My 1st Fedex Package

Received my first ever fedex package today. Although technically, i could have gotten it ystd.

My package..


The item.. oopsx I forgot the flash...


The front and back cover..


its a solid cover, but the back of it feels plasticky compared to the rubber and classy feeling of the phone. And due to that, e phone no longer "sticks" onto the table. It easily slides across the table, something which i do not really like. Maybe they want to demonstrate the quality of their shock protection. All the ports are covered and well protected. It also make the side buttons easier to access. It added abit of weight and bulk, making e phone thicker than it is supposed to be. but overall im quite pleased with the protection it gives to my phone. Although i am rather careful in trying to ensure it does not drop, the solid cover adds peace to my mind.

saving all my love for you....

its performances like this that makes me continue watching the show. so smooooth~



another one. she is just 15...



btw both are not contestants. hahaha. kinda weird if i dun put a song by a contestant.. so here is my fav..

Exclusive

After waiting for many many months, anticipating the arrival of Motorola Milestone in SG, it is now available EXCLUSIVELY to the green teleco.

While flipping the Straits times, saw 2 advertisement. 1 read "F1 EXCLUSIVELY on mio TV".. that 2 provider just do not learn their lesson do they. After the world cup saga which is still pending, they still want to continue achieving exclusive rights.

the next advertisement read
"APOLOGY.

Courts would like to offer an apology to all our competitors, for the shockingly low prices at our Courts Massive Clear-out. To all those executives whose golf game or family outing has been cancelled in order to return to the office and debate our low prices, we are truly sorry for disrupting your weekend.

We realise that, in an already competitive retail environment, this makes things that much tougher for you. As you know, at the start of 2010, we made a promise - the Courts Price Promise 2010 - to our customers that they would enjoy the lowest prices, guaranteed. (We know our prices are the lowest, because we check them daily).

The promise to our customer is one we intend to keep, so the least we can do is offer you our sincere apologies."

Seriously, what a big slap by Courts on the other retail companies. how arrogant can they get.

Its high time to re-think about such marketing strategies such as Exclusivity and Lowest Price.

An Observation

Its been quite some time since i last blogged. (I am wondering if i am going to use this opening for my future posts as well...)

I haven been rushing assignments since CNY!!! How i long to play soccer, watch variety shows and play my PSP. Been getting rather sleepy these days. Mondays seem unusually long (as usual..) My lesson started at 10am, ended early at 11.15. Start my reading from 11.30 to 2.30, while nodding off at the same time. Had a short break till 4 and lesson early (surprisingly) at 5.40. After reaching home and finishing my dinner, i am rushing my project. Taking a break from the project now.

Haha, i wonder if anyone is still reading this after that utmost boring paragraph. I think i am learning the skills of the authors of my reading coursepack. Boring people to death.

Anyway, i have made an interesting observation during my toilet break in school. Nope, the observation was not made in toilet but on my way to the toilet. There was this group of presumably primary school students on some science exploration or something. The prof (i assume) was demonstrating some science theories through experiments.

Prof: "Okie, i need a volunteer for the next experiment..."
Before he could even finish his line, the students go "Me Me Me!!!"

Were you one of those kids when you were young? Volunteering enthusiastically at any chance. This scene reminded me of another scene.

Prof: "I need a volunteer for the next question." (note, this sentence could be 2x longer than the one in the scenario i witness today, and the prof always have the time to finish his sentence.)
Students: *silence*

What had happened to that enthusiasm? Given another context where it does not involve teachers and students, the scenario would most likely remain the same. I admit i am one of the "guilty" personnel who seldom volunteers as enthusiastically as those pri school kids. (But i do not think i will change anytime soon too.)

Have we become too void of emotions in a public sphere? Do we have to witness artistes going through incredible stuns or look out for the presence of attractive prizes before we start donating? (Our "donations" has to be worthwhile...?)

