking Lyn & Apasia... should we go? Apasia said no FEBC students go.. she could not move.... aah... the wrath of ....erh... someone. Ok, no need to mention. Then Lyn said, let's go! I followed behind her like a little girl who has not eaten for days!

Took some food... what i would be able to finish, grabbed a drink and finally sat down to eat. Lyn took some dessert thingy from another table & something that looked like lasagna. She claimed they were so good and we could do another helping. I asked for a photoshoot during the meal and i got this for reply

Haha.....and so, Rebecca and I decided to try the nice dessert & Lasagna that Lyn recommended. Alas.... no more Lasagna but some dessert left. I thot it was fruit salad and happily scooped half a bowl for myself. Gave two bowls to Lyn coz she said she could do with double helpings earlier on. Went back to our seats and she exclaimed...."these two bowls for me?????"

Yah! Haha......didnt know if she looked really happy or what. But she protested she never said two helpings. I had Rebecca as witness and so the verdict was she had to finish it. Period.

When we finally filled our stomachs and put down our plates, this pic was taken so many many times till we got quite sick of smiling... Popeye said all the photos were blur... and so this is the only one that was left

Rebecca & Lyn

Pic with the couple

The seahs & pastor & couple

How did i get home? Eld Boon offered to drive the seahs & I back to our homes. It was rather funny when Eld Boon asked me if i needed a lift. Lyn was there during the conversation

Boon: "How did you come?"

Me: "MRT"

Boon: "Give you a ride home?"

Me: "I can take the MRT."

Boon: "I can send you home."

Me: "Mmm...no need lah. Taking MRT with the seahs"

Boon: "Let me send you home. I am taking them home too."

Me: "Erh... ok. Thanks."

Lyn commented after that: "You are such a typical singaporean... want a ride and yet dont say so."

I protested: "Not true. When i said i didnt want, i meant it. I can easily take the MRT home and i loved that, didnt even mind if i was all alone. I am used to it already."

And so.... while on the way to locating his car, i aksed Amy about the code she send me. Haha... she said she typed they were at OUTRAM MRT...but it came gibberish to me. We exchanged our hp sms and true enough....seemed like the network could distort messaage after all!!! Will it come a day when i received an entire message that was not written by my friend but by the airwaves??? Oh well, we hopped into the 5 series BMW and that was when i felt awfully sick. It was hard to bear but i had to. I dont know if it was the car.... but the sick feeling started just as i sat myself down. Tried to have some conversation but was praying i reached home soon and didnt need to throw up. The 2 men talked nothing else except CARS!!!!! It was good.. so i didnt have to talk. The model went from Honda to Lexus to Mercedes to Nissan and finally settled on........yah... you guessed it right... BMW! Amy whispered to me that she could only tell the car model when she spotted the logo. Sama sama here.... :)

Thank God i didnt puke in the 3month old BM and also not at home. Amy later on in google chat told me it could have been the dessert.. the food. And it was Jamesy in msn who told me that was YOGHURT!!!!! OH MAN! I never liked Yoghurt....and i ate half a bowl of it without realising it!!! Pew Pew Pew!! I thot Yoghurt is sour.. how come this one so sweet..... but it had so much of condensed milk and cheesy taste. Stay away i will....coz it was one sick night that followed. Argh...

Random bits....

I tried to tell this joke on sat over dinner. My audience? Jamesy, Norm, Vern & Shingy. Actually the latter already heard this & he was the one who urged me to tell and try it out. ShingalingadingDONG.... thanks for the encouragement :)

And so the joke:

Ah Beng was asked this question..... "What is the future tense of 'he robs a bank' "?

Period of silence......taps chin.....erh..... give up.

"Go to jail!"


No laughter.....just some smiling..... then came the outpour

"This is not Ah Beng's answer. Ah Beng is not so smart."
"Yah, Ah Beng doesnt know how to think.".....


Ok ok... i got it. I aint no joke teller and Angela, i know i have no talent for this and not pushing for one.... just trying, you know :) As for yourself, press on with the piano. The first stage is the toughest......



