Nearing the halfway mark of 2009

Had lunch w eunice today, though we didn't get to talk very much, only talking about things like buying of diamond rings, eunice's wedding plans, my anniversary celebration w joan, things n pple in strikeforce, the struggle to go to bible study, yongji's struggle to quit smoking, etc.. sounds like a lot of things, but actually just skimmed the surface of those topics. Like previously, I still felt that although there was a warm familiarity about eunice, there is also a wall or some barrier between us, not sure if its intentionally placed by her or me, or totally unintentional. Difficult to describe, but just a feeling that we're not being totally honest with each other, n we don't really joke or crap much anymore, its just talking about serious stuff n dealing with issues in our lives.. i guess that's how adults talk when they hang out? Haha.. i don't know.

Anyway its only Wednesday, midway through the work week, thank God that the weekend is coming, but also a bit sian that my saturdays are all filled up all the way until after national day, cos of SF performance for NDP.. seriously, not being able to go out with friends n girlfriend on a saturday is a major drag. by the time practice ends around 6 pm, n i rush home to take a bath n rush out to meet joan, its usually like 7.30 pm or so, n we can only spend like maybe 4 or 5 hours together before have to go home to sleep so won't over sleep for service on sunday. =P oh well at least no more work for this weekend!! (hope i don't speak too soon!)

Oh, had dinner at Lawry's Prime Rib with my family to celebrate my dad's birthday and Weiliang's sending off to australia event, on last Sunday, 7 June 2009. I know its a little late to blog about it now, but simply had no time to blog. Honestly, the steak, though very big and meaty, wasn't that well seasoned, though some of the sauces were very unique. the spinning bowl salad was good, n the mash potatoes were nice, but the steak was really too big for joan or my mum to finish on their own. infact, i even had alittle trouble finishing my own steak it was really so huge! and its only 285 grams, i wonder what a 300 gram steak looks like. hahah. took us 2 hours to finish that meal! quite a large portion of everything. cost me $342, quite reasonable, each person only about $55. won't go there if there wasn't a 1-for-1 deal for DBS card holders!

On Monday watched Blood the last vampire movie with Joan after having dinner at plaza sing w my bro n mindice, what a small world, we can actually bump into them in town! haha. oh the movie had nice slick action, n the lead actress was really hot n pretty, but aside from that, the film pretty much sucked. horrible ending, worst climax fight i've ever seen. super lame japanese trying to speak english, sounding like an idiot. thank goodness we didn't watch this on a weekend! totally not worth watching. i'll rather watch the animation lah.

Last night after work had strikeforce practice with benjamin n yingying, a new couple who met during strikeforce. Haha, seems like SF has become a place to find a partner. they're nice pple, i was surprised to find out he was from ACS(I) cos usually pple from that school are arrogant proud bastards. offence intended. haha! but benjamin seems like a nice guy, n yingying seems like a nice girl, they actually look pretty good together. hehz.

Now its 3.30 pm, another 3 hours till i pack my stuff n head home, or maybe to the lan shops to meet yongqiang, he's still deciding whether or not to play lan later. haha. if he can't meet up i'll probably go home, having a bit of flu n sorethroat. =P

2 years with Joan - anniversary celebration!

Actually started going out with her on Tues nite 2 June, cos it was Irenus birthday and we celebrated for her with a dinner at the Japanese place at the basement of grand cathay. Can't remember the place, but Joan n i last ate there with Ian n millie about 1 or 2 months ago, i think. Pple at irenus dinner were yongqiang, valerie, julia, jiali, christine, shuting, joan n myself, and of cos irenus. Jasmine, the organiser, wasn't there by the time i reached (about 8.50 pm or so, if i remember).

Went to Cafe cartel for a drink after Irenus n shuting went to watch movie, (its was basically for my benefit cos i haven't eaten dinner, n honestly the food at cartel isn't that great, just like a normal food court food) n just chilled out n talk n talk with the SF pple. i was wondering why millie n ian weren't invited though, maybe they're too busy. =P

Anyway the main event started on Wed morning, we woke up at 9 n saw the rain clouds, n i began to think i needed a plan B, becos if it rains, we can't go walking around macritchie reservoir anymore right? but turns out that after our ba chor mee breakfast, the weather seemed quite nice after all. thanks God! You knew it was our anniversary n prevented the rain from spoiling it! Haha..

