Well, my Happy Snap showed up on Tuesday, which was perfect timing because I was going to be chilling on Wednesday and Thursday. So far I’m pretty pleased with Happy Snap.

Granted it’s a little slow and the picture quality can’t compare with the 400D, it’s relatively small and nifty enough to bring around all day. It’s about the size of Mr C’s Canon 850IS, but lighter (more plastic in the body will do that), and the lens is flushed in with the body (unlike the S1 IS which pertrudes).

So yesterday we went back to Shanghai House for lunch, only to find out that they only serve the savoury soy soup and rice rolls on weekends. Blah!! So we had some noodles and dumplings instead, and headed to the park.

It’s starting to warm up a little, and after we sprung forward an hour, the days seem to be pleasantly longer. It was still pretty chilly at Golden Gate Park, but nothing compared to the crummy January weather, so I enjoyed myself and the little sunshine. There were these gulls and pigeons everywhere, and that was fine, but they leave massive amounts of bird poop – some still wet and nasty – everywhere on the ground. It was a little distracting navigating between pools of bird poop for shots.

After some chores at home, we headed off to Costco for a little R&R (retail and relaxation), but they were out of the Magellan Maestro 4250 we were looking for. Turns out $100 off a unit like that was too good a deal and they ran out of stock on it. We could go to the cashier and grab a raincheck, but the lines were massively long (think NTUC Fairprice lines on a weekend, and triple the length of the lines and the number of counters) so we left pretty much empty handed.

Ended up buying it online, so it should be here next week. Yay, my sense of direction is on its way!

Went through a full blown “through” phase, with mixed results. What started in Seoul kinda became a bit of an obsession, fueled by the availability of doorways, windows and tunnels.

Also went a little all out with the maple shots, and am still a little fixated on the itty star shaped leaves. Would’ve been lovely in autumn, but I can make do. Put together my favourite maple shots from all over.

This concludes a great holiday. Busy days lie ahead as we frantically try to get our act together and move, but I’m looking forward to a new camera in a new land – nothing like fresh perspective, right?

brother of my mother. am sorry I wasn’t there.

I belong to the PAP held ward of Ang Mo Kio
What about you?

The weather here has been alternating between drabby and gray and clear and blue. We managed to get to the Japanese Tea Garden the other day when it was lovely. Skies were blue, weather was balmy and daylight lasted forever.

Last night I attended an event with KF’s cousins called Food For Thought, where companies and people pay to attend like a food fair by restaurants of San Francsico. I watched them serve tea at the tea booth, how cool was that, and then I went around to pick at stuff to eat. Filet mignon, eggplant, kobe beef, grilled ahi tuna in a taco, crabcakes, it was too good.

What I feel like right now, though, is a nice bowl of bak chor mee.

I had a long week
What about you?

Fortunately, I managed to score dinner with the engineers again – shamelessly, hee hee – so it ended on a pretty sweet note. Ah Leongsan found this place called Turqoise Bar somewhere off someplace in the west.

It’s so much more fun to have dinner with a bunch of engineers. First, they get to the point. Second, they don’t try to milk the point till death. Third, they don’t try to outdo each other. And they laugh at all the jokes, on cue. Engineers – they’re my favourite people in the www!

On the elections
I also found out that I belong to Ang Mo Kio GRC, so it’s probably unlikely that I’d get to vote this year. Aiyah. I was looking forward to it.

It’s funny to watch the run up to the elections, especially now that I actually give a hoot about stuff. The buzz, the lame media coverage, the policies, manifestos aside, you’ve now got a bunch of new media-ites to keep an eye on.

People who write or speak about what’s happening in their blogs and casts, ranging from
The side-steppers: the ones who want to seem like they have an opinion, but don’t want to be crushed like cockroaches, and therefore resort to filming themselves talking about local issues through Apple ad-like videos. Yes, we will change the face of local views and mindsets one podcast at a time. Ha ha.

The serious-observers: the ones who hang on every letter, word and phrase that any politician spits out, analyse it, proves or debunks it, and bores the heck out of the world around them. Well intentioned, and probably too evolved for the common man.

The media-observers: the ones who write about what goes on in the run-up to Election Day on our national tv station, our national paper and our national radio station. Can feel their frustration and angst, but it’s like re-frying beans. Just a lot of air.

The blahs: the ones who blah everyone else, who try to sound like they’re above it all, but also signify nothing.

It’s a hoot. Every so often we get to see the whole spectacle unfurl, the flitty prancing and the furious anger, the noble intentions and the personal agendas.

Then we vote, and life moves on as it should. And thus concludes another 5 years.

Zap zap zap
Turned into zit zit zit for me. I tried SK-II Facial Treatment Essence over the weekend and ended up breaking out into a face full of little zits. Not the normal pimple, but little itty bitty ones.

Am very annoyed at this development. The last time I broke out so badly I had chicken pox. And at least it was some disease I caught.

Anyway, going through some old pics on Flickr and rearranging them a little. Here’s one I took while in SF, at the Rose Garden in Golden Gate Park. It was nice, though I think the nicest roses I saw were in London in some park. In fact, all I remember about London from my first trip is Regent Park, roses, the smell of bread at Sainsburys and scones.

Swap!
I like it when situations turn turtle and roles switch. It’s so fun to watch people cringe when the balance of power tips.

Like if your boss’ boss’ boss’ contemporary shows up and your boss is on the wrong end of the bargaining table.

Or despite being a horrible wife, you find out your husband still doesn’t know when your birthday is. Or your anniversary.

All these being hypothetical situations, of course, but leverage is such a powerful concept.

So here I am, using KF’s Mac while he’s going nutty on my old desktop looking for stuff to print. He’s nuts over our new printer and agrees completely and wholeheartedly that the inkjet was a great idea. He is completely convinced that getting an inkjet was definitely better than getting a lame-assed monochrome laserjet printer, the woolley mammoth of printers and so boringly utilitarian.

He would also like to state for the record that I did not coerce him into saying all that.

And here I am completely enjoying the iLap and the Mac. Love this keyboard.

Am utterly, annoyingly obsessed
With getting to Level 3 on Yahoo! Answers. I’ve chalked up a nice total of 220 points or so this week, which is completely whackers. I need to get a life.

In other news – I tried making a Honey Lemon drink at home today, to soothe my throat which has been irritable the whole week thanks to that bug KF passed me, and finally realised how much sugar probably goes into those drinks at Hong Lim.

I used the juice of 3 lemons, split between 2 glasses, topped with with water and 3 teaspoons of honey. And it was still horribly sour. It was so sour, I almost couldn’t finish it.

Was reminded of the drink when I went to lunch at the Smith Street Food Market this afternoon for lunch. Had the ikan bilis yong tau foo, which was fantastic. Love the little fish bits on top. I ordered a cup of tea because we sat in front of a drink stall, only to realise later that they served a whole heap of more interesting drinks, like bubble tea and honey lemon drink.

Extras
Just caught Extras on Arts Central and it wasn’t half as funny as I thought it’d be. It’s a good thing I managed to catch the second half of CSI after it.

A couple of us in the office were toying with the idea of getting lasik surgery but honestly the idea of having someone zap my eye still gives me the heebie jeebies. How much more Clockwork Orange can it get. Uck.

I think I’m falling ill – thanks to all the sickies in the office. And KF, though I was careful to quarantine him I suppose the germs are all over the house. I tried the honey and apple cider vinegar drink – an acquired taste, but I like it – but I think it’s a little too late for that. My throat hurts and I’m already sniffling. I guess I should brace myself for the onset of a the bug in the next few days.

Stay healthy.

How was your day today?