Sometimes, i realised i didnt even have to tell a joke and people laugh...... this was what happened yesterday:

We had tracting briefing. I came in late as i had to keep the new YF song books in the cupboard & "closed" my little stall. Sat next to Mandy & her mom. When Dn Poh's team projected the map of the area, i honestly could not see clearly. It wasnt the distance... it was the machine out of focus. Everything was almost blurry to me. I raised my hand to inform Dn Poh and he asked

"You cannot see over there?" (i was sitting somewhere in the middle pews)
"No, only she cannot see... we can see...." Susan replied & laughed. Mandy laughed. Janice laughed. And Carol looked back and smiled.

HAIYO.....what lor? How to see? For a moment i thot i really needed specs. Looked around for some "comfort & consolation"... found them in Bee Pheng's eyes. Haha..... I also heard Alan & Colleen Yap behind me mumbering something....as in not clear.

The team adjusted and hmmm.....some improvement finally and we could see something. Then Dn Poh asked

"Alen, can you see now?"

Tho not entirely sharp, it was much better than previous image and i very much wanted to say "not really" but refrained coz all eyes were on me and super embarassing to be the only one protesting while the rest looked so comfy. Sigh.... The briefing went on but i still could not focus. Tried to rub my eyes and the mother & daughter team kept giggling.

The image was subsequently adjusted and this time, i could see the block numbers...but it showed those starting with no. 5. My team's block was 626 and I whispered this to Susan that i had no idea where is 626. She said

"Not my problem. It is your problem." (mother & daughter started sniggering once more)

Whoa....they are no 1 teasers lor!

Dn Poh next asked Eld Seah to close in prayer...... huh???? Not showing anymore image? No 6 series? Whoa.... then Eld Seah went up and asked "Any prayer items?"

I uttered beneath my breath in a helpless tone.... "yes... please pray for me". That drew another round of laughter and giggling...... hahah.....i laughed too....and we were trying so hard to control in serious prayer...... heeeeezzz.



Oh well..... yesterday tracting was another time of bad response.... quite a lot of families not at home on a Sunday evening. We had one Mr Ganga who showed much interest. Pray he will come for Good Friday night service. Thank God for a cheerful time of tracting coz Odelia & Caroline came with us. Caleb joined the boys.


On a happier note, we proceeded to Jiang Chen's birthday party after this. This cute chubby boy was soooooo excited to see Dr lowly that he ran from a distance to greet him. Here are some pics taken

jiang chen & his friends

jiang chen & dr lowly

we took one with him too :)

some tengah folks came later on

haha... our own pics......

Couldnt stay long as we had to visit Dr lowly's parents & then head for dinner. This little boy was sweaty all over...... head to toe literally. He was running around playing guns and catching with his friends. But he never stopped to listen to one or two jokes from Dr Lowly yesterday...who was eveready to tell....... Guess he is the real joker afterall!

Lousy Me

Dr lowly told me so many jokes last night......was trying to be like him, remember jokes & can tell them when the need arises. I was listening intently with the resolve to remember.....

Alas.....what happened this morning? Clean forgotten all except ONE!!!! He told me rather simple ones, not too long or complicated coz my mind just couldnt process & yet i have failed to capture & store into my hard disk.

Guess i am not a joker and so i have to live with that. Tried to tell jokes to Shing & Hwee at Ubin and failed miserably. Either i could recall everything but somehow couldnt deliver them well or struggling to recall details to deliver the punch. Remember one youth camp many years back when Rachel planned the ice breaker for first day. There was a card with 9 or 15 squares on it. Each square has an action that one has to do to another and then get endorsement on it. The one who has the most endorsement win the game. It was so pathetic for me.... esp when it came to the joke part. One square was printed "Tell a joke". I grabbed Hwee to tell a joke......some lame joke i remembered but couldnt deliver the punchline. Then i asked Hwee to endorse on my sheet of which he said NO. Reason? "Aa, your joke not funny one!" ARGH.... so no joke. Grabbed another person & same result occurred.....sigh.....

