Found it!

Chup Cai Ben... in Hokkien, Za Cai Fan in Mandrain, and Mixed Veggetable Rice (literal translation in good old Singlish).... one of my all time favourite when I was in Singapore... something that I can repeatedly have, and even with the same combination, amongst its thousands possible combinations... and never got tired of it...

Not too long ago, I met this Singaporean who has been here for a while, he told me that there's a good Shao La (Mandrain for Chinese BBQ) stall at Dynasty Supermarket, a place that we have passed several hundred times, but never was close to stepping into it.

Last week, I had a chance to try their Roasted Duck... and Char Siew (aka BBQ Pork)... and it more than met my standard. This week, being an highly unadventurous person (actually I have been adventurous to venture to a few other supermarkets, but they didnt even meet my low standards), I went back to Dynasty again. I da baoED (takeaway) packets of rice for the hungry souls in office... and the review was decent.

Today! I went back... and decided to eat just the Chup Chai Ben only... and it turned out to be such a brillant decision... the dishes were really good and reminds me of good 'ol Singapore... to exaggerate things... it kinda completed the missing part in my life... haha... I finally FOUND IT!

The one thing about the food here, they often give you more than you could handle. Which means leftovers for dinner. Just a moment ago, after frying an egg, I ate the leftovers, with the egg... To top it all up... I added the ultimate and absolutely supremely tasty SAMBAL CHILLI!!!

Like I told my love... I can have the Sambal Chilli with plain rice, and that would be a SATISFYING one... though it would not please any nutritionists... But having the chilli really brought my dinner to another high... I LOVE SINGAPORE... haha... All thanks to my wonderful and brillant mother who made the delicious chilli...

It's interesting how something so simple can yield such great satisfaction... It's all the power of the mind... and none can give you the adequate power than God... Thank God that he is keeping me happy despite in all circumstances... I may not obey him all the time... I may have failed to be a "good neighbour"... but God never fails....

Must blog

Just a quick update for myself....

What did I do over the past week... ? Very happening week in fact...

To sum it up...
1) Bruised..
2) Scared
3) Lazy
4) Rushed
5) Poor

It seems bad doesnt it? It actually is just the opposite...

Friday:
A small group friend's other small group has an outreach program. And that Friday, it was to go to the ice ring in Memorial City Mall for... BROOM HOCKEY...

What is that? I have no clue... till I went... it's basically like hockey... but on ice... and man.. it was really slippery... many of us were falling all over the place. i had a bad bruise on my left knee and hurt my back a little too. The rule of the game is simple... just try to score lah!

It was a rather one sided game.... the team that I was on kept defending... but somehow managed to take the lead... only towards the end of the game, did the opposing team, which tim the dodo is in, miraculously found a way through our water-tight defence. A controversial goal, as we did not utilise the much talked about goal line technology, just like football. 2-2 it ended.

Anyway, it was a great game... i had my fair share of running... and work out... filled with lotsa fun... I only wish there will be more coming..

Saturday:

Whole of afternoon was filled with apartment hunting... and it was not futile... we found this amazingly looking place, with TWO lakes and THREE Swimming Pools!!! It's a Humongous place... with a wonderful environment... Furthermore, the room layout was perfect for us too! Despite it being $100++ more per month than it's poorer cousin next door... we were sure we will be residents of this place, come Jan 2007.

Saturday night came... we met up with some co-workers... organised by one cool guy, by the name of Peter... He is always organising things, and asking us along... seriously lucky to have gotten to know him here... He organised a trip to a Haunted House (in singapore... it's called Gui Wu- literally Ghost House) since it's going to be Halloween soon (Oct 31). I never know when is Halloween, so it's really fun to be involved in "celebrating".

The place is call Scream World. We had to travel abit to get there.. When we got there, it was filled with people. The setting is elaborate... The props and stuff were all fantastically done. I was caught off guard and had a scare twice or thrice through our walk.... While it was not scary.... the entertainment value was there.

Just for visual effect... I copied a picture of the website below:

Sunday:

Slow day... went to church... attended baptism class, came home... sleep and study for CPA.