While waiting at a bus stop this evening (okie this makes 2 observations instead of 1 as stated in the title...), the rubbish bin was smoking. The contents were burning, probably due to some inconsiderate user. Despite the many people present at the bus stop, none bothered to even attempt putting out the "fire".

I was hesitating if i should take out my water bottle and pour the remaining water into the bin. Alas, i decided to remain as guilty as the others and ignored the smoking rubbish bin like what the others were doing.

For a moment i felt ashamed for lacking the guts to do something out of the "norm".

My Geeky Post

It has been some time since i updated my blog. So here it is, a geeky post on mobile phones.

It all started in Sept last year when i wanted to get a Sony Ericsson Satio for my birthday. However, i have not fulfilled 18 months of my mobile contract and i needed to top up a $100 to get the phone. I decided against it since i only need to wait a few more months. Thank goodness i resisted the temptation.

Satio runs on Symbian S60v5. This should be familiar with Nokia users. It packs a decent camera, the feature that got me attracted. It is a pretty decent entertainment phone.

Since parting use with my Sharp 903SH, i missed the crystal clear pictures from the CCD sensors and the Sharp AQUOS LCD display. Not to mention the flip factor. The only reason why i stop using the 903SH is due to the thick build of the phone. It is twice the thickness of my current Samsung F480. (Can't imagine how am i going to squeeze it into my skinny jeans.) Of course, there are newer Japanese phones which has the style factor (trust me, it is more stylish than the iPhone. See e video below.) but their functions are limited as it is not supported in Singapore.

Anyway, the latest and hottest term in 2010 is Smartphones and Apps. iPhone has revolutionize how a mobile phone should be like. The ever-aging Windows Mobile failed to hold its ground and iPhone rose to popularity. After being one of its kind, Google has finally provide us some alternatives with their Android operating system. Nokia start to develop their own apps store too. Motorola caught my eye with its "new" line of phones. Motorola Milestone (Droid) seems promising.

It is packed with a 3.7 inch touchscreen, qwerty keyboard with a 5-way button. After using the F480, i really miss my physical keypads. Here is a picture of the phone.



It is not particularly stylish but it is good enough for me. With the Android Apps developing, this phone may be a strong contender to the iPhone. However, the marketing strategies of the telecos in Singapore is not helping the competition. This phone was released in Europe for quite some time, but it is not brought in. Instead, the Motorola Dext is being marketed instead. It will probably take some time before it "reaches" our shore. (although it is already available at some stores which imported the phone.) Here is a video which shows what the phone can do. The video is a review of a user after 24 hours of the phone. It is 25 mins long. For interested viewers, it is worth your time.



The downside of the phone (or rather almost all smartphones) is the lack of camera capabilities. I dare to say, most phones available now in Singapore cannot hold a candle to the camera capabilities of Japanese phones which are made a few years ago. The closest would probably be the Sony Cybershot phones and probably the Samsung Pixon.

What attracts me to Smartphones is the ability to access information on the go. In addition, no 2 phones are likely to be the same with the presence of Apps. You can build a personalized/customized phone to your personal usage. The newer Smartphones are also packing in GPS functions.

To be truly honest, i was quite tempted to get a iPhone too before i stumble upon this phone. However, the number of iPhones floating around is too great! I even see a few aunties using it. No offence to the aunties but that really ruined my temptation to get one. As for Windows operated phones, users can anticipate the launch of their Windows 7 for mobile. (I am not sure what is the official term though.) The way we perceived mobile phones will no longer be the same.

Now, moving on to a phone which i really want to have but probably will not have. the SH-01B!

Here is a brief intro to the phone's outlook.


Look at the cover of the phone, so stylish with LED lights surrounding the phone. Oozing with class. And the swivel touchscreen, with a touch cruiser in the middle of the keypad. Too bad there is no wifi, if not i might think of parting with my money to get it.

I'm getting lazy so i shall not elaborate further. For those interested, here is a Review/User group in Hardware Zone forums.