I marvel at Dr lowly & Eld Seah.....it seemed so seamless for them.... right at the finger tips. Just the other day, Jiang Chen (the chubby cute boy from Mandarin service) was asking me for Dr lowly during his 2 weeks' absence from church due to biz travelling. He seemed so "lost" without Dr lowly coz no one told him any jokes or riddles. In fact, i was present when they were together quite some time back. The first thing Jiang Chen say to Dr lowly when he saw him after service was

"Can you please tell me a joke now?"
"What do you want to hear?"
"Anything"
"What kind of joke?"
"Erh.... maybe about school..."
"Hmm....Ok...." and he went on to tell the joke

WHOA!!!! How he processed his memory bank??? School joke..... ding....draw out the directory....ding.....pick out the folder....ding....find the relevant story???? I cannot do that! He has one BIG CHUNK of brain matter that is working for him alright.

And so, joke telling is really not my forte. I shall concentrate on other stuff. Mmmm.....perhaps when i master this one short joke, i can move on to the next and then the next. Who knows??? hahaha......

ERh....If i ever approach you to tell this little joke of mine, please laugh k? It will do me good as an encouragement :o)

Bad Me

I did it......sudden burst of anger......something i hardly do and have not done for a long time. My victim?

Darling Rachel

As my fridge has run out of food supply and i had no time to go to market this week (got to go early morning before the car is being used by Dr lowly), my dad has been buying dinner home for us. And so last evening, we ordered Ba Chor Mee. He bought Lor Mee instead (he forgot).

I wasnt upset at all, just a little disappointed. Totally appreciative of his kindness in buying back from work. My only grouse is:

I never like Lor Mee. Probably only eaten once in my entire life, or rather just a sampling from a friend's bowl. I am not for the sticky feeling, the taste and everything.


Here's a recount of what happened within 1 min:

Rachel came home at the same time with her granddad and so she called me down to eat while it is hot. She was totally enthu coz we both like Ba Chor Mee. When she realised it was Lor Mee, being a sweet girl, she hid her disappointment and told her granddad it was ok. For me, i wasnt giving a "hey why you buy wrongly" kind of disgusted look. I was disappointed alright... if it was another type of mee that i do eat, it probably wouldnt affect me. But Lor Mee????

And so i just said to my dad in Cantonese "Oh, why you bought Lor Mee? You remembered wrongly" I was being kind too but i did say out his error, of which i thot it was just simple communication between two persons. My tone wasnt even blaming him. In fact, i behaved more like a disappointed girl.

Rachel picked up my discontentment and our exchange went like this

"Why? cannot eat is it?"
"Can"
"Huh? You dont like it right? Cannot eat right? What's wrong with it?" (words to that effect but in a teasing tone)
"Can. I can. I CAN!!!!!" (I raised my voice as i spoke my line)

I blew my top. I dont know why but i did it. I was shocked at my outpour but my pride prevented me to utter Sorry to her. It wasnt called for at all.

Our dinner together was rather quiet. I tried not to talk coz i was embarassed at my own reaction. Wished there was a hole to slip thro. While eating, i kept asking and urging myself to just say Sorry. It seemed so so hard. I was struggling to say that word and also trying to reflect what provoked me to do this.

My dad also brought back some vege dumplings made by the china girls employed by his company. Oh man... these were difficult to eat and swallow. Not nice at all. Tried to eat with ginger & vinegar but it just didnt taste good. Both of us didnt hestitate to tell him that the dumplings suck! Did have short conversation about this with Rachel and it was all. She talked to her granddad and i was a little withdrawn.

I was not my normal self tho.... usually i would say sorry and then get back on my feet. Last evening was different. And i somehow know why tho i didnt want to admit it. I have been upset since weekend, with events that happened around me and to me. In the youth terms, it would mean i have been emoing. I tried not to. I wanted to think about my problems in a constructive way to get out of it but no matter what or how i think, i ended up crying. It is something i have to handle myself.

After my food (it was so hard to eat the Lor Mee and i wont pretend here), left them talking and went up to my bedroom and cried out to God for forgiveness. I had behaved badly.... no matter what pressure or problems i am facing, i cannot pour it out on people i love. I felt like a rotten egg.. literally....and so disgusted with myself. Decided to send an e-card to Rachel to apologise. I have no excuse and i dont want to end my night like this. And darling, if you are reading this, I say SORRY to you once more :o(

Hendrick's short sharing during prayer meeting confirmed what i just experienced and have been telling myself. PEACE... God's PEACE.... i needed this and thank God for His Word which never fail to comfort & strengthen me.