Monday:

Went to take a 2nd look at the apartment... Convinced that it IS the right one. Went to office for some stupid meeting... which latest 10 mins... then spent the rest of the day dozing off at my desk

Tuesday:

Slept till there's no tomorrow... then someone woke me up... we went to sign the application ($300! No turning back).

When I was waiting for the agent to be back from lunch, I had mine at a table beside the lake... Every min there just makes me like the place more.. it is THE place for me..

Wednesday:

Went to fix my tooth which has chipped off... cost US$150 to build a crown i think... That is after my insurance probably paid about 4-500 dollars... expensive..

Eventful week... The best thing is... not assigned on job, though have to clear some stuff... but the pace is way slow and so relax...

Thank GOD!

Another note to my love

The Cries of my heart

Leaving With the luggage
Jetting to a new Ville

Sitting in my car
Stealing your back view

Looking out of my room,
Trees Tall and Still

Sitting on my chair,
Thinking of you

Going to bed early
longing to see you

knowing in my heart
Loving only you

It is obvious that this is nowhere as good as the last one. (I realised that in Secondary School when my Literature Teacher was not at all impressed by my "poems" when I thot they were excellently done") But this is many more times more meaningful.... for the obvious reason... I wrote it in the middle of this week.... when my love was away..

Thank God for words... Thank God for feelings... Thank God that absence makes my heart grow fonder... Thank God... Thank God..

I am glad I blog

Are you someone that will keep all the letters and cards (with personalised words) you received, and after a couple of years... or even many many years... open this cards... and relive the memories of the past....?

I am... and I am such a sucker for that... in fact, when I was still at home, I would do this once a while... say 6 months... and always enjoy the memories... sweet or otherwise..

I thank God for Blogs... now I am trying to invest for these sweet memories in the future... I hope i will blog all the little things in my life... such that I can come back and enjoy it in future...

To those who are afraid your blog may end up like ipaddler, which i think crashed... I would suggest backing it up.. How? Just go to file>save as> "Save as type">one file.

That's what i do... i will keep it with me... i hope for the rest of my life...

Little terror

Think of something so small, so insignificant.... yet can make you uncomfortable all day....

make u lose your appetite.... make u feel irritated...

even thick jackets, comfortable seats, good food cant relieve it....

makes you talk like a retard... eat like an idiot....

One thing that, when you have two, you dont want to have just one....

it's the ulcer in my mouth... it sucks... there were two small ones... now they have combined power to be one big one (Ouch!)

It used to work when i apply the watermelon frost (xi gua shuang), but somehow, after applying for days, it doesnt seem to work...

I think i will remain a retard for at least 2 more day..... sianz..

Realising my dreams

Yesterday night, I discovered I that there’s something I have overlooked about myself for a while: the traveler in me.

I rediscovered it when I was reading up on trips to South America. It has always been my ultimate fantasy to go to South America on a backpacking trip, amongst the many other places that I want to go to.

I have always wanted to go to a couple places, namely:

Europe
Russia
Alaska
India
China
Central America
South America

And among these places, Central and South America seemed to be beyond my reach at one point, when I was in Singapore.

I do not want to merely Step across the border, So as to tell people that:"Yeah, i've been there." I want to see the place.

Currently, we are already planning to go to Alaska, in the Summer of 07. Looking at the way things are, we could possibly spend about 1 week in Alaska, beer hunting, glacier trekking and many more. Ideally, this is followed by a cruise to the inner channels of Alaska for abt a week Too. What a dream.

It's 2 am in the morning, and I am feeling all excited abt things. How interesting it will be it all these were to come true. How interesting it is that the possibility of these even existed just over a year ago.

Update on the rain...

One nice pic to share...

Just in case you are wondering, it is not a picture of the new olympic size swimming pool... it's just water accumulated in an area where the land has been excavated.

See how heavy the rain is...

My co-worker who is working off the client's just told me at 430 that they are emptying the building, becoz a number a streets near the client's are begining to flood.

How interesting....

Also... from the weather service:

the story goes... (extracted from the National Weather Service)

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED TORNADO WATCH 830 UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING WHICH REPLACES A PORTION OF TORNADO WATCH 829.

