V Day 2004

This year was a blast. Although it was not a lovey dovey kinda thingy, but we had lots of good food with compliments from my bro. He wanted to eat good beef for quite some time now, so he gave me a ring and asked if our kitchen was available on V Day evening.

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Although we cooked most of the food, some were easily prepared, while the others like the sashimi was bought. We had tons to eat. I’ve not been so full for ages.

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There was beef, fries, tomato infused with chopped mushrooms and bacon bits with warm melted cheese on top, salad, stir fried winter mushrooms, sashimi, calm chowder soup, honey dew wrapped with slices of parma ham. Then after such a big meal, we had durian, strawberries and grapes. Darn was that a big meal for 4.

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We calculated that for 1 pax with that much food, we actually came out with around $60 each, but its well worth it as it was V Day and there was no need to queue and no need to dress up. Oh yah, we could choose the songs too. Norah Jones and Eric Clapton was on that night.

Till the next exciting dinner at thepans@punggol.

My Clié

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The girl’s character is starting to show. Fiesty, Persistent, Focused, Task Oriented, Bold, Pissed, Independent, Analytical, Stubborn… till we find more… but of cause she also have the normal cute and lovely bits too, she is quite a monster, but she is my lovely little monster.

American History X

Have been going I on a shopping spree at the video shop recently and picked up Gangs of New York and American History X recently, just finished seeing them. I just love seeing movies.

I especially like one line in American History X at the end which goes something like ‘I just feel pissed off, with what I’m not sure, but in the end its just not worth it’. I think it went something like that, but I can’t remember exactly.

I was an angry youth once, but thank God the anger and the introvert character in me blended well and it suppressed the angst till I woke up. I feel so deeply for the angry youth, the youth that is pissed, the youth that hates how the world is, the youth that has noble desires, but have been cheated and lead by ‘the way things are’. These youth are just to busy with stuff in school and life that they at times in their subconscious know that they are missing out on something, but act it out in rebellion, disrespect, anger and inconformity. Life is for the living, lets live life.

Europe trip Jan 2004

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I was really looking forward for this trip to Europe as it would be the first time i’ll be able to see and learn how products in my industry are made. From raw materials all the way to final products, man… it was a real good experience. But at this trip, i missed home real bad. I really miss my Pearl and my Clié, i’m just so glad i’m back now.

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Abu Dhabi International Airport is one of my transit stops and i have to say their interior is quite interesting.

As you know from my previous post i had to make a few transits before reaching my destination, i calculated from the time i checked in my luggage at the airport to the time i check into the hotel, it was about 30 hours. Man… if not because there are no other available flights, this complex connection would not have been neccessary.

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I transited at London Heathrow Airport also. At least it was not so boring… at least there were magazine stands, book shops, CD shops, etc…

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We moved hotels quite alot as we are going to different places in different countries namely Italy, Germany and England, so at one of the morning breakfast in the hotel café my dad and i were greeted by this magnificant view of the dolomite mountains and the view was amazing… snow capped mountains… i heard there will be mountains near the factory, but did not expect it to be that fantastic.

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Here is a panoramic view of what it looked like from outside the hotel.

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Being a business trip, i don’t really wish to go into too much details, but my main objective was to visit the Ceramica Dolomite factory and to establish relationships with them as my company is the a distributor of their products in Singapore. I will have to thank Richard and Karen whom made this trip possible.

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My favourite, Marc Newson by Ideal Standard.

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The trip ended in Birmingham England, hence we got a 2 days in London, and we bunked over at my Uncle’s place in London. Did a bit of exploration ourselves and used the underground quite a fair bit.

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Here is the family from left: Uncle Tjin Kie, Aunt Serena, My Dad, Dominique and Me.

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This is their Garden behind their house.

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This is their Office at Kilburn. My Uncle and Aunt sells air tickets, so if you’re in UK and want a good deal, do check out their company Lee’s Travel Emporium Ltd.

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This is my extremely funny cousin Dominique or better known as Mic. I have to say she is real smart for a kid her age, real knowledgable. When i was her age, all i knew was just my neighbourhood.

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On our way back to Singapore, we flew over the alps, simply awesome.