Do i still face the problems... yes i do but i know my God will undertake for me. Please dont ask me what it is coz it is private. Utter a prayer for me when you read this and i appreciate that. THANKS :o)

Horticulture....anyone?

HortPark – the 23 hectare gardening hub/regional park is situated near Depot Road and is also a park connector connecting Telok Blangah Hill Park to Kent Ridge Park.

Last week Amy asked me to organize a walk for a small group and so I chose this place coz it is totally new to me tho I did read about it while planning for CtYF outing last year. Today is the day to go and the Seahs wanted an early early morning walk….7am was the meeting time.

Woke up at 5am but refused to get up till 5.15am. Left home at 6.05am and my route for this morning was Bus-MRT-Bus-Bus-Walk :o). Reached HortPark on the dot....7am :) Angela sms at 6.45am saying she would be running late coz they just left CCK. Then she sms again reporting that BK had stomachache and needed to find toilet. 3rd sms at 7.15am told me they just cleared the jam and was at JE.

What about the seahs? Totally no news…..hmmm.. .they must be so good at direction that they didn’t need help (thinking to myself). My first sms to them was at 6.45am about Angela being late & possibly myself too coz I couldn’t get on the bus due to overcrowding and had to wait for 2nd one. This sms went unanswered. At 7.15am decided to call and check on them. Thank goodness I made that call……coz I practically woke them up from their sweet slumber!!!! Had anticipated traffic jam & slight delay but little did I expect the Seahs to OVERSLEEP!!!! Their excuse??? Same as any student for latecoming…..alarm rang but slept a little while more and yah……hahahahaha…..

Angela & BK arrived at 7.30am in Anthony’s car. He was made to go early to work so he could send them here……oh well, erh…not made but requested lovingly by Angela :o) I made full use of my time to devour my big pao while waiting…..mmmm….yummy!! After the Ong sisters arrived, we sat by the lovely banyan tree-style pond to wait for the seahs. Talked about lots of stuff and was feeling rather sleepy already. BK commented she was also feeling a little hungry and so Angela asked me to sms the seahs to grab something on their way here. Amy replied to say they couldn’t but Eld Seah would prepare some kaya bread for her.

At 8.30am, she sms that they finally left home and at 8.50am or so…..they were right behind our chairs and with a GREAT BIG HELLO!!!! Took a pic with the lovely backdrop to kickstart our day (p.s. the pair of fork & spoon was dished out from the water by eld seah....guess a diner dropped them & never tell....:)

Thus began our journey to conquer this park….

We had to walk down a long ram to enter the park area. As we were strolling down, a woman jogger came panting by. She had a mp3 strapped to her arm and she looked really flushed and tired plus sweaty. But she kept jogging. Eld Seah sprang into action behind her....perhaps being inspired by this 50odd age woman.....i dont know.....but he was Ji En & Shing combined!!!! Imitated the woman to the exact detail, as in the way she jogged, the speed and even the arms action. From the back, i saw them in similiar motion....hahaha...i would say he came close to 99.9%. As she turned left off the ram, he did a hilarious thingy......what Mr Bean would do......the stupid legs action, fumbling and hesitating kind..... OH MAN....this is our elder Seah.......17 trapped in a 70-year old body!

First stop was this sculpture that has no name….didnt stop us from taking our next pic together :o)

Angela....where is thy body?

Next was the Bamboo Labyrinth. It is a series of circular paths enclosed within a grove of bamboos and visitors are to meditate while walking inside. There are 3 steps to follow:

1) Reflect
2) Empty your mind
3) Erh… I forgot… something to do with exiting….. sigh.. should have taken a pic of the instructions.