Pre- V Day Dinner

As a chinese, i don't particularly enjoy CNY. (Maybe I prefer to identify myself as a Singaporean than a Chinese, or maybe i am just weird.) Especially this year's since it collided with V-Day.

So we had a early V-Day dinner. The plan was to watch the movie "Valentine Day" to get into the mood, followed by a great dinner. To end it all, a walk along the "river". Hahaha. but once again CNY took it all away. We ended up doing last minute shopping, dinner, more last minute shopping, and ended the night with even more frantic "auntie-style 3 for 1 dollar~" shopping. (We were the only young people among the whole big group of uncles and aunties.) hahahaha. I have such a unique girlfriend who exhibits her "unique-ness" on a supposedly romantic V day dinner night like this. Hahaha.

I shall focus more on the dinner from now on b4 i get killed on the actual V day. We ate at Tao's Restaurant. The crew are very friendly and the service is excellent. They even offered to take a photo of us.. They offer a 6 course meal for lunch and 7 course for dinner. (Starter, Salad, Soup, Main, Dessert, Tea. Extra grilled mushroom and mango sorbet for dinner.) The food is not really fantastic but good enough to make me want to go back there to try out other food on the menu. (The salad is putting me off though.)


mango sorbet served even before we took our order.


bacon and mushroom gratin served with bread. i would say this is my most enjoyed dish. hahaha.


my prawn roll with pork floss


my dear's fruit salad..


grilled mushroom...


ice rose apple tea. delicious~! the ice summer peach tea is delicious too..


japanese fish consumme.. dear find it so nice that she dun like her shark-fin melon soup anymore.


baked atlantic flounder with cheese.. didnt particularly enjoy it. e fish and e cheese taste was quite separated..


their signature dish.. slow cooked pork back ribs.. this is nt bad. but dear dun really like it i think.. hahaha


creme brulee.. tasty..


brownie with ice-cream...

that's all... hahaha.. the atmosphere is not bad for gathering.. but if you want a ambient place for couples, this may not be the ideal one though..

Taylor Swift

been rather hooked on her songs. i know the lyrics of some of her songs are so "teenage" but i love the tune.. hahaha.



"Cause I can't help it if you look like an angel
Can't help it if I wanna kiss you in the rain so
Come feel this magic I've been feeling since I met you
Can't help it if there's no one else
I can't help myself"

"The way you walk, way you talk, way you say my name
It's beautiful, wonderful, don't you ever change"

"They're dimming the street lights, you're perfect for me
Why aren't you here tonight?
I'm waiting alone now so come on and come out
And pull me near and shine, shine, shine"

its been a while....

since i last updated the blog. Cant think of much to update but... i saw these buttons not too long ago.. how will u feel when using them?



another video to share.. im kinda mesmerized by this song recently..

the lady is not e original singer.. but still sounds nice nonetheless..

OMG OMG OMG OMG

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep...

Can't wait for the english version to be released. Too bad the voice actors will be different. See if you can recognize a few voices... I thought i heard Jiraiya.. and a few others...

DINOSAURS!!!!

after a few failed attempts, we finally made our way to DINOLAND~~ okie, Jurong Bird Park to be exact. It has been a very long time since i last visited the Bird Park. If not for the Hollywood Dinos exhibition, i doubt i will be there.

Hollywood Dinos is an exhibition of robotic dinosaurs. The "dinosaurs" look as if they have escaped from Jurassic Park. It is quite a pity that the exhibit is quite small. I think we took around 15 to 30 mins to complete the whole thing. (That is including the time taken to take pictures.)




the famous t-rex


the classic "i found you~~" look..


look familiar? if i am not wrong, it is those smaller meat eaters that appears in a group in the movies.


the front shot always look more scary..


teeeeth

After that short trip, we went to Bird Park. Not many pictures though due to the cages. Unable to capture the magnificent beasts of the skies without stripes going through them. So here are some of the few:


my personal favourite. At the waterfall aviary where we can come real close to the birds.


