happy birthday putien!!

haha.. just a short advertisement..

banana chocholate chip muffin

its a pity a lot of people doesnt like bananas...

everybody lies..

nope, nobody lied to me. this is just a recurring theme from one of my favourite tv show, at least for the past few months or maybe even longer than that.
in house, the underlying premise in every single episode is that everybody lies. there is always someone hiding something for one reason or another. if you think about it, it is somewhat true. there's always at least a lie one would tell. be it a white lie or not.
wilson's such a nice friend.. i want a wilson too... but then again, i do feel more anti-social nowadays, so maybe i wont want to hang out with wilson that much.. but he's still a very nice friend!

house also have some really good songs during the more emotional scenes, and below are two of them (go listen!)

the first work-related training..

so today was the first time i was sent for training by my company. well, guess i dont count the many times during my previous job when i was the one sent out to give people training.

so this first training of mine, i selected a pretty fun one. adobe design software training which is a 8 days course covering indesign, photoshop, illustrator, and acrobat, though it is over 2 months. but finally! i do not have to go google, and spent so much time try and error to get the results i want.

training life is really pretty good. nice comfortable computer lab, tea break in the morning and afternoon, nice long lunch and window shopping around bugis. no emails to reply, to work to worry about. it's really such a good life.

today was also the first time im really using a mac (though i did use my friend's a few times now and then to surf the net or something).. and i still dont really see what the big deal is. ok, maybe i have to use it a bit more often to understand.. but still, i dont see why people loves mac so much that they have to post annoying comments to people's facebook status talking abt pc's problems.. like they dont even say why they should switch away, all of them (underline, bold "all").. always just go "get a mac!" you know, with so many such annoying people around, you would think that by now, they should know we hear it often enough without needing you to remind. if we want to get a mac, we would. you saying "get a mac" doesnt solve any problems we are currently facing.. i really do hope these mac lovers (and iphones lovers... oh oh.. actually apple lovers) just stop being so annoying and stop trying to push your love of your life into other people's faces..

singaporeans are like sheep

blind leading the blind.. that's pretty much the general view of singaporeans.. they tend to have no personal reasoning ability in various situations.

10 years ago, there was the hello kitty craze. people queuing up at mcdonalds for hours after hours just to get the soft toy. most of them dont even like hello kitty, they are just there because other people are queuing for it. ask anyone that once queued then, and if they even dare to admit, most of them would be very embarassed with doing so.

at a new place and not sure what to eat, trust the queue and buy from the stall with the longest queue.

and of course, the latest craze is the iphone mania. i use a windows 7 phone, and i am not an anti-apple person. i did own various apple products previously.

the iphone is an ok phone. certainly worthy to take up a portion of the marketshare, but certainly the dominance in singapore is not logical. the worldwide marketshare of the iphone is lik 20+% with android having 40-50+%. why is it singapore display a totally different trend from the rest of the world?

a friend of mine decided to get an iphone just because her friends told her to. so once, she asked a android using friend of mine why did she not buy an iphone? the question is, why an iphone?

a common reason is the number of apps. but if that's the reason, people should be moving to the android now, since it's apps are growing so much faster than the iphone. and if the reason is the cons of the other phones, then the iphones has plenty of flaws too.

the only explanation can only be the sheep-effect. people that just follow the trend without thinking about it. the reason why everytime someone post a "what phone should i get?" on his or her facebook status, it is followed by numerous "iphones" from the friends, though not once did i see anyone explain why an iphone.

what were you doing 10 years ago?

september 11. a date famous for a wrong reason. a date that many started a life of pain and agony. of loss and sickness.

so my friend posted this on this status, what were you doing 10 years ago? for most everywhere, the day started normally. i was in jc2, having my prelims. i was studying for my prelims, in my room that night. by which, two planes have already crashed into the world trade center. by the time mr brother switched on the tv and told me things happening in new york city, the tv was only showing a live feed of the nyc skyline, clouded in dust.

as the usual clips of what happened are being screened again on this date, i still feel chills down my spine. footage of a plane crashing into the tower, footage of a second plane crashing into the next tower. this isnt a hollywood production. this is real

so many innocent lives were lost that day. all because of a deluded group of people.

so many heroes died that day. people that ignore their own lives, for the sake of others. firemen that rushed into the towers, many died when the towers collasped. i even read about one  firemen captain, he was trapped under the collasped tower for 5 hours, got rescued, went to the hospital for a while, and he went straight back to work.

while it is a very sad day. but there's something that people should be happy about. that there's still selfless people out there. there's still people who will sacrifice for others. as we get reminded of what happened, how has our lives changed? are we people who looks out for other's people's interest? or are we still happy with the self centered life we have? a self centered life that can easily be taken away leaving you with nothing.. or a life where you make a difference, where the results actually counts and means something?

what are you doing with your life today?

over the rainbow

always liked this song.. and somehow, the glee version sounds even more happy..

home alone!

a child in a family of 4 boys and 2 not too highly educated parents, growing up in my family has always been one more of basic than luxury. back in the younger days, im pretty sure many other families are like that too. nowadays, it seems like this is no longer a trend. a look around and i see kids whose every school holidays takes place in at least other country, some even more than one. i know of a 2 year old baby who has taken the plane more often than my mum and dad combined.

i ask myself do i envy these kids' life? that they can probably get whatever they ask for.. a smartphone.. a personal computer.. a trip to faraway USA.. a ipod touch.. this and that.. sure its nice to have those things.. but to be honest.. i do not envy their lives.. not a little bit.. i see them.. many of them.. soon turn to be "me" people.. people that thinks that things happen for them, and they do not work for them.. "i deserve better and hence im going to somewhere where it is all better".. i dont know how these people sleep at night.. such self centeredness will probably keep me awake at night for a long long time..

anyway, that is not the topic of this post. so.. i have been home alone (with one other brother) for the past week, for like the first time in my life.. my parents finally decided to take a long overdue trip together.. but i must say their luck is pretty bad, having their 2 different flights delayed due to the typhoon in japan. thank God the typhoon was away from where they were so i guess it is nice that they get to be away, away from the worries and stress.

this week has really given me a good experience of life on my own.. chores to take care of.. things such as closing the windows when i leave the house.. clearing the rubbish, boiling water, washing clothes, cooking dinner.. one day, some day, i'll live under a roof owned by me.. a life that isnt just about relaxing after work.. a life where other chores will need to be taken care of..

when that day comes, hopefully ill rise up to the occasion..

sebby from the indian store...

my attempt at maggie goreng.. way too soggy though..

the smell of muffins being baked is so good...

with a saturday with nothing much to do, i decided to bake my first muffins! wondering if i should start from scratch or buy a muffin mix, i decided since this is my first time, i shall just start with muffin mix.

so i picked up the wild blueberry premium muffin mix by betty crocker, a muffin tray and went down the work. must say the preparing part is quite easy, fuss free and fun.. the only sad thing was that i was enjoying the smell of muffins being baked so much that i left the muffins in the oven a little bit too long.. so the top was a little to hard (just a little) and the bottom of the muffin is a little burnt.. oh well.. tried one and i think it's still pretty yummy..