Anyhow, it was a very small area and you can try from 4 corners to get to the centre. Eld Seah walked straight to it and stood there like a scarecrow with arms outstretched….back facing us. BK & I walked the path and followed the labyrinth….remembering the 3 steps as we walked. Reached the centre and stopped behind him. Amy was holding her camera to get ready to take a pic while Angela took the back path and was walking towards the centre. Then Amy called out to us to face her. BK & I turned & were getting ready to pose when suddenly Eld Seah’s voice boomed so loudly. I felt a big WHACK on my back (to be exact, the right top quadrant of my back). WHOA!!!!! Whatever happened???? Who or what hit me??? I honestly didn’t know and was too shocked to react. Now, what did our elderly seah do this time? He did the propeller thingy with his hand and swung his whole body round, thus hitting me. It wasn’t very painful but it was a whack alright….resembling some emoticon thingy that I have used on Aaron, Shing, JJ & Lemuel in msn…. Hahahaha…. finally got a “taste” of my own medicine….literally…… :o(

(just a random thot... how come i always have "injuries" in almost every one of my outing trips????)

Do i look like "in shock"??? hmmmmm.......this was taken after the HIT!

We decided to take with the beautiful bamboos. Shing would have love it here......his home.......ahahahahhaa.... Tho he is not here, we were not short of pandas. Angela became the cheeky female while eld seah was erh…. the old crippled one......LOLS....looked like lor!! But nvm, he has one loving admirer...

Random candid pics

There was an old crib converted to flower bed. Our 17-yr old pretended to rock the crib with the sound of a crying baby. This was not captured on video but i will remember it for years to come.....hahahahahaa

Pics of me with
HUGE flower......

lotus.....

penguin!!!

Spotted a small pool.... which is 1.2m deep at one end and 1.5m at the other. It is a concept pool....more for people seeking ideas how to do up theirs. And since all of us didnt have a pool in our house, it didnt hurt to take a pic with it as if it is our own.....heeeeeee. Oh yes... now i recall....we went thro "great" lengths to take this shot. We needed a stand for the tripod and guess what we used? haha......one of those round stools seen at the bottom right corner of the pic. Eld seah did the hercules thingy. It was comical coz he anticipated it to be really heavy (those Qing dynasty type of stool) and so he did a "YAH!" and up he lifted, rather effortlessly. How so? Coz he detached it from its base.....the heaviest part of the stool!!! LOL! Hmmm....Angela & I helped to bring it over and so Amy could do wonders. Poor Amy, she has to be the one running to & fro throughout this day, esp when we took group pic...being the only one who has a little portable tripod stand to her camera.....3 cheers for her!!!

As the whole place was just so fantastically lovely, our ever lovey-dovey couple took some great romantic shots :)

More crazy shots from some of us...... guess Angela topped the list with good posing skills & imagination :o)

Because we were "naughty", eld seah locked us up in a temporary cell.....with me protesting the most :o(

Then came tea break and we were released..... found a Gazebo shade with table and chairs. Sat down to eat our goodies... mostly brought by Amy (the cookies made by Cindy, Jamesy's mom). What took place during the break is everyone's guess..... YUP..... the bible verses time with eld seah!!!! Today, he made us think of a verse that begins with our names. Angela & myself had to think of a verse that starts with "A" while BK had to do a "B". At first we kind of panicked but soon, we were able to think and recite to him....not entirely word perfect :) Hmmm....then eld seah happily took out a packet of potato chips to offer us. The brand is REAL and "natural with salt" chips. Oh my.....it tasted a little salty to us and we took a little of it.... but he erh....went on to finish the whole packet!!! Talk about food lover, or rather CHIPS lover!!!

While we were enjoying our break, a group of kindergarten kids led by some teachers were approaching us and we heard one teacher calling out "Rachel, Rachel, come here.." All of us turned to see who is this little Rachel girl and she looked soooo cute with poutty lips. Eld Seah went into playful mode and called her name as she passed by. She was taken aback. We played along and called "rachel" too. This little girl started to wave back at us tho she had no idea who we were. Her teachers too... hahaa

One lady teacher commented

"Wow..you all know Rachel?"

"Yes.....we know the mother too... and she is here!!!" (Eld Seah replied & pointed to me)

Yah yah... all the Rachels in the world are my daughters and Isaacs my sons......argh....

Posing for a relaxing touch at a mock-up garden..... Amy & Eld Seah scored full marks for bestest posers!!!