had a hard time capturing them with their wings spread


another one. sorry for the tilt. i must have focus too much on the bird such that it looks straight rather than the surroundings.


with shades, my dear will probably look like those stars trying to go "undercover" hahaha.


trademark of bird park


one quick shot before we get dehydrated. For some reason, we started perspiring profusely when we got near the waterfall.


one last one b4 we leave the place. I think we are getting addicted to the phone's easy ability to do self portrait. hahaha.

and... its that time of the year... Lunar New Year is coming! argh! i still cant understand the logic of new clothes reserved for new year, or the necessity of wearing red color for that few days. It is such a waste of money to buy red clothes that you will only wear during the Lunar New Year. As though the luck of 365 days is dependent on what you wear for that 2 days. Time to go out and look for some red/bright clothes.

HELLO 2010 !!

Happy New Year!!!

It was an interesting transition between 2009 to 2010. I went on a cruise with my family, dear and my cousin. It has been a very long time since i went onboard Star Virgo. Although the ship itself is already kind of boring, it is a new experience as i go overseas with my dear for the first time...

30 Dec: Day 1
The boarding time was 8.30pm. As we were waiting to board the cruise, we were surprised by the number of Indians.




My cute little brother. I had such a hard time trying not to laugh while taking the picture. There were plenty of failed attempts though.

From the moment we start boarding, it was a fight for me to remain tolerant. The Indians have such a big family. 9 members seems normal for them. We were quite shocked that when the queue starts moving, many of them appear from nowhere to take the place in front of us. They started squeezing and pushing when it is obvious there is only 1 small entry. I think i irritated some of them as i tried to block their path (regardless of if they are trying to cut my queue) and provided a strong resistance to their pushing.

After finally boarding the cruise, we took a short walk around the whole ship.




the pool and the jacuzzi look so inviting as usual.


a statue near the pool. The "new" water slide can be seen at the background. It made us regret not bringing out swim suits.



We then went for a show by the performers. After which, we went to the casino. It was a first time for all of us. After which the 3 girls tried the jackpot machine. As the machine only accepted paper notes, i went to the reception counter to change my plastic notes. The person was slightly shocked when i say i need the paper notes for the jackpot machine. He asked me if i am over 18 and check my identity card. "I am sorry i need to check as you look so young." hahahaha.

We end up sleeping near 4am.

31 Dec: Day 2. Stop over at Port Klang. Shopping at Mid Valley Megamall.

The fact that we were on a cruise tempted me to take a sunrise shot. Something which i will definitely do in Singapore (due to sleep.) We woke up at 6.45am so that we can make it on time to witness the sunrise which was stated to be 7.15am. Sadly, the weather was not very good as the clouds occupy the sky. Having no luck with the sunrise picture, we resorted to...


taking pictures of ourselves! hahahaha. We kind of have the mentality that when we have nothing to do, we take pictures of ourselves. We have never ever take pictures of ourselves so much during a trip.

We went back to sleep after a short stay on the deck. We missed out breakfast due to sleep. Haha. Not something unusual. However, the thing about cruise is that we seem to be eating at every other hour. 8-10 was breakfast, 10.30 to 11.30 was morning tea and 12 was lunch! We ended up just taking our lunch. After which we arrived at Port Klang.

We initially intended to go to the Petronas Tower. However, the guided tour kind of turns us off so we went shopping instead at the Mid Valley Megamall. Not much pictures taken here as time was precious. The mall is really huge. However, we felt as if we were shopping in Singapore when we see so many familiar brands. The difference is that my Mom ordered us to expand finish the money she changed. So there was a less regard for the cost. Haha. I am so glad that my dear had such a fruitful shopping session. That will mean more eye candy for me. Hahaha.