THE NEW WATCH IS VALID FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS THE NEW WATCH INCLUDES 11 COUNTIES
AUSTIN BRAZORIA CHAMBERS FORT BEND GALVESTON HARRIS LIBERTY MONTGOMERY POLK SAN JACINTO WALLER
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...ALVIN... ANAHUAC...ANGLETON... BELLVILLE... BROOKSHIRE...CLEVELAND...COLDSPRING... CONROE... CORRIGAN...DAYTON... FREEPORT...FRIENDSWOOD...GALVESTON... HEMPSTEAD...HOUSTON...HUMBLE...KATY... LAKE JACKSON... LEAGUE CITY... LIBERTY...LIVINGSTON...MISSOURI CITY... MONT BELVIEU...ONALASKA... PASADENA...PEARLAND...PRAIRIE VIEW... RICHMOND...ROSENBERG...SEALY... SHEPHERD...SUGAR LAND... TEXAS CITY... THE WOODLANDS...TOMBALL...WILLIS AND WINNIE.

Thank God for rain….

Yesterday night… it was raining… and I did one thing I have never done for a long time… that is to listen to the raindrops falling on the trees beside my room…

In the high rise buildings of Singapore, you are never close to the trees… and when there’s a rain, the closest u can hear is it hitting against your windows (unless you are those who stay in eat wind house aka landed property, which unfortunately is not where I live). The rain gives off a soothing sounds… so random, yet so in sync… so loud, yet not at all irritating… so close, yet doesn’t drench me… I love the rain… when I was in Singapore, to me, rain is a way of asking people to slow down… asking people to stay home… I love rain… looking from outside in, rather than in it though…

It was great to hear the raindrops… it was great to feel the shelter God put over me… I really enjoyed that… I hope there will be more rain tonight…

Another interesting thing about living in this place is… at times, there are serious weather conditions that stops people from going to work…

On my way to work, I was listening to the radio… and it said:“ If you are non-essential personnel, you are advised to stay at home. Schools in Galveston are close, schools in the HISC district (whatever is means) remains open. But parents are advised to use their discretion, and not send children to areas where there is flooding. Houston Christian High School will delay the start to 10am.”

WOAH! No school as a result of rain… isn’t that what we always hope for? Something serious, yet not serious enough… unfortunately, being a Singaporean, I found it weird to stay home when I am fit to work (that’s how well my government has brainwashed me).

But it’s still fun to know that something that I always hope for as a kid… is coming true for other kids… Appropriate level of rain is good…. Isn’t it?

Happiness is in fact relative...

How can anyone be happy after losing US$186....?

That is if he thought that his car was stolen... then realised that it was JUST towed....

Was invited to a mid autumn festival celebration by a church fren (here, pple call it house party).... so we went... and indeed had a GREAT time... with so many Singaporeans and Malaysians... with all the lahs and lohs... and great food... super time...

Becoz of a joke between the host and her fren, i was under the impression that I was able to park at Bank of America... which is outside her house... (She offered to pay for my ALL of my fine)

Little did I know it wasnt something serious between them... and why didnt I see the notice while waiting for Zhiying..? God knows...

So... when I came out from her house... I saw the car park (garage in American terms) totally empty... my mind went equally blank.... MY CAR MUST BE JACKED!!!

After calling Mr Trusted Wen... who told me clamly to call the police....

Then as I was talking to him... I saw... THE SIGN.... "TOWING ZONE" (or something like that)

As you would have expected it... I was... (SAD? NO!!) Elated!! Why? I was thinking of all the things that I have in my car.... my laptop and all the photos and info... and to start looking for a CAR again... and I love my car... it's simply a bigger ordeal to lose my car, that a small amount money cant replace...

Then... I was really happy... not happiness out of joy... but out of relief.... I was relief... i was glad... Happiness is relative....

After a long while of looking for the car... thanks to my very sensitive and assuring ger fren.. we got my car back

Like my fren said... "It was an expensive Mid Autumn".... But I say... "It's worth it..." (Not that I want this kinda adventure every time though) haha!

THANK GOD!