I think we walked about 14 Km or more from 10.15 am at the car park, until we reached the tree top walk, and walked back to the reservoir area, and reached the car again at about 1.45 pm. Thats roughly around 3.5 hours! If you think that's slow, you should try walking the path man. Rockly, muddy, sloping up and down, some steep slopes here n there, insects flying around, etc, it was like going thru field camp in army all over again! Hahaha.. exciting events / highlights include the encounter with a colourful thin small snake on the suspended bridge, me climbing over the fence to unlock the gate of the bridge (becos we went the wrong way n the gate was closed from the other side so i had to climb over n unlock it), the seemingly endless flights of stairs, the stork / pelican birds we saw, the cute tortoise that seemed to understand what I said, n several other instances where joan shrieked n grabbed my arm so suddenly i also freaked out. Haha! thank God Joan had the sense to bring a bottle of water, if not we would've suffered from dehydration in the jungle! but it wasn't that hot anyway, quite good weather, cloudy with a little bit of drizzle to wash away the heat. but seriously, i won't go back there at least for the next few years, too tiring n non-romantic place! Haha.. i hope Joan really had fun, trudging thru the jungle tracks n mud, getting sand in our shoes n perspiring n panting! Haha.. actually it was kind of fun, but i didn't know joan was afraid of heights. =P but angmohs must be damn fit lah, we saw several ang mohs, even 2 mums pushing a pram with a baby, trekking at the reservoir, n they were walking even faster than us. oh, n joan saved me from injury, i almost walked into a few branches cos i usually don't look at where i'm walking, prefer to look around n enjoy the greenery instead. Haha.

Took a few pics, shall upload them later tonight or maybe this weekend, depending on when I'm free.

Had lunch at thomson plaza becos dino had no parking lots available, we did consider walking over to dino from thomson plaza, but i was simply too tired n too hungry to really want to walk some more! the chicken chop wasn't tht good n the drinks were expensive! $2 for a canned drink is really ridiculous.

We reached home at about 2.35 pm, took a bath n rested, and then rushed to omnitheatre to try to make it for the 4 pm show, but we reached the ticket counter at about 4.05 pm, and the person said that the show would've started by the time we walked over to the theatre, and its only a 40 min show, so we should just catch the later show at 6 pm. so we ended up paying an extra $2.80 to go to the science centre for 2 hours to kill time before the show. and to our surprise, even though we already went to science centre last year, there were quite a few new stuff n exhibits that we haven't tried before, n there were some areas only for school kids, n there were DNA labs n classes on animation for school children, which i think should be quite fun! how come there were no such things during my primary school n sec sch days! Hahah.. Joan n i had fun playing with the various exhibits at the science centre until about 5.45 pm, then we walked to the omnitheatre for the 40 min show on Sea Monsters. was about this weird looking water dinosaur called a "polly" or something, n how she lived among the other creatures in the sea during the dinosaur age. quite interesting, but i was so sleepy that i actually dozed off for a few minutes in the middle of the show, but the big fight between the 2 giant monsters was interesting n woke me up. i think each of those creatues was like 25-30 feet in length. I think 3 feet is about 1 meter, so estimate about 10 meter long monster! thats quite big, more than 5 times the height of a human. but i actually wanted to watch the Grand Canyon show but it ended its showing in Oct 2008 last year. =P nevertheless i enjoyed myself, the Polly thingys were quite cute, despite having rows of sharp teeth! hahaha.. Joan said they look like a cross between a dolphin n penguin.

Had dinner at the pasta cafe at basement of taka instead of Lawry's prime rib. I think i'll reserve that place for a more significant occasion. Haha. Anyway there are lots of anniversaries n birthdays to go for Joan n i, plenty of opportunity to eat there again. Although i think we will go there soon, since there's a promotion of a 1-for-1 for DBS credit card holders. Hehz..

Somehow i felt the day sort of felt unfinished, cos usually we end the day with a romantic movie or something, but we already watched night at the museum 2 on Monday evening, so no more good shows for us to catch! NTM2 was really funny though, i don't mind watching again actually! haha. but anywayz.. just sat at the fountain n chatted with Joan after giving her our anniversary present. Nothing grand, just one thousand dollars into her account. I'm sort of ashamed of not getting her a card n celebrating with her property, but i guess i'm really quite busy n don't have the time to plan out everything like i used to. =P

but anyway to cut a long story short, we had an enjoyable day. I feel so loved n thank God that I've got such a cute n loving girlfriend and soon-to-be wife. Haha! can't wait to propose actually, only thing that's holding me back is that the house isn't gonna be built until Nov 2011, and thats really really long time coming. n in the meantime i've still got to save up $$ for the wedding, the renovation, the honeymoon, the ring, n all sorts of other expenses. getting married is stressful! but of cos also exciting lah. you don't really know what to expect no matter how well u plan for things to happen, but the good thing is, i'm not doing it alone anymore. Joan will be there to help n support me, and will be there for me for the rest of my life. =) thats why i don't let her do jobs like air stewardess, cos i don't like her being away from me for too long. u can say i'm selfish, but if that's what it takes to make a relationship work, then i think its worth it.