Finally, the countdown moment. This was where i lost my tolerance for the Indian passengers. In a already limited space, they barged in without any regards for the safety nor the space of others. They did not care if they were pushing people off balance or if their elbows were in the face of others. And they will conveniently stand right in front of your face after barging in, blocking any vision you have other then their hair and their backs. Last but not least, they take out their cameras trying to shoot the performance. Their elbows were flying everywhere and their body leaning everywhere. I am sure they are excellent in packing sardines because they will squeeze at every other free space.

Then the countdown came. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR! The atmosphere was really high. We got squeeze pretty much to the centre of the area. We quickly got out before everything turns chaotic.

Went for supper and we got really sick of the cakes. We had too much of them. hahaha.

1 Jan: Home Sweet Home.

It is a relatively short day. We went for our first breakfast ever. The breakfast is fantastic! After which we did some last minute shopping and clearing of bills and stuff.


Bacon! Scrambled eggs! Toast! Baked Beans! Hashbrown! i am still drooling whenever i think of such a breakfast.


"Sssshhh i took her bacon.."


"GIVE ME MY BACON!!!"


enjoying the see breeze...

A trip on Star Virgo is never complete without BINGO! hahaha. not true but so far that has been the practice of my family. Dear was only 2 numbers away from $1k. It would have made the trip much more memorable. haha.


The captain of my heart.. heee..

So thats about it as we reached Singapore reluctantly. Although we had enough of the cruise, all of us felt that the holiday is kind of short. It finished before we knew it. I guess that also marks the last trip for me on Star Virgo. The food is getting worse, and i felt that i went on "Cruise India" instead. I have also experienced quite an Indian countdown. One which is rather "memorable" and unforgettable. On the bright side, it was something out of the usual. If in Singapore, we will probably have a quieter and calmer countdown.

Now, time to recover our sleep and get back to work. We have one more week to get over the holiday mood. No more eating like the way we ate during the past few days...

Post-Xmas...

Belated Merry Xmas... and an advance Happy New Year!!

I had a rather busy christmas period. Lots of shopping, photo-taking, movies and of course not forgetting the food.

23rd:
We visited the botanical gardens. Heard that there was some interesting christmas tree there so we decided to go there and take a look. There are many trees made and designed by various schools and organisations. However, the night lighting does not really differentiate them apart from each other.


The decorations on this tree make it look so magical.

After which, we stop over at Ion for a quick coffee break. We took some pictures before heading out to Marina Barrage.




Inside Wheelock


Outside Lido Shaw


happily posing with my camera.. aint she just cute. hahahaha.. :P


my dad says she looks like she is advertising for starbucks. (after seeing a serious of pictures with the coffee..)


The wind was so strong that my pictures turn out so blurry. My tripod was even shaking at some point of time. Sadly, the only focused picture of the flyer is one where our faces are not in focus. It was my first attempt with night photography on tripod. Obviously i need lots of practice.

24th Christmas Eve:
Planned to go Bird Park but the bad weather in the morning disrupted the plan. Even in the afternoon, the sky was cloudy. We decided to play safe and give it a miss. Went to vivo in the evening to catch Sherlock Holmes. And then...


PARADISE... sooooo nice....

25th Merry Christmas:
Nothing much. Just dinner and movie. Watched the chipmunks.


The pizza is nice with the cheese and nacho dips. Very interesting and delicious taste.

27th:
Went for my first RT... It is kind of slack, i. Hopefully it is because it is the first session so it is more of an orientation session. If following sessions are like this, i doubt i can pass the test in 4 weeks time.

28th:
Just finished watching Buzzer Beat. And that explains my updated header picture. I cant exactly remember what the Japanese wording is but it goes something like "Work towards your dream, your number 1 fan". I felt that Yamashita Tomohisa is beginning to look like Takuya Kimura. In the drama, the clothes he wear and his charisma gave me that feeling. oh and there is definitely many scene of his "meat" for those drooling female fans.

Going off to cruise with family and dear in a few days time.. woooo.. hopefully the weather will be nice and it will be a wonderful and memorable trip.