Rested enough, we moved on. Came to this lovely section and 4 of us wanted to take a pic together. Cracked the brain for a creative pose and we came up with this (see pic below). Angela remarked that we looked like sitting on a MA-TONG (in chinese & literal translation is toilet bowl).

And i said "Huh? You want us to look constipated and face showing that we are doing the BIG biz????"

She exclaimed "NO LAH! So unglam!"

And so you have it... we are all smiles (toothy grin!)

BK & I under the palm.... what a relaxing moment....esp away from the hot sun

Next was the Fantasy Garden and whhoossh... this unleashed the KIDDO in us and voila....see the results.

HortPark really lives up to its name...being a knowledge hub for plants & gardening, providing the platform to showcase garden designs, products & services. Took some beautiful garden concept and somehow wished i can have a garden like this too (tho i have no green fingers & plants will ultimately DIE under my care).....

We spotted this table & chairs or rather stools and wanted to pose as having conference.....guess we failed miserably.....Amy looked more like holidaying (with cap) and our BK a shopperholic (with the paper bag thingy)....LOLZ!

We are pleasantly surprised & amazed that Nparks has done up this place so beautifully. Look at some of the gorgeous flowers in this park....I dont even know all their names!!!!

All of the above flowers were taken by Amy..... incidentally, it was only today that i know she has a nickname... and pretty hokkienish one......guess......

Haha...... it is AH HUAY (hokkien for flower)!!!!! How so? Because she loves flowers and loves to take pics of them. She did this conscientiously.....and a pretty good job too!

The not so "Ah Huay" me took pics of the rest of the "uncomely" stuff..... :)

(haha....some of these photos were taken by Angela & Amy too)

My primary school nickname was also made known today... Lalang! How did i get this? Oh well, i used to be a shortie but suddenly grew so tall one day that my friends called me this nick. To them, i was like lalang.... long and tall. But to eld seah, it has a different meaning...of which i could not recall now....argh.... Anyhow, tried to check it online and found none. Haha....but i got this instead:

Operation Lalang (Weeding Operation; also referred to as Ops Lalang) was carried out on October 27 1987 by the Malaysian police to crack down on opposition leaders and social activists.

And so, here is a pic of the spectacular lalang.......what awesome colour, right? I love it!

There was a small green house look-alike with hydroponics inside. There we saw KangKong being grown (is that the word to use)....mmmm.....and we spotted a little grasshopper on its leaves. Eld Seah was very quick with his hands & caught hold of it. Angela gave a scream coz that fellow was so tiny.... he could have crushed it.... hahaha....our 17-yr old released it almost immediately after a lady's scream.....not bad for a gentleman! Oh boy....guess no one come close to the level of "cruelty" of two of our youths... namely Ji En, the one who burns his prey & Caleb, the one who maims them..... :o(

It took us less than 3 hours to comb the whole area (after deducting the time taken for stopping to look at plants & flowers plus pics & a rather long tea break... one can easily round this place up in a 30-min quick walk...without stopping kind). Hey, come to think of it....23 hectare is not that big after all!!!

There were some glass houses with very very pretty flowers inside... expensive ones i guess....coz they were all locked up! We could only see thro the glass and most were Orchids. The following shots were taken thro the glass.....not bad huh? 2 were taken by Amy & 1 by me :)

Eld Seah (with his ever-so-bright eyes) spotted a ballerina look-alike flower

pretty pretty, right?

Found some interesting stuff and I clicked them for memory.....

leaf prints on the ground... interesting right? Kind of reminded me those movies with treasure hunting like Indiana Jones and booby traps beneath.....heeezzz.

Beautiful KOI!!! Clicked at the right moment to see a lover-pair :)

Hmmmm.... this lovely willow tree (i think) is so unique that we decided to click and add to our collection

These cactuses are on sale at the HortMart inside the park. They do sell other gardening stuff but Eld Seah & Angela said all very EX!!! And so the seahs bought one tiny little cactus plant for only $2.90 :)

We soon came to an end of the walk and it was really an enjoyable & eye-opening trip for me. Eld Seah was so eveready to ask us the names of the plants (esp vege & fruits). He was so excited to see tomato, passion fruit, cucumber, lady finger, corn, french beans, etc..... the list goes on... We soon concluded BK is the better "botanist" while Angela is a "biologist". I failed miserably in all his questions and so no "awards" given.......

Took some pics at the HortMart..... mostly on a swing which is for sale. It is going at $680!!!!! Angela & BK kept saying i should get one for my home.... where to put???? Anyhow, while posing for a shoot, Angela suggested doing the CHIN thingy.... she said this is Singapore style as compared to the Thai "V" shape sign under the chin. OH MAN..... i told her this is CtYF Style tortally!!!! YUP... i did it too......we chinned BK!!!!

Prior to this, Angela & BK also did the chin thingy..... hahaha.... to flower girl & black doggy!!! What insanity!!!

Hmmm.... Aaron & JJ....did you teach your moms how to chin?????

Pics taken at the entrance of the HortPark........dont we look great, blending with nature? :o)

Complaints??? Yes.. i have one! It is about the MAP by Nparks.... oh man, why they keep doing wrong maps for the public? We encountered this in Ubin & now here...sigh... We were at the Hands on House which is situated near the end of the park. Thot we checked out the big erected map and see where we were exactly (tho we already knew our location). The map shown was the aerial plan view and all details correct except for one BIG error.....the phrase "YOU ARE HERE" is SOOOOO WRONG!!!! Where was it printed? Right smack on the first building as you come into HortPark....they call it the HortCentre!!!! Can you imagine the tourist's frustration if they try to read and make sense out of this map? The very info one look for to indicate the positioning is the one that brings confusion!!! I really wonder who does the map....as in is it being out-sourced or done internally? Whatever the case, they better improve on their maps & info. The ones in Ubin are so so lack of info plus wrong ones. Hmmm.....should i complain???? heeezzzzz

At 11.50am, we left HortPark to head for lunch. Eld Seah & Amy drove us in their VOLVO & treated us to a sumptuous lunch at Boon Lay Raja restaurant. What was the menu? Dont you dare salivate...... CHILLI CRABS, SHARK FINs SOUP, HAR GOU (Shrimp dumpling), YAM something, MANGO PRAWN thingy & ROASTED WHOLE CHICKEN!!!!! Wow.... not forgetting the deep fried buns that come with the chilli crab dish.....mmmmmmmm......bread..........




Supposed to have Herbal Jelly for dessert but this restaurant doesnt serve. Amy was rather disappointed and Eld Seah offered to let us try his TEH TARIK. And so, we followed them home (Angela had to go to the bank first & will join us later on). There, Amy downloaded all our photos & put into a DVD for both Angela & myself. We had a good time of fellowship throughout the day and it ended with the newbies to piano playing grade one songs...... haha.... Angela was trying to play from Amy's books and claimed tho same song title....arrangement was different and so she couldnt really play. Told her she is not supposed to memorise them but rather learn to read notes. Once she has done that, she can play any grade one songs from any other books! LOL! Amy too... she tried to play some songs and wow....they really need determination & passion to see them thro if they want to take up this new hobby :) Considering them learning now as adults.... they are doing pretty OK.

To the 2 of you, JIA YOU....k?

Finally, it was time to go home.... almost 4pm! BK received a present from Amy for being the best behaved person today.....NAH!!!! She was given a new haversack coz all of us couldnt "take it" when we saw her coming to outing or walk with a plastic or paper bag!!!!! And since Amy has a new bag which is just the right size for BK, she gave to her. What a makeover.....tho not extreme but it was a transformation alright.....:)

HAHAHAHAA.......3 of us walked back to MRT. Passed by POSB bank and i asked them if they could see Eld Boon. LOLS!!!! They knew it too and we all exclaimed the close resemblance.....Angela whipped out her camera and took a pic of "eld boon" to show to him on Sunday!!!! I can imagine Eld Boon chuckling away now.........

Had diarrhoea a few times in the seah's residence...and so the ong sisters headed to MRT station while i hopped into a taxi. Thank God for friends & company. Thank God too for how He has kept the weather perfect (without rain) so that we could take lots and lots of lovely shots. I had a mission to accomplish today (tanning) but sadly....dont think i have achieved much....argh..... Will try again another time.